f 101 (13 October)
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Iohn Mortimer a verie poore man is tollerated toward his reliefe to draw beere without payenge the fine
William Tompson the Musitian endicted for the like is ordered to bringe in suerties and paye the fine and soe to haue a Licence Meane While tollerated./
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f 105 (24 November)
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This daye William Greene the Towne Musitian was vppon his
humble sute allowed to keep be a Common hughster:
keepinge the Towne orders as thervnto apperteyneth./
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Iohn William William
GreeneA 'hughster' or huckster was someone licensed by the council to buy goods, primarily food and wood, at the market before the market was officially open. The hucksters would then re-sell those goods at a higher price. Court leet juries frequently tried to limit the activities of the hucksters, since they sometimes bought up the entire supplies of certain goods in order to force people to buy at their inflated prices. However, as this record shows, the council continued to permit some people to support themselves by huckstering. In the case of Greene, it appears that what he made as a musician was insufficient, so the council allowed him to seek additional income as a huckster (Hearnshaw and Hearnshaw, Court Leet Records, 379–80; Horrocks, Southampton Assembly Books, vol 2, p 71, note 2; Pennington, 'Taking It to the Streets,' 657–79.
Record title: Assembly Book
Repository: Southampton City Archives
Shelfmark: SC2/1/6
Repository location: Southampton
The assembly book is a minute or act book of the town council, recording its decisions on a variety of matters, including taxes and customs duties, poor relief, enrolling of freemen and burgesses, the election and duties of town officials (including the musicians), and offences such as selling goods or keeping an alehouse without a proper licence. The council met roughly once a week, normally on Friday. The date of the meeting heads each group of minutes or memoranda and the names of the mayor and aldermen present appear in the left margin. Frequently rubrics identifying each action occur just above or to the left of the main entries.
12 March 1603/4–7 October 1642; English; paper; 331 leaves; 418mm x 281mm; modern pencil foliation followed here (original ink foliation begins on f 7 and leaves out f 9, then begins again with f 2 at the pencil f 18); good condition, first 16 folios damaged and repaired; heavy parchment cover with leather straps, no original title, '1602 to 1642' inked in same hand that has titled so many of the Southampton muniments.