Note 757 — Chapter XII

In 1412 a curious agreement between the mariners of France and England was signed by Romney and Lydd, and probably by all the ports from Southampton to Thanet. It provided that if any master or mariner were captured the only ransom to be asked on either side should be six nobles for the master and three for the mariner with 20 pence a week board for each; a fishing boat with nets and tackles was to be set free for 40 pence; any man taken on either coast should be charged no ransom, but a gentleman or merchant who was taken might be charged any ransom that his captor chose. In case of any dispute, arbitrators were appointed; if these were disobeyed 100s. was to be paid on one side to S. Nicholas at Romney, on the other side to the Church of Hope All Saints. (Hist. MSS. Com. v. 537-538.) The arrangement as to the place of payment of the fine was doubtless different in each town of the league. The common serjeant of Hythe in the same year rode to Dover to get a copy of the composition for his own town. In a disputed case when the plaintiff and defendant seem to have been of Romney, questions touching the “Law of Oleron,” i.e., the Law Maritime, were decided “by the judgment of the masters of ships and boats of the vills of Hastings, Winchelsea, Sandwich, and Dover,” that is, a majority of the seven towns. (Hist. MSS. Com. vi. 543.)