Name Index

To

The Aulnager in Devon

Trans. Devon Assoc., vol. 44 (1912), pp. 568-596.

by

R.P. Chope

Prepared by Michael Steer

The paper provides an array of data on the cloth trade and its regulation in Devon from 1292 to about 1724, and as well, describes a Fulling mill at Chumleigh. After the Norman Conquest, Britain's main economy was in the export of wool. European textile markets were heavily dependent upon the supply of raw English wool. Wool production was very much a cottage industry. Devon wool merchants quickly became wealthy; they bought their fleeces from small farmers or from middlemen employed by farmers. Their wool collectors journeyed around local farms collecting the fleeces, and loading them onto a string of packhorses, before finally taking their loads to wool markets. These Markets were held on specific dates at strategic towns where the local merchants would meet with merchant traders from across Europe, especially from France, Flanders or Italy. An Aulnager was a government official who sealed bundles of cloth presented by merchants to verify the amount of cloth supposed to be in the bundle. Google with the Archive Organization has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. The Internet Archive makes available, in its Community Texts Collection (originally known as Open Source Books), books that have been digitised by Google from a number of libraries. These are books on which copyright has expired, and are available free for educational and research use. The copy of this rare book is held at the Princeton University Library and is available from the Internet Archive.