Chapter LXVI: Appendix: O (3)

[46] _Rotuli 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.

[47] _Fœdera_, 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.

[48] Nicolas, _op. cit._, ii. 49, 106.

[49] _Political 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._

[50] Oppenheim, _A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy_, i. 7.

[51] Cunningham, _op. cit._, 361. In the _Libelle_ it 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.”

[53] _Rot. Parl._, ii. 311.

[54] _Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xxvi.

[55] _Animadversions_, 108.

[56] Nicolas, _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 in _Social England_ (i. 138), was not apparently aware of the labours of Sir Travers Twiss mentioned in the text.

[57] _The Black Book of the Admiralty_, i. Intro. xiii _et 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 the _Whitehall MS._ of the eighteenth century; it does not materially differ from the others. The _Cottonian 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.”

[59] _The Black Book_, Intro. xix, lxxvii. It is _Vespasian MSS._, B. xxii.

[60] _The Black Book_, iii. Intro. viii, x. See p. 410.

[61] _Collection des Lois Maritimes_, iv. 199.

[62] _Collection des Lois Maritimes_, i. Intro. pp. li, 129; iii. Intro. p. xi.

[63] _Mare 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.

[65] _Chancery Rolls, Misc. Treaties and Diplomatic_, Bdle. 14, No. 15. It is endorsed _De 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 in Appendix 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, in _MS. Otho._ E. ix. fol. 14.

[66] _Fourth Institute_, cap. 22, p. 142.

[67] _Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xxvii., xxviii., xx., xxiv.

[68] _Rot. Pat._, 26 Edw. I., part 2, memb. 24, _in dorso_.

[69] _Fœdera_, i. 954.

[70] Selden, _op. cit._, lib. ii. c. xxvii., quoting from _Rot. 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.”

[71] The 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.

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

[73] The 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.

[74] Coke (_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 in _anno_ 22 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.

[75] The rest is on the back of the membrane.

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

[77] _Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xxvii. Hall, in his excellent _Treatise 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.

[78] See Appendix A.

[79] _Chancery Miscel. Rolls_, _France_, Bdl. 5, No. 6.

[80] See translation in Appendix B.

[81] _Chancery 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. 2_d_), 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.”

[83] Twiss (_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 date A.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.

[84] _Op. cit._, i. 484.

[85] _Op. cit._

[86] _Op. 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, whether _jure belli publicis_, or _jure belli privati_ by way of reprisals, or _jure nullo_ by way of piracy ... all causes of spoil and depredations at sea; robberies and pyracies,” &c., &c.

[87] M’Pherson, _Annals of Commerce_, i. 475, 485, quoting from _Fœdera_.

[88] 18 Edw. III., st. 2, cap. 3. Several articles in the _Black Book_ show 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.

[89] _The 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.”

[92] Nicolas, 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.”

[94] _Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xxix. p. 282.

[95] That “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.

[96] Allard, _Du Poisson, considéré comme Aliment dans les Temps anciens et modernes_.

[97] Garrad, _The Arte of War_.

[98] In 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.”

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

[101] _Ibid._, ii. 37. The Flemish fishermen had probably gone up the Tweed after salmon.

[102] _Ibid._, 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.

[103] Lundberg, _Det Stora sillfisket i Skåne under medeltiden oeh nyare tidens början_. Worms, _Hist. commerciale de la Ligue Hanséatique_.

[104] Fruin, _Tien Jaren uit den Tachtigjarigen Oorlog_, 181.

[105] _Brit. 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 quarto_ R. Henrici VIII.” _State Papers, Foreign and Domestic_, Hen. VIII., i. 1512.

[106] Ljungman, _Nägra ord om de stora Bohus-länska Sillfiskeri_.

[107] _Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xxi.

[108] _Rot. 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.

[109] _The 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.”

[110] _Britannia_, Gough’s edition, ii. 248.

[111] _A Pollitique Platt_, &c.

[112] _State Papers, Dom._, James I., xlviii. 94.

[113] Malines, _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.

[114] _State Papers, Dom._, Charles I., clxxx. 96.

[115] One of the licenses, which ran for a year, is printed in Appendix 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.

[116] Henrici de Bracton, _Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliæ_, lib. i. c. 12; lib. iii. c. 3. _Rolls Series_, Introd., by Sir Travers Twiss, i. ii. Güterbock, _Henricus de Bracton und sein Verhältniss zum Römischen Rechte_, 14, 55.

[117] _Fœdera_, v. 719. “Il est convenu, &c., &c. Item, que pessoners de la seignurie del roi de Castelle et del counte de Viscay peussent venir et pescher fraunchement et sauvement en les portz d’Engleterre et de Bretaigne, et en touz autres lieux et portz où ils vorrontz, paiantz les droits et les custumes à les seignurs du pais.”

[118] _Ibid._, v. 763.

[119] _Fœdera_, viii. 306, 336. “Q’en ceste presente harenguison les pescheurs de l’une part et d’autre puissent pescher plus seurement en la mer la harenk et toutz autres poissons, depuis hable de Grauelinguez et l’isle de Tanent, jusques a l’entree de la riviere de Saine, et au hable de Hautoune.”

[120] _Ibid._, viii. 451.

