82 Sarnowsky
forests.66 In February 1388, this was followed by protests of the merchants in
the Kontor in London who sided with the Prussians and again rejected the pay-
ment of tonnage and poundage. But when Richard sent envoys to Prussia in
June 1388, soon a compromise was reached. In August 1388, the grand master
and the English representatives concluded the treaty of Marienburg which
ended the arrests, fixed rules for respective compensations, and allowed all
merchants to move and trade freely in both countries so that the English could
now also deal with Poles and Russians.
Though the problem was set aside, and the English merchants soon gained
prominence in Prussian cloth trade,67 the basic problems remained unsolved.
The regulations for compensation proved to be too complicated, the levy of
tonnage and poundage continued, as did assaults on Hanseatic ships, while
the English trading post in Danzig and its governor had no clear standing in
its relations to the towns and the Teutonic Knights.68 Though Lübeck warned
the Prussians not to risk a drawback, grand master Konrad von Jungingen
cancelled the treaty of Marienburg in February 1398 because of the towns’
complaints. Only because Richard ii was succeeded by Henry iv who had
been in Prussia himself and retained friendly relations with the Teutonic
Knights, at first, no dramatic consequences followed. Henry instead confirmed
the Hanseatic privileges in October 1399. Nevertheless, the internal tensions
between the towns concerning their relation to England led to new problems.
While in 1403, England and Prussia reached a preliminary peace, Lübeck was
afraid of separate Anglo-Prussian agreements.
In October and December 1405, the English delegation succeeded in con-
cluding a second treaty of Marienburg and an Anglo-Hanseatic treaty in
Dordrecht in which it promised stronger measures against pirates and nego-
tiations about compensation. In case of new complaints, the Prussians could
turn to the royal officials.69 Finally, negotiations began in Den Haag in August
1407, soon agreements were reached, and a treaty regulating the compensa-
tions was ratified in 1408. This was flanked by a new Anglo-Prussian treaty in
London in December 1409 which should secure protection for the merchants
66 hub 4, 876.
67 Jenks, England, 485.
68 Stuart Jenks, “Die Ordnung für die englische Handelskolonie in Danzig (23. Mai 1405),”
in Danzig in acht Jahrhunderten, ed. Bernhart Jähnig, Peter Letkemann, Quellen und
Darstellungen zur Geschichte Westpreußens 23 (Münster: Nicolaus Copernicus, 1985),
105–20.
69 Jenks, England, 534–35.