ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

TRADE - SUCCESSES

CLOTH:

• volume of English trade increased during the first half of the 16th century

• Woollen cloth exports doubled in H8 reign - industry grew to keep up with demand

• Increasing amount of exported cloth routed through London

• The three areas who saw the most growth in the cloth industry:

  • west riding of Yorkshire

  • East anglia (especially south Suffolk)

  • Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Devon

INDIVIDUAL WEALTH:

• Wealthy and entrepreneurial clothiers were able to both acquire wealth and increase their social status:

  • William Stumpe (Malmesbury) - became MP for area, high sheriff of the county, landowner and beneficiary from dissolution

Significant exports of things such as tin counterbalanced by import of wine suggests spending power of more upper classes increased.

MINING:

• Some growth:

  • Cornish tin remained a prize export

  • Lead mining in high Pennines and coal mining in NE England we’re growing in importance (e.g. Newcastle supplying the London market by sea)

  • Blast furnaces produced increasing amount of iron ore in Sussex and Kent. By middle of the century: 26 blast furnaces.

TRADE - FAILINGS

• Market for raw wool declined

• The increase in exported cloth being routed through london had a negative impact on some other ports, especially Bristol and Hull.

• Traders found it increasingly difficult to compete with London rivals.

• Profits from the cloth trade didn’t always find their way into English pockets:

  • even though 70% of cloth exports were transported by English merchants by the 1550s - much of the trade was in foreign hands before this

TRADE x FOREIGN POLICY, EXPLORATION - SUCCESSES

• the Hanseatic League no longer had to compete aggressively merchants like it did under H7 - enough trade for all.

• Increasing trade with Spain (due to Spanish exploration of the americas) drove up prices in the rest of Europe. England remained ADVANTAGEOUS as merchants could buy cheaper goods at home and sell them at higher prices on the continent. In this way it can be argued the debasement actually helped them even further

• H expanded on dads imperial ambitions - invested heavily into the navy: increased size from 7 to 53 ships, established royal dockyards

• By the end of H’s reign:

  • English regularly fishing off of coast of Newfoundland

  • Established trade with Brazil, the West Indies, Guinea and much of europe

TRADE x FOREIGN POLICY, EXPLORATION - FAILURES

• the debasement of the coin further harmed England’s economy

• H8 failed to capitalise on his dads overseas initiatives as few of the ventures he supported were successful:

  • 1516 - a projected voyage by Sebastian Cabot and Thomas Spert to Newfoundland came to nothing, as did another planned for Cabot in 1521.

PROSPERITY

DEPRESSION

• the concept of inflation wasn’t understood until at least the 1570s but the first ever serious inflation was caused by H’s foreign policy. He increased govt spending and used up all the wealth left to him by H7.

  • Debasement was a high risk method of raising revenue employed by medieval kings, but H was more reckless than the previous kings (especially in his later years).

  • Before 1542 - silver content of an English coin = 92%. 1546 - 33%

• The debasement above coupled with an increase in the amount of coins caused inflation to soar and induced slumps in the cloth trade.

• Bad harvests in the 1530s caused grain prices to rise rapidly and peasants suffered.