How to Cite

Stevens, Matthew Frank: Colonisation and Credit in Medieval Wales, in Nicolussi-Köhler, Stephan (Ed.): Change and Transformation of Premodern Credit Markets: The Importance of Small-Scale Credits, Heidelberg: heiBOOKS, 2021, p. 39–63. https://doi.org/10.11588/heibooks.593.c12690

License (Chapter)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Identifiers (Book)

ISBN 978-3-948083-12-0 (PDF)
ISBN 978-3-948083-13-7 (Softcover)

Published

12/09/2021

Authors

Matthew Frank Stevens

Colonisation and Credit in Medieval Wales

Abstract This work surveys the roles played by credit in the conquest and colonisation of Wales. It outlines the Welsh native law of contract and surety, relating to debt, and analyses the new system of debt recovery set out in the 1284 Statute of Wales. The role of Jewish creditors will also be touched upon. Finally, a case study will be presented of debt-related litigation in the borough and commotal courts of the lordship of Dyffryn Clwyd, 1295 – 1391. It is concluded that an unavailability of credit hampered Welsh rulers’ efforts to maintain their independence, that conquest brought about the modernisation of debt-recovery law in Wales, likely stimulating durable economic growth, and that Welsh persons were fully integrated into post-conquest local credit networks and debt recovery systems by the end of the fourteenth century

Keywords Wales, credit, medieval, conquest, law