Chapter X: Commerce and Trade (1)

The earliest trade recorded as carried on in the British Isles consisted of the exchange of tin with the Gauls, and, perhaps, also with Phoenician traders.

Under Roman rule the agricultural and mineral resources of Britain were more fully developed. Julius Cæsar praised the Southdown mutton, and Rome was supplied with oysters which came from Whitstable and Reculvers (_Regulbium_), and were carried through the River Stour (forming the western boundary of the Island of Thanet), and were exported from Richborough (_Rutupiæ_). Corn was exported in large quantities, and Londinium, the principal port for trading with Gaul, was the centre of commerce.

There is no notice of commerce during the early Anglo-Saxon period, but Bede, at the beginning of the eighth century, speaks of London as a great market which traders frequented by land or sea. The letter of protection for English pilgrims given to Offa of Mercia by Charlemagne (A.D. 796), which refers to trade carried on by them, has been called 'the first English commercial treaty.' One remarkable fact is that this commerce was mainly in the hands of foreigners. London in the early times was mainly a city of foreigners. Hence the jealousy of the natives, which grew in strength as time went on.

Commerce greatly increased during the reign of Edgar, so that Ethelred his son deemed it time to draw up a code of laws to regulate the Customs to be paid by the merchants of France and Flanders, as well as by the Emperor's men, but the promulgation of the laws of Athelstane (A.D. 925-929), which ordained that a merchant who had made three sea voyages should be of right a Thane, is a proof of the small number as well as of the importance of such native traders.

We learn from the Colloquies of the Abbot Ælfric (eleventh century) that most of the commodities imported into England were articles of luxury.

The port of Dowgate was granted to the City of Rouen as early as Edward the Confessor's reign, and the right was afterwards confirmed.[285]

The Confessor also gave a portion of Waremanni-Acra within London, 'with the wharf belonging to it, and with its market rights and places for merchandise, its stalls and shops, its rents and dues and rights, its toll and wharfage' to St. Peter's at Ghent, which grant was confirmed by William I. 1081.[286]

After the Conquest, communication with Normandy naturally increased greatly. Rouen was particularly favoured, and was granted a monopoly of trade with Ireland and freedom of commerce in London. In the twelfth century silver was imported in exchange for meat, fish and wool, which were all sent to the manufacturing districts of the Low Countries. Corn was sometimes exported, but not without a licence.

The House or Gild of the Merchants of Almaines otherwise called the House of the Teutonics, was formed about the year 1169, though the Germans, under the name of Easterlings, are known to have traded here, during the Saxon period. The gild flourished in London as the Merchants of the Steelyard till the time of Elizabeth, when their special privileges were abolished by royal decree.

Hallam tells us that from the middle of the twelfth to the thirteenth century the traders of England became more and more prosperous. The towns on the southern coast exported tin and other metals in exchange for the wines of France. Those on the eastern coast sent corn to Norway, and the Cinque Ports bartered wool against the stuffs of Flanders.

The export, of wool and the import of cloth were prohibited in 1261, and the prohibition was repeated in 1271. The cause of this prohibition may be illustrated by reference to a particular import--woad, which seems to show that a native woollen manufacture existed, although all the finer cloth came from Flanders. The restrictions originally imposed upon the woad merchants would not allow them a settlement in the city nor permit them to store their woad, which they had to sell as best they could on the wharf where it was landed. In 1237, however, the merchants of Amiens, Corby and Nesle were allowed, by special arrangement, greater freedom in the disposal of their woad and other wares. In the end the woad merchants settled in Cannon Street (Candelwykstrete), the very centre of the cloth trade in London, as Lydgate tells us in his _London Lyckpenny_:--

'Then went I forth by London Stone,
Throughout all Canwyke Street;
Drapers mutch cloth me offered anone.'[287]

London was the seat of trade in Eastern luxuries, which became known largely through the influence of the Crusades. Silks, fruits, spices and Greek wines were brought here by the Italian fleets which, after 1317, regularly visited England.

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the importance of our commerce is shown by the appearance of regulations for its promotion in the Statute Book. The Statute of Merchants is dated 1283-1285, and the _Carta Mercatoria_ 1303.

The trade with Bordeaux was very active, and largely carried on by English ships from London, Bristol, Dover and Hull. Wool, herrings, lead, copper and tin were taken out in these ships, also pilgrims as passengers. The ships returned to England laden with wine, and corn when the home production was short. In 1350 141 ships carried 13,429 tuns of wine from Bordeaux to England. English merchants travelled largely, and made their appearance at the great continental fairs.

As commerce increased the enemies of commerce also increased, and we find therefore that the Thames and the open sea were infested by bands of pirates. Soon after pirates had made a successful descent upon Scarborough, John Philipot, a prominent Londoner, set himself to break up the conspiracy. He fitted out a fleet at his own expense, and, putting to sea, succeeded in capturing the ringleader, a feat which rendered him so popular as to excite the jealousy of the Duke of Lancaster and other nobles. His fellow-citizens showed their appreciation of his character by electing him to succeed Brembre in the mayoralty in October 1378.[288]

How serious this danger really was may be seen from the fact that not even the King was safe. When Henry IV., in order to escape the pestilence raging in London, crossed from Queensborough, in Sheppey, to Leigh, in Essex, on his way to Plashey--though convoyed by Lord Camoys with certain ships of war--narrowly escaped capture by pirates. A vessel containing part of his baggage and retinue, together with his Vice-Chamberlain, fell into the hands of the enemy. This scandal naturally created a great stir, and Lord Camoys was tried on a charge of correspondence with the enemy. He was acquitted, but his innocence appears to have been considered doubtful.

