English gilds : the original ordinances of more than one hundred early English gilds : together with The olde Usages of the cite of Wynchestre; the Ordinances of Worcester; the Office of the Mayor of Bristol; and the Costomary of the Manor of Tettenhall-Regis : from manuscripts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries / edited by Toulmin Smith ; with an introduction and glossary, etc., by Lucy Toulmin Smith ; and a preliminary essay on the history and development of gilds by Lujo Brentano

INTRODUCTION.

IT is with mingled feelings that I now send this volume forth. A sorrow, in which its readers will share, that the hand which had laboured so long and so patiently was stayed ere its task was ended, that the work which should be the book he "desired to be remembered by" was yet unfinished when its author was suddenly called away, is but partly consoled by the thought that so much of that work as he had done is not lost, and that it has been at length completed, as far as might be, although by feebler hands. That it should be so completed, in a manner as much as possible worthy of the attention and care bestowed upon it by my father, has been my constant aim and endeavour; and I have had a melancholy satisfaction in filling in the rest of the outline design of this, the last labour of love undertaken by him, out of his devotion to Freedom and to the welfare of his fellow Englishmen.

A few words of explanation are due to many who have been long looking for the issue of this volume. For some months before my father's death, in April of the present year, his illness had delayed the progress of the work. Having long acted as his amanuensis, it seemed most natural afterwards that I should superintend the remainder in going through the press, rather than another, who might be an entire stranger to the papers and notes;

and even with this advantage, I had much to overcome in mastering all the details of the book. Inexperience, and the results of a painful bereavement have, I fear, caused further delay; in short, a daughter's affection and reverence for her father's name are the strongest reasons I can offer for undertaking this myself, instead of yielding it up to other and more efficient hands.

It is right that I should state the position of the work at the time I took it up, in order to point out the authenticity of each portion. The whole of Parts I. and II. were finished by my father, with the exception of a few trifling press corrections and short notes in the last ten pages. The whole of the four Records contained in Part III. were in type, but of these, the Winchester "Usages" alone was nearly ready: all required careful collation and notes, most of them wanted the marginal abstract. The Appendix I. was not in type. Except in the case of the Ordinances of the Norwich Gild contained in the Appendix, which Mr. Parker of Oxford has been kind enough twice to collate for me, I have myself supplied all that was thus wanting, taking the utmost care to make the transcripts correct and trustworthy. [Notes added by me are distinguished by the initials L.T.S.] In the Glossary, which I have also compiled, I have had the advantage of the friendly advice of Mr. Richard Morris, who has moreover, at the request of Mr. Furnivall, been good enough to prepare the Grammatical Notes on the forms of early English here printed.

In the following short Introduction I attempt to sketch out, though I fear but imperfectly, some of the ideas that my father entertained upon the wide subject that is opened up by the present volume, and to give a slight abstract of its chief features. In doing this, I have yielded to the desire of old and valued friends, who have urged that the point of view from which English Gilds and their history was regarded by one who was so thoroughly conversant with the life and spirit of English institutions, would be of the greatest interest, and that as he has unhappily left the intended Introduction unwritten, it would be well to throw his

notes and materials into some shape. [In several places throughout the book, reference is made to what "will be" said or found in the "Introduction." On some of these points I have touched where it seemed fitting; others, feeling it impossible, I have not attempted to deal with.] Besides notes made expressly for this purpose, I have availed myself of those made for two Lectures on the Records of England, delivered at Birmingham, in April, 1865, in which my father gave some account of the Records of the Gilds, and the pictures of their laws and customs therein discovered.

Several years ago, while following up some searches at the Public Record Office for the purposes of another work, my father's inquiries led to the bringing out of some hitherto almost unused bundles of documents, [For a more particular description of these documents, see after, p. xlii.] which at once attracted his attention as connected with the subject of Gilds. On fully looking these over, he found that they were of the highest interest, giving an amount of information, and throwing a light upon the history of the Gilds of England not anywhere else known. He made a calendar, and careful notes of each one of the whole series, thus occupying the leisure hours of many months; and during the course of this study he became convinced that,—besides the value of the view of "manners, morals, and language of the time," which he considered one of the most complete in itself anywhere to be found,—these old Records possessed a value for the men and women of England of the present day, which ought to be made known. In the midst of the perplexing problems presented by modern Trades-unionism, and the dangers to enterprise and manly liberty threatened by its restrictive rules, my father, who knew that Englishmen can "never appeal to their fathers in vain, when they earnestly invoke the spirit of solid freedom," [T. S., Lecture I., on Records; MS.] saw how the ancient principle of association, more than a thousand years old, had been in use as a living practice among the common folk, that it had been "a part of the essential life of England, and always worked well till forcibly meddled with;" and he believed that if the spirit in which those

early fathers met together, prayed together, aided one another, their "faith in law-abidingness" and liberty, and their charity, could be shown to their brethren and sistren of these later days, it would not only bring closer to the present the hearts and hands of the past, with profit to themselves, but also the work would "by examples, give invaluable practical hints to sincere men" and workers now.

This volume is therefore the result of that conviction and desire. It does not seek to give a complete history of Gilds abroad and at home; [The Essay on the History and Development of Gilds, by Dr. Brentano, of Aschaffenburg, Bavaria, who is about to write a large work on the subject, and who has thus embodied some of the early chapters for this book, is here inserted by the desire of Mr. Furnivall. The value of independent historical research and opinion is evident; I must add, however, that this gentleman had no communication whatever with my father, to whom he was quite unknown, and who therefore will not be held responsible for views differing much on some points from his own.] nor does it profess to give lists of all the Gilds known in past times in England (interesting and useful though these might be), it does not even give the whole of the documents found in the bundles at the Record Office; its aim has been to put forth a true view of the early English Gilds, what they were, and what they did, by letting their own Records speak for them. And to help in this, the several other Records contained in Part III. were added, as—besides being instructive in themselves—illustrating the outward relations of the Gilds with other Institutions of the land, and the development in other shapes of the same principles of free action upon the vitality of which the Gild depends. [See after, p. 348.]

[typographic _____________________]

The early English Gild was an institution of local self-help which, before Poor-laws were invented, took the place, in old times, of the modern friendly or benefit society; but with a higher aim, while it joined all classes together in a care for the needy and for objects of common welfare, it did not neglect the forms and the practice of Religion, Justice, and Morality.

"'Gilds' were associations of those living in the same neighbourhood, and remembering that they have, as neighbours, common

obligations. They were quite other things than modern partnerships, or trading 'Companies;' for their main characteristic was, to set up something higher than personal gain and mere materialism, as the main object of men living in towns; and to make the teaching of love to one's neighbour be not coldly accepted as a hollow dogma of morality, but known and felt as a habit of life." [Traditions of the Old Crown House, by Toulmin Smith, p. 28. Birmingham, 1863.] They were the out-come, in another form, of the same spirit of independence and mutual help which also made our Old English fathers join together in the "Frith-borh" or Peace-pledge, the institution which lies at the very root and foundation of modern civil society. [See, as to the "Frith-borh," after, p. xxi.] The difference between the Gild and the Peace-pledge was akin to that which lies between the old words "wed" and "borh"; as "wed" is that security which is given by a man personally, for himself as an individual, and "borh" the pledge given by a man for others, so a Gild was the association of men together for common objects of private and individual benefit, in which each man gave his "wed" to abide by their internal bye-laws, while a Frith-borh was the banding of men together, within the limits of a boundary, in which each joined in the "borh" or pledge for the keeping of the peace, and performance of public duties, by all the others.

"English Gilds, as a system of wide-spread practical institutions, are older than any Kings of England. They are told of in the books that contain the oldest relics of English Laws. The old laws of King Alfred, of King Ina, of King Athelstan, of King Henry I., reproduce still older laws in which the universal existence of Gilds is treated as a matter of well-known fact, and in which it is taken to be a matter of course that every one belonged to some Gild. [See, in the same sense, Kemble, Saxons in England, i. 239.] As population increased, Gilds multiplied; and thus, while the beginnings of the older Gilds are lost in the far dimness of time, and remain quite unknown, the beginnings

of the later ones took place in methods and with accompanying forms that have been recorded." [Old Crown House, p. 28. With regard to the opinion entertained by some writers upon Gilds, that their origin was derived from the sacrificial feasts of the ancient Teutonic nations (e.g. Dr. Wilda, Gildenwesen in Mittelalter, cap. 1, ò 1; Lappenberg, History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings (Thorpe's translation), vol. ii. p. 350; Thorpe, Diplomatarium Anglicum, Preface, p. xvi.), my father remarked "that none of our Gilds ever were founded on such a basis." And when a reference to early Roman history was suggested (according to a favourite idea of tracing many English institutions to an origin in the Roman law), he replied, "There is not the shadow of an analogy (misleading as even 'analogies' are) between the old Sabine curies and our English Gilds. We trace ours back to the old Saxon times—and they borrow their name from these, but even from them they differ very widely, and belong to two classes, markedly distinct."—(Private Letter, Nov. 4, 1867.)]

