unto them by God and therefore that those Precepts are to bee observed in that vast Ocean as in the Territorie of Israël The chief Autor of this opinion was an antient and very famous Interpreter of the Law by name Rabbi Jehuda who also from the express words of the Holie Law above-mentioned conclud's that the western Ocean thus bounded on both sides was assigned His Doctrine is deliver'd after this manner as wee finde it in the most antient Digests of the Jewish Law Whatsoëver lie's directly opposite to the Land of Israël it is of the same account with the Land of Israël according as it is written As for your West-Border let your Border bee or you shall have the great Sea Also let this bee a Border to you or your Border To wit the Border of the Sea or of the West Also the Collateral Islands situate on both sides in the same direct line fall under the same accompt with the sides themselvs So that if a line were drawn from Cephaloria through the Isles to the main Ocean and from the River of Egypt to the Ocean then that which is within the line is to bee taken for the Territorie of Israël and that which lie's without the line to bee out of the Dominion of Israël The line drawn from Cephaloria was directed by the Promontorie of mount Hor or Amanus as is said before For that Citie was seated on the top of that mountain which is here the North-east Border as it is observed in the Gloss upon the place alleged and in many other There also this opinion is thus explained According to this opinion of Rabbi Jehuda all that Sea which lie's opposite to the length of the Land of Israël even to the main Ocean West-ward where the world it 's self is bounded is to bee reckon'd within the Territorie or Dominion of Israël even as it is written the great Sea and your Border the whole place wee gave you a little before out of Numbers where and your Border is added the more fully and plainly to intimate that the great and wide Sea is contained also within it's Border And it follow 's there thus Between those little Cords or Lines directed as wee said on both sides to the main Sea there are Islands belonging to the Territorie of Israël the Islands and waters have both the same Law c. Hence also the ordinarie Jewish Gloss upon those words in Numbers And you shall have the great Sea saith The Isles that are in the middâ—st of the Sea even they also are part of the bound or Border But the Jewish Paraphrase is more plain there And let your Border bee the great Sea that is the main Ocean and it's Isles and Cities and Ships with the principal waters that are in it Nor was it upon any other ground that Rabbi Aben-Ezra Rabbi Bâ—chai and others conceived so great a part of the Sea did belong to the Israëlites by this assignation that they interpret the great Sea also to reach through the Sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Spanish Sea distant so many miles Westward from the Continent of Israël In both the forenamed places the words are The great Sea to wit the Spanish And your Border as if it had been said The great Sea shall bee your possession which of it self also is your Border But in the mean while it is to bee consider'd that the whole western Ocean as far as the narrow channel of Cadiz is by the Arabians and so by the modern Jews who were their Disciples indifferently called the Romane Sea mare Al-shem or the Sea of Damascus that is the Syrian Sea mare Al-Andalús or the Spanish and lastly the mediterranean Sea the whole beeing denominated from the Coasts of som particular Countries As it may bee clearly collected both out of the Nubian Geographie as also out of the Geographical Abridgment of Abu Elchasen Hali an Arabian But this is most certain that the name of the Spanish Sea hath been used here by the Rabbins not from such a promiscuous or common denomination of the Sea but according to the explanation of such an antient Assignation of the Dominion of Israël as wee have mentioned And so this first opinion would have the whole Western Ocean as far as the streights of Cadiz which the Antients thought the utmost bound of the world to bee reckoned for that part of the Territorie of Israël which is included within the lines drawn from the Promontorie of mount Hor or Amanus and the entrance of Pelusium into the West But by the other opinion which seem's much more agreeable to reason it is determined that the Divine Assignation of the Territorie of Israël is comprehended indeed within more narrow Bounds of this Sea but yet Sea-room large enough so that according to this opinion the North and South-Borders do end at the very shore or at the utmost point of the said Promontorie North-East and at the entrance of Pelusium towards the South not stretching any farther into the West But indeed the Autors of this opinion would have a streight line drawn from that Promontorie to the entrance of Pelusium to wit from the North-East into the South thereby to limit and bound the Western part of the Dominion of Israël so that what portion soëver either of the Sea or the Isles should bee comprehended within such a line or lie on the East side of it the whole were to bee reckoned a part of the Territorie of Israël as well as any Coast upon the Continent or main Land And so after this manner the aforesaid line included within the nooks and windings of the shore of that Territorie possessed by the Tribes of Asher Ephraim Dan Zabulon and Simeon was situate before very large spaces of of the Sea for above two hundred miles and supposed to bee of the same accompt with the shore it self In the Digests of the Jewish Law this opinion is explained thus That it may bee known what com's under the name of the Territorie of Israël and what is to bee reckoned out of that Territorie as to the North-East and Western bounds whatsoëver is stretcht forth on this side and within Mount Amanus is the Territorie of Israël And that which is placed beyond that Mountain is without this Territorie And so by the same reason it is to bee determined touching the Isles of the Sea that are seated over against that Mountain Let a small Cord or Line bee drawn over those Islands from Mount Amanus to the river of Egypt that is conteined within the Line is the Territorie of Israël but that which lie's without the Line is no part of that Territorie With this agree's that of Ezekiel concerning the Sea-Coast of the holy Land after hee had described the South part which is near the Sea The West side also shall bee the great Sea from the border till a man com over against Hamath This is the West
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
XXII THe Objection touching the defect of Limits and and Bounds follow 's next And truly where Dominions are distinguished nothing can bee more desirable then known and certain Bounds in every place Nor was it without caus that Terminus the God of Bounds was received heretofore among the Romanes for the God of Justice But the nature of Bounds is to bee consider'd either upon the Shores or in the open Sea And why Shores should not bee called and reputed lawful Bounds whereon to ground a distinction of Dominion in the Sea as well as Ditches Hedges Meers rows of Trees Mounds and other things used by Surveyors in the bounding of Lands I cannot fully understand Nor is Sylvanus any whit more a Guardian of Bounds then Neptune But yet a very learned man saith there is a Reason in nature why the Sea under the aforesaid consideration cannot bee possessed or made appropriate becaus possession is of no force unless it bee in a thing that is bounded So that Thucydides call s a Land unpossessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unbounded and Isocrates the Land possessed by the Athenians a Land bounded with Limits But liquid things becaus of themselvs they are not bounded cannot bee possessed save onely as they are conteined in som other thing after which manner Lakes and Ponds are possessed and Rivers also becaus they are conteined within Banks But the Sea is not conteined by the Earth it beeing of equal bigness or bigger then the Earth so that the Antients have affirmed the Earth to bee conteined by the Sea And then hee bring 's divers Testimonies of the Antients whereby it is affirmed more then once that the Sea is the girdle or Bond of this Globe of Earth and that fetching a compass it incloseth all the Parts thereof together and it is very often said by the Antients that the Land is conteined and bounded by the water or Sea as if the whole Earth made as it were one Island beeing surrounded by the Sea But admit it were to bee granted which I suppose neither that learned man nor any other will grant yet I do not well see why the thing conteining should not in truth bee bounded by the thing conteined as well as this by that May not a lesser bodie that is spherical or of any other form beeing conteined by a greater which is every way contiguous to it bee said to bound and limit the Concave of the greater Bodie as well as this to limit the Convex of the lesser But Julius Scaliger saith very well of the Sea and Land That the one is not so conteined by the other but that it may also contein Nor are they so disjoyned from each other but that they may both encroach upon each other and retire by Turns The Sea and Land mutually imbrace one another with crooked windings and turnings this with Peninsula's and Promontories butting forth and Creeks bending inward that working up its waves about all the Passages of its vast Bodie Thus it is evident that the one indifferently set's Bounds to the other no otherwise than Banks and Lakes or Rivers which also appear's more evident in the Caspian Sea that is encompassed with Land And in like manner in the Mediterranean before that Hercules or as the Arabians say Alexander the great did by cutting the Mountains let in the Atlantick Ocean through the streights of Cadiz And thereby it is made up one single Globe wherein divers Seas are bounded as well as the Isles or main Land as it is more clearly proved out of holy Scripture There the waters are gathered together and limited by their Places and Bounds And saith the Lord himself of the Sea I encompassed it with my Bounds and set Bars and Doors and said hitherto shalt thou com but no farther And in another place Hee gave unto the Sea his Bounds his Decree unto the waters that they should not pass their Bounds So that it cannot bee doubted every Sea hath its Bounds on the Shore as the Land it self Nor had I made mention of this Particular had I not found it impugned by so eminent a person And truly there is but a very little more difficultie to finde out Limits and Bounds in the main Sea for distinguishing of private Dominions Wee have high Rocks Shelvs Promontories opposite to each other and Islands dispersed up and down from whence as well direct Lines as crooked windings and turnings and angles may bee made use of for the bounding of a Territorie in the Sea Mille jacent mediae diffusa per aequora terrae Innumeri surgunt Scopuli montésque per altum A thousand Lands within the main do lie Rocks numberless and Mountains rise on high Throughout the deep The antient Cosmographers also reckon up the Seas of the world no otherwise then Towns Rivers Islands and Mountains as beeing no less distinguished from each other by their respective Bounds AEthicus saith Every Globe of Land hath XXX Seas CCCLXX Towns LXXII Islands LVII Rivers and XL Mountains c. After this also hee reckon's the Seas of the Eastern Western Northen and Southern Ocean one after another after the same manner as hee doth the Provinces and their Isles How truly I dispute not but in the mean time hee made no question but that the Seas are sufficiently distinguished by their Names and Bounds Add hereunto that useful invention of the sea-man's Compass and the help of Celestial degrees either of Longitude or Latitude together with the doctrine of Triangles arising therefrom Also in those Plantations that in our time have been carried out of Europe into America the degrees of Latitude and Longitude do serv the Proprietors in stead of Bounds which with as little difficultie are found in the Sea In like manner som would have had the Tropick of Cancer and the Equinoctial Line to have been the Bounds in the Sea for the limiting of that Agreement which was to have been made in the year MDCVIII between the States of the United Provinces and the Hous of Austria And in the late Agreement betwixt the Kings of Great Britain and Spain the Equinoctial Line is the bound appointed in the Sea Other Instances there are of the same nature Eor Sarpedon and Calycadnus two Promontories of Cilicia were designed as Bounds for distinguishing the Dominion of the Sea in that League made betwixt the Romanes and Antiochus King of Syria Also by Decree of the Emperor Leo of which wee have alreadie spoken the Fishing Epoches or Fish-pens that were by men placed in the Sea lying over against their Lands were limited to certain number of Cubits The case was the same likewise touching the Cyanean and Chelidonian Islands in the League made by the Athenians with the King of Persia which hath been mentioned also before Moreover Pope Alexander VI and his Cardinals or the King of Spain's Agents made no scruple touching Bounds of this
