had a house in the borough. Similarly, burgesses usually had
farmland outside the borough. Many boroughs were granted, by the
king or manor lord, the right to have a common seal for the common
business of the town. Some boroughs were given the authority to
confer freedom on the villein by enrolling him in their guild or
allowing him to stay in the borough for a year and a day. The
guilds met frequently in their drinking halls and drew up
regulations for the management of their trade. Each borough was
represented by twelve reputable burgesses. Each vill was
represented by a reeve and four reputable men. Certain towns
sponsored great seasonal fairs for special goods, such as cloth.
About 5% of the population lived in towns.
In the early 1180s, the horizontal-axle windmill was invented,
probably in eastern England, on the analogy of the horizontal-axle
watermill. It was very useful in flat areas where streams were too
slow for a watermill unless a dam were built. But a dam often
flooded agricultural land.
London guilds of craftsmen such as weavers, fullers, bakers,
loriners (makers of bits, spurs, and metal mountings of bridles
and saddles), cordwainers (makers of leather goods such as shoes),
pepperers, and goldsmiths were licensed by the King, for which
they paid him a yearly fee. There were also five Bridge Guilds
(probably raising money for the future construction of London
Bridge in stone) and St. Lazarus' Guild. The wealthy guilds, which
included the goldsmiths, the pepperers, and three bridge guilds
had landholding members who had been thegns or knights and now
became a class of royal officials: the King's minters, his
chamberlain, his takers of wines, his collectors of taxes. The
weavers of Oxford paid 27s.[two marks] to hav ea guild. The
shoemakers paid 67s.[five marks].
In 1212, master carpenters, masons, and tilers made 3d. per day,
their servers (the journeymen of a later time) made 11/2 d., free-
stone carvers 21/2 d., plasterers and daubers, diggers and sievers
less. All received food in addition or 11/2 d. in its stead.
Sandwich was confirmed in its port rights by this charter: "Henry
II to his sheriff and bailiffs of Kent, greeting. I will and order
that the monks of the Holy Trinity of Canterbury shall have fully
all those liberties and customs in Sandwich which they had in the
time of King Henry my grandfather, as it was adjudged in pursuance
of his command by the oath of twelve men of Dover and twelve men
of Sandwich, to wit, that the aforesaid monks ought to have the
port and the toll and all maritime customs in the same port, on
either side of the water from Eadburge-gate as far as markesfliete
and a ferry-boat for passage. And no man has there any right
except they and their ministers. Wherefore I will and firmly
command you and the men of Sandwich that ye cause the aforesaid
monks to have all their customs both in the port and in the town
of Sandwich, and I forbid any from vexing them on this account."
"And they shall have my firm peace."
Henry gave this charter to the town of Bristol in 1164: "Know ye,
that I have granted to my burgesses of Bristol, that they shall be
quit both of toll [a reasonable sum of money or portion of the
thing sold, due to the owner of the fair or market on the sale of
things tollable therein. It was claimed by the lord of the fee
where the fair or market was held, by virtue of a grant from the
Crown either ostensible or presumed] and passage [money paid for
crossing a river or for crossing the sea as might be due to the
Crown] and all custom [customary payments] throughout my whole
land of England, Normandy, and Wales, wherever they shall come,
they and their goods. Wherefore I will and strictly command, that
they shall have all their liberties and acquittances and free
customs fully and honorable, as my free and faithful men, and that
they shall be quit of toll and passage and of every other customs:
and I forbid any one to disturb them on this account contrary to
this my charter, on forfeiture of ten pounds [200s.]."
John, when he was an earl and before he became King, granted these
liberties to Bristol about 1188:
1) No burgess may sue or be sued out of Bristol.
2) The burgesses are excused from the murder fine (imposed by the
king or lord from the hundred or town where the murder was
committed when the murderer had not been apprehended).
3) No burgess may wage duel [trial by combat], unless sued for
death of a stranger.
4) No one may take possession of a lodging house by assignment or
by livery of the Marshall of the Earl of Gloucester against the
will of the burgesses (so that the town would not be responsible
for the good behavior of a stranger lodging in the town without
first accepting the possessor of the lodging house).
5) No one shall be condemned in a matter of money, unless
according to the law of the hundred, that is, forfeiture of 40s.
6) The hundred court shall be held only once a week.
7) No one in any plea may argue his cause in miskenning.
8) They may lawfully have their lands and tenures and mortgages
and debts throughout my whole land, [from] whoever owes them
[anything].
