Carus-Wilson, E.M., ed., The Overseas Trade of Bristol in the Later Middle Ages. Vol. 7. Bristol: Bristol Record Society, 1937.
Text Pages: 296.
Original Language: Anglo-Norman, Latin, Middle English.
Translation: None.
Record Type: Account Roll, Court Roll, Will, Guild Records, Charter/Deed/
Dates Covered: 1303 – 1485.
Comments: This volume contains a selection of documents relating to overseas trade conducted in Bristol during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Bristol was an important port city for both domestic and foreign trade; however, this volume limits itself to foreign trade and to only those documents that originated in Bristol. The period covered begins with the first customs records kept and ends with the first mention of Bristol merchants attempting to cross the Atlantic. The documents are organized into three sections: Part One includes miscellaneous documents organized chronologically — records are given in their original language with English summaries for those in Latin and French. Part Two contains overseas Customs Accounts. Part Three is a table of extant enrolled customs and subsidy accounts for Bristol.
Foster, Brian, ed. The Local Port Book of Southampton 1435-36. Southampton Record Series, 7, 1963.
Text Pages: 126.
Original Language: Anglo-Norman.
Translation: Facing-page, English to Anglo-Norman.
Record Authority: Borough.
Record Type: Customs Accounts.
Dates Covered: 1435-1436.
Archival Reference: Southampton R.O., S.C. 5/4, item 3.
Comments: Introduction (7 pp) with comments on the manuscript and its author, the language of the accounts, and trade. The text is divided into four: the Common Book (non-Italian trade), Alien Book (the Italian trade); summary account and audit (pp. 120-3), and two indentures certifying the receipt of funds by the town bailiff (pp. 124-7). There is also a Bibliography (pp. 128-9), Glossary/index of Commodities (pp. 130-34) and Gender index (names and places, pp. 135-40).
Gras, Norman S. B., “A List of Local Customs Due in the Port of Ipswich (?) c. 1303,” in The Early English Customs System: A Documentary Study of the Institutional and Economic History of the Customs from the Thirteenth to the Sixteenth Century. Cambridge: Harvard Economic Studies, vol. 18, 1918, pp. 159-63.
Text Pages: 5.
Original Language: Anglo-Norman and Latin.
Translation: None.
Record Authority: Borough.
Record Type: Custumal, Taxes.
Dates Covered: 1303
Archival Reference: TNA, E122/157/12.
Comments: The list is written in an alternating mix of Latin and Anglo-Norman. It consists mainly of the customs due on different types of commodities. There is a similar local port customs list written in Anglo-Norman for Sandwich (in William Boys, Collections for an History of Sandwich in Kent with Notices of the Other Cinque Ports, etc. (Canterbury, 1792, pp. 435-40).
Gras, Norman S. B., “Account of the Custom Collected on Wool, Woolfells, and Hides Exported from Hull, 1275-1276,” in The Early English Customs System: A Documentary Study of the Institutional and Economic History of the Customs from the Thirteenth to the Sixteenth Century. Cambridge: Harvard Economic Studies, vol. 18, 1918, pp. 224-44.
Text Pages: 20.
Original Language: Anglo-Norman.
Translation: None.
Record Authority: Central Government.
Record Type: Port Customs Accounts.
Dates Covered: 1275-76.
Archival Reference: TNA, E122/55/1.
Comments: Most of the national port customs accounts were recorded in Latin, but on occasion some were in Anglo-Norman, particularly for the period from 1275 to c.1347. Gras’ Index also serves as a type of glossary since he gives an English translation for most of the commodities listed.
Johnson, C., ed., “An Early Admiralty Case (A.D. 1361).” Camden Miscellany 15, 3rd series, no. 41. London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1929.
Text Pages: 5.
Original Language: Anglo-Norman.
Translation: None.
Record Type: Court Roll, Petition.
Dates Covered: 1361.
Archival Reference: TNA, Chancery Miscellanea, Bundle 6, No. 9.m.1.
Comments: This text records an Admiralty case dated July 26, 1361 in which two men seek damages for their ship and cargo after it was captured while sailing to Flanders. The defendant argues that the capture was an act of war and that if there were a truce in place, he was not aware of it. The defendant was fined 1,000 marks and confined to the custody of a marshal. The case is thought interesting because it makes a clear distinction between the powers of Admiralty and those of the Common Law Courts.
Marsden, R. G., ed., Documents Relating to the Law and Custom of the Sea, vol. I. A.D. 1205-1648 (Navy Records Society, vol. 1,1915).
Text Pages: 149.
Original Language: Anglo-Norman, Latin.
Translation: Anglo-Norman and Latin to English.
