A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



ordered to send out vessels to deal with Channel piracy ' from the remainder ' of those due from 

 them. 1 The year 1293 was signalized by a sea battle, the outcome of a long series of provocations 

 on both sides, fought at a pre-arranged spot in the Channel between the Cinque Ports, with their 

 Irish, Dutch, and Gascon allies, and the Normans, French, and Genoese. Prizes were brought into 

 Pevensey, Shoreham, and the new Winchelsea ; no doubt Rye and Hastings were also well 

 represented Wrecking was common everywhere round the coast, and Sussex was no exception to 

 the rule. A typical case occurred in 1289 when a Bayonne ship went ashore near Shoreham ; the 

 crew reached land and made a salvage agreement for 1 23 marks, but although the Shoreham men 

 received payment they were accused of stealing much of the cargo. 2 The town was probably of 

 some importance, for in 1291 it was the only one in Sussex, besides the Cinque Ports, to which a 

 writ was addressed ordering a truce with France to be observed. 3 In the early years of Edward's 

 reign it had suffered from the oppression of its lord, William de Braose, whose exactions caused both 

 English and foreign ships to shun the port. 4 Rye does not now appear so often, but in 1294 it 

 provided a ' king's mariner,' Richard Marchand, to go in command of two royal galleys to guard 

 the Channel Islands.' 



In consequence of the war with France which followed the Channel battle of 1293 general 

 preparations for offence and defence were made in England in 1294 and 1295, although Edward 

 himself was engaged in a Scotch campaign. Two large galleys, each of 120 oars, were ordered in 

 1294 to be built at Winchelsea for the king; the competence of the town for such work in the 

 matter of shipwrights and an ample supply of material is shown by the fact that it and Bristol were 

 the only two out of ten places, including London, where more than one galley was to be 

 constructed. 6 In September, 1295, there was a general arrest of ships of 40 tons and upwards, 

 Thomas Alard of Winchelsea being one of the commissioners for Sussex and the southern 

 counties. 7 



On 22 August, 1297, Edward, with an army and a large fleet, the product of a general arrest 

 of shipping, 8 sailed from Winchelsea for Sluys, and his arrival there was marked by an outburst, 

 more than ordinary in its violence, of the hatred always existing between the Cinque Ports and 

 Yarmouth. As far back as the reign of King John the men of Yarmouth had resented the use of 

 their shore by the Cinque Ports fishermen, and on one occasion when the bigger ships from 

 Hastings were absent on the king's service in Ireland, they placed timber where the Hastings men 

 spread their nets to dry and set fire to it. 9 At the same time the men of Yarmouth complained 

 against the Sussex men and demanded a royal inquiry; 10 the result of this is not known, but in 1219 

 Henry III, then a boy, had been made to say that he heard that there were quarrels every year 

 between the Portsmen and the Yarmouth burgesses, and that the former, who seem to have been 

 regarded as the aggressors, were not to interfere with the rights, or disturb the peace, of their 

 unwilling hosts. This order was repeated almost in the same words in 1221 and 1222 ; u in 1252 

 some Yarmouth men were imprisoned at Winchelsea, and the crown had difficulty in obtaining 

 their release. An affray occurred in 1254 when the queen and Prince Edward were about 

 10 sail for Bordeaux ; probably in order to avoid jealousy it had been arranged that the queen 

 should go in a ship of Winchelsea and the prince in one of Yarmouth. The Sussex men were 

 content to supply a good seaworthy vessel, but the Norfolk port provided a far handsomer ship, and 

 no doubt taunted their rivals upon its superiority ; the latter retorted by attacking and destroying 

 the Yarmouth ship, with the result that the royal party refused to trust to either escort and crossed 

 from Portsmouth. 13 As Yarmouth grew in wealth and strength the burgesses became more and 

 more unwilling to suffer the dictation, none too gently exercised, of the Cinque Ports bailiffs, and 

 although we have only occasional notices of the constant friction its existence is proved by the 

 necessity Edward was under, in 1277, of issuing a long and carefully-worded award defining the 

 respective rights of the contestants. 13 In reality it was a triple quarrel, for Yarmouth was hated as 



1 Close, 10 Edw. I, m. 4. ' Pat. 17 Edw. I, m. zoJ. 



1 Ibid. 19 Edw. I, m. 17. 4 Rot. Hund. ii, 203. 



4 Pat. 22 Edw.' I, m. 4. ' K.R. Memo. R. 69, m. 77. 



7 Pat. 23 Edw. I, m. 6. Reginald Alard is mentioned as owner of La Vache in 1285 (ibid. 13 Edw. I, 

 m. 22), and in 1293 a vessel belonging to Robert Brede of Winchelsea was granted to John Alard as the 

 former had committed piracies with it (ibid. 21 Edw. I, m. 13). In 1298 Nicholas Alard was forgiven 25 

 due to the king in part payment of a vessel bought from the crown (ibid. 26 Edw. I, m. 22). 



8 Close, 25 Edw. I, m. l8< In the case of the Cinque Ports they were required to send all ships of 

 40 tons and upwards as well as their ' service,' but the king allowed that it was not to be a precedent. 



9 Plae. Abbrev. (Rec. Com.), 75. For this and the following extract and for those from the Assize Rolls 

 I have to thank the courtesy of Mr. L. F. Salzmann. 



10 Ibid. 76. " Pat. 3 Hen. Ill, m. 2 ; 5 Hen. Ill, m. 2 ; 6 Hen. Ill, m. 2. 

 " Matt. Paris, Hist. Minor (Rolls Ser.), iii, 335. 



" Pat. 5 Edw. I, m. 17. See also Walter of Hemingburgh, 'odium quod inter ipsos et marinarios de 

 Jarnemue ab antiquo duraxerat.' 



132 



