glassware was imported from the Levant, he commented.
Anne asked if Malachi was aware of any other properties for sale and expressed some interest in the house at Holebourn Bridge, seeking the asking price.?20 said Malachi, immediately beginning a selling spiel about the spaciousness of the property, its excellent location, stabling, strong construction and so on.
Anne responded with concerns about is age, pointing out at length the extent of repair worked needed, the rising damp, dry rot, need for the roof to be re-thatched, repainting and the need for substantial alterations to meet their needs.
Malachi had a list of tradesmen who did excellent work at modest prices, the quality of whose work he could personally attest. Anne pointed out that for?20 they could buy a manor in Middlesex within five miles of the City at Chelsea or Kensington, with two or three hides of land, which would be just as convenient for attending at Westminster and which would actually produce an income instead of merely being an operating expense.
Alan hadn’t thought of that before and was genuinely keen on the idea, saying that if he visited those villages tomorrow he was sure that a visit to the local tavern in each village would produce the names of a number of land owners who had the right of sake and soke and who couldn’t afford to pay the Heriot and needed an urgent sale.
Anne thought that was an excellent idea and suggested to Malachi that they meet on Friday, before the Jewish Sabbath commenced in the evening, to discuss whether they still had any interest in the Holebourn Bridge property.
Seeing what he had thought to be a certain sale evaporating before his eyes, Malachi gritted his teeth and said that the lowest he could go would be?12 and at that price the owner would be losing money. Anne had Malachi confirm that, although outside the city walls, the property was classified as part of the city and that no Heriot was outstanding or payable on it, and then accepted the offer, instructing Malachi to have his lawyer draw up the necessary deeds and that the Heriot clause was to be included in the deed- which was something else that Alan had not considered. Anne collected the list of tradesmen from Malachi and they left the thoroughly crestfallen Jew in his office after making arrangements to meet at Sext the next day to complete the documentation and finalise payment.
Back at the ‘Fox and Goose’ Anne took Alan upstairs and made fierce love to him, thoroughly roused by her success. As they lay entwined afterwards Alan asked, “Why not Chelsea or Kensington?”
“Because, my love, any of our London friends would expect to be able to invite themselves along whenever they felt like it and use it as a hunting lodge. If you want any time to yourself you have to be either in the City or at least half a day’s ride away,” she replied in a lecturing voice as she fondled him into hardness for preparation for another bout. When they eventually rose, ready and ravenous for the evening meal, Anne sent Leof off to Renier the glassmaker to arrange a one week delay in their departure, to Friday the 3rd of August.
Next morning, Thursday, Anne spent in Threadneedle Street with Alan and four huscarles, examining ribbons, sewing threads and bolts of cloth, items of haberdashery, hats, and lace kerchiefs to cover her hair. At least the parcels sent back to the inn this morning were much smaller and lighter. Both that day and the previous day Alan had found several shops in which he was interested. Book copiers, apothecaries and a shop that dealt in specialised instruments suitable for surgery. Specialist saws, scalpels, surgical spoons and hooks, clamps, retractors and the like, apparently imported from Iberia. Anne wasn’t interested and wandered out after a few minutes, making Alan realise that he’d have to arrange his own shopping expedition.
At noon they met with Malachi and his lawyer. Alan and Anne both carefully checked through the deeds of the house at Holebourn Bridge, going back to its original grant from the Crown and the current deed, all written in English, including the clause that no Heriot was outstanding or payable on it and the standard clause that the vendor, an Englishman named Ealdean from Croyden in Surrey, knew of no defects that had not been disclosed. Ealdean had already signed and sealed the deed, properly witnessed by a priest, so presumably Ealdean had either been somewhere closer than Croyden or had been sent for last night. All was in order and Alan and Anne signed the authority for Malachi to debit their account by the sum of?12 and Malachi produced a receipt signed by Ealdean, again witnessed, for that amount.
