a Cluniac priory, dedicated to St Mary Magdalene. From this
date the borough and priory grew up side by side, but each preserving its
independent privileges and rights of government until the dissolution of
the latter in 1535. In Edward II.'s reign the burgesses petitioned for the
restoration of rights bestowed by a pretended charter from Athelstan. The
existence of this charter was denied, but the desired privileges were
conceded, including the right to elect a mayor. The earliest authenticated
charter is that of Henry I., which was confirmed in a charter of Henry II.
The later charter states that the burgesses should have customs similar to
those granted to London, and further charters confirmed the same right. A
charter of Queen Mary in 1556 added some new privileges, and specified that
the common council should consist of a mayor, two aldermen [v.03 p.0417]
and twenty-four chief burgesses. James I., by a charter dated 1610,
increased the number of chief burgesses to twenty-five and instituted a
recorder, a clerk of the market, justices of the peace and other officers.
This charter was confirmed in 1611 and 1689, and held force until the
Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, which established six aldermen and
eighteen councillors. The borough sent two members to parliament in 1295,
and so continued to do until the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, when
the representation was merged in that of the county. Barnstaple was once
famous for its woollen trade, now entirely declined, and as early as the
reign of Edward III. was an important naval port, with an extensive
shipping trade. That this prosperity was not altogether uninterrupted is
testified by the fact that, at the time of the Armada, the mayor pleaded
inability to contribute three ships, on account of injuries to trade
consequent on the war with Spain. The Friday market and the annual four
days' fair in September are held by immemorial prescription.

See J. B. Gribble, _Memorials of Barnstaple_ (Barnstaple, 1830).

BARNUM, PHINEAS TAYLOR (1810-1891), American showman, was born in Bethel,
Connecticut, on the 5th of July 1810, his father being an inn- and
store-keeper. Barnum first started as a store-keeper, and was also
concerned in the lottery mania then prevailing in the United States. After
failing in business, he started in 1829 a weekly paper, _The Herald of
Freedom_, in Danbury; after several libel suits and a prosecution which
resulted in imprisonment, he m