ABSTRACT
The records of late medieval and early modern Gloucestershire demonstrate over and over the multifaceted links between the town of Gloucester and the local gentry. These are most apparent in the legal documents which show magistrates serving as witnesses for neighboring lords, especially in deeds and wills, and in their mutual service to the crown, such as when they served together on commissions. Occasionally, the line between shire and borough blurred, with some of the same people representing one or the other at different times as sheriffs, justices of the peace and members of parliament. The connections therefore may have been primarily political and economic, but they also often turned out to be religious in nature. We see this at particular moments, such as during the chaplains controversy in 1537, at Hooper’s execution, when enforcing the Edwardian injunctions and in the opposition to Mary’s program in the parliament of 1555. All too often, regional studies focus on either town or country and rarely look at what commonalities they shared. While this is only a preliminary attempt to show those types of connections, here we will do so mainly in order to understand more clearly how burgesses and gentry might have made common cause, especially on religious issues.
