The World of the Newport Medieval Ship: Trade, Politics and Shipping in the Mid-Fifteenth Century

306 Pages·2018·56.24 MB·English

by  Evan T. Jones

The World of the
NEWPORT
MEDIEVAL SHIP
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The World of the
NEWPORT
MEDIEVAL SHIP
‰ ‰
Trade, Politics and Shipping
in the Mid-Fifteenth Century
Edited by
Evan T. Jones and Richard Stone
UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS
2018
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© The contributors, 2018
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including
photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently
or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the
copyright owner. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any
part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus
Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff CF10 4UP.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library CIP Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78683-143-9 (hardback)
978-1-78683-263-4 (paperback)
e-ISBN 978-1-78683-144-6
The right of the contributors to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in
accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Designed and typeset by Chris Bell, cbdesign
Printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Melksham
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CONTENTS
‰ ‰
Foreword
HRH The Prince of Wales vii
List of Contributors ix
List of Figures xiii
List of Tables xv
List of Abbreviations xvii
Acknowledgements xix
1 Introduction 1
Evan T. Jones
2 T he Newport Medieval Ship:
Archaeological Analysis of a Fifteenth-Century Merchant Ship 19
Nigel Nayling and Toby Jones
3 The Rise and Fall of the Big Ship, 1400–1520 37
Ian Friel
4 Violence at Sea in the Late Fifteenth Century 57
Susan Rose
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5 Newport During the Fifteenth Century 75
Bob Trett

6 Sailing the Severn Sea in the Mid-Fifteenth Century 95
Ralph A. Griffiths
7 T he Severn Sea:
Urban Networks and Connections in the Fifteenth Century 115
Peter Fleming
8 The Shipping Industry of the Severn Sea 135
Evan T. Jones
9 T he Trading Context of the Newport Ship: The Overseas Trade of
Bristol and its Region in the Mid-Fifteenth Century 161
Wendy R. Childs
10 B ristol’s Overseas Trade in the Later Fifteenth Century:
The Evidence of the ‘Particular’ Customs Accounts 181
Richard Stone
11 T he Iberian Economy and Commercial Exchange with North-western
Europe in the Later Middle Ages 205
Hilario Casado Alonso and Flávio Miranda
12 T rade and Navigation Between the Atlantic and Mediterranean Worlds
in the Mid-Fifteenth Century 229
Francesco Guidi-Bruscoli
Glossary 251
Index 257
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FOREWORD
‰ ‰
HRH The Prince of Wales
It is always a rare privilege to discover a long-lost piece of history. Having been
involved in the project to recover King Henry VIII’s great warship, The Mary Rose,
in 1982, I have some idea of what it means . . .
The Newport Ship is the best preserved fifteenth-century vessel yet found.
Apparently built in the Basque country in c.1449, she was wrecked twenty years later
while undergoing repairs in Newport’s shipyards. We can only speculate as to the
ship’s purpose – whether it was an Atlantic merchantman, a naval vessel, privateer or
even an exploration vessel. Whatever her history, she was certainly the product
of tumultuous times, around the period when the Wars of the Roses began. While
this was an age of conflict, it was also a time of great opportunity, with voyages of
discovery being undertaken by both the Portuguese, who were long-standing allies,
as well as mariners from the Bristol Channel.
While the ship is an important artefact, it is only possible to understand how she
would have been used if the world in which the vessel operated is understood.
This volume helps to achieve that, by exploring the political, economic and social
environment of the ship. As such, it greatly furthers our understanding of the
maritime world that enabled the Age of Discovery.
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LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
‰ ‰
Hilario Casado Alonso is a Professor of Economic History at the University of
Valladolid in Spain. His research interests include the development of Spanish overseas
trade, maritime insurance and merchant networks from the fourteenth to seventeenth
centuries. He has written more than fifty book chapters and articles and authored or
edited eight books, including Señores, Mercaderes y Campesinos. La comarca de Burgos a
fines de la Edad Media (1987) and El triunfo de Mercurio (2003).
Wendy R. Childs is Emeritus Professor of Later Medieval History at the University of
Leeds. Her work focuses on European trade and communication in the Middle Ages,
particularly the overseas trade of England and its contacts with Ireland, Spain and
Portugal. She has written and edited over twenty books, articles and chapters in this
field including, Anglo-Castilian Trade in the Later Middle Ages (1978) and Trade and
Shipping in the Medieval West (2013).
Peter Fleming is Professor of History at the University of the West of
England. His research focuses on migration, urban history and the development of
Bristol during the Middle Ages. He has written or edited more than a dozen books and
articles, including Bristol: Ethnic Minorities and the City, 1000–2001 (2007), Coventry
and the Wars of the Roses (2011) and ‘Bristol and the End of Empire: The Conse-
quences of the Fall of Gascony’ (2014).
Ian Friel (PhD, FSA) is one of the foremost experts on medieval maritime technology.
His publications include The Good Ship: Ships, Shipbuilding and Technology in Eng-
land 1200–1520 (1995), The British Museum Maritime History of Britain & Ireland c.
400–2001 (2003) and Henry V’s Navy (2015). He has written numerous articles and
chapters in journals or edited volumes and acted as a consultant for many museum
exhibitions dealing with the history and archaeology of shipping.
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