The following works provide useful background and analyses of the overseas and coastal trade in medieval England (c. 1270 to 1520). [In progress]
Boston
“Introduction,” The Overseas Trade of Boston in the Reign of Richard II, ed. S. H. Rigby, Lincoln Record Society, 93 (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2005). English translation of the extant accounts for 1377-99. Includes appendices of samples of the Latin text; the names and dates of service of customs collectors and controllers in Boston, 1375-99; biographies of the customs collectors in Boston, 1375-99; glossaries of weights and measures and of imports and exports; indices of persons and places.
The Overseas Trade of Boston, 1279-1548, ed. Stephen H. Rigby with Robert C. Nash. Quellen und Darstellungen zur Hansischen Geschichte, 79 (Cologne: Bohlau, 2023). This short monograph focuses mainly on trade statistics (printed in useful tables) taken from the enrolled national port customs accounts, including wool, hides, cloth, alien wax, and miscellaneous exports and wine and other imports showing the transformation and eventual decline of Boston’s overseas trade.
Bristol
Condon, Margaret, “Faction and Fortune’s Wheel: Customers and Controllers in the Port of Bristol 1461-85,” The Ricardian 23 (2023): 47-66.
Smith, Brendan., ‘Late Medieval Ireland and The English Connection: Waterford and Bristol c.1360-c.1460’, Journal of British Studies, 50: 3 (2011)
Jones, Evan T. and Margaret M. Condon, Cabot and Bristol’s Age of Discovery: The Bristol Discovery Voyages 1480-1508 (University of Bristol, 23 Nov 2016). Available online (without some of the images) at https://archive.org/details/Cabotdigital/
Connell-Smith, Gordon. Forerunners of Drake: A Study of English Trade with Spain in the Early Tudor Period. London, 1954. Online at https://archive.org/details/forerunners-of-drake/page/n5/mode/2up
Hull
London
Cobb, Henry S. The Overseas Trade of London Exchequer Customs Accounts, 1480-1. London Record Society, 27, xi-xlvii. London, 1990. Online at https://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-record-soc/vol27/xi-xlvii
Jenks, Stuart. “The London Customs Accounts: A Beginner’s Guide.” In The London Customs Accounts 24 Henry VI (1445-46), edited by Stuart Jenks. Quellen und Darstellungen zur Hansischen Geschichte, 74, xi-lx. Köln : Böhlau Verlag GmbH & Cie, 2018. See also the “Appendices,” 292-329. PDF available at https://www.hansischergeschichtsverein.de/london-customs-accounts?seite=2. The best introduction to the contents, organization, and format of the English customs accounts, particularly in the port of London.
Jenks, Stuart, ed. The London Customs Accounts
Kowaleski, Maryanne. “The Maritime Trade Networks of Late Medieval London.” In The Routledge Handbook of Maritime Trade Around Europe 1300-1600, edited by Wim Blockmans, Mikhail Krom and Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz, 352-65. London: Routledge, 2017.
Newcastle
J. F. Wade. “The Overseas Trade of Newcastle upon Tyne in the Late Middle Ages,” Northern History 30 (1994): 31-48.
Southampton
Rose, Susan. “The Port of Southampton in the Fifteenth Century: Shipping and Ship Masters.” Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club Archaeological Society 61 (2006): 174-81.
