ed in the private
rooms. Some of the great halls had tiled floors. The old trestle
tables were replaced by tables with legs. Benches and stools had
backs to lean on. Women and men wore elaborate headdresses. There
are guilds of ironmongers, salters, and haberdashers [hats and
caps]. On the outer periphery are mud and straw taverns and
brothels. Houses are beginning to be built outside the walls along
the Thames because the collapse of the power of the great feudal
lords decreased the fear of an armed attack on London. The
merchants introduced this idea of living at a distance from the
place of work so that they could escape living in the narrow,
damp, and dark lanes of the City and have more light and space.
Indeed no baronial army ever threatened the king again. East of
London were cattle pastures, flour mills, bakers, cloth-fulling
mills, lime burners, brick and tile makers, bell founders, and
ship repairing. There was a drawbridge on the south part of London
Bridge for defense and to let ships through. Water sports were
played on the Thames such as tilting at each other with lances
from different boats.

The Tailors' and Linen Armorers' Guild received a charter in 1503
from the king as the "Merchant Tailors" to use all wares and
merchandise, especially wool cloth, as well wholesale as retail,
throughout the nation. Some schooling was now being made
compulsory in certain trades; the goldsmiths' company made a rule
that all apprentices had to be able to read and write.

A yeoman was the second-rank person of some importance, below a
knight, below a gentleman, below a full member of a guild. In
London, it meant the journeyman or second adult in a small
workshop. These yeomen had their own fraternities and were often
on strike. Some yeomen in the large London industries, e.g.
goldsmiths, tailors, cloth workers, who had served an
apprenticeship started their own businesses in London suburbs
outside the jurisdiction of their craft to search them.

The Merchant Adventurers created a London fellowship confederacy
to make membership of their society and compliance with its
regulations binding on all cloth traders and to deal with common
interests and difficulties such as taxation, relations with
rulers, and dangers at sea. They made and enforced trading rules,
chartered fleets, and organized armed convoys when the seas were
unsafe and coordinated policies with Henry VII. Membership could
be bought for a large fee or gai