The following is the “Introduction” to Maryanne Kowaleski, ed., Local Customs Accounts of the Port of Exeter 1266-1321, Devon and Cornwall Record Society, n.s., 36 (Exeter, 1993), pp 1-45. It first examines the development of the medieval port of Exeter, which encompassed all of the Exe estuary from present-day Exmouth (another name for the medieval port) to Topsham, at the head of the Exe estuary and the actual walled city of Exeter, which was located four miles north of Topsham and a good ten miles from the sea. Sea-going ships were unable to sail up to Exeter, so Topsham, a village whose lord was the earl of Devon, served as Exeter’s outport.
The Introduction then discusses the process of collecting port customs, as well as customs rates and exemptions at Exerer. The third section analyzes the ships and mariners active during the period of the accounts (1266-1321) in the edition; see also the Map of Home-Ports of Ships at the Port of Exeter, 1266-1321. The next two sections examine the importers and commodities imported, while the final section surveys the documents that preserve the accounts and points to why the Exeter accounts are not only suprisingly full and accurate, but also an accurate indicator of coastal trade, which is otherwise almost impossible to track quantitatively in the medieval period. The Introduction ends with an overview of the translation and editing principles followed in the edition.
