Kent and Europe, 1450-1640: Merchants, Mariners, Shipping and Defence

An in-depth overview of Kent’s economy, society and politics, and their relationship with Kent’s environs over two centuries.

Kent is surrounded by water on three sides, close to both the European continent and London: geography that has influenced those who have lived there in countless ways. This book explores their history in this setting from the mid-fifteenth to mid-seventeenth centuries, emphasising Kent’s deep connection with Europe. Its chapters, which draw on a wide range of local and national sources, primarily centre on maritime affairs, reflecting the historical and ongoing significance of the sea to the region’s inhabitants. These include a bold new description of Kent at the end of the Middle Ages and a reconstruction of the county’s early modern maritime trade, including its merchants, both native and foreign, the commodities traded, as well as the impact of migration. An in-depth study also provides quantitative analyses of shipping and of the lives and careers of the shipboard community.

Furthermore, there is a detailed examination of the military community of Kent, with a particular focus on the county’s coastal fortifications and a chapter on predatory maritime activities in adjacent waters. Overall, the book puts forward the findings of deep research that connects Kent’s economy, society and politics with its environs over a long period. As such, it exemplifies how future county studies might be composed.

Robert Blackmore is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Southampton. He is the author of Government and Merchant Finance in Anglo-Gascon Trade (Palgrave, 2020).
Craig Lambert is Professor of Maritime History at the University of Southampton, author of Shipping the Medieval Military (Boydell, 2011), co-editor of Military Communities in Late Medieval England (Boydell, 2018), and co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Marine and Maritime Worlds, 1400-1800 (Routledge, 2020).