Editing Henry VII of England (section)

===Trade agreements===

Henry VII was much enriched by trading [[alum]], which was used in the wool and cloth trades as a [[chemical]] [[dye fixative|fixative]] for [[dye]]ing fabrics.<ref>{{harvnb|Penn|2011|pp=201}}</ref> Since alum was mined in only one area in Europe (Tolfa, Italy), it was a scarce commodity and therefore especially valuable to its landholder, the Pope. With the English economy heavily invested in wool production, Henry VII became involved in the alum trade in 1486. With the assistance of the Italian merchant banker Lodovico della Fava and the Italian banker [[Jerome Frescobaldi|Girolamo Frescobaldi]], Henry VII became deeply involved in the trade by licensing ships, obtaining alum from the Ottoman Empire, and selling it to the Low Countries and in England.<ref>{{harvnb|Penn|2011|pp=203–204}}</ref> This trade made an expensive commodity cheaper, which raised opposition from Pope Julius II, since the Tolfa mine was a part of papal territory and had given the Pope monopoly control over alum.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}
 
Henry's most successful diplomatic achievement as regards the economy was the ''[[Magnus Intercursus]]'' ("great agreement") of 1496. In 1494, Henry embargoed trade (mainly in wool) with the [[Burgundian Netherlands]] in retaliation for Margaret of Burgundy's support for Perkin Warbeck. The [[Company of Merchant Adventurers of London|Merchant Adventurers]], the company which enjoyed the monopoly of the Flemish wool trade, relocated from [[Antwerp]] to [[Calais]]. At the same time, Flemish merchants were ejected from England. The dispute eventually paid off for Henry. Both parties realised they were mutually disadvantaged by the reduction in commerce. Its restoration by the ''Magnus Intercursus'' was very much to England's benefit in removing taxation for English merchants and significantly increasing England's wealth. In turn, Antwerp became an extremely important trade [[entrepôt]] (transhipment port), through which, for example, goods from the Baltic, spices from the east and Italian silks were exchanged for English cloth.{{Sfn|Williams|1973|pages=167–168}}

In 1506, Henry extorted the Treaty of Windsor from [[Philip the Handsome]], Duke of Burgundy. Philip had been shipwrecked on the English coast, and while Henry's guest, was bullied into an agreement so favourable to England at the expense of the Netherlands that it was dubbed the ''[[Malus Intercursus]]'' ("evil agreement"). France, Burgundy, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain and the [[Hanseatic League]] all rejected the treaty, which was never in force. Philip died shortly after the negotiations.{{Sfn|Williams|1973|page=198–201}}