Part 53
Thus much for liveries of citizens in ancient times, both in triumphs and otherwise, may suffice, whereby may be observed, that the coverture of men’s heads was then hoods, for neither cap nor hat is spoken of, except that John Welles mayor of London to wear a hat in time of triumph, but differing from the hats lately taken in use, and now commonly worn for noblemen’s liveries. I read that Thomas earl of Lancaster in the reign of Edward II. gave at Christmas in liveries, to such as served him, a hundred and fifty-nine broad cloaths, allowing to every garment furs to fur their hoods: more near our time, there yet remaineth the counterfeits and pictures of aldermen, and others that lived in the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV., namely alderman Darby dwelling in Fenchurch street, over against the parish church of St. Diones, left his picture, as of an alderman, in a gown of scarlet on his back, a hood on his head, etc., as is in that house (and elsewhere) to be seen: for a further monument of those late times, men may behold the glass windows of the mayor’s court in the Guildhall above the stairs, the mayor is there pictured sitting in habit, party-coloured, and a hood on his head, his swordbearer before him with a hat or cap of maintenance: the common clerk, and other officers bare-headed, their hoods on their shoulders; and therefore I take it, that the use of square bonnets worn by noblemen, gentlemen, citizens, and others, took beginning in this realm by Henry VII. and in his time, and of further antiquity, I can see no counterfeit or other proof of use. Henry VIII. (towards his latter reign) wore a round flat cap of scarlet or of velvet, with a bruch or jewel, and a feather; divers gentlemen, courtiers, and others, did the like. The youthful citizens also took them to the new fashion of flat caps, knit of woollen yarn black, but so light, that they were obliged to tie them under their chins, for else the wind would be master over them. The use of these flat round caps so far increased (being of less price than the French bonnet) that in short time young aldermen took the wearing of them; Sir John White wore it in his mayoralty, and was the first that left example to his followers; but now the Spanish felt, or the like counterfeit, is most commonly of all men both spiritual and temporal taken to use, so that the French bonnet or square cap, and also the round or flat cap, have for the most part given place to the Spanish felt; but yet in London amongst the graver sort (I mean the liveries of companies), remaineth a memory of the hoods of old time worn by their predecessors: these hoods were worn, the roundlets upon their heads, the skirts to hang behind in their necks to keep them warm, the tippet to lie on their shoulder, or to wind about their necks, these hoods were of old time made in colours according to their gowns, which were of two colours, as red and blue, or red and purple, murrey, or as it pleased their masters and wardens to appoint to the companies; but now of late time, they have used their gowns to be all of one colour, and those of the saddest, but their hoods being made the one half of the same cloth their gowns be of, the other half remaineth red as of old time. And so I end, as wanting time to travel further in this work.
Now since that I have given you an outward view of this city, it shall not be impertinent to let you take an insight also of the same, such as a Londoner born discoursed about twenty years gone, for answer (as it seemeth) to some objections that then were made against the growing greatness thereof. The author gave it me, and therefore, howsoever I conceal his name (which itself pretendeth not), I think I may without his offence impart it to others, that they may take pleasure in the reading, as I doubt not but he did in the writing. Long may they (that list) envy, and long may we and our posterity enjoy the good estate of this city.
A DISCOURSE OF THE NAMES AND FIRST CAUSES OF THE INSTITUTION OF CITIES AND PEOPLED TOWNS AND OF THE COMMODITIES THAT DO GROW BY THE SAME; AND, NAMELY, OF THE CITY OF LONDON
WRITTEN BY WAY OF AN APOLOGY (OR DEFENCE) AGAINST THE OPINION OF SOME MEN, WHICH THINK THAT THE GREATNESS OF THAT CITY STANDETH NOT WITH THE PROFIT AND SECURITY OF THIS REALM
Cities and well-peopled places be called _Oppida_, in Latin; either _ab ope danda_, or _ab opibus_, or _ab opponendo se hostibus_. They be named also _Civitates a cöeundo_, and _urbes_, either of the word _urbare_, because the first inclosure of them was described with the draught of a plough, or else _ab orbe_, for the round compass that they at the first had.
