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apprenticed in the city; and the unapprenticed alien. The fee was graduated the first grade paid nothing, the second a small fee, the third a higher, the fourth the largest. "That every man of the said craftes, that has been pryntes within this citee, shall pay at his first settyng upp as a maister in the said craftes xviijd., to the lightes of the said craftes, except thaym that er fraunchest men sonnes.' "If eny man of the saide craftes com to this citee, that has not bene prentes within this citee, and will occupy as maistr, he shall pay at his first settyng upp ijs. to the lightes of the said craftes." If eny aliene come to this citee and will occupy as maister, he shal at his first settyng up vjs. viijd., the one halve to the chaumbre and this other halve to the craftes." The tapiter, who had been apprenticed, paid 6s. 8d., when he started business for himself; the fee was doubled for the unapprenticed tapiter. The fee for the tanner" of the contre that hath not be apprentice within this citie," was higher still, xiijs. iiijd.3 The stringers' ordinances make no reference to any payment when beginning the trade, but all stringers must first "be received into the liberty of this city," and pass an examination as to their ability to do skilful work. The cappers drew a distinction between, the man, who cumys in by redempcion to the libertes of thys cite" and the one, who obtained his freedom by servitude. The first paid 6s. 8d. when he became a master, the last "shalbe admitit as a maister withowt ony thyng giffyng or payng for hys uppsett.'

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In view of the important position taken by the women of France in the industrial life of their native country, the fact that in medieval times their position as members of misteries was more fully recognized than in England is interesting. In Paris not only were they accepted as members of the corps de métiers on the same terms as men, but they organized and controlled gilds of their own. In Brussels, too, women workers

6

5. Ibid., p. 284.

6.

E. Boileau, Les Métiers et Corporations de la Ville de Paris, passim.

2

All

3

were recognized.1 English legislation notices women but does not take them very seriously. A man has to choose his craft and stick to it; a woman could turn her hand to almost any craft that she liked. Parliament recognized women brewers, bakers, weavers, spinners, but they were to receive lower wages. In York, cappers, parchment makers, listers, freshwater fishers, ironmongers, barber surgeons, fishmongers, stringers, cooks and vintners have definite ordinances dealing with women. misteries, however, seem to have accepted the widow of a master as his legitimate successor; though in the case of the tanners, if she took a second husband, a very high entrance fee was exacted, before he was admitted to the craft. The tapiters were even more extortionate, they not only exacted the same fee, but the new master was only admitted on the condition that he should employ a skilled foreman, "habeat hominem sufficientem instructum et in arte predicta eruditum."5 In fact the widow's second husband was really in a worse position than the alien, he paid the same money, but the alien was not hampered by the foreman.6

4

During the fifteenth century constant disputes arose beween the different crafts, because members took advantage of overlapping to work at more trades than one; but the quarrels generally focussed on the payment towards the upkeep of the pageant plays. Innumerable examples are furnished in the entries concerning the Corpus Christi procession and pageants." Thomas Wyllardeby came into the council chamber and by his own wish relinquished his work as a coiner, "in arte monetarii et myntarii," and chose to join the mistery of pewterers. He was sworn into his new occupation in the presence of the mayor,

1. G. des Marez, L'Organisation du Travail à Bruxelles au xve siècle, pp. 107-115.

2. W. Cunningham, op. cit., p. 353.

3. Rolls of Parliament, vols. II., fol. 278a, 281a, iv., fol. 112b. Cf. Mem. Bk., vol. I., p. xxix.

4. Mem. Bk., p. 166.

5. Ibid., pp. 191, 192.

6. Ibid., p. 190.
7. Ante, pp. xlvi, xlviii.

four aldermen and the common clerk.1 These endless petty restrictions must have been extremely galling to many of the more enterprising of the craftsmen, but there is little evidence to show that there was ever any real consistent strenuous opposition to them. Professor Ashley's opinion" that to create even such a business conscience as we now enjoy, the medieval system of supervision was a necessary stage, and that the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to liberty "2 is verified by the Memorandum Book. Certainly any effort, such as was made in York in 1519, to introduce laissez-faire methods was abortive.

