burgess

burgess, a burgage tenant of a medieval borough. The burgess was distinguished from other inhabitants of the borough by burgage tenure, which entitled him to a plot fronting on a thoroughfare, usually the high street, and included an arable tenement outside the town. By virtue of their tenure, burgesses were entitled to the rights and liberties conferred on their borough by royal or seigniorial charter, in essence the protection of their trade, persons, and property from injurious interference by seigniorial officials. These included the right to have their own hundred court for all pleas arising within the borough, to buy and sell burgage lands at will, and to have a gild merchant (see guilds), freedom from toll and vexatious distraints for debts, licence to marry freely, and protection against external competitors. Although burgesses were required to provide transportation for salt, iron, and wine at the behest of their lord, such privileges were sufficient to attract settlers in considerable numbers from Angevin lands to the numerous manorial towns created by Anglo‐Norman lords in Ireland around the end of the 12th century. The scale of burgage land attached to the new boroughs is a measure of the importance their lords attached to them.

Revd Canon C. A. Empey