A. D. 133 1. 507 



December 23* — ^Though we know that the Saracens had fome veflels 

 of very great burthen, as appears by the number of men faid to have 

 been onboard them *, we know nothing of their conftrudion. The 

 Catalans, who fucce:;ded to their maritime eminence in their port of 

 Barcelona, as has already been noticed, had alfo very large veflels, of 

 the kmds called cogs and fhips, fome with two, and fome with three, 

 decks, befoi-e the year 1315 ; and, from the mention of caftles on the 

 decks, it appears moll probable that each of the three decks ran the 

 whole length of the veflels, as in modern three-deck merchant ftiips. 

 By the original articles of agreement, preferved in the archives of Bar- 

 celona^ it appears that thirteen of the citizens undertook to man a cog 

 (' cocha') of three decks, called the Sent Climent, belonging to the 

 community of the city, in order to cruife againfl: the Genoefe and 

 other enemies, the magiftrates agreeing to furnifli bread for the crew, 

 and to receive one third of the prizes to be taken, or, in cafe of lofs, to 

 bear one third of it : and the citizens engaged to fliip and pay from 

 four to five hundred men, to find all other provifions except bread, and 

 to put no cargo onboard her for commercial purpofes, her defl:ination 

 being merely warlike. From a very copious inventory of the flores, 

 delivered to them along with the velfel, it appears that (he was well fiar- 

 niflied with bows, arrows, fpears, and defenfive armour. But there is 

 no mention of fire-arms. One of the thirteen citizens was formally 

 commiflioned by the other twelve to be their captain of the cog (' ca- 

 ' pitaneum noflrum didae cochse'), and alfo to command the other vef- 

 fels of an armada fitted out by them againfl the enemy. The city's 

 third of the prize-money amounted to /^i. 1 63 : 18 : 9 for a Genoefe 

 cog, and £33^ '• 3' ^^ *'or a Pifan galley, taken by the Sent Climenc 

 during her cruife. [^Gapmnriy, Mem. hiji. de Barcelona, V. i, Mar. p. 46 ; 

 V. ii, Gol. dipl. pp. 77, 406, 408, 415, 417.] Some of the Catalonian 

 vefl^els carried ftill greater numbers of men. In the year 1334 four of 

 them, carrying 1,980 fighting men befides the feamen, and alfo women 

 and horfes, and having moreover cargoes of cloth and other goods on- 

 board for Sardinia, being fitted for trade as well as war, were taken, af- 

 ter a battle of ten days, by ten Genoefe gallies. \Stell(e Ann. Gen. ap. 

 Muratori Script. V. xvii, col. 1066.] 



1332, April 13'*^ — In confequencc of fome dilfenfions between the 

 people of England and the foreign merchants, the later had for fome 

 time withdrawn from the kingdom. In order to remove their appre- 

 heniions, the king now publilhed a confirmation of the charter given 

 by his grandfither to the foreign merchants in the year 1303, and add- 

 ed an aflhrance that they fliould not be fubjeded to any-undue prifes, 

 exadions, or arrefls, and that nothing fliould be taken from them for 

 his ufe without their confent. {Faedera, V. iv, p. 516.] 



• See particularly above, p. 335. 

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