The custom book of Chepstow, 1535-6

Spencer Dimmock

The custom book of Chepstow, 1535-61

The Chepstow ‘Custom boke’, transcribed below, was made at

Michaelmas (29 September) 1535 and registered entries for

the subsequent year.2 The town and port of Chepstow formed

part of the Marcher lordship of Chepstow administered by

Henry Somerset, earl of Worcester from 1525. The book

registers in detail the particular receipts or cockets, not

only from customs and anchorage charges imposed on the

merchandise of incoming and outgoing ships at the port, but

also from prise on ale production in the town, tolls on

merchandise and traffic passing through the town, tolls on

boats passing up the River Wye, profits from visitors to

fairs held at Chepstow, Monmouth and Bristol, and tolls from

chensers (temporarily licensed traders or workers) in the

town. In providing detailed evidence of trade for a

1 I wish to thank Ralph Griffiths for his valuable comments on early drafts of this article, and for

substantially improving the style of the text.

2 Public Record Office (hereafter PRO) E122/212/17.

1

significant Welsh port, it goes beyond both the contemporary

royal customs accounts for the royal ports and staples in

Wales, and the surviving ministers’ accounts of Marcher

lordships. The former record the merchandise of incoming and

outgoing ships, and the latter record in a very limited

fashion the summaries of tolls and prise of wine received

from seignorial markets and ports.3 It therefore appears to

be a unique record for the March of Wales, and has come to

light as a result of recent electronic cataloguing in the

National Archives. In addition to being of interest to

economic and social historians, the Chepstow custom book

provides an additional dimension to W.R.B. Robinson’s work

on seignorial administration in late medieval Gwent,

particularly in revealing the condition of a major Marcher

lordship on the eve of the dissolution of Marcher status.4

3 For royal customs, see E. A. Lewis, ‘A contribution to the commercial

history of medieval Wales’, Y Cymmrodor, 24 (1913); for ministers’

accounts, see, for example, H. Owen, (ed.), A Calendar of the Public Records

Relating to Pembrokeshire: Volume III, The Earldom of Pembroke and its Members (London,

1918), 114-205.

2

The administration of customs almost certainly took

place in Chepstow’s booth hall. This had been situated in

the market place of Chepstow at least since the late

thirteenth century and contained twelve selds or rows of

4 For a recent overview, see W.R.B. Robinson, Early Tudor Gwent, 1485-1547

(privately published, 2002); see also his ‘Early Tudor policy towards

Wales: the acquisition of lands and offices in Wales by Charles

Somerset, Earl of Worcester’, Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies (hereafter

BBCS), vol. 21, (1962-4), 421-438; ‘Part II. Early Tudor Policy towards

Wales: The Welsh offices held by Henry, earl of Worcester (1526-1549)’,

BBCS, vol. 21, (1964-6), 43-74; ‘Part III. Early Tudor policy concerning

Wales: Henry, earl of Worcester and Henry VIII’s legislation for Wales’,

BBCS, vol. 21, (1964-6), 335-61; ‘The Welsh lands of Henry, earl of

Worcester in the 1530s, Part II: Chepstow, Tidenham, Caldicot and

Magor’, BBCS, vol. 25, (1972-4), 298-337; ‘Patronage and hospitality in

early Tudor Wales: the role of Henry, earl of Worcester, 1526-49’,

Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, vol. 51, (1978), 21-36; ‘The

officers and household of Henry, earl of Worcester, 1526-49’, Welsh

History Review, vol. 8, (1976-77), 26-42; ‘The charter granted to Chepstow

by Charles, earl of Worcester in 1524’, National Library of Wales Journal, vol.

20, (1977-8), 85-95; ‘The establishment of royal customs in Glamorgan

and Monmouthshire under Elizabeth I’, BBCS, vol. 23, (1968-70), 347-97.

3

market stalls in this early period.5 The building plot for

Cardiff’s booth hall was not made available until 1331, and

so Chepstow’s long pre-dated it.6 By the late fifteenth

century at latest it probably housed the town’s gild hall.7

The presence of the latter suggests a merchant gild which

would have provided the burgesses with elements of self-

organization and a context for elections to official posts

in the town. While Cardiff was granted virtual self-

government in 1340,8 Chepstow’s lord maintained control in

the courts through his stewards, and as the evidence in the

ministers’ accounts for the early fourteenth century and

early Tudor period shows (see Table 1 below), the steward

For the broader context of Chepstow’s trade, see S. Dimmock, ‘Chepstow

and its commercial networks in the later middle ages’, forthcoming.

5 PRO SC 6/921/23; for the seld as a medieval version of the shopping

mall, see C. Dyer, Making a Living in the Middle Ages: The People of Britain, 850-1520

(Newhaven and London, 2002), 217.

6 J. H. Matthews, (ed.), Cardiff Records, vol. 1 (Cardiff, 1898), 17-18; see

also J. Schofield and Geoffrey Stell, ‘The built environment 1300-1540’

in Palliser (ed.), Cambridge Urban History, 378-9.

7 For the gild hall, see PRO REQ 2/6/1-248 (76).

8 Matthews, Cardiff Records, 4, 19-27

4

took a direct interest in maintaining the lord’s valuable

jurisdiction on trading practices.

In the early sixteenth century the lords did not farm

the customs administration, as they had earlier, but rather

maintained control and also insisted on licences to export

certain commodities such as wheat and wool produced in the

lordships of Chepstow and Tidenham.9 Unlike his father

Charles, Earl Henry, who took over the lordship in 1526,

preferred to be resident in the town’s castle. Evidence in

the ministers’ accounts reveals that merchants were paid for

unspecified services, possibly directed to the lord’s

consumer needs. For example, Christopher Duperior, recorded

in the custom book importing thirty-six tons of salt to

Chepstow, and exporting 12,000 shingles (wooden tiles) to

Bristol, was a native of Béarn in Gascony and was paid an

annuity of 40s. by the earls of Worcester. He had been

granted denization in 1513.10 Morgan Matthew of Glamorgan, 9 Robinson, ‘The charter’, 90.

10 Robinson , ‘The lands, Part II’, 310 and note 6, 311. In the Bristol

accounts he is described as an alien when, on 22 March and 29 July 1520,

he shipped ₤250 worth of woad in two Tewkesbury boats and a Penrice boat

5

recorded in the custom book as importing wine and fruit,

also received a fee of 33s. 4d. from the earl for

unspecified services, besides carrying out official duties

as coroner of the earl’s lordship in Glamorgan.11 The wine

licence recorded in the custom book as being given to

merchants from Swansea and Carmarthen for supplying the

castle of Chepstow is also indicative of a network of

merchants with which the earl had close association.

