ABSTRACT
The division of the ‘company’ into liverymen and ordinary freemen was established in the fourteenth century, and membership of the livery remained both a vital signifier of an individual’s status within the craft, and a prerequisite for office-holding both within a company and in the City government. This chapter looks at the way the Company was governed, providing information on its size. Close co-operation between past and present Masters and Wardens was essential to ensure the smooth transfer of power and the effective running of the Company. While the day-to-day administration of the Company was carried out by the Master and Wardens, assisted by their officials, perhaps the most important development in this period was the establishment of the Court of Assistants as the ‘governing body’ of the Company. In the medieval and early modern periods, the Beadles were particularly active in the enforcement of Company rules and regulations in the City.
