Elizabeth De Burgh, Lady of Clare (1295 - 1360): the logistics of her pilgrimages to Canterbury

ELIZABETH DE BURGH, LADY OF CLARE (1295-1360):

THE LOGISTICS OF HER PILGRIMAGES TO CANTERBURY

jennifer ward

Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages was regarded as an integral part of religious practice. The best known pilgrims to Canterbury are those of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, enjoying each other’s company and telling their stories as they journeyed to the shrine of St Thomas Becket. Chaucer chose his pilgrims from a broad spectrum of society. Many people, rich and poor, visited local as well as the major shrines in England, and travelled abroad, as did the Wife of Bath and Margery Kempe, to visit the shrines at Cologne, Santiago de Compostella, Rome and Jerusalem. Their journeys are recorded in their own and others’ accounts. What is less well known are the accounts of pilgrimages in royal and noble household documents which record the preparations, the journey itself, provisioning and transport. Some also record the religious dimension of the pilgrimage, the visits and offerings to shrines, and details of prayers and masses.

Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare, was a member of the higher nobility; she was the youngest daughter of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester and Hertford (d.1295), sister of the last Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester, who was killed at Bannockburn in 1314, and cousin of Edward III.¹ Three years after her brother’s death, she and her two elder sisters inherited equal shares of the Clare lands in England, Wales and Ireland which were valued at c.£6,000 a year.² Elizabeth’s share lay mainly in East Anglia, with Clare castle (Suffolk) as the administrative centre and principal residence; she came to style herself Lady of Clare, and she was referred to in her records as the Lady. She also received the lordship of Usk in South Wales, and estates in Dorset. She held few of the Clare lands in Kent, as Tonbridge was granted to her sister Margaret, widow of Edward II’s favourite, Piers Gaveston, and in 1317 married to another favourite, Hugh Audley. Elizabeth, however, was granted the chace of Southfrith near Tonbridge, valuable for hunting and also for its ironworks, and she kept in touch with the prior of Tonbridge and local figures such as Walter Colpeper, as well as with her sister and her husband.³ There is no evidence, however, that she visited the Audleys at Tonbridge.

Elizabeth was married three times, to John de Burgh, eldest son of the earl of Ulster (d.1313), to Theobald de Verdun (d.1316), and to Edward II’s favourite, Roger Damory (d.1322). She spent the greater part of her life as a widow (1322-60), and it is to this period that her household accounts belong. They comprise the best medieval private collection of accounts surviving.⁴ They include several different types of account, but those which give details of the Canterbury pilgrimages are the Wardrobe and Household account of 1339-40, and the Diet accounts of 1339-40 and 1352-3.⁵ The Wardrobe and Household account gives details of all the provisions obtained for the household for the year, which ran from Michaelmas to Michaelmas (29 September), and it includes a section entitled Foreign Expenses which includes information about the letters sent by the Lady, and journeys taken by servants and officials. The Diet accounts give a day by day account of the food and drink provided for the household and guests, and often for the horses as well.

Like her cousin Edward III and his son the Black Prince, Elizabeth de Burgh went on pilgrimage to many shrines over her lifetime.⁶ In 1343, she was dispensed from her vow to visit the shrine of St James at Santiago de Compostella and the Holy Land which she said that she had taken in her husband’s lifetime; which husband this was is not specified. By then, she was forty-eight years old, and felt that she was too old to carry out her vow. In England, she is known to have made three pilgrimages to Canterbury, in 1317, 1340 and 1353, and she also visited the shrines of Walsingham, where she was lady of the manor, and Bromholm, both in Norfolk.⁷ Enough evidence survives of her religious patronage and practice during her lifetime to describe her as pious; in addition to her regular attendance at mass, pilgrimages, and patronage to monks, friars and the university of Cambridge, where she founded Clare College, she lived as a vowess during her widowhood; this combined a form of religious life with life in the world and management of her estates.⁸

Why she chose to make three pilgrimages to Canterbury is a matter of speculation. She spent the summer of 1317 with her aunt, Edward I’s sister Mary who was a nun at Amesbury (Wiltshire), going on a round of pilgrimages, including Canterbury.⁹ Her daughter with Theobald de Verdun, Isabella, had been born at Amesbury on 21 March 1317, and within six weeks Elizabeth had been married to Roger Damory. She may well have wished to give thanks for her daughter’s birth, and to pray for the souls of Theobald de Verdun, and her first husband, John de Burgh.

