MEDIEVAL TRADE AND INDUSTRY
The economic importance of Wilton in the postConquest period attracted a number of Jews who
settled there; this Jewish community evidently
became an important one, for Wilton was one of the
27 centres of the kingdom in which chests for the
registration of debts owed to the Jews were established at the end of 12th century. (fn. 1) In 1256 William
Isembard, Mayor of Wilton, and Abraham Russell,
one of the leading Jews of the Wilton community,
were removed from the keepership of the chest of
the Jews on account of fraudulent practices. The
mayor was hanged at London while Russell escaped,
although his wife soon recovered the administration
of his goods. (fn. 2) When Simon de Montfort pardoned
the Christian debtors of the Jews in 1264, the Wilton
community suffered so heavily that they, in company
with the communities of Cambridge and London,
received special protection in consideration of their
heavy losses, (fn. 3) and some 22 burgesses of Wilton
were nominated to safeguard the Jews of their town. (fn. 4)
The permanent presence of a Jewish community
in the town would have been unlikely if Wilton had
not contained a considerable urban population
devoted to industrial and commercial pursuits. The
evidence, scanty as it is, suggests that at least up to
the 13th century, some considerable number of men
must have been engaged in a variety of crafts,
although, since most of these crafts were declining
by the end of the 13th century, there is little evidence
of this earlier industrial activity at the close of the
Middle Ages. The only craft guild of which there is
any record is that of the tailors, and this was still
surviving in the late 15th century; the absence of
reference to any other craft guilds may be explained
either by the exceptionally early decline of these
guilds in 13th-century Wilton, or by the longsurviving importance of the Guild Merchant, which
may have discouraged the formation of craft guilds,
and sought to retain some of the wealthier craftsmen
within its own ranks.
Although the subsidy rolls give only an incomplete list of occupations, from incidental mentions
of occupation in the records of the 13th and 14th
centuries it is possible to determine the more
important industrial pursuits of the town. A number
of goldsmiths practised their craft in the late 13th
century; seven of them are known amongst the
burgesses of the Guild Merchant in the last two
decades of the century; (fn. 5) two others are mentioned
in the early 14th century, (fn. 6) but since these are only
chance survivals the list is almost certainly not allinclusive. The allied crafts of the skinners and
glovers were also active in medieval Wilton, although
the extent of their local importance is not known;
four skinners are known to have been active in the
late 13th century, (fn. 7) and another name occurs in the
first part of the 14th century; (fn. 8) again the list is not
an inclusive one. It is possible that at one time the
glovers were fairly numerous for they appear to have
inhabited a quarter known as Glover Street. Since,
however, the name of this street apparently disappears in the course of the 14th century it may be
assumed that the glovers' craft had declined in
importance, although Wilton glovers are mentioned
as late as the mid-15th century, (fn. 9) so that it is unlikely that the craft died out altogether. But above
all, according to a descriptive list of the various
characteristics of English towns in the 13th century, (fn. 10) Wilton of the mid-13th century was famed
for its needle-making. This is supported by the
evidence of occupational surnames in the late 13th
century for mention is made of Thomas le Nedler, (fn. 11)
Robert, (fn. 12) Richard and Gilbert le Aguiler, (fn. 13) while
Nedlers Street and Nedlers Bridge clearly indicate
the quarter where these craftsmen lived. But
Nedlers Street, like Glover Street, had vanished at
the close of the Middle Ages, and there is no record
of the needlers' craft after the 13th century, although
its early importance is unquestionable.
In addition to the skinners and glovers, there is
evidence that the allied crafts of the tanners and
dubbers were at one time fairly important in the
town's industry. Records of the last two decades of
the 13th century reveal the names of five tanners
who were living and working in Wilton at the time, (fn. 14)
and isolated references from the 13th to the 15th
century record the names of various dubbers. (fn. 15)
There is no means of estimating how important these
crafts may have been at an earlier period, but it is
quite certain that they did not wholly die out in the
Middle Ages, although continuing only on a very
modest scale.
There were always a number of tailors at work in
Wilton, and more is known about them since their
guild survived at least into the late 15th century.
It has been seen that the mayor and comburgenses
maintained complete authority over the craft
guild, (fn. 16) and in 1464 the two wardens and six masters
of the guild, all living within the borough, came
before the town authorities to seek authority for the
enactment of a guild ordinance. The content of this
may be inferred from the fact that five years later the
two wardens again came before the mayor and his
brethren to complain that Thomas Benyngham had
violated this ordinance by working secretly in the
house of John Rodman; (fn. 17) in 1483 seven tailors were
fined for contravention of guild ordinances. (fn. 18)
Sixteenth-century town records contain no mention
of the tailors' guild, and it is not known when the
organization finally died out.
