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.
defence of his Kingdom against Foreiners and the training up of himself and his people for warlike emploiments Thus the Guardianship or maintenance of the Dominion by Sea is evident But as concerning the Fleets aforementioned they each of them consisted of MCC ships and these as Writers say expressly very stout ones so that in the time of his Reign the British Navie consisted of such ships to the number of Three thousand six hundred Sail as Florentius and Hoveden speak expressly But others write that these Fleets amounted to Four thousand ships as John Bramton Abbot of Jorvaux others adding to these Three a Fourth Fleet whereby the number is increased to Four Thousand Eight hundred Sail as you may see in Florilegus So as Florentius also saith Hee by the help of God governed and secured the bounds of his Kingdom with Prudence Fortitude Justice and Temperance as long as hee lived and having the courage of a fierce Lion hee kept all the Princes and Lords of the Isles in aw Wee read also in Ordericus Vitalis of King Harold or Herald that hee so guarded the Sea with a force of soldierie and shipping that none of his Enemies could without a sore conflict invade the Kingdom So that wee cannot otherwise conceiv but that these Naval Forces were at that time disposed and the Sea-Fights undertaken for the defence and guard of the Sea as an Appendant of the English-Saxon Dominion in this Island Especially if wee duly compare these things alreadie manifest with those which are added by and by to this particular touching the same age The Sea-Dominion of the English-Saxons and Danes during their Reigns in Britain observed in like manner from such Tributes and Duties of their Fiduciarie Clients or Vassals as concerned the maintenance of the Navie Also concerning the Tribute or Paiment called Danegeld which was wont to bee levied for the Guard of the Sea CHAP. XI HEre follow next the Tributes and Duties of Vassals concerning the maintenance of the Navie or Guard of the Sea which are evidences also of that Sea-Dominion which was in the time of the English-Saxons I call those Tributes which were wont to bee levied for the re-inforcing of the Navie and for provision of Victuals for the Sea-men Of which kinde were those that were levied according to the value of men's estates in Land for the setting forth of ships in the time of King Ethelred For at that time whosoever possessed CCCX Cassatos or Hides of Land was charged with the building of one ship And they were all rated proportionably after this manner who were owners of more or less Hides or of part of an Hide as Marianus Scotus Hoveden and Florentius do all tell us in the very same words Ethelred King of England say they gave strict command that one Gallie should bee charged upon CCCX Cassati but a Coat of Armor and an Helmet upon nine and that ships should bee built throughout all England which beeing made readie hee victualled and manned them with choice souldiers and appointed their Rendezvous at the Port of Sandwich to secure the Bounds of his Kingdom from the irruptions of Foreiners But Henrie of Huntingdon as also Matthew Paris and Florilegus speaking of the same thing say The King charged one ship upon three hundred and ten Hides of Land through all England also a Coat-Armor and Helmet upon eight Hides Then Huntingdon tell 's what an Hide doth signifie But an Hide in English saith hee is so much Land as a man can till with one Plow for a year Others there are that determine otherwise touching the quantitie of an Hide And most certain it is that it was very various according to the different Custom of Countries but the same with Cassata and Carucata Indeed the English-Saxon Chronicles of the Abbie of Abingdon do likewise mention Hides here expressly In the year MVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hund 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tynumaenne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 helm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say the King gave command for the building of Ships carefully throughout all England to wit that one Gallie should bee charged upon CCCX Hides of Land but a Coat-Armor and Helmet upon eight Hides And it was usual according to the Laws of that Age that the richer sort should bee taxed by the number of Hides as wee see also throughout that Breviarie of England or the Book of Rates called Domesday which was first written in the time of King William Huntingdon add's also that there never had been so great a number of Ships in the time of any one in Britain which is testified in like manner by the Saxon Chronicles before cited So that that most numerous Navie of King Edgar mentioned in the former chapter was not to bee compared with this But yet that most learned man and great Light of our Island M r Camden hath so cast up the number of Hides throughout England out of the antient Records of that Age that they do not exceed 243600. If this had been so then they could have set forth no more then 785 Ships by this Tribute which is a lesser number then that of King Edgar by som thousands So that som other account is to bee made concerning Hides which is not to bee handled in this place Hereunto belong's that of Huntingdon touching King Canutus and his Son Harald In the daies of Harald saith hee as also in the time of his Father eight Marks were paid by everie Port for XVI Ships In the like manner Hoveden saith there was a Tax imposed which was paid for the maintenance of the Navie when King Canutus and King Edmond made an agreement in an Isle in the midst of Severn called Oleney Moreover Huntingdon write's that 11048 pounds were raised by Hardecanute King of England before hee had reigned two years for thirtie two Ships that is to say for the building of two and thirtie Ships Hee gave Command also as Matthew Westminster saith that eight marks should bee paid to everie Rower of his Navie and ten marks to each Commander out of all England Hee saith again also of the same King that hee appointed Officers through all parts of the Kingdom to collect the Tax imposed without favouring any and therewith to provide all things necessarie for his Forces at Sea And Florentius saith Hee gave command for the paying of eight marks to every Rower of his Navie and twelve so wee read it in that Autor to everie Commander out of all England a Tax indeed so grievous that scarce any man was able to pay it But these things spoken of Canutus his son Harald and Hardecanute relate perhaps unto that Tribute or Tax called Danegeld which was paid yearly for the maintenance of the Navie and guarding the Territorie or Dominion by
of the Abbie of Abingdon say of the same year 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The King commanded that 21000 should bee paid to his Armie For so that Fleet is called every where in English Saxon which rode at Grenewich Here you see is no small difference in the number of pounds But howsoever if it bee to bee conceived of the yearly Tax or Tribute then it was far less this year then it is reckoned by those Monks who speak of thirtie eight thousand pounds Four years after in the Reign of King Canutus who was a Dane a far greater summe of Monie was raised for the maintenance of this Fleet. That Florentius whom wee have often cited saith In this year that is MXVIII Seventie two thousand pounds out of all England and one thousand and fiftie pounds out of London were paid to the Danish Fleet and there remained fourtie ships with K. Canutus But the rest were returned to Denmark Of which year Hoveden speak's thus Out of all England seventie two and out of London 410 pounds were paid to the Danish Armie or Fleet. And there remained c. They differ about the Summe not the Thing wherein they agree with the English-Saxon Chronicles before mentioned Yet these altogether speak contrarie to that accompt of the certain summes as it is set down by the aforesaid Monks But Matthew Paris and Matthew Westminster say of the same Time that Cnute sent home the Danish Fleet and Stipendarie Souldiers except fourtie ships as appear's by what hath been said alreadie having paid them out of all England eightie two thousand pounds in silver Also in the second year of King Hardeâ—nute a Tax was levied for the Danish Armie or Fleet amounting to 21000 pounds and 89 pounds as Huntingdon tell 's us All which particulars do I suppose sufficiently demonstrate that the Danish Tribute here mentioned was not fixed to any certain summe of yearly paiment and also that an huge summe of monie was wont to bee paid yearly at that time to the Kings of England for the Guard of the Sea for to what purpose els was that Fleet alwaies kept and so great Taxes levied every year for the maintenance thereof But in the Reign of King Henrie the second the name of Danegeld grew out of use Tributes or Taxes beeing usually paid still notwithstanding by other names that are very well known for the Guarding of the Sea as wee shall shew by and by But they are extremely mistaken even they who agree either with John Bramton the Abbot of Jorvaux or som other Autor out of whom hee wrote it or any others of that kinde in deriving the Original of that yearly Danegeld so often mentioned every where from the former kinde of Tribute which was paid to the Danes for the procuring of a peace and they also who would have the Warr to have been undertaken by the Danes and Saxons against the Britains becaus they denied them a freedom of Navigation and that the end thereof was that this Tribute was upon that accompt imposed upon the Nation when it was subdued Now as concerning the Duties of Fiduciarie Clients or Vassals wont to bee paid in that Age for Naval Expeditions and the Guard of the Sea wee have set them down among those particulars which were spoken of King Edgar in the former Chapter The Pettie Kings or Lords of the neighboring Isles were bound to him by Oath to bee readie at his command to serv him by Sea and Land And in that famous Breviarie or Register of England called Domesday conteining very many Customs in use among the English-Saxons besides the assessment of the Provinces and written in the time of William the first wee read thus It is a Custom at Warwick if the King went by Sea against his Enemies to send him either IV. Batsueins Sea-souldiers or Rowers or els IV. pounds in monie And at Excester when hee made any Expedition by Land or by Sea this Citie served after the rate of V Hides of Land Barnestaple Lydeford and Totenais served as far as that Citie That is these three Towns paid as much as Excester alone Moreover Clocester yielded XXXVI Dicres of Iron and C iron Rods fitted to make nails for the King's ships Leicester also if the King went against his Enemies by Sea sent him four horses from that Town to London to carrie Arms or other necessaries Concerning Lewes also a chief Town in Sussex there K. Edward the Confessor had CXXVII Burgers at his service Their Custom was if the King went not himself in person but sent others to guard the Sea then they collected XX Shillings of every man of what Countrie soëver hee were and provided men who were to look to the Arms on shipboard Here very express mention is made of the defence or Guardianship of the Sea it self And in Colchester an eminent Town of Essex wee finde it was the Custom of that Age to pay out of every hous six pence a year that was able to pay it for maintenance of the King's souldiers upon an Expedition by Land or Sea c. And this ought to bee the rate if the King shall entertain souldiers or make any Expedition All these particulars are in that Register And others there are in it of the same kinde But an Expedition by Sea signified in these testimonies not a Warr to bee undertaken for subduing the Dominions of their neighbors lands but most clearly a preparation and enterprise of Warr for the guarding scouring and keeping the Sea as a part of the Empire of Britain As it sufficiently appear's out of the Histories of that time For wee do not reade that our English-Saxons or Danes had any other quarrel at that time with any of their Neighbors whatsoëver unless it concerned either the British Islands or the Sea belonging thereunto Which also is especially to bee consider'd The Testimonies of Edgar and Canutus Kings of England with others expressly declaring the Dominion which they and their predecessors had over the Sea together with an observation touching the Nations which in that age were seated upon the opposite Shore CHAP. XII THat wee may at length set an end to that fourfold distribution which wee made of the Testimonies of that Age let us in the last place add the express determinations of King Edgar and Canutus concerning their own Dominion over the Sea As for Edgar the title which hee commonly used ran thus I Edgar Soveraign Lord of all Albion and of the Maritim or Insular Kings inhabiting round about So hee make's the bodie of the British Empire to comprehend all the Maritim Kingdoms that lay about that is to say all that are Situate in the British Sea And this hee more plainly declare's in the Charter or Deed by which hee setled revenues on the Cathedral Church of Worcester in the year DCCCCLXIV if so bee the copie were rightly rendred by those who many years since printed so
the Coast of France For although Aquitain indeed was first added to the names of England and Ireland in that Commission while the English possessed the Dutchie of Aquitain nevertheless it not onely so remained likewise in that form of Commission constantly even after the expulsion of the English until our times but Normandie also which had never been named before in the Commission of high Admiral of England was added and this som Ages after that the English were wholly deprived of the Dutchie it self So that either these names do serv in stead of a Limit to the Sea under his protection or els wee must perforce admit contrarie to reason that they signified nothing in the Commission for so many years For wee see that those names of opposite Shore were reteined in the Admiral 's Commission even from the end of Queen Marie's Reign until our times or for the space of 77 years though the English in the mean time were not possest of the least part of France as also that Normandie was added many years before but yet long after the English were outed of its possession Nor ought any man fondly to imagine that these Names were inserted becaus of that right the King of England had to the Crown of France For indeed the Kings of England have by an antient Right usually entitled themselvs Kings of France Also the Dutchies of Aquitain and Normandie and the other Provinces of France mentioned in this Commission are comprehended in that name of the Kingdom as the lesser in the greater But if that had been the caus certainly the name of France should have been ascribed to our Admiral yea and other Officers of that Kingdom have been made in the same manner by the King of England after hee was driven thence Of which thing there is not the least evidence indeed any where exstant And it is to bee observed as soon as ever an alteration was made in the Draught of the Commission from that denomination of the Command of the Admirals of England which was derived from the Fleets and Coasts over which they had command unto that which is made up of the Kingdoms and Provinces that then an Addition was made of Aquitain to the end that the limit or bound as well on this as the other side of the Sea might bee pointed out by the Shores The name of Normandie beeing added afterwards and reteined still together with Calais and the Marches thereof and Aquitain upon the same account But while that the Kings of England were in former times possest of Normandie Aquitain and other Countries in France there are not found in the form of Commission wherein the Kingdoms and Provinces as hath been alreadie shewn are expressly nominated any other Admirals or Governors of the Maritim Province or Dominion by Sea made by them besides those to whose care the Fleets and Coasts were committed in the manner alreadie mentioned that is to say the whole Sea flowing between our British Isles and the Provinces over against them and the Fleets belonging to any Territories whatsoëver of the Kings of England were at that time by a peculiar right of the Kingdom of England in the Sea so subject to them who were so put in Command over the English Fleets and Coasts that there remained neither place nor use for any other Commanders of that kinde Which may bee said likewise of those times wherein som of the Kings of England stood possessed also of the Kingdom of France as Edward the Third and the two Henries 5 th and 6 th Nor is it a bare conjecture that they did not put any others in command over the Sea and Fleets besides those to whom by right onely of the Kingdom of England the power was committed to wit according to that right which comprehended the whole Sea flowing between but it is sufficiently proved also upon this ground that wee have the antient publick Records of those times touching the Offices constituted by our Kings in France and those Provinces beyond Sea in most whereof I finde not the least sign of the contrarie And if it bee demanded here wherefore it was that the Shore of Bretaign was omitted which in like manner lie's over against our Isle of Britain and