FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:1The possession by Venice of this maritime sovereignty was symbolised each year for many centuries by the picturesque ceremony of “espousing” the Adriatic. On Ascension Day the Doge was rowed to the strains of music in a magnificent gilded state barge, theBucentaur, to the channel of Lido, where he cast a ring into the water, exclaiming as he did so, “We espouse thee, O Sea, in sign of a real and perpetual dominion” (“Desponsamus te mare in signum veri perpetuique dominii”). The Papal nuncio and representatives of other states assisted at the ceremony.2Twiss,The Law of Nations in Time of War, 142. Maine,International Law, 76.3Twiss,op. cit., 143, 144. Reddie,Maritime International Law, i. 41.4Nicolas,Hist. Navy, i. 157.5“Il sera banny hors dAngleterre et de mer appartenant au roi dAngleterre,” Article inBlack Book, i. 58, ascribed to the reign of Henry I. (A.D.1100-1135); “Ad piscandum in mari nostro, prope Jernemuth,” Edward I.,A.D.1295,Fœdera, ii. 688; “la meer Dengleterre,”A.D.1306,Chanc. Rolls, Misc. Treaties, &c., Bd. 14, No. 15; “super mare Anglicanum” (Rot. Pat., 14 Edw. II., pt. ii. m. 26, d.),A.D.1320, &c., &c.; “partibus maris infra regnum nostrum Angliæ,”A.D.1317, Edw. II.,Fœdera, iii. 469;A.D.1406, Hen. IV., giving freedom of fishing, “ubicumque supra mare, per et infra dominia, jurisdictiones, et districtus nostra”; “Seigneur de la mer,”A.D.1320,Fœdera, iii. 852; “reges Angliæ domini maris Anglicani circumquaque,”A.D.1336,Rot. Scot., i. 442; “domini maris et transmarini passagii,”A.D.1336,Fœdera, iv. 721; “le roi de la mier,”A.D.1372,Rot. Parl., ii. 311; “seigneurs del meer,”A.D.1420,ibid., iv. 126, &c., &c.6Fœdera, xvi. 395;State Papers, Dom.1604, 11, 40;Fœdera, xix. 211;Libelle of Englyshe Polycye; Dee,General and Rare Memorials, 6;State Papers, Dom.1662, 66, 50, “It is a fundamental Maxime of England, that the sea flowing about the Isle of Great Britaine is of the same dominion with the isle”; “the dominion of the ambient seas.”7Rot. Escheat., 41 Hen. III.,A.D.1259, referred to by Coke, 1. 107a; Bracton,Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ, lib. v. c. xxx. fol. 437 (A.D.circa1259);Statutes of the Realm, 18 Edw. I. Stat. 4 (A.D.1290);Rot. Parl., 13 Ric. II., “deinz les quatre miers Dengleterre,” &c.8Hall,On the Rights of the Crown in the Sea Shores of the Realm, p. 1.9“The guardian of his Majesty’s three seas” (A.D.1607).Cæsar Papers, MS. Brit. Mus. Lansd., 142, fol. 373.10“Thene here I ende of the comoditeesFfor whiche nede is well to kepe the sees;Este and weste, sowthe and northe they be;And chefely kepe the sharpe narowe see,Betwene Dover and Caleise.”11Acts of the Privy Council of England, N.S., i. 232, 242.12Winwood’sMemorials, iii. 50.13Mare Clausum, ii. c. xiii.14Selden,Mare Clausum, lib. i. c. viii., lib. ii. cc. ii.-viii.15Polyhistor., c. xxiv.16Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xi.17Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xii. “Canutus autem Rex suæ ditionis esse Oceanum Britannicum verbis expressissimis item est testatus.” Prynne uses the same argument.Animadversions on Coke’s Fourth Institute, 88.18Ed. Petrie, 395.19Gesta Regum Anglorum, i. 235; Eng. Hist. Soc. “Ego Edgarus totius Albionis Basileus nec non maritimorum seu insulanorum Regum circumhabitantium.”20“Ego Edgardus Anglorum Basileus omniumque Regum insularum, Oceanique Britanniam circumjacentis cunctarumque nationum quæ infra eam includuntur Imperator et Dominus,” &c. Dee,General and Rare Memorials, 58, 60; Selden,Mare Clausum, ii. c. xii. (quoting from a charter of Inspeximus,Rot. Pat., 1 Edw. IV., m. 23); Prynne,op. cit., 87.21Concilia, i. 432.22Ibid., i. 239.23Codex Diplomaticus, ii. 404, vi. 237.24Diplomatarium Anglicum Ævi Saxonici, 211.25Cartularium Saxonicum, iii. 377.26“Insularum oceani quæ Brytanniam circumjacent.”27Worsaae,An Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland, and Ireland; Depping,Histoire des Expéditions maritimes des Normands; Beamish,The Discovery of America.28Burrows,Cinque Ports, 62, 81.29Cunningham,The Growth of English Industry and Commerce during the Early and Middle Ages, 173.30Twiss,The Law of Nations in Time of Peace, 244; ibid.,In Time of War, 142.31See p. 51.32Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xiv.33“Pour garder la mere,” “la garde du meer,” “la sauve garde du meer,” “pro custodia maris,” “de custodia maritimæ,” &c. SeeProceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England; Nicolas,History of the Royal Navy; Prynne,Animadversions.34Fœdera, i. 861; Nicolas,op. cit., i. 279, 437.35Twiss,The Law of Nations in Time of Peace, 245.36VideTwiss,Black Book of the Admiralty, i. 420.37Op. cit., lib. ii. c. xviii.38Twiss,ibid., i. 64.39Nicolas,op. cit., i. 131, 231, ii. 45, 84, 130, 176;Rot. Pat., 65 (1206);Fœdera, i. 96 (1208).40Chronicles, ii. 497.41Op. cit., lib. ii. cc. xiii., xx.42Rot. Parl., iii. 46b; Nicolas,op. cit., ii. 260-280; Laughton,Studies in Naval History, 16-22. The Yarmouth herring fishing suffered severely in these years, and the fishermen equipped and armed vessels for their own defence,—Chronicon Angliæ, abA.D.1328usque ad annum1388, p. 170, Rolls Series.43Op. cit., lib. ii. c. xv.44Rot. Parl., iii. 63b, 391a;Fœdera, vii. 220. “C’este l’ordinance et grante par l’advis des Marchaundz de Londres, et des autres Marchaundz vers la North, par assent de touz Communes de Parlement par devant le Comte de Northumberland et le Meair de Londres, pur la garde et tuicion du Mier,” &c. The specified dues throw some light on the commerce and fisheries of the period: (1) all vessels or crayers navigating the seas within the limits of the admiralty of the north were to pay a duty of sixpence a ton-tight, going and returning, with the exception of those bringing wines and goods from Flanders to London, or carrying wool and skins to Calais; (2) vessels laden with goods belonging to merchants of Prussia, Norway, or Scone (Scania) were to pay sixpence a last; (3) vessels carrying coals from Newcastle were to pay sixpence a ton every three months; (4) sixpence a-week per ton was to be paid by all vessels fishing for herrings within the said admiralty, and sixpence every three weeks per ton by boats fishing for other fish.45A.D.1420,Rot. Parl., iv. 126. “Item, priount les ditz Communes, que par l’ou nostre très soverain seignour le Roy et ses nobles progenitours de tout temps ount esté seignours del meer, et ore par la grace de Dieu est venuz que nostre dit seignour le Roy est seignour des costes d’ambeparties del meer d’ordeigner que sur toutz estraungers passantz parmye le dit meer tiel imposition à l’oeps nostre dit seignour le Roy apprendre qui à luy semblera resonable, pur la salve garde del dit meer.”46Rotuli Scotiæ, i. 442, “Nos advertentes quod progenitores nostri reges Angliæ Domini Maris Anglicani circumquaque et etiam defensores contra hostium invasiones ante hæc tempora extiterint,” &c. Part of the language of this mandate was copied by Charles I. in his ship-money writs.See p. 211.47Fœdera, iv. 722. “Consideratio etiam quod progenitores nostri, Reges Angliæ, in hujusmodi turbationibus, inter ipsos et alios terrarum exterarum dominos motis, domini maris et transmarini passagii, totis præteritis temporibus, extiterunt,” &c.48Nicolas,op. cit., ii. 49, 106.49Political Poems, ii. 157. The author states that it was coined after Edward captured Calais, when“The see was kepte, and thereof he was lorde,Thus made he nobles coigned of recorde.”But Edward did not take Calais till 1347, while the noble was issued in July 1344. Nicolas,loc. cit.50Oppenheim,A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy, i. 7.51Cunningham,op. cit., 361. In theLibelleit is asked—“Wher ben our shippes, wher ben our swerdes become?Our enmyes bid for the ship set a sheep”;and the rubric of an anonymous