"Ecclesiastes"
Riley identifies the reference as verse 5. However, neither the Book of Wisdom nor Ecclesiastes, both attributed to Solomon's authorship, has a chapter 26. Wisdom, chapter 16 (assuming transcription error), verse 5 states "For when the fierce rage of beasts came upon these, they were destroyed with the bitings of crooked serpents", which could be applicable, although taken slightly out of context – the scribe would have conveniently ignored the politically-charged verse 4: "For it was requisite that inevitable destruction should come upon them that exercised tyranny"!. However, the reference may perhaps be to Psalms 26, verse 5 "I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked." Some psalms and proverbs were popularly attributed to Solomon.

"commonalty"
In this context (compare with the use of the term in the late 13th century) the term communarii is being used to refer to the lower classes of Londoners, perhaps even to the lower (common) council supposed to represent the interests of the lower classes. Those classes – the mass of the enfranchised populace – had won a formal place within the constitution in the early 14th century, and such is the sense of "commonalty", as opposed to "commoners".

"recorder"
The chief legal expert retained by the city, whose social status was at least equal to that of the aldermen.

"common narrator"
This officer is elsewhere identified as the common sergeant-at-law, or common countor (a name given to a type of barrister), one of the officers elected by and answerable to the Common Council. In this context his role was to act as go-between for the commonalty.

"charged and admitted"
I.e. took their oaths to the king's representatives and were approved by the same in the mayoralty. This whole paragraph seems rather to lack coherence. The original scribe, or the later transcriber, does not complete a train of thought begun in the first sentence, while the last few sentences about the mayoral expenses also seem disorganized; these I have tried to work around in my translation by surmising what points the scribe was trying to make (that the mayoralty incurred few expenses, and those were household expenses, rather than expenditures related to city costs).

"chirographed charter"
The explanation of rising costs ascribed to the royal charter of 1319 is hardly sufficient. This charter was part of a lengthy struggle for power between various political factions representing the interests of patricians, professional administrators, or the populace, which has been eloquently described – in far more detail than can be presented here – by Gwyn Williams [Medieval London: From Commune to Capital (London, 1963), chapters 10-11]; Professor Williams characterized the charter as "the highest peak of achievement that a popular movement ever attained in medieval London" [p.282]. Obligatory annual re-election was a feature of reforms earlier in the decade, and the 1319 charter was preceded by a 3-year term of office of professional administrator John de Wengrave, re-elected by the aldermen each year without any involvement of, and in the face of hostility from, the commonalty. This was the immediate impetus for restricting the mayoral term of office.

"Hamo de Chikewelle"
Hamo de Chigwell led the resistance to Wengrave's party and the efforts to obtain the June 1319 charter, under which Chigwell captured the mayoralty in October of that year. He was succeeded the following year by Nicholas Farndon, whose government was however disrupted, and he deposed, by the royal eyre of 1321.

"book with kalendar"
Riley suggested this was a martyrology. One might expect the oath to be taken on some kind of holy book, and it is likely enough the book was indeed of some religious content and kept exclusively for oath-taking. However the term "kalendar" was applied more generally to registers of important documents, and it is not inconceivable this book may have been one of the city volumes recording constitutional customs and ordinances.

"A sword"
Probably not just any sword, but a particular ceremonial sword dedicated to being borne before the mayor, as a symbol of authority.

"went up"
The Exchequer was divided into two areas, upper and lower, probably reflecting a physical separation in the building in which housed. The upper Exchequer acted as a court, used to manage affairs related to revenues due the king; hence the reference to the "bar". Note that although the Exchequer was by this time normally fixed in Westminster, in special circumstances it might accompany the king on his travels.

"lords"
The barons of the Exchequer were originally made up of the king's tenants-in-chief, but in the 13th century were reduced to a handful of specialised officers, still technically representing the aristocracy.

"escheator"
A royal officer whose duty was to uphold the king's ultimate title in lands over which lordship otherwise became vacant, through the failure of heirs or the loss of rights of the tenant due to conviction (or outlawry) for a crime; the duty involved the collection of revenues.

