Editions of Customs Accounts

The following bibliography lists printed and online editions, both transcriptions and translations, of maritime customs accounts for medieval England. They include the so-called national “particular” customs accounts collected on behalf of the crown (TNA Exchequer K. R. Customs Accounts, E122 class), as well as local customs accounts. The bibliography is organized by port, and within each port by the date of the accounts.

Unlike the summary or “enrolled” accounts, the particular accounts record details (“particulars”) about the dates that a ship entered or exited a port; identifying features of the ship (in the best accounts, the shiptype, shipname, homeport, and shipmaster are all identified); the names of the merchants and their custom status (such as denizen, alien, or Hanse); and details about each cargo, including the value of some cargoes and the specific custom paid.

It is important to note that the type of particular account that survives dictates what types of information it includes. These types of accounts could vary over time [see Table A], by the type of custom collected [see Table B], and by the stage of the customs process at which the account was compiled. For example, the particular accounts compiled by the customs collectors themselves are the most detailed, but when they do not survive, scholars turn to the controlment accounts compiled by the controllers, whose job it was to double-check or audit the accounts of the collectors. Controlment accounts often lack some details, such as the value of cargoes, but they are still a good substitute for missing collectors’ accounts.

This list also includes editions of local customs accounts, which record tolls collected on behalf of lords or towns on maritime traffic within their jurisdiction. The tolls, items taxed, and exemptions varied widely from port to port. Local customs accounts rarely survive, but they can offer considerable information about coastal trade, which was never recorded in the Exchequer enrolled or particular customs accounts until the mid sixteenth century. While the right to collect local customs often dated back centuries, the extant accounts usually survive only for the later middle ages.

Boston

Latin account of the subsidy on wool, woolfells, and hides, 1 August 1294-13 May 1295, printed in N.S.B. Gras, The Early English Customs System (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1918), pp. 516-20. From TNA E122/5/4. Available online at: https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishcust00grasuoft/page/516.

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, including TNA E122/7/13 (1377); 7/17 (1383-4); 7/19 (1386-7); 7/20 (1388); 7/21 (1390); 7/22 (1390-1); 7/23 (1390-1); 7/24 (1391); 7/25 (1391); 7/26 (1391); 7/27 (1391); 7/30 (1392); 7/30A (1393-4); 7/31 (1397-8); and 251/1 (1398-9?) and various commissions, indentures, receipts, and aquittances for payments (TNA E122/7/14; 7/15; 7/16; 7/18; 7/28; 7/29; 7/32, nos. 3, 4, 7; 192/86; 220/9; 220/10; 220/11; and 220/12. In the particular accounts, ships were usually identified by the name of the shipmaster, not by shipname or homeport. 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. The appendix includes a Latin transcript of TNA E122/7/19, a tunnage and poundage account for 28 November 1386 to 28 November 1387 (printed in English in Rigby’s edition by the LIncoln Record Society).

Bridgwater

English translations of several particulars of account for arrivals and departures of ships are included in the Handbook and Select Calendar of Sources for Medieval Ireland in the National Archives of the United Kingdom, eds. Paul Dryburgh and Brendan Smith. Dublin: Four Courts Press and London: The National Archives, 2005. Since Bridgwater was usually in the customs jurisdiction of Bristol, its E122 accounts also often record the destination of ships.

Bristol

The Overseas Trade of Bristol in the Later Middle Ages, ed. E. M. Carus-Wilson, Bristol Record Society, 1937 (London: Merlin Press, 2md edn., 1967). Among the many different types of documents in the volume are calendared translations of Bristol particular accounts for hides, wool, and woolfells and new custom on aliens for 1323-25 (E122/15/3), 1325-6 (E122/15/4), 1332-33 (E122/15/5); tunnage for 1339-40 (E122/70/5); poundage for 1378-79 (E122/16/4); cloth exports for 1390-91 (E122/16/19); controlment of customs and subsidies for 1476 (E122/18/39); wool, hides, and woolfells, along wtih petty custom, tunnage, and poundage for 1461 (E122/19/1); customs and subsidies for 1479-80 (E122/19/14). Includes table of enrolled customs and subsidy accounts for Bristol and many documents relating to Bristol’s overseas trade.

