The Chronicle
November 1353
1 November 1353
All Saints' Day came in with a drizzle. Henry Cooper called on the Millers, and Cecily Cooper took Juliana a remedy of herbs. That night the church bell was rung for the dead, as it is every year, for everyone the parish has lost.
2 November 1353
All Souls' Day, the day for praying for the dead, and it rained from morning to night. At Mass Sir John read out the names of the parish's dead and prayed for everyone the pestilence took. Amice went souling door to door, and the Brewers, the Smiths and the Coopers handed out soul-cakes in return for a prayer for their dead. Stephen Brewer took pottage to Juliana at the Millers', and Joan Brewer called there too. Two travelers came in off the road: Emma of Brookfield, a pedlar with needles, pins, ribbons, laces and little knives, put up at the inn, and Richard of Kingsley, a gray friar who preaches from village to village and begs his bread, had a bed at the priest's.
3 November 1353
A gray, cloudy day. Stephen Brewer brought Juliana a remedy of herbs, and Adam Brewer stopped in at the Millers to see her too. Out on the road, Alice of Long Marston, a pedlar with a pack of needles, pins, ribbons, laces and little knives, came in and took a bed at the inn for the night.
4 November 1353
A cloudy 4 November. Stephen Brewer and Adam Brewer both called on the Millers, and the Millers gave alms to the Coopers at the church door.
5 November 1353
Roger and Alice Warrener spent a cloudy 5 November helping the priest's household get their sowing in.
6 November 1353
A foggy day for the last of the sowing: Joan Brewer helped out at the Millers', and Cecily Cooper lent a hand at the Brewers'. Bad news from the woods, where Alice Warrener, 25, was hit by a falling bough while cutting wood and will be laid up for a month or more; Juliana Miller brought her a remedy of herbs. Thomas atte Well's brother, Adam of Hatherley, came over for the day and slept by the atte Wells' hearth, and Beatrice Shepherd lent the priest's household 5d till market day.
7 November 1353
Fog sat on the fields all day, and Adam and Joan Brewer spent it helping the Millers get their sowing in. Over at the priest's house they patched the thatch before the rains.
8 November 1353
A foggy day for the sowing, and Adam Brewer was back at the Millers' fields helping get the seed in. Stephen Brewer called on the Warreners. At dusk Thomas of Stanton, a pilgrim walking home from Canterbury with a little lead flask of St Thomas's water round his neck, came in off the road and got a bed at the priest's for the night.
9 November 1353
A foggy day, with Adam Brewer out helping the Millers get their sowing in and Stephen Brewer calling on the Warreners again. Beatrice Shepherd brought the priest's household a hand of fresh rushes for the floor. That night an archer back from the French war, Thomas of Thornbury, bow on his back and his pay long gone, slept by the atte Wells' hearth.
10 November 1353
A drizzly day before Martinmas. Adam and Joan Brewer both called on the Warreners. That evening Robert of Bradwell, a chapman going round the villages with cloth, girdles and purses, took a bed at the inn.
11 November 1353
Martinmas, under a cloudy sky, and the time to sell off what can't be fed through the winter. The Shepherds sold a cow and the Fletchers sold 2 sheep, neither with fodder enough to keep them. Stephen Brewer called on the Warreners, and Adam Brewer took pottage to Alice there. John of Norton, a gray friar (a Franciscan who preaches from village to village and begs his bread), had a bed at the priest's for the night.
12 November 1353
The manor court sat in the hall today. Adam Brewer brought a complaint against Roger Warrener over a pig in his garden, and the ale-tasters made their reports; the steward has passed it all to the lord to decide. Stephen Brewer and Edith atte Well both called on the Warreners, and at the inn tonight Gilbert of Ashby, a teller of tales who knows Guy of Warwick and Robin Hood by heart, has a bed for the night.
13 November 1353
Joan Brewer and Thomas atte Well both called on the Warreners today. Over at the Fletchers', Agnes Fletcher lent the Coopers her kneading trough. With dark coming down by four, two musicians from Elmstead turned up at the inn for the night: John with his fiddle and Richard on the pipe, working the inns between the fairs.
14 November 1353
Showers on and off, and dark by four in mid-November. Joan Brewer called on the Warreners again, and Cecily Cooper took Alice Warrener a remedy of herbs.
15 November 1353
Joan Brewer took a remedy of herbs up to Alice at the Warreners', and Thomas atte Well looked in on the house too. With the sky overcast and dark coming on by four, Nicholas of Fairford, a chapman going round the villages with cloth, girdles and purses, came in off the road and took a bed at the inn.
