A. D. 1502 The first record that we meet with to our purpofe in the thirteenth volume of the Fœdera, is in the year 1502, p. 6: It is a treaty of friendship and intercourfe of commerce between King Henry VII. of England and Maximilian King of the Romans, &c. wherein it is in general terms ftipulated, "That the merchants on both fides may freely refort and trade to each others dominions." In another treaty, in this fame year 1502, in the fame volume, p. 9, between those two Princes, there is one much more to Maximilian's purpose. It is a grant of ten thousand pounds fterling from King Henry VII. to him, for enabling him to make head against the Turks on the fide of Hungary, where, at this time, they were pushing on their conquests; on which account the Popes laboured to excite all Chriftian Princes to contribute and it must be owned, that confidering the character of King Henry VII. this was a large contribution. for those times. 66 66 In p. 37 of this thirteenth volume of the Foedera, King Henry VII. grants his charter of licence to Hugh Elliot and Thomas Afhurft, merchants of Bristol, John Gunfalus and Francis Farnandus, natives of Portugal :-"First, To fail with fuch ships and mariners as they shall judge proper, into all the parts and countries of the eastern, weftern, fouthern, and northern feas, in order to discover, recover, and inveftigate any iflands, coafts, and countries of hea“then and infidel parts of the world, and to erect King Henry's banners and enfigns at whatever town, castle, ifland, or continent they fhall fo difcover, and to hold the fame," says the King, "for our use, as our lieutenants there: Provided they do not concern themselves "with, nor offer to moleft fuch heathen and infidel countries as are already difcovered, and "reduced to the obedience of the King of Portugal, or of any other Prince our friend or "confederate. 66 "Secondly, Whenever any discovery fhall be made, it is our will, that men and women "from England be freely permitted to fettle therein, and to improve the fame, under the pro"tection of thefe grantees, whom we hereby empower to make laws, &c. there.” The feven remaining claufes relate to the fettling, failing, and trading to fuch supposed and to be difcovered country,-the cuftoms to be paid, and the confining the trade thither to his own fubjects, &c. And he concludes the ninth and laft claufe thus, viz. "And whereas we have, by others letters patent of the fixteenth year of our reign," that is, two years before, but which are not to be found in the Foedera, "granted to Richard Ward, John Thomas, and John Farnandus, together with the four grantees herein-named, a licence to go and difcover new countries and iflands; yet we will not have the three first"named perfons to attempt or meddle with any fuch new difcoveries, without a licence from "the four grantees of this prefent charter." We inay here again obferve, First, that King Henry pays no regard to the imaginary line of division made between Spain and Portugal by the Pope's authority. And, fecondly, that Henry, according to his genius and former practice, does not pretend to give one penny towards the faid difcovery; which, therefore, fucceeded no better than Cabot's voyage, in the year 1496; for private adventurers rarely have abilities and patience fufficient to perfect fuch undertakings, unless fupported by the public. At this time, there were differences between John King of Denmark and the Hans-towns; the latter, like true merchants, ftriving to have commerce wherever they could obtain it; whilft the former being driven out of Sweden by Steen-Sture the Regent, infifted, that the Hans-towns fhould forbear trading to Sweden; in which, fays the Hanfeatic hiftorian, Angelius A. D. 1502 gelius à Werdenhagen, vol. I. pars iii. cap. 17. King John was feconded by the ambassador of his uncle, King James IV. of Scotland, at a general affembly of the deputies of the Hanfeatic League at Lubeck: yet this general affembly at length convinced the Danish King of the unreasonablenefs of that demand; as it would be very hard on them, who had great concerns in Sweden, to be obftructed in their accuftomed commerce by the quarrels of Denmark and Sweden.