This book is a review and analysis of the data contained within a unique body of evidence, concerning advance contracts for the sale of wool in medieval England. The nature of these contracts tells us much about the early use of sophisticated financial instruments on not just a domestic but also a European-wide scale. We have been able to delve into the contracts to look at why they existed and what form they took. In turn, we have been able to further focus on one particular monastery and to investigate the reasons for its eventual dispersal, determining how the advance wool contracts were linked into this event. We have also attempted to analyse the contracts from a modern finance perspective,a probably for the first time. We have looked at whether the market was efficient and whether these contracts were forwards or loans, by calculating the interest rates charged.

This book benefits from the survival of a wealth of contract evidence but not the contracts themselves. We are able to discover the details of the bulk of the contracts because of the legal processes of the Exchequer (Memoranda Rolls and Plea Rolls) and Chancery (Close Rolls). We are not therefore able to undertake a survey of all advance contracts that may have been in existence – we can only analyse those that survive because of the legal process.