Chapter 5

The Times: 1100-1154

King Henry I, son of William the Conquerer, furthered peace

between the Normans and native English by his marriage to a niece of

King Edward the Confessor called Matilda. She married him on condition

that he grant a charter of rights undoing some practices of the past

reigns of William I and William II. Peace was also furthered by the

fact that Henry I had been born in England and English was his native

tongue. The private wars of lords were now replaced by less serious

mock battles.

Henry was a shrewd judge of character and of the course of

events, cautious before taking action, but decisive in carrying out his

plans. He was faithful and generous to his friends. He showed a strong

practical element of calculation and foresight. Although illiterate, he

was intelligent and a good administrator. He had an efficient

intelligence gathering network and an uncanny knack of detecting hidden

plans before they became conspiratorial action. He made many able men

of inferior social position nobles, thus creating a class of career

judges and administrators in opposition to the extant hereditary

aristocracy. He loved books and built a palace at Oxford to which he

invited scholars for lively discussion. Euclid's "Elements" ", which

deduced from axioms the properties of lines, circles, and spheres, was

introduced into England.

Queen Matilda served as regent of the kingdom in Henry's

absence, as William's queen had for him. Both queens received special

coronation apart from their husbands; they held considerable estates

which they administered through their own officers, and were frequently

composed of escheated honors. Matilda was learned and a literary

patron. She founded an important literary and scholastic center. Her

compassion was great and her charities extensive. In London she founded

several almshouses and a caregiving infirmary for lepers. These were

next to small monastic communities. She also had new roads and bridges

built.

Henry issued charters restoring customs which had been

subordinated to royal impositions by previous Kings, which set a

precedent for later Kings. His coronation charter describes certain

property rights he restored after the oppressive reign of his brother,

William II.

"Henry, King of the English, to Samson the bishop, and Urse of

Abbetot, and to all his barons and faithful vassals, both French and

English, in Worcestershire, greeting.

[1.] Know that by the mercy of God and by the common counsel of the

barons of the whole kingdom of England I have been crowned king of this

realm. And because the kingdom has been oppressed by unjust exactions,

I now, being moved by reverence towards God and by the love I bear you

all, make free the Church of God; so that I will neither sell nor lease

its property; nor on the death of an archbishop or a bishop or an abbot

will I take anything from the demesne of the Church or from its vassals

during the period which elapses before a successor is installed. I

abolish all the evil customs by which the kingdom of England has be

unjustly oppressed. Some of those evil customs are here set forth.

[2.] If any of my barons or of my earls or of any other of my tenants

shall die his heir shall not redeem his land as he was wont to do in

the time of my brother, but he shall henceforth redeem it by means of a

just and lawful relief. Similarly the men of my barons shall redeem

their lands from their lords by means of a just and lawful relief.

[3.] If any of my barons or of my tenants shall wish to give -in

marriage his daughter or his sister or his niece or his cousin, he

shall consult me about the matter; but I will neither seek payment for

my consent, nor will I refuse my permission, unless he wishes to give

her in marriage to one of my enemies. And if, on the death of one of my

barons or of one of my tenants, a daughter should be his heir, I will

dispose of her in marriage and of her lands according to the counsel

given me by my barons. And if the wife of one of my tenants shall

survive her husband and be without children, she shall have her dower

and her marriage portion [that given to her by her parents], and I will

not give her in marriage unless she herself consents.

[4.] If a widow survives with children under age, she shall have her

dower and her marriage portion, so long as she keeps her body chaste;

and I will not give her in marriage except with her consent. And the

guardian of the land, and of the children, shall be either the widow or

another of their relations, as may seem more proper. And I order that

-my barons shall act likewise towards the sons and daughters -and

widows of their men.

[5.] I utterly forbid that the common mintage [a forced levy to prevent

loss to the King from depreciation of the -coinage], which has been

taken from the towns and counties, shall henceforth be levied, since it

was not so levied in the time of King Edward [the Confessor]. If any

moneyer or other person be taken with false money in his possession,

let true justice be visited upon him.

[6.] I forgive all pleas and all debts which were owing to my brother,

except my own proper dues, and except those things which were agreed to

belong to the inheritance of others, or to concern the property which

justly belonged to others. And if anyone had promised anything for his

heritage, I remit it, and I also remit all 'reliefs' which were

promised for direct inheritance.

[7.] If any of my barons or of my men, being ill, shall give away or

bequeath his movable property, I will allow that it shall be bestowed

according to his desires. But if, prevented either by violence or

through sickness, he shall die intestate as far as concerns his movable

property, his widow or his children, or his relatives or one his true

men shall make such division for the sake of his soul, as may seem best

to them.

[8.] If any of my barons or of my men shall incur a forfeit, he shall

not be compelled to pledge his movable property to an unlimited amount,

as was done in the time of my father [William I] and my brother; but he

shall only make payment -according to the extent of his legal

forfeiture, as was done before the time of my father and in the time of

my earlier predecessors. Nevertheless, if he be convicted of breach of

faith or of crime, he shall suffer such penalty as is just.

[9.] I remit all murder fines which were incurred before the day on

which I was crowned King; and such murder fines as shall now be

incurred shall be paid justly according to the law of King Edward [by

sureties].

[10.] By the common counsel of my barons I have retained the forests in

my own hands as my father did before me.

