| Paper 1711-b | The Municipal Disturbances in Scarborough, 1307-1327
(Language: English)
Robin McCallum, School of History & Anthropology, Queen's University Belfast
Sharon Mallen, Banbridge Community History & Archaeology Research Group, Banbridge
Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Economics - Rural, Geography and Settlement Studies, Religious Life |
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| Abstract | Paper -a:
Peasant officials were integral to the shaping of the socio-economic climate of the medieval manor. These officers had a diverse range of responsibilities, including the supervision and oversight of the lord's other tenants, in order to ensure that the lord's assets and interests were protected. They were required to promote the lord's interests above both their own and the wider community, placing them in complicated, and sometimes untenable, positions. This paper seeks to explore the role and activities of peasant officials and their influence upon the manorial climate on the manors of Glastonbury Abbey.
Paper -b:
This paper explores the disturbances in Scarborough during the early 14thh century, culminating in a failed attempt by a group of burgesses to establish an alternative civic government. Throughout the 1310s, 25 burgesses began a dispute with Robert Wawayn, a fellow burgess and royal official who had seized power in the town. Wawayn had developed a role akin to a monarchical mayor after Edward II withdrew the town's liberties and appointed royal officials to govern Scarborough. Drawing on the records of the royal commissions, this paper explores the disturbances and reveals how the two parties fought for supremacy in the town. The burgesses seized control of the harbour, levied their own customs duties and pillaged royal demesne, whilst Wawayn seized their goods and imprisoned them without trial. The paper reveals that Wawayn defeated the provisional government in 1319 after justices found that his opponents had instigated the disturbances. Despite accusations of corruption, he clung onto power until 1327 when Edward III reinstated Scarborough's privileges. This study sheds light on civic life and disorder in Scarborough, as well as the problems of oligarchical rule. Yet it also reveals how the crown's relations with merchants intensified during Edward II's reign, heralding changes that had a significant impact for the crown, towns and merchants in medieval England.
Paper -c:
The nucleated medieval village so common in England represents a key point in the evolution of Human settlement. Its division of space was equitable, its mix of uses varied and it has proven itself to contain many of the characteristics of what today we would call a 'sustainable place'. It is not only this however that sets this settlement type apart. The use and management of land, from water resources to mill locations and even the design and siting of dwellings illustrate how such settlements can help us understand todays issues of self sustainability and potentially help us plan for the 'eco towns' of the future. This is an Urban Designers response to this historic typology of settlement.
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