Part 17 (1/2)
Even London did not escape this intolerable vexation, though its immunity from billeting was expressly laid down in a succession of charters. The royal officials, paying scant heed to the sanct.i.ty of these clauses, repeatedly invaded the precincts of the City; and in the reign of Edward II. they went so far as to seize the house of one of the sheriffs, John de Caustone, and quarter therein the King's Secretary, sergeants, horses, and harness. The sheriff acted boldly. He erased the chalk marks, and proceeded to expel the intrusive sergeants--perhaps even the Secretary himself, unless, as Mr. Riley thinks probable, that person ”walked quietly away.” For this resolute vindication of the liberties of the City, Caustone had to answer before the Seneschal and Marshal of the King's Household, sitting in the Tower, but, as there was no excuse for the insolent aggression, he suffered no harm. The citizens, indeed, were so a.s.sured of their rights in this particular, that at some date--probably in the reign of Edward I.--an ordinance had been pa.s.sed:
”That if any member of the royal household, or any retainer of the n.o.bility, shall attempt to take possession of a house within the City either by main force or by delivery [of the Marshal of the King's Household]; and, if in such attempt he shall be slain by the master of the house, then, and in such case, the master of the house, shall find six of his kinsmen [i.e. as compurgators], who shall make oath, himself making oath as the seventh, that it was for this reason that he so slew the intruder; and thereupon he shall go acquitted.”
PRE-EMPTION
The humbler people who escaped billeting might still have cause to regret royal journeys owing to the inconsiderate exercise of the right of pre-emption. Subjects were compelled to sell; and the worst of it was that the King's purveyors were in the habit of paying not in cash down, but by means of an exchequer tally, or a beating! A tally was a hazel rod which had certain notches indicating the amount due. It obtained its name from the circ.u.mstance that these rods were in pairs, the creditor having one and the debtor the other, so that they could be used for the purpose of comparison. In practice it was found no easy matter to recover under this system, which lent itself to the worst exactions, and is the subject of numerous complaints in our early popular poetry. Thus in ”King Edward and the Shepherd”:
”I had catell, now have I none; They take my beasts, and done them slon, And payen but a stick of tree ...
They take geese, capons, and hen And all that ever they may with ren And reaves us our catell....
They took my hens and my geese And my sheep with all the fleece And led them forth away.”
Somewhat similarly, when a s.h.i.+p arrived in port with a cargo of wine, the prerogative of _prise_ was enforced, whereby the King was ent.i.tled to ”a tun before and one abaft the mast,” or the equivalent in money.
The royal household and those of ”the great lords of the land” enjoyed the right of pre-emption not only in the country but in the London markets. Dealers in fish, for example, were not allowed to quit the City in order to meet a consignment ”for the purpose of sending it to any great lord or a house of religion, or of regrating it,” until the King's purveyors had first purchased what was required for their master's table.
When fish had been brought to the City, no fishmonger might buy ”before the good people have bought what they need.” It was the same with poultry. Until prime had been sounded at St. Paul's, poulterers were forbidden to buy for resale, the object being that ”the buyers for the King and great lords of the land, and the good people of the City may make good their purchases, so far as they shall need.”
LIVERY
So much for purveyance. As regards the disposition of the provisions thus obtained, it was expressed by the term ”livery,” formerly of much wider application than at present. The word comprehended all that was delivered or dispensed by the lord to his underlings or domestics--money, victuals, wine, garments, fuel, and lights; but no doubt it was employed more particularly of external and distinctive garb. The Wardrobe Book of 28 Edward I. and the Household Ordinances show that officers and retainers of the Court were presented with a _roba estivalis_ and _hiemalis_. The _livree des chaperons_, so often mentioned, refers to hoods or tippets of a colour sharply contrasting with that of the garment over which they were worn. Subsequently this mark took the form of a round cap, attached to which was a long liripipe, which might be wound round the head, but more usually hung over the arm. In the dress of the City Liverymen traces of it may still be found.
