578 A. D. 1370. 



the earl. The Flemings alfo engaged to carry no armour, artillery, or 

 ftores, to the king's enemies, [Fa^dera, V. \i, p. 659.] From this treaty 

 we learn, that the expedient ufed by merchants and mariners for fcreen- 

 ing their property from capture, when their fovereigns engaged in war, 

 by becoming nominal denizens of neutral powers, is at leaft as old as 

 the year 1370. 



1 371, January i'' — A (hip and two cogs or carracks, belonging to 

 Genoa, and loaded with merchandize belonging to Genoefe, Florentine, 

 Lucan, Venetian, and Valentine *, merchants, had been feized by the 

 Englilh in the years 1369 and 1370: and now the king ordered that 

 they {hould be reftored, and that each of the merchants fhould receive 

 the packages appearing by the marks to be his property. Soon after 

 (February 3'') the treaty with Genoa of the year 1347 was renewed, 

 and all damages and hoflilities on both lides were configned to oblivion, 

 the king adding, as a condition, that the Genoefe fliould give no aflifl:- 

 ance by land or fea to his enemies. It appears that 2,000 marks were 

 paid to the Genoefe in the following year by the king ; and at the fame 

 time a perpetual peace, or alliance, between England and Genoa on the 

 above terms was concluded, or confirmed (26"' January, 1372). \_Fa;d- 

 era, V. v\,pp. G6^^ 670, 673, 676, 679, 682, 706, 707.] 



Lent — The parliament, apparently in confequence of the duty, in- 

 tended to defray the expenfe of guarding the fea, being impofed by 

 the king's authority, enaded, that any new impofition laid upon wool, 

 wool-fells, or hides, without their aflent, fhould be null. \Stat. 45 Fdw, 

 III,c.^.-\ 



The commons reprefented in parliament, that fhips were often taken 

 up for the king long before they were wanted, and the merchants ruin- 

 ed by fupporting their feamen in idlenefs ; that by the merchants, the 

 fupporters of the navy, being fo often deprived of their fliips, the mar- 

 iners were driven into other trades ; and that the mailers of the king's 

 veflels took up (preffed) the maflers of other veflels, as good men as 

 themfelves, whereby the men were alfo obliged to feek other means of 

 living, and the fliips were rendered ufelefs ; and that by thefe means the 

 navy was reduced. [Co//o«'x Abridgement, p. 113.] 



1372, February 7"" — Notwitliftanding this remonftrance, the king 

 iffued orders for all veffels in England and Wales to enter into his 

 fervice, and to affemble on or before the firft day of May in the har- 

 bours of Southampton, Portfmouth, Hamel in the Rys, and Hamel 

 Hoke, all on the coaft of Hamplhire oppofite to the Ille of Wight, 

 \FcEdera, V. vi, p. 708.] 



April 7"" — A merchant of York obtained leave to fliip four pipes of 

 Rhenifh wine at York for Kingflon upon Hull, and thence to carry it 

 to Pruiria for fale,' he being bound to bring home wood for bows in re- 



* Apparently of Valencia in Spain, 



