Part 2

I wish, however, to state that this short history cannot in any sense be considered a complete or even sufficient account of the Company, but must hide behind the expressed wish of the Court that, in this instance, it should be of modest dimensions.

H. G. ROSEDALE, D.D.

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF HORNERS.

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The study of Gilds, their origin and development, is amongst the most fascinating of all literary pursuits, but though many whose names rank high in the world of letters have gone deeply into the problems which the subject presents, the early days of gild life, at least, in this country, are still to some extent shrouded in the mists of speculation.

Whether Craft Gilds came to England from the far-off glories of Greece and Rome, whether they were the descendants of the early Saxon or Danish “blood brotherhoods,” or even derived partly from the one and partly from the other, is still a moot point.

There are practically no records of any importance of Craft Gilds in this country before the arrival of the Normans, though during the time of the Roman occupation there must have been many such extant. At quite an early period of the Roman occupation, we know that the Gild of Smiths, “Collegium Fabrorum,” existed in this country.

At a later period it is clear that England was covered with a network of Frith Gilds, but whether these were Trade Gilds in the accepted sense or not has yet to be shown. It seems probable, however, that they were Agricultural Gilds enforced upon the inhabitants by their Saxon conquerors, and that in the more populous neighbourhoods and towns, craftsmen and merchants were included under their own special “tything” or possibly even had their own “hundred”.

Whether this were the case or not, it will be obvious to all that in Saxon and Norman England alike, wherever several persons were plying the same trade, there must have existed some sort of organization for mutual protection and for the instruction of others. Throughout the known world from the very earliest periods, workmen of the different classes have always formed their own aggregations and have always associated themselves together for mutual assistance and protection. The need for something of this sort must have been very urgent in days when there was less security to life and property, and in days when, as we are led to suppose, the Saxon rulers felt scant sympathy for the towns where trades would be found to exist most extensively.

The more we study mediæval life in our own country, the more impossible it becomes to imagine any regular trade as existing apart from some official or semi-official organization, combining one or more of the following obligations: Control of the workers, education of novices, civil representation (generally through some influential patron or head), and nearly always carrying out the work of a burial and insurance society. That such a banding together of those, whether merchants or craftsmen, interested in any particular occupation, must have existed during the Saxon period with the object of promoting one or more of the objects mentioned, is hardly open to doubt. It would be specially in the towns, such as London, in which, as Sir Lawrence Gomme has pointed out, the Roman ideals of organization still persisted, even into Norman times, that Gild life or its analogue would be most definitely marked.

Such Societies, Unions, or Combinations for common interests, whether of Trade, Religion, or social needs, were called Gilds, the word being derived from the Anglo-Saxon Gildan or Gildare, to pay, an allusion to the contribution demanded from every member towards the common fund.

It may be justly claimed that amongst the earliest trades or crafts of this country was that of the Horner, who was indispensable to the community, inasmuch as he was the purveyor of many articles absolutely necessary for domestic purposes. In the days, for instance, of Kings Ina and Alfred metals of any kind were rare and consequently costly. Articles required for eating and drinking, such as cups, plates, forks, etc., as well as vessels for the preservation of liquids and powders, were made from horn, that being the least expensive and the most easily attainable material for those who had risen above the use of wooden articles for similar purposes.

That trades did exist throughout the Saxon period is clear, nor should it be doubted that among the more important of those trades was that of the Horner. Indeed, though little else of a commercial character is alluded to in the laws of King Ina (A.D. 688-726), those laws lay down the price at which horns are to be bought and sold, and thereby indicate the importance of the horner to the community. “Bovis cornu decem denariis valeat Vaccæ cornu duobus denariis valeat.”—No mean price, surely, at that early period.

Not only are horns mentioned in the early Norse Runic inscriptions (see Deutsches Literatur Zeitung, April 2nd, 1910), but there have been, from the earliest days, many well-known instances of beautifully worked horns used as a method of conveyancing property. Ulphus’s Horn, a drinking horn now at York, is, perhaps, the best known example. It was presented by him to the Church in token of the conveyance of his lands to the Church Authorities. King Edgar granted privileges to Glastonbury Abbey by means of a horn. For a very long period the family of Pusey held the village of Pusey by virtue of a horn, given to William Picoli by King Canute. Edward the Confessor granted the Rangership of Bernwode Forest, Bucks, to be held by a horn, while Randal de Meschines, third Earl of Chester, conferred on Allan Silvestris the Bailywick of the Forest of Wirall by delivering to him a horn, which was ever after preserved at Hooton. Ingulphus, Abbot of Croyland, mentions the horn amongst those things whereby land was conveyed in the Conqueror’s reign. This recalls the lines of Wordsworth in the “Horn of Egremont Castle.”

