Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History by Robert Bucholz, Newton Key Read Free Book Online

disruption of commerce that took place as a result of the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of the Roses (see chapter 1), and, in particular, the ups and downs of the wool trade. Specifically, the demand for raw wool from England fell throughout the fifteenth century. But that for finished wool cloth rose up to the 1440s, then stagnated for three decades, then rose again from the 1470s. Cities that got in on the latter trade, like Exeter, Salisbury, and Totnes, did well. Those that did not, such as Coventry, Gloucester, Shrewsbury, and York, saw their wealth and populations decline. As the period wore on, more and more manufacturing moved into the countryside, performed by individual farmers’ wives. At the same time London came to dominate the international trade in cloth, which hurt lesser port cities.
    Below this level, the country was dotted by numerous market towns ranging in population from a few hundred to one thousand. Abingdon, then in Berkshire, and Richmond in Yorkshire are good examples. Such towns served relatively small rural areas, perhaps 6 to 12 miles in radius. Here, farmers would bring surplus grain or carded wool to sell to merchants who would see to its wider distribution. These towns were not very urban: they consisted of only a few streets, a market square, and the surrounding land, which most townsmen farmed to supplement their income from trade. On market days and some holy days their populations would swell. Otherwise we would barely recognize them as towns.
    Map 3 Towns and trade .

    Most English men and women lived in the countryside – not in cities or even towns, but in settlements of, perhaps, 50 to 300 people. Let us imagine that, in our quest to know the English people in 1485, we have undertaken to meet them in their natural habitat, the English village. Admittedly, villages would be few and far between in this still underpopulated country, especially in the North, West Country, and East Anglia, where most people lived in more isolated settlements. If we sought out the greatest concentration of villages, in the southeast, we would notice, first, a belltower, probably Norman in style, indicating a church (see plate 1 ). In fact, the only buildings of note, probably the only ones built of stone, would be this church, a grain mill, and, perhaps, the manor house of the local gentleman or lord. The church reminds us of the centrality of religion and parish life to the villagers in 1485; the mill reminds us of the importance of grain-based agriculture; and the manor house, of a social hierarchy based on who owned land and who did not.
    The church’s denomination would be what we would today call Roman Catholic; the Reformation was a half-century in the future and no other faiths were tolerated. 8 If we were to watch, unobserved, for a week or a month, we would see a parade of villagers pass through its doors not only on Sunday morning, or even on holidays, but on weekdays as well. For the church was not only the religious center of the village but its social center. Many villagers belonged to guilds and fraternities dedicated to particular saints or devotions or charities. Later, when pews were added in the sixteenth century, where a family sat or kneeled indicated its relative status in the community, the most prominent near the altar at the east end, the less important towards the back. Christenings, weddings, and funerals – that is, every important rite of passage – were commemorated here. Villagers also centered their celebrations of holidays (“holy days”) at the church. By the late medieval period some 40 such annual holidays interrupted the work week. On Sundays and “holy days,” all gathered at the church to hear mass (in Latin) and a homily (in English), during which congregants not only received spiritual instruction but also heard from the priest all the “official” news which the king, the bishop, or the landlord wanted them to know. After all, in 1485 there were no