Another cause of difference was the Calais frontier. On the edge of the Pale an abbey had stood called Sandingfeldt, which, in old times, with the estates attached to it, had, as Church property, been neutral ground. The abbey had been suppressed, and the land secularized, but the rights over it asserted by the English were denied by the French. They, too, on their side, entered into possession, built farms, and broke the ground, and a series of petty collisions had followed between the labourers.[1]
On the part of the English Government, a third grievance appeared, which seemed as if it was caused by a feeling of revenge for their bad success in Scotland. The natural route from Paris to Edinburgh lay through London. The Archbishop of Glasgow, returning out of France, neglected to apply for a passport; he was taken prisoner, and held to ransom; and Lord Maxwell, who did apply, was refused.[2] The prisoners taken at St An-
- ↑ MS. France, bundle 9, State Paper Office.
- ↑ The council gave a curious reason for their refusal. 'The common passage of Scots and Frenchmen through the realm,' they said, 'is so cumbrous and hurtful to the King's Majesty's subjects, that therein is daily complaints made of the
tered according to the law civil, the which court is called the Admiralty Court; where the said strangers' causes are examined, whether the controversy be between themselves or against the King's subjects. And to the intent that strangers should have the better expedition of their causes, it is ordained that in the said court that process be made summarie et de pleno. And for because that the chief resort of all strangers in this realm is London, therefore the said admiral hath set up his court at London. These things considered, we cannot see nor devise how the French King's subjects' causes may be discussed more for their ease and commodity than in the said Admiral's Court.'—The Council to Sir John Mason, September, 1550: MS. France, bundle 9, State Paper Office.
