| Accounts of Wm. Worsley | The Estate and Household Accounts of William Worsley Dean of St Paul's Cathedral 1479-1497, ed. Hannes Kleineke, Stephanie R. Hovland, London Record Society 40 (Donington, 2004). All those recorded in the accounts as ‘of London’ are being placed in MLD, as well as a few others who were likely residents of the city; many of them were merchants or artisans who supplied the Dean’s households in the cathedral precinct and in Hackney. Few of the names associated with his other properties referred to Londoners. |
| Adams, Parish Clerks | R. H. Adams, The Parish Clerks of London: A History of the Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks of London (London, 1971). 148 references to the masters of the craft (two per year) from 1448 to 1537 in Appendix E were entered. |
| Adler, Medieval Jewish Mss | Michael Adler, "Medieval Jewish MSS. in the Library of St. Paul's Cathedral, London,: Miscellanies (Jewish Historical Society of England) , 1937, Vol. 3 (1937), pp. 15-33. Selected references to deeds in St Paul's cathedral library. |
| Ancient Deeds: vol. no. | e.g., Ancient Deeds: I, 216] A Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds in the Public Record Office, ed. H. C. Maxwell Whyte, 6 vols. (London, 1890-1915). See Written Sources/Property for fuller details and links to these volumes. There is an ongoing effort to enter all London, Southwark, and London deeds (to 1520). Civic officials (mayor, sheriff, and aldermen) who acted as witnesses are generally not given their own records, but are listed in the Activity field of records for the grantor and grantees of property. Many of the deeds in vol. 1 are mapped in the Layers of London Medieval Londoners collections. |
| Baker, Inns | John Baker, ed., The Inns of Chancery 1340-1640: With an Edition of the surviving Statutes and Orders, Selden Society supplementary series 19 (London, 2017). MLD records were made for all who were associated with both the major and minor Inns of Chancery (up to c. 1520) as students, tenants, property holders, and “principals” (the chief officers of their respective inns, as listed in an appendix), and for London residents and property owners named in the related documents. |
| Baker, Men of Court | The Men of Court 1440 to 1550 : A Prosopography of the Inns of Court and Chancery and the Courts of Law, Selden Society, supplementary series, vol. 18 (London, 2012), 2 vols. MLD has included the biographies of 228 lawyers who were London residents or for whom there is evidence that they spent much of their working life in London, which together account for c. 10% of all the biographies. MLD extends some of Baker's abbreviations, but for others, see his List of Abbreviations, I, xi-xliii. |
| Barron thesis | Caroline M. Barron, “The Government of London and its Relations with the Crown 1400-1450 (PhD thesis, University of London, 1970). MLD includes the names of civic officeholders listed in her Appendices, pp. 544-69. |
| Barron, London | Caroline M. Barron, London in the Later Middle Ages: Government and People 1200-1500 (Oxford, 2004). MLD includes the data in “Appendix 1: The Mayors and Sheriffs of London 1190-1558,” pp. 311-58, but sourced from MASL (see below) and “Appendix 2: Civic Officeholders c. 1300-c. 1500,” pp. 356-74. |
| Beaven, I or II | Refers to material about aldermen taken from Alfred P. Beaven, The Aldermen of The City of London, 2 vols. (London, 1908–13). Beaven records the elections of aldermen in each of the 24 (later 25) wards London from c. 1230 onwards and provides further information in a chronologically ordered list of the aldermen. Although his lists are complex and confusing (in part because he records corrigenda and addenda in several different sections), they have served as the chief source of information on London aldermen for over a century. Thanks to BHO, we were permitted full access to their digitized version of Beaven, but during our error-checking process, we found and corrected a significant number of errors—those typical of text run through OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software. Beaven’s lists of aldermen are far from perfect and far from complete, as the author himself acknowledged. Fortunately, some of his pre-1300 data have recently been revised by John McEwan in “The Aldermen of London, c. 1200-80 Alfred Beaven Revisited,” TLAMAS 62 (2011): 177-204; his data are also in MLD. Because Beaven’s data have been so influential in scholarship on medieval Londoners, we have incorporated his data without passing judgement as to its validity in light of more recent scholarship. Consequently, users will need to compare more recent sources for later corrections to Beaven (particularly MASL for mayors, sheriffs, and wardens, and McEwan for the early aldermen). As of 9 February 2020, MLD entries include the names and accompanying information for all aldermen in Beaven volumes I and II elected before 1550, as well as the names of London MPs before 1386. In the future, MLD plans to add records for individuals associated with the court of alderman, such as nominees, who are also listed in Beaven. |
| Boyd, Drapers | Ongoing entry from Percival Boyd, Roll of the Drapers' Company of London collected from the Company's Records and Other Sources (Croydon, 1934). Only gives names (often standardized) and dates (when known) of when a man was apprenticed, joined the freedom, took up the livery, was dead and also when he was still living. |
| BHO | British History Online, Institute of Historical Research, University of London. |
| Bradley, Hosts | Helen Bradley, ed., The Views of the Hosts of Alien Merchants 1440-1444, London Record Society 46 (London, 2012). The biographies of English merchants (pp.157-268) and alien merchants (pp. 269-308) known to be resident in London are included in MLD. |
| Brand, S., Sheriffs' courts | MLD used a typescript list from Susanne Brand that was published in an appendix to her article: Susanne Jenks, “Picking up the Pieces: Cases Presented to the London Sheriffs' Courts between Michaelmas 1461 and Michaelmas 1462,” Journal of Legal History 29:1 (2008): 99-145. Since almost no sheriffs’ courts survive for London, Brand examined various Chancery, King’s Bench, and K. R. Memoranda writ files to find 358 cases heard before George Ireland and John Lok, sheriffs in 1461/2. |
