CHARLES I. I FISHERIES AND RESERVED WATERS 211 



It may be supposed that the splendour of the role attributed 

 to the early kings of England as lords of the sea, would by 

 itself appeal to the narrow imagination of one so deeply imbued 

 as Charles was with a belief in the divine prerogative of kings ; 

 and the dominion of the seas was claimed as peculiarly a pre- 

 rogative of the crown. But there were other more practical 

 and less exalted inducements. The assumption of the role of 

 the Plantagenet kings was intimately related to the state of 

 home affairs and the means taken for the equipment of a fleet. 

 Parliament having refused supply and been dissolved, recourse 

 was ultimately had to the famous ship-money writs, by which 

 it was possible to obtain the necessary ships independently of 

 Parliament, as had been done by the early kings. To declare 

 that these measures were indispensable for the maintenance of 

 the sovereignty of the sea in its ancient style and lustre was 

 well adapted to lessen their unpopularity, if anything could. It 

 was a declaration " exactly calculated for the meridian of 

 England," 1 for the English people in all ages have been prone 

 to maritime glory and willing and anxious to make sacrifices 

 for the sake of the navy, upon which their national safety 

 depends. 



It was in connection with the policy of the ship-money writs 

 that the old doctrine of the Plantagenets came again into 

 being. In the writs themselves the very words were copied that 

 Edward III. had used in 1336 in his mandate to the admirals ; 

 but some years before they were issued one may trace the growth 

 of the idea. In the period from 1631 to 1633 there was much 

 searching of records with the view of establishing the king's 

 rights in his seas. Negotiations had been proceeding with Scot- 

 land, described below, with reference to a great fishery scheme, 

 and the Scots had been very troublesome and persistent about 

 their " reserved waters," which the scheme threatened, the " land- 

 kenning," and the encroachments of the Dutch. They only 

 agreed to give up their exclusive claim to the " reserved waters " 

 for the benefit of the fishery association, provided that Charles 

 would free the Scottish seas of the Hollander busses. In the 

 long series of papers respecting the fishery project, mostly pre- 

 pared by the indefatigable Secretary Coke, the change referred 

 to may be perceived. In those of 1629 and 1630 there is no 



1 Meadows, Observations concerning the Dominion and Sovereignly of the Seas, 2. 



