mistery of mercers; it was futile to bring ordinances, drawn up by themselves, into a council chamber over which they presided. But their royal charter, which emphasized their superiority to the smaller and less important misteries, is transcribed in its entirety. It begins with the usual prologue, a contrast between the flourishing circumstances of the mercers in the past and their dire poverty in the present: "Whereas many men of the mistery of mercers of our city of York, abounding for a time and very rich as well in merchandize as in other worldly matters, afterwards by misfortune at sea and other mischances have come to misery and want so pitiful, that they have little or nothing whereof they may live or sustain themselves, except by the charity help and gratuities of faithful christians and religious people. Whereupon divers stable and capable people of substance and influence, belonging to the mistery of the same city, inflamed by zeal of charity, heeding its teaching, and not shutting up their bowels from the want and misery aforesaid, propose, as we have heard, to purchase with our license lands, tenements and to the honour of God and in aid and relief of the poor and indigent of the mistery aforesaid.”2 As the mistery had a large membership, it naturally included both the successful and unsuccessful trader, but this exaggerated picture of abject poverty is at variance with the account roll of the society for 1432, which tells a tale of prosperity and expansion. The York mercers, however, were always pedantically anxious to emphasize the difference between the gild or fraternity and the mistery. The head line of their account rolls is always " the account roll of A.B. master of the mistery of mercers and of the gild and fraternity of the Holy Trinity." Their gild was essentially a dual organization, each with its specialized functions; the one mercantile and industrial, the other religious and social; the one devoted to fostering the worldly advantage of its members, the other interested mainly in their spiritual welfare; to the meeting of the one the members went accompanied by wives and sisters, to

rents

1. Mem. Bk., pp. 135, 136, 137.

2. P.R.O., Pat. Rolls, 8 Henry VI., Pt. 2, m. 30, 12 July, 1430. Mem. Bk., pp. 135-137. Two contemporary copies of this charter are in the possession of the Merchant Adventurers of York.

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the meetings of the other they went alone. But in the matter of the demand for a charter, they pursued a sound policy in allowing the fraternity to overshadow the mistery. The real state of affairs seems to have been that the mercers of York, a flourishing community of merchants carrying on both home and foreign trade, wished to consolidate their financial position. If they approached the government, who did not favour the concentration of wealth in the hands of an immortal trading community, with a simple statement of their wishes possible refusal loomed before them. But the amassing of wealth for charitable purposes was not regarded with so much suspicion; the mercers followed prescribed medieval etiquette in this verbose attempt to hide self-seeking under the cloak of charity.

Possibly they were actuated by another motive; taxation was capricious and the official world eager to pounce upon wealthy subjects; desirous as the mercers were to propitiate the government, they were even more anxious to avoid the appearance of wealth. The successful business man of the 20th century is the one, who creates an atmosphere of capital around him; the medieval trader's chief object was to create an atmosphere of poverty. However, the petition achieved its purpose; in return for £41 11s. the mistery was allowed to elect every year a governor and two wardens, who were empowered to purchase lands, rents and other possessions; to sue and be sued in any court, secular or ecclesiastical; and to have a common seal.1 In addition, they were granted a license to acquire lands and rents in York to the value of £10, for the relief of the poor and the maintenance of a chaplain. As far as the direct evidence of the Memorandum Book goes, the weavers and the inercers are the only York misteries, which held charters directly from the King. Power to enforce the ordinances of the other misteries was granted by the mayor, aldermen and twenty-four. The Memorandum Book gives ample evidence of the "civic feudalism "2 that prevailed in York; the merchants would certainly use all effort to prevent

1. This seal after having been lost for several centuries was restored to the York Company of Merchant Adventurers by the generosity of Mrs. Clayton, of Chesters, Hamshaugh, Northumberland.

2. G Unwin, op. cit., p. 157.

any other mistery obtaining the same advantage as themselves. Still probably the greater misteries in York, in desire though not in achievement, followed the lines of the London craftsmen.

Unimpeachable evidence exists of the steps by which a London mistery grew from a local institution, with ordinances legalized by the mayor, into a powerful company, with a charter granted by the king. As the desultory associations of men, whose only bond was a common craft, became more organic, they desired to become "a livery company," an association with the right to wear a distinctive dress, as a symbol of their trade. This stage of development continued for a considerable period. But as their wealth expanded their ambition grew; they were no longer contented that their sole recognition as separate entities and their vague coercive rights should remain in the hands of the mayor. The next step, their desire to become a chartered company, with national and royal not merely local and municipal authorization, was not realized until the reign of Henry VI. He granted incorporation to nine London crafts; the grocers in 1428, the fishmongers in 1433, the vintners in 1436, the brewers in 1437, the drapers in 1438, the cordwainers in 1439, the leather sellers in 1444, the haberdashers in 1447, and the armourers in 1452.1

The difference between London and York seems to be that in York the mercers had no rivals of sufficient standing seriously to challenge their supremacy. It has been already shown that the mercers, when they petitioned for a charter, emphasized the religious side of their organization; apart, however, from their desire to obtain the charter, there were civic questions, which rendered this emphasis necessary. The mercers had secured political supremacy, but knowledge of the struggle for predomin ance among the London crafts must have brought home to them the importance of fortifying their position. The necessity for a strict regulation of industrial and commercial organization was never questioned by the practical medieval mind; but the merchants aimed at more than mercantile control, the retention of unquestioned political power in civic affairs was equally 1. G. Unwin, op. cit., pp. 159, 160.

