H3H03 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND 1066-1399 TUTORIAL TOPICS
11 URBAN GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY.
a) What kinds of records sources are available for the study of
medieval English towns ?
b) What were the origins of the Medieval English town ? What sort of
factors influenced the location of urban communities in the
Middle Ages.
c) Which were the principal towns of medieval England ? What
criteria would you apply to determine the importance of a town ?
d) What was the role of Markets and Fairs in the development of the
urban economy ? What other forms of trade were carried on in
English towns.
e) What relationship did medieval English towns have with the
surrounding countryside ?
f) What relationship did the towns have with the royal government ?
What is meant by burgage tenure ? What benefits did towns expect
to gain from Royal Charters ?
g) How were medieval English towns governed ? What was the
aldermanic system ? To what extent did the medieval towns control
their own fiscal and legal systems ?
h) What factors determined the social structure in medieval English
towns ? What social classes would you expect to find and how
would they be differentiated ? What evidence is there of
standards of living and quality of life amongst the urban
population of medieval England.
i) What role was performed by the Medieval Guilds ? What kind of
relationship did the Guilds have with the Urban government ?
j) What impact did the economic crisis of the mid fourteenth century
have on the English towns ?
Using the relevant volume of ENGLISH HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS find, read
and annotate the following documents:
a) Charter of Henry Ist in favour of London, 1130/1133 EHD II.945-6
b) Customs of Newcastle on Tyne in the time of Henry Ist EHD II.
964.
c) Grants of Fairs C13th Bland, Brown and Tawney, Select Documents
of English Economic History pp 157-161.
d) Guilds EHD II 948 & 970. EHD IV pp 1053, 1058 & 1059.
e) Charter to Manchester 1301. Bagley J.J. & Rowley P.B. Documentary
History of England pp 85-90.