Cloth Seal, Colchester Dutch Community Seal, Tubular, 1571 onward
Cloth Seal, Colchester Bay Seal, Image by StuE, Found by Rob Young.
Found in the Colchester area, 24 x 14mm, 4.2g.
A dark brown fragment of a roughly circular seal with a collapsed channel running across its middle that probably had tape passing through it attaching it to the length of cloth. Four vertically aligned pellets an O joined to a C and followed by another O. No markings are evident on the other side.
Single disc cloth seal with circles and semicircles ( C O ?) in an oblong stamp often at right angles to the slot which took the attachment tape through the centre of the seal, crimping it in place.
Identified by staff at Colchester Castle Museum as a Bay (type of cloth) Seal.
See:- Colchester Archaeological Report 5: The post-Roman small finds from excavations in Colchester 1971-85, Nina Crummy. (Leaden Seals for Cloths, G. Egan, P.34-35, figs 1944-1948)
“These seals all have a hole running diametrically through the flan. A tape or wire would have passed through this hole to keep the seal fixed in place. The stamped conjoined circles and semicircles in various combinations may give some kind of technical information which would have been useful to a limited number of traders or artisans. There are similar seals in the Colchester and Essex Museum (VCH 1907, fig 7,e,g, where they are described as maker’s seals, which may be correct), and an example found in London(A G Pilson collection) has in addition to the conjoined circles part of a stamp paralleled by devices on Colchester Dutch community cloth seals. Although there is thus a definite connection between these single-disc seals and the textile quality control system used by the Dutch in the town, the significance of the conjoined circles remains obscure."
The Dutch weaving community was formally established in 1571. From Geoff Egan,'Lead cloth seals and related items in the B.M. (B.M.occ.papers 93)' p.29.
From a private communication with Arti Ponsen, University of Leiden:-
"... you mention the competition between Colchester and Leiden.
Did you know that this dates from as early as 1576, when Flemish refugee weavers of Colchester were actively approached to move to Leiden, where they would be recognized as citizens if only they would teach us how to make the modern types of cloth, such as Say and Bay? The fact that so many took the risk to return to what was still a warzone proves that the Leiden deputation must have made some serious promises to undercut the English interests. But the weavers who stayed in England did rather well for themselves, too. Years ago I visited the Dutch Quarter in Colchester and was astonished to see how grand their houses were. In Holland the autorities were quick to panick about the fire hazard, demanding that roofs be tiled and wooden housefronts replaced by brick ones. I do not think the Flemish weavers over here ever got the chance to build houses for themselves in the traditional style of their own country. In her heyday during the 17th century, Leiden was crammed full of stepped gables,just like Amsterdam."
Following on from the above communication Arti Ponsen was kind enough to prepare the following article detailing the migration of cloth workers between Colchester and Leiden (and the Low Countries in general):-
"Competition between the cloth-industries of Colchester and Leiden (Holland)
After the Relief of Leiden on the 3rd of October 1574, the city’s population was left decimated by pestilence and famine. Many catholics had already fled the city before the Siege had started. The traditional cloth-industry was bereft of its skilled workers. Hamburg (Germany) and Duffel (Brabant) were pushing Leiden off the market. Spanish wool, necessary to produce the heavy, high quality woollen cloth [laken] that Leiden had been renowned for, was no longer available. Scottish and English wool was an alternative, but import was hindered by the Spanish, and new skills were needed to process it into modern types of cloth like say or bay. For this know-how the city looked to England. After the Sack of Antwerp by the Spanish soldiers and the echec Peace of Ghent in 1576, flemish weavers had fled the country and went to live in East Anglia, where they would have a steady supply of wool. And were there families would be safe from marauding Spanish troops.
Towards the end of 1576 the Leiden magistrates decided to invite some of these refugee weavers to settle in Leiden. On January 8th 1577 they commissioned Pieter Adriaenszoon Van der Werf – the former burghomaster famous for his gallantry during the Siege – and councillor Andries Schot (also a veteran) to travel to Delft and talk to William of Orange’s private secretary Bruynich “about the reception of the say-, warp-, and bayworkers from England” [nopende het ontfangen van de sayetten-, warpen- ende bayenreeders uyt Engelant].
At Bruynich’s they may have met Anthonis Jansz from ’s Hertogenbosch, who had contacts in the Flemish community at Colchester. He had probably sounded them on the idea of moving to Holland, for in 1582 he would claim to have rendered “important services” [merckeliche diensten] in arranging the arrival of the Flemish from England.
The reference remains as vague as that, but it would explain that only two days after the consultation in Delft (January 10th), the city council of Leiden was already studying a letter from Francois Pradelis and one Barten (whose first name is not recorded), “emissaries of some of the congregation of Colchester”[gesantten van sommige van der gemeente van Clousester uyt Engelant] requesting permission “to bring the skills and trade of say, bay and similar work of silk, linnen and wool into the City of Leiden” [ten eynde omme de handelinge ende neeringe van de saeyetten, bayen en diergelycke zijden, linnen ende wollen wercken binnen deze stede te mogen overbrengen]. The letter contained “articles” [articulen]: apparently the Flemish craftsmen were in a position to make demands!
Negotiations were conducted by the hyperintelligent Muncipal Secretary of the Leiden, Jan van Hout - whose idea it had been in the first place, no doubt. What exactly he promised to tempt the English weavers is not clear, but it must have included free citizenship (essential because it allowed them to sell their products on the Leiden market).
On May 7th 1577 the first three Colchester ‘Dutch’ were welcomed (probably with their families): Erasmus de Backer, François de Heger, and Petrus Baelde. Willem Los followed on the 9th of July and after him came a steady stream of Flemish clothworkers from Colchester, Norwich, Canterbury ánd directly from Flanders. This first wave of immigration lasted until september 1579.
