§ 4. ENGLISH MANUFACTURES—Now, although I have spoken of Flanders as the manufacturing centre for Europe, it must not be supposed that England could not manufacture any of the large quantity of wool which it grew. Undoubtedly the people of the Netherlands were at that time the great manufacturers of the world, and were acquainted with arts and processes to which the English were strangers, while for a long time the English could not weave fine cloths; but, nevertheless, there was a considerable manufacturing industry, chiefly of coarse cloths, an industry very widely spread, and carried on in people’s own cottages under the domestic system. The chief kinds of cloth made were hempen, linen, and woollen coverings, such as would be used for sacks, dairy-cloths, woolpacks, sails of windmills, and similar purposes. The great textile centres were Norfolk and Suffolk, where, indeed, manufacturing industries had existed long before the earliest records. An idea of their importance may be given from the fact that, in the assessment for the wool-tax of 1341, Norfolk was counted by far the wealthiest county in England after Middlesex (including London). {52} There was also a cloth industry of importance in the West of England, the chief centres being Westbury, Sherborne, and Salisbury. The linen of Aylsham was also celebrated. § 5. FOREIGN MANUFACTURE OF FINE GOODS—But we find rich people used to purchase fine cloths from abroad—_e.g._ linen from Liège and Flanders generally, and velvet and silk goods from Genoa and Venice—although there was certainly a silk industry in London, carried on chiefly by women, and protected by an Act of 1454. In the England of which we are now speaking, the textile industries were prevented from attaining a full development from the fact that, though general, they were strictly local; and, moreover, those who practised them did not look upon their handicraft as their sole means of livelihood, but even till the eighteenth century were generally engaged in agriculture as well. The cause of this is connected with the isolation and self-sufficiency of separate communities, previously noted. An evidence of the consequent inferiority of English to Flemish cloth is given by the fact that an Act of 1261 attempts to prohibit the import of spun stuff and the export of wool. Needless to say it was useless. The prices of cloth at this period are interesting, as showing the great difference between the fine (_i.e._ foreign) and coarse (home) cloths. The average price of linen is 4_d._ an ell, being as low as 2_d._ and as high as 8⁠¼_d._ Inferior woollens sold at 1_s._ 7⁠½_d._ a yard, “russet” at 1_s._ 4_d._, blanketing at 1_s._ On the other hand, scarlet cloth (foreign) rises to the enormous price of 15_s._ a yard. Cloth for liveries varied from 2_s._ 1_d._ to 1_s._ per yard. Speaking generally for the period 1260–1400, we may give the average price of the best quality at 3_s._ 3⁠½_d._ a yard from 1260–1350, and 3_s._