Economic development Flashcards
What 4 categories come under economy?
- Agriculture
- Trade
- Exploration
- Prosperity & depression
By 1500 what was the English population?
By 1600 what was it?
- 3 million
- 4 million
What did the rising population cause economically?
- Strain on supply of food making it difficult to meet the rising demand resulting in inflation
- Problem exacerbated by wages stagnating with a large supply of cheap labour meaning (no reason to increase wages because there were many labourers)
- e.g. during the Black death, labour was in short supply meaning labourers could increase prices for their work due to low population
Who were the beneficiaries of high population?
- Wealthier landowners & farmers (Gentry & wealthier commoners)
- Agricultural prices rose & therefore income rose
- Whereas labour cost less
- Improvements in farming technology
led to less labour needed, especially if farms became pastoral vs arable
When the gentry accused the poor of being responsible for their own destitution what did this lead to?
- Sterner measures taken against vagrancy & begging as the gentry as a class gained more judicial control
Fundamentally what happened with the rise of population?
- Rich got richer & poor got poorer
What was the impact of enclosure?
In what years had laws been passed against enclosure?
Why were these not successful?
- Exacerbated the class divide
- Profitable for landowners & modernised agriculture
- 1489 & 1515
- No political grasp of its scale
Who & what in were the harmful societal effects of enclosure shown?
In response did this what did Wolsey do & what did he find?
- Thomas More
- Utopia (1516)
- Wolsey began an investigation
- 188 defendants were found to have illegally enclosed land
When did Cromwell release legislation against enclosure?
Was this successful & why?
- 1534
- Attempted to limit sheep ownership
- Did not prevent anything because most enclosure had taken place before 1485
Trade: Imports & Exports?
Consequence of this?
- Rise in cloth exports though market for raw wool declined (cloth was more profitable than raw wool anyway)
- Wool cloth exports nearly doubled during Henry’s reign
- Hide & Tin exports also increased
- Exports were counterbalanced by increased imports of wine suggesting incomes of the gentry were increasing
- Shows a degree of prosperity (but class relevant)
- Growth of trade led to increase in merchants & good available
Trade routes for cloth?
What percentage & by what year was cloth transported by English merchants?
- Main cloth route was from London to Antwerp
- From Antwerp it was sent to the Baltic & Central Europe
- 70% of cloth exports by the 1550s were transported by English merchants
What was the negative impact on Cloth being routed to London?
- Ports like Hull, Boston & Bristol were economically neglected
Give an example of a place that had an economic boom in trade?
Was this long lasting?
- Southampton had an economic boom as a result of trade with Venice
- This was short-lived & was over by middle 16th century
What continued & what changed in the materials involved in cloth trade?
- Broadcloth continued to be exported
- Change was Increase in cheaper fabrics e.g. kersey (coarse wool cloth named after a village in Suffolk)
Profits made from trade?
Who benefitted off of the trade?
Give an example?
- Profits from cloth trade often found themselves in foreign pockets as much of the trade was in foreign directives before this
- Rich & entrepreneurial clothiers drew large profits off the trade & enhanced their social status
- e.g. William Stumpe of Malmsbury (MP), High sheriff of the county & beneficiary of the dissolution of monasteries
