THE CONFEDERATION...
Comprises fourteen Corporate Members, represented in the 'Speakers Badge' by the fourteen diamonds surrounding the Coat of Arms in enamel on a base of white and yellow gold.
The ARMS are on a background of Red and Blue. Three Lions passant guardant con-joined to as many ships hulls all in gold. (Controversial Heraldry ships hulls).
The fourteen Corporate Members are in 2 groups.
Firstly, the five Head Ports of HASTINGS, NEW ROMNEY, HYTHE, DOVER & SANDWICH, plus the two Ancient Towns of RYE and WINCHELSEA.
It is around these seven that the office of SPEAKER has rotated on an annual basis since 1550, from west to east - like the prevailing winds - and the change-over takes place on the 21st May of each year. The seven Mayors are styled Right Worshipful.
The remaining seven Corporate Members are called Limbs.
These are Lydd (Limb of New Romney), Folkestone, Faversham and Margate (Limbs of Dover), Deal and Ramsgate (Limbs of Sandwich) and Tenterden (Limb of Rye).
In addition, there are another twenty-three small towns, villages or sites which in the past have had varying levels of connection with Liberties. In 1985 HMS Illustrious established an affiliation with the Cinque Ports.
RECORD OF THE CINQUE PORTS
Individual Members hold their own copies of Original Charters and Records. From the 15th Century onwards, the Central Record of the Confederation was kept in New Romney as the central port and the old accustomed place of assembly for annual meetings of the Cinque Ports Courts. In 1726 a Schedule of the Records was made and ordered to be kept in a chest in New Romney. During the 1939-45 war, they were moved to The Public Records Office for safe-keeping.
THE HISTORIC BACKGROUND OF THE CINQUE PORTS
The Cinque Ports existed before the Norman Conquest, but not as a formal body. They were there in Roman and Saxon times as the natural first line of defence against invaders from the mainland of Europe who had to come by sea. From the middle of the 11th Century south eastern ports were granted varying degrees of autonomy and ranges of privilege and honours at Court under the individual Charter from the ruling sovereign. This was in their capacity as fortified ports, providing ships and men for the service of The Crown, both as fighting ships and transport. In the reign of Edward the Confessor (Circ. 1050) the Ports provided twenty ships once a year for fifteen days, each with a crew of twenty-one men. King John, to curry favour, granted the Ports a series of Charters in 1205. The first authoritative list of Cinque Ports Confederation Members was produced in 1293 when Stephen of Pencester was Warden. Faversham hold an original of the oldest General Charter of the Ports, that of Henry 11 1260. Hythe and Hastings hold original copies of the Great Charter of the Cinque Ports granted in 1278 to each of the Ports by Edward I. Under the term "Ship Service" the Ports provided the King's Navy to the end of the 13th Century and reached their zenith as Ports in the 14th Century. Even in the 15th Century they continued to be used in providing transport ships. The subsequent decline of the Ports was based on a number of factors. The politics of the 13th Century Plantagenets, the effect of the Great Plague, the growth of inland areas and Ports like London, Southampton and the western ports of Bristol and Liverpool. 15th Century changes in the coastline in the south east, a past "fictitious" prosperity, in which fishing, piracy and wrecking played a large part, but lacking a sound economic basis. Not since 1414 have the Ports been called to provide Ship Service in full. By the time of Elizabeth I, the Ports ceased to be of any special significance, by them being absorbed in the general administration of the Realm.
THE GREAT ARMADA ADVENTURE (1588)
Anticipating the Spanish Armada and a large landing force, it was the policy to meet the invaders at sea and prevent the landing. In 1586 all the English sea ports were asked to give details of all the vessels they possessed. The Cinque Ports could muster around 120 vessels, but because of the silting up of the harbours; they were mostly small craft of 25 tonnes and under. In 1588 seven of their ships did join the English Fleet at sea, one each from Hastings, Rye with Winchelsea, New Romney, Hythe, Dover, Sandwich and Faversham.
OFFICERS OF THE FEDERATION
The Confederation of the Cinque Ports and their Courts have always been presided over by a Royal Officer - The Lord Warden (at present Admiral the Lord Boyce GCB OBE), from the time Edward I combined with the Office of Constable of Dover Castle, also Admiral of the Cinque Ports with jurisdiction to mid Channel from Redcliffe near Seaford, Sussex to Shoe Beacon, Essex. In the absence of the Lord Warden, The Speaker Chairs all meetings of the Confederation and its Courts and summonses Members to meetings. The Senoschel or Registrar and Joint Solicitor is the Chief Executive. There is also a second Joint Solicitor. The other Senior Officers of the Confederation are the Judge of the Admiralty Court and Deputy Constable of Dover Castle (now the Brigadier Commanding Dover/Shorncliffe Garrison). In early times all Freeman of the Ports bore the title "Baron of the Cinque Ports". Gradually this honour became less general and today it is only allotted for life to the Freeman elected by The Mayor, Jurats and Common Council of the Ports to attend a Coronation. They have to provide themselves with a full Court Dress. (It has no connection with the feudal Barons of Medieval times).
