Acknowledgements

I find myself writing these acknowledgements in the cafe at the Barbican Centre overlooking, appropriately enough, the remnants of London’s medieval wall and the fifteenth-century parish church of St Giles Cripplegate. It’s an inspiring spot and one I’ve come to several times on the journey of research and writing which has led to this book, so it is a good place to look back and reflect on that journey. Getting here has taken a decade and more and I have been helped along the way by many people to whom I am supremely grateful.

I first became fascinated with fifteenth-century London and its people as an undergraduate at the University of York, inspired by the teaching of Sarah Rees Jones. I particularly owe my love of the neighbourhood politics and minutiae of daily life found in the wardmote courts to her special subject course on York and London. Years later, she and Vanessa Harding were encouraging examiners of my thesis, and this book is far better for their suggestions on how to develop my work. As a masters student at the Institute of Historical Research, it was conversations with Matthew Davies that first got me thinking about ways to look at the city beyond the perspectives of its citizens and government. I am extremely grateful to Matthew for the many ways in which he has helped me develop my work and thoughts over the past ten years, most of all for his patient and wise supervision of my thesis and his continued support as I embarked on the process of writing this book. I thank him for always being generous with his time and encouraging me to be ambitious and think expansively. I also owe a great debt to Mark Merry, my second thesis supervisor. This book would not be what it is without many conversations with Mark about how to put my work in a longer-term perspective and how to find the best digital approaches to sources. I could not have embarked on a PhD without the generous AHRC studentship I received through the London Arts and Humanities Partnership.

As a student and scholar of late medieval London, I have been lucky to be part of a friendly community centred on the IHR Medieval and Tudor London seminar convened by Caroline Barron, Vanessa Harding and Julia Merritt. My thanks to all the members of the seminar, past and present, from whose expertise, thoughtful questions and comments on papers by myself and others I have learnt much. I should particularly like to thank Justin Colson and Kit French, who have always been generous with advice, encouraging feedback and archival leads.

It was also through the seminar that I met Shannon McSheffrey, and I really cannot thank Shannon enough for all her encouragement, suggestions for the development of the themes of this book and help, including sharing pre-publication drafts of her work and transcripts of the consistory court deposition books. Shannon, Ian Forrest and Rosa Salzberg were readers of an earlier version of this book and I am very grateful for the thought-provoking discussions we had at the author workshop which immeasurably improved it. My thanks also to Tom Johnson, who kindly read and gave many helpful comments on an earlier draft of Chapter Five. I am very grateful to all those at University of London Press who have made the process of publishing this book a pleasure, in particular Elizabeth Hurren and Jane Winters. Special thanks go to Ian Forrest who went above and beyond as an editor, not just helping me navigate the practicalities of publication but also being generous with his time and considerable expertise through comments on early drafts and participation in the author workshop.

The scholarship on which this book is based would have been impossible without the hard work and commitment of staff at the London Metropolitan Archives, National Archives, British Library and Institute of Historical Research. I am also indebted to colleagues in and out of academia over the last three years who have been encouraging and supportive of my work on this book alongside post-doctoral positions, particularly Tracey Hill and the staff of the Goldsmiths’ Company Library.

The journey has been a bumpy one, and I really could not have got here without the love and support of my friends and family. To Will Attwood, Amy Jessop and Harriet Robinson, my thanks for always being sources of laughter and kindness when I needed it most. I hope to repay you all in kind. The same too to Marie Southall and Barney Harper, and also my immense gratitude goes to them for giving me a calm and welcoming space in their home so that I could write during the turbulent summer of 2020. All my love and thanks to my family, to whom I owe so much; my parents John and Alison Berry and my sister Liz.

Finally, this book is dedicated to all the early career scholars I have met along the way, all of whom have been brilliant, smart and passionate about their work in the face of immense pressures and uncertain futures.

September 2021