Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	admiral_n	king_n	lord_n	3,780	5	4.1925	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36497	A discourse written by Sir George Downing, the King of Great Britain's envoy extraordinary to the states of the United Provinces vindicating his royal master from the insolencies of a scandalous libel, printed under the title of (An extract out of the register of the States General of the United Provinces, upon the memorial of Sir George Downing, envoy, &c.), and delivered by the agent De Hyde for such to several publick ministers : whereas no such resolution was ever communicated to the said envoy, nor any answer returned at all by their lordships to the said memorial : whereunto is added a relation of some former and later proceedings of the Hollanders / by a meaner hand.	Downing, George, Sir, 1623?-1684.	1672 (1672)	Wing D2108; ESTC R34994	50,712	177

sailed in to be of her Dominion There was an ancient Custom used in the East That when Great Kings had a design to bring any Nation under their power they commanded Water and Earth the pledges of Empire and Dominion to be delivered unto them conceiving that the Command of the Sea as well as of the Land was signified by such a Token And if we take a view of these late times as to the Rights and Customs of Forreign Nations we shall find that the Commonwealth of Venice hath enjoyed the Dominion of the Adriatique-Sea for many Ages The Tuscans to this day have an Absolute Dominion in the Tyrhene-Sea and those of Genoa in the Lygustick To conclude That the Dominion of the Sea is admitted amongst those things that are lawful and received into the Customs of Nations is so far from contradiction that nothing at all can be found to controul it in the Customs of our later times unless it be by the Encroaching Hollander who bordering so near our shores hath done and doth endeavour to violate the Right of His Most Sacred Majesty under the pretence of Civil Community Besides it is most evident from the Custom of all Times That Commerce and free Passage hath ever been so limited by Princes in their Territories that is either granted or denied according to the various concernments of the Publick Good Princes are concerned to be wary and careful that they admit no such Strangers or Forreign Commerce where the Commonwealth may receive any damage thereby Some Oppugners to the Mare Clausum introduce this Argument That the Water is open to All and therefore by Law it must be open at all times to all men What a trifle is this Before the distribution of things there was no Land which did not lie open to All before it came under particular possession If the Hollanders should object this Argument against our Dominion over the Narrow Seas I would ask them the reason of their Custom in Delph-land called Jus Grutae which hath ever been under the care of those Officers called in Dutch Pluymgraven whereby the Beer-Brewers are obliged to pay the hundredth part for the use of those Waters Having thus in general given you an account That almost amongst all Nations there hath been allowed a private Dominion of the Sea We shall now come nearer home and inform you That the ancient Britains did Enjoy and Possess the Sea as Lords thereof before they were subjected to the Roman Power We find no History of Britain to which any credit ought to be given elder than the time of Julius Caesar at whose coming we find the Britains used the Sea as their own for Navigation and Fishing and withal permitted none besides Merchants to sail into the Island without their leave nor any man at all to sound or view their Sea-coasts or Harbours Amongst several Kings of old that not only ruled this Land but had also Dominion over the Sea I find none more potent than King Edgar who possessing an absolute Dominion of the Seas sailed round it once a year and secured it with a constant Guard of Ships of which as is reported he had Four thousand eight hundred stout ones and what Dominion this was King Edgar had as Absolute Lord of the Sea appeareth in these words I Edgar King of England and of all the Kings of the Islands and of all the Ocean lying about Britain and of all the Nations that are included within the circuit c. After him King Canutus left a testimony whereby he most expresly asserteth the Sea to be a part of his Dominion for placing himself by the Sea-side on Southampton shore he is reported to have made trial of the Seas obedience in this manner Thou O Sea art under my Dominion as the Land also which I sit upon is mine therefore I command thee not to wet the feet or garments of thy Soveraign Although the event did not answer his expectation yet by this he professed himself to be Soveraign of the Seas as well as of the Land There is nothing more clear than that the Kings of England have been accustomed to constitute Governours who had a charge to guard the English Sea and these were called Custodes Maritimi In this number you shall find in Parliamentary Rolls of the 48 of Hen. 3. Thomas de Moleton who is called Captain and Guardian of the Sea this Title was afterwards changed into Admiral in the days of Edward the third The principal end of calling that Parliament was concerning the preservation of Peace both by Land and Sea giving