Monks and Markets: Durham Cathedral Priory 1460-1520

✍ Scribed by Miranda Threlfall-Holmes

• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 264
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The institutions of the middle ages are generally seen as tradition-bound; Monks and Markets challenges this assumption. Durham's outstanding archive has allowed the uncovering of an unprecedented level of detail about the purchasing strategies of one of England's foremost monasteries, and it is revealed that the monks were indeed reflective, responsive, and innovative when required. If this is true of a large Benedictine monastery, it is likely to be true also for the vast majority of other households and institutions in Medieval England for which comparable evidence does not exist.Furthermore, this study gives a unique insight into the nature of medieval consumer behaviour, which throughout history, and particularly from before the early modern period, remains a relatively neglected subject. Chapters are devoted to the diet of monks, the factors influencing their purchasing decisions, their use of the market and their exploitation of tenurial relationships, and their suppliers.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 8
List of Figures......Page 10
List of Tables......Page 11
Introduction......Page 12
The Regional Context......Page 17
Durham Cathedral Priory......Page 25
Administrative Strategies: The Accounting System at Durham Cathedral Priory......Page 28
A Snapshot of the Priory’s Accounting System: 1480/1......Page 33
Conclusion......Page 43
Introduction......Page 45
The Provisioning Infrastructure of the Priory......Page 46
Purchasing and Consumption......Page 47
Conclusion......Page 82
Introduction......Page 86
Price as a Determining Factor: Grain......Page 87
Preference as a Determining Factor: Wine and Spices......Page 100
Purpose as a Determining Factor: The Priory’s Cloth Purchases......Page 113
Conclusion......Page 144
Introduction......Page 147
Grain......Page 149
Meat, Fish, and Other Commodities......Page 156
Sources of Supply......Page 159
Conclusion......Page 171
Introduction......Page 173
Market Purchases of Grain and the Regionality of Grain Prices......Page 174
Markets......Page 182
The Use of Agents......Page 186
Payment for Goods......Page 188
Credit......Page 190
Transport......Page 192
Conclusion......Page 201
Introduction......Page 203
Numbers of Suppliers and Repeat Suppliers......Page 204
Wider Relationships between the Priory and its Suppliers......Page 206
Commodity Specialists and Generalists......Page 208
Families and Locations......Page 214
Male and Female Suppliers......Page 218
Case Study: The Suppliers of Cloth......Page 220
Conclusion......Page 229
Standards of Living......Page 231
The Priory as a Consumer......Page 233
The State of Trade in Newcastle and the North-East......Page 237
Concluding Remarks......Page 240
Appendix: The surviving obedientiary accounts, 1460–1520......Page 242
Bibliography......Page 244
C......Page 256
D......Page 257
G......Page 258
J......Page 259
M......Page 260
P......Page 261
S......Page 262
V......Page 263
Z......Page 264