Merchant Guilds, Taxation and Social Capital

We develop a theory of the emergence of merchant guilds as an efficient mechanism to foster cooperation between merchants and rulers, building on the complementarity between merchant guilds’ ability to enforce monopoly over trade and their social capital. Unlike existing models, we focus on local merchant guilds, rather than alien guilds, accounting for the main observed features of their behavior, internal organization and relationship with rulers. Our model delivers novel predictions about the emergence, variation, functioning, and eventual decline of this highly successful historical form of network. Our theory reconciles previous explanations and the large body of historical evidence on medieval merchant guilds. In doing so, we also shed novel light on the role of the guilds’ social capital, and its importance for taxation, welfare, and the development of towns and their government in medieval Europe

Property rents in medieval English towns: Hull in the fourteenth century

This paper examines whether property rents varied within the medieval town of Hull. Scholars have been deterred from analysing medieval urban rents because of a belief that they were ‘fossilised’ from an early stage in town development, and therefore did not reflect economic forces that guided the later development of towns. Hull rents reported in the 1347 rental had been set only recently, however. Statistical analysis of these rents reveals the economic topography of the town and leads to a reconsideration of its economic development

“To dispose of wealth in works of charity”: entrepreneurship and philanthropy in Medieval England

While entrepreneurs are increasingly recognized as important participants in the medieval economy, their philanthropic activities have received less attention compared to those of the gentry and nobility. This article shows the contribution that the study of medieval entrepreneurs can make to broader business history debates surrounding the identity of philanthropists and their beneficiaries, the types of causes they supported, and their impact on wider society. Philanthropic entrepreneurs used the profits of commerce to provide infrastructure, healthcare, and education to their local communities. Their patterns of philanthropy differed from those of gentry, lawyers, and administrators. Support for municipal infrastructure emerges as a distinctive feature of entrepreneurial philanthropy, reflecting a belief in the importance of trade networks and civic reputation

Law, legislation and consent in the Plantagenet Empire: Wales and Ireland, 1272-1461

In recent years, scholars have begun to look afresh at the dynamics of English “imperial” power in the late medieval period, but the extent to which the English dominions were subject to English law and legislation – and why and how these influences varied between the regions, and over an extended period of time – has been considered less systematically, and rarely comparatively. With its focus on Wales and Ireland this discussion explores the synergies and the strains which shaped attitudes towards the authority of the late medieval English crown and which, ultimately, determined the extent of England’s influence beyond its borders. It shows that these attitudes were often fundamentally conflicted and contradictory. It highlights the difficulties of the English crown in seeking to balance the elitist agenda of its English subjects, on the one hand, with its desire to bring the Welsh and Irish more squarely within the orbit of the English state system, on the other hand. It also highlights the often inconsistent attitudes within the dominions themselves, which veered between welcoming or resisting the interference of the English crown. The discussion emphasizes how interaction between the English crown and the people of its dominions was shaped above all by dialogue and negotiation

Creating and curating an archive: Bury St Edmunds and its Anglo-Saxon past

This contribution explores the mechanisms by which the Benedictine foundation of Bury St Edmunds sought to legitimise and preserve their spurious pre-Conquest privileges and holdings throughout the Middle Ages. The archive is extraordinary in terms of the large number of surviving registers and cartularies which contain copies of Anglo-Saxon charters, many of which are wholly or partly in Old English. The essay charts the changing use to which these ancient documents were put in response to threats to the foundation's continued enjoyment of its liberties. The focus throughout the essay is to demonstrate how pragmatic considerations at every stage affects the development of the archive and the ways in which these linguistically challenging texts were presented, re-presented, and represented during the Abbey’s history

Goodman (Anthony) and Mac Kay (Angus), eds. The Impact of Humanism on Western Europe

Fryde Edmund. Goodman (Anthony) and Mac Kay (Angus), eds. The Impact of Humanism on Western Europe. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 72, fasc. 4, 1994. Histoire medievale, moderne et contemporaine - Middeleeuwse, moderne en hedendaagse geschiedenis. pp. 993-994

Nicholson (Ranald). Edward III and the Scots. The formative years of a military career, 1327-1335

Fryde E. B. Nicholson (Ranald). Edward III and the Scots. The formative years of a military career, 1327-1335. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 44, fasc. 1, 1966. Histoire (depuis la fin de l'Antiquité) - Geschiedenis (sedert de Oudheid) pp. 139-140

Madicott (J. R.), Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-22. A Study in the Reign of Edward II

Fryde Natalie. Madicott (J. R.), Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-22. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 53, fasc. 2, 1975. Histoire (depuis l'Antiquité) — Geschiedenis (sedert de Oudheid) pp. 572-575