The position of the abbess was not one of honor only, but of privilege; the cloister rule was relaxed for her--she might go and come as she pleased, and see anyone whom she wished to see. In the early times, she is even found taking part in synods. Thus, in 649, the abbesses were summoned to the council at Becanceld, in Kent, and the names of five of them were subscribed to the const.i.tutions which were there made, while the name of not a single abbot appears on the doc.u.ment. Coming down to much later times, abbesses were summoned to attend or to send proxies to the king"s council which was held to grant "an aid on the knighting the Prince of Wales." Also, they were required to furnish military service by proxy. While they were more amenable to the clergy than were the monks, the abbesses were nevertheless tenacious of their privileges. They were never ordained, nor did they ever have the right to ordain others, although they claimed the latter as one of their privileges.
They were subject to deposition if they abused their office. Not infrequently the nuns would carry their complaints to the bishop, and seek from him redress for their grievances. If the circ.u.mstances warranted his so doing, the bishop would occasionally take the direction of the nunnery into his own hands instead of appointing an abbess, or else he might place it temporarily in the charge of one or more of the nuns. All the affairs of the convent were directed by the abbess--the tillage of the grounds and4the repairs to the buildings, as well as the internal ordering of the establishment and the discipline of its inmates. Also, she was directed to a.s.sist, by her own labor as far as she was able, in clothing herself. When a nun became refractory, she might be consigned to punishment outside of the convent. Thus, by the decree of a council near Paris in the eighth century, it was ordered that the bishop as well as the abbess might send a nun to a penitentiary. The same council prescribed that an abbess should not superintend more than one monastery or quit its precincts more than once a year. One of the rules which was at one time in force prohibited abbesses from walking alone, thus placing them under the surveillance of the sisterhood. But their powers varied according to the period and the order with which they were connected.
Through the necessities of their office, the abbesses were brought into closer relationship with the outside world than were the other nuns. Sometimes they were made respondents in a suit at law with regard to the estates of the convent, or to retain the property brought to them by some one of the sisters, who, renouncing her vows, sought to recover her possessions. In 1292 the prioress of an abbey in Somersetshire had to answer in a suit brought against her by a widow and two men in regard to the right of common pasturage upon lands held by the convent, and the case was decided against the religious house; but both the prioress and the widow escaped paying their respective costs in the case, on the plea of poverty.
Not only were the abbesses sued, but they themselves did not hesitate to inst.i.tute legal proceedings in defence of what they believed were their rights. In the reign of Edward III., a prioress sued a sheriff for the recovery of a pension granted during the reign of Henry III., which had been allowed to lapse. The case was carried to the king"s court and won for the convent. Legal difficulties frequently occurred over grants made to convents without the observance of the set formalities. An abbess had a great many secular duties, for all the money that came into the establishment, or was paid out, had to be accounted for by her. The entertainment which the convent dispensed to those who, on one pretext or another, claimed it, furnished another occasion for the intercourse of the abbess with the outer world.
Sometimes ladies who were temporarily in want of a home repaired to a convent and were there received. The bishops frequently sent friends to the priory for entertainment; though such persons were charges upon the hospitality of the inst.i.tution, they, as a rule, either paid for their entertainment themselves or were provided for by their friends.
It was not unusual for visitors who came under the authority of the bishop"s order to bring with them a retinue of servants and to remain a considerable time.