In 1340 and 1353, she may again have been anxious to pray for the souls of members of her family. Her half-brother, Sir Edward de Monthermer, had died in December, 1339, of wounds incurred during the early stages of the Hundred Years War. The 1353 pilgrimage came four years after the death of her daughter Isabella during the Black Death in the summer of 1349, and the Lady may well have wished to pray especially for her; the Black Death had caused administrative disruption at Clare, and she probably wished not to make a long journey until she was sure that everything was again running smoothly. In 1340, having entertained Edward III for three days at Clare in late May when he was on his way to Flanders to resume campaigning, she probably prayed at Canterbury a few weeks later for his success; he won the battle of Sluys on 24 June.

It is likely that the Lady originally planned to go to Canterbury in April 1340, and had already arranged to spend a night at Stepney when she heard that Edward III planned to visit her at Clare at the end of May. According to the Wardrobe and Household account, provisions had already been obtained and had to be disposed of by officials of the household departments. 790 gallons of ale bought in Stepney had to be sold because the Lady failed to arrive. Roger of the Pantry had been in Stepney and London from 9 April to 26 April arranging for the delivery of ale and other items; the expenses he incurred included carting. Adam the Baker had been there helping Roger for seventeen days, and a page of the Bakery for thirteen days. A hackney had to be hired to carry the Bakery’s sacks from London to Clare. Roger was also there for 3½ days between 7 May and 10 May dealing with the sale of the victuals which had been obtained, as was John Gough, the Avener, who had purchased and then had to sell hay which had been obtained for the Marshalsea. Ten men and the horses for five carts had brought twenty quarters of wheat-flour from the demesne manor of Standon (Hertfordshire) to Stepney; this counted as boonwork performed by the peasants. Hay, wood, charcoal and other goods had been purchased on credit; John Gough had spent 15½ days going twice to London in April to arrange for these provisions. Altogether, the purchase and disposal of goods cost £2 15s. 11d., with the wages of Roger of the Pantry and John Gough amounting to £1 7s. 6d., nearly half the total.¹⁰ The details bring out vividly the amount of preparation which went into a noble pilgrimage.

The Lady started her journey to Canterbury on 30 May 1340, two days after Edward III’s departure. In 1353, she went earlier, leaving her residence at Great Bardfield on 3 April.¹¹ This meant that she celebrated Easter before she left, and in 1353 was back in time to celebrate the feasts of Pentecost and Corpus Christi; both feasts were celebrated during the 1340 pilgrimage. It is clear from the accounts that she never travelled on Sunday. She was accompanied by household officials and servants, mostly men who would be able to defend the party if it was attacked by robbers; Shooter’s Hill and Blean were known to be lawless places along the pilgrimage route through Kent. The actual number of people in her retinue is unknown, and it is rare to have the names of those who were with her. Certain officials were named in the course of the journey, and the accounts for 1340 also mention one unnamed groom paid to look after the hackney of Thomas FitzWalter.¹² The horses included the five horses for the Lady’s coach and the riding horses for the party, together with the carthorses and packhorses needed to transport provisions; in 1340, ten hackneys were hired for the journey in addition to the Lady’s own horses. The coach, used by the Lady and her ladies-in-waiting resembled that depicted in the Luttrell Psalter, with five horses harnessed in line, the coach itself resembling a wagon with four wheels, and with a richly embroidered roof-cover with openings in the sides from which the ladies could look out. The inside was richly furnished with hangings, mattresses and cushions.¹³

A clue to the size of the retinue lies in the number of horses which had to be fed each day. The number varied slightly from day to day as men joined or left. On 31 May 1340, when the retinue was at the Lady’s residence in Bardfield and at Stebbing (Essex), the Marshalsea recorded that hay and oats were provided for sixty-three horses and eighteen hackneys; wages were paid to two yeomen and two couriers, forty-one grooms and three pages, totalling 6s. 0½d. Towards the end of the journey at Stratford on 18 June, grass was purchased for forty-six horses and twenty hackneys, and hay was provided for fourteen horses; oats were provided; and wages were paid to two yeomen and two couriers, forty-eight grooms and two pages, totalling 7s. 8d.¹⁴ Altogether, the retinue would have been an impressive sight.

