PAYING GUESTS IN HOSPITAL (1439) xxiii prechours of Yorke " pays 6s. 8d. to be a brother. John Russell, merchant, pays 15s. to be received into the company, and to be a brother and his wife a sister; but for the identical privileges William Cooper, pinner, pays 28s. 4d., and John Makblyth, merchant, 25s.1 Single payments differ in the same way. Thomas Bolton pays 13s. 4d. for what John Kirk pays 68. 8d., and Thomas Nelson 6s. 8d. for what Richard Kyrkham pays 158.2 With the progress of time these irregularities settle down to a uniform payment of 6s. 8d. as entrance fee for both company and fraternity. According to the ordinance of 1495, each brother had to pay a subsidy of 2d. a quarter, "ye sall pay 2d. ilka quarter, that is to say, 8d. in the yere. This seems to have included a fee for the wife of the brother, but the "sister sole " pays 4d. 4 23 The fee of 18s. 4d. paid by Janet Cunclyff represents an unusual case. She had made an arrangement in 1439 to rent a tenement in the hospital grounds, for which she paid 3s. 4d., but in that rent was included a garden, a bed in the hospital, and a weekly pension of 4d. Obviously the hospital though nominally for the poor, was already beginning to differentiate its treatment of the inmates. The lady was to have separate living rooms for which she paid, though she was to sleep in the hospital itself. Another example of a similar provision for the reception of a sister is furnished by the will of Richard Saunderson, who was master of the hospital and died in 1439. He leaves all his possessions to the hospital on condition that his sister Isolda should be received as a sister, and be paid the same weekly dole as the other pensioners. The dangers inherent in such arrangements are clear to any student of the episcopal visitations, from which the hospital was of course exempt. Intimately connected with the social side of the mercers' fraternity was the pageant play, which on Corpus Christi day 1 Text, p. 46. Hanse Recesse, II Abtheilung, II Band, 457. was enacted in various parts of York.1 Originally the mercers themselves took part in the representations, but their civic and social importance forbade such diversions in the fifteenth century, and professionals were introduced to take their place. The first reference to this annual merry-making in the merchants' records is in the account roll for 1437. The pageant, that is the movable stage similar to the Punch and Judy erection of modern times, needed a new curtain; whether the 6s. paid for the making included also the tapestry of which it is made is not clear. Seventeen shillings and eight pence is also paid for torches to be carried in the procession of Corpus Christi, possibly by the chaplains, for the procession was under the management of the clergy, the pageant of the trades of York. "Payd for the makyng of the awrres of the pagent hous, vjs. Item, payd to Margret Chaundeler for makyng of vj torchys and the wax to them, xiiijs. Item, for vj castylls to them, iijs. viijd. Item, payd to David Paynter for xxiiij baners wyth canvas hangyng thereto, and peyntyng of vj castyls, xs."2 But in 1453 the mercers concluded local talent was not sufficient to bring out the play. An agreement was made with Robert Hewyk, parish clerk of Leeds, Thomas Fitt, tapiter, and Henry Clayton, weaver, to bring out the pageant of "Domysday," for which they were to receive a payment of ten pounds. Doubtless this covered all the expenses such as fees to players, expenses of representation, repairs and renewal of properties, otherwise the payment would seem excessive. The first definite list of the stage properties of the mercers belongs to the same period; "kakkeys and ale" cost 41d. A cryptic entry, v yerddes of now canways to j now pagand that was mayd for the sollys to ryse owt of," seems 3 66 4 1 York Memorandum Book, vol. ii, pp. 63, 64, 102-104, 123, 124, 156–159, 171, 188, xli–li. 2 Text, p. 49. The making of processional and other candles was a domestic and principally a woman's industry. An attempt to drive them out of the trade in the seventeenth century was frustrated by the City Council. York Municipal Records, vol. xxxiii, fo. 77. 3 York Freemen, p. 170. 4 Ibid., 5 Text, pp. 58, 59. • Ibid., pp. 70, 71. THE MERCERS' PAGEANT (1502) XXV to mean that new canvas had to be bought for making clouds out of which the redeemed souls could rise to heaven, while the unredeemed were thrust into the lowest compartment, with the dramatic condemnation : "Ye cursed kaitiffis fro me ye flee, In helle to dwelle withouten ende, Nails, laths, ropes, rushes, ironwork, sacks mending, angels' wings, chaplets, are all entered, but the largest item is fees to the players, "to the players thorow the tone iiijd. payd for playng, xviijs. ijd." The entry, where the first appointment of pageant masters is mentioned, is of uncertain date.1 There is, however, a complete list of pageant masters from 1526 to 1642,2 four for each year, but their duties changed as catholicism waned, for puritanism turned a stern face on such frivolities. Whatever ambiguity there may be about the date of the episode, the fact that the mercers either in addition to their play of Doomsday or instead of it took over all the ornaments and produced the play of "Paternoster," is clear. As in 1399 this play had belonged to a gild of more than one hundred members and their wives, and was so well known that its renown had reached Wycliffe's ears, it would be interesting to find out why it was suddenly appropriated by the mercers. It continued to be played at intervals; the final attempt at a revival in 1580 was unsuccessful owing to the opposition of the archbishop. There are no further allusions to the pageant until 1502, when Thomas Drawswerd5 was admitted into "the broderheid of the fraternite of the Holy Trinity" without Thomas Scawsby is apparently master, but a man of that name was master in 1443, 1451, 1452, 1462, 1464, 1465, and no constable of the name of Gavin appears in the list. The final clause is probably correct which fixes the date at 1488, the opening paragraph referring only to tentative efforts to appoint four pageant masters, which had been abortive or only temporary, in 1472. There were only three, but there is no conclusive evidence. Text, pp. 81, 82. 