A Study On The Economic Policies Of Edward Ⅲ In England

Edward Ⅲ was an important English king in the later middle ages.There were dramatic changes in English politics,military and economy during the half century in his reign.The king and parliament had established a.series of economic policies.The implementation of these economic policies had promoted the rising of native merchants force and the renaissance of cloth manufacture.They were two urgent pioneers of English economic growth,the development direction of English economy had changed as well.The article mainly researches on Edward Ⅲ’s economic policies from three aspects.The first chapter mainly discusses the whole background when Edward III reigned England kingdom.The king maintained domestic politic stabilization and obtained funds support for wars by establishing an intimate and faithful relationship with nobility and merchants.The close commercial communication among England,Flanders and Gascony became the economic root of the wars.The king’s war policy and diplomacy policy provided a chance for parliament who would control taxation and strengthen political power.The second chapter mainly seek a point penetration on economic statutes which had enacted in the reign of Edward Ⅲ to focus on the his economic policies.They are divided into five categories:1.The domestic commercial policies;2.The merchants policies;3.The wool and cloth policies;4.The currency policies;5.The laborers policies.The third chapter mainly analyzes the influence to English economic development of the period and long-term development by King’s economic policies.This chapter emphases wool and cloth policies.The king combined with English native merchants,and they monopolized wool export trade which struck foreign merchants in England kingdom.English merchants’ economic and politic strength had largely enhanced.English started to control the finance,wool export trade and custom of their country by themselves.Planting cloth industry had promoted English cloth production and export volume soar.It is in Edward Ⅲ’s time that the high custom of wool export and low custom of cloth export was formulated.The wool export volume had declined and cloth export volume had rose in his later reign.These policies had been inherited by his successors,and they ultimately pushed export structure changed.