THE HISTORY OF DUTCH SEA FISHERIES. 21 



of money for one year, but a perpetual tax under the name 

 of last-money, such as had formerly been levied by the 

 Dukes of Burgundy. To obtain this, prohibitions against 

 fishing were again threatened in 1549, whereupon the States 

 offered a gratuity of tenpence on the last of herring for the 

 current season only.* The offer was at once rejected, the 

 Queen demanding " not a gratuity, but a tax." Holland 

 then doubled its offerf on the 2Qth of August, 1550, and 

 last-money was accordingly levied from the fishermen of 

 the province to the amount of one florin per last of herring 

 caught, Zealand having before granted two, and the men of 

 Flanders consented to equip convoying ships at their own 

 expense. The tax was granted again in the next year, 

 when a prohibition against fishing was issued notwith- 

 standing, to which, however, little observance seems to 

 have been paid.J 



The armed protection thus obtained by the States at the 

 fishermen's expense was very ineffectual. The Imperial 

 convoying ships appear, indeed, to have been utterly 

 inadequate to their task. They could neither cover the 

 whole of the herring fleet, nor be of any use to the busses 

 sailing home with their cargoes ; they could not even keep 

 the sea in rough weather, but had frequently to make for 

 the nearest port and leave the fishermen to their destinies. 

 The States, therefore, towards the beginning of the fishing 

 season of 1552, begged the Queen to give up convoying and 

 get safe conducts for the busses from the King of France. 

 A similar request was made in I553,|| when the shipowners 



* Res. Holland, 1549, p. 288. 



f Idem. 1550, pp. 372-380. 



% Res. Holland, 1551, pp. 415, 431 ; Wagenaar, Vad. Hist. v. p. 368. 



Ibid. 1552, p. 454 ; Cf. Wagenaar, Vad. Hist. v. p. 377. 



II Ibid. 1553, pp. 484, 54- 