[121] _Fœdera_, viii. 459. “Pro Piscatoribus, sub Dominio Ducis Burgundiæ: ... toutz pescheurs, tant de nostre dit roiaume d’Engleterre et de Caleis, et dez autres noz villes et lieux, come dez ditz conte et paiis de Flandres, dez paiis de Picardie, de Normandie, et de Bretaigne, et generalment de tut le dit roiaume de Fraunce, puissent paisiblement aler par tout sur meer, pur peschier et gaigner lour vivre, saunz en estre reprins ne empeschiez en ascun manere ... et par ainsi que semblablement soit fait et otroie, de lez dites parties de Flandres, Picardie, Normandie, Bretaigne, et autres del dit roiaume de Fraunce, a la seurte dez ditz pescheours de nostre dit roiaume d’Engleterre.”

[122] _Ibid._, viii. 469, 472. Dumont, _Corps Universel Diplomatique du Droit des Gens_, &c., II. i. 302. _Proc. and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England_, i. 282.

[123] _Ibid._, viii. 530, 548, “Et les pescheurs generalment aler pescher sur mer pour gaignier leur vivre paisiblement.”

[124] _Fœdera_, ix. 483.

[125] _Rot. Parl._, iii. 643_b_.

[126] Pikes and bows and arrows were used. Later, in the early part of the seventeenth century, a regular part of the equipment of a herring-buss was half-pikes and muskets, an estimate for one being--ten half-pikes, £1; muskets with bandaleers, rests, and moulds, £6, with 6 lb. of gunpowder and 6 lb. of leaden bullets.

[127] _Fœdera_, x. 730, 736, 761, 791. The article on the fishery was as follows: “Que tous pescheurs, tant d’Engleterre, d’Irlande, et de Calais, comme des paiis de Brabant et de Flandres, pourront paisiblement aler par tout sur mer, pour peschier et gaignier leur vivre, sans empeschement ou destourber de l’une partie ne de l’autre. Et avec ce, se fortune ou autre aventure chassoit ou amenoit les diz pescheurs de la partie d’Engleterre, en aucun des ports, havres, destrois, et daugiers des dites paiis de Brabant ou de Flandres, ou les diz pescheurs des dites paiis de Brabant et de Flandres en aucuns des dites ports, havres, destrois, ou daugiers du royaume d’Engleterre, Yrland, et de Calais, que ilz y soient paisiblement et franchement receuz et traictiez raisonnablement d’une coste et d’autre, en paiant aux lieux, ou ils arriveront, les toulieux et devoirs accoustumez, et d’illec puissent liberalment retourner a tout leurs nefs, applois, et biens sans destourbier, arrest, ne empeschement; pourveu que, par les diz pescheurs, d’un coste et d’autre, ne soit commise aucune fraude, ou fait dommaige.” Intercursus continuandus pro spatio duodecim annorum inter Anglos et Flandros, Gandanos, Iperos et civitatis de Brabant. _Ibid._, xi. 143.

[128] “Et pur toutz sez autres paiis et seigneuries.”

[129] “Et sans qu’il leur soit bosoigne sur ceo requirer ne opteiner ascune license, congie, ou saufconducte.” 5 Jan. 1467/1468. _Ibid._, xi. 591, 592, 595, 609. Dumont, _op. cit._, III. i. 592.

[130] Dumont, III. i. 400.

[131] _Fœdera_, xi. 683.

[132] _Ibid._, xii. 67. In 1484 Richard III. issued a commission to Thomas Lye, sergeant-at-arms, to make restitution for fishing-boats belonging to subjects of Maximilian, Duke of Austria, which had been taken, laden with fish, by English pirates. _Ibid._, xii. 227.

[133] “Item, conventum, concordatum et conclusum est quod piscatores utriusque partis partium prædictarum (cujuscunque conditionis existant) poterunt ubique ire, navigare per mare, secure piscari absque aliquo impedimento licentia seu salvo conductu: Et, si contingat aliquos ex piscatoribus unius partis per fortunam, tempestatem maris, vim hostium, aut alio modo compelli intrare aliquem portum vel districtum alterius partis, ibidem pacifice et amicabiliter recipientur et tractabuntur (solvendo in locis ubi applicabunt jura et theolonia prædicta) et ab illis portubus et locis poterunt libere recedere et redire, cum eorum navibus et bonis, sine impedimento vel contradictione quacunque; dummodo tamen per ipsos piscatores non committatur fraus neque dolus, seu per eos aliis dampnum minime fiat.” 24 Feb. (1495)/(1496). _Fœdera_, xii. 583. Dumont, III. ii. 338.

[134] _Fœdera_, xii. 714; xiii. 132, 539, 714.

[135] Ships of war were used to convoy the herring-busses of Holland and Zealand at least as early as 1440.

[136] _Cal. State Papers, Foreign and Domestic_, iii. Nos. 1534, 1535.

[137] _Fœdera_, xiii. 752. Dumont, IV. i. 352.

[138] Dumont, IV. i. 515. “Pourront aussi les Sujets des Païs, Roiaumes, Terres et Seigneuries dessusdites, librement, et sans détourbier, ni empêchement, pêcher à harangs, et autres poissons en la mer, où ladite Treve aura lieu, et là où la pêche dudit harang s’adonera, comme ils faisoient avant la Guerre, et pourroient et sont accoûtumez de faire au tems de Paix.”

