The Financiers of John Cabot

The Matthew of Bristol and the Financiers of John Cabot's 1497 Voyage to North America
Author(s): Evan Jones

Source: The English Historical Review, Vol. 121, No. 492 (Jun., 2006), pp. 778-795
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3806359 .
Accessed: 03/12/2014 11:23
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Oxford University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The English
Historical Review.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 3 Dec 2014 11:23:15 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
106
doi:l0.1093/ehr/cel
Historical
Review
Vol.CXXINo.492
English
Allrights
? TheAurhor
Press.
reserved.
[2006].Published
byOxford
University
The
Matthew
Cabot's
of
14P7
Bristol
Voyage
and
the
Financiers
to North
ofjohn
America*
The Matthew of Bristol is one of England's best known historic ships.

For over 200 years, the Matthew has been ensconced in the popular
imagination as the vessel in which John Cabot sailed on his 1497 voyage
of discovery to North America. Since the construction ofa 'replica' of
the Matthew for the quincentenial celebrations of 1997, the ship's fame
has increased, with almost a miilion people visiting the Matthew and
many more watching television programmes about her. In both Britain
and North America, the discovery voyages of this period continue to
attract considerable interest, with publications appearing, on a regular

basis, on the history of Atlantic exploration.1 A problem with existing
accounts of the 1497 voyage, however, is that they provide little
information about the Matthew, the marine she came from, or the
Bristol men who financed the expedition. The lack of such an economic
context has allowed the expedition to be divorced in historical
interpretations from the commerciai world from which the ship and
voyage sprang. This has encouraged the perpetuation of a somewhat
romantic account ofthe voyage, which focuses heavily on the leadership
of the expedition and the location of the American landfall.2 In these
accounts Cabot is typically east in the role of a lone pioneer, who was
financed by Bristol's merchants but remained independent of them.
The Matthew is generally portrayed as a discovery vessel, specially built
for the expedition. This article will challenge these representations of
the voyage and demonstrate the extent to which the expedition was
rooted in Bristol commerce. This will be done by reconstructing the
history of the Matthew and resituating the ship in her local maritime
economy. In addition, the article will examine John Cabot's relationship

with his Bristol backers. By investigating these matters, it will be possible
to throw light on why Bristol's Atlantic expeditions were initiated and
how they were prosecuted.
The first published claim that Cabot's ship was called the Matthew,
was made in 1789 by the Bristol historian, William Barrett. In his history
of Bristol, he noted that 'In the year 1497, 24th June on St. John's day,
as it is in a manuscript in my possession, "was Newfoundland found by
*Fortheircomments
I wouldliketo thankGwenSeabourne,
on earlier
versions
ofthisarticle,
JamesLee,PeterPope,SarahRoseandWendyChilds.
andExplorations
in theNorth
Atlantic
i. A. Agnarsdottir
(ed.), Voyages
fromtheMiddleAgesto
British
Maritime
in theNewWorld
theXVIIth
2000);P. T. Bradley,
(Reykjavik,
Enterprise
Century
and Columbus:
MedievalEuropean
Erikson,
Eskimos,
1999);J.R. Enterline,
Knowledge
(Lampeter,
ofThe HakluytSocietyand thejournal
2002). See also thepublications
(Baltimore,
ofAmerica
Terrae
Incognitae.
2. P. E. Pope,TheManyLandfalls
ofjohnCabot(Toronto,1997).
EHR, cxxi.492 (June2006)

JOHN CABOT'S 1497
VOYAGE TO NORTH AMERICA
779
Bristol men in a ship called the Matthew"'.3 Barrett's claim was later
supported by the publication of an extract from a document that is
known today as the 'Fust MS'. This chronicle, purporting to be written
in 1565, stated that in Bristol's mayoral year of 1496/7:
This year, on St. John the Baptist's Day, the land of America was found by
the Merchants of Bristow in a shippe of Bristowe, called the Mathew, the
which said ship departed from the port of Bristowe, the second day of May,
and came home again the 6th of August next following.4
Following the destruction ofthe Fust MS by fire in 1860, some concerns
were raised about its authenticity.5 In particular, Henry Harrisse, a
discovery historian of the late nineteenth century, threw doubt on the
name of Cabot's ship by suggesting that both the Fust MS and the
manuscript Barrett claimed to possess were fabrications ofthe eighteenthcentury forger and poet, Thomas Chatterton.6 The main weakness with
Harrisse's supposition, as the historian himself was later to acknowledge,
was that the Fust ms contained information unavailable to an eighteenthcentury forger.7 It therefore seems likely that the Fust ms was a genuine
sixteenth-century chronicle. William Barrett's claim has meanwhile been
vindicated by the discovery of an entry in an early-seventeenth-century
chronicle, which contains the quotation he referred to.8
If the name of Cabot's ship is one thing that can be ascertained with
reasonable certainty, her size is another. Until the 1950s, all that could
be inferred about the ship was contained in a reference in an Italian
letter of December 1497, which stated that Cabot had made his voyage
'with a small ship (piccolo navilio) and eighteen persons'.9 The actual
size of the ship became much more definitively established with the
discovery, in 1956, ofthe 'John Day Letter'. This document was written
in the winter of 1497-8 by the Bristol merchant John Day, alias Hugh
Say, to the 'Grand Admiral' of Spain: Christopher Columbus.10 While
andAntiquities
TheHistory
(Bristol,
1789),172.
3. W. Barrett,
oftheCityofBristol
America
(London,1897),116.
4. G. E. Weare,Cabot'sDiscovery
ofNorth
firein Park5. The firetookplaceon 14 Feb. at theshopofThomasKerslake:'Destructive
sJournal,
18Feb.1860,7.
TimesandFelixFarley
Street',TheBristol
8thSer.,xi (1897),501-2.
6. H. Harrisse,
Notes& Queries,
'JohnCabotandtheMatthew',
andthatCabothadreturned
revelations
thatthevoyagetookthreemonths
7. Themanuscript's
sullavitae sulleoperedi
before10Augustwerenotknownuntilthe1830s:R. Brown,Ragguagli
Historica
orIllustrations
MarinSanuto,partI (Venice,1837),99-100;S. Bentley
(ed.),Excerpta
of
(London,1831),
113;H. Harrisse,
'JohnCabotand theMatthew(8thS. xi. 501;xii,
History
English
8thSer.,xi (1897),130.
49.)',Notes& Queries,
in Bristoll
8. 'A Summary
or pettieChronicle... written
byWilliamAddamesin anno1625',
Bristol
RecordOffice13748(4).Thischronicle
becameavailabletothepubliconlyin1959,whenit
was removedfromthe Red Lodgein Bristoland depositedat theBristolRecordOffice.The
to theMatthew
wasfirst
reference
notedbyD. B. Quinn,'JohnCabot'sMatthew',TimesLiterary
8 June1967,517.
Supplement,
Milan,I, no. 552.
9. Caiendar
ofStatePapers,
from
10. L.-A.Vigneras,
'The Cape BretonLandfall:
JohnDay',
1494or1497?Noteon a letter
xxxviii
CanadianHistorical
Review,
(1957),219-28;A. A. Ruddock,'JohnDay ofBristoland the
cxxxii(1966),225-30.
before
acrosstheAtlantic
Journal,
1497',Geographical
Englishvoyages