Record Type: Contract, Court Roll, Legislation, Letter, Petition.
Dates Covered: 1205 – 1648.
Comments: Documents are taken from patent rolls, close rolls, coram rege rolls, Chancery and Exchquer miscellanea, Exchequer plea rolls, ancient correspondence, assize rolls, treaty rolls, Gascon rolls, and cover disputes about piracy, privateering, reprisal, prize jurisdiction, overeseas trade, the arrest of ships and cargoes (many of which are enumerated in detail), naval service, and diplomatic matters and crimes at sea. Medieval documents (pp. 1-149 cover the period 1205-1511) are in Latin or Anglo-Norman, and are accompanied by full translations.
Marsden, Reginald G., ed. Select Pleas in the Court of Admiralty. Vol. I. Selden Society, 6, 1894.
Text Pages: 17.
Original Language: Anglo-Norman, Latin, and Middle English.
Translation: Facing-page, Anglo-Norman and Latin to English.
Record Authority: Central Government – Admiralty.
Record Type: Court Rolls.
Dates Covered: 1390 – 1545.
Archival Reference: TNA, C47/18/10.
Comments: Extensive Introduction (pp. xi-lxxxxvii) traces the development of the Admiralty court and its powers. The earliest case records the testimony in Anglo-Norman and court proceedings in Latin; “Sampson v. Curteys” (pp. 1-17, with translations on pp. 149-65).
Moore, Alan. “A Barge of Edward III,” Mariner’s Mirror, 6 (1920): 229-42.
Text Pages: 5.
Original Language: Anglo-Norman.
Translation: Partially translated to English.
Record Authority: Central Government – Military.
Record Type: Account Roll, Inventory.
Dates Covered: 1373.
Archival Reference: London Guildhall, Letter Book G, f. 304.
Comments: Inventory of barge provided by city of London to serve the king, called the Paul of London. Translated in H. T. Riley, ed., Memorials of London and London Life in the XIIIth, XIVth and XVth Centuries (1868), but without translating or explaining many of the technical terms, which Moore does provide. Inventory transcribed, but interspersed with author’s comments.
Pardessus, J.M., ed., “Droit maritime de l’Angleterre” in Collection de lois maritimes antérieures au XVIIIe siècle. Vol. 4. Paris: Imprimerie royale, 1837.
Text Pages: 17.
Original Language: Anglo-Norman, Latin.
Translation: None.
Record Type: Legislation, Court Roll.
Dates Covered: 1100 – 1664.
Comments: The seven documents edited here (some as extracts) demonstrate the evolution of English maritime law from the Norman Conquest to the seventeenth century. The first document, an extract from the laws of William the Conqueror, indicates the existence of English maritime laws before the adoption of the Rules of Oleron — an adoption which had taken place by the 13th century as illustrated in the second document, “Lettres-patentes d’Edouard I.” The third and fourth documents, extracts of a survey of 1338 and articles of the 1375 Queenborough inquisition, discuss penalties for crimes at sea and demonstrate that English maritime law made additions to the Rules of Oleron. The fifth and sixth documents, the “Statut de 1601” and “Acte de 1664,” both reference rules for maritime insurance. The final document, an extract from the Scottish Leges Burgorum discusses disputes between towns and foreign merchants.
Scott, E. and Gilliodts van Severen, L., eds. “Inquisition on Prizes Taken by English Corsairs in Flanders, 1403-15” in Le Cotton Ms. Galba B.I. Documents pour servir à l’histoire des relations entre l’Angleterre et la Flandre e 1341 à 1473. Brussels, 1896.
Text Pages: 31.
Original Language: Anglo-Norman.
Translation: None.
Record Authority: Central Government – Maritime.
Record Type: Inquisition.
Dates Covered: 1403-1410.
Archival Reference: BL Cotton Ms. Galba B.I.
Comments: Includes depositions of many Flemish merchants and mariners, and names English offenders or their home ports. This is an Appendix (pp 477-508) of larger work that includes letters (mostly temp. Hen. IV) concerning treaties with other countries, instructions to and and responses from English deputies and ambassadors (especially those in Flanders), petitions from English merchants abroad, and letters between the king, council, and foreign nobles.
Studer, Paul, ed. “The Rolls of Oleron,” in The Oak Book of Southampton of c. A.D. 1300. 2 vols. Southampton Record Society, 10 (1910), 11 (1911), pp. 54-103. See also Supplement to The Oak Book of Southampton… vol. 12 (1911).
Text Pages: 49.
Original Language: Anglo-Norman, Latin, Middle English.
Translation: Anglo-Norman and Latin to English.
Record Authority: Borough.
Record Type: Custumal, Register.
Dates Covered: 1230-1300.
