Some Aspects of Medieval Travel

1924 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 77-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Stretton
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Public ◽  
Accurate Picture ◽  
Public Record

The Public Record Office possesses, among the archives of the Duchy of Lancaster, two wardrobe accounts, dealing with the expenses of Henry Earl of Derby's travels in the years 1390–3. The documents, unique of their kind, present an accurate picture of the means of transport and accommodation available to travellers in the later middle ages ; and, though lacking the personal, picturesque side of travel-memoirs, preserve for that very reason a truer picture of that kind of undertaking which provided so large a part of the interests and amenities of life.

XIV.—The London Customs House during the Middle Ages

Archaeologia ◽  
1933 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 307-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mabel H. Mills
Keyword(s):  
General Education ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
General Character ◽  
University Of Chicago ◽  
The Public ◽  
Actual Working ◽  
Public Record ◽  
The University ◽  
Customs Administration

The actual working of a medieval port is a fascinating subject for study: when the port is London, and the time the fourteenth century, the interest is increased, for this is the earliest date at which the customs administration takes definite shape. The present paper was undertaken as part of the investigations into the life and works of Chaucer carried on by Professor Manly and Professor Rickert of the University of Chicago with the aid of a grant from the General Education Board. The research into Chaucer's work as controller of customs involved the collection of material of a more general character with only an indirect bearing on the poet's life. In this paper, with Mr. Manly's generous permission, is set out an account of the site of the Woolwharf with the buildings on it, a story which affords glimpses of the officials at work on the quay, of the machinery for the collection and administration of the customs in the port of London. The object of the search being limited, the present study makes no claim to be exhaustive in its treatment, though a large number of records have been examined at both the Public Record Office and the Guildhall.

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