140 



The Merchants of the Staple, fyc. 



of it, and hence their name " Easterlings." They made their first 

 appearance in this country in the time of Henry III., and were 

 for some years the only exporters of wool. It is said that Henry 

 III. had been much supported in his wars by the assistance which 

 he received from the free towns of Germany, in return for which 

 he gave them great privileges in England. They were made a 

 Corporation, and lived together in a place called the Still-yard or 

 Still-house t so termed, it is said by some, from their dealing much 

 in iron and steel, though others give a different derivation of the 

 word. 1 For many years they lived a sort of collegiate life in their 

 house near Bishopsgate, walled in and locked up with strong gates 

 at night. Half the expense of guarding that gate of the city, and 

 the whole expense of repairing it, fell on them. They continued a 

 corporation till 1552, when they were dissolved, because they had 

 become, it was said, detrimental to England, by engrossing the 

 whole woollen trade ; — but really in consequence of the jealousy of 

 another body of merchants of whom I shall presently speak, and 

 who had become, at that time, numerous, wealthy, and influential. 

 The " Easterlings " have left their memorial behind in the word 

 " Sterling," which originally referred to the authorised coin manu- 

 factured by them. 2 



It is worth a passing remark that another body of merchants who 

 came over, about the same time as the Easterlings from some of 

 the Italian republics, sent, it is said, by Pope Gregory IX. in the 

 capacity of money lenders, for the purpose of advancing loans to 

 religious houses and private persons, with which to pay the tenths 



1 See Cunningham's Hand-book of London under " Steel-yard " for more 

 particulars respecting this class of merchants. 



2 Arthur Agarde, in a paper printed in Thomas Hearne's Collection of Curious 

 Discoveries, says, " I suppose the name (Sterling) came by means the Easterlings 

 from us, being Germaynes, brought up in the mynes of silver and copper there, 

 were used here in Englaunde for the reducynge and refyninge the diversyte of 

 coynes into a perfect standarde." Bailey in his Dictionary (15th edit. 1753) 

 gives a similar account of the word : — "Sterling (so called from Esterlings, 

 i.e. Prussians or Pomeranians who in old times were artists in fining gold and 

 silver, and taught it to the Britons), a general name or distinction for the 

 current lawful money in England." See also " Notes and Queries," vol. i., 

 pp. 384 and 411. 



