Our Legal Heritage, King AEthelbert, 596 to King George III, 1775Reilly, S. A.
History
Our Legal Heritage, King AEthelbert, 596 to King George III, 1775
Reilly, S. A.
Law -- England -- History
Craft guilds grew up in the towns, such as the tanners at Oxford,
which later merged with the shoemakers into a cordwainers' guild.
There were weavers' guilds in several towns, including London,
which were given royal sanction and protection for annual payments
(twelve pounds of silver for London. They paid an annual tribute
and were given a monopoly of weaving cloth within a radius of
several miles. Guild rules covered attendance of the members at
church services, the promotion of pilgrimages, celebration of
masses for the dead, common meals, relief of poor brethren and
sisters, the hours of labor, the process of manufacture, the wages
of workmen, and technical education. Henry standardized the yard
as the length of his own arm.
Trades and crafts, each of which had to be licensed, grouped
together by specialty in the town. Cloth makers, dyers, tanners,
and fullers were near an accessible supply of running water, upon
which their trade depended. Streets were often named by the trade
located there, such as Butcher Row, Pot Row, Cordwainer Row,
Ironmonger Row, Wheeler Row, and Fish Row. Hirers of labor and
sellers of wheat, hay, livestock, dairy products, apples and wine,
meat, poultry, fish and pies, timber and cloth all had a distinct
location. Some young men were apprenticed to craftsmen to assist
them and learn their craft.
London had at least twenty wards, each governed by its own
alderman. Most of them were named after people. London was ruled
by sixteen families linked by business and marriage ties. These
businesses supplied luxury goods to the rich and included the
goldsmiths [sold cups, dishes, girdles, mirrors, purses knives,
and metal wine containers with handle and spout], vintners [wine
merchants], mercers [sold textiles, haberdashery, combs, mirrors,
knives, toys, spices, ointments, and potions], drapers, and
pepperers, which later merged with the spicers to become the
"grocers", skinners, tanners, shoemakers, woolmen, weavers,
fishmongers, armorers, and swordsmiths. There were bakehouses at
which one could leave raw joints of meat to be cooked and picked
up later. These businesses had in common four fears: royal
interference, foreign competition, displacement by new crafts, and
violence by the poor and escaped villeins who found their way to
the city. When a non-freeholder stayed in London he had to find
for frankpledge, three sureties for good behavior. Failure to do
so was a felony and the ward would eject him to avoid the charge
of harboring him with its heavy fine. The arrival of ships with
cargoes from continental ports and their departure with English
exports was the regular waterside life below London Bridge. Many
foreign merchants lived in London. Imports included timber, hemp,
fish, and furs. There was a fraternal organization of citizens who
had possessed their own lands with sac and soke and other customs
in the days of King Edward. There were public bathhouses, but
they were disreputable.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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