THE END OF THE COMPANIES.
[Sidenote: _Failure of efforts to restrict trade._]
The system of elaborate organisation by which men had regulated trade in
the past had given way to an equally complete system of individualism.
Confused philosophical reasoning, combined with the decay of old means of
regulation, had produced this anti-social state of things. Individual
competition, in uncontrolled energy, reigned supreme amid almost
incredible suffering and squalor. Everything which might tend to check the
progress of the devastation was looked upon with suspicion and swept
swiftly out of the way. All the old restraints were wanting, and
self-interest alone formed the mainspring of action. To this fetish
everything was sacrificed--men's bodies and men's principles. Commercial
dealings took the most questionable forms: adulteration of products went
on unchecked by any qualms of honesty. The companies had long ago ceased
to make any attempts in the direction of industrial regulation. The whole
efforts of their members were concentrated on the vain endeavour to
restrict trade to the chartered towns.
Yet even the apologist for the companies, quoted at the end of the sixth
chapter, was obliged to allow that in this they had failed. The result of
the action of the "oppressive oligarchies" was the "excluding or
discouraging the English Subjects from Trading in our greatest and best
situated towns, where the markets are[208]." Shrewsbury saw the free towns
around growing up to importance and outstripping her in the race for
prosperity. Birmingham, not far distant, was already famous. Another free
town which rose rapidly was Manchester, where most of the new industries
did not come under the Apprenticeship Act, and were consequently free and
unshackled. Such formidable rivals drew away trade from the old privileged
boroughs. The companies were quite unable to retain their monopolies.
But more than this. Even the measure of commercial prosperity which
Shrewsbury possessed--it was not small--cannot be in any appreciable
degree ascribed to the companies. A writer of 1825[209] who considers the
trade of the town at that date by no means "inconsiderable[210]"
attributes the fact to anything rather than the "Chartered
Companies[211]." "Here are two very large linen factories, besides several
manufactories for starch, soap, flannels, cotton goods, an extensive iron
and brass foundry, two ale and porter breweries, a spirit distillery,
etc.[212]" "Its fabrication of threads, linen cloths etc. etc. stands
unrivalled; whilst the more common articles of domestic life are executed
in a stile of neatness, certainly equal, if not superior, to those of any
other place of similar size[213]." The various causes which he looks upon
as conducing to this prosperity he sets forth with considerable detail:
"its contiguity to the Principality, the facility which it possesses for
the importation and exportation of goods, by means of its noble river and
canals, and its situation as the capital of an extensive and populous
county, combine to give it many advantages over a variety of places
equally insular[214]." That the companies had any hand in ministering to
this prosperity, or even served any useful purpose, seems never to have so
much as occurred to him.
[Sidenote: _Struggle against intruders_]
Yet they were putting their charters to the utmost use. They used every
means in their power to hold the trade. They obtained the assistance of
the municipal officers in seeking out and expelling intruders, even
hawkers and pedlars. Actions at law became rapidly more frequent, until at
last the life of the companies becomes one long effort to compel intruders
to take up their freedom by paying the necessary fines. The Barbers even
went so far as to prosecute men and women-servants for presuming to dress
their masters' and mistresses' hair.
Though these measures were unsuccessful in attaining their object they
were not without most important results.
[Sidenote: _impoverishes the companies,_]
In the first place the companies saw their stock become rapidly
impoverished, and themselves on the verge of bankruptcy. So early as 1692
the Mercers were obliged to raise L50 by means of mortgage, and in the
next year they were twice forced to sell some of their property. The
Grocers had, half a century previously[215], noted with sorrow how "the
Stock of the Company yearly decreaseth." The Barbers so early as 1744
resolve to spend no more money at Show time "except the third part of the
Weavers' Bill." The Saddlers' stock in the three per cents. has to be sold
to defray the charges of actions against intruders in 1810, and about the
same time the Bakers' arbour was seized "on account of sustained charges
against the company in an action for supposed infringement of their
rights." Even the wealthy company of the Drapers had been compelled to
relinquish their annual holiday, at which open house was kept for town and
neighbourhood, in 1781.
[Sidenote: _and calls down public odium on them._]
But worse perhaps than this was the public odium they brought upon
themselves. That this was so was acknowledged in formal meeting at the
close of their public life, yet it had existed long before and grew daily
stronger.
[Sidenote: _Other signs of decay._]
[Sidenote: _Internal disorder._]
[Sidenote: _Accounts carelessly kept._]
[Sidenote: _Trade leaves them._]
These two causes would have been alone sufficient to bring about the
downfall of the companies. But there were other signs of decay in plenty.
Internal disorder was adding to the degradation into which the once
honourable associations were falling. Even in 1668 the Glovers are
compelled to take into account "the disorderly manner of making wardens."
So late as 1832 the Saddlers inflict a fine on their steward for attending
meetings in a state of intoxication. The books are much less carefully
kept. The Glovers' company came to an untimely end in 1810 through
maladministration and carelessness in dealing with the yearly balance
sheet[216]. In 1822 so great a company as the Mercers' is found appointing
a committee to search for the charter, which is ultimately found in the
hands of a private individual whose magnanimity in surrendering what did
not belong to him is highly praised by a formal resolution[217]. We have
seen already how trade had fallen off. In 1770 a member of the Saddlers'
company paid five guineas "to be for ever excused from serving the office
of Steward or Warden." Private interest alone formed the motive of action
in commercial dealings. The individual knew nothing of obligations due to
society.
[Sidenote: _General demoralisation._]
Society was indeed in a state of rottenness. Outwardly there was plentiful
decorum; really there was sufficient sham with its usual concomitant,
laxity of morals, in a very marked degree[218]. It could hardly be
expected that this should be otherwise in the general disregard which
prevailed of all finer instincts: questionable commercial dealings and
adulteration of products, on the one hand, were naturally accompanied by
brutality and squalor on the other. Commercial success was the only
criterion, and as the companies could not stand the test of this
touchstone of merit they were doomed.
[Sidenote: _Efforts to delay the end._]
The Gilds of workmen in building trades had been seriously affected, if
not destroyed, long before by the Statute 2 and 3 Edward VI. cap. 15,
which allowed "any Freemason, roughmason, carpenter, bricklayer,
plasterer," etc. "borne in this realme or made Denizon, to work in any of
the saide Crafts in anye cittie Boroughe or Towne Corporate ... albeit the
saide p'son or p'sons ... doe not inhabyte or dwell in the cittee Borough
or Towne Corporate ... nor be free of the same." But in all other trades
the law had upheld the companies, and associations strong as these were in
antiquity were not to be destroyed without a struggle. In the early years
of the nineteenth century they began to think about internal reformation,
which, had it been accomplished with singleness of purpose, might perhaps
have secured their further usefulness and life. The expenses connected
with the annual feasts were regulated[219]. We have seen in the foregoing
chapter how the senior members began to withdraw from the dissoluteness
of the Show. The actions against intruders, which had long become chronic,
were pushed on with new vigour. In the hopes apparently of deciding the
question once for all the Mercers' company instituted a great suit against
a Mr Hart in the year 1823 which was looked upon by all parties as a test
case. Two years previously a committee had been appointed to search for
the charter and other documents which might be serviceable to the company
in the great struggle they were apparently then meditating. The opinion of
counsel was taken, and it being favourable to the company a full meeting
unanimously resolved to act upon it. The first thing to be done was to
retrench the expenses. It was decided that no dinner could be held that
year (1823), and the annual subscriptions to the Infirmary, the Lancaster
School, and other charitable objects were suspended. The costs of the
actions were to be borne by all the combrethren "rateably and in
proportion agreeable to the ancient custom and usage of the Company." But
several resignations and withdrawals took place, which show that there was
some doubt, if not as to the exact legality, at any rate as to the
expediency of the step which was being taken. But the great majority were
resolved to press the matter to the issue. Actions against several
intruders were consolidated, and that against Mr Hart came on for trial.
Important counsel were engaged, and everything was done on both sides to
discover the actual state of the law. The result was a verdict entirely in
favour of the company. But the assessment of damages at a farthing (while
the expenses incurred by the company were between six and seven hundred
pounds) showed how strongly public opinion ran in a direction contrary to
the mere letter of the law[220].
The defendants however in the present case submitted at once, and the
company soon recovered its former financial prosperity. Its subscriptions
were again paid after a brief interval. But it is noticeable that actions
against intruders went on precisely as before. The effect of this great
verdict, which was hailed with public dinners and illuminations, was
absolutely _nil_.
It however stimulated the efforts of the companies in the direction of
reform. In consequence of the action the Mercers resolved that the
enrolment of apprentices (which they confessed had been "criminally
neglected") should be better carried out in future, and that a _bona fide_
indenture for seven years should be required in all cases before any claim
to the freedom of the company could be admitted. As a tangible result a
new book of apprenticeship was commenced, which continued to be carefully
and neatly kept to the end. Its first entry is dated August 1, 1823,
though there are several records of earlier indentures. Its last is July
2, 1835. A new book for recording the petitions of foreigners to be
admitted was also provided. These were comparatively few in number. They
extend from July 31, 1823, to June 2, 1834.
[Sidenote: _The Municipal Corporations Act._]
Such was the condition of the companies when the Municipal Corporations
Act[221] was passed. No detailed description of this measure, albeit it
was "second in importance to the Reform Act alone[222]," is needed here.
As far as the companies were concerned its provisions were simple. It took
away from them wholly and entirely all their exclusive privileges of
trading.
"Whereas in divers cities, towns, and boroughs a certain custom hath
prevailed, and certain bye-laws have been made, that no person, not being
free of a city, town, or borough, or of certain guilds, mysteries, or
trading companies within the same or some or one of them, shall keep any
shop or place for putting to show or sale any or certain wares or
merchandize by way of retail or otherwise, or use any or certain trades,
occupations, mysteries, or handicrafts for hire, gain, or sale within the
same: Be it enacted that, notwithstanding any such custom or bye-law,
every person in any borough may keep any shop for the sale of all lawful
wares and merchandizes by wholesale or retail, and use every lawful trade,
occupation, mystery, and handicraft, for hire, gain, sale or otherwise,
within any borough." In these words, which might seem the echo of Magna
Carta[223] through the centuries, liberty of trading was made a fact
throughout England.
