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diff --git a/58996-0.txt b/58996-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d59089 --- /dev/null +++ b/58996-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12755 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58996 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + +_The Story of Coventry_ + + + + +[Illustration: _Henry VI._ + +_from the painting in the National Portrait Gallery._] + + + + + _The Story of_ Coventry + + _by Mary Dormer Harris_ + + _Illustrated by Albert Chanler_ + + [Illustration] + + _London: J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd._ + _Aldine House_ _Bedford Street_ + _Covent Garden W.C._ 1911 + + +_All rights reserved_ + + +AD MATREM + + + + +PREFACE + + +In preparing this volume for the press I have omitted some of the +matter in _Life in an Old English Town_, which did not seem suitable +for this series, and added fresh material likely to be useful to +those who wished to identify the historic sites, and see the historic +buildings of Coventry. In expanding Chapter XV. in so far as it dealt +with the Corpus Christi plays--a task the labours of Dr Hardin Craig +have rendered comparatively light--I have been able to add one hitherto +unpublished item to the subject of the mediæval dramatic history of +Coventry (p. 296), and dispel the idea that the name "S. Crytyan" +given to a play acted in 1505 is a misreading for S. Catherine. For +permission to publish this item I am indebted to the kindness of Mr +William Page, F.S.A., editor of the _Victoria County History_. Another +point remotely bearing upon the pageants is the chronology of royal +visits to Coventry (p. 288), which I have endeavoured to clear up as +far as I could, Sharp's _Dissertation on the Coventry Mysteries_, the +usual guide in these matters, being extremely faulty in this respect +on account of the confusion which prevails in the MS. annals or +mayor-lists, on which he depended for dates. Of these extant lists, +both in print and in MS., I have given a detailed account (p. 106) in +connection with the entry concerning Prince Henry's supposed arrest +by Mayor Hornby, a matter which, in view of the Shakespearean interest +involved, is more fully treated of here than in my previous book. + +My thanks are due to Mr J. Munro and the Early English Text Society +for the kind permission to print extracts from Dr Craig's _Two Corpus +Christi Plays_ and from my own edition of the _Leet Book_. To Mr +George Sutton, Town Clerk of Coventry, and all the unfailing courteous +officials with whom I so constantly came in contact during my work, I +must (not for the first time) express my gratitude. My obligations to +Messrs Longmans and the Society of Antiquaries for permission to print +portions of Chapters XII. and XIII. respectively have been acknowledged +in my previous work. + + MARY DORMER HARRIS + + Leamington, _Aug. 7, 1911_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + INTRODUCTION + PAGE + + _The Three Spires and Coventry_ 1 + + + CHAPTER I + + _Leofric and Godiva_ 14 + + + CHAPTER II + + _The Benedictine Monastery_ 24 + + + CHAPTER III + + _The Chester Lordship_ 37 + + + CHAPTER IV + + _Beginnings of Municipal Government_ 45 + + + CHAPTER V + + _Prior's-half and Earl's-half_ 56 + + + CHAPTER VI + + _The Seigniory of the Prior and Queen Isabella_ 66 + + + CHAPTER VII + + _The Corporation and the Guilds_ 73 + + + CHAPTER VIII + + _The Mayor, Bailiffs, and Community_ 84 + + + CHAPTER IX + + _Coventry and the Kingdom of England_ 95 + + + CHAPTER X + + _The Red and White Rose_ 112 + + + CHAPTER XI + + _The Last Struggle of York and Lancaster--the + Tudors and Stuarts_ 135 + + + CHAPTER XII + + _The Lammas Lands_ 169 + + + CHAPTER XIII + + _The Companies of the Crafts_ 212 + + + CHAPTER XIV + + _Daily Life in the Town--the Merchants and the + Market_ 233 + + + CHAPTER XV + + _Daily Life in the Town (continued)--Religion and + Amusements of the Townsfolk_ 269 + + + CHAPTER XVI + + _Old Coventry at the Present Day_ 317 + + + _Index_ 346 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + _King Henry VI._ (_From a painting in the National + Portrait Gallery; painter unknown_) _Photogravure Frontispiece_ + + + HALF-TONE + FACING PAGE + _A Courtyard in Little Park Street_ 6 + + _Smithford Street_ 82 + + _Palace Yard_ 166 + + _Council Chamber, showing Panelling_ 174 + + _Bablake and S. John's Church_ 208 + + _New Street_ 224 + + _Butcher Row_ 228 + + _Mayoress' Parlour, showing State Chair_ 338 + + + LINE + PAGE + _The Two Spires from top of Bishop Street_ 2 + + _8 Much Park Street_ 5 + + _Remains of Old Wall--back of Godiva Street_ 7 + + _Saint John the Baptist, Coventry_ 9 + + _Gosford Green_ 11 + + _24 Gosford Street_ 12 + + _130 Far Gosford Street_ 13 + + _Godiva Window_ 20 + + _Heraldic Tile found in Hales Street_ 21 + + _Peeping Tom_ 23 + + _Cathedral Ruins_ 24 + + _Carved Miserere Seat, S. Michael's Church_ 25 + + _Priory Row, Coventry_ 27 + + _Cheylesmore Manor House_ 39 + + _Gable of Cheylesmore Manor House_ 43 + + _34 Far Gosford Street_ 52 + + _Old Whitefriars' Monastery, now Coventry Union_ 54 + + _40 Far Gosford Street_ 58 + + _Courtyard, S. Mary's Hall, Coventry_ 78 + + _Minstrel Gallery, S. Mary's Hall_ 81 + + _The City Keys_ 85 + + _The City Mace--The Sword_ 86 + + _The Old State Chair_ 89 + + _High Street, Coventry_ 99 + + _View of Interior of Saint Michael's_ 117 + + _Gosford Street_ 123 + + _Smithford Street, Coventry_ 136 + + _Cook Street Gate_ 142 + + _Old House in Little Park Street_ 148 + + _Queen Mary's Chamber_ 164 + + _Swanswell Gate_ 167 + + _The Council Chamber, S. Mary's Hall_ 185 + + _Trinity Lane_ 213 + + _Arms of City of Coventry_ 214 + + _Old House beside S. Mary's Hall_ 235 + + _Whitefriars' Lane_ 239 + + _Oriel Window and Stocks, S. Mary's Hall_ 241 + + _Old Bablake School_ 260 + + _Ford's Hospital_ 261 + + _Holy Trinity Church_ 271 + + _Swillington's Tomb, S. Michael's Church_ 274 + + _Pulpit, Holy Trinity Church_ 277 + + _Old House in Cox Street_ 291 + + _36 Gosford Street_ 293 + + _91 Gosford Street_ 294 + + _Old House in Cox Street_ 295 + + _Entrance to Kitchen, S. Mary's Hall_ 331 + + _Archdeacon's Chapel, Holy Trinity Church_ 340 + + _The Staircase, Old Bablake School_ 344 + + + + +The Story of Coventry + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +_The Three Spires and Coventry_ + + "Now flourishing with fanes, and proud pyramidès, + Her walls in good repair, her ports so bravely built, + Her halls in good estate, her cross so richly gilt, + As scorning all the Towns that stand within her view." + + Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xiii. + + +Time has brought many changes since old Drayton thus vaunted the +stateliness of Coventry. The walls, the cross are gone, and of the +twelve stately gates, but two remain. Gone, too, is the splendid +conduit in the Cross Cheaping, S. Nicholas' Hall in the West Orchard, +meeting-place of the Corpus Christi guild; and S. Nicholas' Church, out +to the north beyond Bishop Street, which fell to ruin soon after the +Reformation. But the "proud pyramidès," the "three spires," remain yet, +and give greeting to all who approach Coventry, dominating the flat +midland country for many a mile, changing their relative position as +the spectator moves, and their colour in the shifting lights. Highest +and fairest of all--so "the Archangel," says Fuller, "eclipseth the +Trinity,"--is the nine-storied belfry of S. Michael's, tower, octagon +and spire, a wonderful example of symbolism of design and harmonious +disposal of ornament. The tower, begun in 1373, was the gift--says +tradition--of the men of the Botoner family, the spire of its women, +not the least among the many noteworthy achievements that in Coventry +history are linked with a woman's name. + +[Illustration: THE TWO SPIRES FROM TOP OF BISHOP STREET] + +Such a medley is Coventry that the great steeple over-shadows quiet, +memory-haunted places, and streets filled with the clamour of traffic, +pleasant houses rich men have lately built, and squalid courts, that +occupy the site of many an ancient burgage croft and garden. It is +a typically English city, whose history might serve as the "abstract +and brief chronicle" of England. A thoroughly corrupt borough in +the worst days of municipal corruption, rigidly Puritan under the +Stuarts, loyal under Elizabeth, steady for hereditary right at Mary's +accession--but Protestant, as witness its martyrs--Lollard in the +hey-day of Lollardry, patriotic and Talbot-worshipping in the Hundred +Years' War--as England was, so was Coventry. In art and letters, also, +the city recalls what is most characteristic in the achievements of the +English people. Here flourished mediæval architecture, an art wherein +Englishmen have excelled greatly, and the mediæval religious drama, +foundation of Shakespeare's greatness; while chance, and the sojourn +of George Eliot, have given the city associations with the literary +outburst of the Victorian time. + +The doings of Coventry folk or the happenings within the city must have +impressed the minds of generations of English folk, since the name has +entered into folk rhymes[1] and flower names, and proverbial English +speech. Old botanists speak of "Coventry bells" and "Coventry Marians," +where now we say "Canterbury bells"; children play card-games called +"Peeping Tom" or "Moll of Coventry"; and we still, by silent avoidance +of our friends, "send them to Coventry," a reminiscence maybe of the +uncivil treatment the city Roundheads gave to imprisoned Cavaliers what +time the bitterness engendered by the Civil War was abroad in the land. + +Interesting too--albeit scanty--are the relics of legendary lore +and heathen custom which ofttimes perplex the student of the city's +history. Here was played the Hox-Tuesday play, survival, say +folklorists, of the struggle to gain possession of a victim for the +sacrifice; here the national legend of Godiva grew up; and here, men +fabled, S. George, patron of England, was born. + +In the country round about Coventry two Englands meet, one a land of +green woods and well-watered pastures, the other black with the toil of +the coal-fields. The city turns its most prosperous side southwards, +and the common view of the spires is the one from the south, where +the tree-bordered road from Kenilworth, whereon so many kings and +queens have travelled, slips into Coventry, past a fringe of ample, +comfortable houses, that the well-to-do have raised in our own time. +This was Tennyson's view of the spires, and George Eliot must have +seen it daily in her school-life, which she passed in the house that +is farthest from the town in Warwick Row. It is the common view, +but not the most interesting, since the octagonal Decorated steeple +of Christchurch, recased in fresh stone, last remnant of the now +demolished church of the Greyfriars, is the least commanding of the +three, and by its nearness somewhat dwarfs the rest. The Greyfriars +of Coventry, be it said, have gained by a scribe's error, a probably +quite unmerited fame as producers of the noted Corpus Christi plays; in +reality, this honour should belong to the lay-folk and craftspeople of +the city. + +It is well--so the journey is made from the south--to gain a more +distant view of the "proud pyramidès" over the flat fields from the +Stoneleigh Road, where Christchurch falls into its proper place. The +trees make the way through Stoneleigh a lovely one, and the village +church, redolent of eighteenth century peace, with a magnificent Norman +chancel arch, furnishes a fine excuse for delay. Nearer to Coventry +the way winds on over Finham Bridge, shadowed by poplars, and through +Stivichall, a hamlet the widow of Earl Ranulf of Chester gave to the +Bishop of Lichfield for the welfare of her husband's soul. Allotment +gardens and newly-built streets occupy the land to the south-east +of the city, formerly known as the Little Park, once part of a royal +estate. It is a commonplace-looking site nowadays, albeit thronged with +memories. Here Lollard sermons have been preached and miracle-plays +played, and hither Laurence Saunders and others were led out to be +burned in 1556, on ground now occupied by a factory, where once long +after men discovered charred fragments of a stake. They are building +streets over the Park area by the station nowadays; but this was a +practice inaugurated long ago when Much Park Street (_vicus parci +maioris_) and Little Park Street (_vicus parci minoris_) were built +on ground cut out of the royal estate. The east end of Little Park +Street may be reached by Park Road, past a newly-raised memorial to the +Coventry martyrs. + +[Illustration: + + 8 MUCH PARK ST] + +Much Park Street led by Whitefriars through Newgate to the London +Road; Little Park Street led but to a postern gate. In Stuart +times the latter road had little traffic and much social dignity; +beautiful houses stood therein with spacious gardens, where dwelt the +neighbouring gentry, who were wont to enjoy the amenities of urban +life for a season, a common feature of the social life of country +towns at that period. Sir Orlando Bridgman's house, most magnificent +example of these gentlefolks' dwellings, was wantonly demolished in +the early nineteenth century, though the Jacobean mantelpiece from +the presence-chamber is still preserved in the school at Bablake. The +street still retains in Banner House, and a lovely little quadrangle of +the time of William III., relics of the grandeur of that bygone time. + +[Illustration: A COURTYARD IN LITTLE PARK STREET] + +The London Road comes past Whitley, a manor held in the fifteenth +century by William Bristow, the most troublesome and litigious person +in Coventry history, and Shortley, where in Edward II.'s time, one +John de Nottingham, a necromancer, dwelled, concerning whom there is +much to be found in this book. At Shortley is the Charter-house where, +incorporated in a modern dwelling, are remains of the Carthusian +monastery, which the Botoners helped to build, and whereof Richard +II. was patron. Wayfarers from London and Daventry (Shakespeare's +"Daintry") entered the town at Newgate by Whitefriars, the modern +workhouse. At Newgate the mural circuit was begun in 1356, when +Richard Stoke, mayor, laid the first stone. Here, too, in August 1642, +Charles I. made a breach in the town wall, whereat divers Cavaliers +found entrance; but so vehement was the onslaught made upon them by +the townsfolk--men and women--and so impregnable were the citizens' +barricades of carts and furniture, that the Royalists withdrew +discomfited. Another breach in the wall, twenty years later, made +also at Newgate, marked the beginning of the work of dismantling the +fortifications. This was done by order of Charles II. to avenge the old +affront offered to his father, and occupied 500 men for three weeks and +three days. The superstitious found in the destruction of the walls +the subject of one of the famous Mother Shipton's prophecies. It was +foretold, they said, "that a pigeon should pull them down," and in +truth they were dismantled in Thomas Pigeon's mayoral year.[2] + +[Illustration: REMAINS OF OLD WALL--BACK OF GODIVA STREET] + +From Little Park Street only two spires are seen; and but the same +number is visible in Bishop Street, which lies to the north. The +traveller comes almost suddenly into the turmoil of this street from +the pleasant uplands of Fillongley, where the Hastings' family had a +castle, and the Shakespears a farm-house, and Corley, of George Eliot +memories, with its prehistoric camp on the Rock. It is good to see but +two spires, that it may serve as a reminder that the church of the +Greyfriars is but an unessential feature in Coventry history. The twin +steeples of S. Michael's and Trinity represent the two parishes--the +two estates, Earl's-half and Prior's-half--which anciently composed the +city. + +Maybe these two steeples look most magnificent in the twilight from +Poolmeadow, formerly covered by a sheet of water known as S. Osburg's +Pool. This is a bare place running east and west of Priory Street, +to the north of the site of the ancient monastery. By daylight the +surroundings of Poolmeadow are unbeautiful enough, yet it is in some +respects the most interesting spot in Coventry, since it is connected +with the earliest name that occurs in Coventry history. + +What connection there was between the Saint, whose nunnery the Danes +destroyed, and this pool, we know not. At her shrine in the priory were +miracles wrought, and her head seems to have appeared among the relics +treasured by the religious house at the Dissolution. + +Another non-parochial church comes very prominently into view when the +approach is made from the south-west, Canley and Hearsall, though I +imagine that few enter by those by-lanes save the ruddy, brown-gaitered +farmers on their way to the Friday market. This is the guild-church +of S. John the Baptist at Bablake, whereof the tower, that has a +fortress-like touch, rises high above the roofs of the town. Even the +sea-element is not lacking in the history of this inland city, since +the guild brethren declared that they wished to raise this church in +part as a memorial "for the good success the king had upon the sea" +upon S. John's day--probably at the battle of Sluys, June 24, 1340.[3] +Hard by this church and the collegiate buildings clustered behind it +stood Bablake Gate, and all who came by the great highway leading from +the north-west--now called the Holyhead Road--made their entrance +there. Before coming to Bablake, however, wayfarers would cross the +Sherbourne at Spon, close by the chapel of S. James and S. Christopher, +now incorporated in a modern dwelling-place. Here they would, belike, +pay their devotions just as other travellers coming from London and +Daventry paid theirs at the Lady Tower, wherein was a wooden image +of our Lady, hard by Newgate and Whitefriars. + +[Illustration: + + SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST + COVENTRY] + +Smithford Street, which reminds us of the early activity of the +workers in iron, leads to Bablake, and by the bridge there tradition +says that there grew a great tree "that from the strangeness of the +fruit was called Quient" (quaint), an imaginary etymology of the name +Coventry. Modern scholars are, however, agreed that it was from some +memorable (and possibly sacred) tree that the earliest form of the word +"Cofantreo" is derived. + +[Illustration: + + Gosford Green] + +To those who look on the spires from Gosford and the eastern side +the tall ones appear in their relatively close proximity. This is +the entrance to Coventry where most historical associations abound. +"Two dukes should 'a fought on Gosford Green," succinctly say the +city annals in 1397, but, as all the world knows, Richard II. forbade +Bolingbroke and Mowbray to fight. Sinister memories for the House of +York are connected with the Green, for here in 1469 Queen Elizabeth, +Woodville's father, Lord Rivers, and her brother, John, were beheaded +by Warwick's orders. It is said that it was on this side of the city +that Edward IV. advanced in 1471, what time the King-maker held the +city against him. Further west, beyond Far Gosford Street, is Dover +Bridge, whereon once stood S. George's Chapel, meeting-place of the +tailors and shearmen's guild, demolished in 1821. Outside this chapel +once hung the blade-bone of the dun-cow, slain, says the legend, by +Guy of Warwick of famous memory. + +[Illustration: 24 Gosford ST] + +In Gosford Street, long, ancient and grimy, was formerly the first +station for the performances of the pageants; and in Cox Street, +anciently Mill Lane, which runs to the north of Gosford, were the +pageant-houses or places for storage of theatrical paraphernalia owned +by the crafts. From Gosford the long thoroughfare street passes into +Jordan Well--commemorating the well sunk by Jordan Shepey, mayor of +Coventry, who died 1349, the year of the Black Death--and thence into +Earl Street, where, it may be, a castle of the Earls of Chester once +stood with an entrance at Broadgate. + +[Illustration: + + 130 FAR Gosford ST] + +To see the spire of S. Michael's alone it is best to leave this long +thoroughfare and turn to the right by a half-timbered Tudor house down +the narrowness of Pepper Lane where the immense steeple almost seems to +blot out the sky. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: Northall, _Eng. Folk Rhymes_, 403.] + +[Footnote 2: Mayor-list or MS. Annals (eighteenth century) in the +possession of Mr Eynon of Leamington.] + +[Footnote 3: Morris, _S. John's Church_.] + + + + +CHAPTER I + +_Leofric and Godiva_ + + +It was ever the boast of Coventry men that their city was of "much +fame and antiquity,"[4] being "remembered," so John Throgmorton, the +recorder, assured Queen Elizabeth, "by Polydore Vergil to be of ... +small account in the time of King Arviragus (which was forty-four years +after our Saviour) in the Emperor Claudius' time."[5] And Shakespeare's +contemporary, Michael Drayton, had a pretty fancy of his own concerning +the place,[6] whereby its antiquity is made manifest. He tells us how, +when Coventry was but "a poor thatched village," the saint of Cologne +brought thither + + "That goodly virgin-band + Th' eleven thousand maids chaste Ursula's command," + +who at departing, + + "Each by her just bequest, + Some special virtue gave, ordaining it to rest + With one of her own sex"; + +which special virtues, the poet adds, were in aftertimes bestowed on +Godiva, "that most princely dame," who freed Coventry from toll on the +occasion of her famous ride. + +But of all this history tells us nothing, even as it tells us nothing +of Vespasian's visit to Exeter, or the founding of London by Brutus of +Troy, in the days when the foundations of Rome were not laid. Coventry +is not old in the sense wherein we apply the word to Colchester, +York, Bath, or Winchester, and many towns dating from Roman or early +Saxon times. If the site of the present city were ever occupied by +the Romans--and the point is a doubtful one--their occupation left +no permanent traces.[7] But just as families love to boast of a high +and noble ancestry, so dwellers in cities and members of institutions +delight to trace their origins back to a legendary past, and the +fables of Brut, who came from Troy to London, or the story of Mempric, +contemporary of David, and founder of the university of Oxford,[8] +were once accepted as truth. We, however, are content to leave this +record of obscure beginnings unexplored, confessing that we have, as +Dugdale says, "so little light of story to guide us through those elder +times."[9] + +In truth, we hear nothing authentic concerning the Romans', and but +rumours of the Danes', coming to Coventry. In 1016 the Northmen, led +by Canute and the traitor Eadric Streona, laid waste the Midlands, and +are said to have destroyed a nunnery on the spot founded by an obscure +Saxon saint, the virgin Osburg, who probably came from the neighbouring +house for nuns at Polesworth.[10] But S. Osburg is a shadowy figure, +and the memory of her foundation has almost entirely passed away. The +convent of the "convent town,"[11] did not gather together there until +the middle of the eleventh century, when Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and +his wife Godiva, built a dwelling for an Abbot and twenty-four monks to +live under the rule of S. Benedict. Thus was laid the first stone of a +monastery which ranked with the Confessor's Abbey of Westminster, King +Harold's College at Waltham, and the twin abbeys built by William I. +and Matilda in their city of Caen, among the most famous foundations of +that age. The monastery became the nucleus of a thriving town in later +days, as was the case with Bury S. Edmund's, Abingdon, Reading, S. +Alban's, and many other places in England. + +It was a great time for the founding of religious houses, and the +Confessor, as befitted one of known sanctity of life, greatly +encouraged these pious deeds. "It behoves every man," ... runs his +charter to the monks of Coventry, "diligently to incline to almsgiving, +whereby he may release himself from the bonds of sin. For our Lord +in a sermon thus speaketh: 'Lay up for yourselves with alms-deeds +a treasure-hoard in heaven, and a dwelling with angels.'[12] For +which needful things I make known to you all that I grant with full +permission that the same gift which Leofric and Godgyuæ have given +to Christ, and His dear Mother, and to Leofwin, the abbot, and the +brethren within the minster at Coventry, for their souls to help, +in land and in water, in gold and in silver, in ornaments, and in +all other things, as full and as forth as they themselves possessed +it, and as they that same minster worthily have enriched therewith, +so I firmly grant it. And furthermore, I grant to them also, for my +soul, that they have besides full freedom, sac and soc,[13] toll, +team,[14] hamsocne,[15] foresteall,[16] blodewite,[17] fihtwite,[18] +weardwite,[19] and mundbryce.[20] Now I will henceforward that it +ever be a dwelling of monks, and let them stand in God's peace, and +S. Mary's and in mine, and according to S. Benedict's rule, under the +abbot's authority. And I will not in any wise consent that any man take +away or eject their gift and their alms, or that any man have there +any charge upon any things, or at any season, except the abbot and his +brethren for this minster's need. And whosoever shall increase this +alms with any good the Lord shall increase unto him Heaven's bliss; and +whosoever shall take them away, or deprive the minster of anything at +any time, let him stand in God's anger, and His dear Mother's and mine. +God keep you all."[21] + +Thus the monastery was endowed by Leofric and Godiva with twenty-four +lordships of land; and by the king with full rights of jurisdiction +over the tenants dwelling in these various estates, privileges greatly +valued by the monks. They laid the two generous founders, the husband +in one porch, the wife in the other, of the minster in Coventry, when +they came to die. As for this building, it was one of the glories of +the age, and seemed too narrow, a chronicler tells us, to contain the +abundance of treasure within its walls. Godiva paid the most famous +goldsmiths of her day to visit the place, and make reliquaries and +images of saints to beautify the church she loved; she also gave a +rosary of gems to hang about the neck of an image of the Virgin, her +chief patroness. The monks, too, gathered in a great store of relics, +whereof the most famous was an arm of S. Augustine of Hippo, brought +from Pavia by Archbishop Ethelnoth, having been purchased for the sum +of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. + +Of this minster, however, nought remains, and its successor, the Gothic +cathedral, was destroyed after the Reformation. The legend of its +foundress has been more enduring. Vulgarised by later associations, the +narrative, in its early forms, has a grandeur which still impresses +the imagination. The story was a favourite one with Landor from his +boyhood, though his _Imaginary Conversation_, and Drayton's brief +lines are less popularly known than the poem of Tennyson. There is +no contemporary evidence to guide us, for Roger of Wendover, whose +account of the famous ride is probably the earliest we possess, died in +1237,[22] some hundred and fifty years after the noble lady herself. +The chroniclers differ as to the motive which prompted the undertaking, +some asserting that the Coventry folk were to be freed thereby from +a grievous incident of villeinage; others again[23] connecting it +with the local immunity from the payment of toll--except for horses, +a special feature of the market of Coventry.[24] It is in the latter +connection that the story has impressed itself on the local mind. + + "I Lueriche for the love of thee + Doe make Coventre Tol-free," + +was written under a window placed in Trinity Church in Richard II.'s +time in commemoration of the deed.[25] + + "This cite shulde be free, and now is bonde, + Dame goode Eve made hit free," + +wrote a discontented burger poet of the fifteenth century, when a +custom for wool had been laid on the people of the town.[26] + +Roger of Wendover tells us how the countess besought her husband +continually, with many prayers to free the people from the toll; and +though he refused and forbade her to approach him with this petition, +"led by her womanly pertinacity," she repeated the request, until he +gave answer: "Ride naked through the length of the market, when the +people are gathered together, and when thou returnest, thy petition +shall be fulfilled.... Then the countess, beloved of God, loosened her +hair thus veiling her body, and then, mounting her horse and attended +by two knights, she rode through the market seen of none, her white +legs nevertheless appearing; and having completed her journey, returned +to her husband rejoicing, and ... obtained from him what she had +asked," for he forthwith gave the townsfolk a charter emancipating them +from the aforesaid service.[27] + +Naturally, the charter is not forthcoming, and historians have shrugged +their shoulders at the mention of the story this many a day. It was +not, however, until the time of Charles II. that the Godiva procession +became a feature of Coventry fair. In 1678, we are told "Lady Godiva +rode before the mayor to proclaim the fair" and the custom thus +inaugurated obtains to this day. Of the window noted by Dugdale all +traces disappeared amid the vandalism of the eighteenth century save +a few fragments of glass now in the Archdeacon's chapel of Trinity +Church, and of these one showing a tiny figure in a yellow dress riding +a white horse and holding some foliage in the hand, is traditionally +said to have formed part of the original design.[28] + +[Illustration: GODIVA WINDOW] + +Such is the story which some accept undoubting, others dismiss as +fabulous, and a third school, following the lead of Mr Hartland[29] +and perceiving in the tale elements which occur in the folk-lore of +widely distant countries, regard as a reminiscence of heathen ritual, +maybe some processional festivities of spring or summer.[30] In support +of this contention it may be urged that the story is not peculiar to +Coventry, that there is a good deal of evidence showing the part unclad +or bough-clad women played in magical and religious rites,[31] that +black-faced characters--whereof more presently--appear in festivals +manifestly derived from heathendom, and that the "Peeping Tom" element +may be part of the universal fairy tale which relates the punishment +awaiting those who pry into sights forbidden. Moreover, the prominence +given to the horse in the story is extremely suggestive. In one version +it is the neighing of Godiva's steed that attracts the attention of the +peeper, causing him to look forth from the window, whence it comes that +in Coventry market there is no exemption from toll for horses.[32] It +may not be too fanciful to recall in this connection the part played by +the hobby-horse at folk-festivals, and the sacrificial character of the +horse in Teutonic heathendom.[33] + +[Illustration: HERALDIC TILE FOUND IN HALES STREET] + +The nearest variant of the Coventry story belongs to St Briavel's in +the Forest of Dean, like Coventry a woodland district. Here it is +said that the wife of one of the Earls of Hereford won from her lord +privileges of woodcutting for the commonalty by undergoing a like +ordeal.[34] In a Dunster tradition the parallel is not so close. Here +Sir John de Mohun's wife gained from her husband for the Dunster folk +as much common land as she could make the circuit of, barefoot, in a +day's space.[35] + +Godiva is always traditionally represented riding on a white horse. It +is curious that in an illuminated document formerly in possession of +the Smiths' company, two Godivas appear, one a white woman on a white +horse and another a black woman on an elephant--the last in allusion +to the elephant and castle, the arms of the city.[36] Black-a-vised +characters--explained by various theories[37]--are of common occurrence +at festivals on May Day and Midsummer; it is only about forty years ago +that a Jack-o'-green and his attendant sweeps ceased to parade the city +on May Day, while at Southam, near Coventry, and possibly in Coventry +also, a "black lady" rode in the "show fair" as well as Godiva.[38] + +As for the "Peeping Tom" incident it may well be older than the +eighteenth century, when the first printed allusion appears.[38] A +ballad written about 1650 mentions that Godiva ordered all persons to +keep within doors during her ride and shut their windows[39]; but in a +Coventry version given in the MS. city annals[40]--dating, it appears, +before the use of glass became common in domestic buildings--the +peeper is said to "let down" a window, _i.e._ the wooden shutter of +early times. The famous figure of Peeping Tom, mentioned in the city +accounts in the year 1773,[41] still looks out of the northeast top +window of the "King's Head" in Hertford Street. It is a wooden figure, +thought to represent S. George, with armour of the time of Henry VII, +broad-toed sollerets, and under a monstrous and absurd three-cornered +hat is a bascinet. The arms, as far as the elbow, have been hacked +away, and to the spectator in the street the figure is only visible +from the waist upwards. + +[Illustration: PEEPING TOM] + +For many people Coventry suggests Godiva. It is always well to bear in +mind she was an authentic person, wife of Leofric, mother of Aelfgar, +Earl of East Anglia, also buried in the monastery, grandmother of +the Earls Edwin and Morkere, and of Aldgyth, first wife, then widow, +of Gruffydd, Prince of Wales; then wife and widow of Harold, King of +England. After Godiva's death, stories of her holy life and alms-deeds +would be soon rife among the oppressed Saxons. It is noteworthy that +Matilda, queen of Henry I., a sovereign of the old Saxon blood royal, +and a most pious princess to boot, was called Godiva, no doubt in scorn +of her birth, by the Norman courtiers. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 4: Harl. _MS._ 6195 f. 7.] + +[Footnote 5: Poole, _Coventry_, 90. Elizabeth visited the city in 1565.] + +[Footnote 6: _Polyolbion_, xiii.] + +[Footnote 7: Some rough (?) Roman pavement was discovered in the Cross +Cheaping during excavations at the end of the last century. _Victoria +County Hist._ i. 246.] + +[Footnote 8: Rashdall, _Universities_, ii. pt. ii. 323.] + +[Footnote 9: Dugdale. _Warw._ i. 134.] + +[Footnote 10: _Ibid._] + +[Footnote 11: A convent is properly a _body_ of monks or nuns; a +monastery or nunnery their habitation. The etymology of Coventry is +dubious; but the popular derivation from the Lat. _conventus_ is now +discredited. The earliest form in which the word occurs is Cofantreo. +Here treo = tree, and Dr Hen. Bradley, to whom I am greatly indebted +for information on this point, suggests a possible origin of the other +syllables in a personal name, Cofa or Cufa; _cf._ Oswestry = Oswald's +tree.] + +[Footnote 12: See Matt. v. 20. This translation mainly follows Birch.] + +[Footnote 13: Privilege of administering justice.] + +[Footnote 14: Obscure. Birch says privilege of vouching to warranty.] + +[Footnote 15: Power to punish for forcible entry.] + +[Footnote 16: Power to inflict punishment for waylaying.] + +[Footnote 17: Power to punish assault with bloodshed.] + +[Footnote 18: Power to punish assault.] + +[Footnote 19: Power to maintain watch.] + +[Footnote 20: Power to punish for breach of peace.] + +[Footnote 21: Add. MSS. Ch. 28657. Birch, _Edward the Confessor's +Charter to Coventry_. "A most elegant specimen of eleventh century +native palæography" (Birch).] + +[Footnote 22: On events which occur before 1154 (or 1188) the +chronicler is dependent on some earlier unknown writer (_Dict. Nat. +Biography_, _s.v._ "Godiva").] + +[Footnote 23: They follow Higden, author of the _Polychronicon_, who +was the first to mention the ride in this connection. As a monk of +S. Werburgh's, Chester, a city which held frequent intercourse with +Coventry, he may have had opportunities of hearing the tale from local +sources.] + +[Footnote 24: In Coventry market the burgesses were free from toll, +except for horses, in the time of Edward I. (Dugdale, _Warw._ i. 162).] + +[Footnote 25: Dugdale, _Warw._ i. 135. Some tiny fragments of this +window yet remain in the Archdeacon's Chapel of Trinity Church. See +also _Gent. Mag._ (1829), pt. i. 120-1, for another account of the +fragment.] + +[Footnote 26: _Leet Book_ (E.E.T.S.), 567.] + +[Footnote 27: Rog. Wendover, _Flores Historiarum_, i. 497.] + +[Footnote 28: So an old sexton told Sharp, the antiquary. See also +_Gent. Mag. Topography_, xiii. 53.] + +[Footnote 29: _Science of Fairy Tales._] + +[Footnote 30: Chambers, _Mediæval Stage_, i. 119.] + +[Footnote 31: Grant Allen, _Evolution of the Idea of God_, 110 +(festival of the Pòtraj).] + +[Footnote 32: Hartland, _op. cit._, 77.] + +[Footnote 33: As a tyro in folk-lore I venture with some diffidence to +put forward the theory that it may be by research in custom and belief +as regards the horse that we may arrive at an explanation of some +of the problems of this mysterious legend. See Grimm, _Teut. Myth._ +(trans. Stallybrass), 47, 392; Frazer, _Golden Bough_, ii. 24, 64; +Gomme, _Ethnology and Folk-lore_, 35; Chambers, _op. cit._, i. 131.] + +[Footnote 34: Rudder, _Gloucestershire_, 307 (quoted Hartland).] + +[Footnote 35: Camden, _Britannia_ (Gibson), 67. I am indebted to Mr +Addy for this reference; _cf._ the story of the Tichbourne dole, +Chambers, _Book of Days_, i. 167.] + +[Footnote 36: _Coventry Standard_, Jan. 15-16, 1909. The MS. +(1684-1833) has passed into private hands, and I have never been able +to see it.] + +[Footnote 37: Sir Lawrence Gomme explains the black Godiva by a +reference to Pliny's account of the woad-stained British women, but see +Chambers, _Mediæval Stage_, i. 125.] + +[Footnote 38: _Science of Fairy Tales_, 71-92. Mr Hartland was the +first folklorist to submit the story to scientific investigation. He +gained his local knowledge of the Southam black Godiva from the late +W.E. Fretton of Coventry.] + +[Footnote 39: See _Dict. Nat. Biog._, _s.v._ "Godiva."] + +[Footnote 40: Hartland, _op. cit._, 77.] + +[Footnote 41: See _Dict. Nat. Biog._, _s.v._ "Godiva."] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +_The Benedictine Monastery_ + + +The Benedictine house was built in part upon the northern slope of a +low hill, in part in the hollow through which the river Sherbourne +flows. This was a situation well adapted for the building of a +monastery; there was rich soil in the neighbourhood, good roads--both +the Watling Street and the Foss Way ran within a few miles from the +spot--and running water. The Sherbourne is but a small stream nowadays, +but it was a more important watercourse in earlier times, and in the +fifteenth century many precautions had to be taken "in eschewing peril +of floods." The monks could stock Swanswell Pool[42] with fish, and +plant their orchards or vineyards in or near the hollow in which the +monastery lay. + +[Illustration: CATHEDRAL RUINS] + +Little remains of the minster save the bases of a few clustered pillars +of the thirteenth century, the remains of the west end by the Blue +Coat School at the north end of S. Michael's Churchyard, and the +fragment of the north-west tower, now incorporated in a dwelling-house +in New Buildings. Under the gardens and pleasant red brick eighteenth +and nineteenth century houses of Priory Row, which give the churchyard +the look of a cathedral close, diggers often come upon fragments of +ancient masonry, showing how the cathedral stretched down the slope of +the hill. Between the cathedral and the southern bank of the Sherbourne +were the Priory buildings, with the cloister garth, locutorium or +parlour, synodal chamber and grammar school,[43] which last had an +endowed existence as early as 1303. + +[Illustration: CARVED MISERERE SEAT, S. MICHAEL'S CHURCH] + +Another relic of the monastery, a beautiful old timbered hostry or +guest house in Ironmonger Row, was only cleared away in 1820. The inn +known as the "Palmers' Rest" now occupies a portion of this site, and +carvings of hunting scenes, and grotesques worked into the window +frames, and now painted a dreary brown, were taken from the ancient +guest house of the monks. Some of the obligations of hospitality were +lifted from the monks by the foundation in the twelfth century of the +hospital of S. John the Baptist, whereof only the church is left. Here +poor wayfarers had food and lodging and the sick poor of the place were +nursed and tended. The brethren were clothed in a black or dark brown +garb, ample and flowing, and marked with a black cross, and the sisters +wore a white veil and long closed mantles or cloaks. Another foundation +for the nursing of the sick was the lazar-hospital at Spon, dedicated +to S. Mary Magdalen, of which not a trace remains. + +The main feature of a monk's life was its well-ordered monotony, so +congenial to many minds; but as a class monks were not specially +addicted to idleness or solitude. Neither were they in most cases +entirely devoted to spiritual things, for although the salvation of the +individual soul was the primal object of monasticism, members of the +religious orders were adepts at secular business, and did not suffer +their houses to decay from neglect of the affairs of this world. There +was always plenty of work for any monk possessing a clear head and +a faculty for administration. The various officers of the convent, +_obedientiarii_ as they were called, had each his appointed task. Every +one was allowed a certain proportion of the convent revenue to devote +to the expenses connected with his office.[44] In return he presented +his accounts at the annual audit, keeping them carefully and exactly, +recording everything, down to the receipt of a pot of honey, "or the +price of the parchment on which the various items were written." In the +case of Coventry the rents of certain tenements in S. Nicholas Street, +Bailey Lane, Well Street (_super corneram Vici Fontis_), among others, +were assigned to the cellarer;[45] those coming from land in Keresley +to the treasurer; the same forms being observed with regard to the +pitancier and sacristan. The rents paid in kind--butter, honey, eggs, +etc.--were probably entered among the kitchener's receipts; while the +accounts, compiled from daily entries, must have given many clerks +almost unceasing labour. + +[Illustration: + + Priory Row Coventry] + +We have, unfortunately, no local chronicles,[46] such as those kept +within the cloisters of S. Alban's, giving us particulars concerning +the lives of the Coventry monks. But no doubt, in essentials, the +management of various houses differed little. At Evesham, for example, +the prior was bound to furnish the parchment required for the +scriptorium, and all other writing materials except ink, out of the +sum allotted to him. The manciple provided the wine, mead, oil and +lamps, and kept up the stock of earthenware, jugs, basins, and other +vessels required for the convent use. The precentor--as befitted one +whose office was to train the choir--was bound to keep the organ in +repair, and over and above to find all the ink and colour required for +illumination, together with all materials for binding books. While +to the chamberlain a certain revenue was assigned to provide for the +clothing of the monks.[47] All these matters gave the convent officers +daily occupation, and must have absorbed much thought and interest. + +For those of fervent spirit the daily religious exercises were the salt +of life, but for others--possibly the greater number--they were merely +part of the daily routine, and repetition had increased monotony. Many +hours of the day were passed in these regularly recurring services of +the Church. At midnight the brethren rose and went to Matins and Lauds. +Prime was celebrated at six, Tierce at nine, Sext at twelve, Nones at +two or three, Vespers at four, and Complin at seven. After Tierce the +duties of the day began; and the different obedientiaries went each to +fulfil his appointed task. The rest sat in the cloisters, taught the +children in the school, or copied manuscripts. There were frequent +consultations in the chapter-house, and on Sundays, before Prime or +Tierce, the abbot sat in the cloisters to hear the monks' confessions, +and appointed to each the penance due for his fault. Now and then +the coming of an important stranger--a royal guest, perhaps, such as +William the Conqueror, who passed, it is supposed, through Coventry on +his way from Warwick to Nottingham in 1068--would furnish the brethren +with a topic for many weeks' conversation. + +Sometimes the brethren were suffered to have a glimpse of the +great world without the convent with their own eyes. The prior, +who was of the company of mitred abbots, was frequently forced to +journey to whatever place the King might appoint for the meeting +of the parliament. The rank and file of the convent had now and +then opportunities of seeing life in travel. They might undertake a +pilgrimage; or, when a dispute was on hand, and appeal had been made +to the Holy Father, one of the brethren would journey Rome-wards, +with well-lined pockets, to look after the convent's interest at the +papal court. These lawsuits were not infrequent, as may be shown by +the career of Geoffrey, Prior of Coventry during the reign of Henry +III.[48] In 1224 the monks tried to raise him to the episcopal throne, +but the election was quashed by the archbishop, and the usual appeal +to Rome only brought another--a papal--candidate to fill the vacant +seat. This occurrence did not in all probability predispose the minds +of the actual and would-be bishop to mutual goodwill. In 1232 the +prior was suspended for resisting the episcopal visitation, and, +together with the abbot of Westminster, set out hot-foot to Rome, to +lay his grievances before the Pope. A year or two later we find him +involved in a quarrel with the Abbot of S. Augustine's, Bristol. What +heart-burnings these obscure disputes must have occasioned, what +journeyings to and fro, and, above all, what wealth was lost to the +monastery to satisfy the Roman greed of gold! + +It is the record of these disputes that forms the bulk of the history +of the monastic houses of England, and the priory of Coventry is +no exception to the general rule. Placed in a somewhat dependent +position--for during the episcopate of Robert de Limesey (1086-1121) +the bishop's seat had been transferred from Chester to this place--the +monks were, earlier or later, bound to realise the dangers of episcopal +tyranny and encroachment. Limesey, the first bishop in whom the +abbacy was vested--the superior of the convent being henceforward +called a prior--soon made the monks feel his heavy yoke. Bitter +were the complaints they made concerning his conduct. On the death +of the last abbot he obtained leave to farm the convent revenue, +and, using the permission to serve his own ends, wrought much harm +to the estates of the monastery, pulling down houses thereon, and +carrying off the materials to his own manors, seizing horses and +other monastic property. But the crying instance of his greed, one +which the chroniclers have carefully and tremblingly noted, was his +plunder of the magnificent minster. He scraped off the silver coating +of a beam--worth 500 marks--most likely from a shrine in that goodly +treasure-house![49] It was little wonder that the indignant monks +turned to Rome for aid against this devourer of their substance.[50] + +Nor was this the only bishop who, from his fair palace in S. Michael's +Churchyard, caused his neighbours of the priory to tremble for the +safety of their possessions. Hugh of Nunant, a monk-hater, who vowed, +it is said, that "if he had his own way he would strip every cowled +head in England," was nominated to the see in 1188. He is variously +described as a man of piety and eloquence or as one desperately +wicked.[51] Politically he was a follower of Prince John, who, during +his brother King Richard's imprisonment in Germany, was endeavouring to +strengthen his own position by forming a rebel party in the Midlands. +Nunant obtained licence to incorporate the prior's barony with his +own episcopal one, and by his accusations so enraged the monks that +they fell on him during a synod in the cathedral church, and broke +his head with a crucifix. The bishop, indignant in his turn, applied +to Longchamp, the absent King's representative, for licence to punish +the outrage. And he was allowed to expel the brethren, "contaminated," +so he said, "with secular pollution," from the monastery, and appoint +secular canons, who probably came from Lichfield, in their stead. +Appeal was made to Rome, but the monks were now too impoverished to +obtain a favourable hearing of their suit at the papal court. So they +remained in exile for several years. + +But the adversary's triumph was, after all, short-lived. In 1194 King +Richard, ransomed from prison, returned to England, and the scheme +of Prince John and Bishop Nunant fell to the ground. The latter was +deposed from his bishopric, and the monks he had oppressed took heart +of grace, and bethought them how they might return to their old home. +The story goes how one of their number put an end to the brethren's +exile by his intercession with the Pope. Although often forced to +beg his bread, brother Thomas tarried long at Rome, and offered to +each fresh occupant of S. Peter's chair the petition of the monks of +Coventry. On one occasion his Holiness in an angry mood bade the monk +withdraw, telling him that other petitions to the same purpose had been +exhibited to Clement and Celestine, his predecessors, but rejected, +and therefore his expectations were vain. Unto which the monk, with +bitter tears, replied: "Holy Father, my petition is just and altogether +honest, and therefore my expectation is not vain; for I expect your +death, as I have done your predecessors', for there shall one succeed +you who will hear my petition to purpose." Then said the Pope to the +cardinals: "Hear ye not what this devil hath spoken?" And immediately +turned to him and said: "Brother, by S. Peter, thou shalt not expect my +death; thy petition is granted."[52] So the monks returned joyfully to +their old home; but Hugh of Nunant, so the chroniclers tell us, died in +remorse and torment of mind, deploring the injuries he had done to the +Coventry brethren "with abundant sighs and tears," and praying that he +might die in a frock of the order he had in life despised. + +But grasping bishops were not the only enemies known to the monks. +There was a long-standing feud between the brethren of Coventry and +the canons of Lichfield, dating from the time when Stephen gave them, +together with the canons of Chester, permission to elect the bishop +of the diocese.[53] The monks frequently defeated their object by +nominating a candidate of their order, usually the prior, whom the +canons would in nowise be induced to accept. Appeals to Rome would +follow; and the Pope, seizing the opportunity, would set aside previous +nominations, and impose his own candidate upon the contending parties. + +At the first election we hear of, the Coventry brethren were able to +secure the bishopric for one of their order, the prior of Canterbury, +in spite of the canons' protests and appeal to Rome. But when, after +his enthronement at Coventry, bishop Durdent came to Lichfield, the +canons barred the gates of their fortified close against him, and, +in the face of the episcopal excommunication, denied him entrance. +They also refused to enthrone Gerard la Pucelle, elected by the +sole voice of the monks in 1183. "Unica est sponsa mea, nec habeo +duo cubicula,"[54] said the bishop in his discouragement. And this +learned and righteous prelate died four months later, not without +suspicion of poison. Nunant was appointed by the Crown; but on his +death in 1199 the passions of the rivals, strengthened by political +antagonism--for the canons were partizans of John while the monks clave +to King Richard--again broke loose. On the nomination of Richard's +candidate, one of the monks led off the _Te Deum_, as a signal that +the proceedings were over, though the canons had taken no part in +the election. "Who made thee cantor here?" cried the Archdeacon of +Stafford, a member of John's party, in great wrath, for the cantor +on these occasions conducted the singing. "I am cantor here, and not +thou," was the reply, and as King Richard's party was then predominant +the monks had their will.[55] + +At the next election[56] the brethren were brought face to face with +King Richard's successor, and John found it a hard thing to subdue the +Coventry monks, though he had at his back the entire company of the +canons of Lichfield. When England was under an Interdict, the King sent +to them the Abbots of Oseney and Waltham, proposing the Archdeacon of +Stafford as a candidate for the vacant See of Coventry. But the monks +would have none of him. They elected their prior, Joybert of Wenlock, +and purposed to send the nomination oversea to the incoming archbishop, +Stephen Langton. At Tewkesbury, John proposed the Abbot of Bindon. The +monks refused utterly. "None whom I love wilt thou choose," cried +the angry King. Then to the justiciar said the prior, afraid: "If it +suits the lord king well, I will elect his chancellor." The chancellor +was Walter de Grey, who was subsequently raised to the See of York. +This proposal found no favour then, and the King appointed another +meeting with the monks at Nottingham. On their return home they held +a consultation in the chapter-house, and determined that they would +elect neither of the King's candidates, Richard de Marisco nor the +Abbot of Bindon. At Nottingham Castle Joybert and six monks besought +the King that he would allow them to elect freely and canonically +the prior or some other fitting man. Meanwhile all manner of threats +and blandishments were used to make them give their voice for one of +the royal nominees, but they held firm. Next morning, however, when +the prior and two monks tarried long in the King's chamber, the four +remaining brethren, fearing that their superior would at last give way, +determined to go home and reserve their vote; but Fulk de Cantilupe +shut the castle gate in their faces, vowing "by the tongue of God" that +they should not leave ere they had made a bishop to the King's liking, +"and other things he uttered," the record continues, "not meet to be +said." + +At last Prior Joybert began to waver, for the King promised him great +rewards and honours if he would do his will, and urged him, saying: +"Speak, prior, speak!" Then Joybert fell on his knees. "By the soul of +thy father the King," he said, "and of thy brother the King, and by the +honour of thy life, who art King, if it be not possible for us to have +any other than one of these two, give us the Abbot of Bindon." "Never +while I live shall this be," cried one of the monks, named Thomas, +"and never shall he be my bishop." A bystander reproved him for this +outburst towards his superior. "In the cloister I am but a monk," the +fearless brother answered, "but here at the election of the bishop, +I am the prior's fellow." Then John, looking about him in great anger +left the room, and many nobles gathered about the monks, and urged them +to fulfil the King's will. "Verily ye have much to fear," they said, +"if you bring down his wrath upon your heads." + +The unhappy monks were again summoned into the King's presence. "Lord +prior," the tyrant began, "I have always loved thee, and thou wilt not +do my will. What sayest thou to my chancellor, whose name thou didst +propose to me at Tewkesbury?" The prior signified that he willingly +accepted this candidate, and the King gave orders that the canons +should be summoned to ratify the election. At this the smouldering +jealousy between monks and canons burst into flame. "By S. Milburg," +cried the prior, "they shall not come; never shall they be present at +our election!" But John swore "by the tooth of God" that they should +come in. "I would rather die," Joybert answered, "than be the cause of +the destruction of my order." The nobles, who were present, gathered +round the monks, and falling upon their necks entreated them to submit. +Then the prior, vanquished, said: "Because nothing else is pleasing to +you, and it is not possible to do other, do your will." A _Te Deum_ +was then sung by the company of monks and canons, although the former +murmured greatly at the constraint laid upon them. + +The case was afterwards laid before the papal legate, and the election +of Walter de Gray annulled. The long dispute between monk and canon was +temporarily allayed in 1227, when it was ordained that the election +should take place alternately at Coventry and Lichfield, the prior +having first voice and the dean second.[57] The quarrel gradually died +away, and, well tutored by Pope and King, the electors peacefully met +to choose the particular candidate designated by those in authority. +Other quarrels brought the house low. In 1248 the resources of the +convent had become so impoverised by lawsuits concerning the Bishop +of Coventry's right of visitation[58] that it was feared some of the +monks would be compelled to disperse, a disaster the monks of Derley +averted by receiving divers inmates of the Coventry Priory for a time +into their hospitable house. When trouble again arose, the convent +of S. Mary found that the enemy had sprung up under the very shadow +of the monastery itself, and that the men of Coventry were even more +implacable foes than the canons of Lichfield had been in times past. +These quarrels between ecclesiastical bodies and their burgher tenants +were of common occurrence in mediæval life. The strong corporate +feeling which flourished amongst the monks, the zeal they bore for +their order in general and their house in particular, which involved +them in endless quarrels, caused them to play a notable part in +municipal history. As a body they were opposed to the growth of free +institutions among the townsfolk. They never rightly understood their +tenants' desire for increase of municipal liberty, and feared by giving +way to their demands to forego the rights of the Church, and bring +their souls in peril thereby.[59] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 42: Guy of Warwick also freed Coventry from a fabulous +monster. In the last century there was still shown there "a great +shield-bone of a bore (_sic_) which "he" slew in Hunting, when he +(_i.e._ the boar) had turned with his Snout a great Put or Pond +which is now called Swanswell, but Swineswell in times past." Gough, +_Collect. Warw._ (Bodleian Library).] + +[Footnote 43: _Vic. Count. Hist. Warw._, ii. 319.] + +[Footnote 44: For a popular account of a monastery _v._ Jessopp, +_Coming of the Friars_, 113-165.] + +[Footnote 45: _Leet Book_, 448-9.] + +[Footnote 46: The chronicler, whose name--Walter of Coventry--seems to +attest some local connection, was not a monk of this house. Stubbs, +_Pref._ to Walter of Coventry (Rolls), I. xxii.-xxxiii.] + +[Footnote 47: Jessopp, 138.] + +[Footnote 48: Luard, _Annales Monastici_, iii. 90; i. 89-90.] + +[Footnote 49: Dugdale, _Monasticon_ (1846), iii. 178.] + +[Footnote 50: Beresford, _Diocesan Hist. Lichfield_, 54.] + +[Footnote 51: Beresford, _Diocesan Hist. Lichfield_, 78.] + +[Footnote 52: Dugdale. _Warw._, i. 161. Rather an improbable story. +More likely after Nunant's fall the monks found some one to plead their +cause with the King.] + +[Footnote 53: Beresford, 69.] + +[Footnote 54: Which may be paraphrased: "I have but one diocese, and +must I have but one cathedral?" (Beresford, 76).] + +[Footnote 55: Cott. MS, quoted Dugdale, _Monasticon_, VI. iii. 1242.] + +[Footnote 56: _Ibid._ 1242-3.] + +[Footnote 57: Luard, _op cit._, iii 104.] + +[Footnote 58: _Vict. County Hist._, ii. 55.] + +[Footnote 59: For the disputes between ecclesiastics and their tenants +see Mrs Green, _Town Life_, i. 333-383; Thompson, _Municipal History_, +_passim_. This feature is not confined to England. For the disputes +between the men of Rouen and the chapter see Giry, _Établissements de +Rouen_, 34.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +_The Chester Lordship_ + + +The place where the monks settled was probably little better than +a village. We may picture it as a couple of straggling streets +intersecting one another, with small wooden houses on either side +of the highway, which was comparatively empty of people except on +market days when country folk would come in to sell their wares in the +"Cheaping" at the monastery gates. Domesday records that there were +only sixty-nine heads of families living in Godiva's estate at Coventry +in 1086,[60] though Leicester and Warwick were fair-sized towns, +as towns were accounted then. Of the two parish churches, existing +probably at the Conquest, S. Michael's served maybe for the tenants of +the lay lord, and Trinity for those of the ecclesiastical estate. For +from the beginnings of its history the town had been divided into two +lordships, whereof the convent held the northern part or Prior's-half, +not mentioned in Domesday, as the gift of their founder, Earl Leofric; +while the southern portion, the Earl's-half, which Leofric retained, +became a part of the Earl of Chester's vast inheritance. + +After the Conquest the convent retained their estate, receiving a +gracious charter of confirmation from William, who, no doubt, was +willing to link his name with that of his kinsman, the Confessor, as +patron of this famed foundation.[61] The Earl's-half, however, passed +to other masters. Probably Godiva held it during her lifetime; but at +her death the Conqueror took it, as the lady's grandchildren and direct +heirs were, as rebels, naturally shut out from the inheritance. How it +was that the estate passed into the hands of Ranulf Meschines, Earl of +Chester, we can only conjecture. He had probably deserved well at the +King's hand and had his reward. Though not, it is true, so disturbing +an element in the burghers' lives as his continental brethren, +an English feudal lord had much power for good or evil over his +dependents. His castle--with its fortifications, often breaking into +the line of the city wall, as Rougement did at Exeter, or the Tower, +built by the Conqueror to overawe the men of London--was a perpetual +menace to the citizens. His officers or deputies could annoy and +terrify the tenants in various ways. Thus one Simon le Maudit, who held +in farm the reeveship of Leicester, went on to collect gravel-pennies, +which he said were due to the lord from the townsfolk, long after these +payments had been remitted by charter. But this document having been +destroyed by fire, the burghers had no evidence wherewith to support +their claim, and Simon "the Accursed" had his will.[62] Instances of +feudal oppression seem, however, to have been comparatively rare, +though warlike lords by involving their tenants in their quarrels +frequently brought trouble upon them. + +[Illustration: CHEYLESMORE MANOR HOUSE] + +Earl Ranulf came of a strong race. The founder of the family--whom +the Welsh called Hugh "the Fat" by reason of his great girth, but the +Normans "the Wolf" by reason of his fierceness--held manors of the +Conqueror in twenty shires of England. Lord of the county palatine +of Chester, the special privileges granted to him for the purpose of +strengthening his hand against the Welsh made him almost independent +of royal authority.[63] Meschines himself is an obscure figure, but +the fame of his successor, Ranulf Gernons, whose doings were accounted +terrible even in Stephen's time, when every man's hand was against his +fellow, spread far and wide. In 1143 Coventry became the battle-ground +of this earl and Marmion of Tamworth, King Stephen's ally. That was an +evil time for the monks, as Marmion seized and fortified the priory, +and for the townsfolk, as they were between Marmion and Ranulf, the +hammer and the anvil. The Tamworth lord died early in the struggle, for +falling into one of the trenches he had made to enclose the monastery, +he was killed by a common soldier. No doubt the monks reminded one +another that their sacrilegious oppressor, who so justly came to this +evil end, was of an impious stock. Did not his ancestor, one Robert +Marmion, expel the nuns of Polesworth from their dwelling, until, +warned in a vision by S. Edith, their foundress, and sorely smitten +by the staff of the saint, he repented and caused the sisterhood to +return?[64] + +Ranulf lived on to find a reverse of fortune at Coventry. Four years +after the fight with Marmion, the earl, finding the King's forces +were possessed of the castle there, laid siege to the stronghold, +but Stephen appearing, Ranulf's army was put to flight. It was a +fitting end to this lawless life that he should die by poison and +excommunicate; and his widow gave to Walter, Bishop of Coventry, under +whose curse her husband lay, the hamlet of Stivichall, so that his soul +might have peace.[65] + +There was trouble also in the days of Earl Hugh, Ranulf's successor. +He joined in the great feudal rising of 1173, when all England was a +scene of strange confusion, and only the energy and promptitude of +Henry II. and a few faithful followers saved the King's throne. Henry's +sons were arrayed against him, supported by the arch-enemy, the King of +France, the Scotch, the Flemings, and many nobles both in England and +Normandy, whose power and lawless ways the King had sought continually +to restrain. Such were the Earls Ferrars, Bigod of Norfolk, Robert of +Leicester, and Hugh. The men of Coventry lent the Earl of Chester aid +in this rebellion, as the men of Leicester did to their lord, Robert +Blanchmains, for those tenants who held land by military service were +bound to follow their feudal superior to battle. But one by one the +King's enemies were defeated. Earl Hugh was taken prisoner at the siege +of Dol in Britanny quite early in the struggle, and suffered a short +imprisonment in the Castle of Falaise.[66] Swift destruction--siege +and fire--came upon Leicester for the share the townsfolk had taken in +this rebellion, and the inhabitants for a time forsook the place.[67] +Coventry, as a place of less note, suffered less; but what liberties +the townsmen possessed were confiscated, not to be redeemed until +after Hugh's death, eight years later, by a payment of twenty marks. +The men of Norwich had also cause to regret the part they took in the +celebrated rising, but it was Bigod who dealt them their punishment, +burning the city out of revenge because his men had declared for the +King's party. + +The men of Coventry had, it is true, one reason to dwell with gratitude +on the memory of Earl Hugh. Dugdale tells us that among this lord's +following was a leper. And it may have been for the sake of this man +that Hugh built the lazar-house and chapel of S. Mary Magdelene at +Spon in the fields on the western side of the city.[68] All traces of +this chapel have now disappeared, but the name Chapel Fields still +serves to commemorate the place, with which the chapel of S. James +and S. Christopher,[69] whereof there are remains in Spon Street, is +sometimes--but quite erroneously--identified. Leprosy, brought from +the East by the Crusades, took terrible hold on the people of western +Europe, and few towns of any note in those days were without their +lazar-houses or hospitals for these sorely afflicted folk. The chief of +these leper hospitals was at Burton Lazars in Leicestershire, but the +one that is best remembered nowadays is that of S. Giles, once "in the +Fields," now in the heart of London. + +The most famous among the Earls of Chester was Ranulf, surnamed +Blondvil, who succeeded to the earldom on Hugh's death. This befell +in 1181. Ranulf was the last of the old order, the race of the feudal +barons of the Conquest, who, by reason of their vast estates and +almost princely power, were a constant source of anxiety to the kings +of England. Men sang songs of Earl Ranulf,[70] either of his loyalty +to his master John, or of his feats in warring with the Welsh at home +or the heathen abroad, for he joined the Crusades, and was present +in 1219 at the siege of Damietta. He was as much of a popular hero +as Robin Hood during the fourteenth century. The Church knew him as +the benefactor of the monastic house of Pulton, whence he removed the +monks, its inhabitants, to Dieulacres in Staffordshire. And his pious +deeds availed to save him after death, people said, in spite of many +offences. For at the time of his dying, a solitary man at Wallingford +saw a company of demons hurrying past, and learnt from one of them that +they were hastening to the earl's death-bed to accuse him of his sins. +Adjured to return within thirty days, the demon came back and told +the hermit what had befallen. "We brought it about," he said, "that +Ranulf for his ill deeds was adjudged to the pains of infernal fire; +but the mastiffs of Dieulacres, and many others with them, without +stinting barked so that they filled our habitation with a loud clamour +whilst he was with us; wherefore our prince, disgusted, ordered to be +expelled from our territories him who now proved so grievous an enemy +to us."[71] In this manner was the earl's soul delivered from the evil +place. In 1232 he died childless, and his vast lands were divided among +his sisters and their issue. The Earl's-half of Coventry fell to the +lot of Hugh of Albany, and then passed to his daughter Cicily, wife of +Roger de Montalt. This family continued to hold it until the days of +Edward III., when by some arrangement with Queen Isabel, the King's +mother, it was vested in the royal line, ultimately becoming part of +the duchy of Cornwall, heritage of successive princes of Wales. + +[Illustration: GABLE OF CHEYLESMORE MANOR HOUSE] + +The only relic of the associations of the earls of Chester's family +with Coventry lie in the Cheylesmore manor house, to the south-east of +the city. The house itself is mostly modern, but there are fragments of +ancient buildings--a chimney-shaft--incorporated with it. It is most +likely that the Black Prince, who gave--say the annals--the ostrich +feathers to Coventry, and prince Henry, afterwards Henry V., sojourned +in the ancient dwelling at Cheylesmore. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 60: Reader, _Domesday for Warwickshire_, 9: "The countess +held Coventry. There are 5 hides. The arable employs 20 ploughs, 3 are +in the demesne, and 7 bondmen. There are 50 villeins, and 12 bordars, +with 20 ploughs. A mill pays 3s. A wood 2 miles long and the same +broad. In King Edward's time and afterwards it was worth 12 pounds, now +11 pounds by weight. These lands of the countess Godiva Nicholas holds +to ferm of the king." See also _Vict. County Hist._, i. 310.] + +[Footnote 61: Add MS. Ch. 11,205. Leofric's gifts of lands, etc., with +"sac and soc, toll and team," are therein confirmed to Leofwine, the +abbot, and the brethren "sicut ... Edwardus, cognatus meus, melius et +plenius eisdem concessit."] + +[Footnote 62: Bateson, _Rec. Leicester_, 42.] + +[Footnote 63: Ormerod, _Cheshire_, i. 10.] + +[Footnote 64: Dugdale, _Warw._, ii. 1107. The incident is commemorated +in a modern window in Tamworth church.] + +[Footnote 65: Ormerod, i. 20-6. Dugdale, _Warw._, i. 137.] + +[Footnote 66: Ormerod, i. 26.] + +[Footnote 67: Thompson, _Hist. Leicester_, 42.] + +[Footnote 68: Dugdale, _Warw._, i. 197.] + +[Footnote 69: See Dormer Harris, _Troughton Sketches_, 24.] + +[Footnote 70: _Piers Ploughman_, Passus v. l. 402. Sloth (a +personification of one of the Seven Deadly Sins) says:-- + + "I can nought perfitly my pater-noster ... + But I can rymes of Robyn hood, and Randolf, erle of Chestre." + +It is more likely this earl is meant than his grandfather Gernons.] + +[Footnote 71: Hales, _Percy Folio_, i. 264-73.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +_Beginnings of Municipal Government_ + + +But how did the men live who inhabited Coventry, who were neither +warriors nor monks, but the rank and file of the townsfolk, the mere +tillers of the ground and retailers of food and clothing, farmers, +bakers, butchers, shoemakers, weavers, and the like? These men owed +fealty, according to the position of the land they held, either to the +prior or the Earl of Chester. It is with the earl's burghers that the +main part of our story lies. It was they who won, after many checks +and struggles, such liberties of trading and self-rule as helped to +make their city rich and famous in after days. For wherever townspeople +found that their lord, whether he were a noble or the King himself, +had need of their money or support, they bargained with him for a +charter, a duly written and attested document giving them the power +to exercise certain rights, such as the collecting of their own taxes +or the managing of their own courts, without the interference of his +officials. Just as the barons of England gained Magna Charta from John +in his need and weakness, or forced Edward I. to confirm the same ere +they would give him money to prosecute his wars, so the townsfolk +played out the same play in their own much humbler theatre, and drove +their bargain with this or that great owner of estates. + +For towns on the royal demesne the question resolved itself into one +of mere traffic. Was the town rich enough to induce the King to grant +a charter to the inhabitants conferring on them the liberties of which +they stood in need? If so, the money was paid, and the town started on +its career of independence. Nobles, too, were often willing to forego +their manorial privileges for the sake of a substantial sum of money. +But with churchmen and religious corporations the case was different. +They were unwilling, under any circumstances, to part with the rights +of the Church, "for fear," as the Coventry monks said, "of blemishing +their consciences." In growing and prosperous communities, where men +suffered by the restrictions laid upon their trade or persons, the +attitude of the religious community, which stood to them in place +of feudal lord, gave rise to great bitterness of feeling among the +tenants. Discontent was in many cases the precursor of riot and +bloodshed, showing how fierce was the spirit of resistance among these +men, and with what tenacity they clung to the idea of freedom. + +The condition of the men of S. Alban's, or those of any town where the +inhabitants were serfs, was often miserable, or at best precarious.[72] +A serf must perform for his lord frequent and often unlimited service. +His offences were punished in his lord's courts of justice. He could +not sell or depart from his holding or marry his children without +licence. He must grind his corn at his lord's mill, and bake his loaves +at his lord's oven. + +But from these most oppressive burdens the Coventry men were free. They +had in ancient custom a guarantee that their lord could not urge such +claims upon them, for they held of him "in free burgage";[73] that +is to say, they were quit of all personal service, and merely paid +a money rent for house and land. They were not compelled to leave +their business to carry in the crops on the lord's demesne, or follow +him for a great distance to war, or bake at his oven, a custom the +men of Melton observed until the days of James I.[74] Still, although +they were not entirely at the mercy of their feudal superior, the men +of Coventry had, as yet, no voice in the town government. They owed +obedience to three powers--the Earl of Chester, the King, and the Prior +of Coventry. For any fault or misdemeanour they were summoned to appear +at the earl's castle, where the constable fixed their punishment, and +the fine they paid passed into the earl's hand. The author of any grave +or serious crime was answerable to the sheriff, the King's officer. +While the prior, the lord of the soil in the Cross Cheaping, regulated +all matters connected with the traffic of the market. + +The townsfolk were neither rich nor strong enough to free themselves +from the sheriff's jurisdiction, or their trade from the prior's +surveillance. But in the reign of Henry II. they struck a bargain +with Ranulf Blondvil, Earl of Chester, a great founder of towns, +whereby they obtained certain rights and privileges, and some measure +of self-government. In his charter the earl granted to his burgesses +of Coventry the same customs as those enjoyed by the men of Lincoln, +for it was usual for townsfolk to ask that their constitution might +be modelled on that of some freer or more important place.[75] +Lincoln,[76] in common with most of the larger towns in England, +borrowed certain customs from London, and Coventry, in its turn, was to +serve as model to other towns later in acquiring freedom.[77] + +The Earl's charter, a model of the exquisite penmanship of the twelfth +century, runs thus:-- + +"Ranulf, Earl of Chester, to all his barons, constables, bailiffs, +servants, men and friends, French and English, present and future, +greeting. Know ye, that I have given to my burghers of Coventry, and +confirmed in this my charter,[78] all things which are written in the +same. Namely, that the said burghers and their heirs may hold well, +honourably, and undisturbed, and in free burgage of me and of my heirs, +as they held in my father's time or my other predecessors', better, +more firmly and freely. I grant them the free and good laws that the +burgesses of Lincoln have better and more freely. I ... forbid my +constable to bring them into my castle to plead in any cause; but they +may freely have their portmote, in which all pleas pertaining unto +me and unto them may be justly treated of. Moreover, they may choose +for me one whom they will among themselves, who may be judge under +me and over them; who, knowing the laws and customs, may keep these +in my council reasonably in all things, every excuse put away, and +may faithfully perform unto me that which is due. And if by chance +any one fall into my amercement, then he shall be reasonably amerced +by my bailiff and the faithful burghers of the court. And whatever +merchants they draw thither for the bettering of the town, I command +that they have peace, and that no one do them an injury or unjustly sue +them at law. If, indeed, any stranger merchant do anything unfitting +in the town, that shall be amended before the aforesaid justice in +the portmote without a suit-at-law. These being witnesses ... Robert +Steward de Mohaut ... and many others." + +We see from the terms of this charter that the Coventry folk had +already acquired a certain status as free burghers. Now their liberties +were enlarged by a grant of self-jurisdiction. A further grant from +Henry II., appended to the confirmation of this charter, limited the +fine due from the burghers to the earl for any fault to 12d.;[79] "but +if by testimony of his neighbours he cannot pay so much, by their +advice it shall be settled as he is able to pay." We can call up a +possible picture of the court of portmanmote, to which the charter +refers. In some large open space, possibly S. Michael's churchyard, +the townsfolk might be seen gathered together for the meetings of the +court. Conspicuous among the little group of townsmen would be the +bailiff, the earl's representative, a man whose yea and nay was very +powerful among the lord's tenants, for was he not there to watch over +the interests of his master, and arrange for the payment of fines and +forfeitures which were his master's due?