728 mining, quarrying, and salt making: primary source documents (continues) all the stannaries of the Lord King in your bailiwick and all that belongs to those stannaries And you shall see to it that he has tin miners with that freedom which they should have, and which they have been accustomed to have, and you will see that he has all those lawful men whom the same William will name for you You shall see that they expedite this matter, that they bring aid and counsel for the keeping of the king’s stamps, and all the products of those stannaries, and see to the disposal of the profit from the same Forbid all men free admission to your bailiwick lest, without permission of the same William, they carry away any tin either by land or sea You will also give him much help in expediting the present business of the Lord King, that it may prosper, and that your Lord King may not suffer loss through neglect on your part Witness, Stephen of Turnham, at Westminster, on the twentieth day of November And we give notice that on the nineteenth day of January in the ninth year of the reign of King Richard, at Exeter in the county of Devon, we inquired upon the oath of wise and prudent men, about the true weights of the tin of Devon, and we inquired about such quantity as was the just and ancient weight of the city of Exeter, by which in ancient times, now and always, it has been customary to weigh the second smelting of tin, and what it always ought to be, and we found that the just and ancient weight of the first smelting formerly, now and always, was eight times the weight of the second smelting, and it ought to be nine times the weight according to the weight of the city of Exeter for this reason, namely, that from any thousand weight weighed by the greater weight thirty denarii are given to the Lord King, according to ancient custom for the ferm of the stannaries of Devon and for the expense of conveyance to market towns, and because the tin at the second smelting was less, and according to their oath it was measured and determined by such measure in our presence in the stannaries and towns of Devon All miners and buyers of black tin, and first smelters of tin and merchants of tin of the first smelting have just and ancient customs and liberties established in Devon and Cornwall Likewise just and ancient weights of the first and second smelting of tin, determined by the oath of the above-mentioned jurors, and marked with the stamp of the Lord King, shall be kept Also all men have the common right of buying tin by just, ancient, and free customs, as they are accustomed to have and ought to have, by the mark from any thousand weight of the second smelting And in the towns and market towns wherein the chief warden of the stannaries shall have appointed a time for a second smelting, from each thousand weight of which the Lord King ought to have one mark, let the second smelting be weighed by the weight of the city of Exeter, and that weight shall be marked by the stamp of the Lord King Likewise the established weight of the city of Exeter shall always be kept in the custody of two lawful men in the market towns, and in the custody of the clerk appointed by the Lord King And in any town where a second smelting has been decreed let there be two lawful and rich men who shall receive from the merchants the mark of the Lord King, in the presence of the wardens and the clerk of the second smelting and of the stamp for weighing and marking, and both the clerk and the wardens shall not permit the tin to be carried away until the treasurer of the Lord King shall have received the mark of the Lord King and the customary tax on the tin And the treasurers of the mark of the Lord King may make statements and chirographs about the money of the Lord King against the wardens and the clerk of the weight and the stamp And in the chirographs shall be enumerated the day of receiving, and the amount of money received, and the number of thousands and hundreds of pounds of tin received, and the names of the merchants who acquired the tin Likewise the treasurers of the Lord King by statements and chirographs of this kind shall deliver the money of the Lord King to the chief warden of the stannaries No one may presume to have in the market towns any weights with which to weigh tin except they have been previously measured in the presence of the keepers of the weights, and judged by the weight of the Lord King, and marked by the stamp of the mark of the Lord King; The wardens and the clerk of the first smelting, as they love themselves and their own, shall diligently and mindfully make a record of the thousands and hundreds