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1296.]
WAR WITH BALIOL, KING OF SCOTS.
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ship and cargo into Lisbon, where the King of Portugal had received one-tenth of the spoil, leaving the rest to be divided among his piratical subjects. D'Ongressill declared that in consequence of these proceedings he had lost £700; and he prayed Sir John of Brittany, then Lieutenant of Gascony, to grant him "letters of marque," or, to translate the Latin form used, "licence of marking the men and subjects of the kingdom of Portugal" (licentia marcandi homines et subditos de regno Portugalliæ), and specially those of Lisbon, until he should obtain compensation. Sir John accordingly in June, 1295, granted to D'Ongressill, his heirs, successors and descendants, authority for five years "to mark, retain and appropriate" the people of Portugal, and especially those of Lisbon, and their goods, wheresoever they might be found, until he should have obtained satisfaction. The licence was confirmed by the king on October 3rd, with the proviso that it should lapse upon restitution being made, and that if D'Ongressill took more than he had lost he should answer for the surplus.[1]

France sought assistance front Norway; and on October 22nd, 1295, it was agreed that Eric of Norway should aid Philip of France against the King of England, and all his supporters and confederates with two hundred galleys and one hundred large ships, well furnished with arms and munitions of war for four months in each year of the conflict, together with fifty thousand picked and well-armed soldiers, of whom, for each ship and galley, four were to be commanders, Philip undertaking to pay in return £30,000, which sum should be ready by May 1st, 1296.[2]

John Baliol, King of Scots, also allied himself with France, and denounced the homage which he had previously paid to the King of England. Early in 1296 Edward marched against him, and in March directed a fleet of thirty-three[3] sail to co-operate with him in the reduction of Berwick. On the 30th of the month, perceiving that the king's army was in motion, the commander of the fleet took his ships into tbe harbour on the flood tide to assist in the assault. The leading vessel grounded and was immediately surrounded by the Scots, who, though the crew made a brilliant defence, boarded and captured her with a loss, to both sides, of twenty-eight men. A second ship which grounded was burnt; but

  1. 'Fœdera.'
  2. Jal's 'Archéol. Nav.' ii. 296.
  3. Hemingford. But Walsingham, 30, says twenty-four.