CAMBRIDGE AND ITS ECONOMIC REGION, 1450-1560 John Stephen Lee Corpus Christi College, Cambridge This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 15 December 2000 I hereby certify that this dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration. It does not exceed the word limit of 80,000 words, including appendices but excluding footnotes, references and bibliography, as stipulated by the Degree Committee of the Faculty of History, University of Cambridge. This dissertation is approximately 79,600 words in length. John S. Lee ii SUMMARY This thesis examines the relationship between a town and its region in the late medieval period. The population, wealth, trade, and markets of Cambridge and its region are studied, as are the nature and extent of changes which occurred between 1450 and 1560, a period traditionally viewed as one of economic and social transition. Taxation records of the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries are used to analyse the population and wealth of Cambridge and its region. Rates of growth varied noticeably between different towns, sub-regions and parishes within the county. The trade of the town and its hinterland is shown through the purchases made by the Cambridge colleges and other institutions. The university expanded considerably during the fifteenth century and a number of new colleges were founded. Patterns of credit highlight the extent of London marketing networks, and demand from the capital appears to have stimulated the development of the malt barley and saffron trades in the region during the later fifteenth century. The markets and fairs of Cambridge and its region are explored, including the location of surviving markets and the regulation of marketing activity. Stourbridge fair, a major trading event held on the outskirts of Cambridge, grew significantly in this period, and the buyers and sellers who used this fair are examined. The purchases of King’s Hall and King’s College show the supply of food and fuel to the town, revealing the area of supply, the status and wealth of suppliers, and the prices of wheat over the period. Finally, the land and labour markets in the town are explored briefly, focusing on the property owned by Cambridge Corporation, and the impact of college building projects. This work concludes by highlighting particular factors which influenced the development of Cambridge and its region, including the university’s expansion, Stourbridge fair, and London trading links, while pointing to the limited extent of economic development generally over the 1450-1560 period. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of figures page v List of tables vi Acknowledgements viii Abbreviations ix Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Population and wealth 34 Chapter 3 Trade 83 Chapter 4 Markets 122 Chapter 5 Fairs 158 Chapter 6 Food and fuel supplies 198 Chapter 7 Property, labour and building projects 245 Chapter 8 Conclusion 285 Appendix 1 Parish totals of taxpayers and taxable wealth, 1334-1524 295 Appendix 2 Changes in ranking of parishes by wealth, 1334-1524 300 Appendix 3 Changes in ranking of parishes by population, 1377-1524 303 Bibliography 305 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Conceptual model of Cambridge and its region 6 Figure 2.1: Cambridgeshire parishes grouped by sub-region 57 Figure 2.2: Changes in the ranking of parishes by wealth, 1334-1524 65 Figure 2.3: Changes in ranking of parishes by number of taxpayers, 1377-1524 65 Figure 2.4: Reductions to the fifteenth and tenth, 1433, & small parishes, 1428 71 Figure 2.5: Reductions to the fifteenth and tenth by parish, 1490-1 71 Figure 3.1: Saffron cultivation in Cambridgeshire parishes 112 Figure 4.1: Markets of Cambridge and its region 124 Figure 4.2: Cambridge town pleas, 1389-90 142 Figure 5.1: Fairs of Cambridge and its region 162 Figure 5.2: Transfers of booths in Stourbridge fair held by Cambridge burgesses 170 Figure 5.3: Income from treasurers’ booths in Stourbridge fair 171 Figure 6.1: King’s Hall suppliers, 1451-1500 210 Figure 6.2: King’s Hall suppliers, 1501-44 210 Figure 6.3: King’s College purchases, 1450-80 213 Figure 6.4: King’s College purchases, 1545-58 213 Figure 6.5: Trinity College fuel supplies, 1547-63 217 Figure 6.6: King’s Hall wheat prices, 1450-1544 232 Figure 6.7: Average of King’s Hall wheat prices, 1450-1544 233 Figure 7.1: Cambridge Corporation’s property income 251 Figure 7.2: Decays of rent from Cambridge Corporation’s property 253 v LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Populations of major towns and regional centres within 50 miles gional centres within 50 miles of Cambridge, 1377 and 1524-5 44 Table 2.2: Taxable wealth of major towns and regional centres within 50 miles of Cambridge, 1334 and 1524-5 