-We alfo learn, from the Hiftoria Danica of Meurfius, that the King of Scotland affifted his nephew, at this time, with two ftout fhips of war. 1503 King Henry VII. of England now caufed the chapel of the Virgin Mary, and a tavern adjoining, at the east end of the abbey church of Westminster, to be taken down; on the fite whereof he erected the prefent most beautiful and magnificent chapel which is called by his name, at the expence of fourteen thousand pounds; at this time it would, in all probabilty, coft at least five times that fum. In Scotland, an act of the fixth Parliament of King James IV. confirmed that of 1406, and directed, "That none shall beg but lame, fick, and impotent people, under a penalty on the magiftrates fuffering any others to beg." By another Scotifh law of that fame year, "All lords and lairds were enjoined to have parks "with deer, alfo ftanks or fifh-ponds, conningares or rabbit-warrens, dove-cotes, orchards, "and hedges, and should plant at least one acre of woodlands, where there are already no "great woods or forefts." The wars with England had occafioned the woods to be deftroyed, fo that there was a great want of timber and fire wood; inclofures and parks had alfo been much neglected. Some of these points were pretty well profecuted; but others, and indeed the most important of them, were very much neglected, though enforced by many fubfequent laws. 66 66 The fame year, we first find mention, in a Scotch act of Parliament, of the office of confervator of that nation's mercantile privileges in the Netherlands, though that office was apparently of an earlier date than this time; when it was now enacted, "That for the wellbeing of merchants, and because of the great exorbitant expences made by them upon pleas, (pleys) in parts beyond the feas, the confervator of this realm fhall have jurisdiction to do juftice between the faid merchants, being the King's lieges, in the parts beyond the feas."But the faid confervator fhall have fix, or at leaft four Scotifh merchants to fit and deter"mine all matters jointly with him; and that no Scotifh merchant beyond-fea fhall fue ano"ther Scotifh merchant there, before any other judge but only this confervator." By another act of this fame year, "the faid confervator is directed to come home yearly to Scotland, or "elfe to fend his refponfible procurator to anfwer for him, touching his conduct in his office "beyond-fea." This office of confervator nearly refembles that of English confuls in foreign ports; and although, in neither of the above-quoted acts the place of his refidence be mentioned, yet it is well known that he always refided in the Netherlands, where the principal foreign commerce of Scotland had always centered. And in a Scotish act of Parliament, in the year 1535, which confirms certain former laws, prohibiting little pettifogging merchants from going beyond-fea to France, Flanders, &c. with lefs than half a laft of merchandize, he is called the confervator of the nation in Flanders; who is thereby directed to fend home the names of all merchants going thither in every fhip, contrary to the tenour of this act. Under this year we may tranfiently remark, that the acceffion of Spain to the Houfe of Auftria, by a marriage at this time, prepared the way for great alterations in the commercial as well as in the political affairs of Europe; which conjunction would have been an over-match for A. D. 1503 1504 for all the rest of Christendom, had not England and France been vigilant on the oppofite fide. Morifotus, in his Orbis Maritimus, lib. II. cap. xiii. p. 410. acquaints us, that the Canary ifles beginning to be frequented, there arrived two Zealand fhips at Campveer, laden with Canary fugars. As yet no fugar-canes were produced in America, but they were transplanted foon after this time from the Canary ifles to Brasil. We have already feen that the first fugarcanes weft of the Mediterranean fea, were planted at the ifle of Madeira, from Sicily; from whence, or perhaps from the more fouthern coafts of Africa, they might be brought to the Canaries. "The boiling and baking of fugar," fays Dr. Heylin, in his Cofmography, "as "it is now used, is not above two hundred years old; and the refining of it more new than "that first found out by a Venetian in the days of our forefathers, who got one hundred "thousand crowns by the invention. Before which art of boiling and refining it, our an"cestors made use of it rough as it came from the canes; but they most commonly used "honey instead of it."-The fame author, in the first edition of his work, which was printed in the year 1624, alfo informs us, that when he wrote, the Portuguese ifland of St. Thomé, under the equator, had feventy fugar-ingenios, each having upwards of two hundred flaves. It was not till the year 1504, that any French ship arrived on the coafts of North America, even according to their own accounts; which was eight years later than the English difcovery of that country by Cabot, &c. but it was not till two years later, that one Dennis discovered the entrance into the river of Canada, or St. Lawrence. So that the priority of difcovery is undoubtedly on the fide of England for all North America; and confequently England, beyond all other nations of Europe, had the beft claim to the whole, until the gave up part of it, by her fucceeding treaties with other European nations. The renowned city of Antwerp was at this time, arrived very near to the fummit of that wealth and glory which it had acquired from the two following