TOLLS AND CUSTOMS Florilegium Urbanum
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Keywords: medieval Northampton murage tolls imports livestock skins cloth fish leather timber hardware
Subject: Grant of murage to Northampton, itemizing the tolls to be collected
Original source: Public Record Office, Patent Roll, 29 Edward I, m.6
Transcription in: Christopher Markham, ed. The Records of the Borough of Northampton, (Northampton, 1898), vol.1, 58-59.
Original language: Latin
Location: Northampton
Date: 1301


TRANSLATION

The king to the mayor, bailiffs and good men of his town of Northampton, greetings. Know that we have granted to you, to help with enclosing the town for the security and protection of the town and neighbouring parts, that for five years from the date of issue of this document you may collect in the town the customs indicated below, viz:

  • For every horse-load of grain for sale, whether barley or whatever kind, a farthing.
  • For every horse, mare, bull, and cow for sale, a halfpenny.
  • For every hide of horse, mare, bull and cow, [whether] raw, salted or tanned, a farthing.
  • For five hogs for sale, a halfpenny.
  • For ten small [hogs?] for sale, a halfpenny.
  • For ten sheep, goats, or pigs for sale, a penny.
  • For ten fleeces for sale, a penny.
  • For every hundred woolfells from sheep or goats for sale, a penny.
  • For every hundred skins of lambs, kids, hares, rabbits, foxes, cats, and squirrels for sale, a halfpenny.
  • For every hundred of grey-work for sale, sixpence.
  • For every quarter of salt for sale, a farthing.
  • For every horse-load of cloth for sale, a halfpenny.
  • For every whole cloth for sale worth 40s., a halfpenny.
  • For every bale of cloth for sale, brought by cart, 3d.
  • For every hundred worsted cloths for sale, twopence.
  • For every worsted cloth called a coverlet for sale, worth 40s., a penny.
  • For every hundred linen cloths for sale, a halfpenny.
  • For every hundred linen cloths from Aylsham for sale, a penny.
  • For every hood [? chef] of stiffened silk for sale, a penny.
  • For every other [piece of] silk for sale, a halfpenny.
  • For every hundred salted mullet or dried fish for sale, twopence.
  • For every cart-load of saltwater fish for sale, a penny.
  • For every horse-load of saltwater fish for sale, a halfpenny.
  • For every salmon for sale, a farthing.
  • For every dozen lampreys for sale, a penny.
  • For every cask of sturgeon for sale, a halfpenny.
  • For every thousand herring for sale, a farthing.
  • For every horseload of ashes for sale, a halfpenny.
  • For every horseload of honey for sale, a penny.
  • For every sack of wool for sale, twopence.
  • For every cart-load of tan for sale, weekly, a penny.
  • For a hundredweight of any goods sold by weight, a penny.
  • For every wey of tallow or fat for sale, a penny.
  • For every quarter of woad for sale, twopence.
  • For two thousand garlic or onions for sale, a halfpenny.
  • For every bale of cordwain for sale, threepence.
  • For every hundred boards for sale, a halfpenny.
  • For every millstone for sale, a halfpenny.
  • For every hundred faggots for sale, a farthing.
  • For every cart-load of brushwood or timber for sale, weekly, a halfpenny.
  • For every hundredweight of tin, brass or copper for sale, twopence.
  • For every bale of any merchandize for sale worth over 10s., a halfpenny.
  • For every cask of wine for sale, three halfpence.
  • For all merchandize for sale not mentioned here that is worth 5s. or more, a farthing.

We therefore command that you may take the aforesaid customs up to the end of five years, but when that term is ended the customs shall entirely cease and be abolished. In which thing etc. lasting for the said five years, witness the king at Donypas, the 4th October.



DISCUSSION

Murage was much in vogue during the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries as a way for towns to finance the heavy expenses of expanding and maintaining their fortifications. Northampton's central position, geographically, in England also often made it one focus of twelfth- and thirteenth-century power-struggles between national factions. In 1216 much of the town had been burned to the ground. In 1224 a grant in the name of Henry III (then in his minority) was made allowing Northampton to finance wall-building by collecting for three years special tolls on goods being brought to the weekly market; specification focused on livestock, with a generic clause to cover other merchandize. This murage grant was reissued in 1252 for a two-year term; its list was more detailed than that of 1224, but not as extensive as in the 1301 grant, and the only items of note covered in 1252 that one might be surprised to find missing in 1301 were salted meat and flax. Permission to collect special tolls for purposes of paving the town was given in 1282.

The 1301 murage seems to have been directly targeted at extending the walls to incorporate suburbs, notably a church and some open land associated with the town fair, one of the more important ones in England. Since most, if not all, of the items listed here would already have been subject to local tolls, for purpose of the revenues needed for the fee farm, it must be assumed that the levies listed took the form of a surtax. That practically every item includes the words "for sale" is a reminder that these tolls were on goods being brought for retail or wholesale in the town market, and were not imposed on goods being brought for personal or household use.

flourish

NOTES

General note
The text of the original did not have the various tolls itemized; I have formatted it thus for easier comprehension.

"grey-work"
A kind of pelt from some small animal.

"worsted"
A type of cloth distinct from the high class woollen cloths. It could be made from lower grade wool, which made East Anglia suitable for its production. Because worsted did not need fulling, production focused particularly in Norfolk, whose rivers were not suitable for fulling.

"Aylsham"
A Norfolk village involved in clothmaking from at least the eleventh century, and by 1300 had an established reputation for its linen.

"ashes"
Ashes (for which we would today use the term potash) were used to clean cloth prior to dyeing.

"cordwain"
A leather treated by a preparation that originated in Cordoba, Spain.

"weekly"
It is not clear why the qualifier "weekly" was added to some items; possibly payment of the toll gave licence to import as much as was desired over the course of a week.




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Created: August 18, 2001. Last update: December 22, 2002 © Stephen Alsford, 2001-2003