[80] By his side some fuller, +weaver, baker, or prosperous agriculturalist would probably take his +seat[81] as the justice, the elected representative of the townsfolk. +A clerk would also be present, for from the time of Henry III. court +records were strictly kept and enrolled. Probably not all the townsmen +attended each meeting, but only such of them as were concerned in any +suit, and even these--within reasonable limits--might plead _essoyne_, +or a valid excuse for absence. What individual part was played by +the justice and bailiff in the hearing of suits it is impossible to +tell, but we may infer that the misdemeanours of the townsfolk were +made known to the court by a jury, drawn perhaps from every street +or ward.[82] These men affirmed on their own knowledge, or on common +report, that certain offences had been committed within the township. +These offences were of a simple, trifling kind, those of a more +serious nature being tried at higher tribunals, before the sheriff or +the justices in eyre, or possibly in some other court of the Earl of +Chester.[83] A presentment, for example, would be made to the effect +that Nicholas, the son of William, had let his cows stray over the +mowing-grass in a certain field which is in the earl's demesne, thereby +causing damage to the extent of fourpence. Nicholas is at mercy,[84] +for it is well known that he is guilty, and he is thrown on the mercy +of the court. Let him pay the damage, and twopence in addition for the +fault. + +Or the jury say that Margaret, the wife of Anketil, took from the +bakery of William of Stonelei two loaves, value one halfpenny, and +afterwards defamed and struck Joan, William's wife, in the open street +known as the Broadgate. And Margaret defends (denies) the deed: +therefore it is adjudged that she come and make her law six-handed +at the next court.[85] Or the jury declare that William, son of Guy, +contrary to the assize of bread, whereby, if a quarter of wheat sell +for 3s. 6d., the farthing loaf of wastel bread should weigh 42s., gives +only 39s. weight of bread in the loaf, to the damage of his customers, +the King's liege people.[86] Moreover, William was bidden at the last +court to come and wage his law twelve-handed; this he has failed to +do.[87] Therefore he is at mercy. The fine is twelve pence. William +cannot pay at once, but his pledges are John the Dyer and Thomas atte +Gate.[88] + +Such cases as these would be the everyday business of the local court; +but civil matters also required a great deal of attention. Transfers of +land were executed there, being witnessed by the principal suitors of +the court. John the Smith, for example, would make over his house in +Earl Street with all its appurtenances to Richard the Weaver and his +heirs in return for an annual rent of fourpence, and would warrant it +to him against all comers. + +Certain documents called indentures[89] would then be drawn up in +duplicate by the clerk, the names of the chief of the folk present +appearing therein as witnesses to the deed. To one of the indentures +the grantor fixed his seal, to the other the grantee, each retaining +the copy to which the seal of the other party in the transaction was +attached by way of title-deed. + +[Illustration:] + +At least twice a year the townsmen appeared before the sheriff,[90] at +whose court criminal or "crown" pleas received a hearing, and who, in +his military capacity, overlooked the muster-at-arms of the townsmen, +and fixed what number of archers were to be levied for the King's +service. The proceeds, of this court, goods of felons and the like, +went to swell the royal treasury. The system of presenting criminals by +means of a jury[91] obtained here as in the town court, but in doubtful +or serious cases the accused would be condemned or acquitted not in +accordance with evidence, but through an appeal to the interposition of +Providence by means of trial by ordeal or battle. Thus, a man who was +thrown into the water was, if he sank, pronounced innocent, if he swam, +guilty; or the one of two champions, who overcame the other in fight, +was held to have proved his case. But these irrational methods of trial +were falling rapidly into disfavour. The "ordeal" was forbidden at the +Lateran Council of 1216, and the Saxons, who much disliked the Norman +method of trial by battle, always sought in their local charters to win +exemption from the necessity of having recourse to it. Step by step the +modern jury system was introduced, which, whatever may be its faults, +is the most workable method hitherto discovered of obtaining a more or +less unbiassed verdict in any suit. + +[Illustration: OLD WHITEFRIARS' MONASTERY, NOW COVENTRY UNION] + +Another provision of the charter, as confirmed by Henry II., was +possibly an expedient to remedy the disasters which had lately befallen +the townsmen under Gernons and Hugh. It was necessary, if the town was +to grow and prosper, to attract settlers from different parts, and to +those seeking a home in Coventry the clause that "newcomers should be +free from all [payments] for two years after they began to build" would +be most welcome.[92] From this time no doubt the advent of passing +or abiding strangers was not infrequent, and the place began to put +on the appearance of a thriving little thoroughfare town. The grant +of a fair to the Earl's-men in 1217, and one to the prior some ten +years later, brought stranger merchants within the town-gates.[93] The +place was important enough to attract the Greyfriars thither before +1234, and the spire of their church still recalls their presence. More +than a hundred years later came the Whitefriars or Carmelites, whose +magnificent cloister is now incorporated in the workhouse. A colony of +Jews also found shelter in Coventry before the days of Edward I.[94] We +know no more than the names, and now and then the occupations of the +men of the place in the thirteenth century; for our inquiries among +the land-transfers of the time can elicit nothing save the records +of the sale of a tenement and curtilage by a William de Artungworth, +"le drapier," or their purchase by Richard le Tailleur, hosier, or +Richard de Mora, merchant. But even this bare enumeration of trades and +callings show the advance made by the men of Coventry since the time +when a handful of villeins and bondsmen tilled the lands that had been +Godiva's at the taking of the Domesday Survey. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 72: For a list of the manorial services required of villein +tenants see Maitland, _Select Pleas in Manorial Courts_ (Selden Soc., +i.), 102-4.] + +[Footnote 73: Green, _Town Life_, i. 197-8] + +[Footnote 74: Green, _op. cit._, i. 199. The Preston men bargained +that they should not be required to follow their lord on a warlike +expedition lasting more than one day (_Ibid._).] + +[Footnote 75: For Henry II.'s charter to Lincoln see Stubbs, _Select +Charters_, 166.] + +[Footnote 76: See Gross, _Gild Merchant_, i. 244-257; Bateson, "Laws of +Breteuil," _Eng. Hist. Rev._, xvi.; Tait, _Mediæval Manchester_, 43-4.] + +[Footnote 77: Nottingham and Winchester received a grant of particular +customs after the pattern of Coventry. London was taken as a model by +Norwich. See Hudson, _Rec. Norwich_, i. 12.] + +[Footnote 78: Dugdale assigns this charter to Blondvil, and I see no +reason to differ. If Blondvil were the grantor, then the date would lie +between the years 1181, that of Earl Hugh's death, and 1189, the date +of the death of Henry II., who confirmed it. I am inclined to think +that the charter should be assigned to 1181-2, in which year the men of +Coventry paid 20 marks to the king.] + +[Footnote 79: Corp. MS. B. 2. The charter is dated "apud Merlebergam" = +Marlborough. This charter was first printed by the late Mary Bateson in +"Laws of Breteuil," _Eng. Hist. Rev._, xvi. 98-9.] + +[Footnote 80: The townsfolk had not yet power to commute the fines and +forfeitures for a fixed sum, called fee-ferm.] + +[Footnote 81: For the association of the feudal lord's representative +and the chosen official of the townsfolk in a town court see the case +of Totnes (Green, _Town Life_, i. 252).] + +[Footnote 82: We infer from analogy that presentments were made by +a jury in this court. Norwich was--for judicial purposes--divided +into four leets. Each leet was divided into sub-leets, these latter +divisions being composed of as many parishes as would furnish twelve +tithings. The head-man, or "capital pledge" of every tithing--a band +of ten, twelve, or more citizens responsible for one another--made the +presentment of anything, which had happened in his tithing, which came +under the cognizance of the court. See Hudson, _Leet Jurisdiction in +Norwich_ (Selden Soc., vol. v.), xii.-xxvi.] + +[Footnote 83: It is not clear whether the townsfolk at this period +attended the earl's leet or the sheriff's court. They certainly +attended the latter court in the time of Edward III. (Madox, _Firma +Burgi_, 108-9).] + +[Footnote 84: _i.e._ has to be amerced, or fined.] + +[Footnote 85: _i.e._ appear with five of her neighbours, who swear that +she is not guilty. This method of clearing the character by oath of the +neighbours was called compurgation.] + +[Footnote 86: Shillings and pence were used as weights. We still speak +of "pennyweights" (Maitland).] + +[Footnote 87: Because no neighbours could be found to swear, therefore +he is guilty.] + +[Footnote 88: Pledges or sureties for the fine. These cases are all +imaginary, but drawn from analogous ones to be found in the Selden +Society's publications, the _Nottingham Records_, etc. I am by no means +sure that such cases as the last two would come within the purview of +the portmanmote. On the difficult question of the line between manorial +and regal jurisdiction see Hearnshaw, _Court Leet of Southampton_.] + +[Footnote 89: So called because the parchment on which the two deeds +were written was so cut (indented) that they would exactly fit or +dovetail into one another when put together at any future time. +Hundreds of these documents are now at Coventry. See Section C of Mr +J.C. Jeaffreson's catalogue of Corp. MSS.] + +[Footnote 90: In cases where the lord of the manor was entitled to hold +a leet or view of frankpledge, the tenants were exempt from attendance +at the hundred court. In the "view of frank-pledge" each testified +that they were enrolled in a tithing or body of mutually responsible +persons.] + +[Footnote 91: The direct ancestor of our modern Grand Jury.] + +[Footnote 92: The conditions under which strangers were admitted into +a town differed with the particular locality. A free craftsman would +be admitted to citizenship by purchase. If a serf escaped from his +master's estate, and lived unclaimed for a year and a day, he was as +a general rule permitted to continue in the town. In Lincoln it was +necessary that he should pay the town taxes during that period (Stubbs, +_Select Charters_, 159).] + +[Footnote 93: Dugdale, _Warw._, i. 161.] + +[Footnote 94: Cole, _Documents Illustrative of Eng. Hist._, 309-19.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +_Prior's-half and Earl's-half_ + + +In Coventry we now enter upon a period where the townsmen not only +sought to make good the privileges they had already won, but strove +to gain, either by fair means or foul, such fresh concessions as they +deemed necessary for their comfort and prosperity. The story of the +struggle for liberty in English towns, though little known, is one of +great interest. Though the whole thing is on a small scale, yet the +narrative of events is no less stirring than the account of the revolt +of a great nation. There was as fierce a conflict at S. Alban's among +a score or two of men in 1327 as among tens of thousands in Paris at +the Revolution. Few leaders of forlorn hopes have shown more desperate +courage than the good folk of Dunstable, who were ready to brave not +only the terrors of punishment in this world, but in the world to come, +for, being cursed with bell, book, and candle by the bishop and their +prior, they said that they recked nothing of this excommunication, but +were resolved rather "to descend into hell altogether" than submit to +the prior's extortions. And conceiving that they were likely to be +worsted in the quarrel, they covenanted with a neighbouring lord for +forty acres of land, preparing to leave their houses and live in tents +ere they would pay the arbitrary tolls and taxes the prior had laid +upon them.[95] It is true there were no philosophic fervour about the +mediæval burgher, no enthusiasm about liberty in the abstract. What he +wanted was some small practical advantage his masters denied him.[96] +All the townsman of S. Alban's asked at the beginning of the quarrel +was, that he should be allowed to grind his corn at home instead of at +the abbot's mill. But wanting this strongly and sorely, and seeing a +chance of victory, he was willing to fight for it perhaps to the death. + +The struggle for freedom is, in Coventry, at first interwoven with an +old quarrel existing between the tenants of the two lords who held +the town between them: for we have seen that Coventry was divided +into two lordships; on the one hand lay the property of the earls of +Chester, the Earl's-half; on the other the Prior's-half, or the convent +estate. The government of these two manors was absolutely distinct. The +Prior's-men had no lot or part in the privileges conferred in Ranulf's +charter, and the Earl's-men none in those the convent won from Henry +III. The customs practised by the Earl's-men on one side of the street, +and those followed by the prior's tenants on the other, might differ +to a considerable extent. They attended different courts; some were +compelled to pay dues from which their neighbours were exempt; the +prior's tenants might be forced to carry their lord's harvest, or work +on his estate; while the Earl's-men, as free burghers, had long since +discontinued feudal labour. A priory tenant would stand in his lord's +pillory, or hang on his gallows; an Earl's-man met his punishment at +the castle, or the sheriff's court. While the convent tenants could +very likely bring their butter, horse provender, or coarse cloth to +sell in the market free of toll, another owing the earl fealty might +have to pay a penny or more before his stall could be set up in the +market-place. These differences of tenure, custom, and privilege, +naturally bred disputes among the townsfolk, a frequent occurrence in +those places wherein different lords held sway, dividing the allegiance +of the inhabitants. + +[Illustration: 40 far Gosford St.] + +There appears to have been some ill-feeling arising from a trading +jealousy between Earl's-folk and Prior's-folk. The former were +disposed, as early as the days of Henry II., to entertain some grudge +with regard to the ordering of the market in the Prior's-half,[97] +but we know no particulars of the grievance. So hotly, however, did +the quarrel rage between them, that there were "debates, contentions, +namelie killing of divers men,"[98] in the streets. Doubtless, in the +interests of peace, it was better that one or other of the contending +parties should become predominant within the town, and force the +other to consent to a compromise. The last Earl of Chester being +dead, and his successors, the De Montalts, men of little mark, the +chance lay with S. Mary's convent; and an enterprising prior, William +of Brightwalton, was not slow to avail himself of the opportunity. +Hoping, so the convent folk afterwards declared, to allay the strife +by uniting the two manors whereof the town was composed under one +lord, he proposed to purchase the earl's estate, a scheme to which +Roger de Montalt, being in need of money for a Crusade, was fain to +agree. So in 1249 the latter resigned the manor into the prior's hand +in return for a yearly rent of £100, with ten marks to the nuns of +Polesworth, and by this means the head of the convent became lord of +the Earl's-half,[99] Prior's-men and Earl's-men alike holding of him +house and land, and owing him rent and accustomed services. Thus the +lay lords of this great family slip out of the city's history; the +ruling power in the town is the great religious corporation which owed +its existence to Saxon piety. + +Whatever changes this transfer may have brought about, one thing is +certain, it did not establish peace in Coventry. Twenty years later +the old jealousy flamed up anew. About 1267 both townsmen and convent +took advantage of Henry III.'s necessities to negotiate for a charter, +but with a different result. The former obtained a bare confirmation +of their ancient liberties,[100] the prior, on the other hand, owing, +belike, to his superior command of the purse, or in return for help he +may have rendered the King in the late wars, was able to purchase fresh +concessions for himself and his men. He was allowed to appoint coroners +for the town, and further, licence was given to form a merchant guild +among his tenants.[101] The grant of these graces brought about an +outbreak in the Earl's-half. Hitherto, it may be supposed, Earl's-folk +and Prior's-folk had carried on their trade on fairly equal terms, +but the new charter would bring about a revolution. The object of the +formation of a merchant guild was to confine the trade of the district +to its members; they would become local commercial monopolists. No +wonder the Earl's-men resisted the foundation of this society. If it +were once established, and they were excluded from its ranks, what a +blow would be dealt to their prosperity. + +The guildsmen would make it impossible for them to trade under +anything like favourable conditions. They might be mulcted by tolls; +subjected to the annoying supervision of the guild officials in respect +to the weight or quality of their goods; restrictions affecting the +time, place, or manner of their selling might be imposed on them; or +they might have to relinquish bargains they had closed in favour of the +members of the guild merchant. + +So when the terms of this new charter were known the Earl's-folk rose +in tumult, withstood the priory coroner when he attempted to see the +body of a man, slain, no doubt, in these brawls, and prevented their +neighbours in the Convent-half from forming the guild according to the +permission vouchsafed to them. Nor could the sheriff's officer, sent +by the royal order at the prior's request to proclaim these charters +and liberties in Coventry, bring the unruly townspeople to obedience. +"Certain men, we learn," ran the King's writ, "from those parts with +others, armed with force, took Gilbert, clerk to the said sheriff, +sent thither to this end, and imprisoned him, and broke" the royal +"rolls and charters, and beat and ill-treated the men of the prior +and convent."[102] What was the end of the tumult, or the fate of the +luckless clerk, we cannot tell, but, as we hear no more of the prior's +guild, it seems that this outbreak of the Coventry men "with others" +prevented its establishment. + +We now enter upon a fresh phase of the quarrel. It is no longer the +Prior's-men but the prior himself who is the Earl's-men's enemy. Their +whole energy is absorbed in the effort to free their trade from the +restrictions the present lord of the Earl's-half has laid down for +them to observe. For the Earl's-men appeared ill-content with the +change of masters. Did the prior encroach upon the rights of the +townsfolk? Probably not; previously established customs founded on +the charter of Ranulf would bar his claims. But though the law may +not alter, the interpretation of it may vary from time to time; so +may the circumstances under which it is administered. It was so with +the customs which had hitherto regulated the Earl's-men's lives. They +and their present masters were disposed to differ as to the meaning +these could bear, and hence a way was opened for numerous quarrels and +lawsuits. Moreover, restraints, which had been borne without complaint +in early days under the Chester lordship, were found unendurable when +the townsfolk's commerce, and with it their desire for freedom, had +increased. + +The matter of the merchant guild was only the forerunner of more +serious trouble. The townspeople were rapidly growing rich, whether +by soap-making,[103] or the manufacture of woollen cloth, or the +entertainment of travellers, or a happy combination of all three +sources of wealth. Under Edward I. they were able to pave their +city,[104] which had now risen to a sufficiently important position to +be accounted a borough, and to return two members to the Parliament of +1295.[105] Its prosperity attracted the notice of Edward I., who in +1303 summoned two Coventry merchants to attend a council;[106] and of +Edward II., who asked the inhabitants for a loan of 500 marks for the +prosecution of the Scotch war. It is small wonder if the townsfolk +were jealous lest this growing prosperity should be checked by the +petty regulations the prior chose to lay on them. Was their wealth to +be curtailed because, forsooth, the convent officials charged them, not +to sell here, or make there, to relinquish a favourable bargain, or +never to open stall or shop for sale of goods during certain hours of +the day? + +The prior in the days of Edward II. was Henry Irreys, and his hand lay +heavy on the townsmen. They were not able to live, they complained, +"by reason of his oppression." Moreover, like the jolly, illiterate +Abbot of S. Alban's named Hugh, who "feared nothing so much as the +Latin tongue,"[107] and so oppressed his tenants, Prior Irreys was +an ally of Edward II., for it was by "maintenance of the King and of +Spencer, Earl of Winchester" (_i.e._ Despenser), that he was enabled +to keep the malcontents in check. In his days arose a second dispute +concerning traffic, but at what date we cannot tell. The Friday market +had always been held in the Prior's-half, and there only were the +Earl's-men permitted to sell their wares on that day.[108] Now certain +of them broke through the prior's order, and sold openly in their +own houses[109] during market hours. Appeal was made to the law. In +vain the townsmen pleaded that by virtue of the clause in Ranulf's +charter, giving them the same liberties as the Lincoln folk, they were +free to sell their goods when or where they would. Vainly, too, they +tried to strengthen their case by declaring that before the prior had +purchased the Chester estate they had been wont to hold a fair in the +Earl Street, where now their shops stood. These pleas availed nothing, +and a verdict was returned for the prior with £60 damages, the Earl's +men being forbidden to sell anywhere but in the Prior's-half during +market hours. The prescribed payment must have well-nigh ruined William +Grauntpee and other traders concerned in the struggle, for £60 was then +accounted a great sum.[110] + +It was in 1323 that the townsfolk sought, after a very novel fashion, +to rid themselves of their oppressors. Their enemies accused them, +whether truly or untruly we cannot tell, of having recourse to the +black art, and strange rumours were afloat concerning the unlawful +dealings of the citizens with one Master John de Nottingham, limb +of Satan and necromancer, who inhabited a ruinous house in the +neighbourhood of the town. Witchcraft was not then considered an +ecclesiastical offence, but one against the common law, and it was, +it seems, before the Court of King's Bench that the approver, Robert +le Mareshall, told his story. He had been living, he said, with one +Master John de Nottingham, necromancer, of Coventry. To whom, on the +Wednesday next before the feast of S. Nicholas, in the seventeenth +year of the King's reign, came certain men of the town, citizens of +good standing, and promised them great profit--to the necromancer, +£20, and "his subsistence in any religious house in England,"[111] and +to Robert le Mareshall, £15--if they would compass the lives of the +King and others by necromancy. Having received part of the promised +payment as earnest at the hands of John le Redclerk, hosier, and John, +son of Hugh de Merington, apprentice of the law, with seven pounds of +wax and two yards of canvas, the magicians began their work. On the +Sunday after the feast of S. Nicholas they fashioned seven magical +images in the respective likenesses of Edward II., with his crown, +the elder and younger Despenser, Prior Henry, Nicholas Crumpe, his +steward, the cellarer of the convent, and Richard Sowe, probably one +of the priory underlings who had made himself unpopular. As far as the +last-named enemy upon the list was concerned--for upon him they chose +to experiment "to see what might be done with the rest"--they were +entirely successful. On the Friday before the feast of the Holy Rood +about midnight John de Nottingham gave his helper, Robert le Mareshall, +a leaden bodkin, with command to thrust it into the forehead of the +figure of Richard Sowe. The effect was well-nigh instantaneous. When +the necromancer sent Robert on the morrow to inquire how Richard did, +the messenger found him crying "Harrow," and mad as mad could be. And +on the Wednesday before the Ascension, John having on the previous +Sunday removed the bodkin from the forehead of the figure and thrust it +into its heart, Richard Sowe died.[112] + +Meanwhile the necromancer and the accused gave themselves up in court, +consenting to plead before a jury. All, save the necromancer, were +admitted to bail.[113] He no doubt looked to receive no mercy, and +when after sundry delays the trial came on, the marshal certified that +Master John de Nottingham was dead. Another of the accused, Piers +Baroun, who had been a burgess at the Parliament of 1305,[114] died +also during the interval. + +Others had fled from justice, though of these one Richard Grauntpee, +without doubt a near relative of the man who had lost his suit with +the prior in the matter of the market, afterwards came and surrendered +himself in court. Either the sympathy of the neighbourhood was with +the accused, or it was thought that Robert's tale was unworthy of +belief, for a jury taken from the neighbourhood returned a verdict +of acquittal. But the trial greatly embittered the feelings of the +citizens, and when the tide turned, and they were able to do the prior +hurt, they availed themselves of the opportunity gladly. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 95: "Prior Richard and Monks" in _Cornh. Mag._, vi. 840.] + +[Footnote 96: Thomson, _Municipal History_.] + +[Footnote 97: Earl Hugh forbade his tenants to meddle with the prior's +markets (Dugdale, _Warw._, i. 159).] + +[Footnote 98: Burton MS. f. 109_a_.] + +[Footnote 99: Dugdale, i. 138.] + +[Footnote 100: Quoted in _Inspeximus_, 17 Ed. II. (Corp. MS. B. 4); the +date there given is Jan. 30, 52 H. III. (1268).] + +[Footnote 101: Dugdale, _Warw._, i. 162.] + +[Footnote 102: Merewether and Stephens, _Hist. Boroughs_, i. 469. The +transcript of the MS. is given in Gross, _Gild Merchant_, ii. 365. The +expression "with others" is very significant; these were probably men +from the country, who had hitherto been allowed to trade in the town, +and feared the establishment of the guild.] + +[Footnote 103: Soap was made in the neighbourhood of Coventry about +1300. "Sope about Couentre." Robert of Gloucester, _Chron._, i. 143.] + +[Footnote 104: Dugdale, _Warw._, i. 138.] + +[Footnote 105: _Parl. Writs_, i. lii.] + +[Footnote 106: Lawrence de Shepey summoned to attend a council of +merchants at York in 1303 (_Ibid._ i. 135). He had been burgess for +Coventry in 1300.] + +[Footnote 107: Froude, _Short Studies_, iii. 54. Edward II.'s overthrow +was the signal for a rising against this abbot.] + +[Footnote 108: Dugdale, _Warw._, i. 162.] + +[Footnote 109: It is probable that there were no shops, in our sense, +in the fourteenth century. The traders' goods were kept in a cellar +below the ground floor (Turner, _Domestic Architecture_, iii. 36). See +also, Dormer Harris, _Troughton Sketches_, 53.] + +[Footnote 110: The value of £60 would represent more than £700 at the +present time. In the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries the +average price of an ox was 13s. 1-1/4d,; of a sheep, 1s. 5d.; of a cow, +9s. 5d.; and a fowl, 1d. (Rogers, _Agriculture and Prices_, i. 361-3).] + +[Footnote 111: Probably a corrody or daily allowance of food from the +monastic table during the life of an individual. This ensured for the +individual who held it a share in the prayers of the brethren, and +sometimes included lodging within the monastery.] + +[Footnote 112: Lansd. MS. 290, f. 533. It is the earliest trial for +witchcraft extant in England. See also _Parl. Writs_, ii. Div. 2, App. +269-70.] + +[Footnote 113: Divers natives of Warwickshire and citizens of London +went bail for them.] + +[Footnote 114: _Parl. Writs_, i. ii.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +_The Seigniory of the Prior and Queen Isabella_ + + +Hitherto it had fared ill with the Earl's-men in their struggle with +the convent. Were they to be worsted like the men of S. Alban's or +Bury S. Edmund's? The former were now utterly broken in spirit. After +a hard fight lasting from the days of Henry III., they obtained in +1327 a charter, conferring on them the control over the local courts +and the privileges of a free and independent borough. And yet they +were powerless. Five years later they voluntarily surrendered their +charter into the abbot's hands. They gave up the perambulation of +their borough. They took their handmills--the initial cause of the +contention--and left them in the churchyard in token of renunciation. +They presented to the abbot the town chest with the keys belonging +thereto, thus relinquishing all their rights as a free and independent +community. Nor did better success attend the Bury S. Edmund's men, +who had the same high hopes as the S. Alban's folk, and who in the +same year compelled their abbot to concede to them a guild merchant, +a community, a common seal, and the custody of their gates. Five +years later they too were forced to abandon these claims, and, after +a fruitless effort at the time of the Peasant Revolt in 1381,[115] +both towns sank into apathy, each under the rule of the great local +religious house. + +But alone among convent towns, a piece of supreme good fortune awaited +Coventry. The townsmen, just at a critical time, gained a powerful +champion. In 1327, by some bargain between Isabella, widow of Edward +II. and the representatives of the Chester family, the rents coming +from the Earl's-half passed into the Queen's hands, to become after +her death parcel of the duchy of Cornwall, heritage of the princes of +Wales. We have nothing to do with the rights and wrongs of the quarrel +which raged for twenty years between the Queen and the prior of S. +Mary's convent. The undoubted gainers in this conflict were the men of +Coventry; for, helpless under Isabella's repeated attacks, the monks +conceded to their tenants those rights of self-government whereof they +had stood in need so long. + +Soon after the Queen's entry into possession of the De Montalt estate, +the prior had many bitter complaints to make of the treatment he +received at her hands and at the hands of his "mortal enemies," the men +of Coventry. His courts were deserted by the men of the Earl's-half, +the profits of his franchise finding their way, no doubt, into the +Queen's coffers, as her steward held a court at Cheylesmore. His dues, +waifs, heriots, the mournful enumeration proceeds, were withheld, and +certain tenements belonging to him seized into "my lady's hand" in +spite of charters shown to prove his ample right to the same. Great +destruction had been wrought in his woods at Whitmore under colour +of the Queen's claim to gather her "estovers," or fuel, therein. And +the boundaries about these woods had been violently thrown down, +and if "they be not now enclosed to prevent cattle from pasturing +therein, they will be ruined for ever past recovery." The men of the +Earl's-half lived in the prior's tenements in the Earl's Orchard, +detaining the rent, twenty marks a year, "by tort and force." But +this was not the worst. By cover "of the Seigneurie of my said lady," +the prior continued, a great part of the rents in Coventry were +treacherously withheld, and the monks dared not take distress and force +the defaulters to pay "for peril of death." For when their bailiff, +Simon Pakeman, went to demand the aforesaid rents without making any +distraint for the same, "up came Peter de Stoke and other mad folk +... and assaulted the said Simon with force of arms, and beat and +maltreated him, saying ... that if the said prior and convent ever +made any demand of the kind in the Earl's-half they would make their +heads fly" (_ferryent voler les testes_).[116] Again and again the +prior and convent poured forth their monotonous complaint. Now they +"prayed restitution" for the rent of two messuages, "which for two +years last past my lady had given to a demoiselle of her chamber."[117] +Now they averred that she had put the bailiff of the Earl's-half out +of his office, whereby they had lost all profits arising from their +franchises. Still the spoliation continued; they fixed the damage the +convent had sustained at £20,000,[118] and, turning from the deaf ears +of Queen Isabel, besought the King to see justice done for God's sake, +"and for love of our Lady, his dear Mother, in whose honour the priory" +had been founded, lest the convent should be compelled to disperse.[119] + +Meanwhile the men of Coventry were gaining every year important graces +from Edward III. Now that the power of the prior was thus diminished, +there was no one to prevent the acquisition of fresh liberties, and +their money circulated freely at Westminster, the messengers bringing +back in return the precious slips of parchment sealed with the King's +seal, the testimony of new rights to be enjoyed by the townsfolk. In +1334 their merchandise was freed from toll in all places throughout +the King's dominions.[120] Six years later licence was given them +to form a merchant guild,[121] while other kindred societies sprang +up, and received licence to hold land in mortmain.[122] In 1341 the +King granted a charter to the effect that any inquisition of lands or +tenements within the city should be taken by the townsmen, and not by +strangers, an important provision at a time when there were frequent +lawsuits between the Queen and the prior.[123] + +The convent give a graphic description of the effect of such an +inquisition upon their holding, and of the plot between the Queen and +the Earl's-men which caused the inquiry to be made.[124] "There came +the Men of the Earl's-half of Coventry amongst others ... Conspiring +and Compassing the undoing of the said prior and of his monks, and the +Disinheritance and Destruction of their Church, and making show of +their Intent unto my said Lady that her Seigniorie was more largely +than she had occupied.... Whereupon the Stewards and some of the +officers of my said Lady, without having any Power or Commission from +the Court of our Lord the King, took an Inquisition of the said +Men, Adversarys to the said Prior and Convent, what were the Bounds +in Ancient times of the Seigniorye of the Earl Rondulph ... which +men quickly and Maliciously gave up the said false verdict to the +Damnation of their Souls, Saying that all the Prior's-half, which is +of foundation of the Church, is two little leys (meadows), whereon the +profits by year are not above 50s.... and did fasten stakes of Division +to Separate the Seigniory of my said Lady from the Seigniory of the +said Prior." What made this action so particularly galling was that it +was the "Seigniory of the ffoundation" of their "Church" Isabel called +in question, though they had held it, they declared, long time before +the coming of the Conqueror, and before the Earls of Chester, whose +representative the Queen was, had been heard of in England. + +The prior's complaints availed nothing; the men of Coventry were +in a sure way of victory, and in 1345 the city was incorporated by +charter. Three years later one John Ward took his seat as first mayor +of the city. The mayor, bailiffs, and community were henceforth to +be responsible for the fee-ferm;[125] and power to hear and adjudge +certains pleas, hitherto treated of in the county court, was given to +the city officers. The prior and his brethren looked upon this as a +last indignity. "They are become lords of the said prior, all whome +beforetime were his tenants," and in consequence of the inquisition +above mentioned, he and his brethren were now "entirely involved within +the danger of the mayor and his bailiffs, for they had not a foot of +land of their Seigniory" beyond the priory gates.[126] + +Wearied of a struggle which had lasted for twenty years, the litigants, +the Queen, the prior, and the newly-made corporation allowed the +dispute to be set at rest once and for all in 1355, and the "Indenture +Tripartite" made between them took the form of a compromise. Each of +the three parties agreed to restore or forego the exercise of certain +rights, or at least to accept an equivalent. The prior gave up all +claim to jurisdiction over the Earl's-men, and the Queen forgave him +£10 of the yearly ferm owing to her, while the franchises he thus +relinquished--the right of holding view of frankpledge or leet and +other courts with the exercise of the coronership--Isabel bestowed +on the mayor, bailiffs, and community. These in their turn agreed to +indemnify the convent by a payment of £10 a year. + +Other matter of contention was laid at rest. The prior's tenants were +to be taxable with the Earl's-men, and to serve as mayors and bailiffs +with their fellow-citizens. The restrictions on buying and selling, +which had given rise to the lawsuit in the former reign, were wholly +laid aside. "Any persons of whatsoever condition they be, [may] sell +any manner of wares" in the Earl's part, "or buy at what day or time it +shall please them, and they shall not be disturbed by the said prior +and convent." And although the market was to continue to be held as +of old in the Prior's-half, no toll was to be taken according to the +ancient custom, except for horses, while all the regulations concerning +sale and merchandise should henceforth "be at the ordinance of the +mayor and community." The assize of bread, ale, and victuals was to be +kept by the mayor; and though the prior was to have all the profits +arising from the fines of offenders against the assize, the officers +of the corporation could enter the convent half, and, in case the +prior's officers neglected to punish fraudulent brewers and bakers, +could levy fines upon these evil-doers and see justice done. + +Various restitutions were made on the Queen's part, showing that she +and her advisers were really intent on a peaceful solution of the +difficulty. The advowson of chapels, chantries, and the like, which +she had appropriated, were restored to the prior, who, in his turn, +forgave all the delinquencies of the Earl's-men against himself.[127] +The "Tripartite" was drawn up so clearly, and in so fair a spirit, that +in essentials it was never afterwards called in question. Disputes +arose between the convent and the townsmen in later days, it is true, +but not concerning the all-important matters of trade and jurisdiction. +Nevertheless, this compact put an end, once and for all, to the prior's +dominion in Coventry. Henceforth in recounting the history of the +place, we have little concern with the convent; our subject touches +only upon the rule and fortunes of the mayor, bailiffs, and community +of the city. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 115: Thompson, _Municipal History_, 22 _sqq._ Green, _Town +Life_, i. 298.] + +[Footnote 116: Burton MS. f. 88. This appears to be the sense, but this +portion of the document is missing from Burton's folio. I found it on +a loose leaf in the _Leet Book_, copied in Norman French in a modern +and rather illegible hand from the deeds which were in the Stanton +collection of papers destroyed in the Birmingham library fire. [It is +now in Burton's Book Corp. MS. A. 34.]] + +[Footnote 117: _Ib._, f. 110_a_.] + +[Footnote 118: Burton MS. f. 63_a_. An incredible sum.] + +[Footnote 119: _Ib._, ff. 109-12.] + +[Footnote 120: Corp. MS. B. 7.] + +[Footnote 121: _Ib._, 6.] + +[Footnote 122: These were S. John the Baptist, S. Catherine, the Corpus +Christi, and the Trinity guilds, founded respectively in 1342, 1343, +and 1364.] + +[Footnote 123: _Inspeximus_, 15 Ed. III. (Corp. MS. B. 7). This would +be highly important in a trial taking place at the county court, where +the sheriff might impanel a jury, not of townsmen, but of those in the +country round, who would not be acquainted with the "metes and bounds" +dividing the two estates. The Prior of Dunstable was accused by the +burgesses of introducing foreign jurors into the town (_Cornh. Mag._, +vi. 837).] + +[Footnote 124: Burton MS. f. 110_a_.] + +[Footnote 125: The fee-ferm rent, representing the King's rights over +the fines, forfeitures, etc, taken from criminals, was fixed at £50 +a year. The liberties granted to be summed up thus: (1) The townsmen +may duly elect their own mayor and bailiffs. (2) They have cognizance +of pleas, of trespasses, contracts, covenants, and all other business +amongst themselves. (3) There is to be a seal for the recognition of +debts. (4) Mayor and bailiffs to have profits of view of frankpledge +with the court, to have control over the gaol, fair, market, etc., and +in return a ferm of £50 to be paid to the Queen and her heirs (Corp. +MS. B. 11).] + +[Footnote 126: Burton MS. f. 111_a_.] + +[Footnote 127: Burton, MS. ff. 98-103.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +_The Corporation and the Guilds_ + + +After the Settlement of 1355 the figure of the head of the great +religious house at Coventry fades into comparative insignificance, +and all further quarrels between city and convent hardly rise above +the level of petty squabbles of no historical moment. The prior is no +longer lord of the place; he merely appears as host of the royal folk, +kings, and kings' sons, representatives of the ancient line of the +Earls of Chester, when they sojourn within the city. The rent of the +Earl's-half[128] now swells the revenue of the Princes of Wales, hence +the appellation "Camera Principis," or the prince's (Treasure) chamber, +the familiar motto on the city arms.[129] + +With the disappearance of earl and prior from the foreground of the +picture there emerges another figure, the city merchant, type of a +newly-enriched class, the future guide of the destinies of the place. +Curiously enough, it is this man's work in stone that has best survived +the test of time. What has become of the castle of Hugh and Ranulf? It +has utterly disappeared; indeed, its very existence has been sometimes +doubted; the name "Broadgate" alone recalls the entrance (_latam +portam_) whereto reference is made in one of Earl Hugh's charters.[130] +Where is the priory of Irreys and Brightwalton? Mean streets cover the +site, and of the cathedral nought remains but a few bases of clustered +shafts in Priory Row and a portion of the North-West tower converted +into a dwelling-place. But the outline of S. Michael's spire[131] built +by the people is still the wonder of Coventry, and the guild-hall of S. +Mary with its glorious roof and window has behind it five hundred years +of continuous civic life. + +Coventry was now a free and independent corporate borough. The townsmen +had power to elect their own officers, and hold their own courts, +taking for the common use the profits of jurisdiction, so long as +they paid into the royal exchequer the annual fee-ferm of £50 and the +prior's ferm of £10. The leading men of the place, most likely the +wealthy merchants and others, who had won the charter of liberties +from Queen Isabel,[132] now set to work to reorganise courts, elect +officials, in short to shape the whole administration to fall in with +the new order of things.[133] We know nothing of the manner in which +this was done, and as so many of the early records have been lost we +can give no account in many cases of the form of municipal rule chosen +by the citizens. Here and there curious documents give us a glimpse +of the working of certain courts, or the municipal action of this +or that body of men. But the information concerning very important +points is unfortunately lacking. We are referred, for instance, to the +"old custom" of electing officials, but we do not know what the old +custom was, and are hence left in ignorance of the manner in which the +election was made. + +What part the poorer folk--menus gentz--smaller craftsfolk, and +working-people played in the struggle for liberty is dark to us, +but we may infer from the analogy of other towns,[134] and from the +subsequent history of Coventry, that they had but little effective +power under the new constitution. The growth of oligarchy[135] in towns +is a matter of much debate. How early the few in Coventry engrossed +the governing power of which the whole community was--in theory at +least--the source, it is impossible in our present state of knowledge +to determine. We have testimony as early as 1450 of the great influence +of the leading crafts, mercers, and drapers. The evidence--though not +always so clear as we could wish--points to a gradual absorption of the +conduct of affairs during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries by a +small official class. In the end this clique succeeded so effectually +in freeing itself from every device framed to ensure some regard for +the popular will, that the charter of 1621 vested all power--and +incidentally considerable official emolument--in a close select body +"entirely independent of the rest of the community."[136] How early +the citizens became aware of the trend of affairs we know not, but it +is, maybe, significant that that popular discontent began to manifest +itself within a generation after the incorporation of the city. In the +late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries the commonalty set order +at defiance, reviled the mayor in the guild hall, and sought occasion +to break out in riot and tumult, while under the veil of religious +societies, industrial combinations--akin to the modern strike--formed +again and again, and were with difficulty suppressed. + +After 1420, when the graphic chronicle contained in the _Leet +Book_[137] begins to be available for our researches, a glimpse is +given of a fully evolved constitution in working order. On January 25, +the feast of the Conversion of S. Paul, the mayor, chamberlains, and +wardens were annually elected, the permanent officials, the recorder, +legal adviser of the corporation, and the coroner re-appointed, the +justices of the peace selected, while the bailiffs, according to +ancient custom, received nomination at the Michaelmas assembly of +the court leet. The justices of the peace--with the exception of the +recorder--served also as key-keepers of the chest containing the common +treasure. The court of portmanmote, mentioned in Ranulf's charter, +still survived under various names, and in it pleas for debt were +tried by the presiding officers, the mayor, and bailiffs. At quarter +sessions the mayor, recorder, and three other late mayors, justices +of the peace, dealt with criminal offences, and it was, probably, the +activity of these comparatively recently created officials,[138]that +brought about the degeneration of the leet or view of frankpledge, +normally a court of justice for the trial of minor criminal offences, +particularly evasions of the assize of bread and beer.[139] By the +fifteenth century, the Coventry leet had retained little or nothing +of its judicial functions, and merely survived as a court wherein +by-laws, binding on the whole community, and grounded on petitions of +grievances, received the sanction of the jurats of the leet. Another +body, which also possessed legislative functions, was the mayor's +council of forty-eight, later known as the common council. While it is +from a small select body called the council-house, of which the mayor +and aldermen appear to have been ex-officio members, that there sprang +the close, corrupt corporation of later times. + +[Illustration: COURTYARD, ST MARY'S HALL, COVENTRY] + +There are certain officials whose elections or appointments are not +entered in the regular municipal records, but who, nevertheless, had +great weight in the councils of the city. Such were the aldermen, who +first appear in 1477.[140] These officials discharged certain police +duties in their respective wards and were of the inner council of the +mayor. Under the charter of James I. they became permanent justices +of the peace, and members of the corporation. While as justice of the +peace, key-keeper, head of the electoral jury and jury of the leet, the +master of the Trinity guild was one of the foremost figures among the +municipal rulers. His connection, and that of his fellow, the master of +the Corpus Christi guild, with the mayoralty was very close. Two years +before entering office each mayor was master of the Corpus Christi, and +two years after quitting it, master of the Trinity guild. The control +they exercised over the revenues of the guilds, which were often put to +municipal uses, gave these masters much power and authority with the +magnates of the city. The guilds joined their funds with those of the +wardens to pension deserving townsfolk[141] and pay the salary of the +recorder.[142] Before 1384 the Trinity guild discharged the ferm of +£10 due to the prior, receiving a share of common land to be held in +severalty[143]--that is separate from the lands of the community--as +compensation. Indeed, the guild officers were so clearly considered +as officers of the corporation that when they, together with the city +wardens and chamberlains, neglected to present their accounts at the +annual audit[144] they were one and all brought to book by the leet, +and ordered to remedy their neglect under pain of punishment. + +The origin of societies known as guilds is involved in controversy, +but they were common throughout all Europe in the Middle Ages, bearing +eloquent testimony to the fortifying power of combination. They +afforded mutual protection to their members, frequently making good any +loss sustained from an insurance fund to which all were contributory, +and devoting other portions of their revenues to feasts, almsgiving, +and public works. Guilds are best remembered, however, in the twelfth +and thirteenth centuries, as monopolist organisations, and a third of +all the towns in England, with the possible exception of London, had +their merchant guild, or body of traders and handicraftsmen, engrossing +the local commerce to the exclusion of all men without their ranks. The +craft guild was a century behind the merchant guild in its rise and +development. Its members met together to make rules, by which all who +practised a particular calling in the locality were to be directed in +all affairs connected with their trade or handicraft. They devoted some +of their revenue to religious uses, the members frequently supporting +some church or chapel, or providing candles for altar or processional +lights. Other local guilds not definitely commercial, but rather +social, in character, often called after some saint, were active in +the performance of all good works; they clad the poor in their livery, +supported churches, colleges of priests and grammar schools, and +pensioned decayed and deserving members. At Coventry, in the later +fourteenth and earlier fifteenth centuries, guilds rose rapidly, and +as rapidly coalesced, or, in the case of those "yeomen" or journeymen +fraternities, which served to focus the prevailing industrial +discontent, failed to maintain themselves in face of the hostility +of other powerful previously existing associations. Two fraternities +survived to play a great part in the city's mediæval history, the +Corpus Christi guild, founded in 1348, and the better-known society +of the Holy Trinity, S. Mary, S. John the Baptist, and S. Catherine, +properly a fusion of four different fraternities, founded between 1340 +and 1364, and known for brevity's sake as the Trinity guild. + +[Illustration: MINSTREL GALLERY ST MARY'S HALL] + +It is possible that it was to the foundation of the merchant guild of +S. Mary[145] in 1340, the kindred associations which sprang up around +it, and to the gifts of their members in lands and money that the +townsfolk owed the purchase of the incorporation charter.[146] It is +frequently found that the same man serves in different years as mayor +and master of the merchant fraternity.[147] + +The town hall of S. Mary, in which not only the guild feasts were +held, but municipal business[148] was transacted, and the town chest, +as well as the guild plate,[149] stored, tells by its name of its +connection with S. Mary's brotherhood. The vaulting of the entrance +porch of this building still bears on its central boss a carving +which represents the coronation of the Virgin; another of the porch +carvings--now weather-worn--recalled the Annunciation, and a scene on +the famous tapestry within the hall, the Assumption,[150] so that the +guild brethren, could be everywhere reminded of the scenes in the life +of their chief patroness. No church, however, recalls the Virgin's +name, though materials from an unfinished building, which should have +borne that dedication, were transported from Cheylesmore to Bablake, +where the stately, early Perpendicular church of S. John the Baptist +was rising on ground granted by Queen Isabel in 1342 to the fraternity +called after that saint.[151] Both S. John the Baptist's guild and S. +Catherine's--the latter connected with S. Catherine's chapel in S. +John's Hospital,[152] coalesced between 1364-5 with the guild merchant, +to be absorbed later by the all-embracing Trinity fraternity. This +fusion of the guilds, which had certainly taken place informally +before 1384,[153] was ratified by patent in 1392,[154] when the united +revenues were increased to the amount of £86, 13s. 4d. a year. The +completion of S. John's church became the especial care of the Trinity +guild, and the dues taken at the Drapery, where cloth was sold, were +devoted to that purpose, while a college of priests, whose number was +in 1393 increased to nine, officiated at this church, and lived on the +bounty of the brotherhood.[155] + +[Illustration: SMITHFORD STREET] + +The priests of the merchant guild, as was meet, occupied from the +beginning the most honourable place of all. They sang their "solemn +antiphonies" in the lady-chapel of S. Michael's, the great parish +church of the Earl's-half, a practice which was still continued +after the title of the guild became merged in the society of the +Trinity;[156] while the guild of the Corpus Christi, composed, it would +seem, of the prior's tenants, occupied the corresponding chapel in the +parish church of the Trinity.[157] + +One guild, that of the fullers and tailors, called after the Nativity, +carried on an obscure existence in connection with the since demolished +chapel of S. George outside the Gosford gate. The formation of this +society was violently opposed by the powers that were in 1384 on the +ground that the purpose of its members--"labourers and artificers +of the middling sort" and strangers--was to withstand the mayor and +officers of the city, and not to promote the welfare of souls.[158] +After 1400, further guild-making had come to have little favour with +the ruling men of the city. Three several times did the mayor and +bailiffs obtain patents forbidding the formation of guilds other than +those already existing within Coventry.[159] While the close alliance +of the older fraternities and the corporation is shown in the fact +that the meetings of the guilds of S. Anne and S. George, formed by +journeymen tailors in the first quarter of the century, were suppressed +by royal command under the pretext that their meetings were to the +manifest destruction of the ancient foundations, the guilds of Holy +Trinity and Corpus Christi.[160] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 128: See above, page 70.] + +[Footnote 129: _Cf._ the expression "queen's-chamber" as applied to +Bristol, where the ferm was paid to the queen-consort.] + +[Footnote 130: The "Casteldich" is mentioned Corp. MSS. C. 61.] + +[Footnote 131: On the belfry as continental symbol of independence, see +Round, _Commune of London_, 244.] + +[Footnote 132: For instance, one of the twelve whose names are handed +down in the mayor-lists as winners of the freedom of the city was +Walter Whitweb. He was master of the guild merchant in 1353 (Corp. +MS. C. 148). Four of the twelve served afterwards as mayor, some +others as bailiffs of the city. We may note that the leading families +under the prior still continue to take the foremost place after the +incorporation. Thus to Lawrence de Shepey, member of Edward I.'s +assembly of merchants (_Parl. Writs_, i. 135), and in 1300 member for +the borough (_Ib._, I. lii.), succeeded Jordan de Shepey whose name is +yet commemorated in Jordan Well, second mayor of the city and first +master of the guild merchant (Gross, ii. 49). A parallel case is shown +in the Kelle family. Robert was burgess in 1298 (_Parl. Writs_, I. +lii.), and Henry one of the founders of the Trinity guild in 1364, and +four times mayor of the city.] + +[Footnote 133: On the solemn consultations thus involved in the case of +Ipswich, see Gross, _Gild Merchant_, i. 23.] + +[Footnote 134: On the troubles attending the grant of a charter to +Norwich in 1380, where the commonalty were "very contrarious," see +Hudson, _op. cit._, I. liv. _sqq._] + +[Footnote 135: Bateson, _op. cit._, II, lxvi.] + +[Footnote 136: Charter 17 Jas. I. On the corruption of the Coventry +corporation, see _Munic. Corp. Report_ (Coventry, 1835) 12; Webb, +_Local Government_.] + +[Footnote 137: _Coventry Leet Book_, 1420-1555, edited for the Early +English Text Society by the present writer; part i. 1907, part ii. +1908, part iii. 1909, part iv. in progress.] + +[Footnote 138: The mayor, recorder, and four lawful men of the city are +allowed to exercise all that appertains to the office of justice of the +peace for labourers and artificers in the county of Warwick, _i.e._ fix +the rate of wages (Charter 22 Rich. II. Burton MS. f. 253). For a trial +of felons by the justices of the peace, see Sharp, _Antiq._, 212.] + +[Footnote 139: Hearnshaw, _Leet Jurisdiction_, _passim_.] + +[Footnote 140: _Leet Book_, 420.] + +[Footnote 141: _Leet Book_, 59.] + +[Footnote 142: _Ib._, 681.] + +[Footnote 143: We learn in 1384 that the annual ferm of £10, due to +the prior according to the terms of the Tripartite, was drawn from the +coffers of the guild (_Leet Book_, 2-6). Directly the guild lands were +confiscated in 1545 the corporation made a great outcry concerning +their poverty. They had, they declared, no lands whence they might +derive an income to meet the yearly ferm of £50, and in trying to +discharge it one or two of the citizens were yearly ruined (Vol. of +Correspondence, f. 63, Corp. MS. A. 79).] + +[Footnote 144: _Leet Book_, 295.] + +[Footnote 145: Gross, _Gild Merchant_, ii. 49; Toulmin Smith, _Eng. +Gilds_, 231. In the return of 1389 it is stated that several messuages +worth £37, 12s. 4d. a year are waiting for the licence of the King +and the mesne lords to be given to the guild. No doubt the Statute of +Mortmain was often evaded. The corporation records show that the guild +held house property as early as 1353 (Corp. MS. C. 148).] + +[Footnote 146: The foundation of the guild has evidently a municipal +reason, since the statute of 1335, by declaring that all merchants +might traffic with whomsoever they would, and in what vendibles they +chose, effectually did away with this monopoly of the merchant guild +(Ashley, _Econ. Hist._, i. pt. i. 84).] + +[Footnote 147: Many early mayors were masters of the guild merchant; +the cases of Jordan de Shepey and Walter Whitweb have been noted. In +William Holm, master in 1356 (Corp. MS. C. 153), we have undoubtedly +William Horn of the mayor-lists.] + +[Footnote 148: Sharp, _Antiq._, 211. The guild hall was used for +municipal purposes as early as 1388.] + +[Footnote 149: _Ib._, 212.] + +[Footnote 150: In Mantes the guild "aux marchands" was one with +the "confrèrie de l'assomption de la Vierge" (Luchaire, _Communes +Françaises_, 34).] + +[Footnote 151: _Vict. County Hist._, ii. 120.] + +[Footnote 152: Sharp, _op. cit._, 159.] + +[Footnote 153: _Leet Book_, 3.] + +[Footnote 154: _Rot. Pat._ 16, Ric. II., pt. i. m. 19. The guilds of S. +Mary and S. John were united as early as 1362 (Corp. MS. C. 159). Sharp +says that the union took place between 1365 and 1369 (_op. cit._, 131); +but in a deed executed in 1372 the guilds mentioned are SS. Mary, John +the Baptist, and Catherine (Corp. MS. C. 165).] + +[Footnote 155: Sharp, _op. cit._, 130-2.] + +[Footnote 156: Sharp, _op. cit._, 24-5.] + +[Footnote 157: _Ib._, 81.] + +[Footnote 158: See _Vict. County Hist. Warw._, ii. 154-6.] + +[Footnote 159: Corp. MS. B. 35. Letters patent against the formation +of new guilds, dated Nov. 18, 8 Hen. IV. (1406), confirmed in 1414 and +1441 (B. 38 and 47). A great deal of confusion and wrong dating exists +in the Hist. MSS. Com. Catalogue with regard to this point.] + +[Footnote 160: Corp. MS. B. 40 (1406); B. 41 (1414); B. 43 (1424).] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +_The Mayor, Bailiffs, and Community_ + + +We have seen that it was the stable and well-to-do classes which bore +rule over their fellow-citizens. Men of substance, and they only, were +eligible for office, and the terms "degree of a mayor," "degree of a +bailiff," used in assessing fines, show that there was some strictness +maintained with regard to this property qualification. And indeed it +was needful that mayors, bailiffs and the like should be moneyed men, +for their responsibilities were great and the turns of fortune curious, +for should any source of revenue fail, they were compelled to make up +the deficit, and hence were poorer men at the year's end than at the +beginning. Thus when the prior refused to pay the murage tax for twenty +years, the chamberlains, or treasurers, contributed the sum that was +lacking from their own purses.[161] Still, on the whole, the magnates +preferred to acquiesce in their election rather than pay £100, 100 +marks, or £40 as a fine for refusing to fill the respective offices of +mayor, sheriff or master of either guild. Once, indeed, a certain Roger +a Lee declined to occupy the office of chamberlain, though he was a man +well-to-do, having received £30 in money and plate with his wife, and +must--so the prevailing opinion was--have "had right largely of his +own," or else "John Pachet would not have married his daughter to him." +When solemnly adjured to "come in and exercise the said office," Roger +persisted in his refusal, nor did the imposition of a fine of £20 avail +to shake his resolution.[162] + +[Illustration: THE CITY KEYS] + +But having once accepted office, with all its emoluments, risk and +toil, a citizen was forthwith raised to a platform, high above the +mere "commoner," who had neither lot nor part in the rule of his city. +He became one of the "men of worship," whom to insult was a dire +offence;[163] and his doings must not be cavilled at, or explained to +the vulgar herd. Gravity, decorum, and, above all things, secrecy[164] +marked the councils wherein he took part. Seemliness of behaviour was +demanded from him; a late mayor must live cleanly, the leet decreed, +and not give way after warning to "avowtre, fornicacion, or usure," if +he wished to rise higher as master of the Trinity guild, or continue to +meet his brethren at the council board.[165] + +[Illustration: THE SWORD] + +[Illustration: THE CITY MACE] + +Distinguished on great occasions by his official dress, he was +surrounded by an atmosphere of form and ceremony, which no doubt had +its effect on the outside world. When the mayor went to mass every +morning at "seven of the clock" the sword-bearer and officers attended +him. A like procession was formed on the way back, for though the +underlings might go about their business during service, they were +commanded to "hearken" the time of the mayor's coming out of church +so as to be ready to accompany him homewards.[166] So sensible were +these worthy men of the dignity of their position, that questions of +precedence were ever considered of great moment. When Harry Boteler, +the recorder, fell into disgrace in 1484 by magnifying his office at +the mayor's expense, the council thought it a due punishment that +he should yield his place to the master of the Trinity guild, who +thenceforth went by the mayor's side in all municipal processions,[167] +an order afterwards rescinded probably to gratify one of Boteler's +successors; the mayor from that time walked alone, the master and +recorder together.[168] + +The labours of the town officials were greatly increased by the +all-embracing character of the local legislation. The people of the +Middle Ages believed devoutly in the efficacy of the law, and many +matters concerning prices, wages, and the like, now known to regulate +themselves according to supply and demand, were at times the subject +of an infinite amount of often fruitless law-making. Nothing could +check the zeal and energy of the local law-givers; no subject was too +difficult for them to grapple with, none beneath their consideration. +The worshipful men might reverse the whole organisation of the crafts +connected with the iron industry at one leet sitting,[169] or, on the +other hand, turn their attention to the local supply of halfpenny +pies, or the amount of wheat put by the families of the two parishes +into the holy cake, or blessed bread, distributed to the congregation. +No doubt it was impossible to enforce all these regulations. All the +energy of the leet, or council, and the vigilance of the town officers +often failed to do away with a long-standing abuse. It was forbidden, +under penalty of £10, to throw refuse into the Sherbourne; yet though +"great diligence" was made to learn who the offenders were, it did not +hinder the commission of the offence.[170] And although, according to +the decrees of leet and council, people were compelled to be cleanly, +honest and peaceable, I make no doubt that ducks[171] and swine still +appeared in the streets,[172] bakers' loaves fell short of the proper +weight,[173] and men of craft bore arms in the city, and wounded each +other in quarrel.[174] In short, many regulations were mere paper +regulations to the end of the chapter. + +The mayor and his colleagues had no light work before them on taking +office. Numberless details of municipal business went far to fill +their days with employment. In addition to his judicial duties, a +mayor examined, either in person or by deputy, a great part of the +household stuff which came into the city to be sold. He must needs have +some acquaintance with matters military, when a threat of invasion or +civil war turned him into a captain, and the citizens under him into +soldiers, such as they appeared at the half-yearly muster, each armed +with such weapons as suited his degree.[175] While, in order to acquit +himself with credit in the difficult and delicate relations wherein the +citizens were frequently involved with the outside world of politics, a +mediæval mayor must gather all the information he could upon affairs of +state. + +[Illustration: THE OLD STATE CHAIR] + +The bailiffs, with their work of court-holding, ferm-paying, and +fine-collecting;[176] the chamberlains, who overlooked the common +pastures, and put the murage money to its proper use;[177] the wardens, +who supervised town property and made payment of sundry expenses, +delivering up their accounts for the annual audit, were all deeply +immersed in business. And the keeping of these accounts was no easy +matter, so great a variety of items was included therein, and so +frequent were the demands upon the public purse. Now the wardens would +be called upon to entertain and reward the bearward of a neighbouring +nobleman, or the groups of strolling players who set up their booth +in the inn-yard or market-place; or, again, to contribute to the +maintenance of the knights of the shire,[178] or lay down the ten +pounds, which the mayor took as the "fee of the cloak";[179] now to +defray the cost of a civic banquet, or that of the mayor's new fur +cap, keeping in the latter case, the "olde stuffe" for the use of +the town.[180] Surely much of the activity of the House of Commons +under Edward III. and the House of Lancaster is in the main due to the +training many of its members received at home in the local guild-hall +or council-house. + +A great part of the municipal business in the Middle Ages was carried +on by bodies consisting of twenty-four men, a double jury, a number +occurring in London as early as 1205-6,[181] in Leicester in 1225,[182] +and rather later in Norwich.[183] In Coventry in the fifteenth century +twenty-four late officials, frequently including the justices of the +peace, brought together by some indirect process of which we have +lost the secret, elected the officers for the ensuing year. The same +number, and to all intents and purposes the same men, were the jurats +of the leet. A council of twenty-four, chosen by the mayor and perhaps +identical with the jury of the leet, examined petitions four days +before the two great assemblies of this court, in order, it seems, +to discuss and decide on their rejection or acceptance by the jury +of the leet. Moreover, twenty-four nominees of the mayor reinforced +the electoral jury of twenty-four to form the mayor's council of +forty-eight.[184] In practice, however, there was no rigid adherence +to these numbers; small executive or deliberative bodies frequently +met, and on occasions when it was deemed necessary large "halls" or +assemblies of indeterminate numbers were summoned by the mayor to +testify to the popular will. This calling together of the community, +a relic maybe of immemorial custom,[185] affording in its traces of +ward[186] organisation evidence of a form of government older and more +popular than the system employed by the town rulers in the fifteenth +century, reveals a lack of any well-thought-out scheme to ensure the +election of representatives. Hence it seems to have been of little +avail for purposes of popular control. The members were summoned at +the requisition of the mayor, and were frequently to a great extent +members of the official class. Hence in the cases of which we have +record they did nothing but set the seal of approval to the official +policy. Thus in 1384[187] the mayor summoned four or six out of every +ward to learn what the common wish was concerning the Podycroft and +other common lands, which the Trinity guild kept in severalty in +return for the annual ferm of £10 paid to the prior on behalf of the +corporation, the assembly was in favour of the continuance of the old +arrangement, though it was avowedly a most unpopular one. And no orders +of leet availed to check the open discontent of the common folk, who +certainly did not feel themselves in any way bound by this assembly. +The guild constantly found that their fences were broken down, and +their fields overrun by the people at Lammas; and in 1414[188] it was +thought necessary to decree that people trespassing (_delinquentes_) in +the enclosures should be arrested, and imprisoned until they had made +sufficient amends "by view of the guild master and six of the guild +brethren." + +But the discontent of the commonalty did not abate, and once more, in +1421, the officers in high place went through the form of consulting +their fellow-townsmen. A hundred and thirty-four citizens, summoned +at the mayor's requisition to S. Mary's Hall, gave the lie to popular +discontent a second time, and approved of the giving over of the +Mirefield, the Podycroft and Stivichall Hiron to the use of the +guildsmen. But the anger of the townsmen became so hot that in the +following year they destroyed certain gardens at Cheylesmore, which, +it appears, had been enclosed by well-known townsmen, members of the +mayor's council and justices of the peace.[189] + +The mayor's council of Forty-eight, one of the most important of the +constitutional expedients ever devised by the ruling class at Coventry, +met apparently for the first time in 1423. In the previous year, no +doubt with the notion of allaying the prevailing discontent, the idea +of selecting a definite number of commoners from every ward to form +a council to watch over the interests of the commonweal first took +shape. There had been "dissentious stirrings" concerning enclosures, +and there is little doubt that at the Michaelmas leet there was some +speech of giving those outside the corporation some means of checking +the alleged malpractices of the municipal rulers. The mayor had been +charged to call forty-eight commoners, divers out of every ward, to +hear _the chamberlains' accounts_ for three years past, and to witness +any _grants made under the common seal_.[190] But there is little or +nothing to tell of the activity of this body of commoners.[191] On the +other hand, at the first opportunity the corporation turned this idea +of a council into a weapon for their own defence by providing at the +election of the mayor in the following January that there should be one +consisting of the staunchest supporters of the town rulers. "It was +provided," the _Leet Book_ says, "that the said mayor should call and +take to him the same twenty-four worthy men, that were of his election, +with other twenty-four wise and discreet men, chosen to them and named +by the said mayor," and that this company should "put in rule all +manner of good ordinances" for the benefit of the city.[192] And the +worthy men were determined that this good ordaining should be followed +by prompt obedience. + +"It is and hath been accustomed," says an insertion in 1484 in the +records of Leet, "that whatever the foresaid forty-eight persons +ordaineth and establisheth for worship of mayoralty, bailiffs and +commonalty of this city, according to the law, all the whole body +of this city shall be bound thereby."[193] A certain latitude was +allowed to the mayor as to whom summons should be sent "when he had +need of forty-eight persons," save that he was always warned to +require the attendance of "sufficient" men,[194] _i.e._ of suitable +rank. After 1446 we find that the presence of a quorum of twelve +persons was sufficient for the transaction of business, the whole body +afterwards giving their assent to the measures ordained by this smaller +company.[195] And it was most probably this small working body that +was the ancestor of the inner council of the mayor and aldermen, which +ultimately, by the charter of James I., gained complete and unchecked +control over the municipal affairs of Coventry. The rule of this +council gradually became a veritable tyranny. Even the official class +rebelled against its dictates. We hear of a majority, "the most part" +of the council, and this includes the idea of a dissentient minority. +Those who transgressed the commands of this majority, if they had never +filled the sheriff's post, lost the freedom of the city; while late +mayors or sheriffs lost their official rank. He shall "be exempt," +the order ran[196] in the sheriff's case, "from wearing scarlet among +his company in all common assemblies, feasts, and processions"; and +further, to be punished with fine and imprisonment at the mayor and +council's discretion; on a late mayor the same penalty was laid, with +the addition that he should be "exempt from his cloke and council"; +while any citizens "comforting the disobedient" were to suffer the same +penalties. When we learn that this order was framed in 1516 for the +correction of John Strong, late mayor and _ex officio_ member of the +council, we may form some conception of the tyranny of this body, whose +doings even divided the corporation against itself. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 161: _Leet Book_, 597. They were afterwards reimbursed when +the suit was decided against the prior.] + +[Footnote 162: _Leet Book_, 619.] + +[Footnote 163: See Green, _Town Life_, ii. 256, for examples of the +punishments of those who insulted officials. In Coventry two men--John +Smith and John Duddesbury--for their ill-behaviour to "men of worship" +were, in 1495, put under surety from session to session until their +submission should content the justices of the peace (_Leet Book_, 569).] + +[Footnote 164: Six of the mayor's council met every Wednesday. The +sergeant kept the council-house doors so that no unauthorised person +might enter (_Ib._, 516).] + +[Footnote 165: _Leet Book_, 544. The mayor was to be deprived of his +"cloke" (_i.e._ official rank) and council, of which body he was an +_ex-officio_ member.] + +[Footnote 166: _Leet Book_, 662.] + +[Footnote 167: _Leet Book_, 521. The recorder was the legal adviser of +the corporation.] + +[Footnote 168: _Ib._, 642.] + +[Footnote 169: _Ib._, 180.] + +[Footnote 170: _Ib._, 455.] + +[Footnote 171: _Ib._, 27.] + +[Footnote 172: _Ibid._] + +[Footnote 173: _Ib._, 24.] + +[Footnote 174: _Leet Book_, 28.] + +[Footnote 175: Green, _Town Life_, i. 127.] + +[Footnote 176: The bailiffs by their oaths were compelled to pay all +due ferms and fees, and to be present on court days and sessions of the +peace (_Leet Book_, 224).] + +[Footnote 177: See the chamberlains' accounts (_Ib._, 54-5).] + +[Footnote 178: _Leet Book_, 107. Knight's fees to be paid by wardens, +and not by chamberlains.] + +[Footnote 179: _Ibid._] + +[Footnote 180: _Leet Book_, 334. If the cap cost more than 13s. 4d., +the surplus was to be paid by the mayor.] + +[Footnote 181: Round, _Commune of London_, 237-8.] + +[Footnote 182: Bateson, _Rec. Leic._, i. 34-5.] + +[Footnote 183: Hudson, _Norwich_, xxxv.] + +[Footnote 184: See below, p. 93.] + +[Footnote 185: Any business touching the public weal--such as the +payment of a royal debt, granting away of town property and the +like--could not be transacted without the official consent of the +community. Thus in 1422, when the mayor summoned sixteen of the +magnates to weitness the sealing of deds relating to town property, +"it was perceived by the mayor and all present that it would be +more expedient ... for the mayor to summon these following and many +concitizens" (_Leet Book_, 40).] + +[Footnote 186: Those who were summoned for purposes of consultation +came according to their wards. Thus in 1384 it was determined that the +mayor should summon four or six citizens out of every ward (vico), who +should testify "tam pro seipsis quam pro tota communitate ville," what +the general will was concerning the enclosure of certain meadows by the +Trinity guild (_Ib._, 5).] + +[Footnote 187: _Leet Book_, 5.] + +[Footnote 188: _Ib._, 20.] + +[Footnote 189: The commons destroyed Julius (? Giles) Allesley's +gardens without the Grey Friar Gate (Harl. MS. 6,388, f. 16). Giles +Allesley was mayor in 1426. Attilboro, a member of the usual council of +twenty-four, who took part in the election of the mayor (_Leet Book_, +22), and Southam, a justice of the peace (_Ib._, 44), had gardens which +encroached on the common lands, for which they were allowed, when the +survey was taken, to pay a composition (_Ib._, 50-1).] + +[Footnote 190: _Leet Book_, 42. These grants were given to enable +certain citizens to dispense with the ordinary regulations of leet; +probably much favour and affection were shown in the granting of them.] + +[Footnote 191: We cannot tell whether this council even met. In 1423 we +hear that the chamberlains' accounts were audited in the presence of +the mayor and "48 honest and legal men" elected by the aforesaid mayor +to hear the accounts (_Ib._, 54). Query, were these the commoners, or +the mayor's council of Forty-eight?] + +[Footnote 192: _Leet Book_, 44.] + +[Footnote 193: _Ib._, 520.] + +[Footnote 194: _Ib._, 157.] + +[Footnote 195: _Ib._, 228.] + +[Footnote 196: _Leet Book_, 647-8.