During the time of Henry VIII., rigid inquiries were made with regard to the regulations and the character of the inmates of the monasteries, especially the abbots and abbesses. The investigations with regard to the character of the abbots and abbesses need not concern us, as we have sufficiently noticed the looseness of conduct which prevailed in many of the religious houses. Among the questions asked were inquiries as to whether hospitality was maintained, and especially toward the poor, whether Church anniversaries were observed, whether proper records were kept, whether any of the conventual property had been alienated, whether the head of the house was given to sober and modest conversation both toward the inmates and lay persons, whether any of the inmates had been punished, whether there had been any overlooking of the faults of a brother or sister through favoritism, whether any novices were received before reaching sufficient age because of friendship and affection or the inducement of money or any other ulterior reason. Besides these inquiries, which were common to the abbots and abbesses, particular questions were asked the latter, looking to the abandonment of all ornaments and superfluities of dress and the keeping in good repair of all the accessories of divine service. They were asked whether the sisters attended divine worship at the proper seasons, whether they taught the novices the rule, whether they maintained proper oversight of them, and whether they saw that they were engaged at proper work. Also, the abbess was to report on the character of the nuns as to whether she suspected any of incontinence, whether any of them slept without the convent walls or walked abroad, and, if so, in whose company. She was asked whether the confessor or chaplain did his duty, and whether she had found any "ancient, sad, and virtuous" woman as mistress of the novices.
Among the Gilbertine nuns, whom we may mention as a typical order, there were three prioresses, one of whom presided, the other two acting as coadjutors. It was the duty of the presiding prioress to enjoin penance, grant all the licenses or allowances, visit the sick, or see that they were visited by one of her companions. The prioresses cut, fitted, and superintended the manufacture of the vestments of the sisters. It was the duty of the presiding prioress to visit the sisters in the infirmary whenever they asked for her presence, unless she were detained by urgent duties. Other rules regulated her conduct on festival days, when she was especially to use diligence in inquiring after the order and religion of the house.
The sub-prioress was under more rigid rules than those which governed her superior; if, in the absence of the prioress, she spoke of anything excepting labor, she confessed having done so, in the chapter. If, in the absence of the prioress, some other of the sisters failed to observe silence, it was not she but the sub-prioress who was held responsible and took the blame. She could not go to the window of the gate without a "sage companion."
When the cellaress a.s.sumed office, her duties were to see what was owing to the different farmers and tax gatherers, to receive the sums due from the collectors on the nunnery estates, and to take account of all the sales of the products of the lands of the convent. Also, she was to see to the provisioning of the house, to pay the wages, and to attend to the mowing of the hay and to the repairs to the buildings.
She might have a.s.sociated with her a lay sister, with whom she was at liberty to talk concerning the business affairs of their office.
Of the other convent officials, the precentrix had charge of the library; the sacrist rose at night to ring the bell, attended to the adornment of the church in the vigil of Easter, lighted the lamp in the interval at lessons, had the preparation of the coals for the censer, and performed other duties of a like nature; and the duty of the mistress of the novices was to see that those in her charge behaved in an orderly manner. She was the disciplinarian of those who had not taken the full vows of the order. If the infirmaress desired anything, she had to indicate it by a sign; when the want was of such a nature that it could not be so indicated, the cellaress was summoned, for this was the only official in whose presence the infirmaress could speak. She never served in the kitchen when there were any serious cases of sickness to need her attention. There were other officials who performed special or occasional duties, who need not be mentioned. All the servants in a convent took an oath of fidelity not to reveal the secrets of the house. They were brewers, bakers, kitcheners, gardeners, shoemakers, and the like.
The confessor made periodical visits to the convent; and if the prioress found it necessary that anyone should confess, the latter was told to go to the place appointed, and two "discreet sisters" sat apart from the window of the confessional, where they could hold the nun under observation and see how she behaved. The confessor also was under supervision as to his conduct, for he was to "shun talking vain and unnecessary things; nor ask who she was, whence she came, and such things."
The ceremony with regard to the taking of vows by the nuns was threefold. The first was called the consecration of the nun, and was made on solemn days, preferably Epiphany or on the festivals of the Virgin. After the Epistle was read, the virgin who was to be consecrated came before the altar, dressed in white, carrying in her right hand the religious habit and in her left an extinguished taper.
