A Study On Staple In Medieval England

The England staple is an economic measure formed under the Medieval special socialbackground. It plays an important role in the wool foreign trade development, and it is alsothe product of the conflict, struggle and compromise between royal, export merchants andwool producers. Exploring the phenomenon, is not only helpful to understand England’s woolforeign trade, but might also help us to know the English politics and the economicdevelopment characteristics of that time.The thesis consists of three parts—the preface, the text and the conclusion.The preface mainly introduces the Current Situation of staple research of domestic andforeign academic circles, the study ideas, comb and definition the concept of staple.The text first discusses the England background of staple from two aspects: woolproduction situation and wool trade way; secondly, it narrates the staple’s complete course ofgermination, development, maturity and decline. In the staple’s sprout period, independentmerchants spontaneously formed staple for wool profit and the England royal cooperated withthe merchants because of the demand for military expenditure. From the establishment of theforeign staple to its replacement by the home staple, and its suspension to restoration,thedevelopment of the staple was very tortuous. The founding of the Company of the staple ofCalais with the official nature marked the maturity of the staple. Afterwards, the staple wasnot fit for the development of the wool foreign trade any longer, so it declined;Moreover, thepaper detailedly analyses the interests of various groups in the process of the staple, andprobes into the profound influence of the staple in the medieval England.In the end, it is concluded that the staple on wool foreign trade monopoly, promotes theeconomic development of the England wool in the early period. However, the long-termmonopoly is against the objective law of market economy, so finally it must withdraw fromthe stage of history.