In the Greek a city is termed πόλις, either of the word πολὺς, _multus_, or of πολεῖνω πολένεον,[306] _id est_, _habitare_, _alere_, _gubernare_.
In the Saxon (or old English) sometimes _Tun_, which we now call town, derived of the word _Tynan_, to inclose or tyne, as some yet speak. But forasmuch as that word was proper to every village and inclosed dwelling, therefore our ancestors called their walled towns _Burh_ or _Byrg_, and we now Bury and Borough, of the Greek word πύργος (as I think), which signifieth a tower or a high building.
The walls of these towns had their name of _vallum_, because at the first they were but of that earth which was cast out of the trench, or ditch, wherewith they were environed. But afterward, being made of matter more fit for defence, they were named _a muniendo mœnia_. By the etymology of these names, it may appear that common weals, cities, and towns, were at the first invented, to the end that men might lead a civil life amongst themselves, and be saved harmless against their enemies; whereupon Plato saith, “_Civitates ab initio utilitatis causa constitutæ sunt_.” Aristotle, 1. Politicorum, 2. saith, “_Civitas a natura profecta est: homo enim animal aptum est ad cœtus, et proinde civitatis origo ad viuendum, institutio ad bene viuendum refertur._” And Cicero, _lib. primo de Inventione_, in the beginning, saith, “_Fuit quoddam tempus cum in agris homines passim bestiarum more vagabantur, etc. quo quidem tempore, quidam (magnus, viz. vir et sapiens) dispersos homines in agris, et tectis silvestribus abditos, ratione quadam compulit in unum locum, atque eos in unamquamq; rem induxit utilem et honestam. Urbibus vero constitutis fidem colere, et justitiam retinere discebant, et aliis parere sua voluntate consuescebant_,” etc. The same man discourseth notably to the same effect in his Oration _Pro Sestio_, a little after the midst thereof, showing that in the life of men dispersed, _vis_, beareth all the sway; but in the civil life, _ars_ is better maintained, etc. This thing well saw King William the Conqueror, who in his laws, fol. 125, saith, “_Burgi et civitates fundata, et edificata sunt, ad tuitionem gentium et populorum Regni, et idcirco observari debent cum omni libertate, integritate et ratione_.” And his predecessors, King Ethelstane and King Canutus, in their laws, fol. 62 and 106, had commanded thus: “_Oppida instaurantur_,” etc.
Seeing, therefore, that as Cicero, 2. _Officior._ saith, “_Proxime et secundum Deos, homines hominibus maxime utiles esse possunt_;” and that men are congregated into cities and commonwealths for honesty and utility’s sake, these shortly be the commodities that do come by cities, commonalties, and corporations. First, men by this nearness of conversation are withdrawn from barbarous feritie and force to a certain mildness of manners, and to humanity and justice; whereby they are contented to give and take right, to and from their equals and inferiors, and to hear and obey their heads and superiors. Also the doctrine of God is more fitly delivered, and the discipline thereof more aptly to be executed, in peopled towns than abroad, by reason of the facility of common and often assembling; and consequently such inhabitants be better managed in order, and better instructed in wisdom: whereof it came to pass, that at the first, they that excelled others this way, were called _astuti_, of the Greek word ἄστυ, which signifieth a city, although the term be now declined to the worst part, and do betoken evil, even as _tyrannus_, _sophista_, and some such other originally good words are fallen; and hereof also good behaviour is yet called _urbanitas_, because it is rather found in cities than elsewhere. In some, by often hearing men be better persuaded in religion, and for that they live in the eyes of others, they be by example the more easily trained to justice, and by shamefastness restrained from injury.
