66 no relief. But if you deprive a lord of these casualties," as Professor Maitland points out," he is practically reduced to the position of a man with a rent charge."1 So long as the King's representative was answerable for this rent and the rent was an uncertain quantity, obvious opportunities for peculation were presented it was an important though undated step in the development of civic York, when it gained the right to pay a fixed annual rent farmed by the burgesses themselves, the firma burgi. The charter of Henry I. gave to York liberties, laws, and customs, and the right to have a merchant gild; unfortunately this early charter is only known by an allusion to it in the charter of Henry II., who refers to his grandfather's charter. But that the merchants' gild was in existence in 1130 is proved by the pipe roll for that year, where it is stated that Thomas of York gave the King a coursing dog valued at 20s. that he might be alderman of the merchant gild. The exact date when York substituted a mayor for a reeve or præpositus is unknown. London had a mayor in 1191, but certainly as late as 1206 possibly as late as 1211, there is a reference to Gerard, the bellfounder, præpositus of the city of York. In 1217 Hugh de Selby was mayor of York, so far he is the first mayor of York to whom authentic reference is made.1 2 3 The governing body consisted of the mayor, the twelve, three bailiffs, and the twenty-four. After the charter of Richard II. given on the 19th of May, 1396, when the city became a county by itself, and the sheriff of the county was excluded, the twelve became aldermen, two sheriffs took the place of the three bailiffs; and after 1418, the twenty-four councillors consisted of ex-sheriffs.5 1. F. W. Maitland, Town and Borough, p. 71. 2. W. Stubbs, Constitutional History, p. 445. this charter, but all traces of the earlier one are lost. The municipality possesses 3. Pipe Roll 31, Henry I. (Record Commission), 1833, p. 34. T. Madox, History of the Exchequer, vol. I., p. 397. 4. Rot. Litt. Claus., vol. I. (Record Comm.), p. 341. 66 5. The twelve and twenty-four are sometimes classed together as probi homines, later as counsaylours"; the use of the word aldermen was slowly adopted, the twelve remained the usual expression during the greater part of the fifteenth century though the term aldermen is used in the custumal. 66 Two points emerge in which York differs apparently from the normal type of city governments, certainly from London and Norwich. One is the use of the terms camera consilii,” and "consilium camere," which does not seem to occur elsewhere. The meeting place on Ouse Bridge is called "the chamber of the council," and the body, which met there, is called "the council of the chamber." The assemblies had also two official meeting places, one in the chamber on Ousebridge, where the smaller meetings of the regular governing body were held, the other in the common hall, where the large popular meetings took place. Apparently other towns had only one hall of assembly.1 6 As, fortunately, the Memorandum Book includes a custumal2 and an account of the mayor's court and the sheriff's court, it is possible from its own contents to compile a complete record of the machinery of the city's government, as well as to show the machinery at work. The custumal gives a succinct account of the mayor's court. "It is held before the mayor and aldermen either in the chamber in the Guyhall,' or in the 'Guyhall.' In this court all pleas and matters concerning apprentices and misteries were settled. All offences against the customs and ordinances of the city, breaches of the king's peace, and misconduct of the city's officials were punished in it. This court dealt, too, with all questions of debt, it administered the statute merchant and generally the statute staple. All wills, which dealt with land and houses, were brought "en pleine courte du mair" to be enrolled. The will was proclaimed by the sergeant, 66 1. After the erection of the new common hall, the present gildhall, a room in it was called the council chamber, the first allusion to it in the Memorandum Book is on 21 September, 1416, " in cameram consilii infra aulam communem,' p. 52. But the council chamber on Ousebridge was always used by the mayor and council in the fifteenth century. 2. The legalization of local customs was effected by royal ordinances; the custumal is the city's own codification of a mass of customs which had grown out of local needs, but which were too numerous to be included in the king's charters; naturally they differ considerably in different towns, probably all towns of importance had their custumal by the end of the thirteenth century. The account of the Sheriff's court is given in Mem. Bk., vol. I., pp. 137–139, lxxiii-lxxv. 3. Mem. Bk., pp. 251-253. A confirmation of the charter of the city by Henry III. mentions a court for holding pleas before the mayor and bailiffs. Municipal Com. Report, 1835, vol. xxv., p. 1737. 4. Mem. Bk., pp. 251-254, cf. Mem. Bk., vol. I., pp. xvii, lxiv., 13. proved by two sworn witnesses, who were examined on oath as to the circumstances under which it was made, and the estate of the testator. Unfortunately the custumal is undated, but it contains intrinsic evidence that it was copied into the Memorandum Book from another book, which had been compiled before 1396, for the three bailiffs, who were abolished in that year, are referred to in the custumal. Many of its provisoes were certainly in use in 1372, probably even at a much earlier date. It also contains the oaths to be administered to the various municipal officials. These oaths are in London and in Norwich included in the Liber Albus.1 The oath of the mayor is brief. It contains no reference to his duty as the king's escheator; he simply swears that he will be faithful and loyal to our lord the king and preserve and guard the said city for our lord the king and his heirs; he undertakes to maintain the franchises, rights, laws, usages and customs of the same in every point, and to administer impartial justice as well to rich as poor; he concludes " and I will not neglect this for any reason, God helping me and the Saints." This oath shows him in the true light, he is supreme magistrate; his chief duty is to maintain law and order in the city. His fellow citizens approach him with almost servile respect, any insult is visited with severe penalties, any effort to evade the office is regarded as a grave misdemeanour. He was elected by the body of citizens from two or three of the aldermen nominated by the retiring mayor.1 The recorder was the official civic lawyer; originally he was chosen each year, when the sheriffs were elected, "ils prendront un recordour que soit sachaunt de la ley et de bon fame a occupier 1. 