| Brown, Privy Seal | A. L. Brown, ‘The Privy Seal Clerks in the Early Fifteenth Century’, in The Study of Medieval Records: Essays in Honor of Kathleen Major , eds. D. A. Bullough and R. L. Storey (Oxford, 1971), 260–81. |
| Carlin | Martha Carlin, Medieval Southwark (London, 1996). The names of clergy and manorial officers in Southwark to 1550 (pp. 285-94) have been entered in MLD. |
| Cartulary Holy Trinity | The Cartulary of Holy Trinity, Aldgate, ed. G. A. J. Hodgett, London Record Society 7 (London, 1971). |
| Cartulary of St Bartholomew's Hospital | The Cartulary of St Bartholomew’s Hospital: A Calendar, ed. Nellie J. M. Kerling (London, 1973). Names in the rental of 1436 (pp. 153-74) are currently being entered, augmented by information in Caroline M. Barron, “The People of the Parish:The Close of St Bartholomew’s Hospital in Fifteenth-Century London.” pp. 353–79 in The Urban Church in Late Medieval England, ed. David Harry and Christian Steer (Donington, 2019), 353-79. |
| CCR date range | [e.g., CCR 1341-43: 624] Calendar of the Close Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office, Henry III-Henry VII (London, H.M.S.O., 1892-1963), 66 vols. For links to free online versions of the CCR, see cochoit: Close Rolls. Also available with a BHO subscription. |
| CEMCR | Calendar of Early Mayor's Court Rolls: 1298-1307, ed. A. H. Thomas (London, 1924). |
| Chancery Clerks | Biographies of Chancery clerks taken from Malcolm Richardson, The English Chancery under Henry V, List and Index Society Publications 30 (Kew, 1999). Richardson updated the biographies for MLD and wrote an introduction, "The Royal Chancery and Chancery Clerks," which provides information on the administrative, economic, and legal activities of the Chancery clerks, as well as a guide to the sources and abbreviations used in the biographies. |
| Christianson, Stationers | Christianson, Stationers. C. Paul Christianson, A Directory of London Stationers and Book Artisans, 1300-1500 (New York: Bibliographical Society of America, 1990). A MLD record was made for all 262 biographies of stationers (a general term that may have originally referred to a book dealer or business agent in the commission of books), which included limners, textwriters, bookbinders, parchment sellers and others. Various names were given to the amalgamated guild that formed in 1403 from the Limners, Scriveners, and Textwriters, but Stationers (the name that became most common by the late 15th century, is the standardized craft name used in MLD. Note that only a few of the many hundreds of others mentioned in these biographies were given a MLD record, but there are plans to make records for all these people. This title was downloaded when it was freely available from the ACLS; the series, ACLS Humanities EBook series (HEB), is now handled by Michigan Publishing and is subscription based (available in over 800 libraries). |
| CIPM: vol. no. | [e.g., CIPM: v6]. Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem and other analogous documents preserved in the Public Record Office, 26 volumes (London, 1904-2019). Three volumes for Henry VII, 1485-1509 (London, 1898-2009), are published separately. For links, see cochoit: Inquisitions Post Mortem |
| CLB vol. letter | [e.g., CLBA:52]. Calendar of Letter-Books Preserved Among the Archives of the Corporation of the City of London at the Guildhall, ed. R. R. Sharpe, 11 vols. (A-L) (London, 1899-1912). Letter Books A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L. |
| Clerical taxation, 1379-81 | The Church in London 1375-1392, ed. A. K. McHardy, London Record Society, 13 (London, 1977). We are in the process of adding the names of London clergy who paid the clerical poll taxes of 1379 and 1380. On BHO |
| Commissary Court Wills: vol. no. | Index to Testamentary Records in the Commissary Court of London, vol. I: 1374-1488 and vol. II: 1489-1570, ed. Marc Fitch, Joint Publication of the British Record Society (vols. 82 and 86) and the Historical Manuscripts Commission, vols. 12-13 (London, 1969-74) |
| Coote, Ordinances | H. C. Coote, Ordinances of Some Secular Guilds of London, from 1354 to 1496. Reprinted from the TLAMAS [vol. 4, pt. 1, 1871] To which are added, ordinances of St. Margaret Lothbury, 1456, and orders by Richard, Bishop of London for Ecclesiastical Officers, 1597. Edited by John Robert Daniel-Tyssen (London, 1871). |
| Coroners Rolls | Calendar of Coroners’ Rolls of the City of London A.D. 1300-1378, ed. Reginald R. Sharpe (London: Richard Clay and Sons, 1913). This edition provides English summaries of nine inquests by the London coroners, who were responsible for investigating sudden or unnatural deaths on behalf of the crown (see Coroners Rolls under Written Resources/Law). Besides the deceased and those explicitly named as being of London, individuals were entered into MLD when they were named as: witnesses (usually neighbors); sureties for the neighbors; jurors from the ward where the body was found; working, residing, or holding property in London or were the child, servant, or partner (spouse, mistress, prostitute) of someone living in London; a prisoner in Newgate. Individuals identified as living outside of London were not entered, nor were those who did not fit one of the residential categories listed above, although their names are usually included in the full or main entry under the name of the suspect(s). The names of sheriffs and coroners carrying out their duties were not given separate MLD entries. |
| CP40 London | Court of Common Pleas: The National Archives, CP40 1399-1500, ed. Jonathan Mackman and Matthew Stevens (London, 2010). This BHO resource contains summary translations of pleaded cases that involved London litigants or disputed events supposed to have taken place at London, heard before the Court of Common Pleas in the years 1399–1409, 1420–1429, 1445–1450, 1460–1468, 1480 and 1500. The original plea rolls are in TNA CP40. MLD records were only made for people identified as ‘of London,’ but the names of others involved in the dispute were included in the Activity field. For further details see the “Introduction to the Edition” and “Case Type Definitions.” |
