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He developed trading activities overseas as a merchant of the Calais staple, emerging as a ship-owner able to make substantial loans to the Crown. He involved himself in the government of the city, from councilman to alderman, sheriff, MP and ultimately mayor, with the participation in civic and parliamentary elections to be expected of one in his position. His second marriage to a rich widow and his investment in property gave him the status of a prosperous landowner in his final years.</p> <p>In this study, David Large reveals that Robert took on as an apprentice none other than William Caxton. Robert died an extremely wealthy man, leaving monetary bequests amounting to almost 拢8000. His charitable bequests were so outstanding as to be noted in the epitaph for his son Richard 17 years later, while his generosity to the poor and substantial benefactions towards the repair of watercourses and London Bridge ensured he would be remembered in the city for much longer. David Large continues the story with the mercer's children, and an account of others of his name in medieval and subsequent times.<br />Paperback, 102 pages including indexes, ISBN 978-0-9546812-2-7,<br />price inclusive of shipment: UK 拢13.50, Europe 拢17, Rest of World 拢19.50.</p> <p>To order the book <a target="_blank" href="/shop/books-cds">click here</a> to go to our secure online shop</p> <p>There is a manual <a target="_blank" href="/shop/print-form">order form</a> for those not wishing to pay online.</p> </div> </div> <div aria-label="Breadcrumbs" role="navigation"> <ul itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/BreadcrumbList" class="breadcrumb"> <li class="active"> <span class="divider icon-location"></span> </li> <li itemprop="itemListElement" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ListItem"> <a itemprop="item" href="/" class="pathway"><span itemprop="name">Home</span></a> <span class="divider"> <img src="/media/system/images/arrow.png" alt="" /> </span> <meta itemprop="position" content="1"> </li> <li itemprop="itemListElement" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ListItem"> <span itemprop="name"> Publications </span> <span class="divider"> <img src="/media/system/images/arrow.png" alt="" /> </span> <meta itemprop="position" content="2"> </li> <li itemprop="itemListElement" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ListItem" class="active"> <span itemprop="name"> The Life and Family of Robert Large, Mercer </span> <meta itemprop="position" content="3"> </li> </ul> </div>  </div> </div> </div> <p class="pull-right"><a href="#top" id="back-top">Back to Top</a></p> </div>  <div class="footer"> <div class="container"> <hr /> <p>© Foundation for Medieval Genealogy 2024</p> </div> </div>  <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-L9GHHQK962"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-L9GHHQK962'); </script> </body> </html>