The Times: 1066-1100
William came from Normandy to conquer the nation. He claimed that
the former King, Edward, the Confessor, had promised the throne
to him when they were growing up together in Normandy if Edward
became King of England and had no children. William's men and
horses came in boats powered by oars and sails. The conquest did
not take long because of the superiority of his military
expertise to that of the English. He organized his army into
three groups: archers with bows and arrows, horsemen with swords
and stirrups, and footmen with hand weapons. Each group played a
specific role in a strategy planned in advance. The English army
was only composed of footmen with hand weapons and shields and
was inexperienced.
Declaring the English who fought against him to be traitors,
William declared their land confiscated. As William conquered
this land, he parceled it out among the barons who fought with
him. They again made oaths of personal loyalty to him [fealty].
They agreed to hold the land as his vassals with future military
services to him and receipt of his protection. They gave him
homage by placing their hands within his and saying "I become
your man for the tenement I hold of you, and I will bear you
faith in life and member [limb] and earthly honor against all
men". They held their land "of their lord", the King, by knight's
service. The King had "enfeoffed" them [given them a fief: a
source of income] with land. The theory that by right all land
was the King's and that land was held by others only at his gift
and in return for specified service was new to English thought.
The Saxon governing class was destroyed. The independent power of
earls, who had been drawn from three great family houses, was
curtailed. Most died or fled the country. The people were
deprived of their most popular leaders, who were excluded from
all positions of trust and profit, especially the clergy of all
degrees.
William was a stern and fierce man and ruled as an autocrat by
terror. Whenever the people revolted or resisted his mandates,
he seized their lands or destroyed the crops and laid waste the
countryside and so that they starved to death. He had a strict
system of policing the nation. Instead of the Anglo-Saxon self-
government throughout the districts and hundreds of resident
authorities in local courts, he aimed at substituting for it the
absolute rule of the barons under military rule so favorable to
the centralizing power of the Crown. He used secret police and
spies and the terrorism this system involved. This especially
curbed the minor barons and preserved the public peace.
The English people were disarmed. Curfew bells were rung at 7:00
PM when everyone had to remain in their own dwellings on pain of
death and all fires and candles were to be put out, This
prevented any nightly gatherings, assassinations, or seditions.
Order was brought to the kingdom so that no man dare kill
another, no matter how great the injury he had received. William
extended the King's peace on high roads to include the whole
nation. Any individual of any rank could travel from end to end
of the land unharmed. Before, prudent travelers would travel
only in groups of twenty.
The barons subjugated the English who were on their newly
acquired land. There began a hierarchy of seisin [rightful
occupation] of land so that there could be no land without its
lord. Also, every lord had a superior lord with the King as the
overlord or supreme landlord. One piece of land may be held by
several tenures. For instance, A, holding by barons's service of
the King, may enfeoff B, a church, to hold of him on the terms
of praying for the souls of his ancestors, and B may enfeoff a
freeman C to hold of the church by giving it a certain
percentage of his crops every year. There were about 200 barons
who held land directly of the King. Other fighting men were the
knights, who were tenants or subtenants of a baron. Knighthood
began as a reward for valor on the field of battle by the King
or a noble. Altogether there were about 5000 fighting men
holding land.
The essence of Norman feudalism was that the land remained under
the lord, whatever the vassal might do. The lord had the duty to
defend the vassals on his land. The vassal owed military service
to the lord and also the service of attending the courts of the
hundred and the shire, which were courts of the King,
administering old customary law. They were the King's courts on
the principle that a crime anywhere was a breach of the King's
peace.
This feudal bond based on occupancy of land rather than on
personal ties was uniform throughout the realm. No longer could
a man choose his lord and transfer his land with him to a new
lord. He held his land at the will of his lord, to be terminated
anytime the lord decided to do so. In later eras, tenancies would
be held for the life of the tenant, and even later, for his life
and those of his heirs.
This uniformity of land organization plus the new requirement of
every freeman to take an oath of loyalty directly to the King
that would supersede any oath to any other man gave the nation a
new unity.
