A School Economic History Of England (Paperback)

A SCHOOL ECONOMIC HISTORY OF ENGLAND BY CHARLOTTE M. WATERS U. A. LONDON LATE HEAD MISTRESS OF TH NVt IIOOL FOR GIRLS, HROMl KY I. FROM THE CONQUEST TO HE MIDDLE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1920 PREFACE MY object in writing this little book is to supply what I believe to be a need for a school text-book in economic history. It is hoped that it will be useful to the Upper Forms of our Secondary Schools, to students in Training Colleges, and to teachers in our new Continuation Schools. There are signs that teachers are anxious to replace a great deal of the political history now taught, by a study of the life and business of the common people, but that they find it difficult to obtain books suitable for their purpose. Several books on social history have appeared, but most of them are written for lower and middle school children. On the other hand, the standard economic histories are too full for any but adult students. This book aims at something between No pretension is made to an extended study of the original sources. The matter of the book is based on the various standard histories already written and on special monographs on different subjects. Where controversial points occur, I have done my best either to state the case of both sides clearly, as in the early history of the Manor, or to select what seems to me the more likely theory on the basis of the evidence offered by the dispu tants, as in the story of sixteenth-century enclosures. Obviously for a book based so much on the work of others complete acknowledgement of help is impossible. No one wto is working in this field can fail to express his indebtedness to the hist oriw of Professor Aahtey, oftha Mr B. Lipson, and idl tb wrftttt mentioned in the list iv PREFACE of books at the end have, in varying degrees, been drawn upon from time to time. Most of the information as to the position of women at different periods has been supplied to me from the as yet unpublished researches of Miss A, B, Dawson, M. Litt. Dunelm., to whom, and to Miss M. M. Bone, B. A. London, my thanks are due for constant encouragement as well as for help in checking and revising the manuscript. By the illustrations I have sought to give pictures of the chief phases of economic development, drawn as far as possible from original sources. If they are not all from English sources and those who have worked over the field will realize how many of the early woodcuts which illustrate English books of the six teenth and seventeenth centuries were themselves imported from abroad I have been careful to exclude those of which the detail is obviously foreign or is not typical of the civilization of Western Europe of the time. CHARLOTTE M. WATERS. OJCTED, 1920. CONTHNTS PAGE INTRODUCTION ix PART I. HOW MEN LIVED IN THE ELEVENTH CENTURY Chapter i. The Village I 2. Towns and Trade 19 3. The Kings Revenue. The Army . . 26 PART II. CHANGES BY THE END OF THE THIR TEENTH CENTURY Chapter x. The Manorial System in its Prime ., j 2. Growth of the Towns. Kisv of the Gilds 51 3. Home and Foreign Trade . 77 4. Taxation. Money, ., . 89 PART III. THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES Chapter i. The Decay of Villeinage and the Break down of the Feudal System . . toi 2. The Woollen Industry . . . . o 3. War, Trade, and Economics ., 43 4. The Mediaeval Church . . . .158 PART IV. 1500-1660 Chapter i. Rural England in the SixteenthCentury 174 2. Industry and the Towns . . .195 3. Overseas Trade and Englands Expansion 3x7 4. Government Policies . ., .941 PARTV, 1660-1750 Chapter i. Rural England from the Restoration to the Eve of the Great Enclosures . . 367 2 Manufacture, Tmdc, and Commerce . 279 3. Government PoHde and Taxation ., LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Handwriting, 1086. Specimen of Domesday Book . ... 2 A Balk or Dividing Strip, Upton St. Leonards. Photograph by Mr. A. J. Lumbert 4 The Lynches at Upton St. Leonards. Photograph by Mr. A. J. Lumbert A Forge, MS Harl. 603...