Chapter VIII: The Governors of the City (2)

Most of the Mayors of the Middle Ages were men of birth and position, and it is difficult to understand how it was that the popular idea of a poor boy coming up to London penniless, making his way here, and eventually rising to be Mayor, first came into existence. The elaboration of this idea in the chap-book life of Sir Richard Whittington is entirely opposed to the facts of the case.

ALDERMEN

The consideration of the actual position of the alderman in the government of London is one of great difficulty, and Mr. Round's discovery of the Oath of the Commune in which aldermen are not mentioned has made it difficult to conjecture when it was that they took their natural place as the advisers of the Mayor.

The title 'alderman' is a survival of the Saxon period (as is also that of 'sheriff'), but the duties of the holders of the office have frequently been changed.

The word 'alderman' was a generic term as well as the distinctive title of a special officer. King Alfred appointed an alderman over all London, and the chief officer of the various guilds was originally known as an alderman.

The various wards were each presided over by an alderman from an early period, but, as already noted, we cannot fix the date when they were united as a Court of Aldermen.

Bishop Stubbs writes: 'The governing body of London in the thirteenth century was composed of the Mayor, twenty-five aldermen of the wards and two sheriffs. All these were elective officers.'[246]

The difficulty is, that although aldermen were undoubtedly elected as the heads of wards they are not referred to as the colleagues of the Mayor until the very end of this century.

In March 1298-1299 letters were sent from 'the Mayor and Commune of the City of London' to the Echevins, Jurats and Commonalty of the town of Burges' [Bruges]; 'to the Provost, Bailiffs and Commonalty of the town of Caen'; and 'to the Provost, Echevins and Commonalty of the City of Comerac' [Cambray?].[247]

Although the official form of 'The Mayor and Commune' was continued until the end of the thirteenth century, and it was not until early in the fourteenth century that the form 'Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council' came into existence, there is sufficient evidence to show that the aldermen and Common Council before that time were acting with the Mayor as governors of the city.

As already quoted from Bishop Stubbs, that authority describes the aldermen as assistants of the Mayor as early as 1249. At all events, in the record of the election of aldermen in 1293, they are specially described as elected for the government of the city.

In 1299 (27 Edw. I.) 'it was agreed by Henry le Galeys, Mayor, and the aldermen, that Strago, the sweeper of litter in the ward of Chepe, should be taken and imprisoned until, etc., because he, the said Strago, had scandalized the aldermen by saying that they take the money of the commonalty at the Guildhall under pretext of wardship of orphans and then waste such money for their own profit.' In consequence of these unfounded charges Strago was committed to the Tun.[248]

There are in Riley's _Memorials_ about this date several other references to aldermen acting with the Mayor, thus, on the 14th September 1301: 'Walter Swan appeared before Sir Elias Russel, Mayor of London, and other aldermen then present';[249] and in December 1310 Roger de Eure having insulted and assaulted Richard de Gloucestre, alderman, the two parties 'appeared in the Guildhall before Sir Richer [de Refham] the Mayor, and the aldermen.'[250]

In 1311 (4 Edw. II.) the form of description of the governors was 'The Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council of the City.'[251] From this time the general form was either this or 'The Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty.' It is necessary, however, to mention that a congregation of Mayor and aldermen is referred to in Fitz-Ailwin's Assize of 1189.[252]

The title of 'echevin,' as applied to a governor of the city, is at present only known to us as used in the Oath of the Commune, found by Mr. Round, and it may therefore have had a very short existence. It is possible that aldermen were elected on to the Mayor's Council under the title of 'echevins.' This, however, is not the opinion of Mr. Round, who is inclined to believe that the body of echevins became in course of time the Court of Common Council.

The whole question is at present one of great difficulty, and I only state the facts here without venturing to express any confident opinion until more evidence is forthcoming.

We may be allowed to think that too great an importance has been ascribed to the position of the early aldermen in connection with their wards. It is generally affirmed that the aldermen were hereditary owners of the various wards, on account of the fact that the wards were named after them, an instance of which practice remains in Farringdon, Bassishaw and Basingshall. There is no evidence of this proprietorship, and it seems improbable on the face of it. Mr. Round believes that what an alderman inherited can only have been the aldermanry of his ward, like, he suggests, an hereditary sheriff.

Mr. Baddeley writes that 'early in 1276 we find mention made of "the ward of Henry de Frowyk within the Gate" (_i.e._, Cripplegate), and ten years later (_circ._ 1285) he figures in the earliest list of aldermen extant in the city's records as alderman of the same ward.'[253]

At the election of aldermen in 1291 (19 Edw. I.) sixteen of the wards were named after the aldermen and eight after places. The latter being the wards of Chepe, Castle Baynard, Walebroke, Douegate, Bridge, Portsoken, Vintry, and Bassieshawe.

