H3H03 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND 1066-1399 TUTORIAL TOPICS

08 ECONOMIC DECLINE & SOCIAL CHANGE.

a)   What kinds of contemporary sources are available for the study of
     the  economy  in the later middle ages ? What problems  exist  in
     their interpretation?

b)   What  evidence  is  there that the population  rose  between  the
     twelfth and the thirteenth centuries ? What effect did this  rise
     have on the urban and rural economies ? How were they related ?

c)   Are  we  justified in speaking of an economic crisis in  the  mid
     C14th ? What were the characteristics of this crisis ?

d)   How did the nobility and the gentry adapt to the changed economic
     circumstances of the later C14th ? What changes did they make  in
     the management of their estates ? How did the crisis affect their
     political  affiliations ? Is it possible to speak of a crisis  of
     the  nobility  in  the later middle ages ? If so,  how  did  this
     crisis manifest itself ?

e)   How  did the peasantry react to the crisis ? How significant  was
     the  Peasants'  Revolt  of 1381 ? Was it  anything  more  than  a
     spontaneous  outburst  of  discontent  ?  What  sections  of  the
     peasantry took part in the Revolt ? What were their objectives  ?
     Is  it possible to speak of the C15th as the 'Golden Age' of  the
     English peasant ? If so, why ?

f)   How  did  the towns react to the crisis ? In what  ways  did  the
     crisis affect traditional patterns of trade and distribution ?

g)   What  effect  did the economic crisis have on the  Crown  ?  What
     steps did the government take to overcome its difficulties ?  How
     successful were its policies ? What were the principal objectives
     of the Statute of Labourers, and the Cambridge Ordinances ?

h)   Are we justified in stating that the economic crisis of the C14th
     destroyed  the  last  vestiges  of  feudalism  ?   How  did   the
     relationship between manor and village change in the C15th ?
Using the  relevant volume of ENGLISH HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS find,  read
     and annotate the following documents:

a)   Knighton on the Black Death 1348
b)   The Statute of Labourers 1351
c)   The Poll Tax 1380 and the Peasants' Revolt 1381
d)   The leasing of the  demesne on the Berkeley estates
e)   The evils of enclosures 1460
f)   Fortescue on royal finances  1471-6