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I13 BCIJIIORIC POLI Cl? OF 1133:: VII

W

James R. Hooker

ALI ; '3'» .LRACT

Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies
or

LII CIIIGAII STAT: 1;ng
of

t4:

Agricultural and Applied Science
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
EJLSEIR OF ARTS

Deparhnent of 1’11 a fiery

Year 1952

Approvedgblgw/r ”Ca/”41.

 

 

.[lll‘ll.tl|||lllllll lllll‘l‘lll'l'l ll. Ill

ABSTRACT

Of the five Tudor monarchs Henry VII, the first, is usually
ranked with his grandchildren, liary and :ilward, as one of only
middling significance. There is a measure of irony in this
classification, not for its rank injustice, but by virtue of the
mediocrity ti th which it darms hing Henry is regarded as not
great, and not bad, but merely as the avaricious, somewhat
shadowy progenitor of Henry VIII and Elizabeth. Hardly a
worse character assassination could be accomplished for there.
is no defence against thatcharges laid to Eenry's personality.
Certainly he lacked color, but frequently color is a euphemism
for ilmorality, trzmsgression or evil. It is my belief that
Henry‘s greatness was of equal degree but in different kind
from mat of his contemporaries. There. is no disputing the
fact that his talents led him in quite extraordinary directions
for a Rmaissance Prince.

It is difficult to picture an are if its leading exponent
lacks definition. Henry was nearly as distant from his con-
temporaries as from us. He one ever thought of calling him
Prince Hal, or harry, or anything else; these appellations
were applied to his son, and so Henry VIII is a living image.
Practically everyone can conjure up a ransmbrance of Hans
IEolbein's immensely broad and square-padded portrait of the
eighth Henry; nearly all can recollect his executed wives; but
almost no one remembers the sad, gentle likeness of his father.

itost historians agree in dating significant charges from
the year 1485; this is of course an artificial device, but it
contains much truth. Assuredlv more medieval feudal charac-
teristics can be found in the England of this period than are
distinguishable at, say, the end of the Sixteenth Century.

Nevertheless much of a transitional nature crops up in the first
Tudor's reign.

Henry VII can best be studied through his policy, for he
very nearly su‘mnerged his personality in his progress; so closely
interwoven was the man and his work that a separate analysis
does Justice to neither. In brief, Henry applied himself to
the vexatious problems of the day, and so effectively that Bacon
could call him the Solomon of Englandu-a title which, leaving;
aside all question of courtier's talk, needs little Justifi-
cation.

In the political. sphere accomplishnent is given precedence
to aspiration. Henry, according to Bacon, got what he was
after, "for what he minded he compassed." I doubt if higher
tribute could be paid, particularly because what Henry desired
was also the wish of the people. The story of Blgland under!
Henry VII is the tale of growing governmental centralization,
of declining feudalism, and the development of an increasingly
modern outlook on the world beyond the island boundaries. But
it would be wrong to assign a directional awareness to the
peeple. In all probability the advent of Henry Tudor meant
but one thing to the majority of men in Imgland-u-the reestab-
lishment of the Lancastrisn faction to regnal power. To say
that it caused them to reassert their desires for an end to a
profitless, internecine conflict is not to say that they were
aware of a marked transition in political or economic theory.

At least one text book writer regards Henry as the creature
of Parliammt. Properly qualified the Judgment will stand;
taken in the writer's sense nothing could be less accurate.

iiuch the same thinking prevails in the economic sphere.

Henry VII is pepularly thought to have been a drab materialist,
an onlookcr whose car was tuned to the clin}: of merchants' coin.
That cash co“ d secure Henry's grace is quite true: but that the
fancied or real creditors of the crosm could influence policy by
virtue of thei claims is a palpably false doctrine. I hope to
demonstrate that II-;,onr =r was not only aware of the economic trend
but that 1; gave direction to it. To show the eco: 1011.10 develop-
meat in his border-lira.) period of overlapp ' .nr." 311 is dictions,

oi‘ pol’ sisal contradictions, and tottering economic systems is
pc “have too ambitious an sin. I can only hope that future

reader s will derive some added insig, ht into a time usually

cats U'orized as the begixming of the modern era.

 

lvlllllllll||[[.
IIIIIIIII

THE 23 VITOI’IC PCLI C! C? 11127213 'II

By

J ames R. Hooker

Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies
of
II CEIGAZI 531‘ .3352 031.111 J: 73
of
Agricultural and Applied Science
in partial fulfillment of the re pairenents
for the degree of

IT— STL’R CE? ARTS

Department of History

Year 19 52

I
‘Illll'lll Il'll'lllll

 

Zl‘hstever durability the argiments of this
paper possess is due in large degree to Professor
I'Tarjorie :3. Ci- sner's cab-s insistence upon deeu~
nontation and revision; trad to ray wife's occasionally
csnoarassine questions. Their criticises, the one
"2e other iznecont, dese-ve more than

u U \ ' 7‘. " q {'1 y.\ p ’h
are o2. .2... achzcxn elapse; t.

I III l I: [I I'll II ||' ||’ Ill, ‘l

TABLE OF ODITTIIITS

I. Develognents to 1485

II. Overseas Commerce

 

III. Towns and Gilda
IV. The Changing Countryside
V. Conclusion

VI. Biblicaraphical Note

page 1

I. ll" r
l [I [l‘ l ['I‘ I 'III III" [In I I II I '|l'l [l ill IIIIIII ll 1'1 I

.....

I. DINEO LEEIITS TO 1485

"After that Richard, the third of that name, king in fact
only, but tyrant both in title and regiment, and so commonly
termed and reputed in all times since, was, by the Divine
revenge favoring the design of an exiled man, overthrown and
slain at Bosworth field, there succeeded in the kingdom the
earl of Richmcnd, thenceforth styled Henry the Seventh. "1 With
these words Francis Bacon opened his biography of the man who
was to a great degree responsible for the strongest monarchical
line in mglish history and for the island's transition from a
medieval to a modern economy. In the pepular view Henry VII is
remembered fer two things only, neither of which redounds to
his honor. If he had not produced his colorful son and name-
sake and if he had never gained his overdone reputation for
avarice, it is probable that the first Tudor might today enjoy
an even greater obscurity. It is my purpose to place Henry VII
where he belongs-air not above, at least on a par with his de-
scendants, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. To show Henry VII as
a conscious director and innovator of English policy, particu-
larly economic policy, the immediate background must first be
determined.

It will be helpful if an arbitrary division is imposed
upon the great mass of events which constitute late-Fifteenth
Century z“uglish history. The categories which will be touched

 

1. Bacon, Sir Francis, The history of the Reign of King; Henry
the Seventh in The lioraf and Historical Works oir lord Bacon
(63., Teasph Devey, London, E352}, p. 307. hereafter.
referred to as Bacon, Henry The wventhpreferences to
other article's all from the same volume.

-2-
upon in this chapter are (l) the political situation, (2) com-
mercial expansion, (:5) towns and gilds, and (4) the agrarian

transition.

1. Politically, Henry VII was regarded as the latest claim-
ant in a thirty-year struggle—the War of the Roses. It is
unlikely that the mjority or the hsrglish people saw in Henry
an immediate savior, though they undoubtedly wished for one
who could promote peace and commercial prosperity. Henry's
victory over Richard III on August 22, 1485 was calmly ac-
cepted throughout the land,8 with the exception of the pro—
Yorkist northern comties,3 primsrily because of Richard's
unpOpular and bloody usurpation. The House of York was,

' however, not under the stigma which attached to its particu-
lar member, Richard III. The first political problem which
demanded immediate solution by Henry was the settling and
determination of his claims to the throne. Henry had three:
his promised marriage to Elizabeth of York, daughter of
Inward IV and niece to Richard III: his own claim of inherit-
ance through the Lancastrian line 14 and his indisputable claim

 

2. Kingsford, C. L., Chronicles of London, p. 193 in Williams,

C. 33, Mland Under The Early Tudors: 1485-1529 (London, _
. 1925 3 p. 20 i

3. Pickthorn, Kenneth, Early Tudor Goverrment: Henry VII
(Cambridge, 1949), p. 140

4. Henry's claim was perhaps technically to no avail, since
he claimed through his mother who died after him. She '
was the sole heir of the Lancastrian line (John of Gaunt,
son of Edward III). But John's later sons, the Beauforts
(her ancestors), were illegitimate: this difficulty was
removed by Richard II and confirmed by John's legitimate
heir, Henry IV, who put the clause excepts dignitate regali

 

 

’ i l .I'lllll'lll'
lllllll‘ll llll‘lllll." I lllllllIlI-III'I'

.3-

of conquest. Parliament studiously refrained from scrutinizing
the second, and the third was obvious: Henry, himself, had with-
drawn the first for fear that his title would ”confer rather a

matrimonial than a regal power."5

On November 7, 1485 Henry's .
first parliament met and decreed that the title should ”be rest,
that: and abide” in the King and the heirs of his body, lawful-
1y begotten.6

This rather vague statement conferred upon Henry as much
as he could desire, orrather exact. He persisted in this nebu-
lous course ever after, ”which did spin him a thread of many
seditious and troubles.” The determination of title was not
complete until 1497, whm the last rebellion, that of the pre-

8 Fbr the

tender, Perkin Harbeck, was crushed at Taunton.
must, however, Henry was king; this had its om disadvantages
in 1485, for the office lacked both security and prestige.

As ruler Henry had to secure his kingdom against 'Yorkist

adhermts. He had, immediately after Bomrth, sent to York-

 

in his confirmation, probably to insure the precedence or his
om son's claim to that of his step-brother's offspring.
Henry actually claimed the title as the nearest male relative
to Henry VI (the Lancastrian line), treating the Yorkist line
as usurpa‘s. Gairdner suggests Henry purposely made his
hereditary claim indefinite because he was unaware of the
excepting clause's invalidity. Letters and Papers Illustra-
tive of the Roi» s of Richard III and Hen VII (2 vols.,

s so es, 4 r an excellent dis-
cussion or this complex question cf. Pickthorn, Early Tudor
Govermmt, pp. 2-5.

5. Bacon, Ha The Seventh, p. 309.
6. Rotuli amentorum; ‘ut et petitiOnes pt lacita in arlia-
m5 (1278 ~1553 (6 vols., n. p., n. d.), Vi 2'76. Hereafter
rEferreH to as Rolls of Parliammt.

'7. Bacon, #am The Seventh, p.
8. Gairdner, ames, HemyTh e Seventh (London, 1889), p. 161.

   
 

   

 

.4-

shire some men Inc placed the two chief Yorkists, his future
wife, Elisabeth and her cousin Edward, Earl of Warwick, in
custody. His first parliament attainted many of those who had
supported Richard III, md reversed the attainders of Henry's
men.9 Henry also presented a general pardon to all other of
his opponents.10

The kingdom quieted, Henry's next task was the revival of
royal credit. Throughout the Fifteenth Century the Crown had
consistently been in debt. Henry VI had pursued a policy of
blind good-fellowship which, when coupled with the Lmsuccess-
ful conclusion of the Hundred Year's War with France, and the
internecine War of the Roses, had bankrupted the Crown.11
InwardIVhad done much to resmre the royal liquidity, but his
policy was spasmodic. Richard III had been wary of further
alienating, an unfriendly people and had consequently done little
in the way of necessary, but unpopular, measures to increase
royal funds. He md pawned the Crown Jewels, made benevolences
illegal, and as Sir Thomas More said, "purchased with large
gifts unsteadfast unmanned“ Henry was in debt to both
France and Brittany-[3 for his invasion expenses, and had in

fact left some mm as pledges on the continent.M

 

9. Rolls of Parliament, VI,'27l-75, 276-78.

10. Bacon, He The Seventh, p. 3173 Liunicipal'Archives of York
in Williams, g gear—1E gnder The EarI'i'Tudbrs, pig-4;.

11. Fortescue, Sir o , e Governance of England: Otherwise
Called The Difference?etween An Absolute And'A

.onarc y es Plummer, ed., 0 or , c p. . '

12. c orn, Imrljar Tudor Govemmmt, p. 20; Rolls of Parliament,
VI 241; Statutes oTtheHealijuders, A., Tonflins, T. 8.,
Raithby, 7., and others, 11 voIs., London, 1810-28), 1 Rich.
III e. 2. All statutes cited from this work.

13'. Gairdner, Hen The Seventh. pp. 18-19.

14. Bacon, Hairy e Seventh, p. 318.

 

-5-

Parliament , by attainting some of the Opposition, put some
choice lands in the royal grasp, but whether from benevolence or
policy, Henry Ind so many saving clauses and exemptions entered
in these, md the act which restored to the crown all lands alien-
ated since 1455, that much was left untouched.15 The general act
of resumption was nevertheless sufficient to establish the king
financially. Henry did not ask for a specific money grant in
his first parliament, perhaps as Bacon suggested, "because he had
received satisfaction from them in matters of so great import-
ance,...'15 but he did obtain a grant of tunnage and poundage
for life.“ This money was supposed to be used for defence of
the seas, but had come to be regarded as a merely personal grant
to the king, since disbursements were not easily accounted for.18
Parliamentary grants were usually made by fiftemths and tenths
(of the value of personalty) and had become stereotyped in
amount and lessened frequently by exemptions in favor of "decayed"
”118.19
to a feeling of gratitude over parliament's tractability; more

. That Hairy did‘ not press for a grant was perhaps due

likely however, Henry did not at that moment need the money.

 

—w‘

15. Rolls of Parliament, VI, 276, 356-37, 559-84.

16. Bacon,H enry The Seventh, p. 317.

17. Rolls 0 arTiammt, VI, 268-69.

18. Fortescue, Tfie Evernance of England, chap. 6.

19. Pickthorn, Tirly Tudor rmvement, p. 21, quoting Dowell,
History of TTaEatIon, III, 69, say 3 a fifteenth and tenth to-
ge er equalled 5 39, 000. A RelationL Or Rather A True
Account, Of The Island Of :21 land .fith Surf Partldflars
UT "he ms‘fomso Of These PeopEe And 03' The Roygl Revenues
Under H1315 Henry The Seventh; About 1500 (Trans., marlotte
Kfigusta aaeyd, Iondon, 1847)fhereaft'er referred to as
Italian Relation, p. 52, estimates one-fifteenth to be

roan a single source, and 1. 37,950 from the commons,
ecclesiastics, and lay-lords combined. I am inclined to
think more of the modern estimate.

 

 

~6-
The astute Tudor saw the danger in.unnecessary or illotimed tar -
tion, and.rarely deviated from.thc principle of asking only when
he was positive of receipt.

The remaining question insofar as the Crown was directly
concerned, had to do with has power which the nobility had wielded
in government throughout the century. There is no question that
the War of the Roses with its constant attaindsrs and counterv
attainders, battles, murders, and preperty destruction, had deci-
mated the nobility's ranks, and rendered inconsequential many of
the remainder. However, there were still men like the Earl of
Oxford, who compounded with the king for L 10,000 as a result of
keeping liveried retainers contrary to the lawxzo to restrain
these men.Renry'made conscious efforts to remove them.from.the
sphere of political influence and to replace them with.men who
would be dependent upon hhnself fer promotion.and prestige.

This was fortunate flor'the nation at large for the counsel of
merchants or Churchmen was mere often in.favor of peace and

commercial expansion than.war. In this reapect, as we shall

see, Henry and the nation were as one. The most complicated

dealings of this monarch can usually be explained in terms of
peace and commercial prosperity, since in no other way could

Henry Tudor Justify'his rule than by assuring to his subjects
that.which they desired.

2. For thirty years the Houses of Ybrk and Lancaster had been

contending for'the throne. English.merchants had been conduct-

 

20. Bacon, ggnry The Seventh, p. 456.

-7-
ing a similar struggle throughout the period, with a less noble
but more important foe, and for far less ephemeral reasons.
Despite the lack of a comprehensive protectionist policy ”English
merchants had made serious inroads upon the monopolies exercised
in their respective spheres by the Italians and the merchants of
the Bones. The Hanseatic League, which first received official
English mention in 1282,21 had by virtue of its close-knit organi-
zation and the essential quality of the commodities in which it
dealt, benefitted far more than other groups from the liberal
policy of earlier hunger?2 ‘s‘ahilo the Flemish traded principally
in fine cloth, the Italians in wines and eastern luxuries, and
the Gascons in since and roads (dyes), the fiance merchants
imported the necessities of 31311811 life. One of these products
was herring, which had long been a staple food in Lurope. In
the middle of the Fifteenth Century, a curious phenomenon de- '
stroyed the Ranseatic control of this industry. The unromantic,
but lucrative, business, which they had regarded as theirs in
perpetuity, was lost when the fish inexplicably transferred their
habitat from the Baltic to the shores of Holland.23 This, coupled
with the great geographic discoveries which came at the end of the
century as a result of the need for bullion and alternative trade
routes to those now barred by the Turkish conquerors, shifted
the bulk of commerce to the Netherlands and England. As might

be expected, the new prosperity of the nation was overshadowed

21. Lodge, R., The Close Of The Fiddle Ages: 1273-1494 (London,
I 1906); 13014280 ' ’
22s Traill, H. Do, and I‘Iann, Jo Se. eds., 30013111 land: A
Record of the Proeress of the People (Iondon, £602}, II, 342.
23. 150359, The Close 81'

The iiiddle Ages, p. 450.

~8-
by an increasingly disproportionate income differential: while
an Italian observer marvelled at the costly apparel and jewelry
he saw in London, he also commented that the peOple were treated
like slaves.24 On one side of the new picture stood men like
Thomas Paycocke, the cloth merchant, and William Canynges of
Bristol, who owned ten ships, employed eight hundred men, and
once entertained King Edward IV.25 The obverse revealed an ever
increasing number of luckless people who lost the old, and could
not adapt to the new life.

Trade had been conducted on an intermunicipal basis through-
out the middle ages; the merchant of Bmges had traded in York
under an agreement between the two cities. Local privileges and
restrictions had grown up in a haphazard and immensely complex
manner. IThis was justifiable, indeed essential, for a merchant
of York had no government backing if he were beaten or cheated
at Bruges, and redress would have to be at the expense of the
next merchant from Bruges who was found in York.

With the increasing prestigeof the central governments in
Fiance, Spain, Burgundy, and England, the need for such small
scale bargaining was past and nation began treating with nation.
To have an hypothetical state of free-trade bog down in a maze '
of municipal by-laws and gild ordinances was highly undesirable,
but not until 1437 was active governmental intervention con-
sidered feasible or imperative. In that year a statute was

passed to restrain corporations from the creation of ordinances

A. A-
M A

v—

24. Italian Relation, p. 13. ' '
25. Salaman, L. 17., En lish Trade in the ruddle A es, (Dxford,
1931), p. 439 Treve yan, . M, « g Iistor;

(London, 19-2 , p. 84.

    

.9-

inimical to the public intorest.26

There apparently was never
any serious enforcement of the provisions of this act. Half a
century earlier an attesrpt 1:.ad been made to check, or at least
investigate, the activities of gilds insofar as they restrained
trade. By order 0:? parliament in 1:1. 9 all 111311811 (31161:: had to
explain their functions; capios of the returns they made to

27 1:511:11 these two tentative

Chancery are still in existence.
efforts the government halted, and not until the reign of Henry VII
do we find legislation W-liCh is peculiarly modern in its assertion
of central authority.

mland's bigw est export com: odity had always been wool.
Both the northern and so athcrn llzropean cities were concerned
with mlish wool, for from it came the luloirious cloths of
Flanders and Italy. As early as the Thirteenth Century the
great Arte della Lana, or wool gild, of Florence was dealing
in futures in the English woolen market, and had purchased the
prospective crop for two years.28 While at least some cloth
must have been ezc'ported from Ingland in this earlier period,
the major portion of it was probably unlini hod. This cloth
was frequently'peddled on the Blemish market, where it was
reworked and sold, often in Sir-31am, at an increase.

Trade was mainly in the hands of foreigners until the time
of Henry VII; after his reign the major portion was controlled,

260 15 “on. VI Co 60 ‘

27. finith, Toulmin, ed.. ish Gilda: The Orii incl 0 .
of More than One IIundre- ' .: sn - .1,
*‘ ve arson he ' .v. epmcn o p .3

 

    

I I l l I III" I! 1| '1} '1‘ III .IIIIII'I ‘l- . ll

-10-

by Englishmen.29 Probably because the individual merchant could
neither amass the requisite capital, nor'protect his interests
in foreign ports, two strong organizations developed in England.50
The oldest was known as the Kerchants of the Staple, or Staplers.
This group, who enjoyed Royal sanction since they acted as revenue
collectors for the Crown, had a monopoly on the export of wool,
woolfells (the sheep-shins), tin, and.leather, all of the staple
commodities. Nationality was mixed, since members might be citi-
zens of the area in vnich the Staple was maintained. various
towns were chosen as the site of the Staple, but from ‘he latter
part of the middle ages until 1558 it was located at Calais. In
that year Calais was lost to the French. The members of tie
Staple possessed powers of self-determination, had courts to
enforce their decrees and enjoyed a complete monopoly over trade,
in their commodities, at the Staple. To encourage them the
central government often waived the payment of customs. Those
Staplers were by far the strongest group of English merchants
until the time of Henry VII.

The second organization was styled the Eerchant Adventurers.
Originally this had been a generic term, for in medieval days
one could hardly be the former without the attributes of the
latter. The term had c me to be applied to a group of mercers,
primarily from London, whose common interests led them to con-
solidate for purposes of continental expansion. membership was

conditioned upon British citizenship, an interesting trace of

 

29. Green, Ere. J. R. Town life in the Fifteenth Century (2 vols.,
' N. 35., 1894), I, fee. * ,
30. Cross, Charles, The Gild Herchant: A Contribution to British
Epnicipal history (2 vels., Oxford,‘1990), l, chap.‘€.

.11..
nationalism long before that concept should have found expression;
this qualification was never roles-zed: as we shall see it induced
them to forego profit in one of the crises of Henry \‘II's reign.
Unlike the Staplers the Adventurers dealt almost solely with
cloth, both finished and unfinished, which they sold at Antwerp
and Bruges. These men were held together only by private
contract} they had no send-official status and so were less
capable of wresting concessions, or dexmnding protection from
the Crown.

The interests of these two groups were diverse, in fact
completely opposed, since the one wanted wool for export, while
the other desired cloth. Both groups were united in their
desires for a larger volume of wool from the English country-
side. Their policies called forth two conflicts in inglish
society. An impetus was given to reel production, which
hastened the enclosure movement; beyond that the whole question
of agrarian v. urban life was involved. The Sixteenth Century
was to see one aspect of the problem resolved. dot until the
Industrial Revolution was the second conflict ended.

V‘Jhm Henry Tudor became king in 14:85 it was possible to
discern the first feeble motions of a giant-modern trade. The
Venetian: still sent their yearly convoy— the se-called
"Flanders Galleys”~-uto England for wool, and the merchants of
the Itanse, with their headquarters in the "Steelyard" at
London, continued to exercise their chartered rights. thile
conditions were not so bad as in former years-u in 1548, for

instance, members of the iianse lead purchased the entire year's

-12...

production of Cornish tin51~ there was still no clearly defined
protectionist policy to aid the British merchants. Certain
”mercantilist" acts had been passed in the reign of Richard II
(1377-1399) but the motives for them must be souzht in the realm
of expediency rather than economic theory. By the first the
precedent was established that no foreign merchant could sell
goods at retail in England, and that English merchants had to
import and export all goods only infihglishships.52 The avail-
able shipping facilities of the English at that period were so
inadequate, hat an amendment which gave Mlish ships a pre-
ferential, but not obligatory, primacy was made in the following
year.

These acts had. been strengthened by the first parliament of
Richard III (1483-84). By statute the Italians (the charter
of the flame protected its members from much of this legislation)
were enjoined to buy English goods with the profits they had
earned from the sale of imported commodities. Those goods which
they were unable to sell were to be removed from the kingdom.34
The fact that a just profit was reserved to them before they had
to purchase English goods was probably small consolation.

Certain'other acts had been passed by another of Henry's
predecessors. In the reim of inward IV some silk articles were
barred from entrance-um the words of the statute, "ribbons,

gyrdles, and corses"335 and no money, foreign or domestic, was

 

31. Trail]. and Mann, Social England, II, 342.
32. 5 R1011. II On 36
33. 6 R1011. II 00 80
349 1 Rich. III C. 9.
' 55. 22 131W. IV C. 50

-13-
allowed to leave the realm. 1 ".'."ith these exceptions, none of
whic h seriously threatened the big; est co:- .1petitive organization,
the ILanse, not mush had been done to in euro 111 {5115111 :1en a trading

supremacy in their own waters.

3. Before any detailed study of English towns can be made, one
must gain an appreciation of the physical conditions in Fifteenth
Century England. Probably ninety-per cent of the population was
agrarian; even the largest towns had an incredibly small number
of inhabitants. here is no method by which an absolut ely ac-
curate retrospective censu s can be taken, but most estimates of

57 It can

t: e total population rare-e from four to five millions.
certainly have been no higher than the latter figure in lionry
VII's reign, for the poll tax of 1377 gave returns 11st on
about two-and-ene-half-millien peeple138this was about a genera-
tien after the Black Death of 1348-49 and so probably represent .1-
ed a low point in population. There is, however, no reason for
believing that the figure would more than double in the next
hundred years since the modern avenues for popular increases-
sanitation, medical discoveries, and feed surpluses—were as
yet unopened. London had perhaps 100,000 citizens; less than a
dozen other cities claimed 6,000 or more inhabitants; and no

city, outside of London, had a pepulatien of more than 20,000.

 

366 17 ms. IV Co 1'. '

37. Trail]. and 1.2mm, Social B1;1land, 11,3233;
Tudor Govern-sent, p. 08.

58..Traill and Zlann, Social England, II, 325.

'0

ici:thorn,: hrly

 

-14.
Coventry, one of the oldest cities of the interior (in the Rolls
of Parliament it is always classified as a city and not merely
a borough) with an important fair and three veekly markets, had
only 6,601 inhabitants when its first census, which was prompted
by a famine, was taken in 1520.39 The average English town had
a weekly market if we may judge by grants like the one Henry VII
made to John Trelauney in 1487, in which among other t sings he
was given the right to hold a market each week: the grant was
stereotyped in wording, apparently because the request was con-
ventional.40 London, on the other hand, had a continuous narket

to supply its needs.41

It may be readily determined, then, that
Coventry, with only 6 ,601 peeple, was considerably larger than
the average town. .

"At the present,” wrote an anonymous Venetian, "all the
beauty of this island is confined to London}... It abounds with
everyarticle of luxury, as well as with the necessaries of
lit‘ez..."42 The other towns, of which only Bristol and York
were consequential, he added, all chose officials in emulation
of Londoni‘“3 With the exception of the last statement , which

is much too'easy an explanation of the surprising unifomity

4— A

39. The Coventry Lost Book: 0r 3.2111 or's Re ister Conta the
ficeoords of 111.th Courflee or Viewo m 1. e -. . '

- e 1‘; w o vers o 1er ma ers 111ary i-rmer an s, --.,
tendon, 16071913) , pp. 674.75. ' '

40. Calendar of Charter olls: Vol. VI Sflenry VI—B Hm“): I,

 

 

on n,
.EEw, 3051', 1". 5.111110101‘ London ”(Charles Lethbricge Kingsi'ord,
I w... .OXfOI'd,

42. Italian Relation p. 41.
45. Ibid” p. i1?“

.15-
in English town governments, his observations are quite pert—-
inent. London was the largest of English towns, and had been
so for years. Bristol and York were, by 1500, the only 0 eher
towns which seemed able to survive the depression that had
ruined many ancient commercial centers.

In the Fourteenth Century the greatest ports in mime
were the Cinque Ports ,w a collection of tomes wz‘zich fringed the
southern coast of maland. The officials of these ports had
develOped an extremely powerful protective association. The
early successes England enjoyed in the Hundred Year's War,
when Edward III and his men had reac had the heig hts of feudal
glory, brought prosperity to English soil. -ne wines, dyes,
and cloth of the captured French provinces were shipped to
33.310.11.61 in ever-increasing amomts by the merchants of the
Cinque Ports.

All this had changed when the war ended, and mland
emerged with Calais as the slender prize gained from a century
of struggle. not only were the rich Gascon towns closed to
fur-flier despoilment, but business habits and needs had altered.
The men of the Cinque Ports found that bigger coralbinations
were needed, and that a business which was closed to them—nthe
woolen industry-muss rapidly expanding. Cloth had likewise .
become a more important article in international trade. London,
which had always been large, was becoming huge at the expense of
other towns and the countryside. 'Ihe Cinque Ports never

recovered from this combination of ciroizmsnzaneesfl‘4

fi

44. Green, Town Life in the Fifteenth Century, I, chap. 12.

-16...

Many of the other English towns, particularly the inland
ones, suffered from the conditions which.made London great.
Towns like Cambridge, Coventry, I‘Iottingjham and Salisbury were
inunmorial centers of commerce. All of them had yearly fairs
which attracted people from all parts of the kingdom, and all
of thm had been nearly self-sufficient. This qrality, self-
sufficiency, was in a way the reason for their decay. In cor..-
positien, and in theory, these towns reflected the medieval
system: they produced what was required; if a surplus appeared
the local market consuned it. then travel was restricted,
when trade was largely foreign controlled, and local farms
produced for local marl-zeta these terms had been important
centers, but with the creation.oi'native capitalists like
those of London, and the insidious growth of. extra-term manu-
facturing, many of then declined in importance. The terms
”impoverished tom" and "decayed town” became sermon in parlia-
mentary :cscordstll‘5

One of the relatively safe generalizations of English
history is that town govemment, despite possible democratic
origins, had, by the close of the fifteenth Century, become to
a large extent oligarchic.46 Through the craft gild system
the same conditions prevailed in town economics. The gild was
the medieval town's chief instrument for coercion and the
guarantee of security. Like the representatives of most vested

interests, the city and gild officials, when placed in an in-

r—

415. Rolls‘oi‘ Parliament, VI,'401, 459, 442, 514.
46. gross, :[L'er EfiId i.-erchant, I, 110.

-17-
creasingly perilous situation, chose legislation against instead
of adaptation to events.

