Once England and France were committed to the struggle which became the Hundred Years War it was probably inevitable that the wool trade should fall prey to the king's diplomatic and financial needs. Edward III needed to command large sums of money, not merely to pay his own forces but also to buy allies on the continent. No matter how amenable Parliament might prove he could not depend upon direct taxation to yield the requisite sums with the speed necessary for his plans. Manipulation of the wool trade, however, seemed to be the solution to the problem of raising money quickly. In the summer of 1337 the government and the community of English merchants agreed upon a plan by which almost the entire stock of the nation's wool was to be made available to finance the king's war. Thirty thousand sacks, or more correctly the proceeds of the sale of 30 000 sacks, estimated at £200 000, were to be lent to the king in a foreign staple. Disposal of the wool was to be left to the merchants, for without their cooperation the scheme was hardly practicable. Details of the agreement were formally embodied in an indenture drawn up on 26 July, the day after an assembly of wool merchants came together at Westminster. On the same day commissions were issued for the purveyance of wool by virtue of the king's prerogative.