The tragic story of Thomas Duffield, merchant of York

The tragic story of Thomas Duffield, merchant of York

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

Much of my medieval history is concerned with Ireland and the West Country of England. It is from these places that much of my source material is sourced from and a historian needs his or her sources to help recreate the past and understand its story. Yet while doing research on the town of Bridgwater in Somerset among the record books known as the Inquisitions Post Mortem I came across as series of entries concerning Thomas Duffield of York and his family which struck something of the human touch inside me (there was also a Thomas Duffield in Bridgwater c.1380). Apparently, it seems I have a human touch – which could have been worst – I could have had a Midas touch and then could not eat those lovely sultana buns they have in the local shop as they would turn to gold before reaching the pleasures of the mouth.

But what dear Reader, could have created this soft side of my character in the life of a merchant living in York in the time of King Henry VI? Well, it has to do more with the death of Thomas Duffield more so than his life. Thomas Duffield died on 10^th March 1429 leaving a widow, Elizabeth, and two daughters, Margaret and Elizabeth. An inquisition into his property in the city of York was taken on 22^nd March 1429.

This inquisition found that Thomas Duffield held 21 messuages of the king in burgage within the city. These were valued at 72 shillings 8 pence per year. The location and value per year of these 21 messuages are given in Appendix One below. A messuage is usually defined as a house and garden. Thomas Duffield also held a further 25 messuages (valued at 64 shillings 4 pence) in burgage tenure in York and five tenements at Aldwick valued at 15 shillings (see Appendix One).[1]

A medieval street in York where Thomas Duffield could have walked

Many years later, on 17^th June 1338, another inquisition post mortem, taken at Bedale found that Thomas Duffield held further property at Skelton. This property is described in Appendix Three below.[2] Another inquisition relating to the Skelton property was taken on 4^th November 1438 which gave much the same details as the June inquisition.[3]

The early history of Thomas Duffield is unknown to this author. It is possible that our Thomas Duffield, merchant, was the same person called Thomas Dreffeld, mercer, who was admitted to the freedom of York in 1361. A mercer is usually defined as a person dealing in textiles.[4] Our Thomas Duffield could also be the Thomas son of John Duffield who in 1409-10 was admitted to the freedom of York.[5]   

As said, Thomas Duffield, merchant, died on 10^th March 1429 under unknown circumstances. Was it a sudden death or the result of a long illness? This is, as yet, unknown. What is known is that the death did bring great sadness on the Duffield household after a time of great celebrations. Only two days before Thomas Duffield died, his wife Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter on 8^th March 1429 who they called Elizabeth Duffield.

Medieval birth was always a dangerous time, for mother and baby alike, but it seems that both were well on that day. Thomas and Elizabeth Duffield had another daughter called Margaret who was born about September 1422. There may have been other children born to Thomas and Elizabeth but they did not survive to adulthood. Unfortunately, for the Duffield household, young Elizabeth Duffield did not survive to adulthood either.

Ill health complications affected baby Elizabeth and she quickly went downhill. On 21^st March 1429, just eleven days after her father died, baby Elizabeth Duffield died.[6] The joy and happiness which filled young Margaret Duffield at having a younger sister now was turned to sadness.

For Elizabeth Duffield the death within days of her husband and baby daughter after the joy of a successful birth must have been devastating. The health of poor Elizabeth Duffield broke under the weight of the loss and she became sicker as the days passed. On 23^rd May 1429, Elizabeth Duffield died leaving her daughter Margaret Duffield without any family. Such was the speed of her death that an inquisition held in York on 28^th June 1429 found that Elizabeth Duffield had no time to acquire any lands or tenements from her husband as her dower lands.[7] Instead all the lands and tenements of her husband Thomas Duffield fell to the king. 

The king had first taken control of the lands and tenements of Thomas Duffield following his death when his children were taken into wardship. Young baby Elizabeth Duffield was entitled to half the property with her sister Margaret Duffield having the other half but her early death meant that all the property passed to the inheritance of Margaret. As Margaret Duffield was only six and half years old when all her family died in 1429, and thus a minor, her care fell to the king.

The lands and tenements stayed with the king until 1338/1339. Beginning in November 1338 a series on inquisitions was held into the Duffield property in York and Skelton.[8] The description of the property in York differs somewhat from that given in 1429 as messuages became tenements (see Appendix Two). This city property was worth 30 shillings 8 pence. This same property was worth 152 shillings in 1429 – so much for royal care.

