THE CRAFT GILDS.
[Sidenote: _The Merchant Gild and the craftsmen._]
We have seen how the Merchant Gild consisted of all the traders whose
business lay in the town. Such an association, though nominally open to
all whether landowners or not who could afford to pay the requisite fees,
was in essence oligarchical, and this feature became in course of time its
most apparent characteristic. We saw, also, how there grew up a large
class extraneous to the privileged Merchant Gild. This body of outsiders
became continually larger and more important. The Welsh ravages in the
exposed country would induce numbers to seek the friendly shelter of the
town, which by this continuous infusion of fresh blood, found its trade
become more and more flourishing, and consequently its attractions to
"foreigners" more and more powerful. Each branch of industry was also
incessantly receiving large accessions of strength in the shape of
fugitive villains from the country-side, who, by residence during a year
and a day were released from fear of a reclaim to serfdom. These new
settlers, some of whom the advance of time found making considerable
strides towards prosperity, seeing themselves shut out from the Town Gild
both by the exclusive spirit of that body and by the fact that they
themselves were not owners of land within the town[50], but (even in the
case of the wealthiest of them) only renters of their shops, were
naturally drawn, by the spirit of the times, towards amalgamation[51].
[Sidenote: _Tendencies to union among the latter: Religious,_]
It was natural that men working at the same trade,--living probably in the
same neighbourhood[52], and during intervals of rest exchanging gossip
from adjacent door-steps,--meeting one another in all the actions of daily
life and with thoughts and language running in similar grooves,--should
also desire to be not separated in worship. Likewise, in time of trouble,
when death brought gloom to the house of a fellow-workman, or when through
accident or misfortune he failed to appear at his accustomed place in yard
or workshop, it was by the ordinary promptings of nature that his brother
craftsmen came to offer their sympathy and help. And so we find the men of
the various trades forming themselves into fraternities, in order to pour
united supplications for Divine assistance and to offer thanks in common
for Divine favour[53]. The Tailors and Shoemakers had their chantries in
St Chad's Church, where the Weavers also had their especial altar,
maintaining in addition a light before the shrine of St Winifred in the
Abbey of the Holy Cross. The Drapers of the town early became drawn
together in a religious brotherhood, the chapel of which in the collegiate
church of Our Lady was the object of frequent and solicitous care when the
fraternity of the Holy Trinity was definitively changed into the
Worshipful Company of the Drapers. In the church of St Juliana the altar
of the Shearmen stood in the north aisle, where a chaplain said their
special mass for a yearly stipend of L4[54].
It was the pride of the Gilds to expend the best efforts of their wealth
and skill on the embellishment and maintenance of their chapel upon which
they were able to look as their own. Their worldly possessions at no one
time reached a figure high enough for them to provide a large endowment
for church or chantry, but the thankofferings of the years sufficed for
all current expenses. The fixed stipend was small, but the fabric, raised
and adorned as funds allowed, was commodious and beautiful[55].
It was to this ever-present desire to consecrate some portion of the
yearly profits of trade to the honour of Him who had given the increase,
that the annual pageant owed its pomp. The Corpus Christi procession was
an occasion of especial prominence at Shrewsbury, where the Gild charters
and records are full of minute regulations for its order.
[Sidenote: _Social,_]
The associations of fellow workmen for the purposes of religion also took
the form of clubs for mutual benefit and assistance. The Drapers were
maintaining their school and schoolmaster in 1492[56]; their almshouses
were only rivalled by those of the Mercers. The maintenance of poor and
decayed members was always one of the most prominent of the objects of
association. Attendance at the last offices by the grave of a deceased
brother, and remembrance of him in prayer, were likewise universal duties
of brethren. Edward VI.'s confiscation of Gild property broke down in all
the towns a great system of poor-relief which had hitherto freed the
government of that most difficult problem. Nor did the Gilds wait until a
brother was completely crushed before they came to his assistance.