The gilds of which I shall speak in th a paper are the
craft gilds, that is, vertical organizations which offered mem-
bership to men engaged in every phase of a particular article's
production. Gilda of this sort were of a later Cate tlmn reli-
gious gilds and the {jilds merchant, which were the predecessors
to great companies like the lierchant Adventurers. timbers of a
merchant gild had been primarily interested in trade, although
the man who produced as well as sold an article was not excluded.
Religious gilds were created for the presentation of a pageant,
a morality or miracle play and as a means of old age protection.
Members usually took care of their enfeebled associates, per-
formed obsequies, and prayed for the souls of departed brothers
or sisters. The craft gilds, which were interested in all
aspects of production and distribution, as well as social bene-
fits and religious performances, overlapped the jurisdictions
of the other two types of gilds.47 ’

Mien production had been limited and little capital had
been required to open a shop, 'he craft gild had zzzaintained
much closer affinity with the bulk of craftsmen than the oli-
garchic gild merchant, but with the increase in capital, ex-
pansion of markets, and growth of populations, the relation-
ship altered. Competition was reflected in the increasing
severity of regulatory policy, the lengthened period of appren-

47. Smith, 311511.821 Gilda, CBZCiIII.

-13-

tices‘nip, and the larger ailments of capital required to meet
ail d entranc e qual 1 fi ca tionsoé‘:8

the chief difficulty which fac ed an anxious candidate was
his inability to meet the high qualifications necessary for
entrance into any craft 511d. Fees were enacted from appren-
tices w} 1011 the original indentures were made and also at the
completion of the quali flying per iod when the transition from
apprenticeship to jounieymm status was accomplished..49 In
lti-OG a state. He 0.? Henry IV had provided that no apprentices
were to be taken for certain trades except from families worth

twenty shillings a year in lands or rents. 50 This piece of

repressive legislation had been repealed as to London in 142951-
an indication of that city's ira‘luence in parliamenta-but it
stood for the rest of England until the reign of Ilenry VII.
Besides Mfilling property qualifications applicants had to
meet rigid standards of worlenanship. It seems reasonable to
suppose that as conditions worsened, standards within the gilds
grew more severe. This does not mean that 511d masters purpose-
ly barred le5itimate applicants. To maintain control of the
local market production had to be limited: to effect this
monopoly some means of elirination had to be devised, and in
certain cases the defects must have existed in the worried

imaginations of the masters rather than in the work of the

applicants. At any rats an unhealthy situation was created,

Wfi v'

48. Ibid.. CXLII’L

49. We. QJJCO

50. : Elan. IV C. 17.

51. Traill and Llann, Social England, II, 548.

~19.

for many towns became burdened with.dissatisfiod journeyman Who
had neither the capital nor the Opportunity to become master of
their own shops. Those day laborers became:more numerous
throughout the Iiftcenth Century, and occupied a position simi-
lar to tiose rural peasants who had become divorced from the
soil. Kith.the creation of a large class of workers who were
separated from.the-means of production great strides had.been .
taken in the painful shift from a medieval to a modern economy.

Despite infractions most gilds were able to maintain rela-
tively high standards of workmanship. Tools were required to
be of superior'make and.nany by-laws were passed to prevent
short-cuts in production. host gilds had Overseers who constantl
checked their:members' households to prevent faulty workmanship.
In the ordinances of the Itllers Gild.of Bristol it was provided
"that whosoever does such bad work shall pay for the ease the
full price of the cloth:...52 This was primarily selfish it
may be supposed, since there was less chance of active foreign
competition if standards were sufficiently high, but itwwould be
a.mistake to ignore the pride which seems to have been very
evident within the crafts. Ken who had served seven-year ap-
prenticeships were in all probability more skilled than the
extra-gild.competitors of the countryside.

At this period the gpmestic system was becoming important.
This method of home production differed frdm an earlier one
not so much in means as in ends. Prior to this most families
had provided clothing and many other articles for their own

w—

52. Ordinances of the Fullers' Gild of Bristol, in Smith,§§flish
‘ Gilda, p. 285.

-20...
consumption, but in the late Fifteenth Century the predecessor
to the modern industrialist came into being. litany of these men-
called badgers, brokers, factors, or chapmen— travelled through-
out the rural areas and purchased, from families, cloth or yarn
which they disposed of in large commercial centers like London.53
They were regarded about as favorably as usurers, for con-
temporaries felt that they contributed nothing to the product
and made an unwarranted profit by buying cheap and selling dear.
In medieval theory there had been no room for middle-men;
through fairs and markets the producer had been physically in-
troduced to the consumer. ‘u'ahenfairs and markets had performed
this task in an adequate manner, because of the infrequency of
travel and the difficulty of comrmnication, chapmen could not
have existed, but the case was altered by the revival of non-
parochial thinking and a more nearly modern emphasis upon
trade. By reuniting producers and consumers thesenen gave a
real impetus to the development of modern business.

While it is still too early to speak of specialized labor
in the modern sense, by the end of the Fifteenth Century one
can find certain groups which depend upon one aspect of a par-
ticular industry for sustenance. By this I mean to except the
cmftsmen who had always performed a single function but were
skilled workers, and not necessarily subject to the vagaries
of woolen production. In 1448 an act mentioned those who "do

know none other occupations“ than the woolen industry, and are

 

53. Green, Town Life in the Fifteenth Century, II, 67.

-21..
”constrained for their living to do the same- occupations."54 In
the reign of Edward IV a statute forbade further partial payment
of "pins, girdles and other unprofitable wares" to these iso-

55 By the very fact that these

lated workers by entrepreneurs.
domestic workers were isolated producers of small quantities of
cloth, much of which was produced by the inexpert hands of
minors, it should be obvious that they were at a disadvantage
in striking bargains. If nothing else this argues for the pro-
duction of goods which compete very favorably with those
produced by the gilds due to. the relatively low quality of
labor and materials involved.

Besides combatting foreign workmen gild members had to
deal with malcontents within the organizations. ifany journey-
mm who despaired of becoming masters, and apprentices who saw
in journeyman their future selves, began to evade gild re-
strictions. The loss of prestige and effective control by the
gilds led to a lessened interest in their perpetuation: when
a craft 3116. could no longer offer security, entertainment,
and a voice intovtn govemiment to its adherents, the major in-
centives for Joining were gone. hany masters also began to
circumvent the protective by-laus which related to hours of
work, numbers of apprentices, and the amomts which could be
produced in any one shop.

It would be a mistake to compare the Journeyman of this

period with those of the Eighteenth Century Industrial Revolu-

 

54. 26 Hen. VI 00 70
55. Quoted in Traill and tiann, Social England, II, 550.

-22-

tion for these men were products of the gild system and their
thinking; was as orthodox in medieval content as that of their
masters. What these men sougl'zt was the opportunity which had
been theirs in earlier times, but which they had lost by the
natural develOpments which had made the gild system obsolescent.
Just as the peasants in 1381 were more interested in security
of land tenure and the abolition of villeinage than the fiery

talk of communism attributed to John Ball "the mad priest of

"56

Kent, the early Tudor workers demanded reform rather than

radical alteration. This is an especially English trait:
as one writer has remarked, in England reforms "were always

conservative in purpose and for [the] most part aimed against

new measures and conditions."57

4. To determine the prosperity or depression of the agrarian
populace from 1485 to 1509 we must first familiarize ourselves
with the economics of the previous century. This is by no

means an easy problem for materials illustrative of the period

are scarce.58 Sir John Fortescue found little cause for com-

plaint in Fifteenth Century England. In his legal and politi-
cal science treatises De Laudibus Leg-pm Angliae and Governance

of England he gave rather glowing descriptions of the pros-

56. Travelyan, George itacauley, gangland in the Age of Wycliffe
(London,‘1935), chap. 6. “I ' '

5'7. Einstein, Lewis, Tudor Ideals (N. Y., 1921), p. 96.

58. Protherc, R. I3. (Cord Emle), @glish Farming; Past and
Present, (London, 1927). "Agriculturally, itsTthe
Fifteenth Century's history is almost a blank. The silence
has been interprets in different ways." p. 48.

.23..

parity and manliness of the English farmers.59 A later writer,
BishOp Latimer, reminiscing over his childhood, depicted a
similar situation}?o while we lmow from the Fasten Letters
that (assent Paston, a farmer who married a bond-woman, was
able to send his son to school.61

Yet these reports are strangely at variance with the
accounts given in the early part of the next century. Almost
without exception the Sixteenth Century writers decried the
poverty and injustice rampant in the land. Latimer, who had
drawn an engaging picture or his childhood, was appalled by
the misfortunes of contemporary farmers. Sir Thomas here's
indignant wrds on the same subject are easily the most
literary, but certainly not the strongest in protest.68

The existence of two bodies of contradictory reports leads
us ineluctably to four alternative conclusions. Either the
early writers were mistaken, or the later ones were incorrect
in their appraisals, or both, or something drastic actually
had takm place in the period in between. The answer would '
seem to be a combination of all these possibilities, however,
for history and logic have little in semen. The tendency to

 

m

59. Fortescue, Sir John, De Laudibus Legum migliae (edition, 1616,
notes by John SeldenffiondonT. fnclo sures produced sturdy
yeomen, pp. 65-9. The Governance of Lapland chap. 13.
Panegyric upon English courage and condition.

60. Sermons B' 111.1th Latimer: Sometime BishOp of Morcester
(fieryman ed., London, 1926), p. 85.

61. The Paston Letters: A. D. 1422-1509 (6 vols., James Gairdner,
66., London, 1904), I, 28.

62. The Ute is of Sir Thomas Pore: In Latin from the Edition of
Wm an n .r- rom the First Edition 0W

0 on's rans a on Jun n, e ., ,

 

   

«24,.-

glorify the past, and to overestimate the severity of present
hardships, is a human trait which.must always be considered,
especially when analyzing social literature. Because of the
paucity ef‘materials, any characterisation of the Fifteenth
Century is necessarily hazardous, but several things are apparent.
The practice of land enclosure had begun; villain status was
rapidly disappearing; villain tenure of land had been converted
‘into the so-called cepyhold tenure: and for various reasons the
agrarian populace was dwindling. no two most significant
trends which affected agrarian workers were the emancipation
from serfdom, and divorce from the soil.63

"At the end.ef the thirteenth century most Englishman were
unfree: by the middle of the sixteenth, the mass of them.were
free."64 The reasons for this development must be sought in the
decline of feudalism, the emergence of capital, and a gradual,
but decided change in agricultural techniques. Just as the
effects of the Black Death have been greatly'magnified, so the
importance of it as the cause for new types of land tenure and
personal status has probably been overemphasized. There seems
to be no doubt, however, that it was instrumental in hastening
the advent of a slowly evolving, and decidedly unfeudal, system.

The free or servile status of the English peasant has been

the subject of much research and debate, but today certain things

63. Easbach, W., A History of the English Agricultural Labourer
' (trans., Ruthfhenyen,*Londen, 1920}, p.134.
64. Pickthorn, :hrly Tudor Government, p. 168 (based on a statea
ment:made by is P} Cheyney in an article "The Disappearance of
1 elish Serfdom: in.Eh E. R., XV, 20).

-25-

seem quite clear. One of them is that while the serf was
outside the cormon law, and was legally comparable to the

slave in Roman Law theory, in practice he was far better off.
The distinguishing characteristics of unfree, as Opposed to
free tenure are three: an obligation to perform prodial
services; the uncertainty of the types of service involved; and
the paymmt of labour rather than a certain rent.65 'The real
test of medieval villain tenure, then, seemed to be a compul-
sory expenditure of time and effort in uncertain agrarian labor.
Glanvill and Bracton, two medieval lawyers, were at a loss to
categorize the confusing and ill—defined position of the serf

who in Anglo~3axen England had enjoyed more riehts than were

k.

assigned to his continental fellows.66 These logists sought
to define the English serf in terms of the Roman slave. Under
the Roman theory one either enjoyed freedom or was an absolute

slave, and in medieval England this rather unsatisfactory

67

dichotomy was also applied. This, of course, meant that

the sort was totally without rights, could be transferred to
another area, and was unable to own property. however, as the
systan was used in England, deepite legal theory, the serf was
never in quite the same position as those who lived under the
Civil Code. The serf was allowed to dispose of, and accumulate

preperty, saving of course, the manorial land, or wainage. He

65. Lipsony Eb, An Introduction to the Economic History of

@gland, (London, 1926), 1', 347-9.

66. u an on, F. 2.1., kyle-Saxon England (Oxford, 1950), pp. 466-
68 (chap. l4 has—fan extended discussion of this problem).

67. Lipson, Ehenomic History of mflland, I, 40.

 

-26-
was treated as a freeman in the courts of Zing-land,68 that is,
he was allowed certain civil and criminal actions, and lastly,
he was almost invariably bound to the soil. It would appear
from this, that the Lnglish serf was an agrarian worker who
was free to all save his immediate lord.

Quite conceivably that forced labor to which he was
subject was performed by the serf in a grudging manner. Those
who had managed to acquire private land would dislike their in-
ability to spend all their time working it, and tie-.ose who had
not prospered, either Enough misfortune or laziness, would
also complain of the loss of valuable time. than money achieved
a wider circulation it became common practice for these labor
services to be transmuted into money payments. With the elimina-o
tion of labor services the fundamental basis of serfdom dis-
appeared. From this followed a gradual reduction in the numbers
of. the populace who were unfree, although now paying rent as
their free neighbors did. This transition is so gradual that
we can safely say neither peasant uprisings, statutes, court
decisions, nor manunission provide trustworthy explanations of
it. More likely the serfs derived their greatest aid from the
very movement which was to effectually bar then from an interest

in the soil in succeeding centuries. The break-down of the

feudal system which made it relatively easy for serfs to either

 

68. The preemption was that a child was free unless proved other-
wise. Select Cases In The‘Star Chamber: ‘1477-1509 (Seldom
Society, ed., 1. S. Leadam, London, 1903), XVI, czc-Liv.
Freedom of a child in Eiglami depended on the male parent's
status, not the fanale's as in the Civil Code countries;
of. Fortescue, De Laudibus, chap. 42.

.27..
escape or buy their way out of serfdom, also transferred the land
from them to another (recap.

At this time, and long after, he English commtryside was
unbroken by fences, hedges, or ditches. Pars" in: was com? acted by
the 23313 W system which provided for cornmeal participation
in the arable land of each manor. Aside from the small portions
of land adjacent to the homes of the tenants which were reserved
to them as customary garden-plots, the arable land was usually .
divided into sections internally-portioned into two or three
large fields. - Under either system one field was allowed to
remain fallow for a year while the remainder was cultivated.

Each field was divided into long, narrow strips, whose boundaries,
called balks, were never plowed under. A tenant claimed certain
strips within each field as his own prOperty, which might be
transmitted to 1" s heir if the holding were one of an inheritable
nature. Originally the arable land had not been held in sever-
alty, that is, each tenant had possessed an undivided interest

69 he strips wl'iich might have been allotted to a

in the land.
man in one year would go to another in the following; season, but
seen this ”shifting" tenure had been succeeded by a real interest
in particular strips of land on the part of individual tenants.70
The entire system, cumbrous as .it appears to us with our
notions of private property and sell-marl-ced boundaries , was a
logical application of medieval thought. Communal interests

were immeasurably superior to personal ones 3 indeed, another way

69. Lipson, Eponomic Mstory of England, I, 65-6.
'70. _]_:_____bid., I, 66.

-23..
of r gordirg the question wouldr not have occ erred to them, at
least publicly. ihe question they had to resolve was this:
1101': can good and bad land best be a: : ":cr tioncd even." a umber
of equally deserving tenants? and the rose-l :tion was, of course,

tint system . *11i011 we have described above, chrrpaiggn, champion,

 

 

or open field farm 13.

he have still to determine the situation with regard to the
uncultivated land of the rte-nor, which often exceeded the arable
in acreage. Ellis land was either meadow, waste, or wooduland.
If meadow the same division into art ips prevailed, wi th this
exception that throughout the medieval period "shiftin"” tenure
prevailed, and strips were often e: {clmmged every year.71 Also,
after haying season the entire meadow land was tirewn Open to
comzzuon use, as were the cultivated lands when the crops had
been harvested 0.. Waste land was that portion which ei ther Through
poor drainage or barrennoss could only support inferior vegetan
tion; this area was comon property, by sufferance of the lord
of the manor, who could oviden ely withdraw it from his tenants
use providing he left a reasonable portion for the free-men to

‘73

enjoy. Woods were used extensively both for fuel and timber,

and for the grazing of swine.
This right of common was anything but simple in its Opera-
tion. Legally, there were five types: 00121121011 appendent, corsaon

appurtenant, sermon in gross, common pur cause do vicinage, and

'73

common of shack. The first was that which customably went

'71. Prothero, English Farm inf; Past and Pres sent, pp. 25-6..
'72. Below, p. 51.
'73. Holdsworth, w. 3., A History of English Law (12 vols., London,

 

-29-

with mnerial tenure; the second are so from an additional, in-
dependent agreement between lord and tenant; the third tens
applied when rights were granted to persons having: no interest
in the soil of the never; the fourth arose when two adjoini; g
rumors abutted on an ill-defined wast ; while the last applied
when cultivated lands were grazed in an off-season. Divorced
from rights of common a memorial holding was liable to be

some hing; less than m1 asset. 120st tenants could not afford
to pasture their steel-z upon their own holdings, and xvi thout
stool: they were cripolod. A cow, an 0:: (horses were not
favored as draft animals since prejudice taught their flesh
was carrion, and they were less resistant to abuse) and some
swine were necessary for existence. The umber of each sort
was rigidly limited in proportion to the acreage held by the
tenant, and by the exigencies of the situation: only by
jealously conserving the grass from his strips of meadow

could a tenant aspect to get his stock through a winter. This
led to a concerted overgrazing of the commons which in tum
caused deterioration of both pasture and stock. Featuring in
common was productive of another result, also, for it made
selective breeding an 3.:11possibili ty. There is not much doubt
that modern farmers would be shocked at the wraith-like animals
of a medieval English xtzaner. All of which is beside the point,
for the most acute persons must always have felt the inadequacy

of their methods; people are not, however, prone to alterna-

 

1938), III, 143-443 of. Prothero, :hglish Earning Past and
Present for a discussion of rights over arable, meadows,
and waste.

 

-30-
tives which will benefit only futaro genera tiens. Poor as the
system was, and st fling as it rust have been to the original
minded, it offered a ItiOCiCUlJ of sec rit y for all.

310st condemlations of the manor sys- t3... sec-1:106. to be aismd
pm 41:11:11”; at'the restrictions placed on the individual, and on
the wasteful, thus-consuming; and convention-ridden methods oi"
cultivation employed. These remarks are a little unfair when
the situation is considered, for certainly, there was no em-
phasis placed 11; 1on the individual then and "11ers wer few
other ch 111013 into vhic‘n energy could have been lirectcd. Any
evaluation of a defunct mode of life which consists solely of
an eni‘avorable comparison with ZIOLJSI‘D living; is sex; what unreal.
Times were undoubteCd'y hard and e::istence when not precarious
was almost certainly on a basic level, but t1‘2at has little to
do with the happiness or unhappiness; of the participants.

As Ilenry 11.11 is the Light to be the first king oi‘1:1odom
maland, so his subjects, or some of ti 161:1, are rerjarded as
pioneers of modern fanning. Both generalizations have the
faults inherent in that species 0.1 statement, but they are
convenient points of departure.

The most condemned and most simificant symptom of the
”agrarian revolution," as it is temed, was the enclosure
covenant. then enclosmg began, and it was far earlier tn
14:85, lhgland looked as we have already described it, the land
was open and divided interr ally by unnlov'ed strips; when en-
closing, ceased, after the Eighteenth Century, “gland looked

as any modern area does with neatly fenced, individual fields.

.31- .

The transition was not accomplished without heart—ache, resent-
ment and physical distress. It is a story equally as dramatic
as the history of industrial growth in the cities; together
they represent an amazing transformation in society.

Enclosures as such were familiar to 39.1311 an farmers even
in the early medieval period. The first "enclosure" act, but
one vastly different from thesesoi’ theiudor parliaments, was

the Statute of Merton in 18:56.?4

. This, complemented by that
of Westminster the Second (1285),75 seems to be the basis for
the assmption that waste land is comaonable only by sufferance
of the 10111.76 Most authorities tend to regard the acts as,
limitations upon the customary rights of tenants, not lords,
despite the provision that any enclosure of the waste by the
lord must be made with reference to the rights of free tenants.
This view some the more plausible, for the number of free .
tenants on any manor in the Thirteenth Century was quite small ,
and while "sufficient" waste was to be left for these tenants,
Just what constituted a sufficient amount could provide endless
and expensive litigation. The process often was carried on by
both tenant and lords at about this time we are told that
Thomas, Lord Berkeley, began the procuration of many releases

from his tenants for the purpose or enclosing the land, while
the free tenantry-of North Dichton thanselves appropriated a

L. L A A A Ag—A‘A

74. 20 Ben. III 0‘. 4:0 . ’ .
'75. 13 Elm}: c. 46.. Both revived by 3 and 4 Edw. VI c. 3.
'76. C‘urtler, W. H. R. , The Enclosure and Redistribution of Our

gamma-d, 1920), pp. 82-3; of Prothero, Mismiyg.
Po. 9

 

~32-

plaoe called ”Smneland with the moor. '77 The Rolls orParlia-
ment also evidence the early appearance of this practicefl8

The process gained momentun when it became increasingly
difficult for lords to find tenants. Originally it had been no
easy matter ibr a villain to flee the manor but with the dis-
integration and social ferment. of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Centuries from the Black Death, Peasant's'Revolt, Hundred Years
War, and War or the Roses, the difficulty, if not removed, was
at least lessened. Those who were willing to remain were not
willing to continue holding in villain tenure. E’Jhether this
was because of their desires for freedom or because the land
was incapable of supporting; them under suchonerous dues is in
dispute 3 suffice it to say that it happened.

mclosures varied in type and size, and by no means
received'equal abuse from the writers of the time. The early
Tudor enclosures were limited almost entirely to the mid-land
counties, and even there modern research has shown that a
relatively mall portion of the total acreage was involved:79
The practice was not, contrary to what we might suspect, confined
to the land-lords; in many instances there is evidence that

tenants, who were also aware of the advantages, consolidated

h; A AA ALA A g A A A...
.._v_. V .v— 7—.— w

'77. mrtler, The mclosm'e and Redistribution of Our nga p. 58.
78. In 1290 a car a mo e re enc ose c urge rent
for common pasture belonging to the men of Roger de Bray.
20113 of Parliament, I, 593 cited in Cartier, The anlosuro
‘ or u on ofOurLand p. 83.
79. WU (repro us on 0 Dr. Gay '8 tables from an
a ole ”Inolosures in England in the ySixteenth Can "in

the % erlz Journal of Economics, XVII. The ratio 0 '
enelos acres 0 acreage s not so sisnificant, though,

unless we know what percentage of the total was cultivated.

 

~33-
their holdings whenever possible.80 On a manor this could only
be accomplished by an agreement of all the tenants-inacommon to
extinguish their ancient rights. Conservatism is a concomitant
of agrarian life and seldom could 9. Tudor farmer persuade his
neighbors to relinguish their customary claims upon the land.
The exact proportions of land melosed by tenants as opposed to
land-olords can not be determined, but there is some reason for
believing that it was either slight, or did not involve a con-
version from cultivation to pastumge, tin-it is from corn to
sheep production. As Keir. Lipson points out, all legislation
denounced sheep enclosures; all contemporary literature dammed
the conversion from arable to pasture ; dopopulation was one of
the chief evils attributed to enclosing, and enclosures which
were made only to increase the value of corn land would not
have involved any large depopulation of the country-side.81 It
would seem to follow, then, that most enclosures were made with
sheep-famine in mind, and that many had their genesis in the
minds of eminently practical businessmen. This does not mean
that the last-named class were all like the hard-hearted
gentlemen mentioned by Lord Earth in the next Century, who
"have taken up a humour of destroying their tenements and

cottages, whereby they maize it impossible that mankind should
inhabit their estates."82 As hiss Bradley points out, "the

j —V

80. Lipson, Economic History of England, I, 120.

81. Ibid., I, $243725. For a contrary view see I. S."Loadam, "The
TEE-Sada of Enclosures, 1517—1518 (London, 1897).

82. Bradley, Ilarrfett, 3116 Enclosures in Manda An Economic
Reconstruction (N. Y., 1918), p. 90.

~34-

need for putting their land to some renumerative use was impera-
tive, and it is surprising that the enclosure movancmt was'oi‘
such a piecemeal character and extended over so many years,
rather than that it took place at all."83

The precise manorial lands involved in this movement are
also of importance. If the lord's (1611103110 had been enclosed
not much harm could have come of it unless the dcmcsnc had not
been in one compact holding, but rather scattered throughout
the tenants' arable in like strips. 84 A consolidation here
would involve a displacement of tenants, legally or illegally,
by force or seduction. Again, if the land enclosed was on the
village cormon there would be no iissnediate threat to the ten-
entry, but always there was the possibility that, apart from
the assmnption that the choicest portion would fall to the
'lord, pressure would be exerted upon nearby commoners to sur-
render their strips oi‘ meadow also. A few years of this and

1e situation which prevailed at the manor of \‘a’ooton Bassett

would be inevitable. There the lord had accumulated nineteen-
hundrod acres of commons, leaving but a hundred for the tenants.
His successor even wrested this pitiful remainder from themes

If the waste were enclosed the hardships were of present
effect, for most tenants shed out an existence at least in

some measure dependent upon the use of the manomal easte-

land. Any enclosure by the lord, thoth undoubtedly justified

w?

83. Ibido. p. 88.
84. Iipson, Economic Ii‘istoryof Eugen}, I, 130.
85. Ibid., I, 141.

-00-
by the statutes and the comma-law, narrowed the margin between
survival and failure of the tenants. In any case the more pros-
perous tmiants, those who had been able to consolidate suffici-
ent land for their purposes, were probably able to withstand
these moroachments, but of their lesser neighbors many must
have lost their holdings. Less pasturagge meant that a cow
would have to be slaughtered and salted down in the auttmm.
Without the beast a family was less independent and more liable
to be indebted and after a period of increasingly impotent
despair they would drift away to the tovms.

The questions: what sorts of land were enclosed? and by
whom were they enclosed? are not the only controversies which
have enlisted notable scholars. There is also disagreement
over the legal status of most early Tudor tenants. It is
pretty generally agreed that if a tenant were a frecholder
his position was secure, but the number of men who enjoyed
this protection was mall in comparison to those who had only
customary tenure. The process which converted villeins into
freemen also worked a transformation in the means by which
they held lmd. Villain tenure was afterwards known as copy-
hold tenure, a holding recorded on a copy 01‘ the manor rolls.86
or the six types of tenure in medieval and early modern
England—ufranlcalmoigne, lmights’ service, petty and grand
sex-scanty, access and copyhold-nonly the last two need concern

us, for the others relate to either ecclesiastics or men whose

__ ._ 4—; 4—44

86. Campbell, Ilildred, The r“lish Flemish Under mizabeth and
the Early Stuarts (New haven, 1942), pp.105-55.

 

~36-
social position set them apart from the rural tenantry who were
' threatened by the 'changing world.

Socage tenure, always free but originally considered base
since it carried no military burdens as did the honorable, but
irksome, knight's tenure, had by this time become thoroughly
acceptable in society. One of the inevitable consequences of
the manorial breahdmm was a changed attitude towards land. No
longer was it regarded as something; to provide subsistence,
something which perpetuated a static system of human relations 3
more and more frequently people came to regard land as realty
in the modern sense. From a legal point of View the history of
the growth of business can be traced in the succession of cases
which increased he possibilities of land alienation. The most
famous, Taltarum's Case in the reign of Inward IV (1472 ,8? by
holding that a recovery barred a fee tail, that is, converted
the entailed land to an alienable estate, facilitated the
rapid transference of realty.£38 Businessmen, alive to the
possibilities of agrarian investment, preferred to purchase .
land which did not carry with it the onerous zzdlitary burdens,
and by purchasing socage land gave it added respectability;

indeed, it presently became a coveted form of tenure.

A

' 87. Holdsworth, A Piste-r; of mglish Law III, 119, 157.

88. Ibid., II, 3 - . lie statute of via gmtores, 13 me. I
c. I. had begun to undermine the fe%d'él' system, inadvertent-
ly perhaps, when it prohibited further subinfeudation. By
transferring; to the alienee the entire duties to the over-
lord which the land carried, the way was opened for rapid
alienation since the alienor no longer 1nd to retain enough
land to enable his own fulfillment of the feudal obligations.
The ostensible purpose had been the preservation of the
rights of wardship, escheat, and marriage to the over-lord.

 

~57-

The owner in socage appears to have had powers of aliena-
tion, could devise the land, and besides his freedom from
knight's service (or its equivalent, scutage) was subjo ct to
a peculiarly 5115111141115 form of wardship. Unlike the ward of
a lmight's fee, whose patrimony was often 'astcd systematically
by him t:110held th right of war-(131 11p, tne minor heir of a
socage estate was put in the keeping; of the nearest, able rela-
tive, who was, at'I least in theory, strictly accountable for
89

profits. tecag e tenure did, however, carr;r with it the con-

ventional feudal burdens such as heriot and relicfogo

These landholders were not likely disturbed by the up-
heaval which affected their neighbors. Unless we are placing
too much faith in the efficacy of the law, they must have _
possessed sufficient rig 11ts to wi the tand coercion or fraud.

It was otherwise with the copyholders. These free men had
actually an unfree tenure in the sense that the land was not
clearly, if at all, protected in the royal courts, and could
be neither devised nor alienated. Emen it became profitable
for the lord, or more commonly, the lessee of the lord, to
ignore the customary ri 5hts of the copyhold tenants, contro-
versy and hardship become commonplace.

Two principal questions arose when a copy-holder was im-n

_____._‘_ A

89. Tawell—Langnead, Thomas Pitt, malish Constitutional Eisto
Erom The Teutonic Conquest To The Fresont Tine TLondon, 194
p. 4:50

90. A heriot was the lord's right to retain the one best chattel
of the dead ancestor: relief was a sum paid by the heir to
enter upon his estate. The xirst was levied u ;on the property
of the deceased, the second upon the new holder. To an heir
this legal distinction must have seemed to be one without a
difference.

