Catalogue description FRANCE.

Ponthieu

Material relates to the period following 1279, when Edward I acquired the country in right of his wife Eleanor, who inherited it from her mother Jeanne de Dammartin, queen of Castile, the second wife of Ferdinand III of Castile but also daughter of Marie countess of Ponthieu. It begins with an account of messengers' expenses, in E 101/152/4. Homage for Ponthieu was owed to the king of France, who exercised a superior legal jurisdiction over it. The administration of the country was headed by a seneschal, with finances under a receiver, and the usual range of lesser officials, baillis for the main towns, vicomtes, foresters etc. After Eleanor's death in 1290, the country passed to her son Edward, the future Edward II, and was put under the charge of his uncle, the king's brother Edmund of Lancaster. It was confiscated by the king of France in 1294 when war broke out, but restored at the truce of 1299, when it was put in the hands of the king's Italian bankers, the Frescobaldi of Florence. In 1323 the country was confiscated by the king of France during the war of Saint-Sardos, but in 1325 it was given to Edward II's son and heir, the future Edward III.

The first account is E 101/156/1, and accounts then run until 1307 except for 1303-4. They run from bundles 156 to 161, and give considerable information about the administration of Ponthieu and its local officials, and about the activities of its head, the seneschal John of Bakewell (1299-1305), who was followed by Theobald de Pontremy (1305-6) and John de Clinton of Maxstode (1306-7). Included are account particulars of local officials, such as the bailiff of Crecy and the town of Rue, the collection of suppliers for the Scottish war, and on the management of sheep flocks. There are also details of journeys to England for the hearing of accounts and to Paris for diplomatic and legal reasons. There are files of accounts for the main towns, Abbeville, Arraines, Arguel, Crecy, Le Crotoy, Rue and Waben. After 1308 the material is far less plentiful, perhaps because after the Frescobaldi ceased to run the country the receivers did not account at the English Exchequer. There are only an account of expenses for a visit by Queen Isabella in 1313-14 (E 101/164/3) and a large account book of the receiver for 5 Edward III (E 101/166/2). There are no enrolled accounts for Ponthieu in the pipe rolls. The county was given to the English king as part of the terms of the treaty of Bretigny in 1360, and continued to be a part of the English claims in France throughout the Hundred Years War, but there are no more accounts specifically relating to it here. However, see also E 36/79 and E 315/437 and 438 (accounts for Ponthieu and Montreuil, 1362 to 1367).

Gascony and Aquitaine

The subseries contains a substantial amount of filed financial documentation relating to Aquitaine from the period during which Henry de Lacy, earl of Lincoln, was Edward' I's lieutenant there from 1296 to 1300 (E 101/152/8 - E 101/155/13). For the last year of Edward I and the reigns of Edward II and Edward III there are a variety of records relating especially to the customs at Bordeaux and to the expenditure of the successive constables and controllers there, with details of military expenditure during rebellion or war with the French. Also included are accounts of various local receivers or treasurer, of Saintonge, Angouleme, Bigorre, for example, of seneschals of Guyenne, and of treasurers of Aquitaine.

From 1338 to the end of the Hundred Years War in 1453, when the city of Bordeaux finally fell to the French, the constable of Bordeaux consistently accounted at the English Exchequer. Surviving particulars of account for that period, in both roll and file form, relate almost entirely to those accounts, although they do include documents produced by other officials, such as the controller of Bordeaux and the keeper of the seal at Bordeaux. They contain a great deal of information about the customs at Bordeaux. The last series of particulars of account relate to the account of Edward Hull, constable of Bordeaux (E 101/193/10-15), and end about 1456.

Calais

Calais fell to Edward III on 4 August 1347 and remained an English possession until January 1558. Documents here relate to the administration of the territory known as the Pale (from the end of the fifteenth century) and included Calais itself, the ancient lordship of Marke and Oye and part of the ancient county of Guisnes. The Pale stretched eighteen miles along the coast from Wissant in Picardy to Gravelines in Flanders and extended some eight to ten miles inland. The town of Calais was heavily fortified and the Pale was further defended by a ring of castles at Guisnes, Hammes, Sandgate and Marke. A military outpost, from 1363 the Pale was also a Staple port for the English wool export trade. English administration in the Pale was headed by the captain of Calais, usually a soldier and diplomat, often a peer or member of the royal family. From 1471 this office was left vacant and the territory was commanded by the king's lieutenant. From 1508 the presige of the office was further reduced, the commander being styled king's deputy. Each of the castles had a separate captain or lieutenant. Many indentures for these offices during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries can be found in this series (E 101/68-71). Pale finances were administered by a treasurer and comptroller. A separate exchequer in Calais oversaw a system of minor financial officials - customers, rent collectors, bailiffs and receivers - and had a degree of financial autonomy from Westminster during the period. Documents mainly concern accounts rendered by the treasurer of Calais at the English Exchequer. Most of the local records of administration of the Pale appear to have remained at the Calais exchequer and were lost when the town fell in 1558.

The earliest Calais material is the account of the treasurer of money received from the king's wardrobe for the wages of the garrison during the first 5 months of English occupation (E 101/167/8). Majority of material relating from Edward III’s reign concerns the victualling of Calais. However, of particular interest are the large paper accounts books of particulars submitted by the treasurer and the duplicate books compiled by the comptroller. These detail money received from Westminster from the local revenues of the Pale and include detailed rentals of the town, expenditure on wages and munitions and incidental information on the conduct of Pale. Files of receipts and warrants detail everyday administration of the Pale's finances. Also included is an assortment of miscellaneous local accounts and other documents in support of the treasurer's account, and separate accounts of the victualler and the clerk of the works. Some accounts of the Calais mint during the late fourteenth century are also present (E 101/176-177).

The 1466 Act of Retainer saw the finances of the Pale handed over to the merchants of the wool Staple. In return for paying the wages of the garrison and maintaining defences, merchants collected the entire custom and subsidy on wool, rendering account for both charges at the Exchequer. From 1466-1482 the mayor of the Staple was also treasurer, victualler and clerk of the works at Calais. Until the mid-1530s when the system was abolished, much of the material relates to the administration of the English wool trade. Importantly, it includes particulars of the account of the mayor of the Staple for wools customs. These often provide names of wool merchants and amounts shipped, so complement E 122 customs accounts. Enrolled accounts of the merchants of the Staple for the wool customs to 1521 are in E 364.