The Merchant Adventurers were a society organized on similar lines to the Staple, but perhaps not so strictly disciplined, and including all traders engaged in the export of cloth to the Netherlands. According to tradition they dated from the reign of King John,[[17]] but they received their first undoubted charter of incorporation from Henry IV in 1407.[[18]] This charter, renewed by successive kings, remained in force until 1505, when the society was reconstituted by a grant from Henry VII. The preamble stated that, owing to injuries sustained abroad by lack of proper governance, new regulations were necessary. The merchants were therefore empowered to meet and choose a governor and twenty-four assistant governors from among ‘the most sadde, discreete and honest persones’ of their number. The Governor and Assistants were to have full power of control over the English merchants resorting to the Low Countries. Thirteen was fixed as the number forming a quorum for the transaction of business, and any one refusing to take office when elected was liable to a fine of £20.[[19]] An additional grant in the next year gave power to the Governor and Council to fine and commit to prison those who disobeyed their commands. This constitution worked fairly well for the next fifty years, although complaints were sometimes made of the indiscipline of the merchants. Unlike the Staplers at Calais, the Merchant Adventurers were resident, when abroad, under the jurisdiction of a foreign prince, which rendered them more difficult of control. During the restraint of the Flanders trade, prior to the Magnus Intercursus, they were ordered to shift their head-quarters to Calais; ‘notwithstanding, the said Low Countries were by disordered persons so furnished with the said woollen commodities that very few merchants repaired to Calais, either to buy the same or to bring foreign commodities thither to be sold’.[[20]]
Shortly afterwards an attempt was made by the richer members of the Company dwelling in London to squeeze out the minor traders by making them pay heavy sums for admission to membership. But it proved a failure, being contrary to the general spirit of the age. The prosperity of the smaller seaports was threatened, and the aggrieved parties complained to the king. An Act was therefore passed in the Parliament of 1497 by which the fee for a licence was limited to ten marks, on payment of which sum any Englishman might trade. Thus the Merchant Adventurers were saved from petrifying into an exclusive band of privileged monopolists such as the Staple had become. With their freer and more elastic organization, they moved with the times, and remained in the forefront of commercial enterprise throughout the Tudor period. The expansion of their business brought them into conflict with the Hanseatic League, whose decline, as far as its hold upon England was concerned, was thenceforward inevitable. The Merchant Adventurers proved unsparing enemies, never letting slip any chance of discrediting their rivals, and instigating the Government to annoy them whenever opportunity offered. The course of the struggle and the final success which crowned the efforts of the English merchants will be described in a subsequent chapter.[[21]]
It is important to emphasize at this point the difference between the cloth manufacture in England and in the Netherlands. The greater part of the cloth at this time exported by the Merchant Adventurers was of a coarse, heavy variety, which had not been subjected to the various finishing processes of rowing, shearing, dyeing, &c. in which the Flemish craftsmen were more expert. The Flemish industry was twofold: it consisted in completing the manufacture of English cloth, and also in making the lighter and more expensive fabrics such as chamlets, crapes, and serges, from raw wool purchased at Calais. This ‘light drapery’ manufacture was not introduced into England until late in the sixteenth century, being greatly assisted by Elizabeth’s wise policy of encouraging Philip’s revolted subjects to settle in this country, bringing the secrets of their craft with them.
The export and import duties of this period form an interesting subject. Broadly speaking, they fall into two main divisions: the ‘subsidies’, otherwise known as tonnage and poundage; and the ‘customs’. The subsidies were a set of variable duties, granted to the king for life at the beginning of his reign, and consisting of tonnage, or import duty per tun of wine; poundage, a duty per pound sterling value on most other goods exported or imported; and wool duties, levied on exported wool. The customs, as distinct from the subsidies, were fixed duties of ancient origin, primarily levied on the strength of the royal prerogative, and were continued without much alteration[[22]] by the tactful Tudors, who had no wish to raise a discussion on their legality. It remained for James I to strain the prerogative by arbitrarily increasing the old customs rates, and thus to precipitate a struggle which ended in the abolition of the levying of imposts by royal authority, and established the dependence of all duties on parliamentary grant.
The principal and original object of the duties was undoubtedly the raising of revenue during the wars of the Plantagenet kings; but, as time went on, they came to be used as instruments of protection for those classes of merchants who were particularly favoured by the Crown. As will be shown, the royal favour, previous to Tudor times, was not reserved exclusively for Englishmen. The protective function of the duties was that which Henry VII sought to develop, in the interests of English trade; and modifications were introduced in the subsidies whenever it seemed expedient.
The following table gives the duties levied on some of the principal classes of merchandise and payable by Englishmen and foreigners respectively at the beginning of the reign. The subject is a somewhat obscure one, and authorities are contradictory on certain points. The customs are taken from Arnold’s Chronicle,[[26]] where they are included in a list of which the exact date is not given.[[27]] Since, however, the customs were practically invariable, the point is not one of great importance. The subsidies are those granted by the Parliament of 1485.[[28]] They remained in force during the king’s life, with certain modifications due to political exigencies.
| Article. | Englishmen. | Aliens. | ||
| Custom. | Subsidy. | Custom. | Subsidy. | |
| Wool,[[23]] per sack[[24]] | 6s. 8d. | 33s. 4d. | 10s. | 66s. 8d. |
| Woolfells,[[23]] per 240 | 6s. 8d. | 33s. 4d. | 10s. | 66s. 8d. |
| Hides,[[23]] per last | 13s. 4d. | 66s. 8d. | 20s. | 73s. 4d. |
| Wine, per tun | nil | 3s. | 2s. | 3s. |
| Sweet wines, per tun | nil | 3s. | 2s. | 6s. |
| Tin, per £ value | nil | 1s. | 3d. | 2s. |
| Other goods,[[25]] per £ value | nil | 1s. | 3d. | 1s. |
The wool duties were on exports only and the wine duties on imports only. The poundage was levied on exports as well as imports. The following goods were exempted from paying poundage: woollen cloth exported by Englishmen; wool, woolfells and hides exported (taxed by the special wool duties); corn, flour, fish, flesh, bestall,[[29]] and wine imported; and victuals exported for the garrison of Calais. Goods were valued for poundage on their original cost, on the oath of the merchant or his servant, and fraudulent declaration was punished by forfeiture.
The wool duties were by far the heaviest in amount, and, to lighten the excessive strain on the capital resources of the merchant, it was provided that half the duty should be paid within six months after shipment, and the other half within twelve months. If the wool were lost at sea, by wreck, piracy, or war, a similar quantity might be shipped duty free.
By the Act of 1485 which granted the subsidies for the reign, the Hanse merchants, who had hitherto been exempt from paying the wine subsidy, were specially included as being liable to that duty; but their other existing privileges, which were considerable, were continued unaffected. By another Act it was provided that if a foreigner had become a naturalized Englishman he should nevertheless continue to pay duties as a foreigner. On the other hand, to foster English shipping it was laid down that if an Englishman shipped his goods in a ‘carryke or galley’, that is, in a foreign ship, he must pay duties on the foreign scale. A study of these duties shows how great a measure of protection was afforded to English trade.