[Sidenote: _End of the companies._]
It is interesting that we have recorded for us the way in which this
sweeping change was received by those most concerned. The Mercers had
foreseen (July 31, 1835) that it would be advisable to drop all pending
actions against foreigners until the result of the Act then before
Parliament should be decided. After it had become law the company met, for
the last time under the old conditions, on March 25, 1836, to consider
their position and to take steps for the future. It was apparently a
stormy meeting. An influential minority proposed to divide the property
among the members there and then, and so have done with the company. It
was however carried "That the chief rents ... be not disposed of, but
reserved to meet the payments to be made to the Alms people of St. Chad's
Almshouses[224], and for other purposes." The fire engine, the company's
weights and measures etc., were sold. The other companies acted in a
similar manner. The Saddlers divided at once the funds which remained in
the treasurer's hands, and which amounted to L1. 7_s._ 0_d._ for each
member[225]. Their arbour was however retained, and the rent from it
expended on the annual feast on Show Monday. This arrangement was to
continue so long as any of the freemen should be living: on the decease of
the last survivor the arbour was to devolve to the town council. Lastly,
all books, and whatever else remained to the company, were to be deposited
with the wardens for the time being.
[Sidenote: _Partial continuation of the companies._]
For attempts were made, even in the desperate pass to which the companies
seemed to be brought, to prolong the end. A few patriotic members kept up
the shadows of the old fraternities. The ancient custom of electing
officers was maintained; the Mercers' records bring the lists complete
down to 1876. The arbours were repaired, mostly at the cost of private
individuals, and at spasmodic intervals, while the Show still continued to
afford opportunities for dissolute revelry to the lowest of the town and
neighbourhood. The companies themselves fell back into their original
condition of voluntary associations of individuals united for purposes
partly benevolent but mainly social, and of which the state took no
cognisance. "No one can give much attention to the subject without coming
to the conclusion that feasting was one of the essential and most valued
features of the companies in their early days[226]:" it became so again in
their later. As they had existed long before external circumstances
brought them into prominence, so they continued long after they had ceased
to influence public affairs, and so they lingered on even after the nation
had plainly signified that their existence was not only superfluous but
injurious. For their endeavours to restrict trade had been, so far as they
had been successful, detrimental to the prosperity of the town, while they
had allowed the duty of succouring needy workmen to slip entirely from
their hands.
The Friendly Societies which had long taken up this very important part of
the functions which the mediaeval Gilds had performed rose meanwhile into
public favour. Their excellent work was so apparent that an Act of
Parliament was passed for their encouragement in 1793, and it was even
urged that they should be made compulsory.
[Sidenote: _Their property gives them life._]
The companies had to all intents and purposes long forgotten their duty in
this respect, and they could not take it up again now, though had this
course been possible they might have commended themselves to public
favour. There was only one means which kept them alive. The secret of
their vitality was their possession of property[227], and as that melted
away the companies were found dropping out of existence. For being
deprived of their real essence they had nothing to recommend them. Even
the Show degenerated into a public scandal, and the companies, like their
annual pageant, at length died, one by one, unnoticed and
unregretted[228].
[Sidenote: _Return to organisation._]
Yet there was arising, even at the time when the old companies were being
destroyed, a movement in favour of some return to organisation and
regulation. Organisation indeed seems to have been a characteristic of
the English people at all stages of their history. The Saxons had their
Frith Gilds and their Monks' Gilds; the English of the Middle Ages had
their Merchant, Religious, Social, and Craft Gilds; in the sixteenth
century they had their Trade Societies, the direct and in many cases the
little-altered successors of the Craft Gilds. Then came the larger
Regulated Companies, which also had some features in common with the
mediaeval Gilds, more with the sixteenth century societies. The main
differences between the earlier associations and those of a later date lay
in the avowed motive of confederacy and in the nature of the influence
they exercised. The ostensible motive of the Gilds was the general
welfare: in the case of the companies it was individual gain. The
influence of the Gilds may be called a healthy social and moral
influence[229]; that of the post-reformation companies in the towns was in
the main directed to selfish and political ends[230].
New organisations, adapted to altered conditions of life and new modes of
thought, resembling and yet differing from the Gilds, were now to arise
and take the place of the companies as these had taken the place of the
mediaeval fraternities. The growth of these however will be beyond the
scope of the present essay.
It was doubtless necessary that the companies should be pulled down from
the lofty heights which they once had occupied. It was requisite that all
relics of the detailed system of trade-organisation which the Middle Ages
had handed down to us should be broken up, to make room for a _regime_
more conformable to modern conditions of industry. The anarchic reign of
individualism through which trade passed at the beginning of this century
was an unavoidable step in economic development.
But it was a step attended with infinite loss and inestimable suffering,
and it is well that proofs are not wanting of the approaching end of
unrestrained competition and anti-social individualism. Signs of change
are not wanting. Experience is continually demonstrating that organisation
can accomplish vastly more than individual enterprise; that combination is
immeasurably more powerful than competition. It is indeed the tracing out
of this reaction in favour of combination for common ends, which lends to
the economic history of the last hundred years its chief, perhaps its
only, human interest.
[Sidenote: _Socialists and other forms of organisation._]
The reaction has manifested itself in various ways. The _Socialists_ have
always made State-organisation of labour one of the strongest planks of
their platform[231]. At the same time Englishmen have looked with peculiar
jealousy on any attempts by the state to extend its sphere of action.
Nevertheless a steady development has been witnessed in this direction;
the various Civil Services show a uniform increase with the numbers and
requirements of the nation. The Board of Trade, the Local Government
Board, the Charity and Ecclesiastical Commissioners, are further
indications of the same tendency towards organisation.
[Sidenote: _Trades Unions;_]
The Gilds cannot, as we have seen, be censured for low aims; moreover
their endeavours to reach the level they set themselves were constant and
sincere. And the latter half of the nineteenth century has seen a
repetition of somewhat similar attempts.
[Sidenote: _their achievements._]
[Sidenote: _Improvement in status of labour._]
The Trades Union movement[232] is one pregnant with promise for the
future[233]. Though the Unions were formed in the first instances for the
purpose of resistance to the masters, it may be hoped that as the need for
this grows weaker the analogy which their promoters love to institute
between them and the old Craft Gilds may become more and more real. They
have already done much to raise the condition of labour, and as Friendly
Societies they are of the highest value to the workmen[234]. There are
signs too that we may even obtain organisations which, with due allowance
for altered conditions, may accomplish much of the other good work which
Gilds performed for mediaeval industry.
[Sidenote: _Attempts at regulation of trade._]
The Unions already aim at ensuring stability of employment through
deliberate regulation of trade. By this means they hope to strike a
death-blow at that root-evil of our present industrial system,
irregularity of employment and uncertainty of wages.
[Sidenote: _Further necessary approximation to Gilds._]
But they yet fall short of the Gilds in two important particulars, and
until these deficiencies are made good Trades Unions can only be
considered as insufficient means to a highly desirable end.
[Sidenote: _Appreciation of the common interests of masters and men,_]
In the first place there must be no association of men against masters, or
masters against men, but union of men with masters for the common good of
the craft. Fifty years ago it was pointed out[235] that "the recent
destruction of the old Gilds was a purely negative policy, which required
to be followed up by a reconstruction on similar, but modified,
lines[236]." But of course nothing was attempted, though it is for their
care in seeing that the public was well served that the Gilds are chiefly
praised to-day.
[Sidenote: _and of the necessity of ensuring a higher standard of work._]
In the second direction much less advance has been made[237]. Yet it
cannot be expected that a high standard of wages is to be maintained
unless a high standard of workmanship is also ensured. Improvement in pay
can only with justice accompany improvement in skill and application.
Something of the sentiment and tradition of good work which so strongly
characterised the Middle Ages must be brought back. As yet it is wofully
lacking. Up to the present the Trades Unions have made no real attempt to
grapple with this evil, though its removal is a necessary preliminary to
anything like completeness in our industrial reformation. Until they can
show their ability to direct trade in this respect in a manner more
beneficial to the community than competing capitalists have done during
the past, the student will find their analogy to the mediaeval Gilds
incomplete (and that in a point where the latter might be followed with
benefit), and the public will consider their usefulness to society
unsatisfactory.
APPENDIX I
NON-GILDATED TRADESMEN[238].
The ordinary authorities on Economic history say little or nothing of the
non-gildated tradesmen in the towns, though these formed an important
portion of the commercial community. To understand fully the conditions
under which trade was carried on in mediaeval England the existence of such
unfree merchants must be taken into account and their importance
appreciated.
Within the commercial class the enforcement of the Gild regulations
doubtless depended very largely on circumstances and individual
temperament. Moreover their reiteration evidences their futility in
attaining the objects they had in view. There must have been much greater
freedom and elasticity of thought and action during the Middle Ages than
is generally recognised.
It must be remembered too that there were important exceptions to the
regulations of the Gilds. The king's servants, when exercising the royal
privileges of purveyance and pre-emption, were naturally unrestricted. In
Fair-time--and the Fairs were a very important feature in mediaeval
life--there was unrestrained freedom of trade. But more important than
these was another. It was quite possible for ungildated tradesmen to
purchase temporary or partial exemption from the local restrictions.
It will be observed that the royal charters which authorise the Gilds and
grant exclusive privileges of trading differ somewhat in later years from
those of the earliest date. In the earliest grants the words simply allude
to the Gild only. Henry II.'s Charter to Lincoln is "Sciatis me
concessisse civibus meis Lincolniae ... gildam suam mercatoriam." There is
no hint of any tradesmen external to the Gild. But early in the thirteenth
century it becomes evident that such stringent exclusiveness could not be
enforced. The charter which Henry III. granted to Shrewsbury in 1227
confirmed the Gild in the following terms:--"Concessimus etiam eisdem
Burgensibus et heredibus eorum quod habeant Gildam Mercatoriam cum Hansa
et aliis consuetudinibus et libertatibus ad Gildam illam pertinentibus, et
quod nullus qui non sit in Gilda ilia mercandisam aliquam faciat in
predicto Burgo _nisi de voluntate eorundem Burgensium_." At about the same
time the Earl of Chester and Huntingdon gave a charter to Chester
forbidding trade in the town "nisi ipsi cives mei Cestrie et eorum heredes
_vel per eorum gratum_." The phrase "nisi de voluntate eorundem Burgensium
(or Civium)" now became usual in the charters. In those granted by Edward
I. to the towns which he founded in Wales, and which may be looked upon in
some measure as model town constitutions, the provision appears in each.
Thus it may be said that by the end of the thirteenth century it had
become customary for the town authorities to grant exemptions from the
Gild restrictions by their own authority. They practically gave over to
the Gilds the supervision of trade, but at the same time retained in their
own hands the power of admitting traders without obliging them to join the
mercantile fraternities.