commentator states that the advice quoted was owing to the fact that while in the time of Edward III. the English were lords of the sea, they were now in these days mad (vecordes), vanquished, and for waging war and guarding the sea, like sheep. The jest is also alluded to by Capgrave,Liber de Illustribus Henricis, 135.52“Tous les pays tenoient et appelloient nostre avandit seigneur, le Roi de la Mier.”53Rot. Parl., ii. 311.54Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xxvi.55Animadversions, 108.56Nicolas,op. cit., i. 156, but cf. ii. 481; Hannay,A Short History of the Royal Navy, 15. Hannay, as well as the writer of the naval articles inSocial England(i. 138), was not apparently aware of the labours of Sir Travers Twiss mentioned in the text.57The Black Book of the Admiralty, i. Intro. xiiiet seq., 129; iii. Intro. i, x.58“Item ordonne estoit a Hastynges pour loy et coustumes de mer ou temps du roy Johan lan de son regne second par advys de ses seigneurs temporelz que se le lieutenant en aucun voyage ordonne par commun conseil du royalme encontrent sur la mer aucunes nefz ou vesseaux chargees ou voide que ne veullent avaller et abbesser leurs trefs ou commandement du lieutenant du roy ou de ladmiral du roy, ou son lieutenant, mais combatant encontre iceulx de la flotte que silz puent estre pris quilz soient reputez comme ennemys et leurs nefs, vesseaulx, et bien pris et forfaitz comme biens des ennemys tout soit que les maistres ou possesseurs dicelles vouldroient venir apres et alleguer mesmes les nefs, vesseaulx, et biens estre biens des amys du roy nostre seigneur, et que le mayne estant en icelles soient chastiez par emprisonnement de leur corps pour leur rebellete par discrecion.” The above is given by Twiss from theWhitehall MS.of the eighteenth century; it does not materially differ from the others. TheCottonian MS., which is stated to be the earliest and purest, reads in both places “le lieutenant du roy ou ladmiralle du roy ou soun lieutenant.”59The Black Book, Intro. xix, lxxvii. It isVespasian MSS., B. xxii.60The Black Book, iii. Intro. viii, x.See p. 410.61Collection des Lois Maritimes, iv. 199.62Collection des Lois Maritimes, i. Intro. pp. li, 129; iii. Intro. p. xi.63Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xxvi.64“Quanquam tamen, ad primam vocem ipsorum Anglicorum, idem Johannes Willes velum suum declinavit,” &c.,Fœdera, viii. 273; “omnes tamen inermes, et velum suum, ad primum clamorem Anglicorum declinantes,”ibid., 277.65Chancery Rolls, Misc. Treaties and Diplomatic, Bdle. 14, No. 15. It is endorsedDe Superioritate Maris Angliæ et Jure Officii Admirallatus in eodem. There are several copies on separate membranes in the bundle—viz., 1, 8, 12, 14, 15,—and they differ from one another, as indicated in the transcript inAppendix A. Prynne (Animadversions, 109) says that besides the roll in the Tower from which Lord Coke and Selden quoted, he discovered “an ancient copy of it in the White Tower Chapple,” and among the Admiralty papers is a memorandum by Nicholas, undated, but before 1631, on the records in the Tower respecting the Laws of Oleron and the Sovereignty of the Seas, in which he says that “in ye little closset there” a record in French exists, dated in the time of Edw. I. or II., referring to the depredations of Grimbald. There is also a transcript in a collection of MSS. in the British Museum (Harleian, 4314) and a translation of the roll, in a hand of the seventeenth century, inMS. Otho.E. ix. fol. 14.66Fourth Institute, cap. 22, p. 142.67Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xxvii., xxviii., xx., xxiv.68Rot. Pat., 26 Edw. I., part 2, memb. 24,in dorso.69Fœdera, i. 954.70Selden,op. cit., lib. ii. c. xxvii., quoting fromRot. Pat., 31 Edw. I., m. 16, which reads as follows: “Des enterprises, mesprises, et forfaitz en Treue ou en Sufferance, entre nous et le dit Roi de Fraunce, dune part et dautre, es costeres de la mer Dengleterre et autres per decea et ausint per deuers Normandie et autres costeres de la mer per de la.”71The King of France ordered John de Pedrogue, a celebrated seaman of Calais, to collect a fleet there and proceed with it to Holland against the Count of Flanders, who had invested Zierikzee. Included in the fleet were eleven Genoese galleys, under Reyner de Grimaldi, who was given the chief command by Philip, with the title of “Admiral,” John de Pedrogue acting under him. Nicolas (op. cit., i. 373) gives a description of the fight.72The translation, for which I am indebted to Miss E. Salisbury, is from membrane 12.73The expression is also used in a document of 1297, when Lord William de Leybourne is described as “Admiral of the sea of the said King of England.”Fœdera, i. 861.74Coke (op. cit., 143) states that this refers to “De Botetourt,” who, he says, was Admiral “of the sea coasting upon Yarmouth in Norfolk (right over against France) and of that station inanno22 Edw. I.” Nicolas (op. cit., i. 270, 407) states that Sir John de Botetourt was made commander of the northern fleet in 1293, and in the following year, when Edward divided his fleet into three squadrons, the ships of Yarmouth and the adjacent ports were placed under his charge.75The rest is on the back of the membrane.76The part within brackets is to be found on the membranes 1, 14d, and 15, but not on 12.77Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xxvii. Hall, in his excellentTreatise on International Law(p. 141), and with reference apparently to this roll, says that exclusive dominion over the English seas by the English king was acknowledged as early as 1299 (sic), at a commission in Paris, by the representatives of the merchants and mariners of the countries mentioned in the above document.78SeeAppendix A.79Chancery Miscel. Rolls,France, Bdl. 5, No. 6.80See translation inAppendix B.81Chancery Rolls, Misc., Bdle. 14, n. 15, memb. 4.82“Infrascripti sunt articuli generales super quibus et fines ad quos Justiciarii domini nostri Regis sunt consulend’, et dominus noster Rex de eorum consilio certificand’ in Cancellar’ sua in scriptis citra festum, &c.“Item ad finem, quod resumatur et continuetur ad subditorum prosecucionem forma procedendi quondam ordinata et inchoata per avum Domini nostri Regis et ejus consilium ad retinendum et conservandum antiquam Superioritatem Maris Angliæ et jus officii Admirallatus in eodem, quoad corrigendum, interpretandum, declarandum, et conservandum leges et statuta per ejus antecessores Angliæ Reges dudum ordinata ad conservandum pacem et Justitiam inter omnes gentes nacionis cujuscunque per Mare Angliæ transeuntes, et ad cognoscendum super omnibus in contrarium attemptatis in eodem, et ad puniendum delinquentes et dampna passis satisfaciendum; quæ quidem leges et statuta per Dominum Ricardum quondam Regem Angliæ in reditu suo a Terrâ Sancta correcta fuerunt, interpretata, declarata, et in Insula Oleron publicata, et nominata in Gallica lingua La loy Olyroun.”According to Godolphin (A View of the Admiral Jurisdiction, 1661), the “form of proceedings” refers to the statute of the Writ of Consultation, 24 Edw. I., with regard to the proceedings of the Courts. The following is on another membrane in the same roll (mem. 2d), which contains ordinances agreed upon between the masters and mariners of England, Bayonne, and Flanders, at Bruges, 8th March 1286. It is in the handwriting of the time of Edward III.