ABSTRACT
The intertwined stories of the mayor and the mills provide important clues to urban political thinking at the end of the Middle Ages. Details regarding the conduct of elections, the power of officials, and the relationship between the city and external authorities emerge from the record as various narrators endeavor to tell their stories. Many of those details are available only in these sources, making them invaluable for understanding the workings of urban government. Barbara Hanawalt has explored the elements of London's mayor-making ceremonies, with particular attention to the symbolic and spatial elements that marked the elevated status of the senior office holder. Norwich had had a mayor only since 1404. From the early thirteenth century, the city had been governed by four bailiffs, one for each of the city's wards: Conseford, Mancroft, Ultra Aquam, and Wymer. Norwich selected its first mayor, William Appleyard, in the spring of 1404, just a few months after receiving the new charter.