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +_Coventry and the Kingdom of England_ + + +So far was Coventry from the great centres of the national life, that +there is little to connect the place in the earlier parts of its +history with the history of the kingdom. + +William I. may have passed through on his way from Warwick to +Nottingham on one of his journeys to crush the rebellious Saxons, +and Stephen, as we have seen, swept down on the castle--that famous +"castlelet or pile"[197] in Earl Street--and razed it to the ground. +Other notable travellers came during this period to Coventry, but +secretly, for they wished to escape pursuit. Many evil-doers claimed +the protection of the Church in those days, and when any fugitive +entered the sanctuary, he was safe from pursuit. There he made +confession of his crime, and, if he left of his own free will, he must +abjure the kingdom, and make straight for some port appointed him by +the coroner, there to take ship for foreign lands. Many criminals on +quitting the sanctuary found their enemies lying in wait, and perished, +although they held the cross, symbol of the Church's protection, in +their hand. Men feared to incur the penalty of excommunication, which +the violation of sanctuary always brought, by dragging Faulkes de +Breauté from Coventry church; and this Norman adventurer, whom the +favour of John and Henry III. had raised to riches and greatness until +he was "plasquam rex in Anglia"--of more account than the King--put +himself under the bishop's protection, and travelled in his company +to Bedford to throw himself on the King's mercy. He was banished the +kingdom. With him fell, in 1222, the foreign party under Peter des +Roches, who for so many years had thwarted the designs of Henry's great +minister, Hubert de Burgh. + +In other ways the reign of Henry III. was locally a memorable one. +During the siege of Kenilworth, which lasted from midsummer to December +1266, the neighbourhood was the centre of military operations, but +when the castle containing the remnant of De Montfort's following +surrendered, the smouldering fires of civil war died away. Part of the +famous ruin that witnessed this siege, the Norman keep, or Cæsar's +Tower, is standing yet. But of all these events the local documents +tell us nothing. In spite of the stirring scenes enacted at Kenilworth, +scarce five miles away, we do not know whether the folk of the town +took part with De Montfort or with the King. + +The city has no associations with Edward I.,[198] but his son, who had +strong partisans among the convent folk, appointed a levy to meet him +at Coventry on February 28, 1322, before he went to fight with and +defeat Lancaster at Boroughbridge.[199] Edward III. tarried in Coventry +in 1327, the year Cheylesmore passed into Isabella's hands. This queen +is one of many women who bulk large in Coventry history. Her ears were +always open to the complaints of the hard usage her tenants received +from the prior, and messengers doubtless often travelled between +Coventry and Castle Rising, in Norfolk, to bear news to the queen of +her enemy's undoing. She also took the Grey Friars, who had become +famous for their sanctity, under her protection, and a letter[200] +from her, written at their request, begging that there might be no +interference with their privileges of burial, is still extant. At that +time many bodies of great folk, who "as Franciscans thought to pass +disguised," were buried clothed in the habit of the order in the Grey +Friars' chapel, bringing no small profit to that famous house. No doubt +the Queen's protection of their rivals was another drop in the monks' +cup of bitterness. + +After Cheylesmore and the Earl's-half became a royal manor, kings and +princes very frequently visited the city; for as Coventry had by this +time become an important place--already accounted the fifth city in the +kingdom--its wealth was an attraction to needy kings, who desired to be +on good terms with burghers who were becoming a power in the land. It +was this wealth which enabled the citizens to establish their position +in the reign of Edward III. and his grandson by the purchase of fuller +and yet fuller charters of liberty; but this wealth did not relieve the +city from the agrarian and industrial unrest which makes memorable the +reign of Richard II. At the time of the Peasant Revolt in 1381 John +Ball was taken in hiding in an old house, says Froissart, in Coventry, +where he had possibly a home or relatives.[201] The commonalty of +the city had, maybe, given ear to his doctrines of equality and +communism in former days, for there was at that time great suffering +and discontent among the poorer folk. The artizans were oppressed not +by their lord--as the men of S. Alban's or Bury S. Edmund's--but by +their own fellow-townsfolk, the rich merchants, who held high office +in the corporation. Year after year there comes the same complaint. +This or that mayor enclosed the common pasture lands,[202] so that +the people had not sufficient grass for their cattle, or refused to +punish his brethren and allies the victuallers, who broke the assize +of bread, so that the people were cheated of the barest necessaries +of life. The enraged artizans, who, in 1387, "cast loaves at the +mayor's head because the bakers kept not the assize, neither did the +mayor punish them according to his office," would no doubt listen +gladly to the discourses of this old-time socialist. "Good people," he +would say to the assembled multitude, "the maters gothe nat well to +passe in Englande, nor shall nat do tyll every thyng be common.... We +be all come fro one father and one mother, Adam and Eve; wherby can +they (the gentlemen) say or shewe that they be gretter lordes than we +be?... They dwell in fayre houses, and we have the payne and traveyle, +raine and wynde in the feldes; and by that that cometh of our labours +they kepe and maynteyne their estates.... Thus Jehan [Ball] sayd ... +and the people ... wolde murmure one with another in the feldes and +in the wayes as they went togyder, affermyng howe Jehan Ball sayd +trouthe."[203] Change a word here and there, substitute "merchant" for +"gentleman," and "in the workshops" for "in the fields," and you have a +discourse which would have greatly enraged the men of Coventry at the +time of the Peasant Revolt. + +The murmur about another name greater than that of John Ball had also +reached the citizens. Lutterworth is scarcely fifteen miles distant +from Coventry, and if we may judge by the tale of subsequent troubles +and persecutions, there were many followers of Wickliffe within the +city.[204] William Swynderby, who had preached to crowds in the +Lollards' chapel at Leicester, being forsaken of his friends because he +had recanted rather than face martyrdom, left that place and so came to +Coventry in 1382. + +[Illustration: HIGH STREET, COVENTRY] + +There he tarried nearly a year, making many converts, but being forced +by the clergy to depart, he vanished into the fastnesses of the forest +beyond the Malvern Hills and there hid from his persecutors many +years.[205] + +Nevertheless the Wickliffite tradition must have persisted after his +departure, for in Oldcastle's day the city had become a centre for +the issue of Lollard books.[206] Nicholas Hereford, collaborator in +Wickliffe's version of the Bible, is also associated with Coventry, +where--after 1417--he died. + +His was a life of strange vicissitudes, for having endured imprisonment +in a papal dungeon at Rome, and "grievous torment" in the archbishop's +castle of Saltwood, Kent, he abandoned Lollardry, recanted at Paul's +Cross, and rising to important position in the Church, learned to +persecute those of his ancient faith. In later years he entered into +the solitude and silence of the Carthusian monastery at Coventry and so +vanished from our sight.[207] + +The foundation-stone of the church of this very monastery had been +laid in 1385, by that champion of orthodoxy, Richard, King of England, +who, in the hearing of the mayor and other notables promised to be +the founder thereof and bring the work to completion.[208] After the +Dissolution this house passed into the hands of the Lincoln family; +the arms of Edward Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, are painted in one of +the rooms of the still existing house. Part of the Prior's lodging +remains, and in one room a portion of a large fresco of the Crucifixion +reveals the figure of Christ from the knees downwards sprinkled with +fleur-de-lys. Two years later Richard again visited the city what time +Chief-Justice Tressilian, the "hanging judge" of the Peasants' Revolt, +and the court of King's Bench,[209] sat therein, and bestowed on the +mayor the right to have the civic sword borne before him by an officer. +The MS. Annals say that in 1384 the mayor, John Deister, had forfeited +this right, and that the sword was borne behind him, "because he did +not justice." The _Leet Book_, however, makes John Marton mayor in this +year,[210] and indeed the Annals have come down to us in a state of sad +corruption. + +Maybe these frequent royal visits were not always welcome. A court of +justice accompanied the King wherever he went, for the steward and +marshal of the household had jurisdiction, superseding other authority +of shire or borough, over an area of twelve miles to be counted from +the King's lodging.[211] Before setting forth the steward gave notice +to the sheriff of the place wherein the King proposed to sojourn, so +that prisoners might be brought thither for trial at the household +officers' court, a practice so little popular that rich and powerful +towns purchased the chartered privilege, whereby the mayor became +steward and marshal of the household. This right Coventry obtained in +1451. Kings, when they came to the city, were usually lodged at the +Priory, though there was a quasi-royal residence, first occupied by +the Mohauts, at Cheylesmore; but the vast retinue found shelter within +the town. At the command of the marshal the doors of the principal +folk of the place were marked with chalk, and the dwellers there found +they had to accommodate some member of the royal party. There was a +certain price to be paid for the advantages of situation as a great +thoroughfare town between London and the north-west, and a manorial +relationship to the Princes of Wales. + +The most memorable sojourn of this vain, beautiful, decadent king, +Richard II., within the city took place in 1397 when Coventry witnessed +the preparations for the duel between Henry Bolingbroke and Mowbray, +Duke of Norfolk. The splendour of royal and knightly accoutrements at +this meeting must have dazzled the sober townsfolk, and perhaps they +shared in the bewilderment of the Court at the strange vacillation of +the King, who, when all preparations were made, forbade the duel to +take place. Holinshed[212] tells of the "sumptuous theater" on Gosford +Green wherein the lists were made ready for the combat; and wherein +too, after the combat had been stayed, the two adversaries sat two +long hours waiting until the King's pleasure should be known. When +sentence of banishment was pronounced and leave-takings over, "the duke +of Norfolk departed sorrowfullie into Almanie, and at the last came +to Venice, where he for thought and melancholie deceased"; for Harry +Bolingbroke, however, whose sentence was not like his adversary's, for +life, but for ten years, many active days remained. Gosford Green, +where this scene was enacted, is still a green, and as yet unbuilt +on. The ruins of Caludon Castle, where Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, +passed the night before the meditated encounter with Bolingbroke, are +still visible from the highway leading from Stoke to Leicester, but +of Baginton Castle, where his adversary slept, scarcely more than +the foundations remain. Richard was lodged in a tower belonging to +Sir William Bagot, about a quarter of a mile without the town. Sir +William, who with Bushy and Greene acquired such unenviable notoriety +as creatures of Richard II., lies buried in Baginton church, where a +monumental brass of rare workmanship, now placed immediately under the +rafters of the chancel roof, once marked the place where he was laid. + +It is likely that Richard saw Coventry once again when, badly horsed +and in unkingly array, in 1399 they brought him, a prisoner, on the way +from Flint on the last journey to London. + +It is fitting that in a city so unorthodox as Coventry the first +attack should be made on the vast possessions of the Church. At the +summoning of the "Unlearned Parliament" in 1404 a special precept was +given to the sheriffs to prevent the return of those skilled in the +law as members of parliament, and Coventry, remote as it was from the +law-courts at Westminster, was a happy spot to choose for such an +assembly. The respect the clergy had once commanded was now withheld +from them by reason of the dissolute lives so many led, and their +greed of wealth, whereto we find such abundant allusion in "Piers +Plowman" and Chaucer's poems, and the proposal to appropriate the +wealth of the Church to secular ends was well liked by the knights +of the shire. Archbishop Arundel pleaded in response to this attack +that the clergy gave tenths and the laity only fifteenths towards +the King's necessities; moreover, the Church was not wanting day nor +night in rendering the King service by masses and prayers to implore +God's blessing upon him. Whereat Sir John Cheyne, the speaker of the +Commons, with a stern countenance, said "that he valued not the prayers +of the Church." But it was early days for such words as these. "It +might easily be seen what would become of the kingdom," was the severe +reply, "when devout addresses to God, wherewith His Divine Majesty was +pleased, were set so light by." The work of Henry VIII. was not to be +anticipated, and the knights desisted from the attempt at the threat of +excommunication.[213] + +The town was witness at this time of an example of the lack of +reverence for the mysteries of religion displayed by the people who +were about the person of the King. Dysentery was very prevalent at +Coventry during the session of parliament, and one day the archbishop +of Canterbury encountered a procession bearing the Host through the +streets to some sick man's bedside.[214] The archbishop bent his +knee, but the King's knights and esquires, not interrupting their +conversation, turned their backs upon the Sacrament. The ecclesiastic +was filled with holy indignation at such irreverence. "Never before +was the like abomination beheld among Christian men," he cried, and +went to complain of the offenders to the King. Henry was at first loth +to punish his followers, but he was finally moved to do so by the +prelate's eloquence, for the House of Lancaster in its weakness had +allied itself with the Church, and looking to that body for support, +the King was careful not to alienate so powerful a friend as the +Archbishop of Canterbury. + +The Lancastrian kings were, however, better known in the city as +borrowers than as champions of the orthodox faith. Royal folk at that +time, in spite of their great array and state, were often at a loss for +ready money, and the treasury of Henry IV. was notoriously an empty +one. Henry V. too, wanting money to prosecute his wars, in the third +year of his reign borrowed 200 marks from the mayor and community, +leaving in pledge "his great collar, called Iklynton collar,"[215] +garnished with 4 rubies, 4 great sapphires, 32 great pearls, and 53 +other pearls of a lesser sort, weighing 36-3/4 oz., and then valued +at £500. When the King or any great noble desired to borrow, and +the citizens were willing to lend, collectors were appointed by the +corporation to go through each ward and take from every man his +contribution towards the loan. Each citizen paid, according to his +ability, a sum varying from 13s. 4d., taken from the most substantial +people, to a penny from those, of the poorest class. The extent +of every one's property, more or less accurately gauged on these +occasions, was a matter of common knowledge. Where there was so little +privacy in life and such frequent assessments, neither wealth nor +poverty could well be hid. + +Did Shakespeare glean any legends of Prince Hal from Coventry sources? +He must often have visited the city as a travelling player, and, +since both the names of Shakespeare and Ardern (or Arden) occur in +the Coventry records, the poet may have had kinsfolk in the place. +He brings the prince quite gratuitously thither, causing him to +meet Falstaff followed by the famous ragged regiment on the high +road leading to the city.[216] Falstaff was in his youth "page to +Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk,"[217] who held Caludon Castle, a +few miles from Coventry, and Peto, whom his master bade meet him +at the towns-end, bears a Coventry name.[218] It may be there is +little or no contemporary evidence for the tale of Henry's wild +doings, which Shakespeare localised at Gadshill and the "Boar's Head" +tavern in Eastcheap, and it is more or less a matter of temperament +or preconceived notions with historians whether, on weighing the +testimony, they dismiss or accept familiar traditions of the prince's +robbery of his own receivers,[219] or assault on Judge Gascoigne.[220] +To the ordinary reader it seems as if there cannot have been such a +vast deal of smoke without some little fire. The suspicion grows that +Henry may well have passed a short time of idle apprenticeship before +becoming a veritably industrious master. + +There is a familiar Coventry variant of the Gascoigne story +wherein the mayor, John Hornby, plays, as it were, the part of +the Chief-Justice, since he, in 1412, say the City Annals or +Mayor-lists--"arrested the Prince in the Priory [one MS. reads "city"] +of Coventry." Unfortunately the source whence this information is +obtained--the MS. Annals or Mayor-lists--is not above suspicion. +The annals are a collection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century +documents,[221] varying slightly among themselves, but evidently, +as far as the bulk of the earlier entries are concerned, copies of +a common original, now probably lost. A chronological tangle, they +contain most valuable and authentic information--particularly about +the mystery plays--coupled with entries that are manifestly corrupt. +It is conceivable that the earliest annalist placed on record that the +prince "rested," _i.e._ remained at the priory during that particular +mayoralty, or that he was concerned in some arrest made at the time, +and that the entry has been transformed by the errors of successive +copyists. In the latter case the process could be paralleled by +the entry of 1425 when the MSS. gave as the principal event in the +mayoralty of John Braytoft:--"He arrested the Earl of Warwick and +brought him to the Gaol of this city." This is, beyond all possibility +of doubt, an error. No Earl of Warwick was ever arrested at Coventry. +Thomas Sharp, who worked eighty or ninety years ago, from documents +that have been since destroyed, gives the early, correct version, borne +out by independent testimony, when he reads: "The Earl of Warwick came +to Coventry to seize on the Franchises, and inquisition was made of +John Grace, and the mayor arrested him and brought him to the Gaol of +the City."[222] It is therefore possible that similar errors may have +crept into the Hornby entry, though this cannot be dismissed as a pure +invention until a searching investigation has been made of contemporary +records. + +Henry V. seems to have been much beloved in Coventry, if we may +judge by the hearty welcome given to him on his coming thither on +March 21, 1421. The mayor and council ordered that £100 and a gold +cup worth £10 should be presented to the King, and the same to the +Queen "in suo adventu a Francia in Coventre," for those times a truly +magnificent gift. The citizens never thereafter beheld the King. For +in the following year, being overtaken at the Bois de Vincennes by a +so grievous sickness that his physicians told him he had but two hours +to live, he bade his confessors chant the Penitential Psalms. And in +the midst of their chanting, as if in answer to an unseen adversary, he +cried: "Thou liest, thou liest! My part is with the Lord Jesus." Thus +died Henry V. + +Troubles connected with religion soon came upon Coventry. In 1424 +the preaching of a hermit attracted a great audience in the Little +Park during five days' space. The preacher, one Grace, who had been +first a monk, then a friar, and lastly a recluse, disarmed suspicion +by announcing that he had been licensed to preach by the bishop's +ministers of the diocese. At last, however, a report spread that he +was not "licenciate," "and grett seying was among the people that +the priour and frer Bredon wold have cursid all tho' that herdon the +said John Grace preche." This rumour of the intention of the two most +influential churchmen in the city--the head of S. Mary's convent, +and the best-known member of the community of Grey Friars--greatly +moved the townsfolk, and the two ecclesiastics above-named, fearful +lest harm should befall them, refused to leave Trinity church, whither +they had repaired for evensong, until the mayor should come to appease +the multitude. "Notwithstandyng they myght have goone well inoughe +whethur thei wold," the _Leet Book_ says, with a touch of contempt. +And thus it was that a report went about in the country "that the +comens of Coventre wer rysen, and wold have distroyd the priour and the +said frer," which report unhappily spread to the ears of those that +were about the King. The next year the Earl of Warwick and a special +commission of justices were sent down from Westminster to inquire into +this movement within the city.[223] For some time the franchises were +in danger of confiscation; but after the citizens had borne great +charges, upwards of £80 for "counsel" and other costs, their peace with +the ruling powers was made. + +It is natural to infer that this disturbance, which the city +authorities treated as so trifling, but which appeared to the powers +at Westminster a highly serious matter, was connected with Lollard +preaching. It seems that this obscure sect was never wholly crushed, +but lingered on in certain districts throughout the fifteenth century. +Leicestershire, in Wickliffe's time, had been a perfect hot-bed of +heresy. "There was not a man or woman in that county," it has been +said, "save priests and nuns, who did not at that time openly profess +their disbelief in the doctrines of the Church, and their approval +of the new views of the Lollards."[224] The contagion soon spread to +Warwickshire. No doubt persecution did its work in many parts. The open +profession of Lollardism was highly dangerous in the fifteenth century, +and the cause counted many martyrs. + +The Coventry men were, most likely, implicated in the obscure rising +under Jack Sharpe in 1431; at least arrests were made in their +neighbourhood.[225] These offenders, whose scheme for the disendowment +of the Church was both behind and in advance of those times, were shown +no mercy, but suffered the penalty of treason. The bishops of Coventry, +at a later date, made the city the theatre of their persecutions, +whereat many recanted, but others endured to the end. + +Echoes, first of the great doings of Englishmen in the French wars, +and then of the reverses which befell them, reach us from time to +time, chiefly in the form of requests to relieve the royal poverty. +And the chief folk of the town frequently travelled to London in order +to procure sureties for repayment of money lent to the King or other +members of the royal house. Thus when the Earl of Warwick, in 1423, +wrote to beg the citizens to relieve the necessities of the child-king +Henry, "now in his tender age and his greatest need," informing them, +as an incentive to their liberality, that the townsmen of Bristol +had "notably and kindly acquit them" in these matters, the citizens +lent £100 willingly enough. But with the prudence which distinguished +their everyday doings, they sent John Leder, late mayor, to London to +negotiate for pledges for future repayment,[226] which sureties, we +are told, "might not be gotten without great labour."[227] Richard +Joy and Laurence Cook[228] undertook a like errand the same year, +for the protector Gloucester, the husband of Jacoba of Hainault, +who proposed--so he informed the citizens--"to pass over the sea +with God's might ... to receive ... his lands and lordships," begged +the good folk of Coventry to ease him in his undertaking with £200 +"upon sufficient surety." Whether the good folk believed that the +expedition to Flanders would turn to "right great ease of the people, +and especially of these merchants of this realm," as the duke boasted, +we cannot tell; but they sent him 100 marks, insisting nevertheless +upon obtaining the security he had been so ready to offer. They gave, +however, "with all their good hearts" to those more worthy of respect +than Gloucester; and when Talbot was a prisoner in the hands of the +French, they sent 23 marks towards his ransom.[229] To the King's later +applications for a loan, they usually gave a favourable answer. In 1431 +Laurence Cook bore to London £100, lent for the prosecution of the +war, "and many lords, spiritual and temporal," the _Leet Book_ says, +"that is to say, the worthy cardinal, then bishop of Winchester, the +bishop of Bath, the bishop of Ely, and the bishop of Rochester, lords +spiritual, the duke of York, the duke of Norfolk, the earl of Warwick, +the earl of Stafford ... with other reverent barons and bachelors +... took the water at Dover, and riveden (arrived) thro' God's grace +at Calais, and so comen to the city of Roan (Rouen) by the land of +Picardy."[230] + +Four years later the government was forced yet again to have recourse +to borrowing, and on the occasion of the congress at Arras the same +sum was collected to relieve the King's necessities "by way of loan" +throughout the wards of the city.[231] + +There were other charges besides direct loans that the citizens were +forced to support that they might pleasure the members of the royal +house. The Dukes of Gloucester and Bedford came frequently to the +royal castle of Fullbrook, which lay some four miles beyond Warwick, +and the good folk of the town felt called upon to furnish them with +appropriate gifts. Thus, in 1434, a sum of 50 marks, with a silver +cup, was presented to the Duchess of Bedford, and an offering to the +Duke, of 24 pike, 12 bream, 12 tench, and a ton of red wine.[232] These +presents were often not without some political significance. Thus, in +1431, the year wherein the protector Gloucester made a progress through +England on the track of the Lollards, the Coventry men, who were, it +seems, not free from the suspicion of holding unorthodox tenets, sent +to the duke and duchess at Fullbrook a silver cup, 40 marks, and a +plentiful supply of fish and wine.[233] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 197: This castle, afterwards rebuilt, fell into decay, and +was let out into tenements. Cheylesmore, where the De Mohaut's lived, +had originally been a nursery for the Earl of Chester's children (Stowe +in Harl. MS. 539, No. 4: see also Corp. MS. C. 61).] + +[Footnote 198: The borough sent two members to the 1295 parliament, but +remained unrepresented from 1315 to 1452.] + +[Footnote 199: Stubb's _Const. Hist._, ii. 49.] + +[Footnote 200: Sharp, _op. cit._, 179.] + +[Footnote 201: The name of Ball occurs in Coventry deeds. It is, of +course, a common name.] + +[Footnote 202: On the Trinity guild enclosure of 1384, see _Leet Book_, +6; on the formation of the first of the defiant artizan guilds about +this year, see above and _Vict. County Hist., Warw._, ii. 154.] + +[Footnote 203: Berners, _Froissart's Chron._ (1901) ii. 224.] + +[Footnote 204: Warwickshire may have been a county addicted to +Lollardry. John Lacy, vicar of Chesterton, near Warwick, was charged +with receiving and harbouring the famous Oldcastle, Lord Cobham +(_Diocesan Hist. Worcester_, 103).] + +[Footnote 205: Trevelyan, _Age of Wycliffe_, 315; Knighton, _Chron._ +ii. 198.] + +[Footnote 206: _Eng. Hist. Rev._ xx. 447.] + +[Footnote 207: Trevelyan, _op. cit._, 310; _Dict. Nat. Biog._, _s.v._ +Hereford, Nicholas.] + +[Footnote 208: _Vict. Coun. Hist._, ii. 84.] + +[Footnote 209: Knighton, _Chron._ ii. 235.] + +[Footnote 210: _Leet Book_, 3.] + +[Footnote 211: Green, _op. cit._, i. 209.] + +[Footnote 212: Holinshed, iii, 494.] + +[Footnote 213: Dugdale, _Warw._, i. 142. The only reference to Coventry +in the business of this parliament is a petition from the convent +against the men of Coventry, who injured the conduit built by the +people of the priory (Corp. MS. B. 34).] + +[Footnote 214: Trokelowe and Blaneforde, _Chron. S. Albani_ (ed. +Riley), 394.] + +[Footnote 215: _Leet Book_, 70. _Issue Roll of Exchequer_, H. III.-VI., +402.] + +[Footnote 216: Shakespeare I. _Hen._ IV. iv. 2.] + +[Footnote 217: _Ib._, iii. 2. See my letter in _Athenæum_ 4330, p. 489.] + +[Footnote 218: Henry Peyto was mayor in 1423. The Peto family came from +Chesterton.] + +[Footnote 219: Kingsford, _Early Biographies of Henry V._, in _Eng. +Hist. Rev._, xxv. 78. Although Stow's _Chronicle_, where this story +first occurs, was not published until 1570, the author relied on early +authority ultimately derived, it seems, from the Earl of Ormond, who +died 1452.] + +[Footnote 220: See Solly-Flood, "Henry V. and Judge Gascoigne," _Trans. +R. Hist. Soc._, iii. 49; Harcourt, "The Two Sir John Fastolfs," +_Ib._ 3rd Ser. iv. 47; Kingsford, _Henry V._, 80-93. The Gascoignes +subsequently settled at Oversley, Warwickshire.] + +[Footnote 221: Two versions are printed, and there are at least seven +in MS. For the former, see Fordun _Scoti-chronicon_ (ed. Hearne). V. +App.; Dugdale, _Warw._ (1730), i. 147-53; for MS. versions, see British +Museum Harl. MSS. 6,388 (a compilation of several previously existing +copies made in 1690 by Humphrey Wanley); Add. MSS. 11,364; Birmingham +Free Library, _Warw._, MSS. 115,915 (see _Athenæum_, No. 4328); +Coventry Corp. MSS. A. 37, A. 43, A. 48. An eighteenth-century version +in the hands of Mr Eynon of Leamington has relatively correct dates. +See also Solly-Flood, _op. cit._, 50-1.] + +[Footnote 222: Sharp, _op. cit._, 205.] + +[Footnote 223: Sharp, _Antiq._, 205; _Leet Book_, 96-7.] + +[Footnote 224: Thompson, _Hist. Leicester_, 78.] + +[Footnote 225: _Proc. Privy Counc._, iv. 89; Ramsay, _Lanc. and York_, +i. 437.] + +[Footnote 226: _Leet Book_, 83.] + +[Footnote 227: _Ibid._] + +[Footnote 228: The surety for the loan "might not be gotten without +great cost," and the different emissaries of the citizens spent, one +40s., one 13s. 4d., and another £6, 2s. 2d. in journeys to London, +Boston, and Sandwich about this business (_Ib._ 86).] + +[Footnote 229: _Leet Book_, 119-20.] + +[Footnote 230: _Ib._, 129-30.] + +[Footnote 231: _Ib._, 174.] + +[Footnote 232: _Leet Book_, 152. The total cost of these presents +(exclusive of the 50 marks and the cup), with the carriage, was £12, +15s. 4d. In addition to this, the expenses of officers and all the +worthy men, riding to Fullbrook, amounted to 29s. 6d.] + +[Footnote 233: _Ib._, 138.] + + + + +CHAPTER X + +_The Red and White Rose_ + + +We are now come to the time when the history of Coventry is closely +interwoven with that of the nation at large. The city and its +neighbourhood became the chosen home of the Court circle during the +earlier part of the Wars of the Roses. The Lancastrian cause found some +of its staunchest supporters among the folk of the "Queen's secret +harbour," as the city was called, because Margaret of Anjou so often +took refuge therein to plot and scheme for the undoing of the Yorkists. +But the devotion of Coventry to Lancaster did not last throughout the +struggle; the citizens' minds were alienated by the Queen's partizan +fury at the "Diabolical Parliament" in 1460, and by the unruliness of +her troops, and they afterwards professed themselves devoted followers +of Edward IV. These professions did not, however, hinder them from +backing the winning side when Edward's supremacy was imperilled through +Warwick's revolt, and the Yorkist King punished their treachery by the +confiscation of the city liberties. It was only by means of Clarence's +costly mediation and the payment of an enormous fine that the citizens +were enabled to make their peace with Edward. Thus Coventry partook +to a greater extent than other towns of the miseries of this dynastic +conflict. The citizen class were, as a rule, only too glad to let +the barons fight out the question among themselves, submitting, as +far as we can judge, to whichever army was victorious and at their +gates. After all, the battles of the Roses meant little more than +the concentration of the fighting power of the kingdom, usually at +that period employed in desultory local warfare, into one place, and +frequent provincial frays and skirmishes were really more harmful to +the district wherein the feud raged than civil war itself. + +Happily for the Coventry men there was in the earlier part of the +fifteenth century no great lord living within the walls to drag them +into his frays and quarrels, and to anticipate that great period of +party strife which was so soon to break in upon the kingdom. It is true +that the townsfolk had not always been able to keep clear of baronial +influence. We hear of fighting between the young Earl Stafford, the +lord of Maxstoke, and the citizens, though we are not told what was +the cause of the quarrel. Such animosity was felt by the two parties +at variance that in 1427 the Duke of Gloucester summoned the mayor +with others of the citizens to Leicester, and bound them over to keep +the peace.[234] Men held this earl, better known by his later title of +the Duke of Buckingham, in great awe, for in war-time he could arm two +thousand fighting men bearing the Stafford knot.[235] "The indignation +of the lordship of the said duke,"[236] said Sir Baldwin Montfort, whom +Buckingham imprisoned in Coventry because he made some difficulty about +surrendering his manor of Coleshill into the duke's keeping ... "had +in those days been too heavy and unportable for me to have born." We +find the citizens, however, on good terms with this omnipotent nobleman +during the civil war; and in 1458 the mayor and his brethren received +an invitation to come and share in the festivities which took place at +Maxstoke Castle on the occasion of the marriage of one of his younger +sons. + +It is doubtful whether even Buckingham's great influence would have +been sufficient to turn the scale in favour of Lancaster in the coming +season of strife if the frequent visits of the King and the princes of +the reigning family, as well as the old connexion between the city and +the first prince of the blood as Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester, +had not bred among the citizens a feeling of loyalty, which kept them +on the side of Henry and Margaret for many years. The year 1449 marks +a crisis in the reign of King Henry. The re-opening of the French war +was the herald of a series of swift disasters, which put an end to the +rule of the English in France. Town after town opened its gates to the +invading host of Frenchmen, and Rouen, and with Rouen the last English +foothold in Normandy, capitulated after a siege of nineteen days. To +this pass had England been brought under the guidance of Suffolk and +Somerset, and the King not only breathed no word of dismissing these +unpopular ministers, but gave them every mark of his favour and support. + +An unmistakable sign of the times was to be found in the fact that the +nobles were quietly arming; and acting probably on a hint from the +Court, the Coventry men made ready to equip a goodly number of men for +the city's defence. Every man that had been mayor was commanded by +order of leet to provide 4 jacks, with as many sallets, habergeons, +and sheaves of arrows for this purpose; while late bailiffs, +chamberlains, and all commoners able to bear the cost were respectively +required to furnish three, two, and one of these several parts of an +archer's accoutrement.[237] By this means there was provision made +for over six hundred men. In the following year, wherein Jack Cade +held London in fear for many days, a strong guard of forty armed +men kept nightly watch within Coventry.[238] As the year drew to a +close, there were expectations of war on every side. Wherefore in +the beginning of Richard Boys' mayoralty (1451) it was resolved that +all the fortifications should be made ready in case of attack. At a +great meeting of the worthies of the council on the Saturday after the +feast of the Purification, a plan of operations was laid down "for +strengthening this city, if need be, which God forbid."[239] The town +ditch was cleansed by common labour, so as to furnish a surer means +of protection. Portcullises were made for the gates, and iron chains +to close up the ends of divers lanes in the city.[240] There was some +debate as to whether aldermen should be made over every ward, to +whom the men of their several districts might have recourse "if ony +aventure falle," but it seems no steps were taken in this direction. Of +ammunition the worthy men laid in a plentiful store. Four "gonnes of +brasse," two greater called "serpentynes,"[241] and two smaller, were +cast and brought from Bristol at great cost, for they weighed, we are +told, 328 lbs., and the price of transport amounted to 6s. 8d. These +guns, "a barell of gonnepowdur" thirteen "pelettes" of iron for the +larger, and four dozen of lead for the smaller guns, were kept in the +tower of Bablake Gate, in readiness for the troubled times which were +at hand. + +Though England was rid of Suffolk, who, after his impeachment and +banishment, was killed on board the _Nicholas of the Tower_ by some +political enemies, affairs in 1451 prospered no better under the +guidance of Somerset and the Queen, and the whole kingdom was uneasy +with foreboding of the coming strife. Doubtless the news of the good +order which prevailed in Coventry, and of the great military efforts +the citizens had made, reached the ears of the King, as he made a +progress through the Midlands in the late summer of that year. And +on September 21 he came from Leicester, another famous Lancastrian +fortress, to bestow his praises on the rulers of the city.[242] The men +of Coventry made great preparations for his welcoming. And in order +to avoid "stody and labur" hereafter, the mayor "let to compile" the +account of the King's reception and residence within the city, a sort +of manual of etiquette to be referred to in future. + +[Illustration: View of Interior of Saint Michaels] + +"When the kyng our soveren lorde," the _Leet Book_ says, "came from +Leycestur toward Coventre, the meyre ... Richard Boys and his wurthy +bredurn arayed in skarlet and all the commonalty[243] cladde in grene +gownes and rede hodes, in Haselwode beyonde the brode oke on horsbak, +attented the comeng of our soveren lorde. And also sone as they haddon +syght of our soveren lordes presens, the meyre and his peres lyghton on +fote, [and] mekely thries kneleng on their knees dud unto our soveren +lorde ther due obeysaunce, the meyre seyeng to hym thes wordes: 'Most +highest and gracious kyng, ye arn welcome to your true lege menne withe +all our hertes'"; and therewith, after taking the mace from a sergeant, +he kissed it, and presented it to Henry. "The kyng," the _Leet Book_ +continues, "tarieng and herkening the meyres speche in faverabull wyse, +seyde thes wordes: 'Well seyde, Sir meyre, take your hors.' The meyre +then rode forthe afore the kyng bereng his mase in his honde with the +knyght-constabull next afore the kynges swerde, the bayles of this +cite rideng afore the meyre withe ther mases in ther hondes makeng +wey & rome for the kynges comeng; and so they ridon afore the kyng +till the kyng come to the vttur[244] yate of the priory. The kyng then +forthewithe send for the meyre and his bredurn be a knyght to come to +his presence and to speke withe hym in his chambur, and the meyre and +his peres accordeng to the kynges comaundement come into his chambur, +and thries ther knelleng dudde ther obeysaunse. Thomas Lytelton then +recordur[245] seyde unto the kyng suche wordes as was to his thynkyng +most pleasaunt, our soueren lorde seyeng agayne thes wordes, 'Sirs, +I thank you of your goode rule and demene and in speciall for your +goode rule the last yere past for the best ruled pepull thenne withe +in my reame. And also I thank you for the present that ye nowe gaue to +vs'--the whiche present was a tonne wyne & XXti grete fatte oxon. +The kyng then moreover gaf hem in comaundement to govern well his cite +and to see his pease be well kepte as hit hathe been aforetyme, seyeng +thenne to hem he wolde be ther goode lorde, and so the meyre and his +peres departed." + +With what a glow of pride the town clerk must have recorded all these +gracious sayings, little knowing that the King's good will could +avail them nothing in the troublous times that were at hand! Henry, +it appears, remained several days at Coventry, the Earl of Salisbury +and the Duke of Buckingham attending upon him there with a numerous +following. He was engaged, the historian tells us, upon an ineffectual +attempt to bring the Dukes of York and Somerset to friendly terms,[246] +but the former, far from desiring peace, was at that moment weaving +plans for his rival's overthrow. The good-hearted King did not neglect +religion in all this pressure of political business.[247] "The kyng +then abydeng stille in the seide priory apon Michaelmas Evon sende +the clerke of his closet to the churche of sent Michell to make redy +ther his closette, seyeng that the kyng on Michaelmas day wolde go on +procession and also her there hygh masse." The "meyre and his peres" +suggested that the Bishop of Winchester (Waynflete) should be asked +to officiate. "And agayne the kynges comeng to sent Michell churche, +the meyre and his peres cladde in skarlet gownes with ther clokes and +all oder in ther skarlet gownes wenton vnto the kynges chambur durre +ther abydeng the kynges comeng." Possibly as an especial honour to the +Trinity guild the clerks of Bablake went in the procession through S. +Michael's churchyard before the celebration, the King devoutly walking +in the train, bare-headed, and "cladde in a gowne of gold tussu furred +with a furre of marturn sabull, the meyre bareng the mase afore the +kyng ... tille he come agayne to his closette. At the whyche masse when +the king had offerd and hes lordes also, he sende the lorde Bemond +(Beaumont) his chamburlen to the meyre, seyeng to him, 'hit is the +kinges will ye and your bredurn come and offer,' and so they dudde." +After the evensong the King sent by "two for his body and two yeomen of +the crown," "the seyde gowne and furre ... and gave hit frely to god +and to sent Michell. Ynsomyche that non of them that brought the gown +wolde take no rewarde in no wyse."[248] + +Henry did not remain long in Coventry after the celebration of the +Michaelmas festival. On the following Tuesday he went to Kenilworth, +the corporation and the "commonalty" riding with the company and +preserving the same order as they had used at his welcoming a few +days previously. When they came to a place beyond Asthill Grove, +"agayne a brode lane the (that) ledethe to Canley ... the kyng willeng +to speke with the meyre and his bredurn seyde to hem thes wordes: +'Sires, I thank you of your goode rule and demene at this tyme, and +for goode rule among you hadde and in speciall for your good rule of +the yere last past, and where as ye ben nowe baylies we will that ye +be herafter sherefes, and this we graunt to you of our own fre wille +and of no speciall desire. Moreour,'" he went on, mindful no doubt of +his own danger, and of the preparations for war among the factious +nobles of the country, "'we charge you withe our pease among you to be +kepte and that ye suffer no ryottes, conventiculs ne congregasions of +lewde pepull among you, and also that (ye) suffer no lordes lyvereys, +knyghtes, ne swyers (squires) to be reseyved of no man withe in you +for hit is agayne our statutes ... and yif ye be thus ruled we will +be your goode lorde.' And thus don, the meyre and his bredurn takeng +ther leve of the kyng ... departed and ridon to Coventre agayne," no +doubt astounded at the idea of this new responsibility and greatness +now thrust upon them. The mayor and council held great consultations +concerning the bailiffs' acquisition of the sheriffs' dignity summoning +Thomas Littleton, their recorder, and Henry Boteler, who was soon to be +this famous lawyer's successor in the office, to their deliberations, +to learn what privileges were most needful for them to include within +the charter which was to convert their city into "the city and _county_ +of Coventry."[249] + +In the year 1453, which saw the close of the Hundred Years' War and +the birth of a Prince of Wales, Henry was attacked by insanity.[250] +In 1454 the King's recovery marked the close of the Duke of York's +protectorate and the restoration to power of the Queen's friends, +particularly Somerset. The Yorkist party fell into disgrace, and +measures were taken to compass their destruction the following spring +in a parliament to be held at Leicester. The duke on hearing this drew +sword in the north, and marched on London with a goodly following at +his back. The royal troops barred his way at S. Alban's; but when the +first battle of that long and weary struggle was fought out at that +town on the great London highway, the Coventry men were not found in +Henry's ranks. In fact the battle was hardly looked for at that time. +It is true the townsfolk received a summons for "such feliship ... +in their best and most defensable aray" as they could furnish, and +that "having tendurnes of the well fare and also of the saveguard of +our soveren lorde," they duly equipped 100 men. Much ado was made to +provide the men with a new "pensell" or standard "in tarturne," at a +cost of 16d.; 14d. went "in rybands" to the same, while the making, +with a tassel of silk attached to it, cost a similar sum; "bends," or +badges of red and green, were also provided, with a garment of red, +green, and violet for the captain. But in spite of all this preparation +the men never saw S. Alban's fight, or the terrible execution done +by Richard, Earl of Warwick, among the Lancastrian ranks. For on May +22, the day whereon the mayor received the commission, the battle was +fought and over, and the King in the hands of his victorious enemies. +"They wenton not," says the _Leet Book_, with some reticence in +referring to the soldiers, "for certen tydenges that wern brought," the +King having returned to London.[251] + +[Illustration: Gosford St] + +Henry was shortly after this again attacked by insanity, and for a +few months York was appointed regent. Duke Richard's power did not, +however, wholly cease with the King's recovery, and after March 1456 +he continued for some months to direct the government, which was +nominally in the hands of the Bourchiers, half-brothers of the Duke +of Buckingham. Meanwhile the two arch-enemies, the Queen and the Duke +of York, watched and "waited on" each other ceaselessly until August, +when Margaret's plans were laid, and she drew off the King to sport +in the Midlands, having fortified Kenilworth with cannon in case of +another appeal to arms. A great council of notables was summoned to +meet at Coventry for October 7.[252] The news of the Queen's intended +visit reached the city about August 24, and a council was called to +provide for her highness's welcome.[253] A hundred marks was collected +throughout the wards to be given as an offering to the Prince of +Wales and his mother, together with two cups whereof the joint value +amounted to £10, 7s. 1d. The prince did not, however, accompany the +Queen on this occasion, so fifty marks were laid aside "against his +coming," though the magnificence of his mother's reception was not +lessened on this account. The "makyng of the premesses " of the Queen's +welcoming fell to the lot of one John Wedurby, of Leicester,[254] and +by his arrangement pageants as gaily dressed as at the Corpus Christi +festival, with appropriate personages standing thereon to utter words +of welcome, were placed at all the principal points in the streets +between Bablake and the "utter" gate of the Priory. John Wedurby +thought as other men of his time, that Margaret's son would one day +have rule in England, and hoped that each party would forget their +differences and live in peace under his government. + + "The blessyd babe that ye have born prynce Edward is he, + Thurrowe whom pece & tranquilite shall take this reme (realm) on hand," + +said Prudence to the Queen in the pageant of the four Cardinal Virtues; +while the prophet Isaiah declared to the Queen that,-- + + "Like as mankynde was gladdid by the birght of Jhesus, + So shall this empyre joy the birthe of your bodye." + +And the companion prophet Jeremiah was equally positive: + + "The fragrant floure sprongen of you shall so encrece & sprede, + That all the world yn ich (each) party shall cherisshe hym & love & drede." + +In his conception of the Queen's character Wedurby was a thorough +courtier. + + "The mellyflue mekenes of your person shall put all wo away," + +the same prophet said; and S. Edward greeted her as "moder of mekeness." + +To what strange freaks will not the rules of his art--and especially +alliteration--betray a poet! The "she wolf of France" had nothing of +the quality thus assigned to her; her name had merely the same initial +letter. + +The King and Queen entered Coventry on Holy Cross day, by the Bablake +Gate.[255] Close by the entrance was a pageant whereon stood the +two above-named prophets, and a "Jesse," or figure representing the +genealogy of Christ, was placed upon the gate itself. At the east end +of Bablake church were the figures of the Confessor--in allusion to +Prince Edward--and S. John the Evangelist. A few paces distant at the +conduit in Smithford Street the four Cardinal Virtues were displayed. +A second set of pageants, grouped in the open spaces at the Cheaping, +next met the Queen's eyes. There were the Nine Conquerors, Hector, +Alexander, and the rest; and finally by the conduit a stage was placed +whereon S. Margaret appeared, "sleying" a great dragon "by myracull." +While upon the cross itself were grouped a company of angels, and the +pipes of the conduit ran wine. Between the cross and the conduit the +Queen received the homage of the Nine Conquerors, while her name-saint +gave to her a final salutation: + + "Most notabull princes of wymen erthle, + Dame Margarete, the chefe myrth of this empyre, + Ye be hertely welcum to this cyte, + To the plesure of your highnes I wyll sette my desyre, + Bothe nature & gentilnes doth me require, + Seth we be both of one name, to shew you kyndnes, + Wherfore by my power ye shall have no distresse; + I shall pray to the prince that is endeles, + To socour you with solas of his high grace. + He wyll here my peticion, this is doutles, + For I wrought all my lyf & that his wyll wace; + Therefore, lady, when ye be yn any dredeful cace, + Call on me boldly, ther of I pray you, + And trist to me feythefully I well do that may pay yow." + +John Wedurby was, no doubt, an indifferent poet, but viewed in the +light of subsequent events, his verses have all sorts of ironical and +tragic meanings, whereof he was, of course, wholly unconscious. + +The pageants and welcome entertainments cost the citizens not a little, +we may suppose, in time and treasure. They made the king a present +of a tun of wine costing £8, 0s. 4d.; while by the "advice of his +council" the mayor distributed 20s. among "divers persons of the king's +house."[256] Lord Rivers too had a glass of rose-water at the mayor's +expense, whereof the cost was 2s.; thirteen years later his lordship +had a very bitter drink at Coventry.[257] Still the coming of the +Court no doubt brought trade to the city; had it brought also peace, +all would have been well. The council met on October 7, and a blow was +aimed at the Duke of York in the dismissal of the Bourchiers.[258] It +was even said that the duke's life was in danger, but that his kinsman, +the Duke of Buckingham, assisted him to escape. Margaret required the +presence of Somerset to lend strength to her party, and with him there +came, it seems, a company of turbulent retainers. These men fell out +with the city-watch and slew three or four of the townsmen; whereat, +says a writer in the Paston series, "the larum belle was ronge and the +toun arose and would have jouperdit to have distressed the men of the +duke of Somerset, ne had the duke of Buks taken direccion therin."[259] +Coventry was already ceasing to be the well-ordered and peaceful place +whereon the mind of King Henry loved to dwell. Next year we hear that +the civic finances were disorganised, that the officers of the city +were negligent in the performance of their duty, and that the citizens, +being "of froward dispositions," were inclined to appeal to "mighty men +in strange shires" for their support in carrying on lawsuits against +their neighbours in courts without the city. + +In February, 1457, the court was again at Coventry; the King came +thither on the 11th "to his bedde," and the Queen coming "suddenly" +next day "unto her mete."[260] Margaret was doubtless burdened with +some weighty tidings, for "she came rydyng byhynde a man, and so rode +the most part of all her gentylwemen then, at which tyme she sende vn +to the meyre and his brethern that she wold not that [the] spiritualte +ne the temporalte shold be laburd to met her then, and so she was not +met at that tyme." A great council[261] was held at Coventry from +February 15 to March 14, all the great men of both parties being +present, and the Duke of York was re-appointed to the deputyship of +Ireland. Henry left the city for Kenilworth on March 14, the mayor +and his brethren, and a "goodly fellowship of the city" having "right +great thank" for accompanying his highness "to the utter side of their +franchise." A characteristic touch is given concerning Margaret's +departure for Coleshill two days later. The mayor, his brethren, and +a "feyre felyship" of the commons--we seem to gather from these words +that there was but a scanty attendance--went with Queen Margaret to +the boundary of the city liberties. The mayor, having his mace in his +hand, rode immediately before her, the sheriffs with their white yards +or rods directly preceding the mayor. Hitherto this ceremony in its +completeness had only been observed when the King was in question. "And +so," the _Leet Book_ says, "they did never before the quene tyll then, +for they bere before that tyme alwey theire servants (sergeants') mases +... at her comynges, at which doyng her officers groged (grudged), +seying the quene owed to be met yn like fourme as the kyng shold, which +yn dede," the writer continues with some trepidation, "as ys seide owe +to be so, except her displeser wold be eschewed."[262] + +An unexplained rising took place at Hereford in April, and the King +and Queen went thither to quell it, Margaret alienating even her +friends in that district by her severity. At Whitsuntide, however, the +whole Court again sojourned at Coventry, and a grand procession at +the Pentecostal feast dazzled the eyes of the citizens.[263] The Duke +of Buckingham followed next after Henry, but Lord Beaumont "bere the +kynges treyne," the Earl of Stafford "his cap of astate," and Sir John +Tunstall his sword. The great nobles followed every one in his proper +rank, while after her the Queen and her chief lady, the Duchess of +Buckingham, there came "mony moo ladyes yn her mantels, surcotes, and +other appareyll to theyre astates acustumed." Mass was celebrated in +the cathedral by the Bishop of Hereford, assisted by the dean of the +King's chapel, the prior and his monks. + +Queen Margaret could occasionally be gracious, and her eagerness to +see the Mystery Plays performed at the feast of Corpus Christi must +have flattered the citizens. She came "prively" from Kenilworth on the +eve of the festival, and "lodged at Richard Wodes, the grocer,[264] +where Richard Sharp sometime dwelled; and there all the plays were +first played," save _Doomsday_, the drapers' pageant, which could not +be seen, for evening came on and put a close to the performance. The +mayor and bailiffs sent a present to Richard Wood's house, namely +"ccc (300) paynemaynes,[265] a pipe of rede wyne, a dosyn capons of +haut grece,[266] a dosyn of grete fat pykes, a grete panyer full of +pescodes and another panyer of pipyns and orynges, & ij cofyns of +counfetys, & a pot of grene gynger." Quite a little court was assembled +at the grocer's house to witness those strange spectacles in which +the dramatic instinct of the Middle Ages found vent. The Duke of +Buckingham and "my lady his wife," who might be regarded as natives +of the city, would do the honours of the place; and let us hope those +ardent Lancastrians, Lord Rivers and his lady, father and mother of the +future queen, Elizabeth Woodville, and the elder and younger Countess +of Shrewsbury, applauded the ravings of Pilate and Herod, the pompous +characters of the religious drama, or heard with complaisance the +devil's jokes. It is hard to imagine Queen Margaret, that tireless +fighter and plotter, or Lady Shrewsbury, the great Talbot's widow, +whose feud with the Berkeleys filled Gloucestershire with strife for +over a generation, engaged in such a harmless amusement as laughing +over the quaint performances of their citizen supporters, nibbling +the while some of the good mayor's supply of apples and sweetmeats. +How delighted the citizens were at her highness's condescension! +When she went next day "to her mete" to Coleshill, "right a good +feliship--which plesid her highnes right well,"--attended her to the +"vtmast side of theyre franchise, where hit plesyd her to gyff them +grete thank bothe for theyre present and theyre gentyll attendaunce." +In the August of that same year, Henry and his Queen again visited +Coventry, sleeping there from August 31 until September 2, and "about x +of the belle" on the latter day the Queen rode to Sharneford and on to +sleep at Leicester "toward the forest of Rokyngham for to hunt," while +at two o'clock Henry rode forth on his journey towards Northampton, and +the men of Coventry did not see them again for two years, when a more +troubled scene had opened. + +The records of Coventry are nothing but a blank during the succeeding +years; for the council merely met at the appointed season to elect a +mayor, but transacted, as far as we know, no other business; tradition +has it that the city was divided against itself, a highly probable +case when we consider how high the tide of Yorkist and Lancastrian +party spirit was running in the rest of the country. In the political +world this season was filled by ineffectual peacemakings and renewed +preparations for war. Warwick, after provoking the wrath of the +Lancastrian party, fled to Calais, and his father, Salisbury, met and +worsted Lord Audley, the royalist leader, who had been sent to capture +him, at the field of Bloreheath (September 23, 1459). The Yorkist lords +flew to arms; but when the King proposed to give battle at Ludford, +weakened by the defection of a certain Andrew Trollope, they all +dispersed and fled. The Yorkists being thus humbled, the time was come +for Margaret's vengeance. No writs were sent to the principal Yorkist +chiefs for the parliament summoned to meet at Coventry on November +20, and the knights and burgesses were nominated by the Lancastrian +leaders. The assembly met, and, by one sweeping act of attainder, +deprived twenty-three leading Yorkists of their inheritance. People +called this the "diabolical parliament"; henceforward there was no +hope of a reconciliation between York and Lancaster. A petition[267] +presented by John Rous, the antiquary of Guy's Cliffe, to this +parliament, calling attention to the enclosure of common lands and +increase of pasture, is now lost; it fell on deaf ears at that time of +party strife. + +It seems that the Queen's late violent proceedings, or the plundering +propensities of her followers, had caused the townspeople to grow +somewhat cold in her cause. When a commission of array dated from +Northampton arrived a few days before the Candlemas feast, 1460, the +sheriffs kept it back, and it was fourteen days before the newly +elected mayor, John Wyldegrys,[268] received the missive addressed to +his predecessor conveying the king's command. This was surely not the +result of accident but design, the sheriffs having their own reasons +for thwarting the mayor, or being ardent Yorkists. Then the Duke of +Buckingham arrived, perhaps to learn the reason of the delay, and the +mayor bethought him of this indiscretion. "To my lord of Buckingham," +lodging at the "Angel," he sent to ask whether "any hurt might grow to +the city" because of the neglect of the commission, and to ensure the +duke's goodwill, sent thirty loaves, two pike, two tench, some capons, +a peacock, and a peahen to his lodging. + +A letter which he received from the King about this time hardly tended, +it may be thought, to reassure John Wyldegrys.[269] "For asmuche," the +King wrote, "as credible reporte is made vn to us howe diuers of th' +inhabitantes of oure cite of Coventre haue, sithe the tyme of oure +departyng from thens, vsed and had right vnfittyng langage ayenst +oure estate and personne, and in favouring of oure supersticious[270] +traitours, and rebelles, nowe late in oure parlement there attaincted, +wherby grete comocions and murmur ben like to folowe, to the +grete distourbance of oure feithfull, true subgettes, onlesse that +punisshement and remede for the redresse therof the rather be had, we +therfor ... charge you diligently t' enquer and make serche among the +seid inhabitants of suche vnfittyng langage as is aboue seid, and do +theym to be emprysoned and punisshed accordyng to their demerits, and +in example of other of semblable condicion, as ye desyre to do that +shall plaise vs."[271] + +John Wyldegrys probably executed this commission with all the alacrity +of fear, and we hear that in the following October the Duke of York +had a strange commission to sit in judgment on various offenders in +Coventry "to punish them by the fawtes to the kyng's lawys." But the +duke, who was on his way home from Ireland, could not afford to tarry, +having weightier business on hand, namely, the laying claim to the +throne of England, and the drawing up of a genealogy to lay before +parliament, showing that his claim to the throne was based on rightful +inheritance. Since the battle of Northampton (July 10, 1460), the King +had been in the hands of the Yorkist lords, Salisbury and Warwick.[272] +At this battle, too, Henry lost Buckingham, the most powerful man at +the time in Warwickshire, and a pillar of the Lancastrian cause. After +his death, maybe, the men of Coventry felt more free to choose what +side they would, and the plunder wherein Margaret's host indulged after +Wakefield (December 14) and S. Alban's (February 17, 1461) completed +their alienation from the Lancastrian party. The Yorkists had now +the upper hand in the city. After the battle of S. Alban's £100 was +collected throughout the wards for men to go to London with "the earl +of March,"[273] who, since his father's death at Wakefield, had become +the hope of the Yorkist cause. On the day after his coronation (March +5) Edward IV. dispatched a letter to the mayor and his brethren full of +thanks for the citizens' loyalty to his cause, praying for their "good +continuance in the same," and praising their "good and substantial +rule." He thus assured the support of the people of the place, and +on the terrible field of Towton, where "the dead hindered the living +from coming to close quarters," the men of Coventry fought under the +standard of the Black Ram in the Yorkist ranks. The _Leet Book_ tells +us that £80 was collected throughout the wards for the 100 men "which +went with oure soverayn liege lord kyng Edward the IIIIthe to the +felde yn the north."[274] + +Many of the towns took part with Edward in this famous battle, for +order and good government seemed more likely to follow from the Yorkist +than the Lancastrian rule. Each town went to the field under their +ancient ensign. As a contemporary ballad has it:-- + + "The wolf came fro Worcester, ful sure he thought to byte, + The dragon came fro Gloucester, he bent his tayle to smyte; + The griffin cam fro Leycester, flying in as tyte, + The George cam fro Nottingham, with spere for to fyte."[275] + +The citizens certainly continued to deserve the King's favour. They +presented him with £100 and a cup to his "welcome to his cite of +Coventre from the felde yn the North,"[276] and decorated the city +with pageants and goodly shows in his honour, the smiths' craft +providing the character of Samson, who no doubt gave in appropriate +verses the promise to use his great strength in defending the King's +just claim "to his newly-acquired sovereignty."[277] In that year +also all men dwelling in the city were sworn to King Edward to be +"his true lege men." In later times the King learnt to distrust this +ancient Lancastrian refuge, but for the present there was nothing but +amity between himself and the citizens. So vivid was the remembrance +of the plundering of Margaret's army, that the old loyalty towards +the Lancastrians turned to rancour. And the same spring, on the +King-maker's coming--the first important mention of him in the city +annals--£40 was collected to be given to him for the payment of forty +men that went to the north to resist "kyng Herry and quene Marget +_that were_, and alle other with theym accompanyed, as Scottes and +Frenchemen, of theyre entre yn to this lande." The mere whisper of a +foreign alliance and invasion was sufficient to damn the Lancastrian +cause, for Lord Rous, with other refugees, aided by the Scots, were +making trouble on the Border. The men returned on July 29, for the +north was pacified, men believed, the Scots having rebellions, stirred +up by King Edward, to look to nearer home. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 234: _Leet Book_, 112.] + +[Footnote 235: Ramsay, _Lanc. and York_, ii. 169.] + +[Footnote 236: Dugdale, _Warw._, ii. 1,011.] + +[Footnote 237: _Leet Book_, 244. A _jack_ was a tunic of stuffed +leather; a _sallet_, a helmet; and a _habergeon_, a short coat of mail. +A unique sallet of the time of the Wars of the Roses, traditionally +known as the Black Prince's helmet, is in S. Mary's Hall.] + +[Footnote 238: _Leet Book_, 253.] + +[Footnote 239: _Ib._, 256-60.] + +[Footnote 240: _Ib._, 257.] + +[Footnote 241: _Ib._, 260.] + +[Footnote 242: _Leet Book_, 263.] + +[Footnote 243: MS. Coïalte: this contraction will be henceforth written +in full. I deviate from the MS. in putting capital letters to proper +names, and in writing these in full wherever contractions occur. I have +also substituted small letters for capitals whenever the latter would +cause confusion to the modern reader.] + +[Footnote 244: Outer.] + +[Footnote 245: Thomas Littleton, of famous memory, whom Coke made +familiar to all. This official was the exponent of the law in the +mayor's court.] + +[Footnote 246: Ramsay, _op. cit._, ii. 147.] + +[Footnote 247: _Leet Book_, 264-5.] + +[Footnote 248: _Leet Book_, 264-5.] + +[Footnote 249: _Leet Book_, 265-6. The city and the adjoining hamlets +were joined together as a county. The mayor, according to the charter, +was made steward and marshal of the king's household.] + +[Footnote 250: There were great preparations for the civil strife +during this year (Ramsay, ii. 169). The prince of Wales was invested +with the appanage of Cornwall in 1455 (_Ib._, ii. 219). The Coventry +men henceforth owned him as their lord and protector.] + +[Footnote 251: _Leet Book_, 283.] + +[Footnote 252: Ramsay, ii. 199.] + +[Footnote 253: _Leet Book_, 285.] + +[Footnote 254: _Ib._, 292.] + +[Footnote 255: _Leet Book_, 287; first printed in Sharp, _Antiq._, pp. +228-231.] + +[Footnote 256: _Leet Book_, 292.] + +[Footnote 257: Beheaded on Gosford Green, 1469.] + +[Footnote 258: York and Warwick swore to keep the peace (Ramsay, ii, +199).] + +[Footnote 259: _Paston Letters_ (ed. Gairdner), i. 408.] + +[Footnote 260: _Leet Book_, 297.] + +[Footnote 261: The Archbishop of York, the Bishops of Winchester, +London, Lincoln, Norwich, Exeter, Worcester, Chester, Hereford, and +Salisbury; the Abbots of Glastonbury, Bury S. Edmunds, Gloucester, +Malmesbury, Cirencester; Lawrence Booth, privy seal; the Dukes of +Exeter, Buckingham, Somerset; the Earls of Shrewsbury, treasurer, +Stafford, Northumberland, Arundel and Devonshire; the Lord of S John's, +the Lords Roos, Suydeley, steward of the Household, Stanley, Beauchamp, +Berners, Grey de Ruthyn, Lovell, Wells, Willoughby, and Dudley, were +present.] + +[Footnote 262: _Leet Book_, 298.] + +[Footnote 263: _Ib._, 299.] + +[Footnote 264: _Leet Book_, 300.] + +[Footnote 265: Fine white bread; _panis dominicus_, lord's bread.] + +[Footnote 266: Fat.] + +[Footnote 267: Rous, _Hist. Reg. Angliæ_ (Hearne), 120.] + +[Footnote 268: _Leet Book_, 308.] + +[Footnote 269: _Ib._, 309.] + +[Footnote 270: Query?] + +[Footnote 271: _Leet Book_, 309.] + +[Footnote 272: Henry was at Coventry when he heard of the landing of +the Yorkist lords Salisbury and Warwick on June 23 (Holinshed, iii. +654).] + +[Footnote 273: Afterwards Edward IV. (_Leet Book_, 313).] + +[Footnote 274: _Ib._, 315.] + +[Footnote 275: Thompson, _Leicester_, 88.] + +[Footnote 276: _Leet Book_, 316.] + +[Footnote 277: Sharp, _Mysteries_, 152.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +_The Last Struggle of York and Lancaster--the Tudors and Stuarts_ + + +The men of Coventry settled down under the rule of Edward IV.; and if +the clash of arms was heard in the north--for Margaret would not tamely +submit to lose her son's inheritance--it did not disturb the Midlands. +Henry VI., the weak, mad, saintly King, lay in the Tower of London, and +men thought the Yorkist firmly seated on his throne. The wars and party +troubles had, however, much disorganized the city finances, and it is +probably from this time that we must date the backwardness of the city +in paying their ferm to the exchequer; and though the vigorous measures +of the leet may have kept temporary order for those within and without +the ruling body, yet the embarrassments of the corporation were not +past. An attack on the franchises,[278] made, so it would appear from +some words the steward of Cheylesmore let fall, at the instigation of +some of the malcontents within the city in 1464, was the cause of much +trouble and fear to the townsfolk. The arrest of one Hikman, a dyer, +a craft always at daggers drawn with the corporation, in Cheylesmore +Park, was the occasion of the trouble. At the instance of the officials +of the royal manor,[279] Edward IV. called in question the right of +the city officers to make arrests within the manorial territory. The +matter was decided in the city's favour after many journeys and much +suffering of the law's delays. + +[Illustration: SMITHFORD STREET COVENTRY] + +Edward treated the Coventry folk graciously enough, paying them several +visits at this time[280]; but another figure had begun to loom large +in English politics, and Warwick, the King-maker, now exercised even +more power in the Midlands than had been enjoyed by the Lancastrian +Buckingham. In 1464 the earl first appears as meddling in the internal +affairs of Coventry. A quarrel arose between a certain William Bedon +and William Huet about a debt--it may have been a party affair between +the weavers and tailors--and appeal was made to Edward IV. The matter, +the King declared, was "screpulus and doubtefull," and directed that +the litigants should abide by the arbitration of certain citizens, or +that the mayor, in the event of their inability to decide upon the case +before Michaelmas, should step in and dispose of the matter. + +Accordingly at the appointed time, when the arbitrators failed to +agree, the mayor took the matter into his own hands, and decreed that +Huet should ask Bedon's forgiveness for his behaviour towards him, +giving also 40s. "for amends." "Which laude and decree," the _Leet +Book_ says, "the seid William Huet yn neyther braunche wold not obey, +but utterly refusyd," using "right vnfyttyng, inordinate and ceducious +langage sownyng to the derogacion of the kynges lawes and of his peace, +yn right evyll example, for the which the seid mair, vmper,[281] be the +advyse of his seid brethern, comyttid hym to warde," the King giving +him "right good and special thank" for his action in this behalf. +Tiptoft, it appears, who was then in the city, kept Edward informed +of the progress of the business. But the affair soon assumed serious +proportions, and the King wrote to inform the mayor that if any others +vexed their neighbours by any "imaginacions, sclaundours or feyned +accusacions hereafter," or made any "conventicles," they were to be +repressed; the officer requiring all the king's liege men in the city +to aid him in the work "at thair peril."[282] + +But peace was not to be restored by these means, for the city +authorities had still to reckon with Huet, who lay in prison. By +the "meane of his frendes," the account goes on, he "labored vnto +my lord of Warrewyk for favor and ease to be had yn the seid decree +at my lordes instaunce, so that to ouer gret rebuke ne charge were +not don to the seid William yn makyng therof. And theruppon the seid +mair, allethough after his dimeretys, well and indifferently be hym +vnderstondon, he were worthy to have made as lowly submission as +cowde be thought therfore, and to have boron to the utmost of his +godes besides that, and rightwesnes without mercy shold have ben +don therin; but at the seid instaunce leying rightwesnes apart and +folowyng mercy," the mayor "made his laude and decree thus: that the +seid William Huet shuld be of good seying and behavyng fro that tyme +fourth, and that he shuld yeve the seid William Bedon 10 marcs in +amendes towards his costes. And so he did, which amounted not to the +thryd peny that he had made hym to spende; and yette further at my +seid lordes instaunce"--here the mayor, sadly confused and harassed +by the divergence of the paths of "mercy" and "righteousness," takes +up the account in his own person--"my worshipfull Brethren and I so +effectuelly entreted the seid William Bedon, that he yave the seid Huet +agayn V nobles of the seid X marcs." Then Huet, being further bound +over to keep the peace, was "set at his large," or released. + +Owing to these repeated attacks, as well as to the unsettled state of +the kingdom, things had not prospered with the Coventry corporation. +They were in 1468 £800 in arrear of their annual ferm of £50. The +sheriff was ordered to seize the goods of the mayor and men of the +place as distress. He could find no more than 106s. worth of goods, +and these "remained on his hands for lack of buyers," "and since the +said mayor and men had no other goods or lands within the bailiwick +that could be taken into the king's hands, no further payment was +then made,"[283] a rather amusing betrayal of the helplessness of +the central government. But the Trinity and Corpus Christi guilds +were bodies possessed of great wealth, though upon their funds the +exchequer had no claim, thanks to the astuteness of the corporation +in thus disposing of its possessions. But no doubt the resources both +of guilds and townsmen were failing, even as those of the monastery, +for in 1466 the prior was £550 in arrears to the Crown for the rent +of the Earl's-half; his tenants in the city must therefore have been +backward in paying the rent due to the priory treasury. And to add to +the general confusion in 1469 the commonalty rose crying that they were +defrauded of their lawful share of the Lammas lands. More serious than +all, when civil war again broke loose and Edward and Warwick measured +swords together, the men of Coventry chose the losing side, nor did a +too late repentance avail to save them from the terrible humiliation of +a temporary forfeiture of their franchises. + +Meanwhile matters were going from bad to worse in the government of +England. The great earl was becoming rapidly estranged from his young +kinsman, Edward, whom he had helped to place on the throne. Jealousy +of the Queen's relations, and the decay of his own influence in the +royal councils, were rapidly converting Warwick into a secret enemy of +the ruling house. Edward[284] was in favour of a Burgundian alliance; +the King-maker, on the contrary, pressed forward the claims of France +to the friendship of England, and when the King treated the French +ambassadors with scant courtesy, his too powerful subject entered into +intrigues with Louis XI. on his own behalf. He had some thoughts of +placing on the throne his future son-in-law, the Duke of Clarence; and +Calais, where the earl and the King's brother were staying, became in +1469 a perfect hot-bed of conspiracy. + +How far Warwick carried with him the general sentiment of English folk +is rather doubtful, but so great was his territorial influence that he +was a highly dangerous enemy. Besides, there were various elements of +disaffection abroad in the land. The Lancastrians had still some hold +on the hearts of those living in the north and west, while others who +had expected an era of peace and perfection under Yorkist rule were +naturally disappointed at the small results of Edward's government. +Though there seems to have been no very distinct notion of what the +people wanted, one thing was clear, they wanted a change, and the +country was filled with the old tokens of unrest and discontent. +Bad times seem rather unaccountably to have befallen the people of +Coventry; the city was deeply in debt, and on that account the citizens +were probably more willing to lend an ear to Warwick's emissaries. +It is possible that foreign trade relations may have more to do than +we are at present aware with town politics. The great merchants of +the Staple, who were heads of the powerful civic families, and who +possessed the monopoly of trade in wool, would welcome the alliance +with Burgundy, and a ready export of the raw material to Flanders; +while the bulk of the townsfolk, cloth workers and artisans, were glad +that the wool should be kept in England and be converted into cloth +by home manufacture. For that reason Warwick and his anti-Burgundian +policy may have been popular in cloth-working towns such as Coventry +then was. + +We follow with difficulty the record of obscure risings which marked +the beginning of a fresh struggle. Two movements agitated the north in +the early part of the year 1469. One seems to have been a Lancastrian +outbreak; the other, under Robin of Redesdale, was undoubtedly fomented +by Warwick. The men of Coventry found themselves as usual drawn into +the strife. They were compelled to pay, and send fifty men to York +against the rebels,[285] who joined their forces together, and finally +turned southwards under Sir John Coniers towards the Midlands. For some +time Edward appeared unconscious of the danger that threatened him, and +during June he went quietly on a progress through the eastern counties. +At last there came a rude awakening. On July 1,[286] he wrote from +Fotheringay, bidding the mayor take and commit to ward any person using +seditious language among the King's liege people to the intent to "stor +and incens theym to rumor and comocion"; and later letters were urgent +in their appeals for dispatch of men. Meanwhile the extent of Warwick's +plotting stood revealed. On July 12 came tidings from this arch +conspirator, who, far from being the haughty noble of the conventional +type, was, as his latest biographer[287] tells us, very affable in his +bearing and an ardent seeker after the commonalty's good will. Warwick +had very probably gained a strong party among the populace at Coventry, +and in addition to the letter destined for the mayor, the messenger +bore a duplicate addressed to his master's "servonds and welwyllers" +within the city.