A fresh look at how money, work, and social life interacted in fifteenth-century England. This study explains how economic changes helped shape towns, crafts, and daily life. It traces how a growing wage-earning class emerged from shifts in work, law, and guild power, influencing everywhere from Coventry to London.
Drawing on Chancery records, guild histories, and contemporary accounts, the book analyzes the pressures that created new labor relations and altered traditional structures. It presents a grounded picture of work, apprenticeships, and the changing balance between masters and journeymen in medieval commerce.
- How guilds evolved from mutual support to power centers that controlled craft and wages
- How journeymen and apprentices navigated limits on entry and closing of markets
- The role of laws and city governance in shaping labor and economic life
- Connections between economic conditions and social change in towns like Coventry and Exeter
Ideal for readers of economic history, social history, and those interested in how medieval work helped shape modern England.