As much fun as reading the phone book
No one likes paying taxes, but genealogists should love tax records. Poll tax and lay subsidy rolls are among the best records available between 1300 and 1550. Lay subsidies (for laymen; clergy were taxed separately) were levied on individuals from the beginning of the 14th century until 1327. A list of Hertfordshire taxpayers in 1307 has been published. I have this book - my wife says it's almost as much fun as reading the phone book. Poll taxes were levied in 1377, 1379 and 1381. Lists of these taxpayers have also been published, but unfortunately nothing survives for Hertfordshire.
In the 16th century, there were two major lay subsidies, in 1524-25 and 1544-45. Poor people were exempt, but in many cases the taxes covered a large portion of the adult population. For example, in Watford in 1544, there were about 100 people listed (but no Meads). These were heads of households, mostly men but also a few women, probably widows. If the average household had five people (possibly more since wealthier householders had larger families as well as apprentices and servants), this would represent about half the population of Watford.
In the 1524-25 lay subsidy rolls, there were these Meads in Hertfordshire:
Robert Meede of Albury, goods worth £10 4s. 6d.
William Meyd of Braughing, goods worth £2 13s. 3d.
Simon Mede of Gilston, goods worth £2.
Thomas Meade of Barley, goods worth £10 5s.
William Meade of Barley, goods worth £2 1s.
In the 1544-45 lay subsidy rolls, there were these Meads:
Robert Mede of Furneaux Pelham paid 14s. 8d.
Richard Mede of Furneaux Pelham paid 3d.
John Mede of Furneaux Pelham paid 2d.
Johanna Mede of Furneaux Pelham paid 1d.
William Mede of Braughing paid 3d.
Simon Mede of Gilston paid 14d.
Thomas Mede of Stortford paid 1d.
Robert Mede his son, of Stortford, paid 2d.
Thomas Meade of Stortford paid 14d.
Michael Meade of Ware Upland paid 4s.
John Mede of Ashwell paid 1d.
Edward Mede of Gravely paid 1d.
John Mede of Gravely paid 1d.
They were all in the northeastern part of the county. Since they were among the better-off people, most of them can be found in other records.
William Meyd of Braughing in 1525 must be the William Mede who paid 3 pence there in 1545.
Robert Meede of Albury is probably Robert Mede of Furneaux Pelham, an adjacent parish. Robert Mede was a constable there in the muster rolls in 1537, where it says "Robert Meade hath a hole harnes for a man wt a bowe & a schef of arowys." In 1541 Robert Mede paid 13d. Richard and John Mede in Furneaux Pelham are probably his sons and Johanna Mede could be his widowed mother.
Simon Mede of Gilston was in a manorial court roll in 1537, when he was fined for (I think) failing to clear out a ditch on his land called Mancroft. In about 1540 he was in a muster roll, and his will is dated 1546.
I'm not sure where Michael Mede of Ware came from. Possibly he was from Essex. In the Feet of Fines, in 1553-4, there is this item, "Michael Mede : Thomas Crowley, gent, son of Robert Crowley late of Wendon Lofts. Messuages and lands in Ware, Great and Little Amwell, Thundryche & pasture in Amwell." Thomas Crowley of Wendon Lofts was the father-in-law of Thomas Meade of the same village.
Thomas Mede of Stortford had lived there at least since 1517. Possibly he was the son of William Mede, who owed suit of court in 1499 at the manorial court of Piggots or Pecottes in Stortford. The two Thomas Medes were probably father and son. One died in about 1546, the other left a will in 1552, and Robert Meade died in 1570 in Thorley, an adjacent parish.
I have no other information about John Mede of Ashwell.
Edward Mede of Gravely was buried there in 1555. John Mede was a billman in the muster roll of about 1540, and was buried there in 1559.
Thomas Meade and William Meade of Barley were father and son. Thomas left a will in 1531 in which he named his wife Margaret, his sons William and Richard, and his daughter Sybill, who married Richard Hunt in 1539 in Stevenage, about 10 miles to the west. William Meade, possibly her brother, was buried in Stevenage in 1546/7. I'm not sure what happened to Richard, but I have an idea that I'll write about later.