War, Wine and Wool

Topics

• Edward II to Edward III: Review• Wine, Vintners and Chaucer Origins• Hundred Years War• Financing the War: Wool and the Merchant• Medieval Warfare

Edward II, Strike 1: Gaveston

• Gascon• Appointment to a position with control of

patronage and hence an object of resentment• Ordinances formalize role and meeting of

parliament; banish Gaveston• His return is marked by a trial and execution

Edward II, Strike 2: Scotland

1314 Defeat at Bannockburn

Edward II, Strike 3: The DespensersIsabella and Mortimer

• Power given to the Despenser family– Corruption– Rebellion joined by Mortimers

• Queen Isabella and her lover, Mortimer– Invasion– Execution of Despenser

(Froissart)

Out

• Abdication of Edward II in favor of his young son, Edward III

• Murder of Edward II at Berkeley Castle

Wheel of FortuneHolkham Bible1320-1330

I ruleI have ruled I am without a kingdomI shall rule

Vintners

Taverners unto them told the same tale: `White wine of Alsace and (red) wine of Gascony, Wine of the Rhine, of Rochelle to help settle your roast!'

Langland: Vision of Piers Plowman, prologue

Wine - Vintnerstun = 256 gallons

Wines

• Sweet wine – Spain• Caprike – Cyprus or Capri• Fortified - Portugal• White – Chablis• Bitter (vinegar)• Bordelaise and Haut Pays

Wine Producers

• Gascony switches to grapes and wine production

• Importer of grain from/through England

WineGascon Wine Production

13th CBordelaise and Haut-Pays

Wine Trade

• Gascon Charter (1302) – Safe conduct– Free trade in exchange for a fixed duty

• Carta Mercatoria (1303) – Extended to all merchants– Revoked by Edward II

• Increasing importance of English importers

Wine Consumers

• Royal and noble households– Imported through royal butler– Best wine reserved for royal table– More than a million bottles for the wedding of

Edward II– Wine as gifts and for troops

• Lesser households– Problems of adulteration and substitution

• Taverns• Maximum prices set

Chaucer Family

Vintner’s Company

• People of the same trade– Live in the same area– Attend the same church– Organize into livery

companies

• 1363 Charter gives it a monopoly on the wine trade with Gascony– Retained in City until 2006– Right of Swan Upping

Vintner’s CompanyFeast of Five Kings

Prominent Vintners - Mayors

• Henry de Waleys 1273–4, 1281–4, and 1298–9• Sir Richer Refham (son of vintner) 1310-11• John de Gisors 1311-13, 1314-15• Henry Picard 1357 (Feast of Five Kings)

• Richard Lyons (corrupt) financier, warden of the mint

London 1300

Vintry Ward

Edward III and the Hundred Years War

Dr. Jennifer Paxton

Hundred Years War

• Honor of control of Gascony• Economics of control of Gascony• French support of Scotland• English refuge for a rebel against French• Availability of French navy after cancellation of

Crusade – attacks on Channel ports

Dynastic Succession -France

John5 days

Louis X(1314-1316)

Philip V(1317-1322)

Charles IV(1322-1328)

Edward III

Isabellam . Edward II

Philip IV(1285-1314)

Philip V I(1328-1350)

Charles de Valois

Philip III(1270-1285)

Costs of War - Manpower

• Combatants 32,000 (Crécy, Calais)• Support > 10,000• Transport ~20,000• Producers of war materials from armor to

uniforms• Occupation

100 Years Warto 1360

Battles of the Hundred Years War

Wool

Hundred Years War – WoolLate 20th-21st Centuries – Oil

Wheat to Wool

11.3 M acres 12.8 M acresArable

Trade

England

FlandersGascony

Wool

Cloth

Wine

‘carrying wool to England’poet of Artois

The Merchant on pilgrimage

There was a MERCHANT with forked beardIn motley gown, and high on horse he sat,Upon his head a Flemish beaver hat;

275 His boots were fastened neatly and elegantly.He spoke out his opinions very solemnly,Stressing the times when he had won, not lost.He wanted the sea were guarded at any costBetween Middleburgh and the town of Orwel.

280 He knew how to deal foreign currencies, buy and sell.

This worthy man kept all his wits well set;There was no person that knew he was in debt,So well he managed all his trade affairsWith bargains and with borrowings and with

shares

Wool Staple

• Designation of specific ports to receive exports

• Edward I Designates favored ports• 1313 Edward II requires shipment to specified

ports in Artois, Brabant and Flanders– Repealed 1328; revived 1333 and then repealed

• 1338 Made permanent

Wool sales

Often advance contracts, particularly between monasteries and Italian banker/traders• Discounts – avoid usury• Advantages

– Up front payment for capital costs– Assurance of supply

• Risks– Disease, deliberate default, crown seizures, taxes,

bankruptcy

Standards: Weights and Measures

Required by the Magna CartaBy 1305 Gallon and bushel defined in terms of a pound (gallon of wine to weigh 8 pounds)1305 Standard definition of yardImperial pound (Avoirdupois)

– 1340 Standards in every County– 1352 Sack of wool = 26 stones; stone = 14 lbs– 1357 Standards to every sheriff

56 lbs Standard Weights 91 lbs (quarter sack)

190 mm

Taxation of Wool

• 1275 First nationwide customs duty on wool exports

• 1303 Customs applied to all exports by aliens• Custom duty of half a mark• Add subsidy of 40s• 1347 Taxation on exported cloth

Wool and Cloth Exports

Flanders and Wool

English wool - mainstay of industry in Flanders, Brabant and ArtoisCount of Flanders, Louis of Nevers, pro-French policies lead to English embargo in August 1336Economic disaster in Flanders; Insurrection leads to ouster1347 Killed at Crécy

Wool importers

1337 Jacob van Artevelde, Ghent Insurrection in Flanders

Establishes federation with Bruges and Ieper (Ypres)

Wool embargo lifted Claims of Edward to France

recognized 1345 Assassinated by mob after

excommunication and suspicion of corruption and making Black Prince Count

Protecting the wool fleet Fighting the French Navy

Naval battle between two cogs (1330 psalter)

Financing the Government - 1331

Feudal levies (Crown estates, sheriffs) £21,000Incidents of Government (fines) 14,700Taxes (Customs, Church lands) 25,800Credit 11,100Borrowed 15%

Financing the Government - 1337

Feudal levies (Crown estates, sheriffs) £10,600Incidents of Government (loans against future revenues, fines) 32,200Taxes (Parliamentary grants of wool,Customs, Church lands) 117,600Credit 98,480Borrowed 38%

1337 Wool Scheme

• Use ‘purveyance’ to purchase wool in England at £6

• Sell in Holland for £14• Wool seized and sold at Dordrecht, Holland• Failure to obtain supplies

Next Week: ChivalryThe Knight and 14th Century Warfare