Family and Education

m. bef. 1379, Maud.2

Offices Held

Tax collector, Berks. Mar. 1377, Nov. 1382, Dec. 1384, Jan., Dec. 1385, Nov. 1386, Mar. 1395.

Mayor, Reading Mich. 1382-3.3

Biography

By 1379 atte Hacche was wealthy enough to be assessed for the poll tax at 8s. Resident in Reading, he witnessed a number of deeds there between 1382 and 1394.4 By 1382 he held a tenement in the High Street, and in 1397 secured a messuage situated between ‘le Cornchepyng’ and ‘quidam magnam portam David atte Hacche’. This last presumably refers to the great gate of atte Hacche’s own residence.5

Atte Hacche’s trade as a victualler seems to have involved him in a major dispute with the abbot of Reading, for in about 1387 the abbot sued him in Chancery for selling fish in the town in such a way as to contravene the market rights granted to the abbey by successive kings. The result of the case is not known, though the abbot probably won, for he had all the abbey privileges confirmed by Richard II.6

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421

Author: Charles Kightly

Notes

• 1. W. Prynne, Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva, iv. 1093 (as ‘atte Heath’).
• 2. E179/73/42.
• 3. Reading Pub. Lib. deed 70.
• 4. E179/73/42; Reading deed 69, 75, 77, 79, 80.
• 5. CPR, 1381-5, p. 250; CIMisc. iv. 211; Reading deeds 57, 83, 84.
• 6. Add. Ch. 19644.