Great Slump (15th century) - Misplaced Pages

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The Great Slump was an economic depression that occurred in England from the 1430s to the 1480s.

History

The Great Slump occurred in England between approximately 1440 and 1480. The economic decline began in the 1430s in Northern England, spreading south in the 1440s, with the economy not recovering until the 1480s. The Great Slump took place against a wider trading crisis in Northern Europe, driven by shortages of silver, essential for the money supply, and a breakdown in trade. Some accounts refer to the event as a "credit crunch".

Some scholars blamed the slump on the effects of the Hundred Years' War and the economic blockades suffered by England due to its predations in France and its wars with Spain and the Hanseatic League. It was also said to be driven by harvest failures in the 1430s and disease amongst livestock, that drove up the price of food and damaged the wider economy. Starting in 1368 China's Ming Dynasty reversion to silver currency from the fiat currency of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty created substantial demand for the metal for the entirety of their reign.

The Great Slump was far-reaching in England. Certain groups were particularly badly affected: cloth exports fell by 35 per cent in four years at the end of the 1440s, for example, collapsing by up to 90 per cent in some parts of the south-west. Prices of remaining trade goods fell dramatically as well. Popular rebellions ensued in 1450 under Jack Cade, and the events contributed to the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses in the 1460s. English merchants tried to survive through the formation of merchant networks, which enabled them to organize into large conglomerates. This allowed access to bullion and well-guarded credit.

References

Hicks, p.40.
^ Hicks, p.50.
^ Goddard, Richard (2016). Credit and Trade in Later Medieval England, 1353–1532. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-137-48985-2.
Martin, Michael (2017). City of the Sun: Development and Popular Resistance in the Pre-Modern West. New York: Algora Publishing. p. 347. ISBN 978-1-62894-279-8.
Hatcher, p.246.
"China's Silver Bullet". 23 May 2006.
Hicks, p.51.
Hatcher, p.243.
Hicks, pp.52–54.
^ Hartrich, Eliza (2019). Politics and the Urban Sector in Fifteenth-Century England, 1413-1471. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-19-884442-6.

Bibliography

Craig, John (1953). The Mint: A History of the London Mint from A.D. 287 to 1948. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 85–96. ASIN B0000CIHG7.
Davies, Glyn (1997) . A History of Money: From Ancient Times to the Present Day (Reprint ed.). Cardiff: University of Wales Press. pp. 168–174. ISBN 978-0708313510.
Hatcher, John (2002). "The Great Slump of the Mid-Fifteenth Century". In Britnell, Richard; Hatcher, John (eds.). Progress and Problems in Medieval England: Essays in Honour of Edward Miller. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-52273-1.
Hicks, Michael (2012). The Wars of the Roses. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-18157-9.

v t e Economic expansions and recessions in the United States and Commonwealth of Nations countries
Aggregate demand/Supply Effective demand General glut Model Overproduction Paradox of thrift Price-and-wage stickiness Underconsumption Business cycle Deflation/Inflation Chronic Classical dichotomy Disinflation Money supply/demand Neutrality of money Price level Real and nominal values Velocity of money Economic expansion Recovery Stagnation U.S. expansions Interest rate Nominal interest rate Real interest rate Yield curve/Inverted Recession Balance sheet Depression Global Rolling Shapes Stagflation U.K. recessions U.S. recessions Shock Demand Supply Unemployment Sahm rule
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Interwar period (1918–1939)	Post–World War I recession (1918–1919) Depression of 1920–1921 Roaring Twenties 1923–1924 1926–1927 Great Depression 1929–1939; Australia Canada India New Zealand South Africa United Kingdom United States Recession of 1937–1938
Post–WWII expansion (1945–1973)	1945 Recession of 1949 (1948–1949) Recession of 1953 (1953–1954) Recession of 1958 (1957–1958) Recession of 1960–1961 Recession of 1969–1970
Great Inflation (1973–1982)	1973–1975 recession United Kingdom United States Early 1980s recession 1980–1982; Canada United Kingdom United States
Great Moderation/ Great Regression (1982–2007)	1990s United States boom Early 1990s recession 1990–1991; Australia Canada United Kingdom United States 1997 Asian financial crisis Early 2000s recession (2001)
Information Age (2007–present)	Great Recession 2007–2009; Australia Bangladesh Canada India Malaysia New Zealand Pakistan South Africa Sri Lanka United Kingdom United States COVID-19 recession 2020–2022; Australia Bangladesh Belize Botswana Canada India Malaysia Namibia New Zealand Singapore United Kingdom United States Zambia

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