At the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign the leading county families in Pembrokeshire were divided into factions supporting either Sir John Perrot of Haroldston or William Philipps of Picton in their long-standing feud. However, despite violent clashes in London between Philipps and Perrot, and a contested borough election at Haverfordwest, there is no evidence of a contested county election in this period.
Montgomery, shire town of one of the new counties created at the Act of Union, had long been an English outpost on the Welsh border. In 1562 Queen Elizabeth confirmed privileges which had been enjoyed since the reign of Henry III, including the right of the burgesses to choose two bailiffs each year. The town’s independence was greatly reduced by the presence in Montgomery castle of the important Herbert family, stewards of the crown lordship of Montgomery and the most powerful influence in Montgomeryshire politics.
Edward Herbert I of Montgomery castle was unquestionably the most powerful figure in the county at the beginning of the reign and the representation of the shire was entirely in his hands. He himself monopolized the county seat in the first three Parliaments and then nominated his fellow deputy lieutenant and brother-in-law, John Price II, in 1572, his son and heir, Richard Herbert I, in 1584 and a close associate, Oliver Lloyd of Leighton, in 1586.
During the earlier part of this period the parliamentary representation of Merioneth was largely in the hands of Ellis Price, the Earl of Leicester’s agent, who, however, sat once only for the county, in 1563. The 1559 MP was John Wyn ap Cadwaladr of Rhiwlas, his nephew. In 1571 his influence was challenged by an opposing faction who put up Price’s old enemy John Salesbury.
The political life of south-east Wales in the Elizabethan period was dominated by the earls of Pembroke. By a series of grants between 1547 and the early 156os William Herbert, the 1st Earl, acquired most of the former lordship of Glamorgan, together with the power to fill many important offices. Neither he nor his son Henry (2nd Earl from 1570 to 1601), lived in the area, but they exercised their influence through relatives and allies. Their Glamorganshire possessions included at least six of the county’s medieval boroughs, headed by the shire town of Cardiff.
In all the Parliaments of this reign except two, Glamorganshire was represented by members of its leading county families, the Herberts, the Mathews, the Bassetts, the ManseIls and the Carnes. 1584, however, Robert Sidney of Penshurst, Kent, aged only el, was returned as Glamorgan’s knight of the shire. There were certain general reasons for this, particularly his father’s position as president of the council in the marches of Wales; his own marriage into a leading Glamorganshire family and his willingness to serve without the wages that could be demanded by Welsh county MPs.
The small county of Flint contained five boroughs whose burgesses claimed to take part in elections for the borough Members. Of these, Flint, the shire town, and Rhuddlan were settlements established with royal charters, at the Edwardian conquest. Each was governed by the constable of its castle, who was also mayor ex officio, and by two annually elected bailiffs. A similar charter was granted by Edward the Black Prince, to Caergwrle (also known as Hope, after an English township within its boundaries).
The representation of Flintshire during this period was in the hands of a group of leading county families related to one another by marriage. Although several of the MPs were related to such powerful patrons as the earls of Derby and Thomas Egerton I, the lord keeper, there is no hint of any outside interference in the county elections.
This group of boroughs comprised Denbigh, Chirk, Holt and Ruthin. Denbigh, shire town of the new county created at the Union, belonged to the Crown in 1558. The governing body included two aldermen, two bailiffs and a recorder, and its privileges were confirmed by charter in 1597. Ruthin, in the Vale of Clwyd, was also in the charge of two aldermen. The small village of Holt, in the crown lordship of Bromfield and Yale near the Shropshire border, had a mayor and two bailiffs. Its baronial charter, granted early in the fifteenth century, was confirmed by Elizabeth in 1563.
Traditionally Denbighshire was split into west and east, a fact recognized by the Act of Union which stipulated that county day should be held alternately at Denbigh and Wrexham, the capital towns of the two areas. Similarly, west and east had each its own deputy lieutenant and coroner. However, like the rest of the Welsh counties, Denbighshire returned only one knight of the shire to Parliament.
