Deviance and Power in Late Medieval Londonassets.cambridge.org/97805218/47308/frontmatter/9780521847308... · 1 Keeping peace in the city 27 2 Patterns of thought and institutions

Deviance and Power in Late Medieval London

During the lateMiddle Ages the London ruling elite was increasingly influenced bythe idea that a secret counter-society was operating in the city. Its members were

suspected to be active mainly at night, to roam the city aimlessly and to beidentifiable by three main characteristics: their latent, unmotivated and habitualpenchant for violence, their sexual licence and their disinclination to work. This

‘milieu of the night’ was real to the extent that Londoners were convinced of itsexistence and it strongly influenced their perceptions of social relations withinurban society. In wards, parishes, guilds and companies, people adapted their

behaviour and gradually defined their own respectability in negative terms, inopposition to the new ‘urban underworld’. This book sheds considerable newlight on everyday life in late medieval London and its case study opens up wider

debates about the relationship between morality and politics in Europe’s cities inthis period.

FRANK REXROTH is Professor of Medieval History at the Institute for Medieval

and Modern History, University of Gottingen.

© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

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Deviance and Power inLate Medieval London

FRANK REXROTH

University of Gottingen

Translated by

PAMELA E. SELWYN






CAMBR IDGE UNIVERS ITY PRE SS

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Cambridge University PressThe Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.orgInformation on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521847308

Originally published in German as Das Milieu der Nacht: Obrigkeit und Randgruppen imSpatmittelalterlichen London by Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1999, and # Vandenhoeckand Ruprecht.

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exceptionand to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,no reproduction of any part may take place withoutthe written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published in English by Cambridge University Press, 2007, as English translation# Cambridge University Press 2007

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

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Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data

Rexroth, Frank.[Das Milieu der Nacht. English]Deviance and power in late medieval London / Frank Rexroth; translated by PamelaE. Selwyn.

p. cm. – (Past and present publications)Originally published in German: Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1999. Originallypresented in German as the author’s thesis (Habilitationsschrift) – Humboldt–Universitat zuBerlin, 1997.Includes bibliographical references and indexes.ISBN 978-0-521-84730-8 (hardback : alk. paper)

1. Marginality, Social – England – London – History – To 1500. 2. Minorities – England –London – Politics and government. 3. Minorities – England – London – History – To1500. 4. London (England) – Politics and government. 5. London (England) – Socialconditions. I. Title. II. Series.

DA680.R4913 2007942.1’037 – dc222007006793

ISBN 978-0-521-84730-8 hardback

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Contents

List of illustrations page viiAcknowledgements ixList of abbreviations x

1 Introduction 11 John Carpenter observes his surroundings 12 Poor andmarginal people under the scrutiny of themunicipal

authorities: an overview of the literature 73 Questions and methods 164 Setting the spatial and temporal boundaries: sources and

research on London history 20

PART I Changing patterns of thought in the fourteenth century 25

2 The beginning of the Hundred Years War and the struggleagainst the nocturnal underworld 271 Keeping peace in the city 272 Patterns of thought and institutions 51

3 Speaking of sturdy beggars: the Great Plague, labour lawand changing patterns of thought 681 Labour law in the London context 682 Patterns of thought and institutions 96

4 John of Northampton’s morality campaign: stigmatisation,marginalisation and the legitimation crisis of the urbanoligarchy 1261 The crisis of authority 1262 Patterns of thought and institutions 157

v






PART II Institutions on the frontiers of the fifteenth-centuryunderworld 189

5 Localising the underworld: the wardmotes as statusdegradation ceremonies 1911 Procedures in the wardmotes 1912 The subjects and techniques of complaints 1983 The authorities and ceremonial status degradation 217

6 Rewarding the shamefaced poor: charity in the almshouse 2231 Between charity and social isolation: gilds, paupers

and almshouses 2232 Almshouse foundations and their preferred clientele 2323 The memoria of the shamefaced poor and the exclusion

of the shameless 246

7 Preventing the expansion of the underworld: proclamationsand punishments 2661 The authorities warn against an underworld career 2662 The underworld as a counter-world 2813 The authorities and their struggle for the interpretative

monopoly 291

8 Conclusion 304

Appendix: Transcription of important sources 317Bibliography 361Maps 396Index of personal names 400Index of places 409

vi Contents






Illustrations

Figures

1 The London pillory in 1327. Reproduced from thefrontispiece of Munimenta Gildhallae Londoniensis, vol. III,ed. Henry Thomas Riley (1862). page 113

2 Wife beating her husband with a distaff. Luttrell Psalter,England, fourteenth century. British Library, Add. Ms. 42130fol. 60r. With kind permission of the British Library, London. 175

3 Richard Whittington on his deathbed. Illustration fromWhittington’s almshouse statutes, London 1442. With kindpermission of the Mercer’s Company, London. 250

