carding to be done in England. He also encouraged the settlement of foreign clothworkers in England and forbad the importation of silken goods, hoping thus to encourage the weaving of silk. The Hanse towns, annoyed at this restriction of their trade as well as at the duties imposed on English wool at Calais, threatened to retire from the staple at Calais, but Henry VII was immovable.

While thus attempting to encourage the cloth and silk industries by these measures of protection, the royal policy was one of discrimination. In those industries in which England had little hopes of competing with the Continent, the King considered the interests of the consumer by removing the restraints on importation passed by Edward IV and Richard III, and allowing foreign competition. Whatever may be thought as to the wisdom of a policy of protection, it must be allowed that Henry was at least no blind advocate, and that he was supported by a considerable body of genuine if mistaken opinion. It may be that these protective laws were largely due to the vested interests of those who manufactured cloth and other articles, and that, as the free trader would argue to-day, the rapid rise of our cloth industry during the later decades of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth centuries was really due, not to the protective policy of the English kings, but to the superiority of our wool and the advantages of the English climate, and to the fact that our Flemish rivals were even under greater restraint and were persisting in antiquated grooves.* c. 6; though limited by licences. Price, Monopolies, Boston, pp. 11, 142,

147, 149.

Materials for reign of Henry VII, Rolls Series, ii. 134. Grant to John de Salvo and Anthony Spynile, natives of England, to introduce foreign clothmakers and employ them in the art in one or more parts of the kingdom.

2 On Henry VII's protective policy, cf. Busch, England under the Tudors, English translation, p. 254.

Cf. e. g. Discourse on Commonwealth, Cambridge Press, 1893, p. 63, As for some things (e. g. cloth) the strangers make it out of our own commodities and send it us again; whereby they set their people on work and do exhaust much treasure out of the realm.' p. 65: 'It were better for us to pay more to our own people for wares than less to strangers. Cf. also Pauli, Drei volkswirthschaftliche Denkschriften, pp. 32, 36.

4

+ Cf. Pirenne, Une crise industrielle au xvième siècle, p. 495.

Mr. Unwin is indeed of opinion that unfinished cloth was still our chief export, and that by forbidding the export of this a serious blow was dealt at what was then our most important industry.

6

In any case we must admit that clothmaking increased in volume. The author of The Commodities of England', writing somewhere about 1450, speaks of the wollen cloth ready made at all times to serve the merchants of any two kingdoms The Commons in a petition of 1454 declare that the making of cloth had become the greatest occupation and living of the poor people of the land' And we have good evidence to show that in the sixteenth century there was a great advance not only in the quantity but the quality of our cloth. Possibly the true conclusion to be derived from these facts is that the influence of a Protective tariff either for good or evil is often very much exaggerated.

1 The author was possibly Fortescue; cf. Fortescue, Governance of England, p. 81, ed. Plummer. 3 We shall return to this later.

2 Rot. Parl., v. 274.

CHAPTER V

CHANGES IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FELLOW-
SHIP OF DRAPERS BETWEEN 1441 AND 1509

(1)

N the internal affairs of the Fellowship,
however, the accounts naturally give
much more information-though again
only incidentally-and by the help of later
ordinances which we possess we can gain
some idea of the changes which have taken
place since 1441.

As we have a full list of the Members
recorded for the year 1493, it will be
well to take that as our first date, and
then summarize any changes or events of
interest which took place between 1493

and

1509, the year when Henry VII died.

2

In the year 1493 the total numbers of Numbers of the Craft were 243, of whom 124 were Members in in the Clothing or Livery and 119 out of 1493. the Livery, or Bachelors. Thus since the year 1424-5 the numbers have increased by 74 at least. Not for many years did the numbers of those in the Clothing and of the total membership of the Gild touch these figures.

2

1 The initial comes from Charter No. V.

They term themselves the Craft, Fraternity, or Brotherhood.

3 Cf. Appendix, vol. i, No. XXI.

One name has been crossed out in the list of

the Livery and four in the list of the Bachelors. These have not been counted. Herbert's numbers, 1,406, are wrong. He also makes a meaningless distinction between the Bachelors and the Freemen.

Sisters.

Mention of In the list of 1493 no Sister is mentioned, but in 1480-1 Elynore Sampton pays quarterage. If the Christian name be that of a woman (and she may have been the widow of Thomas Sampton, who was one of the Wardens in 1477-8), this is the first recorded mention of a female member by name, though Sisters are mentioned in earlier accounts of 1414-40, while in 1487 Lady Drope is in arrears for two apprentices. This last entry, unless indeed the arrears were owing on her husband's account, who died in 1485, shows that widows were at that date, as they certainly were afterwards, allowed to carry on the business of their husbands, and to have apprentices. In any case an ordinance of 1504 allows women to be admitted by Redemption, and one of 1505 definitely recognizes the right of Sisters 'freed in the Fellyship' to take apprentices.

The Livery.

The admissions to the Livery or Clothing, which were made by the Master, Wardens, and Council, varied very much. The highest number was reached in 1492-3, when it was 21. In four other years it was 14, 13, 11, and 10. In five other years from 5 to 2 were admitted, in two years only one, and in seven years none. As a consequence the numbers of those in the Livery declined. They fell suddenly in 1484-5 from 95 to 75, and they never recovered till 1793-4, when they rose to 120.3 With the exception of some of the officials of the Company, such as the Chaplain and the Bedell or Clerk, those in the Livery alone enjoyed the right of wearing the clothing, the colour of which was continually changed. All

I

2

403, fo. 19 a.

403, fo. 42a. Ordinances, Appendix, vol. i, No. XVII. For widows retaining the apprentices of their husbands cf. p. 115, note 1, of this volume; for Sisters of the Taylors' Co., Clode, I. ii, p. 42.

3 In 1501-2 we have a list of the Companies that have the Livery and the numbers. Thus:

Grocers

Merchant Taylors }

84