is made of the several Jurisdictions of those Counts which were under the Command of that eminent person entitled Magister Militum Praesentalis In the printed Copies of the Breviarie wee read it thus Sub dispositione viri illustris Magistri peditum Praesentalis Comites Militum infrà -scriptorum Italiae Africae Tingitaniae Tractûs Argentoratensis Britanniarum Litoris Saxonici per Britannias In the Edition both of Alciatus and Pancirollus it is read as wee render it here Militum infrascriptorum Yet doubless the word Limitum Limits ought to bee put in stead of Militum Souldiers For it is not agreeable to the nature of the Imperial Offices that the word Militum should bee admitted in that place And it appear's most certain by those things which follow that Italie Africa the Tract of Strasburgh Britain and the Saxon Shore had their respective Counts as Comites Limitum Counts of the Limits or Bounds no otherwise than those Territories which are added there next after as Mauritania Caesariensis Tripolis and other Provinces in like manner besides Britain which had their respective Dukes likewise by the name of Duces Limitum Dukes of the Limits But now both the Duke and Count of Britain had the very Shore of the Island for their Limit or bound And therefore seeing it is so what Limit had that Count relation to was who entitled of the Saxon Shore throughout Britain if you will not yield that hee took his Title from the Shore lying over against us There was a Duke and a Count of Britain simply so called besides a Vicarius or Deputie of Britain who governed the whole Island according to their several charges and wee finde in the Breviarie that both the Duke and the Count and the Deputie had for the signal Ornaments of their Offices the whole Island but in several Forms encompassed with the Sea even as the Count of the Saxon Shore had the Isle in like manner encompassed with Sea-Towns or Ports Also it is manifest by those which are set forth in the Breviarie of Dignities that the Deputie Duke and Count of Britain had the very Territories of the Isle for the Limits of their Government and so also that they extended themselvs to the very Shores every where throughout the Jurisdiction of the Romans So that also both the Duke and Count of Britain ought to have been entitled in like manner from the Saxon Shore as from a Limit or bound if the Shore of Britain had been called by this name at that time For wee plainly see that the Islands of Britain themselvs so far as the Isles about it are comprehended under that name are expressly described under the notion of Limits in that Catologue of Dignities relating to Limits which wee have cited out of the Breviarie Therefore from hence also it appear's that Limit which was the Saxon Shore is to bee reckoned without the Island and so in the Shore over against us or which lie's beyond Sea according to that which wee proved before in our Discours Nor truly is it to bee passed over without observation seeing there are very many signal Ornaments of Sea-Provinces and Jurisdictions as well as of those within Land pictured in the Breviarie and this according to the Form or Fashion received from those that had the supreme power by the principal Secretaries or others who drew up the Commissions That not only no Ornaments at all are found in the Dignities of the West wherein there is any Tract of the Sea except those which belong to the Government of Jurisdiction of Britain nor indeed in the Dignities of the East except the Counts of Egypt and Isauria both whose Ornaments had a Sea-border about them but also that the Sea was ever placed round about in the signal Ornaments belonging to the four several Governments or Jurisdictions of Britain that is to say that of the Deputie the Duke the Count and lastly the Count of the Saxon Shore throughout Britain Just as if the Romans would have had it signified thereby that no other Province at all nor any other Jurisdiction whatsoëver had either a Dominion of the Sea so amply conjoined mingled and as it were incorporated within it self or a protection and command of a Territorie by Sea 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 CHAP. VIII FRom the Dominion of the British Sea as beeing continually united to the Island or an inseparable concomitant thereof as hath been alreadie shewn you proceeded as it is very probable those passages of Claudian who seldom speak's of the quieting recovering or subduing of Britain but hee add's also the Sea it self as that which did necessarily accompanie it Speaking in honor of the Emperor Honorius touching the original of his Family which was out of Spain he saith Cunabula fovit Oceanus Terrae dominos pelagique futuros Immenso decuit rerum de Principe nasci Hinc processit avus The Ocean rock't his Cradle It became Those who as Lords both Sea and Land should claim Of nature's mightie Prince deriv'd to bee From hence thy Grandsire had his pedegree That is to say Theodosius who after that Nectaridius Count of the Saxon Shore as is before related and Buchobaudes Duke of the Island were slain was sent into Britain by the Emperor Valentinian the first But that which Claudian saith concerning the affairs and actions of this Theodosius relate's very little to the Sea save that hee call's him Conquerer of the British Shore and adds that having vanquished the Saxon's hee washed the Orcades with their Bloud Which is plainly to bee understood of his scouring the British Sea that was wont to bee infested by the Saxons A little after also concerning Theodosius the son of this man or the Father of Honorius that is the Emperor Theodosius the first hee saith Sed laudes genitor longè transgressus avitas Subdidit Oceanum sceptris His Father did his Grandsir's worth transcend And brought the Ocean under his command Which without question relate's to the recoverie of Britain after the slaughter of Maximus at Aquileia who had tyrannically usurped the Soveraigntie of the Island The same Autor writing also in commendation of Flavius Stilico Tutor or Guardian of Honorius the yonger bring 's in Britain her self saying Stilico hath so fortified and secured mee ne Litore toto Prospicerem dubiis venturum Saxona ventis I could not see throughout the Shore or stand One Saxon readie to cross or'e and land That is to say hee rendred the Sea quiet and secure for mee hee hath guarded and kept it for mee hee hath driven away the Saxons from the use of it In another place also hee bring 's in the Goddess Pietie speaking to Honorius Quantum te principe possim Non longinqua docent domito quòd Saxone Tethys Mitior aut fracto secura Britannia Picto What
them above other Nations but since they break out like an Inundation and with a drawn Sword declare prodigious Principles of Enmitie against the Rights and Liberties of England it is presumed a thing unquestionable that due Defences ought to be made till they bee reduced within their antient Limits For if they should bee permitted in the least to Lord it at Sea as they want not will and advantages and have given you experience of their encroaching and ambitious temper so it 's to bee feared they would bee ever seeking opportunitie to impose a Lord upon you by Land May you go on therefore Right honorable as you have begun and do and the God of Heaven go along w th you upon terms of honor Justice in such a way that men may understand as you will do no wrong at what rate they must offend you Not onely our eies but the eies of all the world are fixt upon the carriage and conduct of this noble enterprise by Sea when you have acquitted your selvs there as no doubt you will do having alreadie given the same demonstrations of wisdom and courage that you have don by Land your Wars through God's blessing will at once bee ended It will draw such a reverence repute to your affairs that men will beware how they provoke you and your worst enemies despair of any future opportunitie The late Engagements Successes of your Fleets at Sea have shewn that the great God hath owned you there That hee hath not left you destitute of means That the old English bloud sens of honor run's still in the veins of your Sea-men and thereby given you to understand that hee who hath appeared so gloriously for you in the midst of wondrous difficulties by Land will also manifest his wonders in the Deep to make a final Accomplishment of the good VVork by Sea and beeing himself alone invested with the absolute Soveraigntie of Sea Land bee pleased to continue you and your Successors his Lievtenants in both for the establishment of this Common-wealth in a plenarie possession of its Rights and Liberties to all Posteritie I am in my praiers and endeavors RIGHT HONORABLE Your Honor 's most humble and faithful Servant Marchamont Nedham November 19. 1652. THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE SOm things there are that I thought fit here to forewarn the Reader part whereof may bee necessarie even for those who are in other things very well instructed The rest likewise not unprofitable for them who while they salute Books by the way are wont through a customarie vice of temeritie to stumble in the verie Threshold Those things concern either the place of such Testimonies as are alleged or som Circumstances of the Sea-Dominion which is proved or the Title of the Work Among Testimonies besides such as are in Print and Manuscripts reserved in private men's Libraries there are not a few especially in the second Book brought out of Records or publick Monuments whose credit I suppose every indifferent Judg of matters will as once the Senate of Rome did allow better than other Witnesses at least if there bee any difference and therefore full Those which lie in private men's Libraries you will finde where they are kept in the Margin If omitted there they are in my own But as to the Testimonies taken often out of publick Records som likewise have the Place either of the Archive or Rolls or the name of the Record-keeper's Office so noted in the Margin that thereby you may know immediately where to finde them But som of these Records that are very frequently cited have no place at all nor any name of the Record-keeper expressed but the King for the most part and the Year besides the name of the Court-Roll are only noted As many as are of this kinde do relate som to those years that pass betwixt the beginning of the reign of King John and the end of Edward the Fourth others to those years that succeed down to our time They which are of the former sort having no place nor name of the Record-keeper noted are kept in the Archive of the Tower of London but those of the latter sort in the Chappel of the Rolls It had been too slight a matter to have signified thus much here to such as are acquainted with our English Records becaus by the very name of the Court-Roll as Rotulorum Patentium Rotulorum Clausorum Rotulorum Parlâ—mentariorum Rotulorum Franciae Vasconiae Alemanniae and others of that kinde which are Records belonging to the English Chancerie and by the name of the King the very place also of the Records is sufficiently known But it is necessarie to premise this in the first place as well for the sakes of my own Countrie-men who have been Strangers to the Rolls as in the behalf of Foreiners to the end that if either of them perhaps have a minde exactly to consult the Original of any testimonie thence alleged they might when the Places are so described the more conveniently do it themselvs at their own leasure if present or if absent obtein it by the assistance of friends For the Record-keepers who have a special care to preserv them safely do usually give admittance at seasonable hours to all that pleas to consult them and have them so placed as Justinian commanded concerning the Records of the Empire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they may easily bee found by them that search As to what concern's the aforesaid circumstances of Sea-Dominion whereas there are two Propositions here so far as the term may bee born in things of a civil nature made evident The one That the Sea by the Law of Nature or Nations is not common to allmen but capable of private Dominion or proprietie as well as the Land The other That the King of Great Britain is Lord of the Sea flowing about as an inseparable and perpetual Appendant of the British Empire it is not to bee conceived that any other kinde either of Causes or Effects of Sea-Dominion are here admitted than such as have been of the Dominion of an Island Continent Port or any other Territorie whatsoëver or Province which is wont to bee reckoned in the Royal Patrimonie of Princes Nor that a less Dominion of the Sea than of the Land is derived from the nature of the Law received among Nations about the acquiring of Dominion and of Justice it self as from the Causes nor that the Effects thereof are any other than what are variously subservient to Compacts Agreements Leagues and Treaties Constitutions or Prescriptions of servitudes and other things of that nature in the same manner as the effects of Dominion by Land And therefore hee said well of old Nunc jam cessit Pontus Omnes Patitur leges The Seals now made appropriate And yield's to all the Laws of state That is to say all which are admitted in any other kinde of Territories according to the difference of things persons
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.
