TWO EARLY LONDON CHRONICLERS

      It is probably too neat to say that Henry VII (father) built up political and economic capital during his reign and Henry VIII (son) spent it. It makes the 'spendthrift' years seem more exciting and leads the history reader to overlook the preceding years of good governance. Being careful is a bit dull.

     However, there exists at least a couple of contemporary London chroniclers whose writing suggests their relief at being able to get on with their lives during a period of relative calm. They seem to have been genuinely thankful for the first Tudor monarch and his rule of Quiet. Robert Fabyan wrote that, "consydering the contynuall peace and tranquylete whiche he kept thys his lande and comons in", the seventh Henry "ever ruled so Myghtly hys subgectes & mynystred to them such iustyce that ... they loved and drad hym .." It is an interesting feature of medieval kingship that a good king is to be regarded with love and dread. Real respect towards the throne is the product of maintaining the King's Peace.

The Chronicles of Fabyan

In Dei nomine. Amen ... I ROBERT FABYAN, citizien and draper of London ... make this my present Will ... [dated 11 July 1511, proved 12 July 1513]

At the end of his life Fabyan summarised his identity as a citizen and draper of the City of London. His style of his chronicle reflects this orientation too, with each annual entry beginning with the names of the Lord Mayor and two City Sheriffs in office at the time. The Corporation and Guildhall are the focus of day to day power for him and his fellow aldermen. These institutions are the lived reality, much closer for the day-to-day survival of the people and merchants.

Of course any work of English history must include the 'high-politics' of Westminster and the Royal Court, the landed aristocracy and the lords ecclesiastical (bishops, abbots, priors). But Fabyan is also aware of the immediate pressures of existence for Londoners, those who dwell within and around the old walled city.

Particularly momentous events occurred in the 1480s, for example, when the scheming King Richard III was defeated by Henry Tudor and his forces on Bosworth Field. Fabyan certainly records the big picture here, the intrigues and reputational scandal. The following excerpts are taken from the original editions (1516, 1533, 1542, 1559) transcribed and published in 1811 by Henry Ellis. Spelling and numbers have been updated for easier reading but sentence structure and word order remain much the same.

'Upon the Thursday then next ensuing, being the 20th day of June, the said lord protector taking then upon him[self] as king and governor of the realm, went with great pomp to Westminster, and there took possession of the same ...After which possession taking, and other ceremonies there done, he [was] conveyed to the king's palace within Westminster, and there [he] lodged.

 In which pass[age] of time the prince, heir of right[full] King Edward V, with his brother the Duke of York, were put under [secure] keeping within the Tower, in  such ways that they never came abroad after.

 And so ended the reign of Edward V when he had borne the title of a king for the space of 2 months and 11 days. And upon the Friday, being the 21st day of June, was the said lord protector proclaimed through the city King of England, by the name of Richard III.'

'In this year [of Richard's reign (1484)] the aforesaid grudge increasing, and more so for as much as the common fame went that King Richard had within the Tower put into secret death [or murdered] the 2 sons of his brother Edward III ... '

'In the beginning of this ... second year of King Richard['s reign] ... one named William Collingburn was taken [or arrested], and after he had been held a season in prison ... was brought to Guildhall and there arraigned ... [and accused of] sundry treasons and for a rhyme which was laid to his charge that he [had made] in derision of the King and his Council, as follows:          The cat, the rat, and Lovell our dog,

                      Rule all England under a hog.

[What] was meant [was] that Catesby, Ratcliff, and the Lord Lovell, ruled the land under the King, who bore the white boar for his conscience [or family crest]. For [that offence] and others ... he was put to the most cruel death at Tower Hill, where for him was made a new pair of gallows. Upon these, after he had been hanged for a short season, he was cut down, [still] being alive, and his bowels [were] ripped out of his belly, and [then he was] cast into the fire beside him, and lived until the butcher [or executioner] put his hand into the bulk of his body; insomuch that he said in the same instant, O Lord Jesus, yet more trouble, and so [he] died to the great compassion [or sympathy] of many people.'