Condon, Margaret and Evan Jones, eds. “Bristol ‘Particular’ Customs Account Transcriptions” (Bristol: University of Bristol, 2016-2023). Condon and Jones have made available transcriptions of the TNA E122 particular overseas customs accounts for late fifteenth-century Bristol in downloadable Excel spreadsheets. The data was generated as part of The Cabot Project, which focuses on the Bristol exploration voyages of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, especially those led by the Venetian known in England as ‘John Cabot.’ The Excel accounts structure the data into fields that record the date of arrival or departure, as well as the type, name, master, and home port of each ship; the name and custom status of each merchant; and the type, amount, and value of commodities. What is unusual about the Bristol accounts is that they are the only English particulars to note the destination or origin of the voyage. The aim is to eventually publish the transcriptions through the Bristol Record Society. Most of the spreadsheets are accompanied by an introduction that provides an analysis of the account, particularly its dating and customs officials. See the Introduction to the 1461 account for the guidelines followed by the editors in recording names, measures, values, and abbreviations.

In the list below, the title link goes to the Excel files and pdfs of the introductions in the University of Bristol Research Data Depository (which includes the full citation and doi of each file), followed by copies that have been linked via academia.edu.

Chester

Chester Customs Accounts 1301-1566, ed. K. P. Wilson. Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 110 (Liverpool, 1969). Chester was a franchise port outside the control of the crown. Customs on shipping carrying wine, iron, and hides were entered into separate sections on the rolls of the chamberlain of the exchequer of Chester in 1301-1554, but are here (pp. 18-62) tabulated together with the names of the ship, shipmaster, and merchants, when available. Also included are English calendars of the local customs accounts of Chester. The account for 1404-05 records the names, origins, and cargoes of merchants importing and exporting, but few sailing particulars aside from indicating destinations and provenance of merchants and their cargoes. The 1467-68 account is organized by destination or origin, and then by ship arrival or departure, with the names of merchants, but not the types of cargoes. That for 1525-26 is organized by date and records the shipname, shipmaster, merchants, and types and amounts of cargo. The volume also includes schedules of rates of local customs, tables showing the amount of wine and iron imported, and a glossary. Available as a pdf online at http://rslc.org.uk/api/file/Vol_111-edited.pdf.

Chichester

Latin account of the new custom on wool, woolfells, and hides; cloth and wax; and imports and exports subject to poundage, 28 Oct. 1323-28 Sept. 1324, printed in N.S.B. Gras, The Early English Customs System (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1918), pp. 393-94. From TNA E122/32/7. Available online at: https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishcust00grasuoft/page/392

Cornwall

The Havener’s Accounts of th Earldom and Duchy of Cornwall 1287-1356, ed. Maryanne Kowaleski. Devon and Cornwall Record Society, new series, 44 (Exeter, 2001). The havener managed the maritime revenues of the earldom and duchy (created in 1337), which included crown customs normally collected by the Exchequer. The accounts of the duchy from 1338/39 to 1355/56 printed here include: (1) accounts of prisage for Cornish ports (usually Falmouth and Fowey, but sometimes Mousehole, Padstow) and Plymouth (called Sutton) in Devon, whose harbor was held by the duke; and (2) accounts of ancient custom on wool, hide and woolfell exports (also referred to as cocket accounts) and new custom on alien imports and exports (also called maltot here) in Cornish ports and Plymouth, though the level of detail offered in the accounts varies. Part III of the edition includes (3) new custom on hides and wool in Cornwall for 1284-87 and 10 April 1289-March 1293 (E122/39/3 and 4); (4) coket (ancient custom) 29 Sept. 1308-26 July 1317 (E122/39/5); (5) wine custom and new custom 20 July 1322-26 July 1324 (E122/39/6); and (6) new custom and increments on imports and exports of aliens for Plymouth (E122/40/7A).

Dartmouth

Usually included in the national customs accounts of Exeter. See also below, Weymouth, 1323-26.