[139] _Fœdera_, ii. 529, 545. Mieris, _Groot Charterboek der Graaven van Holland_, &c., ii. 268; iii. 257; iv. 223, 378, 692, 816. Kluit, _Historiæ Federum Belgii Federati_, 284. Yair, _An Account of the Scotch Trade in the Netherlands_, 6, 27, 36.

[140] Mieris, _op. cit._, iv. 146. About this time the Scots also did their best to drive away English fishermen from their coasts. In 1400 they fitted out a small fleet under Sir Robert Logan for this purpose, but it was apparently insufficient, and Logan himself was captured by the men of Lynn. Walsingham, _Hist. Anglicana_, 364. In 1420 complaint was made to the English Parliament that the Scots had at divers times attacked and taken English fishing vessels. _Rot. Parl._, iv. 127_a_.

[141] _State Papers, Dom._, Charles I., clii. 63. See p. 218.

[142] “Dat hy voorhadt, de haringvisscherij omtrent zyne kusten te beletten.” Wagenaar, _Vaderlandsche Historie_, v. 209.

[143] _Resol. Staten van Holl._, 5/15 September 1540. Bosgoed, _Bib. Pisc._, 319.

[144] Treaty of Binche, 9/19 February 1540/1541. Dumont, _op. cit._, IV. ii. 208.

[145] “Et quant au dernier article de la commission du Sr. de Limdy [Lundy] ambassadeur, concernant le fait de la pescherie, ladite Dame Reine [the Queen Dowager of Hungary and Bohemia] veuille par bonne et meure deliberation proceder en telles et semblables affaires, se fera informer sur le contenu dudit article, pour après en ordonner comme il sera trouvé étre de raison, équité, et justice d’une part et d’autre pour la conservation de la paix et amitié mutuelle desdits Sieurs.” _Op. cit._, and see footnote next page.

[146] Wagenaar, _op. cit._, 355.

[147] _Res. St. Holl._, (29 Nov.)/(9 Dec.) 1544; (23 Feb.)/(5 Mar.) 1545, &c. Bosgoed, _op. cit._, 320.

[148] Dumont, IV. iii. 12. “Circa piscationem verò ac liberum usum maris, ea quæ per supradictum Tractatum anno 1541, 19 Februarii, Binchii inter Serenissimam Reginam Mariam et supra nominatum Oratorem Regis Scotiæ; inita, conclusa ac conventa fuerint debite ac sincere observari debebunt.”

[149] In 1618, when there was much searching of the records in Scotland (where they were kept in a most careless and slovenly manner) to establish the claim of James to the fishing in connection with the approaching visit of the Dutch ambassadors, the Earl of Dunfermline wrote to Lord Binning in London, forwarding a copy, in French, of the treaty of 1541, and said, “Albeit ye will perseive by the last article of the same annent the propositions of the fishings, the Queen of Hungarie and Bohemia, who was for the Emperour Governant of the Low Countries--we call her commonly Frow Mary--in that takes her to further advysement with her Councill, and no thing resolved if any further proceeding; _I pray God ye may find it otherwayes_.” _MSS. Advoc. Lib._, 31. 2. 16.

[150] The heads of the treaty and the ratifications are given by Dumont, _Corps Diplomatique_, V. i. 507. The treaty itself is published in full by Bor, _Vervolgh Vande Nederlantssche Oorlogen ende Geschiedenissen_, iv. fol. 48-52.

[151] _E.g._, in 1573, that “all maner of fischeris that occupyis the sey and vtheris persounis quhatsumeuer” that catch herrings or white fish “vpon the coist or within the Ilis or outwith the samin within the Fyrthis” should bring them to free ports to be sold. _Acta Parl. Scot._, iii. c. 7.

[152] Leslie, _De Origine Moribus et Rebus Gestis Scotorum_, 24. A point of land near Inveraray in Loch Fyne was long known, and is still known, as Frenchman’s Point or French Farl, the tradition being that it was to this place that herrings were brought to be sold and cured. _Old Statistical Account of Scotland_, v. 291.

[153] _Register Privy Council of Scotland_, i. 482.

[154] _De Dominio Maris_, 16. In another work Welwood says, “And for the eastern seas, direct from Scotland, what is more antiently notorious than that covenant twixt Scottish men and Hollanders, concerning the length of their approaching toward Scotland by way of fishing.” _An Abridgement of All Sea Lawes_, c. 26.

[155] _Register Privy Council of Scotland_, iv. 216.

[156] Much information on the fisheries of the Netherlands will be found in Professor A. Beaujon’s _History of Dutch Sea Fisheries_, 1884.

[157] 33 Hen. VIII., c. 2.

[158] 37 Hen. VIII., c. 23; 5 & 6 Edw. VI., c. 17; 7 Edw. VI., c. 11; 1 Mary, st. 2, c. 13.

[159] _Acts of the Privy Council of England_, i. 103, 104, 106, 112, 114, _an._ 1543.

[160] 2 & 3 Edw. VI., c. 19. Certain exceptions, of those licensed, ill, or very old, or in prison, were made.

[161] _State Papers, Dom., Addenda_, Edw. VI., iv. 56. The paper, which is endorsed by Cecil, “The Answer of the Fishmongers,” is undated, but that it belongs to the reign of Edward VI. (1547-1553) is proved by the words, “the reign of our late sovereign, Henry VIII.” The return of 1528, referred to by the fishmongers, is among the State Papers _(Foreign and Domestic Letters and Papers_, Hen. VIII., iv. pt. 2, No. 5101). It states that 149 vessels went to the Iceland fishing, mostly from Yarmouth, Blakeney, Cromer, Dunwich, Walderswick, and Southwold; the herring-fishing in the North Sea employed 222, of which 110 belonged to the Cinque Ports, while 69 went to Shetland, the total being 440. Shetland lings were in those days greatly prized, and brought very high prices.