and restrained but when this Reason wholy ceaseth then what the Proprietor possesseth is so his own that it cannot lawfully in any wise without his consent becom another man's And all these things are derived from the alteration of that Universal or Natural Law of nations which is Permissive For thence came in private Dominion or Possession to wit from the Positive Law But in the mean while it is established by the Universal Obligatorie Law which provide's for the due observation of Compacts and Covenants These things beeing thus premised wee shall next see what respect hath been had unto the Sea either in the very first or any more antient Distribution or Division of things For if it appear that the Sea also hath been assigned over with Lands it must certainly bee confessed that from the same original there spring's a private Dominion of the Sea as well as the Land and so that it is equally capable of the same with this And truly in the distribution of Land which was renewed after the flood so far as wee are able to collect by Tradition from the Antients wee finde no express mention made of any Sea as a part assigned But yet somtimes the Sea is added as a bound to a part assigned As where the part first assigned unto the Sons of Cham is extended from the Borders of Egypt through Africa as far as Hercules's Pillars or unto the Western and African Sea And the Portion of the Canaanits situate within the Territorie of the Sons of Cham is twice so described in the Samaritan Pentateuch that it is expressly said to reach from the River of Egypt or Nilus to the great River that is the River Euphrates and unto the utmost Sea or the remotest which is the great or Western Sea Which last words are used in the laying out of that Portion which the Sacred Scripture mention's in Deuteronomie Somtimes also som Seas may seem to bee so comprehended in the part assigned that they appear to bee no less assigned then the Land For unto the Sons of Japhet were assigned those Countries which extend from Media towards the North and the West as far as Cadiz and the Islands of Britain Wee see also that certain Seas are included within the compass of Assignments as the AEgean Mediterranean Adriatick and British Seas whether by Donation or not wee cannot say But in that antient apportioning of the holy Land whereof God himself was Autor the Sea seem's rather to have been accounted a boundarie then any part of the Territorie allotted Concerning the South-Quarter the words are these The Bounds of it shall bee the outmost Coast of the salt Sea Eastward And a little after The Border shall fetch a Compass from Azmon unto the River of Egypt and the goings out of it shall bee at the Sea Also concerning the West-Quarter its Border shall begin at Sea ipso fine claudetur and by it it shall bee bounded as it is in the vulgar Translation to which â—ens agreeth also the modern But concerning this place and the rest here quoted wee shall speak more in the next Chapter Then it follow 's according to the true sens of the Hebrew And this shall bee your North-border From the great Sea you shall point out for you Mount Hor. And a little farther speaking of the East-Quarter Its Border shall descend and shall reach unto the side of the Sea of Chinnereth Eastward And the Border shall go down again to Jordan and the goings out of it shall bee at the salt Sea This shall bee your Land with the Coasts thereof round about Which is repeated almost word for word in the distribution that was made by Joshua And in another place of holy Scripture the bounds of the Dominion is said to bee from Sea to Sea But suppose at last it were granted that the Seas came not into those more antient distributions of Territories then it remain's next to bee consider'd whether they might not lawfully bee acquired afterwards by Title of occupation as things vacant and derelict that is either by the Natural or Divine universal Law which is Permissive or by the Law of divers Nations Common or Civil which in judging matters of this nature is the best Interpreter of the natural Law which is Permissive For if in the Permissive which is Universal nothing bee repugnant thereto or which is in a manner all one if by the Positive Law of Nations such a Dominion of the Sea as wee intend hath been introduced and admitted by the consent of the more famous Ages and Nations then I suppose it will not bee doubted but that the Seas are by all manner of Law every way capable of private Dominion as is the Land That the Law of God or the Divine Oracles of holy Scripture do allow a private Dominion of the Sea And that the wide Ocean also which washeth the Western Coast of the holy Land or at least a considerable part of it was according to the Opinion of such as were learned in the Jewish Law annexed to the Land of Israël by the Assignation or appointment of God himself CHAP. VI. AS to what concern's here the Law of God wee finde very plain passages therein which do not a little favor a Dominion of the Sea In that first and most antient Donation of things after the Flood whereby God invested Noah and his Posteritie in the Dominion of the whole Earth of which Globe the Seas themselvs are a part and of the conterminous Aër seem's to bee no otherwise granted then as mention iâ— made of the living Creatures the Earth and the Fowls of the Aër That is by an express grant of the free use and benefit of the thing the thing it self was granted or conferred Nor is the Dominion of the Sea otherwise granted there where it is said The fear of you and the dread of you which are Tearms signifying Dominion shall bee also all the Fishes of the Sea Little different from this is that which was spoken to our first Parents Replenish the Earth and subdue it and have Dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowl of the Aër and over everie living thing that moveth upon the Earth So here also the grant of the thing it self is signified by its use and enjoiment 'T is confess 't that these words were not meant of private Dominion or that which was not common to all men But yet it appear's thereby the Earth and Sea did so pass together at first and after the same manner into the common enjoiment of mankinde that from this Donation or Grant of God wee may well conclude that their condition as beeing both but one Globe must needs bee alike at the pleasure of men in the future distribution of Things or the introducing of private Dominion therein Neither is the Proprietie nor the Communitie of either appointed but both seem equally permitted by the very
form of Donation And therefore that is very vain which is objected by som That the Earth is given to the children of men but that the Sea belong's onely to God himself as if Dominion not common indeed but onely a common use of the Sea were permitted by the words of holy Scripture And as if it were not said in like manner The Earth is the Lord's and fulness thereof The tops of the Hills are his also Who know's not that such sayings as these cannot in any wise weaken the Dominion of Mankinde For whatsoëver is acquired by men still God Almightie as Father of the Univers retein's his supreme Dominion both over men as also all other Things which never was denied yet by any sober man But the Controversie is about the Dominion of man to wit that which comprehend's any enjoiment or proprietie whatsoëver saving still that right of the Dominion of God which cannot bee diminished And the distinction about this matter is very ordinarie in the Schools According to the first sort of Dominion nothing whatsoëver much less may the Sea belong unto men According to the second all things indeed are or may bee theirs which can bee apprehended seized and possessed And moreover that in the old Testament express mention is made more then once of such a Seisure possession or private Dominion as this whereof wee Treat and that as of a Thing lawfully brought in use There wee finde that the men of Tyre were Lords and Masters of the Phaenician and the Egyptians of the Alexandrian Sea Concerning the Phaenician saith the Prophet unto Tyrus All the Princes of the Sea shall com down from their Thrones c. And they shall take up a lamentation for thee and say to thee how art thou destroyed that wast inhabited of Seafaring men the renowned Citie which wast strong in the Sea Here the Dominion of the Tyrians at Sea is plainly set forth And in the following Chapter Thy Borders are in the midst or heart of the Sea as wee read it in the Hebrew and also in an Arabian Manuscript which render's it to the same purpose For both the Greek and vulgar Translation differ there from the Original It follow 's also thus All the Ships of the Sea with their Mariners were thine to occupie thy Merchandize In stead of which last words these are put in the Greek Copies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even Westward of the West or through a great part of the main or Western Sea that is the Phaenician or Syrian Again Becaus thine heart is lifted up and thou hast said I am a God I sit in the seat of God in the mid'st of the Sea Hee threaten's not the Tyrian becaus hee had gotten him a Dominion over the neighboring Sea but becaus beeing lifted up with pride hee had taken unto himself the name of God The Tyrian is called likewise in another Scripture the Sea it self and the strength of the Sea But concerning the Egyptian Sea another Prophet speak's thus unto Ninive Art thou better then populous Alexandria in the Original the Citie is called No taken here for Alexandria which is situate among the Rivers that hath the waters round about it whose Riches and strength as it is in the Hebrew or as the Greek render's it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is whose Empire or Dominion is the Sea Moreover it seem's to make mention of Kings of the Sea as well as of Islands The Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents For Tarshish or Tharsis in Hebrew signifieth the Sea as it is often confessed both by the Greek and Chaldee Interpreters Although Munster a man otherwise very learned speak's unadvisedly upon the fore-mention'd place and will not have Tharsis there to signifie the Sea becaus saith hee Kings have nothing to do at Sea but rule onely upon Land forgetting what wee have alreadie told you that express mention is made by Ezechiel concerning Princes of the Sea With which agree's also that saying I will set his hand in the Sea and his right hand in the Flouds upon which place Aben-Ezra note 's that God Almightie assigned the Dominion of the Sea there unto King David That hee might rule over those that sailed either through the Sea or the Rivers It is written thus likewise in the Apocrypha O yee men do not men excel in strength that bear rule over Sea and Land and all things in them But yet the King is more mightie for hee is Lord of all these things and hath Dominion over them And in another place saith the Angel to Esdras The Sea is set in a wide place that it might bee deep and great But put case the entrance were narrow and like a River who then could enter the Sea to look