The stone “selde” or shed, as Stow calls it, was still standing in his time. “Without the north side of St. Mary Bow towards West Cheap a fair building of stone called in record Seldam: a shed which greatly darkeneth the said church; for by means thereof all the windows and doors of that side are stopped up.” Henry IV. granted the place to certain Mercers who established shops there but did not pull it down or alter it, and it remained until the Great Fire as the place from which great personages witnessed City shows. The places most commonly used for tournaments were Smithfield and Tothill Fields. At the former was held a very great tournament thirty years later, in the presence of the King and Queen, and another forty years after there was another when the old King conducted thither, to grace the sports, his mistress Alice Perrers, sitting in a triumphal chariot, as the “Lady of the Sun.”
The example in anarchy and disorder witnessed during the last reign makes it less surprising to hear of fresh riots in London, apparently among the Craftsmen. The King addressed a strong letter to the Mayor calling upon the City to repress these disorders. Further measures were taken against disorderly folk in the City but without success, since the King was forced to write again upon the subject. On Wednesday, 12th April, Sir Robert de Asheby, Clerk of the King, summoned the Mayor and Aldermen before the King’s Council at Westminster. Here they were informed that the King was going to war; that this was a costly amusement; and that he desired the City to lend him £20,000. The Mayor begged for time, and called a meeting of the Aldermen and the better sort, not at Guildhall, but at the Chapter House of Westminster. They began by offering the King 5000 marks, which is £3333: 6: 8. This the King refused, with an intimation that if they could do no better than that, he should ask for a list of the principal citizens. They therefore held another meeting and offered to lend the King £5000—“although it was a hard thing and difficult to do.” This offer was accepted. To raise this sum the whole of the City was assessed, sparing none. The richest man in the City was William de Caustom, Alderman, who was assessed at £400; that is to say, his share of the loan was set down at £400.
In 1338 there was a scare about a French descent. The King ordered the City to be “strictly closed” and fortified against any sudden attack by water. Everybody was to aid in this work, whether belonging to a religious community or not.
An inventory of munitions of war was drawn up in 1339. It shows that at a house near the Tower called the “Bretasche” there were 7 springalds (large crossbows); 380 quarels or bolts feathered with leatten or latone (a mixed metal); 500 quarels of wood; 29 cords; and 8 bows of ash for the springalds. At Aldgate 1 springald and 40 quarels; in the Chamber of the Guildhall 6 engines of latone usually called “gonnes” and 5 rollers for the same; also pellets of lead weighing 4½ cwt.; and 32 pounds of powder. This is the earliest mention of guns in England, the next earliest occurring five years later. Riley suggests that they had been brought over to this country by the Bardi from Florence whose guns had been used in war as early as 1326. He quotes Chaucer, House of Fame, book iii.:
“Swift as a pellet out of a gonne
When fire is in the powder ronne.”
The King and the citizens were on friendly terms throughout: but from time to time we see a touch of the Plantagenet.
The assessment shows the comparative wealth of the various wards:
| £ | s. | d. | |
| Tower Ward | 365 | 0 | 0 |
| Billingsgate Ward | 763 | 0 | 0 |
| Bridge Ward | 765 | 6 | 8 |
| Dowgate Ward | 660 | 10 | 0 |
| Langburn Ward | 352 | 6 | 8 |
| Wallbrook | 911 | 0 | 0 |
| Bishopsgate Ward | 559 | 6 | 8 |
| Limestreet Ward | 110 | 0 | 0 |
| Cornhill Ward | 315 | 0 | 0 |
| Cheap Ward | 517 | 10 | 0 |
| Broadstreet Ward | 588 | 0 | 0 |
| Vintry Ward | 634 | 16 | 8 |
| Bread Street Ward | 461 | 16 | 8 |
| Queenhithe Ward | 435 | 13 | 4 |
| Cordwainer Street Ward | 2195 | 3 | 4 |
| Faringdon Ward Within | 730 | 16 | 8 |
| Faringdon Ward Without | 114 | 13 | 4 |
| Cripplegate Ward | 462 | 10 | 0 |
| Colemanstreet Ward | 1051 | 16 | 8 |
| Candlewickstreet Ward | 133 | 6 | 8 |
| Aldgate Ward | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| Portsoken Ward | 27 | 10 | 0 |
| Castle Baynard Ward | 63 | 6 | 8 |
| Bassisshaw Ward | 79 | 13 | 4 |
| Aldersgate Ward | 57 | 10 | 0 |
| Sum Total | £12,385 | 13 | 4 |
A riot in the streets between the Fishmongers and the Skinners led to results much more useful than a King’s letter, for two rioters were executed—an example greatly needed and extremely useful.