Panel 2: Granting the Ipswich Charter

 Historical Content:

 The Royal Charter which King John sent to Ipswich from Normandy in June 1200 was the first to give the townspeople control over their own affairs. Two bailiffs, twelve portmen and twenty-four common councilmen were elected on 8 September every year to form the Corporation; it was only in 1835 that these offices were changed to mayor, aldermen and councillors. At the top of the panel under the Norman rounded-headed arch are three seals. The Corporation seal at the top is taken from an original impression made in 1200 and now kept in the Mayor's Parlour. Below are the seals of King John on the left and his elder brother King Richard on the right. The original Charter of King John was stolen by the town clerk but subsequent charters exist, including one of Edward III (now in the Suffolk Record Office), the illumination from which is celebrated at the top of the hanging. The background pattern of lozenges is found in medieval manuscripts. On the right-hand side is the moot horn which was used to call the Corporation to meetings. Although it is purported to have been given to the borough by King John in 1200, it is of Anglo-Saxon origin and now in Ipswich Museum. The importance and wealth of Ipswich came from trade through its port. The Ipswich "cat" (with the first ever movable rudder) can be seen in the centre on the river. On the right a merchant is being rowed to his large ship on the left. He holds a coin in his hand ready to pay his fare. At the bottom are Norman cloisters of the kind that may have been found in the Augustinian priory of St Peter and St Paul, founded about 1130 near Stoke Bridge. The apostle is just one of several on a stone screen in St Nicholas' Church.