upon it and have Dominion over it iâ— hee went not through the narrow The Dominion of the Sea and of the Land is granted alike in both these places It is said also of King Ahasuerus That hee made not onely the Land but all the Isles of the Sea to becom tributarie which words truly do clearly shew a Dominion of the Sea for so they are expressed in the vulgar Edition out of the Hebrew Original which is lost But the Greek Copies are more plain there The King wrote to his Kingdom of the Land and Sea Nor must wee omit that of Moses when hee blessed the people And of Naphtali hee said Naphtali shall enjoy abundance and bee full with the blessings of the Lord hee shall possess or inherit the Sea and the South as the â—â—lgar and the Greek do render that place But by many others the Sea is taken there for the West-Quarter as it is often in the Scriptures Yet truly it is clear those words are meant of the Sea of Galilee or of the Lake of Tiberias not of the great or Phaenician Sea which lie's Westward becaus the Land of Naphtali was situate near that Lake which also is often called the Sea As it appear's likewise out of Onkelus his Paraphrase where express mention is made of the Sea of Genesareth called also the Lake of Tiberias or the Sea of Chinnereth and by this name it passeth with the salt Sea or the Lake of Asphaltites in the sacred description of the Eastern part of the holy Land But the former place of Deuteronomie is â—…usly rendred by Rupert the Abbot of Tuitiuâ— Maâ—e Meridiem possidebit for Mare Meridiem hee shall possess the Morning and the South for the Sea and the South However it is clear I suppose out of the places alleged such plain Testimonies are found in holy Writ touching such a Dominion of the Sea that in the mean time it must bee granted that according to the Universal Permissive Law any man may acquire it as well as the Land And truly as for those places quoted in the foregoing Chapter concerning the
South West or Sea and Northen Bounds of the holy Land they are so understood both by the Jewish Lawyers and Divines that they would have either the great or Phaenician Sea it self or at least som adjoyning part of it to bee assigned also by God unto the Israëlites as Lords of it for ever of which point wee shall discours a little more fully As for that which is rendred there out of the vulgar Edition touching the South Border As far as the river of Egypt and it shall bee bounded by the shore of the great Sea the Hebrew saith ad â—orrentem AEgypti unto the River of Egypt or the North entrance of Niâ—us which divided the â—and of Israël from Egypt at the Sea erunt exitus ejus in Mare and the goings out thereof shall bee into the Sea So that concerning that Borders beeing bounded by the shore as it is in the vulgar wee finde it no otherwise expressed there in the Original Then it is added next concerning the West-border or that which is at the great Sea word for word out of the Hebrew As for your Sea-border you may have the great Sea And let this bee your border or let it bee your Sea border or border of the Sea And there the Greek Interpreter's render it thus you shall have the bounds of the Sea or they shall bee your bounds The great Sea shall bound you wherein after their usual manner they plainly follow the Text of the Samaritan Copie For there wee read it thus And you shall have a Sea-border The great Sea shall bound you Let this bee your Sea or Western-border And thus the word SEA beeing used as well for the Western Quarter as for the Sea it self that place is for the most part so rendred that in so short a period the Sea is taken for both As for the West-Border you shall have the great Sea And this Border shall bee your West-Border As it is expressed by the Jews of Spain y Termino de ponente y sera à vos el mar el grande y Termino este sera à vos Termino de ponente Thus is also in Onkelus and Erpenius his Arabick save that Onkelus render's it thus But your West-border shall bee the great Sea and the Border thereof the same shall bee your West-border But an Arabian Translation in manuscript for which wee are beholden to the Earl or Arundel's Librarie after these words unto the River of Egypt add's also And the going out thereof shall bee at the Coasts or parts of the Sea And the Border of the Sea shall bee your Border Also the great Sea in their Borders Thiâ— shall bee your Border from the Sea Coast. But the North part as appear's by the particulars alleged in the former Chapter is bounded by mount Hor so that it appear's hence that the more Northerly enterance of Nilus that is the Pelusiock as it seem's for they are not well agreed about the very particular place served instead of Bounds to the South part of the Land of Israël which border'd upon the Sea as also to that part of the Promontorie or foot of mount Hor which was situated North-East by the Sea But this mount is that which in the vulgar edition is called an exceeding high mountain In the Jewish Commentaries it is known also by the name of Amana and Amanon and Amanus and by som it is taken for that mountain in the Canticles called Amana And in the Jewish Targum Manus is put for mount Hor. It is taken also for Libanus by such as in their Descriptions of the Holie Land are wont to make mount Libanus its Northern Border But as touching this mount Hor or Amanus of the same name with that mountain which but 's out into the Gulph now called Golfo dell ' Aiazza by som also taken for the same or rather mount Taurus it is described after this manner by Solomon Jarchius it is seated in a north west corner It 's head bending downward stretcheth out into the very sea And it is wash't in divers places by the main Betwixt these Bounds to wit the Southern part or the Pelusiack entrance of Nilus and the North-East bound or Promontorie of the aforesaid mount the great sea which is reckoned the Western bound or Border haivng divers windings and turnings along the shore is stretcht out in such a manner above 200 miles that if a streight line should bee drawn from the North-East Border to the Southern a great part of the Sea that extend's it self within the line for so many miles must needs bee intercepted which also is very easily to bee understood without the help of a Map These things beeing thus premised briefly but so far as the matter in hand require's to discover the western part of the Holie Land bordering wholy upon the Sea and that according to the judgment of the antient Hebrews not by modern Descriptions it is to bee consider'd that the Jewish Divines and Lawyers when they discours about the precepts and Laws belonging to the Land of Israël that is of those to which they conceiv themselvs not bound by the Holy Law without the Limits of that Land use to treat very precisely even to an hair touching the Borders of their Dominion as it was appointed by the Command of God To wit touching the Bounds of their Territorie as the name Territorie signifie's the whole not onely Lands and Fields but Rivers also and all other waters within the circuit of each Citie as it is rightly taken also by the Civil Lawyers The Precepts spoken of are those which are received by the Jews touching the observation of the Sabbaticall year oblations of Fruits the Lâ—vitical custom of Tithing and others of that kinde For by the Law of God they will not yield that those things should bee observed out of the Israëlitish Dominions although by Tradition of their Ancestors they were usually observed in Egypt Jdumaea the Land of Moab and Shinar both by reason of their neighborhood and the frequent convers of the Israëlits among them But now so far as concern's the western or Sea-bordering of the Land of Israël as it was assigned at first by God in observing Precepts of this kinde according to the holie Law wee meet with two opinions in their Commentaries from both which indeed it will appear that the Sea was assigned by God Himself unto the Israëlites as Lords thereof in the same manner as the Land though one opinion assign's larger Bounds the other much more narrow So that they all agree about the thing differing onely about the latitude The first opinion is of those who affirm that the whole western Sea as it lie's before the western Coast of the Land of Israël or as it is bounded inward by streight lines drawn on both sides from the North-east and South border before mentioned through that Ocean into the west together with the Continent was given
of Citizens for the conveniencie of larger Fish-ponds bringing the Sea into their grounds made it their own and became Masters thereof with as good a Title as they had to their adjacent Land There beeing saith Varro two kindes of Fish-ponds one of Fresh the other of salt water the former sort are ordinarie and little worth such as our Countrie Fish-ponds that are supplied with water by little streames but those saltwater-Ponds are to bee found in the possessions of Noblemen and are supplied by the Sea as well with Fish as water yet they yield more delight then profit the filling of those Ponds beeing commonly the draining of the Owners purs Now what was this but to becom proprietaries of the Sea so far forth as it was derived or inclosed in their possessions And Columella who lived in the time of Claudius relate's that the Romanes in antient times for the most part used none but in-land Fish-ponds storing them with Spawners of the larger size presently adding Not long after that good husbandrie was laid aside when the wealth and luxurie of the succeeding age made inclosures of the Ocean and Seas themselvs And the yearly Revenue of such Demains which bordered upon the Sea was advanced by those Ponds or Inclosures of the Sea as well as by any Lands Lakes or Vineyards appertaining thereunto The same Columella discoursing hereupon hath this passage But seeing the custom of the times hath so far prevailed that these things are not onely in use but have gotten the reputation of magnificent and noble contrivances wee also least wee should seem morose and importune reprovers of so long and settled a practice will show what profit may redound from them to the Lord of the Manor how hee may rais an incom by the Sea if having made a purchase of Islands or Lands bordering upon the Sea hee cannot reap the fruits of the Earth by reason of that barrenness of the soil which usually is near the Shore So that wee see the Revenues of a Manor were improved by managing the Sea as well as Land and the Possessor was counted Lord of the one no more then of the other This usual right of Dominion over the Sea is mentioned also by S t Ambrose For the serving of their prodigious luxurie saith hee the Earth by digging of channels is forced to admit the Ocean for the making of artificial Islands and bringing litle Seas into their own possessions They challenge to themselvs large portions of the Sea by right and boast that the Fishes like so many bond-slaves have lost their former libertie and are subjected to their service This Creek of the Sea saith one belong's to mee that to another Thus great men divide the Elements among themselvs