< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > introduction</h1>
The main handicraft industry in Western Europe is the wool textile industry, initially the wool textile technology of Italy and Flanders is more developed in Europe, while the United Kingdom is the latecomer to the top and becomes the center of the European wool textile industry. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the wool textile industry developed into Britain's "national industry", which was the basic industry for the transition from feudal society to capitalist society in Britain.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the geographical environment for the development of the woolen industry</h1>
The reason why the wool textile industry can flourish in the UK is closely related to the geographical environment of the UK. Located between 50 and 59 degrees north latitude, the UNITED Kingdom has an oceanic temperate broadleaf forest climate. Due to the influence of the westerly wind and the Warm North Atlantic Current, the climate of the British Isles is very stable, the temperature difference between the four seasons is not large, warm and humid, which is very suitable for the growth of pasture grass, which is very beneficial to the development of sheep industry.
The geographical environment of the island of Great Britain is very different, if you draw a straight line from the mouth of the Terraces River to the mouth of the Aix River, you can divide the island into two parts: one part is the southeast region, mainly plains and hills, suitable for agricultural and pastoral development, belonging to the mixed agricultural area; the other part is the northwest region, dominated by mountain rift valleys, suitable for animal husbandry development, belonging to pastoral areas.
Picture | aerial view of the Cotswolds
During the Tudor Dynasty, the sheep industry in mixed agricultural areas and pastoral areas has developed by leaps and bounds, and the wool produced in the country can generally meet the needs of the development of the domestic wool textile industry. However, the quality of wool produced varies from place to place. In the 16th century, the best quality wool produced was in the Welsh Matchell region, followed by the Cotswolds, the medium quality areas were Lincolnshire and Berkshire, and the inferior quality was in Sussex and other regions.
The quality of wool has a lot to do with the quality of sheep breeds, and only high-quality wool can produce high-quality wool. Before the Romans ruled Britain, it had a small, poorly haired sheep, and the wool produced by this sheep was of poor quality. After the Romans occupied Britain, new breeds of sheep were introduced. The sheep is tall, the wool is slender, and the wool is better. The quality of the wool woven from this wool is greatly improved. According to some historians, this new breed of sheep introduced by the ancient Romans is likely to be the predecessor of today's English fine wool sheep.
By the time of the Tudor dynasty, the British attached great importance to improving the breed of sheep to improve the quality of wool. At that time, in general, the breeds of sheep in England could be divided into three categories: mountain sheep, long-haired sheep and short-haired sheep. Among them, long-haired sheep have the highest gross yield, with an average of 2-3 pounds of wool per sheep. This sheep is mainly distributed in the plains and swamps of England.
The picture | the natural scenery of sunsets in England
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the process of woolen production</h1>
Wool is woven into wool through a series of processes, the main processes are: classification processing, combing, spinning, weaving, pruning, dyeing and so on. After the 14th century, British woolen wool can be roughly divided into two types: woolen tweed and worsted woolen. The difference between the two, British scholars believe that there are the following points: (1) the raw materials are different. Woollen wool is woven from short-fibre wool, while worsted wool is woven from long-fibre wool. (2) The method of combing hair is different. The wool used in woolen woolen wool is combed by a carded, while the wool used in worsted wool is combed by combed. (3) The spinning method is different. The wool used in woolen woolen wool is "strong" before spinning; the wool used in worsted wool does not need to be "strong" before spinning. (4) The rinsing procedure is different. After the coarse wool is removed from the loom, it is rinsed immediately, while the fine wool is generally not rinsed after it is removed from the loom.
The process of rinsing is to put the woven wool into a bucket and wash it with a mallet to remove the impurities attached to the wool and make the texture of the wool more solid. When rinsing, the bleacher often adds some bleached soil to the water to strengthen the decontamination ability. Rinsing is a very hard job. Originally, rinsing was done using human labor, with the bleacher stepping on the bleaching cloth with his feet, and a piece of cloth required the cooperation of three people to complete. After the 13th century, the British began to promote the use of hydraulic bleaching methods. The water mill is built near the river, using the power of the water to promote the water mill, freeing the drifters from heavy physical labor and saving a lot of labor. The British scholar Carlos Wilson called the promotion of the 13th century water mill bleaching method the Industrial Revolution of the 13th century.
