A. D. 1402. 613 



Odober — All importers of merchandize, whether Englifli or foreign- 

 ers, were ordered by parliament to invefl the zvholc proceeds of their 

 cargoes in Englifli merchandize for exportation, relerving money only 

 for their neceflary expenfes. Neither was any perfon whatfoever per- 

 mitted to export gold or filver without the king's fpecial licence. \Stat. 

 4 Hen. JV, cc. 15, 16.] 



It is probable that the Canary iflands, which were undoubtedly known 

 to the Phoenicians of Gadir, and by report even to the Romans, were 

 never entirely forgotten in Europe *. 'fhe French and Spaniards claim 

 the merit of having difcovered them in the year 1395, and feem to ac- 

 knowlege that they were put upon the fearch for them by the report of 

 Macham's difcovery of Madeira. Jean de Bethencourt, a Norman. gen- 

 tleman of Dieppe, now made a conquefl of thofe iflands. [Hakluyt, V, 

 ii, part ii,/>. I. — Mem. de litterature, V. xxxvii, ;!). 521.] 



1403, March 10''' — It is vexatious to find the records filled with com- 

 plaints, made by the continental merchants and efpecially thofe of the 

 Hanfe, of outrages and depredations committed by Englifli feamen, 

 who, it mufl be acknowleged, feera too often to have confidered power 

 as the only flandard of right. The aldermen and jurates of the Hanfe 

 merchants refiding at Bruges complained of the capture of a Pruflian 

 veflel loaded with wine in July 1402 ; and the confuls of the maritime 

 cities of the Hanie afl'embled at Lubeck reprefented, that a veilel be- 

 longing to Stetin was taken by the mayor of King Henry's city of 

 Bayonne, who prefumed to detain her in defiance of the king's order 

 for reftitution f . The magifi:rates of Eubeck, and thofe of Hamburgh, 

 alfo reprefented, that a veilel loaded with 29 lafts of herrings ij: was 

 taken on her way from Malrao to Flanders in Autumn 1402 by fome 

 veflels belonging to Lynne and Blackney. [Fcedera^ V. viii, pp. iCg, 

 270, 284, 287, 297.] 



June 27''' — It was agreed, in a truce with France, that all perfons, 

 "veffels, and property, fl:iould be mutually and freely refl;ored ; that merch- 

 ants and others might go about their bufinefs in either kingdom with- 

 out any hinderance, and without needing letters of fafe-condud: ; and 

 that, for the fecurity of navigation, all armed veflels ftiould be called 

 into port. It was afterwards further fl.ipulated, that during the ap- 

 proaching herring feafon the fifliermen of both kingdoms might fifli 

 freely and together from Graveling and Thanet down to the mouth of 

 the Seine and Southampton ; and, if they fhould be obliged to go into 

 port, they fliould be kindly received on either fide. [Fcedera., V. viii, 

 pp. 305, 336.] But all thefe harmonious meafures were very foon broken. 



* See above p. 112 for Gadir, Sec. and p. 327 Bruges again reqiieftcd the king to enforce refti- 



for a voyage made to them by the Saracens in the tution. \_p. 354.] 

 twelfth century. J We tlius lee, that the capricious herrings had 



■f- The vefiel was ftill detained in April 1404, again returned to their old flation on the coaft of 



when the aldermen and jurates of the Hanfe at Schonen. 



