Charter & Ordinances
The Scriveners’ Company has been described as being a “Company of this City by prescription, time out of mind”, but we tend to start our count at 1373 when a group of those working as scriveners in the City appealed to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen to be granted the power to regulate those who wished to work as scriveners in the City, to ensure that standards were maintained and that those whose work was poor could be disciplined.
The granting of this prerogative on 26 September 1373 and the associated governance of the craft is the point we mark as our origin. Thus, the Writers of the Court Letter had been in existence for more than 250 years when the Master and Wardens applied, in July 1616, to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen to be allowed to petition the King (James I) for a Charter of Incorporation.
The intended petition was considered by the Common Serjeant who agreed that a Charter would improve the governance of the scriveners and would in no way be to the detriment of the City or its liberties, so it could proceed. The request was presented to the King while he was staying at his favourite country residence, Theobalds Park, Hertfordshire in October 1616.
The King referred the petition to the Privy Council, who in turn referred it back to the Lord Mayor and the Recorder of London. The City gave its formal approval and the King issue a bill for the production of the Letters Patent bestowing rights and privileges on the Company of Scriveners and it was signed on 28 January 1617 “in the year of our reign of England, France and Ireland the fourteenth and of Scotland the fiftieth”.
The Master and Wardens of the newly renamed Company of Scriveners of the City of London took their oaths before the Lord Mayor on 27 February 1617 and then set their minds to producing a new set of ordinances (the rules and regulations governing the Company) which were agreed by 29 January 1619.
An English translation(the original documents are in Latin) of the Letters Patent of 1617, the ordinances of 1619 and the amendments to the ordinances of 1635 is given to each member of the Company on their admission, since these are the documents which continue to govern the Company today.
The granting of this prerogative on 26 September 1373 and the associated governance of the craft is the point we mark as our origin. Thus, the Writers of the Court Letter had been in existence for more than 250 years when the Master and Wardens applied, in July 1616, to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen to be allowed to petition the King (James I) for a Charter of Incorporation.
The intended petition was considered by the Common Serjeant who agreed that a Charter would improve the governance of the scriveners and would in no way be to the detriment of the City or its liberties, so it could proceed. The request was presented to the King while he was staying at his favourite country residence, Theobalds Park, Hertfordshire in October 1616.
The King referred the petition to the Privy Council, who in turn referred it back to the Lord Mayor and the Recorder of London. The City gave its formal approval and the King issue a bill for the production of the Letters Patent bestowing rights and privileges on the Company of Scriveners and it was signed on 28 January 1617 “in the year of our reign of England, France and Ireland the fourteenth and of Scotland the fiftieth”.
The Master and Wardens of the newly renamed Company of Scriveners of the City of London took their oaths before the Lord Mayor on 27 February 1617 and then set their minds to producing a new set of ordinances (the rules and regulations governing the Company) which were agreed by 29 January 1619.
An English translation(the original documents are in Latin) of the Letters Patent of 1617, the ordinances of 1619 and the amendments to the ordinances of 1635 is given to each member of the Company on their admission, since these are the documents which continue to govern the Company today.
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