before is said, that then the Mayor and his council for the time being shall cause them to be compelled to pay and satisfy the said persons so damaged of all that is adjudged by them. And in case that the said two masters after their oath made be negligent in executing their office touching their said mistery, that they be punished and amerced according to the advice of the Mayor and of the court aforesaid so the use of the chamber and to the common profit as is aforesaid.
Further, that no servant or apprentice of the said mistery be henceforth admitted to the liberties of Bristol to be a burgess sworn to exercise the said mistery until it be testified to the court before the Mayor of Bristol by the said two masters that they are able and well learned in the said craft of dyeing, to save and keep the goods of the good folk who are wont to be served for their money in the exercise of the mistery aforesaid. And if any master of the said mistery make any such servant or apprentice, if he be not able and well learned in the said craft, as before is said, he shall incur the penalty of 20s. for each time, to wit, to the use and profit of the commonalty, as before is said, 13s. 4d., and to the masters for their light, 6s. 8d., without any pardon, provided always that the Mayor of the town of Bristol have his power and jurisdiction to accept and make burgesses of each person presented to him, as has been used and accustomed before these times, these ordinances notwithstanding.
Further, forasmuch as often before these times divers folk, as well those who have not been apprentices, servants or masters of the said mistery, as other folk who are of other misteries, not cunning nor having knowledge in the aforesaid art of dyeing, have taken upon them to dye cloths and wools put in woad, as well of good folk of the town as of the country round, which, by reason of ill management and through lack of knowledge of the said folk, are greatly impaired of their colours and many other defects to the great loss and damage of the owners of the said cloths and great scandal of the town and shame of the whole craft aforesaid, whereby the masters and apprentices of the said craft of dyeing go vagrant for lack of work, because the said folk of other crafts have been occupied in their said craft, to their great mischief and undoing, therefore it is ordained and assented that henceforward no manner of man of the same craft nor any other mistery do dye any cloth or wool, unless it be presented by the said masters that he be good and able and sufficiently learned in the said craft, upon pain of paying to the Mayor and Bailiffs of the chamber for the use and common profit, as before is said, at the first default 6s. 8d., at the second default 13s. 4d., at the third default 20s., and for each default after the said three defaults 20s., without any pardon, so that the said masters have for their labour the third part arising from the said defaults for their light, provided always that all the burgesses of this town may make their profit for dyeing in their houses their own cloths, as has been used before these times, these ordinances notwithstanding.
And after the view of the said petition and ordinances aforesaid by the Mayor and Common Council, it was assented that all the masters of the said mistery of dyeing dwelling within the franchise of Bristol should come before the Mayor to hear their said ordinances and whether they would assent thereto and grant them or not. And by command of the … Mayor, Ralph Dyer … and many others of the mistery aforesaid came in their own persons, to whom all the said ordinances were published and declared, and every of them in the presence of the Mayor aforesaid granted and assented to all the ordinances and pains aforesaid, praying of their common assent that the ordinances and pains aforesaid be ratified, confirmed and enrolled of record in the papers of the Gildhall of Bristol, and be put in due execution for ever, saving always to the jurisdiction of the Mayor and Common Council of the town of Bristol that if any ordinance or any new addition hereafter touching the mistery aforesaid which may be profitable as well for the town as for the aforesaid mistery, that then by the advice and ordinance of the Mayor of Bristol for the time being and the Council of the town and also of the masters of the said mistery, they shall be corrected and amended according to good faith and reason and put in due execution, the ordinances aforesaid notwithstanding. Provided also that the dyers abovesaid be bound by these ordinances to make the assay of woad and to work wools and cloths as well in woad as in madder of the goods of all merchants and burgesses of Bristol, taking for their labour reasonably as has been accustomed and used before these times. In witness whereof, at the special prayer and request of the said masters to keep and maintain their ordinances aforesaid, we have put hereto the seal of the office of the Mayoralty of the town of Bristol. Given in the Gildhall of the same town 17 March, 8 Henry IV.[192]
[192] From the confirmation of 13 Henry IV. Printed in The Red Book of Bristol, ii. p. 81.
18. Incorporation of the Fraternity of the Haberdashers Of London [Patent Roll, 26 Henry VI, p. 2, m. 23], 1448.
The King to all to whom, etc., greeting. Know ye that of our especial grace and the inspiration of charity, and for the especial devotion which we bear and have towards the Blessed Virgin Catherine, we have granted and given licence for us and our heirs, as much as in us lies, to our beloved lieges, the men of the mistery of Haberdashers within our city of London, that they may begin, unite, found, create, erect and establish a gild or fraternity in honour of the same Virgin of men of the mistery aforesaid and others, and have and hold that gild or fraternity so begun, united, founded, created, erected and established, and enjoy and exercise the same to them and their successors for all future times to endure; and that they and their successors may increase and augment the same gild or fraternity and hold the gild or fraternity aforesaid of the said mistery of Haberdashers and any persons whom they will receive within the fraternity aforesaid, and may elect and make four wardens from themselves as often as they shall please or need shall be for the governance, custody and rule of the said fraternity for ever, as shall best please them; and that the said wardens and their successors each year may make a livery of vesture of one suit among the brethren and sisters of the same fraternity, and their meetings and gatherings in places of our city aforesaid, and there in honest manner hold and keep their feast of food and drink at the feast of St. Catherine the Virgin, and make ordinances among themselves as often as they shall please and as they shall deem most necessary and opportune, and ordain and rule their mistery and correct and amend defects of their servants by view of the Mayor of the city aforesaid for the time being or of any person whom he shall depute hereto in his place, as they shall deem fit to be done for the greater utility of the commonalty of our people; and that none within the liberty of the city aforesaid keep a shop or house of that mistery, unless he be of the liberty of that city, nor any be admitted to the liberty of the said city in the same mistery, unless he be presented by the aforesaid wardens or their successors and by four other good and lawful men of the same mistery, and it be testified to the Mayor of our said city for the time being that he is good, faithful and fit for the same. And further of our more abundant grace and at the supplication of our said lieges, the men of the mistery aforesaid, we will and grant for us and our heirs, as much as in us lies, that the same wardens and their successors be perpetual and capable and the said fraternity be by itself a solid and perpetual and corporate fraternity, and that that fraternity be hereafter named the fraternity of St. Catherine the Virgin of Haberdashers in the city of London, and the said wardens and their successors [the wardens] of the fraternity of St. Catherine the Virgin of Haberdashers in the city of London, and we incorporate the said wardens and their successors and the fraternity aforesaid to endure for ever, and we make them as it were one body and declare, accept and approve them for one body and hold them for one body. We have granted also for us and our heirs, as far as in us lies, to the aforesaid wardens, that they and their successors, by the name of the wardens of the fraternity of St. Catherine the Virgin of Haberdashers in the city of London, may acquire to them and their successors in fee and perpetuity lands, tenements, rents, annuities and other possessions as well of those which are held of us in free burgage as others, provided that by inquisitions to be taken thereon in due form and returned into the Chancery of us and our heirs it be found that it can be done without damage or prejudice to us or our heirs or others whomsoever, and that they may have a common seal and be impleaded and implead others by the name of the wardens of the fraternity of St. Catherine the Virgin of Haberdashers in the city of London for ever before
