The Manuscript

The record here calendared (and in part transcribed) is a MS. book preserved among the muniments of the Corporation at the Town Hall, Bedford. It is written on paper, without watermark, the leaves measuring approximately 39 × 24 centimetres. The original title page reads :

Villa Bedford’./Coies’ Aule, Coia’ Consil’ et/Curie Aldermannor’/ A Mich’ A° xxiii° RRs Car’ A° que D’ 1647/Usq’ Mich’ A° xvi° Car’ 2i A° que D’ 1664/

The text of the record follows, on pages numbered 1 to 242, each having an appropriate heading, usually consisting of the year, the name of the assembly, the name of the Mayor, and the day of the month. At first only the regnal year is given, then (from March, 1649) the year of our Lord, and finally (from June, 1660) both.

The volume was rebound in 1812, as the minutes for 21 August in that year indicate. The binding is of parchment, with a blind stamped border: the bottom of the spine has been patched. On the front of the cover is written an English translation of the original title. The end papers, the first two leaves and the last two leaves are of paper different from that of the text and were doubtless added during rebinding. There are modern notes in pencil inside the back cover and occasionally in the text.

The text is for the most part in good condition and clearly written in a number of different hands ; the changes of hand appear to have no importance, since the same Town Clerk held office throughout the period covered by the record. The lower edges and corners of the leaves are damp stained and brittle, so that they have been worn away by handling. In consequence, marginal headings in the lower part of the page are often missing, in whole or in part, and sometimes the damage also affects the text. The volume has undergone repair since this description was written.

THE EARLIEST MINUTE BOOK?

Bedford was no parvenu among the boroughs of seventeenth century England. Its borough status, resting upon prescription, went back beyond the limits of legal memory. Its first charter, granted by Henry II, confirmed the privileges enjoyed by the burgesses under Henry I, and the roll of its mayors begins in the 13 th century.