9) With regard to debts which have been lent in Bristol, and
mortgages there made, pleas shall be held in the town according to
the custom of the town.
10) If any one in any other place in my land shall take toll of
the men of Bristol, if he does not restore it after he is required
to, the Prepositor of Bristol may take from him a distress at
Bristol, and force him to restore it.
11) No stranger-tradesman may buy within the town from a man who
is a stranger, leather, grain, or wool, but only from a burgess.
12) No stranger may have a shop, including one for selling wine,
unless in a ship, nor shall sell cloth for cutting except at the
fair.
13) No stranger may remain in the town with his goods for the
purpose of selling his goods, but for forty days.
14) No burgess may be confined or distrained any where else within
my land or power for any debt, unless he is a debtor or surety (to
avoid a person owed a debt from distraining another person of the
town of the debtor).
15) They shall be able to marry themselves, their sons, their
daughters and their widows, without the license of their lords. (A
lord had the right of preventing his tenants and their families
from marrying without his consent.)
16) No one of their lords shall have the wardship or the disposal
of their sons or daughters on account of their lands out of the
town, but only the wardship of their tenements which belong to
their own fee, until they become of age.
17) There shall be no recognition [acknowledgement that something
done by another person in one's name had one's authority] in the
town.
18) No one shall take tyne [wooden barrel with a certain quantity
of ale, payable by the townsmen to the constable for the use of
the castle] unless for the use of the lord Earl, and that
according to the custom of the town.
19) They may grind their grain wherever they may choose.
20) They may have their reasonable guilds, as well or better than
they had them in the time of Robert and his son William [John's
wife's grandfather and father, who were earls of Gloucester when
the town and castle of Bristol were part of the honor of
Gloucester].
21) No burgess may be compelled to bail any man, unless he himself
chooses it, although he may be dwelling on his land.
We have also granted to them all their tenures, messuages
[dwelling house with adjoining land and adjacent buildings], in
copses [thicket from which wood was cut], in buildings on the
water or elsewhere to be held in free burgage [tenant to pay only
certain fixed services or payments to his lord, but not military
service (like free socage)]. We have granted also that any of them
may make improvements as much as he can in erecting buildings
anywhere on the bank and elsewhere, as long as the borough and
town are not damaged thereby. Also, they shall have and possess
all waste land and void grounds and places, to be built on at
their pleasure.
Newcastle-on-Tyne's taxes were simplified in 1175 as follows:
"Know ye that I have granted and by this present charter have
confirmed to my burgesses of Newcastle upon Tyne, and to all their
things which they can assure to be their own, acquittance from
toll and passage and pontage and from the Hanse and from all other
customs throughout all my land. And I prohibit all persons from
vexing or disturbing them therein upon forfeiture to me."
We grant to our upright men on Newcastle-on-Tyne and their heirs
our town of Newcastle-on-Tyne with all its appurtenances at fee
farm for 100 pounds to be rendered yearly to us and our heirs at
our Exchequer by their own hand at the two terms, to wit, at
Easter 50 pounds and at Michaelmas 50 pounds, saving to us our
rents and prizes and assizes in the port of the same town.
Ranulph, earl of Chester, made grants to his burgesses of Coventry
by this charter: "That the aforesaid burgesses and their heirs may
well and honorably quietly and in free burgage hold of me and my
heirs as ever in the time of my father and others of my ancestors
they have held better more firmly and freer. In the second place I
grant to them all the free and good laws which the burgesses of
Lincoln have better and freer. I prohibit and forbid my constables
to draw them into the castle to plead for any cause, but they may
freely have their portimoot [leet court] in which all pleas
belonging to me and them may be justly treated of. Moreover they
may choose from themselves one to act for me whom I approve, who a
justice under me and over them may know the laws and customs, and
keep them to my counsel in all things reasonable, every excuse put
away, and may faithfully perform to me my rights. If any one
happen to fall into my amercement he may be reasonably fined by my
bailiff and the faithful burgesses of the court. Furthermore,
whatever merchants they have brought with them for the improvement
of the town, I command that they have peace, and that none do them
injury or unjustly send them into court. But if any foreign
merchant shall have done anything improper in the town that same
may be regulated in the portimoot before the aforesaid justice
without a suit at law."
