PREFACE
By publishing this calendar of the Cartulary of Holy Trinity Aldgate the
London Record Society has made available a source important both for
the topography and for the social and economic history of medieval London. My first duty is to acknowledge my deep debt to the University of
Glasgow, the custodian of the Register, and especially to the University
Librarian, Mr. R. O. Mackenna, who unhesitatingly sent the manuscript
on loan to the Institute of Historical Research in London for a lengthy
period and helped me on subsequent visits to Glasgow.
My thanks are also due to many scholars with whom I have discussed
the problems of this edition over the years, and especially to Professor
R. B. Pugh, Dr. C. J. Holdsworth, Dr. A. E. J. Hollaender of the Guildhall
Library, Mr. Godfrey R. C. Davis and Mrs. A. Payne of the British
Museum. Professor C. N. L. Brooke has saved me from the commission of
many errors by reading through the typescript and suggesting emendations,
and his research assistant Mrs. Gillian Keir from her knowledge of the
original deeds has helped me with many difficulties in their cartulary
copies. To Professor Francis Wormald I am doubly indebted both for his
advice and for his note on the illuminations. Miss J. F. Payne helped to
compile the large card catalogue upon which the index is based. Despite
this help, errors for which I am alone responsible may remain. Had space
and time permitted, I should like to have collated the Cartulary text with
B.M. Lansdowne MS. 448, but my plea in extenuation must be that the
Hunterian manuscript is a large one and that its publication has already
been too long delayed.
G.A.J.H.
King's College, London