of England, particularly Newcastle, rose in wealth.  In 1378 coals and grindstones were exported from this place to Prussia, Norway, Schonen, and other ports of the Baltic.  Soon afterwards, in consequence of some disputes between the Prussians and English, a commercial treaty was formed between the Grand Master of Prussia and Edward III., 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.  About the year 1422, the Genoese obtained from the Greek emperor the lease of a hill in Asia Minor, containing alum:  England was one of the chief customers for this article; but it undoubtedly was imported, not in English, but in Genoese vessels.  In the year 1450 the Genoese delivered alum to the value of 4000l. to Henry VI.  Bristol seems to have been one of the most commercial cities in England.  One merchant of it is mentioned as having been possessed of 2470 tuns of shipping:  he traded to Finmark and Iceland for fish, and to the Baltic for timber and other bulky articles in very large ships, some of which are said to have been of the burden of 400, 500, and even 900 tons.  Towards the latter end of the fifteenth century, the parliament, in order to encourage English shipping, (as hitherto the greatest part of the foreign trade of England had been carried on by foreign merchants in foreign vessels,) enacted a species of navigation law, and prohibited the king’s subjects from shipping goods in England and Wales on board any vessel owned by a foreigner, unless when sufficient freight could not be found in English vessels.