Exeter/Exmouth

Local Customs Accounts of the Port of Exeter 1266-1321, ed. Maryanne Kowaleski, Devon and Cornwall Record Society, new series, 36 (Exeter, 1993). English translation in tabular form taken from entries in the Exeter Mayor’s court rolls (mostly before 1303) and separate rolls of the accounts from 29 Sept. 1302, usually divided into two accounts: one for wine and one for other merchandise. The accounts offer details about the ships, home ports, merchants, cargoes, and custom paid, but only cover incoming traffic, although (unusually ) they record all imports by Exeter citizens and others exempt from customs. Accompanied by an extensive introduction. The appendices include a Latin transcript of the account for 1310-11; the names of all the mayors, stewards, and receivers in Exeter, 1266-1321; and a glossary of weights and measures. The Exeter accounts are the most complete series of local customs accounts for medieval Britain, surviving for almost 70 per cent of the years up to 1498.

See also below, Weymouth, 1323-26.

Latin account of a subsidy on wool exports and a subsidy (poundage) on imports and exports of general merchandise, 18 March-19 Apr. 1348, printed in N.S.B. Gras, The Early English Customs System (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1918), pp. 522-25. From TNA E122/158/10. Available online at: https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishcust00grasuoft/page/522.

Henri Touchard, “Les douanes municipales d’Exeter (Devon). Publication des roles de 1381 à 1433. Thèse complémentaire pour le Doctorat ès Lettres, Université de Paris, 1967. French translation in tabular format of the local customs accounts of Exeter. Generally reliable, but with some questionable translations and omissions. Analyses of these accounts can be found in his Le commerce maritime breton à la fin du moyen âge, Annales littéraires de l’université de Nantes, 1 (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1967)

“The Maritime Trade of Exeter in Mediaeval Times,” by H. Michell Whitley, Transactions of the Devonshire Association 44 (1912): 530-46. Included are translations of: (1) a 1396 account of the carriage of two great masts and other equipment for a king’s ship at Dartmouth (E122/40/21); 1398-99 controlment of a subsidy of tunnage and poundage (E122/40/23); (3) 1493-94 collectors’ account of customs and subsidies (TNA E122/41/18); and (4) 1587-88 account of entries of ships arriving from overseas with their tonnage and prohibited goods and wines they carried (TNA E122/46/36). Note that some of the translations are questionable and incomplete. Available at archive.org: https://archive.org/details/ReportAndTransactionsOfTheDevonshireAssociationVol441912/page/n580/mode/1up?view=theater.

Grimsby

The Customs Accounts of Hull 1453-1490, ed. Wendy R. Childs, Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, 145 (Leeds, 1986). Latin transcription of particular accounts, including TNA E122/62/7 (1465), a Hull account that includes entries for the ports of Scarborough and Grimsby.

Hull

A tunnage, poundage, and subsidy (of 8d per £1 value) account for Hull and ports to Grimsby and Hornsea, 3 April-7 July 1401 is printed in an appendix (pp. 1-27) of Charles Frost, Notes Relative to the Early History of the Town and Port of Hull (London, 1827), although the account does not distinguish the ports. Available online at archive.org: https://archive.org/details/noticesrelative00frosgoog/mode/2up.

The Customs Accounts of Hull 1453-1490, ed. Wendy R. Childs, Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, 145 (Leeds, 1986). Latin transcription of particular accounts, including TNA E122/61/71 (1453); 234/9(2) (1455, fragment only); 61/74 (1460); 61/75 (1460); 62/1 (1461; includes Scarborough); 62/2 (1462-3); 62/3 (1462-3, includes Scarborough); 62/4 (1463); 62/4 (1463); 62/5 (1464-5); 62/7 (1465, includes Scarborough and Grimsby); 62/9 (1466-7, includes Scarborough); 62/11 (1468; includes Scarborough); 62/12 (1469-70); 62/13 (1471); 62/14 (1471, includes Scarborough); 62/17 (1471-2, includes Scarborough); 62/19 (1473, includes Scarborough); 63/1 (1483, includes Scarborough); and 63/8 (1489-90), includes Scarborough). The edition also notes TNA E122/62/6 (1464-5); 62/8 (1465); 62/10 (1466-7); 62/15 (1471); 62/16 (1472); 62/18 (1471-2); 62/20 (1473); Includes table of Hull’s total trade as recorded in the enrolled accounts, petty customs, and tunnage and poundage in 1450-1500; names and dates of service of the customs collectors and controllers in Hull; glossaries of imported goods, exported goods, weights and measures; indices of homeports of shipping, shipmasters, English merchants, Hansard merchants, and other alien merchants.

