No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2009
The reputation won by Devonshire ports and seamen under Elizabeth has tended to obscure their growth and achievements in the later Middle Ages when a solid foundation of maritime enterprise was laid. A study of this growth gains interest from the characteristic differences of north and south and from marks of individuality such as the steep and rocky entrance to Dartmouth, the treacherous and sand-barred estuary of the Exe, the steeply shelving beaches where quays are even now unnecessary, and the marshy valleys which sometimes form their background.
page 99 note 1 The mediæval Chronicle of Exeter Church (ed. O. Reichel), and Hooker in his History of Exeter (Devon and Cornwall Record Society), which includes The Description of Dodones, both follow Geoffrey of Monmouth.
page 99 note 2 Plymouth Receivers' Accounts show that these figures, cut in the turf, were periodically renewed.
page 99 note 3 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1327—30, p. 240.
page 99 note 4 Issue Roll, 44 Ed. Ill, 272, 274.
page 100 note 1 In 1447, for the prosecution of the city's suit against Bishop Lacey.
page 100 note 2 Early Chancery Proceedings, 51/151, 54/88.
page 100 note 3 Exeter City MSS. Receivers' Accounts 1348–54.
page 100 note 4 H.M.C. Report on Exeter City Records, 288.
page 100 note 5 Bridge-wardens' accounts are preserved among the municipal records of Exeter, Totnes and Barnstaple.
page 101 note 1 E.g. Walter Gervase and John Nymet, whose wills are among the Exeter City MSS. Also by clergy; cf. Episcopal Registers of Exeter (Stafford), 385, 412, 418.
page 101 note 2 K. R. Customs, I/I. 7–8 Henry IV.
page 101 note 3 Especially in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Trans. Devon. Assoc. XLIV. The Aulnager in Devon.
page 102 note 1 Leland's Itinerary (ed. Toulmin-Smith), I, 171.
page 102 note 2 47 ships from Fowey, 31 from Dartmouth, 26 from Plymouth, 6 from Ilfracombe, and seamen in proportion.
page 102 note 3 The commercial prosperity of Totnes at this time caused the expansion of business premises at the expense of the south wall, and (according to Alderman C. F. Rea) the construction of the “Bastewallys,” erroneously printed “Eastewallys,” in H.M.C. Report, III, 342.
page 102 note 4 Franciscans in Exeter, Trinitarians in Totnes. The Exeter Dominicans were near the Cathedral.
page 103 note 1 Hugh de Courtenay blocked the passage which Isabella de Fortibus had left through Countness Weir.
page 103 note 2 Britannia, I, 25. Cf. Leland's Itinerary, I, 203. Foway flourished “partely by feates of warre, partely by pyracie, and so waxing riche felleal to marchandice.”
page 103 note 3 Itinerary, I, 214.
page 103 note 4 Murimuth (Rolls Series), 89–90.
page 104 note 1 Cal. Close Rolls, 1385–9, p. 537.
page 104 note 2 Anc. Petitions, 5306.
page 104 note 3 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1401–5, p. 298.
page 104 note 4 Anc. Petitions, 5301.
page 104 note 5 The Bishop of Exeter had a fortified palace at Paignton.
page 105 note 1 Cal. Close Rolls, 1381–5, p. 269.
page 105 note 2 Murimuth, 89.
page 105 note 3 Ibid., 109 note.
page 105 note 4 Sent with his brothers to help the Welsh insurrection against Henry IV, Report of the Plymouth Institution XV, Part II: Breton Invasions of Plymouth.
page 105 note 5 Chroniclers give the date variously as 1399, 1400, 1402, 1403.
page 105 note 6 See Appendix: Cargoes.
page 106 note 1 As Inq. ad quod damnum, 34 Ed. I, LXI/1. Grant by William La Zousche to Nicholas de Teukesbury.
page 106 note 2 Trans. Devon. Assoc. XLIV. The Aulnager in Devon.
page 106 note 3 Select Cases in Chancery (Selden Society) No. 96. A stone pier at Clovelly was built in the late fourteenth century.
page 107 note 1 In 1487 20 boat-loads of stone were used for this purpose at a cost of £5 16s. od. Further expenses appear in Plymouth Municipal Records (ed. Worth), 90–1.