[162] _State Papers, Dom., Addenda_, Edw. VI., iv. 57. “The decaied Porte Townes w^{th} nombers of good villages a longe by the sea cost of this realm, within these twentie or thirtie years;” undated, but belonging to the same period, with Cecil’s calculations written on the back.

[163] _State Papers, Dom._, Elizabeth, xxvii. 71, February 1563. Endorsed, “Arguments for Increase of the Navy,” and “Arguments to prove that it is necessary for the restoring of the navy of England to have one Day more in ye weeke ordained to be a fish day, and that to be Wensday rather than any other.”

[164] The exportation, without license, of herrings, among other things, had been forbidden by 1 & 2 Ph. and Mary, c. 5 (1554); but by 1 Eliz., c. 17, subjects were permitted to export sea fish taken by subjects in English ships free of customs for four years.

[165] “The causes of the decay of fishing must be the lack of the vse of fishing, which must be divided into ij partes, small eating of fisshe in ye Realme, and not selling of it abroad.”

[166] The number of French vessels engaged in the Newfoundland fisheries is placed at 500, with 15,000 men; and over 100, with at least 1000 men, fished at Iceland for “herrings,”--but no doubt for cod and ling.

[167] There are many other memoranda amongst the State Papers, some in Cecil’s handwriting, which deal with fish-days. One gives in detail a note of all the fish-days throughout the year, amounting to 186, and in addition “a number of sayntes evens were fastyng dayes that now be not observed.” _Ibid._, xxxi. 41, 42 (1563).

[168] 5 Eliz. c. 5. The debate on the Wednesday proposal lasted three days, the clause being ultimately carried by 179 to 97 (_Commons Journals_, i. 68). It was in view of the expected opposition that the long paper above referred to was prepared. The Wednesday was not put on quite the same footing as the Fridays and Saturdays, since “one only usual competent dish of flesh and no more” was allowed, provided that at the same table “three full competent usual dishes of sea fish of sundry kinds, either fresh or salt,” were served and eaten “without fraud or covin.” Another clause explained that the object was “meant politically for the increase of fishermen and mariners, and repairing of port towns and navigation”, and not for any superstition “regarding choice of meats”; any one stating the contrary was to be punished.

[169] Among the imports of fish from the Low Countries at this time were “cods-heads, cod-fish, eels, ‘gull-fish,’ haddocks, herrings, ling, salmon, salt-fish, sturgeon, and ‘staple-fish.’” Hall, _A History of the Customs Revenue in England_, ii. 237.

[170] _State Papers, Dom._, Eliz., xxxv. 36.

[171] 13 Eliz., c. 11.

[172] _State Papers, Dom._, Eliz., xlviii. 83.

[173] _Hatfield MSS._, i. 1177, 27th June 1568.

[174] 13 Eliz., c. 11. In the preamble it is said the former Act “is a very good Act, and greatly increased the navy and fishermen.”

[175] _State Papers, Dom._, Eliz., lxxv. 16.

[176] In the same year the author, at a dinner he gave at Westminster to the burgesses representing “all the stately port towns of England,” explained the substance of his “plat”; several of them suggested that a subsidy should be raised on land and goods to set the scheme afloat; and the Speaker remarked that “a Parliament had been called for a less cause.”

[177] _Burghley Papers_, A.D. 1572, _MSS. Lansd._ 14, No. 30. As the catalogue states, the signature is erased, and the paper is entered as anonymous; but careful scrutiny shows that it was signed “Rob^{t.} Hitchcock.”

[178] _A Pollitique Platt for the honour of the Prince, the greate profite of the publique state, relief of the poore, preseruacion of the riche, reformation of Roges and Idle persones, and the wealthe of thousandes that knowes not howe to liue. Written for an_ Newyeres gift _to Englande and the inhabitantes thereof_, by Robert Hitchcok, late of Cauersfeelde, in the Countie of Buckyngham, Gentleman. London, 1st Januarie 1580.

[179] In the early MS. copy presented to the Queen the 400 vessels were to be from 100 to 200 tons, costing £400 each, and the crew was to consist of a master, nine mariners, and thirty “rogues and lustie vagabonds” obtained in the same forcible way.

[180] This place, frequently mentioned in old works and papers referring to the fisheries, was Vardö, or Vardöhuus, at the mouth of the Varangerfjord, Finmarken, on the north-east coast of Norway, or, as it was often described, Lapland. The king of Denmark had a castle on the island, and dues had to be paid for liberty to fish. A number of English vessels went there in spring, returning towards the end of summer.

[181] In France at this time, according to other records, Flemish herrings brought £25 per last; Yarmouth, £10; Irish, £18; “coast” herrings and Scotch, £11.

