Economic developments in Elizabethan England

Question 1

What 4 things can be said about the pattern of trade in E’s reign?

Answer 1

1) The value of internal trade considerably exceeded that of foreign trade.
2) A wider range of luxury foreign goods came to be imported during E’s reign.
3) The cloth trade with the Netherlands, while remaining important, declined relatively as part of the economy.
4) Though attempts to establish new over-seas markets did take place e.g. in Russia, these remained economically marginal

Question 2

What was the biggest development in internal trade?

Answer 2

The growth in shipping of coal from Tyne to Thames.

Question 3

What does the wider range of luxury foreign goods imported during E’s reign suggest?

Answer 3

Suggesting that such goods were becoming affordable for a wider range of the population.

Question 4

The Antwerp cloth market had declined from the early 1550’s. Which town had the most promising commercial growth?
What was the problem with this?

Answer 4

The major move was to Amsterdam, whose commercial growth came at the expense of Antwerp, which remained under Spanish control.

Question 5

What was the involvement of Africa in English attempts to expand trade?

Answer 5

Guinea = main centre for African trade - Guinea became used as the starting point for John Hawkins’ move into the Americas - in the process he invented the English slave trade

Question 6

When did John Hawkins go to Africa?

What did he do with them?

Answer 6

Made three expeditions from 1562, acquiring slaves in Africa that he then transported and sold in South America

Question 7

How did each of John Hawkins’ expeditions go and did he have support?

Answer 7

First two expeditions financially successful.

By time of second expeditions in 1564 he had secured investment from prominent courtiers e.g. Earl of Leicester, as well as support from the Queen who supplied ships - for a price.

Third expedition, 1567 also attracted royal support but went disastrously wrong when Hawkins fleet was blockaded in a Mexican port, San Juan de Ulúa, although some gold did get back to England

Question 8

What else did Hawkins activities do and what does this suggest about Elizabeth (she funded him)?

Answer 8

Antagonised further the already strained relationship between England and Spain - the fact the queen was prepared to become involved suggests that she was willing, in return for a profit, to risk antagonising Philip II

Question 9

What were the main changes in English trading pattern?

Answer 9

1) The main market for English wool moved from the southern to the northern Netherlands.

2) There was an increase in trade with the Ottoman empire
(despite this England remained relatively backwards in its exploitation of trading opportunities in E’s reign)

Question 10

What were each of the trading companies?
When were they set up?
What was the purpose of them?
Were they successful?

Answer 10

The Muscovy Company - 1555 (under Mary) to trade with Russia and northern Europe, though it failed in the long-term to compete effectively with the Dutch.

The Eastland - 1579 to trade in the Baltic but had similarly limited effect.

The Levant Company - 1581 as the Turkish company enjoyed success in its attempts to develop trade with the Ottoman empire.

The East India company - 1600 to trade with Asia but it had less investment compared with the Dutch East India company and therefore found it difficult to compete in the short term.

Question 11

Were the new trading companies significant by the end of Elizabeth’s reign?
What is a reason that they could have been positive?

Answer 11

All still relatively modest companies, but would prove essential to future capitalist development

Question 12

When were the attempts to colonise in North America and were?

Answer 12

1578, 1583–Humphrey Gilbert attempted to establish colonies in North-West America, unsuccessful.

Half-brother, Walter Raleigh, gained a patent to found Virginia, but was unsuccessful in 1585 and 1587.

Opportunity to colonies for future.

Question 13

Who did Raleigh gain the support of and what then happened?

Answer 13

A number of prominent investors, including Sir Francis Walsingham and in 1585 he received from the queen a patent to colonise what would be known as Virginia
Two expeditions eventually made land on Roanoke Island in what would become North Carolina.

Question 14

What was the outcome of Raleigh’s expedition and why?

Answer 14

Unfortunately for his investors and the settlers who died in the process - the attempts at colonisation proved disastrous due to a combination of bad organisation, bad luck and reluctance of the queen to give the matter priority when she faced war with Spain
Permanent English colonisation of Virginia had to wait until the reign of James I

Question 15

What broad trends can be detected in terms of prosperity and land?

Answer 15

Generally, landowners benefited from the economic trends present in E’s reign.

Land incomes rose and many landowners acquired a range of material possessions.

Question 16

What was out of the consequences of the selling of land cheaply by Edward and Henry?

Answer 16

Huge proliferation of building, not just of great houses but of more modest but still imposing, country houses
A building boom of unprecedented scale took place in E’s reign

Question 17

At a more modest level of society what were farmers able to benefit from?

Answer 17

The rise is agricultural prices - (especially those in the south-east).

Question 18

What happened to old towns that depended solely on the clothe trade?

Answer 18

Urban decay particularly associated with boroughs that had been heavily dependent on the cloth industry, at this had migrated to more rural areas.

Question 19

Which towns improved?

Answer 19

Other old-established towns such as York and Norwich continued to improve
Relatively new urban settlements like Manchester and Plymouth also developed

Question 20

Which towns tended to do well?

Answer 20

Tended either to have a broad range of manufacturing industry or were unincorporated towns in which industry was able to develop without hinderance of regulation

Question 21

What is one issue with urban prosperity that was very difficult to resolve and did it effect everyone?

Answer 21

The impact of the growth of London on other urban centres.
It was often alleged at the time that the growth of London, both as a port and an industrial centre had a detrimental effect on other towns and cities - however some places, most importantly Newcastle, benefited from supplying London’s economic needs

Question 22

Why did not all share the prosperity?

Answer 22

For many, real wages fell.

Times of harvest failure.

Question 23

When were 4 there successive bad harvests?

Answer 23

There were successive bad harvests in 1594-97.

Apparently 9/44 harvests could be described as poor

Question 24

How much did real wages collapse by 1596?

Answer 24

By 1596 they had collapsed to less than half the level which they had been just nine years earlier - providing the context for the one real subsidence crisis of E’s reign 1596-97

Question 25

While distress was common throughout the Kingdom where do conditions appear to have been worst?
What is an example of homeless burying?

Answer 25

In the far north with starvation the outcome both in more remote rural areas and in the urban centre of Newcastle - which had attracted the poor from across the region
The corporation of Newcastle reported burying 25 homeless people who were presumed to have starved

Question 26

From taxation records and similar sources, where was there wealth and were was there depression?

Answer 26

That the wealthiest part of the country was the south-east, closely followed by Norfolk and Suffolk and the ‘inner west country’ counties of Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.

The poorest counties were those in the north and in the west-midlands - this tends to be reflected in income levels among different social groups.

Question 27

What was the overall economic record of Elizabethan government and what should be remembered?

Answer 27

Mixed - must be remembered concept of economic policy didn’t really exist - ministers tended to react as they saw fit at the time, sometimes by passing legislation such as the Statute of Artificers, which quickly became redundant

Question 28

What was the governments main priority and was this threatened?

Answer 28

The maintenance of public order - many of the political elite considered this threatened by the subsidence crisis of the 1590’s

Question 29

What were relationships with the crown and the landed elites + the commercial elites of the city of London like?

Answer 29

The crown became closer with the two groups during the reign, especially through participation in joint-stock companies , which helped to lay the way for future commercial expansion