Part 8 (1/2)
”A cheseble, of white diaper, powered with stars of gold.
”A pax bread of timber.
”A little chest, with charter of King Henry V.
”A seal of silver, belonging to the fraternity, with an image of St.
George.”
Another charter of King Henry VI:-
”Two cloaths, of the martyrdom of St. George.
”One gown of scarlet serge, for St. George.
”A coat armour, beaten with silver, for St. George.
”Four banners, with the arms of St. George, for the trumpeters.
”One banner, with the image of St. George.
”Two shafts for the banners, and one for the pennon.
”A chaplet, for the George.
”Two white gowns for the henchmen.
”Three peyntrells, three croopers, three reins, three head-stalls of red cloth, fringed and lined, with buckles, gilt, with the arms of St. George thereon.
”Eight torches, _a dragon_, a pair of gloves, of plate.
”A sword, with a scabbard covered with velvet, the bosses gilt.
”One russet gown, flowered and powdered with velvet spots.
”A black cheseble, with an alb, with the arms of the Lord Bardolph, by him given.
”Lastly, one ma.s.s book, price twelve marks.
”Also it is ordained, that the procession be done in copes, and all the brethren to have hoods of sanguine, and a reed or wand in his hand; and persons chosen to be aldermen, that every other of them have a red cope, and every one a white cope; the next year shall be clad in scarlet gowns, and parti-coloured hoods, scarlet and white damask, on the forfeiture of the payment of 13_s._ 4_d._; and every commoner to be clad in a long gown, red and white, on the forfeiture of 6_s._ 8_d._; and every commoner to ride to the Wood (St. William's shrine) on St. George's day, by the rules accustomed.
”Also that a priest be paid a salary, amounting to eleven pounds ten s.h.i.+llings.
”Persons appointed to provide hoods for the aldermen and commoners, to wear with their liveries at every entertainment hereafter.”
The manner of choosing persons to be members of the society, was thus, in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of King Henry VIII.:-
”The mayor chose three persons for the common council; the alderman chose three other persons for the same; these six chose other six for the same; and these twelve persons, with the advice of the four feast-makers, chose two feast-makers for the next year.”
In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of King Henry VIII., A.D. 1545, at the general dissolution of the abbeys, monasteries, convents, friaries, &c., the large and beautiful nave of the church of the Black Friars was converted into a common hall for the mayors, sheriffs, citizens, and commonality, with all their guilds and fraternities, to meet and hold their annual feasts in; but princ.i.p.ally the guild of St. George, who expended two hundred and ten pounds upon its improvement at that time.
”Upon inviting persons to the feast, which was to be done by the surveyors at the Whitsun holidays, all that promised to dine at the feast paid their money down to the feast-maker beforehand.
”In the first year of the reign of King Henry VI., all fraternities, guilds, processions, &c., being thought useless, and tending to promote superst.i.tion, were set aside, and by virtue of the act pa.s.sed, judged and deemed in the actual possession of the sovereign.