[182] The _Pollitique Platt_ is earnest and even religious in tone, and it is obvious that the author spent much time in collecting the information and elaborating his scheme, which in all sincerity was meant for the good of his country. Even after three centuries one learns with regret (from his letter preserved at Hatfield) that he had to petition the Privy Council, “for his relief and maintenance in these his now declining years” (1596), to cause every innkeeper, &c., to purchase from him, for sixpence, and put up publicly, a printed table, or “breviate,” describing the “benefits that growe to this Realme by the Observance of Fish-Daies.”

[183] Better known by its running title, _The Brytish Monarchie_. It is a very rare work, only 100 copies having been printed. The author’s own copy is in the British Museum.

[184] P.7.

[185] Sir John Constable’s case. Moore, _Hist. Foreshore_, 225, from _Hargrave MSS._, 15, fol. 95_d_. In the case for the crown the claim to the sea is very briefly put: “Car quant est floud est parcel del mere que est solement en le Roign et nemy en ascun subject; car est pur passage pur chescun, mes owner de ceo nul si non le Roign.” Anderson, _Les Reports du Treserudite_, i. 86. (ed. 1664). In a MS. in the Cottonian collection (_Galba_, C. 11, “Acta inter Angliam et Belgium, 1564-1567”) it is said the jurisdiction of the Prince in the adjoining sea extends for a distance of 100 miles unless (1) in seas lying between the territories of two princes which contain less than a hundred miles, in which case it extends to the mid-line--usq’ ad mediũ eiusdem maris extenditur; (2) where another prince has a right to the whole sea. The authorities referred to are Bartolus, Angelus, Paulus de Castro, and Joan de Platea.

[186] _Op. cit._, 21.

[187] Two MS. copies exist, one bound up with Dee’s copy of the _General and Rare Memorials_ in the British Museum, which was sent to Dyer with the MS., the other in _Harleian MSS._ 249, fol. 95. The latter, which is a draft, is addressed “To my very honorable frende Syr Edward Dyer, Knight,” and a note inscribed on it says, “Written by Dr John Dee, out of whose library I bought it after his death A^o D^o 1625, S.D.” The title on both MSS. is ΘΑΛΑΤΤΟΚΑΡΤΙΑ ΒΡΕΤΤΑΝΙΚΗ: _Miscelanea quædam extemporanea de Imperii Britannici Iurisdictione in Mari_; and both are dated 8th September 1597.

[188] Lat. 49° 6´ N., long. 2° 49´ W.

[189] “All those that pass within our sea jurisdiction (either absolute or respective) and therein commit any notable offence against us may lawfully by our power be taken; and the same offenders may as lawfully and justly be punished, as if on our land territory an offence like, or of like degree of injury, were by them against us committed.” “Absolute” jurisdiction applied to the sea where both coasts belonged to England; “respective” where it terminated half seas over.

[190] In 1597 Dee expressed his grief and surprise that so little had been done or attempted with regard to the sovereignty of the sea, “and so my labours (after a sort) vaynely employed.” MS.

[191] _Bullarium Romanum Novissimum_, i. 346. “Insulæ novi Orbis à Ferdinando Hispaniarum Rege, et Elisabeth Regina repertæ, et reperiendæ, conceduntur eisdem, propagandæ fidei Christianæ causa ... omnes insulas et terras firmas inventas et inveniendas, detectas ad detegendas versus Occidentem et Meridiem fabricando, et construendo unam lineam à Polo Arctico scilicet Septentrione, ad Polum Antarcticum, scilicet Meridiem, sive terræ firmæ, et insulæ inventæ et inveniendæ sint versus Indiam aut versus aliam quamcumque partem, quæ linea distet à qualibet Insularum, quæ vulgariter nuncupantur de los Azores y cabo vierde, centum læucis versus Occidentem et Meridiem,” &c. Art. 8, “prohibet aliis accessum ad illas insulas pro mercibus habendis absque Regis licentia.”

[192] Harrisse, _The Diplomatic History of America_, 78.

[193] Selden, _Mare Clausum_, i. c. xvii.

[194] Selden, _loc. cit._

[195] Camden, _Annales_, 225 (ed. 1635).

[196] _Hatfield MSS._, ii. 684. “Whether Your Majesty’s Subjects may lawfully trade into the Indies.” Undated, but calendered under the year 1578.

[197] Hautefeuille, _Hist. des Origines, des Progrès, et des Variations du Droit maritime international_, 15. Hall, _A Treatise on International Law_, 142.

[198] _Rot. Parl._, iv. 79_b_. The petition declared that owing to the fish having deserted the coasts where they used to be taken, the fishermen had been forced to go to Iceland and other places for six or seven years past in order to catch them. English fishermen, however, had frequented Iceland long before that time.

[199] _Fœdera_, ix. 322.

[200] _Rot. Parl._, iv. 348, 378. 8 Hen. VI., c. 2.

[201] _Fœdera_, xii. 381.

[202] _Ibid._, xiii. 798.

[203] _State Papers, Dom._, Elizabeth, clxxx. 26, 15th July 1585.

[204] _Ibid._, ccxiii. 92.

[205] _Fœdera_, xvi. 278. A license granted in 1570 to an Englishman, one Raymond Binge, for fishing at Iceland for seven years, gave permission for his boats to be kept and wintered in the ports there, on payment of the customs and abstaining from trading, as well as freedom of fishing except where prohibited by royal edicts, reserved for the king’s use, or granted to others. _Brit. Mus. Vespasian MSS._, C. xiv. fol. 21.

