The Convention of Royal Burghs, more fully termed the Convention of the Royal

Burghs of Scotland, was a representative assembly which protected the privileges and
pursued the interests of Scotlands principal trading towns, theroyal burghs, from the
middle of the 16th century to the second half of the 20th century. [1] It evolved as a forum
in whichburgh delegates, termed "commissioners", could "consult together and take
common action in matters concerning their common welfare" [2] before and during the
sittings of parliament.[3] An exclusively merchant body, it was essentially a parliament
which "declared the law of the burghs" just as the Scottish Parliament "declared the law of
the land".[4] The Convention expanded over time by admitting lesser burghs to its
membership;[5] and by the 16th century had grown in influence to the extent that "it was
listened to rather than directed by the government".[6] Though still known as the
"convention of royal burghs", it referred to itself from the late 17th century onwards as
simply the "convention of burghs", as by then membership was no longer restricted
exclusively to royal burghs and commissioners from all types of burgh were represented in
parliament.[7]

Contents
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1 Origin
2 Reign of James III
3 16th Century
4 17th Century
5 Later importance
6 See also
7 References

Origin[edit]
The mediaeval roots of the Convention lay in the 13th-century Court of the Four
Burghs which comprised delegates from Berwick, Edinburgh, Roxburgh andStirling. (In
1369 Lanark and Linlithgow replaced Berwick and Roxburgh after these came under
English occupation.)[8][9] Representatives of these burghs met in advance of
parliamentary sittings and communicated with the sovereign through the Court or through
the Chamberlain who presided over its meetings in his function as the Crowns chief fiscal
officer. The Court, described in a charter from the reign of James II (1430-60) as
the Parliament of the Four Burghs,[10]determined burghal law (leges burgorum),
settled inter-burghal disputes and heard appeals from burgh courts.[11] The earliest record
of its deliberations dates from 1292 when "the four burghs" were asked to interpret the
law on a question of debt.[12] The Court applied applied a single set of rules and its
decisions were binding on all royal burghs.[13][14]

The evolution of burgh representation in relation to the history of the Scottish

Parliament was a long and gradual process, the record of which has been to a large extent
obscured by the loss of Scotland's national records at various times in the country's
history.[15] The fragmentary nature of the surviving evidence makes it difficult to give a
precise chronology of the development.[16]
As the main source of specie in the kingdom[17] the burghs were specially summoned by
royal letters to convene at the sittings of parliament.[18] The traditionally accepted date for
the first occasion of their being present is 1326, when they were summoned to appear at
the parliament of Robert I held at Cambuskenneth.[19]The reason appears to have been
the King's need to restore damage done to the royal demesnes during the Wars of
Independence,[20] It is not, however, clear whether the burgesses sat alongside the
bishops and barons as a separate estate within the parliament itself.[21]

A groat from the reign of David II in the 14th century. Burghs were expected to pay their taxes in coin.

When taxation had to be raised to pay the ransom for the release of David II from English
captivity,[22] the burghs were consulted again at Scone in 1357 and empowered to
negotiate the release. Thus, 1357 has been seen as the date for burgh commissioners
establishing themselves as a political class within the parliament, indicated by the first use
of the term "three estates (tres communitates) of the realm" to describe the parliament's
composition. [23]
The burghs were consulted again at the parliament held in Stirling in 1405 when 50,000
merks had to be raised for "the King's fynance", to meet Henry VI's demand for "expenses
incurred" by James I during his long imprisonment in England. [24][25] For this session it
was decided that two or three commissioners from every burgh south of the Spey should
attend to "treat, ordain and determine upon all things concerning the utility of the common
weal of all the Kings burghs".[26] Historians have therefore judged 1405 as the true date
for the start of the Convention,[27] which met at every session of parliament from that time
onwards.[28]
The "Court of Four" continued to function until 1529, "the provost of the burgh where the
meeting was held acting as president", though the Chamberlain still attended [29] (his
involvement ended formally in 1532).[30]