In December 1339 the king ordered the escheator of Yorkshire to take the fealty of Margaret Duffield.[9] I have no record of Margaret Duffield after 1339 but hopefully she had a good and long life after the early loss of her family.

Appendix One

The 21 messuages of Thomas Duffield in York held of the king

St. Andrew Gate = one messuage = 20 shillings

St. Andrew’s Church, in the churchyard = 3 messuages = 2 shillings each = total 6 shillings

Same place as above = 3 messuages = 4 shillings each = 12 shillings

Same place as above = one messuage = 3 shillings

Same place as above = 2 messuages = 3 shillings = total 6 shillings

St. Andrew’s Church, in the vennel (public lane way between the gable of two houses) below the churchyard = 4 messuages = 2 shillings each = total 8 shillings

Same place as above = 2 messuages = 2 shillings 6 pence = total 5 shillings

Same place as above = one messuage = 2 shillings 8 pence

Peaseholme = 4 messuages = 2 shillings each = total 8 shillings

The 25 messuages in burgage with gardens in York held by Thomas Duffield in 1429

Little St. Andrew Gate = 8 messuages together on the east side = 2 shillings each = total 16 shillings

Little St. Andrew Gate in the vennel on the eastern side = 4 messuages = 18 pence each = total 6 shillings

Same place as above = one messuage = 12 pence

Same place as above = one messuage = 16 pence

Same place as above = one garden = 8 pence

Little St. Andrew Gate on the western side = on tenement = 4 shillings

Same place as above = one tenement = 5 shillings

Same place as above = one tenement = 6 shillings

Same place as above = one tenement = 20 pence

Same place as above = 4 tenement = 2 shillings each = total 8 shillings

Same place as above = 2 tenement = 16 pence each = 2 shillings 8 pence

Lower Ouse Gate = one tenement = 14 shillings

Tenements at Aldwick

At Aldwark Thomas Duffield held 5 tenements worth 3 shillings each = total 15 shillings at the time of his death.[10]

Appendix Two

Duffield property in the city of York as described in 1439[11]

St. Saviour Gate = one tenement = value 8 shillings per year

Ouse Gate = one tenement = value 10 shillings

Peaseholme = 4 small tenements under one roof = value 12 pence each

Aldwick = 5 small tenements under one roof = 12 pence each

Little St. Andrew Gate = 5 tenements under one roof = value 18 pence each

Same place = 7 tenements under one roof = value 12 pence each

Garth Lane = 3 small tenements under one roof = value 8 pence each

Same place = 3 other small tenements under one roof = value 8 pence each

Same place = small garden = 10 pence

St. Andrew’s Churchyard = 5 small tenements under one roof = value 18 pence each

Same place – on each side of a lane = 7 small tenements built under one roof = value 10 pence each    

Appendix Three

Property of Thomas Duffield at Skelton, Yorkshire[12]

A close called Portburn with 10 acres of land – value 2 shillings – held of the king for 10 shillings per year

A wood called Hordhirn & 200 acres pasture – value 2 shillings – held of the king by one sixth of a knight’s fee

A field called Halefeld containing 3 bovates – value 4 shillings – held of the abbot of St. Mary’s York and rendering 5 shillings per year in services

A capital messuage with 3 small buildings and 4 bovates (of arable in 1438) and three closes containing a bovate each – value 14 shillings – held of Joan, Countess of Westmoreland

A bovate was defined as about fifteen acres.

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[1] Claire Noble (ed.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem preserved in the Public Record Office, Vol. XXIII, 6 to 10 Henry VI, 1427-1432 (Boydell Press & National Archives, 2004), no. 200

[2] Claire Noble (ed.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem preserved in the Public Record Office, Vol. XXV, 16 to 20 Henry VI, 1437-1442 (Boydell Press & National Archives, 2009), no. 48

[3] Claire Noble (ed.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem, Vol. XXV, 16 to 20 Henry VI, 1437-1442, no. 179

[4] http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50493&strquery=Thomas%20Duffeld accessed on 21 June 2014

[5] http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=48267&strquery=Thomas+Duffeld accessed on 21 June 2014

[6] Claire Noble (ed.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem, Vol. XXV, 16 to 20 Henry VI, 1437-1442, no. 48

[7] Claire Noble (ed.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem, Vol. XXIII, 6 to 10 Henry VI, 1427-1432, no. 199

[8] Claire Noble (ed.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem, Vol. XXV, 16 to 20 Henry VI, 1437-1442, nos. 178-182

[9] Calendar Close Rolls, Henry VI, 1339-1340

[10] Claire Noble (ed.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem, Vol. XXIII, 6 to 10 Henry VI, 1427-1432, no. 200

[11] Claire Noble (ed.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem, Vol. XXV, 16 to 20 Henry VI, 1437-1442, no. 178

[12] Claire Noble (ed.), Calendar of inquisitions post mortem, Vol. XXV, 16 to 20 Henry VI, 1437-1442, no. 48

Why medieval history?

