Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 1).djvu/475



Treaties with Spain and the merchants of Portugal—Early claim of the right of search—Restrictive laws against the English, and in favour of foreign traders—Accession of Richard II., 1377—Character of the imports from Italy—Sudden change of policy—First Navigation Act, 1381—A rage for legislation—Relaxation of the Navigation Act, 1382-8—Free issue of letters of marque; and of commissions for privateering—Special tax for the support of the Navy, 1377—Superiority of English seamen—Their intrepidity and skill—Chaucer's description of the seamen of his time—Henry IV., 1399-1413—Disputes between the Hanse and the English merchants—Agreement for guarding the English coasts—Henry V., 1413: his liberal policy, and ambition—The extent of his fleet—Size and splendour of the royal ships—Prologue of the "Dominion of the Sea"—England first formally claims dominion of the sea, about 1416—Prerogatives conferred thereby—First accounts of revenue and expenditure, 1421—Law for the admeasurement of ships and coal barges—Henry VI. crowned, 1422—Marauding expedition of the Earl of Warwick—Distress among shipowners not royal favourites, 1461—Fresh legislative enactments—First "sliding scale" applied to the importation of corn—Relaxation of the laws by means of treaties, 1467—Treaties of reciprocity—Extension of distant maritime commerce, 1485—First English consul in the Mediterranean, 1490—The advantages derived from reciprocal intercourse.

Although Edward's thoughts had been directed almost exclusively to the wars with France and Scotland, he found time to extend English enterprise beyond its then comparatively narrow limits by an