780
THE MATTHEWOF
BRISTOL AND THE FINANCIERS
OF
John Day's account does not say much about the ship, he does state of
Cabot that 'in his voyage he had only one ship of fifty"toneles" and
twenty men and food for seven or eight months'. For a 50-ton ship to
have a crew of twenty would have been regarded as excessive for an
ordinary European venture, where ships more normally carried about
one crew member for every 4-5 tons of capacity.11 The 1497 voyage was,
however, no ordinary voyage and it is unsurprising that, apart from the
supernumeraries who are known to have accompanied the expedition,
extra crew might have been considered necessary.

Apart from the information about the ship's name and size, little
more can be said about the Matthew with any certainty. Since she does
not appear in the customs accounts of 1492/3, it seems likely that she
was a fairly new ship, although it is possible that she was either an older
Bristol ship that had been renamed or that she was a foreign ship that
had been bought second hand. There is no reason, however, for believing
that she was some sort of specially built discovery vessel, as has often
been supposed.12 Indeed, since none ofthe other ships Bristol sent out
on voyages of discovery between 1480 and 1505 appear to have been
purpose built for their expeditions, it is highly probable that the
Matthew, like the other ships, was an ordinary Bristol merchantman,
chartered for the voyage from the Bristol marine.13 During the late
fifteenth to sixteenth centuries Bristol generally had about twenty to
twenty five vessels, about half of which would have been greater than
50 tons burden. There would thus have been no shortage of shipping
available for Cabot's Bristol backers to choose from. That the ship was
not purpose built is further supported by the lack of time that was
available for such a construction to take place. Cabot did not receive a
to fifty
ii. Fifty
Viscayantonelswereequivalent
English'tonsburden':F. C. Lane,'Tonnages,
xvii(1964),226,228. Bothfifteenth-century
Medievaland Modern',Economic
Review,
History
had morethan
estimates
indicatethatmerchantmen
accountsand Elizabethan
commerciai
rarely
A. Hanham,TheCelysand theirWorld(Cambridge,
one crewmemberper4 tonsof capacity:
Iii(1966),
inEngland',
Mariner's
Mirror,
1985),361-97;W. Salisbury,
'Earlytonnagemeasurement
46.
12. P. Firstbrook,
The Voyage
oftheMatthew(London,1997),113;S. Martinand C. Sanger,
A Voyage
Matthew:
JohnCabotand
fromthePastintotheFuture(StIves,1996),12;A. F. Williams,
(Newfoundland,
1996),21.
Newfoundland
in
buttheshipsemployed
13. The nameofthe80-tonshipusedinthe1480voyageis unknown
andtheTrinity.
TheseBristolshipsappearin thecustomsaccountof
1481werecalledtheGeorge
trade:E. M. Carus-Wilson,
TheOverseas
TradeofBristol
(1937),218?
1479/80,
engagedin regular
on the1504expedition
weretheGabrieland theJesus:
A. A. Ruddock,
89. The shipsemployed
xiii(1974),
'The Reputation
of SebastianCabot',Bulletin
Research,
oftheInstitute
ofHistorical
97-8. Bothof theseappearto havebeenengagedin Bristol'sregulartradeto Andalusiaand
is alsorecorded
to Bordeaux
overthewinter
of1503-4:seeTable1.TheJesus
as trading
Bordeaux
theOverseasTradeofBristolin the
in 1505and 1510:JeanVanes (ed.), Documents
Illustrating
XXXI (1979), 102; T[he ]N[ational
BristolRecordSocietyPublications,
Sixteenth
Century,
which
E12285/11.
The 95-tonMichaelofBristol,
thePublicRecordOffice),
]A[rchives]
(formerly
inatleastonevoyagetoNorthAmerica
before
wasemployed
1506,wasalsoengagedin thetown's
and
TheCabotVoyages
tradetoAndalusiaandLa Rochelle:seeTable1;J.A. Williamson,
regular
under
SecondSeries,CXX (Cambridge,
Bristol
1962),262-3;
Society,
HenryVII,Hakluyt
Discovery
Trade,133-4.
Vanes,Overseas

JOHN CABOT'S
1497
781
royal licence for his expedition till 5 March 1496 and the 'John Day'
letter states that he made an abortive voyage later that year. Whether
the Matthew was used for the 1496 voyage is unknown but it is clear that
it would not have been possible to build and outfit an entirely new ship
in the few short months between March and what was, presumably, a
summer voyage. Similarly, it would have been difficult for a new ship to
be built and outfitted, even if one had been desired, between Cabot's
return from his unsuccessful voyage in 1496 and his departure on the
Matthew in May 1497. It therefore seems almost certain that the Matthew
was an ordinary commercial ship, chartered for the expedition.
Turning from what is known about the Matthew, to what can be
surmised about Cabot's backers, it is at firstworth noting that, although
it has always been acknowledged that Bristol men financed the 1497
voyage and supplied Cabot with a ship and crew, little has ever been
written about his supporters. One reason for this is that, while John
Cabot's contribution to the voyage is relatively well documented, his
Bristol backers are shadowy figures, unnamed in the surviving sources.14
There is, nevertheless, at least one document that does throw light on
what Bristol stood to gain from the 1497 expedition. This document
is the 'letters patent', or licence, granted by Henry VII to John Cabot
in 1496. Most of this licence is devoted to Cabot's rights, duties and
obligations for the projected voyage of discovery. It was important that
these rights and duties be tightly defined, since they would apply, in
perpetuity, to anyone operating under the terms of the letters patent.

