[161] Dr. Creighton (_ut sup._, p. 129) mentions that "in the charter of incorporation of the Company of Cutlers, granted in 1344, eight persons are named as wardens, and these are stated in a note to have been all dead five years after, that is to say, in the year of the Black Death, 1349, although their deaths are not set down to the plague. Again, in the articles of the Hatters' Company, which were drawn up only a year before the plague began (December 13, 1347) six persons are named as wardens, and these according to a note of the time were all dead before the 7th of July, 1350, the cause of the mortality being again unmentioned, probably because it was familiar knowledge to those then living. It is known also that four wardens of the Goldsmiths' Company died in the year of the Black Death." [162] _Calendar of Wills in the Court of Hustings, London_, ed. R. R. Sharpe, i, p. xxvii. [163] The following is a table of the numbers:— +----+-----+-------+-------+-----+------+-------+ |Jan.| Feb.| March.| April.| May.| June.| July. | +---+------+-------+-------+-----+------+-------+ | 18 | 42 | 41 | 0 | 121 | 31 | 51 | +----+-----+-------+-------+-----+------+-------+ [164] Rymer, _Fœdera_, v, p. 658. [165] B. Mus. Cotton MS. Vitell. E. xiv, f. 129b. [166] R. O., L. T. R. Memoranda Roll, 25 Ed. III., m. 26. [167] _Gesta Abbatum S. Albani_ (Rolls series), ii, p. 369. [168] _Ibid._, p. 381. [169] The following is a table of the Institutions given in Clutterbuck's _Hertfordshire_:— +-----+------+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+ |June.| July.| Aug.| Sept.| Oct.| Nov.| Dec.| +-----+------+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+ | 6 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +-----+------+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+ [170] _Six Centuries of Work and Wages_, i, p. 225. [171] Thus, some eight standing on the roll together direct inquiries into deaths of various landed proprietors at Hornseaburton, in Holderness. R. O., Originalia Roll, 23 Ed. III., m. 17. [172] R. O., Chancery Inq. post mortem, 23 Ed. III., No. 85. [173] _Ibid._, No. 75. [174] _Ibid._, No. 77. [175] _Ibid._ (second numbers), No. 58. [176] _Cf._ four inquisitions in this country: Escheator's Inq. post mortem, file 103. [177] See Lipscombe's _History of Buckinghamshire_. [178] The following is a table of the dated institutions:— +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | May.|June.|July.| Aug.|Sept.| Oct.| Nov.| +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | 3 | 10 | 23 | 11 | 13 | 3 | 3 | +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ [179] _Hist. MSS. Comm., Eighth Report_, p. 336. [180] Wharton, _Anglia Sacra_, i, p. 42. [181] J. E. Thorold Rogers, _Six Centuries of Work and Wages_, i, p. 221. [182] _Gesta Abbatum_ (Rolls series). [183] _Hist. MSS. Comm., Eighth Report_, p. 336. Batteley's copy of this commission is in B. Mus. Add. MS., 22, 665, fol. 183. [184] Escheator's Inq. p.m., 23 Edw. III., Kent.