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 A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE Gloucester, and Salop, and a series of articles were drawn up by the Privy Council on 3 June, to supplement the enactment.^'' By the great Act of 1536^^' for assimilating the administration of southern Wales to that of England a number of Marcher lordships lying within or on the borders of Herefordshire were joined to the county. The lordships of Wigmore and Lugharness constituted the new hundred of Wigmore, Ewyas Lacy became a hundred, Ewyas Harold was joined to the existing hundred of Webtree, while Clifford, Winforton, Eardisley, Whitney, and Huntington were united to form the new hundred of Huntington. All these lordships were deprived of their especial liberties, franchises, and privileges. On the other hand the parishes of Old and New Radnor and of Michaelchurch, formerly included in Herefordshire, were united to the new county of Radnor. In the same year the great outbreak of northern Catholicism, the Pilgrimage of Grace, disturbed the kingdom, and the strife found some echoes in Herefordshire. In October the leading gentlemen of the county were summoned to support the king with their followers. Four, Sir James Basker- ville. Sir John Lingen, Sir Thomas Cornewall, and Sir William Thomas, were called on to provide a hundred men each.'"" A few persons who manifested sympathy with the insurgents were committed to Hereford Castle by the sherifF.^°i During this reign we learn some particulars concerning the military forces of the shire. In 1524 the number of archers able to serve the king in his wars was returned as 895, and the billmen as 1778.^°^ On i March, 1538—9, a commission was issued to array and arm all men over sixteen years of age able to bear arms in Herefordshire, and to certify the number of arms &c. to the council. ^"^ In 1544 a number of county gentlemen, including Sir Edward Croft, Sir James Baskerville, Sir Richard Vaughan, and Sir John Scudamore, were called on to furnish troops for the French war. The whole contingent amounted to 1,500 men.""* In Edward VI's reign, on 2 February, 1550— i, Walter Devereux, Lord Ferrers of Chartley, was created Viscount Hereford, being a descendant of Eleanor de Bohun, younger daughter of Humphrey, seventh earl of Here- ford. This title has continued in the family of Devereux until the present day, with the exception of a break of two years between 1601 and 1603 caused by the attainder of the earl of Essex. From 1572 to 1646 it was, however, obscured by the bestowal on the holder of the superior dignity of earl of Essex, but on the death of the third earl the earldom became extinct. The present viscount is premier viscount of England. In the summer of 1551 serious disturbances arose in the neighbouring counties of Gloucester and Worcester, as in other parts of England, on account of the inclosure of common arable land, and its conversion into pasture. In consequence John Scudamore, the steward of Hereford city, was instructed to have the forces of the city ready for action.'"^ Two years later the attempt of the duke of Northumberland to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne created great enthusiasm for Mary in the con- ^'' L. and p. of Hen. VIII, vii, 781. '™ L. and P. of Hen. Fill, xi, 579. ^™ Ibid, iv (i), 972. '"' Ibid, xiv (i), 652. ™* Richard Johnson, Ancient Customs ofHeref. (1882), 154. 378 27 Hen. VIII, cap. 26. Ibid, xi, 1328. Ibid, xix (I), 273, 274, 276.