The name is absent

598               Constitutional History.             [chap,

haps denotes that in York as well as in London the party most
dangerous to royal authority was the old governing body, the
mayor and aidermen. Under Edward III, in 1371, we find a
contested election between John Langtou and John Gisburn for
the mayoralty, in which the king’s peace and the safety of the
city were endangered, and the bailiffs and ‘probi homines’ were
directed to proceed to a new election, from which both the
competitors should be excluded¹. John Langton had already
been nine times mayor, and John Gisburn had represented
the city in parliament. Gisburn retained the mayoralty for
two years, and was again, in 1380, involved in an election
quarrel which came before the parliament which was sitting at
the time at Northampton. He had been duly elected and held
office until the 27th of November, on which day the common
people of the city had risen, broken into the guildhall, and
forced Simon of Whixley into the mayor’s place. The earl of
Northumberland was, by the direction of parliament, sent down
to confirm Gisburn in possession and to arrest the offenders ;
but the next year Simon of Whixley was chosen, and held the
office for three years running; and in 1382, by a fine of a
thousand marks, the citizens purchased a general pardon for all
their offences against the peace². It is not impossible that
these troubles may have had a direct connexion with the
rising of the commons in 1381 ; but it certainly appears, from
the circumstances recorded, that the chief magistracy was made
the bone of contention between two factions, one of which was
the faction of the mob, while the other was supported by royal
authority. One result of this state of things was, that Richard
bestowed by charter a new constitution on the city. He had,
in 1389, presented his own sword to the mayor, who thence-
forward was known as the lord mayor; and in 1393 he had
given the lord mayor a mace. In 1396 he made the city a
county of itself, annexing to it the jurisdiction of the suburbs,
and substituting two sheriffs for the three bailiffs who had
hitherto assisted the mayor ; the sheriffs were to be chosen by

¹ Drake, Eboracum, App. p. χχvi.

² Ibid. App. p. xxvi ; Rot. Pad. iiɪ. 96.

XXI.]

the citizens and community, and to hold their county court in
the regular way’. The favour shown by Richard II to the city
won the affection of the citizens, in so far at least as to im-
plicate them in the revolt of the Percies in 1405, when their
liberties were again seized for a short time.

The corporate body at this time consisted of the lord mayor Character of
and twelve aidermen, who represented either the ancient alder- tion.°^rp°
men of the guilds or the more ancient lawmen of Anglo-Saxon
times. The city was divided into four wards, named after the
four gates, each having its Ieet jury and its pasture master
chosen in ward-mote. The freemen of the city were made as
usual by service, inheritance or purchase ; and the great
number of companies, thirteen greater and fifteen smaller, proved
the importance of the craft-guilds.

After an important exemplification and extension of their Charterof
privileges by Henry VI², in which the circle of their county
jurisdiction was extended over the wapentake of the Ainsty,
and which accounts in some measure for the reverence with
which his memory was regarded, succeeded a period during
which the Yorkist kings carefully cultivated the friendship of
the citizens. Edward IV, in 1464, issued directions for the
election of mayor which show that he was inclined to assimilate
the constitution of the city to that of London in one more
point of importance, and which possibly imply that the old
disputes about the elections had again arisen amid the many
other sources of local division. He directed that the searchers Attempts to
or scrutators of each craft should summon the masters of the elections
trades to the guildhall, where they should nominate two of the hands of the
aidermen, one of whom should be selected by the upper house ^tradβa"
of aldermen and assistants to fill the vacant office^s. The plan
was soon modified. During the short restoration of Henry VI,
in 1470, a new scheme is said to have been proposed in parlia-
ment, and a lord mayor was appointed by royal mandamus⁴ ;

and almost immediately after the restoration of Edward IV, the

* Drake, Eboracum, pp. 205, 206 ; Madox, Firma Burgi, pp. 246, 247,
293.                                 ² Madox, Firma Burgi, p. 293.

³ Ibid. jι. 33 ; Itymer, xi. 529.       * Drake, Eboracum, p. 185.

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