Mick Harper wrote: To Cornish tinners the term ‘Saracen’ just meant ‘foreigner’, someone prohibited by law from advancing inland
How do we know they were prohibited? Would these have been Stannary Parliament laws?
Something doesn't quite ring true, because some tin workings were right down to the sea, or besides known ports. Unless some ports were closed to "foreigners" and there was a megalithic version of HM Border Agency rummaging all incoming vessels.
Or do we assume traders were welcome to moor their boats and trade, but not allowed to get near the actual sources?