Any English merchant who traded in wool through the wool staple at Calais, the fixed place for its marketing in continental Europe from the 13th to 16th century. The setting up of the Staple (which had between 26 and 38 members) had the effect of keeping down the price paid for wool in England, and thus of encouraging the rise of the English cloth industry and its merchants, such as the Clothworkers and Merchant Adventurers. However, the Merchant Staplers were pre-eminent in English overseas trade well into the 16th century as a result of their monopoly in the trading of wool.