1. Englische Handelspolitik gegen Ende des Mittelalters.
2. Extended and made permanent in 1489.
3. Foedera, xii, pp. 578–91, 654, 713–20; Cotton MSS., Galba C ii. 249: ‘A Brief of so much of the Intercourse of 1499 as concerns Merchant Adventurers, with their opinions touching the same.’
4. Hall’s Chronicle, 1809 ed., p. 500.
5. Spanish Cal. vi, part i, pp. 59–60.
6. Spanish Cal. i, p. 21.
7. Ibid. i, p. 144.
8. Spanish Cal. i, p. 337.
9. Venetian Cal. i, pp. 185, 186, 188.
10. Foedera, xii, p. 553.
11. Venetian Cal. i, passim.
12. Venetian Cal. i, p. 213.
13. Spanish Cal. i, pp. 366, 367, 374.
14. Venetian Cal. i, Preface, lxviii.
15. Venetian Cal. i, p. 278.
16. For detailed figures as to customs payments see Schanz, Englische Handelspolitik gegen Ende des Mittelalters, ii. 37–156.
17. Harl. MSS., 597, f. 211.
18. Thomas Gresham, writing to Northumberland in 1553, speaks of sending a copy of their privileges dated 1296, but the document does not now exist (Cal. S. P. Dom. 1547–80, p. 51).
19. Cotton MSS., Tib. D viii, f. 37. Printed by Schanz.
20. Harl. MSS., 597, f. 211.
21. Ancient histories of the Merchant Adventurers: Harl. MSS., 597, ff. 211–15, a general sketch written in the reign of Elizabeth; Stowe MSS., 303, ff. 99–107, written in the time of Charles II, of very slight value; A Treatise of Commerce (printed), by John Wheeler, 1601, much fuller and better informed than the other two.
22. Some additions were made by Mary.
23. Staple articles: in their case ‘Englishmen’ means members of the Staple, and ‘Aliens’ includes such Englishmen as exported cargoes of wool, &c., to the Mediterranean.
24. A sack of wool contained 14 tods, each of 28 lb. weight, or 392 lb. in all (Lansd. MSS., 152, f. 239).
25. Excluding cloth. Cloth duties are given separately below.
26. 1811 ed., pp. 193–6.
27. On internal evidence it is probably slightly before the time of Henry VII.
28. Rolls of Parliament, vi. 269, 270.
29. Live animals.
30. Foedera, xi. 793–803.
31. Arnold’s Chronicle, pp. 193–6. But compare the details of Hanse privileges in 1552 (inf. p. 167). There is no evidence that any alteration was made in the duties, and Arnold’s figures must therefore be received with caution.
32. Harl. MSS., 306, f. 82.
33. Foedera, xii, pp. 374 and 381.
34. The merchants of the Hansa were commonly called Easterlings in England, and their London dépôt was known as the Steelyard.
35. Cologne Archives, printed in Schanz, ii. 397.
36. Hall’s Chronicle, 1809 ed., pp. 467–8.
37. Cologne Archives, Acta Anglicana, 1434–1521, ff. 166, 188–9; printed by Schanz, ii. 409, 419.
38. Spanish Cal. i, pp. 161–7.
39. Foedera, xii. 335.
40. Venetian Cal. i, p. 206.
41. Venetian Cal. i, p. 253–4.
42. For details on this subject see Venetian Calendar, vol. i and Preface.
43. An exception must be made of a short extract in Hakluyt.
44. Spanish Cal. i, p. 128.
45. Venetian Cal. i, p. 262.
46. Ibid., p. 260.
47. Spanish Cal. i, pp. 176–7.
48. Add. MSS., 7099, f. 41.
49. R. O., Privy Seals, Dec. 13, 13 Hen. VII, No. 40.
50. R. O., Warrants for Issues, 13 Hen. VII.
51. Add. MSS., 7099, f. 45.
52. Chapter Muniments, 12243. Printed in facsimile as The Cabot Roll, Bristol, 1897, edited by A. E. Hudd.
53. Cotton MSS., Vitell. A. xvi.
55. See Harrisse’s John and Sebastian Cabot (1896) for an account of Sebastian’s intrigues with Venice, and other discreditable affairs.
