The ‘proclamation’ statute of 1454 and its implementation to 1460: an insight into the effectiveness of late Lancastrian government

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Abstract This article investigates one strand of late Lancastrian government, based on a largely unknown collection of writs ordering proclamations against those accused of riots who had failed to appear before the royal council, dating from 1454 to 1460. These provide key evidence of the attempt to deal with the pressing problem of law and order before the civil war. While not necessarily effective, they show the council was involved in many ‘minor’ cases and not just noble feuding. It concludes that the judicial role of the royal council was rather greater than previously thought, foreshadowing the better-known conciliar fora under the Tudors.