Chapter 11 - Economic development in the reign of Henry VIII

Question 1

did the volume of English trade increase during the first half of the sixteenth century?

Answer 1

yes, there was a continued rise in cloth exports, though the market for raw wool declined.

Question 2

what happened to woollen cloth exports during Henry VIII’s reign?

Answer 2

they almost doubled

Question 3

what other exports increased during Henry VIII’s reign?

Answer 3

hides and tin

Question 4

what product’s increase in imports suggests the spending power of the more prosperous classes increased?

Answer 4

there was an increase in the import of wine

Question 5

where was the leading route for exports?

Answer 5

from London to Antwerp, particularly for cloth

Question 6

which ports suffered negatively as a result of an increasing proportion of exported cloth being routed through London?

Answer 6

Bristol especially, and also other east-coast ports such as Hull and Boston.

Question 7

what was the biggest change in the cloth industry?

Answer 7

the increase in cheaper fabrics such as kersey

Question 8

what was kersey?

Answer 8

a coarse woollen cloth which was lighter than the traditional English broadcloth and which took its name from the village of kersey in Suffolk, a centre if the cloth trade; its lightness broadened its popular appeal

Question 9

how did the wool industry tend to operate?

Answer 9

largely on a domestic basis with children carding the wool, women spinning and men weaving it.

the wool was then passed from the domestic sphere for more specialist treatment such as fulling or dyeing which existed as small-scale industries.

Question 10

which three areas saw the greatest growth in the cloth industry?

Answer 10

the West Riding of Yorkshire, East Anglia (especially south Suffolk) and parts of the West Country (especially Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Devon.

Question 11

why could the cloth industry sometimes lead for poverty for those involved?

Answer 11

the work was not always secure

Question 12

what is an example of somebody acquiring wealth and enhancing their social status as a result of profits from the cloth industry?

Answer 12

William Stumpe of Malmesbury in Wiltshire who became MP for malmesbury, high sheriff of the county, wealthy landowner and beneficiary from the dissolution of the monasteries.

Question 13

which mining industry remained a prize export?

Answer 13

Cornish tin

Question 14

in what areas of the mining industry was there growth?

Answer 14

Cornish tin remained a prize export. lead mining in the high pennines and coal mining in the northeast of england were growing in importance, which Newcastle supplying an increasingly important London market by sea. blast furnaces produced an increasing amount of iron ore in the Weald of Sussex and kent.

Question 15

how many blast furnaces were there by the middle of the century?

Answer 15

26

Question 16

why were merchants that showed an interest in further exploration unable to gain any royal support?

Answer 16

Henry VIII was uninterested in exploration and made no attempt to build on the early achievements of Cabot and the Bristol merchants at the end of the fifteenth century.

Question 17

who is an example of a trader who continued with exploration?

Answer 17

Robert Thorne continued his involvement in an Iceland and Newfoundland fishery.

Question 18

what was engrossing?

Answer 18

the joining together of two or more farms to make a single agricultural unit; it could be seen as improving efficiency and output at the cost of rendering families homeless.

Question 19

what is debasement?

Answer 19

the reduction in the silver content of coins and its replacement by base metal; debased coins were regarded with suspicion and, as a result, merchants and shopkeepers put up their prices which resulted in an increase in the rate of inflation whose impact was greatest on low wage earners.

Question 20

what did John guy argue about England’s prosperity?

Answer 20

‘economically healthier, more expansive and more optimistic under the tudors than at any time since the roman occupation.’

Question 21

what supports the view that england was economically healthier and more expansive? (John guy’s view)

Answer 21

• the population began to grow significantly from about 1525 with, allowing for fluctuations, a decline in the rate of mortality
• from the 1520s, agricultural prices rose significantly, therefore there was an increase in farming incomes, enhanced in some cases by the practice of engrossing.
• debasement of the coinage created a short-term artificial boom in 1544 to 1546, but at a long-term cost to living standards.

Question 22

what goes against the view that england was economically healthier and more expansive?

Answer 22

• bad harvests (for example 1520-21 and 1527-29) led to temporary but significant increases in food prices. food prices almost doubled across Henry VIII’s reign.
• real wages, after a period of stability, began to decline for many. this process was at its worst at the end of Henry VIII’s reign when the effects of debasement were particularly evident.
• assessment for subsidies indicated considerable urban poverty.
• there is evidence of growing unemployment amongst rural labourers, some of whom found work in rural industries such as weaving and mining or moved to towns and cities. there were over 5000 migrants a year adding to the population of London
• some people seem to have been made homeless on account of engrossing.

Question 23

what is an example of high urban poverty?

Answer 23

over half the population of coventry were recorded as having no personal wealth. the same was true for a third of Yarmouth.

Question 24

what did Wolsey do in response to Thomas more’s 1516 book utopia highlighting the social effects of enclosure?

Answer 24

he launched an enclosure commission to ascertain the scale of the problem, and proceedings were launched against 188 defendants who were found to have enclosed illegally.

Question 25

when had rather muddled legislation against enclosure been passed?

Answer 25

1489 and 1515

Question 26

when was further legislation passed which attempted to limit sheep ownership and engrossing?

Answer 26

1534, with limited results

Question 27

what was the main underlying cause of economic distress?

Answer 27

the increase in population

Question 28

who were the beneficiaries of population increase?

Answer 28

wealthier farmers and landowners

Question 29

what was the impact of society becoming more polarised?

Answer 29

it undermined traditional ideals of good lordship and social responsibility

Question 30

what was the long term impact of the upper strata of society assuming that the poor were poor on account of their own idleness?

Answer 30

sterner measures that were taken against vagrancy and begging.