The Times: 1154-1215
King Henry II and Queen Eleanor, who was twelve years older, were
both intelligent, educated, energetic, well-traveled, and
experienced in affairs of state. Henry was the first Norman King
to be fully literate. Eleanor often served as regent during
Henry's reign and the reigns of their two sons: Richard, the
Lion-Hearted, and John. Henry II was a modest, courteous, and
patient man with an astonishing memory and strong personality.
He was indifferent to rank and impatient of pomp to the point of
being careless about his appearance. He usually dressed in
riding clothes and was often unkempt. He was thrifty, but
generous to the poor.
Henry revived and augmented the laws and institutions of his
grandfather, Henry I, and developed them to a new perfection.
Almost all legal and fiscal institutions appear in their first
effective form during his reign. For instance, he
institutionalized the assize for a specific function in judicial
proceedings, whereas before it had been an ad hoc body used for
various purposes.
Henry's government practiced a strict economy and he never
exploited the growing wealth of the nation. He abhorred
bloodshed and the sacrifice of men's lives. So he strove
diligently to keep the peace, when possible by gifts of money,
but otherwise with armed force. Foreign merchants with precious
goods could journey safely through the land from fair to fair.
These fairs were usually held in the early fall, after
sheep-shearing and harvesting. Frankpledge was revived. No
stranger could stay overnight (except for one night in a
borough), unless sureties were given for his good behavior. A
list of such strangers was to be given to itinerant judges.
Henry had character and the foresight to build up a centralized
system of government that would survive him. He learned about
the shires' and villages' varying laws and customs. Then, using
the model of Roman law, he gave to English institutions that
unity and system which in their casual patch-work development
had been lacking. Henry's government and courts forged permanent
direct links between the King and his subjects which cut through
the feudal structure of lords and vassals.
He developed the methods and structure of government so that
there was a great increase in the scope of administrative
activity without a concurrent increase of personal power of the
officials who discharged it. The government was self- regulating,
with methods of accounting and control which meant that no
official, however exalted, could entirely escape the
surveillance of his colleagues and the King. At the same time,
administrative and judicial procedures were perfected so that
much which had previously required the King's personal attention
was reduced to routine.
The royal household translated the royal will into action. In the
early 1100s, there had been very little machinery of central
government that was not closely associated with the royal
household. Royal government was largely built upon what had once
been purely domestic offices. Kings had called upon their
chaplains to pen letters for them. By Henry II's reign, the
Chancery was a highly efficient writing office through which the
King's will was expressed in a flow of writs, and the Chancellor
an important and highly rewarded official, but he was still
responsible for organizing the services in the royal chapel.
Similarly, the chamberlains ran the household's financial
departments. They arranged to have money brought in from a
convenient castle-treasury, collected money from sheriffs or the
King's debtors, arranged loans with the usurers, and supervised
the spending of it. It was spent for daily domestic needs, the
King's almsgiving, and the mounting of a military campaign. But
they were still responsible for personal attendance upon the
King in his privy chamber, taking care of his valuable furs,
jewels, and documents, and changing his bedlinens. There were
four other departments of the household. The steward presided
over the hall and kitchens and was responsible for supplying the
household and guests with food supplies. The butler had duties
in the hall and cellars and was responsible for the supply of
wine and ale. The marshall arranged lodgings for the King's
court as it moved about from palaces to hunting lodges, arranged
the pay of the household servants, and supervised the work of
ushers, watchmen, fire-tenders, messengers and huntsmen. The
constable organized the bodyguard and escorts, arranged for the
supply of castles, and mustered the royal army.
Henry brought order and unity by making the King's Royal Court
the common court of the land. Its purpose was to guard the
King's peace by protecting all people of free status throughout
the nation and correct the disparity in punishments given by
local courts. Heretofore, the scope of the King's peace had
varied to as little as the King's presence, his land, and his
highway. The royal demesne had shrunk to about 5% of the land.
The Common Law for all the nation was established by example of
the King's Royal Court.
A system of writs originated well-defined actions in the royal
courts. This system determined the Royal Court's jurisdiction as
against the church, lords, and sheriffs. It limited the
jurisdiction of all other courts and subordinated them to the
Royal Court. Inquests into any misdeeds of sheriffs were held,
which could result in their dismissal.
