ling with native merchants, and of bringing their stay to a close
within a restricted time. Town and market authorities were required by
it to give prompt justice to foreigners according to the law merchant,
and it was promised that a royal judge would be specially appointed to
listen to appeals. It is quite evident that if this charter had been
enforced some of the most familiar and valued customs of the merchants
of the various English towns would have been abrogated. In consequence
of vigorous protests and bitter resistance on the part of the townsmen
its provisions were partly withdrawn, partly ignored, and the position
of foreign merchants in England continued to depend on the tolerably
consistent support of the crown. Even this was modified by the steady
policy of hostility, limitation, and control on the part of the native
merchants.

With the exception of some intercourse between the northern towns and
the Scandinavian countries, the foreign trade of England was carried
on almost entirely by foreigners. English merchants, until after the
fourteenth century, seem to have had neither the ability, the
enterprise, nor the capital to go to continental cities in any numbers
to sell the products of their own country or to buy goods which would
be in demand when imported into England. Foreigners were more
enterprising. From Flemish, French, German, Italian, and even Spanish
cities merchants came over as traders. The product of England which
was most in demand was wool. Certain parts of England were famous
throughout all Europe for the quality and quantity of the wool raised
there. The relative good order of England and its exemption from civil
war made it possible to raise sheep more extensively than in countries
where foraging parties from rival bodies of troops passed frequently
to and fro. Many of the monasteries, especially in the north and west,
had large outlying wastes of land which were regularly used for the
raising of sheep. The product of these northern and western pastures
as well as the surplus product of the demesnes and larger holdings of
the ordinary manors was brought to the fairs and towns for sale and
bought up readily by foreign merchants. Sheepskins, hides, and tanned
leather were also exported, as were certain coarse woven fabrics. Tin
and lead were well-known products, at that time almost peculiar to
England, and in years of plentiful production, grain, salt meat, and
dairy products were exported.