medieval-atlas/administration/212

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Burghs 1426 to 1550 The first burgh to receive a feu-farm (feu-fenne) charter was Berwick sometime in the second half of the thirteenth century. The grant had to be renewed twice subsequently after the burgh had been recovered from English control. Aberdeen was the first burgh to receive a feu-farm charter which remained pennanently in force. This was in 1319; similar grants to other burghs soon followed so that by 1425 at least 22 burghs had feu-farm charters. The privilege enabled the burgesses to put any surplus revenue above the amount of the annual farm towards a 'common good' fund which could be used for community projects such as the repair or extension of town buildings. The importance of the charter should not be overestimated. Many burghs had long been leasing their revenues from the chamberlain on a fixed rent running for several years and some were still doing this in the early fifteenth century. Accordingly, the financial administration for supervision of the collection and spending of the burgh revenues was already in place. The main effect ofthe charters was to put this organisation on a more pennanent footing, although they were probably also seen as a mark of status and indicate the crown's recognition of the burghs' increasing economic (and political?) inportance. All but three or four were granted after 1357 when the question of David I1's ransom brought the burgesses to new prominence and parliamentary representation of the burghs became a pennanent feature of central government. Although the charters were largely restricted to royal burghs the idea was copied by other burgh landlords with Dunfennline being granted feu-farm status in 1395. • Forfar (1393)' ~~Undee(1360) . Cupar .3'efore 1426) ~ ~Crall(1393) Stirlin\j~Dunfermllne (1395) (1386) . 1 Edinburgh Rutherglen ,-(1329) (1388) \.... ..,Lanark ~ Irvine (1393y ~ Peebles (~1~) ~ I -

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