Pictured| workers process raw wool
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > a change in the form of production organization</h1>
During the Renaissance, the form of organization of woolen production was dominated by scattered handicraft workshops. This form of production organization is characterized by the scattered rural cottage craftsmen, who are engaged in woolen production under the employment of woolen merchants, and divide their labor and cooperate in woolen production. Woolen merchants and cottage traders initially established an employment relationship. However, there is a certain difference between this kind of employment relationship and the capitalist wage relationship in the modern sense, for example, the employee has not completely lost the means of production and becomes a laborer with nothing. Generally speaking, craftsmen engaged in wool textiles in the 16th century still held a small amount of land.
At this time, most of the small and medium-sized wool merchants did not become capitalists in the true sense of the word; most of them were engaged in productive labor, and only the large wool merchants were separated from productive labor. During the Tudor dynasty, the class status of most of the small and medium-sized wool merchants was in the transition from feudal handicraft guild masters to modern capitalists, a growing bourgeoisie, and only a few large woolen wool merchants could be called capitalists in the modern sense. Nevertheless, this decentralized handicraft workshop had essentially taken on the character of capitalist production and parted ways with feudal domestic handicraft workshops.
Pictured | Yorkshire Museum
Scattered handicraft workshops are distributed in vast rural areas, and its form of production follows the ancient in-home system. The whole process of the production of the home system is undertaken by one person, and there is no division of labor. Scattered handicraft workshops have already sprouted the emergence of social division of labor and employment relations. In the scattered handicraft workshops, woolen merchants dominated. Regarding the definition of a woolen merchant, The British historical documents have the following different records: in 1563, the woolen merchant was engaged in the production and sale of woolen wool. In 1613, Yorkshire legal literature described the wool merchant as a trader engaged in the trade of croixes. The main duty of the woolen merchant is to provide others with the necessary capital, to purchase raw materials, to supervise the production process, and then to sell the woolen in the market. The identity of the woolen merchant is that of an employer and a workshop owner. The size of the workshops varies greatly, from a few small to hundreds or even thousands of people. The main energy of the wool merchants is on production management.
From the above literature elaboration, we can see that the wool merchants of the 16th and 17th centuries were not only engaged in the trade of woolen wool, but also participated in production management and used wage labor.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the distribution of the British woollen industry</h1>
In the Middle Ages, it can be said that almost all parts of the country in Britain produced wool, but the development of various regions was uneven, some areas were the main production areas, and some areas were secondary production areas. During the Tudor period, the center of woolen production in England shifted from the city to the countryside, and three major woolen production centers were formed, namely the south-west region of England, Yorkshire and East Anglia.
Pictured | Gloucestershire Cathedral
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > southwestern region</h1>
The south-west of England mainly consists of Wiltshire, Somerset and Gloucestershire. 1485-1555 was a period of great development of the wool industry in the three counties of southwest England, during which wool exports almost completely replaced wool exports, and the production of wide wool has become the pillar industry of England. British scholars refer to the Tudor period as the Golden Age of Wide Width.
During the Tudor period, the in-home production method in the southwestern region was fully established. Wiltshire is a typical example of woolen production in the south-west of England, so we use the county as a specimen to analyze the development of the woolen industry in this area. In the 16th century, woolen production in Wiltshire was characterized by the coexistence and competition between domestic production and semi-independent handicraft production. Among them, home production dominates.
In-house production in this period actually belonged to the decentralized form of manual workshop production. The British scholar Ramsey believes that the scattered handicraft workshops in Wiltshire had developed considerably in the 16th century, and he referred to the main class components of the handicraft workshops, the woolen merchants and cottage craftsmen, as the Tudor bourgeoisie and the Tudor proletariat. During the Tudor period, the woolen merchants of Wiltshire were characterized by a diversity of identities. They are not only workshop owners, but also ranchers and farmers.
