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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Influence and Development of English
+Gilds, by Francis Aiden Hibbert
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Influence and Development of English Gilds
+       As Illustrated by the History of the Craft Gilds of Shrewsbury
+
+Author: Francis Aiden Hibbert
+
+Release Date: March 3, 2012 [EBook #39030]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INFLUENCE AND ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned
+images of public domain material from the Google Print
+project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE INFLUENCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH GILDS.
+
+
+
+
+  London: C. J. CLAY AND SONS,
+  CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE,
+  AVE MARIA LANE.
+
+  CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL, AND CO.
+  LEIPZIG: F. A. BROCKHAUS.
+  NEW YORK: MACMILLAN AND CO.
+
+
+
+
+  Cambridge Historical Essays. No. V.
+
+
+  THE INFLUENCE AND DEVELOPMENT
+  OF ENGLISH GILDS:
+  AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE HISTORY OF
+  THE CRAFT GILDS OF SHREWSBURY.
+
+
+  BY FRANCIS AIDAN HIBBERT, B.A.,
+  OF ST JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE;
+  ASSISTANT MASTER IN DENSTONE COLLEGE.
+
+
+  _THIRLWALL DISSERTATION_, 1891.
+
+
+  Cambridge:
+  AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
+  1891
+
+  [_All Rights reserved._]
+
+
+
+
+  Cambridge:
+  PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. AND SONS,
+  AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
+
+
+
+
+  _TO THE REV. D. EDWARDES, M.A.,
+  HEAD MASTER OF DENSTONE,
+  IN REMEMBRANCE OF MUCH KINDNESS
+  AND ENCOURAGEMENT._
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+I should explain that, in the present Essay, I have restricted myself to
+associations which had for their object the regulation of trade. Frith
+Gilds and Religious or Social Gilds have received only passing notice.
+
+The Merchant Gild is too wide a subject to be treated in an Essay such as
+this. Moreover the records of the Shrewsbury Merchant Gild are too meagre
+to afford much information, and I would therefore have gladly passed over
+the whole question in silence but that without some notice of it the Essay
+would have seemed incomplete.
+
+My attention has thus been concentrated on the Craft Gilds, and on the
+later companies which arose out of these.
+
+It is greatly to be regretted that we have no work on Gilds which deals
+with the subject from an English point of view, and traces the development
+of these pre-eminently English institutions according to its progress on
+English soil.
+
+The value of Dr Brentano's extremely able Essay is very largely
+diminished, for Englishmen, not only because he is continually attempting
+to trace undue analogies between the Gilds and Trades Unions, but still
+more because he has failed to appreciate the spirit which animated English
+Merchants and Craftsmen in their relations with one another, and so has
+missed the line of Gild development in England. If he had not confined his
+attention, so far as English Gilds are concerned, solely to the London
+Companies he could hardly have failed to discover his mistake.
+
+Something has been done to set the facts of the case in a clearer light by
+Dr Cunningham briefly in his _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_[1].
+
+But it is to be feared that Mr J. R. Green's _History_ is so deservedly
+popular, and Mr George Howell's _Conflicts of Capital and Labour_ is so
+otherwise reliable, that views differing from those which these writers
+set forward--following Dr Brentano as it appears--stand little chance of
+being generally known.
+
+Great as is the weight which must attach to such important authorities, I
+have endeavoured--by looking at the facts in my materials from an
+independent standpoint--to avoid being unduly influenced by their
+conclusions, or by a desire to find analogies where none exist.
+
+The materials from which I have worked call for but little description.
+They are simply the records of the Shrewsbury Gilds--either in their
+original form as preserved in the town Museum and Library, or as printed
+in the Shropshire Archæological Society's _Transactions_.
+
+Though my view has been thus confined it has been kept purposely so.
+English local history is its own best interpreter, and although in some
+instances the documents have required illustrating and supplementing from
+extraneous sources, these occasions have been few. At the same time I have
+not omitted to notice how the effects of national events were felt in
+provincial changes, and I have especially striven to point out how the
+Shrewsbury records bear upon the various theories which have been put
+forward respecting Gilds. Writing thus in a historical rather than an
+antiquarian spirit I have not considered it necessary to overburden the
+pages with needless footnotes referring repeatedly simply to the records
+of the Shrewsbury Gilds.
+
+_October, 1890._
+
+
+NOTE.--_The Gild Merchant_, by Charles Gross, Ph.D. (Oxford, Clarendon
+Press, 1890), appeared after the above had been written and the Essay sent
+in. I have since had the advantage of reading it. The general conclusions
+at which the writer arrives are so similar to those I had already formed,
+that I have not found it necessary to alter what I had written. I have
+however to some extent made use of the material he has brought together in
+Vol. II., chiefly by way of strengthening the authorities in the footnotes
+to which reference is made in the text.
+
+
+
+
+EXTRACT FROM THE REGULATIONS FOR THE THIRLWALL PRIZE.
+
+
+"There shall be established in the University a prize, called the
+'Thirlwall Prize,' to be awarded for dissertations involving original
+historical research."
+
+"The prize shall be open to members of the University who, at the time
+when their dissertations are sent in, have been admitted to a degree, and
+are of not more than four years' standing from admission to their first
+degree."
+
+"Those dissertations which the adjudicators declare to be deserving of
+publication shall be published by the University singly or in combination,
+in an uniform series, at the expense of the fund, under such conditions as
+the Syndics of the University Press shall from time to time determine."
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                         PAGES
+
+  CHAPTER I.
+
+    Introductory                                           1-6
+
+  CHAPTER II.
+
+    The Merchant Gild                                     7-29
+      Note 1. Chronological Table of Merchant Gilds      24-28
+      Note 2. List of Trades and Professions             28-29
+
+  CHAPTER III.
+
+    The Craft Gilds                                      30-54
+      Note 1. Indenture of Apprenticeship (1414)         52-53
+      Note 2. Oath of Freemen                            53-54
+
+  CHAPTER IV.
+
+    The Early History of the Gilds                       55-76
+
+  CHAPTER V.
+
+    Reconstruction of the Gild System                    77-97
+
+  CHAPTER VI.
+
+    The Degeneracy of the Companies                     98-112
+
+  CHAPTER VII.
+
+    Shrewsbury Show                                    113-127
+
+  CHAPTER VIII.
+
+    The End of the Companies                           128-144
+
+  Appendix I. Non-Gildated Tradesmen                   145-156
+
+  Appendix II. Authorities cited                       157-159
+
+  Index                                                160-168
+
+
+
+
+NOTE.
+
+On page 26 Liverpool should be inserted. The charter was granted in 1229,
+by the king.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+INTRODUCTORY.
+
+
+[Sidenote: _Local life in England always varied._]
+
+In these days of convenience and easy transit, when distance has been
+annihilated by the telegraph wire and the express train, we can hardly
+realise, even with an effort, the extent to which such changes have
+revolutionised the social life of Englishmen. Of local sentiment there can
+be now but little, yet local sentiment has played a greater part in our
+history than perhaps any other motive. The England of to-day is little
+more than a great suburb of its capital. Yet it is a peculiar feature of
+the England of the past that its local life was always singularly varied,
+not only in the Middle Ages but down to quite recent times. Indeed the
+characteristic is still more than traceable in some of our less busy
+districts.
+
+In the past, too, some parts possessed the feature in a more marked degree
+than others. We should naturally expect that few towns would have a
+stronger infusion of local feeling than Shrewsbury. Through all its
+history it has indeed been marked by strong individuality.
+
+[Sidenote: _Early growth of Shrewsbury._]
+
+Situated in the midst of the Marches of Wales, the centre round which long
+waged the struggle for the fair lands westward of the Severn, its strong
+walls and insular position soon gave it a marked commercial superiority
+over the surrounding country. In consequence we find Shrewsbury at an
+early date considerably more advanced than the unprotected land outside,
+which lay open to the ravages of the Welsh. This condition of affairs, the
+reverse of favourable for commercial advancement, continued to depress the
+neighbourhood after Edward the First's conquest of the Principality, for
+the disorders of the Lords Marchers kept the Borders in a state of
+continual alarm, and prevented the inhabitants from settling down to any
+regular and profitable industry[2].
+
+Henry IV. on the death of Glendower effected the reconquest of Wales, and
+enacted severe laws against the inhabitants. The only result was, however,
+the organisation of robber bands whose definite object was to plunder and
+harass more completely their English neighbours. The evil became so
+intolerable that a special court had to be erected to remove it, and in
+1478 was formed the Court of the President and Marches of Wales.
+
+By dint of powers of summary jurisdiction over disturbers of the public
+peace, a diminution was effected in the disorders, and the border lands
+were able to participate in the increase of trade which was such a marked
+feature of the fourteenth century. In spite of the temporary shock given
+to industry by the Reformation, the district had, by the latter part of
+the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth, quite
+recovered from the Welsh ravages, and its prosperity at this time was very
+remarkable.
+
+The fertility of the district brought wealth to the market towns, and
+provided a wide area of comfortable purchasers for the products of their
+industries. The expansion of the Welsh cloth trade gave rise to a twofold
+struggle. There was firstly a strenuous effort of the border towns to keep
+it to themselves, and secondly a private quarrel as to which of them
+should engross the market. Shrewsbury eventually secured the monopoly
+after an arduous contest, and the importance of the town was thus
+considerably enhanced.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its later prosperity._]
+
+The internal history of its Gilds will show how peculiarly the state of
+Shrewsbury illustrates the period of quiet prosperity before the
+introduction of machinery broke in upon the comfortable life of provincial
+England.
+
+The county towns then possessed an importance of which they have since
+been shorn by various causes[3]. Each was the capital of its district,
+filling the part of a distant metropolis to which neither the country
+gentleman nor the wealthy burgess could expect to go more than once or
+twice in a lifetime. Shrewsbury, in particular, was possessed of features
+which serve not only to make it especially typical of the social habits of
+the period, but which at the same time give it an interest exceptionally
+its own[4].
+
+[Sidenote: _Its stationary condition in recent times._]
+
+And when the introduction of machinery transformed the face of England to
+such a large extent, the changes which it brought to Shrewsbury were
+extremely slight. Local life was strong. The town was slow to accommodate
+itself to new conditions of industry. Its Gilds and companies maintained
+their vigour to the end. Their yearly pageant continued to our own day.
+The timbered houses which the substantial tradesmen built in the days of
+their prosperity are still, many of them, standing. The streets of the
+town have been only gradually altered and improved. They still follow the
+old lines, often inconvenient, but always interesting: they still are
+called by their old names, full of confusion to the stranger, full of
+significance to the student.
+
+[Sidenote: _Importance of history of its Gilds._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Their quiet development._]
+
+Shrewsbury, then, exhibits a character eminently its own, from whatever
+point we view its history. But it is a distinction of similarity rather
+than the prominence of singularity. The progress of the town has gone on
+quietly and calmly, seldom interrupted and never forced. The history of
+its Gilds must of necessity present similar features. It will be a record
+of silent development, often leaving few traces, yet not the less evident
+to careful observation.
+
+[Sidenote: _Peculiarities._]
+
+But it is also a history in studying which we must be particularly on our
+guard against being led astray by the analogy of similar institutions in
+other parts of England or on the Continent. The desire to arrive at, or to
+conform to, general conclusions often blinds writers to the fact to which
+we have already drawn attention, namely, that local life in England was
+always varied; that each town and district had its own strongly-marked
+peculiarities. Bearing this in mind, deviations--apparent or real--from
+the ordinary course of Gild history will cause us no surprise. The
+shearmen's maypole quarrel[5] with the bailiffs is almost the only trace
+of serious conflict at Shrewsbury between the municipal authorities[6] and
+the companies until the seventeenth century. There are no signs of the
+rise of Yeomen Gilds[7] in earlier or later years, though evidence in
+plenty is found of the complete disregard shown by the masters for the
+interests of the journeymen[8]. On the other hand, so far from the Court
+of Assistants being a late creation we meet with it at Shrewsbury very
+early in Gild history.
+
+[Sidenote: _Especial points of value._]
+
+It will also be a record rich in illustrations of contemporary social
+life[9]. The closeness of relationship between religion and the ordinary
+business pursuits of the mediæval burgess; the wide public influence
+exercised by the Gilds in their earlier years, and the remarkable family
+feeling they maintained within the boundaries of the old towns even down
+to the time when the companies had become utterly demoralised, will be
+exemplified not less remarkably than the continuity of the Gild sentiment
+through the shocks of the Reformation period, through the economic changes
+of Elizabeth, and even (in some sort) through the Reforms of 1835.
+
+It is a history too which will help us to understand a problem of
+considerable difficulty. We shall not only see the degenerated societies
+of capitalists in full vigour down to the date of their enforced
+termination as trading companies, but we shall also be enabled to perceive
+how it was that they managed to retain their prejudicial and antiquated
+privileges to the very end of their existence.
+
+It is indeed in the light which their history throws on the conditions of
+provincial trade and the social customs of an ordinary provincial town
+during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that its special
+importance lies. The rapid progress which marked the commencement of that
+period, not less than the torpor and decay which characterised the
+corporate towns at its close will be found to be eminently exemplified in
+the history of the Shrewsbury Gilds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE MERCHANT GILD.
+
+
+[Sidenote: _Universality of Gild feeling._]
+
+Dr Brentano[10] is particularly desirous to make it clear that he
+considers England "the birthplace of Gilds." But it is scarcely necessary
+to point out that the conception of the Gild belongs to no particular age
+and to no particular country. Not to insist unduly on the universality of
+an institution from which some writers have derived the Gilds, and to
+which they certainly bear considerable resemblance, the family--common to
+humanity itself--we note that the Greeks had their [Greek: eranoi][11] and
+their [Greek: xunômosiai][12], and the Romans their _collegia
+opificum_[13], each exhibiting not a few of the features of the mediæval
+Gilds. _Corps des métiers_ existed in France in very early times, perhaps
+in direct continuation of the Roman institutions, and played a great part
+in the beginnings of many towns[14]. So early as to be anterior to the
+earliest known Frith Gilds, that is to say in the latter half of the
+seventh century, a regularly organised system of confederation existed
+among the Anglo-Saxon monasteries throughout England, according to the
+rules of which the united Abbeys and Religious Houses undertook to pray
+for the members, living and departed, of one another[15]:
+
+[Sidenote: _English and Continental Gilds._]
+
+Each of these associations, so various in date and object, bore great
+resemblance to the Gilds of later times, according as the latter are
+considered in the light of some one or other of their functions: now it is
+the common feast, now it is the possession of corporate property, here it
+is the union of all the workmen of a craft into one sodality, there it is
+the association of neighbours for mutual responsibility and protection;
+now it is the confraternity "in omni obsequio religionis." Such a
+tendency to association is simply the result of man's gregarious nature,
+and there is no need to restrict what is found alike in all peoples and
+all periods. But it is none the less true that the tendency has been more
+strongly marked in England than elsewhere. The earliest Gild Statutes
+which have come down to us are English[16], and the development of Gilds
+in England proceeded according to its normal course without being diverted
+and confused by external and disturbing circumstances. The real history of
+Gilds will thus be the history of _English_ Gilds, not of those of the
+Continent, whose records detail rather a bitter struggle between rival
+classes in the towns[17]. If the constitutional importance of the Gilds
+was thus greater on the Continent than it was in England[18], this was
+because _there_ a social institution was dragged out of its proper sphere
+of action, and in the arena of politics was shorn of the most attractive
+of its features.
+
+[Sidenote: _Value of history of local Gilds._]
+
+In these pages we shall be concerned solely with examples drawn from the
+history of our own country. Where necessary reference will be made to the
+institutions of other towns, but in general our attention will be
+concentrated on one provincial borough only--a town, as we have seen, well
+calculated to illustrate the social life of England in the past. It is
+only by working out the several departments of local municipal history
+that anything like a complete view of the subject can be ultimately
+obtained[19]. In the following chapters an attempt will be made to
+contribute something towards such a consummation.
+
+The records of the later Craft Gilds at Shrewsbury are entirely
+satisfactory, but unfortunately those of the Merchant Gild are of the most
+meagre description. They throw but little light therefore on its functions
+or history, and still less on the interesting question as to the precise
+nature of the relationship which existed between the Gilda Mercatoria and
+the Communa. Our attention will consequently be chiefly directed to an
+examination of the history and development of the _Craft Gilds_. A few
+remarks, more or less general in their scope, on the Merchant Gild seem
+however to be called for, in anticipation of the history of the later
+trade associations.
+
+[Sidenote: _Growth of towns in twelfth century._]
+
+In England, as elsewhere, the growth of the towns was one of the most
+marked features of the twelfth century. This was due to various causes.
+William's conquest had opened up increased facilities for communication
+with the Continent: the Norman soldiers brought skilled Norman traders in
+their train, and so war ministered to commerce just as subsequently the
+Crusades were largely helpful to the growth of trade and the progress of
+the towns. The vigorous administration of Henry I. and Henry II. had also
+facilitated the expansion of industry. Henry I. favoured the rising towns
+both because of their commercial utility and in order to make use of their
+counterbalancing influence against the power of the Barons. Shrewsbury he
+took into his own hands, having enforced the surrender of the town from
+the rebellious Robert de Belesme. The amendment of the currency and the
+organisation of the Courts of King's Bench and Exchequer were also as
+favourable to material prosperity as were the legal reforms of Henry II.
+afterwards. The circuits of the Justices Itinerant were restored, and
+appeals to the king in Council were established. A further weakening of
+baronial power was also effected by the destruction of the castles which
+the lawlessness of Stephen's tenure of the sovereignty had permitted;
+while the introduction of scutage made the king in some measure
+independent of the feudal forces by enabling him to call in the support of
+mercenary troops. On the other hand the Assize of Arms restored the
+national militia to its old important place.
+
+Shrewsbury had seemed to be depressed by the conquest. The town had been
+granted, in the first instance, to Roger de Montgomery, whose two great
+works, his castle and his abbey, yet remain. Both the earl and his works
+were at first the cause of complaint. In Domesday Book it is pointed out
+that Montgomery had destroyed 51 houses to make room for his castle; to
+the abbey he had granted 39 burgesses; 43 houses in the town were held by
+Normans and exempted from taxation. Consequently, as the same sum was
+required from the town as had been paid _tempore regis Edwardi_, the
+burden fell with undue hardship on the English inhabitants who remained.
+
+But the ultimate result of both castle and monastery was beneficial to the
+town. The latter attracted trade and the former protected it[20], and
+Shrewsbury early became a commercial centre of some importance.
+
+[Sidenote: _They differed little from country, except in possession of a
+Merchant Gild_]
+
+The towns at this period differed but little from the country. They both
+engaged in agriculture as well as trade; they were alike governed by a
+royal officer, or by some lord's steward. In the towns the houses were of
+course more closely clustered, and a further difference arose afterwards
+in the fact that a freeman in the town, when admitted to the Gild, might
+be landless[21]. The chief distinction indeed between town and country lay
+in the fact that the former had a Merchant Gild.
+
+[Sidenote: _to preserve peace._]
+
+The origin of such commercial unions is lost in the dimness of antiquity.
+Even in Anglo-Saxon times Dover had its Gildhall, and Canterbury and
+London are said to have been also possessed of trading associations. They
+came into being at first probably to preserve peace. At the date of the
+Conquest the right of jurisdiction almost invariably belonged to whoever
+held the town, but we cannot conceive that Roger Montgomery's successors
+would be likely to concern themselves overmuch with internal police. As a
+fact it would rest with the burghers themselves to protect their goods
+and persons from mishap.
+
+[Sidenote: _A.-S. Frith Gilds._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Trade regulations._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Royal authorisation: earliest mention._]
+
+Frith Gilds, with much the same objects, had been common anterior to the
+Conquest[22]. In most places where there was a market it was essential
+that some recognised authority should be in existence to keep the peace,
+as well as to be witness to sales[23]. The "laws of the city of London"
+were apparently drawn up with the express design of supplementing
+defective law[24]. They exhibit to us a complete authority for the
+supervision of trade, corresponding to the later Merchant Gild in nearly
+every particular: there is the common stock, the head man, the periodical
+meetings at which "byt-fylling" plays its usual important part[25]. The
+"ordinance which King Ethelred and his Witan ordained as 'frith-bot' for
+the whole nation" imposed the duty of pursuing offenders on the town to
+which they belonged[26]. There was thus evidently some organisation within
+the boundaries of the town, and as the chief of the burgesses forming this
+organisation were also the chief merchants (since trade was the
+_raison-d'être_ of the towns) it soon began naturally to frame commercial
+regulations[27]. So the Town Gild became, when, after the Norman Conquest,
+trade had assumed important dimensions, the Gilda Mercatoria with
+exclusive powers and privileges by royal charter. The earliest
+unmistakable mention of a Merchant Gild is at the end of the eleventh or
+the beginning of the twelfth century[28]. Under Henry I. grants of
+Merchant Gilds appear in one or two of the charters granted to towns[29],
+and under Henry II., Richard and John they become more frequent[30].
+Shrewsbury was one of the few which had the Merchant Gild confirmed as
+early as the reign of Henry II.[31]
+
+By these charters what had originally been a voluntary association now
+became an exclusive body to which trade was restricted.
+
+Important as were the advantages gained by the procuring of such royal
+authorisation, these charters only set the seal to what had existed in
+effect before. The landed and mercantile interests were practically
+identical within the towns: the great merchants were also the great
+landowners; the Gilda Mercatoria could thus frame regulations which it
+would be extremely difficult for any trader to disregard[32].
+
+[Sidenote: _Functions._]
+
+Besides, the benefits which resulted from common trading would be too
+obvious for any individual who could procure entrance into the Gild to
+abstain from doing so. It was far more to the common interest that one
+representative should buy for all and then divide the purchase equitably
+than that each should compete with each and so minister simply to the
+profit of the seller.
+
+There are several examples of such combined purchasing by a royal or
+municipal officer in towns where there was no Merchant Gild[33]. It was
+however generally effected by means of the latter, the granting of which
+meant the according of permission to the members to settle for themselves
+their custom in buying and selling.
+
+The retail trade within the town was restricted to their own members
+individually, and the wholesale trade coming _to_ the town was reserved to
+themselves collectively. Members of the Merchant Gild alone might sell
+within the walls, and traders coming from without might sell only to the
+Merchant Gild.
+
+There was no danger then as there would be now of such a practice driving
+all trade away from the town, for the restrictions in force at one place
+would be paralleled almost exactly in every other. At the periodical fairs
+alone did free trade prevail.
+
+But the exclusive privileges might be exceedingly harmful if the main body
+of householders were not members of the Merchant Gild. It was then the
+fact that the restricted trading was not "to the advantage of the
+community of the borough but only to the advantage of those who are of the
+said society[34]." When however the great majority of the householders
+were members of the trading corporation the arrangement would work well
+and beneficially for the whole town.
+
+[Sidenote: _All Burgesses are Gildsmen._]
+
+The effect of the granting of royal authorisation was, therefore, to
+finally draw all burgesses into the Gild, for all townsmen of any
+importance were traders. The records of the Shrewsbury Merchant Gild,
+though of the scantiest description, are sufficient to show how
+comprehensive was its range. All branches of trade were, at least down to
+the time of Edward I., represented in it[35]; it comprised every rank and
+degree, proportioning its fines and payments accordingly. The progress of
+the fusion of races is shown by the lists of names, which are both Saxon
+and Norman in indiscriminate order.
+
+[Sidenote: _Duties of Gildsmen._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Tendency to amalgamation of Gild and Communa._]
+
+So closely indeed did the practical boundaries of Gild and town coincide
+that in many places the former seemed to become the Communa, when the
+kings began to grant charters of incorporation. Richard I. can even say
+that all the privileges of his charter are granted "_civibus nostris
+Wintoniæ de gilda mercatorum_[36]," seeming to imply that at Winchester at
+least there were no citizens extraneous to the Merchant Gild. The villain
+flying from his lord could only be admitted to freedom through the
+machinery of the Merchant Gild. The Merchant Gild was ready to the hand of
+the burgesses as a centre, and the only centre, round which to rally when
+engaged in defending their liberties or in procuring fresh privileges. On
+the other hand the existence of such a secure and wealthy body, which
+would be at all times able to ensure payment of the _firma burgi_, and
+the frequent royal assessments which were laid upon the towns, would be an
+additional inducement to the kings in granting the charters of liberties.
+Glanvill, in the time of Henry II., doubtless already looked on the
+Merchant Gild and the Communa as, for all practical purposes,
+identical[37], from which the inference seems to lie that the possession
+of such a gild had thus early come to be looked upon as the sign and
+symbol of municipal independence. It is true that a town _might_ become a
+free borough without possessing a Merchant Gild, but this would be an
+exception to the general rule. It would be similar to the case of a free
+borough not holding the _firma burgi_: such a contingency was possible but
+unusual. To the mind of the lawyer therefore the possession of a Merchant
+Gild seemed the necessary precursor of a royal charter of privileges. And
+in practice this was found to be, speaking generally, the case.
+
+This apparent identity of Burgesses and Gildsmen would find palpable
+expression in the fact of the Gild Hall becoming the Town Hall. This
+naturally did not take place to any considerable extent before the 14th
+century, though during that period it became fairly common. It may have
+been that the Merchant Gild permitted the use of its Hall for public
+purposes, at first only occasionally and then more and more frequently
+until at length what had been exceptional became normal (either through
+precedent or purchase[38]); certain it is that the two names of Gild Hall
+and Town Hall became practically synonymous in about the 14th and 15th
+centuries. This had been foreshadowed at an early date. Domesday Book
+spoke of the "gihalla Burgensium[39]" at Dover.
+
+At Shrewsbury, in a charter of 1445, the Town Hall is called, as it is at
+this day, the Gildhall.
+
+[Sidenote: _But all Gildsmen not Burgesses._]
+
+But the _ideas_ of Gild-members and townsmen were long kept separate.
+Burgess-ship depended on residence[40] and the possession of a
+burgage-tenement, but not so membership of the Merchant Gild, which often
+comprised among its numbers many outsiders[41]. In this way the two bodies
+were clearly distinguished. At Ipswich it was ordered in John's
+charter[42] that the statutes of the town were to be kept distinct from
+those of the Gild "as is elsewhere used in cities and boroughs where there
+is a Gild Merchant," for the latter would probably consist of both "de
+hominibus civitatis" and also "de aliis mercatoribus comitatus[43]."
+Ecclesiastics[44] and women might also be members of the Gild, but of
+course could not be burgesses. Such members had, in some towns, to pay
+additional fees[45].
+
+[Sidenote: _Distinction between Gild and Communa preserved in Charters,
+but not in practice._]
+
+The charters were always granted to the "Burgesses," without reference to
+their capacity as Gild-members, except in the cases where the privileges
+granted were such as would only concern members of the Gild. It was the
+"burgesses" who purchased the _firma burgi_ and who paid such goodly sums
+for trading and other privileges. But in making up these payments they
+were glad to avail themselves of the assistance of the non-burgess
+merchants, not the least of whose recommendations seemed doubtless to lie
+in the share they were willing to bear in contributing to the periodical
+tallages and similar royal charges. They were indeed as a document
+expresses it most serviceable when it was requisite "_defectus burgi
+adimplere_[46]." Although in name it was the burgesses who paid the money
+and who purchased the _firma burgi_, it was in fact the Merchant Gild
+which bore the largest part.
+
+In another way also the "foreigners" who were members of the Merchant Gild
+were useful to the burgess-members of it.
+
+During earlier years all the Craftsmen who so desired, and could afford
+the necessary payments, were admitted into the Gild of Merchants. The
+designation 'merchant' was then extended to all who engaged in trade. But
+as the Gilda Mercatoria became in practice more and more identical with
+the Communa the idea seems to have grown up that landless men, renters of
+their shops within the towns, should not be admitted to the Gild.
+
+[Sidenote: _Gild seems to become Communa._]
+
+For in this period, that is during the 14th and 15th centuries, the old
+democratic government of the towns was giving place to a close governing
+council[47]. This was in no sense the Merchant Gild, though probably all
+the members of the select body would be members of the Gild[48]. Being
+also the most important of its members they would be able to use its
+influence for their own ends, and in these measures they would generally
+have on their side the majority of the "foreigners," who would not know or
+care much about the internal concerns of the town. Thus it came about that
+having secured important trading privileges the influence of the Merchant
+Gild was chiefly directed, though by a small coterie of its members,
+towards municipal rather than mercantile objects.
+
+[Sidenote: _Rise of Craft Gilds favoured by Merchant Gild and Communa._]
+
+[Sidenote: _This favour natural under the circumstances and proved by the
+Charters._]
+
+These latter it left to be dealt with by the new companies into which the
+craftsmen were beginning to amalgamate. In this action they were helped
+and encouraged by the Merchant Gild, or as it now was in practice, the
+municipal authority. It is a mistake to speak of the rise of the Craft
+Gilds in England as a movement bitterly hostile to the Merchant Gilds and
+therefore strenuously opposed by the latter. The reverse was the fact. The
+increased complexity of the task of regulating trade, as division of
+labour developed and commerce expanded its bounds, became difficult, and
+the central body was for this additional reason glad to depute its powers
+to, and to exercise its functions through, smaller and specialised
+agencies. The charters of the Craft Gilds too contain no articles which
+would stand the members in stead in a conflict with a higher power,
+whereas if these charters had been the hardly-won prize of a severely
+contested struggle they would assuredly have contained some bitter
+articles in consequence of the past and in preparation for the future. We
+shall however examine the rise and history of the Craft Gilds in the
+subsequent chapters.
+
+[Sidenote: _Summary._]
+
+The substance of the foregoing paragraphs may be briefly summarised thus.
+
+The most noticeable feature in the Economic history of England during the
+years immediately succeeding the Norman Conquest was the growth of the
+towns. They differed however but little from the country districts in
+government except in the particular that they possessed a Merchant Gild.
+
+These trading corporations are first unmistakeably perceived soon after
+the Conquest, originating probably in the need which arose, as the towns
+increased in wealth and importance, for the existence of some authority to
+preserve peace within their borders, as without peace and order trade
+could not prosper.
+
+Such an union for securing internal peace, consisting as it did of the
+principal persons interested, easily went on to enact commercial
+regulations. These were, on the one hand, the reserving to its own body
+the privilege of purchasing the stock of the foreign merchant, and, on the
+other, restricting the right of selling within the town to its own
+members. Royal authorisation set the seal to this practice. When the kings
+began to give charters to the towns, the legal recognition of their
+Merchant Gild was one of the chief of the privileges desired by the
+townsmen.
+
+This restricted trading was not prejudicial to the town because
+practically all the burgesses were members of the Gild. If they all were
+not Gildsmen _before_ the royal authorisation they would be likely to
+become so afterwards.
+
+But all Gildsmen were not burgesses. The latter _must_ be residents: the
+former frequently included outsiders among their number.
+
+Nevertheless as the years went by, the Gild seemed to become the Communa,
+even as the Gild Hall became the Town Hall. Various reasons conduced to
+this. There were practically no burgesses extraneous to the Merchant Gild,
+though there were often Gildsmen who were not burgesses. The Merchant Gild
+was the only machinery for freeing the fugitive villain after a year and a
+day's residence in the town. It also afforded the best, and as a fact the
+only, centre round which the burgesses could rally in the defence of their
+old privileges or in the struggle for fresh ones. Its wealth and stability
+were also an additional inducement to the kings in granting to the towns
+their _firma burgi_. In theory the Gilda Mercatoria might be kept distinct
+from the Communa, but in practice the two bodies were found to be
+identical. But the later Communa did not take cognisance of trade affairs
+except indirectly through the Craft Gilds which the increasing complexity
+of trade was calling into being. Many of the members of these latter
+bodies were members of the Merchant Gild, and to them were added large
+numbers of the lesser craftsmen. The Craft Gilds specialized the work of
+the Merchant Gild, which gradually ceased to discharge any important
+office as a collective whole, though through the many branches into which
+it had ramified its influence continued to be of the greatest importance
+to the welfare of town and trade.
+
+
+NOTE 1.
+
+LIST OF MERCHANT GILDS.
+
+The following is an attempt to construct a table of grants of the Merchant
+Gild (down to 1485), in chronological order, and showing also, where
+possible, by whom the grant was made.
+
+Unfortunately the list is in several cases only approximately correct, as
+the document from which I have obtained my date shows that the Merchant
+Gild has evidently been granted at some previous time. In all cases
+however the earliest known mention of the Gild is given.
+
+In compiling this table I should acknowledge my plentiful use of the
+materials recently made available in _The Gild Merchant_, by Charles Gross
+(Oxford, 1890).
+
+  _William II. and Henry I._ (1087-1135)
+
+  Burford 1087-1107               Earl of Gloucester
+  Canterbury 1093-1109
+
+  _Henry I._ (1100-35)
+
+  Wilton 1100-35                  King
+  Leicester 1107-18               Robert, Earl of Mellent
+  Beverley 1119-35                Abp Thurstan of York
+  York 1130-31
+
+  _Stephen_ (1135-54)
+
+  Chichester                      King
+  Lewes                           Reginald de Warrenne
+
+  _Stephen and Henry II._ (1135-89)
+
+  Petersfield
+
+  _Henry II._ (1154-89)
+
+  Carlisle                        King
+  Durham
+  Fordwich
+  Lincoln                         King
+  Oxford
+  Shrewsbury                      King
+  Southampton                     King
+  Wallingford                     King
+  Winchester                      King
+  Marlborough 1163                King
+  Andover 1175-6                  King
+  Salisbury 1176                  King
+  Bristol 1188                    John, Earl of Moreton
+
+  _Richard I._ (1189-99)
+
+  Bath 1189                       King
+  Bedford                         King
+  Gloucester
+  Nottingham                      John, Earl of Moreton
+  Bury S. Edmund's 1198
+
+  _John_ (1199-1216)
+
+  Chester 1190-1211               Earl of Chester
+  Dunwich 1200                    King
+  Ipswich 1200                    King
+  Cambridge 1201                  King
+  Helston 1201                    King
+  Derby 1204                      King
+  Lynn Regis 1204                 King
+  Malmesbury 1205-22
+  Yarmouth 1208                   King
+  Hereford 1215                   King
+  Bodmin 1216                     King
+  Totnes 1216                     King
+  Newcastle-on-Tyne 1216          King
+
+  _Henry III._ (1216-1272)
+
+  Preston
+  Haverfordwest
+  Portsmouth
+  Worcester 1226-27               King
+  Bridgenorth 1227                King
+  Rochester 1227                  King
+  Montgomery 1227                 King
+  Hartlepool 1230                 Bp of Durham
+  Dunheved (Launceston) 1231-72   Richard, Earl of Cornwall
+  Newcastle-under-Lyme 1235       King
+  Liskeard 1239-40                Richard, Earl of Cornwall
+  Wigan 1246                      King
+  Sunderland 1247                 King
+  Cardigan 1249                   King
+  Reading 1253                    King
+  Scarborough 1253                King
+  Guildford 1256
+  Kingston-on-Thames 1256         King
+  Boston ? 1260
+  Macclesfield 1261               King
+  Coventry 1267-68                King
+  Lostwithiel 1269
+
+  _Edward I._ (1272-1307)
+
+  Berwick
+  Bridgwater
+  Congleton                       Henry de Lacy
+  Devizes                         King
+  Welshpool                       Griffith, Lord of Cyveiliog
+  Aberystwith 1277                King
+  Windsor 1277                    King
+  Builth 1278                     King
+  Rhuddlan 1278                   King
+  Lyme Regis 1284                 King
+  Caernarvon 1284                 King
+  Conway 1284                     King
+  Criccieth 1284                  King
+  Flint 1284                      King
+  Harlech 1284                    King
+  Altrincham 1290                 Hamon de Massy
+  Caerswys 1290                   King
+  Overton 1291-2
+  Newport (Salop) 1292
+  Chesterfield 1294               John Wake
+  Kirkham 1295                    King
+  Beaumaris 1296                  King
+  Henley-on-Thames 1300           ? Earl of Cornwall
+  Barnstaple 1302
+  Newborough 1303                 King
+
+  _Edward II._ (1307-1327)
+
+  Llanfyllin
+  Ruyton 1308-9                   Earl of Arundel
+  Wycombe 1316
+  Bala 1324                       King
+
+  _Edward III._ (1327-1377)
+
+  Gainsborough                    Earl of Pembroke
+  Bamborough 1332
+  Grampound 1332
+  Lampeter 1332
+  Denbigh 1333                    King
+  Lancaster 1337
+  Cardiff 1341                    Hugh le Despenser
+  Nevin 1343-76                   Prince of Wales
+  Llantrissaint 1346              Hugh le Despenser
+  Hedon 1348                      King
+  Hope 1351                       Prince of Wales
+  Pwllheli 1355                   Prince of Wales
+  Neath 1359                      Edward le Despenser
+  Kenfig 1360                     Edward le Despenser
+  Newton (S. Wales) 1363          Prince of Wales
+
+  _Richard II._ (1377-1399)
+
+  Axbridge
+  Newport 1385                    Earl of Stafford
+  Oswestry 1398                   King
+
+  _Henry IV._ (1399-1413)
+
+  Saffron-Walden
+  Cirencester 1403                King
+
+  _Henry V._ (1413-1422)
+
+  None
+
+  _Henry VI._ (1422-1461)
+
+  Plymouth 1440
+  Walsall 1440
+  Weymouth 1442
+  Woodstock 1453                  King
+
+  _Edward IV._ (1461-1483)
+
+  Ludlow 1461                     King
+  Grantham 1462
+  Stamford 1462
+  Doncaster 1467
+  Wenlock 1468
+
+  _Richard III._ (1483-1485)
+
+  Pontefract
+
+
+NOTE 2.
+
+LIST OF TRADES, HANDICRAFTS AND PROFESSIONS COMPRISED IN THE LISTS OF
+MEMBERS OF THE SHREWSBURY MERCHANT GILD.
+
+apotecarius, specer, spicer--apothecary
+
+aurifaber--goldsmith
+
+baker, bakere, pistor, pictor--baker
+
+barber, tonsor, tyncer--barber
+
+bercarius, tannator, tanner--tanner
+
+botman--corn-dealer
+
+brewer--brewer
+
+carnifex--butcher
+
+carpentarius, faber--carpenter
+
+carrere--carrier
+
+cementarius--? plasterer
+
+cissor, tailur, taylor, tayleur, parmentarius, parminter,
+parmonter--tailor
+
+clericus--clerk
+
+cocus--cook
+
+colier, coleyer--collier[49]
+
+comber--? wool-comber
+
+corvisarius, gorwicer, cordewaner, sutor--shoemaker
+
+coupere, hoppere (?)--cooper
+
+deyer--dyer
+
+forber--sword-cutler
+
+ganter, cirotecarius, glover--glover
+
+garnusur--garnisher
+
+grom--groom
+
+gunir, gynur
+
+harpour--harper
+
+haukerus, hawkerus, hawker--hawker
+
+justice--judge
+
+leche--leech
+
+loxmith, locker, lok--locksmith
+
+mason--mason
+
+mercer--mercer, merchant or retailer of small wares
+
+molendarius--miller
+
+palmer--
+
+pannarius--draper, clothier
+
+petler, ? pelterer--seller of skins
+
+piscator--fisherman
+
+potter--potter
+
+prest, presbyter--priest
+
+sadeler--saddler
+
+scriptor--transcriber
+
+sherer, shearman--clothworker
+
+tabernarius, taverner--tavern-keeper
+
+teynterer--
+
+walker or waller--? builder
+
+webbe--weaver
+
+wodemon--woodman
+
+wolbyer--wool-buyer
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE CRAFT GILDS.
+
+
+[Sidenote: _The Merchant Gild and the craftsmen._]
+
+We have seen how the Merchant Gild consisted of all the traders whose
+business lay in the town. Such an association, though nominally open to
+all whether landowners or not who could afford to pay the requisite fees,
+was in essence oligarchical, and this feature became in course of time its
+most apparent characteristic. We saw, also, how there grew up a large
+class extraneous to the privileged Merchant Gild. This body of outsiders
+became continually larger and more important. The Welsh ravages in the
+exposed country would induce numbers to seek the friendly shelter of the
+town, which by this continuous infusion of fresh blood, found its trade
+become more and more flourishing, and consequently its attractions to
+"foreigners" more and more powerful. Each branch of industry was also
+incessantly receiving large accessions of strength in the shape of
+fugitive villains from the country-side, who, by residence during a year
+and a day were released from fear of a reclaim to serfdom. These new
+settlers, some of whom the advance of time found making considerable
+strides towards prosperity, seeing themselves shut out from the Town Gild
+both by the exclusive spirit of that body and by the fact that they
+themselves were not owners of land within the town[50], but (even in the
+case of the wealthiest of them) only renters of their shops, were
+naturally drawn, by the spirit of the times, towards amalgamation[51].
+
+[Sidenote: _Tendencies to union among the latter: Religious,_]
+
+It was natural that men working at the same trade,--living probably in the
+same neighbourhood[52], and during intervals of rest exchanging gossip
+from adjacent door-steps,--meeting one another in all the actions of daily
+life and with thoughts and language running in similar grooves,--should
+also desire to be not separated in worship. Likewise, in time of trouble,
+when death brought gloom to the house of a fellow-workman, or when through
+accident or misfortune he failed to appear at his accustomed place in yard
+or workshop, it was by the ordinary promptings of nature that his brother
+craftsmen came to offer their sympathy and help. And so we find the men of
+the various trades forming themselves into fraternities, in order to pour
+united supplications for Divine assistance and to offer thanks in common
+for Divine favour[53]. The Tailors and Shoemakers had their chantries in
+St Chad's Church, where the Weavers also had their especial altar,
+maintaining in addition a light before the shrine of St Winifred in the
+Abbey of the Holy Cross. The Drapers of the town early became drawn
+together in a religious brotherhood, the chapel of which in the collegiate
+church of Our Lady was the object of frequent and solicitous care when the
+fraternity of the Holy Trinity was definitively changed into the
+Worshipful Company of the Drapers. In the church of St Juliana the altar
+of the Shearmen stood in the north aisle, where a chaplain said their
+special mass for a yearly stipend of £4[54].
+
+It was the pride of the Gilds to expend the best efforts of their wealth
+and skill on the embellishment and maintenance of their chapel upon which
+they were able to look as their own. Their worldly possessions at no one
+time reached a figure high enough for them to provide a large endowment
+for church or chantry, but the thankofferings of the years sufficed for
+all current expenses. The fixed stipend was small, but the fabric, raised
+and adorned as funds allowed, was commodious and beautiful[55].
+
+It was to this ever-present desire to consecrate some portion of the
+yearly profits of trade to the honour of Him who had given the increase,
+that the annual pageant owed its pomp. The Corpus Christi procession was
+an occasion of especial prominence at Shrewsbury, where the Gild charters
+and records are full of minute regulations for its order.
+
+[Sidenote: _Social,_]
+
+The associations of fellow workmen for the purposes of religion also took
+the form of clubs for mutual benefit and assistance. The Drapers were
+maintaining their school and schoolmaster in 1492[56]; their almshouses
+were only rivalled by those of the Mercers. The maintenance of poor and
+decayed members was always one of the most prominent of the objects of
+association. Attendance at the last offices by the grave of a deceased
+brother, and remembrance of him in prayer, were likewise universal duties
+of brethren. Edward VI.'s confiscation of Gild property broke down in all
+the towns a great system of poor-relief which had hitherto freed the
+government of that most difficult problem. Nor did the Gilds wait until a
+brother was completely crushed before they came to his assistance.
+Fluctuations of trade then as now sometimes brought occasions of temporary
+embarrassment. But "the false and abominable contract of Usury ... which
+the more subtily to deceive the people they call 'exchange' or
+'chevisance,' whereas it might more truly be called 'mescheaunce,'" ...
+was rightly looked upon as unworthy of fellow-workers for the common good,
+"seeing that it ruins the honour and soul of the agent, and sweeps away
+the goods and property of him who appears to be accommodated, and destroys
+all manner of right and lawful traffick[57]." The common chest of the Gild
+was therefore at the service of the brethren[58], not, as in the days of
+degeneracy, to aid the capitalist in grinding down his workmen, but to
+keep the craftsman from the clutches of the usurer.
+
+[Sidenote: _Commercial._]
+
+Out of these religious fraternities and social clubs developed what we may
+more correctly term Craft Gilds; or to speak more strictly we should
+perhaps rather say that many of these societies began to add to their
+social and religious objects an additional one, namely trade
+regulation[59]. They would be encouraged in this direction by the action
+of the Merchant Gild, or its successor the municipal authority, which, as
+the expansion of trade necessitated specialisation, was glad to depute its
+powers to such associations[60].
+
+[Sidenote: _Early Craft Gilds._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Effect of their growth on Merchant Gild._]
+
+The earliest mention of Craft Gilds is in the reign of Henry I., when
+notice is found of the Weavers of London, Oxford, Winchester, Lincoln and
+Huntingdon, the Cordwainers of Oxford and the Fullers of Winchester[61].
+They became more common and more influential as the development of
+industry was fostered by the central government. This was especially the
+policy of Edward I. and Edward III. By the end of the 14th century the
+Craft Gilds become numerous. As they took over the duties and functions of
+the Merchant Gild the existence of the latter was rendered to a
+considerable extent superfluous, and the merging of the Gilda Mercatoria
+into the Communa became not only inevitable but convenient and natural.
+During the 14th and 15th centuries, when the Craft Gilds attained their
+highest power, the decay of the Merchant Gilds became very marked.
+
+[Sidenote: _The later "Merchant Gild."_]
+
+In some places where this happened the name of the Merchant Gild wholly
+disappeared. In others where the expression continued in use the
+institution changed its character and became simply a religious
+fraternity. In a few instances the select corporation alone inherited the
+name: in some the whole body of freemen did so. Again, there are examples
+of a survival of the expression as applied to the whole body of tradesmen,
+that is the whole of the members of the various Gilds[62]. A Patent of
+Queen Elizabeth, dated 1586, thus alludes to the aggregate of unions under
+the collective name of "the Gild of Burgesses of Shrewsbury." In the same
+way we read of "the several companies belonging to the guild merchant of
+Reading," "the Guild of Merchants in Andever, which Guild is divided into
+three several Fellowships," etc. Just as the Merchant Gild differentiated
+itself into Craft Gilds, the Craft Gilds afterwards again in the aggregate
+took the name and style of the Merchant Gild.
+
+[Sidenote: _Identity of interests of Corporation and Gilds seen in Police
+regulations;_]
+
+If such additional proof were needed this action on their part might be
+adduced in support of the assertion, which cannot be too strongly
+emphasised or too often repeated, that in England there was no conflict
+between the Merchant Gild and the Craft Gilds. Though these latter
+associations had grown up in vindication, as it might seem, of the
+principle of free amalgamation in opposition to oligarchical
+exclusiveness, and although it was evident that as they increased the
+Merchant Gild must decline, yet there was at no time any idea of
+antagonism between the two kinds of authority within the town. On the
+contrary internal police was very materially assisted by the Gilds[63].
+They carried on the good work which the Merchant Gild had inaugurated. Not
+only were dissensions among combrethren to be brought before the Wardens
+and Stewards instead of forming the occasion of unseemly brawls and
+disturbances, but one of the objects for which the associations existed is
+expressly stated to be "for the weale, rest and tranquilitie of the same
+towne, and for good rule to be kept there[64]." With this object in view
+the composition of the Tailors and Skinners (1478) contains several
+articles which show how materially the officers of the Gild assisted the
+bailiffs of the town[65].
+
+[Sidenote: _evidenced by supervision of municipal authorities,_]
+
+The Gild officers, though freely elected by the combrethren took their
+oaths of office before the bailiffs of the town, who also secured, if
+necessary, the enforcement of the ordinances of the Gilds[66]. The town
+authorities exercised, too, a general supervision: it seems to have been
+the rule for the compositions to be annually (or periodically) inspected;
+and for new regulations to be subject to municipal approval[67].
+
+[Sidenote: _(therefore supported by them;) shown by Charters,_]
+
+One consequence of this authorisation by the town officials was that the
+latter ceased to take cognisance of trade affairs except indirectly
+through the Gilds; another was that the Gilds were supported by the town
+authorities. In order to carry out the rules of the Gilds it was
+imperative that all men of a trade should belong to the particular Gild of
+that craft. For there might come men carrying on trade in the town
+unwilling to submit to the rules framed for ensuring good work and
+protecting the interests of the craft. These it would be impossible to
+check until the Gild had been recognised and authorised by the crown or
+the corporation, and so had obtained power to enforce its ordinances in a
+legitimate way. It was in this manner that the necessity arose for
+obtaining a charter[68]. The Fraternities, which in their earlier stages
+had existed as voluntary associations, now received authoritative
+recognition, by virtue of charters obtained from the king by the aid of
+the corporation. The composition of the Tailors and Skinners (1478) shows
+the company and the corporation in the closest connection; that of the
+Mercers, granted by Edward Prince of Wales, Son of Edward IV., in 1480-81,
+is countersigned by the bailiffs.
+
+The necessity for this authoritative recognition is clearly seen in the
+continually recurring ordinance calling upon all men of the craft to join
+the Gild. If the Gild had not been supported by royal and municipal
+authority it would have been impossible for it to have carried out its
+aims; as it was the task was sufficiently difficult.
+
+[Sidenote: _and Oaths._]
+
+The unity of interests of the Gilds and the corporation is further shown
+by the words of the oaths. The wardens' oath of the company of Glovers ran
+as follows.
+
+    "You shalbe true to our Sov'aigne lord King ... his heirs and
+    successors and obedient to the Bailiffs of this town for the time
+    being and their successors. And you shall well and truly execute and
+    p'forme your office of Wardens of Glovers, Poynt-makers, pursers,
+    ffelmongers, Lethersellers and pa'hment-makers for this yeare
+    according to the true extent and meaning of your composition and of
+    all and singular articles and agreements therein expressed and
+    declared to the uttermost of your power. So helpe you God."
+
+The oaths of the other officers, and of the Freemen, contained like
+promises[69].
+
+[Sidenote: _Composition of Gilds._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Masters._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Apprentices._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Journeymen._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Women._]
+
+In the composition of the Trade Gilds there was no attempt to erect a
+monopoly. All workers of the Craft except such as could make separate
+terms with the corporation[70] were not only permitted to join the Gild,
+but were compelled to do so. The members included Apprentices and
+Journeymen as well as Masters[71]. Women too were not debarred from
+joining[72], though they, like the Apprentices and Journeymen[73], took no
+part in the business of administration[74]. The charter of the Drapers[75]
+speaks of both brethren and sistren, and the list of members as given on
+the occasions of "cessments" shows women-members, both wives of
+combrethren, independent tradeswomen, and widows of deceased brothers.
+
+[Sidenote: _Officers._]
+
+In the election of their officers the English Gilds differed materially
+from similar associations on the continent. In England the choice appears
+to have been always unrestricted[76]. Refusal to accept office when
+elected exposed the reluctant brother to a money fine. The oaths of the
+officers, as we have seen, contained declarations of loyalty to the crown
+and municipal authority, and in this way we may account for the absence of
+_Masters_ among the officials of the Shrewsbury Gilds. The place of the
+Master seems to have been filled, in some sort at least, by the bailiffs
+of the town. At any rate none of the many Gilds of Shrewsbury ever had a
+Master at the head of their officers.
+
+The _Wardens_ were uniformly two in number, freely elected by all the
+brethren from such as were "the most worthiest and discreetest and which
+will and best can[77]." That it was not altogether a needless precaution
+to order that the elected wardens should be members of the Gild appears
+from the later abuses which arose, wardens being sometimes chosen from
+without the number of the combrethren[78]. The functions of these, the
+principal officers, were generally to carry into effect the objects of the
+Gild. To do this they possessed the right of search for inadequate
+materials or unsuitable tools, and a general supervision over workmen to
+secure competency. The composing of quarrels among combrethren was a
+prominent part of their duties.
+
+[Sidenote: _Assistants._]
+
+The Board of Assistants which exercised so harmful an influence over the
+companies in later days is found at Shrewsbury at an early date[79]. The
+composition of the Tailors and Skinners, 1478 A.D., speaks of the "Fower
+men ordeigned to the said Wardens to be assistant in counsel in good
+counsel giving." They reappear in 1563 as the Four Assistants "for
+advising them [the Wardens] in the Government of the Gild[80]." In this
+particular as in so many others the Gilds of Shrewsbury seem to have been
+distinguished by a greater desire to widen the area of the governing body
+than was the case with the great companies of London and elsewhere. For
+the language of some bye-laws of the corporation passed in 18 Edward IV.,
+seems to imply that the "Four Men" were common to all the companies. In
+the Gilds of most provincial towns such Assistants no doubt shared in the
+government from early years.
+
+The _Stewards_ were two in number. At a later date they were nominated by
+the Wardens[81], though in earlier times probably elective. Their
+particular duties nowhere very clearly appear. They seem to have assisted
+the Wardens and Four Men in hearing and examining of "all manner of
+matters, causes and controv'sies which shall happen amongst the
+brethren[82]."
+
+The _Beadle_ summoned members to meetings and officiated in whatever of
+formality was observed in them. He would keep the door of the Hall, and
+see that none but brethren were admitted within the privileged chamber.
+His was the duty of providing that due order and regularity was observed
+in the proceedings, and, if necessary, of carrying into effect the
+decisions of the assembly against refractory members. In the annual
+Procession we can well imagine that the Beadles of the respective
+companies would bear themselves with no common pride. Their duties also
+included the summoning of members to weddings and funerals of brethren.
+
+The Mercers' composition of 1424 carefully details the duties of the
+_Searcher_. He, as also the Beadle, was usually nominated by the Wardens,
+Four Men and Stewards jointly, and, as his name implied, was charged with
+bringing to the notice of the Gild anything contrary to its rules or
+prejudicial to its interests.
+
+A _Clerk_ is also mentioned, who drew up indentures of apprenticeship and
+kept the Gild registers. At a later period the office of _Treasurer_ was
+introduced and became of considerable importance.
+
+[Sidenote: _Meetings._]
+
+The election of officers was the principle item of business at the great
+annual meeting of the Gild. This was held on the festival of the Saint in
+whose name the Gild was dedicated. It was preceded by Mass in the Parish
+Church whither the brethren and sistren went in procession wearing their
+distinctive hoods and liveries, and bearing lights in their hands. To add
+to the dignity of the occasion a play or mystery was sometimes performed,
+but more usually such representations were reserved for the great common
+feast of Corpus Christi.
+
+[Sidenote: _Business at meetings._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Penalties._]
+
+At the meeting, which from its most general name of "mornspeche" appears
+to have followed soon after Mass, great solemnity was observed. The
+double-locked box[83] was opened by the two Wardens[84] amidst a
+reverential silence, and the composition or charter preserved in it
+rehearsed to the assembled brethren. Business was then proceeded
+with:--election of officers, admittance of new brethren, authorisation of
+indentures. Then if necessary regulations were passed for the government
+of the Gild and ordinances made for the due protection of trade, such as
+summonses to Intruders to enter the union. The ordinary penalties which
+the companies might inflict were fines of money or of wax, (in which king
+and corporation shared and which they were consequently willing to
+enforce,) and, in extreme cases total expulsion from the Gild, which of
+course meant exclusion from trade within the town.
+
+[Sidenote: _Halls._]
+
+After the "mornspeche" came the mutual feast. The brethren had begun the
+day by union for worship, they ended it with union for social and
+convivial festivity. In later times the business portion of the meeting
+was transacted in the Hall of the Gild and the brethren afterwards
+adjourned to some convenient tavern. Several of the Halls were standing
+until quite recent times. Such were those of the Mercers, Tailors, and
+Weavers[85]. That of the Shearmen is now used as an Auction Mart, but the
+Drapers' Hall still retains its former dignity.
+
+[Sidenote: _Necessity of historical attitude_]
+
+It will be necessary to attempt some estimation of the extent and value
+of the influence which the Gilds exercised on contemporary life and
+thought. In doing this, and indeed in dealing with the whole subject of
+trade regulation in the Middle Ages, it is necessary to bear continually
+in mind that not only were the conditions of trade then very materially
+different from those under which we now live, but that Economic Theory was
+still more at variance with modern views. It is necessary therefore to
+take a historical attitude, and to try to appreciate both the difference
+of social conditions, and the difference of objects in view. These objects
+may be considered firstly as individual and perhaps selfish; and,
+secondly, as general and for the common good.
+
+[Sidenote: _in estimating importance of Gilds; Commercial,_]
+
+1. If we consider the charters from the first point of view we see that
+the trade regulations were dictated by the desire to secure to all the
+brethren their means of livelihood: "no broder" was to "induce or tyce any
+other Mastres Accostom," or to employ the servants of another combrother,
+or otherwise to act in a spirit of unbrotherly and dishonourable
+competition. The charters are full of such regulations. No member might
+obtrude wares before passers in the open street, or erect booths "for to
+have better sale than eny of the combrethren[86]."
+
+2. Similarly also if we view the compositions in light of what we have
+described as the second of their objects. The excellent motive of mediæval
+regulation of industry was to secure the prosperity of trade by ensuring
+skilled workmanship and proper materials. In consequence it was forbidden
+for workmen whose capacity was unknown to work in the town until their
+efficiency had been proved. The Barbers' composition of 1432 ordered that
+"no man' p'sone sette up nother holde no shoppe in Privite ny apperte ny
+shave as a Maistre withinne the saide Tow' ny Franchise in to the Tyme
+that ev'y such p'sone have the Wille and Assent of the Stywardes and
+Maistres of the saide Crafte." It was the desire to ensure the public
+being well served that prompted the articles in the composition of the
+Mercers (1480-1) which ordered the Searcher "to make serche uppon all the
+occupyers of the saide Craftes ... that non of theym occupie eny false
+Balaunce Weight or Mesures belongeing to the sayde Craftes or eny of
+theym, wherebie the Kyngs People in eny wyse myght be hurt or dysseyved."
+It was also part of the same officer's duties to "oversee that any thyng
+app'tenyng to the saide Craftes or eny of theym to be boght and solde in
+the saide Towne and Frauncheses be able suffyceant and lawfull and that
+noe dyssayte nor gyle to the Kyngs liege people therbye be had." No
+indentures were to be drawn for less than "seven years at the least," so
+that adequate training should be secured.
+
+We thus perceive how the Craft Gilds differed, on the one hand from the
+Frith Gilds of more ancient times, and on the other from the Commercial
+Companies of later days. The former were associations in which every
+member was responsible for the actions of each of his fellows; in the
+Craft Gilds each member bound himself to abide by the regulations of the
+rest. The essence of the later Commercial Companies is union for mere
+pecuniary gain; the Gilds set in the forefront of the objects of their
+association the material benefit of the community and the religious and
+moral good of the individual. The resemblance between Trades Unions and
+the Mediæval Gilds is not entirely fanciful; but no two documents can be
+more widely different than the Prospectus of a Limited Liability Company
+and a Gild Charter of the Middle Ages.
+
+[Sidenote: _Social,_]
+
+The Gild system may be considered from various points of view. Regarded in
+its social aspect its importance can hardly be exaggerated. It has been
+pointed out how the work of the Gilds prevented the difficulty of poor
+relief becoming acute, and also how valuable their influence was in the
+maintenance of order, through the respect they evinced for the established
+law. The immense weight they must have had on the side of morality, by the
+importance they attached to the moral character of their members must not
+be overlooked. "The rules of the Gilds which have come down to us, quaint
+and homely as they sound, breathe a spirit as elevated as it is simple,
+and although we must probably make the usual allowance for the difference
+between men's acts and their words, we cannot but believe that the
+generations which formed such grand conceptions and which so persistently
+strove to realise them, had a better side than posterity has
+discovered[87]."
+
+The extent, too, to which they operated in linking class to class was
+very great. There was no impassable barrier between commerce and birth. In
+the lists of apprentices which have been preserved to us the entries of
+names belonging to county families are frequent. It was the ordinary
+custom for the younger sons to be put to business in the town. The social
+value of such a habit must have been great. Within the craft, too, the
+distinctions were only caused by differences in the degrees of wealth. By
+industry and perseverance the meanest apprentice might look forward to
+attainment of the highest honours his Gild could bestow, and even, by
+success in trade, to nobility. As in Athelstan's time the merchant who
+fared thrice beyond the sea at his own cost became of thegn-right
+worthy[88], so it was all through the Middle Ages: even in the 17th
+century Harrison says "our merchants do often change estate with
+gentlemen, as gentlemen do with them, by a mutual conversion of the one
+into the other[89]."
+
+[Sidenote: _Constitutional._]
+
+The education obtained by the framing of their own ordinances was also no
+slight gain to the townsmen. They provided for their peculiar needs in
+their own peculiar way, not always we may say in the best way, but in that
+which they, who knew the special requirements of the case, considered the
+best. Each who took part in drawing up those regulations would feel that a
+certain share of responsibility rested with him to see that they were
+kept. The constitutional importance also of this training, in imparting an
+appreciation of the responsibilities and duties which devolve on those
+who frame regulations was not unimportant.
+
+The services which the Gilds rendered to the cause of liberty by the
+feeling of strong cohesion which they produced among the townsmen would be
+less difficult to estimate if the burgesses had played a more distinctive
+part in the work of Parliament[90]. It is easier to point out how, if they
+may have interfered to some extent with family life on the one hand, they
+on the other increased the tendency to narrowness and localism which was
+otherwise sufficiently strong throughout the Middle Ages, and indeed
+through considerably later times. Everything was antagonistic to the
+widening of the townsman's sympathies. He found his trade, his ambition,
+almost his whole life, satisfied within the walls of the borough in which
+he dwelt; and the Craft Gilds crystallised, as it were, this tendency
+towards insularity.
+
+[Sidenote: _Special interest of their history at present time._]
+
+It may be noticed how a special interest attaches at the present time to
+the history of the Gilds and to the study of their influence and
+development.
+
+The condition of the working classes must always be a point of vital
+importance to the welfare of the state. It is peculiarly so to-day.
+Anything therefore which can assist us to understand how the present
+degradation of the craftsman has been brought about, and which may help
+towards his amelioration, will be valuable and of practical usefulness.
+
+Five hundred years ago the working man differed very widely from his
+modern representative; how widely may be gathered from a single
+illustration. The architects of the Churches and other buildings which the
+Middle Ages have bequeathed to us in such large numbers and of such
+exquisite beauty are, in the vast majority of cases, unknown to-day even
+by name. They were not less unknown to contemporaries. For they were men
+of like nature with their fellows: _ancestors of our modern artisans_. How
+great a change has grown up in the generations which have intervened.
+
+Five centuries ago the workman was intelligent and skilled, he is now
+untrained and degraded: he was then able and accustomed to take a proper
+pride in his work, he is now careless and indifferent: he used to be
+provident and thrifty, now he is usually reckless and wasteful.
+
+It is not too much to say that a great reason of this vast difference is
+to be found in the influence which the Gilds exercised. In their character
+as Benefit Clubs they taught their members to be thrifty: by insisting on
+a careful and systematic training during seven years of apprenticeship
+they made them skilled and capable workmen, and as such able to take an
+interest in, and to derive pleasure from their work. It has been pointed
+out that the Gilds prevented extreme poverty from ever becoming at all
+normal. Uncertainty of employment and demoralising fluctuations of wages
+are among the most crying evils of our modern social _régime_. The Craft
+Gilds did much to secure regularity of work and to steady the price of
+labour.
+
+Thus it is evident how great and peculiar an interest attaches to the
+whole subject of the Gilds at the present day. It is a subject which does
+not merely offer attractions to the antiquary or provide valuable
+materials for the student of constitutional and municipal development. It
+has a far wider and more human significance. A study of the extent and
+nature of the influence which the Gilds exercised on the condition and
+skill of the working man in the past will help to solve the problem of his
+improvement in the present and in the future.
+
+
+NOTE I.
+
+INDENTURE OF APPRENTICESHIP FROM THE MERCERS' COMPANY'S RECORDS. A.D.
+1414.
+
+Hæc indentura testatur etc. inter Johannem Hyndlee de Northampton,
+Brasyer, et Gulielmum filium Thomæ Spragge de Salopia, quod predictus
+Gulielmus posuit semetipsum apprenticium dicto Johanni Hyndlee, usque ad
+finem octo annorum, ad artem vocatam _brasyer's craft_, quâ dictus
+Johannes utitur, medio tempore humiliter erudiendum. Infra quem quidem
+terminum præfatus Gulielmus concilia dicti Johannis Hyndlee magistri sui
+celanda celabit. Dampnum eidem Johanni nullo modo faciet nec fieri
+videbit, quin illud cito impediet aut dictum magistrum suum statim inde
+premuniet. A servicio suo seipsum illicite non absentabit. Bona et catalla
+dicti Johannis absque ejus licentiâ nulli accomodabit. Tabernam, scortum,
+talos, aleas, et joca similia non frequentabit, in dispendium magistri
+sui. Fornicationem nec adulterium cum aliqua muliere de domo et familia
+dicti Johannis nullo modo committet, neque uxorem ducet, absque licentia
+magistri sui. Præcepta et mandata licita et racionabilia magistri sui
+ubique pro fideli posse ipsius Gulielmi, diligenter adimplebit et eisdem
+mandatis libenter obediet. Et si prædictus Gulielmus de aliqua convencione
+sua vel articulo præscripto defecerit, tunc idem Gulielmus juxta modum et
+quantitatem delicti sui magistro suo satisfaciet emendam aut terminum
+apprenticiatus sui duplicabit. Et præfatus Johannes et assignati sui
+apprenticium suum in arte prædicta meliori modo quo idem Johannes sciverit
+ac poterit tractabunt docebunt et informabunt, seu ipsum informari facient
+sufficienter, debito modo castigando, et non aliter. Præterea dictus
+Johannes concedit ad docendum et informandum dictum Gulielmum in arte
+vocata _Peuterer's Craft_ adeo bene sicut sciverit seu poterit ultra
+convencionem suam præmissam. Et idem Johannes nullam partem artium
+prædictarum ab apprenticio suo concelabit. Invenient insuper Johannes et
+assignati sui dicto Gulielmo omnia sibi necessaria, viz. victum suum et
+vestitum, lineum, laneum, lectum, hospicium, calceamenta et cætera sibi
+competencia annuatim sufficienter, prout ætas et status ipsius Gulielmi
+exigerint. In cujus rei testimonium etc. 1414.
+
+
+NOTE II.
+
+OATH TO BE TAKEN BY THE FREEMEN OF THE MERCERS' COMPANY.
+
+In the Company's records this oath occurs immediately after a curious
+calendar, written in 15th century hand, and before a list of "Brethren
+received and incorporated in the time of Rici Attynchin and John Cutlere
+wardens" in 3 Henry VI., (1424-5).
+
+FIDELITAS.
+
+I shall trewe man be to God o'r Lady Seynt Marie Seynt Mychell
+th'archangell patrone of the Gylde and to the Fraternite of the Mercers
+Yremongers and Goldsmythes & Cappers w'in the Towne and Fraunches of
+Shrowesbury I shall also Trewe man be to the king our liege lorde and to
+his heyres kyngys and his lawes and mynystars of the same Truly obs've and
+obey And ov' this I shall be obedyent to my wardens and their sumpneys
+obey and kepe I shall be trewe and ffeythfull to the Combrethern of the
+Gylde aforeseyd and ther co'ncell kepe All lawdable and lefull actes and
+composic'ons made or to be made w{t}in the Seide Gylde truly obeye p'forme
+and kepe aft' my reason and power I shall be contributare bere yelde and
+paye all man' ordynare charges cestes and contribucons aftur my power as
+any other master occupyer or combrother of the seid Gylde shall happen to
+doe and bere: Soe helpe me God and halidame and by the Boke.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GILDS OF SHREWSBURY.
+
+
+[Sidenote: _Existed before they held charters._]
+
+In the foregoing chapter it has been shown how the Craft Gilds were called
+into being. They possessed at first no charters[91] because none were
+needed. It was only when friction arose that there came any necessity for
+royal authority to step forward with its support and sanction[92].
+
+[Sidenote: _Scanty notice at first._]
+
+And as they at first possessed no charters, so they have left few or no
+records of their earliest life. So long as they worked in thorough accord
+with the spirit of the age and completely fulfilled its requirements they
+left scanty traces. It is only when the period of degeneracy commences
+that we begin to have anything like adequate materials for their detailed
+history.
+
+[Sidenote: _Fourteenth century; difficulties for Gilds to face._]
+
+The 14th century was fruitful in illustrations of the difficulties which
+beset the work of the Gilds.
+
+The development of trade alone had proceeded far enough to render their
+task already complicated: their difficulties were increased abnormally by
+the exceptional conditions of labour brought about by the Black Death. The
+Peasant Revolt compelled Parliament to take cognisance of industrial
+difficulties. In 1388, at its meeting at Cambridge, it was largely
+occupied with trade questions[93], and ordered the issue of writs to the
+sheriff of each county in England, commanding returns of all details as to
+the foundation, objects, and condition of both religious fraternities and
+Craft Gilds. These returns show that most of the Gilds obtained their
+charters during the 13th and the early years of the 14th centuries[94].
+
+[Sidenote: _Development of industry._]
+
+It does not appear that any legislation followed upon this parliamentary
+action, but provisions now begin to appear for the settlement of disputes
+between masters and workmen, and also between brethren of the Gild. So far
+the different classes of workmen had worked together in harmony upon the
+whole, but it could not fail that a severance or at least a marked
+diversity of interests should arise. Most important, as demonstrating
+that it was the change in external circumstances, and not so much the
+internal degeneracy of the Gilds themselves, which was causing the
+friction, are the evidences which show that a great division of labour was
+in progress[95]. In the 13th century the tailor and the cloth-merchant
+sever their former connection: the businesses of the tanner and of the
+butcher become distinct branches of trade[96]. Similarly the tanner and
+the shoemaker were made separate callings[97]. The same movement is still
+more clearly seen in the disputes which arose between allied Gilds as to
+the particular work which each was charged with supervising[98]. It was
+the creation of opposing interests, of which such were the outward signs,
+that introduced the seed of decay into the Gild system.
+
+[Sidenote: _Fifteenth century: avowal of abuses,_]
+
+How rapidly the degeneracy proceeded may be gathered from a petition of
+the Commons early in the 15th century (1437), which evoked an Act (15 Hen.
+VI., cap. 6) definitely recognising the existence of abuses. After
+reciting how the
+
+    "masters, wardens, and people of Gilds, fraternities, and other
+    companies corporate, dwelling in divers parts of the realm, oftentimes
+    by colour of rule and governance to them granted and confirmed by
+    charters and letters patent ... made among themselves many unlawful
+    and little reasonable ordinances ... for their own singular profit
+    and to the common hurt and damage of the people,"
+
+the statute proceeded to order that the Gilds should not in the future
+
+    "make or use any ordinance in disparity or diminution of the
+    franchises of the king or others, or against the common profit of the
+    people, nor allow any other ordinance if it is not first approved as
+    good and reasonable by the Justices of the Peace or the chief
+    Magistrates aforesaid and before them enrolled and to be by them
+    revoked and repealed afterwards if they shall be found and proved to
+    be little loyal and unreasonable."
+
+[Sidenote: _but approval of the system._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Policy of Reform._]
+
+But it is abundantly clear that the complaints are against the abuses of
+the system and not against the system itself. Dissatisfaction is expressed
+at the "little reasonable ordinances" of the Gilds but not against the
+companies themselves. The policy therefore of Henry VI. and Edward IV. was
+to reform the Gilds by amending their ordinances, or, if necessary, giving
+them charters of incorporation which should set forth definitely their
+objects, and state both the extent and the limitation of their powers. It
+is from this period that we date most of the existing records of the
+Shrewsbury companies. The barbers are said to have been chartered by
+Edward I. in 1304[99]; their earliest extant composition[100] is dated
+1432 (10 Hen. VI.). The Shoemakers' composition of 1387 recited a charter
+of Edward III.[101] A Vintners' company is said to have been erected in
+Shrewsbury by Henry IV. in 1412[101].
+
+But it is with the accession of Henry VI. that the great number of present
+charters and compositions begins. The date of the Fishmongers' company is
+1423[101], and the entries of the Mercers commence in the next year[101].
+The Barbers' composition of 1432 has been already mentioned. Then follow
+the Weavers (1448-9), the Fletchers (1449), the Carpenters (1449-50) in
+close proximity[101]. The Tailors and Skinners (1461) were recognised in
+the last year of Henry VI.[101], and eighteen years subsequently received
+a new composition from Edward IV. (1478), who had in the first year of his
+reign united the Fraternity of the Blessed Trinity with the company of the
+Drapers[102]. The companies of the Millers, Bakers, Cooks, Butchers and
+Shearmen certainly existed before 1478, as they are mentioned as taking
+part in the Corpus Christi Procession at that date. In that year the
+Tanners and Glovers were incorporated[103], as also were the
+Saddlers[103]. The royal recognition of the Mercers[101] in the next year
+completed the list of Shrewsbury companies erected before the 16th
+century.
+
+[Sidenote: _Later Religious Gilds._]
+
+It will be convenient here to draw attention to a different kind of Gild
+which was founded in Shrewsbury towards the close of this period: the
+religious Gild of S. Winifred.
+
+The ancient Monks' Gilds which had spread so early over England, found as
+was to be expected later imitators in large numbers. The oldest accounts
+of these Gilds also, like those of the Monks' Gilds, are found in
+England[104]. Religious or Social they are usually called. They all
+evinced a strong religious character, but in addition had a care for the
+old and needy. If a Gild-brother suffer loss through theft "let all the
+Gildship avenge their comrade," says the Cambridge statute. They also took
+cognisance of public welfare. If a Gild-brother do wrong "let all bear it:
+if one misdo, let all bear alike." If a man be slain in fair quarrel with
+a Gild-brother the _wite_ is to be borne by all, but the wilful or
+treacherous murderer is "to bear his own deed."
+
+These Gilds rapidly spread over all Europe, and existed probably in every
+town. They doubtless formed the model to which the later associations
+looked, and, except in details, differed little from the Craft Gilds. They
+were frequently connected with trade, even in some instances consisting
+entirely of followers of specific crafts[105], and loans were made out of
+the common chest to help members in misfortune[106]. We have scant
+information of early religious Gilds in Shrewsbury, though there can be
+but little doubt they flourished there as elsewhere. Later, in the 15th
+century, one was founded by the Abbot of the Holy Cross, which presents
+several unusual and interesting features.
+
+Thomas Mynde was elected Abbot on January 8th, 1460, but it was not till
+1486 that he took measures to found the Fraternity of S. Winifred, though
+probably the scheme had been previously shaping itself through the long
+period of unsettlement which the Civil Wars had caused. The present Gild
+differed from the earlier foundations in being deliberately created by
+royal charter. The reason was that without such security it could not
+receive grants of land, and Abbot Mynde was desirous to bequeath to it his
+private possessions rather than to leave them to his Monastery,--a curious
+commentary perhaps on the low estimation into which the religious houses
+had fallen.
+
+The royal charter was not obtained without some trouble. The License
+itself says it was granted "by [reason of] the sincere devotion which we
+have and bear towards S. Winefrida Virgin and Martyr;" but Abbot Mynde
+assures us that this laudable zeal required the practical stimulus of "a
+large sum of money" before it would take effect in action.
+
+The terms of the charter allowed both brethren and sisters to join the
+fellowship, the number being unregulated. The oath to support the Gild was
+taken by each member on admittance, kneeling before the altar in the Abbey
+of the Holy Cross. Power was given for the election of a Master, whose
+duties were the regulation of the Gild and the supervision of its
+property. The fraternity had its common seal, and the ordinary powers and
+privileges of corporations. It was especially exempted from the Mortmain
+Acts, and was allowed to acquire property to the yearly value of £10. The
+objects to which this was to be devoted were the finding of two Chaplains,
+or at least one, whose duties were the saying of a daily Mass at the Altar
+of S. Winifred in the Abbey, and the celebration of a Requiem Mass on the
+decease of a brother or sister of the Fraternity. At such Masses it was
+especially provided that the prayers for the departed soul should be _in
+English_.
+
+The Gild was joined in considerable numbers by the principal folk of the
+town, but there is little information[107] respecting its history, which
+may be at once anticipated here. At the confiscation of the Chantry and
+Gild property the fraternity of S. Winifred was not able to plead the
+excuse of usefulness for trade purposes, and it fell unnoticed in the ruin
+of the great Abbey with which it was connected. Its life had been a short
+one, but coming as it did at a time when religious fervour was weak and
+morality lax, it no doubt served a useful purpose and deserved a better
+fate than almost total oblivion.
+
+[Sidenote: _Charters granted to Craft Gilds._]
+
+Returning after this digression to the Craft Gilds it will be interesting
+and profitable to make an examination and comparison of two of their
+charters, one selected from the earlier and one from the later portion of
+the period. The charter[108] of the Barbers' Gild, granted by Henry VI. in
+1432, may be placed beside the composition[109] which Edward IV. gave to
+the Mercers in 1480.
+
+[Sidenote: _Religious articles._]
+
+A point which strikes us forcibly on the most superficial examination of
+the charters, is the prominence given, in one as in the other, to the
+Corpus Christi procession. It is a striking illustration of the extent to
+which mediæval materialism had permeated society, and how deeply rooted
+was that "tendency to see everything in the concrete, to turn the parable
+into a fact, the doctrine into its most literal application[110]," which
+scholastic philosophy had nurtured. The procession indeed would almost
+appear, from the charters, to be the principal object for which the Gilds
+exist. A considerable share of the fines is expressly devoted to the
+"Increce of the Lyght that is boren yerely in the heye and worthie ffest
+of Corpus Xti Day." The Mercers' composition regulates the order of the
+procession and the weight of the candle which the company provides in it.
+No member is to be out of his place on the festival without permission,
+and the combrethren are especially prohibited from going to "the Coventrie
+Fayre" at this season under penalty of a fine of twelve pence. The fact of
+being enabled to take part in the procession is manifestly looked upon as
+one of the great privileges and duties of the companies.
+
+The Mercers' Gild also provided for a priest to say a daily Mass at the
+altar of S. Michael in the Church of S. Chad; and thirteen poor Bedesmen
+were retained at a penny per week to pray for the King and Queen and
+Councillors, and for the brethren of the Gild "both quyke and dedd."
+
+[Sidenote: _Trade articles._]
+
+The trade regulations of the two compositions are naturally cast in the
+same mould. In both appears the prohibition of foreign labour (the Mercers
+say "except in fayre tyme"), and of under-selling by combrethren as well
+as unfair competition generally. The later regulations go further and
+provide for the carrying out of the ordinances of the composition by the
+appointment of a searcher to secure the use of good materials and to
+prevent "dissayte and gyle," the use of false weights, &c. They also
+forbid the taking of aliens as apprentices[111].
+
+All indentures are to be for seven years at the least, and none are to be
+taken as apprentices without being properly bound by indentures approved
+by the wardens and recorded by the clerk. There is also the article which
+now becomes common, against divulging the secrets of the craft, and an
+interesting one against "eny confederacye or embracerye wherebie any
+p'judices hurt or hynd'ance myght growe."
+
+[Sidenote: _Articles of reform._]
+
+In the later charter, too, it is evident that there had arisen no small
+need for reform. In the forefront it is stated that the previous "Fines
+assessyd uppon ev'y App'ntice at their entries to be maysters Combrethyrn
+and Settursuppe of the said Craftes or any of them," "and in like wyse
+gret Fynes uppon eny Forreyn that shoulde entre into the same" are
+"thought overchargeable" and so are to be "dymynished and refowrmed." If
+members refuse to pay them, as thus amended, they may be levied by
+distress. Of how great a falling-off from the original spirit of
+brotherhood do these two short articles speak.
+
+[Sidenote: _Police._]
+
+Both the documents provide for the trial of dissensions among brethren, in
+preference to going before the ordinary tribunals, though by permission
+cases might be taken before the bailiffs of the town.
+
+[Sidenote: _Liveries._]
+
+In a similar spirit of pacification the Mercers' composition forbids the
+wearing of liveries "saving the lyverray of gownes or hodes of the said
+Gylde to be ordeyned and worne," and that of the municipal
+corporation[112]. This was in accordance with the Act 13 Henry IV. cap. 3.
+The abuse of liveries had evoked from Parliament an attempt to put a total
+stop to the custom[113] (13 Rich. II.). Such endeavours were futile. This
+was at last recognised, and in 13 Henry IV. the use of liveries of cloth
+was prohibited, but with the important proviso, "Gilds and fraternities
+and crafts in the cities and boroughs within the kingdom which are founded
+and ordained to good intent and purpose alone being excepted." In 1468
+Edward IV. confirmed previous legislation on the subject[114].
+
+[Sidenote: _Sixteenth century._]
+
+In spite of reforms by improved compositions and legislative measures the
+degeneracy of the Gilds proceeded apace. The statute 19 Hen. VII. cap. 7
+repeats the complaint of 15 Hen. VI. cap. 6, and re-enacts the same
+restrictions. "Divers and many ordinances have been made by many and
+divers private bodies corporate within cities, towns, and boroughs
+contrary to the King's prerogative, his laws, and the common weal of his
+subjects:" in future therefore the Gilds are prohibited from making any
+new by-laws or ordinances concerning the prices of wares and other things
+"in disheritance or diminution of the prerogative of the King, nor of
+other, nor against the common profit of the people, but that the same Acts
+or Ordinances be examined and approved by the Chancellor, Treasurer of
+England, or Chief Justices." The repetition of the same articles shows how
+little effective they had been in checking the abuses against which they
+were directed.
+
+[Sidenote: _Policy of reform pursued._]
+
+Nevertheless Henry VII. and Henry VIII. persevered in the work of
+regulating, reforming and strengthening the Gilds. The statute of
+1530[115] once more diminished entrance fees, which had been inordinately
+and illegally raised; but another of 1536[116] repeating the same
+prohibition shows the utter futility of such measures in the condition of
+trade which had been brought about.
+
+A more serious abuse appears in the latter statute, namely the attempt of
+the masters to exact from their apprentices an oath promising to refrain
+from prosecuting trade on their own account without consent of their late
+master. Such abuses exhibit the Gilds in a state of wholesale
+demoralisation.
+
+[Sidenote: _Reformation._]
+
+This was not unnatural under the circumstances, for the course of the
+Reformation had tended to turn public opinion against the Gilds. Moreover
+it now gave them a severe shock on one side, at any rate, of their
+functions.
+
+[Sidenote: _Confiscation of Chantries and robbery of Gilds._]
+
+The confiscation of monastic lands had shown how easy it was for a needy
+government to seize upon corporate property to its own use, and the
+example was not long without being followed. The statute 37 Hen. VIII.
+cap. 4 gave the whole property of all Colleges, Hospitals, Fraternities
+and Gilds to the king. Before this wholesale desolation could be effected
+Henry died, but Somerset obtained a renewal[117] of the grant to Edward
+VI.
+
+The words of the Act are absolute in making over to the king all the lands
+and other possessions of Chantries, Colleges, Hospitals, Gilds and bodies
+of a similar nature, both religious and secular. No distinction is made as
+to aim or object, utility or abuse. According to the terms of the statute,
+we should expect every Gild and corporate body in the country to come to
+an end with the years 1547-8. Nevertheless though the Chantries were
+seized the Craft Gilds in general remained. The reason for this apparent
+divergence between the provisions of the statute and the facts of the case
+is given by Burnet.
+
+Two parties opposed the passing of the Act. Cranmer and the best of the
+Reformers were grieved to see the material supports of the Church one
+after another torn away to prop up the failing fortunes of needy and
+rapacious courtiers. They desired to preserve the lands of the Chantries
+till the king came of age, when they hoped they might be devoted to the
+suitable object of augmenting the livings which had been in such numbers
+impoverished by the Reformation changes. On the other hand were the
+burgesses. These had no mind to see their own property confiscated, and
+their benefit societies and clubs suddenly broken up. We may appreciate
+the feelings of the nation respecting the proposed measure by considering
+what would be the effect of a statute taking over the properties of all
+benefit clubs, Trades Unions, Lodges of Oddfellows and Foresters, and
+similar associations, to-day.
+
+Cranmer and his supporters failed to overthrow the measure in the Lords,
+but when it came to the lower house it was at once evident that a
+considerable amount of careful statesmanship and astute policy would be
+requisite if the statute was to pass. Apparently no opposition was
+expected, as the bill was already engrossed, or perhaps it was hoped that
+it might be smuggled through amidst the hurry of the closing session. But
+the government discovered that they had gone to the length of the nation's
+patience. The Commons saw in its true enormity the conspiracy of the rich
+and powerful against the weak and poor, and this once perceived a check
+was given, tardy but not quite too late, to the long and disastrous
+course of spoliation and confiscation.
+
+The opposition to the bill was obstinate, especially as regarded that
+portion which dealt with the Gilds. Led by the members for Lynn and
+Coventry the house showed unmistakeably that it was at length determined
+to submit no longer. In fact the feeling was evidently so strong that the
+government perceived the absolute necessity of drawing back. The mode in
+which this was done is explained in the following extract, which, though
+written from the court point of view, shows up the whole incident as a
+choice specimen of the statesmanship of the period.
+
+"Whereas in the last Parliament holden at Westminster in November the
+first year of the King's Majesty's reign, among other articles contained
+in the Act for colleges and chantry lands, etc., to be given unto his
+Highness, it was also insisted that the lands pertaining to all guilds and
+brotherhoods within this realm should pass unto his Majesty by way of like
+gift: At which time divers there being of the Lower House did not only
+reason and arraign against that article made for the guildable lands, but
+also incensed many others to hold with them, amongst the which none were
+stiffer, nor more busily went about to impugn the said Article than the
+burgesses for the town of Lynn in the county of Norfolk and the burgesses
+of the city of Coventry in the county of Warwick.... In respect of which
+their allegations and great labours made herein unto the House such of his
+Highness's Council as were of the same House there present, thought it
+very likely that not only that Article for the guildable lands should be
+clashed, but also that the whole body of the Act might either sustain
+peril or hindrance, being already engrossed, and the time of the
+Parliament's prolongation hard at hand, unless by some good policy the
+principal speakers against the passing of that article might be stayed.
+Whereupon they did participate the matter with the Lord Protector's grace
+and other of the Lords of his Highness's Council: who pondering on the one
+part how the guildable lands throughout this realm amounted to no small
+yearly value, which by the article aforesaid were to be accrued to his
+Majesty's possessions of the Crown; and on the other part weighing in a
+multitude of free voices what moment the labours of a few settlers had
+been of heretofore in like cases, thought it better to stay and content
+them of Lynn and Coventry by granting to them to have and enjoy their
+guild lands etc. as they did before, than through their means, on whose
+importance, labour, and suggestions the great part of the Lower House
+rested, to have the article defaced, and so his Majesty to forego the
+whole lands throughout the realm. And for these respects, and also for
+avoiding of the promise which the said burgesses would have added for the
+guilds to that article, which might have ministered occasion to others to
+have laboured for the like, they resolved that certain of his Highness's
+Councillors, being of the Lower House, should persuade with the said
+burgesses of Lynn and Coventry to desist from further speaking or
+labouring against the said article, upon promise to them that if they
+meddled no further against it, his Majesty once having the guildable
+lands granted unto him by the Act ... should make them over a new grant of
+the lands pertaining then unto their guilds etc. to be had and used to
+them as before: which thing the Councillors did execute, as was desired,
+and thereby stayed the speakers against it, so as the Act passed with the
+clause for the guildable lands accordingly[119]."
+
+[Sidenote: _Importance of the Opposition._]
+
+This remarkable document, which Canon Dixon printed for the first time, is
+of surpassing interest, not only to the historian of the Craft Gilds but
+also to the student of constitutional history. The unscrupulous recourse
+of the government to jobbery and corruption is not more revolting than the
+evidence of the increasing constitutional power of the Commons is
+interesting. It is evident from the account that when the country was with
+the house of Commons the voice of the latter could not be disregarded.
+
+The upshot was that an understanding was entered into, to the effect that
+the Gild lands were to be only surrendered _pro formâ_, and that they
+should not in fact be confiscated. In most cases this arrangement was
+adhered to, and when the great crisis was past it was seen that the Gilds
+had lost their Chapels and Chantries with the fittings of these, but that
+their other possessions remained to them.
+
+[Sidenote: _Need of caution._]
+
+It has been pointed out how the increasing constitutional power of the
+Commons could make itself felt when the opinion of the nation was at its
+back. That it undoubtedly was so at the present juncture cannot be
+doubted. The method which was adopted for carrying out the provisions of
+the Act demonstrates fully how violently the country had been excited by
+the measure and by the danger to which the Gild lands had been exposed.
+The usual way of putting such an Act into execution would have been to
+send down commissioners to take particulars of the Gilds and Chantries and
+of their possessions. But royal commissioners had come to be looked upon,
+not without ample reason, as merely the formal heralds of state robbery.
+If therefore such commissioners were now sent out to manage the
+dissolution of the Chantries and Hospitals it was feared that disturbance
+would arise beyond the power of the government to manage. The more politic
+plan was therefore adopted of enlisting the people themselves in the cause
+as much as might be.
+
+[Sidenote: _Injunctions._]
+
+Injunctions[120] were issued "to the Parson, Vicar, Curat, Chaunter,
+Priests, Churchwardens, and two of the most honest Persons of the Parish
+of ________ being no Founders, Patrons, Donors, Lessees, nor Farmers of
+the Promotions of Corporations hereafter recited."
+
+These, or four of them, were to make a return as to the number of
+"Chantries, Hospitals, Colleges, Free Chapels, Fraternities, Brotherhoods,
+Guilds and Salaries, or Wages of Stipendiary Priests" in their parish,
+together with all particulars as to the revenues, ordinances, objects,
+abuses, names and titles of the same. Full lists were to be drawn up of
+the lands and possessions of the Chantries, Colleges, and Gilds, and
+enquiry was instituted respecting any recent dissolutions or alienations
+which might have been made in prospect of the recent Act.
+
+The contingency alluded to in the last article has sufficed to provide
+some writers with an excuse for the measure destroying the Chantries. No
+doubt the shock which the action of Henry VIII. in reference to the
+monasteries had given to all forms of corporate property had led many of
+the Gilds to attempt the realization of their property. All such
+transactions were to be null and void.
+
+[Sidenote: _Gilds too powerful and popular to be wholly destroyed._]
+
+Accordingly the commissioners went down to each town and hamlet and took
+full particulars of all matters concerning the Gilds and Chantries. "All
+such as have enye vestments or other goods of the Co{y} [of Mercers are
+ordered] to bring them in," in order to be sold, with the rest of the
+Chantry fittings, "to the most p'fitt." The fate of the other kinds of
+property held by the Gilds, such that is as could not be definitely made
+out to have been intended for the support of obits and the maintenance of
+lights, seems to have depended considerably on fortuitous circumstances.
+In each individual case the Gild had to secure for itself the best terms
+it could. Sometimes its property was obtained by the town, either by grant
+or by purchase[121]. At Shrewsbury the almshouses of the Drapers and
+Mercers survived[122], and the vicar of S. Almond's Church in the same
+town still receives the yearly sum which the Shearmen settled on the
+chaplain they maintained in that church.
+
+[Sidenote: _Perversion of the confiscated revenues._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Disastrous effects on Gilds, and on Craftsmen._]
+
+As for the object which the Act itself alleged to have been the motive for
+the destruction of the Chantries, namely the desire on the part of the
+government to devote the revenues to the foundation and improvement of
+grammar schools, it was forgotten as soon as parliament had separated.
+Strype[123] is obliged to confess that the Act was "grossly abused, as the
+Act in the former King's reign for dissolving religious houses was. For
+though the public good was pretended thereby (and intended too, I hope),
+yet private men, in truth, had most of the benefit, and the King and
+Commonwealth, the state of learning, and the condition of the poor, left
+as they were before, or worse. Of this, great complaints were made by
+honest men: and some of the best and most conscientious preachers reproved
+it in the greatest auditories, as at Paul's Cross, and before the King
+himself. Thomas Lever, a Fellow, and afterwards Master of St John's
+College in Cambridge, in a sermon before the King, in the year 1550 showed
+'how those that pretended, that (beside the abolishing of superstition)
+with the lands of abbeys, colleges, and chantries, the King should be
+enriched, learning maintained, poverty relieved, and the Commonwealth
+eased, purposely had enriched themselves.... And bringing in grammar
+schools, which these dissolved chantries were to serve for the founding
+of, he told the King plainly ... many grammar schools, and much charitable
+provision for the poor, be taken, sold and made away; to the great slander
+of you and your laws, to the utter discomfort of the poor, to the grievous
+offence of the people, to the most miserable drowning of youth in
+ignorance.... The King bore the slander, the poor felt the lack. But who
+had the profit of such things, he could not tell. But he knew well, and
+all the world saw, that the Act made by the King's Majesty and his Lords
+and Commons of his Parliament, for maintenance of learning and relief of
+the poor, had served some as a fit instrument to rob learning, and to
+spoil the poor.'" The measure was indeed an act of spoliation devoid
+either of excuse in its cause or benefit in its results. The suppression
+of the Monasteries could doubtless be amply excused, but no real
+justification is possible for this attempted wholesale seizure of
+institutions founded and maintained for the benefit of the poor, for the
+relief of suffering, and for the regulation of industry and police. As
+regards the last--the regulation of industry and police--the attempt was
+to a certain extent foiled, but in other respects it succeeded only too
+well. Even on the Gilds which escaped its effects were disastrous. Their
+spiritual aspect was taken away; their prestige and authority very
+materially lessened. For they completely changed their nature. Instead of
+being brotherhoods of workmen,--masters, journeymen, and
+apprentices,--striving together for the common good, they now became
+simply leagues of employers, companies of capitalists. The new powers
+which the masters obtained were used to still further oppress the
+craftsman, who was sufficiently degraded already through a variety of
+causes. He was too poor and powerless to be able to take any part in the
+new companies, and continued to sink deeper and deeper into degradation
+and misery. And this, too, in spite of the great and rapid development of
+trade which came simultaneously with this weakening blow at the authority
+and stability of the Gilds. Shrewsbury participated in this expansion of
+industry, and in the latter portion of the sixteenth century was
+peculiarly prosperous. There was no migration of its trade to the freer
+air of the neighbouring villages. The town was successful in retaining its
+monopoly.
+
+But these two causes, (i) the weakening of the Gilds and their change of
+character, and (ii) the vast development of trade which the age was
+witnessing, combined to render the companies which survived the
+Reformation quite unable to perform the work which the mediæval Gilds had
+done. Yet then above all was a controlling and a guiding power essential.
+Elizabeth in consequence found that one of her first measures must be in
+remedy of this condition of affairs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+REORGANISATION OF THE GILD-SYSTEM.
+
+
+[Sidenote: _Reign of Elizabeth._]
+
+Elizabeth, on her accession, found that immediate reform was imperative in
+almost every department of state. The whole trade of the country was in a
+condition of agitation. Everything seemed unsettled and insecure.
+
+[Sidenote: _Economic disturbances and industrial activity._]
+
+For the social upheaval which the Reformation had brought about came in
+the train of a long period of economic disorder. The changes in the mode
+of cultivation had thrown the mass of the country population out of work.
+These were driven in large numbers by stress of circumstances into the
+towns, which were consequently overstocked with hands. At this juncture
+came the breaking down of the social police within the towns by the
+weakening of the Gilds, while in the rural districts the dissolution of
+the monasteries took away from the poor their main hope of sustenance. The
+evils which such a policy of mere destruction must inevitably have brought
+upon the nation were averted through the national growth of wealth which
+the same period had witnessed. In the country parts the ejection of the
+easy-going old abbots had at least favoured the adoption of newer and
+improved methods of cultivation, so that a greater number of labourers
+came in time to be required on the estate[124]. But far more satisfactory
+for absorbing the surplusage of labour was the development which the
+period witnessed in manufacture. The woollen trade in the west, the
+worsted trade in the east, the iron trade in the south, and unmistakeable
+signs of the cloth trade in the north already showed how the foundations
+of England's wealth were laid.
+
+The writers of the period abound in notices of the unparalleled growth of
+trade and commerce. Harrison laments "that every function and several
+vocation striveth with other, which of them should have all the water of
+commodity ran into her own cistern[125]." Ample openings for capital broke
+through the old prejudices against the taking of interest. "Usury" as it
+was called--"a trade brought in by the Jews--is now perfectly practiced
+almost by every Christian, and so commonly that he is accompted but for a
+fool that doth lend his money for nothing[126]." The English workman too
+was growing rich and lazy in the sunlight of prosperous times, so that
+"strangers" were frequently preferred to native craftsmen as "more
+reasonable in their takings, and less wasters of time by a great deal than
+our own[127]."
+
+This was the commencement of the period of Shrewsbury's greatest
+prosperity. Edward IV.'s erection of the Court of the President and
+Marches of Wales (1478) was a material cause of the advent of peace to the
+Borders. Henry VII. could gratify national sentiment by tracing his
+descent from Owen Tudor: he gave it a practical turn by placing his son
+Arthur at Ludlow as ruler of the principality. The Welshmen had thus begun
+to feel that their union with England was a real one before Henry VIII.
+finally incorporated the country with the English kingdom.
+
+[Sidenote: _Increase of comfort._]
+
+The cessation of Welsh distractions had greatly favoured the advancement
+of Shrewsbury. Its grammar school--founded by Edward VI.--as the entrance
+register of Thomas Ashton, its first Headmaster, evidences, attracted
+scholars from a very wide area, and helped to bring renown and wealth to
+the town. Shrewsbury too was the market to which the Welsh cloth trade
+naturally gravitated, though the town had powerful rivals with which to
+contend. In the reign of Elizabeth it employed six hundred shearmen in the
+woollen industry. Camden, writing in 1586, describes it as "a fine city,
+well-inhabited and of good commerce, and by the industry of the Citizens
+is very rich." From this period date the substantial homes of the
+tradesmen of Tudor times which still survive in not inconsiderable numbers
+to give so much picturesqueness to the streets of the town. This was the
+era of improvements in domestic architecture. "If ever curious building
+did flourish in England," says Harrison[128], "it is in these our years."
+Ireland's mansion, which dates from 1570, and the house at the south-east
+corner of the Market Square, built by John Lloyd in 1579, are existing
+examples of this "curious building." Their elegance, no less than their
+stability, betokens the advancement of manners as well as of wealth.
+Though these houses are "yet for the most part of strong timber" "brick or
+hard stone[129]" were beginning to be largely used. Rowley's mansion
+(1618) is said to have been the first house in the town built wholly of
+these materials.
+
+Everything combines to mark the reign of Elizabeth as an epoch in the
+history of England.