This power of granting exemptions from the restrictions of the Gilds seems
to have been exercised in various towns in different degrees. In some it
extended no further than the permitting "foreigners" to come to casual
markets on payment of a toll upon each occasion. In others however it was
more largely and generally used, merchants being allowed to be resident
and to trade continually and regularly by payment of an annual fine.
In the latter case the effect was to create two distinct classes of
traders within the town. The burgesses may be divided into two classes,
those of them who were gildsmen and those who were not. We now see that
the tradesmen dwelling in the towns may similarly be divided into two
classes, (i) those who were free of the town or of one of the Gilds (or
free both of the town and one of its Gilds), and (ii) those who were
neither burgesses nor gildsmen. Thus another has been added to the classes
into which the inhabitants of towns are usually divided. Mention of these
_unfree_ tradesmen is found in the records of many towns in England and
Wales: in Norwich, Winchester, Lincoln, Leicester, Andover, Yarmouth,
Canterbury, Henley-on-Thames, Malmesbury, Bury S. Edmunds, Totnes, Wigan,
Chester, Shrewsbury, Worcester, Clun, Brecknock, Neath, Bishops' Castle,
and others.
The designation of these unfree tradesmen varies. At Andover they were
known as _custumarii_ (in opposition to the _hansarii_--the full members
of the Gild). At Canterbury a similar body appears under the name of
_intrants_. In Scotland and the north of England they were called
_stallingers_. The most usual name for them is however _censer_,
_chencer_, _tenser_, and variations of these.
_Censer_ is apparently the name applied to one who pays a _cense_ or
_cess_. In Domesday mention is made of _censarius_--"Ibi sunt nunc 14
censarii habentes septem carucatas"--and the _censarius_ is described as
"qui terram ad censum annuum tenet." The connection of the word is here
purely territorial. It becomes more personal later in the history as is
seen in the "Compotus Civitatis Wyntoniae" of the third year of Edward I.,
which contains the following entry:--"Et de xliiij_s._ ij_d._ _ob._ de
hominibus habitacionibus in civitate Wynton' qui non sunt de libertate,
qui dicuntur Censarii, per idem tempus." Here the _censarii_ are evidently
considered in their capacity not as possible landowners, but solely as
tradesmen. The _census_ has changed from the land rent of Domesday to a
distinctly personal payment.
A somewhat different class from the _censarii_ of Winchester are mentioned
in the statute 27 Henry VIII., cap. 7. From the preamble we can form a
good idea of the lawlessness and confusion which prevailed on the borders
of Wales at that period. It is related that in the Marches, where thick
forests frequently fringe the roads, "certain unreasonable Customs and
Exactions have been of long time unlawfully exacted and used, contrary
both to the law of God and man, to the express wrong and great
impoverishment of divers of the king's true subjects." The most crying of
these evils was that the foresters were accustomed to plunder all passing
along the roads (probably under the plea of taking toll), unless they bore
"a Token delivered to them by the chief Foresters ... or else were yearly
Tributors or Chensers." The statute offers no explanation of these terms,
but it is most likely they applied to persons paying an annual sum, either
to the king or the Lords Marchers, of the nature of Chief Rent, especially
as Cowell, in giving his explanation of the word _chenser_ which will be
noticed later, refers to this Act of Henry VIII. in support of his
definition. If this be so we see that although the signification of the
term had been extended so as to include distinctly personal and commercial
tolls, it had, in some districts, also retained its original connection
with land. This, censor, censer, gensor, chencer, and other variations, is
the most usual form of the word, but occasionally it is found as tenser,
tensor, tensur, and tensure. Tenser and tensor are used at Shrewsbury; at
Worcester the same word appears as tensure or tensar (_English Gilds_, pp.
382, 394).
It is difficult to say whether or no _tenser_ is a confusion of _censer_.
Etymologically the words seem akin, _cense_ being a tax or toll (cess),
and _tensare_ meaning to lay under toll or tribute. In the Iter of 1164
enquiry is directed to be made "de prisis et tenseriis omnium ballivorum
domini regis ... et quare prisae illae captae fuerint, et per quem" etc.
Another derivation of _tenser_ has been given. Owen and Blakeway (Vol. ii.
p. 525) explain it to be a corruption of "tenancier," and apparently
intend to imply that these non-gildated traders were considered as holding
directly of the king. This view receives some confirmation from Cowell's
definition of the "censure" and "censers" of Cornwall. He says (_A Law
Dictionary: or the Interpreter_ etc., ed. 1727) "Censure, or _Custuma
vocata_ censure, (from the Latin _Census_, which Hesychius expounds to be
a kind of personal money, paid for every Poll) is, in divers Manors in
_Cornwall_ and _Devon_, the calling of all Resiants therein above the age
of sixteen, to swear Fealty to the Lord, to pay _ij{d} per Poll, and j{d}
per an._ ever after; as _cert-money_ or _Common Fine_; and these thus
sworn, are called _Censers_." "Chensers," he says again, "are such as pay
Tribute or _cense_, Chief-rent or Quit-rent, for so the French _censier_
signifies." Whether or no we receive Owen and Blakeway's derivation of the
word from _tenancier_, even with the support of Cowell's "censers" of
Cornwall, we may press the latter authority into service in showing that
the signification of _censer_ and _tenser_, however different the two
words might be in origin, became very similar in actual use.
The fines which the tensers or censers paid were imposed in the Court
Leet. On the Court Leet Rolls at Shrewsbury are entered lists of names and
fines headed "Nomina eorum qui merchandizant infra villam Salopie et
Suburbia eiusdem, et non Burgenses, ergo sunt in misericordia." In the
first year of the reign of Henry IV. (A.D. 1399) it was ordered that these
fines should be levied before the feast of S. Katharine (November 25) in
each year. The Court Leet also decided the amount of the fines, but in
later times when the select body of magnates had deprived the popular
courts of so many of their powers and privileges we find that the
apportioning of the tensers' fines had also passed to the close
corporation. In 1519 the corporation fixed the tolls at 6_d._ quarterly.
The statute 35 Henry VIII., cap. 18, gave the control of the unfree
tradesmen in Canterbury to the Mayor and Aldermen of the City. "No
foreigner, not being free of the said City, shall buy or sell any
Merchandize (saving Victual) to another foreigner; nor shall keep any shop
nor use any mystery within the said City or the liberties thereof, without
the License of the Mayor and Aldermen, or the major part of them, in
writing under their Seal." At Winchester in 1650 the rates were revised by
the Mayor and Aldermen. The highest limit was fixed at L5, but the fees
actually paid were generally sums varying from 6_d._ to 3/4 only (Gross,
II. 264).
When such a privilege was exercised by a select body it was certain to
give rise to abuses. Such was found to be the case in early years when the
fines were imposed by an authority other than the general assembly of
burgesses. In the county court held at Lincoln in 1272 it was alleged that
the late Mayor had taken pledges from the burgesses of Grimsby unjustly
under the plea of exacting _gildwite_ (as the fine or toll was sometimes
called). We learn that at Shrewsbury in 1449-50 "this yeare the Burgesses
and Tenssaars ... did varye." What the cause of contention was, or how the
dispute was settled, we do not know, but it could hardly arise over
anything other than the question concerning the tolls to be paid by the
tensers.
In some towns special civic officials were appointed to supervise the
tensers. At Chester the "leave-lookers" were among the most important of
the borough officers. The word _leve_ or _leave_ has very much the same
signification as the word _cense_ or cess. It is the English "levy," and
was the fee or toll for permission to trade. The "leve-lookers" were the
officials who exacted the levy or toll which unfree tradesmen were obliged
to pay. At Chester they were "appointed annually by the Mayor for the
purpose of collecting the duty of 2_s._ 6_d._ claimed by the corporation
to be levied yearly upon all non-freemen who exercise any trade within the
liberties of the City." Their duties are described as having been "to give
Licence and compound with any that came either to buy or sell within
these liberties contrary to our grants;" "if any did dwell within the city
that were not free, if they did ever buy or sell within the liberties,
they did likewise compound with the _Custos_ and _Mercator_ [Custos Gilde
Mercatorie] by the year ... the Leave-lookers do gather two pence
halfpenny upon the pound, of all Wares sold by Forraigners within the
City." (Gross, II. 42.) The same name is found at Wigan, where the duty of
the "gate-waiters or leave-lookers" was to see that all "foreigners" paid
their fines for licence to reside and trade in the town. (Sinclair,
_Wigan_, _passim_.)
It is not easy to define the exact status of the tensers. They were
certainly considered as an inferior body of burgesses, and might comprise
three classes. Firstly, those not willing or not able to enter one of the
gilds; secondly, traders waiting to be admitted burgesses; thirdly
ex-burgesses fallen from the higher state through misfortune.
1. As an inferior class of tradesmen they could only purchase their stock
from townsmen (Gross, II. 177); they were incapable of bearing municipal
office (_Ibid._ II. 190) and they were liable to be called upon "to be
contributorie to alle the comone charges of the Citie, whan it falleth"
(_Ibid._ II. 190). In the general course of trade but little difference
might be perceptible between the tensers and the Gildsmen, but attempts to
fuse or to confuse the two classes were jealously resented whenever they
were discovered. Naturally these attempts to minimise the distinctions
between Gildsmen and non-gildsmen were generally prompted, in later times,
by political reasons. Only freemen of the town and members of the
companies had the privilege of voting in Parliamentary elections, and
great was the desire to obtain a position on the list of voters. In "An
Account of the Poll for Members of Parliament for the Borough of
Shrewsbury taken June 29 and 30, 1747" etc., information is supplied
concerning certain townsmen who had claimed to be freemen but were
rejected on account of having proved themselves to be otherwise by
payment, in times past, of the tensers' fines. Of John Bromhall, baker, we
read "It was objected to his vote that he was no Burgess, in support of
which it was proved that he had paid Tensership several years, and that
his ffather had paid toll. This Tensership is a ffine or acknowledgement
commonly paid by persons following trade in the town that are no
Burgesses, but it being insisted that it was paid through ignorance or
mistake, his ffather was called and admitted to prove that he had voted at
a former election for this Borough, whereupon the Mayor admitted his vote,
but upon examining a copy of the Poll for the year 1676 it appears that
all the ffamily of this Bromhall were upon a scrutiny rejected as not
Burgesses."
2. They comprised also among their number many tradesmen waiting to be
made burgesses. We learn this distinctly from an ordinance of the
corporation of Leicester passed in the year 1467, to the effect that every
person opening a shop in the town should pay yearly 3/4 _till he enter
into the Chapman Gild_. (Nichols, _County of Leicester_, I. 376.) There
were several causes which would account for the existence of this class.
