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the common hall. Some ten years later rent is received not only for the cellar, but also "for the shambles under the town hall ".

Some additions were made to the walls towards the end of the reign of Edward III., and Snar Gate was apparently built in 1370. The "old" wall, and the "new wall by Eastbrook are spoken of. A watch tower was in existence at Arcliffe, in those days called Erclyve, and the new wall was one built of chalk, surrounded by a ditch, as a defence to this tower, at a cost of £15. The receipts and expenditure of the corporation in 1365 amounted to something under £100 a year, and it is interesting to know that the money was chiefly raised by local taxes, called "maletots," levied on inns, fishermen, shops, mills and similar sources of income. In 1365 a tax called "Oietreicte" (query Octroi) was levied for the repair of the town wall. A town piper is mentioned in 1371 as receiving an annual salary of xxs. and a livery.

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CHAPTER V.

RICHARD II. TO HENRY VII., 1377-1509.

WITH the reign of Richard II., who, by the death of his father, the Black Prince, was called to the throne at the early age of ten years, commences a disastrous period for the towns embraced under the charter of the Cinque Ports. The continued ravages of the French, and the destruction of the harbours by the action of the sea, had so bad an effect upon the towns of Hastings, Winchelsea and Hythe that their final decay may be said to date from this period.

Dover having escaped the same calamities from fire and sword which overtook the other towns did not fall into such dreadful straits, but there is no doubt that the waning fishing industry, and the stoppage of the passage and coasting trade brought about a severe reversal of its prosperity. Under these circumstances we are not surprised to find that the old charge of piracy was revived, and probably on good grounds. In 1378 "Roger de Wylesham, supplying the place of the Warden," was ordered to inquire into the robbery of Flanders' ships. A few years later that country, which had been the great purchaser of English wool, fell under the influence of France, and another blow was struck at the prosperity of the town, largely engaged as we know it was in the continental traffic. We cannot be surprised that the mayor,

John Hall, petitioned the king that the ordinance which compelled every pilgrim to pass through Dover might be strictly enforced, as at this time it remained the one lucrative source of income to the town. In the year 1380

a wall tax was granted to the mayor and jurats for seven years "in aid of enclosing the town with a wall of stone and lime," the tax to be applied by the Constable of Dover Castle or his deputy. This definite statement only adds to our difficulty in determining the actual date of the first erection of these defences. The explanation may lie in the fact that the town had increased in size, and this was a grant to extend their circumference.

In 1385 the Constable was ordered to proclaim "that the king's enemies of France, Spain and Flanders were leagued together to destroy the people and fortalices on the east coast by an invasion within a brief space of time, and that all the inhabitants of the Isle of Thanet and Oxeye and within a radius of six miles round Dover, Rye and Sandwich were to withdraw before 3rd May into the said castle and town for safety, ecclesiastics alone excepted". Charles VI. of France had gathered an enormous naval force with the intention of capturing England in the same manner as William the Conqueror, but the only result was the destruction of the French finances for a long period. The Earl of Arundel won a splendid victory over the combined fleets of Spain, France and Flanders, and the portsmen were able to follow their mercantile pursuits with less fear of destruction.

The king was married at the age of fifteen to Anne of Bohemia, who landed in Dover in 1382, and remained two days in the Castle.

Great as had been the disaster occasioned by the war with France, the truce for three years made in 1389 was extremely distasteful to the majority of the nation,

especially as the king surrendered the towns of Cherbourg and Brest. So long as the English held possession of a number of seaports on the French coast the merchants were certain of a considerable trade, and Dover undoubtedly owed a large amount of its prosperity to its propinquity to Calais.

In 1396 a writ was issued by the king granting fuller liberties to "men called hackneymen between London and Dover". Regulations were made as to the hire of their horses, the prices they might charge, and the fines they were liable to if they failed to perform their contracts. At what date this road service to Dover commenced we are not able to say.

In October, 1396, the king landed at Dover with his second wife, Isabella of Valois, a child of eight years. of age; and two years after the murder of Richard II. she was reconveyed to France from the town by three "balyngers" and two armed barges on 1st July, 1402, "without her dowry and plundered". It might be stated that a balynger was a vessel that could be propelled by either oars or sails, and the name is supposed to be derived from balona, a whale. John Shute of Dover received £92 6s. 8d. for his expenses in providing the passage, and for bringing back the retinue of lords and ladies who accompanied the unfortunate queen-who was widowed at the age of twelve years.

The first of the Lancastrian kings did little or nothing to raise the fallen greatness of the English navy, and we therefore find that whatever sea services were required were supplied, in the main, by the Cinque Ports. Their fleet was commanded by a distinguished Faversham captain, Henry Pay, and under him inflicted several defeats upon the French with whom the country was at war again. In 1405 Owen Glendower was in rebellion in

Wales, and the French landed a force to support him, and seized Carmarthen, and the Cinque Ports' fleet assisted in defeating their squadron, and thus deprived the rebel of its powerful aid. Two years later, under the same command, they captured 120 ships laden with salt, iron and wine. As was usual in troublous times continual charges of piracy were made against the portsmen, and, if a continual and successful warfare against the mercantile marine of the enemies of the country can be so named, they were entirely justified. At any rate the name of Henry Pay became a terror to all the enemies of England.

Henry V., who had been Warden of the Cinque Ports during his father's lifetime, immediately on his accession to the throne passed an act of Parliament making piracy high treason. His experience gained as Warden convinced him that the Cinque Ports were no longer capable of building or sheltering the large ships now necessary for war purposes, and he therefore established a royal navy on a larger and more permanent footing. The Ports' ships were called out in 1416 for the defence of Calais, and again in 1421, but their work was mainly confined to protecting the passage across the channel, and in conveying the king or members of his family to and from the continent. Southampton became the king's chief port, and later on we find it supplying a part of the stipend of the Warden. The glorious campaigns of the king in France gave a fresh impetus to the trade of the country, and that Dover had her full share of the rising prosperity was evinced by the enthusiastic greeting which Henry received when he landed in Dover on 21st February, 1421.

The men of the Ports were called upon by the king to take part in the operations of the army, for a writ was issued to the Warden ordering him to direct the portsmen

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