ds of the
kinds mentioned above should be taken to be registered, weighed, and
taxed before exportation. Just at the close of the period under
discussion, in 1354, a careful organization was given to the system of
staple towns in England, by which in each of the ten or twelve towns
to which staple goods must be brought for exportation, a Mayor of the
Staple and two Constables were elected by the "merchants of the
staple," native and foreign. These officials had a number of duties,
some of them more particularly in the interest of the king and
treasury, others in the interest of the foreign merchants, still
others merely for the preservation of good order and the enforcement
of justice. The law merchant was made the basis of judgment, and every
effort made to grant protection to foreigners and at the same time
secure the financial interests of the government. But the policy of
the government was by no means consistent. Both before and after this
date, the whole system of staples was repeatedly abolished for a time
and the whole trade in these articles thrown open. Again, the location
of the staple towns was shifted from England to the continent and
again back to England. Eventually, in 1363, the staple came to be
established at Calais, and all "staplers," or exporters of staple
goods from England, were forced to give bonds that their cargoes would
be taken direct to Calais to be sold.

*24. The Hanse Trade.*--The trade with Germany was at this time almost
all with the group of citizens which made up the German Hanse or
League. This was a union of a large number of towns of northern
Germany, such as Lubeck, Hamburg, Bremen, Dantzig, Brunswick, and
perhaps sixty or eighty others. By a series of treaties and agreements
among themselves, these towns had formed a close confederation which
acted as a single whole in obtaining favorable trading concessions and
privileges in various countries. There had been a considerable trade
between the merchants of these towns and England from an early time.
They brought the products of the Baltic lands, such as lumber, tar,
salt, iron, silver, salted and smoked fish, furs, amber, certain
coarse manufactures, and goods obtained by Hanseatic merchants through
their more distant trade connections, such as fine woven goods, armor
and other metal goods, and even spices and other Eastern goods,
obtained from the great Russian fairs. The Hanse cities had entered
into treaties with the English