Medieval Market Morality: Life, Law and Ethics in the English Marketplace, 1200-1500

Medieval Market Morality......Page 2
Title......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Figures and tables......Page 9
Acknowledgements......Page 12
Abbreviations......Page 14
Extracts from contemporary texts......Page 18
Introduction......Page 20
Market trade and traders......Page 22
The commercialisation of English society......Page 28
The transition from feudalism to capitalism......Page 38
Morality in the pre-industrial marketplace......Page 41
Summary......Page 50
1 Images of market trade......Page 53
History and literature......Page 54
Sources of morality......Page 59
Medieval social theory......Page 65
Avarice and trade......Page 68
Price and profit......Page 74
Usury......Page 84
Bargaining and oaths......Page 87
False words and false wares......Page 92
False weights and measures......Page 96
Customers and 'lyther bargaining’......Page 98
The merchant......Page 102
Market traders, hawkers and victuallers......Page 115
Middlemen and hoarding......Page 136
Livelihood and credit......Page 139
Repentance and punishment......Page 141
Conclusion......Page 153
2 Regulation of the market......Page 156
National legislation......Page 160
Seigneurial markets......Page 163
Chartered boroughs......Page 171
Lot and scot......Page 174
Strangers and foreigners......Page 178
Borough government......Page 182
Craft guilds......Page 188
Conclusion......Page 194
PART II: THE PUBLIC MARKETPLACE......Page 195
Regulating the public marketplace......Page 198
Sunday trading......Page 203
Order and sanitation......Page 205
Weights and measures......Page 208
Coinage......Page 215
Bargaining and sale......Page 217
Consumer protection......Page 221
Credit, debt and trust......Page 224
Merchant Law......Page 226
Femme sole......Page 230
Usury......Page 232
Quality and fraud......Page 234
Price and profit......Page 241
The assizes of bread, ale and wine......Page 250
Bread......Page 252
Ale......Page 260
Wine......Page 267
Administering the assizes......Page 270
Middlemen......Page 272
Punishment......Page 282
Conclusion......Page 289
3 The behaviour of market traders......Page 293
The markets of Suffolk......Page 294
PART I: THE SMALL TOWN MARKETS OF NEWMARKET AND CLARE......Page 297
Newmarket and its marketing hinterland......Page 298
Clare and its marketing hinterland......Page 303
Sources, courts and officials......Page 308
The assizes of bread and ale......Page 316
Regrating and forestalling......Page 342
Weights and measures......Page 350
Innkeepers and cooks......Page 354
Quality and the consumer......Page 360
Credit and debt......Page 367
Administering the marketplace......Page 387
Enterprise and efficiency......Page 390
Piety and morality......Page 396
Conclusion......Page 399
PART II: THE BOROUGH MARKET OF IPSWICH......Page 401
The government and courts of Ipswich......Page 405
The assizes of bread and ale......Page 410
Regraters......Page 414
Innkeepers......Page 416
Butchers, cooks and fishmongers......Page 421
Forestallers......Page 424
The market environment......Page 426
Conclusion......Page 427
4 An evolving market morality?......Page 429
Profit and the commonweal in the early modern economy......Page 432
Early modern retailers......Page 438
Middlemen and dearth......Page 452
Thompson's moral economy......Page 459
Conclusion......Page 466
Conclusion......Page 469
Bibliography......Page 478
Index......Page 525