[206] Complaint of the Mayor of Kingston-upon-Hull to Cecil, 2nd July 1599. _State Papers, Dom._, cclxxi. 68.

[207] _Fœdera_, xvi. 395, 432.

[208] _Brit. Mus. Vespasian MSS._, C. xiv. fol. 22. _Fœdera_, xvi. 431.

[209] _State Papers, Dom._, cclxxiv.

[210] _Fœdera_, xvi. 433.

[211] _Brit. Mus. Lansdowne MSS._, 142, fol. 380.

[212] 23 Eliz., c. 7, 1580-81. _Brit. Mus. Lansd. MSS._, 14.

[213] 39 Eliz., c. 10.

[214] The price of stock-fish had risen from £12 a last in 1584 to £18 and £20 in 1597, and the price of cured ling in the same time advanced from £3 to £5, 5s. per cwt. _State Papers, Dom._, cclxv.

[215] A commission of eleven peers, three bishops, and two law-officers had been appointed in 1593 for the repeal of the Act respecting the importation of salted fish and herrings. _Ibid._, ccxliv. 84.

[216] _Ibid._, cxlvii. 21, 22.

[217] 27 Eliz., c. 11.

[218] 35 Eliz., c. 7.

[219] Jeninges, _A briefe discouery of the damages that happen to this Realme by disordered and vnlawfull diet_, 1593. Hitchcock, _A briefe note of the benefits that grow to this Realme by the observation of Fish-Daies_, _Hatfield MSS._, 1595. _State Papers, Dom._, cclxv. 25. _Remembrancia_, 391 _et seq._

[220] _Every Man in His Humour_, Act 3, sc. 4.

[221] Froude, _Hist. England_, iii. 69.

[222] King Edward’s Journal, in Burnet, _Hist. Reformation_, ii. (v. of ed. 1865). Oppenheim, _Hist. Administration Roy. Navy_, 106.

[223] _Acts of the Privy Council of England_, iv. 37. 7th May 1552.

[224] Selden, _Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xxvi.

[225] Raleigh, _A Discourse of the Invention of Ships_, Collected Works, viii. 326. Monson, _Naval Tracts_, in Churchill’s _Collection of Voyages and Travels_, iii.

[226] Monson, _op. cit._ Laughton, _Fortnightly Review_, Aug. 1866.

[227] Froude, _op. cit._, viii. 68. Laughton, _loc. cit._

[228] An undated State Paper, calendared under the year 1604, entitled “Reglement for Preventing Abuses in and about the Narrow Seas,” contains a claim by the king to a most absolute dominion over the Four Seas (_State Papers, Dom._, James, xi. 40). It appears, however, to be merely a copy of the similar regulation prepared in 1633 by Sir Henry Martin (see p. 252). It is not contained in the volume of royal proclamations published in 1609, and is not referred to by Selden. It has no doubt been wrongly calendared.

[229] It is given in Appendix D, from _A Booke of Proclamations, published since the beginning of his Majesties most happy Reigne ouer England, &c., Vntill this present Moneth of Febr. 3, Anno. Dom. 1609._ _Cum Priuilegio_, p. 98.

[230] “Item, conventum et conclusum est, quod, dicto bello durante, nullus subditus principum prædictorum, intra portus et sinus maris quoscumque, flumina, ostia fluminum, gurgites, aquas dulces, stationes navium, et præsertim stationem vulgariter vocatam _les Dunes_, aut alia loca maritima quæcumque jurisdictioni dicti Regis Angliæ subjecta aliquam navem mercatoriam, onerariam, armatam vel non armatam, onustam seu vacuam, cujuscumque quantitatis aut oneris fuerit, de quacumque natione eadem navis extiterit, capere, spoliare, diripere, seu merces, victualia, aut armamenta quæcumque, ab eisdem navibus, aut earumdem nautis auferre, nec eisdem vim, violentiam, aut molestationem aliquam inferre possit, aut debeat,” &c. Dumont, _Corps Diplomatique_, IV. i. 352.

[231] This interesting document is printed in Appendix E, from _State Papers, Dom._, James I., vol. 13 (1605), No. 11; No. 12 is another of the same. It is not the original, but a copy, the names being all in the same hand as the body of the paper. Diligent search among the records has failed to furnish the “plott” referred to, but there is no reason to doubt that the reproduction of it by Selden (_Mare Clausum_, lib. ii. c. xxii.), and shown here on fig. 3, is an accurate representation. Selden states that the plott or chart was engraved, and copies sent to the officers concerned.

[232] It will be noticed from fig. 4, where the lines between the headlands are shown on a modern map, that some of the “chambers” on the east coast have entirely disappeared, no doubt owing to the erosion or silting up of the coast at those places during the last three hundred years.

[233] In stormy weather as many as 300 or 400 sail of Hollanders took refuge in St George’s Channel at a time. _State Papers, Dom._, xlv. 23 (1609).

[234] Cunningham, _The Growth of English Industry and Commerce_, i. 424.

[235] Gardiner, _Hist. England_, i. 103.

[236] Declaratie van de visscherijen in Holland Zeeland en Vlaanderen. Fruin, _Tien Jaren uit den Tachtigjarigen Oorlog_, 1588-1598, p. 186.

[237] _Descrittione Di M. Lodovico Gvicciardini Patritio Florentino, Di Tvtti i Paesi Bassi, Altrimenti Detti Germania Inferiore_, Antwerp, 1567, p. 21. The value of the cod caught was placed at £150,000 sterling per annum.

