[706] Ibid. p. 26.
[707] Napier considers the “Fuste” to have been “a lighter species of war-galley,” iv. p. 24. M. Jal gives elaborate details on the subject of the names of mediæval ships, in which he differs very much from writers who have gone before him. He, however, invariably gives the authorities on whom he relies, which other writers have too frequently omitted (see “Arch. Nav.” ii. p. 3, &c.).
[708] Napier’s “Flor. Hist.” iv. p. 29.
[709] As previously stated, it is not possible to reduce these sums with accuracy to the modern English value. The asper seems to have varied much in value, and is now superseded, as a money of account, by the piastre.
[710] Napier’s “Florentine History,” vol. iv. p. 32.
[711] Liutprand, bishop of Cremona, gives the fullest account of the trade of Amalfi in the tenth century (Muratori, “Script.” V. ii. p. 487; “Antiq.” v. ii. p. 884). The merchants of Amalfi built in A.D. 1020 two hospitals at Jerusalem, one dedicated to St. John, which gave the title to the famous Knights Hospitallers, afterwards of Rhodes and Malta (“W. of Tyre,” xviii. c. 4; Brencman, “De Republ. Amalf.” c. 8).
[712] The laws of Alençon and of La Roche inflicted the punishment of cutting out the tongue of the sailor who offended for the second time. Jal, “Arch. Nav.” ii. p. 109. The laws of Richard do not allude to this habit.
[713] Chronic. Jocelyn. de Brakelond, p. 31-34.
[714] The punishment of death for swearing was enjoined by John of Austria just before the battle of Lepanto in A.D. 1571; and similar laws were promulgated by Colbert, the Czar Peter I., and others (Jal, “Arch. Nav.” ibid.).
[715] Jal, “Arch. Nav.” ii. p. 107 et seq., who gives all the punishments mentioned in the text, with reference to the authorities for his statements.