The evidences of this general system of Gilds in the Old English [Anglo-Saxon] times are to be found not only in the laws but in the actual records of a few of the Gilds still remaining to us. This branch of the subject requires more study and more space than can now be given to it, but it may be well to point out some of the principal passages where the characteristics of those Gilds are indicated. These show that the principle of association for mutual help in the affairs of life—commonly but mistakenly supposed to be modern—is found, in name and in fact, in the English laws of nearly 1200 years ago; and that it existed in activity then, and continued a very living spirit in the land, through the changes of age and circumstance, long before the times of which we have the fuller records in the present volume.

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. [Thorpe's Anglo-Saxon Laws, Ina, 16, 21.] Alfred (A.D. 871-901) still further recognizes 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; [Ibid. Alfred, 27, 28.] in the first instance the man has rendered himself liable for a sum of money, and the Gild helps him to bear the burthen, in the second the Gild has a claim upon part of that which is paid by the slayer. The famous

"Judicia Civitatis Lundoniæ" of Athelstan's time (A.D. 924-940) contains ordinances for the keeping up of social duties in the Gilds, or Gild-ships as they are there called, of London, which seem also to be referred to in the preamble to that body of laws. [Thorpe's Anglo-Saxon Laws, Athelstan V, 2, 3; 8, clauses v, vi.] One of these nearly foreshadows one of the most usual ordinances of the Gilds of 450 years later;—"And we have also ordained respecting every man who has given his 'wed' in our Gild-ships, if he should die, that each Gild-brother shall give a fine loaf for his soul, and sing a fifty [of psalms], or get it sung within 30 days." (See after, "messe pens for þe soule," trental, 30 masses sung for the soul, pp. 8, 38, 48, 181, &c.) The "Gild-ship" is also referred to in Edgar's Canons (A.D. 959-975). [Ibid., vol. ii. p. 247.] The laws of Henry I. repeat those of King Alfred before named, while in another place they refer to the Gild under its social aspect of good fellowship, [Ibid., Henry I., lxxv. ò 10; lxxxi. ò 1.] enjoining what is afterwards found constantly insisted on—peace and good behaviour at the meetings.

The relics of ancient Gilds by name that are found reaching down to us out of those far-off times are of great interest, and show us that they did not merely exist in the laws, a dead letter. Stow, in his Survey of London, [Strype's ed., bk. ii. p. 3.] tells how the Cnihten-Gild, or Young Men's Gild, [See Madox, Firma Burgi, pp. 23, 24; also Herbert's Livery Companies, i. 5-7; Merewether's Municipal Corporations, i. 307; Rymer's Fœdera (1816), i. p. 11.] of London, was as old as the time of Edgar, and that charters of confirmation were given to it successively by Edward the Confessor, William II., and Henry I.; [Stow says of the charter of Edward the Confessor that it "was fair written in the Saxon letter and tongue," and refers to "the book of the late House of the Holy Trinity." But this Charter, the terms of which would probably be instructive, does not seem to be in Kemble's Codex Diplomaticus Ævi Saxonici, nor is it included among some documents as to Gilds printed in Thorpe's Diplomatarium Anglicum(1865).] indeed, in a charter of the latter touching their property, reference is made back to what the men of the said Gild possessed in the time of King Edward,

sixty years before. Even older than this, a grant of land made in the time of Ethelbert (A.D. 860) affords us a glimpse of another Young Men's Gild. [Cod. Dipl. No. 293. Kemble (Saxons in England, ii. 335) says this was in Canterbury, but there is nothing in the document itself to show it.] Of a more certain nature, there are still remaining the agreement and bye-laws or ordinances made among themselves by the brethren of a Thegns' Gild at Cambridge, a Gild at Abbotsbury, and a Gild at Exeter. [Cod. Dipl. No. 942; Thorpe, Dipl. Angl. 605, 610, 613; translations are also given in Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. iii. pp. 98, 99, and Kemble, Saxons in England, vol. i. pp. 511-513. The exact date of these does not seem to be known, but the originals are all in Anglo-Saxon.] There is also a record of a Gild at Woodbury. [Thorpe, Dipl. Angl. 608.] In comparing these (some of which bear a close resemblance) with the ordinances of the comparatively more modern Gilds of the Middle Ages, and noting their likenesses and their unlikenesses, they throw much light upon one another. The agreement of the Gild of Exeter is as follows:—

"This assembly was collected in Exeter, for the love of God, and for our soul's need, both in regard to our health of life here, and to the after days, which we desire for ourselves by God's doom. Now we have agreed that our meeting shall be thrice in the twelve months; once at St. Michael's Mass, the second time at St. Mary's Mass, after midwinter, and the third time on Allhallows Mass-day after Easter. And let each gild-brother have two sesters of malt, and each young man one sester, and a sceat of honey. And let the mass-priest at each of our meetings sing two masses, one for living friends, the other for the departed; and each brother of common condition two psalters of psalms, one for the living and one for the dead. And at the death of a brother each man six masses, or six psalters of psalms; and at a death, each man five pence. And at a houseburning, each man one penny. And if any one neglect the day, for the first time three masses, for the second five, and at the third time let him have no favour, unless his neglect arose from sickness or his lord's need. And if any one neglect his contribution at the proper day, let him pay twofold. And if any one of this brotherhood misgreet another, let him make boot [amends] with thirty pence. Now we pray for the love of God that every man hold this meeting rightly, as we rightly have agreed upon it, God help us thereunto."

Domesday Book incidentally makes mention of two Gilds in Canterbury, one of the burgesses and one of the clergy; [Domesday Book, fols. 2 a, 3 a.] also of a Gild-hall in Dover, which implies the previous existence of a Gild in that town. [Ibid., fol. 1a. The word has a like form, "Gihalla," to that found in Bristol; see after, pp. 284, 286.]

The word "gild" (with its varieties gield, geld, gyld) is of Saxon origin, and meant, as is stated on p. 122, "a rateable payment." [The explanation intended by my father I cannot find: I have supplied its place as best I could.] Dr. Bosworth says "a payment of money, compensation, tribute;' he also gives the verb "gyldan, gildan, geldan," to pay, give, render. [Anglo-Saxon Dictionary.] Spelman, in his Glossary, gives a long list of the taxes or payments that were required under the old laws, such as dane-geld, ceap-gild, wergild, &c., and quotes Domesday Book for a frequent use of the noun and the verb to signify a regular charge payable on certain holdings. [See, in accordance with this, Merewether's Hist. of Municipal Corporations, i. p. 353.] How and when the word became applied to the brotherhoods or societies is not found in so many words; but that the brotherhoods, by their inherent power of making what internal rules they pleased, should be accustomed to gather a regular rate, or "gilde," from each one of their number for their common expenses, till every man was known as a "gegylda," as having paid to this or that Gild, seems a natural and certain explanation. The early use of the word "gild-ship" implies this the more strongly. Meanwhile, "gilde" did not lose its old sense, and we find the two meanings—"geld," a payment (with a secondary use, money), and "gild," a brotherhood—running side by side, down to much later times, the relics of the former of the two still existing in our modern "yield."

Whatever was the particular form and object of the ancient Gilds —and my father seems to have considered that therein some of them differed widely from those of later times—the principles which gave them life were the same, namely, those of mutual self-help

xx and a manly independence which could think of the rights of others. Mr. Kemble seems to point to that difference when he says, of the Saxon brotherhoods, "these gylds, whether in their original nature religious, political, or merely social unions, rested upon another and solemn principle: they were sworn brotherhoods between man and man, established and fortified upon 'að and wed,'oath and pledge; and in them we consequently recognize the germ of those sworn communes, communœ or communiœ, which in the times of the densest seignorial darkness offered a noble resistance to episcopal and baronial tyranny, and formed the nursing cradles of popular liberty." [Saxons in England, ii. 310.] Now, my father has elsewhere fully explained the important meaning, in English history, of the "commune"or "communitas," that it "is the corporate title and description of a place. A city or borough is, in its corporate capacity, a 'communitas,' so is a county." [Men and Names of Old Birmingham (1864), p, 76, note; also, Parliamentary Remembrancer, vol. ii. p. 3.] Comparing with this the example (p. 201) where the word "comune" is the description of a gild as a corporate body, it would appear that when Glanville wrote (temp. Henry II.) of a "commune, in other words a gild," he must have intended a town whose corporation had set up a Gild,—probably a Gild-Merchant, as was the practice in a great number of towns at that period. The passage runs thus: "Item si quis nativus quiete per unum annum et unum diem in aliquâ villâ privilegiatâ manserit, ita quod in eorum communiam, scilicet gyldam, tanquam civis receptus fuerit, eo ipso a villenagio liberabitur;" [

De Legibus, lib. v. c. 5. Illustrative of what is here said is the following extract from the "Custumal of Preston," the second article of which practically embodies Glanville's maxim:—

"1. So that they shall have a Gild-mercatory, with Hanse, and other customs and liberties belonging to such Gild; and so that no one who is not of that Gild shall make any merchandize in the said town, unless with the will of the burgesses.