After the bishop had consecrated the habit, he gave it to her, saying: "Take, girl, the robe which you shall wear in innocence." After a.s.suming this, the taper in her hand was lighted, and she intoned the words: "I love Christ, into whose bed I have entered." Then, after the Epistle, Gospel, and Creed, the bishop said: "Come, come, come, daughter, I will teach you the fear of the Lord." The nun then prostrated herself before the altar, and after the _Veni Creator_ began, she arose. The bishop then invested her with the veil and p.r.o.nounced a curse against all those who would disturb her holy purpose. The second ceremony related to a nun who was to make profession, but who had before been blessed, and the third ceremony related to the consecration of a nun who was not a virgin. Such, in brief, is a sketch of the convent routine and exercises. It will now be in place to take a more general view of the nun"s environment.
As the hospitality of the convent was often extended to strangers, it will not be without interest to give a list of the contents of a chamber which was allotted to a "Dame Agnes Browne" in the Priory of Minster, in Sheppey: "Stuff given her by her friends:--A fetherbed, a bolster, 2 pyllows, a payre of blankatts, 2 corse coverleds, 4 pare of shets good and badde, an olde tester and selar of paynted clothes and 2 peces of hangyng to the same; a square cofer carvyd, with 2 bed clothes upon the cofer, and in the wyndow a lytill cobard of waynscott carvyd and 2 lytill chestes; a small goblet with a cover of sylver parcell gylt, a lytill maser with a brynne of sylver and gylt, a lytill pese of sylver and a spore of sylver, 2 lytyll latyn candellstyks, a fire panne and a pare of tonges, 2 small aundyrons, 4 pewter dysshes, a porrenger, a pewter bason, 2 skyllotts (a small pot with a long handle), a lytill bra.s.se pot, a cawdyron and a drynkyng pot of pewter."
That, in the mind of the religious recluse, cleanliness was not a.s.sociated with G.o.dliness was due to the idea of penance. Washing was regarded as a luxury not to be indulged in excepting at infrequent intervals or by special permission. This idea of ablutions was probably derived at first in reaction from the public baths which were so much in vogue among the Romans, and which were a.s.sociated in the public mind with luxury, and were often the scenes of conduct quite at variance with the principles for which the nuns stood. The licentiousness which centred around these places brought them into such ill repute that to the ascetic mind washing did not so much signify cleanliness as sin. The virtue of dirt did not extend to the abbesses, who were allowed to wash whenever it was necessary and as frequently as they pleased. By a similar process of deduction, the nuns remained untonsured. In the early times, a woman whose hair was cut short was looked upon as a disreputable character, so that it was repellent to conventional ideas of propriety to conform to the practice of the monks in having the head shaved.
The nuns were not always of the most serious disposition and deportment, as is shown by the peculiar enjoinment that they were not to look fixedly on any man, or to romp or frolic with him; neither were they to allow any man to see them unveiled, nor to embrace any man, either an acquaintance or a stranger. The convivial nature of some of the nuns is revealed by an order commanding them not to "use the alehouse or the watercourses where strangers daily resort, or bring in, receive, or take any layman, religious or secular, into the chamber, or any secret place, day or night, or with them in such private places to commune, eat, or drink, without license of your prioress." The monastery which is described by Wriothesley as the most virtuous religious house in England, Sion Monastery, was under an even stricter rule. Conversation with secular persons was permitted only by the license of the abbess from noon to vespers, and only then on Sundays and the great feast days of the saints. Sion Monastery was subjected to the further restriction that the nuns might not receive their friends, but could converse with them by sitting at appointed windows, in the presence of the abbess. If any sister desired to be seen by "her parents or honest friends," she might, by the special permission of the abbess, open the window occasionally during the year; but if she had the self-denial to forego this privilege, a greater reward was a.s.sured her in the hereafter.
