Figures are revealing. As numbers of skilled artisans rose, the share of textile workers fell spectacularly from almost 50 per cent around 1300 to 15 per cent after 1400. This general figure hides an even more profound change. Within the sector of textile manufacture, woollen cloth production dropped from more than 96 per cent in the first half of the fourteenth century to 87 per cent, as the share of tapestry weavers and above all linen weavers rose