Before Henry's reign, the church had become more powerful and
asserted more authority. Henry tried to return to the concept of
the King being appointed by God and as he head of the church as
well as of the state, as in Henry I's time. Toward this end, he
published the Constitutions of Clarendon. But the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Thomas Becket, refused to agree to them. The
disageement came to a head in Henry's attempt to establish the
principle of "one law to all" by having church clerics punished
by the civil courts as before, instead of having "benefit of
clergy" to be tried only in ecclesiastical courts, even for
secular crimes. Clerics composed about one-sixth the population.
The church courts had characteristically punished with a fine or
a penance, and at most defrocking, and never imposed a death
penalty, even for murder. When Archbishop Becket was murdered
and became a martyr, "benefit of clergy" became a standard right.
Appeals could be made to the Pope without the King's permission.
The King could take a criminal cleric's chattels, but not his
life. However, though theoretically the bishops were elective,
as a practical matter, the King appointed the bishops and the
abbots.
Henry and Eleanor spoke many languages and liked discussing law,
philosophy, and history. So they gathered wise and learned man
about them, who became known as courtiers, rather than people of
social rank. They lived in the great and strong Tower of London,
which had been extended as had other castles, so that the whole
castle and grounds were defended instead of just the main
building. On the west were two strongly fortified castles
surrounded by a high and deeply entrenched wall, which had seven
double gates. Towers were spaced along the north wall and the
Thames River flowed below the south wall. To the west was the
city, where royal friends had residences with adjoining gardens
near the royal palace at Westminster. The court was a center of
culture as well as of government. The game of backgammon was
played. People wore belts with buckles, usually brass, instead
of knotting their belts.
London extended about a mile along the river and about half a
mile inland. Most of its houses were two stories, the ground
floor having booths and workshops, and the upper floor living
space. Most of the houses were wooden structures. The richer
merchants' and knights' houses were built of stone. Walls between
houses had to be stone and thatched roofs were banned because
there had been many fires. So roofs were tiled with red-brick
tiles. There were over a hundred churches in the city, which
celebrated feast days, gave alms and hospitality to strangers,
confirmed betrothals, contracted marriages, celebrated weddings,
conducted funerals, and buried the dead. Fish and no meat was
eaten on Fridays and during lent. There was dark rye bread and
expensive white wheat bread. Vegetables included onions, leeks,
and cabbage. Fruits included apples, pears, plums, cherries, and
strawberries. Water was obtained from streams running through
the town to the river and from springs. There were craft guilds
of bakers, butchers, clothworkers, and saddlers, as well as of
weavers. Vendors, craftsmen, and laborers had their customary
places, which they took up every morning. Some vendors walked
the streets announcing their wares for sale.
In London, bells heralded the start and finish of all organized
business. At sunset, the gates of the town were closed for the
night. Only the rich could afford wax candles; others had
home-made tallow or fat lights which smelled and gave off smoke.
Most people washed their bodies. Few babies survived childhood.
If a man reached 30, he could expect to live until age 50. The
sellers of merchandise and hirers of labor were distributed
every morning into their several localities according to their
trade. Outside one of the gates, a horse market was held every
week. They wore horseshoes made of iron or of a crude steel. In
other fields, countryfolk sold pigs, cows, oxen and sheep. London
Bridge was built of stone for the first time. It was supported by
a series of stone arches standing on small man-made islands. It
had such a width that a row of wood houses and a chapel was
built on top of it. In the spring it was impassable by ships
because the flow of water under it varied in height on either
side of the bridge by several feet at half tide.
Men began weaving cloth, which formerly had been done by women.
Some of the cloth was exported.
The weavers guild of London received a charter by the King in
1155, the first granted to any London craft: "Know that I have
conceded to the Weavers of London to hold their guild in London
with all the liberties and customs which they had in the time of
King Henry [I], my grandfather; and that none may intermeddle
with the craft within the city, nor in Southwark, nor in other
places pertaining to London except through them and except he be
in their guild, otherwise than was accustomed to be done in the
time of King Henry, my grandfather ...So that each year they
render thence to me two marks [26s.8d.] of gold at the feast of
St. Michael. And I forbid that any shall do injury or contumely
to them on this account under penalty of 10 pounds [200s.].