English villani, bordarii, cottarii, and servi on the land of the
barons were subjugated into a condition of "villeinage"
servitude and became "tied to the land" so that they could not
leave the land without their lord's permission. The villeins
formed a new bottom class as the population's percentage of
slaves declined dramatically. They held their land of their
lord, the baron. To guard against uprisings of the conquered
people, the barons used villein labor to build about a hundred
great stone castles, with moats and walls with towers around
them, at easily defensible positions such as hilltops all over
the nation.
A castle could be built only with permission of the King. A
typical castle had a stone building of about four floors on a
small, steep hill. Later it also had an open area surrounded by
a stone wall with towers at the corners. Around the wall were
ditches and banks and perhaps a moat. One traveled over these via
a drawbridge let down at the gatehouse of the enclosing wall. On
either side of the gatehouse were chambers for the guards.
Arrows could be shot through slits in the enclosing walls.
Inside the enclosed area might be stables, a granary, barracks
for the soldiers, and workshops.
The castle building was entered by an outer wood staircase to the
guard room on the second floor. The first floor had a well and
was used as a storehouse and/or dungeons for prisoners. The
second floor had a two-storied great hall, with small rooms and
aisles around it within the thick walls. There was also a chapel
area on the second floor. There were small areas of the third
floor which could be used for sleeping. The floors were wood and
were reached by a spiral stone staircase in one corner of the
building. Sometimes there was a reservoir of water on an upper
level with pipes carrying the water to floors below. Each floor
had a fireplace with a slanted flue going through the wall to the
outside. There were toilets in the walls with a pit or shaft
down the exterior of the wall. The first floor had only arrow
slits in the walls, but the higher floors had small windows.
The great hall was the main room of the castle. It was used for
meals and meetings at which the lord received homages, recovered
fees, and held the view of frankpledge. At the main table, the
lord and his lady sat on chairs. Everyone else sat on benches at
trestle tables, which could be folded up, e.g. at night.
Lighting was by oil lamps or candles on stands or on wall
fixtures. The residence of the lord's family and guests was at a
screened off area at the extreme end of the hall or on a higher
floor. Chests stored garments and jewels. Iron keys and locks
were used for chests and doors. The great bed had a wooden frame
and springs made of interlaced rope or strips of leather. It was
covered with a feather mattress, sheets, quilts, fur covers, and
pillows. Drapery around the bed kept out cold drafts and
provided privacy. There was a water bowl for washing in the
morning. A chamber pot was kept under the bed for nighttime use.
Hay was used as toilet paper. The lord's personal servants slept
nearby on benches or trundle beds. The floor of the hall was
strewn with straw, on which common folk could sleep at night.
There were stools on which to sit. Cup boards (boards on which
to store cups) and chests stored spices and plate. Cooking was
done outside on an open fire, roasting on spits and boiling in
post. One-piece iron shears were available to cut cloth. Hand
held spindles were used for weaving. On the roof there were
rampart walks for sentry patrols and parapets from which to
shoot arrows or throw things at besiegers. Each tenant of the
demesne of the King where he had a castle had to perform a
certain amount of castle-guard duty for its continuing defense.
These knights performing castle- guard duty slept at their posts.
Bathing was done in a wooden tub located in the garden in the
summer and indoors near the fire in winter. The great bed and tub
for bathing were taken on trips with the lord.
Markets grew up outside castle walls. Any trade on a lord's land
was subject to "passage", a payment on goods passing through,
"stallage", a payment for setting up a stall or booth in a
market, and "pontage", a payment for taking goods across a
bridge.
The Norman man was clean-shaven and wore his hair short. He wore
a long-sleeved under-tunic of linen or wool that reached to his
ankles. Over this the Norman noble wore a tunic without sleeves,
open at the sides, and fastened with a belt. Over one shoulder
was his cloak, which was fastened on the opposite shoulder by
being drawn through a ring brooch and knotted. He wore thick
cloth stockings and leather shoes. Common men wore tunics to the
knee so as not to impede them in their work. They could roll up
their stockings when working in the fields. A lady also wore a
long-sleeved linen or wool tunic fitted at the waist and laced
at the side, but full in the skirt. She wore a jeweled belt,
passed twice around her waist and knotted in front. Her hair was
often in two long braids, and her head covered with a white
round cloth held in place by a metal circlet like a small crown.
Over her tunic was a cloak fastened at the front with a cord. The
Norman knight wore an over-tunic of leather or heavy linen on
which were sewn flat rings or iron and a conical iron helmet
with nose cover. He wore a sword at his waist and a metal shield
on his back, or he wore his sword and his accompanying retainers
carried spear and shield.