2 Book A (unprinted), fos. 65–69b. 5 L. Toulmin Smith, op. cit., Introduction, p. xxix. 4 R. Davies, Municipal Records, pp. 265–272. 5 Text, pp. 104, 105. paying a fee, on condition that he “shall mak the pagiant of the Dome belonging to the merchaunts of new substancialie in every thing thereunto belonging, having for the workmanship and stuff of the same, vij marces in money and his entrie fre, with also the old pagiant." The family of Drawswerd had for three generations been engaged in working alabaster and marble, as imagers in York. The new pageant probably had images of angels placed in the interior, otherwise it is difficult to understand why Drawswerd should have been asked or consented to undertake the work. For his workshops had more than local fame; he was requested to compete for the figures on the tomb of Henry VII in Westminster. It has been suggested that the figures on the quire screen at York were his work, or rather his design, carried out under his supervision in his workshops; for the days had passed when designer was executor.1 He carved the screen at Newark about 1508.2 In 15263 another list of properties is given, but it does not leave the impression that the mercers were keenly interested in their pageant: "ij dewells cotte, ij devell hedde, j wesseren, j chartt, the cloud, ij grett angells wants j wing, ij trompets, hell dure, iiij angelli, pagand dure, iiij wendows, the iren set with iiij ropps, the wheels with j rope, the trenettie hus, ij lyttell angelles, the viij chyffs, ix nailes, the trenitte wants j chartt, iij wessezons, j rope, j angell. Wants j lyttel angell and ij nalls." This list certainly lends colour to the suggestion that the pageant made by Drawswerd was decorated with figures, whether of wood or alabaster it is impossible to say. It is a dreary picture of dilapidation, the great angels which want one wing is pathetic, the absence of one little angel heartrending. The cloud would probably be the painted representation of the clouds and great glory in which the Judge would sit, forming a background to the upper part of the pageant. 1 E. S. Prior, An Account of Medieval Figure Sculpture in England, pp. 92, 104, 414, 421. As early as the last quarter of the twelfth century York possessed a vigorous school of sculpture. The subject of Domesday being always popular. W. H. St. John Hope, On the Early Working of Alabaster in England, Archæological Journal, vol. lxi, pp. 221-240. John Bilson, F.S.A., On a Sculptured Representation of Hell Cauldron, Yorkshire Archæological Journal, vol. xix, part 76, pp. 435–445. 2 W. R. Lethaby, Westminster Abbey and the King's Craftsmen, p. 233. 3 Text, p. 128. WILLIAM CLEVELAND (1482-1504) xxvii But a more serious matter than the dearth or disfigurement of stage properties occupied the attention of the mercers towards the end of the century. In 1482 William Cleveland1 became a member of the gild and master of the hospital. He was the son of a prominent York citizen, and had been vicar of Tadcaster since 1469. For nearly a quarter-of-a-century his personality overshadowed the master of the mistery, and at one time he made a strenuous effort to rid himself of the supervision of the company, and treat the hospital as his private property. Some premonition of possible friction seems to have been in the mind of the company at his appointment, for whereas John Warthill, a former master, was allowed alternately with the mercers to appoint pensioners, William Cleveland was bound by indenture first to obtain the consent of the master and constables of the fellowship. He was forbidden to enter the great hall of the hospital, or come within the hall door unless invited. He was ordered to furnish accounts in writing of the condition of the hospital, whenever they should be demanded. On their side the mistery officials bound themselves to be "helpand and councelland" to the master of the hospital. Cleveland seems to have treated the indenture with lofty indifference; the stages of the quarrel are involved, but in 1493, "the said maister Cleveland had made none accompte on to the master of the felewship by the space of viij yeres to fore past."3 Cleveland's aim seems to have been power not profit, as when the accounts were produced, it was found that the company were in his debt to a considerable amount; they at once agreed to pay by instalments, and no more is heard of the affair. The account rolls certainly prove that Cleveland was generous, for he helped to restore the altar and the glass window on the south side of the chapel. Though a man of a vigorous and strenuous personality might galvanise the ecclesiastical side of the mistery into a semblance of activity for a time, the pendulum swung in favour of the merchant against the cleric. A more subtle influence than mercantile jealousy 1 Text, pp. 80, 81. 2 Ibid., p. 32. 3 lbid., pp. 84, 85. |