Witness T[homas], Chancellor, and Warinus, son of Gerard,
Chamberlain, at Winchester." The liberties obtained were: 1) The
weavers may elect bailiffs to supervise the work of the craft, to
punish defaulters, and to collect the ferm [amount owed to the
King]. The bailiffs were chosen from year to year and swore
before the mayor of London to do and keep their office well and
truly. 2) The bailiffs may hold court from week to week on pleas
of debt, agreements, covenants, and minor trespasses. 3) If any
of the guild members are sued in any other court on any of the
above pleas, the guild may challenge that plea to bring it to
the guild court. 4) If any member is behind in his share of the
payment to the King, the bailiffs may distrain his loom until he
has paid this.
Paying an annual payment freed the weavers from liability to
inconsequent royal fines. Failure to make this payment promptly
might have led to loss of the right, hence the rigorous penalty
of distraint upon the looms of individual weavers who fell into
arrears.
The weavers' guild punished members who used bad thread in their
weaving or did defective weaving by showing the default to the
mayor, with opportunity for the workman to make entreaty, and
the mayor and twelve members of the guild then made a verdict of
amercement of 1/2 mark [6s. 8d.] and the workman of the cloth
was also punished by the guild bailiffs according to guild
custom.
The weavers' guild tradition of brotherliness among members meant
that injury to a fellow weaver incurred a severe penalty. If a
weaver stole or eloigned [removed them to a distance where they
were unreachable] any other weaver's goods falsely and
maliciously, then he was dismissed from the guild and his loom
was taken by the guild to fulfill his portion of the annual
payment to the King. The weavers were allowed to buy and to sell
in London freely and quietly. They had all the rights of other
freemen of the city.
Thus from the middle of the 1100s A.D., the weavers enjoyed the
monopoly of their craft, rights of supervision which ensured a
high standard of workmanship, power to punish infractions of
their privileges, and full control of their members. In this
they stand as the prototype of English medieval guilds. These
rights represented the standard which all bodies of craftsmen
desired to attain. The right of independent jurisdiction was
exceptional.
On the north side of the city was a great forest with fields and
wells where students and other young men from the city took
walks in the fresh evening air. Vendors on the river bank sold
cooked fish caught from the river and wine from ships and wine
cellars.
London's chief magistrate was the port-reeve, who was appointed
by the King, until 1191. Then the port-reeve was replaced by a
mayor, who was elected yearly by the city wards. Each ward was
headed by an alderman and there were city sheriffs and
councilors. The mayors were typically rich merchant princes.
There were three ways to become a citizen of London: being the
son of a citizen, apprenticeship in a craft for seven years, and
purchase of citizenship. London growth led to its replacing
Winchester as the capital. Over its history, it generally chose
or elected its own mayor every year. (This was not a popular
election.) But there were many periods when royal authority was
asserted over it.
St. Barthomew hospital was established in London for the care of
sick pilgrims traveling to the shrine of Becket in Canterbury.
Trading was facilitated by the stabilization of the amount of
silver metallic content of the English coinage, which was called
"sterling" [strong] silver. The compass assisted the navigation
of ships and London became a major trading center for foreign
goods from many lands.
About 5% of the knights were literate. Wealthy men sent their
sons to school in monasteries to prepare them for a livelihood
in a profession or in trade or to the town of Oxford, whose
individual teachers had attracted disciples for a long time.
These schools grew up around St. Mary's Church, but had not been
started by the church as there was no cathedral school in
Oxford. Oxford had started as a burh and had a royal residence
and many tradesmen. It was given its basic charter in 1155 by
the King. This confirmed to it all the customs, laws and
liberties [rights] as those enjoyed by London. If became a model
charter for other towns.
Bachelors at Oxford studied the arts of grammar, rhetoric, and
logic, and then music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy,
until they mastered their discipline and therefore were
authorized to teach it. Teaching would then provide an income
sufficient to support a wife. The master of arts was analogous to
the master craftsman of a guild. From 1190, the civil law was
studied, and shortly thereafter, canon law. Later came the study
of medicine. The use of paper supplemented the use of parchment
for writing. Irregular edged paper was made from linen, cotton,
straw, and/or wood beaten to a pulp and then spread out over a
wire mesh to dry.