Norman customs were adopted by the nation. As a whole,
Anglo-Saxon men shaved their beards and whiskers from their
faces, but they kept their custom of long hair flowing from
their heads. But a few kept their whiskers and beards in protest
of the Normans. Everyone had a permanent surname indicating
parentage, place of birth, or residence, such as Field, Pitt,
Lane, Bridge, Ford, Stone, Burn, Church, Hill, Brook, Green.
Other names came from occupations such as Shepherd, Carter,
Parker, Fowler, Hunter, Forester, Smith. Still other came from
personal characteristics such as Black, Brown, and White, Short,
Round, and Long. Some took their names from animals such as
Wolf, Fox, Lamb, Bull, Hogg, Sparrow, Crow, and Swan. Others
were called after the men they served, such as King, Bishop,
Abbot, Prior, Knight. A man's surname was passed on to his son.
The Normans washed their hands before and after meals and ate
with their fingers. Feasts were stately occasions with costly
tables and splendid apparel. There were practical jokes,
innocent frolics, and witty verbal debating with repartee.
Those few coerls whose land was not taken by a baron remained
free and held their land "in socage" and became known as
sokemen.
Great stone cathedrals were built in fortified towns for
William's Norman bishops, who replaced the English bishops. Most
of the existing and new monasteries functioned as training
grounds for scholars, bishops, and statesmen rather than as
retreats from the world's problems to the security of religious
observance. The number of monks grew as the best minds were
recruited into the monasteries.
William made the church subordinate to him. Bishops were elected
only subject to the King's consent. Homage was exacted from
them. William imposed knight's service on bishoprics, abbeys,
and monasteries, which was commuted to a monetary amount.
Bishops had to attend the King's court. Bishops could not leave
the realm without the King's consent. No royal tenant or royal
servant could be excommunicated, nor his lands be placed under
interdict, without the King's consent. Interdict could demand,
for instance, that the church be closed and the dead buried in
unconsecrated ground. No church rules could be made without his
agreement to their terms. No letters from the Pope could be
received without the King's permission.
Men continued to give land to the church for their souls, such as
this grant which started the town of Sandwich: "William, King of
the English, to Lanfranc the Archbishop and Hugoni de Montfort
and Richard son of Earl Gilbert and Haimo the sheriff and all the
thegns of Kent, French and English, greeting. Know ye that the
Bishop of Bayeux my brother for the love of God and for the
salvation of my soul and his own, has given to St. Trinity all
houses with their appurtances which he has at Sandwich and that
he has given what he has given by my license."
When the land was all divided out, the barons had about 3/7 of it
and the church 2/7. The King retained 2/7, including forests for
hunting, for himself and his household, on which he built many
royal castles and hundreds of manor houses throughout the
nation. He built the White Tower in London. He and his household
slept on the upper floors and there was a chapel on the second
floor and a dungeon below the first floor for prisoners. The
other castles were often built at the old fortification burhs of
Alfred. Barons and earls had castle-guard duty in them. William
was constantly moving about the land from castle to castle,
where he entertained his magnates and conducted public business,
such as deciding disputes about holding of land. Near these
castles and other of his property, he designated many areas as
royal hunting forests. Anyone who killed a deer in these forests
was mutilated, for instance by blinding. People living within
the boundaries of the designated forestland could no longer go
into nearby woods to get meat or honey, dead wood for firing, or
live wood for building. Swineherds could no longer drive pigs
into these woods to eat acorns they beat down from oak trees.
Making clearings and grazing livestock in the designated
forestland were prohibited. Most of the nation was either wooded
or bog at this time.
London was a walled town of one and two story houses made of mud,
twigs, and straw, with thatched roofs. There were churches, a
goods market, a fish market, quays on the river, and a bridge
over the river. Streets probably named by this time include
Bread Street, Milk Street, Honey Lane, Wood Street, and
Ironmonger Lane. Fairs and games were held outside the town
walls in a field called "Smithfield". The freemen were a small
percentage of London's population. There was a butchers' guild,
a pepperers' guild, a goldsmiths' guild, the guild of St.