The towns grew increasingly jealous of extending their privileges, as
these became valuable. The Gildsmen would also desire to learn somewhat of
the character of the new-comer before admitting him to full membership
with themselves; while on the other hand the latter would wish to see
whether the trade of the town were sufficiently prosperous to warrant him
settling in the borough permanently. This cause would specially operate in
the case of the Welsh boroughs which grew up after Edward I.'s conquest of
the principality.
The townsmen however did not approve of the growth of a wealthy class of
traders, sharing almost equal commercial privileges with themselves and at
the same time not liable to the burdens which were the necessary
accompaniment of those privileges. They therefore made it incumbent upon
every tenser who evidently was sufficiently satisfied with the trade of
the town to make the borough his permanent home, and who had attained to a
fair competency, that he should throw in his lot fully and completely with
them. He must become in fact a full burgess. This is carefully explained
in the _Ordinances of the City of Worcester_--regulations concerning the
trade of the town dating from the reign of Edward IV. No. XLVII. says
"Also, that euery Tensure be sett a resonable fyne, aft{r} the discression
of the Aldermen, and that euery tensure that hath ben w{t}yn the cyte a
yere or more dwellynge, and hath sufficiaunt to the valo{r} of XL_s._ or
more, be warned to be made citezen, by resonable tyme to hym lymitted, and
iff he refuse that, that he shalle yerly pay to the comyn cofre XL_d._,
ouer that summe that he shalle yerly pay to the Baillies or any other
officers; and so yerly to contynue tylle he be made citezen" (_English
Gilds_, p. 394).
3. There were, thirdly, those who had fallen from a higher state through
misfortune or other cause. We read of individuals surrendering their
freedom and paying the tenser's fine. "He withdrew and surrendered the
freedom to the Commonalty, and now pays toll" (Gross, II. 240).
As regarded their dealings other than commercial in nature the tendency
was to assimilate the tensers and the townsmen. In a grant made to
Shrewsbury by Henry VI. and confirmed by Parliament in 1445 the same
privileges are extended to the tensers as are possessed by the burgesses
in the matter of exemption from the necessity of finding bail in certain
cases. Similarly at Worcester the "tensures" shared with the citizens the
right to the assistance of the afferors in cases of wrongful or excessive
amercement. (_English Gilds_, 394.)
Nevertheless where commercial privileges were at stake the distinction was
rigidly preserved by every means in the possession of the townsmen. The
tenser's fine was maintained up to the present century, though not without
considerable difficulty. On every hand there were evidences that the
companies had outlived their usefulness. Friction was everywhere injuring
the social machine. Competition and individualism had taken the place of
custom and co-operation. At Winchester there were grievous complaints of
intruders who did "use Arts, Trades, Misteries and manual occupations ...
without making any agreement or composition for soe doing, contrary to the
said antient usage and custome, tending to the utter undoeing of the
freemen ... and decay of the same City." Everywhere the records of the
companies detail little else than summonses to intruders to take up their
freedom and notices of actions at law against them for refusing to do so.
General demoralisation prevailed, and the existence of a class holding
such an equivocal position as that of the unfree tradesmen did not help to
mend matters. The case of John Bromhall which has been mentioned above
illustrates the general looseness which prevailed in all departments of
municipal administration. A ludicrous incident which happened at
Shrewsbury in connection with the tensers in later years is recorded by
Gough in his _Antiquities of Myddle_, published in 1834. "This Richard
Muckleston was of a bold and daring spirit, and could not brook an injury
offered to him. He commenced a suit against the town of Shrewsbury for
exacting an imposition on him which they call tentorshipp, and did
endeavor to make void their charter, but they gave him his burgess-ship to
be quiet."
The companies were preserved from repetitions of this strange indignity by
the passing of the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, in consequence of
which there could no longer be any invidious distinction between freemen
and non-freemen, hansarii and custumarii, gildsmen and tensers.
APPENDIX II.
AUTHORITIES CITED.
Abram, W. A.--Memorials of the Preston Guilds.
An Account of the Poll for Members of Parliament for the Borough of
Shrewsbury etc. (1747).
Boeckh, A.--Public Economy of Athens, translated by George Cornewall Lewis
(1842).
Brentano, Lujo--On the history and development of Gilds and Origin of
Trade-Unions.
"Britannia Languens, or a discourse of trade." (1680.)
Bryce, J.--The Holy Roman Empire (1887).
Cowell--A Law Dictionary: or the Interpreter etc. (1727).
Cunningham, W.--The Growth of English Industry and Commerce (1885).
Dugdale, W.--Antiquities of Warwickshire.
Ebner, Dr Adalbert--Die kloesterlichen Gebets-Verbruederungen bis zum
Ausgange des Karolingischen Zeitalters (1891).
Eden, Sir F. M.--The State of the Poor.
Eyton, W.--Antiquities of Shropshire.
Farquhar--The Recruiting Officer.
Foucart--Les Associations religieuses chez les Grecs.
Foxwell, H. S.--Irregularity of Employment and Fluctuations of Prices
(1886).
Froude, J. A.--History of England from the fall of Wolsey to the death of
Elizabeth (12 vols., 1862-70).
Gneist--Geschichte des Self-Government in England.
Gneist--Das heutige Englische Verfassungs- und Verwaltungsrecht.
Gough--The Antiquities of Myddle (1834).
Green, J. R.--A Short History of the English People (1886).
Gross, Charles--The Gild Merchant (1891).
Grote, George--History of Greece (1888).
Hallam, H.--View of Europe during the Middle Ages. 1 vol.
Harrison, W.--A description of England (in "Elizabethan England," Camelot
Series).
Hatch, E.--The Organisation of the Early Christian Churches (Bampton
Lectures, 1881).
Howell, G.--Conflicts of Capital and Labour (1890).
Howell, Thomas--The Stranger in Shrewsbury (1825).
Kemble, J. M.--The Saxons in England.
Longfellow--The Golden Legend.
Macaulay, Lord--History of England from the Accession of James II. (1889).
May, Erskine--Constitutional History of England. 3 vols. (1887).
Merewether and Stephens--History of the Boroughs.
Nichols, J.--The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester
(1795-1815).
Ordericus Vitalis--Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy (Bohn's
Series).
Owen and Blakeway--History of Shrewsbury.
[Owen, Hugh]--Some Account of the Ancient and Present State of Shrewsbury
(1808).
Perry, C. G.--A History of the English Church (Vol. II.) (1878).
Pidgeon's Memorials of Shrewsbury (old Ed.).
Pidgeon's Some Account of the Ancient Gilds, Trading Companies, and the
origin of Shrewsbury Show (1862).
Poynter, E. J.--Ten Lectures on Art (1880).
Quarterly Review, Vol. 159.
Riley, H. T.--Memorials of London ... in the XIII, XIV, and XV Centuries.
Rogers, Thorold--Six Centuries of Work and Wages (1889).
Rogers, Thorold--The Economic Interpretation of History (1888).
Scott, Sir Walter--Marmion.
Sinclair, D.--The History of Wigan.
Smith, Toulmin--English Gilds (E. E. T. S.).
State Papers, Domestic (Elizabeth).
Statutes at Large (6 vols, 1758).
Stow, John--A Survey of London (Carisbrooke Library).
Strype--Ecclesiastical Memorials (1821).
Stubbs, W.--Constitutional History of England (1883).
Stubbs, W.--Select Charters (1884).
Stubbs, W.--Lectures on Mediaeval History.
Taylor MS. in Library of Shrewsbury School (Reprinted in S. A. S. Vol.
III.).
Thackeray, W. M.--The Four Georges.
Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary, being
the Diary of Celia Fiennes.
Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society (cited as S. A. S.),
Vols. I-XI.
Wordsworth, W.--The Happy Warrior.
INDEX.
Abbey at Shrewsbury, 11, 31, 60
Aberystwith, 26
Adventurers, Merchant, of Exeter, 84, 87
Aliens not to be taken as apprentices, 64, 82
Almshouses, 73, 109, 137
Altrincham, 26
Amalgamation natural in Middle Ages, 31
and at all times, 140
Anager, 83
Andover, 25, 35, 147
Anglo-Saxons, gilds of, 12
municipal organisation of, 13
Apothecary, 28
Apprentices, 39, 40, 46, 47, 52, 64, 66, 81
Arthur, son of Henry VII., 79
Arundel, Earl of, 27
Ashton, Thomas, 79, 119
Assistants, 5, 41
Assize of Arms, 11
Axbridge, 27, 85
Bailiffs, assist gilds, 37
assisted by gilds, 36
supervise gilds, 37, 40
Bakers, 28, 59
Bala, 27
Bamborough, 27
Barbers, 28, 45, 58-9, 62, 83-4, 87, 89, 100, 102, 130
Bargains, common, 14, 15
Barnstaple, 27
Bath, 25
Beadle, duties of, 42
Beaumaris, 27
Bedesmen, 63
Bedford, 25
Benefit Clubs, 106, 110
Berwick on Tweed, 26
Beverley, 24, 115
Birmingham, 111, 129
Bishops' Castle, 147
Black Death, 56
Board of Trade, 141
Bodmin, 25
Borough, distinction between Merchant Gild and, 18, 19
rise and development of, 10
incorporation of, 14
position of Merchant Gild in, 14, 16
select body in, 19, 105
classes of inhabitants, 147
Boroughs, list of, possessing Merchant Gilds, 24-28
Boston, 26
Brasier, 53
Brecknock, 147
Brentano, Dr, 7, 9, 104, 105
Bricks, revival of use of, 80
Bricklayers, 118
Bridgenorth, 26
Bridgewater, 26
Bristol, 25, 87, 111
Bromhall, John, 153, 155
Builder, 29
Builth, 26
Burford, 24
Burgesses, 3
charters granted to, 14
small share in work of Parliament, 49
Burgess-ship, qualifications of, 18, 106
not identical with gildship, 18
villains, women, and ecclesiastics excluded from, 18
Burnet, 67
Bury S. Edmund's, 25, 147
Butchers, 28, 57, 59
Byt-fylling, 13
Caerswys, 26
Cambridge, 25, 56, 60, 74
Camden, 79
Canterbury, 12, 24, 147, 148, 150
Cappers, 53
Cardiff, 27
Cardigan, 26, 69
Carlisle, 25
Carnarvon, 26
Carpenters, 28, 59
Carrier, 28
Castle at Shrewsbury, 12
Censers or Tensers, see Shrewsbury
Chantries, 32, 63, 67, 74, 86, 92
Charity Commissioners, 141
Charles II., 87
Charters did not necessarily create the gilds, 55
to burgesses, 14
Chelmicke, Mr, 89
Chepgauel, 18 n.
