The Staple was a key institution inmedieval England that designated towns for the overseas export of key commodities likewool, allowing the Crown to monitor and regulate overseas trade and collect customs duties efficiently. It was part of a generalStapel system used in medieval trade.
At the designated towns, often referred to as staple towns or "Ports of the Staple", accreditedmerchants were required to submit their goods to inspection and were obliged to pay a levy such as thewool subsidy, to the Crown on goods forexport to the continent of Europe.[1] These merchants were later to become organised asMerchants of the Staple.
The English 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.
Under the Staple, the designated port was often overseas. It was atDordrecht in 1338, and atBruges in 1343. For a time after 1353, staple ports were established in England, under theStatute of the Staple: thus various English localities named "Stapleton" or "Stapleford".
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 theMerchants of the Staple who, from 1363, had been granted the exclusive right to trade raw wool in Calais.
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