For Examples there are the Fish-ponds of Lucullus famous for his expensiveness in this kinde Hee having made way through a Mountain near Naples inclosed the Sea and became master of those water-courses which Plutarch call's Sea-Courses and Chases for the breeding of Fish Whereupon Pompey the Great in merriment saith Paterculus was wont to call Lucullus the gowned Xerxes in regard that by damming up of Chanels and digging down Mountains â—ee took the Sea into the Land The same Lucullus saith Plinie digging down a Mountain near Naples at greater charge then hee built his Villa took an arm of the Sea into his Manor which gave occasion to Pompey the Great to call him the gowned Xerxes The same conceit in Plutarch is attributed to Tubero the Stoick That concerning Xerxes is very famous Hoc terrae fiat hâc Mare dixit eat Here run the Sea hee said There let firm Land bee made When hee commanded the Sea to bee brought round about the Mountain Athos And Valerius saith of Caius Sergius Orata That hee might not have the serving of his palate depend upon the pleasure of Neptune hee contrived Seas of his own intercepting the waves with his trenches and so inclosing divers sholes of Fishes with dams that what tempestuous weather soëver happened Orata's Table was never unfurnished with varietie of Dishes The same libertie was used upon the Formian shore by Apollinaris of whose Fish-pond Martial speak's Si quando Nereus sentit AEoli regnum Ridet procellas tuta de suo Mensa Piscina Rhombum pascit Lupos vernas When winds do Lord it o're the Sea fright The Fisher his Table laugh's at their spight By its own private store secur'd from need While captiv'd Pikes and Turbot's Fish-ponds breed All the varietie of Fish which the wider Sea afforded Apollinaris had readie at hand in his Fish-pond which was nothing els but the Sea let in from the shore into his possession Contracta pisces AEquora sentiunt Jactis in altum molibus Such dams are cast into the main The Fish for want of room complain So saith Horace and in another place Caementis licèt occupes Tyrrhenum omne tuis Mare Ponticum though thou thy walls do rais Through all the Tuscan and the Pontick Seas And saith Salust To what purpose should I relate those things which cannot seem credible to any but those who have been eie-witnesses how Mountains have been removed by severall private persons and Seas brought into their places Of this sort were the Fish-ponds of Philippus Hortensius and others all made by taking in the Sea Moreover wee finde that Soveraigntie and Dominion over the Sea hath been somtimes conferred by the Patents of Princes The Emperor Trajan when hee endowed the Citie of Tharsus with Immunities and Privileges besides the Territorie of Land lying about added also a grant of Jurisdiction and Dominion over the river Cydnus and the adjacent Sea as may bee seen in Dion Chrysostom And it is very probable that the Maritimate rights of Neocesarea which Theodorus Balsamon saies were compiled by the Metropolitan of that Citie had respect unto the like Original as also those privileges in the Sea which the Emperor Comnenus granted to a great number of Monasteries according to the same Author The ancient Lawyers also are not silent as touching the Dominion of particular persons in the Sea Paulus one of greatest note among them declare's himself expresly thus Verily whensoëver a proprietie in som part of the Sea belong's to any person that person may sue out an interdict of uti possidetis in case hee bee â—indred from the exercise and enjoyment of his right becaus this matter concern's a private not a publick caus seeing the suit is commenced for the enjoying of a right which ariseth not from a publick but private Title For interdicts are proper to bee used in private cases not in publick Nothing could have been more plainly spoken to show that beyond all controversie hee admit's a private Dominion in the Sea even of single persons Yea Ulpian himself who was so fondly inclined to favor the opinion of a perpetual communitie of the Sea doth sufficiently
forbid men passage in the common Road without som just caus which must bee determined in an Imperial Diet nevertheless it is wrested by som to prove a freedom of Navigation at Sea For that happen'd by a particular Law agree'd upon by the Estates of the Empire who themselvs also are subject to a Diet But other Nations that are under several and distinct Soveraignties have not as yet made any such Agreement that there should alwaies bee a libertie of Passage to and fro nor have they like the Germanet and others within their Dominion referr'd themselvs unto an Umpire to determine the business An Answer to that Objection concerning the uncertain fluid nature of the Sea and its continual Alteration It is proved that Rivers also and the adjoyning Aër which are more fluid and uncertain may becom appropriate CHAP. XXI BUT they say that the very Nature of the Sea render's it unfit for privat Dominion both becaus it is ever in Motion and in no wise remain's the same as also becaus a convenient matter as well as Instruments are wanting therein to make a distinction of Bounds without which private Dominions cannot well consist yea and becaus by reason of its vast and spatious Body it is alwaies sufficient for all As to what concern's its fluid Nature are not Rivers and Fountains much more in a perpetual Flux or Motion Rivers alwaies run forward wherewith the Sea beeing compared it seem's to stand immovable as saith Strabo And Eustathius saith that Homer therefore call's the Sea by the name of a standing Pool becaus it run's not forward as Rivers do but is very stable And another saith the Sea stands without Motion as it were som dull heap of matter that Nature could not bring to perfection But suppose wee grant it bee so fluid as is usually said of the most Northernly Seas and Channels yet certainly the Channels and places out of which the waters flow remain ever the same though the waters themselvs do shift and change continually Nor yet can it be supposed that the Right of private Dominion over Rivers is any whit prejudiced thereby In the Romane-Germane Empire Rivers according to the Civil Law are of publick use yet they are reckoned in the Emperor 's private Patrimonie and among the Rights or Roialties belonging to his Exchequer so that either the Emperor or others by his Grant have in like manner a yearly Revenue out of the Fisheries in them Upon which accompt it come's to pass that they of Lombardy and other particular People throughout Italy enjoie all the Rivers of their Territories as proper and peculiar to themselvs by Prescription as wee are told by Caepola Nor is any thing more common then an asserting of the private Dominion of Rivers as well as their Banks in the Laws of Spain France Poland and Venice and in a word of all Nations whose Customs are known to us Nor as to what concern's this Objection fetch 't from the fluid Constitution of the sea is there any difference in nature between a greater and a lesser a private and a publick River Even Ulpian himself concerning Rivers saith There is no difference between a private River and other private Places And Martianus If a man hath fish't all alone many years in a Corner of a publick River hee may hinder any other from using the same Libertie Moreover oftentimes heretofore in the Romane Empire Rivers were made over as well as other Parts after the manner of Lands assigned Siculus Flaccus saith In som Countries even the Rivers themselvs are assigned out by measure But in som the subcesive or remanent part onely is left out unassigned and yet it is excepted out from the parts assigned as belonging still onely to the river it self After the same manner also Aggenus Urbicus For it was never conceived that the Rivers were otherwise acquired by the People or Emperor of Rome then the adjoyning Lands accordding to that of the river Danubius speaking to the Emperors Danubius penitis caput occultatus in oris Totus sub vestrâ jam Ditione fluo Et quà Dives aquis Scythico solvo ostia Ponto Omnia sub vestrum flumina mitto Jugum Danubius I whose Fountain few do know Now wholly under your Dominion flow And when full-charg'd run to the Euxin sea I make all Rivers to you Tribute pay Wee know that an Island newly sprung up in a river as also a Chanel that is deserted is even by antient Custom common to such as upon the Bank of any river do possess Lands that are not limited that is to say after the manner of Lands or Possessions unless there bee som special Law or Custom to the contrary And touching the Division of such an Island according to the nature of several Lands situate near one Bank or both Bartolus in Tiberiade hath written long since but of later time Joannes Buteo Baptista Aymus Antonius Maria Joannes Gryphiander and others Therefore in that case a Proprietie of the Chanel and so of the River even of that which according to the Civil Law is of publick and common use as well as of a Field that hath a common Thorow-fare was common before to the Owners that had Lands lying on both sides By the same reason almost an Island newly sprung up in any sea that never was possessed by any and whatsoêver shall bee built upon it become's his that first enter's it by occupation For the Chanel and that Sea at first belong'd to all men in general But by virtue of that Universal Compact or Agreement before mentioned whereby things not yet possessed were to becom the Proprietie of him that should first enjoie them by Occupation hee that shall so possess them by Occupation receiv's the Island and Building as it were by a Surrender of Right from former Owners Seeing therefore that a Proprietie and private Dominion of Rivers hath been every where acknowledged why should it not bee acknowledged in like manner that there may bee Owners of any Sea whatsoëver Since the fluid nature of water can no more hinder a Dominion in the one then in the other Yea the Rivers themselvs are onely lesser Seas as also the Fenns and Lakes even as the Sea it self as to its fluid Constitution is no other then a River Fen or Lake differing onely in bigness from the rest And so it hath been taken by the Antients In the very storie of the Creation all the Gatherings together of the waters are called Seas which hath been observed also by the Fathers to this purpose There are also very eminent examples in holy Scripture touching the two Lakes of Asphaltites and Tiberias both which are equally called Seas Asphaltites is by Pliny Ptolomy Josephus Solinus and Vitruvius tearm'd a Lake But by Moses the salt Sea and by most of the late Writers the dead Sea Tiberias is in like manner by the Antients and also
