Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mercantile Finance

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Government and Merchant Finance in Anglo-Gascon Trade, 1300–1500

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance ((PSHF))

  • 190 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter illustrates the close link between trade, monetary flows, credit, and investment. The key institutions of mercantile finance—investment through enforceable debt and equity partnerships—were both dependent on their underlying commodity markets. Capital in commercial enterprises thus originated in privileged centres of the wine trade, particularly Bordeaux and London, though England’s West Country contributed considerable shipping. The very volatility of those markets created serious problems in 1337–44, 1348–50, 1368–75, 1405–8, and 1437–45, when war and plague led to a collapse in investment in goods and ships. Merchants formed new associations as an adaptation to pool capital, which, though successful in the short run, proved insufficient to prevent an overall decline in trade.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Beardwood, Alien Merchants in England, 59–75. For more on the Gascons in England in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, see Lloyd, Alien Merchants in England, 84–96.

  2. 2.

    CPR, 1330–1334, 429.

  3. 3.

    CPR, 1364–1367, 47, 59.

  4. 4.

    GSR, C 61/73: 2, 15; C 61/74: 1, 26, 101, 110, 116; C 61/75: 40; C 61/76: 50; C 61/76: 74; C 61/86: 66–7; C 61/86: 70–1, 73; C 61/87: 15, 18, 21, 24–6, 28, 31–3, 36–8, 49, 56, 57, 64–5, 69, 72, 84; C 61/89: 1; C 61/91: 41, 46, 51, 57, 66; C 61/92: 29; C 61/95: 1; C 61/98: 63–4; C 61/99: 9, 46; C 61/100: 1, 47, 54–7; C 61/101: 74; C 61/102: 14, 33, 35, 40, 45–6, 49; C 61/103: 23, 36; C 61/104: 11, 18, 21; C 61/105: 25; C 61/108: 1; CCR, 1385–1389, 183.

  5. 5.

    Bordeaux sous les rois d’Angleterre, 436; also see Blackmore, ‘The Political Economy of the Anglo-Gascon Wine Trade’, vol. 1, 139–50.

  6. 6.

    S. Lavaud, ‘Les marchands et le vin à Bordeaux (XIIIe– début XVIe siècle): des destins liés’, Nouveau bulletin de la Société internationale des amis de Montaigne, 4 (2008), 209–27, at 224–5.

  7. 7.

    For analysis of types of holdings, see Lodge, ‘The Estates of the Archbishop’, 49–81, 131–55.

  8. 8.

    See Blackmore, ‘The Political Economy of the Anglo-Gascon Wine Trade’, vol. 1, 139–150; vol 2, 58–75.

  9. 9.

    TNA, E 101/173/4; E 101/192/1; E 101/194/3; E 101/195/19; data in Blackmore, ‘The Political Economy of the Anglo-Gascon Wine Trade’, vol. 1, 123–38; vol 2, 15–32, also see idem, ‘Profit out of “desolation”: the Anglo-Gascon wine trade (1368–1381)’, in G. Pépin (ed.), Anglo-Gascon Aquitaine: Problems and Perspectives (Woodbridge, 2017), 121–140, particularly at 133–138.

  10. 10.

    Vale, English Gascony, 24.

  11. 11.

    TNA, E 101/173/4, fols 108v, 109v, 110r, 111r, 111v, 118v, 120r, 122r, 122v, 124r.

  12. 12.

    For biographical details of Gerald de Podio, see Fasti Ecclesiae Gallicanae [hereafter FEG]: Répertoire prosopographique des évêques, dignitaires et chanoines des diocèses de France de 1200 à 1500, Tome. XIII, Diocèse de Bordeaux, par F. Lainé, avec la collaboration de H. Labarthe, S. Lavaud, J-M. Matz, V. Tabbagh (Turnhout, 2012), 304–5.

  13. 13.

    TNA, E 101/167/16, nos 34, 37, 39; E 101/173/4, fols 40v, 124r.

  14. 14.

    James, Studies, 200, 202, 214.