King’s Lynn

“Customs Rolls for the Port of Lynn in the Reign of Edward I,” ed. Richard Howlett, Norfolk Antiquarian Miscellany 1st series, 2 (1863): 534-8. Contains a few extracts from the ancient custom on wool, woolfells, and hides at Lynn (probably TNA E122/93/1) in 1286-7 (Howlett dates it as 1266-7) and sums from a customs account in 1302-3. Available at archive.org: https://archive.org/details/p2norfolkantiquari02ryew/page/524/mode/2up,

The Making of King’s Lynn: A Documentary Survey, ed. Dorothy M. Owen, British Academy Records of Social and Economic History, new series, 9 (London and Oxford, 1984), pp. 337-78. English abstracts and Latin transcripts of a great variety of material, arranged in thematic chapters, with an extensive introduction. The following Exchequer accounts for new custom paid by foreign and alien merchants are transcribed in Latin: (1) exports of wool, wool-fells, and hides, 3 Dec. 1322-1 Oct. 1323 (E122/93/16); (2) other exports 20 Jul 1322-1 Oct. 1323 (E122/93/17); (3) exports of wool, hides, and wool-fells 20 July 1322-1 Oct. 1323 (E122/93/15); (4) imports 20 July 1322-1 Oct. 1323 (E122/93/17, mm. 4-7); (5) extracts from a searcher’s account of 10May 1428-10 Feb. 1431 (E122/96/43); (6) controller’s account 19 Nov. 1464-19 Nov. 1465 (E122/97/4).

Latin account of the customs and subsidy on wool, woolfells, and hide exports, 29 Sept. 1381-28 Sept. 1382, printed in N.S.B. Gras, The Early English Customs System (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1918), pp. 595-601. From TNA E122/94/2. Available online at: https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishcust00grasuoft/page/594.

Latin controller’s account of tunnage on wine imports and poundage on exports of general merchandise, 22 Feb. 1392-5 Feb. 1393, printed in N.S.B. Gras, The Early English Customs System (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1918), pp. 526-53. From TNA E122/94/14. Available online at: https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishcust00grasuoft/page/526.

Latin account of tunnage on wine imports and poundage on imports and exports, 22 August-5 Nov. 1402, printed in N.S.B. Gras, The Early English Customs System (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1918), pp. 553-59. From TNA E122/95/12. Divided by imports and exports. Available online at: https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishcust00grasuoft/page/552.

Latin account of ancient and new custom and subsidy on wool, woolfells, and hides, with tunnage and poundage, 2 Nov. 1466-1 Nov. 1467, printed in N.S.B. Gras, The Early English Customs System (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1918), pp. 606-24. From TNA E122/97/8. Available online at: https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishcust00grasuoft/page/606.

Latin account of the customs and subsidies on imports and exports by denizens, Hanse merchants, and aliens, 29 Sept. 1503-28 Sept. 1504, printed in N.S.B. Gras, The Early English Customs System (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1918), pp. 646-84. From TNA E122/98/16. Available online at: https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishcust00grasuoft/page/646.

London

The London Customs Accounts, ed. Stuart Jenks, Quellen und Darstellungen zür Hansischen Geschichte, neue folge, bd. 74 ( Lubeck: Hansischer Geschichtsverein [Hanseatic History Association], 2016-present).

This remarkable and game-changing series aims to publish all the “particular” accounts for the port of London; it also compares particular accounts with their audited versions (called the “controlment”) and prints the controlment account when the particular account does not survive. Each volume includes an introduction discussing the accounts edited there, notes on the diplomatic of the series, Latin transcripts of particular and controlment accounts for the years covered (done to a very high standard), and detailed indices of the merchants, cargoes, ships, and their home ports. Most of the volumes also contain maps, tables, and subsidiary documents illustrating any peculiarities of the customs in the years covered by the volume. The pilot volume (volume 74, Part II, Number 9, for 1445/46, the only volume in hard copy) contains an introduction to the English customs system and the accounting procedures of the Exchequer that is required reading for anyone seeking to understand the medieval English customs accounts. There will eventually be c. 45 volumes in the series, all available freely in downloadable pdf format at www.hansischergeschichtsverein.de. The series is divided into four parts, each correlating to a royal dynasty. I: Plantagenet (c. 1280–1399), II: Lancaster (1399–1461), III: York (1461–85) and IV: Tudor (1485-c. 1550). The list below specifies which accounts are printed in each pdf number.

