practical wisdom, and genuine concern for justice for everyone. He loved
his people and wanted them to love him. He came to the throne with
twenty years experience governing lesser lands on the continent which
were given to him by his father Henry III. He spoke Latin, English, and
French. He gained a reputation as a lawgiver and as a peacemaker in
disputes on the continent. His reputation was so high and agreement on
him as the next king so strong that England was peaceful in the almost
two years that it took him to arrive there from continental business. He
was truthful, law-abiding, and kept his word. He had close and solid
family relationships, especially with his father and with his wife
Eleanor, to whom he was faithful. He was loyal to his close circle of
good friends. He valued honor and adhered reasonably well to the terms
of the treaties he made. He was generous in carrying out the royal
custom of subsidizing the feeding of paupers. He visited the sick. He
was frugal and dressed in plain, ordinary clothes rather than
extravagant or ostentatious ones. He disliked ceremony and display.
At his accession, there was a firm foundation of a national law
administered by a centralized judicial system, a centralized executive,
and an organized system of local government in close touch with both the
judicial and the executive system. To gain knowledge of his nation, he
sent royal commissioners into every county to ask about any
encroachments on the King's rights and about misdeeds by any of the
King's officials: sheriffs, bailiffs, or coroners. The results were
compiled as the "Hundred Rolls". They were the basis of reforms which
improved justice at the local as well as the national level. They also
rationalized the array of jurisdictions that had grown up with feudal
government. Statutes were passed by a parliament of two houses, that of
peers (lords) and that of an elected [rather than appointed] commons,
and the final form of the constitution was fixed.
Wardships of children and widows were sought because they were very
profitable. A guardian could get one tenth of the income of the property
during the wardship and a substantial marriage amount when the ward
married. Parents often made contracts to marry for their young children.
This avoided a forced marriage by a ward should the parents die.
Most earldoms and many baronages came into the royal house by escheat
or marriage. The royal house employed many people. The barons developed
a class consciousness of aristocracy and became leaders of society. Many
men, no matter of whom they held land, sought knighthood. The king
granted knighthood by placing his sword on the head of able-bodied and
moral candidates who swore an oath of loyalty to the king and to defend
"all ladies, gentlewomen, widows and orphans" and to "shun no adventure
of your person in any war wherein you should happen to be". A code of
knightly chivalry became recognized, such as telling the truth and
setting wrongs right. About half of the knights were literate. In 1278,
the king issued a writ ordering all freeholders who held land of the
value of at least 400s. to receive knighthood at the King's hands.
At the royal house and other great houses gentlemanly jousting
competitions, with well-refined and specific rules, took the place of
violent tournaments with general rules. Edward forbade tournaments at
which there was danger of a "melee". At these knights competed for the
affection of ladies by jousting with each other while the ladies
watched. Courtly romances were common. If a man convinced a lady to
marry him, the marriage ceremony took place in church, with feasting and
dancing afterwards. Romantic stories were at the height of their
popularity. A usual theme was the lonely quest of a knight engaged in
adventures which would impress his lady.
Riddles include: 1. I will make you a cross, and a thing will not touch
you, and you will not be able to leave the house without breaking that
cross. Answer: Stand before a post in your house, with your arms
extended. 2. What you do not know, and I do not know, and no one can
know after I have told you. Answer: I will take a straw from the floor
of the room, measure its inches, tell you the length, and break the
straw. 3. A pear tree bears all the fruit a pear tree can bear and did
not bear pears. Answer: It bore only one pear.
The dress of the higher classes was very changeable and subject to
fashion as well as function. Ladies no longer braided their hair in long
tails, but rolled it up in a net under a veil, often topped with an
elaborate and fanciful headdress. They wore non- functional long trains
on their tunics and dainty shoes. Men wore a long gown, sometimes
clasped around the waist. Overtunics were often lined or trimmed with
native fur such as squirrel. People often wore solid red, blue, or green
clothes. Only monks and friars wore brown. The introduction of buttons
and buttonholes to replace pins and laces made clothing warmer, and it
could be made tighter. After Edward I established the standard inch as
three continuous dried barleycorns, shoes came in standard sizes and
with a right one different from a left one. The spinning wheel came into
existence to replace the handheld spindle. Now one hand could be used to
form the thread while the other hand turned a large upright wheel that
caused the thread to wind around the spindle, which did not have to be
held by hand. This resulted in an uninterrupted spinning motion which
was not interrupted by alternately forming the thread and winding it on
the spindle.
