Life in a mediæval city

by Edwin Benson

Condemned heretics were burnt [2] at Tyburn, the site of local executions, some way from Micklegate Bar along the main south road.

B. Parliamentary and National Life [ToC]

According to the general principle, the King was the ultimate and absolute owner and ruler of the land and people. The rights, liberties, customs, and powers possessed by individuals and corporate bodies were specified parts of the royal power which the King had granted on some consideration or other. Thus, knights, archbishops, and nobles received lands and rights in return for the provision, when required, of military service by themselves and a certain force of their retainers, except that no personal military service was required from the archbishop from the very nature of his calling. The monasteries and other Church institutions had many possessions and rights. The Church, which was established in the realm before Parliament, was a very great owner of land. The authorities of cities, with their trade-guilds, received the right of trading, or holding markets, and of levying tolls or municipal taxes. They received also the right of making their own local laws or bye-laws. These authorities, whether individuals or corporate bodies, to whom rights and liberties were granted, had their own officers and laws controlling their liberties. Besides the King's peace, there were, therefore, the jurisdictions of these various rights granted from the supreme royal authority.

From York there went to the national Parliament the lord Archbishop of York, the lord Abbot of St. Mary's Abbey, those nobles who resided in the city and were Lords Temporal, and the two representatives of the commonalty of the city. The body of Lords Spiritual was of great importance in the Middle Ages. The Convocation of the lords of the Church had itself a share in the governing of the nation as well as of the Church, its own particular sphere. The Church was one of the most powerful and richest factors in national affairs. The clear division of the Parliament of the Middle Ages into three groups reflects the sharp divisions that there were between the three great classes of the nation—the nobles, the clergy, the people.

In the fifteenth century, as in other centuries, York was frequently visited by the King. From time to time, as when the King and Court proceeded north during the wars with Scotland, Parliament was moved to York, where it was held in the Chapter House of the Minster. Six of the seven windows of the Chapter House contain their original stained glass, in which appear shields of King Edward I. and members of the Court. The Chapter House was used as a Parliament house during the reigns of the first three Edwards. The King, in mediæval times, was actual commander-in-chief, and it suited him well for Parliament to meet in the political capital of the north, so that he could continue the civil administration while conducting warfare in the north.

Henry IV. was in York on several occasions, chiefly because of rebellions. The house of Percy, which engaged frequently in revolt and faction, led the rebellion of 1403 in which Henry Percy, called Hotspur, was killed at the battle of Shrewsbury. Harry Hotspur, whom Shakespeare made in accordance with tradition the fiery and valorous counterpart of Prince Hal, Henry IV.'s heir and Falstaff's companion, was buried in the Minster. When Archbishop Scrope headed a revolt, also not unconnected with the Percies, from York and was arrested, Henry IV. hastened to York, and the popular archbishop was executed forthwith, a royal and sacrilegious deed that caused intense indignation especially among the people of York, who for some months lost the right of local government as a result of this affair.

The Wars of the Roses (1455-1485), a long internecine feud between kings, lords, and landed gentry, affected the towns but little. The baronage suffered heavily, the middle class lightly. No town ever stood a siege, while Towton was the only battle in which the common soldiers had heavy losses. Warwick made it a practice to spare the commoners, whereby he conciliated the people. Under Yorkist rule, after the decisive battle of Towton (1461) England can be described as not unprosperous. One very notable feature was the immense amount of building that was done, and that not so much of castles, as of country houses, churches, and cathedrals, so many of which splendidly adorn the land to-day. The only people seriously affected by the Wars of the Roses were the main participants. Compared with modern warfare, which is unabated scientific extermination, mediæval warfare was often of the nature of a mild adventure. The size of the opposing forces was very small even compared with the scanty population. The chief weapons were lances, swords, long-bows, and cross-bows, but protective armour was worn. The fighting was generally sporadic and desultory and the casualties were very few.

It was at York that Henry VI. awaited the news of the result of the battle of Towton. Edward IV. entered York as victor after the battle. York, like other cities at the time, took care to maintain the good graces of both sets of combatants. Although through the Wars of the Roses national parliamentary government ultimately broke down and gave way to the strong personal kingship of Henry VII., the towns, which actually suffered little, increased their local powers. Civic government developed much and trade flourished during the century.