But
the frequent occurrence of Palmer suggests that it was often a
nickname for a pious fraud. We have a doublet of Pilgrim in Pegram,
though this may come from the name Peregrine, the etymology being the
same, viz. Lat. peregrines, a foreigner.

CHAPTER XVIII. TRADES AND CRAFTS

"What d'ye lack, noble sir?--What d'ye lack, beauteous madam?"

(Fortunes of Nigel, ch. i.)

In the Middle Ages there was no great class of retail dealers distinct
from the craftsmen who fashioned objects. The same man made and sold
in almost every case. There were of course general dealers, such as
the French Marchant or his English equivalent the Chapman (Chapter
II), the Dutch form of which has given us the Norfolk name Copeman.
The Broker is now generally absorbed by the local Brooker. There were
also the itinerant merchants, of whom more anon; but in the great
majority of cases the craftsman made and sold one article, and was, in
fact, strictly forbidden to wander outside his special line.

ARCHERY

Fuller tells us that--

"England were but a fling,
Save for the crooked stick and the gray-goose-wing,"

and the importance of the bow and arrow is shown by the number of
surnames connected with their manufacture. We find the Bowyer, Bower
or Bowmaker, who trimmed and shaped the wand of yew, [Footnote: This
is also one source of Boyer, but the very common French surname Boyer
means ox-herd.] the Fletcher (Chapter XV), Arrowsmith, or Flower, who
prepared the arrow--

"His bowe he bente and sette therinne a flo" (H, 264)--

[Footnote: The true English word for arrow, Anglo-Sax. fla.]

and the Tipper, Stringer, and Horner, who attended to smaller details,
though the Tipper and Stringer probably tipped and strung other
things, and the Horner, though he made the horn nocks of the long-bow,
also made horn cups and other objects.

The extent to which specialization was carried is shown by the trade
description of John Darks, longbowstringemaker, who died in 1600. The
Arblaster may have either made or used the arblast or cross-bow,
medieval Lat. arcubalista, bow-sling. His name has given the
imitative Alabaster. We also find the shortened Ballister and
Balestier, from which we have Bannister (Chapter III). Or, to take an
example from comestibles, a Flanner limited his activity to the making
of flat cakes called flans or flawns, from Old Fr. flaon (flan), a
word of Germanic origin, ultimately related to flat

"He t