History
The records of the Mercers’ Company date back to 1348 but the Company is certainly
older than this for in that year new ordinances were drawn up for the conduct
of its affairs.
Livery Companies originated when medieval merchants banded together to form guilds
or fraternities, also known as 'misteries', from the Latin ministerium, meaning occupation.
The guilds protected the interests of a particular trade, and the practitioners
of that trade.
Trade of Mercery
The trade of 'mercery' itself is first mentioned in the 1130s. The term derives
from the Latin merx, mercis, meaning wares or merchandise.
In its widest sense mercery could describe all merchandise, although in London
the term evolved to mean the trade specifically in luxury fabrics, such as silk,
linen, hemp-cloth and fustian, and in a large variety of miscellaneous 'piece
goods' such as bedding, headwear, ribbons, laces and purses.
The Company's links with the active trade died out over the centuries. This was
mainly because admission to the Company was possible by patrimony. In effect a
member could become a member, because his father was a member, without necessarily
practising the trade of mercery itself.
Find out more about The Mercers' Company Charters.
Find out more about The Mercers' Maiden.
Find out more about Mercers' Hall and Chapel.
Further suggested reading
The following bibliography of useful secondary sources on the history of the
Company includes publications available for purchase from the Company which are
marked with a star *
* DOOLITTLE, I D
The Mercers' Company 1579-1959, Mercers' Company, 1994
HUELIN, G
Think and Thank God: The Mercers' Company and its Contribution to the Church
and Religious Life since the Reformation, Mercers' Company, 1994
IMRAY, J M
'Les Bones Gentes de la Mercerye de Londres: A Study of the membership of the
medieval Mercers' Company', Studies in London History Presented to P E Jones, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1969
IMRAY, J M
Thomas Becket, the Mercers' Company and the City of London, London, 1970
* IMRAY, J M
The Mercers' Hall, London Topographical Society, publication number 143, 1991
* LYELL, L (& WATNEY, F D)
Acts of Court of the Mercers' Company 1453-1527, Cambridge University Press, 1936
PARKER, J M
'The Ordinance Book of the Mercers' Company of London', unpublished M. Phil.
thesis, University of London 1980. (Available at The Institute of Historical Research,
Senate House, Malet Street, London WC2.)
RAYDEN,
Mercers' Hall, Country Life, London, 1947
Report of the Royal Commission on the City of London Livery Companies, Parliamentary Papers (Cmd. 4073), 1884, XXXIX
SUTTON, A F
'The Early Linen and Worsted Industry of Norfolk and the Evolution of the London
Mercers' Company', Norfolk Archaeology Volume 40, pt. iii, 1989
SUTTON, A F
'Lady Bradbury c.1450-1530', Medieval London Widows 1300-1500, eds.C M Barron & A F Sutton, London, 1994
SUTTON, A F
'Caxton was a Mercer: His Friends and Social Milieu', England in the 15th Century, ed. N Rogers, Harlaxton Medieval Studies IV, Stamford, 1994#
SUTTON, A F
'The Mercery Trade and the Mercers' Company of London from the 1130s to 1348',
unpublished PH.D. thesis, University of London 1995 (Available at The Institute
of Historical Research, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC2.)
SUTTON, A F
'Mercery through four centuries 1130s-c.1500' Nottingham Medieval Studies, Vol. XLI, 1997
*SUTTON, A F
I Sing of A Maiden: The Story of the Maiden of the Mercers' Company, Mercers' Company, 1998
*SUTTON, A F
The Mercery of London: Trade, Goods and People, 1130 - 1578, Ashgate 2005
WATNEY, J
Some Account of the Hospital of St. Thomas of Acon in the Cheap, London and of
the Plate of the Mercers' Company, London, 1892, Second edition 1906
WATNEY, J
An Account of the Mistery of Mercers' of the City of London, London 1914