16 November 1353
Roger Warrener is in bed with a bad cough, caught from Amice Warrener. Stephen Brewer brought Alice a remedy of herbs and Joan Brewer carried pottage to the Warreners' door. Clear skies today, and dark by four. That night the inn put up Alice of Ashby, a chapman going round the villages with cloth, girdles and purses.
17 November 1353
The lord's rulings on last week's court came in today. Adam Brewer's complaint about Roger Warrener's pig getting into his garden was thrown out, and Joan Brewer and Beatrice Shepherd were fined 4d each for brewing and selling ale against the assize, the rules on price and strength. Roger himself is still in bed with his cough, and Stephen and Joan Brewer both took him herbs on an overcast day that was dark by four.
18 November 1353
A gray, short day on 18 November, dark by four. The lord's woodward came on Thomas atte Well in the wood before light, with a young buck dead at his feet, and Thomas will have to answer for it at the manor court. Deer belong to the lord, so that's a serious matter. Thomas is also in bed now with a bad cough, the one Amice Warrener passed around, and Joan Brewer is down with a fever. Over at the Warreners, where Roger is still laid up, Stephen Brewer brought pottage, Thomas called in, and the Brewers gave the Warreners alms at the church door.
19 November 1353
A cloudy day, dark by four. Adam Brewer carried a remedy of herbs up to Roger at the Warreners, and Thomas atte Well called on the Warreners again.
20 November 1353
On St Edmund's day, with showers on and off and dark coming down by four, Stephen Brewer took a remedy of herbs over to Thomas atte Well. Edith atte Well carried a pot of pottage to Roger at the Warreners'.
21 November 1353
More showers today, and the same short gray afternoon. Edith atte Well was back at the Warreners' with pottage for Roger, and Elena Smith brought a remedy of herbs to Joan Brewer.
22 November 1353
Rain all day and dark by four, and Roger Warrener is up again after his bad cough. Edith atte Well still took pottage over to Alice at the Warreners, then called on the Brewers. Two travelers came in off the wet road: Walter of Norton, a Dominican friar, a learned preacher on his way to the priory in town, had a bed at the priest's house, and John of Thornbury, a minstrel with a fiddle working the inns between fairs, lodged the night at the inn.
23 November 1353
Rain all day on 23 November, the ground soaked through and dark by four. Edith atte Well and Elena Smith each carried pottage over to Alice at the Warreners.
24 November 1353
A drizzly 24 November, the ground sodden and dark by four. Edith atte Well carried pottage over to Alice at the Warreners again, and Isabel of Kingsley brought Joan some herbs. Thomas atte Well is up after a bad cough, and Edith's sister Margaret sent two bushels of rye over from Fairford, the atte Wells being short. People are also saying Stephen Brewer and Elena Smith are courting.
25 November 1353
Fog all day on St. Catherine's Day, 25 November. The Warreners had callers: Stephen Brewer stopped by, and so did Sir John, and the Millers gave alms to the Warreners at the church door.
26 November 1353
A foggy day, and dark by four. Elena Smith called on the Brewers, and Henry Cooper looked in on the Warreners. Christina of Fairford, Juliana Miller's sister, came over for the day and stayed the night by the Millers' hearth. A traveler brought word that Alice Warrener's sister Maud at Thornbury has a new baby.
27 November 1353
A foggy 27 November, dark by four. Thomas atte Well called on the Warreners, and Juliana Miller lent the atte Wells a hand with their late sowing. Thomas of Milford, a Dominican friar (a black friar, from the color of his cloak) and a learned preacher bound for the priory in the town, came in off the road and is sleeping at the priest's house tonight.
28 November 1353
Good news from the inn: Joan Brewer is up again after her fever, and Elena Smith brought the Brewers a remedy of herbs all the same. Thomas atte Well spent the day helping the Warreners get their sowing in, drizzle and all. William of Norton, a traveling cooper who mends tubs and buckets and sells new staves, came in off the road and took a bed at the inn for the night.
29 November 1353
Showers came and went on 29 November, and it was dark by four. Thomas atte Well called on the Millers, and Cecily Cooper helped the Warreners get their firewood in.
30 November 1353
St Andrew's Day came in with a drizzle, and dark by four. John of Thornbury took a pot of pottage to Alice at the Warreners', and Cecily Cooper called on the Millers. The priest's household sold a bushel of peas at market and paid Beatrice Shepherd what they owed her.