Henry VII economy

Question 1

What accounted for 90% of the English economy?

Answer 1

The cloth trade

Question 2

How much did Jack Lander estimate the cloth trade increased by?

Answer 2

60%

Question 3

How was wool exported?

Answer 3

It was exported from east coast ports like Boston, Lynn and Yarmouth to Calais which was further sent by the merchant of the staples ( a company incorporated by the royal charter in 1319 to control exports. They were based in Calais from 1393. When the wool trade declined so did the company’s significance).

Question 4

What developed after raw wool fell in decline?

Answer 4

The development of weaving, fulling (cleaning the wool) and dyeing which was done domestically by girls and women

Question 5

How much did raw wool exports decrease by in 1485?

Answer 5

50%

Question 6

What did the cloth trade open to people during a bad harvest?

Answer 6

Rural employment

Question 7

Give two examples of prosperous cloth towns

Answer 7

• Lewes
• Lavenham

Question 8

Where was England’s biggest exporter?

Answer 8

Antwerp

Question 9

What were the merchant adventurers?

Answer 9

A trading organisation which helped to export London’s cloth to Antwerp from 1407. They were the most influential company until Moor’s company came along and they had similar powers to the merchants of Staple. The king used their advice to create peace treaties as they acted as the voice of industry. But, they couldn’t overcome the trading privileges of the Hanseatic league.

Question 10

Who were best off in the 1490s?

Answer 10

Craftsmen and Labourers

Question 11

What decreases in price in the 1490s?

Answer 11

Grain, animal products and wool exports

Question 12

What decade did prices increase?

Answer 12

1480s

Question 13

What was farming like at the start of Henry’s reign?

Answer 13

Income from the land had been in decline after the black death but it did begin to recover in the 1480s and 90s as the population increased. But, the income wasn’t enough so many farmers turned to sheep farming

Question 14

Where was pastoral faming done?

Answer 14

Woodlands

Question 15

What is open field husbandry?

Answer 15

It was where the lords of an estate granted common rights to their workers however as sheep - farming grew, so did enclosure meaning tenants lost common rights and they became destitute

Question 16

What percentage of people lived off the land?

Answer 16

90%

Question 17

What did peasants have to pay on the land?

Answer 17

Rents, tithes and taxes

Question 18

Was there any horse and dairy farming?

Answer 18

Yes, but it was limited

Question 19

What was recorded in Finchdale in County Durham in 1486?

Answer 19

Basic plumbing technology

Question 20

Where was coal mined?

Answer 20

Durham and Northumbria

Question 21

How and where was coal used?

Answer 21

Lime - building and iron smelting in Kent

Question 22

What percentage of Newcastle’s coal was exported in 1508-09?

Answer 22

20%

Question 23

Where was there a small trade for coal?

Answer 23

Germany and the Netherlands

Question 24

Where was lead mined?

Answer 24

The Pennines and the Mendips

Question 25

Where was tin mined?

Answer 25

Cornwall

Question 26

Who were superior at ship building?

Answer 26

Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal

Question 27

Where did a dry dock have investment and how many ships were built?

Answer 27

Portsmouth and 5 ships

Question 28

Who were superior at mining and metal lurgy?

Answer 28

Germany and Bohemia

Question 29

What did Henry support in 1496?

Answer 29

The building of a blast furnace in Kent to make weapons for war against Scotland

Question 30

What is the Hanseatic league?

Answer 30

A group of free cities originating in the thirteenth century, which came together in a commercial union to control trade in the Baltic sea

Question 31

How much did the Hanseatic league increase cloth exports by between 1400 - 1500?

Answer 31

5x

Question 32

What did England have the best of?

Answer 32

Wool / cloth

Question 33

What policies did Henry make against the Hanseatic league?

Answer 33

1487: Henry banned the export of finished cloth by foreign merchants
1489: Henry ended the league’s privilege in exporting bullion from England
1504: Henry further restricted their power so they wouldn’t support Edmund de la Pole

Question 34

What were navigation acts and were they successful?

Answer 34

Navigation acts were passed in 1485 and 1489 meaning that only English ships and crew could export certain products. By 1509, 1/2 of trade was carried by foreign ships

Question 35

How many statues did Henry pass to promote sectional interests?

Answer 35

50

Question 36

Why did trade in the Mediterranean fail?

Answer 36

Due to weaknesses in French foreign policies

Question 37

When was there a trade ban in France and when was it removed?

Answer 37

1487 and 1497

Question 38

When was another trade ban placed?

Answer 38

1503

Question 39

Why did Spain and Portugal have dominance in exploration?

Answer 39

They had links to the spice trade

Question 40

Who led an expedition the new world in 1499?

Answer 40

Bristol merchant, William Weston

Question 41

What were Bristol merchants and seamen interested in?

Answer 41

Transatlantic discovery and they did it on a small scale from 1480

Question 42

Who was John Cabot?

Answer 42

• He arrived in Bristol in 1494 or 95 when the Hanseatic league banned fishermen from Icelandic waters
• Henry authorised him to explore Newlands and in 1497, he found Newfoundland where there was extensive fishing grounds
• He want again in 1498 but he never returned
• In 1508, Cabot’s son Sebastian was sponsored by Henry to find a “north - west passage,” in Asia but he was unsuccessful