THE WINE TRADE WITH GASCONY
During no period of the English rule in France were the
ties which united England and Gascony more numerous or
more powerful than in the reign of Edward III For nearly
two centuries their intercourse had been developed by subjection to a common ruler, and the opening of the
Hundred Years' War greatly contributed to the same
end by necessitating the residence of increasing numbers
of English officers in the Duchy, by making it a base for
hostilities and a depôt for supplies The connection between
the two countries was moreover not merely political, it was
also economic, and it was for this reason (fn. 1) chiefly that the
Gascons valued the union with the English Crown
The basis of this economic attachment was the trade in
wine-a commodity which was in more general demand in
mediæval than in modern England The frequency with
which fines (fn. 2) were then paid and security given in wine is
evidence of this, while the still existing custom of estimating
shipping by tonnage ('wine tuns') (fn. 3) indicates the primary
importance of wine as an article of foreign trade Wine was
not, however, England's sole import from Gascony Salt (fn. 4)
and armour (fn. 5) regularly formed part of the cargoes of ships
coming from the Duchy The salt pits of Bordeaux, (fn. 6)
Poitou, (fn. 7) and Soulac (fn. 8) provided England with her best supplies
of salt, while throughout Southern France the salt of
Bordeaux was highly regarded and even preferred to that of
Languedoc So general was the importation of salt and
armour into England that there is scarcely a single inventory (fn. 1)
of the goods of any ship returning from Gascony which does
not make mention of both
The trade with Gascony moreover was not at this period
confined to imports, or it would have been less lucrative than
it was English ships on the outward journey, and those of
Gascons returning carried great quantites of corn, wool, cloth,
and fish At times even bullion was carried In the reign
of Edward III the exportation of corn to Gascony was incessant and increasing The amount of corn grown in the Duchy
was quite inadequate to meet the needs of the inhabitants, as
was often the case in Toulouse if not in Saintonge, (fn. 2) Périgord,
and the Haut Pays In Toulouse scarcity of corn was very
frequent, and could only be remedied by obtaining (fn. 3) freedom
to seek it in all parts Corn was therefore brought to
Bordeaux by sea and conveyed thence by river Bordeaux
itself seems to have been very dependent at this period upon
supplies from England and the corn-growing parts of the
interior, and the latter means of supply was often utilised to
the full, as in 1401, when it was required (fn. 4) of inland dealers
in parts which were rebellious that they should bring with
the wines they conveyed to Bordeaux a very large proportion
of corn It has indeed been stated that Bordeaux possessed
more vineyards in the fourteenth century than at any other
period, and that at that time (fn. 5) there were many who complained that it was dangerous to sacrifice the cultivation of
corn to that of the vine as the city ran the risk of starvation
amid its riches It was no doubt because of this scarcity of
corn in Gascony that English nobles and officers visiting those
parts in the royal service usually purveyed (fn. 6) corn in England
to supply their needs in Gascony, the Black Prince reserving (fn. 7)
two manors for this purpose In time of war the amount of
corn exported was exceptionally great, but such exportation
can usually be distinguished not only by the circumstances
under which it occurred but also by the fact that on such
occasions it was consigned to some official, the Seneschal of
Aquitaine, the Mayor of Bordeaux, or the Receiver of the
King's Victuals in Aquitaine Moreover, in these circumstances wool also was usually sent for the purpose of maintaining the King's armies Innumerable instances, however,
exist of the grant of licences for the export of corn at times
when there was no military or political reason for unusual
numbers of English subjects to be in the Duchy It was a
daily occurrence for licences to be given for the exportation
of corn to Gascony 'to trade (fn. 1) with' or 'to make profit of'
The King knew no better way of rewarding the men of StSever and Bayonne than to grant (fn. 2) them a quantity of corn
The need of Gascony was made the ground (fn. 3) for granting
pardon to many who exported corn to the Duchy contrary to
general prohibition, and usually, when prohibition was made
against all exportation, exception (fn. 4) was allowed in the case of
Gascony In the latter years of the reign a larger normal
exportation was necessitated by the devastation of Gascony
by the French, the Count of Armagnac, and the English
themselves, but the exportation of corn had always been
profitable, and in periods of famine very extensive, as in 1334,
when seven merchants received licence (fn. 5) to export 52,000
quarters, and in 1347 when ships bound to Gascony with corn
were ordered (fn. 6) back to London owing to a scarcity having
arisen in the city French (fn. 7) merchants carried on a considerable trade in victualling the Duchy, while English merchants
constantly sought to increase their gains by taking out corn (fn. 8)
in the same ships in which they hoped to bring back wine
Besides corn Gascony received from England large
quantities of herrings and of the dried fish of Cornwall and
Devon As in the case of corn, exporters of these were
required to give security that they would not be taken to
hostile ports This trade was in danger of being destroyed
in 1364 by the policy of restricting merchants to one trade
only It was however preserved by exception (fn. 1) being made in
the case of the merchant vintners of Gascony who in the words
of the charter were allowed 'to meddle in the craft of the
fishmongers' so that they might bring herring and take it
to their own country, the exportation of money being thus
avoided
Wool, cloth, and hides (fn. 2) as well as victuals were constantly
exported to Gascony In the early part of the reign of
Edward III there was a good market for wool in the Duchy,
and it was often sent by the King to finance (fn. 3) his affairs in
those parts Complaint was on one occasion made that the
whole of Aquitaine was in danger of subjection to an alien
power through delay in sending wool (fn. 4) Such wool was usually
"the King's wool" (fn. 5) and free from custom and subsidy At
one time there existed in the Duchy a cloth making industry,
and records survive of a grant (fn. 6) made in 1236 by Henry III
to Bonafusus de Sancta Columba, citizen of Bordeaux, of a
monopoly of cloth making in that city In the reign of
Edward III this industry nearly died out, and by 1360 the
exportation of wool was largely superseded by that of cloth
This branch of trade suffered however from unfortunate
hindrances In 1373 there arose a dispute (fn. 7) between English
cloth merchants and the customs officials of Gascony concerning the true standard of measure The location of the staple
at Calais in 1363 was also a serious if temporary hindrance
It necessitated either the taking of wool or cloth first to
Calais by the seller and thence by the purchaser to Gascony,
or else the procuring of special license to take it direct To
the merchants of Ireland and the West of England this was
ruinous as not only demanding an unnecessary and lengthy
voyage to Calais but exposing them to great peril in the
Channel, where piracy was rife in an age of almost continuous
warfare In 1364 the merchants of Drogheda and Waterford
complained (fn. 1) that they were obliged to take their wool to Calais
although there were in that place no commodities which they
wished to bring to their own country They were therefore
obliged to take a cargo thence to Gascony, thus paying double
freights for their imports Exception was made in their case, (fn. 1)
as also in that of the Gascons, (fn. 2) who received permission to
export herrings and woollen cloth direct to the value of the
wines they imported As in 1348, the year succeeding the
first location of the Staple in Calais, so in 1364, the year
succeeding the second location the records contain a great
number of special (fn. 3) licenses for the exportation of wool and
cloth direct to Gascony from the ports of Cornwall, Devon,
Essex, Suffolk, and Yorkshire In the same year the general
licence which had been accorded to Hull (fn. 4) in 1363 was extended
to Bristol (fn. 5) for one year, it being expressly stipulated that wine
should be imported to the value of the wool, cloth, and other
merchandise thus exported The number of such licences
and the great quantity of cloth which they exempted from
the application of the ordinances of the Staple are themselves
evidence of the magnitude of the normal trade with Gascony
both as regards wool, cloth, and wine
A branch of trade so profitable as that between England
and Gascony naturally engaged the attention of traders of
many different types and nationalities English, Gascon,
French, Flemish, and Spanish merchants as well as Italians
of Asti, Piacenza, and Chieri, and the merchants of Italian
banking societies like the Bardi, Peruzzi, and Frescobaldi,
found in it profitable occupation (fn. 6) The English Kings moreover interested themselves in the trade, perhaps more deeply
than all these, and indeed utilised their services in their own
behalf The demands of the royal household and retinue
for wine were large in normal times, but the needs of the
Crown were enormously augmented by war, and in this reign
war was almost incessant In the satisfaction of the royal
demand officials and merchants of many different types were
employed, but of these the one most fully devoted to the work
was the King's Butler, known previous to 1319 as the King's
Chamberlain or Taker of Wines It was essential to the
person holding this office not only that he should be a man
of marked business capacity and knowledge of the wine trade
but that he should be in a position to allow the King considerable credit Hence the office was held not infrequently
by wealthy vintners Thus in the reign of Edward I Gregory
de Rokesle, who was King's Butler, and eight times Mayor
of London, if not a vintner at least dealt (fn. 1) in wines, while
William Trente (fn. 2) and Arnold Micol, (fn. 3) who held the same office
later were merchant vintners of Gascony, the former a native
and burgess of Puyguilhem, the latter a native of Bazas and
burgess of Bordeaux In the reign of Edward III Henry (fn. 4)
Picard, who was the King's Butler, and John Stodeye, his
deputy, were both active and influential vintners, and great
creditors of the King Although the King obtained large
quantities of wine by the right of prisage, no small amount
was obtained by the purchases of the Butler at home and in
Gascony In the early years of the reign the royal credit,
though as a whole poor, with Gascon merchants was
fairly good as a consequence of the repayment, (fn. 5) during the
Regency, of debts contracted by Edward I and his successor
with the communities and merchants of Bourg, Blaye, StSever, St-Quitterie, Bordeaux and other Gascon towns
Moreover during these years the new purchases were paid for
and accordingly were made with facility Very shortly however after the young King assumed personal control, financial
difficulties supervened, the royal credit declined, and the
Butler's duties became more difficult Immediate payment
for purchases of wines at once became less frequent, and there
arose instead the practice of making assignments upon the
issues of customs in various ports The outbreak of war and
the consequent increase in the liabilities of the Crown rendered
this mode of payment even less satisfactory than before, great
as its disadvantages then were Assignments were made
upon issues already assigned, and merchants were often compelled to wait (fn. 6) long periods before they could even begin to
realise on the grants they had received Frequently they
were 'amoved' from the customs after receiving only part
satisfaction for their debts, and the issues were assigned to
more pressing creditors In 1345, for example, a debt of
£750 6s 10¾d, which the King had incurred by purchases of
wine from certain Gascons was duly acknowledged Payment was promised, together with £100 'beyond the sum
due,' 'in consideration of the loss and damage sustained in
the long prosecution of payment' The whole sum was to
be paid by an assignment upon the issues of the custom of two
shillings per tun due to the Crown upon wines imported by
aliens, it being granted that £360 was to be raised in the
port of London More than three years later no (fn. 1) payment
had been made, and in 1352 there was still wanting (fn. 2) to the
sum appointed to be collected in London £51 17s 0d The
case of these merchants is little worse than that of the majority
of Gascons who sold to the King after the earliest years of the
reign, and sufficiently illustrates the difficulty of realizing on
an assignment Another, and somewhat satisfactory means of
satisfying the King's Gascon creditors, was the practice of
making grants (fn. 3) of wool or cloth, with or without the obligation to take it to Calais or the Flemish Staple before exporting
to Gascony Unable to obtain wine by just purchase, the
Butler had in 1339 made unjust prisage, with the result that
Gascons began to absent themselves from the country and
the royal intervention (fn. 4) was required The effect of this treatment of the Gascon merchants was to bring to an early close
their dealings with the King and his ministers in England
The increased demands occasioned by the war received no
response in this quarter, and there is evidence of very few
purchases made by the King's Butler from Gascons in
England after 1345
Whenever he wished to supplement the supplies obtained
by prisage the Butler was compelled to make purchases at
the source of supplies in Gascony usually out of his own
resources This was also the means adopted by Picard (fn. 1) in
1356, while Arnold Micol (fn. 2) and John de Wesenham, (fn. 3) when
holding this office, exported great quantities of corn for the
purchase of wine for the King Necessity compelled them
to have recourse to this method so frequently that the Butlers
had deputies (fn. 4) in the Duchy who were often Gascons and who
procured wine on their own (fn. 5) or the Butler's credit
Beside the Butler and his deputies there were also officials
of a much more exalted rank who rendered valuable service
to the King in this respect These were the Seneschal of
Gascony and the Constable of Bordeaux Thus Anthony de
Pessaigne, (fn. 6) Seneschal of Gascony under Edward II, was his
creditor to the extent of £5,288, 22d for the purveyance of
corn and wine and for other expenses incurred at the time of
the war with Scotland The Constable (fn. 7) of Bordeaux regularly
purchased wine in Gascony, paying for both the wine and its
carriage from the issues of the Duchy, from which source the
purveyances of the Butler also were largely financed As
these officials in Gascony were able to make extensive
purchases, without the intervention of a middleman, and as
such wine was free (fn. 8) of all customs, this became the usual means
of procuring wine for the King when required in large quantities, as in the time of war and for the coronation feast (fn. 9)
Private merchants were also engaged in the work of
supplying the King's demand for wine and their professional
knowledge was utilised by their being sent to Gascony for
this purpose Sometimes their engagement was very
temporary, but often their connection with the King's service
was closer, and they appear in the records under the title of
King's merchants, and many of these were Gascons They
