Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/298

27Q NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 2 Edward I. ;" as it appears to us, from the character of the writing, and from other internal evidence, that it was compiled during the latter half of the reign of Henry the Third. The writer seems to have been a servant of the corporation, probably filling an office similar to that of town-clerk. His narrative is generally lucid ; all questions involving points of law are clearly stated, and his information respecting matters foreign to the city is usually accurate ; for example, the tumult at Norwich in 1272 is described more fully than in any other contemporary work. The sympathies of the author, invariably with the magnates or oligarchy of the city, are frequently ex- pressed in comically earnest terms ; indeed during the whole of the period included in his relation a violent struggle was going on between the alder- mannic class and its adherents and the commons of the city ; it is essential, therefore, to a proper understanding of the circumstances relating to this contest, here detailed, that we should endeavour to form an idea of the constitution of the city in the thirteenth century, and of the characters of the two factions which were then contending for supremacy. We possess but very scanty information as to the nature of the fran- chises enjoyed by the "barons" or citizens of London before or imme- diately after the Conquest, the charter of Henry the First being the earliest specification of their rights and privileges. We are left to infer that the institutions they possessed in Saxon times must have been popular, since the commons invariably clamoured for their restoration ; but on the whole, it may be fairly concluded that the rights and immunities guaranteed to the citizens by the Norman and Plantagenet kings had some analogy with those laws by which they had been governed under the Saxon rule. From the time of the Confessor, at least, until the appointment of Henry Fitz-Ailwyn, the first mayor, in 1188, there appears to have been an executive officer in the city, in some degree dependant on the Crown, who bore the title of Portreve, but we have no information respecting the nature or extent of his authority. We are equally ignorant of the precise charac- ter of the individuals called SheriflTs, who accounted to the Crown for the ferm of the city of London and county of Middlesex previously to the year 1188; whether they were merely royal bailiffs, or officers elected by the citizens ; they were sometimes four in number, and in one year, 4th Henry IL, they were five. Being in this state of doubt and uncertainty as to the actual condition of the municipality during the times preceding the close of the twelfth century, we must be content to take as our starting points the charters of franchises granted by Richard the First, by John, and by Henry the Third. The liberties nominally conceded to the Londoners by those sovereigns have been fully detailed and illustrated by various writers, more especially by Norton, in his able " Commentaries on the History and Franchises of London ;" and to that work the reader may be advantage- ously referred for all information respecting them. It must be obvious that grants of the most ample privileges to any com- munity are valuable only so far as the grantees are in a condition to enjoy them in their full extent, and are assured against their violation. At the