“Item a la fin qe veues et considerees les formes des proces et des lettres ordeinees per les consaillers le dit aiel nostres seigneur le Roi pur eux et la dite nacioun Dengleterre a recouerer et receuer les ditz subgitz aidaunz et alliez et a faire redresser a eux toux les damages a eux donez en Mier et en terre duraunz les dites trewes pees et confederaciouns et countre la forme dycelles par les ditz Fraunceys aidaunz et alliez et eschuire clamour de poeple sur la dite denatureste, &c., et les damages quiex de tiel clamour purroient auenir et especialment a retenir et meintener la souereignete qe ses ditz auncestres Rois Dengleterre soleyent auoir en la dite mier Dengleterre quant alamendement declaracioun et interpretacioun des lois per eux faites a gouerner toutes maneres des gentz passanz per la dite mier. Et primerement a son admirail et as meistres et mariners des nefs des Sync Portz Dengleterre et des autres terres annex a la Corone Dengleterre entendaunt a sa armee en la dite mier pur retenir et meyntenir la garde des lois auauntdites et la puniscioun de toux faitz al encountre en la mier susdite Semblables formes des proces et lettres soient desors tenues od toux les amendementz quiex purrount estre ordeinez par le sage Counsail nostre Seignur le Roi a profist et honur de lui et des soens.”83Twiss (Black Book of the Admiralty, ii. xliii; ii. xi), who collected the old sea laws of Europe, states that the most ancient extant source of modern marine law are the Decisions of the Consuls of the Sea of the City of Trani, on the shores of the Adriatic, which purport to be of the dateA.D.1063; and that the next most ancient are the Judgments of Oleron, of which there are still copies, belonging to the reign of Edward II., in the archives of the Guildhall, for use no doubt in the City court, which administered the Law Merchant and the Law Maritime.84Op. cit., i. 484.85Op. cit.86Op. cit.The specification of the duties within the cognisance of the Admiralty occupies several pages; they included “all cases of seizures and captures made at sea, whetherjure belli publicis, orjure belli privatiby way of reprisals, orjure nulloby way of piracy ... all causes of spoil and depredations at sea; robberies and pyracies,” &c., &c.87M’Pherson,Annals of Commerce, i. 475, 485, quoting fromFœdera.8818 Edw. III., st. 2, cap. 3. Several articles in theBlack Bookshow the same desire to encourage foreign merchants, and severe penalties were prescribed for the robbing or wronging of foreign ships, or interference with their freedom to trade.89The Reading of the Famous and Learned Robert Callis, Esqr.,upon the Statute of Sewers, 23 Hen. VIII., c. 5, &c., 1622; ed. 1824, p. 48.90“Sur la mere d’Engleterre, devers les parties de Craudon.”91“Et prierent que le Roi, de sa seignurie et poer real, fait sente dreit et punissement del dit fait, de siccome il est seigneur de la mer, et la dite roberie fut fait sur la mer dans son poer, sicomme dessus est dit.”92Nicolas, who gives the details referred to, says that there is no record of these proceedings in the rolls of Parliament.Op. cit., i. 388.93“Et cum dicti nuncii ad tractandum de novo super hujusmodi dampnis per dictum dominum nostrum Regem admissi fuissent, ipsi nuncii, prout alii nuncii præfati Comitis, in tractatibus supradictis, inter cetera quæ requirebant, ante omnia supplicabant, ut dictus dominus Rex ad sectam suam de potestate sua Regia inquiri et justitiam faceret de quadam deprædatione quibusdam hominibus de Flandria nuper de vinis et aliis diversis mercimoniis suis super mare Anglicanum, versus partes de Crauden, infra potestatem dicti domini nostri Regis, per homines de regno Angliæ. Ut dicebant facta asserentes quod vina et mercimonia prædicta eisdem Flandrensibus deprædata adducta, fuerunt infra regnum et potestatem dicti domini Regis, et quod ipse est dominus dicti maris, et deprædatio prædicta facta fuit supra dictum mare infra potestatem suam.”Rot. Pat., 14 Edw. II., pt. ii. m. 26,in dorso. Selden quotes this document (lib. ii. c. xxix.), but his text varies from the above, thus: “... potestatem dicti domini Regis, et quod ad ipsum Regem pertinuit sic facere pro eo quod ipse est dominus dicti maris.”94Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xxix. p. 282.95That “Crowdon” was in Brittany appears from a letter, dated from Plymouth, 9th December 1402, from Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Lincoln, the Earl of Somerset, and the Earl of Worcester, who were sent to escort Joan of Navarre, Duchess of Brittany, the second wife of Henry IV., to England. “Et par fin force pur un temps nous faut demurrer en Bretaigne car la ou nous avoioms envoie au dite nostre treshonuree et tresredoutee dame pur venir, noz niefs ne poiont ne osent aler en le temps dyver. Et faut qele eit un leisir pur venir pardevers nous, dont le havene que nous pensoms aler ove leide de Dieu est Crowdon.”—Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England, i. 190.96Allard,Du Poisson, considéré comme Aliment dans les Temps anciens et modernes.97Garrad,The Arte of War.98In the itinerary of a journey from England made by a Scottish nobleman to join Edward I. in Scotland, it is recorded that herrings were purchased nearly every day—at Dunstable, Newport, Northampton, Leicester, Nottingham, Sherburn, &c. Sixty fresh herrings at York, nearly forty miles from the sea in a straight line, cost eightpence, and fresh haddocks and codlings were also bought.99“Prohibeo etiam firmiter ne quis decimas suas eis injuste detineat sicut habuerunt in tempore regis Davidis super meum forisfactum et ne quis in aquis eorum piscari presumat ... nisi per eorum licentiam.”100Fœdera, ii. 23. “Gent de Flaundres estre venuz sur mer, come Pescheurs,” &c.101Ibid., ii. 37. The Flemish fishermen had probably gone up the Tweed after salmon.102Ibid., ii. 688, dated 28th September. “Quia intelleximus quod multi homines, de partibus Hollandiæ, Zelandiæ et etiam Frislandiæ, qui sunt de amicitia nostra, ad piscandum in mari nostro, prope Jernemuth,” &c.103Lundberg,Det Stora sillfisket i Skåne under medeltiden oeh nyare tidens början. Worms,Hist. commerciale de la Ligue Hanséatique.104Fruin,Tien Jaren uit den Tachtigjarigen Oorlog, 181.105Brit. Mus. MSS. Galba, B. iii. 16. Henry apparently acceded to the request;vide“John Heron’s accompte for waftynge of the herring fleete in the parties of Norfolk and Suffolk,anno quartoR. Henrici VIII.”State Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Hen. VIII., i. 1512.106Ljungman,Nägra ord om de stora Bohus-länska Sillfiskeri.107Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xxi.108Rot. Pat., 22 Edw. IV., m. 2;ibid., 2 Ric. III., i. m. 3;ibid., 3 Hen. VII., part ii.dorso;Mare Clausum, lib. ii. xxi.109The Statutes at Large passed in the Parliaments held in Ireland, i. 30. 5 Edw. IV., c. vi. “An Act that no Ship or other Vessel of any Foreign Country shall go to the Fishing in the Irish Countries, and for Custom to be paid of the Vessel that cometh from Foreign Lands to Fishing.”110Britannia, Gough’s edition, ii. 248.111A Pollitique Platt, &c.112State Papers, Dom., James I., xlviii. 94.113Malines,Lex Mercatoria, 189, from whom Selden quotes it, with the remark, “There are some also who affirm that the King of Spain,” &c.Mare Clausum, ii. c. xxx. It is also given by Boroughs and other writers.114State Papers, Dom., Charles I., clxxx. 96.115One of the licenses, which ran for a year, is printed inAppendix C. The Zowe was described in 1630 as “a bank which lies between Rye and Dieppe, and the outermost part is nearly one-third over the sea. This zowe which they call the small zowe is 3 leagues long and 3 broad, and 26 and 28 fathoms deep. The French make it 10 leagues, because they fish till they bring Beachy Head N., fayre Loo (? Fairlea, Fairlight) W.N.W., and fish in 30 fathoms.” Sir H. Mainwaring to Coke, “A Short Discourse or Propositions concerning the French fishing uppon the Zowe, theyr abusing it, and the Remedy” (ibid.) It was described as the “chief nursery for turbetts, hollibatts, pearles (brill), soules, weavers and gurnetts.” In Queen Elizabeth’s time only four licenses were granted, but James increased the number to fourteen or fifteen. They were carefully entered in the records of Dover Castle and the Hundred Book of Rye.

