that is Of the Superioritie or Soveraigntie of the Sea of England and the right of the Office of Admiraltie in the same as it is also in the said agreement between the King and the Earl of Flanders Also in one of the Libels to those words is added retinendis confirmandis All beeing very plainly written in the usual Character of that Age whereunto the matter relate's And there can bee no scruple touching the realitie and truth of them to any one that seeth them who is but a little acquainted with the antient writing and such kinde of Records I gave you the whole sens yea and partly the words before but now have thought fit to set down an entire Copie of the Libel as it was written at that time in the French or Norman Tongue which run's after this manner A vous Seigneurs Auditours Deputez per les Rois d' Engleterre de France a redresser les dammages faits as gentz de lour Roiaulmes des altres terres subgitz a leur seignuries per mier per terre en temps de Pees Trewes monstrent les Procurors des Praelatz et Nobles del Admiral de la mier d' Engleterre des Comminalties des Citties des Villes des Marchaunz Mariners Messagiers Peleringes de tous autres du dit Roiaulme d' Engleterre des autres terres subgits a in segnurie du dit Roy d' Engletterre d' aillours si comme de la Marine de Genue Cateloigne Espaigne Alemaigne Seland Hoyland Frise Denemarch Norway de plusours autres lieux del Empire que come LES ROYES D' ENGLETERRE PAR RAISON DU DIT ROYALME DU TEMPS D' ON T IL NY AD MEMOIRED DU CONTRARIE EUSSENT ESTE EN PAISIBLE POSSESSION DE LA SOVUEREIGNE SEIGNURIE DE LA MIER D' ENGLEIERRE ET DES ISLES ESTEAUNS EN YCELLE par ordinance establisement des lois estatutes defenses d armes des vesseaux autrement garnies que vesseaux de Marchandise et de seurté prendre et savegarde doner en tous cas que mestier serra et par ordinance de tous autres faits necessaries a la garde des pees droiture et equite entre toute manere des gentz taunt d' autre seignurie come leur propre par illeque's passanz et par soveraigne guarde et tote manere de conisance et Justice haute et basse sur les dites lois estatuts ordinances et defenses et par toutz aultres faitz queux à le governement de soveraigne seignurie appertenir purront es lieux avant ditz Et A. de B. Admirall de la dite mire deputez per le Roy de Engleterre et touz les autres Admiralls per meisme celui Roy d' Angleterre et ses Auncestres jadis Rois d' Engleterre eussent este in paisible possession de la dite soverein garde ove la conisance et Justice et toutz les aultres apertenances avantdites forspris en cas d' appell et de querele fait de eux à lour sovereigns Roys d' Engleterre de deffault de droit ou de malvais juggement et especialment par empechement metere et Justice faire seurte prendre de la pees de toute manere des gentz usaunts armes en la dite mier uo menans niefs aultrement apparallez ou garniez que n' appartenoit au nief Marchande et en toutz aultres points en queux home peut aver reasonable cause de suspection vers eaux de robberie ou des autres mesfaits Et come les Maistres des Neifs du dit Royalme d'Engleterre en absence des dits Admiralls eussent este en paisible possession de conustre et jugger des touz faicts en la dite mire entre toute manere des gentz solonâ— les lois estatuts et les defenses et Custumes Et come en le pimier article de l' Alliance nadgairs faite entre les dits Roys en les traitz sur la darrain pees de Paris soient comprises les paroles que â—ensujent en un cedule annexe à yâ—este At non in schedulâ annexâ sed in eâdem membranâ descriptum est quod sequitur unde non tam ipsos libellos qui cognitoribus edebantur quà m sive formulas eorum archetypas sive exemplaria descripta haec esse conjiciendum fortè est utì etiam ex eo quòd Admiralli Angliae nomen aliter ac per A. de B. non inseratur quae prima elementa non sunt nominis alicujus tunc temporis Angliae Admiralli in sacris Scriniis reperti Primierement il est traict accord entre nous les messagers les procurers susdits en nom des dits Roys que iceux Roys serront l'un à l'autre desores enavant bons vrayes loyaux amys eydans contre tout home sauve l' Esglise de Rome en tiele manner que si ascun ou plusieurs quicunques ils fuissent voloient depointier empescher ou troubler les dits royes es franchises es liberties privileges es drois es droitures eu es custumes de eux de leur royalmes q'ils seront bons loyaux amys aydans contre tout home que puisse viure morir à defendre gardir maintenir les franchises les liberties les privileges les droitures et les custumes desusdites Except pur le dit Roy d' Angletterre Monsieur Johan Duâ— de Braban en Brabant et ses heirs dessendans de lui et de la fille le roy d' Angleterre et excepte pur le dite nostre seigneur â—e roy de France l' excellent Prince Monsiur Aubert Roy d' Alemaigne et ces heirs royes d' Alemaine et Monsieur Johan Count de Henau en Henau Et que l'un ne serra en consail ne en aide ou l' autre perde vie membre estate ou honor Monsieur Reyner Grimbaltz Maistre de la Navie du dit Roy de France In English it run's thus To you our Lords Auditors deputed by the Kings of England and France to redress the wrongs don to the People of their Kingdoms and of other Territories subject to their Dominion by Sea and by Land in time of Peace and Truce The Procurators of the Prelates Nobles and of the Admiral of the Sea of England and of the Commonalties of Cities and Towns and of the Merchants Mariners Messengers Inhabitant strangers and all others belonging to the said Realm of England and the other Territories subject to the Dominion of the said King of England and of others under the Iurisdiction of the same As also of divers other Nations Inhabitants of the Sea-Costs of Genoa Catalonia Spain Almaign Zeland Holland Friesland Denmark and Norway and of divers other places of the Empire do declare That whereas THE KINGS OF ENGLAND By Right OF THE SAID KINGDOM FROM TIME TO TIME WHEREOF
THERE IS NO MEMORIAL TO THE CONTRARY HAVE BEEN IN PEACEABLE POSSESSION OF THE SOVERAIGN LORDSHIP OF THE SEA OF ENGLAND AND OF THE ISLES WITHIN THE SAME with power of making and establishing Laws Statutes and Prohibitions of people as well of other Dominâ—â—ns as their 〈◊〉 passing through the said Seas and the Saveraign Guard thereof And also 〈…〉 all manner of Cognisance in Causes and of doing right aâ—d Iustice to high and low according to the said Laws Staâ—uâ—es Ordinances and Prohibitions and all other things which may appertein to the exercises of Soveraign Iurisdiction in the places aforesaid And whereas A. de B. deputed Admiral of the said Sea by the King of England and all other Admirals appointed by the said king of England and his Ancestors heretofore kings of England of aâ—â—â—al and complaint made of them to their Soveraigns the kings of England in default of Iustice or for evil Iudâ—â—â—nâ— aâ—d especially of making Prohibitions doing Iustice and taking surety of the peace of all manner of people using arms in the said Sea or carrying Sâ—â—ps otherwise furnished and â—et forth thâ—â— Merchant-men use to bee aâ—d in all other points where a man may have reasonable caus to suspect them of Robbery or other â—…uors And whereas the Masters of the Ships of the said kingdom of England in the absence of the said Admiral have been in peaceable possession of taking cognisance and judging of all Aâ—â—ions don in the said Sea between all manner of people according to the Laws Statutes Prohibitions and Customs And whereas in the first Article of the League lately made between the said Kings in the Treatie upon the last peace at Paris there are comprised the words here following in a Schedule annexed to these Presents But that which follow 's is not written in a Schedule annexed but in the same Parchment from whence it may perhaps bee conjectured that these are not so much the very Libels themselvs which were exhibited to the Commissioners or Auditors as antient Copies taken from the Original as also from this that the name of the Admiral is set down A. de B. which two first Letters do not agree with the name of any one that wee can finde in Record to have been Admiral of England at that time First it is concluded and accorded between Us and the Agents and Procurators aforesaid in the names of the said Kings that the said Kings shall from this time forward becom to each other good true and faithful friends and bee aiding to one another against all men saving the Church of Rome in such manner that if any one or more whosoever they bee shall intend to disturb hinder or molest the said Kings in the Franchises Liberties Privileges Rights and Customs of them and their Kingdoms They shall bee good and faithful friends to each other and aiding against all men living and readie to die to defend keep and maintein the Franchises Liberties Privileges Rights and Customs aforesaid Except on the behalf of the said King of England John Duke of Brabant in Brabant and his heirs descending from him and the daughter of the King of England and except on the behalf of our Lord the said king of France the excellent Prince Monsieur Albert king of Almaign and his heirs kings of Almaign and Monsieur John Earl of Henault in Henault and that the one shall not bee of Counsel nor aiding where the other may lose life member estate or honor Monsieur Reyner Grimbald Master of the Navie of the said king of France who call's himself Admiral of the said Sea beeing deputed by his aforesaid Lord in his war against the Flemings did after the said League made and confirmed against the tenor and obligation of the said League and the intent of them that made it wrongfully assume and exercise the office of Admiraltie in the said Sea of England above the space of a year by Commission of the said king of France taking the people and Merchants of the kingdom of England and of other places passing through the said Sea with their Goods and committed them so taken to the prison of his said Lord the king of France and delivered their Goods and Merchandises to the Receivers of the said king of France by him deputed in the Ports of his said kingdom as forfeited and due unto him to remain at his Judgment and award And the taking and deteining of the said people with their said goods as also his said Judgment award for the forfeiture acquest of them he hath iustified before you Lords Auditors in writing by virtue of the autoritie of his said Commission of Admiraltie aforesaid by him usurped after this manner and during a Prohibition or Restraint generally made and proclaimed by the king of England in right of his Dominion according to the tenor of the third Article of the League aforesaid which contain's the words above-written requiring that hee may thereupon bee acquitted and discharged of the same to the great damage and prejudice of the said king of England and of the Prelates Nobles others above-mentioned Wherefore the said Procurators in the names of their said Lords do pray your Lordships Auditors that you would caus due and speedie deliverance of the said people with their Goods and Merchandises so taken and deteined to bee made to the Admiral of the said king of England to whom the cognisance of the same of right apperteineth as is before expressed So that without disturbance from you or any other hee may take cognisance thereof and do what belong's to his office aforesaid And the said Monsieur Reyner bee condemned and constrained to make satisfaction for all the said damages so far forth as hee shall bee able and in his default his said Lord the king of France by whom hee was deputed to the said office and that after satisfaction given for the said damages the said Monsieur Reyner may bee so duly punished for the violation of the said League that his punishment may be an example to others in time to com So far the Libel of so many Nations manifestly acknowledging the Soveraigntie and Dominion of our Kings over the Sea and thereupon demanding protection for themselvs And whereas no mention is made of this thing in the Histories either of the French English or others it is no wonder since the proceedings of Courts of Judiâ—aâ—ure are very seldom set down in Historiâ—â— But wee understand by the French Historie that this Griâ—bald was Govâ—â—â—or of the French Navie at the very same time Paulus AEmiliuâ— writing of Philip the Fair saith Hee hired sixteen Gallies from Genoa â—ver which Reyner Grimbald was Governor or Commander Hee sailing about by Sea infested the Sea-Coast of Flanders Regimerus Reginâ—rus or Reynerus Grimbaldus is one and the same man and among the Genoêses there is an eminent Family of that name But becaus hee was a Foreiner and Mercenarie therefore it seem's Joannes Feronius left
as a River or Brook must bee conteined under the same Jurisdiction as an entire Bodie with the Land therefore somtimes mention is made also of this kinde of Sea flowing in as of a Sea reckoned within the Jurisdiction Current of the Sea of the opposite shores as for example of the Sea Flanders or as I finde it in som antient Manuscripts which seem to bee the Originals of certain Letters of King Henrie the Fift to the Earl of Carolois and to the Governors of Ypres Gaunt and Bruges deins la Jurisdiction l'estrem de la meer de Flandres within the Jurisdiction and stream of the Sea of Flanders which is all one For setting aside the Sea so flowing in or making an in-let or harbor before the opposite shore all that which remain's or the Sea flowing between those opposite Countries and England was ever esteemed to bee of the English Dominion according to what I have formerly shewn So that a late Writer doubtless was in a dream when upon the repairing of the Dock at Mardike hee write's that hee saw the Empire of the British Sea restored to the King of Spain And so I have don with this point touching the Declaration and acknowledgment of the Sea Dominion of our Kings made by those Forein and Neighbor-Nations who were most concerned in the Business Of the Dominion of the King of Great Britain in the Irish and Western Sea consider'd singly and apart by it self CHAP. XXX I have alreadie spoken in general of the English or British Sea which is a part of the Patrimonie of the Crown of England but chiefly as it lie's either East or South It rest's now that wee treat of the Western as also the Scotish and Northern and in a word of the whole British Sea that remain's It is evident to all that part of the Western Sea lying before England is understood as well in that Libel which was exhibited by so many Nations to the Commissioners deputed by the Kings of England and France above three hundred and thirtie years ago wherein wee so often read le mer d' Angleterre or the sea of England as in the King 's Commission-before mentioned wherein our Kings are expressly-declared Lords of the English Sea on every side and therefore I shall forbear to repeat what is cited out of Bracton about the Essoyning or excusing of a man absent in Ireland and other things of that kinde alleged before which make to this purpose Moreover also wee read every where that all the Isles in this neighboring Sea were called British as wee observed at the beginning of this Book just as if the narrow Seas flowing between like Rivers or turnings of Rivers did disjoin those Banks or Shores from great Britain as Fragments of the same Whereby it appear's that the narrow Seas themselvs with the Isles even as Rivers with their Banks are to bee reckoned a part of the British Territorie And hereunto especially relate's also that expression in the Libel so often cited to wit that the Kings of England have ever been Lords both of the English Sea or of the British so far as it stretcheth before England and also of the Isles situate therein par raison du Royalme d' Angleterre by right of the Realm of England So that the Isle of Man which as Giraldus Cambrensis saith stand's in this Sea in the very midst betwixt the Northern Parts of England and Ireland was if I understand any thing reckoned of old among the Land-Provinces of England even as the Isle of Wight Lundie and others of that kinde Nor doth it seem to bee understood otherwise by those men of antient time who upon occasion of a dispute whether this Isle ought by right to bee taken for an appendant of England or Ireland beeing placed in the midst of the Sea flowing between determined the controversie on this manner They brought venemous serpents and observing that the Isle did entertain and cherish them as well as England and the rest of great Britain but on the contrarie that Ireland destroied them it was concluded saith Giraldus Cambrensis who lived under Henrie the Second by the common censure of all that it ought to bee ascribed unto England For if they had so thought the Territorie either of Ireland or England as it consisted of Land and Sea to bee dis-joined from this Isle of Man that they had conceived the Sea lying between either common to all men or by antient right subject to other than the Kings either of Ireland or Britain they might seem to have raised a very ridiculous Controversie For I suppose the Question could bee no other than touching the bounds of England or great Britain and Ireland But that a Question about bounds may bee admitted between Owners that are Neighbors where the Territories of both are not continual or contiguous is beyond my understanding It is well said by Paulus that if a publick Thorow-fare or publick River intervene which belong's to neither of the neighboring Owners an Action cannot bee brought upon that Title of the Law Finium Regundorum And truly after that Quintus Fabius Labeo beeing appointed Arbiter by the Senate betwixt the Nolans and Neapolitans about the bounds of a Field had so craftily perswaded both of them to retire backwards apart from each other that a portion of the Field was left in the middle which hee adjudged to the people of Rome there could not any Controversie arise farther between them about the bounds of this Field becaus there ceased to bee any confine betwixt them But if any Question arose afterwards they were both to contend with the people of Rome Even so it is to bee conceived of that Question to which of the two Countries the Isle of Man ought by Right to bee ascribed it arising chiefly upon this ground becaus it lay in the midst between the Territories belonging to Ireland and Britain and at the confine of both For by an Argument drawn from the nature of the very soil onely without a civil consideration of Dominion though they would have here the very nature of the soil to bee the evidence thereof as a Lot for decision it ought no more to bee ascribed either to Britain or Ireland than to Norway Spain or France where every man know's that venemous Creatures are bred as well as in Britain Therefore to bee ascribed to England or Britain in that antient Decision is so immediately to bee annexed to the British Territorie that the Isle of Man may truly and in a civil sens bee called a Land-Province of England or Britain seeing the English Territorie is so continually extended as far as its Western Coasts that which bend's Westward from the very Confine beeing ascribed to Ireland And therefore Queen Elisabeth's Commissioners let fall those words too unadvisedly in the Treatie held at Bremen with the Danish Commissioners about free Navigation and Fishing in the Norwegian
thing in a manner was acknowledged by a subject of the King of Denmarks no mean man in a Letter that hee wrote som years since to a friend of his in England his name is Gudbrandus Thorlacius Bishop of Hola in Island who in a Letter sent hither Anno MDXCV to Hugh Branham Pastor of Harwich call's the Britains almost Lords there of the whole Sea There is saith hee a report now at this day that you of Britain whom I had almost called Lords of the Sea have Negotiations every Year in Groenland But the Kings of Denmark deny it here and this more Northerly Sea which belong's to Island they challenge to themselvs as they are Kings of Norway and that by antient right if not unjustly pretended To this purpose let us observ that passage which I finde in a speech of the Ambassadors of Erricus the tenth King of Norway and Denmark delivered unto our Henrie the fift which run's to this effect Most victorious King of England may it pleas your Majestie to understand that our most gratious Lord the King of Norway c. aforesaid hath certain Islands to wit Island Jeroy Hietland and manie more belonging to his Kingdom of Norway whereunto of old no persons were wont to repair out of other Countries upon any occasions whatsoëver either of Fishing or Merchandisiâ—g under peâ—il of life and limbs nor might the men of the Kingdom of Norway more than those of other Countries without special licence from his Majestie Nor might they after Licence obteined set forth out of any other place than the Citie of Bergen nor return to the same place but upon inevitable necessitie or when they ought to paie Customs and other Duties to the King's Exchequer according to the most antient Custom of Norway which hath been constantly observed time out of minde in that Kingdom Also in the year MCCCCXLV Christophor King of Denmark and Norway granted the Inhabitants of Zirickzee in Zealand a freedom of Navigation into his Kingdom Island and other Isles beeing excepted and prohibited which are the very words of the Grant Moreover out of the League made at Koppenhagen in the year of our Lord MCDXXXII between our Henrie the sixt and the same Erricus King of Norwaie and Denmark the Commissioners of the King of Denmark who held a Treatie at Bremen with the Commissioners of our Queen Elisabeth in the year MDC II about the free use of this Sea alleged this Article almost to the same sens It is provided that all Merchants and all other men whatsoëver in subjection to the King of England and France do not presume hereafter under peril of loss of life and goods to visit the Countries of Island Finmarck Halghaland or anie other prohibited places and unlawful Ports whatsoëver in the Kingdoms of Denmark Sweden and Norway Yea and som years before the use of this Sea was prohibited both to Merchants and Fisher-men unless they were bound with Merchandise to North-barn the most eminent Town of Traffick under the King of Norwaie And touching that particular there is an Act of Parlament of Henrie the sixt whereby such a kinde of Prohibition continued in force for certain years in favor of the King of Norwaie So that there were many Letters Patents afterwards granted by our Kings to their subjects of England whereby they had Licence to go unto Island Finmark and other Dominions of the King of Norway and Sweden But that Statute the rigor whereof was dispensed with at the King's pleasure by such kinde of Grants became repealed at the beginning of the Reign of King Henrie the eight And Joannes Maior making mention of that time saith A Fleet of English went everie year to Island beyond the Arctick Circle to catch Fish But what manner of determination soêver ought to bee made touching the Dominion of this more Northerly Sea yet certain it is such a perpetual servitude at least was by several agreements betwixt the Kings of England and Norwaie imposed upon it that to this day also the subjects of England enjoy a perpetual right of sailing unto Island and of using and enjoying this sea For by a League made at Koppenhagen in the year MCDXC betwixt Henrie the seventh of England and John the second King of Denmark and Norwaie it was concluded that all Merchants and Liege-men Fisher-men and any other persons whatsoëver beeing subjects of the King of England and France might for ever in time to com sail freely to the Island Tyle that is to saie Island for in that age it was generally taken for Thule as it is now also by som thither to have recours and to enter with their ships and goods and merchandise victuals and any other commodities whatsoever upon occasion of buying selling fishing or merchandising and there to abide and convers after the manner of Merchants and from thence freely to return as often as they pleas without any Prohibition molestation or impediment of Us or our heirs and successors in the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway or of any of our Officers they paying the due rights and usual Customs as well in that Island as also in the Ports belonging to the same where they shall happen to arrive Provided alwaies that seven years immediately after the date of these presents they do Petition to renew their Licence from us and our successors Kings of Denmark and Norway to the end that so from seven years to seven years Merchants and all otheâ— persons aforesaid may for ever acknowledg us and our successors Kings of Denmark and Norway in the renewing of their Licence But that this League was not limited by any time but concerned the heirs and successors of both the parties appear's not onely in part by what hath been alleged alreadie but by the very form of the Preface which I thought meet to add in this place VVee John by the Grace of God King as aforesaid by the unanimous advice and consent of our beloved Counsellors and others the Lords and Nobles of our Kingdom of Denmark have caused a Treatie to bee had with the Orators of the most illustrious Prince Henrie by the Grace of God King of England and France our most dear Brother James Hutton Doctor of the Civil Law Thomas Clarentieux King of Arms Thomas Carter and John Beliz Merchants of Lyn about the restoring of peace and establishing a perpetual concord between our Kingdoms which Counsellors of ours and the Orators autorised in our Citie of Koppenhagen by special Commission of the afore named King of England our most dear Brother and with full power whereof wee are assured by the Letters of the said King of England have concluded that between us our heirs and successors well willers friends and allies and the most illustrious Prince Henrie King of England and France our most dear Brother his heirs and successors well willers friends and allies there bee and shall bee for ever in time to com
a perpetual peace inviolable friendship and firm concord in the following form Yea and that League was renewed in the year MDXXIII by Henrie the eight of England and Christiern the second King of Denmark and Norway in the same form The right therefore is perpetual and transmitted to the heirs of the K. of England that the English should have a free use of this more Northerly Sea belonging to Island But frequent Ambassies notwithstanding passed on both sides about that business in the Reigns of Frederick the second and Christiern the fourth Kings of Denmark and of Elisabeth Queen of England The Danes alleged that the English had no right to use this kinde of libertie without leav first obteined of the Kings of Denmark and that renewed every seven years according to that league made in the time of John the second and Henrie the seventh Moreover Nicolas Craig who was sent Ambassador into England by Christiern the fourth in the year MDXCIX pretended the agreement at Haderslabe in the year MDLXXXIII between Frederick the second and Queen Elisabeth as if it had therein been expressly provided that this servitude in the Sea of Island established by the English might bee limited by a denial of Licence at the pleasure of the King of Denmark But it was answer'd both by the Lords at home in England as also by the Queen's Commissioners sent to Bremen for the transacting of this business that this right or Sea-servitude is so confirmed to the English as well by Prescription of time as by perpetual agreements of Leagues that that particular which occurr's in the agreements of King John the second and Henrie the seventh about asking of Licence doth in no wise relate to this effect that whether it were denied or not requested by Petition that right or servitude could bee diminished but to this end onely that the English by a customarie Petitioning every seven years might acknowledg the Norwegian right in this Sea There was neither manner nor condition nor time annexed to the servitude but it took place there onely to this end that the memorie meerly of the benefit of the League or of the Original of the servitude established might bee renewed now and then by Petition Yea Frederick the second in his letters to Queen Elisabeth dated the fourth of Maie MDLXXXV most expressly disclaim's this Claus of the League which concern's Petitioning for Licence And truly the whole right of the English in that Sea was not first claimed by them upon the account of that League at Koppenhagen whatever they of Norway may pretend to the contrarie For when the Ambassadors sent heretofore by Erricus the tenth to our Henrie the fift made complaint about English men's fishing in this Sea the King of England I suppose intimate's plainly enough that hee had som right before in that Sea while at that time hee granted this onely in favor of the King of Norwaie that the English should no otherwise use Fishing there for the year immediately ensuing than as it had been usual in antient time and this hee commanded by publick Proclamation made in the more eminent Ports and Cities The time limited and the antient Custom of Fishing do plainly import som former right But here I give you the form of the Proclamations It is required that none of the Lieges of our Lord the King for certain causes specially moving our Lord the King himself do for one year next ensuing presume to go unto the Islands belonging to the kingdoms of Denmark and Norwaie and especially towards the Iste of Islande for the caus of Fishing or any other occasion to the prejudice of the King of the aforesaid kingdoms otherwise than they were wont in antient time It appear's also by Parlamentarie Records of the same King's Reign that the English used Fishing in that Sea very many years before But that League made at Haderslabe pretended before by Craig doth not relate unto Fishing either in the Sea of Island or in this of Norwaie but to the Traffick and Merchandise used then by our Merchants of the Moscovie-Companie For this onely was agreed that the Merchants of that Companie beeing constrained by Tempests or otherwise might freely have access to the shores and Ports both of Island and Norwaie but with this Reserv that they do not in any kind Traffick and use Mercbandise in the Ports of Norwaie or Island before prohibited nor molest the Subjects of the King of the said places in any thing against the Laws of Hospitalitie and that they wholly abstein from all manner of injurie which is the summe of that Answer which was given to Craig by the Peers of England But all things are clearly explained about this business and that right of the English defended at large in the Letters sent by Queen Elisabeth to Christiern the fourth bearing date Cal. Septembris Anno MDXCIX So much whereof as concern's this particular I think meet to insert At the request of the most excellent Prince your Highnesse's Father wee sent say the Queen's Letters an Ambassador into Germanie Anno MDLXXVII who Treated with his Commissioners about all matters in controversie and especially about the Fishing of Island and Norway where it was found that the King insisted onely upon a former Treatie of two years Truce wherein it was at that time agreed that the English should not sail beyond Hagaland But there were several Treaties with the Kings John and Christiern alleged on our part wherein all former controversies beeing composed it was otherwise agreed and concluded and both parties were to stand to this Treatie of general peace made afterwards not to the preceding two years Truce Which the most excellent Prince your Father acknowledging desired by his Letters that that controversie might bee referr'd to another disquisition But since that time no such disquisition hath been made Nevertheless wee understand that our subjects fishing have been taken tormented and handled in a hostile manner Whether this bee justly don all men will bee able to judg who shall weigh our Reasons with an impartial minde Wee do not deny but that the Lord Chancellor Whitfeld and de Barnico when they came unto Us did in words pretend that the fishing of Island and Norway was used by the English contrarie to the Leagues and Agreements of the Kingdoms But seeing they neither did nor could produce any proof and wee have authentick evidences attested by the Kings John and Christiern to the contrarie whereto more credit ought to bee given than to bare Allegations the matter was put off to another time It was answer'd also to D r Craig that the Transaction which was concluded with King Frederick at Haderslabe in the year of our Lord MDLXXXIII belong's nothing at all to this Business for the reason before mentioned And a little after the Letters speak thus But that which is pretended from the Treatie with King John the aforesaid Treatie at Koppenhagen that licens for fishing ought
much of the same tenderness was expressed afterward by King James becaus as in the former Reign so in his it was counted Reason of State to permit them to thrive but they turning that favorable Permission into a Licentious Encroaching beyond due Limits put the King to a world of Trouble and Charge by Ambassies and otherwise to assert his own interest and dispute them into a reasonable submission to those Rights which had been received before as indisputable by all the world For the truth whereof I am bold to refer your Honors to the Memorials of several Transactions in those daies which I have added at the end of this Book and for which I stand indebted as I am also for many other Favors to a Right honorable Member of your own great Assembly By the same also it will appear how this People perceiving that King to bee of a temper disposed to use no other arguments but words held him in play with words again and while they trifled out his Reign in Debates and Treaties carried on their design still to such a height by a collusion of Agencies and Ventilations to and agen and a daily intrusion upon the Territorie by Sea that in time they durst plead and print Mare Liberum and after his Son Charls came to the Crown they in effect made it so For though hee were not ignorant of his own Right as appear's by his esteem of this Book his Preparations and Proclamation for Restraint of Fishing without Licence c. Yet hee never made any farther use of them than to milk away the Subjects monie under pretence of building Ships to maintein his Autoritie by Sea which end of his beeing served hee immediately let fall the prosecution of what hee pretended So that through the over-much easiness and indulgence of preceding Princes they in a short time arrived to so loftie a Presumption as to seem to forget and question and now at length by most perfidious actings to defie the Dominion of England over the Sea These things beeing consider'd it was supposed this Translation it beeing a noble Plea asserting that Dominion would bee a very seasonable Service which how poorly soëver it bee apparel'd in our English dress is bold to lay Claim unto your Honors as its proper Patrons conceiving it ought to bee no less under your Protection than the Sea it self And therefore let mee have leav here without Flatterie or Vanitie to say though in other things I may injure the eminent Autor yet in this hee will bee a Gainer that his Book is now faln under a more noble Patronage in the tuition of such heroïck Patriots who observing the errors and defects of former Rulers are resolved to see our Sea-Territorie as bravely mainteined by the Sword as it is by his Learned Pen. It is a gallant sight to see the Sword and Pen in victorious Equipage together For this subdue's the souls of men by Reason that onely their bodies by force The Pen it is which manifest's the Right of Things and when that is once cleared it give 's spurs to resolution becaus men are never raised to so high a pitch of action as when they are perswaded that they engage in a righteous caus according to that old Versicle Frangit attollit vires in Milite causa Wherefore seeing you Right Honorable have had so frequent experience of the truth of this in our late Wars wherein the Pen Militant hath had as many sharp rancounters as the Sword and born away as many Trophies from home-bred Enemies in prosecution of your most righteous caus by Land certainly you will yield it no less necessarie for the Instruction of this generous and ingenious people in vindicating your just Rights by Sea against the vain Pretences and Projects of encroaching Neighbors For what true English heart will not swell when it shall bee made clear and evident as in this Book that the Soveraigntie of the Seas flowing about this Island hath in all times whereof there remain's any written Testimonie both before the old Roman Invasion and since under every Revolution down to the present Age been held and acknowledged by all the world as an inseparable appendant of the British Empire And that by virtue thereof the Kings of England successively have had the Soveraign Guard of the Seas That they have imposed Taxes and Tributes upon all ships passing and fishing therein That they have obstructed and open'd the passage thereof to strangers at their own pleasure and don all other things that may testifie an absolute Sea-Dominion VVhat English heart I say can consider these things together with the late Actings of the Netherlanders set forth in your publick Declaration and not bee inflamed with an indignation answerable to their Insolence That these People raised out of the dust at first into a state of Libertie and at length to an high degree of Power and Felicitie by the Arms and Benevolence of England or that they who in times past durst never enter our Seas to touch a Herring without Licence first obteined by Petition from the Governor of Scarborough-Castle should now presume to invade them with armed Fleets and by a most unjust war bid defiance to the United Powers of these three Nations Had they dared to do this in the daies of our Kings I suppose they even the worst of thē would have checkt and chastised them with a Resolution suitable to their monstrous Ingratitude For however som of them were wholly busied in vexing and undermining the people's Liberties at home yet they were all very jealous of the Rights and Interests of the Nation at Sea and good reason they had for it since without the maintenance of a Soveraigntie there the Island it self had been but a great Prison and themselvs and the Natives but so many Captives and Vassals to their Neighbors round about not so much secluded as excluded from all the world beside Upon this ground it was that Kings ever conceived and mainteined themselvs as much Monarchs by Sea as by Land and the same you will finde here was received by all other States and Princes the Land and Water that surround's it making one entire Bodie and Territorie Moreover our own Municipal Constitutions every where declare the same as may bee seen by the several Presidents and Proceedings thereunto relating which manifestly shew that by the Cōmon Law of the Land our Kings were Proprietarie Lords of our Seas That the Seas of Engl. were ever under the Legiance of our Kings and they soveraign Conservators of the peace as well upon the Sea as Land Now therefore Right honorable when I look upon you and behold you more highly intrusted than Kings and far more nobly adorned upon a better Ground than they were with all the Rights Interests and Privileges of the People when I consider how God hath wrested the Sword out of their hands and placed it in yours for our Protection with the Conservation of our Peace and
