economic development

Question 1

What happened to the volume of English trade during the first half of the sixteenth century?

Answer 1

Despite there being occasional downturns, it had overall increased during this time.

Question 2

What was there a continuous rise in?

Answer 2

Cloth exports, but the market for raw wool had declined.

Question 3

What happened to woollen cloth exports during Henry’s reign?

Answer 3

They had almost doubled.

Question 4

What had been increasingly imported into England and what does it suggest?

Answer 4

Wine, which suggests that the spending power of the more prosperous classes had increased.

Question 5

What was the leading route for exports?

Answer 5

From London to Antwerp, where it was frequently sent to customers in Central Europe and the Baltic.

Question 6

What impact did the increase in exported cloth being routed through London have on other ports?

Answer 6

Provincial traders in places like Hull and Boston, and especially Bristol, were finding it difficult to compete with those in London.

Question 7

Where did Southampton enjoy trading with?

Answer 7

Venice for a short while but this was quickly over by the middle of the sixteenth century.

Question 8

What was the biggest change in the cloth industry?

Answer 8

The increase in cheaper fabrics such as kersey.

Question 9

How much of cloth exports were transported by English merchants from the 1550s?

Answer 9

70%.

Question 10

What did the cloth trade rely on to supply its markets?

Answer 10

The effectiveness of the woollen industry.

Question 11

What basis did the woollen industry largely operate on?

Answer 11

A domestic one, with children carding the wool, women spinning and men weaving it.

Question 12

Where was wool passed from the domestic sphere?

Answer 12

It was passed for more specialist treatment such as fulling and dyeing, which existed as small-scale industries throughout the country.

Question 13

What parts of England saw the greatest growth in the cloth industry?

Answer 13

• West Riding of Yorkshire
• East Anglia
• Parts of the West Country

Question 14

What was Henry’s attitude towards exploration?

Answer 14

He was very uninterested and made no attempts to build on the early achievements of John Cabot and the Bristol merchants at the end of the 15th century.

Question 15

Where did Sebastian Cabot remain for most of Henry’s reign?

Answer 15

In Spain, and it was only after Edward VI took the throne that he returned to England.

Question 16

How can the claim that England was ‘economically healthier, more expansive and more optimistic’ under the Tudors be supported?

Answer 16

• The population began to grow significantly from 1525 with a decline in mortality rates
• From the 1520s agricultural prices had risen significantly, increasing farming incomes
• Debasement of the coinage created a short-term artificial boom in 1544 to 1546

Question 17

How can the claim that England was ‘economically healthier, more expansive and more optimistic’ under the Tudors be argued against?

Answer 17

• Bad harvests (1520-21 & 1527-29) led to temporary but significant increases in food prices, and they’d almost doubled across Henry’s reign
• Real wages began to decline for many, at its worst at the end of Henry’s reign and where the effects of debasement began to show
• Assessment for subsidies indicated considerable urban poverty; half of Coventry were recorded as having no personal wealth
• There is evidence of growing unemployment amongst rural labourers
• Some people were made homeless on account of engrossing

Question 18

How had enclosures been perceived?

Answer 18

As creating a moral problem, as it had led the poor to be forced out of their homes.

Question 19

What did Wolsey launch in response to Thomas More’s Utopia comment on enclosures in 1516?

Answer 19

He launched an enclosure commission in the following year to ascertain the scale of the problem, and proceedings were launched against those found to be enclosing illegally.

Question 20

What was the main underlying cause of economic distress?

Answer 20

The increase in population as it put a strain on the supply of food.

Question 21

What happened to wages during Henry’s reign?

Answer 21

They were at best stagnating, meaning they were not rising with food prices.

Question 22

Who benefitted from population increase?

Answer 22

Wealthy farmers and landowners.

Question 23

What did the the rich believe was the cause of poor people being poor?

Answer 23

They believed it was due to their own idleness, in the long run leading to much sterner measures taken against vagrancy and begging.