Counterparts of printed indentures issued by Sir Walter Raleigh for the sale of wine, under a monopoly granted by letters patent in 1583 and renewed in 1588.
The licence allowed its holder to buy and sell wine without restriction of quantity or quality, but with price restriction on wines from the Bordeaux region, sack and malmsey.
No fee was mentioned in the earlier licences; instead it was set out in a separate bond. However, within two years the terms of the bond were recited in the licence itself, securing an annual payment to Richard Brown, Raleigh's lessee.
After the renewal of the patent in 1588, the payments were increased and secured to Raleigh himself. The licences were granted to one or more persons in survivorship, normally to trade within their town of residence. Most early licence holders were vintners, but in later years, yeomen, gentlemen, merchants and various tradesmen occur.
The series is incomplete, the few documents which survive from the later years being particularly fragmentary.