Furthermore, Watkyn Herbert, the lord’s steward, is recorded

in the book as exporting cloth, leather and calf skins, and

the book’s writer felt the need to indicate in another

clause that this was the custom book of the ‘right

honourable earl of Worcester’. There is, therefore, a sense

of the presence and involvement of lordship in the port. At

the same time, the presence of the town’s burgesses seems

muted by comparison, and this implies that the main

merchants of the town sought profitable enterprises away

from Severnside, or that their customs dues were not

from Chepstow to Bristol: PRO E122/199/2, 14r, 21r.

11 Robinson, ‘The lands, Part II’, 332 and note 7.

6

recorded in the book for reasons that will be discussed

below. Certainly the bailiffs who were burgesses of Chepstow

were also clerks of the market from 1524 at latest and the

customers too were sometimes burgesses, suggesting that the

town’s administration of commerce was carried out as much in

their interests as in the lord’s, probably through the gild

merchant.

A commentary on the book

The book is in the form of a quire of sixteen pages of

paper, slightly larger than A4, though the back page is

lost. References in the customer or custom returns section

of the receivers’ accounts for the lordships of Chepstow and

Tidenham in the late fifteenth century and first half of the

sixteenth indicate the existence of a book (librum) or quire

(quaterinum) of paper containing the parcels or particulars

of those paying toll and custom.12 The book of 1535-6

12 National Library of Wales (NLW) Badminton MSS 1508 (1477-8), 1510

(1482-3), 1511 (1525-6), 1512 (1540-1).

7

therefore formed part of a well-established administrative

system that probably continued until the Elizabethan

administration of customs was formally instituted in the

1560s. This change followed many attempts, especially in the

fourteenth century, to draw Chepstow into the royal customs

jurisdiction.13 Although the only one to survive, this book

was not, therefore, a unique feature of the administration

of the earls of Somerset, who had acquired the lordship of

Chepstow in 1507.14 Surviving ministers’ accounts of the

lordship in the early fourteenth century provide a record of

earlier levels of custom in Chepstow.15 With no references

to such a book in these accounts, there were two separate

entries made: the first accounted for ale prise and court

13 Robinson, ‘The establishment of royal customs’.

14 Robinson, ‘Early Tudor policy’, 423. It is curious, however, as to

why the custom book happens to survive for the year prior to the first

Act of Union, the official dissolution of most Marcher jurisdictions.

15 Public Record Office (hereafter PRO), SC 6/921/21-29 (1270-1 to 1289-

90); 922/1-10 (1286-7 to 1311-12); British Library (hereafter BL) Add.

Ch. 26052 (1310). Note that many of these accounts refer only to part

years, as there were four collections of revenue per year.

8

fines or amercements relating to ale production, and the

second for tolls on merchandise and custom imposed on

traders going through the town, the latter revenue

apparently being farmed out (see Table 1).

Table 1

Date Form of custom Accountant/

collector

Amount of

custom

1288-

89

Prise and

amercements on ale

Town sergeant ₤34 8s. 11d.

Toll and customs Town sergeant ₤15

1289-

90

Prise and

amercements on ale

Town sergeant ₤34 8s. 7d.

Toll and customs Town sergeant ₤15

1290-

91

Prise and

amercements on ale

Town reeve ₤33 2s.

Toll and customs Town reeve ₤17

1291-

92

Prise and

amercements on ale

Town reeve ₤26 13s. 11d.

Toll and customs Town reeve ₤17

1303-4 Prise and Town reeve ₤33 8s.

9

amercements on ale

Toll and customs Town reeve ₤22 (farmed)

1477-8 Various customs Customer ₤19 4s. 4d.

1482-3 Various customs Customer nil

1519-

20

Various customs Customer ₤32 19s. 4d.





1535-6 Various customs Customer ₤32 2d.






A book may have been introduced some time later as a more

sophisticated means of recording the volume and diversity of

Chepstow’s trade, and it reflects too the development of a

literate bureaucracy. Furthermore, the contemporary use in

10

Chepstow of ‘specialties’ and ‘books of reckoning’ provides

a context for the administration of cockets and custom books

in the port. It seems that the specialties were particular

receipts of overseas-trading contracts between merchants

under a legally-binding seal, and that the books of

reckoning were records of these contracts, or, records of

the computations of series of contracts between particular

parties.16 These may have come under the auspices of the

burgesses rather than the lord.

The present book’s writer was most likely Edward

Corser, a shoemaker, or his deputy or scribe.17 In 1532-3

and 1534-5, Corser had been the under-customer to two

lawyers of Lincoln’s Inn in London who were the nominated

customers of Chepstow: Nicholas Williams of Cardiff and

Thomas Atkyns, son of a Chepstow merchant. It seems possible

that by the year of the custom book, Corser had taken over

16 PRO C 1/272/11 (1502-3); OED.

17 Roger Corser, the son of Edward Corser, shoemaker, was sent to be

apprenticed to a Bristol tanner in 1545: E. Ralph and N. Hardwick

(eds.), Calendar of Bristol Apprentice Book, 1532-1563, Part II: 1542-1552, Bristol

Record Society (hereafter BRS), vol. 33 (Bristol, 1980), 293.

11

as customer in his own right.18 However, while the book is

mostly written in the same hand throughout, a more cursive

hand using a sharper nib, possibly that of the receiver of

the lordship or Thomas Atkyns, summed up the totals of

merchandise at the bottom of some of the pages next to a

mark - perhaps representing initials - and it precisely

introduced the totals of custom received from each ship with

the phrase ‘So the custom therof…’ Corser remained customer

of Chepstow until the account of 1540-1 when his wife

Catherine, as executor of his will, took over his job.19

Although the book was made for use as from 29 September

1535, the neat lists of particular merchandise in the first

half of the book suggest that these were compiled at the end

of the financial year from bundles of collected customs

receipts. Elsewhere, the blank pages (fols. 10v and 12r)

that anticipate further entries before the ships’ section in

the second half of the book, and the varying degrees of

tidiness in which the separate entries of incoming ships are

18 Robinson, ‘The lands, Part II’, 300-304.

19 NLW Badminton MSS 1512.

12

recorded, point to this being a working document, at least

in part. Another blank page (fol. 14v), separating

merchandise shipped out of the town and following the

incoming ships’ section towards the back of the book may

also suggest this. It seems that an attempt was made to

commit the recording of different types of merchandise to

their respective sections, and yet this intention clashed

with the desire to put all the incoming ships and their

merchandise together. Thus, for example, the record of

incoming ships is tagged on to lists of merchandise outside

the ships’ section.

