Political Affairs after 1542
Following the Pilgrimage of Grace the elimination of the influence of the
archbishop and the substitution of direct government control were presumably
seen as desirable, and in November 1542 the lordship of Beverley was acquired
by the Crown. Control of Beverley also facilitated the Crown's development of
Hull as the military centre of the region. Plans may have been laid during Henry
VIII's visits to the area in 1541, (fn. 21) when the town sought the king's favour with a
gift of £10 and rewards to his actors and officers. (fn. 22) Beverley was already involved
in the military arrangements at Hull early in 1542. The king's captain of Hull, Sir
Richard Long, was authorized to levy men in Beverley in March, and in May the
victualling of the garrison caused friction between the royal clerk of the market
and the archbishop's officers at Beverley. (fn. 23) The formal transfer of the manor was
also anticipated in the Crown grant of a manorial office to Long in March. (fn. 24)
Beverley was later used to provide for royal officers in Hull and the north of
England in general. Michael, later Sir Michael, Stanhope, the royal lieutenant in
Hull, was granted the chief offices of Beverley in 1544 (fn. 25) and it may have been
partly to support him as governor of Hull that he later received much of the
property of St. John's college after its suppression. (fn. 26) The manor was granted in
1552 to John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, and in 1553 the chief offices were
committed to Sir Thomas Wharton, later Lord Wharton; both men were actively
involved against the Scots. (fn. 27) The Elizabethan government's aim of limiting the
influence of the northern commanders, together with the lessened threat from
Scotland, (fn. 28) presumably accounts for the granting of Beverley in 1561 to a courtier
without a military role in the area, Robert Dudley, later earl of Leicester. (fn. 29)
The change of lordship caused some redirection of the town's largesse. Crown
officers who were favoured included Sir Michael Stanhope in 1545-6 and Thomas,
presumably Sir Thomas, Wharton in 1557-8. The considerable sum of nearly £55,
probably involving expenditure on gifts, was spent in 1562-3 on two journeys to
London to visit the new lord, Robert Dudley. (fn. 30) The town's expenditure on 'great
men' partly continued, however, along traditional lines. Relations with Thomas
Percy, earl of Northumberland (d. 1572), may have been especially cordial. The
town marked his first visit to Beverley in 1560-1 with gifts and entertained; him
and his countess at a shoot on Westwood in 1568-9, when the earl made the
customary gift of venison to the governors. (fn. 31) Deference to the archbishop,
moreover, survived his surrender of the lordship. Edmund Grindal was consulted
by the governors at Cawood (Yorks. W.R.) in 1570-1 and the newly translated
Archbishop Sandes was entertained in the town in 1577. (fn. 32)
The Lord President of the Council in the North visited Beverley several times
in the mid and late 16th century. The purpose of the visits was apparently often
military, in his capacity as Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire, and they seem usually
to have been combined with business in Hull. (fn. 33) In 1556 the Council, was ordered
to deal with discord in Beverley between the followers of two royal officers (fn. 34) and
in the 1580s and 1590s the town's troubled financial and political affairs were
several times referred to it. A dispute between Michael Warton (d. 1590) and the
corporation was temporarily settled by the Lord President's commissioner, Sir
Christopher Hildyard, but the controversy was revived by Warton's son Michael,
and in 1595 the earl of Huntingdon made another award, in Warton's favour. (fn. 35)
The Council was also involved in the squabble between the town and its gaoler (fn. 36)
and in a suit brought against the town by a former mayor, John Truslove. The
Council persuaded the corporation in 1595 to discharge Truslove and at least one
other governor. (fn. 37) The Lord President may have guided the corporation's religious
policy, and the Council apparently influenced the choice of the town's representatives in parliament.
In the late 16th century the town's incorporation and relative freedom from
supervision by distant lords may be reflected in its alliances, which seem increasingly
to have been with its more influential neighbours. Local patrons included Sir
Marmaduke Constable of Everingham, the Ellerkers of Risby, and Sir Christopher
Hildyard of Winestead. Constable exchanged gifts with the town in the 1560s and
was consulted by it in 1573. (fn. 38) In the 1560s the town spent money on Lady Ellerker
and on Edward Ellerker, (fn. 39) who served as its M.P. and first mayor. In the 1580s
the town favoured Sir Christopher Hildyard with gifts, to which he and his wife
responded with presents to the governors and their wives. In 1585-6 a firework
display was put on for Sir Christopher and Mr. Willoughby, presumably his sonin-law William Willoughby of Little Coates (Lines.), and the same year Willoughby
and other gentlemen were entertained when they were cock-fighting in the town. (fn. 40)
The town was again much occupied with clothing and equipping soldiers between
1557 and 1560, following the outbreak of war with France, and in 1557-8 the town
force, clothed in white coats with red crosses, was apparently sent to the Scottish
borders. (fn. 41) Beverley had no part in the Northern Rebellion of 1569, but soldiers
were evidently raised there for the royal army by the commissioners of the Admiral,
Lord Clinton. (fn. 42) Later contingents from the town included two soldiers equipped
for the Netherlands in 1587, during the war with Spain. The cost could be high:
in 1584-5, for instance, military spending consumed nearly £14, and another £8
paid for cloth may also have been for the soldiers. The contribution of the wealthier
inhabitants of each ward to the charges was mentioned in 1563-4, and in 1572-3
the townships in the liberties were charged with nearly £5 towards the provision
of seven soldiers; in 1595-6 another assessment produced £8 from the town and
nearly £2 from the liberties. (fn. 43)
Musters were frequently held on Westwood and on at least one occasion in the
guildhall. (fn. 44) The military obligations of the town were reassessed by the Lord
President and his fellow commissioner, the earl of Northumberland, probably in
1570 (fn. 45) and the town and liberties were later charged with providing 20 footmen,
the number viewed in 1595. (fn. 46) A smaller number was, however, usually provided (fn. 47)
and in 1595-6 a light horse was supplied, presumably instead of the footmen. (fn. 48) At
a general muster of footmen in 1584 there were 394 equipped men liable for
service, 13 of them with private arms, besides 77 labourers, 17 surgeons, and 2
wrights, and a further 86 men from the liberties. (fn. 49) The town bought gunpowder
for the soldiers on Westwood in 1565-6 and again in 1584-5, when payment was
also made to a viewer of artillery. (fn. 50)