Economic Ethics in Late Medieval England, 1300–1500 Jennifer Hole, BA, MMEMS This Thesis is presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Western Australia School of Humanities Discipline of History 2015 Abstract This study is an investigation of economic ethics, their impacts and the perception of them, in late medieval England. As part of this investigation, there are four main aspects to consider: the particular concepts which could be defined as economic ethics, and by whom; the social groups for which these concepts were intended; how this body of knowledge was transmitted to society at large; and the extent to which it informed responses to economic injustice. To date, the study of economic ethics in late medieval England has been focused on deceitful trade, unfair pricing, and usury, especially in relation to the regulation of merchants and traders. Here, the aim is to show that economic relations outside the marketplace and urban and international trade were also subject to criticism from the ethical point of view. For this reason, this study gives more attention to economic relationships between landowners and tenants, and the king and his subjects, and less to ethical behaviour in the marketplace and its regulation. This study aims to show that economic ethics were applied to society as a whole, and that the ideals of social harmony and the properly ordered society provided connections between many of the concepts of economic ethics. It explores notions of good lordship in relations between landowners and tenants as both a corrective to and an extension of the existing emphasis on the ideal of the common good, which was more important at the national level and in urban communities. In order to understand medieval English notions of economic ethics, this study examines a range of contemporary normative texts. An investigation of theological and philosophical works shows how learned clerical views in England related to broader European debates about economic morality. Pastoral advice and confessional manuals re-cast the theoretical concepts of learned treatises as practical problems of spiritual ministry. Vernacular sermons, literature, and drama were accessible to lay audiences and are here iii analysed to show the widespread nature of that discourse and its extension to as many members of society as possible. In order to assess lay society’s understanding of economic ethics, the study examines the wording of statutes against economic exploitation and the language of petitions complaining of economic injustice. Analysis of cases of abuses of purveying, complaints of extortion and oppression, unreasonable tolls and fines, and land enclosures shows how complaints were framed and how authorities responded. Wills, letters, and papers are examined for evidence demonstrating the importance of economic ethics to individuals. This study is divided into six chapters, beginning with a literature review in Chapter One. Chapter Two examines the concepts of economic ethics, their basis in either Christian doctrine or classical thought and how ethical concepts were elaborated and interrelated in different kinds of sources. Chapter Three analyses pastoral manuals, guides to conduct, and sermons, both in relation to how ethical concepts were expressed and to what kinds of occupations these concepts were applied. Chapter Four focuses on a selection of literary works for their discourses on lords and rulers as ethical role models and their reactions to economic and social change. Chapter Five analyses legislation and petitions, and explores responses to economic injustice through case studies of royal purveying abuses, extortion, and oppression by lords and gentry, unreasonable tolls and fines, and land enclosures. Chapter Six analyses wills and correspondence for evidence of how individuals responded to particular issues involving economic ethics and assesses the extent to which they accepted the Church’s teachings regarding ethical conduct in business dealings. My overall conclusion is that there was a body of thought concerning economic ethics which was circulated widely in late medieval England and that its ideas were put into practice by governments and individuals. Although not called ‘economic ethics’ at the time, there were interrelated concepts: the sin of avarice against which were pitted the virtues of justice, moderation, liberality, and charity. Avarice was essentially a selfish act and a danger to social harmony, thus there were frequent appeals to the ideal of the body politic or to iv the common profit. The emphasis upon acts of extortion and oppression by landowners or officials as avarice or as theft was equal to that placed upon usury, unjust pricing, and deceitful trade by other classes of society. There is evidence that the