Origins of the Freemen

We recently re-discovered the following article written by Harry Ward late Master of the Gild. We thought that it was worth reproducing in full to replace the original content of this page...

YORK FREEMEN THROUGH THE AGES

By Harry Ward
(Amended 1995 - By R. Helstrip, Master)

Even before the Norman Conquest and as crafts and trade developed, the concept of freemen was developing. Men ceased to be villeins. William the Conqueror who had for so long fought wars in developing and defending Normandy developed the same techniques in England. He built castles in the towns, two being in York. The Citizens were free to trade and exercise their crafts; they paid a collective tax, repaired and manned the walls, and provided troops. They were the Kings men.

Extant rolls of York burgesses go back to 1272 but the word freemen was not used until the 14th. Century. In York a man had to be a freeman before he could trade or become a master craftsman and join one of the many guilds. (The concept of guilds is two thousand years old). The charters of the Freemen are the charters of the City of York. The first Royal Charter was dated 1154-8.

Each freeman, from earliest times, had the right to graze one or two cows on the appropriate strays. The City was divided into wards; Micklegate (west of the Ouse), Bootham, Monk and Walmgate each had its stray. These lands are now of immense and rapidly increasing value but have now been taken over by the City Council against the wishes of the Freemen. The present areas of Micklegate, (Knavesmire, Hob Moor and Scarcroft), Bootham, Monk and Walmgate ward strays are 412 164, 138, and 79 acres respectively, far less than their original size before the Enclosure Acts.

Monk Ward Stray formerly stretched six miles to Sandburn. About 500 cows and 200 horses were depastured in all of the strays in 1835.

The York race-course is on the Knavesmire which was freeman's land.

FREEMEN TODAY

Today there are estimated to be approximately 5,000 Freemen of York of whom only a small proportion are resident within the City. (In 1835 there were 2,400 in the City and 1,350 non-resident). Year by year, and with proper formality, new Freemen swear the following oath before the Lord Mayor in the Guildhall:

"This hear you my Lord Mayor and goodmen that I from henceforth shall be true and trusty to our Sovereign Lady, Queen Elizabeth, and to this City of York; and the same City shall save and maintain to our said Sovereign Lady and Queen and her successors; and all the Franchises and Freedoms of this said City maintain and uphold with the best of my powers and cunning and with my body and goods, so often as it shall need my Help. So help me God."

Freemen are anxious that those eligible by birth, and those indentured to and who have served apprenticeships with Freemen should take up their Freedom without delay otherwise their rights may be lost. Those who can claim the privilege are proud to do so.

One of two surviving alternative conditions must be fulfilled. The first, known as servitude, requires, in York, an indentured apprenticeship of not less than five years to a master craftsman who is himself a Freeman of the City. From ancient times in York and other cities, women apprentices were admitted to the Freedom but none have been admitted by this route for many years. Patrimony, the second condition, is a claim by birth-right of all children of a Freeman.

Furthermore, a claim may be made through either a child's parent, grandfather or great-grandfather whether they be living or dead. In fact where a child is born before its parent is admitted, the claim for freedom must be made through the grandfather.

Application can be made in writing to the Town Clerk on or after attaining age 21. If the application is found to be valid, the applicant will receive an invitation to attend a Freedom Court, presided over by the Lord Mayor, normally in robes, and held in the Guildhall.

Having been “identified” by an elder blood relation according to ancient custom, he stands with other candidates before the Lord Mayor, holding the Testament and reciting the Freeman's Declaration followed by the ancient Oath of Obedience.

The Lord Mayor, on presenting certificates may say in accordance with custom, "I beg to tender to you the righthand of fellowship as a citizen of York and present to you the copy of your Freedom".

The pasture Masters for each stray are elected by Ward freemen. There are four (including the Warden) in Bootham Ward, five in Monk Ward and six (including a senior and Junior Warden) in Walmgate Ward. Formerly the pasture masters were elected annually at faster in the Wardmote Courts by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. Freemen and their widows living in York low receive charitable bequests under the York (Micklegate Strays) Act 1907 in the case of Micklegate Ward, but the small sums of money which were issued by the pasture masters in other Wards have now ceased as the City Council have refused to make further payments to the Freemen for their (the Council's) use of the Strays.

