712 A, D, 1489. 



It is very certain, that the greatefl part of the foreign trade of Eng- 

 land had hitherto been carried on by foreign merchants in foreign vef- 

 fels, though fonie faint and tranfient indications of a fenfe of the dan- 

 ger and impoHcy of refigning the moft valuable interefts, and the befl 

 means of the defence, of the country into the hands of ftrangers had 

 fometimes appeared. The parliament, now confidering, ' that where 

 * great minifhing and decay hath been no we of late tyme of the navye 

 ' of this realme of Englande, and ydelnes of the maryners of the 

 ' fame, by the whiche this noble realme within ihorte procefs of 

 ' tyme, without reformation be had therin fhall not be of abylytye ne 

 ' of ftrengthe and power to defend itfelfe,' enaded, that no wines of 

 Guienne or Gafcoigne, nor woad of Tholoufe, fliould be imported into 

 England, Ireland, Wales, Calais, or Berwick, unlefs in vefTels belong- 

 ing to the king or fome of his fubjeds of thofe territories, and navigat- 

 ed by feamen of whom the greater part fhould be natives of the fame 

 territories. They alfo prohibited the king's fubjefts from ihipping goods 

 in England or Wales onboard any veflel owned by a foreigner, unlefs 

 when fufficient freight could not be found in Englifh vefTels. Foreign 

 veffels, loaded with wine or woad, if driven into Englifh ports by florm 

 or enemies, were allowed to fell as much as would pay for neceflliry pro- 

 vifions or repairs, and no more. [c. 10.] 



The adl [4 Edzv. IV, c. 4] againfl; foreftalling contrads for wool pro- 

 duced in the counties of Berks, Oxford, &c. was continued for ten years 

 longer, [c. 11.] 



The parliament, confidering the defolation of the country, the de- 

 flrudion of houfes and towns, and the idlenefs of the people, occafioned 

 by turning corn lands into pafture, fome towns, wherein formerly two 

 hundred perfons earned their livelihood, being now occupied by two or 

 three herdfmen *, enaded, that all houfes, having twenty or more acres 

 of land in tillage annexed to them, fliould be kept up by the proprie- 

 tors, whether they leafed the land to farmers, or cultivated it for their 

 own account, on pain of forfeiting half the rent to the king or other 

 over-lord. [r. 19.] Though the parliament afcribed the exceffive pre- 

 diledion for paflurage to the avarice of the land-holders, it was more 

 probably a neceflary confequence of the depopulation of the country 

 by the civil wars between the rival families of York and Lancafter fol- 

 lowing immediately after that occafioned by the repeated invafions of 

 France, the proprietors being compelled by want of hands to feed flieep 

 upon the fields which ufed to be cultivated by their predial fervants, as 

 the fteady demand for wool prefented the only means of obtaining any 

 emolument from their eilutes : and moreover, in thofe calamitous times, 

 living ftock, which could eafily be conveyed out of the reach of an ene- 



* Many of the greater towns were alfo fo much granted in the reign of Edward IV, as appears by 

 decayed as to need parliamentary aids to preferve Coll(/»'s jlbi'ul^emcnt of the records. 

 them from utter drfulation, whicli were frequently 