In this era, the English national race and character was formed.
Stories of good King Arthur were popular and set ideals for
behavior and justice in an otherwise barbaric age where force
was supreme. His last battle in which he lay wounded and told a
kinsman to rule in his place and uphold his laws was written in
poem ("Layamon's Brut"). Romantic stories were written and read
in English.
The only people distinguishable as Anglo-Saxon by their look and
speech were manor villeins who worked the farm land, who
composed over half the population. Intermarriage had destroyed
any distinction of Normans by look or speech alone. Although the
villeins could not buy their freedom or be freed by their lord,
they became less numerous because of the preference of
landholders for tenants motivated to perform work by potential
loss of tenure. Also, the Crown's protection of all its subjects
in criminal matters blurred the distinction between free and
unfree men.
The boroughs were dominated by lords of local manors, who usually
had a house in the borough. Similarly, burgesses usually had
farmland outside the borough. Many boroughs were granted the
right to have a common seal for the common business of the town.
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. Less than 5% of the population lived in towns. Some
windmills were used.
London guilds of craftsmen such as weavers, fullers, bakers,
loriners (makers of bit, 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 thegnes or
knights and now became a class of royal officials: the King's
minters, his chamberlain, his takers of wines, his collectors of
taxes.
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, 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 theremade, 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.
(Lords had the right of preventing their tenants and mesne lords
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 themin 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, in
copses, 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 appurtances 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 portimote
[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 portimote 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 portmanmote 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 portmanmote 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
made more compact and thick, "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.
A baron could assemble an army in a day 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 restored
the older obligation of every freeman to serve in defense of the
realm, which was a military draft. At the King's call, barons
were to appear in mail suit with sword and horse, knights in
coat of mail with shield and lance, freeholders with lance and
hauberk [coat of armor], burgesses and poorer freemen with lance
and helmet, and such as millers with pike and leather shirt. 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. This was implemented in a war with
France.
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 battles
between two sides.
A new land tax replaced the Danegeld tax. Freeholders of land
paid taxes according to their plowable land ("hidage", by the
hide, and later "carucage", by the acre). It was assessed and
collected for the King by knights with little or no
remuneration. The villein class, which in theory included the
boroughs, paid a tax based on their produce ("tallage").
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.
At the end of this period was the reign of King John, a short
man. After his mother Eleanor's death, John ruled without her
influence. He had a huge appetite for money. He imposed levies
on the capital value of all personal and moveable goods. (This
idea was taken from the tenth of rents and income from moveable
goods which had been imposed for King Richard II's crusade to
recover Jerusalem. It began the occasional subsidies called
"tenths and fifteenths" from all people on incomes from
moveables.) He sold the wardships of minors and the marriages of
heiresses to the highest bidder, no matter how base. He appointed
unprincipled men to be both sheriff and justice, enabling them
to blackmail property holders with vexatious writs and false
accusations. Writs were withheld or sold at exorbitant prices.
Crushing penalties were imposed to increase the profits of
justice. The story of Robin Hood portrays John's attempt to gain
the crown prematurely while Richard was on the Crusades to
recover Jerusalem for Christendom. In 1213, strong northern
barons refused a royal demand for scutage, arguing that the
amount was not within custom or otherwise justified. John's
heavy-handed and arbitrary rule quickly alienated all sectors of
the population. They joined the barons to pressure him to sign
the Magna Carta correcting his abuses. For instance, since John
had extracted many heavy fines from barons by personally
adjudging them blameworthy in disputes with others, the barons
wanted judgment by their peers under the established law of the
courts. In arms, the barons confronted John demanding that he
sign the Magna Carta correcting his abuses, which he did.
The Law
The peace of the sheriff still exists for his shire. The King's
peace may still be specially given, but it will cease upon the
death of the King.
Law required every good and lawful man to be bound to follow the
hue and cry when it was raised against an offender who was
fleeing. The village reeve was expected to lead the chase to the
boundary of the next jurisdiction, which would then take the
responsibility to catch the man.
No one, including the lord of a manor, may take land from anyone
else, for instance, by the customary process of distress,
without a judgment from the Royal Court. This did not apply to
London, where a landlord leasing or renting land could take
distress in his fee.
