Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	french_a	king_n	realm_n	4,667	5	8.8307	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33387	His Majesties propriety and dominion on the Brittish seas asserted together with a true account of the Neatherlanders insupportable insolencies and injuries they have committed, and the inestimable benefits they have gained in their fishing on the English seas : as also their prodigious and horrid cruelties in the East and West-Indies, and other places : to which is added an exact mapp, containing the isles of Great Brittain and Ireland, with the several coastings, and the adjacent parts of our neighbours / by an experienced hand.	Codrington, Robert, 1601-1665.; Clavell, Robert, d. 1711.	1665 (1665)	Wing C4602; ESTC R3773	67,265	198

time of Richard the Second Hugh Calverley was made Admiral of the Sea saith the same Author and the Universal Custody of the Sea was committed by our Kings to the High Admirals of England And that the Dominion of the Seas is properly in the Power and Jurisdiction of the King may appear by those Tributes and Customes that were Imposed and Payed for the Guard and Protection of them The Tribute called the Danegeld was paid in the Time of the English Saxons which amounted to four shillings upon every Hide of Land for the defending of the Dominion by Sea Roger Houerden affirmeth that this was paid until the Time of King Stephen Afterwards Subsidies have been demanded of the People in Parliament upon the same Account and in the Parliament-Records of King Richard the Second it is Observable That a Custome was imposed upon every Ship that passed through the Northern Admiralty that is from the Thames along the Eastern Shoare of England towards the North-East for the Maintenance of a Guard for the Seas Neither was this Imposed onely upon the English but also upon the Ships of Forreigners payment was made at the Rate of six pence a Tun upon every Vessell that passed by such Ships only excepted that brought Merchandize out of Flanders into London If a Vessel were imployed to Fish for Herrings it payed the Rate of Six pence a week upon every Tun If for other kind of Fish so much was to be payed every three weeks as they who brought Coles to London from New-Castle paid it every three Moneths But if a Vessel were bound North-wards to Prussia Scone or Norway or any of the Neighbouring Countries it payed a particular Custome according to the Weight and Proportion of the Freight And if any were unwilling it was Lawful to Compel them to pay In this Place we shall give you the Copy of the usual form of a Commission whereby the High Admiral of England is Invested with Authority for the Guard of the Sea it runneth in these Words VVE Give and Grant to N. the Office of our Great Admiral of England Ireland Wales and of the Dominions and Islands belonging to the same also of our Town of Calais and our Marches thereof Normandy Acquitayn and Gascoign and we have Made Appointed and Ordained And by these Presents we Make Appoint and Ordain ●im the said N. our Admiral of England Ireland and Wales and our Dominions and Isles of the same our Town of Calais and our Marches thereof Normandy Gascoign and Aquitayn as also General Governour over all our Fleets and SEAS of our said Kingdomes of England and Ireland and our Dominions and Islands belonging to the same And know ye further that we of our especial Grace and upon certain Knowledge do Give and Grant to the said N our Great Admiral of England and Governour General over our Fleets and Seas aforesaid all manner of Iurisdictions Authorities Liberties Offices Fees Profits Duties Emoluments Wracks of the Sea cast Goods Regards Advantages Commodities Preheminences Priviledges whatsoever to the said Officer our Great Admiral of England and Ireland and of the other Places and Dominions aforesaid in any manner Whatsoever Belonging or Appertaining Thus we see we have a continual Possession or Dominion of the Kings of England by Sea pointed out in very Expresse Words for very many years We may add to this that it can be proved by words plain enough in the form of the Commissions for the Command of High Admiral of England that the Sea for whose Defence he was appointed by the King of England who is Lord and Sovereign of it was ever bounded towards the South by the Shores of Aquitain Normandy and Picardy for although those Countries sometimes in the Possession of the English are now lost and for many years under the Jurisdiction of the French yet the whole Sea Flowing betwixt our Brittish Isles and the Provinces over against them are by a Peculiar Dominion and Right of the King of England on those Seas subject unto them whom he puts in Command over the English Fleet and Coasts that there remaineth neither Place nor Use for any other Commanders of that kinde And as for the Islands of Gernesey Jersey and the rest Mr. Selden affirmeth that before a Court of Delegats in France in expresse terms it hath been acknowledged that the King of England hath ever been Lord not onely of this Sea but also of the Islands placed therein Par raison du Royalmed ' Angleterre upon the Account of the Realm of England or as they were Kings of England And in the Treaty held at Charters when Edward the Third Renounced his Claim to Normandy and some other Counties of France that bordered upon the Sea it was added that no Controversie should remain touching the Islands but that he should hold all Islands whatsoever which he Possessed at that time whither they lay before those Countries y t he held there or