At the election two years afterwards (1293) all the wards were named with their proper names, and not after the aldermen.

The ward of Ludgate and Neugate presented Nicholas de Farndone, it being styled in the previous list 'the ward of William de Farndone.' Many of the same names are found in the two lists, but they represent different individuals of the same family.

The preamble to the list of elections in 1293 is of considerable interest: 'Be it remembered that on Tuesday before the Feast of St. Botolph, 21 Edw. I., in the presence of Sir John le Bretun, Warden of London, the whole commonalty of the city aforesaid was assembled, viz., from each ward the wealthier and wiser men, who each by their several wards elected for themselves aldermen freely, of good will and of their full consent, and the aldermen so elected, they presented to the warden aforesaid in this form, that all and singular the things which the aforesaid aldermen of their wisdom and discretion shall do and ordain for the government of the city and the maintenance of the King's peace, in conjunction with the warden and their superiors for the time being shall be straitly observed, and shall be held ratified and confirmed before other provisions touching the commonalty without any challenge or opposition in the future; and each ward elected its aldermen, for whom it would answer as to all his acts affecting the city, the Commune (_Communam_) and its estate.'[254]

It will be seen from the above that the election of aldermen was only in the hands of a few of the 'wealthier and wiser men' of the wards, but later on the electors were freemen of the city, 'paying scot and bearing lot.'

There was much difference of practice in the election of aldermen. Various orders were issued from time to time, and some of them fell out of use.

In 1377 it was ordered that aldermen should be elected annually, as appears from the following entry in Letter Book H (f. 58):--

'51 Edw. III. Precept (_bille_) for the men of each ward to meet on Saturday, the 7th March, and elect an alderman other than the sitting alderman, and to have the name of the alderman so elected endorsed on the Bill at the Guildhall on the Feast of St. Gregory next, at eight o'clock at the latest, under penalty.'

This precept was elaborated in an Ordinance made on Friday, 6th March, 51 Edw. III., with the assent of the Mayor, aldermen and divers representations of the livery companies.

It was ordered that 'aldermen removed for good and reasonable cause shall not be open for re-election, but that those who go out of office on St. Gregory's Day and have not misconducted themselves may be re-elected after the interval of one year.'

In 1384 the rule was modified so as to allow an alderman to be re-elected for his ward at the expiration of his year of office without any interval (Letter Book H, f. 173).

In 1394 the Ordinance respecting annual elections was repealed by the King, and aldermen were henceforward elected for life.

6th March, 17 Ric. II., 'and have also ordained for the honour and greater increase of the good government of our said city, that they who should be chosen aldermen of our same city should not be removed out of their offices during their lives, unless for just, reasonable and notable cause.'

Shortly after this an order of the Mayor, aldermen and commonalty was issued which took away the right of the wards of directly electing their aldermen. A ward was only allowed to nominate two persons, of whom the Mayor and aldermen were to choose one. Five years later, that is in 1402, the number of names to be nominated was raised to four, and in 1420 this order was reaffirmed.[255]

Distinct rank was accorded to aldermen; thus the Common Seal of the Corporation bears the inscription: _Sigillum Baronum Londoniarum_, and we are told by John Carpenter in _Liber Albus_, 'it is a matter of experience that even since the year of our Lord 1350, at the sepulture of aldermen, the ancient custom of interment with baronial honours was observed; for in the church where the alderman was about to be buried a person appeared upon a caparisoned horse, arrayed in the armour of the deceased, bearing a banner in his hand, and carrying upon him his shield, helmet and the rest of his arms, along with the banner, as is still the usage at the sepulture of lords of baronial rank. But by reason of the sudden and frequent changes of the aldermen, and the repeated occurrence of pestilence, this ceremonial in London gradually died out and disappeared.'[256]

When the poll tax of 1379 was imposed the Mayor was assessed as an earl and the aldermen as barons.[257]

On August 12, 1417, a royal mandate (5 Hen. V.) was issued to the Mayor enjoining that the aldermen shall reside within the city: 'We do therefore will, and do command and charge you that you cause your letters to be addressed unto each one of the said aldermen so absent from our said city, charging them strictly thereby on our behalf that they return unto our said city and do tarry and remain there, to support you and to administer counsel and assistance in all that may touch the preservation of the said peace and good governance of our said city.'[258] This was an irksome regulation, and in the charter of Edward IV. the aldermen were released from the obligation.

'It is well-known and manifest that those of the said city which are elected aldermen have sustained great cost and pains for the time they make their abode and residence in the same city, and for that cause oftentimes do leave their possessions and places in the country that therefore they and every of them may without fear of unquietness or molestation peaceably abide and tarry in such their houses and possessions, when they shall return thither for comfort and recreations sake.'