Pirates lurked in the Thames or blockaded the mouth of the river, and to prevent them from landing within the area of the city the streets leading to the river were defended by chains. Still further to defend London from privateers, John Philipot offered to build at his own cost a stone tower 60 king's feet in height, near Ratcliff, provided the Corporation of London would levy sixpence in the pound on the rental of the city and build a corresponding tower on the opposite side of the river, so that an iron chain might be stretched from one tower to the other to protect the shipping of the river from night attack. The danger was so imminent that the Common Council agreed to the proposal, but, as the alarm died away, this scheme of defence was laid aside.[289]

In 1370 'the Mayor, aldermen and commonalty were given to understand that certain galleys, with a multitude of armed men therein, were lying off the foreland of Tanet' [Thanet], and it was therefore ordered that 'every night watch shall be kept between the Tower of London and Billingsgate, with 40 men-at-arms and 60 archers,' which watch the men of the trades underwritten 'agreed to keep in succession each night, in form as follows: On Tuesday, the drapers and the tailors; on Wednesday, the mercers and the apothecaries; on Thursday, the fishmongers and the butchers; on Friday, the pewterers and the vintners; on Saturday, the goldsmiths and the saddlers; on Sunday, the ironmongers, the armourers and the cutlers; on Monday, the tawers [curriers], the spurriers, the bowyers and the girdlers.'[290]

These pirates gave a great deal of trouble up to a much later date, and the wardenship of the Cinque Ports (then held by Cecil) was a busy post when, as in May 1616, pirate vessels were captured between Broadstairs and Margate.[291]

In connection with the trade and commerce of London, fairs and markets held a very important position, but here it will only be possible to make a passing allusion to them.

Bartholomew Fair, Smithfield, granted to the Prior of St. Bartholomew's by Henry II., 1133, was for several centuries the great cloth fair of England. Its memory is kept alive by the street which is still known as Cloth Fair. After the dissolution of the monasteries the fair was annually opened by the Mayor, attended by the aldermen. It long outlived its use and reputation, and was not finally abolished until the nineteenth century had run its course for some years.

In the City Letter Books there are references to other less important fairs; thus a fair then only recently established in Soper Lane (now Queen Street, Cheapside), and known as Nane (or Noon) Fair, was abolished about 1307 owing to its being the resort of thieves and cutpurses.[292]

There was also a fair called _la novele feyre_ which was held in the parish of St. Nicholas Acons.[293]

Many fairs were held at different times in Southwark, Westminster, and other places in the neighbourhood of London. How important the great fairs of the Middle Ages were may be seen in one instance among others by the fact that the citizens of London resorted in such numbers to St. Botolph's Fair, annually held at Boston, county Lincoln, on St. Botolph's Day (17th June), that all business in the Court of Husting ceased, and the Court was closed for a week.[294]

In the fourth book of the _Liber Albus_ there is a list of letters and other documents relating to markets and fairs, several of which relate to St. Botolph's Fair.[295]

In Saxon times buying and selling could only be lawfully carried out before the _reeve_ of Folkmote, a practice which necessitated a gathering in towns at fixed times, from which custom grew up the practice of each town having a market day. As a rule this was on a Sunday, and the market-place was often situated in the churchyard, close beneath the sheltering walls of the parish church.

By the Statute Wynton (13 Edw. I.) fairs and markets were forbidden to be held in churchyards; and the Statute 27 Henry VI., cap. 5, was the first enactment intended to enforce a due observance of Sunday. To avoid the scandal of holding fairs and markets on Sundays and upon high feast days it was decreed that 'Fairs and markets shall not be holden on Sundays or on festivals,' with the exception of four Sundays in harvest. There is no public right of holding fairs or markets, and the privilege emanates from the prerogative of the Crown.

From the earliest times the streets of London were occupied by the various trades who obtained the privilege of using them as market-places. The market of West Cheap or Cheapside was the chief of these public places, but almost all the trades had their appointed stations in the different streets, and in many cases the trades were not allowed to sell their wares in other places than those assigned to them. In the time of Edward I. it was ordered 'that all manner of victuals that are sold by persons in Chepe, upon Cornhulle, and elsewhere in the city, such as bread, cheese, poultry, fruit, hides, and skins, onions and garlic, and all other small victuals, for sale as well by denizens as by strangers, shall stand midway between the kennels of the streets as to be a nuisance to no one, under pain of forfeiture of the article.'[296]

'The pavement in Chepe' was a recognised market-place for corn, probably situated near the Church of St. Michael le Quern, at the west end of Cheapside. Stocks Market, which stood on the site of the present Mansion House, was founded in 1283, and the rents were appropriated to the maintenance of London Bridge. In 1324 the wardens of the bridge made complaint that certain fishmongers and butchers had of late abandoned the market-house, had erected sheds in the King's highway and other adjoining places, and sold their flesh and fish there, 'whereby the rents aforesaid, which formed the greater part of the maintenance of the said bridge, had become immensely reduced to the great peril and damage of the bridge and of the city, and of all passing over such bridge.'

