An Exploration On The Economy Of Mills In Medieval England

The mills were the important components of manorial economy in the middleages. It was also an significant application that the mechanical power replace thehuman labor on history of technology. It had close relationship with humanproduction and life at the same time, involving the agriculture, industry and serviceindustry. It was often treated as the major element of economic income and authorityof lords. By researching the mills can we present the track of economic developmentin terms of investment in medieval England.This article try to initially reveal panorama of medieval England by investigatingthe type, quantity and income of mills from the aspect of economic history.Furthermore, It elaborates on the important role of economic and social factors on thetechnical development. This paper is divided into three parts, the first part mainlydiscuss the development situation of England from three aspects: the historical originof mills, the type and quantity of mills. The grain mills was dominated. The numberof mills was often greatly influenced by the depopulation, the bullion famine, thewarfare and inclement weather. Compared with the grain mills, the fulling-mills andother industrial mills only made small profit, which accounted for a small proportionin the costs of wool textile industry. Therefore the increase of its quantity in13thcentury cannot account for the blossom of wool textile industry in rural area. Theso-called “An Industry Revolution of the Thirteenth century” is greatly exaggerated.Actually, the industry mill was not developed until the early16th century. the secondpart is about investment and profit of the mills. It analyses the proportion of expensein different types of mills and its promoting effect on employment of non-agriculturaleconomy. As far as I am concerned, the monopolization of mills is not widespread.The mills in the Southern parts of England was in a competitive market very early,Especially when the management of Lords was in adverse circumstances. Some millswere out of the control from manorial economy. Finally, the third part deals with theannual production of mills. It estimates the population of England at that time,according to the annual consumption of grain per capita. And, it investigates the flourextraction rate and the types of grain grinding. Then, it hackles the transformation ofmanagement methods of the mills in medieval England. The managerial authority ofmills was gradually gained by the lower persons. At last, it demonstrates that the promoting role of the lord of church on the development of industrial mills especiallyfulling-mills.