[288] "Ryght trusty and well belovyd frende," the earl +wrote to the mayor, William Saunders, "I grete you well. Forsomuche as +hyt hath pleasyd the kings gode grace to sende at this tyme for hys +lords and other hys subgetts to atende on hys hygnes northwards, and +that both the rihgt hye and myghty prince, my lord the duke of Clarens, +and I be fully purposid, after the solempnizacion of the maryage by +Godds grace in short tyme to be hadde bitwene my sayd lord and my +dohgter, to a wayte on the same, and to drawe vn to our sayd soveren +lordes hyghnes, therfor desire and pray you that ye woll in the meene +tyme geve knowlache to all suche felisshipp as ye mowe make [toward +theym] to arredy theym in the best wyse they can, and that bothe ye +and they defensibly arrayd be redy apon a days warnyng to accompany my +sayd lord and me toward the sayd highnes, as my specyall trust ys in +yowe; yevyng credens to this berer in that he shall open vnto you on +my behalve, and ore Lord have you in hys keping. Writon at London the +xxviii day of Juyn." The marriage thus referred to was solemnised some +ten days or more after the date of the missive--July 11, Clarence and +Archbishop Neville having secretly stolen over to Calais, where Warwick +was then posted, to take part in the ceremony; and the next day the +King-maker and his following landed on the coast of Kent. + +[Illustration: COOK STREET, GATE] + +The letter[289] as it stands conveys but scanty indications of the real +state of affairs, but no doubt the citizens read between the lines, and +in "giving credence to the bearer" heard as much as the earl wished of +his plans for the overthrow of the Queen's relations and the recovery +of the Neville influence. Whether they understood that Clarence, +Warwick's son-in-law, was to occupy his brother Edward's place, and be +raised to the throne, is another matter. Nevertheless they must have +been somewhat bewildered by Warwick's change of front. Lancaster they +knew, and York they knew, but they might with all justice ask, "Who are +ye?" of the King-maker. + +Once more, as in Margaret's time, Coventry, with its command of +the north-western road, became a centre of operations. News now +came thick and fast. Coniers' army of Yorkshiremen, supplied with a +later manifesto and petition of grievances promulgated by Warwick, +and the royal troops under Herbert and Stafford of Southwick, were +converging towards Banbury. On Maudlin day (July 22) Coventry was +hastily fortified, certain of the principal citizens overlooking the +equipment of soldiers and the strengthening of the gates with cannon. +On the 26th July the battle of Edgcote was fought near Banbury, ending +in the discomfiture of Herbert and the royalist troops. For just when +victory seemed assured, a rabble of Northampton men, led by one John +Clapham, bearing the banner of the White Bear, and shouting "a Warwick! +a Warwick!" appeared over the hillside in the rear of Lord Herbert's +men, and they, thinking the Earl himself was come, broke and fled. +"Lord Herbert," the _Leet Book_ says, "was taken in fight by Banbury +with Robin of Redesdale" on the vigil of S. James, and was brought +to Northampton, and there beheaded, and Lord Richard Herbert, with +others.[290] Some days afterwards Edward was captured at Honiley or +Olney, near Kenilworth, and brought by Archbishop Neville to Coventry, +there to meet the Archbishop's "brother of Warwick."[291] He was +detained in the city as a prisoner until August 9. But even then his +humiliation was not complete. Three days later, when the King was +certainly no further removed from the city than Warwick, the father and +brother of Edward's Queen, Lord Rivers and his son, John Woodville, +who had been captured by rioters at Chepstow, fell into Warwick's +hands, and were beheaded on Gosford Green by his order.[292] The _Leet +Book_ also records the executions of Lord Stafford of Southwick at +Bridgewater, and again that of Sir Humphrey Neville, a Lancastrian, +and Charles, his brother, who had risen in rebellion in September, +in the "north coasts," and that of the bailiff of Durham at the same +time ("et ballivus de Duram eodem tempore"). It was on the occasion of +this northern or Lancastrian rising that the Nevilles found themselves +forced to release Edward; for the unpopular ministers having been +brought to justice, there was a feeling abroad that the King should be +set free. + +So far Warwick's revolt had been successful, but it did not wholly +gratify his ambition. No doubt he felt that the King was hopelessly +alienated, and, whenever powerful enough, would free himself from the +influence of the house of Neville. Fresh troubles broke out, this time +in Lincolnshire, in February 1470. Warwick's agents so worked on the +fears of the people that they rose in great numbers, and converted +a local dispute into a rising of some magnitude. A royal missive, +bearing date February 9, arrived at Coventry late in the evening, and +in accordance with the commission, money was collected throughout the +wards for men to go to Grantham by March 12.[293] The King's letter +was imperative; there were rebels abroad, it said, "and many assemble +for the retaining of the said enemies ... so that if their malice be +not ... withstanden, it might grow to the great jeopardy of us and to +the destruction of all true subjects." Edward defeated the rebels at +Empingham, near Stamford, on 12th March, and so sudden was their flight +that the battle received the name of _Lose-coat Field_. Meanwhile +the ringleaders, mainly belonging to the Welles family, were brought +in; but before execution they showed that Clarence and Warwick were +seriously implicated in their designs. Edward, whose suspicions were +thoroughly aroused, sent to the duke and earl at Coventry, bidding them +disband their levies, for they were followed by a great number of men, +and join him without delay; but they would not, merely sending excuses +and promises.[294] And perhaps it was then that Clarence, being in +need of money, left in pledge a "coronall," garnished with "rubies, +diamonds, and sapphires," in return for a loan of 300 marks from the +citizens.[295] Finally Warwick and the King's brother, after trying +the disposition of men's minds towards their cause in the northern +parts, turned southwards, whither Edward followed them; but they had +already taken ship at Dartmouth when the King reached Exeter. Edward +passed through Coventry on his way southwards, and forty men went +with the King on April 5 to the south coasts, taking the great sum of +12d.[296] a day for payment. For the citizens of Coventry--provident +men--afforded help to either party, hoping surely to have their reward +whichever side might prevail in the end. They admitted Clarence and +Edward, and furnished the former with money and the latter with men. +This shows either that they took a dispassionate view of these dynastic +and political struggles in which they had no concern, or that they +were more deeply involved in them than we imagine, but parties being +so evenly balanced in the city, the presence or near neighbourhood of +a leader of either party was sufficient for the time being to turn the +scale in his favour. + +The two conspirators sailed for Calais, but there the merchants of +the Staple were heart and soul for Edward and the Burgundian alliance, +and the garrison, being in their pay, closed the harbour against them. +So they put into the Seine, and Warwick, abandoning his old project +of dethroning Edward to make room for Clarence, prepared to take up a +more definite policy, and made overtures to the Lancastrians. It is +difficult to imagine how Queen Margaret could bring herself to forgive +the man who had wrought so much evil to her and hers. But Louis XI., +King of France, who knew that if the Yorkists continued to reign they +would strengthen Burgundy, his great foe, acted as peacemaker, and the +compact between Lancaster and Neville was sealed by the betrothal of +Warwick's daughter to the Prince of Wales. When the King-maker and the +Lancastrian lords landed at Plymouth in September, they caught Edward +unawares in the north, and they replied to his summons, ordering them +to appear at court, "humbly and measurably accompanyed," by proclaiming +Henry VI. King of England. The army in the north declared for King +Henry; for the moment the game was up; Edward IV. fled to Lynn, and +took ship for the Low Countries. + +[Illustration: OLD HOUSE IN LITTLE PARK STREET] + +The Coventry _Leet Book_ thus summarizes the year's events:[297] "In +the Lenton when William Stafford was mayor ... the Lord Wellys[298] +were byhedyd. The duke of Clarance and the yrle of Warw[ick] w[ent] +o[ut] of the londe, and went to the kynge off Franse, and there were +gretly cheryshyd, and there was a m[arriage] m[ade] by twix prinse +Edward and a dohgter of the sayd yrle of Warwic. And in the monthe +of Sept[ember] the sayd duke and yrle with the yrle of Oxynford, +the yrle off Pembroke,[299] brother to kyng Harry, the bastard +ffawkynbruge[300] comyn a londe at Ex--.[301] They ther drewe to hem +muche pepull, or they com to Coventry, they wer xxx thowsand. [Ky]ng +Edward laye at Notynham, and sende for lordes and all other men, but +ther com so lytell pep[ull] to hym that he was not abyll to made a +fylde a gaynes hem, and then he with the yrle [R]evers, the lorde +Hastyng,[302] the lord Haward, and the lorde Say went to Lynne, and +ther goten hem shippes, and sayledon to the duke of Borgoyne,[303] the +whiche duke hade weddyd kyng Edwards syster, the lady Margete. And +then the duke of Clarans, the yrle off Warwic, the yrle of Oxynford, +the yrle of Shroysbere, the lord Stanley, [and] the bysshoppe of +Yorke[304] went to the towre at London, and set out of prison kyng +Harre the Syxt, the wyche hade be ix yer and a halfe and mor[305] as +a prisonere, and brohgt hym to the bysshoppes palys at Powlys[306] in +London, and made hym there to take on hym to be kyng as he was afore +tyme. And then was the yrle of Wyrseter[307] behedyt at London.... +The quene that was wyfe to kyng Edward, with hyr moder, the duches of +Bedford,[308] toke seynt wary[309] at Westmynster, and ther the quene +was lyght of a son that was crystonyd Edward." + +So the year that had seen such astonishing events now drew to a close. +England saw one king displaced by a powerful subject after a bloodless +struggle, and another, weak, possibly imbecile, and long a neglected +prisoner, restored to his former state; a queen driven to take +sanctuary for fear of her husband's enemies, and the birth of a Prince +of Wales, the history of whose short unhappy life accords well with the +inauspicious season of his coming into the world. Though Englishmen +passively accepted these changes, Warwick's position was still one of +great difficulty; the King's weakness, Margaret's delay in France, +and last the unstable temper of "false, fleeting, perjured Clarence," +all combined to make the firm establishment of the restored dynasty a +matter involving risk on every hand. + +John Bette counted the beginning of his mayoralty in January, 1471, +according to the regnal year of Henry VI., and the townspeople +doubtless considered that the rule of the Yorkists was a thing of the +past.[310] Perhaps the craftsmen party were pleased with the reversal +of policy which followed on the reaccession of the Lancastrian King. +The French King held Warwick to an agreement to make war with Burgundy. +And war with Burgundy meant interruption in the Flemish wool trade, and +a plentiful supply of wool for the home market. In the following March, +forty men, now waged at 6d. a day, were commissioned to go for two +months to Flanders. But the Flemings, by their support of the fugitive +King, Edward IV., carried the war into the enemy's country. On March +14, 1471, Edward landed at Ravenspur, to claim--so he averred--the +duchy of York, his ancestral inheritance. Slipping past Montagu, +who had been set to guard the north road, he pressed on towards the +Midlands. Followers presently flocked to his standard, and on March 29, +coming from Leicester, he offered battle beneath the walls of Coventry. +Warwick, who lay within the city, waiting for fresh levies, had not +troops sufficient to accept the challenge, and suffered Edward to pass +on, and cut off his communications with London. + +The citizens of Coventry must have long remembered this terrible +season, "the Lenton next afore Barnet ffeld," and the hurried and +almost unintelligible writing of the _Leet Book_, with the frequent and +probably intentional mutilation of its pages, bespeak the agitation and +confusion which filled men's thoughts. There could be no temporizing +now the great earl was within their gates, no making overtures to the +returning Yorkists, who, now that there was no army barring the way +to the capital, found their position greatly increased in strength. +The townsfolk lent Warwick 100 marks,[311] and during that period of +terrible anxiety, wherein the earl was waiting for the levies under +Montagu from the north, Oxford from the east, and Clarence from the +south-west, they sent "riders into the country" to bring back tidings, +and having fortified their city, kept a strict watch.[312] The levies +under Clarence never came to the earl's aid, for meeting Edward on +the road between Warwick and Banbury, the duke deserted the cause of +his father-in-law, and was "right lovingly reconciled" to Edward. +Afterwards Clarence, stung perhaps with remorse at his desertion, +sent unto the earl "to require him to take some good way with king +Edward[313] ... the earle (after he had patientlie heard the duke's +message) he seemed greatlie to abhorre his unfaithfull dealing.... To +the messengers (as some write) he gave none other answer but this: that +he had rather be like himselfe than like a false and perjured duke; and +that he was fullie determined never to leave warre till he had either +lost his owne life or utterlie subdued his enimies." + +Strengthened by Clarence's levies, the King again returned to offer +battle on April 5 before the gates of Coventry, but as Warwick still +refused, he drew off down the Watling Street towards London. The +citizens of Coventry continued faithful to Warwick, and when he left +for the capital to stake his all on a battle with Edward, twenty +horsemen and twenty foot from the city set forth with him on the +eventful march, and fought at Barnet Field. But when the battle was +over the terror-stricken townsmen would fain--in Clarence's words--have +"made so good a way with king Edward," and did all that in them lay to +appease the conqueror. Margaret of Anjou and her son had landed two +days after the battle. Prince Edward no doubt expected aid from the +Lancastrian stronghold, and sent a proclamation from Chard, where he +then was, to Coventry. But the townsfolk knew that the day was with the +Yorkist King. + +The Leet Book records the receipt of "a letter fro Edward, the son +of Harry the VIte, the xxv day of Aprile, that was wryton at Cherd +the xviii day of Aprile _the whyche was sent to Kyng Edward and the +messenger therewith to Abyndon_."[314] But they were not allowed +to make their peace after this easy fashion. In May Edward came to +Coventry, deprived the mayor, John Bette, of the civic sword, and +confiscated the liberties of the city, which were only redeemed by +a payment of 500 marks.[315] The citizens owed even this grace to +Clarence's mediation. They received a charter of pardon "for the hevy +greffe that our soveraign lord beer to the citee ... ffor the tyme that +Richard, late Erle of Warwyke, with oder to hym then acompanyed, kept +the citee in defence agenst his Royall highnes in the Lenton next afore +Barnett ffeld."[316] Clarence's mediation and the king's pardon cost +the citizens a further sacrifice. Edward brought his influence to bear +upon them for the release of the jewel, which the duke's necessities +had induced him to leave in pledge, in return for the loan of 300 +marks. This "coronall," the deed declares, "had been utterly forfeit +for two years past," as the duke had not discharged the debt. But as +Clarence had "laboured to be good lord" unto the citizens, the mayor +agreed to remit a portion of the money owing, and to deliver up the +jewel "for the singular pleasure and good grace of our sovereign lord, +king Edward."[317] + +The reconciliation being accomplished, the citizens were eager to show +their entire loyalty to King Edward, and accordingly granted a most +splendid reception--equal to that given to Margaret eighteen years +before--to the four-year-old prince of Wales on his visit to Coventry +(April 1474) for S. George's feast. The mayor and divers of the +commonalty, arrayed in green and blue, met the prince with the gift of +100 marks in a gilt "cuppe" upon which was a "kerchief of plesaunce." +At the Bablake gate stood a pageant, with figures of Richard II. and +many nobles thereupon. The character of King Richard II. in allusion +to the York genealogy, saluted the child, "of the right lyne of royall +blode" with a verse of greeting. There were further pageants "with +mynstralcy of harpe and dowsemeris" (dulcimers); and at the Broadgate +stood S. Edward (who had done duty on a previous occasion) with +"mynstralcy of harpe & lute," and more verses with allusions to the +prince's father's "imperial right," wherefrom he "had been excluded by +full furious intent," by way of welcome. + +What wonderful memories these local poets possessed! Their verses show +how the old friendship of the city to Lancaster had wholly escaped +their remembrance! When the little prince rode in his "chare" down to +the Cheaping, he beheld three prophets at the Cross, and above were +"Childer of Issarell" (the Innocents) casting down flowers and cakes, +and four pipes running wine. The three kings of Colen (Cologne) were +also pressed into the service; but the great feature of the show was +the pageant of S. George upon the conduit of the Cheaping, the saint +being represented armed, "and a kynges daughter knelyng a fore hym with +a lambe, and the father & the moder beyng in a toure a boven, beholdyng +Seint George savyng their daughter from the dragon." + + "O myghty God, our all socour celestiall, + Wich this royme hast geven to dower, + To thi moder, and to me, George, proteccion perpetuall, + Hit to defende from enimies ffere and nere, + And as this mayden defended was here, + Bi thy grace from this Dragon devour, + So, Lorde, preserve this noble prynce and ever be his socour."[318] + +A truly splendid reception for such a young child, who, we will +hope, appreciated the "kerchief of plesaunce," if the drift of the +political allusions was above his understanding. True to his policy of +ingratiating himself with the burghers and moneyed classes, the King +allowed his little son to stand godfather to the mayor's child on this +occasion. Nevertheless Edward was not content with mere compliments or +protestations of loyalty from the lips of actors, but made this visit +of his son an opportunity for strengthening his political position. +The mayor and his brethren were called upon to cause the commons of +the city to swear an oath of allegiance to the Prince of Wales.[319] +After this the King and Elizabeth Woodville were all graciousness to +the citizens. The Queen in September of that year sent twelve bucks +from Fakenham Forest as a present to the mayor, his brethren and +their wives.[320] She also praised their "sadde polit[y], guydyng and +diligence" in appeasing an affray, and thanked them warmly for their +duties ... "by you largely shewed vnto vs and to our derrest son the +prince; and in like wyse to all oure childern ther in sundry wises +heretofore, and namely vnto our right dere son, the Duc of York, in +this time of our absens."[321] Four years later, Edward sent the prince +of Wales with his court to Cheylesmore, where the child sojourned for +some time, and was admitted a member of the Trinity and Corpus Christi +guilds.[322] + +But the fair words of royalty often bore a most unwelcome meaning, and +the yoke of the Yorkists was not light. Edward, in 1474, applied to +"his feythful subgetts" in the city of their "benevolence" to aid him +with a substantial sum of money for various undertakings incident to +a war with France.[323] The king found "benevolences" or forced loans +more convenient than subsidies granted by parliament, and in the wars +a treaty better served his purpose than a battle, when the French king +was willing to pay for peace. The frequent interference of the Prince +of Wales's council in city disputes at first ruffled the tempers of the +great folk at Coventry not a little. "We, your humble and true servants +here," the corporation wrote to the Prince of Wales in 1480, "know of +no variance ... here but that we among ourselves, be the grace of God +shall amicably and righteously settle." But all thoughts of resistance +had been abandoned, when the next year a commotion, raised by the +common folk at the enclosure of the Lammas pastures, put the franchises +in danger of confiscation a second time, and the corporation earnestly +entreated the Prince of Wales by intercession to avert his father's +wrath. + +Richard III., in his brief reign, did all that in him lay to conciliate +the Coventry folk; in 1485 he kept Whitsuntide at Kenilworth,[324] and +paid a visit to the city to witness the Corpus Christi pageants, but we +hear of no joyous welcome given him by the citizens. Perhaps--though +there was little sentiment in contemporary politics--they could not +lightly forget the faces of the two little boys, who had visited +the city during their father's lifetime, and had since mysteriously +disappeared, men knew not by what means, in the Tower of London. In +an interesting letter written probably in the previous year, the King +charges the authorities of this thoroughfare city to provide horses for +the royal messengers. + +"Forasmoche," he says, "as we have appointed and ordeined certain of +our servants to lye in diverse places and townes betwix us and the +west parties of this our royaume for the hasty conveiaunce of tydings +and of all other things for us necessarie to have knowledge of, we +therefore wol and desire and also charge you that, if any of oure seid +servants comyng by you shal nede any horses for thair hasty spede to +or from us, ye wil see them shortly for to be provided therof for +thair redy money. And also if it fortune any of them to travell from +you by nyght that than ye will see that they may have guydes and that +they shalbe suffisauntly rewarded for thair labors. And that ye faile +not to doo your effectual diligence herein as we trust you, and as we +may undrestande the redynesse and good will that ye have to please +us."[325] There is an undertone of threat underlying these last few +words, shewing maybe something of the anxiety the King felt concerning +the loyalty of the citizens. But the inhabitants were decidedly worth +conciliating, and Richard wrote very cordially in the last year of his +reign praising the "sadness and circumspect wisdoms" of the mayor and +his brethren in allaying debate, and acknowledging their "auctorite +to provide, make and establisshe ordenaunces and rules ... for the +vniversall wele and pollitique guiding of" the said city.[326] + +It seems that this cordiality was wasted on the men of Coventry, so +gladly did they welcome King Richard's rival, the victor of Bosworth, +when he took up his lodging at the Bull, in Smithford Street, after the +battle.[327] The wardens' accounts record payments made "for brede, ale +and wyn and other vitailes that was hadde to Maister Onleys, he then +beyng mair, at the comyng of Kyng Henre," the most expensive items of +the account being "i pype claret wyn iii li., i pype redde wyn iii +li.," with "xx motons," "ii oxen," and 7 "stockfishes," the price of +which made a total of £4, 13s. 6d. It is true that the citizens, with +their old supreme indifference to political party, also supplied bread +and ale "to the feld of Kyng Richard,"[328] and one of their number +fought, we know not on which side, at Bosworth, for the accounts record +that 2s. 6d. was paid by the Corpus Christi guild "towards the hurt +that Thomas Maideford had in the fylde." Two years after Henry kept S. +George's feast at Coventry, and also, like his predecessor, saw on S. +Peter's day later on in the year (June 29) a performance of the famous +mystery plays. + +A great council was held at this time in the city, and the Archbishop +of Canterbury and other bishops read in the minster the papal +bulls, affirming Henry's right of succession, and threatening with +excommunication all such as should rebel against him.[329] The King was +still at Coventry when he heard that the Earl of Lincoln, a Yorkist, +with help from Burgundy, had landed in Lancashire to support the claim +of Lambert Simnel, whom historians call "the organ-maker's son," but +who gave himself out to be the son of the duke of Clarence. After the +defeat of the rebels at Stoke, near Newark, Simnel, as all the world +knows, became a scullion in the royal kitchen. The annals record that +another pretender, Thomas Harrington, who also called himself the son +of Clarence, was beheaded in this year "on the cunduit by the Bull," +and was buried at the Grey Friars'.[330] At the King's second visit at +S. Peter's-tide he lodged with Robert Onley, who had been mayor when +the battle of Bosworth was fought, and conferred on him the honour of +knighthood.[331] After Simnel's rising had been crushed, the good folk +no doubt expected to enjoy an era of peace, and in the following year +the churchwardens of S. Michael's, and other well-disposed people, "for +joy brought to S. Michael's a great bell, and called it Jesus Bell." + +Lollardry had never died out, and it flamed up anew when the land was +at peace. In 1485 Foxe records that various people of Coventry were +"troubled for religion," and compelled to recant, though not without +injunction to penance.[332] The annals tell us they bore faggots about +the city on the market day, the dread of fire being no doubt more +convincing to the suspected heretics than the bishop's logic. But +in the next generation both men and women had strength to endure to +the end. In 1511 Bishop Blythe held a "Court of Heresy" at Maxstoke, +but the accused saved themselves by abjuration, and went through +the form of bearing faggots throughout the city. All were not thus +to be delivered, however, and a persistent heretic, Joan Ward, who +had performed this penance, was handed over to the secular arm to be +burned. Seven suffered in the Little Park at Coventry this year (1512), +say the city annals (differing in date from that given by Foxe in his +account of the "Seven Godly Martyrs burnt at Coventry"), but one, who +was not staunch enough for martyrdom, recanted, and did penance "on a +pipe head," holding a faggot on his shoulder while his comrades were +burning.[333] + +Henry's frequent appeals for money must have somewhat lessened the +goodwill the Coventry men bore him for his frequent visits[334] and +complimentary membership of the city guilds. It was in 1500 that he and +his Queen became a brother and sister of the Trinity fraternity. + +Echoes reach us of the wars he undertook, which after vast +preparations and much ingathering of money, usually ended in a truce +or peace. We hear of the depredations of the King of Scots, who in +1496 broke the truce, crossed the border, and after doing all "the +harme and crueltee to men, woman, and children ... that he coulde to +th'uttermuch of his power," returned in great haste over Tweed, a +crossing which occupied him but six or seven hours, whereas in coming +over the river two whole days had been taken up.[335] The insult was to +be avenged, and two of the most expert men of the city were summoned +to meet at a great council to confer upon this matter. The conference +naturally ended in a demand for a loan. Henry had in Richard Empson, +who succeeded Boteler in the recorder's office, a servant well able +to aid him in extorting money from his loyal Coventry subjects. No +doubt the citizens were most unwilling to part with their substance. +One Richard Smith, by an appeal to the King's "ffader of Derby," the +husband of Lady Margaret, and by his "importune and dissimuled sute," +managed to gain an abatement of the sum he had originally agreed on, +so that others of the city who knew of Smith's wealth were "greatly +discouraged" at the inequality of the assessment. Empson was to +proceed, said King Henry, as he thought fit, an injunction which may +be construed to mean that he was to get all the money he could out of +Richard Smith for the King's use.[336] + +Yet the citizens prospered no doubt under Henry's firm and sagacious +rule, and when they recorded his death chronicler-fashion in the _Leet +Book_, it is with some appearance of regret. In "this year," the +account begins, "dyed king Henry the VIIth, the xxii day of April, +... at Rychemount ... and was brought to London in to Pollys[337] with +many nobles of the realme and grete nombre of torches, and a grete +nombre of peple both on horsbak and a fote. And after iii dayes beying +in Pollys he was brought to Westmynster, and ther he lieth and his +quene Elizabeth with him in a newe chapell, which he causid to be made +in his lyffe, on whoos saule Jhesu have mercy. And his son kyng Henry +the VIIIth was crownyd the same yere at Westmynster the Sonday next +after Midsomer day."[338] + +If the father had chastised the men of Coventry with whips, the son was +to chastise them with scorpions. Loans and subsidies were the order of +the day, for the great treasure gathered together by Henry VII. was +quickly dissipated by his successor. In 1524 a hundred and ninety-four +persons advanced to Henry a hundred and fifty pounds eleven shillings +by way of loan,[339] and this is only a single example of what was then +a very common arrangement. But the citizens could ill bear the pressure +of increased taxation. For some time their prosperity had been waning, +for foreign competition had begun to tell upon the English cloth +manufacture.[340] Discontent and divisions were rife among them as in +the preceding century. During years of dearth the common lands had been +ploughed up, and when the dearth was over--when, "thanks be now to +almighty God," as the _Leet Book_ says, "corn is comen to good plente +and to easy and reasonable price," the ploughing was still continued, +and the cattle of the common folk deprived of pasture. + +In 1525 the citizens rose, after their old practice, to resist the +enclosure of the common lands. On "Ill Lammas Day," say the annals, +"... the commons of Coventre rose and pulled down the gates and hedges +of the grounds inclosed, and they that were in the cittie shutt the +Newgate against the chamberlain and their company. The mayor was +almost smothered in the throng; he held with the commons, for which he +was carried as prisoner to London; he was put out of his office and +Mr. John Humphrey served out his year." A special commission under +the Marquis of Dorset was appointed to try the rioters. Thirty-seven +prisoners were sent to Warwick and Kenilworth Castles, and seven to +the Marshalsea.[341] Some suffered at the pillory, others after long +imprisonment were pardoned by the King on the occasion of the Pope's +jubilee.[342] But the rulers of the city were highly unpopular, and +frequent "slanders" were proclaimed against them.[343] + +The annals record the discovery of the wildest schemes, which sprang, +no doubt, from the misery of the people. In 1523 two men, Pratt and +Sloth, were arrested in Coventry on the charge of treason. They +confessed that their purpose was to kill the mayor and his brethren, +rob S. Mary's Hall, where the common chest was kept, and take +Kenilworth Castle. They were taken to London for judgment, but executed +at Coventry, and their remains figured on the city gates.[344] The +next year a further scheme came to light. This time the King's subsidy +was the object at which the plunderers aimed; it was to be stolen from +the collectors on the highway to London; the conspirators proposed +to seize Kenilworth Castle and to fight there for their lives. These +men, Phillips, a schoolmaster, Pickering, clerk of the King's larder, +and Anthony Manville, gentleman, were hanged, drawn and quartered at +Tyburn.[345] + +The "King's Proceedings" of 1536 undoubtedly intensified the misery of +the citizens. The monastery was dissolved by the royal commissioners; +the cathedral church defaced and its roof pulled off, and the lead, +worth £647, stacked within the desecrated building;[346] the house +of the Franciscans razed "because the poor people lay so sore upon +it;[347] and all monastic property seized into the King's hand." +Dugdale, quoting Hales' letter to the Protector Somerset, attributes to +the dissolution the state of decay and misery into which the city had +fallen in the third year of Edward VI. "There were not at that time," +the letter runs, "more than 3,000 inhabitants, whereas within memory +there had been 15,000."[348] It is very doubtful whether the high +figure is correct, and certainly the population never sank to so low +as 3,000. In a petition coming from the people of Coventry in 1548 it +is stated that there were "to the number of eleven to twelve thousand +housling people"[349] within the city. But it was the sweeping and +iniquitous act of confiscation, known as the suppression of the guilds +and chantries, rather than the dissolution of the monasteries, which +brought the citizens to the verge of ruin. So extensive was the house +property belonging to the guilds, and so intimately were these bodies +connected with the corporation, that this calamity involved the city +finances in the most terrible confusion. Having no property from which +to draw the money for the annual fee-ferm of £50, one or two persons, +the citizens declared to the Earl of Warwick, were yearly ruined by +the tax levied for its payment.[350] The poorer class--of late years +greatly increased in numbers--were deprived of the guild charities, the +children of a schoolmaster[351] and the less wealthy craftsmen of all +hope of provision for old age and an honourable burial after death. +The burgesses of Lynn and Coventry protested against the confiscation. +There were but two churches in the city, the latter declared, "wherein +God's service is done, whereof the one, that is to say, the church of +Corpus Christi, was specially maintained of the revenues of such guild +lands as had been given heretofore by divers persons to that use.... +If therefore now by the act the same land should pass from them, it +should be a manifest cause of the utter desolation of the city." For +the people, the petitioners declared, "when the churches were no longer +supported, nor God's service done therein, and the other uses and +employments of those lands omitted, should be of force constrained to +abandon the city and seek new dwelling places."[352] This energetic +protest was not without its effect. The citizens were permitted to +purchase back the guild lands for the sum of £1315, 1s. 8d., a very +large amount in those days,[353] which, in spite of their poverty, they +were enabled to gather together. + +Once more in Mary's reign, January 31, 1554, when Coventry closed +its gates against Lady Jane Grey's father, the Duke of Suffolk, the +city became of strategic importance. The city failed to rise, and the +Protestant cause in the midlands was for the moment lost. May be the +citizens regretted their inertia in the years that followed when in +1556 Laurence Saunders and Robert Glover, martyrs, were led out to die +in the Little Park. Of Glover, it is said that he remained "lumpish," +being dull of spirit, and fearing that the Lord had withdrawn His +favour from him. But a change overtook him on his way to the stake, so +that he clapped his hands with joy, "seeming rather to be risen from +some deadly danger to liberty and life, than as one passing out of the +world by any pains of death." + +[Illustration] + +By this time a royal visit had ceased to be a political event, it +became merely an occasion for splendour, or an act of courtesy. +Elizabeth visited the city in 1565, being lodged at Mr Hales' at the +Whitefriars, and was greeted with much courtier-like compliment by the +recorder, but the reception given to her has none of the significance +which attaches to the welcome, say, of Margaret of Anjou. Little +remains of Whitefriars save the east wing of the cloister with its +fine groined roof of the fifteenth century; but an oriel window on +the western side is still called after Queen Elizabeth, Coventry saw +the great Queen's rival a few years later, when in 1569, in order to +be out of reach of her confederates in the north, Mary Queen of Scots +was hurriedly conveyed from Tutbury to the city, and placed under a +strong guard. She was confined first in the "Bull Inn," and then in S. +Mary's Hall. Some years later this Queen's grand-daughter, another of +the fascinating, luckless Stuarts, was hurried in November 1605 from +Combe Abbey to Coventry, out of reach of the plotters of the Gunpowder +Treason. This was Elizabeth, later the "winter Queen" of Bohemia. She +was lodged for the nonce with Mr Hopkins of Palace Yard. + +[Illustration Queen Mary's Chamber] + +The old town house of the Hopkins' family still stands in Earl Street, +having undergone perhaps more vicissitudes than any other well-known +house in Coventry. Once a coaching-inn, known as the "Golden Horse," +and a ladies' school, kept by one Miss Sheldrake, it was originally +the home of the Hopkins' family, who first appear in Coventry +history in the late fifteenth century. Its best-known member, when +sheriff of Coventry, suffered much by reason of his openly expressed +Protestantism, and fled to Basle in Queen Mary's reign. In this house +James II. held his court in 1687, and here were also lodged Princess +Anne and George of Denmark. It is a beautiful old seventeenth-century +quadrangle with fine exterior lead-work, containing in its upper +storey, a stone chimney-piece of classic type, disfigured by a coat of +paint, while its banqueting-chamber with its finely panelled plaster +ceiling presents a veritable image of decay. The tombs of the family +with their busts and togas, 'mid all the panoply of classic memorial +and woe, appear in the Cappers' chapel of S. Michael's church. + +The chief feature of the Stuart period is the strengthening of the +Puritan feeling among the citizens. Either owing to the influence of +the Presbyterian Cartwright, who, during his tenure of the mastership +of Leycester's hospital at Warwick, established his system of church +discipline among the clergy of the county, or from some hereditary +instinct, which had led them to embrace Lollardism under the +Lancastrians, and furnish martyrs for the faggot under the Tudors, the +men of Coventry grew more Puritan year by year. They greatly vexed +the soul of King James in 1611 by refusing to kneel in receiving the +Sacrament, a circumstance the English Solomon never forgot, and ten +years later he refused to grant a new charter to the city until he was +certified by the bishop that the orders of the Church were complied +with.[354] Nor did a lawsuit, which the Prince of Wales carried on +for many years with the corporation about the rent due to him from +the monastery lands as lord of Cheylesmore, improve the understanding +between the people and the Stuart kings. When, however, the famous +writ of ship-money was first issued in 1635, it was not against the +principle, but rather against the unfair assessment of the local tax, +that the men of Coventry murmured. The city, they complained, was no +longer prosperous, nor was it able to pay a sum so disproportionate to +that levied on the remainder of the county. Many were the journeys the +diligent town clerk, Humphrey Burton, undertook ere he could get the +tax lightened for the citizens.[355] + +[Illustration: PALACE YARD] + +But no readjustment of the assessment of this unpopular tax could win +over the hearts of the Coventry men to King Charles. And when in August +1642, a few days before the royal standard was unfurled at Nottingham, +Charles appeared before the walls and summoned the people of Coventry +to admit him, they refused to allow him to enter the city.[356] This +circumstance rankled sore in the King's mind, and it seems that the +feeling was shared by his son, for when Charles II. came into his own +again, he ordered that the walls of the city where his father had +suffered this check should be demolished. The work of destruction, +which was begun by the Earl of Northampton on July 22, 1662, occupied +nearly 500 men for three weeks and three days,[357] and when it was +over the history of Coventry as a fortification comes to a close. +Moreover, the title of the bishopric was now transposed, running +henceforth not Coventry and Lichfield but Lichfield and Coventry. + +King James II., who tampered here as everywhere with the civic +constitution in favour of the Tories, his supporters, paid the city +a peaceful visit in 1687, was lodged in Palace Yard, and touched for +the evil in S. Michael's church, on which occasion "the very galleries +crackt again," the throng was so great.[358] This closes the list +of notable royal visits to Coventry, and the interest shifts to the +varying fortunes of the citizens. Although, as compared with London, +provincial towns ceased to be great centres of trade, Coventry never +gave itself wholly up to stagnation and decay, but always kept alive +some sort of manufacturing activity. At first the settlement of +Huguenot exiles gave an impulse to the silk industry, and for nearly +two centuries the weaving of silk and ribbons was the main employment +of the citizens. In the eighteenth century the manufacture of watches +was introduced,[359] but it has been reserved for our own day to see +the city again put on that busy, eager, thriving look which must have +distinguished it under the later Plantagenets. The cycle manufacture +has won back for the city some of the prosperity it once enjoyed. But +nothing can bring back the pomp and grandeur and the semi-independence +of mediæval times; neither can the modern builder lend it any of the +consistent beauty of the architecture of the Middle Ages. Still, unlike +Abingdon, Winchester, or S. Alban's, it is a town with a present to +work in, as well as a past on which to look back. As for the future, +who can tell? + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 278: _Leet Book_, 322.] + +[Footnote 279: They declared that Cheylesmore was "seyntwary," _i.e._ +sanctuary. On the evils of rival jurisdictions, and the consequent +escape of offenders fleeing from town justice, see Green, i. 311.] + +[Footnote 280: _Leet Book_, 326.] + +[Footnote 281: _i.e._ umpire.] + +[Footnote 282: _Leet Book_, 331.] + +[Footnote 283: Madox, _Firma Burgi_, 217.] + +[Footnote 284: The King was at Coventry at Christmas 1467, doubtless to +keep an eye on Warwick's movements (Ramsay, ii. 327).] + +[Footnote 285: _Leet Book_, 343. The mayor, William Saunders, dyer, +gave £5 to the collection of money for the soldiers, so that poor +people might be spared (_Ib._, 344). Either owing to the fact that the +cause was unpopular, or that the people were weary of war, soldiers +could not be had under 10d. a day. The air at this time was filled with +rumours; one John Baldwin, cordwainer, of Dartmouth, had been committed +to ward within the city for delivering treasonable letters in England, +though he did it out "of innocence and simpleness," being unaware of +their contents (_Ib._, 340).] + +[Footnote 286: The first commission of array, dated Stamford, July 5, +urged the citizens to send 100 archers against the rebels. The second +(Newark, July 10) bade them hasten their preparations and make no +risings or assemblies (_Ib._, 341, 343).] + +[Footnote 287: See Oman, _Warwick the King-maker_.] + +[Footnote 288: _Leet Book_, 342.] + +[Footnote 289: A manifesto, issued July 12, calling upon all "true +subjects to join Warwick in presenting certain articles of petition to +the king" (_v._ Ramsay, ii. 337), is not mentioned in the _Leet Book_. +The citizens of Coventry did not, it seems, join Warwick, they sent men +to Edward (_Leet Book_, 345-6).] + +[Footnote 290: _Leet Book_, 346.] + +[Footnote 291: Ramsay, ii. 343; Oman, _Warwick_, 189. Oman says Olney +in Northamptonshire.] + +[Footnote 292: "Item XIIo die Augusti eodem anno dominus le revers +(Lord Rivers), tune thesaurarius Anglie, fuit decollatus apud Gosford +grene, et dominus Johannes Wodvyle, filius ejus, similiter" (_Leet +Book_, 346).] + +[Footnote 293: _Leet Book_, 354.] + +[Footnote 294: Ramsay, ii. 350.] + +[Footnote 295: Corp. MS.; see below, p. 152.] + +[Footnote 296: _Leet Book_, 355. Troops went from Coventry to support +Edward in 1469 and 1470. On both these occasions the men took 12d. +a day. But the next year, when the Lancastrians were ruling and a +war with Burgundy was in prospect, only 6d. a day was given to the +soldiers. Was the Lancastrian cause and war with Burgundy popular then?] + +[Footnote 297: The square brackets enclose words which are missing in +the MS. The records were hastily written at the time, and are much +mutilated (_Leet Book_, 358).] + +[Footnote 298: Welles, leader of the revolt in Lincolnshire.] + +[Footnote 299: Jasper Tudor, half-brother to Henry VI.] + +[Footnote 300: Thomas Neville, natural son of Lord Fauconberg.] + +[Footnote 301: Query? They landed at Dartmouth and Plymouth.] + +[Footnote 302: Hastings.] + +[Footnote 303: Burgundy.] + +[Footnote 304: Archbishop Neville.] + +[Footnote 305: Not quite correct. Henry VI. was taken by the Yorkists, +July 1465. Hence he had only been in prison five years.] + +[Footnote 306: S. Paul's.] + +[Footnote 307: Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, the "Butcher," beheaded +October 18, at Tower Hill.] + +[Footnote 308: Widow, first of the Duke of Bedford, and then of Lord +Rivers.] + +[Footnote 309: Sanctuary.] + +[Footnote 310: _Leet Book_, 362.] + +[Footnote 311: _Ib._, 364.] + +[Footnote 312: _Leet Book_, 366. 33s. was paid to gunners, to "riders +in the country and watchmen."] + +[Footnote 313: Holinshed, iii. 682.] + +[Footnote 314: _Leet Book_, 367.] + +[Footnote 315: Dugdale, i. 143. In the _Leet Book_ (370-1) there is the +record of a collection evidently made for this fine.] + +[Footnote 316: _Leet Book_, 381.] + +[Footnote 317: Corp. MS. (Not in Mr. J.C. Jeaffreson's catalogue.) See +also _Leet Book_, 381.] + +[Footnote 318: _Leet Book_, 393. It must be remembered that S. George, +according to legend, was born at Coventry. See _Seven Champions_. S. +George's day is April 23. All the characters of the pageant are taken +from the shearmen and tailors' play. See below, chap. xv.] + +[Footnote 319: _Leet Book_, 393.] + +[Footnote 320: _Ib._, 405.] + +[Footnote 321: _Ib._, 407.] + +[Footnote 322: Harl. MS. 6,388 f. 23.] + +[Footnote 323: _Leet Book_, 409 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 324: Ramsay, ii. 535.] + +[Footnote 325: Corp. MS. A. 79, i. 8. Written from Burton Monastery, +April 2.] + +[Footnote 326: _Leet Book_, 523-4.] + +[Footnote 327: Fretton, _Mayors of Coventry_, 12. They presented him +with £100 and a cup.] + +[Footnote 328: _Leet Book_, 530-2. It is not quite certain that the +words are to be understood as implying that the citizens fed Richard's +soldiers.] + +[Footnote 329: Gardiner, _Henry VII._, 53.] + +[Footnote 330: Harl. MS. 6,388, f. 24.] + +[Footnote 331: _Ib._] + +[Footnote 332: Foxe, _Martyrs_ (1823), xxxix.] + +[Footnote 333: Harl. MS. 6,388, f. 28. The more probable date is 1519 +or 1520. In 1521, the next year, one Robert Silkeb was taken and burnt +for not believing in transubstantiation (_Ib._).] + +[Footnote 334: He twice visited the city to see the Corpus Christi +plays (Sharp, _Mysteries_, 5).] + +[Footnote 335: Corp. MS. A. 79, f. 17.] + +[Footnote 336: Corp. MS. A. 79, f. 20.] + +[Footnote 337: S. Paul's.] + +[Footnote 338: _Leet Book_, 625-6.] + +[Footnote 339: Corp. MS. B. 60.] + +[Footnote 340: In Henry VIII.'s reign the woollen manufacture of +Norwich was at a low ebb; the principal cause of this was the +manufacture abroad, which led to the export of the raw material to +Flanders (Burnley, _Hist. of Wool and Wool Combing_, 66-7).] + +[Footnote 341: Harl. MS. 6,388, f. 30.] + +[Footnote 342: Corp. MS. A. 79, f. 27.] + +[Footnote 343: _Ib._, f. 28.] + +[Footnote 344: Harl. MS. 6,388, f. 29_a._] + +[Footnote 345: _Ib._] + +[Footnote 346: Gasquet, _Monasteries_, ii. 427.] + +[Footnote 347: _Ib._ ii., 265.] + +[Footnote 348: Dugdale, _Warw._ i. 146.] + +[Footnote 349: Harl. MS. 6,195, f. 7.] + +[Footnote 350: Vol. of correspondence, Corp. MS. A. 79, f. 63.] + +[Footnote 351: The schoolmaster's salary was discharged by the Trinity +guild.] + +[Footnote 352: Harl. MS. 6,195, f. 7. See also Ashley, pt. ii. 148. The +church referred to is the now demolished one dedicated to S. Nicholas, +which was supported by the Corpus Christi guild.] + +[Footnote 353: Corp. MS. B. 75.] + +[Footnote 354: Sharp, _Antiq._, 18.] + +[Footnote 355: Burton on Ship Money, Corp. MS. A. 35.] + +[Footnote 356: Poole, _Coventry_, 75.] + +[Footnote 357: Poole, 80.] + +[Footnote 358: Sharp, _Antiq._, 22.] + +[Footnote 359: Poole, 359-363.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +_The Lammas Lands_ + + +We have passed the period wherein the men of Coventry rebelled against +their overlord the prior; in the late fourteenth century we enter upon +one marked by internal strife. The law passed under Edward II.,[360] +forbidding victuallers to hold any municipal office was frequently +evaded, and in many towns the great power of this class was a source +of endless trouble. Excitements in the guild-hall when the men, whose +wages were fixed at statute rate, found they would not avail to buy +them proper food, the shouting of angry crowds when the chamberlains at +their Lammas ride refused to pull down fences to admit the freemen's +sheep and cattle as they had done in times past, must have warned +the mayor and his brethren to give heed to their ways. Murmurings +were heard at an early date. In 1370 the customs laid on food for the +purpose of raising money for murage provoked a rising. In 1387 the +townsfolk "cast their loaves at the mayor's head, because the bakers +kept not the assize",[361] neither did the mayor punish them according +to his office, and again and again we hear of risings owing to that +fruitful cause of trouble, the enclosure of the common lands.[362] + +[Illustration: Swanswell Gate] + +Perhaps the townsmen were more sensitive with regard to the Lammas +lands than on any other point. From time immemorial they had possessed +certain rights over the common and Lammas pastures, which heretofore +surrounded the city. There was still a great belt of these, about +2300 acres in extent in 1835, the commons, no doubt, representing the +ancient manorial waste--Godiva's wood, two miles long and the same +broad--and the Lammas and Michaelmas pastures, the manorial fields +of meadow and arable, which were only free after the hay and corn +harvest had been carried in. Thus, while there was on the common lands +pasture for the cattle the whole year through, the citizens merely +shared with various tenants or freeholders the use of Lammas and +Michaelmas grounds, driving their cattle on them at certain seasons +of the year, namely from Lammas (August 1) or Michaelmas (September +29) to Candlemas (February 2); during the remainder of the year the +fields were in private hands. The extent of the common pastures was +well known, but the peculiar tenure of the Lammas lands made it a more +difficult matter to determine the exact area of pasture, held six +months "in commonalty," and six "in severalty." From time to time angry +disputes arose concerning the boundaries and extent of these lands, +and a series of enclosures, whereof there was such bitter complaint +in Warwickshire in the sixteenth century, did much to diminish the +broad belt of pasture which once engirt the city. Various questions +were, however, set at rest by a settlement in 1860, whereby half of +the Lammas pasture was made over to the various freeholders who had +half-yearly rights over them, and the remaining portion, held in trust +for the freemen, was converted into common land for the whole year +through. To this day there still remain tracts of breezy and often +gorse-grown common at Hearsall, Stivichall, Whitley, Stoke, and Gosford +Green. These and the small triangular patch, once known as Grey Friars' +Green, form considerable relics of the freemen's pastures. Held, as +the common report went, by the commonalty, "afore that any mayor or +bailiff was,"[363] in other words before the incorporation of the +city--these lands could not be alienated from the burghers' use without +their consent.[364] The pastures were, however, frequently enclosed, +openly for municipal purposes,[365] secretly for private gain. In the +latter case there was naturally no word of consulting the burghers, and +although in the former the community gave their consent to the measure, +formally summoned by the mayor, the whole system of enclosures was so +unpopular that it bred riots and endless discontent. + +The whole question can be better surveyed by examining the careers of +William Bristowe and Laurence Saunders in so far as they touch the +little commonwealth of the city. + +Close by Whitley Bridge is a piece of meadow called Alderford +Piece,[366] which is still held by the owners of Whitley Abbey, +although they have no other land on the Coventry side of the river +Sherborne. Concerning this and sundry other meadows[367] a bitter feud +was waged in Coventry during the fifteenth century between the family +of Bristowe on the one hand, and the mayor, bailiffs, and community of +the city on the other. The account of the struggle, which reveals some +of the most interesting personalities in Coventry history, shows how +tenacious were the memories of the commonalty where the extent of the +Lammas lands was concerned, and how fierce their resentment when these +suffered diminution by encroachment. + +There are doubts whether William Bristowe, of Whitley, came of gentle +blood, though he spoke of his manor in those parts, and wrote himself +"gentilman" with the best. His father, John Bristowe, had gained +his livelihood in the city as a draper, and growing in wealth and +influence, became mayor in 1428,[368] and later justice of the peace +and master of the Trinity guild. But he left an ill name behind him, +and his acts of encroachment were fruitful of many troubles both to him +and his descendants. + +Thinking maybe to improve his position and step into the ranks of the +country gentry, John purchased an estate at Whitley, a mile or two +south of the city gates. Then began those enclosures of the common +pastures which were hereafter to be remembered against him. Forty +years later the tale of his doings were related by the oldest of his +fellow-townsmen.[369] After "the said John Bristowe had boron office +within the cite of Couentre, thynkyng that the common people of the +seid cite neither durst nor wolde contrarie his doyng ... [he] let +sowe with corne dyuers landes and buttes lying in the seid comyn +grounde of Couentre fastby Whitley Crosse." But the encroachment did +not go unnoticed, nor was the transgressor allowed to have his will. +Whereupon, the aged citizens continued glad to remember the stalwart +resistance made by a bygone generation, ... "the seid people of +Couentre put the hierdlym[370] of bestes of Couentre into the saide +corne and eton hit up as corne sowen on their owen common grounde." +Nevertheless John did not amend his ways, being assured his good +friends, the mayor and corporation, would wink at his misdeeds. But +"inordynatly be the fauor of dyuers then officers of the cite of +Couentre, dyuers tymes, [he] let inclose parte of the forseid common +grounde be diuers parcels, with hegges and dykes, and then aftur dyuers +tymes let heire[371] and sowe dyuers of the same closes be hym so +wrongfully inclosed, entendyng euer azeyns all good consiens for his +singler avayle[372] to approwe hym[373] of parte of the seid common +grounde, so that be suche coutynuance hit myght be called his owne +lande, wher in trouthe he had neuer right, title, nor other possession +therin." + +But this was not the least of John Bristowe's encroachments. He laid +claim to share with the freemen of Coventry the rights of pasture +on the side of Whitley brook nearest to the city, a claim no lord +of Whitley had heretofore advanced. But he met with a second check. +"Whiche wrong, when the people of Couentre understode hit, they +pynned[374] the bestes of the seid John Bristowe at Couentre. Wheruppon +the same John made amendes for the seid wrong, and never aftur wolde +suffer his cattel occupying at Whitley to passe ouer the seid broke +toward Couentre be his will." But after his death, when his son William +entered into the inheritance, either the relaxation of the citizens' +vigilance or the warm friendliness of men in high places enabled the +new lord of Whitley to drive his tenants' cattle across the brook, the +natural boundary between the pasturage of the folk of the hamlet of +Whitley and the city of Coventry. Moreover the meadows between Baron's +Field and Whitley brook were kept several. The citizens did not, +however, forget these encroachments, though, for many years, custom +sanctioned the double wrong. + +The fruit of these evil dealings was seen in the year 1469; a troubled +one for Coventry. The mayor, William Saunders, a dyer, one of a craft +which had often been, and was again often to be, at variance with the +corporation, seems to have had leanings towards the popular side. Wars +and rumours of wars brought some distress upon the city, and the mayor +gave £5 "in relesynge of pore men that shuld have bor her part" towards +defraying the cost "for fifty men to go to York to the king against +Robin of Redesdale," for Warwick's party were rising in rebellion, and +the soldiers, weary of war, demanded the unheard of sum of 10d. a day +as payment. Financial difficulties also beset the corporation. The +ferm, as we have seen, had in the previous year fallen greatly into +arrears; but the trouble concerning the Lammas lands was to dwarf by +comparison all the rest. + +It was at this time that William Bristowe by his own deed brought +down upon himself the anger of the corporation. From a house in the +West Orchard he built a wall, which was found to encroach "by a foot +or more" upon the common river; wherefore "it was taken up again." +Indignant at this usage, Bristowe brought an action for trespass in +the county court against the mayor and community. This was an unwise +step on his part, for the corporation at once "remembered," the _Leet +Book_[375] says with unconscious irony, "that he was suffered to +overlay the common betwixt Whitley and Coventry, and had no common +there." In other words, Bristowe had continued to tread in his father's +footsteps. They resolved forthwith that this should not be suffered +to continue. On the eve of S. Andrew, before Sir John Nedam, knight +and justice, they demanded what evidence Bristowe could put forth in +support of his claim; and heard the testimony of "agyt" men concerning +the impounding of his father's cattle in former days when they had been +found in the Coventry pastures. While matters were in debate the other +encroachment of this family was brought forward. Men told one another +how John Bristowe had, by "dyking and hedging," enclosed "divers +parcels" of the common pasture by the water at Whitley, and how the +father and son had kept these meadows several ever since. + +[Illustration: COUNCIL CHAMBER, SHOWING PANELLING] + +For once corporation and "commonalty" were of one mind as regards the +question of the Lammas lands. It was resolved that John Bristowe's work +should be undone. So on the Monday after S. Andrew's day the mayor and +divers citizens--such is the account of the affair Bristowe gave in his +petition to Edward IV. in the following year[376]--"stered, provokyd +and comaundyd mony and dyuers rotys personys ... to the number of vc +(500) personys and mooe ... [who] in manere of warre arrayed, that +is for to say [with] byllys, launcegayes, jakkys, salettys, bowes, +arrowes, and with mottokys and spadeys, sholles and axes," with evil +intent came to Bristowe's fields. Here they went to work, and "caste +down his gatys and his dyches, cutte down his hegeys and his trees ... +and mony grete okeys beyng growyng in the hegeys and dycheys of the +age of c years and more," carrying away wood, clay and gravel, and +"riotously" destroying two "swaneys ereyrs" (nests). The trespassers +would even have pulled down the petitioner's mills had not one of +his servants induced them to desist by meeting them with a certain +money "by way of a fine." And afterwards, Bristowe continued, with a +touch of bitterness at this last indignity, "William Pere, oon of the +aldermen of the same cite, by the commaundment of the seid late mayre +and Richard Braytoft, browght with hym the wayteys of the same cite to +the seid riotours in reresyng[377] of their seid rioteys, and like as +the[y] hade doon a grete conquest or victori, ... made theym pype and +synge before the said riotours all the weye ... to the seid cite, which +ys by space of a myle largele or more." And that day, the petition +goes on yet more bitterly, "these men were in the tavern setting, +avauntyng and reresyng of their gret riotes, saying that if your seid +besecher[378] sueyd any persone ... for that cause by the course of +your laweys, that they wold slee[379] hym." In this manner, with +tossing of tankards and playing of pipes, the meadows and arable lands +at Whitley were thrown open to the community at S. Andrew's tide in the +year of grace 1469. + +William Saunders, the mayor, found the commonalty apt pupils in +learning to resent old encroachments; but the pupils soon grew too +strong for the master's hand. A fresh trouble arose after Bristowe's +claims had been disposed of. The Prior's Waste was held by the +convent, but the community was possessed of a somewhat doubtful title +to the pasturage of the same. On S. Nicholas' day the people broke +out into open riot, threw down hedges round about the Waste and those +of other gardens belonging to the convent. The prior professed to be +"greatly aggrieved," and proposed to "trouble" the city no doubt with +a lawsuit.[380] But the mayor, perceiving perhaps that the matter was +one of great difficulty, entreated him to come to terms, and finally +granted him as compensation the Waste and a piece of land without the +New Gate "to be kept several for evermore," These enclosures were the +beginning of troubles. A body of 216 men had approved of this measure, +but they were, very likely, selected with a special view to obtaining +this approval, as the names of sixty-five of them can be identified +with those of past or future municipal officers. At least the common +people did not approve of the step. They refused to relinquish their +ancient rights over the Prior's Waste and the close by the New Gate, +though the leet forbade them to break open the meadows reserved for the +prior's use.[381] + +But Bristowe did not tamely endure to be cut off from his supposed +inheritance. The following year he appealed to the privy council to +redress his wrongs; and Saunders, the late mayor, Pere, and another +citizen who had been prominent in the affair of the preceding year, +were summoned before the council to answer for the matters laid to +their charge. + +The late mayor and his assistants scornfully denied the bulk of +Bristowe's accusation. Whitley, they averred, was no "manor," and +claims such as its present owner put forward had been formerly unknown. +They gently ridiculed the complaint of the damage wrought among the +"gret okes," whereof none, they declared, were more than twenty years +old, the value of the whole timber being but 6s. 8d.; but they were +fain to admit the felling of twelve _small_ trees, as well as of +breaking hedges, and carrying away sundry loads of clay and gravel. But +it was not on Bristowe's land, they declared, that these trespasses +had been done. The land he asserted to be part of his inheritance was +in reality the property of the community, and in the time of Lawrence +Cook (he had succeeded Bristowe's father in the mayoralty in 1429) the +corporation had held these meadows in the community's name. And this +possession dated back to the days before the city's incorporation. "The +commonalty of the same city, afore that any mayor or baliff was, were +seized thereof in their demesne as of fee, time that no man's mind is +to the contrary." + +Bristowe's second statement, or "replicacion," and Saunders' +"rejoinder," were a mere tissue of mutual contradiction, and the +King deputed the Prior of Maxstoke, Sir Richard Byngham, and Thomas +Littleton, to inquire into the business, and "make a return under their +conclusions respecting the same, in the quindene of S. Michael next +coming."[382] What the end of these worthy persons' inquisition was we +have no means of knowing. The matter, however, dragged on, with various +appeals to justice, until April 1472. + +In that year the corporation made a great effort to end the dispute. +A large gathering--"these," says the _Leet Book_, giving about 120 +names,[383] "and of other many moo"--assembled in S. Mary's Hall at +the mayor's bidding; and being asked "how they wold be demened in that +behalf," answered and said, "they wode abyde with the mair and his +bredern to the utmost of herr goodes" in the matter; "and as the mair +and his cownsaill did in the mater [would] agree thereto." Fortified by +this support, the mayor and his council proceeded to seek for means of +closing the quarrel by arbitration. On the Wednesday in Whitsunweek the +two sheriffs offered to treat on Bristowe's behalf, their labour being +undertaken, they confessed, "thorow the speceal meanes and lamentable +instaunce of the wyffe of the seid William Bristowe."[384] The mayor +and council, "in order that it might not be said that they had refused +a reasonable offer," ordered that bills, "endented and ensealed," +should be made, setting forth the matter at variance, both parties +agreeing to abide by the decision of John Catesby, sergeant-at-law, +and William Cumberford. Moreover, a representative of the mayor and +community was to be chosen to ride to London and lay the matter before +the arbitrators.[385] + +As there were, of course, no deeds existing testifying to the rights of +the community in this case, measures were taken to prepare documents. +"And on the Monday next after the blessed Trinity Sunday"[386] the +common lands were viewed by certain great men of the neighbourhood, +the Abbots of Kenilworth, Combe, Stoneley, and Merevale, Sir Simon +Mountford of Coleshill, Sir Robert Strelley, and William Hugford of +Emscote. These, then, had an "examination" of certain of the oldest men +of the city. "The whyche old men all and everych of them by himself +deposed and swar openly uppon a boke" that the land in question was +"common to the commonalty."[387] There was then a "letter testimonial" +made to this effect, to which all the worshipful men and these great +folk affixed their seals. + +The thirty old men--their ages ranged from forty years "and more" to +fourscore[388]--were much impressed with the solemnity of the occasion. +"In alsmoche," their "letter testimonial" runs, "as for oure gret +ages be liklyhode wee may not long abyde in this erthely lyfe, and we +knowe verely that hit is medefull to our soweles to witnesse thynges +that be true and in oure knowlech, callyng to our remembraunce the +unlawefull and wilfull troble whiche William Bristowe dothe azeyns the +maire and commonalte of Couentre, claymyng the common ground that lieth +betwyxt Baronsfelde[389] withoute the Newe Yate under the kynges park, +stretchyng to Whitleybroke, called Shirburne," they affirmed that his +claim was contrary to old custom, and "open wrong." They told also the +tale of John Bristowe's offences in enclosing and sending his cattle +upon the pastures. + +"And sithen the deth of the seid John Bristowe ... the same William +Bristowe, willyng be his power to contynue the forseid wrong done be +his seid ffadir, wrongfully put into the same closez, and the forseid +other common grounde residue, dyuers bestes of his ffermors of Whitley, +seying presumptuously that he and his tennantez of Whitley wolden +haue comyn for their bestes at Whitley withoute nombre" in all places +upon the said common ground. Whereas this land, on the contrary, had +formerly been occupied by the commonalty of Coventry "yearly" at their +pleasure to make their "shutynges, rennynges, daunsynges, bowelyng +aleyes, and other their disportez as in their owne ground. And these +matiers," the record concludes, "be us also declared ben iuste and +true, so help us God at the day of Dome." + +No records remain to tell us what was the ultimate decision at which +the arbitrators, Catesby and Cumberford, arrived. In the July of the +next year another set of arbitrators were at work, either party of +litigants being bound in an obligation of 100 marks to abide by their +decision. According to this verdict Bristowe was allowed to retain +possession of the enclosed parts, but the mayor and community were +to have "common for beasts from Lammas to Candlemas in the said land +if it were fallow, and if it be sown as soon as the corn is carried +away," while Bristowe and his heirs were allowed to common with the +inhabitants of Coventry on the lands between his estate and the +city.[390] + +It is very probable that the good folk of the city were ill-pleased +with this decision, which was of the nature of a compromise; for +although they were allowed, as of old, the use of the fields during +the autumn and winter months, yet they must, according to the terms of +the arbitration, admit Bristowe's cattle to a share in their pastures. +And the large flocks, which he kept together with those of the prior, +and another grazier, devoured, they said to one another, the pasture +which of right belonged to their geldings and cattle. It appears that +attempts had been made to break up the Prior's Waste and the close by +the New Gate, for the leet fixed the penalty of those who should offend +in this manner at forty shillings.[391] Men of long memories must have +pointed out to the anxious crowds at Lammas these encroachments on the +land of the community. "The people come at the opening and overseeing +of the common," runs an order of leet for the year 1474, "in excess +number and unruly to full ill example." And it was ordained that on +this day none should accompany the chamberlains, when they rode out +into the fields about the city to throw open the common lands, but +those to whom permission had been previously given.[392] + +But those whose minds dwelt on these abuses of encroachment and +surcharging with others permitted by the corporation found a spokesman +and chief of their party in the dyer, Laurence Saunders. To judge from +the position of Laurence and his friends, the heads of this party were +men of good standing in the town and well-to-do. They could count among +their number brethren of the guild, and men "of substance" sufficient +to admit of their filling the lower municipal offices, the warden's +post or the chamberlain's. These men had grievances other than the +surcharging or enclosing of the common pasture--questions to which +Laurence's formal petitions are wholly devoted: their trade was shorn +of its profits. In complaints coming from Laurence's followers, we +are told that the rulers of the city "picked away the thrift" of the +"commonalty"; and reference is made to certain unpopular acts of leet +touching the citizens, not only as sharers of the common pasture, but +also as makers, buyers, and sellers--in short, as craftsmen. + +William Saunders, the father of Laurence, had been mayor in the year +the Prior's Waste was enclosed. He must have been a wealthy citizen +to rise to the mayor's degree. Since 1434 the family had lived in +Spon Street,[393] a convenient neighbourhood for those of the dyer's +occupation, as the river flowed near. If he had been of a submissive +temper, in all likelihood Laurence would have risen to high places, as +his father had done. Owing perhaps to William Saunders's influence, +early in life the son once gave his adherence to the municipality, +in so far as, when the question of enclosing the Waste was brought +forward, his name appears among the two hundred and sixteen who +consented to the measures which, on looking back eleven years later, +he unreservedly condemned. It was in 1480 that he was chosen to fill +the post of chamberlain or treasurer, and probably from that time, as +a member of both the guilds, or as a late municipal officer, he was +on the roll of those liable to be summoned by the mayor to attend the +council.[394] The chamberlainship was an irksome post. The officers +were overseers of the common pasture, and took fines from the owners +of strayed cattle. They received the murage dues, which were devoted +to repairing the walls and city buildings, giving in an account of the +outlay at the end of the year. The murage money was continually running +short about this time, as the prior could not be induced to pay his +share, and the chamberlains were frequently called upon to make up the +deficit.[395] + +The corporation quickly found they had reason to repent of their +choice. Laurence was a "masterful" man; "where he is subject and +servant he would subdue us all if he might get assistance," the mayor +complains in a letter written this year to the Prince of Wales. The +_Leet Book_ gives a specimen of the new officer's insubordination.[396] +It appears that labourers had been set to quarry for stone required for +repairing the town wall. At the end of the week the two chamberlains, +Saunders and his fellow, William Hede, refused, contrary to custom, to +give them their wages, Laurence saying "presumptously" to the mayor +that "those that set them awork shuld pay for him." The two officers +were there and then committed to prison, where they lay for a week. In +the end the petitions of their friends obtained a release. Both were, +however, bound in £40 to abide by the decision of the mayor and council +as to their punishment. The mayor and council fixed upon a fine of £10, +and of this they afterwards gave back £6 to the two chamberlains, a +piece of liberality which shows that the town rulers knew their cause +was weak, or thought it impolitic to push Saunders to extremities while +such a strong feeling in his favour existed throughout the city. + +Matters did not improve as time went on. The _Leet Book_ relates how +Laurence, in spite of the forbearance shown towards him, was "wilfully +disposed" against both the mayor and "common people," distraining their +cattle and taking "excess" fines for the pound. When summoned before +the mayor to "see direction," according to custom, he "many times +grudged so to do, and in manner at all times disdained to be led by the +said mayor." Finally, on September 20, having obtained licence to leave +the city on the plea of business at Southampton, he turned his horse's +head in the direction of Ludlow and rode thither, bearing in his hands +a petition addressed to the Prince of Wales, who, as Duke of Cornwall, +was the lord and special protector of the city. The prince, a child of +ten years old, kept his court at Ludlow Castle, at that time under the +guardianship of his uncle, the Earl Rivers. + +[Illustration: THE COUNCIL CHAMBER, ST. MARY'S HALL] + +It is very evident that this account of the first falling-out between +the chamberlains and the corporation does not go to the root of the +matter. Laurence's conduct is more explicable when we turn to the +version he gives of the affair in the "Petition of the chamberlains +and citizens of Coventry,"[397] for in this document, which he +tendered to the prince's council, his finger can be distinctly traced. +According to this petition, there were two grievances under which the +community then laboured. In the first place the prior, the recorder, +Bristowe, and others, withheld from them half of the common lands; +in the second, a favoured few "maintained" by the recorder and the +mayor, "surcharged" the pasture with what number of sheep they chose, +while the common folk of the city were not allowed to go beyond their +"stint," the number laid down by the authorities. In a city where there +was much clothmaking, and wool greatly in request, there was naturally +a good deal of scope for the grazier, and no doubt the men of this +calling had come to an understanding with the municipality. The +chamberlains' duty, however, was perfectly clear. They were enjoined by +an order of leet, passed only nine years before, to drive the flocks +of those who surcharged the commons to the pound, and take distress +from the owners until they should pay the customary fine.