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made within six weeks after the havening of the vessel. Half the amount of the prize should belong to the masters of the ships, quarter-masters, shipmen, and soldiers; the other half to be divided into three parts, of which two belonged to the owners of the fleet, and the other to the chief captain and under-captain, the chief captain having two parts of this share, and the under one. * No portion was claimed for the crown; perhaps it was considered as having no claim, when none of the ships belonged to it.

The seas seem to have been better kept while this armament was maintained. An incident of nearly the same date may serve to show the insecure position of foreigners in this country, and the dangers to which they were exposed, not merely in any outbreak of the rabble, but by the uncharitable temper of the people. A. D. A petition was presented to "the wise and discreet 1441. commons of this land in parliament, showing that some

Genoese ships, with many Saracens covertly on board, had entered the harbour at Rhodes, under the flag of knights hospitallers; that their object had been to give the said Saracens good knowledge of the entries into that isle, and that they had committed depredations there upon ships, persons, and cattle, to the great reproach of all Christians, and great hurt and disworship of the master and brethren of the convent of Rhodes; wherefore the petitioners prayed the commons, in their wise discretion, to pray the king and the lords spiritual and temporal, that all the Genoese in this land might be held in such reputation and conceit as enemies to the Christian people, succourers and helpers to the enemies of the Christian faith and miscreants; and, moreover, to purvey such remedy and punishment against their demerits and evil purpose as might be pleasant to God, profit and ease to Christian people, honour and worship to this land, and surety and salvation to our holy religion, for the love of God, and in the way of charity." The answer to this address was, that the king, when

* Bree's Cursory Sketch, 115-118.

TRUCE WITH FRANCE.

97

he should be more fully informed, would demean him-
self herein as a Christian prince ought to do, in keeeping
of the Christian faith.* A few years afterwards, a re-
port prevailed that a Bristol merchant, Sturmyn by
name, who had travelled with his ship in divers parts
of the Levant and of the East, had obtained some green
pepper and other spice, with the intention of having them
set and sown in England; and that the Genoese, know-
ing this, had waited for him upon the sea, and spoiled
his ship and those in his company. Fabyan, by whom
this is related, says,
"it is full like to be untrue that
the Genoese should spoil him for any such cause; for
there is no nation that dealeth so little with spices."
But, with whatever pretext, an outrage had been com-
mitted, for which all the Genoese merchants in London
were committed to the Fleet, till they had given suffi-
cient bond to answer the demand, amounting to 6000
marks. †

England was at this time " unquieted" by factions, A. D. which were then ripening apace for civil war; and France 1443. sore defaced by spoil, slaughter, and burning."

66

66

The

other princes of Christendom "travelled effectuously" to bring about peace between the two countries. A diet was appointed at Tours; ambassadors were sent thither from the emperor, from Spain, from Denmark, and from Hungary, to be mediators. "The assembly," says the chronicler, was great, but the cost was much greater, insomuch that every part, for the honour of their prince and praise of their country, set forth themselves, as well in fare as apparel, to the uttermost." meetings ended in a truce by sea and by land for eighteen months, which was afterwards prolonged to the year 1449; and meantime Suffolk concluded for his imbecile king that impolitic marriage which in its

The

*Bree, 246. This compiler supposes the petition to have come from the clergy, and says it refers to "a generous interference of England in a cause not immediately her own, but that of all Christendom!"

+ Fabyan, 633. This occurred in 1458. In 1460 a truce was made with Genoa for three years, and among the articles specified as lawfully to be introduced on either side are books. Rymer, xi. 441

Holinshed, iii. 206.

consequences completed the ruin of the English cause The truce soon ran out, and the old course

in France.

of depredation and havoc was renewed.

