A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



manor had been held by King John, but he had granted it away in two parts, 

 the ' surburbum ' to Robert de Vipont and the whole borough to Alan Basset, 

 who paid a rent of 20 a year. 



None of the boroughs in the county were incorporated by royal charter 

 until the sixteenth century, but at Chepping Wycombe, as the borough is 

 still called, a fine was levied between the lord and the burgesses in 1226 or 

 1 2 27,* and was confirmed by successive kings. The burgesses complained 

 that Alan Basset had done them certain damages and injuries contrary to the 

 liberties which they held of the ancestors of the king, and Alan granted to 

 them the whole borough and town of Wycombe, with the rents, markets, and 

 fairs, and with all other things appertaining to a free borough. Alan reserved 

 his demesnes and lands in the ' foreigns ' and certain privileges, but the bur- 

 gesses were to pay the rent and the service of one knight due to the king. 

 In 1237-8 the king confirmed this fine, with a slight alteration in the rent 

 the fee-farm of the burgesses was 30 and I mark of silver. Alan Basset 

 had also the right to take tallage in the borough whenever the king tallaged 

 his demesnes. The fine was also confirmed by Edward I and Henry IV, and 

 took the place to a certain extent of a royal charter. At High Wycombe a 

 ledger has been preserved in which the important orders made by the officers 

 of the borough were entered from time to time. 



The first entry was made early in the fourteenth century, and mentions 

 the merchant gild and the officers of the borough : 



Every son and heir of every burgess shall have the liberty of the Gild of Merchants after 

 the death of his father by hereditary descent according to the custom of the town, and gives 

 10^., viz. id. to the mayor, ^d. to the clerk, \d. to the sub-bailiff, 8a. to the gildans, ^d. to 

 the Master of the Hospital of St. John. 



This is the only mention of the merchant gild until the charter of Philip 

 and Mary, and at this time its membership was evidently co-extensive with 

 the number of burgesses. The chief officers were the mayor and bailiffs, the 

 sub-bailiff, the clerk, and the gildans. The gildans were responsible for the 

 management of the market and the preservation of the trading rights of 

 the gild. In 1316 an order was issued concerning the weavers who wished 

 to work in the borough. Previously they had paid \2d. a year to the 

 gildans for every loom working, but this was remitted, apparently to 

 encourage weavers to settle in the town. The order was made in ' plena 

 magna Gilda,' but, in 1313, an order to the butchers was made ' In magna et 

 plena curia villate de Wycumb de unanimo consensu communitatis.' At the 

 end of the fifteenth century a similar order restraining the freedom of the 

 corn-dealers in the market was ' ordeyned by the avys of the sayd mayre and 

 hes brederne with th' assent and grant of all the Broges and Commonoulties 

 of the town of Wicombe for a fast and staboll Act.' The tribute of the 

 corn-dealers was to be paid to the bailiff and not to the gildans, and probably 

 the merchant gild had been completely identified with the borough. The 

 mayor's 'brederne' were presumably the bailiffs. In 1398 there were strict 

 orders that no one of any condition should wander about the town after 

 ten o'clock at night \, if anyone was found out of doors without a reasonable 

 cause he might be seized, punished, and detained until set at liberty by the 

 mayor and commonalty. 



4 Feet of F. Bucks. 10 Hen. III. 

 38 



