Economics of English Mining in the Middle Ages
The Economics of English Mining in the Middle Ages is the
Invasion and the early Norman period (1066–1100)
Mid-medieval growth (1100–1290)
Mining did not make up a large part of the English medieval economy, but the 12th and 13th centuries saw an increased demand for metals in England, thanks to the considerable population growth and building construction, including the great cathedrals and churches.[2] Four metals were mined commercially in England during the period: iron, tin, lead and silver using a variety of refining techniques.[3] Coal was also mined from the 13th century onwards,
Iron mining occurred in several locations including the main English center in the
A silver boom occurred in England after the discovery of silver near
Mid-medieval economic crisis - the Great Famine and the Black Death (1290–1350)
Great Famine
The Great Famine of 1315 began a number of acute crises in the English agrarian economy. The famine centered on a sequence of harvest failures in 1315, 1316 and 1321, combined with an outbreak of the murrain sickness amongst sheep and oxen between 1319 and 1321 and the fatal ergotism fungi amongst the remaining stocks of wheat.[13] In the ensuing famine, many people died and the peasantry were said to have been forced to eat horses, dogs and cats as well to have conducted cannibalism against children, although these last reports are usually considered to be exaggerations.[14] The Great Famine firmly reversed the population growth of the 12th and 13th centuries and left a domestic economy that was "profoundly shaken, but not destroyed".[15]
Black Death
The Black Death epidemic first arrived in England in 1348, re-occurring in waves during 1360-1362, 1368-1369, 1375 and more sporadically thereafter.[16] The most immediate economic impact of this disaster was the widespread loss of life, between around 27% mortality amongst the upper classes, to 40-70% amongst the peasantry.[17][nb 1] Despite the very high loss of life, few settlements were abandoned during the epidemic itself, but many were badly affected or nearly eliminated altogether.[18] The medieval authorities did their best to respond in an organised fashion, but the economic disruption was immense.[19] Building work ceased and many mining operations paused.[20] In the short term, efforts were taken by the authorities to control wages and enforce pre-epidemic working conditions.[21] Coming on top of the previous years of famine, however, the longer term economic implications were profound.[21] In contrast to the previous centuries of rapid growth, the English population would not begin to recover for over a century, despite the many positive reasons for a resurgence.[22] The crisis would affect English mining for the remainder of the medieval period.[23]
Late medieval economic recovery (1350–1509)
Mining generally performed well at the end of the medieval period, helped by buoyant demand for manufactured and luxury goods. Cornish tin production plunged during the Black Death itself, leading to a doubling of prices.
Notes
- ^ The precise mortality figures for the Black Death have been debated at length for many years.
References
- ^ Dyer 2009, p.8.
- ^ Hodgett, p.158; Barnes, p.245.
- ^ Homer, p.57; Bayley pp131-2.
- ^ Geddes, p.169; Bailey, p.54.
- ^ a b Geddes, p.169.
- ^ Geddes, p.169, 172.
- ^ Bailey, p.52.
- ^ Blanchard, p.29.
- ^ Blanchard, p.33.
- ^ Homer, p.57, pp61-2; Bailey, p.55.
- ^ Homer, p57, p.62.
- ^ Homer, p.62.
- ^ Cantor 1982a, p.20; Aberth, p.14.
- ^ Aberth, pp13-4.
- ^ Jordan, p.78; Hodgett, p.201.
- ^ Dyer 2009, p.271, 274; Hatcher 1996, p.37.
- ^ Dyer 2009, p.272, Hatcher 1996, p.25.
- ^ Dyer 2009, p.274.
- ^ Dyer 2009, pp272-3.
- ^ Dyer 2009, p.273.
- ^ a b Fryde and Fryde, p.753.
- ^ Hatcher 1996, p.61.
- ^ Dyer 2009, p.278.
- ^ Homer, p.58.
- ^ Hatcher 1996, p.40.
- ^ a b Bailey, p.55.
- ^ a b Bailey, p.54.
- ^ Geddes, p.174.
Bibliography
- Aberth, John. (2001) From the Brink of the Apocalypse: Confronting Famine, War, Plague and Death in the Later Middle Ages. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-92715-3.
- Anderson, Michael. (ed) (1996) British Population History: From the Black Death to the Present Day. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-57884-4.
- Barnes, Carl F. (2005) "A Note on Villard de Honnecourt and Metal," in Bork (ed) 2005.
- Bailey, Mark. (1996) "Population and Economic Resources," in Given-Wilson (ed) 1996.
- Bayley, J. (2009) "Medieval Precious Metal Refining: Archaeology and Contemporary Texts Compared," in Martinon-Torres and Rehren (eds) 2009.
- Blair, John and Nigel Ramsay. (eds) (2001) English Medieval Industries: Craftsmen, Techniques, Products. London: Hambledon Press. ISBN 978-1-85285-326-6.
- Blanchard, Ian. (2002) "Lothian and Beyond: the Economy of the "English Empire" of David I," in Britnell and Hatcher (eds) 2002.
- Bork, Robert Odell. (ed) (2005) De Re Metallica: The Uses of Metal in the Middle Ages. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-5048-5.
- Britnell, Richard and John Hatcher (eds). (2002) Progress and Problems in Medieval England: Essays in Honour of Edward Miller. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-52273-1.
- Cantor, Leonard (ed). (1982) The English Medieval Landscape. London: Croom Helm. ISBN 978-0-7099-0707-7.
- Cantor, Leonard. (1982a) "Introduction: the English Medieval Landscape," in Cantor (ed) 1982.
- Dyer, Christopher. (2009) Making a Living in the Middle Ages: The People of Britain, 850 - 1520. London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-10191-1.
- Fryde, E. B. and Natalie Fryde. (1991) "Peasant Rebellion and Peasant Discontents," in Miller (ed) 1991.
- Geddes, Jane. (2001) "Iron," in Blair and Ramsay (eds) 2001.
- Given-Wilson, Chris (ed). (1996) An Illustrated History of Late Medieval England. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-4152-5.
- Hatcher, John. (1996) "Plague, Population and the English Economy," in Anderson (ed) 1996.
- Hodgett, Gerald. (2006) A Social and Economic History of Medieval Europe. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-37707-2.
- Homer, Ronald F. (2010) "Tin, Lead and Pewter," in Blair and Ramsay (eds) 2001.
- Jordan, William Chester. (1997) The Great Famine: Northern Europe in the Early Fourteenth Century. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-05891-7.
- Miller, Edward. (ed) (1991) The Agrarian History of England and Wales, Volume III: 1348-1500. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-20074-5.