Chapter Two

Appears in
Fool's Gold: A History of British Saffron
Fool's Gold

By Sam Bilton

Published 2022

  • About
  • 1 Bradley, R. 22 September 1727, Sloane MS 4049, pp. 31-32.
  • 2 A stamp duty on all newspapers and pamphlets had been introduced in 1712. It had been argued that the duty would dissuade the publication of licentious documents. Queen Anne was concerned about the number of libellous and scandalous publications being published and demanded parliament find a remedy. However, the stamp duty was actually used to fund a national lottery although the income derived from the tax was very small. See Downie (1979), Chapter 7.
  • 3 ‘Sir Hans Sloane’, The British Museum <https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/british-museum-story/sir-hans-sloane>
  • 4 Martyn (1730), p. 1; Egerton (2005).
  • 5 Bradley, R. 27 September 1727, Sloane MS 4049, pp. 38-9.
  • 6 Bradley, R. 23 June 1722, Sloane MS 4046, pp. 251-2.
  • 7 Bradley, R. 6 November 1726, Sloane MS 4048, pp. 212-3. It is difficult to decipher the letter following the number eight in the letter, but it looks like an ‘s’ for shilling.
  • 8 Egerton (1970), p. 61.
  • 9 Bradley (1720), p. 125.
  • 10 This contemporary version of John Gardener’s The Feate of Gardeninge was translated by Ellice de Valles. <‘https://ellicesblog.wordpress.com/2017/10/30/a-feate-on-gardening/>
  • 11 Howard (1678), pp. 945-9; Douglass (1727), p. 566-74.
  • 12 Cromaty (1966), p. 4; Rosen, Keeling, and Meekings (1978), pp. 80-105.
  • 13 Camden (1722), p. 425; Neale (1996), 234; Brown (1969), p.39-40; Evelyn (1901), entry for 31 August 1654, p. 302.
  • 14 ERO D/ACR5/107/2; ERO D/ACR4/183/4; ERO D/DGh T29; ERO D/Dtu 164; Neale (1996), p. 235
  • 15 Thirsk (1997), p. 66; Braybrooke (1836), pp. 146-7; ERO Q/SR 103/18,19 Indictments, 11 November 1587 (also Q/SR 103/15).
  • 16 Brightwen Rowntree (1951), pp. 19-23; Braybrooke (1836), p. 89. Lord Brayrooke explains that Charles II had planned to buy Audley End from Lord Suffolk and is mentioned by Samuel Pepys in his diary, ‘The King and Duke are to go to Audley End tomorrow, in order to buy it of my Lord Suffolk’. Braybooke places this date as 1665/6 following an outbreak of the plague. The royal family had taken refuge in Oxford but found London still in chaos on their return prompting them to visit Audley End.
  • 17 Harrison (1994), pp. 348-56; Neale (1996), pp. 237-8.
  • 18 Brightwen Rowntree (1951), p. 24; Brown (1969), p. 39; Percival (1989), pp. 79-80.
  • 19 Rosen, Keeling, and Meekings, ‘Parishes: Hinxton’ (1978), pp. 220-30; Camden (1695), p. 402; Barker, Morris and Maynard (1913).
  • 20 Schama (2001), p. 53; Jones and Stallybrass (2000), pp. 63-8.
  • 21 Howell (1650), p. 4; Moryson (1617), p. 180; Camden (1695), pp. 1045-6; Jones and Stallybrass (2000), pp. 63-8.
  • 22 Frances Howard (1590-1632) was the grand-daughter of Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden. She had been married to Robert Devereux in her teens and sought an annulment on the grounds that their union had never been consummated due to his impotence. She is buried at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Saffron Walden.
  • 23 Schama (2001), p. 52-4. Much has been written on this scandal from contemporary accounts like The Poysoning of Sir Thomas Overbury to a fictionalised version of the story by Lucy Jago called A Net for Small Fishes (2021).
  • 24 Jones and Stallybrass (2000), p. 63-8; Bellany (1995, pp.179-210) explains that the prosecution claimed the astrologer, physician and necromancer, Simon Forman (1552-1611), had instructed Anne and Frances in the dark art of love-magic with a view to making the Earl of Essex impotent.
  • 25 Howell (1650), p. 4. In his letter to his father he notes that the Earl and Countess of Somerset were fortunate to escape the noose receiving life sentences for their roles in the murder. Frances particularly feared the Lord Chief Justice ‘would have made white Broth of them’. Fortunately, ‘Prerogative kept them from the Pot.’ King James was very fond of Carr and the couple were released a few years after their incarceration. It certainly helps to have friends in high places.
  • 26 D’Ewes (1845), p. 79.
  • 27 Speed (1611), p. 37.
  • 28 Brome (1700), pp. 57-58.
  • 29 Rosen, Keeling, and Meekings (1978), pp. 256-63; Barker, Morris & Maynard (1913), no page.
  • 30 Rosen, Keeling, and Meekings, (1978), pp. 230-246.
  • 31 Rosen, Keeling, and Meekings (1978), pp. 230-46; CCA KP96/1/1; Palmer (1912), p. 161.
  • 32 Bradley (1727), pp. 158-9; Rosen, Keeling, and Meekings (1978), pp. 80-105.
  • 33 Lysons (1808), p. 36.
  • 34 Heard (1984), p. 98. Heard claims that Cornwall consumed twenty per cent of all the saffron produced in England. Unfortunately, she does not provide a source or a timeframe for this statement so it has not been verified.
  • 35 Worgan (1811), p. 3.
  • 36 Carew (1811), p. 12-5
  • 37 Hanson and Hanson (1997), p. 10, 16; Worgan (1811) pp. 8-9. The third type is loam of various ‘texture, colours and degrees of fertility’, including clay.
  • 38 Heard (1984), p. 98
  • 39 Hawkey (1871), p. 38.
  • 40 A jointure arrangement occurs when an estate has been settled on a wife for the period during which she survives her husband, in lien of a dower.
  • 41 Thrush and Ferris (2010), ‘Treffry, John (1595–1658), of Place, Fowey, Cornw.’; Thrush and Ferris (2010), ‘Trefusis, John (c. 1586–1647), of Trefusis, Mylor, Cornw.’; Keast (1950), pp. 58-63.
  • 42 KKA TF/567; KKA TF/568. It is not clear whether this saffron meadow is same one William Major leased but my assumption, given the term, is that it is. The period of 99 years was common for land. After this time the land would revert back to the lessor. Sometimes a term of lives was also included (e.g. three) although this is not stated on these particular leases.
  • 43 Thompson (1991), p. 4-12; KKA EN/472.
  • 44 KKA CF/1/210
  • 45 Harrison (1994), p. 348; GHH D760/9; GHH D1957/T1; BCA D-CN/9/10/1/3; WSA Add Mss 37193
  • 46 BA L5/1091. The English Heritage property Wrest Park now sits on the site of these manorial lands; SA HB8/5/327; SA HB8/5/101; Page (1906) pp. 317-328; Blomefield (1808), pp. 267-82; Francis (2020) pp. 22-3. Francis’s book contains a wealth of information on the botany of the Crocus sativus as well as the spice’s history in Norfolk; Pigot’s Directory of Norfolk, 1839, p. 453; Camden (1695), p. 391-2.
  • 47 Hilda Leyel (1938, p. 329) writes: ‘Saffron Hill in Holborn also takes its name from the Saffron plant; but probably because it was for so long the Italian quarter, and Italians colour their risotto with this yellow powder.’