[Ralph accounts for £2377 8s. 1½d. that he had received in 1313]
Of which he accounts for £13 6s. 8d. spent on the fee of Ralph de Schepeie, constable and receiver of Kenilworth, for a year. And for £18 4s. in the wages of six chief tenants staying within the castle of Kenilworth for the garrison there for a year, each taking 2d. per day. And £6 in the salary of two chaplains celebrating divine [religious] services within Kenilworth castle per year. And for 30s. in the salary of a chaplain celebrating divine service there for the souls of Edmund, the earl’s father and the Queen of Navarre [his mother] from the Annunciation of the Virgin [25 March] to Michaelmas [29 September]. And for 4s. 4d. in lights for the chapel of the castle this year. And for 3s. 8d. in parchment for the rolls of account and of the court this year. And for 3s. 0½d. in canvas or purses for money. And for 3s. 10d. in three ells [measure of cloth just over one metre long] of green cloth for the exchequer of receipt. And for 9s. 8d. in the wages of Edeneuet the Welshman staying within the castle for seven weeks after Michaelmas this year by order of the earl. And for 3s. 8d. in the wages of two fishermen fishing in the great pond for twelve days around the feast of St Lucy the Virgin [13 December], in order to stock the ponds of Robert de Holand of Bagworth and Linderich’. And for 12d. in the expenses of Hubert, keeper of the swans as far as Worcester, for buying two barges for the ponds. And for 4s. 2d. in acquiring a cart to escort a barge as far as Melbourne [Derbyshire] with the expenses of those going with the cart. And for 2s. 1½d. in bearing the letters of the earl and of the auditors to different places for the earl’s business. And for 16d. in three locks with nails bought at Coventry for the earl’s chests. And for 29s. 2d. in the expenses of Nicholas de Verdun, imprisoned at Kenilworth, for 56 days, and of one man keeping him there throughout this time, and of Nicholas le Warner of Thorp Waterville, imprisoned there, for five weeks this year. And for 5s. 8¾d. in the expenses of one groom and a stallion at Kenilworth at mating time for the earl’s mares for 25 days this year.
Sum: £42 12s. 4¾d.
Keeper of the new chapel. And for £118 13s. 3½d. spent on quarrying, breaking, carrying, measuring and cutting stone with chalk, iron and steel, and for galvanising and sharpening the instruments of the masons, and all other things necessary that have been bought or are to be bought for the works on the new chapel in the castle in this year. And for £21 6s. 8d. for buying 100 oaks from John de Sudlegh’ at Chollercote for the same chapel, with the wages of those buying them and of the fellers and cutters of the oaks prior to their carriage. And for 22s. 9½d. in the carriage, escort and expenses of those carrying the said timber from the park and of those escorts this year.
Sum: £141 2s. 9d.
Extracts from the account of Ralph de Schepeie, receiver-general of Kenilworth 1313. Catalogue ref: DL 29/1/3, m. 12 (dorse) [back of the document]
- What type of record is this?
- What does this source reveal about the various roles of Kenilworth castle?
- What does this extract reveal about the expenses of running this castle?
- What can we learn about the nature of employment within the castle?
- What does this tell us about the religious life of the castle?