Christopher Michael Woolgar: "The development of accounts for private households in England to c,1500 A.D." A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Durham, 1986 Abstract The first written accounts for private households in England date from the late twelfth century. They probably derive from a system of accounting based on an oral report, supported by a minimum of documentation, and they were closely associated with a broad change in the method of provisioning households from a dependence on food farms to a network of supply based on purchase. The earliest private household accounts are daily or "diet" accounts, recording purchases alone. From the earliest examples, there is evidence of a "common form", which is adapted during the thirteenth century in the largest households to record consumption as well as purchases. In the fourteenth century in the largest households, probably preceded by developments in the English royal household and the monasteries, the diet account became a sophisticated instrument of domestic management. There is considerable variation in the account between households, the largest households having separate departmental and wardrobe accounts. To use the diet account for planning and budgetting, it was necessary to have a summary of its contents. From the 1320s and particularly in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, emphasis was placed on an annual cash, corn and stock account, similar in form to the manorial account, to be set beside the accounts of receivers general and valors to give an overview of the finances of the administration. In the smallest households there is little development in form. The elaborate form of diet account disappears from about 1430 in all but a few large households, after which informal accounts in English become usual. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACCOUNTS FOR PRIVATE HOUSEHOLDS IN ENGLAND TO c.1500 A.D. BY CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL WOOLGAR thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History University of Durham 1986 • - 1 - CONTEXTS Page Contents 1 Declaration and statement of copyright 2 Acknowledgements 3 Abbreviations and editorial conventions 4 Chapter 1 Introduction 7 Chapter 2 Household accounts: the evidence to the end of the twelfth century 14 Chapter 3 The earliest household accounts 31 Chapter 4 Household accounts from the mid-thirteenth century to c.1430: (1) the documents 54 Chapter 5 Household accounts from the mid-thirteenth century to c.1430: (ii)the organisation of particular private households 96 Chapter 6 Household accounts from the mid-thirteenth century to c.1430: (iii)features of accounting in the English royal household, monasteries and collegiate institutions 110 Chapter 7 Subsidiary records of account, other household documents and household administration 132 Chapter 8 Household accounts, c.1430 - c.1500 143 Chapter 9 Conclusion 155 Appendix 1 An edition of the earliest surviving household account from medieval England 158 Appendix 2 The accounts of the household of John de Multon of Frampton 162 Appendix 3 The rotulus de penis compoti for the household of King Edward I, 1298 190 Appendix 4 A preliminary list of surviving accounts for private households in England to c.1500 A.D. 193 References 242 Bibliography 278 2 DECLARATION I declare that no part of this thesis has been submitted previously for a degree in the University of Durham or at any other university. I declare this thesis is my own work. 4)4,, C.M.Woolgar 15 July 1986 STATEMENT OF COPYRIGHT The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it may be published without his prior written consent. Information derived from it must be acknowledged. - 3 - ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the preparation of this thesis I have visited a large number of archives, both public and private. For permission to use their papers I am grateful to the College of Arms; R.J.R.Arundell, Esq.; the Marquis of Bath; the Master, Fellows and Scholars of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; the Master, Fellows and Scholars of St. John's College, Cambridge; His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Trustees of Lambeth Palace Library; the President and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Oxford; the President and Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford; the Warden and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford; the Warden and Fellows of New College, Oxford; the Provost and Fellows of Queen's College, Oxford; the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey; the Warden and Fellows of Winchester College; the Dean and Canons of St. George's Chapel, Windsor; and the Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral. Transcripts of Crown copyright records in the Public Record Office appear by permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office. I am also grateful to the President and Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford, for permission to include transcripts of material from their archives. I am greatly indebted to my supervisor, Professor P.D.A.Harvey, for his advice throughout this study, and to my wife, for her encouragement and support. 