“Eustace pointed with his lance “To the horn which there was hanging, “Horn of the Inheritance.”

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“Who of right claimed the Lordship “By the proof upon the Horn.”

Both Pliny and Cæsar allude to the elaborate horn cups of their period. Johannis Salisburiensis tells us that the Danes used horns as well as the Saxons, and Giraldus Cambrensis mentions the Horn of St. Patrick.

Sometimes these horns were so skilfully made that they could be used both for blowing and drinking; vide Chaucer’s “Frank Tale,” l. 2,809: “And drinketh of his bugle horn the wine.” Perhaps, however, the most interesting and historic horn cup was that which Witlaf, King of Mercia, gave to the Abbey of Croyland, “cornu mensæ suas ut,” etc.—the horn from his own table that the elder monks might drink out of it on Festivals and Saints’ Days, and that when they gave thanks, they might remember the soul of Witlaf the donor. Ingulphus mentions that when the Monastery was almost burnt down this horn was saved.

From Payne’s “English Medicine in Anglo-Saxon Times” we ascertain that during the tenth and eleventh centuries, at least, the Horners’ trade was called into use by the apothecary. The author relates that in “cupping” operations and the administration of clysters, horns were used, indicating a nicety of manufacture which must have placed the trade on a high level.

To such a pitch of development had the trade of a Horner attained at least 250 years before the Norman Conquest, that even the patens and chalices used at the Church services were made of this substance, as may be evidenced from the fact that at the Council of Chelsea, held A.D. 789, after careful discussion, it was decided that the chalices and patens used for ecclesiastical purposes should no longer be made of horn, but of metal, no doubt to distinguish them from similar articles which had already come into general use for common and domestic purposes.

At this time glass was probably almost, if not entirely, unknown in England, and, in consequence, thin sheets of horn had to be manufactured to serve many of the purposes to which glass is now applied.

These facts, and the general tendency of town life in this country, make it practically certain that long before the tenth century the Horner’s trade, in common with some others, was in full swing, and with it that which we may deem inseparable from any considerable trade at that time, something in the nature of what we now call a Trade or Craft Gild.

Both tradition and documentary evidence are agreed that the Horners’ Gild dates back to the far off ages of antiquity, and we may justly claim that its foundation is as early as, if not anterior to, any of the existing City Companies.

Considerable light has been thrown on the vicissitudes of the Horners’ Gild by the recent discovery, as well as recovery, of the most interesting and ancient MSS. book already alluded to. The existence of this book, which formerly belonged to the Company, and was, in fact, its official record, was brought to the notice of the Clerk of the Company by Dr. Warner, of the British Museum. After many negotiations between Mr. Howard Deighton and the then owners of the volume, it was purchased for the sum of £40.

A detailed account of this precious possession has been given in the form of a publication entitled “Some Notes on the Old Book of the Worshipful Company of Horners,” which was distributed to the members of the Company and their guests at their last Livery Dinner, by the late Master, Mr. J. T. Edmonds.

Though records relating to Craft Gilds in the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries are very meagre and difficult to discover, the “Old Book of the Worshipful Company of Horners” has proved extremely useful in helping to build up a consecutive history of this extremely early Gild. It demonstrates the fact that at least as early as the fourteenth century, both Horners and Bottlemakers were taking their full share of civic and commercial life.

Probably, during the Saxon period, the workers in horn, in common with other craftsmen, were enrolled amongst the members of the Frith Gild and not differentiated until the Anglo-Norman period. It might even be admitted that the Horners’ Gild was a subdivision of one of the many “Gilds Merchant” so prominent as mercantile forces in the eleventh and twelfth centuries; but it is more than probable that before the end of the eleventh century, so important a trade as that of the Horner would have begun to assert itself separately and individually, more especially as there does not seem to have been any larger or more important Gild under which it could have found shelter.