  15. 15.

    The Cely papers, 185–8.

  16. 16.

    CPR, 1361–1364, 492, 496–7, 510–11, 521–22; CPR, 1364–1367, 13, 15, 16–7, 25, 32, 50, 59.

  17. 17.

    These were Thomas Berkele, Richard Blake, Henry Boseworth, John Brynnyngham, John Cavendissh, William Chirchegate, John Clyvele, Thomas Cornwalays, Geoffrey Cremelford, William de Cressyngham, William de Fletestret, John de Hatfeld, Robert de La More, William de Strete, John de York, Walter Doget, Thomas Gysors, Roger Long, John Michel, Geoffrey Neuton, William Norton, John Ponder, John Rothyng, William Sharpyng, Richard Sprot, William Sterre, John Stodeye, William Stodeye, and William Stokesby. A thirtieth London merchant named Clement Lavender also appears but who was known to be a Fishmonger (CPR, 1364–1367, 34); for more on London’s merchants, one of the best studies is still S. L. Thrupp, The Merchant Class of Medieval London (Michigan, 1948, repr. 1962).

  18. 18.

    These had occurred in 1363, ‘Edward III: October 1363’, item 23, PROME, BHO; CCR, 1364–1368, 75–6; Statutes of the Realm, vol. 1, 379 (37 Edw. III, c.5), 384, (38 Edw. III, st.1, c.11); and again in 1368, ‘Edward III: May 1368’, item 17, PROME, BHO; Statutes of the Realm, vol. 1, 389, (42 Edw. III, c.8).

  19. 19.

    Crawford, Vintners, 42.

  20. 20.

    Ibid., 46–7.

  21. 21.

    TNA, E 101/80/15, E 101/80/16, E 101/80/17, E 101/80/18, E 101/80/19, E 101/80/20, E 101/80/22; E 213/333.

  22. 22.

    C. Frost, Notices Relative to the Early History of the Town and Port of Hull (London, 1827), 147–8.

  23. 23.

    The History and Antiquities of the City of York, 3 (York, 1785), 30.

  24. 24.

    F. Blomefield, An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk, 3 (London, 1806), 99–100.

  25. 25.

    CPR, 1364–1367, 13, 15–7.

  26. 26.

    CPR, 1361–1364, 492, 496, 500, 510, 521; CPR, 1364–1367, 32, 50.

  27. 27.

    Kowaleski, Local Markets and Regional Trade, 27.

  28. 28.

    CPR, 1361–1364, 496–7, 500, 511, 521–2; CPR, 1364–1367, 13, 15–7, 25, 50, 59.

  29. 29.

    James, Studies, 93–118, particularly 98.

  30. 30.

    GSR, C 61/73–8; C 61/80; C 61/84–92; C 61/95–6; C 61/98–105; CCR, 1360–1364, 27; CCR, 1385–1389, 183; CCR, 1389–1392, 227, 390; CCR, 1392–1396, 64, 72, 139–140, 169; CCR, 1396–1399, 185; CPR, 1364–1367, 32; CPR, 1367–1370, 33; CPR, 1364–1367, 50, 59, 61, 86, 101, 211, 324, 378; CPR, 1367–1370, 109; CPR, 1370–1374, 86; CPR, 1385–1389, 281.

  31. 31.

    James, Studies, 167.

  32. 32.

    TNA, E 101/173/4, fols 8r, 18r, 20r, 30r.

  33. 33.

    TNA, E 101/173/4, fol. 124r; ‘Wills: 50 Edward III (1376–7)’, in R. R. Sharpe (ed.), Calendar of Wills Proved and Enrolled in the Court of Husting, London: Part 2, 1358–1688 (London, 1890), 186–93, BHO.

  34. 34.

    TNA, E 101/167/16, no. 21; E 101/173/4, fols 23r, 27v.

  35. 35.

