The Craft Gilds 30-54 Note 1. Indenture of Apprenticeship (1414) 52-53 Note 2. Oath of Freemen 53-54 CHAPTER IV. The Early History of the Gilds 55-76 CHAPTER V. Reconstruction of the Gild System 77-97 CHAPTER VI. The Degeneracy of the Companies 98-112 CHAPTER VII. Shrewsbury Show 113-127 CHAPTER VIII. The End of the Companies 128-144 Appendix I. Non-Gildated Tradesmen 145-156 Appendix II. Authorities cited 157-159 Index 160-168 NOTE. On page 26 Liverpool should be inserted. The charter was granted in 1229, by the king. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. [Sidenote: _Local life in England always varied._] In these days of convenience and easy transit, when distance has been annihilated by the telegraph wire and the express train, we can hardly realise, even with an effort, the extent to which such changes have revolutionised the social life of Englishmen. Of local sentiment there can be now but little, yet local sentiment has played a greater part in our history than perhaps any other motive. The England of to-day is little more than a great suburb of its capital. Yet it is a peculiar feature of the England of the past that its local life was always singularly varied, not only in the Middle Ages but down to quite recent times. Indeed the characteristic is still more than traceable in some of our less busy districts. In the past, too, some parts possessed the feature in a more marked degree than others. We should naturally expect that few towns would have a stronger infusion of local feeling than Shrewsbury. Through all its history it has indeed been marked by strong individuality. [Sidenote: _Early growth of Shrewsbury._] Situated in the midst of the Marches of Wales, the centre round which long waged the struggle for the fair lands westward of the Severn, its strong walls and insular position soon gave it a marked commercial superiority over the surrounding country. In consequence we find Shrewsbury at an early date considerably more advanced than the unprotected land outside, which lay open to the ravages of the Welsh. This condition of affairs, the reverse of favourable for commercial advancement, continued to depress the neighbourhood after Edward the First's conquest of the Principality, for the disorders of the Lords Marchers kept the Borders in a state of continual alarm, and prevented the inhabitants from settling down to any regular and profitable industry[2].