aldermanate

plural aldermanates

1. uncountableusuallyThe office of an alderman; the municipal legislative body of a city or town.

   Other fees were taken from new members of common councils, those who were raised to the aldermanate, and sometimes from those who resigned as councillors.

   1990, Stephen Porter, Exploring urban history: sources for local historians, page 99

   2 more examples

   As York was not divided into wards before the reign of Charles II, we must trace the existence of the aldermanate either to the ancient guild system, or to the combination of the merchant guild with the leet jury.

   1880, William Stubbs, The Constitutional History of England

   The actually existing municipalities in each city, borough, parish, or community, under the titles of hotels-dc-villc, mayoralties, aldermanates, consulates, and generally under any title or qualification whatsoever, are suppressed and abolished;

   1904, Frank Maloy Anderson, The Constitutions and Other Select Documents Illustrative of the History of France, 1789-1907, page 24

2. uncountableusuallyThe members of the aldermanate, collectively.

   The Lord Mayor and the aldermanate, who knew nothing about Finbar, were delighted to accept his generous offer.

   2006, Michael O'Donnell, Doctor Donovan's Bequest: Tales from the Slagthorpe Archive

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   This gave the army ample justification for its occupation of London in early August, which, as in 1642, was followed by a purge of the aldermanate.

   2015, Stephen Porter, London and the Civil War