were not mere ship-masters, but merchants, and often
employed foreign (fn. 10) ships in their affairs While serving the
King they frequently entered into transactions for themselves,
part of the ship's freight being the King's, part their own (fn. 1)
Like the Butler they were often the King's creditors, (fn. 2) paying
for his wine as well as their own, and recovering their outlay
with an additional sum upon or after the delivery of their
cargo Moreover at need they advanced (fn. 3) money to the King
so that debts due to other merchants might be paid off The
activities of King's merchants in the wine trade seem to have
ceased after the early years of the reign, and the King became
almost wholly dependent for his supply of wine upon the
Butler and his deputies and officials of the Crown who were
engaged in the work of administration in Aquitaine
In securing a supply of salt (fn. 4) and in its sale the King had
also an interest The salt pit of La Bay in Poitou was his,
and the entire sale of salt in that district was in 1349 strictly
reserved (fn. 5) as a Crown monopoly under the administration of
the Earl of Lancaster, who was then "the King's captain" in
those parts The salt pit of Bordeaux, which had been in the
possession of the Crown in the time of Henry III (fn. 6) was given (fn. 7)
in 1342 to John de Grailly, an influential Gascon nobleman, a
gift expressly designed to retain for the Crown his services in
the wars So important were these pits as the sources of the
best supplies of this commodity that the conditions under
which they were regulated were constantly proclaimed in the
city of London
Other noblemen in like manner received valuable trading
privileges Thus Bernard Ezii (fn. 8) , the Lord of Albret, and the
Earl of Lancaster (fn. 9) himself received on occasion preferential
treatment at the hands of the customs officials, the former
receiving exemption from the custom of two shillings per tun
on the wines of aliens, the latter from the subsidy of forty
pence per tun Privileges however were scarcely needed to
induce the nobility, both Gascon and English, to engage in
the wine trade Self-interest commended it to those of
Gascony whose estates produced wine in excess of their needs,
and they are frequently mentioned as dealing in company with
merchants (fn. 1) of Bordeaux English nobles upon whom lay
the maintenance or a large household and retinue were also
moved to commercial activity by reasons of economy These
could not afford any more than the King to depend for their
regular supplies on the merchant vintners and taverners of
England, and though they frequently purchased from Gascon
importers, (fn. 2) they had their own merchants, and their butlers
visited Gascony with a view to procuring supplies cheaply
Thus Roger Mortimer, (fn. 3) Earl of March, had in his service
several merchants, while early in the reign the King's uncle,
the Earl of Kent, (fn. 4) sought supplies of salt and wine in
company with the King, exporting goods for their purchase
in the ships of Thomas de Binedon, King's merchant In
1348 the men and merchants of Queen Philippa at Galway (fn. 5)
received protection for two years with license to trade in
Gascony and other parts of the King's dominions
The trade between England and Gascony moreover was
not confined to the laity Gascon ecclesiastics found the
English market for wines highly convenient for disposing of
the surplus produce of the estates of the Church Thus the
Archbishop of Boideaux, (fn. 6) the Bishop of Agen, and the
Bishop of Saintes (fn. 7) all made sales of wines to English
merchants, while in the reign of Edward I the Archdeacon
of Aunis, (fn. 8) in the bishopric of Saintes, maintained a
merchant trading in his behalf in England So extensively
did ecclesiastics trade that it is no surprise to learn that in
Gascony wines coming from the estates of the Church enjoyed
special exemptions, (fn. 9) though the same scarcely appears to
have been true of the wine of individual (fn. 10) clergy As regards
salt, the Archbishop of Bordeaux and the Prior of Soulac
had a joint (fn. 11) interest in the salt pans of Soulac and sold to
English merchants The Chancellor of St Patrick's, Dublin, (fn. 12)
took out corn to Gascony for commercial purposes, while
papal nuncios (fn. 13) are known to have availed themselves of their
stay in England in the business of the papacy in obtaining
royal licence to send servants to the Duchy for wine The
activities of the clergy did not end, however, with the satisfaction of their wants or with the wholesale trade In Bordeaux
the Archbishop and clergy of St André and St Seurin
sought and obtained (fn. 1a) from the Earl of Lancaster permission
to sell in tavern wines obtained from their own domains in
that diocese
From these facts it is clear that the wine trade was carried
on to a surprising extent by officials, nobles, and ecclesiastics
Especially was this the case in the thirteenth century and
among Englishmen, for the free merchants class emerged but
slowly until the latter half of the reign of Edward I
Occasional instances of English merchants trading in Gascony
are indeed to be found, as the men of Winchelsea and
Shoreham (fn. 1) in 1265, but for the most part such activity was
limited to men who also had a public character, as Rokesle
the Chamberlain and Henry le Waleys, (fn. 2) who was Mayor of
London and of Bordeaux in consecutive years (A D 1274,
1275) Of those whose activities were purely commercial the
first to trade extensively were the Gascons, as is abundantly
proved by the large number of recognisances for sums owed
by Londoners to Gascons in the early part of the reign of
Edward I, while there is very little contemporary mention of
the English dealing except as taverners The presence of
Gascons of Bordeaux, Bayonne, Bazas, Langon, and Libourne
was one of the most marked features of thirteenth century
London, while the merchants of La Réole frequented one
district so greatly as to earn for it the name (fn. 3) of their own
town One Gascon at least, William Trente, a native of
Bergerac, received the office of Gauger of Wines in England
and Ireland for life, and rose to eminence as the King's
Chamberlain, Taker of Wines and Coroner in the City,
alderman and member of Parliament (fn. 4) In other parts of the
kingdom also Gascons were to be found Thus there was
Pierre la Gride, merchant of Bordeaux, who was a burgess of
Melton, John Frembaud, citizen of Bordeaux, and townsman
of Carnarvon, and John de London, of Bordeaux, who held
the freedom of Southampton (fn. 5) They did not, however, receive
admission to the citizenship of London in the reign of Edward
I, though it is clear from the difficulty with which they were
brought to submit to the restricted liberties of alien traders
that they had enjoyed some of its privileges
The wine brought by the Gascon merchants was sold in
large quantities and to a variety of persons, goldsmiths,
butchers, woolmongers, dealers in iron, as well as taverners
and vintners being recorded as purchasers In London aliens
traded under severe restrictions which the City maintained
to have been prescribed by the Great Charter The Gascons,
however, as dealers in a favoured commodity, appear to have
evaded them very largely Thus although they were forbidden
to retail or sell to other aliens, (fn. 1) the Gascons in 1292 resisted
the attempts of the City to enforce these restrictions, and
claimed (fn. 2) freedom of sale as a right, having enjoyed it, in
practice at least, since the suspension of the City's franchise
in 1285 Aliens were also under the obligation not to remain
in England more than forty days, at the end of which time
they must dispose of such wine as remained unsold, since
wine could not be exported from England without the King's
special licence It is certain that the Gascons evaded this
obligation also, for the action taken against them by the
City in 1292 gave rise to a struggle upon this issue which
continued with little cessation for thirty years, often, if not
generally, in the Gascons' favour By means of extending
their stay beyond the limit of forty days, and by disposing
of the wine which they were unable to sell to natives or to other
of their countrymen in England, the Gascons escaped the
necessity of selling at a reduced rate the wine they imported
With the same object they gave some perpetuity to their visits
by trading as partners, (fn. 3) visiting England in turn and appointing one another as attorneys, (fn. 4) to represent them during their
absence from the country, while the services of such attorneys
were also very useful in the recovery of debts
Such was the nature of the dealings of the Gascons in
London during the earlier portion of the reign of Edward I
As yet the English vintners, who in later days were to be
their competitors, were both few and feeble They were
indeed rarely distinct from the taverners, both names being
frequently applied interchangeably to the same person (fn. 5) With
the exception of Rokesle and Waleys, who, as has been seen,
united in one person the characters of merchant and official,
they were men of no wealth, as is proved by the modesty of
their bequests and the small scale (fn. 1) of their transactions The
sphere in which their activities as yet lay is shown in a quarrel
which arose in 1285 between the City and the Gascons with
regard to the fee for brokerage of wines Rokesle and
Waleys, the former of whom was then Mayor of the City,
appear to have been almost alone in supporting the Gascons
in their demand for the lower fee The quarrel ended with
a compromise, the rate being fixed at threepence per tun, but
it illustrates the exceptional nature of the position of these
two and how small as yet was the number of English
merchants who imported This was not, however, the only
occasion on which Rokesle and Waleys supported the
importer In 1301, and on this occasion with the support of
native merchants as well as Gascons, they obtained (fn. 2) from the
Crown a decision against the barons of the Cinque Ports and
the mariners of Yarmouth awarding to merchants compensation from the shipmaster in cases of loss by jettison The
fact that on this occasion they were supported by native
merchants indicates some development of the interests of these
in over-sea trade By the middle of the reign, however, little
advance had been made in this respect and native vintners
confined their efforts to enforcing the traditional restrictions
upon the activities of aliens after their arrival in this country
In this they could depend upon the support of Waleys and
Rokesle, since these, if as importers they had interests with
the Gascon aliens, as native merchants had interests in
common with those of the home vintner in opposing the
liberties of the alien in England
In 1288 an attack was made (fn. 3) by the city upon the liberties
of stay and of sale enjoyed by Gascons both in London and
without But despite the representations (fn. 4) of Waleys and
William de Hereford in 1292 the Gascons next year obtained
a recognition (fn. 5) from the Crown of the liberties they
claimed, and the quarrel was not again renewed until the
year 1300 The motives with which the city was now
actuated may be gathered from the fact that in the meantime
it had attacked the liberties of Winchelsea while in the year
1300 it extended its opposition to the Teutonic and
Portuguese merchants as well as the Gascons In 1298
during the mayoralty of Waleys, it was declared by the
mayor and aldermen of London that merchants of Sandwich (fn. 1)
should not trade with foreigners, while at the same time the
right of selling wine in London was restricted (fn. 2) to freemen of
the city The barons of the Cinque Ports, thus deprived of
their chief source of wealth, found a strong supporter of their
rights in Archbishop Winchelsey, who condemned the city's
action as contrary to the Great Charter, confirmed the preceding year, and threatened Waleys with excommunication,
declaring that it was unworthy of the Mayor's dignity to
injure others in order to gain popular favour Two years
after this event, in April, 1300, the freemen of London,
intensely dissatisfied that since 1293 the Gascons in virtue of
their possession of the King's permission, had enjoyed the
same privileges of residence and of sale as themselves, determined to enforce their claims of their own accord In that
month a number of aliens of influence who kept hostels
received notice to quit and were informed that henceforth
they were to lodge with freemen and that for a period of not
more than forty days within which they must dispose of their
wines The petition of the Gascons for permission to reside
in cellars in which they kept their wines was also promptly
refused (fn. 3) Among the aliens thus expelled were many of
great influence and favour with the King, as the Portuguese
merchant Gerard Dorgoyl, and William Trente, the vintner
of Bergerac, who in the following year became the King's
Chamberlain, Taker of Wines, and Coroner in the City
This success of the City was, however, merely temporary
In August, 1302, Edward made a "Convention" (fn. 4) with the
merchant vintners of Guienne the terms of which six months
later were to form the basis of the more general agreement
with alien merchants known as the Carta Mercatoria (Feb
1st, 1303) By this "convention" or "charter," which had
no parliamentary sanction, the Gascons, in return for an
agreement to pay increased customs, received a promise that
no unjust prises of their goods should be made, and were
accorded freedom to sell in gross to natives or aliens, and
to lodge where they wished and for as long as was the
pleasure of those into whose inns or houses they were
received Thus after two years' enjoyment of the exclusive
rights it had asserted the City found the alien admitted to
the same liberties of trade as were enjoyed by natives with
the single exception of the right to retail, and this condition
of affairs it held to be contrary to Magna Carta and the
Charter of the City, and as having been produced by the
illegal collusion of the King and the aliens The dissatisfaction of the Londoners remained without effective expression
until the reign of Edward II It was then maintained, (fn. 1)
probably with truth, that the increased customs with which
the aliens had purchased these privileges enhanced prices,
and the King, in consequence of the need he then felt of conciliating opinion with the unauthorised return of Gaveston,
suspended (Aug 20, 1309) the exactions for twelve months
with the alleged motive of observing their effects on prices
It was during this period that the hostility of native and
Gascon in London was fiercest In March, 1310, regulations
were issued for brokers of wine, the most important of which
forbade brokers to act as hosts to merchant strangers and
prohibited them from bringing strangers together for purposes of trade In May, in reply to a writ from the King,
brought forward by the Gascons, the City strongly maintained
that the immunity of aliens from murage and portage enjoyed
by virtue of their payment of the new custom ceased with its
suspension Thus with the suspension of the additional
customs the aliens lost the liberties they had held The
protests of the Gascons led to outrages committed against
them, and these were followed by the arrest of many citizens
at the King's command, and a confirmation (fn. 2) of the grant of
royal protection to Gascons coming to trade The crisis did
not pass until the Gascons purchased (fn. 3) a confirmation of the
Carta Mercatoria at the price of £600 advanced by five
vintners of the Duchy who afterwards received the King's
permission to recover the sum by a levy upon wines imported.
