A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



The City Council continued its hopeless task of grappling with the pauper problem. A large 

 quantity of coal was bought and distributed amongst the most necessitous. The greatest pressure was 

 brought to bear on the wealthy class to induce them to give fixed annual contributions, so that the 

 gifts, though voluntary, might be dealt with systematically and more efficiently. The Lord 

 President and Council of the North set an excellent example by responding to the appeal. 'It was 

 declared openly to the sayd worshypfull presense by my lord mayor that the Lord President and 

 Counsell hath sent unto hym £(> 131. towards relief of the poore of this citie and further hath 

 promysed to gyve no lesse quarterly.' ^' 



But the year 1569 was marked in York by a spirited effort to deal with the poor by supplying 

 them with work. 



That the poore folke of this citie suche as are found hable to doo some work shalbe brought by the 

 constable of every parishe where they dwell unto Saynt Georges Hous where the citie wooll lieth then 

 and there to be proved by the aldermen wardens and twenty-four with thadoyse of Roger Lighe 

 clothier, what they can doo and suche of them as can doo ought or are meete to learne to have wooll 

 delyvered theym by dyscreton of suche as have charge thereof to worke and the said Roger to do his 

 digligens to instruct such of the sayd poore as he shall perceyve not perfect to thintent that by lyttle 

 and lyttle there may be of the sayd poore sufficient to serve the turne. And such as he shall see hable 

 and not willyng to labor or learne to labor to informe the said lord mayor and aldermen thereof that 

 they may be further ordred accordyng to the lawes and state of the realme. And first the poor of 

 Monknird to be had to the seyd St. Georges Hous to be improved as is aforesaid on Friday next at 

 viii of the clock before noon and that soo soon as houses for workyng and other necessaries to the same 

 can be convenyently prepared in readynes it is thought good that for tri-ill of the diligence and work 

 of every the sayd clothiers by hymself the sayd Rahyner shall have St. George hous and Roger 

 Ligh St. Anthonys with some other hous to work in in wynter and also that the sayd Rayner in the 

 mcane t)Tne shall declare to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen what he will make and [be] bound with 

 surties for performance of the same." 



It must be remembered that these regulations were drawn up seven years before Parliament 

 dealt with the same subject.^' 



A rigorous overhauling of the system by which certain privileged beggars were licensed to 

 demand alms was undertaken. None were to beg without badges; the badges for each parish were 

 to be distinctive, and only to be obtained from the warden, and the number given out was 

 limited.'* Three months later an additional weekly rate was levied on aldermen of i>d., on the 

 twenty-four of ^d., on all who had held the office of chamberlain of 31;/. But it was not only 

 the civic officials who paid this tax ; 'the moste substantyll of every paroche ' were assessed at ^d. 

 per week.'' 



In the mean time, the municipal weaving enterprise was so successful that the promoters found 

 they had a new difficulty to face : the weavers had not sufficient raw material to keep them 

 employed. By the February of 1570 the aldermen were ordering four pair of shears to be bought 

 for dressers of the city cloth, ' and also that spyners shalbe spedy as well of the country as citie 

 to spynne so that the websters may have suffycent work.' *" A complaint was brought forward 

 that the cloth was too expensive, but Mr. Andrew Trewe, who had settled the price at which it 

 should be offered for sale, proved his faith in his valuation by buying in all the cloth ready for 

 sale at the price fixed. *' The sale of the cloth took place in the city hall on Ousebridge, and in 

 spite of complaints a fair amount of trade must have been done, for a few days previous ' £^2 loi. 

 in a bagge j^i3 13;. 8^. and a bill of Cj. and a goblet gilt of Edward Temple for gage of 401.' had 

 been given to the lord mayor by the auditors.'^ 



No trouble was spared to ensure success, for the July following Roger Lee, superintendent of 

 the enterprise, and one of the chamberlains were sent into Lincolnshire, where the best wool was 

 to be bought, to get a supply. Three or four hundred stones being required, £^0 was given to 

 them to expend. '^ It seems probable that this anxiety to provide work for the pauper population 

 was part of a scheme for trying to restore York to its position as the centre of the spinning and 

 weaving industry of the county, for at the same time elaborate instructions were being given to the 

 burgesses to obtain from Parliament for the city the sole right of sealing all the cloth made 

 throughout the whole county.^ The master of the fellowship of merchants was appointed, with the 

 assistance of the searchers of the company of walkers and shearmen, to examine the quality of the 

 cloth. Unfortunately, their verdict was that it was unsatisfactory owing to some negligence on 



" York Munic. Rec. xxiv, fol. 70a, 21 Mar. 1567. " Ibid. fol. 138*, 18 May 1569. 



" Stat. 18 Eliz. cap. 3. " York. Munic. Rec. xxiv, fol. 143^, 23 June 1569. 



■^ Ibid. fol. 157^, 16 Sept. 1569. »« Ibid. fol. 191^, 14 Feb. 1570. 



" Ibid. fol. 1963, 31 Mar. 1570. " Ibid. fol. 192^, 3 Mar. 1570. 



^ Ibid. fol. 209^, 21 July 1570. " Ibid. fol. 225/J, 2 Mar. 1571. 



466 