[238] Hadrianus Junius, _Batavia_, p. 203. The work was written between 1565 and 1569, and published in 1588.

[239] Hitchcock, _A Pollitique Platt_. The author says that when he was at the wars in 1553, more than 400 busses were set forth from twelve towns in the Low Countries. Dee, _General and Rare Memorials_.

[240] Faulconnier, _Description Historique de Dunkerque_, i. 47, 53, 121.

[241] Van Meteren, _Historie der Nederlandscher ende haerder Naburen Oorlogen_ (1614), fol. 466. This author says the maritime power of the States was shown in the same year, when between 800 and 900 ships departed for the Baltic within the space of two or three days’ tides.

[242] John Keymer’s _Observation made upon the Dutch Fishing about the year 1601. Demonstrating that there is more Wealth raised out of Herrings and other Fish in his Majesties Seas, by the neighbouring Nations in one Year, then the King of Spain hath from the Indies in Four._ London, Printed from the original Manuscript, for Sir Edward Ford, in the year 1664. Keymer states that he found in Holland more than 20,000 sail of ships and “hoyes,” more than was possessed by England, France, Spain, and other eight countries in Europe. The same figure is given by Sir Thomas Overbury, who visited the Netherlands in 1609 (_Observations in his Travels, upon the State of the Seventeen Provinces_, 1626).

[243]

_Observations touching Trade and Commerce with the Hollander, and Other Nations; presented to King James, wherein is proved that our Sea and Land Commodities serve to enrich and strengthen other Countries against our own._ Raleigh’s _Collected Works_, viii. 351. Oldys, in his Life of Raleigh, which was published in 1736, says there was some reason to doubt whether Sir Walter Raleigh was the author of this treatise: it was first printed in 1653, first associated with Raleigh’s name by being bound up with his “Remains” in 1656, and first definitely said to be Raleigh’s by Roger Coke in his _Detection of Court and State_; and he gives reasons for the opinion that it was written by John Keymer and not by Raleigh (_Collected Works_, i. 441). But, as Raleigh’s latest biographer states, Raleigh still has the credit of it (Stebbing, _Sir Walter Raleigh_, 267). I have, however, found the original signed manuscript copy among the State Papers for 1620 (_State Papers, Dom._, cxviii. 114, December 1620), and an unsigned and slightly altered copy among those for 1623 (_State Papers, Dom._, clvii. 45). The original is endorsed, _Keymers booke of observac͠ons for your moste excellent Ma^{tie} touchinge trade and traffique beyond y^e Seas and in England wherein he certaynly findeth y^t your sea and land Commodities doe searve to inrich and strengthen other Cuntries agnst your Kingdome; w^{ch} were y^e urgent causes why he endeavoured himselfe to take extraordynarie paynes for y^e redresse: soe it maie stande w^{th} your Ma^{ties} good Likinge_. 1620. It is subscribed, “Your Ma^{ties} most loyall and true harted Subject, John Keymer,” and it is the same treatise as is published in Raleigh’s _Works_, with a few trifling verbal differences, while the concluding sentence is omitted in the printed form--viz., “To conclude, England is a great and famous body and would be farr greater, richer and stronger, if the ten fingers were rightly imployed.” Further proof exists that Keymer was the author of this much-discussed treatise. Its object was to show how the trade and revenue might be greatly increased, and the author begged the king to have a commission appointed to examine witnesses as to his proposals. This commission was appointed two years later, as appears from the following entry in the Grant Book in 1622: “20 Dec. Com̃ to Charles, pr. of Wales, John Bp. of Linc., Ld Keeper of y^e g. seale, Lewis Duke of Lennox, Geo. Marquis Buck., &c. to hear the propositions which shall be made by John Keymer and to consider whether they will tend to the good of y^e King, and commonwealth as is pretended” (_State Papers, Dom._, Jas. I. (Grants), vol. 141, p. 352). There does not appear to be any further mention of the matter. This John Keymer is supposed to be the same as a person of that name who was licensed by Raleigh about 1584 to sell wines at Cambridge. Among the MSS. at Hatfield are letters from him, dated in 1598, to Cecil and the Earl of Essex, in which he speaks of his services, of “his travels and labours to find out the practises used beyond the seas to their advantage and our great danger and how to prevent the same,” and of his works, one of which he said showed how to increase the Queen’s treasure above £100,000 a year. He also corresponded with Carleton in 1619. In his address to the king, prefixed to the treatise of 1620, he mentions that “about fourteen or fifteen years past” he had presented him with “a book of such extraordinary importance for the honour and profit” of his Majesty and posterity, which was doubtless the earlier tract referred to above, and would fix its date about 1605 or 1606. He was also engaged on the fishery question about 1612 (doubtless in connection with the proposed society), because Tobias Gentleman, whose work was published in the spring of 1614, tells us that he was visited “some two yeares past” by “Maister John Keymar,” who was collecting information about the fisheries, with the view of placing it before the Council (_Englands Way to Win Wealth_, 3).

