Wealth and Society in Early Sixteenth Century England

The wealth of Tudor England was the object of much envy to less fortunate states in Europe. The main preoccupation of Tudor governments was to siphon a proper proportion of this wealth from the hands of its owners and creators into the hands of the state. Only with this transfer of resources, they believed, could the Tudor monarchy occupy its rightful place in the world. The consequence of this zealous pursuit of revenue is that Tudor statistics on wealth and property are copious and accurate. J. C. K. Cornwall used this hitherto underexploited resource to create a remarkably clear and comprehensive picture of early Tudor society in Wealth and Society in Early Sixteenth Century England (originally published in 1988). Through his pages can be sensed the efforts of the people to disguise their sources of income from the royal investigators, and the fiscal skill of the tax gatherers in finding out the truth, managing to extract both information and revenue from rich and poor alike.

But what this evidence also shows is a pattern of breakdown in society. The rise in poverty, of those tramping the roads because they had lost everything, is a familiar complaint of Tudor governments. The author illustrates the effect of the forcible break-up of communities, as new industrial and agricultural practices were making rich men of those ruthlessly able to exploit their resources. His book is a fine and accurate portrait of a society in a somewhat brutal stage of transition, a picture all the more valuable because it quantifies precisely what up to now has been a more impressionistic and intuitive appraisal.

J. C. K. Cornwall’s other books include Revolt of the Peasantry 1549 and How to Read Old Title Deeds. He has also written numerous articles for journals such as the Economic History Review.