abbey on its
site. In 942 or 945 King Edmund had granted to the abbot and convent
jurisdiction over the whole town, free from all secular services, and
Canute in 1020 freed it from episcopal control. Edward the Confessor made
the abbot lord of the franchise. By various grants from the abbots, the
town gradually attained the rank of a borough. Henry III. in 1235 granted
to the abbot two annual fairs, one in December (which still survives), the
other the great St Matthew's fair, which was abolished by the Fairs Act of
1871. Another fair was granted by Henry IV. in 1405. Elizabeth in 1562
confirmed the charters which former kings had granted to the abbots, and
James I. in 1606 granted a charter of incorporation with an annual fair in
Easter week and a market. Further charters were granted by him in 1608 and
1614, and by Charles II. in 1668 and 1684. The reversion of the fairs and
two markets on Wednesday and Saturday were granted by James I. in fee farm
to the corporation. Parliaments were held here in 1272, 1296 and 1446, but
the borough was not represented until 1608, when James I. conferred the
privilege of sending two members. The Redistribution Act 1885 reduced the
representation to one. There was formerly a large woollen trade.

See Richard Yates, _Hist. and Antiqs. of the Abbey of St Edmund's Bury_
(2nd ed., 1843); H.R. Barker, _History of Bury St Edmunds_.

BUSBECQ, OGIER GHISLAIN DE [AUGERIUS GISLENIUS] (1522-1592), Flemish writer
and traveller, was born at Comines, and educated at the university of
Louvain and elsewhere. Having served the emperor Charles V. and his son,
Philip II. of Spain, he entered the service of the emperor Ferdinand I.,
who sent him as ambassador to the sultan Suleiman I. the Magnificent. He
returned to Vienna in 1562 to become tutor to the sons of Maximilian II.,
afterwards emperor, subsequently taking the position of master of the
household of Elizabeth, widow of Charles IX., king of France, and daughter
of Maximilian. Busbecq was an excellent scholar, a graceful writer and a
clever diplomatist. He collected valuable manuscripts, rare coins and
curious inscriptions, and introduced various plants into Germany. He died
at the castle of Maillot near Rouen on the 28th of October 1592. Busbecq
wrote _Itinera Constantinopolitanum et Amasianum_ (Antwerp, 1581), a work
showing considerable insight into Turkish politics. This was published in
Paris in 1589 as _A.G. Busbequii legationis Turcicae epi