| CPEJ vol. no. | Calendar of the Plea Rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews, ed. J. M. Rigg (vol. 1 and 2, 1905-10), H. Jenkinson (v. 3, 1929), H. G. Richardson (v. 4, 1972), S. Cohen (v. 5, 1992), and P. Brand (v. 6, 2005. Vols. 5-6 are titled Plea Rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews preserved in the Public Record Office. |
| CPMR, vol. no. | [e.g., CPMR: 2, 206]. Calendar of the Plea and Memoranda Rolls of the City of London: Volume 1, 1323-1364, ed. A. H. Thomas (London,1 926); Volume 2, 1364-1381 (1929); vol. 3, 1381-1412 (1932); vol. 4: 1413-1437 (1943); vol. 5: 1437-1457 (1954); vol. 6: 1458-1482 (1961). Vols. 5-6 were edited by Philip E. Jones and published in Cambridge. Vol. 1-3 are on BHO. |
| CPR date range | [e.g., CPR 1422-29: 101]. Calendar of the Patent Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office, Henry III to Henry VII. 44 vols (London: H.M.S.O., 1891-1982). For links, see cochoit: Patent Rolls. |
| Cutlers Accounts | Wardens Accounts of the Worshipful Company of Cutlers: LMA CLC/L/CL/D/001/MS07146/001-36 covering the years 1441-98. Transcripts of references to apprentices and their masters done by Cliff Webb. |
| Curtis | "The London Lay Subsidy of 1332," ed. M. Curtis, in Finance and Trade Under Edward III, ed. George Unwin (Manchester, 1918), pp. 35-92; the names and tax paid by 1636 individuals (pp. 61-92) were entered into MLD. Data was scraped from the BHO version, but corrected against the print version. |
| Davies and Saunders, Merchant Taylors | Matthew P. Davies and Ann Saunders, The History of the Merchant Taylors' Company (Leeds: Maney, 2004). MLD includes the names of guild masters and clerks, 1300-1520, on pp. 269-72. |
| Davies, Minutes | Matthew P. Davies, ed., The Merchant Taylors’ Company of London: Court Minutes 1486-1493 (Richard III and Yorkist History Trust in association with Paul Watkins, 2000). MLD includes the names of clerks (which supplements with more specific dates the data offered in Davies and Saunders, Merchant Taylors), chaplains, rent collectors, and beadles on pp. 283-284. |
| Donum | I. Abrahams and H. Jenkinson, "The Northampton 'Donum' of 1194", Miscellanies (Jewish Historical Society of England) 1 (1925), lix-lxxiv. Information on London Jews included in MLD. |
| Drimmer | Sonja Dimmer, "The Painters of Late Medieval London and Westminster," Burlington Magazine 156 (2017): 445-49. All data on painters entered in MLD. |
| E 40 | Exchequer: Treasury of Receipt: Ancient Deeds, Series A, at TNA. The online summaries given for deeds are taken from Ancient Deeds (see above). |
| Ekwall | Two Early London Subsidy Rolls, ed. Eilert Ekwall (Lund, 1951). MLD draws on the BHO’s digitization of this source, which includes a transcription of the lay subsidy tax assessed on movable (personal) property in London in 1292 (801 taxpayer in 14 wards) and 1319 (almost 1900 taxpayers in all wards except for Vintry). Especially valuable are the notes that Ekwall adds about the offices, occupations, properties, and family connections of each taxpayer, which are reproduced in MLD using the abbreviations and sources employed by Ekwall, who is especially interested in names. For further context, see Ekwall’s introduction and E. Ekwall, Studies on the Population of Medieval London (Lund, 1956) for analyses of the dialect and origin of medieval Londoners based on the surnames in these and other medieval taxes. |
| Fenwick | The Poll Taxes of 1377, 1379 and 1381, ed. C. C. Fenwick, 3 vols (Oxford, 1998). Vol II, pp. 558-64 contains the 1381 poll tax for Southwark (TNA E179/184/30). The tax was levied on all those over age 15 at the flat rate of 12d per person, three times the amount charged in the 1377 poll tax, so there was considerable evasion. Wealthier residents in a community were encouraged to pay more so that the poor could pay as low as 4d. In Southwark lower rates were usually assessed on sons and daughters, who probably resided with their family. Servants listed immediately after their employers likely resided in their employer’s household. |
| Freeman, Strategies | Jessica Freeman, “The Commemorative Strategies of the Frowyks of Medieval London and Middlesex,” Transactions of the Monumental Brass Society 18:5 (2013): 391-422. |
| Freeman thesis | Jessica Freeman, "The Political Community of Fifteenth-Century Middlesex" (PhD thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2003). MLD drew on her tables of Middlesex undersheriffs and MPs, as well as the family trees. |
| Fogle | Lauren Fogle, The King's Converts: Jewish Conversion in Medieval London (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2018). Names of London Jews included in MLD. |
| Getz | Faye Getz, "Archives and Sources: Medical Practitioners in Medieval England," Social History of Medicine 3 (1990): 245-283. A supplement and corrections to the work of Talbot and Hammond; only Londoners in her list were included in MLD. |
| Grey Friars | C L. Kingsford, The Grey Friars of London: Their History (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1915). |
| Heads: vol. no. | D. Knowles, C. N. L. Brooke and V. C. M. London, eds. The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales, I. 940–1216 (2nd edn, Cambridge, 2001); D. M. Smith and V. C. M. London, The Heads of Religious Houses: England and Wales, II. 1216–1377 (Cambridge, 2001). D. M. Smith. ed. The Heads of Religious Houses : England and Wales, III. 1377-1540 (Cambridge, 2008). All female and male heads of religious houses in London are being entered into MLD. |
| Hennessey vol. no. p.no. | George Hennessey, comp., Novum repertorium ecclesiasticum parochiale londinense; or, London diocesan clergy succession from the earliest time to the year 1898, with copious notes. Compiled 2 vols. (London, 1898). |
