BOROUGH OF SOUTHAMPTON 



Evidently by the early fourteenth century, the date 

 of the earliest version, 189 the identity of the borough 

 government was merged in that of the gild, since the 

 ordinances profess to regulate both. 



The officials of the gild, in many cases, had certainly 

 functions which were beyond those of the original gild 

 merchant, and nothing remained to show the dis- 

 tinction between gild and borough, so completely had 

 the gild dominated over the old borough idea. But 

 whenever it was that the gild became settled as the 

 supreme authority and it may have been from its 

 first existence by charter (probably in the time of 

 Henry I) there then entered an element of restric- 

 tion alien from the more ancient government of the 

 town. The privileges of the borough communities 

 were no longer shared by all the free, that is unservile, 

 town dwellers who bore their part in the public 

 burdens, but were henceforward restricted to the 

 few, and these remained so until the Act of 1835, 

 which restored the meaning of the word ' burgess ' to 

 something more like the original. 



The alderman or chief alderman of the town, 190 

 assisted by two bailiffs and twelve sworn men, was 

 head of gild and town. The ' twelve assistants,' as 

 they were afterwards termed, were elected each year 

 by the whole community, and themselves the same 

 day elected the two bailiffs. There were also four 

 sworn men, discreets of the market, and twelve alder- 

 men of wards who had the view of frankpledge in 

 their wards, and controlled the police and sanitary 

 regulations of the town. The seneschal or steward 

 acted as treasurer under the direction of the chief 

 alderman, and the four ' skavyns ' as the word was 

 usually written and pronounced probably served 

 under him as chamberlains in his department. 191 The 

 usher gave warning of town meetings and was perhaps 

 the mouthpiece of the gild in proclamations. 



The gild did not always meet in the same place, 

 perhaps in this respect preserving the old tradition of 

 the gild-merchant, which was not even confined to 

 town-dwellers, and there is no mention of a gildhall. 19 * 

 The meetings, solemn no less than festive, were to 

 be held twice in the year, the Sunday next after St. 

 John Baptist's Day (24 June), and that after St. 

 Hilary (13 January). 



The gildsman or burgess, with certain exceptions 



in the case of honorary members, was of necessity 

 a resident of the town and held his membership, 

 which involved the widest possible privileges, by 

 right of inheritance or purchased it by fine. The one 

 important restriction on his rights was that he could 

 not barter away or sell his position. After the gilds- 

 man comes the man of the franchise, who, dwelling 

 within the liberties of the town, bore his part in 

 duties and taxation, and was admitted to trade by the 

 enabling and essential permission of the gild. The 

 stranger or foreigner was not necessarily, or indeed, 

 generally, a foreign subject, but dwelt without the 

 town liberties and was only admitted to the markets 

 or even into the town on sufferance. The expression 

 ' man of the town,' sometimes met with in the ordi- 

 nances, is evidently a comprehensive term including 

 both gildsman and franchiser. 



It was in comparatively recent times that the name 

 of gild was finally given up. The entries in the 

 ' Burgess book' of 1496 record admissions ' into the 

 glide ' or into ' the libertie of the gilde.' One or 

 other of these forms occurs without a variation till the 

 admission of Bishop Home in 1562, whose name is 

 the last thus entered. After this there is a marked 

 change in the style. The next and most of the sub- 

 sequent admissions are ' to be one of the burgesses,' or 

 in the latest times till 1835, 'admitted and sworn a 

 burgess.' Still in 1597 there is an admission 'to be 

 one of the burgesses and gilde ' ; and the same or 

 similar form of ' gild and burgess ' occurs not infre- 

 quently till 1704 ; after which the name does not 

 appear in documents, and only remains in the word 

 'gildhall.' 



