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Burgesses of Great Yarmouth. King and Council. The petitioners ask for consideration...

Catalogue reference: SC 8/103/5136

What’s it about?

This record is about the Burgesses of Great Yarmouth. King and Council. The petitioners ask for consideration... dating from [c. 1377] in the series Special Collections: Ancient Petitions. It is held at The National Archives, Kew.

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Full description and record details

Reference
SC 8/103/5136
Date
[c. 1377]
Description
Petitioners
Burgesses of Great Yarmouth.
Addressees
King and Council.
Nature of request
The petitioners ask for consideration of the state of their town of Great Yarmouth, and order a remedy such that they have safeguard against the king's enemies and are able to carry the burden of certain charges. They state that in past times their town was strong and inhabited by many wealthy persons of sufficient means to support the burden of charges due to the king's progenitors, namely: for the tenths collected in the realm, £100; for each year a fee farm to the exchequer, £55; other charges for ships, mariners etc., in times of war. And now their town is denuded and enfeebled, and so wasted that the greater part of the people who inhabited the town have left and stay elsewhere, and none [stay] in land, tenement, meadow, or pasture, nor appurtenance to the town, so that the petitioners and the commonality have not the means to support the aforesaid charges nor defend against the king's enemies.
Nature of endorsement
[None]
Places mentioned
Great Yarmouth, [Norfolk].
Note
The petition is likely to be associated with claims being made by the townsmen of Yarmouth during and after the Good Parliament of 1376, and a date early in the reign of Richard II is most plausible.
Related material

For a related petition see SC 8/113/5615

Held by
The National Archives, Kew
Former department reference
Parliamentary Petition 2149
Legal status
Public Record(s)
Language
French
Closure status
Open Document, Open Description
Record URL
https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C9149706/

Series information

SC 8

Special Collections: Ancient Petitions

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Burgesses of Great Yarmouth. King and Council. The petitioners ask for consideration...

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