Silver production and the money supply in England and Wales, 1086–c.1500

The contribution of English and Welsh lead mines to the silver supplies of mints between Domesday Book and the end of the fifteenth century is assessed in this article, comparing evidence for the size of silver production with mint output data. It is shown that the proposal that northern Pennine mines were the principal source of the silver in the late twelfth‐century English currency is untenable. Welsh mines supplied limited amounts of silver to local mints around 1200. Devon silver made a significant but not predominant contribution to mint output at times of bullion scarcity in the 1290s and the mid‐fifteenth century. Imported silver was usually a greater source of the metal in the English currency than locally mined silver, and gold coins constituted most of England's money supply from the mid‐fourteenth century onwards.     

English and Scottish overseas trade, 1300–16001

This article compares English and Scottish exports, from 1300–1600, using existing statistical data from England and a new data set of Scottish exports. It shows that the significant English and Scottish wool trades collapsed at almost identical rates. However, while England shifted towards exporting woollen cloth, a similar move in Scotland was weak—because of the poor quality of cloth and the urban form of the industry. In the second half of the sixteenth century, as English exports stagnated, Scottish trade began to grow, especially new and less‐established commodities. This ‘recovery’ was based on the heavy depreciation of the Scottish currency.     

Benchmarking medieval economic development: England,Wales, Scotland,and Ireland,c.12901

Estimates are assembled for England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, and for Britain and Ireland as a whole, of the numbers of religious houses, regular clergy, parishes, towns of more than 2,000 inhabitants, and townspeople, and the value of dutiable exports and volume of currency at the watershed date of c.1290. Absolute and relative levels of economic development are then compared. A range of possible population estimates are considered and corresponding set of per capita estimates thereby derived. The results highlight significant differences in the pattern of economic development between and within these four countries.     

The English monetary economy,c. 973–1100: the contribution of single‐finds1

A body of nearly 2,000 English finds of individual coins minted c. 973–1100 is surveyed as evidence for the scale and form of the monetary economy. A long‐term view indicates that this was a period of expansion in coin use, although growth in this area remained limited compared to the later middle ages, or even the eighth century. Within the eleventh century single‐finds suggest more specific developments, including a decline in coin use after the Norman Conquest, and substantial short‐term fluctuations related to various economic and monetary factors. Comparison with estimates of coin production suggests a general trend for more of mints' output to enter domestic circulation after c. 1030/40, though this need not solely reflect an increase in monetization. These chronological changes are compared with the pattern of circulation within England. Overall, the kingdom enjoyed a unified currency which did not see marked localization of coin circulation. Parts of northern England were less integrated with the south, but not so far as to suggest active exclusion of non‐local coin. More striking was a general trend for both production and circulation to be concentrated in the east and the south.     

Gold, credit, and mortality: distinguishing deflationary pressures on the late medieval English economy

This article uses national and local records of debt and evidence from coins, prices, and wages to discuss the economic effects of the gold coinage that was introduced into England in 1344. It distinguishes between the deflationary effects of gold and those of the falling population on prices and credit, and shows that a coinage dominated by gold reduced the volume of credit and transactions far more than the mortality rate and the total circulation of coin would indicate was likely. It relates these findings to the economic and social changes of the fifteenth century.     

Scrip as private money,monetary monopoly,and the rent‐seeking state in Britain

Scrip—promissory notes payable in goods at company stores—was issued by employers to pay workers, and was an important component of British money during the industrial revolution. As late as the third quarter of the nineteenth century, scrip issued by coal firms, which represented the foregone demand for official currency, was at least 9 to 24 per cent of the value of English country or Scottish banknote issues. In some areas, scrip was 38 per cent of the total wages paid. The state's suppression of this private currency to defend its seigniorage rents was in part the motivation behind the prohibition of the truck system in 1831.     

Estate management and institutional constraints in pre‐industrial England: the ecclesiastical estates of Durham,c. 1400–1640

This article explores how far estate management and institutional constraints help to explain the transformations of rural society in England from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries. The monks of Durham Cathedral Priory and the bishops of Durham faced many of the same exogenous pressures in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries but they responded differently to these challenges. By the seventeenth century all of the dean and chapter's lands were consolidated holdings on 21‐year leases, whereas a confused mixture of copyhold and leasehold land had developed on the bishops' estate. This had a significant impact upon the challenges and opportunities facing their tenants. Institutional constraints were often crucial factors in the transformation of the English countryside: these two neighbouring ecclesiastical estates faced broadly the same problems and yet the composition of their estates diverged significantly across this period, having a profound effect not only on levels of rent, but also on the tenure of holdings and ultimately their relative size; three of the most important factors in the formation of agrarian capitalism. This article also argues that how rural society adapted to the fifteenth‐century recession greatly affected the ability of their sixteenth‐century counterparts to respond to inflation.     

