VII. (1497.)
From this act it appears, that England traded at this time with Spain,
Portugal, Bretagne, Ireland, Normandy, France, Seville, Venice, Dantzic,
Eastland, Friesland, and many other parts. The woollen cloth of England is
particularly specified as one of the greatest articles of commerce. In a
licence granted by Henry VII. to the Venetians, to buy and sell at London,
and elsewhere in England, Ireland, and Calais, woollen cloth, lead, tin,
and leather, are enumerated as the chief exports. From this document it
also appears, that there resided in or traded to England, the following
foreign merchants: Genoese, Florentines, Luccans, Spaniards, Portuguese,
Flemings, Hollanders, Brabanters, Burgundians, German, Hanseatic, Lombards,
and Easterlings.
From these two documents, the nature and extent of English commerce at this
period may be inferred: its exports were sent as far north as the southern
countries of the Baltic, and to all the rest of Europe, as far south and
east as Venice; but this export trade, as well as the import, seems to have
been almost entirely carried on by foreign capital and ships; the merchant
adventurers having yet ventured very little from home.
In 1511, English commerce, in English ships, extended into the Levant,
chiefly from London, Bristol, and Southampton. Chios, which was still in
the possession of the Genoese, was the port to which they traded.
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