In the 1300s, there were extremes of fashion in men's and women's
clothing including tight garments, pendant sleeves down to the ground,
coats so short they didn't reach the hips or so long they reached the
heels, hoods so small they couldn't cover the head, and shoes with long
curved peaks like claws at the toes. Both men and women wore belts low
on the hips. The skirt of a lady's tunic was fuller and the bodice more
closely fitted than before. Her hair was usually elaborately done up,
e.g. with long curls or curled braids on either side of the face. A
jeweled circlet was often worn around her head. Ladies wore on their
arms or belts, cloth handbags, which usually contained toiletries, such
as combs made of ivory, horn, bone, or wood, and perhaps a little book
of devotions. A man wore a knife and a bag on his belt. Some women
painted their faces and/or colored their hair. There were hand- held
glass mirrors. Some people kept dogs purely as pets.
There was a great development of heraldic splendor with for instance,
crests, coat-armor, badges, pennons [long, triangular flag], and
helmets. They descended through families. Not only was it a mark of
service to wear the badge of a lord, but lords wore each other's badges
by way of compliment.
Lords surrounded themselves with people of the next lower rank, usually
from nearby families, and had large households. For instance, the king
had a circle of noblemen and ladies about him. A peer or great prelate
had a household of about 100-200 people, among which were his inner
circle, companions, administrators, secretaries, bodyguards and armed
escort, chaplain, singing priests and choirboys, and servants. All
officers of the household were gentlemen. The secretary was usually a
clerk, who was literate because he had taken minor clerical orders.
Since the feudal obligation of the tenants was disappearing, a lord
sometimes hired retainers to supplement his escort of fighting men. They
proudly wore his livery of cloth or hat, which was in the nature of a
uniform or badge of service. A nobleman and his lady had a circle of
knights and gentlemen and their ladies. A knight had a circle of
gentlemen and their ladies.
The great barons lived in houses built within the walls of their
castles. Lesser barons lived in semi-fortified manors, many of which had
been licensed to be embattled or crenelated. Their halls were two
stories high, and usually built on the first rather than on the second
floor. Windows came down almost to the floor. The hall had a raised
floor at one end where the lord and lady and a few others sat at a high
table. The hearth was in the middle of the room or on a wall. Sometimes
a cat was used to open and shut the louvers of the smoke outlet in the
roof. The lord's bedroom was next to the hall on the second floor and
could have windows into the hall and a spiral staircase connecting the
two rooms. There was a chapel, in which the lord attended mass every
morning. The many knights usually lived in unfortified houses with two
rooms.
In the great houses, there were more wall hangings, and ornaments for
the tables. The tables were lit with candles or torches made of wax.
Plates were gold and silver. The lord, his lady, and their family and
guests sat at the head table, which was raised on a dais. On this high
table was a large and elaborate salt cellar. One's place in relationship
to the salt cellar indicated one's status: above or below the salt.
Also, those of higher status at the table ate a superior bread. The
almoner [alms giver] said grace. Gentlemen poured the lord's drink
[cupbearer], served his meat [carver], and supervised the serving of the
food [sewer]. A yeoman ewery washed the hands of the lord and his guests
and supplied the napkins, ewers [pitchers], and basins. A yeoman
cellarer or butler served the wine and beer. The yeoman of the pantry
served the bread, salt, and cutlery. The steward presided over the table
of household officers of gentle birth. The marshall of the hall, clerk
of the kitchen, or other yeomen officers supervised other tables. Salt
and spices were available at all tables. Most people ate with their
fingers, although there were knives and some spoons. Drinking vessels
were usually metal, horn, or wood. A marshall and ushers kept order.
Minstrels played musical instruments or recited histories of noble deeds
or amusing anecdotes. Reading aloud was a favorite pastime. The almoner
collected the leftovers to distribute to the poor.
In lesser houses people ate off trenchers [a four day old slab of
coarse bread or a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a
bowl], or plates of wood or pewter [made from tin, copper, and lead].