 

dig);-
perilled: win-1t trp no of copyhold did no pro roi‘ess? end to Mint
portion of the manor Cid i... a holding relate? "Here were the

"91 and for evasion of that

materials for endless litigation
nearly obsolete concept, natural justice. Con-yhold was the
name affixed to an estate of illiori tance , one of life or lives,
or one for 0. tom. less than life all were copynold so long as
th sir text-:13 \7610 recorded on the manor rolls. The nest nearly A
indefensible was t1: e- estate of * ‘ 1eritance, but it too offered
probleW :3 since an ini'ieritable estate might be one u it? a fixed
fine precedent to the new tenant's admission, or one of an
arbi rar'g, or undo tonzzined a: want. Upon oneiration of the term,
life, or lives, a lord was obviously within his rights if he
refused to renew the estate find instead went about enclosing
the tenement as steep pasture. A like sitintion prevailed if,
upon the death of a tenant vino possessed an estate of inherit-
once vdth an arbitrary fine, the lord saw fit to demand a fine
beyond he capacity of the 118130.92 .3011 in the case of a
genuine tenant by inheritance whose admission was predicated
upon payment of a fixed fine, someth ling less than 31;: tice 122i ght
result unless he coul demonstrate that}. -is he 1d inc was wi thin
the original customers; gro' ad, for if his tenement was in the
demesne or reclaimed waste (assert) he had no "perfect copy-
hold” and hence no protection.

In this chapter I have tried to :311 w t-1e ense tled and

often gloomy situations of rural and urean eeono..ies w}:

 

91. Lipson,31conomie IZistorr' of England, I 139.
92. Not until the late :Emzteentn Centaz'vy (1781) We. 3 it deter-
mined that an arbitrary fine could be no signer timn two

year’s rent. Ibid.. 1, 148.

«39-:
Henry VII came to power. In the following chapters his policy,
in relation to trade, towns, Cilds, and agrievl tare, willbo

analyz ed 0

II. OVL.SELS CDIELMCE

One of the first actions entered into by the members of
Henry's first parliament was an attempt to encourage British
slipping at the expense of foreign merchants. It was ordained
that wines and roads (dyes) from Guienne and C-aseony were to
be carried to the isles only in British, ‘=.".'elch or Irish ships}
This statute was enlarged by a later parliament, to the effect
that a majority of crew members had to be of like nationality.2
This caused Bacon to state, that in this reapect, Henry was
"bowing; the ancient policy of this estate, from consideration
of plenty to consideration of power. For that almost all the
ancient statutes incite by all means merchant-strangers to
bring; in all sorts of commodities; having; for end cheapness,
and not looking to the point of state concerning naval power. "5

That hear-:7 was "bowing the ancient policy," is, I think,
a correct statement, but I-Zenry was not warming: or altering it
so much as Bacon timught. As we have seen, the first naviga-
tion acts preceded Kenny's by over one-hundred years} so that
it can hardly be said that Henry Tudor was the first monarch to
formulate the notion. Henry VIII differed from earlier i‘ngglish
kings in one important respect, though, for he pursued a mar-
cantilist policy which was calculated to produce permanent
future benefits rather than immediate gratification. No
better evidence of the success of this policy exists then a
comparison of his early and later revenues. When Elenrv became

king the total annual income at the Eschequer had been in the

l. 1 Ben. VII 0. 8.‘

2. 4 Ken. VII Co 100

3. Bacon, Henry The Seventh, p. 361.
4; Above, P. 12.

4i]...

neighborhood of 1- 52,000: when his reign ended the Crown was
receiving an average of B 142,000 per year.5

Eesu'y's first parliament also interested its elf in the
Italian merchants whose actions were regulated by a statute
or Richard 111.6 The act of Richard "late pretending him to
be King of 3131mm th e third," which had ordered Italians to
purchase English goods with their excess profits, was revoked.
The penalty for breach of the act (seizure of unsold irtzported
goods) was reserved to Henry, however, and the Italians were
forced to purchase letters patent for exemption from an undone
statute.7 Henry thereby assured himself of present foreign
gratefulness, while securi. up; at the sane time another source
of income.

at the same time it was provided that aliens who had been
made citizens were a :ain to pay thos 0 higher duties on imported

8

goods which aliens were accustomed to pay. The Italians were

most affected by this, as they were in 1487, when a levy upon
31511 simcn was conjoined wi th one up on all foreigners , except
the merchants of the Hanse and persons dwelling; in nu" i311
outposts like Calais”.9 Fnrxile Henry may have made those anti-
foreign, or at least pro-:hglish moves, in an effort to procure

funds without pepular displeasure, it is just as likely that

5. Pickthorn, Early Tudor Government, p. 19.

6. 1 Rich. III c. 9; above, p. 12.

7. 1 Hon. VII 0. 10. ' '

8. Rolls of Parliament, VI, 260-69; citizenship was usually
conferred by letters patent. Calendar of Patent Rolls,

9. Re IIs of Parliament, VI, 4:01-02.

die-

the I: an who was considered to be unbelievably shrewd in 1499,10
was as 1:21:31; so fourteen years earlier.

The final act of this parliament which was admibrative of
a new economic policy was in itself nothing original: the act
22 Ed's. IV c. 3 which forbade the reportation of certain silken
luxuries was reaffinned.n Parliament was dissolved without
accomplishing much else of izmnediate interest, having as it were
erlmusted itself in compili .113 the vast master of exceptions to
the acts of attainder and remnption. Henry did not call upon
the country again until nearly two years later when Lambert
S anal, tn. first “tweeter, threatcmed the kingdom. The results
of Henry's sensible policy were quite stril-zing, even in 14:87, a
bare two years after his accession, for Sirrmel received no
response from the inhabitants of York, towards whom he had
marched, conceiving them to be his adherents. Even in such a
stronghold of anti-Lancastrian sentiment Henry Tudor's restrained
role was appreciated: cont ...nued peace meant more to the public
than the revival of ancient hatreds, and Lambert Sinners
”snowball did not gather as it went. "12

In Eenry's seven parliaments other important acts of a.
mercantilist nature were passed, as well as one snich seemed to
advocate free trade. This confusion was inevitable in an age

of transition; by limiting; one's inquiry to particular sets of

facts, t1: Sixteenth Century can be alternately claimed as a

W. _ a...

10. Calendar of Letters, Eesna 51c -es, and State Papers Relating
to 13.10 logo tiations Between Jigland and Spain (G. A. Ber-
genroth , ed., London, 1:462), I, 499. T“

11. 1 116316 VII 00 90

12. Bacon, gimme Seventh, p. 331.

.45...
feudal or a modem era. EVidence for both claims is abundant:
e. 93., the men who repealed a London ordinance for restraint of

trade, passed an act against usury as "contrarie to the laws of

"15

naturell justis,...to the great displesur of God:... but it

would seas unfair to categorize or pigeon-hole an age compounded
of such disparate elements.

Twice in his reign Henry's parliaments confirmed an act of
14

‘

Ilidward IV snicb. pmhibited t..1e ex. or taticn of money. These

acts were applicable to all money, foreign or domestic, but one
of L‘raszzms's letters dozzonstrates that the provision which rusted
to foreign coin, was either imored or not cosmonly known. The
Emnist scholar had come to Ingland poor, and" left in no better
condition, for, he wrote, despite Sir {memes More's assurance

that only English money was affected by the restraining statute,

he had been forced to leaveall but a trifling amount of his
Low Land coin on the Island.15 It seems odd that tiers, a lawyer,
would have been so ignorant of the law; more likely the retention
of foreign money was a policy only intermittently enforced.

In his efforts to encourage the infant cloth industry
Ilenry passed several sets which are notable proofs of his far-

sighted policy. we first was an amended version of an earlier

16

regulation. To the former act, which required that cloth be

fulled before exportation, Henry's second parliament added the

..__.
_.. AA A

________fi

13. 3 Ken. VII cc. 5, 10.
14. 17 321W. IV C. 1‘ 5 1:011. Vi: Co 9; 4 Ken. VII 0. 230
15. The ”-‘ois tl es of Tlrasnusz from ILis Earliest Letters To Ric
fifty-13. rst Y'ear (ed. and trans” Tc‘i'ancis Inorgan lfic‘nols,
‘ tendon, 1901?. f, 227.
16. 7 1111'. IV OI 5.

~44-

provisions the. t cloth destined for shipment abroad had to fire t

17
be fulled, rowed, chem, and barui. 13:;- so leg-1r la 1213 1101117
attempted to force the prod tion of finished clo .9. in . -.3.-.and

rather than have 121;“ hushed cloth shipped to Flanders and Its ....y

where it cc 2161 be revert-20c. ".

*3

'he fol leuin3 parlia. icnt passed tue acts which d salt with
wool: the first was a price regulation statute which attenpted
to set some sort of marines on the cheaper cloths, for lacl: of
which the cons-1011511123? "be {greatly decayed";18€ the second aimed
to encourage cloth production in an even more root 1219.. 1ner than
the act of the previous parliament had. This at a"“.te for

.0

"theme res and mayntenyng 01‘ Bar per}; and ref: 3:11;: of Cloth uithyn
this 12nd,...” provided that all wool produced in ci giztec-n
counties, for a period of ten years (1489-33), was to be
purchased only by "sue 1 pore ones as of the acid "Jolles shall

make or doc to be made Lorne or Cloth within is ...i

C)
H
O
p
h
C)
“C
.
.
o

By passing? three more so t3 to stiztzulate a rapi 1.7; de-
clining shill, bomeanship, Kenny de:.1oz'1stra' ted the peculiar
limitations of a nercant 1* st eeemrry. ...rti:f’icia l stimulation
of the cloth udustry was laudable because it was corrpatib lo
with the course of unrestrained enterprise; the. Zfenry should
have pursued the some policy towards long; boss was rnderstand-
able, but wrong. This clir ring to an anti quz ted weapon and
themx's.r of war may have been in part responsible for the fiancee

of his son's reign. Henry was aware of grime—he he tw elve

A. M-“A‘. A— A...

*r v.

17. 3 Ben. \II C. 12.
18. 4 Ken. VII c. 8.’
19. 4 Ken. VII 0. ll.

-45-
cannon himself, as appears from.his appointm nt of Richard Gulde-
ford, IQei;ht, to the office of Easter 0. Orcnence on Neroh.8,
1486206-but he insisted that English glory had been won with the
long bow and should he maintained with it.

The first regulatory act stemmed from a mistaken belief
that the high price of how stoves was responsible for a decline
in enthrsi em for archery. It therefore was decreed that three
sh.illii.5s, four-pence has th .msxi*um price whic ch could be

c
u 9 ‘4 n a
Charged for s new stove. 1” -ne efiects were negligiele, or at

least not what had been anticioetoi, for in his lost parliament
iznported'bow steves wer freed from. not no until the next parlia-
ment sh ould.be 1:eld.22 hone were convened in Henry's five re-
maining years of life. This last parliament els made a fUrther
statute to restrict the use of crossbess, which reqri red less
shill and.stro ngth and hence were popular, to the effect that
none but lords, or thos e worth two hundred marks year in land
(3 133.135.4d) could use crossbows, except in defence of their
th080

The not referred to as inconsistent with Kenry's commercial
policy since it was an ep‘e arent attempt to estsbl ish free trade,
was concerned with the Kerchant Adventurers. This aggressive
organization.msde tremendous str;dos as a res v.lt o; Icnry's
policy, occasionally sending ships to the remotest Baltic ports,

and, as shall be noted, to the chiterronean. Their‘lergest

20; Calendar of Patent Rolls, I, 77.
21. 3 hen. VII Co 13.
22. 19 lien. VII c; 26
230 19 Ben. VII Co 40

..Ag-

volme of bu 3i ess GEL-”IE2 f.o::1 the 170th .erlands, however, and they
soon evinced monopolistic desires. "me great fairs W11...Ch were
held four times yearly in the cities of the "Archduke of Surgeyn”
attmcted merchants from all parts of ‘nzr pe, and esp -ei ally from
all of I'mland. The Itorclnmt Advent-mere were, principally London
mercer3324_ ith control of at least the 1:151 coxgtae tion at
these fairs in mind, they pas sod an ordinance which oq'aired any
frglisI-man to pay a 31.121 to the Iiicrchant Adventurers "by colour'
of a .fratenaite of Seynt Thomas of Ca1a1termmy,... ’ before trading
in the Low Lands. The amount de::3 eded rose qztitei id. .ly so that

- lo the original fine levied had bet :1 "but the value of a half
a old noble sterling" (53.4d.), by 1497 it was 5 20. The effect
upon marginal exporters appears to have been quite drastic, for '
the statute alleg ed that since the monopoly had been effected
by the Adventurers much cloth‘ and been stool— :~piled in London
with a resulting; drop in price at home: it is only fair to
remark that allegations in statutorj, prean “lee have been, on
occasion, at variance with the facts. In this instance "the
great povertie, ruyne and decayouo." 31: poo sadly resulting from

the Adventurers' ordinance can be discozmted, since nearly

v—w ' ——— ..v

24. Gross tug-“g sets that the Adventurers were at least originally
Lo ondon mercers. Cild Iferchant, I, 149. Lipson disputes the
point, by quoting material to illustrate his belief that the
itemhant Adventurers were from no; " 15311313. teens. 223.1236)-
duction to the ".Z'cenomic history of homano I, 400. .‘Lost '
Effipseifls tutorial reaates to the later Iiizzto onth Century,
however, and if the Advent arers came from 17:11.13? towns they at
least Operated out of Jonson, else the 3tat..:‘. o to reo train
them in 1407 would not have complained t1 at clot s more
"convoied to London, where the3 be sold fcrre their ti o price
that they be wort} 1e H." 12 Ilcn. VII. 0. 6. It is q.1ite tr". e

hat .3. Lipsen co d derive a counter arguzent from anotho
extract which refers to "the oeid feliship narchazmtcs of
London and their seid Confederation."

 

~47»
every one of IlenI-y's reformation statutes, be it directed at
industry, agriculture, or municipal government, contained those
stereotyped prefatory remarks. On the other hand, some sort of
monopoly must have been created, and certain damages must have
resulted, or Henry would never have felt constrained to check
the activities of one of his favorite groups.

The lierchant Adventurers were confirmed in their monopoly
for all practical purposes, for the fine which they levied upon
non-members was simply legalized by parliament, but at the lower
level of ten marks (I. 6.138.4d.).25 The right of all L-hglish-
men to trade without paying farther fines was affirmed, but
while this could be construed as an attempt to linit a powerful
group so that many merchants could enter the field and establish
a free trade economy, the facts would seem to support an alterna-
tive construction. The difference between this act and the other
regulatory statutes of Henry VIII is more apparent than real.
mercantilism as a theory is perhaps capable of elucidation; in
practice it defies generalization simply because it was an cp-
porhmist device calculated to increase one's own country's
power and wealth-- the two terms become synonymous in succeedim
cmturies-uin relation to others. lioney and wealth were identi-
fied by mercantilists, who proceeded from this confusion to the
conclusion that all the world's wealth, at any given 1110:.1ont, was
ascertainable, since the amount of good specie was obviously
calculable. The problem thusly was reduced to this: if England
wished to increase her wealth, it had to be done at the expense

w— ._fi

25. 12 E811. VII 00 60

~48-

of irance, or Venice, or Spain, or some other nai: on 111 possession
of money; since all tllcse other natior s jealouslv guarded their
reserves of gold or silver, a free trading nation would soon be
drained of those precious metals; therefore, a policy of commercial
opport anism we... Luperative—when it was profitable, free trade was
encouraged, w} on not, :mereantilist 10; 1 ml tion was enacted. Henry,
at fitis time, probably felt that it was to ingland’s alvant13e to
have numerous exporters at the Hetherland fairs; while he was
loath.to completely alienate a group which.had stood by hhn
durin3 his Bur3undian difficulties, he was 110t willin3 to see a
growing cloth industry suffer because of the Adventurcr's re-
pressive tendencies.

The Eerchant Adventurers received their reward from fienry
in 1505. In that year they were given a charter which confirmed
their privile3cs and gave th:* the ri3ht to determine their own
litigation.26 In effect this gave them.the power which the
Merchants of the Staple had possessed at Calais in earlier times.
1ore merchants sou321t entrance into the Advent1.rer's corporation
when it was 3iven such broad pewt” rs of self-determination. They
had recently been awarded byt 0 Get .rt of Star Chamber the privi-
lege of ass sessing customs on all cloth exp orted‘by th ettaplersg 27
they had interpreted tilis as meaning that the Staplers had to join
their organization. In the decree provision was made for recip-
rocal duties, a merchant of each had to join the other's organiza-

tion if he wished to deal with the other's commodities, and the

1'—

26. Calendar of Patent Rolls, II, 404-06.
27. tipson,‘;bonomicHister1_of Angland, I, 494.

~49-
Adventurers agreed to this. Confirmation of such a decision was
farcical, however, since the exportation of cloth was so much
greater in relation to wool that an Adventurer would hardly wish
to export the Staplers' commodity. $3 the end of the Sixteenth
Century it was estimated that there were 3,500 Kerchant Adven-
turers, while as early as 527 a petition alleged that the

no
q .1 “U '0‘ .
Staplers had only 140 manners. nonry was not partisan in his

a.

attitude-ohe frequently'proclaimed that wool had to be exported

only to Calais, and in April 1504 excused the Staplers from
customs payment for sixteen years?9 but these measures could
not revive the organization, and Eenry quite naturally aided
those who were best fitted to further his arms.

sits two erceptions senry never engaged in a retaliatory
commercial policy toward foreign nations. shile he never remitted
in his program of Inglish aggrandizement, his tactics were those
of a businessman intent upon expansion instead of a ruler jealous
of his honour. The exceptions to this attitude dealt with the
Venetians and the Ilemish, and in both cases Kenry appears to
have been justified.

venice, which at one time had a controlling interest in
Mediterranean trade, desired to restrict an.;h31 sh challenge in
that sphere. then the gmlish found ready market for rzalmsey
from.the isle of Crete, they began to be numbered among the
nations engaged in a commercial struggle with Venice. To stop

this injurious competition, the Venetians, in 1488, imposed a

 

28. Ibid., I, 490, 495. ' - -
29. Calendar of Patent Rolls, I, 46; fiplls of Parliament, VI, 525.

-50-
tax of ibur ducats per butt (126 gallons) upon all malmsey sold
to non-Venetian exporters; the proceeds were used in fortifying
Candis. While the tariff was probably designed to discourage
Florentines, who were the [greatest competitors of Venetian
merchants, it had an incidentally depressive effect upon a new
English venture. 111-. Lipson makes this much more specific when
he says the Venetians levied the duty upon "English shippers ,"
the implication being that English competition was a menace to
the Venetian monopoly.” Despite Mr. Lipson's general accuracy
and undoubted erudition, I think it justifiable to differ from
him on this point, since it is. an overly optimistic view to
consider the inglish as a I-iediterranean menace at this time. Two
letters seem to support the contention that malish shipping in.
the Hediterranoan was not extensive under Henry VII. The first,
a dospatch from the Dogs to the Captain of the Flanders Gall eye,
12 April 1491, contained a reference to the English, whose
grievance against the ymalmsey tariff he was unable to appreciate.
The tax could not be construed as a particularly anti~23nglish
measure, he said, since "but few of the latter come into these
soas,..."31 Henry, in a letter to the Pope in 1502, confirmed
this statement in an attempt to explain mglish abstention from
a proposed Crusade. The difficulties were extreme, Henry argued
since the English rarely sailed beyond Pisa.” It might be said

30. Lipson, Economic Histo of 1» land I 505.

31. Calendar 0 - e apers an manuscripts Relati v to 11611
Hfatrs: Existing in the Archives and CEIIgEIons of games
and deer ibraries 03' Northern lamps (Rawibn Brown, ed.,

1 ‘ 1 D '
32. Pollard, A. F., He VII Sources, III, 1683 cited in
Einstein, Lewis, Tfior 136318 (1!. Y., 1921), p. 286.

  
 

 

 

 

 

-51-
that neither of these statements is an objective report of con-
ditions, but same weightzmust be attached to them, it would seem,
since the first was written'by an expert in Kediterranean trade,
and the latter was addressed to a man.who als was in a position
to know existing conditions. while henry VII certainly would not
have agreed to the Doge's remark in 1491, by 1502, when it was to
his advantage to admit its validity, he did so. Regardless of
motive, the use of such an argument by as shrewd a ruler as Henry
points to its irrertability.

Incidental or not, the damage which the malmsey tax caused
to English merchants was extensive, and henry retaliated, first
by'making a treaty with florence which created a wool staple at
Pisa (a city under Florentine domination)33 and next by authoriz-
ing an impost on foreign-imported.malmsey which.was to last so
long as tho Venetians levied their tariff at Candis.

The :nglish.had considered the establishment of a staple
' at Pisa in 1482 before Henry's accession,35 probably because of
concessions which the Florentines offered, but had never concluded
the arrangements. Had they done so Venicesmight well have been
ruined, but the city occupied, in the south, a position analogous
to that of the Hanse in the north, and England could not afford
to alienate either until its own carrying trade was larger.

When.Henry was confronted.by the malmsey tariff, he pressed
negotiations with Florence, and in 1490 a six-year treaty which

created a staple at Pisa, and limited Venice to 600 wool sacks

 

53. Rymer, Feeders, XII, 5903 cited in Salzman, English Trade in

the tiddIe A es, p. 450.
1.:CI1.

haul. Cb G

35. Calendar of State Papers-Venetian, I, 144.

    
      

-52-

a year, was ratified. It failed to alter venetian policy, though
the Dogs and Senate complained to hcnry that the treaty violated
privileges guaranteed to them by his predecessors, and if continued
would mean.a severance of relations; their galleys would not carry
wines and spices to ihgland if they had to return unloaded, es-
pecially since England forbade money to be taken fron.the realm.56
The Venetians evidently decided that the best way to ruin the
staple at Pisa was to prevent mediterranean goods from being
shipped to that place, from.which they could be reshipped to
England. They therefore decreed that all malmsey from Candis
had to be carried by Venetian ships and that none could go to
Pisa.37

Either because of‘the Venetian stand, or because of some
inherent weakness in the florentine treaty, the staple at Pisa
seems to have been short-lived. At any rate no :xrtherzmention
was made of it in the venetian correspondence, and Henry was
forced to impose an eighteen shilling tax on.malmscy imported
in foreign bottoms. The price of malmsey was also set at L 4,
or twenty-four Venetian crowns—ntoo low for a Venetian merchant
to make a profit after paying the tariff. The policy was quite
successful, as the Venetians admitted,38 and what henry couldn't
accomplish in.one way, he did in another, for the tax at Candis
seems to have been repealed.

The stdry is a familiar, but always sad, one. a rising

nation was pitted against one in decline and both contestants

rr

:6. Isms, 1, 185-86.
57. Me; I. 189;
38. IBICLo, I. 214.

seemed aware of their chances. Henry's policy had been, from

the start, a hard one for Venice to meet. English development
came at the sane time as the loss of eastern.markets to the
Turks, snd.by the first years of henry's reign the Venetians
were in financial trouble. Henry's policy towards foreigners,
and Italians in particular, was severe, as we have seen; a
Venetian.report of 10 January labfi, stated that "owing to the
duty'recently'inposed by the King the galleys cannot be
despatched within the period assigned flor their demurrage,..."39
and.an extension was granted. haintenance costs were high, and
piracy took a large toll: in 1492 fienry commandeered some Vene-
tian ships, without recompense, to transport his army to France.40
Speaking of the excessive costs attendant upon galley maintenance,
in 1488, the Senate gave as a reason for the malnsey tariff that
"the said ships (foreign) take low freights, tint is to say,
four ducats per’butt, while Venetian ships cannot load under
seven ducats..."41 Costs were increased constantly because of
the decreased volume of trade, an? the increased price of goods
from.the Levanig which was by this time under Turkish domination.
It is possible that Venice might still have survived.had not the
Portuguese explorers sailed around southern Africa to the Orient,
thereby obviating the necessity far his existence of Venice and
the Flanders galleys. This, rather than English competition in

the Hediterranean, bears prime responsibility for Venetian sen-

 

,—

39. Ibid., I, 170.
40. 1131's.. I, 21:5.
41. Tfifat, I, 175.

~04-
escence. ri‘he first evidence of this Ominous develOpmmt is a

casual reference in 1504 to the arrival in London of five

Portuguese barks with 530 tons of spices from "Colocut."42 It

was to be some time before the Limlish entered the field, ut
for all practical purposes the Venetians had been replaced by
the Portuguese in the London spice trade. The Venetians
struggled through Henry's reign and part of his son's, but

after 1532 the Flanders Galleys stepped their yearly voyage to

A.
maland, and only private ships continued to trade.‘3

The other instance of retaliation arose out of the politi-
cal situation in the 1490's. In 1493 an anbargo was placed

upon the Netherlanders because of the‘support which Burgundy

gave to the pretender, Perkin ‘.'.arbeck.44

his embargo was reciprocated by I’iarinilian, Ring; of the

(V

Romans, on behalf of his son Philippe, Archdule ('74. lustria and

count, duke, or Liarquis of sixteen other regions. In his
proclamation of 1494 (that Karim ‘- ian waited so long; before
making it leads us to believe that he estimated other Princes

in the light of his own vacillating, bluffing character) the

_ A.

,‘f

42. Ibidl' I. 300. . . '

43. mm, Enclish Trade in the Middle Ages. Do 431. ‘

44. Warbeck, one 03' the most amazing: pretenders of history, was
from Tourney in Flanders. By chance he was persuaded to
lay claim tothe throne under pretence of being Richard,
duke of York, younger son of inward IV, who was actually
murdered in the Tower of London at the behest of his uncle
Richard III. The disaffected Eorkists in hiding in Burgundy
under the tutelage of tiargaret, sister to Edward IV and widow
of Charles, duke of Burgundy, decided to use ‘-.'.-arbec1;, or
Richard Plantagenet, to overthrow Elem-y, claiming of course
to restore the rightful ruler. Andreas, Bernard, Iiistoria
Henrici Septimi in Gairdner, James, Lancrials of Fling; ITean
1356 ASeventh (Rolls series, London, 1858 I, pp. 65-6.

 

-55-
King of the Romans gave an interesting review of English-Flemish
relations.45 Trade agreements were of long standing between the
countries (les entrecours de narchandise...entre feuz nos pre-
dicosseurs, qui Dieu Absoille, et nous d'une part, et les roys
d'Angleterre ci'autro,,...)‘g‘e3 Maximilian claimed: he was referr-
ing principally to the treaty promulgated in 1467 by Edward IV
in one of his periodic displays of enterprise}? Supposedly
one of reciprocal free trade, it had rarely, if ever, been
maintained; despite which the English merchants had persisted
in their cultivation of the Flemish markets. Great fortunes
had been made by merchants on both sides of the channel, but
in the later Fifteenth Century the British began to increase
their profits at the expense of the mornings. Primarily this
resulted from the chance in aha-alien exports, the shift from
wool to cloth as a basic commodity. It was not complete at
this time, of course-awhile most of the Tudor enclosures
contained sheep, rural unm-zployment was not mitigated by
openings in the cloth industry, and hence we can infer that
the process was incomplete i’or manyyears after the reign of
Henry VII. It is important, though, that we realize a new
tendency in the Blenders trade 3 from the time of Henry VII
the English become active competitors of the Finnish cloth
merchants. It was one thing to supply the looms of Flanders

u .4

45. Decree from Schans, 0., IIandelspolitik gegen Ends des '
hittelalters, II, 191-93 in Tawney, R. 1.2., and Power, Eileen,
eds., Tudor Economic Documents: Being, Select Documents
Illustrating the Fionomic and Social HistogLoi' lEider

anc. vols., London, 1024), I32, 13-9.

469 0, II. '70 ‘ - 7

47, m1 and Mann, seem manna, II, 556.

~56-

with rastmatorial; quite another to set up stalls and sell English
cloth in their cities.

The embargo cut off this most important business, the lucra-
tive woolen trade, and it was largely absorbed by the merchants
of the Hanse whose charter exempted then.fron.the Act. While the
English peeple were willing to forage profit in a matter concern-
ing the kingdomn-as Bacon says: "The Kerchant Adventurers...did
hold out bravely; taking off the commodities of the kingdam,
though they lay dead upon their hands for want of vent."48-they
objected to the fianseatic advantage, and a popular riot against
the easterlings took place in London that year.49

Not until 1496 was this mutually destructive ban lifted.

I?
Q Q Q a O _ .‘ ‘
In that year the Intercursts injure, as it was resouneingly

 

called, a covenant for free trade at wholesale, was concluded
by Ecnry VII and Archduke Philip. This guaranteed two extremely
important rights to England: Elanders was no longer to harbor
English.encmies; and siclishmen.were allowed access to all
Hethcrland cities for trade. :y the first guarantee Henry's
most dangerous enemy, dangerous because of his inaccessibility
and the temptation he provided to perfidious Princes, was denied
further asylum in Philip's domains. In the second, the pro-
vision for free trade was more beneficial to the thlish than
the Fleeings, for>Eng1and's aggressive Herchant Adventurers

were prepared to compete on better than even terms on the con-

48. Bacon, Eenry The Seventh, p. 418. '

49. Grafton, Lichard, ChrofiiCle; orihistory'of'England (London,
1809), p. 197. ’ ' '

50, Rymer, loaders, YII, 578-88 in Tawney and Power, Tudor
Zbonomic iocreents, II, 11~ 5.

 

tinont.

While the Intorcursus Trig-111:1 has perhaps been over-rated-

 

by virtue of ts imposing title one historian has szggcsted-nit
was important because of hoary VI I, for, unlike his ituedi ate
predecessors, Henry was inclined to value business above
diplomacy. Once he secured an objective I’1ez1ry saw to its
permanence. A clau.se within tb e a3roem.ent illus crate sthis
point quite clearly. It was provided that if th. subjects of
either broke any of he treat v's provisions, the agre=uent was
not to be void; the individual transgressors were merely to be
punished. While there was perhaps nothing eta rtlinrly orig inal
in this clause, it is indicative of Hoz1ry's caution, especiall y
in his dealings with the son.w11at loss than hone mble Iabs‘urgs.
To let a favorable c anarcial treaty become a nullity'throrch
a fraudulent breach was unthinkable to tho astute Tudor. honry
was not a naive internationalist, however; he realized fully
that the clause which precluded forfeiture would be meaningless
if Ilcnish interests chose to mane it so. But hes id.mal:e the
effort-wwhich endeared.him.still more to his subjects, and set
him.apart from the paten Yachiavellists of'his age.