so it cannot all bee called the British Seas yet becaus the Nation of great Britain have very large Rights and Privileges of their own in both those Seas even beyond the bounds of the British name therefore it was thought fit to touch a little upon these Particulars That the antient Britains did enjoy and possess the SEA of the same name especially the Southern and Eastern part of it as Lords thereof together with the Island before they were brought under the Roman power CHAP. II. IT is true indeed which an eminent man saith That the Sea hath been enjoyed by Occupation not for this reason onely becaus men had so enjoied the Land nor is the Act or intent of the minde sufficient thereto but that there is a necessitie of som external Act from whence this Occupation may bee understood Therefore Arguments are not to bee derived altogether from a bare Occupation or Dominion of Countries whose Shores are washed by the Sea But from such a private or peculiar use or enjoiment of the Sea as consist's in a setting forth Ships to Sea either to defend or make good the Dominion in prescribing Rules of Navigation to such as pass through it in receiving such Profits and Commodities as are peculiar to every kinde of Sea Dominion whatsoêver and which is the principal either in admitting or excluding others at pleasure Touching which particular wee shall make diligent inquirie into those things which concern the Isle of Britain through the Ages past down to the present time It is upon good ground concluded that the most antient Historie whereto any credit ought to bee given about the affair's of Britain is not elder then the time of Caius Julius Caesar the Ages before him beeing too obscured with Fables But at his coming wee finde clear passages of the Britain's Ownership and Dominion of the Sea flowing about them especially of the South and East part of it as a perpetual Appendant of the Soveraigntie of the Island For they not onely used the Sea as their own at that time for Navigation and Fishing but also permitted none besides Merchants to sail unto the Island without their leav nor any man at all to view or sound the Ports and Sea-Coast And that the Case stood certainly thus it is no slight Argument which wee shall insert here out of Caesar himself But allowance must bee given ever to Arguments and Conjectures touching times so long since past and gon especially when there is a concurrence in the Customs and Testimonies of following times And as things beeing placed at too remote a distance so that they cannot bee certainly discerned by the eie are wont to bee more surely discover'd by the help of a triangle at hand So what uncertainty soêver may bee in those proofs that are to bee brought out of so remote Antiquitie I question not but it will bee made sufficiently manifest by the continued and more certain usage and Custom of later times as shall bee abundantly made evident in the following Discours As to what concern's the Britains particular use of Navigation in that antient time without which an Occupation of this kinde cannot bee had notwithstanding that at Caesar's first arival they were terrified with the sight of that unusal kinde of long Ships and though at his second coming with a multitude of Vessels of all kindes beeing re-inforced to the number of eight hundred or as som would have it to a thousand they fled in a great fright from the Shore not beeing sufficiently provided for such a Sea-fight as was then at hand and which they had never been acquainted with nevertheless it is most certain that they had Vessels of their own wherein they used to coast about the neighboring Sea and so entred upon it corporally by Occupation Mention is made indeed by Writers of som of their Vessels more notable then the rest which they frequently used beeing framed with twigs as the fashion hath been in the more antient Nations and cover'd with Ox-hides after their usual manner Moreover Festus Avienus speaking of the antient Inhabitants of the OEstrymnides or the Islands called the Sillyes with the rest lying about thus expresseth himself rei ad miraculum Navigia junctis semper aptant pellibus Corióque vastum saepe percurrunt Salum T is strange There Ships they frame with Oxes-hide And scout in Leather through the Ocean wide And what hee saith of their continual care of Traffick and Custom of Navigation concern's others as well that were under the British Government Yet it is not to bee conceived that these twig and Leathern Vessels of the Britains were all of them unfit for making war by Sea according to the manner of that Age and of the neighboring Nations nor that they were less fit for long journies at that time seeing Plinie write's expressly that somtimes they sailed through the Sea in the space of six daies In like manner wee read in the British Historie that about Caesar's time Lud King of Britain seized upon many Islands of the Sea in a way of war which denote's that hee had a very considerable strength at Sea and a well accomplished Navie It is true indeed that there were small Vessels among these as they are no where without them which doubtless were unfit to bear the brunt of a Fight or Tempest that is to say such as Caesar made to transport his Souldiers over the River when hee was streightned by Asranius his Armie as hee had been taught they are his own words som years before by the Custom of Britain The Keels and Ribs were first made of slight matter The rest of the bulk of their Vessels beeing wrought together with Twigs was cover'd with Hides which wee finde mentioned also by Lucan Primùm cana salix madâ—facto vimine parvam Texitur in puppim â—aesóque inducta juvenco Vectoris patiens tumidum cireumnatat amnem Sic Venetus stagnante Pado fusóque Britannus Navigat Oceano Of twigs and willow Boord They made small Boats cover'd with Bullocks Hide In which they reach't the river's farther side So sail the Veneâ—â— if 〈◊〉 flow The Britains sail on their calm Ocean so Others there are also that write of these small Vessels But they are not I suppose at least in that Age to bee called small Ships which sailed through the Sea in six daies space nor such as Caesar made onely to transport his Souldiers and conveied them by Cart above XXII miles according to his own Relation It cannot bee doubted therefore but that the Britains had Vessels made even of the aforesaid matter big enough and very fit for service at Sea Moreover there will bee very good ground to conceiv out of what wee shall deliver by and by about the excluding of their Neigbors from the adjacent Sea that they were wont to build and set forth Ships of war of a far more commodious and solid substance for the guarding of
Nation used Fishing very much which together with the frequent use of Navigation and Commerce shew's that they did enter upon the Sea corporally by Occupation But if to such a corporal occupation as this wee add also that they excluded others from the Sea shutting it up in such a manner that they restrained them at pleasure from passage and entrance what hinder's why wee may not conclude that they acquired a manifest Dominion of their own both by an Intentional and Corporal possession But that the Sea was thus shut up by them Caesar himself seem's to inform us plainly enough For when hee upon his first attempt to cross the Sea into Britain made diligent enquirie among the Gauls touching the Shore and Situation of the ports and to this end had summoned the Gallick Merchants together from all Quarters hee was so deceived in his expectation about this matter that hee was necessitated to send C. Volusenus before with a long Ship to sound them as beeing wholly unknown For as much as the Gauls were utterly ignorant of these Shores becaus they were prohibited entrance and so excluded from a free use of the Sea For hee write's expresly not a man of them went thither without leav besides Merchants nor was any thing known even to those Merchants besides the Sea Coast and those parts which lay over against Gaul or Gallia Therefore according to the usual Custom no man besides Merchants could touch upon the Shore without leav of the Britains nor was it lawful for those Merchants to make a narrow search or prie into such places ashore as were convenient or inconvenient for landing or what Havens were fit to entertain Shipping For although hee saith they knew the Sea-Coast yet as Caesar affirm's they were utterly ignorant what ports were fit to receiv a number of the greater sort of Ships And it seem's Merchants were permitted to visit the Sea-Coasts onely by Coasting about and using Commerce in the very Sea with the Inhabitants of the Island The old Greek Interpreter of Caesar saith also upon the place None els besides Merchants were easily admitted among the Britains That is to say neither by Land nor by Sea whereof they had as hath been shewn a very frequent use and from which they excluded all Forreigners except Merchants as from a part of that Territorie whereof they were Lords in possession From whence it follow 's also that they also who were wont to cross the Sea often out of Gaul into Britain to bee train'd up in the learning and discipline of the Druïdes could not do it without rendring themselvs liable to punishment for their boldness if leav were not first had from the pettie Kings or Lords of the Island From those pettie Kings I mean that ruled upon the Sea-Coast For the Britains at that time were not subject to the Government of a single Person They were Lords of the Sea who governed those Cities or Provinces that lay next to the Sea Cingetorix Carvilius Taximâ—gulus and Segonax in Kent others also that ruled over the Regni the Belgae Durotriges Damnonii Trinobantes Iceni Coritani being the people that inhabited Sussex Surrie Hampshire Dorsetshire Deâ—on 〈…〉 Essex Norfolk Lincolnshire and the like For even Caesar himself saith the inner part of the Island was inhabited by such as were said by Tradition to have been born there but the Sea-Coasts by such as had cross't the Sea thither out of Belgium to make war and gain bootie who were called all for the most part by the names of those Cities from whence they came and having seated themselvs there by force of Arms they betook themselvs to Husbandrie But hee according to that little knowledg hee had of a small part of the Island called those onely maritime Cities or Provinces which lie South of the River Thames especially Kent the Regni and the Belgae But although the Sea-Coasts were thus divided at that time into several Jurisdictions nevertheless it cannot bee doubted but that they used to consult together in common against an Fnemie or to guard the Sea the defence whereof belonged to all the Princes bordering upon it just after the same manner as they used to do upon other occasions of war against forreign Enemies as you may see in Caesar where the principal administration of the Government with the business of war was put into the hands of Cassivellaunus by a common Council of the whole British Nation Nor is that any prejudice against such a Dominion of the Britains by Sea which wee finde in Caesar concerning the Veneti a people of Gallia that were seated at the entrance of the River of Loire to wit that they had a very large command upon the Sea-Coast of Western Gallia and that they were better skill'd then any other of their own Countrimen in the Use and Art of Navigation and that in the Sea-fight with Decius Brutus they had Ships made all of Oak very well built and whether you consider