Introduction: The human factor

In assessing the character of medieval borough government, it is desirable to know whether office was actively pursued. Some historians, their perspectives coloured by the situation of their own times, have assumed that this must have been the case. However, burgess attitudes towards office-holding are rarely directly evidenced, due to the lack of private records. We must therefore seek indicators of attitudes from the indirect evidence found in formal borough records, and weigh up the pros and cons. Although, in the end, we are left only with an overall picture, and a sketchy picture of how much individual attitudes varied - here we can only fall back on our knowledge of human nature, and assume that some individuals were more drawn to positions of power than others.

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INTRODUCTION Structure of Borough Government |  Social and Economic Background of Office-Holders Monopolisation of Office |  Attitudes Towards Office-holding |  Professionalism in Administration Quality of Government |  Conflict and Solidarity in Urban Politics CONCLUSION