Chester, 25, 92, 119, 146, 147, 151
Earl of, 25, 146
Chesterfield, 27
Chichester, 24
Cirencester, 27
Civil Services, 141
Clerk, 28, 43
Cloth Trade, 78-9
cloth-workers, 29, 117
cloth-merchant, 57
Clun, 147
Collier, 28
Commissioners for plundering gilds, 73
Commonwealth, 122
Communa, 14, 16
Companies, commercial, 6, 47, 86, 88, 98 et seq., 140
Compositions, 37-8, 55 n.
Conflicts between Merchant Gild and Craft Gilds, 5, 9, 20, 21
Congleton, 26
Conquest, Norman, 10
Continent, commerce with, 10
merchant gilds of, 5, 9, 20, 21
Conviviality, 13, 44, 111
Conway, 26
Cooks, 28, 59
Coopers, 28
Cordwainers, 35
Corn-dealer, 28
Cornwall, 149
Earl of, 26, 27
Corporations, municipal, 14, 16, 105, 109, 127
_Corps-de-metier_, 8
Corpus Christi, gilds and Feast, 33, 43, 59, 63, 115, 118
Cottoners, 90
County Towns, their former importance, 3, 122-3
Coventry, 26, 115
Craft Gilds, earliest mention of, 34
become numerous, 35
favoured by Merchant Gild, 20, 22, 34, 36
take over work of Merchant Gild, 20, 35
motives for forming, religious, 31-2
social, 33
commercial, 34
police, 36
incorporated, 38, 55
at Shrewsbury, 10
favoured by municipal authorities, 36, 38, 43
composition of, 39
officers, election unrestricted, 40
wardens, 41
assistants, 41
stewards, 42
beadle, 42
searcher, 43, 46, 87
clerk, 43
treasurer, 43
key-keeper, 44
take oath before bailiffs, 37, 40
meetings, 43
importance of, commercial, 45
social, 33, 34, 47-50
constitutional, 48-9
as benefit clubs, 50
specially interesting at present time, 49-51
development of trade introduces abuses, 56-7
policy of reform, 58
demoralisation, 65-7
robbed by government, 67 et seq.
effects of this, 75 et seq.
reorganisation, 81, 84-97
its effects on gilds, 82
intimate connection of later companies with corporation, 85-6, 99,
105, 120-22
they retain many of old gild characteristics, 87-8, 108-9
though altered conditions make their work difficult, 88, 98
and companies themselves are unsatisfactory, 98-102, 105
they change to capitalist companies, 103-5
from which journeymen are excluded, 106
difficulties of reform, 107-8
contemporaneous opinion of, at end of 18th century, 109-12
destruction of, 136-137
return to organisation partly on gild principles, 141-144
Craftsman of middle ages, 49
degraded by Reformation, 75
Cranmer, 68
Criccieth, 26
Crispin and Crispianus, 118, 125
Custumarii, 147
Cyveiliog, Earl of, 26
Davies, Thomas, 92
Denbigh, 27
Derby, 25
Despenser, le, 27
Devizes, 26
Devon, 150
Dixon, Canon, 71
Domesday Book, 11, 148
Doncaster, 28
Dover, 12
Drapers, 29, 32-3, 59, 73, 83-4, 90-7, 99, 101, 108-9, 126, 131
Dugdale, 116
Dunheved or Launceston, 26
Dunwich, 25
Durham, 25
Bp of, 26
Dutch, 82
Dyer, 38
Ecclesiastical Commissioners, 141
Edward the Confessor, 12
Edward I., 16, 26, 27, 35, 58
his conquest of Wales, 2, 146, 154
Edward II., 27
Edward III., 27, 35, 59
Edward IV., 28, 38, 42, 58, 59, 62, 65, 79, 82, 117, 154
Edward VI.'s confiscation of gild property, 33, 62, 67, 118
Elizabeth, 35, 76-79, 81, 84, 86, 117, 118
Enclosures, 78
"England the birthplace of Gilds", 9
English Gilds differ from continental, 5, 9, 20, 21
Ethelred, 13
Exchequer, 11
Exeter, 84
Fairs, freedom of trading at, 15, 146
Family sometimes considered the germ of the Gild, 7
Farquhar, 123
Faversham, 81 n.
Feasts of Gilds, 13, 44, 111
Fee Farm or firma burgi, 17, 18, 19, 22
Fellmongers, 39
Feltmakers, 99
Fire-engine supported by gilds, 106, 137
Fishmongers, 29, 59
Flemings, 82
Fletchers, 59
Flint, 26
Fordwich, 25
"Foreigners," Forinseci, 19, 20, 98, 110, 147
Foresters, 68
Four Men, 41-2, 104
France, _corps-de-metier_ in, 8
French, 82
French company, 94
Freemen of companies, 39, 53, 106
Friendly Societies, 68, 116, 139, 142
Frith bot, 13
Frith gilds, 8, 13, 46, 140
Frizers, 90
Fullers, 35
Funerals attended by brethren, 43
Fusion of races shown in Shrewsbury gild records, 16
Gainsborough, 27
Garnisher, 28
George IV., 126
German Merchants, 82
Gildhall, at Dover, 12
becomes town hall, 17-18
Gild Merchant, see Merchant Gild
Gilds, see Companies, Craft Gilds, Frith Gilds, Merchant Gilds, Monks'
Gilds, Religious Gilds, Yeoman Gilds
differences between English and foreign, 5, 9, 20, 21
universality of gild feeling, 7
earliest gild statutes, 9
Glanvill, 17
Gloucester, 25
Earl of, 24
Glovers, 28, 39, 59, 83, 87, 101, 118
Godiva, 116
Goldsmith, 28, 53, 109
Grammar Schools, 74
Grampound, 27
Grantham, 28
Great Yarmouth, see Yarmouth
Greeks, gilds among, 7
Griffith, Earl of Cyveiliog, 26
Grimsby, 151
Grocers, 109, 131
Groom, 28
Guildford, 26
Haberdashers, 100
Halls of Gilds, see Gild Hall, 42, 44
Hansarii, 147
Harlech, 26
Harper, 29
Harrison, 78, 80
Hart, Mr, 134
Hartlepool, 26
Haverfordwest, 25
Hawkers, 29
repressed by companies, 130
Hedon, 27
Helston, 25
Henley-on-Thames, 27, 147
Henry I., 10, 11, 14, 24-34
Henry II., 10, 11, 14, 17, 25, 146
Henry III., 26, 146
Henry IV., 2, 27, 59, 65, 150
Henry V., 27
Henry VI., 28, 57, 58, 59, 62, 66, 155
Henry VII., 65, 66, 79
Henry VIII., 66, 67, 73, 79, 118, 150
Henry de Lacy, 26
Hereford, 25
Historical attitude essential in studying history of gilds, 44
Hope, 27
Hugh le Despenser, 27
Huntingdon, 35
Incorporation, municipal, 14, 16
Indentures of apprenticeship, 46, 52, 64
Infirmary, 109
Inns of Court, 119
Intrants, 148
Intruders and Interlopers, 89, 98
cf. also Foreigners
Ipswich, 18, 25
Irish not to be taken as apprentices, 82
Iron Trade, 78
Ironmongers, 53, 109
James I., 84, 95
Jews, 78
John, 14, 18, 25
Journeymen, 39, 40, 106
Judge, a member of Merchant Gild, 29
Justices Itinerant, 11
Justices of the peace, 81
S. Katharine, 118, 150
Kenfig, 27
Kinaston, Mr, 95
King's Bench, 11
Kingsland, 125, 127
Kingston-on-Thames, 26
Kirkham, 27
Lampeter, 27
Lancaster, 27
Launceston, 26
Leather-sellers, 39
Leech, 29
Leet assesses Tensers' fines, 150
loses its powers, 105, 150
Leicester, 24, 147, 153
Leve-lookers or leave-lookers, 151, 152
Lever, Thomas, 74
Lewes, 24
Lincoln, 25, 35, 146, 147
Liskeard, 26
Liverpool, 111
Livery, 43, 65
Llanfyllin, 27
Llantrissaint, 27
Lloyd, John, 80
Local Government Board, 141
Local history, value of, 10
Local life, always varied in England, 1
Locksmith, 29
London, 111
its "laws", 13
its Anglo-Saxon Gilds, 12
its Craft Gilds, 35
its rivalry with provincial towns, 92, 124
its modern pre-eminence, 1, 3, 123
Lostwithiel, 26
Ludlow, 28, 79, 109
Lyme Regis, 26
Lynn Regis, 25, 69
Macclesfield, 26
Machinery, introduction of, 4
Magna Carta, 136
Malmesbury, 25, 147
Marches, of Wales, 2, 148
Lords of, 2
Court of, 2, 89
President of, 2
Markets, 13, 15
Marlborough, 25
S. Mary, Chantry in Church of, 53
Mary, 118
Mason, 29
Masters, 40-41, 67, 75-76, 103, 105
May Day, 5, 98, 120
Mayor administers oath of admission, 99
Mellent, Robert, Earl of, 24
Mercers, 33, 44, 53, 59, 62, 63, 64, 73, 82, 83, 84, 88, 101, 103, 108,
126, 131, 135, 137, 138,
of York, 84
Merchant, 14, 29, 38, 48
Merchant Gilds, the chief difference between town and country, 12, 21
originated to preserve peace, 12, 21
compared with Frith Gilds, 13, 46
trade regulations follow, 13
earliest mention, 14
royal authorisation, 14, 21
at Shrewsbury, 10, 14
effects, 16, 22
chronological list of, 24-8
relations with communa, 10, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 34
with Craft Gilds, 20
compared with Trades Unions, 46
functions and privileges of, 14-16, 18-19, 21
duties of gildsmen, 17
comprised majority of householders, 15, 22
all branches of trade, 16, 19, 30
and professions, 18
and women, 18
and ecclesiastics, 18
a rallying point for burgesses, 16, 22
all burgesses are gildsmen, 16
but all gildsmen are not burgesses, 18
efforts towards municipal objects, 20
gild hall becomes town hall, 17
in later years delegates its mercantile functions to Craft Gilds, 20,
22, 30, 34, 36
who sometimes in aggregate receive name of "Merchant Gild", 35
subsequent history, 35
S. Michael, patron of Mercers' Company, 53, 63
Militia, national, 11
Miller, 29, 59
Monasteries, 8, 67, 77
Monks' Gilds, 8 (and n. 2), 59, 140
Monks excluded from burgess-ship, 18
Montgomery, 26
Mornspeche, 43-44
Mortmain Acts, 55 (n. 2), 61
Much Wenlock, see Wenlock
Municipal Corporations Act, 127, 136, 156
Municipalities, see Boroughs
Mynde, Abbot, 61
Neath, 27, 147
