Table Of ContentProperty, Power and the Growth
of Towns
Local enterprise, institutional quality and strategic location were of central importance in
the growth of medieval towns. This book, comprising a study of 112 English towns,
emphasises these key factors. Downstream locations on major rivers attracted international
trade, and thereby stimulated the local processing of imports and exports, while the early
establishment of richly endowed religious institutions funnelled agricultural rental income
into a town, where it was spent on luxury goods produced by local craftsmen and artisans,
and on expensive, long-running building schemes. Local entrepreneurs who recognised the
economic potential of a town developed residential suburbs which attracted wealthy resi-
dents. Meanwhile town authorities invested in the building and maintenance of bridges,
gates, walls and ditches, often with financial support from wealthy residents. Royal lordship
was also an advantage to a town, as it gave the town authorities direct access to the king and
bypassed local power-brokers such as bishops and earls.
The legacy of medieval investment remains visible today in the streets of important
towns. Drawing on rentals, deeds and surveys, this book also examines in detail the topog-
raphy of seven key medieval towns: Bristol, Gloucester, Coventry, Cambridge, Birmingham,
Shrewsbury and Hull. In each case, surviving records identify the location and value of
urban properties, and their owners and tenants. Using statistical techniques, previously
applied only to the early modern and modern periods, the book analyses the impact of
location and type of property on property values. It shows that features of the modern
property market, including spatial autocorrelation, were present in the middle ages. Property
hot-spots of high rents are also identified; the most valuable properties were those situated
between the market and other focal points such transport hubs and religious centres, con-
venient for both, but remote from noise and pollution.
This book takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on expertise from the disciplines
of economics and history. It will be of interest to historians and to social scientists looking
for a long-run perspective on urban development.
Catherine Casson is Senior Lecturer in Enterprise at Alliance Manchester Business
School, University of Manchester. Her publications include articles in Urban History,
Business History Review, Business History and the Economic History Review and the co-a uthored
book Compassionate Capitalism: Business and Community in Medieval England (2020).
Mark Casson is Professor of Economics at the University of Reading and Director of the
Centre for Institutions and Economic History. He has published in Economic History Review,
Explorations in Economic History, Business History Review. He is the co-author (with Catherine
Casson) of The Entrepreneur in History (2013).
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Property, Power and the Growth of Towns
Enterprise and Urban Development, 1100–1500
Catherine Casson and Mark Casson
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Explorations-in-Economic-History/book-series/SE0347
Property, Power and
the Growth of Towns
Enterprise and Urban Development,
1100–1500
Catherine Casson and Mark Casson
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Catherine Casson and Mark Casson
The right of Catherine Casson and Mark Casson to be identified as
authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and
78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
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or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-032-00092-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-00094-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-17269-7 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003172697
Typeset in Bembo
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)
In memory of Professor W.M. Ormrod
Contents
List of figures viii
List of tables ix
Acknowledgements xi
List of abbreviations xiii
1 Introduction 1
2 Town comparisons: Southern England Part 1 24
3 Town comparisons: Southern England Part 2 74
4 Town comparisons: Midlands and North England 97
5 Explaining the growth of towns 1086–1524:
A statistical analysis of 112 towns 139
6 Town growth and topography 163
7 Conclusion 280
Index 289
Figures
6.1 Coventry in the thirteenth century 176
6.2 Bristol in the middle ages 196
6.3 Shrewsbury in the middle ages 212
6.4 Cambridge in c.1500 231
6.5 Birmingham in 1296 and 1344–5 241
6.6 The medieval plots of Hull c.1350 248
6.7 Gloucester in the middle ages 259
Tables
5.1 Correlations between institutional features of towns 141
5.2 Correlations between physical characteristics of towns 142
5.3 Correlations between institutional features and physical
characteristics 142
5.4 Previous valuations as predictors of population
(number of tax–payers) in 1524 146
5.5 Major outliers from Table 5.4 (full regression) 146
5.6 Previous valuations as predictors of value in 1377 147
5.7 Major outliers from Table 5.6 (full regression) 148
5.8 Previous valuations as predictors of value in 1334 148
5.9 Major outliers from Table 5.8 148
5.10 Previous valuation as predictor of value in 1086 149
5.11 Major outliers from Table 5.10 150
5.12.1 Determinants of population in 1524 152
5.12.2 Determinants of population 1524 continued 153
5.13 Major outliers from Table 5.12.1 (full regression) 154
5.14.1 Determination of poll tax valuation in 1377 154
5.14.2 Determination of poll tax valuation in 1377 continued 155
5.15 Major outliers from Table 5.14.1 (full regression) 156
5.16.1 Determinants of lay subsidy valuation in 1334 156
5.16.2 Determinants of lay subsidy valuation in 1334 continued 157
5.17 Major outliers from Table 5.16.1 (full regression) 158
5.18 Key factors explaining the variation in the size and valuation
of towns 1334–1524 159
5.19 Summary regressions using only the key factors identified
in Table 5.18 160
6.1 Sources of rental information for the seven towns 164
6.2 Determinants of rent in Coventry: regressions of
the logarithm of rent 180
6.3 Determinants of consideration in Coventry: regressions of
logarithm of consideration 183
6.4 Bristol: Fines 1209–1365. Regression analysis by location of
property, type of property, relations between parties and time 198