Lazarus, which was probably a leper charity, the Pilgrims' guild,
which helped people going on pilgrimages, and four bridge
guilds, probably for keeping the wooden London Bridge in repair.
Men told the time by sundials, some of which were portable and
could be carried in one's pocket. London could defend itself,
and a ringing of the bell of St. Paul's Church could shut every
shop and fill the streets with armed horsemen and soldiers led
by a soldier port-reeve.
William did not interfere with landholding in London, but
recognized it's independence as a borough in this writ:
"William the King greets William, Bishop of London, and Gosfrith
the portreeve, and all the burgesses of London friendly. Know
that I will that you be worthy of all the laws you were worthy
of in the time of King Edward. And I will that every child shall
be his father's heir after his father's day. And I will not
suffer any man to do you wrong. God preserve you."
So London was not subjected to the Norman feudal system. It had
neither villeins nor slaves. Whenever Kings asserted authority
over it, the citizens reacted until the King "granted" a charter
reaffirming the freedoms of the city and its independence.
William's reign was a time of tentative expedients and simple
solutions. He administered by issuing writs with commands or
prohibitions. These were read aloud by the sheriffs in the
county courts and other locations. Administration was by the
personal servants of his royal household, such as the
Chancellor, steward, butler, chamberlain, and constable. The
constable was in charge of the knights of the royal household.
Under pressure from the ecclesiastical judges, William replaced
the death penalty by that of the mutilation of blinding,
chopping off hands, and castrating offenders. Castration was the
punishment for rape. But these mutilations usually led to a slow
death by gangrene.
The Normans used the Anglo-Saxon concepts of jurisdictional
powers. Thus when William confirmed "customs" to the abbot of
Ely, these were understood to include the following: 1) sac and
soke - the right to hold a court of private jurisdiction and
enjoy its profits, 2) toll - a payment in towns, markets, and
fairs for goods and chattel bought and sold, 3) team - persons
might be vouched to warranty in the court, the grant of which
made a court capable of hearing suits arising from the transfer
of land, 4) infangenthef - right of trying and executing thieves
on one's land, 4) hamsocne, 5) grithbrice - violation of the
grantees' special peace, for instance that of the sheriff, 6)
fihtwite - fine for a general breach of the peace, 7) fyrdwite -
fine for failure to appear in the fyrd [national militia].
Every shire had at least one burh, or defensible town. Kings had
appointed a royal moneyer in each to mint silver coins for local
use. On one side was the King's head in profile and on the other
side was the name of the moneyer. When a new coinage was issued,
all moneyers had to go to London to get the new dies. William's
head faced frontally on his dies, instead of the usual profile
used by former Kings.
William held and presided over his council three times a year, as
was the custom, at Easter, Christmas, and Whitsuntide. This was
an advisory council and consisted of earls, greater barons,
officers of the King's household, archbishops, and bishops. It's
functions were largely ceremonial. William's will was the motive
force which under lay all its action. When it was administering
royal justice, it was called the Royal Court. The justiciar was
the head of all legal matters and represented the King in his
absence from the realm. The Treasurer was responsible for the
collection and distribution of revenue. The Chancellor headed
the Chancery and the chapel.
Sheriffs became powerful figures as the primary agents for
enforcing royal edicts. They collected the royal taxes, executed
royal justice, and presided over and controlled the hundred and
shire courts. They also took part in the keeping of castles and
often managed the estates of the King. Most royal writs were
addressed to the sheriff and shire courts. They also led the
shire militia in time of war or rebellion.
Royal income came from customary dues, profits of coinage and of
justice, and revenues from the King's own estates. For war, a
man with five hides of land was required to furnish one
heavy-armed horseman for forty days service in a year. A threat
of a Viking invasion caused William to reinstitute the danegeld
tax. To impose this uniformly, he sent commissioners to conduct
surveys by sworn verdicts of appointed groups of local men. A
detailed survey of land holdings and the productive worth of
each was made in 1086. The English called it the "Doomsday Book"
because there was no appeal from it.
The survey revealed, for instance, that one estate had "on the
home farm five plough teams: there are also 25 villeins and 6
cotters with 14 teams among them. There is a mill worth 2s. a
year and one fishery, a church and four acres of meadow, wood
for 150 pigs and two stone quarries, each worth 2s. a year, and
two nests of hawks in the wood and 10 slaves." This estate was
deemed to be worth 480s. a year.
