United States or Jordan ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
In 1496 the old trading relations with the Netherlands were reëstablished 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.
Charles, who with his three sisters lived with his aunt at Mechlin, was thus both by birth and education a Netherlander. One of the first acts of Margaret was a refusal to ratify the Malus Intercursus and the revival of the Magnus Intercursus of 1496. This important commercial treaty from that time forward continued in force for more than a century.
Henry had already, in February, terminated the commercial war with the Flemings by the treaty with Philip known as the Intercursus Magnus, which included a proviso against the admission into Philip's territories of rebels against the English King. When Perkin Warbeck made his way to Scotland the young King of that country was already fully informed as to the nature of his claims.
So long as Burgundy made trouble on behalf of Perkin Warbeck the battle went on. In 1496 Philip gave up the contest, and the Intercursus Magnus followed.
In the case of commerce, the royal power was exerted encouragingly, as when Henry VII negotiated the Intercursus Magnus with the duke of Burgundy to gain admittance for English goods into the Netherlands, or chartered the "Merchant Adventurers" to carry on trade in English woolen cloth, or sent John Cabot to seek an Atlantic route to Asia; or as when Elizabeth countenanced and abetted explorers and privateers and smugglers and slave-traders in extending her country's maritime power at the expense of Spain.
Soon after the beginning of the new century the fight was renewed, to be terminated by what the Flemings called the Intercursus Malus, an arrangement so one-sided and pressing so hard on them that its terms were practically impossible of fulfilment; and Henry assented to their modification before his death, partly with a view to overcoming the reluctance of Margaret of Savoy to accept his matrimonial overtures.
Word Of The Day