1The possession by Venice of this maritime sovereignty was symbolised each year for many centuries by the picturesque ceremony of “espousing” the Adriatic. On Ascension Day the Doge was rowed to the strains of music in a magnificent gilded state barge, theBucentaur, to the channel of Lido, where he cast a ring into the water, exclaiming as he did so, “We espouse thee, O Sea, in sign of a real and perpetual dominion” (“Desponsamus te mare in signum veri perpetuique dominii”). The Papal nuncio and representatives of other states assisted at the ceremony.

2Twiss,The Law of Nations in Time of War, 142. Maine,International Law, 76.

3Twiss,op. cit., 143, 144. Reddie,Maritime International Law, i. 41.

4Nicolas,Hist. Navy, i. 157.

5“Il sera banny hors dAngleterre et de mer appartenant au roi dAngleterre,” Article inBlack Book, i. 58, ascribed to the reign of Henry I. (A.D.1100-1135); “Ad piscandum in mari nostro, prope Jernemuth,” Edward I.,A.D.1295,Fœdera, ii. 688; “la meer Dengleterre,”A.D.1306,Chanc. Rolls, Misc. Treaties, &c., Bd. 14, No. 15; “super mare Anglicanum” (Rot. Pat., 14 Edw. II., pt. ii. m. 26, d.),A.D.1320, &c., &c.; “partibus maris infra regnum nostrum Angliæ,”A.D.1317, Edw. II.,Fœdera, iii. 469;A.D.1406, Hen. IV., giving freedom of fishing, “ubicumque supra mare, per et infra dominia, jurisdictiones, et districtus nostra”; “Seigneur de la mer,”A.D.1320,Fœdera, iii. 852; “reges Angliæ domini maris Anglicani circumquaque,”A.D.1336,Rot. Scot., i. 442; “domini maris et transmarini passagii,”A.D.1336,Fœdera, iv. 721; “le roi de la mier,”A.D.1372,Rot. Parl., ii. 311; “seigneurs del meer,”A.D.1420,ibid., iv. 126, &c., &c.