Despite the criticism to which the monastic system of the Middle Ages may justly be subjected, it would be great remissness to fail in appreciation of the tremendous work of civilization which was performed by its expositors. They were the centres of culture, as well as of benevolence; in the convents, and also in the monasteries, there could always be found a select library, which included works of the cla.s.sic authors, as well as books of religion. The nuns, as a cla.s.s, were well educated for their time. They could read Latin, and were qualified to direct the education of the novices who came under their training. Even in the ninth century, some of the continental convents had such high repute as educational centres that children were sent long distances to get the benefit of the opportunities they offered; and in this respect England was no whit behind, for children were sent from the continent to be educated in the schools established by Theodorus and Hadrian. This fact is the more to the credit of the English schools, as the tide had been setting strongly in the other direction.
The addition of literary and pedagogic duties to the religious routine and manual labor of the convents made the lives of the nuns extremely busy, for, in addition to their reading theological and cla.s.sical literature, they had the duty of copying and embellishing ma.n.u.scripts.
It was not unusual for a nun to become proficient in Latin versification and to correspond in that language with others of a similar literary taste and training. These women were thus often highly qualified to teach the subjects which were then included in polite education. For many centuries theirs were the only schools for girls. The suppression of the convents was, educationally, a disaster to England. They were not merely schools for book learning, but such little knowledge as was current in regard to the treatment of various disorders and the care of the sick was obtained in the convent schools. The general custom of bleeding people for every form of illness, as well as to prevent possible sickness, made necessary some kind of bandage ready prepared to apply to the wound, and it was a common practice for nuns to make such bandages and to present them as gifts to friends. The convent pupils were also taught the finer sorts of cooking, such as the preparation of special dishes and the making of sweetmeats and pastry. Needlework, as the most characteristic employment of women of refinement, music, both vocal and instrumental, and writing and drawing, entered into the curricula of the convents.
The educational record of the various convents at the time of their suppression shows that this act of Henry VIII., whatever other justification it may have had, cannot be supported on the ground that the convents were not performing a useful service to society in the education of the youth of the country. Gasquet, in his _Suppression of the Monasteries_, says: "In the convents, the female portion of the population found their only teachers, the rich as well as the poor, and the destruction of the religious houses by Henry was the absolute extinction of any systematic education for women during a long period." Thus, at Winchester Convent the list of ladies being educated within the walls at the time of the suppression shows that these Benedictine nuns were training the children of the first families in the country. Carrow, in Norfolk, for centuries gave instruction to the daughters of the neighboring gentry; and as early as A.D. 1273 a papal prohibition was obtained from Pope Gregory X., restraining the n.o.bility from crowding this monastery with more sisters than its income would support. Again, we read of Mynchin Buckland that it was a noted seminary for the daughters of the families in its vicinity.
Many families whose names were the highest in the list of the English gentry of the day owed to the convent systems all the accomplishments which enabled them to shine brilliantly in their after life.
"Reading, writing, some knowledge of arithmetic, the art of embroidery, music and French, "after the scole of Stratford atte Bowe," were the recognized course of study, while the preparation of perfumes, balsams, simples, and confectionery was among the more ordinary departments of the education afforded." There was as great protest aroused among the laity against the suppression of the convents as has been latterly witnessed in France against the rigid enforcement of the law as to unregistered schools, resulting in the closing of many schools which were established on a religious foundation and taught by the nuns.
Many pathetic pleas were addressed to Thomas Cromwell in behalf of the convents at the time of the Reformation. The abbess of the famous convent of G.o.dstow, in Oxfordshire, wrote to Cromwell as follows: "Pleaseth hit your Honour with my moste humble dowyte, to be advertised, that where it hath pleasyd your Lordship to be the verie meanes to the King"s Majestie for my preferment, most unworthie to be Abbes of this the King"s Monasterie of G.o.dstowe.... I trust to G.o.d that I have never offendyd G.o.d"s laws, neither the King"s, wherebie this poore monasterie ought to be suppressed." She then continues in an earnest strain to set forth that the recommendation for the suppression of her convent arose from private malice on the part of her enemies, and closes with a denial of the charges preferred, as follows: "And notwithstanding that Dr. London, like an untrew man, hath informed your Lordship that I am a spoiler and a waster, your good Lordship shall know that the contrary is trew; for I have "not alienated one halporthe" of goods of this monastery, movable or unmovable, but have rather incres"d the same, nor never made lease of any farme or peece of grounde belonging to this House, or thet hath been in times paste, alwaies set under Convent Seal for the wealthe of the House."
