Note 743 — Chapter XIV

I have to thank Mr. Hudson for his kindness in giving me this information. He tells me that an assembly on October 7th, 1372, is thus described: “Prima congregatio ibidem tenta die Jovis, &c. ... quatuor Ballivis (eleven persons specially named) et aliis de com’tate presentibus.” This is the constant form in use, whenever the attendance is recorded, down to the last of these rolls in 1385. The number of persons specially named varies from eleven to seventeen. Their similarity in the course of each year suggests that they were specially bound to attend. In two years 1377-8 and 1379-80 the attendances are recorded several times, and, as in the first case the total number of persons named is twenty-five and in the other twenty-four, it seems reasonably certain that they were the actual twenty-four. This is confirmed by the fact that almost all the “committee,” as they would now be called, are appointed from their number and almost the whole burden of administration is undertaken by one or other of them in conjunction with the bailiffs.