The History of England

68 13 C Life - Peasants fighting back...and Towns

Being a Peasant was no doubt a pretty hard existance. But they were not without their methods of fighting back, and protecting their rights. This week also we look at the history of towns in the 13th century, as the economy continues to grow.

68 13 C Life - Peasants fighting back...and Towns

 

By the way, I have a page with some basic data from medieval times - so click here if you want to look at population, prices and other economic data.

 Relative size of towns - evidence from taxation

The chart below gives a perspective on the relative volume of trade through each town. Although by this stage London would have been by far the largest town by population, it's clear from this that other towns were much closer in terms of the colume of their trade. Obviously there are a lot of missing west coast ports and inland towns, but the total volume of trade in these ports suggested by these returns was £75,000. It's also quite fun, of course to see how times have changed over the centuries - towns like Boston and Fowey had an importance in trade that these days it would be difficult to see.

67 13th Century Life - the Peasantry

Over the 13th century, economic growth continued. For the Peasantry, this gave some opportunities; more chance to sell their produce and get involved in a wider range of money making ventures. It meant that population growth continued, since cottagers and wage earners were able to make enough to get by on small plots of land; and so the density of landholding grew. During the 13th century all of this is fine - but there could be trouble ahead. 

 

 

67 13th C Peasants

By the way, I have a page with some basic data from medieval times - so click here if you want to look at population, prices and other economic data.