"someone of the Exchequer"
That is, an attorney who was officially recognized by the Exchequer; larger towns came, in the late 14th and 15th centuries, to retain their own special attornies to act for them at Westminster. A city as wealthy as London could afford separate attornies for each of the courts.

"Common Bench" "King's Bench"
The two Benches were the principal courts of the realm, two arms of a court over which the king himself had once presided. The Court of Common Pleas originally had a wide jurisdiction, although in the late 13th century this became limited to civil actions. The King's Bench dealt with criminal actions, notably infringements of the king's peace or other matters in which the king's interests were directly involved.

"sufficient space"
I.e. so that he could be clearly seen by onlookers, he was not hemmed in by his entourage.

"important franchises"
The charter of William I, granted soon after he captured the throne and intended to help him quell any opposition from the Londoners, was addressed to the bishop, to the portreeve (like the bishop, apparently a Norman), and to all the burgesses, is very brief; it essentially confirms to Londoners their legal customs held before the Conquest, acknowledges that sons will be allowed to inherit from their fathers, and implies that the king will do justice to the Londoners should anyone cause them harm.

"first day"
This sentence is based on Genesis, chapter 1, verse 5.

"solemn music"
Notated music.

"John Wodecok"
Alderman of Cripplegate ward from 1402 up to his death (1409), having previously held the Coleman Street aldermanry 1397-1402, and earlier having been a common councillor for Cripplegate (1388/89). He served as sheriff in 1397/98 and mayor 1405/06. He came from Doncaster (where he continued to hold some property) and had set up in London as a mercer by 1382; he serving as warden of the Mercers' Company 1390/91, 1397/98, and 1407/08. By 1391 he had married Felicity Austyn, the daughter of a wealthy mercer, which brought him property interests in London and Middlesex. He became one of the wealthiest Londoners of his time, his clients including John of Gaunt and his son Henry Bolingbroke, and the household of Richard II (despite Woodcock having, in 1398, to obtain a pardon for supporting the Appellants); upon Henry IV's accession, Woodcock had to petition for repayment of a debt of £1,250 still owed him by the king's wardrobe, and his petition was successful. Henry's favour also translated into a life annuity of £26.13s.4d, granted Woodcock in 1401, and he continued to be a major supplier of the wardrobe, as well as a source of loans to the king. He had already held the post of collector of wool customs at London (1397-1400), and in 1402 obtained that post at Ipswich, where he was authorized to keep all proceeds to repay debts owed him by the king – he remained in that post until 1405, in which year he was also permitted to export wool free of customs, again as repayment of a large royal debt. His clientele included other members of the nobility and gentry. He invested much of his money in estates in several home counties, as well as the city. Strong religious beliefs are suggested not only by his institution of the ceremony of a mass before mayoral elections, but also by a vigorous campaign as mayor against immoral conduct by priests. At his death he left two underage sons (the eldest reached his majority in 1413) and two underage daughters, while his widow remarried a Durham knight the following year. His monetary bequests totalled close to £3500, while he also left a large collection of gold and silver plate, and a complete set of jousting armour.

"Prior of the Holy Trinity"
He was ex officio the alderman of Portsoken Ward.