The licence states that Cabot, his heirs and deputies could hold, in the
king's name, any land they could take possession of, and that they
would have a monopoly over any trade that was opened up as a result of
their voyage.
In interpreting Cabot's licence it is important to understand that it
did not commit the king, or any other party, to funding or supporting
the voyage in any way. This meant that, since Cabot was a poor man,
his position on receiving the licence was that of an entrepreneur, holding

a patent, in need of venture capital. Although no information has
survived about how Cabot persuaded his Bristol backers to finance the
voyage, it is possible to surmise how he proposed to pay them. Lacking
any money or collateral of his own, Cabot must, like so many entre?
preneurs, have secured the support of his financiers by mortgaging his
future. In Cabot's case, such a mortgage could have taken the form ofa
deed or charter in which he assigned a share ofhis rights to his financiers.
By doing this, Cabot would not have been doing anything particularly
novel, since rights granted through letters patent were often, not only
assigned, but treated as negotiable assets. The Crown, for instance,
frequently granted licences to export 'prohibited' wares, such as grain,
inthe
merchants
RobertThorneandHughElyotmayhavebeeninvolved
14-WhiletheBristol
theevidenceforthisis inconclusive.
CabotVoyages,
62.
Williamson,
expedition,

782
THE MATTHEWOF
OF
by means of letters patent. These were granted by the Crown in the full
expectation that the licences would be assigned to third parties. The
merchants who bought such licences were similarly free to use the
licences themselves, break them up or trade them.15
That there would have been no objection to John Cabot assigning
the rights he had been granted is further supported by what happened
in the case of two later expedition licences. These are the 1501 and 1502
letters patent, which were also granted by Henry VII to Bristol-based
explorers. Both of these licences specifically mention 'assigns', while the
1502 licence goes further by stipulating that the named licence holders,
'or their heirs and assigns', were bound to pay each 'according to the
amount of his share' the costs incurred in outfitting the group's
voyages.16 By stating this, the 1502 licence effectively created a
government-backed
joint stock partnership, which operated from
Bristol, until c.1505, under the name of 'The company adventurers to
the new found land'. It seems, moreover, that some ofthe rights granted
to the 1502 patent holders were, in fact, assigned to third parties. This is
apparent from the fact that at least one ofthe major merchants involved
in this company, William Clerk of London, was not mentioned in the
original 1502 licence.17

As with negotiations between modern entrepreneurs and venture
capitalists, the actual terms of the agreement Cabot reached with his
backers must have depended on the strength of their respective nego?
tiating positions. While it is difficult to be sure about how strong Cabot's
position really was, on the basis of the available information, it does
not appear to have been good. Cabot was a Venetian citizen, without
family connections in England, who had little to contribute by way of
money or collateral. He did not have a track record of successful ex?
ploration and there is no evidence that anyone else was competing for
his services.18 Moreover, since the king's patent stated that all future
trade that might result from Cabot's discoveries would have to pass
through Bristol, it would have been difficult for Cabot to raise money
for his initial expeditions outside Bristol. This would have restricted
his pool of potential financiers to a small group of close-knit Bristol
merchants who dominated Bristol's trade and had long dominated its
politics. If this group had united, as they so often did in the face of
outsiders, they could have driven a very hard bargain. In short, on the
basis of existing information, it seems likely that, to obtain financial
support, Cabot would have had to assign a major share ofhis rights to
his Bristol backers. Like many modern patent holders, Cabot may well
have been left a minor stakeholder in his own enterprise.
(London,1974),108,174-5,256-7,307.
15-J.Vanes(ed.), TheLedger
1538-1550
ofJohnSmythe
16. Williamson,
CabotVoyages,
258-9.
17. Ibid.,262-3.
18. Ibid.,33-53,209.

JOHN CABOT'S 1497
783
Apart from providing clues about the probable nature of the

relationship between Cabot and his financiers, the licence also provides
evidence about who else was likely to gain from the expeditions. If the
individual financiers ofthe voyages had a lot to achieve from a successful
outcome, Bristol as a whole might have profited even more. From the
point of view ofthe town, the crucial clause in the letters patent was the
statement that Cabot and his heirs and deputies 'shall be bounden and
under obligation for every their voyage, as often as they shall arrive at
our port of Bristol, at which they are bound and holden only to arrive'.19
In other words, if Cabot, or anyone he assigned his rights to, were to
have a monopoly over any territories discovered, anyone operating
under the terms of Cabot's licence would have to trade through Bristol.
From the point of view of Cabot's supporters, the inclusion of this
clause ensured three things. First, as noted above, the clause limited the
extent to which Cabot was likely to receive funding from outside Bristol.
Second, it would have meant that if Cabot and his backers fell out, his
financiers could have put pressure on Cabot through Bristol's courts,
where the port's rich merchants exerted a considerable influence. Third,
the requirement to trade through Bristol would have meant that, even
if Cabot was able to renege on any obligations to his financiers, these
men would still have benefited indirectly from his success. This is
because, if Cabot's voyage were successful, Bristol would become the
gateway for all trade to the new territories. In effect, Bristol would have
in 1503, when that
achieved in 1496 what Seville accomplished
Andalusian city was granted a monopoly over all commerce between

Spain and its American colonies. The people who would have benefited
most from Bristol's monopoly would have been the town's merchant
oligarchy, who controlled the municipal government, most ofthe port's
trade and much of its property. Cabot's financiers thus stood to gain
twice, firstfrom the profits ofthe voyages and secondly from the growth
ofa commercial centre in which they had broad and deep investments.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the city of Seville, on the
strength of its monopoly over the Americas' trade, became the greatest
city in Spain and one ofthe richest cities of Christendom. If John Cabot
had discovered rich territories, or a lucrative new trade route, a similar
lot could have fallen to Bristol. John Cabot might have become individually wealthy, but his financiers and the town of Bristol are likely
to have gained much more. In this context, it is perhaps understandable
why the Bristol chroniclers of the later sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries stated that in 1497 it was 'men of Bristol' who discovered the
New World. From the point of view ofhis Bristol backers, Cabot may
never have seemed to be more than the instrument of their ambitions.
If it is accepted that the Matthew of Bristol was an ordinary
merchantman, like the other Bristol ships employed in the port's
19-Ibid.,205.

