ABSTRACT
On the outbreak of war Mary had warned her subjects 'henceforth to forbear all traffic and contracting' with French nationals, Hughes and Larkin, II. Proclamation announcing the outbreak of war and although this injunction had not been strictly heeded, the volume of traffic had nevertheless greatly diminished. When Gresham accounted for this period of his activity, which he did in December by order of Elizabeth, he declared that the principal owing in Antwerp on Mary's death had been almost 58,000. Gresham was also engaged at this time in buying armaments and obtaining export licences for them from Philip, a constant preoccupation throughout the period of the war. Although inevitably war dominated the Crown's finances in the latter part of the reign, ordinary obligations had to be met as well and ordinary revenues collected. This was a period which saw the partial rehabilitation of a number of those who had suffered forfeiture and disgrace earlier in the reign.