the Southern and Eastern part of it as Lords thereof together with the Island before they were brought under the Roman power p. 188 CHAP. III. That the Britains were Lords of the Northern Sea before they were subdued by the Romanes And that the Sea and the Land made one entire Bodie of the British Empire pag. 201 CHAP. IV. That the Dominion of the British Sea followed the Conquest of great Britain it self under the Emperors Claudius and Domitian pag. 205 CHAP. V. Touching the Dominion of the Romanes in the British Sea as an appendant of the Island from the time of Domitian to the Emperor Constantius Chlorus or Diocletian pag. 211 CHAP. VI. Touching the Dominion of the Southern and Eastern Sea as an appendant of the British Empire from the time of Constantine the Great till the Romanes quitted the Island That it was all under the Command of the Count of the Saxon Shore throughout Britain Also concerning the British Navie under the Romanes pag. 217 CHAP. VII An Examination of the Opinion of som learned men who would have the Saxon Shore from whence that Count or Commander of the Sea throughout Britain had his Title to bee the British Shore on this side of the Sea which is plainly proved to bee fals pag. 231 CHAP. VIII Som Evidences concerning the Soveraigntie and inseparable Dominion of the Isle of Britain and the Sea belonging thereto out of Claudian and certain Coins of the Emperor Antoninus Pius pag. 242 CHAP. IX Touching the Dominion of the British Sea after that the Inhabitants had freed themselvs from the Romane power pag. 247 CHAP. X. It is proved both from the very beginning of the Saxon's Reign as also from their Forces and Victories by Sea that the English-Saxons and Danes who ruled the South part of Britain had Dominion over the Sea pag. 251 CHAP. XI The Sea-Dominion of the English-Saxons and Danes during their Reigns in Britain observed in like manner from such Tributes and Duties of their Fiduciarie Clients or Vassals as concerned the maintenance of the Navie Also concerning the Tribute or Paiment called Danegeld which was wont to beelevied for the Guard of the Sea pag. 259 CHAP. XII The Testimonies of Edgar and Canutus Kings of England with others expressly declaring the Dominion which they and their predecessors had over the Sea Together with an observation touching the Nations which in that Age were seated upon the opposite Shore pag. 273 CHAP. XIII Several Testimonies concerning the Sea-Dominion of the Kings of England since the Norman Conquests set forth in general heads pag. 284 CHAP. XIV That the Kings of England since the coming in of the Normans have perpetually enjoied the Dominion of the Sea flowing about them is in the first place proved from the Guard or Government thereof as of a Province or Territorie that is to say from the verie Law of the English Admiraltie pag. 287 CHAP. XV. The Dominion of the English Sea asserted from those Tributes or Customs that were wont to bee imposed paid and demanded for the Guard or Protection thereof after the Norman Conquest pag. 295 CHAP. XVI Observations touching the Dominion of the English and Irish Sea from the tenor and varietie of those Letters Patents or Commission Roial whereby the Admirals of England were wont to bee put in Autoritie pag. 305 CHAP. XVII It is proved by words plain enough in the form of the Commissions for the Government or command of the high Admiral of England from antient to the present time that the Sea for whose guard or defence hee was appointed by the King of England as Lord and Soveraign was ever bounded towards the South by the shore of Aquitain Normandie and Picardie pag. 312 CHAP. XVIII Touching the Admirals of the Kingdom of France or those constituted upon the opposite Shore their Original nature and varietie That the Sea it self flowing between Britain and France is not conteined in that command of his as of one that is Governor of a Territorie or Province nor is there any thing in it that may oppose the Dominion of the King of England by Sea pag. 321. CHAP. XIX That in the Dominion of those Islands lying before the shore of France which hath ever been enjoied by the Kings of England it appear's that the possession of the Sea wherein they are situate is derived from their Predecessors pag. 333 CHAP. XX. The Dominion and possession of the Sea asserted on the behalf of the Kings of England from that leav of preter-Navigation or passage which hath been usually either granted by them to Foreiners or desired from them pag. 344 CHAP. XXI That Licence hath been usually granted to Foreiners by the Kings of England to fish in the Sea Also that the Protection given to Fisher-men by them as in their own Territorie is an antient and manifest Evidence of their Dominion by Sea pag. 355 CHAP. XXII The Dominion of England made evident from the Laws and Limits usually set by our Kings in the Sea to such Foreiners as were at enmitie with each other but in amitie with the English And concerning the King's Closets or Chambers in the Sea Also touching that singular privelege of perpetual truce or exemption from hostilitie in the Sea about those Isles which lie before the shore of Normandie pag. 363 CHAP. XXIII Certain publick Records wherein of old the Dominion of the Sea is by the way asscribed to the Kings of England both by the King himself and also by the Estates of Parlament debating of other matters and that in express words and with verie great deliberation as a known and most undoubted Right pag. 375 CHAP. XXIV Of divers Testimonies in our own Law-books and the most received Customs whereby the Sea-Dominion of the King of England is either asserted or admitted pag. 382 CHAP. XXV Son antient Testimonies of less account touching the Sea-Dominion whereof wee treat pag. 394 CHAP. XXVI That the Sea-Dominion of the Kings of England is acknowledged by Foreiners whom it most concerns by their usual striking of Sails according to antient Custom Also concerning two Edicts or Ordinances that were set forth about this thing by the Kings of France pag. 398 CHAP. XXVII A Recognition or Acknowledgment of the Sea-Dominion of the King of England made by very many of the Neighbor-Nations round about in an antient Libel publickly exhibited or in a Bill of Complaint instituted by them together with the English against Reyner Grimbald Governor of the French Navie Also touching a Recognition of this kinde implied in his defence pag. 403 CHAP. XXVIII A Copie or Transcript of the Libel or Bill of Complaint mentioned in the former Chapter pag. 415. CHAP. XXIX A Recognition or acknowledgment of the Sea-Dominion of the Kings of England made by the Flemings in an Ambassy to Edward the Second pag. 429 CHAP. XXX Of the Dominion of the King of Great Britain in the Irish and Western Sea considered singly and apart by it self pag. 433.
that in it which may seem to import that hee call's himself King of the Ocean especially if you consider those words which wee finde somtimes among Germane Writers in the Title of Charls the fifth Emperor and King of Spain In the Preface to the constitution concerning publick Judicatories in the Empire hee is called King of the Canarie Ilands also of the Islands of the Indies and of the Continent and of the Ocean Archduke of Austria c. And in the Imperial Sanctions published in high Dutch Konig-under Jnsulen Canariae auch der Jnsulen Indiarum und Terrae firmae des Maers Oceant c. as you may meet with it at least six hundred times The word Ocean is added as if hee entitled himself King of the Ocean But this is a mistake for the same in Spanish is Rey c. de las Islas y terra firma del mar Oceano c. that is King of the Islands and of the Terra firma of the Ocean namely the Islands or Continents of or lying in the Ocean which Pope Alexander the Sixth gave to Ferdinand the Fifth King of Spain all of them lying Westward from the very first Meridian of those hee entitle's himself King not of the Ocean it self How far private Dominion over the Sea is admitted according to the Customs or opinion of the French CHAP. XVIII AS concerning Dominion of the Sea according to the Customs of the French som perhaps may seem to have met with verie ancient evidences thereof in those Officers deputed for the guard of the Sea-Coasts whom wee read of in the Statute-Books and in that Rotlandus Governor of the British that is the Aremorican shore mentioned in the life of Charle-maign by Eginhartus a Writer of that time But those dignities have relation not so much to the Sea it self as to the shore and Sea-Coast or the border of the Land confining with the Sea notwithstanding that Rotlandus is by the French-men of this and the former Age promiscuously styled Governor both of the Sea and Shore as if there were no difference But it cannot bee denied that Princes heretofore upon the Shore of Aremorica or Bretaign as the Veneti of whom wee spake before did upon the same Shore impose Custom upon Ships as for the use of the Road upon their Coasts and challenge to themselvs other Rights of the like nature called Nobilitates super navibus So it is to bee read in an ancient Record made in the time of Duke Alanus in the year MLXXXVII concerning Precedence of Place among the Nobles of Bretaigne In that Record the second place is assigned to the Viscount of S t Pol de Leon who as the very words of it are had verie many of those Customs called Nobilitates super navibus imposed on such as passed the Ocean upon the Coasts of Osismer or Leon which as it was said Budicius an antient King of Bretaign did give and grant to one of his predecessors upon Marriage in reward of the virtue fidelitie and valor of that Viscount but with the consent of the Prelates Counts Barons and Nobles of Bretaign What these Nobilitates were and whence they had their original is partly declared by Bertrandus Argentraeus somtime President of the Province of Renes where hee discourseth also of the right of giving Pass ports which they call brefs de conduicte at this time in use on that shore That saith hee whereas till then it had been a right peculiar to the Princes beeing given by way of Dowrie to the Barons of Leon of which wee have alreadie spoken out of the aforesaid Record remained an hereditarie and proper right to that Familie until Joannes Ruffus the Duke redeemed it for a vast sum of monie of Guynomarius Baron of Leon after that Peter Mauclerc of Dreux Duke of Bretaign had in vain attempted to re assume it by force of arms It had its original they say upon this occasion When our Princes and antient Kings considered the daily Shipwracks made upon that shore where there were many Rocks and but few Havens they made a Law that none should set to Sea without their leav Such as did set out paying a certain rate had passes and guides appointed them that were well acquainted with the Sea and Shores They that refused forfeited their ships with all their tackling and furniture thereof and if the Ship were cast away their goods also were confiscate They that had leav were in no danger of confiscation and if they suffered Shipwrack had libertie to recover as many of their goods as they could And these guides were paid their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Conduct-money which wee have mentioned elswhere called by them droit de salvage These Tickets or Passes are given out now as heretosore at a certain price And among other Revenues of the Exchequer they also were rented out to the Farmers of the Custom So far Bertrandus from whom Renatus Choppinus borroweth almost the very words But Petrus Berlordaeus Advocate of the Parlament of Reines tell 's us that the Custom of taking forfeiture in that manner of all shipwrack't goods was abolished there by an Edict in the year MDLXXXIII But in the mean time for so much as concern's any part of that Western Sea lying next the Shore these are manifest evidences either of Dominion or of subjection in the Sea which indeed sufficiently prove by the Customs of that people that the Sea is capable of Dominion Moreover upon occasion of these Passes there have been controversies raised somtimes between the Dukes of Bretaign and the Kings of England as may bee seen in certain memorials of the affairs of Bretaign which have relation to the times of our Richard the second and John the Fourth Duke of Bretaign But this wee know for certain that in the agreement made between our Edward the Fourth and Francis the second Duke of Bretaign in the year MCCCCLXVIII concerning mutual traffick and free passage to and fro for the subjects of each Nation during a truce of thirtie years there is an express proviso concerning Wrecks but such a one as left an equal right to both of them not altogether unlike that which for many ages hath been in use upon the English Shore No mention at all beeing made in the Articles of the Truce either of the right or use of these aforesaid Passes as beeing a thing in no wise admitted by the English But som modern Lawyers among the French do vainly affirm that their King is Lord not onely of a part of the Sea neighboring upon the Territorie of Bretaign but of the whole Sea that is adjoyning to any part of France and so of the British or English Sea also By which very Assertion of theirs they sufficiently declare their judgment that there may bee a soveraign over the Sea The King saith Charondas Caronaeus is supreme Lord of the Seas which flow about his
been by them deliver'd Just in the same manner as if a man should so discours upon Aristotle's Astronomie or the opinion of Thales touching the Earth's floating like a Dish in the Sea and that of the Stoâ—cks of its encompassing the Earth like a Girdle with that of the Antients concerning an extreme heat under the Equinoctial and other opinions of that kinde which are rejected and condemned by the observation and experience of Posteritie that hee might seem not so much to search into the thing it self as to represent the person of the Autor thereby to trace out his meaning onely for the discovering of his opinion But as the root beeing cut the Tree fall's so the Autoritie of those antient Lawyers beeing removed out of the way all the determinations of the modern which are supported by it must bee extremely weakned Now therefore as to what hath been formerly alleged out of Fernandus Vosquius it is grounded upon such Arguments as are either manifestly fals or impertinent For what is this to the purpose That the Sea from the beginning of the world to this present day is and ever hath been in common without the least alteration as 't is generally known Whereas the quite contrarie is most certainly known to those who have had any insight into the received Laws and Customs of Ages and Nations That is to say that by most approved Law and Custom som Seas have passed into the Dominion and partrimonie both of Princes and private persons as is clearly made manifest out of what hath been alreadie shewn you Moreover also hee would have prescription to ceas betwixt Foreigners in relation to each other and not to take place in the Law of Nations but in the Civil onely so that by his Opinion prescription should bee of no force between those as between two supreme states or Princes who are not indifferently subject to the Civil Law which admit's prescription then which not any thing can bee said or imagined more absurd Almost all the principal points of the Intervenient Law of Nations beeing established by long consent of persons using them do depend upon prescription or antient Custom To say nothing of those Princes whose Territories were subject heretofore to the Roman Empire and who afterwards became absolute within themselvs not onely by Arms but also by prescription which is every where admitted among the Laws of Nations whence is it that Prisoners of war are not now made slaves among Christians unless it bee becaus that Custom began to grow out of date som Ages since upon a ground of Christian brotherhood and by prescription ratified betwixt Nations Whence is it that the ransoms of prisoners are to bee paid som to the Princes and som to the Persons that take them As for instance when the ransom is not above ten thousand Crowns it goe's to him that took the Prisoner when it exceed's it is to bee paid to the Prince Becaus saith Nicolaus Boërius if it exceed as when any one hath taken a Duke a Count a Baron or any other great man then it belong's to the Prince and so it is observed in the Kingdoms of France England and Spain It hath by prescription of time been observed among Princes and so it became Law And truly to deny a Title of prescription wholly among Princes is plainly to abrogate the very intervenient Laws of Nations As for those other things mentioned by Vasquius concerning Charitie and the inexhaustible abundance of the Sea whereby hee make's a difference betwixt Rivers and Seas and other things of the like nature they have no relation at all to the point of Dominion as you have been sufficiently told alreadie In the next place wee com to the other to wit Hugo Grotius a man of great learning and extraordinarie knowledg in things both Divine and Humane whose name is very frequent in the mouths of men every where to maintein a natural and perpetual Communitie of the Sea Hee hath handled that point in two Books in his Mare Liberum and in that excellent work De Jure Belli pacis As to what concern's Mare Liberum a Book that was written against the Portugals about trading into the Indies through the vast Atlantick and Southern Ocean it contein's indeed such things as have been delivered by antient Lawyers touching communitiâ— of the Sea Yea and disputing for the Profits and Interests of his Countrie hee draw's them into his own partie and so endeavor's to prove that the Sea is not capable of private Dominion But hee hath so warily couched this subject with other things that whether in this hee did hit or miss the rest howsoëver might serv to assert the point which hee was to handle Moreover hee discourseth about the Title of Discoverie and primarie occupation pretended to by the Portugals and that also which is by Donation from the Pope And hee seem's in a manner either somtimes to quit that natural and perpetual Communitie which many Civil Lawyers are eager to maintein and hee himself in order to his design endeavored to confirm or els to confess that it can hardly bee defended For concerning those Seas that were inclosed by the antient Romans the nature of the Sea saith hee differ's from the Shore in this that the Sea unless it bee in som small part of it self is not easily capable of Building or Inclosure And put case it were yet even this could hardly bee without the hindrance of common use Nevertheless if any small part of it may bee thus possessed it fall's to him that enter's upon it first by occupation Now the difference of a lesser and a greaâ—er part cannot take place I suppose in the determining of private Dominion But in express words hee except's even a Bay or Creek of the Sea And a little after saith hee Wee do not speak here of an Iâ—-land Sea which in som places being streightned with Land on every side exceed's not the breadth even of a River yet 't is clear that this was it the Roman Lawyers spake of when they set forth those notable determinations against private Avarice But the Question is concerning the Ocean which Antiquitie called immense Infinit the Parent or Original of things confining with the Aër And afterwards hee saith The Controversie is not about a streight or Creek in this Ocean nor of so much as is within view when one stand's upon the shore A little farther also speaking of Prescription hee saith It is to bee added that their Autoritie who are of the contrarie opinion cannot bee applied to this Question For they speak of the Mediterranean Sea wee of the Ocean They of a Creek or Bay wee of the broad and wide Sea which differ very much in the point of Occupation And certainly there is no man but must conceiv it a very difficult thing to possess the whole Ocean Though if it could bee held by occupation like a narrow Sea or a Creek or as
Divine Natural or of Nations any thing which may so oppose the private Dominion thereof that it cannot bee admitted by every kinde of Law even the most approved and so that any kinde of Sea whatsoëver may by any sort of Law whatsoëver bee capable of private Dominion which was the thing I intended to prove The End of the first Book Touching the DOMINION OR Ownership of the Sea BOOK II. The order or Method of those things that are to bee handled in this Book The British Ocean divided into four parts CHAP. I. HAving made it evident in the former Book that the Sea is capable of private Dominion as well as the Land and that by all kindes of Law whether wee seriously consider the Divine or Natural or any Law of Nations whatsoëver it remain's next that wee discours touching the Dominion of great Britain in the Sea encompassing it about and of those large Testimonies whereby it is asserted and mainteined Wherein this Method is observed that in the first place wee premise both the distribution and various appellation of the Sea flowing about it in order to the Discours Then it shall bee shewn from all Antiquitie down to our times without interruption that those who by reason of so frequent alterations of the state of Affairs have reigned here whether Britains Romans Saxons Danes and Normans and so the following Kings each one according to the various latitude of his Empire have enjoied the Dominion of that Sea by perpetual occupation that is to say by using and enjoying it as their own after a peculiar manner as an undoubted portion either of the whole bodie of the estate of the British Empire or of som part thereof according to the state and condition of such as have ruled it or as an inseparable appendant of this Land Lastly that the Kings of Great Britain have had a peculiar Dominion or proprietie over the Sea flowing about it as a bound not bounding their Empire but to borrow the Terms used by Surveiors of Land as bounded by it in the same manner as over the Island it self and the other neighboring Isles which they possess about it The Sea encompassing great Britain which in general wee term the British Sea is divided into four parts according to the four Quarters of the World On the West lie's the Vergivian Sea which also take's the name of the Deucaledonian where it washeth the Coast of Scotland And of this Vergivian wherein Ireland is situate the Irish Sea is reckoned to bee a part called in antient time the Scythian Vale but now the Channel of S t George So that as well that which washeth the Western Coast of Ireland as that which flowe's between great Britain and Ireland is to bee called the British Sea For not onely this which of old was called great Britain and somtimes simply the Great Island but also the Isle of Ireland with the other adjacent Isles were termed Britanniae So that many times Albion and Ireland are equally called British Isles and Britannides as you may see in Strabo Ptolomie Marcianus Heracleötes Plinie Eustathius upon Dionysius Afer and others Moreover Ireland is called by Ptolomie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 little Britain And saith Ethelward an antient Writer They go to Ireland called heretofore Britannides by the great Julius Caesar. Perhaps hee had a more perfect Copie of Julius Caesar's Book For in none of his Commentaries which wee use is Ireland called by that name And it hath been observed by learned men that that book hath been maimed and alter'd by one Julius Celsus whose name wee finde now and then in the Manuscript Copies Towards the North this Sea is named the Northern Caledonian and Deucaledonian Sea wherein lie scatter'd the Orcades Islands Thule and others which beeing called the British or Albionian Isles yea and Britannides gave name to the neighboring Sea And indeed Thule which som would have to bee Island others and that with most reason do conceiv it to bee the biggest of the Shetland or Zetland Isles called â—hilensel by the Seamen and som there are again that think otherwise was of old not onely termed a British Isle but also by som expresly placed in Britain it self Mahumedes Acharranides an Arabian called likewise Aracensis and Albategnius a famous Mathematician who lived above nine hundred years ago saith Som observing the breadth of the Earth from the Equinoctial Line towards the North have found it to bee determined by the Isle Thule which is in Britain where the longest day is XX â—ours that is to say Ptolomie and his â—ollowers who by drawing a Line on the Northside of Thule or the Shetland Isles through 63 degrees and a quarter of Northern Latitude have set it down for the utmost bound of the habitable world Yea and som have used the name of Thule for Britain it self or England In times past the Emperor of Constantinople was wont to have trustie Guards called Barrangi constantly attending his person who were taken out of England as appear's out of Nicetas Choniates and Codinus also who was keeper of the Palace write's that they were wont to salute the Emperor with a loud voice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the English Tongue But in the Storie of Anna Comnena the Daughter of Alexius it is said expressly that they came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Island of Thule In like manner all the Islands either known or heard of in this Northern Sea were at length called by the name of British the utmost Bounds whereof as also of Thule it self som of the Antients would have to reach unto 67 degrees of Latitude or thereabout And Albategnius speaking of the Sea as it look's toward Spain saith There are XII British Isles in it towards the North and beyond these it is not habitable and how far it stretcheth is unknown Having made this preparation then wee treat first concerning the Sea-Dominion of the Britains before they were reduced under the Roman power Next touching a Dominion of that kinde belonging to the Romans while they ruled here continually and necessarily accompanying the Soveraigntie of the Island Afterwards it is made evident by such Testimonies as are found among the Antients that the English Saxons and others who enjoied the supreme Power in Britain before the Norman's Invasion had such a kinde of Dominion Lastly according to the fourfold division of the British Sea wee set forth the antient Occupation together with the long and continued possession of every Sea in particular since the Norman's time whereby the true and lawful Dominion and Customs of the Sea which are the subject of our Discours may bee drawn down as it were by a twin'd thred until our own times Moreover seeing both the Northern and Western Ocean do stretch to a very great Latitude this to America that not onely to Island and the Shores of Groenland but to parts utterly unknown and
also his Sea-men to keep all relief of Victual from going to the Enemie by Sea Hee used the word Pirats in this place as others of that age have don not for Robbers as 't is commonly taken but for such as beeing skill'd in Sea-affairs were appointed to set upon the Enemie's Fleets and defend the Dominion by Sea Touching the derivation of the word the old Scholiast upon Sophocles his Aiax saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is Pira in the Attick Tongue signifie's craft or art and hence it is that they are called Pirats which infest the Sea But when the English-Saxons and Danes in the time of K. Alfred were ever and anon strugling for the Soveraigntie in England for Gurmundus or Guthrunus King of the Danes was at that time setled in Northumberland as a Fiduciarie Client or Vassal to Alfred and had very large Territories in the East-part of England their Fights were mostly by Sea as if they had both been of opinion that hee which could get the Dominion of the British Sea would by necessarie consequence becom Lord also of the Land or of that part of the Isle which lie's before it For this caus also it was that the Danes growing strong at Sea K. Alfred mightily augmented his Naval Forces by building ships twice as long as the Danish ships deeper nimbler and less rocking or rolling and so much more convenient for Sea-Fights Florentius the Monk saith In the same year that is to say the year of our Lord MCCCXCVII the Forces of the Pagans residing in East-England and Northumberland using Piracie upon the Sea-Coasts did grievously infest the West-Saxon's Countrie with very long and nimble ships which they had built divers years before Against whom ships were built by the Command of K. Alfred twice as long deeper nimbler and less waving or rolling by whose force hee might subdue the aforesaid ships of the Enemie It is related also in the same words by Roger Hoveden But Henrie of Huntingdon speaking expresly of the number of Oars that served for the rowing of these ships of Alfred saith King Alfred caused long ships to bee made readie to wit of 40 Oars or more against the Danish ships But there are Chronicles written in the Saxon Tongue that speak of ships of 60 Oars and larger built by him at that time out of which these Writers above-mentioned and others of the like sort have compiled theirs The words of the Chronicles are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say King Alfred gave command for the building of long ships to encounter the Danish But they were twice as long as these whereof som had sixtie Oars som more They were also more nimble less rolling and deeper then the other Not built after the Frisian or Danish manner but such as hee conceived most convenient for fighting So that there is no doubt but the business of shipping was mightily advanced in his Reign among the English-Saxons in order to the defence and maintenance of their Dominion by Sea And wee very often finde that those Sea fights managed by Alfred and his son Edward with various success against the Danes and Normans were undertaken not without great numbers of Shipping But in the time of King Athelstan who was very strong at Sea upon the Irish Nation saith Huntingdon and those that dwelt in ships there fell a fatal destruction The English-Saxon words in the antient Chronicles from whence Huntingdon translated those and which agree w th these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which fully signifie the same thing For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Scotish Nation and Scots are by the Antients often taken for the Irish. Hee also saith the same Autor led an huge Armie by Land and Sea into Northumberland and Scotland and in regard there was none appear'd to make any opposition bee marched up and down the Countrie and wasting it at pleasure returned with Triumph whereupon saith a Poët of that time Jam cubat in terris fera barbaries Aquilonis Jam jacet in campo pelago pirata relicto Illicitas torvásque minas Analavus anhelans Now is the wilde and barb'rous North brought down Now Analave the Pirat is o'rethrown Who having left the Sea on Land doth lie And spightful threats breath's out against the Skie This Analavus was King of the Irish and of many Islands who invading the Coasts of Athelstan with a Fleet of DCXV ships at the mouth of the River Humber received a great overthrow and was put to a most shameful Flight But King Edgar as saith Florentius of Worcester sailing about the North of Britain with a great Navie arrived at Chester where his eight pettie Kings met him as hee had given order who sware fealtie to him and that they would assist him both by Sea and Land Or as Huntingdon saith of the same thing they all did homage to him declaring themselvs readie at his command to serv him by Sea and Land Among these pettie Kings there was one Maccusius whom Hoveden and Florentius call a King of very many Islands and Florilegus a King of Man and very many Islands William of Malmsburie call's him an Arch Pirat Moreover the same King Edgar as if hee intended to set forth the splendor magnificence and as it were an Epitome of his whole Empire in Sea-affairs and Shipping did as say Florentius and Hoveden during his abode at Chester enter into a Boat wherein hee was rowed by those pettie Kings himself holding the Stern and steering it about the River Dee and beeing attended by all his Dukes and Peers in such another Vessel bee sailed from the Palace to the Monasterie of S. John Baptist where an Oration beeing made to him hee returned in the same pomp unto the Palace In the very Entrie whereof hee is reported to have said to his Lords that then his Successors might boast themselvs Kings of England when they should bee thus attended by so many Kings and enjoy the state and glory of such honors or as Malmsburie write's of the same thing when they should enjoy so great a Prerogative of honors So many Kings as Vassals to bee readie alwaies to assist with their Forces whensoëver they should bee required both by Sea and Land There is also a notable testimonie in the same Florentius and the Monk of Malmsburie how that this King sailed round about his Sea every year and secured it with a constant Guard and Forces Every Summer saith Malmsburie immediately after Easter bee commanded his ships upon every shore to bee brought into a Bodie sailing usually with the Eastern Fleet to the West part of the Island and then sending it back hee sail'd with the Western Fleet unto the Northern and thence with the Northern hee returned to the Eastern beeing indeed very diligent to prevent the Incursions of Pirats that is behaving himself in this manfully as say Florentius also and Hoveden for the