The convents were charitable as well as educational centres, although their benevolent methods would not meet the approval of modern ideas as to wise almsgiving. At the set time for the disburs.e.m.e.nt of alms, the mendicants thronged the inst.i.tution, and, by the liberality of the donors, were encouraged to continue in a life of shiftlessness and beggary. The disburs.e.m.e.nt of alms was really regarded by the recipients not so much as an act of charity as something which they had a right to expect.
One of the best phases of conventual charity was its influence in developing the benevolent tendencies of women of position and means.
The feudal system, as we have seen, was largely a system of dependent relations, so that those who were in the lowest social scale felt that they had a right to the gifts of those who were above them. By the inevitable working of the system, the lives of the poor were interwoven into the lives of their betters. It was a gracious work of the Church to teach those who were in the fortunate places of life their responsibility toward their less happily situated fellow creatures, and the monastic almsgiving was a practical exemplification of the spirit of the Gospel in so far as the customs and practices of the times made possible a clear interpretation of its benevolent teachings. Although charity was not organized, and was dealt directly to the needy without investigation of their claims on any other ground than actual and manifest want, and thus was in violation of modern social tenets and methods, it yet furnishes one of the most engaging chapters of mediaeval life. Modern benevolences, however different from those of earlier times, nevertheless derive their spirit and inspiration from the gracious charities of the mediaeval nuns.
Under the incentive of the example of the monasteries, the great ladies recognized and frequently performed their full duty toward their dependants. The Countess of Richmond maintained a number of poor people within her own walls. In the sixteenth century, Lady Gresham left, by her will, tenements in the city, the rents of which were to be used for the poor. The Countess of Pembroke built an almshouse and procured for it a patent of corporation. These are but a few of many ill.u.s.trious examples of large charities which serve to brighten the pages of mediaeval history.
In the Middle Ages, charity was a personal obligation. With the elimination of personal service, charity came increasingly to be dispensed by voluntary a.s.sociations. Of such organizations may be instanced the Sisters of Charity and, in recent years, the various orders of deaconesses. For although charity has gone outside the bounds of the Church, its ministrations are directly traceable to the convents, and it yet finds its most appropriate relations and allies to be religion and the Church.
CHAPTER VIII
THE WOMEN OF THE INDUSTRIAL CLa.s.sES
The most remarkable fact of the twelfth century in England was the growth of the towns. As has been already observed in a previous chapter, the conquest of Britain by the Normans modified the insularity of the people and brought them into closer communication with the people of the continent. One of the most marked effects of this change was the introduction into the country of skilled Norman craftsmen. The stimulating effect of the influx of these specialized workmen was in result not unlike the general awakening of trade and commerce throughout Europe, at a later time, as the result of the Crusades.
The expansion of England"s industry was also favored by the vigorous administrations of Henry I. and Henry II. Another contributive factor was the decline in power of the barons. Henry I. pitted the town against the castle in order to counterbalance the vast influence which was exerted by each. Henry"s policy of limiting the independence of the barons was furthered by the introduction of scutage, by which the king was enabled to call to his aid mercenary troops and did not have to rely wholly upon the feudal forces. Then, too, the a.s.size of Arms restored the national militia to its former importance. Such, in brief, were the const.i.tutional measures by which the towns were advantaged and their position as related to the castles in a sense reversed. The liberty of the latter became increasingly curtailed, while that of the former was correspondingly augmented.