No one, including the lord of a manor, shall deprive an heir of
the land possessed by his father, i.e. his birthright.
A tenant may marry off a daughter unless his lord shows some just
cause for refusing to consent to the marriage. A tenant had to
pay an "aid" to his lord when the lord's daughter married, when
the lord's son was knighted, or when the lord's person was
ransomed.
A man [or woman] may not will away his land, but he may sell it
during his lifetime.
The land of a knight or other tenant of a military fee is
inherited by his eldest son. The socage land of a free sokeman
goes by its ancient custom before the Norman Conquest.
If a man purchased land after his marriage, his wife's dower is
still one-third of the land he had when they married, or less if
he had endowed her with less. But he could then enlarge her
dower to one-third of all of his lands. The same rule applied if
the man had no land, but endowed his wife with chattel or money
instead.
Dower law prevented a woman from selling her dower during the
life of her husband. But he could sell it or give it away. On
his death, its possessor had to give the widow the equivalent
worth of the property.
A widower had all his wife's lands by curtesy of the nation for
his lifetime to the exclusion of her heirs.
The Capital Messuage [Chief Manor] could not be given in dower or
divided, but went in its entirety to its heir.
Heirs were firstly sons, then daughters, then grandsons per
stirpes, then granddaughters per stirpes, then brothers, and
then sisters of the decedent. Male heirs of land held by
military service or sons of knights who were under the age of
twenty-one were considered to be in custody of their lords. The
lord had wardship over the heir's land, excluding the third that
was the widow's dower for her life. He had to maintain the heir
in a manner suitable to his dignity and restore to him when he
came of age his inheritance in good condition discharged from
debts. Male heirs of sokemen who were under the age of fifteen
were in the custody of their nearest kindred. The son of a
burgess came of age when he could count money, measure cloth,
and manage his father's concerns.
Female heirs remained in the custody of their lords until they
married. The lord was bound to find a marriage for his ward when
she became fourteen years of age and then deliver her
inheritance to her. She could not marry without her lord's
consent, because her husband was expected to be the lord's ally
and to do homage to him. But if a female heir lost her
virginity, her inheritance escheated to her lord.
Bastards were not heirs, even if their father married their
mother after their birth.
Any adult inheriting land had to pay a "relief" to the lord of
the land. For a knight's fee, this was 100s. For socage land,
this was one year's value. The amount for a barony depended upon
the King's pleasure.
Heirs (but not widows) were bound to pay the debts of their
fathers and ancestors. A man who married a woman who had
inherited land could not sell this land without the consent of
its heirs.
When a man dies, his wife shall take one-third and his heirs
shall take one- third of his chattels [moveables]. The other
third he may dispose of by will. If he had no heirs and no will
[intestate], all his chattels would escheat to his lord. Any
distribution of chattels would take place after all the
decedent's debts were paid from the property.
A will required two witnesses. The testator could name an
executor, but if he did not, the next of kin was the executor. A
will could not be made by a man on his death bed because he may
well have lost his memory and reason. Also, he could not give to
a younger son if in so doing, he would deprive his lawful heir.
But he could give a marriage gift to a daughter regardless of the
lawful heir.
Usury was receiving back more than what was lent, such as
interest on a loan of money. When a usurer died, all his
moveables went to the King.
A villein may not buy his own freedom (because all that he has is
his lord's), but may be set free by his lord or by someone else
who buys his freedom for him. He shall also be freed if the lord
seduced his wife, drew his blood, or refused to bail him either
in a civil or criminal action in which he was afterwards
cleared. But a freed villein did not have status to plead in
court, even if he had been knighted. If his free status were
tried in court, only a freeman who was a witness to his being
set free could avail himself of the duel to decide the issue.
However, if the villein remained peacefully in a privileged town
a year and a day and was received into its guild as a citizen,
then he was freed from villeinage in every way.
A freeman who married a villein lost his freedom. If any parent
of a child was a villein, then the child was also a villein.
All shipwrecked persons shall be treated with kindness and none
of their goods or merchandise shall be taken from them.
If one kills another on a vessel, he shall be fastened to the
dead body and thrown with it into the sea.
