Chapter XXX: Section II: Towns and Gilds

1. A Protest at Coventry against a Gild's Exclusiveness, 1495--2. A
Complaint from Coventry as to Inter-municipal Tariffs, 1498--3. The
Municipal Regulation of Wages at Norwich, 1518--4. The Municipal
Regulation of Markets at Coventry, 1520--5. The Municipal Regulation
of Wages at Coventry, 1524--6. An Act for Avoiding of Exactions taken
upon Apprentices in Cities, Boroughs, and Towns Corporate, 1536--7.
An Act whereby certain Chantries, Colleges, Free Chapels, and the
Possessions of the same be given to the King's Majesty, 1547--8.
Regrant to Coventry and Lynn of Gild Lands Confiscated under 1 Ed.
VI, c. 14 (the preceding Act), 1548--9. A Petition of the Bakers of
Rye to the Mayor, Jurats, and Council to Prevent the Brewers taking
their trade, 1575--10. Letter to Lord Cobham from the Mayor and
Jurats of Rye concerning the Preceding Petition, 1575--11. The
Municipal Regulation of the Entry into Trade at Nottingham,
1578-9--12. The Municipal Regulation of Markets at Southampton,
1587--13. The Municipal Regulation of Wages at Chester, 1591--14. The
Company of Journeymen Weavers of Gloucester, 1602--15. Petition of
Weavers who are not Burgesses, 1604-5--16. Extracts from the London
Clothworkers' Court Book, 1537-1627--17. The Feltmakers' Joint-Stock
Project, 1611--18. The Case of the Tailors of Ipswich, 1615--19. The
Grievances of the Journeymen Weavers of London, _c._ 1649.

The documents in this section illustrate certain aspects of the life of towns and gilds from 1485-1660. In the first half of the sixteenth century two important changes in the legal position of gilds were made by Act of Parliament, (i) Owing to the growing complaints of their exclusiveness (Nos. 1 and 6). Parliament had already by 15 Hen. VI, c. 6, and 19 Hen. VII, c. 7, compelled gilds to submit their ordinances to the approval of extra-municipal authorities before they became valid (Nos. 6 and 17). By 22 Hen. VIII it fixed 2s. 6d. as the maximum fee to be charged persons entering and 3s. 4d. as the maximum fee for persons leaving their apprenticeship. By 28 Hen. VIII c. 5 it forbad restrictive agreements designed to prevent apprentices or journeymen starting in trade on their own account (No. 6). (ii.) By 37 Hen. VIII c. 4 and 1 Ed. VI. c. 14 (No. 7) Parliament confiscated for the benefit of the Crown that part of gild property which was applied to religious purposes. The latter Act was, however, strongly opposed in the House of Commons, and the confiscated estates were restored to two towns, Coventry and King's Lynn (No. 8).

Apart from these changes towns and gilds pursued in the sixteenth century much the same economic policy as in earlier ages. They imposed inter-municipal tariffs (No. 2), and regulated markets (Nos. 4 and 12), wages (Nos. 3, 5, and 13), apprenticeship and the entry into trades (Nos. 1, 9, 10, 11, 15) on high moral grounds (No. 10), but sometimes with consequences unpleasant to those who were excluded (Nos. 1 and 15). Indeed their anxiety to preserve their monopoly occasionally brought them into conflict with the law, which "abhors all monopolies" (No. 18). Inside the gilds, however, a momentous change was going on. The fifteenth century had seen the rise within gilds of "yeomanry" organizations consisting of journeymen, of which an example is given below (No. 14, and Part I, Section V, No. 16). In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the gilds, at least in the larger towns, represented a wide range of interests, from the mercantile capitalist to the industrial small master, and it was often of such small masters, whose numbers appear to have increased in the sixteenth century, that the "yeomanry" then consisted (No. 16). They tended, however, to be at the mercy of the large capitalists, and occasionally under the first two Stuarts, who favoured them, they endeavoured to protect themselves by joint-stock enterprise (No. 17). In the middle of the seventeenth century a reverse movement was taking place. Small masters were becoming journeymen, and in London journeymen were engaged under the Commonwealth in active agitation. Their organization was that of an embryo trade union; their doctrine the application to industrial affairs of the theory of the social contract (No. 19).

