Government and Guilds

Medicine

Master Surgeons

• Faithfully follow their calling • Take reasonable payment for their services, • Present to the mayor and aldermen the defaults

of others who undertake cures; • Be ready to attend the maimed and wounded at

all times;• Give truthful information to city officers

concerning the maimed, wounded, and others if they be in peril of death.

John Arderne (1307−1377)

• Surgeon and author• Practica of fistula-in-ano– instruments used, – step- by-step account of the operation,– complications – dressings, ointments, and other medicaments to

be given to the patient afterwards • De cura oculorum

Arderne performing

fistula operationSurgical Instruments

Arderne‘Zodiac Man’

Arderne’s practice

• Opium to be used as a soporific as as an external anaesthetic that the patient ‘schal slepe so that he schal fele no kuttyng',

• Dress wounds "with clean sponges wrung out of very hot water,” and “ not oftener than every third day”

• “A leech should not laugh nor talk too much, and as far as possible he should avoid the company of knaves.”

Zodiac Man Times for surgeryMedical text (~1486)

Vein Man(~1486)

Regulation

• Depend on self-regulation of trades– Vintners inspected wines brought into the city – Grocers, Drapers, Goldsmiths and other guilds oversaw

the goods and manufacturing related to their mysteries• Surgeons and Barber-Surgeons’ guilds were

empowered by the mayor to control surgical practice.

• 1423 Conjoint College of Physicians and Surgeons was founded with a mandate to oversee surgery and medicine in London.

1424 Forest v. Rolf, Harwe, Dalton

• Hand wound continued to bleed• Rolf, barber-surgeon, brought in Dalton, fellow

barber-surgeon and John Harwe, surgeon• Cauterization succeeded but left Forest’s hand

disfigured

Jury Decision − Forest Case

• Astrological signs were unfavorable to Forest's recovery because the moon, a bloody sign, was in the constellation of Gemini which governed the arms and legs.

• Patient had chosen mutilation over death• Surgeons had acted in correct manner

Courts

• The higher courts: Exchequer, Common Pleas, Chancery, King’s Bench

• Local courts– Manorial courts– County and borough courts

• Justices of the Peace

Court of the Exchequer

Court of the King’s Bench

Court of Common Pleas

Court of Chancery

Uses

• Right to enjoy the benefits of property) whether the owner of the right has ownership of title or not.

• Under English Common Law "use" of real property became extremely important since title could not be conveyed outside a family line due to "restraints on alienation," so "use" of the property was transferred instead.

Chancery

• A record office with custody of the great seal• Chancellors – bishops and archbishops• Becomes focus of disputes about records• Questions about Crown property – the “Latin

side”• “English side” with pleading and records in

French and English

Reasons to Allow Uses

• Posthumous payment of debts• Prayers• Full transfer to purchaser without problems of

dower rights• Control by a father over his widow/heirs

Cases for Chancery

• Lack of written satisfaction of debt• Cases not covered by common law

Operation of Chancery Court

• “Court of Conscience”• Some cases decided by common law• Decisions generally not recorded• Decisions apply to the person involved only

Variations in orthography 14th/15th centuries

Type I

Midlands

Type II

14th C. London

Type III

Chaucer

Type IV

Chancery

such sych suche swich suchethey þey hij they theygave zouun yafe yaf gaftheir her hire hire theyre

Law Question

• Suppose that as a result of knight-service to the king, a man holds land in two different English counties— in Norfolk and in Suffolk. He has two sons but dies while they are still minors. The laws of Norfolk provide that the elder son is the heir. The laws of Suffolk provide that the younger son is the heir. When the elder son comes of age, in what way can he claim ownership in the tenements in Suffolk?"

Answers

The award in Suffolk was based on an assumption that the elder son was illegitimate.1. The eider son, when he comes of age, may

take possession by force and the younger son can then sue.

