Thomas Kytson's 'Boke of Remembraunce' (1529-1540)

A wealthy merchant's memoranda of sales reveals a wealth of fascinating detail.

Over a period of eleven years from 1529 to his death, the wealthy London alderman, mercer and Merchant Adventurer Sir Thomas Kytson (1485-1540) recorded many of his commercial dealings in his 'Boke of Remembraunce'. This fascinating document, edited here for the first time, provides details not only of his purchases of cloth and the shipments of these to the annual marts held in the Low Countries, but also the sales of fabrics, spices, and other goods imported on the returning ships to Kytson's fellow merchants of London, members of the gentry, and others. Alongside these, there are memoranda of the delivery of materials to Kytson's wife and friends, and of some of his other personal concerns. The volume thus offers a colourful and detailed picture of the private and commercial life of a leading Londoner in the years around the English Reformation.
Kytson's own 'Boke' is here collated with a separate record of exports to the Flemish marts in Antwerp and Bergen-op-Zoom kept by the mercer's clerks, and supplemented by an account of transactions at the 'Synxten Mart' at Antwerp in 1536, written by Sir Thomas's nephew, Thomas Washington. The material is complemented with extensive annotation and a comprehensive glossary, an introduction and substantial indices. COLIN J. BRETT'S published writings include volumes for the Somerset Record Society and paperson regional historical topics.