Craft Items Research Articles

Money Lending on the Periphery of London, 1300–1600

Money lending was an essential part of the local and regional economies of England during the later medieval and Tudor periods. Cash was required for purchases of goods, animals, or land, payment of rents and taxes, and the wages of hired workers. People who lacked money to cover these expenses between 1300 and 1600 commonly resorted to borrowing. Borrowing thus might be undertaken for purposes of either consumption or investment. Further, during much of the later medieval period and occasionally during the Tudor years specie was in short supply. Even a man of some wealth might find himself without sufficient currency on hand to cover his immediate needs. In nearly all cases late medieval and Tudor loans were for short terms, for periods ranging from a few weeks to six months. Interest was normally charged on local loans, although the amount was concealed due to the Church's prohibition of usury.Money lending was particularly important within commercialized areas—the major cities and their economic hinterlands. The region lying within a radius of about twenty miles from London formed one of the most thoroughly commercialized parts of the country. By the fourteenth century people living on the periphery of the capital were deeply involved in furnishing consumer goods to London. Agriculture among middling and larger tenants focused upon market sale; craftsmen sometimes sold to citizens as well as to their own neighbors. Late medieval London was surrounded by a ring of at least thirty-two market towns located within twenty miles of the capital. These markets served to channel grain, animals, fuel, and craft items into the city while also functioning as centers of trade for their own areas. In the market communities around London the extent of trade was unusually large and the economic sophistication of local people unusually high. Cash was the medium of accounting for all transactions and the medium of exchange for the great majority of them. It is not surprising that money lending played an especially significant role in this area.

Fertility and Family Economy in the Iranian Rural Communities

The impact of economic factors on family size was investigated among 505 couples living in southern rural Iran. Findings supported the hypothesis that large family size was characteristic of households in which the family members worked as a productive agricultural unit and smaller family size was characteristic of non-farm families. A 50% random sample of married women aged 15-50 living in 25 villages was drawn and these women and their husbands were interviewed. Multiple classification analysis was performed using fertility as the dependent variable and husbands occupation wifes economic activity and landholding size as independent variables. Husbans education and age at marriage were used as control variables. Findings were 1) the average parity for all couples was 5.69; 2) the average parity for women aged 40-44 was 8.20; 3) farm families had higher parity than non-farm families; 4) families with landholdings larger than 5 hectares had higher parity than families with smaller landholdings; and 5) the economic activity of the wife which in this region is confined almost exclusively to the manufacturing of craft items within the household setting had little impact on fertility. Tables provided 1) mean parity by age groups in the sample villages and in rural Iran; 2) age specific fertility rates for sample villages and for rural Iran; and 3) results of the statistical analysis.