"2. If any nativus [born bondman] dwell anywhere in the same town, and holds any land, and be in the forenamed Gild and Hanse, and pay lot and scot with the same burgesses for one year and one day, then he shall not be reclaimed by his lord, but shall remain free in the same town."—Dobson and Harland's History of Preston Guild, and edition, p. 73.

]

and this view of Glanville's meaning is further borne out by the use of the terms "villa privilegiata," which imply that it was so usual for such a town to have and be joined with a Gild, that he used the words as synonymous.

In further elucidation of this matter and of the growth of free local institutions in England, of which the true Gild or Brotherhood is one type, and the Borough another, ["Shires we have, and Hundreds, and Cities, and Boroughs, and Parishes, and Corporations of other kinds. All these have their relation to the true Gild."—T. S., in Old Crown House, p. 28.] I here insert an unpublished paper, written by my father in 1864, on the

"Origin of Corporations.

"Corporations, using the word in the sense in which it is applied to towns, &c., in England, had their beginning in the old 'Frith-borh,'or 'Peace-pledge.' [Among the writers upon this, Lambard gives an interesting account in his Duties of Constables, Borsholders, &c.; (1610), pp. 6-10.] The gist of this is, that all the inhabitants of a place ('communitas') are bound to each one, and each to all, and the whole to the State, for the maintenance of the public peace. The 'View of Frank-pledge,' which (though only nominal in many places, yet still quite real in others) is now kept up in Courts Leet, is one relic of this 'Frith-borh.' The liability of hundreds, parishes, &c., to certain obligations, is another practical relic of it. Every man, in every 'Communitas,' used to be obliged to be actually enrolled in the 'Frith-borh' on reaching a certain age, and thenceforth had to be present (or to account for his absence) at every one of the regular meetings of the 'Communitas.'This practice was kept up till comparatively modern times. The 'Articles of the View of Frank-pledge' were part of the Common Law, but were also enacted in Acts of Parliament, and were added to from time to time, as fresh circumstances arose.

"The bodies thus acting were all true 'Corporations,' though, as different places increased and grew unequally, different shapes were taken, some larger and some smaller, and some almost dwindled

away to nothing. Representative Councils, &c., are a mere incident and not an essential to Corporations. The whole body is the Corporation. The head of these Corporations used to be the 'Provost' (a name formerly universal in England), the 'Constable,' the 'Bailiff,' or the 'Reeve.' Up to the 'Corporations Reform Act' of William IV., the names of the heads of Corporations varied very much. That of 'Mayor' is really modern. It is but twenty-five years since the corporate (representative) body in Birmingham was the Bailiffs and Court Leet.

"The 'Communitas' has, at Common Law, and without any Statute, full power to regulate its own affairs, and to make 'Bye-laws' for its own governance, by the assent of its own members. This power is inherent, and necessary to enable it to fulfil its obligations to the State.

"Charters of Incorporation do not and cannot create Corporations. They have always depended, and still depend, for even their validity upon the pre-existence of the 'Communitas,' as above stated, and upon the assent and acceptance of the 'Charter' by the 'Communitas.' In this respect the Corporations Reform Act made no difference. This matter became tested in the case of the Manchester Charter which was issued under that Act, and that Charter was held by the Courts of Law to be only sustainable upon proof of assent and acceptance.

"'Charters' therefore do not 'incorporate.' They merely record. They may (within the limits allowed by Common or Statute Law) declare the form or shape of certain municipal titles, offices, or functions within the Corporation; but they do not touch the inherent characteristics of it, or its responsibilities, or the essential element of assent and acceptance.

"As cities and built towns have a more compact municipal life and action than other places, the notion of Corporations (in the political sense) is apt to be exclusively attached to them. But this is quite incorrect. Every place where a Court Leet has been held, is or has been really a Corporation. 'Hundreds' are Corporations

(though now almost atrophied in most places); and the 'Hundreds' used, as such, to have corporate seals. Counties also are Corporations. So also are Parishes, and the true 'Wards' of London. Each of all these has an independent life, and the power of selfaction, by its own consent, in matters that touch the common wellbeing; while, on the other hand, each is held bound to the State in certain definite and important Responsibilities. And these, conjointly, are the characteristics of a 'Corporation' in the political as distinguished from the commercial use of that title. And these characteristics are the direct offspring, with simply more or less of development, from the old 'Frith-borh' or 'Peace-pledge.'"

The Ordinances and Bye-laws of Municipal Bodies, contained in Part III. of this volume, receive their best explanation by the study of this paper.

Some links that carry us on from the Gilds of the old English times to those of the fourteenth century are to be found in the Great Gild of St. John of Beverley (p. 150), [Pages inserted thus between brackets refer to the body of the work. Further references will be found in the Index.] the earliest charter of which was given in the time of Henry I., and in the Gild of Stratford-upon-Avon (p. 213), whose beginning was "from time whereunto the memory of man runneth not," as well as in several others whose foundations were so old that the same declaration was made as to them. [In several Returns not given in this volume. Miscell. Rolls, Tower Records, Bundle CCCVIII. No. 42; CCCIX. Nos. 71, 81, 86.] The beginnings or the early history of some may be traced in the charters of many Corporations, to whom the possession or the setting up of a Gild was often thus confirmed or put on record. Thus in the reign of Henry I. (1100-1135), Leicester possessed a Gild Merchant; [Thompson's History of Leicester, p. 29.] the citizens of York had a Gild Merchant and Hanses, as is declared in their charter from John; [Brady on Boroughs, Appendix, p. 47; also see after, p. 151. A Hanse seems to have been a company or society, formed exclusively for purposes of trading in the country and abroad. See Spelman's Glossary, v. Ause; Jacob's Law Dictionary, v. Hanse; also after, p. 357.]

and Preston traces her Gild Merchant with a hanse to the years (1175-1185) of Henry II.'s reign. [Dobson and Harland's History of Preston Guild, 2nd edition, p. 72.] The Gild Merchant of Winchester (p. 357) was in existence in the reign of Richard I. (1189). In the reign of John (1199-1216) Great Yarmouth had a Gild Merchant; the burgesses of Dunwich also had a "hanse and a Gild Merchant, as they have been accustomed to have;" the men of Andover had one like that of the burgesses of Winchester, and the burgesses of Helleston had also their Gild Merchant. [Brady on Boroughs, where the originals are given at length. Appendix, pp. 45, 12, 14, 17, 21, 22.] Under Henry III. (1227) the citizens of Worcester had their Gild Merchant with a hanse (p. 411), and an inspeximus of the same king's reign (1267) tells us that the burgesses of Wallingford had had a Gild Merchant with all its usages and laws since the time of Edward the Confessor. [Ibid., pp. 16, 17.] These are but a few out of the instances that might be gathered together, showing how wide-spread and lasting was the system of these brotherhoods.

