History ETDs

Publication Date

1-4-1974

Abstract

The trade of the Renaissance era in the Mediterranean is a subject with its own inherent interest and fascination. But as rich and impressive us the spice trade among the Italian city-states became, it did not provide the economic system of modern Europe. Leadership in this respect came from the much less renowned English merchants of the Staple and similar enterprises that developed within the rising national states of Northern Europe in this period. Merchants of the Staple based their prosperity upon a high bulk, short haul product, wool. This fact deeply affected the nature and methods of English commerce. For example, Edward IV and his successors for centuries to come found the wool trade a central consideration in their political calculations. Prominent among the English wool merchants in the latter fifteenth century was the Cely family. The Celys and other merchants of the wool Staple did not use the sophisticated techniques of double-entry bookkeeping, Arabic numerals or naturalized business procedures associated with fifteenth century Italian merchants. Yet these London Staplers did establish the framework within which the Italian business techniques could eventually be utilized effectively. The Celys as Associates of the Staple involved themselves in partnership which formed the rudiments of private vertical monopolies as well as the horizontal monopoly represented by the Company of the Staple at Calais. Although the Celys maintained a home near the Tower of London on the Thames, they journeyed regularly to the Cotswolds on buying missions, conveyed the purchased wool to the king's weighing station in London and then sold it in Calais. They were not gentlemen seeking to evade work, but merchants buying and selling on credit, keeping accurate records of all accounts, paying the king's customs and hoping to realize a yearly profit twice that of a London shop merchant. In short, the Celys and their fellow Staplers reflect a special socio-economic category in fifteenth century England. Not only were they associated with the Company that offered the kind of yearly subsidy independent of Parliament, but the Celys found it within their means to purchase an estate next to that of Sir John Weston, the ex-officio premier baron of England. Such a standard of living put them on a par with the knight and considerably beyond that of a squire. They were in short well-to-do Staplers with an income similar to that of certain fifteenth century barons. This clearly illustrates the erosion of medieval social lines insofar as the Celys did not need a title of nobility to be accepted. Further, the Cely life style reflects a new socio-economic phase in England. Wool, then, was setting the stage for large scale English commerce. Any disruption of this trade with the Low Countries might directly hamper the basic revenue of the King of England. As a governing agent of such systems the king and even Parliament might predict future annual revenues with greater accuracy. The Staple itself represents a certain maturity of self-control and sound business practice that would one day contribute to Europe's global mercantile ventures. The Celys are an important part of this greater economic framework, because them exemplify what vitality it took to create and maintain such a mercantile force. From the Cotswolds in England to the wool markets in central Europe, the Cely enterprises played a dynamic part in the operation of the Staple in the latter fifteenth century.

Level of Degree

Masters

Degree Name

History

Department Name

History

First Committee Member (Chair)

Donald D. Sullivan

Second Committee Member

Jake W. Spidle

Third Committee Member

Janet Roebuck

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

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