Wool and cloth production in late medieval and early Tudor England

Estimates of wool production based on the exports of wool and cloth, and an assumption that domestic cloth consumption was, optimistically, constant, suggest that wool production fell by almost a third from the early fourteenth to the mid‐fifteenth century, and had not fully recovered even by the mid‐sixteenth century. However, after the Black Death, much of England's arable was converted to pasture, mainly for sheep, and this process accelerated after 1470. These two observations are contradictory. This article provides new numbers of adult sheep based on estimates of domestic cloth consumption, cloth exports, the changing weight of cloth, and fleece yields. The conclusion is that the adult sheep population only declined by around 13 per cent from 1310 to 1440, and had risen dramatically by the mid‐sixteenth century.     

Spanish merino wools and the nouvelles draperies: an industrial transformation in the late medieval Low Countries1

From the seventeenth century, the world's finest wools have been those produced by descendants of the Spanish merino. During the middle ages, however, England produced Europe's finest wools. Not until the fourteenth century does a distinct merino breed appear in Spain; and, before then, 'Spanish' wools were amongst the very worst in Europe, used in the production of only the very cheapest fabrics. By the late fourteenth century, some merino wools were being used in some Italian draperies; but, in the north, long‐held historic prejudices against 'Spanish' wools hindered their introduction, especially into the Low Countries' draperies, which, because of structural changes in international trade, had become re‐oriented to manufacturing luxury woollens, most woven from the finest English wools. From the 1420s, however, disastrous changes in England's fiscal policies so increased the cost of these exported wools that many of the younger Flemish draperies, the so‐called nouvelles draperies, producing imitations of the finer woollens from the older established draperies, decided to switch to Spanish merino wools (often mixed with English wools). By the mid‐fifteenth century, the merinos had indeed improved enough in quality to rival at least the mid‐range English wools. Most of the traditional draperies, however, did not adopt merino wools until much too late, and thus, by the early sixteenth century found themselves displaced by the nouvelle draperies as the leading cloth manufacturers in the Low Countries.     

日元国际储备地位变迁对人民币国际化的启示

20世纪70年代,日元曾迅速赶上英镑,成为世界第三大储备货币,而21世纪初日元的储备地位却被英镑悄然越过;尽管日本的GDP长期高于德国,但日元在国际储备中的比例一直低于马克。数据分析表明,日元和英镑的储备地位相对变化源于币值的变动;而日元和马克储备地位差别源于商品与劳务进口总额的差别。中国相应参数的比较暗示：人民币有可能在实现自由兑换之前成为世界第三储备货币。     

羌帖侵入黑龙江的币制因素分析

从1898年至1903年,短短五年间,羌帖就成为黑龙江尤其是哈尔滨地区的主要货币,占据了统治性货币的地位,直到20世纪20年代初。探究其因,货币制度应是一个根本性的因素。当时黑龙江地区金属货币以银铜为本,难以克服复本位的固有矛盾,而且因币材缺乏,导致金属货币数量严重不足。代之而起的纸币又因财政需要而滥发,币制混乱,币值跌落。相比之下,19世纪末沙俄实行金币本位,加之欺骗性的发行宣传等,为羌帖大肆入侵黑龙江提供了可乘之机和有利条件。     

Monastic mortality: Durham Priory, 1395–15291

This article presents reliable data on the life expectancy of the monks of Durham Priory between 1395 and 1529. The number of years that monks survived in this northern monastery plunged precipitously in the second half of the fifteenth century before staging a partial recovery in the early sixteenth. The experience of Durham monks mirrors the scale, direction, and timing of the data already produced for the monks of Canterbury and Westminster. While the precise relationship between monastic mortality and that of the population at large remains difficult to determine, there can be no doubt that the symmetry that has been established between mortality in three monasteries located in different parts of the country has important implications for our understanding of the demographic history of late medieval England.     

