CHAPTER 6
The Quality of Government
Notes
1 Reynolds, op.cit., 171. 2 Red Parch. Bk., 2, 32. Such expressions, in both local and national contexts, are common enough; see for example, Y/C18/1 f.8b, Gras, op.cit., 218. 3 Gross, op.cit., II, 122-23. 4 Twiss, op.cit., 18. 5 Add.Ms. 37791 f.45b; Red Parch. Bk., 33. 6 Swinden, op.cit., 493; Y/C18/1 f.8; Records of Norwich, I, 128-29, 198; Add.Ms. 37791 f.51; Col.C.R., I, 191; Red Paper Bk., 5; Red Parch. Bk., 31, 36, 45; D/B 3/1/3 ff.1-3; Gross, op.cit., II, 116-18; White Domesday ff.13-14. 7 Twiss, op.cit., 136. 8 Phythian-Adams, Desolation of a City, 138. Officers' oaths of good government met their response in those of freemen entrants, promising obedience to town officers; e.g. R.R. 4-9 Ric.II m.7d. 9 Records of Norwich, I, 192; Martin, Borough and Merchant Community of Ipswich, 61, 66. 10 Colby, op.cit., 642; KL/C2/29; KL/C7/3 f.249b; Add.Ms. 37791 f.45; Y/C18/1 f.10b; Col.C.R., I, 191, IV, 52; Black Domesday f.75. 11 Records of Norwich, I, 109. 12 C1/12/14. We must allow for dramatics, indignation, and the possibility of fraud on Thomas' part. 13 Records of Norwich, I, 109. 14 It is not the task of this study to delve into these faults, which centre around problems of consultation, delegation of authority, and constitutional checks and balances. 15 Custumals show control of trade, in favour of the freemen community as a whole, to be one of the earliest concerns of borough government, whilst certain aspects of it - such as price and quality controls - were enforced at the command of the king. Reynolds, op.cit., 177; Thrupp, "Social control in the medieval town," 40. 16 H. Harrod, Report on the Records of the Borough of Colchester, (Colchester, 1865), 30. 17 Although Dr. Britnell has been investigating the origins of the Colchester memoranda books. Subsequent to writing this study, further detective work led me to the conclusion that the account was written by a cleric assisting an ailing Robert Beche in his duties; S. Alsford, "The town clerks of medieval Colchester," Essex Archaeology and History, XXIV (1993), 127. This individual also evidences no personal connection to Reyne. 18 Red Paper Bk., 155; Red Parch. Bk., 73; Col.C.R., IV, 33. 19 Reynolds, op.cit., 179; Martin, The Story of Colchester, 38. 20 Chapter 4. 21 In addition this was a period of improvement for local commercial prospects, partly due to the important cloth industry established there. 22 Red Paper Bk., 6-11. Anyone who has experienced, however briefly, the absolute darkness of a medieval gaol (as is occasionally a feature of modern tours of medieval strongholds) would admit this last act a considerable kindness. 23 KL/C7/2 f.27b. 24 Chapter 4. 25 KL/C6/6 m.20r. 26 Red Parch. Bk., 187. 27 Red Paper Bk., 17. In 1425 Gilbert Kent, John Trewe, John Rouge, and Roger Lylye were accused of this fraudulent practice; we may note the dichotomy of official and private attitudes. Col.C.R./45 mm.24d-25r. 28 Britnell, op.cit., 326-27; KL/C6/5 m.13d. Walden, a grain-merchant, had been chamberlain in the reform administration of 1412/13. 29 Col.C.R., IV, 101. 30 Ms. Gough Norfolk 20 passim; Palmer, Perlustration of Great Yarmouth, I, 28-29. 31 C47/43/255; Smith, English Gilds, passim; H. Westlake, The Parish Gilds of Medieval England, (London, 1919), 217; Palmer, Perlustration of Great Yarmouth, I, 121-24. 32 C47/43/277; Arundel Castle Ms. MD 1477; KL/C38/1, 2; Harrod, Report on the Records of Lynn, 30-31; Parker, op.cit., 136. 33 Tanner, op.cit., 224; Origo, op.cit., 9, 43. 34 Tanner, op.cit., 263-64; Red Reg. f.75. 35 Thrupp, "Social control in the medieval town," 41. For examples of borough prosecution of members of the Yarmouth clergy abusing their positions, see Swinden, op.cit., 800-02. 36 Tanner, op.cit., 305. 37 Meech and Allen, op.cit., lvii, 28-29. 