A further surviving document is invaluable in

interpreting the custom book, namely a single-sheet summary

of the entries in the custom book of 1533-4, presumably

presented to the receiver by the customer.20 Packs of wool,

which are noticed in the 1535-6 custom book, are described

by the 1533-4 customer in his record as ‘gooyng thrugh the

town’ and this may apply to some of the cattle and sheep as

20 PRO L.R. 12/43/1955, fol. 38, printed in Robinson, ‘The lands, Part

II’, 321-22.

13

well, presumably brought by traders from the Welsh uplands

and the town’s hinterland or paying toll on their way out of

Wales towards the Beachley-Aust ferry passage and to

Gloucester by the main highway that passed over Chepstow’s

bridge.21 The wines, recorded in the first half of the book,

were almost certainly shipped out of the port, as the

corresponding entry in the 1533-4 account reveals. The woad,

wheat, treen vessels (wooden domestic ware, possibly turned

on a lathe), and millstones were similarly not subject to

anchorage, indicating that they were not brought to the port

by ship in 1535-6, and may therefore have been shipped from

Chepstow. But it is just as likely that these were sold in

the town by traders from the immediate region who came to

Chepstow by land; the seams or loads of treen vessels, salt,

oatmeal and wheat, for example, probably refer to packhorse

loads.22 Although not always explicitly stated, the tanned

21 An OED reference from 1706 refers to a pack of wool as a horse-load

of 17 stone, or 240lb in weight.

22 Millstones came down the Wye and from Gloucestershire in the later

sixteenth century: P. Courtenay, Medieval and Later Usk (Cardiff, 1994), 133;

E. A. Lewis (ed.), Welsh Port Books, 1550-1603 (London, 1927), 83, 99.

14

leather and cloth recorded in the custom book appear to have

been exports, and it is possible that this section of the

book spilled over onto the missing final page. The 1533-4

summary provides compelling evidence as to what would have

been recorded on the missing folio of the 1535-6 custom

book. The final two clauses in the summary of 1533-4 refer

to revenues, firstly from chensers, and secondly from boats

paying for the privilege to pass by Chepstow up the Wye to

trade. The amount of custom recorded in what remains of the

1535-6 custom book, is ₤30 1s., and its total amount in the

customer section of the separate receiver’s account of that

year was ₤32 2d. The discrepancy of ₤1 19s 10d. is close to

the ₤1 16s. collected in the 1533-4 account from these last

two categories.23 It is almost certain, therefore, that the

missing folio included tolls on chensers and boats going up

the Wye past Chepstow. The ‘fairs’ section is also

intriguing, because while the customer may have collected

and recorded money from tolls at Chepstow fairs at Trinity

23 For the receiver’s account, see PRO, E 315/448/17, printed in

Robinson, ‘The lands: Part II’, 303.

15

Sunday, Michaelmas and Lammas, having paid expenses to the

steward and others, it is not clear how or why he levied

money from people going to the prestigious St James’s fair

in Bristol, or from Bristol merchants going to St

Bartholomew’s fair at Monmouth because, as mentioned above,

payments for passing up and down the Wye are reported in

another section of the book.24

As Table 1 shows, the ₤32 2d. received in 1535-6 by the

customer represents a relatively good year compared with

those in the surviving receivers’ accounts from the 1470s to

the 1540s. Some fifty-eight large tavern brewings of ale,

160 tuns of wine (at 252 gallons per tun), sixty tons of

salt, forty-five tons and sixty-four hundredweight of woad,

185 packs of wool, ninety-six dickers (at ten hides per

dicker) of tanned leather, 120 pairs of mill stones, 12,000

shingles (wooden tiles), 106 seams or loads of treen vessels

(wooden domestic ware and barrel hoops), approximately 100

tons of wheat and rye, eighty-four barrels (at 1,000 per 24 The comparable section in the 1533-4 customer’s account records

‘resorters to Saynt James feyr to Brystowe, and for Trynytee feyer and

Lammas feyer’: Robinson, ibid., 322.

16

barrel) of herring, 1,999 sheep, 1,674 cattle, and smaller

amounts of oatmeal, malt, tallow, coal, resin, pitch, raw

hides and cloth were recorded that year. There are

similarities in terms of commodities with the customer

section of the receivers’ accounts of 1477-8 and 1483-4

which include a general indication of what merchandise was

expected to attract custom in Chepstow: ships, ale prise,

chensers, horses, cattle, iron, packs of wool, wine, salt,

raisins, ‘and other merchandise’.25

At the same time, it is important to be aware of what

the custom book may not have recorded. Everyday transactions

undertaken by Chepstow burgesses, unfree townspeople and

villagers from the town’s immediate hinterland and elsewhere

seem not to have been recorded in the custom book. Reasons

for this can be found in the borough charter of 1524 and a

survey of the lordship made in 1567. Merchant strangers were

limited to selling merchandise in bulk and only to the

burgesses; and apart from the ale prise, the burgesses -

and, it appears, the other tenants of the lordship in a more

25 NLW Badminton MSS 1508, 1510.

17

limited fashion - were exempt from tolls on non-bulk

retailed merchandise within the town.26

Custom was due on bulk merchandise discharged into and

laden out of the port, and it was due on merchandise passing

through. However, much - if not most - of the merchandise

discharged in the port of Chepstow was not sold in the town.

Wine for example, by pre-organised contracts, was re-shipped

as soon as possible in small lighters to English west-

country ports such as Bristol as a means of avoiding the

royal prise of two tuns of wine that was charged in England

on ships carrying over twenty tuns.27 What was shipped out

of Chepstow in this way would not therefore have been

included in the custom book. John Smyth’s Bristol ledger

shows that the merchants or shippers expected to make only

one payment of 3d. per tun at Chepstow - judging from the

custom book this was upon entry to the Welsh port - before

re-shipping their wine to Bristol where they paid another 26 Robinson, ‘The charter’, 90, clause 13; the survey is printed in J.

A. Bradney, A History of Monmouthshire , vol. 4, pt. I, 11.

27 See below for examples of this heavy royal prise that was in addition

to the custom of 3s. on each tun of wine.