| Herbert, Livery I or II | William Herbert, The History of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of London, vol. 1 and vol. 2 (London, 1834-36). Still useful for its reliance on original records. |
| Hillaby, Early Jewry | "The London Jewry: William I to John," Jewish Historical Studies 33 (1992-1994): 1-44. Information from Table 3 on Guildford Tallage of Christmas 1186 and arrears of London community in 1191-7 (from Pipe Rolls) and from Table 4 Northampton Donum of 1194 (TNA E101/249/2) entered into MLD. |
| Hillaby, Dictonary | Joe G. and Caroline Hillaby, The Palgrave Dictionary of Medieval Anglo-Jewish History (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). Information on London Jews entered into MLD, and their family trees redrawn for London Family Trees. |
| Hillaby, Jewry Revisited | Joe Hillaby, “London: The 13th-Century Jewry Revisited,” Jewish Historical Studies 32 (1990-92): 89-158. |
| Holder | Nick Holder, The Friaries of Medieval London: From Foundation to Dissolution (Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2017). |
| Hopkinson, Ancient Records | H. L. Hopkinson, Report on the Ancient Records in the Possession of the Guild of Merchant Taylors of the Fraternity of St. John Baptist in the City of London (London: Waterlow, 1915). MLD includes the names of wardens, 1351-1520, on pp. 108-119 |
| Husting Ct, CP[roll no.]/memb. no. | This database, compiled by Dr Penelope Tucker in the 1990s, includes records from every known session of the Court of Husting between 1272 and the 1440s, when each regnal year was covered by two session rolls, one for Common Pleas (CP) and one for Pleas of Land (PL). MLD has focused first on the c. 4600 records from CP, 85% of which date to the 14th century. In the original database, details about each litigant (name, and occasionally kin, occupation, and title) were recorded, but only the legal action was noted (over 75% involved writs executing a testament or dower), so users will need to consult the original manuscripts if they wish to find specific details about the case. MLD is uploading data in tranches of c. 200-400 records at a time. Please consult the Husting Court Database Guide for further information. |
| HPO, 1386-1422 | History of Parliament Online, 1386-1422: The History of Parliament The House of Commons, 1386–1422, ed. J. S. Roskell, Linda Clark and Carole Rawcliffe (4 vols., Stroud, 1992). MLD reproduces selected information from the MP biographies: data for the Craft, Occupation, Craft Office, and Civic Office fields, and data from the Offices Held section of the biographies in the Activity field. For other information in the HPO biographies, click on the link in the Source_URI field. We are in the process of including records for all the MPs' wives and other Londoners mentioned in the HPO biographies. |
| HP 1422-61 | The House of Commons 1422–1461, ed. Linda Clark, The History of Pariament Trust, 7 vols. (London, 2020). Currently MLD only has entered the names of London MPs in this period, but will link to the online verson of biographies (largely authored by Matthew Davies) when they appear. Note that HP 1422-61 with a volume and page number refers to the print version. |
| HPO, 1509-1558 | History of Parliament Online, 1509-1558: The History of Parliament: The House of Commons, 1509-1558, ed. S. T. Bindoff [3 vols, Haynes Publishing, 2006). MLD reproduces selected information from the MP biographies: data for the Craft, Occupation, Craft Office, and Civic Office fields, and data from the Offices Held section of the biographies in the Activity field. For other information in the HPO biographies, click on the link in the Source_URI field. We are in the process of including records for all the MPs' wives and other Londoners mentioned in the HPO biographies. |
| Husting Wills: vol. no. | [e.g., Husting Wills: v2, 206]. Calendar of Wills Proved and Enrolled in the Court of Husting, London:, ed. R. R. Sharpe, 2 vols. (London, 1889-90): Part 1, 1258-1358, Part 2, 1358-1688 (wills dated past 1540 were not entered in MLD). Sharpe's text is a translated summary of the Latin wills enrolled in the Court of Husting; he included all names and bequests but may have summarized, for example, full descriptions of property bequests in the later wills, which tend to be far longer than the earlier wills. The text of all wills and their footnotes have been reproduced exactly as in the print text, though we worked originally from the XML of the BHO online text (except for 8 entries on pp. 589-94 and some scattered footnotes, which had been inadvertently left out of the BHO online version). Note that testators who used this court were generally well-off Londoners who owned property in the city. See also the MLD Protocols for Data Entry for Wills |
| Issues of the Exchequer | Issues of the Exchequer: being a collection of payments made out of His Majesty's revenue, from King Henry III to King Henry VI inclusive: with an appendix, ed. Frederick Devon (London, 1837). Records made for individuals said to be “of London”, most of whom were supplying goods to the king. |
| Jacobs, London Jewry | Joseph Jacobs, "The London Jewry, 1290" in J. Jacobs, Jewish Ideals and Other Essays (New York: Macmillan & Co., 1896), 162-190; first published in Papers Read at the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition, Royal Albert Hall, London. 1887 (London, Office of the "Jewish Chronicle", 1888). Information on London Jews entered into MLD. |
| Jacobs, Angevin | Joseph Jacobs, The Jews of Angevin England (London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1893). Information on London Jews entered into MLD. |
| Jews of the Tower, no. | “Dataset of Jews Imprisoned, Seeking Sanctuary, or Working at the Tower of London<.” 236 biographies of Jews known to have been at the Tower; only biographies of Jews known to have resided in London are incuded in MLD. |
| Johnson, Drapers | A.H. Johnson, The History of the Worshipful Company of the Drapers of London, vol. 1. An Introduction on London and her Gilds up to the Close of the XVth Century (Oxford, 1914) and vol. II, 1509-1602 (Oxford, 1915). MLD includes the names of all members in 1493 (I, 364-7), the company’s wardens (from 1413 to 1540 (with spotty coverage from 1413 to 1474), and clerks and beadles from 1423 to 1546 (II, 465-9, 473). |