language of economic ethics was applied in statutes and petitions and in the ways that governments responded to such economic problems as the abuses of purveying and the displacement of tenants owing to land enclosures. Legislation could achieve only so much, however, being effective (if at all) only after the offences had occurred. The main difficulty in maintaining social and economic order was to try to dissuade potential perpetrators, to exhort them to act according to their consciences or to fear the consequences to their immortal soul. Did people accept and internalise the teachings of the Church about economic ethics? While individual examples show people ignoring or negotiating Church teachings in favour of considerations of honour or social status, the weight of evidence indicates that there was widespread knowledge of economic ethics and significant effort devoted to putting them into practice. v Table of Contents Abstract iii Acknowledgements ix Statement of Candidate Contribution xi List of Abbreviations xiii Editorial Notes xvii Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Medieval Ethics and Economics: The Limits of Modern Historiography 9 Chapter 2 Economic Ethics 35 Chapter 3 The Translation of Economic Ethics into the Daily Practices of the Laity 77 Chapter 4 Wealth and Lordship in Late Medieval Literature 133 Chapter 5 The Application of Theory: The Language of Economic Ethics in Statutes and Petitions 183 Chapter 6 Merchants and Landowners’ Responses to Economic Ethics 247 Conclusion 305 Appendix 1 Pastoral Manuals 315 Appendix 2 Longer Passages from John Bromyard’s Summa praedicantium 329 Bibliography 333 vii Acknowledgements In memoriam, Winthrop Professor Philippa Catherine Maddern 24 August 1952–16 June 2014 It is owing to the support and encouragement of Philippa Maddern that this thesis has been written. Philippa was my principal supervisor until her illness prevented her from further participation. Her place was taken by Dr Stephanie Tarbin, who has made a tremendous contribution of her time and energy despite her increased workload. It has been a difficult year for medieval and early modern history at UWA. I am very fortunate in that Winthrop Professor Andrew Lynch (English and Cultural Studies) stepped in to offer guidance for Chapter 4 and to comment upon the thesis as a whole. I must also thank Dr Spencer Young for all of his help as a co-supervisor, both while he was here at UWA and since his return to Canada. In the course of my research in the United Kingdom, I received assistance from many people who were kind enough to let me view archives, manuscripts and early printed books or provide me with photographs or microfilm copies. These are: The Staff of the Western Manuscripts Collection and other departments of the Bodleian Library, Oxford; Mr Stewart Tiley, Librarian, St John’s College, Oxford; Dr Anna Sander, Lonsdale Curator of Archives and Manuscripts, Balliol College, Oxford; Dr Julia Walworth and Dr Julian Read, Library, Merton College, Oxford; the Staff of the Manuscripts Department and Early Printed Book Collections at the British Library, London; the Library Staff, Institute of Historical Research, University of London; the Staff of the Senate House Library, University of London; Dr Mark Statham, Librarian, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge; the Staff of the Cambridge University Library; Naomi Van Loo, Librarian, New College, Oxford; Dr Robin Darwall-Smith, Archivist, Magdalen College, Oxford; and Karen Robson, Senior Archivist, University of Southampton Library. I would also like to thank the members of the palaeography group at UWA for their help with interpreting some of the more difficult material. ix xi List of Abbreviations Aquinas, ST Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae: Latin Text with English Translation, 61 vols, London, The Blackfriars with Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1963. Armburgh Papers The Armburgh Papers, ed. C. Carpenter, Woodbridge, Boydell, 1998. Ayenbite of Inwyt Dan Michel’s Ayenbite of Inwyt, ed. P. Gradon, 2 vols, London, Oxford University Press for the Early English Text Society, 1979. Bromyard, SP(1) John Bromyard, Summa Praedicantium, Prima Pars, Venice, 1586. Bromyard, SP(2) John Bromyard, Summa Praedicantium, Secunda Pars, Venice, 1586. CCR Calendar of Close Rolls, 61 vols, London, HMSO, 1900- 63, accessed via British History Online <http://www.british-history.ac.uk>. Cely Letters The Cely Letters, 1472–1488, ed. A. Hanham, London, Oxford University Press for the Early English Text Society, 1975. Confessio Amantis John Gower, Confessio Amantis, ed. R.A. Peck, 3 vols, Kalamazoo, MI, Medieval Institute Publications, 2003–06. Corpus Iuris Canonici (1) Corpus Iuris Canonici, Pars Prior, Decretum Magistri Gratiani, Union,