6Fœdera, xvi. 395;State Papers, Dom.1604, 11, 40;Fœdera, xix. 211;Libelle of Englyshe Polycye; Dee,General and Rare Memorials, 6;State Papers, Dom.1662, 66, 50, “It is a fundamental Maxime of England, that the sea flowing about the Isle of Great Britaine is of the same dominion with the isle”; “the dominion of the ambient seas.”

7Rot. Escheat., 41 Hen. III.,A.D.1259, referred to by Coke, 1. 107a; Bracton,Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ, lib. v. c. xxx. fol. 437 (A.D.circa1259);Statutes of the Realm, 18 Edw. I. Stat. 4 (A.D.1290);Rot. Parl., 13 Ric. II., “deinz les quatre miers Dengleterre,” &c.

8Hall,On the Rights of the Crown in the Sea Shores of the Realm, p. 1.

9“The guardian of his Majesty’s three seas” (A.D.1607).Cæsar Papers, MS. Brit. Mus. Lansd., 142, fol. 373.

10“Thene here I ende of the comoditeesFfor whiche nede is well to kepe the sees;Este and weste, sowthe and northe they be;And chefely kepe the sharpe narowe see,Betwene Dover and Caleise.”

“Thene here I ende of the comoditeesFfor whiche nede is well to kepe the sees;Este and weste, sowthe and northe they be;And chefely kepe the sharpe narowe see,Betwene Dover and Caleise.”

11Acts of the Privy Council of England, N.S., i. 232, 242.

12Winwood’sMemorials, iii. 50.

13Mare Clausum, ii. c. xiii.

14Selden,Mare Clausum, lib. i. c. viii., lib. ii. cc. ii.-viii.

15Polyhistor., c. xxiv.

16Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xi.

17Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xii. “Canutus autem Rex suæ ditionis esse Oceanum Britannicum verbis expressissimis item est testatus.” Prynne uses the same argument.Animadversions on Coke’s Fourth Institute, 88.

18Ed. Petrie, 395.

19Gesta Regum Anglorum, i. 235; Eng. Hist. Soc. “Ego Edgarus totius Albionis Basileus nec non maritimorum seu insulanorum Regum circumhabitantium.”

20“Ego Edgardus Anglorum Basileus omniumque Regum insularum, Oceanique Britanniam circumjacentis cunctarumque nationum quæ infra eam includuntur Imperator et Dominus,” &c. Dee,General and Rare Memorials, 58, 60; Selden,Mare Clausum, ii. c. xii. (quoting from a charter of Inspeximus,Rot. Pat., 1 Edw. IV., m. 23); Prynne,op. cit., 87.

21Concilia, i. 432.

22Ibid., i. 239.

23Codex Diplomaticus, ii. 404, vi. 237.

24Diplomatarium Anglicum Ævi Saxonici, 211.

25Cartularium Saxonicum, iii. 377.

26“Insularum oceani quæ Brytanniam circumjacent.”

27Worsaae,An Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland, and Ireland; Depping,Histoire des Expéditions maritimes des Normands; Beamish,The Discovery of America.

28Burrows,Cinque Ports, 62, 81.

29Cunningham,The Growth of English Industry and Commerce during the Early and Middle Ages, 173.

30Twiss,The Law of Nations in Time of Peace, 244; ibid.,In Time of War, 142.

31See p. 51.

32Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xiv.

33“Pour garder la mere,” “la garde du meer,” “la sauve garde du meer,” “pro custodia maris,” “de custodia maritimæ,” &c. SeeProceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England; Nicolas,History of the Royal Navy; Prynne,Animadversions.

34Fœdera, i. 861; Nicolas,op. cit., i. 279, 437.

35Twiss,The Law of Nations in Time of Peace, 245.

36VideTwiss,Black Book of the Admiralty, i. 420.

37Op. cit., lib. ii. c. xviii.

38Twiss,ibid., i. 64.

39Nicolas,op. cit., i. 131, 231, ii. 45, 84, 130, 176;Rot. Pat., 65 (1206);Fœdera, i. 96 (1208).

40Chronicles, ii. 497.

41Op. cit., lib. ii. cc. xiii., xx.

42Rot. Parl., iii. 46b; Nicolas,op. cit., ii. 260-280; Laughton,Studies in Naval History, 16-22. The Yarmouth herring fishing suffered severely in these years, and the fishermen equipped and armed vessels for their own defence,—Chronicon Angliæ, abA.D.1328usque ad annum1388, p. 170, Rolls Series.

43Op. cit., lib. ii. c. xv.

44Rot. Parl., iii. 63b, 391a;Fœdera, vii. 220. “C’este l’ordinance et grante par l’advis des Marchaundz de Londres, et des autres Marchaundz vers la North, par assent de touz Communes de Parlement par devant le Comte de Northumberland et le Meair de Londres, pur la garde et tuicion du Mier,” &c. The specified dues throw some light on the commerce and fisheries of the period: (1) all vessels or crayers navigating the seas within the limits of the admiralty of the north were to pay a duty of sixpence a ton-tight, going and returning, with the exception of those bringing wines and goods from Flanders to London, or carrying wool and skins to Calais; (2) vessels laden with goods belonging to merchants of Prussia, Norway, or Scone (Scania) were to pay sixpence a last; (3) vessels carrying coals from Newcastle were to pay sixpence a ton every three months; (4) sixpence a-week per ton was to be paid by all vessels fishing for herrings within the said admiralty, and sixpence every three weeks per ton by boats fishing for other fish.

45A.D.1420,Rot. Parl., iv. 126. “Item, priount les ditz Communes, que par l’ou nostre très soverain seignour le Roy et ses nobles progenitours de tout temps ount esté seignours del meer, et ore par la grace de Dieu est venuz que nostre dit seignour le Roy est seignour des costes d’ambeparties del meer d’ordeigner que sur toutz estraungers passantz parmye le dit meer tiel imposition à l’oeps nostre dit seignour le Roy apprendre qui à luy semblera resonable, pur la salve garde del dit meer.”

46Rotuli Scotiæ, i. 442, “Nos advertentes quod progenitores nostri reges Angliæ Domini Maris Anglicani circumquaque et etiam defensores contra hostium invasiones ante hæc tempora extiterint,” &c. Part of the language of this mandate was copied by Charles I. in his ship-money writs.See p. 211.

47Fœdera, iv. 722. “Consideratio etiam quod progenitores nostri, Reges Angliæ, in hujusmodi turbationibus, inter ipsos et alios terrarum exterarum dominos motis, domini maris et transmarini passagii, totis præteritis temporibus, extiterunt,” &c.