defence of his Kingdom against Foreiners and the training up of himself and his people for warlike emploiments Thus the Guardianship or maintenance of the Dominion by Sea is evident But as concerning the Fleets aforementioned they each of them consisted of MCC ships and these as Writers say expressly very stout ones so that in the time of his Reign the British Navie consisted of such ships to the number of Three thousand six hundred Sail as Florentius and Hoveden speak expressly But others write that these Fleets amounted to Four thousand ships as John Bramton Abbot of Jorvaux others adding to these Three a Fourth Fleet whereby the number is increased to Four Thousand Eight hundred Sail as you may see in Florilegus So as Florentius also saith Hee by the help of God governed and secured the bounds of his Kingdom with Prudence Fortitude Justice and Temperance as long as hee lived and having the courage of a fierce Lion hee kept all the Princes and Lords of the Isles in aw Wee read also in Ordericus Vitalis of King Harold or Herald that hee so guarded the Sea with a force of soldierie and shipping that none of his Enemies could without a sore conflict invade the Kingdom So that wee cannot otherwise conceiv but that these Naval Forces were at that time disposed and the Sea-Fights undertaken for the defence and guard of the Sea as an Appendant of the English-Saxon Dominion in this Island Especially if wee duly compare these things alreadie manifest with those which are added by and by to this particular touching the same age The Sea-Dominion of the English-Saxons and Danes during their Reigns in Britain observed in like manner from such Tributes and Duties of their Fiduciarie Clients or Vassals as concerned the maintenance of the Navie Also concerning the Tribute or Paiment called Danegeld which was wont to bee levied for the Guard of the Sea CHAP. XI HEre follow next the Tributes and Duties of Vassals concerning the maintenance of the Navie or Guard of the Sea which are evidences also of that Sea-Dominion which was in the time of the English-Saxons I call those Tributes which were wont to bee levied for the re-inforcing of the Navie and for provision of Victuals for the Sea-men Of which kinde were those that were levied according to the value of men's estates in Land for the setting forth of ships in the time of King Ethelred For at that time whosoever possessed CCCX Cassatos or Hides of Land was charged with the building of one ship And they were all rated proportionably after this manner who were owners of more or less Hides or of part of an Hide as Marianus Scotus Hoveden and Florentius do all tell us in the very same words Ethelred King of England say they gave strict command that one Gallie should bee charged upon CCCX Cassati but a Coat of Armor and an Helmet upon nine and that ships should bee built throughout all England which beeing made readie hee victualled and manned them with choice souldiers and appointed their Rendezvous at the Port of Sandwich to secure the Bounds of his Kingdom from the irruptions of Foreiners But Henrie of Huntingdon as also Matthew Paris and Florilegus speaking of the same thing say The King charged one ship upon three hundred and ten Hides of Land through all England also a Coat-Armor and Helmet upon eight Hides Then Huntingdon tell 's what an Hide doth signifie But an Hide in English saith hee is so much Land as a man can till with one Plow for a year Others there are that determine otherwise touching the quantitie of an Hide And most certain it is that it was very various according to the different Custom of Countries but the same with Cassata and Carucata Indeed the English-Saxon Chronicles of the Abbie of Abingdon do likewise mention Hides here expressly In the year MVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hund 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tynumaenne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 helm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say the King gave command for the building of Ships carefully throughout all England to wit that one Gallie should bee charged upon CCCX Hides of Land but a Coat-Armor and Helmet upon eight Hides And it was usual according to the Laws of that Age that the richer sort should bee taxed by the number of Hides as wee see also throughout that Breviarie of England or the Book of Rates called Domesday which was first written in the time of King William Huntingdon add's also that there never had been so great a number of Ships in the time of any one in Britain which is testified in like manner by the Saxon Chronicles before cited So that that most numerous Navie of King Edgar mentioned in the former chapter was not to bee compared with this But yet that most learned man and great Light of our Island M r Camden hath so cast up the number of Hides throughout England out of the antient Records of that Age that they do not exceed 243600. If this had been so then they could have set forth no more then 785 Ships by this Tribute which is a lesser number then that of King Edgar by som thousands So that som other account is to bee made concerning Hides which is not to bee handled in this place Hereunto belong's that of Huntingdon touching King Canutus and his Son Harald In the daies of Harald saith hee as also in the time of his Father eight Marks were paid by everie Port for XVI Ships In the like manner Hoveden saith there was a Tax imposed which was paid for the maintenance of the Navie when King Canutus and King Edmond made an agreement in an Isle in the midst of Severn called Oleney Moreover Huntingdon write's that 11048 pounds were raised by Hardecanute King of England before hee had reigned two years for thirtie two Ships that is to say for the building of two and thirtie Ships Hee gave Command also as Matthew Westminster saith that eight marks should bee paid to everie Rower of his Navie and ten marks to each Commander out of all England Hee saith again also of the same King that hee appointed Officers through all parts of the Kingdom to collect the Tax imposed without favouring any and therewith to provide all things necessarie for his Forces at Sea And Florentius saith Hee gave command for the paying of eight marks to every Rower of his Navie and twelve so wee read it in that Autor to everie Commander out of all England a Tax indeed so grievous that scarce any man was able to pay it But these things spoken of Canutus his son Harald and Hardecanute relate perhaps unto that Tribute or Tax called Danegeld which was paid yearly for the maintenance of the Navie and guarding the Territorie or Dominion by
Sea Among the old Laws of England it appear's that the paiment of Danegeld was first imposed becaus of Pirates either Robbers or others invading the Sea For they infesting the Countrie wasted it as far as they were able Therefore for the repressing of their insolence it was determined that an yearly paiment should bee made of Danegeld that is to say twelve pence upon every hide through the whole Land for the pay of those that should bee imploied to hinder the eruption of Pirates So wee read it in som Copies others render it Irruption But the other reading seem's to signifie that this Tax was imposed for the raising and mainteining of Naval Forces so to guard the Sea that Pirates or Enemies might not bee able to make any eruption from the Shore on the other side of the Sea Nor can the word Eruption otherwise bee well put in that place So that even that antient Dignitie of the Count of the Saxon shore whereof wee have alreadie spoken is therefore not obscurely represented by him who commanded as Admiral over the Fleets of that Age. This Tribute or Tax had its beginning under King Ethelred For hee beeing brought into miserable streights by Swane King of Denmark beeing forced to buy a Peace of him hired XLV Danish Ships also by Agreement for the guarding and securing of his Dominion in the Sea who were to receiv their pay yearly out of this Tribute for their maintenance For the right understanding whereof it is to bee observed out of the English Saxon Storie that the Tribute or Tax usually paid at that time to the Danes was of more kindes then one There was one Tribute or sum of Monie wherewith the English-Saxons were forced somtimes to buy Peace of such as grievously infested the Island But another was levied to pay the Danish Navie which was hired to guard the Sea and defend the Sea-Coasts The first kinde of Tribute appear's by that of Florentius and Hoveden in the year MVII Ethelred King of England by the advice of his Lords sending Embassadors to the Danes gave them Commission to declare that hee was willing to defray their Charges and pay them a Tribute upon this condition that they would desist from rapine and establish a firm Peace with him To which demand of his they yielded And from that time their charge was defraied by all England and a Tribute paid which amounted to 36000 pounds That is hee effected this onely for the present that hee obteined a peace for a time by monie which hee could not by Arms as Florilegus saith well Four years after also all the great Lords of England of both Orders met together at London before Easter and there they staid so long till paiment was made of the Tribute promised to the Danes amounting to fourtie eight thousand pounds which wee reade of likewise both in Florentius and Hoveden But this was paid to the intent that all Danes which were in the Kingdom should in every place dwell peaceably by the English and that both People should have as it were one heart and one soul as it is expressed by Florilegus Other passages of the same kinde there are in the storie of that Age yea and som of an elder date Yet this first kinde of Tribute was not wont to bee paid yearly but levied now and then as occasion required Notwithstanding it may bee true perhaps which som write that Ethelred in the aforesaid agreement of the year MVII yielded to pay every year a Tribute of Thirtie six Thousand pounds to the Danes for a longer continuation of the peace Wee read here that hee yielded or granted but no where likewise that hee paid it But as for the second kinde of Tribute which was to bee paid as wee have told you for hire of the Danish Navie it was a yearly Tribute and levied at the same time at least in the same year to wit of our Lord MXII wherein these fourtie eight thousand pounds were paid to procure a peace Nor was it limited by any set-summe of monie but so much as would serv for victualling and clothing the Forces at Sea Florentius and Hoveden in the aforesaid year say After these things upon paiment of the Tribute meaning that of fourtie eight thousand pounds and a confirmation of the peace by Oaths the Danish Navie which was before in a Bodie was disposed and dispersed abroad afar off But XLV ships remained with the King and sware fidelitie to him and promised to bee readie to defend England against Foreiners upon condition that hee would provide them Victuals and Clothing This is related likewise in the English-Saxon Chronicles of the Abbie of Abingdon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is the Tribute beeing paid and Oaths of Amitie taken the Armie or Navie which was before in a Bodie was dispersed abroad But fourtie five ships of that Navie remained with the King and promised upon Oath to be readie for the defence of this Land upon condition the King did finde them Victuals and Cloathing Swane was at that time King of Denmark with whom Ethelred made this agreement But both the kindes of paiment aforementioned were called Danegelo Danegeld or Danageld that is to say Danish Tribute The first kinde is expressly intimated by this name in Joannes Sarisburiensis where hee saith Swane wasted and spoiled the Island of Britain the greatest part whereof hee had in his possession and afflicted the Members of Christ with many persecutions by an imposition of Tribute which in the English Tongue they call Danageld But the second kinde which was paid for the maintenance of the Forces by Sea was called likewise by the same name both becaus it was occasioned by the agreement with the Danes as also becaus it was wont to bee paid to the Danish Fleet that was hired to guard the Territorie by Sea For which caus also it reteined the same name not onely under these Danish Kings Canutus Harold the first and Hardecanutus but also under the English-Saxon or English And that this which wee have spoken was the Original hereof is affirm'd also by Ingulphus the Abbot of Crowland a witness beyond all exception who lived at that time Hee speaking of the affairs of Edward the Confessor saith In the year MLI which was the tenth of King Edward in regard the Earth did not bring forth its Fruits in such plentie as it was wont but devoured very many people by famine insomuch that many Thousands of men died through the scarcitie of Corn and want of Bread therefore the most pious King Edward beeing moved with compassion towards the people released that most grievous Tribute called Danigeld to all England for ever It is reported by som that this most Religious King beeing brought by his Officers into the Exchequer to see the Danigeld that was collected and to take a view of so vast an heap of treasure stood amazed at the first sight
of the Abbie of Abingdon say of the same year 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The King commanded that 21000 should bee paid to his Armie For so that Fleet is called every where in English Saxon which rode at Grenewich Here you see is no small difference in the number of pounds But howsoever if it bee to bee conceived of the yearly Tax or Tribute then it was far less this year then it is reckoned by those Monks who speak of thirtie eight thousand pounds Four years after in the Reign of King Canutus who was a Dane a far greater summe of Monie was raised for the maintenance of this Fleet. That Florentius whom wee have often cited saith In this year that is MXVIII Seventie two thousand pounds out of all England and one thousand and fiftie pounds out of London were paid to the Danish Fleet and there remained fourtie ships with K. Canutus But the rest were returned to Denmark Of which year Hoveden speak's thus Out of all England seventie two and out of London 410 pounds were paid to the Danish Armie or Fleet. And there remained c. They differ about the Summe not the Thing wherein they agree with the English-Saxon Chronicles before mentioned Yet these altogether speak contrarie to that accompt of the certain summes as it is set down by the aforesaid Monks But Matthew Paris and Matthew Westminster say of the same Time that Cnute sent home the Danish Fleet and Stipendarie Souldiers except fourtie ships as appear's by what hath been said alreadie having paid them out of all England eightie two thousand pounds in silver Also in the second year of King Hardeâ—nute a Tax was levied for the Danish Armie or Fleet amounting to 21000 pounds and 89 pounds as Huntingdon tell 's us All which particulars do I suppose sufficiently demonstrate that the Danish Tribute here mentioned was not fixed to any certain summe of yearly paiment and also that an huge summe of monie was wont to bee paid yearly at that time to the Kings of England for the Guard of the Sea for to what purpose els was that Fleet alwaies kept and so great Taxes levied every year for the maintenance thereof But in the Reign of King Henrie the second the name of Danegeld grew out of use Tributes or Taxes beeing usually paid still notwithstanding by other names that are very well known for the Guarding of the Sea as wee shall shew by and by But they are extremely mistaken even they who agree either with John Bramton the Abbot of Jorvaux or som other Autor out of whom hee wrote it or any others of that kinde in deriving the Original of that yearly Danegeld so often mentioned every where from the former kinde of Tribute which was paid to the Danes for the procuring of a peace and they also who would have the Warr to have been undertaken by the Danes and Saxons against the Britains becaus they denied them a freedom of Navigation and that the end thereof was that this Tribute was upon that accompt imposed upon the Nation when it was subdued Now as concerning the Duties of Fiduciarie Clients or Vassals wont to bee paid in that Age for Naval Expeditions and the Guard of the Sea wee have set them down among those particulars which were spoken of King Edgar in the former Chapter The Pettie Kings or Lords of the neighboring Isles were bound to him by Oath to bee readie at his command to serv him by Sea and Land And in that famous Breviarie or Register of England called Domesday conteining very many Customs in use among the English-Saxons besides the assessment of the Provinces and written in the time of William the first wee read thus It is a Custom at Warwick if the King went by Sea against his Enemies to send him either IV. Batsueins Sea-souldiers or Rowers or els IV. pounds in monie And at Excester when hee made any Expedition by Land or by Sea this Citie served after the rate of V Hides of Land Barnestaple Lydeford and Totenais served as far as that Citie That is these three Towns paid as much as Excester alone Moreover Clocester yielded XXXVI Dicres of Iron and C iron Rods fitted to make nails for the King's ships Leicester also if the King went against his Enemies by Sea sent him four horses from that Town to London to carrie Arms or other necessaries Concerning Lewes also a chief Town in Sussex there K. Edward the Confessor had CXXVII Burgers at his service Their Custom was if the King went not himself in person but sent others to guard the Sea then they collected XX Shillings of every man of what Countrie soëver hee were and provided men who were to look to the Arms on shipboard Here very express mention is made of the defence or Guardianship of the Sea it self And in Colchester an eminent Town of Essex wee finde it was the Custom of that Age to pay out of every hous six pence a year that was able to pay it for maintenance of the King's souldiers upon an Expedition by Land or Sea c. And this ought to bee the rate if the King shall entertain souldiers or make any Expedition All these particulars are in that Register And others there are in it of the same kinde But an Expedition by Sea signified in these testimonies not a Warr to bee undertaken for subduing the Dominions of their neighbors lands but most clearly a preparation and enterprise of Warr for the guarding scouring and keeping the Sea as a part of the Empire of Britain As it sufficiently appear's out of the Histories of that time For wee do not reade that our English-Saxons or Danes had any other quarrel at that time with any of their Neighbors whatsoëver unless it concerned either the British Islands or the Sea belonging thereunto Which also is especially to bee consider'd The Testimonies of Edgar and Canutus Kings of England with others expressly declaring the Dominion which they and their predecessors had over the Sea together with an observation touching the Nations which in that age were seated upon the opposite Shore CHAP. XII THat wee may at length set an end to that fourfold distribution which wee made of the Testimonies of that Age let us in the last place add the express determinations of King Edgar and Canutus concerning their own Dominion over the Sea As for Edgar the title which hee commonly used ran thus I Edgar Soveraign Lord of all Albion and of the Maritim or Insular Kings inhabiting round about So hee make's the bodie of the British Empire to comprehend all the Maritim Kingdoms that lay about that is to say all that are Situate in the British Sea And this hee more plainly declare's in the Charter or Deed by which hee setled revenues on the Cathedral Church of Worcester in the year DCCCCLXIV if so bee the copie were rightly rendred by those who many years since printed so
much of it as concern's this title The words are these Altitonantis Dei largifluâ clementia qui est Rex Regum Ego Edgarus Anglorum Basileus omniúmque Regum insularum Oceanique Britanniani circumjacentis so John Dee a man very well seen in most parts of Learning did read it a good while since save onely that in stead of Britannian hee hath Britanniani while others reade Insularum Oceani quae Britanniam circumjacent cunctarúmque nationum quae infra eam includuntur Imperator Dominus gratias ago ipsi Deo omnipotenti Regimeo qui meum imperium sic ampliavit exaltavit super regnum patrum mâ—orum qui licèt Monarchiam totius Angliae adepti sint à tempore Athelstani qui primus regnum Anglorum omnes nationes quae Britanniam incolunt sibi armis subegit nullus tamen illâ—rum ultra ejus fines imperium suum dilatare aggressus est Mihi autem concessit propitia divinitas cum Anglorum imperio omnia regna Insularum Oceani cum suis ferocissimis regibus usque Norwegiam maximámque partem Hiberniae cum suâ nobilissimâ civitate Dublinia Anglorum regno subjugare Quos etiam omnes meis imperiis colla subdere Dei favente gratiâ coëgi By the abundant goodness of Almightie God who is the King of Kings I Edgar King of England and of all the Kings of the Islands and of the Ocean lying round about Britain and of all the Nations that are included within the circuit thereof Supreme Lord and Governor Do render thanks to the same Almightie God my King who hath enlarged my Empire thus and exalted it above the Royal Estate of my Progenitors who although they arrived to the Monarchie of all England ever since the time of Athelstane who was the first that by force of Arms subdued the English and all the Nations that inhabite Britain yet none of them ever attempted to promote their Empire beyond the bounds thereof But the divine goodness hath favored mee so far as beside the English Empire to enable mee to subdue all the Kingdoms of the Ilands in the Ocean with their most stout and mightie Kings even as far as Norway and the greatest part of Irland together with their most famous Citie of Dublin All which by God's grace and assistance I have subdued and made their necks to stoop under the yoke of my command Whereas hee saith that none of his Progenitors had attempted to enlarge their Empire beyond the bounds of Britain it must bee so understood that it bee taken for the Northern and Western bounds of the British Empire as sufficiently appear's by the mention of Irland and Norway So that then more Islands than the name of Britain did comprehend or than the Isles of that Sea together with the Sea it self were brought under his Dominion But King Canutus or Cnute hath left a testimonie also whereby hee most expressly asserts the Sea to bee a part of his Dominion Hee placing himself on a seat by the Sea side as it flowed upon Southampton Shore having a minde to demonstrate to his flatterers that Kings themselvs are but men is reported to have made trial of the obedience of the Sea it beeing flood after this manner Thou O Sea art under my dominion as the Land also upon which I sit is mine And there never was any that disobeied my Command without punishment Therefore I command thee not to ascend up upon my Land nor do thou presume to wet the feet or garments of thy Sovereign But the Tide saith Huntington and Florilegus who relate this storie swelling as at other times did very unmannerly wet not onely the feet but legs of his Majestie Whereupon the King leaping up proclaimed with his own mouth none to bee worthy the name of King but him alone who command 's both the Sea and land and they obey And from that time hee refused to wear his Crown of Gold consecrating it to a Crucifix In the mean time hee here openly professed himself to bee the Soveraign of the Sea as well as of the land Hereunto may bee added som testimonies of other Writers which although they are of a later date than the Kingdom of the English-Saxons yet they are transmitted to posteritie by the hands of such as were perfectly acquainted with the English Historie and by the Tradition of their Ancestors well infouned of the most authentick Opinions and Resolvs concerning the English Dominion over the Sea Geofâ—rie Chaucer who was not onely the most famous Poêt of his time but as Learning went in those daies a very well accomplisht Scholar in one of his Canterburie Tales bring 's in his Man of Law telling a storie which hee would have relate to the time of Alla King of Northumberland who reigned thirtie years and his Reign began in the year of our Lord DLIX In this Tale there is brought in a Ladie called Constantia the Daughter of I know not what Roman Emperor married to the King of Syria driven shee was by weather to a place which lay under the command of a Fortress upon the Shore of Northumberland and there the Ship ran aground shee was a Christian banished for her Religion and there taken Prisoner by the Commander of that Fortress In this Relation of the sad adventures of Constantia hee saith what indeed is true that Christian Religion was not received into any part of that Territorie but that Pagans had over-run and did hold those Northern Countries under their Dominion as well by Sea as Land His words to this purpose are these In all that lond dursten non Christen rout All Christen folk been fled from the Countre Through Paynims that conquer'd all about The plagues of Northumberland by land See Hee said discreetly that the neighboring Sea fell to the Conquerers of this Isle as well as the Land knowing what was the resolution and generally received opinion of his Ancestors concerning that matter Hee lived two hundred and thirtie years ago in the time of Richard the Second Nor is it any prejudice to this autoritie that the other things there related are fabulous For wee know that out of the Fables of Heliodorus Achilles Tatius Theodorus Prodromus Eustathius and such others whether of an amorous or any other strain somtimes many useful observations may bee gathered concerning the customs manners and received opinions as well of the men among whom they are feigned to bee acted as of the times to which they are related John Harding also who in the time of Edward the Fourth wrote an Historie of the affairs of England in vers when hee reckons up those Princes that sware fealtie to King Canutus for the Lands which they held of him hee adds So did the Kings of Wales of high parage And all the North-west Ocean For their kingdoms and for their lands than That is to say the same was don at that time by the greatest Kings of Wales and of all the North-western
Sea for their respective Kingdoms and Territories Thus Canutus was King of the Kings of that Sea which hee himself also sufficiently declares when hee expressly affirms in what was before related that the Sea it self was under his Dominion And so much for testimonies to prove that the British Sea hath been possessed not onely by the Britains after they had cast off the Roman yoke but also by the English-Saxon and Danish Kings Moreover it seem's they did use to take a kinde of cours for the strengthning and preservation of their Dominion both by Sea and Land as the antient Germans of whom both Danes and Saxons are a part were wont to do for the defence of their midland Cities Among them saith Caesar it was the highest glory to make very large depopulations and lay all the Countrie round about them waste measuring their honor by their distance from any neighbor and accounting it the onely token of valor when none durst plant themselvs within their reach and besides they thought by this means to render themselvs more secure by removing the fear of any sudden incursion So it hath been the manner of those that at any time have made themselvs Masters of the Kingdom of Britain to extend their Dominion in the circumambient Sea to the largest Circuit scouring the Seas about and keeping other Nations at a distance as it were from the Wall or Precinct of the Island Nor were those German Cities more Masters of that waste part of the Countrie that lay about them then the King 's of Britain were over the Sea of the same name But as wee observed before of the Scots and Picts in the time of the Romans so here also it is to bee noted of the Norwegians or Normans for many times they are to bee taken for one and the same people and other Northern Nations That those British Isles which are situated in the West and Northern Sea were somtimes so possessed by the Scots and Picts as also by the Norwegians and such others as infested the Northern Sea and invaded the Isles lying between them and Britain that it is not to bee doubted but they also according to the various alteration of their Dominions by Land succeeded one another for that interval of time in the possession of a proportionable part of the Sea also as an Appendant to every one of the shores of Britain The Scots saith an unknown Autor speaking of the year DCCCXLVI for many years became Tributaries to the Normans who without any resistance entred and settled themselvs in the Isles lying round about And as touching the Naval affairs of the Normans in our Sea there are many passages to bee seen in Regino the Abbat Aimoinus and other Writers of that Age. But in the mean time it is sufficiently manifest that as by reason of the tumultuarie unsetled posture of affairs in those daies the Dominion of the Island it self was very often tossed to and fro so also the Dominion of the Sea was in like manner attempted disturbed invaded recovered and defended as that which did inseparably follow the Dominion and Soveraigntie of the Island Wee are not ignorant that in the French Histories there are now and then som passages that speak of their Naval power in this Age which are collected by Popelinerius But there is nothing to bee gathered from them that may set forth the least sign or shadow of a Soveraigntie or Dominion over the Sea Very few indeed are to bee found and such as either concern onely the defending the mouths of their Rivers against the Normans and Danes then roving up and down our Sea or the subduing of the Friezlanders and som of the Neighbor-Nations Whereunto also som other passages relate which wee shall mention by and by when wee com to speak of the Admirals of France Several Testimonies concerning the Sea-Dominion of the Kings of England since the Norman Conquest set forth in General Heads CHAP. XIII FOllowing the Order and Method of our Enquirie in the next place wee treat of the Sea-Dominion of the Britains since the coming of the Normans into England And in the first place our Discours shall bee of the Dominion of the English Sea or that which flow's between England and the opposite shores or Havens of the Neighbor-Nations Now whereas it is confessed on all hands that all Dominion is chiefly founded upon just possession or occupation and its continuance and that possession is not supposed to bee had by the act either of the minde or bodie singly and apart as Paulus long since hath well determined but is most firmly gotten and retained by the joint concurrence of minde and bodie whereupon it is distinguished into Civil that is where there is a right or title by Law and Natural or Corporal and it is requisite that this Dominion receiv a signal confirmation by a long continued assent a free and publick confession or acknowledgment of such neighbors whom it most concern's First then as concerning the Corporal or Natural possession of this Sea as well as that which is Civil or by Law and is retained by the act of the minde wee shall give you very ample Testimonies since the time of the coming in of the Normans And in the next place wee will shew how this Dominion of the Kings of England hath been acknowledged by those Foreign or Neighbor-Nations whom it most concern's But forasmuch as what wee shall thus speak of the English Sea in general will chiefly relate to the Southern and Eastern or that which hath the English shore on one side and France and Germanie on the other wee will therefore discours severally of that which lie's to the West of England and also of the Scotish Sea or that which lie's more Northerly As concerning the possession of the English Sea both Corporal and Mental or Civil continued for that space of time which wee now speak of with the like Dominion arising and retained thereupon there are divers notable and very clear testimonies thereof which for Methods sake wee divide into eight heads whereof I The Custodie Government or Admiraltie of the English Sea as a Territorie or Province belonging to the King II The Dominion of those Islands that lie before the French shore III The Leav of passage through this Sea granted to Foreiners upon request IV The Libertie of Fishing therein allowed upon courtesie to Foreiners and Neighbors and the Protection given to Fisher-men V Prescribing of Laws and Limits to Foreiners who beeing in Hostilitie one with another but both in amitie with the English made Prize of each other in this Sea VI The Records whereby this Dominion is expressly asserted by the By as a most undoubted right and that noâ— onely by the King but by the Parlaments of England when they debated of other matters VII The Commentaries of the Law of the Land and common customs of the Nation which do either assert or at