others For Reason required this that he should maintain his Dominion by Sea And both Gernesey and Jersey as well as the Isles of Wight and Man in several Treaties held betwixt the Kings of England and other Princes are acknowledged not onely to lye neer unto the Kingdome of England but to belong unto it But to give a greater Light to this Truth we may from several Records produce many Testimonies that the Kings of England have given leave unto to Forreigners upon Request to passe through their Seas he gave permission to Ferrando Vrtis de Sarachione a Spaniard to Sail freely from the Port of London through his Kingdomes Dominions and Jurisdiction to the Town of Rochel There are Innumerable Letters of safe Conducts in the Records especially of Henry the Fifth and Sixth whereby safe Port and Passage was usually granted And it is worthy of observation that these kinde of Letters was usually superscribed and directed by those Kings to their Governours of the Sea-Admirals Vice-Admirals and Sea-Captains And to clear all at once the Kings of England have such an absolute Dominion in the English Seas that they have called the Sea it self their Admiralty And this we finde in a Commission of King Edward the Third The Title whereof is De Navibus Arrestandis Capiendis For the Arresting and Seizing of Ships The Form of it runs in these Words The King to his beloved Thomas de Wenlock his Serjeant at Armes and Lievtenant To our Beloved and Trusty Reginald de Cobham Admiral of our Fleet of Ships from the mouth of the River of Thames towards the Western parts Greeting Be it known unto you that we have appointed you with all the speed that may be used by you and such as shall be Deputed by you to Arrest and Seize all Ships Flie-Boats Barks and Burges of ten Tun burthen and upwards which may happen to be found in my foresaid ADMIRALTY that is in the Sea reaching from the Thames Mouth towards the South and West and

to bring them speedily well and sufficiently Armed to Sandwich c. All Officers also in the said Admiralty are Commanded to yeild Obedience and Assistance upon the same Condition Thus That the Sea it self was contained under the Name of the Admiralty is most clearly manifest by what already we have shown you And as a Freedome of Passage so also we do finde that a Liberty of Fishing hath been obtained by Petition from the Kings of England we have already made mention that King Richard the Second imposed a Tribute upon all persons whatsoever that used Fishing on his Seas We read also that Henry the Sixth gave leave to the French and other Forreigners sometimes for a Year sometimes but for six Moneths to go and Fish throughout his Seas provided that the Fishing-Boats and Busses were not above thirty Tuns And if any Forreigners whither French Dutch or others should Disturb or Molest any of the Kings Subjects as they were Fishing they were to loose the benefit of their Licence But in the Eastern Sea which washeth the Coasts of York-shire and the Neighbouring Counties It hath been an Antient Custome for the Hollanders and Zelanders to obtain leave by Petitioning to the Governour of Scarborough Castle It is worth the while saith the Reverend Mr. Cambden to observe what an extraordinary gain the Hollanders and the Zelanders do make by fishing on the English Seas having first obtained leave from the Castle of Scarborough For the English have ever granted them leave to Fish reserving always the Honour and the Priviledge to themselves but through a negligence resigning the Profit unto Strangers for it is almost incredible saith he to believe what a vast sum of Money the Hollanders do make by this Fishing upon our Coast Mr. Hitchock also in the time of Queen Elizabeth presented a Book to the Parliament written in the English Tongue concerning the Commodity of Fishing in which he specifies that the Hollanders and Zealanders every year towards the latter end of summer do send forth four or five hundred Vessels called Busses to Fish for Herrings in our Eastern Seas but before they fish they ask leave of Scarborough they are his very Words Care was also taken by K. James that no Foreigner should Fish on the English or Irish Seas without leave first obtained and every year at the least this leave was renewed from the Commissioners for that purpose appointed at London But the Reason why we do not so often meet with these Forms of Licences is because by the Leagues made with the Neighboring Princes a Licence or Freedom of that kinde was so often allowed by both parties that as long as the League was in Force the Sea served as it were a Common Feild as well for the Forreigner y was in Amity as for the King of England himself who was the Lord and owner of it But a remarkable Example of Fishing in this Nature we finde in the days of King Henry the Fourth An Agreement was made betwixt the Kings of England and France that the Subjects of both Kingdomes might freely Fish throughout that part of the Sea which is bounded on this side by the Ports of Scarborough and Southampton and on the other side by the Coast of Flanders and the Mouth of the River of Sein The time was also limited betwixt Autumn and the beginning of January And that the French might securely enjoy the Benefit of this Agreement the King of England sent Letters unto all his Sea Captains and Commanders By this we may plainly see that these Limits wholy excluded the French from that part of the Sea which lies towards the West and South-West as also that which lieth North-East of them as being so limited by our Henry at his own pleasure as