ADDITIONS TO CHAPTER III
Wiki: Economy of England in the Middle Ages
The economy of England in the Middle Ages, from the Norman invasion in 1066, to the death of Henry VII in 1509, was fundamentally agricultural, though even before the invasion the market economy was important to producers. [1]
Norman institutions, including serfdom, were superimposed on an existing system of open fields and mature, well-established towns involved in international trade. [2]
Over the next five centuries the economy would at first grow and then suffer an acute crisis, resulting in significant political and economic change.
Despite economic dislocation in urban and extraction economies, including shifts in the holders of wealth and the location of these economies, the economic output of towns and mines developed and intensified over the period. [3]
By the end of the period, England had a weak government, by later standards, overseeing an economy dominated by rented farms controlled by gentry, and a thriving community of indigenous English merchants and corporations. [4]
The medieval English saw their economy as comprising three groups - the clerics, who prayed; the knights, who fought; and the peasants, who worked the land.
The 12th and 13th centuries saw a huge development of the English economy. [5]
This was partially driven by the growth in the population from around 1.5 million at the time of the creation of the Domesday Book in 1086 to between 4 and 5 million in 1300. [5]
England remained a primarily agricultural economy, with the rights of major landowners and the duties of serfs increasingly enshrined in English law. [6]
More land, much of it at the expense of the royal forests, was brought into production to feed the growing population or to produce wool for export to Europe. [6]
Many hundreds of new towns, some of them planned, sprung up across England, supporting the creation of guilds, charter fairs and other important medieval institutions. [7]
The descendants of the Jewish financiers who had first come to England with William the Conqueror played a significant role in the growing economy, along with the new Cistercian and Augustinian religious orders that came to become major players in the wool trade of the north. [8]
Mining increased in England, with the silver boom of the 12th century helping to fuel a fast-expanding currency. [9]
Economic growth began to falter by the end of the 13th century, owing to a combination of over-population, land shortages and depleted soils. [10]
The loss of life in the Great Famine of 1315-17 shook the English economy severely and population growth ceased; the first outbreak of the Black Death in 1348 then killed around half the English population, with major implications for the post-plague economy. [10]
The agricultural sector shrank, with higher wages, lower prices and shrinking profits leading to the final demise of the old demesne system and the advent of the modern farming system of cash rents for lands. [11]
The Peasants Revolt of 1381 shook the older feudal order and limited the levels of royal taxation considerably for a century to come. [12]
The 15th century saw the growth of the English cloth industry and the establishment of a new class of international English merchant, increasingly based in London and the South-West, prospering at the expense of the older, shrinking economy of the eastern towns. [4]
These new trading systems brought about the end of many of the international fairs and the rise of the chartered company. [13]
Together with improvements in metalworking and shipbuilding, this represents the end of the medieval economy, and the beginnings of the early modern period in English economics. [
Timeline of Queen Matilda
The Middle Ages encompass one of the most exciting and bloodthirsty periods in English and European History.
This comprehensive Timeline of Queen Matilda of the Medieval period details the major events significant to the lives and events of famous people who lived during this era.
Key dates provide a fast and simple way to cover history via the Timeline of Queen Matilda, aka Empress Matilda. Dates of great events and dates relating to the births, deaths and the durations of reigns.
Dates of all of the major events and people who were important are briefly explained in the Timeline of Queen Matilda.
The fastest way to obtain interesting facts, history and information on the times of the Medieval era.
Biography of Queen Matilda
Timeline of Key Dates |
Timeline of Queen Matilda of Key events |
Matilda was never actually crowned as Queen of England but she was the rightful heir as the She was the daughter of King Henry I of England. Her cousin Stephen de Blois (King Stephen) seized the English throne |
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1102 |
Queen Matilda was born in 1102, her exact date of birth is unknown |
1120 |
Matilda's elder brother William Audelin and heir to the English throne died in a ship wreck |
1125 |
Matilda, was briefly married to the German Henry V, the Holy Roman Emperor but he died in 1125 |
1125 |
Matilda returns to Normandy |
1127 |
In January 1127 King Henry I forced the Barons to swear allegiance to Matilda |
1128 |
Matilda marries Geoffrey of Anjou and they had three sons Henry, Geoffrey, Count of Nantes and her youngest son was called William |
1136 |
Matilda's eldest son, Henry, was born on March 5, 1133 (later, King Henry II of England) |
1135 |
King Henry I dies on December 1 |
1135 |
Stephen seizes the throne of England on December 22 |
1136 |
The civil war between Stephen and Matilda begins |
1139 |
Matilda arrives in England and her greatest supporter was Robert Earl of Gloucester, who was an illegitimate son of Henry I and step-brother to Matilda |
1141 |
Stephen captured at the Battle of Lincoln in February when Stephen laid siege to Lincoln Castle. He was then imprisoned |
1141 |
April - Matilda was claimed Queen of England |
1141 |
June - Matilda entered London for her coronation but had no support in London and was forced to flee the city. |
1141 |
September 14 - The Rout of Winchester. Stephen's imprisonment was ended when he was exchanged for the Earl of Gloucester who had been captured by Stephen's supporters |
1142 |
Matilda continued plotting against Stephen with the aid of Geoffrey de Mandeville |
1143 |
September - Stephen arrested Geoffrey de Mandeville taking his lands and making him an outlaw and depriving Matilda of one of her most powerful allies |
1145 |
King Stephen captured the castle at Farringdon from Matilda |
1147 |
Robert, Earl of Gloucester died and Matilda gave up her fight for England and she conceded the throne to Stephen |
1147 |
Start of the Second Crusade |
1147 |
Matilda left England for Normandy and spent the rest of her life in a convent |
1147 |
The eldest son of Matilda, Henry, attempted to invade England but he failed |
1149 |
Henry again attempted to invade England but he was driven back to Normandy by Stephen |
1153 |
Henry once again invaded England and Stephen was forced to agree that Henry, the son of Matilda, should be heir to the throne of England instead of his own son, Eustace |
1154 |
King Stephen died in October. In December Henry, the son of Matilda, succeeded King Stephen as King Henry II of England |
1167 |
Matilda died at Rouen in France on 10 September 1167 |
1167 |
Matilda was buried in Rouen Cathedral |