THE ECCtiESlASTlCAL SEALS OF CORNWALH. 69 



established by the members of separate Trades, &c., for mutual 

 aid, in conjunction with the upholding of the chtirch and 

 participation in church privileges. Sir John Maclean has thus 

 written on the subject : — 



" Guilds, or as we prefer to write it, Gilds, were very 

 numerous in the middle ages, and formed the centre of Religious 

 life in many a town and village. They embraced all degrees of 

 men and women, from the noble to the peasant. All were 

 equally brethren and sisteren, under the gild habit. These 

 fraternities were instituted for the promotion of the glory of 

 God, and for the benefit of maiikind, by acts of love and kind- 

 ness to one another, and moreover for the cultivation of a 

 religious life; serving in every respect the purpose of our 

 benefit societies, clothing clubs, «S:c. ; but they were something 

 more — for they were formed and conducted upon a more 

 religious basis." 



There were a large number of gilds in Bodmin, which were 

 greatly instrumental in rebuilding the church there, in 1469-72. 

 An account of them will be found in Maclean's Hist : of Trigg 

 Minor Deanery, (Vol: 1, p. 198, and Vol: 3, p. 419), also in 

 Wilkinson's Bodmin Church Building Receipts and Expenses 

 in 1469, &c., (published by the Camden Society, 1874). These 

 Gilds were dedicated to God and various Saints and were attached 

 to the Church of St. Petrock, in which they had special or 

 separate altars, and to sundry Chapels, e.g., those of St. Thomas 

 the Martyr in the Churchyard, the Holy Rood at the Bery, St. 

 George's, St. Leonard's, and some appear to have been without 

 special location. The Gilds were under the direction of Wardens. 



The Gild of St. Petrock was that of the skinners and glovers. 



The Gild of Saints Dunstan and Eloy, that of the smiths. 



The Gild of St. Anian the Bishop, that of the cordwainers, 



The Gild of St. Martin the Bishop, that of the millers or 

 mill-wrights. There were also very many more in Bodmin. 



There was at Blisland "the Gilde of the Blessed Mary of 

 Bliston," 



In St. Keverne Church " the Fraternity of All Saints," 



At Davidstow "the Fraternyte of our Ladye of Dewstowe," 