It has sometimes been the fashion of the wits to gird at the aldermen and other city magnates, but although some of the names on the list may be of little account there are many which are written on the page of history, and a large number of noble families owe their origin to famous aldermen.

Sir Geoffrey Boleyn, Mayor in 1457, was great-grandfather to Anne Boleyn, and therefore ancestor of Queen Elizabeth; Sir Thomas Canynge, Mayor in 1456, was ancestor of George Canning, Earl Canning, and Lord Stratford de Redcliffe; Sir William Loke, sheriff in 1548, the favourite of Henry VIII., who had a key of the King's private chamber so that he might come whenever he would, was the ancestor of John Locke, Lord Chancellor King, and the Earl of Lovelace; John Cowper, alderman in 1551, was the ancestor of Lord Chancellor Cowper and the poet William Cowper; Sir Edward Osborne was the ancestor of the Dukes of Leeds.

Among other distinguished men descended from aldermen may be mentioned Bacon, Beckford, Byron, Cromwell, Howe, Marlborough, Newcastle, Melbourne, Nelson, Palmerston, the two William Pitts, Raglan, Salisbury, and the Walpoles.

SHERIFFS.

The government of the city by reeves dates back to a very early period of our history, and these reeves were appointed by the King. When William the Conqueror demanded entrance to London the joint governors were the bishop and the portreeve. How long before the Conquest a portreeve had been appointed and how long after his office was continued we do not know. The sheriff to some extent took his place, but Henry I. gave the city the right of appointing justiciars and sheriffs, and the justiciar, according to Mr. Round, took precedence of the sheriff.

After the establishment of the Commune and the appointment of a Mayor the sheriffs naturally lost much of their importance, and they became what they are styled in _Liber Albus_, 'the Eyes of the Mayor.' They often in early times were called also bailiffs. When Middlesex was in ferm to London the two sheriffs were equally Sheriffs of London and Middlesex. There is one instance only in the city records of a Sheriff of Middlesex being mentioned as distinct from the sheriffs, and this was in 1283 when Anketin de Betteville and Walter le Blond are described as Sheriffs of London, and Gerin as Sheriff of Middlesex.[259] This anomaly has not been explained, but Dr. Sharpe remarks respecting a writ of 1308: 'The King to the Sheriff of Middlesex, greeting,' that this was 'presumably addressed to and the return made by the Sheriffs of London acting as Sheriff of Middlesex according to custom.'

It was ordained and agreed in 1383 (7 Ric. II.) 'that no person shall from henceforth be Mayor in the said city if he have not first been sheriff of the said city, to the end that he may be tried in governance and bounty before he attains such estate of the mayoralty.'[260]

Mr. Baddeley has very clearly described the changes made at various times in the election of sheriffs, and I therefore quote from his book: 'Until the commencement of the fourteenth century the sheriffs were elected by the Mayor, aldermen and commonalty of the city. In 1301 an attempt was made to restrict the number of electors to twelve representatives of each ward, but this, like other subsequent attempts, proved unsuccessful. In 1347 is met with, for the first time, a new method of procedure. In that year one of the sheriffs was elected by the Mayor and the other by the commonalty, and this prerogative of the Mayor for the time being to elect one of the sheriffs continued to be exercised with few, if any, exceptions down to 1638.'[261]

This is the mode of election which is described in the _Liber Albus_: 'In the first place, the Mayor shall choose, of his own free will, a reputable man, free of the city, to be one of the sheriffs for the ensuing year, for whom he is willing to answer as to one half of the ferm of the city due to the King, if he who is so elected by the Mayor shall prove not sufficient. But if the Mayor elect him by counsel and with the assent of the aldermen they also ought to be answerable with him. And those who are elected for the Common Council themselves, and the others summoned by the Mayor for this purpose, as before declared, shall choose another sheriff for the commonalty, for whom all the commonalty is bound to be answerable as to the other half of the ferm so due to the King, in case he shall prove not sufficient. And if any controversy arise between the Commons as to the election, the matter is to proceed and be discussed.'[262]

COMMON COUNCIL.

We do not know when the Court of Common Council was first formed, but, as already stated, Mr. Round supposes it to have grown out of the body of echevins brought into being on the granting of a Commune. It seems probable that the two courts--that of aldermen and that of the Common Council--were formed about the same time, but it is remarkable that we have at present no definite information on the subject. Now that special attention is drawn to this matter, it is to be hoped that some facts settling the question may be forthcoming. The number of members of the Common Council varied greatly at different times, but the right to determine the number was indirectly granted by the charter of Edward III., 1341, which enables the city to amend customs and usages which have become hard.

