Page:Craik History of British Commerce Vol 1.djvu/183

Rh was agreed that all past injuries or complaints on both sides should be buried in oblivion, and that a full settlement of conflicting claims should be effected by a payment to the Hanse merchants of 10,000l. sterling, which they consented to receive in the shape of customs remitted upon their subsequent imports and exports. It was also arranged that the king should appoint two or more judges, who, without any legal formalities, should do justice between the parties in all civil or criminal causes in which the Hanse merchants might be concerned in England; a similar provision being made for the settlement of disputes involving the English residents in the Hanse countries. It is in this treaty, we believe, that the first mention is made of the London Staelhof, or Steelyard, which is described as a court-yard extending to the Teutonic Guildhall. It was not, therefore, as has been generally assumed, the same with the Teutonic Guildhall, although both buildings seem to have eventually come into the possession of the Hanse merchants, if the latter did not originally belong to that confederacy. The Steelyard, by the present treaty, was conveyed to the Hansards by the king in absolute property, as were also a court-yard called by the same name in the town of Boston, and another house in Lynne, they becoming bound to bear all the burdens for pious purposes to which these several buildings were liable by ancient foundation or the bequests of the faithful, and having full power to pull down and rebuild, as they might find convenient. The London Steelyard, or Steel-house, as it was sometimes called, stood between Thames-street and the river, where there is a street still known by the name of Steelyard-street, a little to the east of Dowgate Wharf. The name seems to have no connexion with steel, but to mean the place where cloths, and perhaps also other goods, were sealed or stamped.

Besides the gain which he made by his own commercial undertakings, Edward IV. obtained large pecuniary supplies at various times in the form of loans from the merchants and mercantile communities both of his own kingdom and of other countries. The amount