Archival Reference: Southampton Rec. Off. Audit House.
Comments: The Oak Book of Southampton gathers together various customs and laws practiced in Southampton. Vol. II contains the 14C-Anglo-Norman copy of the maritime laws called the Rolls of Oleron, printed with translation and extensive notes on the language. For corrections on dating of Laws of Oleron used by Studer, see also D. Burwash, English Merchant Shipping 1460-1540 (Toronto, 1954), 171-6. See Supplement vol. of The Oak Book for Notes on the Anglo-French Dialect of Southampton, Glossary, and Indices.
Studer, Paul, ed. The Port Books of Southampton, 1427-1430 [sic]. Southampton Record Society, 15, 1913.
Text Pages: 119.
Original Language: Anglo-Norman.
Translation: First 13 pages are translated.
Record Authority: Borough.
Record Type: Customs Account.
Dates Covered: 1426-30.
Archival Reference: Southampton Rec. Office.
Comments: Studer mistakenly dated 1426/7 account as 1427/8. Account for 1426/7 (is divided into part one covering northern trade and part two covering Mediterranean trade, and is printed in full. Only selections from the account for 1429/30 are printed. Introduction (pp. v-xxviii) discusses the ms and its author, the rise of the port of Southampton and its trade. Appendix contains tables summarizing imports and exports (121-42). Glossary (143-60); Index of Ports and Boats and Index of Persons (161-79).
Twiss, Travers, ed. “The Black Book of the Admiralty,” in Monumenta Juridica. The Black Book of the Admiralty. Vol. I. Rolls Series, 1871 (vol. I of 4 vols.).
Text Pages: 472.
Original Language: Anglo-Norman, Latin, Middle English.
Translation: Facing-page Anglo-Norman to English.
Record Authority: Central Government – Maritime.
Record Type: Register & Customary Laws.
Dates Covered: 1300-1500.
Archival Reference: TNA, HC12/1.
Comments: The Black Book is a procedural manual, written c. 1450 (but containing much earlier material) for the lord high admiral that includes a compilation of maritime laws, customs, and court decisions. It was lost by 1808 so Twiss reconstructed it from later transcripts and related sources. But it was rediscovered by the time vol. 4 was printed, although Twiss makes little of this fact, and prints corrections to his reconstruction in vol. IV (pp. 132-44) without any comment. The Laws of Oleron were maritime customs established by the early 14c that governed maritime disputes in England and most parts of northern Europe. Vol. I contains: Introduction (ix-xciii) on mss consulted, comments on selections, and table of subjects; the Black Book including the Laws of Oleron (88-131, in AN); Inquisition taken at Queenborough in 1375 on customs of the admiralty (132-77, in AN); Treatise on procedure in admiralty court (178-220, in Latin); Articles of inquiry in admiralty court (221-45, in Latin); Documents connected with Admiralty of John Holland, 1443-6 (246-81, Latin and AN); Statues and ordinances of war (282-99, probably a ME translation of Latin version temp Hen. V) (ME version on pp. 459-72); Order of battle in the court of chivalry (300-44, in AN, but not part of original Black Book). The Appendix contains Documents connected with Admiralty of Th. Beaufort from 1407-26 (347-94, in Latin); Fees andprofits pertaining to office of Admiral (396-411, in AN); Extracts from Statutes of the Realm on Admiralty jurisdiction (412-19, in AN); Ordinances of Philip de Valois (1338) for expedition to conquer England (420-29, in AN); Ordinance (1373) of Charles V on jurisdiction of French admiralty (430-58, in AN). Index (pp. 475-91).
Twiss, Travers, ed. “The Laws of Oleron,” in Monumenta Juridica. The Black Book of the Admiralty. Vol. I. Rolls Series, 1871 (vol. I of 4 vols.), pp. 88-13.
Text Pages: 31.
Original Language: Anglo-Norman.
Translation: Translated into English.
Record Authority: Customary Law.
Record Type: Maritime Customary Law.
Dates Covered: 1300-1350
Archival Reference: The National Archives
Comments: The Laws of Oleron were maritime customs established by the early 14c that governed maritime disputes in England and most parts of northern Europe. The text includes an extensive Introduction (ix-xciii) on mss consulted, comments on selections, and table of subjects in the Black Book of the Admiralty, which contains a copy of the Laws of Oleron (pp. 88-131), as well as an Inquisition taken at Queenborough in 1375 on customs of the admiralty (pp. 132-77, in AN). The edition is supplied with copious notes on mss variants and on the translation. See also the entry on T. Twiss, “The Black Book of the Admiralty” and Paul Studer, “The Rolls of Oleron” in this Bibliography.