The preamble to an Act of Common Council, 8th May 1840 (3 Vict.), passed to reduce the total number of Common Council, and to apportion more equally the members to the different wards, contains the following statement of its antiquity:--

'Whereas from time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary, there hath existed, and still doth exist, within the City of London, a Common Council, consisting of the Mayor and aldermen of the said city, and certain citizens, being freemen of the said city, annually elected to be of the same Council, and called the Commons of the said city; and whereas, under and by virtue of the ancient charters, ordinances, statutes and customs of the said city, the power of appointing and regulating the number of citizens to be from time to time elected of the same Common Council hath, from time whereof the memory of man runneth not to the contrary, belonged, and still of right doth belong, to the Mayor, aldermen and Commons of the said city.'[263]

The Common Council were chosen by the wards until 1351 (25 Edw. III.), when certain Companies appointed the Common Council.[264]

In 1376 (50 Edw. III.) an Ordinance was made by the Mayor and aldermen, with the assent of the whole Commons, to the effect that the companies should select men with whom they were content, and none other should come to the elections of Mayors and sheriffs; that the greater companies should not elect more than six, the lesser four, and the least two.[265] Forty-seven companies nominated 156 members.

In 1383 the right of election reverted to the wards, but was obtained again by the companies in 1467.

ARMS OF LONDON.

The arms of the City of London are simple and of great interest, consisting as they do of the Cross of St. George with the Sword of St. Paul in the dexter quarter, but unfortunately an absurd popular blunder has been prevalent that the sword was really the dagger with which Sir William Walworth killed Wat Tyler.

The history of these arms is fully set forth in Jewitt and Hope's _Corporation Plate_, and there illustrated with figures of the old common seal of London, and the first and second mayoralty seals. The facts as there set forth are shortly stated here.

The old common seal is a fine example of the early part of the thirteenth century. Stow in his _Survey_ dates it in 1224, and Gregory in his _Chronicle_ in 1227-1228. Mr. Hope says that the seal may well be of a date _circa_ 1225, and that it certainly was in use in 1246. The obverse of the seal represents a figure of St. Paul, with a sword in his outstretched right hand, and a banner of England in his left hand. 'The saint is represented as standing in the middle of the city over which he keeps guard; the spire of the cathedral church rises in front of him, and other steeples on each side.... In front of all is the city wall with its ditch, with lofty central gateway and two lesser flanking towers or bastions.' The legend is: SIGILLUM BARONUM LONDONIARUM.

The first mayoralty seal bears the seated figures of St. Thomas of Canterbury and St. Paul with his sword. The legend is _Sigillum Maioratus London._ and the date _circa_ 1280.

The second mayoralty seal, which was produced a century after the first one, is of very special interest. It bears seated figures of St. Thomas and St. Paul, and in base a shield of the city supported by two lions. The legend is _Sigil: Maioratus: Civitatis: London_. The record of the making of this seal in 1381 is found in Letter Book K, f. cxxxijb., and Mr. Hope's remarks on the value of this piece of evidence must be quoted entire: 'This seal is of special interest, not only from its being a dated example, but because it proves beyond doubt the absurdity of the silly notion that the object in the dexter chief of the city arms is the sword or dagger wherewith Sir William Walworth slew Wat Tyler, instead of being, as it undoubtedly is, the sword of St. Paul. Wat Tyler was killed on June 15, 1381, whereas the new seal of the mayoralty had been formally adopted on April 17, two months before. This seal is also one of the earliest authorities for the city arms. Its silver matrix is still preserved at the Mansion House, but in so worn a condition that little else than the deepest parts can be traced. It is only now used for mercantile documents going abroad.'[266]

To return to the common seal, it may be noticed here that the original reverse had 'in base a view of the city somewhat resembling that on the obverse, surmounted by a segmental arch. On the top of the arch, seated on a throne or chair of state, is a figure of St. Thomas of Canterbury with cross and pall.'

In accordance with the famous proclamation of Henry VIII. (Nov. 16, 1538) which enacted 'that Thomas Becket' should no longer 'be esteemed, named, reputed nor called a sayncte, but Bysshop Becket, and that his ymages and pictures through the hole realme shalle be putte downe,' etc., it was enacted in 1539 that this reverse of the common seal should be destroyed.

'The beautiful reverse of the common seal, after doing duty for over three centuries, was therefore broken up, and presumably its silver used to make a new matrix. This is of the same size as its predecessor, but, in accordance with the resolution, it bears for device simply the city arms, _argent a cross gules and in the dexter quarter the sword of St. Paul_, with helm, mantling and crest, _a dragon's wing expanded argent charged with a cross gules_. The legend is: _Londini. Defende. Tuos. Deus. Optime. Cives._'[267]

In connection with the arms it may be noticed that the supporters which are usually described as griffins are really dragons, in allusion to St. George.