Commons 1509-1558

The castle and borough of Cardigan, situated in the south-west of the county, belonged to the crown. A document of 1199, sometimes said to be a borough charter, was a release from various dues for four years: this was renewed in 1230. The first extant charter, that of 1284, was confirmed and amplified throughout the middle ages and again in 1527. By the 16th century authority was vested in a mayor and two bailiffs assisted by a common council and several municipal officers: the coroner for the town was appointed by the chamberlain of South Wales.

The county of Carmarthen was consolidated and enlarged by the Act of Union. It was further enlarged in 1543 by a proviso in the Act (34 and 35 Hen. VIII, c.26) transferring the lordships of Laugharne and Llanstephan from Pembrokeshire. Although the Act of Union did not name Carmarthen as the meeting place of the county court, the town was the traditional venue and all the elections for the knights of Carmarthenshire took place there save in the autumn of 1553 when the court met at Llandovery in the north-east of the county.

The status of Carmarthen, as the administrative centre for South Wales was confirmed at the Union. The Norman borough of New Carmarthen, with charters dating from the 13th century and administered by a mayor, lay beside the royal castle. The original settlement known as Old Carmarthen, with the parish church of St. Peter, belonged to the priory of St. John until the Dissolution, when efforts by the 3rd Lord Ferrers as steward of New Carmarthen to exercise the privileges of the priory in the suburb led to violence.

The castle, town and borough of Caernarvon were founded by Edward I following the destruction of the residence there of the princes of Gwynedd at the conquest of Wales. The constable of the castle was ex officio mayor, and as constable from 1523 until his death in 1551 John Puleston more or less controlled the town. His successor John Harington II is not known to have visited Caernarvon and during his term of office the constableship was exercised by a local deputy, Robert Gruffydd.

Cardiganshire was enlarged and consolidated at the Union. Thomas Phaer described it as ‘very bare ... and mountainous, all along the coast no trade of merchandise but all full of rocks and dangers’. The few roads were unmetalled and travellers were vexed by bandits who the president of the council in the marches thought had the support of the local gentry.

Breconshire was one of the four new counties set up at the Union. On the attainder of the 3rd Duke of Buckingham in 1521 the old lordship of Brecon had escheated to the crown. Several parcels of the lordship of Brecon were sold or let by the crown, the most important being the lordship of Builth granted to the 1st Earl of Pembroke in 1550. In 1540 the King made Sir William Vaughan of Porthaml chancellor and receiver of the lordship of Brecon, and on Vaughan’s surrendering his patent in 1546 he was succeeded by his son Roger who held the appointment until his death.

Situated at the confluence of the rivers Honddu and Usk, Brecon was a prosperous market town with five craft guilds or companies, the administrative centre for the region and after the Union the county town of Breconshire. Although burgesses are mentioned in a deed of 1100, the first recorded charter dates from 1276. This was confirmed and modified throughout the middle ages and again in 1517 by the 3rd Duke of Buckingham as owner of the lordship. On Buckingham’s fall the borough and castle escheated with the lordship to the crown.

The leading families in Caernarvonshire lived mainly along the north coast or in the east of the county, the Gruffydds at Penrhyn, the Pulestons at Caernarvon and the Wynns at Gwydir; among the knights of the shire only John Wyn ap Hugh and David Lloyd ap Thomas came from the poorer and more remote peninsula of Llyn. In the mid 16th century the county was free from the feuding which divided the neighbouring island of Anglesey, the disputes between the various interrelated families being less deep-rooted and persistent.

Anglesey was one of the poorer Welsh shires. All the knights down to 1558 were kinsmen, but dissension within the Gruffydd family across the Menai strait at Penrhyn divided the island. The chief protagonists, Sir Richard Bulkeley and William Lewis, were cousins. Their mutual dislike was aggravated by the hostility of the families long established there towards the Bulkeleys, recent migrants to the island yet by the 1540s among the most powerful of North Wales families. When in the autumn of 1553 Lewis was returned, the sheriff was accused of misconduct and found guilty.

The castle, town and port of Beaumaris were founded after the suppression of a revolt in Anglesey in 1294. Edward I granted the borough a charter two years later and this was repeatedly confirmed and amplified throughout the middle ages and again in 1502, 1510 and 1547.