[398] This +order they accordingly fulfilled, but whether they really asked for +what the municipal version calls an "excess" fine there is no means of +discovering. But the mayor desired that they should be ruled by his +likings and accordingly tried the persuasion of a week's imprisonment. +Finding that after their release the chamberlains still persisted in +this course, he again and again delivered up the sheep and remitted +the fine. Whenever this was done the officers sustained the loss of +several shillings, for the charge for every score was fourpence, and +there is mention of nine and ten score, and even of 300 sheep driven +into the pound. It would seem that in all these matters the mayor +was but the tool of the recorder, Harry Boteler, or Butler, who had +succeeded to the recordership in 1456, in the room of Thomas Littleton, +of famous memory. It was Boteler who, according to the petition, kept +Saunders and Hede in prison over the day of the Easter leet, and "wolde +in no wyse suffre" them "to speke a worde for the said comown." He, +too, urged on them the signing of the recognisance in £40 "to obbeye +the meirs commandements" about the pinfold charges, although the +chamberlains "grudged" to do so, "in so moche as they were solemply +sworen to the contrarie." And from this bond he would not release them, +he cried a month later, "for the best pece of scarlet in England." As +for the prior's sheep, though four hundred of them were grazing on the +common, "contrarie to old custom," the recorder would not suffer them +to be pinned, because the prior, forsooth, was "lord of the soil." And +when the chamberlains asked that the closes which the prior kept in +severalty might be thrown open at Lammas, it was Boteler who refused, +alleging the "composition" made between the prior and the community "in +the time of William Saunders beying meir."[399] + +"Wher it ought to be comen as all the body of the city knowen; in that +the forseid Laurens, on of the said Chamberleins, grugged (grudged) +insomoche as the seid mair, decessed, was his fadir and myght not +answer for hymself, but said 'that he trusted in God to see hit comen +ayen.'" + +Then the recorder burst forth: + +"That he wold make the seid Chamberlein to curse the tyme that ever he +sigh hym and wolde make him to wepe water with his yen,[400] and for +to be revenged vppon hym he saide he wolde ryde to complayne vppon him +unto our soveraign lorde the Kyng." + +The petition ends with a list of the fields enclosed by the prior, the +Trinity guild, and others of the city. + +It is clear from the recorder's speech that there was expectation of +battle toward, and Boteler had no mind to give quarter. Meanwhile +Laurence, by his appeal to the prince's council, had stolen a march +upon his enemies. A letter, dated September 30, 1480, required that +some discreet persons of the city council should ride to Ludlow, +bearing a copy of the chamberlain's oath, in order that the prince's +council might compose "a variance between certain people of the city +about a common pasture." This letter revealed to the corporation the +chamberlain's secret mission. "We, your humble and true servants here," +the mayor and his brethren wrote in reply, "know no variance betwixt +any person here for any common pasture but that we among ourselves, +by the grace of God, shall amicably and righteously settle." They +begged that Saunders' words might not be "printed in the prince's +remembrance," and hoped to have license to punish this troublesome +citizen, inasmuch as he would raise up "commotions among the people," +and by this means discourage "other misruled to presumptuously attempt +such things herafter." As the prince still insisted that the suit +should be heard at Ludlow, eighteen "worshipful" men, chosen by the +common council, set forth on the journey. Among them were numbered the +recorder, lately recovered from sickness; the master of the Trinity +Guild; John Boteler, town clerk, presumably a son of the recorder; +and William Hede, the chamberlain, Laurence's fair-weather friend, +who had betimes humbly submitted to the corporation. The wardens, to +whom the paying of extraordinary expenses fell, went with the party +to pay for the cost of the journey. There was a goodly following +of servants, bringing up the number to forty-four persons in all, +for the worshipful folk travelled luxuriously, and to secure their +comfort a cook and a harbinger were of the company. The cost of the +journey--amounting to £15, 11s. 11d.--was afterwards, by decree of +the mayor and council, discharged by Laurence Saunders. There is +nothing related of the proceedings of the case, save that the decision +was against Laurence. The _Leet Book_ says, as openly was proved, +he intended no "reformacion, ... but feyned matiers to th' entent +to have be venged for the due punysshement yeven to him for his +obstinacy."[401] So he came home to receive "correction," and in his +company there came a gentleman of the prince's council to see that he +fulfilled all the commands laid upon him. There was nothing for it +now but to bow before the storm. In the presence of the mayor, the +council, and divers "commons" assembled in S. Mary's Hall, Laurence, it +is said, knelt down and besought the mayor's forgiveness, acknowledging +his wrong-doing. He was then committed to ward. After a little time +his friends' intercession prevailed, and he was allowed to leave the +prison, being bound in £500 to appear at the next quarter sessions. The +bond, too--for the corporation were little inclined to allow further +complaints to royalty--was to be renewed "till content wer' had" of his +"sadde demeasnyng." + +But though Saunders had been effectually silenced, the strife he had +kindled raged on. Bristowe and the prior, whose transgressions in the +matter of surcharging were revealed in Laurence's complaint, were +both ready to pour forth counter-claims and accusations against the +corporation in the hearing of the prince's council, at the time when +Saunders' case was still under discussion. Prior Deram being advised +to present his grievances in writing to the mayor and his brethren, +tendered, on November 16, 1480, an exhaustive list of them,[402] which +list the corporation hardly received in a befittingly serious spirit. + +Although in the prior's complaint the matter of surcharging is kept +somewhat in the background, there can be little doubt that here the +real grievance lay. The mayor and his friends had been perhaps very +lenient to the convent in this particular until Laurence's petition to +the prince had aroused their scruples, and they may have been forced to +revive old regulations concerning the "stint." When the prior argued +that as "lord of the soil" he was not "admeasurable," but able to drive +on to the pasture what number of cattle he chose, the mayor and his +brethren feigned blank ignorance. They did not know, they declared, +that the prior was "lord of the soil,"[403] but were of opinion that +his action would be "disseizin of the common."[404] They even tried +to shield Laurence Saunders when the prior alleged that his "slanders" +were a source of great annoyance to the convent. He had been examined, +they affirmed, and declared he never "noised" such lands as were held +by the monks to be common, but those he had believed were so according +to "the black book of the city"; but if Laurence had offended, they +continued, he would be pleased to abide by what the mayor and prior +chose to command him. + +There was another memory that rankled with the monks--the tumult on +S. Nicholas' day, 1469, and the subsequent action of William Saunders +to prevent the prior from "troubling" the city with a lawsuit. His +gardens, Deram indignantly reminded them, and his woods at Whitmoor, +had been broken into at that date; and he was not allowed to sue the +misdoers at law. Again he was met by a front of stolid ignorance. The +mayor and community remembered no such breaking, or any hindrance to +the prior's suit, which he was at liberty to pursue. Grievances Deram +had to pour forth in plenty. The town wall was built on his land, he +complained, though his payment of £10 for murage, of pure good will, +for repairing the town wall outside his ground entitled him to some +consideration in this matter. The folk of the city gave him hourly +torment. They broke down his underwood, birches, holly, and hawthorn +in Whitmoor Park, and carried them away; they trod under foot his +grass and his corn, damaged his hedges "at their shooting called +roving, to his hurt a hundred shillings"; they washed in Swanswell +pool, and fished in his ponds "by night and by day," and made his +orchard and several grounds a sporting place with shooting and other +games, and when "they been challenged by his sergeants they gyven +hem short langage, seying that they will have hit their sportyng +place." The churchwardens lopped off the boughs of the trees in S. +Michael's churchyard, and all manner of filth was deposited in the +convent ground, "so that the prior may not have his carriage through +his orchard"; while by reason of the refuse swept into the river his +mill was "letted to go," and himself and his brethren sorely hurt +and discomfited by the stench. At divers times the prior had put up +bills against the offenders "in certen sessions, but," he concluded +resentfully, "thei ben so supported within this citie and the enquestes +so favourable to hem that no reformacion nor punysshement hath ben don." + +The mayor and community[405] assured the prior in return that they were +most anxious to maintain a friendly understanding with the convent. +The authorities of the city, they said, "maken dayly als gret diligens +as they can to knowe the stoppers of the seid common ryver, and when +eny be perceyved, they ben punysshed after their deserve." As to the +breaking of the underwood, every year masters of the crafts, by the +command of the mayor, enjoined the members to refrain from this "in +eschewyng the doughtfull censures of the Church," and also temporal +punishment. But the prior was reminded how "the people of every gret +cite as London ... yerely in somer doon harme to divers lords and +gentyles hauyng wods and groves nygh to such citees ... and yit the +lords and gentils suffren sych dedes ofte tymes of their goode will." +And if the town wall ran on the prior's land--as it did on other +freehold within the city--the convent owed their security to these +fortifications, and ought of right to contribute to their erection and +repair, "because their lyffeloode within this citie, and their proper +Churche may rest in surte be measne of the seid murage." The lopping +of trees in the churchyard they laid to the charge of the vicar; while +as for the fish in Swanswell pool, they profited by the washing there, +and thereby grew "the fatter!" Let the prior, the mayor continued, send +in the names of the shooters, trespassers, and the like, and bring +an action against them; and take proceedings against the casters of +refuse--for they were his own tenants--in his own court leet. + +The prior fumed at the audacity of this reply, and still more at the +delay in returning it, for more than six weeks had elapsed since his +bill of complaint had been issued. His rejoinder[406] was drawn up in +two days, a briefer space. The mayor had besought him (not without +hypocrisy, to Deram's mind) "that he would be as good to the common +weal as his predecessors had been," so that "love ... betwixt" him and +the city might "continue and dayly better increce"; but he distrusted +these professions of peace. "And whereas," he said, "the meire and his +brethren prayen hertly to the prior and his convent lovyngly to accept +their answeres made to their compleynts, thei think it is (in them) no +lovyng desire." "His greves," he reminded them, had been presented in +writing "the xvi day of November last past ... to the which the iide +day of Januar next followyng" they had returned answer: "by the which +I and my bredern," the good man went on, lapsing into the first person +in the heat and hurry of his sentences, "thinke is no thyng accordyng +for reformacion, but delayes; wherefore I and they desyre and prey +you to have us excused of further communicacion.... For we trust to +God in [that] our compleynts ben no feyned matiers, but such as shall +be proved be credible proves in writyng." "And for your answeres," he +added with a touch of irony, "ye have taken longe leysar to conceyve, +suasyous-like (persuasive) as it appereth," they would have none of it, +"but we trust to haue oder remedye wher trowthe shalbe knowen." + +How strangely this dispute sounds in our ears, with its childish +display of offended dignity on one side, and half-soothing, +half-taunting tone on the other! But the petulant old prior did not +long add to the difficulties of the corporation. When John Boteler, +the untiring steward, went to London in the following Lent to find out +what course the convent meant to pursue with regard to the suit at law +between them and the city, he learnt that the enemy was dead.[407] But +though the article about surcharging and the minor questions sank into +insignificance the dispute about the murage continued for many years, +the convent still refusing to pay the tax. At last, in 1498, the matter +was set at rest by the bishop's arbitration, the prior paying the +annual tax, upon condition that he should in future be made privy to +the chamberlains' accounts, in so far as they related to murage.[408] + +But though the prior was dead, and Laurence for the moment quiet, the +troubles and litigations in which the corporation was involved were by +no means past. On Lammas day, 1481, Bristowe, contrary to the tenor of +previous arbitration, refused to allow the chamberlains to enter and +throw open his field at Whitley, threatening, if they did so, to sue +them for trespass. Immediately the recorder, town-clerk, and others +rode to Worcester to lay the matter before the prince's council.[409] +There it was decided that until the prince could appear to adjust +the rival claims neither party should enjoy the use of this meadow. +Two experts came[410] by order of the prince's council to examine +documents, but Bristowe's were not ready, and after a repetition of +the old practice of consulting the oldest inhabitants, the decision was +postponed. But the common people could not afford to wait the law's +delays. After the departure of the lords of the prince's council, says +the _Leet Book_, "divers evell disposed persons in gret nombre of their +frowardnesse went to the seid grounde and ther cast down heggs and +dikes." Harry Boteler, the recorder, always active when trouble came, +went out and bade them "leave off their frowardness." All went back to +their work save one, John Tyler, who gave the recorder "froward and +unfitting language," and was committed to prison. A riot took place on +the Trinity guild feast day, the Decollation of S. John the Baptist, +the rioters rang the common bell, and made an attempt to rescue Tyler. +Until, the writer of the _Leet Book_ says with evident relief, "loued +(praised) be God, the meir and dyvers of his brethern came among them +and sessed them," Tyler being delivered to the citizens under surety +for that time.[411] + +The news of the riot was not long in reaching the ears of the King. He +wrote in great wrath, straitly charging the mayor and his brethren, +as they would avoid "his high displesur" and "entende to enjoye the +fraunches and liberties of the seid cite," to show no favour to the +rioters, and to inform "our derrest son," the prince, of the whole +proceeding. The mayor and his brethren were in an extremity of terror, +remembering the King's high actions and the confiscation of ten years +back after Barnet Field. They sent a letter to the prince at Woodstock +by the hand of their steward, beseeching him to be a "gracious mean" +for them with his royal father, promising speedily to punish the +offenders already "endited for riot and trespass." Meanwhile, they laid +the cause of the riot at the door of the real offender. "The common +peopull her in gret noumbre," they alleged, "thynken that all the +defalt is caused be William Bristowe," who had not kept his promise +made to the lords of the prince's council with regard to the meadow, +nor removed "the bestes of estraunge persones occupeyng in his name +the seid common."[412] Of Bristowe and his lengthy suit they were well +weary. "The people understondon," the mayor writes hopelessly, "that be +his longe defferyngs, cautels, vexacions and troubles, he wold never +have conclucion, but find measne of trouble and vexacion to hurt and +disheryte the pore commons her of their rightfull common," which he +will do, except the prince aid. + +Edward IV. was not altogether satisfied with this humble submission. +He complained of conventicles that were not suppressed, and evil-doers +unpunished, "diuers of yowe in maner supposyng them to be supported +and fauored be persones hauying rule in our seid cite."[413] Two of +the rioters were ordered to be sent to the King at Woodstock, to be +delivered up to Lord Rivers for imprisonment at Ludlow.[414] One of +the two was immediately arrested; another "withdrew himself," but +afterwards, as it seems, of his own free will, went off to Ludlow to +share the imprisonment of his companion. They were released on the +following Easter, and returned to the city. + +But this rising had at least the effect of precipitating matters with +regard to Bristowe. He appears to have desired the whole affair to be +settled according to common law; but as the community had no evidence +to support their claims, save the testimony of the aged men of the +place, they were most anxious to have the affair arranged "according to +composition."[415] For five weeks the master of the Trinity guild and +John Boteler, the steward,[416] lingered in London about the business, +and even undertook a journey to Southampton, where the King, being +informed of Bristowe's "wilfulness," seems to have inclined favourably +towards the cause of the citizens. In the August of the following +year their stubborn antagonist gave way and consented to abide by the +arbitration of the Prince of Wales. Boteler accordingly hurried off +to Ludlow, and a final decision was arrived at in favour, we suppose, +of the community; but although such ample details concerning this +thirteen-year old dispute are laid before us, nothing is said of the +final result. + +But although this matter was decided, nothing was done with regard to +the other enclosures, and Laurence Saunders became unquiet. He drew up +a second list of the meadows that were withheld from the community, +and laid it before the mayor and council.[417] It is noteworthy that +"Mr" Onley, a member of one of the oldest merchant families within the +city, figures in the list as the holder of a "field called Ashmore." +The council condescended to explain how and when the enclosures had +been made. The _Leet Book_ says "they made him privy to the evidence +of the city in that behalf." But when Laurence desired a copy of +these records to show to "certain people of the city"--old men of +his party, no doubt, whose memories reached to bygone times--it was +indignantly refused him. The mayor and council would never stoop so low +as to furnish all chance comers with the means of cavilling at their +proceedings! Then Laurence Saunders burst forth into "untoward" speech, +asking to be released from his bond (the £500?), and showing he would +not "otherwise be ruled than after his own will." The matter was shown +to the lords of the prince's council, then tarrying in Coventry. By +their advice Laurence was committed to the "porter's ward" the Saturday +before All-Hallows'; and when, after a week had passed, and he was +released "at the great instance" of his friends, it was not without an +admonition. The lords told him this was the second time "he had ben in +warde for his disobeysaunce and for commocions made among the pepull; +they bad hym be war, for yf he cam the IIIde tyme in warde for such +matiers, hit shulde cost hym his hedde." The warning was not without +its effect. Laurence, for the second time, made a full submission, and +also signed a "statute merchant," this time in £200, undertaking that +he would be "of good bearing to the mayor and his successors ... for +ever"; and four craftsmen, who dwelt near him in Spon Street,[418] were +responsible for his conduct in half this sum. Of the fine of £10, which +they exacted from him, half was in course of time to be given back, if +his submissive temper showed signs of lasting. It might well be thought +he would not again question the high ways of the corporation, for by so +doing he might involve his friends in ruin.[419] + +For twelve years there is no record that Saunders ever troubled the +peace of men in high places. During this interval death removed his +great enemy, the old recorder; and royal favour--for Henry VII. was +ever prudent in such matters--gained the vacant post for Richard +Empson. In 1484, three years before his death, Boteler was overtaken +by a great disgrace. He magnified his own office at the mayor's +expense;[420] and, as a punishment, the Forty-eight--with Laurence for +the first time on record sitting among the number--decreed that on +all public occasions he should not immediately follow the mayor, but +should give precedence to the master of the Trinity guild.[421] It may +be that this blow broke the old man's proud spirit. He became "of so +gret febulness" that the men of the city, fearing that "any casualte of +disease by God's visitation [might] come unto him," began to take into +consideration the claims of possible recorders. Boteler, however, kept +the post until his death, when the King, hearing how "it had pleased +our blessed Creatur to calle late from this vncertain and transorite +lif unto his great and inestimable mercy"[422] the old recorder, wrote +to inquire concerning the candidates for the vacant post. + +There are signs that about this time Laurence was looked upon with more +favour by those in power.[423] In 1494, however, a change of policy, +owing perhaps to the influence of the mayor, a grocer, named Robert +Green, caused him to take up his old position. In those days the matter +of enclosures was but one among many sources of trouble. In the first +place, in that same year, the corporation, perhaps suddenly roused to +the doings of the various crafts, thought that they had enjoyed in the +past few years more liberty than they were disposed to allow. They +turned their attention to the pewterers' and tanners' fellowships.[424] +Complaint being made concerning "discevable" pewterers' ware, the leet +ordained,--that all such as "maken and medle metailles within this +cite, as vessels of brasse, peauter and laten," should sell true goods, +"medled be due proporcion," and to such merchants as had served an +apprenticeship to the craft. Furthermore, the master of the fellowship +received orders to seize any faulty vessels and bring them before the +mayor and council; the maker, in the event of the charge being proved, +was condemned to forfeit the sum of twenty shillings. Then the tanners +felt the effects of the energy of the leet. Certain of the craft were +wont to buy raw hides "in grete," with the intention, no doubt of +selling them at a profit. This practice the court forbade, under pain +of a forty-shilling fine, to be taken from buyer and seller alike. +The irritation these ordinances called forth among certain members +of these fellowships can be illustrated from the records of the leet +held the following year. It was then enacted that John Duddesbury, +a tanner,[425] and John Smith, a pewterer, for their repeated +ill-behaviour to "men of worship," were to be put "under surety from +session to session,"[426] until their submissive behaviour should +content the justices of the peace. + +A highly unpopular measure was the work of the mayor himself. This +ordinance looks simple enough, but there is possibly a deeper meaning +underlying it. Before his indentures were made, every apprentice +was ordered to pay twelve pence towards the common funds, have his +name entered in a book prepared for the purpose by the town clerk, +and "swear to the franchises" of the city.[427] The apprentices' +friends might feel aggrieved at this new exaction; it is less easy +to understand why the masters were inclined to resist the measure. +That they were so inclined is shown by an order made some six months +afterwards to the effect that those who still received apprentices +contrary to the ordinance, and continued stubborn, were to be +committed to ward and _find surety that they would in future obey all +ordinances of leet_.[428] The corporation had some motive in binding +the apprentices by a solemn oath and enrolling them in this methodical +fashion; they evidently wished to keep a tight hold on them for some +particular purpose. For a hundred years Coventry had been celebrated +for clothmaking, and the sellers of cloth had been the richest men in +the city, and members of their fellowship more frequently in office +than those of any other occupation.[429] It was important that the +merchants and drapers--and of these the corporation was chiefly +composed--should be able to keep the _makers_ of cloth, weavers and +fullers, well under control; and in attempting this, quarrels may well +have arisen. The merchants, thinking they would again arise, determined +to weaken the master-makers of cloth by keeping this tight hold over +the apprentices, and making them responsible to the corporation. + +Certain practices, in all probability lately revived under this mayor +or his successor, were particularly detested by the citizens concerned +in clothmaking. Coventry was a great centre for the weaver's industry. +For a long time past, in accordance with orders of leet, cloth had been +sold on market days in the "Drapery," in S. Michael's churchyard, a +house of which the Trinity guild had been possessed for the last 130 +years.[430] There was a second selling place, the porch of S. Michael's +church, which lay a few yards from the Drapery door. This had been +in all probability the traditional sale ground for cloth before the +Drapery was fixed on and passed into the possession of the guild. In +the church porch the payment of stallage might be avoided, and it may +be the makers did not fear for their workmanship the strict supervision +of the craft of drapers. In 1455 the sale of cloth in the porch was +forbidden by the leet;[431] yet no doubt, in spite of pains and +penalties, the weavers or makers still drove their bargains, whenever +it was possible, outside the walls of the Drapery. But the municipality +resolved that the orders of leet should no longer be set at nought; +cloth must henceforward be sold in the Drapery,[432] and not elsewhere. + +There was also a fixed place for the weighing and sale of wool, called +the Wool-hall, adjoining the Drapery, and likewise the property of the +guild.[433] The trade in wool was, no doubt, chiefly in the hands of +the wealthy merchants, many of whom were "of the Staple of Calais." +The wardens also overlooked the weighing, and took from the owners +certain dues "for the profit of the town."[434] These dues must have +increased the price of wool, so that the weavers or clothmakers--or +whatever body of men purchased the wool for manufacture in the first +instance[435]--suffered by reason of such a regulation, and poor +householders who bought the wool to weave for their own use were in +like case. The enforcement of this order[436] and the consequent +collection of dues were bitterly resented, and the citizens, reminded +of the traditional "toll freedom" of their market, cried that the city +that had been free was now in bondage. + + "Dame goode Eve[437] made hit fre, + & now the custom for wol & the draperie." + +But before Green's year of mayoralty was past, the corporation found +that they would still have to reckon with Laurence Saunders. It was +on Lammas day, 1494, in the presence--so the mayor and council were +"credibly informed"--of forty persons, that he spoke these words: +"Sirs, her me! we shall never have our rights till we have striken +of the heads of III or IIII of thes Churles heds that rulen us, and +if thereafter hit be asked who did that dede, hit shalbe seid, me +and they, and they and me." "He shuld constreyn," Laurence went on, +"William Boteler to drive his Cart laden with Ots into the Croschepyng, +and ther to unlade the seid cart." Now, William Boteler was probably +either a forestaller and regrater, who intercepted, in defiance of +all manner of ordinances to the contrary, the grain intended to be +sold openly in the market, or he had encroached upon the common land. +Laurence, it appears, fulfilled his threat, and cried out to the crowd +assembled in the Cross Cheaping or market place: "Come, Sirs, and take +the corn who so wyll, as your owne."[438] The whole proceeding utterly +scandalised the mayor and his worshipful brethren. On the "Wednesday +after the Exaltation of the Holy Cross" they committed Laurence to +prison, and fixed his fine at £40. For months he lay there, while two +friends, whose names were Alexander Horsley and Robert Barlow,[439] +were surety for the payment of this great sum. But this amount meant +ruin, and drove Laurence's party to fury. The mayor and council had +treated a fellow-citizen no better than one of those hated Scots. And +this was not enough. They also bound over this sower of strife "to +good bearing," and the next year, whether for the sake of old offences +or for the commission of new ones, wiped out his name from among the +number of the rulers of the city. Laurence Saunders was "discharged," +the order ran, "from the mayor's council, the common council, and all +other councils ... taken and kept within this city for the welfare of +the same," and forbidden under the penalty of £40 ever to ride out with +the chamberlains on Lammas day.[440] + +It was an old custom in Coventry to nail up all announcements, which +for obvious reasons no crier would consent to proclaim, on the church +door, where all might read them. It was in this manner that friar +John Bredon, on the occasion of a dispute between his order and the +monks, some forty years back, appealed to the citizens to throw off the +dominion of the prior, as "the thraldom of Pharaoh." So within eight +days after Lammas, 1495, some unknown rhymester of the "commonalty" +nailed up some verses of his making on the north door of S. Michael's +church; forgetting in them neither the oppressive acts which had been +lately passed nor the punishment visited on Laurence for the tumult of +the preceding year.[441] + + "Be it knowen & understand, + This Cite shuld be free & nowe is bonde, + Dame goode Eve made hit free, + & now the custome for woll & the draperie. + Also hit is made that no prentes shalbe + But xiii penyes pay shuld he; + That act did Robert Grene, + Therfor he had many a Curse, I wene. + And nowe a nother rule ye do make + That none shall ride at Lammas but they that ye take + When our ale is Tunned + ye shall have drynk to your cake." + +The final lines recall the heavy fine to be paid by Saunders:-- + + "Ye have put on man like a Scot to raunsome, + That wol be remembered when ye have all forgoten 'Caviat.'"[442] + +It may be that, in the face of this wrathful discontent--it was just +at this time that the ill-behaviour of John Smith and John Duddesbury +to "men of worship" caused the offenders to be watched so closely--the +corporation felt some anxiety. At least they thought it prudent to +relieve Laurence of the payment of half of the fine they had laid +upon him. Of the remaining sum half was paid by the sureties, but £10 +was yet due, and in 1496 Saunders appealed to the King. The fruit of +his solicitings was a privy seal, addressed to the mayor and sheriffs +asking them in charity to take £10 and remit the rest of the fine, +as Laurence was now old and fallen into poverty.[443] There was +one sentence in the letter very little to the recipients' liking. +The King ordered the mayor "to do right" in a variance concerning a +common pasture which Laurence had informed his grace to be in the +city; "where," as the "men of worship" declared with righteous anger, +"no such variance was." It would be folly indeed to smooth the lot of +Laurence Saunders or release his friends from their bond. So the great +culprit having paid £10 and his sureties a like sum, matters must be +set right at Court, and the appeals of Laurence and his party made of +no effect. So a "writing of the great and many offences of the said +Laurence" was sent to Master Richard Empson, who was then in London, to +be laid before the King. The mayor and his fellows awaited meanwhile +the issue of the recorder's mediation. + +Laurence Saunders, too, had his hopes of Court. "As for Mr Recorder," +he said confidently a little later, "I have reckoned with him before +the King, and he shall be easy enough." Meanwhile Lammas time was +approaching, and he looked for some great movement against the +corporation, which that season should bring forth. So he went into the +house of the mayor, John Dove, and said: "Master mair, I advise yewe +to loke wisely on your self, for on Lammasse day ye shall her other +tythyngs, & ffor many of these catifes that loke so hy nowe shall be +brought lower; and ye knowe wele amongist yowe ye have of myn x li: of +money, which I dought not I shall have ayen on Lamasse day, or elles +III or IIII of the best of yowe shall smart. Therfor I advise yowe, ber +upright the swerd at your perill, for ye shall knowe mor shortly." + +That allusion to the mayor's sword carried a sting. A century ago, +Richard II. had ordered it to be borne _behind_ John Deister, the +mayor, rather than before him as the custom was, "_because he did not +do justice_." It may be John Dove was secretly afraid. Had he done +justice continually? What if the King should visit Laurence with his +favour now? Though this man made so light of the mayor's dignity, he +was not punished; but all waited for the news from London. + +On July 20 Laurence determined to justify his position by putting in +his petition of grievances for the third time. He laid before the mayor +a list of the enclosed common lands, drawn up from inquiries made among +old men of the city the year of his chamberlainship. He asked that the +bill might be read aloud in open court, for the sessions of the peace +were then proceeding. John Dove was not prepared to do this. It was not +a matter to be determined in that court, and besides, he understood +that it required no haste. Saunders might come and have his answer on +the morrow by nine of the clock. On hearing this the old taunt sprang +to Laurence's lips, "Maister meir," he said aloud in the assembly, +"hold upright your swerde"; and after expressing his hope of "reckoning +with Mr Recorder," he left John Dove to recover his dignity. + +As far as we can tell, Saunders' hour of triumph never came, for there +was no rising at Lammas; but soon after the scandal at the sessions +came a letter from the King, giving the mayor and council full +permission to deal with the rebel "after the good and laudable custom +of the city." This permission must have afforded them untold relief. +As Laurence refused to give any pledge as to his future conduct, they +committed him to prison. But he never rested, nor did his friends give +up the battle. They interceded at Court, this time with Thomas Savage, +the Bishop of Rochester,[444] and it seemed that their intercession +was likely to bear fruit, for letters arrived to the effect that +Laurence should be set free to plead his cause before the King at +Woodstock. But the mayor and council would not let him go, for he +offered, to their thinking, insufficient surety, letting fall also many +seditious words, which are recorded in the Book of Council, and saying, +"he wold fynd no other what so ever fell theruppon." Wherefore, the +_Leet Book_ says, he remained in prison. + +[Illustration: BABLAKE AND S. JOHN'S CHURCH] + +Two "seditious bills"--one nailed on the minster door on S. Anne's +Day--show how strained the situation was becoming. If ever, during +a century and a half, the rule of the Coventry guilds had been as +thoroughly detested as now, the feeling had never been put in words +that have come down to us with such unmistakable force. Of these +attacks, the second has a much loftier tone. After a passing reference +to Laurence, lying in prison-- + + "You have hunted the hare, + You hold him in a snare"-- + +there come, in the first set of verses, a warning to all the great folk +that have forgotten to rule justly:-- + + "Ye that be of myght, + Se that ye do right, + Thynk on your othe; + For wher that ye do wrong, + Ye shall mend hit among, + Though ye be never so loth." + +The poet and his friends--he says in the second set of verses--show +outward respect to their rulers, but their minds are full of +bitterness:-- + + "This cyte is bond thad shuld be fre, + The right is holden fro the Cominalte; + Our Comiens that at lamas open shuld be cast + They be closed in & hegged full fast, + + And he that speketh for our right is in the hall,[445] + And that is shame for yewe & for us all; + You can not denygh hit but he is your brother; + & to bothe Gilds he hath paid as moch as another." + +As for the "commonalty," they have no more to lose, the verse goes on +to say:-- + + "For eny favour or frenship the comins with yowe fynde, + But pyke awey our thryfte & make us all blynde; + And ever ye have nede to the Cominalte, + Such favour as ye shewe us, such shall ye see. + We may speke feir & bid you goode morowe, + But luff with our herts shull ye hav non. + Cherish the Cominalte & se that they have ther right, + For drede of a worse chaunce be day or be nyght, + The best of you all litell worth shuld be, + And ye had not help of the Cominalte."[446] + +Matters remained for some time at a standstill; then at last, early in +November, Laurence's "labour and busy suit" brought two privy seals, +containing full directions, to Coventry.[447] The mayor was required +to release the prisoner after taking surety in £100, so that he might +appear before the King and council and state his case; while two or +three of the mayor's brethren sufficiently instructed in the matters +to be laid to his charge were to bear him company. At a meeting of the +council on November 14, certain citizens, among whom was John Boteler +the steward, were appointed to ride to London. There, joined by the +recorder and others of the city, who no doubt had already entered on +various negotiations connected with this suit, they were to lay an +account of Laurence's "demeasner" before the King. Another privy seal +had been received, addressed to four friends[448] of Laurence, who +were summoned to London "to th' entent that they shuld testyfie with +hym in such matier as he wold allege for his greves." And now the +business went quickly forward. "Accordyng which appoyntement the day +was kept at London," says the _Leet Book_, "befor the Kyngs Counceill +in the Sterr Chambre, the Friday next after Seynt Martyn day, and ther +continied dayly vnto the Tewesday next befor the fest of Seynt Andrew +... at which day befor my lords of Caunterbury, London and Rochestre, +the chief Justice Mr ffyneux, and many other lords, the hole matier +was hard at large, both the compleynt of the seid Laurence, the answer +therunto, the replicacion of the seid Laurence, and the rejoynder +theruppon, with the disposicions of the witnesse, and proves of the +seid Laurence, wheruppon the seid Laurence was ther and then comyt vnto +the Flete, ther to abyde unto the tyme the kyngs pleasur was knowen." + +So Laurence Saunders vanished into the Fleet, while Boteler and the +rest returned in triumph to Coventry. The corporation remained clearly +masters of the field. In a privy seal,[449] received by the mayor and +sheriffs the next December, Laurence's complaints were pronounced +"feined and contrived," and himself a "seducioux" man, who had "of his +great presumpcion and obstinacie not seldom but often tymes disobeyed +the liefell ... precepts of you the said mair ... to the right evil and +pernicioux example of other, therby embolded and encouraged to offende +in like wise." But the King willed that the laudable and prosperous +governance of the city should not "surceasse or be sette aparte by the +sinistre or crafty meanes of any privat personne," and so the folk +of the city were commanded "for the _pretense of any right herafter +by thaim ... to bee claymed_" to make no conspiracies and unlawful +assemblies. + +As for the details of the trial, of them we know nothing.[450] Boteler +kept the complaint and the answer, the replication and the rejoinder, +in papers, "whereof the tenor," says the _Leet Book_, "her ensuen ..." +but just at this place occurs an unlucky break. The careful and zealous +town clerk was called away, no doubt, at that moment on business of the +first importance; there are no further entries made; so there can be +nothing told of the trial in the Star Chamber that Martinmas and of the +long agony of Laurence Saunders. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 360: Ashley, _Econ. Hist._ i. pt. ii. 53. The act was +repealed in 1511-12. In 1522 an order of leet was passed in Coventry to +the effect that the mayor should warn any baker, who had offended twice +against the assize, not to bake any more in the city unless he could +find surety that his fault should not be repeated, and further, no +victualler or butcher was allowed henceforth to be on the jury of leet +(_Leet Book_, 682).] + +[Footnote 361: The loaf varied in weight, but not in price, with the +price of corn (Green, ii. 35).] + +[Footnote 362: Harl. MS. 6,388 _passim_. It is difficult to determine +the date of these risings, so great is the variation between the +different lists of mayors; and so often do Coventry historians antedate +events, owing to the confusion between the old and new styles. It is +noticeable that the mayor in 1381 was Thomas Kele, one of the founders +of the Trinity guild.] + +[Footnote 363: Corp. MS. F. 3. It is here said that the mayor, +bailiffs, and commonalty "was seized in their demesne as of fee" of +the common lands in right of the community. There was much uncertainty +among the lawyers of that time as to the entity possessing rights over +the common lands.] + +[Footnote 364: Cicely de Montalt, in her grant to the prior of the +manorial "waste" attached to the Earl's-half, reserves for all cottiers +their reasonable pasture (Harl. MS. 6,388, f. 2). Walter de Coventre +bequeathed to his fellow-townsmen and their heirs for ever his rights +of pasture for all the cattle in all his lands (_Ib._).] + +[Footnote 365: To pay for the expenses of the fee-ferm, etc. On +enclosures to pay for pageants, see below.] + +[Footnote 366: I am indebted for the identification of this piece of +land to Mr Beard, late town clerk of Coventry.] + +[Footnote 367: The land in question stretched from Whitley brook to +Baron's Field, which was enclosed in 1845 as a cemetery.] + +[Footnote 368: _Leet Book_, 113.] + +[Footnote 369: Corp. MS. F. 4.] + +[Footnote 370: An obscure word.] + +[Footnote 371: Ear = plough.] + +[Footnote 372: Individual profit.] + +[Footnote 373: Get possession of.] + +[Footnote 374: Put in the pound.] + +[Footnote 375: _Leet Book_, 349.] + +[Footnote 376: Corp. MS. F. 3.] + +[Footnote 377: _i.e._ rehearsing.] + +[Footnote 378: _i.e._ petitioner.] + +[Footnote 379: _i.e._ slay.] + +[Footnote 380: _Leet Book_, 350.] + +[Footnote 381: _Leet Book_, 375.] + +[Footnote 382: Corp. MS. F. 3.] + +[Footnote 383: _Leet Book_, 376 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 384: _Ib._, 378.] + +[Footnote 385: _Leet Book_, 379-80.] + +[Footnote 386: _Ib._, 380.] + +[Footnote 387: Corp. MS. F. 4.] + +[Footnote 388: See Green, _Town Life_, ii. 315, for a similar case at +Southampton. Here one "ancient" man was aged 104 years and more.] + +[Footnote 389: Baron's Field is now part of the old cemetery.] + +[Footnote 390: Corp. MS. C. 204. The varieties in the nomenclature of +the various fields makes it difficult to pronounce decidedly whether +Bristowe gained all he desired according to this arbitration.] + +[Footnote 391: _Leet Book_, 375.] + +[Footnote 392: Bristowe's case was again under discussion in 1475, see +Corp. MS. D. 2. This time a verdict, given not by a Coventry jury, but +by a jury of twenty-four knights from the vicinage of the city, was +favourable to Bristowe, and acquitted him of the charge of assault, +etc., brought against him by the corporation.] + +[Footnote 393: _Leet Book_, 156.] + +[Footnote 394: Laurence was a member of the "council of Forty-eight," +_Leet Book_, 521, and a member of both guilds (Sharp, _Antiq._, 235; +_Leet Book_, 578). In 1495 Saunders was discharged from all attendance +at the mayor's council, the common council, and all other councils to +be taken within the city (_Ib._, 564). The common council is first +mentioned in 1477. Probably the "Forty-eight" and the common council +were identical. The "mayor's council" consisted apparently of such of +the "Forty-eight" as he cared to summon. There is no evidence that +these councillors were elected by wards.] + +[Footnote 395: The prior, in 1498, is said to have refused to pay it +for twenty years (_Leet Book_, 592).] + +[Footnote 396: _Ib._, 430 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 397: _Leet Book_, 436 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 398: _Leet Book_, 348. "Cattle surcharging the common to be +driven to the pound and distress taken." And yet this very year the +corporation declared to the prior that the citizens always had driven +their cattle "without number" on the commons.] + +[Footnote 399: _Leet Book_, 439. The meadows in question were the +Prior's Waste and the close by the New Gate. See above, p. 176.] + +[Footnote 400: _i.e._ "eyes."] + +[Footnote 401: _Leet Book_, 441.] + +[Footnote 402: _Leet Book_, 443 _sqq._] + +[Footnote 403: Mayor's reply, _Leet Book_, 457.] + +[Footnote 404: In the lord's outwoods, moors, and heaths, which were +never under the plough, "he should not be stinted, for the soil is his" +(Rogers, _Six Cent._ 90). It is extremely doubtful whether the common +lands of Coventry should be included in this category; many of them had +been "under the plough."] + +[Footnote 405: _Leet Book_, 454.] + +[Footnote 406: _Leet Book_, 470.] + +[Footnote 407: _Leet Book_, 474.] + +[Footnote 408: Corp. MS. C 209.] + +[Footnote 409: _Leet Book_, 490.] + +[Footnote 410: Fineux, one of the prince's council, was deputed to +examine the title deeds on behalf of the town, and Catesby on behalf of +Bristowe.] + +[Footnote 411: _Leet Book_, 492.] + +[Footnote 412: Bristowe seems to have allowed his tenants of Whitley to +share in his privilege of intercommoning with the people of Coventry. +See above, p. 174.] + +[Footnote 413: _Leet Book_, 497.] + +[Footnote 414: _Ib._, 496.] + +[Footnote 415: Disputes concerning the common lands were usually +settled by arbitration, and not before the judges of the King's bench, +possibly because the "communitas" had no power to sue in law courts as +a legal person (Green, _Town Life_, ii. 239).] + +[Footnote 416: Boteler filled the post of steward as well as that of +town clerk.] + +[Footnote 417: _Leet Book_, 510-11.] + +[Footnote 418: _Leet Book_, 483.] + +[Footnote 419: It is noticeable that immediately after this the leet +gave orders that some of the fields granted to the prior, _i.e._ the +field by the New Gate, should be had again "in a perpetual ferm" of the +convent.] + +[Footnote 420: He said "he had as much power as the mayor, and could +arrest him at sessions sitting on the bench" (_Leet Book_, 520).] + +[Footnote 421: Unless he would submit to this condition and to take an +oath at Candlemas--as the mayor did--he was to be dismissed. Boteler +chose to submit.] + +[Footnote 422: _Leet Book_, 537.] + +[Footnote 423: The records are very meagre about this time. The fact +that Laurence was a member of the Forty-eight is an indication that the +corporation were well disposed towards him. The fact that the very same +mayor who occasioned Boteler's disgrace enforced certain acts of leet +against the bakers is also a proof that there was a change of policy in +his time at least (_ib._, 518-9).] + +[Footnote 424: _Leet Book_, 554, 557.] + +[Footnote 425: Corp. MS. A. 6. Corpus Christi guild accounts.] + +[Footnote 426: _Leet Book_, 569. This order was re-enacted in 1497; +_Ib._, 585. No tanner or butcher was "to make conspiracy ... contrary +to this ordinance." Duddesbury had been a member of the Twenty-four, +and was mayor in 1505.] + +[Footnote 427: _Leet Book_, 553-4.] + +[Footnote 428: _Ib._, 559. The continuation of this order shows how +restive the people were becoming under the recent regulations, a like +surety was to be taken from any one who would not obey orders of leet +and be reformed by the mayor and council.] + +[Footnote 429: Lists of all the living craftsmen who had held office +were compiled in 1449: 16 drapers, 13 mercers, 7 dyers, 2 wire-drawers, +2 whittawers, and 2 weavers are mentioned (_ib._, 246-52).] + +[Footnote 430: Drapery granted to the Trinity gild 1365-9 (Sharp, 131).] + +[Footnote 431: _Leet Book_, 281.] + +[Footnote 432: These words are almost identical with a gloss, written +in the margin of one ordinance passed in 1495. For the profits arising +from the Nottingham Drapery, see _Nottingham Rec._, iii. 62.] + +[Footnote 433: Corp. MS. B. 75.] + +[Footnote 434: _Leet Book_, 193. This order was passed in 1440.] + +[Footnote 435: In Coventry the wool buyers appear to have been the +clothmakers. The dyers in 1415, who were "great makers of cloth," took +"the flower of the woad" for their own use (_Rot. Parl._, iv. 75). In +1435 we hear of the clothmakers employing combers to card wool (_Leet +Book_, 182), and in 1512 we find that a searcher examined the wool to +see that it was free from filth for the clothier (_ib._, 636).] + +[Footnote 436: There are no _new_ ordinances relating to the weighing +of wool at this time. Most likely the ordinance of 1440 (see above) was +often evaded, and it was resolved that a stricter supervision should be +exercised.] + +[Footnote 437: _i.e._ Godiva.] + +[Footnote 438: _Leet Book_, 556-7. Laurence afterwards committed +William Boteler to ward for breach of regulations of leet doubtless, +but "without authority."] + +[Footnote 439: For Robert Barlow, see Corpus Christi guild accounts, +Corp. MS. A. 6, f. 5.] + +[Footnote 440: _Leet Book_, 564.] + +[Footnote 441: _Leet Book_, 567. One of the pieces of "civic poetry" +quoted by Sharp, 235.] + +[Footnote 442: Sharp, _Antiq._, 235.] + +[Footnote 443: _Leet Book_, 574; Corp. MS. A. 79, f. 14. The poverty +from which Laurence suffered now had probably not afflicted him earlier +in his career.] + +[Footnote 444: It is noticeable that this bishop sympathized with the +unruly people of York. See Miss Sellers, "The City of York in the +Sixteenth Century" in _Eng. Hist. Rev._, ix. 275.] + +[Footnote 445: _i.e._ in prison.] + +[Footnote 446: _Leet Book_, 578. The MS. has _co'iens_ and _co'ialte_ +throughout. Both sets printed in Sharp, pp. 235-6.] + +[Footnote 447: _Leet Book_, 578.] + +[Footnote 448: One of these, William Huet, probably a tailor or +shereman, was one of the nine score wealthy men. In 1464, he--or one +bearing this name--had been in trouble with the corporation (_v._ +_ante_, p. 138). "Norfolk," the name of one other, was a regular +_weaver's_ name in Coventry.] + +[Footnote 449: Corp. MS. A. 79, f. 19.] + +[Footnote 450: I am afraid that there is nothing further to be learned +of Saunders. Professor S.R. Gardiner was so good as to make inquiries +at the Record Office whether there were any Star Chamber records +bearing upon his case, but none belonging to this period are in +existence.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +_The Companies of the Crafts_ + + +The men of Coventry, a city which, in later mediæval times, stood +fourth among the wealthy towns of England,[451] gained a livelihood +by the buying and selling of wool and the making of cloth.[452] As +early as 1398 the traffic in the frieze of Coventry[453] extended +beyond the modest limits of the city itself. In that year two hundred +pounds' worth, the export of one merchant, lay in the port of distant +Stralsund, on the Baltic Coast,[454] and in London and other places the +cloth was in great request during the fifteenth and early sixteenth +centuries. + +The men of mediæval Coventry naturally attached great importance to +the maintenance and extension of the cloth trade in view of the wealth +it brought. Special buildings were set apart for the staple traffic of +the city. The Drapery and the Wool-hall, both in Bayley Lane, under the +shadow of S. Michael's Church, were the recognised selling places for +the raw and finished material; and a small illicit market went on in +the porch of the church itself.[455] Hard by stood the Searching-house, +a place devoted to the examination of all the cloth made by the city +workpeople. Two weavers and two fullers, specially appointed for the +purpose, overlooked the handiwork of their fellow-craftsmen; while +six drapers were appointed to superintend these weavers and fullers, +so as to guard against any exhibition of partiality or slackness in +the execution of the task. If the material were sufficiently fulled +and well woven, the city seal was attached to it in token of its +genuine quality; but the searchers were straitly charged to warrant +no piece that fell short of the standard excellence, and bad wares +were returned to the owner to make therewith as good a bargain as he +could.[456] + +[Illustration: TRINITY LANE] + +An order of leet passed in 1518 gives very precise directions for the +searching process. + +[Illustration: ARMS OF CITY OF COVENTRY] + +"Hit is to be had in mynde that for a trueth of Clothmakyng to be had +in this cite as foloeth, if it myght be folowed, and the execucion of +the same to be don schortly, or els the cite wolbe so fer past that +it wolbe past remedie to be recouered to eny welth or prosperite, hit +is thought hit were good to have ij wevers & ij walkers sworn to make +true serche of the wevers doyng & also of the walkers & to present the +trueth; and also to be chosen vj drapers to be maisters, & ouerseers +of the doyng of the serchers, that if some of them cannot a lesour to +be at the serchyng at the dayes of the serchers, yet some of these vj +maisters schall euer be ther. And by cause it were to great a besynes +for the serchers to go to every mannes howse, hit is enacted at this +lete to haue a howse of the gilde,[457] or of some other mannes nyghe +the drapery doore, to be ordeyned well with perches to drawe ouer the +clothes when they be thykked, and also weightes & ballaunce to wey the +cloth, and when it cometh frome the walkers, the walkers to bryng it to +the serchyng house, and to serche it, & to se it ouer a perche, and if +it be good cloth as it owght to be in brede & lengh, that the cite may +have a preise by hit & no sklaunder, then to sett upon hit the Olyvaunt +in lede,[458] and of the bak of the seall the lengh of the cloth, by +the which men shall perceyve and see it is true Coventre cloth, ffor +of suerte ther is in London & other places that sell false & untrewe +made cloth, & name hit Couentre cloth, the which is a gret slaunder to +the cite than it deserveth by a gret partie. And if there be eny man +that hath eny cloth brought to the serchyng house, what degre so ever +he be of, if it be not able for the worschip of the cite to be let +passe, let hym pay for the serche & lett hym do his best with hit, but +set not the Olyvaunt upon it. + +"And this serche to be made also this fourme,[459] that is to sey ij +days in the weke, Tewesday & Saturday, and ij of the serchers to be +ther from viij of the clok to a xi, and frome on to iiij of the clok; +and a sealer to be ordeyned & sworne to stryke the cloth and seale hit, +and wrete hit, and fynde leed, & to have a peny for his labour; and the +sealles to be put in a cofre with ij keys, the master of the vj drapers +to have the on, and the serchers the other, and for the serche of every +cloth to the serchers to have j d. and it is to be thought every good +man schal be gladde of that payment." + +The person who consistently reaped the greatest benefit from this +activity was the draper, the merchant of cloth. Within the city his +fellowship ranked next to that of the mercers, or merchants proper, who +traded in wool as members of the Staple of Calais, or trafficked in +wine and wax, which they brought in barges from Bristol.[460] None but +the well-to-do could enter into the ranks of the drapers' craft.[461] +Some of its more fortunate brethren were able to purchase estates and +take rank among the county gentry. Thus John Bristowe, draper, sometime +mayor and justice of the peace in Coventry, became possessed of land +at Whitley; and his son William spoke of his "manor" in those parts, +and frequently described himself as a "gentleman." And John, grandson +of Julian Nethermill, a city dignitary of the same craft, held lands +in Exhall, and had his arms blazoned among those of the great county +folk.[462] Many members of this fellowship have left a name showing +the great power for good or ill that they possessed within the city. +There was John Bristowe, mayor in the early fifteenth century, who, as +the oldest inhabitants declared, "after he had boron office within the +cite of Couentre thynkyng that the common people of the seid cite durst +nor wolde contrarie his doyng, claymed unlawfully" to have certain +rights over the common pasture. John Haddon, another draper-mayor, +has left a better reputation; it was he who came to the rescue of the +poverty-stricken clothiers of the city in 1518,[463] and by a timely +loan enabled them to continue work. While John Bond, who, as his +epitaph declares, gave "divers lands and tenements for the maintenance +of ten poore men, as long as the world shall endure," is yet remembered +as the founder of the Bablake hospital. + +The near connection between these great cloth merchants and the +corporation is one of the most striking features of municipal life in +Coventry during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The marks of the +drapers' influence in civic affairs are continually before our eyes. It +was in a draper's mayoralty that ordinances were first made respecting +the searching of cloth.[464] And when the system of overlooking was +perfected in 1518, a few years later, it was to six men of this craft, +that the task of superintending the searchers' investigations was +assigned. Just as, about a hundred years before that time, when an +unsuccessful attempt was made by the town rulers to exercise complete +control over the dyers' craft, it was suggested that two drapers as +well as two dyers, in either case nominees of the corporation, should +keep watch over the dyers' movements, and "present" them for any "fault +or confederacy" at the court of the mayor.[465] + +Measures framed by this body in the interest of any particular craft +or class were doubtless found oppressive by those who had no lot or +part in their enactment. Thus while the yea or nay of the fullers had +little weight in municipal councils, the wealth of the drapers gave +them a control over the local trade to an extent which we can hardly +realise. The reason of this supremacy is not far to seek. The mercers +and drapers in their character of wealthy men usually occupied the +principal official posts in the city.[466] No one, unless he were +possessed of a certain amount of wealth, could rise to a high place in +the corporation. Men were ranked according to the amount of property +in their possession, and to speak of a citizen as "of the degree of a +mayor" or "bailiff," conveyed as definite an idea as the assertion that +"So-and-so has a fortune of £20,000 or £30,000," would convey to our +minds at the present date. + +This body of wealthy merchants, in whose hands was vested all control +over the city trade, could and did make and unmake regulations of +the deepest significance to the various crafts. By an ordinance of +the city leet they could completely alter the conditions regulating +the work of salesmen or artificers, as they had an absolute control +over all workers, since by the craft system all who practised the +same calling were compelled to obey the same regulations. Nominally +the regulations were drawn up by the crafts. In reality, as certain +members of the corporation overlooked them, amending and annulling at +their pleasure, this power of the crafts was held at the will of the +municipal rulers.[467] And the corporation did not let their power lie +idle. In the interests of the general public they forced the crafts to +embody in their rules the ordinances framed by the court leet. Thus the +cloth-workers were compelled to bring the cloth they had woven to be +measured and examined by the searcher,[468] the fullers to adopt the +custom of using a special mark whereby the work of every individual +craftsman could be recognised and known,[469] the dyers to abstain from +using a certain French dye of inferior consistency,[470] and, much +against the wills of this community, to admit another member into their +craft.[471] It was not only as regards the working of their cloth, +but in all other matters the crafts had to bow before the will of the +corporation. Appeals to courts spiritual to punish for oath-breach +any who disobeyed the ordinances of the fellowship were looked coldly +on by the municipal rulers, and the practice suppressed. In 1518 the +mysteries were compelled to make the mayor the arbiter of all cases +of dispute between offenders and the wardens of their respective +fellowships. If anyone committed a fault against the fellowship, he +must be asked to pay a "reasonable" penalty, and "if he deny and will +not pay ... according to the ordinance ... within three or four days, +let the master ask it of him again ... and if he deny it eftsoons and +will not pay it, let the master of the craft and three or four honest +men of the craft come to master mayor and show unto him the dealing of +that person." Whereupon the mayor and justices, should he refuse to +pay double the original sum to the craft, were bound to commit him to +ward until he promised obedience. The offender on his release was to +make submission to the master entreating him to be "good master" to him +during his year of office, and "his good lover" in time to come.[472] + +We may follow in detail the dealings of the corporation with several +of the crafts. The fullers seem to have combined with the tailors +to form the guild of the Nativity some time in the reign of Richard +II., but were prevented from acting under the terms of their charter. +In the eighteenth year of the reign of Henry VI. the royal licence +was renewed.[473] But the guild was a singularly ineffective body, +holding little if any property, and soon after, possibly at municipal +instigation, the two crafts who formed it were separated, though the +tailors obtained a third renewal of their licence in the twenty-eighth +year of Henry VIII. The dyers appear to have been more stubborn. +Early in the reign of Henry V. they combined together to increase +the price of dyeing of cloth by one-half, and to have the flower of +the woad for their own use.[474] In 1475 they attempted, perhaps, to +renew their old combinations of sixty years back; and five years later +Laurence Saunders, a member of their calling, became the leader of the +opposition which prevailed during the close of the century within the +city.[475] In 1496 all the thunders of the leet ordinances launched +against those who, of their "froward wills," refused to contribute to +the furnishing of the pageants played on Corpus Christi day, failed to +make the dyers join with the other crafts in paying their share.[476] +When the municipality desired to thrust a new member into their craft, +the dyers forbade the journeymen to work for him, and it was only by +circumventing their tactics that the town rulers could compel the +admission of the new candidate into their ranks. + +Not only the workers in cloth, but all the fraternities were forced +to bow to the corporation's will. In 1436 the attention of the leet +was drawn to certain malpractices which had arisen among the workers +in iron. A bill, drawn up no doubt by some member of the ruling class +and presented by him to the court, shows the full extent of the evil +and suggests certain measures of reform. Certain workers in iron, we +are told, by employing labourers of the four allied crafts of smiths, +brakemen, girdlers, and card-wiredrawers, had acquired entire control +over the trade, and were able to pass off ill-wrought iron upon their +customers. It was suggested that labourers of but two occupations +should be employed by one master instead of those of four occupations +as had been the custom hitherto. + +"Be hit known to you," the bill runs, "but yif certen ordenaunses +of craftes withe in this cite ... be takon good hede to, hit is +like myche of the kynges pepull, and in speciall poor chapmen and +clothemakers, in tyme comeng shullen be gretely hyndered, and as hit +may be supposed the principall cause is like to be amonges hem that han +all the craft in her own hondes, that is to sey, smythiers, brakemen, +gurdelmen, and card-wire drawers, for he that hathe all thes craftes +may, offendying his conscience, do myche harme." A negligent smith, +the bill continues, might heat the iron by "onkynd hetes," so that +it became unfit for future use. "Never the later for his own eese he +will com to his brakemon and sey to hym: 'Here is a ston of rough iron +the whiche must be tendurly cherysshet.'" When the brakeman has done +his task, the metal comes to be sold for making fish hooks. "And when +hit is made in hokes and shulde serve the ffissher to take fisshe, +when hit comythe to distresse then for febulnes hit all-to brekithe, +and thus is the ffisher foule disseyved and to him grete harme." And +if the iron be used for making girdles, the master passes it to the +girdleman with these words: "'Lo, here is a stryng or ij (two) that +hathe ben misgouerned atte herthe, my brakemon hathe don his dever; +I prey the, do now thyne.' And so he dothe as his maister biddethe +hym." Or it may be passed on to the cardmaker, who finds that it +"crachithe and farithe foule; so the cardmaker is right hevy therof, +but neverthelater he sethe be cause hit is cutte he must nedes helpe +hym self in eschueing his losse, [so] he makithe cardes[477] ther of +as well as he may, and when the cardes ben solde to the clothemaker +and shuldon be ocupied, anon the tethe brekon and fallon out, so the +clothemaker is foule disseyved. Wherefore, sirs," is the conclusion of +the bill, "atte reverens of God in fortheryng of the kynges true lege +peapull, and in eschueng of all disseytes, weithe (weigh) this mater +wysely, and ther as ye see disseyte is like to be, therto settithe +remedy be your wyse discressions." For, as the petitioner suggested, if +the two crafts of smiths and brakemen, and these only, were united on +the one hand, and the two crafts of girdlers and card-wiredrawers, and +these only, on the other, "then hit were to suppose that ther shuld not +so myche disseyvabull wire be wrought and sold as ther is." For if the +crafts were severed in this manner, it was argued, then the girdlers +and cardmakers would buy their wire from the smiths, and look well to +their bargain. "And if the card-wiredrawer," the petitioner proceeds, +"were ones or thies disseyved withe ontrewe wire, he wolde be warre, +and then wold he sey vnto the smythier, that he bought that wire of: +'Sir, I hadde of you late badde wire, sir, amend your honde, or in +feithe I will no more bye of you.' And then the smythier, lest he lost +his custemers, wold make true goode; and then withe the grase of godd +(God) the craft shuld amend and the kinges peapull not disseyved with +eontrewe goode."[478] + +The mayor, we learn, on this important occasion sent round to all the +worthy men of the leet to take their advice upon the matter. Either +the corporation sought an occasion of humbling the workers in iron, +or the common sense expressed in this bill was irresistible; for the +leet fell in with the arrangement of severing the crafts. A number of +master smiths agreed to employ only journeymen of this occupation and +brakemen, while the cardmakers on the other hand undertook to find +occupation for girdlers and cardmakers only. Furthermore, the leet +decreed that their two last-named crafts should by "no colour ne sotell +imagynacion 'sell or buy' no cardwyre ne mystermannes wyre, the whiche +may be hynderying or grevying to the kinges lege pepull 'under pain of +£20.'" + +The craftspeople, however, occasionally resented municipal +interference, and endeavoured by all means within their power to get +the control of the industry in which they were engaged into their own +hands. Any temporary weakness or disorganisation on the part of the +corporation was taken advantage of by these fraternities. It was in +1456, when the finances of the city were in some disorder, owing to the +expense of entertaining the Court and the active support given by the +city to the Lancastrian cause, that the craftspeople took occasion to +sue in spiritual courts offenders who had broken the rules observed by +members of fellowships. + +"Discord daily falleth in this city among the people of divers +crafts"--such are the words of an order of leet passed in +1457--"because that divers masters of crafts sue in spiritual courts +divers people of their crafts, affirming they have broken their oaths +made in breaking divers their rules and ordinances, which rules +ofttimes be unreasonable, and the punishment of the said masters over +excess, which, if it continue, by likelihood would cause much people to +void out of the city." The masters were thenceforth forbidden to bring +"any manner suit, cause or quarrel in any court spiritual against any +person of their craft," until "the mayor for the time being have heard +the matter and variance ... and have licensed the suit to be had."[479] +But though defeated in this scheme, the crafts doubtless did not +give up the battle. The dyers' attempt in 1475 to form confederacies +happened in a time of great division within the town respecting the +enclosure of the common pasture. And the same disputes agitated the +community twenty-one years later, when a member of the party of +discontented craftsmen nailed up inflammatory verses on the church +door, taunting the corporation with injustice and inveighing against +the rules they had made for the buying of wool and selling of cloth. + +[Illustration: NEW STREET] + +And indeed it may have been well that persons high in authority curbed +the self-seeking spirit of the crafts. These bodies, formed early in +the thirteenth century for mutual help and preservation, had since +degenerated into close corporations eager to exclude competition at +any price.[480] Fettered as they were by ordinances fixing price, +hours of labour and the like, there was so little free play allowed +the craftsman in the management of his business, that the difficulty +of acquiring wealth must have been great. Each company of craftsmen +practically monopolised all the traffic or business connected with +their special calling in the district in which they lived, and were +bound to take good heed that the numbers of those who formed their +body should not be greatly increased, lest the individual profits +should be reduced. They were resolved at all hazards to guard against +competition. The trade of the town might support ten tanners for +instance, but the admission of an eleventh or twelfth into the craft +might endanger the older members' prosperity. Thus, in 1424, the +weaver showed a distinct dislike to allowing their members to take +any number of apprentices,[481] who were potential masters of the +craft; and the cappers who in the fifteenth century had risen to be a +very important body, allowed each master to take but two apprentices +only, and when one departed before his serving-time of seven years was +accomplished, the master was forbidden to take another in his place, +without licence from the keepers of the craft, until the allotted +time should be past.[482] The corporation, however, wished to break +down this exclusiveness, and in 1524 declared that any member of +what craft soever might receive what number of apprentices he would +"notwithstanding any ordinance to the contrary."[483] Some twenty +years later, finding perhaps that this sweeping measure aroused too +much opposition, the leet tried to thrust a modified form of it on the +cappers.[484] Twice within a few months [1544-5] they decreed that any +master of the fellowship might take an extra apprentice when one of +them had served five and a half of the allotted seven years and they +repeated the order after a few years' space.[485] + +The craftspeople had another method for keeping would-be members out +of their ranks. They demanded on admission such fines as could only +be paid by the well-to-do. And it was owing to their jealousy that +precautions were taken to ensure the payment of these admission fines. +Trouble came about, we are told, because new members departed from the +town just when the fine was due, a year after setting up their shop. +They were henceforth to be compelled to pay half their fine at setting +up, and to put in two sufficient sureties that the second half should +be paid at the end of the first year.[486] + +It was part of the policy of the town rulers to recognise the +apprentice's possible future citizenship, and withdraw him somewhat +from his master's authority. The lad was therefore forced by the +ordinance of 1494[487] to take the oath "to the franchises," and bring +his twelve pennies to the steward for the town use when his term of +service began. We see from the list of those who took the oath in +1495 that the apprentice lived in his master's house, serving him +usually--though not invariably--for seven years' space. He earned a +nominal sum, perhaps a shilling, or even 4d., the first six years, and +a larger one, perhaps 10s. or 13s. 4d., during the seventh. Thus the +son of John Preston, of Stafford, "gentleman," who was apprenticed to a +grocer, earned 12d. a year, the wages of his last year of service--the +ninth--being unfixed; while another lad, learning the same trade, +received 13s. 4d. as his last year's earnings. The son of a Durham +"husbandman" took from his master, a hat-maker, 4d. a year for six +years, and 6s. 8d. during the seventh. The crafts seem to have made it +their business to see that the boys were properly cared for. If any +one of them complained that his master did not give him sufficient +"finding," _i.e._ food and raiment, the offender was to receive +first an "admonition," and on the repetition of the offence to pay a +reasonable fine; if matters did not mend, the lad was to be removed +and placed elsewhere.[488] The master exercised a superintendence over +the apprentice's moral well-being. In an early indenture of the time +of Richard II. the lad promises to haunt neither taverns nor houses of +ill-fame, nor hold illicit intercourse with any of the women of the +household.[489] + +No doubt the number of apprentices was limited partly in order to +prevent any one master from engrossing more than what was deemed his +fair share of trade and profits. The craftspeople were very sensitive +on this point. Thus, in 1424, quarrels arose between a certain John +Grinder on the one side and his fellow-members of his craft of weavers +on the other. The fact that Grinder wove linen as well as cloth, and +had two sets of looms for the purpose,[490] had aroused the jealousy +of the other weavers of the city. It may be remarked that this weaver +was a man wise in his generation. He gained his cause and made his +fortune, and filled the post of bailiff some time before 1449, being +apparently the only man of his calling during the second quarter of +the fifteenth century who ever occupied a high municipal office. Many +precautions were taken to prevent undue rivalry between brethren of +the same fellowship. It was usual among the artisan crafts for the +member to report the closing of a bargain to the master or keeper of +his fraternity.[491] And no other member of the calling could come +between the contracting parties until the work was finished.[492] But +among the more powerful craftsmen means were often taken to defraud +their brethren of the poorer sort. By collusion between butchers and +tanners the latter were able to buy raw hides "in grete," or wholesale, +with the intention, no doubt, of reselling them at a profit to others +of the craft, a practice the corporation forbade under a penalty of +forty shillings, to be taken from buyer and seller alike.[493] When +any excessive profit was to be made, the public, then as now, was fair +game. In Coventry, as elsewhere, ale-wives gave short measure, and used +an unsealed cup. The clothmakers stretched out broadcloth to the "high +displeasure of God and deceit of the wearers" to a length the material +could ill bear. Of all these matters the corporation took cognizance, +inflicting fines, punishing by the pillory, or in extreme cases by loss +of the freedom of the city. + +[Illustration: BUTCHER ROW] + +There was one point, however, on which all employers were agreed, +and that was on the advisability of checking unions and combinations +among their workmen for the purpose of obtaining better wages. The +journeymen's, or, as they were called, "yeomen's" guilds, which seem to +have been fairly universal at the close of the fourteenth and during +the fifteenth century, appear in Coventry with great frequency and +persistence. Three several times the corporation obtained patents +against the formation of guilds other than those already existing in +the city.