Company of Merchant Adventurers of London

Its members’ main business was exporting cloth, especially white (undyed) broadcloth, in exchange for a large range of foreign goods.

The company received its royal charter from King Henry IV in 1407,[3] but its roots may go back to the Fraternity of St. Thomas of Canterbury.

Henry IV's charter was in favor of the English merchants dwelling in Holland, Zeeland, Brabant, and Flanders.

They had once traded freely with Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, and the Netherlands, but the London company was imposing a fine of £20, which was driving them out of their markets.

Operations there were interrupted by Queen Elizabeth's seizing Spanish treasure ships, which were conveying money to the Duke of Alva, governor of the Netherlands.

Although trade was resumed at Antwerp from 1573 to 1582, its declining fortunes ceased with the fall of the city and the subsequent development of the Amsterdam Entrepôt, and the Dutch Golden Age.

Under the charter of 1564,[6] the company's court consisted of a governor (elected annually by members beyond the seas), his deputies, and 24 Assistants.

The designated Dutch staple port was moved during the early 17th century from Middelburg to Delft in 1621, then to Rotterdam in 1635, then to Dordrecht in 1655.

The years between 1615 and 1689 were marked by periods, starting with the ill-fated Cockayne Project (1614 - 1617),[7] when the company lost and then regained its monopolistic privileges.

In addition, the Company of Adventurers in Canada sent forces during the Thirty Years War that achieved the surrender of Quebec in 1629, and colonized the island of Newfoundland.