Why medieval history?

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

In 2010 the website – medievalists.net – asked its readers why they are interested in medieval history with the title of “Why medieval? Go medieval”. This is what I wrote.

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Why medieval? I think it was medieval that picked me.

At an early age I viewed and read books and comics on ancient Rome, Greece, Egypt and Babylon along with ancient Irish history. My father and teachers made such material available. I quickly took to enjoying it.

On many sunny days (it seemed to be always sunny back when we were young) Dad would take my sister and me to visit old castles and ruined abbeys. It was great fun. When I was 10 years old he took me to the National Library of Ireland. I walked around the large round reading room and wanted to stay there forever. I was already in love with books by then.

One of the first history books that I purchased was when I was about 6 or 7 years old. It was Ireland before the Vikings by Gearóid MacNiocaill. The book said that early medieval Ireland had few writers since the death of Eoin MacNeill in 1945. This is an important statement that we’ll return to later. Shortly after this I brought Ireland before the Normans by Donnchadh O Corráin. People need to learn about the history of their own country first.

Front cover of Ireland before the Vikings

In my teens all kinds of history was of interest as I collected history books on any and every subject. By my late twenties there were so many books in the house that cutbacks were needed. I sold and gave away unwanted books – established a yearly budget for buying books and concentrated my purchases on Irish local history. The new buying policy still covered all time zones until 2004/2005.

Two years previously I looked on all my books and said they should be used rather than just for reading. Thus I began to write articles on local history after 1700 and a local history book on the navigation of a local river. This was published in 2008 as Blackwater and Bride navigation and trade 7000 BC to 2007.

In 2003 I was thinking about writing a history of the Diocese of Lismore from 653 to 1653. This was to count-balance a series of articles that were written on the Diocese of Waterford. In 1353 the two dioceses were joined into one. Having completed two chapters I went off in search of more material and came across a book by Philomena Connolly called Irish Exchequer Payments 1270-1446 (Dublin, 1998). It was a edited version of a series of medieval manuscripts. Up to then I had only purchased history books written by others. This book was an original source book upon which all other history articles and books should be based. [The Lismore book is still unfinished but we a gathering material.]

Front cover of Irish Exchequer Payments

The book only gave a page of information relating to Lismore and so I left it in the shop for a year – viewing it from time to time whenever I was passing that shop. I finally purchased in July 2004 and my eyes were opened to the real medieval world. I started to fall in love with the first hand accounts of medieval people.

On 10th April 2005 I attended an antique fair in Cork and purchased a number of medieval books from a dealer. Purchased Irish Monastic and Episcopal Deeds by Newport White and a two volume set of the Royal Letters of Henry III. All three books were in Latin. I had no Latin but did have a Latin/English dictionary purchased years before and so began to translate the books.

Within the month I started buying every and any edited manuscript book that one could find. Especially works by the Irish Manuscripts Commission. The first chairman of that body was the same Eoin MacNeill mentioned earlier.

The two volume Royal Letters of Henry III were a presentation copy. There were given in 1886 to Sir Henry Maxwell-Lyte. At the time I had no idea who he was but learnt from Google that he was for 40 years Deputy Keeper of the English Public Record Office. Off I went to find more books by Lyte and came across a whole world of edited manuscript books published by such organisations as the Somerset Record Society and the Bristol Record Society.

In 2006 I purchased Medieval Record Sources by the same Philomena Connolly mentioned earlier. In that same year I began to use all the record books to write articles on medieval Irish history and continue to do so to this day and hopefully for many days to come.

Front cover of Medieval Record Sources

In 2009 I moved into writing early medieval Irish history. When compared to other periods in history, medieval history is very accessible, especially for those who live far from the great libraries and archive institutions. A great volume of manuscript material is now in book form or available on the web. For history after 1600 you have to travel to the libraries and archive offices to examine original manuscripts. For history before 550 AD you have to go out and dig up the countryside and learn from archaeology. Medieval history can for the most part by written from home.