+
+[Sidenote: _Economic policy._]
+
+The foundations of modern society were laid. We seem to come into the
+range of modern, as distinct from mediæval ideas and habits. The principal
+points in which modern society differs from mediæval are distinctly
+visible. The problem of poor relief in particular becomes acutely
+appreciated. The rise of capital is seen both in the modification of the
+Usury laws, spoken of above, and in the enhancing of rents: prices
+hitherto dependent on custom and regulation must now be decided by
+competition.
+
+Not less remarkable is the permanence which attended Elizabeth's
+legislation. Her economic settlement remained practically unchanged until
+the development of machinery altered those social conditions for which it
+had been adapted.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Statute 5 Eliz. a turning-point in Gild history._]
+
+She made trade regulation national instead of local. The Act of 5
+Elizabeth, c. 14, is a turning-point in the history of the Gilds. By it
+the whole system of Gilds was re-modelled. Their experience was by no
+means thrown away[130]. The information they had been accumulating was now
+appropriated by the state, which took over many of the functions they had
+hitherto performed.
+
+[Sidenote: _Many of the functions of the Gilds taken over by the state._]
+
+What had long been common law now became statute law. The old minimum of
+seven years' apprenticeship was still enjoined as a necessary preliminary
+to the exercise of any craft. Such apprentices when bound must be of an
+age less than twenty-one years, and could only be bound to householders in
+corporate or market towns. The proportion of journeymen to apprentices was
+regulated: there were to be three apprentices to one journeyman. The
+workman was protected from wilful dismissal. The hours of labour were
+defined, and Justices of the Peace or the town magistrates were to assess
+wages yearly at the Easter Sessions. All disputes between masters and
+servants were to be settled by the same authorities. The statute
+incorporated everything that was worth taking in the ordinances of the
+Gilds and applied it nationally to the regulation of the country's trade.
+
+[Sidenote: _Trade-regulation becomes national instead of local._]
+
+[Sidenote: _This allows development of new centres_]
+
+The results of such a revolution in industrial regulation were great both
+on trade in general and on the Gilds. There was no longer any excuse for
+attempting to retard the development of the new centres which were
+springing up. The action of the government in the matter of the Welsh
+woollen trade to which reference will presently be made shows how its
+policy was tending more and more towards allowing industry to take its own
+course, instead of attempting to restrict it to one market.
+
+[Sidenote: _and encourages native workmen._]
+
+Another important result of the Act was the protection henceforth shown to
+the native in opposition to the alien workman. The aim of the government
+is now to regulate, protect, encourage, _native_ industry: the objects of
+its desire in the past had been to provide plenty for the consumer and to
+increase the strength of the country by extending its capacity for
+production. The royal support accorded in consequence to Flemish and
+German traders had made them objects of bitter jealousy to the struggling
+English merchants[131]. This feeling of antipathy to alien workmen may be
+traced from the reign of Richard II. It becomes very marked in that of
+Edward IV.[132] The composition of the Mercers of Shrewsbury, dated
+1480-81, had forbidden the apprenticeship of anyone "that is of Frenshe,
+Flemyshe, Irysh, Douche, Walshe or eny other Nacyones not beyng at Truse
+w{t} our Sov'ayne Lorde the Kynge, but onlye mere Englysshe borne."
+
+The new policy inaugurated by the statute of Elizabeth is however not more
+national in its scope than in the preference it gives to native over
+foreign workmen.
+
+[Sidenote: _Results on Gilds._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Many come to an end._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Many made more comprehensive._]
+
+[Sidenote: _These sometimes come into conflict with royal officers._]
+
+The results on the Gilds were more diverse. Many came to an end. This was
+brought about through two causes: firstly, the need for many Gilds ceased
+in consequence of the government now taking over their functions;
+secondly, in many places the numerous Gilds were organized and amalgamated
+into one or two larger and amended corporations[133]. On the other hand
+the encouragement now afforded to native workmen caused a great
+incorporation of new trades into many old Gilds, which became in
+consequence more comprehensive. In a large number of cases these performed
+their duties well for a long period. The new composition granted to the
+Barbers of Shrewsbury in 1662 places this fact upon record. Occasionally
+they came in conflict with the royal officers appointed to scrutinise the
+wares, as was the case with the Mercers and the Anager at one period of
+the company's existence.
+
+[Sidenote: _Many become state agents._]
+
+Not a few became the authorised agents of the state. Several of the
+Shrewsbury Gilds were strengthened and encouraged with this object in
+view. New compositions were granted by Elizabeth to the Tailors and
+Skinners in 1563 (confirmed in the next year), to the Glovers in 1564 and
+to the Shearmen in 1566. The Drapers had also figured in the Statute Book
+on two occasions. The Acts 8 Elizabeth, c. 7, and 14 Elizabeth, c. 12, had
+both been concerned with the affairs of the Drapers of Shrewsbury in their
+capacity of state agents for the regulation of industry[134].
+
+In 1605 the company of Drapers was incorporated by James I. and the Smiths
+in 1621. The Tailors received a composition in 1627 and another in 1686.
+The Tanners were regulated by a new composition in 1639, the Smiths in
+1661, the Barbers in 1662. The records of the Mercers contain entries of
+"cessments for renewing the Composition" in several years--1639, 1640,
+1644, 1646 etc.
+
+[Sidenote: _Many new Gilds formed._]
+
+In many places of recent growth, or where the old Gilds had been destroyed
+without there having been any construction of fresh machinery to take
+their place, deliberate grants were made of new trade companies. The
+Merchant Adventurers of Exeter were incorporated by Elizabeth expressly
+for the purpose of supervising trade and "on account of the inconveniences
+arising from the excessive number of artificers and unskilled persons
+occupying the art or mystery of merchandising[135]." The charter which was
+granted "hominibus mistere Marceriorum" at York in 1581 allowed them to
+form themselves into a company under officers chosen with the consent of
+the municipal authorities: the evils which necessitated the forming of
+the company being expressly stated to be such as had ensued from a lack of
+due regulation of trade[136]. At Axbridge every householder, whether
+engaged in trade or not, was ordered, in 1614, to enrol himself in one of
+the three companies of the town[137].
+
+[Sidenote: _Intimate connection with civic authorities._]
+
+In all these charters care was taken that the new corporations should be
+in due subordination to the town authorities[138]. In some places the
+Mayor or other officer of the town was _ex officio_ head of the Gild.
+Sometimes it was granted to the "Mayor, bailiffs and commonalty and their
+successors for ever, that they shall and may from time to time ordain,
+create, and establish, a society, gild, or fraternity, of one master and
+wardens of every art, mystery and occupation used or occupied, or
+hereafter to be used or occupied, within the said city and the suburbs
+thereof; and that they with the assistance of the wardens of the said arts
+and mysteries may make, constitute, ordain and establish laws,
+constitutions and ordinances for the public utility and profit and for the
+better rule and regiment of our city of Winchester and of the mysteries of
+the citizens and inhabitants of the same[139]." Such power of supervision
+was generally allowed to the municipal authorities. The head of the Gild
+frequently took his oath of office before the Mayor. The Common Council
+of the town had power to make such ordinances as it might think fit for
+the good estate, order and rule of the Gildsmen. In certain cases too the
+Mayor had power "to call and admitt unto the same Free Guild and
+Burgeshipp of the said Town such and soe many able and discreete persons
+as ... shall seeme fitt" and also "uppon any iust and lawful grounds and
+causes to disffranchise them[140]." Under these conditions the public
+authorities of the town would be ready to support the companies. In some
+cases they were expressly ordered to do so. At Shrewsbury we shall find
+the town Bailiffs assisting the companies in the efforts of the latter to
+prevent the encroachments of foreigners.
+
+What all this change and reform amounted to was this. The system of Gilds
+was re-organised and strengthened. Part of the functions which the Craft
+Gilds had performed were taken over by the state. Part were left to be
+still performed by the companies. The companies were in all cases brought
+into the closest possible connection with the town and the town
+authorities.
+
+As regards the designation of these 16th century trade associations it
+appears that they were generally termed societies or companies in public
+documents, probably because the name "Gild" might seem to savour somewhat
+of the Chantries and mass-priests. But in their own books and lists they
+still called themselves Gilds and fraternities.
+
+[Sidenote: _The new companies show permanence of Gild-feeling._]
+
+Though they differed essentially from these, as has been already pointed
+out, yet, viewed superficially, they might seem to have retained many of
+the features of the old Gilds. In practice they bore no small share of the
+burden of public charities. They were also not unmindful of the wants of
+their members, though of course these now consisted of masters only.
+Elizabeth's charter to the Merchant Adventurers of Bristol ordered them to
+distribute yearly among twenty poor men twenty "vestes panneas" and to
+assist all of the company who were impoverished by mischance or otherwise.
+
+In their ordinances and compositions they were even more similar in
+appearance to the old Gilds. The composition which Elizabeth granted to
+the Glovers of Shrewsbury in 1564 is as strict as any mediæval regulation.
+It restricted all masters to a maximum of three apprentices. It confined
+each brother to a single shop, and to the selling of the products of his
+own work only. It authorised the Wardens to seize corrupt or insufficient
+wares, and was altogether a most thorough piece of industrial regulation,
+entirely modelled on the lines of the old Gild arrangements.
+
+Other indications of the same spirit were not lacking. In 1621 "by and
+with the allowance and agreement of the right worthie" the town
+authorities, skins and fells were ordered to be purchased only between
+sunrise and sunset. As though the Wardens of the Barbers' company had not
+been sufficiently thorough in executing their duties the new composition
+which the company received from Charles II. in 1662 made provision for the
+appointment of a searcher and defined the duties appertaining to the
+office. The composition granted to the Smiths in 1621 forbade the keeping
+of two shops by a single tradesman in the town, and disallowed the
+employment of foreigners for a longer period than a week without express
+permission obtained from the Wardens. The composition of the Tailors,
+granted in 1627, forbade the wearing of "any lyvere of any Earle Lorde
+Barronett Knight Esquire or Gentleman" while occupying any Gild office;
+prohibited unfair competition and the employment of foreigners; and
+ordered that "noe pettie Chapman or other p'son or p'sons shall buy any
+Skynnes of furre" within the town. In the composition of 1686 the articles
+are repeated against indiscriminate admittance of foreigners, and against
+the piratical infringement of unfree persons on the province of the
+brethren.
+
+The "Regulated Companies" which arose about the same time were a further
+development of the same movement, but on a larger scale. In many respects
+indeed the Craft Gilds of the 14th and 15th centuries were but little
+different from the Regulated Companies of the 17th. Admission was
+practically free on payment of a fine, the individual so received into
+membership being left to prosecute his trade in his own way, by his own
+means, and to his own particular profit.
+
+[Sidenote: _Though altered conditions of trade make their work
+difficult._]
+
+But the difficulties attendant on attempts to regulate expanding trade
+were daily growing greater and more numerous. "The false making and short
+lengths of all sortes of cloths and stuffes" necessitated the appointment
+by the Mercers of two men "to oversee and look after" these things in
+1638. The Barbers too in 1662 empowered the stewards to search for bad
+materials. In 1639 the Glovers' company was brought to something like a
+crisis "by the taking of many apprentices." It was thought necessary to
+dock each brother of one of the apprentices allowed by the Elizabethan
+composition of 1564[141].
+
+The frequency with which it was necessary to renew the compositions, the
+reiteration of the same articles,--against employing foreigners, against
+unfair competition, against neglect of the legal period of
+apprenticeship,--again shows the futility of such restrictions. Actions
+against intruders even thus early figure frequently on the records. In
+those of the Tailors and Skinners the decision of the company under date
+of August 23, 1627, is recorded thus:--"The Wardens and Sitters met and
+agreed that the Wardens should fetch process for Intruders and implead
+them before the Council in the Marches, and Mr Chelmicke to draw the bill
+against them."
+
+The history of the Welsh woollen trade in its connection with Shrewsbury
+well exhibits the economic policy of the day, and as it therefore
+illustrates several of the points with which we have been concerned it may
+be given here at some length.
+
+[Sidenote: _The features of the period seen in history of Welsh woollen
+trade of Shrewsbury._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Flourishing in reign of Elizabeth,_]
+
+In the earlier part of the 16th century Oswestry appears to have been the
+principal market for the Welsh products. At Shrewsbury however there was
+also a large woollen trade, as we learn from the Act 8 Elizabeth, cap. 7,
+entitled, "An Act touching the Drapers, Cottoners, and Frizers of
+Shrewsbury." This statute recited that there had been time out of mind a
+Gild of the art and mystery of Drapers legally incorporated in Shrewsbury,
+which had usually set on work above six hundred persons of the art or
+science of Shearmen or Frizers. Of late however it had come to pass that
+divers persons, not being members of the said company, neither brought up
+in the use of the said trade, had "with great disorder, upon a mere
+covetous desire and mind, intromitted with and occupied the said trade of
+buying Welsh cloth or lining, having no knowledge, experience or skill in
+the same." The result is asserted to be that the men of the company are
+impoverished and like to be brought to ruin unless speedy remedy be
+provided. It is therefore forbidden that anyone inhabiting Shrewsbury
+shall "occupy the trade" of buying Welsh woollens, unless he be free of
+the company of the Drapers[142].
+
+[Sidenote: _but injured by over-regulation caused by selfish interests._]
+
+Such a stringent regulation of trade met with directly contrary results to
+those which had been expected. A statute six years later acknowledges the
+failure of the measure, although it attempts to shift the blame from the
+shoulders of the Government by representing the measure as one taken at
+the request of the Drapers, instead of as a piece of state-craft[143].
+
+The statute of 14 Elizabeth, cap. 12, almost entirely repeals 8 Elizabeth,
+cap. 7, "at the humble suit of the inhabitants of the said town and also
+of the said artificers, for whose benefit the said Act was supposed to be
+provided[144].... For experience hath plainly taught in the said town that
+the said Act hath not only not brought the good effect that then was hoped
+and surmised, but also hath been and now is like to be the very greatest
+cause of the impoverishing and undoing of the poor Artificers and others
+at whose suit the said Act was procured, for that there be now, sithence
+the making of the said Act, much fewer persons to set them awork than
+afore."
+
+The whole incident is extremely interesting. It affords an excellent
+illustration of the way in which the Gilds were in some places made state
+agents for carrying into effect 5 Elizabeth, cap. 14. It also shows
+plainly that state intervention was beginning to be found harmful even by
+the men of that day. It evidences, moreover, how large the Welsh trade of
+Shrewsbury had already grown.
+
+Oswestry however continued to be the chief emporium, and the Drapers of
+Shrewsbury repaired thither every Monday for a long period after the date
+of the statutes we have been considering.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Drapers' Company represents the interests of Shrewsbury_]
+
+The company of the Drapers was the most considerable and influential of
+the trade associations of Shrewsbury. It numbered among its brethren the
+great majority of the chief burgesses of the town. Its relations with the
+municipal corporation were, as would be expected, very intimate. It was
+the custom of the Drapers to attend divine worship in the church of St
+Alkmund before setting out for the Oswestry market. In 1614 an order was
+made for the payment of six and eightpence to the clerk of the church for
+ringing the morning bell to prayers on Monday mornings at six o'clock, not
+by the company as we should expect, but by the corporation[145].
+
+[Sidenote: _in opposition to Oswestry, Chester,_]
+
+There arose considerable competition for the lucrative market which the
+expansion of Welsh industry was every day rendering more profitable. The
+inhabitants of Chester made a vigorous attempt to obtain the erection in
+their city of "a staple for the cottons and friezes of North Wales."
+Shrewsbury was however enabled to prevent the completion of the
+scheme[146].
+
+[Sidenote: _London; especially the last._]
+
+The attempt of London to obtain a share in the trade seemed fraught with
+so much danger that the two rivals, Shrewsbury and Oswestry, made common
+cause against the intruder. The complaint was a general one that the
+merchants of London and their factors forestalled and engrossed
+productions before they came to market. These obnoxious practices seem to
+have been carried to a particularly distasteful length on the borders of
+Wales. The transactions of a London dealer named Thomas Davies in 1619
+appear to have brought matters to a crisis.
+
+There had been complaints about the same man, with others, previously. He
+had, by craft, obtained admission to the freedom of Oswestry, by which
+means he could the better purchase the Welsh cloths. These he then carried
+to London where he sold them "privately"[147]--that is, not in the proper
+and public market. The Drapers of the two towns petitioned that the matter
+might be settled before the Council[148]. Being foiled in his attempt to
+plead his freedom of Oswestry[148] Davies appealed to the Lord Mayor and
+Corporation of the Metropolis to support his claims to trade throughout
+England in right of his citizenship of London[149]. The order of the
+Council depriving the Londoners of what they called their "ancient
+privilege" evoked strenuous opposition in the Metropolis, and petitions
+numerously signed[150] were sent in asserting that the Drapers of
+Shrewsbury and Oswestry had obtained the order by misrepresentation[151].
+It does not appear that these petitions were successful, as Thomas Davies
+in his examination before the Council a little later, expressed his
+willingness to resign his London freedom and to confine his dealings to
+Oswestry. The fear of creating a precedent which would be largely
+followed, and with probable detriment to the trade of Shrewsbury and
+Oswestry, restrained the Council from allowing him to do this[152].
+
+Not that the trade of Shrewsbury, at any rate, was likely to decrease
+through any apathy on the part of its company of Drapers. They were on the
+contrary singularly active at this time. And there was every need for them
+to be vigilant. For, with the object of stimulating the industry of the
+Principality by allowing a more extensive market, and probably also as a
+result of the recent proceedings between the Drapers of Shrewsbury and
+Oswestry and the citizens of London, a Proclamation was issued allowing
+free trade in Welsh cloths. The novelty pleased neither the Welshmen[153]
+nor the merchants of the borders. To the latter the chief consequence
+seemed to be that the French company, which had the monopoly of exporting
+such goods to France, was enabled to purchase direct from the
+manufacturers in Wales instead of through the Drapers. The case was
+undoubtedly a hard one for the latter, who could not export. Consequently
+their grievance was a real one, and, as they showed in their petition to
+the Council, ruin stared them in the face unless they too might be allowed
+to export and so dispose of the large stock which was thrown on their
+hands[154].
+
+But at the same time they were successfully endeavouring to draw the Welsh
+trade from Oswestry entirely to Shrewsbury[155].
+
+They had prepared for the attempt by obtaining a new charter from
+Elizabeth's successor in 1605. That they had lost no time in putting their
+privileges to practical use is seen from their answer, four years later,
+to a mandate issued to them by Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, who held
+the overlordship of Oswestry, to desist from their efforts to undermine
+the trade of his town. Their answer is entitled "The Copy of a Letter sent
+by the Company to the Earle of Suffolk, Lord Chamberlen of his Majesties
+Househoulde, the 24 June 1609," and begins
+
+    "Right Honerabell,
+
+    "Your letter bearing date the second of this June by the hands of Mr
+    Kinaston wee have receaved: wherein ytt appeareth yo{r} Lordship was
+    informed that wee the Societie of Drapers wentt abowte by underarte
+    and menesses to withdrawe your markett of Walshe Clothe from your
+    towne of Oswester."
+
+[Sidenote: _All competitors worsted._]
+
+Though they proceed to exculpate themselves from the charge, it is evident
+their intention was to pursue in the future the same policy which they had
+hitherto practised. In 1618 Suffolk fell and Oswestry was deprived of his
+support, so that in 1621 the Shrewsbury Drapers felt justified in
+resolving "That they will not buy Cloth at Oswestry or elsewhere than
+Salop," in spite of the opposition of the clothiers of North Wales[156],
+who, whether from convenience or old association, appeared to prefer
+Oswestry as the locale of their market. However the Drapers' company,
+assisted by the town[157], was sufficiently powerful to turn the
+Proclamation allowing free trade in Welsh cloths to their own good, and
+the market was drawn to Shrewsbury in spite of orders by the Council that
+it should be re-established at Oswestry. The company did not hesitate to
+declare to the Council itself that they were prepared, if necessary, to
+disregard its orders. By 1633 the market at Oswestry had practically died
+out. It was held at Shrewsbury on Wednesdays, and afterwards on Fridays.
+In 1649 the date was altered to Thursday.
+
+[Sidenote: _Expansion of trade, and interlopers, destroy Shrewsbury's
+monopoly._]
+
+To the Market House flocked the Welsh farmers, their bales of cloth being
+borne to the town on the backs of hardy ponies. The merchandise was
+exposed for sale in the large room upstairs. The Drapers assembled
+beneath, and proceeded to make their purchases in order of seniority,
+according to ancient usage. The custom which the Welshmen brought to the
+town easily accounts for the keenness of the competition to secure the
+market. For a long time the trade flourished. Gradually however the action
+of "foreigners" in buying from the Welsh manufacturers at their homes[158]
+broke down the monopoly which Shrewsbury had so long enjoyed. At the end
+of the 18th century the sales had shrunk to miserable proportions. In
+1803 the room over the market was relinquished by the Drapers, and though
+a certain amount of Welsh trade was still carried on, it withdrew
+gradually from the town until it finally left Shrewsbury altogether. The
+Drapers might have realised that the time for restricting trade to the
+freemen of their company was past.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE DEGENERACY OF THE COMPANIES.
+
+
+[Sidenote: _Outside competition_]
+
+The competition of "interlopers" ruined the Welsh trade of Shrewsbury. It
+was not, as we have seen, from any lack of vigilance on the part of the
+companies. Stimulated by their new compositions they became extremely
+active. As early as 1622 the actions against "foreigners" begin. Soon
+afterwards they become of frequent occurrence until at length the books of
+the companies are almost mere records of a daily struggle for existence.
+
+[Sidenote: _inevitable under the altered conditions of trade._]
+
+[Sidenote: _But the companies themselves are unsatisfactory._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Friction with the town authorities;_]
+
+This was of course inevitable under the altered conditions of trade. But
+the companies exhibited in themselves all the radical defects which must
+pertain to such a system when it has outgrown its necessity. We have seen
+how free the earlier companies were from friction with the municipal
+authorities. In the 17th century this is changed. The propriety of setting
+up a May-pole had formerly been almost the only ground of conflict between
+the bailiffs and the craftsmen. But in 1639 we find that the Tanners were
+thought to be overstepping their powers; the corporation appointed a
+committee to examine their composition. Some seventeen years later,
+extreme measures had to be taken with regard to the same company. It was
+the custom for the charters to be inspected by the corporation
+periodically. In 1656 the Tanners refused to comply with the request to
+produce their composition for the mayor's perusal, with the result that
+the company was prosecuted by the corporation[159].
+
+The town had been willing to support the Drapers in their measures to draw
+the Welsh trade to Shrewsbury, but it did not approve of the line of
+action they tried subsequently to take, namely, to limit all the trade to
+their own members. In 1653 regulations were framed to prevent the company
+"forestalling or engrossing the Welsh Flannels, Cloaths etc.[160]" A more
+serious abuse transpired in connection with the Feltmakers' company in
+1667. They refused to make one who had been lawfully apprenticed to the
+trade in Shrewsbury free of their company. On this occasion the mayor and
+aldermen exercised their right of supervision by ordering the Wardens to
+admit the man, "and the Mayor is desired to give him the oath of a Freeman
+of the said Company[161]." The importance of the mayor being thus
+empowered by the municipal authorities to administer the oath of
+admittance to one of the Gilds is very great, and shows how real was the
+subordination of the latter to the town when the corporation chose to
+exert its rights.
+
+An order of the corporation[162] directing that burgesses only are to be
+elected Wardens of the companies points to another abuse, the existence of
+which is proved by other evidence, viz., the admittance of non-residents
+in the town to membership in the companies on payment of a sufficiently
+large entrance fee. Yet the extent to which corruption could go was seen
+forty years later when the corporation stultified itself by passing an
+order[163] allowing the Haberdashers to elect persons, though they might
+not be burgesses, as Wardens of their company.
+
+The general impression which such transactions leave is that extreme
+laxity prevailed in all departments. The town woke up for a moment in 1702
+when the prospect perhaps of a harvest of unpaid fines induced them to
+make an effort to recover all such[164]. It is to be regretted that
+nothing remains to show to what extent the abuse had prevailed, nor how
+far the present effort was successful. The annual fine of the Bakers'
+company was £3. 6_s._ 8_d._ which they appear to have generally paid with
+considerable reluctance[165]. The supply of provision to the town seems to
+have given much trouble in the early years of the eighteenth century.
+Permission was given, in 1730, to the country butchers to sell in the town
+unless the town butchers could furnish meat in sufficient quantity.
+Similar permission was accorded to the country bakers, if the Bakers'
+company in the town would not pay their yearly fine. This they were
+unwilling, or unable, to do, and the country bakers were in consequence
+called in[166].
+
+[Sidenote: _with one another,_]
+
+The picture given by such incidents is not more significant of the
+degeneracy of the Gilds than is that which the friction of the companies
+one with another presents. The Mercers and the Drapers had frequently made
+mutual complaints of intrusion: the Mercers and the Glovers also appear as
+great rivals in later years. In 1679 and at several subsequent dates there
+were actions at law between the two companies. In 1727 the records of the
+Glovers show that similar actions were again in process. In 1721 the
+company unanimously agreed to withstand the Tailors in the matter of widow
+Steen, whom they pledge themselves to support; "and that shee may goe on
+with makeing Brichess peruided shee dos not line them with flonen or
+Buckrom or cennet onlye Lether."
+
+[Sidenote: _and with their own members._]
+
+Nor is the evidence of intestine friction within the Gilds themselves less
+significant of decay. So early as 1636 the Mercers were fain to confess
+that the spirit of mutual assistance had disappeared, in the order which
+they passed to the effect that any combrother refusing to pay his
+assessment was to be distrained upon by authority of the Wardens. There
+are several records of such distraints. In 1700 they find it necessary to
+pass an ordinance against freemen taking the sons of intruders as
+apprentices. The records of the other companies are, similarly, full of
+like evidences of demoralisation. The companies are declared to be
+impoverished by the taking of inordinate numbers of apprentices. The same
+sort of abuse is found in a complaint which appears in the Glovers' books
+in 1656: "the company is much impoverished by the taking in of foreigners
+freemen such as have not served" their due apprenticeship. "The disorderly
+manner of electing Wardens" about which the Glovers have to "take account"
+in 1668 points to a great deterioration in the manner of holding Gild
+meetings from that which has been sketched in a previous chapter[167].
+Worse than all is the confession that the Gild brothers have sunk so low
+as to connive at intruders "for fraudulent lucre and gain[168]." The
+Saddlers have the same sort of complaint in 1740. Some brethren are
+infringing on the trades of others: resolutions are passed against such
+conduct. Their books show that the resolutions were soon forgotten[169].
+The other Gilds experienced similar difficulties. In 1745 the Barbers
+levied a fine of ten shillings on brethren who should so far forget
+themselves as to instruct "men or women servants to dress hair."
+
+The problem of regulating trade would have been difficult enough under
+the most favourable circumstances. With the Gilds in the condition which
+we have been considering it was an impossibility. There was indeed a
+feature in the modern companies which at the outset deprived the attempt
+to utilise them beneficially for trade-purposes of all chance of success.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Gilds have changed to capitalist companies._]
+
+The old Gilds, which had lived through the shocks of the Reformation, and
+the Elizabethan changes, had quite altered their character. The new ones
+which had arisen differed widely from the old fraternities. Instead of
+being brotherhoods of craftsmen desirous of advancing the public weal,
+they were now mere societies of capitalists, intent only on private and
+personal advantage. As a writer of 1680 observes "most of our ancient
+Corporations and Guilds [have] become oppressive Oligarchies[170]." There
+is a constant endeavour to restrict the companies to favoured individuals.
+Every "foreigner" is subjected to a heavy fine, which grows larger in
+amount as the companies feel the trade slipping from their hands in spite
+of their desperate endeavours to restrict it. The new compositions
+continually point to this abuse by bringing back the fines to their
+original sum, or rather reducing them to an amount less inordinate than
+that which they have irregularly reached. The admission stamp of the
+Saddlers was 4/- in 1784. It reached 8/2 in 1799. In 1831 it was 20/2. The
+Mercers' fine was fixed at £40. 6_s._ 8_d._ in 1789, "besides fees." In
+1823 it had sunk to £20. The Mercers were of course one of the richest of
+the companies, yet the sum was a large one to pay for the privilege of
+opening a shop in a provincial town.
+
+Other means to restrict themselves were also attempted. Increase in the
+number of apprentices was viewed with disfavour. There are frequent
+complaints of the "impoverishment" of the companies through the
+indiscriminate admittance of "foreigners." All the evidence shows how
+entirely they have degenerated into mere societies of capitalists. Their
+records almost decline into bald columns of pounds, shillings and pence.
+For it was to this completeness of degradation that the social body had
+sunk. The merest selfishness was lauded as a patriotic virtue. Private
+gain was recommended as a public benefit. Social disintegration and
+industrial anarchy ruled supreme, and when commercial success had come to
+be looked upon as the one avenue to honour and advancement, it was not to
+be expected that the companies would escape the general infection. They
+formed simply one among many means by which the individual was enabled to
+fill his own pockets at the cost of a suffering and squalid populace.
+
+This change in their character, which became more marked as time went by,
+naturally was not unattended by a change in their government. All
+authority became engrossed by the richer members. The Four Assistants with
+the Wardens and Stewards formed a close aristocratic board. Brentano,
+speaking it would appear more particularly of the London companies,
+says[171] the king nominated the first members of this court and
+afterwards as vacancies occurred they were filled by co-optation. This was
+not exactly the case with the Shrewsbury companies. There the annual
+meeting[172] retained a considerable power in the election of officers to
+the last. In some cases the Assistants or Four Men were elected freely by
+the assembled combrethren, in others two only were thus elected, the two
+retiring Wardens completing the number. The Tailors' composition of 1563
+provided that the two Wardens should be elected by the whole Gild: the
+Four Assistants were then nominated by these Wardens "for advising them in
+the Government of the Gild." The Wardens and Assistants then proceeded to
+nominate the two Stewards.
+
+[Sidenote: _The companies and the close corporations._]
+
+They were thus as exclusive and aristocratic as the town corporations had
+become. The degeneracy of the latter had been largely intensified by the
+degeneracy of the former. For the principal members of the companies were
+the principal members of the town corporation, which had silently, since
+the fourteenth century, been usurping the ancient powers of the general
+body of the burgesses. It was the companies which mainly profited by it.
+They profited indirectly, by the influence which they exercised through
+individual members on the town council, which had obtained part of the
+functions of the Leet. They profited directly as they themselves acquired
+definitely other of the powers of the Court Leet. They became the chief
+or the sole medium for the acquisition of municipal freedom, and were
+distinct town organs for the regulation of trade and industry.
+
+[Sidenote: _The journeymen no longer in the companies._]
+
+It is by reason of the widely-reaching influence of their degeneracy that
+their later history is of importance. For as regards the poorer members of
+society their history is useless. The workman disappears from their books.
+That he no longer was looked upon as the brother member of the masters is
+quite evident.
+
+  "Our workmen do work hard, but we live at ease,
+  We go when we will, and we come when we please[173]."
+
+[Sidenote: _They begin to form benefit societies, animated by much of the
+old Gild-spirit._]
+
+The most general means which the poor adopted to help themselves was the
+formation of Friendly Societies. These arose in great numbers during the
+18th century. The companies were not slow in helping to swell public
+subscriptions and in assisting to pauperise the labouring class. To the
+necessity of rendering real help to their unfortunate workmen they were
+however entirely oblivious. This side of the work performed by the old
+Gilds had been almost wholly overlooked by the post-reformation companies,
+though it had been one of the most important of their predecessors'
+functions. It was found that society could not get along without something
+of the kind, and as the higher companies would not perform the work, the
+lower craftsmen found it necessary to do it themselves. Here was a
+distinct severance of interest between employers and workmen, yet it does
+not seem unlikely that it was the old Gilds themselves which formed the
+models for the new societies. At any rate the analogies between the Gilds
+and the Benefit Societies, in the earlier phases of the latter, and
+looking at the social and religious side of the former, are very
+striking[174]. The simple rules of trade association show as much concern
+for the morals of members as did the charters of the Gilds: they had their
+annual feast, provided by subscription: they usually went in their
+procession to the parish church on the day of the feast. They were perhaps
+the earliest signs of that necessary return to something like the old Gild
+system which the later Trades Unions have done so much to bring about. The
+companies watched them grow up without a twinge of conscience, though it
+was their own neglect of duty which made such associations an absolute
+necessity. Being the only forms of combination which were left unmolested
+by the government they were extensively formed, and this was well, for the
+need of them was very great.
+
+[Sidenote: _Difficulties of reform; members would not, state would not,
+the town authorities would not._]
+
+In spite of unmistakeable signs of inevitable changes the companies
+refused to take warning. Their reform was indeed difficult, and, as it
+proved, impossible. The workmen as we have seen could not, the masters
+would not, take steps in this direction. The state derived too good an
+income from them to be anxious for a change. The admission stamps,
+constantly increasing in amount, were a profitable source of revenue. The
+notices of "cessments for renewing the composition" are frequent. There
+were also continual contributions of men and money for the "exigencies of
+the State[175]." In 1798 the Mercers voted £100 annually to the government
+"during the continuance of the war." The town also seemed to profit by
+them. They were obliged, some of them at all events, to exhibit their
+compositions annually or periodically to the mayor and pay a customary
+fine on doing so. They continued to be of some service to the community in
+the inefficient condition of the public police. Their social utility to
+the town was also in their favour. In 1608 the corporation provided
+materials in case of fire, when each of the companies was required to
+maintain its proper proportion of hooks and buckets. Entries relating to
+the "spout or water engine" are frequent in their records. In aid of
+procuring public benefits the companies were not backward. Their chests
+were readily opened to assist towards improvements in the town, such as
+widening of streets, erection of bridges and the like.
+
+To the last also they preserved something of their charitable character,
+though its exercise was as open to criticism as other forms of poor relief
+during the eighteenth century. Nevertheless if the membership lists of the
+Drapers and the Mercers could be made public they would be found to
+contain the majority of the public benefactors of Shrewsbury during this
+period. Public charities, such as the Infirmary and the Lancaster School
+received annual subscriptions until the companies came to an end. The
+necessity of continuing the annuities to the inmates of S. Chad's
+almshouses formed a chief argument against the dissolution of the Mercers'
+company. "The Worshipful Company of Drapers" still subscribes to schools
+and charities year by year.
+
+[Sidenote: _Contemporaneous opinion of the companies._]
+
+In these circumstances we cannot wonder that the old companies found many
+champions. The following letter is valuable as affording a view of the
+contemporaneous opinion held of the Gilds by a man of ordinary common
+sense and average education. It appeared in the _Salopian Journal_ of
+August 27, 1823. It was evoked by a decision of the Judges of Assize in
+favour of the Mercers' company in an important case to which reference
+will be made in a later page. It was addressed to the editor of the
+newspaper and commenced--
+
+    "SIR,
+
+    As the Company commonly called 'the United Company of Mercers,
+    Grocers, Ironmongers, and Goldsmiths' in this town have established
+    the validity of their ancient customs by a suit at law of which there
+    is no account of their having done so since the time when the King's
+    Court for the Marches of Wales was held at Ludlow; at which time and
+    place the Council then, who held the pleas, determined also a like
+    suit in their favour: and as there is much argument for and against
+    the existence and usage of this incorporate body; permit me to lay
+    before the public an outline of both, that the subject at least might
+    be better understood than we often hear it repeated. It is contended
+    against, as exercising an arbitrary monopoly of trade, to the
+    detriment and oppression of the subjects of the realm; and which is
+    moreover injurious to the town itself, by depriving the Trade thereof
+    of that competition which brings down the Articles of manufacture to a
+    fair marketable value for the supply of its inhabitants. These are the
+    charges against them, which if indeed they could be substantiated
+    would be sufficient to show that their existence was an evil. But let
+    us look at the facts on the other side of the question, and see
+    whether there is any reality in these serious charges. In the first
+    place the Companies hold it requisite, in order to be free of their
+    body, that all but the sons of Freemen shall serve a regular
+    apprenticeship to one of the Corporation. Now in this they have been
+    sanctioned and dictated to by the ancient law of the land ... that
+    youths might be properly taught their respective arts, and that the
+    community might not be imposed upon by pretenders to that which they
+    were not properly acquainted with.
+
+    On Foreigners or such as have not served a regular apprenticeship they
+    impose a fine of £20, before they will admit them as freemen, and
+    certainly in doing this they do not over-rate a seven years'
+    servitude, when the one is made equivalent to the other.
+
+    Let us now see to the application of the money. A fund is made of it,
+    somewhat similar to 'Benefit Societies.' No part of it is applied to
+    private purposes; for even the Company's annual feast, about which
+    there is so much said, is not always at the expense of the fund, but
+    [is] borne individually; and the utility of such a feast to promote
+    harmony and goodwill, is acknowledged by all Societies[176]. But
+    further, these funds are confined to the relief of decayed and
+    deserving members of the Companies[177], and to every charitable and
+    public emergency wherein the general interest or welfare of the town
+    is concerned; and their annual disbursements, for centuries past, have
+    been regularly serviceable to the community at large as well as to
+    individual cases of distress. This the account of their expenditure
+    will show. Now, then this monopoly, as it is called, extends no
+    further than to exact an apprenticeship of seven years, or to a fine
+    of £20; the former sanctioned by law and the latter a sum of no
+    comparative amount to a respectable person, desirous of establishing a
+    respectable trade, especially if there be any truth in the argument,
+    that goods are sold by this corporate body for more money than they
+    would be, if no such corporation existed. Neither can the fine be
+    called excessive, because it is added to a stock which he from whom it
+    is exacted directs in common to be applied to the common good; and
+    which he may himself, as many others have done in cases of distress,
+    receive back again with large additions.
+
+    But the increased population of Birmingham and Manchester is brought
+    forward as a proof of towns flourishing where trade is what is called
+    _free_. Let us look a little into this argument. Are not the wares
+    vended in these places proverbially _bad_? Do not all manner of
+    imposters from these places deluge the country with their spurious
+    goods, and impose them upon the unwary part of the public? Are these
+    towns to be compared with London, Liverpool, Bristol, for
+    respectability of their trade, for the goodness and cheapness of their
+    articles, when the quality is taken into account? Yet the trade of
+    these latter towns is regulated by corporations.
+
+    I contend therefore that the Corporation in question is _beneficial_
+    to this town and county, inasmuch as it tends to protect it from the
+    inundations of empirics and imposters, while it holds out no hindrance
+    to the fair and honest dealer who has a mind to compete with its
+    respectable tradesmen and settle amongst them. I am not in trade
+    myself; but hope I shall always see my native town preserved from that
+    sort of population which it has never yet been disgraced with.
+
+        I have the honour to be, Mr Editor,
+          In technical language,
+            A COMBROTHER OF THE GUILD.
+
+    SHREWSBURY, Aug. 22, 1823."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+SHREWSBURY SHOW.
+
+
+[Sidenote: _Characteristic features of the Middle Ages._]
+
+A strange glamour hangs around the Middle Ages. We know so little of man's
+actual life in those years,--and what little we do know seems to partake
+so largely of the mysterious and the picturesque--all, his modes of life
+and manners of thought are so far removed from our own,--that mediæval
+history would easily resolve itself into an enchanting pageant bright with
+its colour and bewildering with its contradictions. It is perhaps in the
+strange contrasts which are presented to us that its chief wonder is
+found. In those years we find lust and rapine, and sacrilege and tyranny,
+side by side with the fairest forms of chivalry[178], the most devoted
+readiness to champion the cause of religion, the firmest attachment to the
+forms of law[179]. We see only the prominent lights and the great shadows
+of the picture, but all that should go to make it human and comprehensible
+to us is hidden under the dust of centuries.
+
+We have noticed the existence of something of this contradictory spirit in
+the view we have had of the early Gilds[180]. The elevated ideal which
+they set before their members must of course have been far above the level
+which was ever actually reached. We may smile at their vain attempts after
+the impossible, yet we cannot but allow that their perseverance betokens
+the widespread acceptance of a nobler conception of human life than is
+common in our own too merely practical age. To the men of those days there
+seemed no great incongruity in the lofty ideals of the Gild-compositions
+and the lower standard which the brethren actually attained. It added but
+another to the many striking contrasts which environed their daily life.
+
+[Sidenote: _Fondness for pageantry._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Its social importance._]
+
+That life was one passed largely in dulness and perhaps comparative
+squalor. But the occasions of colour and merriment were not few. Each
+season had its festivities, social and religious, when rich and poor met
+on something like equal ground in the rude merry-making. This feature in
+ordinary life was not without its social importance, and if only for this
+reason no account of the Gilds would be complete which failed to take
+notice of their processions and, in so doing, of the general life and
+habits of the brethren at the different epochs of Gild history. We have
+now nothing to take the place of those occasions of mutual enjoyment and
+mirth, when "ceremony doff'd his pride" without censure, when the bashful
+apprentice might perhaps tread a measure with his master's daughter, and
+when the condescending mistress of the house might even allow herself to
+be led out for a dance by one or other of her goodman's journeymen.
+
+  "A Christmas gambol oft would cheer
+  A poor man's heart through half the year[181]."
+
+[Sidenote: _The Corpus Christi procession._]
+
+We have already seen how important an influence religious feelings had in
+the actions of the Gilds. Among the yearly festivals the feast of Corpus
+Christi soon became one of the most splendid for pomp and pageantry, and
+to it the Gilds were naturally attracted. Some indeed existed with the
+primary object of ensuring the glory of this particular feast. Most
+important of these was the Corpus Christi Gild at York[182]. The Gild of
+the Holy Trinity, also at York, concerned itself with the annual
+production of a religious play illustrating the Lord's Prayer. The Gilds
+of S. Helen (which represented the Invention of the Cross), of S. Mary,
+and of Corpus Christi, at Beverley[183], were other famous fraternities
+with similar objects. At Stamford was one which maintained a secular
+play[184]. In most towns in England it became the custom for the Gilds,
+each with its banners and insignia, to accompany the Corpus Christi
+procession: in some places the event seems to have become especially
+picturesque. At Coventry[185] and also at Shrewsbury, the procession has
+lasted in some sort down to our own day[186]. At the former city Lady
+Godiva has even lately ridden, though at fitful and uncertain intervals:
+at the latter town, although the procession has now become a thing of the
+past, it is little more than a decade since "Shrewsbury Show" was to be
+seen annually, on the Monday following the feast of Corpus Christi,
+passing along under the eaves of the timbered houses of the old border
+town.
+
+[Sidenote: _The pageants of the Gilds._]
+
+The prominence which the charters of the Shrewsbury Gilds gave to the
+procession has been sufficiently pointed out already. Every care was taken
+to secure its fitting glory and splendour. Among the goods of the
+companies which the inventories name are "Baners," "Baners for ye
+Mynstrellys werying," "skukions for my'strells," "torches," "coots of
+sense," "stondarts of mayle," "other pec's of mayle," besides many swords
+and halberts, and the like. These various properties decked out the
+pageant which each Gild contributed to the common procession. It was
+exhibited by means of a wooden scaffold on wheels, differing probably but
+little in appearance from the drays or trollies which were utilised in
+later years. Dugdale in his _Antiquities of Warwickshire_ relates that
+"before the suppression of the Monasteries this city[187] was very famous
+for the pageants that were played therein upon Corpus Christi Day; which,
+occasioning very great confluence of people thither from far and near,
+was of no small benefit thereto: which pageants being acted with mighty
+state and reverence by the friars of this house had theaters for the
+several scenes, very large and high, placed upon wheels, and drawn to all
+the eminent parts of the city for the better advantage of the spectators."
+
+At Shrewsbury there appears never to have been an elaborate miracle play
+presented by the crafts[188]. Most likely the Show early took that form
+which it exhibited in the later times of which we have more definite
+record. The Gilds of the town walked in the procession, each member
+bearing, in mediæval days, a light "in honour of the Blessed Sacrament,"
+the officers wearing their liveries and carrying the banners and other
+insignia, and thus escorting a tableau more or less appropriate to the
+craft. No small expense and even taste appears to have been expended on
+these representations, though their precise suitability it is in some
+cases difficult to appreciate. Before Reformation times the tableaux were
+generally of a biblical or ecclesiastical nature: after the 16th century
+they were usually mythological or historical. Thus the Tailors were
+presided over by Adam and Eve "the first of their craft," or by Queen
+Elizabeth in ruffles of right royal magnitude. The Shearmen or
+Clothworkers had a personation of bishop Blasius, with a black mitre of
+wool and doubtless also the wool-comb with which he had been tortured at
+his martyrdom. The place of the saint was subsequently usurped by the
+king--Edward IV., who was remembered as having especially cultivated the
+good offices of the wool-merchants. The Skinners and Glovers were ruled by
+the king of Morocco, whose "Cote" was an expensive item in their accounts;
+they had also an elaborate mechanical stag accompanied by huntsmen
+sounding bugle blasts. The Smiths were appropriately represented by
+Vulcan, or a knight in black armour "supported by two attendants who
+occasionally fired off blunderbusses." The Painters were accustomed to
+find their best representative of later years in a cheery-looking Rubens
+brandishing palette and brush, while the Bricklayers, for some occult
+reason, considered themselves adequately represented by bluff king Hal.
+The twin saints Crispin and Crispianus patronised the Shoemakers, and S.
+Katharine (at a spinning wheel) the Barbers. Venus and Ceres presided over
+the Bakers.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Reformation._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Mary._]
+
+At the Reformation the Corpus Christi procession became shorn of its
+splendour even before it altogether ceased under Edward VI. With Mary's
+attempt to revive the old order efforts were made to restore the Show in
+its pristine grandeur, though Edward VI.'s pillaging of the Gilds had
+rendered the furnishing of the lights and vestments a matter of serious
+difficulty. At Shrewsbury the municipal authorities endeavoured to keep up
+the mystery plays by means of contributions from the various companies.
+
+[Sidenote: _Elizabeth._]
+
+The accession of Elizabeth was not likely to do any harm to the plays and
+pageants, though the outward reason for their performance might be
+changed. Elizabeth fully perceived the political and social usefulness of
+such festivities: her provincial progresses were a succession of brilliant
+shows and interludes which served a useful purpose in diverting the
+nation's attention from the graver dangers which threatened England during
+the queen's eventful reign. Elizabeth was also naturally fond of gaiety
+and wit, and the tone of the people from the highest to the lowest was
+dramatic. The Court had its "master of the revels," the Universities and
+Inns of Court had their regular plays. Interludes were provided for the
+queen's entertainment as she moved from town to town both at the houses of
+the higher gentry and by the common people. They were indeed the ordinary
+means by which honour was paid to any very distinguished visitor.
+
+The Shrewsbury playwright was Thomas Ashton the first master of the
+grammar school. His theatre was the open ground without the walls, the
+Quarrell or Quarry. The season of the year at which these performances of
+Thomas Ashton took place was Whitsuntide, at which time Chester was also
+engaged in its more famous productions. It is to be regretted that no
+records[189] remain of these Shrewsbury plays, or a valuable addition
+might be made to the scanty collections of such antiquities which have
+been made public. These academic entertainments did not supplant the old
+annual procession (the date of which was transferred to the Monday
+following the feast of Corpus Christi) which continued apparently until
+the power of the Puritans became too strong to admit of its longer
+existence. Already that influence was at work, and Elizabeth had many
+detractors among those of the stricter persuasion. The character of their
+sternness, as well as the nature of their dissatisfaction at the gaiety
+which Elizabeth fostered, is well exemplified at Shrewsbury in the
+incident of the Shearmen's tree. The event is also noteworthy as being the
+only occasion until later days on which anything like friction occurred
+between the companies and the municipal corporation[190].
+
+[Sidenote: _The Shearmen's tree._]
+
+The woollen trade, as we have seen[191], gave occupation to a very large
+number of Shearmen. These belonged to the more unskilled class of
+labourers, the work they performed being simply that of preparing the wool
+for the later stages of manufacture. They were precisely the class to fail
+to appreciate the religious changes, and such as would be likely to resort
+to the physical force argument on any occasion. It was also to such men
+that the revelry of Christmastide, Maytime, and the like were most
+precious. Their life was a hard and colourless one, and they would for
+this reason cling desperately to the old occasions of merriment. The
+festival which appears to have been particularly odious to the Puritans
+was that of May Day, when, Stow[192] tells us, it was the custom for the
+citizens "of all estates" to have their "Mayings," and to "fetch in
+Maypoles, with divers warlike shows, with good archers, morris dancers,
+and other devices for pastime all the day long; and toward the evening
+they had stage plays, and bonfires in the streets." To the youth of the
+town it was a sufficiently harmless summer holiday. To the precise it was
+plainly and purely a heathen survival. At Shrewsbury they were early in
+active antagonism to it. In 1583 there occurred "soom contrav'sie about
+the settinge upp of maye poales and bonfyers mackinge and erection of
+treese before the sherman's haule and other places[193]," though
+apparently without immediate effect, for two years later appears another
+entry "Pd. for cutting down the tree, and the journeymen to spend
+xv{d}.[194]"
+
+But it was not long before the Puritans prevailed. The May Day
+merry-making was stopped and even the Gild festival prohibited. "This
+yeare [1590-1] and the 6 day of June beinge Soondaye and the festivall day
+of the Co{y} of the Shearmen of Salop aboute the settinge upp of a greene
+tree by serte yonge men of the saide Co{y} before their hall doore as of
+many years before have been acostomid but preachid against by the publicke
+precher there and commawndid by the baylyffs that non sutche shoulde be
+usid, and for the disobedience therein theye were put in prison and a
+privey sessions called and there also indicted and still remayne untill
+the next towne sessions for further triall[195]." The letter of the law
+however was in their favour. At the sessions the judges decided that the
+tree should be erected and "usyd as heretofore have be' so it be don
+syvely and in lovynge order w{th}out contencion[196]." But the soreness
+remained and the Shearmen were very turbulent for a long period. A curious
+entry in 1596 betokens a continuance of the friction: "P{d} oure fyne for
+not rerynge of Cappes to Mr Bayliffe 3/4[197]." For Puritan influence had
+waxed stronger, and at length it was "agreed that there shall not be
+hereafter any interludes or playes within this town or liberties uppon
+anye Soundays or in the night tyme. Neyther shall there be any playinge at
+footballe, or at hiltes or wastrells, or beare baytinge, within the walles
+of this towne[198]."
+
+[Sidenote: _Commonwealth._]
+
+[Sidenote: _The Restoration._]
+
+During the civil wars and under the rule of the Commonwealth the
+inhabitants of the town were too heavily burdened with taxes for the
+maintenance of soldiers and for the repairs of the walls (for which the
+companies were severally assessed) to have much wealth to expend on
+revelry and merry-making, even had Puritan sourness admitted any such. But
+the reaction consequent on the Restoration brought back the glory to
+Shrewsbury. The agriculture of the district had now quite recovered from
+the long-distant Welsh ravages: the internal trade of the town was also
+very considerable. Shrewsbury was therefore a place of no small
+importance. It played the part of a local metropolis in which the
+fashions of the capital were mimicked by the wealthy tradesfolk, their
+wives and daughters, and the country gentry and their families. For
+neither class could often go to London. Travelling was a serious affair
+not lightly to be undertaken. Consequently, just as the country gentleman
+now spends a portion of the year in London, so his ancestor in the
+seventeenth century made the adjacent county town his residence at certain
+seasons. Besides "he was often attracted thither by business and pleasure,
+by assizes, quarter sessions, elections, musters of militia, festivals and
+races.... There were the markets at which the corn, the cattle, the wool,
+and the hops of the surrounding country were exposed for sale.... There
+were the shops at which the best families of the neighbourhood bought
+grocery and millinery[199]." In Shrewsbury did the provincial beaux and
+belles promenade by the side of the Severn and in the abbey gardens. These
+latter were especially attractive. They were laid out "with gravell walks
+set full of all sorts of greens--orange and Lemmon trees.... Out of this
+went another garden much larger with severall fine grass walks kept
+exactly cut and roled for company to walk in: every Wednesday most of y{e}
+town y{e} Ladies and Gentlemen walk there as in St James's Parke, and
+there are abundance of people of quality lives in Shrewsbury[200]."
+
+Farquahar in his sprightly comedy _The Recruiting Officer_ describes the
+lively doings of the same "people of quality," and also of the more
+stolid burghers. "I have drawn," he says, "the Justice and the Clown in
+their _Puris Naturalibus_; the one an apprehensive, sturdy, brave
+blockhead; and the other a worthy, honest, generous gentleman, hearty in
+his country's cause and of as good an understanding as I could give him,
+which I must confess is far short of his own." Farquahar seems to have
+obtained a particularly good impression of the worthy Salopians. He
+dedicates his comedy to "All Friends round the Wrekin." "I was stranger to
+everything in Salop but its Character of Loyalty, the Number of its
+Inhabitants, the Alacrity of the Gentry in Recruiting the Army, with their
+generous and hospitable Reception of Strangers. This Character I found so
+amply verify'd in every Particular that you made Recruiting, which is the
+greatest Fatigue upon Earth to other, to be the greatest Pleasure in the
+World to me[201]." Shrewsbury was one of the gayest of those many
+provincial capitals "out of which the great wen of London has sucked all
+the life[202]."
+
+[Sidenote: _Shrewsbury Show in 17th century._]
+
+Farquhar may have seen the old Show, which the Restoration had naturally
+brought back, wend its noisy way to Kingsland. The procession itself was
+easily rehabilitated, but the arbours on Kingsland, where the day was
+spent in merrymaking, called for much attention. Great activity was
+evinced in their repair, for they had fallen into sad decay during the
+hard rule of the Puritans. Some of the companies adorned their arbours
+with gateways, arms and mottoes, "dyalls," and the like. Most of the
+gateways were of wood, but in 1679 the Shoemakers company erected a
+handsome stone portal, which a few years subsequently they adorned with
+figures of their patron saints, Crispin and Crispianus. As though the
+events of a century previous were still fresh in men's minds, the legend
+was painted underneath,
+
+  "We are but images of stonne
+  Do us no harme--we can do nonne."
+
+About this time it is evident the Show was in a very prosperous condition.
+Puritanism had not taken any real hold on the country, and the Church was
+restored, and old ways of thinking and acting brought back, without any
+disturbance or opposition[203]. Even in the companies the religious
+element which was so strong in the earlier Gilds was not entirely wanting:
+the day's proceedings included a sermon in the Church[204]. In the morning
+the Wardens and members met in the open space before the castle, whence
+they passed in a merry procession through the gaily decked streets to
+Kingsland. There each Gild had its arbour surrounded by trees and supplied
+with tables and benches. The mayor and corporation used to attend, and
+were accustomed to visit each arbour in succession. The remainder of the
+day passed in festivity and merriment, and the craftsmen with their
+friends returned home in the evening "much invigorated with the essence
+of barley-corn," as a writer of fifty years ago expresses it.
+
+[Sidenote: _Degeneracy._]
+
+But the degeneracy of the revived Show was very apparent. The dropping off
+of the sermons deprived the companies of the last trace of that strong
+religious element which had characterised their mediæval ancestors. A
+private letter of 1811 says, "Shrewsbury Show was on the 19th [of June]
+but I did not go to it. That, like other things, is getting much worse."
+The Drapers and Mercers had never gone to Kingsland, and gradually the
+other companies began to withdraw from the Show. The formal procession
+became confined practically to apprentices[205], while the masters
+contented themselves with a dinner at one of the inns of the town[206].
+Everything was significant of the approaching end of the pageant.
+
+[Sidenote: _Reform agitation tends to check degeneracy, but Reform Acts
+fatal to the Show._]
+
+When the Reform agitation threatened to deprive the companies of their
+trading privileges at no distant period, and later, when it had succeeded
+in doing so, attempts seem to have been made to bring into prominence
+their social aspect[207], and the procession was again reinvigorated. The
+pomp which signalised George the Fourth's coronation may also have given a
+stimulus to pageantry. The arbours were repaired and rebuilt, and the year
+1849 witnessed a grand revival of the procession. Attempts in this
+direction were now not infrequent, but were necessarily spasmodic. Yet the
+time-honoured Show was found to be possessed of wonderful vitality. When
+the Municipal Corporations Act destroyed the exclusive privileges of
+trading which the companies possessed they clung to their annual feast and
+to the yearly procession, for which they retained the arbours at some
+expense and self-denial. Gradually however as the successive freemen died
+the arbours reverted one by one to the corporation of the town; the other
+Gild property, which was not already divided, was shared among surviving
+members, or fell through debt or similar causes into other hands.
+Kingsland itself was to revert to the town at the decease of the last of
+the members of the companies, according to an arrangement concluded in
+1862.
+
+Even still the old Show was hard to kill. In spite of much that was
+saddening, and much degradation, the procession lingered on till some
+twelve or fourteen years ago, when it died a natural death. So another
+link with the past was broken, and another spot of colour wiped away from
+these duller days of uniformity and routine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE END OF THE COMPANIES.
+
+
+[Sidenote: _Failure of efforts to restrict trade._]
+
+The system of elaborate organisation by which men had regulated trade in
+the past had given way to an equally complete system of individualism.
+Confused philosophical reasoning, combined with the decay of old means of
+regulation, had produced this anti-social state of things. Individual
+competition, in uncontrolled energy, reigned supreme amid almost
+incredible suffering and squalor. Everything which might tend to check the
+progress of the devastation was looked upon with suspicion and swept
+swiftly out of the way. All the old restraints were wanting, and
+self-interest alone formed the mainspring of action. To this fetish
+everything was sacrificed--men's bodies and men's principles. Commercial
+dealings took the most questionable forms: adulteration of products went
+on unchecked by any qualms of honesty. The companies had long ago ceased
+to make any attempts in the direction of industrial regulation. The whole
+efforts of their members were concentrated on the vain endeavour to
+restrict trade to the chartered towns.
+
+Yet even the apologist for the companies, quoted at the end of the sixth
+chapter, was obliged to allow that in this they had failed. The result of
+the action of the "oppressive oligarchies" was the "excluding or
+discouraging the English Subjects from Trading in our greatest and best
+situated towns, where the markets are[208]." Shrewsbury saw the free towns
+around growing up to importance and outstripping her in the race for
+prosperity. Birmingham, not far distant, was already famous. Another free
+town which rose rapidly was Manchester, where most of the new industries
+did not come under the Apprenticeship Act, and were consequently free and
+unshackled. Such formidable rivals drew away trade from the old privileged
+boroughs. The companies were quite unable to retain their monopolies.
+
+But more than this. Even the measure of commercial prosperity which
+Shrewsbury possessed--it was not small--cannot be in any appreciable
+degree ascribed to the companies. A writer of 1825[209] who considers the
+trade of the town at that date by no means "inconsiderable[210]"
+attributes the fact to anything rather than the "Chartered
+Companies[211]." "Here are two very large linen factories, besides several
+manufactories for starch, soap, flannels, cotton goods, an extensive iron
+and brass foundry, two ale and porter breweries, a spirit distillery,
+etc.[212]" "Its fabrication of threads, linen cloths etc. etc. stands
+unrivalled; whilst the more common articles of domestic life are executed
+in a stile of neatness, certainly equal, if not superior, to those of any
+other place of similar size[213]." The various causes which he looks upon
+as conducing to this prosperity he sets forth with considerable detail:
+"its contiguity to the Principality, the facility which it possesses for
+the importation and exportation of goods, by means of its noble river and
+canals, and its situation as the capital of an extensive and populous
+county, combine to give it many advantages over a variety of places
+equally insular[214]." That the companies had any hand in ministering to
+this prosperity, or even served any useful purpose, seems never to have so
+much as occurred to him.
+
+[Sidenote: _Struggle against intruders_]
+
+Yet they were putting their charters to the utmost use. They used every
+means in their power to hold the trade. They obtained the assistance of
+the municipal officers in seeking out and expelling intruders, even
+hawkers and pedlars. Actions at law became rapidly more frequent, until at
+last the life of the companies becomes one long effort to compel intruders
+to take up their freedom by paying the necessary fines. The Barbers even
+went so far as to prosecute men and women-servants for presuming to dress
+their masters' and mistresses' hair.
+
+Though these measures were unsuccessful in attaining their object they
+were not without most important results.
+
+[Sidenote: _impoverishes the companies,_]
+
+In the first place the companies saw their stock become rapidly
+impoverished, and themselves on the verge of bankruptcy. So early as 1692
+the Mercers were obliged to raise £50 by means of mortgage, and in the
+next year they were twice forced to sell some of their property. The
+Grocers had, half a century previously[215], noted with sorrow how "the
+Stock of the Company yearly decreaseth." The Barbers so early as 1744
+resolve to spend no more money at Show time "except the third part of the
+Weavers' Bill." The Saddlers' stock in the three per cents. has to be sold
+to defray the charges of actions against intruders in 1810, and about the
+same time the Bakers' arbour was seized "on account of sustained charges
+against the company in an action for supposed infringement of their
+rights." Even the wealthy company of the Drapers had been compelled to
+relinquish their annual holiday, at which open house was kept for town and
+neighbourhood, in 1781.
+
+[Sidenote: _and calls down public odium on them._]
+
+But worse perhaps than this was the public odium they brought upon
+themselves. That this was so was acknowledged in formal meeting at the
+close of their public life, yet it had existed long before and grew daily
+stronger.
+
+[Sidenote: _Other signs of decay._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Internal disorder._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Accounts carelessly kept._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Trade leaves them._]
+
+These two causes would have been alone sufficient to bring about the
+downfall of the companies. But there were other signs of decay in plenty.
+Internal disorder was adding to the degradation into which the once
+honourable associations were falling. Even in 1668 the Glovers are
+compelled to take into account "the disorderly manner of making wardens."
+So late as 1832 the Saddlers inflict a fine on their steward for attending
+meetings in a state of intoxication. The books are much less carefully
+kept. The Glovers' company came to an untimely end in 1810 through
+maladministration and carelessness in dealing with the yearly balance
+sheet[216]. In 1822 so great a company as the Mercers' is found appointing
+a committee to search for the charter, which is ultimately found in the
+hands of a private individual whose magnanimity in surrendering what did
+not belong to him is highly praised by a formal resolution[217]. We have
+seen already how trade had fallen off. In 1770 a member of the Saddlers'
+company paid five guineas "to be for ever excused from serving the office
+of Steward or Warden." Private interest alone formed the motive of action
+in commercial dealings. The individual knew nothing of obligations due to
+society.
+
+[Sidenote: _General demoralisation._]
+
+Society was indeed in a state of rottenness. Outwardly there was plentiful
+decorum; really there was sufficient sham with its usual concomitant,
+laxity of morals, in a very marked degree[218]. It could hardly be
+expected that this should be otherwise in the general disregard which
+prevailed of all finer instincts: questionable commercial dealings and
+adulteration of products, on the one hand, were naturally accompanied by
+brutality and squalor on the other. Commercial success was the only
+criterion, and as the companies could not stand the test of this
+touchstone of merit they were doomed.
+
+[Sidenote: _Efforts to delay the end._]
+
+The Gilds of workmen in building trades had been seriously affected, if
+not destroyed, long before by the Statute 2 and 3 Edward VI. cap. 15,
+which allowed "any Freemason, roughmason, carpenter, bricklayer,
+plasterer," etc. "borne in this realme or made Denizon, to work in any of
+the saide Crafts in anye cittie Boroughe or Towne Corporate ... albeit the
+saide p'son or p'sons ... doe not inhabyte or dwell in the cittee Borough
+or Towne Corporate ... nor be free of the same." But in all other trades
+the law had upheld the companies, and associations strong as these were in
+antiquity were not to be destroyed without a struggle. In the early years
+of the nineteenth century they began to think about internal reformation,
+which, had it been accomplished with singleness of purpose, might perhaps
+have secured their further usefulness and life. The expenses connected
+with the annual feasts were regulated[219]. We have seen in the foregoing
+chapter how the senior members began to withdraw from the dissoluteness
+of the Show. The actions against intruders, which had long become chronic,
+were pushed on with new vigour. In the hopes apparently of deciding the
+question once for all the Mercers' company instituted a great suit against
+a Mr Hart in the year 1823 which was looked upon by all parties as a test
+case. Two years previously a committee had been appointed to search for
+the charter and other documents which might be serviceable to the company
+in the great struggle they were apparently then meditating. The opinion of
+counsel was taken, and it being favourable to the company a full meeting
+unanimously resolved to act upon it. The first thing to be done was to
+retrench the expenses. It was decided that no dinner could be held that
+year (1823), and the annual subscriptions to the Infirmary, the Lancaster
+School, and other charitable objects were suspended. The costs of the
+actions were to be borne by all the combrethren "rateably and in
+proportion agreeable to the ancient custom and usage of the Company." But
+several resignations and withdrawals took place, which show that there was
+some doubt, if not as to the exact legality, at any rate as to the
+expediency of the step which was being taken. But the great majority were
+resolved to press the matter to the issue. Actions against several
+intruders were consolidated, and that against Mr Hart came on for trial.
+Important counsel were engaged, and everything was done on both sides to
+discover the actual state of the law. The result was a verdict entirely in
+favour of the company. But the assessment of damages at a farthing (while
+the expenses incurred by the company were between six and seven hundred
+pounds) showed how strongly public opinion ran in a direction contrary to
+the mere letter of the law[220].
+
+The defendants however in the present case submitted at once, and the
+company soon recovered its former financial prosperity. Its subscriptions
+were again paid after a brief interval. But it is noticeable that actions
+against intruders went on precisely as before. The effect of this great
+verdict, which was hailed with public dinners and illuminations, was
+absolutely _nil_.
+
+It however stimulated the efforts of the companies in the direction of
+reform. In consequence of the action the Mercers resolved that the
+enrolment of apprentices (which they confessed had been "criminally
+neglected") should be better carried out in future, and that a _bona fide_
+indenture for seven years should be required in all cases before any claim
+to the freedom of the company could be admitted. As a tangible result a
+new book of apprenticeship was commenced, which continued to be carefully
+and neatly kept to the end. Its first entry is dated August 1, 1823,
+though there are several records of earlier indentures. Its last is July
+2, 1835. A new book for recording the petitions of foreigners to be
+admitted was also provided. These were comparatively few in number. They
+extend from July 31, 1823, to June 2, 1834.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Municipal Corporations Act._]
+
+Such was the condition of the companies when the Municipal Corporations
+Act[221] was passed. No detailed description of this measure, albeit it
+was "second in importance to the Reform Act alone[222]," is needed here.
+As far as the companies were concerned its provisions were simple. It took
+away from them wholly and entirely all their exclusive privileges of
+trading.
+
+"Whereas in divers cities, towns, and boroughs a certain custom hath
+prevailed, and certain bye-laws have been made, that no person, not being
+free of a city, town, or borough, or of certain guilds, mysteries, or
+trading companies within the same or some or one of them, shall keep any
+shop or place for putting to show or sale any or certain wares or
+merchandize by way of retail or otherwise, or use any or certain trades,
+occupations, mysteries, or handicrafts for hire, gain, or sale within the
+same: Be it enacted that, notwithstanding any such custom or bye-law,
+every person in any borough may keep any shop for the sale of all lawful
+wares and merchandizes by wholesale or retail, and use every lawful trade,
+occupation, mystery, and handicraft, for hire, gain, sale or otherwise,
+within any borough." In these words, which might seem the echo of Magna
+Carta[223] through the centuries, liberty of trading was made a fact
+throughout England.
+
+[Sidenote: _End of the companies._]
+
+It is interesting that we have recorded for us the way in which this
+sweeping change was received by those most concerned. The Mercers had
+foreseen (July 31, 1835) that it would be advisable to drop all pending
+actions against foreigners until the result of the Act then before
+Parliament should be decided. After it had become law the company met, for
+the last time under the old conditions, on March 25, 1836, to consider
+their position and to take steps for the future. It was apparently a
+stormy meeting. An influential minority proposed to divide the property
+among the members there and then, and so have done with the company. It
+was however carried "That the chief rents ... be not disposed of, but
+reserved to meet the payments to be made to the Alms people of St. Chad's
+Almshouses[224], and for other purposes." The fire engine, the company's
+weights and measures etc., were sold. The other companies acted in a
+similar manner. The Saddlers divided at once the funds which remained in
+the treasurer's hands, and which amounted to £1. 7_s._ 0_d._ for each
+member[225]. Their arbour was however retained, and the rent from it
+expended on the annual feast on Show Monday. This arrangement was to
+continue so long as any of the freemen should be living: on the decease of
+the last survivor the arbour was to devolve to the town council. Lastly,
+all books, and whatever else remained to the company, were to be deposited
+with the wardens for the time being.
+
+[Sidenote: _Partial continuation of the companies._]
+
+For attempts were made, even in the desperate pass to which the companies
+seemed to be brought, to prolong the end. A few patriotic members kept up
+the shadows of the old fraternities. The ancient custom of electing
+officers was maintained; the Mercers' records bring the lists complete
+down to 1876. The arbours were repaired, mostly at the cost of private
+individuals, and at spasmodic intervals, while the Show still continued to
+afford opportunities for dissolute revelry to the lowest of the town and
+neighbourhood. The companies themselves fell back into their original
+condition of voluntary associations of individuals united for purposes
+partly benevolent but mainly social, and of which the state took no
+cognisance. "No one can give much attention to the subject without coming
+to the conclusion that feasting was one of the essential and most valued
+features of the companies in their early days[226]:" it became so again in
+their later. As they had existed long before external circumstances
+brought them into prominence, so they continued long after they had ceased
+to influence public affairs, and so they lingered on even after the nation
+had plainly signified that their existence was not only superfluous but
+injurious. For their endeavours to restrict trade had been, so far as they
+had been successful, detrimental to the prosperity of the town, while they
+had allowed the duty of succouring needy workmen to slip entirely from
+their hands.
+
+The Friendly Societies which had long taken up this very important part of
+the functions which the mediæval Gilds had performed rose meanwhile into
+public favour. Their excellent work was so apparent that an Act of
+Parliament was passed for their encouragement in 1793, and it was even
+urged that they should be made compulsory.
+
+[Sidenote: _Their property gives them life._]
+
+The companies had to all intents and purposes long forgotten their duty in
+this respect, and they could not take it up again now, though had this
+course been possible they might have commended themselves to public
+favour. There was only one means which kept them alive. The secret of
+their vitality was their possession of property[227], and as that melted
+away the companies were found dropping out of existence. For being
+deprived of their real essence they had nothing to recommend them. Even
+the Show degenerated into a public scandal, and the companies, like their
+annual pageant, at length died, one by one, unnoticed and
+unregretted[228].
+
+[Sidenote: _Return to organisation._]
+
+Yet there was arising, even at the time when the old companies were being
+destroyed, a movement in favour of some return to organisation and
+regulation. Organisation indeed seems to have been a characteristic of
+the English people at all stages of their history. The Saxons had their
+Frith Gilds and their Monks' Gilds; the English of the Middle Ages had
+their Merchant, Religious, Social, and Craft Gilds; in the sixteenth
+century they had their Trade Societies, the direct and in many cases the
+little-altered successors of the Craft Gilds. Then came the larger
+Regulated Companies, which also had some features in common with the
+mediæval Gilds, more with the sixteenth century societies. The main
+differences between the earlier associations and those of a later date lay
+in the avowed motive of confederacy and in the nature of the influence
+they exercised. The ostensible motive of the Gilds was the general
+welfare: in the case of the companies it was individual gain. The
+influence of the Gilds may be called a healthy social and moral
+influence[229]; that of the post-reformation companies in the towns was in
+the main directed to selfish and political ends[230].
+
+New organisations, adapted to altered conditions of life and new modes of
+thought, resembling and yet differing from the Gilds, were now to arise
+and take the place of the companies as these had taken the place of the
+mediæval fraternities. The growth of these however will be beyond the
+scope of the present essay.
+
+It was doubtless necessary that the companies should be pulled down from
+the lofty heights which they once had occupied. It was requisite that all
+relics of the detailed system of trade-organisation which the Middle Ages
+had handed down to us should be broken up, to make room for a _régime_
+more conformable to modern conditions of industry. The anarchic reign of
+individualism through which trade passed at the beginning of this century
+was an unavoidable step in economic development.
+
+But it was a step attended with infinite loss and inestimable suffering,
+and it is well that proofs are not wanting of the approaching end of
+unrestrained competition and anti-social individualism. Signs of change
+are not wanting. Experience is continually demonstrating that organisation
+can accomplish vastly more than individual enterprise; that combination is
+immeasurably more powerful than competition. It is indeed the tracing out
+of this reaction in favour of combination for common ends, which lends to
+the economic history of the last hundred years its chief, perhaps its
+only, human interest.
+
+[Sidenote: _Socialists and other forms of organisation._]
+
+The reaction has manifested itself in various ways. The _Socialists_ have
+always made State-organisation of labour one of the strongest planks of
+their platform[231]. At the same time Englishmen have looked with peculiar
+jealousy on any attempts by the state to extend its sphere of action.
+Nevertheless a steady development has been witnessed in this direction;
+the various Civil Services show a uniform increase with the numbers and
+requirements of the nation. The Board of Trade, the Local Government
+Board, the Charity and Ecclesiastical Commissioners, are further
+indications of the same tendency towards organisation.
+
+[Sidenote: _Trades Unions;_]
+
+The Gilds cannot, as we have seen, be censured for low aims; moreover
+their endeavours to reach the level they set themselves were constant and
+sincere. And the latter half of the nineteenth century has seen a
+repetition of somewhat similar attempts.
+
+[Sidenote: _their achievements._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Improvement in status of labour._]
+
+The Trades Union movement[232] is one pregnant with promise for the
+future[233]. Though the Unions were formed in the first instances for the
+purpose of resistance to the masters, it may be hoped that as the need for
+this grows weaker the analogy which their promoters love to institute
+between them and the old Craft Gilds may become more and more real. They
+have already done much to raise the condition of labour, and as Friendly
+Societies they are of the highest value to the workmen[234]. There are
+signs too that we may even obtain organisations which, with due allowance
+for altered conditions, may accomplish much of the other good work which
+Gilds performed for mediæval industry.
+
+[Sidenote: _Attempts at regulation of trade._]
+
+The Unions already aim at ensuring stability of employment through
+deliberate regulation of trade. By this means they hope to strike a
+death-blow at that root-evil of our present industrial system,
+irregularity of employment and uncertainty of wages.
+
+[Sidenote: _Further necessary approximation to Gilds._]
+
+But they yet fall short of the Gilds in two important particulars, and
+until these deficiencies are made good Trades Unions can only be
+considered as insufficient means to a highly desirable end.
+
+[Sidenote: _Appreciation of the common interests of masters and men,_]
+
+In the first place there must be no association of men against masters, or
+masters against men, but union of men with masters for the common good of
+the craft. Fifty years ago it was pointed out[235] that "the recent
+destruction of the old Gilds was a purely negative policy, which required
+to be followed up by a reconstruction on similar, but modified,
+lines[236]." But of course nothing was attempted, though it is for their
+care in seeing that the public was well served that the Gilds are chiefly
+praised to-day.
+
+[Sidenote: _and of the necessity of ensuring a higher standard of work._]
+
+In the second direction much less advance has been made[237]. Yet it
+cannot be expected that a high standard of wages is to be maintained
+unless a high standard of workmanship is also ensured. Improvement in pay
+can only with justice accompany improvement in skill and application.
+Something of the sentiment and tradition of good work which so strongly
+characterised the Middle Ages must be brought back. As yet it is wofully
+lacking. Up to the present the Trades Unions have made no real attempt to
+grapple with this evil, though its removal is a necessary preliminary to
+anything like completeness in our industrial reformation. Until they can
+show their ability to direct trade in this respect in a manner more
+beneficial to the community than competing capitalists have done during
+the past, the student will find their analogy to the mediæval Gilds
+incomplete (and that in a point where the latter might be followed with
+benefit), and the public will consider their usefulness to society
+unsatisfactory.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX I
+
+NON-GILDATED TRADESMEN[238].
+
+
+The ordinary authorities on Economic history say little or nothing of the
+non-gildated tradesmen in the towns, though these formed an important
+portion of the commercial community. To understand fully the conditions
+under which trade was carried on in mediæval England the existence of such
+unfree merchants must be taken into account and their importance
+appreciated.
+
+Within the commercial class the enforcement of the Gild regulations
+doubtless depended very largely on circumstances and individual
+temperament. Moreover their reiteration evidences their futility in
+attaining the objects they had in view. There must have been much greater
+freedom and elasticity of thought and action during the Middle Ages than
+is generally recognised.
+
+It must be remembered too that there were important exceptions to the
+regulations of the Gilds. The king's servants, when exercising the royal
+privileges of purveyance and pre-emption, were naturally unrestricted. In
+Fair-time--and the Fairs were a very important feature in mediæval
+life--there was unrestrained freedom of trade. But more important than
+these was another. It was quite possible for ungildated tradesmen to
+purchase temporary or partial exemption from the local restrictions.
+
+It will be observed that the royal charters which authorise the Gilds and
+grant exclusive privileges of trading differ somewhat in later years from
+those of the earliest date. In the earliest grants the words simply allude
+to the Gild only. Henry II.'s Charter to Lincoln is "Sciatis me
+concessisse civibus meis Lincolniæ ... gildam suam mercatoriam." There is
+no hint of any tradesmen external to the Gild. But early in the thirteenth
+century it becomes evident that such stringent exclusiveness could not be
+enforced. The charter which Henry III. granted to Shrewsbury in 1227
+confirmed the Gild in the following terms:--"Concessimus etiam eisdem
+Burgensibus et heredibus eorum quod habeant Gildam Mercatoriam cum Hansa
+et aliis consuetudinibus et libertatibus ad Gildam illam pertinentibus, et
+quod nullus qui non sit in Gilda ilia mercandisam aliquam faciat in
+predicto Burgo _nisi de voluntate eorundem Burgensium_." At about the same
+time the Earl of Chester and Huntingdon gave a charter to Chester
+forbidding trade in the town "nisi ipsi cives mei Cestrie et eorum heredes
+_vel per eorum gratum_." The phrase "nisi de voluntate eorundem Burgensium
+(or Civium)" now became usual in the charters. In those granted by Edward
+I. to the towns which he founded in Wales, and which may be looked upon in
+some measure as model town constitutions, the provision appears in each.
+Thus it may be said that by the end of the thirteenth century it had
+become customary for the town authorities to grant exemptions from the
+Gild restrictions by their own authority. They practically gave over to
+the Gilds the supervision of trade, but at the same time retained in their
+own hands the power of admitting traders without obliging them to join the
+mercantile fraternities.
+
+This power of granting exemptions from the restrictions of the Gilds seems
+to have been exercised in various towns in different degrees. In some it
+extended no further than the permitting "foreigners" to come to casual
+markets on payment of a toll upon each occasion. In others however it was
+more largely and generally used, merchants being allowed to be resident
+and to trade continually and regularly by payment of an annual fine.
+
+In the latter case the effect was to create two distinct classes of
+traders within the town. The burgesses may be divided into two classes,
+those of them who were gildsmen and those who were not. We now see that
+the tradesmen dwelling in the towns may similarly be divided into two
+classes, (i) those who were free of the town or of one of the Gilds (or
+free both of the town and one of its Gilds), and (ii) those who were
+neither burgesses nor gildsmen. Thus another has been added to the classes
+into which the inhabitants of towns are usually divided. Mention of these
+_unfree_ tradesmen is found in the records of many towns in England and
+Wales: in Norwich, Winchester, Lincoln, Leicester, Andover, Yarmouth,
+Canterbury, Henley-on-Thames, Malmesbury, Bury S. Edmunds, Totnes, Wigan,
+Chester, Shrewsbury, Worcester, Clun, Brecknock, Neath, Bishops' Castle,
+and others.
+
+The designation of these unfree tradesmen varies. At Andover they were
+known as _custumarii_ (in opposition to the _hansarii_--the full members
+of the Gild). At Canterbury a similar body appears under the name of
+_intrants_. In Scotland and the north of England they were called
+_stallingers_. The most usual name for them is however _censer_,
+_chencer_, _tenser_, and variations of these.
+
+_Censer_ is apparently the name applied to one who pays a _cense_ or
+_cess_. In Domesday mention is made of _censarius_--"Ibi sunt nunc 14
+censarii habentes septem carucatas"--and the _censarius_ is described as
+"qui terram ad censum annuum tenet." The connection of the word is here
+purely territorial. It becomes more personal later in the history as is
+seen in the "Compotus Civitatis Wyntoniæ" of the third year of Edward I.,
+which contains the following entry:--"Et de xliiij_s._ ij_d._ _ob._ de
+hominibus habitacionibus in civitate Wynton' qui non sunt de libertate,
+qui dicuntur Censarii, per idem tempus." Here the _censarii_ are evidently
+considered in their capacity not as possible landowners, but solely as
+tradesmen. The _census_ has changed from the land rent of Domesday to a
+distinctly personal payment.
+
+A somewhat different class from the _censarii_ of Winchester are mentioned
+in the statute 27 Henry VIII., cap. 7. From the preamble we can form a
+good idea of the lawlessness and confusion which prevailed on the borders
+of Wales at that period. It is related that in the Marches, where thick
+forests frequently fringe the roads, "certain unreasonable Customs and
+Exactions have been of long time unlawfully exacted and used, contrary
+both to the law of God and man, to the express wrong and great
+impoverishment of divers of the king's true subjects." The most crying of
+these evils was that the foresters were accustomed to plunder all passing
+along the roads (probably under the plea of taking toll), unless they bore
+"a Token delivered to them by the chief Foresters ... or else were yearly
+Tributors or Chensers." The statute offers no explanation of these terms,
+but it is most likely they applied to persons paying an annual sum, either
+to the king or the Lords Marchers, of the nature of Chief Rent, especially
+as Cowell, in giving his explanation of the word _chenser_ which will be
+noticed later, refers to this Act of Henry VIII. in support of his
+definition. If this be so we see that although the signification of the
+term had been extended so as to include distinctly personal and commercial
+tolls, it had, in some districts, also retained its original connection
+with land. This, censor, censer, gensor, chencer, and other variations, is
+the most usual form of the word, but occasionally it is found as tenser,
+tensor, tensur, and tensure. Tenser and tensor are used at Shrewsbury; at
+Worcester the same word appears as tensure or tensar (_English Gilds_, pp.
+382, 394).
+
+It is difficult to say whether or no _tenser_ is a confusion of _censer_.
+Etymologically the words seem akin, _cense_ being a tax or toll (cess),
+and _tensare_ meaning to lay under toll or tribute. In the Iter of 1164
+enquiry is directed to be made "de prisis et tenseriis omnium ballivorum
+domini regis ... et quare prisæ illæ captæ fuerint, et per quem" etc.
+Another derivation of _tenser_ has been given. Owen and Blakeway (Vol. ii.
+p. 525) explain it to be a corruption of "tenancier," and apparently
+intend to imply that these non-gildated traders were considered as holding
+directly of the king. This view receives some confirmation from Cowell's
+definition of the "censure" and "censers" of Cornwall. He says (_A Law
+Dictionary: or the Interpreter_ etc., ed. 1727) "Censure, or _Custuma
+vocata_ censure, (from the Latin _Census_, which Hesychius expounds to be
+a kind of personal money, paid for every Poll) is, in divers Manors in
+_Cornwall_ and _Devon_, the calling of all Resiants therein above the age
+of sixteen, to swear Fealty to the Lord, to pay _ij{d} per Poll, and j{d}
+per an._ ever after; as _cert-money_ or _Common Fine_; and these thus
+sworn, are called _Censers_." "Chensers," he says again, "are such as pay
+Tribute or _cense_, Chief-rent or Quit-rent, for so the French _censier_
+signifies." Whether or no we receive Owen and Blakeway's derivation of the
+word from _tenancier_, even with the support of Cowell's "censers" of
+Cornwall, we may press the latter authority into service in showing that
+the signification of _censer_ and _tenser_, however different the two
+words might be in origin, became very similar in actual use.
+
+The fines which the tensers or censers paid were imposed in the Court
+Leet. On the Court Leet Rolls at Shrewsbury are entered lists of names and
+fines headed "Nomina eorum qui merchandizant infra villam Salopie et
+Suburbia eiusdem, et non Burgenses, ergo sunt in misericordia." In the
+first year of the reign of Henry IV. (A.D. 1399) it was ordered that these
+fines should be levied before the feast of S. Katharine (November 25) in
+each year. The Court Leet also decided the amount of the fines, but in
+later times when the select body of magnates had deprived the popular
+courts of so many of their powers and privileges we find that the
+apportioning of the tensers' fines had also passed to the close
+corporation. In 1519 the corporation fixed the tolls at 6_d._ quarterly.
+The statute 35 Henry VIII., cap. 18, gave the control of the unfree
+tradesmen in Canterbury to the Mayor and Aldermen of the City. "No
+foreigner, not being free of the said City, shall buy or sell any
+Merchandize (saving Victual) to another foreigner; nor shall keep any shop
+nor use any mystery within the said City or the liberties thereof, without
+the License of the Mayor and Aldermen, or the major part of them, in
+writing under their Seal." At Winchester in 1650 the rates were revised by
+the Mayor and Aldermen. The highest limit was fixed at £5, but the fees
+actually paid were generally sums varying from 6_d._ to 3/4 only (Gross,
+II. 264).
+
+When such a privilege was exercised by a select body it was certain to
+give rise to abuses. Such was found to be the case in early years when the
+fines were imposed by an authority other than the general assembly of
+burgesses. In the county court held at Lincoln in 1272 it was alleged that
+the late Mayor had taken pledges from the burgesses of Grimsby unjustly
+under the plea of exacting _gildwite_ (as the fine or toll was sometimes
+called). We learn that at Shrewsbury in 1449-50 "this yeare the Burgesses
+and Tenssaars ... did varye." What the cause of contention was, or how the
+dispute was settled, we do not know, but it could hardly arise over
+anything other than the question concerning the tolls to be paid by the
+tensers.
+
+In some towns special civic officials were appointed to supervise the
+tensers. At Chester the "leave-lookers" were among the most important of
+the borough officers. The word _leve_ or _leave_ has very much the same
+signification as the word _cense_ or cess. It is the English "levy," and
+was the fee or toll for permission to trade. The "leve-lookers" were the
+officials who exacted the levy or toll which unfree tradesmen were obliged
+to pay. At Chester they were "appointed annually by the Mayor for the
+purpose of collecting the duty of 2_s._ 6_d._ claimed by the corporation
+to be levied yearly upon all non-freemen who exercise any trade within the
+liberties of the City." Their duties are described as having been "to give
+Licence and compound with any that came either to buy or sell within
+these liberties contrary to our grants;" "if any did dwell within the city
+that were not free, if they did ever buy or sell within the liberties,
+they did likewise compound with the _Custos_ and _Mercator_ [Custos Gilde
+Mercatorie] by the year ... the Leave-lookers do gather two pence
+halfpenny upon the pound, of all Wares sold by Forraigners within the
+City." (Gross, II. 42.) The same name is found at Wigan, where the duty of
+the "gate-waiters or leave-lookers" was to see that all "foreigners" paid
+their fines for licence to reside and trade in the town. (Sinclair,
+_Wigan_, _passim_.)
+
+It is not easy to define the exact status of the tensers. They were
+certainly considered as an inferior body of burgesses, and might comprise
+three classes. Firstly, those not willing or not able to enter one of the
+gilds; secondly, traders waiting to be admitted burgesses; thirdly
+ex-burgesses fallen from the higher state through misfortune.
+
+1. As an inferior class of tradesmen they could only purchase their stock
+from townsmen (Gross, II. 177); they were incapable of bearing municipal
+office (_Ibid._ II. 190) and they were liable to be called upon "to be
+contributorie to alle the comone charges of the Citie, whan it falleth"
+(_Ibid._ II. 190). In the general course of trade but little difference
+might be perceptible between the tensers and the Gildsmen, but attempts to
+fuse or to confuse the two classes were jealously resented whenever they
+were discovered. Naturally these attempts to minimise the distinctions
+between Gildsmen and non-gildsmen were generally prompted, in later times,
+by political reasons. Only freemen of the town and members of the
+companies had the privilege of voting in Parliamentary elections, and
+great was the desire to obtain a position on the list of voters. In "An
+Account of the Poll for Members of Parliament for the Borough of
+Shrewsbury taken June 29 and 30, 1747" etc., information is supplied
+concerning certain townsmen who had claimed to be freemen but were
+rejected on account of having proved themselves to be otherwise by
+payment, in times past, of the tensers' fines. Of John Bromhall, baker, we
+read "It was objected to his vote that he was no Burgess, in support of
+which it was proved that he had paid Tensership several years, and that
+his ffather had paid toll. This Tensership is a ffine or acknowledgement
+commonly paid by persons following trade in the town that are no
+Burgesses, but it being insisted that it was paid through ignorance or
+mistake, his ffather was called and admitted to prove that he had voted at
+a former election for this Borough, whereupon the Mayor admitted his vote,
+but upon examining a copy of the Poll for the year 1676 it appears that
+all the ffamily of this Bromhall were upon a scrutiny rejected as not
+Burgesses."
+
+2. They comprised also among their number many tradesmen waiting to be
+made burgesses. We learn this distinctly from an ordinance of the
+corporation of Leicester passed in the year 1467, to the effect that every
+person opening a shop in the town should pay yearly 3/4 _till he enter
+into the Chapman Gild_. (Nichols, _County of Leicester_, I. 376.) There
+were several causes which would account for the existence of this class.
+The towns grew increasingly jealous of extending their privileges, as
+these became valuable. The Gildsmen would also desire to learn somewhat of
+the character of the new-comer before admitting him to full membership
+with themselves; while on the other hand the latter would wish to see
+whether the trade of the town were sufficiently prosperous to warrant him
+settling in the borough permanently. This cause would specially operate in
+the case of the Welsh boroughs which grew up after Edward I.'s conquest of
+the principality.
+
+The townsmen however did not approve of the growth of a wealthy class of
+traders, sharing almost equal commercial privileges with themselves and at
+the same time not liable to the burdens which were the necessary
+accompaniment of those privileges. They therefore made it incumbent upon
+every tenser who evidently was sufficiently satisfied with the trade of
+the town to make the borough his permanent home, and who had attained to a
+fair competency, that he should throw in his lot fully and completely with
+them. He must become in fact a full burgess. This is carefully explained
+in the _Ordinances of the City of Worcester_--regulations concerning the
+trade of the town dating from the reign of Edward IV. No. XLVII. says
+"Also, that euery Tensure be sett a resonable fyne, aft{r} the discression
+of the Aldermen, and that euery tensure that hath ben w{t}yn the cyte a
+yere or more dwellynge, and hath sufficiaunt to the valo{r} of XL_s._ or
+more, be warned to be made citezen, by resonable tyme to hym lymitted, and
+iff he refuse that, that he shalle yerly pay to the comyn cofre XL_d._,
+ouer that summe that he shalle yerly pay to the Baillies or any other
+officers; and so yerly to contynue tylle he be made citezen" (_English
+Gilds_, p. 394).
+
+3. There were, thirdly, those who had fallen from a higher state through
+misfortune or other cause. We read of individuals surrendering their
+freedom and paying the tenser's fine. "He withdrew and surrendered the
+freedom to the Commonalty, and now pays toll" (Gross, II. 240).
+
+As regarded their dealings other than commercial in nature the tendency
+was to assimilate the tensers and the townsmen. In a grant made to
+Shrewsbury by Henry VI. and confirmed by Parliament in 1445 the same
+privileges are extended to the tensers as are possessed by the burgesses
+in the matter of exemption from the necessity of finding bail in certain
+cases. Similarly at Worcester the "tensures" shared with the citizens the
+right to the assistance of the afferors in cases of wrongful or excessive
+amercement. (_English Gilds_, 394.)
+
+Nevertheless where commercial privileges were at stake the distinction was
+rigidly preserved by every means in the possession of the townsmen. The
+tenser's fine was maintained up to the present century, though not without
+considerable difficulty. On every hand there were evidences that the
+companies had outlived their usefulness. Friction was everywhere injuring
+the social machine. Competition and individualism had taken the place of
+custom and co-operation. At Winchester there were grievous complaints of
+intruders who did "use Arts, Trades, Misteries and manual occupations ...
+without making any agreement or composition for soe doing, contrary to the
+said antient usage and custome, tending to the utter undoeing of the
+freemen ... and decay of the same City." Everywhere the records of the
+companies detail little else than summonses to intruders to take up their
+freedom and notices of actions at law against them for refusing to do so.
+General demoralisation prevailed, and the existence of a class holding
+such an equivocal position as that of the unfree tradesmen did not help to
+mend matters. The case of John Bromhall which has been mentioned above
+illustrates the general looseness which prevailed in all departments of
+municipal administration. A ludicrous incident which happened at
+Shrewsbury in connection with the tensers in later years is recorded by
+Gough in his _Antiquities of Myddle_, published in 1834. "This Richard
+Muckleston was of a bold and daring spirit, and could not brook an injury
+offered to him. He commenced a suit against the town of Shrewsbury for
+exacting an imposition on him which they call tentorshipp, and did
+endeavor to make void their charter, but they gave him his burgess-ship to
+be quiet."
+
+The companies were preserved from repetitions of this strange indignity by
+the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, in consequence of
+which there could no longer be any invidious distinction between freemen
+and non-freemen, hansarii and custumarii, gildsmen and tensers.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX II.
+
+AUTHORITIES CITED.
+
+
+Abram, W. A.--Memorials of the Preston Guilds.
+
+An Account of the Poll for Members of Parliament for the Borough of
+Shrewsbury etc. (1747).
+
+Boeckh, A.--Public Economy of Athens, translated by George Cornewall Lewis
+(1842).
+
+Brentano, Lujo--On the history and development of Gilds and Origin of
+Trade-Unions.
+
+"Britannia Languens, or a discourse of trade." (1680.)
+
+Bryce, J.--The Holy Roman Empire (1887).
+
+Cowell--A Law Dictionary: or the Interpreter etc. (1727).
+
+Cunningham, W.--The Growth of English Industry and Commerce (1885).
+
+Dugdale, W.--Antiquities of Warwickshire.
+
+Ebner, Dr Adalbert--Die klösterlichen Gebets-Verbrüderungen bis zum
+Ausgange des Karolingischen Zeitalters (1891).
+
+Eden, Sir F. M.--The State of the Poor.
+
+Eyton, W.--Antiquities of Shropshire.
+
+Farquhar--The Recruiting Officer.
+
+Foucart--Les Associations réligieuses chez les Grecs.
+
+Foxwell, H. S.--Irregularity of Employment and Fluctuations of Prices
+(1886).
+
+Froude, J. A.--History of England from the fall of Wolsey to the death of
+Elizabeth (12 vols., 1862-70).
+
+Gneist--Geschichte des Self-Government in England.
+
+Gneist--Das heutige Englische Verfassungs- und Verwaltungsrecht.
+
+Gough--The Antiquities of Myddle (1834).
+
+Green, J. R.--A Short History of the English People (1886).
+
+Gross, Charles--The Gild Merchant (1891).
+
+Grote, George--History of Greece (1888).
+
+Hallam, H.--View of Europe during the Middle Ages. 1 vol.
+
+Harrison, W.--A description of England (in "Elizabethan England," Camelot
+Series).
+
+Hatch, E.--The Organisation of the Early Christian Churches (Bampton
+Lectures, 1881).
+
+Howell, G.--Conflicts of Capital and Labour (1890).
+
+Howell, Thomas--The Stranger in Shrewsbury (1825).
+
+Kemble, J. M.--The Saxons in England.
+
+Longfellow--The Golden Legend.
+
+Macaulay, Lord--History of England from the Accession of James II. (1889).
+
+May, Erskine--Constitutional History of England. 3 vols. (1887).
+
+Merewether and Stephens--History of the Boroughs.
+
+Nichols, J.--The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester
+(1795-1815).
+
+Ordericus Vitalis--Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy (Bohn's
+Series).
+
+Owen and Blakeway--History of Shrewsbury.
+
+[Owen, Hugh]--Some Account of the Ancient and Present State of Shrewsbury
+(1808).
+
+Perry, C. G.--A History of the English Church (Vol. II.) (1878).
+
+Pidgeon's Memorials of Shrewsbury (old Ed.).
+
+Pidgeon's Some Account of the Ancient Gilds, Trading Companies, and the
+origin of Shrewsbury Show (1862).
+
+Poynter, E. J.--Ten Lectures on Art (1880).
+
+Quarterly Review, Vol. 159.
+
+Riley, H. T.--Memorials of London ... in the XIII, XIV, and XV Centuries.
+
+Rogers, Thorold--Six Centuries of Work and Wages (1889).
+
+Rogers, Thorold--The Economic Interpretation of History (1888).
+
+Scott, Sir Walter--Marmion.
+
+Sinclair, D.--The History of Wigan.
+
+Smith, Toulmin--English Gilds (E. E. T. S.).
+
+State Papers, Domestic (Elizabeth).
+
+Statutes at Large (6 vols, 1758).
+
+Stow, John--A Survey of London (Carisbrooke Library).
+
+Strype--Ecclesiastical Memorials (1821).
+
+Stubbs, W.--Constitutional History of England (1883).
+
+Stubbs, W.--Select Charters (1884).
+
+Stubbs, W.--Lectures on Mediæval History.
+
+Taylor MS. in Library of Shrewsbury School (Reprinted in S. A. S. Vol.
+III.).
+
+Thackeray, W. M.--The Four Georges.
+
+Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary, being
+the Diary of Celia Fiennes.
+
+Transactions of the Shropshire Archæological Society (cited as S. A. S.),
+Vols. I-XI.