[11.] The knights, who in return for their estates perform military

service equipped with a hauberk [long coat] of mail, shall hold their

demesne lands quit of all gelds [money payments] and all labor

services; I make this concession as my own free gift in order that,

being thus relieved of so great a burden, they may furnish themselves

so well with horses and arms that they may be properly equipped to

discharge my service and to defend my kingdom.

[12.] I establish a firm peace in all my kingdom, and I order that this

peace shall henceforth be kept.

[13.] I restore to you the law of King Edward together with such

emendations to it as my father [William I] made with the counsel of his

barons.

[14.] If since the death of my brother, King William [II], anyone shall

have seized any of my property, or the property of any other man, let

him speedily return the whole of it. If he does this no penalty will be

exacted, but if he retains any part of it he shall, when discovered,

pay a heavy penalty to me.

Witness: Maurice, bishop of London; William, bishop-elect of

Winchester; Gerard, bishop of Herefore; Henry the earl; Simon the earl;

Walter Giffard; Robert of Montfort-sur-Risle; Roger Bigot; Eudo the

steward; Robert, son of Haimo; and Robert Malet.

At London when I was crowned. Farewell."

Henry took these promises seriously, which resulted in peace

and justice. Royal justice became a force to be reckoned with by the

multiplication of justices. Henry had a great respect for legality and

the forms of judicial action. He became known as the "Lion of Justice".

The payment of queen's gold, that is of a mark of gold to the

queen out of every hundred marks of silver paid, in the way of fine or

other feudal incident, to the king, probably dates from Henry I's reign.

A woman could inherit a fief if she married. The primary way

for a man to acquire control of land was to marry an heiress. If a man

were in a lower station than she was, he had to pay for his new social

status as well as have royal permission. A man could also be awarded

land which had escheated to the King. If a noble woman wanted to hold

land in her own right, she had to make a payment to the King. Many

widows bought their freedom from guardianship or remarriage from the

King. Women whose husbands were at war also ran the land of their

husbands.

Barons were lords of large holdings of farmland called

"manors". Many of the lesser barons left their dark castles to live in

semi- fortified stone houses, which usually were of two rooms with rug

hangings for drafts, as well as the sparse furniture that had been

common to the castle. There were shuttered windows to allow in light,

but which also let in the wind and rain when open. The roof was of

thatch or narrow overlapping wood shingles. The stone floor was strewn

with hay and there was a hearth near the center of the floor, with a

louvered smoke hole in the timber roof for escape of smoke. There were

barns for grain and animals. Beyond this area was a garden, orchard,

and sometimes a vineyard. The area was circumscribed by a moat over

which there was a drawbridge to a gatehouse.

The smaller room was the lord and lady's bedroom. It had a

canopied bed, chests for clothing, and wood frames on which clothes

could be hung. Life on the manor revolved around the larger room, or

hall, where the public life of the household was passed. There, meals

were served. The daily diet typically consisted of milk, soup,

porridge, fish, vegetables, and bread. Open hospitality accompanied

this communal living. There was little privacy. Manor household

villeins carried the lord's sheaves of grain to the manor barn, shore

his sheep, malted his grain, and chopped wood for his fire. At night

some slept on the floor of the hall. Others, who were cottars and

bordars, had their own dwellings nearby.

The manor house of lesser lords or knights was still built of

wood, although it often had a stone foundation.

About 35% of the land was arable land, about 25% was common

pasture land (for grazing only) or meadow land (near a stream or river

and used for hay or grazing), and about 15% was woodland. There were

these types of land and wasteland on each manor. The arable land was

allotted to the villeins in strips to equalize the best and worst land

and their distance from the village where the villeins lived. There was

three-way rotation of wheat or rye, oats or barley, and fallow land.

Cows, pigs, sheep, and fowl were kept. The meadow was allocated for hay

for the lord's household and each villein's. The villeins held land of

their lord for various services such as agricultural labor or raising

domestic animals. The villeins worked about half of their time on their

lord's fields [his demesne land], which was about a third of the

farmland. This work was primarily to gather the harvest and to plough

with oxen, using a yoke over their shoulders, and to sow in autumn and

Lent. They threshed grain on barn floors with flails cut from holly or

thorn, and removed the kernels from the shafts by hand. Work lasted

from sunrise to sunset and included women and children. The older

children could herd geese and pigs, and set snares for rabbits. The

young children could gather nuts and berries in season and other wild

edibles, and could pick up little tufts of wool shed by sheep. The old

could stay in the hut and mind the children, keep the fire going and

the black pot boiling, sew, spin, patch clothes, and cobble shoes. The

old often suffered from rheumatism. Many people had bronchitis. Many

children died of croup [inflammation of the respiratory passages]. Life

expectancy was probably below thirty-five.

The villein retained his customary rights, his house and land

and rights of wood and hay, and his right in the common land of his

township. Customary ways were maintained. The villeins of a manor

elected a reeve to communicate their interests to their lord, usually

through a bailiff, who directed the labor. Sometimes there was a

steward in charge of several of a lord's manors, who also held the

manorial court for the lord. The steward held his land of the lord by

petty serjeanty, which was a specific service to the lord. Other

serjeanty services were carrying the lord's shield and arms, finding

attendants and esquires for knights, helping in the lord's hunting

expeditions, looking after his hounds, bringing fuel, doing carpentry,

and forging irons for ploughs. The Woodward preserved the timber. The

Messer supervised the harvesting. The Hayward removed any fences from

the fields after harvest to allow grazing by cattle and sheep. The

Coward, Bullard, and Calvert tended the cows, bulls, and calves; the

Shepherd, the sheep; and the Swineherds the pigs. The Ponder impounded

stray stock. There were varieties of horses: war horses, riding horses,

courier horses, pack horses, and plough horses.