They often shared plates and drinking vessels at the table.
Queen Eleanor, a cultivated, intelligent, and educated lady from the
continent, fostered culture and rewarded individual literary efforts,
such as translations from Latin, with grants of her own money. She
patronized Oxford and Cambridge Universities and left bequests to poor
scholars there. She herself had read Aristotle and commentaries thereon,
and she especially patronized literature which would give cross-cultural
perspectives on subjects. She was kind and thoughtful towards those
about her and was also sympathetic to the afflicted and generous to the
poor. She shared Edward's career to a remarkable extent, even
accompanying him on a crusade. She had an intimate knowledge of the
people in Edward's official circle and relied on the advice of two of
them in managing her lands. She mediated disputes between earls and
other nobility, as well as softened her husband's temper towards people.
Edward granted her many wardships and marriages and she arranged
marriages with political advantages. She dealt with envoys coming to the
court. Her intellectual vitality and organized mentality allowed her to
deal with arising situations well. Edward held her in great esteem. She
introduced to England the merino sheep, which, when bred with the
English sheep, gave them a better quality of wool. She and Edward often
played games of chess and backgammon.
Farm efficiency was increased by the use of windmills in the fields to
pump water and by allowing villeins their freedom and hiring them as
laborers only when needed. Customary service was virtually extinct. A
man could earn 5d. for reaping, binding, and shocking into a pile, an
acre of wheat. A strong man with a wife to do the binding could do this
in a long harvest day. Harvests were usually plentiful, with the
exception of two periods of famine over the country due to weather
conditions. Then the price of wheat went way up and drove up the prices
of all other goods correspondingly. The story of outlaw Robin Hood, who
made a living by robbing, was passed around. This Robin Hood did not
give to the poor. But generally, there was enough grain to store so that
the population was no longer periodically devastated by famine. The
population grew and all arable land in the nation came under the plough.
The acre was standardized. About 1300, the price of an ox was 9s., a
heifer or cow 7s., a hide 2s.6d., a cart horse 2 or 3 pounds. Farm women
went to nearby towns to sell eggs and dairy products, usually to town
women.
Although manors needed the ploughmen, the carters and drivers, the
herdsmen, and the dairymaid on a full-time basis, other tenants spent
increasing time in crafts and became village carpenters, smiths, weavers
or millers' assistants. Trade and the towns grew. Smiths used coal in
their furnaces.
Money rents often replaced service due to a lord, such as fish silver,
malt silver, or barley silver. The lord's rights are being limited to
the rights declared on the extents [records showing service due from
each tenant] and the rolls of the manor. Sometimes land is granted to
strangers because none of the kindred of the deceased will take it.
Often a manor court limited a fee in land to certain issue instead of
being inheritable by all heirs. Surveyors' poles marked boundaries
declared by court in boundary disputes. This resulted in survey maps
showing villages and cow pastures.
The revival of trade and the appearance of a money economy was
undermining the long-established relationship between the lord of the
manor and his villeins. As a result, money payments were supplementing
or replacing payments in service and produce as in Martham, where Thomas
Knight held twelve acres in villeinage, paid 16d. for it and 14d. in
special aids. "He shall do sixteen working days in August and for every
day he shall have one repast - viz. Bread and fish. He shall hoe ten
days without the lord's food - price of a day 1/2 d. He shall cart to
Norwich six cartings or shall give 9d., and he shall have for every
carting one leaf and one lagena - or gallon - of ale. Also for ditching
1d. He shall make malt 3 1/2 seams of barley or shall give 6d. Also he
shall flail for twelve days or give 12d. He shall plough if he has his
own plough, and for every ploughing he shall have three loaves and nine
herrings ... For carting manure he shall give 2."
