244 PAELIAMENTAEY HISTORY OF TBTTRO. 



several franchises ; parliaments moved with, the Court, and 

 wandered with, the sovereign to such diverse places as West- 

 minster and York, Lincoln and Carlisle ; and the danger and 

 hardship of being compelled to ride from one end of England 

 to the other, along roads which were little better than forest 

 tracks and moorland paths, infested by dangerous animals, and 

 still more dangerous outlaws, were calculated to disturb the 

 peace of mind of those elected ; moreover, the financial burden 

 imposed on the towns to support their representatives was 

 sometimes greater than they could bear ; yet to the credit of 

 Truro be it said, that in spite of these adverse considerations, 

 there is no record to show that the borough ever repudiated its 

 doubtful privilege, or that it ever lacked men who were willing 

 to represent it in the nation's councils. 



Many of the early burgesses returned for Truro were 

 closely connected with the tin trade. In the old Stannary Rolls 

 the names of le Bailly and Maynard are both found ; and 

 le Taylor, 1297, 1299, 1306, de Triagu, 1304, David de Tavystoke, 

 one of the officers of the Stannary Court at Truro, 1306, 1312, 

 with others, frequently occur. Of le Bailly nothing more seems 

 to be known, but the Maynards were a leading family in the 

 county ; the names of Robert, John, and Bernard are very 

 prominent in the Rolls ; John represented Truro in the two 

 parliaments of 1310, 1314; and Henry, David and Thomas 

 Maynard were clergymen. 



William le Taylor, probably a member of the Bodmin 

 family of that name, had the misfortune of being summoned to 

 such distant places as York in 1297, to Carlisle in 1306, as well 

 as to Westminster in 1299. His grandson, Roger, married Joan, 

 daughter of Johannis Nauntyan, lord of Kenwyn, and by this 

 means acquired valuable estates in the neighbourhood of Truro. 



Until the time of Henry VI at least, the parliamentary 

 representatives of cities and boroughs were supposed to be 

 resident citizens or burgesses of such cities or boroughs, and 

 not strangers, nor even county gentlemen living in their vicinity. 

 This rule bore hardly on the Cornish boroughs, owing to the 

 scanty population, and the consequent dearth of men who were 

 eligible, and sufficiently rich to bear the cost without unduly 



