Chapter I: Preface

This text-book is intended for college and high-school classes. Most of the facts stated in it have become, through the researches and publications of recent years, such commonplace knowledge that a reference to authority in each case has not seemed necessary. Statements on more doubtful points, and such personal opinions as I have had occasion to express, although not supported by references, are based on a somewhat careful study of the sources. To each chapter is subjoined a bibliographical paragraph with the titles of the most important secondary authorities. These works will furnish a fuller account of the matters that have been treated in outline in this book, indicate the original sources, and give opportunity and suggestions for further study. An introductory chapter and a series of narrative paragraphs prefixed to other chapters are given with the object of correlating matters of economic and social history with other aspects of the life of the nation.

My obligation and gratitude are due, as are those of all later students, to the group of scholars who have within our own time laid the foundations of the study of economic history, and whose names and books will be found referred to in the bibliographical paragraphs.

EDWARD P. CHEYNEY.

University of Pennsylvania,
January, 1901.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

Growth Of The Nation To The Middle Of The
Fourteenth Century Page

1. The Geography of England................................. 1

2. Prehistoric Britain...................................... 4

3. Roman Britain............................................ 5

4. Early Saxon England...................................... 8

5. Danish and Late Saxon England........................... 12

6. The Period following the Norman Conquest................ 15

7. The Period of the Early Angevin Kings, 1154-1338........ 22

CHAPTER II

Rural Life and Organization

8. The Mediæval Village.................................... 31

9. The Vill as an Agricultural System...................... 33

10. Classes of People on the Manor.......................... 39

11. The Manor Courts........................................ 45

12. The Manor as an Estate of a Lord........................ 49

13. Bibliography............................................ 52

CHAPTER III

Town Life And Organization

14. The Town Government..................................... 57

15. The Gild Merchant....................................... 59

16. The Craft Gilds......................................... 64

17. Non-industrial Gilds.................................... 71

18. Bibliography............................................ 73

CHAPTER IV

Mediæval Trade And Commerce

19. Markets and Fairs....................................... 75

20. Trade Relations between Towns........................... 79

21. Foreign Trading Relations............................... 81

22. The Italian and Eastern Trade........................... 84

23. The Flanders Trade and the Staple....................... 87

24. The Hanse Trade......................................... 89

25. Foreigners settled in England........................... 90

26. Bibliography............................................ 94

CHAPTER V

The Black Death And The Peasants' Rebellion

_Economic Changes of the Later Fourteenth and Early Fifteenth
Centuries_

27. National Affairs from 1338 to 1461...................... 96

28. The Black Death and its Effects......................... 99

29. The Statutes of Laborers............................... 106

30. The Peasants' Rebellion of 1381........................ 111

31. Commutation of Services................................ 125

32. The Abandonment of Demesne Farming..................... 128

33. The Decay of Serfdom................................... 129

34. Changes in Town Life and Foreign Trade................. 133

35. Bibliography........................................... 134

CHAPTER VI

The Breaking Up Of The Mediæval System

_Economic Changes of the Later Fifteenth and the Sixteenth
Centuries_

36. National Affairs from 1461 to 1603..................... 136

37. Enclosures............................................. 141

38. Internal Divisions in the Craft Gilds.................. 147

39. Change of Location of Industries....................... 151

40. The Influence of the Government on the Gilds........... 154

41. General Causes and Evidences of the Decay of the Gilds. 159

42. The Growth of Native Commerce.......................... 161

43. The Merchants Adventurers.............................. 164

44. Government Encouragement of Commerce................... 167

45. The Currency........................................... 169

46. Interest............................................... 171

47. Paternal Government.................................... 173

48. Bibliography........................................... 176

CHAPTER VII

The Expansion Of England

_Economic Changes of the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth
Centuries_

49. National Affairs from 1603 to 1760..................... 177

50. The Extension of Agriculture........................... 183

51. The Domestic System of Manufactures.................... 185

52. Commerce under the Navigation Acts..................... 189

53. Finance................................................ 193

54. Bibliography........................................... 198

CHAPTER VIII

The Period Of The Industrial Revolution

_Economic Changes of the Later Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth
Centuries_

55. National Affairs from 1760 to 1830..................... 199

56. The Great Mechanical Inventions........................ 203

57. The Factory System..................................... 212

58. Iron, Coal, and Transportation......................... 214

59. The Revival of Enclosures.............................. 216

60. Decay of Domestic Manufacture.......................... 220

61. The _Laissez-faire_ Theory............................. 224

62. Cessation of Government Regulation..................... 228

63. Individualism.......................................... 232

64. Social Conditions at the Beginning of the Nineteenth
Century................................................ 235

65. Bibliography........................................... 239

CHAPTER IX

The Extension Of Government Control

_Factory Laws, the Modification of Land Ownership, Sanitary
Regulations, and New Public Services_

66. National Affairs from 1830 to 1900..................... 240

67. The Beginning of Factory Legislation................... 244

68. Arguments for and against Factory Legislation.......... 249

69. Factory Legislation to 1847............................ 254

70. The Extension of Factory Legislation................... 256

71. Employers' Liability Acts.............................. 260

72. Preservation of Remaining Open Lands................... 262

73. Allotments............................................. 267

74. Small Holdings......................................... 269

75. Government Sanitary Control............................ 271

76. Industries Carried on by Government.................... 273

77. Bibliography........................................... 276