In the year 1388 two Parliaments were held. Of the second of these, held at Cambridge, ["Cantebrigge;" this is sometimes wrongly translated "Canterbury."] and which fell in the 12th year of Richard II. (p. 136), it happens that the Roll or official record is now lost, but it is known from other remains that it sat thirty-nine days, and that even in that short time it passed "sixteen good acts," [Prynne's Parliamentary Writs, vol. iv. pp. 404, 405.] touching among other things the condition of labourers, and regulating beggars and common nuisances. In this Parliament it was ordered that two Writs should be sent to every Sheriff in England, both commanding him to make public proclamation throughout the shire, the first calling upon "the Masters and Wardens of all Gilds and Brotherhoods," to send up to the King's Council in Chancery Returns of all details as to the foundation, statutes, and property of their Gilds (p. 127); the second calling on the "Masters and Wardens and Overlookers of all the Mysteries

and Crafts," to send up, in the same way, copies of their charters or letters patent, where they had any (p. 130). These Writs were sent out on the 1st of November, 1388, the Returns were ordered to be sent in before the 2nd of February next ensuing. Those Returns thus made during the winter months, just 480 years ago, and forty years after the "great pestilence," by which some of them mark their dates, [Bundle CCCVIII. No. 120; CCCX. Nos. 36, 236.] remain to us now, "life-pictures" of what was passing then (p. 184). Many of them must be lost, as we know that there were Gilds in other places of which there is no Return left (pp. 272, 357). But even thus reduced in number, there are still extant these official Returns of more than five hundred of the brotherhoods which once were scattered all over the land, enough to teach us the characteristics, purposes, and value of these institutions. [See before, p. xiv. The materials that exist for the further study of the history of Gilds in England are rich and various. Not only among the Public Records, such as the Charter Rolls, the Patent Rolls (which contain much information), the Rolls of Parliament, and others, should the inquirer seek; but the local and municipal archives in numberless places would, there is little doubt, yield much valuable knowledge to an intelligent and careful search. A great deal also may be learned indirectly, while at the same time the original authorities and sources are indicated by which their statements can be tested, from those interesting books, many of them monuments of labour and research, the Topographical Histories. The old Chartularies of Abbeys, (p. 297), and the muniments of colleges (for example Winchester College; see Archœological Journal, vol. ix. p. 69), may also give their contributions. But in point of comprehensiveness, instruction, and variety, none of these will exceed the group of Records now, for the most part, first made known.]

These Records themselves deserve a few words before passing on to their contents. The Englishman's independence, and the diversity of character following thereupon, are features stamped upon them. Written by men of the people, and not by legal officials, the handwritings are as various as would be expected to be found among the same number of different writers in every age,—some difficult to read, many clear and good. The language used is not always the same, the greater part are in Latin; but a number are in the old French of the time, and still more preferred their mother

tongue. The substance of the matters given, and the fulness with which the ordinances are set out, vary in a remarkable degree, in some cases only the barest facts being sent in on a small strip of parchment, while in others the fulness of detail covers several large skins.

It will be perhaps useful here to call attention to some of the principal features, gleaned from these Returns, of the old life of the Gilds who made them, the dates of whose foundations range, for the most part, from early in the thirteenth and throughout the fourteenth centuries. A few, however, date from older times, as in the case of Beverley and others. [See before, p. xxiii.]

The fundamental idea of the Gild, as seen above, was, that it was an association for mutual help, made by the people themselves when and as they found the need for it. Long ago my father wrote that "it is an essential characteristic of the system of local self-government, that its constant tendency is, to bring men together continually, with feelings of brotherhood; that it affords every opportunity for the manly asking and manly rendering of sympathy when individual misfortune entitles to it;" [Local Self-Government and Centralization (1851), p. 538.] and these words now tell the source whence the old Gild spirit drew its breath. Though one Gild may have set itself one special object, and another a different one, yet, running throughout the whole, there are to be found the same general characteristics of brotherly aid and social charity; and the accompanying arrangements necessary to carry these out were things common to all, and therefore well understood as matters of course. If, therefore, we do not find recorded of every one that it kept a feast, or held a "morn-speech," or had a Gild-house, &c., it must be taken to be because each of these was so usual a part of a Gild existence that it was not necessary to mention the fact.

Gilds may be divided into two broad classes (pp. 127, 130), the Social Gilds and the Gilds of Crafts, which, as has been seen, were recognized by the authority of Parliament, who issued a separate

Writ for the Returns from each. The Social Gilds were founded upon the wide basis of brotherly aid and moral comeliness, without distinction (unless expressly specified) of calling or class, and comprehended a great variety of objects; the Craft-Gilds, while sharing the same principles, were formed for the benefit of the members as craftsmen, and for the regulation of their craft. The Joiners and Carpenters of Worcester (p. 208), the Fullers and the Ringers of Bristol (pp. 283, 288), and the Tailors, the Cordwainers, and the Bakers of Exeter (pp. 312, 331, 334) are examples of these. There were also Gilds that were neither wholly Social nor of a Craft (p. 179), and to these it seems that Gilds-Merchant belonged, as, though we find them answering to the Writ for Crafts (in the case of Beverley, p. 150), yet their Ordinances, as in the instance of Coventry (pp. 228-232), of Berwick (p. 338), and of Southampton, [See the early part of the 'Ancient Ordinances of the Gild-Merchant of the Town of Southampton,' printed by Mr. Smirke in the Archœological Journal, vol. xvi. pp. 283, 343. For a copy of this very interesting paper I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Albert Way.] often partook of the character of those of the Social Gild. Sometimes it was begun by the "communitas" of a town, as in the case of the Gild of the Holy Cross of Birmingham (pp. 239, 241), but generally the first founding of a Gild was by some "body of the folks" themselves, who might sometimes be traders, sometimes not. For instance, there are the "Shephirdes Gild" of Holbech, the "Young Scholars" of Lynn (p. 51), the "Shipmanes Gild" of the same place (p. 54), the "Peltyers" and others of Norwich (p. 28), the "Poor Men" of Norwich (p. 40), the "Tailors" of Lincoln (p. 182), the "Gild of the Palmers" of Ludlow [I find from one note of my father's that there was a Gild at Burgh, Lincolnshire, founded by some Pilgrims in fulfilment of a vow made by them while tempesttossed at sea. Bundle CCCX, 245.] (p. 193). And it follows from this principle of free association that, as no wrong was done to any one and no public responsibilities of individuals interfered with (but rather the contrary), it is found that the "King's license was not necessary (as is wrongly alleged)" [MS. note by T. S.] to the foundation of a Gild.

Dugdale observes that "they were in use long before any formal licenses were granted unto them." [Warwickshire (ed. 1730) i. 188.] This may be proved by the examples of Stratford-on-Avon (pp. 211, 218), and St. George of Norwich (pp. 17, 443), each of which was in existence for many years before special circumstances rendered the obtaining of official confirmation necessary. The terms of the Writs for the Returns show that this was well understood. [See notes to pp. 128, 130; also p. 251.] It seems probable that the mistake has arisen through two things: first, the custom of inserting their Gild into the Charter when the men of any town got their rights confirmed, as was seen among the Gilds-Merchant; and second, the need that there was for Gilds, like other corporate bodies, when they wished to acquire lands or tenements, to take out a License in Mortmain under the Statute of Mortmain. Several instances of these licenses taken out by Gilds occur in the following pages. [Pages 195, 226, 232, 243, 244, &c. A clear and simple explanation of what a license in mortmain and a writ ad quod damnum mean was given in 'Men and Names of Old Birmingham,' pp. 20-26.]

My father was anxious to correct another very general misapprehension, as to how far the religious element entered as an essential part into the foundation and functions of Gilds. [See for example Madox, Firma Burgi, 23-26; Herbert's Livery Companies, i. p. 1.] "These were not," he has said, "in any sense superstitious foundations; that is, they were not founded, like Monasteries and Priories, for men devoted to what were deemed religious exercises. Priests might belong to them, and often did so, in their private capacities. But 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 free men in a free State.... It is quite true that, as the Lord Mayor, and Lincoln's Inn, and many other as well known personages and public bodies, have to this day a chaplain, so these old Gilds often took measures and made payments,

to enable the rites of religion to be brought more certainly within the reach of all who belonged to them. This was one of the most natural and becoming of the consequences following from their existence and character. It did not make them into superstitious bodies." ['Old Crown House,' p. 31.] Though it was in this way very general to provide more or less for religious purposes, these are to be regarded as incidental only; and this is curiously exemplified by the case of three Gilds in Cambridge, one of which excludes priests altogether (Gild of the Annunciation, p. 271), another, if they come into the Gild, does not allow them any part in its management (pp. 264, 265), while the third has a chaplain, but if their funds get too low both to maintain a chaplain and the poor brethren, the chaplain is to be stopped (p. 271). These cases are however exceptional; and the evidences of a simple piety and of a faith that entered into the every-day life are some of the most pleasing traits of the old Gild-Ordinances. It was not every Gild who could afford to support a chaplain, though some did so; [See pp. 74, 144, 146, 165, 183, &c.] but there were few who did not make some provision for services in their church, and for decent burial and burial-services for their members,—their care in this last respect going so far as to fetch the body from a distance if it so befell,—and appoint how the details, various of course in different cases, of the customary religious rites for the dead should be carried out. The usual course was for many, or all, of the brethren to attend these services (at Norwich more prayer was expected of the "lettered" brethren than of the unlettered, at the dirge, p. 20); that wax lights should be provided at the cost of the Gild, and that each brother and sister should make an offering for alms and another for masses for the soul of the departed. Sometimes the lights burning round the body of the dead were many in number, in one instance very elaborate funeral rites, with a hearse, are enjoined (pp. 169, 176, 215), in others, night-watches were kept under curious conditions (pp. 194, 217). On these occasions, too, the poor were often fed or clothed "for the soul's sake of the dead" (pp. 31, 173, 180, &c.).

