IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ehsrev/v73y2020i4p885-913.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mites and merchants: the crisis of English wool and textile trade revisited, c. 1275–1330

Author

Listed:
  • Philip Slavin

Abstract

On the basis of 7,871 manorial accounts from 601 sheep‐rearing demesnes and 187 tithe receipts from 15 parishes, this article addresses the origins, scale, and impact of the wool and textile production crisis in England, c. 1275–1350. The article argues that recurrent outbreaks of scab disease depressed sheep population and wool production levels until the early 1330s. The disease, coupled with warfare and taxation, also had a decisive role in depressing the volumes of wool exports. Despite this fact, wool merchants were still conducting business with major wool producers, who desperately needed access to the capital to replenish their flocks.

Suggested Citation

  • Philip Slavin, 2020. "Mites and merchants: the crisis of English wool and textile trade revisited, c. 1275–1330," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(4), pages 885-913, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:73:y:2020:i:4:p:885-913
    DOI: 10.1111/ehr.12969
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ehr.12969
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ehr.12969?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:cup:cbooks:9781107676497 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Power, Eileen, 1941. "The Wool Trade in English Medieval History," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number power1941.
    3. Philip Slavin, 2012. "The Great Bovine Pestilence and its economic and environmental consequences in England and Wales, 1318–50," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 65(4), pages 1239-1266, November.
    4. Alexandra Sapoznik, 2013. "The productivity of peasant agriculture: Oakington, Cambridgeshire, 1360–99," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 66(2), pages 518-544, May.
    5. repec:cup:cbooks:9781107070783 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Matt Raven, 2022. "Wool smuggling from England's eastern seaboard, c. 1337–45: An illicit economy in the late middle ages," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(4), pages 1182-1213, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert Bates & Avner Greif & Smita Singh, 2002. "Organizing Violence," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 46(5), pages 599-628, October.
    2. Eric B. Schneider, 2014. "Prices and production: agricultural supply response in fourteenth-century England," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 67(1), pages 66-91, February.
    3. Broadberry, Stephen & Gardner, Leigh, 2014. "African economic growth in a European mirror: a historical perspective," Economic History Working Papers 56493, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    4. Broadberry, Stephen & Gardner, Leigh, 2013. "Africa's Growth Prospects in a European mirror: a Historical Perspective," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 172, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    5. Klerman, Daniel, 2009. "The emergence of English commercial law: Analysis inspired by the Ottoman experience," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 638-646, September.
    6. Bell, Adrian R. & Brooks, Chris & Dryburgh, Paul, 2007. "Interest rates and efficiency in medieval wool forward contracts," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 361-380, February.
    7. Matt Raven, 2022. "Wool smuggling from England's eastern seaboard, c. 1337–45: An illicit economy in the late middle ages," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(4), pages 1182-1213, November.
    8. David Kaniewski & Nick Marriner, 2020. "Conflicts and the spread of plagues in pre-industrial Europe," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, December.
    9. David Stone, 2014. "The impact of drought in early fourteenth-century England," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 67(2), pages 435-462, May.
    10. Davidson, Audrey B., 1995. "The medieval monastery as franchise monopolist," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 119-128, June.
    11. Mark Koyama, 2010. "The political economy of expulsion: the regulation of Jewish moneylending in medieval England," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 374-406, December.
    12. Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist & Andrea Seim & Heli Huhtamaa, 2021. "Climate and society in European history," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(2), March.
    13. Douglass C. North, 2000. "La evolución histórica de las formas de gobierno," Revista de Economía Institucional, Universidad Externado de Colombia - Facultad de Economía, vol. 2(2), pages 133-148, January-J.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:73:y:2020:i:4:p:885-913. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ehsukea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.