Fluctuations of trade then as now sometimes brought occasions of temporary
embarrassment. But "the false and abominable contract of Usury ... which
the more subtily to deceive the people they call 'exchange' or
'chevisance,' whereas it might more truly be called 'mescheaunce,'" ...
was rightly looked upon as unworthy of fellow-workers for the common good,
"seeing that it ruins the honour and soul of the agent, and sweeps away
the goods and property of him who appears to be accommodated, and destroys
all manner of right and lawful traffick[57]." The common chest of the Gild
was therefore at the service of the brethren[58], not, as in the days of
degeneracy, to aid the capitalist in grinding down his workmen, but to
keep the craftsman from the clutches of the usurer.
[Sidenote: _Commercial._]
Out of these religious fraternities and social clubs developed what we may
more correctly term Craft Gilds; or to speak more strictly we should
perhaps rather say that many of these societies began to add to their
social and religious objects an additional one, namely trade
regulation[59]. They would be encouraged in this direction by the action
of the Merchant Gild, or its successor the municipal authority, which, as
the expansion of trade necessitated specialisation, was glad to depute its
powers to such associations[60].
[Sidenote: _Early Craft Gilds._]
[Sidenote: _Effect of their growth on Merchant Gild._]
The earliest mention of Craft Gilds is in the reign of Henry I., when
notice is found of the Weavers of London, Oxford, Winchester, Lincoln and
Huntingdon, the Cordwainers of Oxford and the Fullers of Winchester[61].
They became more common and more influential as the development of
industry was fostered by the central government. This was especially the
policy of Edward I. and Edward III. By the end of the 14th century the
Craft Gilds become numerous. As they took over the duties and functions of
the Merchant Gild the existence of the latter was rendered to a
considerable extent superfluous, and the merging of the Gilda Mercatoria
into the Communa became not only inevitable but convenient and natural.
During the 14th and 15th centuries, when the Craft Gilds attained their
highest power, the decay of the Merchant Gilds became very marked.
[Sidenote: _The later "Merchant Gild."_]
In some places where this happened the name of the Merchant Gild wholly
disappeared. In others where the expression continued in use the
institution changed its character and became simply a religious
fraternity. In a few instances the select corporation alone inherited the
name: in some the whole body of freemen did so. Again, there are examples
of a survival of the expression as applied to the whole body of tradesmen,
that is the whole of the members of the various Gilds[62]. A Patent of
Queen Elizabeth, dated 1586, thus alludes to the aggregate of unions under
the collective name of "the Gild of Burgesses of Shrewsbury." In the same
way we read of "the several companies belonging to the guild merchant of
Reading," "the Guild of Merchants in Andever, which Guild is divided into
three several Fellowships," etc. Just as the Merchant Gild differentiated
itself into Craft Gilds, the Craft Gilds afterwards again in the aggregate
took the name and style of the Merchant Gild.
[Sidenote: _Identity of interests of Corporation and Gilds seen in Police
regulations;_]
If such additional proof were needed this action on their part might be
adduced in support of the assertion, which cannot be too strongly
emphasised or too often repeated, that in England there was no conflict
between the Merchant Gild and the Craft Gilds. Though these latter
associations had grown up in vindication, as it might seem, of the
principle of free amalgamation in opposition to oligarchical
exclusiveness, and although it was evident that as they increased the
Merchant Gild must decline, yet there was at no time any idea of
antagonism between the two kinds of authority within the town. On the
contrary internal police was very materially assisted by the Gilds[63].
They carried on the good work which the Merchant Gild had inaugurated. Not
only were dissensions among combrethren to be brought before the Wardens
and Stewards instead of forming the occasion of unseemly brawls and
disturbances, but one of the objects for which the associations existed is
expressly stated to be "for the weale, rest and tranquilitie of the same
towne, and for good rule to be kept there[64]." With this object in view
the composition of the Tailors and Skinners (1478) contains several
articles which show how materially the officers of the Gild assisted the
bailiffs of the town[65].
