A, D. 1196. 357 



1 196, July 14'" — It was tifual to make kidels, or wears, in the River 

 Thames for catching fifh, and the keeper of the Tower drew an annual 

 rent from them, apparently for account of the king. But the citizens 

 of London having reprefented to King Richard, that fuch obftrudions 

 in the river were great nuifances to the city and the whole kingdom, 

 he ordered that they fliould be all removed *. [Cbart. in Brady on burghs, 

 App. p. 29.] 



1 197, November 20'" King Richard palTed a law for the uniformity 



of weights and meafures throughout the kingdom, ordering the mea- 

 fures of length to be made of iron, and thofe of capacity to have rims 

 of the fame metal, and that ftandard weights and meafures of every 

 kind fliould be kept by the fliirrefs and magiftrates of towns. It was 

 alfo enaded, that, wherever woollen cloths were made, they fhould mea- 

 fure two ells in breadth within the lifts f , and ihould be equally good 

 in the middle and at the fides. All cloths made contrary to law were 

 to be immediately burnt, and all artifices to impofe upon the buyer in 

 the fale of cloths were ftridly prohibited. Dye-ftufFs, except black, 

 were to be fold only in the cities and capital burghs, to which alfo the 

 bufinefs of dying, except in black, was reftrided. To the great relief 

 of the people, who had been diftreifed by the variety of coins, he 

 ordered, that only one kind of money fhould be current. Chriftians 

 were not allowed to take any intereft for the ufe of money. He pro- 

 hibited fecret bargains between Chriftians and Jews, and ordered that 

 three copies ftiould be made of every agreement, one of which ftiould 

 be preferved in a public repofitory %. He ordered the jufticiaries to do 

 impartial juftice to all perfons. But thefe regulations were obferved on- 

 ly during the fliort remainder of his reign §. \_Hoveden, f. 440 b. M. 



Paris, p. 191, ed. 1640 — 'triveti Annal. p. 127. — Bromton, col. 1258.] 



Another law of King Richard (in the year 11 94) againft the exporta- 

 tion of corn, ' that England might not fuffer from the want of its own 

 ' abundance,' was probably only temporary during the time of fcarcity. 

 Richard, having found fome veflels in St. Valeray, a French port, which 

 were loaded with com for the king of France in defiance of this law, 

 he burnt the town and the veflels, hanged the feamen, deftroyed the 



» 



The prohibition of the kidels was h'ttle at- § The affife of King Richard is dated by Trivet 



tended to, as appears from the frequent renewals and Bromton in the year 1 194. But Mathew 



of it by fucceeding kings. Paris, an earlier, and a faithful and well-informed 



f The licences granted by Henry II to fell hillorian, is fo particular in the date, St. Ed- 

 cloths of any breadth whatever, as an exception mund's day in 1197 at Weftminftcr, that there can 

 from a general rule, fhow that this was only a re- be no doubt of his fuperior accuracy. Thefe re- 

 newal of an older law. See above, p. 347. It was gulations, together with many other well-authen- 

 alfo renewed by John and Henry III. ticated faAs, already noticed, (Tiow how grofsly 



X From the account of the infamous riot and they midake, who fuppofe the colony of weavers, 



malTacre at York in the beginning of Richard's introduced fiom the Netherlands by Edward III, 



reign, it appears, that the bonds belonging to the the original founders of the woollen maniifachncs 



Jews were preferved in the cathedral of that city of England, 

 in the reign of Henry II. 



