DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22140#0318
INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL HISTORY.
into the eastern counties had a great deal more to do with political
changes than the ordinary historian knows and recognizes. In
the present day Dr. Jessopp, from the point of view of a parochial
■clergyman, finds that he has rather stubborn elements to deal
with in Arcady. To understand the facts, one must go a long
way back into the local history of the race, for it cannot be too
constantly insisted on, in the solution or interpretation of economic
problems, that the present situation must be carried back to the
past, and that unless one does do this, we may wonder at facts,
"but be at a loss to know what they really mean.
In course of time the industries of Eastern England decayed.
Norfolk was very severely visited by the fourteenth-century
plague. Soon afterwards, perhaps owing to trade regulations,
-many of which were Acts of the Legislature, the peculiar indus-
tries of Norfolk began to migrate southwards and westwards, and
the counties lost their dominant industries, though they retained
many of their peculiar characteristics. Considering the time at
which it occurred, and the special character of the Norfolk
peasants, Ket's rebellion is a very significant fact in the sixteenth
century. That Somerset was greatly alarmed when he gave such
lenient terms to the insurgents is plain, I should conclude, to all
who know anything of the subject. Equally suggestive to my
mind is the fact that a short time afterwards the Norfolk heretics
secured the throne to Mary Tudor. She repaid them for their
loyalty, so useful at the crisis and so unexpected, in a character-
istic fashion.
From the Statute Book of Henry VIII.'s reign there is
evidence that the population of the country towns decreased con-
siderably during the reign of Mr. Froude's patriot king ; for there
are several laws enacted, in which an attempt is made to check
depopulation by penalties. The attempt was of course fruitless
and foolish, but it is one which people called statesmen have in
our day attempted to revive or practice. The void was filled up
"by the great immigration of the Flemings to England, as soon as
ever Alva's blood council was in full operation. We are expressly
informed of this immigration. It is possible -that most of the
immigrants went to London. But they certainly spread into other
^districts, for we are informed as exactly, that the say industry of
into the eastern counties had a great deal more to do with political
changes than the ordinary historian knows and recognizes. In
the present day Dr. Jessopp, from the point of view of a parochial
■clergyman, finds that he has rather stubborn elements to deal
with in Arcady. To understand the facts, one must go a long
way back into the local history of the race, for it cannot be too
constantly insisted on, in the solution or interpretation of economic
problems, that the present situation must be carried back to the
past, and that unless one does do this, we may wonder at facts,
"but be at a loss to know what they really mean.
In course of time the industries of Eastern England decayed.
Norfolk was very severely visited by the fourteenth-century
plague. Soon afterwards, perhaps owing to trade regulations,
-many of which were Acts of the Legislature, the peculiar indus-
tries of Norfolk began to migrate southwards and westwards, and
the counties lost their dominant industries, though they retained
many of their peculiar characteristics. Considering the time at
which it occurred, and the special character of the Norfolk
peasants, Ket's rebellion is a very significant fact in the sixteenth
century. That Somerset was greatly alarmed when he gave such
lenient terms to the insurgents is plain, I should conclude, to all
who know anything of the subject. Equally suggestive to my
mind is the fact that a short time afterwards the Norfolk heretics
secured the throne to Mary Tudor. She repaid them for their
loyalty, so useful at the crisis and so unexpected, in a character-
istic fashion.
From the Statute Book of Henry VIII.'s reign there is
evidence that the population of the country towns decreased con-
siderably during the reign of Mr. Froude's patriot king ; for there
are several laws enacted, in which an attempt is made to check
depopulation by penalties. The attempt was of course fruitless
and foolish, but it is one which people called statesmen have in
our day attempted to revive or practice. The void was filled up
"by the great immigration of the Flemings to England, as soon as
ever Alva's blood council was in full operation. We are expressly
informed of this immigration. It is possible -that most of the
immigrants went to London. But they certainly spread into other
^districts, for we are informed as exactly, that the say industry of