Cely Papers - Richard III Society - New Zealand Branch

INTRODUCTION.
XXXV
senger carrying. William Cely writes to Richard and George:
4 Item Syr on Fryday last past on Richard Awray
that was master of my lord Denmanis schypp zede forthe a
warfare in a schypp of hys owne and toke in merchanntes and sett
them alond at Dower and at Dower toke in passage to Callez wardd
agavne and as he cam to Callez ward ii men of warre of Frensche
mett w" hym and faught with hym and theyr he was slayne and
diversse moe of hys company they saye viii or ix persones oon whoa
sowlles lesu hawe mercy.'
France was in fact an enemy to Richard III., but there was
no formal war, and we are not told how far Richard Awray
had provoked his fate by his private warfare. Shortly afterwards
(April 14, 1484) two Frenchmen chased passenger boats into
Calais, and nearly took them. On January 22, 1488, * My Lord
of St. John's,' the Prior of the Hospitallers, could not venture out
of Calais because of the Danes lying before the harbour.a On
November 19, 1187, William Cely wrote that owing to the war
between Ghent and Maximilian he had got away with difficulty
from Bruges, had been stopped two days at Nieuport, and only
allowed to proceed because he had passage in a ship on board
which Sir James Tyrrell, the English ambassador, had goods. He
advised his principals to leave this trade as too dangerous, and lay
out their money in madder, wax, and fustian, and ship it in
Spanish bottoms. Castile, perhaps, was more respected than England,
while the Tudors were not yet firm in the saddle. Already,
September 18, 1487, before setting out for Bruges, he had expressed
a fear of being stopped by Dunkirkers on the way back.
Some suspicion is aroused that the Cely connexion knew something
of capturing ships, and holding the crews to ransom, for there is
an undated letter by which Thomas Daltoii begs ' Brother Jorge '
to pay a bill of 80Z. for him in London, ' for I loke yevery day for
* The Danes had a grievance against England, because English ships visited
Iceland. A treaty had been made in 1479 forbidding this intercourse without
license (Hy-mer, xii. 100).
*