Series Y/COU/1/1 - Minutes of full council (pre-1835)

49 volumes and 1 item; 0.415 cubic metres

Extensive series of minute books of meetings of the corporation (also known as the Mayor and Commonality of the City of York), traditionally known as 'House Books'. The minutes run in an almost unbroken series from 1476 until 1835, when the introduction of the Municipal Reform Act changed the structure and regulation of the council. Minutes continue in a different format from 1835, and can be found in Y/COU/1/2. This series represents one of the most complete surviving series of council minutes in England, however it is probable that some sections have been lost, in particular minutes between 1461 and 1476.

Many of the entries take the form of a recording of decisions taken by the council or orders and resolutions made, rather than being a complete record of all items discussed at council meetings. It is clear from some of the entries that sometimes where discussions had taken place but no actions were agreed on, no record of these discussions was kept. As well as recording acts and orders of the council, copies of letters, proclamations, writs, leases and other official documents pertinent to the working of the council have been copied in full into many of the volumes. In many cases these copies may be the only surviving record of that document. Some volumes include additional documents which have been rebound with the minutes.

The majority of the entries, especially from the mid 16th century, include an attendance list showing those members of the council who were present for that particular meeting, while summary attendance lists were kept from 1717-1835, showing the names of each councillor and which meetings they attended. The majority of the entries, especially from the early 16th century, are written in English, however the early volumes and some later entries are written in Latin. All the volumes up to the late 17th century include at least some Latin dating. Some volumes include some form of index, however many do not - where a volume does include an index this has been indicated at item level on the catalogue.

The minutes were created by the common clerk to the council, later known as the town clerk. Some minutes are neat and carefully written, while others, clearly written in more haste, are difficult to read and contain many corrections and crossings out. The minutes take a more regular structure and form from the mid-16th century, and from the 1560s until the early 19th century were kept broadly in line with the Mayoral year, which ran from the Feast of Saint Blaise, 3 February, until the following 3 February. Some of the volumes, especially those of the 16th and 17th centuries include detailed entries for the ceremonies carried out on the 3 February when the Lord Mayor took up office. The Lord Mayor continued to take up office on the 3 February annual until the reformation of the corporation in 1835.

The entries in these minute books relate to all aspects of civic life, and often contain very detailed information about the day to day lives of citizens in York, as well as showing the impact of wider political and economic events on the City of York. Content of the minutes books includes (but is not limited to) information about:

• The impact of royal administration on the city, the relationship with the crown, and information about royal visits to the city. Of particular interest are the numerous entries in Y/COU/1/1/1 and Y/COU/1/1/2 relating to the Duke of Gloucester, later Richard III
• National political and military events, including events such as the lifting of the siege of York, 1644 (Y/COU/1/1/36) and preparations for the defence of the city during the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745 (Y/COU/1/1/43)
• Parliamentary decrees
• The development and working of urban civic administration, including about the attitudes, behaviours, and disputes of councillors and aldermen, or the attempted influence of national figures on the selection of city officials (such as in 1644, Y/COU/1/1/36). These disputes could sometimes result in violence, such as riots about the election of a Mayor in 1504 and again about the election of aldermen in 1516
• The election and appointment of city officials, including the Lord Mayor, aldermen, councillors, and sheriffs, and the civic ceremonies around these elections
• The management of civic silver and plate, including inventories of items in the city's ownership
• City by-laws, law enforcement, the administration of justice, city watches and constables
• The workings and regulation of York's craft guilds, and their rules and ordinances
• The regulation of markets, trades, and tradespeople, and licences for selling products, as well as the appointment of Freemen
• Instances of plague (especially 16th century) and public health issues
• Poverty and poor relief
• The physical maintenance and development of the city's built environment, including the maintenance of the bar walls and city bars. Later minutes volumes in the 18th and 19th centuries include information about town planning and the development of civic buildings and structures such as Mansion House and the new Ouse Bridge, as well as about street widening schemes and requests for permissions to build by private citizens. Some volumes include street plans and architectural drawings.
• Leisure and entertainment in the city, including the performance of the Corpus Christi Mystery Plays (15th and 16th centuries) and later the development and administration of prize funds at York Races (18th and 19th centuries)
• Property management of land and buildings owned by the corporation, including the city strays, grazing rights, and copies leases and sale documents
• Financial administration and taxes
• The relationship with religious houses and monasteries in York, including some copies of their liberties and rights (15th and early 16th centuries)