+
+Wordsworth, W.--The Happy Warrior.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+  Abbey at Shrewsbury, 11, 31, 60
+
+  Aberystwith, 26
+
+  Adventurers, Merchant, of Exeter, 84, 87
+
+  Aliens not to be taken as apprentices, 64, 82
+
+  Almshouses, 73, 109, 137
+
+  Altrincham, 26
+
+  Amalgamation natural in Middle Ages, 31
+    and at all times, 140
+
+  Anager, 83
+
+  Andover, 25, 35, 147
+
+  Anglo-Saxons, gilds of, 12
+    municipal organisation of, 13
+
+  Apothecary, 28
+
+  Apprentices, 39, 40, 46, 47, 52, 64, 66, 81
+
+  Arthur, son of Henry VII., 79
+
+  Arundel, Earl of, 27
+
+  Ashton, Thomas, 79, 119
+
+  Assistants, 5, 41
+
+  Assize of Arms, 11
+
+  Axbridge, 27, 85
+
+
+  Bailiffs, assist gilds, 37
+    assisted by gilds, 36
+    supervise gilds, 37, 40
+
+  Bakers, 28, 59
+
+  Bala, 27
+
+  Bamborough, 27
+
+  Barbers, 28, 45, 58-9, 62, 83-4, 87, 89, 100, 102, 130
+
+  Bargains, common, 14, 15
+
+  Barnstaple, 27
+
+  Bath, 25
+
+  Beadle, duties of, 42
+
+  Beaumaris, 27
+
+  Bedesmen, 63
+
+  Bedford, 25
+
+  Benefit Clubs, 106, 110
+
+  Berwick on Tweed, 26
+
+  Beverley, 24, 115
+
+  Birmingham, 111, 129
+
+  Bishops' Castle, 147
+
+  Black Death, 56
+
+  Board of Trade, 141
+
+  Bodmin, 25
+
+  Borough, distinction between Merchant Gild and, 18, 19
+    rise and development of, 10
+    incorporation of, 14
+    position of Merchant Gild in, 14, 16
+    select body in, 19, 105
+    classes of inhabitants, 147
+
+  Boroughs, list of, possessing Merchant Gilds, 24-28
+
+  Boston, 26
+
+  Brasier, 53
+
+  Brecknock, 147
+
+  Brentano, Dr, 7, 9, 104, 105
+
+  Bricks, revival of use of, 80
+
+  Bricklayers, 118
+
+  Bridgenorth, 26
+
+  Bridgewater, 26
+
+  Bristol, 25, 87, 111
+
+  Bromhall, John, 153, 155
+
+  Builder, 29
+
+  Builth, 26
+
+  Burford, 24
+
+  Burgesses, 3
+    charters granted to, 14
+    small share in work of Parliament, 49
+
+  Burgess-ship, qualifications of, 18, 106
+    not identical with gildship, 18
+    villains, women, and ecclesiastics excluded from, 18
+
+  Burnet, 67
+
+  Bury S. Edmund's, 25, 147
+
+  Butchers, 28, 57, 59
+
+  Byt-fylling, 13
+
+
+  Caerswys, 26
+
+  Cambridge, 25, 56, 60, 74
+
+  Camden, 79
+
+  Canterbury, 12, 24, 147, 148, 150
+
+  Cappers, 53
+
+  Cardiff, 27
+
+  Cardigan, 26, 69
+
+  Carlisle, 25
+
+  Carnarvon, 26
+
+  Carpenters, 28, 59
+
+  Carrier, 28
+
+  Castle at Shrewsbury, 12
+
+  Censers or Tensers, see Shrewsbury
+
+  Chantries, 32, 63, 67, 74, 86, 92
+
+  Charity Commissioners, 141
+
+  Charles II., 87
+
+  Charters did not necessarily create the gilds, 55
+    to burgesses, 14
+
+  Chelmicke, Mr, 89
+
+  Chepgauel, 18 n.
+
+  Chester, 25, 92, 119, 146, 147, 151
+    Earl of, 25, 146
+
+  Chesterfield, 27
+
+  Chichester, 24
+
+  Cirencester, 27
+
+  Civil Services, 141
+
+  Clerk, 28, 43
+
+  Cloth Trade, 78-9
+    cloth-workers, 29, 117
+    cloth-merchant, 57
+
+  Clun, 147
+
+  Collier, 28
+
+  Commissioners for plundering gilds, 73
+
+  Commonwealth, 122
+
+  Communa, 14, 16
+
+  Companies, commercial, 6, 47, 86, 88, 98 et seq., 140
+
+  Compositions, 37-8, 55 n.
+
+  Conflicts between Merchant Gild and Craft Gilds, 5, 9, 20, 21
+
+  Congleton, 26
+
+  Conquest, Norman, 10
+
+  Continent, commerce with, 10
+    merchant gilds of, 5, 9, 20, 21
+
+  Conviviality, 13, 44, 111
+
+  Conway, 26
+
+  Cooks, 28, 59
+
+  Coopers, 28
+
+  Cordwainers, 35
+
+  Corn-dealer, 28
+
+  Cornwall, 149
+    Earl of, 26, 27
+
+  Corporations, municipal, 14, 16, 105, 109, 127
+
+  _Corps-de-métier_, 8
+
+  Corpus Christi, gilds and Feast, 33, 43, 59, 63, 115, 118
+
+  Cottoners, 90
+
+  County Towns, their former importance, 3, 122-3
+
+  Coventry, 26, 115
+
+  Craft Gilds, earliest mention of, 34
+    become numerous, 35
+    favoured by Merchant Gild, 20, 22, 34, 36
+    take over work of Merchant Gild, 20, 35
+    motives for forming, religious, 31-2
+    social, 33
+    commercial, 34
+    police, 36
+    incorporated, 38, 55
+    at Shrewsbury, 10
+    favoured by municipal authorities, 36, 38, 43
+    composition of, 39
+    officers, election unrestricted, 40
+    wardens, 41
+    assistants, 41
+    stewards, 42
+    beadle, 42
+    searcher, 43, 46, 87
+    clerk, 43
+    treasurer, 43
+    key-keeper, 44
+    take oath before bailiffs, 37, 40
+    meetings, 43
+    importance of, commercial, 45
+    social, 33, 34, 47-50
+    constitutional, 48-9
+    as benefit clubs, 50
+    specially interesting at present time, 49-51
+    development of trade introduces abuses, 56-7
+    policy of reform, 58
+    demoralisation, 65-7
+    robbed by government, 67 et seq.
+    effects of this, 75 et seq.
+    reorganisation, 81, 84-97
+    its effects on gilds, 82
+    intimate connection of later companies with corporation, 85-6, 99,
+          105, 120-22
+    they retain many of old gild characteristics, 87-8, 108-9
+    though altered conditions make their work difficult, 88, 98
+    and companies themselves are unsatisfactory, 98-102, 105
+    they change to capitalist companies, 103-5
+    from which journeymen are excluded, 106
+    difficulties of reform, 107-8
+    contemporaneous opinion of, at end of 18th century, 109-12
+    destruction of, 136-137
+    return to organisation partly on gild principles, 141-144
+
+  Craftsman of middle ages, 49
+    degraded by Reformation, 75
+
+  Cranmer, 68
+
+  Criccieth, 26
+
+  Crispin and Crispianus, 118, 125
+
+  Custumarii, 147
+
+  Cyveiliog, Earl of, 26
+
+
+  Davies, Thomas, 92
+
+  Denbigh, 27
+
+  Derby, 25
+
+  Despenser, le, 27
+
+  Devizes, 26
+
+  Devon, 150
+
+  Dixon, Canon, 71
+
+  Domesday Book, 11, 148
+
+  Doncaster, 28
+
+  Dover, 12
+
+  Drapers, 29, 32-3, 59, 73, 83-4, 90-7, 99, 101, 108-9, 126, 131
+
+  Dugdale, 116
+
+  Dunheved or Launceston, 26
+
+  Dunwich, 25
+
+  Durham, 25
+    Bp of, 26
+
+  Dutch, 82
+
+  Dyer, 38
+
+
+  Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 141
+
+  Edward the Confessor, 12
+
+  Edward I., 16, 26, 27, 35, 58
+    his conquest of Wales, 2, 146, 154
+
+  Edward II., 27
+
+  Edward III., 27, 35, 59
+
+  Edward IV., 28, 38, 42, 58, 59, 62, 65, 79, 82, 117, 154
+
+  Edward VI.'s confiscation of gild property, 33, 62, 67, 118
+
+  Elizabeth, 35, 76-79, 81, 84, 86, 117, 118
+
+  Enclosures, 78
+
+  "England the birthplace of Gilds", 9
+
+  English Gilds differ from continental, 5, 9, 20, 21
+
+  Ethelred, 13
+
+  Exchequer, 11
+
+  Exeter, 84
+
+
+  Fairs, freedom of trading at, 15, 146
+
+  Family sometimes considered the germ of the Gild, 7
+
+  Farquhar, 123
+
+  Faversham, 81 n.
+
+  Feasts of Gilds, 13, 44, 111
+
+  Fee Farm or firma burgi, 17, 18, 19, 22
+
+  Fellmongers, 39
+
+  Feltmakers, 99
+
+  Fire-engine supported by gilds, 106, 137
+
+  Fishmongers, 29, 59
+
+  Flemings, 82
+
+  Fletchers, 59
+
+  Flint, 26
+
+  Fordwich, 25
+
+  "Foreigners," Forinseci, 19, 20, 98, 110, 147
+
+  Foresters, 68
+
+  Four Men, 41-2, 104
+
+  France, _corps-de-métier_ in, 8
+    French, 82
+    French company, 94
+
+  Freemen of companies, 39, 53, 106
+
+  Friendly Societies, 68, 116, 139, 142
+
+  Frith bot, 13
+
+  Frith gilds, 8, 13, 46, 140
+
+  Frizers, 90
+
+  Fullers, 35
+
+  Funerals attended by brethren, 43
+
+  Fusion of races shown in Shrewsbury gild records, 16
+
+
+  Gainsborough, 27
+
+  Garnisher, 28
+
+  George IV., 126
+
+  German Merchants, 82
+
+  Gildhall, at Dover, 12
+    becomes town hall, 17-18
+
+  Gild Merchant, see Merchant Gild
+
+  Gilds, see Companies, Craft Gilds, Frith Gilds, Merchant Gilds, Monks'
+          Gilds, Religious Gilds, Yeoman Gilds
+    differences between English and foreign, 5, 9, 20, 21
+    universality of gild feeling, 7
+    earliest gild statutes, 9
+
+  Glanvill, 17
+
+  Gloucester, 25
+    Earl of, 24
+
+  Glovers, 28, 39, 59, 83, 87, 101, 118
+
+  Godiva, 116
+
+  Goldsmith, 28, 53, 109
+
+  Grammar Schools, 74
+
+  Grampound, 27
+
+  Grantham, 28
+
+  Great Yarmouth, see Yarmouth
+
+  Greeks, gilds among, 7
+
+  Griffith, Earl of Cyveiliog, 26
+
+  Grimsby, 151
+
+  Grocers, 109, 131
+
+  Groom, 28
+
+  Guildford, 26
+
+
+  Haberdashers, 100
+
+  Halls of Gilds, see Gild Hall, 42, 44
+
+  Hansarii, 147
+
+  Harlech, 26
+
+  Harper, 29
+
+  Harrison, 78, 80
+
+  Hart, Mr, 134
+
+  Hartlepool, 26
+
+  Haverfordwest, 25
+
+  Hawkers, 29
+    repressed by companies, 130
+
+  Hedon, 27
+
+  Helston, 25
+
+  Henley-on-Thames, 27, 147
+
+  Henry I., 10, 11, 14, 24-34
+
+  Henry II., 10, 11, 14, 17, 25, 146
+
+  Henry III., 26, 146
+
+  Henry IV., 2, 27, 59, 65, 150
+
+  Henry V., 27
+
+  Henry VI., 28, 57, 58, 59, 62, 66, 155
+
+  Henry VII., 65, 66, 79
+
+  Henry VIII., 66, 67, 73, 79, 118, 150
+
+  Henry de Lacy, 26
+
+  Hereford, 25
+
+  Historical attitude essential in studying history of gilds, 44
+
+  Hope, 27
+
+  Hugh le Despenser, 27
+
+  Huntingdon, 35
+
+
+  Incorporation, municipal, 14, 16
+
+  Indentures of apprenticeship, 46, 52, 64
+
+  Infirmary, 109
+
+  Inns of Court, 119
+
+  Intrants, 148
+
+  Intruders and Interlopers, 89, 98
+    cf. also Foreigners
+
+  Ipswich, 18, 25
+
+  Irish not to be taken as apprentices, 82
+
+  Iron Trade, 78
+
+  Ironmongers, 53, 109
+
+
+  James I., 84, 95
+
+  Jews, 78
+
+  John, 14, 18, 25
+
+  Journeymen, 39, 40, 106
+
+  Judge, a member of Merchant Gild, 29
+
+  Justices Itinerant, 11
+
+  Justices of the peace, 81
+
+
+  S. Katharine, 118, 150
+
+  Kenfig, 27
+
+  Kinaston, Mr, 95
+
+  King's Bench, 11
+
+  Kingsland, 125, 127
+
+  Kingston-on-Thames, 26
+
+  Kirkham, 27
+
+
+  Lampeter, 27
+
+  Lancaster, 27
+
+  Launceston, 26
+
+  Leather-sellers, 39
+
+  Leech, 29
+
+  Leet assesses Tensers' fines, 150
+    loses its powers, 105, 150
+
+  Leicester, 24, 147, 153
+
+  Leve-lookers or leave-lookers, 151, 152
+
+  Lever, Thomas, 74
+
+  Lewes, 24
+
+  Lincoln, 25, 35, 146, 147
+
+  Liskeard, 26
+
+  Liverpool, 111
+
+  Livery, 43, 65
+
+  Llanfyllin, 27
+
+  Llantrissaint, 27
+
+  Lloyd, John, 80
+
+  Local Government Board, 141
+
+  Local history, value of, 10
+
+  Local life, always varied in England, 1
+
+  Locksmith, 29
+
+  London, 111
+    its "laws", 13
+    its Anglo-Saxon Gilds, 12
+    its Craft Gilds, 35
+    its rivalry with provincial towns, 92, 124
+    its modern pre-eminence, 1, 3, 123
+
+  Lostwithiel, 26
+
+  Ludlow, 28, 79, 109
+
+  Lyme Regis, 26
+
+  Lynn Regis, 25, 69
+
+
+  Macclesfield, 26
+
+  Machinery, introduction of, 4
+
+  Magna Carta, 136
+
+  Malmesbury, 25, 147
+
+  Marches, of Wales, 2, 148
+    Lords of, 2
+    Court of, 2, 89
+    President of, 2
+
+  Markets, 13, 15
+
+  Marlborough, 25
+
+  S. Mary, Chantry in Church of, 53
+
+  Mary, 118
+
+  Mason, 29
+
+  Masters, 40-41, 67, 75-76, 103, 105
+
+  May Day, 5, 98, 120
+
+  Mayor administers oath of admission, 99
+
+  Mellent, Robert, Earl of, 24
+
+  Mercers, 33, 44, 53, 59, 62, 63, 64, 73, 82, 83, 84, 88, 101, 103, 108,
+          126, 131, 135, 137, 138,
+    of York, 84
+
+  Merchant, 14, 29, 38, 48
+
+  Merchant Gilds, the chief difference between town and country, 12, 21
+    originated to preserve peace, 12, 21
+    compared with Frith Gilds, 13, 46
+    trade regulations follow, 13
+    earliest mention, 14
+    royal authorisation, 14, 21
+    at Shrewsbury, 10, 14
+    effects, 16, 22
+    chronological list of, 24-8
+    relations with communa, 10, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 34
+    with Craft Gilds, 20
+    compared with Trades Unions, 46
+    functions and privileges of, 14-16, 18-19, 21
+    duties of gildsmen, 17
+    comprised majority of householders, 15, 22
+    all branches of trade, 16, 19, 30
+    and professions, 18
+    and women, 18
+    and ecclesiastics, 18
+    a rallying point for burgesses, 16, 22
+    all burgesses are gildsmen, 16
+    but all gildsmen are not burgesses, 18
+    efforts towards municipal objects, 20
+    gild hall becomes town hall, 17
+    in later years delegates its mercantile functions to Craft Gilds, 20,
+          22, 30, 34, 36
+    who sometimes in aggregate receive name of "Merchant Gild", 35
+    subsequent history, 35
+
+  S. Michael, patron of Mercers' Company, 53, 63
+
+  Militia, national, 11
+
+  Miller, 29, 59
+
+  Monasteries, 8, 67, 77
+
+  Monks' Gilds, 8 (and n. 2), 59, 140
+
+  Monks excluded from burgess-ship, 18
+
+  Montgomery, 26
+
+  Mornspeche, 43-44
+
+  Mortmain Acts, 55 (n. 2), 61
+
+  Much Wenlock, see Wenlock
+
+  Municipal Corporations Act, 127, 136, 156
+
+  Municipalities, see Boroughs
+
+  Mynde, Abbot, 61
+
+
+  Neath, 27, 147
+
+  Nevin, 27
+
+  Newborough, 27
+
+  Newcastle-on-Tyne, 25
+
+  Newcastle-under-Lyme, 26
+
+  Newport (Salop), 26
+
+  Newport, 27
+
+  Newton, 27
+
+  Norfolk, 69
+
+  Norman Conquest, 10
+    favours trade, 13, 21
+
+  Norwich, 147
+
+  Nottingham, 25
+
+
+  Oaths, 39, 53
+
+  Odd Fellows, 68
+    see Friendly Societies
+
+  Oswestry, 27, 89
+    rivalry with Shrewsbury, 91-96
+
+  Overton, 26
+
+  Oxford, 25, 35
+
+
+  Pageants, 4, 33, 42, 63, 113-127
+
+  Painters, 118
+
+  Palmer, 29
+
+  Parchment-makers, 39
+
+  Paul's Cross, 74
+
+  Peasant Revolt, 56
+
+  Pelterer, 29
+
+  Pembroke, Earl of, 27
+
+  Petersfield, 24
+
+  Pewterer, 53
+
+  Plasterer, 28
+
+  Plymouth, 28
+
+  Pointmaker, 39
+
+  Police regulations aided by gilds, 65, 108
+
+  Pontefract, 28
+
+  Poor maintained by Craft Gilds, 33, 47, 80
+
+  Portsmouth, 26
+
+  Potter, 29
+
+  Pre-emption, gildmen's right of, 15
+    royal right of, 145
+
+  Preston, 25
+
+  Priest, 29
+
+  Privileges of gildsmen, 15, 17, 63, 64, 65
+
+  Processions, see Pageants
+
+  Puritans, 120, 125
+
+  Pursers, 39
+
+  Pwllheli, 27
+
+
+  Reading, 26, 35
+
+  _Recruiting Officer_, 123-4
+
+  Reformation, its shock to industry, 3, 6, 77
+    to gilds, 67
+
+  Reform movement fatal to companies, 6, 127
+    and Show, 127
+
+  Religion and trade, 5, 107, 125
+
+  Religious Gilds, 60
+    of Holy Trinity, 59
+    of S. Winifred, 31, 59-62
+    frequently connected with trade, 60
+
+  Residence not requisite for membership of Merchant Gild, 18
+
+  Restoration, 122, 125
+
+  Rhuddlan, 27
+
+  Richard I., 14, 16, 25
+
+  Richard II., 27, 65, 82
+
+  Richard III., 28
+
+  Richard, Earl of Cornwall, 26
+
+  Robert de Belesme, 11
+
+  Rochester, 26
+
+  Roger de Montgomery, 11, 12
+
+  Romans, gilds of, 7
+
+  Rowley's Mansion, 80
+
+  Rubens, 118
+
+  Ruyton, 27
+
+
+  Saddlers, 29, 59, 131
+
+  Saffron Walden, 27
+
+  Salisbury, 25
+
+  _Salopian Journal_, 109
+
+  Scarborough, 26
+
+  Schools maintained by Gilds, 33
+    Lancaster, 109
+
+  Searcher's duties, 43
+
+  Severn, 123
+
+  Shearmen, 5, 32, 59, 79, 83, 90, 103, 117, 120-2
+
+  Shoemakers, 28, 32, 57, 58
+
+  Shrewsbury, its strong individuality, 1
+    its geographical position, 2
+    early growth, 2, 3
+    in Domesday, 11
+    depressed by Conquest, 11
+    taken by Henry II., 11
+    later prosperity, 3
+    streets and houses, 4
+    its abbey, 11, 31, 60
+    castle, 12
+    peculiarities of its gild history, 5, 40-42
+    its gild-records, 10, 16
+    gilds, 4, 36, 58-9
+    gild hall, 17
+    gild-chantries, 32, 63, 74, 92
+    religious gilds, 31, 59-62
+    Merchant Gild confirmed, 14, 25, 146
+    incorporation of Craft Gilds, 58-9
+    early history of, 55-76
+    Reformation changes, 77-97
+    obtains monopoly of Welsh cloth trade, 3, 91-7
+    rivalry with Coventry, 63
+    in 16th century, 76, 79
+    with Oswestry in the 17th century, 89-96
+    with Chester, 92
+    with London, 92, 124
+    typical of the 17th century, 4, 122-5
+    influence of machinery upon, 4
+    later degeneracy of its companies, 98-112, 129-139
+    Shrewsbury Show, 113-127, 137
+    Tensers of, (Appendix 155) and other towns, 147
+    etymology, 149-150
+    their fines, 150
+    status, 152-154
+    privileges, 147, 155
+    relations with burgesses, 155
+    later history, 155
+
+  Skinners, 36, 38, 41, 59, 83, 89, 118
+
+  Skins, seller of, 29
+
+  Smiths, 84, 88, 118
+
+  Social Gilds, see Religious Gilds
+
+  Socialists, 141
+
+  Social life changed by newer conditions, 1, 123
+
+  Somerset, 67
+
+  Southampton, 25
+
+  Stafford, Earl of, 27
+
+  Stallingers, 148
+
+  Stamford, 28, 115
+
+  Steen, Widow, 101
+
+  Stephen, 24
+
+  Stewards, duties of, 42
+
+  Stow, 120
+
+  Strype, 74
+
+  Suffolk, Earl of, 95
+
+  Sunderland, 26
+
+  Sword Cutler, 28
+
+
+  Tailors, 28, 32, 36, 38, 41, 44, 57, 59, 83, 84, 88, 89, 101, 117
+
+  Tanners, 28, 57, 59, 98-9
+
+  Tavern-keeper, 29
+
+  Tensers, see Shrewsbury
+
+  Teynterer, 29
+
+  Thegn-right obtained by three voyages, 48
+
+  Thurstan, Abp of York, 24
+
+  Tolls paid by ungildated merchants, 146-156
+
+  Totnes, 18 (n. 6), 25, 147
+
+  Town bargains, common, 15
+
+  Townhall, 17-18
+
+  Towns, growth of, in twelfth century, 10, 21
+    differed little from country, 12, 21
+    trade their _raison-d'être_, 13
+    town gild, 13, 31
+    struggle of classes in continental, 9
+    but not in English, 9
+    growth of select body, 19, 105
+
+  Trade favoured by Conquest, 10, 13, 35
+    expansion of, 20
+    localisation of, 31
+
+  Trade Unions, 47, 68, 141-144
+
+  Treasurer of gild, 43
+
+  Tudor, Owen, 79
+
+
+  Universities, 119
+
+  Usury, 33, 78, 80
+
+
+  Villain enfranchised by joining Merchant Gild, 16, 22, 30
+
+  Vintners, 59
+
+  Vulcan, 118
+
+
+  Wake, John, 27
+
+  Wales, 2, 30, 146, 154
+    incorporated with England, 79
+    cloth trade of, 3, 89-97, 99
+    Prince of, 27, 38, 79
+
+  Wallingford, 25
+
+  Walsall, 28
+
+  Wardens' Oath, 39
+
+  Warenne, Reginald de, 24
+
+  Warwick, 69
+
+  Warwickshire, 116
+
+  Weavers, 29, 32, 34, 44, 59, 131
+
+  Weddings, 43
+
+  Welshpool, 26
+
+  Wenlock, 28
+
+  Weymouth, 28
+
+  Wigan, 147
+    leve-lookers or gate-waiters at, 152
+
+  William I., 10
+
+  Wilton, 24
+
+  Winchester, 16, 25, 35, 85, 147, 148, 155
+
+  Windsor, 26
+
+  S. Winifred, 31, 59, 61
+
+  Witan, 13
+
+  Wite, 60
+
+  Women, members of gilds, 39, 40
+    but not burgesses, 18
+
+  Woodman, 29
+
+  Woodstock, 28
+
+  Wool-comber, 28
+    wool-buyer, 29
+    woollen-trade, 78
+
+  Worcester, 26, 147, 149, 154, 155
+
+  Working men, of middle ages, 49
+    degraded by Reformation, 75
+    and by subsequent policy, 106
+    hopes for their future, 142-144
+
+  Worsted Trade, 78
+
+  Wrekin, 124
+
+  Wycombe, 27
+
+
+  Yarmouth, 25, 147
+
+  Yeomen gilds, 5
+
+  York, 24, 84, 115
+    Abp Thurstan of, 24
+
+
+CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. & SONS, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] I speak of the old edition. I have not had the advantage of using the
+newer work.
+
+[2] That the land did not contain a population adequate for its
+cultivation is evident from a Statute of 1350 which allows the people of
+the Marches of Wales (and Scotland) to go about in search of work at
+harvest-time, as they had been accustomed to do aforetime. (_Rot. Parl._
+II. 234.) _Work and Wages_, pp. 131-2.
+
+[3] Cf. Thackeray, _The Four Georges_, p. 320, "decayed provincial
+capitals, out of which the great wen of London has sucked all the life."
+
+[4] Macaulay. _History of Eng._, Vol. I. pp. 165-6. Infra, Chap. VII.
+
+[5] Cf. infra, Chap. VII.
+
+[6] Brentano, 44, 52, 54, 58. Green, _Short Hist._, 193. G. Howell,
+_Conflicts of Capital and Labour_, 22-25, 29, 31.
+
+[7] Cunningham, _Growth of Industry_, 212. Brentano, 90, 95.
+
+[8] Cf. infra, Chap. V.
+
+[9] Cf. especially Chap. VII.
+
+[10] _The Hist. and Development of Gilds._ Cf. especially Note 1.
+
+[11] _Ibid._ 8. "The objects of the [Greek: eranoi] were of the most
+varied description; ... associations of this kind were very common in the
+democratic states of Greece, and to this class the numberless political
+and religious societies, corporations, unions for commerce and shipping,
+belonged." Boeckh, _Public Economy of Athens_, p. 243.
+
+[12] Grote, _Hist. of Greece_, Vol. VI. p. 247, n. 1, where several
+interesting parallels with the Mediæval Gilds will be found. (Cf. also
+infra, p. 34, note 2.)
+
+[13] E. Hatch, Bampton Lectures, Lect. II. notes.
+
+[14] Cunningham, p. 124.
+
+[15] Cf. _Die klösterlichen Gebets Verbrüderungen bis zum Ausgange des
+Karolingischen Zeitalters_, von Dr Adalbert Ebner. Similar spiritual
+confederations are found in Italy in the second quarter of the eighth
+century, and in the ninth they become common in southern Europe. Alcuin
+speaks of them by the terms _pacta caritatis_, _fraternitas_,
+_familiaritas_. The monks of the allied houses were termed _familiares_.
+Dr Brentano (p. 20) says that at later times "conventions like that
+between the Fraternity of London Saddlers and the neighbouring Canons of
+St Martin-le-Grand, by which the saddlers were admitted into brotherhood
+and partnership of masses, orisons, and other good deeds with the canons,
+were common."
+
+[16] Brentano, pages 1, 2. They are printed in Kemble's _The Saxons in
+England_, Vol. I. Appendix D.
+
+[17] Brentano, 49.
+
+[18] Gneist, _Self Government_, Vol. I. p. 110; _Verwaltungsrecht_, Vol.
+I. p. 139.
+
+[19] Stubbs, III. 576, 578.
+
+[20] _Work and Wages_, p. 126.
+
+[21] Stubbs, I. 452.
+
+[22] Stubbs, I. 449: _Select Charters_, 63, cap. 27, 28: 67, cap. iii.,
+viii., 1., etc.
+
+[23] _Select Charters_, 66, 12: 72, 6.
+
+[24] Stubbs, I. 450.
+
+[25] _Select Charters_, 67, iii., viii., 1.
+
+[26] _Ibid._ 72, ii. cap. 6.
+
+[27] Cunningham, 129, Stubbs, I. 452, Brentano, 42.
+
+[28] Gross, I. 5; II. 28, 37. See note 1 to this Chapter.
+
+[29] Cf. note 1 to this Chapter.
+
+[30] _Ibid._
+
+[31] _Select Charters_, 167 etc.; Stubbs, I. 452, and n. 1; Eyton's
+_Shropshire_, XI. 134.
+
+[32] _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159.
+
+[33] Gross, I. 135, 136 and notes; II. 133, 149.
+
+[34] _Ibid._ I. 42.
+
+[35] Cf. note 2 to this Chapter.
+
+[36] _Select Charters_, 265.
+
+[37] _Select Charters_, 162, "Communam scilicet gildam."
+
+[38] Gross, I. 83 and note 1.
+
+[39] Stubbs, I. 451.
+
+[40] _Select Charters_ (Helston), 314.
+
+[41] Gross, I. 54. The Rolls of the Shrewsbury Merchant Gild contain a
+large number of names of "foreigners." For instance in 1209 there were
+apparently 56 foreigners; in 1252 these had increased to 234.
+
+[42] Printed in Gross, II. 114-123.
+
+[43] _Select Charters_, 166 (Charter of Henry II. to Lincoln).
+
+[44] Gross, II. 235, and cf. note 2 to this Chapter.
+
+[45] Cf. the "Chepgauel" at Totnes. Gross, II. 236.
+
+[46] Gross, I. 57.
+
+[47] Owen and Blakeway, I. 169-174. Erskine May, _Const. Hist._ III.
+276-77.
+
+[48] This close relationship of, and actual difference between, the two
+bodies is very distinctly seen at Bristol in the reign of Edward IV., when
+it was the custom for the Mayor and Council of the town to choose the
+chief officers of the Merchant Gild, and to pass ordinances for its
+regulation. Gross, II. 25.
+
+[49] On the early use of coal, cf. _Work and Wages_, p. 124.
+
+[50] The Statutes of Labourers first gave a recognised position to the
+"men who neither held land, nor were free burgesses," but who had a
+dwelling, and paid the rates of some town. Cf. Cunningham, 193-4. Supra,
+p. 19.
+
+[51] _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159; _Economic Interpretation_, p. 298.
+
+[52] Cf. "Butchers' Row" at Shrewsbury, where also the High Street was
+formerly called Bakers' Row (Pidgeon's _Handbook_, old Ed. p. 37). The
+Street which was afterwards known as Single Butcher Row had been earlier
+called "Shoemakers' Row" (Phillips, p. 200).
+
+[53] Cf. the Monks' Gilds alluded to above, p. 8 and n. 2.
+
+[54] "Which is now the only fragment left to the incumbent of the Church's
+income before the Reformation." S. A. S. x. 223.
+
+[55] Longfellow expresses this well in _The Golden Legend_:
+
+                              "The Architect
+  Built his great heart into these sculptured stones,
+  And with him toiled his children, _and their lives
+  Were builded, with his own, into the walls,
+  As offerings unto God_."
+
+[56] At Worcester a Gild School educated 100 scholars. The substitute
+which the Government provided at the Reformation was for less than half
+that number. Toulmin Smith's Collection, p. 203 and note.
+
+[57] Ordinances of the City of London, framed in 1363.
+
+[58] The Greeks had private Societies called [Greek: thiasoi] and [Greek:
+orgeônes] which also presented this feature. Cf. Foucart, _Les
+Associations réligieuses chez les Grecs_.
+
+[59] Brentano, 54. Cunningham, 203, n. 2.
+
+[60] Cf. supra, p. 20. In writing thus I have not forgotten that an
+opposite view is taken by Dr Brentano, Mr J. R. Green, Mr Geo. Howell, and
+in fact most of the writers who have touched on the subject.
+
+[61] Gross, I. 114.
+
+[62] Hartlepool, 1673. "It is ordered at a general guild ... that
+whosoever ... shall presume to come in and within the liberty of this
+corporation, to trade or occupye ... to the prejudice of the free trades
+and companyes within the corporation" etc. Gross, II. 106-7.
+
+[63] Cunningham, 209, n. 1.
+
+[64] Tailors' Composition, of 1478.
+
+[65] The Bailiffs are to apprehend on the third day any person coming to
+the town "suspitiouslie w{th}oute anie lawfull errand or occasion," and to
+detain him in prison "till he have found suertie of his good bearing or
+els to avoide the towne." "And if anie man be comitted to their warde by
+the wardens w{th} the fower men ordeigned to the said wardens to be
+assistaunt in counsell in good counsell giving of anie crafte w{th}in the
+said Towne and Frauncheses that then that person that is so comitted to
+warde ... be not deliv'ed out of warde by the Bailiffs w{th}out assent and
+agreement of the said wardens and fower men." "Item ... that no manne of
+their Crafte journeyman or other be attendant nor at the calling of anie
+gentleman, nor to noe other person otherwise than the lawe will but onlie
+to the wardens of their Crafte for the good rule of the same and assisting
+of the Bailiffs for keeping of the peace and for good rule of the Towne."
+
+Mercers' Composition, 1480-81. The searcher is "to make serche and espye
+all suche p'sones as frawdelentlye abbrygg, w{t}draw or cownceyle the
+payments of theyre dewties" (such as Toll, Murage, etc.).
+
+No livery is to be worn except that of the Gild or Corporation. When the
+town bell rings the alarum members of the Gild are to go to the help of
+the Bailiffs only.
+
+[66] Tailors' Composition, of 1478. Cf. _Eng. Gilds_, pp. 286, 385, 407,
+420, etc.
+
+[67] There are examples of the town drawing up trading ordinances to which
+the Gildsmen conformed. Cf. The Usages of Winchester and the Ordinances of
+Worcester in _Eng. Gilds_, pp. 349, 370. Cf. also pp. 334-337.
+
+[68] Also before they could hold land in mortmain it would be necessary to
+obtain a charter.
+
+[69] The Oath of the Freemen of the Mercers' Company is given as a note to
+this Chapter.
+
+[70] Cf. Appendix.
+
+[71] "The position of master and journeyman was not that of capitalist and
+labourer, so much as that of two fellow-workers, one of whom, from his
+superior status, was responsible to the town for the conduct of both."
+Cunningham, 211. As showing the position of an apprentice in the 15th
+century a Shrewsbury Indenture is given as a note to this Chapter.
+
+[72] Cunningham, 211, n. 1. Brentano, 40, 68.
+
+[73] "The Stock in Trade required to set up in business was not great and
+an apprentice when his term of service was over, became a master almost as
+a matter of course. Journeymen were scarce, or at any rate not plentiful
+enough to have much influence on Trade.... Thus Capital and Labour were
+united." _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159, p. 53.
+
+[74] Brentano, 40.
+
+[75] Merewether and Stephens.
+
+[76] For interference with Free Election on the Continent cf. Brentano.
+
+[77] Tailors' Composition, 1563.
+
+[78] Cf. infra, Chap. VI.
+
+[79] Cf. the four Auditors to superintend the accounts of the London
+Grocers (1348) and the six members who were chosen "to aid the Wardens in
+the discharge of their duties" (1397), of whom Mr George Howell says:
+"_Other than these, no notice of the existence of a committee or of
+assistants, in England, appears earlier than the sixteenth Century_."
+_Conflicts of Capital and Labour_, p. 40. Brentano, p. 62. Cf. the four
+Assistants in the Merchant Gild of Ipswich, Gross, I. 24.
+
+[80] The "Four Men of Counsel" of the Mercers were, by the Composition of
+1480-81, chosen by the Wardens.
+
+[81] Mercers' Composition, 1480-81. Tailors' and Skinners', 1563.
+
+[82] Tailors' Composition, 1563.
+
+[83] Several of these are in the Town Museum at Shrewsbury.
+
+[84] A "Key-keeper" appears later in the lists of officers.
+
+[85] Their situation is given in _Some account of the Ancient and Present
+state of Shrewsbury_, published in 1808.
+
+[86] Barbers' Composition (1483 A.D.).
+
+[87] _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159, p. 44.
+
+[88] _Select Charters_, p. 65.
+
+[89] _Elizabethan England_, p. 9.
+
+[90] Stubbs, _Constitutional History_, Vol. III., p. 607.
+
+[91] The writs issued in 1388 order returns of the "Charters and Letters
+Patent _si quas habent_": cf. Toulmin Smith, pp. 128, 130. The
+"Compositions" spoken of below were renewals and confirmations of
+previously enjoyed privileges. They usually assert that the Gild has been
+in existence "a tempore quo non extat memoria."
+
+[92] Charters were also necessary before lands could be acquired in
+mortmain.
+
+[93] Stubbs, ii. p. 504 and note 1.
+
+[94] Toulmin Smith. Introduction, p. xxiv. It is from these returns that
+Mr Toulmin Smith has compiled his collection of ordinances of "English
+Gilds," which however comprise but a small portion of the whole, and throw
+little or no light on the working of the Graft Gilds. The documents have
+not yet been calendared, but they do not appear to contain anything
+relating to Shrewsbury.
+
+[95] Cunningham, p. 210, 211.
+
+[96] Green, _Short History_, p. 192.
+
+[97] Cunningham, p. 214.
+
+[98] Brentano, 75: Riley, _Memorials_, 539, 565, 568, 570, 571, &c.
+
+[99] Pidgeon's _Gilds of Shrewsbury_; _S. A. S._, Vol. V. p. 265.
+
+[100] _S. A. S._, Vol. V. p. 266.
+
+[101] Pidgeon's _Gilds_.
+
+[102] Merewether and Stephens. Pidgeon's _Gilds_.
+
+[103] Pidgeon's _Gilds_; _S. A. S._ Vol. x. p. 33.
+
+[104] Those of Abbotsbury, Cambridge and Exeter. Cf. supra, p. 9.
+
+[105] Toulmin Smith, pp. 29, 42, &c.
+
+[106] _Ibid._, 7, 8, 11, &c.
+
+[107] The little that is known about it is given in Owen and Blakeway's
+_History of Shrewsbury_, II. 122.
+
+[108] It is printed in _S. A. S._, Vol. V.
+
+[109] _S. A. S._, Vol. VIII.
+
+[110] Bryce, _Holy Roman Empire_, p. 95.
+
+[111] "None that is of Frenshe, Flemmyshe, Irysh, Dowche, Walshe, or any
+other Nacyones borne not beyng at Truse w{t} our Sov'ayne Lorde the kynge,
+but onlye mere Englysshe borne."
+
+[112] Such Articles against the wearing of Liveries were common in the
+Gild Statutes. Cf. Toulmin Smith, _passim_.
+
+[113] Except by the Nobility to their personal dependents. Cf. Stubbs,
+III. 552.
+
+[114] 8 Edw. IV. c. 2.
+
+[115] 22 Hen. VIII. c. 4. The Entrance Fees for Apprentices had been
+raised in some cases to 30/- and 40/-. They are now reduced to 2/6
+Entrance Fee, and 3/4 Fee on taking up freedom.
+
+[116] 28 Hen. VIII. c. 5.
+
+[117] 1 Edw. VI. cap. 14.
+
+[118] _Hist. of Reformation_, II. 72.
+
+[119] May, 1548; Council Book MS. in the Privy Council Office. Cf. Dixon,
+_Hist. of Church of Eng._ Vol. II. page 462, note.
+
+[120] Burnet, _Hist. of Reformation_, IV. 281.
+
+[121] Cf. Gross, I. 162, II. 14, 170, 279.
+
+[122] The Statute 14 Eliz. c. 14 was enacted "For the assurance of gifts,
+grants etc. made and to be made to and for the relief of the poor in the
+Hospitals etc."
+
+[123] _Memorials_, Vol. II. Part I. page 100.
+
+[124] Against this were to be set the "enclosing" and "non-residence"
+grievances.
+
+[125] _Elizabethan England_, p. 11.
+
+[126] _Ibid._, p. 121.
+
+[127] _Ibid._, p. 117.
+
+[128] _Elizabethan England_, p. 117.
+
+[129] _Ibid._
+
+[130] The good work of the Gilds is expressly acknowledged in many
+charters of the time, e.g. the charter granted to Faversham (1616) recites
+that long experience had shown that the dividing of the government of
+towns into several companies had worked great good, and was the means of
+avoiding many inconveniences and preposterous disorders, in respect that
+the government of every artificer and tradesman being committed to men of
+gravity, best experienced in the same faculty and mystery, the particular
+grievances and deceits in every trade might be examined, reformed and
+ordered. Gross, II. 89.
+
+[131] Cunningham, p. 181.
+
+[132] Cf. especially, 3 Edw. IV. c. 4; 22 Edward IV. c.
+
+[133] Gross, II. 1, 2, 55, 89, 186-7, 208, 250.
+
+[134] Cf. infra, pp. 90-91. The repealing statute (14 Eliz. c. 12) avowed
+that not only had the former Act been "supposed for the benefit of the
+said town" but had also been intended for the "advancing of the
+Corporation of Drapers, Cottoners and Friezers of the said town."
+
+[135] Gross, II. 87.
+
+[136] Gross, II. 281. Cf. also pp. 12, 87, 199, 234, 247-8, 250, 281, 355,
+360.
+
+[137] _Ibid._, 12.
+
+[138] _Ibid._, 56, 90, 91, 176, 186, 193, 199, 234, 247, 251, 264, 364,
+385.
+
+[139] Merewether and Stephens, 1408.
+
+[140] Cromwell's Charter to Swansea. Gross, II. 234.
+
+[141] Cf. the ordinance which appears in the Tailors' records, A.D. 1711,
+April 11. "No combrother shall at any one time have more than two
+apprentices, one having served 3-1/2 years before the other apprentice be
+bound, and no apprentice above 17 years taken, and he must be unmarried."
+
+[142] It was also directed against the paying of the Shearmen in kind.
+
+[143] Cf. also 18 Eliz. cap. 15 (Goldsmiths): 8 Eliz. cap. 11
+(Haberdashers).
+
+[144] In 1570-1 when Sir Henry Sidney, Lord President of Wales, passed
+through Shrewsbury.
+
+[145] Shrewsbury Corporation Records.
+
+[146] State Papers, Domestic, 1566? (p. 285).
+
+[147] State Papers, Domestic, 1619, Oct. ?
+
+[148] _Ibid._, 1620, Jan. ?
+
+[149] _Ibid._, 1620, Jan. ? (There are several petitions against other
+intruders also, by the countenance of the City of London, "who wish to
+engross all markets.")
+
+[150] _Ibid._, 1620, Jan. ?
+
+[151] _Ibid._, 1620, Jan. 28.
+
+[152] _Ibid._, 1620, Feb. 21.
+
+[153] State Papers, Domestic, 1622. Several petitions from North Wales
+against the Proclamation.
+
+[154] _Ibid._, 1621. Petition of Drapers of Shrewsbury.
+
+[155] _Ibid._, 1621, May 21. Petition of Clothiers of North Wales: the
+Drapers of Shrewsbury are trying to draw all trade to Shrewsbury, which
+will be their ruin.
+
+[156] State Papers, Domestic; Oswestry Corporation Records, printed in _S.
+A. S._ Vol. III.
+
+[157] In 1622 the Bailiffs had requested a loan from the Mercers towards
+the establishing of a market for Welsh cloth in Shrewsbury.
+
+[158] The traders of Liverpool seem to have been the first to do this, so
+far as the Welsh trade of Shrewsbury was concerned. Cf. Owen's
+_Shrewsbury_.
+
+[159] Orders of Corporation (collected by Godolphin Edwardes, Mayor in
+1729). _S. A. S._ Vol XI.
+
+[160] _Ibid._
+
+[161] _Ibid._
+
+[162] Orders of Corporation (1689).
+
+[163] _Ibid._ (1729).
+
+[164] _Ibid._
+
+[165] "1619. That the Corporation endeavour to compel the wardens of the
+Bakers' Company to pay their old annuity of £4. 6_s._ 8_d._ (sic) to the
+Corporation." Orders of Corporation printed in Phillips' _History of
+Shrewsbury_, p. 170.
+
+[166] Orders of Corporation printed in Phillips' _History of Shrewsbury_.
+
+[167] Cf. supra, p. 44.
+
+[168] Glovers' records, 1681.
+
+[169] 1782. Two members were called upon to show cause why they practise a
+profession contrary to that they have sworn to follow.
+
+[170] _Britannia Languens_, p. 355.
+
+[171] p. 88.
+
+[172] Consisting however of masters only.
+
+[173] Macaulay, _History of England_, Vol I. p. 204, n.
+
+[174] Cf. Howell, _Conflicts of Capital and Labour_, pp. 16, 62, 79, 103,
+109, 472.
+
+[175] Resolution of Saddlers in 1798, voting £50.
+
+[176] This sentiment finds expression even in some of the compositions.
+
+[177] That is, masters only, not workmen.
+
+[178] _The Happy Warrior_ of Wordsworth gives us probably a very true idea
+of the mediæval conception of the perfect knight.
+
+[179] Cf. Stubbs' _Lectures on Constitutional History_.
+
+[180] Cf. supra, p. 47.
+
+[181] Scott's _Marmion_.
+
+[182] Brentano, p. 21.
+
+[183] _Ibid._ p. 21.
+
+[184] Toulmin Smith, p. 192.
+
+[185] It is a curious coincidence that these two towns which earlier
+evinced such jealousy towards one another's procession (cf. supra, p. 63)
+should have maintained it longest.
+
+[186] The festivities of the Preston Gild were held at intervals of twenty
+years. The last took place in 1882 (cf. Abram, _Memorials_), but many
+features place the Preston pageants in a different class from that to
+which those of Shrewsbury and Coventry belong.
+
+[187] i.e. Coventry.
+
+[188] Though there is no doubt that the Quarry was used for the
+performance of plays by other actors. Cf. infra, p. 119.
+
+[189] Phillips (p. 201) gives the titles of two of these plays: "Julian
+the Apostate" (at which Elizabeth intended to be present, but was
+misinformed as to the date: when she arrived at Coventry tidings reached
+her that it was already performed) in 1565, and "The Passion of Christ" in
+1567.
+
+[190] Cf. supra, pp. 5, 36, 85, 92, 98-9.
+
+[191] Cf. supra, p. 90.
+
+[192] Stow's _Survey_, p. 124.
+
+[193] Shearmen's records.
+
+[194] _Ibid._
+
+[195] Taylor MS.
+
+[196] Shearmen's records.
+
+[197] _Ibid._
+
+[198] (1594.) Owen and Blakeway, Vol. I. p. 396.
+
+[199] Macaulay, _History of England_, Vol. I. p. 164.
+
+[200] _Through England on a Side Saddle in the time of William and Mary,
+being the Diary of Celia Fiennes._
+
+[201] From the dedication to _The Recruiting Officer_.
+
+[202] Thackeray, _The Four Georges_, p. 320.
+
+[203] Perry, _Church History_, Vol. II. p. 512.
+
+[204] Glovers' records, 1781. "Item, 1/- for carrying the Flag to Church
+on Show Day."
+
+[205] Saddlers' records, 1810. "Treasurer to pay 2 guineas to the
+apprentices to go to Kingsland on Show Monday, and that they may have the
+use of the Cloth, Flag and Streamers belonging to the Company."
+
+[206] Saddlers' records, 1812. "That £10 be allowed to dine the company
+instead of going to Kingsland."
+
+[207] Cf. infra, p. 138.
+
+[208] _Britannia Languens_, p. 355.
+
+[209] _The Stranger in Shrewsbury._
+
+[210] _Ibid._ p. 24.
+
+[211] _Ibid._ On p. 28 they are described as being 16 in number. They
+appear to have varied considerably in number at different periods.
+
+[212] _The Stranger in Shrewsbury_, p. 24.
+
+[213] _Ibid._ p. 97.
+
+[214] _Ibid._ p. 97.
+
+[215] In 1637.
+
+[216] Though a few patriotic members kept the arbours etc. in repair a few
+years longer.
+
+[217] "1822. Thomas Frances Dukes made a Combrother free of all expense,
+for his handsome conduct in giving up the Charter." (Mercers' Records.)
+
+[218] Cf. _The Stranger in Shrewsbury_, p. 28.
+
+[219] The Mercers decide that their dinner shall not cost above £25.
+
+[220] A similar case was tried at Ludlow in 1831 when the Hammer-men
+obtained a verdict in their favour and a farthing damages.
+
+[221] 5 and 6 Will. IV. c. 76.
+
+[222] _Constitutional History of England_, Erskine May, Vol. III. p. 285.
+
+[223] Section 41. Omnes mercatores habeant salvum et securum exire de
+Anglia, et venire in Angliam, et morari et ire per Angliam, tam per terram
+quam per aquam, ad emendum et venendum, sine omnibus malis toltis.
+
+[224] These were finally pulled down in 1859.
+
+[225] The Mercers followed this example in 1878.
+
+[226] _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159, p. 50.
+
+[227] _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159, p. 56. The Drapers' company at
+Shrewsbury still survives to manage S. Mary's Almshouses.
+
+[228] In 1835 there appear to have been companies in at least the
+following other towns in England, Alnwick, Bristol, Carlisle, Chester,
+Coventry, Durham, Gateshead, Haverfordwest, Kendal, Kingston-on-Thames,
+Lichfield, London, Ludlow, Morpeth, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Oxford, Preston,
+Richmond, Ruthin, Sheffield, Southampton, Wells, and York.
+
+[229] Cf. supra, pp. 47-51.
+
+[230] Cf. supra, pp. 105-106.
+
+[231] Howell, _Conflicts of Capital_ etc., p. 494.
+
+[232] The story of the rise of Trades Unions has been told with much
+detail by Mr G. Howell in his _Conflicts of Capital and Labour_, and by Dr
+Brentano in the last portion of his Essay on Gilds.
+
+[233] It is to be hoped that the development of the "New Unionism" will
+not frustrate this hope.
+
+[234] Mr John Burns has recently been urging on Trades Unions the
+advisability of surrendering this feature, so that the funds may the more
+completely be devoted to militant purposes.
+
+[235] By Henry Lytton Bulwer, M.P., in a letter to the Handloom weavers
+when they petitioned for the creation of gilds of trade.
+
+[236] Foxwell, _Irregularity of Employment_, p. 72.
+
+[237] "There is of late a partial revival of good workmanship in many
+trades ... but it will require years of toil to recover our lost ground in
+the markets of the world." G. Howell, _Conflicts of Capital_ etc., p. 225.
+Prof. Foxwell points out that "the master cutlers of Sheffield have done
+something in [the] direction lately of exposing and punishing
+falsification" etc., _Irregularity of Employment_ etc., p. 80 and note. Mr
+E. J. Poynter notices that "the firm of which Mr William Morris is the
+head, of which indeed he is the sole member, started the idea, now well
+understood, that the only possible means of producing work which shall be
+satisfactory from every side is to return to the principles on which all
+works of art and art-manufacture were executed, not only in the Middle
+Ages, but at all epochs up to the beginning of this century." _Ten
+Lectures on Art_, p. 274.
+
+[238] This paper was written for the Shropshire Archæological and Natural
+History Society, and was printed in substance in their _Transactions_, 2nd
+Series, Vol. III., Part ii., p. 253.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_.
+
+Superscripted characters are indicated by {superscript}.
+
+The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version these
+letters have been replaced with transliterations.
+
+Footnote 118 appears on page 67 of the text, but there is no corresponding
+marker on the page.
+
+The original text includes an intentional blank space. This is represented
+by ________ in this text version.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Influence and Development of
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Influence and Development of English
+Gilds, by Francis Aiden Hibbert
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Influence and Development of English Gilds
+       As Illustrated by the History of the Craft Gilds of Shrewsbury
+
+Author: Francis Aiden Hibbert
+
+Release Date: March 3, 2012 [EBook #39030]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INFLUENCE AND ***
+
+
+
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+
+
+
+
+
+<h1><small>THE<br />
+INFLUENCE AND DEVELOPMENT<br />
+OF<br />
+ENGLISH GILDS.</small></h1>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">London: C. J. CLAY <span class="smcaplc">AND</span> SONS,<br />
+CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE,<br />
+AVE MARIA LANE.<br />
+<br />
+CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL, AND CO.<br />
+LEIPZIG: F. A. BROCKHAUS.<br />
+NEW YORK: MACMILLAN AND CO.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><strong>Cambridge Historical Essays. No. V.</strong></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">THE<br />
+<span class="huge">INFLUENCE AND DEVELOPMENT</span><br />
+OF<br />
+<span class="huge">ENGLISH GILDS:</span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE HISTORY OF<br />
+THE CRAFT GILDS OF SHREWSBURY.</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><small>BY</small><br />
+FRANCIS AIDAN HIBBERT, B.A.,<br />
+<small>OF ST JOHN&#8217;S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; ASSISTANT MASTER IN DENSTONE COLLEGE.</small></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><i>THIRLWALL DISSERTATION</i>, 1891.</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">Cambridge:<br />
+AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.<br />
+1891<br />
+[<i>All Rights reserved.</i>]</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">Cambridge:<br />
+PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. AND SONS,<br />
+AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><i>TO<br />
+THE REV. D. EDWARDES, M.A.,<br />
+HEAD MASTER OF DENSTONE,<br />
+IN REMEMBRANCE OF MUCH KINDNESS<br />
+AND ENCOURAGEMENT.</i></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p>
+<h2>PREFACE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I should explain that, in the present Essay, I have restricted myself to
+associations which had for their object the regulation of trade. Frith
+Gilds and Religious or Social Gilds have received only passing notice.</p>
+
+<p>The Merchant Gild is too wide a subject to be treated in an Essay such as
+this. Moreover the records of the Shrewsbury Merchant Gild are too meagre
+to afford much information, and I would therefore have gladly passed over
+the whole question in silence but that without some notice of it the Essay
+would have seemed incomplete.</p>
+
+<p>My attention has thus been concentrated on the Craft Gilds, and on the
+later companies which arose out of these.</p>
+
+<p>It is greatly to be regretted that we have no work on Gilds which deals
+with the subject from an English point of view, and traces the development
+of these pre-eminently English institutions according to its progress on
+English soil.</p>
+
+<p>The value of Dr Brentano&#8217;s extremely able Essay<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span> is very largely
+diminished, for Englishmen, not only because he is continually attempting
+to trace undue analogies between the Gilds and Trades Unions, but still
+more because he has failed to appreciate the spirit which animated English
+Merchants and Craftsmen in their relations with one another, and so has
+missed the line of Gild development in England. If he had not confined his
+attention, so far as English Gilds are concerned, solely to the London
+Companies he could hardly have failed to discover his mistake.</p>
+
+<p>Something has been done to set the facts of the case in a clearer light by
+Dr Cunningham briefly in his <i>Growth of English Industry and Commerce</i><a name='fna_1' id='fna_1' href='#f_1'><small>[1]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>But it is to be feared that Mr J. R. Green&#8217;s <i>History</i> is so deservedly
+popular, and Mr George Howell&#8217;s <i>Conflicts of Capital and Labour</i> is so
+otherwise reliable, that views differing from those which these writers
+set forward&mdash;following Dr Brentano as it appears&mdash;stand little chance of
+being generally known.</p>
+
+<p>Great as is the weight which must attach to such important authorities, I
+have endeavoured&mdash;by looking at the facts in my materials from an
+independent standpoint&mdash;to avoid being unduly influenced by their
+conclusions, or by a desire to find analogies where none exist.</p>
+
+<p>The materials from which I have worked call for but little description.
+They are simply the records of the Shrewsbury Gilds&mdash;either in their
+original form as preserved in the town Museum and Library,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> or as printed
+in the Shropshire Arch&aelig;ological Society&#8217;s <i>Transactions</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Though my view has been thus confined it has been kept purposely so.
+English local history is its own best interpreter, and although in some
+instances the documents have required illustrating and supplementing from
+extraneous sources, these occasions have been few. At the same time I have
+not omitted to notice how the effects of national events were felt in
+provincial changes, and I have especially striven to point out how the
+Shrewsbury records bear upon the various theories which have been put
+forward respecting Gilds. Writing thus in a historical rather than an
+antiquarian spirit I have not considered it necessary to overburden the
+pages with needless footnotes referring repeatedly simply to the records
+of the Shrewsbury Gilds.</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>October, 1890.</i></span></p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>&mdash;<i>The Gild Merchant</i>, by Charles Gross, Ph.D. (Oxford, Clarendon
+Press, 1890), appeared after the above had been written and the Essay sent
+in. I have since had the advantage of reading it. The general conclusions
+at which the writer arrives are so similar to those I had already formed,
+that I have not found it necessary to alter what I had written. I have
+however to some extent made use of the material he has brought together in
+Vol. II., chiefly by way of strengthening the authorities in the footnotes
+to which reference is made in the text.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span></p>
+<h2>EXTRACT FROM THE REGULATIONS FOR THE THIRLWALL PRIZE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>&#8220;There shall be established in the University a prize, called the
+&#8216;Thirlwall Prize,&#8217; to be awarded for dissertations involving original
+historical research.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;The prize shall be open to members of the University who, at the time
+when their dissertations are sent in, have been admitted to a degree, and
+are of not more than four years&#8217; standing from admission to their first
+degree.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Those dissertations which the adjudicators declare to be deserving of
+publication shall be published by the University singly or in combination,
+in an uniform series, at the expense of the fund, under such conditions as
+the Syndics of the University Press shall from time to time determine.&#8221;</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span></p>
+<p class="title">CONTENTS.</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table">
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right"><small>PAGES</small></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Introductory</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1-6</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>The Merchant Gild</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_7">7-29</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent">Note 1. Chronological Table of Merchant Gilds</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_24">24-28</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent">Note 2. List of Trades and Professions</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_28">28-29</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Craft Gilds</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_30">30-54</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent">Note 1. Indenture of Apprenticeship (1414)</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_52">52-53</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent">Note 2. Oath of Freemen</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_53">53-54</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>The Early History of the Gilds</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_55">55-76</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Reconstruction of the Gild System</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_77">77-97</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>The Degeneracy of the Companies</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_98">98-112</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>Shrewsbury Show</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_113">113-127</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>The End of the Companies</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_128">128-144</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Appendix I. Non-Gildated Tradesmen</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_145">145-156</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Appendix II. Authorities cited</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_157">157-159</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Index</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_160">160-168</a></td></tr></table>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p class="title">NOTE.</p>
+
+<p class="center">On page 26 Liverpool should be inserted. The charter was granted in 1229, by the king.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+<p class="title">INTRODUCTORY.</p>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Local life in England always varied.</i></div>
+
+<p>In these days of convenience and easy transit, when distance has been
+annihilated by the telegraph wire and the express train, we can hardly
+realise, even with an effort, the extent to which such changes have
+revolutionised the social life of Englishmen. Of local sentiment there can
+be now but little, yet local sentiment has played a greater part in our
+history than perhaps any other motive. The England of to-day is little
+more than a great suburb of its capital. Yet it is a peculiar feature of
+the England of the past that its local life was always singularly varied,
+not only in the Middle Ages but down to quite recent times. Indeed the
+characteristic is still more than traceable in some of our less busy
+districts.</p>
+
+<p>In the past, too, some parts possessed the feature in a more marked degree
+than others. We should naturally expect that few towns would have a
+stronger infusion of local feeling than Shrewsbury. Through all its
+history it has indeed been marked by strong individuality.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Early growth of Shrewsbury.</i></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>Situated in the midst of the Marches of Wales, the centre round which long
+waged the struggle for the fair lands westward of the Severn, its strong
+walls and insular position soon gave it a marked commercial superiority
+over the surrounding country. In consequence we find Shrewsbury at an
+early date considerably more advanced than the unprotected land outside,
+which lay open to the ravages of the Welsh. This condition of affairs, the
+reverse of favourable for commercial advancement, continued to depress the
+neighbourhood after Edward the First&#8217;s conquest of the Principality, for
+the disorders of the Lords Marchers kept the Borders in a state of
+continual alarm, and prevented the inhabitants from settling down to any
+regular and profitable industry<a name='fna_2' id='fna_2' href='#f_2'><small>[2]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>Henry IV. on the death of Glendower effected the reconquest of Wales, and
+enacted severe laws against the inhabitants. The only result was, however,
+the organisation of robber bands whose definite object was to plunder and
+harass more completely their English neighbours. The evil became so
+intolerable that a special court had to be erected to remove it, and in
+1478 was formed the Court of the President and Marches of Wales.</p>
+
+<p>By dint of powers of summary jurisdiction over disturbers of the public
+peace, a diminution was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> effected in the disorders, and the border lands
+were able to participate in the increase of trade which was such a marked
+feature of the fourteenth century. In spite of the temporary shock given
+to industry by the Reformation, the district had, by the latter part of
+the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth, quite
+recovered from the Welsh ravages, and its prosperity at this time was very
+remarkable.</p>
+
+<p>The fertility of the district brought wealth to the market towns, and
+provided a wide area of comfortable purchasers for the products of their
+industries. The expansion of the Welsh cloth trade gave rise to a twofold
+struggle. There was firstly a strenuous effort of the border towns to keep
+it to themselves, and secondly a private quarrel as to which of them
+should engross the market. Shrewsbury eventually secured the monopoly
+after an arduous contest, and the importance of the town was thus
+considerably enhanced.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Its later prosperity.</i></div>
+
+<p>The internal history of its Gilds will show how peculiarly the state of
+Shrewsbury illustrates the period of quiet prosperity before the
+introduction of machinery broke in upon the comfortable life of provincial
+England.</p>
+
+<p>The county towns then possessed an importance of which they have since
+been shorn by various causes<a name='fna_3' id='fna_3' href='#f_3'><small>[3]</small></a>. Each was the capital of its district,
+filling the part of a distant metropolis to which neither the country
+gentleman nor the wealthy burgess could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> expect to go more than once or
+twice in a lifetime. Shrewsbury, in particular, was possessed of features
+which serve not only to make it especially typical of the social habits of
+the period, but which at the same time give it an interest exceptionally
+its own<a name='fna_4' id='fna_4' href='#f_4'><small>[4]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Its stationary condition in recent times.</i></div>
+
+<p>And when the introduction of machinery transformed the face of England to
+such a large extent, the changes which it brought to Shrewsbury were
+extremely slight. Local life was strong. The town was slow to accommodate
+itself to new conditions of industry. Its Gilds and companies maintained
+their vigour to the end. Their yearly pageant continued to our own day.
+The timbered houses which the substantial tradesmen built in the days of
+their prosperity are still, many of them, standing. The streets of the
+town have been only gradually altered and improved. They still follow the
+old lines, often inconvenient, but always interesting: they still are
+called by their old names, full of confusion to the stranger, full of
+significance to the student.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Importance of history of its Gilds.<br /><br />Their quiet development.<br /><br />Peculiarities.</i></div>
+
+<p>Shrewsbury, then, exhibits a character eminently its own, from whatever
+point we view its history. But it is a distinction of similarity rather
+than the prominence of singularity. The progress of the town has gone on
+quietly and calmly, seldom interrupted and never forced. The history of
+its Gilds must of necessity present similar features. It will be a record
+of silent development, often leaving few traces, yet not the less evident
+to careful observation.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>But it is also a history in studying which we must be particularly on our
+guard against being led astray by the analogy of similar institutions in
+other parts of England or on the Continent. The desire to arrive at, or to
+conform to, general conclusions often blinds writers to the fact to which
+we have already drawn attention, namely, that local life in England was
+always varied; that each town and district had its own strongly-marked
+peculiarities. Bearing this in mind, deviations&mdash;apparent or real&mdash;from
+the ordinary course of Gild history will cause us no surprise. The
+shearmen&#8217;s maypole quarrel<a name='fna_5' id='fna_5' href='#f_5'><small>[5]</small></a> with the bailiffs is almost the only trace
+of serious conflict at Shrewsbury between the municipal authorities<a name='fna_6' id='fna_6' href='#f_6'><small>[6]</small></a> and
+the companies until the seventeenth century. There are no signs of the
+rise of Yeomen Gilds<a name='fna_7' id='fna_7' href='#f_7'><small>[7]</small></a> in earlier or later years, though evidence in
+plenty is found of the complete disregard shown by the masters for the
+interests of the journeymen<a name='fna_8' id='fna_8' href='#f_8'><small>[8]</small></a>. On the other hand, so far from the Court
+of Assistants being a late creation we meet with it at Shrewsbury very
+early in Gild history.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Especial points of value.</i></div>
+
+<p>It will also be a record rich in illustrations of contemporary social
+life<a name='fna_9' id='fna_9' href='#f_9'><small>[9]</small></a>. The closeness of relationship between religion and the ordinary
+business pursuits of the medi&aelig;val burgess; the wide public<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> influence
+exercised by the Gilds in their earlier years, and the remarkable family
+feeling they maintained within the boundaries of the old towns even down
+to the time when the companies had become utterly demoralised, will be
+exemplified not less remarkably than the continuity of the Gild sentiment
+through the shocks of the Reformation period, through the economic changes
+of Elizabeth, and even (in some sort) through the Reforms of 1835.</p>
+
+<p>It is a history too which will help us to understand a problem of
+considerable difficulty. We shall not only see the degenerated societies
+of capitalists in full vigour down to the date of their enforced
+termination as trading companies, but we shall also be enabled to perceive
+how it was that they managed to retain their prejudicial and antiquated
+privileges to the very end of their existence.</p>
+
+<p>It is indeed in the light which their history throws on the conditions of
+provincial trade and the social customs of an ordinary provincial town
+during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that its special
+importance lies. The rapid progress which marked the commencement of that
+period, not less than the torpor and decay which characterised the
+corporate towns at its close will be found to be eminently exemplified in
+the history of the Shrewsbury Gilds.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+<p class="title">THE MERCHANT GILD.</p>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Universality of Gild feeling.</i></div>
+
+<p>Dr Brentano<a name='fna_10' id='fna_10' href='#f_10'><small>[10]</small></a> is particularly desirous to make it clear that he
+considers England &#8220;the birthplace of Gilds.&#8221; But it is scarcely necessary
+to point out that the conception of the Gild belongs to no particular age
+and to no particular country. Not to insist unduly on the universality of
+an institution from which some writers have derived the Gilds, and to
+which they certainly bear considerable resemblance, the family&mdash;common to
+humanity itself&mdash;we note that the Greeks had their &#7956;&#961;&#945;&#957;&#959;&#953;<a name='fna_11' id='fna_11' href='#f_11'><small>[11]</small></a> and
+their &#958;&#965;&#957;&#969;&#956;&#959;&#963;&#8055;&#945;&#953;<a name='fna_12' id='fna_12' href='#f_12'><small>[12]</small></a>, and the Romans their <i>collegia
+opificum</i><a name='fna_13' id='fna_13' href='#f_13'><small>[13]</small></a>, each exhibiting not a
+few of the features<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> of the medi&aelig;val
+Gilds. <i>Corps des m&eacute;tiers</i> existed in France in very early times, perhaps
+in direct continuation of the Roman institutions, and played a great part
+in the beginnings of many towns<a name='fna_14' id='fna_14' href='#f_14'><small>[14]</small></a>. So early as to be anterior to the
+earliest known Frith Gilds, that is to say in the latter half of the
+seventh century, a regularly organised system of confederation existed
+among the Anglo-Saxon monasteries throughout England, according to the
+rules of which the united Abbeys and Religious Houses undertook to pray
+for the members, living and departed, of one another<a name='fna_15' id='fna_15' href='#f_15'><small>[15]</small></a>:</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>English and Continental Gilds.</i></div>
+
+<p>Each of these associations, so various in date and object, bore great
+resemblance to the Gilds of later times, according as the latter are
+considered in the light of some one or other of their functions: now it is
+the common feast, now it is the possession of corporate property, here it
+is the union of all the workmen of a craft into one sodality, there it is
+the association of neighbours for mutual responsibility and protection;
+now it is the confraternity &#8220;in omni<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> obsequio religionis.&#8221; Such a
+tendency to association is simply the result of man&#8217;s gregarious nature,
+and there is no need to restrict what is found alike in all peoples and
+all periods. But it is none the less true that the tendency has been more
+strongly marked in England than elsewhere. The earliest Gild Statutes
+which have come down to us are English<a name='fna_16' id='fna_16' href='#f_16'><small>[16]</small></a>, and the development of Gilds
+in England proceeded according to its normal course without being diverted
+and confused by external and disturbing circumstances. The real history of
+Gilds will thus be the history of <i>English</i> Gilds, not of those of the
+Continent, whose records detail rather a bitter struggle between rival
+classes in the towns<a name='fna_17' id='fna_17' href='#f_17'><small>[17]</small></a>. If the constitutional importance of the Gilds
+was thus greater on the Continent than it was in England<a name='fna_18' id='fna_18' href='#f_18'><small>[18]</small></a>, this was
+because <i>there</i> a social institution was dragged out of its proper sphere
+of action, and in the arena of politics was shorn of the most attractive
+of its features.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Value of history of local Gilds.</i></div>
+
+<p>In these pages we shall be concerned solely with examples drawn from the
+history of our own country. Where necessary reference will be made to the
+institutions of other towns, but in general our attention will be
+concentrated on one provincial borough only&mdash;a town, as we have seen, well
+calculated to illustrate the social life of England in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> the past. It is
+only by working out the several departments of local municipal history
+that anything like a complete view of the subject can be ultimately
+obtained<a name='fna_19' id='fna_19' href='#f_19'><small>[19]</small></a>. In the following chapters an attempt will be made to
+contribute something towards such a consummation.</p>
+
+<p>The records of the later Craft Gilds at Shrewsbury are entirely
+satisfactory, but unfortunately those of the Merchant Gild are of the most
+meagre description. They throw but little light therefore on its functions
+or history, and still less on the interesting question as to the precise
+nature of the relationship which existed between the Gilda Mercatoria and
+the Communa. Our attention will consequently be chiefly directed to an
+examination of the history and development of the <i>Craft Gilds</i>. A few
+remarks, more or less general in their scope, on the Merchant Gild seem
+however to be called for, in anticipation of the history of the later
+trade associations.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Growth of towns in twelfth century.</i></div>
+
+<p>In England, as elsewhere, the growth of the towns was one of the most
+marked features of the twelfth century. This was due to various causes.
+William&#8217;s conquest had opened up increased facilities for communication
+with the Continent: the Norman soldiers brought skilled Norman traders in
+their train, and so war ministered to commerce just as subsequently the
+Crusades were largely helpful to the growth of trade and the progress of
+the towns. The vigorous administration of Henry I. and Henry II. had also
+facilitated the expansion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> of industry. Henry I. favoured the rising towns
+both because of their commercial utility and in order to make use of their
+counterbalancing influence against the power of the Barons. Shrewsbury he
+took into his own hands, having enforced the surrender of the town from
+the rebellious Robert de Belesme. The amendment of the currency and the
+organisation of the Courts of King&#8217;s Bench and Exchequer were also as
+favourable to material prosperity as were the legal reforms of Henry II.
+afterwards. The circuits of the Justices Itinerant were restored, and
+appeals to the king in Council were established. A further weakening of
+baronial power was also effected by the destruction of the castles which
+the lawlessness of Stephen&#8217;s tenure of the sovereignty had permitted;
+while the introduction of scutage made the king in some measure
+independent of the feudal forces by enabling him to call in the support of
+mercenary troops. On the other hand the Assize of Arms restored the
+national militia to its old important place.</p>
+
+<p>Shrewsbury had seemed to be depressed by the conquest. The town had been
+granted, in the first instance, to Roger de Montgomery, whose two great
+works, his castle and his abbey, yet remain. Both the earl and his works
+were at first the cause of complaint. In Domesday Book it is pointed out
+that Montgomery had destroyed 51 houses to make room for his castle; to
+the abbey he had granted 39 burgesses; 43 houses in the town were held by
+Normans and exempted from taxation. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>Consequently, as the same sum was
+required from the town as had been paid <i>tempore regis Edwardi</i>, the
+burden fell with undue hardship on the English inhabitants who remained.</p>
+
+<p>But the ultimate result of both castle and monastery was beneficial to the
+town. The latter attracted trade and the former protected it<a name='fna_20' id='fna_20' href='#f_20'><small>[20]</small></a>, and
+Shrewsbury early became a commercial centre of some importance.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>They differed little from country, except in possession of a
+Merchant Gild to preserve peace.<br /><br />A.-S. Frith Gilds.<br /><br />Trade regulations.<br /><br />Royal authorisation: earliest mention.</i></div>
+
+<p>The towns at this period differed but little from the country. They both
+engaged in agriculture as well as trade; they were alike governed by a
+royal officer, or by some lord&#8217;s steward. In the towns the houses were of
+course more closely clustered, and a further difference arose afterwards
+in the fact that a freeman in the town, when admitted to the Gild, might
+be landless<a name='fna_21' id='fna_21' href='#f_21'><small>[21]</small></a>. The chief distinction indeed between town and country lay
+in the fact that the former had a Merchant Gild.</p>
+
+<p>The origin of such commercial unions is lost in the dimness of antiquity.
+Even in Anglo-Saxon times Dover had its Gildhall, and Canterbury and
+London are said to have been also possessed of trading associations. They
+came into being at first probably to preserve peace. At the date of the
+Conquest the right of jurisdiction almost invariably belonged to whoever
+held the town, but we cannot conceive that Roger Montgomery&#8217;s successors
+would be likely to concern themselves overmuch with internal police. As a
+fact it would rest with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> burghers themselves to protect their goods
+and persons from mishap.</p>
+
+<p>Frith Gilds, with much the same objects, had been common anterior to the
+Conquest<a name='fna_22' id='fna_22' href='#f_22'><small>[22]</small></a>. In most places where there was a market it was essential
+that some recognised authority should be in existence to keep the peace,
+as well as to be witness to sales<a name='fna_23' id='fna_23' href='#f_23'><small>[23]</small></a>. The &#8220;laws of the city of London&#8221;
+were apparently drawn up with the express design of supplementing
+defective law<a name='fna_24' id='fna_24' href='#f_24'><small>[24]</small></a>. They exhibit to us a complete authority for the
+supervision of trade, corresponding to the later Merchant Gild in nearly
+every particular: there is the common stock, the head man, the periodical
+meetings at which &#8220;byt-fylling&#8221; plays its usual important part<a name='fna_25' id='fna_25' href='#f_25'><small>[25]</small></a>. The
+&#8220;ordinance which King Ethelred and his Witan ordained as &#8216;frith-bot&#8217; for
+the whole nation&#8221; imposed the duty of pursuing offenders on the town to
+which they belonged<a name='fna_26' id='fna_26' href='#f_26'><small>[26]</small></a>. There was thus evidently some organisation within
+the boundaries of the town, and as the chief of the burgesses forming this
+organisation were also the chief merchants (since trade was the
+<i>raison-d&#8217;&ecirc;tre</i> of the towns) it soon began naturally to frame commercial
+regulations<a name='fna_27' id='fna_27' href='#f_27'><small>[27]</small></a>. So the Town Gild became, when, after the Norman Conquest,
+trade had assumed important dimensions, the Gilda Mercatoria<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> with
+exclusive powers and privileges by royal charter. The earliest
+unmistakable mention of a Merchant Gild is at the end of the eleventh or
+the beginning of the twelfth century<a name='fna_28' id='fna_28' href='#f_28'><small>[28]</small></a>. Under Henry I. grants of
+Merchant Gilds appear in one or two of the charters granted to towns<a name='fna_29' id='fna_29' href='#f_29'><small>[29]</small></a>,
+and under Henry II., Richard and John they become more frequent<a name='fna_30' id='fna_30' href='#f_30'><small>[30]</small></a>.
+Shrewsbury was one of the few which had the Merchant Gild confirmed as
+early as the reign of Henry II.<a name='fna_31' id='fna_31' href='#f_31'><small>[31]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>By these charters what had originally been a voluntary association now
+became an exclusive body to which trade was restricted.</p>
+
+<p>Important as were the advantages gained by the procuring of such royal
+authorisation, these charters only set the seal to what had existed in
+effect before. The landed and mercantile interests were practically
+identical within the towns: the great merchants were also the great
+landowners; the Gilda Mercatoria could thus frame regulations which it
+would be extremely difficult for any trader to disregard<a name='fna_32' id='fna_32' href='#f_32'><small>[32]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Functions.</i></div>
+
+<p>Besides, the benefits which resulted from common trading would be too
+obvious for any individual who could procure entrance into the Gild to
+abstain from doing so. It was far more to the common interest that one
+representative should buy for all and then divide the purchase equitably
+than that each should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> compete with each and so minister simply to the
+profit of the seller.</p>
+
+<p>There are several examples of such combined purchasing by a royal or
+municipal officer in towns where there was no Merchant Gild<a name='fna_33' id='fna_33' href='#f_33'><small>[33]</small></a>. It was
+however generally effected by means of the latter, the granting of which
+meant the according of permission to the members to settle for themselves
+their custom in buying and selling.</p>
+
+<p>The retail trade within the town was restricted to their own members
+individually, and the wholesale trade coming <i>to</i> the town was reserved to
+themselves collectively. Members of the Merchant Gild alone might sell
+within the walls, and traders coming from without might sell only to the
+Merchant Gild.</p>
+
+<p>There was no danger then as there would be now of such a practice driving
+all trade away from the town, for the restrictions in force at one place
+would be paralleled almost exactly in every other. At the periodical fairs
+alone did free trade prevail.</p>
+
+<p>But the exclusive privileges might be exceedingly harmful if the main body
+of householders were not members of the Merchant Gild. It was then the
+fact that the restricted trading was not &#8220;to the advantage of the
+community of the borough but only to the advantage of those who are of the
+said society<a name='fna_34' id='fna_34' href='#f_34'><small>[34]</small></a>.&#8221; When however the great majority of the householders
+were members of the trading corporation the arrangement would work well
+and beneficially for the whole town.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>All Burgesses are Gildsmen.</i></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>The effect of the granting of royal authorisation was, therefore, to
+finally draw all burgesses into the Gild, for all townsmen of any
+importance were traders. The records of the Shrewsbury Merchant Gild,
+though of the scantiest description, are sufficient to show how
+comprehensive was its range. All branches of trade were, at least down to
+the time of Edward I., represented in it<a name='fna_35' id='fna_35' href='#f_35'><small>[35]</small></a>; it comprised every rank and
+degree, proportioning its fines and payments accordingly. The progress of
+the fusion of races is shown by the lists of names, which are both Saxon
+and Norman in indiscriminate order.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Duties of Gildsmen.<br /><br />Tendency to amalgamation of Gild and Communa.</i></div>
+
+<p>So closely indeed did the practical boundaries of Gild and town coincide
+that in many places the former seemed to become the Communa, when the
+kings began to grant charters of incorporation. Richard I. can even say
+that all the privileges of his charter are granted &#8220;<i>civibus nostris
+Wintoni&aelig; de gilda mercatorum</i><a name='fna_36' id='fna_36' href='#f_36'><small>[36]</small></a>,&#8221; seeming to imply that at Winchester at
+least there were no citizens extraneous to the Merchant Gild. The villain
+flying from his lord could only be admitted to freedom through the
+machinery of the Merchant Gild. The Merchant Gild was ready to the hand of
+the burgesses as a centre, and the only centre, round which to rally when
+engaged in defending their liberties or in procuring fresh privileges. On
+the other hand the existence of such a secure and wealthy body, which
+would be at all times able to ensure payment of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> the <i>firma burgi</i>, and
+the frequent royal assessments which were laid upon the towns, would be an
+additional inducement to the kings in granting the charters of liberties.
+Glanvill, in the time of Henry II., doubtless already looked on the
+Merchant Gild and the Communa as, for all practical purposes,
+identical<a name='fna_37' id='fna_37' href='#f_37'><small>[37]</small></a>, from which the inference seems to lie that the possession
+of such a gild had thus early come to be looked upon as the sign and
+symbol of municipal independence. It is true that a town <i>might</i> become a
+free borough without possessing a Merchant Gild, but this would be an
+exception to the general rule. It would be similar to the case of a free
+borough not holding the <i>firma burgi</i>: such a contingency was possible but
+unusual. To the mind of the lawyer therefore the possession of a Merchant
+Gild seemed the necessary precursor of a royal charter of privileges. And
+in practice this was found to be, speaking generally, the case.</p>
+
+<p>This apparent identity of Burgesses and Gildsmen would find palpable
+expression in the fact of the Gild Hall becoming the Town Hall. This
+naturally did not take place to any considerable extent before the 14th
+century, though during that period it became fairly common. It may have
+been that the Merchant Gild permitted the use of its Hall for public
+purposes, at first only occasionally and then more and more frequently
+until at length what had been exceptional became normal (either through
+precedent or purchase<a name='fna_38' id='fna_38' href='#f_38'><small>[38]</small></a>); certain it is that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> the two names of Gild Hall
+and Town Hall became practically synonymous in about the 14th and 15th
+centuries. This had been foreshadowed at an early date. Domesday Book
+spoke of the &#8220;gihalla Burgensium<a name='fna_39' id='fna_39' href='#f_39'><small>[39]</small></a>&#8221; at Dover.</p>
+
+<p>At Shrewsbury, in a charter of 1445, the Town Hall is called, as it is at
+this day, the Gildhall.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>But all Gildsmen not Burgesses.</i></div>
+
+<p>But the <i>ideas</i> of Gild-members and townsmen were long kept separate.
+Burgess-ship depended on residence<a name='fna_40' id='fna_40' href='#f_40'><small>[40]</small></a> and the possession of a
+burgage-tenement, but not so membership of the Merchant Gild, which often
+comprised among its numbers many outsiders<a name='fna_41' id='fna_41' href='#f_41'><small>[41]</small></a>. In this way the two bodies
+were clearly distinguished. At Ipswich it was ordered in John&#8217;s
+charter<a name='fna_42' id='fna_42' href='#f_42'><small>[42]</small></a> that the statutes of the town were to be kept distinct from
+those of the Gild &#8220;as is elsewhere used in cities and boroughs where there
+is a Gild Merchant,&#8221; for the latter would probably consist of both &#8220;de
+hominibus civitatis&#8221; and also &#8220;de aliis mercatoribus comitatus<a name='fna_43' id='fna_43' href='#f_43'><small>[43]</small></a>.&#8221;
+Ecclesiastics<a name='fna_44' id='fna_44' href='#f_44'><small>[44]</small></a> and women might also be members of the Gild, but of
+course could not be burgesses. Such members had, in some towns, to pay
+additional fees<a name='fna_45' id='fna_45' href='#f_45'><small>[45]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Distinction between Gild and Communa preserved in Charters,
+but not in practice.</i></div>
+
+<p>The charters were always granted to the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>&#8220;Burgesses,&#8221; without reference to
+their capacity as Gild-members, except in the cases where the privileges
+granted were such as would only concern members of the Gild. It was the
+&#8220;burgesses&#8221; who purchased the <i>firma burgi</i> and who paid such goodly sums
+for trading and other privileges. But in making up these payments they
+were glad to avail themselves of the assistance of the non-burgess
+merchants, not the least of whose recommendations seemed doubtless to lie
+in the share they were willing to bear in contributing to the periodical
+tallages and similar royal charges. They were indeed as a document
+expresses it most serviceable when it was requisite &#8220;<i>defectus burgi
+adimplere</i><a name='fna_46' id='fna_46' href='#f_46'><small>[46]</small></a>.&#8221; Although in name it was the burgesses who paid the money
+and who purchased the <i>firma burgi</i>, it was in fact the Merchant Gild
+which bore the largest part.</p>
+
+<p>In another way also the &#8220;foreigners&#8221; who were members of the Merchant Gild
+were useful to the burgess-members of it.</p>
+
+<p>During earlier years all the Craftsmen who so desired, and could afford
+the necessary payments, were admitted into the Gild of Merchants. The
+designation &#8216;merchant&#8217; was then extended to all who engaged in trade. But
+as the Gilda Mercatoria became in practice more and more identical with
+the Communa the idea seems to have grown up that landless men, renters of
+their shops within the towns, should not be admitted to the Gild.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Gild seems to become Communa.</i></div>
+
+<p>For in this period, that is during the 14th and 15th centuries, the old
+democratic government of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> the towns was giving place to a close governing
+council<a name='fna_47' id='fna_47' href='#f_47'><small>[47]</small></a>. This was in no sense the Merchant Gild, though probably all
+the members of the select body would be members of the Gild<a name='fna_48' id='fna_48' href='#f_48'><small>[48]</small></a>. Being
+also the most important of its members they would be able to use its
+influence for their own ends, and in these measures they would generally
+have on their side the majority of the &#8220;foreigners,&#8221; who would not know or
+care much about the internal concerns of the town. Thus it came about that
+having secured important trading privileges the influence of the Merchant
+Gild was chiefly directed, though by a small coterie of its members,
+towards municipal rather than mercantile objects.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Rise of Craft Gilds favoured by Merchant Gild and Communa.<br /><br />
+This favour natural under the circumstances and proved by the Charters.<br /><br />Summary.</i></div>
+
+<p>These latter it left to be dealt with by the new companies into which the
+craftsmen were beginning to amalgamate. In this action they were helped
+and encouraged by the Merchant Gild, or as it now was in practice, the
+municipal authority. It is a mistake to speak of the rise of the Craft
+Gilds in England as a movement bitterly hostile to the Merchant Gilds and
+therefore strenuously opposed by the latter. The reverse was the fact. The
+increased complexity of the task of regulating trade, as division of
+labour developed and commerce expanded its bounds, became difficult, and
+the central<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> body was for this additional reason glad to depute its powers
+to, and to exercise its functions through, smaller and specialised
+agencies. The charters of the Craft Gilds too contain no articles which
+would stand the members in stead in a conflict with a higher power,
+whereas if these charters had been the hardly-won prize of a severely
+contested struggle they would assuredly have contained some bitter
+articles in consequence of the past and in preparation for the future. We
+shall however examine the rise and history of the Craft Gilds in the
+subsequent chapters.</p>
+
+<p>The substance of the foregoing paragraphs may be briefly summarised thus.</p>
+
+<p>The most noticeable feature in the Economic history of England during the
+years immediately succeeding the Norman Conquest was the growth of the
+towns. They differed however but little from the country districts in
+government except in the particular that they possessed a Merchant Gild.</p>
+
+<p>These trading corporations are first unmistakeably perceived soon after
+the Conquest, originating probably in the need which arose, as the towns
+increased in wealth and importance, for the existence of some authority to
+preserve peace within their borders, as without peace and order trade
+could not prosper.</p>
+
+<p>Such an union for securing internal peace, consisting as it did of the
+principal persons interested, easily went on to enact commercial
+regulations. These were, on the one hand, the reserving to its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> own body
+the privilege of purchasing the stock of the foreign merchant, and, on the
+other, restricting the right of selling within the town to its own
+members. Royal authorisation set the seal to this practice. When the kings
+began to give charters to the towns, the legal recognition of their
+Merchant Gild was one of the chief of the privileges desired by the
+townsmen.</p>
+
+<p>This restricted trading was not prejudicial to the town because
+practically all the burgesses were members of the Gild. If they all were
+not Gildsmen <i>before</i> the royal authorisation they would be likely to
+become so afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>But all Gildsmen were not burgesses. The latter <i>must</i> be residents: the
+former frequently included outsiders among their number.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless as the years went by, the Gild seemed to become the Communa,
+even as the Gild Hall became the Town Hall. Various reasons conduced to
+this. There were practically no burgesses extraneous to the Merchant Gild,
+though there were often Gildsmen who were not burgesses. The Merchant Gild
+was the only machinery for freeing the fugitive villain after a year and a
+day&#8217;s residence in the town. It also afforded the best, and as a fact the
+only, centre round which the burgesses could rally in the defence of their
+old privileges or in the struggle for fresh ones. Its wealth and stability
+were also an additional inducement to the kings in granting to the towns
+their <i>firma burgi</i>. In theory the Gilda Mercatoria might be kept distinct
+from the Communa, but in practice the two bodies were found<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> to be
+identical. But the later Communa did not take cognisance of trade affairs
+except indirectly through the Craft Gilds which the increasing complexity
+of trade was calling into being. Many of the members of these latter
+bodies were members of the Merchant Gild, and to them were added large
+numbers of the lesser craftsmen. The Craft Gilds specialized the work of
+the Merchant Gild, which gradually ceased to discharge any important
+office as a collective whole, though through the many branches into which
+it had ramified its influence continued to be of the greatest importance
+to the welfare of town and trade.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center">NOTE 1.</p>
+
+<p class="center">LIST OF MERCHANT GILDS.</p>
+
+<p>The following is an attempt to construct a table of grants of the Merchant
+Gild (down to 1485), in chronological order, and showing also, where
+possible, by whom the grant was made.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately the list is in several cases only approximately correct, as
+the document from which I have obtained my date shows that the Merchant
+Gild has evidently been granted at some previous time. In all cases
+however the earliest known mention of the Gild is given.</p>
+
+<p>In compiling this table I should acknowledge my plentiful use of the
+materials recently made available in <i>The Gild Merchant</i>, by Charles Gross
+(Oxford, 1890).</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="table">
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>William II. and Henry I.</i> (1087-1135)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Burford 1087-1107</td>
+    <td><span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span></td>
+    <td>Earl of Gloucester</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Canterbury 1093-1109</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>Henry I.</i> (1100-35)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Wilton 1100-35</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Leicester 1107-18</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Robert, Earl of Mellent</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Beverley 1119-35</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Abp Thurstan of York</td></tr>
+<tr><td>York 1130-31</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>Stephen</i> (1135-54)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Chichester</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Lewes</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Reginald de Warrenne</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>Stephen and Henry II.</i> (1135-89)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Petersfield</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>Henry II.</i> (1154-89)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Carlisle</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Durham</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Fordwich</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Lincoln</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Oxford</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Shrewsbury</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Southampton</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Wallingford</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Winchester</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Marlborough 1163</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Andover 1175-6</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Salisbury 1176</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Bristol 1188</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>John, Earl of Moreton</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>Richard I.</i> (1189-99)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1189</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Bedford</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Gloucester</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Nottingham</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>John, Earl of Moreton</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Bury S. Edmund&#8217;s 1198</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>John</i> (1199-1216)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Chester 1190-1211</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Earl of Chester</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Dunwich 1200</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Ipswich 1200</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Cambridge 1201</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Helston 1201</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Derby 1204</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Lynn Regis 1204</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Malmesbury 1205-22</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Yarmouth 1208</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Hereford 1215</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Bodmin 1216</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Totnes 1216</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Newcastle-on-Tyne 1216</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>Henry III.</i> (1216-1272)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Preston</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>Haverfordwest</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Portsmouth</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Worcester 1226-27</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Bridgenorth 1227</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Rochester 1227</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Montgomery 1227</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Hartlepool 1230</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Bp of Durham</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Dunheved (Launceston) 1231-72</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Richard, Earl of Cornwall</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Newcastle-under-Lyme 1235</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Liskeard 1239-40</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Richard, Earl of Cornwall</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Wigan 1246</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Sunderland 1247</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Cardigan 1249</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Reading 1253</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Scarborough 1253</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Guildford 1256</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Kingston-on-Thames 1256</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Boston ? 1260</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Macclesfield 1261</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Coventry 1267-68</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Lostwithiel 1269</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>Edward I.</i> (1272-1307)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Berwick</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Bridgwater</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Congleton</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Henry de Lacy</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Devizes</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Welshpool</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Griffith, Lord of Cyveiliog</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Aberystwith 1277</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Windsor 1277</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Builth 1278</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Rhuddlan 1278</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Lyme Regis 1284</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Caernarvon 1284</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Conway 1284</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Criccieth 1284</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Flint 1284</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Harlech 1284</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Altrincham 1290</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Hamon de Massy</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Caerswys 1290</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Overton 1291-2</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>Newport (Salop) 1292</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Chesterfield 1294</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>John Wake</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Kirkham 1295</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Beaumaris 1296</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Henley-on-Thames 1300</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>? Earl of Cornwall</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Barnstaple 1302</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Newborough 1303</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>Edward II.</i> (1307-1327)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Llanfyllin</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Ruyton 1308-9</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Earl of Arundel</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Wycombe 1316</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Bala 1324</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>Edward III.</i> (1327-1377)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Gainsborough</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Earl of Pembroke</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Bamborough 1332</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Grampound 1332</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Lampeter 1332</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Denbigh 1333</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Lancaster 1337</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Cardiff 1341</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Hugh le Despenser</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Nevin 1343-76</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Prince of Wales</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Llantrissaint 1346</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Hugh le Despenser</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Hedon 1348</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Hope 1351</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Prince of Wales</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Pwllheli 1355</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Prince of Wales</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Neath 1359</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Edward le Despenser</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Kenfig 1360</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Edward le Despenser</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Newton (S. Wales) 1363</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Prince of Wales</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>Richard II.</i> (1377-1399)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Axbridge</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Newport 1385</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>Earl of Stafford</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Oswestry 1398</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>Henry IV.</i> (1399-1413)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Saffron-Walden</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Cirencester 1403</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>Henry V.</i> (1413-1422)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>None</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>Henry VI.</i> (1422-1461)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Plymouth 1440</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Walsall 1440</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Weymouth 1442</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Woodstock 1453</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>Edward IV.</i> (1461-1483)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Ludlow 1461</td>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td>King</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Grantham 1462</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Stamford 1462</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Doncaster 1467</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Wenlock 1468</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="3" align="center"><i>Richard III.</i> (1483-1485)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Pontefract</td></tr></table>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">NOTE 2.</p>
+
+<p class="center">LIST OF TRADES, HANDICRAFTS AND PROFESSIONS COMPRISED IN THE<br />LISTS OF MEMBERS OF THE SHREWSBURY MERCHANT GILD.</p>
+
+<div class="note">
+<p>apotecarius, specer, spicer&mdash;apothecary</p>
+
+<p>aurifaber&mdash;goldsmith</p>
+
+<p>baker, bakere, pistor, pictor&mdash;baker</p>
+
+<p>barber, tonsor, tyncer&mdash;barber</p>
+
+<p>bercarius, tannator, tanner&mdash;tanner</p>
+
+<p>botman&mdash;corn-dealer</p>
+
+<p>brewer&mdash;brewer</p>
+
+<p>carnifex&mdash;butcher</p>
+
+<p>carpentarius, faber&mdash;carpenter</p>
+
+<p>carrere&mdash;carrier</p>
+
+<p>cementarius&mdash;? plasterer</p>
+
+<p>cissor, tailur, taylor, tayleur, parmentarius, parminter,
+parmonter&mdash;tailor</p>
+
+<p>clericus&mdash;clerk</p>
+
+<p>cocus&mdash;cook</p>
+
+<p>colier, coleyer&mdash;collier<a name='fna_49' id='fna_49' href='#f_49'><small>[49]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>comber&mdash;? wool-comber</p>
+
+<p>corvisarius, gorwicer, cordewaner, sutor&mdash;shoemaker</p>
+
+<p>coupere, hoppere (?)&mdash;cooper</p>
+
+<p>deyer&mdash;dyer</p>
+
+<p>forber&mdash;sword-cutler</p>
+
+<p>ganter, cirotecarius, glover&mdash;glover</p>
+
+<p>garnusur&mdash;garnisher</p>
+
+<p>grom&mdash;groom</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>gunir, gynur</p>
+
+<p>harpour&mdash;harper</p>
+
+<p>haukerus, hawkerus, hawker&mdash;hawker</p>
+
+<p>justice&mdash;judge</p>
+
+<p>leche&mdash;leech</p>
+
+<p>loxmith, locker, lok&mdash;locksmith</p>
+
+<p>mason&mdash;mason</p>
+
+<p>mercer&mdash;mercer, merchant or retailer of small wares</p>
+
+<p>molendarius&mdash;miller</p>
+
+<p>palmer&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>pannarius&mdash;draper, clothier</p>
+
+<p>petler, ? pelterer&mdash;seller of skins</p>
+
+<p>piscator&mdash;fisherman</p>
+
+<p>potter&mdash;potter</p>
+
+<p>prest, presbyter&mdash;priest</p>
+
+<p>sadeler&mdash;saddler</p>
+
+<p>scriptor&mdash;transcriber</p>
+
+<p>sherer, shearman&mdash;clothworker</p>
+
+<p>tabernarius, taverner&mdash;tavern-keeper</p>
+
+<p>teynterer&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>walker or waller&mdash;? builder</p>
+
+<p>webbe&mdash;weaver</p>
+
+<p>wodemon&mdash;woodman</p>
+
+<p>wolbyer&mdash;wool-buyer</p></div>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+<p class="title">THE CRAFT GILDS.</p>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Merchant Gild and the craftsmen.</i></div>
+
+<p>We have seen how the Merchant Gild consisted of all the traders whose
+business lay in the town. Such an association, though nominally open to
+all whether landowners or not who could afford to pay the requisite fees,
+was in essence oligarchical, and this feature became in course of time its
+most apparent characteristic. We saw, also, how there grew up a large
+class extraneous to the privileged Merchant Gild. This body of outsiders
+became continually larger and more important. The Welsh ravages in the
+exposed country would induce numbers to seek the friendly shelter of the
+town, which by this continuous infusion of fresh blood, found its trade
+become more and more flourishing, and consequently its attractions to
+&#8220;foreigners&#8221; more and more powerful. Each branch of industry was also
+incessantly receiving large accessions of strength in the shape of
+fugitive villains from the country-side, who, by residence during a year
+and a day were released from fear of a reclaim to serfdom. These new
+settlers, some of whom the advance of time found making considerable
+strides towards prosperity, seeing themselves shut out from the Town Gild
+both by the exclusive spirit of that body and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> by the fact that they
+themselves were not owners of land within the town<a name='fna_50' id='fna_50' href='#f_50'><small>[50]</small></a>, but (even in the
+case of the wealthiest of them) only renters of their shops, were
+naturally drawn, by the spirit of the times, towards amalgamation<a name='fna_51' id='fna_51' href='#f_51'><small>[51]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Tendencies to union among the latter: Religious,</i></div>
+
+<p>It was natural that men working at the same trade,&mdash;living probably in the
+same neighbourhood<a name='fna_52' id='fna_52' href='#f_52'><small>[52]</small></a>, and during intervals of rest exchanging gossip
+from adjacent door-steps,&mdash;meeting one another in all the actions of daily
+life and with thoughts and language running in similar grooves,&mdash;should
+also desire to be not separated in worship. Likewise, in time of trouble,
+when death brought gloom to the house of a fellow-workman, or when through
+accident or misfortune he failed to appear at his accustomed place in yard
+or workshop, it was by the ordinary promptings of nature that his brother
+craftsmen came to offer their sympathy and help. And so we find the men of
+the various trades forming themselves into fraternities, in order to pour
+united supplications for Divine assistance and to offer thanks in common
+for Divine favour<a name='fna_53' id='fna_53' href='#f_53'><small>[53]</small></a>. The Tailors<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> and Shoemakers had their chantries in
+St Chad&#8217;s Church, where the Weavers also had their especial altar,
+maintaining in addition a light before the shrine of St Winifred in the
+Abbey of the Holy Cross. The Drapers of the town early became drawn
+together in a religious brotherhood, the chapel of which in the collegiate
+church of Our Lady was the object of frequent and solicitous care when the
+fraternity of the Holy Trinity was definitively changed into the
+Worshipful Company of the Drapers. In the church of St Juliana the altar
+of the Shearmen stood in the north aisle, where a chaplain said their
+special mass for a yearly stipend of &pound;4<a name='fna_54' id='fna_54' href='#f_54'><small>[54]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>It was the pride of the Gilds to expend the best efforts of their wealth
+and skill on the embellishment and maintenance of their chapel upon which
+they were able to look as their own. Their worldly possessions at no one
+time reached a figure high enough for them to provide a large endowment
+for church or chantry, but the thankofferings of the years sufficed for
+all current expenses. The fixed stipend was small, but the fabric, raised
+and adorned as funds allowed, was commodious and beautiful<a name='fna_55' id='fna_55' href='#f_55'><small>[55]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>It was to this ever-present desire to consecrate some portion of the
+yearly profits of trade to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> honour of Him who had given the increase,
+that the annual pageant owed its pomp. The Corpus Christi procession was
+an occasion of especial prominence at Shrewsbury, where the Gild charters
+and records are full of minute regulations for its order.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Social,</i></div>
+
+<p>The associations of fellow workmen for the purposes of religion also took
+the form of clubs for mutual benefit and assistance. The Drapers were
+maintaining their school and schoolmaster in 1492<a name='fna_56' id='fna_56' href='#f_56'><small>[56]</small></a>; their almshouses
+were only rivalled by those of the Mercers. The maintenance of poor and
+decayed members was always one of the most prominent of the objects of
+association. Attendance at the last offices by the grave of a deceased
+brother, and remembrance of him in prayer, were likewise universal duties
+of brethren. Edward VI.&#8217;s confiscation of Gild property broke down in all
+the towns a great system of poor-relief which had hitherto freed the
+government of that most difficult problem. Nor did the Gilds wait until a
+brother was completely crushed before they came to his assistance.