18

3s. per tun.28 Moreover, Chepstow’s charter of 1524

stipulated that the burgesses were only liable for custom on

what they brought into the town and sold there; by

implication it ignored what they shipped out.29 Regrettably,

this limits our understanding of the nature of production

and exchange in Chepstow itself.

The problems of using the custom book to indicate the

level of trade in Chepstow are considerable, therefore, and

one may add evasion of custom through corruption of

officials and smuggling - a common practice among Bristol

and Gloucester merchants - and exemptions from custom

enjoyed by merchants from other Welsh ports like

28 J. Vanes, (ed.), The Ledger, 106-7, 262. For the cost of importing

eight butts and two pipes of various wines from Andalucia in 1544, Smyth

expected to pay 26s. 3d. freight per tun, 15d. for pilots’ wages per

tun, 3d. per tun for custom at Chepstow, 12d. per tun for boat hire from

the Forest of Dean, 1 1/2d. per tun for windage, averes (a Spanish tax),

the king’s custom of 3s. per tun, and 4d. per tun for hauling and

stowage.

29 Robinson, ‘The charter’, 90.

19

Haverfordwest and Carmarthen.30 A notable absentee from the

1535-6 book is also worth noting: David Atkyns was a

Chepstow merchant assessed on goods at over ₤100 annually in

the subsidy of 1543, and who must have dealt in merchandise

on a scale comparable with the wealthiest merchants in

Bristol.31 The problems of using the evidence of an account

for one year to postulate a general trend of imported and

exported commodities at a particular port are also well

30 For smuggling, see, for example, E. T. Jones, ‘Illicit business:

accounting for smuggling in mid-sixteenth century Bristol’, Economic

History Review, vol. 54, no.1 (February 2001), 17-38. For exemptions,

renewed to the end of Henry VIII’s reign, see charters in Haverfordwest

Record Office, HAM/1 and 7; J. R. Daniel-Tyssen, Royal Charters and Historical

Documents Relating to the Town and County of Carmarthen and the Abbeys of Talley and

Tygwyn-ar-Daf, 1201-1590 (Carmarthen, 1878).

31 Cheptow’s lay subsidy return of 1543 has been transcribed in J. Webb,

‘Parliamentary taxation in Monmouthshire 1543-4 and 1661-2’ (unpublished

MA dissertation, University of Wales, Cardiff, 1987); for Atkyns’s will,

see PRO, Prerogative Court of Canterbury, F. 32. More. Aristocratic

houses were also often exempt from the tolls and liberties of boroughs,

as the monks of Usk were in Usk and Chepstow from 1330: BL. Add Ch.

5342.

20

known.32 Nevertheless, when all the reservations are made,

this custom book enables a re-assessment of the contribution

of Welsh ports to the extent and character of British

overseas trade and regional urban networks in the later

middle ages. This process of re-assessment should stimulate

further research on the towns and ports of Wales in this

period, thereby contributing to the comparative framework of

European urban history.

Spencer Dimmock, University of Wales Swansea

32 D. H. Sacks, The Widening Gate: Bristol and the Atlantic Economy, 1450-1700

(Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 1991), 36: ‘Each trading year has its

peculiarities caused as much by chance events – of wind, weather, war,

and international politics – as by underlying features of the trade

cycle’. See also E. M. Carus-Wilson, The Overseas Trade of Bristol in the Later

Middle Ages, BRS vol. 7 (Bristol, 1937), 7.

21

The Book33

F. 1r

The Custom boke

This boke made at the ffeste of Seynt Michaell tharcangell in the yere of our lorde god Anno M v C xxxv34

F. 1v

The lyssence of wyne35

David Gryffith of Swansey iii hoges hedes36

33 All abbreviations have been extended where possible, and names

capitalized.

34 29 September 1535. It will be noticed that dates of entries in the

ship’s section of the custom book record the 28th year of Henry VIII,

thereby pointing to a date for the custom book of 1536-7. However, Henry

VIII’s reign began on April 22, and so entries between that date and

September 29 were registered in the summer of 1536, the final months of

account year 1535-6.

35 This licence was given to merchants who sold wine to the castle for

the lord’s use. A larger consignment of five tuns and one pipe was

licensed in 1533-4: Robinson, ‘The lands: Part II’, 321 and note 8.

36 A tun was a large wooden cask containing 252 gallons of wine. A pipe

was half a tun, and a hog’s head was half a pipe or a quarter of a tun

(sixty-three gallons).

22

Thomas Walters37 lycens of Carmarden ii hoges hedes

F. 2r

Alis38 by the yere

Item Watkyn Ynon xiidThomas Sklyfford xiidThomas Rosser xiidHooll Tayller xiidWyllyam Were xiidMargaret Hollyn xiidWatkyn Merycke xiidEdy Wynterborne xiidRosser Tayller xiidRobert Kynget xiidRobert Davys xiidAngnes Grene xiidMorres Llewelyn xiidThomas Rosser xiidJohn Gorthe xiidHool Tayller xiidMargret Hollen xiidEdy Wynterborne xiidWatkyn Mericke xiidRosser Tayller xiid

37 Thomas Walter shipped herring to Bristol in the same ship the

following year: E122/199/3 8r. In 1539, described as a merchant of New

Carmarthen (Carmarthen town), he was involved in a dispute with a London

skinner, having been entrusted with the shipment of 2,000 lamb fells and

200 other skins from New Carmarthen to Bristol: E. A. Lewis, An Inventory

of Chancery Proceedings Concerning Wales, BBCS History and Law Series, no. III

(Cardiff, 1937), 48.

38 Ales.

23

Wylliam Hardynge xiid

[hand 2 mark]39 summa xxis

F. 2v

Alis

Robart Kynget xiidAlson Spencer xiid39 This mark appears to be an initial in a different hand (hand 2) to

that of the writer of the book (hand 1), and it appears throughout the

book next to calculations of totals by hand 1. This mark occurs next to

the calculations of page totals, and where hand 2 appears in other cases

attention will be drawn to it. On fols. 4v, 8v and 9v the calculations

of hand 1 are crossed out and replaced by those of hand 2. Up to fol.

5v, after each particular section of merchandise, hand 2 presents the

‘sum total’. Hand 2 also adds calculations and formulaic recording

techniques in the ships’ section: in many of the entries it calculates

the total custom from merchandise coming in by ships and presents it

with the rubric ‘so the custom thereof..’. There also appears to be a

third hand (hand 3) which corrects calculations on fol. 8v. These

interjections indicate that the book was audited by at least one senior

official. The customer in the year of the book was Edward Corser, who

had previously been under-customer. His work may therefore have been

audited by the receiver or perhaps a more experienced customer of the

preceding years. Alternatively, Corser may have had a deputy or scribe

to write the book for him, and if so, hand 2 may be his.

