1 [A.D. 1336.] staples were appointed to be held at Newcastle-onTyne, York, Lincoln, Norwich, London, Winchester, Exeter, and Bristol; at Dublin, Drogheda, and Cork, for Ireland; Shrewsbury, Carmarthen, and Cardiff, for Wales; Lostwithiel and Truro for the tin of Cornwall, and Ashburton for that of Devonshire. The places were, however, changed from time to time; were sometimes appointed abroad; were at one time (2 Ed. III. c. 9) abolished altogether; were again appointed and again abolished; till at last, in 1353, the Statute of the Staple established a more complete Statute of set of regulations for its government. There can be the Staple. no doubt, that the establishment of these Staple cities, greatly facilitated the arbitrary raising of the royal revenues; but, at the same time, they must have equally checked the progress of trade, by limiting the markets at which all goods of a particular class were to be sold; and, the constant change of the localities, at which these Staples were established, must have introduced an element of uncertainty and confusion in mercantile transactions most injurious to commerce. In the course of the history of Edward's reign, it will frequently be seen, that commercial privileges, and especially those having relation to the export or manufacture of wool, and the import of cloth, were held out as inducements to alliances; but these facts will be noticed at the time of their occurrence, and some account of Edward's measures relative to English commerce having been given, the thread of the History may now be resumed. 1 March 3rd, 1334, Rymer, vol. ii. p. 879. CHAP. VI. CAUSES OF THE FRENCH WAR. 93 CHAPTER VI. PREPARATIONS FOR WAR WITH FRANCE-ENGLAND'S FOREIGN comes certain. NOTWITHSTANDING the exchange of courtesies be- A.D.1336. tween Edward and Philip, and their plan of an united crusade to the Holy Land, it had now become evi- War bedent that there was no chance of peace. Day by day the hostility of France increased; and the unsettled state of other bordering countries, whose interests could not fail to be involved in a struggle between England and France, showed plainly that a war of no ordinary extent would soon break out. The shores of England were not safe from French invasion; the English provinces in France were vexed and harassed by the French; the Flemish weavers eagerly sought the help of England against their tyrannical ruler, who was the ally of France; the Count of Artois, who was England's ally, was at violent enmity with Philip; and the Emperor, who had set up an anti-Pope and received the Imperial Crown at his hand, was also at variance with Philip for supporting the legitimate Pope. These circumstances combined to induce Edward to determine on war with France, and enabled him to form alliances against Philip. Edward's assertion of his right to the throne of France, at the beginning of his reign, having been so Causes of France. A.D. 1336. long left in abeyance, and his disputes with France, which he so continually endeavoured to settle, havwar with ing had reference solely to Philip's encroachments in Aquitaine, it becomes doubtful whether Edward's claim to the throne was the real cause of the war; but he soon found it necessary to make it his pretext, and to style himself King of France. The resolve of Philip to wrest Aquitaine from the rule of the King of England, and Edward's determination to keep it, were, seemingly, its main and true cause. Philip wished to destroy feudalism; and to reduce Aquitaine to the same state of dependence on the throne of France, as that to which he had reduced all the other great fiefs held of the French Crown, and thus to consolidate France into one homogeneous kingdom. His object was a most wise one; but, it was not to be expected, that Edward would quietly submit to occupy the comparatively degraded position, destined by Philip for him and for the other lords of the various provinces of which France was then composed; a collision between the two therefore be came inevitable. Philip's eneroachments in Actuated by this motive, Philip had continually encroached in Aquitaine; and, rejecting Edward's Aquitaine. repeated offers to treat with him, had made the English seas unsafe for English commerce, until, at last, he goaded Edward into the temporary relinquishing of his designs on Scotland, leaving Baliol to take care of himself, and making active preparations for war with France. At the end of the year 1336, the English fleets were assembled at Portsmouth and Orewell, and when his Council met him in London to consider the state of his relations with France, 1 Sismondi, vol. ix. p. 449. |