Northampton Electronic Collection of Theses and Research

Spaces and Places (of shopping in the early modern era)

Reinke-Williams, T. and Cox, N. (2022) Spaces and Places (of shopping in the early modern era). In: Reinke-Williams, T. (ed.) A Cultural History of Shopping in the Early Modern Era :. pp. 47-67.

[A][B][+][-]
17024:35989
[thumbnail of Cox_Reinke-Williams_Bloomsbury_2022_Shopping_and_Places]
Cox_Reinke-Williams_Bloomsbury_2022_Shopping_and_Places
Cox_Reinke_Williams_Bloomsbury_2022_Shopping_and_Places.pdf - Accepted Version
Information
Abstract:
In 1573 Isabella Whitney, a woman of genteel birth from Cheshire who like so many of her female contemporaries had left north-west England to become a servant in London, produced a poem in which she mourned being forced to leave the metropolis. Written in the form of a will and elegiac in tone, Whitney provided a list of what she had ‘left to London’, including details of the extensive range of retailers which were to be found within the walls of the medieval city. These included butchers “that every day shall kill”; “brewers store and bakers at your will”; mercers “with silk so rich as any would desire”; and goldsmiths “with jewels such as are for ladies meet”. The mercers and goldsmiths, Whitney told her readers, were based in Cheapside, and she expounded on where other goods might be purchased too, noting that woollens might be bought in Watling Street and Candlewick Street; linens in Friday Street; hose in Burchin Lane; “boots, shoes or pantables” in St Martin’s; and beds in Cornhill, while tailors were to be found in Bow. “In many places, shops are full” observed Isabella, reassuring her readers with the promise that ‘I left you nothing scant”. (Whitney [1573] 2000: 13-15).
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1200/1202
Creators:
Reinke-Williams, T. and Cox, N.
Editors:
Reinke-Williams, T.
Date:
30 June 2022
Date Type:
Publication
Page Range:
pp. 47-67
Title of Book:
A Cultural History of Shopping in the Early Modern Era :
Series Name:
A Cultural History of Shopping
Number:
1st
Place of Publication:
London
Number of Pages:
21
Language:
English
ISBN:
9781350027060
Status:
Published / Disseminated
Refereed:
Yes
Related URLs:
Edit Item