Chapter 5 - Economic development: trade, exploration, prosperity and depression Flashcards
What was the population of England at the beginning of the 15th century?
2.2 million
What percentage of the population lived in towns?
10 per cent.
How many towns had more than 3000 people?
no more than 20
What were the main industries in urban areas?
wool and cloth
Why did sheep farming increase in the 1480s and 1490s?
Arable farming became less profitable and the increased demand for wool, as the population grew and trade overseas developed.
What is mixed farming?
a system of farming which involves the growing of crops as well as the raising of animals as livestock.
What is pastoral farming?
farming involving the rearing of animals - either for animal by-products such as milk, eggs or wool, or for meat.
What were common rights?
denotes the legal right of tenants to use common land, for example for keeping animals; the exact nature of these rights varied from place to place.
What was open-field husbandry?
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.
What percentage of England’s exports was the cloth trade responsible for?
about 90%
due to the finished cloth now dominating the cloth trade what did this lead to?
the development of weaving, usually done as a domestic process, and fulling and dyeing, which were commercial enterprises.
Who were the merchants of the staple?
incorporated by royal charter in 1319, they controlled the export of wool; the staple was based at Calais (an English possession) from 1363, but the eventual decline in the wool trade reduced the company’s importance.
what is fulling?
a step in woollen cloth making which involves the cleansing of cloth (particularly wool) to eliminate oils, dirt and other impurities, making it thicker in the process.
What opportunities did the rise in the cloth trade result in for rural areas?
the increase in rural employment to supplement agrarian incomes.
What cloth towns were extremely prosperous?
Lavenham in Suffolk and Lewes in Sussex.
Why did some historic cities such as Winchester and Lincoln suffer significant decay due to the booming cloth industry?
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.
