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

在近代早期，埃克塞特是英国最大的省级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，而布料贸易是英国的主要工业和出口产品。虽然大部分布料是在农村或小城镇纺成的，但它们是由埃克塞特自己的漂布工（当地称为扎布工）、染色工和剪羊毛工完成的。埃克塞特及其河口港口托普沙姆发展迅速，最初主要与法国和西班牙进行贸易，但后来主要与荷兰进行贸易，哔叽取代了阔棉布成为主要产品。埃克塞特的布料生产商以织工、布工和剪羊毛工公司为代表，该公司位于塔克斯大厅，因此通常被称为塔克斯大厅（在1700年左右的鼎盛时期，约有500名成员）。他们于1620年获得皇家特许状，成为该市三个皇家特许机构之一，其他两个是城市本身（1539年获得县地位）和商人冒险家公司，代表海外商人，他们反过来又控制了市议会的成员。从1720年起，随着德文郡布料贸易的衰落，塔克斯会馆变成了一个主要的慈善和社会组织。目前，当地商人的会员正在制定教育计划，以充分利用该大厅及其档案，并促进各年龄段的当地人和游客对该市布料贸易历史的了解。在2010年遗产彩票基金的资助下，他们正在与其他当地机构（埃克塞特运河和码头信托基金、托普沙姆博物馆和DRO）合作，开发数字和其他资源，以便更好地了解布料贸易和埃克塞特港口的历史。该项目是与埃克塞特大学历史系合作，以支持博士生（由Jonathan Barry和Jane Whittle以及塔克斯大厅项目经理Mike Walker指导）在最重要的时期研究布料贸易的社会历史，使用城市，教区和塔克斯大厅本身的广泛档案，以及国家记录。博士论文的四条主要探究线是：1.博士生论文的研究方向。确定埃克塞特的精英是谁——根据财富和在主要城市机构中的职位——以及他们与更广泛的中产阶级，特别是从事布匹贸易的中产阶级有何联系和不同。布料贸易的性质，特别是布料生产（在该地区和埃克塞特本身）与国内和国际贸易之间的相互作用。布料贸易的变化（特别是荷兰市场哔叽生产的兴起）如何影响（或反映）贸易和城市内部的社会关系？城市机构的作用。公民政府，商人冒险家公司和塔克斯大厅在建立个人社会地位以及在城市内外不同布料贸易元素之间的中介和发展关系方面所起的作用。随着时间的推移，尤其是南北战争之后，这种情况发生了怎样的变化？家庭的角色。妇女在工作和传递商业专门知识和财富方面的作用。地位：地位和财富被继承的程度是什么因素决定了布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？在适当的培训和塔克斯大厅项目团队的支持下，博士生还将与从事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。这不仅有利于对最重要的贸易和英格兰最重要的城镇之一感兴趣的学术观众，而且有利于更广泛的公众，特别是关注学童和社区

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