A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



sang a Te Deum. The concourse was all the 

 greater because it was Corpus Christ! day, a 

 general holiday, when all the trade gilds 

 walked in procession. Probably Wessington's 

 work of repair in the cathedral was partly in 

 consequence of the damage done by this storm.*' 



Beside Bishop Langley's chantry in the 

 Galilee, served by the masters of his two newly- 

 built schools,** several other chantries were 

 established at this time by clerical donors, and in 

 143 1 St. Margaret's Chapel at last received the 

 status of a parish church." 



The Corpus Christi gild, whose inauguration 

 is much earlier, probably, was refounded in 

 1437. To this gild Thomas Billing had granted 

 permission to inclose and cover a well in his 

 manor of Sidgate near Framwellgate, and to 

 bring the water by a subterranean aqueduct to 

 the market place of the city for the use and con- 

 venience of the men and burgesses thereof. Such 

 is the chartered beginning of the main fresh- 

 water supply of the centre of the city, a supply 

 which has only been superseded by other means 

 within the memory of men still living. Bishop 

 Neville confirmed the arrangement in 1451.*" 



It was in this same year that the earliest 

 extant incorporation of a special trade fraternity 

 took place, and as had been the case in London 

 the first incorporation was granted to the 

 weavers. The Assize Roll of 1243 shows that 

 such trade was vigorous in Durham two cen- 

 turies before this date, so that as in the case of 

 the Corpus Christi gild Neville's charter is 

 probably an incorporation of an existing society. 

 The ordinance follows more or less the usual 

 lines of such documents. Corpus Christi day 

 was the trade festival when the gildsmen walked 

 in procession, and were to ' playe or gar playe y^ 

 playe yat of old times longes to yair crafte at 

 yair aliens costage after the ordinance of the 

 two wardens, and ilka man sail be at y* said 

 procession yearly when his oure is assygned 

 by the wardens and at all other meetings under 

 penalty of 6d. to the Bishop and 6d. to the lights 

 of the crafte unless reasonably excused.' This 

 company and others acted on strictly protec- 

 tionist principles, of course, and were allowed 

 ' to take to prentes noe Scotfesman nor noe 

 Scotteswoman on payne of 6s. 8d. to the Bishop, 

 and 6s. Sd. to the lights for ilk defautc.' A few 

 years later a dispute sprang up between rival 

 branches of the craft, and an inquisition was 

 held at Durham to decide the matter, when it 

 was ruled and the decree enrolled that ' no one 



*' Hist. Dunelm. Script. Ires (Surt. Soc), p. cclxxii. 



88 Ibid. 146. 



8' All the details are set out in Surtees, op. cit. iv, 

 127, from the register of the prior and convent. 



** Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiv, 200. The supply still 

 operates and forms a reservoir in case of fire or other 

 need. 



of the said craft is to make the work of the other 

 under a penalty of 100 shillings.' "' 



The cordwainers were next in order of enrol- 

 ment. In 1458, and by confirmation in 1460, 

 this company was incorporated in much the same 

 way as the weavers had been.®- Then came the 

 barbers, whose oldest extant ordinary is in 1468, 

 from which it appears that, as usual, the term 

 barbers is intended to comprise surgeons as well. 

 In later days they affiliated certain other trades 

 to their fraternity.'' 



Other trades in the city were perhaps not as 

 yet incorporated, or they may have been re- 

 founded after the Reformation. In 1448, for 

 instance, the fullers and the shoemakers were 

 prohibited from employing any native of Scot- 

 land in their craft.*' 



In the 15th century the shrine of St. Cuthbert 

 was a great attraction still, and pilgrims flocked 

 to the city as they had done for more than four 

 centuries, bringing demands which the various 

 companies were able to supply abundantly.*^ 

 In the main the century was peaceful, for 

 Scottish troubles were rare, and the astute 

 opportunism of Booth saved city and bishopric 

 from reprisal when the Yorkist side became 

 supreme. When we turn to the conditions of 

 life in Durham at this period there is little to 

 guide us. In 1417 a fatal accident at the butts 

 near Framwellgate shows that archery was 

 practised by the inhabitants. We have already 

 seen the allusions to the mystery plays of the 

 gilds, an observance which no doubt took up a 

 large amount of time and preparation as May 

 approached year by year. In 1492 a chance 

 entry suggests a large unwritten chapter in local 

 history, which if it could be recovered would 

 entertain the reader with that long list of Durham 

 characters who have played their part in the life 

 of the city and have passed away. Two shoe- 

 makers became bail for the good behaviour of 

 ' Thomas Smyth, minstrel, of Durham, other- 

 wise called Piper whom the Lord Bishop had 

 pardoned for all felonies and other offences.' "* 

 There was fishing in the river, and the Wear then, 

 as now, was a salmon river. How far it was 

 generally open to all does not appear, but in 

 1390 and again in 1437 commissions were 

 issued to observe the ' fence months.' This, of 

 course, was in accordance with the statute of 

 Westminster the Second. 



The end of the 15th century witnessed more 

 building in Durham. Bishop Fox carried out 



^1 Dep. Keeper'' s Rep. xxxv, 1 30. 



*2 Curs. R. 3 Booth, T. m. 6 d. 



"* Some of the details are given in Surtees, op. cit. iv, 

 20-1. For the general fortunes of the trade after 

 this see V.C.H. Dur. ii, 314-15. 



"* Dep. Keeper's Rep. xxxiv, 224, 244. 



"^ Surtees, loc. cit. 



"•^ Dep. Keeper^ Rep. xxxvi, 7. 



26 



