Antwerp ships in English harbours in the fifteenth century

  • G. Asaert
Chapter

Abstract

Antwerp, the city of Brueghel and Plantin, reached the height of its fame in the sixteenth century, by which time it had become the mercantile metropolis of western Europe.1 Although the seventeenth century saw a decline in its influence, Antwerp remained an important economic and financial centre, and also a focal point of culture which, with its school of painters, including Rubens, Van Dijck, Jordaens and so many others, continued to occupy a prominent position.

Keywords

Fifteenth Century Commercial Relation Home Port Large Consignment Public Record Office 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. 1.
    H. van der Wee, The Growth of the Antwerp market and the European Economy (fourteenth-sixteenth centuries). Université de Louvain, Recueil de travaux d’histoire et de philologie, 4e série, xxviii (3 vols.; Louvain, 1963).Google Scholar
  2. 2.
    L. Voet, ‘Antwerp the golden Age’ (Antwerp, 1973), Antwerpen in de XVIde eeuw. Genootschap voor Antwerpse Geschiedenis (Antwerp, 1975).Google Scholar
  3. 3.
    J. de Sturler, Les relations politiques et les échanges commerciaux entre le duché de Brabant et l’Angleterre au moyen âge (Paris, 1936).Google Scholar
  4. 4.
    Inter alia W. Brulez, ‘Bruges and Antwerp in the 15th and 16th centuries: an antithesis?’, Acta Historiae Neerlandicae, VI (The Hague, 1973) 6.Google Scholar
  5. 5.
    Algemeen Rijksarchief, Brussels, Charters van Brabant, No. 162: Antwerp, 22nd July 1296 — H. Obreen, ed., ‘Une chaite brabançonne inédite de 1296 en faveur des marchands anglais’, in: Bulletin de la Commission Royale d’Histoire, LXXX (Brussels, 1911) 531–57. Cf. O. de Smedt, De Engelse Natie te Antwerpen in de 16e eeuw (1496–1582) (Antwerp, 1950) I, 77–8, note 20.Google Scholar
  6. 6.
    Stadsarchief, Antwerp, Pk. 76. Roodt fluweel privilegieboeck, 12 v°–14 v°; F. Mertens and K. Torfs, Geschiedenis van Antwerpen sedert de stichting van de stad tot op onze tijden (Antwerp, 1846) II, 543–52; Obreen, ‘Une charte branbançonne’, 531–57.Google Scholar
  7. 7.
    Stadsarchief, Antwerp, Pk. 1,050. De Smedt, Engelse Natie, 1, 19–20, orig.Google Scholar
  8. 8.
    F. Prims, Geschiedenis van Antwerpen (Antwerp, 1934) V, i, 1–79.Google Scholar
  9. 9.
    The Merchant Adventurers were granted their privilege in 1407, and in 1421 the English had a Court Master in Antwerp.Google Scholar
  10. 10.
    De Smedt, Engelse Natie, I, 90.Google Scholar
  11. 11.
    G. Asaert, Antwerpse scheepvaart, Ch. iii, §1, ‘De Antwerpse schippers. Getalsterkte’, 138–4–2.Google Scholar
  12. 12.
    Ibidem, 396–7.Google Scholar
  13. 13.
    Stadsarchief, Antwerp, Schepenregisters 1–96, 1394–1480.Google Scholar
  14. 14.
    Public Record Office, London (PRO), Exchequer. E 122, Customs Accounts.Google Scholar
  15. 15.
    H.L. Gray, ‘English Foreign Trade from 1446 to 1482’, in: E. Power and M.M. Postan, Studies in English Trade in the Fifteenth Century (London, 1966) 15.Google Scholar
  16. 16.
    With the aid of a British Council bursary, for which we gladly express our gratitude, we were enabled to undertake a three-month investigation at the Public Record Office in London in 1966.Google Scholar
  17. 17.
    Asaert, Antwerpse scheepvaart, 28.Google Scholar
  18. 18.
    For the breakdown over the various ports and years, see Table, ibidem, 226–8.Google Scholar
  19. 19.
    Ibidem, 228–9.Google Scholar
  20. 20.
    In the case of three vessels, the value of the cargo could not be calculated.Google Scholar
  21. 21.
    E.M. Carus-Wilson and O. Coleman, England’s Export Trade 1275–1547, Tables.Google Scholar
  22. 22.
    Cf. Algemeen Rijksarchief, Brussels, Rekenkamer No. 23.249. Account of duty on English wool transported to Lombardy via Brabant between 20th November 1432 and 23rd December 1507.Google Scholar
  23. 23.
    PRO, London, E 122, 73/19, 74/37, 75/47, 76/40, 213/8.Google Scholar
  24. 24.
