The history and antiquities of Boston, and the villages of Skirbeck, Fishtoft, Freiston, Butterwick, Benington, Leverton, Leake, and Wrangle; comprising the hundred of Skirbeck, in the county of Lincoln. Including also a history of the East, West, and Wildmore fens, and copious notices of the Holland or Haut-Huntre fen ... sketches of the geology, natural history, botany, and agriculture of the district; a very extensive collection of archaisms and provincial words, local dialect, phrases, proverbs, omens, superstitions, etc. By Pishey Thompson. Illustrated with one hundred engravings.

148 GUILD OF ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL.
brethren, living or dead, who had been benefactors to this Guild. Twelve
large torches (tortecei), to be carried in procession every year, at the feast of
Corpus Christi, in honour of that holy and solemn festival. The same torches
to be lighted every day in Easter week, and carried in procession, all the
brethren attending. It was also ordained, that when any brother or sister shall
die, the brothers and sisters of the Guild shall assemble at the house of the
deceased, and shall from thence accompany the body, which shall not be carried
by any persons but brothers of the Guild; and before it shall be borne twelve
large lights to the church, where they shall be placed around it whilst the mass
is performed and the burial services completed. And at the said mass each
brother and sister shall offer an oblation of one farthing for the soul of the
deceased. And if any brother or sister shall fall into such poverty that he or
she shall not possess sufficient goods to meet the expense of a proper and suitable
funeral, then such funeral shall be provided at the cost of the brothers and sisters
of the Guild.'
"And if by the change of fortune, which often entirely subverts all earthly affairs, any
brother or sister shall fall into such distress as that, without the aid of others, he or she
shall not be able to live. Then from the alms of the other brothers and sisters he or she
shall receive 14 pence weekly, so long as he or she shall suffer such calamity."
And it is declared that it is not, nor shall be, the intention of any brother or
sister of this Guild to interfere with the right, or to hold or maintain any opinion,
or to exercise any powers or privileges which be contrary to, or in derogation
of, the dignity of the king.
The said guardian, Richard Stevenson, says:
" That the aforesaid Guild does not hold any land, or tenements, or rents, or possessions,
or goods, or chattels, besides the ornaments of the church. Nor does it congregate to hold
any feastings (convivia), except once a-year, on the festival of the Apostles Peter and Paul,
in the month of June. On which day the brothers and sisters assemble, newly clothed in
appointed garments (vestzra), at morning mass and evening vespers, and at the other
religious celebrations of that great festival, and duly solemnize the same, and on the same
day also dine together as ordered by the guardian elect, and the chaplains for the next year;
and after dinner prayers are made, and wax tapers burnt for the dead, and alms of food and
money are given to the Christian poor there assembling. Nothing is undertaken, nor oaths
or engagements made, but in good faith, to the praise of God, and the honour of the holy
Apostles Peter and Paul. Signed by the aforesaid Richard, with the unanimous assent of
all the brothers and sisters present, at St. Botolph, 23d Jan., 12 Richard II. (1389)."2
A patent grant was issued in 1393 for this Guild;3 and a second in 1448.4
In 1525, William Sutton, of Boston, left to this Guild certain lands in Wainfleet
- a house, and tenements, and garden, with a stable, and ten acres of pasture
ground in Boston, and certain lands in Kirton, of the yearly value of 51. 6s. 8d.,
for the stipend of an able priest, who was to pray and sing for him in St. Peter's
choir in the parish church of St. Botolph in Boston for forty-nine years after his
decease, and to have yearly for his wages eight marks.
"'And if the alderman of the said Guild can obtain the King's license to amortize the
said lands, &c., then he and his successors shall have the same for ever, finding the said
priest to sing and pray for me for ever."
If the King's license cannot be obtained, then the said lands, &c., to be sold by
the said alderman and the chamberlains ofthe said Guild of St. Peter, and six of
the most worshipful persons of the said town; and the money received for the same
The MS. is very imperfect here, but we have no i 3 Patent Rolls, Tower.
doubt this is the intention of this paragraph. i 4 Ibid.
2 Records in the Tower; Miscellaneous Rolls 310.