How Hull’s monitoring of the assize of bread and ale bear witness to social behaviour during the 1580s & 1590s subsistence crises

It is difficult to assess the extent to which dearth and famine truly affected the citizens of Hull during the 1580s and 1590s. Through the limited glimpses given to us through archival documents, the interaction between the mercantile occupation and the everyday consumption of grain victuals can be detected. The consumption of bread and ale, a considerable portion of the everyday diet, was regulated with the intent to moderate the consumption of grain goods. The assize of bread and ale is a legal custom which dates back to the thirteenth century. It ensured that all local manufacturers of bread and ale were producing and selling goods in line with government sanctions. The price of bread and ale depended on the economy of the grain market, if the price of grain goods rose, so did the price of processed goods. These moderations led to the banning of excessive consumption and the condemnation of drunkenness and the restraining of bakers profits. Reflections of market conditions and an idea of social wellbeing can be detected in Hull’s engagement in moderating market conditions and limiting the depletion of grain stores. 

Hull’s Assize of Bread 

The manipulation of weights, scales and pricing was a familiar problem during periods of dearth. It became a common criminal practice to sell an incomplete amount of wheat or a smaller size of bread or ale at a full or inflated price. There were regulations already in place; the assize of bread and ale were directed at brewers and bakers; these were locally regulatory systems which licensed certain businesses to produce and sell their goods within legal standards. The assizes of bread and ale regulated the price of the goods, matched the quality and quantity and if sellers were caught or rumoured to be deceiving their customers, they could be placed in front of a court, fined or punished by the aldermen of the said town.  

In 1589, the corporation repeat the assize measurements and prices set out by the government, stating that: “The size of bread, the wheate being xxxiis. the quarter” and subsequently that “wheat bread should weigh 13 ounces, Wheaten or Bowled bred should weigh 19 ounce, and Brown bread 25 ounce.” (C BRG/2/254). Bakers were to adhere to these regulations, and that no bakers “shall hereafter bake and sell any two pennye bread, but i.d. or loaves upon paine every such ii.d. lofes or greater then that quantity hereby lymmited” (C BRG/2/254). These restrictions altered according to the price of grain, as the order continues to state that, “That the said bakers shall once within one fornihht or as corn shall ryse and fall of pryce [meet with the mayor] for the tyme being. And of him to receive the weight that they shall observe in making of their bread accordygne [to] the pryce that the corne shall then be at.” (C BRG/2 /254). There was careful consideration within these restrictions, firstly for the bakers ensuring their product was sold within the legal parameters allowing for their business to be least affected and secondly, through maintaining that their customers received the correct weight for their money, it protected both citizens and the sellers. The lower quality bread  - usually the darker the colour the cheaper the bread – and the inexpensive loaves were to remain fairly accessible during times of inflation. During times of scarcity these assizes would change, whether through market manipulation or the general inflation of corn prices. It was down to local authorities to regulate and dispense principled restrictions amongst their markets. 

Entry in Bench Book IV detailing the city’s bread assizes and the legalities around the prescribed legislation, 1586  [C BRG/2/254]

This regulation of bread had direct effects on the local market and were guided by local grain prices and accessibility. The statutory limits were presented by the privy council but the daily supervision was overseen by local authorities. In these districts’ attempts at supervision of the market, the everyday appetite for grain goods and products can be witnessed. The customs of the grain trade can often be presented as being competitive and unfeeling, but sometimes the charitable concerns of the community override the political restraints. In 1595, a year of dearth, an entry into Bench Book IV shows how local needs are resolved at borough level, it states that: 

Whereas there is some present scarcitie of corne whereby the poore people of this towne are driven in some extremitie of neede, the market daily increasing in prices, whereby they are not able to provide themselves of bread and their necesarie susteynance, ffor some remedie and seccour the said maior alderman and divers of the burgesses […] thought good and agreed it a certaine some of monie should be levied & collected among the sayd maior aldermen & burgesses and buy some quantity of corne, and the poore of the towne will have it, by peck, at such price as the graine shall bought. [C BRG/2/296] 

Here we see the intervention of local burgesses providing the means for the poorer members of Hull’s society. The distresses of bread and grain prices required that the town authorities step in, finding the money to buy the goods and distribute an allotted amount of corn at a reasonable price. There is little mention of assizes again, but here we can see the mediation between sellers and customers with the attempt to maintain the flow of the market, aiding the community of Hull and alleviating the possible hunger present in the town. 

Entry into Bench Book IV revealing the scarcity of corn and the request of the Corporation to provide food for the poor, 1595 [C BRG/2/296]

Beer and Problem Drinkers 

Breweries were also affected by the shortages and inflation during times of dearth. As a port town, Hull certainly enjoyed its ale. Restrictions in times of scarcity can be traced and like corn sellers, alehouse owners and brewers had restricted market and selling times in periods of dearth. Ale housekeepers were to avoid selling drink during church services and that no “ale brewer within this towne bye any corne or graine in ye markitt [before one] of the clocke” (C BRG/2/68). The two markets are naturally connected, both require the need of grain goods. However, an investigation of the ale market reveals a real insight into Hull’s early drinking culture.  

In 1596, a year of dearth, it is mentioned that drink has caused “misrule by daie and night, carde, dice & other unlawfull games there practiced, drunkenness and often times worse [proved] unthriftie expences caused”(C BRG/2/304). The use of the adjective ‘unthriftie’ alters the tone of the statement which now goes beyond a sense of moral disapproval into the territory of money and greed. People were consuming scarce produce, when really they should be conserving such goods. The entry continues that “the witness of povertie within this towne, and ill spending of good time, the wastfull consuming of victuals and corne chiefly, by meanes whereof the same are in it growne & held up with excessive prices, with the great detriment of the corne wealth, private damage of manie and no small impediment to the performance of good lawes” (C BRG/2/304). Hull’s society was in a state of insufficiency and, the drink culture admonished here masks the deprivations and hunger of the citizens. The entry ends with the statement that “no pson or psons of what estate or condition should he or they being burgesses or  inhabitante within this towne, or the libertites thereof shall hereafter, during the time of darth at the least, go or resort into anie alehouse or other drinking house, and there to drinke either beere or ale” (C BRG/2/304). If you were caught doing so you were to be penalised and fined, and if you were caught again, you would be imprisoned. These orders may seem somewhat severe, but they cover two main problems: keeping civil equilibrium in a moment of crises which could be easily disrupted by the consumption of excessive ale, and also, they reiterate the need to retain some of the grain stores allowing for distribution at a later date. 

Entry into Bench Book IV regarding the drunkenness and unthrifty behaviour of the inhabitants of the town during times of scarcity [C BRG/2/304]

The condition of the town’s wellbeing can be seen in accounts of implementing grain and ale assizes, not just at a local level but also how national standards were imposed. Here in Hull, we see the inter-play between consumption, social civility and impartiality, and how the ancient customs are restructured to suit the economic and social climate.

Felicity Wood (University of Hull)