least allow such a Dominion VIII Som antient Testimonies of inferior note All the testimonies almost that are comprehended in this Division are indeed domestick but so publick and of so approved credit that hardly any thing can bee imagined which might give a clearer proof of possession whether Civil as they call it consisting in the act and intention of the minde or Natural which require's the presence of the Bodie As it will appear to any man that pleas to make enquirie Especially if hee add hereunto the judgment or acknowledgment of such Forein Nations whom it chiefly concerned whereof wee shall treat also by and by But of these things severally and in order That the Kings of England since the coming in of the Normans have perpetually enjoied the Dominion of the Sea flowing about them is in the first place proved from the Guard or Government thereof as of a Province or Territorie that is to say from the very Law of the English Admiraltie CHAP. XIV AS concerning the Guard or Government of this Sea there are three things therein that deserv special consideration 1. The bare mention and nature of the Guard of the Sea and of the Guardians or Admirals thereof in publick Records and Histories 2. The Tributes and Customs imposed demanded or accustomed to bee paid for and in consideration of the said custodie And lastly the tenor and varietie of Commissions belonging to this Guard and English Admiraltie or Government by Sea Since the coming in of the Normans there is frequent mention of a Guard or Government instituted for the defence and guarding of the Sea Here call to minde those observations touching this kinde of Guard which have been alreadie gathered out of that Record or Breviarie of England called Doomesday And King Henrie the first saith Florentius of Worcester gave order to his Butsecarli to guard the Sea and take care that no person from the parts of Normandie approach the English Coasts The same saith Roger Hoveden in the very same words almost save onely that the printed Copies err in putting Buzsecarlis for Butsecarlis These Butsecarli or Butescarles in the old English Language are Officers belonging to the Navie or Sea-souldiers as Hutesecarli were Domestick Servants or Officers in Court And that to guard the Sea here signified to secure the Sea it self not to defend the Sea-Coasts as somtimes though seldom it did with Land-forces plainly appear's out of Henrie of Huntingdon in whom it is clear that the persons who thus guarded the Sea were emploied by the King to make Warr by Sea against Robert Duke of Normandie who was then preparing an Expedition against England Now those publick Records are lost wherein the Roial Commissions for the delegation of this Command or Government were wont to bee registred all that space of time betwixt the coming in of the Normans and the Reign of K. John But from thence through all the succeeding ages unto this present time it is as clear as day that the Kings of England have been wont to constitute Governors or Commanders who had the charge of guarding the English Sea and were the Guardians or Governors thereof in the same manner as if it had been som Province upon Land First of all there were intrusted with the Government of the Sea or the Maritimae and Marinae the Maritime and Marine part of the Empire understanding by those words not onely som Countrie lying upon the Sea-Coasts but comprehending the British Sea it self though I confess it was not alwaies so such as were to guard and keep it under the title somtimes of Custodes Navium Guardians of the ships but more frequently Custodes Maritimae or Marinae in the sens aforesaid And in the time of Henrie the third Thomas de Moleton is styled Captain and Guardian of the Sea and hath autoritie given him to guard the Sea and the Maritim parts of the Eastern Shore In the same King's Reign also the Inhabitants of the Cinque-Ports are said to guard the Coast of England and the Sea So Hugh de Crequeur was Warden of the Cinque-ports and of the Sea in those parts Afterward the title of Guardians or Wardens very often changed into that of Admirals Edward the First saith Thomas of Walsingham for the keeping of the Sea divided his Shipping into three Fleets setting over them three Admirals namely over the Ships at Yarmouth and the road thereabout John de Botetort over those at Portsmouth William de Leyburn and over the Western and Irish Ships a certain Irish Knight Moreover also that John de Butetort is in the Records of that time styled custos Maritimae as were others also After this in the Reign of Edward the Second three Admirals of the three several Coasts of England saith Walsingham had the guarding of the Sea namely Sir John Oturvin Sir Nicolas Kyriel Sir John Felton Wee finde moreover in our publike Records that the principal end of calling a Parlament in the fourteenth year of Edward the Third was De Treter sur la gard de la pees de la terre de la Marche d'Escoce de la Meer i. e. That consultation might bee had concerning keeping the peace of the Land also of the Borders of Scotland and of the Sea The same regard they had to the defence of the Sea as of the Island or Land-Province giving us to understand that the Land and Sea together made one entire bodie of the Kingdom of England Other evidences of the same nature wee finde in the Records of Parlament of the same King's time or in the consultations of the estates of the Realm had about this matter that whilst they Treat indifferently De la saufegard de la terre concerning the safeguard or defence of the Land or Island and de la saufeguard de la Mere the safeguard of the Sea they seem sufficiently to declare beeing well inform'd by their Ancestors that the Dominion of this as well as of that did belong unto the Crown of England For the business debated by them was not onely how to provide a Navie to make resistance against their Enemies by Sea but for the guarding the Sea it self as well as the securing of the Isle and so for the maintaining the antient right of their King in both In the time of Richard the Second Hugh Calverlee was made Admiral of the Sea saith Walsingham and M r Thomas Percie joined in Commission with him to scour the Roades of the Sea for one year And in the Reign of the same King and likewise of the two succeeding Henries the Fourth and the Fifth debate was had in Parlament about the Guard of the Sea In the Reign of Henrie the Sixth the Guard of the Sea was with a numerous Navie Committed to Richard Earl of Salisburie John Earl of Shrewsburie John Earl of Worcester and James Earl of Wilts to whom was added Baron Sturton and afterward to John Duke
of Excester And in those daies it was usual to procure King's Letters commonly called in the language of the Law Protections whereby Privilege and exemption from all suits was granted to those that were emploied in this kinde of Guard or Defence of the Sea or that spent their time super salvâ custodiâ defensione Maris For the safeguarding and defence of the Sea as the form of the words hath it which wee frequently finde in the Archives Moreover in the Acts of Parlament of the same King's Reign mention is made of the safeguarding of the Sea or de la saufegard de la mier as of a thing commonly known and for which it was the Custom of the English to make as diligent provision as for the Government of any Province or Countrie And in the twentieth year of the same King the Commons preferr'd a Bill that a strong and well accomplished Navie might bee provided for the defence of the Sea becaus It is thought fit be all the Commens of this Land that it is necessarie the See be kept Verie many other passages there are to the same purpose Geoffrie Chaucer who lived in the time of Richard the Second and was a man verie knowing in the affairs of his Countrie among other most elegant and lively characters of several sorts of men written in the English Tongue describe's the humor of an English Merchant of that time how that his desire above all things is that the Sea bee well guarded never left destitute of such protection as may keep it safe and quiet Which hee speak's to set out the whole generation of Merchants in that age whose custom it was to bee sollicitous for traffick above all things and consequently about the Sea it self which would not afford them safe Voyages did not the Kings of England as Sovereigns thereof according to their Right and Custom provide for the securitie of this as a Province under their Protection The words of Chaucer are these His reasons spake hee full solemnely Shewing alway the encreas of his winning Hee would the See were kept for any thing Betwixe Middleborough and Orewel Orewel is an Haven upon the Coasts in Suffolk Middleborough is in Zealand The whole Sea that floweth between Britain and Zealand the English Merchants would have secured this they were wont solemnly and unanimously to pray for knowing that the Sea was part of the Kingdom and the Protection of them part of the dutie of the Kings of England For as concerning any Protection herein by any forrein Princes any farther then in their own Harbors or at the most within the winding Creeks between those Islands which they possessed upon the Coasts of Germanie or Gallia Belgica there is nothing as far as wee can finde to bee gathered from any Testimonies of former Ages In the succeeding Ages likewise there is frequent mention of this kinde of Guard Defence and Government of the same Sea as will hereafter more fully appear when wee com to speak of Tributes and of the tenor and varietie of the Commissions given to our Admirals But now it is to bee observed that both the name and nature of this Guard is very well known not onely by the use of the word both in the Imperial and Canon Law wherein it denotes that the Guardian ought to take a diligent care of that thing whereof hee is owner who doth either lend it or commit it to his over-sight but also by the common and obvious use which the English make of the same word in other Offices or Governments For in those daies of old when the title of Guardians or Wardens of the Sea was more usual there were appointed Wardens of the Ports even as at this day there are Wardens of the Counties who are those Commanders of Counties called Sheriffs and in the usual form and tenor of their Writ have custodiam comitatûs the Guard or Defence of the Countie committed to their charge Wardens or Keepers of the Marches or Borders Keepers of Towers or Castles Parks Houses and the like Yea and the Lord Lievtenant of Ireland was especially in the time of King John and Henrie the Third styled usually Warden or Keeper of Ireland and his Office or dignitie commonly called the Keepership of Ireland after the same manner as John Duke of Bedford and Humphrey Duke of Glocester whom Henry the fift during the time of his absence in France deputed to govern the Kingdom of England by turns were called Custodes Angliae Keepers of England as wee very often finde both in Histories and Records So Arthur Prince of Wales was made Keeper of England while Henry the seventh was beyond the Seas So Piers Gaveston was keeper of England while Edward the second remained in France So were others also in like manner The Governors also of the Islands of Jarsey and Garnesey and the rest that are situated in this Sea who now are styled Governors Keepers or Captains were in antient times called onely by the name of Guardians or Keepers This then beeing so what reason have wee to think that our Ancestors did not use the same Notion of Guardian or Keeper and of guarding or keeping in the name of the Guardian and the Guard of the Sea which they were wont to use in the Guard and keeping of the Island and in the other dignities or offices before mentioned Doubtless in all these the peculiar Dominion and Soveraigntie of him that conferr'd the Dignities is so clearly signified and included that his Dominion or Ownership of the thing to bee kept and guarded as well as Autoritie over the person dignified is plainly implied in this Title Nor is it to bee omitted that in antient times before the autoritie of the high Admirals of England was sufficiently established by our Kings and setled so distinct that the Command and Government of the Sea did belong onely to them the Governors or Keepers of the Provinces whom wee call Sheriffs of the Counties by virtue of their Office had also som Custodie or Command of part of that Sea which adjoined to their respective Provinces as of a part of the Kingdom of England Which truly to let pass other proofs is sufficiently evident by this that many times in those daies they who by the Common Law of the Land were wont as at this day to put in execution the Commands of the King in those places onely that were committed severally to their charge and custodie did do the same also in the Sea it self as well as in any Land-Province belonging to him from whom they received their autoritie For by virtue of their ordinarie power derived from the King and such as was founded upon the very same right by which they held the Government of the Countie or Province they did oftentimes remove the King's Ships and Fleets from one Port to another by Sea as through the Territorie of the Province that was committed to their
brought Merchandise out of Flanders to London or that carried Wooll and Skins from any other place within the Jurisdiction of that Admiraltie to Calais If a Vessel were imploied to fish for Herrings it paid the rate of six pence a week upon every Ton. If for other kindes of Fish so much was to bee paid every three weeks as they who brought Coles hither from New-Castle paid it every three months But if a Vessel were bound for Prussia Norwaie Scone or any of the neighboring Countries it paid a particular Custom according to the weight and proportion of the Freight And if any were unwilling it was lawful to compel them to pay That is to say there were certain Officers that had autoritie to exact it having the Command of six ships Men of War for this kinde of Guard or Protection But the whole matter I here faithfully set down out of the Original in the same language it was written that is the Norman Language of that time C'est l'Ordinance Granté per l'aduis des Marchaunds de Londres des autres Marchaunds vers la North per â—ossent de touz les Communes de Parlement par devant le Comte de Northomberland le meaire de Londres pâ—r la garde tuicion du mier costers del Admiralté de North ove deux Niefs deux Bargis deux Ballingers armez arraiez pur guerre sur les coustagis que s'ensuient Primerement pur prendre de Chescun Nief Craier de quele portage q'il soit que passe per la mier dedeinz le dicte Admiralté alant returnant pur la voiage de chescun tonnetight VI d horspris Niefs chargez ove vins Niefs chargez ove marchandises en Flandres qe serront frettez dischargez à Londres Niefs chargez ove leynes peues à Londres ou ailleurs dedeinz la dicte Admiralté que serront dischargez à Caleis les quieux Niefs les Gardeins de la dicte mier ne serront tenuz de les conduire sans estre allovez Item de prendre de chescun vesseau pessoner qe pessent sur la mier du dit Admiralté entour harang de quelle portage q'il soit en un semain de chescun tonnetight VI d Item de prendre des autres Niefs vesseauz pessoners que pessont entour autres pessons sur la mier dedeinz la dicte Admiralté de quele portage q'il soit en trois semaignes de chescun tonnetight VI d Item de prendre de touz autres Niefs vesseaux passanz par mier dedeinz la dicte Admiralté chargez ove Charbons ou Novel Chastiele seur Tyne de quele portage q'il soit en le quarter de un an de chescun tonnetight VI d Item de prendre de touz autres Niefs Craiers vesseaux passanz per mier dedeinz la dicte Admiralté chargez ove biens des Marchanz queconques en Espreux ou en Northway ou en Scone ou en ascune lieu en mesme les parties de pardela pur le voyage alant retornant de chescun last Squar viz. lastas graves VI d This is the Ordinance and Grant by the advice of the Merchants of London and other Merchants towards the North by the Assent of all the Commons in Parlament before the Earl of Northumberland and the Mayor of London for the Guard and tuition of the Sea and the Coasts of the Admiraltie of the North with two Ships two Barges and two Ballingers armed and fitted for Warr at these rates following First To take of every Ship and Bark of what burthen soever it bee which passeth through the Sea within the said Admiraltie going returning for the Uoiage upon every Tun VI d Except Ships laden with Wines and Ships laden with Merchandises in Flanders which shall bee unladen and discharged at London and ships laden with wools skins at London or elswhere within the said Admiraltie which shall bee discharged at Calais which ships the Guardians of the said Sea shall not bee bound to convoy without allowance Item To take of every Fisher-boat that fisheth upon the Sea of the said Admiraltie for Herrmgs of what burthen soëver it bee for each week of every Tun VI d Item To take of other Ships and Fisher-boats that Fish for other kindes of Fish upon the sea within the said Admiraltie of what burthen soëver they bee for three weeks of every Tun VId. Item To take of all other ships and Uessels passing by Sea within the said Admiraltie laden with Coles from New-Castle upon Tyne of what burthen soever they bee for a Quarter of a year of every Tun VId. Item To take of all other ships Barks and Uessels passing by sea within the said Admiraltie laden with Goods of any Merchants whatsoever for Prussia or for Norway or for Scone or for any other place in those Parts beyond the sea for the Uoiage going and returning of every Last VId. So run the Records of Parlament which in that Age were almost all written in this kinde of Language Not such as arrived at shore were charged here as in most other places with Customs as upon the Account onely of the shore but those that passed or sailed by or used Fishing as well Strangers as Natives And this was upon the request also of the Estates in Parlament under Henrie the fift in the preferring of a certain Bill which I have taken out of the Records and set down at large hereafter That is to say they desired it as beeing very well instructed in the antient Law and Custom touching that particular and of the Kings Dominion Nor can any thing bee said more expressly for asserting the Dominion of the King of England over the Sea it self For it is clearly the interest of him who is Lord or Owner of the place to impose paiments and services within a Territorie Moreover in the time of Henrie VI William de la Poole Duke of Suffolk beeing accused in Parlament the principal head of the Charge was that hee had converted the Subsidie monie to other uses which had been imposed and levied for the Guard of the Sea The words in the English are For the Defence and tuycion and saufe keeping of the Sea as wee reade it in the Records A demand was made also in Parlament in the two and thirtieth year of the same King of fourtie thousand pounds For the defence and saufegard of the Sea as wee reade likewise in the Records But why do I cite them here In those Acts of Parlament which are published abroad in Print wee very often finde it as a thing asserted by the Estates of the Realm in Parlament that the Kings of England have time out of minde by autoritie of Parlament taken large sums of monie by way of Subsidie or Custom upon Merchandise either imported or exported For the defence of the Realm and the keeping and
the saufegard of the Seas for the entercourse of Marchandise safely to come into and to pass out of the same which is the usual form of words That is to say these words are part of the Preface or Preamble which was usually placed in the beginning of any Law or Statute whereby that most known Custom or Impost of Tonnage and Powndage was wont to bee imposed For the keeping and sure defending of the Seas against all persons entending or that shall extend the disturbance of us your said Commons in the intercourse and the invading of this your Realm So that the King of England hath ever been so accounted the Arbitrator and Lord of Commerce throughout these Seas that it could not lawfully bee hindred without his Commission Which truly is a manifest evidence of that Dominion or Ownership whereof wee treat And here you see also that the defence of the Realm that is of the Island for somtimes the Isle alone and somtimes the Sea also as I shall shew by and by is comprehended in that name and of the Sea as of those things which are held and possessed by one and the same Right is joined together The Tribute or Custom afore-mentioned which was wont to bee imposed and the usual form of the same Imposition may bee seen compleat in the printed Acts of Parlament of K. Kdward the Sixt and others following But it appear's most certain by the Rolls that the Predecessors also of this Edward whose Records are yet extant did enjoy the same or the like according to the various Custom of the Times Observations touching the Dominion of the English and Irish Sea from the tenor and varietie of those Letters Patents or Commissions Roial whereby the Admirals of England were wont to bee put in Autoritie CHAP. XVI THe usual form of Commission whereby the High Admiral of England is wont to bee invested with Autoritie for the Guard of the Sea run's thus at this day as it hath don also for very manie years past Wee give and grant to N. the Office of our great Admiral of England Ireland Wales and of the Dominions and Islands belonging to the same also of our Town of Calais and our Marches thereof Normandie Gascoigne and Aquitain And wee have made appointed and ordained and by these Presents Wee make appoint and Ordain him the said N. our Admiral of England Ireland and Wales and our Dominions and Isles of the same Our Town of Calais and our Marches thereof Normandie Gascoign and Aquitain as also general Governor over all our Fleets and Seas of our said Kingdoms of England and Ireland our Dominions and Islands belonging to the same And know yee further that Wee of â—uâ— especial grace and upon certain knowledg c. Do give and grant to the said N. our great Admiral of England and Governor general over our Fleets and Seas aforesaid all manner of Jurisdictions Autorities Liberties Offices Fees Profits Duties Emoluments Wrecks of the Sea Ejectments Regards Advantages Commodities Preheminences and Privileges Whatsoëver to the said Office our great Admiral of England and Ireland and of the other Places and dominions aforesaid in any manner whatsoëver belonging and appertaining And afterwards there follow verie many other particulars in the King's Commission setting forth that most ample Command and Jurisdiction In former times as hath been alreadie shewn you this kinde of Commanders were called Custodes Maris Guardians or Keepers of the Sea who afterward began to bee invested with the name of Admirals in the Reign of Edward the First But their Commands were usually restrained to certain Limits of Coasts So that particular Commanders were somtimes set over each of the Three Western Southern and Northern Coasts but for the most part over the Western and Northern Seldom was one set over both before that the Title of Admiral of England Ireland and Aquitain was put into the Commissions of which more by and by But as the name of Guardian of the Sea was taken from the Sea it self whereof hee was Governor as of a Province so that of Admirals a word whose Original is very uncertain but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Amiralius was used of old for a Commander of a Fleet or Navie not onely in the West but also in the Eastern Empire derived its name of Dignitie either from the Fleet wherewith hee defended his Jurisdiction at Sea as it was usual heretofore or els from the Land either bordering upon that Jurisdiction or joined therewith as it hath been in the later Form of Commissions Whereupon from the time of Edward the first unto Henrie the Fourth about one hundred and Fiftie years they were in solemn manner created Admirals of the Fleet or Navis of our Ships towards the Northern Parts or towards the Western Parts or the Southern or as it â—â—ll out somtimes of both together For the Southern and Western Coast did as appear's by the thing it self signifie one and the same That is to say the Coast stretched here and there along the Shore from the North of the Thames But as the Dignitie of those Officers called Comes and Magister Equitum of the West Magister Equitum throughout Gallia Magister Militum throughout the East Magister Militum throughout Thrace and others of that kinde in the Imperial Offices did no less denote the Autoritie and Jurisdiction of them that commanded in these Provinces who before were Lords of the Provinces than if they had been called Comes and Magister of the West Magister throughout Gallia throughout the East and throughout Thrace so it is evident that the Admirals of the Fleets and Navies whereby the Sea is guarded after the same manner as the Land is possessed by Land-Forces did no less set forth the Command and Dominion and civil possession of those that had autoritie over the Sea who before were Lords of the Sea then if they had been styled Guardians of the Sea Commanders or Admirals in their Commissions And such as were so constituted Admirals of both Coasts or of the whole English Navie were somtimes by a general name called Admirals of England over the Sea before that form of words was put into the Royal Commissions And of this sort of Admirals you have a Catalogue set down by that eminent man Sir Henrie Spelman in his Glossarie where there are others also that follow But such a change hapned in the Form of the Commissions in the time of Henrie the Fourth that there was one man appointed Admiral not onely of the fleets or Navies but of England and Ireland over whose Fleet of Ships or Navie for Defence of the Irish Sea somtimes a particular person was made Admiral as was Thomas Percie Earl of Worcester yea and in express words also Admiral of Aquitain and Picardie As was Thomas Beaufort who also was Duke of Excester under Henrie the Fifth in the thirteenth year of Henrie the Fourth after hee had surrendred the Commission whereby hee had
before been made Commander of the Fleets And hee was the first for ought wee know that was created in this manner But in the next Form of Commission the name of Picardie was left out So indeed in the fourth year of Henrie the Sixth or Anno Dom. MCDXXVI John Duke of Bedford was by Commission made Admiral of England Ireland and Aquitain That Form continued about 88. years or throughout the Reigns of Henrie VI Edward IV Richard III Henrie VII and the three first years of Henrie VIII And about that time ten others were in like manner made Admirals for the most part perpetual of England Ireland and Aquitain the last of which was John Earl of Oxon who was Commissionated in that Form in the first year of Henrie the Eight But there followed another alteration or addition of Titles in the fourth year of that King Anno Dom. MDXIII At that time Sir Edward Howard Knight son of Thomas Earl of Suâ—â—ie afterwards Duke of Norfolk was made Admiral of England Wales Ireland Normandie Gascoign and Aquaitain To which words Calais and the Marches thereof are added in the Commission of William Fitzwilliams who also was Earl of Southampton beeing appointed Admiral in the twentie eight year of King Henrie the Eight This Form of Commissions held in use afterward through the whole Reign of that Henry adding according to antient Custom the clauses touching Jurisdiction But in the beginning of Edward the Sixt Thomas Baron Seymour of Sudeley brother to Edward Duke of Somerset was made Admiral almost in the same words as that William Earl of Southampton inserting after the name of Calais Boloign and the Marches of the same After him followed John Earl of Warwick who was created by Edward the Sixt in the third year of his Reign our Admiral of England Ireland Wales Calais and Boloign and our Marches of the same of Normandie Gascoign and Aquitain as also Governor general over all our Fleets and Seas And in the same Commission hee is styled afterwards Great Admiral of England and Governor of our Fleets and Seas But after a while the name of Boloign being omitted the next high Admiral of England was created in the very same Form of words as is mentioned before in the beginning of the Chapter For in the same Form was William Baron Howard of Effingham Son of Thomas Duke of Norfolk made Admiral in the beginning of Queen Marie or Anno Dom. MDLIII And the Command or Government of those Seas as the principal charge of that Office or Dignitie is more notably expressed there as you may see than in the Commission of the Earl of Warwick From that time forwards the very same Form was kept alwaies as in the Commission of the high Admiralship granted to Edward Baron Clinton afterwards Earl of Lincoln in the Reign of Philip and Marie also in the Commission of Charls Baron of Effingham afterwards Earl of Nottingham in the time of Q. Elizabeth and of Charls Duke of York in the time of King James besides George Duke of Buckingham who enjoied the same Office or Command in the same words in the Reigns of James and Charls So that for above eightie years or thereabout that is from the beginning of Q. Marie the whole form as it is set down in the beginning of this Chapter was ever expressly reteined in the Commissions of the high Admiralship of England so far as they denote either the Countries or the Seas or the Dominion of the same But therein the Admiral is styled Governor General over all our Fleets and Seas just as John Earl of Warwick was likewise expressly appointed in general tearms under Edward the sixt or over our Seas aforesaid But what were those Seas or the Seas aforesaid They are in the fore-going words expressly called the Seas of our said Kingdoms of England and Ireland our Dominions and Islands of the same That is in plain tearms Mer d' Engleterre d' Ireland Gales or the Sea of England Ireland and Wales after which manner the Seas belonging to the Dominion of England are sometimes also described in our Laws which are called likewise now and then by our Lawyers Les quatre Miers d'Engleterre or the four Seas of England divided according to the four Quarters of the World So that in the most received form of this Commission after the beginning of Queen Marie's Reign out of which also the sens and meaning of former Commissions is to bee collected wee have a continual possession or Dominion of the King of England by Sea pointed out in express words for very many years And what wee have alreadie spoken by way of Collection out of these that followed the beginning of Marie touching the sens or meaning of former Commissions wherein a positive Command of the Sea is not expressed is truly to omit the thing it self which sufficiently intimate's as much of its own nature not a little confirmed upon this ground that hee also who before any express mention of our Seas took place in the form of the Commission of the high Admiralship was next preferr'd to the same dignitie was immediately after his Creâtion according to the whole Title of his Office as beeing the same title which indeed alwaies belonged to the Admirals of England styled Great Admiral of England and Governor General of the Navie and our Seas So verily Thomas Baron Seymour whom I mentioned before is styled Admiral of England in the Patent Roll granted to him by Edward the sixt It is proved by words plain enough in the form of the Commissions for the Government or command of the high Admiral of England from antient to the present time that the Sea for whose guard or defence hee was appointed by the King of England as Lord and Soveraign was ever bounded towards the South by the shore of Aquitain Normandie and Picardie CHAP. XVII BUT in the Form alreadie shewn which hath continued in use for so many years you see mention is made onely of the Seas of our Kingdoms of England and Ireland our Dominions and Islands belonging to the same as the Province for whose guard or defence the Admiral was appointed that is as wee have told you the English Irish and Welch Sea all which is conteined under the name of the British as it hath been observéd at the beginning of this Book Yet the names of Normandie Gascoign and Aquitain besides Calais are added which are Provinces seated upon the shore over against us As to what concern's them in this place they are either to bee considered in the same manner as if they had been alwaies held in subjection by the English from the time of the first mention of them in the Commission or as they have alreadie for som Ages past been out of their Jurisdiction But suppose in the first place that they had alwaies remained in the Jurisdiction and Possession of the English Questionless
howsoêver the Admiral of England might then according to this Form of Commission have had Courts of Admiraltie in those Provinces as there is no place almost without Courts of Admiraltie even where not any Dominion of the Sea at all is pretended to belong unto the place wherein they are held yet by no means might hee thence bee called Commander of the Sea it self if so bee you except the Ports and such like Creeks of the Sea which are as it were incorporated within Land either as it may bee said to belong to Normandie or to Aquitain Gascoign or Picardie But by virtue of this form of Commission hee had exercised Maritim Jurisdiction in those Provinces beyond Sea no otherwise almost than our Admiral in England and Ireland or others the like do at this day over men's persons goods upon the African Mediterranean Indian or any other Sea at a remote distance For the extent of such a Jurisdiction by Sea is without bounds But the extent of his Jurisdiction or of the Sea over which hee is placed Admiral as Warden Guardian or President to defend and keep it under the Dominion of him who is Lord thereof are bounded And it sufficiently appear's by express words of the antient form of Commission that no Sea is conteined therein as a Province to bee defended but that which is either English Welch or Irish or relate's to England Wales and Ireland as an appendant From whence it follow 's that those names of the opposite shores in the Commissions do not at all mention the Sea flowing between as proper to those shores or belonging to them in any kind but serv onely as a limit beyond the Sea so far as concern's the limiting of the English and Irish Sea as those names also of England VVales and Ireland serv in stead of a limit on this side of the Sea so far as in the Commissi on they denote the Sea under the Admiral 's Charge or Protection So that even as that Officer called the Count of the Saxon shore throughout Britain was eminently according to the name of his dignitie Commander of the whole Sea flowing between Gallia and Britain as of a particular Province which hath been shewn alreadie and had the name of the opposite shore for the limit of his Jurisdiction so the high Admiral of England or Commander of the Sea belonging to the English Empire hath in the King's Commission the shore of Normandie Gascoign Aquitain and Picardie to set forth onely the beyond-Sea limits of his Jurisdiction or Command so far as hee hath charge of defending the Sea-Province or Dominion belonging to England in those shores which lie over against us For if any say that the case is otherwise wherefore then is not the sea over which hee hath command denominated from som of these shores over against us as well as of the English Irish and Welch or the Seas of the Kingdoms of England Ireland and Wales and of the Dominions and Isles belonging to the same The Reason is becaus no other Sea as it fall's under a Civil consideration for wee speak not here of the denomination given by Geographers doth flow between the Territories on this and the other side of the Sea which are mentioned in his Commission Therefore as in that Roman dignitie of the Count of the Saxon shore throughout Britain the shore was the transmarine bound or limit of that dignitie so also in the Command of the high Admiral of England so far onely as hee hath a Province or Jurisdiction by Sea as a Governor of a Territorie those opposite shores or transmarine Provinces named in his Commission are to bee reckoned the Bounds of the Sea under his Charge or Protection And this truly is sufficiently apparent from the words of the Commission alreadie handled if so bee wee suppose as hitherto wee have don for discours sake that the Kings of England did all the while that form of Commission was in use retain those Beyond sea Provinces under their Dominion as the Romans had don of old But the matter is made more evident if wee observ how the names of those Provinces have at least from the time of Queen Marie been so kept in the form of this Commission that since her Reign there remain's not the least ground for any of those in the Commission to signifie any other thing than what wee have alreadie declared For in her Reign Calais was yielded up to the French and since that time the English have not been possessed of any Province upon any part of the opposite shore Moreover also in the one and thirtieth year of King Henrie the sixt or Anno Dom. MCCCCLIII the English were driven out of Gascoign Aquitain and the other Provinces of France by the French King Charls the seventh Nor was there after the time of this Henrie any Officer or Governor of Note appointed or that could conveniently bee appointed by the English either in Normandie or in Aquitain it self yea nor in Normandie either after or long before the loss of Aquitain It is true indeed that the Countie of Guise Calais and som other Towns in Picardie besides those neighboring ones that Henrie the eight gained by force of arms in the same Countrie remained long after in subjection to the Kings of England yea and that a small part of Aquitain yielded obedience though not constantly to the King of England for som years after Henrie the sixt but not the whole Dutchie Nor doth it make to the contrarie that somtimes under som of our later Kings there was one appointed Captain General or Governor over all our subjects in Normandie with which Title both Ambrose Earl of Warwick and Adrian Poynings were honor'd in the time of Queen Elisabeth For they were meerly Generals of the Forces that were transported thither to assist the King of France not invested at all with any Government or Command of the Dutchie of Normandie But yet even after the time of Henrie the sixt the name of Aquitain was constantly retained in the Commission of the High Admiralship of England That is for one hundred and fourscore years or thereabout after the English were driven out of Aquitain as appear's in the former Chapter Hereto at length was added as is shewn there also the name of Normandie in the beginning of Henrie the eight whereas notwithstanding the King of England was not possessed of Normandie a long time before nor in any wise after nor did hee in that agreement made a little before with the King of France claim any other possession in Picardie besides that of Calais and the Territorie of Guise and Hammes And so it hath continued now for one hundred twentie two years also in the Commission of Maritim Government or high Admiralship of England without any relation at all had to the Government or Command of the Dutchie it self but onely of the shore which bounded the Sea under his Master's protection upon
