CHAPTER IV. 



TRADE AND MARKETS. 



IN the early part of the fifteenth century, the trade of 

 England with Western Europe was extensive and varied. 

 The chief exports were agricultural and mineral produce. Wool 

 was almost entirely supplied from England, for the Spanish 

 produce, which was already becoming known, was not good 

 enough by itself for the manufacture of fine or stout cloths, 

 and was therefore mixed with that of English growth. So 

 important was the trade with the Low Countries, that the 

 English were supposed to be capable of controlling the manu- 

 factures of Flanders, if they would only regulate their own 

 market of produce, by compelling all business to be conducted 

 at the Calais staple, and by exercising an efficient police over 

 the narrow seas. As long as England possessed Calais, it was 

 supposed that the straits between that town and Dover might be 

 claimed to be English waters, for the passage of which transit 

 dues might be demanded, or at least which might avail to 

 regulate the trade from the south-western seaboard of Europe 

 to the north-eastern region of Hanseatic commerce. 



The coasting trade of the fifteenth century was the most 

 important commerce of the time. The Hanse towns had the 

 southern shore of the Baltic and the western coast of Norway. 

 But there were very few settlements on the sea, between the 

 west of Denmark and the Low Countries. The northern 

 ports of France were in the possession of the English, and were 