Nevin, 27
Newborough, 27
Newcastle-on-Tyne, 25
Newcastle-under-Lyme, 26
Newport (Salop), 26
Newport, 27
Newton, 27
Norfolk, 69
Norman Conquest, 10
favours trade, 13, 21
Norwich, 147
Nottingham, 25
Oaths, 39, 53
Odd Fellows, 68
see Friendly Societies
Oswestry, 27, 89
rivalry with Shrewsbury, 91-96
Overton, 26
Oxford, 25, 35
Pageants, 4, 33, 42, 63, 113-127
Painters, 118
Palmer, 29
Parchment-makers, 39
Paul's Cross, 74
Peasant Revolt, 56
Pelterer, 29
Pembroke, Earl of, 27
Petersfield, 24
Pewterer, 53
Plasterer, 28
Plymouth, 28
Pointmaker, 39
Police regulations aided by gilds, 65, 108
Pontefract, 28
Poor maintained by Craft Gilds, 33, 47, 80
Portsmouth, 26
Potter, 29
Pre-emption, gildmen's right of, 15
royal right of, 145
Preston, 25
Priest, 29
Privileges of gildsmen, 15, 17, 63, 64, 65
Processions, see Pageants
Puritans, 120, 125
Pursers, 39
Pwllheli, 27
Reading, 26, 35
_Recruiting Officer_, 123-4
Reformation, its shock to industry, 3, 6, 77
to gilds, 67
Reform movement fatal to companies, 6, 127
and Show, 127
Religion and trade, 5, 107, 125
Religious Gilds, 60
of Holy Trinity, 59
of S. Winifred, 31, 59-62
frequently connected with trade, 60
Residence not requisite for membership of Merchant Gild, 18
Restoration, 122, 125
Rhuddlan, 27
Richard I., 14, 16, 25
Richard II., 27, 65, 82
Richard III., 28
Richard, Earl of Cornwall, 26
Robert de Belesme, 11
Rochester, 26
Roger de Montgomery, 11, 12
Romans, gilds of, 7
Rowley's Mansion, 80
Rubens, 118
Ruyton, 27
Saddlers, 29, 59, 131
Saffron Walden, 27
Salisbury, 25
_Salopian Journal_, 109
Scarborough, 26
Schools maintained by Gilds, 33
Lancaster, 109
Searcher's duties, 43
Severn, 123
Shearmen, 5, 32, 59, 79, 83, 90, 103, 117, 120-2
Shoemakers, 28, 32, 57, 58
Shrewsbury, its strong individuality, 1
its geographical position, 2
early growth, 2, 3
in Domesday, 11
depressed by Conquest, 11
taken by Henry II., 11
later prosperity, 3
streets and houses, 4
its abbey, 11, 31, 60
castle, 12
peculiarities of its gild history, 5, 40-42
its gild-records, 10, 16
gilds, 4, 36, 58-9
gild hall, 17
gild-chantries, 32, 63, 74, 92
religious gilds, 31, 59-62
Merchant Gild confirmed, 14, 25, 146
incorporation of Craft Gilds, 58-9
early history of, 55-76
Reformation changes, 77-97
obtains monopoly of Welsh cloth trade, 3, 91-7
rivalry with Coventry, 63
in 16th century, 76, 79
with Oswestry in the 17th century, 89-96
with Chester, 92
with London, 92, 124
typical of the 17th century, 4, 122-5
influence of machinery upon, 4
later degeneracy of its companies, 98-112, 129-139
Shrewsbury Show, 113-127, 137
Tensers of, (Appendix 155) and other towns, 147
etymology, 149-150
their fines, 150
status, 152-154
privileges, 147, 155
relations with burgesses, 155
later history, 155
Skinners, 36, 38, 41, 59, 83, 89, 118
Skins, seller of, 29
Smiths, 84, 88, 118
Social Gilds, see Religious Gilds
Socialists, 141
Social life changed by newer conditions, 1, 123
Somerset, 67
Southampton, 25
Stafford, Earl of, 27
Stallingers, 148
Stamford, 28, 115
Steen, Widow, 101
Stephen, 24
Stewards, duties of, 42
Stow, 120
Strype, 74
Suffolk, Earl of, 95
Sunderland, 26
Sword Cutler, 28
Tailors, 28, 32, 36, 38, 41, 44, 57, 59, 83, 84, 88, 89, 101, 117
Tanners, 28, 57, 59, 98-9
Tavern-keeper, 29
Tensers, see Shrewsbury
Teynterer, 29
Thegn-right obtained by three voyages, 48
Thurstan, Abp of York, 24
Tolls paid by ungildated merchants, 146-156
Totnes, 18 (n. 6), 25, 147
Town bargains, common, 15
Townhall, 17-18
Towns, growth of, in twelfth century, 10, 21
differed little from country, 12, 21
trade their _raison-d'etre_, 13
town gild, 13, 31
struggle of classes in continental, 9
but not in English, 9
growth of select body, 19, 105
Trade favoured by Conquest, 10, 13, 35
expansion of, 20
localisation of, 31
Trade Unions, 47, 68, 141-144
Treasurer of gild, 43
Tudor, Owen, 79
Universities, 119
Usury, 33, 78, 80
Villain enfranchised by joining Merchant Gild, 16, 22, 30
Vintners, 59
Vulcan, 118
Wake, John, 27
Wales, 2, 30, 146, 154
incorporated with England, 79
cloth trade of, 3, 89-97, 99
Prince of, 27, 38, 79
Wallingford, 25
Walsall, 28
Wardens' Oath, 39
Warenne, Reginald de, 24
Warwick, 69
Warwickshire, 116
Weavers, 29, 32, 34, 44, 59, 131
Weddings, 43
Welshpool, 26
Wenlock, 28
Weymouth, 28
Wigan, 147
leve-lookers or gate-waiters at, 152
William I., 10
Wilton, 24
Winchester, 16, 25, 35, 85, 147, 148, 155
Windsor, 26
S. Winifred, 31, 59, 61
Witan, 13
Wite, 60
Women, members of gilds, 39, 40
but not burgesses, 18
Woodman, 29
Woodstock, 28
Wool-comber, 28
wool-buyer, 29
woollen-trade, 78
Worcester, 26, 147, 149, 154, 155
Working men, of middle ages, 49
degraded by Reformation, 75
and by subsequent policy, 106
hopes for their future, 142-144
Worsted Trade, 78
Wrekin, 124
Wycombe, 27
Yarmouth, 25, 147
Yeomen gilds, 5
York, 24, 84, 115
Abp Thurstan of, 24
CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. & SONS, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] I speak of the old edition. I have not had the advantage of using the
newer work.
[2] That the land did not contain a population adequate for its
cultivation is evident from a Statute of 1350 which allows the people of
the Marches of Wales (and Scotland) to go about in search of work at
harvest-time, as they had been accustomed to do aforetime. (_Rot. Parl._
II. 234.) _Work and Wages_, pp. 131-2.
[3] Cf. Thackeray, _The Four Georges_, p. 320, "decayed provincial
capitals, out of which the great wen of London has sucked all the life."
[4] Macaulay. _History of Eng._, Vol. I. pp. 165-6. Infra, Chap. VII.
[5] Cf. infra, Chap. VII.
[6] Brentano, 44, 52, 54, 58. Green, _Short Hist._, 193. G. Howell,
_Conflicts of Capital and Labour_, 22-25, 29, 31.
[7] Cunningham, _Growth of Industry_, 212. Brentano, 90, 95.
[8] Cf. infra, Chap. V.
[9] Cf. especially Chap. VII.
[10] _The Hist. and Development of Gilds._ Cf. especially Note 1.
[11] _Ibid._ 8. "The objects of the [Greek: eranoi] were of the most
varied description; ... associations of this kind were very common in the
democratic states of Greece, and to this class the numberless political
and religious societies, corporations, unions for commerce and shipping,
belonged." Boeckh, _Public Economy of Athens_, p. 243.
[12] Grote, _Hist. of Greece_, Vol. VI. p. 247, n. 1, where several
interesting parallels with the Mediaeval Gilds will be found. (Cf. also
infra, p. 34, note 2.)
[13] E. Hatch, Bampton Lectures, Lect. II. notes.
[14] Cunningham, p. 124.
[15] Cf. _Die kloesterlichen Gebets Verbruederungen bis zum Ausgange des
Karolingischen Zeitalters_, von Dr Adalbert Ebner. Similar spiritual
confederations are found in Italy in the second quarter of the eighth
century, and in the ninth they become common in southern Europe. Alcuin
speaks of them by the terms _pacta caritatis_, _fraternitas_,
_familiaritas_. The monks of the allied houses were termed _familiares_.
Dr Brentano (p. 20) says that at later times "conventions like that
between the Fraternity of London Saddlers and the neighbouring Canons of
St Martin-le-Grand, by which the saddlers were admitted into brotherhood
and partnership of masses, orisons, and other good deeds with the canons,
were common."
[16] Brentano, pages 1, 2. They are printed in Kemble's _The Saxons in
England_, Vol. I. Appendix D.
[17] Brentano, 49.
[18] Gneist, _Self Government_, Vol. I. p. 110; _Verwaltungsrecht_, Vol.
I. p. 139.
[19] Stubbs, III. 576, 578.
[20] _Work and Wages_, p. 126.
[21] Stubbs, I. 452.
[22] Stubbs, I. 449: _Select Charters_, 63, cap. 27, 28: 67, cap. iii.,
viii., 1., etc.
[23] _Select Charters_, 66, 12: 72, 6.
[24] Stubbs, I. 450.
[25] _Select Charters_, 67, iii., viii., 1.
[26] _Ibid._ 72, ii. cap. 6.
[27] Cunningham, 129, Stubbs, I. 452, Brentano, 42.
[28] Gross, I. 5; II. 28, 37. See note 1 to this Chapter.
[29] Cf. note 1 to this Chapter.
[30] _Ibid._
[31] _Select Charters_, 167 etc.; Stubbs, I. 452, and n. 1; Eyton's
_Shropshire_, XI. 134.
[32] _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159.
[33] Gross, I. 135, 136 and notes; II. 133, 149.
[34] _Ibid._ I. 42.
[35] Cf. note 2 to this Chapter.
[36] _Select Charters_, 265.
[37] _Select Charters_, 162, "Communam scilicet gildam."
