In 1200 the Suffolk town of Dunwich was one of medieval England's
wealthiest ports. However, a succession of marine inundations in the
late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries drastically reduced its
size and importance. Evocative descriptions of Dunwich's long struggle
against the sea abound, but little has been written about the medieval
town itself.
The Bailiffs' Minute Book of 1404-30 is the single most substantial
and informative document to have survived from the borough's medieval
archive. It provides new insights into the town's bitter legal dispute
with neighbouring Walberswick, its system of government and the men who
administered and financed the town.Of even greater importance are the
many references to the fortunes and organisation of the fishing
industry. Additionally, the Minute Book contains a number of detailed
tax assessments, thus revealing how local communitiesshared the burden
of royal lay subsidies. These assessments are among the first of their
kind to be published.
Mark Bailey is High Master of St Paul's School, and Professor of Later
Medieval History at the University ofEast Anglia.