The Medieval Account Books of the Mercers of London
The Medieval Account Books of the Mercers of London

Author: Lisa Jefferson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-15

Total Pages: 1179

ISBN-13: 1317024257

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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.

English and British History in 100 Bite-size Chunks
English and British History in 100 Bite-size Chunks

Author: Paul Hodson

Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd

Published: 2020-08-25

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 1838595406

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Very often, history is thought of as that lesson we suffered through at school, made into boring facts and figures rather than the rich and interesting tales that actually comprise it. In English and British History in 100 Bite-size Chunks, history is enlivened and broken down into readable ‘chunks’ that anyone can read, and learn, at their leisure. Beginning at the beginning, with the physical formation of these lands, it ends where we are now, with our current lifestyle, government, society, beliefs, complexities, fears and hopes. It charts the development of England’s characteristics through the great and the good, and ordinary men and women; those who often get the glory and those who lived lives more hidden from history’s storytellers. It brings to life people, places, events and ideas; and successes and failures. This is not a story of England in splendid isolation but a more rounded picture touching on the influences from and on other places and nations, for good or bad, near and far in geography and time. 100 Bitesize Chunks are followed by a recognition of historic themes and some conclusions, and just a glimpse of the possible future history of a nation. A commentary on history itself, how we know, how ‘history works’, what we think of it, and how we care for it – or don’t care for it, this book is an encouragement to study history actively through the evidence we can see and touch and interpret, in museums and in its real locations. Ideal for anyone returning to history or for an enthusiast!