A. D. 1379. . 589 



June 6"' — The king, confidering the great force of warhke fhips, which 

 the French had upon the north (or rather eaft) coaft of England, and 

 the damage fuffered by the people of Scarburgh in particular by cap- 

 tures, and by paying ;^i, 000 in ranfoms within two years, whereby they 

 were brought almoft to ruin, ordered two (hips, two barges, and two 

 balingers, properly fitted for war, to cruife upon that coaft. For fup- 

 porting the expenle of thofe velTels he, at the requefl of the commons 

 in parliament, ordered the admiral and wardens of the North fea to 

 levy a duty of fix pennies per tun upon every fliip and crayer for each 

 voyage outward and homeward upon that fea, except thofe trading be- 

 tween London and Flanders or Calais (which on the other hand were not 

 intitled to the protection of the fquadron) ; fix pennies per tun from 

 fifhing veflels for every week they fhould be employed upon the herring 

 fifhery, or for every three weeks upon any other fifhery ; fix pennies per 

 tun upon all vefi^els with coals from Newcaftle to be paid quarterly ; and 

 fix pennies per laft of grain for each voyage from all fliips, crayers, and 

 veflels, trading to Pruflia, Norway, Sconen, or the adjacent countries. 

 [^Fa'dera, V. vii, p. 220.] We here fee the Newcaftle coal trade an ob- 

 jedt of the attention, and alfo of the favour, of government, being tax- 

 ed the lowefl:, while the herring fifhery was very unwifely taxed the 

 highefl. The attention of government to the coal trade appears further 

 in an order ifliaed foon after this time for meafuring the keels * at New- 

 cafl;le. \^Rot. pat. prim. 8 Ric II, a tergo, 34.] And that coals, together 

 with grindflones, were then, as at this day, the chief objeds of the in- 

 duftry of the country adjacent to Newcafi;le, may be prefumed from 

 their being firft mentioned among the things fwept away by a great flood 

 in the rivers of Northumberland about the beginning of the year 1377. 

 \Walfmgham, p. 191.] 



This year an opulent merchant of Genoa offered to raife Southampton 

 to a pre-eminence above every port on the weftern coafts of Europe by 

 making it the depofit of all the Oriental goods, which the Genoefe uled 

 to carry to Flanders, Normandy, and Bretagne, which countries would 

 thenceforth be fupplied from it, to the great advantage of England, pro- 

 vided the king would allow him to flore his goods in the caftle of 

 Southampton. If this plan had been cai-ried into execution, it was fup- 

 pofed, that pepper would have been fold in England at four pennies a 

 pound, and other fpiceries in proportion. But the Genoefe merchant 

 was murdered upon the llreet in London ; and the Englifli merchants, 

 v/ho are faid to have thought his fcheme ruinous to their own trade, are 

 charged with having hired the affaffins. {IValfinghaniy pp. 227, S3Z-^ 



It muft be acknowledged, that the people of England, elpecially thofe 

 engaged in any kind of trade or manufactures, were fo far from being 

 fenfible, that an accefllon of well-employed capital, or of induftrious 



* River craft for carrying the coals onboard the fiiips, and ufed as meafurcs then, as mow—. 



