Category: History - British
§ 1. Although the industrial history of England does not properly begin until the settlement made by the Norman Conquest, it is nevertheless impossible to omit some reference to the previous economic condition of the country. As everybody knows, the Romans were the first to in...
§ 1. Although the industrial history of England does not properly begin until the settlement made by the Norman Conquest, it is nevertheless impossible to omit some reference to...
2. CHAPTER II§ 1. THE MARK—We have just said that the population of England as a whole was almost entirely engaged in agriculture; and indeed for some centuries onward this industry was by f...
3. CHAPTER I§ 1. DOMESDAY BOOK—It was very natural that, when William the Norman conquered England, he should wish to ascertain the capabilities of his kingdom both in regard to military de...
4. CHAPTER II§ 1. THE ORIGIN OF TOWNS—As in the case of the manor, which was the Norman name for the Saxon “townships,” the town, in the modern sense of the word, had its origin from the pri...
5. CHAPTER III§ 1. ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEM—We shall find that for some time after the Norman Conquest English industry does not develop very rapidly, and that for obvious reason...
6. CHAPTER I§ 1. INTRODUCTORY. RISE OF A WAGE-EARNING CLASS—The long reign of Henry III., although occasionally troubled by internal dissensions among the barons, was upon the whole a prosp...
7. CHAPTER II§ 1. ENGLAND’S MONOPOLY OF WOOL—In the Middle Ages England was the only wool-producing country in the North of Europe. Spain grew wool also, but it could not be used alone for e...
8. CHAPTER III§ 1. THE CHIEF MANUFACTURING TOWNS—During the period between the Norman Conquest and the middle of the thirteenth century, the towns, as we saw, had been gradually growing in im...
9. CHAPTER IV§ 1. MATERIAL PROGRESS OF THE COUNTRY—In the preceding chapters we have attempted to give an idea of the state of industry and commerce in England in the Middle Ages. We now com...
10. CHAPTER V§ 1. NEW SOCIAL DOCTRINES—By no means the least important among the effects of the Great Plague was the spirit of independence which it helped to raise in the breasts of the vil...
11. CHAPTER I§ 1. HENRY VIII.’S WASTEFULNESS—Henry VIII. came to the throne in 1509. He succeeded to a full treasury left by his thrifty father, and replenished by contributions from the gen...
12. CHAPTER II§ 1. THE EXPANSION OF COMMERCE. THE NEW SPIRIT—Just as the beginning of the sixteenth century marks what may be called an economic revolution in the home industries of the count...
13. CHAPTER III§ 1. PROSPERITY AND PAUPERISM—The reign of Elizabeth is generally regarded as prosperous, and so upon the whole it was. But she had come to the throne with a legacy of pauperism...
14. CHAPTER IV§ 1. RÉSUMÉ OF PROGRESS SINCE THIRTEENTH CENTURY—It will be remembered that great agricultural changes had taken place since Henry III.’s reign. For a century or so after his de...
15. CHAPTER V§ 1. ENGLAND A COMMERCIAL POWER—In glancing over the progress of foreign trade in the time of Elizabeth, we noticed that our war with Spain was due to commercial as well as reli...
16. CHAPTER VI§ 1. CIRCUMSTANCES FAVOURABLE TO ENGLISH MANUFACTURES—I have frequently remarked in previous chapters that Flanders was the great manufactory of Europe throughout the Middle Age...
17. CHAPTER I§ 1. INDUSTRY AND POLITICS. LAND-OWNERS AND MERCHANT PRINCES--We are, of course, mainly concerned in this book with industrial facts; but as these underlie all politics and nati...
18. CHAPTER II§ 1. THE SUDDENNESS OF THE REVOLUTION AND ITS IMPORTANCE--The change from the domestic system of industry which has been briefly sketched in the previous chapter to the modern s...
19. CHAPTER III§ 1. ENGLAND’S INDUSTRIAL ADVANTAGES IN 1763--If we look at the state of the European powers after the conclusion of the Seven Years’ War by the Treaty of Paris in 1763, we shal...
20. CHAPTER IV§ 1. THE RESULTS OF THE INTRODUCTION OF THE FACTORY SYSTEM--The great war of which I have just spoken in the preceding chapter found England at its beginning a nation whose main...
21. CHAPTER V§ 1. DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF THE NEW INDUSTRIAL SYSTEM--We have already seen in various preceding chapters that the condition of the labourers deteriorated from the time of Elizab...
22. CHAPTER VI§ 1. SERVICES RENDERED BY THE GREAT LAND-OWNERS--Although there have been occasions in our industrial history when one is compelled to admit that the deeds of the landed gentry...
23. CHAPTER VII§ 1. THE GROWTH OF OUR INDUSTRY--We have now traced the industrial growth of England from the diffused beginnings of manufactures and agriculture in the isolated manors, and hav...
24. CHAPTER VIII§ 1. INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION--It is impossible in the compass of a brief chapter to deal otherwise than in the barest outline with the industrial developments of the last fourteen...