confiderations, viz. I. By the grants of free-fairs for commerce, made formerly by the fovereigns of the Netherlands; two of which fairs lafted each fix weeks, whither merchants reforted from all parts of Christendom with their merchandize, cuftom-free: at which fairs vaft concerns were managed, not only in merchandize, but in bills of exchange with all parts of Europe. II. But what more immediately and fuddenly brought about the wealth, grandeur, and renown of Antwerp, was when Portugal brought home, in immenfe quantities, the fpices, drugs, and other rich products of East India, first to Lisbon, and thence to Antwerp, as to an entre-port or mid-way station between the northern and fouthern parts of Europe. This drew the German and other merchants to fettle at Antwerp, which brought great riches to it; and the merchants of Bruges alfo removed thither, after the Archduke Maximilian had, about the year 1499, reduced the laft named city into fubjection. Louis Guicciardini, in his judicious Defcription of the Netherlands, printed in French at Antwerp, in the year 1582, in folio, was of opinion, that the fpices alone brought from Lifbon to Antwerp, one year with another, amounted to above a million of crowns: for, in thofe days, the people of Europe were much fonder of spices in their cookery, &c. than they have been in later times. An English act of Parliament, cap. 21. paffed in the nineteenth year of King Henry VII. for the advancement of the fmaller filk manufactures in England, prohibiting the importation of any manner of filk wrought either by itself, or with any other ftuff, in ribbands, laces, girdles, corfes, and corfes of tiffues or points, upon pain of forfeiture of the fame. Alfo, on the VOL. II. other B A. D. 1504 other hand, it shall be lawful for all perfons, as well foreigners as English, to import all manner of other filks, as well wrought as raw and unwrought, the above excepted. The reader here may plainly fee, that at this time there was no broad manufacture of filk made in England, as my Lord Bacon alfo obferves, in his History of King Henry VII. under this statute. Another ftatute paffed, cap. 23. for confirming "To the merchants of the Hans in Al"main, having the house in the city of London commonly called Guildhalda Teutonicorum," that is, the German merchants of the Steel-yard, "all their ancient liberties, privileges, free "ufages, and cuftoms, granted either by the Kings of England, or by the authority of Par"liament; and that all acts, ftatutes, and ordinances, made in derogation of their faid liberties, &c. be hereby annulled and made void." The English merchants increasing in their foreign commerce, had probably occafioned the Hanfeatics to procure this confirmation of their ancient privileges, for which, poffibly, they might gratify the avarice of the monarch. In another statute made in this fame year, cap. 17. for regulating the company of thearmen of the city of Norwich, it is, among other things, remarked, "That Norwich is an ancient "city, wherein, time out of mind, has been used a certain craft called fhearmen, for fhearing "as well worsteds, ftamins, and fuftians, as alfo all other woollen cloth, &c." This ftatute fhews us a general lift of their woollen manufactures, which were even then fo confiderable, efpecially the thinner forts, that we find more ftatutes hitherto for regulating the faid manufactures in Norwich, and its neighbourhood of Norfolk and Suffolk, than of any other part` of England. The bye-laws made by corporations, or fellowships of crafts, guilds, and fraternities, were, at this time, found to be many ways against the King's prerogative, the common law of England, and the liberty of the fubject; being, fays Lord Bacon, fraternities in evil. Wherefore an act of Parliament, in this nineteenth year of King Henry VII. cap. 7. "Restrains the "mafters or wardens of fuch fellowships from making any new bye-laws or ordinances concerning the prices of wares, and other things, for their own fingular profit, until first exa"mined and approved of by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Treasurer, or King's Juftices, on pain of forfeiting forty pounds for every fuch offence. 