The new Customs, together with the privileges of aliens, were
therefore renewed in August, 1310, the King alleging that
the suspension of these dues had been of no effect in reducing
prices
Thus the City failed for the time to break down the
agreement by which the Gascons, in return for increased
customs, had received from the King the full liberties of
trade enjoyed by natives, with the single exception of the
right to retail This branch of trade, commonly regarded as
the rightful monopoly of the native, the Gascons, with few
exceptions, appear to have been content to leave for the
exploitation of their less wealthy rivals The liberty to stay
at will, and the freedom to sell in gross, to aliens as well
as to natives relieved the Gascon of the obligation to dispose
of his wines at a less rate at the end of forty days These
privileges, which he purchased by payment of the New
Customs, together with the advantages he possessed in his
own country, rendered him at least equal as a competitor
with the native for the wholesale trade As a result the
merchants of London, and even the consumers, believing that
it was at their expense that the King and the aliens enriched
themselves, gave support to the active opposition to the
Crown which now began, and for the rest of the reign the
economic status of alien and native varied with the fortunes
of the King and those who opposed him
The triumph of the King's opponents resulted in the
ordinances of 1311, and these included provisions which
closely affected the wine trade, and are the more important as
they remained in force until 1322 It was ordained in 1311
that the charters should be observed, and the new custom
abolished (fn. 1) With the abolition of these customs the liberties of
aliens, which they had received by the Carta Mercatoria, were
revoked The old restrictions as to length of stay and
freedom to sell to other aliens were strictly enjoined, (fn. 2) and the
Gascon importer was exploited by the native dealer The
opposition to the alien was not conducted merely as it had
been before New measures were taken which reveal at once
both the power which native interests had now acquired and
the identity which was believed to exist between their
cause and that of the City and the ordinances New taxation
was devised, which was imposed upon resident aliens, while
with a view to better regulation citizens were compelled, (fn. 1a)
under penalty of fines, to reside within the City The
opposition extended beyond this The instability which had
characterised the conditions under which in recent years the
Gascons had traded had caused many to seek enfranchisement
as the only way of securing lasting economic liberty
Dorgoyl (fn. 1) and Trente (fn. 2) had been among the earliest of these
and had kept hostel by right of citizenship The severity
of the conditions by which this right was obtained indicate
at the same time its value and the disadvantages under which
the Gascons had often pursued their activities It is also
significant that citizenship was sought most during the
abeyance of the Carta Mercatoria In October, 1309, Peter
Caban, a Gascon merchant, had obtained (fn. 3) the citizenship
but only upon payment of the sum of one hundred shillings,
while in Lent, 1310, Elyas Peres, who had been deputy butler
in Gascony to the King, was only admitted (fn. 4) upon payment
of 22/6 and the security of Walter Waldeshef, the King's
butler, and William Trente So intense was the hostility to
the Gascons that in March, 1312, even this narrow way to
economic equality was virtually closed by a petition (fn. 5) of the
Commonalty of the City, who urged that aliens should not
be admitted to the citizenship except with their consent in
full husting As reason for their action they declared that
enfranchised aliens avowed (fn. 6) the goods of others It was for
this reason, as well as for selling to other aliens the wine
he had thus harboured, that Dorgoyl was deprived (fn. 7) of the
citizenship he had acquired, it being frankly admitted that
by this means the alien obtained a higher price Thus the
ordinances may be seen to have had a deep effect on the
economic life of London, but the disturbances they produced
were not without a parallel elsewhere At Ravenser (fn. 8) in
Yorkshire complaint was made in 1313 that the burgesses
made ordinances "against the King and his State" in consequence of which foreign merchants coming to the town were
not permitted to sell their goods at their true value, while
at Bawtry, in the same year, disturbances resulted in the
death of a Gascon merchant
So successful was the opposition to the Gascons and so
great the disgrace which overwhelmed the King in 1314 that
nothing was heard of the liberties of aliens for some years
It is strange that they should then be revived as an indirect
result of the war with the Scots which in 1314 had contributed
to keep them in abeyance Like other military enterprises of
the middle ages the siege of Berwick in 1319 occasioned
a demand for wine which now seems surprising The King,
already heavily burdened with debts (fn. 1) owing to Gascon
vintners for wine, had great difficulty to procure supplies
He was assisted by grants and purveyances in Gascony, but
was helped most by an agreement with the Gascons of London
and Bristol In June of that year the mayors and sheriffs of
London and Bristol received mandates from the King (fn. 2)
"upon petition of the Gascons" to permit them to take their
wines to the King in the north for the "hosting" of the war
with Scotland At the same time the King took the part
of the Gascons in a dispute that had arisen respecting their
liberties, and granted (fn. 3) that until next parliament they should
have freedom to sell in gross to whomsoever they wished,
native or alien, since a "greater abundance" would be made
by freedom of sale, and this it behoved him to encourage at a
time when he was at war with the Scots These concessions
were won for the Gascons by their proctor Arnold de Ispannia,
who afterwards received (fn. 4) permission to recover from those
who benefited the sum of eighty pounds expended in the
prosecution of this business In December 1320 these liberties
were confirmed (fn. 5) with the omission of all restriction as to
the period of their operation, and the Gascons received also
liberty of export conditional upon their not taking wool to
Brabant, Flanders or Artois contrary to the laws of the Staple
Thus, in consequence of their ability to assist the royal cause
which for the moment was not distinct from that of the nation,
the Gascons, not indeed without the oppositon (fn. 6) of London
but with the royal consent, recovered the more important of
the liberties they desired by a temporary grant which was
afterwards confirmed without restriction
This success was the signal for the reopening of the whole
contest, which for some time was carried on with more
advantage to the Gascons than formerly With the fall of the
Ordainers in 1322 and the resumed exaction of the new
customs the Gascons successfully claimed the old liberty of
stay It was the period of the triumph of the Despensers
and the Court party, and they appear to have favoured the
demand of the aliens
In April 1323 the Gascons in England received authority (fn. 1)
to levy contributions on their fellow-countrymen importing
wine in order to defray expenses, amounting to two hundred
marks, incurred "in the prosecution of affairs of common
utility" The nature of the liberties they then received is
probably revealed in a petition (fn. 2) of the first parliament of
Edward III, when it was urged that foreign merchants should
be restricted to a stay of forty days within which they must
dispose of their goods It was complained that the liberty
they had of late possessed had been granted to them by the
evil counsellors of the late king without the consent of prelates
and nobles, and that it had resulted in making goods
"outrageously more dear" It is not difficult to see what
interests prompted this petition The fiscal interests of the
Crown and the economic interests of the City merchants had
brought the two into rapidly increasing antagonism In
consequence of this the King had in 1322 suspended the City
mayoralty, but as a result of the rebellion of Isabella and
Mortimer and the proclamation of the Regency in October
1326 he was compelled to restore (fn. 3) it in December At the
same time the City seized the opportunity to carry a
demand which fully reveals the exclusiveness of their
designs All foreigners who had obtained the freedom of
the City, it was ordained, (fn. 4) should be deprived excepting only
the merchants of Amiens, Corbie and Nesle, and henceforth no foreigner should be admitted to enfranchisement
excepting in full husting, with consent of the Commonalty,
and on the security of six reputable men of his trade The
violence to which the City was moved was exhibited in the
murder of the reforming bishop Stapledon, who during the
rule of the Despensers had served the King as Treasurer and
Chancellor of the Exchequer That the exclusiveness of the
City was not in agreement with the real interests of the Crown
is evident from the temporising reply (fn. 1) made in the first
parliament of Edward III to the demand for the enforcement
of the forty days' restriction, and it is still more evident
in the confirmation of the Carta Mercatoria in the following
year (1328)
From this time until 1335 no general change took place
in the relative standing of the two interests competing for
mastery in the wine trade, which during this period was
carried (fn. 2) on under the conditions restored by the reconfirmation of the Carta Mercatoria in 1328 The relations existing
between the two were however by no means amicable, and
the old hostility of the native broke (fn. 3) out in 1334 in Bristol
and London in acts of violence of which the Gascon traders
were the victims The avowed cause of these outrages was
the privileges which aliens enjoyed by the restoration of the
charter of Edward I The general withdrawal of the Gascons
from the country which followed inconvenienced all, and not
least the King, who at all times had an interest in maintaining in England a good market for wine It was largely
in consequence of these disturbances, and partly from an
appreciation on the part of the Crown of the increase of
customs that would accrue from this course, that in the
Parliament of York (1335) freedom of trade was conferred
upon aliens by statute What was the precise extent of the
liberties the aliens then received it is impossible to state No
mention was explicitly made of any right of retail, though
this was conferred by a similar enactment (fn. 5) of 1351 It is,
however, certain that the liberties conferred by the Carta
Mercatoria, and more especially the right of aliens to sell to
aliens, then received parliamentary sanction The importance
of the statute of 1335 lies in this that the liberties accorded
