Economy

• the population at the start of the 15th century was around 2.2 million, most in the countryside relying on farming to live. only 10% lived in small towns, London being the biggest at around 50k people
• the main industries were cloth and wool, then there were minor ones like lead, coal, leatherwork, ship building and paper making
• henry was interested up his personal wealth but had no specific economic policy. any parliamentary action around it a result of private lobbying from merchants with a vested interest
• henry is quoted to have siad he "could not endure to see trade sick" and took an interest in it as seen with his foreign policy aims
• the agrarian economy- plague

  income from the land declined in the aftermath of the Black Death. there were less peasants and they wanted better pay, resulting in a revolt in 1381. as the population began to rise in the 1400s recovery of income from the land began but there was a movement towards sheep farming and away from the arable.
• the agrarian economy- zones

  England was divided into 2 zones: the south and east "lowland zone" of mixed farming (growing crops and raising livestock) and the north and west "highland zone" of pastoral farming (rearing of animals for produce)
• the agrarian economy- land system

  the open field system was the form of landholding which predominated lowland england. an estate would have tenants who farmed strips of land in an open field, utilising common rights (a vestige of serfdom, where the land has an owner but commoners are free to work it). enclosure pressures this system as hedges and fences prevents it from working.
• the agrarian economy- enclosure

  enclosure had an impact on rural england as open field farming wasn't super efficient. 1/3 of land had to be left fallow (unused) every third year to recover which meant that wool farming became more appealing as farm prices and a growing profit from wool grew, there was pressure to better utilise the land
• the agrarian economy- engrossing

  profit lay in larger farming units, which were created by engrossing (amalgamating smaller farm units) and enclosure (land is enclosed/surrounded with hedges or fences and bought off poorer farmers). this resulted in fewer employees and people evicted despite common rights. lead to increased productivity at the expense of the poorest people who lost their access to land and common rights, many were left destitute.
• the agrarian economy- overall

  enclsure became more widespread in the 1500s, it created moral outcry and political pressure but it would still be fair to say that english agriculture changed little between 15th and 16th century
• trade and industry- cloth trade

  responsible for about 90% of english exports, flourished in the last quarter of 15th century. estimates over 60% increase in the volume of cloth exports during 7's reign. early reign the main bulk of exports were raw wool through Calais (english territory in northern france) by the merchants of the staple. but increasingly became cominated by cloth trade, developing weaving, fulling and dying enterprises increasing employment opportunity
• trade and industry- cloth towns

  some such as lavenham in suffolk and lewes in sussex were extremely prosperous. however some historic cities like winchester and lincoln suffered significant decay as the cloth industry moved to newer manufacturing centres in smaller market towns and villages in east anglia, west riding of yorkshire and parts of the west country.
• trade and industry- merchant adventurers

  finished cloth began to be exported from london through the Merchant Adventurers (the most powerful english business organisation, helped the king negotiate the intercurus magnus). which reinforced london's commercial dominant and established the trade route through antwerp.
• trade and industry- hanseatic league

  a group of free cities which formed a union in north europe 13th-15th century. their privileges were reasserted by treaties partly because henry wanted to ensure they would offer support to the earl of suffolk. this sacrificed english commercial interest disproportionately compared to the minimal threat the de la poles posed.
• trade and industry- other industries

  englands industries other than cloth were small, germany being superior in mining and spain in shipbuilding. most industrial activited like weaving and brewing were small scale. mining remained small scale, eg tin in cornwall, iron in sussex and kent, . much of the coal mined in durham and northumberland was shipped to london for fuel but there was some small trade with germany and the netherland
• trade laws and treaties

  there was little consistency in approach to trade. henry was clearly interested in maximising revenue but was prepared to sacrifice it for security and happy to let parliament legislate in favour of sectional interests (a particular group in a country)
• trade laws and treaties

  the biggest issue concerning trade stemmed from the embargo with the netherlands in 1493 as a result of fear of margeret of burgundy supporting warbeck. merchants had to trade through calais instead. the embargo ended with the intercursus magnus treaty although the terms continued to be debated.
• trade laws and treaties

  henry panicked again in 1503 when the earl of suffolk was active, and he attempted to reimpose the embargo. but he was fortunate that the circumstances in 1506, with burgundy being blown into england allowing for the intercursus malus to be negotiated although it was never fully imposed due to it's harshness of burgundy
• trade laws and treaties

  • several trade treaties were concluded, of minor importance showing henry rated foreign policy and dynastic interests above the interests of merchants.
  • trading restrictions were removed in 1486 but reimposed the following year, but removed again by the treaty of etaples in 1492. which wasnt primarily a trade treaty but did encourage anglo-french commercial relations.
  • weaknesses in trading policy showed wen attempts to make a breakthrough in the editerranean were a failure and the hanseatic league was succesful in limiting english trade development in the baltic.
• exploration


  the 15th century was a great era of european exploration but england was slow to engage with things like the portuguese and spanish spice trade.
• exploration- cabot


  john cabot, a merchant who lived in bristol during a term where englan was excluded from icelandic waters by the hanseatic league and were looking for alterntaive fishing grounds. he was authorisd by the king to "search out part of the world so ever which have been these times unknown" he sailed in 1497, located what would become newfoundland as fishing grounds then set off again only to never return.
• exploration


  its almost certain cabot didn't set foot on the american mainland but he did establish a substantial land mass. another bristol merchant named william weston might have done so in 1499. cabot's son sebastian led an unsuccessful crown sponsored attempt to find the north west passage to asia in 1508.