The majority of manors were coextensive with a single village.

The villeins lived in the village in one-room huts enclosed by a wood

fence, hedge, or stone wall. In this yard was a garden of onions,

leeks, mustard, peas, beans, parsley, garlic, herbs, and cabbage and

apple, pear, cherry, quince, and plum trees, and beehives. The hut had

a high-pitched roof thatched with reeds or straw and low eaves reaching

almost to the ground. The walls are built of wood-framing overlaid with

mud or plaster. Narrow slits in the walls serve as windows, which have

shutters and are sometimes covered with coarse cloth. The floor is dirt

and may be covered with straw or rushes for warmth, but usually no

hearth. In the middle is a wood fire burning on a hearthstone, which

was lit by making a spark by striking flint and iron together. The

smoke rose through a hole in the roof. At one end of the hut was the

family living area, where the family ate on a collapsible trestle table

with stools or benches. Their usual food was beans and peas, oatmeal

gruel, butter, cheese, vegetables, honey, rough bread made from a

mixture of wheat, barley, and rye flour, herrings or other salt fish,

and some salted or smoked bacon. Butter had first been used for cooking

and as a medicine to cure constipation. For puny children it could be

salted down for the winter. The bread had been roasted on the stones of

the fire; later there were communal ovens set up in villages. Cooking

was done over the fire by boiling in iron pots hung from an iron

tripod, or sitting on the hot stones of the fire. They ate from wood

bowls using a wood spoon. When they had fresh meat, it could be roasted

on a spit. Liquids were heated in a kettle. With drinking horns, they

drank water, milk, buttermilk, apple cider, mead, ale made from barley

malt, and bean and vegetable broth. They used jars and other

earthenware, e.g. for storage of salt. They slept on straw mattresses

or sacks on the floor or on benches. The villein regarded his bed area

as the safest place in the house, as did people of all ranks, and kept

his treasures there, which included his farm implements, as well as

hens on the beams, roaming pigs, and stalled oxen, cattle, and horses,

which were at the other end of the hut. Fires were put out at night to

guard against fire burning down the huts. The warmth of the animals

then helped make the hut warm. Around the room are a couple of chests

to store salt, meal, flour, a broom made of birch twigs, some woven

baskets, the distaff and spindle for spinning, and a simple loom for

weaving. All clothes were homemade. They were often coarse, greasy wool

and leather made from their own animals. The man wore a tunic of coarse

linen embroidered on the sleeves and breast, around with he wore a

girdle of rope, leather, or folded cloth. Sometimes he also wore

breeches reaching below the knee. The woman wore a loose short-sleeved

gown, under which was a tight fitting garment with long loose sleeves,

and which was short enough to be clear of the mud. If they wore shoes,

they were clumsy and patched. Some wore a hood-like cap. For really bad

weather, a man wore on his head a hood with a very elongated point

which could be wrapped around his neck. Sometimes a short cape over the

shoulders was attached. Linen was too expensive for commoners.

The absence of fresh food during the winter made scurvy

prevalent; in the spring, people eagerly sought "scurvy grass" to eat.

Occasionally there would be an outbreak of a nervous disorder due to

the ergot fungus growing in the rye used for bread. This manifested

itself in apparent madness, frightening hallucinations, incoherent

shouting, hysterical laughing, and constant scratching of itching and

burning sensations.

The villein and his wife and children worked from daybreak to

dusk in the fields, except for Sundays and holydays. He had certain

land to farm for his own family, but had to have his grain milled at

his lord's mill at the lord's price. He had to retrieve his wandering

cattle from his lord's pound at the lord's price. He was expected to

give a certain portion of his own produce, whether grain or livestock,

to his lord. However, if he fell short, he was not put off his land.

The villein, who worked the farm land as his ancestor ceorl had, now

was so bound to the land that he could not leave or marry or sell an ox

without his lord's consent. If the manor was sold, the villein was sold

as a part of the manor. When his daughter or son married or if he sent

his son to school,he had to pay a "merchet" to his lord. He could not

have a son educated without the lord's permission, and this usually

involved a fee to the lord. His best beast at his death, or "heriot",

went to his lord. If he wanted permission to live outside the manor, he

paid "chevage" yearly. Woodpenny was a yearly payment for gathering

dead wood. Sometimes a "tallage" payment was taken at the lord's will.

The villein's oldest son usually took his place on his land and

followed the same customs with respect to the lord. For an heir to take

his dead ancestor's land, the lord demanded payment of a "relief",

which was usually the amount of a year's income but sometimes as much

as the heir was willing to pay to have the land. The usual aids were

also expected to be paid.

A large village also had a smith, a wheelwright, a millwright,

a tiler and thatcher, a shoemaker and tanner, a carpenter wainwright

and carter.

Markets were about twenty miles apart because a farmer from the

outlying area could then carry his produce to the nearest town and walk

back again in the daylight hours of one day. In this local market he

could buy foodstuffs, livestock, household goods, fuels, skins, and

certain varieties of cloth.

