Adam de Stratton

Adam de Stratton (died 1292–94) was a royal moneylender, administrator and clergyman under Edward I of England.

Stratton has been called by a modern historian "the greatest and probably the most unscrupulous of thirteenth-century money lenders, who eventually met the fate he deserved.

He found Crown employment for all his brothers: Thomas and William had positions in the Exchequer, while Henry was a judge in Ireland in the 1270s.

[7] During the reign of Henry III, however, the Jews were taxed at extortionate rates, and many were forced to sell acquired debts at reduced prices.

[12] Edward returned from a prolonged stay in Gascony in late 1289, and immediately started a purge of corruption in the royal administration, including proceedings against Ralph de Hengham, Chief Justice of the King's Bench.

[14] On his arrest, £12,666 17s 7d was found in his possession, a vast sum at the time,[15] equivalent to about £15 million in present-day terms.

[16] According to the chronicle of Bartholomew Cotton, a silk-lined chest was also discovered, containing fingernail and toenail clippings, women's pubic hair, and feet of toads and moles.

[4] According to F. M. Powicke, "the career of Adam de Stratton deserves our attention as a striking example of the interplay of public and private, local and central, royal and baronial, financial and administrative activities in social life.