It was usual for all the brethren and sistren to go to church on the day of their general meetings, to hear mass and to make offerings. Many of the Gilds, too, made a point of maintaining wax lights in the churches before the altar of the Saint whose name they had taken. [As to Saints' Names, see the notes on pp. 201, 221.]

It is worth noticing who were the persons who composed the Gilds. Scarcely five out of the five hundred were not formed equally of men and of women, which, in these times of the discovery of the neglect of ages heaped upon woman, is a noteworthy fact. Even where the affairs were managed by a company of priests, women were admitted as lay members; [Gild of Corpus Christi, York, p. 141. Women joined in the foundation of Gilds, and wives as well as single women belonged to them. See pp. 155, 159, 160, 455.] and they had many of the same duties and claims upon the Gild as the men. The sort of people who joined together may be somewhat judged of by the names given before; [Page xxvii.] and Chaucer incidentally helps us to understand them by his description of the brethren who joined the Pilgrimage to Canterbury, and who, being all clothed in one livery, must have belonged to the same Gild:—

"An Haberdasher and a Carpenter,A Webbe, a Deyer, and a Tapiser,Were all y-clothed in o livereOf a solempne and grete fraternite.Ful freshe and new hir gere ypicked was,Hir knives were ychaped not with bras,But all with silver wrought ful clene and wel,Hir girdeles and hir pouches every del.Wel semed eche of hem a fayre burgeis,To sitten in a gild halle, on the deis.Everich, for the wisdom that he can,Was shapelich for to ben an alderman.For catel hadden they ynough and rentAnd eke hir wives wolde it well assent." [Prologue to Canterbury Tales. Chaucer was Clerk of the Works in 1389 and died in 1400. As to a Gild sending pilgrims to Canterbury, see after p. xxxvi.]

That they were popular, and that a well managed Gild frequently grew in numbers and importance, so that persons of all ranks, even the highest in the kingdom, were glad to join it, is found in several instances, and is indirectly proved by the founders of the Gild of St. Michael-on-the-Hill, Lincoln, who were "of the rank of common and middling folks," not wishing to admit any of the rank of Mayor or Bayliff (p. 178). Of the two lists of names in this volume (pp. 112, 453), while both show the number of sisters, the last is especially interesting because it points out the rank or calling of so many of the members, and that all classes were alike admitted. The number of members enrolled by St. George's Gild of Norwich was very great, as the numerous books and records still existing in that city bear witness, but they can hardly have exceeded the number of 14,850 attained by Corpus Christi, York (p. 142). The Gild of the Trinity, Coventry, admitted many famous men, even, according to Dugdale, enrolling Kings Henry IV. and Henry VI. among its members, [Warwickshire, i. 192.] while in later times the Gild of St. Barbara of St. Katharine's Church, near the Tower of London, could point out Henry VIII. and Cardinal Wolsey as brethren. [Strype's Stow, book ii. p. 6.]

Each member on admittance took an oath of obedience, and was received lovingly by the brethren, with a kiss of peace (pp. 6, 9, 189). Two examples of the oath are here given, one belonging to a purely social Gild of Stamford (pp. 189, 191 note), the other to the Craft-Gild of the Tailors of Exeter (p. 318). The oath taken by the brethren of the Gild of St. George at Norwich resembles that of Stamford; it is given by Blomefield in his History of Norfolk. [Vol. ii. p. 734.] A Gild did not invariably require an oath, as in that of Corpus Christi, York (p. 141); this was, however, an unusual case.

The payments that were made were numerous, and we find them, among the different Gilds, of an infinite variety. Thus there was the payment on admittance, sometimes a fixed amount, sometimes "as the masters and he may accord" (p. 7), and in

different forms; sometimes in money, as in the Gild of St. Benedict, Lincoln, six shillings and eightpence (p. 174), and in St. George's Gild, Norwich, six shillings and eightpence for a man, three shillings and fourpence for a woman (p. 450); sometimes in kind, as in the case of Stretham, Ely, where every incomer was to pay two pounds of wax and one bushel of barley. [Bundle CCCIX. No. 49.] Besides this entrance fee, there were the house fees, or "rights of the house," which were payments to the officers, such as "to the Alderman 1d., to the Dean 1d., and to the wax 1/2d." (pp. 54, 108, &c.); there were payments "to the light," for the feast, on the death of a brother or sister, on occasions when help was needed for a poor brother or one in distress, and others, all which were part of the usual regulations. As various, too, were the arrangements of times of payment, in one Gild so much a year would be agreed upon (p. 4), in another so much a quarter (pp. 7, 10), as the contribution from each to the common fund, and in that of Corpus Christi, Hull, five farthings was to be paid weekly by every member (p. 160). Nor were the people careless, though unsparing, of their monies; we find frequent mention of "the common box" (p. 10), "common pyx," [Bundle CCCVIII. Nos. 58, 126.] or chest (p. 139), and the stewards, aldermen, or other officers, were required annually to render true accounts of the "catel" and funds of the Gild. In some Gilds it was an understood thing, if not an ordinance, that a brother or sister dying should leave it a legacy, for example, the Peltyers of Norwich had no lands, but were partly supported by legacies (pp. 29, 165, 170, 317, 319).

Every Gild had its appointed day or days of meeting, once a year (pp. 19, 23), twice (pp, 113, 117), three times (p. 58), or four times (pp. 65, 91), as the case might be, when all the brethren and sistren, summoned by the Dean or other officer, [The "common bellman" went through the city in Norwich and Spalding. See after, p. 31; and Bundle CCCIX. No. 197.] met together to transact their common affairs. At these meetings, called morn-speeches (in the various forms of the word), or "dayes of spekyngges tokedere for here comune profyte" (p. 67), much business was done,

such as the choice of officers, admittance of new brethren, making up accounts, reading over the ordinances, &c., one day, where several were held in the year, being fixed as the "general day." [See, for example, the cases of the Gild of St. Thomas of Canterbury, Lynn, pp. 80, 81, and of the Gild Merchant of Coventry, p. 229. See also p. 128, note.]

The word morning-speech (morgen-spœc) is as old as Anglo-Saxon times, "morgen" signified both "morning" and "morrow," [See Mr. Way's note (3) to p. 344 of his edition of the Promptorium.] and the origin of the term would seem to be that the meeting was held either in the morning of the same day or on the morning (the morrow) of the day after that on which the Gild held its feast and accompanying ceremonies, and that it afterwards became applied to other similar meetings of the Gild-brethren. The practice in several places, though all were not alike, bears out this explanation (p. 7; compare pp. 10 and 11; 30, 40, 80, 97, 176, &c.) One day at least in the year, usually the day of the saint to which the Gild, if it had a saint's name, was dedicated, was more specially devoted than the others to festivities; by some it was called the "Gild-day" or "general" day (pp. 21, 30, 217, &c.), it was then that the brethren and sistren being all assembled, at whatever hour was fixed (prime or otherwise), [See pp. 18, 31, 60, 79. The brethren and sistren of the Gild of Holy Trinity, Lynn, were to meet at the place of feasting before going to church, "at what hour shall be declared to them by the sound of the trumpet." Bundle CCCX. No. 38.] worshipped together, gave their alms, and feasted together, for "the nourishing of brotherly love." On this day it was that the brethren and sistren, clad in their hoods or their livery, assembled at the church, bearing the lights which formed a universal part of the religious rites, there to make the prayers enjoined by their rules (pp. 23, 111, 114), and to consecrate by the acts of faith that brotherly love and peace which they were sworn to cherish; they made their offerings and went their way, perhaps to a morn-speech for settling some business, or if this were not the custom, they met in good fellowship at the Gild-house, [Occasionally the feast was held at the houses of the brethren by turns, "in uno certo loco ad aliquem domum fratrum vel sororum." Caistor. Bundle CCCX. No. 193.] round the social board. At some of these

feasts prayers were again offered up (p. 76, 217), and the peaceable and good behaviour of all was constantly and strictly enjoined. Some Gilds would allow a guest to be brought (pp. 185 note, 219). In one case the brethren improved the time by having their ordinances read over to them while at dinner (p. 176).

