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England, while their functions have wholly changed, the organization remains. The origin of the city companies is to be found in the craftgilds of the See also:

MIDDLE

middle ages. The See also:

ABSENCE (Lat. absentia)

absence of a strong central authority accounts for the tendency of See also:

CONFEDERATION (Fr. confederation, Lat. confoederatio, from foedus, a league, foederare, to form a league)

confederation in the beginning of See also:

MODERN

modern societies. Artificial See also:

groups, formed in See also:

IMITATION (Lat. imitatio, from intitari, to imitate)

imitation of the See also:

FAMILY

family, discharged the duties which the family was no longer able, and the See also:

state was not yet able, to undertake. The inhabitants of towns were forced into the societies known as gild-merchants, which in course of time monopolized the municipal See also:

government, became exclusive, and so caused the growth of similar societies among excluded citizens. The craftgilds were such societies, composed of handicraftsmen, which entered upon a struggle with the earlier See also:

GILDS, or GUILDS

gilds and finally defeated them. The circumstances and results of the struggle were of much the same See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character in England and on the See also:

CONTINENT (from Lat. continere, "to hold together "; hence " connected," " continuous ")

continent. In London the victory of the crafts is decisively marked by the See also:

ordinance of the time of See also:

EDWARD

Edward II., which required every See also:

CITIZEN (a form corrupted in Eng., apparently by analogy with " denizen," from O. Fr. citeain, mod. Fr. citoyen)

citizen to be a member of some See also:

trade or See also:

MYSTERY (Gr. µw(Trilpcov, from tcuvrm, an initiate, µfew, to shut the mouth)

mystery, and by another ordinance in 1375 which transferred the right of See also:

election of corporate See also:

OFFICERS

officers (including members of See also:

PARLIAMENT (Anglo-Lat. parliamentum, Fr. parlement, from parler, to speak)

parliament) from the See also:

ward-representatives to the trading companies. Henceforward, and for many years, the companies engrossed See also:

POLITICAL

political and municipal See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power in the city of London. The trading See also:

FRATERNITIES, COLLEGE

fraternities assumed generally the character of corporations in the reign of Edward III.

Many of them had been chartered before, but their privileges, hitherto exercised only on sufferance and by See also:

PAYMENT (Fr. paiement, from payer, to pay; Lat. pacare, to appease, pax, peace)

payment of their terms, were now confirmed by letters patent. Edward III. himself became a member of the fraternity of See also:

LINEN

Linen Armourers, or See also:

MERCHANT (O. Fr. marcheant, modern marchand; from Lat. mercari, to trade, merx, goods, merchandise)

Merchant Taylors, and other distinguished persons followed his example. From this time they are called livery companies, "from now generally assuming a distinctive See also:

DRESS (from the Fr. dresser, to set out, arrange, formed from Lat. directus, arranged, dirigere, to direct, arrange)

dress or livery." The origin of the Grocers' See also:

COMPANY

Company is thus described: " Twenty-two persons, carrying on the business of pepperers in Soper's See also:

Lane, Cheapside, agree to meet together, to a See also:

DINNER

dinner, at the See also:

Abbot of See also:

Bury's, St See also:

Mary See also:

AXE (0. Eng. aex; a word common, in different forms, in the Teutonic languages, and akin to the Greek 41v17; the New English Dictionary prefers the spelling " ax ")

Axe, and commit the particulars of their formation into a trading society to See also:

writing. They elect after dinner two persons of the company so assembled—See also:

Roger Osekyn and See also:

Lawrence de Haliwell—as their first See also:

GOVERNORS

governors or wardens, appointing, at the same time, in conformity with the pious See also:

CUSTOM (from O. Fr. costume, costume or coustume; Low Lat. costuma, a shortened form of consuetudo)

custom of the See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age, a See also:

PRIEST (Ger. Priester, Fr. pretre)

priest or See also:

CHAPLAIN

chaplain to celebrate divine offices for their souls " (See also:

Heath's "See also:

Account of the Grocers' Company," quoted in See also:

Herbert's Twelve See also:

GREAT

Great Livery Companies, 1836, i. 43). The religious observances and the See also:

COMMON

common feasts were characteristic features of those institutions. They were therefore not merely trade unions in the current meaning of that phrase, but may rather be described as forms of See also:

INDUSTRIAL

industrial self-government, the basis of See also:

union being the membership of a common trade, and the authority of the society extending to the See also:

general welfare, spiritual and temporal, of its members. It must be remembered that they flourished at a time when the See also:

SEPARATE

separate interests of See also:

MASTER (Lat. magister, related to tnagis, more, as the corresponding minister is to minus, less; the English form is due partly to the O. Eng. maegister, and partly to O. Fr. maistre, mod. maitre; cf. Du. meester, Ger. Meister, Ital. maestro)

master and servant had not yet been created; and, indeed, when that fundamental See also:

DIVISION (from Lat. dividere, to break up into parts, separate)

division of interests arose, the companies gradually lost their functions in the regulation of See also:

INDUSTRY (Lat. industria, from indu-, a form of the pre, position in, and either stare, to stand, or struere, to pile up)

industry. The fact that the craftsmen were a homogeneous See also:

order will account for the wide authority claimed by their societies, and the important public See also:

POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873)

powers which were conceded to them. In the regulation of trade they possessed extensive powers. They required every one carrying on the trade to join the company. In 1363, in See also:

ANSWER (derived from and, against, and the same root as swear)

answer to a remonstrance against the See also:

MISCHIEF

mischief caused by " the merchants called grocers who engrossed all manner of merchandize vendable, and who suddenly raised the prices of such merchandize within the See also:

REALM

realm," it was enacted " that all artificers and See also:

PEOPLE

people of mysteries shall each choose his own mystery 1 before next See also:

CANDLEMAS (Lat. festum candelarum live luminum)

Candlemas, and that, having so chosen it, he shall henceforth use no other." L.

See also:

Brentano (On Gilds) holds that it is wrong to represent such regulations as monopolistic, inasmuch as there was no question whatever of a See also:

MONOPOLY (Gr. govomeXla or govoircaXwv, exclusive sale, from govds, alone, and irwXeiv, to sell)

monopoly in that time nor until the degeneration of the craftgilds into limited corporations of capitalists. In the regulation of trade the right of See also:

SEARCH, or VISIT AND SEARCH

search was an important See also:

INSTRUMENT (Lat. instrumentum, from insincere, to build up, furnish, arrange, prepare)

instrument. The wardens of the grocers are to "assayen weights, powders, confeccions, platers, oyntments and all other things belonging to the same crafte.". The goldsmiths had the assay of metals, the fishmongers the oversight of See also:

fish, the vintners of the tasting of See also:

WINE (Lat. vinum, Gr. oivos)

wine, &c. The companies enforced their regulations on their members by force. Many of their ordinances looked to the domestic affairs and private conduct of the members. The grocers ordain " that no See also:

man of the fraternite take his neyghbor's See also:

house y` is of the same fraternite, or enhaunce the See also:

RENT

rent against the will of the foresaid neyghbor." See also:

PERJURY (through the Anglo-Fr. perjurie, modern parjure, Lat. perjurium, a false oath, perjurare, to swear falsely)

Perjury is to be punished by the wardens and society with such correction as that other men of the fellowship may be warned thereby. Members reduced to poverty by adventures on the See also:

sea, increased See also:

price of goods, borrowing and pledging, or any other misfortune, are to be assisted " out of the common See also:

MONEY

money, according to his situation, if he could not do without." Following what appears to be the natural See also:

law of their being, the companies gradually lost their industrial character. The course of decay would seem to have been the following. The capitalists gradually assumed the See also:

lead in the various societies, the richer members engrossed the power and the companies tended to become hereditary and exclusive. Persons might be members who had nothing to do with the See also:

CRAFT (a word common to Teutonic languages for strength, or power; cf. Ger. Kraft)

craft, and the rise of great capitalists and the development of competition in trade made the regulation of industry by means of companies no longer possible. For an account of the " degeneration of craft-gilds" a general reference may be made to Brentano, On Gilds (187o), and C..See also:

GROSS

Gross, The Gild Merchant (2 vols., ago).

The usurpation of power on the See also:

PART

part of the richer members was not always effected without opposition. Brentano refers to a pamphlet on the Clothworkers' Company, published in 1649, which asserts that " the commonalty " in the old charters meant, not the whole gild, but only the masters, wardens and assistants. Herbert records a dispute in the Goldsmiths' Company in 1529. The mode of electing officers, and the See also:

SYSTEM

system of management generally, was challenged by three members who called themselves "artificers, poor men of the craft of goldsmiths." The company, or rather, the wardens, the assistants and livery presented a See also:

PETITION (Lat. for " seeking " or " praying ")

petition to the See also:

lord See also:

mayor, which was answered by the discontented craftsmen. The dispute was carried into the See also:

court of See also:

CHANCERY

chancery and the See also:

STAR

star chamber. The artificers accused the company of subverting their grants, misappropriating the funds Properly the ..word should be spelled, as it was originally, " mistery ;" it comes through the O. Fr. mestier, modern metier, from See also:

Lat. ministerium, service, employment, and meant a trade or craft, and hence the plays acted by craftsmen and members of gilds were called " mystery plays " (see See also:

DRAMA (literally "action," from Gr. Snail, act or do)

DRAMA). For the word meaning a hidden or See also:

SECRET (Lat. secretum, hidden, concealed)

secret rite, with which this has so often been confused, see MYSTERY.and changing the constitution of the society, and they complain of this being done by the usurpation of persons who "were but merchant goldsmiths, and had but little knowledge in the See also:

SCIENCE (Lat. scientia, from scire; to learn, know)

science." In 1531 the three complainants were expelled from the company, and then the dispute seems to have ended. In the last See also:

STAGE (Fr. 6/age; from Lat. stare, to stand)

stage of the companies the members have ceased to have any connexion with the trades, and in most cases their regulative functions have disappeared. The one characteristic which has clung to them throughout is that of owners of See also:

PROPERTY

property and managers of charitable See also:

TRUSTS

trusts. The connexion between the companies and the See also:

MUNICIPALITY

municipality is shortly as follows. The ordinance of Edward II. required freemen of the city to be members of one or other of the companies.