the Coast of France For although Aquitain indeed was first added to the names of England and Ireland in that Commission while the English possessed the Dutchie of Aquitain nevertheless it not onely so remained likewise in that form of Commission constantly even after the expulsion of the English until our times but Normandie also which had never been named before in the Commission of high Admiral of England was added and this som Ages after that the English were wholly deprived of the Dutchie it self So that either these names do serv in stead of a Limit to the Sea under his protection or els wee must perforce admit contrarie to reason that they signified nothing in the Commission for so many years For wee see that those names of opposite Shore were reteined in the Admiral 's Commission even from the end of Queen Marie's Reign until our times or for the space of 77 years though the English in the mean time were not possest of the least part of France as also that Normandie was added many years before but yet long after the English were outed of its possession Nor ought any man fondly to imagine that these Names were inserted becaus of that right the King of England had to the Crown of France For indeed the Kings of England have by an antient Right usually entitled themselvs Kings of France Also the Dutchies of Aquitain and Normandie and the other Provinces of France mentioned in this Commission are comprehended in that name of the Kingdom as the lesser in the greater But if that had been the caus certainly the name of France should have been ascribed to our Admiral yea and other Officers of that Kingdom have been made in the same manner by the King of England after hee was driven thence Of which thing there is not the least evidence indeed any where exstant And it is to bee observed as soon as ever an alteration was made in the Draught of the Commission from that denomination of the Command of the Admirals of England which was derived from the Fleets and Coasts over which they had command unto that which is made up of the Kingdoms and Provinces that then an Addition was made of Aquitain to the end that the limit or bound as well on this as the other side of the Sea might bee pointed out by the Shores The name of Normandie beeing added afterwards and reteined still together with Calais and the Marches thereof and Aquitain upon the same account But while that the Kings of England were in former times possest of Normandie Aquitain and other Countries in France there are not found in the form of Commission wherein the Kingdoms and Provinces as hath been alreadie shewn are expressly nominated any other Admirals or Governors of the Maritim Province or Dominion by Sea made by them besides those to whose care the Fleets and Coasts were committed in the manner alreadie mentioned that is to say the whole Sea flowing between our British Isles and the Provinces over against them and the Fleets belonging to any Territories whatsoëver of the Kings of England were at that time by a peculiar right of the Kingdom of England in the Sea so subject to them who were so put in Command over the English Fleets and Coasts that there remained neither place nor use for any other Commanders of that kinde Which may bee said likewise of those times wherein som of the Kings of England stood possessed also of the Kingdom of France as Edward the Third and the two Henries 5 th and 6 th Nor is it a bare conjecture that they did not put any others in command over the Sea and Fleets besides those to whom by right onely of the Kingdom of England the power was committed to wit according to that right which comprehended the whole Sea flowing between but it is sufficiently proved also upon this ground that wee have the antient publick Records of those times touching the Offices constituted by our Kings in France and those Provinces beyond Sea in most whereof I finde not the least sign of the contrarie And if it bee demanded here wherefore it was that the Shore of Bretaign was omitted which in like manner lie's over against our Isle of Britain and together with the Shore of Picardie Normandie and Aquitain sufficiently take's up that whole Tract which stretcheth it self in the Realm of France before the English and Irish Sea certainly if the aforementioned reason take place there is little caus to doubt that it hapned thence becaus the King of England was not at any time so possest of Bretaign that beeing outed of it hee needed to bee very sollicitous touching the Bounds of the Sea-Territorie adjoining Distinct Lords of Territories confining on each other as were the King of England and Duke of Bretaign heretofore for Bretaign had Kings and Dukes of its own before Charls the Eight under whom Anno Dom. 1491. it was united to the Realm of France do for the most part keep their Bounds so distinct that they may bee the more evidently taken notice of by all but when of such kinde of Territories there is but one and the same Lord as the King of England was while hee possessed either Normandie or Aquitain or any other Maritim Province in France together with England hee beeing outed of either ought above all things to take care that the past confusion of possession bee not prejudicial to the future distinction of Bounds For fear then lest it might have been pretended that even the Sea adjoining or confining with those Maritim Provinces which were a long time heretofore possessed by the English and afterwards taken away was taken away together with the Provinces whenas perhaps by reason of the past confusion of possession in one and the same Lord all men might not bee sufficiently instructed touching the Bounds of the English Sea placed as wee have said upon the Shore over against us therefore for the setting forth of those Bounds the name first of Aquitain after its beeing lost was reteined in the Admiral 's Commission and then that also of Normandie was added And afterwards both of them with the name of Calais and the Marches in stead of the Shore of Picardie were for the same reason continued down to our times Which reason truly could not concern Bretaign at all nor Flanders likewise nor any other Shores lying Eastward over against us All which nevertheless do after the same manner bound the Sea-Territorie of England Moreover those things that have been hitherto observed shall bee confirmed by what wee shall add next touching the Office of Admiral among the French Touching the Admirals of the Kingdom of France or those constituted upon the opposite Shore their Original nature and varietie That the Sea it self flowing between Britain and France is not conteined in that command of his as of one that is Governor of a Territorie or Province nor is there any thing in it that may
oppose the Dominion of the King of England by Sea CHAP. XVIII THat there were Admirals also constituted by the French King upon the opposit Shore of France is known to everie man And as there is an Admiral appointed in Gallia Narbonensis to over-see maritim Affairs there so also on the opposite Shore there are distinct Offices of the Admiral of Aquitain Bretaign and Normandie and the adjoining Coasts But the French Lawyers of late are wont to call their Admiral in Latine Praefectus Maris Governor of the Sea as if the Sea were subject to him also as a Governor whereas notwithstanding if the thing bee rightly consider'd that Government of the Sea by what name soëver it bee called doth not signifie as among the English any Dominion of one having command in any nearer part of the Sea for wee speak not of the Sea of Marseille which hath no relation hereunto but onely of their Naval Forces in any Sea whatsoëver together with the Government of the Sea-men and Jurisdiction over their persons and moveables which may fall under the determination of a Judg pour raison ou occasion as they say de faict de la mer that is by reason or upon occasion of any suit or controversie arising about Sea-Affairs For the more plain understanding whereof wee must make farther enquirie In the more antient times there were indeed Admirals or Governors of Sea affairs among the French yet so that their Writers do not a little differ about the original of the dignitie They for the most part say that Rotlandus is found to have been Governor of the Sea of Aremorica or Bretaign under Charlemaign whom they fetch out of Eginhartus who wrote the life of Charls at that time But in Eginhartus he is expressly called Governor not of the British Sea but onely of the Shore of Britaign as wee told you in the former Book In which name there is a description not of one that govern's the Sea as a Province but who command 's the Shore as the limit of his dignitie That is to say of the same kinde as those Counts or officers were who were deputed in that Age to guard the Sea Coast and secure it from the incursions of enemies by Sea There is also a nameless Autor of a Chronicle belonging to a Monasterie called Monasterium Besuense who write's that this guarding of the Shores under the Caroline Kings was given over a little after the time of Charlemaign But in the following Ages the Kingdom of France beeing divided as it wereby piece-meals into several principalites that which a long retained this name of the Kingdom of France was reduced into so narrow a compass that the Province of Narbon was held by Sovereign Earls of its own Aquitain or the Western Shore which lie's more Southerly with Normandie by the English Bretaign either by Kings or Dukes of the same aud Flanders by Earls So that whilst the whole Sea-Coast except Picardie remained separate from that Kingdom there was Sea little enough lying before it Yea and the Naval Forces were small enough of which before the accession of a larger Sea-Coast to the French Kingdom there was most use in the expedition of the holy War Nor was any other Governor wont to bee appointed there by the name of Admiral then hee who as occasion required was put in Command over the Navie and Militarie Affairs by Sea yea and was borrowed from som Nation bordering upon the Sea as the Genoeses or others of that kinde But the Kings themselvs had at that time no Command over the Sea as it is expressly written by Johannes Tilius a Clark of the Parlament of Paris His words are these After that the Kingdom of France was lessen'd by divisions and the Kings confined to more narrow Dominions becaus they had potent Vassals who enjoied Feuds with absolute Soveraigntie if you except their homage for the King of England held the Dutchies of Normandie and Aquitain Britain had a Duke of its own and slanders Tholouse and Provence had their Earls the Kings of France for a long time had no command over the Sea and therefore had no need of Admirals until they undertook the Expedition for the holy Land at which time they made use of Genoeses whom they hired with Spaniards or other of their neighbors that were well skill'd in Sea-affairs to under-take the care of transportation having no office appointed for that purpose and by this means they had many Admirals in one single Expedition But after that the English had quitted Normandie and the Kingdom of France had gotten ground upon the Sea-Coast the use of Sea-Affairs also was somwhat augmented That is to say about the times of John and Henrie the third Kings of England So that the first Admiral that they reckon in the Catalogue of French dignities of whom any memorie is left to posteritie was Enguerandus Coucaeus in the time of Philip the Bold King of France or about the year 1280 as it is related by Joannes Feronius And what kinde of dignitie his was appear's sufficiently thence that his next Successors Matthew Momorancie and John Harcourt were onely upon a particular occasion put in command over the Sea-Forces by Philip the fair as wee understand by their Commission Yea and they are mentioned by William de Nangis by the title of Admirals as others also are by Joannes de Beka in the time of Philip the fair Although Joannes Tilius reckon's Amaurius Viscount of Narbonne to bee the first that bare the dignitie of Admiral in France as a constant setled Office over the Affairs of the Sea to wit in the time of John and Charls the fift Kings of France that is about the year 1300 whilest others are too busie in summing up divers other particulars touching the Antiquitie of this command among the French Afterwards Aquitain was added to the Dominion of the King of France in the year 1453. Henrie the sixt of England beeing driven out But in the year 1481. the Province of Narbonne in the year 1491. the Dutchie of Bretaign and lastly in the space of som years all that the English held in Picardie was added also So all the Sea-Coast except Belgium returned into the Patrimonie of the Kingdom of France Hereupon it came to pass that four Sea-Governments or Admiralships were afterwards in use therein notwithstanding that somtimes one and the same person held several together But of these the Government that belong's to the shore of Normandie and Picardie is at this day usually called the Admiralship of France becaus before that the Province of Narbonne Aquitain and Bretaigne were annexed to the patrimonie of the Crown the onely Maritim Government in the Realm of France was that of Picardie whereto Normandie was added afterward as the next Province the other three beeing denominated from their respective Provinces The whole matter is very well set forth by Renatus Choppinus
Officers that are called Presidents or Masters of the Waters and Forests That is to say the publick Waters which are within the Bounds of the Kingdom and over which the King hath Dominion do belong to another dignitie not at all to the Admiral who according to the general nature of his Office is not appointed to take charge of any Province there much less of the Rivers as in England The principal intent therefore of this Office or Dignitie is onely to command the Fleets by Sea For which caus also som years since Henrie of Momorancie Admiral of France having set up a Statue on hors back at Chantillie in honor of his Father Henrie Duke of Momorancie call's himself in Latine onely Navalis Militiae Magistrum Master of the Militia by Sea instead of Admiral So that never any Admiral constituted by the French King either of France or Britain or Aquitain had any autoritie in the Sea it self whereby hee might challenge a Dominion to himself as Governor or Commander in Chief which may bee said in like manner of all the Admirals of the Belgick and the neighboring shore on this side and of the Cantabrian or Spanish shore on the other side For the autoritie of them all so far as concern's this particular hath been and is alike Wee know indeed that this dignitie was wont to bee styled Admiral of France and Governor of the Roial Navie as the same Dignitie among the English was usually called in the same manner Admiral of England and Governor of the Roial Navie in several Leagues that have been made betwixt the English and French But it is clear by what hath been shewn that they bare the Office or Dignitie called by the same name upon a different accompt And the Qualitie of a Dignitie is to bee valued by the nature of the Charge not by the bare name or title And let so much serv to bee spoken touching the defect of antient Testimonies and the Nature or Qualitie of the Government But now as to what concern's the most ample and entire Command of the English for very many Ages and the comparing of it with those several Governments heretofore on the opposite shore it is most certain that there was almost from the very beginning of the very first Times of the English-Saxons one entire Empire throughout England and so on the whole shore which lie's over against Germanie France and that part of Spain called Biscay and this also in the time of that Heptarchie which is mentioned by Writers For there was alwaies som one person who had most power therein and to whom the rest yielded obedience as wee are told by Beda And touching that particular there is a notable Testimonie in Alcuinus where by reason of the Quarrels betwixt Offa King of the Mercians that is indeed of the most large and in a manner the most midland part of the Heptarchie and Charls sirnamed the Great King of France Navigation was so prohibited on both sides that Trade was wholly obstructed which truly cannot bee conceived unless these large Territories near the Sea had been under the Dominion of Offa yea the Inscription whereby Offa was wont to set forth his Roial Title was often exprest after this manner Offa by the Grace of God King of the Mercians and also of the Nations round about But after the time of Egbert or the 800 year of our Lord there is a continued Catalogue plain enough of those Kings whether English-Saxons or Danes who unless you fondly except Edmund the Anglo Saxon and Canutus the Dane by whom the Kingdom was for som little time divided did Reign without any other sharer in the Dominion upon this shore No wonder then that the Kings of England beeing entire and absolute Lords in command of so ample a shore for so many Ages did also take special care to retein the Dominion of the Sea lying before it as an Appendant of the Island especially seeing they not onely had so long and large a command likewise on the shore over against us but also there were not any of their neighbors that could in any wise hinder it except such as possessed som pettie Countries bordering on the Sea which truly may bee so called beeing compared to the spacious shore of the English Empire and those also that were under distinct Jurisdictions The summe of all this is seeing that about the beginning of our great Grand-Father's daies there was onely a very small shore conteined within the bounds of the French Kingdom and the Lords of the Maritim Provinces by the addition whereof that Kingdom as wee have alreadie shewn was afterwards enlarged did not so much as pretend any Right to the Dominion of the Neighboring Sea upon the interest of those Provinces and seeing no Testimonie can bee had in the Monuments of antient Writers concerning such a kinde of Dominion but that very many are found touching the Sea-Dominion of the Kings of England they having continually possessed the whole English shore in its full latitude under one entire Empire for above a thousand years and concerning the perpetual enjoiment of the Sea as an Appendant of the Kingdom Therefore it follow 's that their Right is very manifest in this particular and so that the Sea it self is a Province under the tuition or protection of the Admiral of England as part of the Kingdom but that the Admirals of the shore lying over against us are not in reason to bee called Governors of the Sea in such a sens as may signifie any Dominion of a Commander in Chief in the Sea it self out of the Ports or other In-lets of that kinde For which caus also it was that som Ages since very many of the Neighbor-Nations understanding well enough the Right of England made their Complaint in express tearms against Reyner Grimbald Admiral of the King of France becaus that l' Office del Admiralté en la mier d' Engleterre per Commission de Roy de France tourcenousment Emprist usa un an plux c. That is becaus hee had arrogated to himself and for the space of a year exercised the Office of Admiraltie by the King of France his Commission in the English Sea The old Records from whence this is taken are set down entire by and by where you have more also that make to the same purpose And so much may serv to bee spoken touching the Guard or Government of the English Sea as a part of the King's Territorie or Province and Patrimonie of the Crown That in the Dominion of those Islands lying before the shore of France which hath ever been enjoied by the Kings of England it appear's that the possession of the Sea wherein they are situate is derived from their Predecessors CHAP. XIX THat a Possession and Dominion of this Southern Sea hath been held also of old by the Kings of England is not a little manifest by the Dominion of
those Islands that lie before the shore of France For 't is generally known that after King John and Henrie the third were driven out of Normandie it self that the Isles Caesaria and Sarnia which wee call Jersey and Garnesey Aureney and som other Neighboring Isles lying near the shores of Normandie and Bretaign yea and situated within that Creek of Sea which is made by the shore of Bretaign on the one side and that of Normandie on the other have in the following Ages both now and heretofore remained in the Dominion of England But by the sentence passed against K. John as Duke of Normandie for the murther of his Nephew Arthur the French would have him deprived of all the Right hee had to Normandie And afterwards Henrie the third resigned his Right to Normandie But suppose wee grant what is commonly received that these Islands were of the Norman Jurisdiction or belonging to the Dutchie of Normandie yet truly even so they neither could bee taken away by the sentence nor did they fall to the French by Resignation forasmuch as the possession of the Sea and so of the Islands placed therein was still reteined after the same manner almost as manie Priories were in England it self who though they were belonging to the Norman Government in Church-matters yet even as they were of the Government of Normandie they ever remain'd under the Dominion of England as long as the Privileges of Monasteries were in force among the English as beeing situate within the undoubted bounds of the English Empire Nor is it easily understood wherefore the Islands could have been so reteined unless they also had been seated within the bounds of the English Empire in the Sea But the thing chiefly to bee consider'd here is that verie manie Foreign Nations as well as the Estates of England did in a Libel or Bill of Complaint publickly exhibited in the time of King Edward the First and King Philip the Fair before a Court of Delegates specially in that behalf by them appointed in express terms acknowledg that the King of England hath ever been Lord not onely of this Sea but also of the Islands placed therein par raison du Roialme d' Angleterre upon the account of the Realm of England or as they were Kings of England Which truly is all one as in most express terms to ascribe this whole Sea unto them as far as the Shores or Ports lying over against us But concerning that Libel I shall add more by and by Nor is it to bee omitted that the addition of a Shore larger than that of Picardie to the Kingdom of France hapned first at that time wherein those Isles were so reteined by the English after they were outed of Normandie For before the Shores of Aquitain Bretaign and Normandie were in the possession of other Princes that of Aquitain and Normandie beeing possest by the English and that of Bretaign by the Duke or Earl of that Countrie So that the French King had neither any shore almost nor any considerable use of Sea-affairs at that time by which means also the English did with the more ease retain the aforesaid antient possession of the Sea and the Isles after they were deprived of the Norman Dutchie And this sufficiently appear's also by that Sea-Fight perform'd between the French Fleet commanded by Eustachius the Monk in the time of Philip Augustus King of France and the English Fleet under the Command of Philip de Albenie Governor of the aforesaid Islands and John Marshal who both carefully guarded the passages of the Sea in the beginning of the Reign of Henrie the Third That is to say a French Fleet of about 80 Sail was designed to transport Auxiliarie Forces out of France for Lewis afterwards the Eight of that name that was King of France who through the Treason of som Conspirators made War upon the English King in England This of the French was assailed by an English Fleet of 40 Sail. But Roger of Wendover and Matthew Paris tell us that part of the French who had not been used to Sea-Fight was in a short time wholly defeated Observ here they say that hitherto the French were not accustomed to Fights by Sea But of the English they say the English being warlick and skill'd in Sea-Fight galled them with Darts and Arrows ran them through with their Lances did execution with their Swords sank their Ships and them with Lime which they did by throwing the Powder of Lime into the Aër so it might bee driven by the winde into the French-men's eies They were deprived also of all hope of relief and succor and know not which way to slie The English at that time time beeing expert in Sea-Fight did by this means make good the possession of their Sea and the Isles also that are situate therein For even this Fight relate's to the second year of Henrie the Third or the year of our Lord MCCXVIII that is at the same time almost when the English were first deprived of Normandie But as to that which is commonly said that these Islands first belonged to the English Norman right or by the right of the Dutchie of Normandie it is as easily denied as affirmed by any Nor is there any weight in this Reason that becaus those Islands have and ever had certain Customs like the Norman therefore they do belong to Normandie For the Norman Customs are often used in England as the Roman are somtimes by other Nations yet everie man know's this can bee no ground for such an Argument Nor is it any more to the purpose that those Islands were within the Diocess of the Bishop of Constances in Normandie until that in our Grand-father's daies they became subject to the Bishop of Winchester Their Ecclesiastick Government was a long time derived out of Normandie with more convenience indeed becaus of the nearness of the place which began as it is to bee supposed in those daies when the English possessed the Shores on both sides But it doth not follow thence that those Islands belong'd to the Dutchie of Normandie any more then that the many Priories heretofore in England who were of foreign Jurisdiction in Ecclesiastical matters did therefore belong to the Dominion of foreign Princes and not to that of the English Kings as Kings of England That is every jot as weak also which they use to allege about the Norman Languages beeing in use among the Inhabitants of those Islands The people of Cornwâ—l in England have alwaies used the Welch Tongue at least with a little alteration in the Dialect as the Bretaigns do also in France In like manner the Inhabitants of the Isle of Man use the Irish Tongue yet no man will conclude thence either that this paie's obedience to the Kings of England as Lords or King of Ireland or that the other are subject to their Princes by any right of the Welch Principalitie Wee know indeed that
somtimes slight mention is made not onely in the proêms of som Charters of later times but also in several antient Petitions of the Islâ—nders that those Islands belong'd heretofore to the Dutchie of Normandie and upon that account were held by the Kings of England But yet wee know as well that those Provinces which in Antient time were derived by Inheritance to our Kings in France of which kinde truly these Islands are to bee reckon'd if they were held as parts of Normandie were alwaies permitted so to use their own Customs and antient Forms of Jurisdiction that they were not at all subject to the ordinarie Jurisdiction of the Courts of England The same privilege was ever allowed likewise to the people of Aquitain Anjou Normandie and others Yea and som Ages since the Kings of England were pleased to order that such Controversies as hapned there should not bee decided in any other place out of the Islands but in their own Courts of Judicature whereas notwithstanding it is most certain that in the Reigns of Edward the Second and Third times which without doubt made good search into that Right whereby those Islands were annexed to the Patrimonie of the Kings of England there were Justices Itinerant that is Officers created of old who were often by ordinarie right to take cognisance especially of the more heinous crimes through all the Counties of England also of such Rights and Privileges of the Crown as were usurp't and arrogated by any and of other matters for the most part that are usually brought into Courts of Justice who beeing sometimes also called Justitiae errantes Justices errant were wont to bee sent forth into those Islands as well as into the Counties of England though the Inhabitants did indeed exclaim and somtimes preferr'd their Petitions against this kinde of Jurisdiction But yet it is most certain that the opinion of those very Officers who were themselvs learned in the Law then was that those Commissions whereby they were so inabled to administer Justice in those Islands were not onely grounded upon Law which was the opinion also of those who ruled at that time in this Nation but also that the very Provinces of the Islands were so incorporated one with another as they are all with England throughout the extent of that Sea which lie's between after the manner of our English Custom in the Provinces or Countries that a Caus beeing somtimes inlarged they might appoint daies of Appearance to any Inhabitants of those Islands in the King's Bench in England as well as to the Inhabitants of any one of the Isles in the other after the same manner as is used within England it self Which appear's by the Commission of John de Scardeburgh and his Fellow-Justices in the time of Edward the Third and others of that Age. But it was never heard I suppose that upon such an inlargement a time of Appearance might by our Common Law bee appointed in any other place but that which is of the same Jurisdiction as conteined within the Patrimonie of the Crown whereto also that place belong's out of which any one is so adjourned Nor do I remember that any such thing was ever so much as attempted in those Provinces which were not reckoned in the Patrimonie of the English Empire yet possessed upon another Title by the King of England as the Dutchies of Anjou Normandie Aquitain and the like Moreover also in the more antient Charters of som of our Kings in confirmation of the Privileges of Islanders they are noted more than once for such Privileges as they or their Ancestors or Predecessors have enjoied under the obedience of any of our Progenitors beeing Kings of England Surely if it had been then believed that those Islands were a part of the Dutchie of Normandie it is not to bee doubted but they had added also or Dukes of Normandie which wee finde truly in som Charters of later time yet so that in these also those Isles are said in express terms and that upon verie good ground to bee retained in sealtie and obedience to our Crown of England But in the time of Edward the Third the Islanders petitioning the King in Parlament for their Privileges and Custom 's which had been established time out of minde annexed the Customs of som of the Islands among which are these Item that no man ought to bee questioned about his Freehold after hee hath quietly enjoied it a year and a day unless it bee by Writ taken out of the Chancerie of our Lord the King making special mention both of the Tenement it self and of the Tenant Item That they shall not bee put to Answer before the King's Justices of Assise until they first give them Copies of their Commissions of Assise under their Seals Item that the King's Justices assigned by Commission for the bolding of Assise ought not to hold Pleas here longer than the space of three weeks Truly these antient Customs seem so to reâ—â—sh as if those Islands had been subject to our Kings their ordinarie Jurisdiction by the right of English Empire not by the Norman although the Islanders insinuate also in the same Petitions that they were a part of the Neighboring Province of Normandie Add hereto also that the â—sle of Serk was granted by Queen Elisabeth to Herelie de Carteret to bee held in Capite by him and his heirs that is to say as a Feud belonging to the patrimonie of the Crown of England notwithstanding that it bee unawares or els carelesly admitted in the Charter of this Grant to bee within the Dutchie of Normandie But in the Treatie held at Chartres when Edward the third renounced his claim to Normandie and som other Countries of France that border'd upon the Sea it was added that no controversie should remain touching the Islands but that hee should hold all Islands whatsoëver which hee possessed at that time whether they lay before those Countries that â—ee held or others For reason required this to maintain the Dominion by Sea Yea both Jersey and Gernsey as also the Isles of Wight and Man are said in divers Treaties held betwixt the Kings of England and other Princes to belong unto the Kingdom of England and to lie near the Kingdom of England These Isles also were granted heretofore by King Henrie the fift to his brother John Duke of Bedford without any recognition to bee made unto Us or Our Heirs notwithstanding any Prerogative of the Crown for any other Tenure held of Us out of the said Islands which may in any wise belong unto the said Islands Castles or Dominions Which words seem not in the least measure to admit any Right of the Dutchie Perhaps also that antient custom was as a token or pledg of the Sea's Dominion beeing conjoin'd with that of the Isles whereby all the Fish as it is in the Records of Edward the third taken by the Fishermen of
