hands, as the money stolen belonged to the king. This court instituted by Edward III. was presided over by the constable and marshal. Its chief work was to deal with matters pertaining to war within or without the kingdom, including trials by combat.1 It invaded common law and Richard II. restricted its activities. There is no account of the election of the twentyfour, possibly it was less formal than other elections. In 1418 an ordinance was passed-probably it was only the re-enactment of a rule that had fallen into abeyance—that no one was qualified to become a member of the twenty-four, unless he had been a city sheriff. In case no ex-sheriff were available, then the choice was left to the discretion of the electors.2 After the election of the mayor in the common hall, the aldermen and twenty-four returned to the council chamber on Ousebridge, and there chose the three chamberlains. They undertook the financial side of the city's affairs, and collected debts due to the commonalty; they also managed the common property except what was in charge of the bridgemasters.3 The minor officials, the common clerk and the sergeants were chosen in the gildhall by the mayor, aldermen, and twenty-four.*

The government by council was in reality purely magisterial; theoretically, however, the whole scheme was based on the common will, on those large city assemblies, with their great though vaguely defined powers of moulding their city's history, which every citizen, not of course every resident, had a right to attend. Fundamentally the elaborate structure rested on the commons, "communis, tut la commonealte, tota communitas, multitudo copiosa," as they are called. They form the most interesting, at the same time the most elusive, part of the city's constitution. They possessed no adminstrative powers, those

1. 13 Ric. II., c. II., J. Selden, The Duello, p. 37. Gregory's Chronicle, pp. 199-202, Camden Soc., 1876. Mr. Hudson has drawn my attention to the fact that this was the sheriffs' court of personal action, which still exists in Norwich, Records, I., cxxix, cxxx, cxlvi, 295-7. Mr. Spalding, town clerk of York, informs me that the sheriff's court of pleas, which is a court of record and served by the protonotary, is the successor of this court. Municipal Com. Reports, 1835, vol. 25, p. 1737.

2. Mem. Bk., p. 256, it is headed in the custumal "Le serment de trent six personns du counseil."

3. Mem. Bk., p. 256.

4. Ibid., pp. 257, 258.

3

were entirely in the hands of the council; but when any important change, which involved the interests of the whole community, was contemplated, then the mayor summoned the whole body of freemen to the common hall. It is of course incredible that all the freemen attended, for about 100 freemen were added to the franchise each year.1 Unfortunately on this subject the Memorandum Book gives little light. In 1379-80 the council is said to consist of the twelve, the twenty-four and the artificers,2 but the times were revolutionary, the councils of that period cannot be taken as typical. On July 4th, 1379, one of these large city assemblies was held, it is the only occasion on which a complete list of all the members by name is given. The twelve and twenty-four, qualified by having held important civic offices, occupy the first part of the list; the forty-six names which follow are those of craftsmen, none of whom had held office, the artificers of the previous entry. The oath administered to the commons was identical with that taken by the twelve and twenty-four, but it was read to them by the common clerk, they then swore, by raising their hands, to support the mayor, "en tous poins a lour povoir."6

5

The Memorandum Book indulges in no tantalizing silences in its descriptions of the meetings of the citizens. It is rich both in accounts of the meetings in the council chamber and the assemblies in the common hall. No laboured account of the technique of medieval city government can give the vivid impression of its working that can be gained from these realistic pictures of the men themselves at their work of legislation, adminstration, consultation and arbitration. In 1417 a municipal undertaking, the re-erection of the public crane with its annexed buildings, had involved the city in great expense. The mayor, aldermen and “ whole council of the chamber of the city met, in the morning of the second of May, to discuss raising the

66

Ante, pp. iv, v.

2.

Mem. Bk., I., pp. 39, v.

3.

Mem. Bk., p. xlii.

5.

A blank space for the insertion of two names is left in the MS.

Mem. Bk., I., pp. v-ix.

6. Mem. Bk., p. 256.

ORDINANCE AGAINST ALIENS

xiii

rent in order to reimburse themselves for the outlay.1 They recognized that it was a matter about which the citizens had a right to be consulted. Later in the same day they therefore called a meeting of the commons in the common hall; the regulations they had drawn up were communicated to the commons, who sanctioned them," coram communitate publicatum et per communitatem affirmatum." Although September 21st and February 3rd were favourite dates for proclaiming any new procedure, it seems doubtful whether, except for the elections, there were any fixed dates for the summoning of these general meetings.