784
THE MATTHEW OV BRISTOL AND THE FINANCIERS
OF
voyages of discovery, the next issue that can be addressed is the part
she would have played in the town's marine. It is possible to answer
this by examining the nature of Bristol's shipping industry at this
time and by considering the type of trade a 50-ton ship would have
serviced.
Bristol's sixteenth-century shipping industry has been the subject of
just one major study. This revealed that in the early 1540s the entire
Bristol marine consisted of twenty to twenty-five vessels, ranging in size
from 250 tons burden, to less than 15 tons.20 These ships could be
roughly divided into three groups. About half the ships were of 60 tons
or more, with most, in this group, being of 90-135 tons burden. These
ships specialised in the continental trade, providing the bulk of shipping
services between Bristol and the ports of Biscay, Portugal and Andalusia.
At the other end of the scale were a group of ships of less than 25 tons
burden. These serviced, almost exclusively, the trade between Bristol
and southeast Ireland. There were about five ships, i.e. about one
quarter ofthe marine, in this group. Between the specialised continental
traders and the specialised Irish traders lay a group of ships of 30-50
tons burden that served both the Irish trade and the continental trade.
Nevertheless, while it appears to have been economic to run these ships
in both markets, they were, for tax reasons, not well suited to the wine
trade, which accounted for half the tonnage shipped to Bristol from the
Continent.21 When engaged in the continental trade, ships like the
Matthew thus spent most of their time engaged in the non-wine trades,
bringing iron from the Basque country, woad and salt from Bordeaux,
and oil, soap and fruit from Andalusia.

While the data relating to the size of vessels and the trades they served
are based on evidence of the Bristol industry of the 1540s, a similar
pattern can be discerned by examining the available evidence for 1513
and that for the year 1503/4. The 1513 survey of shipping reveals that, on
the 14 January that year, there were eighteen Bristol ships in port.22
Although some of the town's ships may have been abroad at this time,
the survey probably includes most of the Bristol marine. Twelve of
the ships in the survey were of 60 tons or greater and are thus likely to
have been engaged, almost exclusively, in the continental trade. The
six remaining ships were lesser vessels; their exact size not being listed
in the survey, since they were considered too small to serve in the navy
during Henry VIII's
ongoing war with France (1512-14).
in theSixteenth
Ph.D.
20. E. T. Jones,'The Bristol
Century'
(unpublished
ShippingIndustry
thesis,
1998),19,183-267.
Edinburgh,
tunsof
21. Smallshipswerefiscally
becauseanyshipcarrying
morethantwenty
disadvantaged
twotunsto theCrownas 'prise'.The compensation
hadto
winehad to sacrifice
thatshipowners
forthislosscameto about?10. This amountedto halfthegrossfreight
payto themerchants
froma 20-tonshipbutonlya tenthofthereceipts
froma 100-tonship,Jones,
obtainable
receipts
'Bristol
22,60.
Shipping',
22. AppendixII.

JOHN CABOT'S 1497
785
Moving to the evidence from the 1503/4 customs account, it must

first be noted that this document can give only a rough idea of the
tonnage of the Bristol ships. Given that the customs accounts of this
period do not list the size of ships, if additional information is unavailable, it is only possible to determine the tonnage of a vessel from
the cargo it carried. In reality, of course, many of the ships listed in
Table 1 would have been considerably larger than is apparent from their
known ladings. This is clear from the figures in brackets, which show
the tonnage of listed ships where this is known from other sources.23
Despite the limitation of the customs evidence, the evidence from
the 1503/4 account is valuable, both because it was compiled just six
years after the 1497 voyage and because it almost certainly includes every
Bristol ship that was in service in 1503/4. Indeed, the account even
includes two ships, the Jesus and the Gabriel, that took part in an
expedition to North America during the summer of 1504 and another
ship, the Michael, which sailed to America around this time.24 Table 1
includes all those ships that were listed as Bristol ships in the customs
account, as well as four ships that can be shown to be Bristol ships from
other sources.25
This table indicates that the Bristol marine of 1503/4 was of a similar
size and structure to the marine of 1513 and that of the 1540s. In 1503/4
there were twenty-three ships in Bristol's marine. These have been
ranked in the table according to their known tonnage, maximum tons
carried, ship type and destinations. The largest ships were engaged
primarily in the long-distance voyages to North America, Iberia and
Biscay. The smallest ships rarely strayed further than Ireland or Brittany.
The ship Cabot hired, as a 50-ton vessel, can be securely placed in the
ina royalgrantof1502,thatoftheJesus
ina purchase
23. The tonnageoftheGabrielisrecorded
of 1503:Williamson,Cabot Voyages,
247; infra,n. 24. The tonnageof theJulian
agreement
Bonaventure
and theMichaelare recordedin Chancerydepositions
of 1500and 1506:Vanes,
Overseas
Trade,133-4,149.
ofthe1504voyage,see Ruddock,'The Reputation
ofSebastianCabot',
24. Fora discussion
Bristolon 16Jan.1504fromAndalusia,
103
97-8.The 120-tonGabriel0$Bristolentered
carrying
tonsof wine and oil. The Jesusis almostcertainly
the fhesusBonaventur
thatenteredfrom
Bordeauxon 16Jan.1504,carrying
to Bristolmerchants:
136tonsofwineand woad belonging
on 11May1503fromMartinde Reparase,
Thisshipwaspurchased
a shipbroker,
TNA,E122199/1.
or shipwright,
fromSt Jeande Luz. At the timeof purchasethe shipwas describedas the
Bonaventure
of 130tons:Vanes,Overseas
Trade,99. In recordsfrom1505and 1510thisshipis
as theJesus:
referred
tosimply
The lackofa customs
Vanes,Overseas
Trade,102;TNA, E12285/11.
foroutboundvoyages
and Gabrielto theNewWorldin 1504indicates
oftheJesus
thatthe
entry
no customable
ThisvoyagemusthavetakenplacelaterthanMay,since
merchandise.
shipscarried
Richard
themaster
returned
toBristol
as the
oftheGabriel,
Saverey,
onlyon 20 May,after
serving
oftheChristopher
on a voyagetoBordeaux:
Forthevoyages
ofBristol
TNA,E122199/1.
shipmaster
oftheMichael,seeWilliamson,
CabotVoyages,
Trade,133-4.
262-3;Vanes,Overseas
lista ship'sportoforigin.
accounts
Thisis,however,
25. The Bristolcustoms
usually
frequently
ifthenamehastwowordsin it.TheJesus
omitted
Bonaventure
is identified
inothersourcesas the
as a Bristolshipfrom1511Butlerage
JesusofBristol:supra,n. 24. The MaryToweris identified
account:TNA, E10185/11.
ofBristolis mentioned
ina Frenchaccount
TheMaryBeloux(Belhous)
of1496;theJulian(Gelian)Bonaventure
ofBristolin a Bordeauxrecordof1503:Vanes,Overseas
Trade,92,97.

