The London Guilds
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GUILDS AND RELATED ORGANISATIONS IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND A BIBLIOGRAPHY PART I INTRODUCTION THE LONDON GUILDS COMPILED BY TOM HOFFMAN © Tom Hoffman DRAFT 7 October 2011 PREFACE In 1960 William F. Kahl, then Associate Professor of History at Simmons College in the USA, published his Development of London Livery Companies - An Historical Essay and Select Bibliography. This is an attempt first to update his bibliography in the light of the many other works which have been published during the succeeding 50 years, and secondly to trace the development of the many guilds and related organisations in all the other cities and towns in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland for, as Dr. Charles Gross wrote in The Gild Merchant published in 1896, “the history of English Gilds is yet to be written, though materials in abundance...are to be found in town archives and in printed local histories”. Of course Dr. Gross got this process underway in his Bibliography of British Municipal History, including Gilds and Parliamentary Representation published in 1915. I have set myself the task to find out to what degree Dr. Gross’s challenge has been met during the succeeding century. During the sixteenth century some of the larger cities such as Chester, London, Kingston-upon-Hull, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and York each had at least 40 guilds. I have been reading and collecting books on guilds since 1979. An asterisk “*” to the left of the author denotes that I have a copy, and a mark “#” to the left of the author denotes that I have a photocopy of the book or pamphlet. Where there is a record of the book in the British Library in London, the Guildhall Library in London, the Bodleian Library in Oxford, Trinity College Dublin Library, and the Library of the Society of Antiquaries of London, then the library reference number is also given, thus (Brit.Lib.: 7905.aaa.19.; GL: SL37/W328; Bod.Lib.: 38442 f.1.; TCDL: 940 M7 Berkeley; SofA Lib.) I shall be grateful to receive notice of any errors or omissions which may be discovered in this bibliography so that the errors may be rectified and the omissions supplied. Such information may be sent by email to: [email protected] October 2011 Tom Hoffman ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I gratefully acknowledge the kindness of the Clerks, Deputy Clerks, Archivists and Beadles of the guilds and livery companies which are still in existence, and librarians and academics, who have given me access to books and pamphlets in their possession. I am particularly indebted to the following people for their special kindness and generous assistance: Tom Ackland (Masons' Company, London) Frank Allen (Woolmen's Company, London) Tony Appleton (Constructors' Company, London) Dick Barr (Merchants’ House, Glasgow) Dr. Jonathan Barry (University of Exeter) John Bayford (Merchant Taylors' Company, London) Meryl Beamont (Fishmongers' Company, London) Professor Ronald Berger (State University of New York at Oneonta) Ian Blythe (Marketors' Company, London) Ursula Carlyle (Mercers' Company, London) J. H. Cattell (Mercers' Company, Coventry) R. F. Coe (Paviours' Company, London) Dee Cook (Archivist, Apothecaries’ Society, London) Brian Coombes (Parish Clerks' Company, London) Alan Emus (Butchers' Company, London) James Evans (Lord President, Court of Deans of Scotland) George Everard (Scientific Instrument Makers' Company, London) Iain Flett (Archivist, City of Dundee) G. T. W. Foottit (Fullers' Guild, Coventry) Penny Fussell (Drapers' Company, London) Andrew Gillett (Founders' Company, & Basketmakers' Company, London) George Gillon (Incorporation of Masons, Glasgow) Ian Green (Fan Makers' Company, London) Peter Herbage (Cooks' Company, London) John Holt (Tin Plate Workers' Company, Horners’ Company, & Environmental Cleaners Company, London) G. H. Kingsmill (Chartered Accountants' Company, London) R. F. Lane (Glaziers' Company, London) J. A. G. Latimer (Guild of Scriveners, York) Ian Lester (Carpenters Company, London) Andrew Maynard (Incorporation of Weavers, Fullers and Shearmen, Exeter) Graham McNicol (Arbroath Guildry, Arbroath) Paul Merritt (Pattenmakers' Company, London) James Merry (Bonnetmaker Craft, Dundee) David Moor (Shipwrights' Company, London) Robin Myers (Stationers' & Newspapermakers' Company, London) John Newton (Coopers' Company, London) Bernard Nurse (Librarian, Society of Antiquaries of London) Brig. Keith Prosser (Tallow Chandlers' Company, London) B. J. Rawles (Glass Sellers' Company, London) Brig. Gregory Read (Vintners' Company, London) Tony Rider (Tylers' and Bricklayers' Company, London) Elizabeth Salmon (Saddlers' Company, London) A. W. Scott (Poulters' Company, London) V. L. De Silva (Watermen & Lightermen's Company, London) Hugh Stubbs (Merchant Taylors’ Company, London) Dr. Annette Smith (Dundee) M. J. Smyth (Makers of Playing Cards Company, London) George Snowden (Incorporation of Masons of Glasgow) John Speake (Freemen of England and Wales) Peter Stevens (Scriveners' Company, London) F. R. Sutherland (Tanners' Company, Newcastle upon Tyne) Ivison Wheatley (Merchant Adventurers, York) David