Today, Parliament will be officially dissolved and election writs issued for all constituencies. Over the election campaign, we’ll be running a series of blogposts on campaigning and elections throughout the centuries, starting with a post from Dr Simon Payling, Senior Fellow of the Commons 1422-1504 section, on elections during the Wars of the Roses…
Elections today may be closely-fought contests, but during the Civil Wars of the mid-fifteenth century they had a very significant role. They would often reflect the changing power dynamics between the Houses of Lancaster and York, as can be seen in the elections of 1459 and 1460.
Unfortunately for the historian, medieval parliamentary elections are poorly documented. For the most important elections, those held in the county constituencies, we are largely dependent on the election indentures instituted by a statute of 1406. These were drawn up between the sheriff, who presided over the election in…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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