446 



A. D. 1286. 



againfl the enemies of Scotland * : and it appears to have been of the 

 fame nature with a fi/ndicia in the Mediterranean, the 'Teutonic gildhall m 

 London, and the contoir of the German merchants at Bergen. (See above 

 pp. 327, 410, 421). By the agency of the merchants of Berwick the 

 wool, hides, wool-fells, and other wares, the produce of Rokfburgh, 

 Jedburgh, and all the adjacent country, were fhipped for foreign coun- 

 tries, or fold upon the fpot to the Flemifh company. The exportation 

 of falmon appears to have been alfo a confiderable branch of their trade, 

 as we find it fome time after an obje6l of attention to the legiflature of 

 England, and the regulation of it intrufted to the great officers of the 

 government f . [Hemingford, p. 91, ed. Hearne. — Fcedera^ V. vi, p. 620. — 

 Stat. 2, 31 Edw. ni.'\ No other port of Scotland, in point of com- 

 mercial importance, came near to a comparifon with Berwick, which, 

 according to the teftimony of the contemporary writer of the Chronicle 

 of Lanercoft, [MS. Bib. Cott. Claud. D Vn,f. 207 b] was fo populous and 

 fo full of commerce, that it might be called afecond Alexandria. The 

 fea was its wealth ; the waters were its walls ; and the opulent citizens 

 were very liberal in their donations to religious houfes \. But we have 

 better authority than the voice of panegyric for the profperity of Ber- 

 wick ; as we find the cuftoms of it affigned by King Alexander to a mer- 

 chant of Gafcoigne for ;^2,i97 : 8 : o fi:erling, a fum equivalent to 

 32,961 bolls of wheat at the ufual price of fixteen pennies; and, of 

 1 ,500 marks a-year, fettled on the widow of Alexander prince of Scot- 

 land by her marriage contract, there were i ,300 payable out of Berwick. 

 \Fiederay V. u, pp. 605, 613.] 



Berwick was governed, as already obferved, by a mayor with four 

 provofts fubordinate to him. Perth, Striveline (or Stirling), Rokfburgh, 

 and Jedburgh, had each at leafi; one alderman, apparently the chief ma- 

 giftrate. Hadington was governed by a provoft. Peebles, and Munros 

 (now called Montrofe), had each a bailie. Linlithgow, and Inverkeith- 

 ing, had each two bailies. Elgin alfo was governed by bailies. And 

 before this time Glafgow had three co-ordinate provofls and alfo bailieslj. 

 [Prynne's Hijl. of John, Isc pp. 653, 654 Rymer's Coll. MS. V. iii, tf. 



* III tlie year 1296 tliirty Flemings defended Cumberland, had profited largely by the miftaken 



the Red hall againit the Englifh forces, till it was piety of the wealthy citizens of Berwick ; and the 



fct on fire : and the whole of the faithful and gal- writer of the Chronicle thcis repaid them in the 



lant merchant garrifon pcridied in the (lames ; ufual coin. 



\^H:m':ngf. /• 91] ^ cataRiophe, which apparently || Though mod of thcfc magifliates appear under 



. j)iit an end tc the Flemifli company at Berwick. the year 1296, the cflablilhrnent of their offices was 



f When Edward III wanted 2,oco falmon for moftprobably not latertlinn the relgnof Davidl,and 

 his own ufe in the year 1361, he fent o;dors to at any rate earlier than the time in which I men- 

 procure theni for him at Berwick (then bchmging tion them : for certainly no new icgulalions of fuch 

 to England) and Newcallle, no-donbt, the places matters could be introduced during the convulfions 

 moll famous for them in his dominions. \_Rat.pat, which cnfued on the death of King Alexander III 

 ji\-. 35 EdiA.. HI, m. 9.] and his infant grand-daughter. Queen Margaret. 



X Jt'iobablv Lancrcolt, which was an abbay in 3 



