A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



ordained that henceforth no mayor who had held office 

 for a whole year should be re-elected till seven years 

 had passed.2 In 1558 the assembly confirmed this, 

 adding that none should be chosen mayor oftener than 

 thrice,^ whilst in 1570 this was reduced to twice.'' 

 The election of the mayors, to be held before Michael- 

 mas under the charter of 1299, took place about St. 

 Matthew's Day (21 September) in the 14th century,* 

 about St. Giles' Day (l September) in the l6th," and 

 was directed in 1618 to be held within ten days of the 

 first of August.' The mayor-elect was known as ' the 

 mayor's joint ' till Michaelmas, when he assumed 

 office.* 



The charters of 1200 and of 1227 had stated that 

 the bailiffs, if well conducted, were only to be remov- 

 able by the common council of the town. All the 

 evidence indicates that they were elected annually 

 and served for a year only, rarely being re-elected. 

 They were the chief administrative officials, sharing 

 the judicial duties of the mayor,* and acted within the 

 borough as the sheriff did outside, with additional 

 duties, as the custumals show, in connection with the 

 industrial regulations. As the officials who executed 

 the king's writs, before 1257 by custom and after 1257 

 by charter, they were the king's bailiflfs and are some- 

 times so described.^* They were personally respon- 

 sible for the payment of the fee farm of the town at 

 the Exchequer, and the office, like the sheriff's, thus 

 entailed financial risks. ' Every year the men of the 

 town who are bailiffs are impoverished and made 

 beggars by reason of the aforesaid farm,' says the 

 petition of 1334.'^ 



The 13th century custumal refers to the mayor's 

 clerk as issuing the mayor's summons,'^ but the earhest 

 mention of a clerk by name is in connection with the 

 records. Ralph Barun witnesses deeds as clerk under 

 the first and third mayors,'^ and John, son of Eustace, 

 who had the customs of Northampton recorded for 

 the information of those who should come after, is 

 described in this second custumal as clerk of North- 

 ampton,''* and witnessed a deed as such in the 

 mayoralty of John le Especer.'* The town farm is 

 occasionally paid in at the Exchequer by a clerk. '^ In 

 the I4ih century the town clerk is called the clericus 

 memorandornni," which indicates his duty of keeping 

 the records of pleas and enrolments, and in 1419 John 

 Laucndon is called the < ommon clerk.'" 



The letters close of 17 February 1 21 5 had com- 

 manded the ' good men ' to elect twelve of their 



number to assist the mayor in the government of the 

 town. This was not then a general custom in English 

 boroughs, in spite of the statement in the Little 

 Domesday of Ipswich regarding the election of 

 12 portmen there in 1200. But if the number of 

 the mayor's advisers was twelve in the first half of the 

 13th century, by the second half we already seem to 

 trace the Twenty Four who were sharing the work of 

 government with him in the later middle ages. 

 Leicester, which offers both parallels and contrasts to 

 Northampton, had by 1225 set up its body of 24 sworn 

 men or jurats who were bound to come at the 

 summons of the alderman to give him help and counsel 

 in the affairs of the town.^" The second Northampton 

 custumal (c. 1260) is headed with the names of 24 

 jurati who passed the regulations,^' and whose consent 

 is later mentioned as necessary if a stranger wishes to 

 set up his stall in the market.^^ In spite of the gaps 

 in the records, ten out of the twenty-four can be 

 identified as having held office as baihff or mayor 

 before 1255. Moreover, the first regulation that 

 follows provides for a 2s. :;merccment of those who 

 fail to come at the mayor's summons. It would seem 

 that these are the Twenty Four who in the 14th 

 century act as the mayor's colleagues in official 

 transactions.^* In 1401 they are described as the 

 Twenty Four sworn of the Mayor's council^* and in 

 1415 as the Twenty Four comburgtnses ;** in 1473 they 

 are called his Twenty Four.^* The form of the oath 

 taken by the Twenty Four suggests that it was re- 

 administered each year.^' In 1442, at a busting held 

 in the council house at the Guildhall, it was agreed 

 by the Mayor and several of the Twenty Four that 

 heavy penalties should be imposed on those sworn 

 ' as well to the mayor's counsel as to the secret counsel 

 {secreUtm consilium) of the town of Northampton ' 

