The Building Accounts of the Savoy Hospital, London, 1512-1520 (Westminster Abbey Record Series) by Charlotte A. Stanford (Boydell Press)

These important accounts (...) throw much valuable light on the appearance of the hospital at its creation.... Of enormous value for historians of the late medieval and the early sixteenth century building trade, and those interested in building materials and economic activity in the London area. ARCHIVES & RECORDS An admirable piece of work (that) will be an invaluable source for economic historians. THE RICARDIAN Stanford's edition of the building accounts is a welcome addition to the Westminster Abbey Record Series. She has transcribed the complete account, and her introduction provides a variety of contexts for understanding the accounts. The index of last names also means that individual workers can be tracked, which would allow for further analysis of the work habits of skilled and unskilled laborers

Founded by Henry VII, the Savoy hospital was designed to execute corporal works of mercy and commemorate the king through prayer by housing one hundred poor men every night in palatial surroundings. The building complex, one of the landmarks of early Tudor London, was unique for English hospitals in its adoption of a cross-shaped ward, but its structural details have remained obscure. Published for the first time here, the building accounts record, edited here for the first time, provides detailed evidence of that structure, as well as of the hundreds of craftsmen and laborers who toiled to complete it. In addition to the accounts themselves, this volume contains a thorough contextual introduction, elucidatory notes, and a glossary of building terms.