48Nicolas,op. cit., ii. 49, 106.

49Political Poems, ii. 157. The author states that it was coined after Edward captured Calais, when“The see was kepte, and thereof he was lorde,Thus made he nobles coigned of recorde.”But Edward did not take Calais till 1347, while the noble was issued in July 1344. Nicolas,loc. cit.

49Political Poems, ii. 157. The author states that it was coined after Edward captured Calais, when

“The see was kepte, and thereof he was lorde,Thus made he nobles coigned of recorde.”

But Edward did not take Calais till 1347, while the noble was issued in July 1344. Nicolas,loc. cit.

50Oppenheim,A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy, i. 7.

51Cunningham,op. cit., 361. In theLibelleit is asked—“Wher ben our shippes, wher ben our swerdes become?Our enmyes bid for the ship set a sheep”;and the rubric of an anonymous commentator states that the advice quoted was owing to the fact that while in the time of Edward III. the English were lords of the sea, they were now in these days mad (vecordes), vanquished, and for waging war and guarding the sea, like sheep. The jest is also alluded to by Capgrave,Liber de Illustribus Henricis, 135.

51Cunningham,op. cit., 361. In theLibelleit is asked—

“Wher ben our shippes, wher ben our swerdes become?Our enmyes bid for the ship set a sheep”;

and the rubric of an anonymous commentator states that the advice quoted was owing to the fact that while in the time of Edward III. the English were lords of the sea, they were now in these days mad (vecordes), vanquished, and for waging war and guarding the sea, like sheep. The jest is also alluded to by Capgrave,Liber de Illustribus Henricis, 135.

52“Tous les pays tenoient et appelloient nostre avandit seigneur, le Roi de la Mier.”

53Rot. Parl., ii. 311.

54Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xxvi.

55Animadversions, 108.

56Nicolas,op. cit., i. 156, but cf. ii. 481; Hannay,A Short History of the Royal Navy, 15. Hannay, as well as the writer of the naval articles inSocial England(i. 138), was not apparently aware of the labours of Sir Travers Twiss mentioned in the text.

57The Black Book of the Admiralty, i. Intro. xiiiet seq., 129; iii. Intro. i, x.

58“Item ordonne estoit a Hastynges pour loy et coustumes de mer ou temps du roy Johan lan de son regne second par advys de ses seigneurs temporelz que se le lieutenant en aucun voyage ordonne par commun conseil du royalme encontrent sur la mer aucunes nefz ou vesseaux chargees ou voide que ne veullent avaller et abbesser leurs trefs ou commandement du lieutenant du roy ou de ladmiral du roy, ou son lieutenant, mais combatant encontre iceulx de la flotte que silz puent estre pris quilz soient reputez comme ennemys et leurs nefs, vesseaulx, et bien pris et forfaitz comme biens des ennemys tout soit que les maistres ou possesseurs dicelles vouldroient venir apres et alleguer mesmes les nefs, vesseaulx, et biens estre biens des amys du roy nostre seigneur, et que le mayne estant en icelles soient chastiez par emprisonnement de leur corps pour leur rebellete par discrecion.” The above is given by Twiss from theWhitehall MS.of the eighteenth century; it does not materially differ from the others. TheCottonian MS., which is stated to be the earliest and purest, reads in both places “le lieutenant du roy ou ladmiralle du roy ou soun lieutenant.”

59The Black Book, Intro. xix, lxxvii. It isVespasian MSS., B. xxii.

60The Black Book, iii. Intro. viii, x.See p. 410.

61Collection des Lois Maritimes, iv. 199.

62Collection des Lois Maritimes, i. Intro. pp. li, 129; iii. Intro. p. xi.

63Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xxvi.

64“Quanquam tamen, ad primam vocem ipsorum Anglicorum, idem Johannes Willes velum suum declinavit,” &c.,Fœdera, viii. 273; “omnes tamen inermes, et velum suum, ad primum clamorem Anglicorum declinantes,”ibid., 277.

65Chancery Rolls, Misc. Treaties and Diplomatic, Bdle. 14, No. 15. It is endorsedDe Superioritate Maris Angliæ et Jure Officii Admirallatus in eodem. There are several copies on separate membranes in the bundle—viz., 1, 8, 12, 14, 15,—and they differ from one another, as indicated in the transcript inAppendix A. Prynne (Animadversions, 109) says that besides the roll in the Tower from which Lord Coke and Selden quoted, he discovered “an ancient copy of it in the White Tower Chapple,” and among the Admiralty papers is a memorandum by Nicholas, undated, but before 1631, on the records in the Tower respecting the Laws of Oleron and the Sovereignty of the Seas, in which he says that “in ye little closset there” a record in French exists, dated in the time of Edw. I. or II., referring to the depredations of Grimbald. There is also a transcript in a collection of MSS. in the British Museum (Harleian, 4314) and a translation of the roll, in a hand of the seventeenth century, inMS. Otho.E. ix. fol. 14.

66Fourth Institute, cap. 22, p. 142.

67Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xxvii., xxviii., xx., xxiv.

68Rot. Pat., 26 Edw. I., part 2, memb. 24,in dorso.

69Fœdera, i. 954.

70Selden,op. cit., lib. ii. c. xxvii., quoting fromRot. Pat., 31 Edw. I., m. 16, which reads as follows: “Des enterprises, mesprises, et forfaitz en Treue ou en Sufferance, entre nous et le dit Roi de Fraunce, dune part et dautre, es costeres de la mer Dengleterre et autres per decea et ausint per deuers Normandie et autres costeres de la mer per de la.”

71The King of France ordered John de Pedrogue, a celebrated seaman of Calais, to collect a fleet there and proceed with it to Holland against the Count of Flanders, who had invested Zierikzee. Included in the fleet were eleven Genoese galleys, under Reyner de Grimaldi, who was given the chief command by Philip, with the title of “Admiral,” John de Pedrogue acting under him. Nicolas (op. cit., i. 373) gives a description of the fight.

72The translation, for which I am indebted to Miss E. Salisbury, is from membrane 12.

73The expression is also used in a document of 1297, when Lord William de Leybourne is described as “Admiral of the sea of the said King of England.”Fœdera, i. 861.

74Coke (op. cit., 143) states that this refers to “De Botetourt,” who, he says, was Admiral “of the sea coasting upon Yarmouth in Norfolk (right over against France) and of that station inanno22 Edw. I.” Nicolas (op. cit., i. 270, 407) states that Sir John de Botetourt was made commander of the northern fleet in 1293, and in the following year, when Edward divided his fleet into three squadrons, the ships of Yarmouth and the adjacent ports were placed under his charge.

75The rest is on the back of the membrane.

76The part within brackets is to be found on the membranes 1, 14d, and 15, but not on 12.

77Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xxvii. Hall, in his excellentTreatise on International Law(p. 141), and with reference apparently to this roll, says that exclusive dominion over the English seas by the English king was acknowledged as early as 1299 (sic), at a commission in Paris, by the representatives of the merchants and mariners of the countries mentioned in the above document.

78SeeAppendix A.

79Chancery Miscel. Rolls,France, Bdl. 5, No. 6.

80See translation inAppendix B.

81Chancery Rolls, Misc., Bdle. 14, n. 15, memb. 4.

82“Infrascripti sunt articuli generales super quibus et fines ad quos Justiciarii domini nostri Regis sunt consulend’, et dominus noster Rex de eorum consilio certificand’ in Cancellar’ sua in scriptis citra festum, &c.“Item ad finem, quod resumatur et continuetur ad subditorum prosecucionem forma procedendi quondam ordinata et inchoata per avum Domini nostri Regis et ejus consilium ad retinendum et conservandum antiquam Superioritatem Maris Angliæ et jus officii Admirallatus in eodem, quoad corrigendum, interpretandum, declarandum, et conservandum leges et statuta per ejus antecessores Angliæ Reges dudum ordinata ad conservandum pacem et Justitiam inter omnes gentes nacionis cujuscunque per Mare Angliæ transeuntes, et ad cognoscendum super omnibus in contrarium attemptatis in eodem, et ad puniendum delinquentes et dampna passis satisfaciendum; quæ quidem leges et statuta per Dominum Ricardum quondam Regem Angliæ in reditu suo a Terrâ Sancta correcta fuerunt, interpretata, declarata, et in Insula Oleron publicata, et nominata in Gallica lingua La loy Olyroun.”According to Godolphin (A View of the Admiral Jurisdiction, 1661), the “form of proceedings” refers to the statute of the Writ of Consultation, 24 Edw. I., with regard to the proceedings of the Courts. The following is on another membrane in the same roll (mem. 2d), which contains ordinances agreed upon between the masters and mariners of England, Bayonne, and Flanders, at Bruges, 8th March 1286. It is in the handwriting of the time of Edward III.“Item a la fin qe veues et considerees les formes des proces et des lettres ordeinees per les consaillers le dit aiel nostres seigneur le Roi pur eux et la dite nacioun Dengleterre a recouerer et receuer les ditz subgitz aidaunz et alliez et a faire redresser a eux toux les damages a eux donez en Mier et en terre duraunz les dites trewes pees et confederaciouns et countre la forme dycelles par les ditz Fraunceys aidaunz et alliez et eschuire clamour de poeple sur la dite denatureste, &c., et les damages quiex de tiel clamour purroient auenir et especialment a retenir et meintener la souereignete qe ses ditz auncestres Rois Dengleterre soleyent auoir en la dite mier Dengleterre quant alamendement declaracioun et interpretacioun des lois per eux faites a gouerner toutes maneres des gentz passanz per la dite mier. Et primerement a son admirail et as meistres et mariners des nefs des Sync Portz Dengleterre et des autres terres annex a la Corone Dengleterre entendaunt a sa armee en la dite mier pur retenir et meyntenir la garde des lois auauntdites et la puniscioun de toux faitz al encountre en la mier susdite Semblables formes des proces et lettres soient desors tenues od toux les amendementz quiex purrount estre ordeinez par le sage Counsail nostre Seignur le Roi a profist et honur de lui et des soens.”

“Item ad finem, quod resumatur et continuetur ad subditorum prosecucionem forma procedendi quondam ordinata et inchoata per avum Domini nostri Regis et ejus consilium ad retinendum et conservandum antiquam Superioritatem Maris Angliæ et jus officii Admirallatus in eodem, quoad corrigendum, interpretandum, declarandum, et conservandum leges et statuta per ejus antecessores Angliæ Reges dudum ordinata ad conservandum pacem et Justitiam inter omnes gentes nacionis cujuscunque per Mare Angliæ transeuntes, et ad cognoscendum super omnibus in contrarium attemptatis in eodem, et ad puniendum delinquentes et dampna passis satisfaciendum; quæ quidem leges et statuta per Dominum Ricardum quondam Regem Angliæ in reditu suo a Terrâ Sancta correcta fuerunt, interpretata, declarata, et in Insula Oleron publicata, et nominata in Gallica lingua La loy Olyroun.”

According to Godolphin (A View of the Admiral Jurisdiction, 1661), the “form of proceedings” refers to the statute of the Writ of Consultation, 24 Edw. I., with regard to the proceedings of the Courts. The following is on another membrane in the same roll (mem. 2d), which contains ordinances agreed upon between the masters and mariners of England, Bayonne, and Flanders, at Bruges, 8th March 1286. It is in the handwriting of the time of Edward III.

“Item a la fin qe veues et considerees les formes des proces et des lettres ordeinees per les consaillers le dit aiel nostres seigneur le Roi pur eux et la dite nacioun Dengleterre a recouerer et receuer les ditz subgitz aidaunz et alliez et a faire redresser a eux toux les damages a eux donez en Mier et en terre duraunz les dites trewes pees et confederaciouns et countre la forme dycelles par les ditz Fraunceys aidaunz et alliez et eschuire clamour de poeple sur la dite denatureste, &c., et les damages quiex de tiel clamour purroient auenir et especialment a retenir et meintener la souereignete qe ses ditz auncestres Rois Dengleterre soleyent auoir en la dite mier Dengleterre quant alamendement declaracioun et interpretacioun des lois per eux faites a gouerner toutes maneres des gentz passanz per la dite mier. Et primerement a son admirail et as meistres et mariners des nefs des Sync Portz Dengleterre et des autres terres annex a la Corone Dengleterre entendaunt a sa armee en la dite mier pur retenir et meyntenir la garde des lois auauntdites et la puniscioun de toux faitz al encountre en la mier susdite Semblables formes des proces et lettres soient desors tenues od toux les amendementz quiex purrount estre ordeinez par le sage Counsail nostre Seignur le Roi a profist et honur de lui et des soens.”

83Twiss (Black Book of the Admiralty, ii. xliii; ii. xi), who collected the old sea laws of Europe, states that the most ancient extant source of modern marine law are the Decisions of the Consuls of the Sea of the City of Trani, on the shores of the Adriatic, which purport to be of the dateA.D.1063; and that the next most ancient are the Judgments of Oleron, of which there are still copies, belonging to the reign of Edward II., in the archives of the Guildhall, for use no doubt in the City court, which administered the Law Merchant and the Law Maritime.

84Op. cit., i. 484.

85Op. cit.

