Aldermen of the City of London: Cripplegate ward

CRIPPLEGATE WARD.

[Called WOOD STREET WARD in H.R. 35 (221)] [January 23, 1307], 46 (25) [October 14, 1317], 93 (72) [July 20, 1365]

[It is hardly necessary to say that, in dealing with the material I had collected for this Ward, I have made full use of and derived much valuable assistance from Mr. Deputy Baddeley's excellent Monograph on the "Aldermen of Cripplegate," a work which should stimulate those specially interested in other Wards of the City to follow his example. The fulness and accuracy of Mr. Baddeley's collections leave but little to add in the way of supplement or correction. I have been able to ascertain the Companies of two or three of the Aldermen which do not appear in his book, and to fix the date of Thomas de Leyre's tenure of the Aldermanry, which had escaped his notice, and to correct a few comparatively unimportant errors, such as that referred to in Note A, which in no way lessen the permanent value of a singularly careful and accurate compilation.]

Note A.—That Walter de Finchingfeud, junior, was the Alderman himself, and not (as Mr. Baddeley conjectured) the Alderman's son, appears from H.R. 27 (130) and H.R. 35 (42).

Note B.—In my note A on Aldersgate Ward (page 8) I gave reasons which led me to doubt whether Seccheford was permanently Alderman of Cripplegate. Since the sheet containing that note was printed I have found a third (and later) memorandum of his acting in that capacity, in addition to the two then given, viz., in H.R. 64 (51), where, under date June 25, 1336, he is definitely styled Alderman of Cripplegate Ward, whereas, in the earlier entries his Ward is inferred from the parishes in which the property dealt with in the deeds witnessed by him were situate, these being St. Lawrence Jewry [H.R. 63 (179)] and St. Mary Magdalene, Milk Street [H.R. 63 (189)]. The difficulty that still remains is the fact that both he and his successor in Cripplegate (Costantyn), are recorded as present at a Court of Aldermen on July 22, 1336 (Letter Book E, fo. 248 b), whereas his presumed successor in Aldersgate (Crane), does not appear before November 8. I now think that Seccheford's transference from Aldersgate to Cripplegate may be taken as established, and the most obvious explanation of the appearance of both himself and Costantyn as Aldermen on July 22, is that which I suggested as possible in my note on Aldersgate, viz: that Costantyn succeeded Seccheford in Aldersgate as well as afterwards in Cripplegate, Crane following him in the former Ward.

Note C.—In my Note A on Castle Baynard Ward (p.97), I have given in detail the reasons which lead me to infer that Cotton was transferred from Cripplegate to that Ward. It should be noted, however, that in H.R. 144 (36), Cotton is represented as witnessing a deed relating to property in the parish of St. Alphege, which was in Cripplegate Ward, dated September 11, 1416, nearly nine months after his successor Aleyn is found acting as Alderman of the Ward. There is evidence that Aleyn was present as an Alderman on October 13, 1416 (Journal 1, fo. 1. Letter Book I, fo. 183), which is an earlier date than that of Cotton's discharge, and it seems to me to be the natural inference that there is an error in the name of the Alderman of the Ward as recorded in H.R. 144 (36), similar errors being clearly demonstrable in some other instances. It is possible that Aleyn may have been prevented by illness or some other reason from acting in September, and that Cotton, as a former Alderman of the same Ward, may have acted for him. The entry in H.R. 144 (36), does not appear to me to be sufficient to outweigh the force of the evidence which, as I have shown in my notes on that Ward, seems to point to Cotton's removal to Castle Beynard in 1415.