[494] The patent for the suppression of the first of these +combinations that comes before our notice, the fraternity of S. Anne, +is addressed to the mayor and bailiffs, in 1406, and relates how it had +come to the ears of the government that a certain number of youths, +serving men of the tailors and other artificers working by the day +called journeymen, gathered together in the priory, or the houses of +the friars, and formed a fraternity called the fraternity of S. Anne, +to the end that each might maintain the other in their quarrels. This +action was likely, in the opinion of those in authority, to breed +dissensions in the city, do great harm to the societies founded of +old time, namely, the Trinity and Corpus Christi guilds, and hence +bring final destruction upon the townsfolk. The meetings were declared +unlawful, and all who persisted in assembling to hold them after the +patent had been openly proclaimed were to be arrested, and their names +certified to the King, who would have them punished according to their +deserts.[495] But, in spite of this warning, the journeymen did not +give up the conflict, for the fraternity had again to be crushed in the +first year of Henry V.,[496] only to reappear in 1425 under the title +of the guild of S. George. + +Connected with this last movement was the discontent which affected the +journeymen weavers in the year 1424. Indeed it is possible that the +whole company of journeymen within the city were at that time making +demand for higher pay. The weavers had a bond of union in a common +fund which they apparently appropriated to the furnishing of altar or +processional lights, a pretext possibly like that of the journeymen +saddlers in London in the time of Richard II., who, under "colour of +sanctity" and religious meetings, "sought only to raise wages greatly +in excess."[497] The movement among the Coventry weavers assumed all +the forms of a modern strike. The men not only refused to serve at +the usual wages, but hindered others from filling their place. The +corporation took the matter in hand, and the question was finally +settled by arbitration. The men were forbidden to hinder any of their +fellows from working for their masters as they had done aforetime, and +a regular rate of wages was established, whereby the journeymen took a +third of the sum paid to their employers for the weaving of each piece +of cloth, while the masters were ordered to exact threepence and no +more from their workmen as a fine for each "contumacy," being, however, +forbidden, under colour of this rule, to oppress their servants.[498] + +Nearly a hundred years later we find that the fraternities of +journeymen were still in existence, albeit jealously watched by the +masters of the crafts. In 1518 all initiative was taken from them. +"No journeymen of what occupation or craft soever," runs the order of +leet, shall "make or use any _cave_ or bylaw, or assembly, or meetings +at any place by their summoner without license of the mayor and the +master of their[499] occupation" upon pain of 20s. at the first fault; +at the second the offender's "body to prison," there to remain until +the master and six honest persons of his occupation would speak for +him.[500] At the same time the workers' fraternities were ordered to +bring in the rules already made for the mayor's inspection. But the +attempts on their part to form closer unions in order to facilitate +concerted action still continued, and in 1527 we find the dyers' +serving men assembling together for the apparently pacific purpose of +attending marriages, betrothals, and burials, as if "they had been a +craft or fellowship." These meetings served most likely as a cloak to +more serious proceedings, and they were forbidden by the leet.[501] Nor +was the movement entirely confined to the workers of the crafts; it +spread among those outside the guild organization. In 1518 the daubers +and rough masons were forbidden to form a fellowship of themselves, but +were henceforth to be common labourers, "and to take such wages as are +limited by statute."[502] + +In other matters we may see the discontented attitude of the workfolk. +Thus the journeymen cappers objected to the lengthening of the hours +of their working day, which in 1496 had been fixed to last from six +till six, but which by 1520 was further increased by two hours in the +summer-time, thus lasting from five in the morning to seven in the +evening.[503] Six years later it was enacted that, unless they kept +these hours, it was permitted to any master to "abridge their wages +according to their time of absence." Any rivalry in trade between +masters and men was crushed whenever the masters' power availed to +do so. Thus in 1496 the journeymen cappers carried on a contraband +trade, and scorning to be content with the permission to "scour and +fresh old bonnets" for that purpose, made new caps for sale; nor +did the imposition of a fine of twenty pence at every default avail +to check their activity. Therefore according to the rules of 1520, +members of the craft were forbidden to give any work to those who +knitted the journeymen's caps, or to the spinners who span for them, +thus indirectly checking this illicit competition. In other ways the +journeyman was made to feel the weight of the master's hand. Among the +carpenters none could be set to work unless he had served for seven +years as apprentice to the handicraft;[504] and a journeyman capper +was compelled to certify the cause of leaving his late master to the +satisfaction of the masters of the craft.[505] + +These are some points connected with the life of mediæval craftsmen. +Although so much has been written on the economical, social, and +religious aspects of the subject, we are still very ignorant as to the +actual workings of the craft system. Modern industry seems to have +entirely passed through, and, as it were, forgotten this immature phase +of its existence. The companies in Coventry which were able to survive +the shock of the suppression of the guilds and chantries under Edward +VI., and have lasted to our own day--the mercers, drapers, cappers, +fullers, clothiers, and worsted weavers--possess none of the powers or +organization of their predecessors, and are mere survivals of a bygone +time, "the shadows of a great name." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 451: Rogers, _Six Cent._, 116.] + +[Footnote 452: In early times there was a special place in the market +assigned to the sale of cloth. See _undated_ deed Corp. MS. C. 40.] + +[Footnote 453: _Rot. Parl._, iii. 437.] + +[Footnote 454: _Literæ Cantuarienses_ (Rolls Series, 85), iii. 81.] + +[Footnote 455: See above, p. 202.] + +[Footnote 456: _Leet Book_, 657.] + +[Footnote 457: _i.e._ the Trinity guild.] + +[Footnote 458: The elephant, _i.e._ the city seal, which bears the +device of an elephant and castle.] + +[Footnote 459: This system did not by any means insure good +workmanship. It was noted in the middle of the century that when the +make of cloth deteriorated, the clothmaking towns still set the seal +upon the material, "and so abased the credit of their predecessors to +their singuler luker" (Lamond, _Common Weal_, 77).] + +[Footnote 460: _Rot. Parl._, v. 569. There is a petition concerning the +hindrance of the navigation of the river Severn; Coventry, among other +towns, is spoken of as being injured thereby.] + +[Footnote 461: The mercers' and drapers' apprentices were compelled to +pay the admission fines on the sealing of their indentures, whereas +in other fraternities these were not demanded until the period of +apprenticeship was past (_Leet Book_, 655).] + +[Footnote 462: _Warw. Antiq. Mag._, pt. vi. 110.] + +[Footnote 463: _Leet Book_, 658.] + +[Footnote 464: _Leet Book_, 639.] + +[Footnote 465: _Rot. Parl._, iv. 75. I am indebted for the explanation +of the significance of this petition to parliament against the dyers to +Mrs J.R. Green.] + +[Footnote 466: The terms "degree of a mayor--of a bailiff" were used in +assessing fines. In the year 1449 a list of the craftsfolk of the city +enables us to find out to what calling the members of the corporation +belonged (_Leet Book_, 246 _sqq._)] + +[Footnote 467: _Leet Book._ The mayor, recorder, and bailiffs were to +take eight or twelve of the general council of the city, and to summon +before them the wardens of the crafts with their ordinances, and these +"poyntes that byn lawfull, good and honest for the cite be alowyd hem +and all other throw[n]asid [_sic_], and had for none." And this order +was in substance repeated many times.] + +[Footnote 468: _Leet Book_, 657.] + +[Footnote 469: This rule was embodied in the fullers' rules. See _Book +of the Fullers_ (in possession of the fullers' company at Coventry), f. +6.] + +[Footnote 470: _Leet Book_, 698.] + +[Footnote 471: _Ib._, 697-8.] + +[Footnote 472: _Leet Book_, 654. A part of the proceeds of the craft +fines frequently went to the repair of the town wall in the early +fifteenth century. Among the cappers fines for breach of regulations +went "half to the mayor and half to the craft" (_ib._, 573.)] + +[Footnote 473: Corp. MS. B. 46; B. 63.] + +[Footnote 474: The corporation proposed in a petition to parliament +that the twenty-four who elected the mayor should choose two drapers +and two dyers to overlook the craft, and "present" them for any "fault +or confederacy." See above p. 217.] + +[Footnote 475: In spite of the provision for overlooking regulations, +says an order of leet for the year 1475, "divers craftsmen of this +city now late have made divers conventicles and ordinances unlawfully +against the common public of this city. And amongst others the +craftsmen of dyers' craft have made an unlawful ordinance, that is +to say that none of them should colour nor dye but under a certain +form amongst themselves ordained upon certain pains ... ordained by +surety of writing and oaths unlawful in that behalf. It is therefore +ordained by this leet ... the said unlawful and hurtful ordinances +made by the said dyers and all other unlawful ... ordinance made in +every other craft ... and the unlawful oaths and writings made for +the same be utterly void, quashed and annulled." None were in future, +the order continues, to be bound by these rules, and masters suing +others of their fellowship for not obeying them were to be fined £10. +The largeness of the sum, and the fact that precautions were taken to +have this order proclaimed once a year, "so that craftsmen might have +knowledge" of the penalties incurred by any breach of the same, prove +that the corporation was thoroughly alarmed and determined to suppress +the movement (_Leet Book_, 418).] + +[Footnote 476: _Leet Book_, 558.] + +[Footnote 477: _i.e._ combs for combing wool.] + +[Footnote 478: _Leet Book_, 181-2.] + +[Footnote 479: _Leet Book_, 303. In 1515 the crafts were commanded to +give in their books so that the fines might be moderated at the mayor's +discretion. A refusal to give in the books of regulations was to be +visited by a fine of 100s. New rules were also to be enregistered in +the mayor's book, and a 20s. fine taken from any craft for every month +that a rule had been observed without the mayor's knowledge and licence +(_ib._, 645-6).] + +[Footnote 480: Green, _Town Life_, ii. 100.] + +[Footnote 481: _Leet Book_, 92.] + +[Footnote 482: _Ib._, 573. In a later version of the rule (_Ib._) this +matter is worked out in detail. Each apprentice put in surety in £5 +to perform his covenant. If the lad broke it, it was only by handing +over the £5 to the craft that the master could immediately take an +apprentice in his place.] + +[Footnote 483: _Leet Book_, 687.] + +[Footnote 484: _Ib._, 774, 778.] + +[Footnote 485: _Ib._, 792. The masters of crafts exercised a particular +form of oppression in forcing apprentices to take oaths on entering +their service (_cf._ "the unlawful oaths of the dyers") perhaps +to the effect that they would not set up in business after their +apprenticeship was over. The craft masters were forbidden by leet to +cause others to take an oath on "any point of their occupation" under +penalty of a fine of 100s. "without any pardon" (_Ib._ 654).] + +[Footnote 486: _Leet Book_, 690-1 (1525). The fines for admission +varied with the different crafts. The cappers took from strangers 26s. +8d. and 13s. 4d. from town apprentices--payments extending over four +years, but nevertheless so high as to prevent the poorer class from +entering the craft in question. In 1518 the leet determined to overcome +the crafts' exclusiveness. Fines were then fixed for apprentices at 6s. +8d., payable at setting up shop, and for strangers at 10s., of which +5s. was paid at the end of the first year, and 5s. at the end of the +second year after starting business (_Ib._, 574, 655). The mercers' and +drapers' apprentices paid the fine at the sealing of their indentures.] + +[Footnote 487: _Ib._, 553-4. For the discontent this act called forth +see p. 201.] + +[Footnote 488: _Leet Book_, 671. Such was the rule among the cappers.] + +[Footnote 489: Corp. MS. F. 2.] + +[Footnote 490: _Leet Book_, 92-3.] + +[Footnote 491: The member was "to warn" the master, who was to warn the +other members of the fellowship (_Carpenters' Accounts_, Corp. MS. A. +4).] + +[Footnote 492: Under penalty of 6s. 8d.] + +[Footnote 493: _Leet Book_, 557.] + +[Footnote 494: Corp. MS. B. 35 (18th Nov. 8 Hen. IV. 1406); B. 38 (8th +Mar. 1 Hen. V. 1414); B. 47 (25th Jan. 19 Hen. VI. 1441).] + +[Footnote 495: Corp. MS. B. 40 (22nd Nov. 8 Hen. IV. 1406).] + +[Footnote 496: Corp. MS. B. 41 (8th Mar. 1 Hen. V. 1414). These last +two deeds are misdated--though with a query--in Mr Jeaffreson's +catalogue. A comparison of the dates of the patents of general +prohibition with those for a particular suppression will show that they +were executed in one instance on the same day, in another instance +within an interval of four days.] + +[Footnote 497: Ryley, _Memorials_, 543.] + +[Footnote 498: _Leet Book_, 94.] + +[Footnote 499: MS. his.] + +[Footnote 500: _Leet Book_, 656.] + +[Footnote 501: _Leet Book_, 694.] + +[Footnote 502: _Ib._, 653.] + +[Footnote 503: _Ib._, 673. The winter hours were also increased. The +workmen came at 6 a.m. and left at 7 p.m.] + +[Footnote 504: _Carpenters' Accounts_ (Corp. MS. A. 4).] + +[Footnote 505: _Leet Book_, 574.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +_Daily Life in the Town--the Merchants and the Market_ + + +At the "beating of the bell called daybell," the townsfolk rose and +began their daily work. Country people, wayfarers and chapmen, bearing +their burdens of merchandise, saw the city in the morning light, with +its ring of walls and upstanding posterns and gates over-topped by +six tall spires, lying in the midst of fields and far-reaching common +grounds in a slight dip in the plain. Entering the newly-opened gates, +they were at once inside the narrow paved[506] streets, bounded on +either side with black and white timbered houses, for travellers from +the Warwick side did not make their entrance by spacious Hertford +Street,[507] but by the Grey Friars' and Warwick Lanes, then part of +the main thoroughfare of the city. Passing up the hill, they found that +the street on a line with these--the Broadgate--belied its name, being +but a very narrow thoroughfare, bounded on the left hand by a block of +houses, whereof the removal in 1820[508] has caused moderns to think +that the open space on the crown of the hill is very rightly named. + +Soon after daybreak the streets were alive with the noise and press +of a busy throng. It is true there were many impediments to traffic. +Cattle[509] and ducks wandered hither and thither; fishmongers' stalls +stood in the middle of the streets, greatly to the hindrance of the +passers-by, whether horsemen or pedestrians;[510] while inn signs[511] +had perforce to be limited in length, lest they should strike the heads +of unwary riders in the by-lanes of the city. But the mediæval trader +was well inured to inconvenience. Neither did noise distract him, +though taverners and cooks standing at the door offered good things +hot from the oven to passers-by, each seeking to cry louder than his +neighbour; while in the open places the crier proclaimed the terms of +a recent charter, or newly-made ordinance of leet or council;[512] +and overhead the church bells pealed forth, calling folk to their +prayers, to the market, or, in case of a brawl or riot, to a common +meeting-place.[513] + +[Illustration: OLD HOUSE BESIDE S. MARY'S HALL] + +Long before curfew the countryman had gone home to his village in the +Arden country or by the London road to Dunsmoor Heath; while the +traveller in his inn and the townsman under his own roof were soon +abed. What light there was in the deserted streets on winter evenings +came from the lamps which hung over the door of every hostelry and +every substantial citizen's house, until nine o'clock,[514] after which +time the city gates were closed,[515] and none were abroad save thieves +and watchmen. Indeed, the very fact of being out after dark was in +itself presumptive evidence of some dishonest purpose on the part of +the belated wayfarer. At any suspicious sight or sound the watch were +on the alert, and prepared to arrest the wanderer; should the prisoner +escape and take to flight, they would instantly give chase, and fill +the dark and empty streets with the echoes of their pursuit. A hue and +cry would be raised, doors open, and householders pour forth to aid the +watch. If the unlucky fugitive were captured, he would be committed to +ward in all haste.[516] + +What a crowd of different types of men must have jostled against one +another in the noisy throng! Craftsmen, attired in the livery proper +to their calling, a custom whereof we have this day a relic in the +butcher's blouse; merchants from foreign parts, or natives fresh from a +sea voyage; mayor and aldermen clad maybe in festal scarlet; the crier +and sergeants in the livery of the city; men-at-arms, the retainers +of some great lord, bearing the badge of the Earls of Warwick, or the +Stafford knot; Benedictines, clad in white cassock and black gown +and hood; Franciscans, with their brown habit and knotted girdle; +Carmelites from Whitefriars in white frock and brown scapulary; +Carthusians from the Charter-house, with white cassock and hood; +chantry and parish priests--all these, laymen and clerics, warriors and +traders, met, passed, and gave greeting in the streets. + +Strange figures might be seen in the streets or the road neighbouring +the city, such as the hermits, whose dwellings--the one by Bablake +church,[517] the other at Gosford Green--stood at either end of the +highway leading through Coventry. Times had changed; it was now +customary for hermits to build by the highway, and no longer withdraw +into solitary places, and spend their lives in prayer and meditation. +They rather preferred to dwell in "boroughs among brewers," seeking +society and good cheer. Nor did the pilgrims, who might be seen +flocking to the shrine of S. Osburg[518] or to the image of Our Lady in +the Lady Tower on the London Road hard by the Whitefriars' to pay their +devotions, invariably set about their task in a religious spirit. Many +who travelled to the far-famed shrines of S. Thomas of Canterbury, S. +Edmund of Bury, S. Cuthbert of Durham, or to "Our Lady" of Walsingham, +to the Roods of Chester and Bronholme, or the Holy Blood of Hales, +looked on their journey as a holiday jaunt rather than as an act of +devotion. The author of _Piers Plowman_ thought little spiritual good +came from this gadabout religion. The Lollards were wont to condemn +pilgrimages, and one John Blomstone of Coventry, a heretic, examined +in 1485 declared:-- + +"That it was foolishness to go on a pilgrimage to the image of Our Lady +of Doncaster, Walsingham, or the Tower of Coventry, for a man might as +well worship by the fireside in the kitchen as in the aforesaid places, +and as well might a man worship the Blessed Virgin when he seeth his +mother or sister, as in visiting the images, because they be no more +but dead stocks and stones." + +[Illustration: Whitefriar's Lane] + +Interesting, too, are several persons occurring in Coventry history, +whose occupations were hardly so legitimate as those of pilgrim or +hermit. We have had a glance at the ruinous house where John de +Nottingham, the necromancer, by means of his waxen effigies wrought +such terrible evil to one of the prior's servants, and revenged the +wrongs of the Coventry men. We would fain know more of John French, +the alchemist, who appears in the _Leet Book_,[519] only to disappear +directly from its pages. We learn in 1477 that he intended, "be his +labor, to practise a true and profitable conclusion in the cunnyng of +transmutacion of meteals to" the "profyte and pleasur" of the King's +grace, and was, so Edward IV. charged the mayor, never to "be letted, +troubled, or vexed of his seid labor and practise, to th' entent that +he at his good liberte may shewe vnto vs, and such as be by vs therfor +appointed, the cler effect of his said conclusion." There can be little +doubt that the citizens looked askance at John French, and whispered +that he dabbled in black magic and had dealings with the Prince of +Darkness. We know not how many years the alchemist spent in his +fruitless labours; or if he imparted his views on the subject of the +"transmutation of metals" to the citizens, or ever journeyed to London +to pour a tale of hope deferred into the ears of the disappointed King. + +[Illustration: ORIEL WINDOW AND STOCKS. S. MARY'S HALL] + +There were many sights in a mediæval city to remind us that men seldom +cared to cloak their brutality in those days. The stocks, where +offenders were held by their feet, the pillory, where they were held +by the head and hands, stood conspicuous, probably in neighbourhood +of the guild-hall. A pillory, a favourite place for the chastisement +of fraudulent bakers, may yet be seen in Coleshill, and stocks stand +yet on many a village green.[520] Here the great punishment lay in +the shame of exposure: the criminal stood for hours unable to move, +a pitiful target for the derision of the multitude. The like penance +was imposed on those who suffered at the cucking-stool, followed by +ducking in water, a highly disagreeable incident in the punishment. +The prisoners in the gaol looked out into the highway, and perhaps +held conversation with their friends as they passed. Now and then a +craftsman might be seen among the debtors pursuing his calling, for +it was not thought expedient to bring a man to utter destitution by +depriving him of the means of livelihood during imprisonment; and +those who chose might cobble shoes or work at the loom during those +monotonous days. Hard by the busy worker might stand a felon, traitor, +or murderer, his mind full of gloomy thoughts of his coming end.[521] +The gallows, naturally reared on high where all men might see them +and their ghastly burden, were probably in sight of the prison; and +rich and poor crowded to see a condemned man drawn in a tumbril, or +executioner's cart, to the gallows, or a woman exposed to open shame. +"It is ordained," an order of leet ran, "that William Rowett, capper, +and his paramour be carried and led through the town in a car, in +example of punishment of sin, and that all other that be proved in the +same sin from this time forward shall have the same pain."[522] But +these were only a few among many unpleasant sights that would attract +the notice of a passing stranger. Heads of traitors stuck on the top +of long poles often adorned the gates. Part of the body of Jack Cade +was sent down in 1450, no doubt to breed terror into all disloyal +beholders, and in 1470 the head of one Chapman[523] was set up on the +Bablake gate; while that of Sir Henry Mountford, an adherent of Perkin +Warbeck, shared the same fate in 1496.[524] Gosford Green was the Tower +Hill, and the Little Park the Smithfield of Coventry. At the former +place Lord Rivers and his son suffered death under Warwick in 1469; +while the latter saw the burning of many martyrs, including the famous +Marian victim, Laurence Saunders. + +Many were the efforts made to keep the place clean and wholesome to +live in; but frequent appearances of the plague show that they met +with but partial success. At the awful visitation known as the Black +Death there remained not "the tenth person alive," we are told, to +bury the dead;[525] while in 1479 the plague is said (without doubt +exaggeratively) to have carried off 3300 of the inhabitants.[526] +Filth of every kind was deposited in the Cross Cheaping under the +magnificent cross itself, much incommoding the folk who thronged to the +market-place, "to the danger," the leet jury complained, "of infection +of the plague," and by sweeping the pavement there dust was raised, +which did "deface and corrupt" the said cross.[527] In that half of the +city wherein the prior held sway the people put all the refuse of their +houses just outside the Cook Street gate, with the result that when the +country people did not come to carry it away to manure their fields, +the lord prior could not "have his carriage through his orchard."[528] + +According to orders of leet, however, a better system should have +prevailed. The sergeants collected every quarter a penny from each +citizen dwelling in a house with a hall door, and a halfpenny from +every shop, to provide a cart which carried away the filth from the +streets.[529] Moreover all the citizens were enjoined to clean that +portion of the pavement which lay in front of their dwellings every +saint's day under payment of a fine of 12d. This order was hardly a +popular one, and the sergeants were continually taking distress from +those who would not pay the quarterly cart-rate, or raising fines +for the omission of the festal cleaning. For the good folk evaded +all sanitary regulations whenever they might do so with impunity. As +for those misdoers who threw filth into the common river, to inquire +concerning them was a hopeless task.[530] This was, as the mayor and +corporation owned to prior Deram when he loudly complained thereof, one +of the worst evils of the city. Coventry seems, however, never to have +fallen into such an evil plight as Hythe did in the fifteenth century. +Here, owing to the abominable habit of casting refuse into the streets, +to say nothing of blocking them with all imaginable obstructions,[531] +they were more like evil-smelling swamps than highways fit for traffic. + +Measures, somewhat primitive in character,[532] were taken to guard +against an outbreak of fire, which so frequently wasted mediæval +cities, where the plaster and timber of the houses, with their +projecting storeys almost touching one another across the narrow +streets, afforded excellent fuel for the flames. A stone house was +a rarity, and in the fifteenth century bricks were as yet not in +general use. The leet forbade the building of wooden chimneys or the +roofing of houses with straw in lieu of tiles.[533] Moreover late +mayors and other officers with "commoners of thrift," were forced to +provide leather buckets, "such as the aldermen think sufficient" to +hold the water wherewith to quench the flames. In order to prevent the +supply of water--brought in a leaden pipe from a spring without the +city[534]--from being exhausted, a lavish use of it was not permitted. +The conduits, whereof there was one in Cross Cheaping, and another, +called the Bull, probably by the Bablake Gate,[535] were kept locked +during the night, and brewers were forbidden to take water thence for +their brewing, or any one to wash linen and clothes therein.[536] The +practice whereby individuals, by means of a grant sealed with the +common seal, obtained a licence to take water continually from the +conduit for their private use, was looked on most unfavourably, and +finally forbidden by the leet.[537] No doubt the people who wished to +obtain this permission were the wealthy brewers and victuallers who +were answerable for so many disturbances in Coventry. + +For here as elsewhere this important class of townsfolk made great +profit out of the "pence of the poor," in spite of law and ordinance. +One of the great problems facing mediæval legislators and local +authorities was the task of ensuring the natural price of provisions. +"No police of the Middle Ages," says Thorold Rogers, "would allow a +producer of the necessaries of life to fix his charges by the needs +of the individual, or, in economical language, to allow supplies to +be absolutely interpreted by demand. The law did not fix the price of +the raw material, wheat or barley. It allowed this to be determined by +scarcity or plenty--interpreted, not by the individual's needs, but by +the range of the whole market. But it fixed the value of the labour +which must be expended on wheat and barley in order to make them into +bread and ale."[538] The central government ordained what weight of +bread was to be sold for a certain sum, and what price should be given +for a gallon of ale; and the enforcing of the law was the business of +the local authority. The local rulers themselves fixed the price of +other provisions--fish, meat, poultry, and wine--allowing for profits +according to a certain scale on their resale by victuallers.[539] +Stringent rules were laid down against the enhancement of price by +"forestalling and regratery," that is intercepting merchandise on the +way to market and selling it at an increased price. For example, native +fishmongers, it was feared, would lay in wait for travelling salesmen +bringing in "panyers" of salt fish, and, after buying the same, would +ask a higher price for it before the next fasting day. So to guard +against this contingency, strangers selling fish were forbidden to be +"osted or inned" in the house of a native brother of the craft, but to +pass the night at inns at the mayor's "limitation," and after "making +relation" to him of the kind of fish they brought, to sell the same +openly in the common market-place.[540] A multitude of regulations were +also made to ensure the good quality of provisions, the mayor examined +all fish brought by foreign fishmongers, whilst ale-tasters, appointed +by the bailiff, summoned by each brewer to taste his new beer, received +"a gallon of the best ale" at the detection of any default. In +addition to all these expedients for regulating price and quality, the +statute-book provided for the giving of a just quantity to the buyer at +the conclusion of every bargain. On each opening day of a new mayoralty +all shopkeepers and victuallers delivered up their weights and measures +for the mayor's inspection, and after comparison with the standard +model, kept in the town chest, they were sealed if found correct, or, +if faulty destroyed. + +On his entry into office, the mayor's "crye" or proclamation informed +all and sundry of these regulations, and of the perils consequent on +their infringement. + +Here we learn the price of "coket" bread[541] and horse-bread at +that time; how white wine of Rochelle was to be sold at 6d. a gallon, +Malvoisey at 16d., and "no derer upon the peyn of xx_s._ at every +trespas," and that on Oseney, Algarbe and Bastarde the "mayor and his +peres" would set a price when any occasion of selling offered.[542] +The "crye" tells us what penalties were laid on those who made use +of fraudulent measures, "coppes and bollys" unsealed,[543] and how +informers were stimulated by the promise that whosoever gave notice to +the mayor of this abuse should "have iiii_d._ for his travayll and a +galon of the best ale" and also what hard punishments were meted out to +those who practised forestalling and regratery.[544] + +But in spite of all these regulations the task of curtailing profits +seemed a hopeless one, and again and again the worthy men of the leet +confess that the law remains a dead letter through the frauds of the +victuallers. These, we are told, holding their heads high, refused to +sell their wares at the "limited" price, "and in maner destitucion the +seid cite of wyne and vitayle" to the manifest hurt of the inhabitants +and of all people "confluent to the same." While, when the mayor +insisted that the bakers should obey the orders of leet regulating +their trade, the whole craft "struck" with the greatest unanimity, and +leaving the city "destitute of bread," took sanctuary at Bagington, a +village about four miles distant. Night, however, brought counsel, and +they submitted next day to the mayor, paying for their lawlessness a +fine of £10.[545] As for the brewers in the sixteenth century, they +found their calling so lucrative that others were thereby encouraged +to forsake their occupations and take up this profitable trade. At +that time, said the worthy men of the leet in 1544, "divers of the +said brewers nothing regarding the displeasure of God, the danger of +the laws of the realm nor the love and charity which they ought to +bear to their neighbours nor the commonwealth of this city, for their +own private lucre ... do ... regrate and forestall barley coming into +this city to be sold," and sell ale at excessive and unreasonable +prices.[546] + +Regulations, however, affected this powerful and wealthy class but +little, and in listening to the ever-renewed complaints against them we +begin to realize the universal detestation in which they are held in +the Middle Ages. Mediæval imagination, with its love of the grotesque, +delighted to picture the unhappy end of those who bade defiance to the +laws of God and man. How hardly shall an alewife, thought the Ludlow +artist, "enter the kingdom of Heaven," and in carving the _miserere_ of +the parish church he shadowed forth her fate. "A demon is bearing away +the deceitful one; she carries nothing about her but her gay head-dress +and her false measure; he is going to throw her into hell-mouth, while +another demon is reading her offences as entered in his roll, and +another is playing on the bag-pipes by way of welcome."[547] A pleasant +man was that Ludlow artist,--one, we may fancy, who abhorred cheating, +and dearly loved his glass. + +Ordinances of leet were frequently passed upon the order to be +maintained upon a market day, for there was but scanty room for traffic +in the Cross Cheaping, even though the carts can have been no wider +than trollies, taking up but "the brede of a yard" in passing by. +Stalls and boards were a great encumbrance. "No fishmonger," runs an +order of leet, "(can) have his board standing forth at large in the +street for to let cart, horse or man, but that there be a reasonable +space left ... between their houses and their boards."[548] Round +about the market-place were clustered the dwellings of provision +merchants and the lesser craftsmen. Ironmonger Row, Butcher Row or the +Poultry, Cook Street, and the Spicer-Stoke[549] tell by their names +the calling of those who lived or chiefly trafficked there;[550] while +the drapers made their homes hard by the Drapery, in Bayley Lane and +Earl Street.[551] On market days this neighbourhood was crowded with +the overflow of stall-holders and salesmen; the poulterers standing +before the Priory gates, and round about the Bull-ring "usque finem de +le Litel Bochery,"[552] while the fishmongers and leather sellers had +stalls within the Cheaping itself.[553] Other stalls were placed in the +procession way in S. Michael's churchyard, and the sellers of cloth had +an illicit market in the church porch opposite the Drapery door, until +it was made forbidden ground by a leet ordinance. For all merchants +and chapmen resorting to the city on the Friday were forced by this +authority to sell all their mercery, cloth, and linen inside the +Drapery;[554] and all sellers of wool to have their merchandise weighed +at the Wool-hall hard by, and pay a fee for the weighing thereof at the +"Beam" or public weighing machine. + +Equally stringent were the orders of leet, which curtailed the +privileges of the "foreyn," who came to buy or sell within the city. +He was not allowed to purchase corn in the market until mid-day, +three hours after the townsfolk had been admitted to make their +bargains.[555] A certain time of sale was assigned him,[556] and very +frequently his goods were examined by the mayor ere he could dispose +of them in the market. If his trade competed in any serious degree +with that of the city craftsmen, there was no end to the restrictions +wherewith he was hampered. Urged by a spirit of local monopoly, the +authorities regulated the trade in hides and tallow in favour of +the dealers of the city, though on the butchers' assertion that the +country tanners would give a better price for the hides than their +town brethren, the rules were somewhat relaxed. No chandler, however, +was permitted to sell more than twelve pounds of candles out of the +city[557] to one purchaser. + +The frequent enactment of these and similar regulations in the early +sixteenth century shows the terror with which the townsfolk looked on +the spread of industry in country districts. Owing to the conversion of +arable land to pasture for sheep farming, agricultural labourers had +been thrown out of work; many therefore were employed in handicrafts +in their own houses and their competition was thought to seriously +threaten the prosperity of their town neighbours.[558] + +At the Corpus Christi fair all was bustle and activity in Coventry, and +the mayor had doubtless much ado to settle all the disputes arising +from differences of currency or hard driving of bargains at the +pypowders court, for all the world of the neighbourhood came to lay +in stores for the year, and merchants from far and near to sell their +wares. Eight weeks a year of a farmer's life is said to have been spent +more or less at fairs and markets,[559] and undoubtedly a merchant +employed a far longer period in travel to and from these centres of +trade. Our forefathers were not altogether such simple stay-at-homes as +we love to picture, but, rather, experienced travellers, and in those +days travelling meant experience, and was not as it is now--at least +in civilized countries--a method for getting from place to place which +puts no tax on the body, and the least possible on the mind of the +traveller. All manner of men and of merchandise[560] were to be seen at +the fair. Irish traders brought druggets from Drogheda; coarse cloth +came from the west country;[561] Frenchmen brought dyes for cloth; +Bristol traders wine from Guienne and Spain; country gentlemen and +local graziers bales of wool for export or home manufacture. + +It is true that in spite of its popularity, the Corpus Christi fair +never equalled the S. Giles' fair at Winchester, the centre of trade +between the southern counties and France, or that of Stourbridge, +near Cambridge, the great mart for horses, and the centre of commerce +between the eastern counties and Flanders. To many, however, the fair +at Coventry, the centre of traffic on the great road to the north-west, +was the chief event of the whole year. The local makers displayed to +the utmost advantage the bales of Coventry cloth, and the blue thread, +to which the skill of the native dyers gave the colour which was the +envy of the whole country. This merchandise could be bought openly by +the strangers, who jostled against one another before the stalls in +the Drapery. But many transactions, which the dealers hoped would not +come to light, must have taken place unnoticed in the busy crowd. The +prior of Sulby, in terror of the rapacity of Henry VIII., sold his +cross-staff to the wife of a London goldsmith at Coventry fair one +Corpus Christi day, just as the monks of Stoneley--provident men--about +this time disposed of a silver censer, and other things "worth £14 or +thereabouts," to Master John Calans, goldsmith, of Coventry.[562] Maybe +the spare scholar might there be seen, as at the fair of S. Frideswide, +at Oxford, counting the few coins his purse contained to find out +if they would avail to purchase a book he coveted greatly. While in +Elizabeth's days Puritan purchasers, who found the "Martin Marprelate" +tracts edifying reading, could obtain these locally printed attacks on +the episcopate from some discreet salesmen.[563] But the bulk of the +buyers were local folk: farmers on the look-out for a good horse, or +intent on replenishing the stock of sheep-dressing, and their wives +keenly enjoying a bargain over some pewter vessels, or article of +"mercery," a gay belt or kerchief for the daughters at home. + +More important transactions than these frequently took place, and +not at fair time only but throughout the year, as the records of +the mayor's court of Statute Merchant clearly show. The amount of +the various purchases was, when viewed from a mediæval standpoint, +very large; a "gentilman" of Attleborough, for instance, in 1415, +acknowledges that he is bound to certain Hinckley folk and others "in +ducentis libris" (£200 sterling), while a Dublin merchant, Dodenhall, +without doubt a connection and kinsman of the Coventry mayors of that +name, owed in 1394 a fellow-merchant of the latter place £210, money +which he did pay before distress was levied upon him. The following, +however, would be a more usual example of recognition of debt: "On +the eighteenth day of the month of February, in the third year of +King Henry the Fifth after the Conquest, at Coventry, William Lyberd, +hosier, of Coventry, acknowledges that he is bound ("recognoscit se +teneri") to Thomas Dawe of Coventry, passenger, in sixteen pounds +sterling, payable at Coventry at the feast of S. Michael the Archangel +next ensuing."[564] + +When all the bargaining was over, when the debt had been duly paid, or +the amount enrolled at the mayor's court, men thought of other things. +The "commons" of Coventry could discuss the everlasting "Lammas" +question with the Nottingham men, while those who took more interest in +national politics whispered to one another complaints against abuses +in Church and State. They hinted darkly at the cause of the death +of the "good" Duke Humphrey, condemned the malice of the Yorkists, +the scandals of the archdeacon's court, or lifting their eyes to the +defaced monastery and cathedral, spoke of the high-handed character of +the "King's Proceedings."[565] + +The nightly sojourn at inns was a great feature of the wayfaring +merchant's life, for it was only in sparsely-peopled districts that +monasteries afforded hospitality to the travelling trader.[566] +"Strangers and baggers of corn between Yorkshire, Lancashire, Kendal, +and Westmoreland and the bishopric," the people of the north declared +at the dissolution, "were greatly helped both horse and man by the +said abbeys; for never was in these parts denied either horse-meat +or man's meat, so that the people were greatly refreshed by the said +abbeys, where now they have no such succour."[567] But the majority of +wayfarers sought shelter either at inns or at _herbergeors'_ houses, +for the private citizens, even the richer merchants, frequently +increased their gains by the entertainment of travellers. The public +inns were often the scene of gambling and intrigue, and unwary guests, +who had not the wherewithal to discharge the heavy bills they had been +induced to contract, frequently found their baggage seized to several +times the amount of the debt. "The greater barons and knights were +in the custom of taking up their lodgings with herbergeors, rather +than going to the public hostels; and thus a sort of relationship was +formed between particular nobles or kings and particular burghers, on +the strength of which the latter adopted the arms of their habitual +lodgers as their signs."[568] It might still be possible to learn +the story of the connection between certain noble houses and the +inhabitants of a given district by means of inn-sign heraldry; while +from the same source we could gather a hint of popular political +feeling at a later date. The jubilant cavalier would swing his sign of +the _Royal Oak_ at the Restoration, and the staunch adherent of the +"Great Commoner" flaunt his _Old King of Prussia_ in the next century, +just as surely as the mediæval inn-keeper decorated his sign with the +_White Hart_, _White Boar_, or _Bear and Baculus_, in honour of his +patrons Richard II., Richard III., or the Earl of Warwick. Famous old +inns in Coventry were the _Crown_, in "platea vocata Brodeyatys" hard +by the Langley's inn, the _Cardinal's Hat_, in Earl Street.[569] The +_Peacock_, still existing in the last century, was in the Broad Gate, +but the locality of the _Angel_, where Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, +lodged, is unknown. One authority speaks also of the _White Rose_, of +late years the _Roebuck_, still standing in Little Park Street, where +the Yorkists held rendezvous, and the _Red Rose_ in Much Park Street, +a meeting-place for Lancastrians.[570] The herbergeors frequently +received distinguished guests. Henry VII., after a triumphal entry into +Leicester on his way from Bosworth field, came to Coventry, and took +up his lodging in the house of Robert Onley, the mayor, at the Bull, +in Smithfield Street, a visit he repeated in two years' time, when he +conferred on his host the honour of knighthood.[571] + +The Coventry merchants, like their fellows in other towns, had +plentiful dealings with the outside world. The Botoners, whom tradition +credits with the building of S. Michael's spire and chancel, held +intercourse, it seems, with the men of Bristol, for they married a +daughter of their house to a native of those parts, and she became +the mother of the chronicler, William Worcester.[572] As the traders +of a later generation, the Botoners, most likely, conveyed their wine +and wax in vessels towed up the River Severn, a journey beset with +difficulties, as the towing-path was overgrown with brushwood, and +private landowners and corporate towns on the river bank demanded tolls +from the passers-by.[573] The Bristol men, too, were not averse from +straining a point in the matter of tolls, and in spite of the grants of +freedom the Coventry men possessed, demanded "cayage" from them,[574] +when their goods were upon the landing stage. Many times did Adam and +William Botoner serve in the mayor's office, and their donations to the +church, to town guilds, murage funds, and the like are numberless. As +for the great tower of S. Michael's steeple that the brothers built, +tradition credits them with spending £100 every year for twenty-one +years upon the work.[575] In the early part of the fifteenth century +the family entered the ranks of the country landowners by the purchase +of an estate at Withybrook. Not only at Bristol, but at Southampton, +the chief port of the south, where French dyes were sold, did Coventry +men carry on a great part of their trade. And William Horseley, mayor +in 1483 and member of the dyers' craft, brought about an agreement +between the men of this port and his fellow-citizens in 1456, whereby +mutual freedom of tolls was secured.[576] + +But the trading enterprise of these inland-dwelling townsfolk was +not confined to their native country merely. Another family, the +Onleys, whereof one John Onley, the founder, was mayor of the Calais +Staple,[577] had dealings with merchants beyond the sea. This foreign +intercourse was often beset with danger to life and limb. John Onley, +son of the above, was apprenticed to one Thomas Aleyn, a London +mercer. When travelling to Bruges in 1413, where the chief staple for +cloth then was, on his master's errand, this apprentice fell into the +hands of a goldsmith of that place, who, because he could not obtain +redress for the treatment he and his goods had received from an English +"roberdesman" in the neighbourhood of Dover, kidnapped and kept John +Onley as hostage. At last the good folk of Bruges, fearing the anger of +the English, forced him to let the apprentice go.[578] Our sympathies +are divided between the innocent lad and the outraged goldsmith, for +in the wilder parts of England "roberdesmen" were a veritable scourge +to the foreign trader. Did not Henry III. hang more than sixty of the +brigands of Alton, who had plundered certain merchants of Brabant, +though the whole county of Hants conspired to ensure the acquittal +of the accused?[579] Occasionally the highwaymen also attacked +English folk. In the days of the third Edward, there was a pretty +gang, composed chiefly of "gentlemen born," who beneath the shelter +of Cannock Chase did much harm to the merchants of Lichfield, and +apportioned what spoil they took "to each according to his rank."[580] + +But foreigners were quick at reprisal when debts were owing to them, or +any injury had been done by English merchants. And the proud traders +of Lübeck and Bergen, members of the Hanseatic League, who warred with +and dictated to kings, were especially sensitive in this respect. +This may be seen by the fate which befell Laurence Cook, afterwards +twice mayor of Coventry, in the days of his apprenticeship to William +Bedforth, and Thomas Walton, servant to John Cross, another local +merchant, who aided in the erection of S. Mary's Hall. For in 1398, as +they lay in the ship of one Thomas Herman, of Boston, in the port of +Stralsund, certain allies of the League, who had some grudge against +the English traders, fell upon the apprentices, beat and wounded them +_minus juste_, taking moreover from the ship 240 dozen pieces of +cloth of divers colours, Bedforth's property, valued at £200; "much +merchandise" belonging to Cross, worth half the sum, and other pieces +of cloth, exported by a third Coventry merchant, valued at £50.[581] +Such incidents as these were not uncommon in the lives of mediæval +merchants, and for the making of a successful trader it was necessary +that a man should have a dash of the warrior and a great deal of the +adventurer in his composition. Trained by exposure to such perils by +land and sea as nowadays only explorers undergo, it is little wonder +that they proved themselves keen, energetic, and resourceful in their +civic life. + +The servant of one Mr Wheatley had a happier adventure than Laurence +Cook when in the sixteenth century he undertook a journey to Spain. +For, wishing to purchase steel gads, he bought a chest at a fair, +and lo! when it was opened it was found to contain ingots of silver, +treasure brought perhaps from over the Spanish main. The servant, not +knowing of whom he bought them, Mr Wheatley--honest man--kept them +for a time, but as no inquiry was ever made, he gave the profits, +amounting with contributions from the city to £96 a year, to the +maintenance of twenty-one boys at a school at Bablake, an institution +which exists and thrives even to this day. This benefactor, the "Dick +Whittington" of Coventry, is a person of whom we would gladly learn +more. The real Sir Richard, "thrice Lord Mayor of London," was, as +historians tells us, not the poor friendless wanderer of legend, but +the hopeful son of a well-to-do family of the country gentry, and was +apprenticed to a wealthy London merchant by his kinsfolk after the +orthodox fashion.[582] But as yet no historian has deemed it necessary +to investigate Mr Wheatley's early career, and we still believe that +he came to Coventry as a nameless adventurer, "a poor boy in a white +coat," as Dugdale says. He died a bachelor, and bequeathed his fortune +to charity.[583] + +[Illustration: OLD BABLAKE SCHOOL] + +But Mr Wheatley was not the only benefactor the city knew. Wealthy +merchants were generous givers, and the education of youth and +provision for the sick and needy were not matters held to be solely +within the Church's province. The names of Richard Whittington and John +Carpenter[584] of London, and of Cannynges of Bristol, deserve ever to +be held in remembrance, and there are hundreds of other half-forgotten +donors entitled to an equal fame. Thomas Bond, merchant of the Staple, +founded at Bablake a hospital for ten men "and one woman to look after +them," the candidates to be chosen on a general day of the Trinity +guild, and, as bedesmen of this omnipotent fraternity, to repeat +three times a day Our Lady's Psalter for the brethren of the guild. +Both Bond's almshouse and that erected by William Ford, merchant, and +William Pisford, at Greyfriars, still remain, and are among the few +perfect specimens of domestic architecture of the sixteenth century +that we possess. The latter, first enriched by Ford's will in 1509, +contained six men and their wives, the nominees of the Trinity guild, +each couple receiving 7-1/2d. a week for their maintenance.[585] + +[Illustration: FORD'S HOSPITAL] + +But it was not the welfare of the aged alone which absorbed the charity +of these merchants. To John Haddon, draper, is due the honour of +initiating the system of granting loans to young freemen to aid them +in beginning commercial life. By his will (1518) he bequeathed £100 to +be distributed among men of the drapers' fellowship--poor clothmakers +the _Leet Book_ calls them--in loans of £5 each, to enable them to buy +wool or cloth, for the cloth trade at that time was undergoing a period +of great depression in Coventry, and £100 to be similarly divided in +£4 loans among young freemen of all occupations; all loans, free of +interest, to be repaid at the end of first year.[586] His example +had numerous imitators;[587] but undoubtedly the gifts of Sir Thomas +White, mayor of London and founder of S. John's College, Oxford, +whom Mary knighted for his loyalty at the time of Wyatt's rebellion, +surpassed the rest. At the time of their greatest need, in 1543, he +lent the corporation £1400, wherewith they purchased certain lands and +tenements confiscated at the Reformation, and they agreed to distribute +£40 arising from the rents of the tenements in loans to apprentices +of the city for nine years' use.[588] From some cause or other, +probably by reason of his great and numerous acts of benevolence, and +the backwardness of the corporation in paying a promised annuity, Sir +Thomas fell into poverty in his later years, and seems to have been +utterly cast down by the thought that his wife would be left without +provision. "Whereas I have gently written unto you heretofore," he +writes in 1566 to the mayor and corporation, "to let my wife have her +annuity of £46 for part of her jointure, I require you as you shall +answer before God at the day of judgment that you lett my wife have £24 +assured to her during her life." Two days after another letter betrays +his unbearable anxiety on this subject. If the mayor and corporation +are not able to perform the undertaking with regard to the jointure, "I +shall even," he says desperately, "cast my colledge for ever ... so am +I utterly shamed in this world and the world to come."[589] Happily for +the cause of "true religion and sound learning," the college was not +abandoned, and we will hope the Coventry folk fulfilled their contract. + +Long before the Reformation and Mr Wheatley's gift the sons of the +Coventry burghers attended school, for it is an error to suppose that +the education of the laity began with the grammar schools founded +by Edward VI. Indeed these foundations were but the "fresh and very +inadequate supply of that which had been so suddenly and disastrously +extinguished"[590] at the Reformation. Nor was the occupation of +teaching confined to the monasteries. The trading-class in or before +the fifteenth century threw themselves heartily into the work of +providing schools for the coming generations. In most cases the support +of these institutions was committed to the leading local guild. In +London alone nine grammar schools were set up in the reign of Henry +VI.,[591] and in many other places the bounty of some well-to-do bishop +or merchant enriched country towns with the endowment of a grammar +school. At Coventry there was, it is true, a school at the priory for +the "children of the aumbry,"[592] but it appears that there were other +"teachers of grammar" in the city, whose well-being was a source of +anxiety to the leet, and to these, perhaps, the citizens preferred +to send their children to be instructed in the Latin tongue. In 1426 +it was enacted by leet that "John Barton shall come to the city of +Coventry, if he will, to keep a grammar school there."[593] Barton, +however, if he came at all, probably soon made way for a successor, +for in 1429 we find an order of leet to the effect that "Mayster +John Pynshard, skolemayster of grammer, shall have the place that he +dwellethe inne for xls. (40s.) be yere, whyles that he dwellethe in +hit, and holdyth gramer skole hym self ther inne."[594] The prior +appears to have looked upon these teachers as the rivals of the +conventual schoolmasters, but the corporation did their best to soothe +his jealousy, and in 1439 the mayor and six of the council, at the +request of the leet, went to the prior to "commune" with him concerning +this matter, "wylling hym to occupye a skole of gramer, yffe he lyke +to teche hys brederen and childerun off the aumbry, and that he wolnot +gruche ne move the contrari, but that every man of this cite be at +hys fre chosse (choice) to sette his chylde to skole at what techer +of gramer that he likyth, as reson askyth."[595] No doubt the town +school continued to prosper, for we find at the time of the suppression +of the chantries of 1543 that the Trinity guild paid £6, 13s. 4d. as +a yearly salary to the schoolmaster. All this general activity in +education goes to prove that the men of the later Middle Ages were not +the illiterate boors historians have loved to imagine. The knowledge of +reading, writing and Latin, or, as they called it, grammar, was surely +very widely diffused, when not only a multitude of scribes, but farm +bailiffs could make, audit and balance accounts in that language.[596] + +Not only were the citizens called on to support by their charity +almshouses and schools, and to furnish loans for youthful enterprise, +but the poor made a constant demand on their bounty, and in the +sixteenth century poverty was greatly on the increase. The town rulers +were confronted with a problem which, then and subsequently, has been +found incapable of solution--the problem of the "unemployed." In the +reign of Henry VIII. a terrible influx of vagabonds from the country +set in, well-nigh driving the local rulers to distraction. Here we +first gain some glimpses of a surplus population of shiftless, +landless, moneyless folk, driven by the decay of tillage to seek +work in the towns. These families, together with the whole labouring +class, were later reduced to unspeakable poverty by the debasement of +the coinage and depreciation of silver, circumstances which, while +affecting wages but little, greatly increased the price of food. This +difficulty was at first unfamiliar to men's minds. Society had been +hitherto somewhat stationary. Individuals lived and worked where their +fathers had lived and worked before them, or at least remained in +a town where they had been able by a seven years' appenticeship or +by purchase to obtain civic rights. But townspeople were jealous of +granting freedom to any but the well-to-do, who would be able to share +the burden of taxation, and the wanderer, who by quitting home had +dropped out of the framework of local society, became one of a herd of +vagabonds liable to be punished according to the utmost rigour of the +law. + +The town rulers did not attempt to solve this question, they shelved +it. This wretched population was perpetually ordered to "pass on." +"And those bygge beggers," says an order of leet passed in 1518, "that +wilnot worke well to gete their levyng, but lye in the felds and breke +hedges and stele mannys fruyte ... let theym be banysshed the town, +or els punysshe theym so without favor, that they shalbe wery to byde +therin."[597] And again and again aldermen were exhorted to cause +"lusty beggars and vagabonds" to "voyde out of their ward" upon pain +of imprisonment.[598] Only such impotent and needy beggars as were +licensed, and had the city seal, the sign of the elephant, on their +bags, were allowed to remain and demand charity.[599] But the worthy +men of the leet did not refuse to aid those who suffered undeservedly +from the acutest misery. "If any by infirmity or multitude of children +be not able by his labour to sustain his family," the aldermen were +ordered to provide for their sustenance out of the town chest. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 506: Rough stones were used for paving (Riley, _Liber Albus_, +xliv.). The _Chamberlain's Accounts_ (Corp. MS. A. 7) contain frequent +allusions to paving: "Item, paid for paving within the Bablake gate, +iii_s._" "Item, ii lods pebuls for the same, xviii_d._"] + +[Footnote 507: Built 1812 (Poole, _Coventry_, 345).] + +[Footnote 508: Poole, 345.] + +[Footnote 509: "Daily hurt" comes from having goats at large (_Leet +Book_, 361). In London only the swine of S. Antony's hospital were +allowed to be at large in the streets, and "chiens gentilz," _i.e._ +dogs belonging to the gentry (Riley, _Liber Albus_, xlii.).] + +[Footnote 510: _Leet Book_, 306.] + +[Footnote 511: In London the length of inn-signs was limited to seven +feet (_Liber Albus_, lxv.). Signs were also affixed to shops to attract +the eye; of this custom the barber's pole is a relic. Merchandise was +usually kept in cellars partly underground beneath the solar or front +dwelling-room. In great thoroughfares goods were displayed in covered +sheds projecting in front of the dwelling-place (Turner, _Dom. Arch._ +i. 96; iv. 34). Shops were usually open rooms on the ground floor, with +wide windows closed with shutters (_Liber Albus_, xxxviii.).] + +[Footnote 512: _Leet Book_, 272, 100.] + +[Footnote 513: We hear of the "daybell" rung probably at dawn, and the +curfew rung by the clerks of S. Michael's and Trinity churches (_Ib._, +338). A "larum bell" was rung on the occasion of the quarrel between +Somerset's servants and the watch (_Paston Letters_, i. 408). Probably +there was a recognised "change" in the ringing for each of the various +summonses. The ringing of changes is said to have been peculiar to this +country. Bells, before they were hung up, were baptized and anointed +with holy oil, blessed and exorcised. Their uses were expressed in the +Latin lines: + + "Laudo Deum verum--plebem voco--congrego clerum + Defunctos ploro--pestum fugo--festa decoro." + + (Strutt, _Sports and Pastimes_, 291, 292.)] + +[Footnote 514: _Leet Book_, 234.] + +[Footnote 515: In 1450 the chamberlains requested that four men should +be appointed out of each ward to guard the gates, and these four were +to choose one man to keep the keys and close them every night at nine +(_ib._, 254).] + +[Footnote 516: Jusserand, _Wayfaring Life_, 169.] + +[Footnote 517: Sharp, _Antiq._ 131. In 1362 licence was given to a +recluse, Robert de Worthin, to inhabit a dwelling adjoining the church.] + +[Footnote 518: Miracles were worked at S. Osburg's shrine, and her +birthday was a local holiday. Palmer Lane and the Pilgrim's Rest +preserve in their names token of ancient customs. For the wooden image +of our Lady of the Tower see Fretton, _Memorials of the Whitefriars' +Monastery_, Harris, _Troughton Sketched_, 6.] + +[Footnote 519: _Leet Book_, 422.] + +[Footnote 520: There is a specimen at Berkswell, near Coventry, and at +Malvern.] + +[Footnote 521: _Leet Book_, 643. The prisoners paid the gaoler 1d. a +week for their lodging when they had their own bed, 3d. a week if the +gaoler provided them with one; over and above, debtors paid the gaoler +5d. for fee, if the debt for which they were liable exceeded 40d.] + +[Footnote 522: _Ib._, 192. See also for punishment of immorality, +_Ib._, 219] + +[Footnote 523: Harl. MS. 6388, f. 22. The other lists have Eliphane. I +have no doubt that the right reading is Clapham. This man was an ally +of Warwick, and led the rabble of Northampton to the battle of Edgecote +in 1469. He was beheaded next year.] + +[Footnote 524: _Ib._, f. 25.] + +[Footnote 525: Harl. MS. 6388, f. 8. A slight exaggeration, no doubt.] + +[Footnote 526: _Ib._, f 23.] + +[Footnote 527: _Leet Book_, 775.] + +[Footnote 528: _Ib._, 447] + +[Footnote 529: _Ib._, f. 11. The filth and street sweepings were +ordered to be carried "beyond the stake set in the dyke beyond the +Friars' Gate," or to pits without the gates (_ib._, 30).] + +[Footnote 530: _Leet Book_, 455. The worthy men of the leet besought +the mayor that there might be certain citizens appointed to have +oversight of the river, each in their several district, and that the +rules for cleaning it should be duly kept (_ib._, 108).] + +[Footnote 531: Such as timber frames for houses, trunks of trees, etc. +(Green, ii. 29, 30).] + +[Footnote 532: In London the bedels of each ward had a hook to tear +down burning houses (Riley, _Liber Albus_, xxxiv.).] + +[Footnote 533: _Leet Book_, 389.] + +[Footnote 534: The spring was called Cunduit Head (Corp. MS. C. 227).] + +[Footnote 535: There is still a yard called Cunduit Yard close to +Bablake church.] + +[Footnote 536: _Leet Book_, 208, 338.] + +[Footnote 537: _Ib._, 157.] + +[Footnote 538: Rogers, _Six Cent._ 140.] + +[Footnote 539: Green, _Town Life_, ii. 36. Profits on wine were in some +cases 2d., in others 4d. a gallon.] + +[Footnote 540: _Leet Book_, 33.] + +[Footnote 541: _Leet Book_, 23. The three most common kinds of bread +were _wastel_,--bread of the finest quality; _coket_ (seconds); and +_simnel_, twice-baked bread, used in Lent (Green, ii. 35).] + +[Footnote 542: _Leet Book_, 24.] + +[Footnote 543: _Ib._, 25.] + +[Footnote 544: _Ib._] + +[Footnote 545: _Ib._, 518-9.] + +[Footnote 546: _Leet Book_, 771.] + +[Footnote 547: Wright, _Domestic Manners_, 337.] + +[Footnote 548: _Leet Book_, 306. Probably carts made for town use were +always narrow; see illustration in Wright's _Domestic Manners_, 344. +Compare the trollies made for the "Rows" at Yarmouth.] + +[Footnote 549: The old name for the thoroughfare between Trinity church +and Butcher Row. A spicer is equivalent to the modern grocer.] + +[Footnote 550: Cf. Milk Street, Fish Street and S. Margaret Pattens in +the city of London; Bridlesmith Gate and Fletcher Gate (fletcher = an +arrow maker) in Nottingham. See on this subject Mr Addy's _Evolution of +the House_. It was customary for the members of each calling to live +close together.] + +[Footnote 551: Poole, 396.] + +[Footnote 552: _Leet Book_, 233] + +[Footnote 553: _Ib._, 798.] + +[Footnote 554: See Corp. MS. B. 75 for description of the Trinity guild +lands, of which the Drapery was a parcel. The annual rent payable to +the Trinity guild of a half bay in the Great Drapery was 6s. 8d. (C. +194).] + +[Footnote 555: _Leet Book_, 666. All people dwelling outside the town +liberties were called "foreign."] + +[Footnote 556: For regulations concerning "foreign" bakers, _ib._, 717, +799.] + +[Footnote 557: _Leet Book_, 646.] + +[Footnote 558: Rogers, _Six Cent._, 340.] + +[Footnote 559: Rogers, _op. cit._ 152. In Leicester there were no pleas +held when the great merchants were absent at fairs (Green, ii. 25).] + +[Footnote 560: Merchants from Dublin, Drogheda, London, and +Kingston-on-Hull, were members of the Corpus Christi guild; so were +many local country gentlemen and yeomen.] + +[Footnote 561: Devon and Ireland supplied coarse cloth sold in the +Drapery (Burton MS. f. 98-103).] + +[Footnote 562: Gasquet, _Monasteries_, ii. 285. This took place shortly +before the dissolution.] + +[Footnote 563: The "Marprelate" printing press was for some time +at Coventry (Morley, _Sketch of Literature_, 431). Rogers thinks +unlicensed books were sold at fairs. "I cannot conceive how the +writings of such an author as Prynne could have been disposed of except +at the places which were at once so open and so secret" (_Six Cent._, +149).] + +[Footnote 564: Corp. MS. E. 6. This court was kept in accordance with +the Statute of Merchants of 1283. A merchant had the power of bringing +a debtor before the mayor, when the debtor bound himself to pay the +debt by a certain day; if he failed to do so, the mayor caused all his +movables to be seized to the amount of the debt and sold. If, however, +he had no movables within the mayor's jurisdiction, application was +made to the chancellor, who caused a writ to be sent to the sheriff +within whose county the debtor had movables, ordering these to be +seized. If the debtor had no movables, he was detained in prison until +terms were made, the creditor meanwhile providing him with bread and +water, the cost of which was added to the amount of the debt (Ashley, +_Econ. Hist._ pt. I. 204).] + +[Footnote 565: Rogers thinks that rebellions were often planned at fair +time.] + +[Footnote 566: Rogers _Six Cent._ 136-7; Ashley, _Econ. Hist._ pt. I. +98.] + +[Footnote 567: Gasquet, _Monasteries_, ii. 96. It seems that the amount +of assistance rendered to wayfarers by monasteries has been much +exaggerated.] + +[Footnote 568: Wright, _Domestic Manners_, 333-4. Larwood and Hotten +assign another reason for this practice. Great men's town houses +were frequently let during their absences from home (_History of +Signboards_, 4).] + +[Footnote 569: Corp. MS. C. 202; _Leet Book_, 386.] + +[Footnote 570: Fretton, _Mayors of Coventry_, 10.] + +[Footnote 571: _Ib._, 12; Poole 403.] + +[Footnote 572: _Paston Letters_ (ed. Gairdner), I. cxiii. Worcester +often preferred to call himself by his mother's maiden name.] + +[Footnote 573: _Rot. Parl._, v. 569.] + +[Footnote 574: _Leet Book_, 550.] + +[Footnote 575: Sharp, _Antiq._, 61. It seems an incredible sum, and the +statement should be received with caution.] + +[Footnote 576: _Leet Book_, 302.] + +[Footnote 577: Harl. MS. 6388, f. 13. Onley is said to have been the +first Englishman born in Calais after it was taken by Edward III.; his +father was a standard-bearer in the English army.] + +[Footnote 578: _Proceedings Privy Council_, i. 355.] + +[Footnote 579: Rogers, _Six Cent._, 99.] + +[Footnote 580: _Archæological Journal_, iv. 69.] + +[Footnote 581: Sheppard, _Litteræ Cantuarienses_ (Rolls Series, 85), +iii. 81.] + +[Footnote 582: Besant and Rice, _Sir Richard Whittington_.] + +[Footnote 583: Dugdale, i. 194.] + +[Footnote 584: The City of London school was founded on Carpenter's +devise.] + +[Footnote 585: Poole, 292-301.] + +[Footnote 586: _Leet Book_, 658; Fretton, _Mayors_, 14.] + +[Footnote 587: Thomas White, alderman and vintner, of Coventry, Henry +Over, and others.] + +[Footnote 588: Poole, 303] + +[Footnote 589: Corp. MS. A. 79, f. 63.] + +[Footnote 590: Rogers, _Six Cent._, 165. Leach in his _Schools of the +Reformation_ gives this theory substantial support.] + +[Footnote 591: Green, ii. 13-16. The drapers had a school at +Shrewsbury, the merchant-tailors in London. The guild of S. Laurence +of Ashburton had charge of the grammar school, founded by Bishop +Stapeledon in 1314. Other schools--as far as we know--not immediately +connected with guilds were at Hull, Rotherham, Ewelme, Canterbury, +Reading, Appleby, Preston, Liverpool, Cambridge.] + +[Footnote 592: _Leet Book_, 190; _Vict. Coun. Hist. Warw._ ii., 318.] + +[Footnote 593: _Ib._, 101.] + +[Footnote 594: _Leet Book_, 118.] + +[Footnote 595: _Ib._, 190.] + +[Footnote 596: Rogers, _Six Cent._, 165; _Agric. and Prices_, iv. 502. +Even artizans could draw up accounts.] + +[Footnote 597: _Leet Book_, 658.] + +[Footnote 598: _Ib._, 652.] + +[Footnote 599: _Ib._, 677. "A token of ther bagge of the signe of the +Olyfaunt."] + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + _Daily Life in the Town (continued)--Religion and Amusements of the + Townsfolk_ + + +High above market-place and churchyard, above booth and stall, and the +life and movement of a busy crowd, rose a forest of magnificent spires, +three from the cathedral and one from either parish church. And after +the day's chaffer many a busy trader would turn aside and enter the +long aisles to listen to the chanting of vespers or tell his beads +before the image of his patron saint. + +In these days of tempered enthusiasm and lukewarm local interest we +can hardly realise what a source of joy and pride these churches were +to the townsfolk. Self-denial had enabled them to raise these goodly +buildings, which they gave of their best to beautify. The painters, +masons, carpenters, and carvers of the city did the work; the red +sandstone, which, alas! so soon crumbles and decays, came from the +local quarries; and though the grand outline of S. Michael's may be +due to some bishop of the thirteenth century,[600] the design of the +building, with which we are now familiar, came from the brain of a +local architect--some parish priest, perhaps, or master mason of the +city. For the churches of Trinity and S. Michael's were practically +built anew from their foundations, neither perhaps by one family +of merchants, but by the whole body of parishioners in the hey-day +of the city's wealth,[601] while the small collegiate church of S. +John the Baptist was raised by the Trinity guild. All these show the +influence of the new "Perpendicular" style; but S. Michael's more than +the rest is a triumph of the amazing lightness and technical skill so +characteristic of the architecture of the fifteenth century--a style +which, though lacking the strength and mystery of the earlier Gothic of +the thirteenth century, has yet a certain majesty of its own. + +Having once built the churches, the townsfolk made provision for +continual prayer and supplication to be held therein. With a touching +belief in the efficacy of prayer, even vicarious, and a business-like +intention of making the best of both worlds, these worthy men devoted +large sums to the support of chantry priests, who, while their +patrons were engaged in secular business, prayed for the souls of +the faithful departed and for living members of the town guilds and +brotherhoods.[602] In the lady chapels of S. Michael's the priests of +the Trinity guild chanted daily the "Antiphones of the Virgin" and the +psalm _De Profundis_ on behalf of the founders of the fraternity.[603] +Similarly a priest said mass at the altar of Our Blessed Lady in +Trinity church "for the good estate of King Richard and Anne his Queen, +the whole realm of England, and all those by whom this altar is +sustained ... and for their souls after death," remembering especially +his patrons, the brethren of the Corpus Christi guild.[604] The dyers' +and drapers' priests had their appointed task, so had the chaplains of +S. John the Baptist's and S. Nicholas' churches, while the bedesmen, +as their name implies, in the almshouse offered daily prayers for the +welfare of the members of the Trinity guild. + +[Illustration: HOLY TRINITY CHURCH] + +But the good folk were not content with offering their supplications by +proxy. Although much of the spiritual fervour of the thirteenth century +died away in the later Middle Ages, the townsfolk were methodical and +regular in their religious observance and attended church with due +decorum on Sunday and holy-days. In the pews sat the city officers and +their wives each in their degree, the various craftsmen occupying no +doubt the special chapels called after their names, and the apprentices +and servants sitting or standing "in the alleys."[605] The walls of +the churches were bright with fresco, where even the most ignorant +could learn the stories taken from the lives of the saints or from Holy +Writ; it is only within living memory that the smoke has blackened a +rediscovered representation of the Last Judgment above the chancel +arch of Trinity church. And when the worshippers lifted their eyes +to the window-glow they beheld amid the company of the saints scenes +taken from local legend, the old compact for the freedom of the market +between Leofric and Godiva, the blazoning of the arms of founders +and benefactors, and the insignia of trade and craft.[606] For the +mediæval artist saw no firm line sundering the things of religion from +the affairs of daily life, and the people did not care to keep their +civic patriotism and inspirations solely for the guild-hall. In the +aisles and chapels lay the most honoured of the city dead; Bond and +Haddon were laid among their fellow drapers, and the tomb of Ralph +Swyllington, recorder, may yet be seen on the mercers' side in S. +Michael's church. + +[Illustration: SWILLINGTON'S TOMB, S. MICHAEL'S CHURCH] + +The craft companies paid an annual rent for the chapels within +their keeping, whither they repaired at least once a year to keep +the festival of their patron saint and present their offerings. +Thus each of the cappers subscribed twelve pence a year towards the +maintenance of the furniture in S. Thomas's chapel in S. Michael's, +and presented a penny as an offering on the feast of the translation +of the saint.[607] In these chapels, where the glory of goldsmiths' +and artist's work testified to the munificence of the craftsfolk, dead +members of the brotherhood were occasionally buried, and their _obits_ +or anniversaries kept. + +It was a common practice to bequeath house property to provide funds +for the continual commemoration of the testator's death and prayers for +his soul's peace. Thus in 1492 Richard Clyff, late parson of S. George, +London, bequeathed to the church of Holy Trinity, Coventry, a tenement +in Well Street "to the entent ... that the Wardeyns of the same Church, +for the tyme beinge yerely, for evermore, observe and kepe within the +same Church, in the vigyll of Saynt Alphege, placebo, and dirige over +nyght, by ii well-dysposyd prestys, there to be said devoutly without +note; and on the morowe after, ayther of the same prestys to say messe +of Requiem for the soules of John Cliff, and Margarete hys wyff, hys +ffader and moder, hys own Soule, all hys ffrendys Saulys, and all +Crystyan Saulys." Other features of the obit were the distribution of +alms to the poor, and the feast which followed the service. Thus on the +day whereon Robert Burnell's obit was kept 4s. was given to the poor, +and 3s. 10d. expended in bread and ale.[608] + +When a craftsman died, the whole company of his brethren were present +at his burial, which, if he were a noteworthy citizen, would take +place with much solemnity at the Greyfriars' or one of the parish +churches.