THE GILD OF FREEMEN

Freemen controlled the city until 1835 when the Municipal reform Act was passed. Freemen alone might vote in Parliamentary elections, be councillors, aldermen, Sheriffs or Lord Mayor. This Act preserved the rights and lands of the freemen but the city Council was in future to be elected from a wider body of voters (Since then, two other pieces of legislation (the 1972 Local Government Act and the York City Bill of 1985) have sought to limit the rights of Freemen still further).

It became necessary to found Gilds of Freemen in many cities. Berwick-on-Tweed, Chester, Coventry, London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Oxford are among many other cities where freemen still have rights and perform their duties (The quite unnecessary 'u' in the word guild first appeared only two hundred and fifty years ago).

The main objects of the York Gild inaugurated in 1953 are:

(a) To do everything possible to enhance the good reputation of the City of York.

(b) To encourage and assist the Citizens and Freemen of York, to realise their public and civic responsibilities and to serve their City in every way which, individually and collectively, is open to them.

(c) With proper regard to the general public interest and without infringing the rights, duties and powers of the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, the City Council, the Magistrates and other Governing Authorities of York, to maintain and develop the rights and privileges of the Admitted Citizens and Freemen of York.

There are twenty-one members of the Court of the Gild of whom the seven junior officers and three of the assistants are nominated prior to the A.G.M. where their election takes place. Officers serve for one year only, but may seek re-election, and assistants for three years.

They organise social functions connected with the history and life of York and liaise with the Gilds in other towns and on special occasions members of the Court wear their robes and insignia. They also have their own badge and tie or scarf.

THE CITY OF YORK

York has an excellent geographical position. It is the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss with an approach from the South West on the higher ground of a moraine left in the last Ice Age. It communicates with the sea. It is not unlikely that the site was inhabited long before the Romans arrived. It might have been the capital of the Brigantes. The Romans arrived in 71 A.D. made it their provincial capital, and called it Eboracum. The ill-fated 9th. and later the 6th. Legions were stationed in York.

Six Roman Emperors visited York. Two were proclaimed there. One of them, Constantine, became the first Christian Emperor. The Emperor Severus for a while resided here and controlled the Roman Empire from York.

There was a considerable harbour for sea-going boats at the junction of the Foss and the Ouse. The York Historian Drake, writing over two hundred years ago, states that there were hundreds of boats at one time in its harbour. Supplying the Roman troops demanded much transport. Tacitus wrote that York was 'fairer than Rome'. With its temples and baths, Emperors and Legions Headquarters and a considerable settlement outside the fortress, it must indeed have been a fair sight.

York has been continuously inhabited for all the centuries A.D. and buildings of many ages are still standing in its streets. One of the most outstanding Roman buildings in England is the Multangular Tower of the Roman fortress dating from the fourth century. The medieval City Walls still survive and form a delightful walk.

The Bishop of York attended the Council of Aries as early as 314A.D. The Minster and many other religious foundations were within the City Wall and St. Mary's Abbey lay adjacent to them. The street names, including the many ending 'gate', bear witness to occupation by the Danes, who were keen traders.

Citizens met for social and religious purposes before craft and trade Gilds were formed. The still extant St. Anthony's Hall was one such meeting place. The religious gilds included those of Corpus Christi, St. Christopher and St. George.

King Stephen referred to a Mayor of York sixty years before London had a Mayor. He became entitled to have the great sword carried upright before him save only in the King's presence for ever. The Lord Mayor of London now has equal precedence with the Lord Mayor of York on all state occasions.

The second undertaking of Magna Carta in 1215 reads "We have also granted to all the free men of Our Kingdom, for us and our heirs for ever all the liberties underwritten to have and to hold, to them and their heirs of us and our heirs."

York was created a county by King Richard in 1396; its full title was the County of the City of York. The York Corporation also governed many villages to the West of York in an area called the Ainsty. A number of Parliaments were held in York, the first being in 1160. Several Kings stayed in the Kings Manor during their visits. The Council of the North was housed in the City for the maintenance of royal authority in the north and for defence against the Scots.

George Hudson the 'Railway King', a York man, played a major part in developing the railways of England and accomplished his aim to 'mak all t'railways cum t'York’. In 1855, 1,200 men were employed in the station and railway workshops in York.

