Hardy he was, and wys to undertake;
With many a tempest hadde his berd ben schake.
He knew wel alle the havenes, as thei were,
From Scotlond to the Cape of Fynestere,
And every cryk in Bretayne and in Spayne;
His barge y-clepud was the Magdelayne.”
It was, however, impossible, even with the aid of such daring and skilful mariners, for England to maintain her position at sea, or her commerce, in the face of the laws we have attempted briefly to describe, and the lawless acts of too many of those of her people engaged in maritime pursuits.
Henry IV. A.D. 1399-1413.
The reign of Henry IV., opening with conspiracies at home and troubles abroad, afforded at first little hope of improvement in the laws affecting English maritime commerce; that monarch, however, was able to make arrangements with Prussia so as to restore the long interrupted commercial intercourse between the two countries;[614] while two years later he concluded a treaty with the Hanse Towns. By this treaty were also settled many claims of those merchants and ship-owners against English cruisers, who, however, in turn, alleged that their property had been captured and destroyed by the Prussians, and their countrymen taken from their ships and thrown into prison. The merchants of Lynn, especially, “complained pitifully[615] that four of their ships, with cargoes on board, consisting chiefly of cloth and wine, were captured on their way to Prussia, some of their people being slain, while some were grievously injured, and others put to extreme ransoms.”
Disputes between the Hanse and the English merchants.