Medieval Sourcebook:
King John of England:
Privileges of the German Merchants, 1214-1215
In A.D. 1213 King John confirmed the privileges of the men of the Emperor, and in
1214 he was at war with France as an ally of Otto IV. In these two writs John took steps
to protect the shipping of friendly monarchs while holding that of his enemies. If there
was any doubt about these proceedings it was subsequently made clear by clause 41 of Magna
Carta. By 1214 it may be said that the King of England felt constrained to heed the
protests of the German merchants.
1214. The bailiffs of the port of Southampton are commanded to set at liberty all
ships belonging to merchants from the land of the Emperor as well as those of the King of
Scotland, and to let them go freely from the port when they have given sufficient
security. They are not to change their course so that they go to another place outside
their own lands, and they are to take no one with them who does not belong to their
company, and who is not in fealty to their lord King; and they are to take no goods except
their own. And, just as they were previously commanded, let the bailiffs detain the goods
of the men of Flanders until further orders.
1215. The King to William de Wrotham, Archdeacon of Taunton, etc.
We command you to say to Stephen Crabbe who is in custody in your bailiwick, that he
must return the chattels he took from merchants of the land of the lord Emperor, our
nephew, and from the merchants of Dokkum. And if he is unwilling to return them, then have
him put back in our prison where he formerly was, without delay.
Witness, myself at Oxford, on the seventh day of April, by the hand of Pierre des
Roches, Bishop of Winchester.
Source.
From: J. M. Lappenberg, ed., Urkundliche Geschichte des Hansischen Stahlhofes zu
London, (Hamburg, 1851), Part II, p. 9; reprinted in Roy C. Cave & Herbert H.
Coulson, eds., A Source Book for Medieval Economic History, (Milwaukee: The Bruce
Publishing Co., 1936; reprint ed., New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1965), p. 225.
Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton. The text has been modernized by
Prof. Arkenberg.
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© Paul Halsall, October 1998
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