After a brief vacation from Carpenter research I wish in this and subsequent letters to solve the basic and all-important problem of who the Carpenters were in 14th century England. It was this hundred-year period, that culminated in Town Clerk John and his kinsman the Bishop of Worcester, that established the family (clan), and allowed it to flourish in subsequent centuries. In previous letters it was proven beyond doubt that the Carpenters provided major financial backing to King Henry Vl and the Lancastrian cause. It was also proven that the Carpenters possessed impressive land and assets holdings. The problem remains unresolved as to the generation prior to the above two great names in Carpenter history, in particular as to Town Clerk John’s brothers Robert, John and their father Richard, their origins and source of prosperity and wealth. Town Clerk John’s father Richard presents us with an immediate problem with the trade designation of ‘chandler that has been usually associated with him. It has been suggested that this trade has a wider meaning than an individual connected to candlemaking, a wider meaning extended to supplying needed articles to ships. This explanation leaves me unsatisfied. I sense that Richard Carpenter was much more a man of social standing and influence than a ‘chandler’ could have been. I say this because important positions in the London City government were associated with those with connections to trade and specifically the export of wool. For example the Town Clerk’s close friend, patron and predecessor John Whittyngton, was in charge of all wool exports from England, in a merchant’s cartel called The Company of the Merchants of the Staple. The Merchants of the Staple had a monopoly over the export of wool which the English crown, from export duties, lived on. The upper tiers of London city government were entwined with the Merchants of the Staple. Well below the wool merchants in wealth and social prestige were people formed into ordinary guilds,or trade associations, like the cordwaners, drapers, vinters chandlers and the like. (see Merchant Staplers in the Encyclopedia Britannica) There is another Richard Carpenter, other than ‘chandler’ Richard that seems a more likely candidate. His name appears in a legal proceeding with several individuals belonging to trade guilds. However Richard’s name is not connected with any trade guild and he is designated as living in London’s Fleetstreet, an area where other people who were extremely powerful socially and financially lived. Richard I suspect belonged to the merchant’s guild. There are additional references to a Richard who was a witness in court proceedings indicating a powerful person living in proximity or somehow connected to the court. This quote appears in the Close Rolls for Henry lV in 1412. “Memorandum of a mainprise body for body, made in chancery in November this year by John Bulloke ‘skynner’, John Ledys ‘cordwaner’, both of London, Richard Carpenter of ‘Fleetsreet’, John Apulton ‘taillour’, John Stone Barbour’, John Fynche ‘Chaundeler’, John Parker ‘armorer’ and John Wolfhart ‘habirdasher’ to have Nicholas Passyn ‘goldsmith’ there from day to day until the court is dismissed.” This quotation involves money that a goldsmith owed to the long list of individuals. Goldsmiths were the bankers of their days. People with cash assets turned their money over to the goldsmiths before it was turned in deeded assets like land etc. All the above people belonged to trade guilds with the exception of Richard Carpenter who was of a profession above theirs and not designated, as was the custom in official documents. Richard had money to turn over to a goldsmith, yet he was not a tradesman. The other people in the document were probably not representing themselves, but rather they were representing their guild or trade groups. In other words John Parker ‘armorer’ had given armorer trade association money to Mr. Passyn the goldsmith for his safe keeping. Likewise Richard Carpenter could very well have been representing a group of people, or corporate interest, in this legal proceeding. Later when I discuss the Town Clerk’s possible brother Robert, I will shed more light on this. Sincerely, Bruce E. Carpenter