56. Evidently Japan. 'Zipangu is an island in the eastern ocean, situated at the distance of about 1500 miles from the mainland or coast of Manji. It is of considerable size; its inhabitants have fair complexions, are well made, and are civilized in their manners.... They have gold in the greatest abundance, its sources being inexhaustible, but as the king does not allow of its being exported, few merchants visit the country, nor is it frequented by much shipping from other parts. To this circumstance we are to attribute the extraordinary richness of the sovereign’s palace, according to what we are told by those who have access to the place. The entire roof is covered by a plating of gold, in the same manner as we cover houses, or more properly churches, with lead. The ceilings of the halls are of the same precious metal; many of the apartments have small tables of pure gold, of considerable thickness; and the windows also have golden ornaments. So vast indeed are the riches of the palace, that it is impossible to convey any idea of them. In this island there are pearls also, of a pink colour, round in shape, and of great size, equal in value to, or even exceeding in value, the white pearls.' The Travels of Marco Polo, Everyman’s Library, pp. 323–4.
57. Hakluyt, vii. 150. All references to Hakluyt, unless otherwise stated, are to the edition in twelve volumes printed by Messrs. Maclehose for the Hakluyt Society in 1903. The above passage was taken by Hakluyt from Richard Eden’s translation.
58. Hakluyt, vii. 153.
59. Hakluyt, vii. 147.
60. Hakluyt, vii. 149.
61. No French copy of Ribault’s work is known to exist. It was published in English in 1563, with the title ‘The Whole and true discoverie of Terra Florida’. Reprinted by Hakluyt in Divers Voyages (Hakluyt Society’s edition, 1850, pp. 91–115).
62. By ‘Antonio’ Cabot Santa Cruz evidently meant John, as the context shows. His mistake in the name arose from his copying Ziegler’s version of Peter Martyr. Jacobus Ziegler (Strasburg, 1532) reproduced Martyr’s account of the northern voyage, attributing it to ‘Antonio’ Cabot. Apparently Ziegler did not know there were two Cabots.
63. The date of this manuscript is generally given as 1560, but, from internal evidence, it must be earlier. F. R. von Wieser, in his preface to the Innsbruck edition (1908), comes to the conclusion that it was completed in 1541.
64. Isabella died in 1504 and Ferdinand in 1516. Cabot sailed for the River Plate in 1526.
65. Navarette, Coleccion de los Viajes, Madrid, 1825–37; (original patent printed in full).
66. Navarette, iii. 41: ‘Lo cierto es que Hojeda en su primer viaje halló á ciertos ingleses por las immediaciones de Coquibacoa.’
67. On this point see Harrisse: Discovery of North America (1892), pp. 102–24.
68. The principal modern works on the Cabots are: S. E. Dawson, Voyages of the Cabots, 1894; H. Harrisse, Jean et Sébastien Cabot, 1882, and John and Sebastian Cabot, 1896; G. E. Weare, Cabot’s Discovery of North America, 1897; C. R. Beazley, John and Sebastian Cabot, 1898; G. P. Winship, Cabot Bibliography, 1900; H. P. Biggar, Voyages of the Cabots and Corte Reals, 1903. Of these authors Mr. Winship is the only one who takes the view that there were three voyages, and he inclines to the belief that Sebastian’s voyage took place in 1508–9.
69. One of these three Portuguese is in all probability the ‘labrador’ mentioned by Santa Cruz as having taken intelligence of discoveries to Henry VII.
70. Patent printed in full in introduction to Hakluyt Society’s Divers Voyages, ed. by J. W. Jones.
71. H. Harrisse, Évolution Cartographique de Terre-Neuve, p. 41.
72. Harrisse, Discovery of North America, p. 174.
73. Add. MSS., 7099, a manuscript copy of the original accounts, which are not now available.
74. First printed by Harrisse in John and Sebastian Cabot (1896). The actual document is an appropriation for the pension and bears date December 6, 1503, but contains a reference to the first grant on the date given above.