2 3 Lib. Alb. London, p. 306. Ibid. Norwich, fol. 182d, Records of the city of Norwich, p. 122. The Liber Albus of York seems to have disappeared, it is only referred to once in the Memorandum Book in 1392, this is earlier than the London Liber Albus, which was compiled in 1419. 2. Post p. xvi. 3. Post p. xv, p. 91. 4. This method of electing the mayor was altered twice by Edward IV. He placed the organization of the voting in the hands of the searchers of the various misteries who were to summons all the workers to the gildhall, they nominated two aldermen of the city, whose names were presented in writing to the mayor, aldermen and council, who selected one. 4 Edw. IV., pt. 2, m. 20, June 30th, 1464; 13 Edw. IV., pt. 2, m. 16; Dec. 23rd, 1473. loffice de recordour par avys du meir et des bones gentz de la citee."1 "He was the legal adviser of the mayor and aldermen especially when they acted in their magisterial capacity. He was appointed by the mayor, sheriffs, aldermen and twenty-four, the commons taking no part. 66 For so myche as the ryght wurshipfull sir John Vavasour, late recorder of this wurshipfull cite, nowe beyng oon of the Kygnges juges and the place of recordership void, it is by the said presence fully determyned and concluded, that the right wurshipfull sir William Fairefaxe, for certane considiracions, is most able and beneficiall fer that rowme. And so by the hole assent and consent of the seid presence, the said William Fairfaxe is elect and chosen to be recorder of this cite, and then and there sworne and admitted to the same office." 2 Miles Metcalfe seems to have held the office for nine years. On his resignation, the King, by "his mooste noble and severall letters " and the Earl of Northumberland by mouthe," desired the position for Richard Green. The mayor, aldermen and sheriffs evasively replied, that if they had full proof of the circumspection and learning of the said Richard, "they may be rather inclined to call hyme to suche rowme, when any shal hapyn next to be voide." It is difficult to imagine their returning the same reply to the son of Henry VII. As Sir John Vavasour became recorder in 1486, the mayor's "" rather inclined seems to have been a polite form of refusal.3 Like Norwich, but unlike London, York had no special form of oath for the twelve, the aldermen. They were sworn in the same form and manner as the councillors. Their duties were probably similar. The custumal clearly defines what was expected from the councillors-they were "to counsel, assist, support and maintain the mayor in all his undertakings for the welbeing of the city." But the aldermen had a special power. 66 1. 2. p. 386. 3. Mem. Bk., I., p. 40. Mem. Bk., p. 293 [1489]. For list of recorders see F. Drake, op. cit., Municipal Records, House Book, V., xv° die Februarii, anno regni regis Henrici vij, primo. 4. The custumal is not clear as to whether the thirty-six persons of the council to whom it refers consist of the twelve aldermen and the twenty-four councillors, or of a council of thirty-six, of whom twenty-four form a working committee. Mem. Bk., p. 256, ibid., p. 258. They could arrest malefactors and commit them to the charge of the sheriffs. They were elected by the mayor and aldermen, "who assembled in the counsail chambre of Ousebrig, and ther and then of oon assent and consent elect and chuse the right honourable Thomas Scotton, merchant, to be of the number of the wershipful aldermen.”1 The sheriffs, however, rank above the twenty-four; sometime they take precedence of the aldermen. Their election was a public ceremony. On September 21st, the retiring sheriffs resigned their office in the presence of the mayor, aldermen, councillors and commons in the common hall. Then the election committee," hii, ad quos elecio novorum vicecomitum civitatis pertenuit, ex ordinacione et consuetudine," apparently taken from the council, retired into an inner room and chose the new sheriffs. The mayor and commons remained in the large hall.2 The sheriffs took over the duties of the bailiffs. They were accountable to the exchequer for the payment of the fee farm rent, and under the mayor had charge of the judicial administration in the city.3 The account of the sheriff's court, which is given in this volume of the Memorandum Book, is only a transcript of the regulations in force in the London sheriffs' court. A few of the clauses are missing, and there are various inaccuracies in the spelling due probably to the transcriber. Doubtless its presence in the city record is owing to the trade between London and York, as the dealings of merchants with each other form the subject of many of the regulations.1 An interesting case came into the sheriffs' court in July, 1416. A foreigner, Johannes Cuke from Bruges, had stolen money from Johannes Bell of Thirsk, and done him grievous bodily harm, so that he went in fear of his life. The jury found him guilty, but the court of chivalry interfered and took the case into their own 1. Mem. Bk., p. 292, 293. The position of the twenty-four is difficult to explain. Mr. Hudson suggests that they came into existence to help the bailiffs, in the same way that the twelve arose in an informal way to help the mayor. 2. 3. Mem. Bk., pp. 75, 259, 260. In the custumal the paragraph dealing with the duties of the sheriffs is headed vicountes on baillyffs.' Mem. Bk., p. 259. 4. Mem. Bk., pp. 143-155. Munimenta Gildhallae Londoniensis, vol. I., pp. 202-221, cf. sheriffs' court. Mem. Bk., vol. I., pp. Ixxiii-lxxvi, pp. 137–139.` |