Of the town charters the earliest, that of Henry II 

 (quoted above), is known only by Inspeximus. It 

 was probably given in the first year of his reign 

 (l 1 54-5), and granted to his men of ' Hanton ' their 

 gild liberties and customs by land and by sea ' in as 

 good, peaceable, just, free, quiet and honourable a 

 manner as they had the same better, more freely and 

 quietly in the time of King Henry I.' 193 Richard I, 

 by a charter of 1 189, known by Inspeximus, granted 

 the burgesses freedom from toll, 194 passage and pontage 

 both by land and water, both in fairs and markets, 

 and from all secular customs (' de omni seculari con- 

 suetudine') in all parts of the king's dominions on both 



translation from the Old French text made 

 by William Overcy, the town clerk, in 



1473. He is described in the prologue as 

 ton and heir to 'Willian Overey, some 

 time mayor,' in 1474, and as having 

 succeeded by inheritance to his father's 

 burgess-wick, which i a little difficult to 

 understand, since his father was alive in 



1474. Subsequently, by free election, he 

 was chosen town cleric and sheriffj 1 5 

 September, 1473. This version, which 

 shows certain omissions and additions, 

 was presented to the mayor and his 

 brethren, burgesses of the gild, and to the 

 inhabitants of the town in 1478. The 

 town copy now existing, however, is not 

 the original, but was written after the 

 beginning of the reign of Henry VIII. 

 Two other versions belong to the same 

 century ; the latter of them being found 

 in the Burgess Book of 1496. This was 

 in use till superseded by a version written 

 in the time of Charles I, about 1630. 

 The ordinances of this last version are 

 considerably modernized, the word 'bur- 

 gess* always appearing instead of 'gilds- 

 man,' and there are several additions. 



The last version is that contained in the 

 book of ' Oaths of Office,' now in use, 

 commenced by Richard Stanley, town 

 clerk, 164853. The ordinances of this 

 copy, though presenting certain variations 

 from the last, are substantially the same. 

 There are, however, some considerable 

 additions. All these versions, excepting 

 the first, have attached to them the oaths 

 of the numerous town officials as needed 

 from time to time ; and we have here 

 presented the growth and movement of 

 the borough constitution as far as contained 

 in the ordinances from about 1 300 to the 

 period when the corporation had assumed 

 the shape in which the Municipal Reform 

 Act of 1835 found it. 



189 And it must be remembered that the 

 ordinances in many cases represent a much 

 earlier date. 



190 Namely, the alderman (originally) 

 of the gild-merchant, as distinguished 

 from those of the wards. 



191 In a document of 1368 (31 Dec. 

 42 Edw. Ill), the mayor, the four scabini, 

 the two bailiffs, the steward (mentioned in 

 this order), and several burgesses, rep- 



50; 



resenting the whole community of the 

 town, are partners to an agreement with 

 the bishop of Winchester (Corp. MSS.) 

 The four scabini kept the accounts of the 

 gild-merchant at King's Lynn (Hist. MSS. 

 Com. Rcf. xi, App. pt. iii, 226) ; also 

 Engl. Gilds (Early Engl. Text Soc.), 46, 

 ' four skevaynes . . . for to kepyn and 

 reseyven the goodes and the katal of the 

 gilde.' 



191 See above, under Bargate, p. 496. 



193 Inspeximus i Edw. Ill, 7 Ric. II, 

 &c., in hands of the corporation. 



194 Constant feuds occurred among the 

 mediaeval towns, as was inevitable, from 

 the practice of granting immunity from 

 the payment of toll and custom through- 

 out the kingdom. Notable controversies 

 of the kind arose between Southampton 

 and other places, e.g. with Marlborough 

 and Portsmouth 1239, Bristol 1260, 

 Netley Abbey 1288-90, bishop of Win- 

 chester 1312, Lymington 1324, New 

 Sarum 1329, Coventry 1456. For a list 

 of towns free from the toll, brocage, 

 pontage, petty customs, &c. see Rev. J. 

 Silvester Davies, op. cit. 229, 230. 



