Subordinate to the sheriff in the administration of a county are various
classes of bailiffs; and the bailiff bore to the lord of a fee much the
same relation as the sheriff did to the King. For one or other of these
reasons the mayors of provincial towns were, in the early days of local
autonomy, termed bailiffs. By a charter granted in 1200 King John
permitted the citizens of Lincoln to elect two of their number "well and
faithfully to maintain the provostship (_praeposituram_) of the city."
Twenty-two years afterwards the persons holding this office were called
upon to represent the city in a dispute with the burgesses of
Beverley--"Ballivi civitatis Lincolnie summoniti fuerunt ad respondendum
burgensibus de Beverlaco." The record continues: "Et Major Lincolnie et
Robertus filius Eudonis ballivi Lincolnie veniunt et defendunt," etc.
Maitland, in his edition of Bracton's "Note-Book," in which these
particulars occur, suggests that the name of one of the bailiffs has
been omitted, but Mr. Round is doubtless right in holding that the
senior bailiff was the "Mayor of Lincoln." Stevenson's "Report on the
Gloucester Corporation Records" (9th Appendix to the 12th Report on
Hist. MSS.) renders it certain that the titles were interchangeable. "A
noteworthy circumstance," he says, "is that although the office of
Mayor of Gloucester was not created until 1483, one Richard the Burgess
is frequently described in the witness clauses as 'tunc Majore de
Glouc.
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