24

Morres Llewelyn xiidWatkyn Ynon xiidWylliam Were xiidWylliam Wyet xiidThomas Sklyfford xiidThomas Rosser xiidWylliam Hodgis xiidRychard Baker xiidJohn Grene xiidEdy Wynterborne xiidWatkyn Merrycke xiidRobart Davys xiidMorres Llewelyn xiidMargret Hullyn xiidRosser Tayller xiidRobart Kynget xiidHooll Tayller xiid

summa xixs

F. 3r

Alys

Item Alson Spencer xiidItem Wyllyam Were xiidItem Robert Kynget xiidItem Morres Llewelyn xiidItem Edy Wynterborne xiidHooll Tayller xiidThomas Sklyfford xiidRosser Tayller xiidRobart Kynget xiidWatkyn Meryke xiidThomas Rosser xiidWylliam Were xiidEdy Wynterborne xiidHooll Tayller xiidMorres Llewelyn xiid

25

Thomas Sklyfford xiidRobart Kynget xiidRosser Tayller xiid

summa xviiis

Summa totales of Alys lviiis40

F. 3v

Rether bestys41

Itm Hooll Thomas Apopkyn for xxti42 bestes xiidItm Wyllyam Maskall of Brystowe for xxti bestes xiidItm Hooll Thomas Apopkyn for xxti bestes xiidItm John Seyssell for xxti bestes xiidItm Lavrens Gaynner for x bestes vidItm a straynger43 for v bestes iiiidItm Hooll Thomas popkyn for xxti bestes xiidItm of Aman of Bristowe for xxti bestes xiidItm Hooll Apaooll for x bestes vidItm Hooll Thomas Apopkyn for x bestes vidItm for iiii bestys iidItm for iii bestys iidItm Hooll Thomas A popkyn for xxti bestes xiidItm of Aman of Bristowe for xxti bestes xiidItm of Wyllyam Maskall of Bristowe for xxti bestes xiidItm for x bestes vidItm for vi bestes iiiidItm Hooll Thomas Apopkyn for xxti bestes xiidItm Wyllyam Thomas Appoll for xxti bestes xiid

40 Hand 2.

41 Rother beasts are cattle.

42 i.e. twenty.

43 In view of this identification of a stranger, it may be that the

others from Bristol and elsewhere were not strangers.

26

Itm Lewyse Hewis for xxti bestes xiidItm Wyllyam Maskall of Bristowe for xxti bestes xiidItm John Sysell of Bristowe44 for xxti bestes xiid

summa xviis

F. 4r

Rether bestes

Item for vi bestes iiiidItem for x bestes vidItem for x bestes vidItem for iiii bestes iiiidItem for x bestes vidItem for iii oxon iiidItem for xl bestes iisItem for iiii oxen iiiidItem for x bestes vidItem for x bestes vidItem for x bestes vidItem for x bestes vidItem for v bestes iiiid

Item for x bestes vidItem for iiii oxon iiiidItem for x bestes vidItem for iiii oxon iiiid44 A John Sessell, butcher, took on a tanner’s son from Newport as an

apprentice in Bristol in 1543: E. Ralph and N. Hardwick (eds.), Calendar

of Bristol Apprentice Book, 1532-1563, Part II: 1542-1552, Bristol Record Society

(hereafter, BRS), vol. 33 (Bristol, 1980), 271. In 1539, Sessell acted

with others as a surety to get a Bristol skinner out of Newgate jail,

where John Smyth put him for debts: J. Vanes, (ed.), The Ledger of John

Smyth, 1538-1550, BRS vol. 28 (London, 1974), 113.

27

Item for xxti bestes xiidItem for iiii oxon iiiidItem for v bestes iiiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem Alson Spencer xiid45

Item for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for viii bestes iiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for x bestes vidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for v bestes iiiidItem for iiii oxon iiidItem for iiii oxon iiiidItem for iiii Hed of Kyne iiiidItem for x bestes vidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for x bestes vidItem for vi bestes iiiid

summa xxxis45 This entry is crossed out. Alson Spencer is registered in the earlier

lists of ale prise, and it seems probable that her cocket or receipt had

not been separated from those of the Rother beasts before all the

particulars were copied into the book.

28

F. 4v

Rether bestes

Item for ii oxon iidItem for ii oxon iidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for x bestes vidItem for ii oxon iidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for x bestes vidItem for xxti bestes xiid

29

Item for vi oxon vd

Item for x bestes vidItem for iiii oxon iiiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for x bestes vidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem for xxti bestes xiidItem x bestes vid

summa xxxvs vid46

summa xxxvs viid47

Summa totales rother besteis iiii li iiiis iiiid48

F5r

Packes49

46 Crossed out.

47 Hand 2.

48 Hand 2.

49 These are almost certainly packs of wool. A reference in the OED from

1706 refers to a pack of wool as a horse-load of seventeen stone, or

240lb in weight. However, ‘pack’ was also used to describe a measure or

bundle of cloth. In 1475 a merchant from Haverfordwest sent four packs

of cloth to Bristol, each pack containing ten cloths: Haverfordwest

Record Office, no. 194a. See also the Glossary in E. M. Carus-Wilson

(ed.), The Overseas Trade of Bristol in the Later Middle Ages, BRS vol. 7 (Bristol,

30

Item for ii packes iidItem for ii packes iidItem for xiiii packes xiiiidItem for viii packes viiidItem for ii packys iidItem for vi packys vidItem for i packe idItem for iii packes iiidItem for ii packes iidItem for iiii packes iiiidItem for xii packys xiidItem for xxti packes xxtidItem for vi packes vidItem for iiii packes iiiidItem for vi packes iiidItem for ii packes iidItem for ii packes iidItem for ii packes iidItem for iiii packes iiiidItem for i packe idItem for iiii packes iiiidItem for ii packes iid

summa viiis xd

F. 5v

Packys

Item for ii packys iidItem for ii packes iidItem for iii packes iiidItem for vi packes vidItem for ii packes iidItem for ii packes iidItem for iiii packes iiiid

1937), 337.