Henry confirmed this charter of the earl's by 1189 as follows: I
have confirmed all the liberties and free customs the earl of
Chester granted to them, namely, that the same burgesses may well
and honorably hold in free burgage, as ever in the time of the
father of the beforesaid earl, or other of his ancestors, they may
have better or more firmly held; and they may have all the laws
and customs which the citizens of Lincoln have better and freer
[e.g. their merchant guilds; all men brought to trade may be
subject to the guild customs and assize of the town; those who
lawfully hold land in the town for a year and a day without
question and are able to prove that an accuser has been in the
kingdom within the year without finding fault with them, from
thence may hold the land well and in peace without pleading; those
who have remained in the town a year and a day without question,
and have submitted to the customs of the town and the citizens of
the town are able to show through the laws and customs of the town
that the accuser stood forth in the kingdom, and not a fault is
found of them, then they may remain in peace in the town without
question]; and that the constable of the aforesaid earl shall not
bring them into the castle to plead in any case. But they may
freely have their own portmanmoot in which all pleas appertaining
to the earl and to them may be justly treated of. Moreover they
may choose one from themselves to act for the earl, whom I
approve, who may be a justice under the earl and over them, and
who to the earl may faithfully perform his rights, and if anyone
happen to fall into the earl's forfeiture he shall be acquit for
12 pence. If by the testimony of his neighbors he cannot pay 12
pence coins, by their advice it shall be so settled as he is able
to pay, and besides, with other acquittances, that the burgesses
shall not provide anything in corrody [allowance in food] or
otherwise whether for the said earl or his men, unless upon
condition that their chattels shall be safe, and so rendered to
them. Furthermore, whatever merchants they have brought with them
for the improvement of the town they may have peace, and none
shall do them injury or unjustly send them into suit at law. But
if any foreign merchant has done anything improper in the town
that shall be amended [or tried] in the portmanmoot before the
aforesaid justice without a suit. And they who may be newcomers
into the town, from the day on which they began to build in the
town for the space of two years shall be acquit of all charges.
Mercantile privileges were granted to the shoemakers in Oxford
thus: "Know ye that I have granted and confirmed to the corvesars
of Oxford all the liberties and customs which they had in the time
of King Henry my grandfather, and that they have their guild, so
that none carry on their trade in the town of Oxford, except he be
of that guild. I grant also that the cordwainers who afterwards
may come into the town of Oxford shall be of the same guild and
shall have the same liberties and customs which the corvesars have
and ought to have. For this grant and confirmation, however, the
corvesars and cordwainers ought to pay me every year an ounce of
gold."
A guild merchant for wool dominated and regulated the wool trade
in many boroughs. In Leicester, only guildsmen were permitted to
buy and sell wool wholesale to whom they pleased or to wash their
fells in borough waters. Certain properties, such as those near
running water, essential to the manufacture of wool were
maintained for the use of guild members. The waterwheel was a
technological advance replacing human labor whereby the cloth was
fulled. The waterwheel turned a shaft which lifted hammers to
pound the wet cloth in a trough. Wool packers and washers could
work only for guild members. The guild fixed wages, for instance
to wool wrappers and flock pullers. Strangers who brought wool to
the town for sale could sell only to guild members. A guildsman
could not sell wool retail to strangers nor go into partnership
with a man outside the guild. Each guild member had to swear the
guildsman's oath, pay an entrance fee, and subject himself to the
judgment of the guild in the guild court, which could fine or
suspend a man from practicing his trade for a year. The advantages
of guild membership extended beyond profit in the wool trade.
Members were free from the tolls that strangers paid. They alone
were free to sell certain goods retail. They had the right to
share in any bargain made in the presence of a guildsman, whether
the transaction took place in Leicester or in a distant market. In
the general interest, the guild forbade the use of false weights
and measures and the production of shoddy goods. It maintained a
wool-beam for weighing wool. It also forbade middlemen from
profiting at the expense of the public. For instance, butchers'
wives were forbidden from buying meat to sell again in the same
market unless they cooked it. The moneys due to the king from the
guilds of a town were collected by the town reeve.
When the king wanted to raise an army, he summoned his major baron
tenants-in-chief, who commanded their own armed dependent vassals,
and he directed the sheriffs to command the minor tenants-in-chief
and supply them with equipment. A baron could assemble an army in
a day, but might use it to resist any perceived misgovernment by a
king. Armed conflict did not interfere much with daily life
because the national wealth was still composed mostly of flocks
and herds and simple buildings. Machinery, furniture, and the
stock of shops were still sparse. Life would be back to normal
within a week.