2. With two competing claims, neither son can gain possession until there is a decisionfrom Chancery.

London Government

• Mayor– Wards- aldermen– Freemen (but not freewomen)

• Assize of Bread, Wine, Ale, Nuisance and Building– Established standards and enforced them

(Hustings courts)

Independence of Boroughs

• Royal charter to incorporate as a county (Bristol, 1373; York, 1396; Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1400; Norwich, 1404; Lincoln, 1409)

• 1440 Plymouth by Act of Parliament• Own sheriff• Control of vacant land; purchase of land– Income from rents

Five Points

Royal sanction to existing practices1. Right to acquire land in mortmain (perpetual)2. Right of perpetual succession3. Right to sue and be sued4. Right to issue by-laws5. Right to a seal

Charters

• Boundaries• Election of officials• Fairs and markets• Tolls• Exemption from local abbeys• Parliamentary representation

The Chartered Guilds

Livery Companies

1. Mercers’ (1394)2. Grocers’ (1428)3. Drapers’ (1438, 1606)4. Fishmongers’ (1272,

1508)5. Goldsmiths’ (1327)

6. Merchant Taylors’(1326)

7. Skinners’ (1327)8. Haberdashers’ (1448)9. Salters’ (1394)10. Ironmongers’ (1463)11. Vintners’ (1437)12. Fullers (Clothworkers’)

(1480)

1484

Membership

• Freemen. – Patrimony– Apprenticeship

• Liverymen– Freemen advanced by a vote of the court of the

Company. – Take part in the election of the Lord Mayor, the

Sheriffs, and the other traditional officers of the City.

Privileges of Freedom of the City

• Vote in Parliamentary and civic elections;• Exemption from all tolls payable on animals

brought into the City for sale;• Exempt from all market tolls payable

anywhere in the country;• Exempt from naval impressment;• Certain legal privileges with respect to being

tried and imprisoned.

Members

Alice Bridenell1427 FreedomDaughter, New freeman Co MercerJane Eyre1428 Apprenticeship Master Co Draper

Religious connections

• Come to mass at their home church on the saint’s day (and stay for the entire mass)

• Come to the dinner– Bring a wife or companion– Fees vary for livery members, out-of-towners and

others of the trade; go to maintenance of the priest

• Guild provides ornaments for the church

Merchants Tailors Company

Members in the 15th century include:• Bishops from fourteen sees became members, – Three bishops of St. David's between 1411 and

1435, – Five bishops of London.

• Parsons, vicars and rectors of 12 London parishes

Merchant Tailors Company

Members (13981473)• Tailors 655• Non-tailors 1229• 51 outside London• 137 gentry • 46 knights– including Sir John Fastolf– Nevilles and Percies

• Henry V

Company NumberGrocers: 42Drapers: 37Mercers: 28Vintners: 28Fishmongers: 24Skinners: 18Goldsmiths: 17Clothworkers 16Haberdashers 5Ironmongers: 4Salters: 4

Ordinances – Tailors of Lincoln

• Entry: A quarter of barley or the price of the best malt

• Obligation: Corpus Chrisit procession• Poor: 7d/week• Death: burial expenses• Pilgrimage: 1d for Jerusalem; 1/2d for Rome

or Compostela

Social and Religious Guilds

• Care for needy by subscription• Support for priests• Processions• Feasts

Preamble

In þe worship of god almighti oure creator, and hys moder seinte marie, and al halwes, and seint Jame apostle, a fraternitee is bygonne of good men, in þe chirche of seint Jame atte Garlekhith in Londone, þe day of seint Jame, þe ȝer of our lord Ml.CCC.LXXV., for amendement of her lyues and of her soules, and to noriche more loue bytwene þe bretheren and sustren of þe bretherhede: and eche of hem had sworen on þe bok, to perſourme þe pointȝ vndernethe wryten atte here power.

Trades 1400

Haberdasher

• Guild recognized 1447• Men’s clothing millinery, accessories • Rising importance of men’s fashion

Livery Companies

Gilds and Welfare

• Some doles for sick and aged• Paid for funerals and prayers for the dead• Almshouses

Guilds and Government 1400-1450 1450-1500

Craft Aldermen Mayors Aldermen MayorsMercers 17 10 24 15Grocers 14 9 17 9Drapers 16 9 17 9Fishmongers 10 5 5 4Goldsmiths 8 2 8 4Skinners 4 2 9 3Ironmongers 4 2 3 -Vintners 2 -Tailors 1 7 1Haberdashers 3 1Salters 3 3

Guilds, Government, Aliens

• 1432 Require traders to live in the City • 1451 Cordwainers get registration of aliens• 1456-57 rioting against Italian merchants

seemingly orchestrated by members of the Mercers' Company

Guild of St. Peter, Bardwell