Henry was enabled, by'a peculiar circumstance, to secure
an even‘better arrangement for 111s merchants ten years later
In 1506 Philip and.his wife Juana, daughter of fordinand and
Isabella, re espective Izings of dragon and Castile, ven ured from
Zoaland to claim.‘he deceased Isabella's} :ingdom. A storm
washed their’cxtensive fleet up on English soil: Konry, in
what mus have been great glee, for he saw in Philip a weapon

to wield against his former insolent betrayer, Ferdinand,

-33..
invited him to London. The earl of Ammdel and t1n~ee-l11:1dred

- Ll

mounted troops carried the nossaee. The two kings met at
Windsor with ap: ropriate corenony; each was dressed in a lavish
manner, and accompanied by imposing; trains of attendants.
lie-pry, a model of tightly behavior at all tines, outdid
himself on this 3:11 1a.ort at ocea sion: according to one spectator,
“by hatt and 1137s benett he avalyed, and the King of Casmrlle
in one 13120...."52 after which he got down to business. Bacon
has an interesting; imaginary record of the i‘rinces' conversa-
tion.53

The confereree brorehlt Ionry two immediate adve ntarjes,
one political, the other economic, for the earl of £3qu lit, a
political fugitive, was returned to 111312.216 fror. glanc ers, and

,.
o4
shortly a “tor the Int ererrsu. I'alr s was signed. This treaty,

called "bad" by the He‘d-1e; lands :3 because of the advantages it
conceded to 31,313,611 merchants, contained the substance of the

latercrrsgs TQCI‘Z'L‘S wi th one important reservation: the right

 

1' Q ‘. Q 5
of Ieetaerlanders to fisn in :"hglisn waters was abregated.5

In the former treaty both parties mad opened their water to

comzercial fie sing, but the .hglis‘n, who were new in a ”3.37 to
exert Indus influe me by restrict ting their seas to native e::--

pleitation, dc1.onstrated their maritime inferiority. This

theme will be developed at greater length; for the present it

"7 v—w

51. Bacon, lienr” the Seventh, p. 4:05.

52. Past‘ong..etaers, 1., .1. .'

53. face-n, 111111;; The Seven oh, pp. 405-6...
54. Gairdner, Leary The so venth, pp. 194-95.
55. Bacon, Henry The bevent‘n, p. 467.

    
 

       
 

  

 

 

 

 

fl 4 r $' ”TH '9 .L - 1 \Q - fl 9 '6 “‘ T
3.0 00...]. to rem-10.1000 1.1.03: 33.13.1301. 00L .1110“: 1.1 0-. 0:10 00:10 1.10.0 0.11
" V- J.- \FQ 7" " .a' ‘L‘F " ‘4" n " ' ‘
1113-00-00 110.11 p1....1...o11o.1. "2.10 .. 31...}; 0100 {30.0 211.313.031-011 the

rir171t “.0 r0 330.1 ’1, except in 310.110.0110: 1111' ortmmto’ly Philip :13. ed

in the 110:: your 0nd “.3110 3310?? 051300211: 1t 00 ":100‘000 33.10 0013011323

ff,
privilege, although the other provici :10 17011:: rot-011100.06 $3110

a . 3"; - .‘ ‘0 ..N 'fl. 1 ' - :~ - ,«u‘ 1 3 e- m a «I I’D-Y
organ-100 .1011 01.1031 ”0:1 pm; 11:00 from ...0 0-. '13. 1:10... 1.1.3.1170: .1011

a!

English—1710211011 trade relations, 1210:1113: ninod its 1311111310500

+1

0

5‘

to 0.. IIenry's efforts to 121311331100 their 307113013: 01.00. 801210

Q

00121210110101 acme-1133000 011103100. by the 1‘0... 00:23:30

\J U 0'

[JD
:14
0

0.00- of 3:1
merchants may be gained from 0. study of 333.10 01103301110 rates paid

., 5
by 315113.: and foreign: .000- um .30 1113 1.0100011.

sAvTofi

 

 

 

:- BIG-1-13:1 . c3}. 1.- ... .._- 1:91:33 ””7333
Cloth -

g'lfld’l'ed 2 14:5. 1461. 126.. 25.961.

awed 23.4d. 23.4d. 23. 53.0d0

La l'QXEQ 21d. 21d. 18d. 43.1do
Wine ' '

 

 

 

(ten) 30. 30. 20. 30.
Theet wine

(ton) .. 30. 50. 20. 50.
T10 ‘

C5 value) 12d. 120. 5d. 20.

 

These 000000010110 held by '310 301100 are 0-1 indication of
‘50 earl" strength, and. the 0012-1901 0th ely late devolo 11:10:11: of
:1ch0 1210110310 .0. 00331131011 0.113.030ntly 3:1: wort ant to 21101.10 ite
protests heard. The most striking (110 3.1.0.:- 'ty involved. is in
customs on tin: it is 0.10 to 1210000130210 3101-: the :‘azmo

merchants could afford to monopolize the Cornish sources as

 
   

56. Lipson, r3001?-

5'7. {33310 Custer. -. .011 0:1_ .
100110;; and: ~ower, ’3115011 300110.330 300100.100, II, 204-07.

50. I have been unable to 6.5’0010111110 what unit of moaeurcment
was applied for cloth 00000001011130, but my argunwnt is not
affected by my ignorance.

 

01:13.0 Iii-0130:" of 31010116., I,“ 505.
c 0 WW: 0:: ) pp; 1013—97, in

A“-‘ AAA

-6 0:-

they feluerly had done.

1

Jrior

‘ .- 3."p r‘ 19- y'-
-C 2201 Lou. "LE-PU

t.“

‘~.‘.I:..le the :1:.::::- 319-" oeen weegzenerl in t
to Item‘s-"o accession it was still a eetent i‘erCo 1:1 2:141:31:
~ .~. rm - ' - . .- n . ..1. - 7, -
economec 0.44.3133. for proof 0.? taut we need eel, 1er; to Leargr's

lest pareiagcnt, five :-

0ere before 1111:: (loci-.11., in 8. period worked

7 int-c-3131 and ezztemel oeece, co::*:.1erciel prosper-3:11:37 and 1.11-

I
-

.9. f - q ‘90-. 1 do .- q .‘ . - .‘

creasxg ..hgllee premise. C110 0:. the ..--eet ee tn .7." this parlia-
. nan . 1 ~ , . . w... . .. .

ment 901144.111“. Imeeetic e:.m;ptlo.-1 from .-. :.gl--.:...h Gamer-role}.

20 tyee of stabs-to 0:10

2:11 rt'et e

3 J

219001: from a pet: 2°?le monarch 9‘16. a merchant parliment;
10WOVGI’ , the continued exist nee of {31:31.3 irizsezzzo organization
proceeded more from to necklaces to Iiezfiry'thcm its power to
dzmece £31, titer-3h this was still a reality. {to 1cm; an the
Iiaueoetic trade-re controlled areas like .3 ':.e Baltic 0:161 the
northern sees, which Inglis-h mercbmlte were et‘ceatiptin: to
penetrate, Henry mould have been foolish to exp 01 then from
mjlemlo

But if the Iianee was still in 1103111111]. possession of its

_Q
~r..

mlcient fights, in feet their importance was 8.1 terre- by the

. - .. .0 o‘.’ #9 s. \ a ‘-"\C m .- -.-‘ r‘.‘ ~ ‘ '3
restless espeeeioe 0.3. at, {e;-Jc/..Wcue C4._Vt.\.-13.:e.._e;1 one a mmexrd
,_ _.-...- ..L. an. .- a... a .9- a. ., M . - 9 , .
1:3.e do 30 uL‘Jlb es. Quite tho-.9 Iéenclcep t-:e .-1;l3.er1 were
-. 9 ..a 1.9 n .ur. 1-: '- -.- w,
04.02433 tee L;StO.Z’lCO¢ g." tee? “zen eee tze lenee mam-mete,

7’ ~ g a, 3 q 1 .6 .- .L‘ - n .' *4 ' v “‘ '\ J“ '
13.4.0 Dee :zceey, "vexe-e -2304 b;13 realm, been: tees-e o0 ce-

‘ v C‘. ~ \ .- F h, .‘y H.‘ L ‘1- ‘ 01-! o— i‘ 1* ‘ a ' .- I
ceurue;,e one Lem-wen, .Lb-IC;3.IU.1°O.?C’ Lao-wove deal-134.13 position

with other Element}, end cultivate new areas either through

 

r

59. Abovo,'pp. 11612.’
60. 10 Ken. VII c. 23.

-31-
diplomacy or exploration. As was {generally the case his plan
was successful; by the end of his son's reign the fiance in
many says was an izzzpetent and archaic association, while the
nmlish were continually expanding their influence.

The story OJ. Ilenry's struggle for Iiediterrencan trade,
and his curtailment of the iterchant adventurers has already
been related; it is new tine to explain his policy towards the
northern and western spheres of the then lmown world. Henry
was extremely interested in exploiting these areas, especially
because English merchants had been unable to obtain on the
home-gromids of the llanse those concessions that the Eianse had
received in mland.

Four years after his accession IIenry succeeded in con-
eluding a trade agreemait with Dcmara. There is a measure of
uncertainty about this comparable to the secrecy which shrou"s
the fate of the Pisan staple. According Ryner the agree-
ment was one which provided for free trade between England,
Dennarl-c, and Domzari-z‘s dependent, Icelandfi:L The agreement
was misleaous to that winch Henry trade with Elorence, for it
was an attempt to disrupt tie even tenor of Iianseatic mono-
poly: in this desire England and homers. both concurred.
That the agreement established free trade is borne out by a
proclamation issued by Henry on 1an 15, 1400, which instructed

v

61. Rymer, Fbedera, XII, 3813 cited in Lipson, Economic History
of Ragga-ed, I, 504:. On 6 August 1489 four Englis‘lmon were
appointed to confer with the Danish comnissioners concerning
"a perpetual league of peace and friendship." Signed bill
(not yet enrolled), in Caxzzpbell, till-lam, Z'Taterials for a
IIisto of the reign of £0an VII (2-3 vols., Rolls series,

11 n, o I, II, 472.

 

~62“
Giles Daubeney, Lieutenant of the Iiarch of Calais, and others,
to publish the conclusion of the recent treaty.62 They were
instructed henceforth to allow to all Danish ships free access
to all English ports.

The agreement apparently was never kept for in 1507,
eighteen years after the event, certain English nerclmts were
pardoned by Jory for havins broken a statute of 143-365 which
forbade all 3131.19.11 trade with Scandinavia except through the

64

port of Dorsal. The treaty if observed at all, appears to

have been diminished by the statute of Henry VI. and the claims
of the Danish Kim, who declared that the prohibition still
existed and extended to Iceland as well.65 Hem-y, on his
part seemed almost immediately to lose his terest in the
whole affair, perhaps because of the Ianish ruler's sweeping
reservations, and the unexpected resistance which the Rance
manifested. A curious bit of evidence for this conclusion,

and one it might be added, which is not absolute proof of

Henry's changed attitude is found in the calendar of Patent

110118.66 On August 21, 1492, Henry issued a mandate which

bound the English home to treat I'xartich Heston with the
deference due to a subject of the King‘s ally, the King of
Mark. Almost smotly a year later, on August 26, 1493,

A. A .4 A “A

W V V w—Y

62. Calendar of Patent Rolls I, 521.
63¢ 8 men. a: Co 20

64. Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1, 526.

65. R10 m III {23 5‘65. 17.254) anticipating conflict, had mjoined
"8871610 fisshers as other” to travel only in convey to Iceland;
Earleian 1'35. 435, F0110 159b, in Gairdner, Letters and Papers,
II. 287 (Appendix B). '

66. Calendar of Patent Rolls, I, 387, 404.

 

 

I. airy published a newest that the provisions of the Sensor

nan “ate be respected. Peseieiy e. ieeeeu.-r....o~1 ." "‘21 the rds
111a. 31date and request is unrealistic, but I thi: - not. In“;

was a ole or 1.12.1903: 3:1, who has econ credited with institutim;
much of the 1033.31 tie: 1 0.. his seven purl iaients; the legal or
coztmereial mind, at its best, is Incl: toe wordueenseious to nabs
carol eee, supposedly s;21e:1;:1cu.~3 s"T sti tutiens, in a doc ..zzont.

Times two entries in the Patent ..0113 may be regganded as in-

 

fi

eieative of the Banish tree. ty's ineffic ..ye respite this it
scene safe to assert that 21443113111011 conti: nod to 30 yea-l;7
into the northern sea- s, on peel-all 3* to 320019;. MIC e the Si hing
was too good to cease from a more inc' :3 orchibie on.

IIe:-ry's other tree. EU in the north ctr—.10.: more directlyat
the Lance, for it concerned- ono 0“ their " 1' a; '0 cities, Riga.
In 14'. 3 lion ‘3' arrangged a cez'atzercial treaty wi t‘.1 t.3.at city,68
which nearly succeeded in o*.*ert1n~e.1i-.3 liaiseatic cont cl. It

9

failed for the 230320 still possessed ssr—srgth, and Sorta“. tely
for it, political conditions altered in the next fee year
sufficiently for Henry to feel the noses-e ..ty of pl aeati.-13 the
League. 1.1a statute of 1504.- 11111011 secured tethe hence all its
ancient privileges ‘11as already been men tioned.69 I have also
a- recested that this was done both because th IEanse was still
necessary to IEmry, and because it had the power to injure

English trade, with the emphasis placed upon its usefulness

rather than its strength. This is borne out by the assertion

A A

67. Gairdner, 1’10an The Seventh, pp. 211—12. '

   
    

 

60. Pyner, Boone. on: a... , oi; cited in Lipeon, 3202102211 history 0..
O

..and .L'
69. %“'—ovo, 5. ('50.

-54-
that in 1500 the IIanse exported over 21,000 English clot" as.
If the figure is accurate it represents a nice incone to both
King; from customs, and public from profit. To lose this trade
at a time when relations with the :Ietherlands were again becom-
ing strained muld be a severe bl w to a national income'wI‘Iich
stood to be considerably reduced in the event that trade -'.'as
again disrupted from the Low Lands- O

This alone is a justification for Iienry's rel axed Iianseati
policy.- rIIhe first rI‘Iudor king- was always concerned to rec re the
mar 211.121 amounts (1 as the Crown, and his stiff cellec tion habits
were instrumental in raisin-3 the amount of royal revenue con-
siderably. lie was, in a sense, an advocate of efficiencv in
government, altlm‘wh for personal motives. IIis secs: .6. pa r...ia-
meat had created a statute which an thorised the issuance of
certificatesai‘tor pazrnmt of customs; hose were to be presented
in all portsjl There seems to he. -ve been a presmnptien ci‘
evasion unless proved otherwise.

The ransining area of uglish trade was the Spanish
Kingdom. Cbnsidera’ole commerce had always existed between the
two countries and I' enry was ssmiou s to maintain and possibly
increase tne volume ei‘ trans actions. Three days a:ter his

{,1

do; eat of Richard III, "173113 in dede but not of IRJQ‘IIt," at

Bosworth field Leary declared t-1at "the relations between

Inglsnd and Spain are of a frie. cndly nature."72

From the chart which was used to illustrate the customs

concessions enjoyed by the rifles some infer nati on about Spain

"T

'70. “alsnan, 3133;19:21" ein the Iiiddle Ages, p. 34.2.

719 3 1.1.03.0 VTI—‘Co .U.
'72. Calendar of State Papers~ Spanish, I, l.

Hf“
w-eu-

can also 11- gathered. In relation to other fez-*0 1.3.1.0110, 0::00pt

rzazzeers of ti: Its-11:30, Sips-5:1.- enjoyed a 0011210110100. advent age in

‘ '1 ". ~ a 'NM ‘1 9"E'1-ra" ‘— " ~ “'
313.- 011 ego-rte; .10 001.110.3100 01.0-1 :3: ,.s:.i M’ 1.2.10.1 t-:e' (31.10.1061

equality of customs.
The best indication of lienrg's uttitueo 001.1 -110 fpaaish
merchants is a license to export 0.....0011 1': 11100 for t‘m "“Wlie’e

u—J -_a-." II- 5‘

t7"
marl-:01: grantee to ..ntenio relaiciola 0n Jar-tar: 20, 1490 o

\ 1 v \w w V -~ a n , ‘- ' .- ." ~-z-". -' I". >7-
E’Z-ere would be setting; 11.1.-.s.1..l 0.0qu this 110'... 1.013 -..<.:-';-."'J'S ..1.r3..

parliatzc. -t just passed an act 13.1011 required fiasccn 11.130 to
be izpcrted in British ships. Xenry 00- t taste freeze1t e:-

cep tie-10 to this act as a 1:100:10 01? relief-2.153 1:10- 0 , ”out when it

is re. embered that hi s oer rl ff years were 030:1"; in 0001:1115; a

Spanish alliance, it ‘0000: :03 sihnificant that a FfflfliF-I‘d was

q

grantee a dispensation s seen after Fem-10123-1 field. Favor-o

‘

able trade agree-.1011 s set ween the two “M10001: were reached

7’5

in 1400.010 11‘ 0.: , 210001101113 to 6.10 terms of which 0:1 equality
050 ejertzmi ty was created. to 00.0.1 in the other's country. As
in so many other spheres political machinations robbed the
agreement of its mowing. I‘erdinana, who pric‘.c-d 21321201.? or 1113
d 01* city, and (lid inc'Leee tamerarily best 3701117 in 1‘1is early
years, was not the sort to observe any such notions. :30 lore
as 3133-21110 represented a weapon at the back of France the
"Catholic" monarch was willing; to 011011 .1is ports to 111711011-

men. “hm it became apparent Ma 23011113? 1: as 1901] to supplant

'74. I 1:03.16 VIT C. 80 '
'75. “Her, 1000 era, III, .21, 7443 cited in Lipsen, Z'bonemic
History 01' -mltaua, I, 50:3

 

-55-
Ferdinand's dynasty, through marriage and diplomacy, trade
lmmuished. 37 the reign of the eighth Item? 213115231 merchants
really depended upon Spain for only one product—oil, which was
used in the woolen indu try, thewgh iron at d citrus fruits were

f'l‘

still imported.

Henry's last efforts to establish English com-.xoreisl in-
terests timoughout the world led him to commission Juan Caboto
or Join Cabot, s. Venetian citizen livirg Bristol to "fizd,

discover and search out any isles, countries, regions, or

lBhis was done on lisreh 5, 14:06. In August 1407 Cabot arrived
in Bristol from north America, to which he returned the follow-
hm year to confirm a suspicion that it was not Asia. Ifis son
Sebastien attemted to lay-pass this wild lend but failed.
Ilonry next authorized one thcr {group to explore in the west;
this patent apparently expired without as :7 ac tion being. taken
by the recipients. t was renewed to some other men-p Ifugh
liyot and Thomas Asshehurstee- from Bristol, and two Portuguese
r1
named Gunsalus and ”farmuidus.f8 The wildcats which they re-
luctan ly tool-z t Inglsrfi as substitutes for the gold and
jewels they desired dissuaded time. from furtZ-ler e:='."i‘ort.'79
Thus ended early English ozsploratien.

It would be a :tzistal-ze to view this as a bit of prmatare

folly, for, like Henry's trade agreements, this venture proved

A. AA;

7

76. Salmsn, English Trade in the Iiiddle Ages, p.'408.

77. Rymer, Foe-Core III, 5‘35, in E‘axmey and Power, Tudor :conorzie
‘ Documents, fl, 9. ' '

78. glendsr of Pa ent Rolls, II, 320.

'79. Wmsan, 31531511 Trade in the I'Ziddle Ages, p. 44.7.

-67..

a

successful unto the sons 8.1.0.1.} 1eir sons rather than t1: fathers.

'.=’e 1 eve seen that English shipping was outclas: ed by the Yonotians,
b7 the merol‘iants of the Iianse, and apparently by ”:0 Esther-

r bri:1.5:.:13 210110

.15
.1.

O

lenders. 2:011:17 W: was lar3olv reopen sibl o

to his subjects the recognition tl‘at a island is not a con--

L5

tinent, and can only pretend to have e::tra-:.1ariti:1o interests
when its neigi1bors are few and impotent. All of Elenzzr's efforts
tool: held of the Impaler inagination; more were many coztmereial
setbacks in his son's reign, but 110 int rest in :ibroi5t1 trade

and navy had been develon ed.

L

!'

JolmC abet was acclaim ed t‘-_1rour‘.-‘ .out sounmrn ’115'iend at
the conclusion of his first trip. A Venetian, writinr‘ of him
in a letter to .113 brotl'zers at n me, said: "he dresses in
sill: and those Enlist-1 r2111- ai‘ter 12:11 like mad people..."80
23:12.0 Lorenzo Pasqualigo was both 821‘ sod and disgust d by the
res tions of these insular people, his letter does 1:: re than

nor-1y show the condescensien of the veteran towarx .3 tie novice.

, 1. _ 4-5 .9 .0 “.2 .L '1 a..- *5 J-S x r. .9
It subs antic. as: 1‘5,1 1.11c._roc tion, a q‘..‘.a..iw o; “no .1 l..s11

1:113. 11 we as touched upon by an :the r ”Tenetien-atnci adoptive
newer. for a foreigner to possess superior qual‘t ice was, we
are told, regarded as a Eivine error by t :e 1115; 1:211, and
usuall brought forth the rcrjreti'ul but crusiungc corncnt that

"it is a great pity ' that he sherld not be an 32151531118113...

"nether they Vere still existing on the roamants of the pre..tigo

 

80. Cal enrlsr of State Powers—’1; onetim1, I, 262.
010 "FT?!“ ‘ Th3?“

..J flVu-u--~.;- As‘;*a:fcl-l’ I} . LV.

 

-_ .2.- T ’0'. .Q ”R -- o , Q "‘3'! '4', 1 -.-_ W q a, - r‘.’
so eLlure by -1..:arc"~. 1...; is 13 maps incapao_c 04. 1331.15; occ..o.e..,
1. Ha I, 0“ D L '1 O- ‘9. 1". ‘1‘ O.'._\ Or .I, 1 a 1 "fl ’.‘ -.. '9‘ A 0‘ 0’
oat .Lu is certainiy ores Last the; re3L‘rLLL. as; .Lo-'e..._,1 exploit,

.2- an: .9. - s. 1 . u. - -. ~. .. .2.
ii “Luci c.1ly great, as oeiaig in Lao £1,113-11 traL'; tion. “2.1113
h r, “.-.- Jr‘s "7‘ A. 1 1 ~~ 5 *--“-~ .1 Q . - -. \ an s
Cabot ..‘as aaop to... by L...e .113"... La, (1.1:. 1-..s e..;.:.u.o‘at_-_on com. to
'1 q~r- "- C-v- rt '1"- .- w-o ---.- fl f 5 Q“ 9.
be t.1.\311t of in la or years as at... one e-.a..p..e 0.. ..-.5,.1is..1
.1J..

(3‘sz or lo in. LJ 0

- v 1 v, v 1“. ac, ‘ q I”. 3..-, 1 k. ....9 .fl
(Cabot 1.3.8 Scream "0 "sir-Lg.) owiiea i-.. s ~...e inspiration more

contact tits the 12:07: ha: "a of Bristol. ".5310 ther "‘ Lacy rge; do"
it so, or "1e", t-1s :LaCt e;‘;aiz s that .51 L153l'1121 ...L., at "'11::
time, to Carr’s their 131’- _L'1 e from the perfc‘rr-Lanoe oi" an Italic 1.
New worlds had been ope.-e<1, and ’01. “.2311 years passed before the

‘ -~~"‘-. _.- ,w _ ..Lo 1 Jo . .n .9..~ .. .1"
lasq‘..a..ige tas .zerei“ as as -10....{1 1.0.1 e that more tie pinto
”so, ‘ 1’". ‘ P 5‘ ‘ 3 Q . a ‘I‘ In 'a “,‘\_ CI ‘iO‘ . I”. 1" .9 “J. ‘_
. ‘ a. 1‘ , f n. M.- ‘ . ‘ «I— .
d 33. 3.13 s 13.1.; grandilaooate: dose e.1L?.eL-. fr t--e 3-11121Laa..-ei ,

H

41* ?. .-. ”TL. .- .2- g- .1 ., .9 .0. -v v- ,. .", ..
so 1..isaoet..’s a- ..oi s ..ao t..eir roe to ...~ ..e..1‘y’s geiicy.

It is somewhat diff icalt to derive a clear bictnre of
Eenry's intentions towards the towns of Iis realm, but it alert
be su33 stcd teat he desired to limit their inilre;1co in both
the political and economic spheres. tails his constitutional
theory is beyond the scope of this paper it would be fruitless
to disc ass economic interventionis;1Mtno t sozse nnderstsndin3
of the means emnloyod.

The relationships which._n3l sh towns bore to the Crown
were almost as varied as their charters. Cri3inally given

heir liberties on a feudal basis, from ei her a local lord or
be king as overlord, the towns had consolidated their Cains
since as early as tn late-ilcventh or early-Incl? Ccntu is 3.1
The duties from which they were freed and the exclusive ri3hts
which they possessed were derived from.cbarters or prescription.
Tae town of Coventry, fer eranple, levied poriodi assessments
upon its citizens for road repairs (rates were based u,cn the
number of doors a house ~holder possessed which Opened onto the
streets).2 Bristol, on the other hand, felt constrained to call
upon Ienry in If -;7 for perIaission to perform the some action.5
Its petition to parliament alleged tnst tI .e eitv h: cn't the

power to levy for repairs, as a CORSGQL tence of which a road had
gone to ruin. There is a possibility that the street in question
had always retained its identity as a royal highroad, but what-

ever the difficulty it is illustrative of the variant city pre-

 

1. Gross, Gi Md ercbar mt I, 5-0, Creon, Town Iife, II, ena;v. 2.
2. Leet Isooa, pp. 552, 568.
3. Hells 0” Perl 1 went, VI, 301

 

m8 ”JiVOSo
A fev'm.e re crampl of Kenry's assaults upon cor crate

I‘reecefl.twat be Q1ven, for the relationship which to;: ficlitice

bere towards town economics was excn3a1agl" eaeee. At l‘aet in

-- '5' ‘ ‘ sag 3' “ 5 1 ‘- Ac- "| ..~ I ‘Qt - .. -.‘ .3—
late LZCC etal times 1 nosed be a coacsaclctlea la tc1.e 00

T‘ (‘1’ " 1 n1 rue-l '9 t" (“h 3 -1I\‘\ Q “‘1 r‘fifir' ~'- x'ann") "-1 7 3 (-3- an 1.1a... v"-

1n campathj w1eh each ether'e almegé and the L133 vLe desired
to discard all or pa rt of an old econ mic are a: 3:1 first to
create an 3.233al pelity.

Hear? VI: laxenetrat d 113 ab'lity to do so 1; several
way In 31120 the terns of I-rtharyton an” Leicester ugre cem-
maufled "so thentent that; 1 ed Ll axe subctanciale orCrezmay

3.. In 5' . ‘- -" - v‘ A ~ .- ‘-- -'.-". «'- ‘- '1 r. '1 ~ ,
130 LC»... uO PC: 1"“. 451104.? 0;. CC 53.0-13 C11 L10 ell v.50 Joy-£1.3‘. (lily.

:( -'-J

parliamentary level.5 Levon 3e are late:' fear: reve.
ehises of Kerth an- Feutll Tyneeale and incorgerated than into
the sh W1 re of Kertaumberlaaa, this meazt tLat the tonne were
geleable (eueject to re"al taxation) anl 1th13 ta j~ar13~
diction of any royal tl_t (that' 13 royal justice penetrated

their confines). Earlier, in 1187 E nry ha

a
city of York from.payment of E 60 of its L 160 annual fee form.

 

Italian Relation, p. 415

5. 201130; raraia get, VI, 43 ~32; later on June 13, 1493, Henry
'IEeuee erder5“te C aater try fler the reformation of elections
and of local acljective law. CeleaCer of ?.a tent “e: 1% 8, IE,
136-38. On ”evember 26, CCC'learv rebrlod tle citizens of
Leicester for their failure to use the royal stalls and ev-ns
1n the‘marl :ct place. Rolls of the Duchy of Iancaeter 1n
Chxabell, Eateriale, IT:CSCj-'TO.

6‘ 11 110219 "1T0. 90

7.1;.cll-e of Parliarent , VI, 303; Ienry alee reeitted L 10 to
Cfieeter. Lipsen, geoneric Iietorj of 'relnee, I, '102. And
L 22 to fierthaapton. ?r1vy_fieal irit in Carpeell, Eateriggg,
II, 349.

 

 

 

 

 

 

..‘7'1 .-

I in

This was ostensibly clone because Yer}: was unable to pay-11; was

1

a stronghold of Yercist sen
astute 'E‘aclcr was well azure.

Ibsen his seven parliaaents Zienry cbta'kzci four a: tra-
ordinam’ grants-uhis first {gave tonnage and. pound
last he accepted in 30,000 in lieu of feuaal aidsO—o and. in each

9“ n v '- I 0‘
ago, more tn

instance rebate was provided for "impoverished terms" at the
rate of L 6 ,000 for every teeth and fifteenth granted.lo then
Henry made his huge resmlption of lands in 14-85, he stuliously
exatzpted any improvements, defenses, fairs, or other privileges
granted to the towns by Lie irmzecliate are
I—Eonry's degree of communication with the terms of flrglmia
was quite sumrisizizgj in View of the obstacles to intercourse.
1215 most reliable local officials were the Justices of th
Peace, men chosen from the counties to act as quasi—Crown
officers. rrhese Justices were probably derived from the early
Angevin Conscrvators of the Peace eh were mentioned in the
reign of Richard I (1160-00), but first received statutory
recomitien in 1500. 2 13:7 153 Ken. VI 0. 11, hey were required
to be men worth L 20 a year in land, or have such legal know--

ledge as would enable the Chancellor (from when all cor-rtissions

 

8. Renry seems to have had, for those times, a very efficient
and inconspicuous secret service. In most things,'as Bacon
said, ”3:0 chose to work by countermine." C-ainlner, Fem“;
The seventh, p. 115, quoting hacon.

9. relish-'77";3.:T_e.*::cnt, VI, 208-00, 852.

10. $6121., 5:, Jiffy-ea“ Q
11. 1013., VI, SLi‘J.