The cloth was crafted by local weavers, dyers, and fullers. The

weaver lived in a cottage with few and narrow windows and little

furniture. He worked in the main, and sometimes the only, room. First

the raw wool was washed with water at the front door to remove the

grease. Then its fibers were disentangled and made fine with hand cards

with thistle teeth, usually by the children. Then it was spun by a

spinning wheel into thread, usually by the wife. On a double frame

loom, a set of parallel threads was strung lengthwise. A device worked

by a pedal lifted half of these threads --every other thread--while the

other half remained in place. Between the lifted threads and the

stationary threads a shuttle was thrown by the weaver from one hand to

another. Then the threads which had remained stationary were raised by

a second pedal and the shuttle thrown back. The shuttle carried a spool

so that, as it moved, it left a thread behind it running crosswise or

at right angles to the lengthwise threads and in and out between them.

The lengthwise threads were called the "warp"; the shuttle thread was

the "woof" or the "weft".In making cloth, it was the warp which, as the

loom moved, took the worst beating. With the constant raising and

lowering, these treads would wear and break, whereas the weft on which

there was little strain remained intact. None of the cotton yarn which

the old-fashioned wheels had spun was strong enough for warp. So it was

necessary to use linen thread for the warp.

Since one loom could provide work for about six spinners, the

weaver had his wool spun by other spinners in their cottages. Sometimes

the master weaver had an apprentice or workman working and living with

him, who had free board and lodging and an annual wage. Then a fuller

made the cloth thick and dense by washing, soaping, beating, and

agitating it, with the use of a community watermill which could be used

by anyone for a fixed payment. The cloth dried through the night on a

rack outside the cottage. The weaver then took his cloth, usually only

one piece, to the weekly market to sell. The weavers stood at the

market holding up their cloth. The cloth merchant who bought the cloth

then had it dyed or dressed according to his requirements. Its surface

could be raised with teazleheads and cropped or sheared to make a nap.

Some cloth was sold to tailors to make into clothes. Often a weaver had

a horse for travel, a cow for milk, chickens for eggs, perhaps a few

cattle, and some grazing land. Butchers bought, slaughtered, and cut up

animals to sell as meat. Some was sold to cooks, who sold prepared

foods. The hide was bought by the tanner to make into leather. The

leather was sold to shoemakers and glovemakers. Millers bought

harvested grain to make into flour. Flour was sold to bakers to make

into breads. Wood was bought by carpenters and by coopers, who made

barrels, buckets, tubs, and pails. Tilers, oilmakers and rope makers

also bought raw material to make into finished goods for sale.

Wheelwrights made ploughs, harrows, carts, and later wagons. Smiths and

locksmiths worked over their hot fires.

Games with dice were sometimes played. In winter, youths ice-

skated with bones fastened to their shoes. They propelled themselves by

striking the ice with staves shod with iron. On summer holydays, they

exercised in leaping, shooting with the bow, wrestling, throwing

stones, and darting a thrown spear. The maidens danced with timbrels.

Since at least 1133, children's toys included dolls, drums, hobby

horses, pop guns, trumpets, and kites.

The cold, indoors as well as outdoors, necessitated that people

wear ample and warm garments. Men and women of position dressed in long

full cloaks reaching to their feet, sometimes having short full

sleeves. The cloak generally had a hood and was fastened at the neck

with a brooch. Underneath the cloak was a simple gown with sleeves

tight at the wrist but full at the armhole, as if cut from the same

piece of cloth. A girdle or belt was worn at the waist. When the men

were hunting or working, they wore gown and cloak of knee length. Men

wore stockings to the knee and shoes. The fashion of long hair on men

returned.

The nation grew with the increase of population, the

development of towns, and the growing mechanization of craft

industries. There were watermills for crafts and for supplying and

draining water in all parts of the nation. In flat areas, slow rivers

could be supplemented by creating artificial waterfalls, for which

water was raised to the level of reservoirs. There were also some iron-

smelting furnaces. Coal mining underground began as a family

enterprise. Stone bridges over rivers could accommodate one person

traveling by foot or by horseback and were steep and narrow. The

wheelbarrow came into use to cart materials for building castles and

cathedrals.

Merchants, who had come from the low end of the knightly class

or high end of the villein class, settled around the open market areas,

where main roads joined. They had plots narrow in frontage along the

road and deep. Their shops faced the road, with living space behind or

above their stores. Town buildings were typically part stone and part

timber as a compromise between fire precautions and expense.

Towns, as distinct from villages, had permanent markets. As

towns grew, some became boroughs by paying a fee to obtain a charter

for self-government from the king giving the town judicial and

commercial freedom. They were literate enough to do accounts. So they

did their own valuation of the sum due to the crown so as not to pay

the sheriff any more than that. These various rights were typically

expanded in future times, and the towns received authority to collect

the sum due to the crown rather than the sheriff. This they did by

obtaining a charter renting the town to the burgesses at a fee farm

rent equal to the sum thus deducted from the amount due from the

county. The freemen were "free of the borough", which meant they had

exclusive rights and privileges with respect to it. Selling wholesale

could take place only in a borough. Burgesses were free to marry. They

were not subject to defense except of the borough. They were exempt

from attendance at county and hundred courts. The king assessed a

tallage [ad hoc tax] usually at ten per cent of property or income. In

the boroughs, merchant and manufacturing guilds controlled prices and

assured quality. The head officer of the guild usually controlled the

borough, which excluded rival merchant guilds. A man might belong to

more than one guild, e.g. one for his trade and another for religion.

