A. D. 1415. 629 



his fervlce ; and the whole, Englifh and foreign, were direded to af- 

 femble in the ports of Southampton, London, Sandwich, Winchelfea, 

 and Briftol. The commanders of feveral fhips, which, being diftinguifh- 

 ed as belonging to the I'ower, may be prefumed to have been royal JJnps, 

 were commiflioned to prefs men for their veflels. The whole fleet, col- 

 lected for the invafion of France, confiftcd of 1,500 veflels. [Foedera^ K 

 ix, pp. 215, 216, 218, 238 — Waljhgham, p. 390.] 



November — The parliament ordered, that none of the foreign coins, 

 called galley halfpennies becaufe imported in the Genoefe gallies, thofe 

 called fefkyns and doydekyns, nor any of the Scottifh filver money, 

 Ihould any longer be current in England *. \^ABs 3 Hen. V,Jl. i , c. i .] . 



November 28'" — King Henry, in order to conciliate the favour of the 

 king of Denmark and Norway, ordered proclamation to be made in all 

 the ports on the eaft fide of England, that none of his fubjeds fliould 

 go to any of that king's iflands, efpecially Iceland, for the fpace of a 

 year, to catch fifh, or do any other bufinefs, except what ufed to be done 

 in antient times. [Foedera, V. ix, p. 322.] It may be obferved, that 

 ftockfifli, which were common in England above a century before this 

 time, were all brought from the Norwegian territories. 



This year John king of Portugal, with the afliftance (according to 

 Walfingham) of fome Englifh and German merchants, took the city of 

 Ceuta, fituated on the fouth fhore of the Straits of Morocco (or Gibral- 

 tar), from the Saracens of Africa. If it be true, that by converfations 

 with the Saracen captives John's fon Henry firft conceived an idea of 

 the pradicability of a route to India by filling round the fouth end of 

 Africa, the capture of Ceuta is of great importance indeed in commer- 

 cial hiftory. \Walfingham, p. 393 — Purchases Pilgrims, B. ii, p. 5.] 



Henry, the fifth fon of King John by Philippa the daughter of John 

 duke of Lancafler, was a prince enlightened beyond the flandard of the 

 age ; and he fpread the illumination of fcience all-around him by the 

 munificent encouragement he gave to learned men and artifis, whom 

 he endeavoured to attrad from all countries to his refidence at Sagres 

 near Cape S'. Vincent, where he ereded an obfervatory, and eftablilhed 

 fchools for the fciences conducive to the improvement of navigation. 

 James, a man eminently fkilful in geography, navigation, and the ufe 

 of the inftruments then known, whom he invited from Majorca, in- 

 ftruded the Portuguefe youth in thofe fciences : and, cherifhed by the 

 beams of royal favour, a number of artifl;s quickly fprung up, who com- 

 pofed maps, wherein all parts of the world, known by report as well as 

 by difcovery, were inferted, with very little attention to corrednefs in 

 their configuration or pofition. Thofe maps, fuch as they were, difle- 



• The currency of the galley halfpcniiies had days, being fomcwhat broader, but thinner, than 



already bicn prohibited by an ad\ 1 1 Hen. IV, the Englilh halfpennies of his time, which were 



c. 5. Stow, however, fays, that they continued much inferior in weight of filver to the halfpennies 



current in fome degree even in his own younger of the age of Henry V. [Survey of London, p. z(i2.'\ 