129 BE saw. III c. l; Tanner, Tudor Constitutional Documents,

p. 4530

-73-
. “ ; 1 13 . ,9 1 9 r-sq . Q A
were cornea) to waive tee promsion. more were a meteor 01

these officials 0.13;) intea to the Coalzzissica of the I-‘eace for

‘, s W ‘ .fl - '7 - '="-~ v M . - H -~ -
ea -1 ceantJ, and iron tale nigger a a...a"..II.e.:* select 32‘s.; of

‘—J

03:13. agents, naneal i. the COL-1311;155:1011, were required to be

. _ “a, ,9. .U‘ . .h -1 -.. ..,... .,. .,.. .0. .-.... . p "E
present at the trial 0.5. more scrim... cases. ..iah L. lical Cis-

regard for the syntax of by: sign la..3ua{;es these 111 11 came to be
known as mzrlbers of the air-erase from the sealing: of the elder
coztrnissions: A, 13, C, 2?, f3, and I: are appointed to the Co:::::ission

Q

of the Pea e for once a acuity", p___:-. 11.10:: [1,0, and 1 111“‘Gt 0337375 b9
14.

present at the trial of certain types of offences. _'.,1is Cis-
tiact‘on event-1 ally“ broke clown, primarily, no doubt, because of

the rel iCtQZlCG profos lional lawyers Cispla “rec towards re guests
that t; "arenas E: lr csoteri 1:101 ledge 1:1 51.01“" erple re-

.. . 15
miners. tion.

The coor oration of the most respectable and generally

16

mac t rro socrous inhabit can sci‘ the counties and terms was in-
di swans 1b"e to a monarch, and lie e:-rJ XII scour ed far more sup rt

from than than previous sovereigns. This was partial .ly accou-
plishecl by his eviclent eagerness that all people should be aware

of, and capable of reporting, injestice on a local level. An

17

act of 14-8- requirecl all justices to post, at every'.;u.a1‘-tor

Session, a pmclsrxation which recited that there were many laws

13. Ju.stices were apnointed by the king t1:.rorjh his Chancellor

at tie advice of the Council ,Creat local lorfis, or the
Justices of Ass ise, if advice were requested. Ibid., 453.

14. PiCIZtE‘Orn, .9.I'1" ”T‘dOI‘ "OVCl‘W“OI’Iu, p. 67.

15. Service was alizes t unpaia. To: c., p. 62

16. In his twenty-- ur years as L133 leary'baifibteo sixz1navors of
London, several sheriffs, and one city-recorder. Stow, Survez
of London, II, ?C—CO.

17.4 1:84:10 TI]: Co 120

 

-73-
to maintain.peace in tiie realm, and that the justices of tee
peace had sufficient authority to enforce them if they would:
1! tea justices were hindered, or if they refused to do t’ioir
duty, complaints might be ta zen to their colleagues, the justices
of assize, or the m ass or his chancellor.

In.similar ways Leary era orced.pr0per admiiistratien of
justice upon his sheriffs an d coroners, the one group by trans-
ferring tr oir'powers to t: as justices, and the other by the
passage of an act which.provided fines for coroners (or crouners
as they were then called) who were remiss in their inquests, and
rewards fer those who conducted.proper invest gations; it was

Q

also proclaimed that teens who did not appronend criminals were
19
to be fined.

Besides using proclamations as a means of naintair. ,..

closer Contact with the teens Le e.ry.:;ound his Council, while

sitting in the Star h aber (t11at is unile handling criminal
' '20
cases by virtue of its residual jurisdiction), to be an in-

valuable means of overridin3 sectioz 1al jurisdiction or local

21 .
anarchy. A glance at the records of these Star member

cases is enough.to impress one witb.two notions: the desire
of the "court" to ezzpand its jurisdiction, or rather a re—
luctanee to confess limits; and the eagerness with which peti-

tioners created barely plausible fictions to enable their causes

ff

189 3 1:03.. VII 0'. 4.
19. 3 HOD. VII 00 2.‘
20. which.was apparently given some sort of statutory clarifi-
' cation by 3 ion. VII 0. 1.
21. The intro action to Tanner, Tudor Constitutional Documents,
and Pickthorn, Ea;~* 1" Tudor Government, pp. 47150;TLave ex-
cellent discussions of this act.

 

-74-
to be heard in the court. 'f the seven types of promise:
fifteenth Century ffonces which the statute empowered seven

as q

-. .-_. . .n .- 3.- n...” - , . -. . .. ,. , _
f tne Ling's oificials bu sedaaicatc, ”lot was tee most common,

0

the most detested by the Crown, and the favorite fiction alleged
by suitors. Actually, land seems to have be‘l most often at
issue, but almost invariably the petition allojed a grievous
rict-—”that ye to soy, bylles, bones, swordes, a arose." in the
words of the complainant in Iiddletcn v. Cronckc alias trygh
(1401-02).22

In the econ mic sphere Henry's policy was not always so
easily, or consistently, portrayed. Primarily this was due to
the flexible, almost contradictory ways open to the mercan-
tilist:monarch. When it was to his advantage Fenry could re-
affirm the ancient customs; vhon the delicate commercial
balance swung in another direction he might easily interfere
with esta listed rights and powers.

The anonymous Venetian, who has been quoted extensively,
estimated that London, Eristol, and Kerk were the only thriving

wns in.£h;land.23 It scans stran:e that York had its fee

fern reduced if it really was prosperous. But, for the sake of
argument, the Ven.tian's report may be accepteé; even though

doing so forces one to conclude that Kenry reéuced its fern by

 

_7

T!

22. Yorkshire Star Cranber‘Proceedings'(William arown, ed., Kerk-
Shire fireheological Society ‘lSOQI, p. 12. Riot was allefed
in each of the following cases: taterkyn v. Lattice, 1503;
Vale v. broke, 493; and Cooper v. G rvaux, et al., 1403. In
the first the actual question was trepass, in the second it
was slander, while the third concerned unjust tolls at a fair.
Select Cases before the Iingis Cerncil in tte Star Chamber,
:c-zztzonly Gallon the Tourt of Star '-’Ic:.7:‘:}lr: A. Ti. TEST-1339
UT. .3. Lesion, ed., E-cléen Society, London, 1363), Jill”,
36-458, 38-40, 164—68.

25. Above, p. 14.

-75-

!—'0

over cnc-third.morsly to quiet irci,icnc sod ion. This is a
possibility, but somewhat unlike Le1r,, who, though.not vin-
dictive, was firm; besides, by'laC7 ’ho northern cor ntics had
domenstm~ ted their loyalty. 24 At any rate, whether the rotated
money is treated as a reward for support, or a grant for decay,

Q
Q
I

tee fact remain stnat Ionryo disgursod fuzdsu-a most unusuall

(3001er0110 e 025

Bristol Izad suffered a falling off i- redo when the
Kendra Year's Ear was to: animated, but in the lattz aalf of
the Fifteen h Century a slowly increasin3 procoer rity'nas br0U3ht
to the town by'men 111:0 ‘illiam Canynzos and the Cabcts. Th
wine trade with C-nienne and Gascony had been of immense imgcr~
tanceu—a commentary upon the tastes of the mlish-and its
interruption (from.a.monopolistic View) was catastrophic.
Bristol was rev ved by'the acts of Kenry's first and third
parliaments Which had restricted the importation of Cascen.wines

26
Ih3lish.ships manned by ‘nglislz crews. This, of course,

wclr.ded foreign competition, or as much of it as Tenry desired;
it could not ne3ate the distinct advantages of size anl location
which.London possessed.

London.was rapidly becoming the center of En3lish.com-
mercial life toward which all merchants gravitated. This was
probably do primarily'to the emergence of the Ycrchant Adven-
turers and the transition from.wool to cloth xportation.

This situation is clearly illustrated by the act which

 

24. Above, p. 42.
25. Calonflar of State Penercu-.e etian, i, 181.
269 EDOVC, p. 4:0.

limited the fees changed 13- the Adventurers: clot no, it was
alle3ed, "be cor vcied w London, where th e3? be sole e ferro
nadir the price that they be wortho, and that they costs to

the razors of the 30:10,..." It is intorestin3 in this connec-
tion to note that neither the cozzgalainsnts nor the i.erc‘;:ont
Adventurers desired free trade: all the march n's fro-:1 ctlwr
towns desired was a share of the protected market. The Adven-
t‘zrors amended their mono poly because it 1:e3>t up "the cries of
our comaociities abroad by avoiding an over glut of our com--

moaities whereto soft 03* trac sawhorse s contrariwis 9 when trade

is free, many sellers will maize were cheap and of lea. es-

‘I’he nest strilzi..3 81281117319 01’ Lonc’on's usurpation in tho
econcnic sphere was bro 3ht to li3ht in l” .87. The city offia-
cials, it seems, had passed an ordinance which restrained the
nhabitants from attending: fairs and markets beyond the city
limits. A complaint was enteroa in th Commons by affected
interests in other areas of Lhrjlzmcl. The Iondon oreinanee,
it was asserted, (3121151366. such ancient terms as Coventry,
Salisbury, Bristol, ‘Z’fOPC, Ca13ri"e, I‘Iottinfghan, and 217;.

All these towns had yearly fairs which depended in ar3e

 

part upon trade with nerclmnts from lends... Parliarzen
2'7. 12 I201]. VII Co, 6.
28. Lipcon, (30.10.... firigrr 33.13131 and, I, 491.

 

.17 :7 .1.

0 IL”? ~ ‘1». l.‘~fi J... -. IR ,.-\ n-‘fs -" - ,. w... . r. "
C'JiCMO 18$?CCL4. ‘43.. ULJ. U. 3.0 .L 0 6.1.1. :11: :LK} ... L. ’ .L 01‘ 21.1-0 0... —"CJ..1L.--1~J 0.?"
1’ fl APW fl - 29 '\ M~-\ -‘ 0‘. (~- *" fa . ..... u!- r‘fi ,1. l,- k[-

London cont'.‘~..-..uod to 3:337 and to {3130021313 much 1115311313. 001113.0- .300;

3.-, «.- - 3..! . , . . 1.3 I-.. .6 ..3- - ...., .. .. .
as t:.-.o 3.0.3.63..le 13(1..C131:(3C (1:. 0:10 :...r23 0.. t.:o 00-3.3313: ”1.1 all

M ~ T” .- '3 - .' Q r 'A‘ q-fi, I g ~~ 4~‘ on
3.0.9 3.3.03.3 in .1303, ..o::3.e, 3.0-3.1063, C..0. --orc--3.co p.11. to;,oi.‘.3_or, I

(10 not think there woulld be found 80 11:33:; [3:351 10:] cf the
, -l‘f‘7 .-.. a. 3- . 3... ”30
mavn ..cence that C130 L0 be @0023. 3-1 :onmn.

The single C. Spoct of 1:03..- life V’ILiCh 6:3."C.;jcd Terry's

V

attention more-t .f‘roquontly was the craft :11" A {311:1 USS th

1035. 0C1 co. Icreti. :3. 0;? 1:10:13. 3*.*C.l 0001103110 5:300:37. Thor-QT: par-

{3103.33.53.33 trades varied in "$1.31le organisation, 1:3. all cf
than minute re:j33..l Cti 03.3. in ovo “Crooncoiva‘sle aspect of wort:
pro railed. ”1.363.113 :31; 3L.CC3C.3.L.3.1 purpose, Izzcxrovcr, 5:30:13 to be
best 333.130.3200. 11131311153. 01:33:33.3 from the Gila of the tort: Car-

“'1.

pants-:33 Crd;ne:.3 ces (14.32):

Also, it is onionyd that 33:“ 011:; 0;? the mic“: frC tor-23:7. tlo :."C3 all
to povert, so that the may not WZJ’I‘EI, or happen to be blynd, or
to 1013 thCr {211103 by 3.13.32'1C1333 of the world, than the for: .iC.
bredyrno ode t gyi‘fe th 3.3311 113.3 (3.. ever" welre, as long as th
liff, 13v W937 of C1131 32Ce, :30 1313.23.13 he thct is 30101313132375: have
trewly 3213.119? ..llicl the ordinauncez above wryttyzno

The emphasis placed upon security bec333 ..me more and more
noticeable in this period. The e::33ansion of trade and the
increased ease of cormm'lcation threatened {3116.33 they repre-

smted the medieval division of labor, and any attempts toward

29.. 3 Ken. VII 0. 10. The I'Cyor and 003311011 of Salisbury later
levieda stell- tax at their fair which was loudly objected

 

to ~ at least one Ion--on merchant. COO-:78}? v. Cerva3c:,'et
8.1.1433), b01002: Case :3. in the Star Chm-2136323, XVI, 36-8.
30.13.33.133 RC1. QLLOH, £30".ng '

 

31. Yon: genera no.3. 3.3:: .Zoo_1;, 321,277-83 in Tawney and Power, Tudor
3362301210 4.5.931ffitf‘, ., 03.

 

-.Qa—
1121;101:0133. on 110210 0021031012011 to 120 C0 ”0111. .1..1 to 1:110 00:11:20.0 30061.
Not 0211;; 6.3.6. 53.10.01 110.170 to 12029.17 about 3301103." -91". 00:21:: 01131021., (ft-'1
the 90.1100 that: 1.0111: 110.0 20.110131 1:0 Covontzvk’ogoy 110.0 to repress
rebellion within their 113.51.21.12: 1:10:13.

Ebroign 170111222011 11110 desired to 1701112111 .-:L'-1 2:110 ”001.7113
became more 2111210210110 121 3:021:31'0 2.103.321. 20.27 of 031021. 170110 jour-
1103121011 v.10 11061. no hope of 2?" ..2’1c1213 111011: in 12.1.0 15017.10 17110110 they
had 00:11:06. 171103.11 01111110. 02113100 312130. 1.11.110 1'210;r."1"‘.-*' 00012110 0:3-

. . M

p101".1c:1t, 0:3 01:1101130210 3:1: 1:10.". exceedingly (1011.32 011.21 "110.": they

dun-O

.5 .9-‘ - 1— 1

0011.0. 0110112000220 11.0.0 .0110 0.. 0-11111 0' .:1 011.0310. .-:.1. 101°5, for

1-1 . u - ~ '- q D a '1 Hr I. ‘11,.
1:10 00.300, 3011.11.10 12.1.01... 00.110021 0110' 110' 0: 0.00:1 '1; 0... 0001.11: 1:30.10";

" L “ F hp‘ - i . L... -. .~.".. ’3 -. IL A .q
to 1.0.0 0.110111 1.31211 .1130 11rr11... 0.0 0. ..0lctcr 113. 11.1.". 1...-_,-:: 1.1.0, 0.1-.
n u. ' I .r J... O ‘4 q 1 .0. Ch .9 g
11:03 210113-011 [never] prontgs 0.2.0.21 3..-'1, .-0 01.0...1 pa,- .011 1:..0 1.300%

32

vj s. v3.3.3. d.,..." For a 2:20.21 1722. 1210.3 0001:1215; 1702.13: to 1:10.110

[Jo

one-2:121:11 of a year's 12-10300 :1 00. 012, 0031001 0.11:; :1 3011;110:1331,

was 0.11. 11.21:. 1:01111000', 0.2.0. 00 210.213: "0":101'1150210" 1:02.10 CC:’1(1'JI‘C.L.110C1
to .30 1mm "0.021.-.-01'3. As if 1:11:10 11'cz1on't 0:101:31: 03’.‘ a ‘00 1111-01: to
labor nobility, 01:31.0 1' 1100 3111013310220 110210 1210.0ch 12110:". 30.00.1521

workers. The 00:10 computer-3' 311d 03’.‘ 75012:, 111 1510 0:100. the

proviso 113201;"01111' 0t1101'21..'_';0 00.11:: 21.13011" 11.100 to 11011 £01.11.1 {2021.00

“‘1! u
for the first 11001:, 02.1 two 02111112130 for t}: 0 13.1101: L‘ZOH"'1, and

01'1ot1.0r t'ro 01111111130 0170.11,"; 1:12:10 1.0 0.1112131 0:1 10b." 3 this to b0

'3’

equally divided by the city and the craft. A 03.22110. situa-

tion pmvailcd at Coventry.

_‘ + A... AAA

32. Ibido. I, 95.

33. 0..., I 96~7.

54. 1n oven. fiother precedent condition was the payment of a
fee to the Jgild for the first year's work. Leet $00k, pp.
585, 623.

-79...

m‘ ("1 ’0 J.‘ - hv .- .u. ‘7'. --' . ‘.—-.. I“
1.10 1100011110 0.. 0.1.1.0 town 1330'41C10 r1 0tr11-2111:3 0- .-1 -_..-.e 0.1.

the vlmmte result of ti: 015111113310 £0110 0:101:110 00:11:11.1 VIZ-13.011.
was we .rgecl by the local craft 311610. 3.101131 3100.11 the lie-.1110 of

foreign pot}. tio.10110 and 1000.3. applicants 17.1.0 3111.111 3'.‘

1101110120 01‘ apprenticoeifip 1:101:10 01.111 11 ..tteci to the 001110 :11, 110013133

in the 001 11113-1 Get, 11:16. every 3101111 the decision to b 3011 11.001: of
them had not with {31:100. to? ii 00.11011011113 . 311111.13. 3.1, 1... 013013011 0:?

r" 354-1 ‘1 41-1-1 «1.21 '11 41 '1
1008, use 00010103 :03 reached '1; a flsr all praeuicei

111111110000 meant the 011:1 of {mild control: outside nowhere 170110
new pexzittefl. to 020110100 their 111100.00 11.111.21.011"; 11.11.321.011: to the
{31101 0.110 01"qu 1‘03:- tize first 'reer. 137.1110 t‘10 1141111: to 01.11.111.110
applicants was still reteinefl, a serious barrier to equality
had been re: ved. Simple 1.1..et11...11t:3 like this in e 3101::ely 011d
0.111.100t forgotten 110001101 provide the beet 31111050 02? the end of
feuflal life.

1:20:13' 01‘ the people who began drifting into terms from
the count-11110100 were 111 a 1".‘11 11.10110 desperate 01171101231011. 131.110
the total 111.111.1300? 01‘ people 11.13.10 were evie ed from their holdings
by 1:310 enclosure movement wee not as 101170 03 001110011 3101101151
71130.1...11-0 indicates, 13110110 is 01133101011; 01711601100 1:11.111: 1111:1113:
towns (especially London) were faced 111' th 1111 unprecedentea
problem at this ti: . 131011000 meet joumeymen were young end
1.111111011111061, many families were involved in the agrarian up-
heaval: their utility to ti 0 01110.1. 61:; 017000110110001 011051; 3 11:13
was doubtful. 1211000 0110 the people "1.11011, 1101:1011, huebercie,

wives. o .chilc'iren , widowe r1. , wofell :10 there , . o c " of when 3170110

3'

35. Ibid., p. (3133.

-30-

. 1‘? J- . --... .1. . .. . '
SDCCo‘IS: car: U0 u—ozl P11.- ' 231-: as VCVC LDuL‘C \I;1(h\!n I.) , b“. ‘13:}. Lnso Lit-1') ' O auouto

' fi
o

51:15". 110131-51 27.01:: 17.11013. :10 115751 7.717371 57.0.: .. 17157 17 :0, -.7 577.157 .1 3:01 1105.70:

"a
'10
.'.-g .5: .n. 1.3- ....,-. "I -. 4-3 - fl NV
510 1211-..;75-{313 131570-130 ..1.0-...0.1.7.00 5-1017130.

2110.170 75751.0 :10 1:11:13 57.5.7317 73511310 to 1:11:13 1:7. 17.156.101.731 211301713100;

I

’9 o L"

.4- ’QI'O'-
5.110 50..-}. 03: ..'..'.L. .1. 1.13.8 CC‘ .10.

q

5.170.113 V0.1.1....;.r $017 011 0:717:50151'3101 0-151 a
policy. IL? 510 115151 110 01311013 0511510200 17017 1:110 51.515775:1._117' 1,775: .1 17.10.17.
£17.11 (17.3110711311‘5 7.70.57. 0 017.51.357.53 17013101310 01‘ t1: 7.7.105‘.:’-.cv::7... 0001105135,

we 031017.151 still 90:00:11.0 it £13071 “£237.57. 057-171;: T115107: 17:73:15 1511;15:517‘51051
of {317.0 I‘GVOPSO 31117105171021. ”17515357 05-15, 01111511110 17:15.11.
0:.-15‘. 013:1. 57.51 7570:.30 5.7.11 00.17.57.051 ”0;:- 157.5'.'1210:3::, it 5:51.53 felt. T310 0151575710
017.5150: 0' tci‘ 1:17.511: 1301:5113 d77.‘:.7:.017.r3 17051570111113 057.710 33:30:27. 75312172157
71.717.01.07, 17.757135115101317. 0.. 3-3711737 VII”: 17131177570137.5311, 71375757325717 ’30:? 7117.0
(7011;102:7151 111 1504-, 0.151 0071.17,: 57571071027 ..0-I7 t.1o 5017301131170 0:
statutes . 1‘17.‘ 5...:735 1.5.5.7 111L5117100 1:13-57:17 "15151110535: [7.17515 +3210 7.50.1735
171071110:- 01‘ .11 1773.00... 51151013711570.13- 577751.111 57-. 0:? 1707.55713'1310 51:153.

1711301710,..."37 0.117771017101377 011017-511 117.0 V0177 171011 757? 1357.13.08. 5.7.2:

> - - .9 o 1' ‘7q . -\ 7-7?
15110 11011515: 1.70:3 511510 ’520 017.10.. 030200.103 for :7 7.7.1.1151? 1.5.7 -::~

U”

lat-.021. I"? 5.7. strange 1.7100110131311035 the 17057310 75331.0 117.5051 5.3.1

1!

"Jove-7.317.710 55511 171 11.53 7:710" 17107.30 03. .30 5100110051 0.. 0v0171:1c..'.:..:57:100 111

$3.11 3777' 25151 300510.35011 57.7.1 0:.57101131ve 117.73.13.51 111:0 liore's 535117

*J

nothinfj celltrm‘ictoz? 5.11 1117.0 s‘ntmxm J(£757.13 t 1.0 55575117. 51173713057 50d
03. 57.525.75.77 17.005". "7:17.70310 013730111130 0.17.531 p'from 0 now £515.57]. -1100 £11 1.37.03.1-

5.ppa-17 01..-, 5.1151 to 17.111011 317051713511 riotte 517.151 07.75111130110 3357.170 at
; ; "38
1.10117 table.

7.701.151." 117.575.33.00. 1771 their 01m 17.111515: 17.110 0171510711: 777.157.07.553,

(-J 0

fi

36. 120170, 51.7.7 STE-101115.53, 131300151, p. 52.

37. Dudley, "5111115151, The '..":.31.0 0:. (‘07:: 5713...:7700‘- 1:31 (3.511101105713017 , 3.859),
p. Ju').

38. Kore, Utonia, p. 57.

~810-
town officials 0113:1306. in numerous campaigns to be rid of these

"pore, sylie wretched 00113.00." 03‘ course, an iaeeliza" -011 of

9

hose 1:0 11:10:." 3113011003110 would be feel i e1:--unc‘10ubtedly there were
1110.113 criminals abroad in the land—but in all ero‘oability any
unexplained eriztze or mishap was automatically attribzzterl to 1:11
unfortunate va3a’0011c'le. On January 10, 1-00, Coventry as we 11
as the other towns of the real; ..11, received orders fro-2:1 leery VII

to arrest or drive from their 3 arisdicti :10 all v b31011ds,

'7

09 .. .
prostitutes, and keepers of rowdy ale-houses. Tue association
of these 311100 types of offenders was elmraeteristic of Tudor

thirlzi. . A similar proele: .ation, in 1111301133110 tozms 1.0110 0;:

£1.44

pressly enjoined to weperate more fully 173. 1:11 royal 0-1..eials,
was issued on February 8, 1403.”

W103 Henry VII did not 111110120 the aid of 1301111 offie ials,
theys ought to 00:10 with the va3a0011da3e problem by “0 1310011700.
In Coventry, in 13" 053, 14-03, 01131405, the‘ . a.3‘or and Council

inavgurated a series of 110-011.1151 desi3nod, as well, to repress

41 .
jememen from the enjoyment of 11311017.»; 1 3:11.03. At aoout

the same time sizzzllar a ives were made in London ~Eristol
. .’ ’

and Clouees tor, which, according; to one Izora 11.0 “0, were "too

A
abomole 89012321 01‘ in “‘10 .1131 and-o 0.11.111Ja130."*2

People 111:0 these, either le3itinate 3011.111 031:: :1 or

’

Gisplaeod a3rieulturd labourers, could be held at 00.31 i

['0
i

(1) tom officials and. 3116. masters 1110.111 ..ari ecl- 0. 111311 degree of

A
VW

39. Leet 13001: ., pp. 508-40.

40. £0110:1.ar ”0_ Patent Roll :3, I, 434-37.

41. feet 7560;, pp. aid-~46, UGO.

420Tm1-1 Gilda. ? 1.3121. 0.100131 111310116, 1:, 753-59.

O

comrrdty, ar .11 (2 ) 33.10 01102111111011. :.nter'1.all" so11.11d.3‘3ut the
biggest t1reat wit-103.1 strangers offered to e. 11.110130 stcd local
mark-t was 1:1 0:10’d1e11areaz extra-1.01 :11 110131101: 1.113.313. E131..-
denze 31:10 1:: 1.1:. t1:.re 0.. articles was really facilitat ed by
31161 restrictions, but 03-10 failed to see the relations
between their restrictive policies .1110 the increased 0.121.011.0123
of 130113.200th beyond their city walls. If they did realise
the res'xflts 01‘ their *..11o31..'1 ‘eitery 10001.10, 1.31011 failed to meet

the situation -21 0:111 buta nega tive r1. ..111'10r. 1.11.1310 1.1 town or
rild c uld physically control craftsaen beyond its 313.113.01.31 tion,
at'tee:_-,ts were made to shut offt110 natural outlets for all mer-

cImndise-u the city fairs and :10113:e"'1.s-—~t1_e 0111); read or 3:13 it 1111-

pzwi‘iteble to work outside oigilds. In most to .7210 the Layer
. 4.3 . .
was also Clcrl-z of tee market. It was 312.0 jo.) to see that the

"311st" prices which 310 posted were observed, and t‘rzat rogrators

‘
l

and forestallers (those who 17125110110. sod all 001.11.:0 editiee .30.. 0110-

hard, or in other were attempted to influence 13113.0 00) were

6

.1011 "the grit evens
n44:

punished, as a 001 rt 3:110 tt311;,.1e.1;1 out it,
detriment 01‘ our said Lord the 323.113, and against his peace.
Forthcmore, local merchants were given priority over stremers,
e. 5., Coventry shoemI-zers were allowed to purchase cowhides
before :3 ..11 angers were given the opportunity, and local butchers
could sell their hides to the tern-tor be- ore for" 3.511. hides were

considered. Liarlcets were held in Coventry on Tuesday, Thursday

\

~— V‘ v—vv— 1.-

43. Lost ”erg, pp. 588-893 of. Ordinances of Loreester (3.467),
, ' 17. .321. ..1Lj'3'x11 1.5.10.8, pf). 333:3, cud, 3131..
44. «words 0): .110 .'.oroc. 31 0" "ot"111"11..111, III, 55 in ”5.113.119.1118,
:Eirjlazfl 1511.511 1.310 1:111 Tudors, 1). .90.

 

5V"

and Saturday, and strange

2.20120 0221:; 01102.20

N

~80-

r.‘. to b22222 or sell on

2‘-" 22.:

.. 41-5
those 232170, 6222021223 day-.'.ight, 0.21221 02 .132 in the 2:20rlzet place.
These restrictions which towns. 112:;20 0001 upon the con duct of 2".‘03. rs
0226’. markets failed 130002.200 other outlets, not '2‘: 1.0211012, 12.0.0.
developed. If 010022 2322:1012 2.22-1.22 1212063200.. at ‘10220 002.116.1322 00121
to a travelling; 13223022, 0210-22 all t: 0 restrict 0:.:10 in the 22201210.
were of no 0220.1-1, :ibr e. ten-2:2 212.0121: ‘0 220.0 obsolete.

Internal C1022 0:20.03 1:000:10 e. clnreeterietie 01’ r1100 at
this +2.12: 1'12 12-12820 the FI:00.2:.-:0 0:? 10:22:10}: averroc. that their
je'.'.r:2.e;.2:: 2.012 2102.20 210:2 ..';‘.;2.;j 0:2 :0. 172.12 ”0.32 1:1:"50122'200 :20, 02202211230, 022:3.

«220m- to

u- U- H...)

4.6

12. 2lide.j;s, "co

1:320 1:127 of god [010]

0:?!”

u-‘ahn-

A ‘3 -~-— ”5'-
CCUCfi Cu‘dvd']; Aw

mama-.31...." In $125. 2 0:.. 0.2.0.3102: {7210 222.103 2212.22.02: 1:032: 2:10.23
30222222032202: from ever b00033” 11:00 tors of their 027:1 £203.23 seemed
to 0.01:, 0.0 Zheteievolzi 00.3.0. 01‘ .110 novel, 111:0 0 1:22:11“:- 2221:1011
out both ways. 332216.022. :2 ”2.0 journezmon were 2212221222223 after
12.02.2123 022.21 0:: ’01: .011: c- .022 .22.:21t0 produce 012000 for 2.? 1212 they 00d
privately contract-00“.. It is not 2:0 2:222 0:.-22:22:02“: that 2.0:: 2:1:
12.52.63. 0210000.: 2:111; served 101:" end 0123.22.02.15: apprentice"‘:i22" only
to find 15320220012700112001201310 0.. ”00001221223 esters, 02102."‘2‘ feel
little identificatio on 27123.2 the 0.3.1210 of." a restrictive 2213.“.
13.30112, in 1507 00220 Embers 0:? t1: 3.006.022 founders craft

rt

2.2061 t’2 -023. r 2229 22210210 in t2: 0 0022.

of an act against 22.222200001221020 0221;122:200

02? Star (210202002: for violation
47 ., .
.23. '3.2.0 270.222.0220 2'20...”

alleged to have set an arbitrarily 12.1.2322. price, 1201 0:: 22.22.1012 12.0
member of {1‘20 01-000.22.21 0...}. 12.10 22201200; 22:20:22 00.100 fell 031?

r

45. Lee-t 73001:, 1329.0 55'? 565.

4.6. 210001220 cf 2.

