Part 7
The word guild is probably derived from the Saxon word _geldan_ or _gildan_, which means "to pay," and signifies that the members of the association were required to contribute something towards the support of the brotherhood to which they belonged. The early guilds were of the nature of clubs, and consisted of bodies of men united together under oath for their mutual benefit, and for a common purpose. The character and nature of these clubs differed widely, and I will state as briefly as possible the various kinds of guilds which have existed in our country. In Roman times there were the _collegia opificum_ which were firmly established in this country during the period of the Roman occupation. These colleges were corporations which could hold property, had regular constitutions, presidents and senators, treasurers and sub-treasurers, priests and temples. Each had its _curia_, or senate house, its common _arca_, or chest, its archives and banners. It constituted a kind of "Sick and Burial Club" for its members, and on two special days--_dies violarum_ and _dies rosæ_--the sodales met at the sepulchre of departed brethren to commemorate their loss, and to deck their tombs with violets and roses, an offering pleasing to the spirit of the _manes_, at Silchester, when it was a large and flourishing city, there would certainly be such a college or corporation.
During the Anglo Saxon period guilds certainly flourished in this country, and since Reading was, as Asser states, a royal city, and an important centre of the West Saxon kingdom, there was, doubtless, an Anglo Saxon guild here;[3] but few traces of Saxon Reading remain, as the place was completely destroyed by the Danes. When we examine the rules and regulations of the Saxon guilds, we are astonished at the high state of civilisation which they disclose. They resembled in some respects our modern friendly societies, and provided a scheme of mutual assurance for the members. I will take the Exeter guild for an example, which, as in the case of all these early guilds, was of a religious type. At a meeting held in the city of Exeter "for the sake of God and our souls, that we may make such ordinances as tend to our welfare and security, as well in this life as in that future state which we wish to enjoy in the presence of God, our Judge, therefore, here assembled, we have decreed:--
"That three stated meetings shall be held every year. 1st, on Festival of St. Michael the Archangel; 2nd, on Feast of St. Mary, next following winter solstice; and 3rd, on Feast of All Saints', which is celebrated after Easter.
"That at every meeting every member shall contribute two sextaria of barley meal, and every knight, one, together with his quota of honey.
"That at each meeting a priest shall sing two masses; one for living, the other for the dead. Every lay brother shall sing two psalms: one for living, and other for departed members. Everyone shall moreover in his turn procure six masses and six psalms, to be sung at his own proper expense.
"That when any member is about to go abroad, each of his fellow members shall contribute 5d.: and if any member's house shall have been burned, one penny."
Fines were inflicted for non-attendance, for abusive conduct, and "finally we beseech every member, for God's sake, to observe these things which are ordained in this society, in everything, as we have ordained them, and may God help us to observe them."
Mr. Toulmin Smith writes thus concerning these old Saxon guilds:--"The early English guild was an institution of local self-help, which, before Poor-laws were invented, took the place, in old times, of the modern friendly societies, 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 form and practice of religion, justice, and morality."
One of the objects of the London guild (tenth century) was the recovery of stolen stock and slaves, and if these could not be recovered the brethren subscribed to make up the loss to the owner. A horse was valued at 1/2 pound, a cow at 20d., a hog at 10d., a sheep at 1s., a slave at 1/2 pound. If the slave _has stolen himself_ he shall be stoned, and every brother shall subscribe 1d. or 1/2d. to make good the loss. Whether there was ever a Danish guild in Reading it is impossible to determine. There was a noted one at Abbotsbury (Dorset), founded by Orcy, a friend of King Canute, 1030 A.D. The guild ordinance is quoted in Kemble's "Saxons in England," p. 511.
The brethren were required to contribute wax, bread, wheat, and wood. The wax was for the maintainance of lights in the Minster. Members were required to contribute to the comforts of the dying, and to attend the burial and pray for the souls of departed members.
We have a picture of later Saxon Reading recorded in the pages of Doomsday Book. It contained only thirty homesteads, with two better class of houses, two mills, and two fisheries. The Danes had attacked it a second time in 1006, and it had not recovered from that disaster; so in such a small community, although a guild at this period existed, it must have been a very small company indeed.
