medieval-atlas/economic-development/240

Transcription

Overseas trade: the Middle Ages to the sixteenth century Oslo Stockholm (545) • (990) Inset Middelburg & "-~/'-"----Veere (415) Bergen l' _ opZoom 1j Sluys -Antwerp ~ (385) Milan. Bordeaux Genoa -:ll (1050) fC\ :roulouse~ \ Distance of main European ports from Leith, in miles ASt Walcheren BRABANT 0 I 0 10, kms 20 I I 10 miles ~O 20 ASt o Land @ Sandbanks .. and Trdal Flats --. Boundary of provinces Meuse -Scheldt estuary The basic pattern of overseas exports can be gauged from the average receipts which accrued to the Crown from customs. There were, however, various changes in rates of duty which partly mask some of the real underlying patterns: between 1357 and 1368 rates on wool, hides and fells were quadrupled, so that on the exports in the 1360s was in real terms 30 per cent lower than in the period 1327-33. There were, however, minor surges in the 1370s and 1420s and again in the last years of the reign of lames V (1513-42), although it was not until the last quarter of the sixteenth century that real recovery from the prolonged slump which had lasted since the 1290s took place. The number of taxable commodities increased from three (wool, woolfells and hides) to ten in 1424, although regular returns from some of the new commodities were not made until later. Various increases were also subsequently made in the rates on some commodities, such as salmon and coal. All rates were substantially raised in 1597 as the Crown's response to the new boom in overseas trade. ML Overseas trade: annual average customs receipts 240