"John Hadlee"
Alderman of Tower ward at this time, he being first found in that post in 1375 and then sporadically up to 1381. From 1384 until 1392 he was alderman of Lime Street ward; he returned to Tower ward in 1394 and remained there until his death in 1410. He was sheriff 1375/76, mayor 1379/80 and 1393/94, and represented the city in 11 parliaments between 1369 and 1402. Hadley's family was from a Suffolk village of that name, but his father had the same surname and was evidently an emigrée; John Hadley appears in London by 1366 and two years later was trading as a grocer; he was a company warden in 1383/84. Despite a setback in 1370 when ships of a London consortium of which he was a part were plundered off the Calais coast, his business gradually prospered and on several occasions he contributed to loans to the king; he also loaned money to others, perhaps on a usurious basis. In 1371 he was one of a dozen citizens imprisoned by the king for a few months, because of violent disputes occurring in the city, in which Northampton and his followers were involved, although Hadley does not seem to have been associated with that faction; at the outbreak of political conflict in the early '80s, he at first tried to reconcile the factions, but Northampton's extremism alienated him and he thereafter supported the attempts to bring down Northampton and later execute him. If Hadley's early imprisonment hurt his reputation, it was not for long; in 1374 he was acting as an auditor of city accounts and supervisor of expenditures. At the end of 1390 he was made mayor of the staple of Westminster; and, in June 1392, mayor of the staple of Calais. The latter appointment came immediately after Richard II, furious with the Londoners for having refused him a loan, suspended city government; it may have been a form of punishment, since it entailed the loss of his post with the Westminster staple, while at the same time he and his fellow aldermen lost those positions. A few weeks later he was replaced as collector of wool customs at London, a post he had been in for just over half a year. Loss of favour with the king did not prevent him being elected to a second term as mayor in the year following Richard's issue of a pardon to the citizens (in which Hadley was among those named). In March 1404 he was one of four men selected by parliament to act as "war treasurers" in controlling the funds from a subsidy, but was replaced later in the year when men more favourable to the king were put in the positions. Although he remained in his aldermanry, he ceased to be active in the Grocers' Company after 1408. As was common with wealthy merchants, he had invested heavily in real estate both inside and outside the city. At his death he left two daughters, by his first wife Margaret, to whom he was married by 1368; after her death he remarried (by 1400) Thomasina Goodlake, grandaughter of a wealthy vintner and former mayor, and this marriage brought him additional properties in the city. His daughters had been married to gentry and inherited most of his property outside London, while his widow was left with the city property.

"William Staundone"
Alderman of Cheap ward since 1393 (until his death), he had previously held aldermannic office in Aldgate (1383-90) and Dowgate (1392-93). He was sheriff in 1386/87, and mayor 1392/93 and 1407/08; he represented the city in parliament on five occasions between 1391 and 1406, and Cambridgeshire in 1404. His roots, however, lay in Hertfordshire, he bequeathing money for a family chantry at Standon there, and he held land at nearby Sawbridgeworth. If an immigrant, he had come to London by 1374, when he purchased membership in the Grocers' Company; he was active in the company until 1408, although he never served as one of the wardens. From 1378 he acted, sporadically over the next eighteen years, as a purveyor of victuals for Richard II's household, for which he was granted a life annuity of £6.13s.4d in 1385, which Henry IV continued to respect. He was also involved in the wool trade – not unusual for wealthy grocers – and was for a year (1406/07) collector of the wool customs in London; towards the end of his life he was active in the cloth trade. In business ventures he was often associated with John Shadworth, later one of his executors along with Thomas Knolles. He invested heavily in real estate not only in the city but further afield, at first in Kent but later sold his manor in order to buy another at Wimpole, Cambridgeshire, and he subsequently built up an estate around that; the income from this sufficed to qualify him for election to parliament as a knight for the shire. His third marriage (by 1403) to Agnes, coheiress of Sir Adam Francis and widow of a Kentish gentleman, brought him more property in Cambridgeshire and London as well as the dower property in Kent, but not the large inheritance from Sir Adam, who outlived Staundone. His association with the faction opposing John Northampton in the 1380s left him vulnerable after Brembre's fall from power, and to protect himself he purchased a royal pardon in 1388 for any felonious or treasonable acts he might have committed since 1382. Not being in office when Richard II and the London authorities fell out in 1392, he avoided royal disfavour and was a natural choice for mayor once Richard had restored city government. He died in 1410, and was buried in Wimpole next to his first wife; he left an underage daughter (by Agnes), who became the ward of the widow's new husband, but did not live long into adulthood.

"Richard Whytyngtone"
A detailed biography of Whittington is given under the account of his charitable foundation.