Henry wanted to check this power of the barons. So he took over or
demolished their adulterine castles and restored the older
obligation of every freeman to serve in defense of the realm, the
fyrd, which was a military draft. At the King's call, barons were
to appear in mail suit and helmet with sword and horse, knights
and freeholders with 213s.[16 marks] of rent or chattels in coat
of mail with shield and lance, freeholders of 133s.[10 marks] with
lance and hauberk [coat of armor] and iron headpiece, burgesses
and poorer freemen with lance and headpiece and wambais, and such
as millers with pike and leather shirt. The spiritual and other
baronies paid a commutation for personal service, called
"scutage", at the rate of 27s. per knight's fee. Barons and
knights paid according to their knight's fee a scutage ranging
from 10s. to 27s. As of 1181, the military obligations of villeins
were defined. The master of a household was responsible for every
villein in his household. Others had to form groups of ten and
swear obedience to the chief of the group. The sheriff was
responsible for maintaining lists of men liable for military
service and procuring supplies. This national militia could be
used to maintain the peace. The sheriff could call upon the
military array of the county as a posse comitatus to take a band
of thieves into custody or to quell disorder. For foreign wars,
Henry decided to use a mercenary army and a mercenary fleet.
However, the nobility who were on the borders of the realm had to
maintain their private armies for frequent border clashes. The
other nobility now tended towards tournaments with mock foot
battles between two sides. Although subject to knightly rules,
serious injury and death often resulted. For this reason, the
church opposed them, but unsuccessfully.
New taxes replaced the Danegeld tax. Freeholders of land paid
taxes according to their plowable land ("hidage", by the hide, and
later "carucage", by the smaller Norman carucate). The smaller
measure curtailed estates and increased taxation. It was assessed
from 2-5s. per carcuate [100 acres] and collected for the king by
knights with little or no remuneration, and later by inquest of
neighbors. The towns and demesne lands of the crown paid a tax
based on their produce that was collected by the itinerant
justices. Merchants were taxed on their personal property, which
was determined by an inquest of neighbors. Clergy were also taxed.
This new system of taxation increased the royal income about
threefold. There was a standard for reliefs paid of 100s. [5
pounds] for a knight's fee and 2,000s. [100 pounds] for a barony.
At the end of Henry's reign, his treasure was over 900,000 pounds.
Every hide of land paid the sheriff 2s. annually for his services
in the administration and defense of the county. This was probably
the old Danegeld.
Barons and their tenants and sub-tenants were offered an
alternative of paying shield money ["scutage"] of 26s.8d. per fee
in commutation for and instead of military service for their
fiefs. This enabled Henry to hire soldiers who would be more
directly under his own control and to organize a more efficient
army.
Henry II restored the silver coinage to its standard of purity.
The first great inflation in England occurred between 1180 and
1220. Most goods and services increased threefold over these forty
years.
Great households, whether of baron, prelate, monastery, or college
gave their officers and servants allowances of provisions and
clothing called "liveries". The officer of such departments as the
buttery [cellar storing butts of wine], the kitchen, the napery
[for linen cloth], and the chandlery had his fixed allowances for
every day and his livery of clothing at fixed times of the year or
intervals of years.
The administration of a great estate is indicated by the Pipe Roll
of the Bishopric of Winchester, 1208-1209, as follows:
"Downton: William FitzGilbert, and Joselyn the reeve, and Aylward
the cellarer render account of 7 pounds 12s.11d. for arrears of
the previous year. They paid and are quit. And of 3 pounds 2s.2d.
for landgafol. And of 12d. by increment of tax for a park which
William of Witherington held for nothing. And of 2s.6d. by
increment of tax for half a virgate of land which James Oisel held
without service. And of 19s. for 19 assize pleas in the new
market. And of 10s. by increment of tax for 10 other assize pleas
in the market this year. Sum of the whole tax 36 pounds 14s.8d.
In quittance of one reeve, 5s. In quittance for repairing the
bridge, 5s.; of one forester, 4s.; of two haywards from Downton
and Wick, 4s.; of one hayward from Witherington, 20d.; of fourteen
drivers from Downton, Wick, and Nunton, for the year, 28s.; of two
drivers from Witherington for the year, 4s.4d.; of two drivers for
half the year, 2s.; of one swineherd, of one neaterd, of one
cowherd, for the year, 6s.; of three shepherds from Wick, Barford,
and Nunton, for the year, 6s.; of one shepherd from Witherington,
for the year, 20d.; of four customary tenants, for the year, 8s.