[38] Gross, I. 83 and note 1.
[39] Stubbs, I. 451.
[40] _Select Charters_ (Helston), 314.
[41] Gross, I. 54. The Rolls of the Shrewsbury Merchant Gild contain a
large number of names of "foreigners." For instance in 1209 there were
apparently 56 foreigners; in 1252 these had increased to 234.
[42] Printed in Gross, II. 114-123.
[43] _Select Charters_, 166 (Charter of Henry II. to Lincoln).
[44] Gross, II. 235, and cf. note 2 to this Chapter.
[45] Cf. the "Chepgauel" at Totnes. Gross, II. 236.
[46] Gross, I. 57.
[47] Owen and Blakeway, I. 169-174. Erskine May, _Const. Hist._ III.
276-77.
[48] This close relationship of, and actual difference between, the two
bodies is very distinctly seen at Bristol in the reign of Edward IV., when
it was the custom for the Mayor and Council of the town to choose the
chief officers of the Merchant Gild, and to pass ordinances for its
regulation. Gross, II. 25.
[49] On the early use of coal, cf. _Work and Wages_, p. 124.
[50] The Statutes of Labourers first gave a recognised position to the
"men who neither held land, nor were free burgesses," but who had a
dwelling, and paid the rates of some town. Cf. Cunningham, 193-4. Supra,
p. 19.
[51] _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159; _Economic Interpretation_, p. 298.
[52] Cf. "Butchers' Row" at Shrewsbury, where also the High Street was
formerly called Bakers' Row (Pidgeon's _Handbook_, old Ed. p. 37). The
Street which was afterwards known as Single Butcher Row had been earlier
called "Shoemakers' Row" (Phillips, p. 200).
[53] Cf. the Monks' Gilds alluded to above, p. 8 and n. 2.
[54] "Which is now the only fragment left to the incumbent of the Church's
income before the Reformation." S. A. S. x. 223.
[55] Longfellow expresses this well in _The Golden Legend_:
"The Architect
Built his great heart into these sculptured stones,
And with him toiled his children, _and their lives
Were builded, with his own, into the walls,
As offerings unto God_."
[56] At Worcester a Gild School educated 100 scholars. The substitute
which the Government provided at the Reformation was for less than half
that number. Toulmin Smith's Collection, p. 203 and note.
[57] Ordinances of the City of London, framed in 1363.
[58] The Greeks had private Societies called [Greek: thiasoi] and [Greek:
orgeones] which also presented this feature. Cf. Foucart, _Les
Associations religieuses chez les Grecs_.
[59] Brentano, 54. Cunningham, 203, n. 2.
[60] Cf. supra, p. 20. In writing thus I have not forgotten that an
opposite view is taken by Dr Brentano, Mr J. R. Green, Mr Geo. Howell, and
in fact most of the writers who have touched on the subject.
[61] Gross, I. 114.
[62] Hartlepool, 1673. "It is ordered at a general guild ... that
whosoever ... shall presume to come in and within the liberty of this
corporation, to trade or occupye ... to the prejudice of the free trades
and companyes within the corporation" etc. Gross, II. 106-7.
[63] Cunningham, 209, n. 1.
[64] Tailors' Composition, of 1478.
[65] The Bailiffs are to apprehend on the third day any person coming to
the town "suspitiouslie w{th}oute anie lawfull errand or occasion," and to
detain him in prison "till he have found suertie of his good bearing or
els to avoide the towne." "And if anie man be comitted to their warde by
the wardens w{th} the fower men ordeigned to the said wardens to be
assistaunt in counsell in good counsell giving of anie crafte w{th}in the
said Towne and Frauncheses that then that person that is so comitted to
warde ... be not deliv'ed out of warde by the Bailiffs w{th}out assent and
agreement of the said wardens and fower men." "Item ... that no manne of
their Crafte journeyman or other be attendant nor at the calling of anie
gentleman, nor to noe other person otherwise than the lawe will but onlie
to the wardens of their Crafte for the good rule of the same and assisting
of the Bailiffs for keeping of the peace and for good rule of the Towne."
Mercers' Composition, 1480-81. The searcher is "to make serche and espye
all suche p'sones as frawdelentlye abbrygg, w{t}draw or cownceyle the
payments of theyre dewties" (such as Toll, Murage, etc.).
No livery is to be worn except that of the Gild or Corporation. When the
town bell rings the alarum members of the Gild are to go to the help of
the Bailiffs only.
[66] Tailors' Composition, of 1478. Cf. _Eng. Gilds_, pp. 286, 385, 407,
420, etc.
[67] There are examples of the town drawing up trading ordinances to which
the Gildsmen conformed. Cf. The Usages of Winchester and the Ordinances of
Worcester in _Eng. Gilds_, pp. 349, 370. Cf. also pp. 334-337.
[68] Also before they could hold land in mortmain it would be necessary to
obtain a charter.
[69] The Oath of the Freemen of the Mercers' Company is given as a note to
this Chapter.
[70] Cf. Appendix.
[71] "The position of master and journeyman was not that of capitalist and
labourer, so much as that of two fellow-workers, one of whom, from his
superior status, was responsible to the town for the conduct of both."
Cunningham, 211. As showing the position of an apprentice in the 15th
century a Shrewsbury Indenture is given as a note to this Chapter.
[72] Cunningham, 211, n. 1. Brentano, 40, 68.
[73] "The Stock in Trade required to set up in business was not great and
an apprentice when his term of service was over, became a master almost as
a matter of course. Journeymen were scarce, or at any rate not plentiful
enough to have much influence on Trade.... Thus Capital and Labour were
united." _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159, p. 53.
[74] Brentano, 40.
[75] Merewether and Stephens.
[76] For interference with Free Election on the Continent cf. Brentano.
[77] Tailors' Composition, 1563.
[78] Cf. infra, Chap. VI.
[79] Cf. the four Auditors to superintend the accounts of the London
Grocers (1348) and the six members who were chosen "to aid the Wardens in
the discharge of their duties" (1397), of whom Mr George Howell says:
"_Other than these, no notice of the existence of a committee or of
assistants, in England, appears earlier than the sixteenth Century_."
_Conflicts of Capital and Labour_, p. 40. Brentano, p. 62. Cf. the four
Assistants in the Merchant Gild of Ipswich, Gross, I. 24.
[80] The "Four Men of Counsel" of the Mercers were, by the Composition of
1480-81, chosen by the Wardens.
[81] Mercers' Composition, 1480-81. Tailors' and Skinners', 1563.
[82] Tailors' Composition, 1563.
[83] Several of these are in the Town Museum at Shrewsbury.
[84] A "Key-keeper" appears later in the lists of officers.
[85] Their situation is given in _Some account of the Ancient and Present
state of Shrewsbury_, published in 1808.
[86] Barbers' Composition (1483 A.D.).
[87] _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159, p. 44.
[88] _Select Charters_, p. 65.
[89] _Elizabethan England_, p. 9.
[90] Stubbs, _Constitutional History_, Vol. III., p. 607.
[91] The writs issued in 1388 order returns of the "Charters and Letters
Patent _si quas habent_": cf. Toulmin Smith, pp. 128, 130. The
"Compositions" spoken of below were renewals and confirmations of
previously enjoyed privileges. They usually assert that the Gild has been
in existence "a tempore quo non extat memoria."
[92] Charters were also necessary before lands could be acquired in
mortmain.
[93] Stubbs, ii. p. 504 and note 1.
[94] Toulmin Smith. Introduction, p. xxiv. It is from these returns that
Mr Toulmin Smith has compiled his collection of ordinances of "English
Gilds," which however comprise but a small portion of the whole, and throw
little or no light on the working of the Graft Gilds. The documents have
not yet been calendared, but they do not appear to contain anything
relating to Shrewsbury.
[95] Cunningham, p. 210, 211.
[96] Green, _Short History_, p. 192.
[97] Cunningham, p. 214.
[98] Brentano, 75: Riley, _Memorials_, 539, 565, 568, 570, 571, &c.
[99] Pidgeon's _Gilds of Shrewsbury_; _S. A. S._, Vol. V. p. 265.
[100] _S. A. S._, Vol. V. p. 266.
[101] Pidgeon's _Gilds_.
[102] Merewether and Stephens. Pidgeon's _Gilds_.
[103] Pidgeon's _Gilds_; _S. A. S._ Vol. x. p. 33.
[104] Those of Abbotsbury, Cambridge and Exeter. Cf. supra, p. 9.
[105] Toulmin Smith, pp. 29, 42, &c.
[106] _Ibid._, 7, 8, 11, &c.
[107] The little that is known about it is given in Owen and Blakeway's
_History of Shrewsbury_, II. 122.
[108] It is printed in _S. A. S._, Vol. V.
[109] _S. A. S._, Vol. VIII.
[110] Bryce, _Holy Roman Empire_, p. 95.
[111] "None that is of Frenshe, Flemmyshe, Irysh, Dowche, Walshe, or any
other Nacyones borne not beyng at Truse w{t} our Sov'ayne Lorde the kynge,
but onlye mere Englysshe borne."
[112] Such Articles against the wearing of Liveries were common in the
Gild Statutes. Cf. Toulmin Smith, _passim_.
[113] Except by the Nobility to their personal dependents. Cf. Stubbs,
III. 552.
[114] 8 Edw. IV. c. 2.
[115] 22 Hen. VIII. c. 4. The Entrance Fees for Apprentices had been
raised in some cases to 30/- and 40/-. They are now reduced to 2/6
Entrance Fee, and 3/4 Fee on taking up freedom.
[116] 28 Hen. VIII. c. 5.
[117] 1 Edw. VI. cap. 14.
[118] _Hist. of Reformation_, II. 72.
[119] May, 1548; Council Book MS. in the Privy Council Office. Cf. Dixon,
_Hist. of Church of Eng._ Vol. II. page 462, note.
[120] Burnet, _Hist. of Reformation_, IV. 281.
[121] Cf. Gross, I. 162, II. 14, 170, 279.
[122] The Statute 14 Eliz. c. 14 was enacted "For the assurance of gifts,
grants etc. made and to be made to and for the relief of the poor in the
Hospitals etc."
[123] _Memorials_, Vol. II. Part I. page 100.
[124] Against this were to be set the "enclosing" and "non-residence"
grievances.
[125] _Elizabethan England_, p. 11.
[126] _Ibid._, p. 121.
[127] _Ibid._, p. 117.
[128] _Elizabethan England_, p. 117.
