IMC 2020: Sessions
Session 550: 14th-Century England, I: Favourites, Authority, and Social Mobility in Late Medieval York and the North
Tuesday 7 July 2020, 09.00-10.30
| Sponsor: | Society for 14th-Century Studies |
|---|---|
| Organiser: | Gwilym Dodd, Department of History, University of Nottingham |
| Moderator/Chair: | David Green, Centre for British Studies, Harlaxton College, University of Evansville |
| Paper 550-a | 'Vos Maisons sount pris al oeps le count': Walter Bedwyn, Treasurer of York, and the Return of Piers Gaveston (Language: English) Index terms: Administration, Archives and Sources, Ecclesiastical History, Politics and Diplomacy |
| Paper 550-b | Authority in Levying: Financial Administration and Financial Records of York, 1272-1371 (Language: English) Index terms: Administration, Economics - Urban, Local History |
| Paper 550-c | A Tale of Northern Gentle Folk: The Strother Family and Social Mobility and Stagnation in Late Medieval Northumberland (Language: English) Index terms: Local History, Politics and Diplomacy, Social History |
| Abstract | In examining the events of the fall of Piers Gaveston, favourite of Edward II, generations of historians have made use of a letter, surviving amongst the Ancient Correspondence (SC 1) at TNA which recounts Gaveston's arrival in York from exile early in 1312. This first paper sheds new light on the story, identifying for the first time the true recipient, thus offering a new interpretation of the letter's origins and importance. The second paper considers the civic records relating to the finance of the city of York, as set out within a miscellaneous civic codex (York, York City Archives, Y/COU/3/1). The paper firstly examines civic documents and other records, mainly taken from the royal archives, to describe the fiscal responsibilities of the city, before setting the records of the York codex within the context of civic fiscal administration and other civic financial records. The third paper uses the Strother family as a case-study of social mobility in Northumberland. They were strikingly prominent in the administration and political society of the county in the mid-14th century. Conversely, however, they also provide an example of, if not quite downward social mobility, then social stagnation. This paper examines the social and political mechanisms behind their rapid rise, and their subsequent stagnation. |