72 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



agreed upon in 1471 between Edward IV. and the King ot 

 France mutual liberty of commerce and fishing was stipulated 

 during the continuance of the truce. 1 The treaty of 1467, 

 above referred to, which included Holland and Zealand, was 

 to last for thirty years, but by the death of Charles the Bold, 

 and the marriage of Mary of Burgundy to Maximilian of 

 Austria, it was deemed necessary to renew it with the new 

 Duke ; and this was done, and the compact declared to be per- 

 petual, in 1478, the clause providing for the liberty of fishing 

 remaining unaltered. 2 



It is thus clear from those numerous treaties that in the 

 fifteenth century the liberty of fishing in the sea was so 

 generally recognised by England that the principle might 

 be regarded as having become a part of her international 

 policy and custom. Towards the end of the century the 

 Burgundy treaties were superseded by the great treaty of 

 peace and commercial intercourse which was concluded in 

 1496 between Henry VII., the first of the Tudor sovereigns, 

 and Philip, Archduke of Austria and Duke of Burgundy. 

 This treaty, which became so well known later as the Great 

 Intercourse (Intercursus Magnus, le Traite d'Entrecours, 't 

 Groot Commercie-Tractaat), was the sheet-anchor of Dutch 

 policy in relation to England in the seventeenth century, and 

 was constantly appealed to by them in their diplomatic struggles 

 with the Stuarts and with Cromwell. It was the price paid by 

 Henry for the expulsion of Perkin Warbeck from Flanders, 

 the provisions in regard to whom, when slightly modified by 

 St John in 1651 to apply to the "rebels " of the Commonwealth, 

 so startled the Dutch Government (see p. 387). The treaty 

 was to be perpetual, and it actually endured for a century 

 and a half. The article dealing with the liberty of fishing 

 was couched in almost the same language as in the preceding 

 treaties. The fishermen of both nations were to be at liberty 

 to go in security to fish anywhere on the sea, without requir- 

 ing any license or safe-conduct, and to have free use of one 

 another's ports under stress of misfortune, weather or enemies, 



1 Fcedera, xi. 683. 



2 Ibid., xii. 67. In 1484 Richard III. issued a commission to Thomas Lye, 

 sergeant-at-arms, to make restitution for fishing -boats belonging to subjects of 

 Maximilian, Duke of Austria, which had been taken, laden with fish, by English 

 pirates. Ibid., xii. 227. 