+Fluctuations of trade then as now sometimes brought occasions of temporary
+embarrassment. But &#8220;the false and abominable contract of Usury ... which
+the more subtily to deceive the people they call &#8216;exchange&#8217; or
+&#8216;chevisance,&#8217; whereas it might more truly be called &#8216;mescheaunce,&#8217;&#8221; ...
+was rightly looked upon as unworthy of fellow-workers for the common good,
+&#8220;seeing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> that it ruins the honour and soul of the agent, and sweeps away
+the goods and property of him who appears to be accommodated, and destroys
+all manner of right and lawful traffick<a name='fna_57' id='fna_57' href='#f_57'><small>[57]</small></a>.&#8221; The common chest of the Gild
+was therefore at the service of the brethren<a name='fna_58' id='fna_58' href='#f_58'><small>[58]</small></a>, not, as in the days of
+degeneracy, to aid the capitalist in grinding down his workmen, but to
+keep the craftsman from the clutches of the usurer.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Commercial.</i></div>
+
+<p>Out of these religious fraternities and social clubs developed what we may
+more correctly term Craft Gilds; or to speak more strictly we should
+perhaps rather say that many of these societies began to add to their
+social and religious objects an additional one, namely trade
+regulation<a name='fna_59' id='fna_59' href='#f_59'><small>[59]</small></a>. They would be encouraged in this direction by the action
+of the Merchant Gild, or its successor the municipal authority, which, as
+the expansion of trade necessitated specialisation, was glad to depute its
+powers to such associations<a name='fna_60' id='fna_60' href='#f_60'><small>[60]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Early Craft Gilds.<br /><br />Effect of their growth on Merchant Gild.</i></div>
+
+<p>The earliest mention of Craft Gilds is in the reign of Henry I., when
+notice is found of the Weavers of London, Oxford, Winchester, Lincoln and
+Huntingdon, the Cordwainers of Oxford and the Fullers of Winchester<a name='fna_61' id='fna_61' href='#f_61'><small>[61]</small></a>.
+They became more common and more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> influential as the development of
+industry was fostered by the central government. This was especially the
+policy of Edward I. and Edward III. By the end of the 14th century the
+Craft Gilds become numerous. As they took over the duties and functions of
+the Merchant Gild the existence of the latter was rendered to a
+considerable extent superfluous, and the merging of the Gilda Mercatoria
+into the Communa became not only inevitable but convenient and natural.
+During the 14th and 15th centuries, when the Craft Gilds attained their
+highest power, the decay of the Merchant Gilds became very marked.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The later &#8220;Merchant Gild.&#8221;</i></div>
+
+<p>In some places where this happened the name of the Merchant Gild wholly
+disappeared. In others where the expression continued in use the
+institution changed its character and became simply a religious
+fraternity. In a few instances the select corporation alone inherited the
+name: in some the whole body of freemen did so. Again, there are examples
+of a survival of the expression as applied to the whole body of tradesmen,
+that is the whole of the members of the various Gilds<a name='fna_62' id='fna_62' href='#f_62'><small>[62]</small></a>. A Patent of
+Queen Elizabeth, dated 1586, thus alludes to the aggregate of unions under
+the collective name of &#8220;the Gild of Burgesses of Shrewsbury.&#8221; In the same
+way we read of &#8220;the several companies belonging to the guild merchant of
+Reading,&#8221; &#8220;the Guild of Merchants in Andever, which Guild is divided into
+three several Fellowships,&#8221; etc.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> Just as the Merchant Gild differentiated
+itself into Craft Gilds, the Craft Gilds afterwards again in the aggregate
+took the name and style of the Merchant Gild.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Identity of interests of Corporation and Gilds seen in Police
+regulations;</i></div>
+
+<p>If such additional proof were needed this action on their part might be
+adduced in support of the assertion, which cannot be too strongly
+emphasised or too often repeated, that in England there was no conflict
+between the Merchant Gild and the Craft Gilds. Though these latter
+associations had grown up in vindication, as it might seem, of the
+principle of free amalgamation in opposition to oligarchical
+exclusiveness, and although it was evident that as they increased the
+Merchant Gild must decline, yet there was at no time any idea of
+antagonism between the two kinds of authority within the town. On the
+contrary internal police was very materially assisted by the Gilds<a name='fna_63' id='fna_63' href='#f_63'><small>[63]</small></a>.
+They carried on the good work which the Merchant Gild had inaugurated. Not
+only were dissensions among combrethren to be brought before the Wardens
+and Stewards instead of forming the occasion of unseemly brawls and
+disturbances, but one of the objects for which the associations existed is
+expressly stated to be &#8220;for the weale, rest and tranquilitie of the same
+towne, and for good rule to be kept there<a name='fna_64' id='fna_64' href='#f_64'><small>[64]</small></a>.&#8221; With this object in view
+the composition of the Tailors and Skinners (1478) contains several
+articles which show how materially the officers of the Gild assisted the
+bailiffs of the town<a name='fna_65' id='fna_65' href='#f_65'><small>[65]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>evidenced by supervision of municipal authorities, (therefore supported by them;) shown by Charters,</i></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>The Gild officers, though freely elected by the combrethren took their
+oaths of office before the bailiffs of the town, who also secured, if
+necessary, the enforcement of the ordinances of the Gilds<a name='fna_66' id='fna_66' href='#f_66'><small>[66]</small></a>. The town
+authorities exercised, too, a general supervision: it seems to have been
+the rule for the compositions to be annually (or periodically) inspected;
+and for new regulations to be subject to municipal approval<a name='fna_67' id='fna_67' href='#f_67'><small>[67]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>One consequence of this authorisation by the town officials was that the
+latter ceased to take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> cognisance of trade affairs except indirectly
+through the Gilds; another was that the Gilds were supported by the town
+authorities. In order to carry out the rules of the Gilds it was
+imperative that all men of a trade should belong to the particular Gild of
+that craft. For there might come men carrying on trade in the town
+unwilling to submit to the rules framed for ensuring good work and
+protecting the interests of the craft. These it would be impossible to
+check until the Gild had been recognised and authorised by the crown or
+the corporation, and so had obtained power to enforce its ordinances in a
+legitimate way. It was in this manner that the necessity arose for
+obtaining a charter<a name='fna_68' id='fna_68' href='#f_68'><small>[68]</small></a>. The Fraternities, which in their earlier stages
+had existed as voluntary associations, now received authoritative
+recognition, by virtue of charters obtained from the king by the aid of
+the corporation. The composition of the Tailors and Skinners (1478) shows
+the company and the corporation in the closest connection; that of the
+Mercers, granted by Edward Prince of Wales, Son of Edward IV., in 1480-81,
+is countersigned by the bailiffs.</p>
+
+<p>The necessity for this authoritative recognition is clearly seen in the
+continually recurring ordinance calling upon all men of the craft to join
+the Gild. If the Gild had not been supported by royal and municipal
+authority it would have been impossible for it to have carried out its
+aims; as it was the task was sufficiently difficult.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>and Oaths.</i></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>The unity of interests of the Gilds and the corporation is further shown
+by the words of the oaths. The wardens&#8217; oath of the company of Glovers ran
+as follows.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&#8220;You shalbe true to our Sov&#8217;aigne lord King ... his heirs and
+successors and obedient to the Bailiffs of this town for the time
+being and their successors. And you shall well and truly execute and
+p&#8217;forme your office of Wardens of Glovers, Poynt-makers, pursers,
+ffelmongers, Lethersellers and pa&#8217;hment-makers for this yeare
+according to the true extent and meaning of your composition and of
+all and singular articles and agreements therein expressed and
+declared to the uttermost of your power. So helpe you God.&#8221;</p></div>
+
+<p>The oaths of the other officers, and of the Freemen, contained like
+promises<a name='fna_69' id='fna_69' href='#f_69'><small>[69]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Composition of Gilds.<br />Masters.<br />Apprentices.<br />Journeymen.<br />Women.</i></div>
+
+<p>In the composition of the Trade Gilds there was no attempt to erect a
+monopoly. All workers of the Craft except such as could make separate
+terms with the corporation<a name='fna_70' id='fna_70' href='#f_70'><small>[70]</small></a> were not only permitted to join the Gild,
+but were compelled to do so. The members included Apprentices and
+Journeymen as well as Masters<a name='fna_71' id='fna_71' href='#f_71'><small>[71]</small></a>. Women too were not debarred from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+joining<a name='fna_72' id='fna_72' href='#f_72'><small>[72]</small></a>, though they, like the Apprentices and Journeymen<a name='fna_73' id='fna_73' href='#f_73'><small>[73]</small></a>, took no
+part in the business of administration<a name='fna_74' id='fna_74' href='#f_74'><small>[74]</small></a>. The charter of the Drapers<a name='fna_75' id='fna_75' href='#f_75'><small>[75]</small></a>
+speaks of both brethren and sistren, and the list of members as given on
+the occasions of &#8220;cessments&#8221; shows women-members, both wives of
+combrethren, independent tradeswomen, and widows of deceased brothers.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Officers.</i></div>
+
+<p>In the election of their officers the English Gilds differed materially
+from similar associations on the continent. In England the choice appears
+to have been always unrestricted<a name='fna_76' id='fna_76' href='#f_76'><small>[76]</small></a>. Refusal to accept office when
+elected exposed the reluctant brother to a money fine. The oaths of the
+officers, as we have seen, contained declarations of loyalty to the crown
+and municipal authority, and in this way we may account for the absence of
+<i>Masters</i> among the officials of the Shrewsbury Gilds. The place of the
+Master seems to have been filled, in some sort at least, by the bailiffs
+of the town. At any rate none<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> of the many Gilds of Shrewsbury ever had a
+Master at the head of their officers.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Wardens</i> were uniformly two in number, freely elected by all the
+brethren from such as were &#8220;the most worthiest and discreetest and which
+will and best can<a name='fna_77' id='fna_77' href='#f_77'><small>[77]</small></a>.&#8221; That it was not altogether a needless precaution
+to order that the elected wardens should be members of the Gild appears
+from the later abuses which arose, wardens being sometimes chosen from
+without the number of the combrethren<a name='fna_78' id='fna_78' href='#f_78'><small>[78]</small></a>. The functions of these, the
+principal officers, were generally to carry into effect the objects of the
+Gild. To do this they possessed the right of search for inadequate
+materials or unsuitable tools, and a general supervision over workmen to
+secure competency. The composing of quarrels among combrethren was a
+prominent part of their duties.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Assistants.</i></div>
+
+<p>The Board of Assistants which exercised so harmful an influence over the
+companies in later days is found at Shrewsbury at an early date<a name='fna_79' id='fna_79' href='#f_79'><small>[79]</small></a>. The
+composition of the Tailors and Skinners, 1478 <span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span>, speaks of the &#8220;Fower
+men ordeigned to the said Wardens to be assistant in counsel in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> good
+counsel giving.&#8221; They reappear in 1563 as the Four Assistants &#8220;for
+advising them [the Wardens] in the Government of the Gild<a name='fna_80' id='fna_80' href='#f_80'><small>[80]</small></a>.&#8221; In this
+particular as in so many others the Gilds of Shrewsbury seem to have been
+distinguished by a greater desire to widen the area of the governing body
+than was the case with the great companies of London and elsewhere. For
+the language of some bye-laws of the corporation passed in 18 Edward IV.,
+seems to imply that the &#8220;Four Men&#8221; were common to all the companies. In
+the Gilds of most provincial towns such Assistants no doubt shared in the
+government from early years.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Stewards</i> were two in number. At a later date they were nominated by
+the Wardens<a name='fna_81' id='fna_81' href='#f_81'><small>[81]</small></a>, though in earlier times probably elective. Their
+particular duties nowhere very clearly appear. They seem to have assisted
+the Wardens and Four Men in hearing and examining of &#8220;all manner of
+matters, causes and controv&#8217;sies which shall happen amongst the
+brethren<a name='fna_82' id='fna_82' href='#f_82'><small>[82]</small></a>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Beadle</i> summoned members to meetings and officiated in whatever of
+formality was observed in them. He would keep the door of the Hall, and
+see that none but brethren were admitted within the privileged chamber.
+His was the duty of providing that due order and regularity was observed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>
+in the proceedings, and, if necessary, of carrying into effect the
+decisions of the assembly against refractory members. In the annual
+Procession we can well imagine that the Beadles of the respective
+companies would bear themselves with no common pride. Their duties also
+included the summoning of members to weddings and funerals of brethren.</p>
+
+<p>The Mercers&#8217; composition of 1424 carefully details the duties of the
+<i>Searcher</i>. He, as also the Beadle, was usually nominated by the Wardens,
+Four Men and Stewards jointly, and, as his name implied, was charged with
+bringing to the notice of the Gild anything contrary to its rules or
+prejudicial to its interests.</p>
+
+<p>A <i>Clerk</i> is also mentioned, who drew up indentures of apprenticeship and
+kept the Gild registers. At a later period the office of <i>Treasurer</i> was
+introduced and became of considerable importance.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Meetings.</i></div>
+
+<p>The election of officers was the principle item of business at the great
+annual meeting of the Gild. This was held on the festival of the Saint in
+whose name the Gild was dedicated. It was preceded by Mass in the Parish
+Church whither the brethren and sistren went in procession wearing their
+distinctive hoods and liveries, and bearing lights in their hands. To add
+to the dignity of the occasion a play or mystery was sometimes performed,
+but more usually such representations were reserved for the great common
+feast of Corpus Christi.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Business at meetings.<br /><br />Penalties.</i></div>
+
+<p>At the meeting, which from its most general name of &#8220;mornspeche&#8221; appears
+to have followed soon after Mass, great solemnity was observed. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>
+double-locked box<a name='fna_83' id='fna_83' href='#f_83'><small>[83]</small></a> was opened by the two Wardens<a name='fna_84' id='fna_84' href='#f_84'><small>[84]</small></a> amidst a
+reverential silence, and the composition or charter preserved in it
+rehearsed to the assembled brethren. Business was then proceeded
+with:&mdash;election of officers, admittance of new brethren, authorisation of
+indentures. Then if necessary regulations were passed for the government
+of the Gild and ordinances made for the due protection of trade, such as
+summonses to Intruders to enter the union. The ordinary penalties which
+the companies might inflict were fines of money or of wax, (in which king
+and corporation shared and which they were consequently willing to
+enforce,) and, in extreme cases total expulsion from the Gild, which of
+course meant exclusion from trade within the town.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Halls.</i></div>
+
+<p>After the &#8220;mornspeche&#8221; came the mutual feast. The brethren had begun the
+day by union for worship, they ended it with union for social and
+convivial festivity. In later times the business portion of the meeting
+was transacted in the Hall of the Gild and the brethren afterwards
+adjourned to some convenient tavern. Several of the Halls were standing
+until quite recent times. Such were those of the Mercers, Tailors, and
+Weavers<a name='fna_85' id='fna_85' href='#f_85'><small>[85]</small></a>. That of the Shearmen is now used as an Auction Mart, but the
+Drapers&#8217; Hall still retains its former dignity.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Necessity of historical attitude</i></div>
+
+<p>It will be necessary to attempt some estimation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> of the extent and value
+of the influence which the Gilds exercised on contemporary life and
+thought. In doing this, and indeed in dealing with the whole subject of
+trade regulation in the Middle Ages, it is necessary to bear continually
+in mind that not only were the conditions of trade then very materially
+different from those under which we now live, but that Economic Theory was
+still more at variance with modern views. It is necessary therefore to
+take a historical attitude, and to try to appreciate both the difference
+of social conditions, and the difference of objects in view. These objects
+may be considered firstly as individual and perhaps selfish; and,
+secondly, as general and for the common good.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>in estimating importance of Gilds; Commercial,</i></div>
+
+<p>1. If we consider the charters from the first point of view we see that
+the trade regulations were dictated by the desire to secure to all the
+brethren their means of livelihood: &#8220;no broder&#8221; was to &#8220;induce or tyce any
+other Mastres Accostom,&#8221; or to employ the servants of another combrother,
+or otherwise to act in a spirit of unbrotherly and dishonourable
+competition. The charters are full of such regulations. No member might
+obtrude wares before passers in the open street, or erect booths &#8220;for to
+have better sale than eny of the combrethren<a name='fna_86' id='fna_86' href='#f_86'><small>[86]</small></a>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>2. Similarly also if we view the compositions in light of what we have
+described as the second of their objects. The excellent motive of medi&aelig;val
+regulation of industry was to secure the prosperity of trade by ensuring
+skilled workmanship<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> and proper materials. In consequence it was forbidden
+for workmen whose capacity was unknown to work in the town until their
+efficiency had been proved. The Barbers&#8217; composition of 1432 ordered that
+&#8220;no man&#8217; p&#8217;sone sette up nother holde no shoppe in Privite ny apperte ny
+shave as a Maistre withinne the saide Tow&#8217; ny Franchise in to the Tyme
+that ev&#8217;y such p&#8217;sone have the Wille and Assent of the Stywardes and
+Maistres of the saide Crafte.&#8221; It was the desire to ensure the public
+being well served that prompted the articles in the composition of the
+Mercers (1480-1) which ordered the Searcher &#8220;to make serche uppon all the
+occupyers of the saide Craftes ... that non of theym occupie eny false
+Balaunce Weight or Mesures belongeing to the sayde Craftes or eny of
+theym, wherebie the Kyngs People in eny wyse myght be hurt or dysseyved.&#8221;
+It was also part of the same officer&#8217;s duties to &#8220;oversee that any thyng
+app&#8217;tenyng to the saide Craftes or eny of theym to be boght and solde in
+the saide Towne and Frauncheses be able suffyceant and lawfull and that
+noe dyssayte nor gyle to the Kyngs liege people therbye be had.&#8221; No
+indentures were to be drawn for less than &#8220;seven years at the least,&#8221; so
+that adequate training should be secured.</p>
+
+<p>We thus perceive how the Craft Gilds differed, on the one hand from the
+Frith Gilds of more ancient times, and on the other from the Commercial
+Companies of later days. The former were associations in which every
+member was responsible for the actions of each of his fellows; in the
+Craft Gilds each member bound himself to abide by the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>regulations of the
+rest. The essence of the later Commercial Companies is union for mere
+pecuniary gain; the Gilds set in the forefront of the objects of their
+association the material benefit of the community and the religious and
+moral good of the individual. The resemblance between Trades Unions and
+the Medi&aelig;val Gilds is not entirely fanciful; but no two documents can be
+more widely different than the Prospectus of a Limited Liability Company
+and a Gild Charter of the Middle Ages.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Social,</i></div>
+
+<p>The Gild system may be considered from various points of view. Regarded in
+its social aspect its importance can hardly be exaggerated. It has been
+pointed out how the work of the Gilds prevented the difficulty of poor
+relief becoming acute, and also how valuable their influence was in the
+maintenance of order, through the respect they evinced for the established
+law. The immense weight they must have had on the side of morality, by the
+importance they attached to the moral character of their members must not
+be overlooked. &#8220;The rules of the Gilds which have come down to us, quaint
+and homely as they sound, breathe a spirit as elevated as it is simple,
+and although we must probably make the usual allowance for the difference
+between men&#8217;s acts and their words, we cannot but believe that the
+generations which formed such grand conceptions and which so persistently
+strove to realise them, had a better side than posterity has
+discovered<a name='fna_87' id='fna_87' href='#f_87'><small>[87]</small></a>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The extent, too, to which they operated in linking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> class to class was
+very great. There was no impassable barrier between commerce and birth. In
+the lists of apprentices which have been preserved to us the entries of
+names belonging to county families are frequent. It was the ordinary
+custom for the younger sons to be put to business in the town. The social
+value of such a habit must have been great. Within the craft, too, the
+distinctions were only caused by differences in the degrees of wealth. By
+industry and perseverance the meanest apprentice might look forward to
+attainment of the highest honours his Gild could bestow, and even, by
+success in trade, to nobility. As in Athelstan&#8217;s time the merchant who
+fared thrice beyond the sea at his own cost became of thegn-right
+worthy<a name='fna_88' id='fna_88' href='#f_88'><small>[88]</small></a>, so it was all through the Middle Ages: even in the 17th
+century Harrison says &#8220;our merchants do often change estate with
+gentlemen, as gentlemen do with them, by a mutual conversion of the one
+into the other<a name='fna_89' id='fna_89' href='#f_89'><small>[89]</small></a>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Constitutional.</i></div>
+
+<p>The education obtained by the framing of their own ordinances was also no
+slight gain to the townsmen. They provided for their peculiar needs in
+their own peculiar way, not always we may say in the best way, but in that
+which they, who knew the special requirements of the case, considered the
+best. Each who took part in drawing up those regulations would feel that a
+certain share of responsibility rested with him to see that they were
+kept. The constitutional importance also of this training, in imparting an
+appreciation of the responsibilities and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> duties which devolve on those
+who frame regulations was not unimportant.</p>
+
+<p>The services which the Gilds rendered to the cause of liberty by the
+feeling of strong cohesion which they produced among the townsmen would be
+less difficult to estimate if the burgesses had played a more distinctive
+part in the work of Parliament<a name='fna_90' id='fna_90' href='#f_90'><small>[90]</small></a>. It is easier to point out how, if they
+may have interfered to some extent with family life on the one hand, they
+on the other increased the tendency to narrowness and localism which was
+otherwise sufficiently strong throughout the Middle Ages, and indeed
+through considerably later times. Everything was antagonistic to the
+widening of the townsman&#8217;s sympathies. He found his trade, his ambition,
+almost his whole life, satisfied within the walls of the borough in which
+he dwelt; and the Craft Gilds crystallised, as it were, this tendency
+towards insularity.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Special interest of their history at present time.</i></div>
+
+<p>It may be noticed how a special interest attaches at the present time to
+the history of the Gilds and to the study of their influence and
+development.</p>
+
+<p>The condition of the working classes must always be a point of vital
+importance to the welfare of the state. It is peculiarly so to-day.
+Anything therefore which can assist us to understand how the present
+degradation of the craftsman has been brought about, and which may help
+towards his amelioration, will be valuable and of practical usefulness.</p>
+
+<p>Five hundred years ago the working man differed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> very widely from his
+modern representative; how widely may be gathered from a single
+illustration. The architects of the Churches and other buildings which the
+Middle Ages have bequeathed to us in such large numbers and of such
+exquisite beauty are, in the vast majority of cases, unknown to-day even
+by name. They were not less unknown to contemporaries. For they were men
+of like nature with their fellows: <i>ancestors of our modern artisans</i>. How
+great a change has grown up in the generations which have intervened.</p>
+
+<p>Five centuries ago the workman was intelligent and skilled, he is now
+untrained and degraded: he was then able and accustomed to take a proper
+pride in his work, he is now careless and indifferent: he used to be
+provident and thrifty, now he is usually reckless and wasteful.</p>
+
+<p>It is not too much to say that a great reason of this vast difference is
+to be found in the influence which the Gilds exercised. In their character
+as Benefit Clubs they taught their members to be thrifty: by insisting on
+a careful and systematic training during seven years of apprenticeship
+they made them skilled and capable workmen, and as such able to take an
+interest in, and to derive pleasure from their work. It has been pointed
+out that the Gilds prevented extreme poverty from ever becoming at all
+normal. Uncertainty of employment and demoralising fluctuations of wages
+are among the most crying evils of our modern social <i>r&eacute;gime</i>. The Craft
+Gilds did much to secure regularity of work and to steady the price of
+labour.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>Thus it is evident how great and peculiar an interest attaches to the
+whole subject of the Gilds at the present day. It is a subject which does
+not merely offer attractions to the antiquary or provide valuable
+materials for the student of constitutional and municipal development. It
+has a far wider and more human significance. A study of the extent and
+nature of the influence which the Gilds exercised on the condition and
+skill of the working man in the past will help to solve the problem of his
+improvement in the present and in the future.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center">NOTE I.</p>
+
+<p class="center">INDENTURE OF APPRENTICESHIP FROM THE MERCERS&#8217; COMPANY&#8217;S RECORDS. A.D. 1414.</p>
+
+<p>H&aelig;c indentura testatur etc. inter Johannem Hyndlee de Northampton,
+Brasyer, et Gulielmum filium Thom&aelig; Spragge de Salopia, quod predictus
+Gulielmus posuit semetipsum apprenticium dicto Johanni Hyndlee, usque ad
+finem octo annorum, ad artem vocatam <i>brasyer&#8217;s craft</i>, qu&acirc; dictus
+Johannes utitur, medio tempore humiliter erudiendum. Infra quem quidem
+terminum pr&aelig;fatus Gulielmus concilia dicti Johannis Hyndlee magistri sui
+celanda celabit. Dampnum eidem Johanni nullo modo faciet nec fieri
+videbit, quin illud cito impediet aut dictum magistrum suum statim inde
+premuniet. A servicio suo seipsum illicite non absentabit. Bona et catalla
+dicti Johannis absque ejus licenti&acirc; nulli accomodabit. Tabernam, scortum,
+talos, aleas, et joca similia non frequentabit, in dispendium magistri
+sui. Fornicationem nec adulterium cum aliqua muliere de domo et familia
+dicti Johannis nullo modo committet, neque uxorem ducet, absque licentia
+magistri sui. Pr&aelig;cepta et mandata licita et racionabilia magistri sui
+ubique pro fideli posse ipsius Gulielmi, diligenter adimplebit et eisdem
+mandatis libenter obediet. Et si pr&aelig;dictus Gulielmus de aliqua convencione
+sua vel articulo pr&aelig;scripto defecerit, tunc idem Gulielmus juxta modum et
+quantitatem delicti sui magistro suo satisfaciet emendam aut terminum<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>
+apprenticiatus sui duplicabit. Et pr&aelig;fatus Johannes et assignati sui
+apprenticium suum in arte pr&aelig;dicta meliori modo quo idem Johannes sciverit
+ac poterit tractabunt docebunt et informabunt, seu ipsum informari facient
+sufficienter, debito modo castigando, et non aliter. Pr&aelig;terea dictus
+Johannes concedit ad docendum et informandum dictum Gulielmum in arte
+vocata <i>Peuterer&#8217;s Craft</i> adeo bene sicut sciverit seu poterit ultra
+convencionem suam pr&aelig;missam. Et idem Johannes nullam partem artium
+pr&aelig;dictarum ab apprenticio suo concelabit. Invenient insuper Johannes et
+assignati sui dicto Gulielmo omnia sibi necessaria, viz. victum suum et
+vestitum, lineum, laneum, lectum, hospicium, calceamenta et c&aelig;tera sibi
+competencia annuatim sufficienter, prout &aelig;tas et status ipsius Gulielmi
+exigerint. In cujus rei testimonium etc. 1414.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">NOTE II.</p>
+
+<p class="center">OATH TO BE TAKEN BY THE FREEMEN OF THE MERCERS&#8217; COMPANY.</p>
+
+<p>In the Company&#8217;s records this oath occurs immediately after a curious
+calendar, written in 15th century hand, and before a list of &#8220;Brethren
+received and incorporated in the time of Rici Attynchin and John Cutlere
+wardens&#8221; in 3 Henry VI., (1424-5).</p>
+
+<p class="center">FIDELITAS.</p>
+
+<p>I shall trewe man be to God o&#8217;r Lady Seynt Marie Seynt Mychell
+th&#8217;archangell patrone of the Gylde and to the Fraternite of the Mercers
+Yremongers and Goldsmythes &amp; Cappers w&#8217;in the Towne and Fraunches of
+Shrowesbury I shall also Trewe man be to the king our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> liege lorde and to
+his heyres kyngys and his lawes and mynystars of the same Truly obs&#8217;ve and
+obey And ov&#8217; this I shall be obedyent to my wardens and their sumpneys
+obey and kepe I shall be trewe and ffeythfull to the Combrethern of the
+Gylde aforeseyd and ther co&#8217;ncell kepe All lawdable and lefull actes and
+composic&#8217;ons made or to be made w<sup>t</sup>in the Seide Gylde truly obeye p&#8217;forme
+and kepe aft&#8217; my reason and power I shall be contributare bere yelde and
+paye all man&#8217; ordynare charges cestes and contribucons aftur my power as
+any other master occupyer or combrother of the seid Gylde shall happen to
+doe and bere: Soe helpe me God and halidame and by the Boke.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+<p class="title">THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GILDS OF SHREWSBURY.</p>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Existed before they held charters.<br /><br />Scanty notice at first.<br /><br />Fourteenth century; difficulties for Gilds to face.</i></div>
+
+<p>In the foregoing chapter it has been shown how the Craft Gilds were called
+into being. They possessed at first no charters<a name='fna_91' id='fna_91' href='#f_91'><small>[91]</small></a> because none were
+needed. It was only when friction arose that there came any necessity for
+royal authority to step forward with its support and sanction<a name='fna_92' id='fna_92' href='#f_92'><small>[92]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>And as they at first possessed no charters, so they have left few or no
+records of their earliest life. So long as they worked in thorough accord
+with the spirit of the age and completely fulfilled its requirements they
+left scanty traces. It is only when the period of degeneracy commences
+that we begin to have anything like adequate materials for their detailed
+history.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>The 14th century was fruitful in illustrations of the difficulties which
+beset the work of the Gilds.</p>
+
+<p>The development of trade alone had proceeded far enough to render their
+task already complicated: their difficulties were increased abnormally by
+the exceptional conditions of labour brought about by the Black Death. The
+Peasant Revolt compelled Parliament to take cognisance of industrial
+difficulties. In 1388, at its meeting at Cambridge, it was largely
+occupied with trade questions<a name='fna_93' id='fna_93' href='#f_93'><small>[93]</small></a>, and ordered the issue of writs to the
+sheriff of each county in England, commanding returns of all details as to
+the foundation, objects, and condition of both religious fraternities and
+Craft Gilds. These returns show that most of the Gilds obtained their
+charters during the 13th and the early years of the 14th centuries<a name='fna_94' id='fna_94' href='#f_94'><small>[94]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Development of industry.</i></div>
+
+<p>It does not appear that any legislation followed upon this parliamentary
+action, but provisions now begin to appear for the settlement of disputes
+between masters and workmen, and also between brethren of the Gild. So far
+the different classes of workmen had worked together in harmony upon the
+whole, but it could not fail that a severance or at least a marked
+diversity of interests should arise.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> Most important, as demonstrating
+that it was the change in external circumstances, and not so much the
+internal degeneracy of the Gilds themselves, which was causing the
+friction, are the evidences which show that a great division of labour was
+in progress<a name='fna_95' id='fna_95' href='#f_95'><small>[95]</small></a>. In the 13th century the tailor and the cloth-merchant
+sever their former connection: the businesses of the tanner and of the
+butcher become distinct branches of trade<a name='fna_96' id='fna_96' href='#f_96'><small>[96]</small></a>. Similarly the tanner and
+the shoemaker were made separate callings<a name='fna_97' id='fna_97' href='#f_97'><small>[97]</small></a>. The same movement is still
+more clearly seen in the disputes which arose between allied Gilds as to
+the particular work which each was charged with supervising<a name='fna_98' id='fna_98' href='#f_98'><small>[98]</small></a>. It was
+the creation of opposing interests, of which such were the outward signs,
+that introduced the seed of decay into the Gild system.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Fifteenth century: avowal of abuses,</i></div>
+
+<p>How rapidly the degeneracy proceeded may be gathered from a petition of
+the Commons early in the 15th century (1437), which evoked an Act (15 Hen.
+VI., cap. 6) definitely recognising the existence of abuses. After
+reciting how the</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&#8220;masters, wardens, and people of Gilds, fraternities, and other
+companies corporate, dwelling in divers parts of the realm, oftentimes
+by colour of rule and governance to them granted and confirmed by
+charters and letters patent ... made among themselves many unlawful
+and little reasonable ordinances ... for their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> own singular profit
+and to the common hurt and damage of the people,&#8221;</p></div>
+
+<p>the statute proceeded to order that the Gilds should not in the future</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&#8220;make or use any ordinance in disparity or diminution of the
+franchises of the king or others, or against the common profit of the
+people, nor allow any other ordinance if it is not first approved as
+good and reasonable by the Justices of the Peace or the chief
+Magistrates aforesaid and before them enrolled and to be by them
+revoked and repealed afterwards if they shall be found and proved to
+be little loyal and unreasonable.&#8221;</p></div>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>but approval of the system.<br /><br />Policy of Reform.</i></div>
+
+<p>But it is abundantly clear that the complaints are against the abuses of
+the system and not against the system itself. Dissatisfaction is expressed
+at the &#8220;little reasonable ordinances&#8221; of the Gilds but not against the
+companies themselves. The policy therefore of Henry VI. and Edward IV. was
+to reform the Gilds by amending their ordinances, or, if necessary, giving
+them charters of incorporation which should set forth definitely their
+objects, and state both the extent and the limitation of their powers. It
+is from this period that we date most of the existing records of the
+Shrewsbury companies. The barbers are said to have been chartered by
+Edward I. in 1304<a name='fna_99' id='fna_99' href='#f_99'><small>[99]</small></a>; their earliest extant composition<a name='fna_100' id='fna_100' href='#f_100'><small>[100]</small></a> is dated
+1432 (10 Hen. VI.). The Shoemakers&#8217; composition of 1387 recited a charter
+of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> Edward
+III.<a name='fna_101' id='fna_101' href='#f_101'><small>[101]</small></a> A Vintners&#8217; company is said to have been erected in
+Shrewsbury by Henry IV. in 1412<a href='#f_101'><small>[101]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>But it is with the accession of Henry VI. that the great number of present
+charters and compositions begins. The date of the Fishmongers&#8217; company is
+1423<a href='#f_101'><small>[101]</small></a>, and the entries of the Mercers commence in the next year<a href='#f_101'><small>[101]</small></a>.
+The Barbers&#8217; composition of 1432 has been already mentioned. Then follow
+the Weavers (1448-9), the Fletchers (1449), the Carpenters (1449-50) in
+close proximity<a href='#f_101'><small>[101]</small></a>. The Tailors and Skinners (1461) were recognised in
+the last year of Henry VI.<a href='#f_101'><small>[101]</small></a>, and eighteen years subsequently received
+a new composition from Edward IV. (1478), who had in the first year of his
+reign united the Fraternity of the Blessed Trinity with the company of the
+Drapers<a name='fna_102' id='fna_102' href='#f_102'><small>[102]</small></a>. The companies of the Millers, Bakers, Cooks, Butchers and
+Shearmen certainly existed before 1478, as they are mentioned as taking
+part in the Corpus Christi Procession at that date. In that year the
+Tanners and Glovers were incorporated<a name='fna_103' id='fna_103' href='#f_103'><small>[103]</small></a>, as also were the
+Saddlers<a href='#f_103'><small>[103]</small></a>. The royal recognition of the Mercers<a href='#f_101'><small>[101]</small></a> in the next year
+completed the list of Shrewsbury companies erected before the 16th
+century.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Later Religious Gilds.</i></div>
+
+<p>It will be convenient here to draw attention to a different kind of Gild
+which was founded in Shrewsbury towards the close of this period: the
+religious Gild of S. Winifred.</p>
+
+<p>The ancient Monks&#8217; Gilds which had spread so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> early over England, found as
+was to be expected later imitators in large numbers. The oldest accounts
+of these Gilds also, like those of the Monks&#8217; Gilds, are found in
+England<a name='fna_104' id='fna_104' href='#f_104'><small>[104]</small></a>. Religious or Social they are usually called. They all
+evinced a strong religious character, but in addition had a care for the
+old and needy. If a Gild-brother suffer loss through theft &#8220;let all the
+Gildship avenge their comrade,&#8221; says the Cambridge statute. They also took
+cognisance of public welfare. If a Gild-brother do wrong &#8220;let all bear it:
+if one misdo, let all bear alike.&#8221; If a man be slain in fair quarrel with
+a Gild-brother the <i>wite</i> is to be borne by all, but the wilful or
+treacherous murderer is &#8220;to bear his own deed.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>These Gilds rapidly spread over all Europe, and existed probably in every
+town. They doubtless formed the model to which the later associations
+looked, and, except in details, differed little from the Craft Gilds. They
+were frequently connected with trade, even in some instances consisting
+entirely of followers of specific crafts<a name='fna_105' id='fna_105' href='#f_105'><small>[105]</small></a>, and loans were made out of
+the common chest to help members in misfortune<a name='fna_106' id='fna_106' href='#f_106'><small>[106]</small></a>. We have scant
+information of early religious Gilds in Shrewsbury, though there can be
+but little doubt they flourished there as elsewhere. Later, in the 15th
+century, one was founded by the Abbot of the Holy Cross, which presents
+several unusual and interesting features.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>Thomas Mynde was elected Abbot on January 8th, 1460, but it was not till
+1486 that he took measures to found the Fraternity of S. Winifred, though
+probably the scheme had been previously shaping itself through the long
+period of unsettlement which the Civil Wars had caused. The present Gild
+differed from the earlier foundations in being deliberately created by
+royal charter. The reason was that without such security it could not
+receive grants of land, and Abbot Mynde was desirous to bequeath to it his
+private possessions rather than to leave them to his Monastery,&mdash;a curious
+commentary perhaps on the low estimation into which the religious houses
+had fallen.</p>
+
+<p>The royal charter was not obtained without some trouble. The License
+itself says it was granted &#8220;by [reason of] the sincere devotion which we
+have and bear towards S. Winefrida Virgin and Martyr;&#8221; but Abbot Mynde
+assures us that this laudable zeal required the practical stimulus of &#8220;a
+large sum of money&#8221; before it would take effect in action.</p>
+
+<p>The terms of the charter allowed both brethren and sisters to join the
+fellowship, the number being unregulated. The oath to support the Gild was
+taken by each member on admittance, kneeling before the altar in the Abbey
+of the Holy Cross. Power was given for the election of a Master, whose
+duties were the regulation of the Gild and the supervision of its
+property. The fraternity had its common seal, and the ordinary powers and
+privileges of corporations. It was especially exempted from the Mortmain
+Acts, and was allowed to acquire<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> property to the yearly value of &pound;10. The
+objects to which this was to be devoted were the finding of two Chaplains,
+or at least one, whose duties were the saying of a daily Mass at the Altar
+of S. Winifred in the Abbey, and the celebration of a Requiem Mass on the
+decease of a brother or sister of the Fraternity. At such Masses it was
+especially provided that the prayers for the departed soul should be <i>in
+English</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The Gild was joined in considerable numbers by the principal folk of the
+town, but there is little information<a name='fna_107' id='fna_107' href='#f_107'><small>[107]</small></a> respecting its history, which
+may be at once anticipated here. At the confiscation of the Chantry and
+Gild property the fraternity of S. Winifred was not able to plead the
+excuse of usefulness for trade purposes, and it fell unnoticed in the ruin
+of the great Abbey with which it was connected. Its life had been a short
+one, but coming as it did at a time when religious fervour was weak and
+morality lax, it no doubt served a useful purpose and deserved a better
+fate than almost total oblivion.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Charters granted to Craft Gilds.</i></div>
+
+<p>Returning after this digression to the Craft Gilds it will be interesting
+and profitable to make an examination and comparison of two of their
+charters, one selected from the earlier and one from the later portion of
+the period. The charter<a name='fna_108' id='fna_108' href='#f_108'><small>[108]</small></a> of the Barbers&#8217; Gild, granted by Henry VI. in
+1432, may be placed beside the composition<a name='fna_109' id='fna_109' href='#f_109'><small>[109]</small></a> which Edward IV. gave to
+the Mercers in 1480.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Religious articles.</i></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>A point which strikes us forcibly on the most superficial examination of
+the charters, is the prominence given, in one as in the other, to the
+Corpus Christi procession. It is a striking illustration of the extent to
+which medi&aelig;val materialism had permeated society, and how deeply rooted
+was that &#8220;tendency to see everything in the concrete, to turn the parable
+into a fact, the doctrine into its most literal application<a name='fna_110' id='fna_110' href='#f_110'><small>[110]</small></a>,&#8221; which
+scholastic philosophy had nurtured. The procession indeed would almost
+appear, from the charters, to be the principal object for which the Gilds
+exist. A considerable share of the fines is expressly devoted to the
+&#8220;Increce of the Lyght that is boren yerely in the heye and worthie ffest
+of Corpus Xti Day.&#8221; The Mercers&#8217; composition regulates the order of the
+procession and the weight of the candle which the company provides in it.
+No member is to be out of his place on the festival without permission,
+and the combrethren are especially prohibited from going to &#8220;the Coventrie
+Fayre&#8221; at this season under penalty of a fine of twelve pence. The fact of
+being enabled to take part in the procession is manifestly looked upon as
+one of the great privileges and duties of the companies.</p>
+
+<p>The Mercers&#8217; Gild also provided for a priest to say a daily Mass at the
+altar of S. Michael in the Church of S. Chad; and thirteen poor Bedesmen
+were retained at a penny per week to pray for the King and Queen and
+Councillors, and for the brethren of the Gild &#8220;both quyke and dedd.&#8221;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Trade articles.</i></div>
+
+<p>The trade regulations of the two compositions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> are naturally cast in the
+same mould. In both appears the prohibition of foreign labour (the Mercers
+say &#8220;except in fayre tyme&#8221;), and of under-selling by combrethren as well
+as unfair competition generally. The later regulations go further and
+provide for the carrying out of the ordinances of the composition by the
+appointment of a searcher to secure the use of good materials and to
+prevent &#8220;dissayte and gyle,&#8221; the use of false weights, &amp;c. They also
+forbid the taking of aliens as apprentices<a name='fna_111' id='fna_111' href='#f_111'><small>[111]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>All indentures are to be for seven years at the least, and none are to be
+taken as apprentices without being properly bound by indentures approved
+by the wardens and recorded by the clerk. There is also the article which
+now becomes common, against divulging the secrets of the craft, and an
+interesting one against &#8220;eny confederacye or embracerye wherebie any
+p&#8217;judices hurt or hynd&#8217;ance myght growe.&#8221;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Articles of reform.</i></div>
+
+<p>In the later charter, too, it is evident that there had arisen no small
+need for reform. In the forefront it is stated that the previous &#8220;Fines
+assessyd uppon ev&#8217;y App&#8217;ntice at their entries to be maysters Combrethyrn
+and Settursuppe of the said Craftes or any of them,&#8221; &#8220;and in like wyse
+gret Fynes uppon eny Forreyn that shoulde entre into the same&#8221; are
+&#8220;thought overchargeable&#8221; and so are to be &#8220;dymynished and refowrmed.&#8221; If
+members refuse to pay them, as thus amended, they may be levied by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>
+distress. Of how great a falling-off from the original spirit of
+brotherhood do these two short articles speak.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Police.</i></div>
+
+<p>Both the documents provide for the trial of dissensions among brethren, in
+preference to going before the ordinary tribunals, though by permission
+cases might be taken before the bailiffs of the town.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Liveries.</i></div>
+
+<p>In a similar spirit of pacification the Mercers&#8217; composition forbids the
+wearing of liveries &#8220;saving the lyverray of gownes or hodes of the said
+Gylde to be ordeyned and worne,&#8221; and that of the municipal
+corporation<a name='fna_112' id='fna_112' href='#f_112'><small>[112]</small></a>. This was in accordance with the Act 13 Henry IV. cap. 3.
+The abuse of liveries had evoked from Parliament an attempt to put a total
+stop to the custom<a name='fna_113' id='fna_113' href='#f_113'><small>[113]</small></a> (13 Rich. II.). Such endeavours were futile. This
+was at last recognised, and in 13 Henry IV. the use of liveries of cloth
+was prohibited, but with the important proviso, &#8220;Gilds and fraternities
+and crafts in the cities and boroughs within the kingdom which are founded
+and ordained to good intent and purpose alone being excepted.&#8221; In 1468
+Edward IV. confirmed previous legislation on the subject<a name='fna_114' id='fna_114' href='#f_114'><small>[114]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Sixteenth century.</i></div>
+
+<p>In spite of reforms by improved compositions and legislative measures the
+degeneracy of the Gilds proceeded apace. The statute 19 Hen. VII. cap. 7<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>
+repeats the complaint of 15 Hen. VI. cap. 6, and re-enacts the same
+restrictions. &#8220;Divers and many ordinances have been made by many and
+divers private bodies corporate within cities, towns, and boroughs
+contrary to the King&#8217;s prerogative, his laws, and the common weal of his
+subjects:&#8221; in future therefore the Gilds are prohibited from making any
+new by-laws or ordinances concerning the prices of wares and other things
+&#8220;in disheritance or diminution of the prerogative of the King, nor of
+other, nor against the common profit of the people, but that the same Acts
+or Ordinances be examined and approved by the Chancellor, Treasurer of
+England, or Chief Justices.&#8221; The repetition of the same articles shows how
+little effective they had been in checking the abuses against which they
+were directed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Policy of reform pursued.</i></div>
+
+<p>Nevertheless Henry VII. and Henry VIII. persevered in the work of
+regulating, reforming and strengthening the Gilds. The statute of
+1530<a name='fna_115' id='fna_115' href='#f_115'><small>[115]</small></a> once more diminished entrance fees, which had been inordinately
+and illegally raised; but another of 1536<a name='fna_116' id='fna_116' href='#f_116'><small>[116]</small></a> repeating the same
+prohibition shows the utter futility of such measures in the condition of
+trade which had been brought about.</p>
+
+<p>A more serious abuse appears in the latter statute, namely the attempt of
+the masters to exact from their apprentices an oath promising to refrain
+from prosecuting trade on their own account without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> consent of their late
+master. Such abuses exhibit the Gilds in a state of wholesale
+demoralisation.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Reformation.</i></div>
+
+<p>This was not unnatural under the circumstances, for the course of the
+Reformation had tended to turn public opinion against the Gilds. Moreover
+it now gave them a severe shock on one side, at any rate, of their
+functions.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Confiscation of Chantries and robbery of Gilds.</i></div>
+
+<p>The confiscation of monastic lands had shown how easy it was for a needy
+government to seize upon corporate property to its own use, and the
+example was not long without being followed. The statute 37 Hen. VIII.
+cap. 4 gave the whole property of all Colleges, Hospitals, Fraternities
+and Gilds to the king. Before this wholesale desolation could be effected
+Henry died, but Somerset obtained a renewal<a name='fna_117' id='fna_117' href='#f_117'><small>[117]</small></a> of the grant to Edward
+VI.</p>
+
+<p>The words of the Act are absolute in making over to the king all the lands
+and other possessions of Chantries, Colleges, Hospitals, Gilds and bodies
+of a similar nature, both religious and secular. No distinction is made as
+to aim or object, utility or abuse. According to the terms of the statute,
+we should expect every Gild and corporate body in the country to come to
+an end with the years 1547-8. Nevertheless though the Chantries were
+seized the Craft Gilds in general remained. The reason for this apparent
+divergence between the provisions of the statute and the facts of the case
+is given by Burnet.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>Two parties opposed the passing of the Act. Cranmer and the best of the
+Reformers were grieved to see the material supports of the Church one
+after another torn away to prop up the failing fortunes of needy and
+rapacious courtiers. They desired to preserve the lands of the Chantries
+till the king came of age, when they hoped they might be devoted to the
+suitable object of augmenting the livings which had been in such numbers
+impoverished by the Reformation changes. On the other hand were the
+burgesses. These had no mind to see their own property confiscated, and
+their benefit societies and clubs suddenly broken up. We may appreciate
+the feelings of the nation respecting the proposed measure by considering
+what would be the effect of a statute taking over the properties of all
+benefit clubs, Trades Unions, Lodges of Oddfellows and Foresters, and
+similar associations, to-day.</p>
+
+<p>Cranmer and his supporters failed to overthrow the measure in the Lords,
+but when it came to the lower house it was at once evident that a
+considerable amount of careful statesmanship and astute policy would be
+requisite if the statute was to pass. Apparently no opposition was
+expected, as the bill was already engrossed, or perhaps it was hoped that
+it might be smuggled through amidst the hurry of the closing session. But
+the government discovered that they had gone to the length of the nation&#8217;s
+patience. The Commons saw in its true enormity the conspiracy of the rich
+and powerful against the weak and poor, and this once perceived a check
+was given, tardy but not quite too late, to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> long and disastrous
+course of spoliation and confiscation.</p>
+
+<p>The opposition to the bill was obstinate, especially as regarded that
+portion which dealt with the Gilds. Led by the members for Lynn and
+Coventry the house showed unmistakeably that it was at length determined
+to submit no longer. In fact the feeling was evidently so strong that the
+government perceived the absolute necessity of drawing back. The mode in
+which this was done is explained in the following extract, which, though
+written from the court point of view, shows up the whole incident as a
+choice specimen of the statesmanship of the period.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Whereas in the last Parliament holden at Westminster in November the
+first year of the King&#8217;s Majesty&#8217;s reign, among other articles contained
+in the Act for colleges and chantry lands, etc., to be given unto his
+Highness, it was also insisted that the lands pertaining to all guilds and
+brotherhoods within this realm should pass unto his Majesty by way of like
+gift: At which time divers there being of the Lower House did not only
+reason and arraign against that article made for the guildable lands, but
+also incensed many others to hold with them, amongst the which none were
+stiffer, nor more busily went about to impugn the said Article than the
+burgesses for the town of Lynn in the county of Norfolk and the burgesses
+of the city of Coventry in the county of Warwick.... In respect of which
+their allegations and great labours made herein unto the House such of his
+Highness&#8217;s Council as were of the same House there present, thought it
+very likely that not only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> that Article for the guildable lands should be
+clashed, but also that the whole body of the Act might either sustain
+peril or hindrance, being already engrossed, and the time of the
+Parliament&#8217;s prolongation hard at hand, unless by some good policy the
+principal speakers against the passing of that article might be stayed.
+Whereupon they did participate the matter with the Lord Protector&#8217;s grace
+and other of the Lords of his Highness&#8217;s Council: who pondering on the one
+part how the guildable lands throughout this realm amounted to no small
+yearly value, which by the article aforesaid were to be accrued to his
+Majesty&#8217;s possessions of the Crown; and on the other part weighing in a
+multitude of free voices what moment the labours of a few settlers had
+been of heretofore in like cases, thought it better to stay and content
+them of Lynn and Coventry by granting to them to have and enjoy their
+guild lands etc. as they did before, than through their means, on whose
+importance, labour, and suggestions the great part of the Lower House
+rested, to have the article defaced, and so his Majesty to forego the
+whole lands throughout the realm. And for these respects, and also for
+avoiding of the promise which the said burgesses would have added for the
+guilds to that article, which might have ministered occasion to others to
+have laboured for the like, they resolved that certain of his Highness&#8217;s
+Councillors, being of the Lower House, should persuade with the said
+burgesses of Lynn and Coventry to desist from further speaking or
+labouring against the said article, upon promise to them that if they
+meddled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> no further against it, his Majesty once having the guildable
+lands granted unto him by the Act ... should make them over a new grant of
+the lands pertaining then unto their guilds etc. to be had and used to
+them as before: which thing the Councillors did execute, as was desired,
+and thereby stayed the speakers against it, so as the Act passed with the
+clause for the guildable lands accordingly<a name='fna_119' id='fna_119' href='#f_119'><small>[119]</small></a>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Importance of the Opposition.</i></div>
+
+<p>This remarkable document, which Canon Dixon printed for the first time, is
+of surpassing interest, not only to the historian of the Craft Gilds but
+also to the student of constitutional history. The unscrupulous recourse
+of the government to jobbery and corruption is not more revolting than the
+evidence of the increasing constitutional power of the Commons is
+interesting. It is evident from the account that when the country was with
+the house of Commons the voice of the latter could not be disregarded.</p>
+
+<p>The upshot was that an understanding was entered into, to the effect that
+the Gild lands were to be only surrendered <i>pro form&acirc;</i>, and that they
+should not in fact be confiscated. In most cases this arrangement was
+adhered to, and when the great crisis was past it was seen that the Gilds
+had lost their Chapels and Chantries with the fittings of these, but that
+their other possessions remained to them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Need of caution.</i></div>
+
+<p>It has been pointed out how the increasing constitutional power of the
+Commons could make itself felt when the opinion of the nation was at its
+back.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> That it undoubtedly was so at the present juncture cannot be
+doubted. The method which was adopted for carrying out the provisions of
+the Act demonstrates fully how violently the country had been excited by
+the measure and by the danger to which the Gild lands had been exposed.
+The usual way of putting such an Act into execution would have been to
+send down commissioners to take particulars of the Gilds and Chantries and
+of their possessions. But royal commissioners had come to be looked upon,
+not without ample reason, as merely the formal heralds of state robbery.
+If therefore such commissioners were now sent out to manage the
+dissolution of the Chantries and Hospitals it was feared that disturbance
+would arise beyond the power of the government to manage. The more politic
+plan was therefore adopted of enlisting the people themselves in the cause
+as much as might be.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Injunctions.</i></div>
+
+<p>Injunctions<a name='fna_120' id='fna_120' href='#f_120'><small>[120]</small></a> were issued &#8220;to the Parson, Vicar, Curat, Chaunter,
+Priests, Churchwardens, and two of the most honest Persons of the Parish
+of <span class="spacer">&nbsp;</span> being no Founders, Patrons, Donors, Lessees, nor Farmers of
+the Promotions of Corporations hereafter recited.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>These, or four of them, were to make a return as to the number of
+&#8220;Chantries, Hospitals, Colleges, Free Chapels, Fraternities, Brotherhoods,
+Guilds and Salaries, or Wages of Stipendiary Priests&#8221; in their parish,
+together with all particulars as to the revenues, ordinances, objects,
+abuses, names and titles of the same. Full lists were to be drawn up of
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> lands and possessions of the Chantries, Colleges, and Gilds, and
+enquiry was instituted respecting any recent dissolutions or alienations
+which might have been made in prospect of the recent Act.</p>
+
+<p>The contingency alluded to in the last article has sufficed to provide
+some writers with an excuse for the measure destroying the Chantries. No
+doubt the shock which the action of Henry VIII. in reference to the
+monasteries had given to all forms of corporate property had led many of
+the Gilds to attempt the realization of their property. All such
+transactions were to be null and void.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Gilds too powerful and popular to be wholly destroyed.</i></div>
+
+<p>Accordingly the commissioners went down to each town and hamlet and took
+full particulars of all matters concerning the Gilds and Chantries. &#8220;All
+such as have enye vestments or other goods of the Co<sup>y</sup> [of Mercers are
+ordered] to bring them in,&#8221; in order to be sold, with the rest of the
+Chantry fittings, &#8220;to the most p&#8217;fitt.&#8221; The fate of the other kinds of
+property held by the Gilds, such that is as could not be definitely made
+out to have been intended for the support of obits and the maintenance of
+lights, seems to have depended considerably on fortuitous circumstances.
+In each individual case the Gild had to secure for itself the best terms
+it could. Sometimes its property was obtained by the town, either by grant
+or by purchase<a name='fna_121' id='fna_121' href='#f_121'><small>[121]</small></a>. At Shrewsbury the almshouses of the Drapers and
+Mercers survived<a name='fna_122' id='fna_122' href='#f_122'><small>[122]</small></a>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> and the vicar of S. Almond&#8217;s Church in the same
+town still receives the yearly sum which the Shearmen settled on the
+chaplain they maintained in that church.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Perversion of the confiscated revenues.<br /><br />Disastrous effects on Gilds, and on Craftsmen.</i></div>
+
+<p>As for the object which the Act itself alleged to have been the motive for
+the destruction of the Chantries, namely the desire on the part of the
+government to devote the revenues to the foundation and improvement of
+grammar schools, it was forgotten as soon as parliament had separated.
+Strype<a name='fna_123' id='fna_123' href='#f_123'><small>[123]</small></a> is obliged to confess that the Act was &#8220;grossly abused, as the
+Act in the former King&#8217;s reign for dissolving religious houses was. For
+though the public good was pretended thereby (and intended too, I hope),
+yet private men, in truth, had most of the benefit, and the King and
+Commonwealth, the state of learning, and the condition of the poor, left
+as they were before, or worse. Of this, great complaints were made by
+honest men: and some of the best and most conscientious preachers reproved
+it in the greatest auditories, as at Paul&#8217;s Cross, and before the King
+himself. Thomas Lever, a Fellow, and afterwards Master of St John&#8217;s
+College in Cambridge, in a sermon before the King, in the year 1550 showed
+&#8216;how those that pretended, that (beside the abolishing of superstition)
+with the lands of abbeys, colleges, and chantries, the King should be
+enriched, learning maintained, poverty relieved, and the Commonwealth
+eased, purposely had enriched themselves.... And bringing in grammar
+schools, which these dissolved chantries were to serve for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> the founding
+of, he told the King plainly ... many grammar schools, and much charitable
+provision for the poor, be taken, sold and made away; to the great slander
+of you and your laws, to the utter discomfort of the poor, to the grievous
+offence of the people, to the most miserable drowning of youth in
+ignorance.... The King bore the slander, the poor felt the lack. But who
+had the profit of such things, he could not tell. But he knew well, and
+all the world saw, that the Act made by the King&#8217;s Majesty and his Lords
+and Commons of his Parliament, for maintenance of learning and relief of
+the poor, had served some as a fit instrument to rob learning, and to
+spoil the poor.&#8217;&#8221; The measure was indeed an act of spoliation devoid
+either of excuse in its cause or benefit in its results. The suppression
+of the Monasteries could doubtless be amply excused, but no real
+justification is possible for this attempted wholesale seizure of
+institutions founded and maintained for the benefit of the poor, for the
+relief of suffering, and for the regulation of industry and police. As
+regards the last&mdash;the regulation of industry and police&mdash;the attempt was
+to a certain extent foiled, but in other respects it succeeded only too
+well. Even on the Gilds which escaped its effects were disastrous. Their
+spiritual aspect was taken away; their prestige and authority very
+materially lessened. For they completely changed their nature. Instead of
+being brotherhoods of workmen,&mdash;masters, journeymen, and
+apprentices,&mdash;striving together for the common good, they now became
+simply leagues of employers, companies of capitalists. The new powers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
+which the masters obtained were used to still further oppress the
+craftsman, who was sufficiently degraded already through a variety of
+causes. He was too poor and powerless to be able to take any part in the
+new companies, and continued to sink deeper and deeper into degradation
+and misery. And this, too, in spite of the great and rapid development of
+trade which came simultaneously with this weakening blow at the authority
+and stability of the Gilds. Shrewsbury participated in this expansion of
+industry, and in the latter portion of the sixteenth century was
+peculiarly prosperous. There was no migration of its trade to the freer
+air of the neighbouring villages. The town was successful in retaining its
+monopoly.</p>
+
+<p>But these two causes, (i) the weakening of the Gilds and their change of
+character, and (ii) the vast development of trade which the age was
+witnessing, combined to render the companies which survived the
+Reformation quite unable to perform the work which the medi&aelig;val Gilds had
+done. Yet then above all was a controlling and a guiding power essential.
+Elizabeth in consequence found that one of her first measures must be in
+remedy of this condition of affairs.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+<p class="title">REORGANISATION OF THE GILD-SYSTEM.</p>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Reign of Elizabeth.</i></div>
+
+<p>Elizabeth, on her accession, found that immediate reform was imperative in
+almost every department of state. The whole trade of the country was in a
+condition of agitation. Everything seemed unsettled and insecure.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Economic disturbances and industrial activity.</i></div>
+
+<p>For the social upheaval which the Reformation had brought about came in
+the train of a long period of economic disorder. The changes in the mode
+of cultivation had thrown the mass of the country population out of work.
+These were driven in large numbers by stress of circumstances into the
+towns, which were consequently overstocked with hands. At this juncture
+came the breaking down of the social police within the towns by the
+weakening of the Gilds, while in the rural districts the dissolution of
+the monasteries took away from the poor their main hope of sustenance. The
+evils which such a policy of mere destruction must inevitably have brought
+upon the nation were averted through the national growth of wealth which
+the same period had witnessed. In the country parts the ejection of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> the
+easy-going old abbots had at least favoured the adoption of newer and
+improved methods of cultivation, so that a greater number of labourers
+came in time to be required on the estate<a name='fna_124' id='fna_124' href='#f_124'><small>[124]</small></a>. But far more satisfactory
+for absorbing the surplusage of labour was the development which the
+period witnessed in manufacture. The woollen trade in the west, the
+worsted trade in the east, the iron trade in the south, and unmistakeable
+signs of the cloth trade in the north already showed how the foundations
+of England&#8217;s wealth were laid.</p>
+
+<p>The writers of the period abound in notices of the unparalleled growth of
+trade and commerce. Harrison laments &#8220;that every function and several
+vocation striveth with other, which of them should have all the water of
+commodity ran into her own cistern<a name='fna_125' id='fna_125' href='#f_125'><small>[125]</small></a>.&#8221; Ample openings for capital broke
+through the old prejudices against the taking of interest. &#8220;Usury&#8221; as it
+was called&mdash;&#8220;a trade brought in by the Jews&mdash;is now perfectly practiced
+almost by every Christian, and so commonly that he is accompted but for a
+fool that doth lend his money for nothing<a name='fna_126' id='fna_126' href='#f_126'><small>[126]</small></a>.&#8221; The English workman too
+was growing rich and lazy in the sunlight of prosperous times, so that
+&#8220;strangers&#8221; were frequently preferred to native craftsmen as &#8220;more
+reasonable in their takings, and less wasters of time by a great deal than
+our own<a name='fna_127' id='fna_127' href='#f_127'><small>[127]</small></a>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>This was the commencement of the period of Shrewsbury&#8217;s greatest
+prosperity. Edward IV.&#8217;s erection of the Court of the President and
+Marches of Wales (1478) was a material cause of the advent of peace to the
+Borders. Henry VII. could gratify national sentiment by tracing his
+descent from Owen Tudor: he gave it a practical turn by placing his son
+Arthur at Ludlow as ruler of the principality. The Welshmen had thus begun
+to feel that their union with England was a real one before Henry VIII.
+finally incorporated the country with the English kingdom.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Increase of comfort.</i></div>
+
+<p>The cessation of Welsh distractions had greatly favoured the advancement
+of Shrewsbury. Its grammar school&mdash;founded by Edward VI.&mdash;as the entrance
+register of Thomas Ashton, its first Headmaster, evidences, attracted
+scholars from a very wide area, and helped to bring renown and wealth to
+the town. Shrewsbury too was the market to which the Welsh cloth trade
+naturally gravitated, though the town had powerful rivals with which to
+contend. In the reign of Elizabeth it employed six hundred shearmen in the
+woollen industry. Camden, writing in 1586, describes it as &#8220;a fine city,
+well-inhabited and of good commerce, and by the industry of the Citizens
+is very rich.&#8221; From this period date the substantial homes of the
+tradesmen of Tudor times which still survive in not inconsiderable numbers
+to give so much picturesqueness to the streets of the town. This was the
+era of improvements in domestic architecture. &#8220;If ever curious building
+did flourish in England,&#8221; says<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> Harrison<a name='fna_128' id='fna_128' href='#f_128'><small>[128]</small></a>, &#8220;it is in these our years.&#8221;
+Ireland&#8217;s mansion, which dates from 1570, and the house at the south-east
+corner of the Market Square, built by John Lloyd in 1579, are existing
+examples of this &#8220;curious building.&#8221; Their elegance, no less than their
+stability, betokens the advancement of manners as well as of wealth.
+Though these houses are &#8220;yet for the most part of strong timber&#8221; &#8220;brick or
+hard stone<a name='fna_129' id='fna_129' href='#f_129'><small>[129]</small></a>&#8221; were beginning to be largely used. Rowley&#8217;s mansion
+(1618) is said to have been the first house in the town built wholly of
+these materials.</p>
+
+<p>Everything combines to mark the reign of Elizabeth as an epoch in the
+history of England.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Economic policy.</i></div>
+
+<p>The foundations of modern society were laid. We seem to come into the
+range of modern, as distinct from medi&aelig;val ideas and habits. The principal
+points in which modern society differs from medi&aelig;val are distinctly
+visible. The problem of poor relief in particular becomes acutely
+appreciated. The rise of capital is seen both in the modification of the
+Usury laws, spoken of above, and in the enhancing of rents: prices
+hitherto dependent on custom and regulation must now be decided by
+competition.</p>
+
+<p>Not less remarkable is the permanence which attended Elizabeth&#8217;s
+legislation. Her economic settlement remained practically unchanged until
+the development of machinery altered those social conditions for which it
+had been adapted.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Statute 5 Eliz. a turning-point in Gild history.<br /><br />Many of the functions of the Gilds taken over by the state.</i></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>She made trade regulation national instead of local. The Act of 5
+Elizabeth, c. 14, is a turning-point in the history of the Gilds. By it
+the whole system of Gilds was re-modelled. Their experience was by no
+means thrown away<a name='fna_130' id='fna_130' href='#f_130'><small>[130]</small></a>. The information they had been accumulating was now
+appropriated by the state, which took over many of the functions they had
+hitherto performed.</p>
+
+<p>What had long been common law now became statute law. The old minimum of
+seven years&#8217; apprenticeship was still enjoined as a necessary preliminary
+to the exercise of any craft. Such apprentices when bound must be of an
+age less than twenty-one years, and could only be bound to householders in
+corporate or market towns. The proportion of journeymen to apprentices was
+regulated: there were to be three apprentices to one journeyman. The
+workman was protected from wilful dismissal. The hours of labour were
+defined, and Justices of the Peace or the town magistrates were to assess
+wages yearly at the Easter Sessions. All disputes between masters and
+servants were to be settled by the same authorities. The statute
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>incorporated everything that was worth taking in the ordinances of the
+Gilds and applied it nationally to the regulation of the country&#8217;s trade.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Trade-regulation becomes national instead of local.<br /><br />This allows development of new centres and encourages native workmen.</i></div>
+
+<p>The results of such a revolution in industrial regulation were great both
+on trade in general and on the Gilds. There was no longer any excuse for
+attempting to retard the development of the new centres which were
+springing up. The action of the government in the matter of the Welsh
+woollen trade to which reference will presently be made shows how its
+policy was tending more and more towards allowing industry to take its own
+course, instead of attempting to restrict it to one market.</p>
+
+<p>Another important result of the Act was the protection henceforth shown to
+the native in opposition to the alien workman. The aim of the government
+is now to regulate, protect, encourage, <i>native</i> industry: the objects of
+its desire in the past had been to provide plenty for the consumer and to
+increase the strength of the country by extending its capacity for
+production. The royal support accorded in consequence to Flemish and
+German traders had made them objects of bitter jealousy to the struggling
+English merchants<a name='fna_131' id='fna_131' href='#f_131'><small>[131]</small></a>. This feeling of antipathy to alien workmen may be
+traced from the reign of Richard II. It becomes very marked in that of
+Edward IV.<a name='fna_132' id='fna_132' href='#f_132'><small>[132]</small></a> The composition of the Mercers of Shrewsbury, dated
+1480-81, had forbidden the apprenticeship of anyone &#8220;that is of Frenshe,
+Flemyshe, Irysh, Douche, Walshe or eny<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> other Nacyones not beyng at Truse
+w<sup>t</sup> our Sov&#8217;ayne Lorde the Kynge, but onlye mere Englysshe borne.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The new policy inaugurated by the statute of Elizabeth is however not more
+national in its scope than in the preference it gives to native over
+foreign workmen.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Results on Gilds.<br /><br />Many come to an end.<br /><br />Many made more comprehensive.<br /><br />
+These sometimes come into conflict with royal officers.<br /><br />
+Many become state agents.<br /><br />
+Many new Gilds formed.</i></div>
+
+<p>The results on the Gilds were more diverse. Many came to an end. This was
+brought about through two causes: firstly, the need for many Gilds ceased
+in consequence of the government now taking over their functions;
+secondly, in many places the numerous Gilds were organized and amalgamated
+into one or two larger and amended corporations<a name='fna_133' id='fna_133' href='#f_133'><small>[133]</small></a>. On the other hand
+the encouragement now afforded to native workmen caused a great
+incorporation of new trades into many old Gilds, which became in
+consequence more comprehensive. In a large number of cases these performed
+their duties well for a long period. The new composition granted to the
+Barbers of Shrewsbury in 1662 places this fact upon record. Occasionally
+they came in conflict with the royal officers appointed to scrutinise the
+wares, as was the case with the Mercers and the Anager at one period of
+the company&#8217;s existence.</p>
+
+<p>Not a few became the authorised agents of the state. Several of the
+Shrewsbury Gilds were strengthened and encouraged with this object in
+view. New compositions were granted by Elizabeth to the Tailors and
+Skinners in 1563 (confirmed in the next year), to the Glovers in 1564 and
+to the Shearmen in 1566. The Drapers had also figured<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> in the Statute Book
+on two occasions. The Acts 8 Elizabeth, c. 7, and 14 Elizabeth, c. 12, had
+both been concerned with the affairs of the Drapers of Shrewsbury in their
+capacity of state agents for the regulation of industry<a name='fna_134' id='fna_134' href='#f_134'><small>[134]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>In 1605 the company of Drapers was incorporated by James I. and the Smiths
+in 1621. The Tailors received a composition in 1627 and another in 1686.
+The Tanners were regulated by a new composition in 1639, the Smiths in
+1661, the Barbers in 1662. The records of the Mercers contain entries of
+&#8220;cessments for renewing the Composition&#8221; in several years&mdash;1639, 1640,
+1644, 1646 etc.</p>
+
+<p>In many places of recent growth, or where the old Gilds had been destroyed
+without there having been any construction of fresh machinery to take
+their place, deliberate grants were made of new trade companies. The
+Merchant Adventurers of Exeter were incorporated by Elizabeth expressly
+for the purpose of supervising trade and &#8220;on account of the inconveniences
+arising from the excessive number of artificers and unskilled persons
+occupying the art or mystery of merchandising<a name='fna_135' id='fna_135' href='#f_135'><small>[135]</small></a>.&#8221; The charter which was
+granted &#8220;hominibus mistere Marceriorum&#8221; at York in 1581 allowed them to
+form themselves into a company under officers chosen with the consent of
+the municipal authorities: the evils which <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>necessitated the forming of
+the company being expressly stated to be such as had ensued from a lack of
+due regulation of trade<a name='fna_136' id='fna_136' href='#f_136'><small>[136]</small></a>. At Axbridge every householder, whether
+engaged in trade or not, was ordered, in 1614, to enrol himself in one of
+the three companies of the town<a name='fna_137' id='fna_137' href='#f_137'><small>[137]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Intimate connection with civic authorities.</i></div>
+
+<p>In all these charters care was taken that the new corporations should be
+in due subordination to the town authorities<a name='fna_138' id='fna_138' href='#f_138'><small>[138]</small></a>. In some places the
+Mayor or other officer of the town was <i>ex officio</i> head of the Gild.
+Sometimes it was granted to the &#8220;Mayor, bailiffs and commonalty and their
+successors for ever, that they shall and may from time to time ordain,
+create, and establish, a society, gild, or fraternity, of one master and
+wardens of every art, mystery and occupation used or occupied, or
+hereafter to be used or occupied, within the said city and the suburbs
+thereof; and that they with the assistance of the wardens of the said arts
+and mysteries may make, constitute, ordain and establish laws,
+constitutions and ordinances for the public utility and profit and for the
+better rule and regiment of our city of Winchester and of the mysteries of
+the citizens and inhabitants of the same<a name='fna_139' id='fna_139' href='#f_139'><small>[139]</small></a>.&#8221; Such power of supervision
+was generally allowed to the municipal authorities. The head of the Gild
+frequently took his oath of office before the Mayor. The Common<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> Council
+of the town had power to make such ordinances as it might think fit for
+the good estate, order and rule of the Gildsmen. In certain cases too the
+Mayor had power &#8220;to call and admitt unto the same Free Guild and
+Burgeshipp of the said Town such and soe many able and discreete persons
+as ... shall seeme fitt&#8221; and also &#8220;uppon any iust and lawful grounds and
+causes to disffranchise them<a name='fna_140' id='fna_140' href='#f_140'><small>[140]</small></a>.&#8221; Under these conditions the public
+authorities of the town would be ready to support the companies. In some
+cases they were expressly ordered to do so. At Shrewsbury we shall find
+the town Bailiffs assisting the companies in the efforts of the latter to
+prevent the encroachments of foreigners.</p>
+
+<p>What all this change and reform amounted to was this. The system of Gilds
+was re-organised and strengthened. Part of the functions which the Craft
+Gilds had performed were taken over by the state. Part were left to be
+still performed by the companies. The companies were in all cases brought
+into the closest possible connection with the town and the town
+authorities.</p>
+
+<p>As regards the designation of these 16th century trade associations it
+appears that they were generally termed societies or companies in public
+documents, probably because the name &#8220;Gild&#8221; might seem to savour somewhat
+of the Chantries and mass-priests. But in their own books and lists they
+still called themselves Gilds and fraternities.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The new companies show permanence of Gild-feeling.</i></div>
+
+<p>Though they differed essentially from these, as has been already pointed
+out, yet, viewed <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>superficially, they might seem to have retained many of
+the features of the old Gilds. In practice they bore no small share of the
+burden of public charities. They were also not unmindful of the wants of
+their members, though of course these now consisted of masters only.
+Elizabeth&#8217;s charter to the Merchant Adventurers of Bristol ordered them to
+distribute yearly among twenty poor men twenty &#8220;vestes panneas&#8221; and to
+assist all of the company who were impoverished by mischance or otherwise.</p>
+
+<p>In their ordinances and compositions they were even more similar in
+appearance to the old Gilds. The composition which Elizabeth granted to
+the Glovers of Shrewsbury in 1564 is as strict as any medi&aelig;val regulation.
+It restricted all masters to a maximum of three apprentices. It confined
+each brother to a single shop, and to the selling of the products of his
+own work only. It authorised the Wardens to seize corrupt or insufficient
+wares, and was altogether a most thorough piece of industrial regulation,
+entirely modelled on the lines of the old Gild arrangements.</p>
+
+<p>Other indications of the same spirit were not lacking. In 1621 &#8220;by and
+with the allowance and agreement of the right worthie&#8221; the town
+authorities, skins and fells were ordered to be purchased only between
+sunrise and sunset. As though the Wardens of the Barbers&#8217; company had not
+been sufficiently thorough in executing their duties the new composition
+which the company received from Charles II. in 1662 made provision for the
+appointment of a searcher and defined the duties appertaining to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>
+office. The composition granted to the Smiths in 1621 forbade the keeping
+of two shops by a single tradesman in the town, and disallowed the
+employment of foreigners for a longer period than a week without express
+permission obtained from the Wardens. The composition of the Tailors,
+granted in 1627, forbade the wearing of &#8220;any lyvere of any Earle Lorde
+Barronett Knight Esquire or Gentleman&#8221; while occupying any Gild office;
+prohibited unfair competition and the employment of foreigners; and
+ordered that &#8220;noe pettie Chapman or other p&#8217;son or p&#8217;sons shall buy any
+Skynnes of furre&#8221; within the town. In the composition of 1686 the articles
+are repeated against indiscriminate admittance of foreigners, and against
+the piratical infringement of unfree persons on the province of the
+brethren.</p>
+
+<p>The &#8220;Regulated Companies&#8221; which arose about the same time were a further
+development of the same movement, but on a larger scale. In many respects
+indeed the Craft Gilds of the 14th and 15th centuries were but little
+different from the Regulated Companies of the 17th. Admission was
+practically free on payment of a fine, the individual so received into
+membership being left to prosecute his trade in his own way, by his own
+means, and to his own particular profit.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Though altered conditions of trade make their work
+difficult.</i></div>
+
+<p>But the difficulties attendant on attempts to regulate expanding trade
+were daily growing greater and more numerous. &#8220;The false making and short
+lengths of all sortes of cloths and stuffes&#8221; necessitated the appointment
+by the Mercers of two men &#8220;to oversee and look after&#8221; these things in
+1638.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> The Barbers too in 1662 empowered the stewards to search for bad
+materials. In 1639 the Glovers&#8217; company was brought to something like a
+crisis &#8220;by the taking of many apprentices.&#8221; It was thought necessary to
+dock each brother of one of the apprentices allowed by the Elizabethan
+composition of 1564<a name='fna_141' id='fna_141' href='#f_141'><small>[141]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>The frequency with which it was necessary to renew the compositions, the
+reiteration of the same articles,&mdash;against employing foreigners, against
+unfair competition, against neglect of the legal period of
+apprenticeship,&mdash;again shows the futility of such restrictions. Actions
+against intruders even thus early figure frequently on the records. In
+those of the Tailors and Skinners the decision of the company under date
+of August 23, 1627, is recorded thus:&mdash;&#8220;The Wardens and Sitters met and
+agreed that the Wardens should fetch process for Intruders and implead
+them before the Council in the Marches, and Mr Chelmicke to draw the bill
+against them.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The history of the Welsh woollen trade in its connection with Shrewsbury
+well exhibits the economic policy of the day, and as it therefore
+illustrates several of the points with which we have been concerned it may
+be given here at some length.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The features of the period seen in history of Welsh woollen trade of Shrewsbury.<br /><br />
+Flourishing in reign of Elizabeth, but injured by over-regulation caused by selfish interests.</i></div>
+
+<p>In the earlier part of the 16th century Oswestry appears to have been the
+principal market for the Welsh products. At Shrewsbury however there was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
+also a large woollen trade, as we learn from the Act 8 Elizabeth, cap. 7,
+entitled, &#8220;An Act touching the Drapers, Cottoners, and Frizers of
+Shrewsbury.&#8221; This statute recited that there had been time out of mind a
+Gild of the art and mystery of Drapers legally incorporated in Shrewsbury,
+which had usually set on work above six hundred persons of the art or
+science of Shearmen or Frizers. Of late however it had come to pass that
+divers persons, not being members of the said company, neither brought up
+in the use of the said trade, had &#8220;with great disorder, upon a mere
+covetous desire and mind, intromitted with and occupied the said trade of
+buying Welsh cloth or lining, having no knowledge, experience or skill in
+the same.&#8221; The result is asserted to be that the men of the company are
+impoverished and like to be brought to ruin unless speedy remedy be
+provided. It is therefore forbidden that anyone inhabiting Shrewsbury
+shall &#8220;occupy the trade&#8221; of buying Welsh woollens, unless he be free of
+the company of the Drapers<a name='fna_142' id='fna_142' href='#f_142'><small>[142]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>Such a stringent regulation of trade met with directly contrary results to
+those which had been expected. A statute six years later acknowledges the
+failure of the measure, although it attempts to shift the blame from the
+shoulders of the Government by representing the measure as one taken at
+the request of the Drapers, instead of as a piece of state-craft<a name='fna_143' id='fna_143' href='#f_143'><small>[143]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>The statute of 14 Elizabeth, cap. 12, almost entirely repeals 8 Elizabeth,
+cap. 7, &#8220;at the humble suit of the inhabitants of the said town and also
+of the said artificers, for whose benefit the said Act was supposed to be
+provided<a name='fna_144' id='fna_144' href='#f_144'><small>[144]</small></a>.... For experience hath plainly taught in the said town that
+the said Act hath not only not brought the good effect that then was hoped
+and surmised, but also hath been and now is like to be the very greatest
+cause of the impoverishing and undoing of the poor Artificers and others
+at whose suit the said Act was procured, for that there be now, sithence
+the making of the said Act, much fewer persons to set them awork than
+afore.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The whole incident is extremely interesting. It affords an excellent
+illustration of the way in which the Gilds were in some places made state
+agents for carrying into effect 5 Elizabeth, cap. 14. It also shows
+plainly that state intervention was beginning to be found harmful even by
+the men of that day. It evidences, moreover, how large the Welsh trade of
+Shrewsbury had already grown.</p>
+
+<p>Oswestry however continued to be the chief emporium, and the Drapers of
+Shrewsbury repaired thither every Monday for a long period after the date
+of the statutes we have been considering.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Drapers&#8217; Company represents the interests of Shrewsbury in opposition to Oswestry, Chester, London; especially the last.</i></div>
+
+<p>The company of the Drapers was the most considerable and influential of
+the trade associations of Shrewsbury. It numbered among its brethren the
+great majority of the chief burgesses of the town. Its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> relations with the
+municipal corporation were, as would be expected, very intimate. It was
+the custom of the Drapers to attend divine worship in the church of St
+Alkmund before setting out for the Oswestry market. In 1614 an order was
+made for the payment of six and eightpence to the clerk of the church for
+ringing the morning bell to prayers on Monday mornings at six o&#8217;clock, not
+by the company as we should expect, but by the corporation<a name='fna_145' id='fna_145' href='#f_145'><small>[145]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>There arose considerable competition for the lucrative market which the
+expansion of Welsh industry was every day rendering more profitable. The
+inhabitants of Chester made a vigorous attempt to obtain the erection in
+their city of &#8220;a staple for the cottons and friezes of North Wales.&#8221;
+Shrewsbury was however enabled to prevent the completion of the
+scheme<a name='fna_146' id='fna_146' href='#f_146'><small>[146]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>The attempt of London to obtain a share in the trade seemed fraught with
+so much danger that the two rivals, Shrewsbury and Oswestry, made common
+cause against the intruder. The complaint was a general one that the
+merchants of London and their factors forestalled and engrossed
+productions before they came to market. These obnoxious practices seem to
+have been carried to a particularly distasteful length on the borders of
+Wales. The transactions of a London dealer named Thomas Davies in 1619
+appear to have brought matters to a crisis.</p>
+
+<p>There had been complaints about the same man,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> with others, previously. He
+had, by craft, obtained admission to the freedom of Oswestry, by which
+means he could the better purchase the Welsh cloths. These he then carried
+to London where he sold them &#8220;privately&#8221;<a name='fna_147' id='fna_147' href='#f_147'><small>[147]</small></a>&mdash;that is, not in the proper
+and public market. The Drapers of the two towns petitioned that the matter
+might be settled before the Council<a name='fna_148' id='fna_148' href='#f_148'><small>[148]</small></a>. Being foiled in his attempt to
+plead his freedom of Oswestry<a href='#f_148'><small>[148]</small></a> Davies appealed to the Lord Mayor and
+Corporation of the Metropolis to support his claims to trade throughout
+England in right of his citizenship of London<a name='fna_149' id='fna_149' href='#f_149'><small>[149]</small></a>. The order of the
+Council depriving the Londoners of what they called their &#8220;ancient
+privilege&#8221; evoked strenuous opposition in the Metropolis, and petitions
+numerously signed<a name='fna_150' id='fna_150' href='#f_150'><small>[150]</small></a> were sent in asserting that the Drapers of
+Shrewsbury and Oswestry had obtained the order by misrepresentation<a name='fna_151' id='fna_151' href='#f_151'><small>[151]</small></a>.
+It does not appear that these petitions were successful, as Thomas Davies
+in his examination before the Council a little later, expressed his
+willingness to resign his London freedom and to confine his dealings to
+Oswestry. The fear of creating a precedent which would be largely
+followed, and with probable detriment to the trade of Shrewsbury and
+Oswestry, restrained the Council from allowing him to do this<a name='fna_152' id='fna_152' href='#f_152'><small>[152]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>Not that the trade of Shrewsbury, at any rate,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> was likely to decrease
+through any apathy on the part of its company of Drapers. They were on the
+contrary singularly active at this time. And there was every need for them
+to be vigilant. For, with the object of stimulating the industry of the
+Principality by allowing a more extensive market, and probably also as a
+result of the recent proceedings between the Drapers of Shrewsbury and
+Oswestry and the citizens of London, a Proclamation was issued allowing
+free trade in Welsh cloths. The novelty pleased neither the Welshmen<a name='fna_153' id='fna_153' href='#f_153'><small>[153]</small></a>
+nor the merchants of the borders. To the latter the chief consequence
+seemed to be that the French company, which had the monopoly of exporting
+such goods to France, was enabled to purchase direct from the
+manufacturers in Wales instead of through the Drapers. The case was
+undoubtedly a hard one for the latter, who could not export. Consequently
+their grievance was a real one, and, as they showed in their petition to
+the Council, ruin stared them in the face unless they too might be allowed
+to export and so dispose of the large stock which was thrown on their
+hands<a name='fna_154' id='fna_154' href='#f_154'><small>[154]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>But at the same time they were successfully endeavouring to draw the Welsh
+trade from Oswestry entirely to Shrewsbury<a name='fna_155' id='fna_155' href='#f_155'><small>[155]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>They had prepared for the attempt by obtaining a new charter from
+Elizabeth&#8217;s successor in 1605. That they had lost no time in putting their
+privileges to practical use is seen from their answer, four years later,
+to a mandate issued to them by Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, who held
+the overlordship of Oswestry, to desist from their efforts to undermine
+the trade of his town. Their answer is entitled &#8220;The Copy of a Letter sent
+by the Company to the Earle of Suffolk, Lord Chamberlen of his Majesties
+Househoulde, the 24 June 1609,&#8221; and begins</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>&#8220;Right Honerabell,</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Your letter bearing date the second of this June by the hands of Mr
+Kinaston wee have receaved: wherein ytt appeareth yo<sup>r</sup> Lordship was
+informed that wee the Societie of Drapers wentt abowte by underarte
+and menesses to withdrawe your markett of Walshe Clothe from your
+towne of Oswester.&#8221;</p></div>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>All competitors worsted.</i></div>
+
+<p>Though they proceed to exculpate themselves from the charge, it is evident
+their intention was to pursue in the future the same policy which they had
+hitherto practised. In 1618 Suffolk fell and Oswestry was deprived of his
+support, so that in 1621 the Shrewsbury Drapers felt justified in
+resolving &#8220;That they will not buy Cloth at Oswestry or elsewhere than
+Salop,&#8221; in spite of the opposition of the clothiers of North Wales<a name='fna_156' id='fna_156' href='#f_156'><small>[156]</small></a>,
+who, whether from convenience or old association, appeared to prefer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>
+Oswestry as the locale of their market. However the Drapers&#8217; company,
+assisted by the town<a name='fna_157' id='fna_157' href='#f_157'><small>[157]</small></a>, was sufficiently powerful to turn the
+Proclamation allowing free trade in Welsh cloths to their own good, and
+the market was drawn to Shrewsbury in spite of orders by the Council that
+it should be re-established at Oswestry. The company did not hesitate to
+declare to the Council itself that they were prepared, if necessary, to
+disregard its orders. By 1633 the market at Oswestry had practically died
+out. It was held at Shrewsbury on Wednesdays, and afterwards on Fridays.
+In 1649 the date was altered to Thursday.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Expansion of trade, and interlopers, destroy Shrewsbury&#8217;s monopoly.</i></div>
+
+<p>To the Market House flocked the Welsh farmers, their bales of cloth being
+borne to the town on the backs of hardy ponies. The merchandise was
+exposed for sale in the large room upstairs. The Drapers assembled
+beneath, and proceeded to make their purchases in order of seniority,
+according to ancient usage. The custom which the Welshmen brought to the
+town easily accounts for the keenness of the competition to secure the
+market. For a long time the trade flourished. Gradually however the action
+of &#8220;foreigners&#8221; in buying from the Welsh manufacturers at their homes<a name='fna_158' id='fna_158' href='#f_158'><small>[158]</small></a>
+broke down the monopoly which Shrewsbury had so long enjoyed. At the end
+of the 18th century the sales had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> shrunk to miserable proportions. In
+1803 the room over the market was relinquished by the Drapers, and though
+a certain amount of Welsh trade was still carried on, it withdrew
+gradually from the town until it finally left Shrewsbury altogether. The
+Drapers might have realised that the time for restricting trade to the
+freemen of their company was past.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+<p class="title">THE DEGENERACY OF THE COMPANIES.</p>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Outside competition</i></div>
+
+<p>The competition of &#8220;interlopers&#8221; ruined the Welsh trade of Shrewsbury. It
+was not, as we have seen, from any lack of vigilance on the part of the
+companies. Stimulated by their new compositions they became extremely
+active. As early as 1622 the actions against &#8220;foreigners&#8221; begin. Soon
+afterwards they become of frequent occurrence until at length the books of
+the companies are almost mere records of a daily struggle for existence.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>inevitable under the altered conditions of trade.<br /><br />
+But the companies themselves are unsatisfactory.<br /><br />
+Friction with the town authorities;</i></div>
+
+<p>This was of course inevitable under the altered conditions of trade. But
+the companies exhibited in themselves all the radical defects which must
+pertain to such a system when it has outgrown its necessity. We have seen
+how free the earlier companies were from friction with the municipal
+authorities. In the 17th century this is changed. The propriety of setting
+up a May-pole had formerly been almost the only ground of conflict between
+the bailiffs and the craftsmen. But in 1639 we find that the Tanners were
+thought to be overstepping their powers; the corporation appointed a
+committee to examine their composition. Some seventeen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> years later,
+extreme measures had to be taken with regard to the same company. It was
+the custom for the charters to be inspected by the corporation
+periodically. In 1656 the Tanners refused to comply with the request to
+produce their composition for the mayor&#8217;s perusal, with the result that
+the company was prosecuted by the corporation<a name='fna_159' id='fna_159' href='#f_159'><small>[159]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>The town had been willing to support the Drapers in their measures to draw
+the Welsh trade to Shrewsbury, but it did not approve of the line of
+action they tried subsequently to take, namely, to limit all the trade to
+their own members. In 1653 regulations were framed to prevent the company
+&#8220;forestalling or engrossing the Welsh Flannels, Cloaths etc.<a name='fna_160' id='fna_160' href='#f_160'><small>[160]</small></a>&#8221; A more
+serious abuse transpired in connection with the Feltmakers&#8217; company in
+1667. They refused to make one who had been lawfully apprenticed to the
+trade in Shrewsbury free of their company. On this occasion the mayor and
+aldermen exercised their right of supervision by ordering the Wardens to
+admit the man, &#8220;and the Mayor is desired to give him the oath of a Freeman
+of the said Company<a name='fna_161' id='fna_161' href='#f_161'><small>[161]</small></a>.&#8221; The importance of the mayor being thus
+empowered by the municipal authorities to administer the oath of
+admittance to one of the Gilds is very great, and shows how real was the
+subordination of the latter to the town when the corporation chose to
+exert its rights.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>An order of the corporation<a name='fna_162' id='fna_162' href='#f_162'><small>[162]</small></a> directing that burgesses only are to be
+elected Wardens of the companies points to another abuse, the existence of
+which is proved by other evidence, viz., the admittance of non-residents
+in the town to membership in the companies on payment of a sufficiently
+large entrance fee. Yet the extent to which corruption could go was seen
+forty years later when the corporation stultified itself by passing an
+order<a name='fna_163' id='fna_163' href='#f_163'><small>[163]</small></a> allowing the Haberdashers to elect persons, though they might
+not be burgesses, as Wardens of their company.</p>
+
+<p>The general impression which such transactions leave is that extreme
+laxity prevailed in all departments. The town woke up for a moment in 1702
+when the prospect perhaps of a harvest of unpaid fines induced them to
+make an effort to recover all such<a name='fna_164' id='fna_164' href='#f_164'><small>[164]</small></a>. It is to be regretted that
+nothing remains to show to what extent the abuse had prevailed, nor how
+far the present effort was successful. The annual fine of the Bakers&#8217;
+company was &pound;3. 6<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i> which they appear to have generally paid with
+considerable reluctance<a name='fna_165' id='fna_165' href='#f_165'><small>[165]</small></a>. The supply of provision to the town seems to
+have given much trouble in the early years of the eighteenth century.
+Permission was given, in 1730, to the country butchers to sell in the town
+unless the town butchers could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> furnish meat in sufficient quantity.
+Similar permission was accorded to the country bakers, if the Bakers&#8217;
+company in the town would not pay their yearly fine. This they were
+unwilling, or unable, to do, and the country bakers were in consequence
+called in<a name='fna_166' id='fna_166' href='#f_166'><small>[166]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>with one another,</i></div>
+
+<p>The picture given by such incidents is not more significant of the
+degeneracy of the Gilds than is that which the friction of the companies
+one with another presents. The Mercers and the Drapers had frequently made
+mutual complaints of intrusion: the Mercers and the Glovers also appear as
+great rivals in later years. In 1679 and at several subsequent dates there
+were actions at law between the two companies. In 1727 the records of the
+Glovers show that similar actions were again in process. In 1721 the
+company unanimously agreed to withstand the Tailors in the matter of widow
+Steen, whom they pledge themselves to support; &#8220;and that shee may goe on
+with makeing Brichess peruided shee dos not line them with flonen or
+Buckrom or cennet onlye Lether.&#8221;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>and with their own members.</i></div>
+
+<p>Nor is the evidence of intestine friction within the Gilds themselves less
+significant of decay. So early as 1636 the Mercers were fain to confess
+that the spirit of mutual assistance had disappeared, in the order which
+they passed to the effect that any combrother refusing to pay his
+assessment was to be distrained upon by authority of the Wardens. There
+are several records of such distraints. In 1700 they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> find it necessary to
+pass an ordinance against freemen taking the sons of intruders as
+apprentices. The records of the other companies are, similarly, full of
+like evidences of demoralisation. The companies are declared to be
+impoverished by the taking of inordinate numbers of apprentices. The same
+sort of abuse is found in a complaint which appears in the Glovers&#8217; books
+in 1656: &#8220;the company is much impoverished by the taking in of foreigners
+freemen such as have not served&#8221; their due apprenticeship. &#8220;The disorderly
+manner of electing Wardens&#8221; about which the Glovers have to &#8220;take account&#8221;
+in 1668 points to a great deterioration in the manner of holding Gild
+meetings from that which has been sketched in a previous chapter<a name='fna_167' id='fna_167' href='#f_167'><small>[167]</small></a>.
+Worse than all is the confession that the Gild brothers have sunk so low
+as to connive at intruders &#8220;for fraudulent lucre and gain<a name='fna_168' id='fna_168' href='#f_168'><small>[168]</small></a>.&#8221; The
+Saddlers have the same sort of complaint in 1740. Some brethren are
+infringing on the trades of others: resolutions are passed against such
+conduct. Their books show that the resolutions were soon forgotten<a name='fna_169' id='fna_169' href='#f_169'><small>[169]</small></a>.
+The other Gilds experienced similar difficulties. In 1745 the Barbers
+levied a fine of ten shillings on brethren who should so far forget
+themselves as to instruct &#8220;men or women servants to dress hair.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The problem of regulating trade would have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> difficult enough under
+the most favourable circumstances. With the Gilds in the condition which
+we have been considering it was an impossibility. There was indeed a
+feature in the modern companies which at the outset deprived the attempt
+to utilise them beneficially for trade-purposes of all chance of success.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Gilds have changed to capitalist companies.</i></div>
+
+<p>The old Gilds, which had lived through the shocks of the Reformation, and
+the Elizabethan changes, had quite altered their character. The new ones
+which had arisen differed widely from the old fraternities. Instead of
+being brotherhoods of craftsmen desirous of advancing the public weal,
+they were now mere societies of capitalists, intent only on private and
+personal advantage. As a writer of 1680 observes &#8220;most of our ancient
+Corporations and Guilds [have] become oppressive Oligarchies<a name='fna_170' id='fna_170' href='#f_170'><small>[170]</small></a>.&#8221; There
+is a constant endeavour to restrict the companies to favoured individuals.
+Every &#8220;foreigner&#8221; is subjected to a heavy fine, which grows larger in
+amount as the companies feel the trade slipping from their hands in spite
+of their desperate endeavours to restrict it. The new compositions
+continually point to this abuse by bringing back the fines to their
+original sum, or rather reducing them to an amount less inordinate than
+that which they have irregularly reached. The admission stamp of the
+Saddlers was 4/- in 1784. It reached 8/2 in 1799. In 1831 it was 20/2. The
+Mercers&#8217; fine was fixed at &pound;40. 6<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i> in 1789, &#8220;besides fees.&#8221; In
+1823 it had sunk to &pound;20.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> The Mercers were of course one of the richest of
+the companies, yet the sum was a large one to pay for the privilege of
+opening a shop in a provincial town.</p>
+
+<p>Other means to restrict themselves were also attempted. Increase in the
+number of apprentices was viewed with disfavour. There are frequent
+complaints of the &#8220;impoverishment&#8221; of the companies through the
+indiscriminate admittance of &#8220;foreigners.&#8221; All the evidence shows how
+entirely they have degenerated into mere societies of capitalists. Their
+records almost decline into bald columns of pounds, shillings and pence.
