It will perchance help to familiarize the reader with the manner in which the occupative names contained in the two preceding chapters arose, if I transcribe several lists of tradesmen which have come across my notice while engaged in the work of collecting surnames for my index. The first is found in most of the Yorkshire County Histories, and is a record of the order of the Pageant for the City of York in 1415. The second is the order of the Procession of the Craftsmen and Companies of Norwich from the Common Hall in 1533. This list will be found in Blomefield’s ‘Norfolk,’ vol. ii. p. 148. The third is the order of the Chester Play, inaugurated 1339, and discontinued 1574. This list will be found in Ormerod’s ‘Cheshire,’ vol. i. p. 300. These records possess an intrinsic value, apart from other matters, as proving to the reader the leading position which these several cities held as centres of industry in the thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. The last list I would furnish is that met with in the quaint poem entitled ‘Cocke Lorelle’s Bote,’ published about the beginning of the reign of Henry VIII., and purporting to give a list of the tradesmen and manufacturers of the metropolis at that time. I have quoted merely the portion that concerns my purpose, and it is taken from the edition published by the Percy Society. Though not perfect, that edition is undoubtedly the best.
I.
The Order for the Pageants of the Play of Corpus Christi, in the time of the Mayoralty of William Alne, in the third Year of the Reign of King Henry V. Anno 1415, compiled by Roger Burton, Town Clerk.
Tanners.
Plasterers.
Carde-makers.
Fullers.
Coupers.
Armourers.
Gaunters.