Sum of the quittances, 74s.8d. Remainder 33 pounds.
Livery: For livery to John the dean, for Christmas tax, 7 pounds
10s. by one tally. To the same for Easter tax, 8 pounds by one
tally. To the same for St. John's tax, 8 pounds by one tally. To
the same for St. Michael's tax, 8 pounds 10s. by one tally. To the
same for corn [grain] sold in the field 26 pounds by two tallies.
To the same for standing corn [growing crops of grain], purchases,
and cheeses, 20 pounds 16s.10d. To the same for wool, 6 pounds
13s.4d. by one tally. To the same for tallage 39 pounds by one
tally. Sum: 134 pounds 10s.2d.
Expenses: For ironwork of 8 carts for year and one cart for half
the year, 32s.10d. For shoeing of 2 plough-horses for the year,
2s.8d. For wheels for carts, 2s.9d. For 6 carts made over, 12d.
before the arrival of the carpenter. For wages of the smith for
the year, 8s.6d. For one cart bound in iron bought new, 5s.7d. For
wheels purchased for one cart to haul dung, 12d. For leather
harness and trappings, iron links, plates, halters, 14d. For
purchase of 2 ropes, 3d. For purchase of 2 sacks, 8d. For purchase
of 5 locks for the granary, 11d. For making 2 gates for the
sheepfold, 2s. For one gate for the farm yard, 12d. For an axe and
tallow purchased and for repairing the spindles of the mill for
the year, 6s.10d. For one millstone purchased for the mill 24s.
For making one gate near the mill, 12d. For meat prepared in the
larder, 3s. For beer bought for cleaning carcasses, 2s.1d. For
digging 158 perches of land around the pasture in the marsh,
32s.11d.; for each perch 2d.1ob. For the dovecote newly made,
22s.11d.1ob. For cutting 100 thick planks for flooring both
dispensary and butlery, 6s.3d. For nails or pegs bought for
planking beyond the cellar, 16d. For enclosing the garden by
making 2 gates, 6s.7d.1ob. For digging in the gardens, 8s.5d. For
the winter work of 55 carts, 9s.2d. For the Lent work of 49 carts,
8s.6d. For spreading 6 acres with dung, 6d. For threshing 24
quarters of wheat at Mardon for seed, 5s. For winnowing the same,
7d. For winnowing 36 quarters of grain for seed, 3s.9d. For
threshing 192 quarters of grain 32s.; for each quarter 2d. For
threshing 20 quarters of mixed corn [grain], 2s.6d. For threshing
42 quarters of barley, 3s.6d. For threshing 53 quarters of oats,
2s.2d.1ob. For hauling gravel to the bridge and causeway, 4d. For
cost of dairy, viz., 3 tines of salt, cloth, and pots, 6s.10d. For
purchase of 17 oxen, 5 pounds 13s. For hoeing 140 acres, 5s.10d.
For wages of two carters, one neatherd, for the year, 9s. For
wages of one carpenter for the year, 6s.8d. For wages of one dairy
woman, 2s.6d. For payment of mowers of the meadow at Nunton, 6d.
For 8 sheep purchased, 8s. For wages of one neatherd from Nunton,
12d. For carrying 2 casks of wine by Walter Locard, in the time of
Martinmas, 8s.2d. For the carrying of 2 casks of wine from
Southampton to Downton by the seneschal, 3s.6d. at the feast of
St. Lawrence. For digging 22 perches in the farmyard, 6s.5d.; for
each perch 3d.1ob. For allowance of food of Robert of Lurdon, who
was sick for 21 days, with his man, 5s.3d. For allowance of food
to Sewal who was caring for 2 horses of the lord bishop for 3
weeks, 21d. For allowance of food for Roger Walselin, for the two
times he made gifts to the lord king at Clarendon, 4s.9d. by two
tallies. For allowance of food of Master Robert Basset, for 3
journeys, 9s.3d.1ob. For livery of William FitzGilbert, 60s.10d.
For 30 ells of canvas purchased for laying over the wool, and 2
cushions prepared for the court, 5s. For 8 sheep purchased, with
lambs, 8s. Sum: 2 pounds.23d. Sum of livery and expenses: 159
pounds 12s.1d. And there is owing: 5 pounds 9s.4d.1ob.