+For it was to this completeness of degradation that the social body had
+sunk. The merest selfishness was lauded as a patriotic virtue. Private
+gain was recommended as a public benefit. Social disintegration and
+industrial anarchy ruled supreme, and when commercial success had come to
+be looked upon as the one avenue to honour and advancement, it was not to
+be expected that the companies would escape the general infection. They
+formed simply one among many means by which the individual was enabled to
+fill his own pockets at the cost of a suffering and squalid populace.</p>
+
+<p>This change in their character, which became more marked as time went by,
+naturally was not unattended by a change in their government. All
+authority became engrossed by the richer members. The Four Assistants with
+the Wardens and Stewards formed a close aristocratic board. Brentano,
+speaking it would appear more particularly of the London<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> companies,
+says<a name='fna_171' id='fna_171' href='#f_171'><small>[171]</small></a> the king nominated the first members of this court and
+afterwards as vacancies occurred they were filled by co-optation. This was
+not exactly the case with the Shrewsbury companies. There the annual
+meeting<a name='fna_172' id='fna_172' href='#f_172'><small>[172]</small></a> retained a considerable power in the election of officers to
+the last. In some cases the Assistants or Four Men were elected freely by
+the assembled combrethren, in others two only were thus elected, the two
+retiring Wardens completing the number. The Tailors&#8217; composition of 1563
+provided that the two Wardens should be elected by the whole Gild: the
+Four Assistants were then nominated by these Wardens &#8220;for advising them in
+the Government of the Gild.&#8221; The Wardens and Assistants then proceeded to
+nominate the two Stewards.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The companies and the close corporations.</i></div>
+
+<p>They were thus as exclusive and aristocratic as the town corporations had
+become. The degeneracy of the latter had been largely intensified by the
+degeneracy of the former. For the principal members of the companies were
+the principal members of the town corporation, which had silently, since
+the fourteenth century, been usurping the ancient powers of the general
+body of the burgesses. It was the companies which mainly profited by it.
+They profited indirectly, by the influence which they exercised through
+individual members on the town council, which had obtained part of the
+functions of the Leet. They profited directly as they themselves acquired
+definitely other of the powers of the Court Leet. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> became the chief
+or the sole medium for the acquisition of municipal freedom, and were
+distinct town organs for the regulation of trade and industry.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The journeymen no longer in the companies.</i></div>
+
+<p>It is by reason of the widely-reaching influence of their degeneracy that
+their later history is of importance. For as regards the poorer members of
+society their history is useless. The workman disappears from their books.
+That he no longer was looked upon as the brother member of the masters is
+quite evident.</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;Our workmen do work hard, but we live at ease,<br />
+We go when we will, and we come when we please<a name='fna_173' id='fna_173' href='#f_173'><small>[173]</small></a>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>They begin to form benefit societies, animated by much of the
+old Gild-spirit.</i></div>
+
+<p>The most general means which the poor adopted to help themselves was the
+formation of Friendly Societies. These arose in great numbers during the
+18th century. The companies were not slow in helping to swell public
+subscriptions and in assisting to pauperise the labouring class. To the
+necessity of rendering real help to their unfortunate workmen they were
+however entirely oblivious. This side of the work performed by the old
+Gilds had been almost wholly overlooked by the post-reformation companies,
+though it had been one of the most important of their predecessors&#8217;
+functions. It was found that society could not get along without something
+of the kind, and as the higher companies would not perform the work, the
+lower craftsmen found it necessary to do it themselves. Here was a
+distinct severance of interest between employers and workmen, yet it does
+not seem unlikely that it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> the old Gilds themselves which formed the
+models for the new societies. At any rate the analogies between the Gilds
+and the Benefit Societies, in the earlier phases of the latter, and
+looking at the social and religious side of the former, are very
+striking<a name='fna_174' id='fna_174' href='#f_174'><small>[174]</small></a>. The simple rules of trade association show as much concern
+for the morals of members as did the charters of the Gilds: they had their
+annual feast, provided by subscription: they usually went in their
+procession to the parish church on the day of the feast. They were perhaps
+the earliest signs of that necessary return to something like the old Gild
+system which the later Trades Unions have done so much to bring about. The
+companies watched them grow up without a twinge of conscience, though it
+was their own neglect of duty which made such associations an absolute
+necessity. Being the only forms of combination which were left unmolested
+by the government they were extensively formed, and this was well, for the
+need of them was very great.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Difficulties of reform; members would not, state would not,
+the town authorities would not.</i></div>
+
+<p>In spite of unmistakeable signs of inevitable changes the companies
+refused to take warning. Their reform was indeed difficult, and, as it
+proved, impossible. The workmen as we have seen could not, the masters
+would not, take steps in this direction. The state derived too good an
+income from them to be anxious for a change. The admission stamps,
+constantly increasing in amount, were a profitable source of revenue. The
+notices of &#8220;cessments for renewing the composition&#8221; are frequent.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> There
+were also continual contributions of men and money for the &#8220;exigencies of
+the State<a name='fna_175' id='fna_175' href='#f_175'><small>[175]</small></a>.&#8221; In 1798 the Mercers voted &pound;100 annually to the government
+&#8220;during the continuance of the war.&#8221; The town also seemed to profit by
+them. They were obliged, some of them at all events, to exhibit their
+compositions annually or periodically to the mayor and pay a customary
+fine on doing so. They continued to be of some service to the community in
+the inefficient condition of the public police. Their social utility to
+the town was also in their favour. In 1608 the corporation provided
+materials in case of fire, when each of the companies was required to
+maintain its proper proportion of hooks and buckets. Entries relating to
+the &#8220;spout or water engine&#8221; are frequent in their records. In aid of
+procuring public benefits the companies were not backward. Their chests
+were readily opened to assist towards improvements in the town, such as
+widening of streets, erection of bridges and the like.</p>
+
+<p>To the last also they preserved something of their charitable character,
+though its exercise was as open to criticism as other forms of poor relief
+during the eighteenth century. Nevertheless if the membership lists of the
+Drapers and the Mercers could be made public they would be found to
+contain the majority of the public benefactors of Shrewsbury during this
+period. Public charities, such as the Infirmary and the Lancaster School
+received annual subscriptions until the companies came to an end.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> The
+necessity of continuing the annuities to the inmates of S. Chad&#8217;s
+almshouses formed a chief argument against the dissolution of the Mercers&#8217;
+company. &#8220;The Worshipful Company of Drapers&#8221; still subscribes to schools
+and charities year by year.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Contemporaneous opinion of the companies.</i></div>
+
+<p>In these circumstances we cannot wonder that the old companies found many
+champions. The following letter is valuable as affording a view of the
+contemporaneous opinion held of the Gilds by a man of ordinary common
+sense and average education. It appeared in the <i>Salopian Journal</i> of
+August 27, 1823. It was evoked by a decision of the Judges of Assize in
+favour of the Mercers&#8217; company in an important case to which reference
+will be made in a later page. It was addressed to the editor of the
+newspaper and commenced&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>&#8220;<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,</p>
+
+<p>As the Company commonly called &#8216;the United Company of Mercers,
+Grocers, Ironmongers, and Goldsmiths&#8217; in this town have established
+the validity of their ancient customs by a suit at law of which there
+is no account of their having done so since the time when the King&#8217;s
+Court for the Marches of Wales was held at Ludlow; at which time and
+place the Council then, who held the pleas, determined also a like
+suit in their favour: and as there is much argument for and against
+the existence and usage of this incorporate body; permit me to lay
+before the public an outline of both, that the subject at least might
+be better understood than we often hear it repeated. It is contended
+against, as exercising an arbitrary monopoly of trade, to the
+detriment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> and oppression of the subjects of the realm; and which is
+moreover injurious to the town itself, by depriving the Trade thereof
+of that competition which brings down the Articles of manufacture to a
+fair marketable value for the supply of its inhabitants. These are the
+charges against them, which if indeed they could be substantiated
+would be sufficient to show that their existence was an evil. But let
+us look at the facts on the other side of the question, and see
+whether there is any reality in these serious charges. In the first
+place the Companies hold it requisite, in order to be free of their
+body, that all but the sons of Freemen shall serve a regular
+apprenticeship to one of the Corporation. Now in this they have been
+sanctioned and dictated to by the ancient law of the land ... that
+youths might be properly taught their respective arts, and that the
+community might not be imposed upon by pretenders to that which they
+were not properly acquainted with.</p>
+
+<p>On Foreigners or such as have not served a regular apprenticeship they
+impose a fine of &pound;20, before they will admit them as freemen, and
+certainly in doing this they do not over-rate a seven years&#8217;
+servitude, when the one is made equivalent to the other.</p>
+
+<p>Let us now see to the application of the money. A fund is made of it,
+somewhat similar to &#8216;Benefit Societies.&#8217; No part of it is applied to
+private purposes; for even the Company&#8217;s annual feast, about which
+there is so much said, is not always at the expense of the fund, but
+[is] borne individually; and the utility of such a feast to promote
+harmony and goodwill, is acknowledged by all Societies<a name='fna_176' id='fna_176' href='#f_176'><small>[176]</small></a>. But
+further, these funds are confined<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> to the relief of decayed and
+deserving members of the Companies<a name='fna_177' id='fna_177' href='#f_177'><small>[177]</small></a>, and to every charitable and
+public emergency wherein the general interest or welfare of the town
+is concerned; and their annual disbursements, for centuries past, have
+been regularly serviceable to the community at large as well as to
+individual cases of distress. This the account of their expenditure
+will show. Now, then this monopoly, as it is called, extends no
+further than to exact an apprenticeship of seven years, or to a fine
+of &pound;20; the former sanctioned by law and the latter a sum of no
+comparative amount to a respectable person, desirous of establishing a
+respectable trade, especially if there be any truth in the argument,
+that goods are sold by this corporate body for more money than they
+would be, if no such corporation existed. Neither can the fine be
+called excessive, because it is added to a stock which he from whom it
+is exacted directs in common to be applied to the common good; and
+which he may himself, as many others have done in cases of distress,
+receive back again with large additions.</p>
+
+<p>But the increased population of Birmingham and Manchester is brought
+forward as a proof of towns flourishing where trade is what is called
+<i>free</i>. Let us look a little into this argument. Are not the wares
+vended in these places proverbially <i>bad</i>? Do not all manner of
+imposters from these places deluge the country with their spurious
+goods, and impose them upon the unwary part of the public? Are these
+towns to be compared with London, Liverpool, Bristol, for
+respectability of their trade, for the goodness and cheapness of their
+articles, when the quality is taken into account?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> Yet the trade of
+these latter towns is regulated by corporations.</p>
+
+<p>I contend therefore that the Corporation in question is <i>beneficial</i>
+to this town and county, inasmuch as it tends to protect it from the
+inundations of empirics and imposters, while it holds out no hindrance
+to the fair and honest dealer who has a mind to compete with its
+respectable tradesmen and settle amongst them. I am not in trade
+myself; but hope I shall always see my native town preserved from that
+sort of population which it has never yet been disgraced with.</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">I have the honour to be, Mr Editor,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 8em;">In technical language,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;"><span class="smcap">A Combrother of the Guild</span>.</span></p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Shrewsbury</span>, Aug. 22, 1823.&#8221;</span></p></div>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+<p class="title">SHREWSBURY SHOW.</p>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Characteristic features of the Middle Ages.</i></div>
+
+<p>A strange glamour hangs around the Middle Ages. We know so little of man&#8217;s
+actual life in those years,&mdash;and what little we do know seems to partake
+so largely of the mysterious and the picturesque&mdash;all, his modes of life
+and manners of thought are so far removed from our own,&mdash;that medi&aelig;val
+history would easily resolve itself into an enchanting pageant bright with
+its colour and bewildering with its contradictions. It is perhaps in the
+strange contrasts which are presented to us that its chief wonder is
+found. In those years we find lust and rapine, and sacrilege and tyranny,
+side by side with the fairest forms of chivalry<a name='fna_178' id='fna_178' href='#f_178'><small>[178]</small></a>, the most devoted
+readiness to champion the cause of religion, the firmest attachment to the
+forms of law<a name='fna_179' id='fna_179' href='#f_179'><small>[179]</small></a>. We see only the prominent lights and the great shadows
+of the picture, but all that should go to make it human and comprehensible
+to us is hidden under the dust of centuries.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>We have noticed the existence of something of this contradictory spirit in
+the view we have had of the early Gilds<a name='fna_180' id='fna_180' href='#f_180'><small>[180]</small></a>. The elevated ideal which
+they set before their members must of course have been far above the level
+which was ever actually reached. We may smile at their vain attempts after
+the impossible, yet we cannot but allow that their perseverance betokens
+the widespread acceptance of a nobler conception of human life than is
+common in our own too merely practical age. To the men of those days there
+seemed no great incongruity in the lofty ideals of the Gild-compositions
+and the lower standard which the brethren actually attained. It added but
+another to the many striking contrasts which environed their daily life.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Fondness for pageantry.<br /><br />Its social importance.</i></div>
+
+<p>That life was one passed largely in dulness and perhaps comparative
+squalor. But the occasions of colour and merriment were not few. Each
+season had its festivities, social and religious, when rich and poor met
+on something like equal ground in the rude merry-making. This feature in
+ordinary life was not without its social importance, and if only for this
+reason no account of the Gilds would be complete which failed to take
+notice of their processions and, in so doing, of the general life and
+habits of the brethren at the different epochs of Gild history. We have
+now nothing to take the place of those occasions of mutual enjoyment and
+mirth, when &#8220;ceremony doff&#8217;d his pride&#8221; without censure, when the bashful
+apprentice might perhaps tread a measure with his master&#8217;s daughter, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
+when the condescending mistress of the house might even allow herself to
+be led out for a dance by one or other of her goodman&#8217;s journeymen.</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;A Christmas gambol oft would cheer<br />
+A poor man&#8217;s heart through half the year<a name='fna_181' id='fna_181' href='#f_181'><small>[181]</small></a>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Corpus Christi procession.</i></div>
+
+<p>We have already seen how important an influence religious feelings had in
+the actions of the Gilds. Among the yearly festivals the feast of Corpus
+Christi soon became one of the most splendid for pomp and pageantry, and
+to it the Gilds were naturally attracted. Some indeed existed with the
+primary object of ensuring the glory of this particular feast. Most
+important of these was the Corpus Christi Gild at York<a name='fna_182' id='fna_182' href='#f_182'><small>[182]</small></a>. The Gild of
+the Holy Trinity, also at York, concerned itself with the annual
+production of a religious play illustrating the Lord&#8217;s Prayer. The Gilds
+of S. Helen (which represented the Invention of the Cross), of S. Mary,
+and of Corpus Christi, at Beverley<a name='fna_183' id='fna_183' href='#f_183'><small>[183]</small></a>, were other famous fraternities
+with similar objects. At Stamford was one which maintained a secular
+play<a name='fna_184' id='fna_184' href='#f_184'><small>[184]</small></a>. In most towns in England it became the custom for the Gilds,
+each with its banners and insignia, to accompany the Corpus Christi
+procession: in some places the event seems to have become especially
+picturesque. At Coventry<a name='fna_185' id='fna_185' href='#f_185'><small>[185]</small></a> and also at Shrewsbury, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> procession has
+lasted in some sort down to our own day<a name='fna_186' id='fna_186' href='#f_186'><small>[186]</small></a>. At the former city Lady
+Godiva has even lately ridden, though at fitful and uncertain intervals:
+at the latter town, although the procession has now become a thing of the
+past, it is little more than a decade since &#8220;Shrewsbury Show&#8221; was to be
+seen annually, on the Monday following the feast of Corpus Christi,
+passing along under the eaves of the timbered houses of the old border
+town.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The pageants of the Gilds.</i></div>
+
+<p>The prominence which the charters of the Shrewsbury Gilds gave to the
+procession has been sufficiently pointed out already. Every care was taken
+to secure its fitting glory and splendour. Among the goods of the
+companies which the inventories name are &#8220;Baners,&#8221; &#8220;Baners for ye
+Mynstrellys werying,&#8221; &#8220;skukions for my&#8217;strells,&#8221; &#8220;torches,&#8221; &#8220;coots of
+sense,&#8221; &#8220;stondarts of mayle,&#8221; &#8220;other pec&#8217;s of mayle,&#8221; besides many swords
+and halberts, and the like. These various properties decked out the
+pageant which each Gild contributed to the common procession. It was
+exhibited by means of a wooden scaffold on wheels, differing probably but
+little in appearance from the drays or trollies which were utilised in
+later years. Dugdale in his <i>Antiquities of Warwickshire</i> relates that
+&#8220;before the suppression of the Monasteries this city<a name='fna_187' id='fna_187' href='#f_187'><small>[187]</small></a> was very famous
+for the pageants that were played therein upon Corpus Christi Day; which,
+occasioning very great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> confluence of people thither from far and near,
+was of no small benefit thereto: which pageants being acted with mighty
+state and reverence by the friars of this house had theaters for the
+several scenes, very large and high, placed upon wheels, and drawn to all
+the eminent parts of the city for the better advantage of the spectators.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>At Shrewsbury there appears never to have been an elaborate miracle play
+presented by the crafts<a name='fna_188' id='fna_188' href='#f_188'><small>[188]</small></a>. Most likely the Show early took that form
+which it exhibited in the later times of which we have more definite
+record. The Gilds of the town walked in the procession, each member
+bearing, in medi&aelig;val days, a light &#8220;in honour of the Blessed Sacrament,&#8221;
+the officers wearing their liveries and carrying the banners and other
+insignia, and thus escorting a tableau more or less appropriate to the
+craft. No small expense and even taste appears to have been expended on
+these representations, though their precise suitability it is in some
+cases difficult to appreciate. Before Reformation times the tableaux were
+generally of a biblical or ecclesiastical nature: after the 16th century
+they were usually mythological or historical. Thus the Tailors were
+presided over by Adam and Eve &#8220;the first of their craft,&#8221; or by Queen
+Elizabeth in ruffles of right royal magnitude. The Shearmen or
+Clothworkers had a personation of bishop Blasius, with a black mitre of
+wool and doubtless also the wool-comb with which he had been tortured at
+his martyrdom. The place of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> saint was subsequently usurped by the
+king&mdash;Edward IV., who was remembered as having especially cultivated the
+good offices of the wool-merchants. The Skinners and Glovers were ruled by
+the king of Morocco, whose &#8220;Cote&#8221; was an expensive item in their accounts;
+they had also an elaborate mechanical stag accompanied by huntsmen
+sounding bugle blasts. The Smiths were appropriately represented by
+Vulcan, or a knight in black armour &#8220;supported by two attendants who
+occasionally fired off blunderbusses.&#8221; The Painters were accustomed to
+find their best representative of later years in a cheery-looking Rubens
+brandishing palette and brush, while the Bricklayers, for some occult
+reason, considered themselves adequately represented by bluff king Hal.
+The twin saints Crispin and Crispianus patronised the Shoemakers, and S.
+Katharine (at a spinning wheel) the Barbers. Venus and Ceres presided over
+the Bakers.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Reformation.<br /><br />Mary.</i></div>
+
+<p>At the Reformation the Corpus Christi procession became shorn of its
+splendour even before it altogether ceased under Edward VI. With Mary&#8217;s
+attempt to revive the old order efforts were made to restore the Show in
+its pristine grandeur, though Edward VI.&#8217;s pillaging of the Gilds had
+rendered the furnishing of the lights and vestments a matter of serious
+difficulty. At Shrewsbury the municipal authorities endeavoured to keep up
+the mystery plays by means of contributions from the various companies.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Elizabeth.</i></div>
+
+<p>The accession of Elizabeth was not likely to do any harm to the plays and
+pageants, though the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> outward reason for their performance might be
+changed. Elizabeth fully perceived the political and social usefulness of
+such festivities: her provincial progresses were a succession of brilliant
+shows and interludes which served a useful purpose in diverting the
+nation&#8217;s attention from the graver dangers which threatened England during
+the queen&#8217;s eventful reign. Elizabeth was also naturally fond of gaiety
+and wit, and the tone of the people from the highest to the lowest was
+dramatic. The Court had its &#8220;master of the revels,&#8221; the Universities and
+Inns of Court had their regular plays. Interludes were provided for the
+queen&#8217;s entertainment as she moved from town to town both at the houses of
+the higher gentry and by the common people. They were indeed the ordinary
+means by which honour was paid to any very distinguished visitor.</p>
+
+<p>The Shrewsbury playwright was Thomas Ashton the first master of the
+grammar school. His theatre was the open ground without the walls, the
+Quarrell or Quarry. The season of the year at which these performances of
+Thomas Ashton took place was Whitsuntide, at which time Chester was also
+engaged in its more famous productions. It is to be regretted that no
+records<a name='fna_189' id='fna_189' href='#f_189'><small>[189]</small></a> remain of these Shrewsbury plays, or a valuable addition
+might be made to the scanty collections of such antiquities which have
+been made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> public. These academic entertainments did not supplant the old
+annual procession (the date of which was transferred to the Monday
+following the feast of Corpus Christi) which continued apparently until
+the power of the Puritans became too strong to admit of its longer
+existence. Already that influence was at work, and Elizabeth had many
+detractors among those of the stricter persuasion. The character of their
+sternness, as well as the nature of their dissatisfaction at the gaiety
+which Elizabeth fostered, is well exemplified at Shrewsbury in the
+incident of the Shearmen&#8217;s tree. The event is also noteworthy as being the
+only occasion until later days on which anything like friction occurred
+between the companies and the municipal corporation<a name='fna_190' id='fna_190' href='#f_190'><small>[190]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Shearmen&#8217;s tree.</i></div>
+
+<p>The woollen trade, as we have seen<a name='fna_191' id='fna_191' href='#f_191'><small>[191]</small></a>, gave occupation to a very large
+number of Shearmen. These belonged to the more unskilled class of
+labourers, the work they performed being simply that of preparing the wool
+for the later stages of manufacture. They were precisely the class to fail
+to appreciate the religious changes, and such as would be likely to resort
+to the physical force argument on any occasion. It was also to such men
+that the revelry of Christmastide, Maytime, and the like were most
+
+precious. Their life was a hard and colourless one, and they would for
+this reason cling desperately to the old occasions of merriment. The
+festival which appears to have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> been particularly odious to the Puritans
+was that of May Day, when, Stow<a name='fna_192' id='fna_192' href='#f_192'><small>[192]</small></a> tells us, it was the custom for the
+citizens &#8220;of all estates&#8221; to have their &#8220;Mayings,&#8221; and to &#8220;fetch in
+Maypoles, with divers warlike shows, with good archers, morris dancers,
+and other devices for pastime all the day long; and toward the evening
+they had stage plays, and bonfires in the streets.&#8221; To the youth of the
+town it was a sufficiently harmless summer holiday. To the precise it was
+plainly and purely a heathen survival. At Shrewsbury they were early in
+active antagonism to it. In 1583 there occurred &#8220;soom contrav&#8217;sie about
+the settinge upp of maye poales and bonfyers mackinge and erection of
+treese before the sherman&#8217;s haule and other places<a name='fna_193' id='fna_193' href='#f_193'><small>[193]</small></a>,&#8221; though
+apparently without immediate effect, for two years later appears another
+entry &#8220;Pd. for cutting down the tree, and the journeymen to spend
+xv<sup>d</sup>.<a name='fna_194' id='fna_194' href='#f_194'><small>[194]</small></a>&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>But it was not long before the Puritans prevailed. The May Day
+merry-making was stopped and even the Gild festival prohibited. &#8220;This
+yeare [1590-1] and the 6 day of June beinge Soondaye and the festivall day
+of the Co<sup>y</sup> of the Shearmen of Salop aboute the settinge upp of a greene
+tree by serte yonge men of the saide Co<sup>y</sup> before their hall doore as of
+many years before have been acostomid but preachid against by the publicke
+precher there and commawndid by the baylyffs that non sutche shoulde be
+usid, and for the disobedience therein theye were put in prison and a
+privey sessions called and there also indicted and still remayne untill
+the next towne<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> sessions for further triall<a name='fna_195' id='fna_195' href='#f_195'><small>[195]</small></a>.&#8221; The letter of the law
+however was in their favour. At the sessions the judges decided that the
+tree should be erected and &#8220;usyd as heretofore have be&#8217; so it be don
+syvely and in lovynge order w<sup>th</sup>out contencion<a name='fna_196' id='fna_196' href='#f_196'><small>[196]</small></a>.&#8221; But the soreness
+remained and the Shearmen were very turbulent for a long period. A curious
+entry in 1596 betokens a continuance of the friction: &#8220;P<sup>d</sup> oure fyne for
+not rerynge of Cappes to Mr Bayliffe 3/4<a name='fna_197' id='fna_197' href='#f_197'><small>[197]</small></a>.&#8221; For Puritan influence had
+waxed stronger, and at length it was &#8220;agreed that there shall not be
+hereafter any interludes or playes within this town or liberties uppon
+anye Soundays or in the night tyme. Neyther shall there be any playinge at
+footballe, or at hiltes or wastrells, or beare baytinge, within the walles
+of this towne<a name='fna_198' id='fna_198' href='#f_198'><small>[198]</small></a>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Commonwealth.<br /><br />The Restoration.</i></div>
+
+<p>During the civil wars and under the rule of the Commonwealth the
+inhabitants of the town were too heavily burdened with taxes for the
+maintenance of soldiers and for the repairs of the walls (for which the
+companies were severally assessed) to have much wealth to expend on
+revelry and merry-making, even had Puritan sourness admitted any such. But
+the reaction consequent on the Restoration brought back the glory to
+Shrewsbury. The agriculture of the district had now quite recovered from
+the long-distant Welsh ravages: the internal trade of the town was also
+very considerable. Shrewsbury was therefore a place of no small
+importance. It played the part of a local metropolis in which the
+fashions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> of the capital were mimicked by the wealthy tradesfolk, their
+wives and daughters, and the country gentry and their families. For
+neither class could often go to London. Travelling was a serious affair
+not lightly to be undertaken. Consequently, just as the country gentleman
+now spends a portion of the year in London, so his ancestor in the
+seventeenth century made the adjacent county town his residence at certain
+seasons. Besides &#8220;he was often attracted thither by business and pleasure,
+by assizes, quarter sessions, elections, musters of militia, festivals and
+races.... There were the markets at which the corn, the cattle, the wool,
+and the hops of the surrounding country were exposed for sale.... There
+were the shops at which the best families of the neighbourhood bought
+grocery and millinery<a name='fna_199' id='fna_199' href='#f_199'><small>[199]</small></a>.&#8221; In Shrewsbury did the provincial beaux and
+belles promenade by the side of the Severn and in the abbey gardens. These
+latter were especially attractive. They were laid out &#8220;with gravell walks
+set full of all sorts of greens&mdash;orange and Lemmon trees.... Out of this
+went another garden much larger with severall fine grass walks kept
+exactly cut and roled for company to walk in: every Wednesday most of y<sup>e</sup>
+town y<sup>e</sup> Ladies and Gentlemen walk there as in St James&#8217;s Parke, and
+there are abundance of people of quality lives in Shrewsbury<a name='fna_200' id='fna_200' href='#f_200'><small>[200]</small></a>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Farquahar in his sprightly comedy <i>The Recruiting Officer</i> describes the
+lively doings of the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> &#8220;people of quality,&#8221; and also of the more
+stolid burghers. &#8220;I have drawn,&#8221; he says, &#8220;the Justice and the Clown in
+their <i>Puris Naturalibus</i>; the one an apprehensive, sturdy, brave
+blockhead; and the other a worthy, honest, generous gentleman, hearty in
+his country&#8217;s cause and of as good an understanding as I could give him,
+which I must confess is far short of his own.&#8221; Farquahar seems to have
+obtained a particularly good impression of the worthy Salopians. He
+dedicates his comedy to &#8220;All Friends round the Wrekin.&#8221; &#8220;I was stranger to
+everything in Salop but its Character of Loyalty, the Number of its
+Inhabitants, the Alacrity of the Gentry in Recruiting the Army, with their
+generous and hospitable Reception of Strangers. This Character I found so
+amply verify&#8217;d in every Particular that you made Recruiting, which is the
+greatest Fatigue upon Earth to other, to be the greatest Pleasure in the
+World to me<a name='fna_201' id='fna_201' href='#f_201'><small>[201]</small></a>.&#8221; Shrewsbury was one of the gayest of those many
+provincial capitals &#8220;out of which the great wen of London has sucked all
+the life<a name='fna_202' id='fna_202' href='#f_202'><small>[202]</small></a>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Shrewsbury Show in 17th century.</i></div>
+
+<p>Farquhar may have seen the old Show, which the Restoration had naturally
+brought back, wend its noisy way to Kingsland. The procession itself was
+easily rehabilitated, but the arbours on Kingsland, where the day was
+spent in merrymaking, called for much attention. Great activity was
+evinced in their repair, for they had fallen into sad decay during the
+hard rule of the Puritans. Some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> of the companies adorned their arbours
+with gateways, arms and mottoes, &#8220;dyalls,&#8221; and the like. Most of the
+gateways were of wood, but in 1679 the Shoemakers company erected a
+handsome stone portal, which a few years subsequently they adorned with
+figures of their patron saints, Crispin and Crispianus. As though the
+events of a century previous were still fresh in men&#8217;s minds, the legend
+was painted underneath,</p>
+
+<p class="poem">&#8220;We are but images of stonne<br />
+Do us no harme&mdash;we can do nonne.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>About this time it is evident the Show was in a very prosperous condition.
+Puritanism had not taken any real hold on the country, and the Church was
+restored, and old ways of thinking and acting brought back, without any
+disturbance or opposition<a name='fna_203' id='fna_203' href='#f_203'><small>[203]</small></a>. Even in the companies the religious
+element which was so strong in the earlier Gilds was not entirely wanting:
+the day&#8217;s proceedings included a sermon in the Church<a name='fna_204' id='fna_204' href='#f_204'><small>[204]</small></a>. In the morning
+the Wardens and members met in the open space before the castle, whence
+they passed in a merry procession through the gaily decked streets to
+Kingsland. There each Gild had its arbour surrounded by trees and supplied
+with tables and benches. The mayor and corporation used to attend, and
+were accustomed to visit each arbour in succession. The remainder of the
+day passed in festivity and merriment, and the craftsmen with their
+friends returned home in the evening<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> &#8220;much invigorated with the essence
+of barley-corn,&#8221; as a writer of fifty years ago expresses it.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Degeneracy.</i></div>
+
+<p>But the degeneracy of the revived Show was very apparent. The dropping off
+of the sermons deprived the companies of the last trace of that strong
+religious element which had characterised their medi&aelig;val ancestors. A
+private letter of 1811 says, &#8220;Shrewsbury Show was on the 19th [of June]
+but I did not go to it. That, like other things, is getting much worse.&#8221;
+The Drapers and Mercers had never gone to Kingsland, and gradually the
+other companies began to withdraw from the Show. The formal procession
+became confined practically to apprentices<a name='fna_205' id='fna_205' href='#f_205'><small>[205]</small></a>, while the masters
+contented themselves with a dinner at one of the inns of the town<a name='fna_206' id='fna_206' href='#f_206'><small>[206]</small></a>.
+Everything was significant of the approaching end of the pageant.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Reform agitation tends to check degeneracy, but Reform Acts
+fatal to the Show.</i></div>
+
+<p>When the Reform agitation threatened to deprive the companies of their
+trading privileges at no distant period, and later, when it had succeeded
+in doing so, attempts seem to have been made to bring into prominence
+their social aspect<a name='fna_207' id='fna_207' href='#f_207'><small>[207]</small></a>, and the procession was again reinvigorated. The
+pomp which signalised George the Fourth&#8217;s coronation may also have given a
+stimulus to pageantry. The arbours were repaired and rebuilt, and the year
+1849 <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>witnessed a grand revival of the procession. Attempts in this
+direction were now not infrequent, but were necessarily spasmodic. Yet the
+time-honoured Show was found to be possessed of wonderful vitality. When
+the Municipal Corporations Act destroyed the exclusive privileges of
+trading which the companies possessed they clung to their annual feast and
+to the yearly procession, for which they retained the arbours at some
+expense and self-denial. Gradually however as the successive freemen died
+the arbours reverted one by one to the corporation of the town; the other
+Gild property, which was not already divided, was shared among surviving
+members, or fell through debt or similar causes into other hands.
+Kingsland itself was to revert to the town at the decease of the last of
+the members of the companies, according to an arrangement concluded in
+1862.</p>
+
+<p>Even still the old Show was hard to kill. In spite of much that was
+saddening, and much degradation, the procession lingered on till some
+twelve or fourteen years ago, when it died a natural death. So another
+link with the past was broken, and another spot of colour wiped away from
+these duller days of uniformity and routine.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+<p class="title">THE END OF THE COMPANIES.</p>
+
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Failure of efforts to restrict trade.</i></div>
+
+<p>The system of elaborate organisation by which men had regulated trade in
+the past had given way to an equally complete system of individualism.
+Confused philosophical reasoning, combined with the decay of old means of
+regulation, had produced this anti-social state of things. Individual
+competition, in uncontrolled energy, reigned supreme amid almost
+incredible suffering and squalor. Everything which might tend to check the
+progress of the devastation was looked upon with suspicion and swept
+swiftly out of the way. All the old restraints were wanting, and
+self-interest alone formed the mainspring of action. To this fetish
+everything was sacrificed&mdash;men&#8217;s bodies and men&#8217;s principles. Commercial
+dealings took the most questionable forms: adulteration of products went
+on unchecked by any qualms of honesty. The companies had long ago ceased
+to make any attempts in the direction of industrial regulation. The whole
+efforts of their members were concentrated on the vain endeavour to
+restrict trade to the chartered towns.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>Yet even the apologist for the companies, quoted at the end of the sixth
+chapter, was obliged to allow that in this they had failed. The result of
+the action of the &#8220;oppressive oligarchies&#8221; was the &#8220;excluding or
+discouraging the English Subjects from Trading in our greatest and best
+situated towns, where the markets are<a name='fna_208' id='fna_208' href='#f_208'><small>[208]</small></a>.&#8221; Shrewsbury saw the free towns
+around growing up to importance and outstripping her in the race for
+prosperity. Birmingham, not far distant, was already famous. Another free
+town which rose rapidly was Manchester, where most of the new industries
+did not come under the Apprenticeship Act, and were consequently free and
+unshackled. Such formidable rivals drew away trade from the old privileged
+boroughs. The companies were quite unable to retain their monopolies.</p>
+
+<p>But more than this. Even the measure of commercial prosperity which
+Shrewsbury possessed&mdash;it was not small&mdash;cannot be in any appreciable
+degree ascribed to the companies. A writer of 1825<a name='fna_209' id='fna_209' href='#f_209'><small>[209]</small></a> who considers the
+trade of the town at that date by no means &#8220;inconsiderable<a name='fna_210' id='fna_210' href='#f_210'><small>[210]</small></a>&#8221;
+attributes the fact to anything rather than the &#8220;Chartered
+Companies<a name='fna_211' id='fna_211' href='#f_211'><small>[211]</small></a>.&#8221; &#8220;Here are two very large linen factories, besides several
+manufactories for starch, soap, flannels, cotton goods, an extensive iron
+and brass foundry,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> two ale and porter breweries, a spirit distillery,
+etc.<a name='fna_212' id='fna_212' href='#f_212'><small>[212]</small></a>&#8221; &#8220;Its fabrication of threads, linen cloths etc. etc. stands
+unrivalled; whilst the more common articles of domestic life are executed
+in a stile of neatness, certainly equal, if not superior, to those of any
+other place of similar size<a name='fna_213' id='fna_213' href='#f_213'><small>[213]</small></a>.&#8221; The various causes which he looks upon
+as conducing to this prosperity he sets forth with considerable detail:
+&#8220;its contiguity to the Principality, the facility which it possesses for
+the importation and exportation of goods, by means of its noble river and
+canals, and its situation as the capital of an extensive and populous
+county, combine to give it many advantages over a variety of places
+equally insular<a name='fna_214' id='fna_214' href='#f_214'><small>[214]</small></a>.&#8221; That the companies had any hand in ministering to
+this prosperity, or even served any useful purpose, seems never to have so
+much as occurred to him.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Struggle against intruders</i></div>
+
+<p>Yet they were putting their charters to the utmost use. They used every
+means in their power to hold the trade. They obtained the assistance of
+the municipal officers in seeking out and expelling intruders, even
+hawkers and pedlars. Actions at law became rapidly more frequent, until at
+last the life of the companies becomes one long effort to compel intruders
+to take up their freedom by paying the necessary fines. The Barbers even
+went so far as to prosecute men and women-servants for presuming to dress
+their masters&#8217; and mistresses&#8217; hair.</p>
+
+<p>Though these measures were unsuccessful in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> attaining their object they
+were not without most important results.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>impoverishes the companies, and calls down public odium on them.</i></div>
+
+<p>In the first place the companies saw their stock become rapidly
+impoverished, and themselves on the verge of bankruptcy. So early as 1692
+the Mercers were obliged to raise &pound;50 by means of mortgage, and in the
+next year they were twice forced to sell some of their property. The
+Grocers had, half a century previously<a name='fna_215' id='fna_215' href='#f_215'><small>[215]</small></a>, noted with sorrow how &#8220;the
+Stock of the Company yearly decreaseth.&#8221; The Barbers so early as 1744
+resolve to spend no more money at Show time &#8220;except the third part of the
+Weavers&#8217; Bill.&#8221; The Saddlers&#8217; stock in the three per cents. has to be sold
+to defray the charges of actions against intruders in 1810, and about the
+same time the Bakers&#8217; arbour was seized &#8220;on account of sustained charges
+against the company in an action for supposed infringement of their
+rights.&#8221; Even the wealthy company of the Drapers had been compelled to
+relinquish their annual holiday, at which open house was kept for town and
+neighbourhood, in 1781.</p>
+
+<p>But worse perhaps than this was the public odium they brought upon
+themselves. That this was so was acknowledged in formal meeting at the
+close of their public life, yet it had existed long before and grew daily
+stronger.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Other signs of decay.<br /><br />
+Internal disorder.<br /><br />
+Accounts carelessly kept.<br /><br />
+Trade leaves them.<br /><br />
+General demoralisation.</i></div>
+
+<p>These two causes would have been alone sufficient to bring about the
+downfall of the companies. But there were other signs of decay in plenty.
+Internal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> disorder was adding to the degradation into which the once
+honourable associations were falling. Even in 1668 the Glovers are
+compelled to take into account &#8220;the disorderly manner of making wardens.&#8221;
+So late as 1832 the Saddlers inflict a fine on their steward for attending
+meetings in a state of intoxication. The books are much less carefully
+kept. The Glovers&#8217; company came to an untimely end in 1810 through
+maladministration and carelessness in dealing with the yearly balance
+sheet<a name='fna_216' id='fna_216' href='#f_216'><small>[216]</small></a>. In 1822 so great a company as the Mercers&#8217; is found appointing
+a committee to search for the charter, which is ultimately found in the
+hands of a private individual whose magnanimity in surrendering what did
+not belong to him is highly praised by a formal resolution<a name='fna_217' id='fna_217' href='#f_217'><small>[217]</small></a>. We have
+seen already how trade had fallen off. In 1770 a member of the Saddlers&#8217;
+company paid five guineas &#8220;to be for ever excused from serving the office
+of Steward or Warden.&#8221; Private interest alone formed the motive of action
+in commercial dealings. The individual knew nothing of obligations due to
+society.</p>
+
+<p>Society was indeed in a state of rottenness. Outwardly there was plentiful
+decorum; really there was sufficient sham with its usual concomitant,
+laxity of morals, in a very marked degree<a name='fna_218' id='fna_218' href='#f_218'><small>[218]</small></a>. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> could hardly be
+expected that this should be otherwise in the general disregard which
+prevailed of all finer instincts: questionable commercial dealings and
+adulteration of products, on the one hand, were naturally accompanied by
+brutality and squalor on the other. Commercial success was the only
+criterion, and as the companies could not stand the test of this
+touchstone of merit they were doomed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Efforts to delay the end.</i></div>
+
+<p>The Gilds of workmen in building trades had been seriously affected, if
+not destroyed, long before by the Statute 2 and 3 Edward VI. cap. 15,
+which allowed &#8220;any Freemason, roughmason, carpenter, bricklayer,
+plasterer,&#8221; etc. &#8220;borne in this realme or made Denizon, to work in any of
+the saide Crafts in anye cittie Boroughe or Towne Corporate ... albeit the
+saide p&#8217;son or p&#8217;sons ... doe not inhabyte or dwell in the cittee Borough
+or Towne Corporate ... nor be free of the same.&#8221; But in all other trades
+the law had upheld the companies, and associations strong as these were in
+antiquity were not to be destroyed without a struggle. In the early years
+of the nineteenth century they began to think about internal reformation,
+which, had it been accomplished with singleness of purpose, might perhaps
+have secured their further usefulness and life. The expenses connected
+with the annual feasts were regulated<a name='fna_219' id='fna_219' href='#f_219'><small>[219]</small></a>. We have seen in the foregoing
+chapter how the senior members began to withdraw<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> from the dissoluteness
+of the Show. The actions against intruders, which had long become chronic,
+were pushed on with new vigour. In the hopes apparently of deciding the
+question once for all the Mercers&#8217; company instituted a great suit against
+a Mr Hart in the year 1823 which was looked upon by all parties as a test
+case. Two years previously a committee had been appointed to search for
+the charter and other documents which might be serviceable to the company
+in the great struggle they were apparently then meditating. The opinion of
+counsel was taken, and it being favourable to the company a full meeting
+unanimously resolved to act upon it. The first thing to be done was to
+retrench the expenses. It was decided that no dinner could be held that
+year (1823), and the annual subscriptions to the Infirmary, the Lancaster
+School, and other charitable objects were suspended. The costs of the
+actions were to be borne by all the combrethren &#8220;rateably and in
+proportion agreeable to the ancient custom and usage of the Company.&#8221; But
+several resignations and withdrawals took place, which show that there was
+some doubt, if not as to the exact legality, at any rate as to the
+expediency of the step which was being taken. But the great majority were
+resolved to press the matter to the issue. Actions against several
+intruders were consolidated, and that against Mr Hart came on for trial.
+Important counsel were engaged, and everything was done on both sides to
+discover the actual state of the law. The result was a verdict entirely in
+favour of the company. But the assessment of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> damages at a farthing (while
+the expenses incurred by the company were between six and seven hundred
+pounds) showed how strongly public opinion ran in a direction contrary to
+the mere letter of the law<a name='fna_220' id='fna_220' href='#f_220'><small>[220]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>The defendants however in the present case submitted at once, and the
+company soon recovered its former financial prosperity. Its subscriptions
+were again paid after a brief interval. But it is noticeable that actions
+against intruders went on precisely as before. The effect of this great
+verdict, which was hailed with public dinners and illuminations, was
+absolutely <i>nil</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It however stimulated the efforts of the companies in the direction of
+reform. In consequence of the action the Mercers resolved that the
+enrolment of apprentices (which they confessed had been &#8220;criminally
+neglected&#8221;) should be better carried out in future, and that a <i>bona fide</i>
+indenture for seven years should be required in all cases before any claim
+to the freedom of the company could be admitted. As a tangible result a
+new book of apprenticeship was commenced, which continued to be carefully
+and neatly kept to the end. Its first entry is dated August 1, 1823,
+though there are several records of earlier indentures. Its last is July
+2, 1835. A new book for recording the petitions of foreigners to be
+admitted was also provided. These<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> were comparatively few in number. They
+extend from July 31, 1823, to June 2, 1834.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>The Municipal Corporations Act.</i></div>
+
+<p>Such was the condition of the companies when the Municipal Corporations
+Act<a name='fna_221' id='fna_221' href='#f_221'><small>[221]</small></a> was passed. No detailed description of this measure, albeit it
+was &#8220;second in importance to the Reform Act alone<a name='fna_222' id='fna_222' href='#f_222'><small>[222]</small></a>,&#8221; is needed here.
+As far as the companies were concerned its provisions were simple. It took
+away from them wholly and entirely all their exclusive privileges of
+trading.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Whereas in divers cities, towns, and boroughs a certain custom hath
+prevailed, and certain bye-laws have been made, that no person, not being
+free of a city, town, or borough, or of certain guilds, mysteries, or
+trading companies within the same or some or one of them, shall keep any
+shop or place for putting to show or sale any or certain wares or
+merchandize by way of retail or otherwise, or use any or certain trades,
+occupations, mysteries, or handicrafts for hire, gain, or sale within the
+same: Be it enacted that, notwithstanding any such custom or bye-law,
+every person in any borough may keep any shop for the sale of all lawful
+wares and merchandizes by wholesale or retail, and use every lawful trade,
+occupation, mystery, and handicraft, for hire, gain, sale or otherwise,
+within any borough.&#8221; In these words, which might seem the echo of Magna
+Carta<a name='fna_223' id='fna_223' href='#f_223'><small>[223]</small></a> through the centuries, liberty of trading was made a fact
+throughout England.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>End of the companies.</i></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>It is interesting that we have recorded for us the way in which this
+sweeping change was received by those most concerned. The Mercers had
+foreseen (July 31, 1835) that it would be advisable to drop all pending
+actions against foreigners until the result of the Act then before
+Parliament should be decided. After it had become law the company met, for
+the last time under the old conditions, on March 25, 1836, to consider
+their position and to take steps for the future. It was apparently a
+stormy meeting. An influential minority proposed to divide the property
+among the members there and then, and so have done with the company. It
+was however carried &#8220;That the chief rents ... be not disposed of, but
+reserved to meet the payments to be made to the Alms people of St. Chad&#8217;s
+Almshouses<a name='fna_224' id='fna_224' href='#f_224'><small>[224]</small></a>, and for other purposes.&#8221; The fire engine, the company&#8217;s
+weights and measures etc., were sold. The other companies acted in a
+similar manner. The Saddlers divided at once the funds which remained in
+the treasurer&#8217;s hands, and which amounted to &pound;1. 7<i>s.</i> 0<i>d.</i> for each
+member<a name='fna_225' id='fna_225' href='#f_225'><small>[225]</small></a>. Their arbour was however retained, and the rent from it
+expended on the annual feast on Show Monday. This arrangement was to
+continue so long as any of the freemen should be living: on the decease of
+the last survivor the arbour was to devolve to the town council. Lastly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>
+all books, and whatever else remained to the company, were to be deposited
+with the wardens for the time being.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Partial continuation of the companies.</i></div>
+
+<p>For attempts were made, even in the desperate pass to which the companies
+seemed to be brought, to prolong the end. A few patriotic members kept up
+the shadows of the old fraternities. The ancient custom of electing
+officers was maintained; the Mercers&#8217; records bring the lists complete
+down to 1876. The arbours were repaired, mostly at the cost of private
+individuals, and at spasmodic intervals, while the Show still continued to
+afford opportunities for dissolute revelry to the lowest of the town and
+neighbourhood. The companies themselves fell back into their original
+condition of voluntary associations of individuals united for purposes
+partly benevolent but mainly social, and of which the state took no
+cognisance. &#8220;No one can give much attention to the subject without coming
+to the conclusion that feasting was one of the essential and most valued
+features of the companies in their early days<a name='fna_226' id='fna_226' href='#f_226'><small>[226]</small></a>:&#8221; it became so again in
+their later. As they had existed long before external circumstances
+brought them into prominence, so they continued long after they had ceased
+to influence public affairs, and so they lingered on even after the nation
+had plainly signified that their existence was not only superfluous but
+injurious. For their endeavours to restrict trade had been, so far as they
+had been successful, detrimental to the prosperity of the town, while they
+had allowed the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> duty of succouring needy workmen to slip entirely from
+their hands.</p>
+
+<p>The Friendly Societies which had long taken up this very important part of
+the functions which the medi&aelig;val Gilds had performed rose meanwhile into
+public favour. Their excellent work was so apparent that an Act of
+Parliament was passed for their encouragement in 1793, and it was even
+urged that they should be made compulsory.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Their property gives them life.</i></div>
+
+<p>The companies had to all intents and purposes long forgotten their duty in
+this respect, and they could not take it up again now, though had this
+course been possible they might have commended themselves to public
+favour. There was only one means which kept them alive. The secret of
+their vitality was their possession of property<a name='fna_227' id='fna_227' href='#f_227'><small>[227]</small></a>, and as that melted
+away the companies were found dropping out of existence. For being
+deprived of their real essence they had nothing to recommend them. Even
+the Show degenerated into a public scandal, and the companies, like their
+annual pageant, at length died, one by one, unnoticed and
+unregretted<a name='fna_228' id='fna_228' href='#f_228'><small>[228]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Return to organisation.</i></div>
+
+<p>Yet there was arising, even at the time when the old companies were being
+destroyed, a movement in favour of some return to organisation and
+regulation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> Organisation indeed seems to have been a characteristic of
+the English people at all stages of their history. The Saxons had their
+Frith Gilds and their Monks&#8217; Gilds; the English of the Middle Ages had
+their Merchant, Religious, Social, and Craft Gilds; in the sixteenth
+century they had their Trade Societies, the direct and in many cases the
+little-altered successors of the Craft Gilds. Then came the larger
+Regulated Companies, which also had some features in common with the
+medi&aelig;val Gilds, more with the sixteenth century societies. The main
+differences between the earlier associations and those of a later date lay
+in the avowed motive of confederacy and in the nature of the influence
+they exercised. The ostensible motive of the Gilds was the general
+welfare: in the case of the companies it was individual gain. The
+influence of the Gilds may be called a healthy social and moral
+influence<a name='fna_229' id='fna_229' href='#f_229'><small>[229]</small></a>; that of the post-reformation companies in the towns was in
+the main directed to selfish and political ends<a name='fna_230' id='fna_230' href='#f_230'><small>[230]</small></a>.</p>
+
+<p>New organisations, adapted to altered conditions of life and new modes of
+thought, resembling and yet differing from the Gilds, were now to arise
+and take the place of the companies as these had taken the place of the
+medi&aelig;val fraternities. The growth of these however will be beyond the
+scope of the present essay.</p>
+
+<p>It was doubtless necessary that the companies should be pulled down from
+the lofty heights which they once had occupied. It was requisite that all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>
+relics of the detailed system of trade-organisation which the Middle Ages
+had handed down to us should be broken up, to make room for a <i>r&eacute;gime</i>
+more conformable to modern conditions of industry. The anarchic reign of
+individualism through which trade passed at the beginning of this century
+was an unavoidable step in economic development.</p>
+
+<p>But it was a step attended with infinite loss and inestimable suffering,
+and it is well that proofs are not wanting of the approaching end of
+unrestrained competition and anti-social individualism. Signs of change
+are not wanting. Experience is continually demonstrating that organisation
+can accomplish vastly more than individual enterprise; that combination is
+immeasurably more powerful than competition. It is indeed the tracing out
+of this reaction in favour of combination for common ends, which lends to
+the economic history of the last hundred years its chief, perhaps its
+only, human interest.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Socialists and other forms of organisation.</i></div>
+
+<p>The reaction has manifested itself in various ways. The <i>Socialists</i> have
+always made State-organisation of labour one of the strongest planks of
+their platform<a name='fna_231' id='fna_231' href='#f_231'><small>[231]</small></a>. At the same time Englishmen have looked with peculiar
+jealousy on any attempts by the state to extend its sphere of action.
+Nevertheless a steady development has been witnessed in this direction;
+the various Civil Services show a uniform increase with the numbers and
+requirements of the nation. The Board of Trade, the Local Government
+Board, the Charity and Ecclesiastical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> Commissioners, are further
+indications of the same tendency towards organisation.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Trades Unions; their achievements.<br /><br />
+Improvement in status of labour.</i></div>
+
+<p>The Gilds cannot, as we have seen, be censured for low aims; moreover
+their endeavours to reach the level they set themselves were constant and
+sincere. And the latter half of the nineteenth century has seen a
+repetition of somewhat similar attempts.</p>
+
+<p>The Trades Union movement<a name='fna_232' id='fna_232' href='#f_232'><small>[232]</small></a> is one pregnant with promise for the
+future<a name='fna_233' id='fna_233' href='#f_233'><small>[233]</small></a>. Though the Unions were formed in the first instances for the
+purpose of resistance to the masters, it may be hoped that as the need for
+this grows weaker the analogy which their promoters love to institute
+between them and the old Craft Gilds may become more and more real. They
+have already done much to raise the condition of labour, and as Friendly
+Societies they are of the highest value to the workmen<a name='fna_234' id='fna_234' href='#f_234'><small>[234]</small></a>. There are
+signs too that we may even obtain organisations which, with due allowance
+for altered conditions, may accomplish much of the other good work which
+Gilds performed for medi&aelig;val industry.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote"><i>Attempts at regulation of trade.<br /><br />
+Further necessary approximation to Gilds.<br /><br />
+Appreciation of the common interests of masters and men,<br /><br />
+and of the necessity of ensuring a higher standard of work.</i></div>
+
+<p>The Unions already aim at ensuring stability of employment through
+deliberate regulation of trade. By this means they hope to strike a
+death-blow at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> that root-evil of our present industrial system,
+irregularity of employment and uncertainty of wages.</p>
+
+<p>But they yet fall short of the Gilds in two important particulars, and
+until these deficiencies are made good Trades Unions can only be
+considered as insufficient means to a highly desirable end.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place there must be no association of men against masters, or
+masters against men, but union of men with masters for the common good of
+the craft. Fifty years ago it was pointed out<a name='fna_235' id='fna_235' href='#f_235'><small>[235]</small></a> that &#8220;the recent
+destruction of the old Gilds was a purely negative policy, which required
+to be followed up by a reconstruction on similar, but modified,
+lines<a name='fna_236' id='fna_236' href='#f_236'><small>[236]</small></a>.&#8221; But of course nothing was attempted, though it is for their
+care in seeing that the public was well served that the Gilds are chiefly
+praised to-day.</p>
+
+<p>In the second direction much less advance has been made<a name='fna_237' id='fna_237' href='#f_237'><small>[237]</small></a>. Yet it
+cannot be expected that a high<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> standard of wages is to be maintained
+unless a high standard of workmanship is also ensured. Improvement in pay
+can only with justice accompany improvement in skill and application.
+Something of the sentiment and tradition of good work which so strongly
+characterised the Middle Ages must be brought back. As yet it is wofully
+lacking. Up to the present the Trades Unions have made no real attempt to
+grapple with this evil, though its removal is a necessary preliminary to
+anything like completeness in our industrial reformation. Until they can
+show their ability to direct trade in this respect in a manner more
+beneficial to the community than competing capitalists have done during
+the past, the student will find their analogy to the medi&aelig;val Gilds
+incomplete (and that in a point where the latter might be followed with
+benefit), and the public will consider their usefulness to society
+unsatisfactory.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p>
+<h2>APPENDIX I</h2>
+<p class="title">NON-GILDATED TRADESMEN<a name='fna_238' id='fna_238' href='#f_238'><small>[238]</small></a>.</p>
+
+
+<p>The ordinary authorities on Economic history say little or nothing of the
+non-gildated tradesmen in the towns, though these formed an important
+portion of the commercial community. To understand fully the conditions
+under which trade was carried on in medi&aelig;val England the existence of such
+unfree merchants must be taken into account and their importance
+appreciated.</p>
+
+<p>Within the commercial class the enforcement of the Gild regulations
+doubtless depended very largely on circumstances and individual
+temperament. Moreover their reiteration evidences their futility in
+attaining the objects they had in view. There must have been much greater
+freedom and elasticity of thought and action during the Middle Ages than
+is generally recognised.</p>
+
+<p>It must be remembered too that there were important exceptions to the
+regulations of the Gilds. The king&#8217;s servants, when exercising the royal
+privileges of purveyance and pre-emption, were naturally unrestricted.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> In
+Fair-time&mdash;and the Fairs were a very important feature in medi&aelig;val
+life&mdash;there was unrestrained freedom of trade. But more important than
+these was another. It was quite possible for ungildated tradesmen to
+purchase temporary or partial exemption from the local restrictions.</p>
+
+<p>It will be observed that the royal charters which authorise the Gilds and
+grant exclusive privileges of trading differ somewhat in later years from
+those of the earliest date. In the earliest grants the words simply allude
+to the Gild only. Henry II.&#8217;s Charter to Lincoln is &#8220;Sciatis me
+concessisse civibus meis Lincolni&aelig; ... gildam suam mercatoriam.&#8221; There is
+no hint of any tradesmen external to the Gild. But early in the thirteenth
+century it becomes evident that such stringent exclusiveness could not be
+enforced. The charter which Henry III. granted to Shrewsbury in 1227
+confirmed the Gild in the following terms:&mdash;&#8220;Concessimus etiam eisdem
+Burgensibus et heredibus eorum quod habeant Gildam Mercatoriam cum Hansa
+et aliis consuetudinibus et libertatibus ad Gildam illam pertinentibus, et
+quod nullus qui non sit in Gilda ilia mercandisam aliquam faciat in
+predicto Burgo <i>nisi de voluntate eorundem Burgensium</i>.&#8221; At about the same
+time the Earl of Chester and Huntingdon gave a charter to Chester
+forbidding trade in the town &#8220;nisi ipsi cives mei Cestrie et eorum heredes
+<i>vel per eorum gratum</i>.&#8221; The phrase &#8220;nisi de voluntate eorundem Burgensium
+(or Civium)&#8221; now became usual in the charters. In those granted by Edward
+I. to the towns which he founded in Wales, and which may be looked upon in
+some measure as model town constitutions, the provision appears in each.
+Thus it may be said that by the end of the thirteenth century it had
+become customary for the town authorities to grant exemptions from the
+Gild<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> restrictions by their own authority. They practically gave over to
+the Gilds the supervision of trade, but at the same time retained in their
+own hands the power of admitting traders without obliging them to join the
+mercantile fraternities.</p>
+
+<p>This power of granting exemptions from the restrictions of the Gilds seems
+to have been exercised in various towns in different degrees. In some it
+extended no further than the permitting &#8220;foreigners&#8221; to come to casual
+markets on payment of a toll upon each occasion. In others however it was
+more largely and generally used, merchants being allowed to be resident
+and to trade continually and regularly by payment of an annual fine.</p>
+
+<p>In the latter case the effect was to create two distinct classes of
+traders within the town. The burgesses may be divided into two classes,
+those of them who were gildsmen and those who were not. We now see that
+the tradesmen dwelling in the towns may similarly be divided into two
+classes, (i) those who were free of the town or of one of the Gilds (or
+free both of the town and one of its Gilds), and (ii) those who were
+neither burgesses nor gildsmen. Thus another has been added to the classes
+into which the inhabitants of towns are usually divided. Mention of these
+<i>unfree</i> tradesmen is found in the records of many towns in England and
+Wales: in Norwich, Winchester, Lincoln, Leicester, Andover, Yarmouth,
+Canterbury, Henley-on-Thames, Malmesbury, Bury S. Edmunds, Totnes, Wigan,
+Chester, Shrewsbury, Worcester, Clun, Brecknock, Neath, Bishops&#8217; Castle,
+and others.</p>
+
+<p>The designation of these unfree tradesmen varies. At Andover they were
+known as <i>custumarii</i> (in opposition to the <i>hansarii</i>&mdash;the full members
+of the Gild).<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> At Canterbury a similar body appears under the name of
+<i>intrants</i>. In Scotland and the north of England they were called
+<i>stallingers</i>. The most usual name for them is however <i>censer</i>,
+<i>chencer</i>, <i>tenser</i>, and variations of these.</p>
+
+<p><i>Censer</i> is apparently the name applied to one who pays a <i>cense</i> or
+<i>cess</i>. In Domesday mention is made of <i>censarius</i>&mdash;&#8220;Ibi sunt nunc 14
+censarii habentes septem carucatas&#8221;&mdash;and the <i>censarius</i> is described as
+&#8220;qui terram ad censum annuum tenet.&#8221; The connection of the word is here
+purely territorial. It becomes more personal later in the history as is
+seen in the &#8220;Compotus Civitatis Wyntoni&aelig;&#8221; of the third year of Edward I.,
+which contains the following entry:&mdash;&#8220;Et de xliiij<i>s.</i> ij<i>d.</i> <i>ob.</i> de
+hominibus habitacionibus in civitate Wynton&#8217; qui non sunt de libertate,
+qui dicuntur Censarii, per idem tempus.&#8221; Here the <i>censarii</i> are evidently
+considered in their capacity not as possible landowners, but solely as
+tradesmen. The <i>census</i> has changed from the land rent of Domesday to a
+distinctly personal payment.</p>
+
+<p>A somewhat different class from the <i>censarii</i> of Winchester are mentioned
+in the statute 27 Henry VIII., cap. 7. From the preamble we can form a
+good idea of the lawlessness and confusion which prevailed on the borders
+of Wales at that period. It is related that in the Marches, where thick
+forests frequently fringe the roads, &#8220;certain unreasonable Customs and
+Exactions have been of long time unlawfully exacted and used, contrary
+both to the law of God and man, to the express wrong and great
+impoverishment of divers of the king&#8217;s true subjects.&#8221; The most crying of
+these evils was that the foresters were accustomed to plunder all passing
+along the roads (probably under the plea of taking toll), unless they bore
+&#8220;a Token delivered to them by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> chief Foresters ... or else were yearly
+Tributors or Chensers.&#8221; The statute offers no explanation of these terms,
+but it is most likely they applied to persons paying an annual sum, either
+to the king or the Lords Marchers, of the nature of Chief Rent, especially
+as Cowell, in giving his explanation of the word <i>chenser</i> which will be
+noticed later, refers to this Act of Henry VIII. in support of his
+definition. If this be so we see that although the signification of the
+term had been extended so as to include distinctly personal and commercial
+tolls, it had, in some districts, also retained its original connection
+with land. This, censor, censer, gensor, chencer, and other variations, is
+the most usual form of the word, but occasionally it is found as tenser,
+tensor, tensur, and tensure. Tenser and tensor are used at Shrewsbury; at
+Worcester the same word appears as tensure or tensar (<i>English Gilds</i>, pp.
+382, 394).</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to say whether or no <i>tenser</i> is a confusion of <i>censer</i>.
+Etymologically the words seem akin, <i>cense</i> being a tax or toll (cess),
+and <i>tensare</i> meaning to lay under toll or tribute. In the Iter of 1164
+enquiry is directed to be made &#8220;de prisis et tenseriis omnium ballivorum
+domini regis ... et quare pris&aelig; ill&aelig; capt&aelig; fuerint, et per quem&#8221; etc.
+Another derivation of <i>tenser</i> has been given. Owen and Blakeway (Vol. ii.
+p. 525) explain it to be a corruption of &#8220;tenancier,&#8221; and apparently
+intend to imply that these non-gildated traders were considered as holding
+directly of the king. This view receives some confirmation from Cowell&#8217;s
+definition of the &#8220;censure&#8221; and &#8220;censers&#8221; of Cornwall. He says (<i>A Law
+Dictionary: or the Interpreter</i> etc., ed. 1727) &#8220;<span class="large">Censure</span>, or <i>Custuma
+vocata</i> <span class="large">censure</span>, (from the Latin <i>Census</i>, which Hesychius expounds to be
+a kind of personal money, paid for every Poll) is, in divers Manors<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> in
+<i>Cornwall</i> and <i>Devon</i>, the calling of all Resiants therein above the age
+of sixteen, to swear Fealty to the Lord, to pay <i>ij<sup>d</sup> per Poll, and j<sup>d</sup>
+per an.</i> ever after; as <i>cert-money</i> or <i>Common Fine</i>; and these thus
+sworn, are called <i>Censers</i>.&#8221; &#8220;<span class="large">Chensers</span>,&#8221; he says again, &#8220;are such as pay
+Tribute or <i>cense</i>, Chief-rent or Quit-rent, for so the French <i>censier</i>
+signifies.&#8221; Whether or no we receive Owen and Blakeway&#8217;s derivation of the
+word from <i>tenancier</i>, even with the support of Cowell&#8217;s &#8220;censers&#8221; of
+Cornwall, we may press the latter authority into service in showing that
+the signification of <i>censer</i> and <i>tenser</i>, however different the two
+words might be in origin, became very similar in actual use.</p>
+
+<p>The fines which the tensers or censers paid were imposed in the Court
+Leet. On the Court Leet Rolls at Shrewsbury are entered lists of names and
+fines headed &#8220;Nomina eorum qui merchandizant infra villam Salopie et
+Suburbia eiusdem, et non Burgenses, ergo sunt in misericordia.&#8221; In the
+first year of the reign of Henry IV. (<span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span> 1399) it was ordered that these
+fines should be levied before the feast of S. Katharine (November 25) in
+each year. The Court Leet also decided the amount of the fines, but in
+later times when the select body of magnates had deprived the popular
+courts of so many of their powers and privileges we find that the
+apportioning of the tensers&#8217; fines had also passed to the close
+corporation. In 1519 the corporation fixed the tolls at 6<i>d.</i> quarterly.
+The statute 35 Henry VIII., cap. 18, gave the control of the unfree
+tradesmen in Canterbury to the Mayor and Aldermen of the City. &#8220;No
+foreigner, not being free of the said City, shall buy or sell any
+Merchandize (saving Victual) to another foreigner; nor shall keep any shop
+nor use any mystery within the said City or the liberties thereof, without
+the License of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> Mayor and Aldermen, or the major part of them, in
+writing under their Seal.&#8221; At Winchester in 1650 the rates were revised by
+the Mayor and Aldermen. The highest limit was fixed at &pound;5, but the fees
+actually paid were generally sums varying from 6<i>d.</i> to 3/4 only (Gross,
+<span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 264).</p>
+
+<p>When such a privilege was exercised by a select body it was certain to
+give rise to abuses. Such was found to be the case in early years when the
+fines were imposed by an authority other than the general assembly of
+burgesses. In the county court held at Lincoln in 1272 it was alleged that
+the late Mayor had taken pledges from the burgesses of Grimsby unjustly
+under the plea of exacting <i>gildwite</i> (as the fine or toll was sometimes
+called). We learn that at Shrewsbury in 1449-50 &#8220;this yeare the Burgesses
+and Tenssaars ... did varye.&#8221; What the cause of contention was, or how the
+dispute was settled, we do not know, but it could hardly arise over
+anything other than the question concerning the tolls to be paid by the
+tensers.</p>
+
+<p>In some towns special civic officials were appointed to supervise the
+tensers. At Chester the &#8220;leave-lookers&#8221; were among the most important of
+the borough officers. The word <i>leve</i> or <i>leave</i> has very much the same
+signification as the word <i>cense</i> or cess. It is the English &#8220;levy,&#8221; and
+was the fee or toll for permission to trade. The &#8220;leve-lookers&#8221; were the
+officials who exacted the levy or toll which unfree tradesmen were obliged
+to pay. At Chester they were &#8220;appointed annually by the Mayor for the
+purpose of collecting the duty of 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> claimed by the corporation
+to be levied yearly upon all non-freemen who exercise any trade within the
+liberties of the City.&#8221; Their duties are described as having been &#8220;to give
+Licence and compound with any that came either to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> buy or sell within
+these liberties contrary to our grants;&#8221; &#8220;if any did dwell within the city
+that were not free, if they did ever buy or sell within the liberties,
+they did likewise compound with the <i>Custos</i> and <i>Mercator</i> [Custos Gilde
+Mercatorie] by the year ... the Leave-lookers do gather two pence
+halfpenny upon the pound, of all Wares sold by Forraigners within the
+City.&#8221; (Gross, <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 42.) The same name is found at Wigan, where the duty of
+the &#8220;gate-waiters or leave-lookers&#8221; was to see that all &#8220;foreigners&#8221; paid
+their fines for licence to reside and trade in the town. (Sinclair,
+<i>Wigan</i>, <i>passim</i>.)</p>
+
+<p>It is not easy to define the exact status of the tensers. They were
+certainly considered as an inferior body of burgesses, and might comprise
+three classes. Firstly, those not willing or not able to enter one of the
+gilds; secondly, traders waiting to be admitted burgesses; thirdly
+ex-burgesses fallen from the higher state through misfortune.</p>
+
+<p>1. As an inferior class of tradesmen they could only purchase their stock
+from townsmen (Gross, <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 177); they were incapable of bearing municipal
+office (<i>Ibid.</i> <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 190) and they were liable to be called upon &#8220;to be
+contributorie to alle the comone charges of the Citie, whan it falleth&#8221;
+(<i>Ibid.</i> <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 190). In the general course of trade but little difference
+might be perceptible between the tensers and the Gildsmen, but attempts to
+fuse or to confuse the two classes were jealously resented whenever they
+were discovered. Naturally these attempts to minimise the distinctions
+between Gildsmen and non-gildsmen were generally prompted, in later times,
+by political reasons. Only freemen of the town and members of the
+companies had the privilege of voting in Parliamentary elections, and
+great was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> desire to obtain a position on the list of voters. In &#8220;An
+Account of the Poll for Members of Parliament for the Borough of
+Shrewsbury taken June 29 and 30, 1747&#8221; etc., information is supplied
+concerning certain townsmen who had claimed to be freemen but were
+rejected on account of having proved themselves to be otherwise by
+payment, in times past, of the tensers&#8217; fines. Of John Bromhall, baker, we
+read &#8220;It was objected to his vote that he was no Burgess, in support of
+which it was proved that he had paid Tensership several years, and that
+his ffather had paid toll. This Tensership is a ffine or acknowledgement
+commonly paid by persons following trade in the town that are no
+Burgesses, but it being insisted that it was paid through ignorance or
+mistake, his ffather was called and admitted to prove that he had voted at
+a former election for this Borough, whereupon the Mayor admitted his vote,
+but upon examining a copy of the Poll for the year 1676 it appears that
+all the ffamily of this Bromhall were upon a scrutiny rejected as not
+Burgesses.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>2. They comprised also among their number many tradesmen waiting to be
+made burgesses. We learn this distinctly from an ordinance of the
+corporation of Leicester passed in the year 1467, to the effect that every
+person opening a shop in the town should pay yearly 3/4 <i>till he enter
+into the Chapman Gild</i>. (Nichols, <i>County of Leicester</i>, <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> 376.) There
+were several causes which would account for the existence of this class.
+The towns grew increasingly jealous of extending their privileges, as
+these became valuable. The Gildsmen would also desire to learn somewhat of
+the character of the new-comer before admitting him to full membership
+with themselves; while on the other hand the latter would wish to see
+whether the trade of the town were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> sufficiently prosperous to warrant him
+settling in the borough permanently. This cause would specially operate in
+the case of the Welsh boroughs which grew up after Edward I.&#8217;s conquest of
+the principality.</p>
+
+<p>The townsmen however did not approve of the growth of a wealthy class of
+traders, sharing almost equal commercial privileges with themselves and at
+the same time not liable to the burdens which were the necessary
+accompaniment of those privileges. They therefore made it incumbent upon
+every tenser who evidently was sufficiently satisfied with the trade of
+the town to make the borough his permanent home, and who had attained to a
+fair competency, that he should throw in his lot fully and completely with
+them. He must become in fact a full burgess. This is carefully explained
+in the <i>Ordinances of the City of Worcester</i>&mdash;regulations concerning the
+trade of the town dating from the reign of Edward IV. No. <span class="smcaplc">XLVII.</span> says
+&#8220;Also, that euery Tensure be sett a resonable fyne, aft<sup>r</sup> the discression
+of the Aldermen, and that euery tensure that hath ben w<sup>t</sup>yn the cyte a
+yere or more dwellynge, and hath sufficiaunt to the valo<sup>r</sup> of <span class="smcaplc">XL</span><i>s.</i> or
+more, be warned to be made citezen, by resonable tyme to hym lymitted, and
+iff he refuse that, that he shalle yerly pay to the comyn cofre <span class="smcaplc">XL</span><i>d.</i>,
+ouer that summe that he shalle yerly pay to the Baillies or any other
+officers; and so yerly to contynue tylle he be made citezen&#8221; (<i>English
+Gilds</i>, p. 394).</p>
+
+<p>3. There were, thirdly, those who had fallen from a higher state through
+misfortune or other cause. We read of individuals surrendering their
+freedom and paying the tenser&#8217;s fine. &#8220;He withdrew and surrendered the
+freedom to the Commonalty, and now pays toll&#8221; (Gross, <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 240).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>As regarded their dealings other than commercial in nature the tendency
+was to assimilate the tensers and the townsmen. In a grant made to
+Shrewsbury by Henry VI. and confirmed by Parliament in 1445 the same
+privileges are extended to the tensers as are possessed by the burgesses
+in the matter of exemption from the necessity of finding bail in certain
+cases. Similarly at Worcester the &#8220;tensures&#8221; shared with the citizens the
+right to the assistance of the afferors in cases of wrongful or excessive
+amercement. (<i>English Gilds</i>, 394.)</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless where commercial privileges were at stake the distinction was
+rigidly preserved by every means in the possession of the townsmen. The
+tenser&#8217;s fine was maintained up to the present century, though not without
+considerable difficulty. On every hand there were evidences that the
+companies had outlived their usefulness. Friction was everywhere injuring
+the social machine. Competition and individualism had taken the place of
+custom and co-operation. At Winchester there were grievous complaints of
+intruders who did &#8220;use Arts, Trades, Misteries and manual occupations ...
+without making any agreement or composition for soe doing, contrary to the
+said antient usage and custome, tending to the utter undoeing of the
+freemen ... and decay of the same City.&#8221; Everywhere the records of the
+companies detail little else than summonses to intruders to take up their
+freedom and notices of actions at law against them for refusing to do so.
+General demoralisation prevailed, and the existence of a class holding
+such an equivocal position as that of the unfree tradesmen did not help to
+mend matters. The case of John Bromhall which has been mentioned above
+illustrates the general looseness which prevailed in all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> departments of
+municipal administration. A ludicrous incident which happened at
+Shrewsbury in connection with the tensers in later years is recorded by
+Gough in his <i>Antiquities of Myddle</i>, published in 1834. &#8220;This Richard
+Muckleston was of a bold and daring spirit, and could not brook an injury
+offered to him. He commenced a suit against the town of Shrewsbury for
+exacting an imposition on him which they call tentorshipp, and did
+endeavor to make void their charter, but they gave him his burgess-ship to
+be quiet.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>The companies were preserved from repetitions of this strange indignity by
+the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, in consequence of
+which there could no longer be any invidious distinction between freemen
+and non-freemen, hansarii and custumarii, gildsmen and tensers.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p>
+<h2>APPENDIX II.</h2>
+<p class="title">AUTHORITIES CITED.</p>
+
+
+<p>Abram, W. A.&mdash;Memorials of the Preston Guilds.</p>
+
+<p>An Account of the Poll for Members of Parliament for the Borough of
+Shrewsbury etc. (1747).</p>
+
+<p>Boeckh, A.&mdash;Public Economy of Athens, translated by George Cornewall Lewis
+(1842).</p>
+
+<p>Brentano, Lujo&mdash;On the history and development of Gilds and Origin of
+Trade-Unions.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Britannia Languens, or a discourse of trade.&#8221; (1680.)</p>
+
+<p>Bryce, J.&mdash;The Holy Roman Empire (1887).</p>
+
+<p>Cowell&mdash;A Law Dictionary: or the Interpreter etc. (1727).</p>
+
+<p>Cunningham, W.&mdash;The Growth of English Industry and Commerce (1885).</p>
+
+<p>Dugdale, W.&mdash;Antiquities of Warwickshire.</p>
+
+<p>Ebner, Dr Adalbert&mdash;Die kl&ouml;sterlichen Gebets-Verbr&uuml;derungen bis zum
+Ausgange des Karolingischen Zeitalters (1891).</p>
+
+<p>Eden, Sir F. M.&mdash;The State of the Poor.</p>
+
+<p>Eyton, W.&mdash;Antiquities of Shropshire.</p>
+
+<p>Farquhar&mdash;The Recruiting Officer.</p>
+
+<p>Foucart&mdash;Les Associations r&eacute;ligieuses chez les Grecs.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>Foxwell, H. S.&mdash;Irregularity of Employment and Fluctuations of Prices (1886).</p>
+
+<p>Froude, J. A.&mdash;History of England from the fall of Wolsey to the death of
+Elizabeth (12 vols., 1862-70).</p>
+
+<p>Gneist&mdash;Geschichte des Self-Government in England.</p>
+
+<p>Gneist&mdash;Das heutige Englische Verfassungs- und Verwaltungsrecht.</p>
+
+<p>Gough&mdash;The Antiquities of Myddle (1834).</p>
+
+<p>Green, J. R.&mdash;A Short History of the English People (1886).</p>
+
+<p>Gross, Charles&mdash;The Gild Merchant (1891).</p>
+
+<p>Grote, George&mdash;History of Greece (1888).</p>
+
+<p>Hallam, H.&mdash;View of Europe during the Middle Ages. 1 vol.</p>
+
+<p>Harrison, W.&mdash;A description of England (in &#8220;Elizabethan England,&#8221; Camelot
+Series).</p>
+
+<p>Hatch, E.&mdash;The Organisation of the Early Christian Churches (Bampton
+Lectures, 1881).</p>
+
+<p>Howell, G.&mdash;Conflicts of Capital and Labour (1890).</p>
+
+<p>Howell, Thomas&mdash;The Stranger in Shrewsbury (1825).</p>
+
+<p>Kemble, J. M.&mdash;The Saxons in England.</p>
+
+<p>Longfellow&mdash;The Golden Legend.</p>
+
+<p>Macaulay, Lord&mdash;History of England from the Accession of James II. (1889).</p>
+
+<p>May, Erskine&mdash;Constitutional History of England. 3 vols. (1887).</p>
+
+<p>Merewether and Stephens&mdash;History of the Boroughs.</p>
+
+<p>Nichols, J.&mdash;The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester
+(1795-1815).</p>
+
+<p>Ordericus Vitalis&mdash;Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy (Bohn&#8217;s
+Series).</p>
+
+<p>Owen and Blakeway&mdash;History of Shrewsbury.</p>
+
+<p>[Owen, Hugh]&mdash;Some Account of the Ancient and Present State of Shrewsbury (1808).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>Perry, C. G.&mdash;A History of the English Church (Vol. <span class="smcaplc">II.</span>) (1878).</p>
+
+<p>Pidgeon&#8217;s Memorials of Shrewsbury (old Ed.).</p>
+
+<p>Pidgeon&#8217;s Some Account of the Ancient Gilds, Trading Companies, and the
+origin of Shrewsbury Show (1862).</p>
+
+<p>Poynter, E. J.&mdash;Ten Lectures on Art (1880).</p>
+
+<p>Quarterly Review, Vol. 159.</p>
+
+<p>Riley, H. T.&mdash;Memorials of London ... in the <span class="smcaplc">XIII</span>, <span class="smcaplc">XIV</span>, and <span class="smcaplc">XV</span> Centuries.</p>
+
+<p>Rogers, Thorold&mdash;Six Centuries of Work and Wages (1889).</p>
+
+<p>Rogers, Thorold&mdash;The Economic Interpretation of History (1888).</p>
+
+<p>Scott, Sir Walter&mdash;Marmion.</p>
+
+<p>Sinclair, D.&mdash;The History of Wigan.</p>
+
+<p>Smith, Toulmin&mdash;English Gilds (E. E. T. S.).</p>
+
+<p>State Papers, Domestic (Elizabeth).</p>
+
+<p>Statutes at Large (6 vols, 1758).</p>
+
+<p>Stow, John&mdash;A Survey of London (Carisbrooke Library).</p>
+
+<p>Strype&mdash;Ecclesiastical Memorials (1821).</p>
+
+<p>Stubbs, W.&mdash;Constitutional History of England (1883).</p>
+
+<p>Stubbs, W.&mdash;Select Charters (1884).</p>
+
+<p>Stubbs, W.&mdash;Lectures on Medi&aelig;val History.</p>
+
+<p>Taylor MS. in Library of Shrewsbury School (Reprinted in S. A. S. Vol.
+<span class="smcaplc">III.</span>).</p>
+
+<p>Thackeray, W. M.&mdash;The Four Georges.</p>
+
+<p>Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary, being
+the Diary of Celia Fiennes.</p>
+
+<p>Transactions of the Shropshire Arch&aelig;ological Society (cited as S. A. S.),
+Vols. <span class="smcaplc">I-XI.</span></p>
+
+<p>Wordsworth, W.&mdash;The Happy Warrior.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p>
+<p class="title">INDEX.</p>
+
+
+<p class="index">
+Abbey at Shrewsbury, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a><br />
+<br />
+Aberystwith, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Adventurers, Merchant, of Exeter, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a><br />
+<br />
+Aliens not to be taken as apprentices, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a><br />
+<br />
+Almshouses, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a><br />
+<br />
+Altrincham, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Amalgamation natural in Middle Ages, <a href="#Page_31">31</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and at all times, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Anager, <a href="#Page_83">83</a><br />
+<br />
+Andover, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<br />
+Anglo-Saxons, gilds of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">municipal organisation of, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Apothecary, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Apprentices, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br />
+<br />
+Arthur, son of Henry VII., <a href="#Page_79">79</a><br />
+<br />
+Arundel, Earl of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Ashton, Thomas, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a><br />
+<br />
+Assistants, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a><br />
+<br />
+Assize of Arms, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br />
+<br />
+Axbridge, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Bailiffs, assist gilds, <a href="#Page_37">37</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assisted by gilds, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">supervise gilds, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Bakers, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br />
+<br />
+Bala, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Bamborough, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Barbers, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58-9</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83-4</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a><br />
+<br />
+Bargains, common, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a><br />
+<br />
+Barnstaple, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Bath, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Beadle, duties of, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br />
+<br />
+Beaumaris, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Bedesmen, <a href="#Page_63">63</a><br />
+<br />
+Bedford, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Benefit Clubs, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a><br />
+<br />
+Berwick on Tweed, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Beverley, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a><br />
+<br />
+Birmingham, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a><br />
+<br />
+Bishops&#8217; Castle, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<br />
+Black Death, <a href="#Page_56">56</a><br />
+<br />
+Board of Trade, <a href="#Page_141">141</a><br />
+<br />
+Bodmin, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Borough, distinction between Merchant Gild and, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rise and development of, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">incorporation of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position of Merchant Gild in, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">select body in, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">classes of inhabitants, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></span><br />
+<br /><a name="boroughs" id="boroughs"></a>
+Boroughs, list of, possessing Merchant Gilds, <a href="#Page_24">24-28</a><br />
+<br />
+Boston, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Brasier, <a href="#Page_53">53</a><br />
+<br />
+Brecknock, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<br />
+Brentano, Dr, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span><br />
+Bricks, revival of use of, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br />
+<br />
+Bricklayers, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br />
+<br />
+Bridgenorth, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Bridgewater, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Bristol, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a><br />
+<br />
+Bromhall, John, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a><br />
+<br />
+Builder, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+Builth, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Burford, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br />
+<br />
+Burgesses, <a href="#Page_3">3</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charters granted to, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">small share in work of Parliament, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Burgess-ship, qualifications of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not identical with gildship, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">villains, women, and ecclesiastics excluded from, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Burnet, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br />
+<br />
+Bury S. Edmund&#8217;s, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<br />
+Butchers, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br />
+<br />
+Byt-fylling, <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Caerswys, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Cambridge, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br />
+<br />
+Camden, <a href="#Page_79">79</a><br />
+<br />
+Canterbury, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br />
+<br />
+Cappers, <a href="#Page_53">53</a><br />
+<br />
+Cardiff, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Cardigan, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a><br />
+<br />
+Carlisle, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Carnarvon, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Carpenters, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br />
+<br />
+Carrier, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Castle at Shrewsbury, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br />
+<br />
+Censers or Tensers, see <a href="#shrewsbury">Shrewsbury</a><br />
+<br />
+Chantries, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a><br />
+<br />
+Charity Commissioners, <a href="#Page_141">141</a><br />
+<br />
+Charles II., <a href="#Page_87">87</a><br />
+<br />
+Charters did not necessarily create the gilds, <a href="#Page_55">55</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to burgesses, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Chelmicke, Mr, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br />
+<br />
+Chepgauel, <a href="#Page_18">18</a> n.<br />
+<br />
+Chester, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Earl of, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Chesterfield, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Chichester, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br />
+<br />
+Cirencester, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Civil Services, <a href="#Page_141">141</a><br />
+<br />
+Clerk, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a><br />
+<br />
+Cloth Trade, <a href="#Page_78">78-9</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cloth-workers, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cloth-merchant, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Clun, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<br />
+Collier, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Commissioners for plundering gilds, <a href="#Page_73">73</a><br />
+<br />
+Commonwealth, <a href="#Page_122">122</a><br />
+<br />
+Communa, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a><br />
+<br /><a name="companies" id="companies"></a>
+Companies, commercial, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a> et seq., <a href="#Page_140">140</a><br />
+<br />
+Compositions, <a href="#Page_37">37-8</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a> n.<br />
+<br />
+Conflicts between Merchant Gild and Craft Gilds, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br />
+<br />
+Congleton, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Conquest, Norman, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br />
+<br />
+Continent, commerce with, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">merchant gilds of, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Conviviality, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a><br />
+<br />
+Conway, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Cooks, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br />
+<br />
+Coopers, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Cordwainers, <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br />
+<br />
+Corn-dealer, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Cornwall, <a href="#Page_149">149</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Earl of, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Corporations, municipal, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br />
+<br />
+<i>Corps-de-m&eacute;tier</i>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a><br />
+<br />
+Corpus Christi, gilds and Feast, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br />
+<br />
+Cottoners, <a href="#Page_90">90</a><br />
+<br />
+County Towns, their former importance, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122-3</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span><br />
+Coventry, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a><br />
+<br /><a name="craft" id="craft"></a>
+Craft Gilds, earliest mention of, <a href="#Page_34">34</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">become numerous, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favoured by Merchant Gild, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">take over work of Merchant Gild, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">motives for forming, religious, <a href="#Page_31">31-2</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">social, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">commercial, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">police, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">incorporated, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Shrewsbury, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favoured by municipal authorities, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">composition of, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">officers, election unrestricted, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wardens, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assistants, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stewards, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">beadle, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">searcher, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">clerk, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treasurer, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">key-keeper, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">take oath before bailiffs, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meetings, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">importance of, commercial, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">social, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47-50</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">constitutional, <a href="#Page_48">48-9</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as benefit clubs, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">specially interesting at present time, <a href="#Page_49">49-51</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">development of trade introduces abuses, <a href="#Page_56">56-7</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">policy of reform, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">demoralisation, <a href="#Page_65">65-7</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">robbed by government, <a href="#Page_67">67</a> et seq.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effects of this, <a href="#Page_75">75</a> et seq.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reorganisation, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84-97</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its effects on gilds, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intimate connection of later companies with corporation, <a href="#Page_85">85-6</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120-22</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">they retain many of old gild characteristics, <a href="#Page_87">87-8</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108-9</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">though altered conditions make their work difficult, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and companies themselves are unsatisfactory, <a href="#Page_98">98-102</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">they change to capitalist companies, <a href="#Page_103">103-5</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">from which journeymen are excluded, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">difficulties of reform, <a href="#Page_107">107-8</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contemporaneous opinion of, at end of 18th century, <a href="#Page_109">109-12</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">destruction of, <a href="#Page_136">136-137</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">return to organisation partly on gild principles, <a href="#Page_141">141-144</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Craftsman of middle ages, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">degraded by Reformation, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Cranmer, <a href="#Page_68">68</a><br />
+<br />
+Criccieth, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Crispin and Crispianus, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a><br />
+<br />
+Custumarii, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<br />
+Cyveiliog, Earl of, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Davies, Thomas, <a href="#Page_92">92</a><br />
+<br />
+Denbigh, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Derby, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Despenser, le, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Devizes, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Devon, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br />
+<br />
+Dixon, Canon, <a href="#Page_71">71</a><br />
+<br />
+Domesday Book, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br />
+<br />
+Doncaster, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Dover, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br />
+<br />
+Drapers, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32-3</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83-4</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90-7</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108-9</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a><br />
+<br />
+Dugdale, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br />
+<br />
+Dunheved or Launceston, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Dunwich, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Durham, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bp of, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Dutch, <a href="#Page_82">82</a><br />
+<br />
+Dyer, <a href="#Page_38">38</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Ecclesiastical Commissioners, <a href="#Page_141">141</a><br />
+<br />
+Edward the Confessor, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br />
+<br />
+Edward I., <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his conquest of Wales, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Edward II., <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Edward III., <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br />
+<br />
+Edward IV., <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a><br />
+<br />
+Edward VI.&#8217;s confiscation of gild property, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span><br />
+Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76-79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br />
+<br />
+Enclosures, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br />
+<br />
+&#8220;England the birthplace of Gilds&#8221;, <a href="#Page_9">9</a><br />
+<br />
+English Gilds differ from continental, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br />
+<br />
+Ethelred, <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br />
+<br />
+Exchequer, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br />
+<br />
+Exeter, <a href="#Page_84">84</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Fairs, freedom of trading at, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a><br />
+<br />
+Family sometimes considered the germ of the Gild, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br />
+<br />
+Farquhar, <a href="#Page_123">123</a><br />
+<br />
+Faversham, <a href="#Page_81">81</a> n.<br />
+<br />
+Feasts of Gilds, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a><br />
+<br />
+Fee Farm or firma burgi, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br />
+<br />
+Fellmongers, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br />
+<br />
+Feltmakers, <a href="#Page_99">99</a><br />
+<br />
+Fire-engine supported by gilds, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a><br />
+<br />
+Fishmongers, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br />
+<br />
+Flemings, <a href="#Page_82">82</a><br />
+<br />
+Fletchers, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br />
+<br />
+Flint, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Fordwich, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br /><a name="foreigners" id="foreigners"></a>
+&#8220;Foreigners,&#8221; Forinseci, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>,
+<a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<br />
+Foresters, <a href="#Page_68">68</a><br />
+<br />
+Four Men, <a href="#Page_41">41-2</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a><br />
+<br />
+France, <i>corps-de-m&eacute;tier</i> in, <a href="#Page_8">8</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">French, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">French company, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Freemen of companies, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br />
+<br /><a name="friendly" id="friendly"></a>
+Friendly Societies, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a><br />
+<br />
+Frith bot, <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br />
+<br /><a name="frith" id="frith"></a>
+Frith gilds, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a><br />
+<br />
+Frizers, <a href="#Page_90">90</a><br />
+<br />
+Fullers, <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br />
+<br />
+Funerals attended by brethren, <a href="#Page_43">43</a><br />
+<br />
+Fusion of races shown in Shrewsbury gild records, <a href="#Page_16">16</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Gainsborough, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Garnisher, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+George IV., <a href="#Page_126">126</a><br />
+<br />
+German Merchants, <a href="#Page_82">82</a><br />
+<br /><a name="gildhall" id="gildhall"></a>
+Gildhall, at Dover, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">becomes town hall, <a href="#Page_17">17-18</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Gild Merchant, see <a href="#merchant">Merchant Gild</a><br />
+<br />
+Gilds, see <a href="#companies">Companies</a>, <a href="#craft">Craft Gilds</a>, <a href="#frith">Frith Gilds</a>, <a href="#merchant">Merchant Gilds</a>, <a href="#monks">Monks&#8217; Gilds</a>, <a href="#religious">Religious Gilds</a>, <a href="#yeoman">Yeoman Gilds</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">differences between English and foreign, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">universality of gild feeling, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">earliest gild statutes, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Glanvill, <a href="#Page_17">17</a><br />
+<br />
+Gloucester, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Earl of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Glovers, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br />
+<br />
+Godiva, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br />
+<br />
+Goldsmith, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br />
+<br />
+Grammar Schools, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br />
+<br />
+Grampound, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Grantham, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Great Yarmouth, see <a href="#yarmouth">Yarmouth</a><br />
+<br />
+Greeks, gilds among, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br />
+<br />
+Griffith, Earl of Cyveiliog, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Grimsby, <a href="#Page_151">151</a><br />
+<br />
+Grocers, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a><br />
+<br />
+Groom, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Guildford, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Haberdashers, <a href="#Page_100">100</a><br />
+<br />
+Halls of Gilds, see <a href="#gildhall">Gild Hall</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a><br />
+<br />
+Hansarii, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<br />
+Harlech, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Harper, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span><br />
+Harrison, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br />
+<br />
+Hart, Mr, <a href="#Page_134">134</a><br />
+<br />
+Hartlepool, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Haverfordwest, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Hawkers, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">repressed by companies, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Hedon, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Helston, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Henley-on-Thames, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<br />
+Henry I., <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24-34</a><br />
+<br />
+Henry II., <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a><br />
+<br />
+Henry III., <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a><br />
+<br />
+Henry IV., <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br />
+<br />
+Henry V., <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Henry VI., <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a><br />
+<br />
+Henry VII., <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a><br />
+<br />
+Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br />
+<br />
+Henry de Lacy, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Hereford, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Historical attitude essential in studying history of gilds, <a href="#Page_44">44</a><br />
+<br />
+Hope, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Hugh le Despenser, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Huntingdon, <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Incorporation, municipal, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a><br />
+<br />
+Indentures of apprenticeship, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a><br />
+<br />
+Infirmary, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br />
+<br />
+Inns of Court, <a href="#Page_119">119</a><br />
+<br />
+Intrants, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br />
+<br />
+Intruders and Interlopers, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cf. also <a href="#foreigners">Foreigners</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Ipswich, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Irish not to be taken as apprentices, <a href="#Page_82">82</a><br />
+<br />
+Iron Trade, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br />
+<br />
+Ironmongers, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+James I., <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a><br />
+<br />
+Jews, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br />
+<br />
+John, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Journeymen, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br />
+<br />
+Judge, a member of Merchant Gild, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+Justices Itinerant, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br />
+<br />
+Justices of the peace, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+S. Katharine, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br />
+<br />
+Kenfig, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Kinaston, Mr, <a href="#Page_95">95</a><br />
+<br />
+King&#8217;s Bench, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br />
+<br />
+Kingsland, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br />
+<br />
+Kingston-on-Thames, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Kirkham, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Lampeter, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Lancaster, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Launceston, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Leather-sellers, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br />
+<br />
+Leech, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+Leet assesses Tensers&#8217; fines, <a href="#Page_150">150</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">loses its powers, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Leicester, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a><br />
+<br />
+Leve-lookers or leave-lookers, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a><br />
+<br />
+Lever, Thomas, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br />
+<br />
+Lewes, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br />
+<br />
+Lincoln, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<br />
+Liskeard, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Liverpool, <a href="#Page_111">111</a><br />
+<br />
+Livery, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br />
+<br />
+Llanfyllin, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Llantrissaint, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Lloyd, John, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br />
+<br />
+Local Government Board, <a href="#Page_141">141</a><br />
+<br />
+Local history, value of, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br />
+<br />
+Local life, always varied in England, <a href="#Page_1">1</a><br />
+<br />
+Locksmith, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span><br />
+London, <a href="#Page_111">111</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its &#8220;laws&#8221;, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its Anglo-Saxon Gilds, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its Craft Gilds, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its rivalry with provincial towns, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its modern pre-eminence, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Lostwithiel, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Ludlow, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br />
+<br />
+Lyme Regis, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Lynn Regis, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Macclesfield, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Machinery, introduction of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a><br />
+<br />
+Magna Carta, <a href="#Page_136">136</a><br />
+<br />
+Malmesbury, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<br />
+Marches, of Wales, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lords of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Court of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">President of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Markets, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a><br />
+<br />
+Marlborough, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+S. Mary, Chantry in Church of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a><br />
+<br />
+Mary, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br />
+<br />
+Mason, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+Masters, <a href="#Page_40">40-41</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75-76</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a><br />
+<br />
+May Day, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a><br />
+<br />
+Mayor administers oath of admission, <a href="#Page_99">99</a><br />
+<br />
+Mellent, Robert, Earl of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br />
+<br />
+Mercers, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of York, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Merchant, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a><br />
+<br /><a name="merchant" id="merchant"></a>
+Merchant Gilds, the chief difference between town and country, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">originated to preserve peace, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with Frith Gilds, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">trade regulations follow, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">earliest mention, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">royal authorisation, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Shrewsbury, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effects, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chronological list of, <a href="#Page_24">24-8</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with communa, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Craft Gilds, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with Trades Unions, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">functions and privileges of, <a href="#Page_14">14-16</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18-19</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">duties of gildsmen, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comprised majority of householders, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">all branches of trade, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and professions, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and women, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and ecclesiastics, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a rallying point for burgesses, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">all burgesses are gildsmen, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">but all gildsmen are not burgesses, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts towards municipal objects, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gild hall becomes town hall, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in later years delegates its mercantile functions to Craft Gilds, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">who sometimes in aggregate receive name of &#8220;Merchant Gild&#8221;, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">subsequent history, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></span><br />
+<br />
+S. Michael, patron of Mercers&#8217; Company, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a><br />
+<br />
+Militia, national, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br />
+<br />
+Miller, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br />
+<br />
+Monasteries, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><br />
+<br /><a name="monks" id="monks"></a>
+Monks&#8217; Gilds, <a href="#Page_8">8</a> (and n. 2), <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a><br />
+<br />
+Monks excluded from burgess-ship, <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br />
+<br />
+Montgomery, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Mornspeche, <a href="#Page_43">43-44</a><br />
+<br />
+Mortmain Acts, <a href="#Page_55">55</a> (n. 2), <a href="#Page_61">61</a><br />
+<br />
+Much Wenlock, see <a href="#wenlock">Wenlock</a><br />
+<br />
+Municipal Corporations Act, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a><br />
+<br />
+Municipalities, see <a href="#boroughs">Boroughs</a><br />
+<br />
+Mynde, Abbot, <a href="#Page_61">61</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Neath, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span><br />
+Nevin, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Newborough, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Newcastle-on-Tyne, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Newcastle-under-Lyme, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Newport (Salop), <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Newport, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Newton, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Norfolk, <a href="#Page_69">69</a><br />
+<br />
+Norman Conquest, <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favours trade, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Norwich, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<br />
+Nottingham, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Oaths, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a><br />
+<br />
+Odd Fellows, <a href="#Page_68">68</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">see <a href="#friendly">Friendly Societies</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Oswestry, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rivalry with Shrewsbury, <a href="#Page_91">91-96</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Overton, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Oxford, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br />
+<br />
+<br /><a name="pageants" id="pageants"></a>
+Pageants, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113-127</a><br />
+<br />
+Painters, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br />
+<br />
+Palmer, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+Parchment-makers, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br />
+<br />
+Paul&#8217;s Cross, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br />
+<br />
+Peasant Revolt, <a href="#Page_56">56</a><br />
+<br />
+Pelterer, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+Pembroke, Earl of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Petersfield, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br />
+<br />
+Pewterer, <a href="#Page_53">53</a><br />
+<br />
+Plasterer, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Plymouth, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Pointmaker, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br />
+<br />
+Police regulations aided by gilds, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a><br />
+<br />
+Pontefract, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Poor maintained by Craft Gilds, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br />
+<br />
+Portsmouth, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Potter, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+Pre-emption, gildmen&#8217;s right of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">royal right of, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Preston, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Priest, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+Privileges of gildsmen, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br />
+<br />
+Processions, see <a href="#pageants">Pageants</a><br />
+<br />
+Puritans, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a><br />
+<br />
+Pursers, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br />
+<br />
+Pwllheli, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Reading, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br />
+<br />
+<i>Recruiting Officer</i>, <a href="#Page_123">123-4</a><br />
+<br />
+Reformation, its shock to industry, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">to gilds, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Reform movement fatal to companies, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Show, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Religion and trade, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a><br />
+<br /><a name="religious" id="religious"></a>
+Religious Gilds, <a href="#Page_60">60</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Holy Trinity, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of S. Winifred, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59-62</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">frequently connected with trade, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Residence not requisite for membership of Merchant Gild, <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br />
+<br />
+Restoration, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a><br />
+<br />
+Rhuddlan, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Richard I., <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Richard II., <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a><br />
+<br />
+Richard III., <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Richard, Earl of Cornwall, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Robert de Belesme, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br />
+<br />
+Rochester, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Roger de Montgomery, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br />
+<br />
+Romans, gilds of, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><br />
+<br />
+Rowley&#8217;s Mansion, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br />
+<br />
+Rubens, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br />
+<br />
+Ruyton, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Saddlers, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span><br />
+Saffron Walden, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Salisbury, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+<i>Salopian Journal</i>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a><br />
+<br />
+Scarborough, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Schools maintained by Gilds, <a href="#Page_33">33</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lancaster, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Searcher&#8217;s duties, <a href="#Page_43">43</a><br />
+<br />
+Severn, <a href="#Page_123">123</a><br />
+<br />
+Shearmen, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120-2</a><br />
+<br />
+Shoemakers, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a><br />
+<br /><a name="shrewsbury" id="shrewsbury"></a>
+Shrewsbury, its strong individuality, <a href="#Page_1">1</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its geographical position, <a href="#Page_2">2</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early growth, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Domesday, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">depressed by Conquest, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taken by Henry II., <a href="#Page_11">11</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">later prosperity, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">streets and houses, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its abbey, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">castle, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">peculiarities of its gild history, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40-42</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its gild-records, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gilds, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58-9</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gild hall, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">gild-chantries, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">religious gilds, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59-62</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Merchant Gild confirmed, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">incorporation of Craft Gilds, <a href="#Page_58">58-9</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early history of, <a href="#Page_55">55-76</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reformation changes, <a href="#Page_77">77-97</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">obtains monopoly of Welsh cloth trade, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91-7</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rivalry with Coventry, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in 16th century, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Oswestry in the 17th century, <a href="#Page_89">89-96</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with Chester, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">with London, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">typical of the 17th century, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122-5</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">influence of machinery upon, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">later degeneracy of its companies, <a href="#Page_98">98-112</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129-139</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shrewsbury Show, <a href="#Page_113">113-127</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tensers of, (Appendix <a href="#Page_155">155</a>) and other towns, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">etymology, <a href="#Page_149">149-150</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their fines, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">status, <a href="#Page_152">152-154</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">privileges, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relations with burgesses, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">later history, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Skinners, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br />
+<br />
+Skins, seller of, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+Smiths, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br />
+<br />
+Social Gilds, see <a href="#religious">Religious Gilds</a><br />
+<br />
+Socialists, <a href="#Page_141">141</a><br />
+<br />
+Social life changed by newer conditions, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a><br />
+<br />
+Somerset, <a href="#Page_67">67</a><br />
+<br />
+Southampton, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Stafford, Earl of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Stallingers, <a href="#Page_148">148</a><br />
+<br />
+Stamford, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a><br />
+<br />
+Steen, Widow, <a href="#Page_101">101</a><br />
+<br />
+Stephen, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br />
+<br />
+Stewards, duties of, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br />
+<br />
+Stow, <a href="#Page_120">120</a><br />
+<br />
+Strype, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br />
+<br />
+Suffolk, Earl of, <a href="#Page_95">95</a><br />
+<br />
+Sunderland, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+Sword Cutler, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Tailors, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a><br />
+<br />
+Tanners, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98-9</a><br />
+<br />
+Tavern-keeper, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+Tensers, see <a href="#shrewsbury">Shrewsbury</a><br />
+<br />
+Teynterer, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+Thegn-right obtained by three voyages, <a href="#Page_48">48</a><br />
+<br />
+Thurstan, Abp of York, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br />
+<br />
+Tolls paid by ungildated merchants, <a href="#Page_146">146-156</a><br />
+<br />
+Totnes, <a href="#Page_18">18</a> (n. 6), <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<br />
+Town bargains, common, <a href="#Page_15">15</a><br />
+<br />
+Townhall, <a href="#Page_17">17-18</a><br />
+<br />
+Towns, growth of, in twelfth century, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">differed little from country, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">trade their <i>raison-d&#8217;&ecirc;tre</i>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">town gild, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">struggle of classes in continental, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">but not in English, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">growth of select body, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Trade favoured by Conquest, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">expansion of, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">localisation of, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Trade Unions, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141-144</a><br />
+<br />
+Treasurer of gild, <a href="#Page_43">43</a><br />
+<br />
+Tudor, Owen, <a href="#Page_79">79</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Universities, <a href="#Page_119">119</a><br />
+<br />
+Usury, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Villain enfranchised by joining Merchant Gild, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br />
+<br />
+Vintners, <a href="#Page_59">59</a><br />
+<br />
+Vulcan, <a href="#Page_118">118</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Wake, John, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+Wales, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">incorporated with England, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cloth trade of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89-97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prince of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Wallingford, <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Walsall, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Wardens&#8217; Oath, <a href="#Page_39">39</a><br />
+<br />
+Warenne, Reginald de, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br />
+<br />
+Warwick, <a href="#Page_69">69</a><br />
+<br />
+Warwickshire, <a href="#Page_116">116</a><br />
+<br />
+Weavers, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a><br />
+<br />
+Weddings, <a href="#Page_43">43</a><br />
+<br />
+Welshpool, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br /><a name="wenlock" id="wenlock"></a>
+Wenlock, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Weymouth, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Wigan, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leve-lookers or gate-waiters at, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></span><br />
+<br />
+William I., <a href="#Page_10">10</a><br />
+<br />
+Wilton, <a href="#Page_24">24</a><br />
+<br />
+Winchester, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a><br />
+<br />
+Windsor, <a href="#Page_26">26</a><br />
+<br />
+S. Winifred, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a><br />
+<br />
+Witan, <a href="#Page_13">13</a><br />
+<br />
+Wite, <a href="#Page_60">60</a><br />
+<br />
+Women, members of gilds, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">but not burgesses, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Woodman, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+Woodstock, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Wool-comber, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wool-buyer, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">woollen-trade, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Worcester, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a><br />
+<br />
+Working men, of middle ages, <a href="#Page_49">49</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">degraded by Reformation, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and by subsequent policy, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hopes for their future, <a href="#Page_142">142-144</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Worsted Trade, <a href="#Page_78">78</a><br />
+<br />
+Wrekin, <a href="#Page_124">124</a><br />
+<br />
+Wycombe, <a href="#Page_27">27</a><br />
+<br />
+<br /><a name="yarmouth" id="yarmouth"></a>
+Yarmouth, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a><br />
+<br /><a name="yeoman" id="yeoman"></a>
+Yeomen gilds, <a href="#Page_5">5</a><br />
+<br />
+York, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Abp Thurstan of, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. &amp; SONS, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><strong>Footnotes:</strong></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_1' id='f_1' href='#fna_1'>[1]</a> I speak of the old edition. I have not had the advantage of using the
+newer work.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_2' id='f_2' href='#fna_2'>[2]</a> That the land did not contain a population adequate for its
+cultivation is evident from a Statute of 1350 which allows the people of
+the Marches of Wales (and Scotland) to go about in search of work at
+harvest-time, as they had been accustomed to do aforetime. (<i>Rot. Parl.</i>
+<span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 234.) <i>Work and Wages</i>, pp. 131-2.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_3' id='f_3' href='#fna_3'>[3]</a> Cf. Thackeray, <i>The Four Georges</i>, p. 320, &#8220;decayed provincial
+capitals, out of which the great wen of London has sucked all the life.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_4' id='f_4' href='#fna_4'>[4]</a> Macaulay. <i>History of Eng.</i>, Vol. <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> pp. 165-6. Infra, Chap. <span class="smcaplc">VII.</span></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_5' id='f_5' href='#fna_5'>[5]</a> Cf. infra, <a href="#CHAPTER_VII">Chap. <span class="smcaplc">VII.</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_6' id='f_6' href='#fna_6'>[6]</a> Brentano, 44, 52, 54, 58. Green, <i>Short Hist.</i>, 193. G. Howell,
+<i>Conflicts of Capital and Labour</i>, 22-25, 29, 31.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_7' id='f_7' href='#fna_7'>[7]</a> Cunningham, <i>Growth of Industry</i>, 212. Brentano, 90, 95.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_8' id='f_8' href='#fna_8'>[8]</a> Cf. infra, <a href="#CHAPTER_V">Chap. <span class="smcaplc">V.</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_9' id='f_9' href='#fna_9'>[9]</a> Cf. especially <a href="#CHAPTER_VII">Chap. <span class="smcaplc">VII.</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_10' id='f_10' href='#fna_10'>[10]</a> <i>The Hist. and Development of Gilds.</i> Cf. especially Note 1.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_11' id='f_11' href='#fna_11'>[11]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> 8. &#8220;The objects of the &#7956;&#961;&#945;&#957;&#959;&#953; were of the most
+varied description; ... associations of this kind were very common in the
+democratic states of Greece, and to this class the numberless political
+and religious societies, corporations, unions for commerce and shipping,
+belonged.&#8221; Boeckh, <i>Public Economy of Athens</i>, p. 243.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_12' id='f_12' href='#fna_12'>[12]</a> Grote, <i>Hist. of Greece</i>, Vol. <span class="smcaplc">VI.</span> p. 247, n. 1, where several
+interesting parallels with the Medi&aelig;val Gilds will be found. (Cf. also infra, p. <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, note 2.)</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_13' id='f_13' href='#fna_13'>[13]</a> E. Hatch, Bampton Lectures, Lect. <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> notes.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_14' id='f_14' href='#fna_14'>[14]</a> Cunningham, p. 124.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_15' id='f_15' href='#fna_15'>[15]</a> Cf. <i>Die kl&ouml;sterlichen Gebets Verbr&uuml;derungen bis zum Ausgange des
+Karolingischen Zeitalters</i>, von Dr Adalbert Ebner. Similar spiritual
+confederations are found in Italy in the second quarter of the eighth
+century, and in the ninth they become common in southern Europe. Alcuin
+speaks of them by the terms <i>pacta caritatis</i>, <i>fraternitas</i>,
+<i>familiaritas</i>. The monks of the allied houses were termed <i>familiares</i>.
