VOL. XX. (2) 
ANCIENT CIRENCESTER 
91 
by the violent Saxon conquest following the battle of Dyrham 
in 577- 
II. The Mediaeval Period. 
What was the condition of Cirencester in the first Norman 
Period ? That is, before the great Abbey had been re-founded 
(a.d. 1128) out of an old Saxon College of a few Prebends with rich 
gifts and provisions by Henry I., and before its Abbot became 
the owner and ruler of the destinies of the town and a good 
deal besides ? 
Manifestly, it was thus with it. The King was (as of old) 
lord in chief, and his castle ruled it through a constable 
and official stewards. Any privilege allowed to the citizens, 
therefore, was from the King. In the similar towns of York, 
Southampton, and Winchester the same thing obtained, 
but in time these towns succeeded in becoming incorporated 
boroughs, as Cirencester did not. The only others who besides 
the King had any say here were the Sheriff of the County 
(in the matters of jurisdiction and pleas), and two Feudal families 
who had small estates held of the King and forming a Central 
part of the Romano-British town, namely, the Archibalds and 
the Piries. The local customs and agreements of tradition 
were administered by the Crown officials just as upon any other 
Feudal estate. The court was the King’s Court, the tolls were 
his, and the townsfolk were the King’s tenants, and there were 
the Hundred Courts. 
It must not be supposed the people were badly off as such. 
For the King (as owner) was usually absent or busy, and far 
less of an interferer than a Bishop or a Baron, and it was not to 
his interest as lord and sovereign to deny his tenants advan- 
tages for which they were willing to pay or to compromise. 
The benefits secured by the townspeople from time to time were 
in proportion either to the grace of the Monarch or the price 
which they could give, or else to the resisting power they could 
successfully offer to exactions. Gloucester agreed to pay a 
large Fee-ferm rent to the King at Westminster annually, and 
so that city acquired its essential privileges of self-government 
and freedom from interference. It was far more fortunate 
in its onward course than Cirencester. 