Staples were markets where only certain goods called staple goods were allowed to be sold. The Company of Merchants of the Staple had a monopoly of exporting the staple commodities of England, and certain staple towns (which were constantly changed) were appointed as centres of the trade. The chief export was wool, 'the sovereign treasure' of England, wherewith she was said to keep the whole world warm. In 1328, and again in 1334, all staples were abolished and trade was free according to the great charter. Free trade did not last long, and the staple was fixed at Bruges in 1344.

By the Ordinance of Staple 27 Edw. III. (1353) ten staple towns were appointed in England, Wales and Ireland, Westminster and London together being considered as one of the ten. The staple of Bruges was removed from Bruges to Westminster by this Act.

In 1360 part of this Act was repealed. Calais[297] remained a staple till it was temporarily suppressed in 1369 (Statute 43 Edw. III., cap. 1). By this Act the staple of wool was in future to be confined to the following English ports: Newcastle, Hull, Boston, Yarmouth, Queenborough, Westminster, Chichester, Winchester, Exeter, and Bristol.

The staple towns continued to be changed, and there were great complaints made by the English in Tudor times that the staple was fixed abroad. We read that 'the caryage out of wolle to the stapule ys a grete hurte to the pepul of England, though hyt be profitabul both to the prince and to the merchant also.'[298] The changes in the wool trade in England during the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries caused an industrial revolution, the effects of which are well marked in our literature. The raw material was no longer exported, but in its place the cloth made here was sent to countries which had formerly supplied us with cloth in exchange for our wool. In consequence the number of wealthy merchants increased. With this prosperity the country became proud, and the lawgivers did all they could to foster the manufactures of the country.[299] A Statute passed in 1463 (3 Edw. IV. cap. 4) prohibited by enumeration the import of almost all wrought goods in order that 'the English artificers may have employment.' A similar Act was passed in the reign of Henry VIII., by which foreign books could only be introduced in sheets, so that work should be provided for the English bookbinders. The famous poem written by Adam de Molyneux, Moleyns or Molins, Bishop of Chichester, and Keeper of the Privy Seal (died 1450), which was entitled 'The Libel of English Policy' (1437), contains a full account of commodities exchanged between the countries of Western Europe. The full title of this important _Libellum_ shows its object--'Here beginneth the prologe of the processe of the Libelle of Englyshe Polycye exhorting alle Englande to kepe the see enviroun, and namelye the narowe see, shewynge whate profete commeth thereof, and also worshype and salvacioun to Englande and to alle Englyshe menne.'

The leading idea of the little book, as may be seen from the title, is that which agitates the public mind at the present time, and shows how important it is that England should keep the seas and protect the food and clothing coming to this country.[300]

In connection with the commerce and trade of the country the official weighing of goods was a matter of great importance. As far back as the Saxon period standard weights and measures were preserved in the City of London, and with these the weights and measures throughout the kingdom had to conform. The King's great Beam or Tron was used for weighing coarse goods by the hundredweight, and the small beam or balance for silks, spiceries and goods sold by the pound weight.

The King's weigh-house in Fish Street Hill, London, and the Tron Church in Edinburgh remind us of the old weighing machines of the country.

It was formerly the custom to allow a margin to buyers at the Tron. According to the _Liber de Antiquis_, in 1305 the weigher allowed the buyer a draft of four pounds in every hundredweight.

At the present day there is a survival of this custom in the tea trade and some others, for the importer gives a precisely similar 'draft' to the dealer, viz., one pound in every chest of tea of twenty-eight pounds.[301]

Foreigners and strangers were not permitted, as a rule, to take up their residence within the walls of London for a longer period than forty days, and were subject to several restrictions as to trade. Exceptions were, however, made from time to time with various foreign towns. Natives of Denmark enjoyed the privilege of sojourning in London all the year through: in addition to which they had a right to all the benefits of 'the law of the City of London,' that is, they were entitled to the right of resorting to fair or to market in any place throughout England. Norwegians had the same right of sojourning in London all the year, but did not enjoy 'the law of the city,' as they were prohibited from leaving it for the purposes of traffic.[302]

In February 1303 the King, by the _Carta Mercatoria_, granted exceptional privileges to foreign merchants, and these concessions caused great indignation among his subjects at home. A tax was exacted from these foreigners, and in 1309 the Friscobaldi were appointed by the King to receive the 'new custom,' and two years later he ordered their arrest for failing to render an account of the money received under that head. Their detention, however, was of short duration.[303]

The Act was repealed in 1311, and again enacted in 1322, but with the accession of Edward III. it was again repealed.

Foreign commerce is said to have been better governed than inland trade, for the King had an arbitrary authority in the regulation of trading.

In dealing with the trade of London it is necessary to say something about the origin of Gilds; but this is a most difficult question, respecting which very different opinions are held by writers on the subject.

It will be impossible to discuss these points at all fully in this chapter, and therefore a few dates will be found sufficient for the present purpose.

Mediæval gilds were voluntary associations established for mutual assistance. It is quite easy to show the likeness between them and the Roman Collegia, but to do this is futile, because few now believe in any connection between the two institutions. Similar circumstances often cause similar institutions to arise.

In the Middle Ages few men and women could stand alone, and combination was a positive necessity for existence, and the people soon found that union is strength.

The great authority on this subject is Mr. Toulmin Smith's work, entitled _English Gilds_, which was edited by his daughter, Miss Toulmin Smith, and published by the Early English Text Society in 1880.

Prefixed to this great work is Dr. Brentano's valuable Essay on the History of Gilds, in which he writes: 'I write to declare here most emphatically that I consider England the birthplace of gilds.'