On one occasion all the preliminary meetings are omitted, and ordinances of the utmost importance first appear in the Memorandum Book at a city assembly in the common hall on September 21st, 1419. The mayor, six aldermen, seventeen councillors, the whole of the community of citizens, "tocius communitatis civium," and the two sheriffs were present. The authorities were probably sure that they would carry their audience with them. The memory of "the Foul Raid," the consciousness that Scotsmen were only waiting a favourable opportunity to make another similar invasion, and that they were fighting with Frenchmen against Englishmen in France, had roused the feelings of the men of York to frenzy. This racial hatred had found an outlet in those stringent measures against the aliens, which the York council proposed, and the commons ratified with enthusiasm. No Scotsman nor any other alien, whatever his status, was "to occupy any position as searcher or constable or hold any official rank lofty or low; they were forbidden to enter the common hall or any other place in the city, where secret counsel or any city business could be overheard ; they were not to hold meetings or to sit on assizes, or to be impanelled as jurymen for any cause whatsoever, but were to be excluded from every office for evermore.'

2

For the moment the Memorandum Book seems to have ceased to chronicle limited city affairs and to have plunged into a

whirlpool of international complications. The next proceeding, however, brings the assembly back to strictly civic matters. The same day new sheriffs had to be elected. Those, who had held office, had the previous year not conducted themselves with strict regard for the dignity of their own position or that of the "ful nobil city" which they represented. They had scandalized all right thinking citizens by appearing in the streets, no servant preceding or following them. Mayor, council and commons, in the presence of the two delinquents, solemnly and unanimously ordained that this should be prohibited, under a penalty of 100s.-unless some weighty, sudden accident should render such a disregard of decency inevitable. Probably the commons enjoyed sitting in judgment on their official superiors. But the day's work was not yet finished; the same assembly had still to elect two members of parliament-Johannes Northeby and Thomas Gare, 66 cives et mercatores Ebor' fuerunt electi ad essendum pro civitate ista ad parliamentum tenendum apud Westmonasterium, xvjmo die Octobris proximo extunc futuro.”1

The list of the thirty officials, who were present on this occasion, shows how completely the government of the city had fallen into the hands of the cloth trade; ten members were mercers, five mercators, three drapers, one was a dyer, and one a cloth dresser; the trades of four are not given in the list of freemen, but, by family, they belonged to the merchant class; two remain unidentified; a butcher, a skinner and two potters are the only representatives of other industries. Possibly the reason of the animus against the retiring sheriffs was that one ✔ was a potter. It is suggestive that both the new sheriffs belonged to the popular official trade, and both members of parliament were mercators.2

A few months later another important meeting of mayor, twelve, twenty-four, sheriffs, and a great multitude of the searchers and other citizens, unacum magna multitudine scrutatorum et

66

1. Mem. Bk., p. 87. As late as 1488 the parliamentary franchise was exercised by the assembly in Norwich. The Records of the City of Norwich, vol. I., pp. 107, 287.

2. Freemen of York, op. cit. passim.

C

aliorum civium," was held in the Common Hall.1 Aldermen wishful to escape being chosen as mayor absented themselves from the city on the day of election. An ordinance was passed unanimously that the delinquent should pay dearly for his lack of civic spirit2; he was to be fined one hundred marks, sixty to go to the newly elected mayor to help to defray his expenses of office, forty to go to the sheriffs for the use of the city.

A resolution, that people should pay the taxes in the parish where they were living at the time when it was imposed, passed on this occasion, was later overruled. The mayor and commons rescinded the ordinance after a fortnight's interval; they substituted one, which ordained that the tax should be paid in the parish, where the people slept the night before the tax was collected. If, however, it could be proved that they had changed their domicile solely in order to pay at the lower rate, then they had to pay the tax in both parishes. Obviously the first resolution was passed with the object of preventing fraud. It is difficult to see the reason for the repeal; possibly a progressive party had rushed the measure through on a busy day, and a retrogressive party worked up opposition in the intervening fortnight.3

For three days during the month of September, 1436, a civic scandal caused great excitement in the city. Thomas Bracebridge, an alderman, had insulted the mayor; a discreet silence is maintained as to the form of insult. A city assembly was called in the gild hall, and "bi thadvise and thassent of the said maire,

1. Mem. Bk., pp. 90, 91. The presence of searchers as distinct from other citizens is unusual, especially as the interests of the various gilds are not involved.

2. The Patent Rolls give numerous examples of exemptions from holding civic offices granted by the King in return for service. Exemption for life out of regard for last good Friday of William Selere of York, goldsmith, from being put on assizes, juries, inquisitions or other recognitions, and from being made mayor, sheriff, constable, bailiff, collector or assessor of tenths or fifteenths or other quota or subsidy, arrayer of men-at-arms,

or

archers, or leaders of them, or other officer or minister of the King, against his will, 17 Ric. II., Pt. II., m. 3, May 2, 1394.

3. Some words in this passage are illegible but the sense seems clear. Was the absence of the council intentional ? Did it arise from some disagreement between themselves and the mayor supported by the commons ? De concensu et unanimi voluntate maioris et communitatis in gildaula extitit ordinatum." The word communitas may include the whole council, twelve, twenty-four and the commons, but it would be an unusual description.