Abstract
The dissolution of the marcher lordships as political units in 1536 drew to a close a long and gruelling period in the history of Wales and the borderland. Power in the new Welsh counties from that time onwards was more firmly controlled by Welsh landed gentry who obtained a dispensation to conduct public affairs and establish law and order in the localities. One prime aspect of the Tudor settlement was the privilege of parliamentary representation, which gave the governing families the opportunity to broaden their interests in the field of politics and administration. Representation was regarded as a significant part of the settlement offered to gentry, who had formally been granted equality in public offices. The honour that accompanied the office was the highest in the cursus honorum of the landed gentry. The franchise was similar to the practise in England, the vote being granted to the 40-shilling freeholder in the shire and the free burgesses in the boroughs. Thomas Cromwell’s motive was to extend to the gentry the political rights enjoyed by their counterparts in England.
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Notes
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© 1994 J. Gwynfor Jones
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Jones, J.G. (1994). Politics and Faction. In: Early Modern Wales, c.1525–1640. British History in Perspective. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-23254-3_6
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