Gild of the Tailors of Lincoln, founded 1328.—A procession shall be had every year. Payment on entrance, a quarter of barley, and xijd. “to the ale.” Help to the poor—7d. per week. Burials for poor members, “according to the rank of him who is dead.” Pilgrims to the Holy Land or to Rome to receive a halfpenny from each member, and processions to be formed. Services for those dying outside the city. Bequests to be made to Gild according to means, “vs. or xld., or what he will.” Fee to chaplain. Four general meetings every year. Payment to the Gild when any master tailor takes an apprentice. Quarrels to be arranged; whoever will not abide judgment of Gild to be put out. On feast days ale to be given to the poor. Burial rites. If any master knowingly takes a sewer who has wrongfully left another master, he shall be fined. Payment of vjd. to the Guild for every sewer employed by master. A dole to be given yearly by every brother and sister for distribution in charity. Fines for not serving offices.
Gild of the Tylers [Poyntours] of Lincoln, founded 1346.—New members to make themselves known to “Graceman,” and pay a quarter of barley, ijd. to the ale, and id. to the Dean. Four “soul-candles” shall be found and used in services. Feasts and prayers, and ale for the poor. Help to the pilgrims. Burials provided. One brother shall not unfairly meddle with the craft-work of another. All men of this craft in Lincoln shall join the Gild.
Gild of St. Michael on the Hill, founded on Easter Eve, 1350.—On the death of a brother “soul-candles” shall be burned and the banner of the Gild shall be taken to his house, and borne thence to church. There shall be a Gild feast. At the end the Ordinances shall be read and expounded; and flagons of ale shall be given to the poor. Absentees may rejoin the Gild on making payments. “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 is found to be of humble, good, and honest conversation, and is admitted by the choice and common consent of the bretheren and sisteren of the Gild. And none such shall meddle in any matter, unless specially 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.” Help to poor bretheren shall be daily given, in turn, by the Gild bretheren.
The Ordinances of this Gild were very lengthy; the main features only are here noticed.
Gild of the Resurrection of our Lord, founded at Easter, 1374.—Every brother and sister at entrance shall pay ivd. to the ale and 1d. to the wax; and also every year xiijd. by four separate payments in the year. Those in arrear to pay a pound of wax. Lights to be kept burning from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. A hearse-frame, with lights, angels, and banners, shall be put over the body of every dead brother; and other services be done. Help to poor bretheren, “if not through his own fault, by wasting his goods in unlawful uses,”—every member paying 2d. in the year to all impoverished. Fine on officers not serving. Holders of loans to bring them before the “Gracemen” every year. Mass and offerings for the dead. At the annual feast the Ordinances to be read. After dinner, grace, the Lord’s Prayer, &c., names of all dead bretheren and sisteren shall be read over, and the De Profundis said for their souls. Pilgrims to Rome, St. James of Galacia, or the Holy Land, to give notice, and receive contributions of one halfpenny from each member, with escort to city gate. Burials of poor bretheren. Surety for goods of Gild. Punishment to those who rebel against the Gild.
Gild of St. Benedict, “founded [date not stated] in honour of God Almighty, and of the blessed Virgin Mary, and of our Lord Jhesu Christ, in the parish of St. Benedict.” As many poor shall be fed as there are members of the Gild. Pilgrims to the Holy Land, St. James’s, or to Rome, provided for. Services on deaths within the city, and bread given to the poor; and services on deaths outside the city. Help to poor bretheren. At the feast, when ale is poured out, prayer shall be said, and tankards of ale shall be given to the poor. New members on entering the Gild to pay 6s. 8d., in two instalments. “Morn-speeches” shall be held; and accounts then given by all who have any goods of the Gild on loan. On the Sunday after the feast another morn-speech to be made. Officers chosen and not serving to pay fine. Penalty if one member wrongs another, and for not coming to meetings.
There was also a Gild of Minstrels and Players in this city, concerning which we have no exact details.
Sleaford.—This ancient town had a Gild—the Holy Trinity Gild—of great renown. The date of its establishment is unknown; but many circumstances point to its having been founded soon after the Conquest. It must have been in existence before the commencement of the Patent Rolls in the reign of King John, or mention of the conveyance of its property to the brothers in mortmain would be found, as in the case of Boston and other Gilds. It was a rich Gild, having an income of £80 per annum in 1477, when the mention of it occurs. This would be equivalent to £800 at the present day. The Gild was under the management of the principal people in the place; and was famous for its miracle plays, mysteries, and sacred shows. Perhaps these were next in repute to those of York. There does not appear to have been anything sufficiently distinctive about these to call for detailed note, except as will be immediately stated.
In 1837 there was published: “History of the Holy Trinity Guild at Sleaford, with an Account of its Miracle Plays, Religious Mysteries, and Shows, as practised in the Fifteenth Century; and an Introduction delineating the changes that have taken place in the Localities of Heath and Fen, Castle and Mansion, Convent and Hall, within the District about Sleaford since that period. To which is added an Appendix, detailing the Traditions which still prevail, and a description of the Lincoln Pageants exhibited during the visit of King James to that City. The whole illustrated by copious notes, critical, historical, and explanatory.” By the Rev. G. Oliver, D.D., M.A.S.E., Vicar of Scopwick, &c., Lincoln. 8vo., pp. 135.
The author refers to the fact (p. 61) that all the public amusements of the times were interwoven with religion, and placed under the superintendence of Gilds, by which they were conducted and brought to perfection. “From the most remote period of time the inhabitants of Sleaford and the vicinity practised under that high sanction the diversions which were common to every period of the English monarchy, from the minstrels or joculators in the reign of Athelston, through the routine of tournaments, the lord of misrule, church ales, Corpus Christi plays, and the frolics of the boy-bishop in the ages of chivalry, the bull and bear baitings, the holk, and the mummeries of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, down to the bulls and other diversions of the present day.”