City and Court: patterns of consumption in 16th century London

"This paper takes as its starting point the famous article by FJ Fisher on the development of London as a centre of conspicuous consumption. Its aims are twofold: first to flesh out Fisher’s argument with some more quantitative material on the importance of court demand. It uses royal household, aristocratic and gentry household accounts to look at patterns of consumption (what things were purchased in London and why?), and where possible attempts to relate the data to figures for overall consumption in the metropolitan area. This enables some informed speculation about the relative significance of London’s status as a court city and the role of overseas trade in its sixteenth century growth. Its second aim, in which it is probably more successful, is to assess the social and political significance of court demand by exploring the nature of the relationships between royal and aristocratic consumers and London tradesmen. Court demand meant that many Londoners developed close patronage ties with courtiers, enabling them in turn to mobilise those connections for both personal and local objectives. Many suppliers can be shown to be key brokers at a local level. In this way we are able to see something of the interpenetration of court and city. The paper’s focus on the sixteenth century also enables us to refine further the chronology of the development of luxury consumption, providing the prequel to work in progress by Linda Levy Peck."