The staple

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The staple was a system of trade and taxation used during the medieval period in England. Under this system, the government or King required that all overseas trade in certain goods be transacted at specific designated market towns or ports, referred to as the 'staple ports'. At these places, merchants were required to submit their goods to inspection, and to pay a levy to the Crown on goods for export to the continent. The system made it easy for the Crown to monitor the overseas trade and to levy taxes on it.

Under the staple, the designated port was often overseas. It was at Dordrecht in 1338, and at Bruges in 1343. For a time after 1353, staple ports were established in England, under the statute of the staple. However, from 1363, Calais was designated the staple port for wool and leather exports. All wool sold overseas was taken first to Calais, then under English control. Under this system, Calais itself was called 'the staple'. The trade was dominated by the Merchants of the Staple who, from 1363, had been granted the exclusive right to trade raw wool in Calais.

The system remained in place for nearly two centuries, though it would decline in importance as exports of finished cloth were substituted for exports of raw wool. With the fall of Calais to the French, in 1558, the staple moved again to Bruges. From 1617, wool exports were stopped entirely, and only domestic staples would remain in England.