The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers is one of the Livery Companies of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

Cordwainer A cordwainer () is a shoemaker who makes new shoes from new leather. The cordwainer's trade can be contrasted with the cobbler's trade, according to a tradition in Britain that restricted cobblers to repairing shoes. This usage distinction ...

s were workers in fine leather; the Company gets its name from "cordwain" ( cordovan), the white leather produced from goatskin in Cordova,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. All fine leather makers, including Girdlers and Glovers, were originally classified as cordwainers; however, the term eventually came to refer only to fine leather footwear, including boots. The Cordwainers' Company, which received the right to regulate City trade in 1272 (the same year as the

Curriers A currier is a specialist in the leather processing industry. After the tanning process, the currier applies techniques of dressing, finishing and colouring to a tanned hide to make it strong, flexible and waterproof. The leather is stretched an ...

), obtained a

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

of incorporation in 1439. The status of the Company as a trade association has lessened over the years; the Company is now, as are most other Livery Companies, a charitable body. Other leather-linked Livery Companies, which enjoy close relations with the Cordwainers include not only the

, but the Leathersellers, Saddlers and Tallow Chandlers Companies too. The Company ranks twenty-seventh in the order of precedence of Livery Companies and is the highest ranked one without its own Livery Hall. The Company's

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mo ...

is ''Corio et Arte'',

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

for ''Leather and Art''. The livery hall of the Cordwainers, Cordwainers' Hall, though rebuilt several times, stood at the same site near St. Paul's Churchyard from 1316 until its final destruction in the

London blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

in 1941.

References

External links

The Cordwainers' Company
Livery companies 1272 establishments in England Corporatism Companies of medieval England Charities based in London {{London-stub