ABSTRACT
Dr Frances Consitt has written the history of the London Weavers' Company from the twelfth century to the close of the sixteenth century. The story begins in the reign of Henry I with a Pipe Roll entry dated 1130, which proves the existence of a gild of weavers in London before that date, and substantiates the Weavers' claim to be the oldest of all the London gilds. The Weavers' status was greatly enhanced in 1155 when the gild received from Henry I1 the first royal charter ever granted to any London craft. l In good times and in bad, despite internal stresses and external struggles (chiefly against the City authorities and alien immigrants), the Weavers not only held their own during medieval and Tudor times but actually made headway, especially in the 'new era of prosperity' in the sixteenth century, when many London weavers ceased to weave linen and woollen fabrics and turned to silk. By 1603, a t the beginning of a new century, a new reign and a new dynasty, the gild of 'Bailiffs, Wardens, Assistants and Commonalty of the Trade, Art and Mystery of Weavers of London' (to give the Worshipful Company its full title), although far from wealthy, appears to have been both vigorous and vigdant. The executive body was, of course, the Court of Assistants, and the control-centre the Weavers' Hall in Basinghall Street.
