Bruges, be distributed among the northern nations. This applies also
to the highly prized textiles of Flanders, which in those days were
sometimes sold at fabulous prices.

The other stream of Hanseatic trade terminated at London. The German
merchant sent thither chiefly French wines and Venetian silks. It was
he who attended to this traffic--not the consumer or the producer. In
exchange for these commodities he took English wool--the output being
already at that time very extensive--transporting it to the mills of
Flanders. Such was at that time the commercial relation of Germany to
England. If the latter country to-day, by virtue of its incomparably
favorable geographical position, has become the first naval and
commercial power, it was in an economic sense at that time absolutely
dependent upon Germany, which country, after the loss of its political
supremacy, outstripped all other nations in the contest for economic
supremacy--excepting perhaps the Arabians and the republics of
Northern Italy, who controlled the trade in the Orient and the
Mediterranean. Naturally the English merchants were jealous and
frequently brought complaints before their kings and parliaments; but
the latter, despite occasional contentions, ever and again upheld the
foreign invader. The reason is not far to seek: like the kings of the
north, they could not dispense with the silver chests of the Hanseatic
towns and merchants, who on more than one occasion secured their loans
by appropriating the products of the tin mines or the duties on wool,
or by taking in pawn crown and jewels.

It is evident, therefore, that the greatest source of wealth to the
Hansa was this intermediary traffic. Several other important
commercial connections will be touched upon later. Casual mention
should here be made, however, to the trade with Scotland, Ireland,