London, A Fourteenth-Century City and its People

Description

For the medieval period that was witness to a legion of political and natural disasters, the rise and fall of empires across the globe and one of the most devastating and greatest pandemics human kind has ever experienced, the fourteenth century was transformative. Peering through the looking-glass to focus on one of Europe’s largest medieval cities, and center of an international melting pot on the global stage, this is a social history of England's (in)famous capital and its multi-cultural residents in the first half of the fourteenth century. Using a rich variety of important sources that provide first-hand accounts of everyday life and personal interactions between loved ones, friends, foreigners and foes alike, such as the Assize of Nuisance, Coroners’ Rolls, wills, household accounts, inquisitions post mortem and many more, this chronicle begins at the start of the fourteenth century and works its way up to the first mass outbreak of the Black Death at the end of the 1340s. It is a narrative that builds a vivid, multi-layered picture of London’s inhabitants who lived in one of the most turbulent and exciting periods in European history. Cover Dedication Book Title Copyright Contents Glossary Money Kings Introduction Health Foreigners Wards Curfew Sanitation Privies Privacy Houses Hostels Mansions Gardens Hospitals Roads Trading Food Drink Drunkenness Misadventure Murder Theft Assault Plates Disturbance Punishment Abjurers Defence Fire Children Women Families Names Adultery Belongings Fun Weather Mayors Sheriffs Misteries Apprentices Religion Tower Bridge Rivers Pestilence Appendix 1 Fourteenth-Century Given Names and Nicknames Appendix 2 Fourteenth-Century London Place-Names Appendix 3 Mayors of London 1300–1350 Abbreviations Bibliography Endnotes