“I find at this time several men and women admitted brethren and sisters, the men paying 2s. admission, and the woman 1s. Among them Domps. Robs. Metford, monachus, and paid 2s. and prior William Lobbis, or Cobbis, 2s. It was a mean Guild. At one Colloquium I find expended in lervis. 9d. in pane 3d. in casu & carn. 3d. Colloq. tent. in aula Hen. Bretenham, Die Dominic. prox. post fest. see. Cather. Ao. Hen. VII. 3º.—Colloq. Gen. on the feast of St. Fabian and St. Sebastian, Ao. 3, Hen. VII. John Nichol chose alderman, &c. when it was ordered that there should be kept 2 morspech in the yere, besides the general, and that the skevens shall have of every brother and sister of the general day, as many as dine and sup, 2d. and the morspech-pence.—Colloq. Gen. in St. George’s Hall on Sunday next after the feast of St. Fabian and St. Sebastian Henry. VII. 4º. Robert Johnson chose alderman: ordered that there be bert one morspech in the year, besides the general day, this morspech to be kept the Sunday before St. Margaret’s day—ordered that the brethren and sisters dyne and sup together, and pay every brother and sister that dine and sup 1d. and the morspech 1d. when it appeared that they had goods and chattels belonging to them.—Ordered that the clerk’s wages shall be 12d. and the dean 10d. per annum. [445a] and we will that John Sturmyn shall bere the perk money for to find the perk lights.—Dna. Alice Belle, a recluse, entered and paid 1s.—1492. Adam Mylke then alderman—Henry Bretenham chose alderman, 1492, after Mylke, when I find children entered brothers and sisters, under age.—Dompn. Geor. . . . prior of Lyn entered brother 1495.—Mem. that the alderman gave a drinking the first Sunday in May, and 3s. 4d. was gathered and delivered to the alderman, to be delivered the next general day to the brethren again, with his good devotion to God, and to the good holy seynt, and in encressin of the Gyld.—At a drinking, on Sunday next after Allhallowsmass, at John Bevies smith, gathered 2s. 4d. for the perk money.—Dnus. Nicholas Berdeney, intrat. Ao. 4 Henry. VII. The Morspech held on Relick Sunday 1490. Robert Johnson, alderman;—In the 7th of Henry VII. Ad. Mylke alderman; ordered that every brother, on the next morrow after the general, shall wait on the alderrnan for the time being, at our Lady of the mount, [445b] at nine of the clock, and there every brother to offer then, and what brother come not, without a lawful excuse, shall pay at the next morspech following after the general, half a pound of wax, without any grace, and he that come not, to send his offering, and every brother having a wife, or sister, they to offer betwixt them a halfpenny.—This general held Sunday 22d of January.—In 1492, Adam Mylke occurs alderman, chose on Sunday after St. Fab. and the feast in St. George’s Hall.—Adam Mylke, alderman, 1493.—In 1493, there seems to be 38 of this guild, the morspech pence being 8s. 2d.—In 1493 the second paid at their dinner and supper, by every brother 1d. to the Gild and 1d. to the scevyns, a brother and his wife 3d.—1d. to the gyld and 2d. to the schevens.—In the 10th of Henry VI [VII.] Henry Bretenham chose alderman, on Sunday next after St. Fabian and St. Sebastian, and occurs 1495. Ordered that the skyvens on the day of St. Fabian and St. Sebastian, or one of them, come to the church, and do ring none, and see that the candles about and afore the awter be light, at evening and at service, on the day, on pain of dim. lib. of wax, each of them to the lightward; and I find 4 minstrells belong to them and brethren.—In the 13 of Henry VII. Bretenham occurs alderman.—The altar light, perk, &c. kept by the guild, and that of the bason, and the dead.—In 1500 H. Bretenham, Mayor; and 1501, H. Bretenham, alderman; and 1502, and 1503.—In the 2d of Henry VIII. Thomas French, late alderman, died.—In the 4th of Henry VIII. Robert Baker, chose alderman.”
Such is the account we have of St. Fabian and St. Sebastian’s Gild. As it had goods and chattels belonging to it, it was probably dissolved at the reformation, like all others so circumstanced. Parkin calls it mean gild: it might perhaps be so, compared with some of the wealthier ones; but there is reason to believe that it was superior to some of the others. It had its company of minstrels, which may be thought to answer to a modern band of music, and seems to indicate that this society was not among our meanest or lowest gilds. The number of its members in the reign of Henry VIII. Parkin reckons to consist of 38, by the amount of the morspech pence; but if the officers were exempted, from that payment, they might be no less than 45.—However that was, this gild in its days might answer some very useful purposes.