    For the English community in Bordeaux from the mid-fourteenth century, see S. Lavaud, ‘Une communauté enracinée: les Anglais a Bordeaux a la fin du moyen age’, Revue historique de Bordeaux et du departement de la Gironde, 1 (2002), 35–48; James, Studies, 70–88.

  36. 36.

    Livre des bouillons, 156, 381–2.

  37. 37.

    TNA, E 101/170/17, m. 5.

  38. 38.

    TNA, E 101/173/4, fols 8r, 8v, 27r, 34v, 35v, 36v, 40v, 42v, 43v, 52v, 62r, 69r, 72r, 73r, 74v, 78r, 84r, 86v, 87v, 89r, 103r, 104v, 105v, 107r, 108v, 112r, 113r, 115r, 119r, 121v, 122v, 125v, 126v.

  39. 39.

    TNA, E 101/602/3, fols 5r, 8v, 9v, 13v, 16r, 18r, 21r, 47r; E 101/180/2, fols 13r, 38r, 41r; E 101/182/6, fols 14v, 15r, 17v, 19r, 19v, 21r, 21v, 31v, 32r, 37r, 43v, 45r, 81r, 82r, 82v E 101/183/11, fols 6v, 7r, 7v, 8r, 18r, 24v, 27v, 37r, 40r, 49r, 57r, 59r, 65r, 67r, 68r.

  40. 40.

    Lavaud, ‘Une communauté enracinée’, 35–48, at 41.

  41. 41.

    ADG, G 2640.

  42. 42.

    TNA, E 101/182/6, fol. 19v.

  43. 43.

    The tombstone of John Scot and his wife is now on display in the medieval section of the Aquitaine museum in Bordeaux (Musée d’Aquitaine, Inv. 12 595).

  44. 44.

    Calculated by the author (based on prices from Clark, English Prices and Wages and James, Studies, 50–2, 60–3; freightage rates calculated from ibid., 151–3; for taxes, see Sects. 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5). These are explained in Blackmore, ‘The Political Economy of the Anglo-Gascon Wine Trade’, vol. 1, 115.

  45. 45.

    Statutes of the Realm, vol. 1, 331 (27 Edw. III, st.1, c. 5–7); ibid., vol. 2, 343 (23 Hen. VI, c. 17).

  46. 46.

    TNA, E 101/189/8, m. 8; E 364/67, m. 4.

  47. 47.

    ‘Henry VI: February 1445’, item 45, PROME, BHO.

  48. 48.

    T. K. Heebøll-Holm, Ports, Piracy and Maritime War: Piracy in the English Channel and the Atlantic, c. 1280-c. 1330 (Leiden, 2013), 77.

  49. 49.

    F. E. de Roover, ‘Early Examples of Marine Insurance’, The Journal of Economic History, 5:2 (1945), 172–200; L. Piccinno, ‘Genoa, 1340–1620: Early Development of Marine Insurance’, in A. B. Leonard (ed.), Marine Insurance Origins and Institutions, 1300–1850 (Basingstoke, 2016), 151–76, at 25–45; M. Kohn, ‘Risk Instruments in the Medieval and Early Modern Economy’, Dartmouth College, Department of Economics Working Paper No. 99-07 (1999). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=151871 or https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.151871

  50. 50.

    A. H. Thomas (ed.), Calendar of plea & memoranda rolls of the City of London preserved among the archives of the Corporation of London at the Guildhall, AD 1413–1437 (Cambridge, 1943), 208–210; this is discussed by A. B. Leonard, ‘London 1426–1601: Marine Insurance and the Law Merchant’, in A. B. Leonard (ed.), Marine Insurance Origins and Institutions, 1300–1850 (Basingstoke, 2016), 151–76, at 153, 155–6.

  51. 51.

    Leonard, ‘Marine Insurance and the Law Merchant’, 151–176, at 155.

  52. 52.

    Roover, ‘Early Examples of Marine Insurance’, 189, 192–3.

  53. 53.

    TNA, E 101/80/22, mm. 1–2.

  54. 54.