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essential. On the surface, the mistery side of gild organization is the more important; but subtle influences, social and religious, evanescent but vital, were bound up in the fraternity element; the practical mayors and aldermen fully recognized the power of this weapon, the control of which was in their hands, not in the hands of the church.

Though the Memorandum Book gives no account of any fraternity in connexion with the mercers, it is quite clear from their account rolls that the gild or fraternity and the mistery were entirely interdependent. Members of the mercers' mistery were ipso facto members of the mercers' gild, and their religious, social and charitable undertakings were not merged in a separate organization; the master of the mistery controlled both the mercantile and the religious policy. The marshals and smiths seem to have followed the same lines as the mercers, and drawn no distinct demarcation between the social and religious, that is the gild, and the mercantile, that is the mistery side of their society.1

The carpenters organized their fraternity and mistery differently. Although the two were probably for practical purposes as interdependent as in other crafts, still their ordinances emphasize the fact that if any carpenter belongs to the fraternity, he does so of his own free will; whereas both mercers and marshals merge the two sides into a homogeneous whole. These ordinances of the carpenters' fraternity are of great interest and value. They contain a complete embodiment of the fraternity element; the enforcement of these fraternity regulations by the municipality represents the first stage in the secularization of gilds, which was not completed until 1547. The mistery of carpenters requested the mayor, aldermen and twenty-four, "maiorem civitatis Ebor', et totum consilium camere, to consent to the addition of four

1. Mem. Bk., pp. 180-182. There is abundant proof of the development of the mistery of mercers from a religious fraternity or gild in the merchants' MSS. I have reserved for my volume on the Merchant Adventurers all discussion as to the origin of craft gilds. By the courtesy of Rev. J. P. Rushe, O.D.C., I have examined the transcript of the Goldsmiths of Avignon, which throw considerable light on the subject, but a more detailed examination, of the gild and mistery records of many towns, English and continental, is necessary before the question can be decided incontrovertibly. To generalize on insufficient data is a pitfall as alluring as it is fatal.

new ordinances in 1462; they dealt with three distinct subjects, the stranger, the unskilful and insubordinate worker, and the fraternity. The stranger, who becomes a freeman of the city, can only set up as a master in the craft, if he pays iiijd. each year to the upkeep of the pageant and light on Corpus Christi day; if he refuses," than the maire fer the tyme beyng and the counseill of the chaumbre shal supporte the said craft to streyne the saide straungers as the lawe will." In dealing with incompetency and disobedience the moral delinquent escapes the more lightly; the sinner pays 3s. 4d., the bungler 6s. 8d. The clause dealing with the fraternity is the most interesting, "that every free man of this citee, that occupies as maister in the saide craft, not being of the fraternity of the same, shall pay yerely to the charges afore written3 as other wrights doo that be of the same fraternite.”

Twenty years passed before the carpenters again appear in the council chamber. This time the fraternity ordinances are extraordinarily complete; they afford such precious help in visualizing the social life of our medieval forefathers that a detailed analysis is necessary. The preamble shows how the civic spirit had grown in York until adjectives sufficiently strong to express it could hardly be found. The maior is called “the ryght honorabill," the carpenters belong "to this full nobill city," the council represent "the said full honourable cite." When trying to avoid taxation, when asking for a new charter, York brandishes her poverty and humble estate, but when no object is to be gained, the loving pride of the citizens in their city knows no limit. Not only the virtues of the city but the antiquity and merits of the fraternity is recalled, “for as much as here afore thar hath beyn of old tym a brotherhode had and usyd emong the occupacion and craft above said, the which of long continuance have usid, and as yit yerely use is, to fynd of thar propir costes a lyght of dwyes torchis in the fest of Corpus

1. Professor Unwin informs me that municipal enforcement of fraternity regulations in London is not found much before 1460; the York marshals and smiths had their fraternity clauses acknowledged by the mayor in 1443. The whole of this section owes much to his Gilds of London, where the connexion between mistery and fraternity is thoroughly investigated.

2. Mem. Bk., pp. 193, 194.

3. i.e., the pageant and lights. 4. Mem. Bk., pp. 277-283.