SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



were especially jealous of the Kendal cloth-weavers. They inserted a clause when their ordinances 

 ' were reformed that 



Kendall! men yt bringeth woUen clothe to this citie to sell from hensforth they sella in grosse in 

 the sayd Thursday Markett or Comon hall and not to goe hawkynge and sell in any other place upon 

 paine of forfaiture of their clothes as is abovesayd." 



But lest this rule should bear hardly upon an industrious and worthy class of men they made an 

 exception in favour of the rural weaver : 



Provyded allwais that theis ordinances aforesayd or any article of the same be not prejudiciall ne hinderinge 

 to any husbandmen or other poor creatures of ye cuntrie beinge unfranchiside yt makethe a pece or ii of 

 wollen clothe in a yeare within his owne howse and bringithe to this citie to sell the sayd cloith or 

 clothes by retaille upon ye pavement or any other place within the citie and suburbs of the same theis 

 ordinances or any article thereof notw'hstanding.'° 



The most trivial details of workmanship were supervised by the gild officials, and bad workmanship 

 confiscated. The tailors took special pains to keep up a high standard; cases that would in the present 

 day be brought into a court of law were then adjusted by the searchers. 



If there happen any complainte to be maide of ane garment brought affore the sayd four sershers 

 for to searche after yt be wrought that then the maker of the said garment shalbe brought afore the sayd 

 sershers for the lowsinge of the said garment and yf the said same garment may be mended of the same 

 stuffe then he shall have it agayne for to mend, and he shall sett suertie to bringe againe the same 

 garment affore the said searshers and yf yt cannot be amended of the same stuffe then the partye that 

 owd yt to be recompensed for yt at the syght of the master and searchers." 



The haberdashers, feltmakers, and cappers enjoin upon their searchers to make diligent search 

 of * all waires as shalbe made and trymed within the cittye, and also for dying of feltes or hatts, 

 and whatsoever waires shalbe founde unlesse fullye made or naughtelye {sic) colored, trymed, or 

 died, the persons who so doth make dye or tryme thes feltes shal paye for everie felt or hatt 6^." 



These ordinances were sometimes put in force against the gild officials, for the warden of the 

 tapiters who had ' blendyd hare and wolle togydders and working the same in coverletts,' thus 

 defrauding the king's people, was fined 405. and discharged of ' hys romes of sercher.' '^ 



But the power of the gilds was seriously curtailed by the court of the lord mayor. The 

 civic authorities could refuse to ratify their ordinances, and thus render them nugatory. They 

 received half the proceeds of the fines inflicted for the infringement of rules; in cases of dispute 

 between the gild members they could call the disputants before them, and against their arbitration 

 there was no appeal. As early as 1 5 1 9 they claimed the right to punish the breakers of gild ordin- 

 ances, though it is doubtful whether the by-law was ever put in force. 



Also it is agreed by the said presence that from hensefurth no serchers of the occupacion o£ 

 Cordviyners and Taillors nor of none other occupacon within this city suburbs and libertye of the 

 same shall have the correcton and punysshment of the defauts done and commited concerning the sayd 

 occupacons or any of them. But the same defaute shalbe punnysshed and redressed by the maier for 

 the time beyng and his brethren. " 



The increasing unpopularity of the trade gilds during the i6th century strengthened the 

 hands of the civic authority, and early in the 17th century they are found almost invariably in 

 opposition. The chief men on the city council were members of the two great companies the 

 Merchant Adventurers and the Eastland Merchants ; they were men doing a large foreign trade 

 they had travelled much, and probably saw that the gild regulations were really seriously hampering 

 English commerce. So long as the foreign trade of England was in the hands of the Hansards 

 the home market was the only concern of Englishmen. Many of the regulations of the gilds 

 were admirably adapted for the supply of a limited market with a well-wrought article. In fact 

 the gilds discouraged trade even with their own countrymen ; the haberdashers had a regulation 

 that no wares should be sold to any stranger or foreigner before four or six members of the gild 

 had been consulted, and in case they were willing to give within 6d. a dozen of the price offered by 

 the stranger, the seller was obliged to accept their offer." But the rapid development of foreign 



» York Munic. Rec. xx, fol. 63a, 27 Oct. 1551. « Ibid. fol. 63^. " Ibid fol 6za 



'« Merchant Taylors' MSS. The Ancient Ordinance of the Companye and Fellowship of Haberdashers 

 Feltmakers, and Cappers, xxiui July 1605. ' 



'" York Munic. Rec. xviii, fol. 130/J, 13 is, 21 Oct. 1547. 



<» Ibid, ix, fol. 1 01, 10 Mar. 1519. " Merchant Taylors' MSS. ut sup. item 10. 



451 



