STUDY UNIT 6 - THE MERCHANT ADVENTURERS
During the first half of the sixteenth century, the Merchant Adventurers' Company became one of the most powerful and influential groups in England. They controlled the lucrative cloth trade with Antwerp on which much of England's growing prosperity depended. Their relationship with the government was usually close, and they were respected and considerately treated by even the highest in the land. Their wealth and pride were such that they added considerably to the pomp and splendour of state occasions.
Consider why this Company and its members should have achieved such a position of wealth and power in sixteenth century society. Why did it all happen? Using the RESPONSE ARRAY, construct a picture of those factors which were favourable to the growth in power and wealth of the company.
The fortunes of the Merchant Adventurers' Company to some degree prospered and then waned in response to external conditions. It is difficult to see how far the Company's fortunes also depended on the dynamism and energy of its members.
Assume that you are trying to argue that the Company was never really very adventurous. Consider what factors you would use to prove your case. (If you think they were really adventurous try nevertheless to construct an argument which you might have to answer for you to make your case.) Use the RESPONSE ARRAY to construct an argument which suggests that the Merchant Adventurers were not really very adventurous.
When the trade in cloth became more settled after the disturbances of the early 155O's,the Merchant Adventurers' profits continued to come in steadily, but the central theme of the story of English trading history moves to the broader stage of the world's oceans. With the extension of English trade - in area, and variety of goods carried - the Merchant Adventurers' Company's fortunes were imperceptibly but surely in decline. The late 1540's mark the highpoint of the Company's profits, and its trade turnover never again came up to the level of those years of boom.
Consider why this should have been so. What led to this decline? Use the RESPONSE ARRAY to explain why their fortunes declined during the latter half of the century.
As mentioned in Problem 3, after the 1550's the central theme of the story of English trade moves away from the single contact with Antwerp and its great fairs, through which English cloth had travelled to all parts of Europe. English ships were soon thereafter calling into ports around the Baltic, the Mediterranean, Africa, the Americas, and a little later, India and the Islands of the Pacific.
Consider the causes for this tremendous expansion of activity. Why was there such a sudden break out from the patterns of trading which had been practised earlier? Use the RESPONSE ARRAY to explain why there should have been such a burst of new trading activities after 1551.