Chapter 5

Question 1

What was the population like in England at the beginning of the 15th century?

Answer 1

• population of England at beginning of fifteenth century was around 2.2 million
• majority of people living in countryside an relying on some form of farming for a living
• most of 10% of population who were urban dwellers lived in towns which were small by continental standards
• London = exception = population exceeded 50,000
• but probably no more than 20 towns had as many as 3000 people
• amongst provincial towns, only Norwich had population exceeding 10,000 which Bristol, York and Coventry having population 8000 to 10,000
• in these areas wool and cloth were main industries

Question 2

Did Henry have a specific ‘economic policy’?

Answer 2

• although Henry VII was interested in building up his personal wealth, he had no specific ‘economic policy’ as a modern leader would
• the Acts of Parliament that dealt with economic matters were mainly the result of the private lobbying of merchants, who had vested interest

Question 3

how did farming change during the fifteenth century?

Answer 3

• income from land had declined in aftermath of Black Death of 1300s and early 1400s, though has been suggested that there was something of a recovery in 1480s and 1490s as population began to increase again
• there was much evidence of a greater move towards sheep farming in 1480s and 1490s
• this was a reflection not only of the depressed profitability of arable farming, but also the improved profitability of sheep farming brought about by the increasing demand for wool, as the population grew and trade overseas developed
• practice of open-field husbandry being challenged in many areas by enclosure

Question 4

the grain economy - how was it divided in England?

Answer 4

• England could be divided into a ‘lowland zone’ to south and east (line drawn from the Tees estuary to Weymouth) and a ‘highland zone’ north and west
• mixed farming was most common form of farming in lowland zone, though pastoral farming predominated in woodland areas and there were specialisms such as horse breeding in the Fenlands
• the traditional manorial system of open-field husbandry could be found in such areas and was concentrated mainly in the grain-growing areas of the south east and the east midlands

Question 5

Key terms : mixed farming/pastoral farming/common rights

Answer 5

• mixed farming = system of farming which involves the growing of crops as well as the raising of animals as livestock
• pastoral farming = farming involving the rearing of animals - either for animal by-products (milk, eggs,wool) or for meat
• common rights = denotes the legal right of tenants to use common land, for example for keeping animals - varied from place to place

Question 6

advantages of enclose

Answer 6

• land more suitable to sheep farming than to growing arable crops
• enclosures could divide land into properly fenced off fields = not possible with open field system
• they could then practice selective breeding or develop own techniques without being held back by less adventurous neighbours

Question 7

disadvantages of enclosure

Answer 7

• could lead to eviction of families who could not prove that they had a legal right to part of land being enclosed = could lead to vagrants = risk
• or the loss of the right to use common land for grazing and collection of fire wood

Question 8

how far did agriculture change under Henry VII

Answer 8

• partial
• practised for centuries before Henry’s reign
• in the midlands where the problem was most concentrated, less than three percent of the region was enclosed
• enforced enclosure was quite rare
• but did lead to eviction, the depopulation of villages and occasionally vagabondage
• Henry attempted to stop this ‘enclosure’ in 1489

Question 9

open-field husbandry

Answer 9

• the form of landholding which predominated in most of ‘lowland’ England
• the manor was a specific landed estate whose tenants farmed strips of land found in open fields and who enjoyed common rights, particularly for keeping animals
• this system came under increasing pressure by enclosure in some parts of the country as the sixteenth century unfolded

Question 10

enclosure

Answer 10

• the fencing off of land and the abolition of common rights over it, so that it then became solely the responsibility of its individual owner, who could use it in whatever way he wished

Question 11

Did English agriculture undergo any significant changes?

