DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52829#0016
2
Such, indeed, was the devastation committed by the Yorkists and
Lancastrians, that no fewer than sixty villages, within twelve miles
of Warwick,* some of them large and populous, with churches and
manor-houses,f were destroyed and abandoned, besides many strong and
superb castles; and their noble owners, who might have rebuilt them,
either killed or ruined. The number of artificers, too, who fell, was so
great, that this class became exceedingly scarce, and the price of labour
very high. And from the restrictive acts J which had been passed
against apprenticing boys to trades, for the promotion of agriculture, §
this deficiency could only be supplied by the importation of foreigners.
The scheme of Henry the Seventh’s policy, says Hume, consisted in
depressing the barons, and exalting men of new families who were more
dependent on him ; and there scarcely passed a session || during his
reign without statutes against engaging retainers, and giving them badges
or liveries. “ But the increase of the arts,” says that historian, “ more
gifts of friends, and spoils of enemies, being disposed in order along the walls. And there he
sat with his children and guests about him, listening to the song and the harp of his bards or
daughters, and drinking from cups of shell.”
* John Rous. J Henry.
t A law was enacted during the reign of Henry IV., that no man could bind his son to an
apprenticeship unless he were possessed of twenty shillings a-year in land.
§ The state of husbandry was so low in some districts of England in the 15th century, as
to cause ordinances compelling farmers to til] and sow their own lands. There was one which
commanded that every man should sow at least “ fortye beanes.”— Black Acts.
|| Douce, in his “ Illustrations of Shakspeare,” says, that “ the practice of furnishing ser-
vants with liveries may be traced in some of the statutes ordained in the reign of Richard II.;
and that in the reign of Edward IV. badge and livery were synonymous, the latter word being
derived from the French term signifying the delivery of any particular thing. The badge was
then, as at present, the armorial bearings, the crest, or device of the master, executed in cloth
or metal, and sewed to the left sleeve of the habit.”
Queen Mary granted thirty-nine licenses of retainer during her reign ; Elizabeth, fifteen.
Such, indeed, was the devastation committed by the Yorkists and
Lancastrians, that no fewer than sixty villages, within twelve miles
of Warwick,* some of them large and populous, with churches and
manor-houses,f were destroyed and abandoned, besides many strong and
superb castles; and their noble owners, who might have rebuilt them,
either killed or ruined. The number of artificers, too, who fell, was so
great, that this class became exceedingly scarce, and the price of labour
very high. And from the restrictive acts J which had been passed
against apprenticing boys to trades, for the promotion of agriculture, §
this deficiency could only be supplied by the importation of foreigners.
The scheme of Henry the Seventh’s policy, says Hume, consisted in
depressing the barons, and exalting men of new families who were more
dependent on him ; and there scarcely passed a session || during his
reign without statutes against engaging retainers, and giving them badges
or liveries. “ But the increase of the arts,” says that historian, “ more
gifts of friends, and spoils of enemies, being disposed in order along the walls. And there he
sat with his children and guests about him, listening to the song and the harp of his bards or
daughters, and drinking from cups of shell.”
* John Rous. J Henry.
t A law was enacted during the reign of Henry IV., that no man could bind his son to an
apprenticeship unless he were possessed of twenty shillings a-year in land.
§ The state of husbandry was so low in some districts of England in the 15th century, as
to cause ordinances compelling farmers to til] and sow their own lands. There was one which
commanded that every man should sow at least “ fortye beanes.”— Black Acts.
|| Douce, in his “ Illustrations of Shakspeare,” says, that “ the practice of furnishing ser-
vants with liveries may be traced in some of the statutes ordained in the reign of Richard II.;
and that in the reign of Edward IV. badge and livery were synonymous, the latter word being
derived from the French term signifying the delivery of any particular thing. The badge was
then, as at present, the armorial bearings, the crest, or device of the master, executed in cloth
or metal, and sewed to the left sleeve of the habit.”
Queen Mary granted thirty-nine licenses of retainer during her reign ; Elizabeth, fifteen.