328 A. D. 1 155. 



ople, and to reduce the cuftoms upon their merchandize, from a tenth 

 to a twenty-fifth, or from ten to four per cent. William, king of Sicily, 

 alfo endeavoured to gratify the commercial jealoufy of the Genoefe by 

 a treaty, engaging to expell the merchants of Provence and France from 

 his territories (a", ii 56). Thus were the political events of the neigh- 

 bouring nations made to promote the commercial interefts of the Ge- 

 noefe. Neither did they confine their friendly intercourfe and connec- 

 tions to Chriftian ftates, nor were they fuch bigots as to fuppofe that 

 difference of belief in matters of religion had any concern with com- 

 mercial connexions, but entered into treaties of friendfhip and com- 

 merce with the Saracen kings of Spain and Morocco in the year 1161 *. 

 [Ccffari Annales Gen. ap, Muratori, Script. F. vi, coll. 265-277.] 



1 156, January 6''* — The maritime kingdom of Mann, founded by 

 Ketil about the year 890, as already obferved, comprehended Mann, 

 and all the iflands on the weft fide of Scotland, and fiourifhed in confi- 

 derable power, being frequently formidable to the adjacent coafls of 

 England, Scotland, and Ireland. But King Godred, the fon of Olaf, 

 having lofl the affedions of Ibme of the chiefs by his tyranny, they fet 

 up Dugal, the fon of Somerled, lord of Argyle, by a daughter of Olaf, 

 as king againft him ; and after a bloody naval battle, the iflands were 

 now divided between the rivals by a treaty, which, the chronicler of 

 Mann fays, proved the ruin of the kingdom. 



1 1 56 — From the confiderable number of Englifli hiftorians who 

 flourilhed in the twelfth century, with fome help from other writers, 

 and from charters, &c. we have a pretty good account of feveral 

 of the towns of England, and even of fome of thofe of Scotland, about 

 this time. 



London being now eflabliflied as the capital of the kingdom, mod 

 of the nobles and bilhops had handfome houfes f in or near the city : 

 but the houfes of the citizens were generally built of wood, and thatch* 

 ed with ftraw ; and thence the city was liable to frequent fires. Fitz- 

 Stephen, a writer of this age, fays, that the citizens were remarkable 

 for their politenefs, the elegance of their drefs, and the magnificence of 

 their tables, and that their wives excelled in every virtue. The citizens 



occupied by tliofc of Flanders. And they paid pope for trading with infidels, as the Portuguef* 



rents to communities or to individuals. The mei- repeatedly did in later times. 



chants of the Steelyard priid ^-jo : 3 : 4 fterling f The ftone houfe of a citizen of London is 



to the city of London ISlcw'r Survey cf/.ontJon, fi. mentioned hy Bcncdid us Albas-, V. i, />. 197.-*- 



433, ed. 1 61 8] ; and the widow of Robert Guif- Geffrey Martcl in ^the reign of Henry II fold a 



card, duke of Apulia, gave the rents oi 3. funil'iait piece of land with a ftone houfc in I^ondon. [A/j- 



in Ainalfi to the nionallery of Monte Cafino. dox's Formulare, p. 178,] — The houfes of feme 



\Chran. Caftn. L. \\\, c. 56. — See alfo HaUuvt's Jews in London, appear to have been of ilone in 



yoiagrt, y.\\, p. 199, where the /</n/fi/'/ at Alex- the year I 2 15. [Rcid. CogJha/1, qu. in Slow'j jin- 



andria is explained to be ' an houfe of traliqtie aa niiLs,p. 258.'] Thence it may be prelnnied, that 



the Stilyard.'] the houfes of the nobles and hidiops were not of 



* I have not inquired, whether they thought it inferior iiiateiialf, though thofe of the middle and 



worth their while to purehafe a licence from the inferior ranks were of wood. 