page 107 note 2 Cal. Close Rolls, 1396–9, p. 33.
page 107 note 3 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1441—6, p. 288. Thomas Pedder and others “keep the coast of the sea there near the port [Dartmouth] so that every merchant fears to enter or leave the same.” Similar examples abound.
page 107 note 4 Leland's Itinerary, I, 214.
page 108 note 1 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1436–41, p. 273.
page 108 note 2 In 1396 two great masts and accessories for a royal ship were sent to Greenwich from Dartmouth. K. R. Customs, 40/21. Printed in Trans. Devon. Assoc. XLIV, 532.
page 108 note 3 Leland's Itinerary, I, 213.
page 108 note 4 Worthies of Devon, 477.
page 108 note 5 The number for which licences were most often granted. Rymer's Fœdera, X, 386, 401, 581, etc.
page 109 note 1 Plymouth Municipal Records, 70. Passport to John Cropp, 1492.
page 109 note 2 As Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1416–22, p. 71, Edward Courtenay; p. 85, Thomas Carew; p. 319, Hugh Courtenay; p. 320, John Tiptoft. Ibid., 1441–6, p. 154, William Bonevyll.
page 109 note 3 The Black Prince 1355; John of Gaunt 1373.
page 109 note 4 John of Gaunt's Register (Camden Society), § 1237.
page 109 note 5 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1401–5, p. 356.
page 110 note 1 Murimuth, 425. At Plymouth the Black Prince “moram traxit quasi continue habens ventum contrarium.”
page 110 note 2 Cal. Close Rolls, 1385–9, p. 194; Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1416–22, p. 387; Issue Roll, 44 Ed. III, p. 272. Cf. p. 14. “For 300 archers each 12d. per day.”
page 110 note 3 Early Chanc. Proc. 75/97; Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1405–8, p. 224; 1413–16 p. 117. For Tange Castelle (1. 23) understand Tannequy de Chastel.
page 110 note 4 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1401–5, pp. 310, 482.
page 110 note 5 Royal and Historical Letters (Rolls Series), Henry IV, Vol. I, No. xcviii.
page 110 note 6 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1401—5, p. 430.
page 111 note 1 Ibid., 126.
page 111 note 2 Early Chancery Proceedings, 69/122; 163/125. The complainant declares that his persecutor “ys oon of the constables of the said staple and also oon of the partie playntieffes “in the staple court. Cf. 60/236. In Exeter only ex-mayors of the city could become mayors of the staple.
page 111 note 3 Oak Book of Southampton (ed. Studer), I, p. xxi.
page 112 note 1 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1330–4, p. 145; cf. 1422–9, p. 50: the controller at Plymouth is to write the rolls with his own hand, to reside on the spot and to do his duties in person. Yet twenty years later (Ibid., 1441–6, p. 177) the position may be filled by deputy.
page 112 note 2 Early Chancery Proceedings, 54/70.
page 112 note 3 Select Cases in Chancery, No. 38: alleged conspiracy for the arrest of a ship between the water-bailiff of Plymouth and the admiral's lieutenant. Cf. Select Cases in the Court of Star Chamber (Selden Soc,), I, 9: Robert Bonyfaunt accused of concealing for his own use cloth which he had arrested as customer.
page 113 note 1 All these instructions are taken from Cal. Close Rolls, 1385–9, pp. 412, 592; 1389–92, pp. 112, 260, 425.
page 113 note 2 Ibid., 1385–9, pp. 169, 199, 366, 380.
page 113 note 3 Called “Gascoign.” He was water-bailifi of Dartmouth; several times collector of customs in Exeter and Dartmouth; M.P. for Dartmouth. (Wylie's, Henry V, I, 118Google Scholar, note 6). He appears as mayor of Dartmouth in Exch. Accts. Misc. 512/29.
page 114 note 1 Early Chancery Proceedings, 6/193.
page 114 note 2 As Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1408–13, p. 224. Violence and maintenance during the hearing of a maritime case at Dartmouth.
page 114 note 3 Ibid., 1330—4, pp. 304, 322.