For a table listing the dates and types of accounts transcribed thus far, with links to the downloadable pdfs, click on London Overseas Customs Table.

Other London Accounts

The Overseas Trade of London. Exchequer Customs Accounts 1480-1, ed. H. S. Cobb, London Record Society 27 (1990). Includes an English translation of the petty customs account for 1480-1 (TNA E122/194/25), which records 597 ships and their cargoes, divided into Imports and Exports. Additional documents include (pp. 165-8) the accounts of the Stapler’s Company wool exports customed at Exeter for Michaelmas 1480 to Michaelmas 1481, extracted from the Foreign Accounts (TNA E364/115,  m. 3, /116, m. 2). The edition contains an especially valuable introduction on the (complicated) organization of the London customs system in the fifteenth century, a list of the particular accounts (E122) for London 1461-1500, and a very useful Glossary and Index of Commodities, as well as a general index. Note that Jenks (above) has corrected a few things in the translations made by Cobb. Available at British History Online: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-record-soc/vol27.

Latin account of the customs and subsidy on wool, woolfell, and hide exports, 29 Sept. 1462-15 July 1463, printed in N.S.B. Gras, The Early English Customs System (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1918), pp. 601-05. From TNA E122/73/35. Available online at: https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishcust00grasuoft/page/600.

Minehead

See Bridgwater, above.

Newcastle

“The Wool Customs Accounts for Newcastle upon Tyne for the Reign of Edward I,” ed. J Conway Davies, Archaeologia Aeliana 4th series, vol. 32 (1954): 220-308. The appendix (pp. 275-97) contains an English translation of an account of new custom on wool, wool-fells, and hides for 1294-97 (TNA E122/105/3). A downloadable pdf is available from the Archaeology Data Service,  https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/details.xhtml?recordId=3212104.

The Customs Accounts of Newcastle upon Tyne 1454-1500, ed. J. F. Wade, Surtees Society, 202 (Gateshead, 1995). Includes Latin transcripts of the Exchequer controller’s accounts for: (1) 29 Sept. 1454-31 March 1455 (E122/107/48); (2) 20 Nov. 1456-17 May 1457 (E122/107/50); and (3) 30 July 1459-24 Dec. 1459 (E122/107/52); collectors’ accounts for (4) 10 May 1461-18 Feb. 1462 (E122/107/53); and (5) 4 March 1465-11 April 1466 (E122/107/57); (6) controller’s accounts for July-Dec. 1471 (E122/162/2); (7) 1 Jan.-March 1472 (E122/107/60); and (8) 12 April-20 Dec 1481 (E122/107/61); (9) collectors’ account 28 Oct. 1488-29 Sept. 1489 (E122/108/2); controller’s accounts for (10) 28 Oct. 1488-29 Sept. 1489 (E122/108/1 and 3); and (11) 29 Sept. 1494-29 Sept. 1495 (E122/108/8); (12) collectors’ account 29 Sept. 1499-29 Sept. 1500; (13) controller’s account for 29 Sept. 1499-29 Sept. 1500. Indices of places and persons, and of subjects. A brief introduction, with further analysis is in J. F. Wade. “The Overseas Trade of Newcastle upon Tyne in the Late Middle Ages,” Northern History 30 (1994): 31-48.

Plymouth

Plymouth harbor was part of the manor of Sutton held by the duke of Cornwall from 1337 onwards; see above under Cornwall for the prisage of wine, ancient custom, and new customs at Plymouth in 1338-56 printed in The Havener’s Accounts of the Earldom and Duchy of Cornwall 1287-1356, ed. Maryanne Kowaleski, Devon and Cornwall Record Society, new series, 44 (Exeter, 2001).

See also below, Weymouth, 1323-26.