31

Item for i packe idItem for vi packys vidItem for ii packes iidItem for vi packes vidItem for x packes xdItem for iiii packes iiiidItem for iiii packes iiiidItem for vii packys viidItem for i packes idItem for iiii packys iiiidItem for ii packes iidItem for vi packes vidItem for iii packes iiid

summa vis vd

Summa totales Packes xvs iiid50

F6r

Trenevessels51

Item for vi semes52 of hopis53 vidItem for ii semes of vessels iidItem for iiii semes of vessels iiiidItem for viii semes of vessels viiidItem for ii semes of vessels iid50 Hand 2.

51 Treen (tree) vessels are wooden domestic ware, possibly turned on a

lathe.

52 A seam of timber is a packhorse load (OED); this would fit with

references to ‘loads’ in this section.

53 Probably barrel hoops (made from coppiced trees) in this context

rather than beer hops.

32

Item for iiii semes of vessels iiiidItem for v semes of hopys vdItem for viii semes of hopis viiidItem for iii semes of trene vessels iiidItem for v semes of hopys vdItem for iiii semes of trene vessels iiiidItem for viii semes of vessels viiidItem for iiii semes of ladyls & arrowe stavys

iiiidItem for vi lodes of hopys & arrowe tymber vidItem for iiii lodes of hopys iiiidItem for iiii lodes of hopys iiiidItem for viii lodes of vessels viiidItem for iiii lodes of vessels iiiidItem for ii lodes of wessels iidItem for ii lodys of vessels iidItem ii lodes of vessels iidItem ii lodes of vessels iid

summa viiis 1d

F. 6v

Woode54

Item for ii C55 of woode iidItem for ii C of woode iidItem for iiixx C56 of wood vs

summa vs viiid

Packes trenevessels54 Woad, probably from the Azores.

55 This probably refers to hundredweight, equal to 112lbs: Carus-Wilson,

Overseas Trade, 335.

56 I.e. sixty hundredweight.

33

Item iii lodys of trenevessels iidItem for iiii lodes of hopis57 iiiidItem ii lodes of trene vessels iid

summa viiid

summa vis iiiid

F. 7r

ffeyers58

Memorandum that I Received & made the Monday next after Michaellmes [crossed out: ‘day of the’] ffeyer daye

iiis iiid

Memorandum that I Received & made on Trinite sondaye of the feyre & all Costes payd

xxvs viiid

Memorandum made of Seynt James ffeyer59 xiiis

Memorandum made of Lammas ffeyre xviiis iiiid

Memorandum made of the merchauntes of Bristowe to Monmowthesfayre at seynt Bartylmewys tyde

iis iiiid

57 Probably barrel hoops in this context rather than brewing hops. These

hoops were probably wooden and made out of coppiced trees: see

Courtenay, Medieval and Later Usk (Cardiff, 1994), 133.

58 Fairs.

59 A major Bristol fair.

34

summa iii li iiiis viiid

F. 7v

Wynnes60

Item Received for a Tonne wyne iiidItem Received for ii tonne wyne vidItem for a pipe wyne iidItem for ii tonne wyne vidItem for i tonne wyne iiidItem for i tonne wyne iiidItem for i tonne wyne iiidItem for i tonne wyne iiidItem for a hoges hed of wyne of James Hoolls son of ye Valden61 An vnder tenaunt of Seynt Joans62

idItem a tonne of wyne iiidItem a tonne of wyne iiidItem for a tonne of wyne iiidItem for ii tonnes of wyne vidItem a tonne of wyne iiidItem ii Tonnes of wyne vidItem a Tonne wyne iiidItem ii Tonne wyne vidItem ii Tonne wyne vidItem i Tonne wyne iiid60 In the 1533-4 account this section referred to wines ‘laden from the

porte of the said town to other parties as appereth by the parcelles’:

Robinson, ‘The lands Part II’, 321.

61 Vawden is in Newchurch parish within Chepstow lordship: J. Bradney, A

History of Monmouthshire, vol. 4 (London, 1929), 9.

62 Order of St John of Jerusalem.

35

summa vis iiid

F. 8r

Shyngels63

Memorandum that Christoffer Dewparyor64 hath laden to Brystowe xii thowsande of shyngels And payd for the Custome of them vis

summa vis

F. 8v

Salte

Item to be Received of Christoffer Dewparryar for xxxvi Tonne salte ixs65

Item of Richard Etkyn66 for xii tonne salte iiisAnckereyge iiiid

Item for ii semys of salt iidItem for i seme of salte idItem for ii semes of salte iid

summa xiis ixd67

63 Shingles are thin wooden tiles used for roofs and walls (OED).

64 For Duperior, see note 10.

65 Partially crossed out because the money had not yet been received.

66 This may be one of David Atkyns’s sons. He shipped wine to Bristol in

a Chepstow boat in 1533: PRO, E 122/21/7, 24v.

67 Crossed out.

36

Summa iiis ixd68

Milstons

Item Received for ii peyre of milstons vidThomas Whaly69 for xii peyre of milstons iiisItem for iii peyre milstons ixdItem for mylstons iis iiiidItem for mylstons iiisItem for mylstons iiisItem for mylstons vsItem for mylstons xiidItem for iii peyre of mylstons ixdItem ii peyre of mylstons vid

summa xxxiis vid70

Summa xixs xd71

68 Hand 3.

69 As can be seen from other scattered references to him in the custom

book, Thomas Whalley was a merchant who owned the Trinity of Tintern

shipping into Chepstow’s port fish, wool and tallow. He is seen here and

later probably shipping out millstones, and later in the book shipping

out raw hides and tanned leather. A Thomas Whalley, tanner, of Bristol

is recorded in John Smyth’s ledger in 1543 owing ₤6 6s. 8d. for a ton of

Spanish Renteria iron, and in 1520 shipping six tuns and one pipe of

wine in the Mary of Tewkesbury from Chepstow to Bristol: Ledger, 223;

E122/199/2, 12r. It is possible that if this is the same man, he

originally came from Tintern and retained the ship.

70 Crossed out.

37

Summa pagina xxiiis viid72

F. 9r

Whet & Otemmell73

Item Received for a seme Otemmell idItem for a seme of Otemmell idItem for iii semes of Otemmell & whet iiidItem for ii weyes of benes vid

Item for ii weyes of malte that John Markes74 browte to Chepstowe in A bote

vidAnckereyge75 iiiid

Item ii weyes of malte of John Markys vidAnckereyge iiiid

summa iis viid

71 Hand 3.

72 Hand 2.

73 Wheat and oatmeal.

74 This is probably the same John Marks of Gatcombe whose wife received

a butt of wine seck via others from John Smyth in 1542, and who shipped

4 tuns and 1 pipe of wine in the James of Gatcombe to Bristol ‘from

Wales’ in 1520, along with other Gatcombe boats shipping wine from

Chepstow that year: Ledger, 194; E122/199/2, 1v. Gatcombe was a few miles

up the Severn on the north side near a creek of the Forest of Dean, and

the malt was probably produced in the furnaces there.

