economy

• Trade

  internal trade and external trade increased value

  • coal exports to France; coal shipping from River Tyne to River Thames therefore London markets supplied
  • cloth trade with Netherlands - Amsterdam instead of Antwerp
  • overseas markets - Ottoman Empire, India, Russia
  • Hawkins' 3 expeditions - Guinea, South America, Mexico
  • trading companies - Muscovy; Eastland; Turkish (Levant); East India
• cloth trade with Netherlands


  1580s English wool from Southern to Northern Netherlands - Cecil encouraged Antwerp trade rather than Amsterdam

  • Antwerp were Protestant
  • Amsterdam were Catholic under Spanish control
• overseas markets


  imported foreign luxury goods in return
• Hawkins' 3 expeditions

  • 1562 Guinea: slaves to South America; supported by courtiers and merchants eg Leicester
  • 1564 Elizabeth provided large ships in exchange for profits gained
  • 1568 Mexico: Spanish blockade therefore worsened Spanish relations
• trading companies

  • 1579 Eastland Company; Baltic with limited success
  • 1581 Turkish (Levant) Company; Ottoman Empire had reasonable success
  • 1600 East India Company; Asian with difficulty in competing with Dutch East India Company - was better-funded
• what was a trading company prior to Elizabeth I's reign?


  1555 Muscovy Company; Russian and Northern European under Mary I that failed to compete effectively with Dutch
• Hawkin's failed Mexican expedition 


  his fleet was blocked at San Juan de Ulúa (Mexican port) - his activities antagonised the Spanish
• all companies except Eastland Company were joint-stock companies owned by shareholders who owned shares in the company
• Exploration & Colonisation

  extension of trade to North America and attempt to form colony in Virginia; began from Humphrey Gilbert and Richard Hakluyt highlighting the potential of North America
• Colonial activity in North America - 1584-85

  • Sir Walter Raleigh gained investment from Walsingham and Elizabeth - received a patent to colonise Virginia
  • 1584 expedition to Roanoke Island in what was to become North Carolina
  • failed to establish permanent settlement until James I reign - native hostility; poor organisation; insufficient support from Elizabeth (war with Spain)
• Prosperity and Trade

  • shipbuilding and ports grew
  • acts to regulate trade in cloth, lead, coal, iron, grain, timber
  • 2 Navigation Acts - promote use of English ships
  • 1563 Statute of Artificers
• legislations to regulate trade and industry showed awareness that taxes which could be levied on manufacturers brought wealth to the country
• Urban prosperity

  • cloth-making in rural areas and agricultural production increased
  • new urban settlements developed - Manchester, Plymouth
  • London as a market for internal goods - coal from Newcastle upon Tyne
  • South-East flourished
• Urban decline

  • some old-established cloth towns decline - Stamford and Winchester
  • poorest counties were in the north and the West Midlands
• Depression

  • harvest failure - 4 successive bad harvest 1594-97
  • 1596 real wages collapsed
  • 1596-97 subsistence crisis
  • far north people died - starvation
• South-East

  Norfolk, Suffolk, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire
• Agriculture

  enclosure was the main problem

  • agricultural land was turned into pastoral land for wool production turning into cloth for exports;
  • it resulted in depopulation as it took fewer men to look after sheep, crop yields went down and prices went up.
• Agriculture problems were exaggerated

  • crop yields were proportional to population increase therefore no shortage of grain for general population
  • no famine except major harvest failures in 1590s
• agricultural problems were economic as enclosure was worsened by greedy landowners who made it difficult for general popualtion and their tenants. Government responded with enclosure laws but had questionable effect.
• Manufacturing - it was backwards. 


  English consumers wanted high quality products; imports of foreign luxury goods ruined the English economy.
• Solution to backwards manufacturing


  introduced patents of monopolies for skilled manufacturing and introduced regulation so there was a higher quality of goods; textile industry had success. collaborations with the Dutch immigrants from Flanders who shared expertise with English artisans.
• England was too dependent on

  cloth trade
• England was too dependent on


  Antwerp
• Commerce was an economic problem


  England had not invested in diversity for the destinations of English cloth exports
• Philip II was the enemy of English Protestantism
• Philip II being the enemy of English Protestantism

  Obvious for England to diversify in the 1560s
• The Dutch government placed an embargo on trade due to heretical English merchants stirring up trouble in the Netherlands but made an excuse that it was due to the plague
• The Dutch embargo on trade


  therefore Elizabeth and her ministers sought new markets
• The Hanseatic League opposed English merchants setting up a new mart in Hamburg
• The Hanseatic League was a problem for England seeking new markets
• Dutch trade embargo therefore

  the English government removed some of the privileges of the Hanse in England 1577.

  Another diversification was England wanting to participate in overseas trade, particularly southern Mediterranean and the East because consumers wanted goods from there.
• the most successful company was 


  the Levant Company 1592
• 1601 Elizabethan government gave a charter to establish the East India Company.
• overall


  it wasn't a total economic success but it was better than in 1558 because steps were taken to expand trade.
• example of Hanse privilege Elizabeth removed


  1577 when the Hanseatic League forced Hamburg to expel all the English merchants, Elizabeth removed all their trade privileges
• the defeat of the Spanish Armada boosted trade as there were fewer disruptions caused by pirates and privateers. This benefited merchants and traders who were able to make more profits.
• During Elizabeth's reign there was an increase in trade between England and Europe. This led to increased wealth and prosperity for merchants who traded goods such as cloth, wool and wine. There was also an increase in the number of ports around the country which meant that more goods could be imported into England.
• There was also an increase in piracy on the seas during Elizabeth's reign. Pirates would steal valuable cargo from merchant ships and then sell it on the black market. Some pirates even attacked royal navy ships and stole treasure from them.
• Elizabeth's foreign policy also influenced her economic policies as she needed money to pay for her wars. To do this she raised taxes on goods imported into England and exported from England. These taxes included customs duties and subsidies.
• One of the main causes of inflation during Elizabeth's reign was the high demand for goods. As England became richer, people began to buy more luxury items such as silk, spices and jewels. This caused prices to rise because suppliers knew that they could charge higher prices for these goods.