"Drew Barentyn"
Alderman of Aldersgate at this time. He served in that ward 1392-93, was sheriff the following year, became alderman of Farringdon Within 1394, then transferred back to Aldersgate in 1397, and finally to Bishopsgate for his final year as alderman in 1414-15. He died in December 1415. His family seems to have been based in Oxfordshire, but he was apprenticed to a London goldsmith in 1363; he graduated in 1370, when he took up the franchise. He first known role in city government was as a common councillor, in 1381/82, representing the goldsmiths' craft. He was warden of the craft in 1380 and 1385. His business flourished – like many entrepreneurial businessmen of the time, he did not restrict himself exclusively to the trade in which he was trained, but also engaged in import/export ventures – and he became one of the wealthiest members of his craft, almost at a par with Whittington. His clientele included Henry IV, and the favour he won for services to the king (particularly loans of cash) brought him grants to his financial benefit. His first mayoralty came in 1398/99, and a second in 1408/09. He did not marry until the early 1390s, when the widow of goldsmith and former mayor Sir Nicholas Twyford (of whom Barentyn was an executor) became available. This was at least partly a strategic alliance, and the marriage allowed him to build up existing Twyford estates in East Anglia and the home counties. After Margery died, he remarried shortly before his own death. He left no children and his heir was a nephew. His will included bequests to Twyford's poor relatives and two chantries to celebrate for Twyford's soul, as well as his own and that of Margery.

"Thomas Knolles"
Alderman of Dowgate ward from 1393 until 1397, when he transferred to Cordwainer ward, remaining its alderman until his death in 1435. Sheriff 1394/95, mayor 1399/1400 and 1410/11; his second mayoralty saw the initiation of the rebuilding of the Guildhall. A grocer, he served as the company warden in 1387 and 1431. On several occasions he supported Henry IV with loans, and was one of five "war treasurers" appointed by the king in 1404. For his services, he was knighted. By 1428 he had acquired a manor in Hertfordshire. His epitaph in the church of St. Anthony's stated that he had 19 children by his wife Joan, buried beside him, to whom he was married for some 60 years; he was survived by two sons – one a London grocer (who had ten children), the other a Bristol grocer – and three daughters. He bequeathed his Watling Street residence to the Grocers' Company, to be used for relief of the poor, and provided for a water-supply for the prisoners of Ludgate and Newgate.

"John Shadworth"
Alderman of Bassishaw ward from 1386 to ca.1415, having previously held the aldermanries of Tower (1383-84) and Coleman Street (1385-86), and in the interim (1384/85) having been common councillor for Cheap ward. He was sheriff 1391/92, mayor 1401/02. He was apprenticed as a mercer, and served as a warden of the Mercers' Company in 1396/97, 1403/04, and 1409/10; he was on good terms in particular with Woodcock and Whittington, his wealth and influence being comparable with theirs. His earliest appearance in the records was, however, in 1371 in the role of executor. In 1378 he and John More, one of the principal adherents of John Northampton, purchased from the Exchequer the farm of collecting the subsidy on poundage between Dover and Gravesend; despite a continued close association with More and possible initial sympathy with Northampton's efforts to weaken the victualling gilds, Shadworth supported the Brembre faction against Northampton, probably alienated by the latter's extremism. Like not a few mercers, Shadworth's actual business was diversified; he was particularly involved in the wool trade, but is also found importing iron in 1390. In 1399 he was given a life grant of tronage in London, the administration of which was based at his own warehouse, the "wool wharf", on the Thames in Tower ward; however, he later turned over this post to someone else. His clients, either for merchandize or for loans, included the earl of Oxford and the king's wardrobe; in the later part of his life he claimed that the government owed him £1,515 – a figure perhaps equivalent to about £3,600,000 in today's currency. Being one of the sheriffs at the time that Richard II fell out with the Londoners, he was on 25 June 1392 along with his fellow sheriff and the mayor removed from office (as well as his aldermanry), on the pretext of maladministration, and thrown into prison. Four weeks later they all submitted to the king and agreed to pay a joint fine of –2,000, and Shadworth was restored to his aldermanry. They received a royal pardon two months after, and Shadworth was one of 15 city rulers who each contributed £11 towards a gift to thank the king. He again fell foul of Richard II during the latter's despotic period: in 1398 he was one of 28 persons, including several Londoners, forced to seal a blank charter guaranteeing he would supply the king with money whenever needed; an extension of this practice to the ruling group in London (as well as in other towns) helped lose Richard the city's support during Bolingbroke's rebellion. Shadworth certainly appears to have been Lancastrian in his sympathy, for he was one of three Londoners appointed to the king's council in 1399, although the appointment lasted only a few months. In May 1401, he obtained an exemption from holding any royal office, although we should not read too much into this. He continued active in city administration, and it was not until 1415 that he seems to have retired from public life. Despite which, he lived on until 1430. Two years before his death a Lollard priest was accused of being active in Shadworth's home and of communicating with Shadworth's own chaplain, who was subsequently imprisoned when he confessed to being a Lollard. If Shadworth was a Lollard sympathiser, however, no sign of it can be seen in his will, which is entirely conventional. Most of his estate was assigned to pious and charitable works, for he left no heirs and is not known to have been married.

