It was the most important city in England and was administered as a county of itself from before boroughs were first represented in Parliament.
No such extra seats were awarded to other cities or boroughs which received the status of being counties of themselves in later times.
The other was normally the Recorder of London, whose legal expertise was essential to the City which had a lot of legislation it wanted drafted and passed by Parliament.
On one occasion in the sixteenth century the Recorder was already a burgess representing another borough in Parliament, so two aldermen were chosen.
The nominees for knight were then put to the liverymen, who had been waiting whilst the aldermen met, for approval and an election was held to select two citizens from the list of twelve nominees to fill the other two seats in the House of Commons.
The two London Sheriffs appointed a day for candidates nominations to be submitted, at a meeting in the Guildhall.
Although it was no longer a legal requirement, there was a custom that two City seats were filled by Aldermen and two by non-Aldermen.
During the Protectorate the city was allocated six seats in the House of Commons, under the terms of the Instrument of Government adopted on 15 December 1653.
The Barebones Parliament was an appointed body, so the city was not an electoral constituency represented as such in it.