Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 11.djvu/138

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NOTES AND QUERIES. rio s. XL FEB. e,

fast as he can, and all his business by the way is to make himself and others as happy as he can. Take him in two words a man, a Christian.' "

1. What is the source of the passage ? 2. On. what manor house (if any) was it carved, and at what date ? H. C D.

THIEBAULT AND " S'ENNTJYER." In which of Thiebault's works is there a description of a rustic party employing themselves in conjugating s'ennuyer ? V. H. COLLINS.

" BROKENSELDE." (10 S. xi. 10, 58.)

MAY I venture to suggest that this name

originally applied to a seld, sild, or shed

used for warehousing goods, and in need of

repair ? With it may be compared such

names as Broken Cross and Broken Wharf,

frequently mentioned in the City's records.

Both PROF. SKEAT and the late H. T. Riley,

the editor of the City's ' Liber Custumarum,'

refer " seld " to the Anglo-Saxon word

denoting a shield or protection (see Glossary,

' Lib. Cust.,' s.v. ' Selda '). The former,

however, appears to refer to a " shield "

as the defensive arm in warfare. In this

connexion it is quite possible that in course

of time the name " Brokenselde " lost its

original meaning, and denoted the ' ' broken

shield," and as such was used as a tavern sign.

A tavern called " Le Brokenselde " is

recorded in the Husting Rolls under date 1348

as being situate near the church of St. Mary

le Bow. It was probably at this tavern

described in Latin as atte seldam fractam

that an affray took place in 1325, one Sundaj

evening, which led to a coroner's inquest.

There was also a tenement of this name situated on the south side of Westchepe opposite " le Standard," which became converted into a Sheriff's Compter pro bably the one known as the Bread Stree Compter, as the tenement was declared, or inquisition held in 1412, to be whollj situated in Bread Street Ward (' Cal Letter-Book I,' pp. 108-9).

R. R. SHARPE. Guildhall.

" Le Brokenselde," mentioned in Henrj Rede's will, was evidently a " seld " whicl was or had been in a ruinous condition The word " seld " occurs frequently in th City records. For example, ' a house in Soperelane, opposite to the hostrey (hos

itium) of the seld called Brodeselde," is aentioned in Letter-Book G, quoted in Wiley's ' Memorials,' p. xv. In. 29 Edward I.

Richer de Refham, mercer, acknowledged that he ad no right or claim, nor made any claim, in that jarcel of land containing the space of two aumbries armariolorum) in the corner of the great seld of loysia de Coventre in the mercery of London," &c. Letter-Book C. fo. liv.

This, the " great Seld " in Cheap, is pro- bably the same as the " Brodeselde " above mentioned. In 1370 the Mayor and Alder- nen, on the petition of Adam Lovekyn,

' ordered that no strange tanner, bringing his hides o the City for sale, should expose them for sale any .vhere within the City, or the suburbs thereof, than n the Seld in Frydaystret "

selonging to Adam Lovekyn (Letter-Book G, quoted in Riley's ' Memorials,' p. 343).

Stow in his ' Survey of London ' (ed. 1603, p. 259) refers to a fair building of stone ailed in record " Seldam, a shed," on the north side of St. Mary le Bow, West Chepe, which King Edward III. had caused

' to be made and strongly to bee builded of stone,
 * or himselfe, the Queene, and other Estates to stand

in, there to beholde the Justinges and other shewes

at their pleasures."

He states that in 1410 Henry IV. "confirmed the saide shedde or building to Stephen Spilman, William Marchford, and lohn Whatele, Mercers, by the name of one new Seldam, shed or building, with shoppes, sellers, and edifices whatso- euer appertayning, called Crounsilde, or Tamar- silde, situate in the Mercery in West Cheape, and in the parrish of Saint Mary de Arcubus in London, &c."

There is also mention made of a " seld " in West Cheap held by John de Stanes, mercer, in 1304 (Letter-Book B, fo. Ixiii b), and of a seld in the parish of St. Mary le Bow in West Cheap belonging to Richard and Margery Godchep in 1320 (Letter-Book E, fo. cxii), which would probably be the " Great " or " Brodeselde " above mentioned. Riley says (p. xviii) :

" There seems every reason to conclude, from various passages in the City books, that the Sekls were extensive warehouses : very similar probably to the Eastern Bazaars, with numerous rooms in them, fitted with aumbries, or cupboards, chests, and locks, and let to various tenants ; while in some instances a mere vacant patch of ground (placea) within the Seld is mentioned as being let."

Although this may have been the early meaning of the word, it was in later times apparently used as synonymous with what we now call "lock-up shops," as e.g., in a feoffment of a seld or shop with a vacant place of land in Henley in " le Shopperowe," 5 Aug., 11 Henry VIII. (A. 7619, 'Calendar of Ancient Deeds,' vol. iv.).