THOMAS KYTSON AND WILTSHIRE CLOTHMEN, 1529 -1539 37 
italics) appears to be the maximum price Kytson was 
prepared to pay, or in the cases of the entries of his 
sales the minimum at which he hoped to sell his 
wares. The majority of cloths purchased were in 
packs of 10, and the purchase price was given for 
the pack. When smaller quantities were purchased 
the price was either for the pack, the half-pack or 
for individual cloths. 
Sometimes not all the cloths that were 
bargained for were delivered at the time of 
bargaining. Such an entry in Kytson’s book is 
Acchat de Thomas Davy of Warmester le 8 io’ de 
ffebruary A° 1531 
packe lvij! vjs viijd 
Sm? lvij"' vjs viijd 
Resaved xii) whit, of the said 20 reste to Rs vij whit, / 
whiche he haythe promysed to deliv’ on this syde 
palme Sonday next comyng And he to have after the 
said rayt as he hasse for thes afore resaved 
pd le eodem io’ xxviij" 13°44 
Rs le 14 10° de M’che a° 1531 vij whit, 
Rs le 19 io’ de M’che a° 1531 v whit, 
which equates to 
Bought of Thomas Davy of Warminster the 8th day 
of February of the year 1531 
Item 20 whites at £28 13s 4d at £28 13s 4d 
the pack £57 6s 8d 
Sum £57 6s 8d 
Received 13 whites of the said 20, [the] rest to receive 
7 whites, which he hath promised to deliver on this 
side Palm Sunday next coming. And he to have after 
the said rate as he has for these afore received 
paid the same day £28 13s 4d 
Received the 14th day of March of the year 1531 
7 whites 
Received the 19th day of March of the year 1531 
5 whites 
Here the bargain was for 20 whites but only 13 were 
delivered by Thomas Davy, and he was paid for 
only 10 of them, perhaps as a security that the 
bargain would be honoured by Davy. Five weeks 
later the 7 cloths required by the bargain were 
delivered, and five days after that an additional 5 
cloths were delivered. Kytson’s factors often, as in 
this case, did not record that the outstanding and 
additional cloths were paid for. 
Another entry of a similar kind is 
Bought of Rychard Batte the 21st day of May of the 
year 1534 
Item 50 whittes at £32 16s 8d at £32 16s 8d the pack. 
Sum £164 3s 4d 
Memorandum. Resaved at the bargayn makyng 40 
whittes, and he hathe promysed to delyver 10 whittes 
moo within 2 days hereafter 
Resaved the 23rd day of May of the year 1534 
10 whittes at £32 16s 8d £32 16s 8d 
Richard Batte was as good as his word in delivering 
the 10 ‘whites’ within two days, which raises the 
question of how he managed it. Batte, of Westbury, 
had probably travelled to London with his fellow 
townsman William Adlam and John Brede, Robert 
Petter and John Norinton of Devizes who all made 
bargains with Kytson on 21 or 22 May. Batte could 
not have arranged for the 10 cloths to be 
transported from Westbury to London within the 
two days. Had he been touting the cloths around 
the London mercers or did he sell another 
clothman’s ‘whites’ to Kytson on 23 May? An 
alternative, but unlikely, suggestion is that Kytson 
might have travelled to Wiltshire to deal with his 
clothmen; but he would then have had the task of 
taking some 141 cloths of Batte and his fellow 
workers to London. The entries in the ‘Boke’ do not 
suggest that the prices paid to Kytson’s suppliers 
were offset by the costs incurred in taking the cloths 
to London, or that they were specifically charged 
for these costs. 
Kytson’s main interest was in the unfinished 
broadcloths or ‘whites’ although he did buy 
significant quantities of ‘penestones’!® from 
Cheshire and also some ‘Kentish russets’,!’ 
‘friezes’,'® ‘cottons’,!’ ‘kersies’””’ and ‘Castlecombs’.”! 
The main centre of production of the ‘whites’ was 
in the valleys of the Avon and Frome rivers, and the 
area from Warminster to Devizes, so that Kytson’s 
suppliers came predominantly from Somerset and 
Wiltshire. The places where most of his suppliers 
lived may be determined from the entries in his 
‘Boke of Remembraunce’. Although Professor 
Carus-Wilson, when writing about Kytson’s ‘Boke’, 
stated ‘the pre-eminence of west Wiltshire for the 
manufacture of white woollen broadcloth is 
immediately apparent from a perusal of Kitson’s 
book,” the present author has shown that this 
claim is incorrect.” Wiltshire came second to 
Somerset in supplying Thomas Kytson with the 
cloths which he exported to the Continent. From 
the entries in Kytson’s ‘Boke’ the overall statistics 
relating to his purchases and exports of ‘whites’ 
may be determined, and are shown in Table 1. The 
purchases are here collated in “Exchequer years’ so 