together with the Shore of Picardie Normandie and Aquitain sufficiently take's up that whole Tract which stretcheth it self in the Realm of France before the English and Irish Sea certainly if the aforementioned reason take place there is little caus to doubt that it hapned thence becaus the King of England was not at any time so possest of Bretaign that beeing outed of it hee needed to bee very sollicitous touching the Bounds of the Sea-Territorie adjoining Distinct Lords of Territories confining on each other as were the King of England and Duke of Bretaign heretofore for Bretaign had Kings and Dukes of its own before Charls the Eight under whom Anno Dom. 1491. it was united to the Realm of France do for the most part keep their Bounds so distinct that they may bee the more evidently taken notice of by all but when of such kinde of Territories there is but one and the same Lord as the King of England was while hee possessed either Normandie or Aquitain or any other Maritim Province in France together with England hee beeing outed of either ought above all things to take care that the past confusion of possession bee not prejudicial to the future distinction of Bounds For fear then lest it might have been pretended that even the Sea adjoining or confining with those Maritim Provinces which were a long time heretofore possessed by the English and afterwards taken away was taken away together with the Provinces whenas perhaps by reason of the past confusion of possession in one and the same Lord all men might not bee sufficiently instructed touching the Bounds of the English Sea placed as wee have said upon the Shore over against us therefore for the setting forth of those Bounds the name first of Aquitain after its beeing lost was reteined in the Admiral 's Commission and then that also of Normandie was added And afterwards both of them with the name of Calais and the Marches in stead of the Shore of Picardie were for the same reason continued down to our times Which reason truly could not concern Bretaign at all nor Flanders likewise nor any other Shores lying Eastward over against us All which nevertheless do after the same manner bound the Sea-Territorie of England Moreover those things that have been hitherto observed shall bee confirmed by what wee shall add next touching the Office of Admiral among the French Touching the Admirals of the Kingdom of France or those constituted upon the opposite Shore their Original nature and varietie That the Sea it self flowing between Britain and France is not conteined in that command of his as of one that is Governor of a Territorie or Province nor is there any thing in it that may
oppose the Dominion of the King of England by Sea CHAP. XVIII THat there were Admirals also constituted by the French King upon the opposit Shore of France is known to everie man And as there is an Admiral appointed in Gallia Narbonensis to over-see maritim Affairs there so also on the opposite Shore there are distinct Offices of the Admiral of Aquitain Bretaign and Normandie and the adjoining Coasts But the French Lawyers of late are wont to call their Admiral in Latine Praefectus Maris Governor of the Sea as if the Sea were subject to him also as a Governor whereas notwithstanding if the thing bee rightly consider'd that Government of the Sea by what name soëver it bee called doth not signifie as among the English any Dominion of one having command in any nearer part of the Sea for wee speak not of the Sea of Marseille which hath no relation hereunto but onely of their Naval Forces in any Sea whatsoëver together with the Government of the Sea-men and Jurisdiction over their persons and moveables which may fall under the determination of a Judg pour raison ou occasion as they say de faict de la mer that is by reason or upon occasion of any suit or controversie arising about Sea-Affairs For the more plain understanding whereof wee must make farther enquirie In the more antient times there were indeed Admirals or Governors of Sea affairs among the French yet so that their Writers do not a little differ about the original of the dignitie They for the most part say that Rotlandus is found to have been Governor of the Sea of Aremorica or Bretaign under Charlemaign whom they fetch out of Eginhartus who wrote the life of Charls at that time But in Eginhartus he is expressly called Governor not of the British Sea but onely of the Shore of Britaign as wee told you in the former Book In which name there is a description not of one that govern's the Sea as a Province but who command 's the Shore as the limit of his dignitie That is to say of the same kinde as those Counts or officers were who were deputed in that Age to guard the Sea Coast and secure it from the incursions of enemies by Sea There is also a nameless Autor of a Chronicle belonging to a Monasterie called Monasterium Besuense who write's that this guarding of the Shores under the Caroline Kings was given over a little after the time of Charlemaign But in the following Ages the Kingdom of France beeing divided as it wereby piece-meals into several principalites that which a long retained this name of the Kingdom of France was reduced into so narrow a compass that the Province of Narbon was held by Sovereign Earls of its own Aquitain or the Western Shore which lie's more Southerly with Normandie by the English Bretaign either by Kings or Dukes of the same aud Flanders by Earls So that whilst the whole Sea-Coast except Picardie remained separate from that Kingdom there was Sea little enough lying before it Yea and the Naval Forces were small enough of which before the accession of a larger Sea-Coast to the French Kingdom there was most use in the expedition of the holy War Nor was any other Governor wont to bee appointed there by the name of Admiral then hee who as occasion required was put in Command over the Navie and Militarie Affairs by Sea yea and was borrowed from som Nation bordering upon the Sea as the Genoeses or others of that kinde But the Kings themselvs had at that time no Command over the Sea as it is expressly written by Johannes Tilius a Clark of the Parlament of Paris His words are these After that the Kingdom of France was lessen'd by divisions and the Kings confined to more narrow Dominions becaus they had potent Vassals who enjoied Feuds with absolute Soveraigntie if you except their homage for the King of England held the Dutchies of Normandie and Aquitain Britain had a Duke of its own and slanders Tholouse and Provence had their Earls the Kings of France for a long time had no command over the Sea and therefore had no need of Admirals until they undertook the Expedition for the holy Land at which time they made use of Genoeses whom they hired with Spaniards or other of their neighbors that were well skill'd in Sea-affairs to under-take the care of transportation having no office appointed for that purpose and by this means they had many Admirals in one single Expedition But after that the English had quitted Normandie and the Kingdom of France had gotten ground upon the Sea-Coast the use of Sea-Affairs also was somwhat augmented That is to say about the times of John and Henrie the third Kings of England So that the first Admiral that they reckon in the Catalogue of French dignities of whom any memorie is left to posteritie was Enguerandus Coucaeus in the time of Philip the Bold King of France or about the year 1280 as it is related by Joannes Feronius And what kinde of dignitie his was appear's sufficiently thence that his next Successors Matthew Momorancie and John Harcourt were onely upon a particular occasion put in command over the Sea-Forces by Philip the fair as wee understand by their Commission Yea and they are mentioned by William de Nangis by the title of Admirals as others also are by Joannes de Beka in the time of Philip the fair Although Joannes Tilius reckon's Amaurius Viscount of Narbonne to bee the first that bare the dignitie of Admiral in France as a constant setled Office over the Affairs of the Sea to wit in the time of John and Charls the fift Kings of France that is about the year 1300 whilest others are too busie in summing up divers other particulars touching the Antiquitie of this command among the French Afterwards Aquitain was added to the Dominion of the King of France in the year 1453. Henrie the sixt of England beeing driven out But in the year 1481. the Province of Narbonne in the year 1491. the Dutchie of Bretaign and lastly in the space of som years all that the English held in Picardie was added also So all the Sea-Coast except Belgium returned into the Patrimonie of the Kingdom of France Hereupon it came to pass that four Sea-Governments or Admiralships were afterwards in use therein notwithstanding that somtimes one and the same person held several together But of these the Government that belong's to the shore of Normandie and Picardie is at this day usually called the Admiralship of France becaus before that the Province of Narbonne Aquitain and Bretaigne were annexed to the patrimonie of the Crown the onely Maritim Government in the Realm of France was that of Picardie whereto Normandie was added afterward as the next Province the other three beeing denominated from their respective Provinces The whole matter is very well set forth by Renatus Choppinus
those Islands that lie before the shore of France For 't is generally known that after King John and Henrie the third were driven out of Normandie it self that the Isles Caesaria and Sarnia which wee call Jersey and Garnesey Aureney and som other Neighboring Isles lying near the shores of Normandie and Bretaign yea and situated within that Creek of Sea which is made by the shore of Bretaign on the one side and that of Normandie on the other have in the following Ages both now and heretofore remained in the Dominion of England But by the sentence passed against K. John as Duke of Normandie for the murther of his Nephew Arthur the French would have him deprived of all the Right hee had to Normandie And afterwards Henrie the third resigned his Right to Normandie But suppose wee grant what is commonly received that these Islands were of the Norman Jurisdiction or belonging to the Dutchie of Normandie yet truly even so they neither could bee taken away by the sentence nor did they fall to the French by Resignation forasmuch as the possession of the Sea and so of the Islands placed therein was still reteined after the same manner almost as manie Priories were in England it self who though they were belonging to the Norman Government in Church-matters yet even as they were of the Government of Normandie they ever remain'd under the Dominion of England as long as the Privileges of Monasteries were in force among the English as beeing situate within the undoubted bounds of the English Empire Nor is it easily understood wherefore the Islands could have been so reteined unless they also had been seated within the bounds of the English Empire in the Sea But the thing chiefly to bee consider'd here is that verie manie Foreign Nations as well as the Estates of England did in a Libel or Bill of Complaint publickly exhibited in the time of King Edward the First and King Philip the Fair before a Court of Delegates specially in that behalf by them appointed in express terms acknowledg that the King of England hath ever been Lord not onely of this Sea but also of the Islands placed therein par raison du Roialme d' Angleterre upon the account of the Realm of England or as they were Kings of England Which truly is all one as in most express terms to ascribe this whole Sea unto them as far as the Shores or Ports lying over against us But concerning that Libel I shall add more by and by Nor is it to bee omitted that the addition of a Shore larger than that of Picardie to the Kingdom of France hapned first at that time wherein those Isles were so reteined by the English after they were outed of Normandie For before the Shores of Aquitain Bretaign and Normandie were in the possession of other Princes that of Aquitain and Normandie beeing possest by the English and that of Bretaign by the Duke or Earl of that Countrie So that the French King had neither any shore almost nor any considerable use of Sea-affairs at that time by which means also the English did with the more ease retain the aforesaid antient possession of the Sea and the Isles after they were deprived of the Norman Dutchie And this sufficiently appear's also by that Sea-Fight perform'd between the French Fleet commanded by Eustachius the Monk in the time of Philip Augustus King of France and the English Fleet under the Command of Philip de Albenie Governor of the aforesaid Islands and John Marshal who both carefully guarded the passages of the Sea in the beginning of the Reign of Henrie the Third That is to say a French Fleet of about 80 Sail was designed to transport Auxiliarie Forces out of France for Lewis afterwards the Eight of that name that was King of France who through the Treason of som Conspirators made War upon the English King in England This of the French was assailed by an English Fleet of 40 Sail. But Roger of Wendover and Matthew Paris tell us that part of the French who had not been used to Sea-Fight was in a short time wholly defeated Observ here they say that hitherto the French were not accustomed to Fights by Sea But of the English they say the English being warlick and skill'd in Sea-Fight galled them with Darts and Arrows ran them through with their Lances did execution with their Swords sank their Ships and them with Lime which they did by throwing the Powder of Lime into the Aër so it might bee driven by the winde into the French-men's eies They were deprived also of all hope of relief and succor and know not which way to slie The English at that time time beeing expert in Sea-Fight did by this means make good the possession of their Sea and the Isles also that are situate therein For even this Fight relate's to the second year of Henrie the Third or the year of our Lord MCCXVIII that is at the same time almost when the English were first deprived of Normandie But as to that which is commonly said that these Islands first belonged to the English Norman right or by the right of the Dutchie of Normandie it is as easily denied as affirmed by any Nor is there any weight in this Reason that becaus those Islands have and ever had certain Customs like the Norman therefore they do belong to Normandie For the Norman Customs are often used in England as the Roman are somtimes by other Nations yet everie man know's this can bee no ground for such an Argument Nor is it any more to the purpose that those Islands were within the Diocess of the Bishop of Constances in Normandie until that in our Grand-father's daies they became subject to the Bishop of Winchester Their Ecclesiastick Government was a long time derived out of Normandie with more convenience indeed becaus of the nearness of the place which began as it is to bee supposed in those daies when the English possessed the Shores on both sides But it doth not follow thence that those Islands belong'd to the Dutchie of Normandie any more then that the many Priories heretofore in England who were of foreign Jurisdiction in Ecclesiastical matters did therefore belong to the Dominion of foreign Princes and not to that of the English Kings as Kings of England That is every jot as weak also which they use to allege about the Norman Languages beeing in use among the Inhabitants of those Islands The people of Cornwâ—l in England have alwaies used the Welch Tongue at least with a little alteration in the Dialect as the Bretaigns do also in France In like manner the Inhabitants of the Isle of Man use the Irish Tongue yet no man will conclude thence either that this paie's obedience to the Kings of England as Lords or King of Ireland or that the other are subject to their Princes by any right of the Welch Principalitie Wee know indeed that
