1300 some of the worst evils which beset the life of mediaeval towns had given way to better conditions. Leicester never lagged behind other towns in reforming zeal, and its progress was comparatively rapid. In the year 1269 this town appears in the King's subsidy roll amongst the richest boroughs, inferior in its contributions only to London, the Cinque Ports, York, Lincoln, Yarmouth, Worcester and Winchester. Thompson estimated that in 1300 Leicester contained "not more than 5000 or 6000 inhabitants," but this is certainly an exaggeration, for it is not thought that the largest boroughs at that time could muster more than 4000 or 5000 inhabitants. There is little direct evidence on this point, but it may be noted that a tallage roll of the year 1271 contains 468 contributors, a roll of 1276 contains 428 names, and a roll of 1286 contains 387. A tallage roll of 1306 has 344 names. Some persons may be included among the tax-payers, as possessing goods in Leicester, who did not reside there, but they would be few. At any rate we cannot place the total number of taxpaying householders at Leicester in 1300 at much over 400. On the basis of five persons to a house the tax-paying householders and their families would thus amount to about 2000. To these must be added the non-taxpaying householders, with their families, the monks and clerics, retainers, paupers, prisoners and other waifs and strays, as well as the vast establishment maintained at the Castle. The numbers living at the Castle can only be guessed at, but some indication of the princely scale upon which it was conducted at this period may be gathered from the annual expenditure of the Earl's steward, which amounted in the year 1313 to £7358 9s. — equivalent to nearly £90,000 of present money. Fifteen hundred of "the Earl's great horses," which, we are told, were always kept in the stables, must have given employment to a large number of persons. The religious houses, too, were well occupied. We may estimate that these various elements might contribute, perhaps, nearly 1000 souls. The whole population of the town probably approached 3000.[1]
- ↑ Doering's calculation, 3,500, is wrongly based on the number of names found in tallage-rolls for three separate years.
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