10 - The Late 1530s and After

Summary

Before 1536, it has been argued here, the palatinate was the major factor in local political life. It has further been argued that the legislative changes of 1536 were not triggered by local political developments. These changes could have influenced local political life, yet 1536 was not a decisive watershed in Cheshire politics. Much had been destroyed – the immediate nexus of William Brereton’s power and, more broadly, some of the features of the county’s palatine privileges. Between 1536 and 1560 the effects of this destruction worked themselves out. The strife engendered by the disappearance of William Brereton gradually subsided; Cheshire gentry politics remained largely autonomous; a new prince was born; and, as war came to dominate life as it had not done for a century, the Cheshire community’s response strengthened its corporate identity and thereby the palatinate.

It has been argued that the destruction of William Brereton, as well as ushering in a new policy of constitutional reform in Wales and Cheshire, also saw the end of the domination of office in the county by one man. This is to exaggerate Brereton’s influence in the 1530s and to under-estimate the success of dominant county gentry in taking on his offices, although there seems to have been little system behind the redistribution of Brereton’s grants. Urian Brereton received his brother’s largest landed holding in Cheshire, four messuages and 200 acres in Chorlton, Hampton and Shocklach. He also obtained his brother’s office of escheator of Chester. In conjunction with Ranulph Woodall, Urian also became serjeant of the peace in Bromfield and Yale a few months later. Edmund Peckham, cofferer of the household, received Etchells, Alderley and Aldford, with the stewardship of Longdendale, on 9 June 1536. Of Brereton’s other offices, the controllership of Chester and Flint went to Ralph Worseley; and Hugh Starkey, gentleman usher of the chamber, became steward of Tattenhall and Newhall. In Wales, George Cotton and Thomas Seymour received the stewardships of the Holt, Bromfield and Yale, along with Chirk and Chirkland and of Cynllaith and Owen, Percival Harte, one of the king’s sewers, became sheriff of Flint, and Hugh David, yeoman of the guard, took on the keepership of Merseley park in Bromfield and Yale.