Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/412

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England had put a stop to the cruel wars so long waged between the Danes and English, and commerce once more began to flourish; the influence and dread of this prince being so great, that he found it unnecessary to maintain more than forty ships at sea to protect his coasts and his maritime commerce, a number which was afterwards reduced to sixteen. Indeed, so far from entertaining any apprehensions of an inclination to revolt among the English, he frequently made voyages to the Continent, once proceeding even as far as Rome, where he met the Emperor Conrad II. and other princes, from whom he obtained, for all his subjects, whether merchants or pilgrims, a complete exemption from the heavy tolls usually exacted on their visits to that city. Canute, indeed, by his conquest of Norway, represented in his own person both the English whom he had subjugated, and the Danes, who had been their constant and persevering rivals, thus uniting under one sovereignty all the maritime nations of the north.

Under such favourable circumstances as these, the trade and shipping of England could hardly fail to prosper, although there are no records left whereby we can measure their extent or character. But as Canute materially increased the number of mints throughout the kingdom, and as the merchants of