The Gild brethren were fond on their feast-days of rejoicing in various processions, in which numerous lights, music, and sometimes flowers and garlands of leaves were used (pp. 30, 38, 117, &c.), and symbolic shows had a part (pp. 30, 149, 232). The Gild of the Lord's Prayer at York was expressly set up for the purpose of providing that "a play setting forth the goodness of the Lord's Prayer" should be kept up and played periodically in the streets of York. [See p. 137. It will be seen that the founders did not confine themselves to this object only, and their ordinances present "an excellent example of the general purposes of Gilds." MS. note, T. S.] The day of the procession or "riding" of the famous show of St. George's Gild in Norwich (pp. 444 note, 446) must have been a grand one for the sight-seers of the city; while the streets of Leicester, [Thompson's History of Leicester, pp. 149-151.] York (pp. 142, 143), Coventry, Preston, Worcester (p. 407), and many more, must have witnessed a goodly sight when the shows belonging to individual Gilds, or when the pageants of Gilds and crafts combined, were displayed in gorgeous array along them. In the present day, when the race of life is to the swift, and there is scarcely time left for anything else, these popular pageants are despised, and a barren imagination can see in the last relic of them, the Lord Mayor's Show, nothing but "a bore." But it was not so in former times, and the real value of the large share that the old Gilds had in making England "Merry" is well pointed out in the following lines:—"Each Gild's first steps were bent towards their church, where solemn high mass was chanted; thence went all the brotherhood to their hall for the festive dinner. The processions on the occasion and other amusements so dear to Englishmen, when their country was merry England, were meant

to be edifying and instructive; and helped religion to make her children both good and happy, through even their recreations. This present age, with its stepmother's chill heart, dull eye, and hard iron-like feelings, that sees naught but idleness in a few hour's harmless pause from toil, and knows nothing but unthriftiness in money spent in pious ceremonial, and thinks that the God who sprinkled the blue heaven with silvery stars, and strewed the green earth with sweet-breathing flowers of a thousand hues, and taught the birds to make every grove ring with their blithe songs, and told the little brook to run forth with a gladsome ripple, all in worship of Himself, can be best and most honoured by the highest and noblest of His wonderful works,—the soul of man,—the more gloomy, the more mopish, the sourer it is; such an age will not understand the good which, in a moral and social point of view, was bestowed upon this country by the religious pageants, and pious plays and interludes of a by-gone epoch. Through such means, however, not only were the working-classes furnished with a needful relaxation, but their very merry-making instructed while they diverted them." [Canon Rock's Church of our Fathers, vol. ii. p. 418. The same volume also contains much curious and valuable information as to old English Gilds, pp. 395-453]

The form that the property of a Gild took depended on as different circumstances as the amounts were various. Some were endowed with land at their foundation, or had gifts of land or tenements made to them, as the Gilds of Coventry, Holy Cross of Birmingham (pp. 231, 240), and of St. John the Baptist, Deritend. [Old Crown House, p. 34.] Of many it seems to have merely consisted of the contributions in money or in kind, expended and accounted for by responsible officers; others acquired considerable property in church ornaments, furniture for the Gild-house, goods used in the plays and shows, &c., as may be seen from many curious inventories still existing (pp. 233, 320, 327). Some Gilds invested in cows or oxen, and let them out at so much a year. We are told that the

Wardens of the Gild of our Lady, Byom (Derbyshire), "ont achatez boefs et les ont seueralment lowez as diuerse persones pur ijs. par an.;" and they make return of their property, besides land, in 20 beeves. [Bundle CCCVIII. No. 56. A Gild in the parish of Bakewell, Derbyshire, possessed twelve beeves (ib. No. 64); and another in Cambridgeshire had also twelve cows, in all cases to be let out. CCCIX. No. 71. See also after, p. 192.]

The practical mutual charity of the Gild-spirit is truly seen in the way in which they disposed of their monies. Care for the fitting burial of dead brethren and sistren, at the cost of the Gild, was constantly taken; help to the poor, the sick, the infirm, and aged, to those who had suffered by losses or robbery, and to those overtaken by misfortune, if this were not through their own folly or misconduct, is not less prominent a feature in the Ordinances. The weekly payments to the poor are frequently specified, as well as gifts of clothing or food. [See especially pp. 148, 169, 231.] Sometimes, too, they were to be visited, at other times entertained, at the houses of their richer brethren. In some cases, loans of money from the Gild-stock were made upon surety being given (pp. 8, 11); in others free loans or gifts were made to enable the young of either sex to get work or to trade (pp. 9, 156, 229); while in Ludlow, "any good girl of the Gild" had an unconditional dowry given her, if her father were too poor to provide it (pp. 194, 340). Brethren cast into prison were to be visited and helped to get free (pp. 50, 169, 193). Those who were going on a pilgrimage, whether to the Holy Land, St. James of Compostella, or to Rome, were helped and honoured (pp. 157, 172, 177); one Gild even yearly sending a pilgrim to Canterbury. [Bundle CCCX. No. 49.] The Gild-Merchant of Coventry kept a "lodging house with thirteen beds, to lodge poor folks coming through the land on pilgrimage or any other work of charity," with a governor of the house and a woman to wash the pilgrims' feet (p. 231).

Of the good works done by the Gilds other than among their own personal members, many instances may be found. It was

not unfrequent for a number of poor to be fed on the feast-day at the Gild-hall; thus in two of the Lincoln gilds it was ordered that as many poor as there were brothers and sisters were to be fed with bread, ale, and fish; and in the Gild of Gertonburdych, Norfolk, provision was made for the distribution of a certain amount of corn and barley yearly. [Bundle CCCVIII. No. 75; CCCX. Nos. 157, 134.] A Gild in York found beds and attendance for poor strangers (p. 143); the Gild of the Holy Cross in Birmingham had almshouses for poor people of the town (p. 249 note); and help to the poor of the town was one of the "workis of charity" for which the Gild in the same place called "Lenche's Trust" was founded (p. 256). Turning from the poor to works of public usefulness, we find that these same two Gilds charged themselves with the repairs of certain highways (pp. 249, 256); the Gild of Hatfield Brodoke, Essex, also contributed to the repair of roads; [Bundle CCCVIII. No. 59.] while the Gild of St. Nicholas, Worcester, repaired the walls and bridge of that city (p. 205). Many Gilds made important contributions to the repair of churches, of which that of Pampesworth, Cambridgeshire, is a curious example: some bushels of barley were given "to put out to increase, for the use and repair of the church in the said town, which is in poor condition and partly decayed; and as of necessity in a short time the top [tort] of this, called the 'Roof,' must be made anew, and it cannot be done without the aid of the Gild, they pray for God that their goods be not disturbed." The Gild of Swafham Bulbek (Cambridgeshire) undertook the "repair of the church, and renovation of vestments, books, and other ornaments in the said church." [Bundle CCCIX. Nos. 68, 79; CCCVIII. 31.] The Gild of St. Andrew, Cavenham (Suffolk), would bear the charge of repair and sustentation of the church, when necessary, "ex consensu fratrum et sororum." Many others might be named. And among the good works which the elastic constitution of the Gilds rendered it natural and fitting for them to take up, was the maintenance

of a free school and schoolmaster, as was done by the Gild of St. Nicholas in Worcester (pp. 203-205), the Gild of Palmers in Ludlow (p. 198), and the famous Gild of Kalenders in Bristol (p. 288).

The government of the Gild, its Officers, and its Ordinances or Bye-laws, were based on the same principles as those of the other free institutions of England. The Gild had usually its head officer or Alderman (Graceman); its Stewards (Wardens), into whose hands the property or funds were entrusted for administration; its Dean or Beadle; and its Clerk (pp. 46, 176). These were all chosen annually, frequently by a secondary election (pp. 71, 97, 266), and had to render an annual account; every one who refused to serve had to pay a fine; the Dean and the Clerk were paid yearly salaries, and all the officers had special allowances on feast days (pp. 66, 88). Other officers were chosen when the need for them arose (pp. 156, 160, 217). At Lancaster a committee of twelve was appointed to manage the affairs of the Gild, together with collectors (p. 164). The custom of making their own Ordinances—like the "Usages" of a Corporation, the "Customary" of a Manor (for example, Tettenhall and Bushey, pp. 432, 441), or the "Bye-laws" of a Parish [See Toulmin Smith's The Parish, pp. 47-51.] —is but another illustration of the old common law of England, by which, while abiding by the law of the land, men shaped for themselves the rules that should guide them in their own community (see p. 348). The Ordinances were frequently read over, so that none might plead ignorance (pp. 159, 162, 178, 315); and if alteration was made it was done with the assent of all the brethren and sistren (pp. 8, 11). This assent was also necessary to business transactions (pp. 246, 271). The Gilds had in their corporate capacity a common seal, of which two examples are figured. [Pp. 207, 250. See also pp. 146, 168, 327.]

