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The English Farmers of the Customs, 1343–51

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

E. B. Fryde
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Extract

The story of the English farmers of the customs has hitherto concerned historians mainly because of its bearing on the history of the House of Commons. By their control over the customs and through the influence they exerted over the other English merchants, these financiers obstructed the efforts of the commons to establish parliamentary control over indirect taxation. The nature of this challenge has been clearly explained by George Unwin and Eileen Power. Edward III wished to finance the war with France by levying a heavy subsidy on exported wool (ultimately 40s. per sack) over and above the traditional light duty of 6s. 8d. per sack. The subsidy was disliked by the producers of wool, because they were convinced that it pushed down the price of wool in England. The commons who voiced this opposition were, however, powerless to prevent the collection of the subsidy as long as the wool merchants were willing to sanction its continuance and as long as the king could find English business men who would make satisfactory advances on the security of this revenue. Unwin has discussed in detail one set of developments that gradually ended this challenge to parliamentary control over indirect taxation. He was able to show how the leading financiers, by their selfish behaviour, destroyed the unity of the English wool merchants, made impossible further concerted action by merchant assemblies and forced the majority of the merchants to act in future ‘with and through the commons’.

Type
Research Article
Information
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 9 , December 1959 , pp. 1 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1959

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References

Page 1 note 1 Unwin, G., ‘The Estate of Merchants, 1336–1365’, in Finance and Trade under Edwardlll, ed. Unwin, G. (Manchester, 1918), pp. 179–255Google Scholar; Power, E., The Wool Trade in English Medieval History (Oxford, 1941)Google Scholar. The subject is also discussed by Wilkinson, B., Studies in the Constitutional History of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries (2nd ed., Manchester, 1952), pp. 55–81Google Scholar.

Page 2 note 1 In Eileen, Power's words, op. cit., p. 84Google Scholar.

Page 2 note 2 Fryde, E. B., ‘Edward III's War Finance, 1337–41’ (D.Phil, dissertation, Oxford, 1947)Google Scholar. Unpublished documents referred to in subsequent notes are all in the Public Record Office, London.

Page 2 note 3 Enrolled account of the Hansards, Pipe R. 16 Edw. Ill, E. 372/187, m.54d; view of account, L.T.R. Memoranda R. 18 Edw. III, E. 368/116, Status et Visus Compotorum, Hilary, m. 4; certificate sent to the chancery (with notes of further payments), Chancery Miscellanea, C. 47/87/4, no. 31.

Page 3 note 1 Enrolled accounts in L.T.R. Miscellaneous Acc, E. 358/10, mm. 26–7.

Page 3 note 2 Agreements with the king: Cal. Close R. 1343–6, pp. 217–18 (29 April 1343), 266–67 (8 July 1343), 573–74 (1 March 1345). Enrolled account, L.T.R. Customs Ace, E. 356/4, m. 1. Detailed ‘state of account’, K.R. Memoranda R. 19 Edw. Ill, mm. 243–44 (Recorda, Trinity). The history of the company is traced by Sayles, G., ‘The “English Company” of 1343 and a Merchant's Oath’, Speculum, vi (1931), pp. 177–205CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Important evidence about the circumstances of its liquidation is in Exchequer Plea R., E. 13/78, mm. 34–5, and in Cal. Close R. 1343–6, pp. 648–9 (30 August 1345).

Page 3 note 3 Agreements with the king: Cal. Close R. 1343–6, pp. 648 (24 August 1345), 670–1 (8 November 1345), Cal. Close R. 1346–9, pp. 52 (15 February 1346), 290–1 (sale of royal wool, 2 April 1347). Accounts on Pipe R. 21 Edw. Ill, Res. London, (E. 372/192), continued on the London membranes of Pipe Rolls for 22–24 Edw. III; later debts of Wesenham were traced in the London membranes of the successive Pipe Rolls down to 30 Edw. III. Detailed ‘state of account’, Memoranda, K.R. R. 20 Edw. III, mm. 149–53Google Scholar (Recorda, Easter).

