Butchers
bought killed sheep, lambs, calves, and pigs to cut up for
selling. Tanned leather was sold to girdle-makers and shoemakers.
Goods bought in markets were presumed not to be stolen, so that a
purchaser could not be dispossessed of goods bought unless he had
knowledge that they were stolen.
The ruling group of the towns came to be composed mostly of
merchants, manufacturers, attorneys, and physicians. Some
townswomen were independent traders. The governed class contained
small master craftsmen and journeyman artisans, small traders, and
dependent servants. The major streets of London were paved with
stone, with a channel in the middle. More water conduits from
hills, heaths, and springs were built to provide the citizens of
London with more water. The sewers carried only surface water
away. Households were forbidden to use the sewers. Privies emptied
into cesspools.
The Merchant Adventurers' Fellowship brought virtually all
adventurers under its control and organized and regulated the
national cloth trade. It had a General Court of the Adventurers
sitting in the London Mercers' Hall. Various companies were
granted monopolies for trade in certain areas of the world such as
Turkey, Spain, France, Venice, the Baltic, and Africa. These were
regulated companies. That is they obtained complete control of a
particular foreign market, but any merchant who cared to join the
company, pay its dues, and obey its regulations, might share in
the benefits of its monopoly.
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