A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



regarded these attacks as examples of useless 'cross-ravaging,' i.e. raids for plunder, inflicting loss 

 and misery on private individuals but of no value in deciding a war. It may be questioned, 

 however, whether these raids were either aimless or valueless. The troops were no doubt animated 

 only by a desire for plunder, but to the leaders Rye and Winchelsea were important naval bases, 

 and their destruction was desired for the same reasons that would lead to similar attempts on 

 Chatham, Portsmouth, and Plymouth to-day. 



Towards the end of 1377 the need for ships was so great that it was agreed in Parliament in 

 November to call upon many of the inland towns, as well as the ports, to build vessels by the 

 following March ; as an encouragement the burgesses were promised that after the necessity had 

 passed away the vessels should be returned for private use to those who had paid for their building 

 and equipment. 1 The Cinque Ports, as a whole, were charged with the provision of five balingers, 

 but Rye was treated exceptionally, being granted certain customs for five years, including id. on 

 every seine of fish exported, in aid of the refortification of the town and the construction of two 

 balingers of 34 oars each. 2 Whatever their losses the spirit and strength of Rye and Winchelsea 

 were not yet broken, and early in 1378 they effected a raid of revenge in Normandy; as it was 

 directed against ' Portus Petri ' and ' Wylet,' 3 and as we are told that the Portsmen did in those 

 places as they had been done unto, recovering much of their property, it may be inferred that the 

 French fleet of 1377 was manned largely from those towns. In 1380 the French, still in the 

 ascendant, fell again upon Winchelsea ; this time the abbot of Battle was unable to save the town, 

 and it was more or less destroyed. 4 It may not be true to say that this blow was fatal to its 

 prosperity, because there were other factors at work, but it certainly set the seal upon its decline. 

 In September the Warden of the Ports was directed to convoke a meeting of the mayors, barons, 

 and leading seamen, point out to them the dangers to be feared if the command of the sea was not 

 regained, ask their advice as to the measures expedient, and induce them to contribute towards the 

 cost. 5 The Portsmen were probably in no condition to contribute money, or even to provide their 

 full service, and if the command of the sea was to be recovered it could only be by the whole 

 maritime strength of England well organized and directed. A writ of I382, 6 directing a general 

 press of seamen in Sussex and Kent, seems to point to a temporary paralysis of the Cinque Ports 

 service and the consequent application of general custom to the counties. 



In 1384 Winchelsea was still desolate, and the ship service was temporarily diminished. 7 In 

 the same year the Commons petitioned the king that some steps might be taken towards the defence 

 of Rye and Winchelsea, ' because if those towns were taken .... the whole country would be 

 destroyed.' 8 Rye was, perhaps, regarded as in the more hopeful condition, and the fact that it was 

 ' understood that the French were trying to take it themselves to keep and fortify it ' 9 was a very 

 good reason why the English should look closely to it. The Warden of the Ports was instructed 

 to explain ' the imminent danger ' to the inhabitants, and, if necessary, compel them to refortify it. 

 They were assisted by a tax of 3^. on every noble's worth of fish landed in the Kent and Sussex ports 

 which money was to be used for the defence of the coast and the fortification of Rye. 10 In Sussex 

 the French fury fell almost entirely upon Rye and Winchelsea during these years, and probably 

 only upon Hastings because being so near at hand and practically defenceless it could be attacked 

 by a detachment from the main body. The other ports are hardly mentioned in the military 

 sense ; it is curious, for several reasons, to find a Spanish ship arrested at Pagham during the first 

 year of Richard's reign and unloaded there. 11 A sign of the exhaustion of the Cinque Ports is the 

 fact that in such fleet lists of this reign as exist, some of them long ones of levies extending from 

 Newcastle to Bristol, none comes from the Ports ; that Shoreham is also absent suggests that it 

 must have shared, in some way, in the misfortunes of its neighbours. A list of 57 ships sailing to 

 Spain with John of Ghent's army in 1386 includes one, nearly the smallest of the fleet, from 

 Winchelsea. Rye, however, could still send ships to sea, and in May, 1382, a squadron won a 

 small victory in the Channel. There is a payment in 1387 of 135 from the Exchequer for its 

 fortification, so that some results followed the efforts of 1384-5. 12 



In 1385 and 1386 a great fleet and army was collected at Sluys for the invasion of England ; 

 in both years proclamation was made that persons living within six miles of Rye should collect their 

 property and retire within the town. It was fortunate that several causes combined to disorganize 



Close, i Ric. II, m. 22. 



Pat. I R'c. II, pt. ii, m. 17. The balingers would be small ones of their class. 



Walsingham, Hist. Anglicana (Rolls Ser.), i, 366. St. Pierre en Port and Veulettes. I am indebted to 

 Mr. J. H. Wylie for these identifications. 



Holinshed says that Rye and Hastings were also burnt, but this is doubtful. 



Close, 4 Ric. II, m. 35. 6 Pat. 5 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 17. ' Ibid. J Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 13 d. 



Rot. Par!, iii, 201. 'Tout le pays' may here only mean the surrounding district. 

 Pat. 8 Ric. II, pt. ii, m. 38. 10 Ibid. m. 32 </. 



11 Exch. Accts. K.R. bdle. 37, No. 6. " Devon, Issues of the Exchequer, 234. 



140 