    Based on a sample of 12,862 tuns in 2933 shipments across 1348–1449, TNA, E 101/167/16; E 101/170/17; E 101/173/4; E 101/602/3; E 101/180/2; E 101/182/6; E 101/182/6; E 101/183/11; E 101/184/19; E 101/185/9; E 101/188/14; E 101/190/6; E 101/191/3; E 101/192/1; E 101/194/3; E 101/195/19; author’s numbers, Blackmore, ‘The Political Economy of the Anglo-Gascon Wine Trade’, vol. 2, 15–32, 38, 58–75, 76.

  55. 55.

    Labarge, Gascony, 10; also see Rose, ‘Bayonne and the King’s Ships’, 140–7.

  56. 56.

    M. Kowaleski, ‘Warfare, Shipping, and Crown Patronage: The Impact of the Hundred Years War on the Port Towns of Medieval England’, in M. Elbl, I. Elbl, L. Armstrong (eds.), Money, Markets and Trade in Late Medieval Europe: Essays in Honour of John H. A. Munro (Leiden, 2007), 233–54, particularly at 243–7.

  57. 57.

    Idem, ‘Port Towns in England and Wales 1300–1540’, in D. Palliser (ed.), The Urban History of Britain, 1 (Cambridge, 2000), 467–94, particularly 484–7.

  58. 58.

    Idem, ‘Warfare, Shipping, and Crown Patronage’, 241–4, 246–7.

  59. 59.

    Calculated by the author with the aid of The Merchant Fleet of Late Medieval and Tudor England, 1400–1580 (2017), <medievalandtudorships.org>, accessed on 22/11/17.

  60. 60.

    D. A. Pearsall, Life of Geoffrey Chaucer: A Critical Biography (Oxford, 1992), 105; Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, 388–410, in L. D. Benson (ed.), The Riverside Chaucer (Oxford, 2008).

  61. 61.

    Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, 388–410; for an extensive study of maritime trade in this period involving Dartmouth, see M. Kowaleski, ‘Shipping and the Carrying Trade in Medieval Dartmouth’, in M-L. Heckmann, J. Röhrkasten, Von Nowgorod bis London: Studien zu Handel, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft im mittelalterlichen Europa. Festschrift für Stuart Jenks zum 60. Geburtstag. (Göttingen, 2008), 465–87.

  62. 62.

    CCR, 1381–1385, 480–1.

  63. 63.

    Kowaleski, ‘Warfare, Shipping, and Crown Patronage’, 233–54, at 245.

  64. 64.

    Idem, Local Markets and Regional Trade, 242–3.

  65. 65.

    Ibid., 19, 27, 34, 107–8, 252–5.

  66. 66.

    TNA, E 101/173/4.

  67. 67.

    Childs, Anglo-Castilian Trade, 129, 132.

  68. 68.

    TNA, E 101/185/11.

  69. 69.

    Bordeaux de 1453 à 1715, sous la direction de R. Boutruche, avec la collaboration de J. Bernard, L. Desgraves, F. Giteau, F. Loirette et P. Roudié, Histoire de Bordeaux, 4, sous la direction de C. Higounet (Bordeaux, 1966), 120–5.

  70. 70.

    CCR, 1435–1441, 470–1.

  71. 71.

    James, Studies, 133–7.

  72. 72.

    TNA, C 47/24/9/1.

  73. 73.

    James, Studies, 15–9, 124–33, 142.

  74. 74.

    Calculated by the author from data given in James, Studies, 151–3; also see Table A.5 for fleet sizes.

  75. 75.

    James, Studies, 141–2.

  76. 76.

    TNA, E 101/54/14.

  77. 77.

    R. W. Dunning, ‘Luttrell [Lutterell] family (per. c. 1200–1428), gentry’, in ODNB.

  78. 78.

    Somerset Record Office – Somerset Heritage Centre, DD/L/P/1/16/15.

  79. 79.

    P. Connolly, ‘Windsor, William, Baron Windsor (1322x8–1384), administrator’, in ODNB.

  80. 80.

    TNA, SC 8/95/4706.