| Jones, "Common Crier" | P. E. Jones, "Common Crier and Serjeant-at-Arms," Transactions of the Guildhall History Association (1963): 80-87. List of Serjeant-at-Arms put in MLD. |
| Kingdon, Archives | Facsimile of First Volume of Manuscript Archives of the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City of London, A.D. 1345-1463, ed. John Abernethy Kingdon. London: Richard Clay, 1886. 2 parts. MLD includes liveried members in 1401 and 1424 (pp. 89, 155-6), all members with their street locations in 1428 (175-8), those who made contributions to soliders going to Calais and paid 'priest's silver in 1449 (301-3), and company debtors in 1462 (398). |
| Kingdon, Wardens | List of Wardens of the Grocers’ Company from 1345 to 1907, ed. John Abernethy Kingdon and W. W. Grantham (London, 1907). |
| Kleineke, Fletchers | Dataset compiled by Hannes Kleineke for his book, The Worshipful Company of Fletchers. The Early Centuries c. 1371-c. 1571 (London: Worshipful Company of Fletchers, 2021), and augmented by M. Kowaleski. Most sources were searched systematically (such as the CCR, CFR, CPR, the London Letter Books, Plea and Memoranda Rolls, PCC wills, and CP40 using WAALT indices) and others were sampled (the London Letterbooks after 1509, Journals, Bridge Accounts). Especially valuable are the quarterage accounts of the company, which record the attendance required by members at the four quarter days of the year; their survival (from 1519) is spotty, as are references to the medieval wardens. |
| Lambert, Skinners | J. J. Lambert, ed. Records of the Skinners of London Edward I to James 1 (London, 1933). Includes extracts from the accounts of the Skinners, including their fraternity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Most names (including some non-Skinners) entered into MLD for the period up to 1521. |
| Leach | Doreen Sylvia Leach, “Carpenters in Medieval London c. 1240 – c. 1540” (Ph.D. thesis, University of London, 2017). MLD includes the wardens and minor officials in 1437-1519 listed on pp. 273-74, 277. |
| LMA | London Metropolitan Archives. Renamed The London Archives (TLA) in 2024. |
| Logge Reg | The Logge Register of Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills 1479-1486, ed. L. Boatwright, M. Habberjam, and P. Hammond (Knaphill: Richard III Society, 2008). This edited collection provides transcriptions of the Middle English wills and translations of Latin wills found in the PCC Logge Register of wills. MLD currently includes the wills of seven people: 3 Merchant Taylors, 3 widows of Merchant Taylors, and a draper who was the son of a Merchant Taylor.. The names of all those noted in these seven wills as heirs, executors, and others who resided in London are also recorded in MLD. See also MLD Protocols for Data Entry for Wills |
| London Bridge: no. | London Bridge: Selected Accounts and Rentals, 1381-1538, ed. V. Harding and L. Wright, London Record Society 31 (1994). Names in the 1461-2 rental (nos. 302-07). Since the rental names many past tenants, it was assumed that ‘sometime’ tenants were lessors before 1441. Evidence of even earlier leases was placed in an editorial comment within curly brackets at the end of the Activty field. Other data on Auditors in the accounts also entered. |
| MAJW | Medieval Anglo-Jewish Women, 1154-1307, ed. Adrienne Williams Boyarin. Victoria: University of Victoria, edition 0.9.1 (2025) is a digital project that compiles information on Jewish women, named and unnamed, including those who converted to Christianity. The site draws on a wide variety of manuscript and print sources. Users should read the Editorial Conventions to see the protocols followed in dating; assigning names, relatives, and locations; and the meaning of the short-form umbrella terms designating the legal “business” of these women. MLD mainly cites this source when it provides supplementary information about individuals who already appear in MLD. |
| MASL | “Mayors and Sheriffs of London,” comp. Anne Lancashire (University of Toronto). An earlier print version (without recent updates made by Lancashire to the online version) is in Caroline M. Barron, London in the Later Middle Ages (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) “Appendix I: The Mayors and Sheriffs of London 1190—1558.” MLD has used Lancashire's website as the definitive list of mayors and sheriffs. For information on the base list and sources used by Lancashire see “Sources.” Lancashire’s sources are noted with her abbreviations in the Activity field. |
| McEwan, Aldermen | John McEwan, "The Aldermen of London, c. 1200-80: Alfred Beaven Revisited,’ TLAMAS 62 (2011): 177-204. McEwan corrects data from Beaven with respect to dates, wards, and civic offices of London aldermen active in the thirteenth century, and incudes aldermen found in parish and other local sources not accessible to Beaven. |
| McSheffrey, Consistory | Depositions in the bishop of London’s consistory court found in TLA DL/C/A/001/MS09065 and /MS09065B (c. 1486-97). This ecclesiastical court dealt with private suits over marriage contracts as well as some cases concerning probate, defamation, sexual offences, debt, and clerical discipline. Full details for many (but not all) of these cases are available on Shannon McSheffrey’s website, Consistory: Testimony in a Late Medieval Church Court, which includes translations and explanatory footnotes along with a full Latin edition and further details on the scope and legal terminology of the consistory court. The diocese included other counties, but MLD entries are restricted to persons who clearly resided in London. For cases available online, MLD records usually provide only a general summary and a brief indication of an individual’s role; for cases not available online, MLD records aim to provide more information. Note that outcomes were rarely recorded. For further context and analysis of these cases, see Shannon McSheffrey, Marriage, Sex, and Civic Culture in Late Medieval London (Penn Press, 2006). |