This suggests the remark that livery was used not by the members of great households merely, but by brotherhoods and _gentz de mester_; hence it is that Chaucer in his Prologue of the ”Canterbury Tales”
enumerates
A Haberda.s.sher and a Carpenter A Webbe, Dyere, and a Tapicer;
and says of them:
... they were clothed alle in a liveree Of a solempne and great fraternitee.
The statute 7 Henry IV. conceded this privilege to the ”trades of the cities of the realm,” thus confirming previous acts of the reign of Edward III. and Richard II., which sanctioned the wearing of livery by menials and members of gilds, but prohibited the distribution of badges to adherents who a.s.sumed them in testimony of their readiness to aid their patron in any private quarrel. The practice was therefore a grave menace to the King's peace.
The prohibition was renewed 8 Edward IV., c. 2., which inflicted a penalty of one hundred s.h.i.+llings for every person ”other than his menial servant, officer, or man learned in the one law or the other,” so retained by anyone ”of what estate, degree, or condition that he be.”
The fine was to be repeated for every month ”that any such person is so retained by him by oath, writing, indenture or promise,” and a similar penalty attached to the person retained. But there were many exceptions--”Provided that this ordinance do not extend to any livery given or to be given at the King's or Queen's coronation, or at the installation of an archbishop or bishop, or erection, creation, or marriage of any lord or lady of estate, or at the creation of Knights of the Bath, or at the commencement of any clerk in any university, or at the creation of serjeants in the law, or by any gild, fraternity, or mystery corporate, or by the mayor and sheriffs of London, or any other mayor, sheriff, or other chief officer of any city, borough, town, or port of this realm of England for the time being, during that time and for executing their office or occupation; nor to any badges or liveries to be given in defence of the King or of this realm of England; nor to the constable and marshal, nor to any of them for giving any badge, livery or token for any such feat of arms to be done within this realm; nor to any of the wardens towards Scotland for any livery, badge, or token of them to be given from Trent northward, at such time only as shall be necessary to levy people for the defence of the said marches, or any of them.”
A MEDIaeVAL HOUSEHOLD
The establishment of a great n.o.ble or ecclesiastic sometimes embraced a vast category of persons; and if we would learn on what an elaborate scale housekeeping might be conducted by subjects, we cannot do better than turn to Gascoigne's account of Cardinal Wolsey's colossal retinue.
After stating that the ambitious churchman had in attendance upon him ”men of great possessions and for his guard the tallest yeomen in the realm,” he proceeds:
”And first, for his house, you shall understand that he had in his hall three boards, kept with three several officers, that is, a steward that was always a priest; a treasurer that was ever a knight; and a comptroller that was an esquire; also a confessor, a doctor, three marshals, three ushers in the hall, besides two almoners and grooms.
”Then had he in the hall-kitchen two clerks, a clerk-comptroller, and a surveyor over the dresser, with a clerk in the spicery, which kept continually a mess together in the hall; also, he had in the kitchen two cooks, labourers, and children, twelve persons; four men of the scullery, two yeomen of the pastry, with two other paste-layers under the yeomen.
”Then had he in his kitchen a master-cook, who went daily in velvet or satin, with a gold chain, besides two other cooks and six labourers in the same room.
”In the larder, one yeoman and a groom; in the scullery, one yeoman and two grooms; in the b.u.t.tery, two yeomen and two grooms; in the ewry, so many; in the cellar three yeomen and three pages; in the chandlery, two yeomen; in the wafery, two yeomen; in the wardrobe of beds the master of the wardrobe and twenty persons besides; in the laundry, a yeoman, groom, and thirteen pages; two yeomen purveyors, and a groom purveyor; in the bakehouse, two yeomen and grooms; in the woodyard, one yeoman and a groom; in the barn, one yeoman; porters at the gate, two yeomen and two grooms; a yeoman in his barge, and a master of his horse; a clerk of the stables, and a yeoman of the same; a farrier and a yeoman of the stirrup; a maltlour and sixteen grooms, every one of them keeping four geldings.