But after the Conquest guilds began to multiply, and were established for the purpose of promoting religion, charity, and trade. There were the frith guilds, formed for the promotion of peace, and the establishment of law and order: the religious guilds, which used to hold a festival on the day of the patron saint of the guild, attend church, and perform a miracle play. In the _Liber Niger_, or _Black Book_, of the Corporation of London, there is a description of the anniversary feast of the guild of the Holy Cross at Abingdon. "The fraternity hold their feast on May 3rd, the invention of the Holy Cross; and then they used to have 12 priests to sing a _Dirge_, for which they paid 4d. apiece; thay had also 12 minstrels, who had 2s. 3d. besides their dyet and horse meat. In 1445 they had 6 calves at 2s. 2d. each, 16 lambs at 12d., 80 capons at 3d., 80 geese at 2d., 800 eggs which cost 5d. the hundred, and many marrow bones, cream, and flour; and pageants, plays, and May games to captivate the senses of the beholders." This was a strong and powerful guild, formed in 1389, and incorporated in 1442, being endowed with lands for the purpose of keeping in order the roads between Abingdon and Dorchester, and building an almshouse. In 1539 they erected an aisle in St. Helen's Church, Abingdon, and also a market cross of freestone, pronounced by Leland "to be not inferior in workmanship to many in England." The hospital of the brotherhood of the Holy Cross still remains. It was founded in the middle of the fourteenth century, a very interesting low brick and timber house, containing several good paintings.
Then there were the guilds of the Kalendars, which were principally composed of the clergy, and one of their duties was to keep a public record of events, to superintend and regulate a library open to all citizens, and to explain to those who required such assistance, any difficulties that may arise in these matters. They, too, did not forget the periodical feasts. Then there were social guilds, composed chiefly of laymen, for objects of good fellowship, benevolence, and thrift.
And now we come to a very important class, the Merchant guilds. These existed in Saxon times, and were formed for promoting the interests of particular trades, for the regulation of industry, for buying and selling; and very strict were the laws which they enforced, and merciless the restrictions which they placed upon all strangers who presumed to sell goods, and who did not belong to the guild. We shall notice some particular instances of these harsh rules which were in force in the town of Reading.
I find in the Report of the Historical Manuscripts Commission that there were five companies of the guild Mercatory at Reading. Originally these companies were separate institutions, which managed their own concerns, and were not concerned with the Municipal Government of the town. There were five wards, each ward having a trade guild attached to it. In course of time the guilds united for common purposes and formed the guild Mercatory, which asked and received charters from various kings, gradually acquired powers, privileges, lands, and property, and ultimately managed the whole municipal business, as well as their own trade concerns.
In regard to these guilds the first was the mercers' and drapers' company, which included the mercers, drapers, haberdashers, potuaries (or dealers in earthenware), chapmen, tailors, and cloth-drawers.
Of course no one was allowed to engage in any of these trades until he became a member of the guild; and to become a member he had to pay. The fines for admission varied from £4 for a mercer or draper, to £2 for a tailor. Very minute were the regulations of each guild. For example in this case, no "foreigner," not a member of the guild, was allowed to retail cloth in the town; for each offence he was required to pay 10s. One tradesman might not trespass on the privileges of another tradesman, for no mercer or tailor might retail cloth or woven hose, under penalty of 3s. 4d. each time, for that would interfere with the cloth-makers and haberdashers. No tailor might employ a journeyman to work except he gave him meat, drink, wages, and lodgings in his own house. Here is a curious regulation--no haberdasher, not being a freeman, was allowed to sell caps or hats (except straw hats) on forfeiture of 12d.
The second company was the cutlers and bell-founders company, which included seventeen other trades; besides cutlers and bell-founders, there were braziers, pewterers, smiths, pinners, barbers, carpenters, joiners, fletchers (arrow-makers), wheelers, basket-makers, coopers, sawyers, bricklayers, card-makers (_i.e._, wool combers' cards), turners, plumbers, painters, and glaziers. The barbers were subject to special regulations. No barber who was a stranger was allowed to draw teeth in any part of the town except in a barber's shop; and any barber shaving, trimming, dressing, or cutting any person on Sunday, except on the four fair days, should forfeit for each time, 12d.
The following curious bye-law was made by the Corporation in 1443, at the commencement of the dispute between the rival Houses of York and Lancaster, and was probably intended to prevent unlawful meetings taking place under the mask of a barber's shop. "The Mayor and burgesses of Reading, grant and ordain that from this time forward, no barber of Reading open any shop nor shave any man after ten of the clock at night, between Easter and Michaelmas, nor after nine of the clock at night, from Michaelmas to Easter, but if (_i.e._, except) it be any stranger or worthy man (_i.e._, gentleman) of this town, he shall pay 300 tiles to the Guildhall of Reading, as often times he is found faulty, to be received by the cofferers for the time being."
Perhaps some of my readers may be astonished at the peculiar form of this fine. It is not usual to pay fines in this form of _tiles_! But it may be accounted for by the fact that thatch was beginning to be superseded by tile roofs. The public buildings were roofed with lead, but almost all private houses were thatched. Hence there was much danger from fire, and the Corporation wisely determined to encourage the employment of a safer material for the roofing of Reading houses. The poor barbers had to pay their fines in tiles, and very soon we find that one John Bristol was fined 2,100 tiles for shaving seven persons contrary to the order, but the number of tiles was reduced to 1,200 on account of his poverty.
