The history of yeovil
Provost, Portreeve and Burgesses
Early town government
There are very few records regarding the early establishment of the borough of Yeovil or its administration. In Georgian times most of the town's charters and other records were deliberately destroyed when it is said that three cartloads of "old writings" took three days to burn. Further town records were lost when the Tolle Hall or Court Chamber which belonged to the burgesses, an early form of town hall in the Borough, partially fell down in 1780.
Nevertheless, the establishment of Yeovil was hinted at in the Domesday Book of 1086 in which twenty two men held messuages, later called 'the Tenement', and later still formed the borough of Yeovil. However 'the Tenement' remained incorporated within the holdings of William d'Eu that would later become the Manor of Hendford. Under the Normans the privileges previously enjoyed by the Tenement were severely curtailed. However by 1138 Maud, queen of Henry I, was endowed with Yeovil including the Tenement which she placed under the rectors of St John's. With this came restoration of some of their pre-Conquest rights and the Tenement was described as "of the Liberties of the Church of Yeovil."
Yeovil was a borough 'by prescription', that is to say by long usage and custom and similarly its market and fairs were also prescriptive and were held by custom and not set up by a grant or charter. Nevertheless the 'Tenement' was still within the manor of Hendford and, to a degree, still came under the auspices of the lord of the manor. In August 1205 King John passed through Yeovil and that same year gave the town its first known charter under which Yeovil's Sunday market, a relic of pagan days, was changed to a Friday which clashed with the market held in the 'Tenement'. The problem, of course, came down to money; since the rector received market tolls and fees from the Tenement market while the lord of the manor of Hendford received market tolls and fees from the town's market. Bad feeling followed for the next two centuries but erupted almost straight away for in 1219 Walerand Teutonicus, an 'absent' Rector of Yeovil, brought a suit against Sir John Maltravers for the rights of the Church. The decision of a special court held at Ilchester found in favour of the Rector providing that any income from the Tenement go to the Church and not personally to the Rector.
In 1305 an agreement was reached in a court at Somerton between Robert de la More, Parson and Lord of Yeovil, and the Burgesses of Yeovil - recorded as such for the first time. So, by 1305 the original twenty two messuages of the Tenement had become the "Free Borough of Yeovil". With this came certain rights such as the continued right to elect burgesses and, from within their number, annually elect a provost albeit with the veto of the Parson, as lord of the manor, rather than the provost being nominated by the lord as previously. The agreement also decreed that each burgess should attend the three-week Court or at the Parson's Portmote - the Portmote being a court of an English borough but also simply meaning a town's administrative assembly.
"Freedom was attained, and not the least of it was that the ancient liberties were recognised and confirmed. The burgesses were exempted from feudal taxes and aids, and they were allowed to decide their own quarrels in their own tribunals. The Sheriff could not arrest there - a phrase of very significant meaning to the medieval boroughs - and they no longer had to attend the Hundred Court." (Goodchild, 1954)
A burgess
originally meant
a freeman of a
borough but
later came to
mean an official
(either elected
or non-elected)
or the
representative
of a borough in
the House of
Commons. It was
derived from the
Old French word
burgeis,
simply meaning
"an inhabitant
of a town". In Yeovil
the burgesses
were successors
to the original
twenty two
freemen recorded
in the Domesday
Book of 1086.
They had the
right to elect a
portreeve,
subject to the
approval of the
lord of the
borough.
Together they
formed a
'Commonalty',
and claimed to
be a Corporation
by prescription:
it had existed
from time
immemorial.
Every year the
burgesses named
three
townspeople
being ‘fit and
proper persons’
as candidates
for the position
of provost or,
later, portreeve.
The lord or his
steward then
selected one of
the three who
duly swore an
oath and took up
office on St
Thomas’ Day. In
some cases,
especially more
recently, the
role has been
combined with
that of mayor -
as was the case
with Yeovil.
Historically a provost or portreeve, also known as a port warden, was the title of an official possessing political, administrative and/or fiscal authority over a town. The degree of authority wielded by the portreeve has varied considerably through history and location. The term derives from the word port which originally meant a market town or walled town and not specifically a seaport; and the word reeve, meaning a high-ranking supervisory official. The origins of the position are in the reign of Edward the Elder (King of Wessex, 899-924) who, in order to ensure that taxes were correctly exacted, forbade the conducting of trades outside of a 'port' or duly appointed place for trading, and without the supervision of a portreeve or other trustworthy person. At this time therefore, they had a role as a fiscal supervisor, much like modern customs and revenue officers. This, effectively, forced the beginnings of the ‘weekly market’. By the late Middle Ages the portreeve acted as the representative of the people to ensure that their duties to the community were fulfilled.
The earliest recorded provost in Yeovil was Robert le Provost of 1266. The provost was a steward or bailiff of a medieval manor, effectively the leader of the burgesses. Burgess originally meant a freeman of a borough but later came to mean an elected or unelected official. It was derived in Middle English from the Old French word burgeis, simply meaning 'an inhabitant of a town'. In turn this derived from bourg, meaning a market town or village. Generally speaking the burgesses were from the town's merchant class or what might be considered middle-class residents.
Effectively while the lord had ultimate control over his domain and, more importantly, gained income from it, he usually had little to do with the detail of running the town. Indeed many lords rarely, if ever, visited since Yeovil would have simply been one of their many holdings. Strangely, we might think today, many of the rectors of the church also had little to do with the town, being 'absent' and simply enjoying the income from the benefice, including several chantries, despite the earlier ruling of 1219. The provost / portreeve and burgesses on the other hand ran the town on a hands-on, day-to-day basis like an early form of town council, the Corporation.
It would appear in the 1460's the title of Yeovil's provost changed to portreeve, although the duties and responsibilities remained broadly the same and, as the elected leader of the burgesses, he possessed political, administrative and day-to-day fiscal authority over the town.
It was
established that
"the Portreeve
and burgesses
were seized in
fee to them and
their successors
of divers
messuages lands
and tenements
value £10 or
thereabouts and
that they were
so seized from
time
immemorial."
The portreeve
and burgesses
continued to
oversee the
administration
of Yeovil until
the middle of
the nineteenth
century.
