Saturday, May 4, 2019

Confirmation of borough charters by Henry VIII in 1510


Confirmation of borough charters by Henry VIII in 1510

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

Sometime before the 17 April 1510 David Savage, merchant of Kilkenny, travelled to Bristol on behalf of Robert Rothe the elected sovereign of Kilkenny and the council. David Savage brought with him the royal charters previously granted to Kilkenny by various sovereigns of England as lords of Ireland.[1] Henry VIII had just succeeded the throne (April 1509) and desired the various boroughs of England and Ireland to seek confirmation of their previously received royal charters. When Henry VII took the crown of England from the dead King Richard III much of Ireland was reluctant to acknowledge the new king. Instead many temporal lords and towns had supported rival claimants like Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. In fact on 24th May 1487 Lambert Simnel was crowned king at Dublin as Edward VI. Only the archbishop of Armagh, Waterford city and the Butler lordship, which included Kilkenny, held out for Henry VII.[2]

On 17th April 1510 David Savage entered the Guildhall at Bristol where before John Caple, the mayor, and John Williams and John Wilkyns, town sheriffs, he had the king’s great seal affixed in green wax placed on the charters to ratify their liberties and confirm such for their heirs and successors. The transaction was then entered in the Red Book of Bristol, on folio209, by Philip Ricart, the town clerk.[3] The journey to Bristol for ratification of the Kilkenny borough charters had two reasons. First the road to Dublin was blocked by Irish controlled territory and although Henry VIII renewed the Lord Deputyship in the hands of Garret Mór Fitzgerald, the Kilkenny delegation would not hope for a favourable reception from an enemy of the Butlers, Earls of Ormond.[4] Also, in 1510, Dublin Corporation was not wholly approved by London. In 1489 Henry VII had issued a pardon to the citizens of Dublin along with the mayor and council with a confirmation all their royal charters. But in 1510 Henry VIII only issued a general pardon to the mayor and council while not mentioning the citizens or giving any confirmation of all previous royal charters.[5]

Henry VIII circa 1509

The second reason for using Bristol was ratification was economic. Having the charters confirmed by the mayor of Bristol, using the king’s seal, would ratify Kilkenny’s charters with a royal seal but also show the mayor and council of Bristol that Kilkenny was a loyal town in Ireland and the both towns could freely trade with each other without fear of trouble. Merchants coming from Kilkenny to Bristol for trade would have a letter of introduction in the Red Book of Bristol.

On 2nd May 1510 Bristol town and council also received a royal confirmation from Henry VIII of all previous royal grants with especial mention of a previous charter of confirmation given by Henry VII in February 1488 and the major charter of Henry VII given on 17th December 1499.[6]

Other towns also had their charters confirmed by Henry VIII in 1510. In 1483 Richard III issued a reconfirmation of previous royal charters given to the town of Gloucester and then added a lengthy charter of his own including a remission of £45 from the fee-farm rent payable by the town. The charter of Richard III was rectified and confirmed by Henry VII in 1489 but omitting the remission of £45 from the fee-farm rent. On 26th March 1510 Henry VIII rectified and confirmed his father’s charter while again omitting the remission of the £45.[7]

On 10th October 1510 Henry VIII issued a letter patent confirming his father’s grant of March 1487 which in turn was a ratification and confirmation of letters patent issued in July 1461 by Edward IV allowing a remission of £5 due from Oxford University while allowing the chancellor powers to clean the streets and banish any unwanted people beyond 10 miles around Oxford.[8]

Yet, interestingly, after all these borough and university confirmations issued by Henry VIII in 1510, the confirmation written into the Red Book of Bristol in favour of Kilkenny, seems to have disappeared between 1510 and 1950 when E.W. Veale edited the relevant section of the Great Red Book for the Bristol Record Society.[9] Folio 209 of the Great Red Book deals with regulation of linen cloth coming into Bristol and no outsiders can sell wares in the town without first presenting them for sale in the Common Hall.[10] Of course it could have been the Little Red Book of Bristol which Philip Ricart used.[11] This book started in 1344 and continued until the mid-fifteenth century but could have included later items not directly connected with Bristol.[12] The Great White Book has entries ranging in date from 1491 to 1598 but has no reference to the Kilkenny charters of 1510.[13]

The absence of the Kilkenny charters in the Bristol records is one thing but the personalities involved also raises questions. The Liber Primus Kilkenniensis gives the people involved in 1510 as John Caple, mayor, along with John Williams and John Wilkyns as the sheriffs. Bristol records for 1509-10 record the town officials as Master John Cabell (alias Caple), mayor, with John Williams and John Chapman as sheriffs.[14] John Cabull was sheriff of Bristol in 1501-1502.[15] In 1510-11 the town officials were Master Popeley as mayor with Raff Apprice and Robert Hutton as sheriffs.[16] In 1519-20 John Williams was mayor of Bristol while John Wilkyns was mayor in 1523-24.[17] Philip Ricart, the common clerk, is a more elusive character to find. Robert Ricart was town clerk from the late 1470s until 1508.[18] Philip Ricart appears to have succeeded Robert Ricart and was mentioned as common clerk in 4th and 5th year of Henry VIII (1512-13 & 1513-14) and later years.[19] In October 1484 Philip Ricart was made deputy of the ports of Bristol and Briggwater.[20] The odd man out, John Chapman, was possibly sick on the day and sent John Williams to act in his place. David Savage, perhaps unfamiliar with Bristol politics, assumed that John Williams was the sheriff and not a stand-in. 

