The Chronicle
March 1354
2 March 1354
Two small debts were squared away on an overcast market day. The priest's household sold a peck or two of peas in town and paid Beatrice Shepherd back, and the Coopers sold some rye to settle what they owed Stephen Brewer.
3 March 1354
Stephen Brewer is back on his feet at the inn after a bad cough that kept him in bed through the last days of February. A gray, overcast start to March, with the spring sowing still going on in the open field.
4 March 1354
Joan of Stanton, a pilgrim walking barefoot to St Thomas to keep a vow she made on a sickbed, came in off the road on a gray Lenten day and slept by the Millers' hearth. And there's news for the forge: Adam Fisher and family, from Fairford, are coming to take it up.
6 March 1354
A cloudy 6 March, and the inn had two travelers for the night: Richard of Bradwell, a cooper on the road who mends tubs and buckets and sells new staves, and Amice of Norton with her pedlar's tray of combs, thread, spoons and cheap brooches. Sir John's brother Nicholas of Thornbury came over for the day and stayed the night at the priest's house. Thank-yous went round the village too: Elena Brewer took the Millers a peck of meal, Alice Warrener took the Shepherds another, and Edith atte Well brought the Fletchers a dozen eggs.
7 March 1354
The Fletchers have a man to hold the plough again. With no man in the house and no coin for a wage, they took on John Carter, 36, of Kingsley, who'll work their 15 acres for his keep and a share of the corn at Michaelmas, just in time for the spring sowing. Over at the inn it was a full house on a cloudy day: Walter of Oakham, Stephen Brewer's brother, came over and stayed the night by the Brewers' hearth, and Henry of Fairford, a chapman with cloth, girdles and purses, took a bed on his rounds.
9 March 1354
A cloudy 9 March, with Lent under way and the spring sowing still going on. Beatrice Shepherd lent the priest's household 2d, to be paid back on market day.
12 March 1354
Ambermead has a smith again. Adam Fisher came over from Fairford on 12 March with his wife Joan and their three children, Alan, Robert and John, and has taken up the empty forge. That makes five new faces on a clear day, and nine households in the village.
13 March 1354
Walter of Ashby, a pedlar with a pack of needles, pins, ribbons, laces and little knives, came in off the road on a clear day and stayed the night at the inn. John Carter made the Coopers a pair of hurdles, the woven fence panels used to pen sheep, in return for their kindness.
14 March 1354
A clear 14 March brought two travelers. Stephen of Ashby, a pilgrim walking barefoot to St Thomas at Canterbury to keep a vow he made on a sickbed, slept by the Warreners' hearth. And Henry of Kingsley, John Carter's father, came over for the day and stayed the night by the Fletchers' fire.
16 March 1354
The priest's household paid back what they owed Beatrice Shepherd, so the small loans she'd been making them till market day are squared. A cloudy, quiet 16 March otherwise.
18 March 1354
A pilgrim named John of Westcott walked in off the road on 18 March, staff in hand and scrip on his shoulder, headed for Our Lady's shrine at Walsingham. He spent the night by the Shepherds' hearth. The manor court sat in the hall the same day. Elena Brewer and Edith atte Well were each fined 4d, and Beatrice Shepherd 6d, for brewing and selling ale against the assize, the rules on the price and strength of ale. Thomas atte Well brought a complaint against Roger Warrener over a furrow by the mere, and the Coopers asked for the lord's mercy. The steward has passed all of it to the lord to decide. Later Beatrice lent the priest's household 2d until market day.
19 March 1354
A juggler and tumbler, John of Fairford, came in off the road and took a bed at the inn tonight, pipe and tabor and all. Less welcome news from up the valley: Northshire's new mill is grinding now, and their carts have stopped coming down to ours.
20 March 1354
A cloudy day of thank-yous. Joan Brewer and Edith atte Well each walked a dozen eggs over to the Millers for past kindnesses, and Beatrice Shepherd did the same rounds with a peck of meal apiece for the Brewers and the atte Wells.
23 March 1354
A clear day, two days short of Lady Day, when the new year begins. Joan of Kingsley, a pedlar, came in off the road with a pack of needles, pins, ribbons, laces and little knives, and put up for the night at the inn.
24 March 1354
Isabel of Bradwell, a chapman making the rounds of the villages with cloth, girdles and purses, came in off the road on a gray 24 March and is staying the night at the inn. Tomorrow is Lady Day, when the new year begins and the spring quarter's rents fall due.
25 March 1354
An overcast Lady Day, the first day of the new year. Alice Warrener is gravely ill with a fever, and Juliana Miller took a remedy of herbs over to her. Happier news came with a carter on the road: Cecily Cooper's sister, Margaret of Westcott, has a new baby.
26 March 1354
Another overcast day. Alice of Stanton, a pedlar with a tray of combs, thread, spoons and cheap brooches, came in from the road and stayed the night at the inn. Beatrice Shepherd lent the priest's household a peck of seed, to be given back at harvest.
27 March 1354
Two men back from the French war came in from the road today: Geoffrey of Ashby, an archer with his bow on his back and his pay long spent, and Alan of Ashby, who served beside Geoffrey and is walking home with him. They slept in the church porch. Around the village, debts and kindnesses were being squared. The priest's household sold a peck or two of peas at market and paid Beatrice Shepherd what they owed, Sir John said a Mass for the Shepherds, Roger Warrener made the Coopers a pair of hurdles, and eggs went from Joan Brewer to the Coopers and from Agnes Fletcher to the Brewers.
28 March 1354
A pedlar named Elena of Oakham came in out of the fog today with a pack of needles, pins, ribbons, laces and little knives, and took a bed at the inn for the night. Roger Warrener put a hurdle roof over the cut furze in the lean-to to keep it dry, and John Carter lent the Coopers a spade.
30 March 1354
A traveler stopped in Ambermead on 30 March: Gilbert of Hatherley, a pilgrim walking home from Canterbury with a little lead flask of St Thomas's water around the neck. The priest gave Gilbert a bed for the night.
31 March 1354
Alice Warrener died of a fever on a clear 31 March. She was 26. She was buried in the churchyard, on the south side.