Alice de Bryene

Alice de Bryene or Alice Brian (born 14th century; died 1413 or after) was an English noblewoman who owned estates in Suffolk and was present at the court of Richard II (reigned 1377–1399). She was the wife of Guy Brian the younger, daughter-in-law of Guy Brian the elder,[1] and granddaughter of Alice de Bures.

The wedding of Isabella and Richard II, mentioned in letters 6 and 8 of Alice de Bryene's letter-book

Household documents

Alice de Bryene is frequently cited in social history texts because two of her household documents happen to survive. They give important insights on the activities of a noble family in the late 14th century. These documents are: a single leaf from a letter-book, containing copies of eight letters received in Alice de Bryene's household in the 1390s; and a household book giving details of food and drink consumed in the household between October 1412 and September 1413.

The leaf from the letter-book (PRO SC 1/51/24) was published by Edith Rickert in 1927. According to Rickert, "six of the letters can be dated ca. 1393-96, one may be earlier, and one (the first) bears no marks of date".[2] The letters are written in Anglo-Norman, and it is assumed that they were copied into the letter-book by Alice de Bryene's secretary. Letter no. 4 is from King Richard II to Alice. Letter no. 3 is from Sir John Devereux (died 1394), who refers to Alice as ma tres-chere soer, "my very dear sister" because his son John had married her daughter Philippa. Letter no. 6 is from the younger John Devereux to Philippa; letter no. 8 is from him to his mother-in-law Alice. Both of these letters were written at Calais around 31 October 1396 at the marriage of Richard II to Isabella of Valois. Letter no. 7 is from Alice's other son-in-law Robert Lovell.

The household book, written in Latin, was published by M. K. Dale and V. B. Redstone in 1931, and was used by Evelyn Myatt-Price and Ernest Rubin for statistical studies of food and drink, notably the brewing and consumption of ale in 15th century England. In the period studied, ale was brewed in the household about every six days, and average consumption was approximately one gallon per person per day.[3]

References
  1. See "Brian, Guy, Baron Brian (c. 1310-1390)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Reginald Brian, bishop of Worcester, was therefore her husband's brother.
  2. Rickert (1927) p. 249.
  3. Myatt-Price (1960) p. 65.

Bibliography
  • Dale, M. K. & Redstone, V. B. (eds.) (1931) The Household Book of Dame Alice de Bryene, 1412-1413. Ipswich: Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and Natural History
  • Myatt-Price, Evelyn M. (1960) "A Tally of Ale" in Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (General) vol. 123 (1960) pp. 62–67
  • Rickert, Edith (1927) "A Leaf from a Fourteenth-Century Letter Book" in Modern Philology vol. 25 (1927) pp. 249–255
  • Rubin, Ernest (1972) "Statistical Exploration of a Medieval Household Book" in The American Statistician vol. 26 no. 5 (December 1972) pp. 37–39
  • Swabey, fiona (1999) Medieval Gentlewoman: life in a gentry household in the later Middle Ages. New York: Routledge
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