786
THE MATTHEWOV
OF
Table i: Bristol ships in the 1503/4customs account
Note: Ship namesare givenhereas theyappear in the customsaccount.
middling category of ships, which spent most of their time serving the
trades to Ireland, Biscay and Spain. While these ships were sometimes
used in the wine trade, they were fiscally disadvantaged in this important
business. During political crises, ships like the Matthew would have been
considered too small for naval service, although they could be employed
as privateers. For most of their existence, however, this class of ship
would have been employed in peaceful commercial service carrying
goods between Bristol, Ireland and Biscay. That this was also the case
with the Matthew can be further supported by examining the evidence
relating to her employment in the years after the 1497 voyage.
As mentioned earlier, the 1492/3 customs account, which is the latest
surviving Bristol account from the pre-1497 era, contains no references

JOHN CABOT'S 1497
787
to a Matthew of Bristol. This suggests that the ship was built, bought,
or at least renamed, between October 1493 and April 1497. Although
her construction could have taken place in Bristol, it is just as likely that
she was built elsewhere, for the market for ships was an international
one and Bristol merchants were not averse to buying their vessels abroad.
For instance, the Gabriel and the Jesus of Bristol, which were used in the
1504 expedition, were both French built.26 Although no records have
been found that concern the Matthews pre-1497 voyages, some do exist
for the post-1497 period.
While no evidence has emerged about how the Matthew was employed
between September 1497 and December 1503, there is no reason for
supposing that she would have been used for any of Bristol's later
voyages to North America. Indeed, given her small size, she would
probably have been considered unsuitable for ventures geared towards
opening up a long-distance trade route. It is certainly the case that all
three ofthe Bristol ships employed in the expeditions from 1502 to 1505
were much larger than the Matthew. These were the Michael (95 tons),
the Gabriel (120 tons) and the Jesus (130 tons). It therefore seems likely
that, following the 1497 voyage, the Matthew would have returned to
ordinary commerciai employment.
The firstfirm information as to the Matthews post-1497 employment
comes from the 1503/4 customs account, which contains five entries
that concern the voyages of the 'Mathewe of Bristol.27 While it is just
possible that this was a different ship from the one Cabot employed,
there are two reasons why this is unlikely. First, 'Matthew' appears to
have been an unusual name for a fifteenth-century Bristol ship. Indeed,
among the thousands of references to ships found in the sixteen surviving
Bristol customs accounts of the later fifteenth century, there are no
ships called Matthew^ belonging either to Bristol or to any other port.28

The probability of there being two ships at this time called the 'Matthew
of Bristol' is thus low. Second, and perhaps more significantly, the
1503/4 Mathewe of Bristol was ofthe right size, and was involved in the
right sort of trade, to have been the 50-ton ship that Cabot employed in
1497. It is certainly the case that she was of greater than 34 tons burden
and, since she was employed in the Irish trade, she was almost certainly
less than 60 tons burden.
The 1503/4 account reveals that the Matthew of Bristol sailed for Ireland
in December 1503 carrying a mixed cargo of English manufactured goods,
including woollen cloth, and re-exports, such as silk and wine. This was a
fairlytypical consignment for a ship engaged in the Bristol?Ireland trade.
On her return from Ireland in May 1504 she was laded with salt fish
26. Williamson,
CabotVoyages,
247;supra,n. 24.
I.
27. Appendix
28. TNA, E122/19/1;
18/39;
19/3;19/4;19/6;19/7;19/8;19/10;
19/10A;
19/11;
19/13;
161/31;
19/14;
20/5;20/7;20/9.