Page 4 note 1 Agreements with the king: Cal. Close R. 1346–9, pp. 72–4 (21 May 1346), 248–49 (14 February 1347), 290–1 (sale of royal wool, 2 April 1347), L.T.R. Memoranda R. 23 Edw. Ill, m. 164 (2 March 1347), Cal. Patent R. 1348S0, p. 145, and K.R. Memoranda R. 23 Edw. Ill, mm. 120d–121 (2 May 1348). Accounts on Pipe R. 21 Edw. Ill, Res. London, continued on the London membranes of Pipe Rolls for 22–25 Edw. Ill; later debts of Chiriton and Co. were traced in the London membranes of the successive Pipe Rolls down to 30 Edw. III. Detailed ‘states of account’: L.T.R. Memoranda Rolls 22, 23, 24 and 26 Edw. Ill, Status et Visus Compotorum, and K.R. Memoranda R. 23 Edw. Ill, mm. 120d–121 (for the crucial period 1348–9). Business correspondence and vouchers: K.R. Exchequer Ace Various, E. 101/128/3 and K.R. Customs Ace, E. 122/197/file 4, E. 122/158/13, E. 122/7/8. Special claims for allowances: E. 122/158/9A, L.T.R. Memoranda R. 26 Edw. Ill, mm. 238–41 and E. 122/158/14. Much information was also derived from Receipt and Issue Rolls for 1346–9 and from Exchequer Plea Rolls, E. 13/nos. 77–9.

Page 4 note 2 Agreement with the king, , Cal. Close R. 1349S4, pp. 98–100 (21 04 1349)Google Scholar. Agreement between Chiriton company and its sureties, Memoranda, L.T.R. R. 30 Edw. III, Recorda, Hilary, m. 12 (24 05 1349)Google Scholar. Account, K.R. Customs Acc., E. 122/158/37. Petition of the sureties for allowances, E. 122/158/38. Trial of the sureties, Memoranda, L.T.R. R. 30 Edw. III, Recorda, Michaelmas, mm. 17–26Google Scholar.

Page 4 note 3 The totals in this paragraph do not include the old royal debts redeemed by the farmers.

Page 5 note 1 The Bardi of Florence possessed in 1318 assets valued at 875,000 florins (equivalent, at the rate of 3s. to 1 florin, to £131, 250). Cf. Sapori, A., La Crlsi delle Compagnie Mercantili dei Bardi e dei Peruzzi (Florence, 1926), p. 216Google Scholar.

Page 5 note 2 Exchequer Plea R., E. 13/78, mm. 34–5; see also a list of debts in Sayles, , loc. cit., pp. 196–8Google Scholar.

Page 5 note 3 Beardwood, A., Alien Merchants in England, 1350 to 1377 (Cambridge, Mass., 1931), pp. 17–21Google Scholar, summarizes the main facts of Limberg's career.

Page 6 note 1 Exchequer Plea R., E. 13/78, m. 116.

Page 6 note 2 Rot[uli] Parl[iamentorum], ii. 200 (no. 4).

Page 6 note 3 K.R. Customs Acc, E. 122/158/37, and L.T.R. Memoranda R. 30 Edw. III, Recorda, Michaelmas, m. 18d.

Page 6 note 4 E. 122/158/37. The regular expenses were assessed at £631 6s. 8d. a year. In two and a half years the keepers of the customs actually spent £1,718 6s. 8d. (including some extraordinary expenditure).

Page 7 note 1 E. 122/7/8 no. 11. Several other mandates about the rebates on customs in the same file.

Page 7 note 2 Exchequer Plea R., E. 13/75, m. 21 and E. 13/79, m. 99; K.R. Memoranda R. 41 Edw. III, Recorda, Easter, m. 7.

Page 7 note 3 Rot. Parl., ii. 170 (no. 49).

Page 7 note 4 Ibid., pp. 169 (no. 38), 201 (no. 8).

Page 7 note 5 K.R. Customs Ace., E. 122/149/3.

Page 8 note 1 Rot. Pad., ii. 170 (no. 49).

Page 8 note 2 ‘Testatum est per plures fidedignos quod communiter libra empta fuit pro iis. et iis. vid. et raro ad plus’: K.R. Customs Acc, E. 122/158/37.

Page 8 note 3 Royal debts amounting to at least £84,000 were redeemed by the farmers and some other English financiers between 1343 and 1355.

Page 9 note 1 No satisfactory life of Pole exists. The latest biography is in Harvey, A. S., The de la Pole family of Kingston upon Hull (East Yorkshire Local History Society, 1957)Google Scholar.

Page 9 note 2 All the foregoing evidence on Pole's relations with his partners is derived from Sayles, loc. cit.

Page 9 note 3 Fryde, E. B., ‘Edward III's Wool Monopoly of 1337’, History, xxxvii (1952)Google Scholar.

Page 9 note 4 Pole tried to persuade the king of the potential value of his services while he was still in prison (Ancient Petitions, S.C. 8, no. 3369).

Page 10 note 1 Gifts of valuable plate by Pole to the king at Easter 1344 (Wetwang's wardrobe book, E. 101/390/12, p. 50); royal order to return Pole's lands, 27 April 1344 (Cal. Close R. 1343–6, p. 311).

Page 10 note 2 Exchequer Plea R., E. 13/79, m. 59.

Page 10 note 3 Pole, Thomas and WIIIiam Melchebourn, Walter Chiriton, Walter Prest, Roger Wolesthorp and Henry Tideswell. The last two should probably be regarded as personal agents of Pole.

