URBAN COMMUNITIES AND THE CROWN: Relations between Bristol, York, and the Royal Government, 1350-1400 by Christian D. Liddy A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of York, Department of History May 1999 ABSTRACT Relations between urban communities and the crown in later medieval England have tended to be viewed in terms of a reciprocity based on the exchange of money and charters, in which the royal government exploited urban wealth and, in return, granted towns corporate privileges of self-government. This thesis examines relations between Bristol, York, and the crown in the second half of the fourteenth century and explores the concept of community to argue that the towns' relations with the royal government were not simply conducted by the towns as corporate entities. Rather, the towns were composed of collections of individuals, drawn from the political elites of the towns, who were engaged in various forms of administrative, fiscal, military and economic service to the crown. Thus, I argue that, instead of a quid pro quo model of crown-town relations, the reciprocal ties between Bristol, York, and the crown were based, not on separate interests, but on shared interests in governance. In Chapter One, I discuss the existing historiography on relations between urban communities and the crown and outline my methodology based on prosopographical analysis of the governing elites of Bristol and York. Chapters Two, Three and Four examine the fiscal, military and economic contributions of Bristol and York to the enterprise of royal government, including the lending of money and ships to the crown's war effort. Chapters Five and Six explore the nature of urban expectations from the crown. In Chapter Five, I focus on the parliamentary representation ofBristol and York, and in Chapter Six, I address the issue of urban liberties to provide a new interpretation of the significance, and timing, of the charters of 1373, 1393 and 1396 which granted the towns of Bristol and York county status and made their civic officials ex officio justices of the peace. i TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv ABBREVIATIONS V CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 HISTORIOGRAPHY 2 1.2 A NEW PARADIGM 8 1.2.1 The Body Politic 9 1.2.2 The Discourse of the Chamber 10 1.2.3 Organ and Organism 13 1.3 METHODOLOGY 15 1.4 BRISTOL AND YORK, 1350-1400 19 1.5 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS 21 CHAPTER TWO: THE FEE FARM AND DIRECT TAXATION 2.0 INTRODUCTION 22 2.1 THE FEE FARM 23 2.1.1 The Practice of Assignment 24 2.1.2 Edward III and Bristol's Fee Farm, 1369-1382 27 2.1.3 York and the Schamel Toll, 1379-1382 35 2.1.4 A Fiscal Burden? 38 2.2 DIRECT TAXATION 41 2.2.1 The System of Tax Assessment and Collection 43 2.2.2 The Personnel of the Tax Commissions 50 2.2.3 York and the 1380 Poll Tax 55 2.2.4 A Sense of Obligation to the Crown 59 2.3 CONCLUSION 61 CHAPTER THREE: LOANS AND SHIPPING 3.0 INTRODUCTION 63 3.1 LOANS 65 3.1.1 The System of Royal Credit 66 3.1.2 Reasons for Lending 78 3.1.3 Corporate/Individual Loans 84 3.1.4 The Scale of Lending 87 3.2 SHIPPING 90 3.2.1 Bristol and York Ships in Royal Service 91 3.2.2 Shipowners in Royal Service 94 3.2.3 Costs and Profits of the War at Sea 97 3.3 CONCLUSION 104 ii CHAPTER FOUR: COMMERCIAL POLICY 4.0 INTRODUCTION 106 4.1 THE CUSTOMS 106 4.1.1 The Customs Personnel 109 4.1.2 The Subsidy of Tonnage and Poundage 116 4,2 THE STAPLE 117 4.2.1 The Creation of Domestic Staples in 1353 118 4.2.2 Bristol and York as Staples 124 4.2.3 The Creation of the Calais Staple in 1363 135 4.3 DIPLOMACY 138 4.3.1 Flanders 138 4.3.2 The Hanse 143 4.4 CONCLUSION 148 CHAPTER FIVE: PARLIAMENT AND REPRESENTATION 5.0 INTRODUCTION 149 5.1 THE PARLIAMENTARY BURGESSES OF BRISTOL AND YORK 153 5.2 COMMON PETITIONS 163 5.2.1 Bristol 168 5.2.2 York 176 5.2,3 The Jurisdiction of the Court of Admiralty 178 5.3 PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSIONS 184 5.3.1 Finance 184 5.3.2 Trade 186 5.4 CONCLUSION 193 CHAPTER SIX: URBAN LIBERTIES 6.0 INTRODUCTION 196 6.1 REDEFINING THE BOUNDARIES OF CIVIC JURISDICTION 200 6.1.1 Bristol and County Status 200 6.1.2 York and the Bootham Dispute 202 6.2 THE JUSTICES OF THE PEACE 207 6.2.1 The Labour Legislation 208 6.2.2 Self-Goverment at the King's Command 214 6.3 THE TIMING OF THE CHARTERS 216 6.4 CONCLUSION 219 CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSION 220 APPENDIX: PROSOPOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS 224 iii TABLES TABLE 2.1: Assignments on York's Fee Farm, 1350-1400 25 TABLE 2.2: Particulars of Account of William de Somerwell, Collector of the profits