w o 
men chose him for their patron saint. The traditions of the 
origin and progress of the worsted manufacture are thus ex¬ 
tremely imperfect; we shall have occasion to speak of its 
introduction and progress in this country in the following 
section. 
Rise and Progress of the Woollen Manufactures in Eng¬ 
land.—The Romans, as we have stated, had a cloth manu¬ 
facture at Winchester. The first account of any distinct 
body of manufacturers afterwards occurs in the reign of 
Henry I., but either the people of this country were wholly 
clothed in skins or leather in the intervening space, or, what 
is more probable, coarse cloths were manufactured in a rude 
manner in most of the towns and villages in England. A 
great part, however, of the dress of the labouring classes in 
the country was made of leather, particularly the breeches 
and waistcoats, even till the last reign. George Fox, the 
founder of the Quakers, in the reign of Charles I., travelled 
on his missions through the country, buttoned up in a lea¬ 
thern doublet, or waistcoat with sleeves, which supplied the 
place of a coat. This was not, as his adversaries afterwards 
affirmed, from any superstitious prejudice respecting that 
costume; it was the common dress of the labouring me¬ 
chanics at that time, to which class he belonged. 
The first account of any foreign weavers settled in Eng¬ 
land is recorded by William of Malmsbury and Giraldus 
Cambrensis, who relate that a number of Flemings were 
driven out of their own country, by an extraordinary en¬ 
croachment of the sea in the time of William the Conqueror. 
They were well received, and first placed in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Carlisle, and on the northern frontier; but not 
agreeing with the inhabitants, they were transplanted by 
Henry I. into Pembrokeshire. They are said to have been 
skilful in the woollen manufacture, and are supposed to have 
first introduced it into England as a separate trade. Cloth- 
weavers are mentioned in the exchequer accounts as existing 
in various parts of England in the reign of Henry I., parti¬ 
cularly at London and Oxford. The weavers of Lincoln 
and Huntingdon are represented as paying fines for their guild 
in the 5th of Stephen ; and in the reign of Henry II. (1189), 
there were weavers in Oxford, York, Nottingham, Hunting¬ 
don, Lincoln, and Winchester, who all paid fines to the king, 
for the privilege of carrying on their trade. (Chronicon Pre- 
tiosum, p. 64.) There were also cloth dealers in various 
parts of Yorkshire, Norwich, Huntingdon, Gloucester, Nor¬ 
thampton, Nottingham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne; also se¬ 
veral towns in Lincolnshire, and at St. Alban’s, Baldock, 
Berkhamstead, and Chesterfield, who paid fines to the king 
that they might freely buy and sell dyed cloths. These are 
supposed to have been cloths imported from the Flemings. 
The red, scarlet, and green cloths, enumerated among the 
articles in the wardrobe of Henry II., were most probably 
foreign, as the English had attained little skill at that time 
in the art of dyeing.— Madox's History of the 'Exchequer. 
In the 31st of Henry II., the weavers of London received 
a confirmation of their guild, with all the privileges they en¬ 
joyed in the reign of Henry I.; and in the patent he directed, 
that if any weaver mixed Spanish wool with English in 
making cloth, the chief magistrate should seize and burn it. 
—• Stowe's Survey of London. 
In the reign of Henry III., an act was passed limiting the 
breadth of broad-cloths, russets, &c. to two yards within the 
lists. In the year 1284, foreign merchants were first per¬ 
mitted to rent houses in London, and buy and sell their own 
commodities, without any interruption from the citizens. 
Previous to this date they hired lodgings, and their landlords 
were the brokers, who sold all their goods, and received a 
commission upon them. It was soon after pretended that 
the foreign merchants used false weights, and a clamour being 
raised against them, twenty of them were arrested and sent 
to the Tower. Amidst the numerous absurd restrictions to 
which commerce and manufactures were subjected, we need 
not be surprised at the little progress which they made. 