4 Robert Copland, ‘The Hye Way to the Spytell Hous’ (?1536).With kind permission of the British Library, London. 264

Maps

1 Map of London in the late Middle Ages depicting importantstreets and places. 396

2 Map of London in the late Middle Ages showing the allocationof districts. 398

vii






Acknowledgements

This English translation of my book, which appears several years after theGerman edition was published, owes its existence mainly to the editors ofPast and Present. I would like to thank Lyndal Roper, in particular, for herpersistence and dedication to the project from the outset. The Max PlanckInstitute forHistory (represented by the director, OttoGerhardOexle) andtheGerman publishers Vandenhoeck andRuprecht inGottingen also gavetheir approval. The publication of this work was supported by a grantfrom the Goethe-Institut/Inter Nationes, Past and Present and the GermanHistorical Institute in London, and I ammost grateful toHagen Schulze, theInstitute’s director for many years. It was a great pleasure working with thetranslator, Dr Pamela Selwyn (Berlin). I would also like to thank MichaelWatson of Cambridge University Press for his commitment to the project.The following persons helpedme to look through the translation and answerthe many questions that arose: Franziska Clemen,Mona Knorr, KatharinaBehrens, Jan-Hendryk de Boer, Lars Martin Franke, Ingo Truter, AxelSteensen, Christian Weiss and Dorothea Weltecke.

Since the appearance of the original German edition I have turned toother topics and tried new methodologies and theoretical approaches.During the translation, I was thus naturally tempted to do things differ-ently this time around, for example by paying closer attention to aspects ofthe subject relating to the history of ritual. Even a quite recently publishedwork, however, has already assumed its place in the history of scholarship,and I cannot alter this place by retouching a detail here or there. It is nowup to English-speaking readers to decide whether my book will never-theless continue to contribute to the history of urban authority in medievalcities.

FRANK REXROTH

ix






Abbreviations

AKG Archiv fur Kulturgeschichte

AND Anglo-Norman Dictionary

BAHTL The British Atlas of Historic Towns, vol. III: London

Beih. Beiheft

BIHR Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research

BL British Library, London

BLE Book of London English

CalCloRol Calendar of Close Rolls

CalCorRol Calendar of Coroners Rolls of the city of London

CalEarMayCouRol Calendar of Early Mayors’ Court Rolls

CalPatRol Calendar of Patent Rolls

CalTraTri Calendar of London Trailbaston Trials

CalWills Calendar ofWills Proved and Enrolled in the Courtof Husting

CEMCR Calendar of Early Mayor’s Court Rolls

ChaRep Reports of the Commissioners for inquiringconcerning Charities

CLBk Calendar of Letter Books (followed by thecorresponding letter)

CLRO Corporation of London Records Office

x






CPMR Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls/Calendarof Select Pleas and Memoranda

CR/CLRO Coroners’ Rolls in the Corporation of LondonRecords Office

CR/PRO Coroners’ Rolls in the Public Record Office

CS Camden Society

CYS Canterbury and York Society

EconHR Economic History Review

EETS Early English Text Society

EHR English Historical Review

GG Geschichte und Gesellschaft

GL Guildhall Library, London

GSLH Guildhall Studies in London History

HistJ Historical Journal

HRG Handworterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte

HusWil Corporation of London Records Office, HustingWills and Deeds

HZ Historische Zeitschrift

JEcclH Journal of Ecclesiastical History

Journ Corporation of London Records Office, Journal

LBk Corporation of London Records Office, LetterBook

LMA Lexikon des Mittelalters

LonAssNui London Assize of Nuisance

LondJ London Journal

LRS London Record Society

MayCouOriBil Mayors’ Court – Original Bills

MC Mayor’s Court, Original Bills

MED Middle English Dictionary, edited by Hans Kurath

List of abbreviations xi






MedStud Medieval Studies

MEM Henry T. Riley, Memorials

MGL Munimenta Gildhallae Londoniensis

OED Oxford English Dictionary

PCC Public Record Office, London, Prerogative Courtof Canterbury, Wills

PMR Corporation of London Records Office, Plea andMemoranda Rolls

Pns publications

PP Past and Present

PRO Public Record Office, London

RMLWL Revised Medieval Latin Word List

RP Rotuli Parliamentorum

RS Rerum Britannicarum Medii Aevi Scriptores ¼Rolls Series

Ser. series

Spec. Speculum

SR Statutes of the Realm

SS Publications of the Selden Society

TLMAS Transactions of the London and MiddlesexArchaeological Society

TRHS Transactions of the Royal Historical Society

Univ. university/Universitat/universite

VMPIG Veroffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Instituts furGeschichte

VSWG Vierteljahrsschrift fur Sozial- undWirtschaftsgeschichte

ZHF Zeitschrift fur historische Forschung

xii List of abbreviations






Our moral sewage is neither deodorisednor floated out to sea,but remains in the midst of uspolluting and poisoning our air.

(The Saturday Review, 30 August 1862, p. 241)

xiii






Documents

Deviance and Power in Late Medieval Londonassets.cambridge.org/97805218/47308/frontmatter/9780521847308... · 1 Keeping peace in the city 27 2 Patterns of thought and institutions