Thus it may be presumed that apprenticeship to a brother or sister of the Carpenters’ Company conferred the right of freedom upon any girls who chose to avail themselves of the privilege, even when the trade actually learnt was not that of carpentry. Amongst the girl apprentices only one other was directly bound to a woman, namely “Elizabetha filia Hester Eitchus ux. Geo. Eitchus nuper Civi et Carpentar. pon se dict Hester matri pro septem ann a dat etc.”[[363]] Although Hester Eitchus is here called “uxor” she must really have been a widow, for her name would not have appeared alone on the indenture during her husband’s lifetime; boy apprentices had previously been bound to him, and no doubt as in the other cases husband and wife had been prosecuting their several trades simultaneously, the wife retaining her membership in the Carpenters’ Company when left a widow. An independent business must have been very necessary for the wife in cases where the husband worked for wages, and not on his own account, for in 1563 carpenter’s wages were fixed “be my lorde mayors commandement ... yf they dyd fynde themselves meat and drynke at xiiijᵈ the day and their servants xijᵈ. Itm otherwises the sayd carpynters to have viijᵈ the day wayges meat & drynke & their servants vjᵈ meat & drynke.”[[364]] These wages would have been inadequate for the maintenance of a family in London, and therefore unless the carpenter was in a position to employ apprentices and enter into contracts, in which case he could find employment also for his wife, she must have traded in some way on her own account.
It is difficult to say how far the position of women in the Stationers’ and Carpenters’ Companies was typical of their position in the other great London Companies and in the Gilds and Companies which flourished or decayed in the provinces. All these organisations resembled each other in certain broad outlines, but varied considerably in details. All seem to have agreed in the early association of brothers and sisters on equal terms for social and religious purposes. Thus the Carpenters’ was “established one perpetual brotherhood, or guild ... to consist of one master, three wardens, and commonalty of freemen, of the Mystery of Carpentry ... and of the brethren and sisters of freemen of the said mystery.”[[365]] The charter granted by Henry VI. to the Armourers and Braziers provided “that the brethren and sisters of that ffraternity or guild, ... should be of itself one perpetual community ... and have perpetual sucession. And that the brothers and sisters of the same ffraternity or guild, ... might choose and make one Master and two Wardens from among themselves; and also elect and make another Master and other Wardens into the office aforesaid, according to the ordinances of the better and worthier part of the same brethren and sisters....”[[366]] In this case the sisters were regarded as active and responsible members but of the Merchant Taylors Clode says “It is clear that women were originally admitted as members and took apprentices; that it was customary in later years for women to dine or be present at the quarterly meetings is evidenced by a notice of their absence in 1603, ‘the upper table near to the garden, commonly called the Mistris Table, was furnished with sword bearer and gentlemen strangers, there being no gentlewomen at this Quarter Day.’ In many of the wills of early benefactors, sisters as well as brethren are named as ‘devisees.’ Thus in Sibsay’s (1404) the devise is ‘to the Master and Wardens and brethren and sisters’.... When an Almsman of the Livery married with the Company’s consent his widow remained during her life an almswoman, and was buried by the Company. In that sense she was treated as a sister of the fraternity, but she probably exercised no rights as a member of it.”[[367]]
The sisters are often referred to in the rules relating to the dinners, which were such an important feature of gild life. The “Grocers” provided that “Every one of the Fraternity from thenceforward, that has a wife or companion, shall come to the feast, and bring with him a lady if he pleases; [et ameyne avec luy une demoiselle si luy plest] if they cannot come, for the reasons hereafter named, that is to say, sick, big with child, and near deliverance, without any other exception; and that every man shall pay for his wife 20d.; also, that each shall pay 5s., that is to say, 20d. for himself, 20d. for his companion, and 20d. for the priest. And that all women who are not of the Fraternity, and afterwards should be married to any of the Fraternity, shall be entered and looked upon as of the Fraternity for ever, and shall be assisted and made as one of us; and after the death of her husband, the widow shall come to the dinner, and pay 40d. if she is able. And if the said widow marries any one not of the Fraternity, she shall not be admitted to the said feast, nor have any assistance given her, as long as she remains so married, be whom she will; nor none of us ought to meddle or interfere in anything with her on account of the Fraternity, as long as she remains unmarried.”[[368]]