Some writers have fixed upon the second half of the ninth century as the date of the origin of gilds, but Miss Toulmin Smith points out that among the laws of Ina (A.D. 688-725) are two touching the liability of the brethren of a gild in the case of slaying a thief. Alfred (A.D. 871-879) still further recognised the brotherly gild spirit in his laws as to manslaughter by a kinless man, and again where a man who has no relatives is slain.[304]

Dr. Brentano writes: 'An already far-advanced development of the gilds is shown by the _Judicia Civitatis Lundoniæ_, the Statutes of the London gilds, which were reduced to writing in the time of King Athelstan. From them the gilds in and about London appear to have united into _one_ gild, and to have framed common regulations for the better maintenance of peace, for the suppression of violence--especially of theft and the aggressions of the powerful families--as well as for carrying out rigidly the ordinances enacted by the King for that purpose.'[305]

A large division of the old gilds were purely social, and there is no trace of Merchant gilds before the Norman Conquest, while craft gilds did not come into existence until early in the twelfth century.

Dr. Brentano writes: 'Though the merchant gilds consisted chiefly of merchants, yet from the first craftsmen, as such, were not excluded from them on principle, if only such craftsmen possessed the full citizenship of the town, which citizenship--with its further development--depended upon the possession of estates of a certain value situated within the territory of the town. The strict separation which existed between the merchants and the crafts probably arose only by degrees. Originally the craftsmen, no doubt, traded in the raw materials which they worked with.'[306]

Mr. Ashley is of opinion that Dr. Brentano exaggerated both the independence and the economic importance of the trade gilds.[307]

He further writes: 'We do not know whether there had ever been a Gild Merchant in London; however, in 1191, by the recognition of its Commune, the citizens obtained complete municipal self-government, and, consequently, the recognition of the same rights over trade and industry as a Gild merchant would have exercised.'[308]

Dr. Gross, in his work on the Gild Merchant, says that he can find no evidence of the existence of a merchant gild in London. Still there were trade gilds which were aristocratic in origin, and governed by the great merchants, who were the chief landowners of London.

Mr. C. G. Crump, however, has quite lately found direct mention of the Gild Merchant of London in 1252 in a charter of that date (Charter Roll, 37 Hen. III. m. 20). While pointing out that this was apparently unknown to Dr. Gross, as he decides against the existence of any such institution, he adds: 'This charter, while it suggests a doubt on the point, is not conclusive, because it is a very exceptional document. There is no other charter of its kind during the whole reign of Henry III., and a Chancery clerk endeavouring to draft a charter to convert a Florentine merchant into a citizen of London might well have thought fit to mention a gild merchant as a matter of common form even if none actually existed.[309]

The year 1180 is an important one in the history of gilds, for then these bodies were required to pay their fines or licences, in token and recognition of their allegiance to the Crown. There were eighteen of these, which were amerced as 'Adulterine' gilds--the Goldsmiths, the Pepperers and the Butchers being among them. The document containing this list is translated by Herbert in his work on the Companies,[310] where it is suggested that the fining of these proves that the gilds must have been numerous, because some of them only could have subjected themselves to the penalty.

The Mercers claim an existence at a still earlier date (1172), and when the Saddlers are mentioned immediately after the Conquest they are said to possess 'ancient statutes.'

Gradually the influence of the craftsmen made itself felt, and the craft gilds came into existence, but the aristocratic traders would not recognise them.

The craftsmen found an enthusiastic patron in Thomas Fitz-Thomas, the popular Mayor (1261-1265). His conduct disgusted Arnold Fitz-Thedmar, the city alderman and chronicler, who complains that 'this Mayor, during the time of his mayoralty, had so pampered the city populace, that styling themselves the "Commons of the city," they had obtained the first voice in the city. For the Mayor, in doing all that he had to do, acted and determined through them, and would say to them: "Is it your will that so it shall be?" and then if they answered "Ya, ya," so it was done. And on the other hand, the aldermen or chief citizens were little or not at all consulted on such matter, but were in fact just as though they had not existed.'[311]

After the Battle of Evesham the city was taken into the King's hands (1265-1270), and a very despotic and wicked action was perpetrated. Fitz-Thomas and some other prominent citizens were summoned to Windsor, and there were kept prisoners. Some of these regained their liberty, but nothing more was heard of Fitz-Thomas, as Dr. Reginald Sharpe writes: 'From the time that he entered Windsor Castle he disappears from public view. That he was alive in May 1266, at least in the belief of his fellow-citizens, is shown by their cry for the release of him and his companions, "who are at Windleshores."'[312]

The craftsmen lost a valiant friend, but another was raised up in his place. Walter Hervi, who was hated by the aldermen for his democratic opinions, but loved by the Commons, was elected Mayor in 1272. Fresh ordinances for the regulation of various crafts were drawn up, and to these the Mayor, on his own responsibility, attached the city seal. When his year of office expired these so-called charters were called in question, and in 1274 they were examined in the Hustings before all the people and declared void.[313]

The craft gilds were supposed to be defeated, but this was not really so, for the merchants found that the struggle between the trade gilds and craft gilds was an unequal one. They therefore with much worldly wisdom joined the latter, and gradually gained an ascendency in them.

Mr. Ashley affirms that from the reign of Edward II. the gild system was no longer merely tolerated, but it was fostered and extended.[314]

The years which followed the Peace of Bretigny, until war broke out afresh in 1369, witnessed the reorganisation of many of the trade and craft gilds.[315]

In 1376 the gilds wrested for a time from the wards the right of electing members of the city's Council. The gilds continued to elect until 1384, when the right of election was again transferred to the wards.

