The Jewry had a rule and law of its own.

Scores of householders, dotted over street and lane, were tenants of castle or abbey and paid no suit or service at the borough court.
[Sidenote: Oxford and London] But within these narrow bounds and amidst these various obstacles the spirit of municipal liberty lived a life the more intense that it was so closely cabined and confined.

Nowhere indeed was the impulse which London was giving likely to tell with greater force.

The "bargemen" of Oxford were connected even before the Conquest with the "boatmen," or shippers, of the capital.

In both cases it is probable that the bodies bearing these names represented what is known as the merchant-gild of the town.
Royal recognition enables us to trace the merchant-gild of Oxford from the time of Henry the First.