Commons 1386-1421

Cambridge was from its beginning a strategic centre and military base. Its castle, built later by the Normans on the outskirts of the town, remained a notable fortress and occasional royal residence until the late 13th century; thereafter it was used as a gaol and administrative centre for the shire as a whole, for Cambridge had by then been the county town for over 300 years. By our period Cambridge had long been one of the major market towns of the eastern counties, owing its economic importance largely to its geographical position.

Cambridgeshire returns have survived for 28 of the 32 Parliaments of the period, and the judicial records of the Exchequer have supplied the names of one of the county’s Members in the Parliament of 1410 and of all four of those in the two Parliaments of 1416. Gaps therefore remain for just one seat in 1410 and for two in February 1413. No fewer than 38 men are known to have represented the shire between 1386 and 1421, and more than half—20—did so on only one occasion.

Situated in a well-watered gap in the Chilterns, and in the midst of the most heavily populated part of Buckinghamshire, Chipping Wycombe was one of the two most important towns in the county (the other being Aylesbury). It alone, however, returned burgesses to Parliament at this time. Also known as Great or High Wycombe, it was situated on an ancient road linking the Icknield Way with the Thames and, more significantly, stood on the road from London to Oxford, Woodstock and the Cotswold cloth towns, being conveniently placed half-way between London and Oxford.

Six of the returns for Buckinghamshire are missing, leaving gaps for the three consecutive Parliaments of 1410, 1411 and 1413 (Feb.), and for the three consecutive Parliaments of 1415 and 1416 (Mar. and Oct.); and although the latter gap may be partially filled by relying on the evidence of Prynne and Lipscomb, the names of both the county’s representatives in five of the 32 Parliaments of the period remain unknown.

Wallingford, at the time of the Domesday survey the largest and richest town in Berkshire, had reached the peak of its prosperity by the end of the 12th century, declining thereafter, if only gradually at first. This regression, gaining momentum during the reign of Edward III, accelerated throughout the period under consideration until, by 1438, the place was practically deserted. By then the number of parishes in the borough had fallen from 12 to four, two of which, moreover, were so depopulated as to be unable to pay any tithes.VCH Berks. iii.

By the last quarter of the 14th century, Reading had become the largest and most important town in Berkshire. Communications by road with London, Winchester, Oxford and the west country cloth towns were good, and Reading’s position at the confluence of the Thames and the Kennet enabled it to take advantage of the facilities for water transport these rivers provided.

Berkshire elected 26 men to the 28 Parliaments of the period for which returns survive. The gaps in the returns—for the Parliaments of 1411, February 1413, 1415 and October 1416—make it impossible properly to define the frequency of repeated election during the later part of the period. Even so, it is clear that in general those with previous parliamentary experience were preferred to those without; for it happened on no fewer than 12 occasions that both men elected had sat before for this or some other constituency, and on at least 13 more an experienced Member accompanied a newcomer.

Because of its defensible position on a fording place over the river Ouse, the site Bedford occupied was in continuous use from the Romano-British period. It assumed particular importance as a fortified burgh during the 9th and 10th centuries, and a market soon grew up within its walls for the sale of surplus produce from the surrounding farmland.

Returns survive for 27 of the 32 Parliaments which met between 1386 and the end of Henry V’s reign in 1422, those for 1410, 1411, 1413 (Feb.), 1415 and 1416 (Oct.) having been lost. We know the names of 27 of the men who represented the county during this period, and although gaps in the evidence now make it impossible to be absolutely certain about the parliamentary experience of them all, it appears that 11, an unusually large proportion, sat for Bedfordshire only once in their careers.