our Isles of Gernesey Jersey Serk and Aureney in the Sea between Easter and Michaelmas is according to the Custom of those places acknowledged to belong unto Us at a reasonable rate to bee paid therefore and that the said Fishermen are bound to carrie all the Fish by them taken between the Times aforesaid unto certain places in those Isles appointed that the Officers under our Governor of the aforesaid Isles may take thence for our use at what price they shall think fit and reasonable Nor is that to bee slighted which wee finde in the Chronicles of the Abbie or Monasterie of Teuxburie concerning Henrie Beauchamp Duke of Warwick who was invested by Henrie the sixt with the Title and Dignitie of King not onely of the Isle of Wight but also of Gernesey and Jersey whereunto the other Isles in this Tract do in a civil sens belong The same thing is recorded of the Isle of Wight by that Learned man William Camden and that out of the same Book The Book it self speak's after this manner But the noble Lord Henrie Duke of Warwick and first Earl of England Lord Le Dispenser and de Abergeveney King of the Isles of Wight and Gardsey and Jardsey Lord also of the Castle of Bristol with the appurtenances thereunto belonging died 3 Idus Junii Anno Dom. 1446. in the twentie second year of his Age at the Castle of Hanley and was buried in the middle of the Quire at Teuxburie And a little before it is said of the same man that hee was Crowned King of Wight by the King 's own hand no express mention beeing made in that place of the other islands but they reckoned in the same condition with this as they were part of the patrimonie of the Kings of England But it is not to bee believed that those Isles which lie before the shore of Normandie had been so turned into a Kingdom though subject to the Crown of England unless even they also who made them a Kingdom had conceived that they possessed them before by a Title superior to that of the Dutchie that is to say by a Kingly Title As King Richard the second when hee had determined that Robert Earl of Oxford who also was Marquiss of Dublin and Duke of Ireland should bee creâted King of Ireland questionless did not doubt but that hee himself in the mean time possessed that Island by no less a Title and Dignitie than of King although the name of Lord was wholly used there at that time in stead of King as also until the latter end of the Reign of Henrie the eight So it is conceived upon good ground that those Isles and the Sea lying about them did though they used different Customs constitute one entire Bodie of Empire with the Kingdom of England Whereunto also that special privilege of theirs doth relate whereby through the favor of the Kings of England they enjoie the benefit of freedom from hostilitie by Sea though there bee a Warr on foot between the Neighbor-Nations round about but of this more hereafter And in their Court-Records which contain the Acts or Decrees of the aforesaid Justices Itinerant wee very often finde Pleas of the Crown which phrase is an Evidence of the English Government Also in their Trials those Forms In contempt of our Lord the King his Crown and Dignitie and Our Lord the King was seised of the aforescid Advousen in time of Peace as of his Fee and in Right of his Crown and others not a few of that kinde wee meet with which savor not of any Right of the Dutchie Add moreover that the King of England so held the Right heretofore not onely of the Isles over against the shore of Normandie but of those also which are opposite to Aquitain as a pledg or concomitant of his possession of that Sea so far as it belong'd to the patrimonie of the Kingdom of England that though our Henrie the third renounced his claim to no small part of Aquitain yet that Isle lying before it called Oleron no less famous in the West for Naval Laws than Rhodes was of old hee granted to his eldest son Edward to bee held in time to com as a perpetual Appendant of the English Crown For this Claus was added to the Grant so that the said Isle may alwaies remain to the Crown of England and never bee alienated from the same Also in his Letters granted to the Inhabitants of Oleron hee saith Wee will not in any wise sever you from the Crown of England Som years before also hee in like manner made a Grant of Gascoign or those parts which lie upon the shore of Aquitain near the Sea to Prince Edward upon condition it should remain entirely and for ever to the Crown of England So without doubt his intent was that both the Sea-Coasts and this Isle should in a special manner bee possest by the said Prince but by no means bee disjoined from the English Empire any more than the Sea its self which washt their shores And although after a while both this and som other neighboring Isles did many Ages since for divers reasons follow the fate of those French shores which lie next to them yet in the mean time the Dominion of the Sea remained entire as it did before to the Kings of England as it sufficiently appear's by those other passages which wee have shewn The Dominion and possession of the Sea asserted on the behalf of the Kings of England from that leav of praeter-Navigation or passage which hath been usually either granted by them to Foreiners or desired from them CHAP. XX. THose things which wee have hitherto alleged concerning this possession and dominion are confirmed by several Passports that have been obteined from the Kings of England for leav to pass through this Sea whereof wee have clear Testimonies in Records that is to say granted at the intreatie of Foreiners Our Henrie the fourth granted leav to Ferrando Urtis de Sarachione a Spaniard to fail freely from the Port of London through our Kingdoms Dominions and Jurisdiction to the Town of Rochel It is manifest that in this place our Dominions and Jurisdiction do relate to the Sea flowing between And when Charls the sixt King of France sent Ambassadors to Robert the third King of Scots to treat about the making of a League they upon request made to the same Henrie obteined Passports for their safe passage par touz noz povoirs destrois Seigniories par Mer par Terre that is through all places under our Power Territories and Dominions as well by Sea as by Land There are innumerable other Letters of Passport called safe Conducts in the Records especially of Henrie the fift and sixt whereby safe Port and Passage was usually granted as well by Sea as by Land and Rivers that is to say throughout the whole Dominion of him that made the Grant And it is
worthie of observation that this kinde of Letters were usually superscribed and directed by our Kings to their Governors of the Sea Admirals Vice-Admirals Sea-Captains to wit the Commanders appointed by the King to take care of his Territorie by Sea whereas notwithstanding wee finde no mention at all of any such Commanders in those Passports of that kinde which were granted heretofore by the French King to the King of England when hee was to cross over into France Letters of that kinde were given to our Edward the second by King Philip the Long superscribed onely thus Phelip par la grace de Dieu Roy de France A touz noz Justiciers subgies salut Philip by the grace of God King of France To our Judges and Subjects greeting But the reason is evident why the K. of England was wont to direct his Letters to his Commanders of the Sea and the French King at that time onely to his Judges and Subjects in general To wit becaus the King of England had his Sea-Commanders throughout this whole Sea as Lord of the same and therefore when hee crost over it was not reasonable that the French K. should secure him by Sea it beeing within the bounds of the English Territorie And yet the King of France might perhaps have an Admiral at that time but onely upon the shore of Normandie and Picardie For that of Aquitain Bretaign and Narbonne were not as yet added to the patrimonie of that Crown And it was about that time or a little before that they are placed who are first ranked in the Catalogue of the Admirals of France But of later time it is true indeed that in those Passports or Letters of safe Conduct which have been granted even by the French King and other Princes bordering upon the Sea Admirals are usually named in express terms among the other kindes of Roial Officers to the end that they to whom the Passports are granted may bee secured in every place and part of their Dominion But as touching the English Command over such as pass or sail through their Sea there are many other Arguments taken as wee shall shew by and by from the manner of our King 's prescribing limits to such as sail in this Sea as also from those passages which wee have alreadie cited out of Records concerning the Tributes or Customs imposed by the English upon such as passed through the Sea And truly it is very considerable also that the Kings both of Denmark and Sweden together with the Hans-Towns very often and earnestly begg'd of Queen Elisabeth that they might have free passage through the English Sea with Provisions towards Spain during the Warr betwixt her and the Spaniard I know indeed that such a Licence was denied them not onely in respect of the Dominion of the Sea but chiefly to prevent the conveying of Provisions to the Enemie For which caus also divers Ships belonging to the Hans-Towns laden with Corn were taken by English men of Warr in the very Streights of Lisbon without the Sea-Territorie of England which went by the Scotish Sea and the West towards Portugal which was don doubtless that they might not presume to use the English Sea without the leav of the Queen But the Hans-Towns cried out thereupon that the Laws of Nations Commerce and Leagues were violated becaus their ships were so taken by the English onely upon this account that they carried Provisions to the Enemie that is in a Territorie where the English did not in the least pretend to any Dominion And concerning this particular there is a notable Question controverted by very Learned men How far they that are not enemies or would not bee called enemies may by the Law of Nations afford supplies unto an enemie But som years before the taking of these ships when the Hamburgers who in the name also of the rest of the Hans-Towns desired leav to pass through this Sea to Portugal and Spain were more than once denied any kinde of libertie to transport either Corn or Warlike necessaries they did not at all suggest that their Petition at that time was grounded upon the Law of Nations or Commerce nor that the Queen's denial was contrarie to this kinde of Law That is to say they were by her first Answer enjoined to abstein from transporting Arms with other Warlike Necessaries and Corn but saith the Queen in transporting other commodities wee shall not hinder you at all but shall with all favour permit the ships of your Subjects to abide and pass after the accustomed manner that they may perform their Voiage This Answer they did not seem to take amiss But two years after they sent into England Sebastian à Berghen their Ambassador with Petitionarie Letters desiring that the Exception in the Licence formerly granted might bee taken away and a freedom to transport all kindes of Merchandise permitted Their Petition was denied again and this moreover added That such as should presume to do the contrarie should for their bold presumption suffer the loss of all their Goods and Merchandise so carried against her Majestie 's will and pleasure if they fell into the hands of her Men of Warr or any other of her Majestie 's Subjects Thus they ever addressed themselvs by Petitions and the Queen gave Answers according to her pleasure They did not so much as pretend the Laws of Nations or of Commerce before that they understood their ships were seised in another Sea to wit that of Portugal which they conceived free for themselvs by the Law of Nations and Commerce without leav from the Queen of England Then it was they began to plead that Libertie ought not by any Law to bee denied even these men who but som years before had humbly Petitioned the Queen of England more than once for free passage through the English Sea So that that principal point as som would have it of the Law of Nations that relief ought not to bee conveyed to Enemies by a Friend was not onely the ground either of the Hans-Town's Petition or the Queen's denial but her right of Dominion by Sea was concerned also which the Hans-Towns well knew they should violate if they should pass the Queen's Seas without her leav Hereunto for the same reason those particulars relate which wee finde concerning this matter in those points that were to bee insisted on in the year MDXCVII by Witfeldius and Bernicovius Ambassadors from Christiern the fourth King of Denmark to the Queen of England Wee were say they strictly enjoined by our King to mediate with her Majestie that our Countrie men may bee permitted a freedom to transport Corn or Provision towards Spain even as wee have don formerly and do now again with all earnestness desire especially since it is supposed that the same Licence of transporting Corn is granted somtimes both to English and Dutch that our Countrie-men may not bee used in a wors manner than your own
were newly designed to cross over into Bretaign that they might bee arm'd and set forth in the King's service The Title of this Commission is De Navibus arrestandis capiendis For arresting and seizing of ships The Form of it run's thus The KING to his beloved Thomas de Wenlok his Serjeâ—nt at Arms Lieutenant of our beloved and trustie Reginald de Cobham Admiral of our Fleet of ships from the mouth of the River Thames towards the Western parts greeting Bee it known unto you that wee have appointed you with all the speed that may bee used by you and such as shall bee deputed by you to arrest and seiz all ships Flie-Boats Barks and Barges of ten Tuns burthen and upward which may happen to bee found in the aforesaid Admiraltie that is in the Sea reaching from the Thames mouth toward the South and West and to caus the Flie-Boats Barks and Barges aforesaid to bee well and sufficiently arm'd and provided for the warr by the Masters and owners of the same and to bring them speedily so provided and arm'd to Sandwich except onely the ships that are order'd for the passage of our beloved and trustie Thomas de Dagworth and his men that are bound for Bretaign so that you bee readie there in your own person together with the Ships Flie-Boats Barks and Barges aforesaid so well provided and fitted for the warr upon the Saturday next before the Feast of the Apostles Simon and Jude next ensuing at the farthest to go thence upon our Command according to such direction as shall then on our part bee given to the Masters and Mariners of the aforesaid Ships Flie-Boats Barks and Barges and to take sufficient Provision for the enabling of you to do the premises in such places as you shall see most convenient except onely Church-Land you making due paiment for the same and also to seiz and arrest all those that you shall finde to oppose or resist you in the execution of the premises and them to commit into our Prisons there to abide till wee shall think fit to take farther order c. All Officers also in the said Admiraltie are commanded to yield obedience and assistance upon the same occasion The usual subscription in that Age shewing the Original Autoritie of the Commission was By the King himself and his Council But that the aforesaid Sea it self was conterned under the name of the Admiraltie is clearly manifest by what wee have alreadie shewn you And King Edward the third used his antient Right as other Kings of England did also therein as well as in the Ports themselvs or Shores of England for there are innumerable examples of the staying of all Ships whatsoêver by the King's Command in Port or Shore But that which hath been alleged about the staying of Ships and Listing them for the King's Service you are alwaies to understand it was so don according to equitie that competent Pay was to bee allowed them answerable to the proportion of Tuns and also to the number of Sea-men that were so taken into emploiment Touching which particular there are several Testimonies also to bee found in the Records of Parlament That Licence hath been usually granted to Foreiners by the Kings of England to fish in the Sea Also that the Protection given to Fisher-men by them as in their own Territorie is an antient and manifest Evidence of their Dominion by Sea CHAP. XXI AS a freedom of passage so also wee finde that a libertie of Fishing hath been obteined by Petition from the Kings of England There is a clear Testimonie hereof in that which was alleged before out of the Records of Parlament concerning those Tributes or Customs that were imposed in the time of Richard the Second upon all persons whatsoëver that used Fishing in the Sea Moreover it appear's by Records that Henrie the Sixt gave leav particularly to the French and very many other Foreiners for one whole year onely somtimes for six Months c. to go and fish throughout the Sea at all times and as often c. But this leav was granted under the name even of a Passport or safe conduct yea and a size or proportion was prescribed to their Fishing-boats or Busses that they should not bee above XXX Tuns And it is true indeed there was a kinde of consideration or condition added that som others who were subjects of the King of England might in Fishing enjoy the same securitie with Foreiners Which was for this caus onely put into the Licence that if the Foreiners did disturb or molest them they should lose the benefit of their Licence The words of that consideration or condition in the beginning of those Licences run after this manner To the end that the business of the Herring-fishing and of other Fish may bee advanced continued and mainteined for the publick good yea and that the like securitie may bee yielded and afforded to som certain Fisher-men under our obedience I suppose that those certain Fisher men under our Obedience were also the French who at that time continued in subjection to the English whereas almost all in France except the Shore of Picardie had newly revolted from the King of England That is to say at the latter end of the reign of Henrie the Sixt. But that which wee finde either here touching equal securitie or in other places somtimes also about the giving of safe conduct even to the Fishermen of England by Licence granted either to French or Flemings or Bretaigns that usually hapned when the heat of War was over a Cessation agreed on to treat of Peace or Amitie In the mean time securitie of that kinde was given on both sides now and then by agreement But by the King of England as well in respect of his beeing Lord of the place as his beeing a partie that was treating about a League or Amitie By others upon this account onely not upon that unless you understand the question to bee about the use of Ports and Shores For so no man denie's but these were Lords as well as hee Moreover also in our time leav was wont to bee asked of our Admiral for French-men to fish for Soles in the neighboring Sea for King Henrie the Fourth of France his own Table as it is affirm'd by such as have been Judges of our Admiraltie and Commanders at Sea of an antient standing yea and that the Ships of those French were seized as trespassers upon the Sea who presumed to fish there without this kinde of Licence But in the Eastern Sea which washeth the Coasts of Yorkshire and the neighboring Counties it hath been an antient Custom for the Hollanders and Zelanders to obtein leav to fish by Petition to the Governor of Scarbâ—rough Castle situate by the Sea-side in the Countie of York and this for very many years past as is affirmâ—d by that learned man M r Camden speaking of those Coasts It is worth the while saith hee to note
what an extraordinarie plentiful and gainful Herring-Fishing the Hollanders and Zelanders use to have in the neighboring Sea having first obteined leav from this Castle according to the antient Custom For the English have ever granted them leav to fish reserving alwaies the honor and privilege to themselves but through a kinde of negligence resigning the profit to Strangers For it is almost incredible what a vast sum of mâ—nie the Hollanders make by this Fishing upon our Coast. So he There is another man also of very great skill and knowledg in Sea-affairs who in the time of Q. Elisabeth presented a Book to the Parlament written in the English Tongue about the Commoditie of Fishing wherein hee write's that the Hollanders and Zelanders every year toward the later end of Summer send forth four or five hundred Vessels called Buffes to fish for Herrings in this Eastern Sea Where before they fish they ask leave of Scarborough which are his very words Care was taken also by Proclamation in the time of K. James that no Foreiner should Fish in the English or Irish Sea or that which belong's to the other Isles of the Realm of England without leav first obteined and every year at least reneâ—ed from the Commissioners appointed for this purpose at London And touching the libertie of fishing granted at other times also to Foreiners by the Kings of England there are many Testimonies in other Writers But the caus why wee do not often meet with the Forms of those Licences granted either for passage or fishing in the English Sea was plainly this becaus by the Leagues that were made with the neighbor Princes a Licence or freedom of that kinde as also of Ports Shores Passage and other things was so often allowed by both Parties that as long as the League was in force the Sea served as if it were a common Field as well for the Foreiner that was in amitie as for the King of England himself who was Lord and Owner But yet in this kinde of Leagues somtimes the Fishing was restrained to certain Limits which is a thing chiefly to bee consider'd The limits related both to place and time So that according to agreement the Foreiner in amitie might not fish beyond these Limits the K. of England reteining a Dominion over the whole adjoining Sea Touching this there is a notable Example in the time of our Henrie the Fourth An agreement was made betwixt the Kings of England and France that the Subjects of both might freely use Fishing throughout that part of the Sea which is bounded on this side by the Ports of Scarborough Southampton and on the other side by the Coast of Flanders and the mouth of the River Seine The time also was limited betwixt Autumn the Kalends of Januarie following And that the French might securely enjoy the benefit of this agreement our King directed Letters to that end unto all his Sea-Captains and Commanders Here you see plainly those Limits wholly excluded the French from that part of the Sea which lie's toward the West and South-west and also from that which lie's North east of them as beeing so limited by our Henrie at his own pleasure as its Lord and Soveraign Nor was there so much as the least shadow of right or Prerogative whereby the French King might seem to have any interest as a Lord or Owner in the setting of these Limits seeing that part of the Sea which was secluded did not touch upon any Shore of his in the North nor had hee any Countrie lying before the Sea in the South except Normandie or in the West the rest beeing held either by the Duke of Bretaign or by the King of England as wee have alreadie observed From hence truly it was a Custom for the Kings of England to give protection to Fisher-men that were Strangers somtimes by Proclamation and somtimes with a Fleet of men of War when they went to Fish either by agreement made upon treatie or by leav obteined qualifications beeing added according to the English King's pleasure There is among the Records of the time of Edward the First an Inscription Pro hominibus Hollandiae c. For the men of Holland and Zeland and Friesland to have leav to fish near Jernemuth The King's Letter for their protection follow 's thus The KING to his Beloved and Trustie John de Buteturte Warden of his Port de Jernemuth Greeting For as much as Wee have been certified that many men out of the parts of Holland Zeland and Friesland also who are in amitie with us intend now to com and fish in Our Sea near Jernemuth Wee command you that you caus publick Proclamation to bee made once or twice everie week that no persons whatsoëver imploied abroad in our service presume to caus any injurie trouble dammage hindrance or grievance to bee don unto them but rather when they stand in need that yee give them advice and assistance in such manner that they may fish and persue their own advantage without any let or impediment In Testimonie whereof Wee have caused these our Letters to bee made Patents to continue in force till after the Feast of St Martin next ensuing Witness the King at Wengham the XXVIII day of September Which was in the XXIII year of his Reign and of our Lord MCCXCV The same day also in favor of the â—arl of Holland and his Subjects hee set forth three men of War toward the farther Coast of the Sea for the safeguard as hee saith in another Letter of those Uessels belonging to your and our own Countrie that are in these daies emploied about the Herring Fishing c. and to guard your Coasts near the Sea Here hee grant's a Protection to fish And in both the Letters hee limits it within the space of two Months Hee alone also protected the Fisher-men upon the Geâ—man Coasts which by reason of its nearness hee call's here your Coast near the Sea in his Letter to the Eaâ—l of Holland as well as upon the English Nor might the Fisher-men use any other kinde of Vessels but that which was prescribed by our Kings Upon which account all kindes of Fishing were somtimes prohibited and somtimes admitted this restriction onely beeing added that they should fish in such Vessels onely as were under thirtie Tuns burthen This appear's by those Letters of King Edward the Third concerning the Laws of Fishing which were directed unto his several Governors of Yarmouth Scarborough Whitby and Donwich Towns seated upon the Eastern Shore The words are these Forasmuch as wee have given Licence to the Fishermen of the aforesaid Town and to others who shall bee willing to com unto the said Town for the benefit of Fishing that they may fish and make their own advantage with Ships and Boats under thirtie Tuns burthen any prohibition or Commands of ours whatsoever to the contrarie notwithstanding wee command you to permit the Fisher-men of the aforesaid
and others as well Strangers as Natives Enemies as well as Friends may freely lawfully and without peril go unto pass to and fro and frequent the said Isle and the places upon the Coasts thereof with their Shipping Merchandise and Goods as well for shelter from foul weather as upon any other their lawful occasions and there to use free Commerce and Traffick and to abide with safetie and securitie and to com away thence and return at pleasure without any damage trouble or hostilitie whatsoëver in their Affairs Merchandise Goods or Bodies and that not onely near the Island and places aforesaid upon the Coasts and their Precinct but also within the spaces distant from them as far as a man may ken that is so far as the sight of the eie can attain And this is called a privilege which you see extend's so far into the Sea it self as the sight of the eie can pierce from the shore And if so bee this privilege did not proceed from the Kings of England as they are Lords both of the Sea and the Isles and by the same right that the Isles themselvs belong to them as hath been said before it cannot in reason bee imagined from whence it had its original There is not so far as wee know so much as a pretence of a Grant made by any other Princes But onely by the Kings of England who unless themselvs were Lords of the whole Sea flowing about by what Title and Autoritie did they ordein such a Truce so far within the Sea on every side between enemies of all Nations whatsoëver that came unto those Islands But as our Kings have very often commanded that all manner of persons should ceas from hostilitie not onely within the aforesaid Creeks but also throughout the spaces extended thence at pleasure into their Territorie by Sea so in like manner they indulged the like kinde of privilege for ever throughout these Coasts of the French shore that all manner of persons though enemies to one another might securely sail to and fro as it were under the wings of an Arbiter or Moderator of the Sea and also freely use the Sea according to such spaces or limits as they were pleased at first to appoint Which without doubt is a clear evidence of Dominion Certain publick Records wherein of old the Dominion of the Sea is by the way asscribed to the Kings of England both by the King himself and also by the Estates of Parlament debating of other matters and that in express words and with verie great deliberation as a known and most undoubted Right CHAP. XXIII I Shall next of all cite several publick Records which are kept in the Tower of London wherein the Dominion and possession of the Sea is by the way expressly asserted as belonging to the King of England and that both by the King himself as also by the Estates of the Parlament of England as they were debating about other matters For that is the sixt head of the former Division King Edward the third intitle's himself and his Predecessors Lords of the whole Sea flowing round about in the several Commissions given to Geoffry de Say Governor or Commander of the Southern and Western Sea and John de Norwich of the Northern the limit of distinction beginning as it was usual at the Mouth of the Thames out of which Records wee here set down theform which is especially to bee consider'd so far as it make's to this purpose The KING to his Beloved and Trustie Geoffry de Say Admiral of his Fleet of Ships from the Mouth of the River Thames toward the Western parts greeting Whereas Wee have of late commanded you by Our Letters that you together with certain Ships out of the Cinque-ports which wee have order'd to bee furnished and made readie for war according to our Command should set forth to Sea to oppose and resist certain Gallies provided and inforced with men of war in divers forein Parts which as Wee were inform'd were set out towards the parts of our Dominion to aggriev Us and Our people or els to turn their cours toward the Coasts of Scotland for the relief and succor of our Enemies there And in regard it hath been related by som that Gallies of that kinde to the number of XXVI are newly com to the Coasts of Bretaign and Normandie and do still abide there as it is supposed to do what mischief they can against Us and Ours or to succor Our said Enemies as is aforesaid Wee calling to minde that OUR PROGENITORS THE KINGS OF ENGLAND have before these times been LORDS OF THE ENGLISH SEA ON EVERIE SIDE yea and defenders thereof against the Invasions of Enemies and seeing it would very much grieve Us if our Kingly honor in this kinde of defens should which God forbid bee lost in our time or in any sort diminished and desiring with God's help to prevent dangers of this nature and provide for the safeguard and defens of the Realm and our Subjects and to restrain the malice of our Eenemies Wee do therefore strictly require and charge you by the duty and Allegeance wherein you stand bound according to the special trust reposed in you that immediately upon sight of these presents and without any farther delay you do set forth to Sea with the Ships of the Ports aforesaid and the other Ships which are now readie and that you arrest the other Ships in obedience to our command which Wee lately requir'd you to arrest But so that they might bee readie and provided to set forth according to Our aforesaid Command seeing Wee caused the Masters and Marriners of the same Ships to bee prepared and gather'd together whether they were within your Liberties or without and to caus them beeing well provided of men of war and other necessaries to hasten out to Sea with the aforesaid Ships and that with all diligence you make search after the aforesaid Gallies and other Ships of War abroad against us and stoutly and manfully set upon them if they shall presume to bend their cours for the end aforesaid toward the parts of Our Dominion or the Coasts of Scotland And if they steal away from you so that you cannot meet with them then you are with the aforesaid Ships of our Fleet without any delay to follow after the same Gallies and Ships of War set out against Us if they shall make towards our Kingdom or the Coasts â—f Scotland aforesaid and courageously to destroy them for the conservation of our Royal honor But yet Wee will not that you occasion any hurt or hindrance to Merchants or others passing by Sea who have no intention to offend Us and our Subjects or to succour our Enemies Then follow 's a power to press Seamen and som other matters of that kinde The day also and Autoritie is subscribed after this manner Witness the King at the Town of S t John the sixteenth day of August By the King himself and
his Council The like Commission was at the same time and by the same time and by the same Autoritie given to John de Norwich Admiral of the Northen part In the preferring of a certain Bill also in Parlament which was the voice of the Estates of the Realm in the reign of the same Edward wee finde that hee was usually accounted and styled King or Soveraign of the Sea by all Nations The words are qe XX ans passez toutdiz adevant la Navie de dit roialme estoit en touz portz bones villes sur mier sur riviers si noble si plentinouse qe touz les pais tâ—noâ—ent appelloyenâ— nostre avantdit Seignieur LE ROY DE LA MIER tout son pays dotoyent le pluis per mier per terre per cause de la dite Navie c. Which beeing translated out of the old Norman speak's to this effect That the English were ever in the Ages past renowned for Sea affairs in all Countries near the Sea and they had also so numerous a Navie that the people of all Countries esteemed and called our King the King or Soveraign of the Sea There is likewise a notable Testimonie touching this business in the Parlament-Records of Henrie the Fifth where the tenor of the Bill ran as was usual after this manner Item priont les Commens que per lou nostre tressoverain seigneur LE ROY ET SES NOBLES PROGENITORS DE TOUT TEMPS ON T ESTE SEIGNEURS DEL MEER ore par lâ— grace de Dieu est venuz que nostre dit seigneur le Roy est seigneur des costes d' ambeparties del meer d' ordeigner sur touts estrangers passants per my le dit meer tiel imposition al oeps nostre dit seigneur le Roy à prendre que à luy semblera resonable pur la sauvegarde del dite meer That is to sâ—â— Item the Commons do pray that seeing our Soveraign Lord the King and his illustrious Progenitors have ever been Lords of the Sea and now that through Gods gtace it is so com to pass that our said Lord the King is Lord of the Shores on both sides of the Sea such a tribute may bee imposed upon 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 this Bill was Soit avise par le Roy that is let the King himself bee advised of it For the King resided in France at that time beeing Lord of that Countrie by Inheritance and Conquest and Humphrey Duke of Glocester was President of the Parlament beeing then Keeper or Lieutenant of England by whom as the King's Deputie this kinde of Answer was usually given to Bills as often as an assent to them was delaied but when the King was present in person le Roy s' advisera the K. will advise served in stead of an Answer from antient down to the present time in such Bills as were not passed into Acts. That is to say in those Bills to which the Lords and Commons had given their assent before that is the Estates of the Parlament of England which is here especially to bee considered For most certain it is that according to Custom no Answer is given either by the King or in the King's name to any Parlamentarie Bills before that the Bill whether it bee brought in first by the Lords or by the Commons hath passed both Houses as it is known to all that are verst in the Affairs and Records of Parlament And when the name of either of them is left out in the draught of the Bill as the Lords are in that before alleged it was wont to bee supplied as it is also at this day by the brief form of Assent which is added by that Hous to whom the Bill is sent and transmitted For that Hous which first prefer's it transmit's it to the other who either give 's an assent or reject's it And when both Houses have so given their assent then after a while either the King give 's his assent whereby it becom's an Act or Law or els hee laie's it aside and as I have alreadie shewn take's time to advise Neither of which is ever don by the King according to the cours of Parlament till both Lords and Commons have first given their assent But the whole form of the afore-mentioned Bill which is full of all kinde of storie concerning things transacted in Parlament is taken out of the very Schedules annexed to the Bill wherein the Forms of this kinde of assent were wont expressly to bee added and register'd according to antient Custom among the Records of Parlament in the very same words wherein it was at first exhibited no express mention beeing made of the assent both of Lords and Commons which is annexed to the Body of the Form for the assent of both sufficiently appear's in that according to the cours of Parlament it was so presented to the King and the Kings assent onely or intent of deliberation beeing added by way of subscription as I have shewn But most of those Schedules annexed to that kinde of Bills which relate to the more antient times are lost whereas notwithstanding the Records wherein they were wont to bee register'd have been carefully preserved in the Tower for above CCC years All which wee thought meet to mention here to the end that in the Bill before alleged out of the Parlamentarie Records of Henrie the fift these three things may bee observed which make very much to the point in hand First that the Estates in Parlament according to the Custom of their Ancestors that is to say both Houses of Lords and Commons beeing well-informed of the matter perhaps by som antient Testimonies whereof wee are bereft by the injurie of time did with one consent affirm it as a thing unquestionable that the King of England is Lord of the Sea As it appear's also in that former Record which relate's to the Reign of Edward the third for both the Bills are placed alike in the aforesaid Records Secondly that the Sea whereof they speak is the whole that flow's between France and England For they say in express terms that King Henry beeing Lord of the Sea was at that time Lord des costes d ambâ—parties del meer that is of the Coasts or Shores on both sides of the Sea or those that include the Sea on both sides which cannot bee understood of any other or greater Sea than of that which was mentioned there immediately before And so it is in plain terms to bee taken of that whole Sea Thirdly that those Estates did not question but that Tributes might bee imposed by autoritie of Parlament upon all strangers whatsoëver wheresoëver they pass through this Sea as well as Customs in Port And that they did not at all conceiv that a Bill ought
