43*6 



A. D. 1281. 



fent agents, not only through all England, but alfo into the neighbour- 

 ing countries, 10 buy up provillons and other ftores. [Rot. Wa/lice, 10, 

 1 1 Edzv. I, uj Ayl'jffe^s Calendar ."l \l^e find, feveral agents were fent to 

 purcliufe corn and other provifions in Ireland, which thus appears to 

 have produced moVe than the confumption of the inhabitiuits required ; 

 and there were no potatoes then. \Kot. Wallice, mm. 10, 8, 2,] We 

 alfo find, the fhirrefs of Cumberland and Lancafter were ordered to fend 

 people to purchafc fifh on the weft coaft of Scotland, and to carry them 

 to Chefter : and Adam of Fuleham was appointed to provide roo bar- 

 rels of fturgeons of Aberdeen *, and 5,000 fait fifh, and alfo dry fifh. 

 [Rot- Wallia^ mm. 9, 8 dorfts.'] The fifh of Aberdeen were io well cured, 

 that they were even carried to the capital fifhing port of Yarmouth f . 

 Thus we are afllired that fifheries were carried on to fome confiderable 

 extent on both fides of Scotland ; and that Aberdeen, which had then 

 •got a charader for curing fifh, and probably fome port or ports in the 

 Firth of Clyde, were known to have a fupply of fifli, pickled and cured 

 for foreign markets, long before the time that the art of curing fifli is 

 generally fuppofed to have been difcovered in Flanders. 



1282 — The colle6lion of the cuftoms was frequently entrufted to for- 

 eign merchants, either as an accountable truft, or for a ftipulated rent :|:. 

 Bonricini Guidicon and Company of Luca accounted to the exchequer 

 for the proceeds of the new cufloms on wool, wool-fells, and hides, from 



* ' Ccnlum barr'tW efigionum lie giiitigtnt' ^ler- 

 den.'' — So it is in the roll, which I examined by 

 the favour of Mr. Aftle, the learned and liberal 

 keeper of the records in the Tower. The tranfla- 

 tion fcems to be — a hundred harreh, nfji-ve hundred 

 pounds each, of Aberdeen Jlurgeoni. — Qjiere if not 

 rather falmons {^ifyc'iorum orefochim, inftead of which 

 the copying clerk h?5 written ejtgwnum in the roll) 

 for the fuperior pickling and packing of which in 

 barrels of the old Hamburgh kind Aberdeen has 

 long been famous ? Sturgeons were fcarce, and too 

 cxpenfive for feeding; an army with. Six barrels 

 of them coft ^"19 for the houfehold of Thomas 

 > earl of L.auca(ler, nephew of King Edward I. 

 \_Slo'Uj's Suri'ty of Lcndon, p. 133, ed. 1618.] The 

 faked and dry fifh were probably cod or ling, not 

 put up in any packages. — In tlic year 1308 Ed- 

 ward II ordered his chamberlain for Scotland to 

 provide 3,cco falmons in Scotland out of the re- 

 venues of thft country, "and to have them properly 

 put up in cail<s (' doliis') for prcfeivation. \_Fa- 

 ■d.r.i. V. iii,/. 95.] 



f Four hunched li(1i of Aberdeen, two hundred 

 Tlockfifh, onr (ftriall) barrel of fturgeons, five dozen 

 "f lampreys, fifiy pounds of whale (* halen'), and 

 h'llf a lall of herrings, conrtitnted the fifli part of 

 »he provifiors, put onboard a (hip, fitted out at 

 Varmoiith in the year i 29c, for bringing the in- 

 fant ipiecn 01 Seollaiid from the court of her fa- 

 :i (r the king of Norw.iy. The fifh of Aberdem 



cofl fomcwhat under three pennies each, the ftock 

 filh fomevvhat under one penny each, and the halt 

 lafl of herrings thirty {hilliv.gs. [/fym^r'j CoU. 

 maniifcr. V. ii, p. 287. j Aberdeen tith aifo occur 

 in the account of King Edward's wardrobe in the 

 year 1 290. 



\ Tiie cuftoms were alfo affigned to individuals 

 ts icturities, or funds, for the payment of debts 

 due" by the king. In the year 1307 Edward I 

 affigned to the merchants of Brabant the new cuf- 

 toms payable upon their own imports for payment 

 of a debt due to them, whereupon they prcmifcd 

 to bring rrcrchandize much more abundantly to 

 the port of London. \_Ry!ey, Plae. pari. p. 327.3 

 In 1312 the culloms of Bolton were affigned to a 

 merchant of Genoa for a debt due by the king. 

 [^Mtidox's Hiji. c. 10, } 12. "I In the fame year 

 the cuftoms of wool, wool-fells, and In'des, in the 

 port of Berwick were afligntd to Piers dc Gavaf- 

 ton for ^^'408 : 1 1 : 8 due by the king, to be paid 

 to him immediately after the full payment of a funi 

 fecured upon tiie fame cuftoms to David of Brech- 

 in, a Scottlfli baron, then In the intereft of Ed- 

 ward, probably as a compeniation for the forfeiture 

 of liis cftatf in Soot\ird. \Fadira, V. ili, p. 310.^ 

 And Alexander III king of Scotland took the 

 fame method of paying a foreign merchant by an 

 affignment of the cuftomn of Berwick. \Yadera, 

 y. )i, /, 60J.J 



