or where he became acquainted with the Roll of Oleron. It seems probable, however, from the general contents of "Le Grand Routier " that Garcie derived his text from a Breton source, as the customs of the duchy of Brittany and of the viscounty of Leon are inserted in Le Grand Routier immediately before the Roll of Oleron, in like manner as they precede the Judgments of the Sea in the "Coustumes de Bretaigne," which were printed prior to the publication of Le Grand Routier. On examining the forty-seven articles which Garcie has printed, the reader will perceive that the first twentytwo only are found in the ancient English MSS. of the Judgments of the Sea. The thirteenth article of the latter MSS., which refers to the navigation of the British Channel and the North Sea, is omitted by Garcie, although it is inserted in the Coustumes de Bretaigne. On the other hand, Garcie has made an addition to the fourth article as it stands in the English MSS., and he has introduced an article on the duties of pilots (No. 23), which differs materially from that which is found (No. XXIV.) in the English MSS. Cleirac has followed the example of Garcie in respect of all these articles, and the remaining twenty-four articles of Cleirac's work are but repetitions of the articles of Le Grand Routier with some slight modifications in their arrangement. The Editor forbears to speculate how Cleirac came to annex the certificate of A.D. 1266 to his work, but on a future occasion, if he shall be able to carry out his intention of presenting to the reader for the first time an English version of the Consulate of the Sea, he may return to the subject. Opportunity has been taken in the notes appended to the Roll of Oleron of pointing out from time to time the variations which exist between Garcie's and Cleirac's respective works. It is unavoidable to conclude that both these writers derived their text from a common source, if Cleirac did not derive his text directly from Le Grand Routier. One curious fact may be noticed, that both these writers speak of books as forming part of the cargo of a vessel, and of their being well closed and packed up for fear that they should be damaged by water; and it is provided in Article XXXII. of Garcie's edition, that where books so packed up should be thrown overboard, the presumption should be against the intention of the owners to abandon their property. This provision is suggestive of a new commerce, which must have grown up since the invention of printing books (A.D. 1465). Cleirac makes no remark upon this singular provision, but M. Pardessus calls attention to it, and observes that in A.D. 1474, which is ten years before the earliest period at which Le Grand Routier can have been composed, the works of almost all the first-class authors and of many of the second-class authors had been published in France in a printed form. It would be idle to suppose that in the days of Eleanor of Guienne the commerce in manuscripts could have been so considerable that it would frequently be an object for an overloaded vessel in stress of weather to cast overboard the manuscripts in order to lighten her cargo, and that it should have been thought of importance at that time to place on record the judgment of a maritime tribunal in such a case; but it would be perfectly intelligible that the labours of the printer should have had special protection accorded to them at sea in the reign of Louis XII., when Royalty in France was devising how to afford every encouragement to the art of printing, and how best to promote the circulation of the products of that newly-discovered art. This article, like several others which precede it, and which declare all persons to be excommunicated by Holy Church who take part in procuring vessels to be wrecked, and in plundering them when they are wrecked, savours of the hand of a wise clerk, who by a pious fraud was preparing the way for the authoritative assertion of the principles subse quently embodied in the Ordinance of Francis I. of A.D. 1543, and for the resumption of the right of wreck into the hands of the king, as lord paramount, in order to secure its equitable and benignant exercise. Ecclesiastical Councils 1 had long before, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, condemned the asserted right of the lord of the soil to wreck. Henry III. of England in A.D. 1226 had modified that right throughout all his dominions, including Oleron by name, and likewise Poitou and Gascony. The dukes of Brittany had agreed in A.D. 1231 by a treaty with Louis IX. of France to renounce the lord's right to wreck on condition of every ship trading in the ports of Brittany carrying with her briefs or letters of safety (briefs de sauveté), for which a fee was payable to the duke; but the ancient practice was revived at intervals, and it was not until Francis I. came to the throne, that royalty in France felt itself strong enough to enforce a more humane system. This was inaugurated by the Ordinance of 1543, which the Parliament of Paris, however, refused to affirm without modifications, and it was not until A.D. 1629 that the principles of that ordinance were fully carried out by an Ordinance of Louis XIII. This ordinance was subsequently embodied in the Ordonnance de la Marine of A.D. 1681 (1. iv. t. ix. Art. 1), a work worthy of the administrative genius of Colbert, and perhaps the grandest monument of the reign of Louis XIV. 1 The Council of Nantes in A.D. 1127 and the General Council of Lateran in A.D. 1179 may be mentioned. LIST OF MANUSCRIPTS COLLATED OR THE DOMESDAY OF IPSWICH. Additional MS. 25,012 in the British Museum, quarto, on vellum, consisting of fifty-two leaves. It is written in various hands of the early part of the 14th century, in many places having been erased and rewritten. The contents are The Domesday of Ipswich, with a table of chapters preceding, fol. 2. Additions to the same, "De Beremen, &c.," fol. 41. Custumes apurtenantz a la ferme le Rey, fol. 42b. Feoda militum de honoribus Lancastr. et Leycestr. in com. suff., fol. 47b. Tenentes de feodo honoris de Richemund in Hundredo de Saunford, fol. 49. Names of the Electors of the Town Jury, Tuesday after the Exaltation of the Cross, 3 Edward II. (1309), fol. 50. The boundaries of the four "Letes" of Ipswich, fol. 51. At the end (fol. 52) is this note in a hand of the 15th century: "Iste liber constat Johanni Cobet de Gippewico." Additional MS. 25,011, in the British Museum, quarto, on vellum, consisting of 35 leaves. It was written in the time of Henry VI. The contents are Translation of the Domesday of Ipswich as in Add. MS. 25,012, fol. 1. Inquisition of lands held by the clergy of Ipswich in the second year of King John, fol. 23, Additions to the Domesday as in Add. MS. 25,012, fol. 24b. The Customys longyng to the ferme of the Kyng as in Add. MS., 25,012, fol. 25b. Assise of bred, fol. 28. Ordinances passed at various times, in Latin, fol. 29. Nomina Burgensium Juratorum, fol. 32. Nomina forinsecorum Burgensium, 2 John, fol. 33. At the end is an entry relating to the election of Servientes ad Clavam" to wait on the Bailliffs, dated Thurs. Vigil of St. Andrew, 15 Henry VI. [A.D. 1436]. Additional MS. 25,341 in the British Museum, being. a translation of the Domesday of Ipswich, by W. Illingworth, F.S.A., Deputy Keeper of His Majesty's Records in the Tower of London, A.D. 1812. THE JUDGMENTS OF THE SEA. Additional MS. 10,146 in the British Museum, folio, on vellum, consisting of 105 leaves. It is written in a hand of the 15th century. Its contents are A calendar in Latin, f. 1. The extent of Guienne and of Gascony, with their dioceses enumerated. In the dialect of Bordeaux, f. 7. The Costumier of Bourdeaux in the dialect of Bourdeaux, f. 8b. This is divided at f. 76 where the roll of the town of Bourdeaux ends, and the words occur, "Hic finitur Rotulus ville Burd." The title Deus establimens de la villa de Bordeu is prefixed to the continuation of the Customary, which is followed by several charters of the kings of England and of France La Costuma de Royan, containing a table of custom duties in the dialect of Bordeaux, f. 93. |