The frankpledge system prevailed in the boroughs.

Craft guilds grew up in the towns, such as the tanners at

Oxford, which later merged with the shoemakers into a cordwainers'

guild. There were weavers' guilds in several towns, including London,

which were given royal sanction and protection for annual payments

(twelve pounds of silver for London). They paid an annual tribute and

were given a monopoly of weaving cloth within a radius of several

miles. Guild rules covered attendance of the members at church

services, the promotion of pilgrimages, celebration of masses for the

dead, common meals, relief of poor brethren and sisters, the hours of

labor, the process of manufacture, the wages of workmen, and technical

education. King Henry standardized the yard as the length of his own

arm.

Trades and crafts, each of which had to be licensed, grouped

together by specialty in the town. Cloth makers, dyers, tanners, and

fullers were near an accessible supply of running water, upon which

their trade depended. Streets were often named by the trade located

there, such as Butcher Row, Pot Row, Cordwainer Row, Ironmonger Row,

Wheeler Row, and Fish Row. Hirers of labor and sellers of wheat, hay,

livestock, dairy products, apples and wine, meat, poultry, fish and

pies, timber and cloth all had a distinct location. Some young men were

apprenticed to craftsmen to assist them and learn their craft.

London had bought the right to have an elected mayor. The

Norman word "mayor" replaced "portreeve". Henry I granted the

Londoners the right to elect a sheriff and a justiciar from among

themselves. London had at least twenty wards, each governed by its own

alderman. Most of them were named after people. London was ruled by

sixteen families linked by business and marriage ties. These businesses

supplied luxury goods to the rich and included the goldsmiths [sold

cups, dishes, girdles, mirrors, purses knives, and metal wine

containers with handle and spout], vintners [wine merchants], mercers

[sold textiles, haberdashery, combs, mirrors, knives, toys, spices,

ointments, and potions], drapers, and pepperers, which later merged

with the spicers to become the "grocers", skinners, tanners,

shoemakers, woolmen, weavers, fishmongers, armorers, and swordsmiths.

There were bakehouses at which one could leave raw joints of meat to be

cooked and picked up later. These businesses had in common four fears:

royal interference, foreign competition, displacement by new crafts,

and violence by the poor and escaped villeins who found their way to

the city. When a non-freeholder stayed in London he had to find for

frankpledge, three sureties for good behavior. Failure to do so was a

felony and the ward would eject him to avoid the charge of harboring

him with its heavy fine. The arrival of ships with cargoes from

continental ports and their departure with English exports was the

regular waterside life below London Bridge. Many foreign merchants

lived in London. Imports included timber, hemp, fish, and furs. There

was a fraternal organization of citizens who had possessed their own

lands with sac and soke and other customs in the days of King Edward.

There were public bathhouses, but they were disreputable. A lady would

take an occasional bath in a half cask in her home. The church warned

of evils of exposing the flesh, even to bathe.

Middlesex County was London's territory for hunting and

farming. All London craft work was suspended for one month at harvest

time. London received this charter for self-government and freedom from

the financial and judicial organization of the county:

"Henry, by the grace of God, King of England, to the Archbishop of

Canterbury and the bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciars, sheriffs

and all his loyal subjects, both French and English, throughout the

whole of England - greeting.

1. -Be it known to you that I have granted Middlesex to my citizens of

London to be held on lease by them and their heirs of me and my heirs

for 300 pounds paid by tale [yearly], upon these terms: that the

citizens themselves [may] appoint a sheriff, such as they desire, from

among themselves, and a justiciar, such as they desire, from among

themselves, to safeguard the pleas of my Crown [criminal cases] and to

conduct such pleas. And there shall be no other justiciar over the men

of London.

2. -And the citizens shall not take part in any [civil] case whatsoever

outside the City walls.

- -1) And they shall be exempt from the payment of scot and danegeld

and the murder fine.

- -2) And none of them shall take part in trial by combat.

- -3) And if any of the citizens has become involved in a plea of the

Crown, he shall clear himself, as a citizen of London, by an oath which

has been decreed in the city.

- -4) And no one shall be billeted [lodged in a person's house by

order of the King] within the walls of the city nor shall hospitality

be forcibly exacted for anyone belonging to my household or to any

other.

- -5) And all the citizens of London and all their effect [goods]

shall be exempt and free, both throughout England and in the seaports,

from toll and fees for transit and market fees and all other dues.

- -6) And the churches and barons and citizens shall have and hold in

peace and security their rights of jurisdiction [in civil and criminal

matters] along with all their dues, in such a way that lessees who

occupy property in districts under private jurisdiction shall pay dues

to no one except the man to whom the jurisdiction belongs, or to the

official whom he has placed there.

- -7) And a citizen of London shall not be amerced [fined by a court

when the penalty for an offense is not designated by statute] to

forfeiture of a sum greater than his wergeld, [hereby assessed as] 100

shillings, in a case involving money.