us to understand that the Land and Sea together made one entire Body of the Kingdom of England And that the Dominion of the Seas is properly in the Power and Jurisdiction of the King may appear by those Tributes and Customs that were imposed and payed for the guard and protection of those Seas and this was paid to the Reign of King Stephen Since Subsidies have been demanded of the people in Parliament upon the same account Neither was this imposed only on the English but also upon the ships of Forreigners every Vessel paying after the rate of six pence a Tun that passed by such ships only excepted that brought Merchandize out of Flanders If a Vessel were employed to fish for Herrings it payed six pence a week for every Tun if for other fish so much was to be paid every three weeks as they who brought Coles from Newcastle to London every three months Mr. Selden that learned Antiquary affirmeth That before a Court of Delegates in France in express terms it hath been acknowledged That the King of England hath ever been Lord not only of the Sea but of the Islands therein contained upon the account of being King of England But to give greater light to this truth we may from several Records produce many testimonies That the Kings of England have given leave to Forreigners upon request to pass through their seas There are innumerable Letters of safe conducts in the Records especially of Henry the fifth and sixth and it is worthy of observation that those Letters were directed by those Kings to their Governors or Sea Admirals Vice-Admirals and Sea-Captains And to clear all at once The Kings of England have such an absolute Dominion in the English seas that they have called the Sea it self their Admiralty and this we find in a Commission of Edward the Third the Title whereof is de Navibus Arestandis Capiendis And as a freedom of Passage so a liberty of Fishing hath been obtained by Petition from the Kings of England We read that Henry the sixth gave leave to the French and other Forreigners sometimes for a year sometimes but for six months to go and fish throughout his seas provided that the Fishing-boats and Busses exceeded not the burthen of thirty Tuns and if any Forreigners whatever should molest or disturb any of the King's subjects as they were fishing they were forthwith to

you stand bound That you set forth to Sea with the ships of the Ports and the other ships that are ready and that you arrest the other ships under our Command and that with all diligence you make search after the Gallies and Ships of Warr that are abroad against Vs and that stoutly and manfully you set upon them if they shall presume to bend their course to any part of our Dominions or the Coasts of Scotland c. We read also in the Reign of the said King in the preferring a certain Bill in Parliament which is the voice of the State of the Realm that he was usually accounted King or Soveraign of the Seas by all Nations written in French and thus translated into English The Nation of the English were ever in the Ages past renowned for Sea-Affairs in all Countries near the Seas and they had also so numerous a Navy that the people of all Countreys esteemed and called the King of Edgland the King or Soveraign of the Sea Another Testimony to the same effect we read in the Parliamentary Records of Henry the fifth where the tenour of the Bill runs after this manner The Commons do pray That seeing our Soveraign Lord the King and his illustrious Progenitors have ever been Lords of the Sea and now seeing through God's grace it is now come to pass that our Lord the King is Lord of the shores on both sides the Sea such a Tribute may be imposed on all Strangers passing through the said Sea for the benefit and advantage of our said Lord the King as may seem agreeable to Reason for the safeguard of the said Sea The Answer subscribed to the Bill was Soit avise par le Roy for the King at that time resided in France being Lord of that Countrey as well by Conquest as Inheritance Many other Testimonies in this nature may be produced which to avoid prolixity I must omit Neither hath the High Court of Parliament only given this attestation to our Kings as Supream and Soveraign of the Seas but to confirm it all the Judges of the Land were consulted herein and all jointly averred That the King's Sea-Dominion which they called the Ancient Superiority of the Sea was a matter out of question his Right Neither is this Truth confirmed only by our Laws but by our Medals There hath been a piece of Gold often coined by our Kings called a Rose-Noble upon the one side whereof was stamped a Ship floating in the Sea and a King armed with a Sword and Shield sitting in the Ship it self as in a Throne But what need we labour to produce so many Testimonies at home from our Records in the Tower and other places from our High Courts of Parliament from our Laws from our Coyn and from our Histories to prove this Truth since it is acknowledged even by Forreigners themselves whom it most concerneth by striking sail according to the ancient custom by every ship of any forreign Nation whatsoever to any King's Man of War which is done not only in Honour to the King of England but also in acknowledgment of his Soveraignty and Dominion at sea The Antiquity