to bee presented touching that business unto the King as hee was at that time King of France but onely as King of England that is as Lord of the whole Sea flowing between And it is very improbable and not in reason to bee admitted that they would so upon deliberation for both Lords and Commons use to debate such matters a long time before they pass a Bill that they would I say so upon deliberation require an imposing of Customs by the Act of an English Parlament in a place that was not subject as a part of the Roial patrimonie to the King of England as King of England From hence it was also that our present King Charls did this last year declare that himself and his progenitors the Kings of England have in all times hitherto by an antient and most just title been Lords of this Sea to wit in his Letters Patents sent to the Maritim Counties of England whereby ship-monie was imposed for the defence of his Dominion by Sea Add moreover hereunto that in the agreement made betwixt our Edward the first and Guie Earl of Flanders about the wearing of Colors or Flags in every ship and punishing offendors by Sea William de Leyburn is called Admiral de la mier du dict Roy d Engleterre or Admiral of the Sea of the said King of England Other Testimonies of the same kinde there are in Records touching the Dominion of the Sea as it hath been received and acknowledged according to the Common Law and Custom of our Countrie which I shall discours of in the next place and after that concerning the Testimonie of Foreiners Of divers Testimonies in our own Law-Books and the most received Customs whereby the Sea-Dominion of the King of England is either asserted or admitted CHAP. XXIV THE seventh of those Heads according to the former Division which manifest the aforesaid Dominion of the Kings of England relate's to our Law-Book's and the received Customs therein which prove it from the most antient times There are also in them many Particulars that may relate hereunto which are explained now and then touching the Guard of the Sea the English Admiraltie and other things alreadie handled But in this Chapter wee shall use either the determinations and Commentaries of our own Lawyers or chiefly such Court-Records as explain their opinions I confess indeed in som of the Authors of our Law who wrote above CCCL years ago or thereabout after they had as the manner then was read through the Civil Law also they were so strict in following those determinations word for word which they found concerning the Sea in that Law that when they treated de acquirendo Rerum Dominio of the manner of acquiring the Dominion of things they tranferr'd them into their own writings From thence it is that Henry Bracton who was a very famous Lawyer at the later end of the reign of Henrie the Third saith Naturali jure communia sunt omnia haec aqua Profluens aër Mare litora Maris quasi Maris accessoria By the Law of Nature all these things are common running water the Aër and the Sea and the shores of the Sea as accessories or dependants of the Sea Also aedificia si in mari five in litore posita fuerint aedificantium sunt de Jure gentium If Buildings bee raised in the Sea or upon the shore they becom theirs that build them by the Law of Nations And a little after Jus piscandi omnibus commune est in portu in fluminibus a Right of fishing is common to all in a Haven and in Rivers Which wee finde likewise in som other of our Law-Books of that Age as a passage that fell from som Writers of whom I spake at large in the former Book that were more affected than was meet with the words of Ulpian and Justinian in the general division of things But these very men in other places shewing the Customs of our Countrie do sufficiently admit the King's Dominion by Sea For Bracton himself afterward speak's of them that by the King's grace and favor quieti sint de Theolonio consuetudinibus Dandis per totum regnum Angliae in terrâ mari per totum Regnum tam per terram quà m per mare Were exempted from paying Tolls and Customs throughout the whole Kingdom of England in the Land and in the Sea and throughout the whole Kingdom both by Land and by Sea And in the same King's time a freedom from som paiments was granted to the Citizens of London per totum Regnum tam per mare quà m per terram throughout the whole Kingdom as well by Sea as by Land And so Bracton when hee return's to speak of the Customs of our Countrie acknowledged that the Dominion of the Sea belong'd to his King no less then the Land And hence it came to pass also that inter Capitula Coronae as they call them that is to say those Articles or chief Heads whereof enquirie was to bee made according to the usual custom by Judges delegated throughout England for the conservation of the publick peace wee finde this also de Purpresturis factis super Dominum Regem sive in Terrâ sive in Mari c. Of Pourprestures made upon our Lord the King either on Land or in the Sea or in sweet waters either within the Libertie or without or in any other place whatsoëver And it is placed among the Articles of this kinde recited by Bracton himself and in the Autor of the Book called Fleta But in the language of the Law wee call those things Pourprestures whereby detriment is don to any publick place belonging to the Patrimonie of the Crown as a publick thorow-fare a River and the like So that according to the nature of this ordinarie Article touching Pourprestures in the general form of enquirie the Dominion or Ownership of the Sea is ascribed to the King no less than of the Land or of publick Road or thorow-fare and River agreeable hereto is that Article about any kinde of salt-waters beeing inclosed by any subject or possessed in any other manner which in the antient Records of our Court of Admiraltie is said to bee don to the disherison of the King The words are there Item soit enquis de ceulx qui acrochent à eulx eaves salees en desheretison du Roy. And at this day enquirie is wont to bee made about that business by Autoritie of the high Admiral Robert Belknap also an eminent Judg in the time of Richard the Second saith that the Sea is subject to the King as a part of his English Kingdom or of the Patrimonie of the Crown His words in the Norman tongue run thus Le Mere est del ligeans del Roy come de son corone d' Angleterre Hee added to his words in a remarkable way as belonging to the Crown of England or as belonging
to the Royal Patrimonie of England to the end that no man might question whether the Sea belong'd to his King by the Right of the Kingdom of England or of the Dutchie of Normandie or of any other Province in France Another also who wrote in the time of Henrie the Eighth saith it hath been received by antient custom that it is a dutie lying upon the King of England as Lord of the British Sea to scour the Sea of Pirates and to render the use thereof as of a publick Road or Thorow-fare whose soil is within his Patrimonie safe for Shipping For hee expresseth himself in English thus The King of the ould Custome of the Realme as the Lord of the narrow Sea is bound as it is said to scoure the Sea of the Pirates and petit robbers of the Sea So much also as to what concern's Dominion is without controversie admitted by our Lawyers of later time And it appear's by publick Records conteining divers main points touching which the Judges were to bee consulted for the good of the Common-weal in the time of King Edward the Third that the King's Sea-Dominion which they called the antient superioritie of the Sea was a matter out of question among our Lawyers of that Age. But consultation was had for the more convenient guarding of it For the whole Bench of Judges were advised with to the end so wee read it in the Records and that is especially to bee observed which wee finde here about the first beginning of the Naval Laws of the Isle of Oleron seated in the Creek of Aquitain at the mouth of the River Charente that the form of proceeding heretofore ordained and begun by Edward the first grandfather of our Lord the King and his Council at the prosecution of his Subjects may bee resumed and continued for the reteining and conserving of the antient superioritie of the Sea of England and the Autoritie of the Office of Admiraltie in the same as to the correcting expounding declaring and conserving the Laws and Statutes long since made by his Predecessors Kings of England for the mainteining of Peace and Justice among all people of what Nation soëver passing through the Sea of England and to take cognisance of all attempt to the contrarie in the same and to punish Offenders and award satisfaction to such as suffer wrong and damage Which Laws and Statutes were by the Lord Richard heretofore King of England at his return from the holy Land interpreted declared and published in the Isle of Oleron and named in French le ley Olyroun Here you have it declared as a thing most received and certain that the King of England hath by antient right been Lord of the Sea of the same name or that which flow's about it But that whereof the Bench of Judges were to consult was onely about the orderly maintenance of this right Nor is it truly a small sign of this Dominion that Richard the First King of England beeing in the Isle of Oleron which hee possessed as seated in his own Sea not so much for that hee was Duke of Aquitain as King of England whereof wee have alreadie spoken did as sole Ruler and Moderator of Sea-affairs first publish those Naval or Sea-Laws in that his Island which hold in force to this day and from that time gave them so large and perpetual an Autoritie by that name that as the Rhodian Naval Laws as the case stand's do prove that the Rhodians in antient time were Lords of the Grecian Sea so the Laws of Oleron having obteined such a kinde of Autoritie by Sea from their first Institution must ever declare the King of England as the Autor to bee Lord of the neighboring Sea round about But som printed Copies of these Laws make them about sixtie years later than the Reign of that Richard by what autoritie I cannot tell For they relate them to have been made in the year MCCLXVI which is the fiftieth year of our Henrie the third Also in the Law of the Land it is reckoned among the Privileges of such as are absent that they who shall bee out of the Realm of England at the levying of a Fine of any Land and making Proclamations thereupon are not so bound either by a yearly prescription as heretofore or by a five years prescription as is usual of later time but that their Right remain's entire to them upon their return home if they make their claim within the like spaces of time But intra regnum within the Kingdom is by the same Law taken and that in the usual phrase for that which is intra or as it is wont to bee barbarously render'd infra Quatuor Maria within the four Seas to wit the Southern Western Eastern and that Northen Sea which washeth both the sides of that neck of Land whereby Scotland is united to England That is to say within the outmost bounds of the English Empire in those four Seas or within the opposite Shores of the Eastern and Southern Sea or Ports belonging to other Princes and within the bounds of the Northern and Western Sea which indeed are to bee bounded after another manner but yet to bee bounded that is accordirng to the extent of possession West-ward beyond the Western Shores of Ireland and by the first beginning of that Sea which is of the Scotish name and jurisdiction But that which is opposed to this Particle intra quatuor maria within the four seas is that extra quatuor Maria without the four seas or to bee in the parts so beyond the Seas that they bee beyond the bounds of the Sea-Dominion of the King of England from whence wee are to determine of the bounds or exterior limit of the Seas And although the Land of England bee somtimes used for that which is the whole Realm or English Empire as signifying the same a more ordinarie and indeed more brief expression beeing applied as is usual in stead of a more large yet it certainly appear's that extra quatuor maria without the four seas and extra Regnum without the Realm do in our Law-Books signifie the very same thing that is to say so far as the extent and latitude of the whole English Empire is comprehended in the name of Realm not as the Realm of England is now and then distinguished in our Law from Ireland which also is a distinct Dominion of the same Empire or from the other Islands which are reckoned in the Roial patrimonie of the Kings of England For it is usual in the Language of the Law so to describe him who in that sens shall bee out of the Realm And whereas in the Reign of Richard the second to an objection made against one that would avoid the yearly prescription as not bound by it for that hee was not in England it was excepted that hee was in Scotland and so within the four Seas It was thereupon answer'd and rul'd
by the Court that the Exception was of no force for that Scotland was not within the Bounds and Limits of England So that within the four Seas and within the Realm signified one and the same thing from whence these terms out of the Realm and without the four Seas becom one and the same also To bee out of the Realm is very often repeated in this â—enâ— also by Littleton the most excellent of all our Law-Writers signifying no other thing than what hee renders it in another place by one who ala oustere le mere crossed the Sea or went beyond sea â—rom thence also it seem's to have proceeded that whereas with us among the several temporal excuses of Defendants who are summoned to appear in Court in our Law wee call them Essoins there are two alleged whereof the one is intitled de ultra Mare the other De Malo veniendi and this latter is allowed to him that is hindred by any kinde of misfortune whatsoever within the Seas or on this side of the more remote bounds of those Seas which belong to England but the former to him who live's without or beyond the Seas belonging to the English Empire From thence it seem's I say to have proceeded that in former times when there was a more frequent use in Court of this kinde of excuses a Defendant beeing absent in Ireland might lawfully make use of the latter form of Essoin but not of the former Nevertheless if through ignorance hee did make use of this it took on the nature of the latter that is wholly quitting all its own nature it depended upon this that the Defendant according to the more vulgar sensâ— or acception lived beyond-Sea For according to received Custom the nature of them both was such that when any one might lawfully use the former hee might also after a while likewise enjoy the benefit of the latter But in the said kinde of Essoins or Excuses the former not beeing lawfully made use of but yet turned into the latter by construction of Law lest it should becom of no use there was no place for the latter to the end it might not bee iterated contrarie to Custom The matter it self was thus decided in the time of K. Henrie the third as it is described by Henrie Bracton after this manner Esto saith hee quòd quis se Essoniaverit de Ibernia quasi de ultra Mare attornatur Essonium illud ad simplex Essonium de Malo veniendi ut coram Martino de Patteshul in Banco anno Regis Henrici Sexto de Gilberto Mariscallo Ceciliâ uxore ejus Allano de Hyda qui vocavit ad Warrantum Willielmum Mariscallum in Comitatu Pembroke qui se essoniavit de Ibernia non fuit allocatum postea fecit de hoc quòd aliud essonium de malo veniendi ad alium diem non fuit allocatum So much wee finde also in the antient Autor of that Book entitled Fleta Doubtless Ireland is no less seated beyond sea than either France or Spain unless you take that decision as relating onely to the Civil notion of this kinde of situation to wit that it is not situate beyond that Sea which is a part and Territorie of the English Empire but placed therein and comprehended under one and the same Supreme Power with England and so that an Excuse or Essoin de ultra mare is not in that kinde to bee admitted In the antient Records also concerning the Customs of our Court of Admiraltie wee read it was an usual Custom in the time of King Henrie the first who died Anno Dom. MCXXXVI and of other Kings both before and after him That if any man accused of a capital crime don by Sea beeing publickly called five times by the voice of the Crier after so many several daies assigned did not make his appearance in the Court of Admiraltie hee was banished out of England de mer appurtenant au Roy d Angleterre or out of the Sea belonging to the King of England for fourtie years more or less according to the pleasure of the Admiral Other particulars there are that relate hereunto about Actions for matters arising in this Sea that were wont to bee entred in express terms heretofore in the ordinarie Courts of our Common Law whoâ—e Jurisdiction was ever esteemed of such a nature that an Action instituted about a matter arising in any other place than within the bounds of the Realm was by the antient strict Law alwaies to bee rejected by them After which manner as it hath been a Custom now for many years that an action ought to bee rejected unless the matter have its rise within the Bodie as they call it of the Countie that is within som Province or Countie of the Island usually given in charge to certain Governors or Officers known to us by the name of Sheriffs So also is it in this Sea-Province belonging by the antient received Custom to the high Admiral or his Deputies not onely so far as concern's its defence and guard but also as to matter of Jurisdiction So that at length it is manifest that the Sea-Dominion of the King of England is without controversie admitted and asserted also both by the Determinations and Customs of the Law of the Land and by the express words of the Writs and Forms of the Actions themselvs Nor is that of any force at all to the contrarie which either our Countrie-man Bracton the Lawyer as hath been said or som others of late as well as antient time that are Followers of him but in too careless a manner while they set down the Institutions of our English Law have unadvisedly utter'd by the way touching that antient communitie of the Sea and of Fishing also in Rivers according to the Books of Justinian as if such a kinde of communitie were admitted in our Law Truly that which they have so let slip is not so much to bee taken as contrarie to the known Law of the Land in this particular for even Bracton himself as I have shewn hath divers other passages that signifie this Dominion of the King as it is to bee reckoned for som of the reliques of Ulpian or of the School of the Imperial Law too slightly and carelesly added by the way in writing And the like may bee said of one or two more of our Writers who after the manner of reasoning received for the most part in the Imperial Law touching the middle of a River and an Island risen therein do by the way but ignorantly make the middle of the Sea flowing between to bee the bound of this Sea-Dominion of our Kings Moreover the same may bee said likewise of the Commissioners of Queen Elisabeth who treating at Bremen with the Commissioners of Christiern the fourth King of Denmark about a freedom of Navigation through the Northern Sea object a perpetual communitie of every kinde of
cognisance of things don contrarie to this Truce and pass their Judgments according to the Law or Custom of Merchants and the Form of Sufferance After a revolution of som years wherein this kinde of Truce took place and somtimes not a League was made in the year of our Lord MCCCIII which is the one and thirtieth of Edward the first The first Article of that League is that those Kings should not onely bee at amitie with each other but also that they should defend one another in all manner of Rights against any others whomsoêver except the Church of Rome and on the part of the King of England his son in law John Duke of Brabant but on the part of the King of France Albertus King of the Romans and John Earl of Henault But the third Article thereof for the first and third is of singular use in that Libel or Bill of Complaint as will appear by and by is this Item il est accorde qe l'un ne receptera ne sustendra ne confortera ne fera confort ne aide as Enemies de l' autre ne soffera qu' ils eient confort souccors ne aide soit de gent d' armes ou de vitailes ou d' autres choses queles q' eles soient de ses terres ou de son poiar mais adiondera sur peine de forfature de corps d' avoir empeschera à tot son poair loiaument en bon foi qe les dits enemies ne soient resceipts ne confortes es terres de sa seignurie ne de son poiar ne q'ils en aient confort soccours ne aide soit gents d' armes des chevaux d' armeures de vitails ou d' autres choses queles q' eles soient which is in English to this effect that according to this contract of amitie they were neither of them in any wise to cherish the enemies of the other nor suffer any kinde of aid or relief to bee afforded them in their Territories The war beeing thus at an end becaus there arose very many complaints concerning injuries don up and down as well in the more open as in our own Sea during the special Truce afore mentioned but also it was probable that others of that kinde might arise perhaps after the League was made especially by reason of the differences at that time betwixt the French King and the Earl of Flanders therefore Commissioners were appointed by both Princes to hear and decide them And those at that time on the behalf of the King of England were Robert de Burghershe Constable of Dover Castle and John de Banquell Steward of Pontoise Baraldus de Sescas and Arnaldus Ayquein Knights on the French King's behalf were appointed the Lord Saquilly Mittonius Blanvillius Bertrandus Jordanus and Gulielmus Ralastansius Knights also To the end that they might take cognisance so it is in the King of England's Commission des enterprises mesprises forfaites en Treve ou en Sufferance entre nos le dit Roy de France d' un part d' autre es costeres de la mer d' Engleterre autres per deceâ— ausint per devers Normandie autres costeres de la mer per de la that is of encroachments injuries and offences committed on either side in time either of the League or Sufferance or of the Truce agreed on between Us and the said King of France for freedom of Commerce onely either upon the Sea-Coasts of England or any other neighboring Coasts of the Sea either towards Normandie or others more remote But the aforesaid parties were autorised by two Commissions in such manner that the one Commission contained four and the other also four an equal number beeing appointed by both the Kings They both bear date the last day of June MCCCIII To these Commissioners or others of that kinde the Libel was jointly exhibited by Procurators on the behalf of the Prelates and Peers of England also of the high Admiral of England yea and of the Cities and Towns throughout England and lastly of the whole English Nation and others subject to the King of England and how this could bee don otherwise than by autoritie of the Estates in Parlament is not to bee imagined With these in like manner were joined the Procurators of most Nations bordering upon the Sea throughout Europe as the Genoëses Catalonians Spaniards Almains Zelanders Hollanders Friâ—slanders Danes and Norwegians besides others under the Dominion of the Roman German Empire All these together instituted an Action or Complaint against Reyner Grimbald who beeing Governor of the French Navie had during the war between King Philip of France and Guie Earl of Flanders intercepted and spoiled Merchants of their Goods in this Sea that were bound for Flanders And all these Complainants jointly say that the King of England and his Predecessors have time out of minde without controversie enjoied the Soveraigntie and Dominion of the English Sea and the Isles of the same by right of their Realm of England that is to say by prescribing Laws Statutes and Prohibitions of Arms and of Ships otherwise furnished than with such necessaries as belong to Merchants and by demanding suretie and affording protection in all places where need should require and ordering all other things necessarie for the conservation of Peace Right and Equitie between all sorts of people passing through that Sea as well strangers as others in subjection to the Crown of England Also that they have had and have the Soveraign Guard thereof with all manner of Conisance and Jurisdiction in doing Right and Justice according to the said Laws Statutes Ordinances and Prohibitions and in all other matters which may concern the exercise of Soveraign Dominion in the said places To wit such matters as concern'd the office and jurisdiction of the Admirals that were wont to bee appointed by the Kings of England Then adding the first Article afore-mentioned of the League made but a little before whereby both Kings were obliged to defend one another's right they proceed in their Accusation against Grimbald saying That hee is onely Master of the Navie of the King of France but call's himself Admiral of the said Sea and pretend's that hee was autorised under that title by the King of France upon occasion of his making warr against the Flemings And that after the making of the said League and contrarie to the intent and meaning of the same hee had for above a years time unjustly assumed aâ—d usurpâ—d the office of Admiral in the said Sea by autoritie of the King of France his Commission taking the People and Merchants of England and other Nations passing through that Sea imprisoning and spoiling them of their Goods and delivering them up to the King's Officers as Goods forfeited and confiscate And whereas hee hath in a very insolent manner justified these actions of his in writing as don by autoritie of the King his Master's Commission as also according to
a Prohibition made by the King of England and proclaimed according to the intent of the aforesaid third Article of the Treatie throughout his Dominions that is to say a Prohibition which forbade a giving any relief to the French King's enemies within the Dominion of the King of England and so endeavored to defend himself before the Commissioners it was alleged to bee don to the great damage and prejudice both of the King of England and of the Prelates Peers and all the rest who jointly preferr'd the Bill as aforesaid Therefore they all with one consent pray that the persons so imprisoned beeing set at libertie and restitution made of the Goods injuriously taken they might bee refeâ—red to the Jurisdiction of the Admiral of England to whom alone this kinde of Jurisdiction both in respect of Things and Place as well as Persons did appertein and that by order of the Commissioners Reyner Grimbald himself might bee enjoined to repair the losses of the Complainants in case hee wore able to make satisfaction or otherwise that the King of France who gave him Commission for that Command might bee adjudged to do the same But after reparation made that then also the said Reyner might receiv such punishment for violating the League as might deter others from the like attempt in time to com Now what was don by the Commissioners is not very well known It seem's it was a matter of such moment that it was thought more convenient to make an end by agreement than bring the matter to a trial But in the mean time nothing is more evident than that a right of Dominion over the Sea and that antient and confirmed by long Preseription was in express terms here acknowledged by almost all the Neighbor-Nations to belong to the King of England and so that hee might at his own pleasure give protection and set Laws and Limits to all that sailed through this Sea and used it in any manner whatsoever nor could this kinde of Right bee altered or diminished by the differences of the Neighbor-Nations between each other or by any Right of war belonging to others otherwise than in any other Territorie of his Dominion And it is to bee observed that the Flemings themselvs betwixt whom and the French there was a war on foot at that time were not nor could they rightly have been parties in that Charge or Accusation For by virtue of the aforesaid League made between the English and French they were to assist one another by Arms to defend each other 's Rights so that according to the League the French King was permitted to use the Sea to infest the Flemings beeing his enemies but not to intercept such as passed this way from any other Nations or that were bound with Merchandise for Flanders And Paulus AEmilius speaking of this very time saith The French King threatned ruine to Flanders The King of England protected the Flemings For Edward was so far onely a friend of the King of France that yet hee would not have the Flemings ruined Thus our King order's the matter both as a Defender of his own Right and supreme Moderator also of Navigation in respect of others Nor truly is it to bee omitted that Grimbald himself here beeing Governor of the French Navie did not onely arrogate this power in this Sea from the Autoritie granted him by his King's Commission but in express terms also made use of that Prohibition of the King of England which was in force according to the Third Article of the said League thereby to defend himself as if hee had also acknowledged that himself could not have lawfully held that office of Admiraltie in this Sea without such a Permission as hee conceived himself to enjoy by virtue of that Prohibition For by that Prohibition it was required that no relief should bee given to the French King's Enemies nor any aid afforded them within the Dominion of the King of England that is per my son poere which were the very words of Grimbald as you may see in the Libel it self set down hereafter And so Grimbald expressly objected the Autoritie of that Prohibition together with the power of his Master's Commission in defence of himself As if hee had said I use this power it beeing given mee by the King of France who put mee in Command over his Navie and Affairs belonging to the Sea But besides this the King of England having set forth his Prohibition commanded that no kinde of relief should bee given to any Enemie of the French within his Dominion according to the League made between both the Kings And therefore seeing I have not taken either the Persons or Goods of any but such as are Enemies or at least such as according to the Intervenient Law of Nations are to bee reckoned upon an hostile Account for doubtless hee pretended that they were to bee taken as Enemies of what Nation soêver they were who relieved the Flemings by Merchandise or otherwise I conceiv it a sufficient ground of defence in my behalf that the King of England according to the League made did by publick Proclamation require that no succor or relief should bee given to the Enemies of France in any part of his Dominion Upon which account not to these whom I took at Sea The summe of all in brief is this That Grimbald did not so much as imagine that his office of Admiraltie or Power given him by Commission depended upon any Dominion of the King of France by Sea but altogether upon the Autoritie of his Kings Commission the League and the King of England's Prohibition As if the English King had openly declared by that League and Prohibition that hee would not take it for any injurie to himself during that kinde of League and Prohibition although the French should fall upon any of their Enemies in his Dominion or though they which is all one here should bee taken in his Sea by the French King's Officers Certainly unless you so understand Grimbald I do not see wherefore he should at all join that Prohibition together with the King his Master's Commission in defence of himself as it is expressed in the Libel or why mention was made there of the Dominion of the King of England throughout which that Prohibition was proclaimed seeing the controversie arose touching things don onely by Sea But if hee bee so to bee understood certainly then hee did not onely forbear to oppose the antient right of the King of England by Sea but also sufficiently acknowledged it while hee seem's to affirm that a temporarie restriction onely was added thereto by an accession of the League and the Prohibition So that wee have a tacit acknowledgment even of the French themselvs at that time in this their Admiral But how the principal points of the League ought to bee expounded it is no place here to discours for wee observ onely that the Sea Dominion of the Kings of England was acknowledged in
that Libel by so many Nations Moreover truly it is worthie observation that about the very same time to wit a little before the making of the League the King of England did homage to the French King for the Dutchie of Aquitain the Earldom of Pontois and other Provinces that hee held in France that hee was also wholly deprived of them som time before by decree of the Parlament of Paris yea and that about one hundred years before King John was outed of Normandie and yet afterward that the King of England now and then regained a possession of it and that before the time of the League and of the publication of this Libel which serv all to this end that wee may observ that when the aforesaid famous controversie arose about the use and Soveraigntie of the Sea flowing between France and Britain and the absolute Dominion thereof was asscribed by so many Nations upon a Title derived time out of minde to the King of England and his Predecessors yet in the mean time no title at all was pretended in right to their possession either of Normandie or Aquitain whereupon a Dominion of any part of the Sea might in any sort bee grounded but claimed upon the sole right of the English Empire And it appear's evident by the thing it self that the things complained of by those Nations in the Libel were don by that Governor of the French Navie chiefly in the Sea near the shores of France and Flanders which were in hostilitie with each other And so certainly they all unanimously affirm that the whole Sea whereof they speak is under the Dominion of the King of England and that upon the sole Account and right of the English Empire And as for Grimbald hee did not defend himself either by a pretence of any Dominion of the King of France or by disproving of that Prescription whereupon the English Title depend's as a thing not declared according to Truth or antient Right nor did hee at all pretend that the Right which the Kings of England had in the Sea borde ring upon France did belong to them either upon the account of Normandie or any other French Province whatsoêver as Fiduciarie Clients or Vassals of the King of France though it had been convenient and very seasonable for him to have alleged all these Particulars if the Truth had been so indeed Whereby also that is not a little confirmed whereof wee discoursed before about taking the names of the shore over against us in the later Commissions of the Office of high Admiral of England for limits onely of the Sea-Dominion of the Kings of England and of the Province thereof under their protection Moreover also about seven years before the exhibiting of the aforesaid Libel to the Commissioners when as the King of France by reason of divers heinous injuries don to his Subjects by the English in this Sea required that the King of England as hee was the Fiduciarie Client or Vassal becaus of Aquitain and other Provinces that hee held under him in France should bee questioned not onely for wrong don but also for his right to those Lands which hee held and bee summoned to appear in the Parlament of Paris the matter beeing set down at large in the Letter of Summons hee inserted nothing therein whereby hee might seem to arrogate any Sea-Dominion at all to himself or diminish that which belong'd to the King of England as you may see in I lorilegus who hath set down an entire Copie of them in his Annals The same Autor also speaking of the same Time saith At that time there was neither Lord nor Law over the Sea men but what every man was able to catch or snatch hee called his own which plainly denote's an extraordinarie Licence or of Depredation and infesting the Sea yet so to bee understood that in the mean time the incomparable power of the English in Shipping which guarded their Dominion by Sea according to the Custom of their Ancestors was chiefly signified thereby the King very freely permitting his Subjects to use depredations by Sea as long as the war continued For Florilegus himself relate's that great numbers both of French and Spaniards were then taken at Sea by the English Yea and about that time Thomas of Walsingham write's that either a French or Norman Navie of two hundred Sail which roved about this Sea to rob the English were overcom by a Fleet of sixtie English Ships and brought into England There is also another antient Autor of the same time when these affairs were acted who saith That in the Month of May MCCXCIV there fell out a Quarrel between the Sea-men of the Cinque-Ports of England and the Sea-men of France and it was determined by a fight at Sea wherein the English with a Fleet of one hundred Sail took two hundred Ships of France and drowned or killed almost all the Sea-men of France for which caus Philip King of France endeavored to take away Gascoign from the King of England Others there are likewise that have other expressions touching these things whereby it is easie to collect what is meant by that of Florilegus when hee saith that there was neither Lord nor Law over Sea-men at that time that is to say the King of England had let the reins loos to his Subjects as Moderator of this Sea and this hee did that they might not onely restrain his enemies but them also that should reliev his enemies in any manner whatsoêver or that should use the Sea otherwise than at his pleasure who was Lord thereof But as concerning the like acknowledgment made singly and apart by the Flemings of the Dominion of the Kings of England over the Sea I shall Treat by and by after that I have in the next place set before you the Libel it self in its own that is the Norman Tongue as it stand's recorded in the Tower of London A Copie or Transcript of the Libel or Bill of Complaint mentioned in the former Chapter CHAP. XXVIII IN the Archives of the Tower of London where Records of above four hundred years are kept there is a bundle of Parchments which contein som affairs relating to the times of Henrie the Third and of Edward the First and Third The first contein's an agreement made between Edward the First and Guy Earl of Flanders touching their Ships bearing of Colors about this Sea to the end that they might bee the more easily known Then there are annexed three either Originals or Copies of the said Libel written at the same time For as it seem's the several Procurators of those Nations that were parties in the Complaint had their several Libels though expressed in the name of all together So that one is endorsed thus De Baiona as if that Libel had been exhibited singly by the men of Bayonne but the title run's thus De Superioritate Maris Angliae Jure Officii Admirallatûs in eodem
