James L. Bolton, FRHistS, published as J. L. Bolton but otherwise commonly known as Jim Bolton, [1] is an English medieval economic historian. Between 1965 and 1994, he taught at Queen Mary College (now Queen Mary University of London), where he remains a Professorial Research Fellow.
Bolton arrived at Queen Mary in 1965 and remained on the staff until taking early retirement in 1994. As of 2018, he remains a Professorial Research Fellow there. [1] [2] He holds a BLitt degree from the University of Oxford, awarded in 1971 for his "Alien merchants in England in the reign of Henry VI, 1422–61", supervised by G. A. Holmes. [3]
Bolton researches medieval economic history, with a focus on merchants and money in England (especially relating to London and its international links) and foreigners living in England during the late medieval period. According to Christopher Dyer, a professor at the University of Leicester, Bolton is a "much respected and well liked figure in London academic circles". [2]
Bolton is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, [4] and was the dedicatee of a festschrift edited by Matthew Davies and Martin Allen: Medieval Merchants and Money: Essays in Honour of James L. Bolton (Institute of Historical Research, 2016). [2]
John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford KG was a medieval English prince, general, and statesman who commanded England's armies in France during a critical phase of the Hundred Years' War. Bedford was the third son of King Henry IV of England, brother to Henry V, and acted as regent of France for his nephew Henry VI. Despite his military and administrative talent, the situation in France had severely deteriorated by the time of his death.
Carenza Rachel Lewis is a British academic archaeologist and television presenter.
William Cunningham was a Scottish economic historian and Anglican priest. He was a proponent of the historical method in economics and an opponent of free trade.
Michael A. Hicks is an English historian, specialising in the history of late medieval England, in particular the Wars of the Roses, the nature of late medieval society, and the kings and nobility of the period.
Christopher Charles Dyer is Leverhulme Emeritus Professor of Regional and Local History and director of the Centre for English Local History at the University of Leicester, England.
The history of England during the Late Middle Ages covers from the thirteenth century, the end of the Angevins, and the accession of Henry II – considered by many to mark the start of the Plantagenet dynasty – until the accession to the throne of the Tudor dynasty in 1485, which is often taken as the most convenient marker for the end of the Middle Ages and the start of the English Renaissance and early modern Britain.
The Clerks of the Signet were English officials who played an intermediate role in the passage of letters patent through the seals. For most of the history of the position, four clerks were in office simultaneously.
Irene Joan Thirsk, was a British economic and social historian, specialising in the history of agriculture. She was the leading British early modern agrarian historian of her era, as well as an important social and economic historian. Her work highlighted the regional differences in agricultural practices in England. She also had an interest in food history and local English history, in particular of Hadlow, Kent.
The economy of England in the Middle Ages, from the Norman invasion in 1066, to the death of Henry VII in 1509, was fundamentally agricultural, though even before the invasion the local market economy was important to producers. Norman institutions, including serfdom, were superimposed on an existing system of open fields and mature, well-established towns involved in international trade. Over the five centuries of the Middle Ages, the English economy would at first grow and then suffer an acute crisis, resulting in significant political and economic change. Despite economic dislocation in urban and extraction economies, including shifts in the holders of wealth and the location of these economies, the economic output of towns and mines developed and intensified over the period. By the end of the period, England had a weak government, by later standards, overseeing an economy dominated by rented farms controlled by gentry, and a thriving community of indigenous English merchants and corporations.
The economics of English towns and trade in the Middle Ages is the economic history of English towns and trade from the Norman invasion in 1066, to the death of Henry VII in 1509. Although England's economy was fundamentally agricultural throughout the period, even before the invasion the market economy was important to producers. Norman institutions, including serfdom, were superimposed on a mature network of well-established towns involved in international trade. Over the next five centuries the English economy would at first grow and then suffer an acute crisis, resulting in significant political and economic change. Despite economic dislocation in urban areas, including shifts in the holders of wealth and the location of these economies, the economic output of towns developed and intensified over the period. By the end of the period, England would have a weak early modern government overseeing an economy involving a thriving community of indigenous English merchants and corporations.
Thomas de la More was a fifteenth-century sheriff of Cumberland. Little is known of his early years, but he was a royal official in Cumberland and Westmorland for all his adult life, serving as member of parliament, escheator and justice of the peace on multiple occasions. Although never wealthy, de la More was a man of social and political significance in the area and regularly acted on behalf of his fellow gentry. He entered the circle of Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury at some point in the 1440s. He was frequently appointed sheriff of Cumberland. Because of this, and his close connection to the Percy family's rivals, the Nevilles, he eventually became involved in the struggle for local supremacy in the 1450s that broke out between the two families. Between 1453 and 1454, his men were beaten and threatened by Thomas Percy, Lord Egremont. In 1455, de la More petitioned the King, accusing Egremont of rampaging through Cumberland, assaulting de la More and threatening his life. He claimed this prevented him, as sheriff, from collecting money for the Treasury, although the damage to the land from Scottish incursions was more to blame. De la More played no active part in the Wars of the Roses, which broke out the same year.
The Great Slump was an economic depression that occurred in England from the 1430s to the 1480s.
Mary Christine Carpenter is an English historian who was professor of medieval English history at the University of Cambridge.
Peter Spufford, was a British historian and academic, specialising in the economics of Medieval Europe. He was Professor Emeritus of European History at the University of Cambridge.
The Great Bullion Famine was a shortage of precious metals that struck Europe in the 15th century, with the worst years of the famine lasting from 1457 to 1464. During the Middle Ages, gold and silver coins saw widespread use as currency in Europe, and facilitated trade with the Middle East and Asia; the shortage of these metals therefore became a problem for European economies. The main cause for the bullion famine was outflow of silver to the East unequaled by European mining output, although 15th century contemporaries believed the bullion famine to be caused by hoarding.
Bruce Mortimer Stanley Campbell, FBA, MRIA, MAE, FRHistS, FAcSS is a British economic historian. From 1995 to 2014, he was Professor of Medieval Economic History at Queen's University Belfast, where he remains an emeritus professor.
Matthew P. Davies is a British academic administrator and urban historian, specialising in late medieval and early modern cities. Since 2016, he has been Executive Dean of the School of Social Sciences, History and Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London where he is also a professor of urban history; between 2002 and 2016, he was Director of the Institute of Historical Research's Centre for Metropolitan History.
Eleanora Mary Carus-Wilson, FBA was a Canadian-British economic historian. Known for her work on rural Medieval textile industries in England, she made significant contributions to the understanding of that technology in the region.
Martin Allen, FSA, is a British numismatist and historian, specialising in medieval English coinage. Allen is the Senior Assistant Keeper of Numismatics at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Sylvia Lettice Thrupp was an English-born, Canadian-American medievalist, comparative historian and social scientist. She is sometimes described as a "foremother of medievalists."