*

mariners, were very barbarously drowned." It was readily promised that such goods as could be recovered should be restored, and full restitution made; and that the king would, "of his great piety, vouchsafe effectually some convenient and wholesome remedy for the souls of such persons as had thus been murdered." Punishment was not required, and seems not to have been intended, though the offenders were known farther than that they should be made amenable for the satisfaction that was due. Ambassadors on both parts met at Dordrecht, and a burgomaster from each of the Hanse cities of Hamburg, Bremen, Stralsund, Lubec, Gripeswold, Campen, Rostok, and Wismer; and it was not till the close of their conference that it appeared these burgomasters had "no authority of negotiating, or concluding aught at all;" they engaged, however, that procurators from their respective cities should be sent to England, with sufficient instructions and powers. The complaints on all sides were then investigated, and fairly, as it seems, adjusted. The largest demand was that of the Livonians; and it was agreed that the goods of which they had been plundered should be prized, and approved, not by any English, Prussian, or Livonian merchants, but by ". some other indifferent merchants of good credit, valuing them at the true rate of merchants, to which such like merchandise would have amounted, if, at the time when they were taken, they had been

* Great part of the goods were known to be in the town of Newcastle. "One Benteld also hath the best of the said ships in his possession. Also it is reported, and thought to be true, that certain furriers of London, which will be detected in the end, have had a great part of the said goods, namely, of the furs." Good part of the cargo consisted in wax and furs, being articles which " redounded to the use and commodity of the king. The Livonian merchants valued the ships and goods at £8037 12s. 7d. which upon investigation the ambassadors reduced to £7498 13s. 10 d.

The demands made by the Hanse towns did not bear investigation so well. Hamburg claimed 9117 nobles and 20 pence, which sum was cut down to 416 nobles and 5s. The claims of the other towns were reduced in much the same proportion, allowing them still the right of establishing them, if they could; but it is evident that throughout these transactions the Prus sians acted with probity, and that on the part of the Hanse towns there was first piracy, and then fraud. The final settlement with them is not stated; but the Prussians and Livonians had to receive from England the two sums of 8957 nobles, and 22,496 nobles and 64d.; and to pay the two sums of 766 nobles and 4535.

ADJUSTMENT OF THE DISPUTES.

66

5

sent to be sold at Bruges." As one means of checking piracy, it was promised, on the part of England, that in any English port or place, goods, of which there was either information or probable suspicion that they had been piratically obtained, should be seized by the governor or keepers, and kept in safe custody, "favourably to be restored to the owners when lawfully demanded; which duty, if they omitted or denied to perform, the said persons in authority should themselves make amends to the injured party." The same system was to be observed in Prussia; and either country, in case of its non-observance on the other part, might make reprisals upon the goods of the foreign merchant. The final conferences were held at the Hague, A.d. when the ambassadors were instructed to ponder by 1407. the equal weight of diligent examination, and in the balance of justice discuss and define all and singular the grievances and damages inflicted on both parts.” Henry IV. ratified the agreement thus made: "for-1408. asmuch," his letters said to the grand master, 66 it hath been always our desire, and is as yet our intention, that the league of amity and the integrity of love, which hath of old time been observed between our and your subjects, may, in times to come, perpetually remain inviolable; and that your and our people may hereafter, not only for the good of our common weal, but also for the commodity and peace of both parts, according to their wonted manner, assemble themselves and enjoy the faithful and mutual conversation one of another." The payment was to be made within three years, in three equal portions, the balance, as regarded Prussia, being against England in the proportion of about six to one. The king protested that "these enquiries, in very deed, proceeded out of his consent; and as touching the request,” he said, "of your ambassadors, and of the Livonians, whereby we were required to procure some wholesome remedy for the souls of certain drowned persons, as conscience and religion seemeth to

as

A. D.

challenge, (in regard of whom we are moved with compassion, and do, for their sakes, heartily condole their mishaps,) you are, our entire friend, of a certainty to understand, that after we shall be by your letters advertised of the number, state, and condition of the said parties drowned, we will cause suffrages of prayers, and divers other wholesome remedies, profitable for the souls of the deceased, and acceptable to God and men, religiously to be ordained and provided; upon condition, that for the souls of our drowned countrymen there be the like remedy provided by you. The Almighty grant unto yourself, and unto your whole order, that you may prosperously triumph over the enemies of Christ his cross!"*

