In some towns, the merchant guilds attempted to directly regulate the craft guilds. Crafts fought each other. There was a street battle with much bloodshed between the goldsmiths and the parmenters and between the tailors and the cordwainers in 1267 in London. There was also a major fight between the goldsmiths and the tailors in 1268. The Parish Clerks' Company was chartered in 1233.
The citizens of London had a common seal for the city. London merchants traveled throughout the nation with goods to sell exempt from tolls. Most of the London aldermen were woolmongers, vintners, skinners, and grocers by turns or carried on all these branches of commerce at once. Jews were allowed to make loans with interest up to 2d. a week for 20s. lent. There are three inns in London. Inns typically had narrow facades, large courtyards, lodging and refreshment for the well-off, warehousing and marketing facilities for merchants, and stabling and repairs for wagons. Caregiving infirmaries such as "Bethlehem Hospital" were established in London. One was a lunatic infirmary founded by the sheriff of London. Benefactors conveyed plots of land with houses to the city for the benefit and use of the Franciscan friars who came to London as missionaries because the friars' law forbade them from owning anything. The city held the land in trust for the beneficiaries, the friars. Only tiles were used for roofing in London, because wood shingles were fire hazards and fires in London had been frequent. Some areas near London are disclaimed by the king to be royal forest land, so all citizens could hunt there and till their land there without interference by the royal foresters. The Sheriff's court in London lost its old importance and handled mainly trespass and debt cases, while important cases went to the Hustings, which was presided over by the Mayor with the sheriffs and aldermen in attendance. From the early 1200s, the Mayor's Court took on the work which the weekly Husting could not manage. This consisted mostly of assault and robbery cases. Murder and manslaughter cases were left to the royal courts.
London aldermen were elected by the citizens of their respective wards in wardmotes, in which was also arranged the watch, protection against fire, and probably also assessment of the taxes within the ward. There was much effort by the commoners to influence the governance of the city. In 1261 they forced their way into the townmote and by this brute show of strength, which threatened riot, they made their own candidate mayor. Subsequent elections were tumultuous.
The Tower of London now had outer walls of fortress buildings surrounded by a wide and deep moat, over which was one stone causeway and wooden drawbridge. Within this was an inner curtain wall with twelve towers and an inner moat. The palace within was a principal residence of English monarchs, whose retinue was extensive, including the chief officers of state: Lord High Steward, Lord High Chancellor, Lord High Treasurer, Lord Great Chamberlain, Lord High Constable, Keeper of the Seals, and the King's Marshall; lesser officials such as the Chamberlain of the Candles, Keeper of the Tents, Master Steward of the Larder, Usher of the Spithouse, Marshall of the Trumpets, Keeper of the Books, Keeper of the Dishes and of the Cups, and Steward of the Buttery; and numbers of cat hunters, wolf catchers, clerks and limners, carters, water carriers, washerwomen and laundresses, chaplains, lawyers, archers, huntsmen, hornblowers, barbers, minstrels, guards and servitors, and bakers and confectioners. The fortress also contained a garrison, armory, chapels, stables, forge, wardrobe for a tailor's workroom and secure storage of valuable clothes, silver plate, and expensive imports such as sugar, rice, almonds, dried fruits, cinnamon, saffron, ginger, galingale, zedoary, pepper, nutmeg, and mace. There was a kitchen with courtyard for cattle, poultry, and pigs; dairy, pigeon loft, brewery, beehives, fruit stores, gardens for vegetables and herbs; and sheds for gardeners. There was also a mint, which minted a gold penny worth 2s. of silver, a jewel house, and a menagerie (with leopards, lions, a bear, and an elephant). The fortress also served as a state prison. Most prisoners there had opposed the royal will; they were usually permitted to live in quarters in the same style they were used to, including servants and visits by family and friends. But occasionally prisoners were confined in irons in dark and damp dungeons.
The King's family, immediate circle, and most distinguished guests dined elegantly in the Great Hall at midday. They would first wash their hands in hot water poured by servants over bowls. The table had silver plate, silver spoons, and cups of horn, crystal, maple wood, or silver laid on a white cloth. Each guest brought his own knife in a leather sheath attached to a belt or girdle. A procession of servitors brought the many dishes to which the gentlemen helped the ladies and the young their seniors by placing the food in scooped-out half-loaves of bread that were afterwards distributed to the poor. A wine cup was handed around the table. In the winter after dinner, there would often be games of chess or dice or songs of minstrels, and sometimes dancing, juggler or acrobat displays, or storytelling by a minstrel. In the summer there were outdoor games and tournaments. Hunting with hounds or hawks was popular with both ladies and gentlemen. The King would go to bed on a feather mattress with fur coverlet that was surrounded by linen hangings. His grooms would sleep on trundle beds in the same room. The queen likewise shared her bedchamber with several of her ladies sleeping on trundle beds. Breakfast was comprised of a piece of bread and a cup of wine taken after the daily morning mass in one of the chapels. Sometimes a round and deep tub was brought into the bedchamber by servants who poured hot water onto the bather in the tub. Baths were often taken in the times of Henry III, who believed in cleanliness and sanitation. Henry III was also noted for his luxurious tastes. He had a linen table cloth, goblets of mounted cocoa-nut, a glass cup set in crystal, and silk and velvet mattresses, cushions, and bolster. He had many rooms painted with gold stars, green and red lions, and painted flowers. To his sister on her marriage, he gave goldsmith's work, a chess table, chessmen in an ivory box, silver pans and cooking vessels, robes of cloth of gold, embroidered robes, robes of scarlet, blue, and green fine linen, Genoese cloth of gold, two napkins, and thirteen towels.
In the King's 1235 grant to Oxford, the Mayor and good men were authorized to take weekly for three years 1/2 d. on every cart entering the town loaded with goods, if it was from the county, or 1d. if it came from outside the county; 1/4 d. for every horse load, except for brushwood; 1/2 d. on every horse, mare, ox, or cow brought to sell; and 1/2 d. for every five sheep, goats, or pigs.
English ships had one mast with a square sail. The hulls were made of planks overlapping each other. There was a high fore castle [tower] on the bow, a top castle on the mast, and a high stern castle from which to shoot arrows down on other ships. There were no rowing oars, but steering was still by an oar on the starboard side of the ship. The usual carrying capacity was 30 tuns [big casks of wine each with about 250 gallons]. On the coasts there were lights and beacons. Harbors at river mouths were kept from silting up. Ships were loaded from piers. The construction of London Bridge had just been finished. Bricks began to be imported for building. About 10% of the population lived in towns.
Churches had stained glass windows.
Newcastle-on-Tyne received these new rights:
1. -And that they shall justly have their lands and tenures and mortgages and debts, whoever owes them to them.