Sandwich

Two accounts of lastage collected in Sandwich, 1299/1300 and 29 Sept,-8 Dec. 1304.  Local customs, organized by day, on raw materials such as cheese, bacon, wool, and herring. Printed in N.S.B. Gras, The Early English Customs System (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1918), pp. 203-06, 206-07. From TNA E122/124/5, mm. 5 and 2. Available online at https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishcust00grasuoft/page/202/mode/2up

Two accounts of new custom on imports and exports by aliens in the port of Sandwich and members (Sarre, Faversham, Dover, Hythe, Romney) in Feb-May 1303 and 1304/05, printed in N.S.B. Gras, The Early English Customs System (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1918), pp. 267-73, 302-46. From TNA, E122/124/11 and E122/124/13. Divided into three parts: exports of wool, woolfells and hides; coth and wax; and goods subject to poundage.  Within these categories, the returns are grouped by port, but only the merchant, cargo, and custom is noted, not ships or their home ports. Available online at  https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishcust00grasuoft/page/266/mode/2up and https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishcust00grasuoft/page/302/mode/2up

Local customs collected in the port of Sandwich, 29 Sept. -8 Dec. 1304. Organized by week. Records merchants’ names, their cargoes and customs paid, including payments for sede navis (an anchorage fee).  Printed in N.S.B. Gras, The Early English Customs System (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1918), pp. 167-72. From TNA, E122/124/14. Available online at https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishcust00grasuoft/page/166/mode/2up. 

Two local customs accounts, probably from Sandwich, organized by week and noting merchants’ names, their cargoes and customs paid, as well as payments for sede navis ( an anchorage fee). The first covers about seven months and dates to sometime in the late thirteenth to mid fourteenth century; the second covers mid May to late August, probably 1357 or 1368.  Printed in N.S.B. Gras, The Early English Customs System (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1918), pp. 177-85, 185-91. From TNA, E122/156/14 and E122/124/16. Available online at https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishcust00grasuoft/page/176/mode/2up 

Scarborough

The Customs Accounts of Hull 1453-1490, ed. Wendy R. Childs, Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, 145 (Leeds, 1986). Latin transcription of particular accounts for Hull, including TNA  62/1 (1461; includes Scarborough); 62/3 (1462-3, includes Scarborough); 62/7 (1465, includes Scarborough and Grimsby); 62/9 (1466-7, includes Scarborough); 62/11 (1468; includes Scarborough); 62/14 (1471, includes Scarborough); 62/17 (1471-2, includes Scarborough); 62/19 (1473, includes Scarborough); 63/1 (1483, includes Scarborough); and 63/8 (1489-90), includes Scarborough). Includes glossaries of imported goods, exported goods, weights and measures; indices of homeports of shipping, shipmasters, English merchants, Hansard merchants, and other alien merchants.

Southampton

One of the most complete series of local customs accounts in medieval England survives for Southampton. Kept by the town water-bailiff, the earliest accounts (the first dates from 1426-27) include more information than the later ones. Up until the late fifteenth century, the accounts were divided into the Liber Alienigenus/Aliens Book (goods carried in Mediterranean galleys) and the Liber Communis/Common Book (merchandise carried in other, mostly northern ships). The accounts record both outgoing and incoming traffice, but denizen trade was underrecorded because Southampton citizens and most denizen mechants were exempt from the main local customs, although they were recorded if their merchandise paid cranage (mostly wine and oil).

The Port Books of Southampton, 1427-30, ed. Paul Studer, Southampton Record Society, 15 (Southampton, 1913). This edition includes two Anglo-Norman acocunts: one for 1426-27 (mislabelled as 1427-8 by Studer) and selections from 1429-30. A facing page English translation is offered for the first 24 northern ships in 1426-27. The Historical Introduction identifies the types of trade handled by different British and continental regions, while tables in the appendices track the amounts, dates and origin or destination of goods, categorized by type. Also includes a glossary and indices of ports, boats, and persons. Available online at https://archive.org/details/cu31924030157717 

The Local Port Book of Southampton for 1430-31, ed. Henry S. Cobb, Sothampton Record Series, 5 (Southampton, 1961). Contains a useful introduction that outlines the history of the customs and compares the extant port books for the fifteenth century. Latin accounts, with English translation of the first two folios of the Common Book and the audit account. Includes a glossary of commodities.

