Oxford (England) -- History; University of Oxford -- History
"and specially their guild merchant, with all liberties and
customs, in lands and in goods, pastures and other accessories, so
that any one who is not of the guildhall shall not traffic in city
or suburbs, except as he was wont at the time of King Henry, my
grandfather. Besides I have granted them to be quit of toll and
passenger tax, and every custom through all England and Normandy,
by land, by water, by sea-coast, _by land and by strand_. And they
are to have all other customs and liberties and laws of their own,
which they have in common with my citizens of London. And that they
serve me at my feast with those of my Butlery, and do their traffic
with them, within London and without, and everywhere."
Oxford then (1161) enjoyed customs and liberties in common with London;
her charter was copied from that of the Londoners, and on any doubtful
matter she was bound to consult the parent town. She was soon provided
with aldermen, bailiffs, and chamberlains, whose titles were borrowed
from the merchant guild, and with councilmen who were elected from the
citizens at large. The Mayor was formally admitted to his office by the
Barons of the Exchequer at Westminster, and on his return thence, he was
met always by the citizens in their liveries at Trinity Chapel, without
Eastgate, where he stayed to return thanks to God for his safe return,
and left an alms upon the altar.
The merchant guild was originally distinct from the municipal
government, though finally the Guildhall became the common hall of the
city. In practice the chief members of the merchant guild would usually
be also the chief members of the Court-leet. The business of the
merchant guild was to regulate trade. Its relation to the craft guilds
is analogous to that which exists between the University and the
Colleges.
The Crafts, to which, as to the freedom of the city, men obtained
admission by birth, apprenticeship, or purchase, were numerous,
flourishing and highly organised. Every trade from cordwainers to cooks,
from tailors, weavers, and glovers to butchers and bakers, was a
brotherhood, with arms and a warden, beadle, and steward of its own, and
an annually elected headmaster.
The various Guilds had special chapels in the different churches where
they burnt candles and celebrated mass, on particular days. The glovers
held mass on Trinity Monday in All Saints' Church; the tailors in the
same church, and they also founded a chantrey in S. Martin's. "A token
of this foundation is a pair of tailor's shears painted in the upper
south window of the south aisle" (Wood). The cooks celebrated their
chief holiday in Whitsun week, when they showed themselves in their
bravery on horseback.
The tailors had their shops in Wincheles Row, and they had a custom of
revelling on the vigil of S. John the Baptist.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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