540 A. D. 1348. 



patent, as already related : but, on their petition to the king, that of- 

 fice was this year aboliflied. [Rot. pat. prim. 3 Edzv. Ill, m. 1 ; and privi. 

 22, VI. 4. — Cotton^ s Abridgement, p. 71.] 



The contraded fpirit of corporation monopoly fo far prevailed againft 

 the ads of parliament of the years 1335 and 1337 and the king's refo- 

 lution to cherifli the woollen manufafture, that the weavers of Lincoln 

 this year obtained from him a grant of, what they called, their liberties, 

 which confided in a power of depriving any weaver, not of their gild, 

 of the liberty of working at his trade within twelve leagues of their 

 city ; a pretty ample fcope for the exercife of petty tyranny. \Rot. pat. 

 fee, 22 Ediv. Ill, m. 22.] But this and other fuch monopolies were again 

 abohfhed by the a6l, called the ftatute of cloths, in the year 1351. 



This year there were great commotions in Flanders among the weav- 

 ers. Six hundred of them v/ere (lain in a fkirmifh ; and thofe who re- 

 mained at home were dragged out of their houfes and murdered. 

 \Meyeri Ann. Flandr.f. 154 a.] Such tragical excefles muft undoubtedly 

 have been very prejudicial to the manufactures of Flanders, and contri- 

 buted to fpread them through the adjacent countries. Though we do 

 not meet with any formal letters of fafe conduct at this time, there can 

 fcarcely be any doubt that fome of the Flemilh weavers now availed 

 themfelves of the general encouragement held out to them in England, 

 and fheltered themfelves there from the fury of their enemies. 



1349, May 19"" — The drapers of Barcelona, probably as being among 

 the moft fubftantial of the citizens, carried on the bufmefs of banking 

 or changing money in that city, as the goldfmiths in an after age did in 

 London. But, by an order of the king of Aragon, they were now 

 obliged to give fufficient fecurity, before they could enter upon thofe 

 branches of bufinefs. \Capmany, Mem. hijl. de Barcelona^ V. ii. Col. dipl. 



1350 — The long-projeded marriage with Peter, now king of Caflile, 

 being fruftrated by the death of the Englifh princefs, and the young 

 monarch being conneded with the court of France by a contradl of 

 marriage, the maritime towns of Caftile and Bifcay fitted out a number 

 of large warlike veflels, which took a vail number of Englifli traders 

 with cargoes of wine and wool. Emboldened by the fuccefs of their 

 depredations, they collefted a large fleet, and arrogantly afiliming the 

 title oi lords of the EngTfhfea, threatened to deftroy the navy of England 

 and to invade the kingdom. It became neceflliry to appoint convoys 

 to protcdl the Englifli trade ; and the king, with the advice of the pre- 

 lates, nobles, and community of merchants of the maritime towns ot England, 

 ordained, that a duty of forty pennies flerling (hould be laid upon every 

 tun of wine Ihipped in Gaicoigne onboard any veliel belonging to Eng- 

 land, Wales, or Ireland, for whatever country bound, or onboard any 

 foreign veflel bound for England, Wales, or Ireland, as a fund for de- 



