Pamela Nightingale, "The growth of London in the medieval English economy."

Nightingale, Pamela. "The growth of London in the medieval English economy." Trade, Money, and Power in Medieval England. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Variorum, 2007.

While the Nightingale's book comprises of several very in depth and interesting essays on late medieval economics, for my purposes I'm adhering to a single essay from the volume. I chose "The growth of London in the medieval English economy" in order to deepen my understanding of the economic development of London, where many of the authors I'm particularly interested resided in or nearby. My choice was certainly not in vain. 

Nightingale's essay considers the questions of why, specifically, London experienced a growing economy in a period of marked urban economic decline in England. Nightingale considers and, ultimately, rejects the scholarly position that London was simply an anomaly, pointing to the data which demonstrates that London experience many of the same types of decline as elsewhere. Coming back around to consider what the available data can tell us about the conditions of fourteenth century London, Nightingale points to a range of political, demographic, and market conditions which allowed the city to wax as other urban centers in England waned. Calling to the various influential forces that led to the effect, in a multi-layered approach that John Watt would approve of, Nightingale ultimately suggests that the political decisions of the monarch and various regional conflicts that limited the wool trade in other ports allowed the peasant and artisans in and surrounding London more freedom to use their increased buying power in post-plague England. Interestingly, Nightingale concludes that "two fo the great afflictions of the late medieval economy, plague and a shortage of coin, worked with royal policy and warfare to foster the conditions which made possible London's later extraordinary growth" (106). 

For my work, these factors bring an interesting perspective into considering how medieval economic thought shits over the period stretching from the 13th to 16th centuries. As the ideology makes an ameliorative shift in regards to trade, merchants, and what would be termed economics in a modern perspective, the growing buying power of the third estate fueling the economic growth of London may influence the changing perception of trade and merchants. This is by no means inconclusive evidence, and suggests a possibility of influence more than any firm conclusion, but it does add to my expanding picture of how medieval economic thought was seen and influenced late medieval England.