Wickham (Clothworkers' Company, London) John Williams (Loriners' Company & Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers' Company, London) Tom Wilmot (Tallow Chandlers’ Company, London) Margaret Winter (Farmers' Company, London) R. G. Woodwark (Turners' Company, London) Bill Wyllie (Dean of Guild, Aberdeen; Former Secretary of the Court of Deans, Scotland) CONTENTS VOLUME I Introduction The Livery Companies and Guilds of the City of London The City of London - General VOLUME II The Guilds of Other English Towns and Cities The Guilds of Welsh Towns and Cities Wales - General The Guilds of Scottish Towns and Cities Scotland - General The Guilds of Irish Towns and Cities Ireland - General VOLUME III The Chartered Companies The United Kingdom - General Miracle Plays Performed by the Guilds Other Bibliographies INTRODUCTION THE MEDIEVAL GUILD All the medieval guilds, including the City Livery Companies, had a religious as well as social origin; they were founded to promote the spiritual as well as the temporal welfare of their members. They chose patron saints, and hence the Fishmongers adopted St. Peter and met at St. Peter's Church; the Drapers chose the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Holy Lamb, or Fleece, as the emblem of their trade and assembled at St. Mary's Bethlem Church in Bishopsgate; the Goldsmiths' patron was St. Dunstan, and they regularly attended mass, following which they dined together. The guilds maintained schools, since education was considered to be a religious duty. They assumed responsibility for mutual assistance and provided for their aged, poor and disabled brethren. The income of the guilds came from entrance fees and subscriptions, and the brethren could draw on the guild in time of need, and at their death the guild arranged the funeral. The earliest review of the guilds in existence throughout the land was in 1388 during the reign of Richard II, when a Parliamentary meeting in Cambridge directed the Sheriffs in each county to call on the Masters and wardens of all the guilds to supply information concerning their foundation, statutes and property, and to send the king copies of the charters or letters patent by which they were founded. It has been estimated that during the reign of Edward III there were some 40,000 religious and trade guilds. Most of them were small, although the religious guild of Corpus Christi at York had some 15,000 members. In most towns only the largest guilds were allowed to participate in local government, and as a result some guilds merged in order to increase their influence locally. Businessmen from the twelfth to the seventeenth century conducted their affairs largely within the framework of two kinds of guild: the gild merchant and the craft gild. THE GILD MERCHANT The old Gild Merchant embraced both merchants and artisans. Craftsmen were freely admitted to the Gild Merchant in the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The term merchant in those days embraced all who traded, and master craftsmen were usually regarded as merchants, and were therefore allowed to participate in the municipal privileges. The gild merchant was therefore the organisation through which the craftsmen and the land owners protected their interests and carried on their business, and it was from this body that the aldermen were elected who appointed one of their number to be mayor. CRAFT GUILDS Craft guilds emerged during the reign of Henry I, about half a century after the first Gild Merchant, and secured for the craftsmen the monopoly of working and trading in their branch of industry. As a town's competence in industry prospered, so the guilds of craftsmen multiplied and grew in power. In the thirteenth century craft guilds were composed of artisans, and in a few cases they included merchants as well. During Henry VI's reign (1422-1461) many of the guilds or fraternities sought a charter of incorporation. These charters brought advantages; they conferred perpetual collective responsibility, and they endowed the corporate structure with privileges of regulating apprenticeship, prices, wages, and with the power to maintain a monopoly over their trades. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries authority gradually moved from the Gild Merchant to the craft guilds as the latter reached the height of their power and influence. In some towns where the crafts took the place of the Gild Merchant, the latter wholly disappeared. In other towns such as Reading, the Gild Merchant was demoted to a general assembly whose main object was the regulation of trade or the discussion of matters in which all the crafts were interested. By the fifteenth century the economic function of the craft fraternities in regulating standards within the trade and maintaining a monopoly had surpassed in importance their religious and social practices. By the mid sixteenth century men were trying to gain membership of the guilds by means other than by apprenticeship and, in 1562 during the reign of Elizabeth I, the Act of Apprentices was passed forbidding persons to practise a craft unless they had served a seven year apprenticeship. However, this Act was largely ignored and was finally repealed in 1814.