Commons 1386-1421

Whatever prosperity Leominster has enjoyed may partly be attributed to its situation on a fertile plain fed by three rivers. Although the size of its population in the period 1386-1422 is not recorded, it seems likely that, containing only one parish church, the town was then quite small and had much about it that was rural in character. Over a century later, in 1534, there were only 215 householders living in Leominster which, however, John Leland, writing about the same time, considered to be ‘meatly large’, with ‘good buyldinge of tymbar’.

In 1377 Hereford was inhabited by about 2,850 people, being, therefore, somewhat larger than the more northerly marcher town of Ludlow, but smaller than Gloucester. The city, situated at a bridging point of the river Wye and on the roads from Gloucester and Abergavenny, was potentially a successful trading centre. There had been a guild merchant there since before 1215; the St. Denis fair held regularly from 1227 acquired some importance in the western counties, and in 1331 the inhabitants were granted exemption from all kinds of tolls throughout England.

The Herefordshire county elections were invariably held at Hereford castle. After 1406 the return took the form of an indenture between the sheriff and some of the electors, those named varying in number between seven (in 1417) and 17 (in 1420). Early in the reign of Henry VI the number of participants recorded showed a tendency to increase, and in 1429 fifty were listed, while in 1432 the exceptionally large number of 179 attested the indenture.C219/12/2-4, 14/1, 3.

The dominant theme in the history of Winchester in the Middle Ages is one of continuous decline. The population fell, the built-up area contracted, and the city successively lost its status as a national administrative centre, a royal residence, and an international, and even a regional, market. The city had achieved its greatest eminence in the tenth and 11th centuries as the political and economic centre of Wessex, then dominant over England as a whole. At that time the city was among the dozen most prosperous English towns.

Although it was one of the busiest ports of later medieval England, Southampton was not populous even by contemporary standards. Its population in 1377 has been estimated at 1,728, some 400 fewer than that of Winchester, and it was probably less than half the size of Salisbury and under a fifth that of Bristol. Established by Saxon times, the town was favoured with a long sheltered harbour, double tides and easy communications inland.

The size of the population of Portsmouth during this period is not recorded, but the town was evidently small and somewhat impoverished. Originally ‘Portsmouth’ had been simply the name of the anchorage in the estuary of the river Wallington, used from the 11th century for naval and military expeditions. Richard I, the founder of the town, landed there on his return to England in 1189, and the foundation charter of 1194 was granted during a week’s stay by the King at Portsmouth, on the eve of what was to be his final departure from the country.

The returns for Hampshire are missing for three of the 32 Parliaments of the period (those of 1410, 1413 (Feb.) and 1416 (Oct.)), and the name of only one of the knights of the shire for the Parliament of 1404 (Oct.) is known. From the surviving evidence, it is clear that parliamentary experience was more concentrated in the first half of the period; thus, although in ten out of the 29 Parliaments for which returns are extant both Members had already been tried, all but three of these Parliaments assembled before 1399.

The population of Gloucester numbered about 3,360 in 1377, the town being just over a third the size of its neighbour, Bristol, but comparable with Oxford. The town’s promising location for trade, at the head of the Severn estuary, and its long history as a centre of iron production (dependent upon ore from the Forest of Dean) and of the cloth industry (using wool from the Cotswolds) gave its burgesses of the late 14th and early 15th centuries a reasonable prosperity. In 1397 they were able to lend £200 to the Crown, a large sum compared with that offered by other communities.

In 1377 Bristol, with an estimated population of over 9,500, rivalled York as England’s second largest town after London. Bristol’s greatness was built on its commerce; it could boast no ancient reputation as a cathedral seat, as a military station or as a shire town.

The names are known of 26 knights of the shire who represented Gloucestershire between 1386 and 1421, inclusive, although gaps remain for one of the Members of 1410 and for both those of 1413 (Feb.), 1416 (Mar.) and 1416 (Oct.). So far as may be ascertained, ten of the 26 only sat for the shire once, and a further six but twice. However, a few were returned quite frequently: William Heyberer represented Gloucestershire five times, Robert Whittington six, and John Greville seven, while Sir Thomas Fitznichol, with no fewer than 15 Parliaments to his credit, was clearly outstanding.