Editing Cirencester (section)

===Norman===
At the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman Conquest]] the royal [[Manorialism|manor]] of Cirencester was granted to the [[Earl of Hereford]], [[William Fitz-Osbern]], but by 1075 it had reverted to the Crown.{{cn|date=March 2025}} The manor was granted to [[Abbey House, Cirencester|Cirencester Abbey]], founded by [[Henry I of England|Henry I]] in 1117, and following half a century of building work during which the minster church was demolished, the abbey church was finally dedicated in 1176. The manor was granted to the Abbey in 1189, although a [[royal charter]] dated 1133 speaks of [[burgess (title)|burgesses]] in the town.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}} The abbots obtained charters in 1215 and 1253 for fairs during the octaves of All Saints and St Thomas the Martyr, and the significant wool trade gave these great importance.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Cirencester|volume=6|pages=391–392}}</ref>

The struggle of the townsmen to gain the rights and privileges of a [[borough]] for Cirencester probably began with the grant of 1189, when they were [[amercement|amerced]] for a false presentment, meaning that they had presented false information. Four inquisitions during the 13th century supported the abbot's claims, yet the townspeople remained unwavering in their quest for borough status: in 1342, they lodged a Bill of complaint in [[Court of Chancery|Chancery]].<ref name="EB1911"/> Twenty townspeople were ordered to [[Westminster]], where they declared under oath that successive abbots had bought up many [[burgage]] tenements, and made the borough into an appendage of the manor, depriving it of its separate court. They claimed that the royal charter that conferred on the men of Cirencester the liberties of Winchester had been destroyed 50 years earlier, when the abbot had bribed the burgess who held the charter to give it to him, whereupon the abbot had had it burned. In reply, the abbot refuted these claims, and the case passed on to the [[Court of King's Bench (England)|King's Bench]]. When ordered to produce the foundation charter of his abbey the abbot refused, apparently because that document would be fatal to his case, and instead played a winning card. In return for a fine of £300, he obtained a new royal charter confirming his privileges and a writ of ''supersedeas''.

The townspeople continued in their fight: in return for their aid to the Crown against the earls of Kent and Salisbury, [[Henry IV of England|Henry IV]] in 1403 gave the townsmen a [[Merchant]]'s [[Guild]], although two inquisitions reiterated the abbot's rights. The struggle between the abbot and the townspeople continued, with the abbot's privileges confirmed in 1408–1409 and 1413, and in 1418 the abbot finally removed this thorn in his side when the guild merchant was annulled. In 1477 parliament declared that Cirencester was not corporate. After several unsuccessful attempts to re-establish the guild merchant, in 1592 the government of the town was vested in the [[bailiff]] of the [[Lord of the manor]].<ref name="EB1911"/>