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Two legal opinions by Gabriel van der Muyden and Elbert de Leeuw (1553) (Alain Wijffels) (17-113)
First paragraphs:
The privileges of the German Hanse in England were resumed by a decree of the English Privy Council on 24 February 1552. The Council’s decision was triggered by complaints from the London Merchant Adventurers, who claimed that the privileges were detrimental to both the Crown and the English merchants. Moreover, they submitted, recent cases had shown that the Hansards were prone to misuse their privileges, which caused an even greater prejudice to the Treasury and the English merchant community. The merchants’ complaints also gave them an opportunity to rake up old grievances which for generations had marred Anglo-Hanseatic relations, such as the limited access for English merchants in Prussia, in spite of formal agreements of reciprocity allowing Hansards to trade in England, and Englishmen in Prussia.
During the Fall of 1552 and the Spring of 1553, Hanseatic diets deliberated on counter-measures, but also decided to accept the English authorities’ invitation to send an embassy to London in order to negotiate the Hanse’s position in England. The Hanseatic position, however, was that there were no reasons justifying the resumption of their privileges. Their embassy’s mission was therefore to obtain the restoration of these privileges in full.
In June 1553, the embassy’s members were gathering in Bruges and Antwerp, both in order to obtain more detailed information about the Hanseatic trade between England and the Low Countries, and because of the reports of the English King’s ill-health4. They were still in the Southern Netherlands when the news of Edward VI’s death (on 6 July) reached them, followed by reports on the uncertain political situation and succession during the following days. Eventually, when Mary Tudor’s accession was confirmed, they crossed the Channel later in July and settled in London, where they could benefit from the facilities of the Steelyard, the main Hanseatic office in England.
While still in Flanders and Brabant, three members of the Hanseatic embassy, all three doctors of law, made around the 12th of July the journey to Leuven in order to meet and consult “Dr. Gabriel” (i.e. van der Muyden, Mudaeus), about legal issues in connection with their mission in England. The full scope of this consultation is not documented, but two unpublished consilia attributed to van der Muyden (1500-1560) and his junior colleague Elbert de Leeuw (Leoninus, c. 1519-20-1598) deal specifically with the issue of the restrictions imposed by the Gdańsk authorities to foreign, including English, merchants trading in the Polish city. The issue reflected a long-standing controversy in Anglo-Hanseatic relations, which had been raised at several earlier conferences, without ever reaching any substantial agreement. The two consilia (published hereafter) were most probably written during the summer of 1553 as a result of the Hanseatic visit to van der Muyden, whether immediately or within weeks after the meeting with the Leuven professor. Both consilia were obviously written on behalf of the Hanseatic delegates and countenance the position held by the Hanse and Gdańsk in particular.
Read more here. Open access version here.
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