The Celys and their World
An English Merchant Family of the Fifteenth Century

A richly detailed study of the Cely family and its activities as staplers and ship-owners.

Alison Hanham (Author)

9780521520126, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 18 July 2002

492 pages
23 x 15.4 x 3.2 cm, 0.781 kg

From the start of his career as a young woolmerchant, about 1473, George Cely was a hoarder. He kept everything, from important business accounts down to the scrap of paper on which his father had once noted that the brewer and tailor hadn't been paid yet. The result is a rich collection, which not merely documents the Cely family's activities as staplers and ship-owners, but also gives vivid details of their intimate concerns: what they ate and wore, where they lived, how they spent their money - and where they went for loans when the cash ran short - how they amused themselves, and how they coped with trade recessions and political turmoil at home and abroad. This is the first comprehensive study to be based on the material.

List of figures and tables
Preface
Acknowledgments
List of abbreviations
Part I. The Celys and their Circle, 1474–82: 1. The Cely family and their background
2. 'Japes and sad matters'
3. Alarms and tribulations, 1480–1
4. Two black sheep and a nuisance
Part II. The Wool Trade: 5. The trade in fleece-wool
6. Wool-fells
7. Monetary matters
8. Customers and marts
9. Calais and the Staple Company
Part III. Richard and George Cely, 1482–9: 10. Richard and George, 1482–3
11. 'The world goeth on wheels', 1482–5
12. Marriage and housekeeping
13. Warfare and trade, 1486–9
14. The Margaret Cely of London
15. Charge and discharge, the Celys' finances, 1482–9
Postscript on later family history
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], British & Irish history [HBJD1]