'And [in the] beginning of the third year of [King Richard's] reign [1485], he met with the said prince [Henry Tudor]  near to a village in Leicestershire, named Bosworth ... where between the was fought a sharp battle ... In conclusion King Richard was there slain ... And then was the noble prince Henry admitted for king, and so [he was] proclaimed King by the name of Henry VII ...'

The chronicler Fabyan does not leave any of the truly shocking or scandalous details out of his account when he reports on the three politically significant years of 1483 to 1485. But neither does he entirely lose his perspective as a citizen of London. He makes room for some very local things too. In 1484 the headline act is the suffering of the satirist Collingburn. Also of interest to Fabyan though are deaths of those nearer home.

     'Anno Domini 1484                                               Anno Domini 1485

                                                 Richarde Chester

      Thomas Hylle, Grocer       Thomas Bretayne         Anno 2

                                                 Raffe Astry

In the beginning of this Mayor's year [i.e. Thomas Hylle, elected October 1484] and second year of King Richard['s reign, 'Anno 2] ...

And in the month of February following [i.e. in 1485] died Richarde Chester, one of the sheriffs, for whom was immediately chosen Raffe Astry, to continue for that year following ...'

In the seamless transition from one deceased officeholder to his quickly nominated successor, the chronicler can't help showing the mechanisms of city government in a positive light. Every year without fail a new Lord Mayor and his two executive officers, the London Sheriffs, are duly elected. And because mortality is unfortunately frequent in crowded and unsewered towns and cities, provision is made for an 'understudy' standing by. 

In the following year a more disturbing entry is made. Possibly more chilling for Fabyan than a distant bloody battlefield like Bosworth is the recurrence of mass deaths in London from disease.

'And upon the 11th day of October next following [i.e. later on in 1485], then being the Sweating Sickness of new began [i.e. the start of a different epidemic or 'plague' with unfamiliar symptoms], died the said Thomas Hylle then Lord Mayor, and for [his replacement] as mayor Sir Wyllyam Stokker, knight and draper, which [who] died als of the said sickness shortly after; and then Iohn Warde, grocer, was chosen mayor, which so continued until the Feast of Symonde and Iude following.'

Once again, despite difficult but sadly predictable circumstances, the City of London keeps functioning. 

REFERENCE: The New Chronicles of England and France in Two Parts by Robert Fabyan, Named by Himself the Concordance of Histories, Reprinted from Pynson's Edition of 1516, by Henry Ellis, 1811, London.

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'Of  kynge  Henry  the  viii'

The Second Part of Fabyan's Chronicle (1533 edition) includes "a Manuscript of the Author's Own Time". The drafting of his Will in 1511, and its subsequent 'proving' in 1513, indicates him dying in 1512. One of the manuscript continuations beyond the initial printing in 1519 is entitled Henry The Seventh (or 'Of kynge Henry the vii') and deals with the years of that reign from 1486 until 1509.

The approximate correlation of the beginnings of the Tudor era with the maturity of Fabyan's life as a London alderman provides an opportunity for readers of history. In addition to representing the Ward of Farringdon Without The Wall, Fabyan served as a city Sheriff in 1493-1494, was responsible for the security of Ludgate and Newgate entrances to London during the Cornish Uprising in 1497, and was tax assessor for several city wards in 1498 to raise the 'fifteenth' for the war against the Scots. Throughout the reign of Henry VII then, this chronicler was at the centre of municipal affairs, well placed to learn and record the the fate of Londoners in general.

Principal among his concerns was the people's prosperity, that state of physical well-being that is expressed in the phrase 'comon-weal', or 'commonwealth'. He sometimes reports the prices for the food staples of bread and salt. These figures vary, suggesting that the simple standard of having enough to eat was not always met.

"And this yere [1486] whete was at iii s. y bushel [3 shillings for 1/3 of a bag or 1/36 of a ton], & baye salt at the same pryce."

