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Using the relevant volume of ENGLISH HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS find,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
SEE BIBLIOGRAPHY SECTIONS:
JSI /20/10/99
School of History and Welsh History - University of Wales Bangor