  81. 81.

    TNA, SC 8/192/9573; CCR, 1318–1323, 163–4.

  82. 82.

    For further examples, see TNA, SC 8/188/9366; C 1/7/186; C 1/15/147; C 1/27/84; C 1/188/55.

  83. 83.

    They are described as such in parliamentary records for 1390, 1393, and 1439: ‘Richard II: November 1390’, item 37, PROME, BHO; ‘Richard II: January 1393’, item 24, ibid.; ‘Henry VI: November 1439’, item 44, ibid.

  84. 84.

    C. Lambert, ‘Henry V and the crossing to France: reconstructing naval operations for the Agincourt campaign, 1415’, Journal of Medieval History, 43:1 (2017), 24–39, at 29–30.

  85. 85.

    TNA, SC 8/13/636; ‘Edward III: January 1348’, item 59, PROME, BHO.

  86. 86.

    ‘Edward III: November 1372’, item 20, PROME, BHO.

  87. 87.

    ‘Richard II: November 1390’, item 37, PROME, BHO; ‘Henry IV: March 1406, Part 1’, items 20–6, PROME, BHO; ‘Henry V: March 1416’, item 31, PROME, BHO.

  88. 88.

    For export figures, see James, Studies, 32–3, 55–6.

  89. 89.

    This peculiarity is always noted in the constables’ accounts along with the killage figures and revenues, for example, TNA, E 101/179/9, 6r.

  90. 90.

    Statutes of the Realm, vol. 2, 18–9 (5 Rich. II, c.4).

  91. 91.

    The mean annual number of ships paying killage was: 15.25 in 1431–5, and 19.85 in 1435–9, but this rose to 31.50 in 1442–6 and 24.47 in 1446–51. This is calculated from the foreign account rolls, TNA, E 364/70, m. 9; E 364/75, m. 5 dorso; E 364/84, m. 20, E 364/91, m 13.

  92. 92.

    ‘Henry VI: February 1445’, items 44–5 (45–6), 50 (51), PROME, BHO; TNA, SC 8/190/9467; SC 8/199/9901; C 49/26/8.

  93. 93.

    Postan, Trade and Finance, 65–91, these definitions are at 66–7.

  94. 94.

    For more on the common features and development of the commenda contract, see J. H. Pryor, ‘The Origins of the Commenda Contract’, Speculum, 52:1 (1977), 5–37.

  95. 95.

    Postan, Trade and Finance, 68–9, 72–82.

  96. 96.

    Ibid., 67–9, 83–91.

  97. 97.

    TNA, E 101/80/22, mm. 1–2.

  98. 98.

    GSR, C 61/75: 48.

  99. 99.

    GSR, C 61/53: 113.

  100. 100.

    GSR, C 61/113: 68.

  101. 101.

    TNA, E 101/691/3.

  102. 102.

    Postan, Medieval Trade and Finance, 85.

  103. 103.

    TNA, E 101/78/3a; E 101/78/4a; E 101/78/9; E 101/78/10; E 101/78/13; E 101/78/14.

  104. 104.

    TNA, E 101/80/1; E 101/80/3.

  105. 105.

    TNA, E 101/80/3; E 101/80/4; E 101/80/5; E 101/80/6; E 101/80/7; E 101/80/9; E 101/80/11; E 101/80/12; E 101/80/13; E 101/80/14; E 101/80/15; E 101/80/16; E 101/80/17.

  106. 106.

    TNA, E 101/80/18; E 101/80/19; E 101/80/20; E 101/80/22; E 101/80/23.

  107. 107.

    TNA, E 101/80/25; E 101/81/1; E 101/81/5; E 101/81/8; E 101/81/12; E 101/81/15; E 101/81/16; E 101/82/2.

  108. 108.

    TNA, E 101/81/16.

  109. 109.

    S. L. Thrupp, ‘A Survey of the Alien Population of England in 1440’, Speculum, 32:2 (1957), 262–273, at 262.

  110. 110.

    TNA, E 101/81/16; E 101/82/2.

