6i± A. D. 1 40 1. 



ftanding that barges and balingers were the veflels mofl proper for that 

 purpofe, ordered the community of the city of London to provide one 

 of each at their own expenfe. Tlie other confiderable towns, inland as 

 well as maritime, were taxed, fome to find a barge, and fome a balinger; 

 and the fmaller towns were made to join, two, three, or more, according 

 to their abiaties, to find a barge or a balinger *. [^Fcedern, V. •v\\\,p. 172.] 



January — In order to put a flop to the frauds committed by means of 

 the currency of Flemifh and Scottifli coins in England, it was enaded, 

 that they ihould be all coined into Englifli money in England or Calais-; 

 and that no more fhould be admitted into the kingdom f . \Stat. 2 Hen. 

 IV, c. 6.] 



June 8"* — Notwithftanding the complaints on both fides, and the 

 formal renunciation of the grand mailer, the commercial intercourfc 

 between England and Pruflia was ftill kept up, and many Englifh merch- 

 ants were fettled in that country. But the harmony was interrupted by 

 the capture of a Pruflian veflel by the Scots, which being retaken by 

 fome vefFels belonging to Lynne, it was reported in Pruffia that flie was 

 taken by the Englifh, and, in confequence thereof, all the Englifli fub- 

 jedls found in that country, with all their property, were arrefled. King 

 Henry, therefor, now wrote to the grand mailer in order to correal the 

 mifreprefentation, and requefled him to take off the arrefl from his 

 fubjeds and their property. [Foedera, V. viii, p. 203.] 



This year the magiflrates of Barcelona ellablifiied their bank of ex- 

 change and depofit, called Taula de cambi (Table of exchange), upon the 

 fecurity of the funds of the city, and with the intention of extending 

 the accommodation afforded by it to foreigners, as w^ll as to their own 

 citizens. And it appears, from records ftill extant, that foreign bills of 

 exchange were ufually negotiated in it, and that the diredtors of it gave 

 affiftance to the manufadurers, when making their purchafes of raw 

 materials, fuch as EtigliJJj tvool, &cc. The Spanifli writers call this bank 

 the firfl cflabUfhment of the kind in Europe J. [CnprnaTij, Mem. hiji. de 

 Barcelona., V. i, Com. pp. 144, 213 ; V. ii, Col. dipl. p. 203.] 



1402, Augufl 11'" — The magiflrates of Bruges complained to King 

 Henry's council of feveral injuries, and particularly, that a fillierman 

 of Oflend, when fifliing for herrings in the North fea, and alfo one be- 

 longing to Briel in Holland, had been taken by the Englifh, and car- 

 ried into Hull, though they havered their fails ^ the moment the Englifli 

 called to them. \_Foedera, V. win, pp. 273, 276.] 



* In the preceding year fcvcnil of the batons concerning tlu' conflitution and management of tlii? 



found vcfTels for the king at their own expenfe. bank of Venice in the early ages of its exillenct. 



[^FceJcrti, Ffviii, /I. 125.] Capmany and the authors preceding him mull liave 



f The meaning mull be, that they fliouM no confuh-rtd them as very diil'ercnt from thofe of the 



longer be current. A refufal to adnu't money bank ol Barcelona. The creditors of the republic 



would have been in direft oppofition to the policy of Cen )a were not yet incorporated as a banking 



of the age. company. 



I I have not been able, even with the alTillancc } This acknowlegcmcnt of the dominion of tlie 



of a Venetian gentleman, to find any information fea h marked with capital letters by Rymer. 



