Note 79b — Chapter V · THE FIELD OF THE BATTLE OF MORTIMER’S CROSS. [67a]

Statute 27th Henry VIII. c. 27. But, notwithstanding the abolition of the local jurisdiction and of the almost lawless powers of the Lords Marchers, by the effect of the act 27th Henry VIII. c. 27, the Court of the Lord President and Council of the Marches of Wales, was still kept up. It was a court of extensive jurisdiction, which was erected by King Edward IV., in honour of the Earls of March, from whom he was descended; and he appointed it to be held at Ludlow; and in the thirty-third year of Henry VIII., the court was confirmed by act of Parliament, which enacted, “that there shall be and remain a President and Council, in the dominion of Wales, and marches of the same.” The first President is said to have been Anthony Widevile, Earl Rivers, in the 18th of Edward IV.; and the last was the Earl of Macclesfield, in 1689: the court having been abolished by act of Parliament of 1st William and Mary.