Cely Papers - Richard III Society - New Zealand Branch

XXII THE CELY PAPERS.
him a bad business: St. Orner and Valenciennes were stubbornly
resisting his arms. He had been unable to hold what he had
seized in the county of Burgundy, and he agreed to a truce with
the Dukes, as they were now called, at Lens in 1477. Hostilities
were renewed in the course of 1478, but in June of that year
another truce for a year was concluded, by which Louis agreed to
evacuate the Imperial fief of Hainault, and all that he still held in
the county of Burgundy, but kept his grip upon the duchy.
reverted to the policy which he preferred to war, to bribery in
England, at the Imperial Court, in Liege and in Flanders,
confident that the Flemings and Maximilian would not permanently
agree.
In the breathing time allowed to them the Dukes were anxious
to come to an agreement with England, which should keep their
Flemish towns in good humour by safeguarding their commercial
interests. The regulations under which the trade of the Staple
was carried on at Calais afforded them just grounds for complaint.
In July, English and Flemish envoys met at Lille for their
consideration.* The agreement made and their negotiations
throw a good deal of light upon the conditions of trade and the
regulations of the Staple. Free intercourse by sea and land,
freedom from molestation for merchants, sailors, and fishermen of
the two countries, liberty for ships to enter any port under stress
of weather, and to leave again without interference or payment, the
forbidding of the purchase of goods from pirates, all appear as the
ordinary rights of civilised neighbours. But that these rights
required protection is abundantly evident from the expressions
used, or facts recorded in many of the Cely Letters. Pirates,
especially, were a constant danger. Reprisals and letters of
marque, to right any alleged miscarriage of justice, had to be
forbidden for six years. Englishmen were to be allowed to sue
their debtors in the Flemish courts without hindrance, and in case
of anticipated flight to demand security or the arrest of the
* Kymer, xii. CG scqq.