largely in the markets of England, and carried it away to be spun and woven in their own country. Lead was frequently used for the roofs of churches and other buildings; and from the records in Domesday Book it is clear that, during the reign of Edward the Confessor, there were iron works in the neighbourhood of Gloucester, of a date perhaps as early as the Roman colonization.[1] Although there is no account of the exportation of any metals in the age now under consideration, it is reasonable to suppose that the demand at home and abroad for lead, tin, and iron, could never have wholly ceased, and that they must have formed a considerable part of the few exports during the Anglo-Saxon period.[2]
Horses, it may be presumed, were sometimes exported, as King Athelstan made a law against carrying any out of the kingdom except as presents.[3] The natives of Britain, too, were not unfrequently exported to the Continent and even to Rome, the handsome figures of these female slaves naturally attracting much attention. The merchants of Bristol and of Northumberland appear to have been the chief dealers in this inhuman traffic, the former finding in Ireland the readiest and the largest market for their slaves.[4]
Concerning the ordinary description of manu-*
- ↑ Pliny states that lead was found so abundantly on the surface in Britain, that a law was passed to limit the supply. H. N. xxxiv. 49; cf. also Wright's "Uriconium," pp. 6, 7, 8.
- ↑ Matthew Paris, Hist. p. 570. Camden, Britan. p. 134.
- ↑ Wilkins, "Leges Anglo-Saxon." p. 52.
- ↑ William of Malmesbury, i. c. 3. Wharton, "Angl. Sacr." ii. p. 258. According also to Bede, it appears that the sight of English slaves in the market-place at Rome first led Gregory to think of evangelizing the country.—Hist. Eccles. ii. c. 1.