And whereas commonwealths and kingdoms cannot have, next after God, any surer foundation than the love and goodwill of one man towards another, that also is closely bred and maintained in cities, where men by mutual society and companying together, do grow to alliances, commonalties, and corporations.
The liberal sciences and learnings of all sorts, which be _lumina reipublicæ_, do flourish only in peopled towns; without the which a realm is in no better case than a man that lacketh both his eyes.
Manual arts, or handicrafts, as they have for the most part been invented in towns and cities, so they cannot anywhere else be either maintained or amended. The like is to be said of merchandise, under which name I comprehend all manner of buying, selling, bartering, exchanging, communicating of things that men need to and fro. Wealth and riches, which are truly called _subsidia belli, et ornamenta pacis_, are increased chiefly in towns and cities both to the prince and people.
The necessity of the poor and needy is in such places both sooner to be espied, and hath means to be more charitably relieved.
The places themselves be surer refuges in all extremities of foreign invasion, and the inhabitants be a ready hand and strength of men, with munition to oppress intestine sedition.
Moreover, forasmuch as the force of the wars of our time consisteth chiefly in shot, all other soldiers being either horsemen or footmen, armed on land, or mariners at the sea, it seemeth to me that citizens and townsmen be as fit to be employed in any of these services, that on horseback only excepted, as the inhabitants that be drawn out of the country.
Furthermore, even as these societies and assemblies of men in cities and great towns are a continual bridle against tyranny, which was the cause that Tarquin, Nero, Dionysius, and such others, have always sought to weaken them: so, being well tempered, they are a strong fort and bulwark, not only in the aristocracy, but also in the lawful kingdom or just royalty.
At once the propagation of religion, the execution of good policy, the exercise of charity, and the defence of the country, is best performed by towns and cities; and this civil life approacheth nearest to the shape of that mystical body whereof Christ is the head, and men be the members; whereupon both at the first, that man of God Moses, in the commonwealth of the Israelites, and the governors of all countries, in all ages since, have continually maintained the same; and to change it were nothing else but to metamorphose the world, and to make wild beasts of reasonable men. To stand longer upon this it were, _in re non dubia, uti oratione non necessaria_; and therefore I will come to London.
FOOTNOTE:
[306] Sic in Stow; Strype corrects it into πολεύω.
THE SINGULARITIES OF THE CITY OF LONDON
Whatsoever is said of cities generally, maketh also for London specially; howbeit, these things are particularly for our purpose to be considered in it. The situation; the former estimation that it hath had; the service that it hath done; the present estate and government of it, and such benefits as do grow to the realm by the maintenance thereof.
This realm hath only three principal rivers, whereon a royal city may well be situated: Trent, in the north, Severn in the south-west, and Thames in the south-east; of the which Thames, both for the straight course in length reacheth furthest into the belly of the land, and for the breadth and stillness of the water is most navigable up and down the stream; by reason whereof London, standing almost in the middle of that course, is more commodiously served with provision of necessaries than any town standing upon the other two rivers can be, and doth also more easily communicate to the rest of the realm the commodities of her own intercourse and traffic.
This river openeth indifferently upon France and Flanders, our mightiest neighbours, to whose doings we ought to have a bent eye and special regard; and this city standeth thereon in such convenient distance from the sea, as it is not only near enough for intelligence of the affairs of those princes, and for the resistance of their attempts, but also sufficiently removed from the fear of any sudden dangers that may be offered by them; whereas for the prince of this realm to dwell upon Trent were to turn his back or blind side to his most dangerous borderers; and for him to rest and dwell upon Severn were to be shut up in a cumbersome corner, which openeth but upon Ireland only, a place of much less importance.
Neither could London be pitched so commodiously upon any other part of the same river of Thames as where it now standeth; for if it were removed more to the west it should lose the benefit of the ebbing and flowing, and if it were seated more towards the east it should be nearer to danger of the enemy, and further both from the good air and from doing good to the inner parts of the realm; neither may I omit that none other place is so plentifully watered with springs as London is.