Laxton "had 2 carucates of land [assessed] to the geld. [There
is] land for 6 ploughs. There Walter, a man of [the lord]
Geoffrey Alselin's has 1 plough and 22 villeins and 7 bordars [a
bordar had a cottage and a small amount land in return for
supplying small provisions to his lord] having 5 ploughs and 5
serfs and 1 female serf and 40 acres of meadow. Wood [land] for
pannage [foraging by pigs] 1 league in length and half a league
in breadth. In King Edward's time it was worth 9 pounds; now [it
is worth] 6 pounds."
Ilbert de Laci has now this land, where he has twelve ploughs in
the demesne; and forty-eight villani, and twelve bordars with
fifteen ploughs, and three churches and three priests, and three
mills of ten shillings. Wood pastures two miles long, and one
broad. The whole manor five miles long and two broad. Value in
King Edward's time sixteen pounds, the same now.
That manor of the town of Coventry which was individually held
was that of the Countess of Coventry, who was the wife of the
earl of Mercia. "The Countess held in Coventry. There are 5
hides. The arable land employs 20 ploughs. In the demesne lands
there are 3 ploughs and 7 ploughs. In the demesne lands there are
3 ploughs and 7 bondmen. There are 50 villeins and 12 bordars
with 20 ploughs. The mill there pay[s] 3 shillings. The
woodlands are 2 miles long and the same broad. In King Edward's
time and afterwards, it was worth 22 pounds [440 s.], now only
11 pounds by weight. These lands of the Countess Godiva Nicholas
holds to farm of the King."
The survey shows a few manors and monasteries owned a salt-house
or salt-pit in the local saltworks, from which they were
entitled to obtain salt.
This survey resulted in the first national tax system of about
6s. per hide of land.
The survey also provided William with a summary of customs of
areas. For instance, in Oxfordshire, "Anyone breaking the King's
peace given under his hand and seal to the extent of committing
homicide shall be at the King's mercy in respect of his life and
members. That is if he be captured. And if he cannot be
captured, he shall be considered as an outlaw, and anyone who
kills him shall have all his possessions. The King shall take
the possessions of any stranger who has elected to live in
Oxford and who dies in possession of a house in that town, and
without any kinfolk. The King shall be entitled to the body and
the possessions of any man who kills another within his own
court or house excepting always the dower of his wife, if he has
a wife who has received dower.
The courts of the King and barons became schools of chivalry
wherein seven year old noble boys became as pages or valets,
wore a dagger and waited upon the ladies of the household. At
age fourteen, they were advanced to squires and admitted into
more familiar association with the knights and ladies of the
court. They perfected their skills in dancing, riding, fencing,
hawking, hunting and jousting. Before knighthood, they played
team sports in which one team tried to put the other team to
rout. A knight usually selected a wife from the court at which
he grew up.
These incidents of land tenure began (but were not firmly
established until the reign of Henry II). Each tenant, whether
baron or subtenant, had to pay an "aid" in money for ransom if
his lord was captured in war, for the knighthood of his lord's
eldest son, and for the marriage of his lord's eldest daughter.
Land could be held by an heir only if he could fight. The eldest
son began to succeed to the whole of the lands in all military
tenures. An heir of a tenant had to pay a heavy "relief" on
succession to his estate. If there was a delay in proving
heirship or paying relief, the lord would hold the land and
receive its income in the meantime, often a year. If an heir was
still a minor or female, he or she passed into his lord's
wardship, in which the lord had guardianship of the heir and
possession of the estate, with all its profits. A female heir was
expected to marry a man acceptable to the lord. The estate of an
heiress and her land was generally sold to the highest bidder.
If there were no heirs, the land escheated to the lord. If a
tenant committed felony, his land escheated to his lord.
Astrologers resided with the families of the barons. People went
to fortune tellers' shops. There was horse racing, steeple
races, and chess for recreation. Girls had dolls; boys had toy
soldiers, spinning tops, toy horses, ships, and wooden models.
The state of medicine is indicated by this medical advice brought
to the nation by William's son after treatment on the continent:
"If thou would have health and vigor Shun cares and avoid anger.
