The Social History of the Cloth Trade in Exeter 1558-1720

在早期现代时期，埃克塞特是英格兰最大的省会城镇和主要港口之一，主要依靠通过伦敦和直接向国外出口布料，而布料贸易是英格兰的主要工业和出口产品。尽管大部分布料是在乡村或小城镇纺织的，但它是由埃克塞特自己的棉布工(当地称为Tuckers)、染工和剪毛工完成的。埃克塞特及其河口港口托普沙姆港发展迅速，最初主要对法国和西班牙进行贸易，但后来主要对荷兰进行贸易，赛尔日取代阔布路西成为主要产品。埃克塞特的布料生产商以织工、富勒和希尔曼公司为代表，该公司的总部设在塔克斯厅，因此通常被称为塔克斯厅(在公元1700年的巅峰时期，大约有500名成员)。他们在1620年获得了皇家特许，使他们成为该市三个皇家特许机构之一，其他机构是城市本身(1539年被赋予县地位)和代表海外商人的商人冒险家公司，后者反过来主导了市议会的成员资格。从1720年起，随着德文郡布料贸易的衰落，塔克斯堂成为了一个主要是慈善和社会组织。它目前是当地商人的成员，正在制定教育计划，以最大限度地利用大厅及其档案，并促进当地所有年龄段的人和游客对城市布料贸易历史的了解。随着遗产彩票基金在2010年获奖，他们正在与其他当地机构(埃克塞特运河和码头信托基金、Topsham博物馆和DRO)合作开发数字资源和其他资源，以更好地了解布料贸易和埃克塞特的港口历史。这个项目是与埃克塞特大学历史系合作，以支持一名博士生(由乔纳森·巴里和简·惠特尔以及塔克斯堂项目经理迈克·沃克共同指导)利用该市、教区和塔克斯霍尔本身的广泛档案以及国家记录，研究布料贸易最重要时期的社会史。这篇博士论文的四条主线是：1.确定谁是埃克塞特的精英--就财富和在主要城市机构中的职位而言--以及他们如何与更广泛的中等阶层联系和区别，特别是那些涉及布料贸易的人。2.布料贸易的性质，特别是布料生产(在该地区和埃克塞特内部)与其国内和国际贸易之间的相互影响。布料贸易的变化(尤其是荷兰市场上丝绸生产的兴起)如何影响(或反映)贸易和城市内部的社会关系？3.城市机构的作用。公民政府、商人探险者公司和塔克斯霍尔在建立个人社会地位以及在城市和外部的布料贸易不同要素之间撮合和发展关系方面所发挥的作用。随着时间的推移，尤其是在南北战争之后，这种情况是如何变化的？4.家庭的角色。妇女在工作中以及在传递商业专门知识和财富方面的作用。地位和财富被继承的程度。是什么因素决定了布料行业和城市内部的社会流动性？这是一个开放的精英还是封闭的精英？博士生还将在适当的培训后，在塔克斯霍尔项目团队的支持下，与致力于数字化项目的志愿者密切合作，并协助公开展示所有项目的研究成果。这不仅将使对英格兰最重要的贸易和最重要的城镇之一感兴趣的学术受众受益，也将使更广泛的公众受益，尤其是学童、社区

During the early modern period Exeter was one of England's largest provincial towns and major ports, based largely on the export of cloth, both via London and directly abroad, while the cloth trade was England's major industry and export product. Although most of the cloth was spun and woven in the countryside or smaller towns, it was finished by fullers (called tuckers locally), dyers and shearmen in Exeter itself. Exeter and its estuary port of Topsham grew rapidly, initially mainly trading to France and Spain, but later chiefly to the Netherlands, with serge replacing broadcloth kerseys as the main products. The cloth producers in Exeter were represented by the Company of Weavers, Fullers and Shearmen, based in, and hence commonly known as, Tuckers Hall (with about 500 members at its peak in c.1700). They received a royal charter in 1620, making them one of three royally chartered bodies in the city, the others being the city itself (given county status in 1539) and the Company of Merchant Adventurers, representing the overseas traders, who in turn dominated the membership of the city council. With the decline of Devon's cloth trade from 1720 the Tuckers Hall became a largely charitable and social organisation. Its present-day membership of local businessmen is developing educational schemes to make best use of the Hall and its archives, and to promote understanding of the city's cloth trade history for local people of all ages and tourists. With Heritage Lottery funding awarded in 2010, they are working with other local bodies (Exeter Canal and Quay Trust, Topsham Museum and DRO) to develop digital and other resources for a better understanding of the cloth trade and of Exeter's port history. This project is a collaboration with the History Department at Exeter University to support a doctoral student (supervised by Jonathan Barry and Jane Whittle, together with Mike Walker the Tuckers Hall Project Manager) to work on the social history of the cloth trade in its most significant period, using the extensive archives of the city, parishes and Tuckers Hall itself, as well as national records. The four main lines of enquiry of the doctoral thesis are:1.Identifying who Exeter's elite were - in terms of wealth and of office holding in the main urban institutions - and how they related to, and differed from, the wider middling sort, especially those involved in the cloth trade.2.The nature of the cloth trade, and in particular the interplay between the production of cloth (in the region and within Exeter itself) and its trading nationally and internationally. How did changes in the cloth trade (especially the rise of serge production for the Dutch market) affect (or reflect) social relations within the trade and the city?3.The role of urban institutions. The role played by civic government, the Merchant Adventurers' Company, and Tuckers Hall in establishing both individual social position and in brokering and developing relationships between the different elements of the cloth trade, both in the city and externally. How did this change over time, particularly after the Civil War?4.The role of the family. The role of women in work and in transmitting business expertise and wealth. The degree to which status and wealth was inherited. What factors determined social mobility within the cloth trade and the city, and was this an open elite or a closed one?The PhD student will also, after appropriate training and with support from the Tuckers Hall project team, work closely with the volunteers working on the digitisation project and assist in the public presentation of the research outcomes from all the projects. This will benefit not only an academic audience interested in the most important trade and one of the most important towns in England, but also the broader public, with a particular focus on schoolchildren, community