Between the Norman Conquest and the end of the Middle Ages the urban structure of England in general, and Suffolk in particular, was transformed. The commercial revolution in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries comprised economic growth, but also institutional reforms which laid the basis for modern commerce and urban centres. Yet it was the adjustments in the century or so after the arrival of the Black Death in 1349 which are of greatest significance, because by 1500 Suffolk was the most urbanised and industrialised county in Britain.

Mark Bailey is Professor of Late Medieval History at UEA. He is author of several books, including ‘Medieval Suffolk: A social History’.