The Local Port Book of Southampton 1435-36, ed. Brian Foster, Southampton Record Series 7 (Southampton, 1961). Account is in Anglo-Norman with facing page English translation. Includes two indentures recorded the receipt and delivery of sums from the customs, and a glossary of commodities.

Latin account of the customs and subsidy on wool, woolfells, and hides, and petty custom and subsidy on other goods, 29 Sept. 1443-28 Sept. 1444, printed in N.S.B. Gras, The Early English Customs System (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1918), pp. 634-46. From TNA, E122/140/62: extracts only, from the first few and last folios. Available online at: https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishcust00grasuoft/page/634 .

The Southampton Port and Brokage Books 1448-9, ed.  Elisabeth A. Lewis, Southampton Records Series, 36 (Southampton, 1993). Highly abbreviated Latin account of the Aliens Book with a glossary and index of commodities. The appendix contains a Latin transcription of the Exchequer controlment account (TNA, E122/141/31) for 26 December 1448 to 29 September 1449. This edition also includes a Latin transcription of the Southampton Brokage Book for 1448-49; the Brokage Books, many of which have been published, recorded customs and tolls like brokge and pontage levied on goods coming in or leaving the city by land, usually by cart or horseback.

The Port Books or Local Customs Accounts of Southampton for the Reign of Edward IV, ed.. D. B. Quinn with the assistance of A. A. Ruddock, Southampton Record Society, 37 and 38 (Southampton, 1937-38). Vol. 1 includes an English calendar of the accounts for 1469-70 and 1470-71. Vol. 2 includes a similar calendar for theAliens Book for 1477-78 and 1480-81 and the Common Book for 1480-81, along with an introduction that notes Studer’s incorrect dating of the 1426-27 account and discusses the nature of Southampton’s overseas trade, especially the prominence of the Italians. A third volume containing the accounts of 1482-83 was planned but never published. Tables list the arrival and departure dates of all Venetian and Florentine galleys, and Genoese and Veneitan carracks, 1461-83. Also includes highly abbreviated English translations of TNA particular accounts: (1) E122/142/1, a controlment account for 3 March-24 July 1461; (2) E122/142/3, a tunnage and poundage account for 19 July 1463-26 Dec. 1464, with cross-references to E122/142/2 and 142/4, covering 19 July 1463-29 Sept. 1464, and E122/142/5 for 29 Sept.-26 Dec. 1464; (3) E122/142/7 customs and subsidy for 6 May-2 June 1471; (4) account of customs and subsidy on wool, petty custom, tunnage, and poundage for 29 Sept.-22 May 1473.

The Port Book of Southampton 1509-10, ed. Thomas Beaumont James, Southampton Record Series, 32 and 33 (Southampton, 1990). Latin account. The accounts were no longer divided into two because the Italian trade was so sparse. Vol. 1 includes weeks 1-26, with an introduction and glossary and index of commodities by J. E. Hewitt. Vol. 2 includes weeks 27-52, and a general summary of weekly trade by James. It ends wtih an biographical index and index of places.

Teignmouth

See below Weymouth, 1323-26 accounts.

Weymouth

Extracts from accounts of ancient custom on wool, woolfells, and hides exported  from Weymouth to Plymouth, February 1323 to May 1326 (TNA E122/40/7A/1. 7B/1, 7B/5) printed in N.S.B. Gras, The Early English Customs System (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1918), pp. 250-56. The ports are not identified, but the homeports of most of the ships is Devon (especially Teignmouth). Available at https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishcust00grasuoft/page/250/mode/2up.

Extracts from accounts of new custom on the exports and imports of aliens from Weymouth to Teignmouth, April 1324 to May 1326 (TNA E122/40/7B/2, 3, 4 and 6) printed in N.S.B. Gras, The Early English Customs System (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1918), pp. 394-98. The imports and exports were at the ports of Exmouth (Exeter), Dartmouth, Teignmouth, and Weymouth. See https://archive.org/details/earlyenglishcust00grasuoft/page/394/mode/2up.