The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-22
MEDIEVAL LONDON.
Luxurles Of the British Capital in Ancient
nnYN.
From the Spectotor.

From the Specfdt0r.
Not a few interesting things come out
when we study the history of medieval Lon
don. One of them il the social status OF the
trader. The fashionable contempt for his
business i OF comparatively recent growth.
not much more than a century old. No pre-
else date can be given; but in the earlier part
Of the eighteenth century the feeling on the
matter was not what IL became in the nine
teenth.
For hundreds OF years before then the con-
neotion betw cen the country and the city, the
country gentlefolk aud the city trader, bad
been most Ultimate No more striking evil
dence OF this can be given than the analysis
of the origin of the POS Lord Mayors from
Henry F~tZ-AylwiR down TO the year 1885.
a period of 2iO wears. OF these l56 were
country born. When We consider what the
medieval villa ge was, how limited was the
horizon Of all but the lord Of the manor OF a
knight here and there, IL is not dinlcult to
understand why many lads Of good birth
sought the opportunities offered by appren-
ticeship in the city. Camden Is quoted TO
show that the nobility thought with shame
Of the merchants career. He himself declared
country lads supplied the city, as indeed
they do now. with the necessary fresh blood
and energy.
Another important point is the fact that
I.ondon was always great as a distribut ing
not az a manufacturing centre; And this
. aifer no F fs.SHiGR; no Of ' foreign 81 m e%sfss SoS e.1
tahlished themselves in their fortified houses
and kept their trade jealously TO themselves.
The Crown. so long as II got its tolls and du-
ties, was content. Now and then. indeed.
IL endeavored to restrict their Increasing
trade, but. its ordinances were always evaded.
For London wanted what they alone could
supply. IL could supply itself well enough
with necessaries, as Sir Walter Besant says,
but neither London nor England has ever
been content with necessAries.
The medieval city Of 500 years ago was as
full Of luxuries as Is the city OF ~to-day-the
best shopping place in northern Europe in
the days Of Edward I'LL. as IL is in the days
nothing but wine came TO London. Once or
twice there were periods when a man could
get dead drunk for twopenoe," as the fasci-
mating invitation Of a later time put Il; but
the drink had by that time been changed
from wine TO gin. AcdiRyal London had,
Indeed. the best Of everything, paying for II
all In wool. So CapgTave has Il: "OuT enc
mics laugh at us: they say. Take the ship OF
your gold noble and Impress q sheep instead. "
This was the noble OF Edward III) Napoleon
repeated the taunt. but the laugh was not in
the end with the foreigner; n dhOw, it may be
asked, did these good things go backward
and forwardg Not always securely. We
could not always command the Channel,
the seas. In this respect things reached their
worst, we are told. in the fourteenth CEN
fury. Foreign merchants settled in London
and traded. They came from Venice, Rouen,
Genoa, Florence, Iombardy, Antwerp and
Dantzig. And 30 he period was a time
for pirates, for lords OF manOrs who had
foreshores, for fishermen and for wreckers.