to aliens by charter were now established by statute so that
it was no longer possible for natives to regard them as only
existing by a doubtful exercise of the royal prerogative No
measures appear to have roused greater opposition in London
than the statutes of 1335 and 1351, and in March, 1337, the
citizens recovered (fn. 1) what they claimed to be the full exercise
of their franchise, though the liberties of aliens in other parts
of the country were not withdrawn
It remains to observe what causes produced this sudden
reversal of policy in regard to the wine trade in 1337 The
hostility aroused by the act of 1335 played a considerable part,
but the fiscal situation created by the French declaration of
war in 1336 contributed most to the result Immense
funds were needed, and it was imperative that they should be
raised without delay The recognised sources were exploited
to the full, including repeated grants on moveables made
by the towns, but they were inadequate and yielded too slowly
The means adopted by Edward I in 1297 were therefore
applied, and the Crown secured a monopoly of the wool crop
as well as loans from Italian, Hanseatic, and English merchants The towns therefore acquired a new importance to
the Crown, especially London, where the capitalists of the
City, among whom many vintners were now conspicuous,
took a great part in financing (fn. 1) the King It was natural
in these circumstances that they should recover their ancient
privileges
During the period of the struggle of Gascon and native
in London (1288-1337) the native vintners had made great
advances in status both as individuals and as a class At the
beginning of the period, as has been seen, lack of capital
had confined them, with two exceptions, almost entirely to the
retail trade In the first decade of the new century, however,
indications of growth became visible, and fairly large dealers
were to be found among their number The record of debts
is evidence of this In 1302 Ralph of Honey Lane owed a sum
of two hundred marks to a Gascon merchant, in 1306 sixty
pounds to John de Wengrave, in 1307 nineteen pounds to a
'corder,' and at death five hundred (fn. 1) marks to a goldsmith
Ralph Hardel was an alderman of the City and the owner
of several tenements (fn. 2) in the Vintry and elsewhere The
reign of Edward II, as might be imagined from the success
with which the native opposed the united efforts of the Crown
and the alien, witnessed a remarkable rise in the wealth and
influence of the native vintner It was in this reign that
Reginald atte Conduit, John de Oxenford and Richard de
Rothyng, capitalist vintners, rose to prominence as financiers,
and their use was accompanied with that of many others
Whereas the name of no vintner was to be found in the
highest class of tax-payer in 1319, the names of four occurred (fn. 3)
in 1332 Such a comparison, however, does not indicate
the real greatness of their wealth or the extent of their
activities This can only be realised by an examination of
the debts due to them, and from these it appears that the
wealthy were frequently creditors in sums of £1,000
and upwards The dealings of Oxenford involved an extraordinary amount of capital, and though his activities were
frequently those of the financier he was doubtless the greatest
vintner of his time His transactions were frequently carried
on in partnership with Rothyng, who can perhaps be ranked
next as respects the extent of his commercial and financial
undertakings Conduit, though always a vintner, assumed
more and more the character of an official, and devoted most
of his energy to the service of his mistery, the City, and the
Crown All three occupied high civic office, serving the
City as sheriff, alderman, and representative in parliament
Both Rothyng and Conduit attended the famous parliament
of York in 1322, while the latter was also present at those
equally important in 1327 and 1335 Conduit and Oxenford
held the Mayoralty of the City, the former in 1335, the latter
in 1342, while Conduit received knighthood in the same year
in which he was mayor The names of all three are
prominent in the records of the doings of the vintners'
mistery, and appear first among those of the thirteen elected
for its government in 1328, while Oxenford and Rothyng
so far identified themselves with its interests as to join the
taverners in closing their taverns and refusing to sell when
general dissatisfaction prevailed among them in consequence
of the assize of wine in 1331 The financial assistance of
such men was earnestly sought by the Crown at the outbreak
of war in 1337, and was given in many ways Conduit and
Oxenford were among the most important of those to whom
was entrusted the provision of revenue for the Crown by the
seizure of wool in 1337
In 1336, the year which intervened between the enactment
of the Statute of York and the reconfirmation of the liberties
of London, the merchants of the City made gifts to the King
These included 1200/- each from Oxenford and Rothyng, 40/from John Fynche and 20/- each from Michael Mynot and
Nicholas Ponge, as well as smaller sums from other vintners (fn. 1)
In 1340 the King after seeking in vain to raise £20,000 in the
City, received a grant (fn. 2) of £5,000 for which the Mayor was
assessed at £100, Oxenford at £300, Rothyng at £200, Conduit at £60, Mynot at £40, Fynche at £10 and Ponge at £5
The grants of the vintners thus enumerated were but a part of
the total financial assistance afforded at this time by the City
It was this rise of the City as a factor in the successful
prosecution of the war which won it fourteen years' unbroken
enjoyment of the liberties for which it had so long struggled,
while in the provinces the alien enjoyed the privileges he had
acquired by the Carta Mercatoria which had received confirmation by statute in 1335
While the vintners of London thus strengthened themselves against aliens they also attained high place among the
misteries of the City They regularly made scrutiny (fn. 3) of
wines, thus acquiring some powers of supervision over their
sale, and in 1321, along with the fishmongers, petitioned (fn. 4) to
be allowed to govern their mistery and 'redress faults
therein according to ancient usage' Their petition was
granted, and in 1328 they elected (fn. 5) thirteen members of the
government of their mistery Their increasing influence as
a body is also shown by the decree by which in June, 1331,
the burgesses of Oxford lost (fn. 6) their liberty to sell by retail in
the City, and were forbidden to make wholesale purchase of
wine in London from merchant strangers if intended for
resale
As the interest of the vintners had brought them into
opposition to aliens and provincials they too now found
opposition within the City In 1311 complaint (fn. 1) was made
of the growing dearness of wine. Retail prices were therefore regulated at five pence per gallon for wines of the best
quality, fourpence for those of the next, and threepence for
those of least value At the same time it was also ordained
'that no merchant, an engrosser of wines keep a tavern himself, neither privily by any other person nor yet openly,' nor
should any taverner be an engrosser, but for long this
ordinance was not strictly enforced Thus in 1319 Thomas
Drynkewatre entered into an agrement to keep tavern for
James Beauflur, vintner, whose wines he was to sell It is
also certain (fn. 2) that in 1311 Oxenford, Rothyng, and other
vintners of influence had taverns in Vintry, while even later (fn. 3)
no clear distinction can be made between the two classes of
dealers Along with these attempts to define by legislation
the activities of those engaged in the trade, the regulation of
prices and conditions of sale became gradually more frequent,
and to the taverners more oppressive In 1321 petition was
made (fn. 4) to the King and Council against the assize of wine
In 1330 it was enacted (fn. 5) that assize of wines should be made
twice yearly at Easter and Michaelmas, and in other towns
as well as in London In 1331, at a time when, it is
important to remark, Pulteney, (fn. 6) a wealthy draper, was
mayor, and mercers, pelterers, and members of kindred
misteries had great influence as aldermen, the assize proved
so little satisfactory that a large number of taverners of
Vintry and Cheap closed (fn. 7) their taverns rather than sell at
the price ordained Despite minor difficulties of this nature,
however, the vintners of London, in possession of the great
advantages secured in 1337, continued to prosper until by
the middle of the century they had won for themselves such
a position as made them the object of the greatest jealousy
and aroused general opposition on the ground that they used
their power to 'corner' the supply of wine and thus raise
prices by artifice
From this time (1337) until the year 1351 no event affecting
the vintners as a body is recorded, and interest passes from
their struggles for status to changes in customs, duties and
conditions of navigation produced by the war These,
which constituted to a large extent, the most vital conditions
of trade, affected native merchants more closely than before,
as by this time they too were actively engaged in the work
of importation The exigencies of war directed the attention
of the Crown to the customs as an important source of
revenue, and a means of exerting political influence At the
same time their manipulation closely affected traders in wine
since this was the chief article of common consumption
imported from abroad, and therefore the chief subject of
prise and purveyance The customs on wine varied according
as the importers were freemen of favoured towns such as
London, York, and the Cinque Ports, natives of other
English towns and districts, or alien merchants Among the
last named were the Gascons, as is made clear by the Carta (fn. 1)
Mercatoria, while further evidence of the same fact may be
found in the temporary (fn. 2) exemptions of the Bayonnese in
1341 from a levy of threepence in the pound on merchandise
imported by aliens, as also in the refusal (fn. 3) in 1356 to exempt
Gascons from the custom of 21d levied upon 'every whole
cloth of assize' exported by alien merchants Only in the
ordinances of the staples were they ever regarded (fn. 4) as other
than aliens, and the exceptional nature of their position there
was expressly recognised in the statutes
The customs levied upon the goods of aliens in the years
immediately succeeding the grant of the Carta Mercatoria
were higher than those to which the goods of native traders
were subject. It was only to be expected that the Crown in
granting to aliens liberties which aroused the greatest opposition among natives should demand higher customs from those
on whom it thus conferred benefits That this was the nature
of the new customs, as these levies upon aliens were called,
is clear, but this inequality, at least as regards the
customs on wine tended to disappear as the century advanced.