worthie of observation that this kinde of Letters were usually superscribed and directed by our Kings to their Governors of the Sea Admirals Vice-Admirals Sea-Captains to wit the Commanders appointed by the King to take care of his Territorie by Sea whereas notwithstanding wee finde no mention at all of any such Commanders in those Passports of that kinde which were granted heretofore by the French King to the King of England when hee was to cross over into France Letters of that kinde were given to our Edward the second by King Philip the Long superscribed onely thus Phelip par la grace de Dieu Roy de France A touz noz Justiciers subgies salut Philip by the grace of God King of France To our Judges and Subjects greeting But the reason is evident why the K. of England was wont to direct his Letters to his Commanders of the Sea and the French King at that time onely to his Judges and Subjects in general To wit becaus the King of England had his Sea-Commanders throughout this whole Sea as Lord of the same and therefore when hee crost over it was not reasonable that the French K. should secure him by Sea it beeing within the bounds of the English Territorie And yet the King of France might perhaps have an Admiral at that time but onely upon the shore of Normandie and Picardie For that of Aquitain Bretaign and Narbonne were not as yet added to the patrimonie of that Crown And it was about that time or a little before that they are placed who are first ranked in the Catalogue of the Admirals of France But of later time it is true indeed that in those Passports or Letters of safe Conduct which have been granted even by the French King and other Princes bordering upon the Sea Admirals are usually named in express terms among the other kindes of Roial Officers to the end that they to whom the Passports are granted may bee secured in every place and part of their Dominion But as touching the English Command over such as pass or sail through their Sea there are many other Arguments taken as wee shall shew by and by from the manner of our King 's prescribing limits to such as sail in this Sea as also from those passages which wee have alreadie cited out of Records concerning the Tributes or Customs imposed by the English upon such as passed through the Sea And truly it is very considerable also that the Kings both of Denmark and Sweden together with the Hans-Towns very often and earnestly begg'd of Queen Elisabeth that they might have free passage through the English Sea with Provisions towards Spain during the Warr betwixt her and the Spaniard I know indeed that such a Licence was denied them not onely in respect of the Dominion of the Sea but chiefly to prevent the conveying of Provisions to the Enemie For which caus also divers Ships belonging to the Hans-Towns laden with Corn were taken by English men of Warr in the very Streights of Lisbon without the Sea-Territorie of England which went by the Scotish Sea and the West towards Portugal which was don doubtless that they might not presume to use the English Sea without the leav of the Queen But the Hans-Towns cried out thereupon that the Laws of Nations Commerce and Leagues were violated becaus their ships were so taken by the English onely upon this account that they carried Provisions to the Enemie that is in a Territorie where the English did not in the least pretend to any Dominion And concerning this particular there is a notable Question controverted by very Learned men How far they that are not enemies or would not bee called enemies may by the Law of Nations afford supplies unto an enemie But som years before the taking of these ships when the Hamburgers who in the name also of the rest of the Hans-Towns desired leav to pass through this Sea to Portugal and Spain were more than once denied any kinde of libertie to transport either Corn or Warlike necessaries they did not at all suggest that their Petition at that time was grounded upon the Law of Nations or Commerce nor that the Queen's denial was contrarie to this kinde of Law That is to say they were by her first Answer enjoined to abstein from transporting Arms with other Warlike Necessaries and Corn but saith the Queen in transporting other commodities wee shall not hinder you at all but shall with all favour permit the ships of your Subjects to abide and pass after the accustomed manner that they may perform their Voiage This Answer they did not seem to take amiss But two years after they sent into England Sebastian à Berghen their Ambassador with Petitionarie Letters desiring that the Exception in the Licence formerly granted might bee taken away and a freedom to transport all kindes of Merchandise permitted Their Petition was denied again and this moreover added That such as should presume to do the contrarie should for their bold presumption suffer the loss of all their Goods and Merchandise so carried against her Majestie 's will and pleasure if they fell into the hands of her Men of Warr or any other of her Majestie 's Subjects Thus they ever addressed themselvs by Petitions and the Queen gave Answers according to her pleasure They did not so much as pretend the Laws of Nations or of Commerce before that they understood their ships were seised in another Sea to wit that of Portugal which they conceived free for themselvs by the Law of Nations and Commerce without leav from the Queen of England Then it was they began to plead that Libertie ought not by any Law to bee denied even these men who but som years before had humbly Petitioned the Queen of England more than once for free passage through the English Sea So that that principal point as som would have it of the Law of Nations that relief ought not to bee conveyed to Enemies by a Friend was not onely the ground either of the Hans-Town's Petition or the Queen's denial but her right of Dominion by Sea was concerned also which the Hans-Towns well knew they should violate if they should pass the Queen's Seas without her leav Hereunto for the same reason those particulars relate which wee finde concerning this matter in those points that were to bee insisted on in the year MDXCVII by Witfeldius and Bernicovius Ambassadors from Christiern the fourth King of Denmark to the Queen of England Wee were say they strictly enjoined by our King to mediate with her Majestie that our Countrie men may bee permitted a freedom to transport Corn or Provision towards Spain even as wee have don formerly and do now again with all earnestness desire especially since it is supposed that the same Licence of transporting Corn is granted somtimes both to English and Dutch that our Countrie-men may not bee used in a wors manner than your own
Town and others who shall bee willing to com to the said Town for the benefit of Fishing to fish and make their own advantage with Ships anâ— Boats under thirtie Tuns without any let or impediment any Prohibitions or Commands of ours made to the contrarie in any wise notwithstanding as wee have said â—itness the King at the Tower of London August X Which was in the 11 th year of the Reign of Edward the Third or of our Lord MCCCXXXIX But if any heretofore undertook the protection of the Fisher-men in this Sea without leav of the English they were to bee seized and imprison'd as Invaders of the Right of Dominion and to expect to bee dealt with accordingly for the injurie don to the King of England This is evident also in the Records of our K. Edward the Fourth For hee erected a Triumvirate or invested three Persons with Naval Power whom the Records call Custodes Conductores Waftores Guardians Conductors and Waftors whose Office it was to protect and guard the Fisher-men upon the Coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk To the end therefore that the expences of the Guard might be defrayed by the Fisher-men and all others whatsoëver bee excluded from medling with this kinde of Guard or protection hee appointed four men by name Sir John Hemingham Knight William Hopton Edmund Yve and John â—ansfleet Esquires as well say the Records themselvs to over-see those Guardians Conductors and Waftors as to give notice to all Fishermen of what Countrie soêver they bee who shall desire to fish in the Parts aforesaid under the protection of the said N. N. that those Fisher-men and everie of them do contribute to all and all manner of Costs Charges and Expenses belonging to the same Guardians and Conductors in the time of fishing and charge all such Costs Charges and Expences according to a proportion and to levie and collect those Costs Charges and Expences out of this kinde of Fishings belonging to the Fisher-men aforesaid wheresoêver they may bee found As also to arrest and apprehend all others except the afore named who presume or attempt to becom Guardians Conductors or Wastors and to commit them to our next Gaol there to bee kept safely and securely till wee shall take order for their deliverie In the very same words almost to the same purpose wee finde divers Letters Patents of King Henrie the Seventh yea and of Richard the Third save that in the form hereof after those words charge all such Expences according to a proportion this considerable Claus here is inserted Although the same Fishermen whether any one or more of them may have had Letters of safe Conduct from any other King Prince or Governor of any Kingdom whatsoëver So that by the received and usual Custom the Charges of the Guard were to bee defraied by the Fisher-men of this Sea at the pleasure of our Kings though they might have had Letters of publick security and protection from any other Princes Nor were any other persons to bee admitted to a partnership in this kinde of Guard except those that were appointed by the King of England lest by this means perhaps it might derogate from the English Right Which is a manifest sign or evidence of the Dominion and Possession of the place 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 privilege of perpetual truce or exemption from hostilitie in the Sea about those Isles which lie before the shore of Normandie CHAP. XXII Promontoriorum series Rumbi Leucae Ad the Sowter in Phoenicem S. S. E. 17â…“ Ad Whitby in Notapeliotem S. E. 12 Ad Flamborough head in Notapeliotem S. E. ½ versus Austrum 8 Ad the Sporne in Phoenicem S. S. E. versus Apeliotem 13â…“ Ad Cromar in Meleuâ—um S. E. and by E. 24â…“ Ad Minterton nes in Hypophoenicem S. E. and by S. 4. Ad Caster-nes in Phoenicem S. S. E. 21 13 Ad Layestof in Austrum S. 3¾ Ad East-nes in Austrum S. ½ versus Occidentem 1â…š Ad Orforth-nes in Mesolybonotum S. and by W. 6â…™ Ad North-foreland in Austrum S. â…“ versus Oâ—â—identem 15â…™ Ad South-foreland in Austrum S. 6â…“ Ad Dunge-nes in Notolybicum S. W. ¼ versus Austrum 7 Ad Beach in Africum W. S. W. ¼ versus Austrum 13 Ad Dune-noze in Africum W. S. W. ¾ versus Occidentem 24 â— â— Ad Portland in Hypafricum W. and by S. vers Austrum 161 12 Ad the Start in Africum M. S. M. â…• in Occidentem 18â…” Ad the Ramme in Occidentem M. ¼ versus Boream 6½ Ad the Dudman in Africum M. S. M. â…™ versus Occidentem 8½ Ad the Lizard in Africum M. S. M. â— â—â— versus Austrum 9 Ad the Landsend in Caurum M. N. M. versus Boream 7 Ad Milford in Boream N. â…” versus Orientem 31â…” Ad S. Davids head in Boream N. ½ versus Occidentem 5½ Ad Beardsie in Hypaquilonem N. and by E. â…› vers Orieâ—tâ—m 12â…™ Ad Holy head in Boream N. â…™ versus Occidentem 9 Ad Monam in Hypaquilonem N. and by E. â…• versus Boream 26 Here you see very large spaces of Sea intercepted somtimes for above ninetie Miles for three English miles here go to everie League whereby those Chambers or Sea-Closets are made But wee finde the management of that business concerning these Chambers at the time of the aforesaid Proclamation set forth after this manner in the subscription of the twelv men that were sworn and added to the aforesaid distances and courses of sailing Wee whose names are subscribed beeing called before the Right Honorable Sir Julius Caesar Knight Judg of his Majestie 's High Court of Admiraltie and there beeing inrolled admitted and sworn for the describing of the limits and bounds of the King's Chambers Havens or Ports in their full extent do by these presents make answer and to the best of our knowledg and understanding declare that the said Chambers Havens or Ports of his Majestie are the whole Sea-Coasts which are intercepted or cut off by a streight line drawn from one point to another about the Realm of England For the better understanding whereof wee have made a Table concerning that business whereto wee have annexed this our Schedule shewing therein how one Point stand's in a direct line towards another according to that Table Given the fourth day of March Anno Dom. 1604. and in the second year of the Reign of our Soveraign Lord King James c. And then in the Schedule there follow the names of the twelv men who were all persons of very great knowledg in naval or Maritim Affairs So the spaces within the streight lines drawn from one point to another are the Chambers or Ports of the King of England
and others as well Strangers as Natives Enemies as well as Friends may freely lawfully and without peril go unto pass to and fro and frequent the said Isle and the places upon the Coasts thereof with their Shipping Merchandise and Goods as well for shelter from foul weather as upon any other their lawful occasions and there to use free Commerce and Traffick and to abide with safetie and securitie and to com away thence and return at pleasure without any damage trouble or hostilitie whatsoëver in their Affairs Merchandise Goods or Bodies and that not onely near the Island and places aforesaid upon the Coasts and their Precinct but also within the spaces distant from them as far as a man may ken that is so far as the sight of the eie can attain And this is called a privilege which you see extend's so far into the Sea it self as the sight of the eie can pierce from the shore And if so bee this privilege did not proceed from the Kings of England as they are Lords both of the Sea and the Isles and by the same right that the Isles themselvs belong to them as hath been said before it cannot in reason bee imagined from whence it had its original There is not so far as wee know so much as a pretence of a Grant made by any other Princes But onely by the Kings of England who unless themselvs were Lords of the whole Sea flowing about by what Title and Autoritie did they ordein such a Truce so far within the Sea on every side between enemies of all Nations whatsoëver that came unto those Islands But as our Kings have very often commanded that all manner of persons should ceas from hostilitie not onely within the aforesaid Creeks but also throughout the spaces extended thence at pleasure into their Territorie by Sea so in like manner they indulged the like kinde of privilege for ever throughout these Coasts of the French shore that all manner of persons though enemies to one another might securely sail to and fro as it were under the wings of an Arbiter or Moderator of the Sea and also freely use the Sea according to such spaces or limits as they were pleased at first to appoint Which without doubt is a clear evidence of Dominion Certain publick Records wherein of old the Dominion of the Sea is by the way asscribed to the Kings of England both by the King himself and also by the Estates of Parlament debating of other matters and that in express words and with verie great deliberation as a known and most undoubted Right CHAP. XXIII I Shall next of all cite several publick Records which are kept in the Tower of London wherein the Dominion and possession of the Sea is by the way expressly asserted as belonging to the King of England and that both by the King himself as also by the Estates of the Parlament of England as they were debating about other matters For that is the sixt head of the former Division King Edward the third intitle's himself and his Predecessors Lords of the whole Sea flowing round about in the several Commissions given to Geoffry de Say Governor or Commander of the Southern and Western Sea and John de Norwich of the Northern the limit of distinction beginning as it was usual at the Mouth of the Thames out of which Records wee here set down theform which is especially to bee consider'd so far as it make's to this purpose The KING to his Beloved and Trustie Geoffry de Say Admiral of his Fleet of Ships from the Mouth of the River Thames toward the Western parts greeting Whereas Wee have of late commanded you by Our Letters that you together with certain Ships out of the Cinque-ports which wee have order'd to bee furnished and made readie for war according to our Command should set forth to Sea to oppose and resist certain Gallies provided and inforced with men of war in divers forein Parts which as Wee were inform'd were set out towards the parts of our Dominion to aggriev Us and Our people or els to turn their cours toward the Coasts of Scotland for the relief and succor of our Enemies there And in regard it hath been related by som that Gallies of that kinde to the number of XXVI are newly com to the Coasts of Bretaign and Normandie and do still abide there as it is supposed to do what mischief they can against Us and Ours or to succor Our said Enemies as is aforesaid Wee calling to minde that OUR PROGENITORS THE KINGS OF ENGLAND have before these times been LORDS OF THE ENGLISH SEA ON EVERIE SIDE yea and defenders thereof against the Invasions of Enemies and seeing it would very much grieve Us if our Kingly honor in this kinde of defens should which God forbid bee lost in our time or in any sort diminished and desiring with God's help to prevent dangers of this nature and provide for the safeguard and defens of the Realm and our Subjects and to restrain the malice of our Eenemies Wee do therefore strictly require and charge you by the duty and Allegeance wherein you stand bound according to the special trust reposed in you that immediately upon sight of these presents and without any farther delay you do set forth to Sea with the Ships of the Ports aforesaid and the other Ships which are now readie and that you arrest the other Ships in obedience to our command which Wee lately requir'd you to arrest But so that they might bee readie and provided to set forth according to Our aforesaid Command seeing Wee caused the Masters and Marriners of the same Ships to bee prepared and gather'd together whether they were within your Liberties or without and to caus them beeing well provided of men of war and other necessaries to hasten out to Sea with the aforesaid Ships and that with all diligence you make search after the aforesaid Gallies and other Ships of War abroad against us and stoutly and manfully set upon them if they shall presume to bend their cours for the end aforesaid toward the parts of Our Dominion or the Coasts of Scotland And if they steal away from you so that you cannot meet with them then you are with the aforesaid Ships of our Fleet without any delay to follow after the same Gallies and Ships of War set out against Us if they shall make towards our Kingdom or the Coasts â—f Scotland aforesaid and courageously to destroy them for the conservation of our Royal honor But yet Wee will not that you occasion any hurt or hindrance to Merchants or others passing by Sea who have no intention to offend Us and our Subjects or to succour our Enemies Then follow 's a power to press Seamen and som other matters of that kinde The day also and Autoritie is subscribed after this manner Witness the King at the Town of S t John the sixteenth day of August By the King himself and