Lord and Soveraign of the whole There is amongst the Records of Edward the First an Inscription Pro Hominibus Hollandiae c. For the Men of Holland Zealand and Friesland to have leave to Fish neer Jernemuth now called Yarmouth The Kings Letter for their Protection runneth in these Words The King to his Beloved and Trusty John de Buteturte Warden of his Port of Jernemuth Greeting For as much as we have been certified that many men out of the Parts of Holland Zealand and Freisland who are in Amity with us intend now to come and Fish in our Seas neer unto Jernemuth we command you that publick Proclamation be made once or twice every week that no Person whatsoever imployed abroad in our Service presume to cause any Injury Trouble Dammage Hinderance or Grievance to be done unto them but rather when they stand in need that you give them Advice and Assistance in such manner that they may Fish and pursue their own Advantage without any Let or Impediment In Testimony whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made Pattents and to continue in Force until after the Feast of St. Martins next ensuing Here you see that the King granteth a Protection to Fish and he Limits it within the space of two Moneths He alone also Protected the Fishermen upon the German Coast nor might the Fishermen use any other kind of Vessels then what were Prescribed by our Kings Upon which Accounts all kind of Fishing was sometimes prohibited and sometimes admitted this Restriction being added hat they should Fish onely in such Vessels as were under the Burden of Thirty Tun And this appears by the Letters of King Edward the Third concerning the Laws of Fishing which were directed unto the Governours of several Ports and Towns on the Eastern Shoar the Words are these For as much as We have given Licence to the Fishermen of the Neighbouring Ports and to others who shall be willing to come unto them for the Benefit of Fishing that they may Fish and make their own Advantage with Ships and Boats under the burden of thirty Tuns any Prohibition or Commands of ours whatsoever to the contrary notwithstanding we command you to permitt the Fishermen of the said Towns and others who shall be willing to come to the said places for the Benefit of Fishing to Fish and make their own Advantage with Ships and Boats under-thirty Tun without any Let or Impediment any Prohibitions or Commands of ours made to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding This is evident also in the Records of King Edward the Fourth for he invested three Persons with Naval Power whose Office it was to Protect and Guard the Fishermen upon the Coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk and the charges of the Guard were to be Defrayed by the Fishermen of the said Seas at the pleasure of the King of England although they have Letters of Publick Security and Protection from Foreign Princes Neither were any Persons admitted to a Partnership in this kind of Guard except those who were appointed by the King of England least by this means perhaps it might Derogate from the English Right which is a manifest Sign and Evidence of their

the Assent of His Peers That if the Governour or Commander of the Kings Navy in His Naval Expeditions shall meet with any Ships whatsoever by Sea either Laden or Empty that shall refuse to strike their sayles at the Command of the Kings Governour or Admiral or his Lievtenant but make resistance against any who be long unto his Fleet that then they are to be reputed Enemies and if they be taken their Ships and Goods to be Consiscated as the Goods of Enemies And that although the Masters or Owners of the Ships shall Alledge afterwards that the same Ships and Goods do belong to the Friends and Allies of our Lord the King yet the persons who shall be found in these Ships are to be punished with Imprisonment at discretion for their Rebeltion It was accounted Treason saith Master Selden If any ship what soever had not acknowledged the Dominion of the King of England in His own Sea by striking sayle and they were not to be protected upon the Account of Amity who should in any wise presume to do the contrary Penalties were also appointed by the Kings of England in the same manner as if mention were made concerning a Crime committed in some Territory of his Land But above all that as yet hath been said there can hardly be alledged a more convincing Argument to prove the Truth of all that hath hitherto been spoken then the Acknowledgement of the Sea-Dominion of the King of England by very many of our Neighbouring Nations At what time the Agreement was made by Edward the First of England and Philip the Fair of France Reyner Grimbald Governour of the French Navy Intercepted and Spoyled on the English Seas the Goods of many Merchants that were going to Flanders as well English as Others and not contented with the Depredation of their Goods He Imprisoned also their Persons and delivered them up to the Officers of the King of France and in a very insolent manner justified his Actions in Writing as done by Authority of the King his Masters Commission This being alledged to be done to the great Damage and Prejudice of the King of England the Prelats Peers and the rest of the Nation a Bill against Reyner Grimbald was exhibited and managed by Procurators on the behalf of the Prelates Peers and of the Cities and Towns throughout England and lastly of the whole English Nation by an Authority as I believe of the Estates Assembled in Parliament with these were joyned the Procurators of most Nations bordering