The fine for disobedience or ill-behaviour was often enforced in this curious medium. One John Bristow, in the reign of Henry VI., was fined 4,000 tiles for disobedience to the Mayor, but the fine was reduced to 1,000, with a sufficient quantity of lime. Any person who should quarrel was ordered to pay to the Church of St. Giles, six pounds of wax, and to the Guildhall, 500 tiles.
The third company was the tanners and leather sellers' company, including also the shoemakers, curriers, glewers, saddlers, jerking sellers, bottle-makers, collar-makers, and cobblers.
In the rules of this company we find certain regulations which show that while the guild afforded protection to the tradesmen, it also acted the part of a somewhat severe tyrant. Here is a very severe enactment which might seem somewhat opposed to the freedom of our times. No shoemaker was allowed to make any boots or shoes in any part of the town, but only in Shoemakers' Row, that is to say on the east side of the street, from the Forbury Gate to the Hallowed Brook, under pain of forfeiting 3s. 4d. each time. No one was allowed to go and work where he pleased, but only in the part of the town prescribed by the guild. This company seem to have been the chief promoters of bull baiting and bear baiting, since there is a rule forbidding these sports to be held on the Sabbath day during service, on pain of 12d., to be paid by each householder where the baiting is.
The fourth company was that of the clothiers, an important industry in old Reading; and this included the dyers, weavers, sheermen, shuttle-makers, and ash-burners.
No clothier was allowed to use more than two looms, but Mr. Aldworth, who was a privileged person, might have four. No clothier might weave cloth for another clothier. There are sundry other regulations, which show the severity of the company's laws.
The victuallers' company embraced the vintners, innholders, bakers, brewers, butchers, fishmongers, chandlers, maltmakers, flax-dressers, salters, and wood mongers.
The rules of this company do not, I believe, appear in the Corporation documents, but from other sources we find that the members of the guild were strictly enjoined to observe Lent, and were forbidden to kill or dress meat in that season without a license from the Abbot. Also to prevent imposition on the part of the publicans, two ale tasters were appointed to set the price of beer. The Corporation in former days performed a duty from which the present members of the municipal council would doubtless shrink. It assumed the power of regulating the price of such articles as beer and bread. In the time of Edward VI. a quart of best beer could be obtained for 1d.
These, then, were the five companies which formed the old guild Mercatory of Reading. They did not form (as Mr. Man says in his History of the town) "a society of mechanics and merchants without pretending to interfere in the government of the borough." In fact the guild was rather aristocratic in its tendency, and later on we find that the lower class of tradesfolk formed craft guilds in order to protect the interests of the artizans and smaller tradesmen. Of these the higher guild was very jealous, and frequently exerted its power to oppress the craftsmen and their guild. In the history of nearly every borough we find instances of contention and jealousies between the two bodies. One instance of this occurred in the year 1662, "when the cobblers petition to the Corporation against the shoemakers for mending and repairing old ware in violation of the ancient orders of the borough."
It seems strange to us to think of the time when a man could not sell what he liked, or live where he liked, or work at any trade he pleased; but such freedom was impossible under the old guilds. No one could ply his trade in a town unless he was a freeman of the company; _e.g._, "in July, 1545, one Robert Hooper, a barber, being a foreigner, was this day ordered to be gone out of the town at his peril, with his wife and children," and the town sergeants were ordered to shut up his shop and see poor Robert Hooper and his wife beyond the borough boundaries. And the distinction between the various trades, between the carpenters and joiners, between the joiners and sawyers, and as we have seen between cobblers and shoemakers, and the privileges of each class were jealously guarded. Absurd as these restrictions were, the early guilds contributed greatly to the making of England. Green thus writes of them:--"In the silent growth and elevation of the English people the borough led the way. The rights of self-government, of free speech in free meeting, of equal justice by one's equals, were brought safe across the ages of Norman tyranny by the traders and shopkeepers of the towns. In the quiet, quaintly-named streets, in town mead, and market place, in the Lord's mill besides the stream, in the bell that sounded out its summons to the borough moot, in the jealousies of craftsmen and guilds, lay the real life of Englishmen, the life of their home and trade, their ceaseless sober struggle with oppression, their steady unwearied battle for self-government."
Again, speaking of the policy of Edward I., who built up the power of the towns in view of checking the lawless tendencies of the barons, he says:--
"The bell which swung out from the town tower gathered the burgesses to a common meeting, where they could exercise their rights of free speech and free deliberation on their own affairs. Their merchants' guild, over its ale-feast, regulated trade, distributed the sums due from the different burgesses, looked to the repair of the gate and wall, and acted in fact pretty much the same part as a Town Council of to-day. Not only were all these rights secured by custom from the first, but they were constantly widening as time went on. Whenever we get a glimpse of the inner history of an English town, we find the same peaceful revolution in progress, services disappearing through disuse or omission, while privileges and immunities were being purchased in hard cash. The lord of the town, whether he were king, abbot, or baron, was commonly thriftless or poor, and the capture of a noble, or the campaign of a sovereign, or the building of some new minster by a prior, brought about an appeal to the thrifty burghers, who were ready to fill again their master's treasury, at the price of a strip of parchment, which gave them freedom of trade, of justice, and of government. For the most part the liberties of our towns were bought in this way by sheer hard bargaining."