AUTHORITIES

The more accessible of the modern writers dealing with the subject of
this section are Cunningham, _English Industry and Commerce, Modern
Times_, Vol. I; Ashley, _Economic History_, Vol. I, Part II, Chap. I
and II; Gross, _The Gild Merchant_; Abram, _Social England in the
Fifteenth Century_; Mrs. Green, _English Town Life in the Fifteenth
Century_; Dunlop and Denman, _English Apprenticeship and Child
Labour_; Unwin, _Industrial Organization in the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Centuries_, and _The Gilds and Companies of London_;
Webb, _English Local Government, The Manor and Borough_; Brentano,
_Gilds and Trade Unions_; Toulmin Smith, _English Gilds_; Rogers,
_Six Centuries of Work and Wages_.

Bibliographies are given in Gross, _op. cit._ (the most complete);
Cunningham _op. cit._, Vol. II, pp. 943-998; Ashley, _op. cit._, pp.
3-5 and 66-68; Abram, _op. cit._, pp. 229-238; Dunlop and Denman,
_op. cit._, pp. 355-363; Unwin, _Industrial Organization in the
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries_, pp. 263-270.

* * * * *

The student may also consult the following:--

(1) _Documentary Authorities_:--The records of numerous towns and
gilds have been published, and only a few can be mentioned
here:--Stevenson, Records of Nottingham; Tingey, Records of Norwich;
Bateson, Records of Leicester; Morris, Chester in the Plantagenet and
Tudor Reigns; Turner, Select Records of Oxford; Harris, The Coventry
Leet Book (E.E.T.S.); Bickley, The Little Red Book of Bristol;
Guilding, Records of the Borough of Reading; Publications of the
Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report 14, App. viii (Bury St.
Edmunds); 15, App. x (Coventry), 12, App. ix (Gloucester), 13, App.
iv (Hereford); 9, App. i (Ipswich); 14, App. viii (Lincoln); 15, App.
x (Shrewsbury).

(2) _Literary Authorities_:--The number of contemporary writers
dealing with gild and town life is not large. The most important are:
Drei Volkswirthschaftliche Denkscriften aus der Zeit Heinrich VIII,
von England, edited by Pauli; Starkey, A Dialogue Between Cardinal
Pole and Thomas Lupset (E.E.T.S.); England in the Reign of King Henry
VIII; The Commonwealth of this Realm of England (edited by Lamond);
Crowley, Select Works (E.E.T.S.); Lever's Sermons (in Arber Reprints:
where criticisms will be found on the confiscation of gild property);
Harrison, A Description of Britain; Roxburghe Club, A Dialogue or
Confabulation Between two Travellers.

1. A PROTEST AT COVENTRY AGAINST A GILD'S EXCLUSIVENESS [_Coventry Leet Book, Vol. II, pp. 566-7_], 1495.

1495. Mem.: that within vii days after Lammas there was a bill set upon the north church door in St. Michael's Church by some evil disposed person unknown, the tenor whereof hereafter ensueth:--

Be it known and understand
This city should be free and now is bond.

Dame Good Eve made it free,
And now there be customs for wool and drapery.

Also it is made that no prentice shall be
But xiii pennies pay shall he.

That act did Robert Green,[269]
Wherefore he had many a curse, I ween.

[Footnote 269: Robert Green was chosen Mayor of Coventry in 1494.]

2. A COMPLAINT FROM COVENTRY AS TO INTER-MUNICIPAL TARIFFS [_Coventry Leet Book, Part I, p. 592_], 1498.

Oct. 18th, 1498 ... And on the morrow the Mayor presented a bill to the said Prince desiring by the same that he would please to desire the prior of Coventry to pay at his desire the murage money which he had withdrawn the space of 20 years, and also showed his Grace by the same bill how the citizens of Coventry were troubled by their merchandizes in Bristol, Gloucester, and Worcester, and compelled to pay toll and other customs contrary to their liberties. Upon which bill letters went out to Bristol, Gloucester, and Worcester, desiring by the same that the said citizens of Coventry might pass free without any custom paying after their liberty, or else they appear in London _crastino St. Martini_ then next following.

3. THE MUNICIPAL REGULATION OF WAGES AT NORWICH [_Tingey. Selected Records of Norwich, II, p. 110_], 1518.

Sept. 21st, 1518. It is agreed that from henceforth no artificer shall employ apprentice working by the day, viz., carpenters, masons, tilers, reeders, by taking for the wage of such an apprentice more than one penny a day until he has been appointed to better wages or salary by the headman of that craft in the presence of the Mayor for the time being. And if any one shall do contrary, he shall forfeit 12d., to be levied from the goods of the master of that apprentice.

4. THE MUNICIPAL REGULATION OF MARKETS AT COVENTRY [_Coventry Leet Book,