Henry VII - Economy: trade and exploration Flashcards
How did income from land increase after the Black Death?
Population began to increase
Greater move towards sheep farming - more profitable
How was England divided agriculturally?
lowland zone = mixed farming (crops and livestock)
highland zone = pastoral farming (livestock)
Open-field husbandry, predominated in the lowland zone came under pressure by the enclosure system and common rights were reduced
What percent of English exports was made up from the cloth trade?
90%
What does Lander estimate the increase in the volume of cloth exports during Henry VIIs reign was?
60%
Who controlled the wool trade with decreasing influence?
The Merchants of the Staple - decreasing influence as decrease in the wool trade as finished cloth began to dominate the trade
Who were the Merchant Adventurers and why were they important?
Most powerful English business organisation of the age, who controlled finished cloth exports from London
- reinforced London’s commercial dominance + established a commercial axis with Antwerp (commercial metropolis - which then transported cloth over Europe)
Had a positive relationship with the crown - acted as a voice of the industry + king used their expertise to negotiate trade treaties
Why were the Merchant Adventurers unable to achieve complete domination of trade? + interpretation on this
The Hanseatic League (free cities who came together to form a commercial union controlling trade) had trading privileges which Henry asserted in 1474 and 1504
- he did this to prevent support to the Yorkist claimant to the throne - Suffolk (Edmund de la Pole)
- sacrificed the English commercial interests
Lander - ‘out of all proportion to the feeble threat’
What other industries did England depend on aside from cloth and where did they take place?
Most industrial activities were small-scale craft operations - little capital investment
But there was a growing demand for domestic and industrial fuel in London
Mining - small scale
- tin mined in Cornwall
- coal minded in Durham
- Iron in Sussex
Basic pumping technology 1486 - Durham enabled greater production
What was Henry’s approach to trade and treaties?
little consistency but Henry clearly interested in maximising customs revenue but sometimes sacrificed this for dynastic security interests as well as sectional interests
What effects did the trade embargo with the Netherlands cause?
Imposed in 1493 because of dynastic fears about Warbeck + Margaret of Burgundy
Caused retaliation from the Netherlands
Led to the Intercursus Magnus which ended the embargo
What was the importance of the Intercursus Malus?
Henry attempted a trade embargo with claim of Suffolk being taken seriously but circumstances in 1506 meant he could negotiate Malus - despite full terms never imposed
Trade during Henry VII
Shows that Henry rated foreign policy and dynastic interests as greater priorities than the interests of the English merchants
- Trading restrictions removed in 1486
- reimposed following year (support for Brittany)
- removed by Treaty of Etaples 1492 - encouraged Anglo-French commercial relations
- Embargo with Netherlands 1493
Most of remaining trading restrictions removed in 1497
Weakness in trading policy?
Attempts from English to make a significant breakthrough with trade in the Mediterranean failed - Hanseatic League limited development of trading interests in Baltic
Navigation Acts 1485 + 89 - objectives to encourage English shipping by ensuring only English ships should carry certain products - limited usefulness as foreign vessels continued to transport English exports
Early English explaration
John Cabot - arrives in Bristol in 1495 - Bristol merchants looking for alternative fishing grounds
- Cabot searches out land (Henry authorises)
- found ‘Newfoundland’ in 1497
- lost at sea on next voyage
- son had received sponsorship in voyages but exploration tailed off with accession of Henry VIII
William Weston may have set foot on American mainland in 1500
Prosperity and depression during Henry VII
Little evidence for estimates
Prices seemed to have remained steady (temporary rise in 1480s)
- much same happened to wages
Decline in the export price of wool + grain + animal products in 1490s
- reduction in farming profitability / rising real incomes?
Building workers + agricultural labourers better off now than at any time in Tudor period
- purchasing power of wage rate of building craftsman 90-103 during Henry VII which decrased