We have observed the numerous charters granted to Reading. The charter of Henry III., to which his successor refers, is the earliest known one, and in that we find the words:--
"Henry, by the grace of God, King of England, etc., to all archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, etc., greeting. Know ye that we will, and command for ourself and our heirs, that all the burgesses of Reading _who belong to the guild Merchant in Reading_ may be for ever free from all shires and hundred courts, and from all pleas, complaints, tolls, passages, ways, carriage ways, and that they may buy and sell wheresoever they will throughout all England, without paying toll, and no one may disturb them under forfeiture of 10 marks." This was confirmed by Edward I., and by successive kings. These charters were granted to the guild, the immediate predecessor of the corporation, the "warden" of the guild ultimately being called the "mayor."
But there was a great opponent to the rights and freedom of the good citizens of Reading in the person of the high and mighty Lord Abbot. Referring to the original charter of the abbey granted by Henry I., we see what extensive sway was placed in the hands of the abbot. He ruled Reading with a powerful hand, and when a former mayor of this town, in the time of Henry VI., thought he would like to have a mace carried before him as a badge of office, the abbot objected. The mayor appealed to the Crown, but he was told it was contrary to the franchise and liberties of our church and monastery, that he was only a keeper of the guild at Reading, admitted by the abbot, and might only have "two tipped staffs" carried before him as a badge of office.
The extensive powers given to the abbot produced constant struggles for power between the guild and the ecclesiastical rulers. Sometimes they even came to blows, and the townsmen often assaulted the abbot's bailiffs in the execution of their duty. The men of Reading were cited in the reign of Henry III., 1243, to show what warrant they had for any privileges which they claimed as members of the guild. The sheriff of Berks received a strict injunction to prevent the men of Reading from interfering with the abbot's lawful rights. Two years later "a final and endly concord" was established between the contending parties, but in 1351, the dispute revived; quarrels arose about the election of a constable for the town, and the contention was not settled for 200 years. In 1430, abbot Henley seized from the guild the out-butchery, or shambles, used by butchers not living in the town, which was another bone of contention.
The abbot received part of the fines paid by those who wished to become freemen of the guild. He received a fine of 5d., called chepin-gravel yearly from every member. He exercised criminal jurisdiction, tried prisoners, admitted and selected the warden or mayor, and in many ways held powerful sway over the good folk of this ancient borough.
But the day came when his power ceased, and the abbey was dissolved. By degrees the guild obtained more power, but the Reformation shook the fabrics of the old guilds of England, and they found that they had only exchanged masters, and that the new master was rather more masterful than the old, requiring inventories of guild plate, lands, and revenues, and appropriating much of their superfluous wealth to his own exchequer.[4]
In the time of Queen Elizabeth, the guild merchant, the chrysalis, broke its shell, and became the full-winged corporation of mayor and burgesses, although its place of meeting was still called the _Guildhall_, and was situated somewhere near the Hallowed Brook, where the worthy brethren were often disturbed in their deliberations by the Laundry women "beating their battledores," which was the approved style of washing clothes in those days. Subsequently the old Church of Grey Friars became the Guildhall until the old building was erected, from whose ashes the modern Town Hall phoenix-like arose.
The old burgesses, or members of the guild, were very provident. In time of Queen Mary it was ordered that every burgess should pay 20s. over and above his accustomed fine, as a fund for the relief of burgesses in old age or want.
Berkshire has not been remarkable for its guilds. The guild of the brotherhood of the Holy Cross at Abingdon has been already mentioned. At Maidenhead we find a guild incorporated in 1351, probably for the purpose of keeping in repair the bridge over the Thames, one of the most ancient in the county. This corporation was called "the Fraternity or Guild of the Brothers and Sisters of Maidenhythe." Of minor guilds there would be examples in almost every village and town, but no records of them remain. The guilds of Reading are the only ones of real importance; and I have attempted to point out the chief points of interest in connection with their growth and development, and to describe briefly the origin of these institutions which played so important a part in the making of England.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 3: Mr. Coates says that the Society of Guild Merchants of Reading was undoubtedly very ancient, existing before the foundation of the Abbey, and claiming a charter or grant of privileges from Edward the Confessor.
This is proved by a statement made by the Mayor and commonalty in time of Richard II., before the king's justices of peace at Reading, in opposition to some of the claims of the Abbot, with whom the authorities of the town were always quarrelling.]