| McSheffrey, Dataset | Depositions in the bishop of London’s consistory court found in TLA DL/C/A/0205 (1467-1476). None of these cases are online, so MLD entries attempt to describe an individual’s role more fully, drawing on a dataset kindly provided by Shannon McSheffrey. The diocese included other counties, but MLD entries are restricted to persons who clearly resided in London. Note that outcomes were rarely recorded. For further context and analysis of these cases, see Shannon McSheffrey, Marriage, Sex, and Civic Culture in Late Medieval London (Penn Press, 2006). |
| Memorials | Memorials of London and London Life in the 13th, 14th and 15th Centuries, ed. H T Riley (London, 1868). |
| MGL, II, part i: | “Liber custumarum” in Munimenta Gildhallæ Londoniensis : Liber albus, Liber custumarum, et Liber Horn, ed. H. T. Riley, Rolls series, (London, 1859), ii, part i. |
| Nightingale, Grocers | Pamela Nightingale, A Medieval Mercantile Community: The Grocers’ Company and the Politics and Trade of London 1000-1485 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995). |
| Nuisance | London Assize of Nuisance, 1301-1431: A Calendar, ed. Helena M. Chew and William Kellaway, London Record Society 10 (London, 1973). Ongoing effort to enter all names. |
| ODNB | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2023). |
| PCC | Prerogative Court of Canterbury. An important church court that dealt with wills of wealthy individuals who owned property in more than one ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the province of Canterbury, which covered the southern half of England and most of Wales. |
| Pinners, ed. Megson | The Pinners’ and Wiresellers’ Book, 1462-1511, ed. Barbara Megson, London Record Society 44 (London, 2009). MLD includes records for the 32 testators in Appendix I, as well as records for each Londoner named in their wills. Individual records were also made for each craft warden listed in Appendix II, taken from the Letter Books from 1356 to 1452 and from the guild accounts of 1462-97 (for the Pinners) and 1497-1511 (for the Wiresellers).This list includes the umper, the senior warden of the guild. Note that names in the actual accounts have not yet been entered into MLD. See also MLD Protocols for Data Entry for Wills |
| Pipe Roll vol. no. | [e.g., Pipe Roll: v3, 147]. Publications of the Pipe Roll Society. London, 1884-2019. MLD includes London Jews noted in the Pipe Rolls of the reign of Henry II-III. See GENUKI for a list of digitized Pipe Rolls, which includes vols. 1-37 among others. |
| Pleas of the Exchequer of the Jews, vol., page | Calendar of the Plea Rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews, vol. I, Henry III, 1218-1272, ed. J. M. Rigg (London, 1905); vol. II, Edward I, 1273-1275, ed. J. M. Rigg (Edinburgh, 1910); vol. III, Edward I, 1275-1277, ed. H. Jenkinson (Colchester, 1929); vol. IV Henry II 1272; Edward I, 1275-1277, ed. H. G. Richardson (London, 1972); Plea Rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews preserved in the Public Record Office, vol. V, Edward I, 1277-1279, ed. S. Cohen, P. Brand, W. M. Schwab (London, 1992); vol. VI, Edward I, 1279-81, ed. P. Brand (London, 2005). Records are being made for Jews resident in London, as well as for others said to be ‘of London,’ starting with vols. 3 and 4. |
| Possessory Assizes, roll, memb. | London Possessory Assizes: A Calendar, ed. Helena M Chew, London Record Society 1 (London, 1965). English translations of the assizes of novel disseisin (known in London as assize of fresh force) and a few cases of mort d’ancestor held before the sheriffs and coroners, 1340-1451, with individual pleas for 1317, 1380, and 1470 calendared in the appendix. Plaintiffs initiated the complaint (which could involve lands, tenements or rents) at the Monday session of the Hustings Court of Pleas, but it was heard before a jury impaneled by the sheriffs. MLD is entering all names of individuals involved in these cases. On BHO. |
| PROB 11 | Prerogative Court of Canterbury and related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers, at TNA. References to all wills of residents of London, Southwark, and Westminster to 1540 are being were entered into MLD. Summary translations of 72 Southwark PCC PROB 11 wills covering the years 1499-1541 were provided by Cliff Webb. (These 72 wills generated 217 records because separate records were also made for those mentioned in the will who are explicitly identified as of Southwark (including spouses, children, servants, and apprentices of the testator) or of London. See also the MLD Protocols for Data Entry for Wills |
| PROB 2 | Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Other Probate Jurisdictions: Inventories, at TNA. References to the names and occupations of testators of London, Southwark, and Westminster for whom a probate inventory survives, up to 1540. Very few survive before the late 16th century; the earliest here is dated 1468. The inventories vary widely in detail, but can include debts owed to the deceased and lists of the contents of the deceased’s home and place of business. |
| Reddaway | T. F. Reddaway, The Early History of the Goldsmiths' Company, 1327-1509 (London, 1975). MLD includes the goldsmiths that are the subject of the Biographical Notes in Appendix I (pp. 275-316) and those listed as Wardens (and Renters) of the Company in Appendix IV (pp. 322-41) for the period 1335/6 to 1509/10. |
| Register Goldsmiths’ Deeds, vol. no. | The Register of the Goldsmiths' Company Deeds and Documents, c. 1190 to c. 1666, ed. Lisa Jefferson, 3 vols. Boydell Press, 2022 ). All those recorded in the deeds (mainly from the English translations in vol. III) as ‘of London’ or as a ‘citizen'are being placed in MLD, as well as others who were likely residents of the city, including witnesses to the deeds. |
| Religious Houses | The Religious Houses of London and Middlesex, ed. Caroline M. Barron and Matthew Davies (London, 2007). The volume contains new introductory material, but it mainly reprints the original descriptions of religious houses published for the London VCH (1909) and Middlesex VCH (1969) volumes on religious houses. |