"PRIVILEGES" (WHICH MADE THE PORTSMEN FREEMAN IN THE BASICALLY UNFREE MEDIEVAL WORLD
Exemption from Tax and Tallage (or Tolls). Right of Sac and Soc. (i.e. local self-government), Toll (right to levy tolls) and Team (authority to compel holders of stolen goods to divulge their source), Blodwit and Fledwit (authority to punish shedders of blood and seize those who fled from justice), Pillory and Tumbrill (punishment for minor offences). Infrangentheof and Outfrangeneof (power to detain and execute felons both inside and outside the Ports jurisdiction), Mundbryce (authority to try breeches of the King's Peace, Waifs and Strays (right to take lost or unclaimed goods after one year and one day), Flotsam and Jetsam or Legan (power to claim floating wreckage on the shore or goods thrown overboard). Privilege of Assembly as a guild, gave them the Authority to Act in all causes, including the Taxing of all men. Rights of Den and Strond (to land at Great Yarmouth - a fishing port on the east coast - dry and mend nets and to sell fish). The Bailiffs of Great Yarmouth and the Cinque Ports were meant to keep the peace (not always successfully). The Great Yarmouth Herring Fair was finally abandoned by the Ports in 1663. The Banner that they carried there for the last time was made in 1632 and now hangs in the Maison Dieu (Town Hall) Dover.
HONOURS AT COURT
One of the most cherished privileges granted to the Cinque Ports was the task of bearing The Canopy held over the Monarch's head as he/she walked in procession at the Coronation. This was done by the Coronation Barons of the Cinque Ports, who then had a place of honour at the subsequent Coronation Banquet inside Westminster Hall, sitting at the Banqueting Table at the right hand of the Monarch. These honours were resented by some Court Officers and King's Footman. Unseemly scuffles took place at some Coronations. The last occasion on which the Canopy was used was the Coronation of George IV in 1821. Now places of honour are reserved for the Coronation Barons in Westminster Abbey.
COURTS OF SHEPWAY BROTHERHOOD (BRODHULL) AND GUESTLING
The activities of the Portsmen were regulated by the Courts, the oldest being the Royal Court of Shepway, which was in being by 1150. It met one or twice a year at Shepway Cross Lympne, representatives of Member Towns being summoned on forty days notice. Through it the Sovereigns Commands were passed to the Portsmen via the Lord Warden and conversely Portsmen's representations made to the Sovereign. It acted as a Shire Court, trying offences against The Crown. It settled disputes between Members Towns. From the 15th Century much of the detailed work which it had become involved was transferred to The Lord Warden's Court at Dover. From the 16th Century its principle surviving business was to install a new Lord Warden. Portsmen felt that these earlier Courts were overwhelmingly legalistic in character and did not provide an adequate forum for discussion and resolution of internal Confederation matters. To fill this need The Courts of Brotherhood & Guestling evolved internally and were capable of being summoned at a few days' notice. The Court of Brodhull was the oldest and most important of the two; it still existed in the 13th Century, its Membership limited to representatives from the five Head Ports and two Ancient Towns. It normally met in New Romney. The main business of the Brotherhood was the preservation and supervision of the Portsmen's inherited rights and interests. Arrangements for the Yarmouth Herring Fair required two Brodhull's, one before to plan and arrange regulation of The Fair, one after to assess its success or failure. An Assembly of the Western Ports of Hastings, Rye and Winchelsea with their Limbs became known as a 'Guestling' because of the name of the little village of Guestling where they met in the 14th Century. In the 15th Century the Eastern Ports seem to have adopted the same idea, also calling their Assembly a Guestling, but having no fixed meeting place. From the early 17th Century the Courts became combined under the title Brodhull (later Brotherhood) and Guestling, meeting in New Romney. From 1433 The White (1433-1571) and Black (1572-1955) Books were kept at New Romney and recorded details of the meetings of the Courts. The larger Court of Guestling met after The Court of Brotherhood had finished their special business. The work of The Courts gradually diminished e.g. the dissolution of the religious houses removed one of the Portsmen's principal enemies at a stroke and the end of the Yarmouth Herring Fair participation removed all the administration necessary for that occasion. The Courts are now only summoned occasionally to celebrate special events and for social functions. The Speaker of the Confederation of the Cinque Ports still plays a prominent part at the meeting of the Courts and at installation of a new Lord Warden. He calls on the Lord Warden to undertake the duties of the Ancient and Honourable Office and to uphold the Franchises, Liberties, Customs and Usage's of The Port.
CONCLUSION
Local Government Reforms and Acts of the 19th and 20th Century have removed the remaining special administrative and peculiar judicial powers of The Confederation and its Members, but it and they still survive as a unique and memorable example of England's old traditions and history.
QUOTATION
"Who names us SANK and not our SINK is forever a foe.
His ships be engaged and after Bloody Battle SUNK. No prisoners be taken!!"