As the value of wines increased from year to year the butler's
takings by prisage acquired greater value, while butlerage, as
the custom of two shillings per tun levied on the wines of
aliens was called, remained the same It was partly for this
reason that in the reign of Edward III the struggle regarding
the customs, so persistent in the reign of Edward II, no
longer existed, while for the same reason the King, who
benefited more from natives than formerly, was the more
willing to restore to the Londoners their old liberties of trade
The chief exaction to which the wine of native importers
was subject was the Recta (fn. 1) Prisa by which the King's Butler
or his deputy took two tuns for the King's use from each
ship bearing twenty tuns or more, and one tun from those
bearing ten tuns and less than twenty, a sum of twenty (fn. 2)
shillings being paid by the Crown as freight for every tun
thus prised From this custom, however, the 'barons' of the
Cinque (fn. 3) Ports were exempt as early at least as 1278, while
the citizens of London (fn. 4) acquired the same immunity in the
first year of the reign of Edward III, and those of York (fn. 5) in
1376 The merchants of Bordeaux also had long enjoyed
virtual exemption from the same custom, for in 1254, by a
charter which they purchased for two thousand marks, they
became exempt (fn. 6) from all Crown customs except the Recta
Prisa, while it was agreed that for the wine thus taken they
should receive the price In 1302 the Gascons as a whole
obtained exemption (fn. 7) from this custom as well as from levies
for murage, pontage, and pannage in the City of London, (fn. 8)
but agreed to pay instead the "New Custom" of two shillings
on every tun brought to port and landed for sale (fn. 9) It was
this agreement which was extended to other aliens next year,
thus becoming part of the Carta Mercatoria In addition
to these customs natives and aliens alike paid the 'ancient
customs', (fn. 10) which consisted of a small money due 'levied at
the ports, not only by the Crown as of its prerogative but
also by certain franchises as a port or harbour toll, while
they were also subject to purveyance or 'pre-emption' 'ad
opus regis,' though for wine thus seized the King's Butler
was supposed to recompense the owners Only one other
due levied upon imported wine remains to be mentioned
This was the gauger's fee, which in London in 1356 was
at the rate (fn. 1) of a penny per tun, half being paid by the buyer,
half by the seller On other goods imported the Gascons
paid poundage, though in some cases, as in that of the
Bayonnese, this was not always exacted On exports,
chiefly of wool and cloth, they paid the higher rates to which
the goods of aliens were subject
In addition to these customs which were regularly exacted
throughout the reign of Edward III there were also special
subsidies which were frequently levied during the same period
to defray the expenses of the armed (fn. 2) convoys which in consequence of the increased piracy that accompanied the Hundred
Years' War, were often needed to escort the annual wine
fleet in its voyage to and from Bordeaux They were sometimes levied only on wine actually convoyed, (fn. 3) but not infrequently they were exacted on all that was brought to
England and sometimes on all that left Bordeaux, whatever
the port to which it was consigned, so that Gascons and
other aliens were obliged to contribute equally with the
English towards protection from which they clearly derived
less benefit Heavy as the subsidies were, however, they at
first occasioned little complaint either among English or
Gascon merchants, as the convoys rendered important and
necessary services, and the levies usually ceased 'promptly
whenever a truce was made Thus when a levy of twelve
pence on every sack of wool and sixpence on each tun of
wine was imposed in 1340, to repel pirates and safely convoy
ships crossing with merchandise,' the order (fn. 4) for its cessation
was made within a fortnight after the conclusion of hostilities
by the truce of Esplechin It is also noteworthy that in this
case protection was accorded to 'ships of the realm' while the
levy was 'granted' by alien merchants In 1347, during the
guardianship of the Kingdom by Lionel of Antwerp, the
Council of magnates, lay and clerical, imposed (fn. 1) a tax
of two shillings per tun on wine and sixpence in the pound
on merchandise for the protection of merchant shipping
These levies were repealed in Michaelmas of that year, but
in 1350 a new levy of two shillings on the sack of wool,
twelve pence on the tun of wine, and sixpence in the pound
on merchandise was imposed (fn. 2) In this year the subsidies
were unusually heavy, for the levy of twelve pence per tun on
wine had only been repealed (fn. 3) in June, when in October an
exaction of fortypence (fn. 4) per tun was imposed upon all wine
leaving Gascony to defray expenses that were expected to
arise for the protection of commerce from the depredations (fn. 5)
of the Spaniards On this occasion though the tax was
collected, no protection was given, and the Commons in the
next parliament petitioned (fn. 6) for the return of the money
received A convoy was again necessitated by the hostilities
which took place during the period which elapsed between
the Treaty of London (1359) and the Treaty of Bretigni
(1360) On this occasion, however, no new levy was made,
but a subsidy of sixpence in the pound on imported wine
which was already being taken was replaced (fn. 7) by one of two
shillings per tun-an exaction of somewhat similar rate but
easier to collect and greater in yield This levy also was
promptly abolished (fn. 8) when peace was made, but was reimposed in 1371 (fn. 9) and the following year On the latter
occasion it was exacted only on wine actually convoyed, and
it was provided (fn. 10) that should the convoy during the voyage
take any goods from enemy ships at sea or make any profit
from freightage of wine or by trading, such profit should
be deducted from the tax for convoy It was believed that
convoys engaged in other activities than those for which they
nominally existed and there now arose among the Commons
a growing dissatisfaction with the levies for their support
This is evident in a petition which they presented in 1373
on again granting the two shilling subsidy for a period or
two years in which they also asked that the money should
be spent on the war and on that only From this time the
two shilling subsidy on wine, or tunnage, 'became (fn. 1) with
some variations of rate a regular parliamentary grant'
In addition to the customs taken in England wine was also
subjected to numerous dues as it was brought to port down
the rivers of Gascony, in the City itself, and in earlier times
as it passed to the sea down the estuary of the Gironde
Scarcely a castle did it pass whose lord had not some claim (fn. 2)
to a levy upon it, and in the proceeds of these the King had
usually an interest, (fn. 3) while Gascon ecclesiastics, as the
Archbishop of Bordeaux, (fn. 4) the Archprior of Perrefitte, (fn. 5) and
the Chapter (fn. 6) of Agen enjoyed rights to highly remunerative
river dues In the time of Edward III, moreover, the
number of levies made in Gascony was increased (fn. 7) in no small
degree for the purpose of defraying the cost of fortifications
and their repair Bordeaux exacted a custom for municipal
purposes upon wine descending from the inland towns, while
not even corn (fn. 8) was allowed to pass to the interior duty free
The customs levied in Bordeaux were exceptionally high (fn. 9) In
their passage (avalage) (fn. 1) through the city three distinct local
customs were taken on wines in addition to the "Great
Custom" and dues for keelage, (fn. 2) the gauge, (fn. 3) and the "cypress (fn. 4)
branch" They were known as the customs of Royan,
Mortagne, and Montendre Of these the most important
was the custom of Royan It is held (fn. 5) to have been levied
for protection afforded to shipping at the mouth of
the Gironde where it was at one time exacted, but its collection
was transferred later to Bordeaux and taken along with the
Great Custom In 1287 definite regulation (fn. 6) was made of the
greater customs The Great Custom of Bordeaux, the issues
of which were exclusively the King's, and which was levied
upon wine exported from Gascony, was then fixed at 5 sols
4 deniers tournois or 6 sols 5 deniers 1 obole in Bordeaux
money per tun, and that of Royan at two deniers 1 obole
tournois, one pipe out of twenty tuns being allowed free from
all customs The citizens of Bordeaux moreover by a charter
of John were exempt (fn. 7) from all customs both in the City and
on the Gironde upon wine obtained from their own estates,
exception (fn. 8) being made only in the case of the wine purchased
by them from the Gascons On these the usual levy was at
the rate of 13 sous 4 deniers per tun, though it was temporarily
raised by Edward III to 20 sous, only to be reduced to its old
rate in 1369 Edward III was not so favourable as his predecessors to the fiscal immunities and advantages of the
Gascons, and after first confirming the charter of John to the
citizens of Bordeaux he reduced (fn. 9) the number of those to
whom its advantages were conferred The customs paid in
Bordeaux alone on the wine carried by the English wine
fleet of 1380 amounted (fn. 10) in the sum to nearly one-third of a
pound Bordeaux money per tun It is therefore not
incredible that wine nearly doubled (fn. 1) its value as it passed
from the Gascon cultivator to the English consumer
Unhappily for trade, the customs of wine in Gascony, apart
from those collected in Bordeaux, were conspicuously variable
throughout the reign of Edward III The King, it is true,
was not without an eye to commercial advantage when this
was consistent with his political designs Of this there is
evidence in the promptitude with which he acted upon
hearing that the King of Fiance, contrary to the liberties of
Gascony, levied an impost (fn. 2) of ten shillings of Tours upon
every cask of wine brought down the Gironde to Langon by
merchants of lands subject to the English Crown In
general, however, the Gascon customs were manipulated for
the attainment of fiscal and political ends Thus in 1343 by
a charter (fn. 3) of 'great fee' Bordeaux received permission to
exact two shillings of Tours on every tun of wine brought
from St -Macaire The case is the more noteworthy as it
was only in 1338 that this town had received (fn. 4) exemption
from the customs of wine at Bordeaux, and this had been
confirmed (fn. 5) in 1340 This want of stability which characterised the customs became more marked when the charter of
1343 was annulled (fn. 6) shortly after, only to be renewed (fn. 7) with
its application extended to the wines of both St -Macaire
and Libourne in 1348 That the motives which produced
these changes were political is probable from the later history
of St -Macaire In 1373 its wines became subject to a levy (fn. 8)
of two "sous petits tournois" per tun levied in Bordeaux for
the repair of the walls and towers of that city, while the
wines of the Bazadais and Agenais, then hostile to the
English Crown, were to pay not less than four sous It is
still further significant of the nature of the policy pursued
that with the object of precluding enemies from "première
vente" it was decreed (fn. 9) in the same year that even if it were
found that the wines of these districts were already under
prohibition from passing to Bordeaux before the feast of St
Martin they should not in future so long as rebellion continued, descend before Christmas In the case of Bazas a
policy not really dissimilar in motive had been tried (fn. 1) in 1342,
and again twenty years later, when its wines had been
exempted from the customs taken at Bordeaux castle "to
make the citizens more ready to assist the King," the
manipulation of customs for political as distinct from commercial purposes being in this case obvious
Like Bordeaux, the town of La Réole was of considerable
political importance, with great commercial privileges, and
between the two the keenest commercial jealousy (fn. 2) existed
In the struggle which took place between them even
Bordeaux could maintain no real superiority In 1347 La
Réole received confirmation (fn. 3) of a privilege by which it
exacted twenty pence per tun on wine passing on the Garonne,
while in 1355 it obtained exemption (fn. 4) from the "custom" of
Bordeaux, a privilege which sufficiently indicates its great
bargaining power In 1406 further evidence of the same fact
occurred, for in the year upon complaint being made that
Bordeaux exacted one tun of wine from cargoes of ten tuns
or more descending from La Réole, and from other merchandise two sous (shillings) in the pound, the latter city
was authorised (fn. 5) by the Duke of Berry to make a similar levy
upon the goods of the citizens of Bordeaux
The case of other towns whose political importance recommended them to royal favour was very similar In 1337
St -Emilion was urged (fn. 6) to be faithful against France, while
in 1341 the appeal was followed by the exemption (fn. 7) of the
inhabitants of that town from all tolls and customs both in
Gascony and in England At the same time they were
assured (fn. 8) of immunity from unjust arrest for debts, while next
year they received exemption (fn. 9) when the rest of Gascony was
made subject to an imposition of a halfpenny in the pound
levied upon merchandise for the repair of the frontier
fortresses The temporary nature of the privilege of
Caudrot, which in 1349 received permission (fn. 1) to exact for ten
years fifteen pence Bordelais on every tun of wine descending
from Toulouse, Albi, Cahors, Agen, and other parts outside
the dominion of the Crown is suggestive of a like motive
It is thus clear that great instability and a general
tendency to increase both in severity and in number characterised the customs as they existed in the reign of Edward III
These conditions, both of them due to political circumstances
for which the Crown was mainly responsible, would in themselves have presented a serious obstacle to the development
of the wine trade The manner in which the customs were
collected, however, was perhaps an even greater impediment
Efforts had been made, it is true, to remedy (fn. 2) this branch
of the administration in the reign of Edward II, but it was
still so unsatisfactory in the reign of his successor as
frequently to occasion (fn. 3) the threat on the part of Gascon
importers never again to visit certain ports For this there
is no doubt that the frequency with which the English
customs were farmed (fn. 4) or assigned (fn. 5) was largely responsible,
but the removal (fn. 6) of the Butler's deputies in 1333 and the
prohibition (fn. 7) in 1339 and again in 1345 of extortions committed by that official under pretence of purveyance shows
that they were great offenders Merchants, however, continued to be thus annoyed throughout the reign, and in
1351 and again in 1369 it was found necessary to forbid (fn. 8)
by statute the evil practices of the King's butler and his
deputies From this statute it appears that these officials,
and with them the Constable (fn. 9) of the Tower, took more wine
than the satisfaction of the King's needs demanded, delivered
to him the worst and either made profit on the rest or
demanded a fine as a condition of its being restored to its
owner It was this fraud which was known as the 'malaprisa'
Besides deliberate extortion, the errors and delays occasioned by the King's officers caused further injury to many
traders Not infrequently it happened that enfranchised
Gascons and natives resident in Gascony were regarded (fn. 1) as
aliens and required to pay the higher duties exacted from
these In other cases by an infraction of the ordinance that
customs should only be charged upon goods landed for sale,
merchants who touched at a port on their way to their true
destination or who landed goods from the same ship at two
different ports, had frequently occasion to appeal (fn. 2) against
a double demand for customs on the cargo or portion of
cargo landed at the second port The same misfortune often
befel the goods of ships putting to port from stress of weather
even though they were not taken ashore, and to the end of
the reign the cargoes of ships bound from Gascony to
Flanders suffered (fn. 3) from illegal exactions of this nature So
great was the disregard for the rights of traders that even
when goods were landed before reaching the port to which
they were consigned, in consequence of the arrest of the ship
for the King's service customs were often demanded (fn. 4) A
last illegal demand for customs on imported wine was the
exaction (fn. 5) of threepence in the pound in addition to that of
two shillings per tun On exports, too, customs were
frequently illegally demanded In the case of ships for the
King's service, danger of attack at sea, or other reasons for
which the Crown was responsible, the return of the customs
paid was always subject to lengthy delays, (fn. 6) while they were
sometimes demanded (fn. 7) a second time upon re-exportation
when the receipts of the first levy had not been returned
Not inferior to the customs in its influence on the trade
with Gascony was the condition of the seas, a fact which was
fully recognised when it was ordained that municipal authori
ties making assize of wines should have regard to the peril
of the seas when fixing retail prices. In the case of the
Gascon trade this condition was of unusual importance not
only because, according to fourteenth century ideas the
voyage to and from Gascony was long, but also because it
was always attended with great danger Throughout the
Hundred Years' War traders suffered not only from piracy
which was then unusually rife, but, during the periods of
actual warfare, from the attacks of the armed fleets of France
and Spain which awaited them off the coast of France
In the early days of the wine-trade it was the Gascons
who had been most actively engaged in the work of importation, and even to the end of the reign of Edward III they
brought (fn. 1) the purchases of English vintners from Gascony
to England The numerous shipowners of Bayonne provided freightage (fn. 2) for the wines of Bordeaux merchants who
wealthy as they often were, disliked to expose their capital
unduly to the risks of the sea It is probable that few (fn. 3)
of the ships which sailed from Bordeaux were owned by
inhabitants of that city, who preferred either to sell their
wines to the English or to pay freights By the reign of
Edward III no small proportion of the wine of Gascon
and English merchants was conveyed in English ships whose
owners suffered with the Bayonnese from the increased
dangers at sea It has indeed been maintained (fn. 4) that if the
English created the demand for Bordeaux wine, the wine
trade of Bordeaux assisted in the creation of the English
strength at sea In early times Irish merchants traded with
Gascony through England Later they gained permission
to trade direct, but were often at some disadvantage,
especially, as has been seen at the time of the institution of
the Calais staple Even greater disadvantages hindered the
Scots, who, owing to the enmity of England, were for long
almost excluded from the Gascon trade These therefore
suffered at sea to a less extent than the English and Gascons,
whose risks are sufficiently reflected in the fact that the
freights (fn. 1) from Bordeaux to the various English ports were
from ten shillings to a pound per tun
The most constant danger to shipping was the ceaseless
piracy which prevailed at sea, and from the responsibility for
this none of the seafaring nations of the age can be considered
free. The attacks of seamen were not directed against the
ships of other nations only, they regularly attacked and
plundered those of their own countrymen Even the King's
merchants (fn. 2) were not spared by the inhabitants of the
English coast, who lost no opportunity of pillaging stranded
vessels, despite a law (fn. 3) of wreck which declared illegal the
appropriation of goods from such vessels if any person or
animal escaped alive
Still more piratical than the English were the Bayonnese.
