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The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers (or Fishmongers' Company) is one of the 110 Livery Companies of the City of London, being an incorporated guild of sellers of fish and seafood in the City. The Company ranks fourth in the order of precedence of City Livery Companies, thereby making it one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies. ==History== The Company records an unbroken existence for over 700 years – although undoubtedly it existed earlier – having received its first Royal Charter in 1272. A predecessor guild was fined as ''adulterine'' in 1154. It took the name Stock Fishmongers' Company under another Royal Charter granted in 1508. Then, in 1537, it merged with the Salt Fishmongers' Company to form the Company with its present name.〔 The most famous City fishmonger is Sir William Walworth, who, as Lord Mayor of London in 1381, helped bring the Peasants' Revolt to an end by stabbing the rebel Wat Tyler to death at Smithfield in the presence of King Richard II.〔 In 1383, Lord Mayor John Comberton de Northampton (a Draper) persuaded the City Common Council to declare that the Fishmongers should no longer have the power to monopolise trade in fish, and this was reaffirmed by Parliament. However, in a Royal Charter granted to the Fishmongers by Richard II in 1399, all their privileges were restored. The same Charter states they should elect six Wardens annually, the number which continues to the present day. Until the end of the 14th century the Fishmongers convened their own court of law, called ''Leyhalmode'', at which disputes over fish and seafood trade were tried by the Wardens of the Company. From 1555 to the present day, the Company has acted as Trustee of Gresham's School at Holt, Norfolk. In the early 17th century, the Company was granted lands at Ballykelly and Banagher in northern Ireland, by the Crown. It remained a major landowner there until the 20th century, and the villages contain some of the most interesting buildings erected in Ulster by the Plantation companies. In 1714, the Irish actor Thomas Doggett provided money to endow a boat race called Doggett's Coat and Badge Race in honour of the new king, George I of Hanover. The race was originally to be rowed annually on 1 August on the River Thames, by up to six young watermen per boat who were not to be out of their apprenticeship by more than twelve months. The prize for the champion oarsman is a fine red coat embellished with a large silver badge on one arm, depicting the white horse of Hanover with the word 'liberty' underneath. Since Doggett's death, the Fishmongers' Company continues to organise this event each year, and it is now believed to be the world's longest continuously-running sporting event as well as being the longest boat race in the world – 4 miles, 5 furlongs (7,400 m).〔 By the 18th century, references to fish were hard to find in the Fishmongers' Company Court minutes, since the Company's main business had evolved into managing its extensive properties and administering its charities and trusts, such as Gresham's School as well as St. Peter's Hospital and almshouses at Newington in Surrey.〔Earle, Peter, ''(The Making of the English Middle Class'', p. 258 ) (University of California Press, 1989) at escholarship.org〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Worshipful Company of Fishmongers」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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