The names of the representatives of the gilds forming the first Common Council of the kind are placed on record in Letter Book H, ff. _46b_, 47.

The year 1388-1389 was an important one in the history of gilds. The writs of 12 Ric. II. had important effects, and the returns form the chief substance of Mr. Toulmin Smith's _English Gilds_. There were two distinct writs: (_a_) the writ for returns from the social gilds; (_b_) the writ for returns from craft gilds. Toulmin Smith printed the writs with these side-notes: (_a_) 'The Sheriffs of London [and of every shire in England] shall, by authority of the Parliament that lately met at Cambridge, make proclamation calling on the master and wardens of all the social gilds [all gilds and brotherhoods whatsoever] to send up returns before the 2nd day of February A.D. 1388-9.

(_b_) 'The Sheriffs of London [and of every shire in England] shall, by authority of the Parliament that lately met at Cambridge, make proclamation calling on the masters, wardens and overlookers of all gilds of crafts holding any charter or letters-patent to send up before the second day of February 1388-9 copies of such charters and letters upon penalty of forfeiture.'

The original writs were returned by the London sheriffs with this endorsement: 'When and by whom proclamation was made in London and the suburbs--Fleet Street in the suburbs; the Standard, in Westcheap; the Ledenhall, Cornhill; St. Magnus Church, Bridge Street; St. Martin's Church, Vintry; Southwark.'

In Mr. Toulmin Smith's book only three of the returns relate to London, and these are not from craft gilds. They are the Gild of Garlekhith, the Gild of St. Katherine, Aldersgate, and the Gild of SS. Fabian and Sebastian, Aldersgate. It is not necessary to give extracts from these returns, but we can obtain a good idea of the objects of these gilds from Mr. Toulmin Smith's side-notes, which are as follows:--

_Garlekhith._--'The gild was begun in 1375 to nourish good fellowship. All bretheren must be of good repute. Each shall pay 6s. 8d. on entry. There shall be wardens, who shall gather in the payments and yield an account thereof yearly. A livery suit shall be worn. The bretheren and sisteren shall hold a yearly feast. Two shillings a year shall be paid by each. Four meetings touching the gild's welfare shall be held in each year. Free gifts by the bretheren. Ill-behaved bretheren shall be put out of the gild. No livery-suit shall be sold within a year. On death of any, all the rest shall join in the burial service and make offerings under penalty. In case of quarrel, the matter shall be laid before the wardens. Whoever disobeys their award shall be put out of the gild and the other shall be helped. Weekly help to all seven-year bretheren in old age and in sickness, and to those wrongfully imprisoned. Newcomers shall swear to keep the ordinances. Every brother chosen warden must serve or pay 40s.'

_St. Katherine._--'These are the ordinances of the gild: Oath on entry, and a kiss of love, charity and peace. Weekly help in poverty, old age, sickness, or loss by fire or water, etc. Payments by bretheren and sisteren. Members of the gild shall go to church and afterwards choose officers. Burials shall be attended. The gild shall bear charge of burials. Any brother dying within ten miles round London shall have worshipful burial. All costs thereof shall be made good by the gild. Loans to gild-bretheren out of the gild stock on pledge or surety. Wax lights to be found and used at times named. Further services after death. Newcomers by assent only. Four men shall keep the goods of the gild, and render an account yearly. Assent of all the gild to new ordinances. The goods of the gild are a "vestement, a chalys and a mass-book, pris of x marks."'

_SS. Fabian and Sebastian._--'Oath on entry, and a kiss of love, charity and peace. Weekly help in poverty, old age, sickness, or loss by fire or water, etc. The young to be helped to get work. Payments by bretheren and sisteren. Four days of meeting in the year, when all must attend under penalty. Burials shall be attended. The gild shall bear charge of burials. Those dying within ten miles round London shall be fetched to London for burial. Loans to gild-bretheren out of the gildstock on pledge or surety. Wax lights to be found and used at times named. Ill-behaved bretheren shall be put out of the gild. Entry of new bretheren. Four men shall keep the goods of the gild and render an account yearly. Assent of all the gild to new ordinances. Grant of a house in Aldersgate worth £4, 13s. 4d. a year, less quit rent of 13s. a year, the profits of which are applied in aid of the gild.'

These regulations with their general likeness and slight divergencies help us to understand the gild life of the Middle Ages, which, it will be seen, was essentially practical and helpful to the growth of good feeling among those who were brought together in constant intercourse.

The rules of the gilds were often very strict, and men of evil life were put out of the fraternity. Moreover, idlers and ne'er-do-weels were not to expect to be relieved from the funds of the gild. From the ordinances of the Gild of St. Anne in the Church of St. Lawrence Jewry, we learn that 'if any man be of good state, and use hym to ly long in bed; and at rising of his bed ne will not work but go to the tavern... and in this manner falleth poor... and trust to be holpen by the fraternity: that man shall never have good, ne help of companie, neither in his lyfe nor at his dethe; but he shal be put off for evermore of the companie.'

Mr. Toulmin Smith's returns are taken from the originals in the Public Record Office, and, as has already been noted, by some fatality there are no records of the craft gilds.