86Op. cit.The specification of the duties within the cognisance of the Admiralty occupies several pages; they included “all cases of seizures and captures made at sea, whetherjure belli publicis, orjure belli privatiby way of reprisals, orjure nulloby way of piracy ... all causes of spoil and depredations at sea; robberies and pyracies,” &c., &c.

87M’Pherson,Annals of Commerce, i. 475, 485, quoting fromFœdera.

8818 Edw. III., st. 2, cap. 3. Several articles in theBlack Bookshow the same desire to encourage foreign merchants, and severe penalties were prescribed for the robbing or wronging of foreign ships, or interference with their freedom to trade.

89The Reading of the Famous and Learned Robert Callis, Esqr.,upon the Statute of Sewers, 23 Hen. VIII., c. 5, &c., 1622; ed. 1824, p. 48.

90“Sur la mere d’Engleterre, devers les parties de Craudon.”

91“Et prierent que le Roi, de sa seignurie et poer real, fait sente dreit et punissement del dit fait, de siccome il est seigneur de la mer, et la dite roberie fut fait sur la mer dans son poer, sicomme dessus est dit.”

92Nicolas, who gives the details referred to, says that there is no record of these proceedings in the rolls of Parliament.Op. cit., i. 388.

93“Et cum dicti nuncii ad tractandum de novo super hujusmodi dampnis per dictum dominum nostrum Regem admissi fuissent, ipsi nuncii, prout alii nuncii præfati Comitis, in tractatibus supradictis, inter cetera quæ requirebant, ante omnia supplicabant, ut dictus dominus Rex ad sectam suam de potestate sua Regia inquiri et justitiam faceret de quadam deprædatione quibusdam hominibus de Flandria nuper de vinis et aliis diversis mercimoniis suis super mare Anglicanum, versus partes de Crauden, infra potestatem dicti domini nostri Regis, per homines de regno Angliæ. Ut dicebant facta asserentes quod vina et mercimonia prædicta eisdem Flandrensibus deprædata adducta, fuerunt infra regnum et potestatem dicti domini Regis, et quod ipse est dominus dicti maris, et deprædatio prædicta facta fuit supra dictum mare infra potestatem suam.”Rot. Pat., 14 Edw. II., pt. ii. m. 26,in dorso. Selden quotes this document (lib. ii. c. xxix.), but his text varies from the above, thus: “... potestatem dicti domini Regis, et quod ad ipsum Regem pertinuit sic facere pro eo quod ipse est dominus dicti maris.”

94Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xxix. p. 282.

95That “Crowdon” was in Brittany appears from a letter, dated from Plymouth, 9th December 1402, from Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Lincoln, the Earl of Somerset, and the Earl of Worcester, who were sent to escort Joan of Navarre, Duchess of Brittany, the second wife of Henry IV., to England. “Et par fin force pur un temps nous faut demurrer en Bretaigne car la ou nous avoioms envoie au dite nostre treshonuree et tresredoutee dame pur venir, noz niefs ne poiont ne osent aler en le temps dyver. Et faut qele eit un leisir pur venir pardevers nous, dont le havene que nous pensoms aler ove leide de Dieu est Crowdon.”—Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England, i. 190.

96Allard,Du Poisson, considéré comme Aliment dans les Temps anciens et modernes.

97Garrad,The Arte of War.

98In the itinerary of a journey from England made by a Scottish nobleman to join Edward I. in Scotland, it is recorded that herrings were purchased nearly every day—at Dunstable, Newport, Northampton, Leicester, Nottingham, Sherburn, &c. Sixty fresh herrings at York, nearly forty miles from the sea in a straight line, cost eightpence, and fresh haddocks and codlings were also bought.

99“Prohibeo etiam firmiter ne quis decimas suas eis injuste detineat sicut habuerunt in tempore regis Davidis super meum forisfactum et ne quis in aquis eorum piscari presumat ... nisi per eorum licentiam.”

100Fœdera, ii. 23. “Gent de Flaundres estre venuz sur mer, come Pescheurs,” &c.

101Ibid., ii. 37. The Flemish fishermen had probably gone up the Tweed after salmon.

102Ibid., ii. 688, dated 28th September. “Quia intelleximus quod multi homines, de partibus Hollandiæ, Zelandiæ et etiam Frislandiæ, qui sunt de amicitia nostra, ad piscandum in mari nostro, prope Jernemuth,” &c.

103Lundberg,Det Stora sillfisket i Skåne under medeltiden oeh nyare tidens början. Worms,Hist. commerciale de la Ligue Hanséatique.

104Fruin,Tien Jaren uit den Tachtigjarigen Oorlog, 181.

105Brit. Mus. MSS. Galba, B. iii. 16. Henry apparently acceded to the request;vide“John Heron’s accompte for waftynge of the herring fleete in the parties of Norfolk and Suffolk,anno quartoR. Henrici VIII.”State Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Hen. VIII., i. 1512.

106Ljungman,Nägra ord om de stora Bohus-länska Sillfiskeri.

107Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xxi.

108Rot. Pat., 22 Edw. IV., m. 2;ibid., 2 Ric. III., i. m. 3;ibid., 3 Hen. VII., part ii.dorso;Mare Clausum, lib. ii. xxi.

109The Statutes at Large passed in the Parliaments held in Ireland, i. 30. 5 Edw. IV., c. vi. “An Act that no Ship or other Vessel of any Foreign Country shall go to the Fishing in the Irish Countries, and for Custom to be paid of the Vessel that cometh from Foreign Lands to Fishing.”

110Britannia, Gough’s edition, ii. 248.

111A Pollitique Platt, &c.

112State Papers, Dom., James I., xlviii. 94.

113Malines,Lex Mercatoria, 189, from whom Selden quotes it, with the remark, “There are some also who affirm that the King of Spain,” &c.Mare Clausum, ii. c. xxx. It is also given by Boroughs and other writers.

114State Papers, Dom., Charles I., clxxx. 96.

115One of the licenses, which ran for a year, is printed inAppendix C. The Zowe was described in 1630 as “a bank which lies between Rye and Dieppe, and the outermost part is nearly one-third over the sea. This zowe which they call the small zowe is 3 leagues long and 3 broad, and 26 and 28 fathoms deep. The French make it 10 leagues, because they fish till they bring Beachy Head N., fayre Loo (? Fairlea, Fairlight) W.N.W., and fish in 30 fathoms.” Sir H. Mainwaring to Coke, “A Short Discourse or Propositions concerning the French fishing uppon the Zowe, theyr abusing it, and the Remedy” (ibid.) It was described as the “chief nursery for turbetts, hollibatts, pearles (brill), soules, weavers and gurnetts.” In Queen Elizabeth’s time only four licenses were granted, but James increased the number to fourteen or fifteen. They were carefully entered in the records of Dover Castle and the Hundred Book of Rye.

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