A HISTORY OF NORFOLK of English gilds, made in 1389, show that in Norfolk, as elsewhere, many of these had a marked religious and charitable aspect. They were often named after a patron saint, and their rules laid stress on devotional objects, performance of masses, requiems, offerings to lights, &c. Not every gild could afford to support a chaplain, but many did so, and there were few which did not make some provision for services in their church, and for decent burial of their members. On the gild-day the members worshipped together, gave their alms and feasted together, and their processions to the altar of the church at which they worshipped, with lights, and music, and flowers, were the occasions of great rejoicing, and show how the mass of the people cherished the ancient usages of the church, whose gorgeous cere- monial and symbolic forms brought colour and beauty into their daily lives. By the beginning of the fifteenth century, the entertainment of the public by the performance of religious plays was beginning to be recognized as one of the features of the gilds. At Norwich, ' The Creation of the World ' was given by the Mercers and Drapers ; ' Hell Cart,' by the Glaziers, Carpenters, &c. ; ' Paradise,' by the Grocers and Tallow Chandlers ; ' Abel and Cain,' by Masons, Limeburners, &c. ; ' Noysse Ship,' by Bakers, Brewers, &c. ; ' Abraham and Isaac,' by Tailors, Broiderers, &c. ; ' Moses and Aaron, with the Children of Israel, and Pharaoh with his Knights,' by the Tanners and Cordwainers ; ' The Conflict of David and Goliath,' by the Smiths ; ' The Birth of Christ with the Shepherds,' and the 'Three Kings of Colen,' by the Dyers, Goldsmiths, Saddlers, &c. ; ' The Resurrection,' by Butchers, Fish- mongers, &c. ; ' The Holy Ghost,' by the Worsted Weavers.* Fees for admission to the gilds were often heavy, and their wealth was very great. ^ Their enormous popularity in Norfolk may be gathered from the fact that at the time of the suppression of the religious gilds and the confiscation of their property under Henry VIII and Edward VI, there were 909 in existence.' The Paston Letters, with their vivid descriptions of Paston family affairs, tell the same tale of religious devotion ; of offerings and pilgrimages in times of sickness or trouble ; and of munificent bequests to churches, friars, ankers, lepers and every kind of religious or benevolent institution. After an illness of John Paston, his wife Margaret writes to him, 28 September, 1443,* ' My moder be hestydd a noder ymmage of wax of the weytte of yow to ower Lady of Walsingham and sche sent iiij nobelys to the iiij orderys of Frerys at Norweche to pray for yow, and I have be hestyd to gon on pylgreymmays to Walsingham and to sent Levenardys for yow.' Margaret Paston's will ^ makes bequests to the churches of Basyngham, Matlask, Gresham and Reedham ; to the four houses of Friars in Norwich and Yarmouth ; to the Friars Preachers of Norwich ; to the ' ankeres ' in Conesford ; to the ' anker ' at the White Friars in Norwich ; to each whole and half sister at Norman's ; to the dean and his brethren of the Chapel of the Field ; to the hospital of St. Giles ; to the mother church of Norwich ; to each leper at the five gates at Norwich ; and to the churches of St. Peter of H ungate and St Michael of Coslany in Norwich. ' }^orf. Arch, iii, 8. ' Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. xi, App. iii, 225. Extracts from the Trinity Guild Rolls, King's Lynn. ' Taylor, InJex Monasticus, App. p. 127. ' Paston Letters, No. 36 (ed. 1900). ' Ibid, iii, 283. 250