- -8) And further there shall be no miskenning [false plea causing a

person to be summoned to court] in a husting [weekly court] or in a

folkmote [meeting of the community], or in any other court within the

City.

- -9) And the Hustings [court] shall sit once a week on Monday.

- -10) And I assure to my citizens their lands and the property

mortgaged to them and the debts due to them both within the City and

without.

- -11) And with regard to lands about which they have pled in suit

before me, I shall maintain justice on their behalf, according to the

law of the City.

- -12) And if anyone has exacted toll or tax from citizens of London,

the citizens of London within the city shall [have the right to] seize

[by process of law] from the town or village where the toll or tax was

exacted a sum equivalent to that which the citizen of London gave as

toll and hence sustained as loss.

- -13) And all those who owe debts to citizens shall pay them or shall

clear themselves in London from the charge of being in debt to them.

- -14) But if they have refused to pay or to come to clear themselves,

then the citizens to whom they are in debt shall [have the right to]

seize [by process of law] their goods [including those in the hands of

a third party, and bring them] into the city from the [town, village

or] county in which the debtor lives [as pledges to compel appearance

in court].

- -15) And the citizens shall enjoy as good and full hunting rights as

their ancestors ever did, namely, in the Chilterns, in Middlesex, and

in Surrey.

Witnessed at Westminster."

The above right not to take part in any case outside the city

relieved London citizens from the burden of traveling to wherever the

King's court happened to be, the disadvantage of not knowing local

customs, and the difficulty of speaking in the language of the King's

court rather than in English. The right of redress for tolls exacted

was new because the state of the law was that the property of the

inhabitants was liable to the king or superior lord for the common debt.

Newcastle-on-Tyne was recognized by the king as having certain

customs, so the following was not called a grant:

"These are the laws and customs which the burgesses of Newcastle upon

Tyne had in the time of Henry King of England and ought to have.

[1] -Burgesses can distrain [take property of another until the other

performs his obligation] upon foreigners within, or without their own

market, within or without their own houses, and within or without their

own borough without the leave of the reeve, unless the county court is

being held in the borough, and unless [the foreigners are] on military

service or guarding the castle.

[2] -A burgess cannot distrain upon a burgess without the leave of the

reeve.

[3] -If a burgess have lent anything of his to a foreigner, let the

debtor restore it in the borough if he admits the debt, if he denies

it, let him justify himself in the borough.

[4] -Pleas which arise in the borough shall be held and -concluded

there, except pleas of the Crown.

[5] -If any burgess be appealed [sued] of any plaint, he shall not

plead without the borough, unless for default of [the borough] court.

[6] -Nor ought he to answer without day and term, unless he have fallen

into 'miskenning' [error in pleading], except in matters which pertain

to the Crown.

[7] -If a ship have put in at Tynemouth and wishes to depart, the

burgesses may buy what they will [from it].

[8] -If a plea arise between a burgess and a merchant, it shall be

concluded before the third ebb of the tide.

[9] -Whatever merchandise a ship has brought by sea must be landed,

except salt; and herring ought to be sold in the ship.

[10] If any man have held land in burgage for a year and a day,

lawfully and without claim, he shall not answer a claimant, unless the

claimant have been without the realm of - - -England, or a child not of

age to plead.

[11] If a burgess have a son, he shall be included in his father's

freedom if he be with his father.

[12] If a villein come to dwell in the borough, and dwell there a year

and a day as a burgess, he shall abide altogether, unless notice has

been given by him or by his master that he is dwelling for a term.

[13] If any man appeal [sue] a burgess of any thing, he cannot do

[trial by] battle with the burgess, but the burgess shall defend

himself by his law, unless it be of treason, whereof he is bound to

defend himself by [trial by] battle.

[14] Neither can a burgess do [trial by] battle against a foreigner,

unless he first go out of the borough.

[15] No merchant, unless he be a burgess, may buy [outside] the town

either wool or leather or other merchandise, nor within the borough

except [from] burgesses.

[16] If a burgess incur forfeit, he shall give six ounces [10s.] to the

reeve.

[17] In the borough there is no merchet [payment for marrying off a

daughter] nor heriot nor bloodwite [fine for drawing blood] nor

stengesdint [fine for striking with a stick].

[18] Every burgess may have his own oven and handmill if he will,

saving the right of the King's oven.

[19] If a woman be in forfeit for bread or beer, no one ought to

interfere but the reeve. If she forfeit twice, she shall be chastised

by her forfeit. If three times, let justice be done on her.

[20] No one but a burgess may buy webs [woven fabrics just taken off

the loom] to dye, nor make nor cut them.

[21] A burgess may give and sell his land and go whither he will freely

and quietly unless there be a claim against him."

The nation produced sufficient iron, but a primitive steel

[iron with carbon added] was imported. It was scarce and expensive.

Steel was used for tools, instruments, weapons and armor. Ships could

carry about 300 people. Navigation was by simple charts that included

wind direction for different seasons and the direction of north. The

direction of the ship could be generally determined when the sky was

clear by the position of the sun during the day or the north star

during the night.

Plays about miracles wrought by holy men or saints or the

sufferings and fortitude of martyrs were performed, usually at the

great church festivals. Most nobles could read, though writing was

still a specialized craft. There were books on animals, plants, and

stones. The lives of the saints as told in the book "The Golden Legend"

were popular. The story of the early King Arthur was told in the book

"The History of the Kings of England". The story at this time stressed

Arthur as a hero and went as follows: Arthur became king at age 15. He

had an inborn goodness and generosity as well as courage. He and his

knights won battles against foreign settlers and neighboring clans.