75. Foedera, xiii. 37.
76. See New English Dictionary.
77. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., art. ‘Parrots’.
78. R. O., T. R. Misc. Book 214.
79. Reprinted by the Percy Society, 1848, ed. J. O. Halliwell.
81. M. Oppenheim, Administration of the Royal Navy, p. 38.
82. The inscription alone is insufficient to identify the country with modern Labrador, for it is certain that some early cartographers applied the name to Greenland.
83. Robert Thorne the elder did not die until some time between 1519 and 1526, so that his son, writing in 1527, had had every opportunity of hearing his story from his own lips.
84. A fine facsimile of the Cantino map is exhibited in the British Museum.
85. Stanford’s Compendium, 1897: ‘Labrador’, by S. E. Dawson.
86. 26 Hen. VIII, c. 10.
87. Letters and Papers, xiv, part i, No. 373.
88. Cromwell has been credited with the intention of ‘stapling’ the cloth trade in London, i.e. with deliberately supplanting the Merchant Adventurers’ mart at Antwerp by an emporium in London. It is hardly likely that he would have adopted such a suicidal policy otherwise than on compulsion. The more probable explanation seems to be as here stated. Chapuys’s letter quoted below (p. 130) appears conclusive.
89. 32 Hen. VIII, c. 14.
90. Some particulars here given are taken from other sources than the Act of 1540. See Hakluyt, v. 62; Letters and Papers, xvi, No. 1126.
91. Iron in pigs and bars ready for manufacture.
92. Letters and Papers, xvi, No. 13.
93. Ibid., No. 90.
94. Letters and Papers, xvii, No. 440.
95. Letters and Papers, iii, No. 2483.
96. Cotton MSS., Galba B x, ff. 246, 251.
97. Acts of the Privy Council, iv. 279, 280. This affair, obviously relating to the Merchant Adventurers, is referred to in the preface as concerning the Steelyard owing to a mistaken interpretation of the word ‘Hanze’, here used in its generic sense of a corporation or union of merchants.
98. Venetian Cal. vi, p. 1045.
99. Letters and Papers, iv, No. 1962.
100. Cal. Dom. S. P., Addenda, 1547–65, p. 420.
101. Venetian Cal. iii, Nos. 440, 441, 608, 877.
102. Venetian Cal. iv, No. 751.
103. Lansdowne MSS., 170, f. 131 et seq.
104. Of 7 Ed. IV and 3 Hen. VII.
105. A mark = 13s. 4d.
106. Letters and Papers, ii, No. 3435.
107. Letters and Papers, iii, No. 1082.
108. Foedera, xiii, p. 722; Letters and Papers, iii, part i, Nos. 974, 979.
109. Spanish Cal. v, pp. 550, 563, &c.
110. Letters and Papers, xvi, No. 392.
111. Letters and Papers, xvi, No. 12.
112. Proceedings of the Privy Council, vii, 301, 308–9.
113. Letters and Papers, xvii, No. 736.
114. Letters and Papers, xviii, part i, No. 376.
115. Cal. Cecil MSS., i. 44.
116. Letters and Papers, xx, part i, No. 164.
117. Acts of the Privy Council, ii. 61.
118. In June 1548, and June and September 1551.
119. Dict. Nat. Biog.
120. Acts of the Privy Council, iii. 441.
121. Ibid. 453.
122. R. O., State Papers Dom., Ed. VI, vol. xiv, No. 10, and other R. O. MSS.
123. Journal of Edward VI, pp. 59, 61; A. P. C., iii. 460, 475.
124. This document is assigned in the Calendar to the year 1553, but it obviously belongs to the sequence of events of 1551–2. At the end of the original (R. O., S. P. For. Ed. VI, vol. xi, ff. 147–9) occur the words: ‘This decree was made and given at Westmr. the xxiiii of February in the sixt year of the reign.’ The sixth year of Edward VI extended from January 29, 1552, to January 28, 1553. See also the Journal of Edward VI and A. P. C., iii. 487–9.