[129] _Ibid._
[130] The good work of the Gilds is expressly acknowledged in many
charters of the time, e.g. the charter granted to Faversham (1616) recites
that long experience had shown that the dividing of the government of
towns into several companies had worked great good, and was the means of
avoiding many inconveniences and preposterous disorders, in respect that
the government of every artificer and tradesman being committed to men of
gravity, best experienced in the same faculty and mystery, the particular
grievances and deceits in every trade might be examined, reformed and
ordered. Gross, II. 89.
[131] Cunningham, p. 181.
[132] Cf. especially, 3 Edw. IV. c. 4; 22 Edward IV. c.
[133] Gross, II. 1, 2, 55, 89, 186-7, 208, 250.
[134] Cf. infra, pp. 90-91. The repealing statute (14 Eliz. c. 12) avowed
that not only had the former Act been "supposed for the benefit of the
said town" but had also been intended for the "advancing of the
Corporation of Drapers, Cottoners and Friezers of the said town."
[135] Gross, II. 87.
[136] Gross, II. 281. Cf. also pp. 12, 87, 199, 234, 247-8, 250, 281, 355,
360.
[137] _Ibid._, 12.
[138] _Ibid._, 56, 90, 91, 176, 186, 193, 199, 234, 247, 251, 264, 364,
385.
[139] Merewether and Stephens, 1408.
[140] Cromwell's Charter to Swansea. Gross, II. 234.
[141] Cf. the ordinance which appears in the Tailors' records, A.D. 1711,
April 11. "No combrother shall at any one time have more than two
apprentices, one having served 3-1/2 years before the other apprentice be
bound, and no apprentice above 17 years taken, and he must be unmarried."
[142] It was also directed against the paying of the Shearmen in kind.
[143] Cf. also 18 Eliz. cap. 15 (Goldsmiths): 8 Eliz. cap. 11
(Haberdashers).
[144] In 1570-1 when Sir Henry Sidney, Lord President of Wales, passed
through Shrewsbury.
[145] Shrewsbury Corporation Records.
[146] State Papers, Domestic, 1566? (p. 285).
[147] State Papers, Domestic, 1619, Oct. ?
[148] _Ibid._, 1620, Jan. ?
[149] _Ibid._, 1620, Jan. ? (There are several petitions against other
intruders also, by the countenance of the City of London, "who wish to
engross all markets.")
[150] _Ibid._, 1620, Jan. ?
[151] _Ibid._, 1620, Jan. 28.
[152] _Ibid._, 1620, Feb. 21.
[153] State Papers, Domestic, 1622. Several petitions from North Wales
against the Proclamation.
[154] _Ibid._, 1621. Petition of Drapers of Shrewsbury.
[155] _Ibid._, 1621, May 21. Petition of Clothiers of North Wales: the
Drapers of Shrewsbury are trying to draw all trade to Shrewsbury, which
will be their ruin.
[156] State Papers, Domestic; Oswestry Corporation Records, printed in _S.
A. S._ Vol. III.
[157] In 1622 the Bailiffs had requested a loan from the Mercers towards
the establishing of a market for Welsh cloth in Shrewsbury.
[158] The traders of Liverpool seem to have been the first to do this, so
far as the Welsh trade of Shrewsbury was concerned. Cf. Owen's
_Shrewsbury_.
[159] Orders of Corporation (collected by Godolphin Edwardes, Mayor in
1729). _S. A. S._ Vol XI.
[160] _Ibid._
[161] _Ibid._
[162] Orders of Corporation (1689).
[163] _Ibid._ (1729).
[164] _Ibid._
[165] "1619. That the Corporation endeavour to compel the wardens of the
Bakers' Company to pay their old annuity of L4. 6_s._ 8_d._ (sic) to the
Corporation." Orders of Corporation printed in Phillips' _History of
Shrewsbury_, p. 170.
[166] Orders of Corporation printed in Phillips' _History of Shrewsbury_.
[167] Cf. supra, p. 44.
[168] Glovers' records, 1681.
[169] 1782. Two members were called upon to show cause why they practise a
profession contrary to that they have sworn to follow.
[170] _Britannia Languens_, p. 355.
[171] p. 88.
[172] Consisting however of masters only.
[173] Macaulay, _History of England_, Vol I. p. 204, n.
[174] Cf. Howell, _Conflicts of Capital and Labour_, pp. 16, 62, 79, 103,
109, 472.
[175] Resolution of Saddlers in 1798, voting L50.
[176] This sentiment finds expression even in some of the compositions.
[177] That is, masters only, not workmen.
[178] _The Happy Warrior_ of Wordsworth gives us probably a very true idea
of the mediaeval conception of the perfect knight.
[179] Cf. Stubbs' _Lectures on Constitutional History_.
[180] Cf. supra, p. 47.
[181] Scott's _Marmion_.
[182] Brentano, p. 21.
[183] _Ibid._ p. 21.
[184] Toulmin Smith, p. 192.
[185] It is a curious coincidence that these two towns which earlier
evinced such jealousy towards one another's procession (cf. supra, p. 63)
should have maintained it longest.
[186] The festivities of the Preston Gild were held at intervals of twenty
years. The last took place in 1882 (cf. Abram, _Memorials_), but many
features place the Preston pageants in a different class from that to
which those of Shrewsbury and Coventry belong.
[187] i.e. Coventry.
[188] Though there is no doubt that the Quarry was used for the
performance of plays by other actors. Cf. infra, p. 119.
[189] Phillips (p. 201) gives the titles of two of these plays: "Julian
the Apostate" (at which Elizabeth intended to be present, but was
misinformed as to the date: when she arrived at Coventry tidings reached
her that it was already performed) in 1565, and "The Passion of Christ" in
1567.
[190] Cf. supra, pp. 5, 36, 85, 92, 98-9.
[191] Cf. supra, p. 90.
[192] Stow's _Survey_, p. 124.
[193] Shearmen's records.
[194] _Ibid._
[195] Taylor MS.
[196] Shearmen's records.
[197] _Ibid._
[198] (1594.) Owen and Blakeway, Vol. I. p. 396.
[199] Macaulay, _History of England_, Vol. I. p. 164.
[200] _Through England on a Side Saddle in the time of William and Mary,
being the Diary of Celia Fiennes._
[201] From the dedication to _The Recruiting Officer_.
[202] Thackeray, _The Four Georges_, p. 320.
[203] Perry, _Church History_, Vol. II. p. 512.
[204] Glovers' records, 1781. "Item, 1/- for carrying the Flag to Church
on Show Day."
[205] Saddlers' records, 1810. "Treasurer to pay 2 guineas to the
apprentices to go to Kingsland on Show Monday, and that they may have the
use of the Cloth, Flag and Streamers belonging to the Company."
[206] Saddlers' records, 1812. "That L10 be allowed to dine the company
instead of going to Kingsland."
[207] Cf. infra, p. 138.
[208] _Britannia Languens_, p. 355.
[209] _The Stranger in Shrewsbury._
[210] _Ibid._ p. 24.
[211] _Ibid._ On p. 28 they are described as being 16 in number. They
appear to have varied considerably in number at different periods.
[212] _The Stranger in Shrewsbury_, p. 24.
[213] _Ibid._ p. 97.
[214] _Ibid._ p. 97.
[215] In 1637.
[216] Though a few patriotic members kept the arbours etc. in repair a few
years longer.
[217] "1822. Thomas Frances Dukes made a Combrother free of all expense,
for his handsome conduct in giving up the Charter." (Mercers' Records.)
[218] Cf. _The Stranger in Shrewsbury_, p. 28.
[219] The Mercers decide that their dinner shall not cost above L25.
[220] A similar case was tried at Ludlow in 1831 when the Hammer-men
obtained a verdict in their favour and a farthing damages.
[221] 5 and 6 Will. IV. c. 76.
[222] _Constitutional History of England_, Erskine May, Vol. III. p. 285.
[223] Section 41. Omnes mercatores habeant salvum et securum exire de
Anglia, et venire in Angliam, et morari et ire per Angliam, tam per terram
quam per aquam, ad emendum et venendum, sine omnibus malis toltis.
[224] These were finally pulled down in 1859.
[225] The Mercers followed this example in 1878.
[226] _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159, p. 50.
[227] _Quarterly Review_, Vol. 159, p. 56. The Drapers' company at
Shrewsbury still survives to manage S. Mary's Almshouses.
[228] In 1835 there appear to have been companies in at least the
following other towns in England, Alnwick, Bristol, Carlisle, Chester,
Coventry, Durham, Gateshead, Haverfordwest, Kendal, Kingston-on-Thames,
Lichfield, London, Ludlow, Morpeth, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Oxford, Preston,
Richmond, Ruthin, Sheffield, Southampton, Wells, and York.
[229] Cf. supra, pp. 47-51.
[230] Cf. supra, pp. 105-106.
[231] Howell, _Conflicts of Capital_ etc., p. 494.
[232] The story of the rise of Trades Unions has been told with much
detail by Mr G. Howell in his _Conflicts of Capital and Labour_, and by Dr
Brentano in the last portion of his Essay on Gilds.
[233] It is to be hoped that the development of the "New Unionism" will
not frustrate this hope.
[234] Mr John Burns has recently been urging on Trades Unions the
advisability of surrendering this feature, so that the funds may the more
completely be devoted to militant purposes.
[235] By Henry Lytton Bulwer, M.P., in a letter to the Handloom weavers
when they petitioned for the creation of gilds of trade.
[236] Foxwell, _Irregularity of Employment_, p. 72.
[237] "There is of late a partial revival of good workmanship in many
trades ... but it will require years of toil to recover our lost ground in
the markets of the world." G. Howell, _Conflicts of Capital_ etc., p. 225.
Prof. Foxwell points out that "the master cutlers of Sheffield have done
something in [the] direction lately of exposing and punishing
falsification" etc., _Irregularity of Employment_ etc., p. 80 and note. Mr
E. J. Poynter notices that "the firm of which Mr William Morris is the
head, of which indeed he is the sole member, started the idea, now well
understood, that the only possible means of producing work which shall be
satisfactory from every side is to return to the principles on which all
works of art and art-manufacture were executed, not only in the Middle
Ages, but at all epochs up to the beginning of this century." _Ten
Lectures on Art_, p. 274.
[238] This paper was written for the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural
History Society, and was printed in substance in their _Transactions_, 2nd
Series, Vol. III., Part ii., p. 253.
Transcriber's Notes:
Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_.
Superscripted characters are indicated by {superscript}.
The original text includes Greek characters. For this text version these
letters have been replaced with transliterations.
Footnote 118 appears on page 67 of the text, but there is no corresponding
marker on the page.
The original text includes an intentional blank space. This is represented
by ________ in this text version.