freemen of england & wales

Welcome to you all to this Ancient Church of St Mary, which is truly at the ‘Heart of this Community of Stafford’. We know that there is a documented roll listing the ‘Burgesses’ or ‘Freemen’ of this Borough in 1122, but Stafford started long before that. Staefforda was a major settlement in the Midlands over 150 years before the Domesday Book was recorded, and had become the administrative centre of this county 50 years before.

Aethelflaed, the Lady of Mercia, built an Anglo-Saxon fort here in AD913.  The records show that ‘Aethelflaed and all the Mercians built the fort at Tamworth, and at Lammas came to Stafford and built a fort here’, to repel the Danish marauders.  Stafford became a ‘burh’, a fortified settlement, and developed into a town with a major market, industrial sites, including the famous ‘Stafford Ware’ pottery, which is still being dug up, and a mint and the administrative centre of the new fangled idea of counties, taking its name from the town.

There was certainly a St Mary’s Church soon after the town was fortified, and was founded as an Anglo Saxon Royal Free Chapel, and there was a collegiate college with 13 Prebendary Canons by the time of the Doomesday census. St Bertelin, a Mercian Prince and Monk, built his Chapel during Anglo Saxon times next to the site of this church, which was itself built in the 12^th century.

King John who granted his charter to the Borough of Stafford in 1206, seems to have codified arrangements already in place from Saxon times, making this a Free Borough and appointing Burgesses, and probably dedicated the College of Canons to St Mary. So this church and the Burgesses of Stafford have been inextricably linked since then.

For a comparatively small borough there were a number of Monasteries and other religious houses.  The Franciscan Friars in Foregate, known as the GreyFriars; The Augustinian Friars by the Green and Wolverhampton Road area; St Leonard’s Hospital at Forebridge, which was a Medieval Institute for treating patients, all dissolved by Henry VIII; and my favourite, The Leper Hospital at Radford.  We think of Leprosy as a serious disease affecting people in Africa, India and the like, but in Mediaeval times Leprosy was a serious disease in this country, and most churches had a Lepers window where Lepers would be give communion.  The Lepers Hospital at Radford was run by either The Knights Hospitallers of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem or the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, both of which were founded in Jerusalem to care for those undertaking the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and also those who went on the crusades. And then like the Knight Hospitallers, who today are St John Ambulance, established monasteries and hospitals in their home countries.

The notion of Freemen in our country, which is what we are celebrating today, may have roots in Mediaeval times, and certainly that is true of our own Guild here in Stafford, but the concept of Freemen is far older, indeed we heard in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, about St Paul claiming his right as a Roman citizen and as a freeman of the Roman Empire by birth, whereas the chief captain had bought his freedom for a great sum of money. 

We don’t know for sure why St Paul was a freeman of the Roman Empire because he was a Jew, of the Tribe of Benjamin, born in Tarsus, brought up in Jerusalem and educated in Jewish Religious Law, but nonetheless he was a Roman Citizen and a freeman by birth, and because of that fact no one could imprison or torture him, and he could claim the right  to be tried by Caesar himself. For Paul his freedom under Roman law was a most precious thing, and he used it several times during his missionary travels around the Middle East to extricate himself from trouble, and as a Jewish Religious scholar of note, Paul knew the freedom granted by God to the Jewish people when Moses brought them out of slavery in Egypt and into the promised land, even if they consistently broke the covenant with God and were punished for it. Paul clearly believed in the rule of law and authority and a stable system of government, as the essence of good citizenship, throughout his pastoral letters he constantly reminds those new Christians in various towns and cities, Corinth; Galatia; Ephesus; Colossae; Thessalonica, and Crete, how to live their lives to ensure they obey the civil law which made them good citizens of heaven also. Paul believed that all government came from God who bestowed Monarchs, Rulers and civil leaders with their authority, Paul knew only too well that we Christians hold dual citizenship.  We are citizens of earth and of this nation, with all the privileges that gives us, especially our personal freedom, and we are citizens of that heavenly kingdom we all aspire to.  And being good citizens places on us the responsibility of making sure our conduct complies with legal rules and regulations, and the moral code of being part of this earthly community, being obedient to the lawful rulers placed in authority over us. ‘Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for any honest work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarrelling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all men’.

All legitimate human authority is derived from God to those appointed over us, we see this reflected in the Coronation ceremony when the Monarch is anointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, this is why good citizenship in an earthly kingdom begins with being faithful citizens of heaven, why we must model our lives on Christ, and obey God’s commandment to ‘Love our Neighbour as ourselves’.

Now suggesting to people in our society today that we must be ‘submissive to rulers and authority, and be obedient’, wouldn’t go down too well, our culture has developed into one that questions authority, that wants to hold authority to account, and when we reflect on what has happened in recent years with the abuse of authority of one kind and another, such as the MP’s scandal, who can blame us for holding our rulers to account.  The truth is that our rulers, those in authority over us have a responsibility to act in ways that make us ready to be obedient to them.  That is the human dilemma that all societies face, it’s our human failings that get in the way of that perfect society God offers us here on earth.

Paul urges us ‘to be ready for any honest work’, the original text said, ‘every good work’, and I prefer that, because it speaks of an attitude of community service, being involved with the local communities in a positive way, which in many ways your Freemen’s Guilds seemed to have encompassed as the future legacy from your distinguished past. Your Guilds have a real part to play in creating a better society for so many people in need in our communities today, and we in Stafford welcome the greater involvement that our Burgesses are playing in the civic and community life of our town. In his letter to Titus, Paul tells of the characteristics of evil that surrounds the world, even today, ‘foolishness, disobedience, slaves to various passions and pleasures, malice and envy, hatred of men and hating one another’, but then Paul reminds us that we have been saved from all those sins by God’s goodness and love in sending Jesus to redeem us, and in that way offers us, citizens of this earthly kingdom, the glory of his heavenly kingdom.  We are justified in our faith by the redeeming love of Jesus, and true heirs of his kingdom, so what we do here on earth prepares us for that new place, which is our real home, the place from where we came.

The psychologist Viktor Frankl, wrote about the concept of ‘Freedom’, ‘Freedom, however, is not the last word.  Freedom is only part of the story and half the truth.  Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibilities’.

And that really was what Paul was telling us, Freedom carries responsibilities to maintain and develop this most cherished of all God’s gifts to us.  God gives us the grace and love to live in freedom and develop that for all people, but it really is up to us to make it happen. Amen.