The Chronicle
June 1354
1 June 1354
Whitsun, and the rain kept on for a fourth day with the ground soaked through, but the church-ale (ale brewed and sold to keep up the church) went ahead on the green all the same. There were games and dancing, people came over from Northshire, and it raised 2s 6d for the church.
2 June 1354
John of Thornbury, 39, turned his ankle in a rut in the rain and will be laid up for some weeks. Juliana Miller took him a remedy of herbs.
3 June 1354
After three days of rain, William of Oakham, a thatcher looking for roofs to mend, came in from the road and slept in the church porch. A swarm went off from the Fletchers' bees over the crofts.
4 June 1354
The sky cleared today. Emma of Elmstead, walking home from Canterbury with a little lead flask of St Thomas's water round her neck, and Roger of Elmstead, who keeps the same vow, had a bed at the priest's house for the night. The Brewers' bees swarmed too, and were taken in a new skep.
6 June 1354
A busy road day under a clear sky. Robert of Kingsley, a traveling cooper who mends tubs and buckets and sells new staves, lodged the night at the inn, and Peter of Westcott, a Dominican friar and a learned preacher on his way to the priory in the town, had a bed at the priest's house. The Shepherds' bees swarmed too, and they got them into a new skep.
9 June 1354
Beatrice Shepherd lent the priest's household 5d until market day, one more small loan among the several she has made them. Across the way, the Shepherds' bees swarmed again, and they were caught in a new skep.
10 June 1354
Beatrice Shepherd gave birth to a son, Stephen, today. It was a court day in the hall too, under a cloudy sky. Elena Brewer and Beatrice Shepherd were each fined 4d for brewing and selling ale against the assize, the rules on how ale is made and sold. Adam Fisher and John Carter came up for being taken in the lord's wood by night, and there were two cases of beasts in the corn: Beatrice Shepherd against Stephen Brewer, and Henry Cooper against Thomas atte Well. The steward has put it all to the lord.
12 June 1354
After Mass on Corpus Christi, the Host was carried round the churchyard under a canopy, over a path strewn with flowers, and the day stayed clear for it. Sir John also said a Mass for the Shepherds, in return for their kindness.
14 June 1354
Two travelers came in from the road and stayed the night at the inn: Robert of Oakham, a juggler and tumbler who plays the pipe and tabor, and Henry of Oakham, a wool buyer's man from the town, looking over the clip before the merchants come. Joan has the barley all in, the neighbors' turns done and the team brought through the sowing.
15 June 1354
Rain most of the morning, then a thunderstorm in the afternoon. Walter of Fairford, a soldier back from the king's army in France, came in from the road with a limp and a sack and slept in the church porch. The Shepherds' bees swarmed, and they got the swarm into a new skep.
16 June 1354
Another wool buyer's man came through today. Richard of Ashby, sent from the town to look over the clip before the merchants arrive, came in off the road and took a bed at the inn for the night.
17 June 1354
A pilgrim on his way to Walsingham, John of Westcott, came in from the road on a clear day with a staff and a scrip, and slept in the church porch.
19 June 1354
A tinker named William of Brookfield came in off the road with his little brazier and his bag of patches, ready to mend pots, kettles and pans, and took a bed at the inn. The priest's household sent a peck or two of peas to market with a neighbor, and that settled what they owed Beatrice Shepherd. Another clear day, the fourth in a row.
21 June 1354
A chapman named Richard of Norton came in from the road with cloth, girdles and purses and took a bed at the inn. Joan Fisher lent the Brewers a spade, and over at the Millers' a swarm of bees went off from their skeps and over the crofts.
22 June 1354
Word came up the road on 22 June that the king's purveyors are in the country, taking grain and beasts for the king at their own price. Nothing has reached Ambermead yet, but with the old grain running low and the harvest weeks off, people are listening to every traveler.
23 June 1354
Midsummer Eve: the bonfire was lit on the common, and doors all down the street were hung with birch and St John's wort. John Carter and Agnes Fletcher leapt the fire hand in hand.