An energetic people, actively engaged in shipping, with
interests conflicting with those of their neighbours the French
and Castilians, they did great damage to the shipping of
both, who in turn made reprisals not only upon the Bayonnese but also upon English merchantmen The extent of the
injuries committed by the Bayonnese was very great, as they
were intensely devoted to this form of plunder, while their
shipping, which contributed substantially (fn. 4) to English seapower, was a powerful instrument to this end The
prominent part which they took against the French marine
and their exposed position on land gave occasion for the
undertaking (fn. 5) made by Edward III at the beginning of the
Hundred Years' War that they should be indemnified for all
losses and no treaty should be made with the French in
which they were not included Like the English, the
Bayonnese did not confine their attacks to enemies. In the
reign of Edward II they had taken part in bitter disputes
with the men of the Cinque Ports, and not infrequently in
the reign of his successor it was found advisable that they
should be notified (fn. 6) of royal grants of letters of safe conduct
and protection
The reign of Edward III was not marked by any real
improvement in the conditions of the seas The efforts that
were made to remedy the evils that existed did no more than
counteract the increased anarchy that the war tended to
produce The system of reprisals merely perpetuated piracy,
and little improvement was made when in 1327 the
merchants and mariners of English towns became responsible (fn. 1)
for the doings of their fellow townsmen The mere assertion of a claim to the "Sovereignty of the Seas" was of
little actual assistance to the traders, though the victories of
Sluys and Espagnols sur Mer doubtless did much to afford
temporary relief in those parts of the sea near Calais and
Brittany, where traders with Gascony were most molested
A number of treaties made with Castile, Arragon, and
Portugal, having for their object the mutual suppression of
piracy, appear to have had some effect, and were persistently
published in the Gascon ports In 1347 a tribunal (fn. 2) was
established in Bayonne, consisting of the Lord of Albret, the
Mayor and Constable of Bordeaux, and other lieges of the
King, together with the commissary of the King of Castile,
their purpose being to hear complaints of men of Castile,
Gascony, and England, and to do justice By these efforts
some little order at sea was secured during the middle years
of the reign, but it was only for a short period after which
traders again became exposed to their former risks, which
were yet to continue for more than a century
The war not only hindered trade by encouraging piracy,
it also increased the frequency with which ships were arrested
for the royal service Arrests were often made considerably (fn. 3)
before the service of the ships concerned was strictly necessary, and cargoes were forcibly discharged before reaching
the port to which they were consigned (fn. 4) Wines for Hull,
Yarmouth, and Harwich were frequently brought to shore
at the ports of the south coast, and in this way the east coast
towns suffered not indeed alone but most heavily from the
increased number of arrests in this reign
There was yet another direction in which by its effect on
shipping war proved harmful to the traders with Gascony
At the beginning of Edward's reign the importation of wine
had been carried on both in annual (fn. 1) fleets and in ships
voyaging alone The military value which merchant shipping
acquired in time of war during an age when there was little
difference between the mercantile marine and the navy
led to the discouragement of the latter mode of trading
During the later years of the reign of Edward III the ships
trading with Gascony often appear to have had the dual (fn. 2)
character of merchant ship and ship of war, and carried both
seamen and armed forces In periods of actual warfare, when
the armaments of the French were at sea, attempts were made
to restrict the trading with Gascony to the visit of the fleet,
which was accompanied by an armed convoy (fn. 3) Thus it
became usual in making grants of letters of protection and
in issuing trading licences to require (fn. 4) that the journey to
and from Gascony should be made in company with the fleet
These attempts to concentrate English shipping with Gascony
into the passage of the fleet were strengthened by an important
statute (fn. 5) of 1353 and by the proclamation (fn. 6) that the vessels
of shipmasters refusing to join the fleet would be forfeited
The fleet sailed with royal licence at the end of summer
or the beginning of autumn, and deprived the country of so
great a portion (fn. 7) of her naval strength for so long a period
that its sailing was a matter of national concern The naval
value of the wine fleet became increasingly important in the
reign of Edward III In 1336 and 1338 upon licence for
the fleet being granted it was ordained that it should be
equipped for war, part of its duty being 'to repel (fn. 8) and
destroy the galleys and ships of war gathered at sea for the
King's annoyance' The officer in charge was empowered
to imprison those disobeying his orders, an essential condition of command, since the seamen of the Cinque Ports and
Yarmouth were ever ready to break out into dissensions,
while the presence of the Scots, Welsh, and Spaniards
tended to make control still more difficult They were to
keep together under pain of forfeiture of those separating
themselves, and in case loss was sustained by the flight of
some members, the fugitives were to make satisfaction (fn. 1)
according to the size and value of their ships
The economic difficulties which resulted from this restriction of trade to one season made themselves felt most after
the year 1350, when other difficulties of the same character
also began to appear Between the years 1337 and 1351 no
statute had been passed making any general change in the
conditions under which the wine trade was carried on, but
there was a great development in the power and wealth of the
vintners and a great extension of their activities in Gascony
In this connection we hear the name of William Talbot, (fn. 2)
while Vincent of Barnstaple (fn. 3) and William of Wakefield (fn. 4)
were citizens of Bordeaux during this period In Toulouse,
Saintonge, Périgord, and the Agenais there were many
English subjects, (fn. 5) while the Gascon town of Libourne was a
great resort of English merchants If other evidence were
wanting an important statute (fn. 6) of 1353 affords ample proof
that by that time English merchants had settled in Gascony
in such numbers as to raise grave suspicion at home
At no previous time had the vintners included among their
number so many persons of such influence as John
Malewayn, John Stodeye, Henry Picard, John Michel, Henry
Vannere, Henry Palmere, William Clapitus, Henry del
Strete, John and Richard de Rothyng, and Richard Chaucer
The magnitude and variety of the enterprises of these and
other vintners of this time were very remarkable Picard,
in addition to his work as a vintner, was a merchant of the
Staple at Bruges and served the City of London as alderman, (fn. 7)
mayor, (fn. 8) and sheriff (fn. 9) The King also profited by his services
as butler, (fn. 10) merchant, (fn. 11) and financier, (fn. 12) and it was probably as
a reward for these that he received knighthood and a life
annuity of fifty pounds upon the customs of London As
a financier he advanced to the Crown enormous sums which
were devoted to the prosecution of the war, receiving payment from the tenths and fifteenths granted by parliament,
the subsidy on wool, and by licences for its export free of
custom On occasion he and his fellows advanced loans of
as much as 35,000 marks, (fn. 1) while the Crown (fn. 2) is known to
have been offered to him as a pledge for repayment His
dealings with private merchants were also large, as when in
company with Stodeye and Wesenham he became indebted (fn. 3)
to two merchants of Bristol to the extent of £1,614
Stodeye, who also was a knight (fn. 4) and a vintner, occupied
the same posts (fn. 5) in the service of the Crown and the City
as Picard He was one of the merchants appointed (fn. 6) in 1349
to see that the new coinage was of the standard ordained
As in the case of Picard (fn. 7) the intimacy of his relationships
with Gascony may be inferred from the frequency with which
he was chosen to be attorney (fn. 8) in England for influential
Gascons Thus his services were secured (fn. 9) by the Gascon
executors of the will of the Lord of Albert for the settlement
of the affairs of the deceased in England His debts to the
Archbishop (fn. 10) of Canterbury and Sir Walter Manny (fn. 11) afford
some evidence of the variety of his dealings, while their
extent is indicated by numerous recognisances made by
persons who were indebted to him for merchandise in sums
frequently amounting (fn. 12) to £400 The extensive nature of
his premises (fn. 13) in the City is further evidence of the same fact,
while his gift (fn. 14) to the vintners of the site of their Hall affords
some sign of the wealth he derived from his transactions
Malewayn too continued in the service of the Crown with
dealings in wine Like most vintners (fn. 15) he had interests in
the wool trade also previous to 1363, and for a time held the
ferm (fn. 1) of the King's customs of wool in London, in 1349
he received for life the office (fn. 2) of the tronage and pesage of
wool in London, in 1359 he was governor (fn. 3) of the liberties
and privileges of English merchants in Flanders, Holland,
and Zeeland, and in 1360 obtained a like office (fn. 4) in Bruges
He was also the King's alnager, (fn. 5) and served the City as
alderman Though his dealings in wine were not on the
scale of Stodeye and Picard, they were not inconsiderable (fn. 6)
A remarkable instance of the great capital of some merchants
at this time is that of William of Wakefield, who during a
truce with France lost wine to the value of £5,000 at the
hands of the latter (fn. 7) Another London vintner of great
repute at this time was William Clapitus, who with Henry
del Strete became creditor (fn. 8) in 1346 to Walter de Chiriton
and his fellows in the sum of £1,027 6s 8d, while the assessment (fn. 9) of the latter in 1345 and 1346 in connection with the
collection of the fifteenth at ten marks sufficiently indicated his wealth In 1346 Richard Chaucer became creditor (fn. 10)
to Walter de Chiriton to the extent of £420, while John
Osekyn, at one time (fn. 11) a vintner of comparatively small
importance was able to join (fn. 12) a London Spicer in 1347 in
lending Thomas Flemyng of Newcastle on Tyne £500
Richard Lyons was another merchant who, if not exclusively
a vintner, frequently traded in wine He played a great
part in the financial affairs of the Crown and in the civic life
of London at this time In 1373 he obtained (fn. 13) the lease of
the subsidy of two shillings per tun on wine, and sixpence
in the pound on merchandise, while in February, 1374, in
company with Richard Franceys, he lent (fn. 14) the King 8,354
marks, and in August (fn. 15) of the same year, with John Pyel,
£10,000 He rented (fn. 16) from Picard's widow the cellars
which Picard had once used, and shared for a time
a monopoly (fn. 17) of the sale of sweet wine in London He was
at one time sheriff (fn. 1) of the city, and in 1371 was one of the
lieutenants (fn. 2) of 'the King's fleet toward the west' The
nature of the dealings of John Michel, a merchant who
appears to have been exclusively a vintner, may be seen from
the fact that he was on one (fn. 3) occasion debtor to three
Gascons in £666 13s 4d, and on another (fn. 4) owed a Bristol
trader £200 Not to add to the number of examples, the
very numerous loans, (fn. 5) debts, and purchases of quit rents, (fn. 6)
manors, (fn. 7) and rights (fn. 8) in land made by the vintners at this
time clearly testify to the growing wealth and influence of
the vintners
It was doubtless in opposition to the activities of these,
especially in London, that in 1351 a series of commercial
enactments was initiated which affected the wine trade during
the remainder of the reign In that year the Statute of York
(1335) was re-enacted (fn. 9) and it remained (fn. 10) in force until 1376,
despite repeated demands for its repeal Moreover, on this
occasion its operation was not restricted by any exceptions
in favour of London, so that full liberty of trade
throughout England was accorded to all, aliens as
well as natives, and even in their own City the merchants of
London were to enjoy no advantage over aliens In producing this change many causes acted together, the most
important of which was the high price of wine at this period,
and the consequent popular demand for such legislation In
November, 1342, an ordinance (fn. 11) had been made that wine
should be sold at what had become in London the usual rate
of fourpence per gallon, but in 1353 the necessity arose for a
royal injunction (fn. 12) to limit the price to sixpence The public