125. R. O., S. P. Dom., Mary, vol. iv, No. 36.
126. Edward VI’s Journal, p. 61.
127. For this embassy see Edward VI’s Journal, pp. 61, 62, 66, 73; and Acts of the Privy Council, iv. 32, 43, 93, 98, 141.
128. Cal. For. S. P., Ed. VI, p. 220.
129. Dict. Nat. Biog.
130. R. O., S. P. Dom., Mary, vol. v, No. 5.
131. Foedera, xv. 364.
132. R. O., S. P. Dom., Mary, vol. iv, No. 36.
133. Ibid., vol. v, No. 5.
134. Other evidence points to a total prohibition of the export of white cloth (see p. 176). The point is doubtful.
135. Lansdowne MSS., 170, f. 155.
136. R. O., S. P. For., Mary, vol. viii, No. 481.
137. Cotton MSS., Titus B ii. 129b. Letter from Philip to Mary in support of a Hanse petition (Dec. 1555).
138. R. O., S. P. For., Mary, vol. viii, No. 491; Lansdowne MSS., 170, f. 156.
139. Report of Paget and Petre to King Philip, R. O., S. P. For., Mary, vol. viii, No. 492; and A. P. C., vi. 33, 34.
140. A. P. C., v. 252–7.
141. Ibid., vi. 33, 34.
142. A. P. C., vi. 73.
143. Lansdowne MSS., 170, f. 156 b.
144. Ibid., ff. 200, 217 b.
145. Kervyn de Lettenhove, Relations Politiques des Pays-Bas et de l’Angleterre, Brussels, 1882, i. 128, 144, 161, 184, &c.
146. Foreign Cal., 1553–8, pp. 393–4.
147. Ibid., p. 396.
148. Cal. of Cecil MSS., i, 164.
149. Foreign Cal., 1558–9, No. 922.
150. Cotton MSS., Claud E vii. 240, f. 250.
151. The Portuguese shipped a considerable quantity of their East Indian merchandise to Antwerp, which formed the distributing centre for northern Europe.
152. Letters and Papers, i, p. 464.
153. Letters and Papers, ii, Nos. 540, 649, 723, 724, 2738, 3647, 3649, 4210; Cotton MSS., Galba B ix. 69; Foedera, xiii. 714.
154. Letters and Papers, iv, No. 3262.
155. Ibid., No. 4044.
156. Letters and Papers, xii, part i, No. 415.
157. Letters and Papers, xvii, No. 1055, also Nos. 990 and 1062.
158. Letters and Papers, xviii, part i, Nos. 196, 259, 331, 773; Cal. of Cecil MSS., i, No. 38.
159. Letters and Papers, xx, part i, No. 32.
160. Cotton MSS., Galba B x. 82.
161. Letters and Papers, xx, part i, No. 65.
162. A. P. C., ii. 545, 556.
163. Cotton MSS., Galba B xii, f. 28.
164. See Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, vol. xvi (1902), pp. 19–67. In an article by W. E. Lingelbach on the organization of the Merchant Adventurers the suggestion is put forward that the Old Hanze and the New Hanze were two separate grades of merchants with differing privileges. Certain not very precise indications point to such an arrangement, but, on the other hand, there is no hint of any such thing in the Charter of Incorporation of 1505 or in any other document of the same type.
165. In the previous autumn the Council, on receiving a loan of £30,000 from the Company, had promised to suppress disorders (R. O., S. P. Dom., Edw. VI, vol. xv, No. 13).
166. A. P. C., iv. 279, 280.
167. Foreign Cal., 1547–53, No. 655.
168. Dict. Nat. Biog.
169. John Wheeler, however, in his Treatise of Commerce (1601), states that the Emperor refrained from establishing the Inquisition at Antwerp in 1550, for fear it should drive the English out of the city.