their leathern Sails or their Iron Chains in stead of Cordage or their Masts fitted to bear the brunt of any assault whatsoëver and that CCXX sail or thereabout in number went out of the Haven very well manned and provided with all necessaries for War to oppose the Roman Navie It is very probable that the most of these were Auxiliaries fetched by the Veneti out of Britain or how great soëver the Venetan strength was at Sea yet that it was not greater then the Britains may bee collected from the same Author For hee write's expresly that Auxilaries were not onely sent for at that time by the Veneti out of Britain but also that they had very many Ships wherewith they used to sail into Britain But yet as it hath been shewn out of him alreadie no man might sail hand over head into Britain or without leav of the Britains It is not to bee doubted therefore but that besides their Twig or leathern Vessels they had a stout gallant Navie which was able even at pleasure to exclude those Ships of the Veneti that were best armed Els how could it bee that none but Merchants were admitted out of Gaul upon the Sea-Coast of Britain Moreover the whole Senate of the Veneti having been put to death by Caesar not a man was found among those who remained alive after Brutus his Victorie that could discover so much as one Port of Britain as appear's out of the same Author Which how it might bee admitted I do not at all understand if the strength of those Veneti that were wont to sail thither had been greater then the British or if the British had not been much greater then theirs But the reason why at Caesar's arrival afterwards no Ship of that kinde was found upon the British Sea or Shore which Peter Ramus wonder 's at very much and why the Roman Writers mention not any other Ships then such as were made of Twigs seem's evident For the Veneti had got
and had taken in the Orcades wee ought to conclude that then that more Northerly Sea also was added to the Roman Empire and so that the Romans were Lords over all the British Sea no otherwise then of the Island Which also is confirmed in plain terms by Tacitus who speaking of Agricola's design to war upon the Caledonians saith hee first provided a Fleet which attended in gallant Equipage to back his Forces at which time hee prosecuted the war at once both by Sea and Land and oftentimes in the same Camp the Hors and Foot and the Sea-Souldiers mingling mirth and companie together extoll'd every one their own hazards and Adventures one while they boasted the heights of Woods and Mountains another while the dangers of Storms and Tempests som vaunted of their exploits against the Enemie by Land others of their Conquests by Sea making comparisons souldier-like with many bravado's The Britains also as it was understood by the Prisoners were at their wits end upon the sight of his Navie as if upon this opening the Closet or secret part of their Sea there remained no farther refuge in case they were overcom This is a most clear Testimonie touching the Dominion of the British Sea shewing that the Britains and Caledonians first and the Romans afterward became Lords thereof A doubt hath been made by learned men whether inlargement of Dominion or Conquest by Sea should bee read in that place But both the Readings plainly point out an acquisition of Dominion And if you read inlargement of Dominion by Sea it signifie's that the Caledonian Sea was then annexed to the other Sea which together with the more Southerly part of the Isle had by the Emperor Claudius been added to the Roman Empire And that the British Sea was thus reduced at that time under the Roman power as a perpetual and inseparable appendant of the Island was perhaps conceited by Papinius when hee thus bespake Domitian in whose time this Conquest was made of the Britains maneas hominum contentus habenis Undarum Terraeque potens Long maist thou joy in the Command Of men and sway both Sea and Land Truly a late Writer also saith that Julius Caesar did assert to himself a Dominion over British Isle and Sea And this hee saith upon very good ground whilst hee join's the Dominion of both together as undivided but upon none at all when hee ascribe's onely a Dominion of the Isle to the same Caesar. Touching the Dominion of the Romans in the British Sea as an appendant of the Island from the time of Domitian to the Emperor Constantius Chlorus or Diocletian CHAP. V. BUt the Romans having as wee told you before subdued both the Island and the Sea that roll's about it as they managed the Government by Presidents and Lieutenants at Land so by a chief Governor called Archigubernus with a numerous Fleet at Sea For by that name was the Commander of the British Navie called or els Archigubernius as it is in the Florentine Pandects which appear's also by the Epistles of Javolenus a Lawyer that lived under the Emperors Adrian and Antoninus Pius Seius Saturninus saith hee Archigubernus ex classe Britannicâ chief Governor of the British Navie left Valerius Maximus Captain of a three-Oard Gally his heir or Feofee in trust by Will requiring him to yield back the inheritance to his Son Seius Oceanus as soon as hee should bee seventeen years of Age. But the Romans foreseeing there would bee a great deal of trouble and but small benefit in subduing and holding the Caledonian Britains they leaving the North part of the Isle to the barbarous people and retiring towards the South did so limit their Land-dominion by rearing up Mounds or Walls before it that wee must of necessitie suppose their Dominion was but small likewise by Sea Those Mounds or Fences are frequently mentioned in the Histories concerning the Emperors Adrian Antoninus Pius and Severus But by that hence which Adrian made and Severus repaired beeing either a Wall or a Trench drawn through the North parts from the Eastern to the Western Shore the Territorie of the Romans was confined almost within the same Limits which had bounded the Conquest of Claudius But the other which parted the Island in the middle between the Estuaries of * â—lotta and * Bodotria bounded the Roman-British Empire under Antoninus Pius and after that in the time of Valentinian Valens and divers other Emperors their Successors So that perhaps the Romans afterward had not much more of the Northen Sea in their Dominion then what washed the Borders of these Territories But after seius saturninus the afore-mentioned Commander in chief of the British Navie under Adrian or Antoninus Pius there is a deep silence among Writers touching the Sea affairs of Britain and almost concerning Britain it self till the daies of Diocletian And under Diocletian the British Sea beeing infested all along the Coast of Britanie and Belgium by the French and Saxons care was taken to quiet and secure it by sending forth C. Carausius a man indeed of mean parentage but expert both in Counsel and Action And Geffrie of Monmouth write's that hee made suit for this Government of the Sea and promised to perform so many and so great matters for the advantage and inlargement of the Commonweal more then if the Dominion of Britain should bee committed to his charge Eutropius also speaking of the Infesters of the British Sea over which this man was made Commander in chief by the Emperor as Lord thereof so far as hee enjoied the Dominion of Britain saith that hee oftentimes taking many of the barbarous people and not delivering the prizes to the Liutenants of the Province nor sending them to the Emperors reserved them to himself therefore when it began to bee suspected that hee permitted the barbarous people on purpose to fall upon those that conveyed the Prizes that by this means hee might enrich himself a command beeing given by the Emperor Maximianus to kill him hee thereupon turn'd Usurper and possessed himself of Britain At length having fortified himself both by Sea and Land hee held the joint-Dominion of both for 7 years as inseparable beeing slain by his companion C. Allectus who enjoied the same 3 years as his Successor And then hee also after hee was brought to so low a pass by the Emperor Constantius Chlorus who had cros't the Sea in person on purpose to reduce him that hee knew not what to do and seem'd to bee imprisoned rather then fortified by the Sea as saith the Autor of the Panegyrick to Maximianus was at length by the valor and conduct of the Pretorian prefect Asclepiodotus overcom and slain And thus both the Isle and the Sea together was recover'd after ten years time so far as it flow'd before that part which was under the Roman Jurisdiction Nor was it upon any other ground then this ten years usurpation in Britain that
two different Opinions Som would have the Shore of Britain it self or that which is on this side the Sea to bee called onely the Saxon in the naming of this Dignitie or Command Others would have it to bee both the Shore of Britain and all that Shore also which â—etche's a compass like a half Moon from the Western part of Denmark as far as the West of France and lie's over against Britain But truly they are both extremely mistaken The Autor of the former opinion is Guidus Pancirollus who write's that the Shore or Limit within the Island was so denominated from those Saxons who were called in hither by Vortigern King of the South part of Britain to his assistance The Saxons saith hee possessed part of the Island from whence a limit or bound that was rear'd over against them by one that was made Count was called Saxon. Then which nothing could have been more ignorantly spoken if you reflect either upon the thing it self or the cours of times For omitting this that in the Breviarie of Dignities it self no mention is made at all of a Saxon bound or Limit but of a Shore notwithstanding that Pancirollus in the Inscription of his Commentarie entitle's the Commander that wee speak of Count of the Saxon Limit throughout Britain the Breviarie was written in the Reign of Theodosius the yonger or in the year CCCCX as learned men do commonly agree That is to say of that time the frame of the whole Government of the Empire both in the East and West having been over-grown long before was with very great diligence digested as it were into one entire Book of Offices and Dignities But the Saxons as most of the Antients tell us came first into Britain in the year of our Lord CCCCXLIX But suppose what upon better consideration may perhaps bee allowed that their arrival ought to bee reckoned in the year CCCCXXVIII that is in the XXI year of the Reign of Theodosius the yonger yet in the mean time this is most certain which is here in the first place to bee observed that Britain was utterly abandoned by the Roman Governors before they were called in Doubtless they were as Gildas write's brought in by King Vortigern to drive back the Northern Nations the Picts and Scots not the Romans who had bidden farwel to the Island Neither had tho Romans or their Dukes or Counts any thing at all to do within the Isle with the Saxons So that it must needs bee gross ignorance in Histories and in the Calculation of time to set down any Saxon Limit