of the trades of London were arrayed in livery,” and an ordinance of 1347 of the, fraternity of the Mercers commanding that “all those of the said mistery shall be clothed of one suit once a year at the feast of Easter,” and Riley (op. cit. p. 516) quotes an order of 1389 allowing the sheriffs, on grounds of expense, to proceed to Westminster by boat instead of on horseback, “without there being any arraying of men of the trades in like suit for that purpose; except that such men of the trades as should wish to accompany them should walk in such suit of vestments of the livery of their respective trade as they might then have.” As to the liveries of the religious fraternities, Chaucer (Prol. 361) describes:—
“An Haberdasher and a Carpenter
A Webbe, a Dyere, and a Tapicer,”
As, “clothed alle in a liveree
Of a solempne and greet fraternitee.”
In 1389 there was a petition against the giving of liveries by the fraternities, on the ground that these gatherings were centres of political agitation, but in the statutes of Edward III. and Richard II. against liveries members of guilds were expressly excepted from these prohibitions. However, it was doubtless deemed prudent to make sure of the privilege, and so, when the livery companies were incorporated, they took care to have their liveries authorized by their charters.
These liveries consisted of a gown and hood, though the hood only was sometimes given; thus the Grocers’ Company had in 1430 55 members in the full livery, 17 in hoods and 42 not in livery. It was also customary for such of the companies as wished it to present liveries to outsiders, for instance, to the mayor, should he belong to another company. Thus in 1399 the Tailors gave liveries to the king, the prince and the mayor, and hoods to the sheriffs. But in 1415 and 1423 the mayor and aldermen were forbidden) to receive any livery except that of their own company. A similar custom was that by which a member of any company might send to the mayor a certain sum, receiving in return a suit of the livery of the mayor's company. The colours of the various liveries varied very much from time to time.
Fig. 4.—Liverymen of the Leathersellers Company, from the charter of the Company granted by Henry VI. (1444).
Thus in 1414 the Grocers wore liveries of scarlet and green, which were changed in 1418 to scarlet and black, in 1428 to scarlet and blue and in 1450 to “violet in grain,” with party-coloured hoods of violet and crimson. At first both gowns and hoods were party-coloured, but later a party-coloured hood was worn with a gown of one colour, The gowns were also lined and edged with fur. An early illustration of the liveries is to be found on the first charter of the Leathersellers’ Company granted them in 1444 by Henry VI., where the members of the company are depicted kneeling before the king in short party-coloured gowns of red and blue, edged at the neck, wrists and round the bottom with fur and with white girdles (see fig. 4, from a coloured reproduction in W. H. Black’s History and Antiquities of the Leathersellers’ Co.).
In the reign of Henry VIII., Holbein's picture of the king giving a charter to the Barber-Surgeons’ Company shows the members of the latter Wearing gowns of rich stuff, with red and black party-coloured hoods, three of the figures also in coifs. The form of gown which has survived, practically unchanged, till the present day, may be seen on the second charter of the Leathersellers' Company, granted them by James I. in 1604 (see fig. 5, and for coloured plate see W. H. Black, op. cit.). Here we see them in flat caps, long black furred gowns, with false sleeves, and having on the right shoulder party-coloured hoods of scarlet and black, the end. of which is cast over the left shoulder and hangs down nearly to the edge of the gown.
Fig. 5.—Liverymen of Leathersellers Company, from a charter of James I. (1604).
Besides the liveries of the city companies, and those of the-mayor and sheriffs, there was often a special livery adopted by all the citizens on some great occasion, such as a visit of the sovereign to the City. W. St John Hope (Corporation Plate and Insignia, ii. 141) quotes a number of such cases, showing that the city livery was sometimes green, sometimes blue, sometimes violet, sometimes red and white, the city colours par excellence.
As to the costume of, the mayor, aldermen, sheriffs, &c., we have seen above the mayor “richly costumed,” and the aldermen “in like suits of robes,” at the birth of Edward III., and Riley (op. cit.) gives an order of 1378 that the aldermen are to ride to Westminster in the mayor's procession, “arrayed in a cloak and hood at least, that are party-coloured with red, scarlet and white, the red on the right side”; while he quotes (from Letter-book H. fol. cxlvi) the amusing sentence passed by his fellow-aldermen in 1382 on one John Seley, for disregarding the order to have his green cloak for the Whitsuntide procession lined with green taffeta. Thus before the 15th century the aldermen apparently had not yet their scarlet robes, but on state occasions wore the ordinary city livery. For the early 15th century we have the Liber Albus (written c. 1419; Rolls Series, ed. Riley), where we are told (p. 35) that “The Mayor, Sheriff and Aldermen were wont to array themselves in like suits of robes twice in the year, viz. when the mayor rode to Westminster to take the oath, and on the day following the feast of SS. Simon and Jude; and this raiment was trimmed with fur as befitting their honourable rank; and they would also dress themselves in suits of robes against the feast of Pentecost, these robes having a lining of silk;” The scarlet, violet and black robes, still worn by the Lord Mayor, aldermen, &c., were earl in use. There is an order of 1421 (8 Henry V.) that the aldermen should use “togis et armilausis de scarleto,” and in numerous accounts of royal receptions and other solemn occasions in the City we are told that the mayor and aldermen were in scarlet (W. St John Hope, in Corporation Plate and Insignia, i., Introd. bixxv seq., and ii. 138–147, quotes a number of these, and treats the whole subject of mayors', &c., robes very fully). The Liber Albus (i. i, ch. vi.) also shows us the mayor and aldermen assembled at the Guildhall on the day of the election of the new mayor induti togis de violet. As to the form of the dress in the 14th and 15th century, we can see from brasses of lord mayors and aldermen (see Haines, Manual, pp. cc–cci; and Cotman, Norfolk Brasses. There is a fine series of brasses of mayors, &c., at Norwich) that it consisted of a long gown, a mantle fastened on the right shoulder and a hood.
As to the provincial mayors and aldermen there is evidence that at quite an early date many of them followed the fashion of London; e.g. the Royal Charter of Nottingham, of 1448, contains the words: “that the Aldermen of the same town forever . . . may use gowns, hoods and cloaks of one suit and one livery together with furs and linings suitable to these cloaks, in the same manner and form as the Mayor and Aldermen of our city of London do use, the Statute of Liveries . . . notwithstanding” (see Nottingham Records, ii. 205), while the charter granted by Henry VI. to Kingston-on-Hull in 1440 contains practically the same words (see St J. Hope, i. lxxxvi). The costume of provincial mayors, &c., is shown by St John Hope (loc. cit.) to have generally consisted of a scarlet furred gown and cloak, with tippet or scarf of black velvet. The colour was not, however, invariably scarlet, but varied to violet, blue and black, sometimes even for the mayor. An account of the robes of modern provincial mayors will be found in St J. Hope, p. lxxxix seq. and under the accounts of the various boroughs, passim.
There is some doubt as to when the Lord Mayor first began to wear his robe of estate of crimson velvet. Stow (Survey, ed. Strype, 1720, ii. 165) says that at the reception of Henry VI. at Eltham the mayor was in crimson velvet, the aldermen in scarlet with “sanguine” hoods, but at the coronation of Edward V. (see St J. Hope) he wore scarlet. At the Coronation of Anne Boleyn (see Wriothesley’s Chronicle, loc. sit. supr., and Hall's Chronicle) the mayor wore his crimson velvet robe 'of state, the aldermen and sheriffs scarlet; and at the entry of Anne of Cleves into London the mayor was again in his crimson velvet robe with his collar of gold, the aldermen and councilmen in robes of black velvet with chains of gold (but see
