Hot off the Press! Part 2

Two years on from the arrival of the first transcript of the memorandum book of William Porlond, one of the Brewers’ Company’s chief treasures, the second and final part has been published.

Porlond was Clerk to the Brewers’ Company from 1418 until his death in 1440 and kept this record of the affairs of the Company whilst in office, with a small gap between 1425 and 1429. Edited by Caroline Metcalfe and published by the London Record Society, there is so much material (656 pages, 120,000 or so words, handwritten in Norman French, Latin and English) the transcript had to be split into two volumes. The first covered 1418-25; this new volume covers the period 1429-40.

As in the first volume, contents include lists of those entering the freedom and annual quarterage payments, the purchase and distribution of livery cloth, lists of repairs to the Hall and almshouse and food and drink purchased for the annual feast with attendance lists and costs for entertainment. Additionally, this volume includes details of expenses incurred in gaining the Company’s first Royal charter, granted by Henry VI on 22 February 1438, and making the Company’s seal. National events are touched on including the entry into London of the young King Henry VI in 1432, the death of the King’s mother, Queen Katherine, in 1437 and the long French wars are reflected in contributions towards the wages of soldiers in Calais.

Alongside the transcription is a select glossary (e.g. pottle: a pot or tankard with capacity for half a gallon), a list of named properties, mostly brewhouses and taverns known by their signs (e.g. the Peahen, Bishopsgate), a comprehensive index of people and places and an illuminating introduction covering subjects including the Royal Charter, feasts at Brewers’ Hall, the transfer of the fraternity from All Hallows London Wall to St Mary Aldermanbury and control of the brewing craft.

Caroline first worked on Porlond’s book for her Master’s degree in Medieval Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London in 2010-2012. By complete coincidence she began her career teaching history at Dame Alice Owen’s School, one of two schools supported by the Brewers’ Company for over 400 years.