They were not the only Flemish cloth-workers to come to Leiden via England: others arrived from Norwich and Canterbury. Incidentally, ‘flemish’ or ‘dutch’ meant ‘refugees from The Low Countries’ and included Walloons who only spoke French.
A second group of refugees from Flanders arrived in Leiden from 1582 onward, when the Spanish commander Parma was sweeping victoriously (ie plundering and murdering) through the south of the Low Countries. The immigration from the warzone remained at high level up to 1595.
Leiden was not the only city in Holland to boost its economy by atracting workers of ‘New Cloth Industry [Nieuwe Neering]. When in March 1577 the masters of the Leiden cloth trade [waardijns] anounced that they had formed a cartel with their collegues in Haarlem to keep each other informed of their trade at the international woolstack in Bruges, they stated that “within both cities some members of the Dutch communities of Colchester, Norwich and other places in England are expected to come and ply their skills and trade in bay, say, and other types of cloth made from all sorts of wool or silken thread” [wel verstaende, alsoe men binnen beyden den stede respective verwachtende es eenige van den Duytschen gemeenten van Colchester, Norwitz ande anderen plaetsen uyt Engelant omme in eenige van denzelven steden haer neringe ende handelinge van baeyen, saeyetten ende andere sorten van draperie, die men van allerleye wolle oft zydendraedt werckende es, te doen ende gebruycken].
Haarlem would develop its own say-industry, but would become famous for its high quality linnen.
During the Twelve Year Truce with Spain (1609-1621) a group of religious refugees from England arrived in Leiden, some of whom were originally Flemish. They were protestants of the strict observation, followers of the Brownist reverend John Robinson. First they settled in Amsterdam, but they soon found the city to be a pool of sin. And so they came to Leiden – possibly as a result of Robinson’s acquintance with Flemish refugees in Norwich, who may have told him of the friendly welcome the city was offering to all those who were prepared to work hard and observe the law, regardless of their religion.
They found Jan van Hout still in office, his hospitable policy unchanged. Many took jobs in the cloth industry, William Brewster set up a printing press, and Robinson took an active part in the theological debate at the University. But part of his congregation found even Leiden too frivolous to their taste. In 1620 these Pilgrims embarked on the Mayflower for the New World.
A recent study has identified several Flemish refugees from Colchester amongst the Robinson-group. The following bethrothals or secular marriages [Schepenhuwelijk], are found in the Leiden municipal records. The names are often spelled phonetically or translated into Dutch:
John Jennings [Jan Jenningks], a fustian worker from Colchester, bethrothed to Elysabeth Pettenger ‘from England’ (17-12-1610).
Roger Chandler [Rogier Kandelaer], a serge weaver from Colchester, to Isabel Chilton [Ysabel Tgiltron] from Canterbury (22-5-1615).
Margaret Barrow [Margriet Berru] from Colchester to Roger Wilkyn, widower of Anna Hardy (16-9-1619).
Thomas Richard [Rycquaert], widower of Anna Chappell, a weaver from Colchester, to Sarah Thomas of Sandwich (28-8-1628).
In the period from 1609 to 1630 fourteen people from Colchester were registered as citizens of Leiden. Only one had a connection to the Pilgrims: Robert Robertsz, a knife sharpener.
One of the other immigrants may have been Mardecheus Colven of Colchester, who is on record as the buyer of Pilgim Thomas Rogers’ house when the latter was selling out to leave for America. Note Colven’s first name: it looks like some of the Flemish exiles who came to Leiden from Colchester had Jewish roots.
In the Leiden legal archives there is evidence for a wool-merchant from Colchester, Jacob the Clerc, who brought his family over to Leiden from Colchester before 1630. After his death, his widow Aeltgen Jansz. takes steps to claim a shipment of “horsehair leather” [goederen van paerdtshaar leer] for making woolcombs, which her late husband had bought from Joseph Warrin in Colchester, who had sent it to one Willem Robbrechtsz. in Rotterdam. Aeltgen authorizes Jacob van Clerc, a say-worker, to seize the goods from Robbrechtsz. This goes to show how the Colchester emigrants of Leiden remained part of the protestant flemish ‘diaspora’.
In the municipal register a fourth, and larger, wave of immigrants shows up between 1639 and 1652: 38 men and 31 women were married in Leiden who were born in Colchester. Some were widowed already, but assuming that the bachelors and spinsters were about 20 years of age, it follows that their parents were still living in England from around 1620 to 1630. Many of these Colchester-born were married to Leideners. Four couples were formed inside the Colchester community and fourteen newlyweds chose a partner who was born in another English town, but whose parents – judging by the names - were originally from Flanders. One of the brides came from Edinburgh and may actually have been Scottish – her name is spelled “Elisabeth Wans”. Five Colchestrians were married to partners who were born in Flanders. Two birthplaces were muddled up by the town clerk beyond recognition.
And all of the married men but three were employed in the cloth-industry.
Arti Ponsen
volunteer researcher at Municipal Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden.
J.D. Bangs, Strangers and Pilgrims, Travellers and Sojourners. Leiden and the Foundations of Plymouth Plantation. Plymouth, Mass.: General Society of Mayflower Descentants, 2009
P.J. Blok, Geschiedenis eener Hollandsche Stad. Vol. III, Eene Hollandsche stad onder de Republiek (1916); Deel IV, Eene Hollandsche stad in den nieuweren tijd (1918). ’s Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff
N.W. Posthumus, Bronnen tot de Geschiedenis van de Leidsche Textielnijverheid. Vol. III 1574-1610; Vol IV 1611-1650. 's Gravenhage: 1910-1914."