Pictured| Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England
John Flower, for example, was not only a woolen merchant, but also a rancher with more than 800 sheep. Richard Whitaker, for example, started out as a woolen merchant, later bought 160 acres of ranch, fenced it around, farmed sheep, and became a rancher. Robert Whitaker himself was a woolen merchant and, at the same time, a farmer, who owned a plot of land, grew grain, and raised livestock. Henry, Lang, a wealthy woolen merchant, bequeathed to his wife in 1558 included a plough pulled by 8 cows, 12 cows, 200 sheep and various agricultural tools. Apparently, he was also a wealthy farmer.
The 16th-century woolen merchants also had close ties with Yoman. Some woolen merchants were born in Yoman, and even after they became wealthy woolen merchants, they still considered their identity to be Yoman. This is probably related to the agriculture-based thinking at that time. For example, in 1554 Henry Godney inherited a loom from his father, and opened a grocery store in his home, starting a wool and wool business, obviously a wool merchant, but at the same time he was also engaged in agriculture, growing grain, and starting a mill. In his will, he considered himself a Yoman.
Picture | old-fashioned loom
During the Tudor dynasty, the southwestern region was characterized by a large proportion of large and medium wool merchants, which was much higher than other wool production centers in England. In the 16th century, the largest woolen merchant in Wiltshire was William Stump. It is said that his father was a weaver who later became a woolen merchant. By William Stump's generation, he made a fortune by running the woollen industry. According to historical records, in 1524, William Stump became the richest of the four major families in the region.
After William Temple's fortune, he invested a lot of money in the purchase of real estate. Taking advantage of the decline of the monastery, he bought large tracts of land in the north-west of Wiltshire and the eastern part of Gloucestershire. Soon after, he bought 26 acres of property and 4 mills at Kingswood Abbey. Before his death in 1552, he annexed large estates in the Cotswolds.
William Stump's act of annexation infringed on the interests of the registerholders. The register holders united several times against William Temple. As a result, the King's Court summoned him twice and examined his annexation of land. From the trial situation at that time, we can see that William Stump's method of exploitation was different from the traditional feudal method of exploitation, but adopted a new way of employment exploitation. Thus, we can think of William Stump as a new type of landlord. In fact, he already belonged to the agricultural capitalists.
Picture | Malmesbury Norman Arch and Monastery
While William Stump expanded his estate, he also vigorously developed the woolen manufacturing industry. In 1544, he bought Malmesbury Abbey for £1,500 and converted it into a woolen handicraft workshop, producing 3,000 woolen horses a year. His relationship with the cottage workers was one of employers and employees, cutting the cottage workers off from the market.
William Temple was not only in business but also active in politics, having been a member of parliament for the Malmesbury district and a magistrate in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. Shortly after his death, he was also nominated as sheriff of Wiltshire. William Temple himself was closely related to King Henry VIII, who was favored by the King by hosting a banquet in the Malmesbury area to entertain Henry VIII and his subordinates. Under the king's appreciation, he rose to prominence and became an influential figure in the local area.
What is the reason for William Stump's success? Ramsch believes that there are several reasons: First, he has a large amount of material wealth. Second, his personal temperament. Third, his close relationship with the king. I think the most fundamental reason for William Staple's success should be that he was able to adapt to the times. At that time, England was in the process of transitioning to capitalism, and he adapted to the needs of the development of the times and adopted this new mode of production exploited by hired workers, so that he could quickly become rich. During the Tudor period, not only did many scattered wool textile workshops appear in the southwest, but also a small number of large-scale centralized handicraft workshops, such as John Smallwood's centralized handicraft workshop in the 1620s, with 200 looms, employing 200 male workers, 200 child laborers and 200 female workers.