  111. 111.

    TNA, E 101/80/22.

  112. 112.

    Jean Froissart, Chronicles, MS Besançon 864, fols 343v–347v, in TOF; Walsingham, Historia Anglicana, 314.

  113. 113.

    CPR, 1361–1364, 492, 496–7, 500, 510–1, 521–2, 522; CPR, 1364–1367, 13, 15–7, 25, 32, 47, 50, 59, 61, 86, 101, 211, 324, 378; CPR, 1367–1370, 33, 109.

  114. 114.

    TNA, E 101/80/16.

  115. 115.

    CPR, 1364–1367, 59.

  116. 116.

    GSR, C 61/73–8; C 61/80; C 61/84–92; C 61/95–6; C 61/98–105; C 61/108–14; C 61/116–32; C 61/134; C 61/137–9; CCR, 1360–1364, 27; CCR, 1385–1389, 183; CCR, 1389–1392, 227, 390; CCR, 1392–1396, 64, 72, 139–140, 169; CCR, 1396–1399, 185; CCR, 1401–1405, 13, 197, 461; CCR, 1405–1409, 434; CCR, 1409–1413, 114; CCR, 1419–1422, 159; CCR, 1422–1429, 161–162; CCR, 1435–1441, 94; CPR, 1364–1367, 32; CPR, 1367–1370, 33; CPR, 1364–1367, 50, 59, 61, 86, 101, 211, 324, 378; CPR, 1367–1370, 109; CPR, 1370–1374, 86; CPR, 1385–1389, 281; CPR, 1401–1405, 325; CPR, 1416–1422, 59, 299.

  117. 117.

    Postan, Medieval Trade and Finance, 5–11 particularly 6; Postan, ‘Credit in medieval trade’, 234–61; James, Studies, 77–8, 281–7. This view was perpetuated by Vale, English Gascony, 15.

  118. 118.

    A. R. Bell, C. Brooks, T. K. Moore, ‘The Non-use of Money in the Middle Ages’, in M. Allen, N. Mayhew (eds.), Money and Its Use in Medieval Europe Three Decades On: Essays in Honour of Professor Peter Spufford, Royal Numismatic Society Special Publication, 52 (London, 2017), 137–152, at 141–5.

  119. 119.

    For an excellent description of the problem of usury in the Middle Ages, see Wood, Medieval Economic Thought, 181–96.

  120. 120.

    J. H. Munro, ‘The Medieval Origins of the Financial Revolution: Usury, Rentes, and Negotiability’, The International History Review, 25:3 (2003), 505–562, at 507.

  121. 121.

    Wood, Medieval Economic Thought, 168; GSR, C 61/32: 304 (see GSR notes); C 61/33: 318.

  122. 122.

    For the alternative methods used to disguise interest or otherwise reward capital, see Wood, Medieval Economic Thought, 186–205; Favier, Gold and Spices, 193–210.

  123. 123.

    Hunt, Murray, History of Business, 63–67; N. J. G. Pounds, An Economic History of Medieval Europe (London, 1974), 415–20; Bell, Brooks, Moore, ‘Cambium non est mutuum’, 373–96.

  124. 124.

    Wood, Medieval Economic Thought, 188–90; Favier, Gold and Spices, 193–210.

  125. 125.

    ‘Henry VI: July 1433’, item 51, PROME, BHO; TNA, SC 8/26/1284.

  126. 126.

    P. Nightingale, Enterprise, Money and Credit in England before the Black Death 1285–1349 (London, 2018), 60–63.

  127. 127.

    R. R. Sharpe (ed.), Calendar of Letter-Books of the City of London: A, 1275–1298 (London, 1899), BHO; R. R. Sharpe (ed.), Calendar of Letter-Books of the City of London: B, 1275–1312 (London, 1900), BHO. G. Unwin, ‘London Tradesmen and Their Creditors’, in G. Unwin (ed.), Finance and Trade Under Edward III (Manchester, 1918, repr. 1962), 19–34, at 20–2; Postan, ‘Credit in Medieval Trade’, 234–261 at 235, also in Postan, Medieval Trade and Finance, 5–11 particularly 6.

