Social England in the Fifteenth Century (Routledge Revivals)

A Study of the Effects of Economic Conditions

Annie Abram

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781317964780
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Storia dell'Europa medievale

Annie Abram was born in London in 1869 and died in Sussex in 1930. She contributed significantly to the twentieth-century historiography of late medieval England, researching the social, cultural and religious mores of the English laity and clergy. First published in 1909, this title explores the impact of economic changes on society during the fifteenth century. This was a period of important developments both socially and economically, which witnessed the rise of the middle class through industrialisation, agrarian change, and the growing economic and commercial character of towns. The chapters discuss these areas, as well as the industrial position of women and children, the economic position of the Church and the development of a national character. This is a fascinating classic work, which will be of great value to students researching the socio-economic history of late medieval England.

Social England

In the Fifteenth Century

Part I

Economic Changes

Chapter I

Industrial Changes

AMONGST the Economic Changes of the fifteenth century none was more striking in its rapidity or more far-reaching in its consequences than the development of manufactures. In the time of Edward III the wealth of England still consisted mainly in raw products, and her industry was but little advanced,¹ but in the fifteenth century manufactures were springing up in every town²; and the most important of these was the manufacture of cloth. In 1352 the Commons told the King that wool was ‘la Sovereine Merchandise and Jewel … d’Engleterre’³; a hundred years later they declared that ‘the makeyng of Cloth’ was ‘the grettest occupacion & lyving’ of the poor people of the land⁴; and in another petition they protested against the taxation of English cloth, because it would in course of time cause little cloth to be made, and be ‘a meane of distroiyng’ the navy.⁵ Contemporary writers, extolling the glories of England, boast equally of its cloth and wool.

‘Ffor the marchauntes comme oure wollys for to bye,

Or elles the cloth that is made theroff sykyrly,

Oute of dyverse londes fer byyond the see.’⁶

So speaks the author of a little poem ‘On England’s Commercial Policy’; while Fortescue ranks ‘wolleyn clothe’ as the fourth of his ‘Comodytes of Englond,’ and declares that there is enough ‘redy made at all tymys to serve the merchaunts of ony two kyngdomys Crystenye or hethyunye.’⁷ A practical illustration of the value set upon cloth may be seen in an incident revealed by the Correspondence of Bekynton: Henry VI wished to obtain the goodwill of the Pope, and to induce him to grant privileges to Eton, so he sent him a gift of the best English cloth⁸; the Pontiff was evidently very gratified by the present, for his chamberlain expressed warm thanks in his name, and described how he had heard him praising Bekynton.⁹ The choice of the gift was the more remarkable because the Pope was at that time residing in Florence, where the finest cloth in Europe was manufactured.¹⁰ Nor were the humbler varieties of cloth less valued in their own proper sphere, for John Paston asked his wife to send him some worsted for doublets, and added that William Paston had a ‘tepet of fyne worsted, whech is almost like silk.’¹¹

Development of the manufacture of cloth.

Not only do deeds and words alike testify to the importance of the manufacture of cloth, but the legislation of the period enables us to trace its growth and development and the efforts of the Government to foster and regulate it. An Act passed late in the fourteenth century mentions Somerset, Dorset, Bristol, Gloucester, and Essex as seats of the industry.¹² From other sources we learn that it had been established also in Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent, Westmoreland, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Sussex, Devonshire, Worcester, Hampshire, Berkshire,¹³ and Coventry.¹⁴ In the fifteenth century it spread to London,¹⁵ Cambridge,¹⁶ and Cornwall¹⁷; and there were so many worsted weavers in Norfolk that four wardens were needed to supervise the craft throughout the county, as well as four within the city of Norwich.¹⁸ Cloth was also made at Guildford¹⁹ and Salisbury.²⁰ Another sign of the growth of the industry may be seen in the extraordinary number of different kinds of material which were made. The petition concerning the regulation of the industry in Norfolk specified more than a dozen varieties of worsteds.²¹ A later enactment mentions also ‘Clothe called Vervise, or Plounkett, Turkyns or Celestines,’ ‘Carsey,’ ‘Vessees,’ ‘Packyng whites,’ ‘Florences with Crenyll listes,’ ‘brode cloth,’²² ‘Saillyng Ware,’ ‘Bastardes,’ ‘Kendales,’ and Friseware.²⁰ Even this list was not exhaustive; there were in addition, ‘Cloths,’²³ russet, blanket, ‘Drap de Cremosyn,’²⁴ ‘Fustian, Bustian … Scarlet Cloth,’²⁵ says and serges,²⁶ stamyns,²⁷ and mustrevalers.²⁸ Equally significant are the statutes passed to protect English manufacturers against foreign competition, or to ensure a sufficient supply of raw material,—such as the orders that sheep should not be transported beyond the sea without licence,²⁹ and that foreign cloth should be forfeited on importation,³⁰ and the restrictions placed upon the purchase of wool by aliens, because the cloth-makers of the realm could find wellnigh none to be sold by the growers.³¹ Acts for the regulation of the industry, specifying the measure of the cloth,³² the methods of sealing it,³³ the duties of the aulnager,³⁴ and other details, are numerous, and in some cases they were supplemented by the ordinances of the crafts³⁵ and the laws of the towns.³⁶

Evidence of the growth of the manufacture of cloth may be seen in the decrease of the customs on wool, of which the Commons complained more than once.³⁷ In 1348 the subsidy on wool was valued at £60,000, and in the twenty-eighth year of Edward III the customs and subsidy on wool brought in more than £111,000³⁸; this sum, however, was unusually large, and the gross proceeds of the customs two years later amounted to £66,830.³⁹ But the estimated yearly net value of the Custom Revenue between Michaelmas, 1428, and March 3rd, 1461, was only about £31,500 net, or £32,000 gross.⁴⁰ This extraordinary decrease of revenue from the customs on the export of wool was probably due to the fact that much of the raw material was...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Introductory Note
• Part I: The Economic Changes of the Fifteenth Century
• Part II: The Effects Produced by Economic Changes Upon English Social Life in the Fifteenth Century
• Appendix
• Bibliography
• Index