From 1359, a Rare Northern England Land Charter from a Religious Guild & Landholding Fraternity

Originally called Wyke, Hull was established in the late 12th century as a ‘new town,’ created to support the expanding trade needs of England. In 1275, the introduction of a collecting of customs duties led to a growing economy in export of wool, textiles, and hides. Trade was international, with English wool taken to the Low Countries, Germany, and France. Wine was also an important commodity being distributed through Hull.

Within a century of its foundation, Hull had grown to be a town of 60 households in 1293. This was a significant number of souls considering that at the time the closest large town, York, was estimated to be 10,000 inhabitants.

The town also provided a key base, and ‘principal supply port,’ for King Edward I during the First War of Scottish Independence, establishing its importance as a market town and export center, as well as military supply port. In 1322, the Scots pushed Edward back to Byland Abbey, where he suffered a defeat. Two years later, Hull was the center of preparations for a military move against France, which would become known as the Hundred Years War. Merchant ships from Hull sent supplies to support English efforts on the Continent during the early stages of this long, bloody conflict. In fact, in 1355, the town was excused from supplying men to the Scottish conflicts because so many men were participating in the sea-bound efforts to keep the English in supplies.

This turbulent time in England was compounded by another devastating event: the introduction of the Black Plague in 1348.

Despite the ravages of the Scottish war, the Hundred Years War— a mixed bag of economic blessing and tragedy of fatalities, and the Black Plague, Hull continued to grow. The pressures of war and plague stoked the burghers to form guilds for professional security in the 14th century.

In 1358, as one of six religious gilds in Hull, the Guild of Corpus Christi was established. It operated as one of the one of the city’s landowning fraternities and ran a chantry chapel. The Corpus Christi Guild was founded for Merchants, and provided loans for members but included a clause that no money belonging to the guild should be risked in overseas trade.

14th century indenture, [Hull, England, 1359] 140 × 230 mm. Conveyance in Latin, 20 July 1359, by William of Corneburgh, Alderman, and all members of the Guild of Corpus Christi of Kingston upon Hull, to William North and others, of land at Mytongate.

Details on verso of document in contemporary Latin and in 15th century English.

An early charter of the “confratres Gildas Corpus XPI (Christi) de Kyngeston super Hull” from July 20th, 1359— a year after the Guild’s founding— drawing out people of local importance. The charter conveys land located on Mytongate by William of Corneburgh, who was an alderman at this point in his life, and all the members of the Guild to William North.

William de Corneburgh’s continuity is evidence of the city’s growth; he appears 24 years earlier, on November 25th, 1335— before the Plague arrived in England but after Hull had established its military and trading importance— receiving land, in conjunction with John de Wellewyk, from Gilbert de St. Clare, which he conveys ten years later to John of Selby on March 10, 1346. Four years after this, William, along with a William de Botheby, was elevated to serve the positions Bailiff of Hull for a single year term. With William de Cornburgh appearing in institutionally-held records, we are able to recover a glimpse of Hull and its occupants as they grew and developed despite this fatal moment in English history.

Northern English charters—from Yorkshire and further north—are extremely rare, with very few of those surviving from Hull. Fewer monastic houses were founded in the North, so there were fewer repositories where such things were housed and where they would have survived. It is also unusual to have charters survive without an obvious connection to a religious house, where they would have been archived. This charter likely survived, housed in the guild house itself or in the hands of one of the parties involved.

As these charters are so rare, each piece adds precious and significant information to our understanding to the mysterious guilds and their workings.

See also:

Enrolment and Registration, Hull History Centre

Frost, Charles, Notices relative to the early history of the town and port of Hull, 1827.

Hoffman, Tom, Guilds and Related Organisations in Great Britain and Ireland, A Bibliography: Part II: The English Provincial Guilds, The Irish Guilds, The Scottish Guilds, The Welsh Guilds, 2011.

“Medieval Hull.” A History of the County of York East Riding: Volume 1, the City of Kingston Upon Hull. Ed. K J Allison. London: Victoria County History, 1969. 11-85.