Pictured| women weaving intently in front of a loom
Wool merchants came from different social classes, some from small lords, some from weavers, and some even from public bookholders. During the Tudor period, workers in scattered artisanal workshops in the southwest of England, under the employment of woolen merchants, divided their work and cooperated to produce woolen wool. These handicraft workers were often housewives, and their production processes were supervised and managed by woolen traders.
After buying a large amount of wool, the wool merchant first washes it and then distributes it to combers and spinners for processing. When they worked, they received piece-rate wages from woolen merchants. This wage is very meager, for example, the daily wage of a spinner is only 3-4 pence. In the second half of the 16th century, England was affected by the price revolution, prices rose sharply, the life of the craftsmen was very difficult, often unable to make ends meet, and some wool spinners were forced by life to withhold some wool. Thus, in the 16th century, woolen merchants in Wiltshire accused wool spinners of embezzlement of wool.
After the woolen merchant confiscated the wool, he distributed it to the weavers and woven it into woolen wool. In the 16th century, the social status of weavers was greatly disparity, and a small number of weavers were more wealthy, they had their own looms, and they also had their own pastures, cattle and sheep and other livestock. Some weavers have even more than one loom, for example, Robert Mashman has 3 looms. These wealthier weavers, after some struggle of their own, soon joined the ranks of woolen merchants.
Pictured| a 19th-century merchant
But most of the weavers were very poor, and they had no looms, so they had to rent the weavers' looms and hire them. In order to effectively exploit weavers, wool merchants had to have a large number of looms in their hands, so by the first half of the 16th century, wool merchants began to take ownership of the looms in their own hands. According to historical records, wealthy woolen merchants during the Tudor dynasty owned dozens of looms, for example, William Stump gave to one of his sons in his will as many as 10 looms, and it is estimated that he had at least dozens of looms.
In the 16th century, the lending relationship in England developed rapidly, and some woolen merchants often borrowed money from people in desperate need of money to obtain high interest rates by using the large amount of money in their hands. During the Tudor dynasty, some squires fell behind because they were not good at managing the land, and had to borrow money from the wool merchants and use the land as collateral. As a result, after the debt is due, it is unable to repay it, and the land is used to pay off the debt, which makes a large amount of land fall into the hands of wool merchants. For example, Thomas Lang used this method to acquire 9 estates. During the Tudor dynasty, woolen merchants used this method to acquire large amounts of land, which caused strong resentment among the squires, so they urged Parliament to pass a bill in 1576 that would limit the number of land owned by wool merchants in Wiltshire, Somerset and Gloucestershire to no more than 20 acres.
Pictured| Somerset Palace
However, it is doubtful that this act has been strictly enforced, since there is no historical record of its implementation. However, the passage of this act shows that in the 1570s, the relationship between the wool merchants and the squire in the counties of the western part of England was quite tense. However, in the long run, the wool merchant and the squire have a side of mutual integration. Because during the Tudor period, both the wool merchants and the squires were actively involved in the commodity economy and were keen to develop capitalism, they had a basis for unity. In fact, this is also the case, in the late Tudor dynasty, the squires continued to bring in rich wool merchants into their ranks, forming a situation in which you have me and I have you.
According to British scholars, in the 16th century, the export of wide tweeds increased by 150% in the middle of the period compared with the early days. According to statistics, in 1565 alone, wool exports accounted for 78% of the region's total exports that year, while wool accounted for only 6.3%. During the Tudor period, the tax revenue obtained by the three southwestern counties from the export of woolen wool accounted for a large proportion of British fiscal revenue at that time. As a result, this region occupies an important place in the British economy.
Stills of the Tudor Dynasty |
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Yorkshire</h1>
Yorkshire is in the north-east of England. According to historical documents, the wool textile industry in Yorkshire has existed since the 12th century. Before 1300, Yorkshire mainly exported wool, mainly to Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and other countries. Most of these wool are produced in local estates or monasteries. The trade in wool was usually carried out between merchants and abbots, who signed long-term contracts for the sale and purchase to ensure the smooth progress of the trade.
