*34. Changes in Town Life and Foreign Trade.*--The changes discussed in the last three sections apply in the main to rural life. The economic and social history of the towns during the same period, except in as far as it was part of the general national experience, consisted in a still more complete adoption of those characteristics which have already been described in Chapter III. Their wealth and prosperity became greater, they were still more independent of the rural districts and of the central government, the intermunicipal character of their dealings, the closeness of connection between their industrial interests and their government, the completeness with which all occupations were organized under the "gild system," were all of them still more marked in 1450 than they had been in 1350. It is true that far-reaching changes were beginning, but they were only beginning, and did not reach an important development until a time later than that included in this chapter. The same thing is true in the field of foreign trade. The latter part of the fourteenth and the early fifteenth century saw a considerable increase and development of the trade of England, but it was still on the same lines and carried on by the same methods as before. The great proportion of it was in the hands of foreigners, and there was the same inconsistency in the policy of the central government on the occasions when it did intervene or take any action on the subject. The important changes in trade and in town life which have their beginning in this period will be discussed in connection with those of the next period in Chapter VI. *35. BIBLIOGRAPHY* Jessop, Augustus: _The Coming of the Friars and other Essays_. Two interesting essays in this volume are on _The Black Death in East Anglia_. Gasquet, F. A.: _The Great Pestilence of 1349_. Creighton, C.: _History of Epidemics in Britain_, two volumes. This gives especial attention to the nature of the disease. Trevelyan, G. M.: _England in the Age of Wycliffe_. This book, published in 1899, gives by far the fullest account of the Peasant Rising which has so far appeared in English. Petit-Dutaillis, C., et Reville, A.: _Le Soulevement des Travailleurs d'Angleterre en 1381_. The best account of the Rebellion. Powell, Edgar: _The Peasant Rising in East Anglia in 1381_. Especially valuable for its accounts of the poll tax. Powell, Edgar, and Trevelyan, G. M.: _Documents Illustrating the Peasants' Rising and the Lollards_. Page, Thomas Walker: _The End of Villainage in England_. This monograph, published in 1900, is particularly valuable for the new facts which it gives concerning the rural changes of the fourteenth century. CHAPTER VI THE BREAKING UP OF THE MEDIAEVAL SYSTEM Economic Changes Of The Later Fifteenth And The Sixteenth Centuries