4 ABBREVIATIONS Annales ESC Annales, Economies, Societes, Civilisations ANTS Anglo-Norman Text Society AO Archives office Arundell NA Manuscripts of R.J.R.Arundell, Esq.: Ministers' Accounts (formerly at Vardour Castle) Berkeley SR Berkeley Castle Muniments, Select Roll BIER Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research BR& Bulletin of the John Rylands Library EL British Library, Department of Western Manuscripts Bodl. Bodleian Library, Oxford CCC Corpus Christi College CUL Cambridge University Library Durham D. and C. Muniments of the Dean and Chapter of Durham, deposited in the Department of Palaeography and Diplomatic, University of Durham, Prior's Kitchen, Durham EconER Economic History Review EDC Muniments of the Dean and Chapter of Ely Cathedral EDR Ely Diocesan Records EETS Early English Text Society ERR English Historical Review ETC Early Yorkshire Charters ed. W.Farrer and C.T.Clay (13 vols., Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series, Extra Series; 1914-65) JIMA journal of the British Archaeological Association JEH journal of Ecclesiastical History ISA journal of the Society of Archivists -5-. Hanger et boire Manger et boire au moyen age ed. D.Menjot (Publications de la faculte des lettres et sciences humaines de Nice, let series, 27-8; 1984) Nanorial records of Cuzbas Manorial records of Cuxbam, Oxfordshire, circa 1200-1359 ed. P.D.A.Harvey (Historical Manuscripts Commission, Joint Publications, 23; 1976) ICO Magdalen College, Oxford KR Merton College, Oxford, rolls NCO New College, Oxford, muniments OHS Oxford Historical Society P and P Past and Present Peterborough D. and C. Muniments of the Dean and Chapter of Peterborough Cathedral PRO Public Record Office, London PRS Pipe Roll Society QCO Muniments of Queen's College, Oxford, deposited in the Bodleian Library RRS Regesta Regum Scottorum ed. G.W.S.Barrow et al. (Edinburgh, 1960- ). RO Record office RS Rolls Series SGC Muniments of St. George's Chapel, Windsor SJC St. John's College, Cambridge, archives TBGAS Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Tout Chapters T.F.Tout Chapters in the administrative history of medieval England: the wardrobe, the chamber and the small seals (6 vols., Manchester, 1920-33) TRHS Transactions of the Royal Historical Society UL University library VCH Victoria County History - 6 - Falter de Venlak Documents illustrating the rule of Walter de Wenlok, Abbot of Westminster, 1283-1307 ed. B.F.Harvey (Camden Society, 4th series, 2; 1965) Walter of Henley Walter of Henley and other treatises on estate management and accounting ed. D.Oschinsky (Oxford, 1971) VAX Westminster Abbey Muniments WCX Winchester College Muniments Worcester D. and C. Muniments of the Dean and Chapter of Worcester Cathedral EDITORIAL CONVENTIONS In transcriptions and quotations the use of i, j, u and v has been standardised. Pounds, shillings, pence, halfpence and farthings have been transcribed as ii., s, d, ob., and qua. Ampersands have been extended silently. Contractions of uncertain expansion have been transcribed in italics, as have marginal entries; final suspensions of uncertain extension have been rendered by a superscript comma. Places where up to three letters are missing from the text have been indicated by three stops; where more than three letters are missing, five stops have been used. Deletions have been placed between asterisks and insertions between \ I. All punctuation and capitalisation are editorial. References to counties are to those obtaining immediately prior to the changes made in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. Chapter 1 Introduction This study has developed from an interest in household accounts which arose from discoveries made during the cataloguing of the archives of Magdalen College, Oxford.' The aim is to analyse the accounts and accounting methods used by private households in England up to c.1500 A.D. To widen the perspective of developments which occur in private households, the records of the royal household, monastic, collegiate and corporate institutions, together with continental evidence, are taken into consideration, particularly with reference to household management, planning and budgetting: there is much to be learned from the similarities of forms and procedures, the problems and their solutions. At the same time, the work is also conceived as a parallel to studies of manorial accounting and the financial operations of landed estates, 2 as a contribution to the study of medieval finance in general. The terminal date, c.1500, marks a point in a broad shift in the pattern of accounting, with a noticeable decline in the use of the medieval forms of account in all but a small number of households in favour of more informal accounting procedures. The household is central to the study of medieval history: it was the principal social institution and its communal life provided the backdrop for everything from national politics to the development of literature.