URBAN SPACE, SANITATION, AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN MEDIEVAL LONDON (Translation of excerpts from Calendar of Letter-Books of the City of London: H, 1375–1399)

Authors

  • Vadym Chepizhenko Odesa I. Mechnykov National University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15407/mics2022.02.178

Keywords:

London, Middle Ages, quality of life, historical urbanism, king Richard II, translation оf primary source

Abstract

The Letter-Books of the City of London are a series of fifty folio volumes in vellum containing entries of the matters of in which the City of London was interested or concerned. The books were named by lettered from A to Z and again from AA to ZZ – and in point of time extends from the early years of the reign of Edward I almost to the close of the reign of James II. The earlier volumes possess the greater interest, because they contain the chief, if not the only existing, record of the proceedings of the Court of Common Council and Court of Aldermen prior to the fifteenth century. The volumes are kept in the London Metropolitan Archives. Individual articles are written in Latin, Middle English, Middle French and Anglo-Norman. Several fragments from books of the 13th to 15th centuries were first published in 1868 by the famous English translator, lexicographer, and antiquary Henry Thomas Riley in his ‘Memorials of London and London Life in the 13th, 14th and 15th Centuries’. In 1899–1912 Reginald R. Sharpe published English translations of the first 11 volumes of the series (A to L). Our publication is the first to offer a Ukrainian translation of a small part of volume H, covering the period from 1375 to 1399. The translation is from the English edition of R. R. Sharpe. H. T. Riley’s edition and the original manuscript from the LMA were also used to clarify certain points. The excerpts we have selected cover issues of quality of life, sanitation, use of urban space, and control of law and order in London at the time. Of interest is the epic ban on slaughtering cattle in markets in the city and the accordingly clear fixation of permitted places for butchers to work.

References

Bennett, J. M. Ale, beer, and brewsters in England. Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300–1600. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Lee, D. “Cheapside”. Medieval London, Fordham University, 30 June 2022. https://medievallondon.ace.fordham.edu/exhibits/show/medieval-london-sites/cheapside.

McHardy, A. K., ed. The Reign of Richard II from minority to tyranny 1377–1397: selected sources translated and annotated. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2012.

Mirchanandi, A. “Walbrook”. Medieval London. Fordham University, 30 June 2022. https://medievallondon.ace.fordham.edu/exhibits/show/medieval-london-sites/walbrook.

Riley, H. T., ed. “Memorials of London and London Life in the 13th, 14th and 15th Centuries”. London, 1868. British History Online, 29 June 2022. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/memorials-london-life.

Sharpe, R. R., ed. “Calendar of Letter-Books of the City of London: A, 1275–1298”. London, 1899. British History Online, 29 June 2022. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-letter-books/vola/pp207-230.

Sharpe, R. R., ed. “Calendar of Letter-Books of the City of London: H, 1375–1399”. London, 1907. British History Online, 28 June 2022. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-letter-books/volh.

Statutū editū apud Norh’t’, anno s. R. E. t’cii post conquest se’do. In The statutes of the realm: Printed by command of his majesty King George the Third, in pursuance of an address of the House of Commons of Great Britain. From original records and authentic manuscripts, ed. by Alexander Luders and others. London, Dawsons of Pall Mall, 1810–1828, vol. 1, 1810, reprinted 1963.

Von Ancken, V. “Moorgate”. Medieval London. Fordham University, 30 June 2022. https://medievallondon.ace.fordham.edu/ exhibits/show/medieval-london-sites/moorgate.

Published

2023-01-05

How to Cite

Chepizhenko, V. (2023). URBAN SPACE, SANITATION, AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN MEDIEVAL LONDON (Translation of excerpts from Calendar of Letter-Books of the City of London: H, 1375–1399) . City: History, Culture, Society, (14), 178–187. https://doi.org/10.15407/mics2022.02.178

Issue

Section

Quality of life: Sourses and Interpretations