upon the Sea throughout Europe Viz. The Genoeses The Catalonians The Spaniards The Almayns The Zealanders The Hollanders The Freislanders The Danes The Noruegians The Hamburghers c. All these instituted a Complaint against Reyner Grimbald who was Governour of the French Navy in the time of the. War of Philip King of France and Guy Earle of Flanders And all these Complainants in their Bill do joyntly affirm that the King of Englandand his Predecessors have time out of minde and without Controversie Enjoyed the Soveraignty and Dominion of theEnglish Seas and the Isles belonging to the same by Right of their Realm of England that is to say by Prescribing Laws Statutes and Prohibitions of Armes and of Ships otherwise furnished then with such necessaries and Commodities as belong to Merchants and by demanding Security and affording protection in all places where need should require and ordering all other things necessary for the conservation of Peace Right and Equity between all sorts of People passing through that Sea as well Strangers as others in Subjection to the Crown ofEngland Also that they have had and have the Soveraign Guard thereof with all manner of Cognisance and Jurisdiction in doing Right and Justice according to the said Laws Ordinances and Prohibitions and in all other matters which may concern the Exercise of Soveraign Dominion in the said places This is the Declaration of the Nations above named manifestly acknowledging the Sovereignty and Dominion of our Kings over the Seas and thereupon demanding protection for themselves But more particularly we do finde an acknowledgment of the Sea-Dominions of the Kings of England made by the Flemmings themselves in the Parliament of England in the Reign of Edward the Second the Records of the Parliament speak it thus In the Fourteenth Year of the Reign ofEdward the Second there appeared certain Ambassadours of the Earl of Flanders to Treat about the Reformation of some Injuries they received and as soon as the said Ambassadours had been admitted by our Lord the King to Treat of the said Injuries amongst other particulars they required that the said Lord the King would at his own Suit by Vertue of his Royal Authority cause Enquiry to be made and do Justice about a Depredation by the Subjects of England upon the English Seas taking Wines and other sort of Merchandizes belonging to certain Merchants of Flanders towards the parts of Crauden within the Territory and Jurisdiction of the King of England Alledging that the said Wines and other Merchandizes taken from the Flemmings were brought within the Realm and Jurisdiction of the King and that it belonged to the King to see Justice done in Regard thatHE IS LORD OF THE SEA and the aforesaid Depredation was made upon the said Sea within his Territory and Jurisdiction c. This we have Cited out of the Parliament Records which may Declare an Acknowledgement of the Sea-Dominion of our Kings made by those Foreign and Neighbour-Nations who were most concerned in the Business Having given you thus besides the Attestation of our own Writers the acknowledgment of Foreign Nations that the King of England hath the Dominion of the Seas we shall now come to give you an Account of those Northern Seas which came unto the Subjection of the Kings of England at what time King James of Blessed Memory by reducing the two Nations into one Great Brittanie United the Crown of Scotland to the Crown of England Odericus in his Ecclesiastical History informs us that the Orcades was subject heretofore to the King of Norway and that the people of the Orcades do speak the Gothish Language to this day these Isles are Numerous and onely Twenty Eight of them are at this day Inhabited Above One Hundred Miles beyond the Orcades towards Norway are the Shetland Isles in Number Eighteen which are at this day Inhabited and in subjection to the King of Scotland concerning which there hath been a great Quarrel in former Ages between the Scots and Danes but the Dane kept the 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 he himself or his Posterity paid to the Scottish King or his Successors the sum of Fifty Thousand Rhenish Florens which were never discharged to this day But afterwards when the Queen had been delivered of Her Eldest Son the Danish King being willing to Congratulate

his Daughters good Delivery did for ever Surrender his Right in the Islands of the Orcades Shetland the rest unto the Scottish King This was in the days of James the Third of Scotland in the Year 1468. A Claim was afterwards laid to Iseland by Q. Elizabeth And her Successor K. James the Sixth of Scotland and first of England hath a Dominion in the Sea which lieth farr more Northerly then Iseland which is that of Greenland For that Sea having never been entred by Occupation nor used in the Art and Exercise of Fishery was first of all rendered very gainful through a peculiar Fishing for Whales by those English Merchants of the Muscovie Company who first Sailed that way The use of a Sea never entred by Occupation and such a kinde of profit being first discovered doth according to the manner of the Claim give a Dominion to the Discoverer who claims it in the Right of another as here in the Name of the Sovereign of England Upon which ground it was that King James in his Letters of Credence given to his Ambassadour in Holland Sir Henry Wotton did very justly say that the Fishing in the North Seas was His onely and His by Right In the Seventh year of the Reign of King Iames this Right was more strenuously asserted by Proclamation