Economy

• England's population was growing during the Tudor period, from 2.1 million in 1430 to 2.3 million by 1520
• Structure of Tudor society

  • Monarch
  • Nobility (about 55 noble families)
  • Clergy (Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots)
  • Gentry (landowners, not nobles)
  • Middle classes (professionals, merchants)
  • Yeomen (minor landowners)
  • Peasantry (about 2 million, half living in poverty)
• The King's power varied across different regions of England
• The King's power was strongest in the south-east and eastern England, areas important for the cloth trade
• The King's power was weaker in northern England, Yorkshire in particular, and in Ireland where clan chieftains had a lot of control
• The King's power was stronger in Wales, where he restored the Council of Wales led by his uncle Jasper Tudor
• Cornwall was another area with a distinct identity and distance from London, which rebelled against Henry VII
• The Yorkshire Rebellion in 1489 was caused by a tax to pay for war with France, which the people could not afford due to a bad harvest
• The Cornish Rebellion in 1497 was also caused by a tax to pay for a war with Scotland, which the Cornish people did not support
• Both rebellions were eventually crushed by the King's forces, but they showed the social discontent that existed in parts of England
• The Tudor economy was still largely based on agriculture, with the majority of people working on the land as peasants or yeomen
• As the crown starts trying to extract Texas out of people it gets a negative response
• Bullet points on economic development

  • Trade
  • Exploration
  • Prosperity
  • Depression
• Agriculture


  The vast majority of the economy was based on agriculture and producing food for subsistence, not necessarily active participation in the economy as we know it today
• Old open field system

  • Peasants were given strips of land, and the crops grown in each field were decided collectively and rotated annually
  • This system was starting to decline
• Enclosure


  When landowners fenced or hedged their fields, often converting them from crop growing to sheep farming
• Enclosure was not enormously widespread, only affecting around 3% of land at this time, mostly in the Midlands
• The change to pasture and sheep farming was partly due to the Black Death causing a labour shortage, rather than just enclosure
• Parliament passed laws against enclosure, such as the 1489 law aimed at the Isle of Wight to prevent depopulation, but these were not hugely effective
• Cloth industry


  The largest industry in England at this time, based on wool production from sheep
• Cloth exports increased by 60% during the reign of Henry VII
• The cloth industry employed only 1.3% of the population full-time, showing the dominance of agriculture
• The Hanseatic League's cloth exports to England increased fivefold from 1400 to 1500, showing its growing importance
• Other industries included tin mining in Cornwall, coal mining in Northumberland and Durham, but most production was for domestic use rather than export
• Henry VII sponsored the building of a blast furnace in Kent during the Scottish war, but German mining areas were more advanced
• Navigation Acts


  Laws that tried to restrict foreign ships and crews from English trade, but were hampered by a lack of English ships available
• Over 50% of English trade was still carried on foreign ships at this time
• There were various trade embargoes and restrictions imposed, such as by France in 1487 and Burgundy in 1493, which caused economic difficulties
• The Hanseatic League's control of bullion exports from England was also a problem
• Henry VII made some progress in gaining more control over English trade and industry, but political considerations often overrode trade ones
• England missed out on supporting Christopher Columbus's voyages, but did back the explorations of John Cabot and his son Sebastian, gaining knowledge of North America
• England's interest in North American exploration declined after Henry VII's reign
• Prosperity and depression


  This was a relatively stable economic period, with the end of the Wars of the Roses, population growth, and relatively stable prices benefiting the peasants and urban workers
• The most significant economic difficulty was the trade embargo with France in 1493 coupled with a bad harvest, causing a depression in the cloth trade from 1493-1496