a Prohibition made by the King of England and proclaimed according to the intent of the aforesaid third Article of the Treatie throughout his Dominions that is to say a Prohibition which forbade a giving any relief to the French King's enemies within the Dominion of the King of England and so endeavored to defend himself before the Commissioners it was alleged to bee don to the great damage and prejudice both of the King of England and of the Prelates Peers and all the rest who jointly preferr'd the Bill as aforesaid Therefore they all with one consent pray that the persons so imprisoned beeing set at libertie and restitution made of the Goods injuriously taken they might bee refeâ—red to the Jurisdiction of the Admiral of England to whom alone this kinde of Jurisdiction both in respect of Things and Place as well as Persons did appertein and that by order of the Commissioners Reyner Grimbald himself might bee enjoined to repair the losses of the Complainants in case hee wore able to make satisfaction or otherwise that the King of France who gave him Commission for that Command might bee adjudged to do the same But after reparation made that then also the said Reyner might receiv such punishment for violating the League as might deter others from the like attempt in time to com Now what was don by the Commissioners is not very well known It seem's it was a matter of such moment that it was thought more convenient to make an end by agreement than bring the matter to a trial But in the mean time nothing is more evident than that a right of Dominion over the Sea and that antient and confirmed by long Preseription was in express terms here acknowledged by almost all the Neighbor-Nations to belong to the King of England and so that hee might at his own pleasure give protection and set Laws and Limits to all that sailed through this Sea and used it in any manner whatsoever nor could this kinde of Right bee altered or diminished by the differences of the Neighbor-Nations between each other or by any Right of war belonging to others otherwise than in any other Territorie of his Dominion And it is to bee observed that the Flemings themselvs betwixt whom and the French there was a war on foot at that time were not nor could they rightly have been parties in that Charge or Accusation For by virtue of the aforesaid League made between the English and French they were to assist one another by Arms to defend each other 's Rights so that according to the League the French King was permitted to use the Sea to infest the Flemings beeing his enemies but not to intercept such as passed this way from any other Nations or that were bound with Merchandise for Flanders And Paulus AEmilius speaking of this very time saith The French King threatned ruine to Flanders The King of England protected the Flemings For Edward was so far onely a friend of the King of France that yet hee would not have the Flemings ruined Thus our King order's the matter both as a Defender of his own Right and supreme Moderator also of Navigation in respect of others Nor truly is it to bee omitted that Grimbald himself here beeing Governor of the French Navie did not onely arrogate this power in this Sea from the Autoritie granted him by his King's Commission but in express terms also made use of that Prohibition of the King of England which was in force according to the Third Article of the said League thereby to defend himself as if hee had also acknowledged that himself could not have lawfully held that office of Admiraltie in this Sea without such a Permission as hee conceived himself to enjoy by virtue of that Prohibition For by that Prohibition it was required that no relief should bee given to the French King's Enemies nor any aid afforded them within the Dominion of the King of England that is per my son poere which were the very words of Grimbald as you may see in the Libel it self set down hereafter And so Grimbald expressly objected the Autoritie of that Prohibition together with the power of his Master's Commission in defence of himself As if hee had said I use this power it beeing given mee by the King of France who put mee in Command over his Navie and Affairs belonging to the Sea But besides this the King of England having set forth his Prohibition commanded that no kinde of relief should bee given to any Enemie of the French within his Dominion according to the League made between both the Kings And therefore seeing I have not taken either the Persons or Goods of any but such as are Enemies or at least such as according to the Intervenient Law of Nations are to bee reckoned upon an hostile Account for doubtless hee pretended that they were to bee taken as Enemies of what Nation soêver they were who relieved the Flemings by Merchandise or otherwise I conceiv it a sufficient ground of defence in my behalf that the King of England according to the League made did by publick Proclamation require that no succor or relief should bee given to the Enemies of France in any part of his Dominion Upon which account not to these whom I took at Sea The summe of all in brief is this That Grimbald did not so much as imagine that his office of Admiraltie or Power given him by Commission depended upon any Dominion of the King of France by Sea but altogether upon the Autoritie of his Kings Commission the League and the King of England's Prohibition As if the English King had openly declared by that League and Prohibition that hee would not take it for any injurie to himself during that kinde of League and Prohibition although the French should fall upon any of their Enemies in his Dominion or though they which is all one here should bee taken in his Sea by the French King's Officers Certainly unless you so understand Grimbald I do not see wherefore he should at all join that Prohibition together with the King his Master's Commission in defence of himself as it is expressed in the Libel or why mention was made there of the Dominion of the King of England throughout which that Prohibition was proclaimed seeing the controversie arose touching things don onely by Sea But if hee bee so to bee understood certainly then hee did not onely forbear to oppose the antient right of the King of England by Sea but also sufficiently acknowledged it while hee seem's to affirm that a temporarie restriction onely was added thereto by an accession of the League and the Prohibition So that wee have a tacit acknowledgment even of the French themselvs at that time in this their Admiral But how the principal points of the League ought to bee expounded it is no place here to discours for wee observ onely that the Sea Dominion of the Kings of England was acknowledged in
that Libel by so many Nations Moreover truly it is worthie observation that about the very same time to wit a little before the making of the League the King of England did homage to the French King for the Dutchie of Aquitain the Earldom of Pontois and other Provinces that hee held in France that hee was also wholly deprived of them som time before by decree of the Parlament of Paris yea and that about one hundred years before King John was outed of Normandie and yet afterward that the King of England now and then regained a possession of it and that before the time of the League and of the publication of this Libel which serv all to this end that wee may observ that when the aforesaid famous controversie arose about the use and Soveraigntie of the Sea flowing between France and Britain and the absolute Dominion thereof was asscribed by so many Nations upon a Title derived time out of minde to the King of England and his Predecessors yet in the mean time no title at all was pretended in right to their possession either of Normandie or Aquitain whereupon a Dominion of any part of the Sea might in any sort bee grounded but claimed upon the sole right of the English Empire And it appear's evident by the thing it self that the things complained of by those Nations in the Libel were don by that Governor of the French Navie chiefly in the Sea near the shores of France and Flanders which were in hostilitie with each other And so certainly they all unanimously affirm that the whole Sea whereof they speak is under the Dominion of the King of England and that upon the sole Account and right of the English Empire And as for Grimbald hee did not defend himself either by a pretence of any Dominion of the King of France or by disproving of that Prescription whereupon the English Title depend's as a thing not declared according to Truth or antient Right nor did hee at all pretend that the Right which the Kings of England had in the Sea borde ring upon France did belong to them either upon the account of Normandie or any other French Province whatsoêver as Fiduciarie Clients or Vassals of the King of France though it had been convenient and very seasonable for him to have alleged all these Particulars if the Truth had been so indeed Whereby also that is not a little confirmed whereof wee discoursed before about taking the names of the shore over against us in the later Commissions of the Office of high Admiral of England for limits onely of the Sea-Dominion of the Kings of England and of the Province thereof under their protection Moreover also about seven years before the exhibiting of the aforesaid Libel to the Commissioners when as the King of France by reason of divers heinous injuries don to his Subjects by the English in this Sea required that the King of England as hee was the Fiduciarie Client or Vassal becaus of Aquitain and other Provinces that hee held under him in France should bee questioned not onely for wrong don but also for his right to those Lands which hee held and bee summoned to appear in the Parlament of Paris the matter beeing set down at large in the Letter of Summons hee inserted nothing therein whereby hee might seem to arrogate any Sea-Dominion at all to himself or diminish that which belong'd to the King of England as you may see in I lorilegus who hath set down an entire Copie of them in his Annals The same Autor also speaking of the same Time saith At that time there was neither Lord nor Law over the Sea men but what every man was able to catch or snatch hee called his own which plainly denote's an extraordinarie Licence or of Depredation and infesting the Sea yet so to bee understood that in the mean time the incomparable power of the English in Shipping which guarded their Dominion by Sea according to the Custom of their Ancestors was chiefly signified thereby the King very freely permitting his Subjects to use depredations by Sea as long as the war continued For Florilegus himself relate's that great numbers both of French and Spaniards were then taken at Sea by the English Yea and about that time Thomas of Walsingham write's that either a French or Norman Navie of two hundred Sail which roved about this Sea to rob the English were overcom by a Fleet of sixtie English Ships and brought into England There is also another antient Autor of the same time when these affairs were acted who saith That in the Month of May MCCXCIV there fell out a Quarrel between the Sea-men of the Cinque-Ports of England and the Sea-men of France and it was determined by a fight at Sea wherein the English with a Fleet of one hundred Sail took two hundred Ships of France and drowned or killed almost all the Sea-men of France for which caus Philip King of France endeavored to take away Gascoign from the King of England Others there are likewise that have other expressions touching these things whereby it is easie to collect what is meant by that of Florilegus when hee saith that there was neither Lord nor Law over Sea-men at that time that is to say the King of England had let the reins loos to his Subjects as Moderator of this Sea and this hee did that they might not onely restrain his enemies but them also that should reliev his enemies in any manner whatsoêver or that should use the Sea otherwise than at his pleasure who was Lord thereof But as concerning the like acknowledgment made singly and apart by the Flemings of the Dominion of the Kings of England over the Sea I shall Treat by and by after that I have in the next place set before you the Libel it self in its own that is the Norman Tongue as it stand's recorded in the Tower of London A Copie or Transcript of the Libel or Bill of Complaint mentioned in the former Chapter CHAP. XXVIII IN the Archives of the Tower of London where Records of above four hundred years are kept there is a bundle of Parchments which contein som affairs relating to the times of Henrie the Third and of Edward the First and Third The first contein's an agreement made between Edward the First and Guy Earl of Flanders touching their Ships bearing of Colors about this Sea to the end that they might bee the more easily known Then there are annexed three either Originals or Copies of the said Libel written at the same time For as it seem's the several Procurators of those Nations that were parties in the Complaint had their several Libels though expressed in the name of all together So that one is endorsed thus De Baiona as if that Libel had been exhibited singly by the men of Bayonne but the title run's thus De Superioritate Maris Angliae Jure Officii Admirallatûs in eodem
THERE IS NO MEMORIAL TO THE CONTRARY HAVE BEEN IN PEACEABLE POSSESSION OF THE SOVERAIGN LORDSHIP OF THE SEA OF ENGLAND AND OF THE ISLES WITHIN THE SAME with power of making and establishing Laws Statutes and Prohibitions of people as well of other Dominâ—â—ns as their 〈◊〉 passing through the said Seas and the Saveraign Guard thereof And also 〈…〉 all manner of Cognisance in Causes and of doing right aâ—d Iustice to high and low according to the said Laws Staâ—uâ—es Ordinances and Prohibitions and all other things which may appertein to the exercises of Soveraign Iurisdiction in the places aforesaid And whereas A. de B. deputed Admiral of the said Sea by the King of England and all other Admirals appointed by the said king of England and his Ancestors heretofore kings of England of aâ—â—â—al and complaint made of them to their Soveraigns the kings of England in default of Iustice or for evil Iudâ—â—â—nâ— aâ—d especially of making Prohibitions doing Iustice and taking surety of the peace of all manner of people using arms in the said Sea or carrying Sâ—â—ps otherwise furnished and â—et forth thâ—â— Merchant-men use to bee aâ—d in all other points where a man may have reasonable caus to suspect them of Robbery or other â—…uors And whereas the Masters of the Ships of the said kingdom of England in the absence of the said Admiral have been in peaceable possession of taking cognisance and judging of all Aâ—â—ions don in the said Sea between all manner of people according to the Laws Statutes Prohibitions and Customs And whereas in the first Article of the League lately made between the said Kings in the Treatie upon the last peace at Paris there are comprised the words here following in a Schedule annexed to these Presents But that which follow 's is not written in a Schedule annexed but in the same Parchment from whence it may perhaps bee conjectured that these are not so much the very Libels themselvs which were exhibited to the Commissioners or Auditors as antient Copies taken from the Original as also from this that the name of the Admiral is set down A. de B. which two first Letters do not agree with the name of any one that wee can finde in Record to have been Admiral of England at that time First it is concluded and accorded between Us and the Agents and Procurators aforesaid in the names of the said Kings that the said Kings shall from this time forward becom to each other good true and faithful friends and bee aiding to one another against all men saving the Church of Rome in such manner that if any one or more whosoever they bee shall intend to disturb hinder or molest the said Kings in the Franchises Liberties Privileges Rights and Customs of them and their Kingdoms They shall bee good and faithful friends to each other and aiding against all men living and readie to die to defend keep and maintein the Franchises Liberties Privileges Rights and Customs aforesaid Except on the behalf of the said King of England John Duke of Brabant in Brabant and his heirs descending from him and the daughter of the King of England and except on the behalf of our Lord the said king of France the excellent Prince Monsieur Albert king of Almaign and