There had been statutes* passed to restrict the admirals and their deputies from intermeddling with things not within their proper jurisdiction, which they, it seems, were desirous of extending from the seas and ports as far as their power could reach. It was now enacted †, that for any offence committed by the king's subjects upon the seas, or in any port within the realm under the king's obeisance, against any strangers who were either in amity, league, or truce with England, or A. D. had the king's safe-conduct or safeguard in any wise, 1452. the chancellor might immediately proceed against the

offenders, and cause full restitution to be made or just redress. But little could amity, league, or truce avail the merchant in those times, or any other safe-conduct than what he carried with him in the strength of his ship and the courage and fidelity of his company. 1456. Just as, in former times, when any tumult arose in London, the Jews were the immediate objects of violence; so, now, the rabble, upon any like occasion, attacked the foreign merchants, "and them spoiled, robbed, and rifled, without reason or measure. It was not the rabble only that were implicated in these outrages the weight of capital punishment fell upon them alone, but "diverse great fines were set on the heads of divers merchants, and paid, for winking at the matter." Jealousy of the foreigner's profits had actuated them; and they ought to have been punished with as much severity as the ignorant wretches whom they instigated or encouraged.

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Amid the wars and rumours of wars with which the nations were now afflicted, the most absurd prodigy that ever found a serious relater is recorded at this 1457. time. "In the month of November," says Holinshed, "in the Isle of Portland, not far from the town of Weymouth, was seen a cock coming out of the sea, +31 Hen. 6. c. 4.

* 13 Rich. 2. c. 5. 2 Hen. 4. c. 11.
Holinshed, 243-244. Hall, 235.

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having a great crest upon his head, and a great red beard, and legs of half a yard long: he stood on the water and crowed four times, and every time turned about and beckoned with his head toward, the north, the south, and the west; and was of colour like a pheasant, and when he had crowed three times he vanished away." But no portents, either of earth, sea, or sky, were needed in those days to warn any who possessed the slightest forethought against the evils to come. The French, "much desiring to be revenged of old displeasures and great damages, thought to take advantage of those civil dissensions by which the strength of England was distracted; and with that view they appointed two navies to invade and depopulate the towns and ports adjoining to the rivage of the sea." The one, which carried 4000 men-at-arms and archers, was commanded by Pierre de Brezé, sieur de Varenne, and comte de Maulévrier, grand seneschal of Normandy, with whom was the bailey of Evreux, Robert de Flocques. The other was under the sieurs de la Fosse and de l'Eure. Both sailed from Honfleur, one a few days after the other, late in August; the former and earlier taking an eastward, the latter a westerly direction. The latter ventured little, and did less; and having burnt a few houses some where on the south coast, by night, returned with small booty to Bretagne. The former made for Sandwich, upon certain intelligence that the town was neither fortified nor manned, the chief persons having a little before withdrawn, "to avoid the pestilential plague which sorely there infected and slew the people." Early on a Sunday morning they landed some 1800 men about two leagues from thence, and, marching thither in three battalions, came to a bulwark which had been lately repaired, and was defended by two towers, filled with archers this outwork was taken by storm, and the English retreated into the town. The bailey of Evreux,

*Holinshed, 244.

who commanded the rear-guard, remained at his post during the attack, and so continued, pursuant to his instructions, till the fleet arrived off the harbour, having a guidon of Dunois, the Bastard of Orleans, on board, borne by Galiot de Genouillac.*

There were in the port one large carrack and three ships of war, into which many English had retreated, and from whence they annoyed the enemy with their arrows. A negotiation was opened with them, the seneschal sending word that if they chose to cease from shooting they might land in safety, but if not, he would burn their vessels. Each was so much exposed to the other, that the terms were mutually advantageous; and the English landed accordingly, to continue their defence ashore, leaving the ships to the invaders. The seneschal had it then proclaimed that no one, on pain of death, should plunder a church, violate a woman, set a house on fire, or kill any one in cold blood; injunctions which are said to have been all most honourably observed. The troops now entered the town by the gates, and the fleet sailed into the harbour. Their work, however, was not yet done: "the English," says Monstrelet, "gave them full employment;" when they were defeated in one place, rallying in another, and attacking them every where. At last, with great difficulty, the French drove them out of the town, displayed their banners from the gates, and formed in front of them in battle array, perceiving now that precaution as well as courage was necessary, for the inhabitants were gathering strength from all the adjacent parts. They had heard, and disbelieved, that the French intended to attack Sandwich, and therefore had made no preparations for defending it but though they had neglected to provide against the danger, there was no want of alacrity in encountering it; and they kept up their skirmishes before the gates for six hours without intermission. The French, on their part, behaved manfully: the seneschal took the opportunity, as an honourable one, of being

* Monstrelet, ix. 396-8.

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