From Dissonance to Harmony on the Late Medieval Town
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4353830 |
|---|---|
| Authors | J F Hadwin (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1986 |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 423 |
| Publication date | 1986-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Economic History Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0013-0117 • E-ISSN: 1468-0289 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2596350 |
| OpenAlex | W4241636280 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 4 |
These words by the first editor of the English Historical Review, written a century ago, still ring true to the historian of the i980s. Even if he lacks Creighton's sensitivity to the published text, his readers may misinterpret his words and read into them that which does not even lie between the lines. The nuances of the spoken language are hard to reproduce in print and we are all, readers and writers alike, to varying extents responsible for the consequential misunderstandings. Such misunderstanding, indeed, probably accounts for a greater number of historical controversies than are brought about by straight disagreement; the outcome, in Sir Geoffrey Elton's words, is people talking past each other.2 Later medieval and early modern economic history seems to abound in this type of dispute. The challenging reinterpretations of a Nef, a Tawney or a Kerridge can so easily be misjudged by reading their evidence only through the distorting lens of their own occasional hyperbole. Those who plead the significance of some hitherto neglected historical development are naturally prone to wax enthusiastic in its praises, thereby conveying to the reader an exaggerated impression of what they have actually said. They are then judged not by their own words alone but by what others feel is implied in them. This has surely been the case with Dr Bridbury's forceful arguments on the late medieval English economy, both in his Economic Growth and in his i98i reassertion of his position in this journal. A careful reading will reveal emphatic declarations in favour of the health and wealth of the later medieval economy, particularly that of towns. Bridbury grants that urban populations were lower in I500 than in I300, yet he feels that the relative importance of the urban sector had increased over these years and, in evidence, cites the astonishing growth in the towns' share of national taxation between I334 and I524. Nevertheless, nowhere does he assert that towns at the latter date were absolutely wealthier than in I334. In his present contribution he had made it abundantly clear that he regards the evidence as too fragile to support any such conclusion; his argument is about relativities, not absolutes. It is easy to understand his bewilderment that anybody should take it otherwise, since he warns against just such an interpretation in the first paragraph of page 8i of his book. Yet it is also easy for the reader to imbue the second paragraph on
Archaeology · Art · Cognitive dissonance · Geography · Harmony (color) · Visual arts · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Medieval Literature and History · Psychology · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Social Psychology
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,14 |
| Citation span | 1990 - 2021 (32) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |