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There
has been a Mayor of the town of Monmouth for at least 750 years.
The
Romans had a base here before the Second Legion established its
headquarters at Caerleon, the history of the town is generally
recorded from the establishment of the Castle by the Norman Earl of
Hereford, shortly after the Conquest (1066). Shortly afterwards a
Benedictine priory was also founded.
By
1100 A.D. in addition to the Castle and the Priory a third party to
the running of the town, the Burgesses had surfaced. This was as a result of the
need to control the market in which the burgesses had a monopoly of
trade. It was from this that the Common Council evolved and
eventually the local government organization, which exists to day.
An
elected mayor and bailiffs came to lead this body and by the middle
of the thirteenth century a seal had been acquired from King Henry
III with certain privileges. The office of mayor can be dated from
this time.
In
1447 Henry VI granted the first charter of "liberty and
franchise" (freedom from certain royal taxes and the right to
levy fees in relation to the market, etc). Amongst other matters it
provided for the annual election of the mayor, which survives to
this day, as does the right for two maces to be borne before the
mayor. These maces bear the arms of the Duchy of Lancaster to
which the Marcher lords of Hereford owed feudal duty.
In
1611 John Steed's book drew the first recorded map of the town,
which shows that much of the centre remains unchanged. He says the
town was governed by a mayor, two bailiffs and fifteen Common Councilors
and a town clerk. Apart from the bailiffs who acted with
the mayor as magistrates, this composition is identical to the
present town council. |
