‘And thus it is to be seen that the very folly and rashness of our merchants is our disturbance, who do daily bring over clothes to Bruges by stealth, notwithstanding my lord’s grace’ (Somerset) prohibition and stay of their ships; and also do buy at Antwerp contrary to their own statute and ordinance, whereby they have forfeited large sums, of the which the King’s Majesty ought to have his third part; and till his highness do take the same and make them smart, they will never keep order, but for their own private lucre undo, if they might, the common weal; for their fashion is even when they make their statutes and swear to observe the same, even forthwith by collusion and colour to break the same, generally saying, that every man transgressing shall cause a general pardon among them, and thus they mock with God and the world and are perjured daily, that it is pity to think thereon, and that any such should have to do with them....’[[163]]
In 1553 the quarrel broke out afresh, and representatives of the two factions, called respectively the ‘Old Hanze’ and the ‘New Hanze’,[[164]] were before the Council, which sided, on Thomas Gresham’s recommendation, with the former.[[165]] The New Hanze were convicted of behaving in a disorderly manner, trying to subvert the government of the Fellowship, and endangering its privileges. They were commanded to make humble submission to the Governor and the ringleaders to receive punishment.[[166]] Gresham, although himself a member of the Company, was acting primarily in the financial interests of the Government. For that purpose his principal object was to raise the rate of exchange, expressive of the state of English credit, on the Antwerp Bourse. To attain it he sought to handicap the foreign capitalists, his adversaries, by manipulating the cloth export, restraining or permitting it as occasion demanded. Hence he was all in favour of maintaining strict discipline among the Adventurers. In a letter to Northumberland in 1553 he deplored their lack of experience and suggested a rigid insistence on an eight years’ apprenticeship. He himself, he continued, had been made to serve that time by his father’s wisdom, although he might have evaded it.[[167]] Gresham’s character had much of the masterful audacity typical of Tudor statesmanship, and he used his authority with a high hand when the unruliness of the merchants threatened danger to his plans. He succeeded in raising the exchange for the £ sterling from 16 to 22 shillings Flemish, and at the latter figure liquidated debts contracted at the former.[[168]]
Although the Merchant Adventurers had succeeded in ousting their rivals of the Steelyard from the Low Countries, their own position was by no means secure during the reign of Edward VI. There was continual friction with the Imperial Government, whose conduct became so irritating at one time that Sir Thomas Chamberlain, English agent at Brussels and a former Governor of the Company, advised that the merchants should be withdrawn altogether from the country, ‘for truly these people will never know what they have of us until they lack us,’ although he remarked elsewhere that the English misfortunes were chiefly due to their own insatiable greed and disorder. The anti-Protestant policy which Charles V instituted in 1548, and the severe measures by which he enforced it in the Netherlands, formed another disturbing factor in his relations with England.[[169]] In 1550 a rupture was thought to be imminent on this account, and the merchants were advised to withdraw their goods little by little from the country. With the accession of Mary, however, the danger temporarily passed away, although it was destined ultimately to cause a profound modification of England’s industry and of the direction of her maritime expansion. The merchants themselves were not very deeply imbued with Protestantism; or, if they were, means were found of converting them, since a report of 1556 mentions that all those then at Antwerp were Catholics with the exception of four, against whom proceedings were to be taken.[[170]]
The marts of the Low Countries had for long provided a sufficient outlet for England’s surplus products, but circumstances were presently to arise which should drive English enterprise farther afield. The civil troubles in the Netherlands, which began soon after the death of Mary and the overthrow of the Catholic régime in England, and became ever more acute until they exploded into a war of eighty years’ duration, did much to blight the commerce and industry of the southern provinces. The northern or Dutch states which rose to pre-eminence in their place with such astonishing rapidity were not a manufacturing community, and had very little need of English cloth and wool. At the same time the German ports and the Baltic became more accessible owing to the decay of the Hanseatic League and the opening up of relations with Russia by Chancellor and Jenkinson. Thus the death of Mary, though not of itself of immediate importance, may be conveniently regarded as synchronizing with the relative decline of the old Flanders trade. That trade, while still extensive for many years, was no longer of primary importance. The capital and energies of the bolder mercantile adventurers were henceforth to be employed in penetrating the farther limits of the North Sea, and still more in oceanic enterprises to the West and the tropic East.
Long before the opening up of communications with Russia—in fact, throughout the period now under discussion—a regular trade was maintained with Sweden, Denmark, and Danzig, and also at intervals with the north German ports. This traffic was free to all English merchants and was not subject to the jurisdiction of the Company of Merchant Adventurers. The latter, it is true, sometimes exerted their influence to induce the Government to secure better treatment for the English at Danzig, but only because certain individuals of their Company were trading in their private capacity to that place.
The principal article of English export to the above-named regions was cloth. In return many articles of absolute necessity to an increasingly maritime nation—canvas, hemp, ropes, pitch, and spars—were obtained, together with supplies of grain and fish, for which there was a growing demand as food prices steadily rose in England.
At all times the traders encountered hostility from the Hansa, which, as they were not effectively incorporated, they were less able to cope with than were the merchants in the Low Countries. On the other hand, they suffered less from arbitrary exactions and oppressive restraints imposed for political reasons, since England, until the end of Mary’s reign, took practically no interest in the international dealings of the northern powers. The English dépôt at Danzig was always of considerable importance, as is evidenced by the trouble they took to maintain it in the reign of Henry VII. The damage mutually suffered by the reprisals which then took place convinced both parties that tranquillity was more profitable to them, and peace was maintained for nearly fifty years. Danzig was the principal source of the supply of naval stores, and furnished on occasion not only materials but ships ready built. One such consignment was received during the war of 1544.[[171]] Again in 1556 a large quantity of naval stores was procured at that place. A letter from the Council to the English merchants on this occasion is interesting as showing the extent of their operations. Whereas, it pointed out, they had bought up all the hemp and cable yarn in that city, and had also secured the promise of the rope-makers to work exclusively for them during the next six months, they were commanded to desist from such practices until such time as William Watson, who was coming to buy for the navy, should be furnished with what he required.[[172]] The possibilities opened up by the employment of capital in large masses were evidently well realized, as indeed other instances prove.
During the cessation of intercourse with the Hansa in 1557–60 the Duke of Schleswig wrote to the queen to point out the suitability of various places in his dominions for English trade. Some communication with North Germany was essential owing to the scarcity of grain in England, and a deputation of merchants went to Schleswig in the summer of 1558 to inspect the ports and make arrangements for commerce.
The reopening of the communications with the Hanse towns early in Elizabeth’s reign placed the North Sea and Baltic trade on a far more favourable footing than had ever before been the case. For the first time the English could do business in the northern ports on something like equitable terms and with some assurance of security; a steady increase of the volume of traffic was the result.
An important source of food supply was the Iceland fishery, which in the sixteenth century was regularly frequented by English vessels, mainly from the east coast ports. Bristol, which in the Middle Ages had had a foremost share in the traffic, seems to have dropped out altogether in Tudor times. The Bristol fishermen, like those of Normandy and Brittany, preferred the Newfoundland banks—the Baccalaos of the Cabots—which, although more distant, produced more plentiful supplies of fish. No mention of Bristol ships going to Iceland is to be met with under Henry VIII or his two successors.