| Ricardian | The Ricardian: Journal of the Richard III Society. PDFs of most articles published 1974-2020 are downloadable. There is also a unified index of subjects and authors. |
| Rich | E. E. Rich, "List of Officials of the Staple of Westminster," Cambridge Historical Journal 4: 2 (1933): 192-3. Mayors of the staple (a court used to register and adjudicate certain types of debts) from 1353-1530 (though missing for 1483-1524 and several other years). This was London's staple. |
| Rosser | Gervase Rosser, Medieval Westminster 1200-1540 (Oxford, 1989): reeves, bailiffs and sub-bailiffs (pp. 328-34); curates of St Margaret's church (pp. 335-40) |
| Sheriffs' Court, 1320 | “The London Sheriffs’ Court Roll of 1320,” ed. Matthew Stephens (London: Centre for Metropolitan History, 2010). The only roll of the Sheriffs’ Court to survive, probably because the proceedings were considered the property of the Sheriff, even after the end of his annual term. The original roll is in Latin and contains 26 membranes; the (unattributed) translation has been checked against the original by the editor. The roll contains c. 1590 entries covering c. 550 disputes heard before sheriff John de Preston over almost three months. About 60 per cent of the cases involve debt and 30 per cent trespass. From London Metropolitan Archives, CLA/025/CT/01/001 & 002. |
| Skinners Reg. of Apprentices | Register of apprentice bindings and freedom admissions of the Worshipful Company of Skinners: LMA CLC/L/SE/C/005/MS30719/001. MLD worked from a transcribed list contributed by Cliff Webb that records the name of the apprentice; frequently the name, residence, and occupation of his father; the name of the master; and the date of the enrolment. MLD records are being done for entries from 1496/7 to 1520/1; gaps from 1515 to 1521 were filled with references to the Skinners’ Receipts (s.v.) |
| Skinners Receipts | Receipts and Payments Book of the Worshipful Company of Skinners: LMA CLC/L/SE/C/005/MS30719/001-002 covering the years 1491-1510 and 1510-35. Used by Cliff Webb to fill in data on apprentices bound to a Skinner master for the years 1491/2 to 1495/6 and 1515/16 to 1530/1, when the Skinners Reg of Apprentices (s.v.) is lacking. The Receipts do not reference the father of the apprentice and only give the calendar year of the entry. |
| S. Nich Bede Roll | The Bede Roll of the Fraternity of St Nicholas, ed. N.W. James and V.A. James, London Record Society 39 (London, 2004), British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-record-soc/vol39 |
| Spage register | Surrey wills. (Archdeaconry court. Spage register.), ed. C. L. Kingsford and A. V. Peatling, Surrey Record Society 5 (London, 1922). All Southwark wills from 1484-90 are being entered into MLD. Note that MLD only made records for the willmaker and those mentioned in the will who are explicitly identified as of Southwark (including spouses, children, servants, and apprentices of the testator) or of London. |
| St Paul’s Deeds | H.C. Maxwell-Lyte, “Deeds Preserved in the Chapter House of St Paul’s,” in Appendix to the Ninth Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Part I (London, 1883), 1-72. |
| Stacey, Tallages | Robert C. Stacey, “Royal Taxation and the Social Structure of Medieval Anglo-Jewry: The Tallages of 1239-1242” Hebrew Union College Annual 56 (1985): 175-249. |
| Surrey archdeaconry wills | 204 records from 76 Southwark wills in the Diocese of Winchester, Register of Wills of the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey, in the LMA, covering 1493-1505, 1513-20. Reference: LMA DW/PA/07/02 (Will register Mathews); the folio number is given at the end of the Activity field. Abstracts provided by Cliff Webb. Note that MLD only made records for the willmaker and those mentioned in the will who are explicitly identified as of Southwark (including spouses, children, servants, and apprentices of the testator), See also MLD Protocols for Data Entry for Wills |
| Sutton, Stapler list | Alphabetical list of 255 records compiled by Dr Anne Sutton of Mercers who were wool merchants or members of the Merchant Staplers, which controlled the export of English wool. For MLD, we have only included only those who resided in London before 1520 and have expanded many of the abbreviations to make the information more user-friendly; see Sutton lists: Abbreviations, Sources, Editorial Practice for more details. The lists are especially valuable for the references to the overseas trade of individual Mercers, as detailed in the national port customs accounts (TNA E122), although Sutton’s list gives only the accounting year when the Mercer appeared exporting wool, and occasionally notes other goods traded. For further details of these individuals and their overseas trade, see their MLD entries and A F. Sutton, The Mercery of London: Trade, Goods and People, 1130–1578 (2005). |
| Sutton, MAdv list | Alphabetical list of 933 records compiled by Dr Anne Sutton of Mercers were members of the Merchant Adventurers, a regulated company that exported cloth in exchange for a variety of imports from northern Europe. For MLD, we have only included Mercers who resided in London before 1520 and have expanded many of the abbreviations to make the information more user-friendly; see Sutton lists: Abbreviations, Sources, and Editorial Practice for more details. The lists are especially valuable for the references to the overseas trade of individual Mercers, as detailed in the national port customs accounts (TNA E122), although Sutton’s list gives only the accounting year when the Mercer appeared exporting cloth, and occasionally notes other goods traded. For further details of these individuals and their overseas trade, see their MLD entries and her The Mercery of London: Trade, Goods and People, 1130–1578 (2005). |