The town and the castle, however, were not antagonistic, the interests of the former being furthered by the protection of the latter. The monastery, also, aided the town by attracting trade. There was little difference in conditions of life between the town and the country; both engaged in agriculture as well as in trade, and both were governed by a royal officer, or, it might be, by some lord"s steward, while, of course, the houses were somewhat more cl.u.s.tered in the town than in the country, and the town possessed the merchant guild. It is impossible to trace guilds to their origin, although Brentano seeks to fix England as their birthplace. This is possible, however, only by narrowing the definition of a guild to fit the English type.
The earliest unmistakable mention of the merchant guild is at the end of the eleventh or the beginning of the twelfth century. Under Henry I., grants of merchant guilds appear in royal town charters, and are frequently met with during succeeding reigns. By such charters the original voluntary a.s.sociations became exclusive bodies, to which trade was confined. The retail trade of the town was restricted to members of the guild individually, while the trade coming to the town was shared by them all collectively. The burgesses generally found it to their interest to become members of the guild, and all townsmen of importance were traders. Ecclesiastics and women might also be members of the guild, but they were, of course, debarred from becoming burgesses.
The exclusive tendencies which the merchant guild developed made it really an oligarchy, and so there grew up in the towns an ever increasing population that did not share the guild privileges. As the town and its trade developed, the complexity of trade regulations made it a convenience to have guilds with specialized functions, to which the merchant guild might deputize its powers. It was quite natural, too, that men working at the same trade, and having social and neighborhood a.s.sociation, should desire to have a guild which would represent their distinctive interests. Thus the craft guild arose, not in antagonism to the merchant guild, but as a special agent of it.
So, in the reign of Henry I., there came about the a.s.sociations of the weavers, cordwainers, and fullers. By the end of the fourteenth century craft guilds were numerous, and in some places the merchant guild was superseded by them. In their composition the guilds were made up of masters, journeymen, and apprentices, from whom were elected the officers and a.s.sistances. Women were members of these craft guilds, although they do not appear to have taken part in the business administration. "The charter of the Drapers speaks of both brethren and sistren, and the list of members, as given on the occasions of "cessments" shows women-members, both wives of corn-brethren, independent tradeswomen, and widows of deceased brothers."
The relation of the women to some of the guilds seems to have been largely a social one. Thus, we read in the rules of the Calendar Guild, a religious fraternity, that the wives of guild members had gone to such extremes in their entertainment of the guild as to cause it to be stipulated that no woman should spend in excess of a certain specified sum for hospitality toward the guilds; for these guilds were formed for various purposes besides trade, and were in the nature of friendly societies. In addition to their commercial side, they were "a.s.sociations for mutual help and social and religious intercourse amongst the people." The proportion of women in the membership was always large. In her introduction to _English Guilds_, Miss Toulmin Smith says that "scarcely five out of five hundred were not formed equally of men and women.... Even where the affairs were managed by a company of priests, women were admitted as lay members, and they had many of the same duties and claims upon the guilds as the men."
Women"s a.s.sociation with the guild was not a merely nominal one, for they shared in all of its privileges and contributed to all of its funds, although the payments asked of them were sometimes smaller. The female as well as the male members had a right to wear the livery of the guild. Women were engaged in trade and even in manufacture, and so had direct interest in the craft guilds, aside from that which they would naturally feel through the relations thereto of their husbands and brothers. In the work of his trade a member was always allowed to employ his wife, his children, and his maid, for the whole household of the guild brother belonged to the guild. In later times this led to the degeneration of the guilds into mere family monopolies.
The fraternal feature of the craft guild reminds one of the same features of the benevolent orders of the present time. If a member of the guild, male or female, became impoverished through mishap, they were cared for, and, if need arose, were buried; dowerless daughters were provided with marriage portions, or, in case they wished to enter the religious life, they were provided with the means to do so. Nor must we overlook the large influence which the guilds exerted on the side of morality, attaching, as they did, the greatest importance to the moral character of their members.
The great Drapers Company embraced in its membership many women who trained apprentices and carried on business, as did the male members.