Indirect evidence suggests that a group of linenworkers was active in Wilton certainly as late as the
13th century. In 1254 the queen and Richard, Earl
of Cornwall received as a gift for the coming feast
of the Ascension in addition to various cloths of gold
and silk, some 500 ells of 'tele de Wilton'. (fn. 19) When
the burgesses secured the confirmation of their
charter from John, 700 ells of linen cloth formed
part of the payment, (fn. 20) and in 1249 the Sheriff of
Wiltshire was ordered to obtain 2,000 ells of linen
cloth at Wilton, and send them to the Keeper of the
Wardrobe in London. (fn. 21) It is not possible to estimate
how much woollen cloth was being manufactured in
Wilton in the 13th and 14th centuries, but it seems
likely that the one fulling mill on the Nadder of
which there is record (fn. 22) may not have provided for
more than purely local needs. It is possible to
identify two dyers living in Wilton in the 1330's,
William le Fox (fn. 23) and John le Crocker; (fn. 24) it appears
that William le Fox was not wealthy in comparison
with many of his fellow burgesses, but nothing is
known of the comparative wealth of John le Crocker.
It seems at all events clear that Wilton was not in
any way competing with the growing cloth industry
of New Salisbury, and this failure to do so would
account above all for the rapidity of Wilton's decline
at the close of the Middle Ages. At the same time
the local textile industry never entirely died out, and
from the 15th century occasional references to
weavers (fn. 25) of Wilton have survived, although it is
conceivable that these may have been working for
the clothiers of Salisbury.
In contrast to the scanty evidence of industrial
activity, which can only hint at an earlier importance,
the evidence of the early trading and commercial
activity of Wilton is in a sense much more positive.
The charter of Henry I exempting the burgesses
from financial exactions on their trade with other
towns can only have set the seal on an already existing commercial activity, which had manifested itself
in the formation of a Guild Merchant. While the
charter secured the privileges of external trade, the
fairs and markets attracted an immense amount of
trade to the town until the rivalry of New Salisbury
made itself effectively felt. Details of the great
market struggle with New Salisbury (fn. 26) are significant
for what they disclose of the trade of the past, in the
number and variety of the merchants, who formerly
would have brought their meat, fish, cloth, wax, and
miscellaneous merchandise, skins, iron, grain, oxen
and other animals to trade in the Wilton market.
In the 13th century royal purveyors frequently made
purchases on the king's behalf at Wilton; before
Easter 1235 the bailiffs of Wilton were ordered to
arrange the purchase of twenty oxen for the king, (fn. 27)
and the purveyors of oxen, cows, and sheep also
made their purchases at Wilton and elsewhere for
Easter 1256 and 1257, although the king was remaining at Westminster at Easter 1257. (fn. 28)
Traders of towns nearby and further afield came
to buy and sell in the Wilton markets and chance
references record the presence of men from Bristol, (fn. 29)
Sherborne, Dorchester (Dors.), and Winchester as
well as New Salisbury (fn. 30) in the late 13th century.