"William Askham"
Alderman of Dowgate ward at this time, he having begun in the aldermanry of Castle Baynard (ca.1395-ca.1399), then moving in that or the following year to Dowgate; later in 1406 or perhaps in 1407 he transferred to Bridge ward, remaining alderman there until his death. He served as sheriff 1397/98 and as mayor 1403/04 (the sole fishmonger to attain that office between 1388 and 1411, and despite the unpopularity of the fishmonger's gild in that period). Son of a Londoner of the same name, he became an apprentice fishmonger under the William Walworth, at some point between the latter's two mayoralties and before the decisive action against Wat Tyler that won him renown and a knighthood. The relationship with Walworth was evidently a good one, as he bequeathed Askham £40 and entrusted him with the disposal of part of his real estate; Walworth's widow showed the same trust, appointing him her executor. Upon her death in 1399, Askham purchased a sizable Thameside tenement with a quay, which Walworth had acquired from his master's widow; the property sold after Askham's death for £533.6s.8d and the site would later be used for the new fishmongers' hall. A neighbouring property was used as residence and place of business by William Bramptone, who was both his business partner and friend. Askham built up extensive property in several other parishes, although relatively little outside the city, and his marriage likely helped in this. The first to the widow of fishmonger William Wyght, who had the reversion (and therefore the revenues) from a number of properties, as well as the guardianship of Wyght's children and their cash inheritance; Margaret bore him a son, who seems to have predeceased him, and a daughter. She died in 1393, and by 1398 he had remarried; a third marriage was necessary less than a decade later. Although a fishmonger, like most men involved in mercantile activities, he engaged in whatever seemed likely to produce a profit at any given time. Thus he is found importing wine, cloth and woad (1390-91), and exporting large shipments of wool in the late '90s and first decade of the next century. For a few months in 1401 he was engaged as a buyer of victuals for the royal household. He was mayor of the staple of Westminster from 1402 to 1405, and mayor of the staple of Calais from 1403 to 1406, useful posts for someone engaging in commerce. Death came in 1414 or early 1415; no children are mentioned in his will and much of his wealth was spent on pious and charitable uses.

"Willam Bramptone"
Alderman of Bridge ward since 1390, holding the post until his death. He had been common councillor representing the Fishmongers' Mystery, in 1381/82, and was sheriff of London (and Middlesex) in 1394/95, as well as representing the city at five parliaments between 1390 and 1404. His bequest to the parish church of Brampton, Huntingdonshire, is suggestive of his origins. He appears in London by 1364, when involved with a fellow fishmonger in moneylending. That he acquired considerable wealth is indicated by the large number and amounts of debts for which he sued. In addition to the fishmonger's trade, Bramptone was also involved in exporting wool. He was closely associated with William Askham (see above). His term as governor of the staple of Middelburg, 1384-89, helped him build the right connections for the wool trade – in the early 1400s he was on several occasions an official agent involved in negotiations with merchants and authorities of the Hanseatic league. From 1397 to 1402 he was mayor of the staple of Westminster, and it was in that period that he was exporting large quantities of wool. He also dealt a little in cloth and wine. He also had, from an earlier period, connections in the Low Countries, and was consequently also engaged in other official activities in those parts. He acquired property not only in London, but also in Southwark (a landing point for much of the fish brought to the city), and in the last decade of his life his landed interests extended into Kent. He had been bailiff of Southwark from an unknown date but in 1382 was removed from office for having tried to monopolize the market in fish there – although this charge came in the context of Northampton's general assault on the fishmongers. Conversely, Carole Rawcliffe [History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1386-1421, II, 333] has suggested it may be significant his appointment as governor of the Middelburg staple came during Brembre's mayoralty, and that the patronage of Brembre could explain why Bramptone was ordered arrested in February 1388, two days after the Merciless Parliament condemned Brembre to death. Brampton evidently cleared himself of any suspicion, and in September was part of an embassy to treat with the count of Holland. As alderman he was among the city rulers to incur Richard II's displeasure in 1392, and among the contributors to a cash gift, after Richard restored city government and pardoned a £2,000 fine. He was one of three Londoners appointed, for a few months, to Henry IV's council in 1399. He died in 1406, leaving a widow Alice and a son by a previous marriage.

