ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the life of the Company in the first half of the sixteenth century, and in particular at the threats posed by the Reformation, not merely to the harmony and brotherhood aspired to within the companies, but indeed to their very existence. The illuminated manuscript book created by Henry Mayour in the first decade of the sixteenth century provides a remarkable snapshot of life within a medieval trade guild before the Reformation. Traditionally, the Reformation has been seen in confrontational terms, with conservative’s and evangelicals pitched against one another in a struggle for ascendancy. Presumed burned along with his other books, this Bible provides a tangible link to the early days of the Reformation in London, and the activities of men such as Richard Hunne, Merchant Taylor. It is now in a private collection in California.