The next great point in the history of gilds is connected with their abolition by the Act of 1 Edw. VI. cap. 14 (1547), a most iniquitous measure. Miss Toulmin Smith tells us how her father's indignation was roused by his researches into the story of the fate of the gilds:--

'In a MS. note he remarks that for the abolition of monasteries [there was] some colour, and after professed inquiries as to manners; moreover, allowances [were] made to all ranks. But in case of gilds (much wider) no pretence of inquiry or of mischief, and no allowance whatever. A case of pure wholesale robbery and plunder, done by an unscrupulous faction to satisfy their personal greed, under cover of law. No more gross case of wanton plunder is to be found in the history of all Europe; no page so black in English history.'[316]

Of course there is another side to the question, and Mr. Ashley, who discusses very fully the consequences of the Act of Edward VI., thinks that it has been unfairly condemned. He says that, so far as the companies were concerned, the Bill did not propose to take from them anything more than the revenues actually used for religious purposes; and further, that the Statute neither 'abolished' nor 'dissolved' nor 'suppressed' nor 'destroyed' the companies, but left all their corporate powers and rights intact, except so far as religious usages were concerned.[317]

We must remember, however, that Mr. Toulmin Smith's indignation was roused not so much by the forfeiture of certain trusts in the hands of the livery companies as by the robbery of the small gilds all over the country.

The early history of most of the city companies is rather disconnected, and, owing to the loss and destruction of documents, the mode by which the craft gilds were amalgamated with the livery companies is not very easy to follow. Still, the likeness between the two institutions is so marked, and their duties so similar, that there is no difficulty in acknowledging the fusion. To take a single instance, it may be mentioned that the original gild of Goldsmiths had exactly similar public duties to perform that are now performed by the present Goldsmiths' Company. This connection has usually been taken for granted, but it is necessary to allude to the question here, because Mr. Loftie, a high authority on the history of London, has strongly disputed this connection. In 1883 Mr. Loftie wrote: 'The identification of the adulterine guilds with the later companies is scarcely possible'[318]; and again in 1887: 'The Weavers' Company is not the only one which claims to represent directly an ancient guild, but it is the only one whose claim has anything so like a reasonable foundation.'[319] These are, however, only casual remarks, but in his latest work he has elaborated his attack in the following terms:--

'Popular errors are very difficult to deal with effectually. One of the most persistent is that which confounds the city guilds with the city companies. Here two widely different things are inextricably confused, and that, too, not in mere catchpenny popular books, but in books pretending to more or less authority. In the common run of London histories, guild means company, and company means guild.... To begin with, there are now no guilds in London. By an Act passed in 1557 all religious guilds were abolished and all guildable property was confiscated. But as there were no guilds not religious, and as the property of guilds was held in trust to provide burials, masses, and sometimes chantries for deceased members, the guilds and their land, and their money and their priestly vestments, and their illuminated manuscripts, all ceased to exist absolutely; and not only so, but it became penal to revive them. A city company which calls itself a guild renders itself liable to forfeiture--a penalty which would, of course, be rather difficult to enforce.'[320]

There are two statements here which may be challenged--one that all gilds were religious, and the other that all gilds were abolished by Act of Parliament.

Certainly the gilds which were not instituted for purposes of trade protection have often been styled religious, but Mr. Toulmin Smith preferred to class them as social gilds, and I think wisely. As already stated, their objects were entirely practical and social. Mr. Toulmin Smith writes: 'The gilds were lay bodies, and existed for lay purposes, and the better to enable those who belonged to them rightly and understandingly to fulfil their neighbourly duties as freemen in a free state.'

Religious duties were performed, but these were only incidental to the life of the time, and consisted mostly of services connected with the serious occasions in the life of laymen, which were general in the periods that have been styled 'ages of faith.'

As to the second point, a reference to the Statute 1 Edw. VI. cap. 14, will show us that the craft gilds are exempted from its operation. In the _Statutes of the Realm_ one of the side-notes to the 'Act whereby certain chantries, colleges, free chapells, and the possessions of the same, be given to the King's Majesty,' runs as follows: 'All brotherhoods or guilds and their possessions, except companies of trade vested in the King.' The text is 'other then suche corporations, guyldes, fraternities, companyes and felowshippes of misteryes or craftes.'

I think we must allow that the terms of this Act strongly corroborate the general belief that the old craft gilds and the later companies were so closely connected as to be practically the same. Having dealt with the general question of gilds, we can now pass on to consider the influence of the different trades upon London life.

The origin of the companies seems to have been largely connected with the result of a combination of the numerous sections of a particular trade. Some trades were so important that they could stand alone; thus the Goldsmiths' Gild became the Goldsmiths' Company; but most of the other companies were formed by the union of more than one gild.

A marked feature of the old trades of London was the minute subdivisions which took place among them: thus there were hatters, cappers, chapelers (makers of caps), and hurers. The latter were makers of hures, or rough hairy caps. The hurers and cappers were united to the hatters by charter of Henry VII. in the sixteenth year of his reign, and again united in the following year to the haberdashers by the King's licence under his great seal.

The Company, subsequently known and chartered as the Clothworkers', was first incorporated by letters-patent of Edw. IV. in 1482, as the 'Fraternity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Shearmen of London.' The fullers were taken into union in 1528, thereby constituting the Clothworkers' Company.