"John Warner"
Alderman 1397-1412. Sheriff 1398/99. Ironmonger. Died 1413, leaving a widow, several sons and a daughter, and an estate in Buckinghamshire.

"William Walderne"
Alderman of Bread Street ward ca. 1399 to 1415, when he transferred to Bassishaw, remaining in that aldermanry until his death. He was sheriff 1399/1400, mayor 1412/13 and 1422/23. He was the son of Geoffrey Waldern of Waldron, Sussex; it is not known if that was the same Geoffrey who was a supporter of the Northampton faction. His first appearance is in 1388, during his apprenticeship to mercer John Frosh. He completed his apprenticeship in 1395, became a full member of the Mercers' Company in 1398, and served as a company warden 1398/99, 1404/05, 1410/11, and 1418/19. Loans he made to Henry IV, along with often large debts due him from other clients or businessmen, are indicative of his substantial wealth. In 1416 he, William Crowmere and Richard Whittington were associates in receiving from nine foreign merchants recognizances of a debt of £2,666.13s.4d; the following year that trio and three other of the wealthiest alderman were acting as go-betweens in the financing of the king's French expedition. He was part of a consortium of English merchants trying to break into the Mediterranean trade, but encountered opposition from the Genoese. Walderne counterbalanced that risky venture by exporting through the established channel, the Calais staple, and bringing back cloth through London. He was chosen as mayor of the Calais staple in April 1423, just one month after being made mayor of the Westminster staple; both posts were held until his death, but that was not far off. During his first marriage he did not accumulate much property, but his second marriage (by 1413) to the daughter of chandler John Clerk brought with it her inheritance of eleven shops and a number of other buildings and lands in the city, and during the years that followed he purchased more properties, both in London and in Essex and Hertfordshire. He died in 1424, survived by his widow Margaret, who survived him only by two years, and five underage children.

"William Venour"
Alderman from 1397. Sheriff 1401/02. He had entered the Grocers' Company by 1383. His father, a grocer of the same name, had been an alderman, sheriff 1387/88, mayor 1389/90, and died in 1395, William junior being an executor. In 1392/93, father and son had been prominent among the group of twenty citizens (also including William Brampton, see above) who owed John of Gaunt money, perhaps for his intercession with Richard II to obtain a pardon for the city after the falling out of 1392; the pair owed Gaunt £1,000. Such financial pressures on the city leaders made it difficult to find men willing to take on the job at this period; during the 1380s the grocers had seven or eight of their number among the aldermen, but in the 1390s only half that number – and this included older men of Brembre's generation (Hadley and Staundone, see above). William Venour senior had represented the grocers in the aldermannic body since 1363, but upon his death no other grocer was willing to take on the office, until William junior was persuaded in 1397. William's uncle, vintner Henry Vanner (himself the son of a prominent vintner), had also been an alderman for much of the 1380s and '90s (until is death in 1395), and was a brother-in-law, business partner and political adherent of Nicholas Brembre, aiding in the arrest of John Northampton. With a depression in the wool and cloth trades around the turn of the century, many grocers struggled to diversify. Venour is found in 1407 earning money as an intermediary in a sale of tin to a Florentine mercantile company, and this appears to have been the last year he served as an alderman. In 1414 three prominent mercers complained to parliament that he owed them £411.10s.10d., but that he had evaded repayment by fraudulently turning over his property to feoffees, yet still enjoying their proceeds over the last five years while living abroad. William's son, of the same name, entered the Grocer's Company in the 1430s at a reduced fee (perhaps in acknowledgement of his father's role therein); at that time he was serving as warden of Fleet prison. But he preferred to call himself a gentleman rather than a grocer, living off the revenues from the property he had inherited; in a tax assessed on real estate in 1436, he had the highest assessment of any Londoner.