[Sidenote: _evidenced by supervision of municipal authorities,_]
The Gild officers, though freely elected by the combrethren took their
oaths of office before the bailiffs of the town, who also secured, if
necessary, the enforcement of the ordinances of the Gilds[66]. The town
authorities exercised, too, a general supervision: it seems to have been
the rule for the compositions to be annually (or periodically) inspected;
and for new regulations to be subject to municipal approval[67].
[Sidenote: _(therefore supported by them;) shown by Charters,_]
One consequence of this authorisation by the town officials was that the
latter ceased to take cognisance of trade affairs except indirectly
through the Gilds; another was that the Gilds were supported by the town
authorities. In order to carry out the rules of the Gilds it was
imperative that all men of a trade should belong to the particular Gild of
that craft. For there might come men carrying on trade in the town
unwilling to submit to the rules framed for ensuring good work and
protecting the interests of the craft. These it would be impossible to
check until the Gild had been recognised and authorised by the crown or
the corporation, and so had obtained power to enforce its ordinances in a
legitimate way. It was in this manner that the necessity arose for
obtaining a charter[68]. The Fraternities, which in their earlier stages
had existed as voluntary associations, now received authoritative
recognition, by virtue of charters obtained from the king by the aid of
the corporation. The composition of the Tailors and Skinners (1478) shows
the company and the corporation in the closest connection; that of the
Mercers, granted by Edward Prince of Wales, Son of Edward IV., in 1480-81,
is countersigned by the bailiffs.
The necessity for this authoritative recognition is clearly seen in the
continually recurring ordinance calling upon all men of the craft to join
the Gild. If the Gild had not been supported by royal and municipal
authority it would have been impossible for it to have carried out its
aims; as it was the task was sufficiently difficult.
[Sidenote: _and Oaths._]
The unity of interests of the Gilds and the corporation is further shown
by the words of the oaths. The wardens' oath of the company of Glovers ran
as follows.
"You shalbe true to our Sov'aigne lord King ... his heirs and
successors and obedient to the Bailiffs of this town for the time
being and their successors. And you shall well and truly execute and
p'forme your office of Wardens of Glovers, Poynt-makers, pursers,
ffelmongers, Lethersellers and pa'hment-makers for this yeare
according to the true extent and meaning of your composition and of
all and singular articles and agreements therein expressed and
declared to the uttermost of your power. So helpe you God."
The oaths of the other officers, and of the Freemen, contained like
promises[69].
[Sidenote: _Composition of Gilds._]
[Sidenote: _Masters._]
[Sidenote: _Apprentices._]
[Sidenote: _Journeymen._]
[Sidenote: _Women._]
In the composition of the Trade Gilds there was no attempt to erect a
monopoly. All workers of the Craft except such as could make separate
terms with the corporation[70] were not only permitted to join the Gild,
but were compelled to do so. The members included Apprentices and
Journeymen as well as Masters[71]. Women too were not debarred from
joining[72], though they, like the Apprentices and Journeymen[73], took no
part in the business of administration[74]. The charter of the Drapers[75]
speaks of both brethren and sistren, and the list of members as given on
the occasions of "cessments" shows women-members, both wives of
combrethren, independent tradeswomen, and widows of deceased brothers.
[Sidenote: _Officers._]
In the election of their officers the English Gilds differed materially
from similar associations on the continent. In England the choice appears
to have been always unrestricted[76]. Refusal to accept office when
elected exposed the reluctant brother to a money fine. The oaths of the
officers, as we have seen, contained declarations of loyalty to the crown
and municipal authority, and in this way we may account for the absence of
_Masters_ among the officials of the Shrewsbury Gilds. The place of the
Master seems to have been filled, in some sort at least, by the bailiffs
of the town. At any rate none of the many Gilds of Shrewsbury ever had a
Master at the head of their officers.
