Situated on the coastal plain of western Sussex, Chichester was a moderately prosperous city of perhaps 2,000 inhabitants. Its foreign trade, although not nearly as extensive as that of other Sussex ports, was at least until the fall of Calais fairly lucrative, and during the 1550s the corporation tried unsuccessfully to remove weirs from the harbour. The small group of aliens resident there seems to have engaged more in Continental trade than industry.
The township of Bramber was overshadowed by the adjoining borough of Steyning, but its position on the most southerly road running the length of Sussex, at the crossing of the river Adur, gave it a measure of independence from its neighbour. The castle, manor and borough formed part of the barony of Bramber belonging to the dukes of Norfolk. On the execution of Catherine Howard the 3rd Duke surrendered his interest in the barony to Henry VIII, and on the death of his stepmother in 1545 Bramber passed to the crown.
The castle, manor and borough of Arundel formed part of the honor of the same name held in chief from the crown by the Fitzalan earls. The borough was governed by a mayor assisted by the burgesses (a term apparently restricted to the town authorities themselves) and several officers. The mayor presided over the borough court as well as the court leet of the manor. A minute book begun in 1539 and some other borough records survive from the period. On the suppression of Calcetto priory in 1525 the borough acquired much of its property and the upkeep of Arundel bridge devolved upon the mayor.
The gentlemen of Sussex lived near enough to London to be able to frequent the court and the City without lengthy absences from home, but far enough away to prevent the shire from being dominated by the capital. As a maritime county Sussex needed efficient government and adequate defence, both seen to by its combination of resident noblemen and wealthy commoners.
To prevent criminals evading arrest and trial in London merely by flight across the Thames to Southwark, Edward III had given the bailiwick to the City in 1327. Although the City’s jurisdiction was repeatedly challenged, it obtained a confirmation in 1406 from Henry IV who empowered its officials to make arrests within the borough and to try the arrested: he also conceded the return of writs, precepts and mandates to its agents
The market town of Reigate was a mesne borough controlled by successive lords of the manor. The burgesses had no court of their own but attended the court leet of the manor where their bailiffs, constables and fishtasters were elected. On the death of Lady Anne Mowbray in 1481 the manor was divided between her four coheirs. The 1st Duke of Norfolk’s share escheated to the crown in 1485 but those of the Berkeleys and the Wingfields and that of Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby, were acquired by his descendants early in the 16th century.
Guildford owed its commercial pre-eminence in Surrey to its position on the Great Way, at a gap in the chalk ridge traversing the county where there was a fording place across the river Wey. It was the county town and its castle served as the gaol for both Surrey and Sussex. The medieval palace was repaired by Henry VIII who was a frequent visitor, and it was there that in 1545 the Duke of Suffolk died.
In 1539 the 3rd Duke of Norfolk included Gatton in a list of boroughs where ‘in times past I could have made burgesses of Parliament’, but in this he was mistaken. One of his Mowbray predecessors had let the manor during Henry VI’s reign to John Timperley, whose son conveyed the remainder of the lease to the Copley family; the Copleys later bought the manor.
The manor of Bletchingley belonged to the 3rd Duke of Buckingham until his attainder in 1521 when it escheated to the crown. In July 1522 Henry VIII granted it to his master of the horse Sir Nicholas Carew, who in 1539 was himself executed for treason. In 1540 the King settled it on Anne of Cleves, who made Thomas Cawarden keeper, and six years later he granted the reversion to Cawarden. Cawarden took up residence at once and paid rent for his occupancy to Anne of Cleves until her death in 1557.
Elections of knights of the shire for Surrey took place at meetings of the county court held at Guildford. Indentures survive for the last two Parliaments of Henry VIII’s reign, for both of the Edwardian and for the last three of the Marian Parliaments. Written in English, they give the contracting parties as the sheriff of Surrey and Sussex and between nine and 53 named electors ‘with divers other freeholders’ or ‘other proved and legal men’.
