Were carding hard, with joyful cheer,
Who singing sate with voices clear.
And in a chamber close beside
Two hundred maidens did abide,
In petticoats of stammel red,
And milk-white kerchers on their head.
Those who worked in one trade bound themselves together into a gild, and often lived in one quarter of the city to protect one another; those who desired to become members must serve seven years' apprenticeship. To guard their honour, the masters made a strict rule that no work should be sent to market until it had been inspected and found well done.
If a man fell ill, he received help from the gild. When the feast days came round and all made holiday, the elders of the gild provided a banquet and pastimes, and sometimes they welcomed the players who acted stories from the Bible and old legends. There was dancing and feasting and much merriment.
So the citizens became more important than great barons and soldiers, for they brought trade to the country and riches to the King's Exchequer.
A new world, too, was opening to the people, the world of books. With care the monks had copied down the old stories and histories, but there were few who could procure them to read.