45 Table 2.3: Populations of small towns around Cambridge, 1377 and 1524-5 47 Table 2.4: Taxable wealth of small towns around Cambridge, 1334 and 1524-5 47 Table 2.5: Theoretical breaking points of urban hinterlands around Cambridge 50 Table 2.6: Comparative county lay wealth in £,000 per acre, 1334 and 1515 52 Table 2.7: Taxable wealth per acre, by sub-region 60 Table 2.8: Number of taxpayers per acre, by sub-region 61 Table 2.9: Wealth per capita, 1524, by sub-region 62 Table 2.10: Wealth and population within a ten-mile radius of Cambridge 68 Table 2.11: 1433 tax reductions, by sub-region 72 Table 2.12: 1490-1 tax reductions, by sub-region 73 Table 2.13: Contributors to 1522 loan, by sub-region 77 Table 2.14: Distribution of all taxpayers by wealth, in Cambridgeshire sub-regions, 1524 78 Table 3.1: Wealth and size of Cambridge colleges, 1546 90 Table 3.2: Most common residence of creditors, by county, making loans to Cambridgeshire men, 1450-1509 104 Table 3.3: Most common residence of Cambridgeshire debtors, 1450-1509 105 Table 3.4: Most common occupations of Cambridgeshire debtors, 1450-1509 106 Table 3.5: Most common occupations of creditors lending to Cambridgeshire men, 1450-1509 107 Table 4.1: Occupations of persons involved in Cambridge town pleas, 1389-90 144 Table 4.2: Bakers, brewers and butchers amerced at Foxton, Linton and Whittlesford 150 vi Table 5.1: Dates of fairs of Cambridge and its region 163 Table 6.1: King’s Hall suppliers with largest number of contracts, 1450-1500 222 Table 6.2: King’s Hall suppliers with largest number of contracts, 1501-43 222 Table 6.3: King’s College wheat prices, 1536-62 235 Table 6.4: Cambridge prices, 1556-7 236 Table 6.5: Wheat supplied to King’s College from corn rents and the market, 1557-62 241 Table 7.1: Property income of the Cambridge colleges, 1546 247 Table 7.2: Cambridge rents of Corpus Christi College, 1536/7-1551 255 Table 7.3 Distribution of reductions in Corpus Christi College’s total declared rents by parish, 1536/7-1551 256 Table 7.4: Burgesses admitted to freedom of Cambridge, 1422/3-1560 258 Table 7.5: Nationality of aliens in Cambridgeshire, 1440 262 Table 7.6: Occupations of aliens in Cambridge, 1440 263 Table 7.7: Occupations of aliens in Cambridgeshire, 1463 264 Table 7.8: College building projects, 1450-1560 268 Table 7.9: Cambridge wage rates (accounts of Cambridge Corporation and churchwardens of Holy Trinity) 282 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor John Hatcher for his guidance and encouragement, and the Economic and Social Research Council for funding my research. Several members of the Department of History at the University of Durham first stimulated my interests in medieval and economic history, and have continued to offer advice and encouragement. Dr Mark Bailey conducted my first year registration and gave many useful suggestions in the early stages of my doctoral research at Cambridge. Dr Tessa Webber, Dr Stephen Alford and Dr Neil Wright provided helpful classes in palaeography and Latin in the Faculty of History. Many archivists, librarians and staff have given detailed information relating to their collections. In particular, I wish to thank Dr Philip Saunders and Ms Sue Neville at Cambridge County Record Office; Ms Jacky Cox, Cambridge University Library; Mrs Catherine Hall, Corpus Christi College; Mr Andrew Johnson, Downing College; Dr Rosalind Moad, King’s College; Dr Roger Lovatt, Peterhouse; Mr Jonathan Smith, Trinity College, and Mr Malcolm Underwood, St John’s College. I am grateful for the opportunities to discuss aspects of this work at seminars in Cambridge and elsewhere, and through teaching a course on Late Medieval and Tudor Cambridge for the University’s Board of Continuing Education. James Davis kindly read through my text and provided helpful suggestions. Corinne and Stephen Roughley enabled me to use their colour printer. Lastly, I thank my family for their unfailing support. viii ABBREVIATIONS Annals Annals of Cambridge, ed. C.H. Cooper, 5 vols. (Cambridge, 1842- 1908) BARSEH British Academy, Records of Social and Economic History CASLMS Cambridge Antiquarian Society Luard Memorial Series CASOS Cambridge Antiquarian Society Octavo Series CBD Cambridge Borough Documents, ed. W.M. Palmer (Cambridge, 1931) CCA Cambridge Corporation Archives, Cambridge County Record Office CCC Corpus Christi College, Cambridge CCR Calendar of Close Rolls, HMSO, 46 vols. (London, 1892-1963) CCRO Cambridge County Record Office CCTA Downing College Cambridge, Bowtell MS 1-2, ‘Liber Rationalis’, Cambridge Corporation Treasurers’ accounts, vol. i, 1515/16-1560/1, vol. ii, 1561/2-1588/9 CPR Calendar of Patent Rolls, HMSO, 54 vols. (London, 1891-1916) Documents Documents relating to the university and colleges of Cambridge, HMSO, 3 vols.