376 



A. D. I2IO. 



Some aitentlon was paid to the fifhery, and fome flax was raifed, and 

 confequently fome linen made, in Scotland in the reign of William, as 

 appears from the tithes of fifli and flax being mentioned along with 

 thofeofwool, corn, butter, cheefe, animals, &c. The fifheries feem 

 to have been chiefly in the Firths of Forth and Moray. [Chart, in- 

 Dugd. Mon. Angl.V. \, p. 422 — Chart. Morav. in Dalrymple's Canons, p. 

 20,] 



Among the foreign countries, with which the Scots had commercial 

 connections, we may particularize Norway, as appears by charters of 

 John and Swer, kings of that country, concerning fome people who had 

 fuflfered fliipwreck, and letters of J. king of Norway, and H. his brother, 

 on a fimilar fubjeft *. [F/^dera, V. ii, p. 218.] 



The foreign trade of Scotland was chiefly conduced by the merchants 

 of Berwick, who at this time were very much annoyed by the garrifon 

 of a fort erected by King John at Tweedmouth, on the oppofite bank 

 of the river, which on that account was twice demoliflied by King Wil- 

 liam. \\Vyntown^s Cronykil, V. i, />. 355. — Scotichron. V. i, p. 518.] 



King John, regardlefs of the confirmation of privileges which the Jews 

 had purchafed from him in the beginning of his reign, ordered the 

 whole of them, women as well as men, to be tortured till they fliould 

 ■pvij Jixty-ftx thonfand marks ; a moft enormous fum. The ranfom fet up- 

 on a wealthy Jew of Briflol, was ten tboufand marks ; and, on his refufal 

 to pay that ruinous fine, the king ordered his tormentors to pull out 

 one of his teeth every day, to which the unhappy man fubmitted for 

 feven days ; and on the eight he confented to latisfy the king's rapaci- 

 ty. Ifaac, a Jew of Norwich, became bound to pay the king ten thou- 

 {and marks in dayly payments of one mark. Many of the Jews, find- 

 ing it impoffible to live under fuch oppreflion, fled out of the country. 

 \Madox' s Hiji . of the excheq. c. 7. — M. Paris, pp. 229, 230.] But, ac- 

 cording to Trivet, [A/males, p. 154] they were driven out, after being 

 flripped of all their property. It appears, however, that they foon re- 

 turned. 



John went to Ireland, and moft of the Irifh kings waited on him at 

 Dublin, with profeflions of duty and allegiance. He ordered the Eng- 

 lifti laws and cuftoins to be introduced in Ireland, and appointed fliir- 

 refs, and other officers to difpenfe juftice in the country according to 

 the Englifli forms. He alfo appointed money to be coined for Ireland 



liave enjoyed feparate, and probably more ample, neral by the 37"' of the Antilles afcribed to that 



jirivilfges : otberways tbc exclulion of them from king by Skene in his edition of Re^iam majcjlatem : 



«he liberty of the gild feems unrcafonablc and ab- but thirc is no knowing wliat degree of credit can 



furd. This account is taken from a trandation be given to that eolleflion. 



(and feemingly a very bad one) of the charter in * The charters and letters were in the king's 



Cant's Miifcs T'hrenodie, V. it, f>. 6, rrl. 1774. treafiiry at Edinburgh in the year J2S2. — Swer 



The privileges, granted by William's ciiarter to vas king of Norway in the later part of the 



■Perth, are given to the burghs of Scotland in gc- twelfth century. 