The rules of the company provided that "every brother or sister of the fellowship taking an apprentice shall present him to the wardens, and shall pay 13/4." The craft guilds exerted an admirable influence in the raising of woman to the same plane of respect as that held by men.
The equality which was accorded them in these a.s.sociations amounted to a recognition of their intellectual and business capabilities as being of the same order as those of the men. The respect which was shown them is ill.u.s.trated by a provision of the same company to which we have just referred. It was ordered that when a "sister" died she should be interred with fullest honors; the best pall was to be thrown over her coffin, and the fraternity were to follow her to the grave "with every respectful ceremony equally as the men." On the death of a male member of a guild, his widow was privileged to carry on his trade as one of the guild; and if a woman married a man of the same trade who did not have the freedom of the guild, he acquired it by virtue of the marriage; but should a woman marry a man of another trade, she was thereby excluded from her guild connection. Such were the relations of woman to the guilds. But Brentano notes an exception to the rule that a widow who married again a man of the same trade conferred the freedom of the guild upon him: "The wife of a poulterer may carry on the said mystery after the death of her husband, quite as freely as if her sire were alive; and if she marries a man not of the mystery, and wishes to carry it on, she must buy the (right of carrying on the) mystery in the above described manner; as she would be obliged to buy the mystery, if her husband was of the mystery and had not yet bought it; for the husband is not in the dominion of the wife, but the wife is in the dominion of the husband."
The democratic nature of the guilds tended to lessen cla.s.s distinctions and to bring about a true fellowship on the plane of equality. The a.s.sociations, as has been said, provided for their members with loving care, and followed them with love to the grave: "the ordinances as to this last act breathed the same spirit of equality among her sons on which all her regulations were founded, and which const.i.tuted her strength." In cases of insolvency at death, the funerals of poor members were to be respected equally with those of the rich. "The honor paid to the dead was also a.s.sociated with the duty of benevolence;" thus, for instance, in the statutes of the fullers of Lincoln, it is said: "When any of the brethren and sistren die, the rest shall give a halfpenny each to buy bread to be given to the poor, for the soul"s sake of the dead." The Grocers Company admitted women after marriage to membership in their fraternity, and they "enter and are looked upon as of the fraternity for ever, and are a.s.sisted and made as one of us; and after the death of the husband, the widow shall come to the dinner and pay 40d. if she is able."
In the fourteenth century it was by no means unusual for women, even though they were married, to carry on successfully large commercial enterprises in their own name and by their individual effort. In the _Liber Albus of London_, which was compiled in the fourteenth century, there occurs an ordinance relating to this subject: "and where a woman _coverte de baron_ follows craft within the said city by herself apart, with which the husband in no way intermeddles, such woman shall be bound as a single woman as to all that concerns her said craft.
And if the husband and wife are impleaded in such case, the wife shall plead as a single woman in the Court of Record, and shall have her law and other advantages by way of plea just as a single woman. And if she is condemned, she shall be committed to prison until she shall have made satisfaction; and neither the husband nor his goods shall in such case be charged or interfered with." It will be seen from this that women were accorded wide liberty in the conduct of business and, whether married or single, preserved their independence of action and control of property. The right that woman enjoyed before the courts of being sued and of suing was, however, a negative one.
The distresses to which women were subjected by the peculiar form of liberty which they enjoyed is ill.u.s.trated by the following quotation from an enactment in the Statute of Laborers in the reign of Edward III: "Every man and woman of our realm of England, of what condition he be, free or bond, able of body and within the age of threescore years, not living in merchandise, not exercising any craft nor having of his own whereof he may live, nor proper land about whose tillage he may himself occupy, and serving any other, if he be in convenient service (his estate considered), be required to serve, he shall be bounden to serve him which so shall him require.... And if any such man or woman being so required to serve will not the same do,... he shall be committed to the next gaol, there to remain under strait keeping, till he find surety to serve in the form aforesaid."