A convincing proof of the connection of the gilds with companies, and the natural succession of the latter from the former, is seen in this case of the Clothworkers' Company. It appears from a deed dated 15th July 1456 that John Badby did remise, etc., unto John Hungerford and others, citizens and sheremen of London, 'a tenement and mansion-house, shops, cellars and other the appurtenances, lying in Minchin Lane, and their heirs for ever.' This is the site of Clothworkers' Hall, the Clothworkers' Company being the natural heirs of the Gild of Shearmen.[321]

There is much interest connected with the occupation of the shearman, who sheared the nap of wool. Woollen clothes in the Middle Ages were expected to last a lifetime. When new the nap was very long, and as the clothes became shabby it was customary to have them shorn, a process which was repeated as long as the stuff would bear it. In the delightful old ballad reprinted in Percy's _Reliques_, 'Take thy old cloak about thee,' the old cloak that had been in wear for forty-four years was likely to be a sorry clout at the end of that time, which would hold out neither wind nor rain. Well might the husband resolve:--

'For once I'le new appareld bee,
To-morrow I'le to towne and spend,
For I'le have a new cloake about mee.'

But the wife's plea for thrift, and her statement--

'Itt's pride that putts this countrye downe,'

succeeds in the end, and the ballad ends,--

'As wee began wee now will leave,
And I'le take mine old cloake about mee.'

The aid of the shearman was not merely called in by the poor, for we learn that the Countess of Leicester (Eleanor, third daughter of King John, and wife of Simon de Montfort) in 1265 sent Hicque the tailor to London to get her robes re-shorn.[322]

The date of the ballad was probably early, although the King alluded to in the printed text is King Stephen, in that of the Scotch version Robert, and in the Percy MS. a vague King Henry. The ballad must have had a wide popularity, for Shakespeare alludes to it twice. Iago quotes a whole stanza (_Othello_, act ii.), and Trinculo evidently alludes to it when he says:--

'O King Stephano, O Peere: O worthy Stephano,
Looke what a wardrobe here is for thee.'
(_Tempest_, act iv. sc. i.).

The number of trades connected with clothing were singularly numerous. Besides the shearman (or tondour) there were the feliper, pheliper or fripperer, who dealt in second-hand clothes, and the furbur or furbisher of old clothes.

Dr. Brentano points out that in all manufacturing countries, in England, Flanders and Brabant, as well as in the Rhenish towns, the most ancient gilds were those of the weavers; and Mr. Ashley writes that the first craft gilds to come into notice were the weavers and fullers of woollen cloth. No weaver or fuller might go outside the town to sell his own cloth, and so interfere with the monopoly of the merchants; nor was he allowed to sell his cloth to any save a merchant of the town.[323]

The London Gild of Weavers was recognised by Henry I., and the first charter of incorporation was granted by Henry II. in 1184, when the seal of Thomas à Becket was affixed to the document. The special privileges given to this trade created a strong jealousy among the citizens, and John was induced to suppress the gild.[324] As it had been accustomed to pay the King eighteen marks per annum, he bargained that the citizens should pay twenty marks so that he might not be out of pocket.

The suppression did not continue for long, and in the reign of Henry III. we find the feud between the citizens and the gild again in full force. When the authorities of the gild feared that the citizens would overpower them, they delivered their 'charter into the Exchequer, to be kept in the treasury there, and to be delivered to them again when they should want it, and afterwards to be laid up in the treasury.'[325]

Mrs. Green says that in 1300 the Mayor had gained the right to preside in the weavers' court if he chose, and to nominate the wardens of the gild.[326] In the fourteenth year of Edward II. (A.D. 1320-1321) the privileges of the weavers came before a court of law. In spite of the distinguished position that the Gild of Weavers held in its early days, the present Weavers' Company only stands forty-second in the order of the livery companies.

Many of the old trades of London have been entirely lost sight of, and their names only exist among the patronymics of the people.

The great feud between the victualling and clothing trades of London was one of the most remarkable features of the fourteenth century. Some allusion has been made to this in chapter viii. on the governors of the city, but a reference must also be made here in connection with the history of the London companies.

After the Peasants' Revolt, London was the battlefield of rival factions. The friends of the King (Richard II.) were found among the great merchants of the victualling trades. In one year sixteen of the twenty-five aldermen were grocers, and Nicholas Brembre was chief of them. The fishmongers, of whom Sir William Walworth was the leader, were scarcely less powerful.

The victuallers were very unpopular, and the public have always specially resented any advance in the price of food. Complaints were rife in the chief cities of the country of the abuses of the victuallers, and an Act (12 Edw. II. cap. 6) was passed to the effect that "no officer of a city or borough shall sell wine or victuals during his office."

This Act was frequently evaded, and another Act was passed in 1382 (see _ante_, p. 236). In the end the Act of Edward II. was repealed (3 Hen. VIII. cap. 8, 1511-1512).[327]

John of Northampton, when he became Mayor, took advantage of this Act, and began a policy of aggression directed against the victualling interest. He turned all his enemies off the governing body, and victuallers were forbidden to hold office in the city. These feuds were very serious, and the two leaders were unfortunate in their ends. Brembre was executed in 1388, and John of Northampton was sent to the Tower and imprisoned in Tintagel Castle.