The _Wardens_ were uniformly two in number, freely elected by all the
brethren from such as were "the most worthiest and discreetest and which
will and best can[77]." That it was not altogether a needless precaution
to order that the elected wardens should be members of the Gild appears
from the later abuses which arose, wardens being sometimes chosen from
without the number of the combrethren[78]. The functions of these, the
principal officers, were generally to carry into effect the objects of the
Gild. To do this they possessed the right of search for inadequate
materials or unsuitable tools, and a general supervision over workmen to
secure competency. The composing of quarrels among combrethren was a
prominent part of their duties.
[Sidenote: _Assistants._]
The Board of Assistants which exercised so harmful an influence over the
companies in later days is found at Shrewsbury at an early date[79]. The
composition of the Tailors and Skinners, 1478 A.D., speaks of the "Fower
men ordeigned to the said Wardens to be assistant in counsel in good
counsel giving." They reappear in 1563 as the Four Assistants "for
advising them [the Wardens] in the Government of the Gild[80]." In this
particular as in so many others the Gilds of Shrewsbury seem to have been
distinguished by a greater desire to widen the area of the governing body
than was the case with the great companies of London and elsewhere. For
the language of some bye-laws of the corporation passed in 18 Edward IV.,
seems to imply that the "Four Men" were common to all the companies. In
the Gilds of most provincial towns such Assistants no doubt shared in the
government from early years.
The _Stewards_ were two in number. At a later date they were nominated by
the Wardens[81], though in earlier times probably elective. Their
particular duties nowhere very clearly appear. They seem to have assisted
the Wardens and Four Men in hearing and examining of "all manner of
matters, causes and controv'sies which shall happen amongst the
brethren[82]."
The _Beadle_ summoned members to meetings and officiated in whatever of
formality was observed in them. He would keep the door of the Hall, and
see that none but brethren were admitted within the privileged chamber.
His was the duty of providing that due order and regularity was observed
in the proceedings, and, if necessary, of carrying into effect the
decisions of the assembly against refractory members. In the annual
Procession we can well imagine that the Beadles of the respective
companies would bear themselves with no common pride. Their duties also
included the summoning of members to weddings and funerals of brethren.
The Mercers' composition of 1424 carefully details the duties of the
_Searcher_. He, as also the Beadle, was usually nominated by the Wardens,
Four Men and Stewards jointly, and, as his name implied, was charged with
bringing to the notice of the Gild anything contrary to its rules or
prejudicial to its interests.
A _Clerk_ is also mentioned, who drew up indentures of apprenticeship and
kept the Gild registers. At a later period the office of _Treasurer_ was
introduced and became of considerable importance.
[Sidenote: _Meetings._]
The election of officers was the principle item of business at the great
annual meeting of the Gild. This was held on the festival of the Saint in
whose name the Gild was dedicated. It was preceded by Mass in the Parish
Church whither the brethren and sistren went in procession wearing their
distinctive hoods and liveries, and bearing lights in their hands. To add
to the dignity of the occasion a play or mystery was sometimes performed,
but more usually such representations were reserved for the great common
feast of Corpus Christi.
[Sidenote: _Business at meetings._]
[Sidenote: _Penalties._]
At the meeting, which from its most general name of "mornspeche" appears
to have followed soon after Mass, great solemnity was observed. The
double-locked box[83] was opened by the two Wardens[84] amidst a
reverential silence, and the composition or charter preserved in it
rehearsed to the assembled brethren. Business was then proceeded
with:--election of officers, admittance of new brethren, authorisation of
indentures. Then if necessary regulations were passed for the government
of the Gild and ordinances made for the due protection of trade, such as
summonses to Intruders to enter the union. The ordinary penalties which
the companies might inflict were fines of money or of wax, (in which king
and corporation shared and which they were consequently willing to
enforce,) and, in extreme cases total expulsion from the Gild, which of
course meant exclusion from trade within the town.
[Sidenote: _Halls._]
After the "mornspeche" came the mutual feast. The brethren had begun the
day by union for worship, they ended it with union for social and
convivial festivity. In later times the business portion of the meeting
was transacted in the Hall of the Gild and the brethren afterwards
adjourned to some convenient tavern. Several of the Halls were standing
until quite recent times. Such were those of the Mercers, Tailors, and
Weavers[85]. That of the Shearmen is now used as an Auction Mart, but the
Drapers' Hall still retains its former dignity.