Answer 11

• some parts of region increasingly experiencing change, with the wool and cloth trades making sheep farming relatively more profitable
• the efficiency gains in terms of improved production and profitability came at a price for peasants who lost their access to land and common rights, and were often left destitute by the process
• in late 15th century this was not regular occurrence
• became more widespread in first half of 16th century, when it created both a moral outcry and political pressures which proved difficult to contain
• however, English agriculture underwent no significant changes towards end of 15th and beginning of 16th century

Question 12

Cloth trade

Answer 12

• cloth trade was responsible for about 90% of the value of English exports
• the trade flourished in last quarter of 15th century
• estimated that there was an increase of over 60% in the volume of cloth exports during Henry VII’s reign
• employed 30,000 = 1.3% of population full-time and provided part time work for many more
• 1489 Henry passed an act to make buying English wool and turning it into cloth outside of England illegal

Question 13

cloth trade in the earlier part of the century

Answer 13

• in earlier part of century, the bulk of exports had comprised raw wool
• this was shipped mainly from east-coast ports such as Boston, Lynn and Yarmouth and exported through Calais by the Merchants of the Staple

Question 14

which type of cloth increasingly began to dominate the trade? What this help to develop?

Answer 14

• increasingly, however, it was finished cloth which dominated the trade
• this led to development of weaving, usually done as a domestic process, and fulling and dyeing, which were commercial enterprises
• as a result, the industry offered opportunities for rural employment to supplement agrarian incomes

Question 15

How did cloth trade affect towns in England?

Answer 15

• some cloth towns such as Lavenham in Suffolk and Lewes in Sussex, were extremely prosperous
• however, some historic cities such as Winchester and Lincoln had suffered significant decay as the cloth industry tended to move from older corporate boroughs to newer manufacturing centres in smaller market towns and villages in East Anglia, the West Riding of Yorkshire and parts of the West Country

Question 16

Where was an increasing proportion of cloth exported from? What did this mean? Where was cloth exported to?

Answer 16

• an increasing proportion of the finished cloth was exported from London through the Merchant Adventurers
• this reinforced London’s commercial dominance within the country and established a commercial axis with Antwerp which, during this period, was the ‘commercial metropolis of Europe and its main money market’
• English cloth was transported all over Europe

Question 17

did the Merchant Adventurers achieve complete domination of trade? Why? Why did Henry decide to do this?

Answer 17

• the Merchant Adventurers could not achieve complete domination of trade because they proved unable to overcome the trading privileges enjoyed by the Hanseatic League which had been reasserted by treaty in 1474 and again in 1504
• Henry VII may have agreed to reassert this treaty because he needed to ensure that the Hanseatic League would offer no support to the Yorkist claimant to the throne, the Earl of Suffolk
• this was a sacrifice of English commercial interest

Question 18

Other successful trade industries in England

Answer 18

• England remained dependent, in trading terms, on the cloth industry, especially as other industries remained small and failed to compete effectively with their continental competitors

Question 19

Other industries (mining)

Answer 19

• Germany and Bohemia were superior in mining and metallurgy
• Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch superior in shipbuilding
• most industrial activities (like weaving) were small-scale craft operations which required little capital investment
• mining required rather more capital investment but remained fairly small scale
• tin was mined in Cornwall
• lead was mined in upland areas (high Pennines and the Mendips)
• coal mined in Durham and Northumberland
• Iron ore mined and smelted in the Weald of Sussex and Kent, where there was blast furnace as early as 1496
• much of coal form northeast was shipped from Newcastle to meet growing demand for domestic and industrial fuel in London, but there was also small export trade to Germany and the Netherlands
• the development of basic pumping technology, first recorded at Finchale in County Durham in 1486, enabled greater production

Question 20

Henry VII’s approach to trade

Answer 20

• Crown’s approach to trade during Henry VII’s reign had little consistency
• Henry was clearly interested in maximising customs revenue
• however, it was equally clear that he was quite prepared to sacrifice revenue and trade in the interests of securing his dynasty , and he was also happy for parliament to legislate in favour of sectional interests (interests of particular group within community/country)

Question 21

What was the biggest issue concerning trade in Henry’s reign? How was this problem resolved?

Answer 21

• the biggest issue concerning trade in Henry’s reign stemmed from his embargo (ban) on trade with the Netherlands
• he imposed this in 1493 as a result of the fear and insecurity brought about by Margaret of Burgundy’s support for Perkin Warbeck
• instead of trading directly with Netherlands, merchants were required to direct their trade through Calais
• this invited retaliation from Netherlands
• the embargo ended with the treaty known as the Intercursus Magnus, though the terms of treaty were still being debated two years later

Question 22

Intercursus Malus

Answer 22

1506 Philip forced to take refuge in England and persuaded to agree to a new trading agreement
- Trade between England and the Low Countries would be free
- English merchants were allowed to anchor and to remain at anchor in Philip’s harbours and to transport their goods without any charge
- Philip and his heirs were not to exclude English cloth from their dominions nor prohibit their use nor impose any duties upon their sale
- BUT in reality treaty never enforced

Question 23

Why did Henry attempt to reimpose the trade embargo? Why didn’t he actually?