Wilton men themselves traded over the country and
although they were rarely described as merchants
they were sometimes designated as spicers, (fn. 31)
mercers, (fn. 32) 'lyndrapers', (fn. 33) mealmongers, (fn. 34) or ironmongers, (fn. 35) denoting perhaps a more specialized line
of trade. In 1248–9 five men of Wilton were fined
for selling cloth (of unspecified origin) contrary to
the assize, (fn. 36) and two others were similarly accused
in 1267–8. (fn. 37)
Thirteenth-century Wilton was a local centre for
the distributive trade in wine; in 1236 and 1237 the
bailiffs of Wilton were ordered to proclaim the assize
price of wine to be sold within the borough, (fn. 38) and in
1242 it was ordered that no wines should be sold in
Guildford, Wilton, or Salisbury until all the king's
wines had been sold there. (fn. 39) In 1248–9 four burgesses and one woman of Wilton were fined for
selling wine contrary to the assize, (fn. 40) and five others
similarly in 1267–8. (fn. 41) Of the 69 tuns of wine sold
contrary to the assize in Wilton in 1280–1, 29 tuns
had been sold by the men of Wilton and the
remainder by traders of Sherborne, Dorchester,
New Salisbury, and Winchester together with one
Gascon merchant, (fn. 42) and of the 125 tuns likewise sold
contrary to the assize in 1288–9, 76 tuns had been
sold by a Gascon, 15 by a merchant of Winchester
and the remaining 34 by the men of Wilton. (fn. 43) Wilton
merchants purchased wine direct from the merchant
vintners of Gascony either at Southampton or at
Winchester and acknowledged their debts for the
same at Winchester. In the late 13th century, John
Isembard, merchant of Wilton, and Peter of Barford
of Wilton acknowledged a debt of £4 for wines
purchased from a Gascon merchant; in the same
year Isembard acknowledged a debt of £5 to another
Gascon merchant (fn. 44) and in 1288–9 a further debt of
£25 11s. 8d. to yet another Gascon merchant; (fn. 45) in
1291–2 Peter of Barford acknowledged another debt
of £3 2s., (fn. 46) while in 1290–1 William le Orfevre,
burgess of Wilton, acknowledged a debt of £4 to a
Gascon merchant. (fn. 47) Both Peter of Barford and John
Isembard were amongst the Wilton merchants
mentioned above as selling wines in Wilton contrary
to the assize.
The decline of Wilton's markets and fairs at the
turn of the 13th century struck a mortal blow at the
commercial element of the town, and may well have
reacted unfavourably on the amount of capital
available for industrial development. But though the
vital centre of trade moved away from Wilton,
commercial activity did not altogether cease, for the
charter of privileges, constantly renewed, maintained favourable conditions of trade with other
towns, and in the 15th century Wilton merchants
were still travelling with letters patent exemplifying
these privileges. (fn. 48)
The internal trade of the town, particularly in
respect of victualling, was subject to severe regulation and control, as in the case of all medieval towns. (fn. 49)
At the end of the 13th century at least fourteen
bakers were at work in Wilton and the suburbs, and
all fourteen were fined for evading the regulations
governing their trade, some of them twice or more
in a single year, and the fines for a second offence
were heavy, amounting to 10s. or even 20s. (fn. 50) Baking
was of course a specialized occupation, while brewing was undertaken in a number of dwellings. The
accounts of the lord's bailiff record numerous fines
for contravention of the assize, sometimes as many
as 20 or 30 separate cases in a year, and as many as
45 in 1294–5; details of these accounts make it clear
that all ranks of town society, from the wealthiest
burgess downwards were engaged in the production
and sale of ale and cider, although there was a degree
of specialization among a group of about a dozen
victuallers, many of them women.
Evidence from the late 15th century shows that a
determined effort was being made by the mayor and
burgesses to limit the number of brewers and to
confine their brewing to certain days of the week.
In 1469 it was ordained that no one except the
common brewers of the borough was to brew without licence of the mayor under penalty of 20s. to the
common box; (fn. 51) in 1474 it was agreed that the mayor
and burgesses should assign separate days of
brewing to the common brewers of the borough and
suburbs, offenders being fined 2s.; accordingly each
Monday was assigned to one group of five brewers,
each Wednesday to another group of five, and each
Friday to alternate groups of two. (fn. 52) In 1478 the
mayor and burgesses, with the assent of the brewers
of the borough, fixed the retail price of ale per
gallon according to three qualities, (fn. 53) and five days
later it was agreed that the nine common brewers
should each only brew once a week. (fn. 54) Similar rulings
with slight alterations were made in 1501, 1503,
1504, 1518, 1527, 1541, 1549 and 1567, (fn. 55) but by the
16th century the number of common brewers had
dwindled to three. Taverners were also rigidly
controlled; in 1557 the four licensed inn-holders of
the borough were named and were ordered under
penalty of 40s. to set out their wines in front of the
tavern door. (fn. 56)
Butchers, fishmongers, and other victuallers were
subjected to an equally rigorous control common to
the times. Late 13th-century evidence records the
punishment of regrators, (fn. 57) while the General Entry
Book of the corporation notes many restrictive practices as to the times of selling victuals, (fn. 58) and the
time and place where butchers might kill animals
for meat. (fn. 59) Whether these practices were a cause
or a consequence of the stagnation of the town it is
difficult to say, but they are certainly in line with the
increasingly monopolistic control of the small
governing body, and were undoubtedly adverse to
the economic life of the borough and by no means
indicative of vitality.