The route taken varied slightly between 1340 and 1353, especially at the beginning and end of the journey (Fig. 1).¹⁵ In 1340, from Bardfield and Stebbing, the party moved on to North Weald on Thursday, 1 June, remaining there until Tuesday, 6 June, and celebrating Pentecost on the Sunday. The Lady travelled to Stepney on 7 June, and on the following days to Dartford, Rochester and Ospringe. She spent Sunday, 11 June, at Ospringe, and then moved on to Canterbury on Monday, 12 June. She left Canterbury on the next day, stopped the night at Newington, and then travelled to Malling on 14 June where she celebrated the feast of Corpus Christi on Thursday, 15 June. On 16 June, she travelled to Dartford and Lesnes, and reached Stratford the next day. On Sunday, 18 June, she remained at Stratford, moving on Monday to North Weald where she stayed for two nights; she returned to Bardfield on Wednesday, 21 June, where she remained for the rest of the week before returning to Clare.

In 1353, she started from Bardfield on Wednesday, 3 April, and travelled to Hallingbury and Waltham, reaching London on Friday, 5 April. She stayed there over the weekend, moving on to Dartford on Monday, 8 April, and then to Rochester and Ospringe, and reached Canterbury on Thursday, 11 April. She remained there on the Friday, and returned to Ospringe for the weekend of 13-14 April. She then travelled via Newington, Rochester and Dartford, and reached London on Wednesday, 17 April, staying there until the following Monday. Her route through Essex took her to Waltham and Hallingbury, and she arrived at Bardfield on Wednesday, 24 April. She returned to Clare on Monday, 6 May.

The Lady and her retinue usually covered about fifteen to eighteen miles a day. Some of the stages were shorter; Ospringe is about ten miles from Canterbury. Both journeys were made by road. There is no information in the accounts as to her crossing of the Thames; in view of the size of the party, and the presence of the coach and carts, she probably crossed London Bridge, and then took the road to Dartford. The 1340 account recorded a payment of 2s. to eight men hauling the coach and carts over Rochester Bridge, and carrying luggage.¹⁶

The accounts record the places where the party made overnight stops, but do not say exactly where it stayed. For some places, we can make a definite identification. Bardfield was a favourite residence; in 1353, it is most likely that the Lady stayed in her London residence, built the year before in the outer courtyard of the abbey of the Minoresses outside Aldgate. At Stebbing, she would have stayed at the residence of her son-in-law, Henry de Ferrers, husband of her daughter Isabella. Robert Mareschal, the Marshal of the household, had his home at North Weald; his wife Margery and his daughter Elizabeth both worked in the household, and his son Thomas was studying at Cambridge in 1340.¹⁷ Robert’s house was a favourite stopping-place for the Lady when she was going to and from London.

At other places, it is possible to make a fair guess as to where she stayed. She probably rented the bishop of London’s house in Stepney in 1340. Religious houses were probably a favourite place to stay. The hospital at Ospringe was a popular stopping-place for pilgrims. At Canterbury, she may have stayed at the prior’s house, like other royal and noble pilgrims.¹⁸ It is likely that the Lady celebrated the feast of Corpus Christi, 1340, at the abbey at Malling, and she may have gone on to stay at the abbey of Lesnes. In 1353, it is likely that she stopped at Waltham Abbey on the outward and return journey.

In addition to not knowing all the places where she stayed, information is lacking as to the shrines she visited, but again other evidence throws some light on this. Pilgrimage at Canterbury itself involved the visit to the shrine of St Thomas Becket, praying and making offerings there, and also praying and making offerings at the other holy places in the cathedral, such as the tombs of St Dunstan and St Alphege. The Lady probably also visited St Augustine’s abbey where St Augustine and St Mildred were buried.¹⁹ Many pilgrims came to venerate the Holy Cross at Waltham, and the Lady probably had memories of her first marriage to John de Burgh, which had taken place at Waltham in 1308 when she was about thirteen years old. Doubtless the Lady also prayed at churches where she stayed, and visited other shrines along the route. At Newington, she may have prayed at the shrine of St Robert le Bouser, dated to c.1350, about which little is known, or venerated the Becket cross where the archbishop stopped on his way to London when he returned from exile in 1170.²⁰ The hospital at Ospringe had a considerable collection of relics encouraging pilgrims to pray while they were staying there.²¹

