Economic and Social change

Question 1

what number did London’s population alone reach by 1250?

Answer 1

a staggering 80,000

Question 2

Main 4 reasons for economic growth

Answer 2

1. effective and efficient agriculture
2. rise and scope of trade
3. era of commercialisation/rise of merchant class
4. stability of secular rulers and government

Question 3

what does John Langdon note on the environment itself during this period?

Answer 3

this period saw a “relatively disease-free environment [and] better weather conditions”

Question 4

Britnell and Campbell on increased agricultural efficiency:

Answer 4

“food output must have depended upon improvements in productivity rather than extensions to the farmed area”

Question 5

what great changes were made to natural environments?

Answer 5

deforestation and the draining of marshland

Question 6

what new technique was implemented onto farm land?

Answer 6

three-field system - allowed for the alternation of crops and increased fertility of the earth

Question 7

how did the three-field system benefit economic growth?

Answer 7

human diet improved with the implementation of new nutrients. Risk of crop failure and famine was minimised.

Question 8

What did an increase of food supply also mean?

Answer 8

Peasants doubled their yield, increased surplus, increased disposable income, increasing economic involvement. increased consumer confidence.

Question 9

What does John Langdon note about the rise and scope of trade throughout England?

Answer 9

compares the 60 fairs in the domesday book to the nearly 150 fairs established by the end of the twelfth century

Question 10

Example of international trade booming in the period:

Answer 10

after the Norman conquest in 1066, English wool was sent in huge quantities to Flanders, France, and the Low Countries, as well as importing wine and cloth, exports of cereal and wool to Flemish textile workers increased profits for England Merchants greatly.

Question 11

What does Gillian Draper note on the growth of economic activity throughout England?

Answer 11

the Romney Marsh in Kent - noted archeological finds of coinage, indicating a “sophisticated money economy among local inhabitants the March by the late twelfth century”

Question 12

What is another indication of the growth of international trade?

Answer 12

Cartwright - city-ports established international trading posts where foreign merchants were allowed to live temporarily and trade their goods, such as German traders in the Steelyard area of London.

Question 13

How did the crown aid the economic growth in England?

Answer 13

sold royal grants for the privilege to license and partake in markets and fairs across England, throughout the reigns of Richard I and Henry II 24 towns had acquitted a privilege to rightly trade freely throughout the kingdom.

Question 14

what does Gerald Harris note on Royal involvement on economic growth?

Answer 14

states that the Angevin reforms 1164-66 “furnished the state with central financial, secretarial, and judicial agencies, while the crown had extended its authority into the localities by asserting royal rights…intervening to protect property”

Question 15

Why is the Domesday Book useful, what does it show?

Answer 15

describes in detail the landholdings and resources of late 11th century England - demonstrates the power of government machine in the first century of the new millennium, and its thirst for information

Question 16

statistics from the domesday book:

Answer 16

• 112 towns with a population of 2,000+ and 39 marketplaces
• by 1100 Normal Lords founded 20 new towns
• 4x towns in 1300 than 1066

Question 17

What role did women hold in economic life?

Answer 17

• important in brewing and selling ale, agricultural produce
• 50% of inhabitants involved in some form of manufactory
• 40% of retail sectors were women
• 10% of service occupations

Question 18

What does Robert Fossier note?

Answer 18

he notes that population growth to this extent has not been notes in Europe since

Question 19

What does Thorold Roger coin this period?

Answer 19

the ‘Golden Age’ for labourers

Question 20

How much money was in circulation by 1320?

Answer 20

2 million pounds in circulation (6 per person)

40x more money available than before 1086

Question 21

What does John of Salisbury write about King Stephan of England?

Answer 21

that he used ‘gold and silver and other wicked materias’

Question 22

Gillian Draper on finds on monetary sophistication in England:

Answer 22

Romney Marsh was one part of Kent with a number of early eleventh century boroughs and markets (recorded in Domesday Book).

The size and influence of these markets and ports peaked during the later twelfth and thirteenth centuries, before natural changes to the coastline damaged their harbours.

Coins and other archeological finds indicate a sophisticated money economy among local inhabitants of the Marsh by the late twelfth century

Question 23

What does Peter Spufford argue for a money economy?

Answer 23

that the ‘need for a larger demonisation of coin was only reached when there was sufficient urban growth for there to be a large enough number of people living primarily on money-wages’.