The Wardens of the Merchant Gild at Beverley were directed to make in turn yearly “one dinner for all his bretherne and theire wieves.”[[369]] The Pewterers decided that “every man and wif that comyth to the yemandries dynner sholde paye xvjid. And every Jorneyman that hath a wif ... xvjᵈ. And every lone man beinge a howsholder that comyth to dynner shall paye xijᵈ. and every Jorneyman having no wif and comyth to dynner shall paye viijᵈ. ... every man that hath bynne maryed wᵗʰin the same ij years shall geve his cocke or eƚƚe paye xijᵈ.... Provided always that none bringe his gest wᵗʰ him wᵗʰowt he paye for his dynner as moch as he paith for hymself and that they bring no childerne wᵗʰ them passing one & no more.”[[370]] In 1605 it was agreed that “ther shalbe called all the whole clothyng and ther wyves and the wydowes whose husbandes have byne of the clothynge and that shalbe payed ijs. man & wyffe and the wydowes xijid. a peece.”[[371]] In 1672, the expense of entertaining becoming irksome, “an order of Coʳᵗ for ye abateing extraoʳdinary Feasting” was made, requiring the “Master & Wardens ... to deposit each 12li & spend yᵉ one half thereof upon the Masters & Wardens ffeast this day held, and the Other moyety to be and remain to yᵉ Compᵃ use. Now this day the sᵈ Feast was kept but by reason of the women being invited yᵉ Charge of yᵉ Feast was soe extream that nothing could be cleered to yᵉ house according to yᵉ sᵈ order. There being Spent near 90li.”[[372]]
Sisters are also remembered in the provisions made for religious observances and assistance in times of sickness. The ordinances of the Craft of the Glovers at Kingston-upon-Hull required that “every brother and syster of ye same craffᵗᵗ be at every offeryng within the sayd town with every brother or syster of the same crafftt as well at weddynges as at beryalles.” Brethren and sisters were to have lights at their decease, and if in poverty to have them freely.[[373]] The “yoman taillours” made application “that they and others of their fraternity of yomen yearly may assemble ... near to Smithfield and make offerings for the souls of brethren and sister etc.”[[374]] In the city of Chester, when a charter was given to joiners, carvers and turners to become a separate Company, not part of the Carpenters’ as formerly, to be called the Company of the Joiners, it is said “Every brother of the said occupacions shall bee ready att all times ... to come unto ... the burial of every brother and sister of the said occupacions.”[[375]]
Sisters must have played an important part in the functions of the Merchant Taylors of Bristol, for an order was made in 1401 that “the said maister and iiii wardeyns schall ordeyne every yere good and convenient cloth of oon suyt for all brothers and sisters of the said fraternity....”[[376]] The Charter of this Company provided that “ne man ne woman be underfange into the fraternite abovesaid withoute assent of the Keper and maister etc. ... and also that hit be a man or woman y knowe of good conversation and honeste.... Also yf eny brother other soster of thys fraternite above sayde that have trewly y payed hys deutes yat longeth to ye fraternite falle into poverte other into myschef and maie note travalle for to he be releved, he schal have of ye comune goodes every weke xxiᵈ of monei ... and yf he be a man yat hath wyfe and chylde he schal trewly departe alle hys goodes bytwyne heir and hys wyfe and children; and ye partie that falleth to hym he schal trewly yeld up to ye mayster and to ye wardynes of the fraternite obove sayde, in ye maner to fore seide....” The brothers and sisters shall share in the funeral ceremonies, etc., “also gif eny soster chyde with other openly in the strete, yat eyther schalle paye a pounde wex to ye lighte of the fraternite; and gif they feygte eyther schall paie twenty pounde wex to ye same lyte upon perryle of hir oth gif thei be in power. And gif eny soster by y proved a commune chider among her neygbourys after ones warnyng other tweies at the (delit) ye thridde tyme ye maister and ye wardeynes of ye fraternite schulle pute her out of ye compaynye for ever more.”[[377]]
Chiding and reviling were failings common to all gilds, and were by no means confined to the sisters. The punishments appointed by the Merchant Gild at Beverley for those “who set up detractions, or rehearse past disputes, or unduly abuse”[[378]] are for brothers only. And though it was “Agreed by the Mʳ Wardens and Assystaunce” of the Pewterers that “Robert west sholde bringe in his wif vpon ffrydaye next to reconsile her self to Mʳ Cacher and others of the Company for her naughty mysdemeanoʳ of her tonge towarde them,”[[379]] the quarrelling among the Carpenters seems to have been almost confined to the men.
