6. From the members of these trade guilds in a town the town guild, or =corporation=, was formed to rule the town according to its ancient customs and charters, and to obtain for the town as many new rights and privileges as possible. There is much in the corporation of a great city like London, with its many companies, or guilds, which is connected with city life and work of the Middle Ages. =Summary.=--_Wool_ and _agriculture_ were the great industries of the Middle Ages in England. English wool was an article of export, and English cloth also, in later times. Norman kings had introduced Flemish _cloth-workers_ here, but the trade died down in the time of King Henry III. After the Black Death it revived greatly, and _wool-merchants_ became a very rich and powerful body. Many of the fine church towers, in Suffolk, Gloucestershire, and Somersetshire especially, were built by them. This was a period, too, when _trade guilds_ were very strong. CHAPTER XXXVII THE POOR 1. From early Christian times in England to =relieve the poor= was looked upon as a Christian duty, and every church and religious house took its part in the work as a matter of course. You will remember that in early days there was not much moving about of people from one manor to another, so that it was not at first difficult to know the sick and the needy in each place, whether in town or country. Many religious houses or hospitals were founded for the purposes of relief. They were not on a large scale, but there were a good many of them. In the fourteenth century =pilgrimages= were very popular, and many pilgrims were always to be found on the road. 2. We must remember that there was another side to a pilgrimage besides the religious one. A pilgrimage was one way of travelling and seeing the world. Indeed it was almost the only means by which a poor man could travel and have change of scene. Permission was given for that purpose because it was regarded as a religious act. It is not at all surprising that folk who wanted to see the world often took advantage of a pilgrimage from no very religious motive. Pilgrims could always find food and lodging at a religious house on their way, and there were scores of places in England to which pilgrimages might be made, to say nothing of a journey to the Holy Land, or to the shrine of St. James of Compostello, which were two grand pilgrimages. 3. In time pilgrimages became somewhat of a nuisance, for many of the people taking part in them were anything but pious; and, towards the end of the fourteenth century, strict measures were taken to prevent beggars and servants from wandering from one hundred to another on pretence of going on a pilgrimage. Each had to have a letter, properly signed by an officer of the hundred, giving him leave. [Illustration: Canterbury Pilgrims]