By the ordinance of 49 Edw. III. (1375), the trading companies were to nominate the members of common See also:

COUNCIL (Lat. concilium, from cum, together, and the root cal, to call)

council, and the persons so nominated alone were to attend both at common See also:

COUNCILS

councils and at elections. An ordinance in 7 See also:

Richard II. (1383) restored the elections of common councilmen to the wards, but corporate officers and representatives in parliament were elected by a See also:

convention summoned by the lord mayor from the nominees of the companies. An See also:

ACT (Lat. actus, actum)

act of common council in 7 Edw. IV. (1467) appointed the election of mayor, sheriffs, &c., to be in the common council, together with the masters and wardens of the companies. By 15 Edw. IV. masters and wardens were ordered to See also:

ASSOCIATE (Lat. associates, from ad, to, and sociare to join)

associate with themselves the honest men of their mysteries, and come in their best liveries to the elections; that is to say, the See also:

FRANCHISE (from 0. Fr. franchise, freedom, franc, free)

franchise was restricted to the " liverymen " of the companies. At this time the See also:

CORPORATION (from Lat. corporare, to form into a body, corpus, corporis)

corporation exercised supreme See also:

CONTROL (Fr. contrdle, older form contre rolle, from Med. Lat. contra-rotulus, a counter roll or copy of a document used to check the original; there is no instance in English of the use of " control " in this, its literal, meaning)

control over the companies, and the companies were still genuine associations of the traders and householders of the city. The delegation of the franchise to the liverymen was thus, in point of fact, the selection of a See also:

SUPERIOR

superior class of householders to represent the See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest.

When the corporation lost its control over the companies, and the members of the companies ceased to be traders and householders, the liverymen were no longer a representative class, and some See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change in the system became necessary. The Reform Acts of 1832 and 1867 reformed the See also:

REPRESENTATION

representation in several particulars. The liverymen of the companies, being freemen of the city, have still, however, the exclusive power of electing the lord mayor, sheriffs, See also:

chamberlain and other corporate officers. The contributions made by the companies to the public purposes of the state and the city are interesting points in their See also:

early See also:

HISTORY

history. Their See also:

WEALTH

wealth and their representative character made them a most appropriate instrument for the enforcement of irregular See also:

taxation. The See also:

LOAN (adapted from the Scandinavian form of a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Swed. Mn, Icel. lan, Dut. leen; the O.E. laen appears in " lend," the ultimate source is seen in the root of Gr. Xeiaecv and Lat. linquere, to leave)

loan of 21,263, 6s. 8d. to See also:

Henry VIII. for his See also:

WARS

wars in See also:

Scotland, in 1544, is believed by Herbert to be the first instance of a pecuniary See also:

grant to the See also:

CROWN

crown, but the practice rapidly gained ground. The See also:

CONFISCATION (from Lat. confiscare, to consign to the fiscus, or imperial treasury)

confiscation of ecclesiastical property at the time of the See also:

Reformation affected many of the trusts of the companies; and they were compelled to make returns of their property devoted to religious uses, and to pay over the rents to the crown. In course of time the taxation of the companies became " a See also:

REGULAR

regular source of See also:

SUPPLY (through Fr. from Lat. supplere, to fill up)

supply to government." The historians of the city have for the most part described these as unjust and tyrannical exactions, but, looking at the representative and municipal character of the companies, and the purposes to which their contributions were applied, we may regard them as a rough but not unfair mode of taxation. The government, when money was wanted for public See also:

WORKS

works, informed the lord mayor, who apportioned the sums required among the various societies, and issued precepts for its payment. Contributions towards setting the poor to See also:

WORK

work, erecting the Royal See also:

EXCHANGE

Exchange, cleansing the city ditch, discovering new countries, furnishing military and See also:

NAVAL

naval armaments, for men, arms and See also:

AMMUNITION

ammunition for the See also:

defence of the city, are among what Herbert calls the sponging expedients of the government. The crown occasionally interfered in a more unjustifiable manner with the companies in the exercise of their patronage.

The Stuarts made strenuous efforts to get the control of the companies.

End of Article: LIVERY COMPANIES

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