Once, he and his men surrounded a camp of foreigners until they gave up

their gold and silver rather than starve. Arthur married Guenevere and

established a court and retinue. Leaving Britain in the charge of his

nephew Modred, he fought battles on the continent for land to give to

his noblemen who did him service in his household and fought with him.

When Arthur returned to Britain, he made battle with his nephew Modred

who had crowned himself King. Arthur's knight Gawain, the son of his

sister, and the enemy Modred were killed and Arthur was severely

wounded. Arthur told his kinsman Constantine to rule Britain as king in

his place.

The intellectual world included art, secular literature, law,

and medicine. There were about 90 physicians.

The center of government was a collection of tenants-in-chief,

whose feudal duty included attendance when summoned, and certain

selected household servants of the King. The Exchequer became a

separate body. The payments in kind, such as grain or manual services,

from the royal demesnes had been turned into money payments. The great

barons made their payments directly to the Exchequer. The income from

royal estates was received by the Exchequer and then commingled with

the other funds. Each payment was indicated by notches on a stick,

which was then split so that the payer and the receiver each had a half

showing the notches. The Exchequer was the great school for training

statesmen, justices, and bishops. The Chancellor managed the domestic

matters of the Crown's castles and lands. The great offices of state

were sold for thousands of pounds, which caused their holders to be on

their best behavior for fear of losing their money by being discharged

from office. One chancellor paid Henry about 3000 pounds for the

office. Henry brought sheriffs under his strict control, free from

influence by the barons. He maintained order with a strong hand, but

was no more severe than his security demanded.

Forests were still retained by Kings for their hunting of boars

and stags. A master forester maintained them. The boundaries of the

Royal Forests were enlarged. They comprised almost one-third of the

kingdom. Certain inhabitants thereof supplied the royal foresters with

meat and drink and received certain easements and rights of common

therein. The forest law reached the extreme of severity and cruelty

under Henry I. Punishments given included blinding, emasculation, and

execution. Offenders were rarely allowed to substitute a money payment.

When fines were imposed they were heavy.

A substantial number of barons and monasteries were heavily in

debt to the Jews. The interest rate was 43% (2d. per pound per week).

The king taxed the Jews at will.

The Law

Henry restored the death penalty (by hanging) for theft and

robbery, but maintained William I's punishment of mutilation by

blinding and severing of limbs for other offenses, for example, bad

money. He decreed in 1108 that false and bad money should be amended,

so that he who was caught passing bad denarii should not escape by

redeeming himself but should lose his eyes and members. And since

denarii were often picked out, bent, broken, and refused, he decreed

that no denarius or obol, which he said were to be round, or even a

quadrans, if it were whole, should be refused. (Money then reached a

higher level of perfection, which was maintained for the next century.)

Counterfeiting law required that "If any one be caught carrying

false coin, the reeve shall give the bad money to the King however much

there is, and it shall be charged in the render of his farm [payment]

as good, and the body of the offender shall be handed over to the King

for judgment, and the serjeants who took him shall have his clothes."

The forest law stated that: "he that doth hunt a wild beast and

doth make him pant, shall pay 10 shillings: If he be a freeman, then he

shall pay double. If he be a bound man, he shall lose his skin." A

"verderer" was responsible for enforcing this law, which also stated

that: "If anyone does offer force to a Verderer, if he be a freeman, he

shall lose his freedom, and all that he hath. And if he be a villein,

he shall lose his right hand." Further, "If such an offender does

offend so again, he shall lose his life."

A wife's dower is one-third of all her husband's freehold land,

unless his endowment of her at their marriage was less than one- third.

Debts to townsmen were recoverable by this law: "If a burgess

has a gage [a valuable object held as security for carrying out an

agreement] for money lent and holds this for a whole year and a day,

and the debtor will not deny the debt or deliver the gage, and this is

proved, the burgess may sell the gage before good witnesses for as much

as he can, and deduct his money from the sum. If any money is over he

shall return it to the debtor. But if there is not enough to pay him,

he shall take distress again for the amount that is lacking."

Past due rent in a borough was punishable by payment of 10s. as

fine.