One could say I spent half a life time trying to avoid medieval history and then finally came home. Philomena Connolly and Sir Henry Maxwell-Lyte guided me there where I again met Eoin MacNeill. MacNeill was professor of early and medieval history at University College Dublin. He was also first chair of the Irish Manuscripts Commission and they have published many record books from medieval Ireland. Eoin’s brother, Charles, edited a few of these books.

And then we come to the strangest part of story. I began life in an orphanage with no family. A farming couple came along and made a home for me in their house. My new grandfather turned out to be a first cousin of Eoin MacNeill. Any family in the world could have adopted me or I could have stayed in the orphanage. Yet it was a family of medieval historians who took me in and that have made all the difference.

Thus I find myself in the medieval world, on a voyage of exploration and discovery. I hope to a have a long and fruitful voyage and to meet all the great and the good, and the ordinary people of the medieval age and become their friend.

Web page post = http://www.medievalists.net/2010/12/27/why-medieval-with-niall-o-brien/

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Conditions of medieval apprenticeship in Bridgwater

Conditions of medieval apprenticeship in Bridgwater

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

On 11^th November 1424 Michael, son of John Laleye of Ireland made an indenture of apprenticeship with John Davy, tanner, of Bridgwater and his wife Joan Davy. I have written before about apprenticeships, on this blog and with articles in published historical journals. In most cases the information on these apprentices comes from edited manuscripts where the essential information about the apprenticeship is given, such as, name of the apprentice; name, occupation and address of the apprentice’s father; name and occupation of the master and the name of his wife; the term of the apprenticeship in years (7 years is the usual basic term); the end of term payment and possibly the fee for gaining freedom of the borough. Sometimes an indenture will also say that the apprentice was to have “one tool of every kind for the said craft”.[1]

West Quay at Bridgwater - highest point of navigation on the River Parrett

It was with delight, therefore, that I recently came across the fully transcribed indenture giving the conditions of the apprenticeship between Michael Laleye and John Davy. These conditions are outlined below.  

1.      The first condition of the apprenticeship was that Michael Laleye agreed to “put himself servant and apprentice to the aforesaid John and Joan [Davy] according to the use and custom of the city of London”.[2]

2.      The second condition was that for the full term of the apprenticeship (10 years) Michael Laleye would keep for the “master and mistress in all things well and faithfully shall serve, their secrets and counsel shall keep, [and] their lawful and honest commandments everywhere gladly do”.[3] The modern phrase of “industrial espionage” is clearly an ancient activity and John Davy desired to protect his business from competitors.

3.      The apprentice then agreed that “From his service by day and night he shall not unlawfully absent himself”.

4.      This was followed by further conditions that the apprentice “shall do them no damage or dishonour, nor see it done of other but that so his power shall hinder, or forthwith give warning thereof to his master and mistress”.

5.      The apprentice “shall not waste their goods, nor lend them to any one without their leave or special mandate”.[4] In 1648 Richard Hunt tried to use a similar condition to be quitted of his apprentice, Joseph Griffin, by falsely accusing him of stealing money.[5]

6.      The apprentice will with “all goods and chattels of his aforesaid master and mistress which are in his care to guard he shall give good and faithful account, whenever and as often as he may be suitably required to do”.

7.      “Matrimony with any woman within the aforesaid term without licence of his aforesaid master and mistress he shall not contract”.

8.      “Fornication or adultery within or without their premises with any domestic of theirs he [the apprentice] shall not commit”. If Michael Laleye did commit such crimes and was convicted he “shall double his whole service aforesaid in the service of the master and mistress aforesaid, or shall make them some reasonable amends according to the decision of trustworthy men such as the parties shall decide to choose between them”.[6]

     This condition could also apply to family members of the master, if John Davy had children in 1424. In his will made in 1461 John Davy mentioned two of his daughters, Joan and Katherine. There may have been other daughters who were deceased by 1461. There is no indication of the age of the two daughters but Katherine was married to Thomas Eyre. This would make Katherine Davy at least 20 years old yet there is no evidence that she was alive in 1424.[7]  

9.      If Michael Laleye quitted his apprenticeship before the end of term then he should will and agree “that the aforesaid master [John Davy] and mistress [Joan Davy] or their attorney in this behalf by virtue of the present indenture may seek him in whosesoever service he may be found and bring him back to his former service without contradiction made of the aforesaid apprentice or the same detainer of him”.[8]

     Although not stated as a condition of this indenture it is noted in other cities and towns that if a master died or if master and apprentice both agreed to a change then an apprentice could be “turned over” to another master of the same trade. Some commentators stated that an apprentice could be bought and sold to another master but the right of change was controlled by the trade guild or town council and if any money was transacted it would go to these governing bodies.[9]

10.  For all of these conditions the master, John Davy and his wife, Joan, were to “practice, teach and instruct” Michael Laleye “in the arts and goods they use, by the best means they can”.

