Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/274

 158 THE CORDWAINERS AND CORVESORS OF OXFORD. The amount, it will be observed, is but seventeenpence a-week, while in 21 Hen. VII., it was sixpence;* in 7 Hen. VIIL, fifteenpence ;^ in the 10th, eightpence;^ the 15th or 16th, fourteenpence ; ' the 16th, tenpence halfpenny ; ^ and the 24th or 25th, sevenpence.^ The money, when collected, was kept in a box or coffer, of wdiich the master was to keep the key ; ^ and on one occasion, a balance of seventeen shillings had accumulated.^ Of the expenditure, the fol- lowing is the only account which remains.^ It has no date, unless a mem. above, which seems to be "Anno Recjis Henrici quarti," refers to it : — Allocatus for vj. lb, di. of wax at vj. ofone) fb . iij*. vj'^. ob It' for makyng of the hele stocke . . . x. Itm for makyng of fflowris .... v^. Itm the skoryng (scouring) of kandilsticks . j*^. Itm for makyng of the aamys (amice) . . vj. Itm to I friar to Intend the lyght . . . ij*^. The last entry to be found of the appointment of the Cus- todes luminis, &c., is in the 29th year of Henry VIIL ;* and it is probable there were no more, as the statute 37 Henry VIIL, chap. 4, entitled, " An Acte for dissolution of colleges, chauntries, and free chapelles at the King's Majestie's pleasure," gave the whole of these and their estates to the Crown ; while another, passed in the first year of his suc^ cesser, Edward VI. (chap. 14), swept away all that still remained, and included in its purview " all payments by corporations, misteryes, or craftes, for priests, obits, and lamps," which were thenceforth to be paid to the King.^ The effect of these enactments upon a voluntary contribution, like that of which we have been speaking, was, of course, simply to put an end to it. Still, it is gratifying to observe that the religious feeling did not cease ; for in the few details of accounts which are left, we find, besides sums given in charity to poor and deca3^ed members of the craft, gmall annual payments to the prisoners at Bocardo,^ which may have been intended to supply the place of the superstitious practice. There is also an order passed at the annual meeting in 1585, to the effect that "all mene of oure com- pany shall atend upon the M'" the Toosdaye after Saynte < A. 5.5. ' A. 2 ; B. 58, 50. ' A. 2. s Herbert, i., 113. "> A. 74. « B. 56. 2 A. (53, 24 Hen. VII. « About 2s. or 2s. Qd. '■ A. 80. 9 A. 8.9; B. 70, 71. => A. 1. •» B. 5. per aim.