The Geography of Recession: Provincial Credit in Later Medieval England

Chapter 3 argued for a reduction in Staple lending in the early to mid-fifteenth century. This chapter examines the same Staple certificate data from a regional perspective by examining the patterns of lending undertaken at provincial Staple courts in order to assess if there was a regional component to the trends of borrowing and lending in the fifteenth century. There has long been an understanding amongst historians of the British economy that regional disparities exist and often subtle variations between the economic performances of different English regions need to be factored into any analysis. This regional analytical approach is seen most often in studies of later medieval agriculture, but historians have also examined regional economic inequality through the lens of urban decline. This is undertaken here by comparing the Staple evidence with debt evidence from borough courts, where it exists, along with other commercial evidence located within English provincial towns in order to gain a coherent understanding of the use of credit in England in this period.