him out of the Catalogue of the Admirals of France yet Joannes Tilius placing him among the Governors of the French Navie call's him Roverius Grimaldus Hee also is that Admiral of the King of France who as Joannes de Beka saith had command of three hundred and fiftie Gallies that were sent by Philip the Fair in the year MCCCIV to aid the Hollanders against the Flemings There are also several particulars in the Records of France which relate to the differences then on foot between the English and French And although that Libel or any Copie of it bee not found therein if wee may credit Tilius who set forth a Catalogue of that kinde of Records yet there is that Commission among them whereby the aforesaid Auditors or Commissioners were autorised to determine of things don contrary to the League It is described by Tilius after this manner Pouvoir donè par le Roy Edovard à deux nommez accordez de sa part pour avec les deux eleuz de la part du dit Roy Phelippe d' enquerir amendir les forfaictes durant lour trefue le Dernier Juin MCCCIII Ou tresor layette Procurationes posse potestates Angliae K. Power was given by king Edward to two persons named and appointed on his part to meet with two persons chosen on the behalf of the said king Philip to make enquiry and give remedy touching Injuries committed during the Truce betwixt them the last of June MCCCIII in the Treasury in the Box intituled Procurationes posse potestateâ—s Angliae K. The Commissions bear date the same day and year whereby these Auditors or Commissioners were appointed for this purpose as wee observed before out of our own Records Nor is it of any force here to the contrarie that Commissioners were somtimes deputed in the same manner by the Princes of the shores on both sides of the Sea as also by the aforesaid Kings to determine complaints about robberies and other injuries usually don by private persons to one another by Sea and Land For if any one will collect thence that the Princes which deputed them had both an equal right in the Sea it may as well bee concluded upon the same ground that they were but part-owners of their own Countries and had an equal interest in each other 's Land Besides in such a kinde of deputation as that there is more regard had of the persons offending that are to bee tried than of the Dominion of Territories which truly is wholly to bee discovered som other way A Recognition or acknowledgment of the Sea-Dominion of the Kings of England made by the Flemings in an Ambassy to Edward the Second CHAP. XXIX TO these let us add now the assent and voluntarie acknowledgment of the Flemings in the Parlament of England in the Reign of Edward the Second When as the Ambassadors of Robert Earl of Flanders complained of the taking of their Goods away at Sea imploring remedie of the King of England they said more than once that they were taken upon the English Sea towards the parts about Crauden within the power of the King of England and brought into England but that it appertained to the King of England to take cognisance of the crime for that hee is Lord of the said Sea and the aforesaid depredation was committed upon the aforesaid Sea within his Territorie and Jurisdiction which are the words of the Record but I shall set down the whole so far as it relate's to this business Memorandum That whereas for the reformation of certain injuries in an amicable way don by the Subjects of the Earl of Flanders to the Subjects of the Kingdom of England and by the Subjects of the said Kingdom to those of Flanders since the time that our said Lord the king undertook the Government of his kingdom several Treaties had been held between the Council of our said Lord the king and the Ambassadors of the said Earl often sent into England upon the aforesaid occasion which Treaties by reason of som impediments that happened did not aâ—tem the desired effect at length in the Parlament of our said Lord the king held at Westminster in ocâ—abis Sancti Michaâ—lis in the fourteenth year of his Reign there appeared certain Ambassadors of the said Earl to treat about reforming the aforesaid injuries in the form aforesaid And when as the said Ambassadors had been admitted by our said Lord the king to treat anew of this kinde of Iniuries these Ambassadors as other Ambassadors of the aforesaid Earl in the aforesaid Treaties did among other particulars that they required before all things make supplication That the said Lord the king would at his own sâ—â—t by virtue of his Roial Autoritie caus enquirie to bee maâ—â— and do Justice about a certain depredation laâ—ely made by the Subiects of England as they said upon the English Sea of Wines and divers other Merchandises belonging to certain men of Flanders towards the parts about CRAUDEN within the Territorie and Jurisdiction of our said Lord the king alleging that the aforesaid Wines and Merchandises taken from the said Flemings were brought within the Râ—â—â—m and Jurisdiction of the said Lord the king and that it belong'd to the king himself so to do for that HEE IS LORD OF THE SAID SEA and the aforesaid depredation was made upon the said Sea within his Terrâ—â—orâ—â— and Jurisdiction In conclusion after diligent consideration had of the Premisses in the same Parlament with the Prelates Earls Barons and other Peers of the said Realm beeing there present it was concluded upon their advice by the said Lord King that to preserv the benefit of Peace between the Subjects of England and â—landers the said Lord king do by his Roial Autoritie caus enquirie to bee made about the Goods taken at that time upon the aforesaid English Sea towards the said place of CRAUDEN and brought within the said Realm in those places where the Malefactors went with the goods so taken to the said Land of England and caus the same depredation to bee heard and determined according to Law and Reason and that the Owners of the Ships who had a hand in the said depredation and others who knowingly received the said Offendors with the Goods so taken in whole or in part may bee charged and punished thereupon as partakers of the aforesaid depredation So far that Record And Commissioners were appointed with power of Jurisdiction by the King's Commission through most of the Maritim Counties to make reparation of damages But becaus there are upon the shores over against us especially those of Zealand and there are also upon other neighboring shores besides Inlets of Rivers very many windings and turnings of the Sea flowing in whereby the land is so interwoven up and down that it cannot well bee but that the Sea also which flow's in and oftentimes remove's Banks and make's Harbors there in the same manner almost
Sea That the Kings of England never had prohibited Navigation and Fishing in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland as if they would have had it proved from thence that the Dane ought not to bee prohibited Fishing or Navigation between Island and Norway becaus neither were Lords of the Sea but had possessed the Shores onely on both sides by an equal Right There were other particulars also no less rashly spoken touching a communitie of the Sea as wee observed before Concerning Navigation and Fishing in the Norwegian Sea I shall add more by and by But as it was ill don of those Commissioners in that Treatie to make use of an Argument drawn from a necessarie communitie of the Sea so there is no truth in that which they let fall concerning the Irish Sea For wee know that not onely those pettie Potentates bordering near the Sea heretofore that were in Rebellion and had usurped the Kings Right in many places of Ireland did exact grievous Tributes of Foreiners for the very libertie of Fishing but also it was expressly provided by Act of Parlament that no Foreiner should Fish in the Irish Sea without leav first obteined to this purpose from the Lord Lievtenant or som other lawsul Deputie or Officer of the King of England yea and that all Foreiners should pay yearly for every Fisher-boat of XII Tons or upward thirteen shillings and four pence and for everie lesser Vessel two shillings upon pain of forfeiting their Vessels Furniture and all Goods whatsoëver if so they refused this kinde of paiment or did not acknowledg this Soveraignite of the Lord of the Sea But I shall insert the whole Act touching this business that wee may understand what was the most received Opinion of all the Estates of Ireland touching this Right here of the King Item at the requeste of the Commons that where divers vessels of other landes fro one daie to other goynge to fish amongst the kings Irish enemies in divers partes of this sayd land by which the kings said enemies bee greatlye advanced and strengthened aswell in vitualles harneys armor as dyvers others necessaries also great tributes of money given by every of the said vessells to the said enemies from day to day to the great augmentation of their power and force against the King's honor and wealth and utter distruction of this said land thereupon the premisses considered it is enacted and ordeined by aucthoritie of the said Parliament that no manner vessell of other landes shall bee no time nor season of the yeere from henceforth from the feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christs next comming go in no part of the said land betwixt the said Irish enemies to no manner fishing without one special licence of the Lieutenant his deputy or Justice of the land for the time being or licence of another person having the kings power to grant such licence upon paine of forfaiture of the shippe and goods to the king And that whatsoever person or persons that find or impeche any of the said vessells rumpants or forfaites against this act by the auctoritie of the same it bee lawfull to them so making any claime in behalfe of the King and approving the said forfaytures by any of the said vessels to be made that the king shall have th' one moitye of the said forfeyture and the said person or persons shall have th' other without anye impechment and that all manner vessells of other lands comming in the said land of Ireland a fishing being of the burden of twelue tunnes or lesse haveing one Drover or boate everye of them to paye for the maintenance of the Kings warres there xiii s. iiii d. by the yeer And all other small vessells as scarfes or boates not haveing Drover nor lighter being within the said burden of twelve runnes every of them shall paye twoe shillings goings a fishing in the like manner Provided alwayes that no vessell fyshing in the North parte of Wicklo be charged by reason of this art and that the Lieutenant his deputy or Justice of the land for the time being shall have the foresaid summes and duties of mony so paid to be imployed in the Kings warres for the defente of the said land and that the Customers and Collectors of the same summes shall accoumpt before the said Justice Lieutenant or Deputy for the time being or such Auditors that shall be for the same appointed by the king or them and not before the Barons of th'exchequer in the said lande and that none of the saide vessels so comming from other parts in the saide lande shall not depart out of the saide lande till every of them pay their said duties upon pain of forfeiture of the vessels and goods to the King There are som also who affirm that the King of Spain obteined leav by request from our Queen Marie for XXI years to fish in the more Northerly part of the Irish Sea and that thereupon a Revenue of one thousand pounds per annum was advanced to the Exchequer in Ireland A Proclamation also was set forth by James King of great Britain prohibiting any foreiner without leav first obteined to fish in this Irish Sea But as to what concern's that Controversie about the Isle of Man although it bee remember'd by Giraldus who wrote in the Reign of Henrie the Second nevertheless it is to bee conceived that it arose in the more antient times of the English-Saxons when all that lie's betwixt England and Ireland was in subjection either to the Kings of Ireland or Britain that is when both of them had in this Sea distinct Territories of their own whose Bounds were in question Certain it is as Beda write's that Edwin the most potent King of the Nortbumbrians or rather of all the English-Saxons subdued the Mevanian Isles to the Dominion of England about the year DCXXX That is to say both that Mevanian which wee call Anglesey the other also which is Man whereof wee discoursed But in the later time of the Anglo-Saxon Empire the Norwegians or Danes who exceedingly infested both this and the North-east Sea with very frequent Robberies at length seized both this Isle and the Hebrides and held them almost two hundred years So that in the mean time this of Man could not in a Civil sens bee ascribed either to Ireland or Britain But that the Kings thereof were at that time Lords as well of the neighboring Sea as of the Isles may bee collected out of their Annals where we find that Godred whose sirname was Crovan King of Man in the year of our Lord MLXVI brought Dublin and a great part of Laynster under his subjection And so throughly subdued the Scots that no man who built a Ship durst drive in more than three Nails So that hee gave both limitation and Law to the Shipping of his Neighbors which is all one as to enjoy the very Dominion of the Sea as I have shewn in
what hath been alreadie spoken And from hence perhaps it is that the more antient Arms of the Kings of Man were a Ship with a Sail folded together and this Inscription added Rex Manniae Insularum King of Man of the Isles as M r Camden observ's from their Sails For the three legs of humane shape now every where known are but of later time But afterwards when Ireland was subdued by Henrie the Second and King John and Reginald King of Man brought into the power of King John the English possessing this Sea at that time with a very numerous Navie there is no reason at all to doubt but that the neighboring Sea round about was taken also into the Dominion of the English For in that Age the King of Man was no absolute Prince but beeing subdued hee paid homage to the King of England yielded under his subjection But in a short time after Alexander the Third King of Scots annexed it to the Dominion of Scotland and put in a Governor who was to assist him upon occasion with thirteen Gallies five hundred Seamen Hee recover'd the Hebrides also by driving out the Norwegians transmitted it to his posteritie Then Man returned again to the English who enjoied Ireland a long time together with it that sea-territory But the Kings of the Hebrides and of Scotland enjoied the Northern part of this Western Sea after that they had expell'd the Norwegians who were Lords here of the Sea And from hence it is that as Scotland England this Isle of Man the Hebrides and Ireland with other adjacent Isles so even the Vergivian and Deucaledonian Sea it self washing the West of Scotland and surrounding these Isles with windings and turnings ought now also to bee accounted the antient Patrimonie of the King of great Britain But there is moreover in the more Westerly part of this open and main Sea another Right belonging to the King of Great Britain and that of a verie large extent upon the Shore of America Whenas S r Humfery Gilbert Knight did by Autoritie of Queen Elisabeth transport a Colonie into the New World with design to recover certain Lands in the East parts of the Northern America which of Right belong'd to the English Dominion the Queen was by him as her Procurator put into a possession for ever to bee held by her and her heirs both of the Port called by the name of S t John which is in the Island of Baccalaos and also of the whole Sea as well as Land on every side for the space of six hundred miles Then hee received this new Kingdom of the Queen as her Beneficiarie having a Branch and a Turf deliver'd in his hands according to the usual cerimonie of England in transferring the Ownership of Lands and Possessions Nor truly was it necessarie that hee should otherwise get the Possession from whence this Dominion of the Queen and her Posteritie had its Original For as Paulus saith well there is no necessitie that hee who intend's to take possession of a Field should walk about the whole but t is sufficient if hee enter any part of that Field so long as hee doth it with a minde thought and intent to possess the Field to its utmost extent and bound Which saying may relate to Seas as well as Lands that were never taken into possession So that as Siculus Flaccus Treating of Occupatorie Lands saith Men did not possess so much land as they were able to till but they reserved as much as they were in hope they might bee able to till the like also may bee said of a Sea so taken into possession Look how much was reserved in hope of using and enjoying so much also was bounded But perhaps the first original of the Dominion of this main Sea of America did not proceed from the Possession that was acquired by Gilbert Hee rather restored and inlarged the Right of the Crown here For that Island called Baccalaos was added to the English Empire by Sebastian Chabot in the time of Henrie the Seventh And it is certain that afterwards it grew to be a Custom for the Officers belonging to the High Admiral of England in whose charge are all the Seas subject to the King of England and Ireland as King of England and Ireland to demand Tributes of such as fish't also in this Sea which was I suppose a most evident token of the King's Dominion But it was provided by an Act of Parlament in the Reign of Edward the Sixth that no Tributes of that kinde to the grievance of Fishermen should bee paid any longer How far our English Colonies lately transported into America have possessed themselvs of the Sea there I have as yet made but little enquirie Touching the Dominion of the King of Great Britain in the Scotish Sea especially toward the East and North. CHAP. XXXI THose particulars which were cited before out of the Proclamation of James King of Great Britain about the Prohibition of Fishing relate as well to the Scotish Seas on every side from whence also you must acknowledg their possession hath been reteined together with an antient Sea-Dominion That is to say all Foreiners were prohibited to Fish in these Seas without leav first obteined at Edenburgh And in those Scotish Acts of Parlament they are not so much new Laws made as old ones revived wherby it was ordeined That all manner of Fischeres that occupies the Sea and vtheres persons quhat sumever that happenis to slay Hering or quihte Fish upon the Coast or within the Iles or out with the samen within the Frithes bring them to free Ports c. where they may bee sold to the Inhabitants of the same kingdom quhairby his Maâ—esties Customes bee not defrauded and his Hienes Lieges not frustrat of the Commoditie appointed to them be God under the pain of confiscation and tynsel of the veschelles of them that cumes in the contrair hereof and escheiting of all their movable guddes to our soveraine Lords use So that use and benefit is claimed hence by a special right in that Sea otherwise truly that use and bene fit would of right no more appertein either to the King of Scotland or his Subjects than to any other whomsoêver But the Law was made concerning all Fisher-men as well strangers as Scotch-men as beeing ordeined by all the Estates of that Kingdom who so well understood both the King 's Right and also their own as subordinate to the King's by Tradition from their Ancestors or by long-continued possession and Dominion that there remained not the least ground of scruple touching that business And a Scotish Lawyer speaking about Fishing in the Eastern Sea of Scotland I cannot saith hee omit to tell you that in the past Age after a most bloudie quarrel between the Scots and Hollanders about occasions belonging to the Sea the matter was composed after this manner that in time to
com the Hollanders should keep at least fourscore miles distance from the Coasts of Scotland And if by accident they were driven near through violence of weather they paid a certain Tribute at the Port of Aberdene before their return where there was a Castle built and fortified for this and other occasions and this was duly and really paid still by the Hollanders within the memorie of our Fathers until that by frequent dissentions at home this Tribute with very many other Rights and Commodities came to nothing partly through the negligence of Governors and partly through the boldness of the Hollanders So you see how limits were by agreement prescribed heretofore in this Sea to the Fishing of Foreiners But the more Northerly Sea which lie's against Scotland was for the most part in subjection heretofore to the Norwegians and Danes who were Lords of the Isles there So that the people of the Orcades speak the Gothish Language to this day Robertus de Monte tell 's us that hee who was called King of the Isles was possest of XXXII Islands in that Sea above four hundred and sixtie years ago paying such a Tribute to the King of Norway that at the succession of every new King the King of the Isles present's him ten marks in Gold and make's no other acknowledgment to him all his life long unless another King succeed again in Norway And Giraldus Cambrensis writing of these things saith that in the Northern Sea beyond Ulster and Galloway there are several Islands to wit the Orcades and Inchades or Leucades which som would have to bee the Hebrides and many other over most of which the Norwegians had Dominion and held them in subjection For although they lie much nearer to other Countries yet that Nation beeing more given to the Sea usually preferr's a Piratick kinde of life above any other So that all their Expeditions and Wars are performed by Sea Fight This hee wrote in the time of Henrie the second So that somtimes those Sea-Appendants of the Dominion of Britain in the Northern parts were invaded by Foreiners Hence also it is that Ordericus Vitalis speaking of Magnus the son of Olaus King of Norway saith hee had a great power in the Isles of the Sea which relate's unto the time of William the Second King of England The same Ordericus also saith that the Orcades Finland Island also and Groênland beyond which there is no other Countrie Northward and many other as far as Gothland are subject to the King of Norway and wealth is brought thither by shipping from all parts of the world So wee have here a clear description of the Dominion of the Norwegians heretofore as well in this neighboring Sea of Scotland as in the more open But in after time when as by agreement made between Alexander the third King of Scots and Magnus the fourth of Norwaie as also between Robert Bruce King of Scotland and Haquin of Norwaie it was concluded touching these Isles that they should bee annexed to the Scotish Dominion this could not bee don but there must bee a Cession also of that Sea-Dominion which bordered round upon the Coast of Norwaie Yet the Norwegian King possessed it for the most part and afterwards the Dane by an union of the two Kingdoms of Denmark and Norwaie until that Christiern the first King of Norwaie and Denmark upon the marriage of his daughter Margarite to James the third King of Scotland made an absolute Surrender of these Islands and in the year of our Lord MCDLXX transferr'd all his right both in the Isles of Orcades and Shetland and the rest lying in the hither part of the Northern Sea upon his Son in law and his Successors And as concerning this business I shall here set down the words of Joannes Ferrerius who was indeed Native of Piedmont but supplied with matter of Historie out of the Records of Scotland by Henrie Sainclair Bishop of Ross. Moreover in the Deucaledonian Sea toward the North-East there are the Isles of Orcades seated next to the Coast of Scotland whereof onely twentie eight are at this daie inhabited and above an hundred miles beyond the Orcades towards Norway are the Shetland Isles in number eighteen which are at this daie inhabited and in subjection to the King of Scotland concerning which there was a great quarrel in former Ages between the Scots and Danes yet the Dane kept possession All these Islands did Christiern King of Denmark peaceably surrender together with his daughter in marriage to James King of Scots until that either hee himself or his posteritie paid to the Scotish King or his Successors in lieu of her Dowrie the summe of fiftie thousand Rhenish Florens which were never discharged to this daie For so much I my self have seen and read in the Deeds of marriage betwixt Ladie Margarite daughter of the King of Denmark and James the third King of Scotland drawn up and fairly signed with the Seals of both Kingdoms Anno Dom. 1468. c. But afterwards when Ladie Margarite beeing Queen had been delivered of ber eldest son James Prince of Scotland the Danish King willing to congratulate his daughter's good deliverie did for ever surrender his right in the Islands of the Deucaledonian Sea to wit the Isles of Orcades Shecland and others which hee deliver'd in pledg with his daughter upon her marriage to the Scotish King I hear the deeds of this surrender are kept among the Records belonging to the Crown of Scotland And so at length those Isles and the Dominion of this Sea returned to the Kings of Scotland which they enjoy at this day The Kings of Scotland have a pledg of Dominion also in this Sea that is to say Tributes or Customs imposed upon Fisher-men for Fishing of which by the way you may read in their Acts of Parlament Touching that Right which belong's to the King of Great Britain in the main and open Sea of the North. And the Conclusion of the Work CHAP. XXXII COncerning that Neighboring Sea which is a Territorie belonging to the Scots I have spoken in the former Chapter But I must not omit to treat here of that Sea which stretcheth it self to a very large extent toward the North washing the Coasts of Friesland Island and other Isles also under the Dominion of the King of Denmark or of Norway For even this Sea also is asscribed by som to the King of Great Britain Albericus Gentilis applying that of Tacitus The Northern Coasts of Britain having no Land lying against them are washt by the main and open Sea you see saith hee how far the Dominion of the King of Great Britain extend's it self toward the South North and West As if almost all that which lay opposite to the Isles of Britain in the open Sea were within the Dominion of the King of Great Britain And concerning the Northern Sea also which reacheth there to parts unknown the very same
others who have enjoied a Dominion in other Seas when they have been concerned in the like Case with England having their Soveraigntie at Sea impeached and questioned by encroaching neighbors it was thought meet here to annex an ingenious and learned Plea touching the Dominion of the Sea which was very succinctly written in Italian but faithfully rendred in English by an honorable Member of this Common-wealth and published som time since under the following Title Dominium Maris OR THE DOMINION OF THE SEA Expressing the Title which the Venetians pretend unto the sole dominion and absolute Sovereigntie of the Adriatick Sea commonly called The Gulf of Venice Manifested in a Pleading or Argument betwixt the Republick of Venice and the Emperor Ferdinand Whereby is sufficiently proved That the Sea as well as the Land is liable to the Laws of Proprietie and may bee brought under the jurisdiction and protection of particular Princes and States Contrarie to the Assertion of those who affirm the Sea to be free and under the Dominion of no man Translated out of Italian LONDON Printed by William Du Gard. An. Dom. 1652. AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READDER I Thought it fitting not to instruct but rather to remember the Reader that this Sea over which the Venetians challenge Sovereigntie and Dominion beeing commonly called the Gulf is nothing els but a large Bay or inlet of the Sea which entering in betwixt two lands and severing them for many miles countinuance in the end receiv's a stop or interruption of further passage by an opposite shore which join's both the said lands together It is called the Gulf of Venice from the Citie of Venice situated upon certain broken Islands near unto the bottom thereof It is also called the Adriatick Sea from the antient Citie of Adria lying not far distant from the former From the entrance thereof unto the bottom it contein's in length about 600 Italian miles where it is broadest it is 160 miles over in others but 80 in the most 100. The southwest shore of it is bounded by the Provinces of Puglia and Abruzzo in the Kingdom of Naples the Marquisate of Ancona and Romagnia in the Pope's State and the Marquiâ—ate of Trevisana in the Venetian State The North part of it or bottom hath Friuli for it's bounds the North-East is limited by Istria Dalmatia Albania and Epirus whereof Istria doth not so entirely belong unto the Venetians but that the Arch-Duke of Gratz of the Austrian family who at this present is Emperor doth possess divers Maritim Towns therein In Dalmatia saving Zara Spalato and Cattaro they have nothing of importance the rest belonging to the Republick of Ragusa and to the Turks In Albania and Epirus they possess nothing at all it beeing entirely the Turks So that hee who shall examine the circuit of this Sea which must contein above 1200 miles shall finde the shores of the Venetian signorie not to take up intire â—00 of them omitting som scatter'd towns and dispersed Islands lying on the Turkish side of the Adriatick shore For the securing hereof from the depredation of Pirates and the pretenses of divers Potent Princes as the Pope Emperor King of Spain and the great Turk who have each of them large territories lying thereupon also to caus all such ships as navigate the same to go to Venice and there to pay custom and other duties the Republick maintein's continually in action a great number of ships gallies and galliots whereto they also add more as there may bee occasion whereof som lie about the bottom of the Gulf in Istria others about the Islands of Dalmatia to clear those parts of Pirates who have much infested those seas others and those of most force have their stations in the Island of Corâ—u and in that of Candia in the first of which commonly reside's the Captain of the Gulf whom they call by the name of Proveditor or Provisor general whose office it is to secure the Navigation of the Gulf not onely from the Corsari or Pirates but to provide that neither the Gallies nor Ships of the Pope the King of Spain or great Turk do so much as enter the same without permission of the Signorie or Republick and upon such conditions as best pleaseth them which they are so careful to effect that in the year 1638 the Turkish Fleet entring the Gulf without licence was assailed by the Venetian General who sunk divers of their vessels and compelling the rest to flie unto Valona hee held them there besieged although the same Citie and Port whereon it stand's bee under the jurisdiction of the Grand Signor And notwithstanding that a great and dangerous war was likely to ensue thereupon betwixt the Grand-Signor and the Republick becaus the Venetian General beeing not content to have chased them into their own Ports did moreover then that sink their vessels and landing his men slew divers of their Mariners who had escaped his furie at Sea yet after that a very honorable peace was again concluded betwixt them wherein amongst other things it was agreed that it should bee lawful for the Venetians as often as any Turkish vessels did without their licence enter the Gulf to seiz upon them by force if they would not otherwise obey And that it should likewise bee lawful for them so to do within any Haven or under any Fort of the Grand-Signor's bordering on any part of the Venetian Gulf. Out of all which when I considered the real and absolute Sovereigntie which this Republick doth actually enjoy over this sea which they have ever defended as well by the sword as the pen and withal how that som neighboring Nations of late years did seem to envie the title of England to the narrow seas affirming in som of their writings the Sea to bee free that it neither ought nor could bee under the jurisdiction of any that it was a wilde beast which could not bee ruled that possessio beeing Pedis positio there could no possession bee either taken or kept of it that the limits thereof beeing a fluent element could not bee scored out or certainly determined that it was as free for all mankinde to use and as common as the aër with many other things to that purpose I chancing som years past to bee at Venice upon consideration of the premisses did labor with a great desire to know the grounds of that title whereupon the Venetians founded their Dominion of the Sea and after much search even to the despair of obteining of it I hapned upon this ensuing argument conteining a Plea or Dispute betwixt the Austrians and Venetians touching the Dominion of the Adriatick Sea not fictitious or devised onely to color the caus but faithfully transcribed from out the publick Registers of that Citie which I offer herewith to the Reader in English and withal these two considerations First that hereby it will appear that the Common-wealth of England's challenge to the Dominion of the Sea is neither a Noveltie