of this Custom and that it hath been in use above these four hundred years may appear by this following Testimony At Hastings a Town scituate on the shore of Sussex it was decreed by King John and the assent of his Peers in the second year of his reign That if the Governour or Commander of the King's Navy in his Naval-Expeditions shall meet with any ships whatsoever at sea laden or empty that shall refuse to strike their sails at the command of the King's Governour or Admiral they are to be looked on as Enemies c. Mr. Selden in his excellent Treatise called Mare Clausum saith If any ship whatsoever had not acknowledged the Dominion of the King of England in his own sea by striking sail they were not to be protected on any account of Amity and Penalties were appointed by the Kings of England in the same manner as if mention were made concerning a crime committed in some Territory of his Land But above all that yet hath been said There cannot be produced a more convincing Argument than the acknowledgment of the Sea-Dominion of the King of England by very many of our Neighbouring-Nations At what time the Agreement was made between Edward the first of England and Philip the Fair of France Reyner Grimbald Governour of the French Navy intercepted and spoiled on the English Seas the Goods of many Merchants that were going to Flanders and not contented with the depredation of their Commodities he imprisoned their Persons Hereupon a Bill was exhibited against the said Reyner Grimbald and managed by Procurators on the behalf of the Peers and People of the English Nation with these were joined the Procurators of most Nations bordering upon the Sea throughout Europe all these instituted a Complaint and all these Complainants in their Bill do jointly affirm That the King of England and his Predecessors have time out of mind and without controversie enjoyed the Soveraignty and Dominion of the English Seas and the Isles belonging to the same by right of their Realm of England also that they have had and have the Soveraign Guard thereof with all manner of Cognizance and Jurisdiction in doing Right and Justice according to the said Laws Ordinances and Prohibitions with all other matters which may concern the exercise of Soveraign Dominion in the said places But more particularly We do find an acknowledgment of the Sea-Dominion of the Kings of England made by the Flemmings themselves in the Parliament of England in the Reign of Edward the second the Records of the Parliament speak it thus In the fourteenth year of the Reign of Edward the second there appeared certain Embassadors of the Earl of Flanders to treat about the reformation of some injuries they received and as soon as the said Ambassadors had been admitted by our Lord the King to treat of the said Injuries amongst other particulars they required That the said Lord the King would at his own suit by vertue of his Royal Authority cause enquiry to be made and do justice about a depredation by the subjects of England upon the English seas taking Wines and other Commodities from certain Merchants of Flanders alledging that the said Merchandizes taken from the Flemmings were brought within the Realm and Jurisdiction of the King and that it belonged to the King to see Justice done in regard that He is Lord of the Sea In the seventh year of King James this Right was very strenuously asserted by Proclamation and all persons excluded from the use of the seas upon our Coasts without particular License but the Hollander continuing his encroachments till after the death of that wise and learned King CHARLES the First of ever blessed memory issued a Proclamation for restraint of fishing upon his Seas and Coasts without License in these terms Whereas our Father

lose their License and the benefit thereof In the Eastern Sea which washeth the Coasts of York shire it hath been an ancient custom for the Hollanders and Zealanders to obtain leave by petitioning the Governour of Scarborough-Castle It is worth the while saith the Reverend Mr. Cambden to observe what an extraordinary gain the Hollanders do make of fishing on the English Seas having first obtained leave from the Castle of Scarborough for the English have ever granted them leave to fish reserving always the Honour and Priviledg to themselves but through Negligence resigning the Profit to Strangers King James took special care that no Forreigner should fish on the English or Irish seas without leave first obtained and every year at the least this leave was renewed by the Commissioners for that purpose at London A remarkable Example of Fishing in this nature we find in the days of Henry the Fourth An Agreement was made between the Kings of England and France That the subjects of both Kingdoms might freely fish throughout part of that Sea which is bounded on this side by the Ports of Scarborough and Southampton and on the other side by the Coast of Flanders and the mouth of the River Seine the time was also limited betwixt Autumn and the beginning of January And that the French might securely enjoy the benefit of this Agreement the King of England sent Letters to all his Sea-Captainsand Commanders By this we may plainly see that these Limits wholly excluded the French from that part of the Sea which