Note 698 — Chapter XV
Reading edition
Matthew Paris, pp. 419-823, &c. It appears further that, in A.D. 1329, the whole of the customs of England were farmed to the great commercial house of the Bardi at Florence, at a rate of twenty pounds per diem (Rot. Pat. 4 Edw. III.); while the frequent notice of the importation of horses into England from Lombardy (as well as Spain), shows that there was a brisk trade between the two countries.—Rymer, Fœd. V. iii. p. 124, &c.