Mediæval London, Volume 1: Historical & SocialBesant, Walter
History
Mediæval London, Volume 1: Historical & Social
Besant, Walter
London (England) -- History -- To 1500; London (England) -- Social life and customs -- To 1500
Here is a list of things made:—
“Woollen Caps, Woollen Cloth, Laces, Corses, Ribbands, Fringes of Silk
and Thread, Laces of Thread, Silk twined, Silk in any wise embroidered,
Laces of Gold, Tyres of silk or gold, Saddles, Stirrups, or any Harness
pertaining to Saddlery, Spurs, Bosses of Bridles, Aundirons, Gridirons,
any Manner of Locks, Pinsons, Fire-tongs, Dripping Pans, Dice, Tennis
Balls, Points, Purses, Gloves, Girdles, Harness for Girdles of Iron,
Latten Steel, Tin or of Alkemine, anything wrought of any Tawed
Leather, any Tawed Furrs, Buscans, Shoes, Galoches, or Corks, Knives,
Daggers, Wood-knives, Bodkins, Sheers for Taylors, Scissors, Razors,
Sheaths, Playing Cards, Pins, Pattens, Pack Needles, or any Painted
Ware, Forcers, Caskets, Rings of Copper or of Latten Gilt, or Chaffing
Dishes, Hanging Candlesticks, Chaffing Balls, Sacring Bells, Rings for
Curtains, Ladles, Scimmers, Counterfeit Basons, Ewers, Hats, Brushes,
Cards for Wool, Blanch Iron Thread commonly called White Wire.” (W.
Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry_.) (See also Appendix II.)
The following notes on the regulations of trade are by Riley:—
“The business of the Winedrawers (_Wyndrawers_) seems to have been
limited to the loading, carriage, and unloading, of tuns and pipes of
wine from the Quay cellars to other parts of the City. Their charges
were restricted by enactment to certain prices, according to the
distance; ten pence being the largest sum allowed for the carriage
of a tun of wine to any part within the walls, and eight pence for a
pipe.”
* * * * *
“The business of a Brewer was acknowledgedly one held in low
estimation; indeed ‘Breweress’ rather should be the term, as, in the
times now under consideration, the business was almost wholly in
the hands of females, and so continued to be till the close of the
fifteenth century, if not later; at which period Fleet Street was
tenanted almost wholly by breweresses or alewives, and makers of felt
caps. The brewers of ale generally, if not always, sold it also by
retail to the public, as well as wholesale, to such dealers as were
not brewers themselves, but privileged to sell it. Indeed, at some
periods, as already noticed, we meet with prohibitory enactments,
forbidding any person but brewers and hostelers to be sellers of ale.
The ale-tavern or ale-house seems to have been a distinct
establishment from the wine-tavern; the keeper of which, though the
fact does not appear [_Liber Albus_], was probably prohibited from
selling ale. For the present, it is proposed to call the reader’s
attention exclusively to the brewing and sale of ale.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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