38 KL/C7/2 f.127b; Col.C.R./48 m.25d; Red Paper Bk., 54; see also E. Reid, "Lollards at Colchester in 1414," E.H.R., XXIX (1914), 101-04. 39 Palmer, Perlustration of Great Yarmouth, I, 107; G.C.R. 26-29 Ed.I m.1r; Red Reg. f.75. Much of Burghard's Lynn property later came into the hands of the corporation by bequest of his daughter and heir, in return for the corporation celebrating annually for John's soul - which the corporation dutifully fulfilled up to the end of the fifteenth century; Red Reg. f.162; KL/C50/Be 575; KL/C39 passim. 40 Tanner, op.cit., 268; J. Jennings, "The distribution of landed wealth in the wills of London merchants, 1400-1450," Medieval Studies, XXXIX (1977), 264-65, 271. 41 In fact, on this occasion, Richard was exporting as an agent for the Earl of Suffolk; but he was also personally involved in the wool trade. C67/22 m.20r; C.Cl.R. 1364-68, 26, 103-04; C.F.R. 1368-77, 234, 329. 42 Caldwell was also appointed to two committees (1435, 1448) to deal with construction work on the town hall and, in 1459, was granted the common marsh for 3 years, to recoup the debts owed him by the community; Add.Ms. 30158 ff.6b, 11, 12b, 22b; Dogget Roll 17-38 Hen.VI m.2d. 43 C.P.R. 1446-52, 528-29. 44 Records of Norwich, II, 216-22; J. Tingey, "The grants of murage to Norwich, Yarmouth and Lynn," Norfolk Archaeology, XVIII (1914), 132-33. 45 It would be futile to attempt an accurate assessment of guilt or innocence in every case; the evidence is inadequate. 46 C.P.R. 1361-64, 291; Col.C.R., IV, passim; B. Breslow, "The social status and economic interests of Richer de Refham, Lord Mayor of London," Journal of Medieval History, III (1977), 142. Thomas Aylred also displays highly litigious inclinations; P.P.R. 16-23 Ed.I passim. 47 C1/26/290. Permonter was a vintner. 48 Rot.Hundr., I, 533; C.P.R. 1258-66, 372, 1266-72, 277, 1272-81, 474. 49 I/C5/7 Exchequer extract 10 Ric.II; Smit, Bronnen..., I, 387. 50 Add.Ms. 30158 f.22b; C.F.R. 1422-30, 333-34, 1430-37, 49. At the time of Caldwell's death one of his sons was in debtor's prison and may well have died there; IC/AA2/2 f.87b. 51 C.Cl.R. 1441-47, 113; C1/16/377; C1/27/84; C1/33/202. 52 Hillen, op.cit., I, 87. 53 Gross, op.cit., I, 36. 54 Green, op.cit., II, 407. 55 Glover, op.cit., 184. 56 See, for example, the cynicism of Francesco Datini; Origo, op.cit., 81. 57 C.P.R. 1364-67, 54-55. See also J. Round, "Lionel de Bradenham and Colchester," Trans E.A.S., new series, XIII (1913-14), 86-91. 58 As Power, op.cit., 17, has noted: "honest burgesses climbed upon wool into the ranks of the nobility, only outstripped in their progress there by the dishonest ones," However, it is not certain that the medieval concept of the 'just price' meant anything more than market price; Roover, op.cit., 420-21. 59 Tanner, op.cit., 208. 60 Col.C.R., II-IV, passim; Col.C.R./28 m.1r, /35 m.26d, /41 m.2d, /44 m.21r, /46 mm.20d, 21r. 61 Col.C.R., IV, 128; see also vol.II, 83. 62 E.g. G.C.R. 16-17 Ed.II m.2d. 63 Martin, Borough and Merchant Community of Ipswich, 59, 60, 68-69; Saul, op.cit., 193, 195, 207; Glover, op.cit., 88, 93. 64 KL/C7/2 f.140. For a later case of Lynn men implicated in the slave-trade, see Black Book of the Admiralty, I, 273. 65 C.Cl.R. 1313-18, 443; supra chapter 2. 66 Chapter 3. It is equally questionable whether the contesting party, other heirs backed by the corporation, were more interested in the widow's welfare or her estate. 67 Smit, Bronnen..., I, 525-26, 555; C.P.R. 1401-05, 493; C.F.R. 1399-1405, 224, 1405-13, passim. Pampyng had also been convicted of homicide in 1398 and piracy in 1404; C.P.R. 1396-99, 448, 1401-05, 508. 68 Smit, Bronnen..., I, 470-71. Fen, a veteran both of borough and customs administration, was involved in piracy in 1404 and 1406, and pardoned for unspecified concealments, negligences, ignorances, and deceptions in 1408; C.P.R. 1401-05, 508, 1405-08, 168, 1408-13, 44. 