Westeopp — Earli/ Italian 3Iaj}s of Ireland from IS 00-1600. 393 



are rich in particulars of its wuie trade. Among the customary laws of 

 " Diueliae " no foreigner could witness against a citizen till other evidence 

 failed. In 1312 it imported brasilwood/ figs, raisins, ginger, and spices. 

 Dublin was closely bound to Bristol, from which many of its citizens had 

 migrated in 1171-2, and enjoyed all the privileges of the English city.^ The 

 prices of pro\'isions in Dublin at the beginning of the fourteenth century were 

 fixed by the Common Council as follows : — A good goose, 2 pence ; two good 

 rabbits, 3 pence ; two middle-sized ones, 1 penny ; three chickens, or a good 

 hen, two good plovers, or two good snipe, or three middle-sized ones were also 

 sold for a penny.^ 



LiMEEiCK. — The ISTorse and Danes plundered the Luimneach, and founded 

 a city on Inis Uibhthonn, about 812. It is frequently called " Luimneach of 

 the ships" in Irish histories of the tenth and later centuries. King 

 Mathgamhain took it and expelled its lord, Amlaibh, in 968, slaying its 

 "governor," Muris, at the battle of Sulchoid. "Hrafn, the Hlimrek 

 merchant," was in touch with Ari, who made voyages from Iceland to 

 America (Winland) about 1000. Limerick then paid a wine-tribute to 

 King Brian. The Normans first captured it in 1175 ; and Prince John 

 granted a charter, 1194 to 1199. It possesses a list (though doubtful in its 

 first century),' of mayors and bailiffs from that time. It was a walled town 

 before the ISTorman attack, and its foreign trade seems very small. The 

 Ostmen and Danes had been planted near it in the " cantred of the Ostmen," 

 but many of its families — Harolds, Thurkells, Thm-steyns, Herewards, 

 Siwards, &c. — derived from them, whence the modern Harolds and Tristrams. 

 They used to form a third of certain juries of Normans, Ostmen, and Irish. 

 The murage-grant of 1237 includes a tax on wine, s^nAprise of wines is recorded 

 from 1267. In 1283 it paid £140 worth of wine as 70 tuns. John's charter 

 (as exemplified in the later one of Edward in 1291) permits no foreigners to 

 purchase com, wool, or hides in Limerick, except from a citizen. No stranger 

 could retail wine (save on shipboard), or sell cloth, or stay more than 40 days 

 in the town; and th« Prince reserved 2 hogsheads of wine from each ship — one 

 before and one behind the mast. The custom-records name Dordogne wine in 

 1 292-3. In 1295 the prices of provisions in Limerick were:— 10 acres of oats, 2 1 



^ Interesting as tearing on the question of tlie name of the mythical Island. See supra, xxx, 

 p. 235. Professor MacJCeill regards " Brasil " as a non-Gaelic name. 



- Gilbert's " Calendar of Records of Dublin," i, p. 219. 



^ It is striking to find the succession correspondirg in names and order for several consecutiTe 

 years, with the names and order of witnesses to certain early deeds, in the " Black Book oi Limerick " 

 (e.g. the names, 1210 to 1213, and Black Book, p. 95). It is easier to discredit the early entries 

 than to find where the authentic ones begin. The independent mention of mayors and sheiifFs of 

 Limerick in contemporary records does not correspond "with the names at the same dates in the lists, 

 e.g. at 1295. 



B.I.A. JROC, VOL. XXX., SECT. C. C^^J 