Business transacted, they returned to the ‘Fox and Goose’ and sent Leof and two of the huscarles on errands to the carpenter, bricklayer and thatcher recommended by Malachi with instructions to the tradesmen to meet them at the house at Holebourn Bridge at Prime early the following morning. They then walked the half-mile to their new house to introduce themselves to the servants and conduct interviews.
They had noticed on their previous visit that the house had been kept reasonably clean and they had bought it fully furnished. It had a butler of about 30 years of age, a cleaning maid of about 15, a stableboy of about 12 and a female cook of about 35. The butler’s name was Aikin and had been with the previous owners for the five years they had owned the house. The maid was his daughter Aidith and the stableboy his son Tiw. They shared one room in the servants’ quarters in the attic. The cook was a fat and bad-tempered woman called Frithswith who lived with her family in the city.
Anne said, “You’re each employed on for a trial period of one week. Aitkin get some good wine and ale for a dozen hungry men. Frithswith, do the same for food- if you want to keep your job you’d better make certain you show off your cooking skills for the next week. Aitkin, order firewood for the kitchen and the fire for winter and make sure it’s stored in a dry place. Get hay and oats for a dozen horses for a week. Tiw can muck out the horses and the men can look after them this time. After this visit, if you are retained, when we are in residence you can hire an extra stable hand, a serving maid and a scullery maid.
“Aidith, it looks as if you know your job as you’ve been keeping the place tidy. I have my own personal maid and will usually have a second maid. They can help with the work around the house. Aidith, you move into your own room in the attic. It’s not fitting for you to be sharing a room with your brother and father. Air all the rooms, particularly the bedrooms and the beds. Get some men to remove all the old rushes on the floor and scatter new ones.
“Aitkin, get the rat-catcher in- today. I’ll order linen and have it delivered here tomorrow for when we move in. Aidith, there will be ten huscarles, all young and full of their own self-importance. They’ll be told to leave you alone and it is up to you to repeat that to them if one of them gropes you without your permission. If they do so, you tell me. You aren’t employed to put up with that and I want to hear of any problems. Whether we retain any of you depends on how you perform this week, so I expect you all to be at your best.”
The tradesmen were present on time next morning. Anne had each of them spend the morning taking a full inventory of the work to be done on the house, including wood to be replaced because of dry rot, weathering or insect attack, brickwork needing attention and the whole of the building to be painted inside and out. Anne and the carpenter sketched out plans to convert the outhouse into a barracks for a dozen men. Then Anne returned to the City to buy mattresses, bed linen, towels, drapes and those items the previous owners had removed, including ordering a large bed to be made for the main bedchamber by a cabinet-maker in Wood Street, extra storage boxes, benches, tables and chairs.
The following morning the tradesmen were back and they provided detailed specifications of the work they proposed be done. This Anne and Alan adjusted to remove some work they felt was unnecessary, and prices were agreed. Half was to be paid on commencement on Friday 3rd August and the balance on completion, to be no later than All Saints Day on 1st November when Alan and Anne intended to return.
The horses were led into the stables by the huscarles, to the great excitement of Tiw, who clearly loved the animals and spent all his time fussing over them. A series of carts drew up making deliveries and Anne spent the afternoon making payments from the cash that they had withdrawn from Gideon’s office. By evening, when they had settled in, the house had been changed from being semi-derelict into something with some degree of vibrancy. Anne was sure that when they returned in three months that the property would be virtually unrecognisable.
****
Anne spent a large part of the next week shopping. Alan spent a morning going through three apothecary shops to refill his supplies of medicines and an interesting couple of hours visiting the medical instruments shop, having the different instruments explained to him and making a number of purchases. The two bookshops that the city boasted held little of interest to him except a relatively plain copy of the Bible that Alan intended to donate to the Wivenhoe church. Brother Cuthbert, the librarian at the abbey, was most helpful. He examined most carefully the list produced by Brother Leanian, the librarian of the Colchester Priory, promising a number of works missing from that list including two more chapters of Hippocrates’