 who divulged discussions held therein.^* There is no 

 other reference to any privy council, and the resolution 

 probably refers to emergencies when there was a 

 special need of secrecy. It was re-enacted in 1557 

 with altered penalties.^* In 1 53 1 two mercers of the 

 town were said to be ' for ever put out of the Court 

 and CounccU of the seid toun of Norhampton, and 

 never to be sommoned ne takyn for any of the Com- 

 pany of the xxiiij" Comburgessesof the same toun . . . 

 and never have place ne seit within the Court of the 

 same toun whereas other tlie xxiiij" Comburgesses 

 do alvveise sirt, that is to sey within the barris comynly 

 called the Chequer of the seid Court.''"' This, hke 



' lioro. Rer. i, 275-6. 



• Ibid, ii, 30. 



• Ibid ii, 31. This new order was 

 transgressed in 1575, and frequently later. 



' See the dates of the letters patent of 

 the town enrolled on the Memoranda 

 Roll under Preieittattonfi. 



' BoTO. Rr(. i, 122. 



' Ibid. i. 128. 



■ Ibid, ii, 33, 35, 548- 



• Sec below, under 'I'own Courts. 

 " E.g. Assize R. 619, m. 75. 



" Vori. R. ii, 85. 



" Douce MS. (Bodl. Lib.) <)S, fo. 160. 



'• And. D. (I'.R.O.) B 2484 ; Add. 

 Ch. 22353, 34251. 



" Bateson, Horough Cuilomi, I., xli. 



" Add. Ch. 22347, 



" Mem. R. (K.R.) 14, 17, 18, 20, 

 under Adventus yicicomttum, 



" William de Burgo, Add. Ch. 22355. 



'• Add. Ch. 732 (l). Other town clerks 



mentioned are William dc Flore (c. 

 1292), William de Bray (1319), Honorius 

 Saucee (1351), John Molyncr (1358), 

 William Lichebarwc (1406), Lawrence 

 Qucnton (1408), and John Towcestcr 

 (1460-69). 



"Gross, Gild Merchanl, ii, 116; cf. 

 Dr. Tait in Eng. Hist. Re-., xliv, 

 183. 



"* Bateson, Rriords of the Borough of 

 LeiceiUr^ 1, xxxi, 34. 



** Conitdcraciottfi facte per xxihj jurafoi 

 Northampton. Douce MS. 98, fo. iCo. 



" Ibid, fo, 160 vo. (CI. 11). 



" Sec Bridges, liiit. of Northauts. i, 

 364, Robert le Spicer motor North' et 

 fjusdern a-A'jm^ iurgcfijcj (135K) ; and the 

 petition of Richard Sidrnicsu'ortli in 

 1393, mentioning " the 24 chief men." 

 V.CJi. Northants. ii, 29. 



•* Rvro Rfi. i, 241;, xxtitj tie coniilto suo 

 iiirati. 



26 Ibid i, 243. 



'* Ibid i, 405. Dr. Cox suggests that 

 the mayor's council numbered twelve in 

 1341, judging from the list of names on 

 Jioro Rcc. i, 235. The French original, 

 however, gives only eleven names; 

 Adam fiz Adam (iarlckmongcrc is only 

 one person. Tiie number of leading 

 burgesses mentioned in official trans- 

 actions varies from the sixteen addressed 

 by Henry III in 1264, to the ten, six, four 

 or two who sign the letters patent 

 presented annually at the Kxchcquer. 

 The burgesses mentioned can, however, 

 be .ilw.'iys shown to be ex-mayors or 

 cx-bailifTs. 



"' " Vc shall gefe good and trew 

 councrll to your mcirc all this yere 

 ensuyng," Boro. Rec. i, 393. 



" Ibid, i, 276-8. 



''"* Ibid, ii, 20. 



'" Ibid i, 425. 



