, was more splendid in its buildings, and the
seat of far more trade; being the great staple both for Mediterranean
and northern merchandise.[577] Antwerp, which early in the sixteenth
century drew away a large part of this commerce from Bruges, was not
considerable in the preceding ages; nor were the towns of Zealand and
Holland much noted except for their fisheries, though those provinces
acquired in the fifteenth century some share of the woollen manufacture.

[Sidenote: Export of wool from England.]

For the first two centuries after the Conquest our English towns, as has
been observed in a different place, made some forward steps towards
improvement, though still very inferior to those of the continent. Their
commerce was almost confined to the exportation of wool, the great
staple commodity of England, upon which, more than any other, in its raw
or manufactured state, our wealth has been founded. A woollen
manufacture, however, indisputably existed under Henry II.;[578] it is
noticed in regulations of Richard I.; and by the importation of woad
under John it may be inferred to have still flourished. The disturbances
of the next reign, perhaps, or the rapid elevation of the Flemish towns,
retarded its growth, though a remarkable law was passed by the Oxford
parliament in 1261, prohibiting the export of wool and the importation
of cloth. This, while it shows the deference paid by the discontented
barons, who predominated in that parliament, to their confederates the
burghers, was evidently too premature to be enforced. We may infer from
it, however, that cloths were made at home, though not sufficiently for
the people's consumption.[579]

Prohibitions of the same nature, though with a different object, were
frequently imposed on the trade between England and Flanders by Edward
I. and his son. As their political connexions fluctuated, these princes
gave full liberty and settlement to the Flemish merchants, or banished
them at once from the country.[580] Nothing could be more injurious to
England than this arbitrary vacillation. The Flemings were in every
respect our natural allies; but besides those connexions with France,
the constant enemy of Flanders, into which both the Edwards occasionally
fell, a mutual alienation had been produced by the trade of the former
people with Scotland, a trade too lucrative to be resigned at the king
of England's request.[581] An early instance of that conflicting
selfishness of bel