This series also includes a binding (c1900s) which has subsequently been removed from one of the volumes, Y/COU/1/1/14.

None expected.

Minute books are arranged chronologically, and according to their arrangement by William Giles in his 1908 catalogue. The pages in some volumes, in particular the early volumes, are likely to have been re-arranged several times in their history, and their original order is now unknown. This series of minutes is likely to represent a continuous series, however several minute books at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century break this pattern by containing overlapping minutes. It is not known whether one of these volumes was originally kept as draft or duplicate minutes. To avoid confusion with references, a binding which was previously catalogued as a separate item from the minutes is previously contained has been kept as a separate item.

Open

Material is available subject to the usual terms and conditions of access to Archives and Local History collections.

Copies are supplied for private research only at the Archivist's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.

• English
• Latin

Calendars and extracts of some house books are available, and can be requested from a member of staff. Where these are available, this has been indicated at the item level catalogue entry.

See Y/COU/1/2 for minutes of full council meetings from 1835 (after municipal reform).
For memoranda of the Corporation of York, copies of ordinances, and other series of orders made by the council, c1327-c1603 see Memoranda book A/Y, reference Y/COU/1/4/1, and Memoranda book B/Y, reference Y/COU/1/4/2. In particular, the appendix to Memoranda book A/Y contains entries identical in form and type of content to those found in the minute books, for the years 1482-1485.
See Y/COU/1/5 for volumes of further orders and memoranda by the council. This series includes three volumes of extracts, indexes, and topical listings of entries from the house books, created by Darcy Preston in the early eighteenth century, which include some extracts from minutes now lost 1461-1465 (Giles E35).
For a duplicate series of minutes of full council meetings, some of which may be draft copies, 1659-1827 (also including some minutes from the Quarter Sessions), see series Y/COU/1/3. It is not know to what extent this series is an exact duplicate or whether it may contain additional information.
Extracts from minutes now lost, 1461-1465, were published by Francis Drake in his 1735 publication, "Eboracum".

For a complete edited transcription of minute books Y/COU/1/1/1 - Y/COU/1/1/4, including transcriptions of Latin entries, see: Attreed, Lorraine C., The York House Books 1461-1490 (Alan Sutton Publishing Inc, 1991), Volumes One and Two. These volumes also contain transcriptions of entries from other records containing minutes and memoranda of meetings of the full council for the period 1461-1491, in particular of volumes in series Y/COU/1/5 (Giles E32 and Giles E35).

For extracts from minute books Y/COU/1/1/1 - Y/COU/1/1/30 (1474-1588), see:
Raine, A., Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, volume XCVIII: York Civic Records, volume I (Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1938).
Raine, A., Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, volume CIII: York Civic Records, volume II (Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1940).
Raine, A., Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, volume CVI: York Civic Records, volume III (Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1942).
Raine, A., Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, volume CVIII: York Civic Records, volume IV (Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1943).
Raine, A., Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, volume CX: York Civic Records, volume V (Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1944).
Raine, A., Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, volume CXII: York Civic Records, volume VI (Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1946).
Raine, A., Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, volume CXV: York Civic Records, volume VII (Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1949).
Raine, A., Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, volume CXIX: York Civic Records, volume VIII (Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1952).
Sutton, D., Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series, volume CXXXVIII: York Civic Records, volume IX (Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1976).