[Footnote 137: _Coventry Leet Book_, 1420-1555, edited for the Early English Text Society by the present writer; part i. 1907, part ii. 1908, part iii. 1909, part iv. in progress.] [Footnote 138: The mayor, recorder, and four lawful men of the city are allowed to exercise all that appertains to the office of justice of the peace for labourers and artificers in the county of Warwick, _i.e._ fix the rate of wages (Charter 22 Rich. II. Burton MS. f. 253). For a trial of felons by the justices of the peace, see Sharp, _Antiq._, 212.] [Footnote 139: Hearnshaw, _Leet Jurisdiction_, _passim_.] [Footnote 140: _Leet Book_, 420.] [Footnote 141: _Leet Book_, 59.] [Footnote 142: _Ib._, 681.] [Footnote 143: We learn in 1384 that the annual ferm of £10, due to the prior according to the terms of the Tripartite, was drawn from the coffers of the guild (_Leet Book_, 2-6). Directly the guild lands were confiscated in 1545 the corporation made a great outcry concerning their poverty. They had, they declared, no lands whence they might derive an income to meet the yearly ferm of £50, and in trying to discharge it one or two of the citizens were yearly ruined (Vol. of Correspondence, f. 63, Corp. MS. A. 79).] [Footnote 144: _Leet Book_, 295.] [Footnote 145: Gross, _Gild Merchant_, ii. 49; Toulmin Smith, _Eng. Gilds_, 231. In the return of 1389 it is stated that several messuages worth £37, 12s. 4d. a year are waiting for the licence of the King and the mesne lords to be given to the guild. No doubt the Statute of Mortmain was often evaded. The corporation records show that the guild held house property as early as 1353 (Corp. MS. C. 148).] [Footnote 146: The foundation of the guild has evidently a municipal reason, since the statute of 1335, by declaring that all merchants might traffic with whomsoever they would, and in what vendibles they chose, effectually did away with this monopoly of the merchant guild (Ashley, _Econ. Hist._, i. pt. i. 84).] [Footnote 147: Many early mayors were masters of the guild merchant; the cases of Jordan de Shepey and Walter Whitweb have been noted. In William Holm, master in 1356 (Corp. MS. C. 153), we have undoubtedly William Horn of the mayor-lists.] [Footnote 148: Sharp, _Antiq._, 211. The guild hall was used for municipal purposes as early as 1388.] [Footnote 149: _Ib._, 212.] [Footnote 150: In Mantes the guild "aux marchands" was one with the "confrèrie de l'assomption de la Vierge" (Luchaire, _Communes Françaises_, 34).] [Footnote 151: _Vict. County Hist._, ii. 120.] [Footnote 152: Sharp, _op. cit._, 159.] [Footnote 153: _Leet Book_, 3.] [Footnote 154: _Rot. Pat._ 16, Ric. II., pt. i. m. 19. The guilds of S. Mary and S. John were united as early as 1362 (Corp. MS. C. 159). Sharp says that the union took place between 1365 and 1369 (_op. cit._, 131); but in a deed executed in 1372 the guilds mentioned are SS. Mary, John the Baptist, and Catherine (Corp. MS. C. 165).] [Footnote 155: Sharp, _op. cit._, 130-2.]