 

-0 (12.22212 0:? 3022222103:

I

in T022203? and Power,

T2, 104,

M

 

Tmo 22 3002202110 wgmzento,‘£
47. 10 3.02.2. VII c. ‘7.

, 227.

-C<'=-.-
the wardens offered to buy the other :1c..1";e1'>o' goo .e, 11
price and thee, neglectingt. heir oz.-. ore1:....-.ee , re sole". them at
a hijeer level. ‘1331e2-1 a :30 11:11. or eve: '1' 311111127 'relze the ordine. 1ce

the wartime oi" the 3311c. fined 111:1 33.. 411.; in re"- 1.1-1.1...e1 he

be: sled the jmze 013 and goods of "he Mld. 5331., ereeent olefin-
tiffe then lax-015114531111: 1:1 the Star 310:1“- er.4‘ 111.. the 1cm)-
Cole-e was roundly oezflcd by the tier-c1713 , with the exception of

"L:

the previous 3110311111135 against t3:o::1;t311e, they L-t:3.111etccl, Iced

‘
...o

C}
i-«I

been effec ted "by the ".1 etre moanys and labour of (337110113
persenee.” .110 final (“11311013351011 of the case is 3112101111; 1:1»
ferttmtely the Star Chm-21110:? recorc.e are 121.1637 rzutiloted, all
of the decrees having; be e21 lost since 1719 1'31: ' they wer last

A _.
seen "in a house 111 lilo. thelcncr: Close, Lon-(lemme) (1t

p0 eible t:- 1et many records were never 20:) t, for if." 4"...1, we.
thought of es the King's Com.- ‘1'cll 1.1.1 :13 res; "(l .213. j'.'riex."..;?.ctie:1,
then there would lmve been 110 point in oettmg preocde:.t3 in

the Star Chamber.) But 1': 1e ther t-1e cocieion is 1:101:21 or not
the eviclence of c 1’8””“0210‘1‘6 re: 11-313.
A slightly different ceee, tut one in winch ..Zenry'e aid

was also invoked, was the Lead Iiiners of 1130111: v. Th Eierclmte

. 50 ‘ . .
01 York, 14.99. In this Star Chameer Case the miners emerged

that the merchants were using taupered scales ,1 "of here 0 wetue

myndee and wi’d out any lewfi’ull utoritim..." in contravention

Y—V I ‘ '

48.. Select' Cases in the Site. Chmber, .1111. 263-71.’ '
49..'1Te:1:10r, 3.1?111'Tor (70:15:13.1: .'tYonel ocwzee’ce, p. 24.9. lee. dean eeye,

' in Selece Cases 3.11.10 Lear Q1ez1oer, XVI, 2'71, t-1e wardens lost.
50.. Ibiifi, 3M, 69-71..

 

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«Bd-

interesting cluo to the insecurity felt by the exclusive but .
apprehensive gilds. At about the some time all the cilds who
were even remotely concerned with the London leather trade also
oonsoZ Idated into one big {:11 (1.52 Organizations like these
must lnve been very etm‘oersome and Lnsati si‘ectozv, for they
represented too many unrelated groups to ever hope to present
a constructive business policy, but it was the best method
that men who had been raised'in e 311d societyr could find to-
cheel-z their prospective ruin.

As has been previously noted craft-3116.3 often engaged
in recreational and devotional-activities. These parades? plays
and pageants were the most glorious foatnres of town life, for
entertainment was self-minui‘aetured then, and apart from the
tavern enanated principally from the parish church. It is in-
dicative of the decay witnin the gilds th at so 1e of them were
forced to withdrew from these annual festivities. In Coventry
in 1494 several of the gilds til-ose treasuries had been depleted
by loss of affluence and complete control of their trades,
begged reductions in the amounts demanded of then for the
fmnoua Lamas Day Ride and other pageants. On this day the
city-officials all rode thrown the streets in their impressive
and colorful robes.“

_-_ .‘. A A— A A._ _._. __ h

to officially open the town commons for

.7 - ,—. ,1

Letterbooka L F. 145 in Ibid. 99-101.

‘ on g run—m c mined at the insis-

tame of munie pal corporations thieh found in the gilde'an
excellent systm of pepular control. Tom Life II, 155.

54. Gaudy robes seaned to be a trade-snark o c officers, for
in London we are told that ordinarily the o ficials were
arti-colored robes, but when the new king. Tienry VII entered

ndon t‘m officials greeted him in new gowns of a rich

violet color. Stow, Survez of London, II, 194.

   

~87...

grazing; after the haying was (10:18.55 These petitions for with-
drawal are pitiful reminders of the loss of former glory .11 many
ancient English terms.“56

These city festivities were of such importance that forced
abstention from participation was often tzposed moon miscreants
by t‘ as city-councillors. In April, 1&95, Laurence Sazaiders,
whose case will be censide ed interns,7 was dice- raged of his
duties as Chamberlain of the town of Coventry and forbidden to
ride on Lamina Day,58 a punislmont which the tone of the judg.
ment makes clear was considered to be very serious in that city.

In his fifth moetim with parliament (1495-96) Henry was
presented with a petition from Irowich. The Shanna-his Gild of
this decayed city wished to be exempted from the force of
7 Hon. IV c. 17., the act which had stipulated that apprentices
for certain trades had to come from xz'ell-toc-do fenziliosfit's9 If
the petition can be taken at face value conditions were so
depressed in Norwich that even the few apprentices the shearers
desired could no longer be obtai: 10d. Parliament complied with
their request and incidentally reaffirmed the rich t of the IZayor
and gild master to examine the quality of foreign tori-:3 seven-
year apprenticeships were also held to be reasonable.60 It is

conceivable that the professed purpose of he Sherman's petition

55. Lest Book, p. 556. ' ,

56. Heac tion to these petitions was not always favorable. Green,
Town Life, I, 1513 II, 156.

57. Solon, p. 116.

58. Lost Book, p. 564.

59. Ebove, p. 18..

60. 11 Hero. VII 0. 11. The Ca ners' Gild Rules of'Coventry '
(1496) embody all these provisions. L eei no: 011‘; PP. 572—74.

was of." seconds-.17 importance; 11113.19 the decli'1'77 '1 '1'1o"1.'113.t7 -"d

‘&

”‘9‘. fl ~ N‘s-a ' ‘ up A o- -o .. .-
n...1sor o; t.2e group 3311.... 1.21031 li'.:ol r 9.31:1'3'2-1ticos 12ers ' '1" 0:1 12:13

thal-
‘ 7 n -vr « - ~-q '1 w .'."! 4 'A'
undesirable, it was 0211] thi...ato.2. 1' so, 1011 the 11ro.-o...t (it is

1 A‘ L? ‘ ‘ Or. I 2- '1 4“. -' III-l- Lu. ‘ - J.” 1 .H g, . 1 Q n. I‘-
doubt..al ..-:a tne: preseason- c.1011: eel 2.3.0.1 1:3. ...1 C- -3.-.11: 1... recs-.1 es

in mind) foreign and d.o1'1ostic 002'1po Liters e 1061 {3.22.0 23011173031

shcarors '1’ attonti on. Ot3'1ersiso there would "Mme been :10 '.11'1'11'1esc

lib-5d. J

in a parliamentary confirms. ti on 0.. the one. ‘ont poz."cr o1. "resection.

ub-‘ loa-

*5

Partner proof of." the 31d?" real position cones 3:112:11 :11 a 't
IIcmry's last parliament in 150':- , 1:"- .ic" 21 repeal 1d the previous

fl 5 - 3»an AQ- - -.-
oxen“. .ion, a.-. aging, as a reason some re s tI'lCt'...u as s 0.1 t.-o

61
part of." 3310 P310 masters.

UH-
It is interes t'" .213 to note in connection with this petition

at Iteration that the fines levied i; such cases wont equally to

. 08
the city azid. t.1e cor..1._lai11i:13 silo. ...:-..ilar sit...t one existed

-..r011r'1out E1r'1and and are 1-31 eff-2.2.2." to show t-1o do 111110 0;- c 1" ”111'"-

a- h QLm—I-Ib

ty between t.1e r11 lds a1" 3.7-1.0 town govermndits. ‘" '-' "1" tom-1s

—'—-.~ d .‘--“

timy were nearly s:111.on:2'2oas in composition and '7'1'c'1r1"'-call'~1

oar—1.1.1c-h5‘l

all r1o'1ocrs.1.io in one was a p21cr-3cpzzisit for also tic: 1 into the

4. Us;

. 63 . . .
other. The Italian obsezmcr stated that O."‘)">‘-‘"""‘tl1.CC31llj-Q at a

reds and mashership in a 511d was necessary for a 2:: :oralty

L i _k AL .4. A AA A; _ A

61. 19 Ken. VII 0. 1'7.

2. Upon examining the various clmrters brought to other in
Smith's, 3‘”1;31is-Ci"ds I find that a distinction 211. not be
drawn between... 3111103535; one punish -able only by the {31161 (in
11713 ch case a pound 01"" was: was usually assessed for altar
candles) and those offenses for which money was levied and
slrnrod by the gild and town. The difference depended upon
the o-;’".13"ence and "he court 11:11ic1-1 o..ercised jurisdiction.
332L151. 311(1), pp. 31, 2850 -

65. Gwen, ('21. a . .erchant, I, 126. Lipson contends that no '
matter wast do; ree oi" autonomy...t".1e gilds...posses sod, they
were strictly subservient to the rulers of t"1e tout“. W
History of England, I, 559.

  

439-
candidate in ‘Londenfé and a glance at the list of mayors of

. P
that city cor"im_s his statonent...‘3Q Any city official of

Coventry was chosen only from the gilds resident in the city,
and one of the n at ominous signs of the period was the
notable case of Reg. A. Lee, Baker, who refused to serve his
term as Clumbcrlain when appointed by the self-perpetuating and
exclusive term-govermez1t.66 rthis mfiaoard of act of." civic ir-
responsibility which occurred in Kay, 1508, was a challenge to
the already weakened administration, and they ac ted quichy.
Lee was imprisoned, fined L 20, and scheduled to be reappointed
at the pleasure of the council. Apart from the fact that Lee
pmbably felt that his time could be more profitably Spent
elsewhere, this case is interesting for its pccfliarly modern
sound: when the adzinistration of local government is of
little or no interest to businessmen one can be fairly well
assured that their worries have begun to transcend the local
level, and when that has transpired the modern era may safely
be said to have arrived.

ri’here are indications throughout this period that deceit
and fraud played an inordinate role in English business. 130
doubt he records which rermin, as in all times, give an un-
balanced impression: scandal and sharp practice always receive
dispmportienate attention, to the exclusion of hundnna and
ethical conduct. In 1401 the iterchants of the tense complained

that ever since the passage of 3 Ken. VII 0. 12., which required

W W

64. ltalian Relation, p. 45.
65.; Stow, Servo oTLondon, II, 178-80.
66. Leet 3300;, pp. -

 

 

-90-
that cloth be filled, rowed, shorn, and bare-ed before sifimxent,
the quality of cloth had been impaired.67 This was the reverse
of Vii-lat Henry had expected, and if true, probably indicates that
the special skills required to produce finished cloth could not
be doveloDed by statute alone. Just ai‘ ter the close of IIenry’s
reign, in 1510, Zlhmd Dudley, a nan 133. .o certs nli ...y had 10:13
experience with the seany side of Zhblis 1, or ratl or human,
nature, deplored the 3.331issroputatien abroad. The realm, he
said, was decayed, poverty was ramps--13, hospita ity was a by-
gone virtue-sin short, the old society had passed.68 So far
as the continent was concerned, Eiglish commodities, too, had
had their day, and were new payir3 the penalty which fraud
even rally incurred: "Ilene be it I fears that the best coznodities
of this realms be see mruc' 3. appared [deterio r‘a sod] by subtiltie
and falsehoods, that theybe not reputed, sates-1.16., or see much
made of as they have bone."

It is noteworthy that in most 03 these cox:1- ...aints one
notion is uppermost: deceitful transactions amuse the repu-
tation of England and thereby harm the sermon welfare. As
William Forrest put it somewhat later in the cenmry (1&38):
better that Emlishmen wear their arm poor cloth than have it
shipped abroad where foreigners would be able "for cure false
dealime owre cowntrey tappeache.u"70 I would recommend this

as a modern free trade argument were it not for the resemblance

7v '

6‘7, Salmon, English Trade in the itiddle Ages, 1). 539.

68; Dudley, The Free of ACosmonwealth, p. 15.

69. Ibido, pl). 21-2. m .

70. "The Pleasaunt Poesie of Princel ie Practise, in Tawney and
Power, finder Economic Documents III, 42.

.31-

P.

t also bears to the no ~ieval disquieitions against covet 3
--ess and "singular luere." The conclusion is the some in each
case, but one argues from utility, the other, morality. It is
quite easy to regard the social and economic nmii‘estctions of
this period as modern. ...1e trutl toad seen to be tint in no

ty; one very 00073-10 13:13.0

‘4.

sphere was ti; ro any great .3. ta bil
regarded I. cnry .LdLOl" as the latest claizzza'. t in 0. 101-3 i‘ac tional
struggle for the throne sari modern trends in business as nothing
sore than clarifications of existing practice. I have already
mentioned tbs curious conflict of ideas which led one parliament
to co.. 1mm restraint of trade and at the son-e tine castigate
user-ore. This leads one to 35115.13: ’bat restraint of trade in
their eyes was tint will ”.1 s33 bv orted ancient rather tzan .ossiele
nractice.

Henry interfered with the marLet or. severe.“ occasions. In

1:295 an act was passed to prevent the sale 0.1? inferi‘r feather-

a. a

sees, which it app or were often stui‘i‘ed with 30331: hers collected
n4

“rem poultry shops, or even wit-.1 .1...>ers from rair-3.01.3.3 marsh-land

to t‘. 3.3.8 could pro cably be meltilloc.

{~10

plants.71 ‘ Instances l

easily since there are no groan“ s for believing; that men and

business practice of this sort have altered ap grec ci bly since
the reign 0:2 Zionry VII. Cn another occasion t‘.3 10 prices 0:? hate,

caps, and cloths we re declared to be excessive and regulated

accordi 21:31sz

In 153-”..- Ilem'y's last parliament passed what was, for all

an

practical purposes, the nest decisive act of his reign. neeause

 

'w I'

'71. 11 Ken. VII c. 19.
72. 4 Ken. VII cc. 8, 9.

-02-

may {3. ‘ ‘0 "21:10 0 (117.011.: themselves 17.7.0113; 171110773711 and 17111700 0021-

I

able 0111111011005 00 7. 011 1.71 prices-1 0.1" 7.707.700 as 07311017 1117130, for

C:

their 0.7.77.9. 0121;791:1177 profit 01:. to the 009.317.1011 1117.171: 9.11:1 (10:19.50 0.1‘

the people..." 17.10 rc;"=e’0017;; 9.01: 01" 39.7.1173 11 (171.237) 17.79 .0 revived

0110‘. 01:10.7 77.37 LZ10110C.732£10170 1:210 301.1017 3101:1911 170011117061 {3110.0 to
077117.171t tlzei :7 0176.13... 911000 to 073. 1077 officials 0:7 71101210077. 07.? 1:17.
peace (1:11-J177cie 1101791137 ide:11:019.1) 1:27 -0 9.01: 01‘ 1504 stipulated
909.11.10.13. 17e7tii‘ice’7ioz1 ‘07:: 059100179 of 1:110 00:11:1791 judiciary.

1217.110 17.210170 :0 110 17000011 to 17:11:11.1: 1:21:11: 1000.1 officials c 9.00‘
8‘.‘.:T‘.CI"VZ’.SlOl’1, their 3.721171177009200 130091110 0 00027.19... , for {tilde had
1103.71 to receive upyrovcl from 1:310 3.017.003.1019, 531709191217-:z7, 0.77.7
1:110 chief 3110 1.1000 0.1" either 13011011, 0:7 1‘1170 0 01" 13:10:71,017 5mm
acticee 0.1‘ 9.002100. T210270 is evidence 1:17.91: 1:170 001: 1.7.79.9

'74 It

01‘ 771011010110. may be 17.17110 as 1.17. Lipscn maintains, that

"State intervention.“was 1101: 0. decisive 1‘90 1:017..." in the

(10011110 01‘ {31.16.07, 0.73 .C. 1119.1: 000111.121 23017000 011:1 111110170111: 1.7091:-
n J- .75 '7'" .I '3 71 4.
13.00.730.73 17.70170 0:. 1.7.0170 7 901709.30 ..07.70v017, .7. 911017.10 111:0 00

061:1 1:17.017. by substituting 1:170 generalities 73017 0030015310
9113110177 110 75.0 not 00111111311719 t0 1210111077770 either. :1: 0007.110
preferable to 1:773:1130 1:110 1:177: of 1011:7317 WI 9.0 0. 00110170‘:

1111 01:170 tion of I'r. Lipco 011'0 000110311 forces, for if 137.101.17.003
1051010131011 is not the 01199017, it is 00:7 0.7111117; he product, of
economic trends. 300110: 110 forces, not 011179.373 perlmpe, but

often, is a misleading 1:017:11 used to cover 1:110 com-73.17.1000

decisions, 71110.0 01.01.0110, and transactions 01‘ isolated in-

1

73. 15 Ken. VI C. 6} 19 Ken. VII 0. 7. ' '
74.L Lip son, 3300 nortimc 3191:0197 01. 727.319.11d, I, 072.
7 :3. Ibifl. ’ I“ . 3:14:30

 

a“

(‘10:!
cryo-

dividuala. Before ...:.C'iv" -C.'1...10 00.....7. 0001171100 71000000.- 3' «or
an 1111;001:071 0111300111 ”':,? to out 1111701711 110 110.30 of.“ 00711111101
restrictw 10, 0.1111 3.11 132110 311.110.3011 1 22011. “I: c. 17., 1711311113131
smoopir; 00002113103 0:5“ 00:11; 0.15.300. 1:01:01", ti:- 11:31: 1101: 13110 113-. 1:1-
7.1.1130, 110.0 0 72101310130 00.1-10 1'07: 0:30:30 35.3.0. “7003.12.10. .7210 0:: .7110
00111311007 ...ctlons 0.1“ 215.1101; “11131301137 3.0 1112.0 Corivotion 02".“ politi-
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not 7.1117021 “01:": theory.
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V‘U-‘J-kk; S_

"Agriculture is not practised in this island beyond what
is required for the construction of the peepleg... This negli-
gence is , however, stoned for, by an immense profusion of
every conestible animal... But, above all, they have an enor-
mous number of sheep , which yield then quanti ties of wool of
the best quality."1 The Venetian who made this state-sent in
a report to the Seigiery was, of course, relating nothing new
since nearly everyone in Venice was, or should have been, ac-
quainted with conditions in a country so immortant to Venetian
trade. It seems safe to assume, however, that actual empori-
ence surpassed the writer's theoretical ezegoctations, much as
a student of geoloay, despite second-hand familiarity with the
size of mountains, might be ovomvhelmed upon first assaying to
climb one.

It is difficult to detenaine the mnount of enclosing
prior to Henry VII's time but certainly it is a mistake to
seems that the condition first became pronounced in his reign.
Some few years before Emery-is adven Sir John Ibrtoecue had
written appmvingly oi“ the abundant enclosures in inland.
Writing a sort of dialogue in which be elucidated English law
to Elward. son of Henry VI, Fortescuemade some side remarks

upon the state of mglish agriculture.

V—‘r‘

1. Italian Relation, p. 10.

-95-

There also are fieldes of pasture inclosed with hedges and
ditches, with trees planted and growing uppon the sa:.1o, which
are a defence to their hear-des'of sheepe and cattle, against
stormes and heats of tho 82.17.1216,... By the moenos whereof, the
men of that countrie are scant troubled with'any .ainefull
labour, therefore they live more spiritually,... Ezot having]2
to disturb the quietness of the mind with care of :.usbcndrie.

From the content of his treatise one gathers the notion
that fbrtesoue was considering mainly freeman when he spoke of
farmers, that class which came to be 121mm as yeomon in the
Seventeenth Century.
Itoreover the some country is so filled and replenished with
Landed menne, that therein so small a thorpe tvillagc, hmnlot]
cannot be found, wherein dvzolleth not a Knight, an esquire, or
such a householder, as is 0011117101fiy called a franliayne, enriched
with {great possessions. And also other freeholders, and many
yeomen'...wigieh are able to dispende by the year above a hitidred
pOImda’OO.

This might have been a patriotic reflection tending
show the disappearance of unfree status: without stotching
the facts too much Fortescue could probably have implied that
most English farmers were free, but possibly his emphasis upon
free men and free-holders had another purpose. It may be
suggested that the enclosures he reconmended did not involve a
displacement of agrarian labor, 1. 6., he, like some of the
later writers, advocated enclosure in, and not of, farms. If
, this is so his rather ecstatic comments can be reconciled with .
those of Sir Thomas more and Bishop Latimer in succeeding years.
That he did lend his approval only to this restricted type of
enclosure, which could be made by one man, or a group of men,

without losing their homes, is borne out by Fortescue's conven-

 

fi‘v ——r— v

2. Fortoecue, De Laudibus Lew Angliae, pp. 65—6.
50 Ibido. pp. 66-7.

.97-
tional remarks on the superiority of 31311311 soldiers.4 A long;
tradition, which was regarded as valid even by Bacon, placed
all English victories in the hands of their bomon. Since those
foot-soldiers were generally from the lower or middle classes,
they were, until much later, famxors who required land "suffi-
cient to maintain an able body out of 3_:)enuzr'y',,..."5 Without,
enough land the farmer would eventually go under, and besides
bacon-11m a burden on local generosity, would deprive the PM
of an arehor's service. To lbrtoscue as to Bacon this would
have been reprehensible, almost traitorous, and so it may be
doubted whotherphe endorsed enclosures, p33; as, with all their
attendant evils. Rather he regarded those as a means by which
an individual could improve his condition, or alleviate his
lot.

Unfortunately, most of he sources on rural conditions
relate to the later Tudors; those which are concerned with
conditions under Henry VII were often written after the event.
EishOp Latimer is a case in point. A boy during Henry's reign,
he had seen his father march off to Blaclzheath where the
Cornish rebels were defeated, and renombored vividly the well-
being of his yeoman parent. But his recollections were part
of a sermon addressed to mart}. VI on Liarch B, 154.9:6 in fifty
years Latimer would have had plenty of time for unfavorable

comparison of the present with the past. It would be remark-

able if a comparatively old man, who was convinced of mid-

“ A -‘

V ' 7
a

4. Fortescue, govpmance of'mmgland, c. 12.
5. Bacon, Henriji‘ho' Seventh, p. 1330.
6. Latimer, enzzons, pp. 72-87.

.93..
Sixteenth Century depravity didnot suffuss his recollections
with a false but pleasant light.

My father was a yeoman, and had no lands of his own,
only'he had a farm of three or four pound by year at the utter-'-
mest, and here upon he tilled so much as kept half a dozen men.
He had walk for a hundred shoe: 3 and my mother milked thirty
kins. He was able, and did find the king a harness, with
himself and his horse, while he'cems to the place where he s
should receive the'king's ewes... He kept hospitalaity'fer 7
his poor neighbors, and some alms he gave to the poor....

It is apparent from this that for Latimer the good old.
days were those of Henry VII. Yet in Henry's fourth year the

{ ' '8
first anti-enclosure act, on a national scale, had alleged

i t Vareat incenvonyences daily doth oneroace by doselacion
and pulling downand wilfull waste of houses and tewnes mm»:
this his realmsun to the great displesure of God, to the

‘ , . - . 9
subversion of the polecy and gods rule of this 10nd,...”

Similarly Sir Thomas here, writimj; in 1515, cendemed the age
because "the husbmachnen be thrust outs of their ovms, or els
other by ceveyne and frauds, or by violent Oppression they be
put besydes it or by arouses and injuries thoi be so weried,
that they be compelled to sell all: by one means theri’ere or
by other, other by heats or creeks they muste needed departs

. . v c ' ' ’ 10
away, peers, selye, wretched seulss,...’I

Bacon, writing over one-mndred years later, described

the situation in this manner: "Enclosures at that time began

to be more frequent, whereby arable land, which could not be

A _ . 4. 4L

‘—

70 Iblde. p. 850

8. 'i'he same parliament first passed a similar act for the isle of
' Wight: 4 Hon. VII 0. 16.

9. 4 Han. VII 0'. 19. .

10. More, Utesi ia, p. 52.

uGO- .
manurod [worked] without people and families, wasturncd into
pasture, winch was easily rid by a fowherdsmenz... This bred
a decay of poeple, and, by consequence, a decay of towns,
churches, tithes, and the like."

The writings of nunorous other not -Beson, Z)rifi:low, Tusser,
Eitzherbert, Ilales and Lever, to cite the best imam-might be put
into evidence, but need not be since they all were concerned with
later enclosures. They, too, were split over the question: en-
closures, goed or bad?

It is not surprising hat such irreconcilable judgments
should have been made, but it does complicate a consideration
of Henry VII's agrarian policy, If conditions were as For-
teseue seemed to think around 1470, then it is highly improbable
that the act of 1489 reflected anything lilce reality, for in an
. agrarian economy change is gradual. Again, if Here was right
and Latimcr was wrong, relatively, then the act of Henry's
third parliament was needed, and needed badly. In the final
analysis Fortescue and Latimer's testimony conflic ts with that
of Here and Bacon, who, a hundred years later probably knew
less about the early enclosure movement than we do today.

Obviously, the words of four such gifted and apparently
honest men must be weighed carefully. It is possible to
resolve their disagreement by considering, so far as possible,
the motives and background of the four.

Fortescue, Chief Justice of the King's Bench and Chan-

seller to Henry VI, wrote De Laudibus Lm Angliae while in

vfi—

11. Bacon, Kong The Seventh. I). 359.

-leo~

Berry between the years 1401-71, as a political exile. In 23
Laudibue and his later nor}: the Governance oi" halting, he
revealed a practical, hmssne and sci‘lolarly mind. 17.0 was, for
his time, a super-patriot, if a semevfimt perverted pride in the
superior mavery of English crhninals could qualify one for
such a position. As he protdly segmented: ”Thor bith [are]
the fore no men hanged in melon-ado in a yore ffor robbery and
hostels "htor than thcr be imaged in Fi‘r unce ffor such manor of
crime in vij ”ya-iron."l2 Be likewise castigated the Scots for
being, thieves rather than robbers. All of this was a rein .-
about any of praising the courage, confidence, and comparative
walla-being of "110 English lower classes. E‘ortescue thoiuht,
with some justification, mat a fidl stomach made a complete
soldier-«not a full stomach in a campaign, but a full one in
the years preceding; military serviceu-he therefore regarded
the material status of the yeomanand peasant as all-htzportant
to the prince he wished to advise. 3

The class upon whom his attention was turned consisted
mainly of freeholders. As such they would be in a position to
hedge or ditch their lands; or arrange to do so if their
neighbors were willing to exams their isolated strips for
consolidated parcels. This was not always feasible; however,
the original expense involved would be more easily borne, apart
from the fact that land was patently more productive who; _

enclosed, if the encloser was assured. of future enjoyment.

A _L_ 4.4

“*1

12. Fortescue, The Governance of England, c. 15'. ‘
139 Ibid" O. 12; andjlo Laudibus Loam Ant. ':liaoJ pp. 85-6.

~101-
Underetandably, tenants for years or a torn objected to improve-
monts whic 1 would benefit others. That many individual Holdings
were enclosed is quite likely; unfertmiately, most figlisimen
were not possessed 0.. the fee, so the results were quantitat ivcly
negligible. It nevert ale... one seems Cl lltO clear that "‘ ortescue had
this type of enclosure in mind, and of course, the benezits which
he claimed from then were manifest.

Sir John Fortoscuo may well have been a great jurist: cer-
tainly he had the respect of so kings of Opposite faction; but
his conclusions upon extraneous matters merit cautious usage.
Certain passages were undoubtedly meant solely for rhetorical
effect, as for instance his description of the fectuidity peculiar
to English soil: "yea it brinueth forth f...1ite if it selfe,
scant provoked by magma industr is and labour...." 4 One who is
familiar with the heel z-brcalcing, incesson nt toil, which is still
a condition of farming; and must have been tnneasurably more so
then, can on. nly smile. Likewise the sense of his agrarian
remarks is imperilled. Fortescue spoke so glowingly of rural
frees-Ion because his center tion, that independent men made in-
dependent and trustworthy jurors, needed bolstering. it might
have been quite true that reputable juries could not be en-
panelled in any; “trench locality ,15 but the some 5* Caiezit was
very nearly mandatory when regarding mglish juries of the
some era, F‘ortescue to t1 1e contrary notxvit’n 1standi1 :3. Signifi-

cantly, three of the seven misdemeanors listed in the Star

M

‘T

14. Fortescue, De Laudibus Lem Angliae, p. 65.
is: Ibi_____d_., 13. ea.

4.02-

C'asmber Act are hiynten unces," ”embraciaries," and "tairyng of
money by jurr'es.” 0 As the act recited, "netlr .3 or lityll may
be rounds by enquerry, 1:41.1erby the Lanes of the lend in execueion
may take litell effects..." There is every reason to believe
that this preamble understates the case; little reason to thin'.:
that conditions were drastically d i‘i‘eront fifteen to twenty
years earlier.

1:2"?7’1 Latimcr, 23131101) 0:? ‘1'i111011oster, and martyr to the
Protestant cause, was the son es. a yeomesi. His fatimr, like
assent Fasten at the beginning of the century, .ad been able
to send him tel-$11001, fmn whicn he launched into a successi‘
Church career. A sum of strong, but some tL-nes mista‘wn, con-
victions, he spared neither 121.111.3013? nor his congregations in
denouncing the evils of the ago. his best 13.101111 sermons were
do]. ivered in 1549,t11e yea r of Robert hett's rebellion, and a
high point of antic-enclosure sentiment.

Though he inveighed against corruption in all places, he
was especially vehement when (10:101anng lenddon‘is, whom he
blamed for most of the miseries peculiar to the period. Dy
enclosing: and 'by threaten 115 to enclose unless higher rents
were received, lindlerc. s drove tenant s to ti 10 city slums.
Latinor claimed. 8 Actually, the in. ”3.12:: of silver from the

new world, the debased cei. ofEn W1531111161, and the consequent

rise in prices were more to be censured than the imperfect,

 

16. 3 Hon. VII 0. 1. . ~. -.
1'7. Dictiona of National Bio graehy. (Leslie Stephen, od., 1:. 1.,
1552), 3C a“; ET, 171-19. '

18. o. 3., Latimer, Siemens, pp. 91, O3.

