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BUTLERAGE.

Catalogue reference: Sub-series within E 101

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Sub-series within E 101

These are the accounts and supporting particulars of the king's butler (pincerna regis) of duty levied on imported wine between 8 Edward I and 17 James I. They show the ports at which ships landed wine, the quantity of wine landed, and the amount...

Full description and record details

Reference
Sub-series within E 101
Title
BUTLERAGE.
Description

These are the accounts and supporting particulars of the king's butler (pincerna regis) of duty levied on imported wine between 8 Edward I and 17 James I. They show the ports at which ships landed wine, the quantity of wine landed, and the amount taken for the king's use.

Note
Temp. Henry VIII. Account of butlerage and prisage at London. [Misc. Bks. Exchr. Treas. of Receipt. 183.] Temp. Henry VIII. Account of butlerage and prisage at Southampton. [Misc. Bks. Exchr. Treas. of Receipt. 184.]
Related material

Prior to 42 Edward III accounts were enrolled on the pipe rolls, E 372 and their duplicate chancellor's rolls, E 352. After 42 Edward III they are enrolled in the foreign accounts rolls, E 364. From 1500 butlerage declared accounts are in E 351/454-529 and declared accounts of wine licences in E 351/3153-3197. Prisage and customs accounts on wines from ships arriving in the ports of the duchy of Cornwall are in the haveners' accounts, E 306. Other customs accounts are in E 122 and E 356.

Unpublished finding aids
A detailed list of the accounts is in PRO Lists and Indexes, vol 35 (London, 1912), pp 73-80, where the accounts are listed in chronological order, not by port of entry.
Administrative / biographical background

The king's butler traditionally had the right to seize (prise) wine for the use of the royal household, a right called prisage. Over time, prisage was commuted to financial payment in the form of 'butlerage', an import duty of 2s. per tun on wine, which continued to be levied by the royal butler.

Publication note(s)
See also M K James, Studies in the medieval wine trade, ed E M Veale (London, 1971); E M Carus-Wilson, 'The effects of the acquisition and the loss of Gascony on the English wine trade', Medieval merchant venturers (London, 2nd edn, 1967), pp 265-279; T Unwin, Wine and the vine: an historical geography of viticulture and the wine trade (London, 1991), pp 166-202.
Record URL
https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C78204/

Series information

E 101

King's Remembrancer: Accounts Various

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Within the series: E 101

King's Remembrancer: Accounts Various

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BUTLERAGE.

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