The rise and fall of Spain (1270–1850)1

Two distinctive regimes are distinguished in Spain over half a millennium. The first one (1270s–1590s) corresponds to a high land–labour ratio frontier economy, which is pastoral, trade‐oriented, and led by towns. Wages and food consumption were relatively high. Sustained per capita growth occurred from the end of the Reconquest (1264) to the Black Death (1340s) and resumed from the 1390s only broken by late fifteenth‐century turmoil. A second regime (1600s–1810s) corresponds to a more agricultural and densely populated low‐wage economy which, although it grew at a pace similar to that of 1270–1600, remained at a lower level. Contrary to pre‐industrial western Europe, Spain achieved its highest living standards in the 1340s, not by mid‐fifteenth century. Although its death toll was lower, the plague had a more damaging impact on Spain and, far from releasing non‐existent demographic pressure, destroyed the equilibrium between scarce population and abundant resources. Pre‐1350 per capita income was reached by the late sixteenth century but only exceeded after 1820.     

The Commonwealth as an Economic Network

Research on the economics and sociology of business networks also sheds light on the development of networks of countries. The British Commonwealth was an important global network, or group of networks, in the mid-twentieth century. Commonwealth members, including Australia and New Zealand, cooperated in the management of the Sterling Area and the Commonwealth Preference Area. Yet Commonwealth members also had links to other networks and other sources of influence including the USA, continental Europe and Japan. During the 1950s and 1960s, there was a gradual change in the network relations of Australia and New Zealand, involving a diminution in the importance of bilateral ties with Britain.     

Book reviews

D. A. E. Pelteret, Slavery in early mediaeval England from the reign of Alfred until the twelfth century Edward Miller and John Hatcher, Medieval England: towns, commerce and crafts, 1086-1348 Maryanne Kowaleski, Local markets and regional trade in medieval Exeter Rosemary Horrox, ed., Fifteenth-century attitudes: perceptions of society in late medieval England Anthony Fletcher, Gender, sex and subordination in England, 1500-1800 Tim Harris, ed., Popular culture in England, c. 1500-1850 Margaret Spufford, ed., The world of rural dissenters, 1520-1725 John Guy, ed., The reign of Elizabeth I: court and culture in the last decade David L. Smith, Richard Strier, and David Bevington, eds., The theatrical city: culture, theatre and politics in London, 1576-1649 Richard Grassby, The business community of seventeenth-century England M.J. Braddick, Parliamentary taxation in seventeenth-century England: local administration and response Adrian Wilson, The making of man-midwifery: childbirth in England, 1660-1770 Kathleen Wilson, The sense of the people: politics, culture and imperialism in England, 1715-1785 David Hancock, Citizens of the world: London merchants and the integration of the British Atlantic community, 1735-1785 David R. Green, From artisans to paupers: economic change and poverty in London, 1790-1870 Cyril Ehrlich, First Philharmonic: a history of the Royal Philharmonic Society Patrick Joyce, Democratic subjects: the self and the social in nineteenth-century England Keith Laybourn, The evolution of British social policy and the Welfare State, c. 1800-1993 Bill Lancaster, The department store: a social history W.W. Knox, Hanging by a thread: the Scottish cotton industry, c. 1850-1914 C.H. Lee, Scotland and the United Kingdom: the economy and the Union in the twentieth century Eric M. Sigsworth, A respectable life: Leeds in the 1930s Timothy R. Whisler, At the end of the road: the rise and fall of Austin-Healey, MG and Triumph Sports Cars John D. Fudge, Cargoes, embargoes and emissaries: the commercial and political interaction of England and the German Hanse, 1450-1510 Pamela H. Smith, The business of alchemy: science and culture in the Holy Roman Empire Daniel Roche, The culture of clothing: dress and fashion in the‘ancien regime’ Göran Hoppe and John Langton, Peasantry to capitalism: western Östergötland in the nineteenth century Charles Feinstein, ed., Banking, currency and finance in Europe between the wars David Conroy, In public houses: drink and the revolution of authority in colonial Massachusetts Peter Temin, ed., Inside the business enterprise: historical perspectives on the use of information Historical atlas of Canada: R. Cole Harris, ed., Vol. i: From the beginning to 1800; R. Louis Gentilcore, ed., Vol. 2: The land transformed, 1800-1891; D. Kerr, ed., Vol. 3: Addressing the twentieth century, 1891-1961 Laird W. Bergad, Fe Iglesias García, and María del Carmen Barcia, The Cuban slave market, 1790-1880 Linda Cooke Johnson, Shanghai from market town to treaty port, 1074-1858 Olive Checkland, Shizuya Nishimura, and Norio Tamaki, eds., Pacific banking, 1859-1959: East meets West Tessa Morris-Suzuki, The technological transformation of Japan from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century J. Komlos, ed., The biological standard of living on three continents: further explorations in anthropometric history Forrest Capie, Tariffs and growth: some insights from the world economy, 1850-1940 John A. James and Mark Thomas, eds., Capitalism in context: essays in economic development and cultural change in honor of R.M. Hartwell Theodore M. Porter, Trust in numbers: the pursuit of objectivity in science and public life     

