The Medieval Account Books of the Mercers of London

The Medieval Account Books of the Mercers of London
Author: Lisa Jefferson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 1486
Release: 2016-04-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317024249

As the premier livery company, the Mercers Company in medieval England enjoyed a prominent role in London's governance and exercised much influence over England's overseas trade and political interests. This substantial two-volume set provides a comprehensive edition of the surviving Mercers' accounts from 1347 to 1464, and opens a unique window into the day-to-day workings of one of England's most powerful institutions at the height of its influence. The accounts list income, derived from fees for apprentices and entry fees, from fines (whose cause is usually given, sometimes with many details), from gifts and bequests, from property rents, and from other sources, and then list expenditures: on salaries to priests and chaplains, to the beadle, the rent-collector, and to scribes and scriveners; on alms payments; on quit-rents due on their properties; on repairs to properties; and on a whole host of other costs, differing from year to year, and including court cases, special furnishings for the chapel or Hall, negotiations over trade with Burgundy, transport costs, funeral costs or those for attendance at state occasions, etc. Included also in some years are ordinances, deeds and other material of which they wanted to ensure a record was kept. Beginning with an early account for 1347-48, and the company's ordinances of that year, the accounts preserved form an entire block from 1390 until 1464. The material is arranged in facing-page format, with an accurate edition of the original text mirrored by a translation into modern English. A substantial introduction describes the manuscripts in full detail and explains the accounting system used by the Mercers and the financial vocabulary associated with it. Exhaustive name and subject indexes ensure that the material is easily accessible and this edition will become an essential tool for all studying the social, cultural or economic developments of late-medieval England.

An Introduction to the Commemorative Masonic Order of St Thomas of Acon

An Introduction to the Commemorative Masonic Order of St Thomas of Acon
Author: David Kibble-Rees
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 78
Release: 2008
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0955989000

Thirty-five years ago a Masonic researcher working in the Guildhall in London came across the records of an obscure Military Order formed during the 3rd Crusade, which adopted St. Thomas a Becket as its Patron Saint. Although never large, it eventually became important to the people of London but was one of the casualties and disappeared during the Dissolution of the Monasteries ordered by King Henry VIII. Impressed by its entirely-English character and the laudable reasons for its foundation, he described it to a handful of masonic friends who thought it worth 'reviving' and did so on a limited basis in a private house in Blackheath. In 1998 it was decided to open its membership beyond the limit imposed by their cramped meeting place. This book is an account of what happened after that decision was taken.

London in the Age of Chaucer

London in the Age of Chaucer
Author: A. R. Myers
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 1988
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780806121116

Fourteenth-century London was noisy, dirty, and disorderly, but also prosperous, proud of itself, and full of life not yet dispersed to distant suburbs. It was described in 1326 as a "mirror to all England," and indeed it was. Trade was growing and the guilds were making their influence felt. If justice was not tempered with mercy, at least the law courts were open to the citizens. Fine churches, palaces, guildhalls, and other buildings were constructed, and fire laws were enacted. Sanitation was a monstrous problem, and twice during the period the Black Death wreaked its havoc, but Londoners persevered. The author deals with London life in all its varied aspects during the time of Chaucer-customs, laws, social conditions, trade, and general conduct of the city government. London was the magnet of society and fashion, a city of pollution and violence, yet a city of wealth and churches. It was also still a city where a man knew his neighbors and often even lived in the same house with his employer. As Chaucer walked the London streets, whether as a member of the royal household, as controller of the port of London, as clerk of the king's works, or simply as a resident above Aldgate, he would have met plenty of people he knew. He may well have met the originals of the prioress or the wife of Bath, the merchant or the sergeant-at-law, the physician or the summoner, or the host himself, Harry Bailey. London had enough variety, importance, and cohesion to have encompassed them all.