In 1850, thirteen trains a day ran between York and London and by 1852 the journey took only five hours. It still took over 4 hours one hundred years later. There were 5,500 employees by 1900.

York Mansion House served as a model for the Mansion House in London.

Nowadays the chocolates made by Rowntrees and Terry's are known in many countries, although both have now been absorbed by large foreign conglomerates. There is a range of smaller industries with outstanding products.

York first petitioned for a University in 1617. It had to wait over three hundred years before York University was finally founded.

Last century it became the headquarters of the Northern Command with great infantry and cavalry barracks, military hospital and ordnance stores. Although York is still a major military centre, being headquarters for North East District and the 2nd Infantry Division, facilities are being diminished by defence cuts as they are everywhere.

In former days a man was fined £300 (£500 in 1835) if he refused to become Lord Mayor when invited and was also fined if, on taking office, he refused to live in the Mansion House. Failure to perform other offices also incurred heavy fines. The Lord Mayor at that time always had to appear in the streets robed and with attendants under penalty of fine; an alderman also had to be robed and attended.

The first Gild was the Weavers' Gild which received its charter in 1164. It used the wool coming down from the Yorkshire Moors, Wolds and the Pennines and foothills. The numerous abbeys of Yorkshire were built by proceeds of the monks' flocks of sheep. Both cloth and raw wool was exported to the Low Countries and must have been a source of great wealth. By 1350 wool was the main industry. Indeed the Lord Chancellor of England still sits on a woolsack. 4000 sacks of wool and 100,000 pieces of cloth were exported from York in one year. In this trade, York was the second city in England and ahead of Bristol Coventry and Norwich. Other gilds survive, two still have their ancient halls, the Merchant Adventurers, built 1357-1368, and the Merchant Taylors Hall built somewhat later.

The eighty gilds controlled the admission of merchants and craftsmen, approved the qualifications of apprentices and the quality of merchandise and had some control for thirty-two miles round York. Unfortunately practical men do not write much nor, when they do, do they preserve records. Much of the history of the gilds is unrecorded.

"Thus the whole municipal, industrial, and social life of the Middle Ages, if we except the industry of agriculture, moved in the circle of the gild. Not just the public, but also the social and private, the moral and municipal interests of the townsfolk centred therein. They were very largely the Chambers of Commerce, the Friendly Societies, the Trades Unions, the Freemasonry, and in some degree the Joint Stock Companies, of times when the Merchant lived in his warehouse, which was also his factory as well his shop; when the apprentice sat at his masters table for his seven years, somewhat after the fashion of an adopted son, and when to attain the membership of the Gild was to gain a recognised and honourable position in the land. They were no mere formal organisations for purposes which ended with hard toil of the working day. The warm blood of the life of the time circulated in them. Their members sat together at the feast, stood by each other's honour in the mart, lived in the same quarter, shared the same purchase, marched side by side in the pageant, acted together in the play, and fought together on the part of the city walls committed to their care. The esprit was as strong among them as among the knights of higher rank. Honesty and fair dealing were dear to them, and they followed the bier of the departed and paid wax for the rest of his soul in peace. It is that to enter into the current of this ancient life is to become familiar with no small part of the true history of the people."*

Bristol, York, Newcastle and Norwich were still the four largest English cities after London towards the end of the 17th. Century. (York was the largest city mentioned in the Doomsday Book).

Apart from New York, York is the name of some thirty other places in the U.S.A. and the Common-wealth.

For beauty and historical worth the city compares with any in the world in spite of 'improvements', of all ages. As always a watchful eye needs to be kept on such 'improvements'.

Those lucky enough to be reared in York would not choose any other place. "For my pleasure of the past, I could not choose any place before York".

*From Two Thousand Years of Gild Life, J. Malet Lambert, A. Brown & Sons, Hull, 1891.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"A History of the Freemen of the City of York" by Richard York Hawkin, pp.48,1955.

The best book on the Freemen of England is "Grimsby Freemen - contrasted with the Freemen of other Towns" by Lilian Greenfield, pp. vi 72,1950. It is out of print but is available in York city Library.

"A History Of Yorkshire: the City of York" ed, by P.M. Tillott, Oxford University Press, pp.xx1577, 1961 and

"An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City Of York, Vol,T. Eboracum: Roman York. Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, England H.M.S.O. pp xlii.168, 1962 are excellent reference books.