an organization of their
own there, which should settle trade disputes among themselves, or
share in the settlement of their disputes with foreigners. In 1496 the
old trading relations with the Netherlands were reestablished on a
firmer basis than ever by the treaty which has come in later times to
be known as the _Intercursus Magnus_. In the same year commercial
advantages were obtained from France, and in 1499 from Spain. Few
opportunities were missed by the government during this period to try
to secure favorable conditions for the growing English trade. Closely
connected as commercial policy necessarily was with political
questions, the former was always a matter of interest to the
government, and in all the ups and downs of the relations of England
with the Continental countries during the sixteenth century the
foothold gained by English merchants was always preserved or regained
after a temporary loss.

The closely related question of English ship-building was also a
matter of government encouragement. In 1485 a law was passed declaring
that wines of the duchies of Guienne and Gascony should be imported
only in vessels which were English property and manned for the most
part by Englishmen. In 1489 woad, a dyestuff from southern France, was
included, and it was ordered that merchandise to be exported from
England or imported into England should never be shipped in foreign
vessels if sufficient English vessels were in the harbor at the time.
Although this policy was abandoned during the short reign of Edward VI
it was renewed and made permanent under Elizabeth. By indirect means
also, as by the encouragement of fisheries, English seafaring was
increased.

As a result of these various forms of commercial influence, the
enterprise of individual English merchants, the formation of trading
companies, the assistance given by the government through commercial
treaties and favoring statutes, English commerce became vastly greater
than it had ever been before, reaching to Scandinavia and Russia, to
Germany and the Netherlands, to France and Spain, to Italy and the
eastern Mediterranean, and even occasionally to America. Moreover, it
had come almost entirely into the hands of Englishmen; and the goods
exported and imported were carried for the most part in ships of
English build and ownership, manned by English sailors.

*45. The Currency.*--The changes just described were closely connected
with contemporary changes