How Merchant Towns Shaped Parliaments: From the Norman Conquest of England to the Great Reform Act

We study the emergence of urban self-governance in late medieval period. focus on England after Norman Conquest 1066, building a novel comprehensive dataset 554 towns. During Commercial Revolution (twelfth to thirteenth centuries), many merchant towns obtained Farm Grants: right self-governed tax collection and law enforcement. Self-governance, turn, was stepping stone for parliamentary representation: Grant were much more likely be summoned directly English Parliament than otherwise similar also show that strengthened role shaped national institutions over subsequent centuries. (JEL D02, D72, D73, K11, K34, N43, N93)