And whereas, amongst other things, corn and cattle, hay and fuel, be of great necessity; of the which cattle may be driven from afar, and corn may easily be transported. But hay and fuel, being of greater bulk and burthen, must be at hand: only London, by the benefit of this situation and river, may be sufficiently served therewith. In which respect an alderman of London reasonably (as me thought) affirmed, that although London received great nourishment by the residence of the prince, the repair of the parliament and courts of justice, yet it stood principally by the advantage of the situation upon the river; for when, as on a time, it was told him by a courtier that Queen Mary, in her displeasure against London, had appointed to remove with the parliament and term to Oxford, this plain man demanded whether she meant also to divert the river of Thames from London, or no? and when the gentleman had answered “No,” “Then,” quoth the alderman, “by God’s grace, we shall do well enough at London, whatsoever become of the term and parliament.” I myself being then a young scholar at Oxford, did see great preparation made towards that term and parliament, and do well remember that the common opinion and voice was, that they were not holden there, because provision of hay could not be made in all the country to serve for ten whole days together, and yet is that quarter plentifully stored with hay for the proportion of the shire itself.
For proof of the ancient estimation of London, I will not use the authority of the British history, nor of such as follow it (although some hold it credible enough that London was first _Trinobantum civitas_, or _Troja nova_, that famous city in our histories, and then Ludstoune, and by corruption London, as they report), because they be not of sufficient force to draw the gainsayers. Neither will I stand much upon that honourable testimony which Gervas. Tilburiens. giveth to London in his book, _De Otiis Imperialibus_, saying thus, concerning the blessing of God towards it:--“_In Urbe London. exceptione habet divulgatum id per omnes æquè gentes Lucani proverbium_:
Invida fatorum series summisque negatum Stare diu.
“_Nam ea annis 354 ante Romam condita nunquam amisit principatum, nec bello consumpta est._”
But I will rather use the credit of one or two ancient foreign writers, and then descend to later histories. Cornel. Tacitus, lib. 4. Annal., saith, “_Londinum copia negociatorum, et comeatu maxime celebris_,” and Herodian, in the Life of Severus the emperor, saith, “_Londinum urbs magna et opulenta_.” Beda, lib. Ecclesiastic. 10. chap. 29, showeth that Pope Gregory appointed two archbishops’ sees in England, the one at London, the other at York. King Ethelstane, in his laws, appointing how many mint-masters should be in each city, allotteth eight to London, and not so many to any other city. The penner of those laws, that are said to be made by Edward the Confessor, and confirmed by William the Conqueror, saith, “_London est caput Regni, et Legum_.” King Henry I., in the third chapter of his Laws, commandeth that no citizen of London should be amerced above one hundred shillings for any pecuniary pain. The great charter of England, that Helena for which there was so long and so great war and contention, in the ninth chapter, saith, “_Civitas London. habeat omnes suas Libertates antiquas_,” etc. About the time of King John London was reputed “_regni firmata Columna_,” as Alexander Neckham writeth; and in the beginning of the reign of Richard II. it was called “_Camera regis_,” as Thomas Walsingham reporteth. I pass over the recital of the Saxon charter of King William the Conqueror, the Latin charter of Henry I. and II., of Richard I., of John, and of Edward I., all which gave unto the citizens of London great privileges, and of Edward III., who reciting all the grants of his predecessors, not only confirmed but also increased the same, and of the latter kings, who have likewise added many things thereunto. Only I wish to be noted by them, that during all this time, all those wise and politic princes have thought it fit, not only to maintain London in such plight as they found it, but also to adorn, increase, and amplify it with singular tokens of their liberal favour and good liking. And whether there be not now the same or greater causes to draw the like, or better estimation and cherishing, let any man be judge, that will take the pains to compare the present estate of London, yet still growing to better, with the former condition of the same.