[Sidenote: _Necessity of historical attitude_]
It will be necessary to attempt some estimation of the extent and value
of the influence which the Gilds exercised on contemporary life and
thought. In doing this, and indeed in dealing with the whole subject of
trade regulation in the Middle Ages, it is necessary to bear continually
in mind that not only were the conditions of trade then very materially
different from those under which we now live, but that Economic Theory was
still more at variance with modern views. It is necessary therefore to
take a historical attitude, and to try to appreciate both the difference
of social conditions, and the difference of objects in view. These objects
may be considered firstly as individual and perhaps selfish; and,
secondly, as general and for the common good.
[Sidenote: _in estimating importance of Gilds; Commercial,_]
1. If we consider the charters from the first point of view we see that
the trade regulations were dictated by the desire to secure to all the
brethren their means of livelihood: "no broder" was to "induce or tyce any
other Mastres Accostom," or to employ the servants of another combrother,
or otherwise to act in a spirit of unbrotherly and dishonourable
competition. The charters are full of such regulations. No member might
obtrude wares before passers in the open street, or erect booths "for to
have better sale than eny of the combrethren[86]."
2. Similarly also if we view the compositions in light of what we have
described as the second of their objects. The excellent motive of mediaeval
regulation of industry was to secure the prosperity of trade by ensuring
skilled workmanship and proper materials. In consequence it was forbidden
for workmen whose capacity was unknown to work in the town until their
efficiency had been proved. The Barbers' composition of 1432 ordered that
"no man' p'sone sette up nother holde no shoppe in Privite ny apperte ny
shave as a Maistre withinne the saide Tow' ny Franchise in to the Tyme
that ev'y such p'sone have the Wille and Assent of the Stywardes and
Maistres of the saide Crafte." It was the desire to ensure the public
being well served that prompted the articles in the composition of the
Mercers (1480-1) which ordered the Searcher "to make serche uppon all the
occupyers of the saide Craftes ... that non of theym occupie eny false
Balaunce Weight or Mesures belongeing to the sayde Craftes or eny of
theym, wherebie the Kyngs People in eny wyse myght be hurt or dysseyved."
It was also part of the same officer's duties to "oversee that any thyng
app'tenyng to the saide Craftes or eny of theym to be boght and solde in
the saide Towne and Frauncheses be able suffyceant and lawfull and that
noe dyssayte nor gyle to the Kyngs liege people therbye be had." No
indentures were to be drawn for less than "seven years at the least," so
that adequate training should be secured.
We thus perceive how the Craft Gilds differed, on the one hand from the
Frith Gilds of more ancient times, and on the other from the Commercial
Companies of later days. The former were associations in which every
member was responsible for the actions of each of his fellows; in the
Craft Gilds each member bound himself to abide by the regulations of the
rest. The essence of the later Commercial Companies is union for mere
pecuniary gain; the Gilds set in the forefront of the objects of their
association the material benefit of the community and the religious and
moral good of the individual. The resemblance between Trades Unions and
the Mediaeval Gilds is not entirely fanciful; but no two documents can be
more widely different than the Prospectus of a Limited Liability Company
and a Gild Charter of the Middle Ages.
[Sidenote: _Social,_]
The Gild system may be considered from various points of view. Regarded in
its social aspect its importance can hardly be exaggerated. It has been
pointed out how the work of the Gilds prevented the difficulty of poor
relief becoming acute, and also how valuable their influence was in the
maintenance of order, through the respect they evinced for the established
law. The immense weight they must have had on the side of morality, by the
importance they attached to the moral character of their members must not
be overlooked. "The rules of the Gilds which have come down to us, quaint
and homely as they sound, breathe a spirit as elevated as it is simple,
and although we must probably make the usual allowance for the difference
between men's acts and their words, we cannot but believe that the
generations which formed such grand conceptions and which so persistently
strove to realise them, had a better side than posterity has
discovered[87]."