+Dr Brentano (p. 20) says that at later times &#8220;conventions like that
+between the Fraternity of London Saddlers and the neighbouring Canons of
+St Martin-le-Grand, by which the saddlers were admitted into brotherhood
+and partnership of masses, orisons, and other good deeds with the canons,
+were common.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_16' id='f_16' href='#fna_16'>[16]</a> Brentano, pages 1, 2. They are printed in Kemble&#8217;s <i>The Saxons in
+England</i>, Vol. <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> Appendix D.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_17' id='f_17' href='#fna_17'>[17]</a> Brentano, 49.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_18' id='f_18' href='#fna_18'>[18]</a> Gneist, <i>Self Government</i>, Vol. <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> p. 110; <i>Verwaltungsrecht</i>, Vol.
+<span class="smcaplc">I.</span> p. 139.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_19' id='f_19' href='#fna_19'>[19]</a> Stubbs, <span class="smcaplc">III.</span> 576, 578.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_20' id='f_20' href='#fna_20'>[20]</a> <i>Work and Wages</i>, p. 126.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_21' id='f_21' href='#fna_21'>[21]</a> Stubbs, <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> 452.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_22' id='f_22' href='#fna_22'>[22]</a> Stubbs, <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> 449: <i>Select Charters</i>, 63, cap. 27, 28: 67, cap. iii.,
+viii., 1., etc.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_23' id='f_23' href='#fna_23'>[23]</a> <i>Select Charters</i>, 66, 12: 72, 6.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_24' id='f_24' href='#fna_24'>[24]</a> Stubbs, <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> 450.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_25' id='f_25' href='#fna_25'>[25]</a> <i>Select Charters</i>, 67, iii., viii., 1.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_26' id='f_26' href='#fna_26'>[26]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> 72, ii. cap. 6.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_27' id='f_27' href='#fna_27'>[27]</a> Cunningham, 129, Stubbs, <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> 452, Brentano, 42.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_28' id='f_28' href='#fna_28'>[28]</a> Gross, <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> 5; <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 28,
+37. See <a href="#Page_24">note 1 to this Chapter</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_29' id='f_29' href='#fna_29'>[29]</a> Cf. <a href="#Page_24">note 1 to this Chapter</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_30' id='f_30' href='#fna_30'>[30]</a> <i>Ibid.</i></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_31' id='f_31' href='#fna_31'>[31]</a> <i>Select Charters</i>, 167 etc.; Stubbs, <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> 452, and n. 1; Eyton&#8217;s
+<i>Shropshire</i>, <span class="smcaplc">XI.</span> 134.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_32' id='f_32' href='#fna_32'>[32]</a> <i>Quarterly Review</i>, Vol. 159.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_33' id='f_33' href='#fna_33'>[33]</a> Gross, <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> 135, 136 and notes; <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 133, 149.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_34' id='f_34' href='#fna_34'>[34]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> 42.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_35' id='f_35' href='#fna_35'>[35]</a> Cf. <a href="#Page_28">note 2 to this Chapter</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_36' id='f_36' href='#fna_36'>[36]</a> <i>Select Charters</i>, 265.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_37' id='f_37' href='#fna_37'>[37]</a> <i>Select Charters</i>, 162, &#8220;Communam scilicet gildam.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_38' id='f_38' href='#fna_38'>[38]</a> Gross, <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> 83 and note 1.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_39' id='f_39' href='#fna_39'>[39]</a> Stubbs, <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> 451.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_40' id='f_40' href='#fna_40'>[40]</a> <i>Select Charters</i> (Helston), 314.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_41' id='f_41' href='#fna_41'>[41]</a> Gross, <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> 54. The Rolls of the Shrewsbury Merchant Gild contain a
+large number of names of &#8220;foreigners.&#8221; For instance in 1209 there were
+apparently 56 foreigners; in 1252 these had increased to 234.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_42' id='f_42' href='#fna_42'>[42]</a> Printed in Gross, <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 114-123.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_43' id='f_43' href='#fna_43'>[43]</a> <i>Select Charters</i>, 166 (Charter of Henry II. to Lincoln).</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_44' id='f_44' href='#fna_44'>[44]</a> Gross, <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 235, and cf. <a href="#Page_28">note 2 to this Chapter</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_45' id='f_45' href='#fna_45'>[45]</a> Cf. the &#8220;Chepgauel&#8221; at Totnes. Gross, <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 236.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_46' id='f_46' href='#fna_46'>[46]</a> Gross, <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> 57.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_47' id='f_47' href='#fna_47'>[47]</a> Owen and Blakeway, <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> 169-174.
+Erskine May, <i>Const. Hist.</i> <span class="smcaplc">III.</span> 276-77.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_48' id='f_48' href='#fna_48'>[48]</a> This close relationship of, and actual difference between, the two
+bodies is very distinctly seen at Bristol in the reign of Edward IV., when
+it was the custom for the Mayor and Council of the town to choose the
+chief officers of the Merchant Gild, and to pass ordinances for its
+regulation. Gross, <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 25.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_49' id='f_49' href='#fna_49'>[49]</a> On the early use of coal, cf. <i>Work and Wages</i>, p. 124.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_50' id='f_50' href='#fna_50'>[50]</a> The Statutes of Labourers first gave a recognised position to the
+&#8220;men who neither held land, nor were free burgesses,&#8221; but who had a
+dwelling, and paid the rates of some town. Cf. Cunningham, 193-4. Supra,
+p. 19.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_51' id='f_51' href='#fna_51'>[51]</a> <i>Quarterly Review</i>, Vol. 159; <i>Economic Interpretation</i>, p. 298.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_52' id='f_52' href='#fna_52'>[52]</a> Cf. &#8220;Butchers&#8217; Row&#8221; at Shrewsbury, where also the High Street was
+formerly called Bakers&#8217; Row (Pidgeon&#8217;s <i>Handbook</i>, old Ed. p. 37). The
+Street which was afterwards known as Single Butcher Row had been earlier
+called &#8220;Shoemakers&#8217; Row&#8221; (Phillips, p. 200).</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_53' id='f_53' href='#fna_53'>[53]</a> Cf. the Monks&#8217; Gilds alluded to above, p. <a href="#Page_8">8</a> and n. 2.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_54' id='f_54' href='#fna_54'>[54]</a> &#8220;Which is now the only fragment left to the incumbent of the Church&#8217;s
+income before the Reformation.&#8221; S. A. S. x. 223.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_55' id='f_55' href='#fna_55'>[55]</a> Longfellow expresses this well in <i>The Golden Legend</i>:</p>
+
+<p class="poem"><span style="margin-left: 10em;">&#8220;The Architect</span><br />
+Built his great heart into these sculptured stones,<br />
+And with him toiled his children, <i>and their lives<br />
+Were builded, with his own, into the walls,<br />
+As offerings unto God</i>.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_56' id='f_56' href='#fna_56'>[56]</a> At Worcester a Gild School educated 100 scholars. The substitute
+which the Government provided at the Reformation was for less than half
+that number. Toulmin Smith&#8217;s Collection, p. 203 and note.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_57' id='f_57' href='#fna_57'>[57]</a> Ordinances of the City of London, framed in 1363.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_58' id='f_58' href='#fna_58'>[58]</a> The Greeks had private Societies called &#952;&#8055;&#945;&#963;&#959;&#953;
+and &#8000;&#961;&#947;&#949;&#8182;&#957;&#949;&#962; which also presented this feature. Cf. Foucart, <i>Les
+Associations r&eacute;ligieuses chez les Grecs</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_59' id='f_59' href='#fna_59'>[59]</a> Brentano, 54. Cunningham, 203, n. 2.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_60' id='f_60' href='#fna_60'>[60]</a> Cf. supra, p. <a href="#Page_20">20</a>. In writing thus I have not forgotten that an
+opposite view is taken by Dr Brentano, Mr J. R. Green, Mr Geo. Howell, and
+in fact most of the writers who have touched on the subject.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_61' id='f_61' href='#fna_61'>[61]</a> Gross, <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> 114.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_62' id='f_62' href='#fna_62'>[62]</a> Hartlepool, 1673. &#8220;It is ordered at a general guild ... that
+whosoever ... shall presume to come in and within the liberty of this
+corporation, to trade or occupye ... to the prejudice of the free trades
+and companyes within the corporation&#8221; etc. Gross, <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 106-7.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_63' id='f_63' href='#fna_63'>[63]</a> Cunningham, 209, n. 1.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_64' id='f_64' href='#fna_64'>[64]</a> Tailors&#8217; Composition, of 1478.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_65' id='f_65' href='#fna_65'>[65]</a> The Bailiffs are to apprehend on the third day any person coming to
+the town &#8220;suspitiouslie w<sup>th</sup>oute anie lawfull errand or occasion,&#8221; and to
+detain him in prison &#8220;till he have found suertie of his good bearing or
+els to avoide the towne.&#8221; &#8220;And if anie man be comitted to their warde by
+the wardens w<sup>th</sup> the fower men ordeigned to the said wardens to be
+assistaunt in counsell in good counsell giving of anie crafte w<sup>th</sup>in the
+said Towne and Frauncheses that then that person that is so comitted to
+warde ... be not deliv&#8217;ed out of warde by the Bailiffs w<sup>th</sup>out assent and
+agreement of the said wardens and fower men.&#8221; &#8220;Item ... that no manne of
+their Crafte journeyman or other be attendant nor at the calling of anie
+gentleman, nor to noe other person otherwise than the lawe will but onlie
+to the wardens of their Crafte for the good rule of the same and assisting
+of the Bailiffs for keeping of the peace and for good rule of the Towne.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Mercers&#8217; Composition, 1480-81. The searcher is &#8220;to make serche and espye
+all suche p&#8217;sones as frawdelentlye abbrygg, w<sup>t</sup>draw or cownceyle the
+payments of theyre dewties&#8221; (such as Toll, Murage, etc.).</p>
+
+<p>No livery is to be worn except that of the Gild or Corporation. When the
+town bell rings the alarum members of the Gild are to go to the help of
+the Bailiffs only.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_66' id='f_66' href='#fna_66'>[66]</a> Tailors&#8217; Composition, of 1478. Cf. <i>Eng. Gilds</i>, pp. 286, 385, 407,
+420, etc.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_67' id='f_67' href='#fna_67'>[67]</a> There are examples of the town drawing up trading ordinances to which
+the Gildsmen conformed. Cf. The Usages of Winchester and the Ordinances of
+Worcester in <i>Eng. Gilds</i>, pp. 349, 370. Cf. also pp. 334-337.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_68' id='f_68' href='#fna_68'>[68]</a> Also before they could hold land in mortmain it would be necessary to
+obtain a charter.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_69' id='f_69' href='#fna_69'>[69]</a> The Oath of the Freemen of the Mercers&#8217; Company is given as a note to
+this Chapter.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_70' id='f_70' href='#fna_70'>[70]</a> Cf. <a href="#Page_145">Appendix</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_71' id='f_71' href='#fna_71'>[71]</a> &#8220;The position of master and journeyman was not that of capitalist and
+labourer, so much as that of two fellow-workers, one of whom, from his
+superior status, was responsible to the town for the conduct of both.&#8221;
+Cunningham, 211. As showing the position of an apprentice in the 15th
+century a Shrewsbury Indenture is given as a note to this Chapter.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_72' id='f_72' href='#fna_72'>[72]</a> Cunningham, 211, n. 1. Brentano, 40, 68.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_73' id='f_73' href='#fna_73'>[73]</a> &#8220;The Stock in Trade required to set up in business was not great and
+an apprentice when his term of service was over, became a master almost as
+a matter of course. Journeymen were scarce, or at any rate not plentiful
+enough to have much influence on Trade.... Thus Capital and Labour were
+united.&#8221; <i>Quarterly Review</i>, Vol. 159, p. 53.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_74' id='f_74' href='#fna_74'>[74]</a> Brentano, 40.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_75' id='f_75' href='#fna_75'>[75]</a> Merewether and Stephens.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_76' id='f_76' href='#fna_76'>[76]</a> For interference with Free Election on the Continent cf. Brentano.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_77' id='f_77' href='#fna_77'>[77]</a> Tailors&#8217; Composition, 1563.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_78' id='f_78' href='#fna_78'>[78]</a> Cf. infra, <a href="#CHAPTER_VI">Chap. <span class="smcaplc">VI.</span></a></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_79' id='f_79' href='#fna_79'>[79]</a> Cf. the four Auditors to superintend the accounts of the London
+Grocers (1348) and the six members who were chosen &#8220;to aid the Wardens in
+the discharge of their duties&#8221; (1397), of whom Mr George Howell says:
+&#8220;<i>Other than these, no notice of the existence of a committee or of
+assistants, in England, appears earlier than the sixteenth Century</i>.&#8221;
+<i>Conflicts of Capital and Labour</i>, p. 40. Brentano, p. 62. Cf. the four
+Assistants in the Merchant Gild of Ipswich, Gross, <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> 24.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_80' id='f_80' href='#fna_80'>[80]</a> The &#8220;Four Men of Counsel&#8221; of the Mercers were, by the Composition of
+1480-81, chosen by the Wardens.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_81' id='f_81' href='#fna_81'>[81]</a> Mercers&#8217; Composition, 1480-81. Tailors&#8217; and Skinners&#8217;, 1563.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_82' id='f_82' href='#fna_82'>[82]</a> Tailors&#8217; Composition, 1563.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_83' id='f_83' href='#fna_83'>[83]</a> Several of these are in the Town Museum at Shrewsbury.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_84' id='f_84' href='#fna_84'>[84]</a> A &#8220;Key-keeper&#8221; appears later in the lists of officers.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_85' id='f_85' href='#fna_85'>[85]</a> Their situation is given in <i>Some account of the Ancient and Present
+state of Shrewsbury</i>, published in 1808.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_86' id='f_86' href='#fna_86'>[86]</a> Barbers&#8217; Composition (1483 <span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span>).</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_87' id='f_87' href='#fna_87'>[87]</a> <i>Quarterly Review</i>, Vol. 159, p. 44.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_88' id='f_88' href='#fna_88'>[88]</a> <i>Select Charters</i>, p. 65.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_89' id='f_89' href='#fna_89'>[89]</a> <i>Elizabethan England</i>, p. 9.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_90' id='f_90' href='#fna_90'>[90]</a> Stubbs, <i>Constitutional History</i>, Vol. <span class="smcaplc">III.</span>, p. 607.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_91' id='f_91' href='#fna_91'>[91]</a> The writs issued in 1388 order returns of the &#8220;Charters and Letters
+Patent <i>si quas habent</i>&#8221;: cf. Toulmin Smith, pp. 128, 130. The
+&#8220;Compositions&#8221; spoken of below were renewals and confirmations of
+previously enjoyed privileges. They usually assert that the Gild has been
+in existence &#8220;a tempore quo non extat memoria.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_92' id='f_92' href='#fna_92'>[92]</a> Charters were also necessary before lands could be acquired in
+mortmain.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_93' id='f_93' href='#fna_93'>[93]</a> Stubbs, ii. p. 504 and note 1.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_94' id='f_94' href='#fna_94'>[94]</a> Toulmin Smith. Introduction, p. xxiv. It is from these returns that
+Mr Toulmin Smith has compiled his collection of ordinances of &#8220;English
+Gilds,&#8221; which however comprise but a small portion of the whole, and throw
+little or no light on the working of the Graft Gilds. The documents have
+not yet been calendared, but they do not appear to contain anything
+relating to Shrewsbury.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_95' id='f_95' href='#fna_95'>[95]</a> Cunningham, p. 210, 211.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_96' id='f_96' href='#fna_96'>[96]</a> Green, <i>Short History</i>, p. 192.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_97' id='f_97' href='#fna_97'>[97]</a> Cunningham, p. 214.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_98' id='f_98' href='#fna_98'>[98]</a> Brentano, 75: Riley, <i>Memorials</i>, 539, 565, 568, 570, 571, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_99' id='f_99' href='#fna_99'>[99]</a> Pidgeon&#8217;s <i>Gilds of Shrewsbury</i>; <i>S. A. S.</i>, Vol. <span class="smcaplc">V.</span> p. 265.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_100' id='f_100' href='#fna_100'>[100]</a> <i>S. A. S.</i>, Vol. <span class="smcaplc">V.</span> p. 266.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_101' id='f_101' href='#fna_101'>[101]</a> Pidgeon&#8217;s <i>Gilds</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_102' id='f_102' href='#fna_102'>[102]</a> Merewether and Stephens. Pidgeon&#8217;s <i>Gilds</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_103' id='f_103' href='#fna_103'>[103]</a> Pidgeon&#8217;s <i>Gilds</i>; <i>S. A. S.</i> Vol. x. p. 33.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_104' id='f_104' href='#fna_104'>[104]</a> Those of Abbotsbury, Cambridge and Exeter. Cf. supra, p. <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_105' id='f_105' href='#fna_105'>[105]</a> Toulmin Smith, pp. 29, 42, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_106' id='f_106' href='#fna_106'>[106]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 7, 8, 11, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_107' id='f_107' href='#fna_107'>[107]</a> The little that is known about it is given in Owen and Blakeway&#8217;s
+<i>History of Shrewsbury</i>, <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 122.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_108' id='f_108' href='#fna_108'>[108]</a> It is printed in <i>S. A. S.</i>, Vol. <span class="smcaplc">V.</span></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_109' id='f_109' href='#fna_109'>[109]</a> <i>S. A. S.</i>, Vol. <span class="smcaplc">VIII.</span></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_110' id='f_110' href='#fna_110'>[110]</a> Bryce, <i>Holy Roman Empire</i>, p. 95.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_111' id='f_111' href='#fna_111'>[111]</a> &#8220;None that is of Frenshe, Flemmyshe, Irysh, Dowche, Walshe, or any
+other Nacyones borne not beyng at Truse w<sup>t</sup> our Sov&#8217;ayne Lorde the kynge,
+but onlye mere Englysshe borne.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_112' id='f_112' href='#fna_112'>[112]</a> Such Articles against the wearing of Liveries were common in the
+Gild Statutes. Cf. Toulmin Smith, <i>passim</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_113' id='f_113' href='#fna_113'>[113]</a> Except by the Nobility to their personal dependents. Cf. Stubbs,
+<span class="smcaplc">III.</span> 552.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_114' id='f_114' href='#fna_114'>[114]</a> 8 Edw. IV. c. 2.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_115' id='f_115' href='#fna_115'>[115]</a> 22 Hen. VIII. c. 4. The Entrance Fees for Apprentices had been
+raised in some cases to 30/- and 40/-. They are now reduced to 2/6
+Entrance Fee, and 3/4 Fee on taking up freedom.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_116' id='f_116' href='#fna_116'>[116]</a> 28 Hen. VIII. c. 5.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_117' id='f_117' href='#fna_117'>[117]</a> 1 Edw. VI. cap. 14.</p>
+
+<p>[118] <i>Hist. of Reformation</i>, <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 72.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_119' id='f_119' href='#fna_119'>[119]</a> May, 1548; Council Book MS. in the Privy Council Office. Cf. Dixon,
+<i>Hist. of Church of Eng.</i> Vol. <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> page 462, note.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_120' id='f_120' href='#fna_120'>[120]</a> Burnet, <i>Hist. of Reformation</i>, <span class="smcaplc">IV.</span> 281.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_121' id='f_121' href='#fna_121'>[121]</a> Cf. Gross, <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> 162, <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 14, 170, 279.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_122' id='f_122' href='#fna_122'>[122]</a> The Statute 14 Eliz. c. 14 was enacted &#8220;For the assurance of gifts,
+grants etc. made and to be made to and for the relief of the poor in the
+Hospitals etc.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_123' id='f_123' href='#fna_123'>[123]</a> <i>Memorials</i>, Vol. <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> Part <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> page 100.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_124' id='f_124' href='#fna_124'>[124]</a> Against this were to be set the &#8220;enclosing&#8221; and &#8220;non-residence&#8221;
+grievances.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_125' id='f_125' href='#fna_125'>[125]</a> <i>Elizabethan England</i>, p. 11.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_126' id='f_126' href='#fna_126'>[126]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 121.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_127' id='f_127' href='#fna_127'>[127]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 117.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_128' id='f_128' href='#fna_128'>[128]</a> <i>Elizabethan England</i>, p. 117.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_129' id='f_129' href='#fna_129'>[129]</a> <i>Ibid.</i></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_130' id='f_130' href='#fna_130'>[130]</a> The good work of the Gilds is expressly acknowledged in many
+charters of the time, e.g. the charter granted to Faversham (1616) recites
+that long experience had shown that the dividing of the government of
+towns into several companies had worked great good, and was the means of
+avoiding many inconveniences and preposterous disorders, in respect that
+the government of every artificer and tradesman being committed to men of
+gravity, best experienced in the same faculty and mystery, the particular
+grievances and deceits in every trade might be examined, reformed and
+ordered. Gross, <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 89.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_131' id='f_131' href='#fna_131'>[131]</a> Cunningham, p. 181.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_132' id='f_132' href='#fna_132'>[132]</a> Cf. especially, 3 Edw. IV. c. 4; 22 Edward IV. c.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_133' id='f_133' href='#fna_133'>[133]</a> Gross, <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 1, 2, 55, 89, 186-7, 208, 250.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_134' id='f_134' href='#fna_134'>[134]</a> Cf. infra, pp. <a href="#Page_90">90-91</a>. The repealing statute (14 Eliz. c. 12) avowed
+that not only had the former Act been &#8220;supposed for the benefit of the
+said town&#8221; but had also been intended for the &#8220;advancing of the
+Corporation of Drapers, Cottoners and Friezers of the said town.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_135' id='f_135' href='#fna_135'>[135]</a> Gross, <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 87.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_136' id='f_136' href='#fna_136'>[136]</a> Gross, <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 281. Cf. also pp. 12, 87, 199, 234, 247-8, 250, 281, 355,
+360.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_137' id='f_137' href='#fna_137'>[137]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 12.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_138' id='f_138' href='#fna_138'>[138]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 56, 90, 91, 176, 186, 193, 199, 234, 247, 251, 264, 364,
+385.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_139' id='f_139' href='#fna_139'>[139]</a> Merewether and Stephens, 1408.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_140' id='f_140' href='#fna_140'>[140]</a> Cromwell&#8217;s Charter to Swansea. Gross, <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> 234.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_141' id='f_141' href='#fna_141'>[141]</a> Cf. the ordinance which appears in the Tailors&#8217; records, <span class="smcaplc">A.D.</span> 1711,
+April 11. &#8220;No combrother shall at any one time have more than two
+apprentices, one having served 3&#189; years before the other apprentice be
+bound, and no apprentice above 17 years taken, and he must be unmarried.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_142' id='f_142' href='#fna_142'>[142]</a> It was also directed against the paying of the Shearmen in kind.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_143' id='f_143' href='#fna_143'>[143]</a> Cf. also 18 Eliz. cap. 15 (Goldsmiths): 8 Eliz. cap. 11
+(Haberdashers).</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_144' id='f_144' href='#fna_144'>[144]</a> In 1570-1 when Sir Henry Sidney, Lord President of Wales, passed
+through Shrewsbury.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_145' id='f_145' href='#fna_145'>[145]</a> Shrewsbury Corporation Records.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_146' id='f_146' href='#fna_146'>[146]</a> State Papers, Domestic, 1566? (p. 285).</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_147' id='f_147' href='#fna_147'>[147]</a> State Papers, Domestic, 1619, Oct. ?</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_148' id='f_148' href='#fna_148'>[148]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 1620, Jan. ?</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_149' id='f_149' href='#fna_149'>[149]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 1620, Jan. ? (There are several petitions against other
+intruders also, by the countenance of the City of London, &#8220;who wish to
+engross all markets.&#8221;)</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_150' id='f_150' href='#fna_150'>[150]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 1620, Jan. ?</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_151' id='f_151' href='#fna_151'>[151]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 1620, Jan. 28.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_152' id='f_152' href='#fna_152'>[152]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 1620, Feb. 21.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_153' id='f_153' href='#fna_153'>[153]</a> State Papers, Domestic, 1622. Several petitions from North Wales
+against the Proclamation.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_154' id='f_154' href='#fna_154'>[154]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 1621. Petition of Drapers of Shrewsbury.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_155' id='f_155' href='#fna_155'>[155]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, 1621, May 21. Petition of Clothiers of North Wales: the
+Drapers of Shrewsbury are trying to draw all trade to Shrewsbury, which
+will be their ruin.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_156' id='f_156' href='#fna_156'>[156]</a> State Papers, Domestic; Oswestry Corporation Records, printed in <i>S.
+A. S.</i> Vol. <span class="smcaplc">III.</span></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_157' id='f_157' href='#fna_157'>[157]</a> In 1622 the Bailiffs had requested a loan from the Mercers towards
+the establishing of a market for Welsh cloth in Shrewsbury.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_158' id='f_158' href='#fna_158'>[158]</a> The traders of Liverpool seem to have been the first to do this, so
+far as the Welsh trade of Shrewsbury was concerned. Cf. Owen&#8217;s
+<i>Shrewsbury</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_159' id='f_159' href='#fna_159'>[159]</a> Orders of Corporation (collected by Godolphin Edwardes, Mayor in
+1729). <i>S. A. S.</i> Vol <span class="smcaplc">XI.</span></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_160' id='f_160' href='#fna_160'>[160]</a> <i>Ibid.</i></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_161' id='f_161' href='#fna_161'>[161]</a> <i>Ibid.</i></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_162' id='f_162' href='#fna_162'>[162]</a> Orders of Corporation (1689).</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_163' id='f_163' href='#fna_163'>[163]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> (1729).</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_164' id='f_164' href='#fna_164'>[164]</a> <i>Ibid.</i></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_165' id='f_165' href='#fna_165'>[165]</a> &#8220;1619. That the Corporation endeavour to compel the wardens of the
+Bakers&#8217; Company to pay their old annuity of &pound;4. 6<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i> (sic) to the
+Corporation.&#8221; Orders of Corporation printed in Phillips&#8217; <i>History of
+Shrewsbury</i>, p. 170.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_166' id='f_166' href='#fna_166'>[166]</a> Orders of Corporation printed in Phillips&#8217; <i>History of Shrewsbury</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_167' id='f_167' href='#fna_167'>[167]</a> Cf. supra, p. <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_168' id='f_168' href='#fna_168'>[168]</a> Glovers&#8217; records, 1681.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_169' id='f_169' href='#fna_169'>[169]</a> 1782. Two members were called upon to show cause why they practise a
+profession contrary to that they have sworn to follow.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_170' id='f_170' href='#fna_170'>[170]</a> <i>Britannia Languens</i>, p. 355.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_171' id='f_171' href='#fna_171'>[171]</a> p. 88.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_172' id='f_172' href='#fna_172'>[172]</a> Consisting however of masters only.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_173' id='f_173' href='#fna_173'>[173]</a> Macaulay, <i>History of England</i>, Vol <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> p. 204, n.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_174' id='f_174' href='#fna_174'>[174]</a> Cf. Howell, <i>Conflicts of Capital and Labour</i>, pp. 16, 62, 79, 103,
+109, 472.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_175' id='f_175' href='#fna_175'>[175]</a> Resolution of Saddlers in 1798, voting &pound;50.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_176' id='f_176' href='#fna_176'>[176]</a> This sentiment finds expression even in some of the compositions.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_177' id='f_177' href='#fna_177'>[177]</a> That is, masters only, not workmen.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_178' id='f_178' href='#fna_178'>[178]</a> <i>The Happy Warrior</i> of Wordsworth gives us probably a very true idea
+of the medi&aelig;val conception of the perfect knight.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_179' id='f_179' href='#fna_179'>[179]</a> Cf. Stubbs&#8217; <i>Lectures on Constitutional History</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_180' id='f_180' href='#fna_180'>[180]</a> Cf. supra, p. <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_181' id='f_181' href='#fna_181'>[181]</a> Scott&#8217;s <i>Marmion</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_182' id='f_182' href='#fna_182'>[182]</a> Brentano, p. 21.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_183' id='f_183' href='#fna_183'>[183]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> p. 21.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_184' id='f_184' href='#fna_184'>[184]</a> Toulmin Smith, p. 192.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_185' id='f_185' href='#fna_185'>[185]</a> It is a curious coincidence that these two towns which earlier
+evinced such jealousy towards one another&#8217;s procession (cf. supra, p. <a href="#Page_63">63</a>)
+should have maintained it longest.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_186' id='f_186' href='#fna_186'>[186]</a> The festivities of the Preston Gild were held at intervals of twenty
+years. The last took place in 1882 (cf. Abram, <i>Memorials</i>), but many
+features place the Preston pageants in a different class from that to
+which those of Shrewsbury and Coventry belong.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_187' id='f_187' href='#fna_187'>[187]</a> i.e. Coventry.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_188' id='f_188' href='#fna_188'>[188]</a> Though there is no doubt that the Quarry was used for the
+performance of plays by other actors. Cf. infra, p. <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_189' id='f_189' href='#fna_189'>[189]</a> Phillips (p. 201) gives the titles of two of these plays: &#8220;Julian
+the Apostate&#8221; (at which Elizabeth intended to be present, but was
+misinformed as to the date: when she arrived at Coventry tidings reached
+her that it was already performed) in 1565, and &#8220;The Passion of Christ&#8221; in
+1567.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_190' id='f_190' href='#fna_190'>[190]</a> Cf. supra, pp. <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98-9</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_191' id='f_191' href='#fna_191'>[191]</a> Cf. supra, p. <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_192' id='f_192' href='#fna_192'>[192]</a> Stow&#8217;s <i>Survey</i>, p. 124.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_193' id='f_193' href='#fna_193'>[193]</a> Shearmen&#8217;s records.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_194' id='f_194' href='#fna_194'>[194]</a> <i>Ibid.</i></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_195' id='f_195' href='#fna_195'>[195]</a> Taylor MS.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_196' id='f_196' href='#fna_196'>[196]</a> Shearmen&#8217;s records.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_197' id='f_197' href='#fna_197'>[197]</a> <i>Ibid.</i></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_198' id='f_198' href='#fna_198'>[198]</a> (1594.) Owen and Blakeway, Vol. <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> p. 396.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_199' id='f_199' href='#fna_199'>[199]</a> Macaulay, <i>History of England</i>, Vol. <span class="smcaplc">I.</span> p. 164.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_200' id='f_200' href='#fna_200'>[200]</a> <i>Through England on a Side Saddle in the time of William and Mary,
+being the Diary of Celia Fiennes.</i></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_201' id='f_201' href='#fna_201'>[201]</a> From the dedication to <i>The Recruiting Officer</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_202' id='f_202' href='#fna_202'>[202]</a> Thackeray, <i>The Four Georges</i>, p. 320.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_203' id='f_203' href='#fna_203'>[203]</a> Perry, <i>Church History</i>, Vol. <span class="smcaplc">II.</span> p. 512.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_204' id='f_204' href='#fna_204'>[204]</a> Glovers&#8217; records, 1781. &#8220;Item, 1/- for carrying the Flag to Church
+on Show Day.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_205' id='f_205' href='#fna_205'>[205]</a> Saddlers&#8217; records, 1810. &#8220;Treasurer to pay 2 guineas to the
+apprentices to go to Kingsland on Show Monday, and that they may have the
+use of the Cloth, Flag and Streamers belonging to the Company.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_206' id='f_206' href='#fna_206'>[206]</a> Saddlers&#8217; records, 1812. &#8220;That &pound;10 be allowed to dine the company
+instead of going to Kingsland.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_207' id='f_207' href='#fna_207'>[207]</a> Cf. infra, p. <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_208' id='f_208' href='#fna_208'>[208]</a> <i>Britannia Languens</i>, p. 355.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_209' id='f_209' href='#fna_209'>[209]</a> <i>The Stranger in Shrewsbury.</i></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_210' id='f_210' href='#fna_210'>[210]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> p. 24.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_211' id='f_211' href='#fna_211'>[211]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> On p. 28 they are described as being 16 in number. They
+appear to have varied considerably in number at different periods.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_212' id='f_212' href='#fna_212'>[212]</a> <i>The Stranger in Shrewsbury</i>, p. 24.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_213' id='f_213' href='#fna_213'>[213]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> p. 97.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_214' id='f_214' href='#fna_214'>[214]</a> <i>Ibid.</i> p. 97.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_215' id='f_215' href='#fna_215'>[215]</a> In 1637.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_216' id='f_216' href='#fna_216'>[216]</a> Though a few patriotic members kept the arbours etc. in repair a few
+years longer.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_217' id='f_217' href='#fna_217'>[217]</a> &#8220;1822. Thomas Frances Dukes made a Combrother free of all expense,
+for his handsome conduct in giving up the Charter.&#8221; (Mercers&#8217; Records.)</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_218' id='f_218' href='#fna_218'>[218]</a> Cf. <i>The Stranger in Shrewsbury</i>, p. 28.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_219' id='f_219' href='#fna_219'>[219]</a> The Mercers decide that their dinner shall not cost above &pound;25.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_220' id='f_220' href='#fna_220'>[220]</a> A similar case was tried at Ludlow in 1831 when the Hammer-men
+obtained a verdict in their favour and a farthing damages.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_221' id='f_221' href='#fna_221'>[221]</a> 5 and 6 Will. IV. c. 76.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_222' id='f_222' href='#fna_222'>[222]</a> <i>Constitutional History of England</i>, Erskine May, Vol. <span class="smcaplc">III.</span> p. 285.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_223' id='f_223' href='#fna_223'>[223]</a> Section 41. Omnes mercatores habeant salvum et securum exire de
+Anglia, et venire in Angliam, et morari et ire per Angliam, tam per terram
+quam per aquam, ad emendum et venendum, sine omnibus malis toltis.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_224' id='f_224' href='#fna_224'>[224]</a> These were finally pulled down in 1859.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_225' id='f_225' href='#fna_225'>[225]</a> The Mercers followed this example in 1878.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_226' id='f_226' href='#fna_226'>[226]</a> <i>Quarterly Review</i>, Vol. 159, p. 50.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_227' id='f_227' href='#fna_227'>[227]</a> <i>Quarterly Review</i>, Vol. 159, p. 56. The Drapers&#8217; company at
+Shrewsbury still survives to manage S. Mary&#8217;s Almshouses.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_228' id='f_228' href='#fna_228'>[228]</a> In 1835 there appear to have been companies in at least the
+following other towns in England, Alnwick, Bristol, Carlisle, Chester,
+Coventry, Durham, Gateshead, Haverfordwest, Kendal, Kingston-on-Thames,
+Lichfield, London, Ludlow, Morpeth, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Oxford, Preston,
+Richmond, Ruthin, Sheffield, Southampton, Wells, and York.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_229' id='f_229' href='#fna_229'>[229]</a> Cf. supra, pp. <a href="#Page_47">47-51</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_230' id='f_230' href='#fna_230'>[230]</a> Cf. supra, pp. <a href="#Page_105">105-106</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_231' id='f_231' href='#fna_231'>[231]</a> Howell, <i>Conflicts of Capital</i> etc., p. 494.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_232' id='f_232' href='#fna_232'>[232]</a> The story of the rise of Trades Unions has been told with much
+detail by Mr G. Howell in his <i>Conflicts of Capital and Labour</i>, and by Dr
+Brentano in the last portion of his Essay on Gilds.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_233' id='f_233' href='#fna_233'>[233]</a> It is to be hoped that the development of the &#8220;New Unionism&#8221; will
+not frustrate this hope.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_234' id='f_234' href='#fna_234'>[234]</a> Mr John Burns has recently been urging on Trades Unions the
+advisability of surrendering this feature, so that the funds may the more
+completely be devoted to militant purposes.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_235' id='f_235' href='#fna_235'>[235]</a> By Henry Lytton Bulwer, M.P., in a letter to the Handloom weavers
+when they petitioned for the creation of gilds of trade.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_236' id='f_236' href='#fna_236'>[236]</a> Foxwell, <i>Irregularity of Employment</i>, p. 72.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_237' id='f_237' href='#fna_237'>[237]</a> &#8220;There is of late a partial revival of good workmanship in many
+trades ... but it will require years of toil to recover our lost ground in
+the markets of the world.&#8221; G. Howell, <i>Conflicts of Capital</i> etc., p. 225.
+Prof. Foxwell points out that &#8220;the master cutlers of Sheffield have done
+something in [the] direction lately of exposing and punishing
+falsification&#8221; etc., <i>Irregularity of Employment</i> etc., p. 80 and note. Mr
+E. J. Poynter notices that &#8220;the firm of which Mr William Morris is the
+head, of which indeed he is the sole member, started the idea, now well
+understood, that the only possible means of producing work which shall be
+satisfactory from every side is to return to the principles on which all
+works of art and art-manufacture were executed, not only in the Middle
+Ages, but at all epochs up to the beginning of this century.&#8221; <i>Ten
+Lectures on Art</i>, p. 274.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_238' id='f_238' href='#fna_238'>[238]</a> This paper was written for the Shropshire Arch&aelig;ological and Natural
+History Society, and was printed in substance in their <i>Transactions</i>, 2nd
+Series, Vol. <span class="smcaplc">III.</span>, Part ii., p. 253.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><strong>Transcriber&#8217;s Note:</strong> Foonote 118 appears on page <a href="#Page_67">67</a>
+of the text, but there is no corresponding marker on the page.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Influence and Development of
+English Gilds, by Francis Aiden Hibbert
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+</body>
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diff --git a/39030.txt b/39030.txt
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+++ b/39030.txt
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Influence and Development of English
+Gilds, by Francis Aiden Hibbert
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Influence and Development of English Gilds
+       As Illustrated by the History of the Craft Gilds of Shrewsbury
+
+Author: Francis Aiden Hibbert
+
+Release Date: March 3, 2012 [EBook #39030]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INFLUENCE AND ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned
+images of public domain material from the Google Print
+project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE INFLUENCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH GILDS.
+
+
+
+
+  London: C. J. CLAY AND SONS,
+  CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE,
+  AVE MARIA LANE.
+
+  CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL, AND CO.
+  LEIPZIG: F. A. BROCKHAUS.
+  NEW YORK: MACMILLAN AND CO.
+
+
+
+
+  Cambridge Historical Essays. No. V.
+
+
+  THE INFLUENCE AND DEVELOPMENT
+  OF ENGLISH GILDS:
+  AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE HISTORY OF
+  THE CRAFT GILDS OF SHREWSBURY.
+
+
+  BY FRANCIS AIDAN HIBBERT, B.A.,
+  OF ST JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE;
+  ASSISTANT MASTER IN DENSTONE COLLEGE.
+
+
+  _THIRLWALL DISSERTATION_, 1891.
+
+
+  Cambridge:
+  AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
+  1891
+
+  [_All Rights reserved._]
+
+
+
+
+  Cambridge:
+  PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. AND SONS,
+  AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
+
+
+
+
+  _TO THE REV. D. EDWARDES, M.A.,
+  HEAD MASTER OF DENSTONE,
+  IN REMEMBRANCE OF MUCH KINDNESS
+  AND ENCOURAGEMENT._
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+I should explain that, in the present Essay, I have restricted myself to
+associations which had for their object the regulation of trade. Frith
+Gilds and Religious or Social Gilds have received only passing notice.
+
+The Merchant Gild is too wide a subject to be treated in an Essay such as
+this. Moreover the records of the Shrewsbury Merchant Gild are too meagre
+to afford much information, and I would therefore have gladly passed over
+the whole question in silence but that without some notice of it the Essay
+would have seemed incomplete.
+
+My attention has thus been concentrated on the Craft Gilds, and on the
+later companies which arose out of these.
+
+It is greatly to be regretted that we have no work on Gilds which deals
+with the subject from an English point of view, and traces the development
+of these pre-eminently English institutions according to its progress on
+English soil.
+
+The value of Dr Brentano's extremely able Essay is very largely
+diminished, for Englishmen, not only because he is continually attempting
+to trace undue analogies between the Gilds and Trades Unions, but still
+more because he has failed to appreciate the spirit which animated English
+Merchants and Craftsmen in their relations with one another, and so has
+missed the line of Gild development in England. If he had not confined his
+attention, so far as English Gilds are concerned, solely to the London
+Companies he could hardly have failed to discover his mistake.
+
+Something has been done to set the facts of the case in a clearer light by
+Dr Cunningham briefly in his _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_[1].
+
+But it is to be feared that Mr J. R. Green's _History_ is so deservedly
+popular, and Mr George Howell's _Conflicts of Capital and Labour_ is so
+otherwise reliable, that views differing from those which these writers
+set forward--following Dr Brentano as it appears--stand little chance of
+being generally known.
+
+Great as is the weight which must attach to such important authorities, I
+have endeavoured--by looking at the facts in my materials from an
+independent standpoint--to avoid being unduly influenced by their
+conclusions, or by a desire to find analogies where none exist.
+
+The materials from which I have worked call for but little description.
+They are simply the records of the Shrewsbury Gilds--either in their
+original form as preserved in the town Museum and Library, or as printed
+in the Shropshire Archaeological Society's _Transactions_.
+
+Though my view has been thus confined it has been kept purposely so.
+English local history is its own best interpreter, and although in some
+instances the documents have required illustrating and supplementing from
+extraneous sources, these occasions have been few. At the same time I have
+not omitted to notice how the effects of national events were felt in
+provincial changes, and I have especially striven to point out how the
+Shrewsbury records bear upon the various theories which have been put
+forward respecting Gilds. Writing thus in a historical rather than an
+antiquarian spirit I have not considered it necessary to overburden the
+pages with needless footnotes referring repeatedly simply to the records
+of the Shrewsbury Gilds.
+
+_October, 1890._
+
+
+NOTE.--_The Gild Merchant_, by Charles Gross, Ph.D. (Oxford, Clarendon
+Press, 1890), appeared after the above had been written and the Essay sent
+in. I have since had the advantage of reading it. The general conclusions
+at which the writer arrives are so similar to those I had already formed,
+that I have not found it necessary to alter what I had written. I have
+however to some extent made use of the material he has brought together in
+Vol. II., chiefly by way of strengthening the authorities in the footnotes
+to which reference is made in the text.
+
+
+
+
+EXTRACT FROM THE REGULATIONS FOR THE THIRLWALL PRIZE.
+
+
+"There shall be established in the University a prize, called the
+'Thirlwall Prize,' to be awarded for dissertations involving original
+historical research."
+
+"The prize shall be open to members of the University who, at the time
+when their dissertations are sent in, have been admitted to a degree, and
+are of not more than four years' standing from admission to their first
+degree."
+
+"Those dissertations which the adjudicators declare to be deserving of
+publication shall be published by the University singly or in combination,
+in an uniform series, at the expense of the fund, under such conditions as
+the Syndics of the University Press shall from time to time determine."
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                         PAGES
+
+  CHAPTER I.
+
+    Introductory                                           1-6
+
+  CHAPTER II.
+
+    The Merchant Gild                                     7-29
+      Note 1. Chronological Table of Merchant Gilds      24-28
+      Note 2. List of Trades and Professions             28-29
+
+  CHAPTER III.
+
+    The Craft Gilds                                      30-54
+      Note 1. Indenture of Apprenticeship (1414)         52-53
+      Note 2. Oath of Freemen                            53-54
+
+  CHAPTER IV.
+
+    The Early History of the Gilds                       55-76
+
+  CHAPTER V.
+
+    Reconstruction of the Gild System                    77-97
+
+  CHAPTER VI.
+
+    The Degeneracy of the Companies                     98-112
+
+  CHAPTER VII.
+
+    Shrewsbury Show                                    113-127
+
+  CHAPTER VIII.
+
+    The End of the Companies                           128-144
+
+  Appendix I. Non-Gildated Tradesmen                   145-156
+
+  Appendix II. Authorities cited                       157-159
+
+  Index                                                160-168
+
+
+
+
+NOTE.
+
+On page 26 Liverpool should be inserted. The charter was granted in 1229,
+by the king.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+INTRODUCTORY.
+
+
+[Sidenote: _Local life in England always varied._]
+
+In these days of convenience and easy transit, when distance has been
+annihilated by the telegraph wire and the express train, we can hardly
+realise, even with an effort, the extent to which such changes have
+revolutionised the social life of Englishmen. Of local sentiment there can
+be now but little, yet local sentiment has played a greater part in our
+history than perhaps any other motive. The England of to-day is little
+more than a great suburb of its capital. Yet it is a peculiar feature of
+the England of the past that its local life was always singularly varied,
+not only in the Middle Ages but down to quite recent times. Indeed the
+characteristic is still more than traceable in some of our less busy
+districts.
+
+In the past, too, some parts possessed the feature in a more marked degree
+than others. We should naturally expect that few towns would have a
+stronger infusion of local feeling than Shrewsbury. Through all its
+history it has indeed been marked by strong individuality.
+
+[Sidenote: _Early growth of Shrewsbury._]
+
+Situated in the midst of the Marches of Wales, the centre round which long
+waged the struggle for the fair lands westward of the Severn, its strong
+walls and insular position soon gave it a marked commercial superiority
+over the surrounding country. In consequence we find Shrewsbury at an
+early date considerably more advanced than the unprotected land outside,
+which lay open to the ravages of the Welsh. This condition of affairs, the
+reverse of favourable for commercial advancement, continued to depress the
+neighbourhood after Edward the First's conquest of the Principality, for
+the disorders of the Lords Marchers kept the Borders in a state of
+continual alarm, and prevented the inhabitants from settling down to any
+regular and profitable industry[2].
+
+Henry IV. on the death of Glendower effected the reconquest of Wales, and
+enacted severe laws against the inhabitants. The only result was, however,
+the organisation of robber bands whose definite object was to plunder and
+harass more completely their English neighbours. The evil became so
+intolerable that a special court had to be erected to remove it, and in
+1478 was formed the Court of the President and Marches of Wales.
+
+By dint of powers of summary jurisdiction over disturbers of the public
+peace, a diminution was effected in the disorders, and the border lands
+were able to participate in the increase of trade which was such a marked
+feature of the fourteenth century. In spite of the temporary shock given
+to industry by the Reformation, the district had, by the latter part of
+the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth, quite
+recovered from the Welsh ravages, and its prosperity at this time was very
+remarkable.
+
+The fertility of the district brought wealth to the market towns, and
+provided a wide area of comfortable purchasers for the products of their
+industries. The expansion of the Welsh cloth trade gave rise to a twofold
+struggle. There was firstly a strenuous effort of the border towns to keep
+it to themselves, and secondly a private quarrel as to which of them
+should engross the market. Shrewsbury eventually secured the monopoly
+after an arduous contest, and the importance of the town was thus
+considerably enhanced.
+
+[Sidenote: _Its later prosperity._]
+
+The internal history of its Gilds will show how peculiarly the state of
+Shrewsbury illustrates the period of quiet prosperity before the
+introduction of machinery broke in upon the comfortable life of provincial
+England.
+
+The county towns then possessed an importance of which they have since
+been shorn by various causes[3]. Each was the capital of its district,
+filling the part of a distant metropolis to which neither the country
+gentleman nor the wealthy burgess could expect to go more than once or
+twice in a lifetime. Shrewsbury, in particular, was possessed of features
+which serve not only to make it especially typical of the social habits of
+the period, but which at the same time give it an interest exceptionally
+its own[4].
+
+[Sidenote: _Its stationary condition in recent times._]
+
+And when the introduction of machinery transformed the face of England to
+such a large extent, the changes which it brought to Shrewsbury were
+extremely slight. Local life was strong. The town was slow to accommodate
+itself to new conditions of industry. Its Gilds and companies maintained
+their vigour to the end. Their yearly pageant continued to our own day.
+The timbered houses which the substantial tradesmen built in the days of
+their prosperity are still, many of them, standing. The streets of the
+town have been only gradually altered and improved. They still follow the
+old lines, often inconvenient, but always interesting: they still are
+called by their old names, full of confusion to the stranger, full of
+significance to the student.
+
+[Sidenote: _Importance of history of its Gilds._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Their quiet development._]
+
+Shrewsbury, then, exhibits a character eminently its own, from whatever
+point we view its history. But it is a distinction of similarity rather
+than the prominence of singularity. The progress of the town has gone on
+quietly and calmly, seldom interrupted and never forced. The history of
+its Gilds must of necessity present similar features. It will be a record
+of silent development, often leaving few traces, yet not the less evident
+to careful observation.
+
+[Sidenote: _Peculiarities._]
+
+But it is also a history in studying which we must be particularly on our
+guard against being led astray by the analogy of similar institutions in
+other parts of England or on the Continent. The desire to arrive at, or to
+conform to, general conclusions often blinds writers to the fact to which
+we have already drawn attention, namely, that local life in England was
+always varied; that each town and district had its own strongly-marked
+peculiarities. Bearing this in mind, deviations--apparent or real--from
+the ordinary course of Gild history will cause us no surprise. The
+shearmen's maypole quarrel[5] with the bailiffs is almost the only trace
+of serious conflict at Shrewsbury between the municipal authorities[6] and
+the companies until the seventeenth century. There are no signs of the
+rise of Yeomen Gilds[7] in earlier or later years, though evidence in
+plenty is found of the complete disregard shown by the masters for the
+interests of the journeymen[8]. On the other hand, so far from the Court
+of Assistants being a late creation we meet with it at Shrewsbury very
+early in Gild history.
+
+[Sidenote: _Especial points of value._]
+
+It will also be a record rich in illustrations of contemporary social
+life[9]. The closeness of relationship between religion and the ordinary
+business pursuits of the mediaeval burgess; the wide public influence
+exercised by the Gilds in their earlier years, and the remarkable family
+feeling they maintained within the boundaries of the old towns even down
+to the time when the companies had become utterly demoralised, will be
+exemplified not less remarkably than the continuity of the Gild sentiment
+through the shocks of the Reformation period, through the economic changes
+of Elizabeth, and even (in some sort) through the Reforms of 1835.
+
+It is a history too which will help us to understand a problem of
+considerable difficulty. We shall not only see the degenerated societies
+of capitalists in full vigour down to the date of their enforced
+termination as trading companies, but we shall also be enabled to perceive
+how it was that they managed to retain their prejudicial and antiquated
+privileges to the very end of their existence.
+
+It is indeed in the light which their history throws on the conditions of
+provincial trade and the social customs of an ordinary provincial town
+during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that its special
+importance lies. The rapid progress which marked the commencement of that
+period, not less than the torpor and decay which characterised the
+corporate towns at its close will be found to be eminently exemplified in
+the history of the Shrewsbury Gilds.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE MERCHANT GILD.
+
+
+[Sidenote: _Universality of Gild feeling._]
+
+Dr Brentano[10] is particularly desirous to make it clear that he
+considers England "the birthplace of Gilds." But it is scarcely necessary
+to point out that the conception of the Gild belongs to no particular age
+and to no particular country. Not to insist unduly on the universality of
+an institution from which some writers have derived the Gilds, and to
+which they certainly bear considerable resemblance, the family--common to
+humanity itself--we note that the Greeks had their [Greek: eranoi][11] and
+their [Greek: xunomosiai][12], and the Romans their _collegia
+opificum_[13], each exhibiting not a few of the features of the mediaeval
+Gilds. _Corps des metiers_ existed in France in very early times, perhaps
+in direct continuation of the Roman institutions, and played a great part
+in the beginnings of many towns[14]. So early as to be anterior to the
+earliest known Frith Gilds, that is to say in the latter half of the
+seventh century, a regularly organised system of confederation existed
+among the Anglo-Saxon monasteries throughout England, according to the
+rules of which the united Abbeys and Religious Houses undertook to pray
+for the members, living and departed, of one another[15]:
+
+[Sidenote: _English and Continental Gilds._]
+
+Each of these associations, so various in date and object, bore great
+resemblance to the Gilds of later times, according as the latter are
+considered in the light of some one or other of their functions: now it is
+the common feast, now it is the possession of corporate property, here it
+is the union of all the workmen of a craft into one sodality, there it is
+the association of neighbours for mutual responsibility and protection;
+now it is the confraternity "in omni obsequio religionis." Such a
+tendency to association is simply the result of man's gregarious nature,
+and there is no need to restrict what is found alike in all peoples and
+all periods. But it is none the less true that the tendency has been more
+strongly marked in England than elsewhere. The earliest Gild Statutes
+which have come down to us are English[16], and the development of Gilds
+in England proceeded according to its normal course without being diverted
+and confused by external and disturbing circumstances. The real history of
+Gilds will thus be the history of _English_ Gilds, not of those of the
+Continent, whose records detail rather a bitter struggle between rival
+classes in the towns[17]. If the constitutional importance of the Gilds
+was thus greater on the Continent than it was in England[18], this was
+because _there_ a social institution was dragged out of its proper sphere
+of action, and in the arena of politics was shorn of the most attractive
+of its features.
+
+[Sidenote: _Value of history of local Gilds._]
+
+In these pages we shall be concerned solely with examples drawn from the
+history of our own country. Where necessary reference will be made to the
+institutions of other towns, but in general our attention will be
+concentrated on one provincial borough only--a town, as we have seen, well
+calculated to illustrate the social life of England in the past. It is
+only by working out the several departments of local municipal history
+that anything like a complete view of the subject can be ultimately
+obtained[19]. In the following chapters an attempt will be made to
+contribute something towards such a consummation.
+
+The records of the later Craft Gilds at Shrewsbury are entirely
+satisfactory, but unfortunately those of the Merchant Gild are of the most
+meagre description. They throw but little light therefore on its functions
+or history, and still less on the interesting question as to the precise
+nature of the relationship which existed between the Gilda Mercatoria and
+the Communa. Our attention will consequently be chiefly directed to an
+examination of the history and development of the _Craft Gilds_. A few
+remarks, more or less general in their scope, on the Merchant Gild seem
+however to be called for, in anticipation of the history of the later
+trade associations.
+
+[Sidenote: _Growth of towns in twelfth century._]
+
+In England, as elsewhere, the growth of the towns was one of the most
+marked features of the twelfth century. This was due to various causes.
+William's conquest had opened up increased facilities for communication
+with the Continent: the Norman soldiers brought skilled Norman traders in
+their train, and so war ministered to commerce just as subsequently the
+Crusades were largely helpful to the growth of trade and the progress of
+the towns. The vigorous administration of Henry I. and Henry II. had also
+facilitated the expansion of industry. Henry I. favoured the rising towns
+both because of their commercial utility and in order to make use of their
+counterbalancing influence against the power of the Barons. Shrewsbury he
+took into his own hands, having enforced the surrender of the town from
+the rebellious Robert de Belesme. The amendment of the currency and the
+organisation of the Courts of King's Bench and Exchequer were also as
+favourable to material prosperity as were the legal reforms of Henry II.
+afterwards. The circuits of the Justices Itinerant were restored, and
+appeals to the king in Council were established. A further weakening of
+baronial power was also effected by the destruction of the castles which
+the lawlessness of Stephen's tenure of the sovereignty had permitted;
+while the introduction of scutage made the king in some measure
+independent of the feudal forces by enabling him to call in the support of
+mercenary troops. On the other hand the Assize of Arms restored the
+national militia to its old important place.
+
+Shrewsbury had seemed to be depressed by the conquest. The town had been
+granted, in the first instance, to Roger de Montgomery, whose two great
+works, his castle and his abbey, yet remain. Both the earl and his works
+were at first the cause of complaint. In Domesday Book it is pointed out
+that Montgomery had destroyed 51 houses to make room for his castle; to
+the abbey he had granted 39 burgesses; 43 houses in the town were held by
+Normans and exempted from taxation. Consequently, as the same sum was
+required from the town as had been paid _tempore regis Edwardi_, the
+burden fell with undue hardship on the English inhabitants who remained.
+
+But the ultimate result of both castle and monastery was beneficial to the
+town. The latter attracted trade and the former protected it[20], and
+Shrewsbury early became a commercial centre of some importance.
+
+[Sidenote: _They differed little from country, except in possession of a
+Merchant Gild_]
+
+The towns at this period differed but little from the country. They both
+engaged in agriculture as well as trade; they were alike governed by a
+royal officer, or by some lord's steward. In the towns the houses were of
+course more closely clustered, and a further difference arose afterwards
+in the fact that a freeman in the town, when admitted to the Gild, might
+be landless[21]. The chief distinction indeed between town and country lay
+in the fact that the former had a Merchant Gild.
+
+[Sidenote: _to preserve peace._]
+
+The origin of such commercial unions is lost in the dimness of antiquity.
+Even in Anglo-Saxon times Dover had its Gildhall, and Canterbury and
+London are said to have been also possessed of trading associations. They
+came into being at first probably to preserve peace. At the date of the
+Conquest the right of jurisdiction almost invariably belonged to whoever
+held the town, but we cannot conceive that Roger Montgomery's successors
+would be likely to concern themselves overmuch with internal police. As a
+fact it would rest with the burghers themselves to protect their goods
+and persons from mishap.
+
+[Sidenote: _A.-S. Frith Gilds._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Trade regulations._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Royal authorisation: earliest mention._]
+
+Frith Gilds, with much the same objects, had been common anterior to the
+Conquest[22]. In most places where there was a market it was essential
+that some recognised authority should be in existence to keep the peace,
+as well as to be witness to sales[23]. The "laws of the city of London"
+were apparently drawn up with the express design of supplementing
+defective law[24]. They exhibit to us a complete authority for the
+supervision of trade, corresponding to the later Merchant Gild in nearly
+every particular: there is the common stock, the head man, the periodical
+meetings at which "byt-fylling" plays its usual important part[25]. The
+"ordinance which King Ethelred and his Witan ordained as 'frith-bot' for
+the whole nation" imposed the duty of pursuing offenders on the town to
+which they belonged[26]. There was thus evidently some organisation within
+the boundaries of the town, and as the chief of the burgesses forming this
+organisation were also the chief merchants (since trade was the
+_raison-d'etre_ of the towns) it soon began naturally to frame commercial
+regulations[27]. So the Town Gild became, when, after the Norman Conquest,
+trade had assumed important dimensions, the Gilda Mercatoria with
+exclusive powers and privileges by royal charter. The earliest
+unmistakable mention of a Merchant Gild is at the end of the eleventh or
+the beginning of the twelfth century[28]. Under Henry I. grants of
+Merchant Gilds appear in one or two of the charters granted to towns[29],
+and under Henry II., Richard and John they become more frequent[30].
+Shrewsbury was one of the few which had the Merchant Gild confirmed as
+early as the reign of Henry II.[31]
+
+By these charters what had originally been a voluntary association now
+became an exclusive body to which trade was restricted.
+
+Important as were the advantages gained by the procuring of such royal
+authorisation, these charters only set the seal to what had existed in
+effect before. The landed and mercantile interests were practically
+identical within the towns: the great merchants were also the great
+landowners; the Gilda Mercatoria could thus frame regulations which it
+would be extremely difficult for any trader to disregard[32].
+
+[Sidenote: _Functions._]
+
+Besides, the benefits which resulted from common trading would be too
+obvious for any individual who could procure entrance into the Gild to
+abstain from doing so. It was far more to the common interest that one
+representative should buy for all and then divide the purchase equitably
+than that each should compete with each and so minister simply to the
+profit of the seller.
+
+There are several examples of such combined purchasing by a royal or
+municipal officer in towns where there was no Merchant Gild[33]. It was
+however generally effected by means of the latter, the granting of which
+meant the according of permission to the members to settle for themselves
+their custom in buying and selling.
+
+The retail trade within the town was restricted to their own members
+individually, and the wholesale trade coming _to_ the town was reserved to
+themselves collectively. Members of the Merchant Gild alone might sell
+within the walls, and traders coming from without might sell only to the
+Merchant Gild.
+
+There was no danger then as there would be now of such a practice driving
+all trade away from the town, for the restrictions in force at one place
+would be paralleled almost exactly in every other. At the periodical fairs
+alone did free trade prevail.
+
+But the exclusive privileges might be exceedingly harmful if the main body
+of householders were not members of the Merchant Gild. It was then the
+fact that the restricted trading was not "to the advantage of the
+community of the borough but only to the advantage of those who are of the
+said society[34]." When however the great majority of the householders
+were members of the trading corporation the arrangement would work well
+and beneficially for the whole town.
+
+[Sidenote: _All Burgesses are Gildsmen._]
+
+The effect of the granting of royal authorisation was, therefore, to
+finally draw all burgesses into the Gild, for all townsmen of any
+importance were traders. The records of the Shrewsbury Merchant Gild,
+though of the scantiest description, are sufficient to show how
+comprehensive was its range. All branches of trade were, at least down to
+the time of Edward I., represented in it[35]; it comprised every rank and
+degree, proportioning its fines and payments accordingly. The progress of
+the fusion of races is shown by the lists of names, which are both Saxon
+and Norman in indiscriminate order.
+
+[Sidenote: _Duties of Gildsmen._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Tendency to amalgamation of Gild and Communa._]
+
+So closely indeed did the practical boundaries of Gild and town coincide
+that in many places the former seemed to become the Communa, when the
+kings began to grant charters of incorporation. Richard I. can even say
+that all the privileges of his charter are granted "_civibus nostris
+Wintoniae de gilda mercatorum_[36]," seeming to imply that at Winchester at
+least there were no citizens extraneous to the Merchant Gild. The villain
+flying from his lord could only be admitted to freedom through the
+machinery of the Merchant Gild. The Merchant Gild was ready to the hand of
+the burgesses as a centre, and the only centre, round which to rally when
+engaged in defending their liberties or in procuring fresh privileges. On
+the other hand the existence of such a secure and wealthy body, which
+would be at all times able to ensure payment of the _firma burgi_, and
+the frequent royal assessments which were laid upon the towns, would be an
+additional inducement to the kings in granting the charters of liberties.
+Glanvill, in the time of Henry II., doubtless already looked on the
+Merchant Gild and the Communa as, for all practical purposes,
+identical[37], from which the inference seems to lie that the possession
+of such a gild had thus early come to be looked upon as the sign and
+symbol of municipal independence. It is true that a town _might_ become a
+free borough without possessing a Merchant Gild, but this would be an
+exception to the general rule. It would be similar to the case of a free
+borough not holding the _firma burgi_: such a contingency was possible but
+unusual. To the mind of the lawyer therefore the possession of a Merchant
+Gild seemed the necessary precursor of a royal charter of privileges. And
+in practice this was found to be, speaking generally, the case.
+
+This apparent identity of Burgesses and Gildsmen would find palpable
+expression in the fact of the Gild Hall becoming the Town Hall. This
+naturally did not take place to any considerable extent before the 14th
+century, though during that period it became fairly common. It may have
+been that the Merchant Gild permitted the use of its Hall for public
+purposes, at first only occasionally and then more and more frequently
+until at length what had been exceptional became normal (either through
+precedent or purchase[38]); certain it is that the two names of Gild Hall
+and Town Hall became practically synonymous in about the 14th and 15th
+centuries. This had been foreshadowed at an early date. Domesday Book
+spoke of the "gihalla Burgensium[39]" at Dover.
+
+At Shrewsbury, in a charter of 1445, the Town Hall is called, as it is at
+this day, the Gildhall.
+
+[Sidenote: _But all Gildsmen not Burgesses._]
+
+But the _ideas_ of Gild-members and townsmen were long kept separate.
+Burgess-ship depended on residence[40] and the possession of a
+burgage-tenement, but not so membership of the Merchant Gild, which often
+comprised among its numbers many outsiders[41]. In this way the two bodies
+were clearly distinguished. At Ipswich it was ordered in John's
+charter[42] that the statutes of the town were to be kept distinct from
+those of the Gild "as is elsewhere used in cities and boroughs where there
+is a Gild Merchant," for the latter would probably consist of both "de
+hominibus civitatis" and also "de aliis mercatoribus comitatus[43]."
+Ecclesiastics[44] and women might also be members of the Gild, but of
+course could not be burgesses. Such members had, in some towns, to pay
+additional fees[45].
+
+[Sidenote: _Distinction between Gild and Communa preserved in Charters,
+but not in practice._]
+
+The charters were always granted to the "Burgesses," without reference to
+their capacity as Gild-members, except in the cases where the privileges
+granted were such as would only concern members of the Gild. It was the
+"burgesses" who purchased the _firma burgi_ and who paid such goodly sums
+for trading and other privileges. But in making up these payments they
+were glad to avail themselves of the assistance of the non-burgess
+merchants, not the least of whose recommendations seemed doubtless to lie
+in the share they were willing to bear in contributing to the periodical
+tallages and similar royal charges. They were indeed as a document
+expresses it most serviceable when it was requisite "_defectus burgi
+adimplere_[46]." Although in name it was the burgesses who paid the money
+and who purchased the _firma burgi_, it was in fact the Merchant Gild
+which bore the largest part.
+
+In another way also the "foreigners" who were members of the Merchant Gild
+were useful to the burgess-members of it.
+
+During earlier years all the Craftsmen who so desired, and could afford
+the necessary payments, were admitted into the Gild of Merchants. The
+designation 'merchant' was then extended to all who engaged in trade. But
+as the Gilda Mercatoria became in practice more and more identical with
+the Communa the idea seems to have grown up that landless men, renters of
+their shops within the towns, should not be admitted to the Gild.
+
+[Sidenote: _Gild seems to become Communa._]
+
+For in this period, that is during the 14th and 15th centuries, the old
+democratic government of the towns was giving place to a close governing
+council[47]. This was in no sense the Merchant Gild, though probably all
+the members of the select body would be members of the Gild[48]. Being
+also the most important of its members they would be able to use its
+influence for their own ends, and in these measures they would generally
+have on their side the majority of the "foreigners," who would not know or
+care much about the internal concerns of the town. Thus it came about that
+having secured important trading privileges the influence of the Merchant
+Gild was chiefly directed, though by a small coterie of its members,
+towards municipal rather than mercantile objects.
+
+[Sidenote: _Rise of Craft Gilds favoured by Merchant Gild and Communa._]
+
+[Sidenote: _This favour natural under the circumstances and proved by the
+Charters._]
+
+These latter it left to be dealt with by the new companies into which the
+craftsmen were beginning to amalgamate. In this action they were helped
+and encouraged by the Merchant Gild, or as it now was in practice, the
+municipal authority. It is a mistake to speak of the rise of the Craft
+Gilds in England as a movement bitterly hostile to the Merchant Gilds and
+therefore strenuously opposed by the latter. The reverse was the fact. The
+increased complexity of the task of regulating trade, as division of
+labour developed and commerce expanded its bounds, became difficult, and
+the central body was for this additional reason glad to depute its powers
+to, and to exercise its functions through, smaller and specialised
+agencies. The charters of the Craft Gilds too contain no articles which
+would stand the members in stead in a conflict with a higher power,
+whereas if these charters had been the hardly-won prize of a severely
+contested struggle they would assuredly have contained some bitter
+articles in consequence of the past and in preparation for the future. We
+shall however examine the rise and history of the Craft Gilds in the
+subsequent chapters.
+
+[Sidenote: _Summary._]
+
+The substance of the foregoing paragraphs may be briefly summarised thus.
+
+The most noticeable feature in the Economic history of England during the
+years immediately succeeding the Norman Conquest was the growth of the
+towns. They differed however but little from the country districts in
+government except in the particular that they possessed a Merchant Gild.
+
+These trading corporations are first unmistakeably perceived soon after
+the Conquest, originating probably in the need which arose, as the towns
+increased in wealth and importance, for the existence of some authority to
+preserve peace within their borders, as without peace and order trade
+could not prosper.
+
+Such an union for securing internal peace, consisting as it did of the
+principal persons interested, easily went on to enact commercial
+regulations. These were, on the one hand, the reserving to its own body
+the privilege of purchasing the stock of the foreign merchant, and, on the
+other, restricting the right of selling within the town to its own
+members. Royal authorisation set the seal to this practice. When the kings
+began to give charters to the towns, the legal recognition of their
+Merchant Gild was one of the chief of the privileges desired by the
+townsmen.
+
+This restricted trading was not prejudicial to the town because
+practically all the burgesses were members of the Gild. If they all were
+not Gildsmen _before_ the royal authorisation they would be likely to
+become so afterwards.
+
+But all Gildsmen were not burgesses. The latter _must_ be residents: the
+former frequently included outsiders among their number.
+
+Nevertheless as the years went by, the Gild seemed to become the Communa,
+even as the Gild Hall became the Town Hall. Various reasons conduced to
+this. There were practically no burgesses extraneous to the Merchant Gild,
+though there were often Gildsmen who were not burgesses. The Merchant Gild
+was the only machinery for freeing the fugitive villain after a year and a
+day's residence in the town. It also afforded the best, and as a fact the
+only, centre round which the burgesses could rally in the defence of their
+old privileges or in the struggle for fresh ones. Its wealth and stability
+were also an additional inducement to the kings in granting to the towns
+their _firma burgi_. In theory the Gilda Mercatoria might be kept distinct
+from the Communa, but in practice the two bodies were found to be
+identical. But the later Communa did not take cognisance of trade affairs
+except indirectly through the Craft Gilds which the increasing complexity
+of trade was calling into being. Many of the members of these latter
+bodies were members of the Merchant Gild, and to them were added large
+numbers of the lesser craftsmen. The Craft Gilds specialized the work of
+the Merchant Gild, which gradually ceased to discharge any important
+office as a collective whole, though through the many branches into which
+it had ramified its influence continued to be of the greatest importance
+to the welfare of town and trade.
+
+
+NOTE 1.
+
+LIST OF MERCHANT GILDS.
+
+The following is an attempt to construct a table of grants of the Merchant
+Gild (down to 1485), in chronological order, and showing also, where
+possible, by whom the grant was made.
+
+Unfortunately the list is in several cases only approximately correct, as
+the document from which I have obtained my date shows that the Merchant
+Gild has evidently been granted at some previous time. In all cases
+however the earliest known mention of the Gild is given.
+
+In compiling this table I should acknowledge my plentiful use of the
+materials recently made available in _The Gild Merchant_, by Charles Gross
+(Oxford, 1890).
+
+  _William II. and Henry I._ (1087-1135)
+
+  Burford 1087-1107               Earl of Gloucester
+  Canterbury 1093-1109
+
+  _Henry I._ (1100-35)
+
+  Wilton 1100-35                  King
+  Leicester 1107-18               Robert, Earl of Mellent
+  Beverley 1119-35                Abp Thurstan of York
+  York 1130-31
+
+  _Stephen_ (1135-54)
+
+  Chichester                      King
+  Lewes                           Reginald de Warrenne
+
+  _Stephen and Henry II._ (1135-89)
+
+  Petersfield
+
+  _Henry II._ (1154-89)
+
+  Carlisle                        King
+  Durham
+  Fordwich
+  Lincoln                         King
+  Oxford
+  Shrewsbury                      King
+  Southampton                     King
+  Wallingford                     King
+  Winchester                      King
+  Marlborough 1163                King
+  Andover 1175-6                  King
+  Salisbury 1176                  King
+  Bristol 1188                    John, Earl of Moreton
+
+  _Richard I._ (1189-99)
+
+  Bath 1189                       King
+  Bedford                         King
+  Gloucester
+  Nottingham                      John, Earl of Moreton
+  Bury S. Edmund's 1198
+
+  _John_ (1199-1216)
+
+  Chester 1190-1211               Earl of Chester
+  Dunwich 1200                    King
+  Ipswich 1200                    King
+  Cambridge 1201                  King
+  Helston 1201                    King
+  Derby 1204                      King
+  Lynn Regis 1204                 King
+  Malmesbury 1205-22
+  Yarmouth 1208                   King
+  Hereford 1215                   King
+  Bodmin 1216                     King
+  Totnes 1216                     King
+  Newcastle-on-Tyne 1216          King
+
+  _Henry III._ (1216-1272)
+
+  Preston
+  Haverfordwest
+  Portsmouth
+  Worcester 1226-27               King
+  Bridgenorth 1227                King
+  Rochester 1227                  King
+  Montgomery 1227                 King
+  Hartlepool 1230                 Bp of Durham
+  Dunheved (Launceston) 1231-72   Richard, Earl of Cornwall
+  Newcastle-under-Lyme 1235       King
+  Liskeard 1239-40                Richard, Earl of Cornwall
+  Wigan 1246                      King
+  Sunderland 1247                 King
+  Cardigan 1249                   King
+  Reading 1253                    King
+  Scarborough 1253                King
+  Guildford 1256
+  Kingston-on-Thames 1256         King
+  Boston ? 1260
+  Macclesfield 1261               King
+  Coventry 1267-68                King
+  Lostwithiel 1269
+
+  _Edward I._ (1272-1307)
+
+  Berwick
+  Bridgwater
+  Congleton                       Henry de Lacy
+  Devizes                         King
+  Welshpool                       Griffith, Lord of Cyveiliog
+  Aberystwith 1277                King
+  Windsor 1277                    King
+  Builth 1278                     King
+  Rhuddlan 1278                   King
+  Lyme Regis 1284                 King
+  Caernarvon 1284                 King
+  Conway 1284                     King
+  Criccieth 1284                  King
+  Flint 1284                      King
+  Harlech 1284                    King
+  Altrincham 1290                 Hamon de Massy
+  Caerswys 1290                   King
+  Overton 1291-2
+  Newport (Salop) 1292
+  Chesterfield 1294               John Wake
+  Kirkham 1295                    King
+  Beaumaris 1296                  King
+  Henley-on-Thames 1300           ? Earl of Cornwall
+  Barnstaple 1302
+  Newborough 1303                 King
+
+  _Edward II._ (1307-1327)
+
+  Llanfyllin
+  Ruyton 1308-9                   Earl of Arundel
+  Wycombe 1316
+  Bala 1324                       King
+
+  _Edward III._ (1327-1377)
+
+  Gainsborough                    Earl of Pembroke
+  Bamborough 1332
+  Grampound 1332
+  Lampeter 1332
+  Denbigh 1333                    King
+  Lancaster 1337
+  Cardiff 1341                    Hugh le Despenser
+  Nevin 1343-76                   Prince of Wales
+  Llantrissaint 1346              Hugh le Despenser
+  Hedon 1348                      King
+  Hope 1351                       Prince of Wales
+  Pwllheli 1355                   Prince of Wales
+  Neath 1359                      Edward le Despenser
+  Kenfig 1360                     Edward le Despenser
+  Newton (S. Wales) 1363          Prince of Wales
+
+  _Richard II._ (1377-1399)
+
+  Axbridge
+  Newport 1385                    Earl of Stafford
+  Oswestry 1398                   King
+
+  _Henry IV._ (1399-1413)
+
+  Saffron-Walden
+  Cirencester 1403                King
+
+  _Henry V._ (1413-1422)
+
+  None
+
+  _Henry VI._ (1422-1461)
+
+  Plymouth 1440
+  Walsall 1440
+  Weymouth 1442
+  Woodstock 1453                  King
+
+  _Edward IV._ (1461-1483)
+
+  Ludlow 1461                     King
+  Grantham 1462
+  Stamford 1462
+  Doncaster 1467
+  Wenlock 1468
+
+  _Richard III._ (1483-1485)
+
+  Pontefract
+
+
+NOTE 2.
+
+LIST OF TRADES, HANDICRAFTS AND PROFESSIONS COMPRISED IN THE LISTS OF
+MEMBERS OF THE SHREWSBURY MERCHANT GILD.
+
+apotecarius, specer, spicer--apothecary
+
+aurifaber--goldsmith
+
+baker, bakere, pistor, pictor--baker
+
+barber, tonsor, tyncer--barber
+
+bercarius, tannator, tanner--tanner
+
+botman--corn-dealer
+
+brewer--brewer
+
+carnifex--butcher
+
+carpentarius, faber--carpenter
+
+carrere--carrier
+
+cementarius--? plasterer
+
+cissor, tailur, taylor, tayleur, parmentarius, parminter,
+parmonter--tailor
+
+clericus--clerk
+
+cocus--cook
+
+colier, coleyer--collier[49]
+
+comber--? wool-comber
+
+corvisarius, gorwicer, cordewaner, sutor--shoemaker
+
+coupere, hoppere (?)--cooper
+
+deyer--dyer
+
+forber--sword-cutler
+
+ganter, cirotecarius, glover--glover
+
+garnusur--garnisher
+
+grom--groom
+
+gunir, gynur
+
+harpour--harper
+
+haukerus, hawkerus, hawker--hawker
+
+justice--judge
+
+leche--leech
+
+loxmith, locker, lok--locksmith
+
+mason--mason
+
+mercer--mercer, merchant or retailer of small wares
+
+molendarius--miller
+
+palmer--
+
+pannarius--draper, clothier
+
+petler, ? pelterer--seller of skins
+
+piscator--fisherman
+
+potter--potter
+
+prest, presbyter--priest
+
+sadeler--saddler
+
+scriptor--transcriber
+
+sherer, shearman--clothworker
+
+tabernarius, taverner--tavern-keeper
+
+teynterer--
+
+walker or waller--? builder
+
+webbe--weaver
+
+wodemon--woodman
+
+wolbyer--wool-buyer
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE CRAFT GILDS.
+
+
+[Sidenote: _The Merchant Gild and the craftsmen._]
+
+We have seen how the Merchant Gild consisted of all the traders whose
+business lay in the town. Such an association, though nominally open to
+all whether landowners or not who could afford to pay the requisite fees,
+was in essence oligarchical, and this feature became in course of time its
+most apparent characteristic. We saw, also, how there grew up a large
+class extraneous to the privileged Merchant Gild. This body of outsiders
+became continually larger and more important. The Welsh ravages in the
+exposed country would induce numbers to seek the friendly shelter of the
+town, which by this continuous infusion of fresh blood, found its trade
+become more and more flourishing, and consequently its attractions to
+"foreigners" more and more powerful. Each branch of industry was also
+incessantly receiving large accessions of strength in the shape of
+fugitive villains from the country-side, who, by residence during a year
+and a day were released from fear of a reclaim to serfdom. These new
+settlers, some of whom the advance of time found making considerable
+strides towards prosperity, seeing themselves shut out from the Town Gild
+both by the exclusive spirit of that body and by the fact that they
+themselves were not owners of land within the town[50], but (even in the
+case of the wealthiest of them) only renters of their shops, were
+naturally drawn, by the spirit of the times, towards amalgamation[51].
+
+[Sidenote: _Tendencies to union among the latter: Religious,_]
+
+It was natural that men working at the same trade,--living probably in the
+same neighbourhood[52], and during intervals of rest exchanging gossip
+from adjacent door-steps,--meeting one another in all the actions of daily
+life and with thoughts and language running in similar grooves,--should
+also desire to be not separated in worship. Likewise, in time of trouble,
+when death brought gloom to the house of a fellow-workman, or when through
+accident or misfortune he failed to appear at his accustomed place in yard
+or workshop, it was by the ordinary promptings of nature that his brother
+craftsmen came to offer their sympathy and help. And so we find the men of
+the various trades forming themselves into fraternities, in order to pour
+united supplications for Divine assistance and to offer thanks in common
+for Divine favour[53]. The Tailors and Shoemakers had their chantries in
+St Chad's Church, where the Weavers also had their especial altar,
+maintaining in addition a light before the shrine of St Winifred in the
+Abbey of the Holy Cross. The Drapers of the town early became drawn
+together in a religious brotherhood, the chapel of which in the collegiate
+church of Our Lady was the object of frequent and solicitous care when the
+fraternity of the Holy Trinity was definitively changed into the
+Worshipful Company of the Drapers. In the church of St Juliana the altar
+of the Shearmen stood in the north aisle, where a chaplain said their
+special mass for a yearly stipend of L4[54].
+
+It was the pride of the Gilds to expend the best efforts of their wealth
+and skill on the embellishment and maintenance of their chapel upon which
+they were able to look as their own. Their worldly possessions at no one
+time reached a figure high enough for them to provide a large endowment
+for church or chantry, but the thankofferings of the years sufficed for
+all current expenses. The fixed stipend was small, but the fabric, raised
+and adorned as funds allowed, was commodious and beautiful[55].
+
+It was to this ever-present desire to consecrate some portion of the
+yearly profits of trade to the honour of Him who had given the increase,
+that the annual pageant owed its pomp. The Corpus Christi procession was
+an occasion of especial prominence at Shrewsbury, where the Gild charters
+and records are full of minute regulations for its order.
+
+[Sidenote: _Social,_]
+
+The associations of fellow workmen for the purposes of religion also took
+the form of clubs for mutual benefit and assistance. The Drapers were
+maintaining their school and schoolmaster in 1492[56]; their almshouses
+were only rivalled by those of the Mercers. The maintenance of poor and
+decayed members was always one of the most prominent of the objects of
+association. Attendance at the last offices by the grave of a deceased
+brother, and remembrance of him in prayer, were likewise universal duties
+of brethren. Edward VI.'s confiscation of Gild property broke down in all
+the towns a great system of poor-relief which had hitherto freed the
+government of that most difficult problem. Nor did the Gilds wait until a
+brother was completely crushed before they came to his assistance.
+Fluctuations of trade then as now sometimes brought occasions of temporary
+embarrassment. But "the false and abominable contract of Usury ... which
+the more subtily to deceive the people they call 'exchange' or
+'chevisance,' whereas it might more truly be called 'mescheaunce,'" ...
+was rightly looked upon as unworthy of fellow-workers for the common good,
+"seeing that it ruins the honour and soul of the agent, and sweeps away
+the goods and property of him who appears to be accommodated, and destroys
+all manner of right and lawful traffick[57]." The common chest of the Gild
+was therefore at the service of the brethren[58], not, as in the days of
+degeneracy, to aid the capitalist in grinding down his workmen, but to
+keep the craftsman from the clutches of the usurer.
+
+[Sidenote: _Commercial._]
+
+Out of these religious fraternities and social clubs developed what we may
+more correctly term Craft Gilds; or to speak more strictly we should
+perhaps rather say that many of these societies began to add to their
+social and religious objects an additional one, namely trade
+regulation[59]. They would be encouraged in this direction by the action
+of the Merchant Gild, or its successor the municipal authority, which, as
+the expansion of trade necessitated specialisation, was glad to depute its
+powers to such associations[60].
+
+[Sidenote: _Early Craft Gilds._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Effect of their growth on Merchant Gild._]
+
+The earliest mention of Craft Gilds is in the reign of Henry I., when
+notice is found of the Weavers of London, Oxford, Winchester, Lincoln and
+Huntingdon, the Cordwainers of Oxford and the Fullers of Winchester[61].
+They became more common and more influential as the development of
+industry was fostered by the central government. This was especially the
+policy of Edward I. and Edward III. By the end of the 14th century the
+Craft Gilds become numerous. As they took over the duties and functions of
+the Merchant Gild the existence of the latter was rendered to a
+considerable extent superfluous, and the merging of the Gilda Mercatoria
+into the Communa became not only inevitable but convenient and natural.
+During the 14th and 15th centuries, when the Craft Gilds attained their
+highest power, the decay of the Merchant Gilds became very marked.
+
+[Sidenote: _The later "Merchant Gild."_]
+
+In some places where this happened the name of the Merchant Gild wholly
+disappeared. In others where the expression continued in use the
+institution changed its character and became simply a religious
+fraternity. In a few instances the select corporation alone inherited the
+name: in some the whole body of freemen did so. Again, there are examples
+of a survival of the expression as applied to the whole body of tradesmen,
+that is the whole of the members of the various Gilds[62]. A Patent of
+Queen Elizabeth, dated 1586, thus alludes to the aggregate of unions under
+the collective name of "the Gild of Burgesses of Shrewsbury." In the same
+way we read of "the several companies belonging to the guild merchant of
+Reading," "the Guild of Merchants in Andever, which Guild is divided into
+three several Fellowships," etc. Just as the Merchant Gild differentiated
+itself into Craft Gilds, the Craft Gilds afterwards again in the aggregate
+took the name and style of the Merchant Gild.
+
+[Sidenote: _Identity of interests of Corporation and Gilds seen in Police
+regulations;_]
+
+If such additional proof were needed this action on their part might be
+adduced in support of the assertion, which cannot be too strongly
+emphasised or too often repeated, that in England there was no conflict
+between the Merchant Gild and the Craft Gilds. Though these latter
+associations had grown up in vindication, as it might seem, of the
+principle of free amalgamation in opposition to oligarchical
+exclusiveness, and although it was evident that as they increased the
+Merchant Gild must decline, yet there was at no time any idea of
+antagonism between the two kinds of authority within the town. On the
+contrary internal police was very materially assisted by the Gilds[63].
+They carried on the good work which the Merchant Gild had inaugurated. Not
+only were dissensions among combrethren to be brought before the Wardens
+and Stewards instead of forming the occasion of unseemly brawls and
+disturbances, but one of the objects for which the associations existed is
+expressly stated to be "for the weale, rest and tranquilitie of the same
+towne, and for good rule to be kept there[64]." With this object in view
+the composition of the Tailors and Skinners (1478) contains several
+articles which show how materially the officers of the Gild assisted the
+bailiffs of the town[65].
+
+[Sidenote: _evidenced by supervision of municipal authorities,_]
+
+The Gild officers, though freely elected by the combrethren took their
+oaths of office before the bailiffs of the town, who also secured, if
+necessary, the enforcement of the ordinances of the Gilds[66]. The town
+authorities exercised, too, a general supervision: it seems to have been
+the rule for the compositions to be annually (or periodically) inspected;
+and for new regulations to be subject to municipal approval[67].
+
+[Sidenote: _(therefore supported by them;) shown by Charters,_]
+
+One consequence of this authorisation by the town officials was that the
+latter ceased to take cognisance of trade affairs except indirectly
+through the Gilds; another was that the Gilds were supported by the town
+authorities. In order to carry out the rules of the Gilds it was
+imperative that all men of a trade should belong to the particular Gild of
+that craft. For there might come men carrying on trade in the town
+unwilling to submit to the rules framed for ensuring good work and
+protecting the interests of the craft. These it would be impossible to
+check until the Gild had been recognised and authorised by the crown or
+the corporation, and so had obtained power to enforce its ordinances in a
+legitimate way. It was in this manner that the necessity arose for
+obtaining a charter[68]. The Fraternities, which in their earlier stages
+had existed as voluntary associations, now received authoritative
+recognition, by virtue of charters obtained from the king by the aid of
+the corporation. The composition of the Tailors and Skinners (1478) shows
+the company and the corporation in the closest connection; that of the
+Mercers, granted by Edward Prince of Wales, Son of Edward IV., in 1480-81,
+is countersigned by the bailiffs.
+
+The necessity for this authoritative recognition is clearly seen in the
+continually recurring ordinance calling upon all men of the craft to join
+the Gild. If the Gild had not been supported by royal and municipal
+authority it would have been impossible for it to have carried out its
+aims; as it was the task was sufficiently difficult.
+
+[Sidenote: _and Oaths._]
+
+The unity of interests of the Gilds and the corporation is further shown
+by the words of the oaths. The wardens' oath of the company of Glovers ran
+as follows.
+
+    "You shalbe true to our Sov'aigne lord King ... his heirs and
+    successors and obedient to the Bailiffs of this town for the time
+    being and their successors. And you shall well and truly execute and
+    p'forme your office of Wardens of Glovers, Poynt-makers, pursers,
+    ffelmongers, Lethersellers and pa'hment-makers for this yeare
+    according to the true extent and meaning of your composition and of
+    all and singular articles and agreements therein expressed and
+    declared to the uttermost of your power. So helpe you God."
+
+The oaths of the other officers, and of the Freemen, contained like
+promises[69].
+
+[Sidenote: _Composition of Gilds._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Masters._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Apprentices._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Journeymen._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Women._]
+
+In the composition of the Trade Gilds there was no attempt to erect a
+monopoly. All workers of the Craft except such as could make separate
+terms with the corporation[70] were not only permitted to join the Gild,
+but were compelled to do so. The members included Apprentices and
+Journeymen as well as Masters[71]. Women too were not debarred from
+joining[72], though they, like the Apprentices and Journeymen[73], took no
+part in the business of administration[74]. The charter of the Drapers[75]
+speaks of both brethren and sistren, and the list of members as given on
+the occasions of "cessments" shows women-members, both wives of
+combrethren, independent tradeswomen, and widows of deceased brothers.
