The economy: agriculture and trade (5) Flashcards
What was the population of England at the beginning of the fifteenth century?
Around 2.2 million
Where were the majority of the people living at the beginning of the fifteenth century?
In the countryside, relying on some sort of farming for a living.
What percentage of the population were urban dwellers who lived in towns which were small by continental standards?
10%
What was the population in London?
Exceeded 50,000
What were the main industries in urban areas?
Wool and cloth
Name three other industries.
Mining tin, lead and coal.
What dealt with economics matters?
The Acts of Parliament
What resulted in an income from land decreasing?
The Black Death
When was there said to be a recovery from the Black Death?
1480’s and 1490’s
Due to an increase in population again towards the 1490’s what also increased?
Profitability of crop farming and improved profitability of sheep farming which increased the demand foe wool.
Since England was a largely agricultural society what could it be divided up into?
A “lowland zone” to the south and east and a “highland zone” north western parts.
Where was mixed farming most commonly used?
In the lowland zone.
Where was pastoral farming most commonly used?
In woodland areas.
Where was open-field husbandry most commonly used?
In the more grain-growing areas of the southeast and the east Midlands.
What came at a price for peasants as they lost their access to land and common rights.
The efficiency gains in terms of improved production and profitability.
What percentage of the cloth trade was responsible for the value of English exports?
90%
What percentage of volume of cloth exports increased during Henry VII’s reign?
60%
Where was raw wool shipped from?
East-coast ports such as Boston, Lynn and Yarmouth and exported through Calais by the Merchants of the Staple.
What developed due to the fact that the cloth dominated the trade?
The development of weaving, usually done as a domestic process, and fulling and dyeing, which were commercial enterprises.
Name 2 cities that suffered significant decay as the cloth industry tended to move from older corporate boroughs?
Winchester and Lincoln
What was an increasing proposition of finished cloth exported from London through?
The Merchant Adventures.
Why could the Merchant Adventures not achieve complete domination of trade?
Because they proved unable to overcome the trading privileges enjoyed by the Hanseatic League which had been reasserted by treaty in 1474 and again in 1504.
What did England remain dependent in?
Trading terms, on cloth industry especially as other industries remained small and failed to compete effectively with their continental competitors.
Name two small scale activities which required little capital investment.
Weaving or brewing
Where was tin mined?
In Cornwall
Where was lead mined in?
Upland areas such as he high Pennines and the Mendips.
Where was coal mined in?
Durham and Northumberland
Where was iron mined and smelted?
In the Weald of Sussex and Kent where there was a blast furnace as early as 1496.
Where was the coal shipped from?
Newcastle to meet the growing demand for domestic and industrial fuel in London.
When was the development of pumping technology first recorded?
1486, enabled greater production.
What was Henry interested in maximising?
Customs revenue.
What was Henry happy for Parliament to legislate in favour of?
Sectional interests.
What was Henry’s biggest concern?
Embargo (i.e ban) on trade with the Netherlands.
When and why did Henry impose the ban on trade with the Netherlands?
In 1493 as a result of the fear and insecurity brought about by Margret of Burgundy’s support for Perkin Warbeck.
How did the embargo end with the Netherlands?
With the treaty known as the Intercursus Magnus.
When were trade restrictions removed?
In 1486 but reimposed for Henry’s support for Brittany, but removed again by the Treaty of Etaples if 1492.
What the Treaty of Etaples encourage?
Anglo-French commercial relations.
What was the Hanseatic League successful in?
Limiting the development of English trading interests in the Baltic.
What did Henry pass?
The Navigation Acts of 1485 and 1489.
What was the objective of the Navigation Acts?
To encourage English shipping by trying to ensure that only English ships should carry certain products ti an from English ports.
