BBC History Magazine

DID YOU KNOW…?

Loaf sentence

n medieval London, the initial punishment for a baker who sold adulterated bread was to be drawn through the city on a hurdle, a rulebook compiled by John Carpenter, town clerk of London, the offender should be hauled along the streets from the Guildhall to his own house. A second transgression meant the pillory; a third that the baker had to “forswear the trade… for ever”.

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