Property, Tenure and Rents: Some Aspects Of
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PROPERTY, TENURE AND RENTS: SOME ASPECTS OF THE TOPOGRAPHY AND ECONOMY OF MEDIEVAL YORK VOLUME ONE by SARAH RUTH REES JONES Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History University of York April 1987 TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME ONE Page List of Figures, Maps and Tables iv Abbreviations vii Introduction ix 1. Primary Sources 1 2. The Urban Landscape 42 3. The Growth of the Minster's Estates in York c. 1050-1300 81 4. The Origins and Growth of Monastic Estates in York, c. 1080-1300 134 5. The Growth and Management of Institutional Estates in York, in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries 181 6. Rents and the Prosperity of Later-Medieval York 236 7. Citizens, Tenants and Landlords 271 Conclusion 300 Bibliography 305 VOLUME TWO Introduction Gazetteer 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My biggest debt of gratitude must be divided equally between my supervisor, Professor Barrie Dobson, and my husband, Peter. To my supervisor for his advice and encouragement and, above all, for creating the conditions which made the research and completion of this thesis possible. To my husband for bearing the running of the household and for helping with the proof- reading. Without their different styles of advice, support, bullying and enthusiasm, this thesis would never have been completed. Debts of gratitude are also owed to my tutors as an undergraduate; to Mrs. Jean Dunbabin and Mrs. Jill Lewis of St. Anne's College and to Miss Barbara Harvey of Somerville who sparked my interest in medieval history and encouraged me to do research. Special thanks are also due to Dr. Peter Addyman and Dr. Richard Hall of the York Archaeological Trust for supporting my work on York and for giving me access to the exciting world of rescue archaeology. Finally, I owe a particular debt to Mrs. Louise Harrison for providing me with coffee and criticism as well as typing some formidably untidy manuscripts. LIST OF FIGURES Following Page 5.1 Six-monthly income of the vicars' chamberlain from rents in York 207 5.2 Expenditure on obits and repairs by the chamberlain of the vicars choral in York 221 6.1 Decayed and defective rents on the vicars' estate in York 253 LIST OF MAPS 1. John Speed's Plan of York viii 2. Medieval York and the Roman fortress 44 3. Later Medieval York 180 LIST OF TABLES Page 4.1 Monastic Estates in York at the Dissolution 179 5.1. Expenditure on repairs on the estate of the vicars choral 234 6.1. Rents recorded for a group of three stone 'halls' opposite the Bedern owned by the vicars choral 239 6.2 Rents recorded for the 'Dingges' in Goodramgate 240 - iv - 6.3 Examples of individual rent levels on the vicars choral's York estate 247 6.4 Farm of Spitelcroft wind-mills in Layerthorpe 253 6.5 Decayed and defective rents on the Ousebridgemasters' estate in 1440-41, expressed as a percentage of nominal rent income 259 6.6 Decayed and defective rents on the vicars choral estate in 1449 261 ABSTRACT This thesis is a study of property holding in York between the Norman Conquest and the beginning of the Tudor period. It draws largely upon the archives of the larger landowning corporations in the city and their interests tend to dominate throughout. Beginning with a survey of the documentary sources, it continues with an account of the evolution of York's street plan before the middle of the fourteenth century, which draws upon archaeological as well as documentary evidence. The next three chapters are concerned with the growth and management of the York estates of the Minster, of monastic landlords and of the city corporation and other institutional landowners. It is argued that internal institutional pressures were at least as important as external economic forces in determining both the manner In which these estates expanded and declined, and the different forms of tenure by which urban tenements and houses were made available to tenants. Changing methods of management are considered in the context of changing fashions of religious endowment, and of pressures to restrict the amount of land being alienated in mortmain. It is argued that the expansion of ecclesiastical estates in the twelfth century acted as a catalyst to the growth of autonomous civic government and eventually led to the development of new forms of burgess franchise. The activities of landlords also contributed to significant changes in the topography of the city and to the development of new styles of architecture. Chapter Six returns to an examination of varying economic fortunes of different sectors of the city as revealed by a study of individual rent levels in the period after 1300, and Chapter Seven focusses on the fortunes of private individuals as both landlords and tenants. A Gazetteer of medieval tenements in Petergate is included in Volume Two. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AY P.V. Addyman (ed.), The Archaeology of York. BI Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, University of York. BL British Library. Bodl. Bodleian Library, Oxford. Cal. Close Rolls Calendar of Close Rolls. Cal. Fine Rolls Calendar of Fine Rolls. Cal. Pat, Rolls Calendar of Patent Rolls. Domesday Domesday Book, Yorkshire (parts i and ii), M.L. Faull and M. Stinson (eds.) Domesday Book. A Survey of the Counties of England, 30, Chichester (1986). Drake, Eboracum Francis Drake, Eboracum: or the History and Antiquities of the City of York (York and London, 1736). EYC V. Farrer (ed.), Early Yorkshire Charters, vols 1-3 (Edinburgh, 1914-16). 'Husgabel Roll' D.M. Palliser, 'York's Earliest Administrative Record: the Husgabel Roll of c. 1284', YAJ, 50 (1978), pp.81-91. HCY Historians of the Church of York, 3 vols. J. Raine (ed.) (Rolls Series, lxxi, 1879-94). J.Ryl. John Rylands Library, Manchester. NYCRO North Yorkshire County Record Office, North Allerton. PNERY A.H. Smith, Place-Names of the East Riding of Yorkshire and York (English Place-Name Society, xiv, Cambridge, 1937). PRO Public Record Office. Raine, Medieval York Raine, Angelo, Medieval York: a Topographical Survey Based on Original Sources (1955). RCHMY Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Yank, 5 vols. (1962-81). SS Surtees Society. VCITY The Victoria History etc., County of Yorkshire, 4 vols. (1907-25). VCHY City of York The Victoria History etc., City of Yank, P.M. Tillott (ed.) (1961). 'Vicars Choral N. Tringham, 'An Edition of the Cartulary' Cartulary of the Vicars Choral of York Minster' (History Ph.D. Thesis, Aberdeen, 1978). YAJ. Yorkshire Archaeological Journal (Leeds, 1869/70-; the first eleven volumes are entitled Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal). YASRS Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series. YCA York City Archives. YCR York Civic Records, A. Raine (ed.) [vole i, ii, iii; YASIM7, xcviii, ciii, cvi (1939, 1941, 1942)]. YMB York Memorandum Book, ed. M. Sellars, 2 vols. [SS, CXX (1912) and CXXV (1915)]; ed. J.W. Percy [SS, CLXXXVI (1973)]. YMF York Minster Fasti, C.T. Clay (ed.) [vole 1, ii; YASZRS, cxxiii, cxxiv (1958, 1959)]. YML York Minster Library. York Minster History G.E. Aylmer and R.E. Cant (eds.), A History of York Minster (Oxford, 1977). • 14'14-th Thc mon- famous and kyre Ci tic io R KE dC f libC(1 16 t o 6,1 .31,42 61-1.1„ac .5 St-Parrs Bellf-ty aureli II S. -Tioryes -lbkcy t. t Helms Ti-taitt Charck S -4:draws S t. Catbda-tt S t. .5111,1.011,5 Ch1j#.1 Churt11 SttliTfin: CrauJ ehi1114 0 41(11ff4111,,J .Larrly Tyra: St. tldJ I S 0 t J110174.1 S Dau:s .5 t -Havarti, S t Gorges V .5 L aureate S r Nithalat X .44Callowa Trinity .44v - S r I ohm 3 .S. t Laws Lirthrtj 4 .çt. 5 .4sacylly1h7 6 St ....fag 23#7.1y: :Bond= 23a.tr waif, 7 Garr ret-r Catt Colker Cate 10 God ram Gar Qz.1) 11 -goat Garr I L Javarkt (2) 13 S.t..intrlyetiLftal '4 Contrve 15 ar 6 Saw aut Cu) 'Btjc t8 Ilturfla.va ,mirk 10 CL7-5-r; Ga:r 10 "77;i Tatiantai- Cliffrrh Trirre .151• 23 Trakii /11-er 14. sratz Far_- • JOHN SPEED'S PLAN OF YORK INTRODUCTION It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of the city of York in the history of medieval England. By the time of the Norman Conquest the city was already a thousand years old and for most of that period it had been recognised as the principal city in the north. From the early third century the colonia, on the south- west bank of the Ouse, was the Roman provincial capital of Britannia Inferior,' and in the seventh century, following Paulinus' mission to England and the triumph of the 'Roman' over the 'Celtic' tradition, York became the metropolitan capital of the north. ° Later still, after 866 the city became the centre of the Viking kingdom of York, and in c. 1000, nearly fifty years after the defeat of the last independent Viking ruler of York, it was still regarded as the 'capital of the Northumbrian people'. °- Indeed, although after 956 York became part of a newly united kingdom of England, it was a unity which was only precariously maintained, and both 'Northumbria' and the city of York remained an important Rclum 1, p.xxxvi. 2 R.M.T. Hill and C.N.L. Brooke, 'From 627 until the Early Thirteenth Century', in York Ninster History, pp.4-5. 0 A.G. Dickens, 'York before the Norman Conquest', in VCHY City of York, p.10.