The dispute with the Hanse towns was not so soon 1400. adjusted, nor by such amicable means. They had committed great outrages upon the English ships and residents at Bergen in Norway, in consequence of which certain of their merchants, residing at Boston, were arrested by the king's orders, and compelled to give security for reparation. This only irritated the towns, who were insolent in their strength, and seem to have presumed upon the disturbed state of England. About the time that the negotiations with Prussia were concluded to the satisfaction of both parties, some fishers from Norfolk, pursuing their calling off the coast of Norway, ran into a port, which, in the English statement, is called Wyndford, for shelter, being in fear of the king's enemies, who were then at sea in great force. Instead of finding there the safety which they expected, they were attacked by land and sea by the Hanse-men from Bergen, and about 100 of them were seized by these ruffians, tied hand and foot, and thrown into the sea. The Hansemen set England at defiance, and said, that as to the security which had been given they cared nothing, for, if it were paid, the whole amount upon their society would not be sixpence a head. They seem, however, to

*Hakluyt, i. 154-177.; Rymer (second edit.), viii. 112. 203. 334. 395. 466, 467. 601.

HOSTILE INDICATIONS IN FRANCE.

7

have been brought to terms when their shops and other property at Boston were sequestered.*

1401.

No difficulty had been found in satisfying the people A.D. of Ostergo and Westergo, in Friseland, against whom the same kind of private and piratical hostilities + had been carried on, as with the states on the Baltic. They particularly requested that the captain of Calais might no longer send armed vessels to sail from that port against them, in aid of the count of Holland or his allies; and they complained that he openly entertained in his pay those pirates, public enemies of God and of all good merchants, who were known by the name of Likedelers. +

These affairs, which during their continuance must have seriously interrupted the commerce of the country, would have been much sooner terminated, had they not occurred in what the chronicler of our civil wars truly calls "the unquiet time of king Henry IV." His usurpation excited in the French court a strong feeling of abhorrence at "the injury done to an anointed king, to a crowned prince, and to the head of a realm." § 1400. The frontiers of Picardy and of the Boulognois were immediately provided, and the navigation of the Somme closed, no exports for England being permitted to pass Abbeville, nor any imports from that country admitted. This alone, without any actual hostilities, reduced the marches of Calais and Guisnes to a state of ruin.|| The count of St. Pol, who had married Richard's half sister, urged the king of France to declare war, and he himself sent letters of defiance to Henry,—considering, he said, the affinity in which he stood, and the love and esteem which he bore to king Richard, and the reproach it would be to him and his descendants, and the indignation of God which they should have cause to * Rymer, viii. 722. 736.

Though these piracies were carried on from English ports, foreigners* seem to have been engaged in them. Two of the captains, of whom the Hanse towns complain, are called by the strange names of Marcus Mexto de Vowyck, and Wilkok de Meer de Trirouwe.- Rymer, viii. 269.

Rymer, viii. 193. The peace was again renewed with these "most
ancient confederates," after some like interruption, in 1478.-Rymer, 12.51,
Holinshed, iii. 15.
Froissart, t. 4. c. 118.

apprehend, if he did not attempt to take vengeance for his death; "wherefore," he continued, "I make known to you by these presents, that I will annoy you by every possible means in my power, personally, and by my friends, relations, and subjects, and will do you all the hurt I can by sea and by land."* So sensible was Henry of his danger at this time, that he called upon the primate to make "all abbots, priors, religioners, and other ecclesiastical persons whatsoever, take arms, and array themselves in thousands, hundreds, and twenties, seeing that the whole clergy were bound, equally with other faithful subjects, to put their helping hands to the defence of the holy church and of the kingdom; and that the enemy, with a great fleet of ships, and a mighty multitude of armed men, collected upon the sea, threatened to destroy the king, and his kingdom, and his people, and to subvert the English church." +

Meantime an army was assembled in Picardy, which should have landed in England, to have supported those lords who endeavoured to restore the deposed king; but when their defeat was known, and the murder of that unfortunate prince, this force was disbanded.‡ Charles was desirous of having his daughter, the young queen, restored, who was yet a child, and whom there was some intention of detaining as a hostage for that part of king Jean's ransom which had not been paid. § Henry, on the other hand, well knowing that many of those great barons who had proved unfaithful subjects to his predecessor were not likely to be more faithful to him, and that they already repented of their imprudence, if not of their treason, wished by all means to avoid a rupture with France, and would gladly have obtained the young queen in marriage for his eldest son, as one who "in blood and age was in all things to her equal." This proposal, which a sense of feeling and honour might have withheld the French from entertaining, was waved by them, on the plea that

*Monstrelet. Johnes's translation, vol. i. c. 10. Rymer, viii. 123. 138. Holinshed, iii. 15.

P. Daniel, v. 397.