Section 2 - Henry VIII - economic developments under Henry VIII (1509-1547)

Question 1

What was the opinion of Henry VIII on exploration ?

Answer 1

Henry VIII largely disliked the practice of exploration and didn’t do anything to further the achievements of john and Sebastian cabot and the merchant advertisers during the end of the fifteenth centaury. Furthermore many other merchants failed to gain the support of Henry viii for exploration journeys which they wanted to go on.

Question 2

How many times did Sebastian cabot return to England during Henry viii’s reign ?

Answer 2

Sebastian Cabot returned to England briefly 2x during the reign of Henry viii from staying in Spain.

Question 3

When did Sebastian Cabot return to England ?

Answer 3

Sebastian Cabot returned to England at the end of Henry viii’s reign when edward VI was on the throne

Question 4

When did Henry viii debase the coinage ?

Answer 4

1540’s

Question 5

What is debasement ?

Answer 5

When the value of the currency is decreased , debasement means to decrease the value of.
Eg. Henry viii halved the amount of silver which would be needed to make coins and therefore prices increased as it would cost more to pay the same amount of silver. Debasement of the coinage created a false sense of an economic boom from 1544-1546

Question 6

Facts about prosperity and depresssion under Henry viii

Answer 6

• population grew from 1525 and mortality rates dropped
  -debasement of the coinage created a false sense of economic boom from 1544-1546 and had long term impacts on living standards.
  -bad harvests in 1520 and 1521 lead to temporary but significant rises in food prices as farmers could’ve meep up with the level of demand.
  -when assessing for subsidies over half of the population of covernty and 1/3 of the population of Yarmouth were recorded as having no personal wealth

Question 7

What year did cardinal Wolsey create an enclosure council?

Answer 7

In 1517 cardinal Wolsey created an enclosure council to study the extent of the impacts of enclosure on those who have been forced to leave their homes or abandon crops on land which had ben illegally enclosed

Question 8

What are some key facts and statistics regarding enclosure under Henry VIII (1509-1547)?

Answer 8

• poor legislation was introduced in 1489 and 1515 in an attempt to stop enclosure however this legislation was largely unsuccessful and didn’t go far enough to find out the real impacts of the enclosure practice on individuals.
  -cardinal Wolsey charged 1888 defendants with illegal enclosure in 1517 alone
  -it was thought that most of the permanent damage of enclosure had already been done by 1485

Question 9

What are some facts regarding population/ the population growth and the impact this had on the economy under Henry VIII?

Answer 9

• the growing population and falling mortality rates were one of the main underlying causes of economic stress at the time
  -few farmers could meet the increasing growth of demand for food and as prices of food stuffs rose due to scarcity a select few farmers could continue to dominate the market and benefit from market conditions as they could keep up with the high levels of demand.
  -society became more polarised as the rich continued to get richer whilst the poor continued to get poorer
• this resulted in harsher measures being taken against vagrant and beggars
  -real wages began to stagnate

Question 10

What are some facts about trade during the reign of Henry VIII?

Answer 10

• during the first half of the 15th centuary the volume of English trade generally began to increase
• the sap ending power of the upper classes began to increase this was evident in the rise of imports such as wine to England.
  -more of the exported cloth was routed though London however this had a negative impact on more perovincial traders a and other ports such as Bristol, hull and Boston as they felt that they couldn’t keep up with the levels of competiton from their London counterparts
  -woollen Industry grew during the 2nd half of the 16th century in order to keep up qwerty the increasing levels of demand from the cloth industry, however it is difficult to say by how much the woollen industry grew during this time.
  -the west risings of Yorkshire and Suffolk saw the greatest increase in growth of the cloth industry
  -an example of an individual who benefitted immensely from the cloth trade/ cloth industry would be William stumple of malmsbury who became mp of malmesbury,high sheriff of the county and furthermore a wealthy landowner as a benefactor of the dissolution of the monasteries