A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Compotus. An account of it is furnished by the compotus of Lytham 

 Priory for the years 1310-11, and again for the years 1338 and 1345. 

 In I 3 10 they had only 22 cows, two bulls, 14 calves and bullocks, 13 heifers, 

 and nine stirks, a total of 83 head of all ages and sexes. The next year, 

 though the respective numbers vary, the total head remains unchanged. 

 In 1338, nearly a generation later, the total head has increased to rather more 

 than double, being 175 animals of varying ages and sexes, while in 1345 the 

 total amount had risen to a mixed herd of 2 1 8 animals. For this year also 

 reference is, for the first time, made to vaccaries belonging to the monastery, 

 where, it is stated, was a herd of 349 cattle of divers sexes and ages. 

 Whether this included or was in addition to the 218 already specified is not 

 made clear. 



The one feature which differentiates the priory stock from that of the 

 honour of Clitheroe or of Lancaster is the keeping of sheep. In the forests 

 of Blackburnshire it seems at this early period to have been unprofitable to 

 pasture sheep owing to the constant attacks of wolves, against which even 

 the cattle had to be continually guarded by a special watchman." The 

 monasteries, headed by that of Furness, however, went in very extensively 

 for sheep-farming, and it was from these localities that the Italian merchants 

 collected their annual supplies for export. The monastery wool was, in fact, 

 often pledged to these merchants for several years in advance in return for 

 some loan. At the opening of the fourteenth century but a small flock of 

 sheep was kept at Lytham. In i 3 10 it numbered only 107 head, composed of 

 32 rams and wethers, 42 ewes, and 33 lambs. Next year it had only increased 

 by seven. Nearly a generation later it had risen to 210 head, and in 1341 to 

 284 animals. By the year 1345 the flock consisted of 403 sheep of varying 

 ages and sexes. Analyzing these respective figures we find the average year's 

 increase to have been seven animals between 13 10 and 131 1 ; while in the 

 next twenty-seven years (131 1-38) the average increase is only 3 J head per 

 annum. From this time onward there is a very marked step forward, 

 the average during the next three years (1338—41) rising to 25 head per 

 annum, and to nearly 30 per annum for the last four years, those between 

 1 341 and 1345. The low average of the years between 131 1 and 1338 was 

 probably caused by the famine of 13 15—18, and by the inroads of Scots in 

 1322, the rebellion of Earl Thomas, and the unsettled state of the county 

 in the early years of Edward III." The extraordinary increase between 

 1338 and I 341 may have been fostered by the great demand for wool, which 

 was at this time being greedily bought up on all hands by English and 

 foreign merchants ; it may also have been stimulated by the introduction 

 of Flemish weavers into England in 1331." Lancashire wools may have 

 been affected when in 1336 two Brabant manufacturers were settled under 

 the king's protection at York ; " or when in 14 Edward III certain northern 

 merchants, among whom was William de Lancaster, made a large purchase 



" Cf. Intxod. to Be Lacy Compotus (Chet. Soc. cxii). 



" Smith, Memoirs of Wool{lJ\j), i, 21, par. 27. 



'^ -1,1 Edw. Ill, quoted ibid. 23 ; also Rymer, Foedera iv, 496. Regulations for the woollen trade were 

 made in 1327 and 1332 ; and in the former year the king, in order to encourage the home manufacture, 

 promised franchises to fullers, weavers, dyers, and cloth worken ; Cal. Pat. 1327-30, p. 98. In 1333 he 

 granted protection for all weavers and workers in cloth coming into the realm ; ibid. 1330-4, p. 396. 



" Smith, op. cit. 24, note, quoted from Rymer, op. cit. iv, 723. 



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