The extent, too, to which they operated in linking class to class was
very great. There was no impassable barrier between commerce and birth. In
the lists of apprentices which have been preserved to us the entries of
names belonging to county families are frequent. It was the ordinary
custom for the younger sons to be put to business in the town. The social
value of such a habit must have been great. Within the craft, too, the
distinctions were only caused by differences in the degrees of wealth. By
industry and perseverance the meanest apprentice might look forward to
attainment of the highest honours his Gild could bestow, and even, by
success in trade, to nobility. As in Athelstan's time the merchant who
fared thrice beyond the sea at his own cost became of thegn-right
worthy[88], so it was all through the Middle Ages: even in the 17th
century Harrison says "our merchants do often change estate with
gentlemen, as gentlemen do with them, by a mutual conversion of the one
into the other[89]."
[Sidenote: _Constitutional._]
The education obtained by the framing of their own ordinances was also no
slight gain to the townsmen. They provided for their peculiar needs in
their own peculiar way, not always we may say in the best way, but in that
which they, who knew the special requirements of the case, considered the
best. Each who took part in drawing up those regulations would feel that a
certain share of responsibility rested with him to see that they were
kept. The constitutional importance also of this training, in imparting an
appreciation of the responsibilities and duties which devolve on those
who frame regulations was not unimportant.
The services which the Gilds rendered to the cause of liberty by the
feeling of strong cohesion which they produced among the townsmen would be
less difficult to estimate if the burgesses had played a more distinctive
part in the work of Parliament[90]. It is easier to point out how, if they
may have interfered to some extent with family life on the one hand, they
on the other increased the tendency to narrowness and localism which was
otherwise sufficiently strong throughout the Middle Ages, and indeed
through considerably later times. Everything was antagonistic to the
widening of the townsman's sympathies. He found his trade, his ambition,
almost his whole life, satisfied within the walls of the borough in which
he dwelt; and the Craft Gilds crystallised, as it were, this tendency
towards insularity.
[Sidenote: _Special interest of their history at present time._]
It may be noticed how a special interest attaches at the present time to
the history of the Gilds and to the study of their influence and
development.
The condition of the working classes must always be a point of vital
importance to the welfare of the state. It is peculiarly so to-day.
Anything therefore which can assist us to understand how the present
degradation of the craftsman has been brought about, and which may help
towards his amelioration, will be valuable and of practical usefulness.
Five hundred years ago the working man differed very widely from his
modern representative; how widely may be gathered from a single
illustration. The architects of the Churches and other buildings which the
Middle Ages have bequeathed to us in such large numbers and of such
exquisite beauty are, in the vast majority of cases, unknown to-day even
by name. They were not less unknown to contemporaries. For they were men
of like nature with their fellows: _ancestors of our modern artisans_. How
great a change has grown up in the generations which have intervened.
Five centuries ago the workman was intelligent and skilled, he is now
untrained and degraded: he was then able and accustomed to take a proper
pride in his work, he is now careless and indifferent: he used to be
provident and thrifty, now he is usually reckless and wasteful.
It is not too much to say that a great reason of this vast difference is
to be found in the influence which the Gilds exercised. In their character
as Benefit Clubs they taught their members to be thrifty: by insisting on
a careful and systematic training during seven years of apprenticeship
they made them skilled and capable workmen, and as such able to take an
interest in, and to derive pleasure from their work. It has been pointed
out that the Gilds prevented extreme poverty from ever becoming at all
normal. Uncertainty of employment and demoralising fluctuations of wages
are among the most crying evils of our modern social _regime_. The Craft
Gilds did much to secure regularity of work and to steady the price of
labour.
Thus it is evident how great and peculiar an interest attaches to the
whole subject of the Gilds at the present day. It is a subject which does
not merely offer attractions to the antiquary or provide valuable
materials for the student of constitutional and municipal development. It
has a far wider and more human significance. A study of the extent and
nature of the influence which the Gilds exercised on the condition and
skill of the working man in the past will help to solve the problem of his
improvement in the present and in the future.
