, 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.
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