eo 

Rise of the Wool Trade. 225 
of concerning Trowbridge itself during the thirteenth century. All 
that we can learn from the few and scanty notices that we do meet 
with, are,.so to speak, meré glimpses of its history. Thus much 
however we can infer from them, that by the close of this period a 
town had been formed here; that there was some form of local 
government, the bailiff of the manor acting, in the place of the lord, 
as a sort of chief magistrate; and further, that the bailiff of the 
Hundred of Melksham exercised jurisdiction over Trowbridge. 
Thus in the Hundred Rolls we find the following entries under date 
of 3 Edward I. (1275) :— 
“William Scliman and the Bailiff of the Hundred of Melksham, levied of 
Walter de Molendino [of the Mill] of Trobrigg half a mark, and the same was 
paid to the Sheriff of Wilts.” 
“The Jury say that Walter le Mareschal and others by writ of Henry de 
Nuny of Trobrigg went into the liberty of Werminster, and seized forty-five 
beasts belonging to John Mauduit, and carried by them by night in violation of 
the peace to Trobrigg, and detained them fifteen days.” 
The latter extract shews us at least that some “ brawls ” did occur 
at Trowbridge, small in extent as the town then was, in the thirteenth 
century, and that it was necessary even then that its denizens should 
_ be occasionally “bound over to keep the peace.” 
Tt was no doubt during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries 
that the foundation was laid of the wool trade to which Trowbridge 
has owed its prosperity. I cannot tell by whom the art of weaving 
was introduced into this town. But judging from the works com- 
pleted in this place and neighbourhood by those who drew their 
wealth from this source, there must have been Merchants of the 
Staple here from the middle of the fourteenth century. It was in 
1331 that King Edward III. granted protection to John Kemp— 
the name is still known in Trowbridge—who came from Flanders to 
settle in England, and who is described as “Textor pannorum 
 laneorum,”’ a weaver of woollen cloths, and promised like protection 
to fullers and dyers who might come to England from those parts. 
The document is printed in Rymer’s Foedera, iv., 4961, and is a 
“most interesting one, as by it the real foundation was laid of the 
woollen manufacture in England. 
Most certainly there were about the middle of the fifteenth century 