    Gray, ‘English Foreign Trade’, 21.Google Scholar
  25. 25.
    A.A. Ruddock, Italian Merchants and Shipping in Southampton, 1270–1600 (Oxford, 1951).Google Scholar
  26. 26.
    D. Burwash, English Merchant Shipping, 1460–1540 (Toronto, 1947).Google Scholar
  27. 27.
    Prims, Geschiedenis van Antwerpen, VI, ii (Antwerp, 1937) 155–9.Google Scholar
  28. 28.
    PRO, London, E 122, 73/25, 36 v°–37 v°.Google Scholar
  29. 29.
    Ibidem, 38 r°-v°.Google Scholar
  30. 30.
    M.-R. Thielemans, Bourgogne et Angleterre. Relations politiques et économiques entre les Pays-Bas Bourguignons et l’Angleterre 1435–1467 (Brussels, 1966) 214, note 273.Google Scholar
  31. 31.
    For Bergen op Zoom: K. Slootmans, ‘Huiden en pelzen op de jaarmarkten van Bergen op Zoom’, in: Land van mijn hart (Tilburg, 1952) 100–8.Google Scholar
  32. 31a.
    Concerning the transfer of the trade in hides from Bruges to Antwerp and the effect of this on Antwerp’s growth: J.A. Van Houtte, ‘La genèse du grand marché international d’Anvers à la fin du moyen âge’, Revue belge de philologie et d’histoire, XIX (1940) 105–6.Google Scholar
  33. 32.
    According to N.M.J. Kerling, Commercial relations of Holland and Zeeland with England from the late 13th century to the close of the middle ages (Leiden, 1954) 132, the share of the Hanseatic merchants was greater. Our findings, of course, relate only to exports carried in Antwerp ships.Google Scholar
  34. 33.
    See the findings of Thielemans, Bourgogne, 221–3.Google Scholar
  35. 34.
    Ibidem, 216–7; Kerling, Commercial relations, 118.Google Scholar
  36. 35.
    PRO, London, E 132/10/26, 2 v°.Google Scholar
  37. 36.
    The ‘Joris’, whose master was Lambrecht van Passe and which sailed from London on 19th February 1446, carried, in addition to approximately 220 narrow cloths, ‘sine grano’, 36 cades of sprats (20 cades = 1 last), the property of Cologne merchants (PRO, London E 122/73/208, 2 v°-3 r°). For cades see A.M. Millard, Glossary of some unusual words (London, 1960).Google Scholar
  38. 37.
    Cf. J.U. Nef, The Rise of the British Coal Industry, I (London, 1932) 10.Google Scholar
  39. 38.
    PRO, London, E 122/10/26, 2 v°.Google Scholar
  40. 39.
    Kerling, Commercial relations, 90.Google Scholar
  41. 40.
    PRO, London, E 122/97/17, mem. 2 r°, 128/4, 16 r°.Google Scholar
  42. 41.
    Van der Wee, Growth, I, 278.Google Scholar
  43. 42.
    Thielemans, Bourgogne, 239.Google Scholar
  44. 43.
    Ibidem, 242.Google Scholar
  45. 44.
    For example, 52 sacks in the vessel ‘Claus Hamer’, which arrived in London on 10th November 1428.Google Scholar
  46. 45.
    Van der Wee, Growth, I, 229.Google Scholar
  47. 46.
    G. Asaert, ‘Handel in kleurstoffen op de Antwerpse markt tijdens de XVe eeuw’, Bijdragen en Mededelingen betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden, LXXXVIII (Groningen, 1973) 377–402.Google Scholar
  48. 47.
    PRO, London, E 122/73/20A, 1 r°-v°, 73/23, 3 v°, 151/73, mem. 1 r°, 76/38, 5 v°, 77/4, 5v°-6v0, 15v0, 73/25, 7v°–8r°.Google Scholar
  49. 48.
    Thielemans, Bourgogne, 234.Google Scholar
  50. 49.
    PRO, London, E 122/152/4, mem. 1 r°–1 v°.Google Scholar
  51. 50.
    Cf. Ruddock, Italian Merchants and Shipping in Southampton, 1270–1600 (Oxford, 1951).Google Scholar
  52. 51.
    H. Van der Wee, ‘De handelsbetrekkingen tussen Antwerpen en de Noordelijke Nederlanden tijdens de 14e, 15e en 16e eeuw’, Bijdragen voor de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden, XX (The Hague, 1965–6) 280–3.Google Scholar
  53. 52.
    Cf. A.R. Bridbury, England and the Salt Trade in the later Middle Ages (London, 1955); Kerling, Commercial relations, 98–103; Thielemans, Bourgogne, 236–7.Google Scholar
  54. 53.
    PRO, London, E 122/151/73, mem. 3 r°.Google Scholar
  55. 54.
    Bridbury, England and the Salt Trade, 120–3.Google Scholar
  56. 55.
    Concerning alum, see inter alia J. Delumeau, L’alun de Rome (Paris, 1963).Google Scholar
  57. 56.
