Great Slump (15th century)
The Great Slump was an economic depression that occurred in England from the 1430s to the 1480s.
History[edit]
The Great Slump occurred in England between approximately 1440 and 1480.[1] The economic slowdown began in the 1430s in the north of the country, spreading south in the 1440s, with the economy not recovering until the 1480s.[2] The Great Slump took place against a wider trading crisis in Northern Europe, driven by shortages of silver, essential for the money supply, and a breakdown in trade.[2] Some accounts refer to the event as a "credit crunch".[3]
Some scholars blamed the slump on the effects of the Hundred Years' War and the economic blockades suffered by England due to its predations in France[4] and its wars with Spain and the Hanseatic League.[3] It was also said to be driven by multiple harvest failures in the 1430s and disease amongst livestock, that drove up the price of food and damaged the wider economy.[5]
The impact of the Great Slump was far reaching across England. Certain groups were particularly badly affected: cloth exports fell by 35 percent in just four years at the end of the 1440s, for example, collapsing by up to 90 percent in some parts of the South-West.[6] Prices of remaining trade goods fell dramatically as well.[7] Popular rebellions ensued in 1450 under Jack Cade, and the events contributed to the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses in the 1460s.[8]
One of the ways English merchants survived the Great Slump was through the formation of merchant networks, which enabled them to organize into large conglomerates.[9] This allowed access to needed bullion and well-guarded credit.[9]
See also[edit]
- Great Bullion Famine
- Economy of England in the Middle Ages
- John and William Merfold
- Hundred Years' War
References[edit]
- ^ Hicks, p.40.
- ^ a b Hicks, p.50.
- ^ a b Goddard, Richard (2016). Credit and Trade in Later Medieval England, 1353-1532. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-137-48985-2.
- ^ Martin, Michael (2017). City of the Sun: Development and Popular Resistance in the Pre-Modern West. New York: Algora Publishing. p. 347. ISBN 978-1-62894-279-8.
- ^ Hatcher, p.246.
- ^ Hicks, p.51.
- ^ Hatcher, p.243.
- ^ Hicks, pp.52–54.
- ^ a b Hartrich, Eliza (2019). Politics and the Urban Sector in Fifteenth-Century England, 1413-1471. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-19-884442-6.
Bibliography[edit]
- Craig, John (1953). The Mint: A History of the London Mint from A.D. 287 to 1948. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 85–96. ASIN B0000CIHG7.
- Davies, Glyn (1997) [1994]. A History of Money: From Ancient Times to the Present Day (Reprint ed.). Cardiff: University of Wales Press. pp. 159–174. ISBN 978-0708313510.
- Hatcher, John (2002). "The Great Slump of the Mid-Fifteenth Century". In Britnell, Richard; Hatcher, John (eds.). Progress and Problems in Medieval England: Essays in Honour of Edward Miller. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-52273-1.
- Hicks, Michael (2012). The Wars of the Roses. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-18157-9.