In The Year 1354 We Have A Regular Account Of Such Exports And Imports As
Paid Duty; From Which It Appears, That There Were Exported 31,651 Sacks Of
Wool, 3036 Cwt.
Of woad, sixty-five wool-fells, 4774 pieces of cloth, and
8061 pieces of worsted stuff; and there were imported 1831 pieces of fine
cloth, 397 cwt.
Of wax, and 1829 tuns of wine, besides linen, mercery,
groceries, &c. As tin, lead, and several other articles are not enumerated,
it may be inferred that they paid no duty. In the year 1372 there is the
earliest record of direct trade with Prussia. As the woollen manufactures
of England began to flourish, the importation of woollen cloths necessarily
diminished; so that, in the act of 1378, reviving the acts of 1335 and 1351
for the encouragement of foreign merchants, though cloth of gold and
silver, stuffs of silk, napery, linen, canvas, &c. are enumerated as
imported by them, woollen cloth is not mentoned. The trade to the Baltic
gradually increased as the ports in the north of England, particularly
Newcastle, rose in wealth. In 1378 coals and grindstones were exported from
this place to Prussia, Norway, Schonen, and other ports of the Baltic. Soon
afterwards, in consequence of some disputes between the Prussians and
English, a commercial treaty was formed between the Grand Master of Prussia
and Edward III., by which it was agreed that the Prussian merchants in
London should be protected, and that English merchants should have free
access to every part of Prussia, to trade freely, as it used to be in
ancient times. In order to carry this treaty into full effect on the part
of the English, a citizen of London was chosen to be governor of the
English merchants in Prussia and the other countries on the Baltic.
Disputes, however, still arose, and piracies were committed on both sides.
Meetings were therefore held at the Hague, to hear and settle the
complaints of each party. From the statements then given in, it appears,
that woollen clothes now formed a considerable part of the exports of
England to the Baltic. That they were also exported in considerable
quantity to the south of Europe, appears from other documents.
At the beginning of the fifteenth century the foreign commerce of England
had considerably increased; for we are informed, that some merchants of
London shipped wool and other goods, to the value of 24,000_l_., to the
Mediterranean; and nearly about the same time, the English merchants
possessed valuable warehouses and an extensive trade at Bergen in Norway,
and sent vessels of the size of 200 tons to Portugal. The freight of one of
these is stated to have been worth 6000 crowns in gold. The improvement of
the woollen manufactures may be inferred from the following circumstance:
alum is very useful to fullers and dyers. About the year 1422, the Genoese
obtained from the Greek emperor the lease of a hill in Asia Minor,
containing alum: England was one of the chief customers for this article;
but it undoubtedly was imported, not in English, but in Genoese vessels. In
the year 1450 the Genoese delivered alum to the value of 4000l. to Henry
VI. Bristol seems to have been one of the most commercial cities in
England. One merchant of it is mentioned as having been possessed of 2470
tuns of shipping: he traded to Finmark and Iceland for fish, and to the
Baltic for timber and other bulky articles in very large ships, some of
which are said to have been of the burden of 400, 500, and even 900 tons.
Towards the latter end of the fifteenth century, the parliament, in order
to encourage English shipping, (as hitherto the greatest part of the
foreign trade of England had been carried on by foreign merchants in
foreign vessels,) enacted a species of navigation law, and prohibited the
king's subjects from shipping goods in England and Wales on board any
vessel owned by a foreigner, unless when sufficient freight could not be
found in English vessels.
Such are the most instructive and important notices respecting the state
and progress of English commerce, which occur prior to the discovery of the
Cape of Good Hope and America. We shall now proceed to give similar notices
of the commerce of Scotland, Ireland, France, and the other countries of
Europe; these, however, shall be very brief and few. In the middle of the
twelfth century, Berwick, which then belonged to Scotland, is described as
having more foreign commerce than any other port in that kingdom, and as
possessing many ships. One of the merchants of this town was distinguished
by the appellation of _the opulent_. Inverluth, or Leith, is described
merely as possessing a harbour, but no mention is made of its trade.
Strivelen had some vessels and trade, and likewise Perth. There was some
trade between Aberdeen and Norway. There were no trading towns on the west
coast of Scotland at this period; but about twenty years afterwards, a
weekly market, and an annual fair were granted by charter to Glasgow.
It is probable that the foreign commerce of Scotland, being confined to the
east coast, was principally carried on with Norway: with which country,
indeed, Scotland had intimate connection; for we do not find any notice of
foreign merchants from other countries trading to or settling in Scotland,
till towards the end of the thirteenth century, when some Flemish merchants
established a factory at Berwick. Wool, wool-fells, hides, &c. were the
chief articles of export; salmon also was exported. Of the importance and
value of the trade of this place we may form some idea, from the
circumstance, that the custom duties amounted to upwards of 2,000_l_.
sterling; and of 1,500 marks a year settled on the widow of Alexander
prince of Scotland, 1,300 were paid by Berwick.
In the year 1428. foreign commerce attracted considerable attention in
Scotland; and in order to encourage the native merchants to carry it on
themselves, and by their own vessels, the parliament of Scotland seem, some
time previous to this date, to have passed a navigation act; for in an act
passed this year, the Scotch merchants were permitted for a year ensuing,
to ship their goods in foreign vessels, where Scotch ones were not to be
found, notwithstanding the statute to the contrary.
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