11.  The master and mistress were to find the apprentice “meat and drink, clothing linen and woollen and all other things necessary for him as is suitable to be found for such apprentice during the term [10 years] aforesaid, paying the same apprentice moreover at the end of the above said term 6 shillings 8 pence [6s 8d] of lawful money of England”.

The indentured was witnessed by at least five people from Bridgwater.[10] After the indenture was made in 1424 Michael Laleye seems to disappear from the records. We presume that he served the full ten years of his apprenticeship and kept to the conditions outlined above. The nature of surviving documents is that only bad news gets into the press and survives. If Michael Laleye appears in no court proceedings at the borough court or elsewhere it is presumed that he was a good apprentice who behaved himself and obeyed all the rules. As his name does not appear in later records of the borough of Bridgwater it is likely that Michael Laleye returned to Ireland after the ten years.

Of course the master could also break the conditions of an apprenticeship. Later court documents record cases in this regard. One example from Wiltshire, in 1637, recounts that Edward Starkye was charged with abusing and beating his apprentice, John Dracott.[11] John Davy does not appear as that kind of master. Instead, after taking his first apprentice, Michael Laleye in 1424, John Davy went on to accept other apprentices in 1426, 1432, 1433 and 1437. The conditions of these apprenticeships were on the same terms as outlined above for Michael Laleye.[12] If John Davy was a bad master it is likely that he would not have been able to receive these other apprentices. 

John Davy went on from 1424 to have a successful business as a tanner and died in 1461 leaving his second wife, Matilda and the two daughters previously mentioned, Joan and Katherine.[13] And it all began with an indenture of apprenticeship in 1424.

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other articles on apprenticeships include:


Youghal apprentices at Bristol 1532-1565 = https://www.academia.edu/4116330/Bristol_apprentices_from_Youghal_1532-1565_in_Journal_of_the_Cork_Historical_and_Archaeological_Society_Vol._115_2010_


Wexford apprentices at Bristol 1532-1565 = https://www.academia.edu/3852259/Wexford_apprentices_in_sixteenth-century_Bristol_in_Journal_of_the_Wexford_Historical_Society_No._23_2011-12


Dublin apprentices admitted to freedom 1468-1470 = http://celtic2realms-medievalnews.blogspot.ie/2014/04/dublin-apprentices-admitted-to-freedom.html

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[1] Elizabeth Ralph & Nora M. Hardwick (eds.), Calendar of the Bristol Apprenticeship Book 1532-1565, part II, 1542-1552 (Bristol Record Society, vol. 33, 1980), no. 1391

[2] Thomas Bruce Dilks (ed.), Bridgwater Borough Archives 1400-1445 (Somerset Record Society, Vol. 58, 1945), no. 616

[3] Thomas Bruce Dilks (ed.), Bridgwater Borough Archives 1400-1445, no. 616

[4] Thomas Bruce Dilks (ed.), Bridgwater Borough Archives 1400-1445, no. 616

[5] J.S. Cockburn (ed.),  Western Circuit Assize Orders 1629-1648, a calendar (Royal Historical Society, London, 1976), no. 1214

[6] Thomas Bruce Dilks (ed.), Bridgwater Borough Archives 1400-1445, no. 616

[7] Rev. F.W. Weaver (ed.), Somerset Medieval Wills 1383-1500 (Somerset Record Society, Vol. 16, 1901), p. 195

[8] Thomas Bruce Dilks (ed.), Bridgwater Borough Archives 1400-1445, no. 616

[9] D. Hollis (ed.), Calendar of the Bristol Apprenticeship Book 1532-1565, part 1, 1532-1542 (Bristol Record Society, vol. 14, 1948), p. 7

[10] Thomas Bruce Dilks (ed.), Bridgwater Borough Archives 1400-1445, p. 81

[11] J.S. Cockburn (ed.),  Western Circuit Assize Orders 1629-1648, a calendar, no. 501

[12] Thomas Bruce Dilks (ed.), Bridgwater Borough Archives 1400-1445, nos. 628, 655, 657, 673

[13] Rev. F.W. Weaver (ed.), Somerset Medieval Wills 1383-1500, pp. 194, 1955