It were too much to recite particularly the martial services that this city hath done from time to time; neither do I think that they be all committed to writing; only for a taste, as it were, I will note these few following.
Almost sixty years before the Conquest a huge army of the Danes (whereof King Sweyne was the leader) besieged King Etheldred in London (than the which, as the story saith, then he had none other refuge), but they were manfully repulsed, and a great number of them slain.
After the death of this Sweyne, his son Canutus (afterward king of England) besieged London, both by land and water; but after much labour, finding it impregnable, he departed; and in the same year repairing his forces, he girded it with a new siege, in the which the citizens so defended themselves, and offended him, that in the end he went away with shame.
In the dissension that arose between King Edward the Confessor and his father-in-law, Earl Goodwin (which was the mightiest subject within this land that ever I have read of), the earl with a great army came to London, and was for all that by the countenance of the citizens resisted, till such time as the nobility made reconciliation between them. About seventy years after the Conquest, Maude, the empress, made war upon King Stephen for the right of the crown, and had taken his person prisoner; but, by the strength and assistance of the Londoners and Kentishmen, Maude was put to flight at Winchester, and her brother Robert, then earl of Gloucester, was taken, in exchange for whom King Stephen was delivered: I dispute not whose right was better, but I avouch the service, seeing Stephen was in possession.
The history of William Walworth, the mayor of London, is well known; by whose manhood and policy the person of King Richard II. was rescued, the city saved, Wat Tiler killed, and all his straglers discomfited; in reward of which service, the mayor and other aldermen were knighted.
Jack Cade also having discomfited the king’s army that was sent against him, came to London, and was there manfully and with long fight resisted, until that by the good policy of the citizens his company was dispersed.
Finally, in the 10th year of the reign of King Edward IV., and not many days before the death of Henry VI., Thomas Nevill, commonly called the bastard of Fauconbridge, armed a great company against the king, and being denied passage through London, he assaulted it on divers parts; but he was repulsed by the citizens, and chased as far as Stratford, with the loss of a great many.
Thus much of certain their principal and personal services in war only, for it were infinite to repeat the particular aids of men and money which London hath ministered; and I had rather to leave it to be conjectured at, by comparison to be made between it and other cities, whereof I will give you this one note for an example. In the 12th year of the reign of King Edward II., it was ordered by parliament that every city of the realm should make out soldiers against the Scots; at which time London was appointed to send two hundred men, and Canterbury, being then one of our best cities, forty, and no more: and this proportion of five to one is now in our age increased, at the least five to one, both in soldiers and subsidy. As for the other services that London hath done in times of peace, they are to be measured by consideration of the commodities, whereof I will speak anon. In the mean season, let the estate and government of this city be considered, to the end that it may appear that it standeth well with the policy of the realm.
Cæsar, in his Commentaries, is witness, that in his time the cities of Britain had large territories annexed unto them, and were several estates of themselves, governed by particular kings, or potentates, as in Italy and Germany yet be; and that Mandubratius was king of the Trinobants, whose chief city London is taken to have been. And I find not that this government was altered either by Cæsar or his successors, notwithstanding that the country became tributary unto them: but that it continued until at length the Britons themselves reduced all their peoples into one monarchy; howbeit, that lasted not any long season, for upon Vortiger their king came the Saxons our ancestors, and they drave the Britons into Wales, Cornwall, and Bretagne in France, and in process of war divided the country amongst themselves into an heptarchy, or seven kingdoms; of the which one was called the kingdom of the East Saxons, which having in manner the same limits that the bishopric of London now enjoyeth, contained Essex, Middlesex, and a part of Hertfordshire, and so included London. Again, it appeareth, that in course of time, and about eight hundred years after Christ, Egbert (then king of the West Saxons), _ut pisces sæpe minutos magnus comest_, overcame the rest of the kings, and once more erected a monarchy; the which till the coming in of the Normans, and from thence even hitherto hath continued.