If one steals from another on a vessel, he shall be shaven,
tarred and feathered, and turned ashore at the first land.
Passage on the Thames River may not be obstructed by damming up
the river on each side leaving a narrow outlet to net fish. All
such wears shall be removed.
Judicial Procedure
Henry II wanted all freemen to be equally protected by one system
of law and government. So he opened his court, the Royal Court,
to all people of free tenure. A court of five justices
professionally expert in the law sat in permanence, traveled
with the King, and on points of difficulty consulted with him.
Other professional justices, on eyre [journey], appeared
periodically in all shires of the nation. They came to perform
many tasks besides adjudging civil and criminal pleas, including
promulgating and enforcing new legislation, seeking out
encroachments on royal rights, reviewing the local communities'
and officials' performance of their public duties, imposing
penalties for failure to do them or for corruption, gathering
information about outlaws and non- performance of homage, and
assessing feudal escheats to the Crown, wardships to which the
King was entitled, royal advowsons, feudal aids owed to the King,
tallages of the burgesses, and debts owed to the Jews. assessing
feudal escheats to the Crown, wardships to which the King was
entitled, royal advowsons, feudal aids owed to the King,
tallages of the burgesses, and debts owed to the Jews; The
decision-making of justices in eyre begins the process which
makes the custom of the Royal Court the common law of the
nation. The shire courts, where the travelling justices heard
all manner of business in the shires, adopted the doctrines of
the Royal Court, which then acquired an appellate jurisdiction.
The three royal courts and justices in eyre all drew from the
same small group of royal justices.
Henry erected a basic, rational framework for legal processes
which drew from tradition but lent itself to continuous
expansion and adaptation.
The Royal Court was chiefly concerned with 1) the due regulation
and supervision of the conduct of local government, 2) the
ownership and possession of land held by free tenure, 3) the
repression of serious crime, and 4) the relations between the
lay and the ecclesiastical courts.
The doctrine of tenure applied universally to the land law formed
the basis for judicial procedure in determining land rights.
Those who held lands "in fee" from the King in turn
subinfeudated their land to men of lesser rank. The concept of
tenure covered the earl, the knight (knight's service), the
church (frank-almoin [free alms]), the tenant who performed
labor services, and the tenant who paid a rent (socage). Other
tenures were: serjeanty [providing an implement of war or
performing a nonmilitary office] and burgage. All hold the land
of some lord and ultimately of the King.
Henry was determined to protect lawful seisin of land and issued
assizes [legal promulgations] giving the Royal Court authority
to decide land law issues which had not been given justice in
the shire or lord's court. These included issues of disseisin
[ejectment] of a person's free tenement or of his common of
pasture which belonged to his freehold. The writ praecipe
directed the sheriff to order the overlord of any land seized to
restore it immediately or answer for his failure in the royal
court. Though this petty assize of disseisin only provided a
swift preliminary action to protect possession pending the
lengthy and involved action [grand assize] on the issue of which
party had the more just claim or ultimate right of seisin, the
latter action was only infrequently invoked. The temptation of a
strong man to seize a neighbor's land to reap its profits for a
long time until the neighbor could prove and enforce his right
was deterred. Any such claim of recent dispossession [novel
disseisin] had to be made within three years of the disseisin.
An assize [now a judicial body] of recognition viewed the land in
question and answered these questions of fact: 1) Was the
plaintiff disseised of the freeholdin question, unjustly and
without judgment? 2) Did the defendant commit the disseisin?
Testimony of a warrantor (or an attorney sent by him in his
place) or a charter of warranty served to prove seisin by gift,
sale, or exchange. No pleadings were necessary and the action
could proceed and judgment given even without the presence of
the defendant. The justices amerced the losing party with a
monetary penalty. A successful plaintiff might be awarded
damages to compensate for the loss of revenue. Eventually royal
justices acquired authority to decide the ultimate question of
right to land using the grand assize and the alternative of an
assize instead of the traditional procedures which ended in
trial by battle.
There was also a writ for issues of inheritance of land. By law
the tenure of a person who died seised of a tenure in a lord's
demesne which was hereditary [seisin of fee] returned to the
lord, who had to give it to the heir of the decedent. If the
lord refused and kept it for himself or gave it to someone else,
the heir could sue in the Royal Court, which would decide whether
the ancestor was seised as of fee in his demesne, if the
plaintiff was the nearest heir, and whether the ancestor had
died, gone on a crusade but not returned, or had become a monk.
