" It has been supposed that by "freemen"
are intended native freemen, but this is doubtful, since cases occur of
strangers and foreigners being admitted to the freedom for the very
purpose of becoming hostelers and herbergeours. Even when this privilege
was granted them, they were not suffered to compete on equal terms with
the Englishman, being required to keep their houses "in the heart of the
City," and rigidly excluded from the more profitable regions on the
banks of the Thames.
The necessity of hostelers and herbergeours being freemen was due
apparently to the survival of the old Saxon law of frank-pledge, which
was still in force at the close of the reign of Edward III. No hosteler
or herbergeour might entertain a stranger longer than a day and a night,
unless he undertook to answer for his guest's behaviour, and he was left
in no uncertainty as to the course of conduct he was expected to pursue
towards the always undesirable alien. In many respects his position
resembled that of a master of a workhouse rather than a speculative
tradesman. Thus, at times when it was forbidden to carry arms in the
City, it became his duty to take possession of his guests' arms and
retain them until the strangers departed. If the latter did not comply
with his demand, they were fined and imprisoned. At other times, when
the regulations were not so severe, he had to tell his guests that they
were not to carry arms after curfew rang, or go wandering about the
streets of the City.
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