‘Our homogeneal and essential members’

In the early 1660s Sir Thomas Widdrington dedicated and presented his recently completed manuscript of the history of York to the citizens of the city whom he had served as recorder and parliamentary representative over the previous decade. In his various public capacities, Widdrington had proved a typical exponent of respublica and civitas, promoting the public ascendancy of common law while also working for the good of the body he represented – securing, for example, a ‘private’ bill to dredge the River Ouse in 1658. With the political crisis of 1659 he supported, like his kinsman Sir Thomas Fairfax, the advance of Monk from Scotland and the subsequent return of monarchy in the name of the public and the public good. The subsequent politicking that came with the king hastened his retirement from public life, and his civic history was intended as a lasting memorial of ‘my affections to the city and citizens of York’. It also reflected the values that shaped his political position: not least the ancient genealogy of the city, its importance as a conduit of common law, and his role as a lawyer in controlling its flow. However, the civic response to his gift took him by surprise – so much so that the manuscript remained unpublished until the nineteenth century. The aldermen and councillors who received it not only refused the dedication; they also took the opportunity to complain about the state in which Widdrington now left them.