Be temperate in eating And in the use of wine. After a heavy meal
Rise and take the air Sleep not with an overloaded stomach And
above all thou must Respond to Nature when she calls."
Many free sokemen were caught up in the subjugation by baron
landlords and were reduced almost to the condition of the unfree
villein. The services they performed for their lords were often
indistinguishable. They might also hold their land by villein
tenure, although free as a person with the legal rights of a
free man. The free man still had a place in court proceedings
which the unfree villein did not.
William allowed Jewish traders to follow him from Normandy and
settle in separate sections of the main towns. They loaned money
for the building of castles and cathedrals. Christians were not
allowed by the church to engage in this usury. The Jews could
not become citizens nor could they have standing in the local
courts. Instead, a royal justiciar secured justice for them. The
Jews could practice their own religion. Only Jews could wear
yellow.
William was succeeded as King by his son William II, who imposed
on many of the customs of the nation to get more money for
himself.
The Law
The Norman conquerors brought no written law, but affirmed the
laws of the nation. Two they especially enforced were:
Anyone caught in the act of digging up the King's road, felling a
tree across it, or attacking someone so that his blood spilled
on it shall pay a fine to the King.
All freemen shall have a surety who would hand him over to
justice for his offenses or pay the damages or fines due. Also,
the entire hundred was the ultimate surety for murder and would
have to pay a "murdrum" fine.
William made these decrees:
No cattle shall be sold except in towns and before three
witnesses.
For the sale of ancient chattels, there must be a surety and a
warrantor.
No man shall be sold over the sea. (This ended the slave trade at
the port of Bristol.)
The death penalty for persons tried by court is abolished.
Judicial Procedure
"Ecclesiastical" courts were created for bishops to preside over
issues concerning the cure of souls and criminal cases in which
the ordeal was used. When William did not preside over this
court, an appeal could be made to him.
The hundred and shire courts now sat without a bishop and handled
only "civil" cases. They were conducted by the King's own
appointed sheriff. Only freemen and not bound villeins had
standing in this court.
William held court or sent the justiciar or commissioners to hold
his Royal Court [Curia Regis] in the various districts. The
commissioner appointed groups of local men to give a collective
verdict upon oath for each trial he conducted. A person could
spend months trying to catch up with the Royal Court to present a
case.
William allowed, on an ad hoc basis, certain high-level people
such as bishops and abbots and those who made a large payment,
to have land disputes decided by an inquiry of recognitors.
A dispute between a Norman and an English man over land or a
criminal act could be decided by trial by battle. Each combatant
first swore to the truth of his cause and undertook to prove by
his body the truth of his cause by making the other surrender by
crying "craven" [craving forgiveness]. The combatants used
weapons like pick-axes and shields. Presumably the man in the
wrong would not fight as well because he was burdened with a
guilty conscience. Although this trial was thought to reflect
God's will, it favored the physically fit and adept person.
London had its own traditions. All London citizens met at its
folkmoot, which was held three times a year to determine its
public officers, to raise matters of public concern, and to make
ordinances. It's criminal court had the power of outlawry as did
the shire courts. Trade, land, and other civil issues were dealt
with by the Hustings Court, which met every Monday in the
Guildhall. The city was divided into wards, each of which was
under the charge of an elected alderman [elder man]. (This was
not a popular election.) The aldermen had special knowledge of
the law and a duty to declare it at the Hustings Court. Each
alderman also conducted wardmoots in his ward and decided
criminal and civil issues between its residents. Within the
wards were the guilds of the city.
William made the hundred responsible for paying a murder fine for
the murder of any of his men, if the murderer was not
apprehended by his lord within a few days. The reaction to this
was that the murderer mutilated the corpse to make identification
of nationality impossible. So William ordered
that every murder victim was assumed to be Norman unless proven
English. This began a court custom in murder cases of first
proving the victim to be English.
The Royal Court decided this case: "At length both parties were
summoned before the King's court, in which there sat many of the
nobles of the land of whom Geoffrey, bishop of Coutances, was
delegated by the King's authority as judge of the dispute, with
Ranulf the Vicomte, Neel, son of Neel, Robert de Usepont, and
many other capable judges who diligently and fully examined the
origin of the dispute, and delivered judgment that the mill
ought to belong to St. Michael and his monks forever. The most
victorious King William approved and confirmed this decision."