his heirs kings of Almaign and Monsieur John Earl of Henault in Henault and that the one shall not bee of Counsel nor aiding where the other may lose life member estate or honor Monsieur Reyner Grimbald Master of the Navie of the said king of France who call's himself Admiral of the said Sea beeing deputed by his aforesaid Lord in his war against the Flemings did after the said League made and confirmed against the tenor and obligation of the said League and the intent of them that made it wrongfully assume and exercise the office of Admiraltie in the said Sea of England above the space of a year by Commission of the said king of France taking the people and Merchants of the kingdom of England and of other places passing through the said Sea with their Goods and committed them so taken to the prison of his said Lord the king of France and delivered their Goods and Merchandises to the Receivers of the said king of France by him deputed in the Ports of his said kingdom as forfeited and due unto him to remain at his Judgment and award And the taking and deteining of the said people with their said goods as also his said Judgment award for the forfeiture acquest of them he hath iustified before you Lords Auditors in writing by virtue of the autoritie of his said Commission of Admiraltie aforesaid by him usurped after this manner and during a Prohibition or Restraint generally made and proclaimed by the king of England in right of his Dominion according to the tenor of the third Article of the League aforesaid which contain's the words above-written requiring that hee may thereupon bee acquitted and discharged of the same to the great damage and prejudice of the said king of England and of the Prelates Nobles others above-mentioned Wherefore the said Procurators in the names of their said Lords do pray your Lordships Auditors that you would caus due and speedie deliverance of the said people with their Goods and Merchandises so taken and deteined to bee made to the Admiral of the said king of England to whom the cognisance of the same of right apperteineth as is before expressed So that without disturbance from you or any other hee may take cognisance thereof and do what belong's to his office aforesaid And the said Monsieur Reyner bee condemned and constrained to make satisfaction for all the said damages so far forth as hee shall bee able and in his default his said Lord the king of France by whom hee was deputed to the said office and that after satisfaction given for the said damages the said Monsieur Reyner may bee so duly punished for the violation of the said League that his punishment may be an example to others in time to com So far the Libel of so many Nations manifestly acknowledging the Soveraigntie and Dominion of our Kings over the Sea and thereupon demanding protection for themselvs And whereas no mention is made of this thing in the Histories either of the French English or others it is no wonder since the proceedings of Courts of Judiâ—aâ—ure are very seldom set down in Historiâ—â— But wee understand by the French Historie that this Griâ—bald was Govâ—â—â—or of the French Navie at the very same time Paulus AEmiliuâ— writing of Philip the Fair saith Hee hired sixteen Gallies from Genoa â—ver which Reyner Grimbald was Governor or Commander Hee sailing about by Sea infested the Sea-Coast of Flanders Regimerus Reginâ—rus or Reynerus Grimbaldus is one and the same man and among the Genoêses there is an eminent Family of that name But becaus hee was a Foreiner and Mercenarie therefore it seem's Joannes Feronius left
as a River or Brook must bee conteined under the same Jurisdiction as an entire Bodie with the Land therefore somtimes mention is made also of this kinde of Sea flowing in as of a Sea reckoned within the Jurisdiction Current of the Sea of the opposite shores as for example of the Sea Flanders or as I finde it in som antient Manuscripts which seem to bee the Originals of certain Letters of King Henrie the Fift to the Earl of Carolois and to the Governors of Ypres Gaunt and Bruges deins la Jurisdiction l'estrem de la meer de Flandres within the Jurisdiction and stream of the Sea of Flanders which is all one For setting aside the Sea so flowing in or making an in-let or harbor before the opposite shore all that which remain's or the Sea flowing between those opposite Countries and England was ever esteemed to bee of the English Dominion according to what I have formerly shewn So that a late Writer doubtless was in a dream when upon the repairing of the Dock at Mardike hee write's that hee saw the Empire of the British Sea restored to the King of Spain And so I have don with this point touching the Declaration and acknowledgment of the Sea Dominion of our Kings made by those Forein and Neighbor-Nations who were most concerned in the Business Of the Dominion of the King of Great Britain in the Irish and Western Sea consider'd singly and apart by it self CHAP. XXX I have alreadie spoken in general of the English or British Sea which is a part of the Patrimonie of the Crown of England but chiefly as it lie's either East or South It rest's now that wee treat of the Western as also the Scotish and Northern and in a word of the whole British Sea that remain's It is evident to all that part of the Western Sea lying before England is understood as well in that Libel which was exhibited by so many Nations to the Commissioners deputed by the Kings of England and France above three hundred and thirtie years ago wherein wee so often read le mer d' Angleterre or the sea of England as in the King 's Commission-before mentioned wherein our Kings are expressly-declared Lords of the English Sea on every side and therefore I shall forbear to repeat what is cited out of Bracton about the Essoyning or excusing of a man absent in Ireland and other things of that kinde alleged before which make to this purpose Moreover also wee read every where that all the Isles in this neighboring Sea were called British as wee observed at the beginning of this Book just as if the narrow Seas flowing between like Rivers or turnings of Rivers did disjoin those Banks or Shores from great Britain as Fragments of the same Whereby it appear's that the narrow Seas themselvs with the Isles even as Rivers with their Banks are to bee reckoned a part of the British Territorie And hereunto especially relate's also that expression in the Libel so often cited to wit that the Kings of England have ever been Lords both of the English Sea or of the British so far as it stretcheth before England and also of the Isles situate therein par raison du Royalme d' Angleterre by right of the Realm of England So that the Isle of Man which as Giraldus Cambrensis saith stand's in this Sea in the very midst betwixt the Northern Parts of England and Ireland was if I understand any thing reckoned of old among the Land-Provinces of England even as the Isle of Wight Lundie and others of that kinde Nor doth it seem to bee understood otherwise by those men of antient time who upon occasion of a dispute whether this Isle ought by right to bee taken for an appendant of England or Ireland beeing placed in the midst of the Sea flowing between determined the controversie on this manner They brought venemous serpents and observing that the Isle did entertain and cherish them as well as England and the rest of great Britain but on the contrarie that Ireland destroied them it was concluded saith Giraldus Cambrensis who lived under Henrie the Second by the common censure of all that it ought to bee ascribed unto England For if they had so thought the Territorie either of Ireland or England as it consisted of Land and Sea to bee dis-joined from this Isle of Man that they had conceived the Sea lying between either common to all men or by antient right subject to other than the Kings either of Ireland or Britain they might seem to have raised a very ridiculous Controversie For I suppose the Question could bee no other than touching the bounds of England or great Britain and Ireland But that a Question about bounds may bee admitted between Owners that are Neighbors where the Territories of both are not continual or contiguous is beyond my understanding It is well said by Paulus that if a publick Thorow-fare or publick River intervene which belong's to neither of the neighboring Owners an Action cannot bee brought upon that Title of the Law Finium Regundorum And truly after that Quintus Fabius Labeo beeing appointed Arbiter by the Senate betwixt the Nolans and Neapolitans about the bounds of a Field had so craftily perswaded both of them to retire backwards apart from each other that a portion of the Field was left in the middle which hee adjudged to the people of Rome there could not any Controversie arise farther between them about the bounds of this Field becaus there ceased to bee any confine betwixt them But if any Question arose afterwards they were both to contend with the people of Rome Even so it is to bee conceived of that Question to which of the two Countries the Isle of Man ought by Right to bee ascribed it arising chiefly upon this ground becaus it lay in the midst between the Territories belonging to Ireland and Britain and at the confine of both For by an Argument drawn from the nature of the very soil onely without a civil consideration of Dominion though they would have here the very nature of the soil to bee the evidence thereof as a Lot for decision it ought no more to bee ascribed either to Britain or Ireland than to Norway Spain or France where every man know's that venemous Creatures are bred as well as in Britain Therefore to bee ascribed to England or Britain in that antient Decision is so immediately to bee annexed to the British Territorie that the Isle of Man may truly and in a civil sens bee called a Land-Province of England or Britain seeing the English Territorie is so continually extended as far as its Western Coasts that which bend's Westward from the very Confine beeing ascribed to Ireland And therefore Queen Elisabeth's Commissioners let fall those words too unadvisedly in the Treatie held at Bremen with the Danish Commissioners about free Navigation and Fishing in the Norwegian
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
Kingdom the ground whereof is this becaus the Universal right of all those things which were common either by the Law of nature or Nations is transferred into his Dominion And other passages hee hath much to the same purpose as also Stephanus Paschasius Ludovicus Servinus somtime Sollicitor general for the King Popellinerius and others If they speak of the Sea of Maâ—seille or Narbon wee shall not oppose them But as to what concern's the bodie of the Sea which lie's Northward or Westward of the French or that flow's between France and the Islands of great Britain for that which lie's Westward from them upon that crooked Shore or the gulf of Aquitaine doth indeed flow between the more Westerly Coasts of our British Isles and of France as well as that which lie's Northward from them flow's between England and Normandie they neither produce any Testimonies of Antiquitie nor indeed can they if they would Unless you will have that admitted which hath been cited out of Caesar concerning the Veneti of Aremoriça and that which wee said before of the Sea bordering upon that shore Both which indeed do rather import som service called heretofore Nobilitates super navibus then any kinde of Dominion But the soveraigntie of this Sea which flow's between them and us became absolutely appropriate to the Kings of England as wee shall make it appear in the next Book And the truth is if wee look upon the Customs most in use among the French or the Civil Law of that Nation there is nothing in it that derogate's from the antient communitie of the Sea but as to them it remaine's as yet not possessed but common to all men and therefore not to bee reckoned among the Revenues or Patrimonie of their Kings if so bee credit may bee given to that Treatise lately published of the Civil Romane and French Law by Thomas Cormerius Counsellor to Francis Duke of Anjou in his Parlament of Alençon The matter that it pretend's to treat of is the Romane Gallick Law There are in it the Customs of France decrees of Princes and Privileges often â—ntermingled But under the Title of things common â—o all hee make's the Sea and Shores common to all according to the antient Law of the Romanes as if in this matter it did exactly agree with the Law of France which certainly is an argument that the French have no Dominion over the Sea Nor must wee let it pass that somwhile since there were two Constitutions pretended to in France one of Henrie the Second the other of Henrie the Third wherein they required that the Ships of Forraigners which sailed through the Sea bordering upon France should strike their top-sail forsooth in acknowledgment of that Dominion the French had over the Sea But neither of them were autorized or as they speak simply verified by the Estates in Parlament yea nor so much as admitted into Custom Nay the later of them was plainly rejected as to any effect in Law And this the French Lawyers themselvs confess in a notable case between som Merchants of Hamburgh that were Plaintiffs and Michaël Butardus and others Defendants in a Parlament held at Tours in the time of Henry the Fourth But that cerimonie hath by most ancient right and custom been observed and paid to the ships of the Kings of England out of respect and in acknowledgement of their Dominion as is shewn in the following Book where wee treat of this particular more at large I know very well it was ordained by an Edict of the French King that one third part of all goods recovered out of the Sea should belong to the King another to the Admiral and the remainder to the Sea-men that found them And that the French do reckon very many Commanders in Chief at Sea or Admirals in a line somtime continued and somtime interrupted which for the most part they begin from the time of Philip the son of St. Lewis that is from the year MCCLXXXIV as is to be seen in Joannes Feronius Stephanus Paschasius and others But that division of goods recovered out of the Sea beeing simply considered doth prove any Dominion over the Sea no more then the Tenths of any Prizes taken from an Enemie at Sea which by the grant of the King also were allotted to the Admiral of the Navie Rights of this nature are grounded upon the consent of persons to wit subjects transferr'd unto the King not upon any title of Dominion whereby any Pretence may bee made to an acquiring of the Sea it self and they are paid no otherwise then Imposts or Customs in the importation or exportation of Merchandise But no man I suppose will imagin that from such Imposts or Customs upon Merchandise any proof may bee made of a Dominion over those passages through which the Merchants sail before they arrive Neither indeed was there any such custom as this in use among the French before the time of Francis the first that is to say plainly not beeing Lord of the Sea hee desired to bee and was made a Sharer of those goods which should bee drawn by his subjects out of any Sea whatsoëver Whereas the King of Great Britain by virtue of his Dominion over the Sea is wont to take as his own whatsoëver is left or lost in the sea besides other emoluments of the like nature and that by so ancient a right as for ought wee know bear 's a date no less ancient then the Kingdom it self And as for those Admirals of France they were no other then Chief Commanders of Navies and Persons and of the Forces by sea and Judicatories at home but not qualified as Presidents of a Sea-Province or Territorie as the Custodes ipsius Maris the Guardians of the sea among the English and the Admirals of England But more of this in the Second Book Nevertheless from what hath been alleged concerning the Customs Opinions or Constitutions among the French I suppose it sufficiently appear's that they do also acknowledg that private Dominion over the sea is not repugnant to the Law either of Nature or Nations which serve 's fully for the clearing of the point in question The private Dominion of the Sea according to the received Customs of the Danes the People of Norway the Swedes Polanders and Turks CHAP. XIX WEE finde clear Testimonies in the Customs of other Nations also of Europe touching private Dominion of the sea as the Danes the people of Norway the Polanders to whom may bee added also the Turks Wee have observed by the Tolls or Customs of Denmark and Norway what Revenue the King of Denmark raiseth out of the very Navigation of the Baltick Sea as is commonly known and what is paid out of the Roialtie of the Norwegian sea to the King of Norway who at this time is also King of Denmark For in the year MDLXXXIII Frederick the second King of Denmark and Norway made a
