Economy

• The State of Society

  • The population of England was 2.2 Million at the End of the 15th century.
  • The majority of people lived in the countryside and relied on farming to survive.
  • London had a population of 50,000 but it estimated no more then 20 towns had more then 3000
  • Norwich, Bristol and York had around 8000-10000
• Agrarian Economy

  • The majority of people were living in he countryside and relied heavily on farming - 90% were living off the land 
  • There was a very slow increase in the population due to the amount of deaths in the Plague and wars. There was a greater move to sheep farming which represented the bad profitability of arable but it did show the increase demand for wool as overseas trade was developing.
  • Across the country there was 3 types of farming - mixed farming, pastoral farming and open field husbandry - this meant the economy was developing and she p farming was becoming more profitable
  • Enclosure Howver was a problem when sheep were becoming more used as it meant the economy was benefitting at the extent of peasants as they lost access to their land and common rights
  • Despite this it was estimated that only 3% of the midlands was enclosed
  • Overall it would be fair to say agriculture underwent signficsnt changes towards the end
• The cloth trade

  • cloth trade was responsible for about 90% of the value of English exports
  • jack lander said it increased 60% across his reign
  • Initially the bulk of exports had compromised of raw wool which was shipped from parts such as Yarmouth and Lynn and was exported through Calais by merchants of the staple
  • However this became dominated by the finished cloth trade leading to the developments of weaving, fulling and dyeing. - this offered employment and money to children who untangled the wool, women pun the wool and men wove the fabric
  • Cities such as Lavenham and lewes were extremly prosperous but other places e.g. Winchester and Lincoln suffered As the cloth trade moved to towns on the East coast e.g. East anglia
• The cloth trade conc.

  • Merchant adventures exported cloth in London which Established a commercial axis with Antwerp which was transported all across Europe
  • However England did remain very small apart from the cloth trade which caused domestic problems e.g enclosure.
• Other industries

  • most of ther industries remained small and failed to compete effectively with their continental competitors.
  • Germany and Bohemia were superior in mining and metallurgy and the Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch were superior in ship building
  • Most industrial activity e.g. brewing or craft operations were done in cottages and were very small and local
  • tin was mined in Cornwall, lead was mined in upland areas such as the high pennies and coal was mined in Durham and Northumberland. Iron ore was mined i. Susses and Kent.
  • the development of basic plumping technology was introduced at finchale in 1486 which enabled greater production
• Trade

  • Navigation Act of 1485 attempted to limit the foreign grip of trade. It meant that English men could not load this goods on foreign ships when English ones were avalilabe - this meant wine from Gascony was only imported on English ships. This reduced dependency on on foreign merchants helping England to build their trading influence. But this had little impact as lots of foreign vessels continued to transport a substantial proportion of English exports
  • an act in 1489 made it illegal to buy wool for manufacturing goods outside of the uk. Cloth trade flourished with 60% more cloth being exported at the end of his reign
  • A big issue with trade was the trade ban placed in 1493 as a result of fear due to Margret of Burgandys support with Perkin Warbeck. This meant merchants were required to trade through Calais rather than directly to the Netherlands Which was more time consuming and less cost effective.
• Trade conc.

  • The Intercursus Magnus ended the ban in 1496 which improved trade
  • Most trestrictions on trade were removed after the treaty of etaples and it encouraged Anglo-french commercial relations
  • However weakness in trade was revealed when he attempted to make a breakthrough in mediterranean trade was a dismal failure and thr hanseatic league was largely successful in limiting the development of English tradinf interests in thr Baltic.
• Exploration 


  • Spanish and Portuguese explorers had done a lot of exploring and had benefited largely from their domination of the spice trade. England were much Less successful. v
  • howdver in Bristol there was some development. John Cabot arrived in Bristol in 1495. This was when Bristol fish merchants were looking for alternative fishing grounds to exploit
  • He got authorisation from Henry to explore in order to find fishing spots for merchants
  • In 1497 whilst discovering a new found land and reported its existence. When he set off again he never returned so was presumed dead at sea. However it is highly likely he never actually set foot on American mainland but a man named william Weston may have in 1499/1500. F
  • John Cabot’s son sebastian set of in 1508 to find the ‘north west passage’ to Asia in 1508 but was unsuccessful. English exploration was minimal
• Prosperity

  • in the 1480s there was a temporary rise in prices however they remained overall steady in his reign.
  • But there might have been a decline in export prices of wool and grain in the 1490s which may imply a decline in agricultural economy.