"And this yere [1491] was a busshell of whete at xxii d. [22 pence or 2 pennies short of 2 shillings]."

"This yere [1494] whete was at vi d. a busshel [6 pence or half of 1 shilling], and bay salt at iii d. ob [3 pence or a quarter of 1 shilling]."

The most obvious cause for price fluctuations was the weather, which determined the size of the annual harvest. A hard winter meant a hungry year. There is a clear contrast, for example, between 1506:

"And upon the even of seynt Maury, began and hidious wind, which endured uppon xi (11) dayes folowynge, more or lasse, in contynuall blowyng, by meane whereof the wedercok of Poules [St Pauls Church] was blowen downe, and moche other harme done."

and 1507:

"And thys yere was a wonderfull easy and softe wynter, without stormys or frostes."

Another influence on the state of a Londoner's table was international trade. Fabyan comments favourably on this for 1496: 

"And thys yere was great bysynesse for the entercourse bytwene England and Flanders."

Exchange between English wool growers and Flemish cloth weavers stimulated income on both sides of the Channel, supporting the import and export of a wide range of goods through the Thames-side port.

The sheer scale of wealth gathered in London from its commercial activity was the reason that English kings continued to respect the city's 'liberties', its centuries old rights of a free market and self-government. Each king, and his kingdom, were financially dependant on the city's ability to generate surplus money. The extent of royal reliance is demonstrated by a number  of the chronicler's annual entries.

1486 "In this yere a prest ['preparation for battle' or 'war chest] was made to the kynge of ii M. li. [£2,000] of whyche the mercers, grocers, & drapers lent ix C. xxxvii li. and vi s. [£937/6/-]."

1488 "And thys yere was a prest of iiii M. li. [£4,000] whereof mercers, grocers, and drapers lent xvi C. & xvi li. [£1,616]. And thys yere was another prest of two thousad [£2,000]."

1489 "Thys yere was the tarske ['tax'] of the tenth penny [10%] of mennes landes and goodes [revival of an old medieval tax or 'tithe' on "lands and movables" in "every 'vill' and urban ward of the country" for a king's military needs]."

1491 "And thys yere was a great benyvolence [self-assessed tax directly imposed by the king (without parliament), ironically called 'loving contribution' or 'free gift'] graunted unto the kynge for his iournay into Frauce, where unto the felysshyp of the drapers graunted more than any other felysshyp of the cytye; and every alderma of London that tyme beynge, payed volente & nolente [Latin: 'willing or not'] two hundreth pound [£200 each]. Over whyche somme the comoners extedyd to ix M. vi C. lxxxii li. xvii s. iiii d. [£9,682/17/4]."

1497 "The latter ende of October, by great cousayll holden at Westmynster [i.e. parliament], was grauted to the kynge for the defence of the Scottes C. xx M li. [£20,000] ...

And in the same moneth [of November] was graunted to the king a prest of the cytye of iiii M. li. [£4,000] ...

The xvi day of January a parlyament beganne, whereby was granted two dymes [Anglo-Norman: 'disme' is one tenth or 'tithe'] and a half, two aydes [Old French: 'aide' is a tax levied for defence], and two fyftenys [Middle English: a tax of one fifteenth charged on property by parliament as a temporary aide to the king], to levy the foresayd C. xx M. li. [£20,000 above]."

1504 "Upon the xxv daye of Ianuary began a parliament at Westmynster ... And in the foresayde parlyamente was granted to the kynge an ayde of xxxvi thousand li. [£36,000] ..."

1505 "In thys yere the cytezyns of London graunted to the kyng v M marke [5,000 marks or £666/13/4 (1 mark = two thirds of 1 pound)], for confermacion of theyr lyberties; whereof a M. marke [1,000 marks] was payde in hande, and iiii M. mark [4,000 marks] in iiii yeres next ensuying [i.e. five year term]."

