From Dissonance to Harmony on the Late Medieval Town?

The article comments on the literary works related to the late medieval English economy. Economics historian A.R. Bridbury's forceful arguments on the late medieval English economy 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 1500 than in 1300, 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 1334 and 1524. Nevertheless, nowhere does he assert that towns at the latter date were absolutely wealthier than in 1334. In his 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. Economics historian S. H. Rigby has not been the only scholar to assume that Bridbury was arguing on both a relative and an absolute plane; since it has been confirmed that he was arguing only on the former, criticism of the latter is thus somewhat irrelevant.