been by them deliver'd Just in the same manner as if a man should so discours upon Aristotle's Astronomie or the opinion of Thales touching the Earth's floating like a Dish in the Sea and that of the Stoâ—cks of its encompassing the Earth like a Girdle with that of the Antients concerning an extreme heat under the Equinoctial and other opinions of that kinde which are rejected and condemned by the observation and experience of Posteritie that hee might seem not so much to search into the thing it self as to represent the person of the Autor thereby to trace out his meaning onely for the discovering of his opinion But as the root beeing cut the Tree fall's so the Autoritie of those antient Lawyers beeing removed out of the way all the determinations of the modern which are supported by it must bee extremely weakned Now therefore as to what hath been formerly alleged out of Fernandus Vosquius it is grounded upon such Arguments as are either manifestly fals or impertinent For what is this to the purpose That the Sea from the beginning of the world to this present day is and ever hath been in common without the least alteration as 't is generally known Whereas the quite contrarie is most certainly known to those who have had any insight into the received Laws and Customs of Ages and Nations That is to say that by most approved Law and Custom som Seas have passed into the Dominion and partrimonie both of Princes and private persons as is clearly made manifest out of what hath been alreadie shewn you Moreover also hee would have prescription to ceas betwixt Foreigners in relation to each other and not to take place in the Law of Nations but in the Civil onely so that by his Opinion prescription should bee of no force between those as between two supreme states or Princes who are not indifferently subject to the Civil Law which admit's prescription then which not any thing can bee said or imagined more absurd Almost all the principal points of the Intervenient Law of Nations beeing established by long consent of persons using them do depend upon prescription or antient Custom To say nothing of those Princes whose Territories were subject heretofore to the Roman Empire and who afterwards became absolute within themselvs not onely by Arms but also by prescription which is every where admitted among the Laws of Nations whence is it that Prisoners of war are not now made slaves among Christians unless it bee becaus that Custom began to grow out of date som Ages since upon a ground of Christian brotherhood and by prescription ratified betwixt Nations Whence is it that the ransoms of prisoners are to bee paid som to the Princes and som to the Persons that take them As for instance when the ransom is not above ten thousand Crowns it goe's to him that took the Prisoner when it exceed's it is to bee paid to the Prince Becaus saith Nicolaus Boërius if it exceed as when any one hath taken a Duke a Count a Baron or any other great man then it belong's to the Prince and so it is observed in the Kingdoms of France England and Spain It hath by prescription of time been observed among Princes and so it became Law And truly to deny a Title of prescription wholly among Princes is plainly to abrogate the very intervenient Laws of Nations As for those other things mentioned by Vasquius concerning Charitie and the inexhaustible abundance of the Sea whereby hee make's a difference betwixt Rivers and Seas and other things of the like nature they have no relation at all to the point of Dominion as you have been sufficiently told alreadie In the next place wee com to the other to wit Hugo Grotius a man of great learning and extraordinarie knowledg in things both Divine and Humane whose name is very frequent in the mouths of men every where to maintein a natural and perpetual Communitie of the Sea Hee hath handled that point in two Books in his Mare Liberum and in that excellent work De Jure Belli pacis As to what concern's Mare Liberum a Book that was written against the Portugals about trading into the Indies through the vast Atlantick and Southern Ocean it contein's indeed such things as have been delivered by antient Lawyers touching communitiâ— of the Sea Yea and disputing for the Profits and Interests of his Countrie hee draw's them into his own partie and so endeavor's to prove that the Sea is not capable of private Dominion But hee hath so warily couched this subject with other things that whether in this hee did hit or miss the rest howsoëver might serv to assert the point which hee was to handle Moreover hee discourseth about the Title of Discoverie and primarie occupation pretended to by the Portugals and that also which is by Donation from the Pope And hee seem's in a manner either somtimes to quit that natural and perpetual Communitie which many Civil Lawyers are eager to maintein and hee himself in order to his design endeavored to confirm or els to confess that it can hardly bee defended For concerning those Seas that were inclosed by the antient Romans the nature of the Sea saith hee differ's from the Shore in this that the Sea unless it bee in som small part of it self is not easily capable of Building or Inclosure And put case it were yet even this could hardly bee without the hindrance of common use Nevertheless if any small part of it may bee thus possessed it fall's to him that enter's upon it first by occupation Now the difference of a lesser and a greaâ—er part cannot take place I suppose in the determining of private Dominion But in express words hee except's even a Bay or Creek of the Sea And a little after saith hee Wee do not speak here of an Iâ—-land Sea which in som places being streightned with Land on every side exceed's not the breadth even of a River yet 't is clear that this was it the Roman Lawyers spake of when they set forth those notable determinations against private Avarice But the Question is concerning the Ocean which Antiquitie called immense Infinit the Parent or Original of things confining with the Aër And afterwards hee saith The Controversie is not about a streight or Creek in this Ocean nor of so much as is within view when one stand's upon the shore A little farther also speaking of Prescription hee saith It is to bee added that their Autoritie who are of the contrarie opinion cannot bee applied to this Question For they speak of the Mediterranean Sea wee of the Ocean They of a Creek or Bay wee of the broad and wide Sea which differ very much in the point of Occupation And certainly there is no man but must conceiv it a very difficult thing to possess the whole Ocean Though if it could bee held by occupation like a narrow Sea or a Creek or as
Sea Among the old Laws of England it appear's that the paiment of Danegeld was first imposed becaus of Pirates either Robbers or others invading the Sea For they infesting the Countrie wasted it as far as they were able Therefore for the repressing of their insolence it was determined that an yearly paiment should bee made of Danegeld that is to say twelve pence upon every hide through the whole Land for the pay of those that should bee imploied to hinder the eruption of Pirates So wee read it in som Copies others render it Irruption But the other reading seem's to signifie that this Tax was imposed for the raising and mainteining of Naval Forces so to guard the Sea that Pirates or Enemies might not bee able to make any eruption from the Shore on the other side of the Sea Nor can the word Eruption otherwise bee well put in that place So that even that antient Dignitie of the Count of the Saxon shore whereof wee have alreadie spoken is therefore not obscurely represented by him who commanded as Admiral over the Fleets of that Age. This Tribute or Tax had its beginning under King Ethelred For hee beeing brought into miserable streights by Swane King of Denmark beeing forced to buy a Peace of him hired XLV Danish Ships also by Agreement for the guarding and securing of his Dominion in the Sea who were to receiv their pay yearly out of this Tribute for their maintenance For the right understanding whereof it is to bee observed out of the English Saxon Storie that the Tribute or Tax usually paid at that time to the Danes was of more kindes then one There was one Tribute or sum of Monie wherewith the English-Saxons were forced somtimes to buy Peace of such as grievously infested the Island But another was levied to pay the Danish Navie which was hired to guard the Sea and defend the Sea-Coasts The first kinde of Tribute appear's by that of Florentius and Hoveden in the year MVII Ethelred King of England by the advice of his Lords sending Embassadors to the Danes gave them Commission to declare that hee was willing to defray their Charges and pay them a Tribute upon this condition that they would desist from rapine and establish a firm Peace with him To which demand of his they yielded And from that time their charge was defraied by all England and a Tribute paid which amounted to 36000 pounds That is hee effected this onely for the present that hee obteined a peace for a time by monie which hee could not by Arms as Florilegus saith well Four years after also all the great Lords of England of both Orders met together at London before Easter and there they staid so long till paiment was made of the Tribute promised to the Danes amounting to fourtie eight thousand pounds which wee reade of likewise both in Florentius and Hoveden But this was paid to the intent that all Danes which were in the Kingdom should in every place dwell peaceably by the English and that both People should have as it were one heart and one soul as it is expressed by Florilegus Other passages of the same kinde there are in the storie of that Age yea and som of an elder date Yet this first kinde of Tribute was not wont to bee paid yearly but levied now and then as occasion required Notwithstanding it may bee true perhaps which som write that Ethelred in the aforesaid agreement of the year MVII yielded to pay every year a Tribute of Thirtie six Thousand pounds to the Danes for a longer continuation of the peace Wee read here that hee yielded or granted but no where likewise that hee paid it But as for the second kinde of Tribute which was to bee paid as wee have told you for hire of the Danish Navie it was a yearly Tribute and levied at the same time at least in the same year to wit of our Lord MXII wherein these fourtie eight thousand pounds were paid to procure a peace Nor was it limited by any set-summe of monie but so much as would serv for victualling and clothing the Forces at Sea Florentius and Hoveden in the aforesaid year say After these things upon paiment of the Tribute meaning that of fourtie eight thousand pounds and a confirmation of the peace by Oaths the Danish Navie which was before in a Bodie was disposed and dispersed abroad afar off But XLV ships remained with the King and sware fidelitie to him and promised to bee readie to defend England against Foreiners upon condition that hee would provide them Victuals and Clothing This is related likewise in the English-Saxon Chronicles of the Abbie of Abingdon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is the Tribute beeing paid and Oaths of Amitie taken the Armie or Navie which was before in a Bodie was dispersed abroad But fourtie five ships of that Navie remained with the King and promised upon Oath to be readie for the defence of this Land upon condition the King did finde them Victuals and Cloathing Swane was at that time King of Denmark with whom Ethelred made this agreement But both the kindes of paiment aforementioned were called Danegelo Danegeld or Danageld that is to say Danish Tribute The first kinde is expressly intimated by this name in Joannes Sarisburiensis where hee saith Swane wasted and spoiled the Island of Britain the greatest part whereof hee had in his possession and afflicted the Members of Christ with many persecutions by an imposition of Tribute which in the English Tongue they call Danageld But the second kinde which was paid for the maintenance of the Forces by Sea was called likewise by the same name both becaus it was occasioned by the agreement with the Danes as also becaus it was wont to bee paid to the Danish Fleet that was hired to guard the Territorie by Sea For which caus also it reteined the same name not onely under these Danish Kings Canutus Harold the first and Hardecanutus but also under the English-Saxon or English And that this which wee have spoken was the Original hereof is affirm'd also by Ingulphus the Abbot of Crowland a witness beyond all exception who lived at that time Hee speaking of the affairs of Edward the Confessor saith In the year MLI which was the tenth of King Edward in regard the Earth did not bring forth its Fruits in such plentie as it was wont but devoured very many people by famine insomuch that many Thousands of men died through the scarcitie of Corn and want of Bread therefore the most pious King Edward beeing moved with compassion towards the people released that most grievous Tribute called Danigeld to all England for ever It is reported by som that this most Religious King beeing brought by his Officers into the Exchequer to see the Danigeld that was collected and to take a view of so vast an heap of treasure stood amazed at the first sight
the saufegard of the Seas for the entercourse of Marchandise safely to come into and to pass out of the same which is the usual form of words That is to say these words are part of the Preface or Preamble which was usually placed in the beginning of any Law or Statute whereby that most known Custom or Impost of Tonnage and Powndage was wont to bee imposed For the keeping and sure defending of the Seas against all persons entending or that shall extend the disturbance of us your said Commons in the intercourse and the invading of this your Realm So that the King of England hath ever been so accounted the Arbitrator and Lord of Commerce throughout these Seas that it could not lawfully bee hindred without his Commission Which truly is a manifest evidence of that Dominion or Ownership whereof wee treat And here you see also that the defence of the Realm that is of the Island for somtimes the Isle alone and somtimes the Sea also as I shall shew by and by is comprehended in that name and of the Sea as of those things which are held and possessed by one and the same Right is joined together The Tribute or Custom afore-mentioned which was wont to bee imposed and the usual form of the same Imposition may bee seen compleat in the printed Acts of Parlament of K. Kdward the Sixt and others following But it appear's most certain by the Rolls that the Predecessors also of this Edward whose Records are yet extant did enjoy the same or the like according to the various Custom of the Times Observations touching the Dominion of the English and Irish Sea from the tenor and varietie of those Letters Patents or Commissions Roial whereby the Admirals of England were wont to bee put in Autoritie CHAP. XVI THe usual form of Commission whereby the High Admiral of England is wont to bee invested with Autoritie for the Guard of the Sea run's thus at this day as it hath don also for very manie years past Wee give and grant to N. the Office of our great Admiral of England Ireland Wales and of the Dominions and Islands belonging to the same also of our Town of Calais and our Marches thereof Normandie Gascoigne and Aquitain And wee have made appointed and ordained and by these Presents Wee make appoint and Ordain him the said N. our Admiral of England Ireland and Wales and our Dominions and Isles of the same Our Town of Calais and our Marches thereof Normandie Gascoign and Aquitain as also general Governor over all our Fleets and Seas of our said Kingdoms of England and Ireland our Dominions and Islands belonging to the same And know yee further that Wee of â—uâ— especial grace and upon certain knowledg c. Do give and grant to the said N. our great Admiral of England and Governor general over our Fleets and Seas aforesaid all manner of Jurisdictions Autorities Liberties Offices Fees Profits Duties Emoluments Wrecks of the Sea Ejectments Regards Advantages Commodities Preheminences and Privileges Whatsoëver to the said Office our great Admiral of England and Ireland and of the other Places and dominions aforesaid in any manner whatsoëver belonging and appertaining And afterwards there follow verie many other particulars in the King's Commission setting forth that most ample Command and Jurisdiction In former times as hath been alreadie shewn you this kinde of Commanders were called Custodes Maris Guardians or Keepers of the Sea who afterward began to bee invested with the name of Admirals in the Reign of Edward the First But their Commands were usually restrained to certain Limits of Coasts So that particular Commanders were somtimes set over each of the Three Western Southern and Northern Coasts but for the most part over the Western and Northern Seldom was one set over both before that the Title of Admiral of England Ireland and Aquitain was put into the Commissions of which more by and by But as the name of Guardian of the Sea was taken from the Sea it self whereof hee was Governor as of a Province so that of Admirals a word whose Original is very uncertain but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Amiralius was used of old for a Commander of a Fleet or Navie not onely in the West but also in the Eastern Empire derived its name of Dignitie either from the Fleet wherewith hee defended his Jurisdiction at Sea as it was usual heretofore or els from the Land either bordering upon that Jurisdiction or joined therewith as it hath been in the later Form of Commissions Whereupon from the time of Edward the first unto Henrie the Fourth about one hundred and Fiftie years they were in solemn manner created Admirals of the Fleet or Navis of our Ships towards the Northern Parts or towards the Western Parts or the Southern or as it â—â—ll out somtimes of both together For the Southern and Western Coast did as appear's by the thing it self signifie one and the same That is to say the Coast stretched here and there along the Shore from the North of the Thames But as the Dignitie of those Officers called Comes and Magister Equitum of the West Magister Equitum throughout Gallia Magister Militum throughout the East Magister Militum throughout Thrace and others of that kinde in the Imperial Offices did no less denote the Autoritie and Jurisdiction of them that commanded in these Provinces who before were Lords of the Provinces than if they had been called Comes and Magister of the West Magister throughout Gallia throughout the East and throughout Thrace so it is evident that the Admirals of the Fleets and Navies whereby the Sea is guarded after the same manner as the Land is possessed by Land-Forces did no less set forth the Command and Dominion and civil possession of those that had autoritie over the Sea who before were Lords of the Sea then if they had been styled Guardians of the Sea Commanders or Admirals in their Commissions And such as were so constituted Admirals of both Coasts or of the whole English Navie were somtimes by a general name called Admirals of England over the Sea before that form of words was put into the Royal Commissions And of this sort of Admirals you have a Catalogue set down by that eminent man Sir Henrie Spelman in his Glossarie where there are others also that follow But such a change hapned in the Form of the Commissions in the time of Henrie the Fourth that there was one man appointed Admiral not onely of the fleets or Navies but of England and Ireland over whose Fleet of Ships or Navie for Defence of the Irish Sea somtimes a particular person was made Admiral as was Thomas Percie Earl of Worcester yea and in express words also Admiral of Aquitain and Picardie As was Thomas Beaufort who also was Duke of Excester under Henrie the Fifth in the thirteenth year of Henrie the Fourth after hee had surrendred the Commission whereby hee had
