A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



information as to the terms of the lease." In 

 1387 the bishop (Fordham) leased to John 

 Le%vyn, Walter Coken, Roger Aspour and Henry 

 Shirburn the borough of Durham with all 

 manner of rents and services, courts and customs 

 belonging to the borough together with the 

 common furnace and the mill, and all profits 

 from the markets, ' skamelynghires ' and toUs 

 as well from residents as from strangers. The 

 lease also included the right of licensing inn- 

 keepers, a toll of "jd. from each tenant of the 

 Prior of Durham who sold goods in the great 

 fair of St. Cuthbert in September, and all fines 

 for breaches of the peace within the borough. 

 The bishop reserved to himself all escheats and 

 forfeitures, and also the right to have his corn 

 ground on certain terms. The lease was for 

 six years and the annual rent was ^^83 13J. 4^/. 

 with a provision for allowance in case of the 

 breakdown of the mill or common furnace, and 

 for reduction in case of war or pestilence. 

 This appears to have been the form of lease 

 which was from time to time renewed to a 

 group of prominent burgesses who doubtless 

 acted for the general body of their brethren, 

 though of this there is no proof.** In 1435 there 

 was a lease to Hugh Boner, Robert Werdale, 

 WiUiam Conyers and William Smith for six 

 years, the rent being 84 marks.** Boner, it wUl 

 be noticed, was one of the bailiffs in 1421.*' 



Bishop Pilkington's charter*^ granted, on 

 30 January 1565, that all the inhabitants in 

 Durham and Framwellgate ' sint et erunt re, 

 facto et nomine una societas et unum corpus 

 de se imperpetuum et habeant successionem 

 perpetuam.' The governing body consisted of 

 an alderman, twelve assistants and twelve in- 

 habitants — the first alderman and assistants 

 being appointed by the bishop, the former for 

 his year of office, the latter for life if the bishop 

 pleased. Yearly on 3 October the twelve 

 assistants were to elect twelve inhabitants, and 

 on the following day the joint body of twenty- 

 four were to elect an alderman for the ensuing 



MDurh. Halmote Bks. P.R.O. A.ygd. Both 

 lessees were bailiffs in 1353. It seems doubtful if 

 Grey was a burgess. 



** Durh. Cursitor R. cl. 3, no. 32, m. 8 d. Three 

 of the lessees, John Lew-yn, Walter Coken and Roger 

 Aspour, appear in the list of bailiffs at this period. 



*' Durh. Cursitor R. cl. 3, no. 37, m. 12 d. 



*' The other 15th-century leases are as follows: 

 27 Sept. 1466, lease of borough, mill and furnace for 

 one year, rent 90 marks ; 11 Jan. 1470, lease of tolls 

 and ' Scamylhire Burgi ' for one year, rent 60/. ; 

 9 Oct. 1473, lease of borough for one year, rent 

 £11 6s. 8d. ; 10 Jan. 147S, a similar lease. All the 

 lessees were tradesmen and the leases appear in Liber 

 Recog. et dimis. temp. Laur. epis'. (Durh. Treas.), 

 ff. iii, 174, 291, and 29. 



*' The charter is printed in Hutchinson, Htjt. 

 Durham, ii, 21. 



year. In case of failure to elect, the bishop was 

 to appoint. The corporation had power to 

 plead as the alderman and burgesses, to hold 

 property up to 100 marks in value and to have a 

 common seal, to make bye-laws and to receive 

 the fines for their infringement. The weekly 

 markets and the three fairs with the profits 

 incidental to them and to the piepowder court 

 were granted to the alderman and burgesses and 

 their successors. The city constables were 

 directed to obey the lawful orders of the alder- 

 man for the time being, and the charter ends 

 with a command that neither the alderman nor 

 the twelve assistants (the twelve inhabitants are 

 not mentioned) were to wear the livery of any 

 nobleman. It will be noticed that no mention 

 is made of the power to hold courts (other than 

 the piepowder court incidental to the fairs). 



Bishop Matthew was the next to grant a 

 charter. In 1602 he incorporated the burgesses, 

 men and inhabitants — ' sint et erunt unum 

 corpus politicum et incorporatum in re facto et 

 nomine per nomen majoris aldermanorum et 

 communitatis ' — with power to plead, hold 

 property up to loo marks and have a common 

 seal. The aldermen, twelve in number, had 

 to be both burgesses and inhabitants ; they 

 were to hold office for life. On 3 October 

 in every year they and the mayor were to elect 

 the twenty-four — two from each of the twelve 

 gilds mentioned in the charter. The members 

 of the twenty-four had to be inhabitants, but 

 no burgess qualification is mentioned as in the 

 case of aldermen. The twenty-four, with the 

 mayor and the aldermen, were to form the 

 common council of the city, and on 4 October 

 of every year they were to elect one of the 

 aldermen as mayor for the ensuing year. In 

 like manner they had power to fill vacancies in 

 the bench of aldermen and in the number of 

 the twenty-four. They had power also to 

 appoint the city Serjeants and other corpora- 

 tion officers. In the case of elections of mayors 

 and aldermen the quorum must include seven 

 aldermen in the former case and the mayor and 

 six aldermen in the latter. Similar provisions 

 to those in Pilkington's charter, but in a some- 

 what fuller form, are contained as to bye-laws, 

 markets and fairs, with the addition that the 

 mayor is to act as clerk of the market. The 

 charter then proceeds to grant to the mayor, 

 aldermen and community a court to be held 

 fortnightly on Tuesday before a steward to be 

 by them appointed. This court had power to 

 deal with both real and personal actions without 

 limit as to amount, provided they arose within 

 the city limits. To enable this jurisdiction to 

 be exercised effectively, an extensive power of 

 attachment was given. The profits of this court 

 were to belong to the corporation, whose juris- 

 dictional powers were further increased by a 



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