NOTE I.
INDENTURE OF APPRENTICESHIP FROM THE MERCERS' COMPANY'S RECORDS. A.D.
1414.
Haec indentura testatur etc. inter Johannem Hyndlee de Northampton,
Brasyer, et Gulielmum filium Thomae Spragge de Salopia, quod predictus
Gulielmus posuit semetipsum apprenticium dicto Johanni Hyndlee, usque ad
finem octo annorum, ad artem vocatam _brasyer's craft_, qua dictus
Johannes utitur, medio tempore humiliter erudiendum. Infra quem quidem
terminum praefatus Gulielmus concilia dicti Johannis Hyndlee magistri sui
celanda celabit. Dampnum eidem Johanni nullo modo faciet nec fieri
videbit, quin illud cito impediet aut dictum magistrum suum statim inde
premuniet. A servicio suo seipsum illicite non absentabit. Bona et catalla
dicti Johannis absque ejus licentia nulli accomodabit. Tabernam, scortum,
talos, aleas, et joca similia non frequentabit, in dispendium magistri
sui. Fornicationem nec adulterium cum aliqua muliere de domo et familia
dicti Johannis nullo modo committet, neque uxorem ducet, absque licentia
magistri sui. Praecepta et mandata licita et racionabilia magistri sui
ubique pro fideli posse ipsius Gulielmi, diligenter adimplebit et eisdem
mandatis libenter obediet. Et si praedictus Gulielmus de aliqua convencione
sua vel articulo praescripto defecerit, tunc idem Gulielmus juxta modum et
quantitatem delicti sui magistro suo satisfaciet emendam aut terminum
apprenticiatus sui duplicabit. Et praefatus Johannes et assignati sui
apprenticium suum in arte praedicta meliori modo quo idem Johannes sciverit
ac poterit tractabunt docebunt et informabunt, seu ipsum informari facient
sufficienter, debito modo castigando, et non aliter. Praeterea dictus
Johannes concedit ad docendum et informandum dictum Gulielmum in arte
vocata _Peuterer's Craft_ adeo bene sicut sciverit seu poterit ultra
convencionem suam praemissam. Et idem Johannes nullam partem artium
praedictarum ab apprenticio suo concelabit. Invenient insuper Johannes et
assignati sui dicto Gulielmo omnia sibi necessaria, viz. victum suum et
vestitum, lineum, laneum, lectum, hospicium, calceamenta et caetera sibi
competencia annuatim sufficienter, prout aetas et status ipsius Gulielmi
exigerint. In cujus rei testimonium etc. 1414.
NOTE II.
OATH TO BE TAKEN BY THE FREEMEN OF THE MERCERS' COMPANY.
In the Company's records this oath occurs immediately after a curious
calendar, written in 15th century hand, and before a list of "Brethren
received and incorporated in the time of Rici Attynchin and John Cutlere
wardens" in 3 Henry VI., (1424-5).
FIDELITAS.
I shall trewe man be to God o'r Lady Seynt Marie Seynt Mychell
th'archangell patrone of the Gylde and to the Fraternite of the Mercers
Yremongers and Goldsmythes & Cappers w'in the Towne and Fraunches of
Shrowesbury I shall also Trewe man be to the king our liege lorde and to
his heyres kyngys and his lawes and mynystars of the same Truly obs've and
obey And ov' this I shall be obedyent to my wardens and their sumpneys
obey and kepe I shall be trewe and ffeythfull to the Combrethern of the
Gylde aforeseyd and ther co'ncell kepe All lawdable and lefull actes and
composic'ons made or to be made w{t}in the Seide Gylde truly obeye p'forme
and kepe aft' my reason and power I shall be contributare bere yelde and
paye all man' ordynare charges cestes and contribucons aftur my power as
any other master occupyer or combrother of the seid Gylde shall happen to
doe and bere: Soe helpe me God and halidame and by the Boke.