The Diet accounts were primarily concerned with the supply of food and drink each day. The food was similar to that consumed when the Lady was at home, with fast days being observed on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, feasts being celebrated with a greater choice of dishes, and the Lady and her chief officials having a more varied diet than the yeomen, grooms and pages. A certain amount of food was taken on the journey, described in the accounts as coming from stock. As the stocks of bread, ale, meat and fish went down, so an increasing amount was spent on purchases. Thus in 1340, all the bread had to be bought, between 10 June, when the party stayed at Ospringe, and 20 June when it was back at North Weald. Occasionally, a small gift of loaves was made to the Lady, as happened at Stepney, and sometimes a small quantity of flour was bought to bake bread for the Lady, as at North Weald when the party was almost back home. In 1353, the Pantry provided loaves from stock on the first four days of the journey. On Sunday, 7 April, in London, probably at the Lady’s residence, stocks were replenished by baking 1,194 loaves. By 11 April, only sixty-six of the loaves used came from stock, and 2s. 6½ d. was spent on bread. Expenditure increased on the return journey, but fell once the party was back in London. The pattern for expenditure on ale is similar, but, as ale had a limited life, purchases were made earlier on in the journey. Most of the wine came from stock, but small purchases were made.

A similar pattern of a higher number of purchases is found with meat and fish, the responsibility of the Kitchen and Poultry departments. For instance, at Dartford on the return journey on Tuesday, 16 April 1353, the Kitchen served ½ carcass of beef, ½ side of bacon, one pig and two calves from stock, and 1 quarter of mutton and ½ quarter of beef which were purchased for 3s. 4d. The Poultry served three does and seven capons from stock, and two capons, two hens, seventeen pullets, nine doves, one lamb and seventy eggs were purchased for 7s. Some of these purchases, such as the capons and doves, were clearly destined for the Lady’s table. Food was cooked on fuel supplied by the Scullery department; 7s. 6d. was spent on fuel on 16 April. The accounts only provide a few hints as to how the food was cooked, as when, at Ospringe, on 13 April, the Saucery department provided flour and fuel to bake conger eel and turbot.²²

The purchases, especially of meat and fish, meant that officials were often travelling ahead of or separately from the main party, and had to go off the main route in order to find supplies or to prepare for the overnight stop. Thus in 1340, to take a few examples, when the party was at North Weald on the outward journey meat was being purchased in Dunmow, and Robert Poulterer was buying meat in London the following day; local purchases were also made, as at Hatfield Broad Oak, Epping and Harlow. When it was at Stepney, Robert Poulterer was making purchases in London, faggots were bought in London, and hay at Stratford; Robert groom of the Chamber was sent on from North Weald to Stepney to prepare the Lady’s chamber.²³

It was usual to send some of the officials and servants ahead to make preparations. For the stay at North Weald in 1340, two carpenters were employed to work on the hall and chamber before the Lady’s arrival, and boards and trusses had to be supplied. On 9 June, John Gough, Robert Poulterer, John Southam, Richard Petit, Adam Baker and Robert of the Chamber were sent ahead from Dartford to Rochester, and it was usual to send several officials ahead on the following days. When the party was at Ospringe on 10 June, Robert and Hugh Poulterer were at Milton Regis with two packhorses, presumably making purchases. Meat was bought in Rochester when the Lady was at Malling. As they neared the end of the journey, John Gough and Adam Baker were sent ahead from Lesnes to Stratford to hire beds for the household.²⁴

Feasts called for a special celebration. The party was at North Weald in 1340 to celebrate Pentecost, and Richard Bischop was sent back to Clare to fetch the Lady’s goblet. More wine was served than usual, and, in addition to beef, mutton and bacon, venison and a dish of boar were served, and the Poultry served two herons, one bittern and two egrets (these were all a gift to the Lady), in addition to poultry, geese, piglets and lamb.²⁵ The feast of Corpus Christi was growing in popularity in the mid-fourteenth century, and the Lady certainly regarded it as a major feast. Again, more wine than usual was served; the Kitchen produced ½ dish of boar, together with beef, mutton, pork and veal, while the Poultry served one egret received as a gift, three spoonbills, poultry, lamb and rabbit.²⁶