The history of Yorkshire's woollen industry is relatively tortuous, first of all, york city became the center of the county's woolen manufacturing industry, and then gradually declined, replaced by the vast rural areas of the southwest of the county. This area is generally referred to as the West Leding Region. In the 15th-16th centuries, the woolen manufacturing industry developed extremely rapidly, becoming one of the important bases for the production of woolen wool in Britain at that time. The weavers of Yorktown first appeared in historical documents in 1164. According to historians, it is likely that textile guilds arose during this period. In the 12th century, Yorktown's woolen production was among the best in the country. According to the local woolen taxes collected by the English Taxation Office in 1164, it can be seen that the city's woolen production accounted for the second largest in England at that time. A list of the velvet taxes collected by the England Tax Office in 1164 is as follows:
In 1164 the TaxAtion Department collected the tax on wool
<col>
region
Tax Amount (Pounds)
London
12
York
10
Lincoln, Winchester, Oxford
6
Huntington, Nottingham
2
As can be seen from the above table, at the beginning of the 12th century, the taxes paid by Yorktown weavers were second only to London, which shows that york city's woolen production occupied a more prominent position in the country at that time. By the second half of the 14th century, the development of Yorktown's woolen industry had reached its peak. According to statistics, the city had a population of about 11,000-13,000 at that time, calculated according to 4 people per household, about 2,500 households, of which about 250 guild masters made a living from the wool industry, and this number did not include small merchants engaged in wool trade. If you add up the people who are engaged in the production and sale of woolen wool, then the wool industry is the largest industry in York City, with the largest number of employees. Woolen production also peaked during this period, with an estimated 3,200 woolens produced in the city in 1394-1395.
From the beginning of the 15th century, woolen production in York city began to decline. According to the tax revenue of woolen in the late 15th century, between 1475 and 1478, an average of 922 woolen woolen horses were produced per year, that is, the production of wool in York City in the second half of the 15th century fell by more than 70% compared with the end of the 14th century. The reasons for the decline of the woolen manufacturing industry in Yorktown can be summarized as follows:
The | buildings in York
First, the bondage of the guild system. The textile guilds in Yorktown imposed strict economic controls on textile craftsmen and constrained their development. It enacted a number of rules and regulations restricting the expansion of production in the wool textile industry, for example, in 1561, the guild decreed that yorkshire weavers who made bedspreads could not own more than one loom. If there is a violation of the guild rules, the guild will be given a heavy penalty, for example, the dye guild stipulates that the dyeer will be fined 40 pence for the first violation of the rules; the second time, the fine will be half a mark; the third time, he will be expelled from the dyeing guild and will never be allowed to engage in dyeing work again. The rules and regulations of the guild severely constrained the development of the wool textile industry in York City, and in the case of commodity economic competition, the wool textile industry in York City suffered repeated setbacks, constantly losing the market, and the wool production shrank sharply.
Second, the intrusion of the Wars of the Roses. The Wars of the Roses, which broke out in 1455-1485, were extremely destructive to Yorktown. The Langaste family, relying on the great nobles of the North-West, waged a long war against the House of York. York City, as an important town in the northwest, could not escape the doom in the war, the soldiers arrived, it was desolate, and many weavers fled the city, which caused the York City wool industry to suffer huge losses. Third, competition in the West Reading region. In the 15th century, the wool textile industry in west-west Lyding in south-west Yorkshire rose rapidly, and the inexpensive wool produced in this area flooded the market, squeezing out the wool produced in Yorktown. York City's woollen industry was helpless in the face of competition in the West Reading area, and it was gradually defeated.
Map of the Kingdom of East Anglia |
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h1>
In stark contrast to the decline of the woollen industry in Yorktown, the rapid rise of the woolen industry in the vast rural area of West Leding, and reached its peak in the 15th and 16th centuries, producing woolen wool that rivaled the other two major woolen production areas at that time, the south-west of England and East Anglia.
Resources:
A History of the European Renaissance