single mb (30 September)
...Nouerit
Vniuersitas vestra nos
prefatos Burgenses &
communitatem in Gildhalla
nostra commmuni congregatos ex
nostra communi assensu dedisse
concessisse & hoc presenti scripto
nostro confirmasse Simoni Porter
maiori ville predicte
& successoribus suis ville
eiusdem in
sustentacionem status maioratus
sui quendam annualem redditum
quinque marcarum
percipiendum ‸⸢annuatim de communi cista
Gildhalle nostre
predicte per
manus Cistariorum
dicte ville qui nunc
sunt vel qui pro
tempore erunt
soluendum⸣ ad festa
sancti michaelis
Archangeli & Annunciacionem Beate marie
virginis equis
porcionibus vel infra quindenam
dicta festa inmediate
sequencia habendum
eidem Simoni & successoribus
suis maioribus ville
predicte
dummodo in eodem
officio
predicto sic
steterint imperpetuum
... Et insuper
dictus Simon maior
predictus vult &
concedit quod ipse
subportabit & omnes
successores sui maiores ville
predicte subportabunt
omnes minutas expensas
&‸⸢in poculentis
& esculsntis & minuta⸣
exennia
senescallis domini
Abbatis Redyng
Iusticiarijs domini
Regis seu alijs generosis lusoribus
seu luctoribus danda
seu inposterum
ministranda causa officij
Maiorati dicte ville seu honoris
dicte gilde & ville dum
ipse Simon steterit seu successores sui
steterint in officio dicti
maioratus sumptibus eorum
proprijs &
expensis....
single mb (30 September)
...Know all of you that we the aforesaid burgesses and commonalty gathered together in our common guildhall, by our common assent, have given and granted and, with this our present writing, have confirmed to Simon Porter, mayor of the aforesaid town, and his successors of the same town, in the maintenance of his mayoral standing an annual payment of five marks to be taken annually from the common chest of our aforesaid guildhall by the hands of the treasurers of the said town who now are or who will be at the time, to be paid in equal portions on the feasts of St Michael the archangel and the annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary or within a fortnight immediately following the said feasts, to be had by the same Simon and his successors, mayors of the aforesaid town as long as they so remain in the same office aforesaid, in perpetuity.... And in addition, the said Simon, mayor aforesaid, wishes and grants that he will bear and all his successors, mayors of the town, will bear all the small expenses for drink and food and small hospitality to stewards of the lord abbot of Reading, justiciars of the lord king, or other gentle players or wrestlers, to be given or hereafter administered for the sake of the office of the mayoralty of the said town or of the honour of the said guild and town while he, Simon, remains or his successors remain in the office of the said mayoralty at their own cost and expense....
Simon Porter was the mayor of the Gild Merchant in 1429 (Slade, Reading Gild Accounts, pt 1, p 95). This agreement to establish a separate 'fund' for the payment of entertainers and expenses incurred in entertaining the officials of the abbey and the justices of the assize effectively robs us of any information about local or visiting entertainment paid for by the Gild Merchant and then the incorporated borough for over 150 years. There are fifty-five rolls surviving between 1429 and 1516 but after this agreement was reached only three payments are recorded, in 1430–1, 1433–4, and 1456–7. There is a gap in Reading's financial records from 1515–16 to 1587–8.
Record title: Agreement Between the Mayor of the Gild Merchant and the
Burgesses about Expenses
Repository:
BRO
Shelfmark: R/AT1/113
Repository location: Reading
Early evidence indicates that Reading was a stopping place for all kinds of late medieval entertainers. This agreement made provision for the head of the Reading Gild Merchant (who was called 'mayor') to receive five marks annually from the gild to defray small payments such as the fees for performers and the cost of entertaining the abbot and the justices. The wording of the indenture uses terms that would suggest that the Gild Merchant was a city council making arrangements for the 'commonalty.' However, this was not the case until over one- hundred years later when the abbey was dissolved and the town was incorporated by Henry VIII in 1542. The so-called mayor was, in fact, 'Mayre of the Gilde Merchaunde of the burghe of Redyng' (see the Introduction).
5 October 1429; Latin; parchment; single membrane; 345mm x 275mm; bottom folded up 30mm; seals (unidentified) attached, indenture cuts 11mm.