A few words may be said here about the classes of trades represented by the gilds and companies commencing with--

_The Bakers._--The price of bread was regulated by law, according to the price of wheat, and the Mayor had the right to levy a 1/2d. for every quarter of corn sent to the mill. This tax was called pesage from pisa, a corruption of mediæval Latin _pensa_, a weight. The right was called in question at the _Iter_ held in the Tower in 1321, but the matter was adjourned for the consideration of the King and his Council.[328]

The fraudulent baker had a bad time, for he was sometimes carried about in a tumbrell, and at other times he was put in the pillory. For his first offence the culprit was drawn upon a hurdle from Guildhall through the most populous and most dirty streets, with the defective loaf hanging from his neck. On a second occasion he was drawn from the Guildhall 'through the great streets of Chepe' to the pillory, which was usually erected in Cheap or Cheapside, and there he was exposed for one hour. For the third offence he was again drawn on the hurdle, his oven was pulled down, and he was compelled to forswear the trade in London for ever. The use of the hurdle was discontinued in favour of the pillory in the reign of Edward II. Another offence punished by exposure in the pillory, besides short weight and bad quality was the putting of iron in a loaf of bread to increase its weight.[329]

In the famine of 1258, when the Earl of Cornwall's sixty cargoes of grain arrived, the first thing the King had to do was to issue an ordinance against the greed of the middlemen, known as forestallers and regrators.

No words appear to have been found too strong to hurl at these unfortunate middlemen, but the regratresses or female retailers who bought bread at the markets, and delivered it from house to house, were contented with a small profit. These dealers were privileged by law to receive thirteen batches for twelve, hence the expression 'a baker's dozen.' This seems to have been the extent of their profits. It was once the practice of the baker to give to each regratress who dealt with him sixpence on Monday morning by way of _estrene_ or present, and threepence on Friday as _curtasie_ money, but this was forbidden by public ordinance, and the bakers were ordered to let all such payments in future go towards increasing the size of the loaf, 'to the profit of the people.'[330]

Corn used to be stored by the city and the companies against times of scarcity, but the origin of the practice is obscure, and no obligation to provide corn appears to have been imposed upon any of the companies by the terms of their charters. Sir Simon Eyre, Mayor in 1435, formed a public granary in Leadenhall. Stow and Fuller eulogise Sir Stephen Brown, who, in 1438, was energetic in his endeavours to get corn stored in the city granaries. In 1578 the farmers of the Bridge House divided the store into twelve equal parts, and the same by lots were appropriated to the twelve companies, to each of them an equal part for the bestowing and keeping of the said corn.

Pannier (or Panyer) Alley, leading from Newgate Street to Paternoster Row, was once the standing place for bakers with their bread panniers. The bakers of London were divided into white bakers and brown or tourte bakers (turturarii), who made a coarse bread of unbolted meal. No maker of white bread was allowed to make tourte, nor a tourte baker to make white bread. House bread was prepared by the bakers of household bread, while hostellers, by whom it was exclusively used, were forbidden to make it. Similar trades were the pastellers, who made pies and other kinds of pastry, pie-bakers and cooks.

_Butchers._--The sale of butchers' meat seems to have been somewhat limited during the Middle Ages in comparison with the population, although the number of butchers within the city walls were quite sufficient to create a considerable nuisance. Smithfield was then the great cattle market, as it remained until our own time. Lean swine were sold there, probably with the purpose of fattening them in the town. The chief meat markets within the city walls were Stocks Market and the flesh shambles of St. Nicholas, in Newgate Street and its vicinity. A lease of the latter place to the butchers, in 1343, is recorded in Riley's _Memorials_. The shocking condition of Newgate Street is indicated by such names as Stinking Lane, St. Nicholas's Shambles, and Blowbladder Street. There was a Butchers' Bridge on the Thames side, near Baynards Castle, to which the offal was brought from Newgate Street through the streets and lanes of the city, by which 'grievous corruption and filth have been generated.' The evil, in fact, was so great that a royal order was issued in 1369 for the removal of Butchers' Bridge.

The 'foreign' butchers, or those who did not possess the freedom of the city, brought their meat to shambles just outside the civic boundary. On the west, near St. Clement's Church in the Strand, there was a Butcher Row, and in the east, immediately beyond Aldgate, was another Butcher Row. This last still exists as 'Aldgate Market,' and consists of a row of butchers' shops on the south side of the High Street. Formerly imported animals were killed behind the shops.

The unfortunate tradesmen had to submit to public enactment, by which the exact price of the commodities they sold was fixed. In the reign of Edward I. the carcase of the best ox was sold for 13s. 4d., of the best pig for 4s., of the best sheep for 2s. The ill-treated butcher had no redress, for a provision was added to the order that if any person should withdraw himself from the trade by reason of the said ordinance he should lose the freedom of the city, and be compelled to forswear the trade for ever.[331]

These instances of interference with trade continued for centuries, and we learn that in 1533 it was enacted that butchers should sell their beef and mutton by weight--beef for 1/2d. a pound, and mutton for 3/4d. Stow, in relating this, adds that at this time, and not before, 'foreign' butchers were allowed to sell their flesh in Leadenhall Market.

_Fishmongers._--The information relating to the sale of fish in the City Records proves how largely the population of London in the Middle Ages depended upon its ample supply. There was great variety, and a large number of enactments were made as to the sale. The fish mentioned in the _Liber Albus_ as being sold in the London market are: Sturgeon, cod, ray, herring, bass, conger, sole, mackerel, sur-mullet, turbot, porpoise, haddock, sea-ling, sprats, salmon, shad, eels, pike, barbel, roach, dace, dabs, flounders, lampreys, smelts, stickelings, oysters, mussels, cockles, whelks, scallops, and stock fish (imported from Prussia). Of these, sprats, herrings, mussels, whelks and oysters are most often mentioned, but lobsters, crabs and shrimps are not alluded to.