A High Street Inheritance: Henley-in-Arden in 1419-20

The contents of a previously overlooked rental of the borough of Henley-in-Arden, composed in 1419–20 when the co-heirs to the Freville lands were trying to decide how to share out their inheritance, are presented and discussed. Rare in the combination of its extent and date, it provides an important view of tenurial arrangements in the borough in the aftermath of the plague outbreaks of the previous seventy years. Some elements of continuity can be identified, but the dominant impression is of major alterations having occurred in the relationship between the owner and his tenants. The survey’s significance is also considered in the wider context of the history of late medieval urbanism in the west midland region.