A. D. 1443- 66 r 



and to prefs plumbers, mafons, and other workmen, ii>to their fervice.- 

 [Foedern, V. xi, pp. 29-33.] 



The Portuguefe, in the progrefs of their difcoveries along the coafl 

 of Africa, having kidnapi:>€d fome of the Moors, Prince Henry this 

 year ordered the commanders of his vefTels to carry them home to their 

 own country. His officers, however, inftead of obeying his humane 

 and judicious order, obUged the friends of the captives to redeem them, 

 and received in exchange ten Negro flaves and a quantity of gold. Thefe 

 two kind of new objeds, thus unexpededly offered to the avidity of the 

 Portuguefe, filenced the murmurs againfl; Prince Henry's fchemes of' 

 difcovery, and immediately filled all Europe with eagernefs to embark, 

 under the flag of the Portuguefe, to whom the pope had very liberally 

 granted all the countries between Cape Bojador and India. A company 

 of merchants at Lagos obtained from the prince a charter for the ex- 

 clufive right of trading with the Moors of the African coaft for a limit- 

 ed time ; and in the following year (1444) a few veffels belonging to 

 this firll Royal African company arrived at a fmall ifland called Nar. But. 

 inflead of trading with the Moors, they made a hoftile attack upon 

 them, flew many, and brought off 155 captives. Prince Henry after- 

 wards built a fort on the little ifland of Arguin for the accommodation 

 of the company; and there they eftabliflied their fadory, to w'hich they 

 fent regular annual fliips with woollen cloth, linen, corn, &c. and fome- 

 fllver. Thefe they exchanged with the Moors, or Arabs, for Negro - 

 flaves (to the number of feven or eight hundred annually about the 

 year 1456) and gold duft. Such was the commencement of the Euro- 

 pean trade on the coafl: of Africa for flaves, who were then all carried . 

 to Portugal. \Faria y Sou/a, V. i, p. 10. — Cada Mo/Id's Voyage, p. 55. — 

 Purchas, B. x, p. 1674.] 



1444, May 28"' — After an age of warfare the ambaflTadors of England j 

 and France concluded a truce to lafl: till the 1" of April 1446, whereby 

 the fubjedts of both kingdoms were allowed reciprocal freedom of trade, . 

 and it was agreed, that their property, being in any town belonging to 

 the oppofite power at the expiration of the truce, fliould be preferved . 

 inviolate. [Foedera, V. xi, p. 59.] 



1445, Odober 21" — Notwithftanding the repeated injundions of 

 councils againfl ecclefiaftical perfons being concerned in trade, many 

 of them were merchants and traders of every denomination ; and, be- 

 ing exempted from moft of the taxes paid by the laity, they underfold 

 and ruined the regular traders, w-ho contributed to fupport them. In 

 order to give fome check to the prepofterous converfion of monafleries , 

 into warehoufes, work-fliops, inns, and tap-houfes, PhiUp duke of Bur- 

 gundy now iflued a placard, wherein he fets forth, that many more con- 

 vents for monks and nuns had been founded within a few years in his 

 territories of Holland and Zeland, than were proportioned to the extent 

 of thofe countries ; that all trades and handicrafts are carried on ir. . 