The evidence shows that the City of London operated as one of the crown's major banks; lending money ('prest'), paying tax ( 'tarske','aydes', tenths and fifteenths, 'benyvolence ― volente & nolente'), and fines or fees ('for confermacion of theyr liberties'). It was in the kingdom's best interest that merchant guilds and trade companies continued to do what they did with the least interference from the royal court or the privy council. 

REFERENCE: The New Chronicles of England and France in Two Parts ...

The First Part Collated With The Editions of 1533, 1542, and 1559; And The Second With a Manuscript of The Author's Own Time, As Well As The Subsequent Editions: Including The Different Continuations ... by Henry Ellis, London, 1811.

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The Chronicle of Arnold

The first chronicler to publish in the early modern or Tudor period was Richard Arnold, who resided in the parish of Saint Magnus on London Bridge. Arnold was a merchant in the Company of Haberdashers and travelled to Flanders and Netherlands to trade. The earliest edition of his work was printed in Antwerp in 1502 or 1503. An updated version, including the reign  of Henry VII, was produced later in about 1520 or 1521.

Arnold's contribution is not a typical annals-only chronicle, but a collection of city-related information. In his own words:

     "In this Booke is conteyned the names of Baylifs, Custos, Mairs, and Sherefs, of the Cite of London from the Tyme of King Richard the Furst; and also th'Artycles of the Chartur and Libarties of the same Cyte; and of the Chartur and Liberties off England, wyth odur dvers mat's good and necessary for every Citezen to undirstond and knowe."

The relevant part of this compendium is his list of London officeholders. Each annual entry begins with the names of the elected mayor and his two sheriffs, followed by a dating reference to the number of years elapsed in a particular English king's reign. These entries are sometimes but not always accompanied by comments on an event he considered noteworthy. These remarks are short, often single issue, and usually pithy.

In 1483 he reports the scandal of Richard III murdering his nephews as "...the ii sonnys of Kinge Edward were put to silence". In 1485 amidst the founding of a new dynasty by Henry VII he notes "This yere was a grete deth and hasty, callyd th' swettynge syknes ..."  Arnold's style is very concise. He only mentions what he is interested in. For the mayoral year of November 1493 to October 1494, the chronicler makes just one point (and nothing for the following year).

"Willm Martyn     Willm Purchas, Willm Welbeck, sherefs;  the viii yere.

      Mayr.             This yere was a rysing of yonge men ayenst y stileyard.

 

Rauf Astry         John Wyngar, Robert Fabyan, sherefs;    the ix yere.

      Mayr.             [No comment by Arnold]." 

Arnold believes this event is significant, and from his eclectic point of view, the only significant thing to occur in the two years he is reporting on. But there is a great deal not said here. Fortunately the chronicler Robert Fabyan was one of the sheriffs of London at around this time of riot and unrest, and his style is less abbreviated.

"Anno Domini M. iiii C. xcii                                                        Anno Domini M. iiii  C. xciii

                                                   Wyllyam Purchase.

Wyllyam Martyn, skynner                                                          Anno viii

                                                    Wyllyam Welbek

... And thys yere, in the moneth of October and end of thys mayres yere, was the fray made uppon the Eesterlynges, by the comons of the cytye, and specyally mercers servauntes.

Anno Domini M. iiii C. xciii                                                        Anno Domini M. iiii C. xciiii

                                                   Robert Fabyan

Rafe Astry, fishmonger                                                              Anno ix

                                                   Iohn Wyngar  

In this yere, in y beginnyng, an enquery was made for y ryot forenamed; for the which many yong men were punysshed by long imprysonment ..."

These accounts indentify the opponents in the "rysing" or "fray" of 1493 (viii/8th year of King Henry VII's reign). On the aggressive side were "yonge men", the "comons of the cytye", including "mercers servauntes". These disaffected Londoners launched an attack "ayenst y stileyard" ― "uppon the Eesterlynges". 