Issues of seisin were brought to the Royal Court by a contestant
in a local court who "put himself [or herself] upon the King's
grand assize". Then his action would be removed to the Royal
Court. The assize would consist of twelve knights from the
district who were elected by four knights and who were known as
truthful men and who were likely to possess knowledge of the
facts.
The tenant could object to any of the twelve knights for just
cause as determined by the court. Each of the twelve gave an
oath as to whether the plaintiff's or the defendant's position
was correct. If any did not know the truth of the matter, others
were found until twelve agreed [the recognitors] in favor of one
side. Perjury was punished by forfeiture of all one's goods and
chattels to the King and at least one year's imprisonment.
Alternately, the tenant-defendant could still chose trial by
duel. A duel was fought between the parties or their champions.
The losing party of a duel had to pay a fine of 60s.
However, if the parties were relatives, neither the assize nor
the duel was available to them, but the matter had to be decided
by the law of inheritance. Nor was burgage tenure usually
decided by assize.
This assize procedure extended in time to all other types of
civil actions.
Also removable to the Royal Court from the shire courts were
issues of a lord's claim to a person as his villein (duel not
available), service or relief due to a lord, dower rights, a
creditor's refusal to restore a gage [something given as
security] to a debtor who offered payment or a deposit, money due
to a lender, a seller, or a person to whom one had an obligation
under a charter, fish or harvest or cattle taken from lands
unjustly occupied, cattle taken from pasture, rights to enjoy a
common, to stop troubling someone's transport, to make
restitution of land wrongfully occupied, to make a lord's bailiff
account to him for the profits of the manor.
A person who felt he had not had justice in the manor court could
appeal to the King for a writ of right after the manor court's
decision or for a writ praecipe during the manor court's
proceeding.
The Royal Court also decided disputes regarding baronies,
nuisance or encroachments on royal land or public ways or public
waterways, such as diverting waters from their right course and
issues of nuisance by the making or destroying of a ditch or the
destruction of a pond by a mill to the injury of a person's
freehold. Other pleas of the Crown were: insult to the royal
dignity, treason, breaches of safe-conducts, and injury to the
King's servants.
Henry involved the Royal Court in many criminal issues, formerly
decided in the shire and hundred courts. To detect crimes, he
required royal officers to routinely ask selected
representatives: knights or other landholders, of every
neighborhood if any person were suspected of any murder,
robbery, etc. A traveling royal justice or a sheriff would then
hold an inquest, in which the representatives answered by oath
what people were reputed to have done certain crimes. They made
such inquiries through assizes of presentment, usually composed
of twelve men from each hundred and four men for each township.
(These later evolved into grand juries). These assizes were an
ancient institution in many parts of the country. They consisted
of representatives of the hundreds, usually knights, and
villages who testified under oath to all crimes committed in
their neighborhood, and indicted those they suspected as
responsible and those harboring them. What the assize did was to
insist upon the adoption of a standard procedure everywhere
systematically. The procedure was made more regular instead of
depending on crime waves. If indicted, the suspected persons
were then sent to the ordeal. There was no trial by compurgation,
which was abolished by Henry. If determined guilty, he forfeited
his chattels to the King and his land reverted to his landlord.
If he passed the ordeal but was ill-famed in the community, he
could be banished from the community. Later the ordeal was
abolished.
As before, a person could also be brought to trial by the
accusation of the person wronged. If the accused still denied
the charge after the accuser testified and the matter
investigated by inquiries and interrogation and then analyzed, a
duel was held, unless the accuser was over the age of sixty or
maimed, in which case the accused went to the ordeal.
Criminal matters such as killing the King or sedition or
betraying the nation or the army, fraudulent concealment of
treasure trove [finding a hoard of coins which had been buried
when danger approached], breach of the King's peace, homicide,
murder (homicide for which there were no eye-witnesses), burning
(a town, house, men, animals or other chattel for hatred or
revenge), robbery, rape and falsifying (e.g. false charters or
false measures or false money) were punishable by death or loss
of limb. House-breaking, harboring outlaws, the royal
perquisites of shipwreck and the beasts of the sea which were
stranded on the coast were also punishable in the Royal Court.
