At the creation of the diocese of Peterborough in 1541 most of the possessions of the former monastery were divided between the new bishop and the dean and chapter. The lordship of the liberty or soke of Peterborough went to the bishop, while the urban community, now a city, passed into the hands of the dean and chapter. Not long afterwards, in 1576, Bishop Scambler surrendered his lordship over the liberty and it was granted the following year to Lord Burghley.
Among the Northamptonshire gentry were some of the stars of the Elizabethan firmament. Sir Walter Mildmay of Apethorpe had an amazing record of appearances as knight of the shire, for he was elected to every Parliament of the reign until his death after that of 1589. Sir William Cecil himself represented the county in 1563, preferring it to Lincolnshire, where he really belonged, and his heir sat in 1593 and 1597.
The borough of Brackley, together with the large manor of Brackley and Halse of which it formed part, belonged for most of the sixteenth century to the Stanley family, earls of Derby. It was little more than a proprietary borough and almost certainly, as in later years, the mayor was appointed by the lord of the manor acting through his steward. The ‘Eagle and Child’ insignia of the Stanleys was used as the town’s common seal.Bridges, Northants. i. 143, 148; Baker, Northants. i.
Charters had been granted to the city of Norwich since the time of Henry II, but the sixteenth-century constitution was based in part upon the charter of 1404, which gave the city the status of an independent county and exempted it from the jurisdiction of the sheriff of Norfolk, and in part upon that of 1417 which re-stated in detail the form of the city’s government. There were no important changes during the sixteenth century.
Thetford was run by a ‘congregation’ consisting of a mayor, 10 principal and 20 inferior burgesses. The returns were in the form of indentures between the mayor and burgesses on the one hand and the sheriff on the other, and sometimes contained the phrase ‘we have assembled and congregated’ for the election.
Great Yarmouth was governed by an inner council of 24, including the two bailiffs, and a common council of 48, and these two bodies, constituting the ‘assembly’ or ‘house’, were responsible for parliamentary elections. On several occasions during Elizabeth’s reign they appointed a committee to give instructions to the MPs. The returns are in the form of an indenture between the sheriff and the bailiffs, burgesses and commonalty, the names of 24 ‘comburgenses’ being given in the return of 1597. The town assembly books record no payments of wages to MPs in this period.
The corporation of King’s Lynn consisted of the mayor, 12 aldermen and 18 common councilmen. The electors were the ‘mayor, the aldermen and common council’. Some of the surviving returns for this period recite the names of the burgesses taking part, about 24 in 1584, 21 in 1586, 18 in 1597. In 1589 the parliamentary wages were 3s.4d. a day, raised by a special tax, often collected at the same time as the fifteenths and tenths.
At the time of Elizabeth’s first Parliament, the Duke of Norfolk, then only 20 years of age, appears to have confined his and his househoid’s influence to the boroughs, the two knights of the shire being Sir Robert Dudley (Lord Robert, he was usually called) and Sir Edmund Wyndham. Dudley had sat in Parliament twice before. Though under age on both occasions, he had been senior knight of the shire for Norfolk in compliment to his parentage and social standing. At that time he had a wife and home in Norfolk and held offices there.
Castle Rising was a mesne borough, belonging to the 4th Duke of Norfolk until his attainder and execution in 1572. It was governed by a mayor and burgesses. The first parliamentary return made by the borough was in 1558, no doubt through the influence of the Duke. The 1559 return took the form of a deed in which the mayor and burgesses declared that they had chosen two burgesses to represent them in Parliament. Later returns are in the form of indentures between the mayor and certain burgesses on the one side, and the sheriff of Norfolk on the other.
The electoral pattern of Monmouthshire was straightforward during this period and the two contested elections for which there is evidence (1559, 1572) fit neatly into it. There were three outstanding families: the Somersets, who possessed the earldom of Worcester and were lords of Raglan; the Herberts, related to the Earl of Pembroke, a clan with several branches; and the widespread Morgan family. When only two of these families aspired to a county seat, there could be harmony.