Another example is this manor's holdings, when 3d. would buy food for a
day: "Extent of the manor of Bernehorne, made on Wednesday following the
feast of St. Gregory the Pope, in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of
King Edward, in the presence of Brother Thomas, keeper of Marley, John
de la More, and Adam de Thruhlegh, clerks, on the oath of William de
Gocecoumbe, Walter le Parker, Richard le Knyst, Richard the son of the
latter, Andrew of Estone, Stephen Morsprich, Thomas Brembel, William of
Swynham, John Pollard, Roger le Glide, John Syward, and John de
Lillingewist, who say that there are all the following holdings:... John
Pollard holds a half acre in Aldithewisse and owes 18d. at the four
terms, and owes for it relief and heriot. John Suthinton holds a house
and 40 acres of land and owes 3s.6d. at Easter and Michaelmas. William
of Swynham holds one acre of meadow in the thicket of Swynham and owes
1d. at the feast of Michaelmas. Ralph of Leybourne holds a cottage and
one acre of land in Pinden and owes 3s. at Easter and Michaelmas, and
attendance at the court in the manor every three weeks, also relief and
heriot. Richard Knyst of Swynham holds two acres and a half of land and
owes yearly 4s. William of Knelle holds two acres of land in
Aldithewisse and owes yearly 4s. Roger le Glede holds a cottage and
three roods of land and owes 2s.6d. Easter and Michaelmas. Alexander
Hamound holds a little piece of land near Aldewisse and owes one goose
of the value of 2d. The sum of the whole rent of the free tenants, with
the value of the goose, is 18s.9d. They say, moreover, that John of
Cayworth holds a house and 30 acres of land, and owes yearly 2s. at
Easter and Michaelmas; and he owes a cock and two hens at Christmas of
the value of 4d. And he ought to harrow for two days at the Lenten
sowing with one man and his own horse and his own harrow, the value of
the work being 4d.; and he is to receive from the lord on each day three
meals, of the value of 5d., and then the lord will be at a loss of 1d.
Thus his harrowing is of no value to the service of the lord. And he
ought to carry the manure of the lord for two days with one cart, with
his own two oxen, the value of the work being 8d.; and he is to receive
from the lord each day three meals at the value as above. And thus the
service is worth 3d. clear. And he shall find one man for two days, for
mowing the meadow of the lord, who can mow, by estimation, one acre and
a half, the value of the mowing of an acre being 6d.: the sum is
therefore 9d. And he is to receive each day three meals of the value
given above. And thus that mowing is worth 4d. clear. And he ought to
gather and carry that same hay which he has cut, the price of the work
being 3d. And he shall have from the lord two meals for one man, of the
value of 1 1/2 d. Thus the work will be worth 1 1/2 d. clear. And he
ought to carry the hay of the lord for one day with a cart and three
animals of his own, the price of the work being 6d. And he shall have
from the lord three meals of the value of 2 1/2 d. And thus the work is
worth 3 1/2 d. clear. And he ought to carry in autumn beans or oats for
two days with a cart and three animals of his own, the value of the work
being 12d. And he shall receive from the lord each day three meals of
the value given above. And thus the work is worth 7d. clear. And he
ought to carry wood from the woods of the lord as far as the manor, for
two days in summer, with a cart and three animals of his own, the value
of the work being 9d. And he shall receive from the lord each day three
meals of the price given above. And thus the work is worth 4d. clear.
And he ought to find one man for two days to cut heath, the value of the
work being 4d., and he shall have three meals each day of the value
given above: and thus the lord will lose, if he receives the service,
3d. Thus that mowing is worth nothing to the service of the lord. And he
ought to carry the heath which he has cut, the value of the work being
5d. And he shall receive from the lord three meals at the price of 2 1/2
d. And thus the work will be worth 2 1/2 d. clear. And he ought to carry
to Battle, twice in the summer season, each time half a load of grain,
the value of the service being 4d. And he shall receive in the manor
each time one meal of the value of 2d. And thus the work is worth 2d.
clear. The totals of the rents, with the value of the hens, is 2s.4d.
The total of the value of the works is 2s.3 1/2 d., being owed from the
said John yearly. William of Cayworth holds a house and 30 acres of land
and owes at Easter and Michaelmas 2s. rent. And he shall do all customs
just as the aforesaid John of Cayworth. William atte Grene holds a house
and 30 acres of land and owes in all things the same as the said John.
