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Oh yes he was! Oh no he wasn’t! |
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In reality moving to London was no guarantee of happiness, and life for most migrants would have been precarious, however, Richard Whittington embodied something of a success story. Initially apprenticed to the Mercers' Company on his arrival in London, Whittington eventually became a successful Mercer himself, dealing in valuable cloths like velvet, silk and damask, and he was appointed Master of the Company on several occasions.
Richard Whittington dispensing charities
© Reproduced by courtesy of the Mercers' Company |
His customers included high profile men like Robert de Vere, childhood friend and favourite of Richard II, and, in 1389, Whittington completed his first transaction with the King, receiving £11 for two cloths of gold.
Royal relations
From this point onwards, Whittington began to develop a close relationship with the Crown. He continued to supply the Royal Wardrobe with various goods for many years, including items for two royal weddings, however, he increasingly turned his attention to loaning money to the Crown.
Between 1388 and 1422 Whittington made seven loans to Richard II totalling around £2,000, and a further 51 loans to Henry IV, worth about £30,000. Instead of receiving direct repayment of these loans, Whittington was often assigned part of the wool tax collected at various ports, and this led him into a third area of activity – he became a collector of the wool subsidy in London, and a considerable exporter of wool.
Whittington contributed to the rebuilding of St Michael Paternoster Royal
© Courtesy of Stephen Millar |
But, more than economic success, Richard’s dealings with the Crown brought him political influence and power. He does not seem to have loaned money to the Crown for direct financial gain – he rarely made any extra profit – but rather to get involved in matters of high policy; to gain the ear of the king. Surprisingly, Whittington managed to enjoy good relations with a series of kings, during a period of turbulent successions and strained relations between Crown and capital.
In 1392 Richard II stripped London of its liberties, and only fully restored them to the city in 1397. Even then, Richard imposed his own choice of mayor on the city - this man was none other than Richard Whittington, whose loans to the king were obviously paying off! Whittington was elected to the position of Mayor on another three occasions, meaning that he held the post four times in all, not three as the legend asserts.
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