The copy of Keymer’s tract, which is among the State Papers of 1623, is unsigned, and is simply calendared as “Tract addressed to the King, consisting of observations made by the writer in his travels on the coasts,” &c.; but the person who calendared the paper has written on it, in pencil, “q. By Sir Walter Cope (_ob._ 1614). See 1612, a letter or discourse to the King, to which this was attached,” and has added the name “Walter Cope” at the end. The paper referred to (_State Papers, Dom._, vol. 71, No. 89) has written on it in the old hand, “Sr Walter Cope to K.,” and “Anno Domini 1612. A present for the Kinges most excellent Maiestie.” It is only mentioned here because the draft of it, which is the next paper in the volume (No. 90) and has several corrections on the first page, bears the following note in one of the corners, “Nota Mr Chancellor and Malynes wife (?) the ... of Maye, Ralegh.” The meaning is obscure, but perhaps it may be surmised from the contents that Malynes, who was at that time concerned with the fishery society proposals, had submitted it to Sir Walter Raleigh, and that ultimately it was presented to the king by Sir Walter Cope, who was on intimate terms with him.

[244] _Englands Way to Win Wealth, and to employ Ships and Mariners; or, A plaine description what great profite it will bring vnto the Commonwealth of England, by the Erecting, Building, and aduenturing of Busses, to Sea, a Fishing: With a true Relation of the inestimable Wealth that is yearly taken out of his Majesty’s Seas by the Hollanders, &c._, by Tobias Gentleman, Fisherman and Mariner, London, 1614.

[245] _State Papers, Dom._, Jas. I., xlvii. 114.

[246] Keymer, _Observations on Dutch Fishing_; Gentleman, _op. cit._; Buchanan, _Rerum Scot. Hist._, lib. i. c. xlix; Leslie, _De Origine Moribus et Rebus Gestis Scotorum_, 39; _Register Privy Council of Scotland_, ii. 656; _MSS. Advoc. Lib._, 31. 2. 16.

[247] _State Papers, Dom._, xxxii. 31. Other accounts are as follows. In 1609 the Earl of Salisbury wrote (erroneously) that while fifty or sixty years before only one or two hundred foreign vessels came to fish on the east coast, they then numbered two or three thousand sail (Winwood, _Memorials_, iii. 50). Sir William Monson in the same year placed the number of Hollander busses at 3000 and the number of men at over 30,000 (_State Papers, Dom._, xlvii. 112, 114). Sir Nicholas Hales also estimated the number of men at 30,000 (_Ibid._, xlv. 23; cclxxiv. 67). In the following year the Dutch ambassadors admitted that 20,000 men were employed in the great herring fishery, as well as other 40,000 in connection with it on shore (_Ibid._, lxvii. 111). A little later, in 1616, the Secretary to the Duke of Lennox told the Dutch ambassador that in the previous June, 1500 or 1600 Hollander busses were at Shetland (_Add. MSS. Brit. Mus._, 17,677, J, fol. 160). In 1618 the number fishing on the east coast of Scotland sometimes exceeded 2000 sail (_MSS. Advoc. Lib._, 31. 2. 16). Malynes in 1622 placed the number of busses from Holland and Zealand at 2000 (_Consuetudo vel Lex Mercatoria_, 89). Two years later a Spanish agent described them as consisting of 2400 vessels, guarded by 40 men-of-war, and scattered over an area of 200 leagues (_State Papers, Dom._, dxxi. 30). In 1629 Secretary Coke, who derived the information from a Scottish source, said the Hollander busses sometimes amounted to 3000 sail; three years later he put the number in connection with the fishery off Yarmouth at “above a thousand”; at this time the French vessels numbered 40 (_Ibid._, Chas. I., clii. 63; ccxxix. 79). Beaujon (_op. cit._, p. 64) expresses the opinion that 2000 busses were the maximum number.

[248] To Pomerania, Poland, “Spruceland,” Denmark, Liefland, Russia, Sweden, Germany, Brabant, Flanders, France, “Lukeland,” England, Greece, Egypt, Venice, Leghorn, and all over the Mediterranean, and even as far as Brazil.

[249] _State Papers, Dom._, xlvii. 112.

[250] To the King’s most excellent Majesty: A Declaration of the fishing of Herring, Cod, and Ling, and how much the favour or disfavour of Your Royal Majesty concerneth the Hollanders. _Ibid._, xxxii. 30; cclxxix. 67.

[251] Misselden, _The Circle of Commerce, or the Balance of Trade_, 1623, p. 121. It may be said that the aggregate quantity of herrings now taken in the North Sea, and mostly by Scottish and English fishermen, equals about 3,500,000 barrels in a year.

[252] Manship, _History of Great Yarmouth_, 119, 121.

[253] Gentleman, _op. cit._, 7, 32.

[254] Keymer, _Observations on Dutch Fishing_.

[255] Manship, _op. cit._, 97, 120. The work was written between 1612 and 1619.

[256] Gentleman, _op. cit._, 36; Swinden, _History of Great Yarmouth_, 465; _State Papers, Dom._, xlvii. 112, 114.

[257] Meynert Semeyns, _Een corte beschryvinge over de Haring-visscherye in Hollandt_.

[258] Keymer, _Observations on Dutch Fishing_; Monson, _Naval Tracts_, in Churchill’s _Collection_, iii. 467; H. Robinson, _Briefe Considerations concerning the Advancement of Trade_, p. 50; _England’s Great Interest by encouraging the setting up of the Royal Fishery_, &c., &c.

[259] A Demonstration of the Hollanders increase in Shipping and our Decay herein. _State Papers, Dom._, xlvii. 112.