[609] Funeral masses were invariably said in the cathedral, +the offerings remaining to the use of S. Mary's minster and convent; +the candles also that had burnt about the coffins[610] were left in +the cathedral after the dead had been borne away to their graves. +Whether the people of Coventry disliked this practice we cannot tell, +but it brought the convent into collision with the Greyfriars, who, as +an active and popular body within the town, were rather disposed to +call the authority of the monks in question. The matter of the funeral +candles and offerings touched the former very nearly, for their chapel +was a favourite burial place; and in 1446 Friar John Bredon threw down +his glove. We would fain know if brother John were a mere busybody or a +born reformer; perhaps he belongs rather to the latter than the former +class, as he also appears, it seems, as a champion of the poorer folk +against the deceiving victuallers.[611] Be this as it may, he was a man +of great influence with the citizens, and, together with the prior, had +helped on a former occasion to still the religious excitement which +had followed on the preaching of Grace, the hermit. The enmity between +the friars and the convent was at last the cause of his overthrow. +Concerning this matter of the candles, the friar was so moved to +bitterness that he openly preached and affirmed "in the parish churches +of this same citee ... that alle maner offerynges owen to be yeven +alonely to theyme that mynistren the Sacraments to the parisshens," and +bade the people give these candles to the parish churches; "permytting +my selfe," he says, "to defende theyme that so did." Moreover, the +friar declared "that in Englond was not so bonde a Citee as this Citee +of Coventry is, in keping and observyng the said custome"; and in +bills which he set up on the church doors he "promysed to delyver the +pepull of this same Citee from the thraldom of Pharao." The prior of S. +Mary was not to be daunted by this audacious front, and petitioned the +King against Friar Bredon. In due time sentence was pronounced, and a +form of recantation arrived prescribed by parliament. In presence of +the Forty-eight[612] the friar was compelled to admit that the custom +he had inveighed against "is a custom commendable, and so owyng to be +kept and observed to encrese of mede, by pleasure made to Almighty God, +who graunte to you and me to lif in this world aftir juste lawes and +lawful customs vertuously, soo that we may deserve to rejoyse (enjoy) +hevenly recompense everlastyngly."[613] After which recantation he was +banished the city. + +The citizens were as thorough and systematic in their pastimes as in +their prayers, and all sorts of amusements of a vigorous character, +wherein they gladly indulged, were rarely discouraged by the +corporation. The practice of archery was looked on as part of every +man's necessary training, and crafts were ordered to keep butts in good +repair, so that all members of their fellowships could keep their hands +well in use.[614] Bull-baiting, a favourite sport, gave its name to the +Bull-ring hard by Trinity church;[615] but the traces of "le cokfyting +place"[616] and of the bowling-green near the Charter-house[617] have +been lost. + +[Illustration: PULPIT, HOLY TRINITY CHURCH] + +Bear-baiting was highly popular likewise, and frequent gifts to Sir +Fulk Greville's bearward[618] form a feature in the chamberlains' +accounts in the early days of Elizabeth. Like all the great Queen's +subjects the men of Coventry delighted in theatrical representations, +and now that the local religious drama was dead, their appreciation +of the strolling players' art caused constant inroads to be made +on the public purse. The wardens were frequently called upon for +payments, such as "to the Earle of Darbyes players v_s._," "to the lord +Chamberlain's players x_s._,"[619] items which accord ill with the +payments for sermons at this time.[620] In the end the sermons gained +the day, and it would be hard to find in the Midlands--save Banbury--a +more staunchly Puritan town than Coventry under the Stuarts. + +In the sixteenth century the corporation appear to have become +disquieted at the reckless lives and illicit amusements of those over +whom they ruled. A new era was about to dawn, wherein mediæval barriers +would be broken down; and it seems as if the discreet and worthy +burghers were afraid of the lawlessness and unrest which had entered +into the spirit of society, and which in itself was the sign of coming +change. Orders directed against gaming,[621] or intercourse, especially +on the part of apprentices, with women of evil fame had always been a +feature of the regulations passed by the leet; but as time goes on the +mention of "unlawful games" becomes more and more frequent. As early +as 1510 the aldermen of the several wards were charged to make search +"for all them that keep misrule," who on being discovered were to be +committed to ward, or, if they persisted in their evil ways, to be +banished the city.[622] In 1516 this command was followed up by a fresh +ordinance enjoining them to make inquiry for vagabonds, "as well women +as men," suspected alehouses, "blynde ynnes," unlawful games, and the +like.[623] But the evil appeared to increase as the century advanced, +and in 1548 a complaint of leet reveals a state of things which has +quite a modern look, so little change has human nature and human +habit undergone these three hundred and fifty years. Many, we learn, +passed their time drinking in taverns, and "playnge at the cardes and +tables,[624] and spende all that they can gett prodigally upon theym +selfes to the highe displeasure of God and theyre owne ympovershyng, +whereas," the worthy men of the leet were of opinion, "if it were +spente at home in theyre owne houses theyre wiffes and childerne shulde +have part therof."[625] It was forthwith decreed that any of these +prodigals, whether "labourer, journeyman, or apprentice," if discovered +resorting to any alehouse on a work day should be imprisoned for a day +and night. + +In those days, as in our own time, the lower classes had the keenest +appreciation of all that appertained to sport, and the loafer loved to +roam the country lanes with a dog at his heels. Long time since the +prior had complained how the citizens hunted and hawked in his warren, +and in the sixteenth century the corporation were hard put to it to +keep this passion within the bounds prescribed by the statutes of the +realm. People, we hear in the eighteenth year of Henry VIII., who did +not possess the necessary qualification, a 40s. freehold, presumed +to keep birds and dogs, whereby idleness "is greatly encreased"; +henceforward they were forbidden to keep hawk, hound, greyhound, or +ferret, or to presume to hunt with the same under a heavy penalty.[626] + +Other practices in which the citizens indulged were looked upon with an +unfavourable eye by the rulers of the town, brawling being expressly +forbidden. No one was allowed to carry defensive weapons through the +streets, and hosts were charged to bid their stranger guests leave +their swords behind them, when they had occasion to leave the hostels +wherein they had taken lodging.[627] The penalty for smiting "with +a knife drawyn" was half a mark, unless the smiter were "himself +defendant." "No man of craft," another order runs, "bear no bills, +nor gysarnes, nor great staves," upon pain of forfeiture of the same +weapons. Those who were driving cattle to market could, however, carry +a small staff in their hands.[628] These orders did not suffice by any +means to abolish brawls, and sometimes lords, knights and squires, the +"mighty" men of the country round, fought out their ancient family +quarrels among the dwellings of the burgher folk;[629] at others the +citizens had their own grievances to urge against one or other of +these mighty men, and drew sword upon him and his retainers. In these +cases there would be, most likely, death or shedding of blood, while +in disputes arising among the citizens themselves merely blows and +beatings would be given on either side, but with such violence that +combatants were afterwards often spoken of as "in despair of their +lives" from the injuries they had received. + +Troubles of this kind were a feature of the times when the gentry +flocked into the city to see the far-famed Corpus Christi shows, or +to be near the Court, for Henry VI. and his Queen tarried frequently +at Coventry. On Corpus Christi even in the year 1448 Sir Humphrey +Stafford and his son Richard were attacked in the Broadgate[630] after +nightfall, as they came from Lady Shrewsbury's[631] lodging, by Sir +Robert Harcourt and his men. Richard was slain and his father wounded +in the darkness and confusion, while two of the Harcourt faction died +also in the fray. All this took place, says John Northwood, writing +to Viscount Beaumont, "as men say, in a Paternoster while." It was a +terrible business; Northwood, evidently striving to be exact, could +hardly describe how it happened. The two chief enemies, he says, "fell +in handes togyder, and Sir Robert smot hym (Sir Humphrey) a grette +stroke on the hed with hys sord, and Richard with hys dagger hastely +went toward hym, and as he stombled on of Harcourts men smot hym in the +bak with a knyfe, men wotte not ho hytt was reddely; hys fader hard +noys and rode toward hem and hys men ronne before hym thyderward, and +in the goyng downe of hys hors, on, he wotte not ho,[632] be hynd hym +smot hym on the hede with a nege tole,[633] men know not with us with +what wepone, that he fell downe and hys son fell downe be fore hym as +goode as dede." And the whole affray--characteristically enough--was +"be cawse of an old debate that was betwene heme for takyng of a +dystres as hyt is told." The law was not always prompt in bringing +gentlefolk to account, and Sir Robert Harcourt at that time escaped +justice, only to be overtaken by revenge, however, twenty-two years +later, when he died at the hands of the Staffords.[634] + +Among the citizens also certain feasts and merry-makings ministered +occasion for riots and quarrels. Such were the Lammas feasts, whereon +the chamberlains, with a tumultuous following, opened out the common +pasture lands that encircled the city. Such again were the three great +processional nights, the vigils of Corpus Christi, of S. John the +Baptist (Midsummer eve) and S. Peter. "The people come at Lammas," runs +an order of Leet, "in excess number and unruly, to ill ensample"; and +it was laid down that only a few from each ward, who had been appointed +by the corporation, should accompany the chamberlains on their annual +ride. Moreover, "great debate and manslaughter and other perils and +sins" fell out on Midsummer eve and S. Peter's night, because so "great +a multitude" was gathered together at that season within the city, +"that it lieth in no man's power ... for to please them all";[635] and +the Church tried to interfere in the interests of peace, but without +success. Occasionally the good folk of the place fell to blows, it +would seem, on ordinary working days, without having their presence +at a merry-making to urge in extenuation of their fault. Thus in 1444 +the corvesars, or tanners of leather, fell out about some obscure +point or other with the weavers, and so hotly did the quarrel rage +between them, and so frequent the exchange of deadly blows, that Thomas +Burdeux, weaver, was said to be in "despair of his life" by reason of +the sore beating he had received. The quarrel was allayed, according to +the wisdom of the mayor and his discreet council, by the drinking of +a certain amount of ale among the fellowship of both crafts at their +joint expense.[636] + +But few pleasures appealed to the mediæval citizen so strongly as that +of dining well; and besides these peace-promoting drinkings there were +many occasions whereon members of guilds and crafts met together to +feast and do their best to justify the reputation, which still clings +to city folk and aldermen, of loving good cheer. The meals of the +Middle Ages were long and heavy. The highly-flavoured cookery, with +its strange mixture of meat and sweets--fowls stuffed with currants +was a favourite dish--would appear barbarous to modern epicures; but +such as it was, vast preparations and much money were lavished upon it. +The members of each craft fellowship met once a year to hold a feast, +while the brethren of the Trinity guild celebrated the Assumption and +S. Peter's Eve by a banquet and probably also the festival of the +Decollation of S. John. The Corpus Christi had a "Lenton" dinner, a +"goose" dinner in August, and a "venison" one in October,[637] and +in 1492 they spent £26, 0s. 4d. on their feasts, a sum only 13s. less +than the annual stipend due to the five priests supported by the +guild.[638] But the record of common feasting is not yet exhausted. The +members of the Corpus Christi fraternity met together at a breakfast +on the morning of the festival of the Body of Christ, and all the +crafts supped on cakes and ale on the great processional nights. One +dozen spiced cakes, three dozen white cakes, "a seysterne" and a half +of ale with "comfets," and a pound of "marmalet" were ordered for the +carpenters' merry-making on Midsummer eve, 1534.[639] Nor were the +journeymen forgotten on these joyous evenings; they partook of plainer +fare--bread and ale--at their master's expense. + +On Midsummer and S. Peter's eves the townsfolk gave themselves up to +mirth and jollity, decorating banqueting-halls, streets, and houses +with birchen boughs and all manner of greenery.[640] This custom +was, Stowe tells us, also observed in London, where every man's door +was "shadowed with Greene Birch, long Fennel, S. John's wort, Orpin, +white Lilies, and such like, garnished with Garlands of beautifull +flowers, and had also Lamps of glasse with Oyle burning in them all +the night."[641] But lamps were not the only means of illumination on +those joyous nights. "On the Vigils of Festivall dayes and on the same +Festivall dayes in the Evenings," continues the London chronicler, +"after the Sun-setting, there were usually made Bone-fires in the +streets, every man bestowing wood or labour towards them. The wealthier +sort also before their doores, neere to the said Bone-fires, would +set out Tables on the vigils, furnished with sweete bread and good +drinke, and on the Festivall days with meats and drinkes plentifully, +whereunto they would invite their neighbours and passengers also to +sit, and be merry with them in great familiarity, praysing God for his +benefits bestowed on them. These were called Bone-fires, as well of +amity amongst neighbours, that being before at controversie, were there +by the labour of others reconciled, and made of bitter enemies loving +friends."[642] + +It is good to dwell on this scene of frank gaiety and open-handed +hospitality, the pleasantest, to my thinking, that has come to us from +mediæval times. The dusk lighted by the flicker of the bonfires, the +flower-wreathed houses, the merry groups, the hand-clasp in token of +reconciliation, what a picturesque glimpse we have here of common union +and common joy to which our fêtes and holidays nowadays can afford no +parallel! + +But the chief glory of these festal nights was the setting forth of the +armed watch.[643] This was not such an imposing spectacle in Coventry +as in London, where the route extended, says Stowe, "to 3200 Taylors +yards of assize." The procession way was lighted by 700 cressets, and +the marching watch numbered 2000 men. Yet the Coventry folk made great +preparation for their humbler show, which was undertaken, so said the +drapers' craft with pardonable pride, "to the lawde and prayse of God +and the worship of this city." All the craft fellowships met together +to consult as to ways and means some days beforehand, "at the mayor's +commandment," and dire penalties were laid on those who should refuse +to attend on Midsummer night when the chief master sent his "clerk or +sumoner" to warn them.[644] When all was ready for the procession, the +worthy folk rode forth, two by two, each man in the livery proper to +his calling, the least important brotherhood going first, the others +following, each in their degree, until the train of fellowships closed +with the mercers, the senior craft.[645] The journeymen, perhaps on +foot, followed their masters, and the chief folk of the corporation +rode conspicuous in their scarlet cloaks, each one having an attendant +torchbearer.[646] But the chief glory of the procession was the sight +of the watch riding in shining armour, and bearing battle-axes, swords +and guns. Thus the dyers sent forth two clad in complete white armour, +and four in brigandines, the drapers four "in almayne revetts," while +the smiths among others hired four, and the butchers made provision +for six armed men.[647] Moreover, a crowd of minstrels and hirelings +bearing cressets, torches, spears gay with pennons and bells,[648] +streamers whereon were depicted the arms of the various crafts,[649] +and mirth-provoking figures of giants and giantesses,[650] caused the +streets to fill with colour, light, music, and laughter. The citizens +in the dusk of those June evenings beheld a right gallant show. There +was the sound of minstrelsy, broken by a sudden discharge of guns,[651] +with the murmur of many voices and the tramp of many feet, and between +the rows of densely packed crowd the torchlights glinted on the bright +advancing line of the armed watch, or glowed on the stately figures +of my masters the mayor, sheriffs and aldermen, arrayed in scarlet, +bringing up maybe the rear of the train. In this manner did the good +folk of Coventry celebrate the vigils of S. John the Baptist and S. +Peter, according to the ancient custom of the city, until the changes +of the sixteenth century, or the growth of Puritan feeling, or poverty, +or a combination of all these, caused the observance to be laid aside. +The riding on S. Peter's eve was discontinued after 1549,[652] though +Midsummer eve was still celebrated by a procession for some years after +that date. + +On the morning of the Corpus Christi festival, before the Mystery Plays +were acted, another procession of the crafts, more strictly religious +in character than those we have described, also took place. Following +the train of companies of traders and artificers came the members or +priests of the Trinity guild bearing the Host, the various religious +bodies of the city probably walking behind the Sacrament. The Corpus +Christi guild provided gorgeous vessels, wherein the consecrated +elements were placed, and four burgesses hired by the fraternity +carried a canopy of costly material over the same, while the effect of +the religious ceremonial was heightened by banner and crucifix coming +from the treasuries of the guilds. A pageant setting forth scenes in +the life of the Virgin, the Annunciation, which, on account of its +mystical meaning, was highly appropriate to the occasion, and the +Assumption also figured in the train, and the records of the Corpus +Christi guild show the payments made to the persons who represented S. +Gabriel bearing the lily,[653] the Virgin with a crown of great price +upon her head, the twelve apostles, including S. Thomas of India, +eight virgins, S. Margaret and S. Catherine. And the smiths caused the +actor who was to represent Herod in their pageant to ride on horseback +in a gorgeously painted coat in the procession. After this portion +of the festival was over, the craftsfolk set forth the famous plays +or pageants, whereof the fame filled Coventry from time to time with +royal and noble visitors, and all the good folk of the surrounding +country. Henry V. in 1416, Margaret of Anjou in 1457, Richard III. in +1485, Henry VII. in 1487, and again with his Queen, Elizabeth of York, +in 1493,[654] witnessed these shows, which in the fifteenth and early +sixteenth centuries were at the height of their popularity. + +Among the everyday people who came at this season in crowds to +Coventry, merchants combined business with religious edification, +since the fair followed hard on the plays,[655] with others the latter +counted most. "If you believe not me," says a preacher in the _Hundred +Merry Tales_, at the conclusion of his sermon on the Creed, "then for +a more surety and sufficient authority, go your way to Coventry and +there ye shall see them all played in Corpus Christi play."[656] We +may take it that the dramatic illusion was notably sustained in these +plays, and that they "fortified the unlearned in their faith." The men +of this midland city had a passion for acting; they performed on every +occasion; such adepts were they at their art that we hear of their +playing at Court in 1530, at Bristol and Abingdon in 1570, and four +times in Leicester between 1564 and 1571-2.[657] In this manner did +Warwickshire folk prepare for Shakespeare's coming. The soil on which +the Elizabethan drama grew with such luxuriance, had been tilled for +well-nigh two hundred years by nameless actors, who set forth on local +stages the tragedy, which for simple dignity, has no peer among the +tragedies of the world. + +The famous Corpus Christi pageants were not of lay but of clerical +origin. The church was the earliest theatre; clerks the first actors; +and the earliest plays grew out of the dramatic rendering of parts +of the Easter and Christmas services--a colloquy between those +representing the angel at the sepulchre and the women bearing precious +ointment,[658] or the singing by a choirboy "in the similitude of an +angel" perched "in excelso"--aloft--of glad tidings to personators of +the shepherds of Bethlehem,[659] or the successive utterance of clerks +in the character of Isaiah, Habakkuk and other prophets of appropriate +testimony to the coming of Christ. From such simple, liturgical sources +there developed first in clerical, then in lay, hands, a religious +drama which ultimately covered the whole field of Christian history +from the Creation to the Day of Doom. In view of the near connection +between the Coventry monks and the Lichfield canons, it is of great +interest to note that the _Peregrini_--the appearance of Christ to the +travellers at Emmaus--an early development of the Easter cycle, and the +_Pastores_, or the Christmas Shepherds' play, were regularly performed +at Lichfield under Bishop Hugh of Nonant.[660] Of other plays, called +_Miracula_ or Miracles, whereof the source was not the liturgy, but +rather the life of a saint, there is frequent mention; such an one in +honour of S. Catherine was performed before 1119 at a monastic school +at Dunstable on the road between London and Coventry. Nearly 400 years +later a "miracle" on the same subject was seen in the "Little Park" +just outside the walls of the midland city. + +As the liturgical plays grew long and elaborate they ceased to be +included in the church service; and gradually it came about that the +churchyard, since it would admit of more spectators than the church, +was deemed a more fitting place for their representation, as at +Beverley, where about 1220 a crowd assembled to witness a play on the +Resurrection.[661] Thence, so greatly did the laity love these shows, +they passed to convenient greens and highways, somewhat to the scandal +of rigider moralists, who held that, though clerks might act in church +plays, it was a "sight of sin" for them to hold these performances in a +more secular neighbourhood. It was probably in response to this feeling +that the regular clergy--save on occasions the friars--gradually +withdrew from out door plays, and that lay performers, controlled by +the growing and wealthy craft-guilds, practically replaced clerks. The +vulgar tongue ousted Latin, and plays proper to Easter and Christmas, +linked together into one whole religious story, were acted on the great +processional feasts, when daylight is longest, Corpus Christi or, +less frequently, Whitsuntide. The process, still somewhat obscure to +us, whereby the performances passed under secular control, would seem +to be complete in the fourteenth century. Local tradition places the +earliest representation at Chester in 1328, while we have more certain +knowledge of them at Beverley in 1377, York in 1378 and Coventry in +1392. What part, if any, was played by the professional entertainers, +wandering "mimes," minstrels and jugglers in the gradual secularization +of the plays we know not, neither is there definite information about +the earliest dramatic authors, save that tradition points to Ralph +Higden of _Polychronicon_ fame as author of the Chester cycle. Plays, +however, were so frequently revised and expanded by local folks, clerks +and laymen, that they sometimes became, like the Coventry craft-plays, +affairs of metrical patchwork. The last redaction these special dramas +underwent was at the hands of Robert Croo, a jack-of-all-trades +theatrical, by whom they were "neuly translate" or "neuly correcte" in +1535.[662] + +[Illustration: OLD HOUSE IN COX STREET] + +Each Coventry craft was required by the authorities to contribute +towards the setting forth of a pageant at the festival. The more +important fraternities--such as the mercers and drapers--were able +to bear the expenses of furnishing stage scenery, paying actors, and +providing suitable accessories without any aid from bodies outside +their ranks. But among the lesser crafts it was usual for two, three, +four, or more to band together in order to lessen the individual +burden,[663] while in all cases the journeymen probably contributed +towards the expenses of their masters' pageant.[664] The task of +adjusting these payments according to the means of the various inferior +craft companies, was a delicate one, and often brought trouble upon +the corporation. None of them cared to undertake the expenses and +responsibility involved in the provision of a play. The smiths in 1428 +petitioned the leet to be released from the burden;[665] the dyers in +1494 could not be induced to take the load upon their shoulders;[666] +while for many years the skinners, fishmongers, cappers, corvesars, +butchers, and others contrived to evade payment towards the support of +a pageant, until a complaint arose from some of the contributory crafts +that they were over-burdened with charges consequent thereon. + +This primary difficulty being overcome, the crafts took no little pains +to make the representations as perfect as possible. They provided the +dresses and stage furniture from their own funds, each company having +a pageant-house[667] usually in Mill Lane, now Cox Street, wherein +these properties were stored. They paid the composer of the piece, +if need were, or the copyist; the actors also, who were maybe lower +craftsfolk, had a fixed hire, with "bread and ale" at rehearsals, +and between the repetition of the performance on the festival day in +different quarters of the town. All were required by order of leet to +play "well and sufficiently," "lest any impediment should arise" in the +performance, under pain of 20s. to the town wall,[668] and in order +that they might be perfect in their several parts, there were usually +two, or in the case of a new play no less than five, rehearsals before +the festival,[669] some of these taking place in the presence of the +assembled fellowship, while the "keeper of the play book" attended, no +doubt in the capacity of prompter. + +[Illustration: + + 36 Gosford St] + +[Illustration: + + 91 Gosford St] + +The common word for these craft-plays is pageants, a word of uncertain +origin, which is also applied to the vehicle or movable stage whereon +the acting took place. These pageants[670] were divided into two parts; +the actors dressed--and no doubt waited also, when their presence was +not required on the stage--in the under part, where they were concealed +by hanging cloths; the play was set forth on the upper part, which +was open to the view, and furnished with suitable scenery, and the +floor strewn with rushes. Journeymen and other hirelings dragged the +pageants from place to place, the play being repeated at convenient +points within the city, beginning with Gosford Street. The second and +third stations appear to have been at the end of Much Park Street, most +likely the corner of Jordan Well, and at the New Gate respectively. Dr +Craig thinks that there were ten stations, which would accord well with +the number of pageants and of wards within the city, though I cannot +think that each of the plays was performed ten times over. Flesh is +weak, and it is difficult to see how either actors or spectators could +have borne the strain.[671] Moreover even the long light days of May +or June would hardly have sufficed for such a stupendous task: when it +was once essayed, all the pageants being first played before Richard +Wood's door to pleasure Queen Margaret, in 1457, daylight failed, +and the performance of "Doomsday" was perforce abandoned. Indeed +it seems that this particular play, which naturally concluded the +series, was but thrice acted, since the drapers regularly order three +"worldys"--for which in 1556 they paid Croo two shillings--one to be +destroyed, it appears, in each performance.[672] + +[Illustration: OLD HOUSE IN COX STREET] + +No doubt this mobility of the theatre, and the simultaneous acting of +various pageants at different stations was necessitated by the lack +of an open space within the city sufficient to contain the throng +of spectators. The acting of single plays, not belonging to the +traditional cycle, such as the play of S. Catherine acted in 1491, or +that of S. Crytyan or Christian, "magnus ludus vocatus seynt Xpeans +pley,"[673] performed at Whitsuntide in 1505, took place in the Little +Park where space was ample. That a regular open-air amphitheatre was +constructed--such as the _plân an guare_ which survives at S. Just in +Cornwall, is improbable; the Park-Hollows, where later Lollard and +Marian martyrs suffered death, would maybe serve aptly for the purpose. +Such an indelible impression did S. Christian's play make on those that +beheld it, that years later when divers neighbours and friends were +asked to give proof of Walter Smith's age--it was the Walter Smith +who was after strangled by means of Dorothy, his faithless wife--they +recalled that his baptism took place the year S. Christian's play was +played in the Little Park. + +There was possibly a convenient station close to the Greyfriars' +church, where Henry VII. and his Queen viewed the plays in 1493. This +is the explanation, whereat Dr Craig[674] has arrived after a careful +sifting of the evidence, of the cryptic saying of some of the annalists +that the King and Queen saw the plays acted _by the Greyfriars_. "In +his Mayoralty," says one version, "K.H. 7 came to see the plays acted +by the _Grey Friers_ and much commended them"; another version, quoted +by Dr Craig, varies the reading to "_at_ the greyfriers," the probably +correct interpretation.[675] The only other reference to the grey +friars' acting comes from Dugdale, who goes further in attributing a +particular manuscript to this particular house. The plays were "acted," +he says, "with mighty state and reverence by the Friers of this House"; +and further "I have been told," he continues, "by some old people, +who in their younger years were eye-witnesses of these _Pageants_ +so acted, that the yearly confluence of people to see that shew was +extraordinary great, and yeilded no small advantage to this City."[676] +Here Homer distinctly nods. Dugdale does not seem to have heard of the +craft plays, whereof the regular representation did not cease until +1580,[677] twenty-five years before his birth, and thirty-five years +before his entry into Coventry grammar school, but it was clearly +to these pageants that the old people aforesaid referred, since any +hypothetical acting on the part of the friars must have ceased in 1538 +with the suppression of their house, sixty-seven years before Dugdale's +birth and seventy-seven years before the beginning of his scholastic +life at Coventry. + +It is also on the slenderest grounds that the historian of Warwickshire +attributes the fifteenth century MS. of the _Ludus Coventriæ_ to the +Franciscans of that city. The first possessor of the manuscript was +one Robert Hegge of Durham, after whose death in 1629 it appears to +have passed into Cotton's possession and is still included in the great +Cottonian collection in the British Museum.[678] Cotton's librarian, +Richard James, described the MS. on the fly-leaf as scenes from the +New Testament,[679] acted by monks or mendicant friars, adding that +the book is commonly known as the Coventry plays or Corpus Christi +plays.[680] A later librarian in 1696 omitted the Coventry attribution, +but still alluded to the plays as represented by mendicant friars. + +Here the matter must rest. Probably the last word has still to be said +on the subject. Scholars are not agreed on the _locale_ of the _Ludus +Coventriæ_ which have been assigned to districts as far removed as +the northeast midlands and Wiltshire, or to their actors, who have +been represented as strolling players, or even Coventry friars "on +tour."[681] We might be disposed to accept--with caution--the view, +evidently based on some tradition or other, that these plays were acted +by friars,[682] but the objection to identifying these friars with the +Coventry Franciscans, acting at any rate in Coventry, is that the city +was furnished already with well-authenticated craftsmen-acted plays of +great renown, whereof some examples are now left, and that it would be +impossible for two sets of plays and actors to command attention at the +feast of Corpus Christi. Nor is there evidence, so far as I am aware, +to connect any of the Coventry religious with the stationary plays +acted on occasions at Whitsuntide.[683] + +We touch surer ground when we come to examine the craft-plays, +whereof we have abundance of evidence. Unlike those of Chester, York +and Wakefield, the Coventry plays were few in number, having been +fused together, and, it seems, formed a series illustrating the life +of Christ, closing with His second coming on the Day of Judgment. +The absence of Old Testament scenes would be a rare feature, and +the point has been disputed,[684] but so few of the pageants remain +unidentified, and such striking scenes in the life of Christ have no +play assigned to them, that there hardly seems room for scenes drawn +from the Old Testament. The procession of prophets[685]--_Processus +Prophetarum_--the nucleus whence the Old Testament cycle spread, +is likewise very undeveloped in Coventry. None of the prophets are +individualized in the plays that have come down to us, except Isaiah, +who appears as prologue to the tailors' and sheremen's play of the +_Nativity_; others appear as rather "defuce" commentators--to use +their own word--further on in the action, and again as prologue to the +weavers' play of the _Purification_.[686] It is impossible to construct +the whole series of the Coventry plays, for, save two pageants--that +of the sheremen and tailors, and that of the weavers--all are missing, +and in some cases the very titles of the plays cannot be recovered. The +first pageant set forth was probably that of the guild of the Nativity, +the company of tailors and sheremen, representing the _Annunciation, +Joseph's Trouble_, _the Journey to Bethlehem_, _the Birth of Christ_, +_the Angels and the Shepherds_, _the Offering of the Magi_, _the Flight +into Egypt_, _and the Murder of the Innocents_. The weavers' pageant, +wherein was set forth the _Presentation of Christ in the Temple_, and +_Christ and the Doctors_, would follow as a matter of course. The +titles of four pageants--those of the mercers, tanners, whittawers, +and girdlers--are lost, though Dr Craig has made the shrewd guess +that the subject of the first was the _Assumption_.[687] The story of +_Christ's Trial and Crucifixion_ was the theme of the smiths' show, the +_Burial_ or the "taking down of God from the Cross" was played by the +pinners and needlers, the _Harrowing of Hell_ and the _Resurrection_ +was enacted on the stage furnished by the cardmakers, later cappers, +and this, with the drapers' _Doomsday_, closes the list of the plays +that are known to us. It will thus be seen that the inferior clothing +crafts represented the Christmas cycle, and the workers in iron, +smiths, pinners, cardmakers, the Passion-Resurrection one, so that we +may suppose that the subject of the girdlers' pageant, since they were +workers in iron, would be a subject nearly connected with this latter +group--possibly the "Maundy" and _the Agony in the Garden_. + +The shearmen and tailors' pageant of the _Nativity_ and the weavers' +_Presentation in the Temple_, both plays whereof the text has been +preserved, were discovered by the antiquary, Thomas Sharp, and printed +early in the last century, a fortunate circumstance, since the former +with all Sharp's collection perished in the fire at Birmingham in +1879. One manuscript alone remains, now in the possession of the broad +weavers and clothiers, a small volume of seventeen leaves, one missing, +bound in ancient boards and leather, with end-papers of Holbeinesque +wood-cuts. The whole--save two songs at the end--is in the handwriting +of Robert Croo, by whom it was "newly translate" in 1534. + +Both these plays are written in many metres, and obviously show the +workmanship of many hands. Rhythm and versification often betray the +'prentice; indeed on the whole it is but clumsy writing; and yet here +and there that wonderful instrument, the English language, gives out +its music though it be stricken with an unsure and careless hand. +Isaiah's prologue, the scenes between Simeon and Anna,[688]--even the +lines of that sublime braggart, Herod, have a hint of that wonderful +quality to which English verse attained when Spenser wrote it. The +kernel of the story is told in rough, simple quatrains; here and +there--particularly in the comic parts--a rollicking stanza, derived +apparently from one employed in the Chester cycle, breaks in; while +some portions of the piece have been so worked over that the verse +defies metrical analysis.[689] + +There is no comedy connected with the shepherds' scenes in the Coventry +Christmas plays, such as occurs in the Towneley (Wakefield) cycle, +where the sheep-stealing episode is the work of a master-hand. Nor is +the presentation of their gifts to the Child as charming as the "bob of +cherries" passage in the northern dramatist's verses, still the scene +is full of the tender feeling, which it never fails to draw forth. + +"I have nothing," says the first shepherd to Mary,-- + + "I haue nothyng to present with thi chylde + But my pype; hold, hold, take yt in thy hond; + Where-in moche pleysure that I haue fond; + And now, to oonowre thy gloreose byrthe, + Thow schallt yt haue to make the myrthe. + + II. Pastor. Now, hayle be thow, chyld, and thy dame! + For in a pore loggyn here art thow leyde, + Soo the angell seyde and tolde vs thy name; + Holde, take thow here my hat on thy hedde! + And now off won thyng thow art well sped, + For weddur thow hast noo nede to complayne, + For wynd, ne sun, hayle, snoo and rayne. + + III. Pastor. Hayle be thou, Lorde ouer watur and landis! + For thy cumyng all we ma make myrthe + Have here my myttens to pytt on thi hondis. + Other treysure have I non to present the with." + +A pipe, a hat, a pair of mittens! How homely it sounds! In the _York +Plays_ the Child receives a broach with a tin bell, two cob-nuts on a +string, and a horn spoon that can hold forty pease! + +In the Nativity scene Joseph warms the Child at the breath of the +beasts in the manger. + + Mare. A! Josoff, husebond, my chyld waxith cold, + And we haue noo fyre to warme hym with_. + + Josoff. Now in my narmys I schall hym fold, + Kyng of all kyngis be fyld and be fryth; + He myght haue had bettur, and hym-selfe wold, + Then the breythyng of these bestis to warme hym with. + Mare. Now, Josoff, my husbond, fet heddur my chyld, + The Maker off man and hy Kyng of blys. + + Josoff. That schalbe done anon, Mare soo myld, + For the brethyng of these bestis hath warmyd [hym] well, i-wys. + +The comic element in the preserved plays is represented by Joseph, a +weariful old husband, and natural grumbler, who becomes exceedingly +fretful when bidden by Mary to find some doves for the Purification +offering at the Temple. + +"Swette Josoff," says Mary, "fuffyll ye owre Lordis hestes." + +"Why," says her husband ruefully, + + "Why _and_ woldist th[o]u haue me to hunt bridis nestis? + I pray the hartely, dame, leve thosse jestis + And talke of thatt wol be. + + For, dame, woll I neuer vast my wyttis, + To wayte or pry where the wodkoce syttis; + Nor to jubbard among the merle pyttis, + For thatt wasse neyuer my gyse. + Now am I wold and ma not well goo: + A small twyge wold me ouerthroo; + And yche[690] were wons lyggyd aloo, + Full yll then schulde I ryse."[691] + +Finding the task inevitable, he murmurs that "the weakest go ever to +the wall," and appeals for sympathy to the audience, particularly to +the husbands of young and headstrong wives in the traditional manner +beloved by mediæval play-goers, + + "How sey ye all this company + Thatt be weddid asse well asse I? + I wene that ye suffer moche woo; + For he that weddyth a yonge thyng + Must fullfyll all hir byddyng, + Or els make his handis wryng, + Or watur his iis when he wold syng; + And thatt all you do know."[692] + +Finally he subsides helplessly upon a "lond" or furrow, till the angel +appears and thrusts the birds into his hands. No mention is made to +Mary of the miraculous interposition when Joseph has hurried home, +pluming himself upon the capture. + + "I am full glade I haue them fond. + Am nott I a good husbonde?" + +says the saint with glee. It is a delicious scene, and its writer was a +comedian of no mean order. + +Herod was the popular favourite of the Christmas play cycle, for the +predecessors of Shakespeare's groundlings loved to have their ears +split by his noisy arrogance. He "ragis in the pagond and in the strete +also," according to a stage direction, and it is possible that his +buffoonery was tinged with the memory of the wild frolic of the ancient +Christmas festivals, the feast of the Ass and the feast of Fools.[693] + +"It out-herods Herod," says Shakespeare, the professional player, in +scorn of the amateur of the old régime. But the rant Herod utters is +gorgeous rant. + +How the children shuddered when he wielded his "bright brond" or +terrible sword, and how his great voice rang out through the streets +when he cried:-- + + "For I am evyn he thatt made bothe hevin and hell, + And of my myghte power holdith up this world rownd. + Magog and Madroke, bothe them did I confounde." + +What megalomania! "Magog and Madroke," are undeniably fearsome names +and suit well with Herod's vizor, his falchion and towering crest. + +"I am the cawse," he cries out,-- + + "I am the cawse of this grett lyght and thunder; + Ytt ys throgh my fure that the[694] soche noyse dothe make. + My feyrefull contenance the clowdis so doth incumbur + That oftymis for drede therof the verre yerth doth quake. + Loke, when I with males this bryght brond doth schake, + All the whole world from the north to the sowthe + I ma them dystroie with won worde of my mowthe! + + * * * * * + + Behold my contenance and my colur, + Bryghtur then the sun in the meddis of the dey. + Where can you haue a more grettur succur + Then to behold my person that ys soo gaye? + My fawcun and my fassion, with my gorgis araye,-- + He thatt had the grace all-wey ther-on to thynke, + Lyve the[694] myght all-wey with-owt othur meyte or drynke."[695] + +There was another Herod in the smiths' play of the Passion, which has +not survived, but he was outshone by Pilate, who received 4s. for +his hire from the same company, whereas his fellow, the personator +of Herod, received but 3s. 8d.; the former, too, drank wine in the +intervals between the proformances, while the minor players were +refreshed with mere ale for the nonce. Both these above named were +rampant characters, Pilate always possessing the organ of Stentor. He +appears again in the cappers' play of the Resurrection, and evidently +became very terrific, laying about him with his club or mall when +the soldiers brought news that Christ had risen from the dead. Years +after in 1790 when even the tradition of the pageants was almost +forgotten, Sharp, the antiquary, found Pilate's mall in an old chest +in the cappers' chapel in S. Michael's church.[696] It was made of +leather and stuffed with wool, and had evidently served as the head +of a staff. Pilate's "balls," also made of leather, and possibly the +forerunners of the fool's bauble, also ministered occasion for noise +and laughter. Both Herod, Pilate, and the demons had vizors or masks, +hence the smiths' entry, "paid to Wattis for dressyng of the devells +hede viii_d_."[697] The devil--sometimes in the plural--appears in at +least three Coventry plays, the _Trial_, where no doubt he whispered +the dream to "Dame Procula," Pilate's wife, as he did at York,[698] the +_Harrowing of Hell, and Doomsday_. In the last two pageants there would +be much by-play with Hell-mouth and the souls in the infernal place. +I cannot tell in which particular piece the devil, whom John Heywood, +interlude-writer, claimed as an "old acquaintance," was an actor, but +it undoubtedly was in one of them, since in his _Foure P.P._ Heywood +says:-- + + "Oft in the play of Corpus Christi, + He had played the deuyll at Coventry." + +Among the cappers' list of actors there is one which has about it a +certain Miltonic grandeur; it is the "Mother of Death."[699] It is to +be regretted that _Doomsday_ has not survived, for the names of the +persons represented are very suggestive; two demons, two spirits were +among them, two "worms of conscience," three black--or damned--souls, +and three white--or saved--souls, and a Pharisee.[700] The details +of the stage property and payments abound in _naïf_ and grotesque +allusions. Thus we learn that a "new hook" for hanging Judas was +purchased at the cost of 6d.;[701] and one Fawston received 4d. for +"coc croyng," presumably "to startle the penitent Peter."[702] Adam's +spade, "Eve's distaff," and the "apple tree,"[703] + + "the fruit + Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste + Brought Death into the world and all our woe," + +are part of the stage furnishing of the _Harrowing of Hell_, since +therein Christ drew out from limbo our first parents. Everything about +these pageants must have been terrifying especially to sensitive or +guilty consciences. A hireling was paid fourpence "for kepyng of +fier at hell mothe"[704]from the drapers. This craft also purchased +a "baryll," whereof the rolling might imitate the sound of the +"yerthequake" on the Judgment Day.[705] + +There is a good deal of information about the dresses of the actors +in the pageants. Annas and Caiaphas wore "mitres,"[706] Christ and +Peter wigs of a gold colour.[707] The tormentors who took part in the +scourging had jackets of "blake bokeram" ... with nayles and dysse +(dice) upon them.[708] It was the custom for actors to paint their +faces.[709] In _Doomsday_ the "saved souls" were clothed in white +leather, while those damned were made hideous by blackened faces, +and--it seems--a parti-coloured dress of black and yellow, the yellow +being so combined as to represent flame.[710] It sounds crude but +effective; and effective also, no doubt, was the blare of trumpets when +the four angels of the judgment standing on their "pulpits" or raised +platform called on the dead to appear before the judgment-seat. + +No doubt the artist who painted the blackened and all but invisible +fresco of the judgment day over the chancel arch of Trinity church, +saw in his mind's eye as he painted Christ seated on the rainbow, with +saints and angels, lost and saved souls to His left and right, the rude +and realistic representation enacted on the drapers' pageant at Corpus +Christi-tide. + +Another procession took place on S. George's day,[711] but there is +no evidence that any play was acted on this occasion. S. George, +however, had a legendary connection with Coventry; and he appears in +two occasional pageants, the welcome to Prince Edward in 1474 and +that to Prince Arthur in 1498; in the former case with elaborate +stage setting, so that there may have been a play in his honour. +Another dragon-slayer, S. Margaret, walked in the Corpus Christi +procession,[712] and it is possible she may have had a part in the +play, as also the other six champions of Christendom, who greeted Queen +Margaret in 1457, but here all is conjecture. S. George's long dramatic +life in the Mummers' Christmas play in Warwickshire has, of course, +only ceased in our time. + +Other occasional pageants, noted in the annals, afford us glimpses of +tantalising brevity of dramatic shows and gorgeous preparations for the +reception of royalty. Thirteen years after Arthur's visit, the prince's +brother, King Henry VIII., and Queen Catharine, who must have entered +on the eastern side of the city, found at Jordon Well three pageants, +embellished with the "nine orders of angels," to greet them. There +were others, with "divers beautiful damsels," and "goodly stage play" +upon them, but we have no record of the verses composed in the King's +honour.[713] While the mercers' pageant stood gallantly trimmed at the +Cross Cheaping in 1526 to welcome the Princess Mary. This was before +the divorce question had become the talk of Europe, and the daughter +of Catherine of Arragon was still held in high honour; so that the +citizens made great preparations for her coming, even taking down the +heads and quarters of traitors from the gates lest they should annoy +the lady's sight.[714] + +Fifty years later another sovereign witnessed a memorable performance +of the Coventry men. On Hox Tuesday--the Tuesday after the second +Sunday after Easter--certain folk-games were held to commemorate, +so the historians of the sixteenth century declared, the defeat of +the Danes in the eleventh.[715] These games, "invented"--so say the +annals--in 1416, fell into disuse soon after the Reformation, but were +revived on the occasion of Elizabeth's visit to Kenilworth in 1575. At +that time certain "good harted men of Couentree," led on by Captain +Cox, alecunner and mason, presented the "olld storiall sheaw" before +the Queen, "whereat," Laneham tells us in his delightful letter, quoted +in Gascoigne's _Princely Pleasures of Kenilworth Castle_, "her Maiestie +laught well," while the players "wear the iocunder ... becauz her +highnes had giuen them too buckes and fiue marke in mony to make mery +togyther." The play consisted in a sham fight between the English and +the Danish "launsknights," but whether accompanied by folk-rymes or no +we cannot tell. "Eeuen at the first entree," says Laneham, who greatly +enjoyed the fun, "the meeting waxt sumwhat warm.... A valiant captain +of great prowez az fiers az a fox assauting a gooz, waz so hardy to +give the first stroke: then get they grisly togyther: that great waz +the activitee that day too be seen thear a both sidez: ton[716] very +eager for purchaz of pray, toother[717] utterly stoout for redemption +of libertie: thus, quarrell enflamed fury a both sidez. Twise the Danes +had ye better, but at the last conflict, beaten down, ouercom, and +many led captiue for triumph by our English weemen." The last detail +was no doubt well liked by her majesty, who was certainly proving that +she shared in the mettle of these women of long ago, and who could +laugh well--that great royal Tudor laugh--at the rude performances of +her subjects. + +Music was always a great feature of these pageants and processions. +"Mynstralcy of harp and lute," or of "small pypis," or that of "orgon +pleyinge," formed a part of the greeting which came to Prince Edward +from the stages whereon S. Edward, the prophets, or "the iii Kyngs of +Colen" or "seint George" were shadowed forth. There were four chosen +minstrels or city waits, and it may be remembered how on one occasion +the mayor and aldermen sent for these and bade them go before the +throng making their way from Whitley to the city, "which is by the +space of a mile largely or more," and pipe and play as they went, +"like as the people had done a great conquest or victory." The waits +played also on less stirring occasions than the opening of Bristow's +meadows, being greatly in request at the banquets of the guilds and +crafts,[718] and much sought after in all the country round. They wore +silver chains and badges charged with the arms of the city,[719] and +besides occasional fees given for their performance during feasts, they +received a regular "quarteredge," that is to say, a penny from every +citizen having "a hallplace," and a halfpenny from every one dwelling +in a cottage four times a year for their maintenance.[720] + +The citizens themselves delighted in music; some must have been +practised singers, as the representation of the Corpus Christi pageants +was diversified by songs. One of these, a lullaby from the tailors' and +sheremen's play, is so pretty that it will well bear quotation. + + "Lully, lulla, thow littell tine child, + By by, lully lullay, thow littell tyne child, + By by lully lullay. + O sisters too, how may we do + For to preserve this day + This pore yongling, for whom we do singe, + By by lully lullay? + + Herod, the king, in his raging + Chargid he hath this day + His men of might in his owne sight + All yonge children to slay. + + That wo is me, pore child, for thee, + And ever morne and may + For thi parting nether say nor singe + By by, lully lullay." + +The provision of these games, pageants and processions must have +entailed great cost and labour, yet every member of the various +fellowships helped to support them, and bore as well his part in the +common labours and duties involved in his citizenship. Every one was +compelled to obey the mayor's summons under penalty of a fine, whether +called upon to come to the leet, or the council, or to help in the +common labour of the town. In 1451, when wars were threatening, the +call went round for all to come and aid in the work of cleansing the +town ditch.[721] The summons went twice round the town according to the +watch, we are told, in "right great charge and in special" to the poor +folk, who had to leave their other occupations in consequence, besides +paying their quota towards the taxes, which were necessarily heavy +at that time. And the council hearing thereof ordered that £12, 10s. +should be collected from "thrifty" men to pay for the work, and the +poor people spared, save that labourers earning 4d. a day were to pay +1d. or 2d. towards the required sum. In addition to their labour in the +common defence, all citizens were required to make one of the company +of watchmen when their turn came round, or to find a substitute. +Fifteen men usually kept the nightly watch, but in times of disturbance +their number was increased; thus in 1450 it was enacted that "forty men +of decent, good and honest communication and strong in body ... shall +nightly watch and guard the city from the ninth hour until the beating +of the bell called daybell,"[722] and the light enabled all to see +thief or enemy approach. + +Neither were the citizens permitted to shirk the common military +duties. At the "view of arms" all the freemen appeared in military +accoutrement as suited their degree, and the threat of a siege turned +artisans into soldiers and aldermen and councillors "for savegard of +the cite" into captains of the wards and guardians of the gates. In +1469--the year of the battle of Edgcote--the city was changed into a +very arsensal and barracks, so lively were the military preparations +going forward at that time. The city accounts show the heavy charges +which the distribution of arms and armour entailed upon the public +purse. + +"Item," says the _Leet Book_, "delyvered to Robert Onley on Maudelyn +day a serpentyne ... for the Newe yate and a honde gunne with a pyke +in the ynde and a fowler." To John Hadley for Bishop Gate "i staffe +gunne." "Item delyvered to William Saunders, meyr, ii staffe gunnes +and a grett gunne with iii chamburs, iii jacks and xxiv arowys." "Item +... to John Wyldgris i gunne with iii chamburs." There also follows +the mention of the distribution of jacks and arrows to the various +captains,[723] until possibly the supplies ran short, and the last +obtained but "i newe jacke and a olde." In the "Lenton" of 1471 the +scene was repeated. Guns and pelettes were again delivered to the +captains for the gates, and money was hastily collected throughout the +wards for the company of soldiers who followed my lord of Warwick to +Barnet Field, whereby the citizens incurred King Edward's enmity and +great displeasure. + +The provision of soldiers according to the terms of the commissions +of array, so common in civil warfare, were a heavy tax on municipal +resources. When the city officers were ordered by the King's commission +to send the local forces to join the royal army, the corporation +had to "reteyn" their contingent, provide their dresses, badges +and equipment, appoint a captain, and collect money, according to +assessment, throughout the wards for their pay. At the beginning of the +civil war all went merrily enough, and the citizens threw themselves +with right good will into the equipment of the soldiers who were to +have gone to St Alban's. But in a few years the artizans, called from +their homes and business, were heartily weary of the continual strife, +and clamoured for 12d. a day in payment. The hiring of recruits must +have become a more difficult matter as time went on, though, like the +clinching of all bargains in the Middle Ages, it was accompanied by +plentiful drinking. The _Leet Book_ records the following items in +July 1470, after Edward IV. had summoned a company of archers to a +rendezvous at Nottingham: "dedit ad le sowders ad bibendum xvid.," ... +"a gallon wyne vid.," ... "pro ale to the sowders vi_d._"[724] But even +after the Wars of the Roses were over we have a sorry picture of the +numerous inconveniences attending the hiring of troops. In February +1481, Edward IV. sent commissioners to find out what money or what +number of men the burghers would provide in the event of an invasion +of Scotland in the summer. After various discussions, commandings and +countermandings, it was finally agreed that sixty men should be waged +for the royal service for a quarter of a year at a cost of £148, 6s. +6d.; recruits were found and arrows and salets distributed amongst +them. More, however, was to be wrung from the reluctant burghers; £40 +was collected from 180 of the "most sufficient" men of the town to +provide horses and jackets for the soldiery.[725] But sixty archers +were not deemed a sufficient contingent by the Court; and when in +the following June Lord Rivers came to know if the number could be +increased, the mayor called a "Hall" of divers out of every ward to +know what the common will was in this matter, and it was finally +ordained that the citizens should equip and pay forty additional men, +bringing up the number to 100. As all the recruits could not be drawn +from the ranks of the townsfolk, the worthy men enlisted the service +of strangers, and these had to be kept together, housed and fed, at +great trouble and cost[726] until the time for departure. In the end, +however, the levy was countermanded, and the troops thus laboriously +collected were merely dispersed;[727] a statement of facts the town +clerk may be pardoned for recording in a murmuring and discontented +spirit. + +But however onerous these duties may have been, the Coventry men were +loyally proud of their city and citizenship. Albeit a traveller, the +mediæval merchant loved, as he loved nothing else on earth, the small +stretch of land enclosed by the walls of his native town. He or his +ancestors had won and maintained at great cost the city's liberties, +and he and they spared no pains to make it beautiful. Historians are +wont to despise the English burgher of the fourteenth and fifteenth +centuries, by reason of his insignificance and poverty, and his +neglect of the highest forms of art, and pointedly contrast his small +achievements with those of the merchant princes of Italy, or the +proud and daring members of the Hanseatic League. It is true he was a +commonplace person, living in what was for his country a commonplace +age; nevertheless his doings are worthy of remembrance. If the English +townsfolk never produced a Van Eyck or a Da Vinci, a Peter Fischer or a +Donatello, they patronised all the local forms of art they knew. They +had the same great delight in the common possession of a beautiful +object as the people of the Italian republics. Though they lacked +wealth to build themselves tall and stately houses like their brethren +on the Continent, the English burghers could raise tall steeples, +build vast churches, adorn their common halls, and rear exquisite +crosses in the market place. The fifteenth century glass in S. Mary's +Hall, Coventry, still attests the skill of John Thornton, a native +of the city, and one of the first acts of the council of Forty-eight +was to decree that a cross should be set up in the Cheaping, which +was done, though at a cost of £50.[728] In Coventry, as elsewhere, +the rich merchants and craftsmen set carvers to carve the miserere +seats--enjoying the grim humour these sometimes display, a quality +which crops up everywhere in the fifteenth century, even now and +then in legal documents--and bade the engraver commemorate the dead +by tracing their effigies on brass, or the mason by fashioning their +portraits in stone. + +Neither should we regard as contemptible the Englishman's achievements +in trade and travel. The Merchant Adventurers, in the teeth of the +opposition of the Staplers and the Hanseatic League, first by piracy +and chance trading and then by organised and chartered commerce, +filled the North Sea with their ships, founded settlements at Bergen +and Antwerp, and on the ruins of their rivals built up one of the most +successful trading companies of northern Europe. English merchants +carried from Crete or Lisbon the precious stores of eastern wine and +spices, and brought their bales of wool to the port of Pisa to supply +the makers of Florentine cloth, or to the ports of Normandy to supply +the looms of northern France.[729] + +But it is not for his patronage of art or for his enterprise in foreign +trade that the English burgher is chiefly noteworthy, but rather +for his "politic guiding" of the cities in which he lived. Pirates, +perhaps, on the Narrow Seas, he and his fellows were at home, for the +most part, law-abiding men. A certain innate conservatism, a truly +British love of appeal to custom and precedent, marks their rule, +and, although the populace was frequently unquiet and discontented, +the result was, on the whole, happy and successful. If the dangers of +foreign commerce made them hardy and fearless, their political and +civic life, with its manifold responsibilities, taught them a prudence +and worldly wisdom, which appears in all their transactions. Never +were men who paid such heed to the Gospel precept, "Be ye wise as +serpents." Liable to be deserted or oppressed by the King, thwarted +by the open violence or secret maintenance of some great noble or the +factiousness of some fellow-burgher, their self-reliance turned these +necessities to "glorious gain." It is true that we meet with little +heroism, and few distinct types of character. The men of this class +can boast of no individuals who can be rightly considered as important +historical figures. Like the great Gothic architects, these men, who +built up such a flourishing and successful society, have been chary of +leaving their names to us. Now and then, however, a bit of grimy and +neglected parchment reveals a striking history. We see the clothes +they wore and hear the words they said. The quarrel resounds once more +in the guild-hall. The stern recorder testifies against the supposed +factiousness of Laurence Saunders; and the aged men, lifting up their +hands, swear to the ancient extent of the common pasture. These are +not heroic or world-known scenes, but they represent the life of the +citizens of an old-time city, men whose labours are not entirely +forgotten. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 600: Perhaps to Bishop Patteshull, who died 1238. Beresford, +_Diocesan Hist. Lichfield_, 127.] + +[Footnote 601: In 1391 the prior agreed to pay an annual pension of +100s. for eight years and to provide six trees if the parishioners +would rebuild the chancel of Trinity church at their own charge, +providing the materials and paying for workmanship (Sharp, _Antiq._, +71).] + +[Footnote 602: Besides parochial chaplains there were six chantry +priests at S. Michael's in 1522; two at Trinity; a warden and seven +secular priests at Bablake; and, at the Reformation, according to one +account, fourteen or fifteen chaplains at S. Nicholas' church (_ib._, +5, 72, 129, 132).] + +[Footnote 603: _Ib._, 25.] + +[Footnote 604: Sharp, 81.] + +[Footnote 605: Green, i. 154.] + +[Footnote 606: The scissors of the shearmen may yet be seen in a +clear-story window in S. Michael's.] + +[Footnote 607: Sharp, _Antiq._, 30. The girdelers paid 3s. for their +chapel to the churchwardens (_ib._, 33). The company of the cappers is +still in existence; and one day in every year the members repair to the +parvise adjoining the chapel and eat bread and butter and drink wine +there.] + +[Footnote 608: Sharp, _Antiq._, 92.] + +[Footnote 609: The drapers, mercers, dyers, cardmakers, and saddlers +(later the cappers), smiths, and girdlers had chapels in S. Michael's +church; the butchers, dyers, and tanners in Trinity. The fullers held +the chapel of S. George on the Gosford Gate. Some of the inferior +crafts, viz. the pinners, tilers, and coopers, had their annual mass +and drinking at Whitefriars.] + +[Footnote 610: This matter of the candles seems to have roused +dissensions at an early date. In 1282 the corpse of a woman to be +buried in the friars' cemetery at Dunstable was first conveyed to the +priory church there for the funeral mass. The monks boasted that out of +eight candles they only gave two to the Franciscans, keeping all the +rest for themselves (_Cornh. Mag._, vi. 835.)] + +[Footnote 611: The MS. annals note that in 1438 "Friar Bredon got the +old strike again" (Harl. MS. 6388, f. 18).] + +[Footnote 612: _Leet Book_, 228.] + +[Footnote 613: Leland, _Collectanea_, v. 304; Sharp, _Antiq._, 207.] + +[Footnote 614: _Leet Book_, 338. The old archery ground is commemorated +in "the Butts," now a street, but once outside the walls. A "butt" is +properly a mound on which the target is set up. In Edward IV's reign +butts were ordered to be made in every township, and the inhabitants +were to shoot on all feast days under pain of 1/2d. at every omission +(Strutt, _Sports and Pastimes_, 57).] + +[Footnote 615: Chamberlains to make a ring for the "baiting of bulls as +heretofore" (_Leet Book_, 83).] + +[Footnote 616: No one to shoot arrows in "le cokfyting place" (_ib._, +196).] + +[Footnote 617: _Ib._, 656.] + +[Footnote 618: _Chamberlains' and Wardens' Accounts_ (Corp. MS. A. 7b, +f. 2). "Paid to Sir ffoulke Grevile Bearewarde iii_s._ iiii_d._"] + +[Footnote 619: Corp. MS. A. 7_b_, ff. 2, 8.] + +[Footnote 620: "Paid for 3 sermons of Mr Butler's and ringing to them +35s. 3d." (_ib._, f. 1).] + +[Footnote 621: _Leet Book_, 271.] + +[Footnote 622: _Ib._, 629.] + +[Footnote 623: _Ib._, 652. "Blind inns" were secret taverns, where, of +course, all sorts of irregular proceedings went on.] + +[Footnote 624: _i.e._ Draughts.] + +[Footnote 625: _Leet Book_, 786.] + +[Footnote 626: _Ib._, 690.] + +[Footnote 627: _Leet Book_, 28.] + +[Footnote 628: _Ib._, 28.] + +[Footnote 629: See below, the Harcourt and Stafford quarrel.] + +[Footnote 630: Sharp, _Mysteries_, 169.] + +[Footnote 631: Wife of the famous Talbot.] + +[Footnote 632: _i.e._ Who.] + +[Footnote 633: _i.e._ Edge tool.] + +[Footnote 634: _Paston Letters_, i. 73.] + +[Footnote 635: Sharp, _Mysteries_, 180.] + +[Footnote 636: _Leet Book_, 204.] + +[Footnote 637: Corp. MS. A. 6. _Corpus Christi Guild Accounts_, ff. 54, +56, 80.] + +[Footnote 638: Corp. MS. A. 6. _Corpus Christi Guild Accounts_, f. 43.] + +[Footnote 639: The smiths spent money recklessly at this season until +1472, when it was ordained that the master of the craft should be +allowed 5s. on Midsummer, and 3s. 6d. on S. Peter's eve, "and not a +penny more," wherewith to provide supper (Sharp, _Mysteries_, 183).] + +[Footnote 640: _Ib._, 179.] + +[Footnote 641: _Ib._, 176.] + +[Footnote 642: See quotation from Stowe in Sharp, _Mysteries_, 175.] + +[Footnote 643: This was a universal custom, but there were special +local feasts. For instance, at Canterbury, on the eve of the +Translation of S. Thomas, a watch was kept. At Chester, Shrove Tuesday +was a day for general merry-making (Green, i. 149).] + +[Footnote 644: Among the dyers, the penalty was 13s. 4d.(Sharp, _op. +cit._, 183).] + +[Footnote 645: _Ib._, 160.] + +[Footnote 646: _Ib._, 184.] + +[Footnote 647: _Ib._, 193-4.] + +[Footnote 648: _Ib._, 194.] + +[Footnote 649: _Ib._, 196.] + +[Footnote 650: The cappers paid 9d. for canvas to make a new skirt for +the giant, and "for mendyng of hys head and arme, xvi_d_." (_ib._, +201). The dyers also furnished a pageant wherein a hart and a herdsman +blowing a horn figured. Perhaps this was a cause why they had been so +long allowed to escape from providing a pageant on Corpus Christi day. +See above, p. 220.] + +[Footnote 651: Sharp, 193. Drapers' Accounts, 1555, "payd to xviij +gonnarys lxii_s_. iiij_d_.; payd for xijli of gonepother, xij_s_. +vj_d_."] + +[Footnote 652: Sharp, _Mysteries_, 184.] + +[Footnote 653: "To gabriell for beryng the lilly iiij_d_." (_ib._, +162).] + +[Footnote 654: The frequent mistakes in chronology made by all writers +who depend on Sharp or the printed versions of the Annals for dates of +these visits make it important to insist on them.] + +[Footnote 655: The Shrewsbury mercers' guild imposed a fine on such of +its members who missed the local procession through absence at Coventry +fair. Chambers, _Mediæval Stage_, ii. 110.] + +[Footnote 656: C. Mery Talys, lvi. (quoted Chambers, ii. 358).] + +[Footnote 657: Chambers, _op. cit._, ii. 362. Bateson, _Leicester_, +III. 111, 120, 127, 137.] + +[Footnote 658: For this and the singing of the _Quem quæritis_, "whom +seek ye?" we have a "stage direction" in the _Regularis Concordia_ of +S. Ethelwold as early as Edgar's reign (959-79). See Chambers, ii. App. +O.] + +[Footnote 659: _Ib._, ii. 41.] + +[Footnote 660: Bishop, 1188-1198. See Chambers, _op. cit._, ii. 36. +_Cf._ the matter of the "castel of Emaus" in the cappers' play at +Coventry, Sharp, 48.] + +[Footnote 661: _Furnivall misc._, 206-7.] + +[Footnote 662: See Hardin Craig, _Two Coventry Corpus Christi Plays_, +Early English Text Society, to which I am much indebted. The older work +on this subject is Sharp's _Dissertation on the Dramatic Mysteries_. +Chambers' _Mediæval Stage_ is very rich in Coventry material.] + +[Footnote 663: See _Leet Book_, 205, for the case of the cardmakers, +saddlers, painters and masons.] + +[Footnote 664: _Ib._, 94, The case of the weavers' journeymen, who paid +4d. a piece, is the only one on record.] + +[Footnote 665: Sharp, 8.] + +[Footnote 666: _Ib._, 9, 10. There is no record that the dyers ever +contributed to the Mystery Plays. In 1539 the Mayor of Coventry told +Cromwell that the poor commons were at such expense with their plays +and pageants that they fared the worse all the year after. Chambers, +_op. cit._, ii. 358.] + +[Footnote 667: Mr Chambers' surmise that the common lands were enclosed +to build pageant-houses on is untenable. The rents derived from the +enclosed lands was devoted to the upkeep of the pageants.] + +[Footnote 668: Sharp, _op. cit._, 9.] + +[Footnote 669: _Ib._, 20.] + +[Footnote 670: See illustrations in _Furnivall Misc._ taken from MS. +Bodl. 264 ff. 54_b_, 76_a_. These pageants do indeed look like a +glorified Punch and Judy show, as Mr Chambers has said.] + +[Footnote 671: It is difficult to say what they may not have endured. +At Skinnerswell in 1411, a play lasted for seven days! There were +twelve to sixteen stations at York; but the York plays were far shorter +than the Coventry ones.] + +[Footnote 672: Sharp, _op. cit._, 73.] + +[Footnote 673: By the kindness of the editor of the _Victoria County +History_, I am permitted to include this note from an unprinted MS., +Inq. p.m. 19 H. 8, 46-45 (_P.R._O.) proof of age of Walter Smith of +Coventry. It is important as furnishing proof that S. Christian is the +right reading instead of S. Catherine, which Dr Craig would substitute. +For S. Christianus, bishop of Auxerre in the ninth century, and S. +Christiana, virgin, of Jermunde in Flanders, who flourished in the +eighth century, see Smith and Wall, _Dict. Chr. Biog._ Miss Toulmin +Smith, thinks that S. Christina and S. Christiana were distinct +persons. There was a play in honour of the former at Bethersden in +Kent. _York Plays_, lxv.] + +[Footnote 674: Craig, _op. cit._ xxi.-ii.] + +[Footnote 675: See Chambers, ii., 419-20.] + +[Footnote 676: Dugdale, _op. cit._, i. 183.] + +[Footnote 677: They may have been performed as late as 1591.] + +[Footnote 678: Cott. Vesp D., viii. ed. by Halliwell Phillips.] + +[Footnote 679: An error, since Old Testament scenes are also included.] + +[Footnote 680: "Vulgo dicitur hic liber Ludus Coventriæ, sive ludus +Corporis Christi."] + +[Footnote 681: See Chambers, _op. cit._, ii. 416-22; Gayley, _Plays of +Our Forefathers_, 135-9, 325-7; Shelling, _Eliz. Drama_, 20-1; Leach in +_Furnivall Misc._, 232-3.] + +[Footnote 682: See _Camb. Lit. Hist._ v. 13 for the York friar, who +described himself as a "professor of pageantry."] + +[Footnote 683: Mr Chambers suggests that, as the crafts admittedly +altered and revised their plays, the _Ludus Coventriæ_ may be a +discarded version.] + +[Footnote 684: Leach in _Furnivall Misc._, 232.] + +[Footnote 685: Craig, xviii.] + +[Footnote 686: On the _Prophetae_, see Chambers, ii. 52, 70; Craig, +xviii.] + +[Footnote 687: Craig, xvi. This certainly was the subject of a play; +see payment to S. Thomas of India above, p. 287.] + +[Footnote 688: Particularly in the fragment of--probably--an earlier +version, see Craig, _op. cit._, 119-122.] + +[Footnote 689: See Craig, _op. cit._, xxiv.-v.] + +[Footnote 690: Yche = I. And I were laid low. Jubbard = jeopard.] + +[Footnote 691: Craig, 47.] + +[Footnote 692: Craig, 48.] + +[Footnote 693: See on this point and on Balaam's ass, Chambers, _op. +cit._, ii. 57.] + +[Footnote 694: _i.e._ they.] + +[Footnote 695: Craig, 18.] + +[Footnote 696: Sharp, 51.] + +[Footnote 697: _Ib._, 31.] + +[Footnote 698: York Plays, 277.] + +[Footnote 699: Sharp, 47.] + +[Footnote 700: _Ib._, 66-7.] + +[Footnote 701: _Ib._, 37.] + +[Footnote 702: Sharp, 36.] + +[Footnote 703: Craig, 94, 97.] + +[Footnote 704: Sharp, 73.] + +[Footnote 705: _Ibid._] + +[Footnote 706: _Ib._, 55.] + +[Footnote 707: _Ib._, 26.] + +[Footnote 708: _Ib._, 33.] + +[Footnote 709: Craig, 90.] + +[Footnote 710: Sharp, 70, 71.] + +[Footnote 711: _Leet Book_, 589.] + +[Footnote 712: Sharp, 166. For the riding of the George at Norwich, +Leicester, Stratford, and elsewhere, _v._ Chambers, i. 221-3. Plays in +honour of S. George were performed at Lydd, New Romney, Bassingbourne +(_ib._, ii. 132).] + +[Footnote 713: Harl. MS. 6388, f. 26 _dorso_.] + +[Footnote 714: Sharp, _op. cit._, 158.] + +[Footnote 715: Rous (_Hist. Regum Angliæ_, 105-6) ascribes it to the +rejoicings on the death of Hardicanute. On Hock-tide, see Chambers, i. +154-5.] + +[Footnote 716: The one.] + +[Footnote 717: The other.] + +[Footnote 718: The carpenters in 1464 paid 8d. to the minstrels at the +feast (Sharp, 213); the dyers paid 2d. (_ib._, 214).] + +[Footnote 719: _Ib._, 209] + +[Footnote 720: _Ib._, 207.] + +[Footnote 721: _Leet Book_, 258.] + +[Footnote 722: _Leet Book_, 253.] + +[Footnote 723: _Ib._, 345.] + +[Footnote 724: _Leet Book_, 357.] + +[Footnote 725: _Leet Book_, 476-481.] + +[Footnote 726: 6d. a week was collected from all the citizens of the +mayor's rank, and 4d. and 2d. from those of the sheriff's and warden's +rank respectively to pay for the soldiers' board.] + +[Footnote 727: _Leet Book_, 488.] + +[Footnote 728: _Leet Book_, 57, 68.] + +[Footnote 729: Green, i. 90-120.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +_Old Coventry at the Present Day_ + + +Coventry is well worth a whole day's visit, though the day may be an +easy one, as the principal buildings lie very near together, and _are +practically always open_, so that no time need be wasted ringing up +this or that caretaker or running after the sacristan. Either the +powers that be have little leisure to think of tourists, or they must +be men of singular enlightenment, for I know of no place which can be +seen so freely and cheaply, where lingering over a charming effect, +a boss, inscription or painted window may be done with such pleasure +because interruption is so rare.[730] The tourist will show his wisdom +by not going too far afield in his sight-seeing; the three churches and +S. Mary's Hall will, with a passing look at many a picturesque narrow +street, carved gable, or interesting relic of old Coventry, furnish him +with some hours' occupation. Those, of course, who possess indomitable +physical and mental energy may ascend S. Michael's spire for the view's +sake, or brave a walk through the somewhat dreary environs of Coventry +to the historic but commonplace-looking strip of land known as Gosford +Green.[731] Or, if they are proof against the depressing influence of +the workhouse--for into this building the remains of the Carmelite +monastery have been incorporated--may follow the line of Much Park +Street to Whitefriars, and there see the fine monastic cloister, with +its fifteenth-century groining, which now serves as the paupers' +dining-room.