1921 THE ETYMOLOGY OF ' BAY-SALT ' 217 Finally, in one or two instances * La Baye ' is mentioned in the rolls as a trading centre, without any indication of the nature of the merchandise in which it traded. Thus in 1369 an order was made in regard to certain merchants who had lately loaded a Plymouth ship with ' divers merchandise ' in ' the port of la Baye i . 1 And in 1388 the owner of a ship which had been prevented by order of the king from sailing to ' le Bay ' for a cargo of ' goods ' obtained licence to take it to Newcastle instead. 2 Of the * divers merchandise ' and ' goods ' referred to in these two documents, it may be presumed that salt formed an important part. In the rolls of the fifteenth century mentions of * la Baye ' are much rarer than in those of the fourteenth, and the tendency to leave its whereabouts unexpressed becomes the rule. The following are the only references to ' la Baye ' which I have found in the Calendar of Patent Rolls as far as it goes, that is, down to the year 1509. In 1438 a licence was granted to take 'to the parts " del Baye " ' a Newcastle ship which had been laden in the port of London. 3 A commission was appointed in 1440 to arrest nine pirate ships of Holland and Zeeland which were waiting to capture five Yarmouth vessels laden with salt at ' le Baye ', and lying off the Isle of Wight, 4 whilst in the following year another commission was to inquire into the seizure and sale by pirates from Harfleur of a balinger of Brittany laden with salt of. ' le Bay ' and wine of La Rochelle. 5 Several commissions were appointed in 1451 to inquire into the seizure of certain ships of Holland and Zeeland which had been driven by stress of weather into the port of Camber by Winchelsea, when on their way home from ' le Baye ' with ' divers goods and merchandise ' 6 ; whilst in 1453 another commission was ordered to inquire and make restitution in the case of a German ship which had been laden with salt and other merchandise at ' le Bay ', and had been driven by a storm into the Humber, and there attacked and plundered. 7 The foregoing references to the mediaeval import trade in salt from the port of ' La Baye ' in Brittany, or ' La Baye ' salt, especially during the fourteenth century, leave no doubt that we have here the explanation of the term ' Bay-salt ' found in laden with salt at ' La Baye ' (communicated by Mr. C. T. Flower, of the Public Record Office). Cf. also an order by the duke of Brittany dated 8 June 1416, to release a Portuguese ship, the owner of which was presumed to be English, and which, when on its way to the port of ' La Baie ', had been arrested and taken to Blavet, i.e. Port- Louis, dep. Morbihan (Lettres et Mandements de Jean V, ed. R. Blanchard, no. 1217). 1 Gal. of Close Rolls, 1369-74 (1911), p. 53. 2 Cal. of Patent Rolls, 1385-9 (1900), p. 400. 3 Ibid. 1436-41 (1907), p. 155. * Ibid. p. 502. 5 Ibid. p. 572. 6 Ibid. 1446-52 (1909), pp. 439, 440. " Ibid. 1452-61 (1910), p. 118.
