A. D. 1256. 407 



mifed that they and their property fhould be exempted from arreft for 

 any debts, for which they, or fome of their countrymen, were not prin- 

 cipal debtors or fureties ; thuc their property in the hands of their fervants 

 fhould not be feized for any tranfgreffions of thofe fervants ; and that 

 any of them, who fhould die in his dominions, fliould have a right to 

 leave his property by will, and the heir fhould not be obflrudcd in tak- 

 ing pofTeflion of it*. [Fcedera, V. iv, p. 555. — Rot. pat. 40 Hen. IIT^ 

 in. 4.] Whether the commerce of the burgefles of S'. Omers was an 

 objed of much confequence, or not, we are not informed : but the 

 charter merits attention, as the earlieft known relaxation of the law, or 

 cuftom, which made every foreigner anfwerable for the debts, and even 

 crimes, of all other foreigners, and made the whole property of every 

 ftranger at his death the prey of the king, or lord of the foil on which 

 he died ; a horrid prerogative, which continued to difgrace the laws of 

 France in particular from the age of Charlemagne down to our own 

 times f . 



It will not be deemed impertinent to commercial hiflory to relate, 

 that an author called William de Sando amore (whom the biographer 

 of the popes calls a pernicious man) wrote a book, wherein he affirmed, 

 that thofe, who fpent their lives in idlenefs on pretence of devoting 

 themfelves to religious duties, and devoured the produce of other people's 

 induftry, were not in a flate of falvation. The book, containing fuch 

 dangerous and heretical dodtrine, was immediately condemned to the 

 flames, and all who kept copies of it in their pofleffion were excommun- 

 icated, by the infallible head of the church. [Triveti Ann. p. 207. — 

 Platince Vit. pontif. p. 427, ed. 1664.] 



1 257 — Though the earl of Cornwall refufed the title of king of Sicily, 

 which, he forefaw, would coll more than the adual pofTefHon would be 

 worth, the fuperior fplendour of the imperial title got the better of his 

 prudence. A part of the German eledors, allured, as it is faid, by the 

 fame of his great riches (for he was as remarkable for accumulating as 

 his brother was for fquandering) elected him emperor of Germany, or 

 king of the Romans : and, in order to lliow his attention to the interefl 

 of his new fubjeds, before he left England he obtained from King 

 Henry a charter (May 1 1'^) whereby the king took under his protection 

 and fafe condud the burgefles of Lubeck with their merchandize, none 

 of which, he afllired them, fhould be taken for accoimt of himfelf or 

 any other perfon without their confent. And he ordered that they and 

 their agents fiiould have periled: liberty of buying and felling, as they 



* The privileges of the bm-gefTes of S^ Omers f Some defcription of the cruel trer.tment of 



were tlirice renewed by Edward II, and once by ftrangers in the middle ages may tc found in Rc- 



Edward III. \^Rol. pat. 13 Edv.'. II, m. 15 ; and bcrtfon's Bijlorj of Charles Vy V. \, p. -^-^i,, ed. 



16 Ediu. II, m. ^.—Failcra, V. m, p. 890; V. iv, 1792. 

 P- 5S5-li 3 



