subiect to a greater charge at that time then King Edward the first layd
vpon them: And on the other side if they were onely chargeable after their
proportion, then know I not how farre to burthen them, seeing the Record of
Domesday it selfe bideth them to no certeintie. And therefore leauing this
as I find it I must elsewhere make inquisition for more lightsome proofe.
And first I will haue recourse to king Edward the first his Chartre, in
which I read, that At ech time that the King passeth ouer the sea, the
Ports ought to rigge vp fiftie and seuen ships, (whereof euery one to haue
twentie armed souldiers) and to mainteine them at their owne costes, by the
space of fifteene dayes together.

And thus it stoode with the Ports for their generall charge, in the sixt
yeere of his reigne, for then was this Chartre sealed. But as touching the
particular burthen of ech one, I haue seene two diuers testimonies, of
which the first is a note in French (bearing the countenance of a Record)
and is intituled, to haue bene renued in the two and twentie yeere of the
Reigne of the same king, by Stephan Penchester, then Constable of Douer
Castle, in which the particular charge is set downe in this maner.

The Port of Hastings ought to finde three ships.
The lowie of Peuensey one.
Buluerhithe and Petit Iahn, one.
Bekesborne in Kent, seuen.
Grenche at Gillingham in Kent, two men and armour, with the ships of
Hastings.
The towne of Rie, fiue.
To it was Tenterdene annexed, in the time of King Henrie the sixt.
The towne of Winchelsey, tenne.
The Port of Rumney, foure.
Lydde, seuen.