’ 40:5..-
even haplmsaxd, enclosure ofland.19 These things were not
so obvious to contemporaries, of course, or if they were, they
were preferable to tamtion, and so Latimer reconstructed the
England of his childhood to reinforce his polanioal sermons.-

Sir r£31101:st I aim had 5... “mm up in Henry's reign, became a
member of Henry's last parliament in 1504, and until his martyr-
dom in 1535 distinguished hmself as a hmanist and lawyer.20
His feelings were more spontaneous, his indignation was less
restrained, than might be expected from a man who had received
a legal training. Certainly it was unusual for a lawyer to
speak of enclosures being effected "by ooveyne and frauds,"21
when the consensus of opinion. regarded the measures takenas
legal, but unjust. Of course, what here was condanning was
the apparent heartlessness of the new we; medieval morality
was nearly defunct in Sixteenth Century England, and Kore, who
was much more of a philosolaher than lawyer rebelled against
the trend.

Francis Bacon had ”beenvohanent in parliament against
depopulation and inclesures;...”22 Massif, but that is no in-
dieation that he understood the situation under Elizabeth's .
grandfather. His monograph, if it may be designated as such,
was based, at least in certain points, upon the chronicle of

Speed, who had availed hireself of the rhetorical work done by

19. Lipson, Economic Histor¥ of %5G alandi I, 146. I
20. Sir Thomas More: oelec ions rem s a ish Works and from

...ves % smus a oger . . an -I. I. I! en, “5.,
98). ppol o

21. Above, p. 98.
23. Bacon: Apothem, P. 170.

 

 

-lO¢i-
' ‘23
Bernard Andreas, the poet-follower of 12am my I'll-'.. when Bacon
or.
‘1‘
said that enclosures "a that time be5an to be more frequentflo."
he was, in all liI:eliI hood, repeating; an accepted version of the
story. As :as set forth in the introductory o: 1:13) tor, the movement
began to be noticeable long before lit-€53. Only one pro1-in<3nt
E: rrlislman of the period seemed to reeornize this however. John
a) 3
Halos, leader of the Enclosure Connission 05154.8, said: "the
chief-3 destruction 0:.? terms and decay of houses 17:; s before the
' 25
beginning of the reign of King TenrJ VII." i 113 does not

necessarily 2105a to Bacon's statesmen t, but t should be held in

mi-
What, then, can be said if it is agreed tint Ebrtescu
was thinking; o.-.. one sort of enclose; Latiner was erroneo‘. ‘.sly

c‘ arcing another; Iore had lost his le5al elecfness; and Bacon
was relati1 " second-vixend iz'li‘onzation? Simply this: a recon-
ciliation of their testhaony‘ may be eitec ted if eznggerations
in either direction are taken into account While enclosures,
p___ as, were not muazzn liar on a I‘ii” tecnth Century landscape,
in all prObability their impact upon society was cz‘zlula tive:
though they existed before Henry "JEI came to the throne, the
unsettled political situation shoved them to the baclr5romd
of the public consciousness. Regarded in this light, the
enclosure act of 1489 becomes evidence for the efficacy of
Henry's policy, rather than for the emer5ence of an 1.2..er-

cedented phenomenon.

M
—-—r*' V—.—.—_
y C

23, Gairdner, he The Seventh, p. 33.
24. Above. p.
25. Lipson, Economic History of maland, I, 125-23

~105-
It has been necessary to examine these men at so no 1"".z5th
because certain e:7.rio “i ass“ nptiens must be made .’." Kenny's re

action towards th agrarian revolution, as it is perhaps inept-

127 6311661, is to appear neani 533121.- If one thinks of the on-
closnre novazcnt as bursting; up ntho scene :11 0:15 with the

Ehrl of RicImond in 14.35, then Henry's subsequent attitude will
appear ha oh and inexplicable. -.“t if it is treated as a
gradual dislocation of ne‘i oval ways, not so complete in Item-y's
tine as it was in his descendant s', then the Tudor policy will
appear (11: to consistent. The latter alternative appears most
capable of beari; 5' scrutiny.

melosures certainly tool: place, and 11111-110 they may not

'0'

have been pmz-zpted as co:::p%gtc.-y as . iss Bra:loy 8‘13303‘33, by
the deterioration of soil, it scene reasonable to conclude
that this was of some insertence as a motive. {III-e outcry
c.5ainst enclosure-s was directed prinarily, Dr. ..asoao1 says,

at "the turnim out of farmers... which indicates t.-at
a5riculturo was bei: 5 use-.15: ed by one the 2." class of 221011. In
1492 (‘2) Sir JoI‘m Fasten we.» advised by a basins s aequ intense

timt he should "send son disc ete 211...:1 to hope your courtis and
' 28
to 181,13 your for: aye and s 0110 your nodis to your 1‘.:ostava“ll.'

Cash was the chief consideration of the landed 5e ntry, and who
would have cash? Certs ...11 “ not {120 tenants or anal]. rumors,

for earlier his mother had written to him with a request for

26. Bradley, Harriett, The Enclosures in Englandt; An Economic
' Reconst rue tion.

87. IIas‘rIcac .1, Ehrlich Ag‘Lrichtural Labourer, p. 35.

28. Fasten Lettors,Ti, 113 0.

 

‘10:}-

some amed 121011230 dis rain a tenant's goods in lieu of his
over-due rent. 5 The only men in England who had surplus
capital which they were willing; to invest were the prosperous
city merchants, who were condemned at a later date by the
Churciman Lever, for buying "farms out of the hands of worship-_- ”’0
£111 gentlemen, honest yeoncm, and poor labozu‘ing husband fiaefl."o
Such men were only interested in fanning as a business ’speculaé
tion 1111012511 latermgny of." them seem to have become squires and
country gentlemen. Sheep farming; was here profitable than
other varieties because it entailed less overhead expense and
had a guaranteed 111ar1:et--t11e empandi. 11' cloth industry. Wheat
production, while pmfi‘itable, required more labor, and repre-
sented a small return per acre. Under either type the value
of the land was enhanced by enclosures, and as in in 112313211021,
a fairly large asemgt of land had to be enclosed to obtain
n‘IaI-zinus efficiency. 2

The act of 14:39 stipulated that farms of twenty or more
acres were to be maintained, as well as the buildings upon them.
For violation of the statute the 211215 , or whoever happened to be
the immediate overlord, could claim half the yearly profégs
until the land was restored to ”tillage and hosbondrie."

Essentially the same act was reaffirmed many times in the

 

29. Ibid.,'VI, 103. ‘ ‘

30. IIpsen,'_geonor.ie History of 2"I‘15j.1111dJ I, 129.

Slé Curtler,'...“1closure and I‘iedififlzribution p. 89.’

52. Prothem, 315118‘11 lfinuing'f’asAand T‘resent, p. 59.
33. 4 HOB. VII Co 190

 

 

‘34 .107-

succeeding; century's

This repetitive leeizzlation might conceivably be vies-zed
as evidence of goveztmental efficiency: to do so, however,
indicates an essentiallyflimcritical mind. To say a corrective
statute exists is not to say that. it is in force. If a let:
runs counter to an economic trend, :1 deep-s eeted prejudice, or
a basic desire, constant repetition will more often than not
indicate its impotence. In this case there are indications
that despite the mclosure laws, enclosures continued to be
made. As Bishop Latimer 5.2.2.51: "But let the preacher preach
till his tezmue be worn to the stumps, nothing is amended.
We have good statutes maelefcr the cosmonwealth as touching. -
con-genera she. inclesershubut in the end of the matter there
601110.31 nothing forth." as

The Calendar of Patent Rolls, usually a. storel once of
informatics, is depressingly barrm or material pertaining to
melosures. most of the entries in the two volumes concern
pardons for crimes and misdemeanours, commissions of see].
delivery, assizo, and the peace, and occasio .ally proclamations.
In theory the records subsequent to 1489 should cents in ref-
erences. to the enclosure act, for under the tones of the
statute the overlord could claim one-half the profits o: the
land; Henry, as overlord, in the aggregate, of huge areas,36,

"'7 w r— ~— fi v—

34:. The other acts were: 6 Hon. VIII 0. 53 '7 Hen. VIII 0. 1:
25 Hon. VIII 0. 133 2'7 Hen. VIII c. 52% Send 6 Eds. VI '
i

O. 53 2 and 5 Phil. and LI 0. 23" 3. I 00 35 31120 I
O. 7' 39 miss I O. 1’ 43 130 I Go 9) in 16242 were
' repealed.

:55. Latimer, ems p. 86. "
36. of. Galen o gusitiong Post Norm; Kan-1 VII (2 vols...
London, "- 0 O

 

«1%..

would not have lived up to character had he ignored this im-

a

portant source 02L

insane. '3ch this is preciser what he seems
to have done. The for: entries uhi :1 concern enclosures :1 the

patent Rolls for the most part are waivers oi‘ the statute, that

is mitigations of the law against the practice.
On February 2‘7, 149?, Thomas Wortley, who had a life

estate in a Yer «‘31 re royal park, was granted penzzissicn to

enclose it, mid to cut and dispose of the wood,- upon payment
'57
of 500 marks (I. 200). Times years later a pardon was given

to nine men for their violation 02‘ he statute against "parks
58 '
and stews." The entm* is unintelligible wless, as I believe,

it is an oblique reference to the encl sure act. Whigs a park
technically contained only wild animals such as (100130 it
would come within the terms of the statute. Elie law was
primarily concerned with the maintenance of cultivated land;
though enclosures for sheep wore-more cox-amen, iraaarlznent for
game would remove just as much land from tillage, and so was
equally to be decried. Stews had "he some primam messing; in
Henry's time as it did in Elisabeth's reign brothels, or the
area in which they were situate. There was a 1 —.ss cezmon, but

probably older, meaning, however as aspears from the ehrase

&

4.0
"stews, rivers, ponds, islands..." in a later entry. . Under

these circumstances the word must be taken to mean uncultivated

marsh or waste land. It would follow then that the act 4 Ken. VII

-..- A ._, AAA. -_ A g

3'7. Calengr o: Patent Rolls, II, 80.

38. '.3 I ' 6. . ' ,, '

39. 3001: of the Bush of'Lancaster in Campbell, Iiaterials for a
T, listen 0:? I‘Ienry Vl'il', 11', 25 b , 280, 281- W

4.0. Elena's]? of Patent Hells, II, 4:98.

 

 

~109- _
c. 19 was the one in mind when the pardon was granted. A similar
circumstance arose in the last month of Henry's life men Edward
Bollmap was exempted from payment of fines (proceeds or profits)
for the enclosure of any land Which he held of the king“.

This last entry is the most significant since it is part
of a recognizable policy. While Henry may .not have pardoned
many offenders-net least once in his reign a cox-mission of in- .
quisition was expressly enjoined to search for unlicensed parks“?!—
he certainly sold exemptions. In October 1506 a license to,
enclose 500 acres of (3011103118 land and seeds was {given to John
Z711.tsher’oerd.43 This illustrates perfectly the problem mentioned
before}:4 If these“ 800 acres were in one field, nothing would
be harmed, no tenants would be displaced, nor would their stock
be shut out from pasture. If, on the other hand, the domesne
acreage was spread over a number of strips or fields, an eject-.-
mont of the tenants would inevitably follow. mrlier, in 1488,
before the passage oI' the enclosure'act, Henry had granted to
Walter Roberth, esq., and his heirs, permission to enclose a
total of 1,000 acres in East and Sussex, ”in consideration of
good and Cramitous services, rendered at great cost and heavy
excuse...”45 moles-are of a piece of land of these dimensions,
six hundred acres of which were specified to be "land”, that is
cultivated or pastured, must have involved at least a minimum

of hardship unless one assumes a previous consolidation of the

410 Ibidoj II} 5990
as. term, 11', sec.
43'. 1533., II. 540.

44. x533b, o 340 '
45.. By 302% Charter in Gmtproll, Ijaterials for a History of
229.11....0 v 9- fl

 

 

 

~110-

lord's holding. This preemption is not legitimate in ordinary
cases, however, since most of the enclosures madefithrougheut
the period semimly were for this very purposefu

Some or Henry's records, especially those of the Duchy of
. Lancaster, reveal that looks like determined contravention of
the ancient system. In certain instances Itenry had let‘his
lands out only upon condition that the tenants molesed. The
first specific entry containing; this stipulation was Ifareh 20,
1488 (again before the statute) when Ralph Worsley was given a
seven-year lease of the grating: rights in the park of Iielt,
"the said tenant being boundto enclose the said park with
fences, bush, and mdemocd,..."47 Similarly in 1111:; of the
same year one IIalnetheus Stafford, citizen and grocer of London,
acquired a ten-year interest ins meadow, one condition being s.
permanent enclosure at his cost.48 Six months later a seven-
year lease of a large fans in Hex-fell: "together with :CiVI acres
and a half of a pasture called Senerleseweuuand the enclosures
for sheep there:..." was secured by {3270 men under similar terms.49
The final reference to lease-holds in the Duchy of Lancaster was
on February 16, 14.89. At that time “1“ ones Brice was granted a
seven-year lease (this seems to have been the semen duration)
on a large fans, with permission "to shut up the closes called
the Dishes and Steneley and the wood called oenyngarth, and to_

'50
keep them in separslity Cseveralty] at every time of the years“!

 

and’ I. 131. 1400
pbell, Ijnterialb for a

  

48. . 0', .. ’ O
50. 1513., II. 409-10.

~111-

J.

This is a transparent of fort to defraud the tenantzzo of its

rights of cenzen, else the permission to enclose would -.eve r

I

haves cii‘icd that the land night be 11061, in severalty, i. e”

by i:':;j:liea tion all 1:21:10 areas were hold in oer-111011 prior to this

Tonms as well as the country. ide vex rs involved in this
ecez1o::'-.ic revolution. In our time it is di'. "ficult to find a
town of a. y p °etcnsions to 3r oa‘moss whose citizens a:- much

.11 syzttp .’.-13' 173'- th t7: :0 re aid 311.28 0:? near-by 171-31113. Even the
inhalaitents ci‘ so-callo.l fan1i113 ce::1::1'.1:1it;3.es have many interests
separate from those of the ir raral nci bore. But it was not

always so , and 0c? 1:1" Tné‘nr 2131mm is 9:1 exec-1:161 e" the relation-
51
skip enjoyed. b.1530 '.einC: 1strial' =zi zit-7.011. 33ondon was advanced

beyond this initial stage but most other teens were peculiarly

identified wit-1 the ismediate For '2 rower s. Eta-11y citizens

L)".

90336939“ 5&0»: 8‘11 all towns had car-was 1'11! 1.07.1 were 3111901106...
52
117 013331 to tlzc free lztzabitcmts. Tiles 0 te'cmr lows-c.1311: in

"to,

much the sane way that r1111 e... ones did—.- into the ham-s e? enter-.1
prising, capit. lists 1'31. 10 saw in fa- 13.11:; a men 11:1 of pmfit, and
not merely one of.“ livelihood.

Tn. Ifarch .80 an inf-1:10 tion was laid oupen 1310 ”be liLJE‘s

and izimbitants of Lancaster" kiwi, appears, were about to

. o n ., e .. e .‘.-o. .1. .. ...7 .11.." M. J. .. .I.
enclose a piece e. 51.11. Ci...+3if11<._=.3b.£ .o .1, upon ...1....-1 .-e 63.3.Zlo3
. was

no
‘9 ~ — , ’- ‘- N r- 0‘A!‘~ !‘ 'n ‘ 4 . . .-
0. an adjacent ...enas ..er'y 3.:-1.1 rip-“"453 c. 00.: 219.11. 2.0 receiver

1‘ the counsy palatine was ordered to 02:19.. sine the opposmé

#44 g A A

 

- 1:12., genetic Iiicter'v of mglana. I. 163.
553. Inf-£71., I 1.9.3. .

55. .’Lc.lIs c... 1: 10 11103111 of Lancaster in Csztzpbell, I'ateriyals for a
.=;-. ”Them 01." 1313'" 11:7 .11, , ZIg.

 

~112~

claims. In the light of similar happenings elsewhere, especially
in Coventry, it seems extremely doubtful that the "inhabitants"
of Lancaster:meant:moro than a few pushing businessmen. The bulk
of town inhabitants would not be likely to endorse any enclosures,
for enclosed land almost invariably benefitted the wealthy'few.

Later in the same year the tenants of Sutton lordship
seized some cattle from the "hundreth.of Wysboche” in a diapute
concerning rights of common. Some of them were ordered to
appeargzefore Henry's councillors "at cure paloys of Westmin-
ster." This followed hard upon the trespass "in.hernyes
with billes and bores and othre wepyns of defense" Which
Tbonas Bostoney and others (allegedly two-hundred) connittod
against the townazian of Iselham. Claiming rights of common,
Beateney had impounded some cattle and destroyed some "turfos"
(peat?) shicb.the inhabitants of Iselbam.had cut from the
waste land in.dispute. Again a summons was issued.05

A curious case in the court of Requests, Lacy v. Sayvil
(1497) possibly illustrates_t%e extreme violence indulged in
when enclosure was involved.0 The complainant alleged that
"con John.8ayvil bastard, accompanyed.with certain indisposod
personnes to the sombre of four score or theroaboutes arrayed
in.maner of serre that is to say with bows arrowes bills
swordes" (a pat phrase in which only the spelling varied) iad
taken seventy of his "oxen tyne horses and other catailles"

and.destroyod his fences and.hedges. In cases such as this

55. $015.. II, 461.620
56, Select Cases in the Court of Regrestse A.'D. 1407-1530
(I. S.Tea€lam, 661., LOQQUH’ 133:). pl). 1‘3.

~113-

there is 111.11.111.33 the mmpicion that, as in 81:31... 151 cases in 11
court of Star (limiter, 1:21.11; appears to be one thing 1.1513111: very
well be another. Sigeri‘icielly this case scene to 11:11:36.1 upon
reeentumt at enclosure; ut the fact that the def or Cunt 11:113.
the support of :1 lord might 111.1111; that the circumstances involved
oppression and eelf-hclp by a local magneto.

In 1:11:13 of thee e cases: the fa. cts are obscure, and the
essential conflict escapee us, but one perfect il..-ue ere tic-.1 01‘

the urban interest in the encleeuro movement E15111 bee 11 elm-est

fully recorded. Coventry was the so one of a notable struggle
in this period, both before anti after Kenny's reign. The

.L

diceute concerned the ultimate disposition of the teen cautions.

T wealthier meet-ere and 11011011111133 for the meet part 1:.zere
aligned with the town officials against the rank and file of

com: 10110113. The centrcl figmr was a men named Laur nee Saunders.
Size son of a fer-13.0:- 1.:a;=;er, 11:11 himself a Dyer “by trade, Semeers
was a city cl-iwberlein. L‘nlilze his fellow officials, though,

he displayed £1.11 inordinate 81.. pathy towards the bullied town
populace. ‘

In 1.23.? 14:80, he refused to disburse funds to’worE-mzen
hired by the cit 55' to quarry stone wnieh .1111. s to be 113061 5151
material for a wall tnat the 111;: r 1111c]. Council intended to
construct about part of the commons.

For this refusal to act 8 unders, and :1. 101121011, 2mm jailed
9...: fine-o.“ I. 10 apiece, of mzich B 6 were cve.1uu---‘1 rcmittodfv

Saunders appealed, in September to Prince Inward, son of the

...

5'7. _goventm Loot 53001:, p. 4150.

«1111-
“21:3 31.002123. IV, (or m'tfmr, 0.1121233100. to 13220 €901.21 5.11 22.5.0 13.0010
05.1100 1510 Prince was on 51.30.10) 1:510 0021023011 a‘:1 5.1117000550231011.
T110 05. Ly dm:urr0d,11pon tho {3:012:20 that 01010 was no 001100
for such action 05.2100 30.03.10.ch r012r00011t0c1.‘11‘0-0.0 but 112220011".
Samflers was, they co:1t5.:.1ucd,o 1301301, 2:10. 12.20;: 001232-13 1101221500 .011
to pm1icl‘11‘152t1 for 33:. 05.0 0.1 activity. Zurtimmoro t110y 01051200
that in the CV :11: 12:0 ’1'“- 131.1100 6.5.6. still 05.021 to hold 0. hearing;
they 320.1161 130 021013-13 to attend 05.2200 0110 00“rt-100*‘1‘.‘00 5.21
005.021 and 2.10 1‘ 0001365011 could-:1 '13 130.120 0:13‘ r000 023:1.- out of tom
58
at that time.
T120 1? r1000 130101013001 in 5210 desires and 0533.5.
2:220 “2.9.130 012 cad to October 20 prior to 12.1-0 1 135.110 50.11.211.000'
00002201100, 215.115.. -203 2206.0, was 1301301106061 130 3003010130 125.0 for-.mr
.1 . .
mate 0210. 00010213 3. At 1.116.102, where 13110 5100131213 tool: place,
Cami/(101‘s 01:00:00. that 00:20 0153130210 0:? C0v011‘5r3r, 01:10:13 17:10.21
:30 tire city-.1000 ”013, 0:10 P131033 5312022100 230130221, of 13210 10001

abbey, 210.0. 130120;: half the Lox-m 00:21:01: 0016 overg‘ra 2011 it 1‘35. “.1

0110033. 1'.sz 301121610130 and. 1206.0, 03 C1:o.:.1"001‘2.05.2.0, 11:1". 123101212011
53210 05: 03:, tho 5:03-03: 13.0.65 :mocliatcly 1001.107 writs of 2303-2101an
(1.10.5. 0:10 0, writ-:3 3210131010.: L110 33010. ..0 0.7“? L20 0001;) and

reamed to fine the 03-02100 0.

If Sam-162010 had 02330053061 justice 520 was 0‘“ 011:; (15.05.111.1-
sionod for the Prince r00012‘22201c10d 1311013510 be punished as 0110
who 00 ‘r‘7‘1t revenge, not 130320.112. 5:0 was again 505.1012, 235.1100 t1:

costs of the trip to Lucllow (£- 15) 0:13. forced to enter upon a

 

w

50; 1010., pp. 432-34..
59. .'.D Um, I). .md‘r.

60. We, pp. 4:00.40.

.115-
61
recognizance for L 500 until the next general sessions.

At this point the issue, which had until then been rather
sirmle, was clouded by various allegations of the Prior, Th mas
Dex-em. Deram claimed that by an earlier agree-amt he enjoyed
ownership in severalty over a. portion of the waste. The town,
it appeared, never owned its commons, at had always had an
interest in then. The Prior, Inving purchased the claims of
the previous owner, Queen Isabella, new used the Statute of
Lierton (evidently) to prove that he as owner of the soil could
craze as much steel: as he pleased.02 The town answered that
any action such as he proposed would, in effect, deprive them
of their rights in the cemlong they did admit that the common
had never been stinted (i. 6., an agreement concerning the
number of animals a men might graze on the common had never
been determined),6’gut pleaded with the Prior to observe cue-
tonary procedure. a

For tee years the enclosures were not mentioned in the
Lost Book, and then in 1482 Saunders again complained of the
several holdings on the town commons. The town officials had
been leasing; portions of the waste to men vine were willing to
pay handsomely for the right to enclose. '.‘fhon Saunders threaten-
ed to disclose the town records to the public be was imprisoned
for the third time, released under bond of L 200, and earned

'64
that another time his actions might be fatal. Despite the

 

r—7

61. Ibid.', p. 441.
62. mm, p. 445.
65. We. Do 4470 .
64. Mo. pp. 510-13.

~118-
warnin3 he continued to act as the people's champion, for'which,
in 1484, heegas a3ain brought'bofore the court leet and.placed
under‘bond. o

This last rece3nizanoe achieved the desired effect for not
until 1495 did he again venture to voice disapproval, at which
timthe wasagenovod from.tho council and forbidden to ride on
Lenses Day. notwitt istanding tr e decree he participated in
the ride and evidently insti3atod a disturbance. This time
Saunders anticipated the council's actions and appealed to
henry VII. Richard.2hpson, H nry's "hastor Recorder" as he is
called in the Loot Book, was persuaded to intervene on behalf
of the town officials for the reasons given in the tine of
inward IV. Saunders was castigated as a lone troublemaker to
the detriment of 330 citizens of Coventry, and the:natter
ended.menentarily.

Innediately,a and with commendable coura3 e if note prudence,
Saunders petitioned for t1 1e ri3ht to read an accusation before
the citizens, stating that lands investigated in 1483 still
were not returned to the peeple. he was refused by the council
and.inprisoned, but somehow got word to Thomas Sava3o, Bishop '6
of Rochester, who brough t the matter before the Kin3' 3 Council.8
Before action was tahsn‘by the Crown disturbances occurred in

Coventry; these were attributed to Saunders' partisans, the

townspOOple. Sons verses which were surreptitiously posted on

w

65. Ibido, Pp. 556-570

66. Above,

67 Coventry'Leet BooL, pp. 574-75.
68: 1016...; Do 5770

~117-
the church door have been entered in the records of the Lost
2001:. One contained a couplet which accurately equrossed
pepular resent... cnt towards t as oligarchs: .

"The best of you all little worth should be
and you had not help of t.1e cosine: lty." 69

'31 ds be? .avior was quite rir .1tly interpreted by the Council and
Ifayor as a threat to their control, and the question iznzzediately
cane before the court of Star Ci:a1:.bor. Saunders was removed
from Coventry and after an eleven day 11 1arin3 was cozrmitted to
the fleet, a London prison, until a detennination was reachodjO
Here our records fail us. fine sonte-.oo was never entered in 71
the Loot 11001: and all the Star Chamber decisions have been lost.
All we can do is guess at the means of disposition, for 111s

none was never a3ain mentioned.

The history of t.- 115 unfortun ate rofonz1or's dovmfall has

been followed in such detail only because it is a clear and

thorougghly recorded “ ample of a stru331e which convulsed
72
many 11131ish towns. At I-Iorthenptcn, Sou hanpton, and ‘Iorwich
'7
over3rasiz13 the sermons caused le3islation. In Bristol and

London the citizens threw down the hed3es and filled in the
ditc me which enclosed their commons, but it is only fair to

add that in London the sermons were val uod as recreation al and
7/!
not grazing; lands in the Sixteenth Century. Coventry had

69. Ibid., p. 578 (my spollirr).

70. Ibid., pp. 579-80.

71. Leave,

'2. An account of a lat or atrw'lo at Stratford, interostin3
because the o- fficials jealously protected d e town condone
and be ause S11ahespeare was involved in it, is given in
Prothero, “rgfis‘ Thrz1in3 Past and Prerznt, p. 33.

73. Lipson, .bonozi1ic Iistory of ;h land; 1,13%.

74. IbidQ’ I, 1853 $300, 1:.Fctlf'0 :17 Cl. hOJLDh. II. 77.

 

 

~118-
75
had trouble over the scams. 3 in earlier years and it was to

have still more, for after "ill-Lanmss I‘. 111:7” in 1523 the further
lease of seasons was forbidee e-- and hose outstandinr‘: were
- '78

supposed to be terninated, for fear of." 1211:1121; rioting.

Pepu er resmtnafie 1111 ed lit ale effect on the courts of

evnts, t11o1.11;311,1d e11copt in those rare instmees 1.1-1103 t11
active citizen. :3, the oii‘icials, were averse to 1111 111.111.1113 the

town 00:11:10 ns, enclosing was not checked.
All of Kerry's leases upon condi tion 01 enclosure were
made prior to the statute of 141-80, yet wirile he leased no more
ends - .2-1 t11ose particular conditions att:1 .ohed after t‘1e
Statute was pa ssod he did grant a for. later €2Q1fi,t1013 to men
17310 held of 11112:. 1.11s is insufficient evidence to sunpert t1 1.0
conclusion that Item? parpos ely su" verted his t.:ird purl is:::ent's
intentions. It does, however, make his actions somewhat suspect.
Certainly in the C. sputos between teen and to .711, or offi-
1als and inhabitants, Henry did not appear to intervene .1
behalf of t.1o defrauded pessessers oz? 3.3111153 of coax-.1011.- T110
repression in mod is such the other 1.219.311 around in Coventry, at
any rate, for .’.‘au1.;ors Ci oaepoared ('...11- act p.311) ca: 1er-.1. stellajufiga
3 lion. VII c.l, did not aspen-er that court to ta: 0 life and
li:::b but it use pernaps 11.110ez1tanv51at the council could do,

Q

aespite t1'1-o cannon law courts). Lipson see:.:s to thin}: that the
courts of Star C".- testzbor and Re::_ues ts (court of poor man's ca1 uses)
only protected the ancient r1311 1ts of tenants an; nude no effort

to secure them oonte:::>erary 11mtec tion, as 1er inst-111:1 e 1:: fat

'75. _Qeventm Lest 13001:, pp. 519-113.
765 .Lfliafi, p. 0.72.

~113-

bave been clone had cosyholciers been aware; :1 clearly in clef asi‘ole

'77

titles. As was previously shovm most tenants were co:v‘.1.ol€iors,

a2d.many of them could not prove their claims, so protection was
78
bare to come by in the courts of Leary VII.

This problem is probably the most dif"ic ult of all that

Ienrj's rei3n presents. Tnere is simply not enou3h proof for a

9

definite conclusion. Bacon socgo aperevin3ly of Eanry's en-

closure statute:

(1

In remedying of tliis inconvenience tlze 1:133! s L_2aow.was aflmir—
able, and the parliament's at that tine. mcl sures they'woulfl
not forbid, for that had been to -erbid the irnr3veuent of the
patrizm any of the kin3do2; nor tillage they would not com3el, for
that as s to strive with nature and utility; at t? cy took

course to tale away depepulatin3 enclosures and depooulatin3
pastura3e, ana yet not by that n3 as, or by any imperious express

p hibition , b1a t by censoq11.ence. .

‘Yet even he felt obliged, for this one ti1e, to maintain silence
over Henry's attitude, or the consequ nee so? the prov aion
a3ainst enCloszxrea. 0:1e tltir3 seams certain ana tLat is that

theg ntlemen,who wished to enclose were not at all deterred by

Henry's statute. This mi3ht be considered an overstata::ent until

one raaeabers that the real conda mastery literature was proo1iced

'99-!

only in later rei3ns . The aarkes t years were those in the miaeie

of the Sixteenth Century. At any rate, in the present state of

knowled3e all one can do is a w some inferences fron.flhat little

of Fenry's behavior has been recorded. 126 very aose nee of
evidence leads one to fiai 1 hat either Eenry allowed the en-

closure act to be entembed in the statute rolls, orltaat the

A; ...