The materials which history affords respecting the woollen 
manufacture before the reign of Edward III., are but scanty ; 
it appears that the office of aulnager, or cloth-inspector, was 
Vol. XXIV. No. 1668. 
0 L. 725 
very ancient. In the reign of Edward I., we are informed by 
Madox, that Peroult le Tayleur, who held the office of aul¬ 
nager of cloth in the several fairs of the realm, having for¬ 
feited it, the king, by writ of privy seal, commanded the 
treasurer to let Pieres de Edmonton have it, if he were fit for 
it, and a writ was made out accordingly, and he took the 
oaths of that office before the treasurer and barons. The facts 
above-stated prove the existence of the cloth-manufacture in 
England before the time of Edward III., who is generally 
supposed to have first introduced the art into the kingdom. 
There is no doubt, that a new impulse was given to it during 
this reign by the liberal protection granted to foreign manu¬ 
factures here: in all probability, they first introduced the 
manufacture of stuffs from combed wool or worsteds; an 
art requiring more skill, and more complicated processes, 
than are employed in the making of cloth. 
In the year 1331, John Kemp, a master manufacturer from 
Flanders, received a protection to establish himself here with 
a number of dyers and fullers to carry on his trade, and in 
the following year several manufacturers came over from 
Brabant and Zealand. It is said, that the king’s marriage 
with the daughter of the earl of Hainault, enabled him to 
send over emissaries without suspicion, to invite the manu¬ 
facturers to this kingdom. These manufacturers were distri¬ 
buted over the country, at the following places:—The ma¬ 
nufacturers of fustians (woollens) were established at Norwich, 
of baize at Sudbury in Suffolk, of sayes and serges at Col¬ 
chester in Essex, of broad-cloths in Kent, of kersies in De¬ 
vonshire, of cloth in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, of 
Welsh friezes in Wales, of cloth at Kendal in Westmoreland, 
of coarse cloths, afterwards called Halifax cloths, in York¬ 
shire, of cloth in Hampshire, Berkshire, and Sussex, and of 
serges at Taunton in Devonshire. (Rymer’s Fcedera, vol. i. 
p. 195.) Fresh supplies of foreigners contributed to advance 
the woollen trade of these districts. 
Kendal, in Westmoreland, claims the honour of first re¬ 
ceiving John Kemp, where his descendants still remain, and 
the woollen trade is at present carried on. In the following 
reign, we find the manufacturers of Kendal petitioning to be 
relieved from the regulations imposed on broad cloths. Ken¬ 
dal green is mentioned by Shakspeare as an article of dress 
in the time of Henry IV., and there is reason to believe, that 
in the reign of Elizabeth, the woollen manufactures of that 
town were as extensive as at present. 
In the year 1336, two woollen manufacturers from Bra¬ 
bant settled at York, under the king’s protection : they are 
styled in the letters of protection, “ Willielmus de Brabant 
and Hanckcinus de Brabant, Textores.” These persons pro¬ 
bably laid the foundation of the woollen and worsted ma¬ 
nufactures, which have since so extensively flourished in the 
western part of that county. It is not very improbable, that 
the manufacturer Hancks, called Hanckcinus, gave the name 
to the skein of worsted, which is to this day called a hank. 
In order to form a more distinct idea of the relative value 
of wool, cloth, and other articles, after and before the reign, 
it may be proper to refer to the state of the silver coinage. 
Grains. 
The 28 Edward I. one shilling contained 264 
18 Edward III. 236 
27 Edward III. 213 
9 Henry V. .... 176 
1 Henry VI. . 142 
4 Henry VI. 176 
49 Henry VI. 142 
1 Henry VIII. 118 
34 Henry VIII. 100 • 
36 Henry VIII. 60 
37 Henry VIII. 40 
3 Edward VI. 40 
5 Edward VI. . 20 
6 Edward VI. . 88 
2 Elizabeth . 89 
43 Elizabeth . 86 
at which it continued to the present reign. 
The following account of the exports and imports in the 
7 U 28th 
