Growth and Decline in Colchester, 1300-1525

This is a study of one of England's principal cloth towns during the late Middle Ages.

R. H. Britnell (Author)

9780521073158, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 4 September 2008

324 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.8 cm, 0.48 kg

This is a study of one of England's principal cloth towns during the late Middle Ages. It draws extensively upon unpublished records in Colchester and elsewhere, and is the first history of a medieval English town to analyse in conjunction the relationships between overseas trade, urban development and changes in rural society. First it describes Colchester in the earlier fourteenth century, its trade, its agricultural setting and its form of government. The book then shows how cloth-making grew in Colchester after the Black Death and how the population increased until about 1414. The implications of this for the government of the borough and for the town's role in the local economy are discussed. The last section shows that Colchester's growth was not sustained through the fifteenth century, and examines some of the causal links between economic contraction, institutional change in the borough and agrarian depression in the surrounding countryside.

Part I. Rusticity, 1300–49: 1 Urban economy
2. Urban liberty
3. Food supplies Survey, 1300–49
Part II. Growth, 1350–1414: 4. Colchester cloth and its markets
5. Industry
6. Population
7. Credit and wealth
8. Government
9. Economic regulation
10. Town and country Survey, 1350–1414
Part III. Change and Decay, 1415–1525: 11. Colchester cloth and its markets
12. Industry
13. Population
14. Credit and wealth
15. Government
16. Economic regulation
17. Town and country Survey, 1415–1525.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], British & Irish history [HBJD1]