Alan atte Felde holds a house and 16 acres of land (for which the
sergeant pays to the court of Bixley 2s.), and he owes at Easter and
Michaelmas 4s., attendance at the manor court, relief, and heriot. John
Lyllingwyst holds a house and four acres of land and owes at the two
terms 2s., attendance at the manor court, relief, and heriot. The same
John holds one acre of land in the fields of Hoo and owes at the two
periods 2s., attendance, relief, and heriot. Reginald atte Denne holds a
house and 18 acres of land and owes at the said periods 18d.,
attendance, relief, and heriot. Robert of Northehou holds three acres of
land at Saltcote and owes at the said periods attendance, relief, and
heriot. Total of the rents of the villeins, with the value of the hens,
20s. Total of all the works of these villeins, 6s.10 1/2 d. And it is to
be noted that none of the above-mentioned villeins can give their
daughters in marriage, nor cause their sons to be tonsured, nor can they
cut down timber growing on the lands they hold, without licence of the
bailiff or sergeant of the lord, and then for building purposes and not
otherwise. And after the death of any one of the aforesaid villeins, the
lord shall have as a heriot his best animal, if he had any; if, however,
he have no living beast, the lord shall have no heriot, as they say. The
sons or daughters of the aforesaid villeins shall give, for entrance
into the holding after the death of their predecessors, as much as they
give of rent per year. Sylvester, the priest, holds one acre of meadow
adjacent to his house and owes yearly 3s. Total of the rent of tenants
for life, 3s. Petronilla atte Holme holds a cottage and a piece of land
and owes at Easter and Michaelmas - ; also, attendance, relief, and
heriot. Walter Herying holds a cottage and a piece of land and owes at
Easter and Michaelmas 18d., attendance, relief, and heriot. Isabella
Mariner holds a cottage and owes at the feast of St. Michael 12d.,
attendance, relief, and heriot. Jordan atte Melle holds a cottage and 1
1/2 acres of land and owes at Easter and Michaelmas 2s., attendance,
relief, and heriot. William of Batelesmere holds one acre of land with a
cottage and owes at the feast of St. Michael 3d., and one cock and one
hen at Christmas of the value of 3d., attendance, relief, and heriot.
John le Man holds half an acre of land with a cottage and owes at the
feast of St. Michael 2s., attendance, relief, and heriot. Hohn Werthe
holds one rood of land with a cottage and owes at the said term 18d.,
attendance, relief, and heriot. Geoffrey Caumbreis holds half an acre
and a cottage and owes at the said term 18d., attendance, relief, and
heriot. William Hassok holds one rood of land and a cottage and owes at
the said term 18d., attendance, relief, and heriot. The same man holds 3
1/2 acres of land and owes yearly at the feast of St. Michael 3s. for
all. Roger Doget holds half an acre of land and a cottage, which were
those of R. the miller, and owes at the feast of St. Michael 18d.,
attendance, relief, and heriot. Thomas le Brod holds one acre and a
cottage and owes at the said term 3s., attendance, relief, and heriot.
Agnes of Cayworth holds half an acre and a cottage and owes at the said
term 18d., attendance, relief, and heriot. Total of the rents of the
said cottagers, with the value of the hens, 34s.6d. And it is to be
noted that all the said cottagers shall do as regards giving their
daughters in marriage, having their sons tonsured, cutting down timber,
paying heriot, and giving fines for entrance, just as John of Cayworth
and the rest of the villeins above mentioned." The above fines and
penalties, with heriots and reliefs, are worth 5s. yearly.
Often one village was divided up among two or more manors, so different
manorial customs made living conditions different among the villagers.
Villages usually had carpenters, smiths, saddlers, thatchers, carters,
fullers, dyers, soapmakers, tanners, needlers, and brassworkers. Each
villein had his own garden in which to grow fruit and vegetables next to
his house, a pig (which fattened more quickly than other animals),
strips in the common field, and sometimes an assart [a few acres of his
own to cultivate as he pleased on originally rough uncultivated waste
land beyond the common fields and the enclosed common pastures and
meadows]. Most villeins did not venture beyond their village except for
about ten miles to a local shrine or great fair a couple times a year.
At the fair might be fish, honey, spices, salt, garlic, oil, furs,
silks, canvas, soap, pans, pots, grindstones, coal, nails, tar, iron,
shovels, brushes, pails, horses, and packsaddles. Early apothecaries
might sell potions there. Men and women looking for other employment
might attend to indicate their availability.
Under Edward I, villages were required to mount watches to protect life
and property and were called upon to provide one man for the army and to
pay his wages.