    PRO, London, E 122/194/9, 112 r°, 151/73, mem. 3 r°, 152/4, mem. 1 r°-v°.Google Scholar
  58. 57.
    Ibidem, 73/6, 21 v°–23 v°, 73/20A, 1 r°-v°, 20 v°-21 r°, 73/25, 1 v°, 3 r°-v°, 194/19, mem. 10, 16, 17, 194/22, mem. 1 v°–2 r°.Google Scholar
  59. 58.
    Ibidem, E 122/73/23, 3 v°, 204/4, 38 v°–40 v°, 77/4, 5 v°–6 v°, 203/4, 3 v°–4 r°, 30 v°, 33 r°, 73/25, 28 v°, 194/19, mem. 14, 194/9, mem. 11 r°, 194/24 mem. 10 v°.Google Scholar
  60. 59.
    Ibidem, 194/24, 1 v°, 11th November 1480.Google Scholar
  61. 60.
    Van der Wee, Growth, I, 233.Google Scholar
  62. 61.
    M.M. Postan, ‘The economic and political relations of England and the Hanse from 1400 to 1475’ in: Power and Postan, Studies, 105–39.Google Scholar
  63. 62.
    R. Van Uytven, ‘Statistische bijdrage tot de linneninvoer in Engeland op het einde der XIVe eeuw, voornamelijk uit de Zuidelijke Nederlanden’, Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis inzonderheid van het oud hertogdom Brabant (Antwerp, 1961) 35, has demonstrated that at the end of the fourteenth century the value of the flax imported into England represented only 5 per cent of the total imports of flax products (woven goods, yarns and thread).Google Scholar
  64. 63.
    PRO, London, E 122/77/1, mem. 26 v°, 77/4, 5v°-6v°, 11v°–12r°, 203/4, 38v°–40v°, 73/25, 23 v°–24 r°.Google Scholar
  65. 64.
    Thielemans, Bourgogne, 227.Google Scholar
  66. 65.
    PRO, London, E 122/73/25, 3 r°-v°, 23 v°–24 r°, 203/4, 20 v°–21 v°, 22 r°–23 r°, 38 v°–40 v°, 152/4, mem. 1 r°-v°, 194/24, mem. 1 v°, 77/4, mem. 5 v°–6 v°, 194/9, mem. 11 r°, 151/73, mem. 3r°Google Scholar
  67. 66.
    P. Dollinger, La Hanse XIIe–XVIIe siècles (Paris, 1964) 282.Google Scholar
  68. 67.
    Ibidem, 277.Google Scholar
  69. 68.
    All these transactions appear in the fifteenth-century Antwerp registers of the aldermen.Google Scholar
  70. 69.
    Dollinger, Hanse, 289. The accounts in the archives of the Fugger Family in Augsburg contain references to Hungarian copper shipped to Antwerp via Danzig in the period 1497–1537. Van der Wee, Growth, I, 60, 522–3.Google Scholar
  71. 70.
    Dollinger, Hanse, 276.Google Scholar
  72. 71.
    PRO, London, E 122/76/34, 8 r° and 76/38 mem. 5 v°.Google Scholar
  73. 72.
    Concerning these merchants: Thielemans, Bourgogne, 244.Google Scholar
  74. 73.
    Dollinger, Hanse, 275.Google Scholar
  75. 74.
    PRO, London, E 122/194/24, mem. 10 v°, 21st July 1481.Google Scholar
  76. 75.
    It is quite conceivable that these plates were for use on graves. Substantial quantities of these were exported to England, principally via Bruges.Google Scholar
  77. 76.
    Dollinger, Hanse, 283.Google Scholar
  78. 77.
    Extensive literature exists on this subject, the protagonist being J. de Borghgrave d’Altena, whose works include ‘Notes pour servir à l’étude des retables anversois’, Bulletin des Musées royaux d’art et d’histoire (Brussels, 1957,1958).Google Scholar
  79. 78.
    PRO, London, E 122/77/4, mem. 5 r°-v°, 11 v°–12 r°, 73/20A, 20 r°-v°, 203/4, 22 r°–23 r°.Google Scholar
  80. 79.
    J.A. Van Houtte, ‘Ambernijverheid en paternostermakers te Brugge gedurende de XIVe en XVe eeuw’, Handelingen van het Genootschap ‘Société d’Emulation’ te Brugge, LXXXII (Bruges, 1939) 149–184; also in J.A. Van Houtte, Essays on medieval and early modern economy and society (Louvain, 1977) 49–80.Google Scholar
  81. 80.
    Compasses were exported en masse from Nuremberg in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, especially to Italy, but also via Antwerp. Cf. T.G. Werner, ‘Nürnbergs Erzeugung und Ausfuhr wissenschaftlicher Geräte im Zeitalter der Entdeckungen. Das Martin-Behaim-Problem in wirtschaftsgeschichtlicher Betrachtung’, Nürnberger Mitteilungen, LIII (Nuremberg, 1965) 103.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Martinus Nijhoff Publishers bv, The Hague 1979

Authors and Affiliations

  • G. Asaert

There are no affiliations available

Personalised recommendations