788
THE MATTHEWOF
OF
and animal skins: again typical products of the Irish trade.29 In June,
the Matthew was dispatched to Bordeaux, carrying woollen cloth
belonging to Bristol merchants. She returned in August with woad and
salt, before making a quick turnaround, to depart a fortnight later for
her final recorded voyage of the accounting year. The customs account
states that her destination was 'Hispania', which usually refers to the
Basque ports of northern Spain. On this occasion the Matthew was
laded with a valuable consignment of cloth belonging to a wide variety
of Bristol merchants. On her return the ship would probably have
carried a cargo of Spanish iron from San Sebastian, Renteria or Passajes.30
Apart from the details ofthe goods shipped, the 1503/4 customs account
reveals the names of the shipmasters who skippered the Matthew that
year. On her voyage to Ireland her master was Edmund Griffeths. On her
subsequent voyages to France and Spain her skipper was William Claron.
Neither of these individuals can be shown to have had a prior association
with the ship. Indeed, Edmund Griffeths is recorded as the master ofthe
Frances of Bristol on that vessel's return from Ireland in October 1503
and, after serving as the master of the Matthew between December 1503
and May 1504, Griffeths transferred to the St Mark of Bristol, which he
subsequently took on voyages to Spain and Portugal. William Claron, for
his part, was the master of the Julian (Gelian) Bonaventure of Bristol
before taking over the Matthew?1 Such a rapid turnover of ship's masters
appears to have been fairly typical of Bristol's marine at this time, with
shipmasters transferring within the marine on a regular basis. There is
thus no reason for assuming that either Edmund Griffeths or William
Claron had been the master ofthe Matthew on her 1497 voyage.
Following the last appearance of the Matthew in the 1503/4 customs
account, the next document that refers to the ship comes from a Bristol
'Butlerage and Prisage' account of 1510/11.This states that in 1510 'The
mathewe William Gla_ne master oame from Burdeux the xxvii day of
October received oute of her - ii ton wyn'.32 William Claron was still the
master of the ship six months later, when a Bordeaux notary recorded
that, on 29 April 1511, Guihem Chipman (William Shipman of Bristol)
and associates freighted woad on the Mathieu of Bristol, under master
'Guilhem Clar'.33 It seems unlikely, however, that the vessel continued
in service much longer, for she is not mentioned in the 1513 survey.34
This survey does, however, record the existence of a 120-ton ship called
the 'new mathew\ owned by John Shipman, who was one of Bristol's
richest merchants and the town's principal shipowner. Since this 'new'
Mathew was a 120-ton ship, she could not have been Cabot's vessel. The
Tradein theSixteenth
(London,1929).
29. A. K. Longfield,
Anglo-Irish
Century
Tradein theLaterMiddleAges(Manchester,
30. W. R. Childs,Anglo-Castilian
1978),117.
31. TNA, E122/199/1.
32. TNA, E10185/11.
NaviresetGensdeMera Bordeaux
(vers1400- vers1550J,
(Paris,1968),iii,300.
33. J.Bernard,
II.
34. Appendix

JOHN CABOT'S 1497
789
name given to her in this survey does, nevertheless, imply the existence
of an 'old' Matthew, which had probably gone out of service fairly
recently. Since all later references to the John Shipman's 120-ton Matthew
omit the 'new' designation, it seems that it quickly became accepted that
Shipman's vessel was, from 1513 to 1539, Bristol's only 'Matthew ?b
On the basis of the available evidence it appears that the Matthew of
Bristol came into service sometime between 1493 and 1496. She probably
undertook a number of commerciai voyages before being selected as a
suitable vessel for conducting an exploratory Atlantic voyage in 1497.
Although John Day states that she was provisioned for seven or eight
months, in the event, her voyage to North America lasted just three
months. Once the Matthew had returned to Bristol the ambitions of
John Cabot and his Bristol backers expanded. A substantial landmass
had been discovered, which Cabot believed to be part of the oriental
lands of which Marco Polo had written and from where the riches ofthe
East were known to flow. Cabot now made explicit his intention to
establish a long-distance trade to these lands and, to this end, five ships
were outfitted at Bristol in 1498. It is unlikely, however, that the Matthew
took part in either this voyage, or any of Bristol's later voyages across the
Atlantic. In the fifteenth century, as in more recent times, large ships
were more cost effective in long-distance trade. The Matthews small size
would thus probably have excluded her from the attempts to establish a
long-distance trade to the Orient. It is therefore likely that she returned
instead to the European trade that she had been built to serve. It is in
such commerciai activities that she was engaged in 1503/4,1510 and 1511.
It seems likely that 'Cabot's' Matthew finally went out of service shortly
before 1513. How she met her end is unknown. She may have been
wrecked, burnt, or taken by French privateers during 1512, following the
start of Henry Vffl's firstwar with France. It is just as possible, however,
that she was simply broken up for timber, as appears to have happened
in the case ofthe recently excavated 'Newport Ship'.36
The purpose of this article has been to begin to put the commerciai
world of late-medieval Bristol back into the story of Cabot's voyage to
North America. John Cabot's choice of Bristol, as has long been
acknowledged, was not a coincidence. Bristol had been involved in Atlantic
exploration since at least 1480 and it was almost certainly this endeavour,
whether successful or not, that attracted Cabot to the port in the firstplace.
Existing accounts ofthe 1497 voyage have, nevertheless, paid little attention
to the commerciai world from which both Cabot's financiers and the
ofBristol'wastakenup fornavalservicein 1513:LfettersJ

& Pfapers,
35-The 'Matthew
Henry
thelaterBristol
VIII], I, nos 1728,2217,2304,2305.This 120-tonshipcan be tracedthrough
customsaccounts,up to July1537:E12221/2;199/2;21/4;21/5;21/7;199/3.The lastidentified
casewhichstatesthatshehadbeen
reference
to thisshipcomesfroma HighCourtofAdmiralty
in 1539.Vanes,Overseas
attacked
Trade,104.
bySpanishpirates
clxxxix
36. K. Howell,'The NewportShip',Current
(2003),176-81.
Archaeology,

790
THE MATTHEWOF
OF
Matthew came. His Bristol backers have been ignored in the literature and
in most artistic representations ofthe voyage they are depicted as awestruck
bystanders, graciously sending Cabot off on his heroic voyage.
It has been suggested in this article that the rich and powerful Bristol
merchants who financed the 1497 voyage are unlikely to have been awed
by Cabot, or even to have been particularly generous in their treatment
of him. While Cabot had his dreams, his merchant backers must have
had their own agenda, which presumably revolved around the wealth
that could be generated for both themselves and their port if Cabot was
successful. To protect their interests Cabot's backers probably ensured
that the exploration licence was drawn up in a way that suited them.
Following the granting of the licence it is likely that they required that
Cabot assign them a part, possibly the lion's part, of the rights granted
to him by the Crown. Until Cabot did this there would have been little
incentive for his backers to provide him with the money, ship, victuals
and crew he needed for the expedition.
Once Cabot had reached an agreement with his financiers, he would
have chosen, or been given, a vessel to use. Although all involved would
have recognised the importance of his having a sound and weatherly
ship, the main priority of the financiers is likely to have been to save
money by choosing the smallest vessel that could reasonably accomplish
the mission. In the end, the chosen vessel proved adequate: a 50-ton
ship, capable of carrying the victuals and equipment needed by twenty
men on an eight-month voyage.37 The Matthew of Bristol appears to
have been an unexceptional product of the port's marine, built to serve
the town's trade to Ireland and Biscay. If there was anything extraordinary
about the 1497 voyage it, therefore, lay not in the ship, but in Cabot's
skill and the ambition ofhis backers.
Most accounts of the 1497 voyage have treated the expedition as
the sole achievement of a lone pioneer. This is not surprising. Those
who have written about Cabot have typically wished to portray him as
a proto-American hero, a man fit to stand alongside Columbus. To
achieve this it helps if Cabot can be depicted as the embodiment ofthe

American values of independence and self-reliance - rather than as the
instrument ofa group of self-serving English merchants. It seems likely
that the assumption that the Matthew was some sort of specially built
discovery vessel is similarly rooted in a desire to separate the ship, as an
emblem of the voyage, from Bristol's ordinary shipping industry. By
such means is the expedition elevated above the commercial world, to
become an event of mythic significance.
This article has attempted to challenge the mythic representation of
the 1497 voyage by demonstrating the extent to which the venture was
rooted in Bristol commerce. The iconic Matthew was an ordinary
37. L&P, XIX,i, 1544,no. 140(5).


