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URING the Middle Ages the trade of Leicester was almost entirely regulated by the Guild Merchant, or Chapman's Guild. As soon as a man had entered that Guild, he was free to carry on his special business, without paying the tolls which a non-guildsman would have to pay, and he shared all the privileges of the great trading fraternity of the town. So real was the brotherhood of the Guild, that, if any member happened to be present when a bargain was made by another member, he was entitled to have a share in it. Only Guildsmen were allowed to carry on any retail trade within the town — a rule which is proved by the exception of a few strangers being specially licensed to sell in the market, who were known as "homines stallati," or stall-men, and eyed with suspicion. And when a man entered the Guild, he was bound to conform to all the regulations that were laid down by the twenty-four Jurats of the Guild.

It would seem as if some of the Leicester traders resented these regulations, and aspired to self-management as early as the 13th century. The fullers, for instance, held meetings on their own account before the year 1260, and even, it would seem, appointed their own overseers, and fixed their own prices. It was resolved, however, by the Chapman's Guild, "with the consent of the merchants and the weavers and fullers," that, after that year, the fullers should not hold any "morning-speech," except in the presence of two merchants of the Guild of Merchants, who should have been chosen for that purpose from the community of the Guild ; and also that they should conform to certain customs and rules then settled by the Guild. The weavers at the same time also consented to the regulations of their trade then laid down. But, five years afterwards, when a resolution had been passed by the Guild fixing their wages, and ordering them not to weave any cloth of country villages as long as they had enough work from the men of Leicester, they again took matters into their own hands, and made "a certain provision about weaving against the community of the Guild of Merchants." 123