In seeking for English lay people in Rome I have concentrated on those who spent some time there, rather than merely coming for pilgrimage or briefly for diplomacy. The search produced about forty lay men between about 1360 and 1420 who probably carried on a trade of some kind. These are all men whose presence cannot be explained simply by the return of the Roman curia (which I shall discuss separately). The number of lay men whose presence in Rome can be attested is much larger, although some of these were probably there only fleetingly.

Some of the tradesmen had a known place of origin in England. Thus John son of William Champneys, who was active from at least 1374 to 1381 and John White who founded the second English hospice of S Chrysogonus (S Edmund), both merchants, were described as from London, White in fact always being called citizen of London. Another merchant, William Chandler, was from York. His name appears in 1362, acting for the hospice of S Thomas at its foundation, but not again until 1376. John, son of William, a goldsmith also involved in the foundation of the hospice, was from Maxigam, probably Massingham in Norfolk. Two brothers, Simon and John, with Simon's wife Cecilia, were recorded as being from Colchester (de Conchesteri de Encleterr) when buying a house in 1367 which Simon left to S Thomas in 1369. John Salmon of Salisbury with his wife Elena can be traced between 1375 and 1382.