Economic Developments X Flashcards
What are some facts/statistics about English population in the 15th century?
-Population = 2.2 mill at beginning of century (maj living in countryside relying on some sort of farming for a living)
-10% population were urban dwellers who lived in small towns
-London = exception - 50,000 population (probably no more than 20 towns had as many as 3,000 people)
-Norwich had pop exceeding 10,000
-Bristol, York and Coventry pop 8,000 to 10,000
-In urban areas wool and cloth were the main industries
-Other industries include mining tin, lead and coal; metal working; leatherwork; shipbuilding; and paperwork
What were Henry VII’s attitudes to economic policy?
-Although H7 was interested in building up his personal wealth, he had no specific ‘economic policy’ as a modern leader would
-The Acts of Parliament that dealt with economic matters were mainly the result of the private lobbying of merchants, who had a vested interest.
Explain the agrarian economy
-Income from land declined in aftermath of Black Death
-1480s and 90s suggested a recovery as population increased again
-Evidence of greater move towards sheep farming in these years
-This was a reflection not only of depressed profitability of arable (crop) farming, but also improved profitability sheep farming brought about by increasing demand for wool - as pop grew and trade overseas developed
-As a largely agricultural society it could be divided into 2 zones: lowland (S + E) and highland (N + W)
-Lowland zone = most commonly mixed farming with some pastoral farming predominating in woodland areas
-Traditional manorial system (OFH) could be found = areas concentrated in grain-growing SE and E Midlands
What was open field husbandry?
The manorial system of OFH (or open field system) was the form of landholding which predominates in most lowland Eng
-The manor was a specific landed estate whose tenants farmed strips of land found in open fields and who enjoyed common rights, particularly for keeping animals
-System came under increasing pressure by enclosure in parts of country as 16th C unfolded
Were there any changes in agriculture?
-Some parts of the SE and the E Midlands were increasingly experiencing change with wool and cloth trades making sheep farming more profitable
-The efficiency gains of enclosure in terms of improved production and profit came at a price for peasants who lost access to land and common rights, often left destitute
-In late 15th C this was NOT a frequent occurrence. But it became more widespread in first half 16th C
-On the whole Eng agriculture underwent no significant changes towards the end of 15th and beginning of 16th C
Explain the cloth trade
-Resp for 90% Eng exports
-Trade flourished in last 1/4 15th C
-Increase of 60% in cloth exports
-Bulk of exports had been raw wool shipped mainly from east-coast ports such as Boston, Lynn and Yarmouth. It was exported through Calais by the Merchants of the Staple =
incorporated by royal charter 1319, controlled export of wool, based in Calais
-However, increasingly it was finished cloth trade which dominated the trade which led to the development of weaving and fulling and dyeing which were commercial enterprises
-As a result the industry offered opportunities for rural employment to supplement agrarian incomes
What happened to some towns?
-Lavenham in Suffolk and Lewes in Sussex were extremely propseeious
-Historic cities such as Winchester and Lincoln suffered significant decay as cloth industry tended to move from older corporate boroughs to newer manufacturing centres in smaller market towns and villages in E Anglia, W Riding of Yorkshire and parts of W Country
Where was an increasing proportion of finished cloth from London being exported through?
-The Merchant Adventurers
-This reinforced London’s commercial dominance within the country and est a commercial axis with Antwerp which during this period was the commercial metropolis of Europe and its main money market
-From Antwerp Eng cloth was transported all over Europe
How did the Merchant Adventurers lose some commercial interest?
-Could not achieve complete domination of trade because proved unable to overcome trading privileges of Hanseatic League =
a group of free cities which came together to form a commercial union. It dominated commercial acitivity in N Europe for centuries
-H7 may have agreed to reassert treaty 1474 and 1504 as needed to ensure the league would offer no support to Yorkist claimant E of Suffolk
-This sacrifice of Eng commercial interests was out of proportion to the threat posed by de la Poles
