A Flemish origin for the London Carpenters was a matter I had long assumed. Their ultimate beginnings may indeed have been Flemish, but an overwhelming amount of evidence now exists that points to a Gascon origin in the 1200s. Gascony in France at this time was actually an English possession, known as the Duchy of Aquitaine (please consult your encyclopedia). The Gascons dominated the importation of wine into England. The combined profits with taxes provided a major source of income for the crown. Eduard le Carpentier and a group of other Carpenters were first encountered in a curious salvage court case concerning a French ship in 1293. This year was the beginning of armed conflict between France and Gascony, thus suggesting a Gascon connection for Eduard, rather than a Flemish one. Eduard, I later discoved, seemed to be connected to a large group of Gascons in Yorkshire, a major trading center. Peter le Charpenter, an important 1200s merchant from St. Jean d’Angeley in Gascony, was also a resident of Yorkshire. The other influential appearing knight, Sir John Carpenter, was found to be in the service of a Sir John St. John, the Seneshal of Gascony. In other words the crown repeatedly sent Sir John St. John to Aquitaine on administrative matters. Surely Sir St. John took along his knight Jean le Carpentier, a Gascon fluent in local affairs. An extensive Carpenter involvement in English-Gascon affairs is not difficult to imagine. Right from the beginning the Carpenters seemed to know what they were doing. They made money and then they bought power. This pattern, as you recall from my earlier research, extended for another century and a half to the Lancastrian royal cause. In addition I discovered an extensive series of court cases dealing with ‘denizen’ Charpenters in various towns in Yorkshire port towns. This suggests to me a large group of families by 1300s that had grown from three or more individuals in the mid 1200s. Where the Carpenter thread leads back from Gascony I do not know. However, one excellent hint exists. The town of St. Jean d’Angely traditionally had ties with Rouen in Normandy. Rouen was the center for Norman business dealings. Norman traders controlled much of the wine trade until the reconquest of Normandy by the French. We normally think of the Normans as warriors. Yet their abilities at international finance and trade was one of their real achievements. Were the Carpenters Norman knights and traders, whose sons left for Flanders in the 1000s to become the large landowners in Nord of the 1200s, and whose sons became the wine importers and commodity exporters of Gascony and England? Sincerely, Bruce E. Carpenter