economic development in elizabethan england

Question 1

What are 4 points that can almost certainly be made about the value to the economy of trading activities in Elizabeth’s reign?

Answer 1

• Value of internal trade considerably exceeded foreign trade
• A wider range of foreign luxury goods came to be imported during Elizabeth’s reign
• The cloth trade with the Netherlands, while remaining important, declined relatively as part of the economy. Antwerp cloth market had declined from early 1550s. Cecil wanted to end dependence on a single market. Alternative trade developed in north German port of Emden. Major move was to Amsterdam whose commercial growth came at expense of Antwerp under Spanish control
• Attempts to establish new overseas markets took place, such as in Russia, but remained economically marginal.

Question 2

Where was the main centre of African trade? Who started his move into the Americas from here?

Answer 2

Guinea.

John Hawkins.

Question 3

What did John Hawkins invent in his process of moving into the Americas?

Answer 3

The English slave trade.

Question 4

How many expeditions did John Hawkins make from 1562? What did he do on these?

Answer 4

3, where he acquired slaves in Africa and then transported and sold them in South America.

Question 5

Who did John Hawkins irritate during his expeditions?

Answer 5

His first 2 were financially successful but irritated the Spanish authorities.

Question 6

Who invested into Hawkins’s second expedition in 1564?

Answer 6

Prominent courtiers, including Earl of Leicester, and from the queen who supplied ships at a price.

Question 7

What happened during Hawkins’ third expedition?

Answer 7

It went disastrously wrong when his fleet was blockaded in the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulua. Some gold did get back to England. His actions further strained the relations between England and Spain.

Question 8

What did the queen’s support of Hawkins’ expeditions show?

Answer 8

That the queen was prepared to become involved for the return for profit with the risk of antagonising Phillip II.

Question 9

What were the main changes in English trading patterns in the 1580s? [2]

Answer 9

• The main markets for English wool moved from the southern to the northern Netherlands
• Increase in trade with the Ottoman Empire

Question 10

What did David Palliser say about England’s trading opportunities?

Answer 10

That England remained relatively backward in its exploitation of trading opportunities in Elizabeth’s reign.

Question 11

What were the 4 trading companies set up to widen England’s trading interest?

Answer 11

• The Muscovy Company 1555 to trade with Russia + northern Europe, failed in the long term to compete effectively with the Dutch
• Th Eastland Company 1579 to trade with the Baltic, but had similarly limited effect
• The Levant Company 1581 enjoyed success in attempts to develop trade with Ottoman Empire
• The East India Company 1600 to trade with Asia, had less investment compare to Dutch East India Company so found it difficult to compete in short term

Question 12

What was the benefit of the trading companies?

Answer 12

They were all joint-stock companies, owned by shareholders, and so provided a model of organisation that proved essential to future capital development.

Question 13

How effective were the trading companies?

Answer 13

They had carried English exports further afield and brought back a wide range of foreign goods, but they still remained relatively modest organisations.

Question 14

What exploration has greater significance now than it had at the time of it happening?

Answer 14

The extension of trade to the mainland of North America and the attempt to colonise Virginia.

Question 15

Who suggested that England should start colonising North America?

Answer 15

Entrepreneur and explorer Humphrey Gilbert.

Question 16

Who encouraged the process of colonising North America and how?

Answer 16

Richard Hakluyt in his publishing of A Discourse of Western Planting in 1584.

He was closely linked to Gilbert’s half brother, Walter Raleigh, and through Raleigh he presented the Discourse to the queen.

Question 17

Who was a prominent investor of Raleigh?

Answer 17

Sir Francis Walsingham.

Question 18

What did Raleigh receive in 1585?

Answer 18

A patent from the queen to colonise what would become Virginia.

Question 19

What was the outcome of Raleigh’s attempts to colonise?

Answer 19

2 expeditions eventually made land on Roanoke Island, which became North Carolina. Unfortunately settlers died in the attempt and the attempts to colonies proved to be disastrous.

