Ditchburn Chpt - Scotland & Europe, 3rd estate Flashcards
3rd estate = people who worked (p114)
Lives shaped by same social, economic and religious factors affecting rest of Christendom.
Expected to confess sins & take communion annually. Poverty did not preclude pilgrimmage.
But harvest was most important annual event for a peasant.
Who were 3rd estate?
Included everyone from wealthy merchants to impoverished, landless peasants.
Foreign contacts (1)
Varied according to the person.
Merchants - Trade was “raison d’etre” of towns. Most contact between towns & rural hinterland but also focus for trade with other countries. Scots merchants sold wool, cloth & leather abroad. Also fish, salt (for preserving) and coal.
Foreign contacts (2)
Extensive textile industry developed in Flanders & Artois, most urbanised area north of Alps, then in Brabant & Holland.
Demand from Netherlands & Flanders for Scottish wool strong in C13 & early C14 leading to increase in circulation Scottish coinage.
Foreign contacts (3) (p115)
Wool
Later C14, wool exports fell. Several reasons.
1) less demand from Netherlands ‘cause of competition from England
2) refocus of Netherland towns on higher quality cloth than Scottish wool made. Scottish wool prohibited
3) Still good for lower quality cloth but competition from Spain, Rhineland & elsewhere
Some domestic market expansion but Scots failed to move from exporting raw material of wool to finished cloth.
Foreign contacts (3)
Fish
Demand for fish more constant ‘cause of religious requirement to avoid consuming food derived from the land on Wed, Fri & Sat plus additional times like Lent and Advent.
Northern Europe - much of the demand met by herring sold at Skania (sourhtern tip of Scandinavia) and cod caught off Norwegian coast. Most fishing trade dominated by Hanseatic towns in Northern Germany
Netherlands boats caught fish in Scottish waters from C13 but little benefit to Scotland.
Scots did get benefi of selling own catches in France & England.
Foreign contacts (4)
Trade 1
Elite ate & dressed in keeping with continental fashion
Export profits enabled merchants to buy things not made/produced in Scotland. They catered for what aristocracy & urban elites wanted ‘cause wealthiest. Imports often included wheat for bread, wine, spices (most expensive were saffron, mace and galingale).
Foreign contacts (5)
Trade 2
Imported weapons included ‘Mons Meg’, a gift to James II from Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, now at Edin castle
Raw materials imported: timber & timber-based products
(p116) Manufactured imports included: expensive clothing (esp silk-based eg velvet, satin, damask & taffeta), high-quality woollen cloth. Also furniture, art, manuscripts (later - from mid-C15 - books) and metal-based items eg weapons & household hardware like kettles & pans.
Foreign contacts (6)
Trade 3
Supply & demand dictated trade patterns.
England & Ireland were source of grain & wine brought in from elsewhere
By C15, grain & timber products from Prussia & Poland (mainly through ports of Stralsund & Gdansk), wine direct from Bordeaux after French captured it from England (1453)
Foreign contacts (7)
Trade 4
Chief commercial link = Netherlands
Scottish wool & leather went to ‘staple’ where merchants bought variety of stuff produced in Low Countries or brought by merchants from elsewhere.
In return for business, Scottish merchants gained commercial privileges, agreed by treaty & protected by a ‘conservator’.
in C15, Scottish staple was Bruges, sometimes Middelburg and from 1507, Veere.
Migrant communities for Scots formed in several Netherlands towns.
Foreign contacts (8)
Poor
Before C14, military service was most common route to foreign experience.
Peasants bore brunt of invasions. Invading English & Scots armies adopted scorched-earth approach.
People from other countries were regarded with suspicion, whether allies or enemies.
Change (1) (p117)
Labour for wages
Came in later C14 and C15 following social & economic consequences of Black Death (BD).
BD killed esimated 1/3 Scotland’s population.
For those surviving, life often better; serfdom disappeared and peasants earned more ‘cause of labour shortage.
Many Scots went to England in search of work from C14 onwards, despite Anglo-Scottish conflict. By 1440s, several 1000s in Cumbria, Westmorland, Northumberland, Durham & Yorkshire. Little known about them but many women. Most temporary.
Others went to Netherlands, France, Scandinavia but most to eastern Europe. Complaints about Scottish peddlers in prussia & Poland were frequent in last 1/4 C15
Change (2)
Military service
Expanded to the continent. From 1419 - 1424, approx 15000 Scots fought in France against England (c. 1% Scots population). Fewer opps after that but several 100 Scots soldiers continued in French service, each for ave 12 years. 30 - 40 new recruits each year.
Also fighting opps with mercenary forces for Gaelic Lords of Ireland
Scotland’s economic situation (p118)
Numbers seeking work abroad suggests little economic expansion at home.
Imports were expensive - paid for with exports or on credit. By C13, Scottish wool & leather exports boomed so trade surplus.
But exports declined from later C14. Also exchange rate with England poor so trade surplus may have reversed but this = a contested conclusion. Fish exports prob more valuable than prev thought & mayhave compensated.
Trade brought wealth to merchants but not necessarily wider economic development so some folk simply left.
Conclusion (1)
Links with Europe were complex.
C12 - Scotland at frontier of Celtic/continental influence
By C15 - Irish influence had diminished significntly
Transformation to continental influence obv from reign David I as result of time at English court & steeping in French culture. He encouraged Anglo-Normans to settle in Scotland & they influenced culture, religious & economic expectations