"Robert Chychely"
Alderman of Aldgate ward from 1402, switching to Vintry ward in 1407. Sheriff 1402/03 and mayor 1411/12. Grocer. His nephew married the daughter of Thomas Knolles, Robert's sometime business partner. Died 1439. A more detailed biography will be provided elsewhere.

"Thomas Fauconer"
Alderman of Coleman Street ward 1402-14, and subsequently of Cheap ward 1415-34. He was sheriff 1403/04, mayor 1414/15, and represented the city at six parliaments between 1411 and 1423. His family roots lay one generation back in Norfolk. He entered the Mercer's Company in 1391, acting as a company warden 1398/99, 1405/06, 1411/12, 1417/18, and 1423/24. His focus was on the wool and cloth trades, and he had close business ties with merchants of Florence, from whom he could have obtained high quality cloth and other luxury goods, as well as connections in various English ports. Posts in the customs collection service – at Southampton (1405-07), Boston (1407-09), and London (1412-16) would likely have helped his business. He owned more than one ship. His clientele in the 1390s appears to have included an earl of Gloucester, while in the early fifteenth century he loaned money to Henry IV and Henry V on various occasions. He invested part of his fortune in real estate, including at Coventry (perhaps a reflection of his involvement in the Warwickshire wool trade) and in Kent, near Maidstone and Faversham (where he kept a large flock of sheep), while his widow is later found in possession of lands in Berkshire. His role in London administration was not free of scandal. Shortly after the end of his term as sheriff, he and colleague Thomas Polle were accused of false arrest of a weaver (see below). In 1413 and 1416 Londoners were accused of slandering him, in the latter case it was claimed Fauconer had been imprisoned in the Tower for prosecuting a Lollard despite the latter having the king's pardon; although the slanderer renounced the claim publicly, the Lollard in question had been burnt during Fauconer's mayoralty, while a second was also burnt after Fauconer's apprentice alerted the authorities to him and Fauconer himself worked hard for his condemnation. Again, in 1417, a draper was fined £40 for spreading the slander that Fauconer had falsified legal records; perhaps this too was associated with his campaign against the Lollards. He died in 1434, survived by a widow and daughter (a second, married daughter having predeceased him).

"Thomas Polle"
Alderman of Farringdon Within, a post held from 1397 to his death in 1413. He served as sheriff in 1403/04, but was never mayor. A goldsmith, he entered his apprenticeship in 1359 and had graduated before 1370, when he took his own first apprentice; he was warden of the craft in 1378, 1388, and 1395. He was one of the goldsmith representatives on the common council in 1381/82, and represented Farringdon ward there in 1384, 1386, and 1388. Along with Thomas Fauconer he was accused of having, when sheriff, wrongfully arrested a weaver, confiscated his possessions, and illegally demanded sureties; the case went to arbitration in 1406. Twice married, he was predeceased by both wives, and left no children.

"William Louthe"
Alderman of Castle Baynard ward; he was a newcomer to the aldermannic group, having joined them earlier in 1406. In 1413 he transferred to Farringdon Within ward (for which he had earlier served as common councillor, 1385/86), replacing Thomas Polle, and remained there until his death ca.1419. He had been sheriff in 1404/05, but was never mayor. A goldsmith, he was active in that craft by 1372, when he went to Winchester fair, and the following year took on the first known of a series of apprentices. He was warden of the craft in 1397 and 1402. He occasionally provided service to Henry IV and his successor as tax collector and source of loans to support military expeditions in France.

