York was given a grant of murage dated 11/2/1449.
This was in the form of:-
Wording
On the petition of the mayor and citizens of York the king has learned that the same city, the suburbs and precinct thereof, are a county separate from the county of York and called the county of the city of York, as appears by letters patent of Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V and the king, and that the hundred or wapentake of Aynsty is adjacent to the city and the mayor and citizens are bailiffs thereof and have all 'blodewytes,' amercements, fines, assizes of bread, and ale, 'waifes and estraies' thereof, that each mayor is escheator within the city, suburbs and precinct and accountable in the Exchequer, and that the king by letters patent granted to the mayor and citizens murage for a term of years: — the king, therefore, considering the premises and that the city is too grievously charged, paying a great fee farm and taxes and other charges, and is now diminished and in decay and has not been relieved for longtime by the king's presence, courts, councils or parliaments, has granted to them that the said hundred be annexed to the said county of the city, that the city, suburbs, precinct and hundred and all contained therein, except the castle of York, the towers, ditches and dykes thereto pertaining, be the county of the city, that all bailiffs of franchises within the same obey the sheriffs thereof, that the mayor and citizens have the hundred with its privileges and franchises, and that the sheriffs thereof have full power within the hundred; grant also to the same mayor and citizens of all goods of felons, fugitives, and outlaws 'waifes' of condemned persons {and} felons of themselves, deodands of convicted persons, forfeitures, escheats, profits and revenues thereof within the county, and of the customs for murage for ever, saving to the church of York and to the archbishop, dean and chapter thereof their franchises,privileges and rights. By p.s. etc.
Granted by Henry VI. (Regnal year 27). Granted at Westminster. Granted by p.s. etc. .
Primary Sources
Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1909,
Calendar of Patent Rolls Henry VI (1446-52) Vol. 5 p. 221-2
online copy
Secondary Sources
Coulson, Charles, 2009, Murage Grants (Handwritten list and notes)
Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p. 43, 115n70
Record created by Philip Davis. This record created 20/01/2009. Last updated on 03/05/2012. First published online 5/01/2013.