During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries probably about one thousand people in York were leading a monastic life or ministering to those who followed it. Over this monastic element the mayor had little jurisdiction. It appears only fitfully in the Memorandum Book. When any dispute as to property arose ecclesiasticism had to seek civic help, and submit to the decision of searchers of the gilds connected with the building trade. But this volume contains none of those cases of disputed jurisdiction between abbot and mayor, which enliven the earlier pages of the Memorandum Book. Possession of corpses, rights of way, attempts at enclosure are relinquished without discussion; the mayor is undisputed ruler of the city. As the medieval merchant walked through York and saw the lordly buildings of the Benedictines, the Franciscans, the Dominicans, the Carmelites, the Augustinians, he might possibly think that sufficient wealth had already been diverted to monasticism. The influence of Richard Rolle, hermit, poet and mystic, might prevail to a certain extent inside the gates of St. Mary's Abbey, but it did not reach the city's governors in the neighbouring Gild Hall. A brief account of the efforts of Willelmus Melton, a brother of the Friars Minors,

1. Mem. Bk., p. 76. Cf. W. Cunningham, op. cit., p. 353, n. W. J. Ashley, op. cit., p. 93.

2. W. J. Ashley, op. cit., p. 73.

His

3. M. Deanesly, The Incendium Amoris of Richard Rolle, p. 53. teaching would not have been popular with the merchant class even had it been known. "In another place Rolle describes the men whom he considers most sure of future damnation-perpetratores those who bought

to sell for exorbitant profits, offending against the medieval doctrine of the just price," ibid., p. 43.

"a famous preacher of the word of God,"1 to stir religious enthusiasm in York, is given: he was not so successful as St. Bernardine in Siena.

In all ages the man of deeds has looked on the man of thought with suspicion; in 13912 the mayor, two aldermen and their clerk were added to the commission to report on S. Leonard's hospital; possibly the knowledge thus obtained of the inner life of the institution did not tend to increase their veneration. A few years later, Thomas Thurkyll, who figures in the Memorandum Book, an alderman of the city, acted as substitute for the Master of S. Leonard's for six months. During his brief tenure of office he worked a financial reformation; had he only remained, a witness at a subsequent visitation declared, the hospital would soon have been freed of debt. Lay experiences of this kind changed the earlier civic attitude of deference to ecclesiastical power first into criticism then into scorn.

4

3

The study of the Memorandum Book leaves the impression that the real link between municipality and church was the chantry priest; in the chantries the mayor and his brethren had a personal, a vivid interest. The long document with a head line, a reminder that mortuaries should not be exacted from the priests in York, shows that the civic officials regarded the priests as being peculiarly in their charge. On the death of a chantry or stipendiary priest, the rectors and vicars of the various churches in York claimed his second best gown with his hood as a mortuary. The defence of the exaction of a mortuary was a curious piece of reasoning. It was assumed that inadvertently even a devout churchman might have omitted to pay as much tithe as he could have done, therefor as such an omission was a mortal sin, in the interest of his immortal soul the dead parishioner's estate must pay what often amounted to 33 per cent. of his personal property. The custom had no foundation in law, and was different in amount in

1. Mem. Bk., pp. 156-159, ante p. xlvii.

2. Cal. P. R. Rich. II., vol. V. (1391-1396), p. 79.

3. Victoria History of Yorkshire, vol. III., p. 341. Mr. Little throws a flood of light on monastic life in York. 4. Mem. Bk., pp. 17-24.

This article by

different districts, Wales escaped entirely, many parts of England paid little, some nothing.1 Whatever feeling there was in York with regard to the exaction from laymen, this document leaves no shadow of doubt as to the civic attitude with regard to the priests. The claim was vehemently contested on behalf of the numerous poor clergy, by the mayor and citizens. Twelve of the leading official citizens lent their weight and authority to the decision of the mayor. He publicly declared "that all the chantries of this city have been and are founded by the citizens and notabilities of this city; therefore, both the priests of this city and suburbs having chantries, and the stipendiary priests not having chantries, are the special officials oratores' of the citizens, their patrons and masters."2 Obviously it was the bounden duty of the citizens to defend their servants against any action that might be burdensome to them. In addition to the mayor's speech, a lawyer, Johannes de Waltham, declared the exaction contrary to all law on the plea that the clergy were exempt from anything of the kind. The result was that the rectors after deliberation among themselves declared unanimously that they withdrew their contention. The mayor ordered the decision to be inscribed in the city records. This document is of considerable interest for York was peculiarly rich in chantries, and the mayor and council seem to have had an exceptionally strong position with regard to all the chantries in the city, not only, as might have been expected, those of which they were trustees by special appointment. The work of the chantry priest was of a three-fold nature. His primary business was to celebrate masses for the souls of the departed founders. The

3

1. G. G. Coulton, Priests and People before the Reformation, Medieval Studies, No. 8, pp. 3-5. Medieval Garner, p. 593. The reverend man John Snyffemore, rector of Silverton claims that, from time immemorial "if the wife of any parishioner of the aforesaid parish die, in what place or manner soever, forthwith the right of taking and having her husband's second best possession or beast, which the said husband had in his wife's lifetime, under the name of a mortuary and as a mortuary, belonged, belongeth and should belong even in future to the rector of the aforesaid parish church." He therefore demands one red ox valued at 18s., which John Laven, having lost his wife Matilda, had hitherto refused to render to God and the aforesaid. church."

2. Mem. Bk., p. 19.

3. Ibid., p. 24.