+
+[Sidenote: _Officers._]
+
+In the election of their officers the English Gilds differed materially
+from similar associations on the continent. In England the choice appears
+to have been always unrestricted[76]. Refusal to accept office when
+elected exposed the reluctant brother to a money fine. The oaths of the
+officers, as we have seen, contained declarations of loyalty to the crown
+and municipal authority, and in this way we may account for the absence of
+_Masters_ among the officials of the Shrewsbury Gilds. The place of the
+Master seems to have been filled, in some sort at least, by the bailiffs
+of the town. At any rate none of the many Gilds of Shrewsbury ever had a
+Master at the head of their officers.
+
+The _Wardens_ were uniformly two in number, freely elected by all the
+brethren from such as were "the most worthiest and discreetest and which
+will and best can[77]." That it was not altogether a needless precaution
+to order that the elected wardens should be members of the Gild appears
+from the later abuses which arose, wardens being sometimes chosen from
+without the number of the combrethren[78]. The functions of these, the
+principal officers, were generally to carry into effect the objects of the
+Gild. To do this they possessed the right of search for inadequate
+materials or unsuitable tools, and a general supervision over workmen to
+secure competency. The composing of quarrels among combrethren was a
+prominent part of their duties.
+
+[Sidenote: _Assistants._]
+
+The Board of Assistants which exercised so harmful an influence over the
+companies in later days is found at Shrewsbury at an early date[79]. The
+composition of the Tailors and Skinners, 1478 A.D., speaks of the "Fower
+men ordeigned to the said Wardens to be assistant in counsel in good
+counsel giving." They reappear in 1563 as the Four Assistants "for
+advising them [the Wardens] in the Government of the Gild[80]." In this
+particular as in so many others the Gilds of Shrewsbury seem to have been
+distinguished by a greater desire to widen the area of the governing body
+than was the case with the great companies of London and elsewhere. For
+the language of some bye-laws of the corporation passed in 18 Edward IV.,
+seems to imply that the "Four Men" were common to all the companies. In
+the Gilds of most provincial towns such Assistants no doubt shared in the
+government from early years.
+
+The _Stewards_ were two in number. At a later date they were nominated by
+the Wardens[81], though in earlier times probably elective. Their
+particular duties nowhere very clearly appear. They seem to have assisted
+the Wardens and Four Men in hearing and examining of "all manner of
+matters, causes and controv'sies which shall happen amongst the
+brethren[82]."
+
+The _Beadle_ summoned members to meetings and officiated in whatever of
+formality was observed in them. He would keep the door of the Hall, and
+see that none but brethren were admitted within the privileged chamber.
+His was the duty of providing that due order and regularity was observed
+in the proceedings, and, if necessary, of carrying into effect the
+decisions of the assembly against refractory members. In the annual
+Procession we can well imagine that the Beadles of the respective
+companies would bear themselves with no common pride. Their duties also
+included the summoning of members to weddings and funerals of brethren.
+
+The Mercers' composition of 1424 carefully details the duties of the
+_Searcher_. He, as also the Beadle, was usually nominated by the Wardens,
+Four Men and Stewards jointly, and, as his name implied, was charged with
+bringing to the notice of the Gild anything contrary to its rules or
+prejudicial to its interests.
+
+A _Clerk_ is also mentioned, who drew up indentures of apprenticeship and
+kept the Gild registers. At a later period the office of _Treasurer_ was
+introduced and became of considerable importance.
+
+[Sidenote: _Meetings._]
+
+The election of officers was the principle item of business at the great
+annual meeting of the Gild. This was held on the festival of the Saint in
+whose name the Gild was dedicated. It was preceded by Mass in the Parish
+Church whither the brethren and sistren went in procession wearing their
+distinctive hoods and liveries, and bearing lights in their hands. To add
+to the dignity of the occasion a play or mystery was sometimes performed,
+but more usually such representations were reserved for the great common
+feast of Corpus Christi.
+
+[Sidenote: _Business at meetings._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Penalties._]
+
+At the meeting, which from its most general name of "mornspeche" appears
+to have followed soon after Mass, great solemnity was observed. The
+double-locked box[83] was opened by the two Wardens[84] amidst a
+reverential silence, and the composition or charter preserved in it
+rehearsed to the assembled brethren. Business was then proceeded
+with:--election of officers, admittance of new brethren, authorisation of
+indentures. Then if necessary regulations were passed for the government
+of the Gild and ordinances made for the due protection of trade, such as
+summonses to Intruders to enter the union. The ordinary penalties which
+the companies might inflict were fines of money or of wax, (in which king
+and corporation shared and which they were consequently willing to
+enforce,) and, in extreme cases total expulsion from the Gild, which of
+course meant exclusion from trade within the town.
+
+[Sidenote: _Halls._]
+
+After the "mornspeche" came the mutual feast. The brethren had begun the
+day by union for worship, they ended it with union for social and
+convivial festivity. In later times the business portion of the meeting
+was transacted in the Hall of the Gild and the brethren afterwards
+adjourned to some convenient tavern. Several of the Halls were standing
+until quite recent times. Such were those of the Mercers, Tailors, and
+Weavers[85]. That of the Shearmen is now used as an Auction Mart, but the
+Drapers' Hall still retains its former dignity.
+
+[Sidenote: _Necessity of historical attitude_]
+
+It will be necessary to attempt some estimation of the extent and value
+of the influence which the Gilds exercised on contemporary life and
+thought. In doing this, and indeed in dealing with the whole subject of
+trade regulation in the Middle Ages, it is necessary to bear continually
+in mind that not only were the conditions of trade then very materially
+different from those under which we now live, but that Economic Theory was
+still more at variance with modern views. It is necessary therefore to
+take a historical attitude, and to try to appreciate both the difference
+of social conditions, and the difference of objects in view. These objects
+may be considered firstly as individual and perhaps selfish; and,
+secondly, as general and for the common good.
+
+[Sidenote: _in estimating importance of Gilds; Commercial,_]
+
+1. If we consider the charters from the first point of view we see that
+the trade regulations were dictated by the desire to secure to all the
+brethren their means of livelihood: "no broder" was to "induce or tyce any
+other Mastres Accostom," or to employ the servants of another combrother,
+or otherwise to act in a spirit of unbrotherly and dishonourable
+competition. The charters are full of such regulations. No member might
+obtrude wares before passers in the open street, or erect booths "for to
+have better sale than eny of the combrethren[86]."
+
+2. Similarly also if we view the compositions in light of what we have
+described as the second of their objects. The excellent motive of mediaeval
+regulation of industry was to secure the prosperity of trade by ensuring
+skilled workmanship and proper materials. In consequence it was forbidden
+for workmen whose capacity was unknown to work in the town until their
+efficiency had been proved. The Barbers' composition of 1432 ordered that
+"no man' p'sone sette up nother holde no shoppe in Privite ny apperte ny
+shave as a Maistre withinne the saide Tow' ny Franchise in to the Tyme
+that ev'y such p'sone have the Wille and Assent of the Stywardes and
+Maistres of the saide Crafte." It was the desire to ensure the public
+being well served that prompted the articles in the composition of the
+Mercers (1480-1) which ordered the Searcher "to make serche uppon all the
+occupyers of the saide Craftes ... that non of theym occupie eny false
+Balaunce Weight or Mesures belongeing to the sayde Craftes or eny of
+theym, wherebie the Kyngs People in eny wyse myght be hurt or dysseyved."
+It was also part of the same officer's duties to "oversee that any thyng
+app'tenyng to the saide Craftes or eny of theym to be boght and solde in
+the saide Towne and Frauncheses be able suffyceant and lawfull and that
+noe dyssayte nor gyle to the Kyngs liege people therbye be had." No
+indentures were to be drawn for less than "seven years at the least," so
+that adequate training should be secured.
+
+We thus perceive how the Craft Gilds differed, on the one hand from the
+Frith Gilds of more ancient times, and on the other from the Commercial
+Companies of later days. The former were associations in which every
+member was responsible for the actions of each of his fellows; in the
+Craft Gilds each member bound himself to abide by the regulations of the
+rest. The essence of the later Commercial Companies is union for mere
+pecuniary gain; the Gilds set in the forefront of the objects of their
+association the material benefit of the community and the religious and
+moral good of the individual. The resemblance between Trades Unions and
+the Mediaeval Gilds is not entirely fanciful; but no two documents can be
+more widely different than the Prospectus of a Limited Liability Company
+and a Gild Charter of the Middle Ages.
+
+[Sidenote: _Social,_]
+
+The Gild system may be considered from various points of view. Regarded in
+its social aspect its importance can hardly be exaggerated. It has been
+pointed out how the work of the Gilds prevented the difficulty of poor
+relief becoming acute, and also how valuable their influence was in the
+maintenance of order, through the respect they evinced for the established
+law. The immense weight they must have had on the side of morality, by the
+importance they attached to the moral character of their members must not
+be overlooked. "The rules of the Gilds which have come down to us, quaint
+and homely as they sound, breathe a spirit as elevated as it is simple,
+and although we must probably make the usual allowance for the difference
+between men's acts and their words, we cannot but believe that the
+generations which formed such grand conceptions and which so persistently
+strove to realise them, had a better side than posterity has
+discovered[87]."
+
+The extent, too, to which they operated in linking class to class was
+very great. There was no impassable barrier between commerce and birth. In
+the lists of apprentices which have been preserved to us the entries of
+names belonging to county families are frequent. It was the ordinary
+custom for the younger sons to be put to business in the town. The social
+value of such a habit must have been great. Within the craft, too, the
+distinctions were only caused by differences in the degrees of wealth. By
+industry and perseverance the meanest apprentice might look forward to
+attainment of the highest honours his Gild could bestow, and even, by
+success in trade, to nobility. As in Athelstan's time the merchant who
+fared thrice beyond the sea at his own cost became of thegn-right
+worthy[88], so it was all through the Middle Ages: even in the 17th
+century Harrison says "our merchants do often change estate with
+gentlemen, as gentlemen do with them, by a mutual conversion of the one
+into the other[89]."
+
+[Sidenote: _Constitutional._]
+
+The education obtained by the framing of their own ordinances was also no
+slight gain to the townsmen. They provided for their peculiar needs in
+their own peculiar way, not always we may say in the best way, but in that
+which they, who knew the special requirements of the case, considered the
+best. Each who took part in drawing up those regulations would feel that a
+certain share of responsibility rested with him to see that they were
+kept. The constitutional importance also of this training, in imparting an
+appreciation of the responsibilities and duties which devolve on those
+who frame regulations was not unimportant.
+
+The services which the Gilds rendered to the cause of liberty by the
+feeling of strong cohesion which they produced among the townsmen would be
+less difficult to estimate if the burgesses had played a more distinctive
+part in the work of Parliament[90]. It is easier to point out how, if they
+may have interfered to some extent with family life on the one hand, they
+on the other increased the tendency to narrowness and localism which was
+otherwise sufficiently strong throughout the Middle Ages, and indeed
+through considerably later times. Everything was antagonistic to the
+widening of the townsman's sympathies. He found his trade, his ambition,
+almost his whole life, satisfied within the walls of the borough in which
+he dwelt; and the Craft Gilds crystallised, as it were, this tendency
+towards insularity.
+
+[Sidenote: _Special interest of their history at present time._]
+
+It may be noticed how a special interest attaches at the present time to
+the history of the Gilds and to the study of their influence and
+development.
+
+The condition of the working classes must always be a point of vital
+importance to the welfare of the state. It is peculiarly so to-day.
+Anything therefore which can assist us to understand how the present
+degradation of the craftsman has been brought about, and which may help
+towards his amelioration, will be valuable and of practical usefulness.
+
+Five hundred years ago the working man differed very widely from his
+modern representative; how widely may be gathered from a single
+illustration. The architects of the Churches and other buildings which the
+Middle Ages have bequeathed to us in such large numbers and of such
+exquisite beauty are, in the vast majority of cases, unknown to-day even
+by name. They were not less unknown to contemporaries. For they were men
+of like nature with their fellows: _ancestors of our modern artisans_. How
+great a change has grown up in the generations which have intervened.
+
+Five centuries ago the workman was intelligent and skilled, he is now
+untrained and degraded: he was then able and accustomed to take a proper
+pride in his work, he is now careless and indifferent: he used to be
+provident and thrifty, now he is usually reckless and wasteful.
+
+It is not too much to say that a great reason of this vast difference is
+to be found in the influence which the Gilds exercised. In their character
+as Benefit Clubs they taught their members to be thrifty: by insisting on
+a careful and systematic training during seven years of apprenticeship
+they made them skilled and capable workmen, and as such able to take an
+interest in, and to derive pleasure from their work. It has been pointed
+out that the Gilds prevented extreme poverty from ever becoming at all
+normal. Uncertainty of employment and demoralising fluctuations of wages
+are among the most crying evils of our modern social _regime_. The Craft
+Gilds did much to secure regularity of work and to steady the price of
+labour.
+
+Thus it is evident how great and peculiar an interest attaches to the
+whole subject of the Gilds at the present day. It is a subject which does
+not merely offer attractions to the antiquary or provide valuable
+materials for the student of constitutional and municipal development. It
+has a far wider and more human significance. A study of the extent and
+nature of the influence which the Gilds exercised on the condition and
+skill of the working man in the past will help to solve the problem of his
+improvement in the present and in the future.
+
+
+NOTE I.
+
+INDENTURE OF APPRENTICESHIP FROM THE MERCERS' COMPANY'S RECORDS. A.D.
+1414.
+
+Haec indentura testatur etc. inter Johannem Hyndlee de Northampton,
+Brasyer, et Gulielmum filium Thomae Spragge de Salopia, quod predictus
+Gulielmus posuit semetipsum apprenticium dicto Johanni Hyndlee, usque ad
+finem octo annorum, ad artem vocatam _brasyer's craft_, qua dictus
+Johannes utitur, medio tempore humiliter erudiendum. Infra quem quidem
+terminum praefatus Gulielmus concilia dicti Johannis Hyndlee magistri sui
+celanda celabit. Dampnum eidem Johanni nullo modo faciet nec fieri
+videbit, quin illud cito impediet aut dictum magistrum suum statim inde
+premuniet. A servicio suo seipsum illicite non absentabit. Bona et catalla
+dicti Johannis absque ejus licentia nulli accomodabit. Tabernam, scortum,
+talos, aleas, et joca similia non frequentabit, in dispendium magistri
+sui. Fornicationem nec adulterium cum aliqua muliere de domo et familia
+dicti Johannis nullo modo committet, neque uxorem ducet, absque licentia
+magistri sui. Praecepta et mandata licita et racionabilia magistri sui
+ubique pro fideli posse ipsius Gulielmi, diligenter adimplebit et eisdem
+mandatis libenter obediet. Et si praedictus Gulielmus de aliqua convencione
+sua vel articulo praescripto defecerit, tunc idem Gulielmus juxta modum et
+quantitatem delicti sui magistro suo satisfaciet emendam aut terminum
+apprenticiatus sui duplicabit. Et praefatus Johannes et assignati sui
+apprenticium suum in arte praedicta meliori modo quo idem Johannes sciverit
+ac poterit tractabunt docebunt et informabunt, seu ipsum informari facient
+sufficienter, debito modo castigando, et non aliter. Praeterea dictus
+Johannes concedit ad docendum et informandum dictum Gulielmum in arte
+vocata _Peuterer's Craft_ adeo bene sicut sciverit seu poterit ultra
+convencionem suam praemissam. Et idem Johannes nullam partem artium
+praedictarum ab apprenticio suo concelabit. Invenient insuper Johannes et
+assignati sui dicto Gulielmo omnia sibi necessaria, viz. victum suum et
+vestitum, lineum, laneum, lectum, hospicium, calceamenta et caetera sibi
+competencia annuatim sufficienter, prout aetas et status ipsius Gulielmi
+exigerint. In cujus rei testimonium etc. 1414.
+
+
+NOTE II.
+
+OATH TO BE TAKEN BY THE FREEMEN OF THE MERCERS' COMPANY.
+
+In the Company's records this oath occurs immediately after a curious
+calendar, written in 15th century hand, and before a list of "Brethren
+received and incorporated in the time of Rici Attynchin and John Cutlere
+wardens" in 3 Henry VI., (1424-5).
+
+FIDELITAS.
+
+I shall trewe man be to God o'r Lady Seynt Marie Seynt Mychell
+th'archangell patrone of the Gylde and to the Fraternite of the Mercers
+Yremongers and Goldsmythes & Cappers w'in the Towne and Fraunches of
+Shrowesbury I shall also Trewe man be to the king our liege lorde and to
+his heyres kyngys and his lawes and mynystars of the same Truly obs've and
+obey And ov' this I shall be obedyent to my wardens and their sumpneys
+obey and kepe I shall be trewe and ffeythfull to the Combrethern of the
+Gylde aforeseyd and ther co'ncell kepe All lawdable and lefull actes and
+composic'ons made or to be made w{t}in the Seide Gylde truly obeye p'forme
+and kepe aft' my reason and power I shall be contributare bere yelde and
+paye all man' ordynare charges cestes and contribucons aftur my power as
+any other master occupyer or combrother of the seid Gylde shall happen to
+doe and bere: Soe helpe me God and halidame and by the Boke.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE GILDS OF SHREWSBURY.
+
+
+[Sidenote: _Existed before they held charters._]
+
+In the foregoing chapter it has been shown how the Craft Gilds were called
+into being. They possessed at first no charters[91] because none were
+needed. It was only when friction arose that there came any necessity for
+royal authority to step forward with its support and sanction[92].
+
+[Sidenote: _Scanty notice at first._]
+
+And as they at first possessed no charters, so they have left few or no
+records of their earliest life. So long as they worked in thorough accord
+with the spirit of the age and completely fulfilled its requirements they
+left scanty traces. It is only when the period of degeneracy commences
+that we begin to have anything like adequate materials for their detailed
+history.
+
+[Sidenote: _Fourteenth century; difficulties for Gilds to face._]
+
+The 14th century was fruitful in illustrations of the difficulties which
+beset the work of the Gilds.
+
+The development of trade alone had proceeded far enough to render their
+task already complicated: their difficulties were increased abnormally by
+the exceptional conditions of labour brought about by the Black Death. The
+Peasant Revolt compelled Parliament to take cognisance of industrial
+difficulties. In 1388, at its meeting at Cambridge, it was largely
+occupied with trade questions[93], and ordered the issue of writs to the
+sheriff of each county in England, commanding returns of all details as to
+the foundation, objects, and condition of both religious fraternities and
+Craft Gilds. These returns show that most of the Gilds obtained their
+charters during the 13th and the early years of the 14th centuries[94].
+
+[Sidenote: _Development of industry._]
+
+It does not appear that any legislation followed upon this parliamentary
+action, but provisions now begin to appear for the settlement of disputes
+between masters and workmen, and also between brethren of the Gild. So far
+the different classes of workmen had worked together in harmony upon the
+whole, but it could not fail that a severance or at least a marked
+diversity of interests should arise. Most important, as demonstrating
+that it was the change in external circumstances, and not so much the
+internal degeneracy of the Gilds themselves, which was causing the
+friction, are the evidences which show that a great division of labour was
+in progress[95]. In the 13th century the tailor and the cloth-merchant
+sever their former connection: the businesses of the tanner and of the
+butcher become distinct branches of trade[96]. Similarly the tanner and
+the shoemaker were made separate callings[97]. The same movement is still
+more clearly seen in the disputes which arose between allied Gilds as to
+the particular work which each was charged with supervising[98]. It was
+the creation of opposing interests, of which such were the outward signs,
+that introduced the seed of decay into the Gild system.
+
+[Sidenote: _Fifteenth century: avowal of abuses,_]
+
+How rapidly the degeneracy proceeded may be gathered from a petition of
+the Commons early in the 15th century (1437), which evoked an Act (15 Hen.
+VI., cap. 6) definitely recognising the existence of abuses. After
+reciting how the
+
+    "masters, wardens, and people of Gilds, fraternities, and other
+    companies corporate, dwelling in divers parts of the realm, oftentimes
+    by colour of rule and governance to them granted and confirmed by
+    charters and letters patent ... made among themselves many unlawful
+    and little reasonable ordinances ... for their own singular profit
+    and to the common hurt and damage of the people,"
+
+the statute proceeded to order that the Gilds should not in the future
+
+    "make or use any ordinance in disparity or diminution of the
+    franchises of the king or others, or against the common profit of the
+    people, nor allow any other ordinance if it is not first approved as
+    good and reasonable by the Justices of the Peace or the chief
+    Magistrates aforesaid and before them enrolled and to be by them
+    revoked and repealed afterwards if they shall be found and proved to
+    be little loyal and unreasonable."
+
+[Sidenote: _but approval of the system._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Policy of Reform._]
+
+But it is abundantly clear that the complaints are against the abuses of
+the system and not against the system itself. Dissatisfaction is expressed
+at the "little reasonable ordinances" of the Gilds but not against the
+companies themselves. The policy therefore of Henry VI. and Edward IV. was
+to reform the Gilds by amending their ordinances, or, if necessary, giving
+them charters of incorporation which should set forth definitely their
+objects, and state both the extent and the limitation of their powers. It
+is from this period that we date most of the existing records of the
+Shrewsbury companies. The barbers are said to have been chartered by
+Edward I. in 1304[99]; their earliest extant composition[100] is dated
+1432 (10 Hen. VI.). The Shoemakers' composition of 1387 recited a charter
+of Edward III.[101] A Vintners' company is said to have been erected in
+Shrewsbury by Henry IV. in 1412[101].
+
+But it is with the accession of Henry VI. that the great number of present
+charters and compositions begins. The date of the Fishmongers' company is
+1423[101], and the entries of the Mercers commence in the next year[101].
+The Barbers' composition of 1432 has been already mentioned. Then follow
+the Weavers (1448-9), the Fletchers (1449), the Carpenters (1449-50) in
+close proximity[101]. The Tailors and Skinners (1461) were recognised in
+the last year of Henry VI.[101], and eighteen years subsequently received
+a new composition from Edward IV. (1478), who had in the first year of his
+reign united the Fraternity of the Blessed Trinity with the company of the
+Drapers[102]. The companies of the Millers, Bakers, Cooks, Butchers and
+Shearmen certainly existed before 1478, as they are mentioned as taking
+part in the Corpus Christi Procession at that date. In that year the
+Tanners and Glovers were incorporated[103], as also were the
+Saddlers[103]. The royal recognition of the Mercers[101] in the next year
+completed the list of Shrewsbury companies erected before the 16th
+century.
+
+[Sidenote: _Later Religious Gilds._]
+
+It will be convenient here to draw attention to a different kind of Gild
+which was founded in Shrewsbury towards the close of this period: the
+religious Gild of S. Winifred.
+
+The ancient Monks' Gilds which had spread so early over England, found as
+was to be expected later imitators in large numbers. The oldest accounts
+of these Gilds also, like those of the Monks' Gilds, are found in
+England[104]. Religious or Social they are usually called. They all
+evinced a strong religious character, but in addition had a care for the
+old and needy. If a Gild-brother suffer loss through theft "let all the
+Gildship avenge their comrade," says the Cambridge statute. They also took
+cognisance of public welfare. If a Gild-brother do wrong "let all bear it:
+if one misdo, let all bear alike." If a man be slain in fair quarrel with
+a Gild-brother the _wite_ is to be borne by all, but the wilful or
+treacherous murderer is "to bear his own deed."
+
+These Gilds rapidly spread over all Europe, and existed probably in every
+town. They doubtless formed the model to which the later associations
+looked, and, except in details, differed little from the Craft Gilds. They
+were frequently connected with trade, even in some instances consisting
+entirely of followers of specific crafts[105], and loans were made out of
+the common chest to help members in misfortune[106]. We have scant
+information of early religious Gilds in Shrewsbury, though there can be
+but little doubt they flourished there as elsewhere. Later, in the 15th
+century, one was founded by the Abbot of the Holy Cross, which presents
+several unusual and interesting features.
+
+Thomas Mynde was elected Abbot on January 8th, 1460, but it was not till
+1486 that he took measures to found the Fraternity of S. Winifred, though
+probably the scheme had been previously shaping itself through the long
+period of unsettlement which the Civil Wars had caused. The present Gild
+differed from the earlier foundations in being deliberately created by
+royal charter. The reason was that without such security it could not
+receive grants of land, and Abbot Mynde was desirous to bequeath to it his
+private possessions rather than to leave them to his Monastery,--a curious
+commentary perhaps on the low estimation into which the religious houses
+had fallen.
+
+The royal charter was not obtained without some trouble. The License
+itself says it was granted "by [reason of] the sincere devotion which we
+have and bear towards S. Winefrida Virgin and Martyr;" but Abbot Mynde
+assures us that this laudable zeal required the practical stimulus of "a
+large sum of money" before it would take effect in action.
+
+The terms of the charter allowed both brethren and sisters to join the
+fellowship, the number being unregulated. The oath to support the Gild was
+taken by each member on admittance, kneeling before the altar in the Abbey
+of the Holy Cross. Power was given for the election of a Master, whose
+duties were the regulation of the Gild and the supervision of its
+property. The fraternity had its common seal, and the ordinary powers and
+privileges of corporations. It was especially exempted from the Mortmain
+Acts, and was allowed to acquire property to the yearly value of L10. The
+objects to which this was to be devoted were the finding of two Chaplains,
+or at least one, whose duties were the saying of a daily Mass at the Altar
+of S. Winifred in the Abbey, and the celebration of a Requiem Mass on the
+decease of a brother or sister of the Fraternity. At such Masses it was
+especially provided that the prayers for the departed soul should be _in
+English_.
+
+The Gild was joined in considerable numbers by the principal folk of the
+town, but there is little information[107] respecting its history, which
+may be at once anticipated here. At the confiscation of the Chantry and
+Gild property the fraternity of S. Winifred was not able to plead the
+excuse of usefulness for trade purposes, and it fell unnoticed in the ruin
+of the great Abbey with which it was connected. Its life had been a short
+one, but coming as it did at a time when religious fervour was weak and
+morality lax, it no doubt served a useful purpose and deserved a better
+fate than almost total oblivion.
+
+[Sidenote: _Charters granted to Craft Gilds._]
+
+Returning after this digression to the Craft Gilds it will be interesting
+and profitable to make an examination and comparison of two of their
+charters, one selected from the earlier and one from the later portion of
+the period. The charter[108] of the Barbers' Gild, granted by Henry VI. in
+1432, may be placed beside the composition[109] which Edward IV. gave to
+the Mercers in 1480.
+
+[Sidenote: _Religious articles._]
+
+A point which strikes us forcibly on the most superficial examination of
+the charters, is the prominence given, in one as in the other, to the
+Corpus Christi procession. It is a striking illustration of the extent to
+which mediaeval materialism had permeated society, and how deeply rooted
+was that "tendency to see everything in the concrete, to turn the parable
+into a fact, the doctrine into its most literal application[110]," which
+scholastic philosophy had nurtured. The procession indeed would almost
+appear, from the charters, to be the principal object for which the Gilds
+exist. A considerable share of the fines is expressly devoted to the
+"Increce of the Lyght that is boren yerely in the heye and worthie ffest
+of Corpus Xti Day." The Mercers' composition regulates the order of the
+procession and the weight of the candle which the company provides in it.
+No member is to be out of his place on the festival without permission,
+and the combrethren are especially prohibited from going to "the Coventrie
+Fayre" at this season under penalty of a fine of twelve pence. The fact of
+being enabled to take part in the procession is manifestly looked upon as
+one of the great privileges and duties of the companies.
+
+The Mercers' Gild also provided for a priest to say a daily Mass at the
+altar of S. Michael in the Church of S. Chad; and thirteen poor Bedesmen
+were retained at a penny per week to pray for the King and Queen and
+Councillors, and for the brethren of the Gild "both quyke and dedd."
+
+[Sidenote: _Trade articles._]
+
+The trade regulations of the two compositions are naturally cast in the
+same mould. In both appears the prohibition of foreign labour (the Mercers
+say "except in fayre tyme"), and of under-selling by combrethren as well
+as unfair competition generally. The later regulations go further and
+provide for the carrying out of the ordinances of the composition by the
+appointment of a searcher to secure the use of good materials and to
+prevent "dissayte and gyle," the use of false weights, &c. They also
+forbid the taking of aliens as apprentices[111].
+
+All indentures are to be for seven years at the least, and none are to be
+taken as apprentices without being properly bound by indentures approved
+by the wardens and recorded by the clerk. There is also the article which
+now becomes common, against divulging the secrets of the craft, and an
+interesting one against "eny confederacye or embracerye wherebie any
+p'judices hurt or hynd'ance myght growe."
+
+[Sidenote: _Articles of reform._]
+
+In the later charter, too, it is evident that there had arisen no small
+need for reform. In the forefront it is stated that the previous "Fines
+assessyd uppon ev'y App'ntice at their entries to be maysters Combrethyrn
+and Settursuppe of the said Craftes or any of them," "and in like wyse
+gret Fynes uppon eny Forreyn that shoulde entre into the same" are
+"thought overchargeable" and so are to be "dymynished and refowrmed." If
+members refuse to pay them, as thus amended, they may be levied by
+distress. Of how great a falling-off from the original spirit of
+brotherhood do these two short articles speak.
+
+[Sidenote: _Police._]
+
+Both the documents provide for the trial of dissensions among brethren, in
+preference to going before the ordinary tribunals, though by permission
+cases might be taken before the bailiffs of the town.
+
+[Sidenote: _Liveries._]
+
+In a similar spirit of pacification the Mercers' composition forbids the
+wearing of liveries "saving the lyverray of gownes or hodes of the said
+Gylde to be ordeyned and worne," and that of the municipal
+corporation[112]. This was in accordance with the Act 13 Henry IV. cap. 3.
+The abuse of liveries had evoked from Parliament an attempt to put a total
+stop to the custom[113] (13 Rich. II.). Such endeavours were futile. This
+was at last recognised, and in 13 Henry IV. the use of liveries of cloth
+was prohibited, but with the important proviso, "Gilds and fraternities
+and crafts in the cities and boroughs within the kingdom which are founded
+and ordained to good intent and purpose alone being excepted." In 1468
+Edward IV. confirmed previous legislation on the subject[114].
+
+[Sidenote: _Sixteenth century._]
+
+In spite of reforms by improved compositions and legislative measures the
+degeneracy of the Gilds proceeded apace. The statute 19 Hen. VII. cap. 7
+repeats the complaint of 15 Hen. VI. cap. 6, and re-enacts the same
+restrictions. "Divers and many ordinances have been made by many and
+divers private bodies corporate within cities, towns, and boroughs
+contrary to the King's prerogative, his laws, and the common weal of his
+subjects:" in future therefore the Gilds are prohibited from making any
+new by-laws or ordinances concerning the prices of wares and other things
+"in disheritance or diminution of the prerogative of the King, nor of
+other, nor against the common profit of the people, but that the same Acts
+or Ordinances be examined and approved by the Chancellor, Treasurer of
+England, or Chief Justices." The repetition of the same articles shows how
+little effective they had been in checking the abuses against which they
+were directed.
+
+[Sidenote: _Policy of reform pursued._]
+
+Nevertheless Henry VII. and Henry VIII. persevered in the work of
+regulating, reforming and strengthening the Gilds. The statute of
+1530[115] once more diminished entrance fees, which had been inordinately
+and illegally raised; but another of 1536[116] repeating the same
+prohibition shows the utter futility of such measures in the condition of
+trade which had been brought about.
+
+A more serious abuse appears in the latter statute, namely the attempt of
+the masters to exact from their apprentices an oath promising to refrain
+from prosecuting trade on their own account without consent of their late
+master. Such abuses exhibit the Gilds in a state of wholesale
+demoralisation.
+
+[Sidenote: _Reformation._]
+
+This was not unnatural under the circumstances, for the course of the
+Reformation had tended to turn public opinion against the Gilds. Moreover
+it now gave them a severe shock on one side, at any rate, of their
+functions.
+
+[Sidenote: _Confiscation of Chantries and robbery of Gilds._]
+
+The confiscation of monastic lands had shown how easy it was for a needy
+government to seize upon corporate property to its own use, and the
+example was not long without being followed. The statute 37 Hen. VIII.
+cap. 4 gave the whole property of all Colleges, Hospitals, Fraternities
+and Gilds to the king. Before this wholesale desolation could be effected
+Henry died, but Somerset obtained a renewal[117] of the grant to Edward
+VI.
+
+The words of the Act are absolute in making over to the king all the lands
+and other possessions of Chantries, Colleges, Hospitals, Gilds and bodies
+of a similar nature, both religious and secular. No distinction is made as
+to aim or object, utility or abuse. According to the terms of the statute,
+we should expect every Gild and corporate body in the country to come to
+an end with the years 1547-8. Nevertheless though the Chantries were
+seized the Craft Gilds in general remained. The reason for this apparent
+divergence between the provisions of the statute and the facts of the case
+is given by Burnet.
+
+Two parties opposed the passing of the Act. Cranmer and the best of the
+Reformers were grieved to see the material supports of the Church one
+after another torn away to prop up the failing fortunes of needy and
+rapacious courtiers. They desired to preserve the lands of the Chantries
+till the king came of age, when they hoped they might be devoted to the
+suitable object of augmenting the livings which had been in such numbers
+impoverished by the Reformation changes. On the other hand were the
+burgesses. These had no mind to see their own property confiscated, and
+their benefit societies and clubs suddenly broken up. We may appreciate
+the feelings of the nation respecting the proposed measure by considering
+what would be the effect of a statute taking over the properties of all
+benefit clubs, Trades Unions, Lodges of Oddfellows and Foresters, and
+similar associations, to-day.
+
+Cranmer and his supporters failed to overthrow the measure in the Lords,
+but when it came to the lower house it was at once evident that a
+considerable amount of careful statesmanship and astute policy would be
+requisite if the statute was to pass. Apparently no opposition was
+expected, as the bill was already engrossed, or perhaps it was hoped that
+it might be smuggled through amidst the hurry of the closing session. But
+the government discovered that they had gone to the length of the nation's
+patience. The Commons saw in its true enormity the conspiracy of the rich
+and powerful against the weak and poor, and this once perceived a check
+was given, tardy but not quite too late, to the long and disastrous
+course of spoliation and confiscation.
+
+The opposition to the bill was obstinate, especially as regarded that
+portion which dealt with the Gilds. Led by the members for Lynn and
+Coventry the house showed unmistakeably that it was at length determined
+to submit no longer. In fact the feeling was evidently so strong that the
+government perceived the absolute necessity of drawing back. The mode in
+which this was done is explained in the following extract, which, though
+written from the court point of view, shows up the whole incident as a
+choice specimen of the statesmanship of the period.
+
+"Whereas in the last Parliament holden at Westminster in November the
+first year of the King's Majesty's reign, among other articles contained
+in the Act for colleges and chantry lands, etc., to be given unto his
+Highness, it was also insisted that the lands pertaining to all guilds and
+brotherhoods within this realm should pass unto his Majesty by way of like
+gift: At which time divers there being of the Lower House did not only
+reason and arraign against that article made for the guildable lands, but
+also incensed many others to hold with them, amongst the which none were
+stiffer, nor more busily went about to impugn the said Article than the
+burgesses for the town of Lynn in the county of Norfolk and the burgesses
+of the city of Coventry in the county of Warwick.... In respect of which
+their allegations and great labours made herein unto the House such of his
+Highness's Council as were of the same House there present, thought it
+very likely that not only that Article for the guildable lands should be
+clashed, but also that the whole body of the Act might either sustain
+peril or hindrance, being already engrossed, and the time of the
+Parliament's prolongation hard at hand, unless by some good policy the
+principal speakers against the passing of that article might be stayed.
+Whereupon they did participate the matter with the Lord Protector's grace
+and other of the Lords of his Highness's Council: who pondering on the one
+part how the guildable lands throughout this realm amounted to no small
+yearly value, which by the article aforesaid were to be accrued to his
+Majesty's possessions of the Crown; and on the other part weighing in a
+multitude of free voices what moment the labours of a few settlers had
+been of heretofore in like cases, thought it better to stay and content
+them of Lynn and Coventry by granting to them to have and enjoy their
+guild lands etc. as they did before, than through their means, on whose
+importance, labour, and suggestions the great part of the Lower House
+rested, to have the article defaced, and so his Majesty to forego the
+whole lands throughout the realm. And for these respects, and also for
+avoiding of the promise which the said burgesses would have added for the
+guilds to that article, which might have ministered occasion to others to
+have laboured for the like, they resolved that certain of his Highness's
+Councillors, being of the Lower House, should persuade with the said
+burgesses of Lynn and Coventry to desist from further speaking or
+labouring against the said article, upon promise to them that if they
+meddled no further against it, his Majesty once having the guildable
+lands granted unto him by the Act ... should make them over a new grant of
+the lands pertaining then unto their guilds etc. to be had and used to
+them as before: which thing the Councillors did execute, as was desired,
+and thereby stayed the speakers against it, so as the Act passed with the
+clause for the guildable lands accordingly[119]."
+
+[Sidenote: _Importance of the Opposition._]
+
+This remarkable document, which Canon Dixon printed for the first time, is
+of surpassing interest, not only to the historian of the Craft Gilds but
+also to the student of constitutional history. The unscrupulous recourse
+of the government to jobbery and corruption is not more revolting than the
+evidence of the increasing constitutional power of the Commons is
+interesting. It is evident from the account that when the country was with
+the house of Commons the voice of the latter could not be disregarded.
+
+The upshot was that an understanding was entered into, to the effect that
+the Gild lands were to be only surrendered _pro forma_, and that they
+should not in fact be confiscated. In most cases this arrangement was
+adhered to, and when the great crisis was past it was seen that the Gilds
+had lost their Chapels and Chantries with the fittings of these, but that
+their other possessions remained to them.
+
+[Sidenote: _Need of caution._]
+
+It has been pointed out how the increasing constitutional power of the
+Commons could make itself felt when the opinion of the nation was at its
+back. That it undoubtedly was so at the present juncture cannot be
+doubted. The method which was adopted for carrying out the provisions of
+the Act demonstrates fully how violently the country had been excited by
+the measure and by the danger to which the Gild lands had been exposed.
+The usual way of putting such an Act into execution would have been to
+send down commissioners to take particulars of the Gilds and Chantries and
+of their possessions. But royal commissioners had come to be looked upon,
+not without ample reason, as merely the formal heralds of state robbery.
+If therefore such commissioners were now sent out to manage the
+dissolution of the Chantries and Hospitals it was feared that disturbance
+would arise beyond the power of the government to manage. The more politic
+plan was therefore adopted of enlisting the people themselves in the cause
+as much as might be.
+
+[Sidenote: _Injunctions._]
+
+Injunctions[120] were issued "to the Parson, Vicar, Curat, Chaunter,
+Priests, Churchwardens, and two of the most honest Persons of the Parish
+of ________ being no Founders, Patrons, Donors, Lessees, nor Farmers of
+the Promotions of Corporations hereafter recited."
+
+These, or four of them, were to make a return as to the number of
+"Chantries, Hospitals, Colleges, Free Chapels, Fraternities, Brotherhoods,
+Guilds and Salaries, or Wages of Stipendiary Priests" in their parish,
+together with all particulars as to the revenues, ordinances, objects,
+abuses, names and titles of the same. Full lists were to be drawn up of
+the lands and possessions of the Chantries, Colleges, and Gilds, and
+enquiry was instituted respecting any recent dissolutions or alienations
+which might have been made in prospect of the recent Act.
+
+The contingency alluded to in the last article has sufficed to provide
+some writers with an excuse for the measure destroying the Chantries. No
+doubt the shock which the action of Henry VIII. in reference to the
+monasteries had given to all forms of corporate property had led many of
+the Gilds to attempt the realization of their property. All such
+transactions were to be null and void.
+
+[Sidenote: _Gilds too powerful and popular to be wholly destroyed._]
+
+Accordingly the commissioners went down to each town and hamlet and took
+full particulars of all matters concerning the Gilds and Chantries. "All
+such as have enye vestments or other goods of the Co{y} [of Mercers are
+ordered] to bring them in," in order to be sold, with the rest of the
+Chantry fittings, "to the most p'fitt." The fate of the other kinds of
+property held by the Gilds, such that is as could not be definitely made
+out to have been intended for the support of obits and the maintenance of
+lights, seems to have depended considerably on fortuitous circumstances.
+In each individual case the Gild had to secure for itself the best terms
+it could. Sometimes its property was obtained by the town, either by grant
+or by purchase[121]. At Shrewsbury the almshouses of the Drapers and
+Mercers survived[122], and the vicar of S. Almond's Church in the same
+town still receives the yearly sum which the Shearmen settled on the
+chaplain they maintained in that church.
+
+[Sidenote: _Perversion of the confiscated revenues._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Disastrous effects on Gilds, and on Craftsmen._]
+
+As for the object which the Act itself alleged to have been the motive for
+the destruction of the Chantries, namely the desire on the part of the
+government to devote the revenues to the foundation and improvement of
+grammar schools, it was forgotten as soon as parliament had separated.
+Strype[123] is obliged to confess that the Act was "grossly abused, as the
+Act in the former King's reign for dissolving religious houses was. For
+though the public good was pretended thereby (and intended too, I hope),
+yet private men, in truth, had most of the benefit, and the King and
+Commonwealth, the state of learning, and the condition of the poor, left
+as they were before, or worse. Of this, great complaints were made by
+honest men: and some of the best and most conscientious preachers reproved
+it in the greatest auditories, as at Paul's Cross, and before the King
+himself. Thomas Lever, a Fellow, and afterwards Master of St John's
+College in Cambridge, in a sermon before the King, in the year 1550 showed
+'how those that pretended, that (beside the abolishing of superstition)
+with the lands of abbeys, colleges, and chantries, the King should be
+enriched, learning maintained, poverty relieved, and the Commonwealth
+eased, purposely had enriched themselves.... And bringing in grammar
+schools, which these dissolved chantries were to serve for the founding
+of, he told the King plainly ... many grammar schools, and much charitable
+provision for the poor, be taken, sold and made away; to the great slander
+of you and your laws, to the utter discomfort of the poor, to the grievous
+offence of the people, to the most miserable drowning of youth in
+ignorance.... The King bore the slander, the poor felt the lack. But who
+had the profit of such things, he could not tell. But he knew well, and
+all the world saw, that the Act made by the King's Majesty and his Lords
+and Commons of his Parliament, for maintenance of learning and relief of
+the poor, had served some as a fit instrument to rob learning, and to
+spoil the poor.'" The measure was indeed an act of spoliation devoid
+either of excuse in its cause or benefit in its results. The suppression
+of the Monasteries could doubtless be amply excused, but no real
+justification is possible for this attempted wholesale seizure of
+institutions founded and maintained for the benefit of the poor, for the
+relief of suffering, and for the regulation of industry and police. As
+regards the last--the regulation of industry and police--the attempt was
+to a certain extent foiled, but in other respects it succeeded only too
+well. Even on the Gilds which escaped its effects were disastrous. Their
+spiritual aspect was taken away; their prestige and authority very
+materially lessened. For they completely changed their nature. Instead of
+being brotherhoods of workmen,--masters, journeymen, and
+apprentices,--striving together for the common good, they now became
+simply leagues of employers, companies of capitalists. The new powers
+which the masters obtained were used to still further oppress the
+craftsman, who was sufficiently degraded already through a variety of
+causes. He was too poor and powerless to be able to take any part in the
+new companies, and continued to sink deeper and deeper into degradation
+and misery. And this, too, in spite of the great and rapid development of
+trade which came simultaneously with this weakening blow at the authority
+and stability of the Gilds. Shrewsbury participated in this expansion of
+industry, and in the latter portion of the sixteenth century was
+peculiarly prosperous. There was no migration of its trade to the freer
+air of the neighbouring villages. The town was successful in retaining its
+monopoly.
+
+But these two causes, (i) the weakening of the Gilds and their change of
+character, and (ii) the vast development of trade which the age was
+witnessing, combined to render the companies which survived the
+Reformation quite unable to perform the work which the mediaeval Gilds had
+done. Yet then above all was a controlling and a guiding power essential.
+Elizabeth in consequence found that one of her first measures must be in
+remedy of this condition of affairs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+REORGANISATION OF THE GILD-SYSTEM.
+
+
+[Sidenote: _Reign of Elizabeth._]
+
+Elizabeth, on her accession, found that immediate reform was imperative in
+almost every department of state. The whole trade of the country was in a
+condition of agitation. Everything seemed unsettled and insecure.
+
+[Sidenote: _Economic disturbances and industrial activity._]
+
+For the social upheaval which the Reformation had brought about came in
+the train of a long period of economic disorder. The changes in the mode
+of cultivation had thrown the mass of the country population out of work.
+These were driven in large numbers by stress of circumstances into the
+towns, which were consequently overstocked with hands. At this juncture
+came the breaking down of the social police within the towns by the
+weakening of the Gilds, while in the rural districts the dissolution of
+the monasteries took away from the poor their main hope of sustenance. The
+evils which such a policy of mere destruction must inevitably have brought
+upon the nation were averted through the national growth of wealth which
+the same period had witnessed. In the country parts the ejection of the
+easy-going old abbots had at least favoured the adoption of newer and
+improved methods of cultivation, so that a greater number of labourers
+came in time to be required on the estate[124]. But far more satisfactory
+for absorbing the surplusage of labour was the development which the
+period witnessed in manufacture. The woollen trade in the west, the
+worsted trade in the east, the iron trade in the south, and unmistakeable
+signs of the cloth trade in the north already showed how the foundations
+of England's wealth were laid.
+
+The writers of the period abound in notices of the unparalleled growth of
+trade and commerce. Harrison laments "that every function and several
+vocation striveth with other, which of them should have all the water of
+commodity ran into her own cistern[125]." Ample openings for capital broke
+through the old prejudices against the taking of interest. "Usury" as it
+was called--"a trade brought in by the Jews--is now perfectly practiced
+almost by every Christian, and so commonly that he is accompted but for a
+fool that doth lend his money for nothing[126]." The English workman too
+was growing rich and lazy in the sunlight of prosperous times, so that
+"strangers" were frequently preferred to native craftsmen as "more
+reasonable in their takings, and less wasters of time by a great deal than
+our own[127]."
+
+This was the commencement of the period of Shrewsbury's greatest
+prosperity. Edward IV.'s erection of the Court of the President and
+Marches of Wales (1478) was a material cause of the advent of peace to the
+Borders. Henry VII. could gratify national sentiment by tracing his
+descent from Owen Tudor: he gave it a practical turn by placing his son
+Arthur at Ludlow as ruler of the principality. The Welshmen had thus begun
+to feel that their union with England was a real one before Henry VIII.
+finally incorporated the country with the English kingdom.
+
+[Sidenote: _Increase of comfort._]
+
+The cessation of Welsh distractions had greatly favoured the advancement
+of Shrewsbury. Its grammar school--founded by Edward VI.--as the entrance
+register of Thomas Ashton, its first Headmaster, evidences, attracted
+scholars from a very wide area, and helped to bring renown and wealth to
+the town. Shrewsbury too was the market to which the Welsh cloth trade
+naturally gravitated, though the town had powerful rivals with which to
+contend. In the reign of Elizabeth it employed six hundred shearmen in the
+woollen industry. Camden, writing in 1586, describes it as "a fine city,
+well-inhabited and of good commerce, and by the industry of the Citizens
+is very rich." From this period date the substantial homes of the
+tradesmen of Tudor times which still survive in not inconsiderable numbers
+to give so much picturesqueness to the streets of the town. This was the
+era of improvements in domestic architecture. "If ever curious building
+did flourish in England," says Harrison[128], "it is in these our years."
+Ireland's mansion, which dates from 1570, and the house at the south-east
+corner of the Market Square, built by John Lloyd in 1579, are existing
+examples of this "curious building." Their elegance, no less than their
+stability, betokens the advancement of manners as well as of wealth.
+Though these houses are "yet for the most part of strong timber" "brick or
+hard stone[129]" were beginning to be largely used. Rowley's mansion
+(1618) is said to have been the first house in the town built wholly of
+these materials.
+
+Everything combines to mark the reign of Elizabeth as an epoch in the
+history of England.
+
+[Sidenote: _Economic policy._]
+
+The foundations of modern society were laid. We seem to come into the
+range of modern, as distinct from mediaeval ideas and habits. The principal
+points in which modern society differs from mediaeval are distinctly
+visible. The problem of poor relief in particular becomes acutely
+appreciated. The rise of capital is seen both in the modification of the
+Usury laws, spoken of above, and in the enhancing of rents: prices
+hitherto dependent on custom and regulation must now be decided by
+competition.
+
+Not less remarkable is the permanence which attended Elizabeth's
+legislation. Her economic settlement remained practically unchanged until
+the development of machinery altered those social conditions for which it
+had been adapted.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Statute 5 Eliz. a turning-point in Gild history._]
+
+She made trade regulation national instead of local. The Act of 5
+Elizabeth, c. 14, is a turning-point in the history of the Gilds. By it
+the whole system of Gilds was re-modelled. Their experience was by no
+means thrown away[130]. The information they had been accumulating was now
+appropriated by the state, which took over many of the functions they had
+hitherto performed.
+
+[Sidenote: _Many of the functions of the Gilds taken over by the state._]
+
+What had long been common law now became statute law. The old minimum of
+seven years' apprenticeship was still enjoined as a necessary preliminary
+to the exercise of any craft. Such apprentices when bound must be of an
+age less than twenty-one years, and could only be bound to householders in
+corporate or market towns. The proportion of journeymen to apprentices was
+regulated: there were to be three apprentices to one journeyman. The
+workman was protected from wilful dismissal. The hours of labour were
+defined, and Justices of the Peace or the town magistrates were to assess
+wages yearly at the Easter Sessions. All disputes between masters and
+servants were to be settled by the same authorities. The statute
+incorporated everything that was worth taking in the ordinances of the
+Gilds and applied it nationally to the regulation of the country's trade.
+
+[Sidenote: _Trade-regulation becomes national instead of local._]
+
+[Sidenote: _This allows development of new centres_]
+
+The results of such a revolution in industrial regulation were great both
+on trade in general and on the Gilds. There was no longer any excuse for
+attempting to retard the development of the new centres which were
+springing up. The action of the government in the matter of the Welsh
+woollen trade to which reference will presently be made shows how its
+policy was tending more and more towards allowing industry to take its own
+course, instead of attempting to restrict it to one market.
+
+[Sidenote: _and encourages native workmen._]
+
+Another important result of the Act was the protection henceforth shown to
+the native in opposition to the alien workman. The aim of the government
+is now to regulate, protect, encourage, _native_ industry: the objects of
+its desire in the past had been to provide plenty for the consumer and to
+increase the strength of the country by extending its capacity for
+production. The royal support accorded in consequence to Flemish and
+German traders had made them objects of bitter jealousy to the struggling
+English merchants[131]. This feeling of antipathy to alien workmen may be
+traced from the reign of Richard II. It becomes very marked in that of
+Edward IV.[132] The composition of the Mercers of Shrewsbury, dated
+1480-81, had forbidden the apprenticeship of anyone "that is of Frenshe,
+Flemyshe, Irysh, Douche, Walshe or eny other Nacyones not beyng at Truse
+w{t} our Sov'ayne Lorde the Kynge, but onlye mere Englysshe borne."
+
+The new policy inaugurated by the statute of Elizabeth is however not more
+national in its scope than in the preference it gives to native over
+foreign workmen.
+
+[Sidenote: _Results on Gilds._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Many come to an end._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Many made more comprehensive._]
+
+[Sidenote: _These sometimes come into conflict with royal officers._]
+
+The results on the Gilds were more diverse. Many came to an end. This was
+brought about through two causes: firstly, the need for many Gilds ceased
+in consequence of the government now taking over their functions;
+secondly, in many places the numerous Gilds were organized and amalgamated
+into one or two larger and amended corporations[133]. On the other hand
+the encouragement now afforded to native workmen caused a great
+incorporation of new trades into many old Gilds, which became in
+consequence more comprehensive. In a large number of cases these performed
+their duties well for a long period. The new composition granted to the
+Barbers of Shrewsbury in 1662 places this fact upon record. Occasionally
+they came in conflict with the royal officers appointed to scrutinise the
+wares, as was the case with the Mercers and the Anager at one period of
+the company's existence.
+
+[Sidenote: _Many become state agents._]
+
+Not a few became the authorised agents of the state. Several of the
+Shrewsbury Gilds were strengthened and encouraged with this object in
+view. New compositions were granted by Elizabeth to the Tailors and
+Skinners in 1563 (confirmed in the next year), to the Glovers in 1564 and
+to the Shearmen in 1566. The Drapers had also figured in the Statute Book
+on two occasions. The Acts 8 Elizabeth, c. 7, and 14 Elizabeth, c. 12, had
+both been concerned with the affairs of the Drapers of Shrewsbury in their
+capacity of state agents for the regulation of industry[134].
+
+In 1605 the company of Drapers was incorporated by James I. and the Smiths
+in 1621. The Tailors received a composition in 1627 and another in 1686.
+The Tanners were regulated by a new composition in 1639, the Smiths in
+1661, the Barbers in 1662. The records of the Mercers contain entries of
+"cessments for renewing the Composition" in several years--1639, 1640,
+1644, 1646 etc.
+
+[Sidenote: _Many new Gilds formed._]
+
+In many places of recent growth, or where the old Gilds had been destroyed
+without there having been any construction of fresh machinery to take
+their place, deliberate grants were made of new trade companies. The
+Merchant Adventurers of Exeter were incorporated by Elizabeth expressly
+for the purpose of supervising trade and "on account of the inconveniences
+arising from the excessive number of artificers and unskilled persons
+occupying the art or mystery of merchandising[135]." The charter which was
+granted "hominibus mistere Marceriorum" at York in 1581 allowed them to
+form themselves into a company under officers chosen with the consent of
+the municipal authorities: the evils which necessitated the forming of
+the company being expressly stated to be such as had ensued from a lack of
+due regulation of trade[136]. At Axbridge every householder, whether
+engaged in trade or not, was ordered, in 1614, to enrol himself in one of
+the three companies of the town[137].
+
+[Sidenote: _Intimate connection with civic authorities._]
+
+In all these charters care was taken that the new corporations should be
+in due subordination to the town authorities[138]. In some places the
+Mayor or other officer of the town was _ex officio_ head of the Gild.
+Sometimes it was granted to the "Mayor, bailiffs and commonalty and their
+successors for ever, that they shall and may from time to time ordain,
+create, and establish, a society, gild, or fraternity, of one master and
+wardens of every art, mystery and occupation used or occupied, or
+hereafter to be used or occupied, within the said city and the suburbs
+thereof; and that they with the assistance of the wardens of the said arts
+and mysteries may make, constitute, ordain and establish laws,
+constitutions and ordinances for the public utility and profit and for the
+better rule and regiment of our city of Winchester and of the mysteries of
+the citizens and inhabitants of the same[139]." Such power of supervision
+was generally allowed to the municipal authorities. The head of the Gild
+frequently took his oath of office before the Mayor. The Common Council
+of the town had power to make such ordinances as it might think fit for
+the good estate, order and rule of the Gildsmen. In certain cases too the
+Mayor had power "to call and admitt unto the same Free Guild and
+Burgeshipp of the said Town such and soe many able and discreete persons
+as ... shall seeme fitt" and also "uppon any iust and lawful grounds and
+causes to disffranchise them[140]." Under these conditions the public
+authorities of the town would be ready to support the companies. In some
+cases they were expressly ordered to do so. At Shrewsbury we shall find
+the town Bailiffs assisting the companies in the efforts of the latter to
+prevent the encroachments of foreigners.
+
+What all this change and reform amounted to was this. The system of Gilds
+was re-organised and strengthened. Part of the functions which the Craft
+Gilds had performed were taken over by the state. Part were left to be
+still performed by the companies. The companies were in all cases brought
+into the closest possible connection with the town and the town
+authorities.
+
+As regards the designation of these 16th century trade associations it
+appears that they were generally termed societies or companies in public
+documents, probably because the name "Gild" might seem to savour somewhat
+of the Chantries and mass-priests. But in their own books and lists they
+still called themselves Gilds and fraternities.
+
+[Sidenote: _The new companies show permanence of Gild-feeling._]
+
+Though they differed essentially from these, as has been already pointed
+out, yet, viewed superficially, they might seem to have retained many of
+the features of the old Gilds. In practice they bore no small share of the
+burden of public charities. They were also not unmindful of the wants of
+their members, though of course these now consisted of masters only.
+Elizabeth's charter to the Merchant Adventurers of Bristol ordered them to
+distribute yearly among twenty poor men twenty "vestes panneas" and to
+assist all of the company who were impoverished by mischance or otherwise.
+
+In their ordinances and compositions they were even more similar in
+appearance to the old Gilds. The composition which Elizabeth granted to
+the Glovers of Shrewsbury in 1564 is as strict as any mediaeval regulation.
+It restricted all masters to a maximum of three apprentices. It confined
+each brother to a single shop, and to the selling of the products of his
+own work only. It authorised the Wardens to seize corrupt or insufficient
+wares, and was altogether a most thorough piece of industrial regulation,
+entirely modelled on the lines of the old Gild arrangements.
+
+Other indications of the same spirit were not lacking. In 1621 "by and
+with the allowance and agreement of the right worthie" the town
+authorities, skins and fells were ordered to be purchased only between
+sunrise and sunset. As though the Wardens of the Barbers' company had not
+been sufficiently thorough in executing their duties the new composition
+which the company received from Charles II. in 1662 made provision for the
+appointment of a searcher and defined the duties appertaining to the
+office. The composition granted to the Smiths in 1621 forbade the keeping
+of two shops by a single tradesman in the town, and disallowed the
+employment of foreigners for a longer period than a week without express
+permission obtained from the Wardens. The composition of the Tailors,
+granted in 1627, forbade the wearing of "any lyvere of any Earle Lorde
+Barronett Knight Esquire or Gentleman" while occupying any Gild office;
+prohibited unfair competition and the employment of foreigners; and
+ordered that "noe pettie Chapman or other p'son or p'sons shall buy any
+Skynnes of furre" within the town. In the composition of 1686 the articles
+are repeated against indiscriminate admittance of foreigners, and against
+the piratical infringement of unfree persons on the province of the
+brethren.
+
+The "Regulated Companies" which arose about the same time were a further
+development of the same movement, but on a larger scale. In many respects
+indeed the Craft Gilds of the 14th and 15th centuries were but little
+different from the Regulated Companies of the 17th. Admission was
+practically free on payment of a fine, the individual so received into
+membership being left to prosecute his trade in his own way, by his own
+means, and to his own particular profit.
+
+[Sidenote: _Though altered conditions of trade make their work
+difficult._]
+
+But the difficulties attendant on attempts to regulate expanding trade
+were daily growing greater and more numerous. "The false making and short
+lengths of all sortes of cloths and stuffes" necessitated the appointment
+by the Mercers of two men "to oversee and look after" these things in
+1638. The Barbers too in 1662 empowered the stewards to search for bad
+materials. In 1639 the Glovers' company was brought to something like a
+crisis "by the taking of many apprentices." It was thought necessary to
+dock each brother of one of the apprentices allowed by the Elizabethan
+composition of 1564[141].
+
+The frequency with which it was necessary to renew the compositions, the
+reiteration of the same articles,--against employing foreigners, against
+unfair competition, against neglect of the legal period of
+apprenticeship,--again shows the futility of such restrictions. Actions
+against intruders even thus early figure frequently on the records. In
+those of the Tailors and Skinners the decision of the company under date
+of August 23, 1627, is recorded thus:--"The Wardens and Sitters met and
+agreed that the Wardens should fetch process for Intruders and implead
+them before the Council in the Marches, and Mr Chelmicke to draw the bill
+against them."
+
+The history of the Welsh woollen trade in its connection with Shrewsbury
+well exhibits the economic policy of the day, and as it therefore
+illustrates several of the points with which we have been concerned it may
+be given here at some length.
+
+[Sidenote: _The features of the period seen in history of Welsh woollen
+trade of Shrewsbury._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Flourishing in reign of Elizabeth,_]
+
+In the earlier part of the 16th century Oswestry appears to have been the
+principal market for the Welsh products. At Shrewsbury however there was
+also a large woollen trade, as we learn from the Act 8 Elizabeth, cap. 7,
+entitled, "An Act touching the Drapers, Cottoners, and Frizers of
+Shrewsbury." This statute recited that there had been time out of mind a
+Gild of the art and mystery of Drapers legally incorporated in Shrewsbury,
+which had usually set on work above six hundred persons of the art or
+science of Shearmen or Frizers. Of late however it had come to pass that
+divers persons, not being members of the said company, neither brought up
+in the use of the said trade, had "with great disorder, upon a mere
+covetous desire and mind, intromitted with and occupied the said trade of
+buying Welsh cloth or lining, having no knowledge, experience or skill in
+the same." The result is asserted to be that the men of the company are
+impoverished and like to be brought to ruin unless speedy remedy be
+provided. It is therefore forbidden that anyone inhabiting Shrewsbury
+shall "occupy the trade" of buying Welsh woollens, unless he be free of
+the company of the Drapers[142].
+
+[Sidenote: _but injured by over-regulation caused by selfish interests._]
+
+Such a stringent regulation of trade met with directly contrary results to
+those which had been expected. A statute six years later acknowledges the
+failure of the measure, although it attempts to shift the blame from the
+shoulders of the Government by representing the measure as one taken at
+the request of the Drapers, instead of as a piece of state-craft[143].
+
+The statute of 14 Elizabeth, cap. 12, almost entirely repeals 8 Elizabeth,
+cap. 7, "at the humble suit of the inhabitants of the said town and also
+of the said artificers, for whose benefit the said Act was supposed to be
+provided[144].... For experience hath plainly taught in the said town that
+the said Act hath not only not brought the good effect that then was hoped
+and surmised, but also hath been and now is like to be the very greatest
+cause of the impoverishing and undoing of the poor Artificers and others
+at whose suit the said Act was procured, for that there be now, sithence
+the making of the said Act, much fewer persons to set them awork than
+afore."
+
+The whole incident is extremely interesting. It affords an excellent
+illustration of the way in which the Gilds were in some places made state
+agents for carrying into effect 5 Elizabeth, cap. 14. It also shows
+plainly that state intervention was beginning to be found harmful even by
+the men of that day. It evidences, moreover, how large the Welsh trade of
+Shrewsbury had already grown.
+
+Oswestry however continued to be the chief emporium, and the Drapers of
+Shrewsbury repaired thither every Monday for a long period after the date
+of the statutes we have been considering.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Drapers' Company represents the interests of Shrewsbury_]
+
+The company of the Drapers was the most considerable and influential of
+the trade associations of Shrewsbury. It numbered among its brethren the
+great majority of the chief burgesses of the town. Its relations with the
+municipal corporation were, as would be expected, very intimate. It was
+the custom of the Drapers to attend divine worship in the church of St
+Alkmund before setting out for the Oswestry market. In 1614 an order was
+made for the payment of six and eightpence to the clerk of the church for
+ringing the morning bell to prayers on Monday mornings at six o'clock, not
+by the company as we should expect, but by the corporation[145].
+
+[Sidenote: _in opposition to Oswestry, Chester,_]
+
+There arose considerable competition for the lucrative market which the
+expansion of Welsh industry was every day rendering more profitable. The
+inhabitants of Chester made a vigorous attempt to obtain the erection in
+their city of "a staple for the cottons and friezes of North Wales."
+Shrewsbury was however enabled to prevent the completion of the
+scheme[146].
+
+[Sidenote: _London; especially the last._]
+
+The attempt of London to obtain a share in the trade seemed fraught with
+so much danger that the two rivals, Shrewsbury and Oswestry, made common
+cause against the intruder. The complaint was a general one that the
+merchants of London and their factors forestalled and engrossed
+productions before they came to market. These obnoxious practices seem to
+have been carried to a particularly distasteful length on the borders of
+Wales. The transactions of a London dealer named Thomas Davies in 1619
+appear to have brought matters to a crisis.
+
+There had been complaints about the same man, with others, previously. He
+had, by craft, obtained admission to the freedom of Oswestry, by which
+means he could the better purchase the Welsh cloths. These he then carried
+to London where he sold them "privately"[147]--that is, not in the proper
+and public market. The Drapers of the two towns petitioned that the matter
+might be settled before the Council[148]. Being foiled in his attempt to
+plead his freedom of Oswestry[148] Davies appealed to the Lord Mayor and
+Corporation of the Metropolis to support his claims to trade throughout
+England in right of his citizenship of London[149]. The order of the
+Council depriving the Londoners of what they called their "ancient
+privilege" evoked strenuous opposition in the Metropolis, and petitions
+numerously signed[150] were sent in asserting that the Drapers of
+Shrewsbury and Oswestry had obtained the order by misrepresentation[151].
+It does not appear that these petitions were successful, as Thomas Davies
+in his examination before the Council a little later, expressed his
+willingness to resign his London freedom and to confine his dealings to
+Oswestry. The fear of creating a precedent which would be largely
+followed, and with probable detriment to the trade of Shrewsbury and
+Oswestry, restrained the Council from allowing him to do this[152].
+
+Not that the trade of Shrewsbury, at any rate, was likely to decrease
+through any apathy on the part of its company of Drapers. They were on the
+contrary singularly active at this time. And there was every need for them
+to be vigilant. For, with the object of stimulating the industry of the
+Principality by allowing a more extensive market, and probably also as a
+result of the recent proceedings between the Drapers of Shrewsbury and
+Oswestry and the citizens of London, a Proclamation was issued allowing
+free trade in Welsh cloths. The novelty pleased neither the Welshmen[153]
+nor the merchants of the borders. To the latter the chief consequence
+seemed to be that the French company, which had the monopoly of exporting
+such goods to France, was enabled to purchase direct from the
+manufacturers in Wales instead of through the Drapers. The case was
+undoubtedly a hard one for the latter, who could not export. Consequently
+their grievance was a real one, and, as they showed in their petition to
+the Council, ruin stared them in the face unless they too might be allowed
+to export and so dispose of the large stock which was thrown on their
+hands[154].
+
+But at the same time they were successfully endeavouring to draw the Welsh
+trade from Oswestry entirely to Shrewsbury[155].
+
+They had prepared for the attempt by obtaining a new charter from
+Elizabeth's successor in 1605. That they had lost no time in putting their
+privileges to practical use is seen from their answer, four years later,
+to a mandate issued to them by Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, who held
+the overlordship of Oswestry, to desist from their efforts to undermine
+the trade of his town. Their answer is entitled "The Copy of a Letter sent
+by the Company to the Earle of Suffolk, Lord Chamberlen of his Majesties
+Househoulde, the 24 June 1609," and begins
+
+    "Right Honerabell,
+
+    "Your letter bearing date the second of this June by the hands of Mr
+    Kinaston wee have receaved: wherein ytt appeareth yo{r} Lordship was
+    informed that wee the Societie of Drapers wentt abowte by underarte
+    and menesses to withdrawe your markett of Walshe Clothe from your
+    towne of Oswester."
+
+[Sidenote: _All competitors worsted._]
+
+Though they proceed to exculpate themselves from the charge, it is evident
+their intention was to pursue in the future the same policy which they had
+hitherto practised. In 1618 Suffolk fell and Oswestry was deprived of his
+support, so that in 1621 the Shrewsbury Drapers felt justified in
+resolving "That they will not buy Cloth at Oswestry or elsewhere than
+Salop," in spite of the opposition of the clothiers of North Wales[156],
+who, whether from convenience or old association, appeared to prefer
+Oswestry as the locale of their market. However the Drapers' company,
+assisted by the town[157], was sufficiently powerful to turn the
+Proclamation allowing free trade in Welsh cloths to their own good, and
+the market was drawn to Shrewsbury in spite of orders by the Council that
+it should be re-established at Oswestry. The company did not hesitate to
+declare to the Council itself that they were prepared, if necessary, to
+disregard its orders. By 1633 the market at Oswestry had practically died
+out. It was held at Shrewsbury on Wednesdays, and afterwards on Fridays.
+In 1649 the date was altered to Thursday.
+
+[Sidenote: _Expansion of trade, and interlopers, destroy Shrewsbury's
+monopoly._]
+
+To the Market House flocked the Welsh farmers, their bales of cloth being
+borne to the town on the backs of hardy ponies. The merchandise was
+exposed for sale in the large room upstairs. The Drapers assembled
+beneath, and proceeded to make their purchases in order of seniority,
+according to ancient usage. The custom which the Welshmen brought to the
+town easily accounts for the keenness of the competition to secure the
+market. For a long time the trade flourished. Gradually however the action
+of "foreigners" in buying from the Welsh manufacturers at their homes[158]
+broke down the monopoly which Shrewsbury had so long enjoyed. At the end
+of the 18th century the sales had shrunk to miserable proportions. In
+1803 the room over the market was relinquished by the Drapers, and though
+a certain amount of Welsh trade was still carried on, it withdrew
+gradually from the town until it finally left Shrewsbury altogether. The
+Drapers might have realised that the time for restricting trade to the
+freemen of their company was past.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE DEGENERACY OF THE COMPANIES.
+
+
+[Sidenote: _Outside competition_]
+
+The competition of "interlopers" ruined the Welsh trade of Shrewsbury. It
+was not, as we have seen, from any lack of vigilance on the part of the
+companies. Stimulated by their new compositions they became extremely
+active. As early as 1622 the actions against "foreigners" begin. Soon
+afterwards they become of frequent occurrence until at length the books of
+the companies are almost mere records of a daily struggle for existence.
+
+[Sidenote: _inevitable under the altered conditions of trade._]
+
+[Sidenote: _But the companies themselves are unsatisfactory._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Friction with the town authorities;_]
+
+This was of course inevitable under the altered conditions of trade. But
+the companies exhibited in themselves all the radical defects which must
+pertain to such a system when it has outgrown its necessity. We have seen
+how free the earlier companies were from friction with the municipal
+authorities. In the 17th century this is changed. The propriety of setting
+up a May-pole had formerly been almost the only ground of conflict between
+the bailiffs and the craftsmen. But in 1639 we find that the Tanners were
+thought to be overstepping their powers; the corporation appointed a
+committee to examine their composition. Some seventeen years later,
+extreme measures had to be taken with regard to the same company. It was
+the custom for the charters to be inspected by the corporation
+periodically. In 1656 the Tanners refused to comply with the request to
+produce their composition for the mayor's perusal, with the result that
+the company was prosecuted by the corporation[159].
+
+The town had been willing to support the Drapers in their measures to draw
+the Welsh trade to Shrewsbury, but it did not approve of the line of
+action they tried subsequently to take, namely, to limit all the trade to
+their own members. In 1653 regulations were framed to prevent the company
+"forestalling or engrossing the Welsh Flannels, Cloaths etc.[160]" A more
+serious abuse transpired in connection with the Feltmakers' company in
+1667. They refused to make one who had been lawfully apprenticed to the
+trade in Shrewsbury free of their company. On this occasion the mayor and
+aldermen exercised their right of supervision by ordering the Wardens to
+admit the man, "and the Mayor is desired to give him the oath of a Freeman
+of the said Company[161]." The importance of the mayor being thus
+empowered by the municipal authorities to administer the oath of
+admittance to one of the Gilds is very great, and shows how real was the
+subordination of the latter to the town when the corporation chose to
+exert its rights.
+
+An order of the corporation[162] directing that burgesses only are to be
+elected Wardens of the companies points to another abuse, the existence of
+which is proved by other evidence, viz., the admittance of non-residents
+in the town to membership in the companies on payment of a sufficiently
+large entrance fee. Yet the extent to which corruption could go was seen
+forty years later when the corporation stultified itself by passing an
+order[163] allowing the Haberdashers to elect persons, though they might
+not be burgesses, as Wardens of their company.
+
+The general impression which such transactions leave is that extreme
+laxity prevailed in all departments. The town woke up for a moment in 1702
+when the prospect perhaps of a harvest of unpaid fines induced them to
+make an effort to recover all such[164]. It is to be regretted that
+nothing remains to show to what extent the abuse had prevailed, nor how
+far the present effort was successful. The annual fine of the Bakers'
+company was L3. 6_s._ 8_d._ which they appear to have generally paid with
+considerable reluctance[165]. The supply of provision to the town seems to
+have given much trouble in the early years of the eighteenth century.
+Permission was given, in 1730, to the country butchers to sell in the town
+unless the town butchers could furnish meat in sufficient quantity.
+Similar permission was accorded to the country bakers, if the Bakers'
+company in the town would not pay their yearly fine. This they were
+unwilling, or unable, to do, and the country bakers were in consequence
+called in[166].
+
+[Sidenote: _with one another,_]
+
+The picture given by such incidents is not more significant of the
+degeneracy of the Gilds than is that which the friction of the companies
+one with another presents. The Mercers and the Drapers had frequently made
+mutual complaints of intrusion: the Mercers and the Glovers also appear as
+great rivals in later years. In 1679 and at several subsequent dates there
+were actions at law between the two companies. In 1727 the records of the
+Glovers show that similar actions were again in process. In 1721 the
+company unanimously agreed to withstand the Tailors in the matter of widow
+Steen, whom they pledge themselves to support; "and that shee may goe on
+with makeing Brichess peruided shee dos not line them with flonen or
+Buckrom or cennet onlye Lether."
+
+[Sidenote: _and with their own members._]
+
+Nor is the evidence of intestine friction within the Gilds themselves less
+significant of decay. So early as 1636 the Mercers were fain to confess
+that the spirit of mutual assistance had disappeared, in the order which
+they passed to the effect that any combrother refusing to pay his
+assessment was to be distrained upon by authority of the Wardens. There
+are several records of such distraints. In 1700 they find it necessary to
+pass an ordinance against freemen taking the sons of intruders as
+apprentices. The records of the other companies are, similarly, full of
+like evidences of demoralisation. The companies are declared to be
+impoverished by the taking of inordinate numbers of apprentices. The same
+sort of abuse is found in a complaint which appears in the Glovers' books
+in 1656: "the company is much impoverished by the taking in of foreigners
+freemen such as have not served" their due apprenticeship. "The disorderly
+manner of electing Wardens" about which the Glovers have to "take account"
+in 1668 points to a great deterioration in the manner of holding Gild
+meetings from that which has been sketched in a previous chapter[167].
+Worse than all is the confession that the Gild brothers have sunk so low
+as to connive at intruders "for fraudulent lucre and gain[168]." The
+Saddlers have the same sort of complaint in 1740. Some brethren are
+infringing on the trades of others: resolutions are passed against such
+conduct. Their books show that the resolutions were soon forgotten[169].
+The other Gilds experienced similar difficulties. In 1745 the Barbers
+levied a fine of ten shillings on brethren who should so far forget
+themselves as to instruct "men or women servants to dress hair."
+
+The problem of regulating trade would have been difficult enough under
+the most favourable circumstances. With the Gilds in the condition which
+we have been considering it was an impossibility. There was indeed a
+feature in the modern companies which at the outset deprived the attempt
+to utilise them beneficially for trade-purposes of all chance of success.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Gilds have changed to capitalist companies._]
+
+The old Gilds, which had lived through the shocks of the Reformation, and
+the Elizabethan changes, had quite altered their character. The new ones
+which had arisen differed widely from the old fraternities. Instead of
+being brotherhoods of craftsmen desirous of advancing the public weal,
+they were now mere societies of capitalists, intent only on private and
+personal advantage. As a writer of 1680 observes "most of our ancient
+Corporations and Guilds [have] become oppressive Oligarchies[170]." There
+is a constant endeavour to restrict the companies to favoured individuals.
+Every "foreigner" is subjected to a heavy fine, which grows larger in
+amount as the companies feel the trade slipping from their hands in spite
+of their desperate endeavours to restrict it. The new compositions
+continually point to this abuse by bringing back the fines to their
+original sum, or rather reducing them to an amount less inordinate than
+that which they have irregularly reached. The admission stamp of the
+Saddlers was 4/- in 1784. It reached 8/2 in 1799. In 1831 it was 20/2. The
+Mercers' fine was fixed at L40. 6_s._ 8_d._ in 1789, "besides fees." In
+1823 it had sunk to L20. The Mercers were of course one of the richest of
+the companies, yet the sum was a large one to pay for the privilege of
+opening a shop in a provincial town.
+
+Other means to restrict themselves were also attempted. Increase in the
+number of apprentices was viewed with disfavour. There are frequent
+complaints of the "impoverishment" of the companies through the
+indiscriminate admittance of "foreigners." All the evidence shows how
+entirely they have degenerated into mere societies of capitalists. Their
+records almost decline into bald columns of pounds, shillings and pence.
+For it was to this completeness of degradation that the social body had
+sunk. The merest selfishness was lauded as a patriotic virtue. Private
+gain was recommended as a public benefit. Social disintegration and
+industrial anarchy ruled supreme, and when commercial success had come to
+be looked upon as the one avenue to honour and advancement, it was not to
+be expected that the companies would escape the general infection. They
+formed simply one among many means by which the individual was enabled to
+fill his own pockets at the cost of a suffering and squalid populace.
+
+This change in their character, which became more marked as time went by,
+naturally was not unattended by a change in their government. All
+authority became engrossed by the richer members. The Four Assistants with
+the Wardens and Stewards formed a close aristocratic board. Brentano,
+speaking it would appear more particularly of the London companies,
+says[171] the king nominated the first members of this court and
+afterwards as vacancies occurred they were filled by co-optation. This was
+not exactly the case with the Shrewsbury companies. There the annual
+meeting[172] retained a considerable power in the election of officers to
+the last. In some cases the Assistants or Four Men were elected freely by
+the assembled combrethren, in others two only were thus elected, the two
+retiring Wardens completing the number. The Tailors' composition of 1563
+provided that the two Wardens should be elected by the whole Gild: the
+Four Assistants were then nominated by these Wardens "for advising them in
+the Government of the Gild." The Wardens and Assistants then proceeded to
+nominate the two Stewards.
+
+[Sidenote: _The companies and the close corporations._]
+
+They were thus as exclusive and aristocratic as the town corporations had
+become. The degeneracy of the latter had been largely intensified by the
+degeneracy of the former. For the principal members of the companies were
+the principal members of the town corporation, which had silently, since
+the fourteenth century, been usurping the ancient powers of the general
+body of the burgesses. It was the companies which mainly profited by it.
+They profited indirectly, by the influence which they exercised through
+individual members on the town council, which had obtained part of the
+functions of the Leet. They profited directly as they themselves acquired
+definitely other of the powers of the Court Leet. They became the chief
+or the sole medium for the acquisition of municipal freedom, and were
+distinct town organs for the regulation of trade and industry.
+
+[Sidenote: _The journeymen no longer in the companies._]
+
+It is by reason of the widely-reaching influence of their degeneracy that
+their later history is of importance. For as regards the poorer members of
+society their history is useless. The workman disappears from their books.
+That he no longer was looked upon as the brother member of the masters is
+quite evident.
+
+  "Our workmen do work hard, but we live at ease,
+  We go when we will, and we come when we please[173]."
+
+[Sidenote: _They begin to form benefit societies, animated by much of the
+old Gild-spirit._]
+
+The most general means which the poor adopted to help themselves was the
+formation of Friendly Societies. These arose in great numbers during the
+18th century. The companies were not slow in helping to swell public
+subscriptions and in assisting to pauperise the labouring class. To the
+necessity of rendering real help to their unfortunate workmen they were
+however entirely oblivious. This side of the work performed by the old
+Gilds had been almost wholly overlooked by the post-reformation companies,
+though it had been one of the most important of their predecessors'
+functions. It was found that society could not get along without something
+of the kind, and as the higher companies would not perform the work, the
+lower craftsmen found it necessary to do it themselves. Here was a
+distinct severance of interest between employers and workmen, yet it does
+not seem unlikely that it was the old Gilds themselves which formed the
+models for the new societies. At any rate the analogies between the Gilds
+and the Benefit Societies, in the earlier phases of the latter, and
+looking at the social and religious side of the former, are very
+striking[174]. The simple rules of trade association show as much concern
+for the morals of members as did the charters of the Gilds: they had their
+annual feast, provided by subscription: they usually went in their
+procession to the parish church on the day of the feast. They were perhaps
+the earliest signs of that necessary return to something like the old Gild
+system which the later Trades Unions have done so much to bring about. The
+companies watched them grow up without a twinge of conscience, though it
+was their own neglect of duty which made such associations an absolute
+necessity. Being the only forms of combination which were left unmolested
+by the government they were extensively formed, and this was well, for the
+need of them was very great.
+
+[Sidenote: _Difficulties of reform; members would not, state would not,
+the town authorities would not._]
+
+In spite of unmistakeable signs of inevitable changes the companies
+refused to take warning. Their reform was indeed difficult, and, as it
+proved, impossible. The workmen as we have seen could not, the masters
+would not, take steps in this direction. The state derived too good an
+income from them to be anxious for a change. The admission stamps,
+constantly increasing in amount, were a profitable source of revenue. The
+notices of "cessments for renewing the composition" are frequent. There
+were also continual contributions of men and money for the "exigencies of
+the State[175]." In 1798 the Mercers voted L100 annually to the government
+"during the continuance of the war." The town also seemed to profit by
+them. They were obliged, some of them at all events, to exhibit their
+compositions annually or periodically to the mayor and pay a customary
+fine on doing so. They continued to be of some service to the community in
+the inefficient condition of the public police. Their social utility to
+the town was also in their favour. In 1608 the corporation provided
+materials in case of fire, when each of the companies was required to
+maintain its proper proportion of hooks and buckets. Entries relating to
+the "spout or water engine" are frequent in their records. In aid of
+procuring public benefits the companies were not backward. Their chests
+were readily opened to assist towards improvements in the town, such as
+widening of streets, erection of bridges and the like.
+
+To the last also they preserved something of their charitable character,
+though its exercise was as open to criticism as other forms of poor relief
+during the eighteenth century. Nevertheless if the membership lists of the
+Drapers and the Mercers could be made public they would be found to
+contain the majority of the public benefactors of Shrewsbury during this
+period. Public charities, such as the Infirmary and the Lancaster School
+received annual subscriptions until the companies came to an end. The
+necessity of continuing the annuities to the inmates of S. Chad's
+almshouses formed a chief argument against the dissolution of the Mercers'
+company. "The Worshipful Company of Drapers" still subscribes to schools
+and charities year by year.
+
+[Sidenote: _Contemporaneous opinion of the companies._]
+
+In these circumstances we cannot wonder that the old companies found many
+champions. The following letter is valuable as affording a view of the
+contemporaneous opinion held of the Gilds by a man of ordinary common
+sense and average education. It appeared in the _Salopian Journal_ of
+August 27, 1823. It was evoked by a decision of the Judges of Assize in
+favour of the Mercers' company in an important case to which reference
+will be made in a later page. It was addressed to the editor of the
+newspaper and commenced--
+
+    "SIR,
+
+    As the Company commonly called 'the United Company of Mercers,
+    Grocers, Ironmongers, and Goldsmiths' in this town have established
+    the validity of their ancient customs by a suit at law of which there
+    is no account of their having done so since the time when the King's
+    Court for the Marches of Wales was held at Ludlow; at which time and
+    place the Council then, who held the pleas, determined also a like
+    suit in their favour: and as there is much argument for and against
+    the existence and usage of this incorporate body; permit me to lay
+    before the public an outline of both, that the subject at least might
+    be better understood than we often hear it repeated. It is contended
+    against, as exercising an arbitrary monopoly of trade, to the
+    detriment and oppression of the subjects of the realm; and which is
+    moreover injurious to the town itself, by depriving the Trade thereof
+    of that competition which brings down the Articles of manufacture to a
+    fair marketable value for the supply of its inhabitants. These are the
+    charges against them, which if indeed they could be substantiated
+    would be sufficient to show that their existence was an evil. But let
+    us look at the facts on the other side of the question, and see
+    whether there is any reality in these serious charges. In the first
+    place the Companies hold it requisite, in order to be free of their
+    body, that all but the sons of Freemen shall serve a regular
+    apprenticeship to one of the Corporation. Now in this they have been
+    sanctioned and dictated to by the ancient law of the land ... that
+    youths might be properly taught their respective arts, and that the
+    community might not be imposed upon by pretenders to that which they
+    were not properly acquainted with.
+
+    On Foreigners or such as have not served a regular apprenticeship they
+    impose a fine of L20, before they will admit them as freemen, and
+    certainly in doing this they do not over-rate a seven years'
+    servitude, when the one is made equivalent to the other.
+
+    Let us now see to the application of the money. A fund is made of it,
+    somewhat similar to 'Benefit Societies.' No part of it is applied to
+    private purposes; for even the Company's annual feast, about which
+    there is so much said, is not always at the expense of the fund, but
+    [is] borne individually; and the utility of such a feast to promote
+    harmony and goodwill, is acknowledged by all Societies[176]. But
+    further, these funds are confined to the relief of decayed and
+    deserving members of the Companies[177], and to every charitable and
+    public emergency wherein the general interest or welfare of the town
+    is concerned; and their annual disbursements, for centuries past, have
+    been regularly serviceable to the community at large as well as to
+    individual cases of distress. This the account of their expenditure
+    will show. Now, then this monopoly, as it is called, extends no
+    further than to exact an apprenticeship of seven years, or to a fine
+    of L20; the former sanctioned by law and the latter a sum of no
+    comparative amount to a respectable person, desirous of establishing a
+    respectable trade, especially if there be any truth in the argument,
+    that goods are sold by this corporate body for more money than they
+    would be, if no such corporation existed. Neither can the fine be
+    called excessive, because it is added to a stock which he from whom it
+    is exacted directs in common to be applied to the common good; and
+    which he may himself, as many others have done in cases of distress,
+    receive back again with large additions.
+
+    But the increased population of Birmingham and Manchester is brought
+    forward as a proof of towns flourishing where trade is what is called
+    _free_. Let us look a little into this argument. Are not the wares
+    vended in these places proverbially _bad_? Do not all manner of
+    imposters from these places deluge the country with their spurious
+    goods, and impose them upon the unwary part of the public? Are these
+    towns to be compared with London, Liverpool, Bristol, for
+    respectability of their trade, for the goodness and cheapness of their
+    articles, when the quality is taken into account? Yet the trade of
+    these latter towns is regulated by corporations.
+
+    I contend therefore that the Corporation in question is _beneficial_
+    to this town and county, inasmuch as it tends to protect it from the
+    inundations of empirics and imposters, while it holds out no hindrance
+    to the fair and honest dealer who has a mind to compete with its
+    respectable tradesmen and settle amongst them. I am not in trade
+    myself; but hope I shall always see my native town preserved from that
+    sort of population which it has never yet been disgraced with.
+
+        I have the honour to be, Mr Editor,
+          In technical language,
+            A COMBROTHER OF THE GUILD.
+
+    SHREWSBURY, Aug. 22, 1823."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+SHREWSBURY SHOW.
+
+
+[Sidenote: _Characteristic features of the Middle Ages._]
+
+A strange glamour hangs around the Middle Ages. We know so little of man's
+actual life in those years,--and what little we do know seems to partake
+so largely of the mysterious and the picturesque--all, his modes of life
+and manners of thought are so far removed from our own,--that mediaeval
+history would easily resolve itself into an enchanting pageant bright with
+its colour and bewildering with its contradictions. It is perhaps in the
+strange contrasts which are presented to us that its chief wonder is
+found. In those years we find lust and rapine, and sacrilege and tyranny,
+side by side with the fairest forms of chivalry[178], the most devoted
+readiness to champion the cause of religion, the firmest attachment to the
+forms of law[179]. We see only the prominent lights and the great shadows
+of the picture, but all that should go to make it human and comprehensible
+to us is hidden under the dust of centuries.
+
+We have noticed the existence of something of this contradictory spirit in
+the view we have had of the early Gilds[180]. The elevated ideal which
+they set before their members must of course have been far above the level
+which was ever actually reached. We may smile at their vain attempts after
+the impossible, yet we cannot but allow that their perseverance betokens
+the widespread acceptance of a nobler conception of human life than is
+common in our own too merely practical age. To the men of those days there
+seemed no great incongruity in the lofty ideals of the Gild-compositions
+and the lower standard which the brethren actually attained. It added but
+another to the many striking contrasts which environed their daily life.
+
+[Sidenote: _Fondness for pageantry._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Its social importance._]
+
+That life was one passed largely in dulness and perhaps comparative
+squalor. But the occasions of colour and merriment were not few. Each
+season had its festivities, social and religious, when rich and poor met
+on something like equal ground in the rude merry-making. This feature in
+ordinary life was not without its social importance, and if only for this
+reason no account of the Gilds would be complete which failed to take
+notice of their processions and, in so doing, of the general life and
+habits of the brethren at the different epochs of Gild history. We have
+now nothing to take the place of those occasions of mutual enjoyment and
+mirth, when "ceremony doff'd his pride" without censure, when the bashful
+apprentice might perhaps tread a measure with his master's daughter, and
+when the condescending mistress of the house might even allow herself to
+be led out for a dance by one or other of her goodman's journeymen.
+
+  "A Christmas gambol oft would cheer
+  A poor man's heart through half the year[181]."
+
+[Sidenote: _The Corpus Christi procession._]
+
+We have already seen how important an influence religious feelings had in
+the actions of the Gilds. Among the yearly festivals the feast of Corpus
+Christi soon became one of the most splendid for pomp and pageantry, and
+to it the Gilds were naturally attracted. Some indeed existed with the
+primary object of ensuring the glory of this particular feast. Most
+important of these was the Corpus Christi Gild at York[182]. The Gild of
+the Holy Trinity, also at York, concerned itself with the annual
+production of a religious play illustrating the Lord's Prayer. The Gilds
+of S. Helen (which represented the Invention of the Cross), of S. Mary,
+and of Corpus Christi, at Beverley[183], were other famous fraternities
+with similar objects. At Stamford was one which maintained a secular
+play[184]. In most towns in England it became the custom for the Gilds,
+each with its banners and insignia, to accompany the Corpus Christi
+procession: in some places the event seems to have become especially
+picturesque. At Coventry[185] and also at Shrewsbury, the procession has
+lasted in some sort down to our own day[186]. At the former city Lady
+Godiva has even lately ridden, though at fitful and uncertain intervals:
+at the latter town, although the procession has now become a thing of the
+past, it is little more than a decade since "Shrewsbury Show" was to be
+seen annually, on the Monday following the feast of Corpus Christi,
+passing along under the eaves of the timbered houses of the old border
+town.
+
+[Sidenote: _The pageants of the Gilds._]
+
+The prominence which the charters of the Shrewsbury Gilds gave to the
+procession has been sufficiently pointed out already. Every care was taken
+to secure its fitting glory and splendour. Among the goods of the
+companies which the inventories name are "Baners," "Baners for ye
+Mynstrellys werying," "skukions for my'strells," "torches," "coots of
+sense," "stondarts of mayle," "other pec's of mayle," besides many swords
+and halberts, and the like. These various properties decked out the
+pageant which each Gild contributed to the common procession. It was
+exhibited by means of a wooden scaffold on wheels, differing probably but
+little in appearance from the drays or trollies which were utilised in
+later years. Dugdale in his _Antiquities of Warwickshire_ relates that
+"before the suppression of the Monasteries this city[187] was very famous
+for the pageants that were played therein upon Corpus Christi Day; which,
+occasioning very great confluence of people thither from far and near,
+was of no small benefit thereto: which pageants being acted with mighty
+state and reverence by the friars of this house had theaters for the
+several scenes, very large and high, placed upon wheels, and drawn to all
+the eminent parts of the city for the better advantage of the spectators."
+
+At Shrewsbury there appears never to have been an elaborate miracle play
+presented by the crafts[188]. Most likely the Show early took that form
+which it exhibited in the later times of which we have more definite
+record. The Gilds of the town walked in the procession, each member
+bearing, in mediaeval days, a light "in honour of the Blessed Sacrament,"
+the officers wearing their liveries and carrying the banners and other
+insignia, and thus escorting a tableau more or less appropriate to the
+craft. No small expense and even taste appears to have been expended on
+these representations, though their precise suitability it is in some
+cases difficult to appreciate. Before Reformation times the tableaux were
+generally of a biblical or ecclesiastical nature: after the 16th century
+they were usually mythological or historical. Thus the Tailors were
+presided over by Adam and Eve "the first of their craft," or by Queen
+Elizabeth in ruffles of right royal magnitude. The Shearmen or
+Clothworkers had a personation of bishop Blasius, with a black mitre of
+wool and doubtless also the wool-comb with which he had been tortured at
+his martyrdom. The place of the saint was subsequently usurped by the
+king--Edward IV., who was remembered as having especially cultivated the
+good offices of the wool-merchants. The Skinners and Glovers were ruled by
+the king of Morocco, whose "Cote" was an expensive item in their accounts;
+they had also an elaborate mechanical stag accompanied by huntsmen
+sounding bugle blasts. The Smiths were appropriately represented by
+Vulcan, or a knight in black armour "supported by two attendants who
+occasionally fired off blunderbusses." The Painters were accustomed to
+find their best representative of later years in a cheery-looking Rubens
+brandishing palette and brush, while the Bricklayers, for some occult
+reason, considered themselves adequately represented by bluff king Hal.
+The twin saints Crispin and Crispianus patronised the Shoemakers, and S.
+Katharine (at a spinning wheel) the Barbers. Venus and Ceres presided over
+the Bakers.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Reformation._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Mary._]
+
+At the Reformation the Corpus Christi procession became shorn of its
+splendour even before it altogether ceased under Edward VI. With Mary's
+attempt to revive the old order efforts were made to restore the Show in
+its pristine grandeur, though Edward VI.'s pillaging of the Gilds had
+rendered the furnishing of the lights and vestments a matter of serious
+difficulty. At Shrewsbury the municipal authorities endeavoured to keep up
+the mystery plays by means of contributions from the various companies.
+
+[Sidenote: _Elizabeth._]
+
+The accession of Elizabeth was not likely to do any harm to the plays and
+pageants, though the outward reason for their performance might be
+changed. Elizabeth fully perceived the political and social usefulness of
+such festivities: her provincial progresses were a succession of brilliant
+shows and interludes which served a useful purpose in diverting the
+nation's attention from the graver dangers which threatened England during
+the queen's eventful reign. Elizabeth was also naturally fond of gaiety
+and wit, and the tone of the people from the highest to the lowest was
+dramatic. The Court had its "master of the revels," the Universities and
+Inns of Court had their regular plays. Interludes were provided for the
+queen's entertainment as she moved from town to town both at the houses of
+the higher gentry and by the common people. They were indeed the ordinary
+means by which honour was paid to any very distinguished visitor.
+
+The Shrewsbury playwright was Thomas Ashton the first master of the
+grammar school. His theatre was the open ground without the walls, the
+Quarrell or Quarry. The season of the year at which these performances of
+Thomas Ashton took place was Whitsuntide, at which time Chester was also
+engaged in its more famous productions. It is to be regretted that no
+records[189] remain of these Shrewsbury plays, or a valuable addition
+might be made to the scanty collections of such antiquities which have
+been made public. These academic entertainments did not supplant the old
+annual procession (the date of which was transferred to the Monday
+following the feast of Corpus Christi) which continued apparently until
+the power of the Puritans became too strong to admit of its longer
+existence. Already that influence was at work, and Elizabeth had many
+detractors among those of the stricter persuasion. The character of their
+sternness, as well as the nature of their dissatisfaction at the gaiety
+which Elizabeth fostered, is well exemplified at Shrewsbury in the
+incident of the Shearmen's tree. The event is also noteworthy as being the
+only occasion until later days on which anything like friction occurred
+between the companies and the municipal corporation[190].
+
+[Sidenote: _The Shearmen's tree._]
+
+The woollen trade, as we have seen[191], gave occupation to a very large
+number of Shearmen. These belonged to the more unskilled class of
+labourers, the work they performed being simply that of preparing the wool
+for the later stages of manufacture. They were precisely the class to fail
+to appreciate the religious changes, and such as would be likely to resort
+to the physical force argument on any occasion. It was also to such men
+that the revelry of Christmastide, Maytime, and the like were most
+precious. Their life was a hard and colourless one, and they would for
+this reason cling desperately to the old occasions of merriment. The
+festival which appears to have been particularly odious to the Puritans
+was that of May Day, when, Stow[192] tells us, it was the custom for the
+citizens "of all estates" to have their "Mayings," and to "fetch in
+Maypoles, with divers warlike shows, with good archers, morris dancers,
+and other devices for pastime all the day long; and toward the evening
+they had stage plays, and bonfires in the streets." To the youth of the
+town it was a sufficiently harmless summer holiday. To the precise it was
+plainly and purely a heathen survival. At Shrewsbury they were early in
+active antagonism to it. In 1583 there occurred "soom contrav'sie about
+the settinge upp of maye poales and bonfyers mackinge and erection of
+treese before the sherman's haule and other places[193]," though
+apparently without immediate effect, for two years later appears another
+entry "Pd. for cutting down the tree, and the journeymen to spend
+xv{d}.[194]"
+
+But it was not long before the Puritans prevailed. The May Day
+merry-making was stopped and even the Gild festival prohibited. "This
+yeare [1590-1] and the 6 day of June beinge Soondaye and the festivall day
+of the Co{y} of the Shearmen of Salop aboute the settinge upp of a greene
+tree by serte yonge men of the saide Co{y} before their hall doore as of
+many years before have been acostomid but preachid against by the publicke
+precher there and commawndid by the baylyffs that non sutche shoulde be
+usid, and for the disobedience therein theye were put in prison and a
+privey sessions called and there also indicted and still remayne untill
+the next towne sessions for further triall[195]." The letter of the law
+however was in their favour. At the sessions the judges decided that the
+tree should be erected and "usyd as heretofore have be' so it be don
+syvely and in lovynge order w{th}out contencion[196]." But the soreness
+remained and the Shearmen were very turbulent for a long period. A curious
+entry in 1596 betokens a continuance of the friction: "P{d} oure fyne for
+not rerynge of Cappes to Mr Bayliffe 3/4[197]." For Puritan influence had
+waxed stronger, and at length it was "agreed that there shall not be
+hereafter any interludes or playes within this town or liberties uppon
+anye Soundays or in the night tyme. Neyther shall there be any playinge at
+footballe, or at hiltes or wastrells, or beare baytinge, within the walles
+of this towne[198]."