Question 20

Why were Raleigh’s attempts to colonies disastrous? [3]

Answer 20

• Poor organisation
• Ill luck
• Reluctance by the queen to give the matter priority over war with Spain

Question 21

When did England achieve permanent colonisation of Virginia?

Answer 21

Not until the reign of James I.

Question 22

How did landowners benefit from economic trends in Elizabethan England? [3]

Answer 22

• Landed incomes rose
• Many landowners acquired a range of material possessions which would have been unknown in their grandparent’s generation
• Profited from Henry VIII and Edward VI disposing ex-monastic land when trying to make a quick profit, often at knock down prices

Question 23

What was a consequence of landowners becoming wealthier in Elizabeth’s reign?

Answer 23

There was a huge building boom of not just great houses, but of more modest country houses.

Question 24

What was the economic situation of more modest levels of society farmers during Elizabeth’s reign?

Answer 24

Were able to benefit from the rise in agricultural prices.

Question 25

What did Essex clergyman William Harrison note in this Description of England 1577?

Answer 25

The improvement in living standards enjoyed by farmers, at least in the south-east of England.

Question 26

What did inventories taken after modest society farmers died imply?

Answer 26

It often confirmed a pattern of improvement.

Question 27

What was the overall trend in agricultural production?

Answer 27

There seemed to be an overall increase in all aspects of agricultural production though bad harvests provided interruptions to this trend.

Question 28

What do economic historians in the first half of the 20th century tend to argue about trade?

Answer 28

That trade was buoyant in Elizabethan England, reinforced by evidence of shipbuilding which took place at the time.

Question 29

What do economic historians in the second half of the 20th century tend to argue about trade?

Answer 29

They take a more pessimistic view, emphasising what was seen as a desperate search for new markets to offset long-term decline in the cloth trade. This was reinforced by English financial institutions being much less sophisticated than counterparts in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy.

Question 30

What was urban decay particularly associated with in Elizabethan England?

Answer 30

Corporate boroughs that had heavily depended on the cloth industry, as this had migrated to more rural areas.

Question 31

What types of towns continued to improve in their condition?

Answer 31

Old-established towns, such as York and Norwich. Other relatively new urban settlements such as Manchester and Plymouth also developed.

Question 32

What characteristics did those towns who did well have?

Answer 32

Tended to either have a broad range of manufacturing industry or were unincorporated towns in which industry was able to develop without hindrance from regulation.

Question 33

Why is it difficult to resolve the impact of the growth of London on other urban centres?

Answer 33

It was often alleged that the growth of London, both as a port and an industrial centre, had a detrimental effect on other towns and cities. However, on the other hand some places, most importantly Newcastle upon Tyne, benefited from supplying London's economic needs.

Question 34

What happened to real wages for many during Elizabeth's reign?

Answer 34

They had declined for many, a particular problem at times of harvest failure.

Question 35

How many of the harvests can be described as poor?

Answer 35

9 out of the 44.

Question 36

When was the impact of poor harvests at its worst?

Answer 36

When there were successive bad harvests. This made the experience of 1594-1597 catastrophic for some people.

Question 37

What were real wages at by 1596?

Answer 37

They had collapsed to less than half the level which they had been 9 years earlier.

Question 38

Which area was hit hardest by poor harvests?

Answer 38

The far north, with starvation the outcome both in the more remote rural areas and in the urban centre of Newcastle, who reported burying 25 homeless people who were presumed to have starved.

Question 39

What do taxation records show about where wealth was in the country?

Answer 39

That the south-east was the wealthiest part of the country, followed closely by Norfolk and Suffolk and the 'inner West Country' counties such as Somerset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. The poorest counties were those found in the north and in the west Midlands. This was reflected in income levels amongst different social groups.

Question 40

What did inventories of goods left by labourers in Hertfordshire suggest?

Answer 40

That they left goods worth almost 3x as much as their counterparts in northern England.