and all persons excluded from the use of the Seas upon our Coasts without particular License the Grounds whereof you have here set down in the Proclamation it self A Proclamation Touching Fishing JAMES by the Grace of God King of Great Brittain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To all and singular persons so whom it may appertein Greeting Although we do sufficiently know by Our Experience in the Office of Regal Dignity in which by the Favor of Almighty God We have been placed and exercised these many years as also by the observation which We have made of other Christian Princes exemplarie actions how farr the absolutenesse of Sovereign Power extendeth it self and that in regard thereof We need not yield account to any person under God for any action of Ours which is lawfully grounded upon that Iust Prerogative Yet such hath ever béen and shall be Our care and desire to give satisfaction to Our Neighbour-Princes and Friends in any action which may have the least relation to their Subjects and Estates as We have thought good by way of friendly premonition to declare unto them and to whomsoever it may appertain as followeth Whereas we have been contented since Our coming to the Crown to tolerate an indifferent and promiscuous kinde of liberty to all Our Friends whatsoever to Fish within Our Streams and upon any of Our Coasts of Great Brittain Ireland and other adjacent Islands so farr forth as the permission or use thereof might not re●ound to the impeachment of Our Prerogative Royal nor to the Hurt and Damage of our loving Subjects whose prefer●ation and flourishing Estate We hold Our self principally bound to advance before all worldly respects So finding that Our continuance therein hath not onely given occasion of over-great encroachments upon Our Regalities or rather questiening of Our Right but hath béen a means of daily wrongs to Our own People that exercise the Trade of Fishing as either by the multitude of strangers which do pre-occupie those places or by the injuries which they receive most commonly at their hands Our Subiects are constrained to abandon their Fishing or at least are become so discouraged in the same as they hold it better for them to betake themselves to some other course of living whereby not onely divers of Our Coast-Towns are much decayed but the number of Mariners daily diminished which is a matter of great consequence to Our Estate considering how much the strength thereof consisteth in the Power of Shipping and use of Navigation We have thought it now both just and necessary in respect that Wée are now by God's favor lineally and lawfully possessed as well of the Islands of Great Brittain as of Ireland and the rest of the Isles adjacent to bethink Our selves of good lawful means to prevent those inconveniences and many others depending upon the same In consideration whereof as We are destrous that the world may take notice that we have no intention to denie Our Neighbours and Allies those fruits and benefits of Peace and Friendship which may be justly expected at Our hands in Honour and Reason or are afforded by other Princes mutually in the point of Commerce and Exchange of those things which may not prove prejudicial to them so because some such convenient order may be taken in this matter as may sufficiently provide for these important considerations which do depend thereupon We have resolved first to give notice to all the world that Our Express Pleasure is That from the beginning of the Moneth of August next coming no Person of what Nation or Quality soever being not Our natural born Subject be permitted to Fish upon any of Our Coasts Seas of Great Brittain Ireland and the rest of the Isles adjacent where most usually heretofore any Fishing hath béen until they have orderly demanded and obtained Licenses from Us or such Our Commissioners as we have Authorised in that behalf viz. at London for Our Realms of England and Ireland and at Edenborough for Our Realm or Scotland which Licenses Our intention is shall be yearly demanded for so many Vessels and Ships and the 〈◊〉 thereof as shall intend to Fish for that whole year or any part thereof upon any of Our Coasts and Seas as aforesaid upon pain of such chastisement as shall be 〈◊〉 to be inflicted upon such wilful Offendors Given at our Palace of Westminster the 6. day of May in the 7 th year of Our Reign of Great Brittain Anno Dom. 1609. Notwithstanding this Proclamation the Netherlanders proceeded still in their way of encroachment upon our Seas and Coasts through the whole Reign of King James and were at length so bold as to contest with him and endeavour to quarrel His Majesty out of his Rights pretending because of the long connivence of Himself and Queen Elizabeth that they had a Right of their own by Immemorial Possession which some Commissioners of theirs that were sent over hither had the confidence to plead in Terminis to the King and his Council And though the King out of his tenderness to them insisted still upon his own Right by his Council to those Commissioners and by his Ambassadour to their Superiors yet they made no other use of his indulgence than to tire out his whole Reign and abuse his patience by their artificial Delays Pretences Shifts Dilatorie Addresses and Evasive Answers And all that the King gained by the tedious disputes overtures and dispatches to and again was in conclusion onely a Verbal acknowledgment of those Rights which at the same time that they acknowledged they usually designed to invade with much more insolence than before But you