OTHE.)

The Othe of the Brethern and free men. n.p., n.d.

      [London c. ?] 1575 - Broadside. 24 x 18cm. Edges uncut. Drop-head title. Printed in black letter. At the foot of the sheet: "God save the Queen". Minor creasing and lightly browned along old horizontal fold otherwise an excellent uncut copy. Not in STC, Wing, or ESTC on-line. Not in Goldsmiths'. No broadside with this title appears in STC or Wing. Dating cannot be exact but the broadside appears to belong to the later part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. i.e. not later than 1603. "Oath" spelt "Othe" appears to be discontinued c. 1590. We have not traced any similar early broadside which uses the word "Brethern". STC lists The othe of eurye free man. [London: R. Jugge, c. 1575] 1 sheet ([1] p.); 1/4to. (A unique copy at the Folger bought by Folger from Sawyer Cat. 89:624, 1927). This is followed by several other later editions entitled The othe of euery free man, of the citie of London, 1580 to 1634. A comparison with The othe of euery free man STC 16761.5 shows that our text is completely different: the text here specifically relates to the Craft of Dyers or the Dyers Company. In our broadside the first letter of text is a foliated initial "Y". This is very similar but not identical to the "Y" in the Folger broadside. STC states that 16761.5 is printed by [R. Jugge c. 1575]. The close similarity of the foliated initial Y may be evidence that R. Jugge is also the printer here. "Ye shalbe true unto our soueraigne Lady the Queen, and to her heires, Kinges and Queenes of England, et. Ye shalbe also true and faithful to the craft of Diers, enfraunchized within the Citie of London, keping asmuch as in you is, loue and charitie amongst them, not stirring or mouing any occasion of strife or debate, through which the said craft and fraternitie, or any Person of the same might be hindred or hurt." The text continues in five paragraphs numbered 2-6. A "freeman's oath" was a statement of loyalty to a monarch, government, or corporation, typically sworn on the occasion of the end of a period of apprenticeship or indenture. The custom is no doubt of considerable antiquity. As stated above the earliest such oath for which a printed copy survives is one at the Folger, tentatively dated 1575 ("The Othe of Evrye Free Man," STC 16761.5). The STC also records four other oaths which can be dated ca. 1580-1595, each in a unique copy -- two at the British Library, one at the Guildhall Library, and one at Huntington. This newly discovered example, which ends "God save the Queene," is clearly from the same period. It is the earliest known such broadside which can be assigned to a specific trade, the Company of Dyers; the others were evidently used for more general purposes. Until now, the earliest oath associated with a particular profession was one from the reign of James I (ca. 1610), which was used by leather-sellers (STC 16778.6; a unique copy at the Bodleian). The use of a freeman's oath continued for another two centuries or more, both in Great Britain and in the colonies, with the text showing considerable variation according to time and circumstances. The most famous of these is no doubt "The Oath of a Freeman," first drafted in 1631 as a Puritan oath of loyalty to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A revised version of 1634 is known to have been printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1639 by Stephen Daye, under the direction of Nathaniel Eaton, the first schoolmaster at Harvard. This was the first text to be printed in North America, a year before the celebrated Bay Psalm Book. The wording of the revised oath has survived in later printed sources, but no copy of the original has yet to be found. The present oath for the Company of Dyers concludes with the phrase, "So God you helpe, and the holy contents of this Booke" -- which makes it clear in a rather charming way that the broadside itself was meant to be held in the left hand, while the right hand rested on the Bible. See item 65. [Attributes: Hard Cover]