66 An English act of Parliament paffed this fame year, cap. 5. for retraining of gold and filver coins from being carried into Ireland, and Irish money from being brought into England; and for calling all clipped and diminished money into the mint :-There was then a mint in Ire land, though there is none at prefent. We have alfo the following extraordinary remark of Lord Bacon, in his Hiftory of King Henry VII. "Neither was it a fmall matter, that the "mint," i. e. the King, "gained by thus recoining of groats and half-groats;" thofe coins being, it seems, as large as our modern fhillings and fixpences, which furely they could not be, if they were not of bafer alloy than the old fterling fineness. His lordship alfo recounts many other ways which that King had of getting vaft fums into his coffers, even in time of profound peace; fuch as the extorting five thousand marks from the city of London for confirming their privileges; his fubfidies, benevolences, and cafualties; the marriage-portion from Spain, &c. but these are foreign to our subject. The following prices of provifions are from the Chronicon Preciofum, viz. wheat, five fhillings and eightpence per quarter; ale and beer, almoft threepence per gallon; red wine, per gallon, fevenpence and one-third. Now, as we have more than once obferved, that the price of wheat is, of any one article, the beft rule to judge of the rate of living, and as the other things herein-named feem nearly to correfpond with it,—and, laftly, as money was then, near or about A. D. 1505 about twice the weight of our modern coins, we may conclude that the rate of living, at this time, was nearly about thrice as cheap as in our days. We have remarked, under the year 1497, that the ftatute which reduced the exorbitant freedom-fines of the company of merchant-adventurers, did, at the fame time, by a strong implication, legally establish the faid company, although the legal title or name of it was not then precifely fo called; yet, in fact, they were, and had long before been, what this King makes them by his new charter. But King Henry VII. in the year 1505, being the twentieth of his reign, confirmed by charter, "to the merchants trading in woollen cloth of all kinds to "the Netherlands their former privileges." And in this new charter of confirmation they were now first properly filed, "The fellowship of merchant-adventurers of England." They had alfo hereby authority given them, "to hold courts and marts at Calais; provided, however, "that they exacted no more" as per act of Parliament, in the year 1497," than ten marks. of any merchant whatever, for his freedom in this fellowship, for trading to Flanders, Bra"bant, Holland, Zealand, and the countries adjacent, under the Archduke's government; "hereby enjoining all merchant-adventurers to come into the freedom of this fellowship."-Wheeler, fecretary of this fellowship, in his vindication of it, under the title of A Treatise of Commerce, in quarto, printed in 1601, acknowledges, that at the period we have now under confideration, as well as in the reign of King Henry IV. the like complaints, as in his own time, were made by the clothiers, wool-growers, dyers, &c. against this fellowship, viz. that they obftructed the free courfe of commerce by reftraints. "Yet," he adds, "after due "examination of the faid complaint, the iffue procured great favour to the company, and oc"cafioned the enlarging of their former charters, with an exprefs reftraint of all stragglers "and intermeddlers," that is feparate traders. "And whereas the Eafterlings," that is, the German merchants of the Steel-yard, "at this time, had entered into the fame trade; King "Henry VII. not only ftrictly prohibited them from the fame, but likewife obliged the al"dermen of the Steel-yard in London to enter into a recognizance of two thoufand marks, "that the faid Steel-yard merchants fhould not carry any English cloth to the place of refi"dence of the merchant-adventurers in the Low Countries." Nevertheless, the complaints against the merchant-adventurers monopoly became afterwards much louder, as the manufacturers increased, and the general trade of the nation became more enlarged. Although, as we have already obferved, the way of reckoning by pounds, marks, and fhillings, as well as by pence and ferlings, or farthings, had been in conftant ufe even from the Saxon times, long before the Norman conqueft, yet it is undoubtedly true, that there never was fuch a coin in England as either a pound or a mark, nor any fhilling, till this year 1505; those three coins being merely ideal money, or denominations or ways of reckoning for convenience. But in this twentieth year of King Henry VII. a few filver fhillings or twelvepences were coined, being about the bignefs of one and a half of the modern fhillings, or forty out of a pound weight of filver, fair and broad pieces; but they have long fince been folely confined to the cabinets of a few curious collectors of fuch things. The Portuguese now first land on the ifle of Ceylon: here they were ftrenuously oppofed by the Moors, who had long before been fettled there, and who had fo long fupplied all Europe with cinnamon, by the way of Alexandria: yet, in the end, the Portuguese got the better; and having fortified the principal ports of that ifland, they, in their turn, totally engros, fed the cinnamon trade till the year 1639, when they were fupplanted by the Hollanders.— This fpice was well known to the ancients, ever fince the commerce from Egypt to India was practifed B 2 |