The Middle English 'stilyard', (incorrectly modernised to 'steelyard') is an Anglicised version of German 'Stalhof', referring to the enclosed trading post occupied by Hanseatic League near Three Cranes Wharf on the Thames. This site had been an area for German traders, called 'Easterlings' or 'Oosterlings', for more than 500 years. (A regulation by King Ethelred II in 967 AD states, "The Easterlings coming with their ships ... were to pay toll at Christmas two grey cloths and one brown one, with ten pounds of pepper five pairs of gloves two vessels of vinegar ...").

There were "four dozen Hansards trading out of the Steelyard in the year 1490-91", representatives of the mercantile cities of Lubeck, Hamburg, Rostock, Cologne and Kiel who dominated trade in the North and Baltic Seas of Europe. Their warehouses and homes were "in effect, a fortress, surrounded by a high strong wall, which contained few windows". To English competitors, this all-male community formed an "alien enclave of merchants leading a privileged existence, with tax exemptions and preferential customs rates".

It seemed there was a royal and aristocratic bias towards these foreigners known as "strangers", an unseemly eagerness to renew the "oold friendly-hode" with the Hanse (the "Association") despite their frequent treaty breaches. "In 1486, when [new King Henry VII] reconfirmed Hanseatic privileges, he did so over the objections of merchants from Hull, York, Lynn and London."

On 15 October 1493, tension erupted. Just like an earlier attack on the Steelyard in 1480, the instigators were from the Mercers Company. This time they were objecting to a German monopoly on buying and selling Flemish cloth. "A mob assembled at the gates of the Steelyard, damaging warehouses, and starting a fire on the premises. The mayor was forced to intervene, dispersing the dissenters, arresting the main perpetrators, and installing a nightly guard at the Steelyard for the following seven days in order to protect its residents."

The top image Styllyarde is a detail from Civitas Londinium (aka 'Agas Map') reproduced online as 'Map of Early Modern London'. This section presents a bird's-eye view of Thameside London from the Dowgate Street site of the Steelyard downstream to London Bridge.

The middle image Stiliard shows the Steelyard wharf and buildings as rendered in Wencelaus Hollar's panorama of the City of London produced about 1646 or 1647.

The bottom image shows the Hanse's London base on the Thames. It is a 19th century drawing but is based on Antony van den Wyngaerde's panorama of the City from around 1550

REFERENCES:

The Customs of London, Otherwise Called Arnold's Chronicle, London,1811.

The New Chronicles of England and France in Two Parts, 

London, 1811.

SM Butler, 2022, 'The Steelyard, Hansard Merchants, and a "Misliving" Singlewoman in Late Medieval London', Legal History Miscellany: Posts on the History of Law, Crime, and Justice

A Gowman, 2020, 'The Hanseatic Steelyard in Dowgate', Guildhall Historical Association: Established 1944

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'a grete grudge rose among dyvers craftys in the cyte'

It is only towards the end of Henry VII's rule in the early sixteenth century that Richard Arnold gains his 'voice'. The abrupt note-taking style of his early entries is replaced by something approximating passion when he identifies more closely with the complaints of his peers in the City. These are a series of incidents which, "to Londoners at any rate, bore the impress of tyranny".

1502-1503  

Thys yere the taylours sewyd to the Kynge, to be callyd Marchant Taylours; whereupon a grete grudge rose among dyvers craftys in the cyte agaynst them ...

This dispute was ignited by a general suspicion of King Henry's "sponsorship of the Merchant Taylors". If the Crown "sought a counter-balance to the mercantile companies of the Mercers, Drapers and Grocers", then granting the Taylors a new Charter was one way to "shake up "the oligarchic base of the civic government".

1503-1504

This yere was a grete stryfe for the eleccyon of the Sherefs in the Gyld Halle, one parte wold have had Wyllyam Fizt Wyllms, marchaunt taylour, and another parte wold have had Richard Grove, a grocer, so y in conclusion, Roger Grove was admyttyd to be Sheref.

1505-1506

This yere Robert Johnson was dismissyd of his shrevaltee, within iii wekys next after he was chosen; and in thys reame, Willyam Fyzt Wyllms was admytted, by his instaunce and labour, to the Kynge, whereupon grete trouble to him afterwarde.

