Stuarts 1625-1701-Economy,trade and empire Flashcards
Banking and Insurance
P1-Fire Of London+ Marine insurance
The 1667 Act was passed for the rebuilding of the city after fire, and reference is made to the settling of insurance claims at the royal exchange. Marine insurance law was brought in by 1601, regulating the market. Marine insurance in London had become so popular that by 1657, it had become common for Dutch merchants to be insured through English brokers.
Throughout the 17th century, marine insurance prices dropped by 75% as the industry became more established. This was especially important for trade, and expanding mercantile activity.
Banking and Insurance
P1-charles 2 and goldsmith bankers
Abbot’s money scrivening firm expands rapidly, 1652-55 1,137,000 passed through his accounts. Goldsmith bankers replace the Royal Mint as private banks, merchants increasingly rely on them, and the bankers use investments to lend money at interest.
Charles II becomes indebted to Goldsmith bankers, establishes a reform committee in 1672, so that loans to the crown were levied from the public, meaning that he would pay a lower interest rate.
The goldsmith received notification that any fund that had been deposited into the royal treasury would be confiscated, and not refunded. The public lost faith in the Crown as a method of keeping investment safe, encouraging a massive boom for private financers.
London
P1-population growth in London
1650 London became the largest city in Western Europe. Contemporaries estimate its population at around 500,000. Ten times larger than the next largest English towns (Norwich and Bristol). 7% of the English population lived in London in 1650, by 1700, this had increased to 9%. 400 times more grain was required for London in 1680 than in 1600. 1657 it had become common for Dutch merchants to be insured through English brokers in London. London becomes the world’s leading insurance market. The first insurance market, Lloyd’s, was founded in 1688 in London.
For either a counterpoint, or a collective point, add information about other towns. 1600 there were eight towns with a population of over 5,000, which increased to over 30 in 1700.
Cloth Industry
P1-development of worsted cloth
P2-Employment+value
Development of worsted draperies, which required a higher level of skill to produce. Reached a wider market than traditional English cloth, which was heavier, and had gone out of fashion. They also were increasingly unreliant on the Dutch for finishing the cloth. Cloth revived a number of towns, in which the trade had declined.
Colchester: those employed in the textile industry increased from 26.4% to 40% 1619 - 1699. Overall value went from 600,000 in 1560 to 1.5 million in 1660s
Cloth accounted for 92% of exports out of London in 1640, 74% in 1660 and 72% in 1700.
Methods of producing cloth continued to be domestic. Peasant families produced cloth as part of an agricultural household (not wage labourers).
Many cloth production centres went to decline. Only coastal towns, with dutch immigrants did well.
Agriculture-
P1-output
P2-enclosures
By the 1640s, Britain had a higher agricultural output than every other country, except Holland.
In 1700, the average number of days worked annually per agricultural family was 405, compared to 266 in 1450.
enclosure was a major change in the agricultural industry. This involved combining multiple pieces of land into large, individual fields. The enclosed land would then be reserved for the use of a single land owner or tenant. It ensured that crop production was not unnecessarily duplicated as fewer rivals existed in each region. However, small land owners lost out because of this
Agriculture 2
P1-Literacy rates and soil types
P2-Water meadows
P3-Specialized farming
Increased levels of literacy after 1600 meant that more yeomen and husbandmen were able to make use of books that contained information about new farming techniques. There was now acknowledgement that crops should be selected due to their soil types, providing people with much greater control over the success of their harvests.
In 1420, 7 million acres of land were given to arable farming, and by 1700, this number had reached nine million Water meadows were used more commonly, where water was diverted from a river or stream to a nearby field. This meant that soil could be kept damp, encouraging grass to grow and preventing frost in the spring. Farmers could keep more animals.
With new techniques came an appreciation that different regions could specialise in different types of farming that were suited to local conditions. The warmer, drier south east was more suitable for arable farming, and the north and west side were suited to the rearing of livestock, as they had higher levels of rainfall.
Specialised farming helped improve economic conditions for many farmers, mostly the yeomanry. They owned large amounts of land, and so they were generally sheltered from the effects of poor harvests.
They therefore had the opportunity to experiment with new crops and techniques, although they could not always afford large scale changes.
Agriculture 3
P1-problems with enclosures and smallholding
P2-Settlement act
Small tenants suffered as a result of enclosure and smallholding became an unsustainable form of employment. The number of wage dependant agricultural labourers grew, although inflation reduced the real value of wages. Employment for landowners was relatively secure, although many worked in the cloth industry in order to feed their families- 240,00 were involved in skilled trades by the end of the period.
After the Settlement act of 1662, it was easier for land owners to hire labourers from other parishes as these workers were technically settled in other areas, so the employers did not have to worry about contributing to poor relief.
It was estimated that in 1688, there were 364,000 families of labourers, and so over 1 million people were employed in this line of work.
