I thought I'd post some snippets out of a new book I've just got (The Medieval City, Norman Pounds) as some might find them interesting.
DOCUMENT 10
Street Life
Life on the streets of a medieval city is best seen through the records of the city’s courts. It was violent; assault and murder were commonplace, and public control of urban development was at best spasmodic and ineffective. Citizens extended their properties into the street, narrowing it until traffic could no longer pass. Steps were cut in the highway to gain access to cellars and basements to the grave danger of pedestrians, and animals were slaughtered and even forges erected in the midst of the highway. Safety precautions, which would today have been normal, were ignored, and the loss of life, especially of the young, was horrendous. The following extracts from the London Eyre of 1244 throws some light on these conditions.
HOMICIDE
John Black “courector” was found strangled in his shop, and Thomas le Custurer who strangled him because of a wound John had dealt him, fled to the hospital of St. Thomas the Martyr across the Bridge, where he died of the wound. The value of Thomas’s chattels is 12 d. [a deodand].
Robert of St. Osith struck Thomas de Haldham on the head with a staff, and killed him. He fled to a church [i.e., sought sanctuary] and acknowledged the deed and abjured the realm.* . . . He had chattels worth 4s.
Honorius le Rumunger killed Roger de Vilers with a knife, and fled to the church of St. Bartholomew, where he acknowledged the death and abjured the realm. He had no chattels and was in frankpledge in the ward of Joce fitz Peter.
*Left the country, swearing never to return.
ACCIDENT
William son of Adam le Cost was crushed by a stone wall which fell upon him, and was killed. Judgment: misadventure. No one is suspected. Value of the wall 1 mark.
[A] woman named Juliana of Camberwell fell from a solar in the house of John de Exeport, and was crushed by the beams of the solar which fell upon her, so that she died. No one is suspected. Judgment: misadventure. Value of the planks 3s.
[A] man named William Aubyn fell into the Thames, pulled in by a bucket which he had in his hand for drawing water, and was drowned. No one is suspected. Judgment: misadventure. Value of the bucket 4d.
STREET OBSTRUCTIONS
A forge stands in the middle of the king’s highway [in Farrington Ward] opposite the New Temple and renders yearly to the king 12d.
Another forge stands in the king’s highway opposite Shoe Lane which renders to the king yearly 6d. by the hands of the same brethren.
Stephen of Bocking has a cellar and a pentice* above the steps of his cellar to the nuisance [of the public]. Let it be demolished.
Andrew the Draper has a cellar the steps of which stand 3 ft. in the king’s highway. The same Andrew has a porch which is to the nuisance
[of the public]. Let them be amended.
*Pentice, a lean-to shelter.
LONDON BRIDGE
The justices ask by what warrant the citizens of the London built upon London Bridge. The City answered that for the most part the fabric of the bridge was maintained by the alms of the citizens of London, and the wardens and brethren of the bridge built mostly from those alms upon the same bridge shops for the maintenance and improvement of the fabric; this did not however cause the deterioration of the street which is sufficiently wide everywhere and those crossing by the bridge do so the more securely and boldly for the buildings built thereon.
DOCUMENT 11
Urban Finances
Most larger towns had an official in charge of its finances. He rendered an account to the city council every year, but the amount of money that he handled was usually very small. There was as a general rule no urban taxation, though there might have been a levy to cover an exceptional expenditure such as the building of the town walls. Maintenance of the streets was the obligation of those who lived along them. Many of the duties which were later to be discharged by the municipal authorities were performed by the parishes of which the city was made up. The chief source of municipal income was the property which it owned and from which it received a rent. Also important were the tolls received for the use of the market and the fines imposed for breaches of urban “laws.” Below is the earliest treasurer’s account for the borough of Cambridge for the year 1347. It shows how petty were the sources of income and how trifling the matters on which it was spent.
RECEIPTS
20s. 9d. received of the old treasurers . . . [i.e., carried over from the previous year]
71s. received of the shops near the wall of the Augustine friars
20s. received of the new shops opposite the Gildhall
£5. 16. [sic] received of divers [various] men purchasing their freedom . . .
66s. 8d. received for divers fines in the Court
PAYMENTS
To the sheriff, for the new gift to him that he would not take victuals, £3; to the undersheriff, half mark*
To Sir Richard de Kelleshall for the new gift to him, 20s.; to his clerk, half mark; to his esquire, 2s.
To Sir William de Tjorp, justice, 40s.; to his clerk, 2s.
To Master John de Thoresby, for his fee, 20s.; in other expenses, 20s.; to the keepers of the horses of the Lord the King, half mark; in wine for the same, 31⁄₂ d.; to John Tayllefor, messenger of the Lord the King, 2s.
To the messenger of the Lord the King, coming for the armed men, 40d.
To a page carrying the writ for the said armed men**
To a messenger carrying the writ for a ship, 2s. [meaning not clear]
Paid the mayor and the bailiffs for their fee, 30s.
To William de Horwood, clerk, for his fee, half mark.
To the same William for a tallage tenth, half mark; to the same William from the tallage of wool, half mark.
Paid William de Lolleworth and Thomas de Cottenham going to London for the Parliament, 20s.
In one cup sent to Matthew Hardy, 54s.
To John de Steping for three gaol deliveries, 18d.***
Paid John de Hilton for the write for the archers, 1 mark
In expenses of Thomas Wyth and William de Horwoode to Ely with the commission for having a ship, 2s. 2d.
In ale for the archers, 6d.
In clay bought for the Great Bridge, 2s.
In wine for the King’s ministers, 8d.
In timber for the pillory,**** and divers expenses for the same, 12s. 9d.
To Johnde Hilton going to the admiral, 1 mark; in expenses of the same then and one horse for his esquire, 3s. 7d.; in expenses of the said John returningfrom the admiral, 14d.; paid the same John for his labor, 2 marks; to his esquire, 40d.
*A mark was 6s. 8d., or two-thirds of a pound. It was a unit of value very commonly
used.
**A legal writ authorizing the conscription of soldiers.
***A gaol delivery; the king’s judges toured the royal prisons and heard the cases against all the prisoners being held there, thus “delivering” or emptying the gaols. Hanging was almost the only penalty inflicted on the guilty.
****Pillory, a wooden structure in which the guilty were fastened by the neck and hands to a wooden cross and held up to the ridicule of the crowd.
DOCUMENT 12
Citizenship
62. Be it known . . . that no one may be in the City as a citizen, and stay there and enjoy the law of the City for more than three nights, unless he finds two pledges [guarantors of his good behavior] and thus is in frankpledge; and if he stays one night longer in the City . . . and commits a felony or does anything in breach of the king’s peace, and does not stand his trial, the alderman in whose ward he was, ought to be in
mercy for harbouring him . . . when he was not in frankpledge.
209. The mayor and sheriffs are ordered to take into the king’s hand all the houses and buildings which belonged to Bernard de Salette in the City of London, because he was a stranger [alien?] and not in lot and scot, and did not belong to the liberty of the City; and they are to enquire concerning the chattels which the said Bernard had and to answer for them.