69 Rot.Parl., II, 327-28, 374-75; C.P.R. 1374-77, 455; C.Cl.R. 1374-77, 438; J. Ramsay, The Genesis of Lancaster, 1307-1399, (Oxford, 1913), II, 48-52, 59; Morey, op.cit., 133. Saul, op.cit., 92-93, notes that Elys was licenced to export 500 sacks of wool in 1374-75 but that the total denizen exports from Yarmouth in that period were only 297 sacks, and suggests that Elys may have smuggled some out or perhaps simply doctored the records. 70 C.P.R. 1381-85, 197; C.F.R. 1383-91, 8. 71 Saul, op.cit., 93-94. This is purely hypothetical. 72 Ibid., 104-05; Morey, op.cit., 132. 73 Jones, op.cit., 325; Saul, op.cit., 66, 95; Rose, op.cit., 120; I. Abbott and R. Latham, "Caterpillars of the commonwealth," Speculum, XXX (1955), 231-32. 74 Morey, op.cit., 325; Saul, op.cit., 66, 95, 97-98. 75 Palmer, Manship's History of Yarmouth, 253. 76 For examples of the last case, see Saul, op.cit., 61-62, 99-102; Morey, op.cit., 325. 77 Smit, Bronnen..., I, 730-31, 851-52; Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council, VI, 328-29. 78 C.F.R. 1391-99, 197, 255, 1405-13, 197, 199; C.P.R. 1399-1401, 553, 1401-05, 336; E122/50/39, 40; E122/51/2, 29, 58; E122/193/33 f.42b; Morey, op.cit., 338; Abbott and Latham, op.cit., 231. 79 Saul, op.cit., 101-02, 218, 228. 80 C.F.R. 1327-37, 354; C.Cl.R. 1341-43, 191-92, 1349-54, 99, 1354-60, 465-66; C.P.R. 1340-43, 383. There is some truth in the 'bigger they are, harder they fall' cliché for merchants of this era. 81 Cal.Inq.Misc. 1307-49, 386; C.Cl.R. 1337-39, 121, 1341-43, 553-54, 701, 1349-54, 378; C.P.R. 1350-54, 257; C.F.R. 1356-68, 287. 82 C.Cl.R. 1346-49, 335; Rot.Parl., II, 216; C81/323/18765. Cobat was the son of a man of the same name who had been among the reformers of the 1320s, and was the son-in-law of John Harneys junior; Harneys' father was peripherally associated with the reformers, but his father-in-law was John de Whatefeld, allied by marriage to oligarch Thomas le Rente. 83 C.F.R. 1337-47, 376; C.P.R. 1343-45, 200, 305; Cal.Inq.Misc. 1307-49, 478. His father, William senior, also one of the wealthiest townsmen of his time (although retired by 1344), was not much involved in politics himself, but in 1323 his house was a focus for a forestalling plot involving members of the oligarchic party (John de Whatefeld, Gilbert Robert, and William le Fevre). E179/180/6 m.30d; G.C.R. 17-18 Ed.II m.1r. 84 Martin, Borough and Merchant Community of Ipswich, 172. 85 SC8/2965; C.Cl.R. 1346-49, 179; C.P.R. 1343-45, 305, 1345-48, 150, 155, 477, 493. 86 Red Parch. Bk., 31. The tenor of the reforms would, on the whole suggest the latter. 87 Black Domesday ff.71b-76; C.P.R. 1313-17, 427, 1321-24, 227; C.Cl.R. 1313-18, 271; Rot.Parl., I, 341. 88 Saul, op.cit., 35-36, 57; C.P.R. 1272-81, 315; C.Cl.R. 1279-88, 328. 89 Col.C.R., II, 57. 90 KL/C6/3 m.17d, /4 m.16r; KL/C37/7. Regarding the frequency of charges of corruption against national tax-collectors, see R. Glasscock, ed., The Lay Subsidy of 1334, (London, 1975), xv. 91 Black Domesday f.74; White Domesday f.19; KL/C7/3 f.249b. 92 J. Given, Society and Homicide in Thirteenth Century England, (Stamford, 1977), 183-84. 93 See next chapter. 94 J.I.1/612/2; W. Rye, "The riot between the monks and citizens of Norwich in 1272," Norfolk Antiquarian Miscellany, first series, II (1883), 17-42; Foxe, op.cit., 560. 95 See chapter 3. 96 C.P.R. 1343-45, 323. 97 See, for example, the plundering of the Flemish ship "Tarite" by a fleet including many ships from Yarmouth and a few from Ipswich and Lynn, for which the king had to pay £16,528 compensation; C.P.R. 1338-40, 491, 1340-43, 477; C.Cl.R. 1341-43, 553-54. 