Politics and the Urban Sector in Fifteenth-Century England, 1413-1471

Abstract Since the work of K.B. McFarlane in the mid-twentieth century, political histories of late medieval England have focused almost exclusively on the relationship between the Crown and aristocratic landholders. Such studies, however, neglect to consider that England after the Black Death was an urbanizing society. Towns not only were the residence of a rising proportion of the population, but were also the stages on which power was asserted and the places where financial and military resources were concentrated. Outside London, however, most English towns were small compared to those found in medieval Italy or Flanders, and it has been easy for historians to under-estimate their ability to influence English politics. Politics and the Urban Sector in Fifteenth-Century England, 1413–1471 offers a new approach for evaluating the role of urban society inthe political culture of late medieval England. Rather than focusing on English towns individually, it creates a model for assessing the political might that could be exerted by towns collectively as an ‘urban sector’. Based on primary sources from twenty-two towns (ranging from metropolis of London to the tiny Kentish town of Lydd), Politics and the Urban Sector demonstrates how fluctuations in inter-urban relationships affected the content, pace, and language of English politics during the tumultuous fifteenth century. Chapter 1 identifies the different types of links that towns formed with one another and with other members of political society. Chapters 2–5 are arranged chronologically, demonstrating the ways in which the frequent twists and turns of fifteenth-century ‘high politics’—from the reign of Henry V to the Wars of the Roses—were a reflection of the ever-shifting relationships between towns.