The dispute between the Skinners and the Merchant Taylors

By the 14th century the powerful traders of the guilds were quarrelling amongst themselves, jostling for position and control over their regulatory empires.

There were many areas where disputes could arise as many of the trades overlapped; the Skinners were involved in the fur trade but so were the Leathersellers who sold skins, the Tawyers who treated skins for making up into furs, and the Tailors who sewed the garments.

The most notorious of the disputes was that between the Skinners and the Merchant Taylors which came to a head in 1484. Rivalry between the two guilds erupted into lethal violence during the Mayor of London’s river procession, an occasion which the two guilds treated as their private boat race. The Mayor, Robert Billesdon, resolved the issue of which guild’s barge should take precedence in the procession by proposing that the companies take it in turn to lead each year.

When a fixed order for the first 48 companies was eventually laid down in 1516 the Skinners and Merchant Taylors were confirmed as alternating between numbers six and seven. This probably gave rise to the phrase to be ‘at sixes and sevens’ and the award is commemorated in the ties between the Skinners’ and Merchant Taylors’ Companies.

 

Top