The York Guilds

David Palliser, F.S.A., F.R. Hist.S., Professor of Medieval History at the University of Leeds

York was one of several English cities where a play cycle was performed annually by the crafts or guilds.

York's trade and industry in the later middle ages was run by men (and a few women) who qualified to run a shop or business in two ways. Firstly they had to become freemen or citizens, and they also had to join the appropriate craft organisation or guild if there was one.

York had over 100 different trades and crafts, but only about 50 to 60 had a guild organisation (the numbers varied as new occupations started up and obsolete ones disappeared). Each guild was concerned with the organisation of a single trade or group of related trades, and with policing its members' activities through training (by apprenticeship), regulating standards of workmanship, and so on.

Some were large and wealthy groups of mainly wholesale traders, especially the merchants and drapers, and others were for craftsmen manufacturing goods in their own workshops. Most guilds also had a charitable and social side that included feasting, religious services, helping retired and sick members, and also putting on one of the Corpus Christi plays.

We know very little about how the system of craft organisation, and the connection with the plays, evolved. The city council was registering new freemen as early as 1272-3, but craft guilds (except the Weavers) are not recorded until the next century, and the plays not until the 1370s.

The plays and the guilds may well have evolved together: in the 1360s and 1370s York's economy was booming, the cult of Corpus Christi was developing, and the craft guilds becoming more prominent. It may even be that some guilds and fraternities first organised themselves to put on a play rather than to regulate their business affairs: and the division of the Bible story into up to 56 separate plays may well reflect the number of craft groupings willing to put on a play between them.

Company of Cordwainers of the City of York

The seven remaining guilds presented their plays in the 2002 production. Details of these individual guilds can be found on the following pages:

The Creation of the World - The York Guild of Building

Moses and Pharaoh (The Hosiers Play)- The Company of Merchant Taylors

The Woman taken in Adultery and the Raising of Lazarus (The Cappers Play) - The Company of Cordwainers

The Conspiracy against Jesus (The Cutlers Play)- The Gild of Freemen

The Death of Christ - The Company of Butchers

The Incredulity of Thomas - The Guild of Scriveners

The Last Judgement - The Company of Merchant Adventurers


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The Creation of the World Noah and the Flood Moses and Pharaoh The Angels and Shepherds The Baptism of Christ The Woman taken in Adultery and The Raising of Lazarus The Conspiracy against Jesus The Death of Christ The Incredulity of Thomas The Last Judgement	The York Guilds David Palliser, F.S.A., F.R. Hist.S., Professor of Medieval History at the University of Leeds
	York was one of several English cities where a play cycle was performed annually by the crafts or guilds. York's trade and industry in the later middle ages was run by men (and a few women) who qualified to run a shop or business in two ways. Firstly they had to become freemen or citizens, and they also had to join the appropriate craft organisation or guild if there was one.
		York had over 100 different trades and crafts, but only about 50 to 60 had a guild organisation (the numbers varied as new occupations started up and obsolete ones disappeared). Each guild was concerned with the organisation of a single trade or group of related trades, and with policing its members' activities through training (by apprenticeship), regulating standards of workmanship, and so on.
		Some were large and wealthy groups of mainly wholesale traders, especially the merchants and drapers, and others were for craftsmen manufacturing goods in their own workshops. Most guilds also had a charitable and social side that included feasting, religious services, helping retired and sick members, and also putting on one of the Corpus Christi plays.
	We know very little about how the system of craft organisation, and the connection with the plays, evolved. The city council was registering new freemen as early as 1272-3, but craft guilds (except the Weavers) are not recorded until the next century, and the plays not until the 1370s.
		The plays and the guilds may well have evolved together: in the 1360s and 1370s York's economy was booming, the cult of Corpus Christi was developing, and the craft guilds becoming more prominent. It may even be that some guilds and fraternities first organised themselves to put on a play rather than to regulate their business affairs: and the division of the Bible story into up to 56 separate plays may well reflect the number of craft groupings willing to put on a play between them.
	The seven remaining guilds presented their plays in the 2002 production. Details of these individual guilds can be found on the following pages: The Creation of the World - The York Guild of Building Moses and Pharaoh (The Hosiers Play)- The Company of Merchant Taylors The Woman taken in Adultery and the Raising of Lazarus (The Cappers Play) - The Company of Cordwainers The Conspiracy against Jesus (The Cutlers Play)- The Gild of Freemen The Death of Christ - The Company of Butchers The Incredulity of Thomas - The Guild of Scriveners The Last Judgement - The Company of Merchant Adventurers