Monkwell Street, anciently written Mugwell, Muggewell, or Mogwell Street, was so called, according to Stow, after a well in the Hermitage of St. James at the north end of the street. The Hermitage was a cell belonging to Garendon Abbey where two or three of the brethren resided as chaplains. There is no doubt about the house or the Hermitage, and very possibly there was a well within its small precinct. At the same time the ancient form of the name, Mugwell, does not suggest the word Monk. It seems probable that the name was originally Mugwell, and that after the Dissolution the memory of the well was kept up by a corruption of the name. The street appears to have been outside the industries of North London. It is mentioned many times in the Calendar of Wills, but never in connection with workshops or trading shops. Between 1277 and 1576 there are the entries of the street. They all speak of rents, tenements, and houses. In the year 1349 we find a brewery in the street. This naturally inclines us to think that there must have been a well—? Mugwell—to supply the brewery. In Riley’s Memorials it is mentioned once only in connection with a tourelle of London Wall near the street. The Hermitage was succeeded by Lamb’s Chapel.
THE BARBERS
This Fraternity should also be of extreme antiquity. When or why the barbers took upon themselves the practice of surgery I do not know. It was the custom of the Roman Catholic Church to allow ecclesiastics to become physicians on the condition (Council of Tours, 1163) that they abstained from fire and steel; Rabelais, for instance, in the fifteenth century, practised medicine subject to this condition. But some kinds of surgery are necessary: bone-setting, for instance, which was understood and performed by the common people; dentistry, which at first fell into the hands of barbers but afterwards became a separate mystery practised by itinerants; cupping, blood-letting, the dressing of wounds, and amputations also fell into the hands of the barbers. But not of all the barbers. Surgery advanced by degrees; it became a distinct profession before it was recognised.
That the barbers practised blood-letting is proved by an ordinance of 1307 forbidding them to put blood in their windows in view of folks. In 1308, Richard le Barber is presented to the mayor and admitted Master over the trade of Barbers. He swore to make scrutiny among the craft, and if he found any keeping brothels or acting unseemly he would distrain upon them. The oath indicates that barbers were suspected of keeping disorderly houses; in fact they looked after the bagnios, which were always regarded with well-founded suspicion. Barbers were often appointed as gatekeepers. The reason would seem difficult to find, until it is remembered that it was strictly forbidden that lepers should enter the City, and that barbers were better able than other men from their medical knowledge to detect them.
The earliest admission of a surgeon is recorded in the year 1312. John of Southwark is described as “cirurgicus.” Clearly he was that and nothing else; not a shaving man at all.
Some of them were wealthy. For instance, Hamo the Barber in 1340 was assessed at £10 as his contribution towards a forced loan of £5000 to the King.
In the year 1376, the fraternity was ruled by two masters representing the two divisions of barbers—who could also let blood and draw teeth—and surgeons.
In the year 1388, the King sent writs all over the kingdom to inquire into the constitution of the guilds and fraternities then existing in the country. The returns appear to have been lost. But the return sent in by the barbers still exists in a copy preserved at Barbers’ Hall. It is published in extenso in Mr. Sidney Young’s book. It is a long document, and it pours a flood of light upon the guilds and their laws. The original is in Norman French.
Since the barbers were not yet incorporated, they had no authority except over their own members. They could not, therefore, prevent the formation of a Fraternity of Surgeons, who practised without any reference to the barbers. In 1376, the barbers, no doubt because of this rival guild, complained against incompetent persons practising surgery, and prayed that two masters should rule the craft, and that none should be admitted without examination. In 1390, the Surgeons’ Guild obtained powers to appoint five masters for the directing of those practising surgery and of women as well as men. The surgeons thereupon tried to exercise the right of scrutiny over the barbers, who claimed and obtained the protection of the City.
In the year 1461, Edward IV. granted the barbers a Charter of Incorporation.