The cost of provisioning and the officials’ journeys can be calculated from the account for 1340, but this was not the total cost of the pilgrimage, as there are no figures for the Lady’s personal expenditure, offerings at churches and shrines, and the cost of rented accommodation.²⁷ In the 1340 account, the value of stock used and the expenditure on purchases is given for each day, together with the totals for each household department. The total cost for the whole journey from 31 May to 21 June amounted to £93 7s. 0¼d. The value of the stock used came to £23 15s. 5d., and the expenditure on purchases amounted to £69 11s. 7¼d. For the first week, from 31 May to 6 June, the value of the stock used came to more than the money spent on purchases: £13 10s. 1d. as against £11 11s. 10½d. From 7 June when the Lady was at Stepney, expenditure on purchases increased to between £3 and £5 a day, and amounted to over £5 at Canterbury and Newington on 12 and 13 June. The highest expenditure of £6 0s. 5¼d. is found on the feast of Corpus Christi on 15 June at Malling. In contrast, the value of the stock used slumped, and no figure was given for stock on 13 June at Newington on the return journey. The figure for stock was given as £1 9s. 2d. at Stepney, but 13s. 7d. was entered at Ospringe on 10 June, 2s. 8d. at Canterbury on 12 June, and 3s. 8d. at Dartford and Lesnes on 16 June. The stock figures only rose to £1 or just over £1 when the Lady got back to Stratford and North Weald.

The accounts provide a bland picture of everything running smoothly and to order, but the officials were probably constantly on the watch to prevent things from going wrong. The account for the Marshalsea, included in the 1339-40 Wardrobe and Household account, records small purchases of harness to ensure that transport ran well. For instance, two overgirths were bought for the Lady’s palfrey at Dartford, a bridle for one of the Lady’s destriers at Rochester, four clouts for the carts at Ospringe, and two pack-saddles for the Lady at Canterbury together with three saddles for the coach. 100 horseshoes were bought at Malling. Accidents certainly occurred. According to the Diet account, the coach broke down near Malling, and two of the abbess’s carts had to be hired for the Lady’s victuals. Hugh le Charer made various purchases for the coach in London, new axles were fitted, and presumably the coach was thoroughly greased. Grease for the hooves of the Lady’s palfrey and for wheels and axles and harness of the coach and carts was bought on various occasions.²⁸

Modern writers often suggest that a pilgrimage was partly regarded as a holiday. For Elizabeth de Burgh’s household officials, this was hardly the case, and they were not the only ones to be sent off on errands. Colinet Picard was sent from North Weald to Clare to fetch one of the Lady’s robes; he was allowed a hackney to carry the robe. The Lady still had to deal with business matters, even on a pilgrimage, and Colinet Picard also travelled from Newington and Dartford to London on the Lady’s business. Richard, page of the Chamber, was sent from North Weald to Tonbridge to deliver the Lady’s letters to her sister, Margaret Audley, countess of Gloucester, and to the prior of Tonbridge and Walter Colpeper. Richard was also sent from Rochester to Harwich with the Lady’s letters to her daughter Isabella, Lady de Ferrers and to Sir Andrew de Bures, one of her councillors; he took the ferry at Tilbury, costing 2d., and was allowed to hire a hackney for the journey which also included taking letters to Walton and Ipswich.²⁹

Household accounts, such as Elizabeth de Burgh’s, provide a stark reminder of the logistics involved in a noble pilgrimage, showing that it entailed thorough preparations and good organisation. Hard work was required from a large number of people. Along with the hagiography and literature which throw light on the religious experience, the household accounts are invaluable for the information they provide on medieval pilgrimage, and the light thrown on the social and cultural life of the fourteenth-century nobility and their households.

endnotes

¹ For the life of Elizabeth de Burgh, see F.A. Underhill, 1999, For her Good Estate. The Life of Elizabeth de Burgh (Basingstoke). The lives of Elizabeth de Burgh, her parents, and other members of the Clare family can be found in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004).

² The National Archives (henceforward TNA) C47/9/23-5.

³ M.S. Giuseppi, ‘Some Fourteenth-Century Accounts of Ironworks at Tudeley, Kent’, Archaeologia, LXIV (1912-13), 145-64; TNA E101/93/8, m. 11; J. Ward (ed.), 2014, Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare (1295-1360). Household and Other Records, Suffolk Records Society, LVII (Woodbridge), pp. 42-9. Walter Colpeper held land in Pembury of Elizabeth de Burgh, and also held land of Hugh Audley; he received livery of Elizabeth as an esquire; J. Ward (ed.), Elizabeth de Burgh, p. 70; Calendar of Inquisitions post Mortem, VII, no. 62; ibid. IX, no. 56.