before been made Commander of the Fleets And hee was the first for ought wee know that was created in this manner But in the next Form of Commission the name of Picardie was left out So indeed in the fourth year of Henrie the Sixth or Anno Dom. MCDXXVI John Duke of Bedford was by Commission made Admiral of England Ireland and Aquitain That Form continued about 88. years or throughout the Reigns of Henrie VI Edward IV Richard III Henrie VII and the three first years of Henrie VIII And about that time ten others were in like manner made Admirals for the most part perpetual of England Ireland and Aquitain the last of which was John Earl of Oxon who was Commissionated in that Form in the first year of Henrie the Eight But there followed another alteration or addition of Titles in the fourth year of that King Anno Dom. MDXIII At that time Sir Edward Howard Knight son of Thomas Earl of Suâ—â—ie afterwards Duke of Norfolk was made Admiral of England Wales Ireland Normandie Gascoign and Aquaitain To which words Calais and the Marches thereof are added in the Commission of William Fitzwilliams who also was Earl of Southampton beeing appointed Admiral in the twentie eight year of King Henrie the Eight This Form of Commissions held in use afterward through the whole Reign of that Henry adding according to antient Custom the clauses touching Jurisdiction But in the beginning of Edward the Sixt Thomas Baron Seymour of Sudeley brother to Edward Duke of Somerset was made Admiral almost in the same words as that William Earl of Southampton inserting after the name of Calais Boloign and the Marches of the same After him followed John Earl of Warwick who was created by Edward the Sixt in the third year of his Reign our Admiral of England Ireland Wales Calais and Boloign and our Marches of the same of Normandie Gascoign and Aquitain as also Governor general over all our Fleets and Seas And in the same Commission hee is styled afterwards Great Admiral of England and Governor of our Fleets and Seas But after a while the name of Boloign being omitted the next high Admiral of England was created in the very same Form of words as is mentioned before in the beginning of the Chapter For in the same Form was William Baron Howard of Effingham Son of Thomas Duke of Norfolk made Admiral in the beginning of Queen Marie or Anno Dom. MDLIII And the Command or Government of those Seas as the principal charge of that Office or Dignitie is more notably expressed there as you may see than in the Commission of the Earl of Warwick From that time forwards the very same Form was kept alwaies as in the Commission of the high Admiralship granted to Edward Baron Clinton afterwards Earl of Lincoln in the Reign of Philip and Marie also in the Commission of Charls Baron of Effingham afterwards Earl of Nottingham in the time of Q. Elizabeth and of Charls Duke of York in the time of King James besides George Duke of Buckingham who enjoied the same Office or Command in the same words in the Reigns of James and Charls So that for above eightie years or thereabout that is from the beginning of Q. Marie the whole form as it is set down in the beginning of this Chapter was ever expressly reteined in the Commissions of the high Admiralship of England so far as they denote either the Countries or the Seas or the Dominion of the same But therein the Admiral is styled Governor General over all our Fleets and Seas just as John Earl of Warwick was likewise expressly appointed in general tearms under Edward the sixt or over our Seas aforesaid But what were those Seas or the Seas aforesaid They are in the fore-going words expressly called the Seas of our said Kingdoms of England and Ireland our Dominions and Islands of the same That is in plain tearms Mer d' Engleterre d' Ireland Gales or the Sea of England Ireland and Wales after which manner the Seas belonging to the Dominion of England are sometimes also described in our Laws which are called likewise now and then by our Lawyers Les quatre Miers d'Engleterre or the four Seas of England divided according to the four Quarters of the World So that in the most received form of this Commission after the beginning of Queen Marie's Reign out of which also the sens and meaning of former Commissions is to bee collected wee have a continual possession or Dominion of the King of England by Sea pointed out in express words for very many years And what wee have alreadie spoken by way of Collection out of these that followed the beginning of Marie touching the sens or meaning of former Commissions wherein a positive Command of the Sea is not expressed is truly to omit the thing it self which sufficiently intimate's as much of its own nature not a little confirmed upon this ground that hee also who before any express mention of our Seas took place in the form of the Commission of the high Admiralship was next preferr'd to the same dignitie was immediately after his Creâtion according to the whole Title of his Office as beeing the same title which indeed alwaies belonged to the Admirals of England styled Great Admiral of England and Governor General of the Navie and our Seas So verily Thomas Baron Seymour whom I mentioned before is styled Admiral of England in the Patent Roll granted to him by Edward the sixt It is proved by words plain enough in the form of the Commissions for the Government or command of the high Admiral of England from antient to the present time that the Sea for whose guard or defence hee was appointed by the King of England as Lord and Soveraign was ever bounded towards the South by the shore of Aquitain Normandie and Picardie CHAP. XVII BUT in the Form alreadie shewn which hath continued in use for so many years you see mention is made onely of the Seas of our Kingdoms of England and Ireland our Dominions and Islands belonging to the same as the Province for whose guard or defence the Admiral was appointed that is as wee have told you the English Irish and Welch Sea all which is conteined under the name of the British as it hath been observéd at the beginning of this Book Yet the names of Normandie Gascoign and Aquitain besides Calais are added which are Provinces seated upon the shore over against us As to what concern's them in this place they are either to bee considered in the same manner as if they had been alwaies held in subjection by the English from the time of the first mention of them in the Commission or as they have alreadie for som Ages past been out of their Jurisdiction But suppose in the first place that they had alwaies remained in the Jurisdiction and Possession of the English Questionless
thing in a manner was acknowledged by a subject of the King of Denmarks no mean man in a Letter that hee wrote som years since to a friend of his in England his name is Gudbrandus Thorlacius Bishop of Hola in Island who in a Letter sent hither Anno MDXCV to Hugh Branham Pastor of Harwich call's the Britains almost Lords there of the whole Sea There is saith hee a report now at this day that you of Britain whom I had almost called Lords of the Sea have Negotiations every Year in Groenland But the Kings of Denmark deny it here and this more Northerly Sea which belong's to Island they challenge to themselvs as they are Kings of Norway and that by antient right if not unjustly pretended To this purpose let us observ that passage which I finde in a speech of the Ambassadors of Erricus the tenth King of Norway and Denmark delivered unto our Henrie the fift which run's to this effect Most victorious King of England may it pleas your Majestie to understand that our most gratious Lord the King of Norway c. aforesaid hath certain Islands to wit Island Jeroy Hietland and manie more belonging to his Kingdom of Norway whereunto of old no persons were wont to repair out of other Countries upon any occasions whatsoëver either of Fishing or Merchandisiâ—g under peâ—il of life and limbs nor might the men of the Kingdom of Norway more than those of other Countries without special licence from his Majestie Nor might they after Licence obteined set forth out of any other place than the Citie of Bergen nor return to the same place but upon inevitable necessitie or when they ought to paie Customs and other Duties to the King's Exchequer according to the most antient Custom of Norway which hath been constantly observed time out of minde in that Kingdom Also in the year MCCCCXLV Christophor King of Denmark and Norway granted the Inhabitants of Zirickzee in Zealand a freedom of Navigation into his Kingdom Island and other Isles beeing excepted and prohibited which are the very words of the Grant Moreover out of the League made at Koppenhagen in the year of our Lord MCDXXXII between our Henrie the sixt and the same Erricus King of Norwaie and Denmark the Commissioners of the King of Denmark who held a Treatie at Bremen with the Commissioners of our Queen Elisabeth in the year MDC II about the free use of this Sea alleged this Article almost to the same sens It is provided that all Merchants and all other men whatsoëver in subjection to the King of England and France do not presume hereafter under peril of loss of life and goods to visit the Countries of Island Finmarck Halghaland or anie other prohibited places and unlawful Ports whatsoëver in the Kingdoms of Denmark Sweden and Norway Yea and som years before the use of this Sea was prohibited both to Merchants and Fisher-men unless they were bound with Merchandise to North-barn the most eminent Town of Traffick under the King of Norwaie And touching that particular there is an Act of Parlament of Henrie the sixt whereby such a kinde of Prohibition continued in force for certain years in favor of the King of Norwaie So that there were many Letters Patents afterwards granted by our Kings to their subjects of England whereby they had Licence to go unto Island Finmark and other Dominions of the King of Norway and Sweden But that Statute the rigor whereof was dispensed with at the King's pleasure by such kinde of Grants became repealed at the beginning of the Reign of King Henrie the eight And Joannes Maior making mention of that time saith A Fleet of English went everie year to Island beyond the Arctick Circle to catch Fish But what manner of determination soêver ought to bee made touching the Dominion of this more Northerly Sea yet certain it is such a perpetual servitude at least was by several agreements betwixt the Kings of England and Norwaie imposed upon it that to this day also the subjects of England enjoy a perpetual right of sailing unto Island and of using and enjoying this sea For by a League made at Koppenhagen in the year MCDXC betwixt Henrie the seventh of England and John the second King of Denmark and Norwaie it was concluded that all Merchants and Liege-men Fisher-men and any other persons whatsoëver beeing subjects of the King of England and France might for ever in time to com sail freely to the Island Tyle that is to saie Island for in that age it was generally taken for Thule as it is now also by som thither to have recours and to enter with their ships and goods and merchandise victuals and any other commodities whatsoever upon occasion of buying selling fishing or merchandising and there to abide and convers after the manner of Merchants and from thence freely to return as often as they pleas without any Prohibition molestation or impediment of Us or our heirs and successors in the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway or of any of our Officers they paying the due rights and usual Customs as well in that Island as also in the Ports belonging to the same where they shall happen to arrive Provided alwaies that seven years immediately after the date of these presents they do Petition to renew their Licence from us and our successors Kings of Denmark and Norway to the end that so from seven years to seven years Merchants and all otheâ— persons aforesaid may for ever acknowledg us and our successors Kings of Denmark and Norway in the renewing of their Licence But that this League was not limited by any time but concerned the heirs and successors of both the parties appear's not onely in part by what hath been alleged alreadie but by the very form of the Preface which I thought meet to add in this place VVee John by the Grace of God King as aforesaid by the unanimous advice and consent of our beloved Counsellors and others the Lords and Nobles of our Kingdom of Denmark have caused a Treatie to bee had with the Orators of the most illustrious Prince Henrie by the Grace of God King of England and France our most dear Brother James Hutton Doctor of the Civil Law Thomas Clarentieux King of Arms Thomas Carter and John Beliz Merchants of Lyn about the restoring of peace and establishing a perpetual concord between our Kingdoms which Counsellors of ours and the Orators autorised in our Citie of Koppenhagen by special Commission of the afore named King of England our most dear Brother and with full power whereof wee are assured by the Letters of the said King of England have concluded that between us our heirs and successors well willers friends and allies and the most illustrious Prince Henrie King of England and France our most dear Brother his heirs and successors well willers friends and allies there bee and shall bee for ever in time to com