JOHN CABOT'S 1497
791
commerciai vessel and Cabot's backers probably regarded themselves as

employers of outside talent, rather than as the recipients ofa great man's
largess. Those interested in the discovery voyages need to recognise that
the expeditions did not occur in a political or economic vacuum.
Whatever Cabot's personal merits, his voyage took place only because
others were willing to gamble on the venture and were convinced that
they would benefit from its success.
For 400 years historians of Bristol's exploration voyages have
concentrated on the achievements of the expeditions; achievement
being defined largely in terms of whether a given European was the first
to set foot on a particular section of the American shore. While the
discovery of new documents may yet throw additional light on such
matters, in the absence of such finds, genuine advances are unlikely.
Shifting attention on to the economic and political context of the
voyages could reveal much more about why they took place and how
they were prosecuted. This article has suggested, in two ways, that an
engagement with Bristol's late-medieval world can throw light on
England's first attempts to reach out across the Atlantic. For those
interested in the early European attempts to explore, exploit and
colonise North America, the investigation of how and why Bristol's
voyages took place could well prove more fruitful than continued
attempts to identify the location of Cabot's American landfall.
University of Bristol
EVANJONES
Appendix
Bristol Customs
Accounts:
1503/438
fo. I2V
A small ship called the Mathewe of Bristol, in which Edmund
is master, exited towards Ireland the same day [20 December]
same [ship] has in her:
Hugh Eliet
Idem
Idem
Idem
Idem
6 tons corrupt wine,

value ?9
12 lb. worked silk, value ?8
3 tons salt, value, value 505.
4 clb. aniseed, value 405.
12 stone orchil, value 20?.
Griffeth
and the
subsidy 95.
subsidy 85.
subsidy is. 6d,
subsidy is.
subsidy 12^/.
ofthesereferences
The existence
to 'TheMatthew
Latin,mytranslation.
38. TNA, E122199/1.
ofBristol'
wasfirst
206.All merchants
notedbyWilliamson,
CabotVoyages,
arelistedas English
unlessotherwise
stated.
subjects,

fo. 5ir
A small ship called the Mathewe of Bristol, in which Edmund Griffeth
is master, came from Ireland the same day [4 May] and the same [ship]
has in her:
The same master
Jonyco, alien
4.5 dicker salted hides,

value 60s.
11 burden salt fish,
value 36^. 8d.
60 lbs. wax, value 205.
Idem
120 lamb skins, value 5^.
Idem
26 otter skins, value

10s. lod.
Idem
Edmund
Griffeth
2.5 burden salt fish,

value $s. \d.
subsidy 35.
subsidy 22^/.
subsidy nd.
custom. }d.
subsidy 3^/.
custom. 3/
subsidy 5d if.
custom id. tf.
subsidy $d.
fo. 55V
A small ship called the Mathewe of Bristol, in which William Claron is
master, exited towards Bordeaux the same day [13 June] and the same
[ship] has in her:
Richard Hobie
Robert Barrero
8 woollen cloths
16 woollen cloths
custom 9^. \d.

custom i8j. Sd.
fo. 67r
A small ship called the Mathew of Bristol, in which William Claron is
master, came from Bordeaux the same day [12 August] and the same
[ship] has in her:
John Shipman
Idem
Idem
William Jeffereis
8 pipes, 3 measure woad,

value ?40 i8i". yd.40
1 tun vinegar, value 40^.
10 tons salt, value ?4 3s. 4^.
22 pipes woad, value ?110
subsidy 40^. nd. \f

subsidy is.
subsidy 4s. id.
subsidy nos.
39- 'Pannsinegrano',a woollenclothofassize.

ofwoad= 2 pipes= 1 ton.
40. 32measures

JOHN CABOT'S 1497

Richard Hobie
Humphrey Brown
Robert Barrero
3 pipes, 10 measures woad,

value ?18 is. 6d.
1.5 pipes woad, value
?7 IOS.
10 pipe, 12 measures woad,
value ?53 155-.
793
subsidy iSs. id. if.

subsidy js. 6d.
subsidy 535. yd.
fo 72r
A small ship called the Mathew of Bristol, in which William Claron is
master, exited towards Spain the same day [28 August] and the same
[ship] has in her:
Roger Dawes
Idem
i woollen cloth
14 'Dozen' woollen
cloths41
13.5 woollen cloths
1.5 woollen cloths
William Hurste
John Grene
Idem
John Shipman
John Ware
John Shipman
&
Richard Hobie
Idem
John Meysam
Thomas Hawkens
Robert Barrero
William Thorne
John Edee
William Aphowell
John Ware & John
Shipman
John Jansie
Richard Hobie
Robert Rowlowe
John Qwirke
Thomas Badcok
Robert Rowlowe
Thomas Aphowell
William Estbie
Robert Rowlowe
custom i^d.
custom $s. id.
custom 155-.yd.
custom zid.
2 dozen tanned calf skins,

value $s.
36 woollen cloths
subsidy 3d.
8 cwt. worked tin,

value ?12
43 cwt. worked lead,
subsidy 125.
value ?10 i<ys.

