THE ECONOMY OF SCOTLAND IN ITS EUROPEAN SETTING, 1550‐16251
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9485.1959.tb00116.x |
| Published date | 01 November 1959 |
| Date | 01 November 1959 |
| Author | R. H. Campbell |
THE ECONOMY
OF
SCOTLAND
IN
ITS
EUROPEAN
SETTING,
IN
spite of the admitted strength of a few contacts, Scotland’s un-
doubted and lasting poverty and her remote location on the fringe of
Europe have encouraged a tendency
to
regard the country
as
an
econo-
mic backwater at least until 1603
if
not 1707. Thus, it is thought
legitimate to explain her history until modern times in political and
religious terms to the virtual exclusion
of
economic factors. Further,
such political emphasis leads obviously to considerable stress
on
1603
and 1707 as important watersheds. But the economy was not then
broken as was the constitution. Mr. Lythe’s book makes an important
contribution to remedying these errors.
As
its title claims, the Scot-
tish economy
iSr
placed
in
its
proper European setting and, by carry-
ing the study well beyond 1603, the continuity
of
economic growth
whether James Stewart was only James
VI
or also James
I
is made
obvious.
The analysis
of
Scotland’s widespread trade, which takes up a
major part
of
the book, is
a
most valuable contribution to the meagre
studies in this field, though it is regrettable that Mr. Lythe did not
make fuller use of Port Books. Scottish
exports
to the Baltic, France,
and theLow Countries, though less
so
to England, were typical products
of
a pastoral and hunting economy: skins, hides, wool, herring, sal-
mon.
Then in the early seventeenth century coal exports increased
and home-produced salt not only displaced imports of Biscay salt
but became an important export. More interesting was Scotland’s
ability to export
a
small quantity
of
manufactured goods, as the
country’s
low
labour and material costs enabled it to meet the superior
technical efficiency of others and, even
in
the Low Countries, ‘the
emporium
of
Europe,’ to
sell
textiles, presumably plaiding, and other
wool cloth and hose.
As
the pattern of Scottish exports was deter-
mined chiefly by her natural endowments,
so
her deficiencies deter-
mined her imports
:
timber from Norway; salt and wine from France;
grain from the Baltic when the harvests failed; a variety of goods from
England.
Superficially, much
of
this trade seems to have been bilateral.
A
cargo was turned into money which
was
immediately converted into
goods for the return journey.
As
transactions did not always balance
S.
G.
E.
Lythe,
.The
Economy
of
Scotland in
its
European Setting,
1550-
1625.
Edinburgh: Oliver
and
Boyd,
1960.
21s.
1550-1625l
238
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