The Royal Court had grown substantially and was not always
presided over by the King. To avoid court agents from having too
much discretionary power, there was a systematic procedure for
bringing cases to the Royal Court. First, a plaintiff had to
apply to the King's Chancery for a standardized writ into which
the cause had to fit. The plaintiff had to pay a fee and provide
a surety that the plea was brought in good faith. The progress
of the suit was controlled at crucial points by precisely
formulated writs to the sheriff, instructing him for instance,
to put the disputed property under royal protection pending a
decision, to impanel an assize and have it view the property in
advance of the justices' arrival, to ascertain a point of fact
material to the plea, or to summon a 'warrantor' to support a
claim by the defendant.
The Royal Court kept a record on its cases on parchment kept
rolled up: its "rolls". The oldest roll of 1194 is almost
completely comprised of land cases.
Anyone could appoint an agent, an "attorney", to appear in court
on his behalf, it being assumed that the principal could not be
present. The principal was then bound by the actions of his
agent. The common law system became committed to the "adversary
system" with the parties struggling judicially against each
other.
The Royal Court took jurisdiction over issues of whether certain
land was civil or ecclesiastical [assize utrum], and therefore
whether the land owed services or payment to the Crown or not.
It also heard issues of disturbance of advowson, a complex of
rights to income from a church and to the selection of a parson
for the church [assize of darrein [last] presentment]. Many
churches had been built by a lord on his manor for his villeins.
The lord had then appointed a parson and provided for his upkeep
out of the income of the church. In later times, the lord's
chosen parson was formally appointed by the bishop. By the 1100s,
many lords had given their advowsons to abbeys.
As before, the land of any person who had been outlawed or
convicted of a felony escheated to his lord. His moveable goods
and chattels became the King's.
The manor court heard cases which arose out of the unfree tenures
of the lord's peasantry.
The honorial court, part of the manor court, heard distraint,
also called "distress", issues. Distraint was a landlord's
method of forcing a tenant to perform the services of his fief.
To distrain by the fief, a lord first obtained a judgment of his
court. Otherwise, he distrained only by goods and chattels
without judgment of his court. A distraint was merely a security
to secure a person's services, if he agreed he owed them, or his
attendance in court, if he did not agree that he owed them. Law
and custom restricted the type of goods and chattels
distrainable, and the time and manner of distraint. For instance,
neither clothes, household utensils, nor a riding horse was
distrainable. The lord could not use the chattels taken while
they were in his custody. If cattle in custody were not
accessible to the tenant, the lord had to feed them at his
expense. The lord, if he were not the King, could not sell the
chattel. The action of replevin was available to the tenant to
recover property which had been wrongly distressed. This court
also determined inheritance and dower issues.
The court of the vill enforced the village ordinances. The
hundred court dealt with the petty crimes of lowly men in the
neighborhood of a few vills. The shire and borough courts heard
cases of felonies, accusations against freemen, tort, and debts.
The knights make the shire courts work as legal and
administrative agencies of the Crown.
Admiralty issues (since no assize could be summoned on the high
seas), and tenement issues of land held in frankalmoin ["free
alms" for the poor to relieve the King of this burden], where
the tenant was a cleric were heard in the ecclesiastical courts.
The church copied the assize procedure developed by the Royal
Court to detect ecclesiastical offenses. Trial was still by
compurgation. Bishops could request the Chancery to imprison an
offender who had remained excommunicant for forty days, until he
made amends. Chancery complied as a matter of course. This went
on for six centuries.
The delineations of jurisdiction among these courts was confused
and there was much competing and overlapping of jurisdictions.
However, the court could appoint arbitrators or suggest to the
parties to compromise to avoid the harshness of a decisive
judgment which might drive the losing party to violent
self-help.
The office of coroner was established in the last years of
Richard's reign to determine if sudden deaths were accidental or
due to murder.
Chief Justice Ranulph Glanville wrote a treatise on the writs
which could be brought in the Royal Court and the way they could
be used. It was a practical manual of procedure and of the law
administered in the Royal Court.