English Economic History: Select Documents. Various
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Название: English Economic History: Select Documents

Автор: Various

Издательство: Bookwire

Жанр: Языкознание

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isbn: 4057664561329

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СКАЧАТЬ was made to Ralph atte Wyk, escheator of the lord the King, that he should make due execution thereof forthwith for the lord the King, etc., because it was found before the aforesaid justices that he has goods and chattels to the value of 20l., which the same Ralph seized forthwith and made further execution, etc.

      [m. 10d.] Ely.—Adam Clymme was taken as an insurgent traitorously against his allegiance, and because on Saturday next after the feast of Corpus Christi in the 4th year of the reign of King Richard the second after the Conquest, he traitorously with others made insurrection at Ely, feloniously broke and entered the close of Thomas Somenour and there took and carried away divers rolls, estreats of the green wax of the lord the King and the Bishop of Ely, and other muniments touching the Court of the lord the King, and forthwith caused them to be burned there to the prejudice of the crown of the lord the King.

      Further that the same Adam on Sunday and Monday next following caused to be proclaimed there that no man of law or other officer in the execution of duty should escape without beheading.

      Further that the same Adam the day and year aforesaid at the time of the insurrection was always wandering armed with arms displayed, bearing a standard, to assemble insurgents, commanding that no man of whatsoever condition he were, free or bond, should obey his lord to do any services or customs, under pain of beheading, otherwise than he should declare to them on behalf of the Great Fellowship. And so he traitorously took upon him royal power. And he came, brought by the sheriff, and was charged before the aforesaid justices touching the premises, in what manner he would acquit himself thereof. And he says that he is not guilty of the premises imputed to him or of any of the premises, and hereof puts himself on the country, etc. And forthwith a jury is made thereon for the lord the King by twelve [good and lawful men] etc., who being chosen hereto, tried and sworn, say on their oath that the aforesaid Adam is guilty of all the articles. By the discretion of the justices the same Adam is drawn and hanged, etc. And it was found there that the same Adam has in the town aforesaid chattels to the value of 32s., which Ralph atte Wyk, escheator of the lord the King, seized forthwith and made further execution for the lord the King, etc.

       Table of Contents

      TOWNS AND GILDS

      1. Payments made to the crown by gilds in the twelfth century, 1179–80—2. Charter of liberties to the borough of Tewkesbury, 1314—3. Charter of liberties to the borough of Gloucester, 1227—4. Dispute between towns touching the payment of toll, 1222—5. Dispute with a lord touching a gild merchant, 1223–4—6. The affiliation of boroughs, 1227—7. Bondman received in a borough, 1237–8—8. An intermunicipal agreement in respect of toll, 1239—9. Enforcement of charter granting freedom from toll, 1416—10. Licence for an alien to be of the gild merchant of London, 1252—11. Dispute between a gild merchant and an abbot, 1304—12. Complaints of the men of Leicester against the lord, 1322—13. Grant of pavage to the lord of a town, 1328—14. Misappropriation of the tolls levied for pavage, 1336—15. Ordinances of the White Tawyers of London, 1346—16. Dispute between Masters and Journeymen, 1396—17. Ordinances of the Dyers of Bristol, 1407—18. Incorporation of the Haberdashers of London, 1448—19. Indenture of Apprenticeship, 1459—20. A runaway apprentice, c. 1425—21. Incorporation of a gild for religious and charitable uses, 1447.

      The origin and early development of towns, the emergence of gild merchant and craft gild, the mutual relationship of the two types of gild, and the part played by each in the evolution of municipal self-government, present problems to which there is no simple solution. The undoubtedly military object of many of the Saxon boroughs fails to explain their economic development; while the possession of a market did not lead of necessity to self-government. Often, indeed, there is little economic difference between a large manor and a small town; the towns pursued agriculture, and the manors engaged in industry. None the less the early borough, with its court co-ordinate with the hundred court, its special peace, and its market, stands out at the time of the Conquest as a distinct variety of communitas, and easily became a centre of specialised industry and privileged association. Constitutional and economic growth proceed side by side; a measure of liberty encourages commercial progress, and the profits of trade purchase a larger measure of liberty.

      In this section an attempt has been made to illustrate the gradual expansion of the economic life of the town from the twelfth century onwards. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries witnessed a great and growing activity; craft gilds and gilds merchant were arising everywhere, and whether licensed or unlicensed, were paying considerable sums to the crown for privileges bought or usurped, (No. 1). The more important boroughs were securing charters from their lords (Nos. 2 and 3), while smaller towns were struggling to win economic freedom, that is to say, local monopoly, against serious obstacles (No. 5). The fate of a town depended much on the lord; the king's boroughs were more favoured than those of an earl or lesser baron, while the latter fared better than towns in the hands of a prelate (Nos. 11 and 12). The exaction of tolls and the claim to exemption from tolls, which prove the existence of considerable intermunicipal trade, were a common cause of litigation. The grant of incompatible privileges to rival communities was a source of profit to the mediæval monarchy; the crown secured payment in hand for the charters, and reaped the benefit of the inevitable dispute that followed (Nos. 4 and 8). The growth of intercourse is further СКАЧАТЬ