became alarmed at the rise in prices, and in 1349 complained (fn. 13)
that the vintners and fishmongers forestalled the market,
while in March, 1351, outcry (fn. 14) was again raised against
victuallers, wholesale and retail, who advanced the price of
victuals It cannot be doubted that the free-trade enactment
of 1351 was the result of the same popular outcry
Two years later this enactment was followed by others
equally important Early in 1353, despite frequent petitions (fn. 1)
in the City for its repeal, the Statute of 1351 was confirmed, (fn. 2)
together with an ordinance forbidding all exportation of wine
from England, as this it was stated was carried on with the
specific purpose of raising the price of what remained The
same year moreover witnessed the enactment (fn. 3) of what was
probably the most important and certainly the most lasting (fn. 4)
of all measures affecting this branch of trade In this
statute prohibition was made against the engrossing and forestalling of wine in Gascony by English merchants, and in
order to prevent this more effectually it was declared that no
English merchant nor any acting on his behalf should visit
Gascony for the purchase of wine before the time of vintage,
when common passage was made for that purpose, none
should reside there, nor should any bargain for wine save in
the ports of Bordeaux and Bayonne On the other hand,
Gascons were permitted and indeed encouraged to import
wine from all parts of the Duchy
The statute of 1353 was suggested by much the same considerations as produced that of 1351 Like that enactment it
was an endeavour on the part of the consumers of wine to
check the rise in prices by restricting and regulating the
activities of English vintners who, it was believed, were the
cause of it (fn. 5) In 1351 the attempt had been made to lower
the price of wine by emancipating the Gascon trader in
London and preventing forestalling at home, in 1353 an
attempt was made to secure the same result by restricting
and regulating the operations of the English trader in
Gascony and by preventing the forestalling of the Gascon
market (fn. 6)
Taken together the two statutes by granting freedom of
trade in England to Gascons and by restricting the liberties
of English traders in Gascony appeared to produce a transfer
of the balance of privilege from the latter to the former, and
in 1357 complaint (fn. 1) was made to this effect But though the
Gascons as a whole thus obtained advantages over English
merchants, the citizens of Bordeaux and Bayonne gained
doubly, an effect which was in full agreement with the diplomatic needs of the Crown, its recent policy and that of the
two cities The facility with which Bordeaux obtained
privileges as regard the customs has already been noted (fn. 2)
Further, of all the natives of the Duchy, its inhabitants had
the greatest liberty (fn. 3) of trade within Gascony, and they
acquired a little later a strict monopoly of the right to retail
wines (fn. 4) in their own city from Easter to Michaelmas annually
In 1366 they received (fn. 5) from the Duke of Lancaster the offer
of this monopoly for the whole year, and in 1373 they secured
an ordinance (fn. 6) forbidding the sale of wines of the Haut Pays
in their city even by the porters of Bordeaux castle The
natives of Gascon towns of the interior, La Réole, Bergerac,
Ste-Foy, St-Emilion, and Libourne, had occasion in the
next century to complain (fn. 7) of the action of the Boidelais who
opposed the entry into their city of the wines of other
Gascons, while they denounced (fn. 8) as intolerable the action of
certain wealthy merchants of Bordeaux, who not content with
this, engrossed wine with the object of obtaining a monopoly
of its sale In 1351 the municipal authorities had obtained
from Edward III an ordinance (fn. 9) forbidding the loading of
wine for foreign parts at any place between Crebat and Castillon other than at Bordeaux, and it was but the culmination
of this policy and of the influence of that city when in 1353
even the right of the English to bargain in Gascony was
restricted to the two towns of Bordeaux and Bayonne
By these means, the emancipation of the Gascon trader
in England, and the more rigid regulation of the dealings of
English merchants in Gascony, it was sought to restiain the
enhancement of prices which, it was believed, was artificially
effected That these suspicions were justified appears
certain, though doubtless other causes also contributed to
this result A general rise in prices occuired after 1349 as
a result of the Black Death, and the debasement of the coinage
The war too, as has been seen, produced a rise in prices by
entailing upon merchants the cost of convoy and by restricting importation to England to the passage of the fleet, thus
enabling the Gascons to make great gains from their English
customers, who after so long and costly a voyage would not
return without purchase Moreover, this tendency towards
an abnormal demand in Gascony during vintage was only
confirmed by the Statute of Wine, 1353, and though its ill
effects were recognised some years later, (fn. 1) even then relief
was not sought in a repeal of the statute Still another cause
of the enhanced prices is to be found in the deplorable condition of the Gascon coinage at this time An attempt to deal
with the evil was made in 1351 when it was ordained (fn. 2) that
all Gascon coins should be of the same weight and alloy as
those of Bordeaux This measure, however, did not effect a
remedy, and the evil was still great (fn. 3) in 1354 Accordingly
in this year it was ordained (fn. 4) that the pound and not the
florin should be used in all dealings in Aquitaine, and that
any persons conducting transactions contrary to this decree
should forfeit the goods involved Next year a new coin, the
silver leopard, was instituted, (fn. 5) and of this a fresh issue was
made in the following year, (fn. 6) but it is improbable that these
measures were more effective than those of 1351-and monetary conditions in Gascony appear to have been equally
chaotic in 1361 (fn. 7) and 1367 (fn. 8) There can be no doubt but that
this evil was a real cause of the difficulties merchants
experienced, and consequently of the high price of wines in
England Not only is this made highly probable by the
persistence of the agitation respecting the coinage and mint
of Gascony at this period, it is explicitly stated in the records (fn. 9)
There is no reason to suppose that the statute of 1353,
with its twofold policy of liberating the Gascon and regu
lating the activities of the native trader, achieved any considerable success It is however certain that the restriction
of English trading activity in Gascony to two cities was
injurious to several small Gascon towns Thus as early as
May, 1355, the people of Libourne, a town which had been
founded by Edward I in 1269 (fn. 1) and was a centre for English
traders, complained (fn. 2) that since the passing of the statute of
1353 they had been reduced to destitution Their whole
living, they declared, consisted in the sale of wine, for the
most part to English exporters, and this commerce the statute
of 1353 had destroyed As a result of this complaint it was
found necessary to admit Libourne to equal privileges with
Bordeaux and Bayonne The statute was, moreover, quite
ineffectual to achieve its chief object, the lowering of the price
of wine in England The ten years immediately succeeding
its enactment were marked by repeated regulation (fn. 3) of prices,
and in London wine sold at more than the regulated price was
'seised' (fn. 4) by the authorities, yet at the end (fn. 5) of that period
a distinct rise in prices was noticeable, the retail price having
doubled during a period of twenty years Even so early as
December, 1354, it was found necessary to intervene on behalf
of the consumer by royal proclamation, (fn. 6) limiting the price
in London to sixpence, while so extensive did the evil of high
prices become that the necessity arose, (fn. 7) apparently for the
first time, for the specific regulation of prices by royal
ordinance both in London and in several parts of the
provinces In 1357 the Chancellor, Justices, and King's
Council were empowered (fn. 8) to deal with the matter, but no
remedy was to be had from them The fact that free-trade in
wine had already existed in the provinces without disturbance
for nearly twenty years suggests (fn. 9) that the restrictions now
placed on native traders were the real cause of economic
embarrassment at this time Regulation was not, however,
confined to price alone It was ordained (fn. 10) that the purchaser should be allowed to see his wine drawn, and that new
wine should not be mixed with old for the purpose of rendering putrid wines suitable for sale, an object which was also
sought in more frequent inspection of taverns and by legislation (fn. 1) against the retention of this commodity from sale until
unfitted for use Yet in spite of these precautions the King's
Butler had occasion to license (fn. 2) the exportation of large
quantities of wine of inferior quality, a proceeding which had
been unnecessary or unusual at any previous time, while compulsion (fn. 3) was required to keep taverns open and to cause
vintners and taverners to offer their wines for sale at the
regulated prices A highly important precaution in view
of the amount of wine taken from England to Flanders at
this period was the more rigid prohibition (fn. 4) of exportation
without special licence, while the object which underlay this
policy was still further sought in a proclamation (fn. 5) made in
London against the importation of wines of Gascony elsewhere than to England Even so late as 1444 the Commons
petitioned (fn. 6) that English merchants should be allowed to
buy Gascon wines at other towns of the Duchy as well as at
Bordeaux and Bayonne
The difficulties under which the wine trade suffered during
the years 1353 to 1363 may therefore reasonably be considered
as resulting chiefly from the statute of 1353, which sought
to control the activities of English vintners in Gascony,
creating as it did an abnormal demand at one season annually
This involved a stricter regulation of retail prices in England
in order to prevent their making good their losses at the
expense of the home consumer, while the decline in the
importation of wine to England, the attempt to export wine
once imported, and the refusal of retailers to sell at the regulated price, mark the dissatisfaction of dealers with this
regulation It is to the interaction of these causes that we
must attribute the growth of the vintners' mistery in the
immediately succeeding years
The raising of the retail price of wine to eightpence (fn. 7) in
1363 was accompanied by renewed agitation on the part of
the consumer Already in 1362 a confirmation (fn. 8) of the
statutes and ordinances against the monopoly of wines and
victuals had been obtained, but further measures were now
suggested for the restraint of prices The Commons
petitioned (fn. 1) for an investigation of the work of engrossers to
be conducted by "foreign inquests," and carried a demand
that importers should be required (fn. 2) to bring with their wine
written evidence of then price in Gascony to aid local authorities in making the assize Of still greater importance, however, was an enactment (fn. 3) forbidding merchants to deal in more
than one commodity, which though it related to all kinds of
merchandise, had special reference to wine where it had
already been the subject of a petition (fn. 4) by consumers Moreover, while these measures were being taken to prevent
engrossing at home further action was taken to prevent its
taking place in Gascony The statute of 1353 was confirmed, (fn. 5) and it was provided (fn. 6) that the Crown should be
informed of persons who visited or remained in Gascony contrary to this enactment
The legislation of 1363 became the basis in the following
year of a remarkable series of charters which accorded to
several misteries exclusive powers of trade, each in a certain
commodity, (fn. 7) the most important being those granted to the
fishmongers, drapers, and vintners By the charter of the
last named the right of natives to trade with Gascony or to
engage in the sale of wine in England was severely restricted
-in London to those free of vintners' craft, in the provinces
to those who could show an equal intimacy with the trade
Gascons might import wines as before, and sell them in gross
to merchant vintners and others, chiefly nobles, who desired
wine in large quantities for their own needs and not for
resale, but they were strictly forbidden to retail them At
the same time the right to supervise and regulate retail prices
was given to the more capitalistic element of the mistery by
a provision enforcing the annual election for this purpose of
four (fn. 8) persons of the most knowledgeable of the craft not
holding taverns in the City of London' The persons elected
were to receive public recognition and were empowered to
punish offenders with the aid, if need be, of the mayor,
bailiff, or president of the town The prohibition against
the re-exportation of wine without the King's licence already