Answer 23

• Henry appeared to panic once again in 1503 when the claim of the Earl of Suffolk was once again being taken seriously around Burgundy
• Henry attempted to reimpose the embargo
• in this instance he was fortunate that circumstances in 1506 allowed him to negotiate the Intercursus Malus, even if its full terms were never imposed

Question 24

Did Henry act in the interests of English merchants?

Answer 24

• several trade treaties were concluded, though these were of minor importance and showed that Henry rated foreign policy and dynastic interests as greater priorities than the interests of English merchants

Question 25

Trade restrictions throughout Henry’s reign

Answer 25

• trading restrictions, which had existed since Edward IV’s reign, were removed in 1486
• They were reimposed the following year as a result of Henry’s support for Brittany, but largely removed again by Treaty of Etaples of 1492
• this treaty, while not primarily a trade treaty, did try to encourage Anglo-French commercial relations
• most of the remaining trading restrictions were removed in 1497

Question 26

Weaknesses in trading policy

Answer 26

• weaknesses in trading policy were shown when the attempt to make a significant breakthrough in Mediterranean trade proved a dismal failure, and the Hanseatic League was largely successful in limiting the development of English trading interests in the Baltic

Question 27

the Navigation Acts - what were they? when? Were they useful?

Answer 27

• Henry also passed the Navigation acts of 1485 and 1489
• the objective of these was to encourage English shipping by trying to ensure that only English ships could carry certain products to and from English ports
• such legislation had only limited usefulness, as foreign vessels continued to transport a substantial proportion of English exports

Question 28

prosperity and depression

Answer 28

in book pg49

Question 29

Early English exploration - 15th century

Answer 29

• 15th century proved to be a great era of European exploration
• Spanish and Portuguese explorers had opened up much of the world, and the Portuguese had particularly benefitted from their domination of the spice trade, English sailors were much slower to engage in such activities
• However, Bristol merchants and seamen were interested in the possibilities of transatlantic discovery; indeed, it was rumoured that such a discovery had been made some time before 1465 and there is evidence that Atlantic exploration was taking place from 1480, albeit on a small scale and unsuccessfully

Answer 30

• John Cabot appears to have arrived in Bristol in 1494 or 1495
• this was a time when Bristol fish merchants were looking for alternative fishing grounds to exploit , having been excluded from Icelandic waters by the Hanseatic league
• Cabot received authorisation from Henry VII to ‘search out any isles, countries, regions or provinces of heathens and infidels whomsoever set in any part of the world soever, which had been before these times unknown to all Christians’

Question 31

Cabot’s travels

Answer 31

• he sailed in 1497, located what became known as Newfoundland and reported the existence of extensive fishing grounds
• he set off on a second voyage in the following year, from which he never returned - he was presumed lost at sea

Question 32

What did Cabot receive

Answer 32

• Cabot, however unrealistic his overall objectives, did establish, in words of David Quinn, that “a substantial land mass did exist within reasonable sailing from Europe” and laid the way for the the Bristol fishery
• despite some claims to the contrary, it is almost certain that Cabot never set foot in the American mainland
• however, it has recently been discovered that a Bristol merchant named William Weston might have done so in 1499 or 1500
• even if he did not do so he was certainly the first Englishman to lead an expedition to the New World

Question 33

John Cabot’s son Sebastian Cabot

Answer 33

• although John Cabot’s son, Sebastian, received sponsorship from Henry VII and led an unsuccessful attempt to find the ‘north-west passage’ to Asia in 1508, English exploration of the North Atlantic tailed off with the accession of Henry VIII, who had little appetite for supporting such enterprises
• the newly discovered fishing grounds became for a long time afterwards the preserve of seamen from Portugal and the Basque region of northern Spain