CHAPTER I. 



Antiquity and Early History of the 



Company. 



Fitzstephen's Description of the Guilds. — The " Saddlery of Westchepe." — 

 The Conventual Church of St. Martin's-le-Grand. — Ancient Con- 

 vention betvv^een the Saddlers and the Convent. — Great Antiquity 

 of the Company. — Their earliest Charters and Liberties. — The 

 City Letter Books and their notices of the Company. — Curious 

 Ordinances of the Saddlers and Joiners. — A Dispute between the 

 Saddlers and the Loriners. — Craft Jealousy. — AFaction Fight. — The 

 Wages of a Saddler settled by Royal Ordinance. — The Saddlers and 

 the Girdlers. — Ordinances of a.d. 1363. — The Company contribute 

 to Edward IIL's French Wars. — Charter from Edward III. — Repre- 

 sentatives on the Common Council. — A despotic Mayor, Nicholas 

 Brembre. — The Company petition the Crown and Parliament. — 

 Incorporation Charter from Richard II. — Interesting Dispute 

 between Master and Yeomen Saddlers. — Charter from Henry VI. 

 — Charter from Edward IV. — Charter from Henry VII. — The 

 Company in 1537. — Charter from Henry VIII. — Statute of Chantries 

 Act, I Edw. VI. — The Charter of Elizabeth. — The Ordinances of 

 1 56 1. — The first English Lottery. — Grant of Arms. — The Com- 

 pany's Mottoes. 



ILLIAM FITZSTEPHEN, a monkof 



Canterbury, the clerk, remembrancer 



and biographer of Thomas Becket, 



in his description of London, written in 



the latter part of the twelfth century, informs us 



that from a very early period the various crafts 



, ^ ^ of London had their own separate 



The early Trade . . . ••■ 



Guilds of Lon- district lu the City allotted to them 

 for the exercise of their several trades. 