of Bristol, Michaelmas 1369-Michaelmas 1370 30 TABLE 2.3: Poll Tax contributions of York's Taxers in 1381 58 TABLE 3.1: Bristol's Loans to the Crown, 1347-1401 69 TABLE 3.2: York's Loans to the Crown, 1347-1401 70 TABLE 3.3: Fiscal Payments to the Crown, 1347-1401 88 TABLE 3.4: Ships in Royal Service, 1350-1400 92 BIBLIOGRAPHY 253 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to thank a number of institutions who have contributed financially to my doctoral research over the past three and a half years, namely the British Academy and the Institute of Historical Research, from whom I held a Yorkist History Trust Fellowship during the final stages of the thesis. The staff at the Public Record Office, York City Archives, the Borthwick Institute of Historical Research (particularly David Smith), and the Bristol Record Office have also been extremely helpful, especially during my early forays in the archives. Numerous research trips have been spent away from York, and I have accumulated several debts of hospitality. In Bristol, I would like to thank my brother, Nathaniel, and in London, I should mention Clive Burgess and Martin Franks, who allowed me to stay with them regularly, despite the inconvenience. A number of academics have also helped to develop my ideas, including Caroline Barron, Peter Fleming, and, in particular, Peter Rycraft, whose suggestions for further reading and new avenues of thought provided much-needed direction at the beginning of the thesis. I should also like to thank several friends at York for the lighter moments during the course of researching and writing the thesis, including Gwilym Dodd, Chris Humphrey, Sarah Williams and last, but not least, Christian Turner. I owe an immeasurable debt to my supervisors, Mark Onnrod and Sarah Rees Jones, for their continual support and for their ability to always make time in their own hectic schedules to answer my questions. I should also like to thank my parents, Ann and Ted, for their patience and love, even during the last few months when every phone call inquiring about the date of completion was greeted with less than my customary politeness! Finally, I would like to thank Lisa, my wife, who has coped with my mood-swings and with the recent loss of my usual sense of humour with understanding and love. She has lived with the thesis for too long, and it is to her that the thesis is dedicated. ABBREVIATIONS BIHR Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research BRO Bristol Record Office CChR Calendar of Charter Rolls CCR Calendar of Close Rolls CFR Calendar of Fine Rolls CPR Calendar of Patent Rolls EcHR Economic History Review EGW The English Government at Work, 1327-1336, ed. J.F. Willard, W.A. Morris, J.R. Strayer and W.H. Dunham, Jr. (3 vols., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1940-50) EHR English Historical Review LRB The Little Red Book of Bristol, ed. F.B. Bickley (2 vols., Bristol and London, 1900) P&P Past and Present PRO Public Record Office RP Rotuli Parliamentorum (6 vols., London, 1783) SR Statutes of the Realm (11 vols., London, 1810-28) TRHS Transactions of the Royal Historical Society YCA York City Archives YMB York Memorandum Book, ed. M. Sellers and J.W. Percy, 3 vols., Surtees Society, 120, 125 and 186 (1912, 1915 and 1969) 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.0 INTRODUCTION Existing scholarship on the subject of relations between urban communities and the crown in late medieval England has focused principally on the fifteenth century.' On the one hand, this research was a response to the debate about fifteenth-century urban decline, one of the major issues in urban history from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s? This agenda, to explore the causes, nature and extent of urban decay, provided the context for the work of Lorraine Attreed, in particular, who examined relations between the city of York and the crown in the late fifteenth century in light of the city's appeals to Richard III and Henry VII for financial relief from its fiscal obligations.' On the other hand, historians have shown considerable interest in exploring the role played by towns in the Wars of the Roses. Essays have been written on London's reaction to critical moments in the Wars, especially changes of dynasty, such as the Yorkists' seizure of power in February 1461 and Henry Tudor's accession to the throne in 1485. 4 Meanwhile, the response of provincial towns to the Wars of the Roses has been examined within the context of the performance of welcoming ceremonies to royal and noble protagonists.' With the exception of a recent collection of 'See, for example, A.P.M.