+
+[Sidenote: _Commonwealth._]
+
+[Sidenote: _The Restoration._]
+
+During the civil wars and under the rule of the Commonwealth the
+inhabitants of the town were too heavily burdened with taxes for the
+maintenance of soldiers and for the repairs of the walls (for which the
+companies were severally assessed) to have much wealth to expend on
+revelry and merry-making, even had Puritan sourness admitted any such. But
+the reaction consequent on the Restoration brought back the glory to
+Shrewsbury. The agriculture of the district had now quite recovered from
+the long-distant Welsh ravages: the internal trade of the town was also
+very considerable. Shrewsbury was therefore a place of no small
+importance. It played the part of a local metropolis in which the
+fashions of the capital were mimicked by the wealthy tradesfolk, their
+wives and daughters, and the country gentry and their families. For
+neither class could often go to London. Travelling was a serious affair
+not lightly to be undertaken. Consequently, just as the country gentleman
+now spends a portion of the year in London, so his ancestor in the
+seventeenth century made the adjacent county town his residence at certain
+seasons. Besides "he was often attracted thither by business and pleasure,
+by assizes, quarter sessions, elections, musters of militia, festivals and
+races.... There were the markets at which the corn, the cattle, the wool,
+and the hops of the surrounding country were exposed for sale.... There
+were the shops at which the best families of the neighbourhood bought
+grocery and millinery[199]." In Shrewsbury did the provincial beaux and
+belles promenade by the side of the Severn and in the abbey gardens. These
+latter were especially attractive. They were laid out "with gravell walks
+set full of all sorts of greens--orange and Lemmon trees.... Out of this
+went another garden much larger with severall fine grass walks kept
+exactly cut and roled for company to walk in: every Wednesday most of y{e}
+town y{e} Ladies and Gentlemen walk there as in St James's Parke, and
+there are abundance of people of quality lives in Shrewsbury[200]."
+
+Farquahar in his sprightly comedy _The Recruiting Officer_ describes the
+lively doings of the same "people of quality," and also of the more
+stolid burghers. "I have drawn," he says, "the Justice and the Clown in
+their _Puris Naturalibus_; the one an apprehensive, sturdy, brave
+blockhead; and the other a worthy, honest, generous gentleman, hearty in
+his country's cause and of as good an understanding as I could give him,
+which I must confess is far short of his own." Farquahar seems to have
+obtained a particularly good impression of the worthy Salopians. He
+dedicates his comedy to "All Friends round the Wrekin." "I was stranger to
+everything in Salop but its Character of Loyalty, the Number of its
+Inhabitants, the Alacrity of the Gentry in Recruiting the Army, with their
+generous and hospitable Reception of Strangers. This Character I found so
+amply verify'd in every Particular that you made Recruiting, which is the
+greatest Fatigue upon Earth to other, to be the greatest Pleasure in the
+World to me[201]." Shrewsbury was one of the gayest of those many
+provincial capitals "out of which the great wen of London has sucked all
+the life[202]."
+
+[Sidenote: _Shrewsbury Show in 17th century._]
+
+Farquhar may have seen the old Show, which the Restoration had naturally
+brought back, wend its noisy way to Kingsland. The procession itself was
+easily rehabilitated, but the arbours on Kingsland, where the day was
+spent in merrymaking, called for much attention. Great activity was
+evinced in their repair, for they had fallen into sad decay during the
+hard rule of the Puritans. Some of the companies adorned their arbours
+with gateways, arms and mottoes, "dyalls," and the like. Most of the
+gateways were of wood, but in 1679 the Shoemakers company erected a
+handsome stone portal, which a few years subsequently they adorned with
+figures of their patron saints, Crispin and Crispianus. As though the
+events of a century previous were still fresh in men's minds, the legend
+was painted underneath,
+
+  "We are but images of stonne
+  Do us no harme--we can do nonne."
+
+About this time it is evident the Show was in a very prosperous condition.
+Puritanism had not taken any real hold on the country, and the Church was
+restored, and old ways of thinking and acting brought back, without any
+disturbance or opposition[203]. Even in the companies the religious
+element which was so strong in the earlier Gilds was not entirely wanting:
+the day's proceedings included a sermon in the Church[204]. In the morning
+the Wardens and members met in the open space before the castle, whence
+they passed in a merry procession through the gaily decked streets to
+Kingsland. There each Gild had its arbour surrounded by trees and supplied
+with tables and benches. The mayor and corporation used to attend, and
+were accustomed to visit each arbour in succession. The remainder of the
+day passed in festivity and merriment, and the craftsmen with their
+friends returned home in the evening "much invigorated with the essence
+of barley-corn," as a writer of fifty years ago expresses it.
+
+[Sidenote: _Degeneracy._]
+
+But the degeneracy of the revived Show was very apparent. The dropping off
+of the sermons deprived the companies of the last trace of that strong
+religious element which had characterised their mediaeval ancestors. A
+private letter of 1811 says, "Shrewsbury Show was on the 19th [of June]
+but I did not go to it. That, like other things, is getting much worse."
+The Drapers and Mercers had never gone to Kingsland, and gradually the
+other companies began to withdraw from the Show. The formal procession
+became confined practically to apprentices[205], while the masters
+contented themselves with a dinner at one of the inns of the town[206].
+Everything was significant of the approaching end of the pageant.
+
+[Sidenote: _Reform agitation tends to check degeneracy, but Reform Acts
+fatal to the Show._]
+
+When the Reform agitation threatened to deprive the companies of their
+trading privileges at no distant period, and later, when it had succeeded
+in doing so, attempts seem to have been made to bring into prominence
+their social aspect[207], and the procession was again reinvigorated. The
+pomp which signalised George the Fourth's coronation may also have given a
+stimulus to pageantry. The arbours were repaired and rebuilt, and the year
+1849 witnessed a grand revival of the procession. Attempts in this
+direction were now not infrequent, but were necessarily spasmodic. Yet the
+time-honoured Show was found to be possessed of wonderful vitality. When
+the Municipal Corporations Act destroyed the exclusive privileges of
+trading which the companies possessed they clung to their annual feast and
+to the yearly procession, for which they retained the arbours at some
+expense and self-denial. Gradually however as the successive freemen died
+the arbours reverted one by one to the corporation of the town; the other
+Gild property, which was not already divided, was shared among surviving
+members, or fell through debt or similar causes into other hands.
+Kingsland itself was to revert to the town at the decease of the last of
+the members of the companies, according to an arrangement concluded in
+1862.
+
+Even still the old Show was hard to kill. In spite of much that was
+saddening, and much degradation, the procession lingered on till some
+twelve or fourteen years ago, when it died a natural death. So another
+link with the past was broken, and another spot of colour wiped away from
+these duller days of uniformity and routine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE END OF THE COMPANIES.
+
+
+[Sidenote: _Failure of efforts to restrict trade._]
+
+The system of elaborate organisation by which men had regulated trade in
+the past had given way to an equally complete system of individualism.
+Confused philosophical reasoning, combined with the decay of old means of
+regulation, had produced this anti-social state of things. Individual
+competition, in uncontrolled energy, reigned supreme amid almost
+incredible suffering and squalor. Everything which might tend to check the
+progress of the devastation was looked upon with suspicion and swept
+swiftly out of the way. All the old restraints were wanting, and
+self-interest alone formed the mainspring of action. To this fetish
+everything was sacrificed--men's bodies and men's principles. Commercial
+dealings took the most questionable forms: adulteration of products went
+on unchecked by any qualms of honesty. The companies had long ago ceased
+to make any attempts in the direction of industrial regulation. The whole
+efforts of their members were concentrated on the vain endeavour to
+restrict trade to the chartered towns.
+
+Yet even the apologist for the companies, quoted at the end of the sixth
+chapter, was obliged to allow that in this they had failed. The result of
+the action of the "oppressive oligarchies" was the "excluding or
+discouraging the English Subjects from Trading in our greatest and best
+situated towns, where the markets are[208]." Shrewsbury saw the free towns
+around growing up to importance and outstripping her in the race for
+prosperity. Birmingham, not far distant, was already famous. Another free
+town which rose rapidly was Manchester, where most of the new industries
+did not come under the Apprenticeship Act, and were consequently free and
+unshackled. Such formidable rivals drew away trade from the old privileged
+boroughs. The companies were quite unable to retain their monopolies.
+
+But more than this. Even the measure of commercial prosperity which
+Shrewsbury possessed--it was not small--cannot be in any appreciable
+degree ascribed to the companies. A writer of 1825[209] who considers the
+trade of the town at that date by no means "inconsiderable[210]"
+attributes the fact to anything rather than the "Chartered
+Companies[211]." "Here are two very large linen factories, besides several
+manufactories for starch, soap, flannels, cotton goods, an extensive iron
+and brass foundry, two ale and porter breweries, a spirit distillery,
+etc.[212]" "Its fabrication of threads, linen cloths etc. etc. stands
+unrivalled; whilst the more common articles of domestic life are executed
+in a stile of neatness, certainly equal, if not superior, to those of any
+other place of similar size[213]." The various causes which he looks upon
+as conducing to this prosperity he sets forth with considerable detail:
+"its contiguity to the Principality, the facility which it possesses for
+the importation and exportation of goods, by means of its noble river and
+canals, and its situation as the capital of an extensive and populous
+county, combine to give it many advantages over a variety of places
+equally insular[214]." That the companies had any hand in ministering to
+this prosperity, or even served any useful purpose, seems never to have so
+much as occurred to him.
+
+[Sidenote: _Struggle against intruders_]
+
+Yet they were putting their charters to the utmost use. They used every
+means in their power to hold the trade. They obtained the assistance of
+the municipal officers in seeking out and expelling intruders, even
+hawkers and pedlars. Actions at law became rapidly more frequent, until at
+last the life of the companies becomes one long effort to compel intruders
+to take up their freedom by paying the necessary fines. The Barbers even
+went so far as to prosecute men and women-servants for presuming to dress
+their masters' and mistresses' hair.
+
+Though these measures were unsuccessful in attaining their object they
+were not without most important results.
+
+[Sidenote: _impoverishes the companies,_]
+
+In the first place the companies saw their stock become rapidly
+impoverished, and themselves on the verge of bankruptcy. So early as 1692
+the Mercers were obliged to raise L50 by means of mortgage, and in the
+next year they were twice forced to sell some of their property. The
+Grocers had, half a century previously[215], noted with sorrow how "the
+Stock of the Company yearly decreaseth." The Barbers so early as 1744
+resolve to spend no more money at Show time "except the third part of the
+Weavers' Bill." The Saddlers' stock in the three per cents. has to be sold
+to defray the charges of actions against intruders in 1810, and about the
+same time the Bakers' arbour was seized "on account of sustained charges
+against the company in an action for supposed infringement of their
+rights." Even the wealthy company of the Drapers had been compelled to
+relinquish their annual holiday, at which open house was kept for town and
+neighbourhood, in 1781.
+
+[Sidenote: _and calls down public odium on them._]
+
+But worse perhaps than this was the public odium they brought upon
+themselves. That this was so was acknowledged in formal meeting at the
+close of their public life, yet it had existed long before and grew daily
+stronger.
+
+[Sidenote: _Other signs of decay._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Internal disorder._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Accounts carelessly kept._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Trade leaves them._]
+
+These two causes would have been alone sufficient to bring about the
+downfall of the companies. But there were other signs of decay in plenty.
+Internal disorder was adding to the degradation into which the once
+honourable associations were falling. Even in 1668 the Glovers are
+compelled to take into account "the disorderly manner of making wardens."
+So late as 1832 the Saddlers inflict a fine on their steward for attending
+meetings in a state of intoxication. The books are much less carefully
+kept. The Glovers' company came to an untimely end in 1810 through
+maladministration and carelessness in dealing with the yearly balance
+sheet[216]. In 1822 so great a company as the Mercers' is found appointing
+a committee to search for the charter, which is ultimately found in the
+hands of a private individual whose magnanimity in surrendering what did
+not belong to him is highly praised by a formal resolution[217]. We have
+seen already how trade had fallen off. In 1770 a member of the Saddlers'
+company paid five guineas "to be for ever excused from serving the office
+of Steward or Warden." Private interest alone formed the motive of action
+in commercial dealings. The individual knew nothing of obligations due to
+society.
+
+[Sidenote: _General demoralisation._]
+
+Society was indeed in a state of rottenness. Outwardly there was plentiful
+decorum; really there was sufficient sham with its usual concomitant,
+laxity of morals, in a very marked degree[218]. It could hardly be
+expected that this should be otherwise in the general disregard which
+prevailed of all finer instincts: questionable commercial dealings and
+adulteration of products, on the one hand, were naturally accompanied by
+brutality and squalor on the other. Commercial success was the only
+criterion, and as the companies could not stand the test of this
+touchstone of merit they were doomed.
+
+[Sidenote: _Efforts to delay the end._]
+
+The Gilds of workmen in building trades had been seriously affected, if
+not destroyed, long before by the Statute 2 and 3 Edward VI. cap. 15,
+which allowed "any Freemason, roughmason, carpenter, bricklayer,
+plasterer," etc. "borne in this realme or made Denizon, to work in any of
+the saide Crafts in anye cittie Boroughe or Towne Corporate ... albeit the
+saide p'son or p'sons ... doe not inhabyte or dwell in the cittee Borough
+or Towne Corporate ... nor be free of the same." But in all other trades
+the law had upheld the companies, and associations strong as these were in
+antiquity were not to be destroyed without a struggle. In the early years
+of the nineteenth century they began to think about internal reformation,
+which, had it been accomplished with singleness of purpose, might perhaps
+have secured their further usefulness and life. The expenses connected
+with the annual feasts were regulated[219]. We have seen in the foregoing
+chapter how the senior members began to withdraw from the dissoluteness
+of the Show. The actions against intruders, which had long become chronic,
+were pushed on with new vigour. In the hopes apparently of deciding the
+question once for all the Mercers' company instituted a great suit against
+a Mr Hart in the year 1823 which was looked upon by all parties as a test
+case. Two years previously a committee had been appointed to search for
+the charter and other documents which might be serviceable to the company
+in the great struggle they were apparently then meditating. The opinion of
+counsel was taken, and it being favourable to the company a full meeting
+unanimously resolved to act upon it. The first thing to be done was to
+retrench the expenses. It was decided that no dinner could be held that
+year (1823), and the annual subscriptions to the Infirmary, the Lancaster
+School, and other charitable objects were suspended. The costs of the
+actions were to be borne by all the combrethren "rateably and in
+proportion agreeable to the ancient custom and usage of the Company." But
+several resignations and withdrawals took place, which show that there was
+some doubt, if not as to the exact legality, at any rate as to the
+expediency of the step which was being taken. But the great majority were
+resolved to press the matter to the issue. Actions against several
+intruders were consolidated, and that against Mr Hart came on for trial.
+Important counsel were engaged, and everything was done on both sides to
+discover the actual state of the law. The result was a verdict entirely in
+favour of the company. But the assessment of damages at a farthing (while
+the expenses incurred by the company were between six and seven hundred
+pounds) showed how strongly public opinion ran in a direction contrary to
+the mere letter of the law[220].
+
+The defendants however in the present case submitted at once, and the
+company soon recovered its former financial prosperity. Its subscriptions
+were again paid after a brief interval. But it is noticeable that actions
+against intruders went on precisely as before. The effect of this great
+verdict, which was hailed with public dinners and illuminations, was
+absolutely _nil_.
+
+It however stimulated the efforts of the companies in the direction of
+reform. In consequence of the action the Mercers resolved that the
+enrolment of apprentices (which they confessed had been "criminally
+neglected") should be better carried out in future, and that a _bona fide_
+indenture for seven years should be required in all cases before any claim
+to the freedom of the company could be admitted. As a tangible result a
+new book of apprenticeship was commenced, which continued to be carefully
+and neatly kept to the end. Its first entry is dated August 1, 1823,
+though there are several records of earlier indentures. Its last is July
+2, 1835. A new book for recording the petitions of foreigners to be
+admitted was also provided. These were comparatively few in number. They
+extend from July 31, 1823, to June 2, 1834.
+
+[Sidenote: _The Municipal Corporations Act._]
+
+Such was the condition of the companies when the Municipal Corporations
+Act[221] was passed. No detailed description of this measure, albeit it
+was "second in importance to the Reform Act alone[222]," is needed here.
+As far as the companies were concerned its provisions were simple. It took
+away from them wholly and entirely all their exclusive privileges of
+trading.
+
+"Whereas in divers cities, towns, and boroughs a certain custom hath
+prevailed, and certain bye-laws have been made, that no person, not being
+free of a city, town, or borough, or of certain guilds, mysteries, or
+trading companies within the same or some or one of them, shall keep any
+shop or place for putting to show or sale any or certain wares or
+merchandize by way of retail or otherwise, or use any or certain trades,
+occupations, mysteries, or handicrafts for hire, gain, or sale within the
+same: Be it enacted that, notwithstanding any such custom or bye-law,
+every person in any borough may keep any shop for the sale of all lawful
+wares and merchandizes by wholesale or retail, and use every lawful trade,
+occupation, mystery, and handicraft, for hire, gain, sale or otherwise,
+within any borough." In these words, which might seem the echo of Magna
+Carta[223] through the centuries, liberty of trading was made a fact
+throughout England.
+
+[Sidenote: _End of the companies._]
+
+It is interesting that we have recorded for us the way in which this
+sweeping change was received by those most concerned. The Mercers had
+foreseen (July 31, 1835) that it would be advisable to drop all pending
+actions against foreigners until the result of the Act then before
+Parliament should be decided. After it had become law the company met, for
+the last time under the old conditions, on March 25, 1836, to consider
+their position and to take steps for the future. It was apparently a
+stormy meeting. An influential minority proposed to divide the property
+among the members there and then, and so have done with the company. It
+was however carried "That the chief rents ... be not disposed of, but
+reserved to meet the payments to be made to the Alms people of St. Chad's
+Almshouses[224], and for other purposes." The fire engine, the company's
+weights and measures etc., were sold. The other companies acted in a
+similar manner. The Saddlers divided at once the funds which remained in
+the treasurer's hands, and which amounted to L1. 7_s._ 0_d._ for each
+member[225]. Their arbour was however retained, and the rent from it
+expended on the annual feast on Show Monday. This arrangement was to
+continue so long as any of the freemen should be living: on the decease of
+the last survivor the arbour was to devolve to the town council. Lastly,
+all books, and whatever else remained to the company, were to be deposited
+with the wardens for the time being.
+
+[Sidenote: _Partial continuation of the companies._]
+
+For attempts were made, even in the desperate pass to which the companies
+seemed to be brought, to prolong the end. A few patriotic members kept up
+the shadows of the old fraternities. The ancient custom of electing
+officers was maintained; the Mercers' records bring the lists complete
+down to 1876. The arbours were repaired, mostly at the cost of private
+individuals, and at spasmodic intervals, while the Show still continued to
+afford opportunities for dissolute revelry to the lowest of the town and
+neighbourhood. The companies themselves fell back into their original
+condition of voluntary associations of individuals united for purposes
+partly benevolent but mainly social, and of which the state took no
+cognisance. "No one can give much attention to the subject without coming
+to the conclusion that feasting was one of the essential and most valued
+features of the companies in their early days[226]:" it became so again in
+their later. As they had existed long before external circumstances
+brought them into prominence, so they continued long after they had ceased
+to influence public affairs, and so they lingered on even after the nation
+had plainly signified that their existence was not only superfluous but
+injurious. For their endeavours to restrict trade had been, so far as they
+had been successful, detrimental to the prosperity of the town, while they
+had allowed the duty of succouring needy workmen to slip entirely from
+their hands.
+
+The Friendly Societies which had long taken up this very important part of
+the functions which the mediaeval Gilds had performed rose meanwhile into
+public favour. Their excellent work was so apparent that an Act of
+Parliament was passed for their encouragement in 1793, and it was even
+urged that they should be made compulsory.
+
+[Sidenote: _Their property gives them life._]
+
+The companies had to all intents and purposes long forgotten their duty in
+this respect, and they could not take it up again now, though had this
+course been possible they might have commended themselves to public
+favour. There was only one means which kept them alive. The secret of
+their vitality was their possession of property[227], and as that melted
+away the companies were found dropping out of existence. For being
+deprived of their real essence they had nothing to recommend them. Even
+the Show degenerated into a public scandal, and the companies, like their
+annual pageant, at length died, one by one, unnoticed and
+unregretted[228].
+
+[Sidenote: _Return to organisation._]
+
+Yet there was arising, even at the time when the old companies were being
+destroyed, a movement in favour of some return to organisation and
+regulation. Organisation indeed seems to have been a characteristic of
+the English people at all stages of their history. The Saxons had their
+Frith Gilds and their Monks' Gilds; the English of the Middle Ages had
+their Merchant, Religious, Social, and Craft Gilds; in the sixteenth
+century they had their Trade Societies, the direct and in many cases the
+little-altered successors of the Craft Gilds. Then came the larger
+Regulated Companies, which also had some features in common with the
+mediaeval Gilds, more with the sixteenth century societies. The main
+differences between the earlier associations and those of a later date lay
+in the avowed motive of confederacy and in the nature of the influence
+they exercised. The ostensible motive of the Gilds was the general
+welfare: in the case of the companies it was individual gain. The
+influence of the Gilds may be called a healthy social and moral
+influence[229]; that of the post-reformation companies in the towns was in
+the main directed to selfish and political ends[230].
+
+New organisations, adapted to altered conditions of life and new modes of
+thought, resembling and yet differing from the Gilds, were now to arise
+and take the place of the companies as these had taken the place of the
+mediaeval fraternities. The growth of these however will be beyond the
+scope of the present essay.
+
+It was doubtless necessary that the companies should be pulled down from
+the lofty heights which they once had occupied. It was requisite that all
+relics of the detailed system of trade-organisation which the Middle Ages
+had handed down to us should be broken up, to make room for a _regime_
+more conformable to modern conditions of industry. The anarchic reign of
+individualism through which trade passed at the beginning of this century
+was an unavoidable step in economic development.
+
+But it was a step attended with infinite loss and inestimable suffering,
+and it is well that proofs are not wanting of the approaching end of
+unrestrained competition and anti-social individualism. Signs of change
+are not wanting. Experience is continually demonstrating that organisation
+can accomplish vastly more than individual enterprise; that combination is
+immeasurably more powerful than competition. It is indeed the tracing out
+of this reaction in favour of combination for common ends, which lends to
+the economic history of the last hundred years its chief, perhaps its
+only, human interest.
+
+[Sidenote: _Socialists and other forms of organisation._]
+
+The reaction has manifested itself in various ways. The _Socialists_ have
+always made State-organisation of labour one of the strongest planks of
+their platform[231]. At the same time Englishmen have looked with peculiar
+jealousy on any attempts by the state to extend its sphere of action.
+Nevertheless a steady development has been witnessed in this direction;
+the various Civil Services show a uniform increase with the numbers and
+requirements of the nation. The Board of Trade, the Local Government
+Board, the Charity and Ecclesiastical Commissioners, are further
+indications of the same tendency towards organisation.
+
+[Sidenote: _Trades Unions;_]
+
+The Gilds cannot, as we have seen, be censured for low aims; moreover
+their endeavours to reach the level they set themselves were constant and
+sincere. And the latter half of the nineteenth century has seen a
+repetition of somewhat similar attempts.
+
+[Sidenote: _their achievements._]
+
+[Sidenote: _Improvement in status of labour._]
+
+The Trades Union movement[232] is one pregnant with promise for the
+future[233]. Though the Unions were formed in the first instances for the
+purpose of resistance to the masters, it may be hoped that as the need for
+this grows weaker the analogy which their promoters love to institute
+between them and the old Craft Gilds may become more and more real. They
+have already done much to raise the condition of labour, and as Friendly
+Societies they are of the highest value to the workmen[234]. There are
+signs too that we may even obtain organisations which, with due allowance
+for altered conditions, may accomplish much of the other good work which
+Gilds performed for mediaeval industry.
+
+[Sidenote: _Attempts at regulation of trade._]
+
+The Unions already aim at ensuring stability of employment through
+deliberate regulation of trade. By this means they hope to strike a
+death-blow at that root-evil of our present industrial system,
+irregularity of employment and uncertainty of wages.
+
+[Sidenote: _Further necessary approximation to Gilds._]
+
+But they yet fall short of the Gilds in two important particulars, and
+until these deficiencies are made good Trades Unions can only be
+considered as insufficient means to a highly desirable end.
+
+[Sidenote: _Appreciation of the common interests of masters and men,_]
+
+In the first place there must be no association of men against masters, or
+masters against men, but union of men with masters for the common good of
+the craft. Fifty years ago it was pointed out[235] that "the recent
+destruction of the old Gilds was a purely negative policy, which required
+to be followed up by a reconstruction on similar, but modified,
+lines[236]." But of course nothing was attempted, though it is for their
+care in seeing that the public was well served that the Gilds are chiefly
+praised to-day.
+
+[Sidenote: _and of the necessity of ensuring a higher standard of work._]
+
+In the second direction much less advance has been made[237]. Yet it
+cannot be expected that a high standard of wages is to be maintained
+unless a high standard of workmanship is also ensured. Improvement in pay
+can only with justice accompany improvement in skill and application.
+Something of the sentiment and tradition of good work which so strongly
+characterised the Middle Ages must be brought back. As yet it is wofully
+lacking. Up to the present the Trades Unions have made no real attempt to
+grapple with this evil, though its removal is a necessary preliminary to
+anything like completeness in our industrial reformation. Until they can
+show their ability to direct trade in this respect in a manner more
+beneficial to the community than competing capitalists have done during
+the past, the student will find their analogy to the mediaeval Gilds
+incomplete (and that in a point where the latter might be followed with
+benefit), and the public will consider their usefulness to society
+unsatisfactory.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX I
+
+NON-GILDATED TRADESMEN[238].
+
+
+The ordinary authorities on Economic history say little or nothing of the
+non-gildated tradesmen in the towns, though these formed an important
+portion of the commercial community. To understand fully the conditions
+under which trade was carried on in mediaeval England the existence of such
+unfree merchants must be taken into account and their importance
+appreciated.
+
+Within the commercial class the enforcement of the Gild regulations
+doubtless depended very largely on circumstances and individual
+temperament. Moreover their reiteration evidences their futility in
+attaining the objects they had in view. There must have been much greater
+freedom and elasticity of thought and action during the Middle Ages than
+is generally recognised.
+
+It must be remembered too that there were important exceptions to the
+regulations of the Gilds. The king's servants, when exercising the royal
+privileges of purveyance and pre-emption, were naturally unrestricted. In
+Fair-time--and the Fairs were a very important feature in mediaeval
+life--there was unrestrained freedom of trade. But more important than
+these was another. It was quite possible for ungildated tradesmen to
+purchase temporary or partial exemption from the local restrictions.
+
+It will be observed that the royal charters which authorise the Gilds and
+grant exclusive privileges of trading differ somewhat in later years from
+those of the earliest date. In the earliest grants the words simply allude
+to the Gild only. Henry II.'s Charter to Lincoln is "Sciatis me
+concessisse civibus meis Lincolniae ... gildam suam mercatoriam." There is
+no hint of any tradesmen external to the Gild. But early in the thirteenth
+century it becomes evident that such stringent exclusiveness could not be
+enforced. The charter which Henry III. granted to Shrewsbury in 1227
+confirmed the Gild in the following terms:--"Concessimus etiam eisdem
+Burgensibus et heredibus eorum quod habeant Gildam Mercatoriam cum Hansa
+et aliis consuetudinibus et libertatibus ad Gildam illam pertinentibus, et
+quod nullus qui non sit in Gilda ilia mercandisam aliquam faciat in
+predicto Burgo _nisi de voluntate eorundem Burgensium_." At about the same
+time the Earl of Chester and Huntingdon gave a charter to Chester
+forbidding trade in the town "nisi ipsi cives mei Cestrie et eorum heredes
+_vel per eorum gratum_." The phrase "nisi de voluntate eorundem Burgensium
+(or Civium)" now became usual in the charters. In those granted by Edward
+I. to the towns which he founded in Wales, and which may be looked upon in
+some measure as model town constitutions, the provision appears in each.
+Thus it may be said that by the end of the thirteenth century it had
+become customary for the town authorities to grant exemptions from the
+Gild restrictions by their own authority. They practically gave over to
+the Gilds the supervision of trade, but at the same time retained in their
+own hands the power of admitting traders without obliging them to join the
+mercantile fraternities.
+
+This power of granting exemptions from the restrictions of the Gilds seems
+to have been exercised in various towns in different degrees. In some it
+extended no further than the permitting "foreigners" to come to casual
+markets on payment of a toll upon each occasion. In others however it was
+more largely and generally used, merchants being allowed to be resident
+and to trade continually and regularly by payment of an annual fine.
+
+In the latter case the effect was to create two distinct classes of
+traders within the town. The burgesses may be divided into two classes,
+those of them who were gildsmen and those who were not. We now see that
+the tradesmen dwelling in the towns may similarly be divided into two
+classes, (i) those who were free of the town or of one of the Gilds (or
+free both of the town and one of its Gilds), and (ii) those who were
+neither burgesses nor gildsmen. Thus another has been added to the classes
+into which the inhabitants of towns are usually divided. Mention of these
+_unfree_ tradesmen is found in the records of many towns in England and
+Wales: in Norwich, Winchester, Lincoln, Leicester, Andover, Yarmouth,
+Canterbury, Henley-on-Thames, Malmesbury, Bury S. Edmunds, Totnes, Wigan,
+Chester, Shrewsbury, Worcester, Clun, Brecknock, Neath, Bishops' Castle,
+and others.
+
+The designation of these unfree tradesmen varies. At Andover they were
+known as _custumarii_ (in opposition to the _hansarii_--the full members
+of the Gild). At Canterbury a similar body appears under the name of
+_intrants_. In Scotland and the north of England they were called
+_stallingers_. The most usual name for them is however _censer_,
+_chencer_, _tenser_, and variations of these.
+
+_Censer_ is apparently the name applied to one who pays a _cense_ or
+_cess_. In Domesday mention is made of _censarius_--"Ibi sunt nunc 14
+censarii habentes septem carucatas"--and the _censarius_ is described as
+"qui terram ad censum annuum tenet." The connection of the word is here
+purely territorial. It becomes more personal later in the history as is
+seen in the "Compotus Civitatis Wyntoniae" of the third year of Edward I.,
+which contains the following entry:--"Et de xliiij_s._ ij_d._ _ob._ de
+hominibus habitacionibus in civitate Wynton' qui non sunt de libertate,
+qui dicuntur Censarii, per idem tempus." Here the _censarii_ are evidently
+considered in their capacity not as possible landowners, but solely as
+tradesmen. The _census_ has changed from the land rent of Domesday to a
+distinctly personal payment.
+
+A somewhat different class from the _censarii_ of Winchester are mentioned
+in the statute 27 Henry VIII., cap. 7. From the preamble we can form a
+good idea of the lawlessness and confusion which prevailed on the borders
+of Wales at that period. It is related that in the Marches, where thick
+forests frequently fringe the roads, "certain unreasonable Customs and
+Exactions have been of long time unlawfully exacted and used, contrary
+both to the law of God and man, to the express wrong and great
+impoverishment of divers of the king's true subjects." The most crying of
+these evils was that the foresters were accustomed to plunder all passing
+along the roads (probably under the plea of taking toll), unless they bore
+"a Token delivered to them by the chief Foresters ... or else were yearly
+Tributors or Chensers." The statute offers no explanation of these terms,
+but it is most likely they applied to persons paying an annual sum, either
+to the king or the Lords Marchers, of the nature of Chief Rent, especially
+as Cowell, in giving his explanation of the word _chenser_ which will be
+noticed later, refers to this Act of Henry VIII. in support of his
+definition. If this be so we see that although the signification of the
+term had been extended so as to include distinctly personal and commercial
+tolls, it had, in some districts, also retained its original connection
+with land. This, censor, censer, gensor, chencer, and other variations, is
+the most usual form of the word, but occasionally it is found as tenser,
+tensor, tensur, and tensure. Tenser and tensor are used at Shrewsbury; at
+Worcester the same word appears as tensure or tensar (_English Gilds_, pp.
+382, 394).
+
+It is difficult to say whether or no _tenser_ is a confusion of _censer_.
+Etymologically the words seem akin, _cense_ being a tax or toll (cess),
+and _tensare_ meaning to lay under toll or tribute. In the Iter of 1164
+enquiry is directed to be made "de prisis et tenseriis omnium ballivorum
+domini regis ... et quare prisae illae captae fuerint, et per quem" etc.
+Another derivation of _tenser_ has been given. Owen and Blakeway (Vol. ii.
+p. 525) explain it to be a corruption of "tenancier," and apparently
+intend to imply that these non-gildated traders were considered as holding
+directly of the king. This view receives some confirmation from Cowell's
+definition of the "censure" and "censers" of Cornwall. He says (_A Law
+Dictionary: or the Interpreter_ etc., ed. 1727) "Censure, or _Custuma
+vocata_ censure, (from the Latin _Census_, which Hesychius expounds to be
+a kind of personal money, paid for every Poll) is, in divers Manors in
+_Cornwall_ and _Devon_, the calling of all Resiants therein above the age
+of sixteen, to swear Fealty to the Lord, to pay _ij{d} per Poll, and j{d}
+per an._ ever after; as _cert-money_ or _Common Fine_; and these thus
+sworn, are called _Censers_." "Chensers," he says again, "are such as pay
+Tribute or _cense_, Chief-rent or Quit-rent, for so the French _censier_
+signifies." Whether or no we receive Owen and Blakeway's derivation of the
+word from _tenancier_, even with the support of Cowell's "censers" of
+Cornwall, we may press the latter authority into service in showing that
+the signification of _censer_ and _tenser_, however different the two
+words might be in origin, became very similar in actual use.
+
+The fines which the tensers or censers paid were imposed in the Court
+Leet. On the Court Leet Rolls at Shrewsbury are entered lists of names and
+fines headed "Nomina eorum qui merchandizant infra villam Salopie et
+Suburbia eiusdem, et non Burgenses, ergo sunt in misericordia." In the
+first year of the reign of Henry IV. (A.D. 1399) it was ordered that these
+fines should be levied before the feast of S. Katharine (November 25) in
+each year. The Court Leet also decided the amount of the fines, but in
+later times when the select body of magnates had deprived the popular
+courts of so many of their powers and privileges we find that the
+apportioning of the tensers' fines had also passed to the close
+corporation. In 1519 the corporation fixed the tolls at 6_d._ quarterly.
+The statute 35 Henry VIII., cap. 18, gave the control of the unfree
+tradesmen in Canterbury to the Mayor and Aldermen of the City. "No
+foreigner, not being free of the said City, shall buy or sell any
+Merchandize (saving Victual) to another foreigner; nor shall keep any shop
+nor use any mystery within the said City or the liberties thereof, without
+the License of the Mayor and Aldermen, or the major part of them, in
+writing under their Seal." At Winchester in 1650 the rates were revised by
+the Mayor and Aldermen. The highest limit was fixed at L5, but the fees
+actually paid were generally sums varying from 6_d._ to 3/4 only (Gross,
+II. 264).
+
+When such a privilege was exercised by a select body it was certain to
+give rise to abuses. Such was found to be the case in early years when the
+fines were imposed by an authority other than the general assembly of
+burgesses. In the county court held at Lincoln in 1272 it was alleged that
+the late Mayor had taken pledges from the burgesses of Grimsby unjustly
+under the plea of exacting _gildwite_ (as the fine or toll was sometimes
+called). We learn that at Shrewsbury in 1449-50 "this yeare the Burgesses
+and Tenssaars ... did varye." What the cause of contention was, or how the
+dispute was settled, we do not know, but it could hardly arise over
+anything other than the question concerning the tolls to be paid by the
+tensers.
+
+In some towns special civic officials were appointed to supervise the
+tensers. At Chester the "leave-lookers" were among the most important of
+the borough officers. The word _leve_ or _leave_ has very much the same
+signification as the word _cense_ or cess. It is the English "levy," and
+was the fee or toll for permission to trade. The "leve-lookers" were the
+officials who exacted the levy or toll which unfree tradesmen were obliged
+to pay. At Chester they were "appointed annually by the Mayor for the
+purpose of collecting the duty of 2_s._ 6_d._ claimed by the corporation
+to be levied yearly upon all non-freemen who exercise any trade within the
+liberties of the City." Their duties are described as having been "to give
+Licence and compound with any that came either to buy or sell within
+these liberties contrary to our grants;" "if any did dwell within the city
+that were not free, if they did ever buy or sell within the liberties,
+they did likewise compound with the _Custos_ and _Mercator_ [Custos Gilde
+Mercatorie] by the year ... the Leave-lookers do gather two pence
+halfpenny upon the pound, of all Wares sold by Forraigners within the
+City." (Gross, II. 42.) The same name is found at Wigan, where the duty of
+the "gate-waiters or leave-lookers" was to see that all "foreigners" paid
+their fines for licence to reside and trade in the town. (Sinclair,
+_Wigan_, _passim_.)
+
+It is not easy to define the exact status of the tensers. They were
+certainly considered as an inferior body of burgesses, and might comprise
+three classes. Firstly, those not willing or not able to enter one of the
+gilds; secondly, traders waiting to be admitted burgesses; thirdly
+ex-burgesses fallen from the higher state through misfortune.
+
+1. As an inferior class of tradesmen they could only purchase their stock
+from townsmen (Gross, II. 177); they were incapable of bearing municipal
+office (_Ibid._ II. 190) and they were liable to be called upon "to be
+contributorie to alle the comone charges of the Citie, whan it falleth"
+(_Ibid._ II. 190). In the general course of trade but little difference
+might be perceptible between the tensers and the Gildsmen, but attempts to
+fuse or to confuse the two classes were jealously resented whenever they
+were discovered. Naturally these attempts to minimise the distinctions
+between Gildsmen and non-gildsmen were generally prompted, in later times,
+by political reasons. Only freemen of the town and members of the
+companies had the privilege of voting in Parliamentary elections, and
+great was the desire to obtain a position on the list of voters. In "An
+Account of the Poll for Members of Parliament for the Borough of
+Shrewsbury taken June 29 and 30, 1747" etc., information is supplied
+concerning certain townsmen who had claimed to be freemen but were
+rejected on account of having proved themselves to be otherwise by
+payment, in times past, of the tensers' fines. Of John Bromhall, baker, we
+read "It was objected to his vote that he was no Burgess, in support of
+which it was proved that he had paid Tensership several years, and that
+his ffather had paid toll. This Tensership is a ffine or acknowledgement
+commonly paid by persons following trade in the town that are no
+Burgesses, but it being insisted that it was paid through ignorance or
+mistake, his ffather was called and admitted to prove that he had voted at
+a former election for this Borough, whereupon the Mayor admitted his vote,
+but upon examining a copy of the Poll for the year 1676 it appears that
+all the ffamily of this Bromhall were upon a scrutiny rejected as not
+Burgesses."
+
+2. They comprised also among their number many tradesmen waiting to be
+made burgesses. We learn this distinctly from an ordinance of the
+corporation of Leicester passed in the year 1467, to the effect that every
+person opening a shop in the town should pay yearly 3/4 _till he enter
+into the Chapman Gild_. (Nichols, _County of Leicester_, I. 376.) There
+were several causes which would account for the existence of this class.
+The towns grew increasingly jealous of extending their privileges, as
+these became valuable. The Gildsmen would also desire to learn somewhat of
+the character of the new-comer before admitting him to full membership
+with themselves; while on the other hand the latter would wish to see
+whether the trade of the town were sufficiently prosperous to warrant him
+settling in the borough permanently. This cause would specially operate in
+the case of the Welsh boroughs which grew up after Edward I.'s conquest of
+the principality.
+
+The townsmen however did not approve of the growth of a wealthy class of
+traders, sharing almost equal commercial privileges with themselves and at
+the same time not liable to the burdens which were the necessary
+accompaniment of those privileges. They therefore made it incumbent upon
+every tenser who evidently was sufficiently satisfied with the trade of
+the town to make the borough his permanent home, and who had attained to a
+fair competency, that he should throw in his lot fully and completely with
+them. He must become in fact a full burgess. This is carefully explained
+in the _Ordinances of the City of Worcester_--regulations concerning the
+trade of the town dating from the reign of Edward IV. No. XLVII. says
+"Also, that euery Tensure be sett a resonable fyne, aft{r} the discression
+of the Aldermen, and that euery tensure that hath ben w{t}yn the cyte a
+yere or more dwellynge, and hath sufficiaunt to the valo{r} of XL_s._ or
+more, be warned to be made citezen, by resonable tyme to hym lymitted, and
+iff he refuse that, that he shalle yerly pay to the comyn cofre XL_d._,
+ouer that summe that he shalle yerly pay to the Baillies or any other
+officers; and so yerly to contynue tylle he be made citezen" (_English
+Gilds_, p. 394).
+
+3. There were, thirdly, those who had fallen from a higher state through
+misfortune or other cause. We read of individuals surrendering their
+freedom and paying the tenser's fine. "He withdrew and surrendered the
+freedom to the Commonalty, and now pays toll" (Gross, II. 240).
+
+As regarded their dealings other than commercial in nature the tendency
+was to assimilate the tensers and the townsmen. In a grant made to
+Shrewsbury by Henry VI. and confirmed by Parliament in 1445 the same
+privileges are extended to the tensers as are possessed by the burgesses
+in the matter of exemption from the necessity of finding bail in certain
+cases. Similarly at Worcester the "tensures" shared with the citizens the
+right to the assistance of the afferors in cases of wrongful or excessive
+amercement. (_English Gilds_, 394.)
+
+Nevertheless where commercial privileges were at stake the distinction was
+rigidly preserved by every means in the possession of the townsmen. The
+tenser's fine was maintained up to the present century, though not without
+considerable difficulty. On every hand there were evidences that the
+companies had outlived their usefulness. Friction was everywhere injuring
+the social machine. Competition and individualism had taken the place of
+custom and co-operation. At Winchester there were grievous complaints of
+intruders who did "use Arts, Trades, Misteries and manual occupations ...
+without making any agreement or composition for soe doing, contrary to the
+said antient usage and custome, tending to the utter undoeing of the
+freemen ... and decay of the same City." Everywhere the records of the
+companies detail little else than summonses to intruders to take up their
+freedom and notices of actions at law against them for refusing to do so.
+General demoralisation prevailed, and the existence of a class holding
+such an equivocal position as that of the unfree tradesmen did not help to
+mend matters. The case of John Bromhall which has been mentioned above
+illustrates the general looseness which prevailed in all departments of
+municipal administration. A ludicrous incident which happened at
+Shrewsbury in connection with the tensers in later years is recorded by
+Gough in his _Antiquities of Myddle_, published in 1834. "This Richard
+Muckleston was of a bold and daring spirit, and could not brook an injury
+offered to him. He commenced a suit against the town of Shrewsbury for
+exacting an imposition on him which they call tentorshipp, and did
+endeavor to make void their charter, but they gave him his burgess-ship to
+be quiet."
+
+The companies were preserved from repetitions of this strange indignity by
+the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, in consequence of
+which there could no longer be any invidious distinction between freemen
+and non-freemen, hansarii and custumarii, gildsmen and tensers.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX II.
+
+AUTHORITIES CITED.
+
+
+Abram, W. A.--Memorials of the Preston Guilds.
+
+An Account of the Poll for Members of Parliament for the Borough of
+Shrewsbury etc. (1747).
+
+Boeckh, A.--Public Economy of Athens, translated by George Cornewall Lewis
+(1842).
+
+Brentano, Lujo--On the history and development of Gilds and Origin of
+Trade-Unions.
+
+"Britannia Languens, or a discourse of trade." (1680.)
+
+Bryce, J.--The Holy Roman Empire (1887).
+
+Cowell--A Law Dictionary: or the Interpreter etc. (1727).
+
+Cunningham, W.--The Growth of English Industry and Commerce (1885).
+
+Dugdale, W.--Antiquities of Warwickshire.
+
+Ebner, Dr Adalbert--Die kloesterlichen Gebets-Verbruederungen bis zum
+Ausgange des Karolingischen Zeitalters (1891).
+
+Eden, Sir F. M.--The State of the Poor.
+
+Eyton, W.--Antiquities of Shropshire.
+
+Farquhar--The Recruiting Officer.
+
+Foucart--Les Associations religieuses chez les Grecs.
+
+Foxwell, H. S.--Irregularity of Employment and Fluctuations of Prices
+(1886).
+
+Froude, J. A.--History of England from the fall of Wolsey to the death of
+Elizabeth (12 vols., 1862-70).
+
+Gneist--Geschichte des Self-Government in England.
+
+Gneist--Das heutige Englische Verfassungs- und Verwaltungsrecht.
+
+Gough--The Antiquities of Myddle (1834).
+
+Green, J. R.--A Short History of the English People (1886).
+
+Gross, Charles--The Gild Merchant (1891).
+
+Grote, George--History of Greece (1888).
+
+Hallam, H.--View of Europe during the Middle Ages. 1 vol.
+
+Harrison, W.--A description of England (in "Elizabethan England," Camelot
+Series).
+
+Hatch, E.--The Organisation of the Early Christian Churches (Bampton
+Lectures, 1881).
+
+Howell, G.--Conflicts of Capital and Labour (1890).
+
+Howell, Thomas--The Stranger in Shrewsbury (1825).
+
+Kemble, J. M.--The Saxons in England.
+
+Longfellow--The Golden Legend.
+
+Macaulay, Lord--History of England from the Accession of James II. (1889).
+
+May, Erskine--Constitutional History of England. 3 vols. (1887).
+
+Merewether and Stephens--History of the Boroughs.
+
+Nichols, J.--The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester
+(1795-1815).
+
+Ordericus Vitalis--Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy (Bohn's
+Series).
+
+Owen and Blakeway--History of Shrewsbury.
+
+[Owen, Hugh]--Some Account of the Ancient and Present State of Shrewsbury
+(1808).
+
+Perry, C. G.--A History of the English Church (Vol. II.) (1878).
+
+Pidgeon's Memorials of Shrewsbury (old Ed.).
+
+Pidgeon's Some Account of the Ancient Gilds, Trading Companies, and the
+origin of Shrewsbury Show (1862).
+
+Poynter, E. J.--Ten Lectures on Art (1880).
+
+Quarterly Review, Vol. 159.
+
+Riley, H. T.--Memorials of London ... in the XIII, XIV, and XV Centuries.
+
+Rogers, Thorold--Six Centuries of Work and Wages (1889).
+
+Rogers, Thorold--The Economic Interpretation of History (1888).
+
+Scott, Sir Walter--Marmion.
+
+Sinclair, D.--The History of Wigan.
+
+Smith, Toulmin--English Gilds (E. E. T. S.).
+
+State Papers, Domestic (Elizabeth).
+
+Statutes at Large (6 vols, 1758).
+
+Stow, John--A Survey of London (Carisbrooke Library).
+
+Strype--Ecclesiastical Memorials (1821).
+
+Stubbs, W.--Constitutional History of England (1883).
+
+Stubbs, W.--Select Charters (1884).
+
+Stubbs, W.--Lectures on Mediaeval History.
+
+Taylor MS. in Library of Shrewsbury School (Reprinted in S. A. S. Vol.
+III.).
+
+Thackeray, W. M.--The Four Georges.
+
+Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary, being
+the Diary of Celia Fiennes.
+
+Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society (cited as S. A. S.),
+Vols. I-XI.
+
+Wordsworth, W.--The Happy Warrior.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+  Abbey at Shrewsbury, 11, 31, 60
+
+  Aberystwith, 26
+
+  Adventurers, Merchant, of Exeter, 84, 87
+
+  Aliens not to be taken as apprentices, 64, 82
+
+  Almshouses, 73, 109, 137
+
+  Altrincham, 26
+
+  Amalgamation natural in Middle Ages, 31
+    and at all times, 140
+
+  Anager, 83
+
+  Andover, 25, 35, 147
+
+  Anglo-Saxons, gilds of, 12
+    municipal organisation of, 13
+
+  Apothecary, 28
+
+  Apprentices, 39, 40, 46, 47, 52, 64, 66, 81
+
+  Arthur, son of Henry VII., 79
+
+  Arundel, Earl of, 27
+
+  Ashton, Thomas, 79, 119
+
+  Assistants, 5, 41
+
+  Assize of Arms, 11
+
+  Axbridge, 27, 85
+
+
+  Bailiffs, assist gilds, 37
+    assisted by gilds, 36
+    supervise gilds, 37, 40
+
+  Bakers, 28, 59
+
+  Bala, 27
+
+  Bamborough, 27
+
+  Barbers, 28, 45, 58-9, 62, 83-4, 87, 89, 100, 102, 130
+
+  Bargains, common, 14, 15
+
+  Barnstaple, 27
+
+  Bath, 25
+
+  Beadle, duties of, 42
+
+  Beaumaris, 27
+
+  Bedesmen, 63
+
+  Bedford, 25
+
+  Benefit Clubs, 106, 110
+
+  Berwick on Tweed, 26
+
+  Beverley, 24, 115
+
+  Birmingham, 111, 129
+
+  Bishops' Castle, 147
+
+  Black Death, 56
+
+  Board of Trade, 141
+
+  Bodmin, 25
+
+  Borough, distinction between Merchant Gild and, 18, 19
+    rise and development of, 10
+    incorporation of, 14
+    position of Merchant Gild in, 14, 16
+    select body in, 19, 105
+    classes of inhabitants, 147
+
+  Boroughs, list of, possessing Merchant Gilds, 24-28
+
+  Boston, 26
+
+  Brasier, 53
+
+  Brecknock, 147
+
+  Brentano, Dr, 7, 9, 104, 105
+
+  Bricks, revival of use of, 80
+
+  Bricklayers, 118
+
+  Bridgenorth, 26
+
+  Bridgewater, 26
+
+  Bristol, 25, 87, 111
+
+  Bromhall, John, 153, 155
+
+  Builder, 29
+
+  Builth, 26
+
+  Burford, 24
+
+  Burgesses, 3
+    charters granted to, 14
+    small share in work of Parliament, 49
+
+  Burgess-ship, qualifications of, 18, 106
+    not identical with gildship, 18
+    villains, women, and ecclesiastics excluded from, 18
+
+  Burnet, 67
+
+  Bury S. Edmund's, 25, 147
+
+  Butchers, 28, 57, 59
+
+  Byt-fylling, 13
+
+
+  Caerswys, 26
+
+  Cambridge, 25, 56, 60, 74
+
+  Camden, 79
+
+  Canterbury, 12, 24, 147, 148, 150
+
+  Cappers, 53
+
+  Cardiff, 27
+
+  Cardigan, 26, 69
+
+  Carlisle, 25
+
+  Carnarvon, 26
+
+  Carpenters, 28, 59
+
+  Carrier, 28
+
+  Castle at Shrewsbury, 12
+
+  Censers or Tensers, see Shrewsbury
+
+  Chantries, 32, 63, 67, 74, 86, 92
+
+  Charity Commissioners, 141
+
+  Charles II., 87
+
+  Charters did not necessarily create the gilds, 55
+    to burgesses, 14
+
+  Chelmicke, Mr, 89
+
+  Chepgauel, 18 n.
+
+  Chester, 25, 92, 119, 146, 147, 151
+    Earl of, 25, 146
+
+  Chesterfield, 27
+
+  Chichester, 24
+
+  Cirencester, 27
+
+  Civil Services, 141
+
+  Clerk, 28, 43
+
+  Cloth Trade, 78-9
+    cloth-workers, 29, 117
+    cloth-merchant, 57
+
+  Clun, 147
+
+  Collier, 28
+
+  Commissioners for plundering gilds, 73
+
+  Commonwealth, 122
+
+  Communa, 14, 16
+
+  Companies, commercial, 6, 47, 86, 88, 98 et seq., 140
+
+  Compositions, 37-8, 55 n.
+
+  Conflicts between Merchant Gild and Craft Gilds, 5, 9, 20, 21
+
+  Congleton, 26
+
+  Conquest, Norman, 10
+
+  Continent, commerce with, 10
+    merchant gilds of, 5, 9, 20, 21
+
+  Conviviality, 13, 44, 111
+
+  Conway, 26
+
+  Cooks, 28, 59
+
+  Coopers, 28
+
+  Cordwainers, 35
+
+  Corn-dealer, 28
+
+  Cornwall, 149
+    Earl of, 26, 27
+
+  Corporations, municipal, 14, 16, 105, 109, 127
+
+  _Corps-de-metier_, 8
+
+  Corpus Christi, gilds and Feast, 33, 43, 59, 63, 115, 118
+
+  Cottoners, 90
+
+  County Towns, their former importance, 3, 122-3
+
+  Coventry, 26, 115
+
+  Craft Gilds, earliest mention of, 34
+    become numerous, 35
+    favoured by Merchant Gild, 20, 22, 34, 36
+    take over work of Merchant Gild, 20, 35
+    motives for forming, religious, 31-2
+    social, 33
+    commercial, 34
+    police, 36
+    incorporated, 38, 55
+    at Shrewsbury, 10
+    favoured by municipal authorities, 36, 38, 43
+    composition of, 39
+    officers, election unrestricted, 40
+    wardens, 41
+    assistants, 41
+    stewards, 42
+    beadle, 42
+    searcher, 43, 46, 87
+    clerk, 43
+    treasurer, 43
+    key-keeper, 44
+    take oath before bailiffs, 37, 40
+    meetings, 43
+    importance of, commercial, 45
+    social, 33, 34, 47-50
+    constitutional, 48-9
+    as benefit clubs, 50
+    specially interesting at present time, 49-51
+    development of trade introduces abuses, 56-7
+    policy of reform, 58
+    demoralisation, 65-7
+    robbed by government, 67 et seq.
+    effects of this, 75 et seq.
+    reorganisation, 81, 84-97
+    its effects on gilds, 82
+    intimate connection of later companies with corporation, 85-6, 99,
+          105, 120-22
+    they retain many of old gild characteristics, 87-8, 108-9
+    though altered conditions make their work difficult, 88, 98
+    and companies themselves are unsatisfactory, 98-102, 105
+    they change to capitalist companies, 103-5
+    from which journeymen are excluded, 106
+    difficulties of reform, 107-8
+    contemporaneous opinion of, at end of 18th century, 109-12
+    destruction of, 136-137
+    return to organisation partly on gild principles, 141-144
+
+  Craftsman of middle ages, 49
+    degraded by Reformation, 75
+
+  Cranmer, 68
+
+  Criccieth, 26
+
+  Crispin and Crispianus, 118, 125
+
+  Custumarii, 147
+
+  Cyveiliog, Earl of, 26
+
+
+  Davies, Thomas, 92
+
+  Denbigh, 27
+
+  Derby, 25
+
+  Despenser, le, 27
+
+  Devizes, 26
+
+  Devon, 150
+
+  Dixon, Canon, 71
+
+  Domesday Book, 11, 148
+
+  Doncaster, 28
+
+  Dover, 12
+
+  Drapers, 29, 32-3, 59, 73, 83-4, 90-7, 99, 101, 108-9, 126, 131
+
+  Dugdale, 116
+
+  Dunheved or Launceston, 26
+
+  Dunwich, 25
+
+  Durham, 25
+    Bp of, 26
+
+  Dutch, 82
+
+  Dyer, 38
+
+
+  Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 141
+
+  Edward the Confessor, 12
+
+  Edward I., 16, 26, 27, 35, 58
+    his conquest of Wales, 2, 146, 154
+
+  Edward II., 27
+
+  Edward III., 27, 35, 59
+
+  Edward IV., 28, 38, 42, 58, 59, 62, 65, 79, 82, 117, 154
+
+  Edward VI.'s confiscation of gild property, 33, 62, 67, 118
+
+  Elizabeth, 35, 76-79, 81, 84, 86, 117, 118
+
+  Enclosures, 78
+
+  "England the birthplace of Gilds", 9
+
+  English Gilds differ from continental, 5, 9, 20, 21
+
+  Ethelred, 13
+
+  Exchequer, 11
+
+  Exeter, 84
+
+
+  Fairs, freedom of trading at, 15, 146
+
+  Family sometimes considered the germ of the Gild, 7
+
+  Farquhar, 123
+
+  Faversham, 81 n.
+
+  Feasts of Gilds, 13, 44, 111
+
+  Fee Farm or firma burgi, 17, 18, 19, 22
+
+  Fellmongers, 39
+
+  Feltmakers, 99
+
+  Fire-engine supported by gilds, 106, 137
+
+  Fishmongers, 29, 59
+
+  Flemings, 82
+
+  Fletchers, 59
+
+  Flint, 26
+
+  Fordwich, 25
+
+  "Foreigners," Forinseci, 19, 20, 98, 110, 147
+
+  Foresters, 68
+
+  Four Men, 41-2, 104
+
+  France, _corps-de-metier_ in, 8
+    French, 82
+    French company, 94
+
+  Freemen of companies, 39, 53, 106
+
+  Friendly Societies, 68, 116, 139, 142
+
+  Frith bot, 13
+
+  Frith gilds, 8, 13, 46, 140
+
+  Frizers, 90
+
+  Fullers, 35
+
+  Funerals attended by brethren, 43
+
+  Fusion of races shown in Shrewsbury gild records, 16
+
+
+  Gainsborough, 27
+
+  Garnisher, 28
+
+  George IV., 126
+
+  German Merchants, 82
+
+  Gildhall, at Dover, 12
+    becomes town hall, 17-18
+
+  Gild Merchant, see Merchant Gild
+
+  Gilds, see Companies, Craft Gilds, Frith Gilds, Merchant Gilds, Monks'
+          Gilds, Religious Gilds, Yeoman Gilds
+    differences between English and foreign, 5, 9, 20, 21
+    universality of gild feeling, 7
+    earliest gild statutes, 9
+
+  Glanvill, 17
+
+  Gloucester, 25
+    Earl of, 24
+
+  Glovers, 28, 39, 59, 83, 87, 101, 118
+
+  Godiva, 116
+
+  Goldsmith, 28, 53, 109
+
+  Grammar Schools, 74
+
+  Grampound, 27
+
+  Grantham, 28
+
+  Great Yarmouth, see Yarmouth
+
+  Greeks, gilds among, 7
+
+  Griffith, Earl of Cyveiliog, 26
+
+  Grimsby, 151
+
+  Grocers, 109, 131
+
+  Groom, 28
+
+  Guildford, 26
+
+
+  Haberdashers, 100
+
+  Halls of Gilds, see Gild Hall, 42, 44
+
+  Hansarii, 147
+
+  Harlech, 26
+
+  Harper, 29
+
+  Harrison, 78, 80
+
+  Hart, Mr, 134
+
+  Hartlepool, 26
+
+  Haverfordwest, 25
+
+  Hawkers, 29
+    repressed by companies, 130
+
+  Hedon, 27
+
+  Helston, 25
+
+  Henley-on-Thames, 27, 147
+
+  Henry I., 10, 11, 14, 24-34
+
+  Henry II., 10, 11, 14, 17, 25, 146
+
+  Henry III., 26, 146
+
+  Henry IV., 2, 27, 59, 65, 150
+
+  Henry V., 27
+
+  Henry VI., 28, 57, 58, 59, 62, 66, 155
+
+  Henry VII., 65, 66, 79
+
+  Henry VIII., 66, 67, 73, 79, 118, 150
+
+  Henry de Lacy, 26
+
+  Hereford, 25
+
+  Historical attitude essential in studying history of gilds, 44
+
+  Hope, 27
+
+  Hugh le Despenser, 27
+
+  Huntingdon, 35
+
+
+  Incorporation, municipal, 14, 16
+
+  Indentures of apprenticeship, 46, 52, 64
+
+  Infirmary, 109
+
+  Inns of Court, 119
+
+  Intrants, 148
+
+  Intruders and Interlopers, 89, 98
+    cf. also Foreigners
+
+  Ipswich, 18, 25
+
+  Irish not to be taken as apprentices, 82
+
+  Iron Trade, 78
+
+  Ironmongers, 53, 109
+
+
+  James I., 84, 95
+
+  Jews, 78
+
+  John, 14, 18, 25
+
+  Journeymen, 39, 40, 106
+
+  Judge, a member of Merchant Gild, 29
+
+  Justices Itinerant, 11
+
+  Justices of the peace, 81
+
+
+  S. Katharine, 118, 150
+
+  Kenfig, 27
+
+  Kinaston, Mr, 95
+
+  King's Bench, 11
+
+  Kingsland, 125, 127
+
+  Kingston-on-Thames, 26
+
+  Kirkham, 27
+
+
+  Lampeter, 27
+
+  Lancaster, 27
+
+  Launceston, 26
+
+  Leather-sellers, 39
+
+  Leech, 29
+
+  Leet assesses Tensers' fines, 150
+    loses its powers, 105, 150
+
+  Leicester, 24, 147, 153
+
+  Leve-lookers or leave-lookers, 151, 152
+
+  Lever, Thomas, 74
+
+  Lewes, 24
+
+  Lincoln, 25, 35, 146, 147
+
+  Liskeard, 26
+
+  Liverpool, 111
+
+  Livery, 43, 65
+
+  Llanfyllin, 27
+
+  Llantrissaint, 27
+
+  Lloyd, John, 80
+
+  Local Government Board, 141
+
+  Local history, value of, 10
+
+  Local life, always varied in England, 1
+
+  Locksmith, 29
+
+  London, 111
+    its "laws", 13
+    its Anglo-Saxon Gilds, 12
+    its Craft Gilds, 35
+    its rivalry with provincial towns, 92, 124
+    its modern pre-eminence, 1, 3, 123
+
+  Lostwithiel, 26
+
+  Ludlow, 28, 79, 109
+
+  Lyme Regis, 26
+
+  Lynn Regis, 25, 69
+
+
+  Macclesfield, 26
+
+  Machinery, introduction of, 4
+
+  Magna Carta, 136
+
+  Malmesbury, 25, 147
+
+  Marches, of Wales, 2, 148
+    Lords of, 2
+    Court of, 2, 89
+    President of, 2
+
+  Markets, 13, 15
+
+  Marlborough, 25
+
+  S. Mary, Chantry in Church of, 53
+
+  Mary, 118
+
+  Mason, 29
+
+  Masters, 40-41, 67, 75-76, 103, 105
+
+  May Day, 5, 98, 120
+
+  Mayor administers oath of admission, 99
+
+  Mellent, Robert, Earl of, 24
+
+  Mercers, 33, 44, 53, 59, 62, 63, 64, 73, 82, 83, 84, 88, 101, 103, 108,
+          126, 131, 135, 137, 138,
+    of York, 84
+
+  Merchant, 14, 29, 38, 48
+
+  Merchant Gilds, the chief difference between town and country, 12, 21
+    originated to preserve peace, 12, 21
+    compared with Frith Gilds, 13, 46
+    trade regulations follow, 13
+    earliest mention, 14
+    royal authorisation, 14, 21
+    at Shrewsbury, 10, 14
+    effects, 16, 22
+    chronological list of, 24-8
+    relations with communa, 10, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 34
+    with Craft Gilds, 20
+    compared with Trades Unions, 46
+    functions and privileges of, 14-16, 18-19, 21
+    duties of gildsmen, 17
+    comprised majority of householders, 15, 22
+    all branches of trade, 16, 19, 30
+    and professions, 18
+    and women, 18
+    and ecclesiastics, 18
+    a rallying point for burgesses, 16, 22
+    all burgesses are gildsmen, 16
+    but all gildsmen are not burgesses, 18
+    efforts towards municipal objects, 20
+    gild hall becomes town hall, 17
+    in later years delegates its mercantile functions to Craft Gilds, 20,
+          22, 30, 34, 36
+    who sometimes in aggregate receive name of "Merchant Gild", 35
+    subsequent history, 35
+
+  S. Michael, patron of Mercers' Company, 53, 63
+
+  Militia, national, 11
+
+  Miller, 29, 59
+
+  Monasteries, 8, 67, 77
+
+  Monks' Gilds, 8 (and n. 2), 59, 140
+
+  Monks excluded from burgess-ship, 18
+
+  Montgomery, 26
+
+  Mornspeche, 43-44
+
+  Mortmain Acts, 55 (n. 2), 61
+
+  Much Wenlock, see Wenlock
+
+  Municipal Corporations Act, 127, 136, 156
+
+  Municipalities, see Boroughs
+
+  Mynde, Abbot, 61
+
+
+  Neath, 27, 147
+
+  Nevin, 27
+
+  Newborough, 27
+
+  Newcastle-on-Tyne, 25
+
+  Newcastle-under-Lyme, 26
+
+  Newport (Salop), 26
+
+  Newport, 27
+
+  Newton, 27
+
+  Norfolk, 69
+
+  Norman Conquest, 10
+    favours trade, 13, 21
+
+  Norwich, 147
+
+  Nottingham, 25
+
+
+  Oaths, 39, 53
+
+  Odd Fellows, 68
+    see Friendly Societies
+
+  Oswestry, 27, 89
+    rivalry with Shrewsbury, 91-96
+
+  Overton, 26
+
+  Oxford, 25, 35
+
+
+  Pageants, 4, 33, 42, 63, 113-127
+
+  Painters, 118
+
+  Palmer, 29
+
+  Parchment-makers, 39
+
+  Paul's Cross, 74
+
+  Peasant Revolt, 56
+
+  Pelterer, 29
+
+  Pembroke, Earl of, 27
+
+  Petersfield, 24
+
+  Pewterer, 53
+
+  Plasterer, 28
+
+  Plymouth, 28
+
+  Pointmaker, 39
+
+  Police regulations aided by gilds, 65, 108
+
+  Pontefract, 28
+
+  Poor maintained by Craft Gilds, 33, 47, 80
+
+  Portsmouth, 26
+
+  Potter, 29
+
+  Pre-emption, gildmen's right of, 15
+    royal right of, 145
+
+  Preston, 25
+
+  Priest, 29
+
+  Privileges of gildsmen, 15, 17, 63, 64, 65
+
+  Processions, see Pageants
+
+  Puritans, 120, 125
+
+  Pursers, 39
+
+  Pwllheli, 27
+
+
+  Reading, 26, 35
+
+  _Recruiting Officer_, 123-4
+
+  Reformation, its shock to industry, 3, 6, 77
+    to gilds, 67
+
+  Reform movement fatal to companies, 6, 127
+    and Show, 127
+
+  Religion and trade, 5, 107, 125
+
+  Religious Gilds, 60
+    of Holy Trinity, 59
+    of S. Winifred, 31, 59-62
+    frequently connected with trade, 60
+
+  Residence not requisite for membership of Merchant Gild, 18
+
+  Restoration, 122, 125
+
+  Rhuddlan, 27
+
+  Richard I., 14, 16, 25
+
+  Richard II., 27, 65, 82
+
+  Richard III., 28
+
+  Richard, Earl of Cornwall, 26
+
+  Robert de Belesme, 11
+
+  Rochester, 26
+
+  Roger de Montgomery, 11, 12
+
+  Romans, gilds of, 7
+
+  Rowley's Mansion, 80
+
+  Rubens, 118
+
+  Ruyton, 27
+
+
+  Saddlers, 29, 59, 131
+
+  Saffron Walden, 27
+
+  Salisbury, 25
+
+  _Salopian Journal_, 109
+
+  Scarborough, 26
+
+  Schools maintained by Gilds, 33
+    Lancaster, 109
+
+  Searcher's duties, 43
+
+  Severn, 123
+
+  Shearmen, 5, 32, 59, 79, 83, 90, 103, 117, 120-2
+
+  Shoemakers, 28, 32, 57, 58
+
+  Shrewsbury, its strong individuality, 1
+    its geographical position, 2
+    early growth, 2, 3
+    in Domesday, 11
+    depressed by Conquest, 11
+    taken by Henry II., 11
+    later prosperity, 3
+    streets and houses, 4
+    its abbey, 11, 31, 60
+    castle, 12
+    peculiarities of its gild history, 5, 40-42
+    its gild-records, 10, 16
+    gilds, 4, 36, 58-9
+    gild hall, 17
+    gild-chantries, 32, 63, 74, 92
+    religious gilds, 31, 59-62
+    Merchant Gild confirmed, 14, 25, 146
+    incorporation of Craft Gilds, 58-9
+    early history of, 55-76
+    Reformation changes, 77-97
+    obtains monopoly of Welsh cloth trade, 3, 91-7
+    rivalry with Coventry, 63
+    in 16th century, 76, 79
+    with Oswestry in the 17th century, 89-96
+    with Chester, 92
+    with London, 92, 124
+    typical of the 17th century, 4, 122-5
+    influence of machinery upon, 4
+    later degeneracy of its companies, 98-112, 129-139
+    Shrewsbury Show, 113-127, 137
+    Tensers of, (Appendix 155) and other towns, 147
+    etymology, 149-150
+    their fines, 150
+    status, 152-154
+    privileges, 147, 155
+    relations with burgesses, 155
+    later history, 155
+
+  Skinners, 36, 38, 41, 59, 83, 89, 118
+
+  Skins, seller of, 29
+
+  Smiths, 84, 88, 118
+
+  Social Gilds, see Religious Gilds
+
+  Socialists, 141
+
+  Social life changed by newer conditions, 1, 123
+
+  Somerset, 67
+
+  Southampton, 25
+
+  Stafford, Earl of, 27
+
+  Stallingers, 148
+
+  Stamford, 28, 115
+
+  Steen, Widow, 101
+
+  Stephen, 24
+
+  Stewards, duties of, 42
+
+  Stow, 120
+
+  Strype, 74
+
+  Suffolk, Earl of, 95
+
+  Sunderland, 26
+
+  Sword Cutler, 28
+
+
+  Tailors, 28, 32, 36, 38, 41, 44, 57, 59, 83, 84, 88, 89, 101, 117
+
+  Tanners, 28, 57, 59, 98-9
+
+  Tavern-keeper, 29
+
+  Tensers, see Shrewsbury
+
+  Teynterer, 29
+
+  Thegn-right obtained by three voyages, 48
+
+  Thurstan, Abp of York, 24
+
+  Tolls paid by ungildated merchants, 146-156
+
+  Totnes, 18 (n. 6), 25, 147
+
+  Town bargains, common, 15
+
+  Townhall, 17-18
+
+  Towns, growth of, in twelfth century, 10, 21
+    differed little from country, 12, 21
+    trade their _raison-d'etre_, 13
+    town gild, 13, 31
+    struggle of classes in continental, 9
+    but not in English, 9
+    growth of select body, 19, 105
+
+  Trade favoured by Conquest, 10, 13, 35
+    expansion of, 20
+    localisation of, 31
+
+  Trade Unions, 47, 68, 141-144
+
+  Treasurer of gild, 43
+
+  Tudor, Owen, 79
+
+
+  Universities, 119
+
+  Usury, 33, 78, 80
+
+
+  Villain enfranchised by joining Merchant Gild, 16, 22, 30
+
+  Vintners, 59
+
+  Vulcan, 118
+
+
+  Wake, John, 27
+
+  Wales, 2, 30, 146, 154
+    incorporated with England, 79
+    cloth trade of, 3, 89-97, 99
+    Prince of, 27, 38, 79
+
+  Wallingford, 25
+
+  Walsall, 28
+
+  Wardens' Oath, 39
+
+  Warenne, Reginald de, 24
+
+  Warwick, 69
+
+  Warwickshire, 116
+
+  Weavers, 29, 32, 34, 44, 59, 131
+
+  Weddings, 43
+
+  Welshpool, 26
+
+  Wenlock, 28
+
+  Weymouth, 28
+
+  Wigan, 147
+    leve-lookers or gate-waiters at, 152
+
+  William I., 10
+
+  Wilton, 24
+
+  Winchester, 16, 25, 35, 85, 147, 148, 155
+
+  Windsor, 26
+
+  S. Winifred, 31, 59, 61
+
+  Witan, 13
+
+  Wite, 60
+
+  Women, members of gilds, 39, 40
+    but not burgesses, 18
+
+  Woodman, 29
+
+  Woodstock, 28
+
+  Wool-comber, 28
+    wool-buyer, 29
+    woollen-trade, 78
+
+  Worcester, 26, 147, 149, 154, 155
+
+  Working men, of middle ages, 49
+    degraded by Reformation, 75
+    and by subsequent policy, 106
+    hopes for their future, 142-144
+
+  Worsted Trade, 78
+
+  Wrekin, 124
+
+  Wycombe, 27
+
+
+  Yarmouth, 25, 147
+
+  Yeomen gilds, 5
+
+  York, 24, 84, 115
+    Abp Thurstan of, 24
+
+
+CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. & SONS, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] I speak of the old edition. I have not had the advantage of using the
+newer work.
+
+[2] That the land did not contain a population adequate for its
+cultivation is evident from a Statute of 1350 which allows the people of
+the Marches of Wales (and Scotland) to go about in search of work at
+harvest-time, as they had been accustomed to do aforetime. (_Rot. Parl._
+II. 234.) _Work and Wages_, pp. 131-2.
+
+[3] Cf. Thackeray, _The Four Georges_, p. 320, "decayed provincial
+capitals, out of which the great wen of London has sucked all the life."
+
+[4] Macaulay. _History of Eng._, Vol. I. pp. 165-6. Infra, Chap. VII.
+
+[5] Cf. infra, Chap. VII.
+
+[6] Brentano, 44, 52, 54, 58. Green, _Short Hist._, 193. G. Howell,
+_Conflicts of Capital and Labour_, 22-25, 29, 31.
+
+[7] Cunningham, _Growth of Industry_, 212. Brentano, 90, 95.
+
+[8] Cf. infra, Chap. V.
+
+[9] Cf. especially Chap. VII.
+
+[10] _The Hist. and Development of Gilds._ Cf. especially Note 1.
+
+[11] _Ibid._ 8. "The objects of the [Greek: eranoi] were of the most
+varied description; ... associations of this kind were very common in the
+democratic states of Greece, and to this class the numberless political
+and religious societies, corporations, unions for commerce and shipping,
+belonged." Boeckh, _Public Economy of Athens_, p. 243.
+
+[12] Grote, _Hist. of Greece_, Vol. VI. p. 247, n. 1, where several
+interesting parallels with the Mediaeval Gilds will be found. (Cf. also
+infra, p. 34, note 2.)
+
+[13] E. Hatch, Bampton Lectures, Lect. II. notes.
+
+[14] Cunningham, p. 124.
+
+[15] Cf. _Die kloesterlichen Gebets Verbruederungen bis zum Ausgange des
+Karolingischen Zeitalters_, von Dr Adalbert Ebner. Similar spiritual
+confederations are found in Italy in the second quarter of the eighth
+century, and in the ninth they become common in southern Europe. Alcuin
+speaks of them by the terms _pacta caritatis_, _fraternitas_,
+_familiaritas_. The monks of the allied houses were termed _familiares_.
+Dr Brentano (p. 20) says that at later times "conventions like that
+between the Fraternity of London Saddlers and the neighbouring Canons of
+St Martin-le-Grand, by which the saddlers were admitted into brotherhood
+and partnership of masses, orisons, and other good deeds with the canons,
+were common."
+
+[16] Brentano, pages 1, 2. They are printed in Kemble's _The Saxons in
+England_, Vol. I. Appendix D.
+
+[17] Brentano, 49.
+
+[18] Gneist, _Self Government_, Vol. I. p. 110; _Verwaltungsrecht_, Vol.
+I. p. 139.
+
+[19] Stubbs, III. 576, 578.
+
+[20] _Work and Wages_, p. 126.
+
+[21] Stubbs, I. 452.
+
+[22] Stubbs, I. 449: _Select Charters_, 63, cap. 27, 28: 67, cap. iii.,
+viii., 1., etc.
+
+[23] _Select Charters_, 66, 12: 72, 6.
+
+[24] Stubbs, I. 450.
+
+[25] _Select Charters_, 67, iii., viii., 1.
+
+[26] _Ibid._ 72, ii. cap. 6.
+
+[27] Cunningham, 129, Stubbs, I. 452, Brentano, 42.
+
+[28] Gross, I. 5; II. 28, 37. See note 1 to this Chapter.
+
+[29] Cf. note 1 to this Chapter.
+
+[30] _Ibid._
+
+[31] _Select Charters_, 167 etc.; Stubbs, I. 452, and n. 1; Eyton's
+_Shropshire_, XI. 134.
+
+[32] _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159.
+
+[33] Gross, I. 135, 136 and notes; II. 133, 149.
+
+[34] _Ibid._ I. 42.
+
+[35] Cf. note 2 to this Chapter.
+
+[36] _Select Charters_, 265.
+
+[37] _Select Charters_, 162, "Communam scilicet gildam."
+
+[38] Gross, I. 83 and note 1.
+
+[39] Stubbs, I. 451.
+
+[40] _Select Charters_ (Helston), 314.
+
+[41] Gross, I. 54. The Rolls of the Shrewsbury Merchant Gild contain a
+large number of names of "foreigners." For instance in 1209 there were
+apparently 56 foreigners; in 1252 these had increased to 234.
+
+[42] Printed in Gross, II. 114-123.
+
+[43] _Select Charters_, 166 (Charter of Henry II. to Lincoln).
+
+[44] Gross, II. 235, and cf. note 2 to this Chapter.
+
+[45] Cf. the "Chepgauel" at Totnes. Gross, II. 236.
+
+[46] Gross, I. 57.
+
+[47] Owen and Blakeway, I. 169-174. Erskine May, _Const. Hist._ III.
+276-77.
+
+[48] This close relationship of, and actual difference between, the two
+bodies is very distinctly seen at Bristol in the reign of Edward IV., when
+it was the custom for the Mayor and Council of the town to choose the
+chief officers of the Merchant Gild, and to pass ordinances for its
+regulation. Gross, II. 25.
+
+[49] On the early use of coal, cf. _Work and Wages_, p. 124.
+
+[50] The Statutes of Labourers first gave a recognised position to the
+"men who neither held land, nor were free burgesses," but who had a
+dwelling, and paid the rates of some town. Cf. Cunningham, 193-4. Supra,
+p. 19.
+
+[51] _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159; _Economic Interpretation_, p. 298.
+
+[52] Cf. "Butchers' Row" at Shrewsbury, where also the High Street was
+formerly called Bakers' Row (Pidgeon's _Handbook_, old Ed. p. 37). The
+Street which was afterwards known as Single Butcher Row had been earlier
+called "Shoemakers' Row" (Phillips, p. 200).
+
+[53] Cf. the Monks' Gilds alluded to above, p. 8 and n. 2.
+
+[54] "Which is now the only fragment left to the incumbent of the Church's
+income before the Reformation." S. A. S. x. 223.
+
+[55] Longfellow expresses this well in _The Golden Legend_:
+
+                              "The Architect
+  Built his great heart into these sculptured stones,
+  And with him toiled his children, _and their lives
+  Were builded, with his own, into the walls,
+  As offerings unto God_."
+
+[56] At Worcester a Gild School educated 100 scholars. The substitute
+which the Government provided at the Reformation was for less than half
+that number. Toulmin Smith's Collection, p. 203 and note.
+
+[57] Ordinances of the City of London, framed in 1363.
+
+[58] The Greeks had private Societies called [Greek: thiasoi] and [Greek:
+orgeones] which also presented this feature. Cf. Foucart, _Les
+Associations religieuses chez les Grecs_.
+
+[59] Brentano, 54. Cunningham, 203, n. 2.
+
+[60] Cf. supra, p. 20. In writing thus I have not forgotten that an
+opposite view is taken by Dr Brentano, Mr J. R. Green, Mr Geo. Howell, and
+in fact most of the writers who have touched on the subject.
+
+[61] Gross, I. 114.
+
+[62] Hartlepool, 1673. "It is ordered at a general guild ... that
+whosoever ... shall presume to come in and within the liberty of this
+corporation, to trade or occupye ... to the prejudice of the free trades
+and companyes within the corporation" etc. Gross, II. 106-7.
+
+[63] Cunningham, 209, n. 1.
+
+[64] Tailors' Composition, of 1478.
+
+[65] The Bailiffs are to apprehend on the third day any person coming to
+the town "suspitiouslie w{th}oute anie lawfull errand or occasion," and to
+detain him in prison "till he have found suertie of his good bearing or
+els to avoide the towne." "And if anie man be comitted to their warde by
+the wardens w{th} the fower men ordeigned to the said wardens to be
+assistaunt in counsell in good counsell giving of anie crafte w{th}in the
+said Towne and Frauncheses that then that person that is so comitted to
+warde ... be not deliv'ed out of warde by the Bailiffs w{th}out assent and
+agreement of the said wardens and fower men." "Item ... that no manne of
+their Crafte journeyman or other be attendant nor at the calling of anie
+gentleman, nor to noe other person otherwise than the lawe will but onlie
+to the wardens of their Crafte for the good rule of the same and assisting
+of the Bailiffs for keeping of the peace and for good rule of the Towne."
+
+Mercers' Composition, 1480-81. The searcher is "to make serche and espye
+all suche p'sones as frawdelentlye abbrygg, w{t}draw or cownceyle the
+payments of theyre dewties" (such as Toll, Murage, etc.).
+
+No livery is to be worn except that of the Gild or Corporation. When the
+town bell rings the alarum members of the Gild are to go to the help of
+the Bailiffs only.
+
+[66] Tailors' Composition, of 1478. Cf. _Eng. Gilds_, pp. 286, 385, 407,
+420, etc.
+
+[67] There are examples of the town drawing up trading ordinances to which
+the Gildsmen conformed. Cf. The Usages of Winchester and the Ordinances of
+Worcester in _Eng. Gilds_, pp. 349, 370. Cf. also pp. 334-337.
+
+[68] Also before they could hold land in mortmain it would be necessary to
+obtain a charter.
+
+[69] The Oath of the Freemen of the Mercers' Company is given as a note to
+this Chapter.
+
+[70] Cf. Appendix.
+
+[71] "The position of master and journeyman was not that of capitalist and
+labourer, so much as that of two fellow-workers, one of whom, from his
+superior status, was responsible to the town for the conduct of both."
+Cunningham, 211. As showing the position of an apprentice in the 15th
+century a Shrewsbury Indenture is given as a note to this Chapter.
+
+[72] Cunningham, 211, n. 1. Brentano, 40, 68.
+
+[73] "The Stock in Trade required to set up in business was not great and
+an apprentice when his term of service was over, became a master almost as
+a matter of course. Journeymen were scarce, or at any rate not plentiful
+enough to have much influence on Trade.... Thus Capital and Labour were
+united." _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159, p. 53.
+
+[74] Brentano, 40.
+
+[75] Merewether and Stephens.
+
+[76] For interference with Free Election on the Continent cf. Brentano.
+
+[77] Tailors' Composition, 1563.
+
+[78] Cf. infra, Chap. VI.
+
+[79] Cf. the four Auditors to superintend the accounts of the London
+Grocers (1348) and the six members who were chosen "to aid the Wardens in
+the discharge of their duties" (1397), of whom Mr George Howell says:
+"_Other than these, no notice of the existence of a committee or of
+assistants, in England, appears earlier than the sixteenth Century_."
+_Conflicts of Capital and Labour_, p. 40. Brentano, p. 62. Cf. the four
+Assistants in the Merchant Gild of Ipswich, Gross, I. 24.
+
+[80] The "Four Men of Counsel" of the Mercers were, by the Composition of
+1480-81, chosen by the Wardens.
+
+[81] Mercers' Composition, 1480-81. Tailors' and Skinners', 1563.
+
+[82] Tailors' Composition, 1563.
+
+[83] Several of these are in the Town Museum at Shrewsbury.
+
+[84] A "Key-keeper" appears later in the lists of officers.
+
+[85] Their situation is given in _Some account of the Ancient and Present
+state of Shrewsbury_, published in 1808.
+
+[86] Barbers' Composition (1483 A.D.).
+
+[87] _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159, p. 44.
+
+[88] _Select Charters_, p. 65.
+
+[89] _Elizabethan England_, p. 9.
+
+[90] Stubbs, _Constitutional History_, Vol. III., p. 607.
+
+[91] The writs issued in 1388 order returns of the "Charters and Letters
+Patent _si quas habent_": cf. Toulmin Smith, pp. 128, 130. The
+"Compositions" spoken of below were renewals and confirmations of
+previously enjoyed privileges. They usually assert that the Gild has been
+in existence "a tempore quo non extat memoria."
+
+[92] Charters were also necessary before lands could be acquired in
+mortmain.
+
+[93] Stubbs, ii. p. 504 and note 1.
+
+[94] Toulmin Smith. Introduction, p. xxiv. It is from these returns that
+Mr Toulmin Smith has compiled his collection of ordinances of "English
+Gilds," which however comprise but a small portion of the whole, and throw
+little or no light on the working of the Graft Gilds. The documents have
+not yet been calendared, but they do not appear to contain anything
+relating to Shrewsbury.
+
+[95] Cunningham, p. 210, 211.
+
+[96] Green, _Short History_, p. 192.
+
+[97] Cunningham, p. 214.
+
+[98] Brentano, 75: Riley, _Memorials_, 539, 565, 568, 570, 571, &c.
+
+[99] Pidgeon's _Gilds of Shrewsbury_; _S. A. S._, Vol. V. p. 265.
+
+[100] _S. A. S._, Vol. V. p. 266.
+
+[101] Pidgeon's _Gilds_.
+
+[102] Merewether and Stephens. Pidgeon's _Gilds_.
+
+[103] Pidgeon's _Gilds_; _S. A. S._ Vol. x. p. 33.
+
+[104] Those of Abbotsbury, Cambridge and Exeter. Cf. supra, p. 9.
+
+[105] Toulmin Smith, pp. 29, 42, &c.
+
+[106] _Ibid._, 7, 8, 11, &c.
+
+[107] The little that is known about it is given in Owen and Blakeway's
+_History of Shrewsbury_, II. 122.
+
+[108] It is printed in _S. A. S._, Vol. V.
+
+[109] _S. A. S._, Vol. VIII.
+
+[110] Bryce, _Holy Roman Empire_, p. 95.
+
+[111] "None that is of Frenshe, Flemmyshe, Irysh, Dowche, Walshe, or any
+other Nacyones borne not beyng at Truse w{t} our Sov'ayne Lorde the kynge,
+but onlye mere Englysshe borne."
+
+[112] Such Articles against the wearing of Liveries were common in the
+Gild Statutes. Cf. Toulmin Smith, _passim_.
+
+[113] Except by the Nobility to their personal dependents. Cf. Stubbs,
+III. 552.
+
+[114] 8 Edw. IV. c. 2.
+
+[115] 22 Hen. VIII. c. 4. The Entrance Fees for Apprentices had been
+raised in some cases to 30/- and 40/-. They are now reduced to 2/6
+Entrance Fee, and 3/4 Fee on taking up freedom.
+
+[116] 28 Hen. VIII. c. 5.
+
+[117] 1 Edw. VI. cap. 14.
+
+[118] _Hist. of Reformation_, II. 72.
+
+[119] May, 1548; Council Book MS. in the Privy Council Office. Cf. Dixon,
+_Hist. of Church of Eng._ Vol. II. page 462, note.
+
+[120] Burnet, _Hist. of Reformation_, IV. 281.
+
+[121] Cf. Gross, I. 162, II. 14, 170, 279.
+
+[122] The Statute 14 Eliz. c. 14 was enacted "For the assurance of gifts,
+grants etc. made and to be made to and for the relief of the poor in the
+Hospitals etc."
+
+[123] _Memorials_, Vol. II. Part I. page 100.
+
+[124] Against this were to be set the "enclosing" and "non-residence"
+grievances.
+
+[125] _Elizabethan England_, p. 11.
+
+[126] _Ibid._, p. 121.
+
+[127] _Ibid._, p. 117.
+
+[128] _Elizabethan England_, p. 117.
+
+[129] _Ibid._
+
+[130] The good work of the Gilds is expressly acknowledged in many
+charters of the time, e.g. the charter granted to Faversham (1616) recites
+that long experience had shown that the dividing of the government of
+towns into several companies had worked great good, and was the means of
+avoiding many inconveniences and preposterous disorders, in respect that
+the government of every artificer and tradesman being committed to men of
+gravity, best experienced in the same faculty and mystery, the particular
+grievances and deceits in every trade might be examined, reformed and
+ordered. Gross, II. 89.
+
+[131] Cunningham, p. 181.
+
+[132] Cf. especially, 3 Edw. IV. c. 4; 22 Edward IV. c.
+
+[133] Gross, II. 1, 2, 55, 89, 186-7, 208, 250.
+
+[134] Cf. infra, pp. 90-91. The repealing statute (14 Eliz. c. 12) avowed
+that not only had the former Act been "supposed for the benefit of the
+said town" but had also been intended for the "advancing of the
+Corporation of Drapers, Cottoners and Friezers of the said town."
+
+[135] Gross, II. 87.
+
+[136] Gross, II. 281. Cf. also pp. 12, 87, 199, 234, 247-8, 250, 281, 355,
+360.
+
+[137] _Ibid._, 12.
+
+[138] _Ibid._, 56, 90, 91, 176, 186, 193, 199, 234, 247, 251, 264, 364,
+385.
+
+[139] Merewether and Stephens, 1408.
+
+[140] Cromwell's Charter to Swansea. Gross, II. 234.
+
+[141] Cf. the ordinance which appears in the Tailors' records, A.D. 1711,
+April 11. "No combrother shall at any one time have more than two
+apprentices, one having served 3-1/2 years before the other apprentice be
+bound, and no apprentice above 17 years taken, and he must be unmarried."
+
+[142] It was also directed against the paying of the Shearmen in kind.
+
+[143] Cf. also 18 Eliz. cap. 15 (Goldsmiths): 8 Eliz. cap. 11
+(Haberdashers).
+
+[144] In 1570-1 when Sir Henry Sidney, Lord President of Wales, passed
+through Shrewsbury.
+
+[145] Shrewsbury Corporation Records.
+
+[146] State Papers, Domestic, 1566? (p. 285).
+
+[147] State Papers, Domestic, 1619, Oct. ?
+
+[148] _Ibid._, 1620, Jan. ?
+
+[149] _Ibid._, 1620, Jan. ? (There are several petitions against other
+intruders also, by the countenance of the City of London, "who wish to
+engross all markets.")
+
+[150] _Ibid._, 1620, Jan. ?
+
+[151] _Ibid._, 1620, Jan. 28.
+
+[152] _Ibid._, 1620, Feb. 21.
+
+[153] State Papers, Domestic, 1622. Several petitions from North Wales
+against the Proclamation.
+
+[154] _Ibid._, 1621. Petition of Drapers of Shrewsbury.
+
+[155] _Ibid._, 1621, May 21. Petition of Clothiers of North Wales: the
+Drapers of Shrewsbury are trying to draw all trade to Shrewsbury, which
+will be their ruin.
+
+[156] State Papers, Domestic; Oswestry Corporation Records, printed in _S.
+A. S._ Vol. III.
+
+[157] In 1622 the Bailiffs had requested a loan from the Mercers towards
+the establishing of a market for Welsh cloth in Shrewsbury.
+
+[158] The traders of Liverpool seem to have been the first to do this, so
+far as the Welsh trade of Shrewsbury was concerned. Cf. Owen's
+_Shrewsbury_.
+
+[159] Orders of Corporation (collected by Godolphin Edwardes, Mayor in
+1729). _S. A. S._ Vol XI.
+
+[160] _Ibid._
+
+[161] _Ibid._
+
+[162] Orders of Corporation (1689).
+
+[163] _Ibid._ (1729).
+
+[164] _Ibid._
+
+[165] "1619. That the Corporation endeavour to compel the wardens of the
+Bakers' Company to pay their old annuity of L4. 6_s._ 8_d._ (sic) to the
+Corporation." Orders of Corporation printed in Phillips' _History of
+Shrewsbury_, p. 170.
+
+[166] Orders of Corporation printed in Phillips' _History of Shrewsbury_.
+
+[167] Cf. supra, p. 44.
+
+[168] Glovers' records, 1681.
+
+[169] 1782. Two members were called upon to show cause why they practise a
+profession contrary to that they have sworn to follow.
+
+[170] _Britannia Languens_, p. 355.
+
+[171] p. 88.
+
+[172] Consisting however of masters only.
+
+[173] Macaulay, _History of England_, Vol I. p. 204, n.
+
+[174] Cf. Howell, _Conflicts of Capital and Labour_, pp. 16, 62, 79, 103,
+109, 472.
+
+[175] Resolution of Saddlers in 1798, voting L50.
+
+[176] This sentiment finds expression even in some of the compositions.
+
+[177] That is, masters only, not workmen.
+
+[178] _The Happy Warrior_ of Wordsworth gives us probably a very true idea
+of the mediaeval conception of the perfect knight.
+
+[179] Cf. Stubbs' _Lectures on Constitutional History_.
+
+[180] Cf. supra, p. 47.
+
+[181] Scott's _Marmion_.
+
+[182] Brentano, p. 21.
+
+[183] _Ibid._ p. 21.
+
+[184] Toulmin Smith, p. 192.
+
+[185] It is a curious coincidence that these two towns which earlier
+evinced such jealousy towards one another's procession (cf. supra, p. 63)
+should have maintained it longest.
+
+[186] The festivities of the Preston Gild were held at intervals of twenty
+years. The last took place in 1882 (cf. Abram, _Memorials_), but many
+features place the Preston pageants in a different class from that to
+which those of Shrewsbury and Coventry belong.
+
+[187] i.e. Coventry.
+
+[188] Though there is no doubt that the Quarry was used for the
+performance of plays by other actors. Cf. infra, p. 119.
+
+[189] Phillips (p. 201) gives the titles of two of these plays: "Julian
+the Apostate" (at which Elizabeth intended to be present, but was
+misinformed as to the date: when she arrived at Coventry tidings reached
+her that it was already performed) in 1565, and "The Passion of Christ" in
+1567.
+
+[190] Cf. supra, pp. 5, 36, 85, 92, 98-9.
+
+[191] Cf. supra, p. 90.
+
+[192] Stow's _Survey_, p. 124.
+
+[193] Shearmen's records.
+
+[194] _Ibid._
+
+[195] Taylor MS.
+
+[196] Shearmen's records.
+
+[197] _Ibid._
+
+[198] (1594.) Owen and Blakeway, Vol. I. p. 396.
+
+[199] Macaulay, _History of England_, Vol. I. p. 164.
+
+[200] _Through England on a Side Saddle in the time of William and Mary,
+being the Diary of Celia Fiennes._
+
+[201] From the dedication to _The Recruiting Officer_.
+
+[202] Thackeray, _The Four Georges_, p. 320.
+
+[203] Perry, _Church History_, Vol. II. p. 512.
+
+[204] Glovers' records, 1781. "Item, 1/- for carrying the Flag to Church
+on Show Day."
+
+[205] Saddlers' records, 1810. "Treasurer to pay 2 guineas to the
+apprentices to go to Kingsland on Show Monday, and that they may have the
+use of the Cloth, Flag and Streamers belonging to the Company."
+
+[206] Saddlers' records, 1812. "That L10 be allowed to dine the company
+instead of going to Kingsland."
+
+[207] Cf. infra, p. 138.
+
+[208] _Britannia Languens_, p. 355.
+
+[209] _The Stranger in Shrewsbury._
+
+[210] _Ibid._ p. 24.
+
+[211] _Ibid._ On p. 28 they are described as being 16 in number. They
+appear to have varied considerably in number at different periods.
+
+[212] _The Stranger in Shrewsbury_, p. 24.
+
+[213] _Ibid._ p. 97.
+
+[214] _Ibid._ p. 97.
+
+[215] In 1637.
+
+[216] Though a few patriotic members kept the arbours etc. in repair a few
+years longer.
+
+[217] "1822. Thomas Frances Dukes made a Combrother free of all expense,
+for his handsome conduct in giving up the Charter." (Mercers' Records.)
+
+[218] Cf. _The Stranger in Shrewsbury_, p. 28.
+
+[219] The Mercers decide that their dinner shall not cost above L25.
+
+[220] A similar case was tried at Ludlow in 1831 when the Hammer-men
+obtained a verdict in their favour and a farthing damages.
+
+[221] 5 and 6 Will. IV. c. 76.
+
+[222] _Constitutional History of England_, Erskine May, Vol. III. p. 285.
+
+[223] Section 41. Omnes mercatores habeant salvum et securum exire de
+Anglia, et venire in Angliam, et morari et ire per Angliam, tam per terram
+quam per aquam, ad emendum et venendum, sine omnibus malis toltis.
+
+[224] These were finally pulled down in 1859.
+
+[225] The Mercers followed this example in 1878.
+
+[226] _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159, p. 50.
+
+[227] _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159, p. 56. The Drapers' company at
+Shrewsbury still survives to manage S. Mary's Almshouses.
+
+[228] In 1835 there appear to have been companies in at least the
+following other towns in England, Alnwick, Bristol, Carlisle, Chester,
+Coventry, Durham, Gateshead, Haverfordwest, Kendal, Kingston-on-Thames,
+Lichfield, London, Ludlow, Morpeth, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Oxford, Preston,
+Richmond, Ruthin, Sheffield, Southampton, Wells, and York.
+
+[229] Cf. supra, pp. 47-51.
+
+[230] Cf. supra, pp. 105-106.
+
+[231] Howell, _Conflicts of Capital_ etc., p. 494.
+
+[232] The story of the rise of Trades Unions has been told with much
+detail by Mr G. Howell in his _Conflicts of Capital and Labour_, and by Dr
+Brentano in the last portion of his Essay on Gilds.
+
+[233] It is to be hoped that the development of the "New Unionism" will
+not frustrate this hope.
+
+[234] Mr John Burns has recently been urging on Trades Unions the
+advisability of surrendering this feature, so that the funds may the more
+completely be devoted to militant purposes.
+
+[235] By Henry Lytton Bulwer, M.P., in a letter to the Handloom weavers
+when they petitioned for the creation of gilds of trade.
+
+[236] Foxwell, _Irregularity of Employment_, p. 72.
+
+[237] "There is of late a partial revival of good workmanship in many
+trades ... but it will require years of toil to recover our lost ground in
+the markets of the world." G. Howell, _Conflicts of Capital_ etc., p. 225.
+Prof. Foxwell points out that "the master cutlers of Sheffield have done
+something in [the] direction lately of exposing and punishing
+falsification" etc., _Irregularity of Employment_ etc., p. 80 and note. Mr
+E. J. Poynter notices that "the firm of which Mr William Morris is the
+head, of which indeed he is the sole member, started the idea, now well
+understood, that the only possible means of producing work which shall be
+satisfactory from every side is to return to the principles on which all
+works of art and art-manufacture were executed, not only in the Middle
+Ages, but at all epochs up to the beginning of this century." _Ten
+Lectures on Art_, p. 274.
+
+[238] This paper was written for the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural
+History Society, and was printed in substance in their _Transactions_, 2nd
+Series, Vol. III., Part ii., p. 253.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_.
+
+Superscripted characters are indicated by {superscript}.
+
+The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version these
+letters have been replaced with transliterations.
+
+Footnote 118 appears on page 67 of the text, but there is no corresponding
+marker on the page.
+
+The original text includes an intentional blank space. This is represented
+by ________ in this text version.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Influence and Development of
+English Gilds, by Francis Aiden Hibbert
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