Economic Development In Elizabethan England Flashcards
How did internal trade compare to foreign trade?
The value of internal trade exceeded foreign trade. The biggest development in internal trade was the growth in the shipping of coal from the Tyne to the Thames to meet the growing demands of the London market.
What was the position of the cloth trade within the English economy?
The cloth trade declined relatively as part of the economy. The Antwerp cloth market had declined from the early 1550s. William Cecil was anxious for political reasons to end the dependence on a single market. An alternative trade was developed, based on the northern German port of Emden, it the major move was to Amsterdam, whose commercial growth and at the expense of Antwerp which remained under Spanish control.
What were Hawkins’ three main expeditions?
Guinea became used as the starting point for John Hawkins’s move into the Americas. From 1562, Hawkins acquired slaves in Africa that he then transported and sold in South America. His first two expeditions proved financially successful, although he succeeded in irritating the Spanish authorities.by his second expedition in 1564, he had secured investment from prominent courtiers including the Earl of Leicester, as well as support from the queen who supplied ships. The third expedition also gained royal support but went wrong when Hawkins’s fleet was blockaded in the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulúa, although some of the gold did get back to England and Spain. The fact that the queen was preparing to become involved suggests that she was willing to run the risk of antagonising Philip II.
How did Hawkins annoy the Spanish?
He irritated the Spanish authorities in his first two expeditions.
How did trade change in the 1580s?
First, the main markets for English wool moved from the southern to the northern Netherlands and there was an increase in trade with the Ottoman Empire. England, however, remained relatively backward in its exploitation of trading opportunities in Elizabeth’s reign.
Describe the trading companies that were set up
- The Muscovy Company had been incorporated in 1555 to trade with Russia and Northern Europe, though it failed in the long term to compete effectively with the Dutch.
- The Eastland Company was set up in 1579 to trade with the Baltic but had a similarly limited effect.
- The Levant Company, founded in 1581 as a Turkish Company, enjoyed success in its attempts to develop trade with the Ottoman Empire.
- The East India Company was set up in 1600 to trade with Asia, but it had less investment than the Dutch East India Company, and it therefore found it very difficult to compete in the short term
What were joint-stock companies?
Businesses which are owned by their shareholders, who profit in proportion to the relative size of their shareholdings.
Who was Walter Raleigh?
An ambitious though unpopular and inefficient courtier. His attempt to establish a colony on the North American mainland failed, as did his attempt to find treasure in South America. He was reputed to have introduced both the potato and tobacco in Europe. He completely lost favour under James and was imprisoned and executed.
How successful was Raleigh in his exploits in America?
He gained support from investors (e.g. Sir Francis Walsingham) and in 1585 he received from the queen a patent to colonise what would become known as Virginia. Two expeditions eventually made land on Roanoke Island what would become known as North Carolina. The attempts to colonise proved to be disastrous from a combination of bad organisation, ill luck and reluctance by the queen to give the matter priority when she was faced by war with Spain.
What was the economic situation for landowners?
Landowners benefitted from the economic trends and landed incomes rose so many landowners acquired a range of material possessions. Many large landowners had been able to benefit from the generosity of Henry VIII and Edward VI when disposing for a quick profit often at knock-down prices much of the land they acquired was through dissolution of Church property. One of the consequences of this was the huge proliferation of building. Farmers were able to benefit from the rise in agricultural prices with an improvement in living standards
How have interpretations of the link between trade and prosperity changed over time?
Interpretations from the first half of the twentieth century tend to argue that trade was buoyant in Elizabethan England, a point reinforced by shipbuilding which took place at the time. In the second half of the twentieth century, historians emphasised what was seen as a desperate search for new markets to offset the long-term decline in the cloth trade. This second interpretation is reinforced by the argument that English financial institutions were much less sophisticated than their counterparts in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy.
Which areas of the country benefitted and which lost out during Elizabeth’s reign?
Some old-established towns, for example Stamford and Winchester were in decline during Elizabeth’s reign. Urban decay was associated with corporate boroughs that had been heavily dependant on the cloth industry, as this had migrated to more rural areas. However the condition of some other old-established towns such as York and Norwich, continued to improve. Relatively new urban settlements, such as Manchester and Plymouth, also developed. Those that did well tended to either have a broad range of manufacturing industry or were unincorporated towns in which industry was able to develop without hindrance from regulation. It it alleged that the growth of London, both as a port and an industrial centre, had a detrimental effect on other towns and cities. However places like Newcastle Upon Tyne benefitted from supplying London’s economic needs.
How many harvests were ‘poor’ and when did this affect the country in particular?
9 of the 44 harvests of the reign could be described as poor. The impact was particularly bad when there were successive bad harvests and bad harvests exacerbated the problem of declining real wages.
When was the one real subsistence crisis and how did it affect the country?
In 1594-97, when there were four successive bad harvests, catastrophic for some people. By 1596 real wages had collapsed to less than half the level which they had been nine years earlier. Whilst distress was common across the country, conditions were worse in the far north with starvation the outcome of both in the more remote rural areas and in the urban centre of Newcastle, which had attracted the poor and the indigent from across the region.
Describe the geographical economic divide within England.
From taxation records and similar sources, the wealthiest part of the country was the south-east, followed by Norfolk and Suffolk and the ‘inner West Country’ counties of Somerset, Gloucester and Wiltshire. The poorest counties were those to be in the north and the West Midlands. This tended to be reflected in income levels amongst different social groups. The evidence of inventories of goods left by labourers in Hertfordshire, for example, suggests they left goods worth almost three times as much as their northern counterparts.