| Sutton, Mercer Bios | Anne F. Sutton, “Biographies of the London Mercers,” Typescript. MLD has electronically harvested from a Microsoft Word document c. 3500 ‘biographies’ of members of the Mercers Company in medieval London, compiled by Dr Sutton as chronological lists of references. The biographies are placed in the Activity field of MLD, although relevant data are also placed in such MLD fields as Identifier (distinguishing apprentices and masters), Citizen, Craft, Year (the year of the first reference to the individual) and Year_Range. Each line in the Activity field starts with a date, followed by the event (primarily the payment of fines and fees as apprentices, members, and liverymen), and ends with an abbreviation indicating the source of the information. For her source abbreviations, see pp. 9-10 of A. F. Sutton, The Mercery of London: Trade, Goods and People, 1130-1578 (2009); other author names may be found in her bibliography. But note the following: AC = Acts of Courts of the Mercers; see Acts of Court of the Mercers’ Company 1453-1527, introduced by Laetitia Lyell and Frank D. Watney (1936); MC = Mercers’ Company archival material; Register = John Coke, “The Names of the Brethren of the Mercery,” (1528); Rep. = Repertories (proceedings of the Court of Aldermen, in manuscript at the LMA); Thrupp = S. Thrupp, The Merchant Class of Medieval London, c. 1300-c. 1500 (1948); WA = Wardens’ Accounts—now printed as The Medieval Account Books of the Mercers of London: An Edition and Translation, ed. Lisa Jefferson, 2 vols. (2009). Click here to see more about Sutton bios editorial practice. |
| Talbot & Hammond | Medical Practitioners in Medieval England: A Biographical Register, eds. Charles H. Talbot and E.A. Hammond, Wellcome Historical Medical Library, New Series VIII (1965). All practitioners residing in London were entered in MLD. |
| Thrupp, Bakers | Sylvia Thrupp, A Short History of the Worshipful Company of Bakers of London (Croydon: Geo. B. Cotton at the Galleon Press, 1933). MLD includes data from Appendix III on the masters and clerks of the company, 1481-1547 (pp. 177, 183). |
| Thrupp | Sylvia L. Thrupp, The Merchant Class of Medieval London (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1948). MLD includes (1) the biographies in Appendix A, Aldermanic families, pp 321-77 and (2) Appendix B, with the names and tax paid by London landowners in 1436, on pp. 378-88. For more information on this tax, see the description on the TNA website. |
| TLA | The London Archives. The new name given in 2024 to the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA). |
| TLAMAS | Transactions of the London & Middlesex Archaeological Society |
| TNA | The National Archives in Kew. |
| Tout | T. F. Tout, Chapters in the Administrative History of Medieval England: The Wardrobe, the Chamber, and the Small Seals, 6 vols. (Manchester, 1920-1933). MLD includes names of Privy Seal clerks in the reigns of Edward II, Edward III, and Richard II (V, pp. 110-12) and Keepers of the Privy Seal (VI, 50-54). Tout’s Appendix I in vol. 6 contains many lists and dates of other officers, from Chancellors to minor royal officials. |
| Tucker, Law Courts | Penny Tucker, Law Courts and Lawyers in the City of London, 1300-1550 (Cambridge Univ Press, 2007). Names of legal officers and attorneys in appendices entered into MLD. |
| Unwin, Gilds | George Unwin, The Gilds and Companies of London (London: George Allen & Unwin, 3rd edn, 1938; first published 1908). |
| Wadmore | J. F. Wadmore, Some Account of the Worshipful Company of Skinners of London (London, 1902). Names of men who held office of Master of the Company, c 1485-1529 (p. 191). |
| Wedgewood | J. C. Wedgwood in collaboration with A. D. Holt, History of Parliament: Biographies of the Members of the Commons House 1439-1509 (London, 1936) |
| Welch, Pewterers | Charles Welch, History of the Worshipful Company of Pewterers of the City of London (London, 1902), vol 1 and vol. 2. Prints long extracts from the Audit Book, which began in 1451 and focuses on payments for fees, fines, and quarterage. MLD has records for the first (1456) full quarterage list of members of the craft, including those in the livery, yeomen, journeymen, and apprentices (I, 20-5); the craft officers (a Master and two Wardens each year) from 1450 to 1535 (II, 202-5), and miscellaneous other names in the Audit Book (I, 2-19). |
| Williams | Gwyn A. Williams, Medieval London from Commune to Capital (London, 1979): biographies of ten leading patricians (pp. 323-36) and notices of the "middling people" who were Montfiorian, anti-royal rebels in 1263 (pp. 336-40). |
| Wilkinson | B. Wilkinson, The Chancery under Edward III (Manchester, 1929). MLD includes data from the list of “Greater Clerks of Chancery” (pp. 205-8, with brief professional biographies) supplemented by relevant information and sometimes fuller biographical notices found elsewhere in the volume. |
| Williams, Holborn | Elijah Williams, Early Holborn and the Legal Quarter of London: A topographical survey of the beginnings of the district, known as Holborn and of the inns of court and of chancery, 2 vols. (London, 1927). Provides transcriptions of many deeds and other documents relating to the Inns of Court and Inns of Chancery and other property in the Holborn area. Ongoing effort by MLD to make records for those who appear in these transcriptions. MLD references are to sections (ss), not pages. |
| Withers, Chancery | Colin Blanshard Withers, Some Notes on the Chancery under Richard II and Henry IV (2022). MLD abstracts the copious information in the “Chancery Biographies” (pp. 61-230), focusing on the man’s major offices, positions held in Chancery, and his activities in London. The many footnote references given by Withers are only occasionally reproduced in the MLD entry, so users should consult the original volume, particularly for a full list of the clerk’s benefices and movements. |
| Withers, Privy Seal | Colin Blanshard Withers, Some Notes on the Personnel of the Privy Seal Office under Richard II and Henry IV (2023). MLD abstracts the information in the “Privy Seal Office Biographies” (pp. 13-69) and “Wills” (pp. 72-123), focusing on the man’s major offices, positions held in Chancery, and his activities in London. The many footnote references given by Withers are only occasionally reproduced in the MLD entry, so users should consult the original volume, particularly for a full list of the clerk’s benefices and movements. |