or Saxon Shore in the Island it self whilst the Roman Empire flourished or had any kinde of Autoritie in this Countrie Nothing therefore is more evident then that the Shore lying on the other side of the Sea over against the South and Eastern Coast of Britain as wee described it before was called the Saxon in that Dignitie or Command Moreover also that Count of the Saxon Shore throughout Britain was far more antient and known by an addition thereto of the Sea Coast or of that Sea which was comprehended in the Roman jurisdiction throughout Britain or in the bodie of the British Province For Nectaridius was invested with this Dignitie in the time of Valentinian the first or about the year of our Lord CCCLXX as is testified by Ammianus Marcellinus where hee saith information was given by a Messenger that Britain was reduced to an extreme low condition by a barbarous Conspiracie and that Nectaridius Count of the Sea-Coast and Buchobaudes the Duke were surprized unawares by the craft of the Enemy Nor is any difference to bee imagined between the Dignitie of the Count of the Saxon Shore in this sens throughout Britain and that which the fore-named C. Carausius received at Boloigne in France to scour the Sea along the Coast of Belgica and Bretaigne which as Eutropius and Orosius say was infested by the French and Saxons For that even hee also had places of strength and Mansion-houses belonging to his Government in Britain appear's sufficiently upon this ground that when Maximianus had given order to put him to death hee immediately usurp't in Britain and reigned after for the space of seven years So the Governor here or Count of the Sea-Coast and the Count of the Saxon Shore beeing ever accounted the same held the sole Government of Britain and the Sea belonging thereto To whom also wee may add as differing onely in name not really the Prefect or Admiral of the British Navie under the Romans mentioned in the former chapter Wee confess indeed that the Duke of Belgica secunda and the Duke of the Countrie of Aremorica before-mentioned was by the verie nature of his place to afford supplies for the guarding the Sea and this Shore beyond Sea For they also as hath been observed had Garrisons seated upon this Saxon Shore But it is chiefly to bee observed here that these beyond-Sea-Dukes were according to the nature of their Dignitie or Office to take care not so much of the Shore or Sea as the Continent and that from thence as you see they took their names This from the Tract of Aremorica and Ebroicae which beeing extended through five Provinces Aquitania prima and secunda Senonia Lugdunensis secunda and Tertia which comprehend's the lesser Britain and Normandie conteined almost all that which was commonly called by the name of Gallia But the other had its name from Belgica secunda Nor was there one Count or Duke of the Midland Countrie and another of the Shore or Sea-Coast in Gaul But in Britain the Counts or Dukes of the midland parts and the Count of the Sea-Coast or Saxon Shore had distinct charges distinct Forces and the signal Ornaments of their Offices wholly distinct Just as if the Roman Emperors would have it signified by this very thing that as the Sea it self did by particular Right alwaies belong unto the Empire of the Island so the Sea-affairs and their protection to the British Command and Jurisdiction of the Saxon Shore or that beyond-Sea but that both the Dukes of the Continent or main Land of Gaul lying right before it were bound so to send relief as occasion should require against the Saxon Invasions that in the mean time the sole care of the sea it self as a particular Province given in charge lay upon him that was made Count of the Saxon shore throughout Britain And if any Duke or Count either of Aremorica or Belgica secunda was called by the name of Duke or Count of the Saxon shore as som would have it was don doutless upon this ground becaus the Saxon shore lying over against us on the other side of the sea did bound their Land-Government as it did also the Sea-Jurisdiction of the aforesaid Count throughout Britain Nor indeed is that other Opinion any more to bee admitted which saith That our British shore was at that time called Saxon
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
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
by your own Instructions you may fully understand But withal considering that Peace must bee mainteined by the arm of power which onely keep 's down War by keeping up Dominion his Majestie thus provoked finde's it necessarie even for his own defence and safetie to re-assume and keep his antient and undoubted Right in the Dominion of these Seas and to suffer no other Prince or State to encroach upon him thereby assuming to themselvs or their Admirals any Soveraign command but to force them to perform due homage to his Admirals and Ships and to pay them acknowledgments as in former times they did Hee will also set open and protect the free Trade both of his Subjects and Allies And give them such safe Conduct and Convoie as they shall reasonably require Hee will suffer no other Fleets or Men of VVar to keep any guard upon these Seas or there to offer violence or take prizes or booties or to give interruption to any lawful intercours In a word his Majestie is resolved as to do no wrong so to do Justice both to his Subjects and Friends within the limits of his Seas And this is the real and Roial design of this Fleet whereof you may give part as you finde occasion to our good neighbors in those parts that no Umbrage may bee taken of any hostile act or purpose to their prejudice in any kinde So wishing you all health and happiness I rest Your assured friend and Servant JOHN COOK Whitehall 16 April 1635. our style In this Letter you see first how it was held for an undeniable principle that the King was King by Sea as well as by Land That neither the honor nor safetie of this Island and Ireland could bee maintained but by preserving the Dominion by Sea and that it is an argument that they that encroach upon us by Sea will do it also by Land when they see their time Hee declare's also how our unthankful neighbors are risen to this hight and insolence partly by grant partly by connivence but principally through their many injurious abuses of our Patience and Indulgence And lastly you may observ here what resolutions were then taken to prevent the lilâ—e injuries and preserv our English Interest in time to com But how those Resolutions were followed in the succeeding part of his Reign I shall not stand to examine onely it sufficeth here to take notice that the Claim of Sea-Dominion was made by him as well as by his Father and for a time strenuously asserted though afterward hee slackned his hand in the prosecution whereof the Netherlanders taking advantage and of our late commotions which were their Halcyon-daies and time of Harvest are now advanced to such a monstrous pitch of pride malice and ingratitude that they dare bid defiance to those antient Rights which wee have received from all Antiquitie and justifie their actions by a most unjust and bloudie war in the view of all the world What remain's then but that the Parlament and People of England should lay these things to heart with an indignation answerable to so prodigious violations and invasions They have now an opportunitie and strength given them by God O let not hearts bee wanting to make good the Claim and accomplish that work of establishing our Interests by Sea beyond the possibilitie of future impeachments Let it not bee said that England in the state of Monarchie was able to hold the Soveraigntie of the Seas so many hundred years and then lost it in the state of Libertie It is as now established with its Appendants the greatest and most glorious Republick that the Sun ever saw except the Roman God hath made it so by Land and will by Sea for without this the Land is nothing It was ever so apprehended by Kings yea by the last and worst of our Kings And shall the Founders of this famous structure of Government now in beeing who have cashiered Kings and vindicated the Rights and Liberties of this Nation upon his head and his whole posteritie and partie not assert them against perfidious Neighbors It were unpardonable in any to harbor a thought of that nature or to yield that such a blemish should bee brought upon all those glorious actions and atchievements whereby God hath freed and innobled our Land and Nation But that the people of England may bee excited to a valuation maintenance and improvement of their interest by Sea it is necessarie to let them understand what advantages are to bee made thereby and are made by others who of Usufructuaries by permission have in design now to make themselvs absolute Lords of the Fee And therefore it is very convenient here to set down an excellent Discours which was written in the time of the late King and presented by the following Title The inestimable Riches and Commodities of the British Seas THE Coast of Great Britain do yield such a continual Sea-harvest of gain and benefit to all those that with diligence do labor in the same that no time or season in the year passeth away without som apparent means of profitable imploiment especially to such as apply themselvs to Fishing which from the begining of the year unto the latter end continueth upon som part or other upon our Coasts and therein such infinite sholes and multitudes of Fishes are offered to the takers as may justly move admiration not onely to strangers but to those that daily bee imploied amongst them The Summer-Fishing for Herring beginneth about Midâ—ommer and lasteth som part of August The Winter-Fishing for Herring lasteth from September to the mid'st of November both which extend in place from Boughones in Scotland to the Thame's mouth The Fishing for Cod at Alamby Whirlington and White Haven near the Coast of Lancashire from Easter until VVhitsontide The Fishing for Hake at Aberdenie Abveswhich and other places between VVales and Ireland from VVhitsontide to Saint James tide The Fishing of Cod and Ling about Padstow within the Land and of Severn from Christmas to Mid-Lent The Fishing for Cod on the West part of Ireland frequented by those of Biscay Galicia and Portugal from the begining of April until the end of June The Fishing for Cod and Ling on the North and North-East of Ireland from Christmas until Michaëlmas The Fishing for Pilchers on the West coast of England from Saint James-tide until Michaëlmas The Fishing for Cod and Ling upon the North-East of England from Easter until Midsummer The Fishing of great Staple-Ling and many other sorts of Fish lying about the Island of Scotland and in the several parts of the British Seas all the year long In September not many years since upon the Coast of Devonshire near Minigal 500 Ton of Fish were taken in one day And about the same time three thousand pound worth of Fish in one day were taken at S t Ives in Cornwal by small Boats and other poor provisions Our five-men-Boats and cobles adventuring in a calm to launch out amongst the