If any brother or sister goes away from Lincoln for a year, not being on pilgrimage, and afterwards seeks to rejoin the gild, he must pay twelve pence: if away for two years, he must pay two shillings, unless he have grace.
Whoever seeks to be received into the gild, being of the same rank as the bretheren and sisteren who founded it, namely of the rank of common and middling folks, shall be charged to be faithful to the gild, and shall bear his share of its burdens.
And whereas this gild was founded by folks of common and middling rank, it is ordained that no one of the rank of mayor or bailiff shall become a brother of the gild, unless he be found to be of humble, good, and honest conversation, and is admitted by the choice and common assent of the bretheren and sisteren of the gild. And none shall meddle in any matter, unless especially summoned; nor shall such a one take on himself any office in the gild. He shall on his admission be sworn before the bretheren and sisteren, to maintain and keep the ordinances of the gild. And no one shall have any claim to office in this gild on account of the honour and dignity of his personal rank.
If any brother or sister of the gild has fallen into such an ill state that he is unable to earn his living, and has not the means of supporting himself, he shall have, day by day, a penny from the bretheren and sisteren of the gild, in the order in which their names stand on the register of their admission to the gild; each brother or sister giving the penny in turn out of his own means.
GILD OF THE TAILORS, EXETER
(Founded 1466 by charter)
(Toulmin Smith, p. 300)
Outline of Charter
By these Letters Patent, the King, for himself, his heirs, and successors, so far as he has power, enables his lieges of the Craft of Tailors in the City of Exeter, to establish a Gild of the men of the said craft and others; to maintain and encrease it; and to choose a Master and four Wardens. They may wear a livery, and hold meetings and have feasts, and make such ordinances as they think best.
The gild shall be a Body Corporate, and have a Common Seal, and may plead and be impleaded by the name of the Body Corporate. The Master and Wardens shall control the gild, and amend the misdoings of any of its members or their servants. No one shall have a board or shop of that craft, unless free of the city; nor shall anyone be let join the gild unless known to be good and faithful. The Master and Wardens shall have a general control over the craft of tailors, and over others joining the gild, and their crafts; and may, with the consent of the Mayor of the city for the time being, amend all defaults found. None else shall have such control, except the said Master and Wardens, or the Mayor and his deputies. Given at Westminster, on the 17th November, 6 E. IV.