“This Guild was said to have _its rise and begining_ before the reign of king John, as appears from the answer of Thomas Botesham, alderman of it, and his brethren, in the time of Richard II. to a writ of enquiry of that king relating to its foundation, authority, &c. that its origin was not known, that king John, considering the great concourse of merchants to this town, granted the alderman that then was, and the commonalty and their successors, by Letters patents, bearing date in his sixth year, that they might have a guild of merchants in the said town: and Henry III. son to the said king John, by his Letters patents, granted one of their own body and community to be mayor of the said town, which said mayor and alderman for the time being, should always have the rule and government of it; and which said alderman, in the vacancy of a mayor, or in the absence of the mayor from the said town, should have the rule and government of the said community, as the alderman and his predecessors, the aldermen of the said town, had and enjoyed. “As to _their possessions_, &c. they are thus returned to the aforesaid enquiry, That they had a place called the Common Staith with its appurtenances, valued at 42_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ per annum clear, besides all reprises, That the goods and chattels of the aforesaid Guild amount in the whole to 260_l._ 13_s._ viz. in ready money 60_l._ 13_s._ In divers merchandize 200_l._ and that in many books, vestments, chalices, and other ornaments for the chaplains of the said Guild performing Divine service as well in the parish church as in the chapels {453} annexed to the said church, and that in wax for lights in the said church and chapels, in the honour and laud of the holy Trinity, yearly found, and for torches at the funerals of poor brethren, &c. of the said Guild, and that out of the profits of the common Stathe, and out of the goods and chattels aforesaid, together with diverse goods and chattels bequeathed and left to the said Guild; the alderman, &c. sustain and find _thirteen chaplains_, daily and yearly to pray, as well for the king, his ancestors, and for the peace and welfare of his kingdom, as for the souls of all the aldermen, brethren, and benefactors of the said Guild, also for the souls of all the faithful deceased: _six_ of which officiated in the church of St. Margaret aforesaid, _four_ in the chapel of St. Nicholas, and _three_ in the chapel of St. James in Lenne, who all day, as they are stated and appointed in the church and chapels aforesaid, celebrate high mass, by note, and on Sundays and other festival days, celebrate mass at Mattins, and at Vespers, by note; and if any of the aforesaid chaplains neglects his duty and office, or is not of an honest life and conversation, when he has been