There can be no doubt that the sisters shared fully in the social and religious life of the Gilds; it is also perfectly clear that the wife was regarded by the Gild or Company as her husband’s partner, and that, after his death she was confirmed in the possession of his business with his leases and apprentices at least during the term of her widowhood.
But the extent to which she really worked with him in his trade and was qualified to carry it on as a going concern after his death is much more difficult to determine, varying as it did from trade to trade and depending so largely in each case upon the natural capacity of the individual woman concerned. The extent to which a married woman could work with her husband depended partly upon whether his trade was carried on at home or abroad. It has been suggested that the carpenters who often were engaged in building operations could not profit much by their wives’ assistance, but many trades which in later times have become entirely closed to women were then so dependent on their labour that sisters are mentioned specifically in rules concerning the conditions of manufacture. Thus the charter of the Armourers and Brasiers was granted in the seventeenth year of James I. “to the Master and Wardens and Brothers and Sisters of the ffraternity ... that from thenceforth All & all manner of brass and copper works ... edged tools ... small guns ... wrought by any person or persons being of the same ffraternity ... should be searched and approved ... by skilful Artificers of the said ffraternity.”[[380]] Rules which were drawn up at Salisbury in 1612 provide that no free brother or sister shall “rack, set, or cause to be racked or set, any cloth upon any tenter, on the Sabbath day, under the forfeiture of 2s.” The Wardens of the Company of Merchants, Mercers, Grocers, Apothecaries, Goldsmiths, Drapers, Upholsterers, and Embroiderers were ordered to search the wares, merchandise, weights and measures of sisters as well as brothers.[[381]] “No free brother or sister is at any time to put any horse leather into boots or shoes or any liquored calves leather into boots or shoes, to be sold between the feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle and the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary.... No free brother or sister is to keep or set up any standing in the market place, except in fair times. No brother or sister is to set open his or her shop, or to do any work, in making or mending of boots and shoes on the Sabbath day, on pain of twelve pence forfeit.”[[382]]
Rules which specifically permit the employment of the master’s wife or daughter in his trade while excluding other unapprenticed persons, are in themselves evidence that they were often so employed. Thus the Glovers allowed “noe brother of this ffraternity” to “take an apprentice vnder the full end and tearme of seaven years ffuly to be compleat ... excepting brothers son or daughter....”[[383]] No leatherseller might “put man, child or woman to work in the same mistery, if they be not bound apprentice, and inrolled in the same mistery; excepting their wives and children.”[[384]] Similarly the Girdlers in 1344 ordered that “no one of the trade shall get any woman to work other than his wedded wife or daughter”[[385]] while by a rule of the Merchant Taylors, Bristol “no person ... shall cutt make or sell any kynde of garment, garments, hose or breeches within ye saide cittie ... unles he be franchised and made free of the saide crafte (widdowes whose husbandes were free of ye saide crafte duringe the tyme of their wyddowhedd vsinge ye same with one Jorneyman and one apprentice only excepted).”[[386]]