The enterprise of late medieval England's pious laity was not confined to the parish. In fact the fixity of the parish church and its territory was found a poor fit for a people empowered by a rising geographical, occupational and social mobility. Guilds, which, while they were typically planted within the institutional church, were moulded and led by their membership, offered both a more adaptable and a more personal framework for expressions of public religion. Between the Black Death and the Edwardian Reformation at least 30,000 may have been established in England and Wales; for the adult population a ratio of about 1:87. Widespread, guilds were not only an urban phenomenon but there is little doubt that those of the greatest wealth and furthest reach were found in the kingdom's largest cities. The Guild of Jesus ‘in the Crowdes’, anchored in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral from the mid-fifteenth century, was a comparative latecomer in the capital; the episcopal church itself had already hosted guilds for more than two hundred years. Yet in half a century more this new company of the crypt had outgrown many of its peers, claiming the attention not only of Londoners but also many in the provinces hungry for the heft of a metropolitan profile. The story of its success is well-recorded in a register of charters, deeds, letters and annual compoti (now Bodleian Library, Oxford, ms Tanner 221) kept by guild officers from its first year for almost a century. Now Elizabeth New has provided an annotated transcription. The early and exponential prosperity of the guild can be readily explained. It was adopted in its formative years by the Mercers, marked out among the city companies not only for their prosperity but also their political leverage. It seems it was the guild's Mercer patrons who secured a grant of letters patent from Henry vi in January 1459. Royal recognition drew further donations from members of the Lancastrian affinity including the Birgittine monastery at Syon and Henry's sister-in-law Margaret Beaufort. It was the guardianship of the Mercers that also ensured the guild's longevity. In its sixth decade fresh statutes (1506) were promulgated by the cathedral's dean, John Colet, himself scion of a prominent Mercer family. By the time of the break with Rome it was in the Mercery's firm grip. While patrons gave it status and staying-power, the primary source of the guild's wealth was its own underlying business model. Like many such spiritual associations, the guild officers farmed the raising of donations (to buy an indulgence) nationwide. Ten years after the reconstitution (1516) their annual take from the farm was upwards of £80; together with their city rents their receipts topped £150, more than many monastic foundations. The value of the guild as a window on the city's politics of family, Church and trade has been recognised in recent years and New's introduction reprises what she and others – Jonathan Arnold (Colet), Gervase Rosser (guilds) – have recently explored. She does offer a fresh prosopography for twenty-five guild wardens serving up to 1535 but touches only lightly on the substance and significance of the accounts. It will be for readers to draw out their useful data on the material and the mechanics of communal devotion in the pre-Reformation city. The enduring appeal of the city chapel to the pious of provincial England and Wales despite a diverse and dynamic indulgence marketplace also remains to be properly explained.
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