9 woollen cloths
8 woollen cloths
8 woollen cloths
10 woollen cloths
5 woollen cloths
20 woollen cloths
7 woollen cloths
custom 425.
subsidy 10s. yd.

custom \os. 6d.
custom 95. 4^/.
custom 9*. ^d.
custom us. Sd.
custom 5s. lod.
custom 235. 4d.
custom 8*. id.
6 woollen cloths
custom js.
8 woollen cloths
7 woollen cloths
8 woollen cloths
1 woollen cloth
custom 95. \d.

custom %s. id.
8 woollen cloths
2 woollen cloths
2 woollen cloths
5 woollen cloths
7 woollen cloths
custom 95. \d.

custom \\d.
custom 9s. \d.
custom is. ^d.
custom is. ^d.
custom 5^. lod.
custom 85. id.
clothof
4i. A 'Dozen' is a shortcloth(12yardslong)whichpaidhalfthecustomofa standard
assize.

794
THE MATTHEWOF

Appendix
Survey of Bristol shipping,
OF
II
16 January 151342
The
certificacion made unto the kynges most noble grace by the

custommers of hys porte of Bristow of all the Navie of shippes and
vessells now beinge in the sayd porte the xvith day of January the iiiith
yeir of hys moste noble rayn sue as well ofthe names ofthe sayd shipps
and vessells as also the names of the ownars and portage of the same
shipps and vessells as here after playnly doth a pere, furste,
Ownars
John Shipman
The Trinitie of the portage of

cxxxvi tons
John Ware
John Messam
Ownar
Martyn Pollard
John Collas
Ownar
Nicholas
Ownars
John Shipman
Browne
The Elizabeth of the portage of c tons

The margrett of the portage of cx tons
The Mary Christoffer ofthe portage
of cx tons
William
Shipman
Robert Buntre
Thomas Dale
Ownars
John Hall
William Geffreys
The Edward of the portage of c tons
Ownar
William
Geffreys
The Trinite Grace ofthe portage of

iiiixxtons
Ownars
William
Geffreys
The mary kat^Tyn ofthe portage of

cxxx ton
Ownar
John Hall
John Graunte
William Geffreys
William
Lane
The Barbara ofthe portage of cx tons
John Spacheford
Ownar
John Shipman
Ownar
Heugh
Elyett
The new mathew of the portage

of cxx tons
The Mary Penrice or the portage of
lxiiii tons
namesofthe ownersofthe Lytyll

42. TNA, SP1/3,no. 87. The Christian
Jesuscomefrom
fo.197.
SP1/229

JOHN CABOT'S
Ownar
1497
795
The Lytyll Jesus of the portage of lx

tons
John Shipman
Robert Butre
Ownars
Thomas Donell
John Ede
The Lytill Christoffer ofthe portage

of lx tons
Robert Butre
John Shipman
The pinnace that was takyn of portage
of lxx tons
Ownar
John Drews
Nicholas Brown
The Mary James

The mawdelen of
the portage of
Ownar
John Messan
The Gelyan ofthe

portage of
Ownars
Rais a price
The Antony
Ownar
Humfrey hosgrove
John Collas
Ownar
Nicholas
Ownar
Browne
The George
The mary Radclyf
Smale vessels
which ys not redy
to do service but
yf the kinges grace
comraands the
ownars to make
them redy by a
day lymyted by
hys grace


The Financiers of John Cabot

Încărcat de

Informații document

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

The Financiers of John Cabot

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

The Matthew of Bristol and the Financiers of John Cabot's 1497 Voyage to North America

Author(s): Evan Jones

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 3 Dec 2014 11:23:15 AM

The Matthew of Bristol is one of England's best known historic ships.

attract considerable interest, with publications appearing, on a regular

economy. In addition, the article will examine John Cabot's relationship

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 3 Dec 2014 11:23:15 AM

JOHN CABOT'S 1497

VOYAGE TO NORTH AMERICA

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 3 Dec 2014 11:23:15 AM

BRISTOL AND THE FINANCIERS

extra crew might have been considered necessary.

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 3 Dec 2014 11:23:15 AM

VOYAGE TO NORTH AMERICA

perpetuity, to anyone operating under the terms of the letters patent.

his position on receiving the licence was that of an entrepreneur, holding

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 3 Dec 2014 11:23:15 AM

BRISTOL AND THE FINANCIERS

original 1502 licence.17

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 3 Dec 2014 11:23:15 AM

JOHN CABOT'S 1497

VOYAGE TO NORTH AMERICA

Apart from providing clues about the probable nature of the

Andalusian city was granted a monopoly over all commerce between

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 3 Dec 2014 11:23:15 AM

THE MATTHEW OV BRISTOL AND THE FINANCIERS

and oil, soap and fruit from Andalusia.

ongoing war with France (1512-14).

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 3 Dec 2014 11:23:15 AM

JOHN CABOT'S 1497

VOYAGE TO NORTH AMERICA

Moving to the evidence from the 1503/4 customs account, it must

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 3 Dec 2014 11:23:15 AM

BRISTOL AND THE FINANCIERS

Table i: Bristol ships in the 1503/4customs account

Note: Ship namesare givenhereas theyappear in the customsaccount.

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 3 Dec 2014 11:23:15 AM

JOHN CABOT'S 1497

VOYAGE TO NORTH AMERICA

ships called Matthew^ belonging either to Bristol or to any other port.28

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 3 Dec 2014 11:23:15 AM

BRISTOL AND THE FINANCIERS

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 3 Dec 2014 11:23:15 AM

JOHN CABOT'S 1497

VOYAGE TO NORTH AMERICA

ofBristol'wastakenup fornavalservicein 1513:LfettersJ

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 3 Dec 2014 11:23:15 AM

BRISTOL AND THE FINANCIERS

achieve this it helps if Cabot can be depicted as the embodiment ofthe

37. L&P, XIX,i, 1544,no. 140(5).

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 3 Dec 2014 11:23:15 AM

JOHN CABOT'S 1497

VOYAGE TO NORTH AMERICA

commerciai vessel and Cabot's backers probably regarded themselves as

6 tons corrupt wine,

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 3 Dec 2014 11:23:15 AM

4.5 dicker salted hides,

120 lamb skins, value 5^.

26 otter skins, value

2.5 burden salt fish,

custom 9^. \d.

8 pipes, 3 measure woad,

subsidy 40^. nd. \f

39- 'Pannsinegrano',a woollenclothofassize.