⁴ The collection of over 100 accounts is kept at TNA. A selection has been published in J. Ward (ed.), 2014, op. cit. (see note 3).

⁵ TNA E101/92/11, m. 11-14; E101/92/12, m. 10d-13d; E101/95/7, m. 11, 11d, 10d; J. Ward (ed.), Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare, pp. 41-51. The Diet Account for 1352-3, E101/95/7 lacks its heading but can be dated from internal evidence. It may have been a draft account, since it lacks entries on expenditure by the Marshalsea, the department dealing with horses, carts and the Lady’s coach, and most of the daily and departmental totals were not entered.

⁶ D. Webb, 2000, Pilgrimage in Medieval England (London), pp. 131-3.

⁷ W.H. Bliss and C. Johnson (eds), 1897, Entries in the Papal Registers for Great Britain and Ireland, Papal Letters, 1342-62 (London), p. 112; W.H. Bliss (ed.), 1897, Petitions to the Pope, 1342-1419 (London), pp. 22-3; J. Ward, 1992, English Noblewomen in the Later Middle Ages (London), p. 146.

⁸ W.H. Bliss and C. Johnson (eds.), 1897, Papal Letters, 1342-62 (London), p. 113.

⁹ TNA E101/377/2. This account was not drawn up by the Lady’s officials.

¹⁰ J. Ward (ed.), Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare, p. 48. The household was organised in departments; the Pantry was responsible for the provision of bread, and Roger was also dealing with ale which was the responsibility of the Buttery; departmental divisions were not absolutely rigid. John Gough, the Avener, was responsible for the supply of oats to feed the horses. The horses comprised, in addition to carthorses and packhorses, the destriers or warhorses which were used to draw the coach, palfreys or riding horses, and hackneys which were used for riding by officials.

¹¹ TNA E101/92/12, m. 10d; E101/95/7, m. 11.

¹² J. Ward (ed.), Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare, p. 49.

¹³ J. Backhouse, 1989, The Luttrell Psalter (London), pp. 50-1; J. Munby, 2008, ‘From Carriage to Coach: What Happened?’, in R. Bork and A. Kann (eds.), Art, Science and Technology of Medieval Travel (Aldershot), pp. 42-7. The author would like to thank Julian Munby for sharing his knowledge of the subject.

¹⁴ TNA E101/92/12, m. 10d, 13d. Comparable figures are not available for 1353.

¹⁵ The author would like to thank the Hon. Editor for preparing the map.

¹⁶ TNA E101/92/12, m. 11d.

¹⁷ J. Ward (ed.), Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare, pp. 41, 44, 75-6.

¹⁸ M. Connor, 2014, ‘The Priory of Christ Church Canterbury and its Connections with London in the Late Middle Ages’, Archaeologia Cantiana, cxxxv, 38, 41.

¹⁹ D. Webb, 2000, Pilgrimage in medieval England (London), p. 123.

²⁰ Ibid. pp. 157-8; J. Newman, North and East Kent (Harmondsworth, 1969), p. 387. D. Webb, 1999, ‘The Saint of Newington: who was Robert le Bouser’, Archaeologia Cantiana, cxix, 173-188. The 1340 pilgrimage may have been a little too early for the shrine of Robert le Bouser.

²¹ S. Sweetinburgh (ed.), 2010, Later Medieval Kent, 1220-1540 (Woodbridge), pp. 120-1.

²² TNA E101/95/7, m. 11d.

²³ Ibid., 92/12, m. 10d, 11d.

²⁴ Ibid., m. 11d, 12d.

²⁵ Ibid., m. 10d-11d.

²⁶ Ibid., m. 12d.

²⁷ The cost of provisioning cannot be worked out for 1353, because the totals are incomplete, and the Marshalsea account was not included.

²⁸ J. Ward (ed.), Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare, pp. 32-3; TNA E101/92/12, m. 12d.

²⁹ J. Ward (ed.), Elizabeth de Burgh, Lady of Clare, p. 49.

Fig. 1 Map (not to scale) showing the pilgrimage journeys of the Lady of Clare.

(The straight-line distance from Clare castle, on the Suffolk-Essex border, to London Bridge is approx. 50 miles; the leg to Canterbury approx. 55 miles.)