EYSEL (AYSELL), Robert, of Taunton, Som.

Besides trading in herring, which he brought up to Taunton from Exeter, Eysel also dealt in cloth, being assessed in 1395-7 for alnage on as many as 283 ‘dozens’ sold in Somerset.Exeter City RO, box 304, customs’ acct. 13-22 Ric. II; E101/343/28, 30. He served as a member of the jury which at Taunton in 1400 testified at a sheriff’s inquest concerning the possessions of the late King, Richard II, and acted in the same capacity at the taking of an inquisition ad quad damnum in 1414, when complaint was made that the abbot of Glastonbury had built a watergate near his mill at the Bath Pool, which prevented boats from travelling between Taunton and Bridgwater. Doubtless, on the latter occasion, Eysel was anxious that his trading interests should not be put in jeopardy.C145/278/27, 293/5; Add. 30289, ff. 40, 41.