Of the two Gilds named, in the catalogue, next after that of St. Fabian and St. Sebastian, namely, those of St. Lawrence and St. Agnes, nothing is known but the names: all the rest seems to have gone long ago into irrecoverable oblivion.—Of the next, the 19th Gild, that of Corpus Christi, something more is known. Both Parkin and Mackerell have made some mention of this ancient fraternity. The former speaks of it as follows—
“Licence was granted that John de Brunham, and John Waryn, of Lenn, might give one messuage, 75s. 7d. ob. rent. with the appurtenances in Lenn, and that Richard Dun might give the rent of 12d. and the profit of one passage-boat beyond the port of the village of Lenn, with the appurtenances, to Thomas de Couteshale, master of the said guild, [as I take it] and the aforesaid John and Richard might give to Thomas de Couteshale, one Shop and solar, with the appurtenances in the said Village, which Thomas de Couteshale holds.—John de Brunham, John de Perteneye, and Adam Skert, burgess of Lynn, grant, &c. to Jeffrey Talboth, Thomas Botekysham, John de Dockyn, &c. 2s. which they used to receive of the heirs of John de Syssewell of West Lenne, for the liberty of a ferry, of a passage-boat over the water.—Dated at Lenn Bishop on Sunday after the feast of the purification of the blessed Virgin, in the 3d. of Richard II.—Jeffrey Talboth then mayor:—Witnesses John de Tyteleshale, Roger Paxam, &c.” [448]
Hence it appears that this Gild had goods and chattels, was in possession of a ferry boat, &c. And must have been a fraternity of some consequence. From Mackerell’s account it seems to be one of the commercial, or mercantile gilds; what he says of it is contained in the following passage—
“Of the Company of Merchants of Corpus Christi, their agreement, and for what.—This Indenture made witnesseth, that John Pygot, burgels, merchant of Lynne Byshope, Master of the company of Corpus Christi in Lynne aforesaid, hath delivered to William Marche, Wex-Chandeler of Lynne C and vi lb (i.e. 106 lb.) in clene wex vxx and xii lb. (i.e. 112lb. for the hundred) and in torches half an c and xxi lb. of wex and in x grete chapterell xvii lb. and half a lb. of wex and Rosyn, and in smale chapterell xi lb. Wex and Rosyn: To have the kepyng of the same weight of Wex duryng the terme of x yeers. The seid William to fynde every yeer duryng hys seid Terme, as welle all the lyghtes about the Tabernacle of Corpus Christi, in the Chirche of Seynt Margaret in Lynne, the lyghtes of all the torches which the seid Company spendeth or shal spende every yeer durylnge the seid Terme. And the seid William to sette up every year the Heerse of the said Company in the chirch before-said, and take it downe upon his owne costs and expens, as it has ben doon and used aforne this tyme; and in the ende of the seid Terme the seid William to deliver ageyn the seid Weyght of Wex Torches and Chapterell to the Mayster of the said Company for the tyme beeng, for the which Lyght-making, and fyndyng every yeer, the seid William shall have of the Maister and Company V Marks and X shillings of good money of Inglond to be paid to the seid William every yeer in the utasse of the feste of Corpus Christi. Into Witnesse hereof, the partyes aforesaid to these Indentures alternatly have sette their seales. Written at Lynn foreseid on Wednysday the feste of Seynt Gregory the Pope, the yeer of the reigne of King Henry the sixth after the Conquest xxvii.” [449a]
From this last extract it is very evident that the Society of Corpus Christi made no mean figure among the Lynn gilds. The Tabernacle of Corpus Chisti, [449b] in the church of St. Margaret, belonged to this Gild, and must have been attended with considerable expense, both in its formation, and the subsequent charges which it occasioned, for the lights that were there kept, &c. Indeed we are expressly told that they were a company of merchants, and therefore we need not wonder that they were, and could afford to be at more expense than most of the others. In short, we may pretty safely conclude that this must have been one of our most opulent Gilds. Had we known more of its history we might be able to record some of its good deeds, and prove that it deserved an honourable remembrance; but as that is not the case, our account of it must be here concluded.
Section V.
Account of the holy Trinity Company, of great merchants’ Gild.
Of all the Lynn gilds, that which assumed the name of Trinity, and is the 20th in the Catalogue, appears to have been by far the most eminent and opulent. It had very considerable possessions, in houses, lands, and other sorts of property; and there is still preserved a more particular and full account of this gild than of most, or indeed of any of the rest: of which its large landed property may be one principal reason, as that could not well be conveyed into other hands without some mention of its original or former possessors, and such mention too as would be likely to be long remembered. Most, if not all the property of this mercantile company, and particularly what consisted in houses and lands, was, at the reformation, when the company was dissolved, vested in the corporation, and still constitutes a great part, or most, of their property of that description. The best account of this gild, that we know of, is contained in a MS. volume which once belonged to the late Henry Partridge Esq. but is now the possession of our venerable townsman Thomas Day Esq. who has very obligingly favoured the present writer with the use of it. This account extends much further than that given in Parkin’s printed History of Lynn, though it seems to have been originally drawn up by the same hand, and transcribed from the papers of that eminent antiquary, with his consent, by the procurement of the late Mr. Partridge, in 1749.—We learn from the printed account, as well as from that in manuscript, that though this gild is said to have been founded by king John, at the request of his great favourite, bishop De Grey, yet that, in fact, it existed long before that time, as appears by an answer to a certain writ of enquiry, in the reign of Richard II. so that what is called founding it then, seems to mean no more than that monarch’s giving it his royal sanction, or taking it under his kingly patronage: and we know not how far that proved of material benefit to the institution. The interference and patronage of statesmen have not always proved favourable to commercial prosperity. But we will now proceed to lay before the reader the account which we have obtained of this gild.