The squabble continued for years, devolving to whose preferred candidate became sheriff. The aldermen persisted with their choice of Roger Grove, grocer, in 1504, but there could be no mistaking the King's will in September 1506, when "the wardens of the crafts were assembled at the Guildhall to have the king's letter regarding his wish for Fitzwilliam's election read to them ... The commons rebelled and chose instead the Goldsmith Robert Johnson who was sworn and admitted to the position. The barons of the Exchequer [representing the Crown], who took the oaths of the sheriffs of London, refused to accept Johnson, though Johnson continued his duties for a number of days thereafter. The king commanded that a new election should be held, which it was ... Fitzwilliam was elected ...

Why was the election of Fitzwilliam resisted by the City? ...

The answer probably lies in the personal unpopularity of Fitzwilliam and the general unpopularity of the Tailors. Fitzwilliam had been instrumental in negotiating the unpopular charter of the Merchant Taylors."

1508-1509

This yere was Syr Wyllyam Capell, that was Mayr before, commaudyd to ward by Empson and Dudley, prysoner, under the kepynge of bo' the Shereffs, and afterwarde he was commaundyd to the Towre of London; and this yere, in March, the sayd Wyllyam Broune  dysseasyd in hys offyce [of Mayor] and for hym was chosen Syr Laurence Aylmer; and this yere the sayd Thomas Knesworth that was Mayre, and both his Sherefs, Wyllyam Shore and Roger Gove, by the Kyngys commaundment, was sent to the Kyn gys Benche, under the kepynge of Syr Thomas Brandon, as prysoners, and there remayned unto they were put to ther fyne, to pay xiiii C. li. by the meane of Empson and Dudley ...

1509-1510

This yere the sayd Syr Laurence Aylmer and his ii Sherefs, Wyllyam Butteler and Johan Kyrkby, were endyghted, and put to theyr fyne, to pay to the Kynge i M. li. by means of Empson and Dudley; and this yere in Apryll, Kynge Henry the VII dyscessyt at Rychmond, and was buryed at Westmynster with grete honour, by his Quene, and then began the fyrst yere of the regne of Kynge Henry the VIII, wher upon Empson and Dudley was sent to the Towre of Londo, for the grete extorcyon that they had done to the common people, and many other extorconers and promoters in dyvers contreys  within the reame was brought to London, and put into prysons, and reyned at the Gyld Halle with Empson and Dudley ...

Lest anyone think that the contest for the power of appointment over civic  positions was a matter of prestige only, the chronicler Arnold outlines the abuses that occurred when the Crown was in the ascendancy. King Henry VII's Empson and Dudley at the Exchequer took a very broad view of the right to tax. A succession of Mayors and their Sheriffs were no sooner finished their annual duties than they were compelled to pay "ther fyne" ― an arbitrary but significant sum (Knesworth etc £1,400; Aylmer etc £1,000) in order to receive the "King's Pardon". This was an entirely fictitious 'penalty' on their time in office. It was unclear if it meant in lieu of crimes or corruption they 'may' have committed, or a fee charged by the king for the 'right' of office so that they could commit such offences. In any event, there was no appeal. These citizens were imprisoned until they paid up. Little wonder that the chronicler rejoices in Empson and Dudley, and their fellow "exstorconers and promoters [of dubious taxation schemes] in diverse contreys within the reame", coming to a sticky end under the new reign of King Henry VIII. It is with considerable pleasure that he reports them being "brought to London and put into prysons ... for the grete extorcyon that they had done to the common people".

REFERENCES:

SP Harper,2015, 'The Last Years, 1502-1509', in London and the Crown in the Reign of Henry VII, PhD thesis, University of London, 223-264

BL Beer, 2021, 'Contemporary History in Early Tudor English Chronicles: 1485-1553', Quidditas, vol 42, 100-129

The Customs of London, Otherwise Called The Chronicle of Arnold,

London 1811

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