Lesson video

Hi there, and welcome to our final lesson , on who held power in the Mediaeval towns.

I'm Mrs. Badhan.

And in this last lesson, we will be looking at the question who made important decisions in the towns.

For this lesson, you will need a pen, a piece of paper and a calm, quiet environment to learn.

You don't quite have these things, press pause now, get yourself ready, and hit play once you're ready to get going.

Great, let's make a start.

In today's lesson, it's important that we start with a few key words, as we'll be using these words throughout the lesson.

The first word I'd like to go through is the word Burgess.

This is a citizen of a town or city who would often be a member of parliament for a borough.

The next word is the word Town Council, which is a local government of a town.

And the last word is the charter.

A city charter or town charter is a legal document, which establishes the town and its rights.

During this lesson, we will primarily be considering the towns under the following rulers, and how they contributed to the town gaining power.

And certain groups of people who increased in their power within the towns, due to the actions of these kings.

So we'll be looking at King John all the way through to King Edward III.

I'd now like to tell you a little story.

And this is a story about Simon de Montfort.

In 1258, King Henry the third of England faced revolt among the English barons.

Ungauged growing about the way the king's officials were raising funds, the influence of people at court, and his unpopular policies abroad.

Even the English church started having grievances and felt resentment and anger with the king.

There was a strong feeling that the king would be unable to lead the country, through the problems that he faced.

As trade expanded the Burgess and merchant class town dwellers resented, the king's interference in their trade and their commerce.

They organised themselves and demanded privileges.

These privileges included freedom from certain kinds of taxes, and the right to govern their own towns.

Well, one day Hebigard marched into Westminster in the middle of the king's parliament, backed by his co-conspirators, including this man here, Simon de Montfort, the Earl of Leicester, and they carried out a revolt against the king.

Henry, fearful that he was about to be arrested imprisoned, agreed to abandon his policies, and instead govern through a council of 24 barons and churchmen.

Half chosen by the king and half chosen by the barons.

De Montfort eventually overtook the government.

And in response and hoping to win wider support for his government, de Montfort summoned a new parliament, the 20th of January, 1265.

He summoned not only the barons, senior churchmen, and two Knights from each county, but he also summoned the Burgesses for each of the major towns such as York, Lincoln, and some of the ports.

This was the first time this had ever been done.

This Parliament the de Montfort called was a ground breaking move, as well as the Lords it had some of the Knights from the Shires, and representatives from the towns, who we know are called Burgesses.

This was the first time both Knights and Burgesses, common men, had attended Parliament together to discuss national issues, and not just consent to taxation.

This was the first beginnings of the House of Commons.

under the reign of Edward III, the commons continue to contain these two distinct elements.

The Knights of the shires who represented the counties, and the Burgesses, who represented the towns or cities.

Parliament became a more consistent part of life.

And it was brought together when the king required it, which was usually when he needed tax or money from the people.

The Knights were usually members of the land and gentry, while the burgesses mostly rich merchants or lawyers.

Two representatives from each area were expected to attend parliament.

This meant the 74 Knights could in theory, attend Parliament from the 37 counties, and as many as 170 Burgesses could attend Parliament from the boroughs.

Although the burgesses significantly outnumbered the Knights of the Shire, the latter, being the Knights were probably more politically dominant, because of their political and social standing.

Knights were paid Sh.

4 a day for their service in Parliament, whereas Burgesses received only Sh.

2.

So who word the Burgesses? Although generally not aristocrats or nobles, the Mediaeval Burgesses enjoyed a special legal and economic status because they were citizens of a particular town.

Now to become a citizen in many towns, a person had to be born male and born into a citizen family, or they had to reside in a city for a certain number of years, and they had to be engaged in respectable business, as well as pay substantial fees.

Moreover, although their status might not be documented officially, Burgesses were often a special class of citizen.

And generally, they were prosperous, prestigious, and politically influential citizens.

And the urban Burgesses dominated their towns becoming almost urban lords.

And as such, their standard of living was substantially higher than some of their other fellow residents.

At times, they will often free from taxation and tolls.

However, this freedom did have to be bought.

And this freedom was usually bought through charters, which were generally granted by the Lord in return for payment.

So for example, in 1194, Roger de Lacy granted a generous charter to his Burgesses of Pontefract in exchange for a payment of 200 pounds.

Now another group of people that were growing in prominence within the Mediaeval period, were Sheriffs.

Now for the most of the Norman period, York, especially like the rest of the other cities and towns had been governed by a Sheriff.

And he was based at York castle but had the responsibility for the whole county, but yet wasn't accountable to the citizen.

As York's merchants grew richer, they started to resent the Sheriff of Yorkshire's dominance and leading citizens would band together, and become an influential voice in the city's affairs.