98 C. Compton, "Notes on ancient Yarmouth," Journal of the British Archaeological Association, XXXVI (1880), 13; Palmer, Manship's History of Yarmouth, 185-86; Saul, op.cit., 145ff. 99 C.Cl.R. 1313-18, 448, 1333-37, 135, 1337-39, 172; C.P.R. 1301-07, 541, 546, 1313-17, 694, 1327-30, 291, 1338-40, 491. 100 C.P.R. 1313-17, 11, 682, 1377-81, 620, 1381-85, 16; Arundel Castle Ms. MD 232. 101 C.P.R. 1301-07, 10, 91, 135, 192, 1358-61, 276. Possibly the supposed second Drayton victim, John fitz William de Drayton, was the same as the first, John fitz Petronilla de Drayton; but, if so, it is not clear why a solved case was reopened. 102 C.Cl.R. 1261-64, 260; C.P.R. 1281-92, 97, 1307-13, 531-32, 1313-17, 404; G.C.R. 12-13 Ed.I m.6r; P.P.R. 17-18 Ed.I m.19d. Robert was also charged with assault on two other occasions. 103 C.P.R. 1321-24, 55; SC8/11637. 104 G.C.R. 5-6 Ed.III mm.1d, 3d; P.P.R. 10-11 Ed.III m.1r; Coroner's Roll 3-14 Ed.III mm.2d, 3r. 105 C.P.R. 1313-17, 689-90, 1317-21, 287, 290. Thomas Shaldeford was a ward of John de Gippewyc, who sat for Ipswich in parliament (although John may have been a London man). 106 C.P.R. 1317-21, 603-05; C.Cl.R. 1318-23, 548, 1323-27, 179, 357; C.F.R. 1319-27, 251; SC8/11637. 107 Rot.Parl., II, 31; SC8/8555; C.Cl.R. 1327-30, 269; C.P.R. 1327-30, 50. 108 C.P.R. 1334-38, 295, 1343-45, 200; C.Cl.R. 1330-33, 90, 1343-46, 107; C.F.R. 1337-47, 376; Cal.Inq.Misc. 1307-49, 478; Rot.Parl., II, 14; Liber Albus, 437-44; R.R. 15-16 Ed.III m.4r. 109 KB27/338 m.162d. 110 As thinks Saul, op.cit., 57. 111 Rot.Hundr., I, 533, 543; KL/C7/3 f.33b. 112 Red Paper Bk., 14. 113 Add.Rolls 14976-80. 114 Hillen, op.cit., I, 102. 115 Col.C.R., III, 105; Bacon, op.cit., 83-85, 87; Martin, Ipswich Recognisance Rolls, 14, 17. 116 Swinden, op.cit., 354, 500; C.Ch.R. 1257-1300, 185-86. 117 Twiss, op.cit., 168; Swinden, op.cit., 495-96; Col.C.R., III, 78; Col.C.R./72 m.13r; I/C5/11/5 m.1r (part of a Dogget Roll, incorrectly catalogued as a Recognisance Roll); Red Paper Bk., 14. 118 KL/C7/3 ff.104, 115b. An interesting charge was that the presenters simply referred to previous years' lists of offences and assumed they had been repeated. 119 See appendix III, column 5. At Lynn the steward, not the mayor, was usually the returning officer. 120 E.g. the doctoring of borough records by the Ipswich corporation in 1345 to deceive the custos appointed by the king during seizure of liberties; Martin, Borough and Merchant Community of Ipswich, 101-03. 121 See chapter 2, and Morey, op.cit., 154. 122 Red Parch. Bk., 32, 34, 39. 123 McKisack, Parliamentary Representation of English Boroughs, 47; KL/C9/1 f.18; Records of Norwich, I, 98, 107; Red Parch. Bk., 186; Dogget Roll 17-38 Hen.VI m.9d; General Court Roll 10-13 Ed.IV m.1. If Lynn shows comparatively less concern with interference, it is because there is less sign of it - or resistance was more effective. 124 McKisack, Parliamentary Representation of English Boroughs, 61-63, 100, 116, 118; Morey, op.cit., 153-54, 343-44, 464; Haward, "Economic aspects of the Wars of the Roses," 175, 178-82; Dobson, "Urban decline in late medieval England," 15. 125 See chapter 4. 126 I/C8/1/9 m.1; Dogget Roll 18-19 Ed.IV m.3d; C1/27/239; C1/71/2; C1/11/516; W. Haward, "Gilbert Debenham: a medieval rascal in real life," History, XIII (1929), 300-14. Sir George Felbrigge exercised a similar, if diminished, influence over Ipswich bailiffs at an earlier period; P.P.R. 17-18 Ric.II m.5d. All this talk of false entries in the rolls causes the historian's heart to tremor. 127 Palmer, A Booke of the Foundacion of Greate Yermouthe, 58-59; C.P.R. 1266-72, 277; C.Cl.R. 1339-41, 262, 326; Saul, op.cit., 64. 128 C1/27/154, 155; KL/C7/4 ff.97b, 98b. 129 C1/66/309; C1/11/530. It will be appreciated that the truth of these Chancery charges is not usually verifiable. 130 E.g. see KL/C17/6 m.2r, /21 m.4r. 131 See Jones, op.cit., passim.