International bimetallism and silver absorption in Singapore, 1840–73

This study reveals the mechanism underlying the silver trade in Singapore during the third quarter of the nineteenth century by analysing banking business and bullion arbitrage. After 1849, the California Gold Rush induced gold depreciation and silver appreciation in Singapore's bullion market, and arbitrage profits for silver imports from Britain emerged. At the same time, the expansion of banking business by eastern exchange banks enhanced the connectivity of Singapore's exchange market with London, and enabled bullion arbitrage between the two distant cities. As a result, there was an influx of silver from Britain. In addition, Dutch silver, which was exported to Java by the Netherlands after 1854, flowed into Singapore due to the unfavourable exchange policy of the Dutch government.     

London creditors and the fifteenth‐century depression

Evidence of debts owed to Londoners, and contested before the royal Court of Common Pleas, allows an examination of the role of London creditors in the English depression of the fifteenth century and a reassessment of its causes. In this article, four main issues are examined. What is the nature of the Court of Common Pleas evidence (section I)? What were the three main forms of credit offered by Londoners—unsecured cash loans, sales of goods on credit, and written instruments called bonds (section II)? What is yielded by decadal analysis of Londoners’ extension of credit in the fifteenth century—making direct comparisons with Nightingale's published Statute Merchant and Staple data (section III)? What defines, in modern economic terms, the claim of so‐called ‘monetarist’ historians that credit was actively withdrawn during the depression, and how is this verified by the actions of London creditors (section IV)? It is concluded that the records of the Court of Common Pleas provide the detailed evidence monetarist historians have previously lacked both to prove that Londoners actively withdrew credit during the fifteenth century and to demonstrate that they employed pure equilibrium credit rationing in order to do so.     

The decline of economic complementarity? Australia and Britain 1945—1952

At the end of the Second World War, Australia implemented a development program designed to improve the nation's defence capabilities through a rapid increase in population and the growth of manufacturing industry. These plans were contrary to the vision of `complementarity' promoted by the United Kingdom, in which the British economy would export manufactured goods to other members of the Commonwealth in return for primary products. Despite British objections, the Chifley government persevered in its development policy although Australia did control the level and origin of its imports to fit the availability of dollars within the Sterling Area. In the early 1950s, however, the Menzies government attacked the autarchic policies of the Sterling Area, first by arranging to borrow dollars directly from the World Bank, and later by calling for an abandonment of the inward focus of the Sterling Area.     

Growth or stagnation? Farming in England, 1200–1800

Estimates of English income in Broadberry et al.’s British economic growth, 1270–1870 are founded upon a fourfold growth of farm output, and output per farm worker, over this interval. This article shows, using four separate tests, that farm output growth must have been much more limited. The tests are, first, whether in 1300 there was enough work at harvest to employ all the labour force; second, whether the value of output per worker in agriculture was greater than the annual earnings of workers; third, whether the implied relative outputs per acre of arable versus pasture were reasonable; and fourth, whether a much shorter medieval work year was possible. An alternative index of farm output consistent with the labour supply, wages, and farm rents is derived. This shows much less growth during the period 1270–1800. Overall economic growth in England during these years must consequently have been far less than Broadberry et al. estimate.     

Philip I of England,embezzlement, and the quantity theory of money

Early in 1555, King Philip I of England minted at the Tower of London over £40,000 in sterling from New World silver brought from Spain. By probing Spanish and English accountancy procedures, this article demonstrates that this sum has not been included in either sixteenth –century or modern calculations of the circulating medium. Revised estimates for the money supply are given and possible inflationary effects on the mid –Tudor price rise are considered.