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Staple Of Calais
The Company of Merchants of the Staple of England, the Merchants of the Staple, also known as the Merchant Staplers, is an English company incorporated by Royal Charter in 1319 (and so the oldest mercantile corporation in England) dealing in wool, skins, lead and tin which controlled the export of wool to the continent during the late medieval period. The company of the staple may perhaps trace its ancestry back as far as 1282 or even further. Etymology In medieval Latin documents the common expression for ''staple'' is ''stabile emporium'', a staple (fixed) market, where such wares had to be brought; hence the assumed derivation of ''staple'' from ''stabile''. But the word is current in various allied meanings in the Germanic languages, as in O. Eng. ''stapol'', ''stapul'', a prop or post, from ''stapa'', a step; Dutch ''stapel'', a pile; Low Ger. ''stapel'', a heap, a warehouse; whence also O. Fr. ''estaple'', ''estape'' (N. Fr. ''étape''), a station, a stage, generally a town o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As an animal fibre, wool consists of protein together with a small percentage of lipids. This makes it chemically quite distinct from cotton and other plant fibres, which are mainly cellulose. Characteristics Wool is produced by follicles which are small cells located in the skin. These follicles are located in the upper layer of the skin called the epidermis and push down into the second skin layer called the dermis as the wool fibers grow. Follicles can be classed as either primary or secondary follicles. Primary follicles produce three types of fiber: kemp, medullated fibers, and true wool fibers. Secondary follicles only produce true wool fibers. Medullated fibers share nearly identical characteristics to hair and are long but lack c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