  128. 128.

    ‘Folios 3’, in Cal. Letter-Book: A, 1–20, BHO.

  129. 129.

    Heebøll-Holm, Ports, Piracy and Maritime War, 134–142; James, Studies, 78.

  130. 130.

    GSR, C 61/33: 194.

  131. 131.

    R. Goddard, Credit and Trade in Later Medieval England, 1353–1532 (London, 2016), 7–11.

  132. 132.

    TNA, C 131/48, 212; C 241/1–2, 4–9, 11–16, 18, 20, 23–25, 27, 31–32, 34–37, 40, 43, 46, 49–55, 57, 61–63, 66, 71, 76–77, 80–81, 84–86, 91–93, 102–103, 105, 109, 112, 162, 180, 182, 186.

  133. 133.

    J. L. Bolton, ‘Was there a “crisis of credit” in fifteenth-century England?’ British Numismatic Journal, 81 (2011), 144–64, at 153, 163; for Nightingale’s response, see P. Nightingale, ‘A crisis of credit in the fifteenth century, or of historical interpretation?’ British Numismatic Journal, 83 (2013), 149–63.

  134. 134.

    Nightingale, Enterprise, 13, 36–7.

  135. 135.

    Idem, ‘A crisis of credit’, 149–63, at 155.

  136. 136.

    Goddard, Credit and Trade, 14–16.

  137. 137.

    Nightingale, Enterprise, 51–68, 98–102.

  138. 138.

    Ibid., 54.

  139. 139.

    Nightingale, ‘Monetary Contraction and Mercantile Credit’, 560–75.

  140. 140.

    Nightingale, Enterprise, 100.

  141. 141.

    ‘De Libertatibus Concessis Mercatoribus vinetariis de Ducatu Aquitaniæ’, 1060–4; Munimenta Gildhallae Londoniensis: Liber Custumarum, 12:2, 205–11; GSR, C 61/108: 26.

  142. 142.

    Statutes of the Realm, vol. 1, 332–43.

  143. 143.

    Goddard, Credit and Trade, 16–9.

  144. 144.

    Ibid., 82–3.

  145. 145.

    TNA, C 131/48/19; C 131/212/1, 11; C 241/162/116; C 241/180/73; C 241/182/34; C 241/186/38.

  146. 146.

    TNA, C 241/162/116.

  147. 147.

    GSR, C 61/32: 438; C 61/33: 311.

  148. 148.

    CCR, 1360–1364, 408; TNA, E 30/1510; E 43/208/ii; E 43/617.

  149. 149.

    CCR, 1374–1377, 115; for more on John de Wesenham, see T. H. Lloyd, ‘Wesenham, John (fl. 1333–1382), merchant, shipowner, and financier’, in ODNB.

  150. 150.

    TNA, SC 8/289/14408.

  151. 151.

    TNA, E 101/182/9, fols 23v, 33v.

  152. 152.

    Lodge, Gascony, 147–151.

  153. 153.

    See T. Lange, Excommunication for Debt in Late Medieval France: The Business of Salvation (Cambridge, 2016).

  154. 154.

    Livre des bouillons, 383–99 (no. 129).

  155. 155.

    Livre des coutumes, 87 (no. 101).

  156. 156.

    ADG, 3 E 4807, fols 49r–55v; Guilhem Forthon is discussed in Lavaud ‘Les Marchands’, 209–27, at 220.

  157. 157.

    For example, letters obligatory are referred to as ‘promissory notes’ by Munro, ‘The Medieval Origins of the Financial Revolution’, 505–62, at 545.

  158. 158.

    GSR, C 61/35: 195.

  159. 159.

    ADG, G 2280, no. 5. This debt for a ‘certana quantitat de vin clar bon par noet’ was enforceable by ‘Lofficau de Bordeu, deu noble et puyssant sehnor moss lo senescaut de guiayna, et deu provost de lombreyra de bordeu’.