Now, York's own charter came three years earlier in 1212, when King John allowed York citizens rather than the Sheriffs to collect and pay the annual tax to the crown, to hold their own court and to appoint a mayor.

So from then on until local government was reorganised in 1974, York was a self governing city under its own mayors.

So we can see as well, that as well as the Sheriff that was important, the position of the mayors was also increasing.

Hugh Selby, who exported wool and imported wine became York's first known mayor in 1217.

And his family made the role their own.

He was appointed a further five times and then his son John was appointed seven times.

And then John's grandson Nicholas was appointed four times.

The Sheriff's remaining power was effectively stripped from him in 1256, by the two charters from Henry III, which handed over control of law and justice to the people of York.

So from the information that we've just heard, let's have a look at which statements are useful in helping us to understand who held power in the towns.

You can press pause now, have a read through them, and press play once you're ready to go through the answers.

Super.

So most of these were actually very useful in helping us to understand who held power in the towns.

Now the first one says, the Burgesses were often free from taxation and tolls, which shows that they held a level of power within the towns.

The second, Merchants resented the Sheriff's dominance shows that actually for a period of time, the Sheriffs held power in the towns.

The Sheriff's remaining power was stripped in 1256, shows that the power of the Sheriff started diminishing.

And slowly the Sheriff's power was really diminishing and becoming of less importance.

The mark of a prosperous Burgess became the construction of a stone house.

Well, yes, although this shows us that the Burgesses did have power and money, and they were growing in power by having homes built out of stone, it doesn't really tell us about how many stone houses there were, or how much power they really had.

The Knights represented the shires shows us that the Knights were growing in power within the countryside and rural areas.

And Hugh Selby was York's first known mayor in 1217, shows us that the role of the mayor was increasing.

Okay, we're going to pause the video now.

You can read through the information sheets based on the comprehension, and then you can answer the comprehension questions that go along with it.

Once you're ready to go through your answers, resume the video and we'll go through them together.

Great, so you have the following questions to answer.

Who did the introduction of the charters give more power to? How did the town councils have power over the towns? Who gained power in the development of Parliament? And your challenge question was to look at which groups of people, were not considered important In the Mediaeval towns.

So question number one, who did the introduction of the charter give more power to? An acceptable answer was the people of the towns.

A good answer: The introduction of the charters meant the people of the towns now have more power, as it ensured that the town's rights were clear.

This would stop Sheriffs from being able to abuse their powers.

And it also gave them more power to collect their own taxes.

Question two.

How to town councils have power in the towns? Acceptable answer: They were responsible for the laws of the town.

Good answer: The town councils had power in the towns as they were responsible for ensuring the laws of the town.

For example, they introduced new laws on hygiene, waste disposal and public toilets.

And they still play an important role with this today.

Question three.

Who gained power with the development of Parliament? An acceptable answer: The Knights and the Burgesses.

A good answer: With the development of Parliament, the Knights and the Burgesses increased in their power and role within the shires and towns.

They were called as representatives of the people, and thus giving the Burgesses in particular, an increasing amount of power within the towns.

Your challenge, which groups of people were not considered important in the Mediaeval towns.

You had the options between Sheriffs, women, Mayors, Knights, Jewish people, Burgesses, Flemish people, Merchants, Guilds and the Town Council.

Now over the four last lessons, you would have noticed that when we looked at certain groups of people, some did have more power than others.

Women in particular had very little power within the towns.

And often it was down to the discretion of the Guilds to decide whether women will have a role, in working or a role within the Guilds at all.

So women's roles were very, very limited and controlled by many external people.

The Knights did not have much power in the towns as their role really laid within the shires and the counties which were the rural areas.

And the Flemish people, they did not have much power in the towns as they were considered such a threat.

Now, this may lead you to then ask the question, what about the Jewish people? Now although the Jewish people were persecuted, they did still hold power within the towns as moneylenders, and providing the crown itself with money.

Now, for the last challenge of this lesson, I would like you to explain who you believe held the most power in the Mediaeval towns.

It was a structure to help guide you with this piece of writing, and there are some key words to help you as well.

Just to think about which people in particular lived in the towns and who held power.

You can press pause now write your explanation, and press play once you're ready to get going again.

Fantastic.

That's the end of our lesson and also our four part inquiry on who held power in the Mediaeval towns.

Over the last four lessons, we have looked at a number of different groups that held power within the towns including the Guilds, the Merchants, the Burgesses, the Town Councils, and many, many more.

I hope you've enjoyed these lessons, and you've learned a lot more about those that were living in the towns, and those that held considerable power, and those that didn't have much power either.

I would love to see your explanations from today's lesson, over who you think held power in the towns.

So if you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter tagging @OakNational, and #LearnwithOak.

Thank you so much for joining these lessons and I have really enjoyed exploring power within the Mediaeval towns with you.