Page 10 note 4 Sayles, , loc. cit., p. 204Google Scholar.

Page 11 note 1 Exchequer Plea R., E. 13/78, mm. 34–5.

Page 11 note 2 Sayles, loc. cit.

Page 11 note 3 Issue R. Michaelmas 1345–6, E. 403/336, under 10 April 1346.

Page 11 note 4 L.T.R. Mem. R. 23 Edw. III, m. 164: ‘par cause qils ont pris noz dites custumes a ferme dune graunt somme par an plus haut q'autres y voudreient doner’.

Page 11 note 5 Exchequer Plea R., E. 13/78, m. 116.

Page 12 note 1 Ancient Petitions, S.C. 8/111, no. 5519.

Page 12 note 2 They were in all likelihood Flemings, but may have been Brabanters.

Page 12 note 3 A statement of Chiriton and Co. about their losses, K.R. Customs Acc, E. 122/ 197/4, file 4.

Page 12 note 4 A third partner, Gilbert Wendlyngburgh, joined Chiriton and Swanland.

Page 12 note 5 E. 122/197/4, file 3, no. 15: ‘et lessez les draps estre perditz qar nous ne porroms qant a ore faire le paiement’.

Page 12 note 6 L.T.R. Mem. R. 23 Edw. III, m. 163.

Page 13 note 1 K.R. Mem. R. 23 Edw. III, mm. 120d–121.

Page 13 note 2 L.T.R. Mem. R. 26 Edw. III, m. 239d: ‘arrestum huiusmodi … factum fuit ad procuracionem ipsorum mercatorum ut ipsi lanas suas in Anglia foro meliori emere et postmodum carius vendere possent in partibus transmarinis’.

Page 13 note 3 E. 122/158/14.

Page 14 note 1 E. 122/197/4 and E. 122/7/8.

Page 14 note 2 Exchequer Plea R., E. 13/78, mm. 18–19.

Page 14 note 3 Cal. Close R. 1346–9, p. 260 and Exchequer Plea R., E. 13/79, mm. 17–18.

Page 14 note 4 Forgeries of wardrobe bIIIs and dealings in them: Cal. Pat. R. 1345–8, p. 117; Steel, A., ‘The Negotiation of Wardrobe Debentures in the Fourteenth Century’, Eng. Hist. Rev., xliv (1929)Google Scholar; Sayles, G. O., ‘A Dealer in Wardrobe Bills’, Econ. Hist. Rev., iii (1931)Google Scholar. Dordrecht bonds: L.T.R. Mem. R. 24 Edw. III, mm. 234–5. For a shocking case of double repayment see K.R. Mem. R. 23 Edw. III, Recorda, Hilary, mm. 6–8 (Paul de Monte Florum and John Pulteney). Appointment of a special exchequer official to scrutinize restored royal obligations, K.R. Mem. R. 27 Edw. III, mm. 137–9.

Page 14 note 5 Cal. Close R. 1346–9, p. 606.

Page 15 note 1 L.T.R. Mem. R. 24 Edw. 111, mm. 32d–33.

Page 15 note 2 L.T.R. Mem. R. 23 Edw. III, mm. 162d–164. This was the debt for which they were imprisoned.

Page 15 note 3 L.T.R. Mem. R. 26 Edw. III, m. 239d (assignment of £1,000 in favour of the Black Prince), m. 241 (assignment of £5,000 in favour of the earl of Lancaster).

Page 15 note 4 Memoranda Rolls: E. 159/125, mm. 120d–121; E. 368/122, m. 240; E. 368/124, mm. 238–41. The creditors were Henry Picard, John Pulteney, Nicholas Ploket, Adam Fraunceys and John Pyel, all of London, Walter Payl of Melton Mowbray and WIIIiam Pembridge.

Page 16 note 1 Orders to sheriffs to seize the lands and goods of Chiriton and Co., 15 March 1349 (Cal. Close R. 1349–54, p. 61).

Page 16 note 2 L.T.R. Mem. R. 23 Edw. 111, mm. 162–64.

Page 16 note 3 Malwayn's statement in November 1355 (E. 122/158/38, m. 1). For examples of the ‘misbehaviour’ of Chiriton and Co. see Exchequer Plea Rolls, E. 13/75, mm. 12d–14, and mm. 29–31, E. 13/76 m. 4, and Cal. Patent R. 1350–4, pp. 265–6.

Page 16 note 4 L.T.R. Mem. R. 24 Edw. 111, m. 240.

Page 16 note 5 L.T.R. Customs Acc, E. 356/4, m. 3.

Page 17 note 1 Rot. Parl., ii. 246–53 (especially no. 6, p. 247).