[732] + +Castle and monastery have been destroyed in Coventry, and, after all, +nobles and monks had very little to do with the making of the city, +which, in 1381, was the fifth, and about seventy years later the +fourth, among the cities of the kingdom. A fortunate junction of high +roads, and the enterprise of the inhabitants, accounts for the great +riches and large population during those seventy years. _And mark +that the most noteworthy buildings were raised within this period_: +the churches of S. Michael, and the Holy Trinity, and S. Mary's Hall. +S. John's church is a little earlier in date. During this period the +people of Coventry were possessed with a magnificent frenzy, such +as shames our modern efforts, for building and making their city +beautiful. That is to say, within a little over two generations the +inhabitants of a town of what we should call nowadays contemptible +smallness, for it contained at first a population of only about 7000, +and later certainly no more than 10,000 souls, raised two parish +churches of unusual size, and a fine town hall. One of these churches +is indeed the largest in the kingdom, and possesses a spire almost +unrivalled in height and beauty. They also kept their fortifications in +good repair during this period, and raised--to speak of inconsiderable +trifles--a market cross, which has unfortunately perished, besides +lending to all the buildings their bounty was making or had made, +all the riches of suitable adornment that the carpenter's, carver's, +painter's, glazier's, weaver's and goldsmith's art could devise. Much +has perished in the destruction of the cathedral, the friars' and +other chapels, the cross, a parish church, a guild-hall, and many +unremembered buildings; but enough remains to show that we owe a +great debt to those dear, dead folk who knew so many things we have +forgotten and loved so many things we have ceased to care for, and +above all, knew what to do with stone and glass and metal, and loved +their handiwork, for it was good. + +Women have always been to the fore in Coventry; the names rise of S. +Osburg, Godiva, Isabella, Margaret of Anjou, of the virgin sisters +Botoner, who built the spire, and of Joan Ward, the first Coventry +Lollard martyr. Women of the city, too, helped to keep out Charles I. +Here Sarah Kemble (Mrs Siddons) was married and Miss Ellen Terry born. +It is fitting that the chief literary interest of Coventry should +centre in a woman's name. George Eliot went to school at a house in +the south-west end of Warwick Row, 1832-5. Coventry is said to be the +original of Middlemarch, and S. Mary's Hall is described in the trial +scene in _Adam Bede_. + +In coming from the station down Warwick Row, as you pass the angle +of Greyfriars' Green, look at the modern statue of Sir Thomas White, +merchant, Lord Mayor of London in 1555, founder of S. John's College, +Oxford, and benefactor of the city of Coventry. Other famous folk +connected with the city were Laurence Saunders, the Marian martyr, who +was led out to die in the park to the right of Christ church, the spire +of which is close before you, while John Marston, satirist, writer of +plays, friend and foe of Ben Jonson, was born here. Perhaps some day +our cousins from over the Atlantic may raise a tribute to the memory +of John Davenport, Puritan, of this city, who, after a troubled career +as pastor in the city of London, fled to Amsterdam; and finally, in +1637, at the invitation of John Cotton, departed for New England, +where he lived as pastor of Newhaven for very many years; and, after +much controversy concerning baptism, and writing of books, departed +this life at Boston on March 13, 1670. Others may feel more interest +in his brother or kinsman, Christopher, a convert to Romanism, and +hence the religious antipodes of the aforesaid John. After a sojourn +at Douay, this Franciscan friar became chaplain to Queen Henrietta +Maria, and subsequently to her daughter-in-law, Catherine of Braganza, +wife of Charles II. He died in 1680, and was buried at the Savoy +Chapel, London. Being suspected of designs for promoting the union of +the English and Roman Churches, it was one of the indictments against +Archbishop Laud that he held frequent converse with Christopher +Davenport. Other notable folk have at one time or another lived within +the city. Sir William Dugdale, Garter King-at-Arms under Charles II., +author of the _Monasticon_ and the _Antiquities of Warwickshire_, +"maestro" and "autore" of all such as love the lore of the famous +shire of Warwick, received his education at the Free Grammar School. +While Humphrey Wanley, to whose skill and knowledge the British Museum +owes--not the gift--but the collection and arrangement of the Harleian +manuscripts, while he held the post of librarian under Harley, Earl of +Oxford, in Queen Anne's time, was son of a vicar of Trinity church, one +Nathaniel Wanley, whose book _Wonders of the Little World_, was greatly +loved by Browning. + +Full in front is the view of the "three tall spires." The nearest, +that of Christ church,[733] is all that remains of the far-famed +chapel of the Greyfriars, wherein so many local notables and members +of noble families lay buried. The church having been demolished at the +suppression of the monasteries under Henry VIII., the steeple remained +a solitary landmark until 1830, when the body of a new church was +added. This is an uninteresting structure, and not worth a visit. + +We are now inside the compass of the ancient wall, and those who wish +to keep up old illusions, and enter the city by the ancient road, +should turn up Warwick Lane, alongside of the Grapes' Inn, avoiding +modern Hertford Street, and so along Grey Friars' Lane to High Street +and the main thoroughfare of the city. A little below the junction of +the Warwick and Grey Friars' Lanes stands Ford's Hospital, a beautiful +black and white timbered house with carved gables such as artists +love. The windows are of nine lights, divided into threes, with +window-headings of fine tracery. In a room over the porch called the +chapel are oddments of stained glass. Some of the seventeen old women +who are housed there, and daily bless, or should bless, the memory of +Master Ford and Master Pisford, merchants, may often be seen sitting +in the little inner quadrangular court. Worthy Master Pisford, by his +will, dated 1517, made provision for six old men and their wives, +"being nigh unto the age of threescore years and above, and such as +were of good name and fame, and had been of good honesty and kept +household within the said city, and were decayed and come to poverty +and great need." Nowadays, however, it is only old women who profit by +their benevolence. + +On reaching High Street, which is part of the great north-west road, +and the old coaching way between London and Holyhead, it is best to go +right on down Pepper Lane, which immediately faces you, until you come +to S. Michael's churchyard. This broad open space was, and is still, +the centre of the life of the town. Here stood the cathedral and the +two great parish churches, the house containing the cloth market, and +the guild-hall, where the rulers of the city assembled to take council +together. Possibly while the churches, as we know them now, and S. +Mary's Hall were yet unbuilt, the common assembly of city folk met +together here to hold courts, and decide on questions touching the +common weal. Now the cathedral and drapery are gone, but the church +spire still stands fronting the spectator, and a few paces will bring +him where, behind the projection of a small black and white cottage, +stands the red and crumbling entrance porch of S. Mary's Hall. + +Tradition, which we can never afford to disregard, says that S. +Michael's Church--spire, tower, chancel, and nave--was built by the +Botoners, a great merchant family, further affirming that a brass plate +was found in the church, with the following lines engraved upon it:-- + + "William and Adam built the tower, + Ann and Mary built the spire, + William and Adam built the church, + Ann and Mary built the quire." + +Undoubtedly the Botoners were wealthy and generous folk, but whether +this little quatrain is founded on fact or no, we have no means of +proving. + +The famous nine-storied steeple, consisting of tower, octagon and +spire, whereof the tower, begun in 1371, occupied twenty-one years +in building, is 300 feet high or thereabouts, but gains a fictitious +appearance of greater height in that it springs immediately from +the ground. The architect had a marvellously happy thought when he +added the flying buttresses, which connect the pinnacles of the main +tower with the octagon above it, converting a mere tall spire into a +"star-ypointing" thing of lightness and beauty.[734] The stone figures +in the niches are modern; the ancient ones, worth inspection though +worn past identification, have been placed in the crypt, to which +entrance is gained on the north side of the church. It is perhaps the +finest specimen of the florid Perpendicular spire in England. The +decoration is concentrated in the storeys easily seen, _i.e._ the upper +ones of the tower, gradually dying away as the eye travels upwards. +The steeple recently underwent restoration under Mr Oldrid Scott, and +whatever was gained in stability by the process, much was lost with +the look of old age which vanished with the crumbling surface of the +ancient stone. + +Before entering the church by the south door notice the rare round +trefoil-headed arch of the south porch, earliest portion of the church, +a few steps beyond, opposite the door of S. Mary's Hall. What first +strikes the spectator on entering is the great size of the building, a +fact mainly owing to the simplicity of the ground plan, no space being +lost in transepts, and to the absence of any partition or arch between +nave and chancel, so that from the west end there is an uninterrupted +view of the entire church. From this spaciousness and simplicity +comes a grandeur which mere size could never wholly give. The style +of architecture--of the kind called "Perpendicular"--shows that the +fabric belongs to the end of the fourteenth and the first half of the +fifteenth century, the choir being older than the nave, which dates +from 1434 to 1450. It has been suggested that the building was just +complete when Henry VI. paid his visit to the church in 1451. + +The width of the arches and slightness of the pillars display the +technical skill of the architects of this period, who, by a just +distribution of weight, etc., contrived to raise churches of maximum +size at a minimum expense of material and labour. It is a church where +a large congregation may be comfortably housed, but it has the great +defect of the later style of Gothic building,--all sense of mystery +and aspiration, with which the lofty roof and high-pointed arch of the +earlier periods impress the beholder, are wholly absent. + +On looking up from the west end, a curious break in the line of the +roof at the junction of nave and chancel is very apparent. The choir +inclines to the north, and in so doing furnishes an architectural +problem difficult of solution.[735] It is curious that the tower, +which is not central with the nave, is in line with the choir. + +The lantern at the west end has been opened out since the recent +restoration, and the sight of the beautiful groining of the roof is +not one that should be missed. The nave has six bays; and in the +clear-story windows of both nave and chancel the mullions are carried +down until they meet the line of the arch; in the chancel the scheme is +more decorative, and over the central arch of the three bays the window +is a four-light one. + +The step between nave and chancel is of oak and may have been the +ancient sill of the rood-screen.[736] + +The church is somewhat poor in detail, having suffered from the zeal of +reformers, and from the ignorance and carelessness of "Bumbledom" in +the succeeding centuries. At the Reformation there came down a fellow +with a "counterfeit commission," and for "avoiding of superstition" +tore up all the memorial brasses on the tombs, so that those that are +left date from Elizabethan times--or later--and are of small interest. +In a "restoration" of 1851 there was a regular "double twilight" among +the tombs, which were taken up from their original resting-places, +and deposited wherever the restorer thought fit. Amongst those thus +displaced, and now standing at the west end of the north aisle, was +the alabaster tomb of Julines Nethermyl, a worthy draper of the city, +whose family entered the ranks of the squirearchy of Warwickshire, and +bore arms like gentlefolk. In the front of the tomb is a bas-relief of +Julines and his wife, with their five sons and five daughters, and the +following inscription:-- + +"Hic jacit Julianus Nethermyl, pannarius, quondam Maior hujus +civitatis, qui obiit xi die mensis Aprilis anno domini MDXXXIX., et +Johanna, uxor ejus, quorum animabus propitietur Deus. Amen."[737] + +The various crafts or trading companies had special chapels allotted +to their use before the Reformation; the dyers, the present baptistery; +the cappers, one adjoining the south aisle, while in a little +parvise over the south porch, they still meet once a year, transact +the company's business, eat, drink, and spread upon the table the +venerable velvet cloth, once a pall, an interesting relic, albeit +torn and faded, of the days when the making of cloth caps was one of +the main industries of the city. The smiths and girdlers had chapels +off the north aisle; and the drapers and mercers the space at the +east end of the north and south aisles respectively. It was from its +place among its fellows in the drapers' chapel that Nethermyl's tomb +was brought, and many others stand behind a railing in the Mercers' +Chapel in the south aisle. Here is a much defaced early Renaissance +erection, traditionally known as "Wayd's tomb," and a most interesting +relic of a city officer in the memorial to Dame Elizabeth Swillington +and her two husbands, one of whom, Ralph Swillington, was sometime +recorder of the city. Round the tomb is the legend: "Orate pro anima +Elizabethe Swyllington, vidue, nuper uxoris Radulphi Swillyngton, +Attornati Generalis Domini Regis Henrici octavi, Recordatoris Civitatis +Coventrensis; quondam uxoris Thome Essex, armigeri; que quidem +Elizabeth obiit anno domini millessimo CCCCC--."[738] The worthy +attorney-general and recorder lies on the side nearest the spectator; +the squire, Master Thomas Essex, in armour, on the side farthest off; +Dame Elizabeth, wearing a pedimental head-dress, her hands raised in +supplication, in the middle. The dame, the date of whose death is +unknown, as the tomb was erected in her lifetime, lived at Stivichall, +near Coventry, and gave £140 for the support of the poor and repair +of roads in the neighbourhood of the city. Master Swyllington, who +was made recorder in 1515, doubtless discharged his duties with all +faithfulness, but I know of no memorable event in which he figures +during his tenure of office. + +All the pre-Reformation brasses save the one commemorating Thomas Bond +are gone. One in the west end on the north aisle shows Maria Hinton +(1594) and four swaddled babes. She was the wife of that Archdeacon +of Coventry and Vicar of S. Michael's who had such a troublesome +correspondence with James I. about non-kneeling communicants. Another +in the south aisle shows the figure of Ann Sewell (1609) kneeling in +prayer. The inscription runs:-- + + "Her zealous care to serve her God + Her constant love to husband deare, + Her harmless harte to everie one, + Doth live, although her corps lie here. + God graunte us all, while glass doth run + To live in Christ as she has done." + +"Ann Sewell, ye wife of William Sewell, of this cytty, vintner, +departed this life ye 20th of December, 1609, of the age of 46 yeares. +An humble follower of her Saviour Christ, and a worthy stirrer up of +others to all holy virtues." + +The Sewell family, which gave two mayors to Coventry, have a great many +American descendants. + +On the wall near the south porch is a brass to Gervase Scrope (1705), +who describes himself "as an old toss'd Tennis Ball." + +In the Cappers' Chapel by the south porch are the Hopkins' tombs; and +in the Dyers' Chapel is a monument to female friendship commemorating +Dame Bridgman and Mrs Eliza Samwell. Above "Wayd's" tomb in the +Mercers' Chapel is a monument to Lady Sheffington (1637), whose husband +is described as a "true moaneing turtle." + +In the Drapers' or Lady Chapel, which is divided from the north aisle +by an oak screen, we are continually reminded of the powerful Trinity +guild, as well as the drapers' company, whose priests said daily +service here. This part of the church was chosen as a burial place for +the chief members of the latter society. In a brass plate let into the +north wall of the chapel you may see the memorial inscription to the +most notable of these:--"Here lyeth Mr Thomas Bond, draper, sometime +mayor of this cittie, and founder of the Hospitall of Bablake, who gave +divers lands and tenements for the maintenance of ten poore men so long +as the world shall endure, and a woman look to them, with many other +good guifts; and died the xviii day of March, in the yeare of our Lord +God MDVI." + +Bond's Hospital still stands by S. John the Baptist's church. May it +endure--as the epitaph has it--as long as the world itself. + +The dark oak roof of the chapel is ancient, and in some cases angels +carrying shields are figured on the corbels. The first of these, at the +east end of the north wall, bears, however, the Agnus Dei, a reference +to S. John the Baptist, one of the patrons of the guild; the next a +pelican "in her piety," _i.e._ feeding her young from her own breast, a +symbol of Christ. + +The Communion-table is of seventeenth-century work; there are curious +poppy-heads in this chapel; and on the other side of the screen, which +is made up of ancient fragments, is an old oak chest showing that +favourite Coventry subject, the Coronation of the Virgin, with swans, +Tudor roses and grotesques. + +The miserere seats are worth inspection, though the carving is somewhat +rough. They seem to fall into three classes, illustrating:-- + +1. _The labours of life._ + +2. _The saints of the guild._ + +3. _The certainty of death, and judgment to come_, illustrated by the +favourite mediæval series, the _Dance of Death_. + +They may be taken in the following order, beginning with the north +wall:-- + +_First series._--Labours of life. + +1. A man thrashing; a man bat-fowling (agriculture and hunting). + +2. Shepherd piping (pastoral life). + +_Second series._--Saints of the guild. + +3. (_Defaced._) Decapitation of a martyr, perhaps S. John the Baptist. + +4. (_Defaced._) The Assumption of the Virgin. + +_Third series._--Dance of Death. + +5. A burial scene. Two men are laying the body, wrapped in a winding +sheet, in an open grave; a priest, holding a torch in his hand, and two +attendants stand near; mattock and spade are beside the grave.[739] +On either side of the central carving Death is represented leading a +mortal--in this case the pope--by the hand. + +6. A man is being stripped of his shirt, symbolical perhaps of the fact +that in dying we must relinquish all worldly possessions. A cripple, +whom by the irony of fate Death has spared, watches the process of +unclothing. The side subject has been cut off, but Death's companion is +a bishop; see the outline of his mitre. + +7. A death-bed scene; the sick person is in bed, his friends surround +him. + +8. The tree of Jesse. "The Word was made flesh." + +9. The Last Judgment. + +10. Grotesque. + +11. The chaining of Satan. + +12. + +13. Grotesque. + +14. + +The church terminates in a five-sided apse, with five large, slightly +pointed windows. The modern coloured glass of the three central ones +is a miracle of ugliness, but the two outer ones are composed of +fragments of ancient stained glass, out of which it is impossible, +however, to distinguish any connected group. Figures of the cherubim +standing on wheels are scattered about the various lights, still in +fair preservation. Other fragments show the Apocalyptic Lamb, the kiss +of Judas, and the description of the Trinity beginning, "Pater est +Deus," etc.[740] In the clear-story windows may also be seen more of +these beautiful, but sadly fragmentary remnants of ancient glass. In +one of these on the south side, the scissors, which were the mark of +the tailors' and sheremen's company, are conspicuous. + +The chancel roof is lower than the nave, and the two levels are +connected by a cove on which was once a fresco of the Archangel +overcoming Satan,[740] fragments of which are preserved though not _in +situ_. + +Painted on the beam above the cove which spans the nave between the +rood piers are traces of an old Latin hymn on the nine orders of angels +(a facsimile will be found in the vestry): + + "Archangeli presunt ciuitatibus. + Potestates presunt demonibus. + Dominaciones presunt spiritibus angelicis. + Cherubyn habent omnem scienciam. + Principalitates presunt bonis hominibus. + Virtutes faciunt mirabilia. + Seraphyn ardent in armore dei. + Troni eorum est judicare. + Angeli sunt nuncii domini." + +Opposite the south porch of S. Michael's is the entrance to S. Mary's +hall, the banqueting room and meeting-place of the guild of the Holy +Trinity, S. Mary, S. John Baptist and S. Catherine, and the centre for +the transaction of all municipal business. The great north window, of +which the mullions bear trace of a recent restoration, is visible from +the street, and from an opening in the front to the hall, long since +blocked up, it was customary to proclaim the acts of leet passed by +the fathers of the city to the crowd below. Built as it was for the +honour and glory of this guild, whose members were the chief folk of +the city, the building is full of detail reminding us of the patron +saints of this fraternity. We shall see this more clearly later, when +we come to examine the tapestry which hangs in the Hall itself. In the +meantime note that the porch, which gives entrance to the court-yard, +bears on its keystone a carving, representing the Coronation of the +Virgin, and from one of the stones, whence the inward arch springs, is +a sculpture of the Annunciation, now almost unrecognisable, save that +on the inner side the feathers of S. Gabriel's wings are to be clearly +made out. To the right of the court-yard, underneath the great Hall, is +the entrance to the crypt, two beautifully proportioned chambers with +plain groined roof, probably once a storehouse, now a receptacle for +lumber. In the end chamber or "tavern" is a fine carving of a lion. On +the western side are the cupboard-like openings in the wall, intended, +Sharp thinks, to receive the deeds and valuable property belonging to +members of the guild. + +On the south side of the court-yard is the fourteenth-century kitchen, +full of memories of the great feasts which were once cooked there, and +whence dishes were borne smoking hot up the stairs to the Hall above. +Now the modern cooking appliances stand out in all their incongruity. +Here is the old whipping-post, and in the roof is an ancient louvre +or smoke-vent. In the window stands a statue which came from the now +demolished cross. It probably represents Henry VI. The arches on the +north side bear rudely sculptured figures of angels, each holding +a shield on which is a merchant's mark, bearing the initials J.P., +_i.e._ John Percy (living 1392), a benefactor of the guild.[741] On +the ground floor is the new muniment room. (For admission apply to +the hall-keeper.) When inside the pretty little modern Gothic +chamber, ask the hall-keeper to point out Ranulf's charter, and notice +the beautiful twelfth-century writing, which you can contrast with +the more fanciful hand of the great charter of Edward III. The _Leet +Book_, from which so much contained in this history has been obtained, +stands on one of the bookshelves which line part of the room. The +_Letter-Book_ is usually open at Elizabeth's letter, 1569, referring +to the safe-keeping of Mary, Queen of Scots. The municipal scales, +engraved with the "Elephant," the city arms, are also visible in an +inner compartment of this chamber. + +[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO KITCHEN. ST MARY'S HALL] + +If the council is not sitting, the hall-keeper will also show the +much restored Mayoress's Parlour, on the upper floor. Here stands the +mediæval chair of state, used on great occasions, probably by the mayor +and the master of the guild. Only half remains of this magnificent +relic. No doubt the side where the guild-master took his seat was sawn +off, cast aside as useless on the suppression of this "superstitious" +society at the Reformation. The chair bears on one side a figure of the +Madonna, "the arms of Coventry surmount the back on the one side, and +on the other (which was the centre in its complete state) are two lions +rampant supporting a crown."[742] Several portraits line the room, +those of John Hales, founder of the Free Grammar School, of Christopher +Davenport, mayor of the city, and Sir Thomas White, are of great local +interest; others are of Elizabeth, Charles I., and James I., but +undoubtedly the most artistic is a curious portrait of Queen Mary, said +to be by Zucchero or Antonio More. + +As the Great Hall[743] served as a banqueting-hall for the Trinity +guild, a flight of steps at the south end communicates directly with +the kitchen. At the north end was a daïs, where the principal guests +took their seats. + +The room was also used for municipal purposes, particularly when the +town rulers found it necessary to convoke a large assembly of their +fellow-citizens. Many a stormy scene has this beautiful room witnessed. +Here it was--or in an earlier hall--that the common folk, enraged +at the bad quality of bread, threw loaves at the mayor's head when +he neglected to punish the frauds of the victuallers. Here Laurence +Saunders defied or submitted to the dictates of the corporation, and +the citizens met together promising to uphold the mayor and council in +their attack on William Bristowe, who had encroached upon the Lammas +lands. Here the mayor was elected and courts held. But when the council +met, they chose a smaller room communicating with the Great Hall, for +privacy's sake. + +The armour is a most interesting collection. A great many pieces are +Elizabethan, but the "Black Prince's helmet" is a unique sallet of +the period of the Wars of the Roses. The right way to study the Hall +is to mount the little flight of steps at the southern end, and, +sitting in the Minstrel Gallery, behind the array of civic armour, +examine the glorious fifteenth-century window at your leisure. A few +years back the glass was in utter confusion, having been carelessly +replaced after re-leading, and the respective heads, bodies and legs of +the magnanimous conquerors and kings therein commemorated were sadly +astray, their anatomy being rendered thereby most perplexing. This +has, however, been judiciously remedied, and we can now clearly see +in the nine compartments--as the artist, possibly William Thornton, +or a pupil of his, designed--the figures of the Emperor Constantine, +King Arthur, William I., Richard I., Henry III., Edward III., Henry +IV., Henry V., and Henry VI., the last occupying the place of honour +in the central light. Above are the arms of various nobles and cities, +among others the "elephant and castle" of this city, the three "garbs," +wheat-sheaves of Chester, and the sable eagle of Earl Leofric, the +city's earliest benefactor. + +The dark oak roof belongs also to the fifteenth century, and is worth, +even at the cost of some strain to the muscles of the neck, a careful +study. At the centre of each beam are whole-length figures of angels, +ten in number, of whom eight are playing on various instruments. The +first, close to the great north window, has a violin-like instrument, +the second a harp, the third a flute, the fourth a flute, but of a +peculiarly flat shape, the fifth a violin, the sixth a curved tube, +the seventh a tabor, the eighth a curved tube, while the ninth and +tenth have no wings or instruments at all; possibly they represent the +"morning stars singing for joy." + +Under the great north window hangs a piece of tapestry, dating, so +say experts, from the beginning of the sixteenth century. It is of +Flemish design, and was woven, possibly in England, with the intention +of filling the place it now occupies. Faded in colour, often blurred +in outline, the tapestry still remains a glorious memorial to the +love of beauty and artistic workmanship and corporate pride of the +great guild. It is divided into six compartments, and represents a +king, queen, and their Court adoring the Virgin, the Trinity, and +divers saints in glory; being undoubtedly designed to commemorate +the admission of a king and queen into the ranks of the Trinity +guild--an event which did actually occur in 1500 in the case of Henry +VII. and Elizabeth of York. Among the company of saints the place of +honour is given to those who were the chosen patrons of the guild. +Unfortunately the tapestry has not come down to us in the condition +in which it left the makers' hands. The figure of Justice holding +the scales is obviously out of harmony with the whole design. There +is no doubt that the personification of the Trinity, God the Father +on the throne holding Christ extended upon the Cross, with the Dove, +once occupied this space. The Hebrew letters of the word Jehovah +found above the cross still remain, but the reformers, who could not +endure the representation of this mystery, cut out the rest.[744] +Round the present incongruous figure of Justice kneel angels bearing +the instruments of the Passion, the nails, the sponge of hyssop, the +crown of thorns, the scourge, pillar and spear. The Assumption of +the Virgin in the lower central compartment reminded the guildsmen +of their earliest patroness, whose festival was one of their chief +days of assembly. The Virgin's feet rest on the crescent moon, which +is supported by an angel. The apostles kneel round in attitudes of +adoration. On either side of the lower tier a king kneels in prayer, on +the right a queen, traditionally identified with Henry VI. and Margaret +of Anjou; this attribution has not gone unchallenged; and it is at +least possible that the contemporary king and queen, Henry VII. and +Elizabeth of York, may be intended; the heraldic roses in the border +are, however, Lancastrian and not Tudor. The King kneels at a table +whereon lie a crown and missal; he wears a jewelled cap. None of his +followers can be identified save the kneeling cardinal, who probably +is intended for Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester (or Cardinal Morton), +and the standing figure behind the King, who may be the "good Duke +Humphrey" (or Henry, Prince of Wales). The Queen kneels opposite. None +of her ladies can be identified. The Queen has a head-dress embroidered +with pear-pearls, upon which is a crown of fleur-de-lys, her dress is +yellow, and the sleeves lined with ermine. Of the three ladies who +kneel behind her the third is obviously a child.[745] + +In the upper left-hand division is a group of male, on the right-hand +a group of female, saints respectively led by the patrons of the +guild, S. John the Baptist and S. Catherine. The former are the less +interesting company; they consist of S. John the Baptist bearing the +book and _Agnus Dei_; the next is probably S. Thomas, holding a lance. +There follow S. Paul with a sword; S. Adrian, patron of brewers, +standing on a lion, and holding a sword and an anvil, instrument of +his martyrdom; S. Peter with the key; S. George holding a banner, but, +oddly enough, with no dragon at his feet; S. Andrew with a transverse +cross; S. Bartholomew with a knife; S. Simon with a saw; and S. +Thaddeus with a halberd. In the opposite division stands an array of +saints in charming Tudor dress; S. Catherine with her wheel; S. Barbara +with the tower; S. Dorothea with the basket of roses; S. Mary Magdalene +with the vase of ointment; S. Margaret, name-saint of the queen who +kneels in the compartment beneath, with a queer, flabby, spotted +demon curling round her body; S. Agnes with a delightful little lamb, +which she holds by a string. Then follows an abbess, concerning whose +identity there has been much discussion. She is arrayed in a monastic +habit, bears a crozier, and has three white mice about her person, one +on either shoulder, and another springing in the air above. This is S. +Gertrude of Nivelles in Flanders,[746] patroness of travellers, and +maybe also of the locality where the tapestry was designed. Noted far +and wide for hospitality in her lifetime, the saint did not cease her +ministrations to wayfarers after death. The journey to Paradise is a +long one, occupying three days, so that the popular fancy said that +the souls slept with S. Gertrude on the first night, with S. Gabriel +on the second, and the third they rested in Paradise. "The saint +therefore became," says Mr Baring Gould, "the patroness and protector +of departed souls. Next because popular Teutonic superstition regarded +rats and mice as symbols of souls, S. Gertrude is represented in art +as attended by one of these animals. Then, by a strange transition +when the significance of the symbol was lost, she was supposed to be a +protectress against rats and mice, and water from the crypt at Nivelles +was distributed for the purpose of driving away these vermin." It may +be noted that the two nuns in the compartment of ladies attending +upon the queen, wear the same habit as S. Gertrude. The next saint of +the company is usually identified with S. Anne, but on what grounds +I am unable to discover. She bears a long staff (or taper) in her +hand. Now the saint likely to be associated with S. Gertrude would +be her godchild, S. Gudule, patroness of the cathedral of Brussels. +Her appropriate symbol is, however, a lantern. But the artist is not +very careful about these, and possibly may have substituted the taper. +In this case the demon hovering over S. Apollonia, who follows next, +bearing her pincers, really belongs to S. Gudule, and is a reminiscence +of the saint's nocturnal difficulties in keeping her lantern alight, so +persistently did the evil spirit blow it out. + +[Illustration: MAYORESS' PARLOUR, SHOWING STATE-CHAIR] + +After examining the tapestry there is little to detain you. The +oriel window contains some fragments of old glass; on the floor are +some ancient tiles; small figures from the ancient cross also stand +in the recess. The inscriptions about the Hall are reproductions of +Elizabethan black letter which once adorned the ancient wainscotting. +A brass commemorating the lease of Cheylesmore Park, granted to the +citizens by the Duke of Northumberland in the reign of Edward VI., is +fixed in the wall close to the entrance to the Mayoress's Parlour. It +is dated 1568. As for the terrible windows, filled with glass in 1826 +in imitation of the old work which had been destroyed in an affray +concerning a contested election of 1780, known as the "bludgeon fight," +let us not speak of them. At the south end of the hall is (right) the +Prince's Chamber, leading to the ancient stone-groined treasury in +the tower, and containing fragments of carving, one a figure of S. +George and the Dragon from S. George's chapel at Gosford gate, and +(left) the Council-Chamber, which has been recently wainscotted with +Jacobean carving brought from a house in Earl Street. There is a fine +Jacobean fireplace, an old chair, and an Elizabethan drawing-table in +the room. At the back of the minstrel-gallery is the Armoury, where +lies, in neglect and dust, a large picture, "The Baccanali," by Luca +Giordano; and at the back of the armoury is Queen Mary's Chamber, the +traditional place of confinement of the Scottish Queen in 1569. + +Crossing the churchyard, you arrive at Trinity Church whereof the +spire was rebuilt in the seventeenth century. The exterior, which has +been frequently recased, suffers somewhat from the neighbourhood of S. +Michael's, but the interior is of earlier and more finely proportioned +architecture than its giant neighbour. Rebuilt at the close of the +fourteenth century on the site of a parish church, which existed at +least as far back as the reign of Henry III., this building is also +full of problems, and is in some respects most interesting of all the +churches of Coventry. The jambs of blocked windows at various levels +are fruitful of speculations on the original appearance of the church, +and a piscina high up on the wall of south transept proclaims the +former existence of an upper chapel, with a floor level over a vaulted +passage, which was done away with for probably quite insufficient +reasons in 1834. The church, which was served by twelve parochial and +two chantry priests before the Reformation, contained fifteen altars; +while in the Lady-chapel a priest held services, taking a stipend from +the Corpus Christi guild. + +[Illustration: ARCHDEACON'S CHAPEL. HOLY TRINITY CHURCH] + +The earliest part of the church is the thirteenth-century north porch +with its groined roof, and a beautiful double doorway, now blocked up, +leading from the porch to S. Thomas's chapel. West of the porch, in +the Archdeacon's chapel, is another blocked window, a fine example of +the Decorated type. The nave is of the first half of the fourteenth +century, and was built before the chancel. The fresco of the Last +Judgment, which could once be discerned above the chancel arch, is now +obliterated. As in S. Michael's the mullions of the fifteenth-century +clear-story windows are continued to the top of the arches of the +nave, forming a series of stone panels. Marler's-chapel, leading out of +the north chancel-aisle, is the latest part of the structure, belonging +to the sixteenth century. The stone pulpit dates from about 1470. The +lectern, which is also antique, aroused the suspicions of the Puritans, +and in 1654 there was some talk of selling it, a transaction which was +happily not accomplished, though the "eagle" at S. Michael's, the gift +of William Botoner, had been sold at so much the pound a few years +before. + +Scarcely a vestige now remains of the ancient stained glass which once +made the church beautiful. Its disappearance was owing not perhaps so +much to Puritan zeal, as to the deliberate action of the authorities in +the last century. From 1774 to 1787 the masons of Coventry must have +revelled in the work of mutilating the window traceries, and the old +glass after being taken down was never put back. The old sexton told +the antiquary, Sharp, particulars of the famous window, wherein Leofric +and Godiva were represented, the former holding a charter with the +words: + + "I, Luriche, for love of thee + Doe make Coventre Tol-free." + +But this was removed in 1779; but a few last fragments of glass are +now in the window of the Archdeacon's chapel. A small figure is +seen holding a spray of leaves and part of a horse; there are also +architectural fragments in the stained glass that appear in Stukeley's +drawing of the Godiva window, but they are very insignificant and +broken. + +In this same chapel is a brass to John Whitehead (1597) and his two +wives in Elizabethan costume, and a monument in Philemon Holland +(1636), once master of the grammar school, translator of Camden's +_Britannia_. The font is of the fifteenth century. Close to the west +door is a fine Elizabethan alms-box. + +To the north of Trinity churchyard are the Cathedral ruins. Little more +than the bases of a few fine pillars are left of the once splendid +minster, dedicated to S. Mary, S. Peter, S. Osburg, and All Saints. +From the gates of Trinity church you pass the top of the picturesque +Butcher Row, and, if time does not fail you, may turn down Cross +Cheaping--alas that the cross should be no longer there!--till you come +to the Old Grammar School, at the corner of Hales Street. This was the +ancient home of the Hospitallers, who tended the infirm and sick, but +was converted after the Reformation into a free grammar school. It is +now a parish room; but round the walls of the ancient chapel of the +Hospitallers are the old stalls they once occupied, cut and hacked by +many generations of schoolboys. The east window is a fine specimen of +nearly flamboyant tracery. Here Dugdale received his education; also +the Davenports and a great many more who have never risen to fame in +the world. Mr Tovey, father of Milton's Cambridge tutor, and Philemon +Holland, the "translator-general of his age," were masters here. + +On returning up the Broadgate to the cross roads give a glance at the +authentic "Peeping Tom" looking out of a window in the top storey of +the King's Head Inn. It is a full-length wooden statue of a man in +armour, with helmet, greaves, and sandals; the arms are cut off at the +elbows. What the statue anciently represented is, I believe, unknown. + +The turning to the right, Smithford Street, leads to S. John's +Church, another building raised to the glory of God and the guild +of the Holy Trinity, S. Mary, S. John Baptist, and S. Catherine. +Nothing of the present church, built, it may be remembered, in some +sort to commemorate the king's victory at Sluys, is earlier than +1357, for the first church, begun in 1345 and consecrated in 1350, +disappeared before the more ambitious plans of a later time. Prayers +were said therein for Isabella's "dear lord Edward," at whose tomb +at Gloucester Cathedral so many pilgrims paid their devotions, to the +no small gain of the ecclesiastics of that place. The new church at +Bablake owed its south aisle--still called after his name--to William +Walscheman and Christiana his wife, which Walscheman is described as +"valet" (vadlettus) to Queen Isabell, and had of her gift control +over the Drapery, where vent was made of "foreign" cloth brought to +be sold within the city. The south (Walscheman's) aisle and the north +clear-story are the oldest portions of the now existing building, the +south clear-story, which is of different pattern, is not earlier than +the fifteenth century, though it contrasts very favourably with the +scheme employed both at Trinity and S. Michael's.[747] Off the north +chancel-aisle was a hermitage, whereof traces have been found on the +site of the present vestry. The church is small, the nave being but of +three bays' length, but it is lofty and of fine proportion. The modern +screen, however, strikes an inharmonious note. + +Oblong as to ground-plan, though, curiously enough, never quite +rectangular, the building, when seen from outside, is cruciform as to +clear-story, and from the crossing springs a high fortress-like lantern +tower with turrets or bartizans at the angles of the battlements. +The east and west windows are restorations, and indeed the many +vicissitudes this church has undergone, and its low situation, have +frequently exposed it to two evils--restorations and floods. Granted +to the corporation after the suppression of the guilds and chantries +in 1548, the church was used as a kind of religious lecture-hall in +1608 and for some years later; and in 1648 as quarters for the Scots +prisoners taken at Preston. The fabric was described as in a state of +sad neglect in 1734, when it was linked to a parish for the first time +in its history. + +[Illustration: THE STAIRCASE, OLD BABLAKE SCHOOL] + +Close by the church and forming the view of all views to be dwelt on +in the city, stand two picturesque black and white timbered houses, +one given by John Bond for an almshouse for aged and decayed folk +recommended by the Trinity guild, and the other the Bablake school +raised by the benevolence of Mr Wheatley in the sixteenth century. +Bond's Hospital, which contains some good seventeenth-century +furniture, has been restored; but by preternatural good luck Wheatley's +School escaped that devastating touch. The hall contains roof timbers +possibly older than the bulk of the building, and an ancient staircase; +and the room to the left on the ground floor has a fine Jacobean +mantelpiece which came from Sir Orlando Bridgman's house in Little Park +Street. There is an open gallery both on the ground floor and the upper +storey. + +The sight of these houses, grandly planned and strongly built, +with lovely gables where barge-board and finial are marvels of the +house-carver's art, is a fitting close to a day in Coventry. Let us +hope that no restorer, modern builder, well-meaning or enterprising +commercial man will ever rob us of the loveliness of Bond's Hospital +and Wheatley's School at Bablake. + +[Illustration] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 730: This is a condition of things tourists ought to be +thankful for; it is unhappily rare. S. Michael's closes at 5 o'clock +in summer, 4 o'clock in winter; the other churches at 4 all the year +round. The sight-seer ought to have an opera glass.] + +[Footnote 731: See p. 102.] + +[Footnote 732: See p. 164.] + +[Footnote 733: See p. 297.] + +[Footnote 734: Contrast the outline of Trinity spire--work of the +seventeenth century. See Bond, _Eng. Architecture_, p. 633.] + +[Footnote 735: Woodhouse, _Churches of Coventry_, 44.] + +[Footnote 736: Woodhouse, 45.] + +[Footnote 737: Poole, 150.] + +[Footnote 738: Poole, 142.] + +[Footnote 739: Poole, 145.] + +[Footnote 740: Brooks, S. Michael's Church.] + +[Footnote 741: Memorials of the visit of the British Archæological +Institute in 1864. The kitchen is part of the original building, and +belongs to the middle of the fourteenth century.] + +[Footnote 742: Sharp.] + +[Footnote 743: The architecture of the Great Hall shows it was raised +after 1392, when the union of the guilds took place.] + +[Footnote 744: Sharp, _Antiq._ 221.] + +[Footnote 745: Miss Howard (_Englishwoman_, Jan., 48, 1911) identifies +the feminine group with Elizabeth's daughters and sisters and +mother-in-law, Margaret Beaufort.] + +[Footnote 746: Sharp, _op. cit._, 222.] + +[Footnote 747: Woodhouse, _Churches of Coventry_.] + + + + +INDEX + + + A + + Abingdon, monastery at, 16; + letter sent to, 152 + + Actors, Coventry, 288 + + Aelfgar, 23 + + Alchemist, an, 240 + + Aldermen, 77; + appointment of, proposed, 115; + police duties of, 267, 279 + + Aldgyth, 23 + + Ale-tasters, 247 + + Ale-wives, 228, 249 + + Almshouse, 263 + + "Angel" inn, 131 + + Annals, or mayor-lists, unreliability of, 106 (and note) + + Annunciation, 82; + pageant of, 287, 299 + + Apprentices, swear to franchises, 200-1, 226; + morals of, 227, 279; + number of, limited, 225; + on setting up shop, pay fine, 226 and note; + treatment of, 227 + + Archery, 278 + + Armour, provided by citizens 114-115; + delivered to captains, 311-2 + + Arms, view of, 311 + + Arthur, Prince of Wales, 307 + + Assize of ale, 246; + of bread, 51, 71, 98, 246, 248 + + Assumption, 82; + pageant of, 287, 299 + + Audley, Lord, 130 + + + B + + Bablake, church of St John the Baptist at, _see_ Churches, Hospital; + gate at, 8 + + Baginton, 102, 248 + + Bagot, Sir William, 102 + + Bailiffs, duties of, 88; + _see also_ Sheriffs + + Bakers, offend against assize of bread, 98; + take sanctuary at Baginton, 248; + rules of, 251 (note). + + Ball, John, taken at Coventry, 97; + discourse of, 98 + + Banbury, 144, 151; + Puritanism at, 279 + + Barnet Field, 151, 152 + + Baron's Field, 179 + + Bath, Roman town, 15 + + Battle, trial by, 53 + + Beam, wool weighed at the, 250 + + Bear-baiting, 278 + + Bearward, 88, 278 + + Beaumont, Lord, 120, 128 + + Bedford, Duke of, 110; + Duchess of, 111, 149 + + Bedon, William, quarrels with Huet, 137 + + Belfry, symbol of independence, 74 (note). + + Bell, church, 158, 234 and note; + daybell, rung at dawn, 234; + "larum" bell, 126 (note) + + Benedictines, house of, at Coventry, 16, 24; + life among the, 27-8; + habit of, 238; + _see also_ Coventry, Monks, Priors, Priory + + "Benevolences," 155 + + Beverley, plays at, 290 + + Bishopric of Coventry, title of, 167 + + Bishops of Coventry, _see_ Coventry + + Black Death, 13, 244 + + Blood, Holy, of Hales, 238 + + Bloreheath, battle of, 130 + + Blue thread, special colour used in dyeing, 252 + + Bolingbroke, Henry, 9, 101, 102 + + Bond, John, 216; + _see also_ Almshouse + + Bonfires on S. John's Eve, 285 + + Books sold at fairs, 253 + + Bordars, 37 (note) + + Boston, ship of, 259 + + Bosworth Field, battle of, 157, 256 + + Boteler, Henry, _see_ Recorders + + Botoner, family of, trade with Bristol, 256; + build S. Michael's steeple, 257; + purchase estate, _ibid._ + + ---- Adam, 257 + + Botoner, William, 257 + + Brakemen, workers in iron, 221-3 + + Brass, memorial, to Sir William Bagot, 102 + + Braytoft, Richard, 176 + + Breauté, Faulkes de, 95-6 + + Bredon, Friar John, opposes the hermit's preaching, 107; + attacks monks, 276-8; + nails bills on the church door, 277 + + Brethren, of the mayor, _see_ Mayor's Council + + Brewers, forbidden to take water from conduits, 246; + forestall barley, 249; + trade of, lucrative, 248 + + Bridgman, Sir Orlando, house of, 6 + + Bristol, cannon brought from, 115; + trade with, 215, 252, 256; + toll demanded at, 257 + + Bristowe, John, draper, 172, 216; + encroaches on common lands at Whitley, 172-3, 180; + drives cattle on Coventry pastures, 173 + + ---- William, of Whitley, 172, 174; + offends the corporation, 174-5; + the mayor and citizens break into his closes, 175-6, 177-8; + appeals to the privy council, 177; + suit between, and the community about the ownership of enclosed + lands, 178-80; + keeps meadows, several, 194; + further suit, 196-7; + _see also_ Whitley + + Broadgate, 73 + + Bruges, staple for cloth at, 258 + + Buckingham, Duchess of, 128 + + ---- Duke of, Humphrey Stafford, quarrels with Coventry men, 113; + retainers and badge of, 113, 238; + attends Henry VI., 119, 128; + assists Duke of York to escape, 126; + visits Coventry, 131; + dies at Northampton, 132 + + Bull-baiting, 278 + + Bull-ring, poulterers stand near the, 250 + + Burgage, free, 46 + + Burgundy, wool trade with, 140, 150 + + Bury S. Edmund's, monastery at, 16; + men of, get concessions from the abbot, 66 + + + C + + Cade, Jack, 114; + quarters of, exposed on town gates, 243 + + Caen, abbeys at, 16 + + Calais, 143, 146; + _see also_ Staple + + Caludon Castle, 102 + + Cannock Chase, robbers at, 258 + + Canterbury, Archbishop of, 210; + Arundel, 103, 104 + + Cantilupe, Fulk de, 34 + + Cappers, 225; + company of, survives, 232; + fines for admission to freedom of craft, 226 (note); + treatment of apprentices among, 227 (note); + _see also_ Apprentices, Chapel, Journeymen, Pageants + + Caps, making of, by journeymen forbidden, 232 + + Cardmakers, bill concerning abuses of the, 222; + _see also_ Journeymen + + Card-wiredrawers, _see_ Cardmakers + + Carmelites, habit of, 238 + + Carpenter, John, of London, 263 + + Carpenters, apprentices of, 232; + feasts of, 284, 309 (note) + + Carthusians, house of, at Coventry, 100; + habit of, 238; + _see also_ Charter-house + + Cartwright, Presbyterian, at Warwick, 165 + + Castle, of Coventry, 40 + + Catesby, John, 178, 180 + + Catherine of France, Queen, 107 + + Chamberlain, duties of, 88, 187; + _see also_ Saunders, Laurence + + Chapel Fields, 41 + + Chapel of S. George on the Gosford Gate, 83, 275 (note) + + ---- of S. James and S. Christopher, 8 + + ---- of S. Mary Magdalene, at Spon, 41 + + Chapels of the crafts in the parish churches, 274, 275 (note) + + Chard, 152 + + Charity of the merchants, 259, 263; + of the corporation, 268 + + Charles I. is refused entrance to Coventry, 6, 166 + + ---- II. orders the walls to be dismantled, 7, 166 + + Charter, Ranulf's, 47-9, 61, 62; + confirmation of, 59; + privileges granted by, 69, 70, 74, 121; + probably purchased by Guilds, 80; + of 1621, 75; + to prior, 59, 60 + + Charter-house, 6, 100, 278; + _see also_ Carthusians + + Chester, bishop's seat transferred from, 30; + canons of, 32; + S. Werburgh's at, 18 (note); + Earls of, 38; + Hugh rebels against Henry II., 40-1; + builds lazar-house, 41; + Hugh Lupus, 39; + Ranulf Blonvil's career, 42; + gives charter to burghers, 47; + Ranulf Gernons, his career, 39-40; + Ranulf Meschines, 39; + plays at, 290; + written by Higden, 291 + + Cheylesmore, officers of, 135-6; + becomes royal manor, 96; + Earl of Chester's dwelling at, 44, 95 (note), 101; + Princes of Wales at, 154 + + Chimneys, wooden, 245. + + Churches, of Coventry, 269-78 + + ---- S. John the Baptist's, 8, 82, 270; + priests of, 120 + + ---- S. Michael's, bell brought to, 158; + chapels of crafts in, 274; + door of, verses nailed to, 204, 208, 277; + priests of guilds employed in, 82-3, 270 (note); + royal visits to, 120, 167; + sale of cloth in porch of, 202 + + ---- S. Nicholas, supported by Corpus Christi guild, 163 (note); + chaplains of, 270 (note) + + ---- Holy Trinity, 269-70; + fresco in, 273, 306; + priests employed in, 83, 270 (note) + + Churchyard, S. Michael's, 49, 250 + + Clapham, 144, 243 (note) + + Clarence, Duke of, conspires with Warwick, 142, 143; + pledges jewel, 146; + deserts Warwick, 151; + mediates with Edward IV. for Coventry men, 152 + + Cloth of Coventry, 212-5; + drapers, merchants of, 215; + dyers, makers of, 203 (note), 220; + Florentine, 315; + makers of, 203 (note); + manufacture of, 61; + sale of, 202, 212; + sealing of, 214-5; + weaving of, how paid, 230; + _see also_ Drapery, Frieze + + Clothiers, company of, survives, 232 + + Clothmakers, _see_ Cloth + + Cock-fighting, 278 + + "Cofantreo," 16 (note) + + Coket, bread, 248 and note + + Colchester, 15 + + Coleshill, 128, 129; + pillory at, 240 + + Combe, abbot of, 179 + + Commission of array, 312-3 + + Common Council, 204 + + Common labour, 310 + + Common lands, enclosures of, 170-3; + part of, held by Trinity guild, 91-2; + old men testify to the extent of, 179-80; + ploughed up, 160; + technical possessors of, 171 (note); + _see also_ Enclosures, Lammas lands, Prior's Waste, Saunders, Laurence, + Stint, Surcharging + + Common seal, 92 + + Competition, rules against, 225; + of outsiders, 251 + + Compurgation, 51 (note) + + Conduits, 1, 246 + + Coniers, Sir John, 141 + + Cook, Laurence, 109, 258 + + Cookery in Middle Ages, 283 + + Coopers, feast of, at Whitefriars, 275 (note) + + Coroner, 59 + + Corpus Christi, eve of, 282; + procession on feast of, 287-8, _see also_ Pageants + + Corpus Christi guild, _see_ Guild + + Corrody, 63 (note) + + Corvesars, 283 + + Council, great, held at Coventry, 126, 127; + _see also_ Mayor's Council, Prince of Wales + + Court, of the royal household, 101; + of statute merchant, 253-4 and note; + spiritual, for trial of craftsmen, 218; + _see also_ Leet, Portmanmote + + Coventry, bishops of, Blythe, 158; + Durdent, 32, 40; + Limesey, 30; + Nunant, expels monks from Priory, 30-2; + la Pucelle, 33; + elections of the, 32-5; + burgesses of, protest against confiscation of guilds' lands, 162; + cathedral of, 18, 25; + derivation of, 11; + _see also_ Charters, Mayors, Recorders + + ---- send to, 3 + + ---- bells, flower name, 3 + + Cox Street, or Mill Lane, pageant houses in, 12, 293 + + Crafts, combinations of, suppressed, 220 (note); + companies of, now existing, 232; + members of, tried in spiritual courts, 218; + feasts of, 284; + fines paid by, 219; + fines paid on admission to freedom of, 226 + and note; power of corporation over, 217-23; + rules of, overlooked, 218 (note); + _see also_ Apprentices, Cappers, Dyers, etc., Pageants + + Cucking stool, 240 + + + D + + Danes, 15, 308 + + Dartmouth, 141 (note) + + Daubers and rough masons forbidden to form a fellowship, 231 + + Daventry, 6 + + Despensers, plot to kill by witchcraft, 64 + + Dieulacres, 42 + + Dissolution of the monasteries, 161-2 + + Domesday Survey, Coventry in, 37 and note; + Prior's-half not in, _ibid._ + + Doomsday, pageant of, 129, 295, 305, 306 + + Drama, liturgical, _see_ Pageants + + Drapers, apprentices of, 226 (note); + chapel of, 275 (note); + influence of, 75, 216; + overlook searchers of cloth, 217; + survival of company of, 232 + + Drapery, cloth sold in, 202, 212, 250 and note; + and Trinity guild, 82; + drapers live near, 250 + + Drayton, Michael, 1, 14 + + Drogheda, 252 and note + + Dublin, 252 (note), 254 + + Dugdale, Sir William, attributes the _Ludus Coventriæ_ to the Grey + Friars, 297 + + Dunstable, 56, 276 (note); + play at, 290 + + Dunster, 22 + + Dye, French, 218, 257 + + Dyers, men of, ride in armed watch, 286; + chapel of, 275 (note); + raise price of dyeing cloth, 220 and note; + combinations of, 217, 220 and note; + payment of, to minstrels, 309 (note); + petition against abuses of, 217, 220 (note); + treatment of, by corporation, 220-1; + _see also_ Journeymen, Saunders + + + E + + Eadric Streona, 15 + + Earl's-half of Coventry, 7, 38, 57; + becomes a royal manor, 67; + _see also_ Prior's-half + + Edgcote, battle of, 144, 243 (note) + + Edward I., 61 + + ---- II. borrows from citizens, 61; + supports prior, 62; + plot to kill by witchcraft, 64 + + ---- III., 68 + + ---- IV. and jurisdiction, 135-136; + citizens embrace cause of, 132-3; + citizens give welcome to, 153; + confiscates franchises, 152; + plots of Warwick against, 143, 145; + a prisoner in Coventry, 144; + war between, and Warwick, 150-1 + + Edward V. as Prince of Wales, appeal to, by Saunders, 184; + arbitrates in Bristowe's case, 197; + born, 149; + corporation entreats mediation of, 155; + member of guilds, 154; + oath of allegiance taken to, _ibid._; + reception of, 153-4 + + Edward the Confessor, charter of, 16-17 + + Election of officials, 75 + + Elephant, city arms, 214 + + Eliot, George, 3, 4, 7 + + Elizabeth, Queen, visits Coventry, 14, 164; + sees Hox Tuesday play, 308-9 + + ---- Queen of Bohemia, 165 + + ---- Woodville, 149, 154 + + ---- of York, 160, 296 + + Empson, Richard, _see_ Recorders + + Enclosures, award of 1860, 170-1; + commons break into, 160; + petition to parliament concerning, 131; + list of, presented by Saunders, 188, 197; + of Prior's Waste, 176-7; + _see also_ Common Lands + + Ethelnoth, 18 + + Exeter, 146; + Vespasion at, 14 + + + F + + Fair, grant of, 54; + of Coventry, 251-2, 288 (note); + of Stourbridge and Winchester, 252 + + Fee-ferm, 74, 162; + in arrears, 138; + paid by Trinity guild to prior, 91 + + Fineux, Chief-Justice, 210 + + Fire, protection against, 245 + + Fishmongers, 247, 249 + + Fleet prison, 210 + + Folk-lore, 3-4 + + Ford, William, founds almshouse, 263 + + Forestalling, 247, 248, 249 + + Fortification of Coventry, 114-5 + + Forty-eight, Council of, 92-4; + _see also_ Mayor's Council + + Foss Way, 24 + + Fotheringay, 141 + + Fresco, at Charter-house, 100; + in Trinity Church, 306-7 + + Friars, Grey, 55; + church of, 4, 296; + habit of, 238; + Isabella protects the, 97; + supposed actors in pageants, 4, 296-8; + _see also_ Bredon, _Ludus Coventriæ_ + + Frieze of Coventry, 212 + + Fullbrook, castle of, 110, 111 + + Fullers, craft of, 201, 232; + guild of, 219; + adopt special mark, 218; + two appointed searchers, 214 + + + G + + Gaming, 279-80 + + Gaol, 240 + + Gates, closed at nine o'clock, 237 + + Girdlers, 221-3; + chapel of, 274 (note) + + Gloucester, city of, 133 + + ---- Duke of, Humphrey, 113; + loan demanded by, 109; + present made to, 110-11 + + Glover, Robert, martyr, 163 + + Godiva, buried at Coventry, 17; + family of, 23; + founds and endows Priory, 16; + estate of, 37 and note; + employs goldsmiths, 17-18; + procession, 19-20; + legend of ride of, 18-23; + and horse-toll, 18; + and "black lady," 22; + and "Peeping Tom," 22-3 + + Gosford Green, 171; + proposed duel at, 11, 102; + executions at, 144; + hermitage at, 238 + + ---- Street, and pageants, 12 + + Grace, John, disturbance caused by preaching of, 107 + + Grauntpee, William, suit of, with prior, 63 + + Greville, Sir Fulk, 278 + + Grey, Walter de, 34, 35 + + Guild of S. Anne, founded by journeymen, suppressed, 83, 229 + + ---- of S. Catherine, united with Trinity, 82 + + ---- of Corpus Christi, 80, 83; + chapel of, 83; + feasts of, 283-4; + master of, and mayoralty, 77; + and Corpus Christi procession, 287; + and S. Nicholas church, 163 and note; + Prince Edward, member of, 154 + + ---- of S. George, founded by journeymen, suppressed, 83, 229 + + ---- of S. John the Baptist, founded and builds Bablake church, 82; + united with Trinity guild, _ibid._ + + ---- merchant of S. Mary, founded, 80; + and S. Mary's Hall, 81-2; + masters of and the mayoralty, 80 and note; + reasons for foundation of, 80 (note); + priests of, 83; + union with Trinity guild, 82 + + Guild merchant of Priory tenants, 59, 60 + + ---- of the Nativity of fullers and tailors, 83, 219-20; + pageant of, 299 + + ---- of Holy Trinity, 80, 83; + and Bablake church, 82; + and the Drapery, _ibid._; + and Corpus Christi injured by formation of other guilds, 83; + master of, 77, 85, 87; + encloses commons to pay ferm to prior, 78, 91; + feasts of, 283; + and procession, 287; + pays schoolmaster, 266; + union of, with other guilds, 82 and note + + Guilds, rise of, 79-80; + suppression of fresh, 83; + suppression of, and chantries, 162-3 + + Guy of Warwick, 12, 24 (note) + + Guy's Cliff, 131 + + + H + + Haddon, John, loans of, 216 + + Hales, John, 162 + + Hanseatic League, 258 + + Harcourt, Sir Richard, brawls in Coventry, 281-2 + + "Harrowing of Hell," _see_ Pageants + + Hawking, 280 + + Hearsall Common, 8, 171 + + Hell-mouth, 305 + + Henry II., 40, 49 + + ---- III., 57 + + ---- IV., 104; + _see also_ Bolingbroke + + ---- V., loan to, 104; + as Prince of Wales and Justice Gascoigne, 105; + and Mayor Hornby, 106; + visits Coventry, 107, 288 + + ---- VI., 114; + visits Coventry, 116-21, 125, 126, 127; + grants charter, 121; + letter of, 131-2; + men of Coventry turn against, 132; + _see also_ Church, Margaret of Anjou + + ---- VII., 159-60, 198; + at Coventry, 156, 157, 288, 296; + appeals for loan, 158-9 + + ---- VIII., at Coventry, 307 + + Herbergeors, 255 + + Herbert, Lord, 144 + + Hereford, Nicholas, 100 + + Heresy, court of, 158 + + Hermits, in Coventry, 238 + + Herod, King, _see_ Pageants + + Heywood, John, _see_ Pageants + + Hinckley, 254 + + Holy cake, 87 + + Hopkins' family, 165 + + Hostry, monastic, 25-6 + + Hospital of S. John the Baptist, 26-7 + + Hox-Tuesday play, 3-4, 308-9 + + Huet, William, appeals to King-maker, 137 + + Huguenot silk weavers, 167 + + Hull, 252 (note), 265 (note) + + "Hundred Merry Tales," 288 + + + I + + Iklynton collar left in pledge, 104 + + Immorality, punishment of, 243 + + Indenture tripartite, 71-2 + + Inns, 255-6; + blind, 279 + + Iron, workers in, abuses of, 221-3 + + Isabella, Queen, Earl's-half manor of, 43, 67; + feud between and the prior, 67-70, 71-2; + protects the Grey Friars, 97; + and Bablake church, 82; + grants charter of liberties, 74 + + + J + + James I., 166 + + James II., 165.167 + + Jews in Coventry, 55 + + John, King, 31; + forces his candidate on the chapter, 33-5 + + Jordan Well, 13 + + Joseph, character in pageants, 302 + + Journeymen, cappers and cap-making, 231; + working hours of, _ibid._; + workers in iron, 223; + dyers, 231; + guilds of, 80, 83, 228-31; + _see also_ Guilds; + suppers of, 284; + tailors, 83, 229; + weavers, 229-30; + and pageants, 292 (note), 294 + + Justices of Peace, 76 + + + K + + Kenilworth, Abbot of, 179; + castle of, 96, 123; + prisoners kept in, 161; + royal visits to, 127, 129, 308 + + + L + + Lady Tower, 8 + + Lammas day, 160, 181 + + Lammas lands, 170, 171; + _see also_ Common Lands, Enclosures + + Landor, Walter Savage, 18 + + Laneham's letter, 308-9 + + Leet Book, 76 + + Leet, court of, or view of Frankpledge, 51 (note), 77; + jury of, 77, 90; + orders of, 87; + petitions to, 90, 221-3 + + Leicester, 116, 133, 150; + bailiff of, 38; + men of, rebel against Henry II., 41 + + Leofric, buried at Coventry, 17; + founds and endows the Priory, 16; + husband of Godiva, 23; + _see also_ Godiva + + Leprosy, 41 + + Lichfield, title of bishopric of, 167; + canons of, and Coventry monks, 32-5; + play performed at, 289 + + Lincoln, customs of, 47; + burgesses of, 48 + + Livery and maintenance, Henry VI. warns Coventry men against, 121 + + Loans to royal persons, 104, 109, 110, 146, 159 + + Lollard martyrs, 158 + + Lollardry, 3, 98-100, 108, 158 + + London, 42; + inn-signs in, 234 (note); + streets in, 250 (note); + precautions against fire in, 245 (note); + S. John's Eve, in, 284-5; + schools in, 263 (note), 265 (note); + sympathy of men of, with Coventry men, 64 (note); + body of Twenty-four in, 90; + Tower of, 38 + + Ludlow, castle of, 184, 188, 189, 196; + _misericord_ in church at, 249 + + _Ludus Coventriæ_, _see_ Pageants + + Lullaby, 310 + + Lutterworth, 98 + + Lynn, 148; + burgesses and guilds of, 162 + + + M + + Mace, 128 + + Maintenance, 127 + + Mareshall, Robert le, informer, 63-4 + + Margaret of Anjou, Coventry men turn against, 132; + Coventry called "secret harbour" of, 112; + reception of, 125-6; + visits Coventry, 127-8; + sees pageants, 129, 288; + is reconciled to Warwick, 147; + lands after Battle of Barnet, 151 + + Marisco, Richard de, 34 + + Market, held in Prior's-half, 58, 62-3, 71; + regulations concerning, 249-51; + toll-free, except for horses, 18 + + Marlborough, 49 (note) + + Marmion, of Tamworth, 39-40 + + "Marprelate, Martin," 253 and note + + Marshal of the royal household, 101 + + Mary, Queen of Scots, 164 + + Martyrs, 5, 158, 163 + + Masons, fellowship of, 231 + + Matilda, Queen of Henry I., called Godiva, 23 + + Maxstoke, 113, 158 + + Mayor, arbiter in cases of craft disputes, 219; + cap of, 89; + supports malcontents, 161; + duties of, 88; + fee of, 89; + attends mass, 86; + overlooks craft rules, 218 + + Mayor's Council, of Forty-Eight, 90, 92-4; + tyranny of, 94; + Saunders expelled from, 204; + of Twenty-Four, 90 + + Mayors of Coventry: + Bette, John, deprived of civic sword, 152; + Cook, Laurence, 177; + Deister, John, and the sword, 101, 207; + Dove, John, 207; + Green, Robert, 199, 205; + Onley, Sir Robert, and Henry VII., 156, 157; + Saunders, William, 142, 174; + opens Bristowe's fields, 175, 177; + Stoke, Richard, 6; + Strong, John, 94; + Wyldegrys, John, 131, 132 + + Melton, 47 + + Mempric, founder of Oxford, 15 + + Mercers, craft of, apprentices to, 216 (note); + chapel of, 275 (note); + company of, survives, 232; + influence of, 75, 216 + + Merchant Adventurers, 314 + + Merchants, attend council of Edward I., 61; + families of, 256-9; + manage municipal affairs, 74 and note, 216 + + Merevale, Abbot of, 179 + + Military duties of citizens, 311-3 + + Minstrels, 309 + + Miracle plays, _see_ Pageants + + "Moll of Coventry," 3 + + Monks, of Coventry, receive charters, 16-17, 38; + dispute with bishops, 30-2; + with canons, 32-5; + with Coventry men, 58, 59, 60, 62-3, 67-72, 190-4; + with Friar Bredon, 276-8; + with Isabella, 67-72; + as landlords, 36 + + Montalt or Mohaut, Roger de, 58-9, 95 (note) + + Montfort, Simon de, 96 + + "Mother of Death," 305; + _see also_ Pageants + + + N + + Neville, Sir Humphrey, 145 + + Newgate, and Charles I., 6; + wall, begun it, _ibid._ + + "Nine Conquerors," 125 + + Northampton, 130, 131; + battle of, 132; + Earl of, 166 + + Norwich, 75 (note); + court-leet of, 50 (note) + + Nottingham, 34, 250 (note); + receives customs after pattern of Coventry, 48 (note) + + ---- John de, necromancer, 63-4 + + + O + + "Obits," 275 + + Onley, family of, 257 (note), 258 + + ---- 144 and note + + Ordeal, trial by, 53 + + Oven, feudal lord's, 46 + + Oxford, 15; + S. Frideswide's fair at, 253 + + + P + + Pageants, Corpus Christi, 287-307; + acted 1392 in Coventry, 290; + absence of Old Testament scenes in, 299; + payment of actors in, by crafts, 293; + dress of actors in, 306; + of cardmakers, later cappers, 300, 305, 306; + characters of Herod, Pilate and the devil in, 287, 303-5; + minor characters in, 305-6; + crafts evade contributions to, 292; + _Ludus Coventriæ_ probably unconnected with Coventry cycle of, 297-8; + "Doomsday" or drapers', 129, 295, 300, 305, 306; + liturgical drama and, 289; + of girdlers, 300; + "Harrowing of Hell," _see_ Cardmakers; + Heywood's allusions to, 305; + of mercers, 299, 307; + and miracle plays, 289-90; + pageant houses, 293; + of pinners and needlers, 299-300; + "Nativity" or sheremen's and tailors', 299-302; + of smiths, 299, 300, 304; + royal spectators of, 288; + stage properties of, 305-6; + stations where acted, 294-5; + titles of, 299-300; + vehicles used for, 293-4; + "Presentation in Temple" or weavers', 292 (note), 299, 300, 302; + for reception of royalty, Arthur, Prince of Wales, 307; + Edward, Prince of Wales, 152-4; + Henry VIII., 307; + Margaret of Anjou, 124-6; + Princess Mary, 307 + + Pakeman, Simon, prior's bailiff, 68 + + Palace Yard, 165 + + Park, Little, 5, 107; + martyrs burnt in, 6, 158; + plays played in, 290, 296 + + Parliament "Unlearned," 102-3; + "Diabolical," 131 + + "Pastores," 289; + _see also_ Pageants + + Peasant revolt, 97 + + "Peeping Tom," _see_ Godiva + + "Peregrini," 289; + _see also_ Pageants + + Pewterers, 200 + + Pilate, _see_ Pageants + + Pilgrims, 238-9 + + Pinners, feast of, 275 (note) + + Pisford, William, 263 + + Plague, 244 + + Players, strolling, 279; + of Coventry, 288 + + Play, S. Christian's, 296 and note + + Plays, stationary, acted in the Little Park, 296 + + Poddycroft, common land, 92 + + Polesworth, 15; + S. Edith of, 40 + + Population of Coventry, 162 + + Portmanmote, court of, 48, 49-51 + + Poulterers, 250 + + Preston, 47 (note) + + Prince of Wales, lord of the Earl's-half, 43, 167; + Council of, 184; + _see also_ Edward V., Henry V. + + Prince's Chamber, title of Coventry, 73 + + Prior, quarrel between Isabella and the men of Coventry, 67-72 + + Priors of Coventry: Brightwalton, William of, purchased Earl's-half, 58; + Deram, 190-4; + Geoffry, 29; + Irreys, Henry, 62; + plot to kill by witchcraft, 63-4 + + Prior's-half of Coventry, 37, 57; + Trinity Church serves for parish of, 7, 37 + + Prior's Waste, 176 + + Priory, 39; + remains of, 25-6, 74; + Henry VI. lodged at, 119-20; + shrine at, 8 + + Procession at Corpus Christi, 287-8; + on Midsummer and S. Peter's Eves, 284-7; + of royalty, 120, 128 + + _Processus Prophetarum_, 289, 299 + + + R + + Reading, 16 + + Recorders of Coventry: Boteler, Henry, 121, 187; + death of, 198; + disgrace of, 199; + opposes Saunders, 188; + quells tumult, 195; + Empson, Richard, 159, 198, 206, 207; + Littleton, Thomas, 119, 121; + Swillington, Ralph, 274 + + Regratery, _see_ Forestalling + + Richard I., 33 + + ---- II., 102; + forbids duel, 11, 101-2; + lays foundation-stone of Carthusian chapel, 6, 100 + + ---- III., 155-6; + sees pageants, 288 + + Rivers, Earl, 148; + guardian of the Prince of Wales, 184 + + ---- Lord, 126, 129; + beheaded on Gosford Green, 11, 144 + + Robin of Redesdale, 140, 144 + + Rochester, Bishop of, Thomas Savage, 207 + + Roger of Wendover, 18, 19 + + Rood, of Bronholme, of Chester, 238 + + Rous, John, antiquary, 131 + + + S + + Saddlers, journeymen, of London, 230 + + S. Albans, 16; + battles of, 122, 132; + men of, 46, 56 + + S. Augustine of Hippo, 18 + + S. Catharine, chapel of, 82; + character of, 287; + play of, 296; + _see also_ Guilds + + S. George, Coventry birthplace of, 4, 154 (note); + chapel of, 12, 275 (note); + character of, in pageants, 153-4; + riding of, 307; + mummers's play of, _ibid._; + _see also_ Guild + + S. John the Baptist's Eve, 284, 285-6 + + S. Margaret, 125, 287 + + S. Mary's Hall, 74, 161, 178, 190; + guild-hall of, 81-2; + tapestry in, 82; + window in, 314 + + S. Nicholas Hall, 1 + + S. Osburg, 15; + pool of, 7-8; + shrine of, 8, 238 + + S. Paul's Cathedral, 160 + + S. Thomas' or cappers' chapel in S. Michael's, 274 + + S. Thomas of India, 287 + + Samson, character of, welcomes Edward IV., 133 + + Sanctuary, right of, 95 + + Sanitation, 244-5 + + Saunders, Laurence, dyer, made chamberlain, 182; + champion of malcontents, 181, 204; + complains of abuses, 184-8, 197-8, 316; + imprisoned, 190, 204, 210; + member of the Forty-Eight, 199 (note); + seditious speeches of, 203; + trials of, 189, 210 + + ---- Laurence, martyr, 5, 163 + + Schoolmaster and school, 25, 264-6 + + Severn, river, 257 + + Shakespeare, 105 + + Sharpe, Jack, rising under, 109 + + Shepey, Jordan, mayor, 12 + + Sherbourne river, regulations concerning, 87 + + Sheremen, _see_ Tailors + + Sheriffs, 254 (note); + county court of 52-3; + Henry VI. promises to make, 121 + + Ship-money, 166 + + Shipton, Mother, prophecy of, 7 + + Shops, 62 (note), 234 (note) + + Shrewsbury, Countess of, 129; + _see also_ Talbot + + Shrines, of saints, 238-9 + + Silk industry, 167 + + Simnel bread, 248 (note) + + Sluys, battle of, 8 + + Smith, Walter, age of, 296 + + Smiths, craft of, 286; + abuses of, 221-3; + chapel of, 275 (note); + journeymen of, 223; + _see also_ Pageants + + Soap, making of, 61 and note + + Somerset, Duke of, retainers of, and city watch, 126-7 + + Somerset, Duke of, Protector, 162 + + Southampton, 257 + + Sowe, Richard, killed by witchcraft, 64 + + Spain, 252 + + Spicer-stoke, 250 + + Stafford, Sir Humphrey, brawl between and the Harcourts, 281-2 + + Stamford, 141 (note) + + Staple of Calais, 147; + John Onley of Coventry, mayor of, 257; + monopoly of wool trade, 140, 215 + + Star Chamber, 210, 211 (note) + + Stephen, King, 40 + + Steward; _see_ Town Clerk + + Stivichall, 4, 40; + common at, 171 + + Stocks, 240 + + Stoke, common at, 171 + + Stoneleigh, Abbot of, 179; + church of, 4; + monks of, 283 + + Stourbridge, fair at, 252 + + Stowe, antiquary, of London, 284 + + Stralsund, 259 + + Strike of journeymen, 230 + + Swanswell Pool, 24 (note), 191, 193 + + Swine of S. Anthony's Hospital, 234 (note) + + Sulby, Prior of, 253 + + Surcharging of common lands, 187-8 + + Swynderby, William, 98-9 + + + T + + Tables, draughts, 280 + + Tailors, journeymen of, 83, 229; + guild and fullers, 219-20; + _see also_ Pageants + + Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, 3, 110 + + Tamworth, 40 + + Tanners, title of pageant of, lost, 299; + regulations concerning, 200 + + Tapestry, 82 + + Tewkesbury, 35 + + Thomas, monk of Coventry, 31-2, 34 + + Thornton, John, window of, 314 + + Tilers, 275 (note) + + Toll, 17, 257; + Coventry free from, 18, 19, 71; + at Southampton, 257 + + Town clerk and steward, Boteler, John, 189, 194, 197, 211 + + Towton, battle of, 133 + + "Trial and Crucifixion of Christ," _see_ Pageants + + Tree, traditional, near Smithford Bridge, 9 + + + V + + Vagabonds, sturdy, 266-7 + + Vespasian, visit of, to Exeter, 14 + + Victuallers, 169 and note, 246-9 + + + W + + Wakefield, battle of, 133; + cycle of plays at, 301 + + Walkers, _see_ Fullers + + Walls of city, begun, 6; + dismantled, 6-7, 166-7 + + Walter of Coventry, 28 (note) + + Ward, Joan, martyr, 158 + + Wardens, 88, 202 + + Wards of the city, meeting of men of, 91 (note), 92 + + Warwick, 151, 161; + Leycester Hospital at, 165 + + ---- Earl of, Richard Beauchamp, 109, 110 + + ---- Earl of, Richard Neville, the King-maker, 149; + appeal made to by Huet, 138; + plans to raise Clarence to throne, 139-40; + foments rebellion, 140-1, 144, 145-8; + letter from, to Coventry mayor, 141-3; + marriage of daughters of, 143, 147; + Edward IV. prisoner of, 144; + refused to give battle at Coventry, 150 + + Wastel bread, 248 (note) + + Watch, 237, 311; + fray between Somerset's retainers, 126-7 + + Weavers, craft of, 201, 202; + apprentices of, 225; + journeymen of, 229-30; + searchers of cloth, 212-3; + _see also_ Pageant + + Westminster, Abbey of, 149; + Abbot of, 29 + + Wheatley, founder of Bablake School, 259-60 + + White, Sir Thomas, 264 + + Whitley, common at, 171-2; + Bristowe, encloses land at, 175; + meadows at, thrown open, 175-6; + suit concerning meadows at, 177-80, 194-5, 196-7 + + Whittington, Sir Richard, 263 + + Wickliffe, 98, 100 + + William I., 16, 29, 38 + + Winchester, 15; + fair at, 252; + men of, receive customs after pattern of Coventry, 48 (note) + + Woodville, John, 9, 144-5 + + Wool, 140, 184, 215, 224 + + ---- hall, 202, 212, 250 + + Worcester, Tiptoft, Earl of, 149 + + + Y + + York, 15; + men of, 207 (note); + plays performed at, 290 + + ---- Archbishop of, 143, 149 + + ---- Richard, Duke of, 119, 123, 126 + + "York Plays," 301, 305 + + + + +INDEX TO CHAPTER XVI. + + + A + + America and Coventry men. John Davenport, 319; + the Sewell family, 326 + + + B + + Bablake School, founded by Wheatley, 344-5; + staircase in, 345 + + Bond's Hospital at Bablake, 344, 345 + + Botoner, family of, 319, 322 + + Bridgman, Sir Orlando, mantelpiece from the house of, at Bablake + School, 345 + + Butcher Row, 342 + + + C + + Cathedral, ruins of, 342 + + Church of Christ, or of the Greyfriars, 320 + + Church of S. John the Baptist at Bablake, 342-4; + clear-story in, 343; + ground-plan of, _ibid._; + history of, 343-4; + Isabella and, 343; + Scots prisoners in, _ibid._; + Walscheman's aisle, _ibid._ + + Church of S. Michael, 322-9; + apse, 328; + architecture, 323; + brasses, memorial, 326, 327; + communion table, 327; + cove, 329; + "Dance of Death," 327-8; + drapers' chapel, 326-8; + lantern, 324; + Latin hymn on beam, 329; + misericordes, 327-8; + steeple, 322; + tombs--Dame Bridgman's, 326; + Nethermyl's, 324; + Swyllington's, 325; + Wayd's, _ibid._; windows, 328-9 + + Church of the Holy Trinity, 339-342; + alms-box, 341; + brass to John Whitehead, _ibid._; + font, 341; + fresco, 340; + Godiva window, 341; + lectern, _ibid._; + monument of Philemon Holland, _ibid._; + porch, 339; + pulpit, 341 + + + D + + Davenport, Christopher, Franciscan, 320, + + ---- John, Puritan, 319 + + Dugdale, Sir William, 320 + + + E + + Eliot, George, 319; + describes S. Mary's Hall in "Adam Bede," _ibid._ + + Elizabeth of York, 335, 336 + + + F + + Ford's or Greyfriars' Hospital, 321 + + + G + + Godiva, 319; + window commemorating, 341 + + + H + + Henry VI., 323; + statue of, 330; + portrait in tapestry, 336; + in window, 334 + + Henry VII., 335, 336 + + + M + + Margaret of Anjou, 336 + + Marston, John, dramatist, 319 + + Mary, Queen of Scots, chamber of, 339; + _see also_ S. Mary's Hall + + + P + + "Peeping Tom," 342 + + Pisford, William, 321 + + Population of Coventry, 318 + + + S + + Saints, _see_ S. Mary's Hall, tapestry. + + S. Mary's Hall, 329-39; + armour, 334; + chair of state, 333; + charters, _ibid._; + crypt, 330; + kitchen, _ibid._; + Mary, Queen of Scots, letter concerning, in Muniment Room, 333; + Mayoress's parlour, _ibid._; + Minstrel Gallery, 339; + Muniment Room, 332-3; + portraits, 333; + roof, 335; + S. Gertrude of Nivelles, 338; + tapestry, 335-8; + whipping-post, 330; + window, 334-5 + + S. Osburg, 319 + + Saunders, Laurence, martyr, 319 + + School, Free Grammar, 342; + Dugdale educated at, 320; + Philemon, Holland, and Tovey, masters at, 342 + + Siddons, Sarah, 319 + + + T + + Terry, Miss Ellen, 319 + + + W + + Wanley, Humphrey, 320 + + ---- Nathaniel, 320 + + Ward, Joan, martyr, 319 + + Wheatley, Bablake School founded by, 344-5; + mantel piece in, 345; + staircase in, _ibid._ + + White, Sir Thomas, statue of, 319 + + Whitefriars, 318 + + Women in Coventry history, 319 + + +[Transcribers note: Original spelling has been retained] + + +Advertisements +_The Mediæval Town Series_ + + *ASSISI. By Lina Duff Gordon. + + +BRUGES. By Ernest Gilliat-Smith. + + +BRUSSELS. By Ernest Gilliat-Smith. + + +CAIRO. By Stanley Lane-Poole. + + +CAMBRIDGE. By the Rt. Rev. C. W. Stubbs, D.D. + + +CHARTRES. By Cecil Headlam, M.A. + + *CONSTANTINOPLE. By Wm. H. Hutton. + + [_3rd Edition._ + + +DUBLIN. By D.A. Chart, M.A. + + +EDINBURGH. By Oliphant Smeaton, M.A. + + +FERRARA. By Ella Noyes. + + +FLORENCE. By Edmund G. Gardner. + + +LONDON. By Henry B. Wheatley. + + +MILAN. By Ella Noyes. + + *MOSCOW. By Wirt Gerrare. + + *NUREMBERG. By Cecil Headlam, M.A. + + +OXFORD. By Cecil Headlam, M.A. + + +PADUA. By Cesare Foligno. + + +PARIS. By Thomas Okey. + + *PERUGIA. By M. Symonds and Lina Duff Gordon. + + +PISA. By Janet Ross. + + *PRAGUE. By Count Lützow. + + +ROME. By Norwood Young. + + +ROUEN. By Theodore A. Cook. + + +SEVILLE. By Walter M. Gallichan. + + +SIENA. By Edmund G. Gardner. + + *TOLEDO. By Hannah Lynch. + + +VENICE. By Thomas Okey. + + +VERONA. By <sc>Alethea Wiel</sc>. + + + + _The price of these marked_ (*) _is 3s. 6d. net in cloth, 4s. 6d. net + in leather_; (+), _4s. 6d. net in cloth, 5s. 6d. net in leather_. + +TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The story of Coventry, by Mary Dormer Harris + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58996 *** |