lies towards the West and South-west as also that which lieth North-east of them as being so limited by our Henry at his own pleasure as sole Lord and Soveraign of the Whole There is amongst the Records of Edward the first an Inscription pro Hominibus Hollandiae c. for the men of Holland Zealand and Friesland to have leave to fish near Yarmouth the King's Letter for their protection runneth in these words The King to his beloved and trusty John de Butelarte Warden of his Port of Iernemuth now called Yarmouth Greeting For as much as we have been certified that many men out of the parts of Holland Zealand and Friesland who are in amity with us intend now to come and fish in our Seas near unto Iernemuth We command you That publick Proclamation be made once or twice every week that no person whatsoever employed abroad in our service presume to cause any injury trouble damage hindrance or grievance to be done unto them but rather when they stand in need that you give them advice and assistance in such manner that they may fish and pursue their own advantage without any lett or impediment In testimony whereof we have caused these Letters to be made Patents and to continue in force till after the Feast of St. Martins next ensuing Here you see that the King granteth a Protection to fish and he limits it within the space of two months He alone also protected the Fisher-men on the German Coast nor might the Fishermen use any other Vessels than what were prescribed by our Kings Upon which accounts all kinds of fishing was sometimes prohibited and sometimes admitted this restriction being added That they should fish only in such Vessels as were under the burden of thirty Tuns And this appears by the Letters of King Edward the third concerning the Laws of fishing which were directed unto the Governours of several Ports and Towns on the Eastern shore the words are these For as much as we have given leave and license to the Fishermen of the Neighbouring-Ports and to others who shall be willing to come unto them for the benefit of fishing that they may fish and make their own advantage with Ships and Boats under the burden of Thirty Tuns any Prohibition or Command of ours to the contrary notwithstanding We command you to permit the Fishermen of the said Towns and others who shall be willing to come to the said places for the benefit of fishing to fish and make their own advantage with Ships and Boats under the burden of thirty Tun without any lett or impediment any Prohibitions or Commands of ours made to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding This is evident also in the Records of King Edward the fourth for he invested three persons with Naval Power whose Office it was to guard and protect the Fishermen upon the Coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk and the charges of the Guard were defrayed by the Fishermen of the said Seas at the pleasure of the King of England Neither were any persons admitted to a Partnership in this kind of Guard except those who were appointed by the King of England lest by this means perhaps it might derogate from the English Right which is a manifest sign and evidence of their Dominion and Possession of the place And this may yet more clearly appear by the Limits and Laws usually set by our King to such Forreigners as were at enmity with each other but with amity with the English and to this effect is the Proclamation of King James who having made peace with all Nations did give equal Protection to the Spaniards and the Vnited Netherlands at that time exercising acts of great hostility one against another Our pleasure saith he and commandment is to all our Officres and Subjects by Sea and Land That they shall prohibit as much as in them lieth all hovering of Men of Warr of either Spaniard or Hollander near to the entry of any of our Coasts or Havens and that they shall rescue and succour all Merchants and others that shall fall within the danger of any such as shall await our Coasts And it is further to be observed that as our Kings have very often commanded that all manner of persons should cease from hostility throughout all the places extended into their Territories by sea so they indulged the like priviledg for ever throughout the more Neighbouring-coasts of the French shore That all manner of persons though enemies one to another should securely sail to and fro as it were under the wings of an Arbitrator or Moderator of the Sea and also should freely use the Sea according to such spaces and limits as they were pleased at first to appoint which without doubt is a clear evidence of Dominion In the next place I shall cite some of the Publick Records kept in the Tower of London in which the Dominion of the Seas is expresly asserted as belonging to the Kings of England We read that Edward the third in his Commissions given to Geofry de Say Governour or Commander of the Southern and Western Seas and to John de Norwich of the Northern expresseth himself in these following words We calling to mind that our Progenitors the Kings of England having before these times been Lords of the English Sea on every side yea and Defenders thereof against the Invasions of Enemies do strictly require and charge you by the Duty and Allegiance wherein