London Before the ConquestLethaby, W. R. (William Richard)
History
London Before the Conquest
Lethaby, W. R. (William Richard)
London (England) -- History -- To 1500
An account of the property of St. Paul's made in the first half of the
twelfth century, and printed in facsimile in Price's _History of the
Guildhall_, incidentally contains a list of about twenty wards, mostly
under the names of their aldermen. Of these "_Warda Fori_" and the wards
of Aldgate, Brocesgange (Walbrook), and of the Bishop may be cited as
especially interesting; Aldresmanesberi is also mentioned. This document
is not dated, but Mr. Round has shown it to have been written about 1130.
Hugo, son of Wlgar, and Osbert, Aldermen, occur in another deed of 1115,
and Thurstan, Alderman, in 1111. Mr. Loftie has attempted to identify some
of the wards. The Ward of Herbert, in which was the land of William
Pontearch, may perhaps be Dowgate, for a charter of Stephen gave to S. M.
de Sudwerc the stone house of William de Pontearch, situated by the sheds
of Douegate (Dugdale). What is probably a still earlier group of aldermen
is given in a Ramsay document of 1114-30, which is addressed to Hugo de
Bochland, Roger, Leofstan, Ordgar, and all the other barons (_i.e._
aldermen) of London. Another document of the same age is witnessed by
Levenoth, "Alderman." A careful comparison of these lists, together with
other sources,[140] might yield some new facts. From a cursory comparison
it seems to be evident that too much has been made of the case of the
Farndons and Farringdon Ward as evidence for hereditary _ownership_ in the
aldermanries. Most of the family names change from list to list, but a few
persist: in 1240 there is a Jacob Bland, in 1275-85 and 1293 a Rudulphus
Blond, but this may be the case in any office. On the other hand, two of
the same family name are found more than once holding different wards at
the same time, and in other cases similar names are found in different
wards in different lists; thus in 1285 there are two Ashys, two Rokesleys,
two Boxes, and two Hadstocks: a Frowick in 1285 held Cripplegate, and in
1320 a Frowick held Langbourne. The ward that can most easily be traced is
Cheap; in 1211-14 it was held by William son of Benedict, in 1275 by Peter
of Edmonton, in 1285 by Stephen Ashy, and in 1320 by Simon Paris. This is
hardly hereditary succession. But what I am concerned with is not the
tenure but the topographical origin of the wards. Many different theories
as to the origin of the wards have been put forward. Mr. Loftie, writing
of the beginning of the thirteenth century, says: "The wards, as we shall
notice more distinctly further on" (the distinctness is difficult to
find), "were in the hands originally of the landowners, and an alderman
was still very much in the position of a lord of the manor. His office was
at first always, and still usually, hereditary." After the reign of Henry
III. the aldermen no longer owned their wards. The constitution had
undergone a complete change, "and the offices became purely elective."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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