326 " JEWS IN CORNWALL " ; AND " MARAZION/' 



the Case of Vice v. Thmnas, tried before the Lord Warden in 

 1843. There we read : 



" [a. e. 31]. Feb. Abraham, a tinner, complains of imprisonment by the 

 Sheriff for working to the nuisance of the haven of Fowey. He states that 

 he employs 300 men in the streara-works of Brodhok, Tremor^¥ode, Grey- 

 stone, Dosmerj', &c. The prince issues his mandate to W. de Spridlington, 

 one of his auditors, to enquire into the facts." * 



That during, and before the reign of Eichard I, Jews had to 

 do with the tin trade of Cornwall is evident from the Cajntnh, or 

 Ordinances, respecting Tin and the Stannaries, made by William 

 de Wrothara, Chief Waixlen, and others, 1197-8; the text of 

 which document in the Red Book of the Exchequer, is given at 

 p. 5 of the Supplement above quoted ; and a translation may be 

 found at p. 633 of Sir Henry de la Beche's Report on the Geology 

 of Cornwall, Devon, ami West Somerset. Here we read : 



" Also neither man nor woman. Christian nor Jew, shall presume to buy 

 or sell any tin of the first smelting, nor to give or remove any of the first 

 smelting from the Stannary, or oiit of the place appointed for weighing and 

 stamping, until it shall be weighed and stamped in the presence of the 

 keepers and clerks of the weight and stamp of the farm. 



" Also neither man nor woman. Christian nor Jew, shall presume, in the 

 Stannaries nor out of the Stannaries, to have in his or her possession any 

 tin of the first smelting beyond a fortnight, unless it be weighed and stamped 

 by the keepers and clerk of the weight and farm stamp. 



" Also neither man nor woman. Christian nor Jew, in market-towns and 

 boroughs, on sea or on land, shall presume to keep beyond thirteen weeks 

 tin of the first smelting weighed and stamped, unless it be put into the 

 second smelting and the mark discharged. 



" Also neither man nor woman. Christian nor Jew, shall presume in any 

 manner to remove tin, either by sea or by land, out of the counties of Devon 

 and Cornwall, unless he or she first have the licence of the Chief-Warden of 

 the Stannaries." 



* In a letter to me, dated July 1st, Mr. Smu-ke says : " I inserted the 

 case of Abraham the tinner because it not only shewed equity jurisdiction, 

 but also looked like a Jew working a mine. I did not profess to say it was a 



Jev,% — because he may have been a Christian convert The Jews 



were banished, or rather abjured, the realm by proclamation, and not by Act 

 of Parliament, and the Crown could lawfully relax its own sentence, if 



desired If the King chose to mortgage a mine to a Jew, or if 



the Duke of Cornwall chose to do so (having royalties) he could do so, in the 

 l-4th Century. — The case quoted by me is a single one out of a large folio 

 volume." 