so often made was again repeated, and with the object of
preventing the exportation of money, licence was given to
native vintners to export cloth, and to Gascons to export
cloth, herrings and dried fish of Cornwall and Devon with
which they might purchase wines in Gascony This
encroachment of the activities of the vintners upon those of
the fishmongers and drapers was carefully retricted to the
purchase of fish and cloth equal in value to that of the wines
imported It was found necessary to make this exception
in the vintners' favour in order to avoid the violation of a
principle rapidly rising into prominence in mediæval
economy-the retention of bullion (fn. 1) -and moreover it was
peculiar to the vintners that of the three misteries then
receiving charters theirs alone was concerned with a commodity imported from abroad
There can be no doubt that this charter was accorded at
the instance and in the interest of the native vintners It
conferred on the mistery, if not a monopoly, such a command
of the whole trade in wines as was practically its equivalent
Among natives they alone could import, while the Gascons,
their only rivals in this respect, were deprived of the fruit of
their enterprise by their inability to retail and the consequent
obligation under which they lay of selling to vintners at the
purchasers' price the wine they imported unless indeed they
were fortunate enough to secure in some noble, or person of
wealth a purchaser who required wine in great quantities for
the needs of a large household Thus almost the entire
wholesale supply of wine was at the command of the vintners,
who could accordingly make easy purchases, while they
possessed also the further advantage of controlling retail
prices
To obtain the grant of this charter, and more especially of
the clause restricting to them the right of seeking wines in
Gascony, the vintners brought forward (fn. 2) many reasons They
stated that there was no other merchandise in Gascony which
was of profit in England, and hence English traders visiting
Gascony under any but carefully regulated conditions placed
both themselves and the trade in a disadvantageous position
at the hands of the Gascon dealers, who saw how necessary
for them it was to make purchases, and accordingly raised
prices They affirmed that the mere presence in Gascony
of great numbers of English people of divers trades afforded
the Gascons the opportunity to enhance prices The manner
of bargaining adopted by the non-vintner element, they
declared to be even more harmful Large sums of money and
'earnests,' they said, were taken out by these, who being
unable or unwilling to wait 'so as to employ them reasonably,'
put a price on the wines by 'truk' or by exchanges which
amounted to an excessive sum Moreover, it was argued by
the vintners, these persons having other commercial interests
besides those in wine, had no need to sell except at will, and
therefore like the engrossers, whose activities so injured
retailers, they could await a time when higher prices prevailed It was also said to be impossible for dealers of this
character to be regulated as could those who made their living
solely by the sale of wine, and prices were enhanced by commodities passing through many hands Finally it was maintained by the vintners themselves, that they had been
'disturbed' in their trade, and were unable to buy at a
reasonable price, while the Gascons, being able to sell in their
own country at so great a price, had no further need to
visit England
Doubtless a prohibition of all but vintners visiting Gascony
would enable these to buy more cheaply, but this need not,
and in fact (fn. 2) did not, lead to greater abundance or cheapness
of wine in England For the moment, however, the vintners
were successful, and obtained the charter of 1363, and this
the more easily as it also afforded the Crown better opportunities for the regulation of this branch of trade
Almost immediately it was enforced the charter produced
difficulties, chiefly in consequence of its prohibition of the
exportation of bullion The issue of licences permitting the
violation of this rule were at once necessitated in order to
render possible the mere continuance of the trade with
Gascony Great importance attaches to these licences, as
nothing, not excepting even the licences for the direct exportation of wool to Gascony granted after the establishment of the
staple of wools at Calais in 1363 indicates so clearly as these
the enormous extent to which wine was imported by the
English, the different parts of the country to which it was
consigned, and the variety of purchase by which it was procured From both, examples of the corporate or joint-stock
undertaking may be given In May, 1364, just three months
before the Vintners' Charter was accorded, the town of
Plymouth received licence (fn. 1) to export to Gascony and Spain
"two thousand cloths of colour, and two thousand packs of
cloth of Devon and Cornwall" with which to procure wines
and other merchandise Three months later, and as a direct
result of the charter, a still more striking instance occurred
Twenty-five vintners of the City of London, whose names
included those of Sir John Stodeye, and William Stodeye,
John Michel, John Rothyng, and William de la More,
received licence (fn. 2) to take to Gascony two thousand pounds
with which to purchase wines, the sum being divided among
them "according to their estates by the advice of the whole
mistery of vintners," while by a similar licence they were
permitted to take one thousand marks to the Rhine and
Eastland with which to make like purchases At the same
time licences were issued for the exportation of cloth from
the ports of Hull, Ipswich, and Colchester to Gascony and for
the exportation of both cloth and fish from Plymouth,
Fowey and Mousehole
The main provisions of the charter did not, however,
remain long in force In little more than a year they were
repealed "de facto," if not indeed "de iure" by the statute
of 38 Edward III (1365) Already, apparently in November,
1364, the commonalty of London had claimed that enfranchised (fn. 3) persons should be free to sell wholesale any manner
of merchandise upon which they could make a profit, though
they should retail only those goods that belonged to their own
mistery In short, the smaller tradesmen sought in their
own interest to restrict the statute of 37 Edward III (1363) to
the retail trade, and claimed the right to deal freely at wholesale in all commodities Their object was in part attained
in the statute (fn. 1) of 1365, which, however, not only accorded
to them full freedom of trade in all commodities, with liberty
to seek wine in Gascony, but also conceded to Gascons
freedom of sale in England By this return to the free-trade
policy it was hoped to make greater abundance of this commodity in England
Thus within eighteen months of its being granted the
vintners' monopoly was withdrawn, only the right to control
taverns and regulate retail prices remaining of all the privileges conferred on them by their charter Yet even now
complaint was not less frequent than before In November,
1365, in consequence of such complaint the Mayor of London
was authorised (fn. 2) to examine cellars for putrid wine, while
during the two years succeeding the enactment of the statute
of 1365 Gascons frequently obtained permission (fn. 3) to export
unsound wine Prices did not fall, as might have been
expected, but rather continued to rise In June, 1366, in
London the Mayor of the City was required (fn. 4) to summon the
vintners and merchants of London to deliberate with a view
to removing the serious clamour occasioned by the price of
wine In October the same year similar dissatisfaction
existed in Beverley (fn. 5) as a result of the price of wine in that
town, being twelve pence per gallon while in Hull it was
eightpence In February, 1368, so serious was the position
in London that the leading vintners were required (fn. 6) to undertake before the Mayor and Aldermen that wine should be
sold at a reasonable price, while they also promised to notify
the price before the Black Prince on his return from Gascony
if need be
By the statute of 1365 the conditions which had prevailed
in the wine trade from 1353 to 1363 were restored All
native merchants, excepting only artificers, became free to
make the voyage to Gascony to purchase wine, while at the
same time the Gascons received full liberty of sale in England
The policy of 1353 and that of 1363 were directly in opposition
to each other, but in the statute of 1365 the former again won
acceptance From this time the policy adopted in regard
to the wine trade was unstable in the extreme and admittedly
tentative Prices still continued to rise, and neither the
policy of 1353 which favoured the Gascon, nor that of 1363-4
which favoured the native merchant, had proved successful
in arresting their advance Accordingly in 1368 a new
attempt to deal with the difficulty was made It was enacted (fn. 1)
that natives should not visit Gascony with a view to the purchase of wine nor should they depute aliens to bring it on
their behalf, but wine should be imported only by Gascons
and other aliens At the same time, moreover, the retail trade
in wine was restricted to natives, and the Gascons thus lost,
temporarily at least, what they had gained in 1365 Of the
motives which produced this statute one of the most powerful
was the desire to retain bullion within the country This was
sufficiently clearly stated (fn. 2) in 1368, but the idea found even
more explicit expression (fn. 3) in 1559, when it was made one of
the chief reasons for a proposed revival of the statute of 1368
It was also thought that by thus imposing the necessity of
voyage upon the Gascons they could be compelled to sell
cheap by reason of the great loss they would incur should
they return without having negotiated a sale
It was declared at the time of the repeal of this statute
the following year (1369) that it had had good effects upon
prices Two reasons only were openly alleged as grounds
for its repeal The Black Prince, then Prince of Aquitaine,
complained that by prohibiting the visits of English merchants to Gascony for the purchase of wine much remained
unsold, while his receipts from customs had been much
diminished The outbreak of war made both these results
particularly undesirable at this time It was essential to
confirm the bond between England and Gascony, and this
could best be effected by economic changes which favoured
the Gascons as a whole, since it was largely upon the
economic tie that the loyalty of Gascony depended. Thus it
became necessary to remove the restriction by which only the
wealthier Gascons who could afford to export on their own
account had direct access to the English purchaser, and to afford
facilities for sale to the smaller dealers who obtained their best
prices from the English merchants who visited Gascony At
the same time, despite the alleged improvement of prices,
there was a scarcity of wine in England, so that it was to the
general advantage that wine should not remain unsold in
Gascony for want of English buyers As however the new
statute (fn. 1) required merchants to give security not to import
less than one hundred tuns "of their proper goods and of
others" the trade, while opened to natives generally, was still
confined to the wealthier class of English merchants It
cannot be doubted that this restriction was a real source of
injury to native small dealers In 1371 the Commons
petitioned (fn. 2) for a definite repeal both of the statute of 1368
and that of 1369, and complained that they had made wine
dearer and had checked the growth of English power at
sea Their petition was refused (fn. 3) in 1372, though both complaints appear to have been justified
The last year of the reign was marked by a return to those
forms of hostility to the alien which had been so familiar in
the reign of Edward II In 1376 complaint was made (fn. 4) by
the civic authorities of London against the liberties of aliens
who were said to be acting as brokers and retailers They
had also become householders, and as such were accused of
harbouring spies, while they were also responsible, it was
believed, for the impairing of the navy These complaints
were not unheeded, and in consequence the restriction under
which they already lay of selling in gross only was made
more severe by an ordinance (fn. 5) forbidding aliens to sell to
aliens for resale, to act as brokers, or to hold hostel In
December, 1377, the Gascons received (fn. 6) exemption from the
prohibition of aliens to trade among themselves, though the
obligation upon aliens to lodge with hostellers and not to
keep hostel on their own account was once more confirmed,
in 1378 This return to the old attitude towards aliens
was, however, no more permanent than in earlier times
Conditions still continued to vary, and in 1388 the citizens of
London were deprived (fn. 1) by statute of the exclusive powers of
trading they had sought to exercise to the prejudice of such
as were not free of the City
F Sargeant