"William Crowmere"
Alderman of Billingsgate ward 1403-1420, then of Candlewick ward from 1420 until his death. He was sheriff 1405/06, mayor 1413/14 and 1423/24. He was said to be popular because a fair-minded man who could not be bribed – at least the brewers found him so, although the Lollards may have had different ideas, for he was active in putting down Oldcastle's rebellion and in implementing measures leading to the arrest of several Lollards. Crowmer's bequests to Cromer's parish church and his poor relations there, as well as his Norfolk estate, indicate that his surname points to his place of family origin. He first appears in London in 1390, when importing wine there, and later in the year importing drapery. His official trade was as a draper, and he was warden of the Drapers' Company in 1394 and in 1428/29. Henry Bolingbroke was one of his early clients, and put more substantial business Crowmer's way after becoming king. By the time of his successor's reign Crowmer had become very wealthy (of which the two terms as mayor is a reflection) and was one of the foremost aldermen in helping finance Henry V's French expeditions, while in the next reign he appears to have been making money from victualling the army; he likewise contributed in 1419 an unusually high sum towards the building of a new hall for the drapers. During the reign of Henry VI his clients included the duke of Gloucester and countess of Stafford. He was, at least in one venture, a business associate of William Walderne (see above) and Richard Whittington. By the time of his death, he held property in at least five London parishes and had over the course of many years built up an estate in Kent, part of it possibly through his second marriage (by 1428) to Margaret the coheiress of Sir Thomas Squiry of that county. His administrative and commercial abilities led to him being chosen as an arbitrator in various disputes brought before the mayor's court, and in 1425 the Hanse merchants chose him as one of three aldermen to judge law merchant cases involving their members. From about 1428 we see him moving towards retirement. He died in January 1434, leaving an underage son in the care of his executor Henry Barton; the son became a member of the Kent gentry and incurred sufficient unpopularity to be murdered during Cade's rebellion. Crowmer bequeathed almost £500 for charitable and pious works, and other monetary sums to friends and family totalling about £1,250; today those amounts would be the equivalent of over £4 million. Later that year his widow married Lord Poynings.

"Henry Bartone"
A recent addition to the aldermannic group, he took the post for Farringdon Without ward, in early 1406; in 1412 he moved into the Cornhill aldermanry where he remained to his death. He was sheriff 1405/06, Mayor 1416/17 and 1428/29. He appears to have been a member of a family with long-standing landed interests in the Buckinghamshire manor from which he took his surname. A branch of the family may already have been established in the city, a stimulus for Henry and his brother Ralph to pursue their careers there, Henry as a skinner (a mercantile rather than craft occupation); Ralph was also an alderman from 1416. Although Henry is first heard of in 1391, when he stood surety in Chancery for a Londoner, part of his early career was as an official in the household of Richard II's first queen; after her death (1394) Richard II confirmed a £5 annuity to Barton, as did Henry VI later. He had also been employed by John of Gaunt as a skinner, and Henry IV continued to make use of him, as a yeoman of the king's chamber from 1400, and from 1405 as the first skinner officially retained by the king's wardrobe (which brought the wage of 1s. a day for almost the rest of his life), overseeing the preparation, storage and transport of furred clothing worn by members of the royal household, which enabled him to put business for furs in his own direction. Payment was, typically, less easy to obtain, and by 1423 the crown owed him £2,100. His roles in the customs service at London, as collector of tunnage and poundage (1408-10) and collector of wool customs (1410-16) were in part to provide him with opportunities to recoup some of the royal debt. With his profits he built up extensive property in several city parishes, including a purchase in 1419 of the late Drew Barentyn's house in St. John Zachary parish. He had estates in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and apparently East Anglia, as well as joint interest in lands in Middlesex, Norfolk, and Berkshire (the last with his brother). He died in 1435, leaving no children although married twice. Much of his wealth went towards pious or charitable uses, although his widow Joan was left very well off. In 1425 he had assisted John Carpenter in the foundation of Whittington's college and almshouse; in his own will, Barton bequeathed a generous number of city properties to the Skinners' Company to be turned into homes for citizens who had fallen into poverty.

"Henry Pountfreyt"
Sheriff 1407/08. Collector of tunnage and poundage at London in 1398. The surname was common in London, so it is not clear if he was the saddler of that name. Several men of that surname were involved in the leather trades. ?A William de Pountfret skinner was an alderman during the 1340s, but left only a nephew John as his heir.

"by Divine inspiration"
Riley suggests this is an allusion to Acts 1, 24-26, in which the selection of a disciple to replace Judas is made from two candidates: "And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles."