The Beverley Town Riots, 1381–2

Extract

‘Nous devons dire ici,’ writes the editor of Réville's ‘Le Soulèvement des Travailleurs,’ ‘que nous n'avons pas pu … présenter à notre entière satisfaction les documents relatifs à cette révolte de Beverley, et nous souhaitons que quelque savant Anglais revoie les originaux et contrôle les conclusions.’ Without arrogating to himself the degree of erudition which these words imply, an English student might use this note as an excuse for further researches on this subject. Moreover, a fortunate discovery has placed the present writer in a position to supplement both M. Réville's researches and the valuable work which Mr. Leach has done in connection with the history of Beverley. The list of Ancient Petitions at the Record Office shows that the unusually large number of almost fifty consecutive documents appear to relate to Beverley, and after an examination of the documents themselves it was found that with a certain amount of rearrangement they could throw some light on the methods of medieval municipal politics.