page 114 note 4 Cal. Close Rolls, 1381–5, p. 416.
page 114 note 5 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1436—41, p. 572—3; 1441—5, pp. 47, 107, 289, 423.
page 115 note 1 Mr. Kingsford (Prejudice and Promise in XVth Century England, 95) describes similar activities on the part of Sir Hugh Courtenay of Boconnoc.
page 115 note 2 Sometimes with a certain justification from the character of his commission.
page 115 note 3 Kingsford, op. cit., 85–6.
page 115 note 4 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1441–6, pp. 338–9.
page 115 note 5 Political Poems and Songs (Rolls Series), II, 199. Cf. Memorials of Henry V (Rolls Series), 144.
page 116 note 1 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1340–3, pp. 568, 573.
page 116 note 2 Early Chancery Proceedings, 43/33.
page 116 note 3 Anc. Petitions, 76/3791: Teignmouth ships “appelez Gaynebien du pois de viijxx tonels, La Trinite du pois de C. tonels, La Margarete du pois de iiijxx tonels, le Michel du pois de iiijxxxv tonels, le Seint Mary cog du pois de vixxx tonels.”
page 116 note 4 John of Gaunt's Register, § 1430.
page 117 note 1 Early Chancery Proceedings, 54/88.
page 117 note 2 Itinerary, I, 203.
page 118 note 1 Little Red Book of Bristol (ed. Bickley), 232.
page 118 note 2 Early Chancery Proceedings, 67/294. There are many references to business dealings in Cal. Pat. Rolls and Cal. Close Rolls.
page 118 note 3 Select Cases in the Court of Star Chamber, I, 84.
page 118 note 4 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1343–5, P. 179, cf. 1413–16, p. 87. Le Petyr of Dartmouth.
page 118 note 5 Early Chancery Proceedings, 54/88.
page 119 note 1 The Building of Exeter Cathedral (Bishop and Prideaux), 38, citing Fabric Rolls. For salt exported from Yarmouth in a Devon ship see Gras's Early English Customs System, 275.
page 119 note 2 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1436–41, p. 506.
page 119 note 3 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1401–5, pp. 296, 352, 439, 510.
page 120 note 1 Cal. Fine Rolls, 1307–19, p. 260; Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1330–4, p. 418. The capture of a Scottish ship by “La Jouet” of Dartmouth is the subject of Early Chancery Proceedings, 68/91.
page 120 note 2 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1405–8, p. 478; 1429–36, p. 128.
page 120 note 3 Unwin's Finance and Trade under Edward III, 258.
page 121 note 1 Early Chancery Proceedings, 60/116.
page 121 note 2 Cf. Plymouth Municipal Records (ed. Worth), 90. Receiver's Account, 1486: “Paid to the breton for sewyng of the forsayle iiijs. vd. ob.” The town owned two vessels as “Carreyers.”
page 121 note 3 Cal. Pat. Rolls., 1401–5, p. 134.
page 121 note 4 Early Chancery Proceedings, 60/165. Cf. the ‘George” of Dartmouth freighted with a valuable cargo for “Great Seville” (Select Cases in Chancery, No. 42, and Chaucer's Shipman familiar with “every crike in Britayne and in Spayne” (Canterbury Tales (ed. Skeat), Prologue 409.)
page 122 note 1 A number of large ships attached to these ports seem to have been engaged almost exclusively in this trade.
page 122 note 2 Cal. Close Rolls, 1381–5, p. 72.
page 122 note 3 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1429–36, pp. 73, 75.
page 123 note 1 As to Robert Wenyngton in 1449. And to John Hawley, Benedict de Bottesana and Thomas Asshenden, all of Dartmouth (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1377–81, P. 356).
page 123 note 2 Ibid., 1340–3, p, 593.
page 123 note 3 Ibid., p. 454.
page 124 note 1 Cat. Pat. Rolls, 1345–8, p. 110, cf. p. 100. Malefactors of Dartmouth take a Spanish ship and cargo, throw some of the mariners into the sea, sink the ship, keep the wines and threaten the master with death if he sues for restitution.
page 124 note 2 Political Poems and Songs, II, 166—7.
page 124 note 8 Worth's History of Plymouth, 34.