Contesting the City: The Politics of Citizenship in English Towns, 1250-1530

Description

* Identifies a vigorous and complex tradition of urban citizenship in late medieval England * Explores the history of English cities over a period of 300 years * Offers a challenge to the myth of English exceptionalism, by placing English cities in a wider European context and drawing upon a rich European historiography * Shows continuities in patterns of thought and behaviour in medieval Europe and in the modern world * Captures the excitement, dynamism, and volatility that characterized late medieval urban life The political narrative of late medieval English towns is often reduced to the story of the gradual intensification of oligarchy, in which power was exercised and projected by an ever smaller ruling group over an increasingly subservient urban population. Contesting the City takes its inspiration not from English historiography, but from a more dynamic continental scholarship on towns in the southern Low Countries, Germany, and France. Its premise is that scholarly debate about urban oligarchy has obscured contemporary debate about urban citizenship. It identifies from the records of English towns a tradition of urban citizenship, which did not draw upon the intellectual legacy of classical models of the 'citizen'. This was a vernacular citizenship, which was not peculiar to England, but which was present elsewhere in late medieval Europe. It was a citizenship that was defined and created through action. There were multiple, and divergent, ideas about citizenship, which encouraged townspeople to make demands, to assert rights, and to resist authority. This volume exploits the rich archival sources of the five major towns in England - Bristol, Coventry, London, Norwich, and York - in order to present a new picture of town government and urban politics over three centuries. The power of urban governors was much more precarious than historians have imagined. Urban oligarchy could never prevail - whether ideologically or in practice - when there was never a single, fixed meaning of the citizen. Christian D. Liddy, Senior Lecturer in the Department of History, Durham University Christian D. Liddy has taught Medieval History at the University of Durham since 2002. His previous books are War, Politics and Finance in Late Medieval English Towns: Bristol, York and the Crown, 13501400 and The Bishopric of Durham in the Late Middle Ages: Lordship, Community and the Cult of St Cuthbert. He was the academic curator of Magna Carta and the Changing Face of Revolt, a major exhibition that was held in Durham in 2015 on the 800th anniversary of the charter and that explored the thin line between the citizen and the rebel. Cover......Page 1 Contesting the City: The Politics of Citizenship in English Towns, 1250–1530......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Dedication......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 8 Contents......Page 10 List of Illustrations......Page 12 List of Maps......Page 14 Abbreviations......Page 16 1: Introduction......Page 24 OLIGARCHY......Page 26 CONFLICT......Page 30 CITIZENSHIP......Page 35 THE FIVE TOWNS......Page 40 2: Citizenship and Citizens......Page 43 THE FREEMAN’S OATH......Page 48 The Language of Citizenship......Page 53 Vertical and Horizontal Ties of Association......Page 59 Duties and Rights......Page 63 ACCESS TO URBAN CITIZENSHIP......Page 67 3: Space: Boundaries......Page 74 ENCROACHMENTS ON THE STREET......Page 80 ECCLESIASTICAL PRECINCTS......Page 89 The Geography of Urban Liberties......Page 91 Norwich......Page 94 ENCLOSURE OF COMMON LANDS......Page 96 Coventry......Page 102 4: Civic Time: Elections......Page 109 MAYORAL ELECTIONS......Page 117 The Electoral Franchise......Page 119 The Sources of Civic Authority......Page 132 Oaths......Page 135 THE REPEATED INVENTION OF TRADITION......Page 144 5: Communication: Sound and Sight......Page 148 PUBLIC OPINION......Page 153 Speech......Page 155 OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION......Page 165 Proclamations......Page 169 The Crafts......Page 173 SECRECY AND PUBLICITY......Page 176 Bill-Casting......Page 184 6: Written Constitutions: Text and Object......Page 188 THE COMMONS......Page 194 The ‘Great Charter’ of London, 1319......Page 206 The ‘New Composition’ of Norwich, 1415......Page 218 7: Conclusion......Page 229 THE ‘CLOSE CORPORATION’......Page 233 Unpublished......Page 242 Published......Page 244 SECONDARY LITERATURE......Page 247 UNPUBLISHED DISSERTATIONS......Page 264 Index......Page 266