Page:Craik History of British Commerce Vol 1.djvu/163

Rh foreign trade of England at this period is further indicated by the frequent applications which are noticed as having been made to Henry by those of his subjects interested in particular branches of it for their separate incorporation, or, at least, the public recognition of them as associated for a specific object. Thus, in 1404, the English merchants trading to Prussia and the Hanse Towns were empowered to elect a governor, who should exercise a general authority over their body, and in the settlement of disputes between them and foreigners. Three years after, the same privilege was granted to the merchants trading to Holland, Zealand, Brabant, and Flanders; and in 1408, to those trading to Norwav, Sweden, and Denmark. These governors of the English merchants, whose functions somewhat resembled those of consuls in modern times, appear usually to have resided in the foreign country to which the merchants resorted. It soon became customary to appoint such a governor for every country with which any commercial intercourse was carried on.

Some very curious notices of the productions and commerce of the principal countries of Europe at the commencement of the fifteenth century are found in the recital given by the Byzantine historian, Laonicus Chalcondyles, of the observations made by Manuel, the unfortunate Emperor of Constantinople, who, in the year 1400, visited Italy, France, England, and other parts of the west, to solicit the aid of the monarchs of Christendom against the Turkish barbarians, now all but masters of the imperial capital itself. The following abstract of so much of the Greek writer's account as belongs to the present subject is presented by the modern Historian of Commerce: "The natives of Germany excel in the mechanic arts, and they boast of the inventions of gunpowder and cannons. Above two hundred free cities in it are governed by their own laws. France contains many flourishing cities, of which Paris, the royal residence, is pre-eminent in wealth and luxury. Flanders is an opulent province, the ports of which are frequented by merchants of our own sea (the Mediterranean) and H 3