75 Anchorage.

38

Milstons

Item Received for ii peyre of milstons & for on stone viidItem for A tonne of qwernestons & for grynygstons iiidItem for vi peyre of mylstons xviiidItem for iii peyre of mylstons ixd

Summa iiis id

summa vs viiid viiid76

Summa vs viiid77

F. 9v

Shepe

Item of Hooll Appooll78 for xl shepe vidItem for xx shepe iiidItem for iiixx shepe ixdItem for xl shepe vidItem for xl shepe vidItem for xl shepe vidItem for iiixx shepe ixdItem for ix shepe idItem for xx shepe iiidItem for i C shepe xiidItem for i C shepe xiidItem for i C shepe xiidItem for xl shepe vidItem for xx shepe iiidItem for i C shepe xiid76 Crossed out.

77 Hand 2.

78 Hywel ap Howell.

39

Item for i C shepe xiidItem for xx shepe iiidItem for iiixx shepe ixdItem for a C shepe xiidItem for a C shepe xiid

summa xiis xd

F. 10r

Shepe

Item for iiixx shepe viiidItem for i C shepe xiidItem for iiixx shepe ixdItem for i C shepe xiidItem for i C shepe xiidItem for xl shepe vidItem for iiiixx shepe xiidItem for iiixx shepe vidItem for xx shepe iiidItem for xl shepe vidItem for xl shepe vidItem for xl shepe vidItem for xl shepe vidItem for xxx shepe iiiidItem for xx shepe iiid

summa ixs iiid

Fol. 10v is blank

Fol. 11r

Abalynger79 The Trinite of Tynterne

79 A balinger is a small ocean-going boat, like a sloop (OED).

40

The Trinite of Tynterne entride in to this port of Chepstowethe xviii daye of November laden in her iiiixx barrels of heryng & iiii barrels [after the rate of iid the barrel]80 Master vnder god John Roche the owner Thomas Whalye the Ankereyge iiiid81

Summa xiiis iiid82

The Trinite of Tynterne entryd in to this port of Chepstowe the xx day of maye laden in hym a C & dimidem83 of myllyn fishe vidIn tallowe xii weye in euery weye xii stons xxdIn wolle84 xl stone xxdIn fflockes85 xii stone iiidIn shepe fels iiii C iiiidAnckereyge viiid86

80 The phrase in parentheses has been added in hand 2.

81 Lines have been drawn through this whole entry and others below,

possibly indicating payment of custom had been directly forthcoming, or

possibly cancelled for whatever reason.

82 Written above this sum is the abbreviation ‘cket’. This probably

refers to cocket, or the receipt and custom seal given to the shippers

for proof that they have paid custom. The same term appears above the

next summa of vs 1d. These are the only times this term appears. They

are written in very small case and in what seems to be hand 2.

83 I.e. 150.

84 Wool.

85 Flockes are woollen left-overs from shearing, or cloth shearings:

Carus-Wilson Overseas Trade, 336.

41

Master vnder god John MarteynHowenner87 & merchant Thomas Whalys

Summa vs 1d

Item to Thomas Whaly for xi dickers of lether after euery dicker iiid

iis ixd

summa iis ixd

Item the sayd Thomas Whaly for xv peyre of mylstons iiis ixd

summa xxvs xid

F. 11v

Rawe hides

Also the same Thomas Whaly hart laden in the same trinite inRawe hydes in the here iii dickers after iiid the dycker Amounting to ixd88

Summa ixd

F. 12r is blank

F.12v

Shipis

86 As note 81.

87 I.e. owner.

88 As note 81.

42

The Mary Marten of Cardyff entryd in the Walshe Rode89 & then she desshargid the viiith daye of December laden in herxviii tonne of Wyne seckes And xxii tonnes of ffrewtes90 theMaster vnder god Edward Gravell the Cape merchant Morgan Mathowe of Glamorgan with hym John Capis of Bristowe91 And on Ievan, servant to Morgan Mathowe92 Causith this entryng of this seyd stuffe & ys Aturneye for the sayd partes above said & byndes hym selfe sewerty for the hole Custome & cetera [So the custom therof xs]93

Anckereyge viiid89 The Welsh Rode appears to have been close to Bristol’s Kingrode. It

was a haven at the mouth of the Severn, and in the liberty of Chepstow

lordship: see Vanes, Overseas Trade, 49, 53. It was included with Chepstow

in the list of creeks and ports that from 1580 were to make up the port

of Gloucester: W. H. Stevenson (ed.), Records of the Corporation of Gloucester

(Gloucester, 1893), 36.

90 Fruit.

91 Smyth’s Ledger reveals John Cape dealing in wine, iron, salmon, salt

and oil, borrowing money and hiring guns from Smyth. Morgan Matthew

received a fee of 33s. 4d. from the earl for unspecified services,

besides carrying out official duties as coroner of the earl’s lordship

in Glamorgan: Robinson, ‘The lands, Part II’, 332 and note 7. Matthew,

as ‘cape merchant’ was not someone working for John Cape, but a merchant

who chartered a ship from its owner through his attorney. The freight

charge was shared by other merchants in a charter-party, although the

‘cape merchant’ remained in charge of the ship throughout the voyage:

Vanes, Overseas Trade, 58-9, 171. Edward Gravell was master of the Martin

of Cardiff the following year, carrying thirty-nine tons of fruit for

43

summa xs viiid

The Marye of Jarsey entryd in to the port of Chepstowe the viiith day of December laden in her xxxi tonnes of Gascon wynes Master merchant David Griffith of Swansey the master vnder god Nicholas Solmonde And he Alowyd for Elayge94 [So the custom therof viiis]95 Anckereyge

viiid96

Summa viiis viiid

The Trinite of Carmarden entryd in to this port of Chepstowethe viiith daye of January laden in her xviii tonnes of Gascone wyns Master vnder God Morgan Landet marchaunt [DavidGriffith]97 Thomas Walter And so allowed for elayge [So the custom therof iiiis vid]98

Anckereyge viiid

Summa vs iid

summa xxiiiis vid

F. 13r

Thomas White: PRO E122/199/3, 7v.

