PREFACE
Some five or six years ago a plan was formed to
illustrate a dozen or more different aspects of 14th
century history by the publication of work done by
graduates of the History School of Manchester
University The war has seriously hindered the
realization of the project, and this volume represents
merely an instalment of it Apart from my own
contributions, each of the studies here presented is
based on a thesis prepared for the History Schools
of 1911 and 1912 Their separate publication in
advance of the rest may plead the justification of a
certain unity of subject They deal with various
economic aspects of the reign of Edward III, and
the writers, with one exception, were members not
only in Professor Tout's honours class in the "Early
part of the reign of Edward III," but of my honours
class in Economic History It has thus fallen to my
lot to advise their postgraduate researches and to
edit this volume
The two articles on "The Social Evolution of
Mediæval London" and "London Tradesmen and
their Creditors," though falling somewhat outside
the scope of the book as indicated by its title, have
been included in the hope that they might supply a
broader introduction to some of the special problems
dealt with in the subsequent studies As will
perhaps be apparent to the critical reader, they were
both originally prepared for oral delivery-the
former as one of the Warburton Lectures of 1911
and the latter as a paper read before the Manchester
University Historical Society in the following
session
Of the remaining articles, that on "The Estate of
Merchants" was the last to be written, and ain ed,
along with the Introduction, at providing a tenta ive
survey of the reign as a whole
The full treatment of the Staple has been fa ilitated by the thesis of Mr L H Gilbert, B A (low
in France) on the History of the Staple, 1313-1 53,
which it has not been found practicable to include in
this volume It should also be added that Mr
Sargeant's article on "The Wine Trade with
Gascony" had to be completed amidst the distractions of barrack-life in Ireland, and since the
author's removal to France, has been deprive of
the full advantage of the author's revision
I desire to express my deep obligation to
my colleagues, Professors Tout and Tait, whose
knowledge of fourteenth century history is far
greater than my own, and whose numerous suggestions and corrections I have been grateful to adopt
In the somewhat laborious task of preparing the
book for the press, I have been much assisted by
my wife, and by Mr H M McKechnie, the Secretary of the University Press, to whose experienced
judgment and untiring care I owe more than I can
adequately acknowledge
George Unw N
The University,
Manchester,
January 11th, 1918,