The State of:
Commercial Development in Stuart England
There is no doubt that during the reign of the Stuarts, England experienced a period of massive and unprecedented growth. What is disputable however, is just how significant this commercial growth was to life in Stuart England.
Land and the various issues associated with its ownership were significant destabilising factors in the years leading up to the civil war in England. The process of land commercialisation in those times was quite different from how we know it today and was not always solely reliant on farming. Many of the landowners of these farms were copyholders whith relatively few means to secure their rights to the ownership of such properties and they often were wary of the possibility that minerals would be discovered on their properties.
Many historians and analysts of that time period contend that the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution, which occurred many years later, can actually be traced back to the years between 1540 and 1640. Indeed, some of these historians were convinced that the scientific progress made in this time period was even more important or at least equally important as the developments which occurred in the later Industrial Revolution. The coal industry in particular experienced a massive growth spurt between 1558 and 1688, with the coal production in England, Scotland and Wales increasing an impressive fourteen times its original rate. The City of London's demand for coal grew by thirty times and shipments from its main coal supplier, Newcastle grew by nineteen times. This unprecedented growth of coal production, particularly in the north eastern part of England, was so impressive that many economic analysts consider it the first important large-scale production industry in the western hemisphere. By 1650, England had begun to supply much of the coal needs of the entire European continent, as much as 80% in fact and the Newcastle area became known as the "Black Indies" or the "Black Peru" because of the immense value of its coal resources. The coal production industry also gave rise to a host of other products such as gunpowder, salt, glass, and various metal products.
As impressive as the growth of the coal industry would seem, it actually had very modest beginnings so any incremental growth would seem to be a lot more significant than it actually was. This fact was the source of much of the dispute surrounding the importance of commercial development to life during Stuart England. In addition, many of the features that comprised the later Industrial Revolution such as mass migration and rapid urban development were as yet not present in Stuart England. In fact, the textile industry at that time operated on a far larger scale than the coal industry and most of the country still relied heavily on the agricultural industry.
In spite of these factors, coal still remained an important product in Stuart England and carried with it many political and economic considerations. It was the various factors associated with the high demand for the mineral that actually led to the reformation of the Parliament and ending the so-called "Eleven Years Tyranny" of Charles II.
Original Authors: Doods Pangburn
Edit Update Authors: RPN
Updated On: 26/02/2007
