medieval-atlas/economic-development/241

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Overseas trade: the Middle Ages to the sixteenth century The long slump in Scotland's overseas trade,which began with the Wars of Independence and continued until the last quarter of the sixteenth century, with short-lived upswings in the 1360s and 1370s, 1420s and 1430s, and the late 1530s, is revealed by the receipts for those exported commodities which paid custom to the crown. The steepest and irrecoverable decline lay in what was Scotland's most important export for much of the medieval period -raw wool. The recovery after the 1570s lay in a revival of the 1327-33 1361-70 1371-80 1381-90 1391-1400 1401-11 1412-22 1424-35 1445-49 1450-59 1460-69 1470-79 1480-89 1490-99 1500-9 1510-19 1520-29 1530-39 1540-49 1550-59 1560-69 1570-79 1580-2 1590-99 Wool Woollells (tonnes) (ODD'S) 1425-37 1445-49 ~:: 1450-59 1460-69 26 6 1470-79 12 1480-89 19 1490-99 27 1500-9 20 12 1510-19 1520-29 13 1540-49 24 1550-59 33 1560-69 1570-79 1580-2 1590-99 Salmon Herring Cod (lasts) (lasts) (ODD's) 1530-39 fisheries and the finding of new markets for cloth, sheep and lamb skins, salt and coal. Custom was levied only on three commodities until the 1420s, when James I extended it to a further sixteen. Many of the newly taxed commodities never produced significant customs returns; but the returns on others were spectacular, providing a first indication of what may long have been major exports. Most of the new duties temporarily lapsed after the death of James I. The later maps showing customs on exports from 1327 to 1599 explain the various weights and measures. @ UH~!m~~~ o 2 6 12 21 Hides Cloth Skins (ODD's) (ells,OOO's) (ODD's) lih1)l 23 20 50 Salt Coal (chalders) (chalders) ML,ASt Annual average exports, all Scotland 1327 to 1599 241

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