THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE ORDINANCE AND STATUTE OF LABOURERS IN CHESHIRE, 1349 TO 1374

摘要

Little use has hitherto been made of the Cheshire records for the enforcement of the mid fourteenth century labour legislation. This partly because in this period the county - later to be termed a 'county palatine' - was under the rule of Edward the Black Prince as earl of Chester, and so its administration and records were significantly different from those of the rest of England. The other reason for this obscurity is that the records of the palatinate of Chester (TNA CHES) that relate to this topic in the Public Record Office/National Archives have been catalogued in a way that conceals their significance. The purpose of this article is to list all surviving sessions that contain indictments and presentments for labour offences in the Cheshire courts, and to show how in a county that lacked justices of the peace the enforcement of this legislation came to differ quite markedly from the norm elsewhere in England.