requisite to add a few such Evidences onely as are found among several Papers of publick Transaction which are still to bee produced and will serv to shew how that claim which hath been made successively by all our Kings of the English Race was continued down to the present Times by the two Princes of the Scotish Extraction In the seventh year of the Reign of King James this Right was stoutly asserted by Proclamation and all persons excluded from the use of the Seas upon our Coasts without particular Licence 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 Britain France and Ireland Defendor of the Faith c. To all and singular persons to whom it may appertein Greeting Although Wee do sufficiently know by Our Experience in the Office of Regal Dignitie in which by the favor of Almightie God Wee have been placed and exercised these many years as also by the observation which Wee have made of other Christian Princes exemplarie actions how far the absoluteness of Soveraign Power extendeth it self and that in regard thereof Wee need not yield accompt to any person under God for any action of Ours which is lawfully grounded upon that Just Prerogative Yet such hath ever been and shall bee Our care and desire to give satisfaction to Our Neighbor-Princes and friends in any action which may have the least relation to their Subjects and Estates as Wee have thought good by way of friendly premonition to declare unto them all and to whomsoever it may appertain as followeth Whereas Wee have been contented since Our coming to the Crown to tolerate an indifferent and promiscuous kinde of libertie to all Our Friends whatsoever to Fish within Our Streams and upon any of Our Coasts of Great Britain Ireland and other adjacent Islands so far forth as the permission or use thereof might not redound to the impeachment of Our Prerogative Roial nor to the hurt and damage of Our loving Subjects whose preservation and flourishing Estate Wee hold Our self principally bound to advance before all worldly respects So finding that Our continuance therein hath not onely given occasion of overgreat encroachments upon Our Regalities or rather questioning for Our Right but hath been 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 inâ—uries which they receiv most commonly at their hands Our Subâ—ects are constrained to abandon their Fishing or at least are becom so discouraged in the same as they hold it better for them to betake themselvs to som other cours 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 Wee have thought it now both just and necessarie in respect that Wee are now by God's favor lineally and lawfully possessed as well of the Island of Great Britain as of Ireland and the rest of the Isles adâ—acent to bethink Our selvs of good lawful means to prevent those inconveniences and many others depending upon the same In consideration whereof as Wee are desirous that the world may take notice that Wee have no intention to denie Our neighbors and allies those fruits and benefits of Peace and Friendship which may bee justly exspected at Our hands in honor 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 becaus som such convenient order may bee taken in this matter as may sufficiently provide for all these important considerations which do depend thereupon Wee have resolved first to give notice to all the world that Our express pleasure is That from the beginning of the Month of August next coming no person of what Nation or Qualitie soever beeing not Our natural born Subject bee permitted to Fish upon any of Our Coasts and Seas of Great Britain Ireland and the rest of the Isles adjacent where most usually heretofore any Fishing hath been until they have orderly demanded and obteined Licenses from Us or such Our Commissioners as â—ee have autorised in that behalf viz. at London for Our Realms of England and Ireland and at Edenborough for Our Realm of Scotland which Licenses Our intention is shall bee yearly demanded for so many Uessels and Ships and the Tonnage 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 bee fit to bee 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 Britain 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 that King and were at length so bold as to contest with him and endeavor to baffle him out of his Rights pretending becaus of the long connivence of himself and Queen Elisabeth that they had a Right of their own by immemorial possession which som 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 Ambassador 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 delaies pretenses 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 times that they acknowledged they usually designed to invade with much more insolence than before But you have the main of what passed in those daies in this particular with their insolent demeanor lively described in these following Collections taken out of several Dispatches that passed betwixt Secretarie Naunton and Dudley Carlton Lord Ambassador from the King to the States of the United Provinces In a Letter of Secretarie Naunton's to the said Ambassador dated at White-Hall the 21 of December 1618. I finde these passages I Must now let your Lordship know that the State 's Commissioners and Deputies both having attended his Majestie at New-Market and there presented their Letters of Credence returned to London on Saturday was a sevennight and upon Tuesday had Audience in the Council-Chamber where beeing required to communicate the points of their Commission they deliver'd their meditated Answer at length The Lords upon perusal of it appointed my Lord Bining and mee to attend his Majestie for
of so great consequence have thought it necessarie by the advice of Our Privie Council to renew the aforesaid restraint of Fishing upon Our aforesaid Coasts and Seas without Licence first obtained from Us and by these presents to make publick Declaration that Our resolution is at times convenient to keep such a competent strength of Shipping upon Our Seas as may by God's blessing bee sufficient both to hinder such further encroachments upon Our Regalities and assist and protect those Our good Friends and Allies who shall henceforth by virtue of Our Licences to bee first obtained endeavor to take the benefit of fishing upon Our Coasts and Seas in the places accustomed Given at Our Palace of VVestminster the tenth day of May in the twelfth year of Our Reign of England Scotland France and Ireland This Proclamation beeing set forth in the year 1636. served to speak the intent of those naval preparations made before in the year 1635. which were so numerous and well-provided that our Netherland-Neighbors beeing touched with the apprehension of som great design in hand for the Interest of England by Sea and of the guilt that lay upon their own Consciences for their bold Encroachments soon betrayed their Jealousies and Fears and in them a sens of their offences before ever the Proclamation was made publick As I might shew at large if it were requisite by certain Papers of a publick Character yet in beeing But there is one Instar omnium which may serv in stead of all and it is an acute Letter of Secretarie Coke's that was written to Sir William Boswel the King 's Resident then at the Hague the Original whereof is still reserved among the publick Papers In which Letter hee set's forth the Grounds and Reasons of preparing that gallant Navie with the King's resolution to maintain the Right derived from his Ancestors in the Dominion of the Seas and therefore I here render a true Copie of it so far as concern's this business as most pertinent to our purpose SIR BY your Letters and otherwise I perceiv many jealousies and discourses are raised upon the preparations of his Majestie 's Fleet which is now in such forwardness that wee doubt not but within this Month it will appear at Sea It is therefore expedient both for your satisfaction and direction to inform you particularly what was the occasion and what is his Majestie 's intention in this work First wee hold it a principle not to bee denied That the King of Great Britain is a Monarch at Land and Sea to the full extent of his Dominions and that it concerneth him as much to maintain his Soveraigntie in all the British Seas as within his three Kingdoms becaus without that these cannot bee kept safe nor hee preserv his honor and due respect with other Nations But commanding the Seas hee may caus his Neighbors and all Countries to stand upon their guard whensoever hee think's fit And this cannot bee doubted that whosoëver will encroach upon him by Sea will do it by Land also when they see their time To such presumption Mare liberum gave the first warning piece which must bee answered with a defence of Mare Clausum not so much by Discourses as by the lowder Language of a powerful Navie to bee better understood when overstrained patience seeth no hope of preserving her Right by other means The Degrees by which his Majestie 's Dominion at Sea hath of later years been first impeached and then questioned are as considerable as notorious First to cherish and as it were to nurs up our unthankful neighbors Wee gave them leav to gather wealth and strength upon our Coasts in our Ports by our Trade and by our People Then they were glad to invite our Merchant's Residence with what privileges they would desire Then they offered to us even the Soveraigntie of their Estates and then they sued for Licence to fish upon the Coasts and obtained it under the Great Seal of Scotland which now they suppress And when thus by leav or by connivence they had possessed themselvs of our Fishings not onely in Scotland but in Ireland and England and by our staple had raised a great stock of Trade by these means they so encreased their shipping and power at Sea that now they endure not to bee kept at any distance Nay they are grown to that confidence to keep guards upon our Seas and then to project an Office and Companie of Assurance for the advancement of Trade and withal prohibit us free commerce even within our Seas and take our ships and goods if wee conform not to their Placarts What insolencies and cruelties they have committed against us heretofore in Ireland in Groâ—nland and in the Indies is too well known to all the world In all which though our sufferings and their wrong may seem forgotten yet the great interest of his Majestie 's honor is still the same and will refresh their Memories as there shall bee caus For though charitie must remit wrongs don to private men yet the reflection upon the publick may make it a greater charitie to do Justice on crying crimes All this notwithstanding you are not to conceiv that the work of this Fleet is either revenge or execution of Justice for these great offences past but chiefly for the future to stop the violent current of that presumption whereby the Men of War and Free-booters of all Nations abusing the favor of his Majestie 's peaceable and gratious Government whereby hee hath permitted all his Friends and Allies to make use of his Seas and Ports in a reasonable and free manner and according to his Treaties have taken upon them the boldness not onely to com confidently at all times into all his Ports and Rivers but to conveie their Merchant's ships as high as his chief Citie and then to cast Anchor close upon his Magazins and to contemn the commands of his Officers when they required a farther distance But which is more intolerable have assaulted and taken one another within his Majestie 's Chamber and within his Rivers to the scorn and contempt of his Dominion and Power and this beeing of late years an ordinarie practice which wee have endeavored in vain to reform by the waies of Justice and Treaties the world I think will now bee satisfied that wee have reason to look about us And no wise man will doubt that it is high time to put our selvs in this Equipage upon the Seas and not to suffer that Stage of action to bee taken from us for want of our appearance So you see the general ground upon which our Counsels stand In particular you may take notice and publish as caus require's That his Majestie by this Fleet intendeth not a Rupture with any Prince or State nor to infringe any point of his Treaties but resolveth to continue and maintein that happie peace wherewith God hath blessed his Kingdom and to which all his Actions and Negotiations have hitherto tended as
Holland Busses not far from Robinhood's Bay returned to VVhitbie full fraught with Herrings and reported that they saw som of those Busses take ten twentie twentie four lasts at a draught of Herrings and returned into their own Countrie with fortie fiftie and an hundred Lasts of Herrings in one Buss. Our Fleet of Colliers not many years since returning from New-castle laden with Coals about the Well near Flanborough head and Scarborough met with such multitudes of Cod Ling and Herring that one amongst the rest with certain ship-hooks and other like iustruments drew up as much Cod and Ling in a little space of time as were sold well near for as much as her whole Lading of Cole And many hundred of ships might have been there laden in two daies and two nights Out of which wonderful affluence and abundance of Fish swarming in our Seas that wee may the better perceiv the infinite gain which Forein Nations make I will especially insist upon the Fishing of the Hollanders in our Coasts and thereby shew how by this means principally they have increased 1. In Shipping 2. In Mariners 3. In Trade 4. In Towns and Fortifications 5. In Power extern or abroad 6. In publick Revenue 7. In private wealth 8. In all manner of Provisions and store of things necessarie 1. Encreas of Shipping BEsides 700 Strand-Boats 400 Evars and 400 Sullits Drivers and Tod-boats wherewith the Hollanders fish upon their own Coasts every one of those imploying another Ship to fetch salt and carrie their Fish into other Countries beeing in all 3000 sail maintaining and setting on work at least 4000 persons Fishers Tradesmen Women and Children They have 100 Doyer Boats of 150 Tuns a piece or thereabouts 700 Pinks and Well-Boats from 60 to 100 Tuns a piece which altogether fish upon the Coasts of England and Scotland for Cod and Ling onely And each of these employ another Vessel for providing of salt and transporting of their Fish making in all 1600 ships which maintain and employ persons of all sorts 4000 at least For the Herring-season they have 1600 Busses at the least all of them Fishing onely upon our Coasts from Boughonness in Scotland to the mouth of Thames And every one of these maketh work for three other ships that attend her the one to bring in salt from Forein parts another to carrie the said salt and cask to the Busses and to bring back their Herrings and the third to transport the said Fish into Forein Countries So that the total number of ships and Busses plying the Herring-Fair is 6400 whereby every Buss one with another imployeth fortie men Mariners and Fishers within her own hold and the rest ten men a piece which amounteth to 112000 Fishers and Mariners All which maintain double if not treble so many Tradesmen Women and Children a land Moreover they have 400 other Vessels at least that take Herring at Yarmouth and there sell them for readie monie so that the Hollanders besides 300 ships before-mentioned fishing upon their own shores have at least 4800 ships onely maintained by the Seas of Great Britain by which means principally Holland beeing not so big as one of our shires of England containing not above 28 miles in length and three in breadth have encreased the number of their shipping to at least ten thousand sail beeing more then are in England France Spain Portugal Italy Denmark Poland Sweden and Russia And to this number they add every day although their Countrie it self afford's them neither materials or victual nor merchandise to bee accounted of towards their setting forth Besides these of Holland Lubeck hath 700 great ships Hamborough six hundred Embden fourteen hundred whereunto add the ships of Bremer Biscay Portugal Spain and France which for the most part fish in our Seas and it will appear that ten thousand sail of Forein Vessels and above are employed and mainteined by fishing upon our Coasts So that in Holland there are built a thousand sail at the least to supply shipwracks and augment their store which as the Prince and common Nurserie is the chiefest means onely to encreas their number 2. Encreas of Mariners THE number of ships fishing on our Coasts as beeing aforesaid 8400. If wee allow but twentie persons to every ship one with another the total of Mariners and Fishers amounteth to 168000 out of which number they daily furnish their longer Voiages to all parts of the world for by this means they are not onely enabled to brook the Seas and to know the use of the tackles and compass but are likewise instructed in the principles of Navigation and Pilotage insomuch as from hence their greatest Navigators have had their education and breeding 3. Encreas of Trade BY reason of those multitude of Ships and Mariners they have extended their Trade to all parts of the world exporting for the most part in all their Voiages our Herring and other Fish for the maintenance of the same In exchange whereof they return the several commodities of other Countries From the Southern parts as France Spain and Portugal for our Herrings they return Oils Wines Pruines Honie Wools c. with store of Coin in Specie From the Straits Velvets Sattins and all sorts of Silks Allomes Currans Oils and all Grocerie ware with much monie From the East-Countries for our Herrings and other French and Italian commodities before returned they bring home Corn Wax Flax Hemp Pitch Tar Sope-Ashes Iron Copper Steel Clap-board Wainscot Timber Deal-board Dollers and Hungarie Gilders From Germanie for Herrings and other salt Fish Iron Steel Glass Mil-stones Rhenish wines Button-plate for Armor with other Munition Silks Velvets Rashes Fustians Baratees and such like Franckford commodities with store of Rix-dollers From Brabant they return for the most part readie monie with som Tapestries and Hull-shop Yea som of our Herring are caried as far as Braseil And that which is more strange and greatly to our shame they have four hundred Ships with Fish which our men of Yarmouth within ken almost at land do vent our Herrings amongst us here in England and make us pay for the Fish taken upon our own Coast readie monie wherewith they store their own Countrie 4. Encreas of Towns and Forts BY this their large extent of Trade they are becom as it were Citizens of the whole world whereby they have so enlarged their Towns that most of them within these four hundred years are full as great again as they were before Amsterdam Leyden and Middleburgh having been lately twice enlarged and their streets and buildings so fair and orderly set forth that for beautie and strength they may compare with any other in the world upon which they bestow infinite summes of monies all originally flowing from the bountie of the Sea from whence by their labor and industrie they derive the begining of all that wealth and greatness and particularly for the Havens of the aforesaid Towns whereof som of them cost fortie fiftie or an