92 Originally this phrase simply said, ‘And on Ievan Aprese Causith…’.

93 Phrase in parentheses added by hand 2.

94 Ullage, a term meaning leakage.

95 As note 93.

96 As note 81.

97 Name in parentheses crossed out.

98 As note 93.

44

Shippis

The Wylmet of Conket99 entryd in to this Port of Chepstowe the fyrste daye of Marche laden in her xx tonnes of Gaskone wyne Master vnder god Mathowe Kerbelet And merchaunt MatheweMelegan And so ys A lowyd for elayge [So the custom therof vs]100 Anckerayge viiid

Summa vs viiid

The Mary of Glossetter entryd in to this port of Chepstowe the iiiith day of Aprel laden in her xvi tonne of Gaskon wyne And so A lowyd for elayge the master vnder god John Carpynter And the marchaunt Thomas Payne of Glossetter.101 [So the custom iiiis]102

For Anckereyg viiid

Summa iiiis viiid

The Julyen of Glossetter entryd in to the porte of Chepstowethe xx daye of Aprell laden in her xxxiii tonnes of Gaskone wyns In wode iii tonnes & iii hogeshedesIn Rossen103 iii tonnesIn Pyche104 i tonne

99 Le Conquet in Brittany.

100 As note 93.

101 Thomas Payne shipped fifteen tuns of wine in Chepstow boats to

Bristol in 1533: PRO, E 122/21/17, 18r, 19r.

102 As note 93.

103 Resin.

104 Pitch.

45

[So the custom therof xvs vid]105

Master vnder god Lavrens Nouhe owner & merchaunt Robert Poole of Glossetter106

The Anckereyge xvd

Summa xvis ixd

summa xxviis id

F. 13v

shippis

The Allexander of browayeges107 of Fraunce entryd in to this port xxix daye of Aprell laden in here xl way of whet Master& merchaunt vnder god Semon Wewant hart entryd in to the Custom boke of the right honorable Henry Erle of Worssetter the xxviii yere of Kynge Henry the viiith[So the custom xs]108

Anckereyge viiid

Summa xs viiid

Memorandum laden in to the sayd Elysaunder owtward xii waye of Cols109

summa iiis

105 As note 93.

106 Pole was a merchant and mayor of Gloucester with a close ties to John

Smyth: Vanes, Ledger. The following year he shipped 3 tons, 1 pipe of

woad, and 2 tuns of wine to Bristol in a Chepstow lighter.

107 Brouage in France.

108 As note 93.

109 Coals.

46

Memorandum Received for the Custome of ii wey of whet of Harry White of Bristowe the xxiii daye of Maye

vid

Summa vid

Whet On Symon Vivan of Delonye in Peytewe110 browt A shipe callyd the Alexandre of brewage111 laden in her with xl tonne of whet Amountes The Custome xsAnd so entryd in to this port of Chepstowe the xvith daye of June the xxviii [daye]112 yere of Kynge Henry the viiithAnckereyge viiid

Summa xs viiid

Whet Item att that tyme on Mathowe Melegan of Touket inBryttayne113 brouwt A balyngar Callyd the Mary of Gloucester laden in her xv tounne of whet & Rye the Custome Amountes to iiis ixdAnckereyge iiiid

summa iiiis id

summa xxviiis xid

F. 14r

110 Poitou in France.

111 As note 107.

112 Crossed out.

113 Le Touquet in Brittany (correction since publication).

47

The iide daye of Auguste the Jhesus of Bayon114 entryd in to this port of Chepstowe laden in hym xlii tonnes of woode of the yles of surrey115 Master vnder god Jasper Gonsalvys the marchauunt Ffraunces Blanketay of Lyxybon116 sum iiili xsAnckereyge viiid

Summa iiili xs viiid

Memorandum that Master Watkyn Herbert117 hath laden in the Marten of Brystowe,ix dickers of tanne lethyr And paid for the Custome of them xis iiidAlso laden in the sayd shipe ix dossen of calvis skyns the custome ixdAlso laden in the sayd shipe vi hole Clothis the custome of them iis

Summa xiiiis

summa iiiili iiiis viiid

F. 14v is blank

F.15r

114 Bayonne in Gascony.

115 The ‘Yles of Surreys’ are ‘the Azores’, found by Portuguese in 1427.

116 In 1540 Francis Blankeley of Lisbon and Pedro Gonzales, possibly a

relation of Jasper, formed a company with Bristol merchants to regulate

the importation of woad from the Azores, each share in the company

costing ₤162 10s. each: Vanes: Ledger, 9, 191. Pedro Gonzales shipped

woad to Bristol in John Jene’s Chepstow lighter the following year: PRO

E122/199/3, fol. 20r.

117 Steward of Chepstow.

48

Colis118

Item Received for xii wey of Cols iiis

Summa iiis119

Shepe fels

Item Received for i C of shepe fels viiidItem Received for iiii pecys of Chek Raye viiid

Summa xvid120

summa iiiis iiiid

F. 15v

Item Received for xii dickers of tanne lether in hydes Amounts to xvs

Item for vi dickers of lether vis vid

Item laden in the shype callyd the Elysaunder vi dickers of tanne lether viis vidThe master & merchant Symon Wewant of the same shipe

Item laden in the Wylmott of Touket121 owtward vii dickers oftanne lether Master vnder god & merchaunt Mathowe Melegan Amounts to viiis ixd

118 Coals.

119 Hand 2.

120 Hand 2.

121 Le Touquet (correction since publication).

49

Item Received for ix dickers and tanne lether of Master Poole of Glossetter ixs the xxiii daye of maye

Item Received of the same Master Poole for xv dicker of tanne lether xvs

Item Mathowe Melegan laden owtward in the Mary of Gloucetterx dickers of tanne lether Amountes

xiis vid

Item Symon Vivan hath laden owtward in the Alysavnder of Brewage xxti dickers of tanne lether Amountes to xxtis

Summa vli iid

Item for iii Clothis xiid [ ]122

Item ii brode Clothis [ ]123

Item Received Master Payne of Glossetter for xi Clothis iiis viiidItem Received for iii Clothes of fyn [ ]van124 xiid Item Received for ii Clothes [ ]125 viiidItem for iiii hole Clothis xvid

Summa viiis iiiid

summa vli viiis viid

122 Faded

123 Faded

124 This section is faded. Cordevan is a fine Spanish leather, but it

does not fit easily in the cloth section.

125 Faded.

50

Fols. 16r and 16v (the back page) are missing.

51

52