All of the oppressive enactments regulating the wages of laborers and fixing the maximum of the sum that they were at liberty to accept affected women equally with men. An enactment of Richard II. provided "that no artificer, labourer, servant, nor victualler, man or woman, should travel out of the hundred, rape, or wapentake where he is dwelling, without a letter-patent under the King"s seal, stating why he is wandering, and that the term for which he or she had been hired has been completed." Otherwise the offender might be put in a pair of stocks, which was to be provided in every town.
The guild system, despite its att.i.tude toward women, was the beginning of the narrowing of her industrial sphere. Prior to the importation of skilled laborers in textile and other branches of industry, such activities were identified with the homes of the people, not merely in that the industry itself was conducted in them, but that the product was limited to the needs of the household, the demands of charity, and such surplus as was used in trade. The guild broadened the meaning of industry to meet the demands of a rising commercial system whose trade routes became clearly established and extended throughout Europe and into the East. So that, while the industry of the women artificers became limited in that many things which had largely occupied their hands became the settled occupations of men, the products which still depended mainly upon their industrial activity became much more widely dispersed, and made them factors in the developing industries to which England is so deeply indebted for her trade supremacy. With the decline of guilds, there was a return on a very large scale to the system of home industry, when every farmstead and rural cottage became a manufacturing centre. The development of the factory system of the eighteenth century, upon the introduction of improved machinery for manufacture, completely removed industry from the home and created the modern factory town.
It is not our purpose to do more than suggest the influence which the guilds exerted in bringing woman into the larger stream of English life by the definition of her legal status which her industrial consequence and activities made necessary. It has been already remarked that the statutes of the times made her personally responsible before the law as an industrial factor. In this way, woman became increasingly regarded as a social integer rather than as simply a domestic incident. This was a distinct gain in the end, however crude the conception at first. The complex questions of woman"s social status are still largely centred about the question of her industrial place. The insistent claim of the s.e.x that they shall be regarded as worthy of a part in the world"s work projects into the discussion of the place that she shall occupy many other questions concerning matters which are immediately involved. It is not too much to say that all of the issues which arose during the modern period, and together form the specifications of the platform of "woman"s rights," find their beginning in this first responsible relation of woman to the industry of the nation. Society is established upon an economic basis, and so the problem of the duties and responsibilities of woman in a public way must be centred about industry. It will not do to criticise the crudeness of the early legislation regarding woman when she first stepped into the arena of a.s.sociated industry, and to remain oblivious to the fact that the question of her industrial status is no more satisfactorily determined after the lapse of centuries. It is true that the question during these centuries became greatly involved at times, as, for instance, at the period of the great industrial revolution; but, with all the aspects which the question a.s.sumes to-day and the problems which are related to it, the crux of the matter is the same as it was at the time of the rise of the guilds.
The guild ordinances took the view of woman as an industrial unit, without regard to her personal relations. If she became a merchant and a.s.sociated herself with the guild, she was under the same laws regarding financial responsibility as was any other member. The fact that she was a woman, or that she was married and had children, did not const.i.tute a plea in her behalf for different treatment from that accorded a guild brother. If a woman-merchant became a debtor, she had to answer in court as any other merchant, and "an accyon of dette be mayntend agenst her, to be conceyved aft" the custom of the seid lite, w[^t] out nemyng her husband in the seid accyon."
The legislation of the period generally recognized the equality of the s.e.xes in the matter of labor. An ordinance of Edward IV., made in the borough of Wells, provided that both male and female apprentices to burgesses should themselves become burgesses at the expiration of their term of service. Similar statutes relating to apprentices in London likewise made no distinction between boys and girls. The problems centring about woman"s relation to industry not having arisen, the fact of her employment presented no serious difficulties.
When the proclamation of 1271, relating to the woollen industry, was issued, it permitted "all workers of woolen cloths, male and female, as well of Flanders as of other lands, to come to England to follow their craft." Indeed, the women were less fettered than the men in their industrial avocations, for, while by the statute of 1363 the men were limited to the pursuit of one craft, women were left free in the matter.