Everything about The Company Of Merchant Adventurers Of London totally explained
The
Company of Merchant Adventurers of London brought together
London's leading overseas merchants in a regulated company, in the nature of a
guild. Its members' main business was the export of cloth, especially white (undyed)
broadcloth. This enabled them to import a large range of foreign goods.
The company received their royal charter from
King Henry IV in
1407, but its roots may go back to the
Fraternity of St. Thomas of Canterbury. It claimed to have liberties existing as early as
1216. The
Duke of Brabant granted privileges and in return promised no fees to trading merchants. The company was chiefly chartered to the English merchants at Antwerp in
1305. This body may have included the
Staplers, who exported raw
wool, as well as the Merchant Adventurers. Henry IV's charter was in favor of the English merchants dwelling in
Holland,
Zeeland,
Brabant, and
Flanders. Other groups of merchants traded to different parts of northern
Europe, including merchants dwelling in
Prussia, Sconce, Sound, and the
Hanse (whose election of a governor was approved by
Richard II of England in
1391), and the English Merchants in
Norway,
Sweden and
Denmark (who received a charter in
1408).
Under
Henry VII's charter of
1505, the company had a governor and 24 assistants. The members were trading capitalists. They were probably mostly composed of
London mercers. The company also had members from
York,
Norwich,
Exeter,
Ipswich,
Newcastle,
Hull, and other places. The merchant adventurers of these towns were separate but affiliate bodies. The
Society of Merchant Venturers of
Bristol were a separate body, chartered by
Edward VI in
1552.
Under Henry VII, the non-London merchants complained about restraint of trade. They had once traded freely with
Spain,
Portugal,
France,
Italy, and the
Netherlands, but the London company was imposing a fine of £20, and drove them out of their markets. Henry VII required the fin to be reduced to 10 marks (£6.13.4d). Conflict arose with the
Merchants of the Staple, who sought to expand from exporting wool through
Calais to exporting cloth to
Flanders without having to become freemen of the Merchant Adventurers. The Merchant Adventurers kept control of their trade and Flanders as their port. Foreign merchants of the
Hanseatic League had considerable privileges in England trade and competed with the Merchant Adventurers. These privileges were revoked by the English government in the mid-16th century.
The Merchant Adventurers had a commercial
monopoly. Its members were the only persons entitled to export cloth from
England. Their main market (or
staple port) was
Antwerp. When the
King of Spain as sovereign of the Low Countries increased
customs duty in
1560, the merchants began to have difficulty in Antwerp. This rise in duty conflicted with the treaty with
Brabant of
1496. Three years later, the King of Spain prohibited English ships from coming to the Low Countries.
The Merchant Adventurers then decided to use other ports.
Emden in
East Friesland and
Hamburg competed to entertain the Merchant Adventurers of England, who chose Embden. They soon found, however, that the port failed to attract sufficient merchants to buy the English merchants' wares. They left abruptly and returned to
Antwerp. Operations there were interrupted by
Elizabeth I of England's seizing
Spanish treasure ships, which were conveying money to the
Duke of Alva, governor of the
Netherlands. although trade was resumed at
Antwerp from
1573 to
1582, it ceased with the declining fortunes of that city.
Conflict
The conflict of the Merchant Adventurers with the
Hanseatic League continued. The
Hanse had the same rights in England as native merchants and better privileges abroad. They could thus undersell English merchants.
Hamburg was a member of the League. When the English merchants left Emden, they tried to settle in Hamburg, but the League forced the city to expel them.
Emden was tried again in
1579. The
Emperor ordered the
Count of East Friesland to expel the merchants, but he declined. The merchants remained there until
1587. In
1586, the Senate of Hamburg invited the Merchant Adventurers to return there, but negotiations over this broke down.
The merchants who had frequented
Middelburg since
1582 were invited to return in
1587 to the (now independent)
United Provinces. Due to impositions by
Holland and
Zeeland, this was an unpopular choice with company members. In
1611 the company's
staple was permanently fixed at
Hamburg. The
Dutch staple port moved during the early
17th century from
Middelburg to
Delft in
1621, then to
Rotterdam in
1635, then to
Dordrecht in
1655.
Under the charter of
1564, the company's court consisted of a governor (elected annually was by members beyond the seas), his deputies, and 24 Assistants. Admission was by patrimony (being the son of a merchant, free of the company at the son's birth), service (apprenticeship to a member), redemption (purchase) or 'free gift'. By the time of James I (1603-1625), there were at least 200 members. Fees for admission were then gradually increased.
The years between
1615 and
1689 was marked by periods, starting with the ill-fated
Cockayne Project, when the company lost and then regained its monopolistic privileges. It moved its staple port from Delft to Rotterdam in the 1640s. The company suffered from trouble with interlopers, traders not free of the company who traded within its privileged area.
When the Company of London lost its exclusive privileges following the
Glorious Revolution of
1689, the admission fees were reduced to £2. After Parliament threw the trade open, the company continued to exist as a fellowship of merchants trading to
Hamburg. Because they drove a considerable trade there, members were sometimes called the
Hamburg Company. The Merchant Adventurers of London still existed at the beginning of the 19th century.
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