Note 548 — Chapter XII
Reading edition
King John, in his edict of Hastings, A.D. 1200, ordered his captains to seize and to confiscate the cargoes of every ship that did not strike their topsails to them. (Selden, “Mare Clausum,” ii. c. 26.) He is also said to have destroyed the whole naval force of France. Trivet, “Ann. ad ann. 1214,” quoted by Spelman, in his Glossary.