The Livery Companies of London are often spoken of, as though the "livery" were something peculiar to them. This is, however, only the relic of a past custom by which every Gild, as is seen in

these Returns, had its livery of one suit, whether hoods or gowns or both, for sistren and for brethren, ordinances being often made as to the length of time and the occasions when they were expected to be worn (pp. 43, 56, 446, &c.). The giving of these liveries by Gilds and other bodies was attempted to be stopped by Parliament about a year after the Returns were made, but apparently with little effect. [Rolls of Parliament, 13 Rich. II., Petition 29.] That the livery became an outward sign of the social importance of the Gilds and brotherhoods was recognized in Parliament a few years later, when the use of certain liveries of cloth were forbidden,—"Gilds and fraternities, and crafts in the cities and boroughs within the kingdom, which are founded and ordained to good intent and purpose, alone being excepted." [Rolls of Parliament, 13 Hen. IV., Petition 38. See also ib., 7 and 8 Edw. IV., Petition 41; and the Act 8 Edw. IV. c. 2. Much curious information on the subject of official liveries is to be found in Observations on Four Illuminations, of the time of Henry VI., by the late Mr. G. R. Corner (1865), pp. 8-16. See after, pp. 422, 423.]

Two very striking characteristics, the second one universally expressed among all the bye-laws of all the Gilds, must not pass unnoticed. The first is the respect for law and its established forms; the second, the constant sense of moral worth, and the endeavour to attain it. "No ordinances shall be made against the common law" (pp. 23, 30, 39); "rebels against the laws shall be put out of the Gild" (pp. 50, 52); "the liberties of the town shall be upheld" (pp. 167, 337): such was the sort of language used by those who governed themselves. And when we consider the fact of this multitude of independent bodies of plain men and women, scattered all over the land, each bound by ordinances for the attainment of better demeanour and morality among themselves, who shall say what England does not owe at the present day to their efforts, and what might not be still further done by reviving their example now? Every one who wished to be admitted into a Gild was required to be of good reputation and bearing; if a brother became a brawler or a thief, or committed other offences, he was punished

or turned out of the Gild. Among the Ordinances of the Gild of St. Anne, in the church of St. Lawrence, Jewry, London, were the following:—"If any of the company be of wicked fame of his body, and take other wives than his own, or if he be single man, and be hold a common lechour or contekour, or rebel of his tongue, he shall be warned of the Warden three times; and if he will not himself amend, he shall pay to the Wardens all his arrearages that he oweth to the company, and he shall be put off for evermore. And if ony man be of good state, and use hym to ly long in bed; and at rising of his bed ne will not work, but [? ne] wyn his sustenance and keep his house, and go to the tavern, to the wyne, to the ale, to wrastling, to schetyng, and in this manner falleth poor, and left his cattel in his defaut for succour; and trust to be holpen by the fraternity: that man shal never have good, ne help of companie, neither in his lyfe, ne at his dethe; but he shal be put off for evermore of the companie." [Quoted in Strype's Stow, bk. iii. p. 48.] One brother was not allowed to belie or wrong another; if he did he was fined by the Gild (pp. 55, 81, 95). Unruly speech or behaviour at the morn-speeches or towards the Alderman was forbidden, and peaceable, civil conduct at the feasts was strictly enjoined. In the way of arbitration, it was made a part of the duty of either the brethren and sistren themselves, or of their officers, that if any dispute should arise between one brother and another, they should do all they could to "bring them at one," to settle the quarrel; and not until this was tried might the disputants go to law. Fines were imposed upon any of the brethren who should take action against another without first submitting the quarrel to this "Council of conciliation;" and the officers of the Gild were also bound under penalties to use their best skill to make the peace (pp. 21, 96, 183, 450, 451). [See the pages under "Arbitration" in the Index. Compare also the method of settling disputes in Bristol and Bromfield, pp. 426, 442.]

The foregoing sketch, though it does not pretend to dwell on all

points, and necessarily leaves untouched many details of interest, such as those relating to dress, food, prices, &c., may serve to indicate the picture of our old Gilds that lies among the Returns of 1389. One thing comes out clearly; that though a Gild might be founded to carry out some special object, as often was the case,—as for the support of a church, the maintenance of an altar, or a play, the ringing of bells (pp. 288, 294), the keeping up of Records (p. 287), or of minstrelsy (p. 294), or for the encouragement of crafts and trade,—the same general features and the same ideas were common to all, but that these became modified or added to, according to the special need of the Gild.

A part of the subject, of an historical value, which cannot be further gone into here, and one for the study of which this volume furnishes much material, is the relation and connection of Gilds with the Corporate bodies of towns. [Several notes bearing on this subject are on pp. 126, 239, 250, &c. See also, as showing the connection between the Gild and the town, the Ordinances of Southhampton before referred to (p. xxvii. note).] The authorities and opinions on this point are numerous and conflicting; my father intended that the glance at the part taken [See pp. 357, 411, 430.] by Gilds in the cities whose Records are given in Part III., the contrast even between their bye-laws and those of the municipal bodies, together with the fuller accounts of others, such as the Gild of Holy Cross, Birmingham, the Gilds of Exeter, of Berwick, and of Coventry, should be made to elucidate this matter. To this also London, with her numerous Social Gilds and Craft-Gilds, would have brought her testimony and swelled the illustration. [Among the Returns, there are several from London Social Gilds, three important examples of which are now printed. Stow, in his Survey of London, gives the Ordinances of some others of later date, as well as of some of those of which the Returns remain (Bk. ii. p. 75; Bk. iii. pp. 34, 48, 62, 118, 148). Of three of the ancient Craft-Gilds of London, the Esterlings, the Sadlers, and the Weavers, curious particulars may be found in Herbert's Livery Companies, vol. i. pp. 10-17; Madox, Firma Burgi, p. 26; and the Liber Custumarum of London (edition pub. by Master of the Rolls), Part i. p. 416. The work by Herbert, which treats of the Craft-Gilds of London and their later exclusive development, is well known.] But this,

with the farther tracing of the history of English Gilds, and particularly the story of their destruction, and the "confiscation" of their property under the Act of Edward VI. [See pp. 196, 203, 249-251, 259. My father's indignation was roused by his researches into the story of their fate. 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 to be found in History of all Europe. No page so black in English History."] (I Edw. VI. c. 14), by which many were so entirely ruined and swept away, that even their very names and existence have been forgotten, [See pp. 200-203.] must be left for a future day.

All that may be now done is to point out to the inquirer that under the Act for dissolution of Colleges (37 Hen. VIII. c. 4) the possessions of certain fraternities, brotherhoods, and gilds, that had been dissolved with the colleges and chantries, were vested in the Crown; and that the King was empowered to send out Commissioners to seize the possessions of others, under the plea that they should be "used and exercised to more godly and virtuous purposes," the Commissioners being directed to return Certificates "in writing of their doings in the same" into the Court of Chancery (§ 6). [It was under these two sections that the "Certificates of Colleges," sometimes employed in this volume (see Index), were put on record. See ò 12, on next page.] The Act of I Edw. VI. c. 14 went further than this: after completing the demolition of colleges, free chapels, and chantries, it proceeded not only separately by name to vest in the King all sums of money devoted "by any manner of corporations, gilds, fraternities, companies or fellowships, or mysteries or crafts," to the support of a priest, obits, or lights, [which might be taken under colour of religion,] but to hand over to the Crown "all fraternities, brotherhoods, and gilds, being within the realm of England and Wales and other the King's dominions, and all manors, lands, tenements, and other hereditaments belonging to them or any

of them, other than such corporations, gilds, fraternities, companies, and fellowships of mysteries or crafts, and the manors, lands, tenements, and other hereditaments pertaining to the said corporations, gilds, fraternities, companies, and fellowships of mysteries or crafts, above mentioned" (§§ 6, 7). Power was given to send out Commissioners to survey all "lay corporations, gilds, fraternities, companies, and fellowships of mysteries or crafts incorporate," and to assign and appoint, in specified ways, the disposition of their lands and property. These Commissioners also were bound "to make Certificate under their seals, or the seals of two of them, at the least, into the Court of Augmentations and Revenues of the King's Crown, or into any other Court as is aforesaid, within one year next after the Commission to them directed, of all manors, lands, tenements, rents, tythes, portions," &c. so assigned by them (§ 12). [See previous note.] And all the lands, &c. seized under this Act were to be "in the order, survey, and governance of the King's Court of the Augmentations and Revenues of his Crown" (§ 19). My father says of these two acts in another place,—"The Act of 37 Hen. VIII. c. 4, passed in 1545, put this wanton and wicked pillage of public property as necessary 'for the maintenance of these present wars;' but it also cleverly put into one group 'colleges, free-chappelles, chauntries, hospitalles, fraternities, brotherhedds, [and] guyldes.' The Act of 1 Edw. VI. c. 14, was still more ingenious; for it held up the dogma of purgatory to abhorrence, and began to hint at Grammar Schools. The object of both Acts was the same. All the possessions of all Gilds, except what could creep out as being trading Gilds (which saved the London Gilds), became vested, by these two Acts, in the Crown; and the unprincipled courtiers who had devised and helped the scheme, gorged themselves out of this wholesale plunder of what was, in every sense, public property." [Old Crown House, p. 36. See further, ib., pp. 37-39.]