Kilkenny castle

Yet even with this absence from the published Bristol records, the ratification of the Kilkenny charters at Bristol ensured that merchants and apprentices from Kilkenny could show that they came from a loyal town in Ireland. As early as 1439 the guild of hoopers in Bristol enacted that no apprentice from Ireland would be accepted except if they came from a loyal town or territory.[21] Even after 1510 Kilkenny apprentices at Bristol had to still show that they came from a loyal town.[22] It is said that the 1510 ratification at Bristol allowed Kilkenny merchants to have borough freedom at the great Bristol fair in August every year but this is not what the entry in the Liber Primus Kilkenniensis says.[23] This freedom was implied by specially referring to folio 209 of the Great Red Book. This folio, as mentioned above, was concerned with the exclusion of traders from outside Bristol selling linen and wares in the town. The exclusion order was made on 12th November 1466 when William Canynges was mayor.[24] By linking the liberties of Kilkenny to these exclusion orders it implied that Kilkenny merchants were included among those allowed to trade in linen and wares at Bristol.

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[1] McNeill, C. (ed.), Liber Primus Kilkenniensis (Dublin, 1931), p. 118;  Otway-Ruthven, A.J., Liber Primus Kilkenniensis (Kilkenny, 1961), p. 18
[2] Otway-Ruthven, A.J., A history of Medieval Ireland (London, 1980), pp. 403, 406
[3] McNeill, C. (ed.), Liber Primus Kilkenniensis (Dublin, 1931), p. 118;  Otway-Ruthven, A.J., Liber Primus Kilkenniensis (Kilkenny, 1961), p. 18
[4] Lennon, C., Sixteenth Century Ireland: The Incomplete Conquest (Dublin, 2005), p. 79
[5] Gilbert, J.T. (ed.), Calendar of Ancient Records of Dublin (19 vols. Dublin, 1889), vol. 1, p. 33
[6] Seyer, Rev. S., (ed.), The Charters and Letters Patent granted by the Kings and Queens of England to the town ad city of Bristol (Bristol, 1812), pp. 121, 123, 165
[7] Stevenson, W.H. (ed.), Calendar of the Records of the Corporation of Gloucester (Gloucester, 1893), pp. 16, 19
[8] Salter, Rev. H.E. (ed.), Mediaeval Archives of the University of Oxford (Oxford, 1920), pp. 247, 254
[9] Veale, E.W.W. (ed.), The Great Red Book of Bristol, text, part III (Bristol, 1950), pp. 80, 81, 82
[10] Veale, E.W.W. (ed.), The Great Red Book of Bristol, text, part III (Bristol, 1950), pp. 80, 81, 82
[11] Bickley, F.B. (ed.), Little Red Book of Bristol (Bristol, 1900)
[12] Stanford, M. (ed.), The Ordinances of Bristol, 1506-1598 (Bristol, 1990), p. xviii
[13] Ralph, E. (ed.), The Great White Book of Bristol (Bristol, 1979), pp. 2, 148
[14] Burgess, C. (ed.), The Pre-Reformation records of All Saints’ Church, Bristol, part 2: The churchwardens’ accounts (Bristol, 2000), p.197.
[15] Burgess, C. (ed.), The Pre-Reformation records of All Saints’ Church, Bristol, part 2: The churchwardens’ accounts (Bristol, 2000), p. 166
[16] Burgess, C. (ed.), The Pre-Reformation records of All Saints’ Church, Bristol, part 2: The churchwardens’ accounts (Bristol, 2000), p. 204
[17] Burgess, C. (ed.), The Pre-Reformation records of All Saints’ Church, Bristol, part 2: The churchwardens’ accounts (Bristol, 2000), pp. 250, 288
[18] Veale, E.W.W. (ed.), The Great Red Book of Bristol, text, part III (Bristol, 1950), pp. 63, 64, 98; Hollis, D. (ed.), Calendar of the Bristol Apprentice Book, 1532-1565, Part 1, 1532-1542 (Bristol, 1949), p. 4
[19] Rich, E.E. (ed.), The Staple Court Book of Bristol (Bristol, 1934), pp. 103, 149
[20] Seventh Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records (1846), p. 99
[21] Hollis, D. (ed.), Calendar of the Bristol Apprentice Book, 1532-1565, Part 1, 1532-1542 (Bristol, 1949), p. 9
[22] Hollis, D. (ed.), Calendar of the Bristol Apprentice Book, 1532-1565, Part 1, 1532-1542 (Bristol, 1949), Ms. pp. 74, 100, 151
[23] Edwards, D., The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny 1515-1642: The Rise and Fall of Butler Feudal Power (Dublin, 2003), p. 43
[24] Veale, E.W.W. (ed.), The Great Red Book of Bristol, text, part III (Bristol, 1950), p. 80

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