  160. 160.

    ADG, 3 E 4807, fol. 9r.

  161. 161.

    Livre des Bouillons, 383–99 (no. 129).

  162. 162.

    Nightingale, ‘Monetary Contraction and Mercantile Credit’, 560–75.

  163. 163.

    Nightingale, Enterprise, 13, 348.

  164. 164.

    RJ, i, 85, ‘Per so que la paubretat es granda, per la gran sterilitat deu bin, que onguan y es, et per so las gens no poden paguar lurs deutes, et no sere ben feit de los greuyar per carces, sino que ayen de que; et d’autra part, per aventura, que ha plus d’en creya lo creditor que lo deutor’.

  165. 165.

    Rechenbach, ‘The Gascon Money’, 259–61.

  166. 166.

    GSR, C 61/53: 182.

  167. 167.

    Allen, ‘Currency Depreciation and Debasement in Medieval Europe’, 52.

  168. 168.

    GSR, C 61/53: 182.

  169. 169.

    James, Studies, 203–4; also see Nightingale, ‘Monetary Contraction and Mercantile Credit’, 560–75, especially at 563–4.

  170. 170.

    Goddard, Credit and Trade, 19–29; particularly at 23.

  171. 171.

    Ibid., 83.

  172. 172.

    TNA, C 241/35/476; C 241/118/420; C 241/222/19; C 241/248/27.

  173. 173.

    A. H. Thomas (ed.), ‘Roll A 17: 1371–72’, in Calendar of the Plea and Memoranda Rolls of the City of London: Volume 2, 1364–1381 (London, 1929), 132–149, BHO; CCR, 1385–1389, 202.

  174. 174.

    TNA, E 101/126/17.

  175. 175.

    See Blackmore, ‘The Political Economy of the Anglo-Gascon Wine Trade’, vol. 1, 123–38; ibid., vol. 2, 15–38.

  176. 176.

    TNA, E 101/128/11.

  177. 177.

    Ambühl, Prisoners of War in the Hundred Years War, particularly 127–183.

  178. 178.

    GSR, C 61/95: 49–50.

  179. 179.

    Sumption, Divided Houses, 694.

  180. 180.

    TNA, E 42/52; E 101/128/17; GSR, C 61/96: 138. For more on Bertrucat d’Albret, see N. Savy, Bertrucat d’Albret: Ou le destin d’un capitaine gascon du roi d’Angleterre pendant la guerre de Cent Ans (Pradines, 2015).

  181. 181.

    TNA, E 30/306; SC 8/199/9909; GSR, C 61/104: 25; C 61/113: 12; T. Rymer, Rymer’s Foedera, vii, (London, 1728), 459–462. Also see J. Rabanis, Notice sur Florimont, sire de Lesparre, suivie d’un précis historique sur cette seigneurie, de notes et eclaircissements (Bordeaux, 1843), 33–4; G. Pépin, ‘Les Soudans de Preissac ou de la Trau: de Clément V à l’ordre de la Jarretière’, Les cahiers du Bazadais, 187 (2014), 5–72, at 43.

  182. 182.

    GSR, C 61/113: 12.

  183. 183.

    GSR, C 61/104: 25; TNA, SC 8/166/8293.

  184. 184.

    GSR, C 61/133: 13.

  185. 185.

    GSR, C61/101: 11.

  186. 186.

    L. S. Woodger, ‘ASSHENDEN, Thomas I (d.c.1393), of Dartmouth, Devon’, in The History of Parliament.

  187. 187.

    GSR, C 61/105: 2.

  188. 188.

    GSR, C 61/105: 62.

  189. 189.

    GSR, C 61/113: 61.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oxford, UK

    Robert Blackmore

Authors
  1. Robert Blackmore
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Blackmore, R. (2020). Mercantile Finance. In: Government and Merchant Finance in Anglo-Gascon Trade, 1300–1500. Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34536-5_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34536-5_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-34535-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-34536-5

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation