A. D. 1468. 



685 



tween the parties concerned. Chrifliern king of Denmark, who, as fuc- 

 ceflor to the kings of Norway, had the right to the annual, gave his 

 daughter in marriage to King James, with a portion of 60,000 florins, 

 together with a fall difcharge of the arrears of the annual, and alfo of 

 all demands on that account in time coming. Of the fum llipulated, 

 he engaged to pay down 10,000 florins before his daughter's departure 

 for Scotland, and to give a niortgage of the fovereignty of the Orkney 

 iflands, which fliould remain fubjecfi: to the crown of Scotland, till he 

 fliouid pay the remaining 50,000. When the time appointed for the em- 

 barkation of the princefs arrived, Chrifl:iern, being much harafled with 

 war, could only pay 2,000 florins; and therefor (20''' May 1496) he offered 

 a further niortgage of the iflands of Hialtland, or Shetland, till he fliould 

 find it convenient to redeem them by paying 8,000 florins. None of 

 the money was ever paid ; and all the iflands, fcattered in the Northern 

 ocem in the vicinity of Scotland, remain to this day attached to that 

 kingdom. [T'orfai Orcades, pp. i 85 c'/'y^-^y.] 



December — The arrival of one hundred and fifty veflels at once was 

 beheld by the inhabitants of Slays with wonder and delight : for very 

 feldom fo many arrived at once *. [Meyeri Ann. Flandr.f. 347 a.] 



1470, March 23'' — A proclamation of King Edward, offering a land- 

 ed eftate of ;(^ioo a year, or, in the option of the receiver, £^1,000 iu 

 ready money, as a reward for apprehending the duke of Clarence or the 

 earl of Warwick, [F^i/if/-^, r. xi,/". 654] has been adduced as a proof, 

 that land was ufually worth only ten years' purchafe. But it is only a 

 proof, that Edward was rich in lands from the very numerous forfeitures, 

 and poor in money, as appears from his conflant borrowing. Neither 

 was forfeited land, in thofe days of fudden revolutions, a very fecure or 

 eligible property f . 



December 24'*^ — Several merchants and mariners of the north coafl 

 of Spain fought redrefs for vefTels and cai'goes, which, they declared up- 

 on oath, were piratically taken from them by the people of Sandwich, 

 Dartmouth, Plymouth, and Fowey. The veflels and their cargoes were 

 valued by them as follows %. 



a ship of 100 tuns, value ^107 10 O; total of vessel and cargo £bQ5 



a ship 70 - 100 0-'" 



a carvel 40 - 70 O O - 



a ship 120 - 110 O O ditto, 



a carvel 110 - 140 O O ditto, 



a carvel 110 - 150 O O ditto, 



a carvel 120 - 180 O O ditto. 



ditto, ditto 



ditto, ditto 



ditto, and freight 



ditto, ditto 



ditto 



ditto, ditto 



350 

 250 

 300 

 380 

 2,500 

 450 



• This arrival has been related by fiicceeding J The fums here ftated are taken from the coni- 



writers as a common occurrence, and as a proof of plaint of the merchants addrcfTed to the king : but 



the vaft commerce of Bruges, of which Sluys was 

 the fea-port. We thus fee, what miiiaken infer- 

 ences may be drawn from an erroneous llatement 

 of a fimple faft. 



\ We have already feen (p. 448) a life-rent, 

 not a property, in lands valued at ten years' pur- 

 chafe in Scotland in the thirteenth century. 



the particulars, fworn to in the court, give totalt 

 fomewhat different, and in gcnctnl amounting to 

 greater Turns. The wool was valued at f^ per 

 facie of I -J quintal, the iron at ^^4 per tuu, tlic 

 wines at ,^4 to ^^5 per tun. 