The original MSS., from which the documents in Part I. and many of those in Part II. of this volume are printed, are in the

Public Record Office, where they are known as "Miscellaneous Rolls, Tower Records;" [They are described as "Certificates of Gilds" in the Third Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records (1842).] they consist of three bundles, containing in all 549 skins or membranes. Of these membranes, the greater part are vellum and parchment. My father, however, made the interesting discovery that some of them are Paper of a very peculiar kind, hitherto unknown. [To the description of this Paper given by my father, on pp. 44, 132, I add the following extracts from a letter published by him in the Birmingham Daily Post of March 2, 1865. "The introduction of specimens of linen paper into England, is known to have happened in 1342, possibly earlier. Some letters from abroad during that early time are written on linen paper; and there is a Register-book which belonged to the Black Prince, which is of linen paper. [See "þe papir," mentioned on p. 5.] But the few instances thus known, are considered to have been the importation from abroad of a special rarity, which only came, and that not often, into the hands of the wealthy. The manufacture of paper in England has been supposed to go no farther back than Elizabeth's time; but earlier entries have proved that there was at least one paper-mill in England as early as Henry VII. Neither the official use nor the manufacture of paper, so early as 1388, has hitherto been suspected. I have now proved the former to be a certain fact, and the latter becomes a probable one . . . [After describing the Writs to the Sheriffs (pp. 127, 130), and the instructions therein]—I find several of these instructions still existing, written upon paper; and I find that, in several cases, where the answer of the Sheriff was on a separate sheet, the latter is also paper, though of a different quality, sometimes, from that on which the instructions received by him were written. None of the ways in which the existence of paper can be accounted for, as before said, in previously known instances of the use of linen paper, can explain the use of paper in this case. It becomes proved that linen paper was used in public offices in London, and also used by some of the country gentlemen, who then were Sheriffs of distant shires, at the end of the fourteenth century. It is difficult to believe that it can have been thus used unless it were made in England . . . Paper of later times loses its sizing after some century or two, and becomes soft and rotten. But this paper, after nearly 500 years of very bad treatment, which has caused the decay of many parts, even of the vellum documents among which it is found, remains as firm, tough, and sound, as the best specimens of vellum that remain uninjured among it. No such paper is now made."] The documents have a great variety of shapes and sizes, from the strip three or four inches wide and twelve or fourteen inches long, and the nearly square piece eight or nine inches wide, to the lengthy writing, which fills a large sheet, or two, three, or four skins tacked together, edge to edge. A few are written and stitched up in the form of small books (pp. 40, 44, 262).

These Records were said, in 1842, to "require repair," and indeed, such has been their unheeded and forgotten condition, that, when my father first had them out, many of them had to be flattened, stamped, and prepared for his use. Dirty, eaten away by rats and decay, many of them partially illegible (though many still remained in good condition), these Records presented the appearance of having, till quite recently, lain unheeded and unread for centuries past; and, except in one instance, [In a paper communicated to the Norfolk and Norwich Archæological Society by Messrs. J. L'Estrange and Walter Rye (who obligingly called my father's attention to it), eight of the Returns from Norwich Gilds were printed, of which all but two very short ones are included in this volume. Mr. Rye was good enough to send me a copy of this paper, but I believe the Returns in this volume were all copied and in type before my father heard of it.] my father was not aware that any have ever before been printed, though, to one or two authors their existence may have been known. In Memoirs illustrative of the History and Antiquities of Norfolk, published in 1854, allusion is made to the "Returns made into Chancery, in the twelfth year of Richard II.'s reign, of the original objects, endowments, and extent of Gilds generally" (p. 142). But when Herbert wrote his History of the Livery Companies of London, (1837), the existence of these Records was quite unknown, for, after citing the Writ to the Sheriffs of London, given on p. 127, from a copy which must have been preserved among the City Records, he says,—"the Tower Records [of which these Returns form a part], as well as those of the City, have been diligently searched for the Returns made in consequence of this proclamation, but none are to be found, except those which relate to the Ecclesiastical Gilds." [Vol. i. p. 36.] In Strype's edition of Stow (1720), though reference is made to the inquiry as to Gilds in the time of Richard II., and an instance is narrated in which (apparently) the Wardens of a Gild came before the Chancery personally, to deliver their Return, [Bk. iii. pp. 48, 145.] this knowledge was probably gained, like Herbert's, from Records remaining in the City, no reference being made to those of the Tower.

The language and the writing of these Records have been noticed before (p. xxv.; of the writing, a remarkable specimen is described in a note to p. 175).

Of the Returns thus existing in the Public Record Office, this volume contains the whole of those that are written in English, to the number of forty-nine. Translations and abstracts are given of some of those that are in Latin and French, and references are made to many more. The number of documents is, however, so great that my father found it impossible to use even all the extracts he had intended for this work, and many of interest remain unnoticed. The Public Record Office has also afforded other contributions to the history of the Gilds (p. 126), among which are the "Certificates of Colleges" (pp. 197, 247, &c.), and other records.

Other sources whence original MSS. have been derived, as the Libraries of Oxford and Cambridge, the British Museum, Municipal Archives, and private stores, are each acknowledged, and pointed out in the places where they occur, together with descriptions of the originals, in the notes appended to each. [

The Roll of Winchester "Usages" demands a few words here. The note upon it was written, and the whole had gone through the press, without either my father or myself being aware that, several years ago, Mr. Smirke had printed in the Archœological Journal (vol. ix. p 69) a document, in old French, found by the Rev. Mr. Gunner among the muniments of Winchester College, which is in fact another version of these "Usages." The age of this French MS. does not seem to be known with certainty, but it seems to be of nearly the same date as the English one. Both must have been taken from the same original, one perhaps a little later than the other, as there are several variations between them; and the comparison of the two is of much interest, each helping to clear up the obscure passages of the other.

I may say that I shall feel much obliged by any communications from those, in towns and other places, who have access to original MSS., especially in English, which will help to give further information on the character and purposes of the Gilds in England.

] Wherever my father could, he collated the print himself with the utmost care, in each case twice comparing it with the original. All those in Part I. and many of those in Part II., thus passed under his eye. To those gentlemen who collated others for him, his obligations are recorded.

In conclusion, there remains the pleasant duty of acknowledging,

for my father, the friendly suggestions and valuable loans that were made to him, both by many to whom he was an entire stranger as well as by personal friends, for which he had the liveliest feeling. For myself, I must be permitted to express my grateful sense of the kindness and courtesy which I have met with from my father's correspondents and friends (particularly those whose MSS. and books were left in the care of one unknown to them), and other gentlemen, well known for their literary and antiquarian learning, with whom I have had communication. Without their assistance, freely given, what has been to me, though a labour of love, yet a somewhat difficult task, could not have been accomplished, and to all of them I beg to offer my best thanks. Conscious of the imperfections and omissions that must necessarily occur in my part of the work, I yet may join in my father's often expressed desire, that it should be "useful to the people," and to that hope I dedicate the book, with the knowledge that some at least will believe, "She hath done what she could."

LUCY TOULMIN SMITH.

HIGHGATE, LONDON,
December, 1869.

[NOTE.—The original Gild Returns in the Public Record Office having been entirely re arranged, the three "Bundles" referred to in this volume no longer exist, and new references are required. But as the insertion of these on the plates for the body of this reprint would cause the Society too much expense, a list of the references will be printed on a leaf, together with two or three other notes of correction too long for insertion, which will be found placed at the beginning of the volume. The only changes made in this reprint are two additions on p. 348 and one on p. 431.

L. T. S.

August, 1892.]