The economy: agriculture and trade (5) Flashcards
(40 cards)
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