??. Lipton, Economic Eistory of England, I, 158.
78. Above, p. 57. '
79. Bacon, Eonrzgihe Seve:-.g}, p. 559.

79

~120-
:naclinery for enforcement worned so poorly 1at Ker y's at tentien

was never got. If a tenant was unable to gain a hearirzc, or if

ualfid

BO
himself, then obviously no records would 921st. If a cause was

a justice of the peace was interested in enelec1oe se::e lands,

never tried then it follows that Henry's pardon.need never have

been ezztonded and so the Patent Rel 19 we

E:

d be devoid of refer-
GRCGSQ
Eenry apparently was committed to a program of agrarian

on w-1Qe and expane ion much as he fostered trad e, ex1lcration,

11e increase of central at the LJenee of iced government, and
the dovelOpnent of in etr v nm1 011 was free from 311d restraints.
But wifi le nis other pro rams all en t with pepular a1proval, or
perinops were a roe“lt 0. popular demand, only'the middle class
advocated enclosures. In this respect then, Henry, as the pro-
tector, was forced to tread lightly. The enclosure act of 148
miy'be regarded as one of the few etat11tee of his reign which
he éid not frame or heartily endorse. If 1113 teen was in it at

‘ufi-b.

all it was to mitigate its seve rity.

 

80. o. 3., the i’ayor of Coventry was a justice of the peace.
lect Bock, p. 524;

(X113 $178102}

Fear and anxiety are poor states for 'he immature mind.
Henry Tudor, a posthuu us child who had risen from attainder
and exile to the mslish throne, had never Ernoxm normalcy. he
was marked by his grave doneanour evenin his first regnal year,
at which time he was only twenty-eight. Habitual suspicion and
aloei‘ness, defences raised to preserve his life, never left him;
though he had a great reputation for courtly behavior, his in-
frequent moods of jollity were hardly spontaneous. 33's are told
by one contemporary that I: nry found real pleasure in solitary
computations at his Exchequer. Henry without doubt made a poor
adventurer; that he succeeded in an alien role is all to his
credit.

The task proved too much for him and he died in April
1509, in his fifty—second year. The news was circulated rapidly.
A Venetian disspatch dismissed the new king's father in this
manner: "The King his father was called I:onry,—yeara of age;
was a very great miser, but a man of vast ability, and had ac-
cumulated so much gold that he is supposed to have Ehad] more
than well nigh all the other Kings of Christendom." Imediately
prior to his death he had, as Bishep Fisher put it in the funeral
oration, promised "a true refcm1acyon of al tl'lem that were
offycers C: mynysters of his lawes to the extent that Iustyce from
hens forwards truly and indyi‘ferently m ght be executed in all

2
causes." On Henry's death-bed justice might be invoked with

 

1. Calendar of State Papers-Venetian, I, 346.
2. The 2,. -lishTJorlzs 0 can 1: sner cisho of Rochester (John :3.
Liayor, 0 o; n, V’ 0 g P. o

   

some degree of certainty, but prior to 1485 the concept had vc;

,

nearly been swallowed up or the insatiate and factions

’q

of the countm wsi e. Lilo so many other corn d1 siens of the tine
lawlessness might have subsided of its own accord. I say might
for unregencracy is a selfusatisfied state. But riot and rapine
had subsided.and order took their stead. It would be idle to
speculate upon their course had henry never intervened. to did
and anland was markedly different as a result.

If K-nry's greatest achievement was order his nun greatest
was direction. It might be argued that legislation follows
demand; even granting this by no means perfect premise it does
not follow that legislation is innocuous. An air of legality,

a touch of approval, does wondrous things to hesitant in1.ovatien.
The English.woolen industry'might.very well have expanded without
Henry but certainly not in a comparable period of years. Bishep

mbbs once wm mto tic t the treaties, negotiations and.plans of

3

Henry's reign are inenpressibly hundrun. This is only because
we are accustomed wsinilar trazsactions; had we lived then
Kediterra lean trade was a rortal gamble, wien Cabot set sail
from Bristol, or When international perfidy was a relatively
unsubtle business, we might well have felt awe for Henry's
capabilities. Tne first in or of an enprcssien can hardly be
accused of plagiarism; neither can Henry be called dull because
our senses have been blunted.by the profusion of‘modern business
dispatches.

Henry's reign can be divided into two parts, one in each of

 

5. Stlbbs, Mlliam BishOp, Seventeen Lectures the Study_of
1M0 ieval and I'odern Ii-t ery_(0xford,*1886), p. 535.

the centuries he spans. Of the two serrents the earlier iszrore

(’4‘

g.

importmit for our purposes since it conta‘r'td “iv ‘° his seven
parliaments, most of 1" s trade arr-azuenents, and nearly all of
his troubles. If the records of his la or years are not so in-
teresting it is not bee use no thing of interest occurred, but
rather because the years 1800-1509 w ro in large part devoted
to that for which the earlier years had been preparation. It
is sad to relate that iTenry was ill in his only quiet period of
life.

In the last years of the I="ifteenth Century Henry secured
privileges for his merchants in areas as far rd'aoved as Iceland
and Candis; h encouraged the esepansion of English shipping;
facilities and of an able force of semen; he found mland in
dissensien, discounted by the powers of mrope, and left itin
the first rank, a nation to be courted by .Popes and Princes.

Similarly he stimulated the woolen trade, and by limiting
the Lierohant Adventurers' fees opened the business to many more

'

traders. He helped, but not to a financially mbarassing degree,
he ailing wool and woclfell industry, and he aided all English
merchants at the expense of Venice and the Iianso.
Internally lienry's rule was both rigorous and relaxed:
rigorous in that central authority probed the farthest corners
of the island; relaxed because a policy of greater economic

Q

reedom was simultaneously insti outed. If his twenty—f ur years

H)

as king bore heavily on the nobles, it was otherwise with tne

middle, and to a lesser extent the lower classes. The area-t

V

lords were seriously weakened, and their powers as such were

quite limited, save in a royal capacity; at the same thae,

weaver, t‘- 1eir lands were ber‘inninu to find ready purchasers,
men who hoped to ind in farming that they had already found in
cornercial London—profit. There is little doubt that the
t n1si‘eronce of land and the shift in toclmiques of production
worked ha Iship upon 121a. 1y Inclislm “"1011. ..-.1ether this is c llod
tecl'uzologjical displacement (some modern economists dispute the
legitimacy of the term) or not, the harsh facts behind the
toria catmot oe ignored. IIeit nor can the 111 tinate Cains
brought by enclosing be disregarded. Henry's actions seem to
indicate that he saw the importance of the trend.

Henry, or someone close to his, as w quite clearly that
chlsnd's staple commodity was far more valuable in a manu-
factur state. Il'o encouraged the cloth industry both by
legislation and cosmercial treaties; and what he lost in customs
on wool at Calais he regained in cloth assesments at English
ports. Sir William Blackstone's beli if that all Henry's laws

'4
were designed to augment his exehoquer, can be dismissed on
two counts. To invalidate a universal but one o ”caption need
be sham. POW ac ts wer e passed in Iienry's r0131, the total

output of is tsenty-i‘m 1r years would not satis fly the irmgined

‘3

equiraimts of a ti ngjlo session in nany modern oeuvress, but
fro; a host of acts vii-.1031 did not benezit I2e1ry personally,

4 Re. .VII 0. 4.. ..a7 be add-reed. This statute provided that
lands held of the Green *1 ght be alienated by the one tenants

engaged in milit ary service, without paynmt of feudal fines,

 

4. Blackstone, Sir William, mentories en' the Laws of England
(2 vols., Til-01.1518 II. Cooley, 001., Chicago, 1284 I, ll, 423-233.

 

. -125-

and if anythim, decreased the Royal income, at'the same time
that it reinforced the tenuous bonds of loyalty. Again, Black-
stone's comzentary is pointless, if by it he meant that all
Item-y's legislation benefitted the public, and indirectly the
Crown. Granted that it was so it would be equally true of any
other ruler under the given conditions and so needed no mention.
Under these circmzzstances his statement appears to be a left-
handed compliment on Henry's sagacity.

In this reapoct Blackstone's Opinion merits consideration
for " Henry's wealth multiplied so did that of his subjects.
do matter how erroneous the mercentilist system, or lack of it,
appears today, it is hard to conceive of an alternative for the
times or to dismiss its historical success. Protective tariffs
am prohibited imports are recognized now as damaging concessions
to certain interests at the expense of the pepulace, but we have
not, for those reasons, repudiated the systmn

To conclude, Henry's rule should be remembered not because
it made the later Tudor deepotisn possible, but because it came
in a period when a strong and conscious director was needed to
hurry Luglmd across the confusing space which separated the

feudal from the capitalist system.

T'Wr nfinhv' as? 7? new
Bola-JL—IC '...J-b- h- .'.-5. T \r’a “J r‘

..--o . .'.gUQJ-J

9

Penis.a a he most useful, yet misleading, fiction mployed
by the historian is the tepical division, 1. e., the separate.
handling of social, economic, political, constitutional, and
many more topics within a single period. 30 long as writer and
reader both recognize the device for what it is—an arbitrary
pmeess of isolation-one harm is done. But when one begins to
think in tense of these rigid lines drawn through the mass or
history, and fails to bear in mind that a single event, rightly
considered, impinges upon countless others, then a measure of
unreality prevails. In the following admittedly arbitrary note
I have broken up my bibliography in the manner most pertinent
to my paper.

Zliglmid at the begimling of the Sixteenth Century had no
"Jillian ilarrison to write its panegyric, but it has left us
less pre unptuous and more trustworthy materials in the form of
letters, court records, parliamentary records, and statutes.
These, coupled with several legal treatises, diplomatic records,
and one legitimate description of the realm represent the most
important of the relevant materials.

L he any group of documents they must be approached cautious-g-
1y, wi th suspended judgment, and as few as possible preconceptions.
In particular Judicial and legislative records, decisions and
diets, statutes and proclamations, need to be taken at somewhat
less- than face value, flor the enforcement machinery at the
disposal of an" government in 1500 seems alternately ponderous
or puny when judged by our standards. The parliament of January

14-39 which granted Iienry III a sum to be levied upon both por-

-11-
senalty and realty was in rany ways removed from our: aodem con-
ception of that body: apart from its subscwienee to the 1: .113
it could not g aarantee Meat it gave, for by mid-sv.-e:-1er,- the
co: amenalty of the realm had delivered up only L 2'7, 000 of the
assigned I: 75,000. The case is the same with conciliar proclama-
tions: despite thematic recurrence, or rather because of it, we
can be sure that proscribed evils did not disappear at 6116 be host
of the King in Council. 3;:1 d1 the common 1a.? ourts too an enuncia-

tion of a rule of law did not necessarily maize for future obsorv~

ance or render self-help obsolete. a sis not to say tint the
materials are useless, for may are ino sod invaluable, and when

conjoined with letters and other per sonal documents pro rcvide that
‘which, @1011 seasoned with i: :mgina eion, becomes history.
Katerials from this period of English history have, almost

without exception, two characteristics, at lea st one of which

hould receiasend them to students, namely, a certain freedom from
orthdo e.o :y in syntax and spelling, and a marvellously long-winded
delivery. As in every other area of the discipline the 111 set
unlikely places frequently contain the greatest treasures:

certainly the reading is varied.

I. BIBIIGCRAPIEL‘S

The two great compilations of primary and secondary titles
which I have used in this paper are those of moss and Read.
Charles Cros as, Sources and Literature of mgli sh Fistory from
the Earliest Times to about 1485 (revised ed., 11. ”3., 1051) has
he most coraplete bibliOgraphy of English medieval materials,

hough many entries have been made by later editors. Conyers

' _ oili-
Read, 061., Fibliegm ely of British history Tudor PeriodJ
_14: 53-1605 (Oxford, 1953) has included, and criticized all, or
nearly all, of the available materials dealing with the first
Tudor. The C. II. Butcher and others,P .. 11 as to I'istorical Litera-
:39 (13. ..., 1951) is also of great value. The Cambridge modern
I."i::3torvI (ld- vols., II. 373., 1002-12), planned by Lord Acton, also

has a large bibliograpir.

II. PLEIILiICE 30312-338
A. Legal and Constitutional
The two basic sources of information in this, and indeed in

a far larger, field are [3319 Rolls of Parliament or Rotuli Parlia—

 

mentorum; ut et petitiones st placita in parliamento: 1278-1503
(6 vols., n. 1)., n. (1.), and The Statutes of the Realm (ll vols.,
Luders, A., Tomlins, T. 3., 'Raithby, J}, and others, London, 1816).
The material which can be got from these two sources is nearly in-
exhaustible. I dare say a superficial knowledge of the period
inevitably restlts when t1 ey are neglected. i 1e edition of the
Rolls of Parliament ends in 1503 (see Road's Bibliography, p. 69);
but it contains apper -dices, of decreasing importance to 1553.
Two extremely useful collections of judicial 111atcrials ar

SelectfiCases in the Star Chamber: 14177-1500 (Sold-en Society,
ed., 12. 8. Leader, London, 1903, vol. 16), and 1:0 rizshire Star

1312ber Proceedings (Yorhsl‘nre Archeological Society, ed., hillisn
Brown, 1009). They illustrate the efficacy of Henry's rule far
better than any statutes or proclamations. The first of these
books has a thoughtful valuable introduction by I. S. Leadau.

Leader-1 also has edited Eelect Cases in the Court of Rommsts:

_1v-

A. I). 11107-15300 (fie-neon, 1803). The volume is more 1111011 tant
for later reigns.

'3110 31115310 beet cclloo tion of documents in this sphere is
J. R. Tamer, '3udor Conetit'. tional 100111.21, A. ID. 11135-1695:
iii 1:21 on historical Commentary}: (Canbriflge, 1930). Trainer's intro-
auction is especially noteworthy, and beyond the fresnnose of his
material hia organ ...zational capacity is quite obvious.

Two writers of ability, one shortly before Iienry'a advent,
the ot er a year after, have 103 t us three books from which much

of importance can be derived. Sir John Forteeoue, De Iaud'ibus

 

Ie:.t:1 :1 ”153.1510 (110* 033 by 30.111 Seldon, London, 1616), and '1'11___9_

 

Governance of 51519361: (Ethanzioe Call od t-:c I‘if‘ference between

 

an Absolute and a Imited I‘onarchy (ed., C. Plummer, szi‘ord,

”‘35), are two books 1"hicl1 cannot be ignored. .1:-e 111.13 a

email work in comparative leg-gal eyetemo, inc;1denta11y replete
wit .111. 13.011 exrt anoouo material. The other in an 61121031: miracu-
lous m annor antodato the Snider political teclmiqu ea. Like
l‘lachiavelli f‘ortoooue advised a Prince; he book is cepiously
annotated by Ijr. Planner. The other man, 21‘1an Dudley, wrote
his treatise while in too Tower before hie execution in August
1510. 1.10 Tree of Comorvmalth (itosicruciana, Lianeheater, 1859)
sets forte Dudley's conception of the '11” 1:1.” and his relation to
the state. The book is often quoted, infrequently read, and
scarce. Toe only edition, hat of 259, was extremely limited;
the Library of Oomrese, which has one of the three copies in

this country, provided me with a microfilm of the volume.

av-

B. Social ond‘ economic

if?!

'10 baoi caoscription of :‘nrjland in Ionry's tine c one from
the pen of an anonymous Italian probably ccnnectocl with a V ne-
tian embassy to Lxlend: A Relationj..of the Island of :hfirnd

about the Year 15 00, v €221 .articulars oi" the camtorts of those

 

peeple and of the regal revenues unclean"? onzy VII (an: den Society,
C. A. meyfi, trans" London, 1847). Some accurate insight can
also be gained from a study of F. J . Furnivall, (3:1,, Item-mm am. ,1
I'eals in Olden Time (Early 1113 lion Text Society, XXIII, London,
1868), a collection of 111111;; Postian writL as from the fifteenth
and Sixteenth Centuries. Similarly the language difficulties in
an age of transition are set forth by ‘.Iillian Caxton, the printer,
in his prologue to inordi- ca (14.90), which is contained in W. J, D.
Crotc.-, The Pmlogues and wilogues of William Canton (London,
1028).

The Fasten Letters: A, D. 1422—1509 (6d,, Jones C-airdncr,
6 vols., London, 1904) contain a wealth of information on every
phase of English life, as to a lesser degree do The Epistles of.
Breanne: From his Earliest Letters to his Fifty-first Year (06...
and trans" Francis t’organ Hichols, London, 1901). John Stew,
:.“he Survey of London (C. L. Kingsford, £243., 2 vols... Oxford,
1908), The UtOpia of Sir Thomas Kore: In Latin from the Edition
of Ifarch lSleand in mglieh from the First Edition 91’ Ralph
Robynaonfi Translation in 3.551, with Additional Translations,

Introduction and Ifotes (J. H. Lupton, ed., Oxford, 1895) both

 

contain valuable material. Stow is especially good for bio-

graphical material, and an inverted reading of E'ore's master-

«v1.-

piece {gives an eznggcrated but certainly not fabricated picture
of Sixteenth Century England. rrho Coventry lest ”Seek: Or itayor's
Register con trai ing; the Records of the City Court Lest or View of
Frenizpledge. ALI}. 1420-1555;, vi th Divers other E’attcrs (liars?
Lemar Harris, ed., London, 1907-13) is one of the most iaportant
of all source materials. Ifearly all the growth and turmoil of
Ilenry's reign is reflected in this book. The :hglish Torts of
John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester (John 1:. 33. Ifayor, ed., London,
1935) and demons by Hugh Latiner: fimnetime ffishop o ‘.iforcester
(Lyerynan ed. , London, 1926) have incidental social value. The
latter is not absolutely trustworthy while the former dealt more
with Henry's personal traits than with the realm at large.

English C-ilds: The Original Ordinances of Iforo than One
:inndred English Gilde...and a Preliminary Essay in Five Parts on
he history and DevelOpnant of Gilda by Lujo Erentano (Toulmin
with, ed... E. E. T. 8., London,_1870) is most inportantas a
collection of original materials. The essay by Drentano, a
Itineteenth Century socialist, is of doubtful sort 1, especially
since its factual references have been unc erzzined by later writers.
The ordinances proper have not been tainted by these dubious pre-
conceptions, however. .

English Scone nic History Selectgbmmajs (A. :2‘. Bland,
P. A. Brown, R. II. Tawney, 66.5., London, 1921) is a good collec-
tion of materials, but it contains few sources from the reign of
Eenry VII. All spellinr' has been modernized by the editors. The
best collection of economic and social materials for this period

is Tudor Economic Documents: Being; Select Doomed-its Illustratig:

-Vii-

AA V 3 (' _ fl '7’ ‘0 " ' MA: 7.. .-
3e bone-*1 c_a:1d ...ccia- ....sterj .. Tutor r.“1° r. (n. -.. Carney

or.“ Eileen Power, cds., London, 9734.). C. 2:. ‘..-"1111mm, Thailand

“:11! or the "fatal *r '1"- :.C ere (14‘3“5-1523): :llrsi re. ted from Conteszpcrary

Panacea (London, 1. 535) contains natcrials illustiative of all

 

4.4. an- ..
retsaoly covers sell-

asp. ac to of the period. it is good but re.
worn ground. Its real frnction is to 3133th cell e;c texts.
Another work, :‘Idrmrd P. C'he’ney, I-‘Ioadiz- :s :1.- 2113.331: history

”A!“

Prawn fret-.11 the Original ‘.‘eurcos (Boston, 19:32) is much the some.

 

Both works are useful as introdu tory readings.

The Calendar of Inquisi tions Post Io rtem, I'Ienry VII 2 vols.,
London, 1898-1915) contains man; s ful references to feudal
hold s, and refers to 3151:] well known contemporaries o: :tensivc-

— fix.)

1y. The Calendar of Patent Rolls, If nryl VII (2 vols., London,

 

‘1.

or every aspect of I. nor

“I

1014-16) is an indispensaJIe source
life, at the index is entree-tely untrustworthy and 3.211 equate.
The Calendar of narter Iells: Volume Vi, Iimry VIZ-a8 Ilenry
VIII, A. I‘. 1427-1516(T..crdoo;1,102‘7) is principally usefud for
the proof it of fare of f eudal tenacity, but s-1ould not be over-
looked.

other works which contain records of surviving feudalism
are A Inner I'Tzoc'i: of Ottory Eainti ary (Catherine Dur-1ing ‘..-ho than,
and Iar;;a rot ..I1et1ai1, eds-3., London, 1015) «1...; Rust/on, Arthur G.,
and ’.‘Iitney, 4.13.1" s, Zlcotcn I’agnell: The .‘.:ricx .ltarrl 373011 tion

of a “If rlzsIeire Villa-"e (1:. Y” 1934:). Both are local histories,

 

and the firs t is more nearly an antiquari an's w 131:, but they
contain worth hile records. The life and r.: of the Peeple

1131 are :i'ic cri :11 Record from Contemporary Sources

hVi 3.1 "

m - - M - n .. . ... u . . m. m... w '2 .. . n v, . ,
zifteerts'. 0:13. i-toer1...2. Cent-.'..riea (.../OPOULIJ ..ar {3.29.} and ...:-'.aret

h-

 

Ifz. Elliot, 06.5., 2 vols” London, of}... 6), 3i vee a c 2.130313 no ary

flavor i”; :12 actual dr :.wIn'e and per trc .ite.

r-
V

a v 0 r ,. q n ...; u, '4- .
Three ..oreign :01. re. ea are :.tr'melj i-:.:_:2erta.12. for a

 

h '5 .T -. 4- --~ A .5) - A
deteilod :3 .16.}: 03. nonmfle reign. 1.; e Calendar 0.. I.ett«.2-rs,

M q.
.4-

I‘ocnotcm , and State Defer?! e 3.12121; to t2; :2 I" oceanic“: bet": on

.. n

21:1.end end Spain (G. A. ...ergenro n, ed” London ., 123-32), Calendar

w

Etate Pan core and I anucerijte Relatinilto Inglis“ .‘...f..iro:

7221313122: in t.“ e Archives: am. Collect-10-..: 0' Venice and in o ther

H

.ibrariee c-fifortI-zcmi 22:27:23.3 (Harden prom-‘2, ed” London, 864’s)
a.-d Calendar of State Papers, 31112.11, 1325-1231" (A. T). Kinds, ed...
Lend on, 1012) all con tai; much general isrii‘orzgatien but are es-

pecially valuable, of course, for diglemtie and economic con-

A.

ditiena. 'L‘Iei lac t collection is a duelicatien of fizc Venetian
decmriente for the. meet :23. rt, and is slight for Henry's reign.
One of tI .e nee .xt collections 03 docwiente pertainhg; to Henry VIII
is 12111112111 Cortisol l, I'ateric .271. i‘o or a Ifistory of the ref. en of

Year; VII: (2 vols” Rolls series, London, 1873).

C. General Political
Sir TI'zomae IJ'IIIore, .. .e IZietory of Ting; Richard the T .1130.
(J. R. Lunby, ed... Cambridge, 1887) contains some useful material
for Iienry's early life. It is, as might be emected under Tudor
11111.” a, or .'tret'zoly an ”ti-York 21:31: in continent. Two chronicles of
a later date are Riel-Lard Grafton, A Chronicle at Iarge (Ilenry
Lillie, ed., London, 1800) and meard 129.11, Chronicle: Containing;

the Ifistory of .. "19.. ad During; the Reign of Ifaenmr the :7 urt‘a and

ALA—

-13-

the Sueceedins Fenarchs to the the of the Reign of Tenry the
Tishth (London, 1809). Both of them.heve bare, factual outlines
but make no effort to analyse events except from.the earnestly
pro-Tudor position of most Sixteenth Century writers. James
Geirdner, Henry's biographer, has edited for the Rolls series
two collections. Letters and Papers Illustrative of the Reigns
of Richard III and Henry VII (2 vols., Rolls series, London,
1861-65) and bemorisls of King_flenry the Seventh (Rolls series,
London, 1858) are most important for political history; the
latter work contains the works of Kenry's poet and historian,
Bernard Quarees.

The earliest, though rather empty, biography of Kenry is

by Bernard Andre, or Andreas, re Vite Atgue Gestis Hoarici

 

Sestimi, and Arasles Eenrici Septir . The two works by the
blind court-poet have value but they must be checked or supple-
mented with fuller narratives. Their chief importance is for
the diplem.tic or political historian. Both are found in
Gairdner, K.aorials of King teary the Seven h.

The most famous, and still extremely'valuable, biography

of Henry VII is by Francis bacon, The_§isterj of the Reign of

 

Xin;_tenrj the Seventh in The Feral and Eistorical works of
icrd fscen (Joseph.Devey, ed., London, 1852). Bacon was not a
con emporary; and.his opinions, despite the impeccable manner in
which they were uttered and tie indubitable genius with which

they were formed, are not inviolste. Kis study is a basic

writing because of its undoubted influence on later historians.

III. S; QCIIDAIPI“ w OL’RCES

A. Legal and Constitutional

The monomental work in this area, with corresponding ix:-
pertance for social and economic matters :3 sell, is 11?. S.
Iioldmserth, A 121s om: 013”" 1*M .T. -11 (12 vols., London, 1938).
T. P. Tasc. ell-Largaead has a tezzt w hich is of so no value as an
introductory s‘udy, 31191311 Constitutions. istorfa “ran the

O

Teuee. ic Congest to the Fresent Time (Lonr eon, 1946). The

 

sinjle best study of I‘Zenry's reign in tr 1in field is Kenneth

Pichthern, Karly Stealer deveamwnt: ..TTenry \EI ( Cambridge, 1940).

B. Social and Economic
The basic work is the vast compilation by H. D. Traill and

J. S. 1‘..;ann, eds., Social hifland: A hecord of the Prof-tress of

 

the People (6 vols., London, 1901.04). Not much intergretatien
is made, but the volumes, especially volume 11, are replete with
factual information. i A popular, but fairly reliable, volume
which conveys the Spirit of the times is J. 3. ilozpurgo, ed”
Life Jnder the T adore (London, 1350). It is not footnoted, but
contains basic bibliographies for each as spoot oi‘ the sabj set.
The best scholarly work is that of lichraia Lipson, An Intro-
ductiotho the Economic History of malarrl (vol. I, London, 1926).
This may be coupled with G. 17. Trevelyan, English Social History
(London, 1942). Trevelyan's work is distinctive and well-written,
but boost with the some bias displayed by his ancestor Ifacau-ley.
A notable book which however needs considerable extension

in argmncnt and a thorour; 1 revision of citations is Lewis

9

Einstein, Tudor Ideals (13. Y., 1921). Einstein attezzzpted to

 

trace the intellec cue). cross urrerts oi‘ the Tudor period; one

‘

3 that he took his subject too livitl y.

mun-J.

 

hrs. J. R. Green, Town Life in the "ifteenth Century
(2 vols., H. 3., 1894) has pose ibly'more value for the next
century. It is well written but certain of her conclusions are
suspect. The chief criticism which I1as been leveled arainst
her, that the books are too diffuse, is not just. Fifteenth
century materials are notoriously scarce and I can see no other
way to examine t1:o age thea‘by'analo;y'with.previous and sub-
secuent periods.

Charles Cross, The Cild forehaxt: A Contribution to
tri ti sh: a nicip al history (2 vols., Oxford, 890) is a landemarh
study of its subject. Some of his findings are out~dated (notably
by Lipson) but it represents amazing industry and a thor0“"h
iaaewledce of the then avail able materials.

L. F. Seaman, English Trade in the riddle Ages (Oxford,
1951) has produced a small, scholarly nor}: which unfortunately
fails to carry through to co tain conclusions. The boo}; presents
a fairly well-balanced narrative of commercial eznansion. Like
Hrs. Creen's and.Charles Gross 's, Coleman's work s1ould be
checked agains EL Lips nfls.

There is a great amount e: agrarian literature of
secondary nature. The best suanary of the C xtoenth Century
trn misition is R. H. Tawney, The 1arian Fret l-em in t‘e Sixteenth

rtvrv (London, 1912). Rowland E. Prothero (Lord Ernie),

CO--U '..-... l
lish Farm a; Past and Present (London, 199 7), has an o: :collent

history of English agriculture. Ifis personal experience in the

--‘

field counts in the book's favor also. '.‘2". W. R. Curtis-r, 2.39
‘finclosur and Redistributiono Our Is rd (Onion 1999),11as
presented the customary evidence but has, I tl'lel’lli, rs: do no con-
tribution -s to the field. Iiis glib conclusions as to social up-
heaval throughout thep ueriod betray in immature judgment.

W. Lasbach, A 1_stor: of he English Agricultural labourer (trans.,
Ruth Kenyon, London, 1920), presents a colorful, if socialisti-
cally predisposed, account of the period. He is sounder the
farther he strays from modern ti. 1es. Ilarriett Bradley, 3353
11101053 ares in T‘ngland: An bone-.1i Ezeconstruc ion (2.. --., 1991 ),
has developed an interesting theoryuuthe collapse of soil for—
tility- to accom‘zt for tie o enclos are movement. IIer evidence is
not e"baustive enough for final cone usions, but the‘beok merits
attention. iiildred Campbell, The English Yeoman under 'lizaboth
and the Curly S uarts (Ken haven, 1942), While primarily
concerned with later develogunents {gives a good outline of land
tenure throv~hout the Si- Mteen 1 Century. Not very technical

but a good introduction to the subject.

C. General Political
The standard biography of Ilcnry VIII is James Gairdner,

Ififomm Seventh (London, 1999). A modest book, it accurately

 

delineates the political actions of the reign. The Cambridge
E'edern Piston], vol. I, also has a good account of he important
internal and external events from 14195 to 1509. ‘:Jilliam, Bishop

Stubbs, Seventeen Lectures on the Study of f’edieva 1 and f’odem

-:::iii-
I711~2=Jet<3~rwl ( aforfl, 18-86) has presented two interesting aways on
Henry VII and his general position in the Europe of I:
They are by no means efimustive but suffice to intreduce both

Ilenry and the {great II neteonth Century constitutional E-aistcricm.

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