Judicial activity encouraged the recording of royal legislation in

writing which both looked to the past and attempted to set down law

current in Henry's own day in the Leges Henrici Primi. This showed an

awareness of the ideal of written law as a statement of judicial

principles as well as of the practice of kingship. In this way,

concepts of Roman law used by the Normans found their way into English

law. The laws of Henry I in the Leges Henrici Primi have as subjects

judicial procedure, proper judging, conduct of people involved in

litigation, litigation procedure, required witnesses, evidence,

credibility, quotes from legal references, oaths, perjury, geographical

divisions of England, court sessions and attendance, order of court

proceedings, adjournments, frankpledge, strangers, types of causes and

their manner of hearing, royal jurisdiction, ecclesiastical pleas of

the king, offenses, compensations, penalties, reliefs, the king's

peace, forest pleas, exculpation, soke, jurisdiction of royal judges,

the king's judges, summons, oathhelpers, transfer of cases, trials of

pleas, unjust judgments, sureties, lords who sue, accusations, court

procedure, pleadings, postponements, record of proceedings, failure to

appear, counsel, summoning the hundred, summoning the county court,

distraints, partners of common property, rights of jurisdiction of a

lord over his man, holdings in farm, disputes between neighbors, trial

by battle, slaves, pleas between a lord's reeve and those who are

subject to him, suits by royal judges, wergelds, murdrum fine, letting

go of a thief, slaying of or by a cleric, confessions, men of ill

repute, ordeals, compensations, bondmen, intent, inheritance, dowries,

homicide by magicians, definition of homicide, killing one's lord,

foreigners, debtors, illegitimacy, foundlings, the king's peace,

homicide in the king's court, royal highways, self-defense, drinking

assemblies, mutual enemies, leading into wrong-doing, lent arms,

marauders, weapons, killing a relative, pledge, negligence, and wounds

to body parts.

A sampling of the laws of Henry I follows:

"These are the jurisdictional rights which the king of England has in

his land solely and over all men, reserved through a proper ordering of

peace and security: breach of the king's peace given by his hand or

writ; Danegeld; the pleas of contempt of his writs or commands; the

death or injury of his servants wherever occurring; breach of fealty

and treason; any contempt or slander of him; fortifications consisting

of three walls; outlawry; theft punishable by death; murdrum;

counterfeiting his coinage; arson; hamsocn [breach of the right of

security and privacy in a man's house by forcible entry into it];

forestel [attacking an enemy unexpectedly or lying in wait for him on

the road and attacking him] passenger on the king's highway]; fyrding

[action regarding the military array or land force of the whole

country]; flymenfyrm [the reception or relief of a fugitive or outlaw];

premeditated assault; robbery; stretbreche [destroying a road by

closing it off or diverting it or digging it up]; unlawful

appropriation of the king's land or money; treasure-trove; wreck of the

sea; things cast up by the sea; rape; abduction; forests; the reliefs

of barons; fighting in the king's dwelling or household; breach of the

peace in the king's troop; failure to perform burgbot [a contribution

to the repair of castles or walls of defense, or of a borough]; or

brigbot [a tribute or contribution to the repair of bridges]; or

firdfare [a summoning forth to a military expedition]; receiving and

maintaining an excommunicated person or an outlaw; violation of the

king's protection; flight in a military or naval battle; false

judgment; failure of justice; violation of the king's law."

"Some pleas cannot be compensated for with money; these are: husbreche

[housebreaking or burglary], arson, manifest theft, palpable murder,

treachery towards one's lord, and violation of the peace of the church

or the protection of the king through the commission of homicide."

"Compensation is effected by the payment of one hundred shillings for

the following: grithbreche [breach of the peace], stretbreche,

forestel, violation of the king's protection, hamsocn, and flymenfyrm."

Hamsocn is an attack on a house and occurs if anyone assaults another

in his own house or the house of someone else with a band of men or

pursues him so that he hits the door or the house with arrows or stones

or produces a perceptible blow from any source. It also is committed if

anyone goes with premeditation to a house where he knows his enemy to

be and attacks him there, whether he does this by day or by night. It

also occurs if anyone pursues a person fleeing into a mill or

sheephold. If in a court of house dissension has arisen and fighting

follows as well, and someone pursues another person fleeing into the

other house, it shall be considered hamsocn if there are two roofs

there.

The following place a man in the king's mercy: breach of his peace

which he gives to anyone by his own hand; contempt of his writs and

anything which slanders injuriously his own person or his commands;

causing the death of his servants in a town or fortress or anywhere

else; breach of fealty and treason; contempt of him; construction of

fortifications without permission; the incurring of outlawry (anyone

who suffers this shall fall into the king's hand, and if he has any

bocland [lands held by deed or other written evidence of title];

manifest theft punishable by death."

If any Englishman is slain without fault on his part, compensation

shall be paid to his relatives according to this wergeld. Wite and

manbot shall be paid to the appropriate lords in accordance with the

amount of the wergeld. Where a wergeld of 200s. is payable, then 30s.

must be paid as manbot, which equals 5 mancuses; where the wergeld is

1200s., that is, for a thegn, the manbot is 120s, which amounts to 20

mancuses.

"For the oath of a thegn equals the oaths of six villeins; if he is

killed he is fully avenged by the slaying of six villeins and if

compensation is paid for him, his wergeld is the wergeld for six

villeins."

Some freemen are 200 men, some 600 men, and others 1200 men. A 200 man

has a wergeld of 200s., which equal 4 pounds. A 1200 man is a person of

noble rank, that is, a thegn, whose wergeld is 1200s., which equal 25

pounds. His healsfang is 120s., which today equals 50s. (40 sheep are

worth 20s., as is one horse.)

Homicide by a magical potion or witchcraft or sorcery practiced with

images or by any kind of enchantment cannot be compensated. If the

bewitched person does not die, but suffers some change of the skin or

demonstrable physical sickness, compensation shall be paid as

prescribed by the ancient provisions of wise men, in accordance with

the circumstances.

"If anyone kills his lord, then if in his guilt he is seized, he shall

in no manner redeem himself but shall be condemned to scalping or

disemboweling or to human punishment which in the end is so harsh that

while enduring the dreadful agonies of his tortures and the miseries of

his vile manner of death he may appear to have yielded up his wretched

life before in fact he has won an end to his sufferings, and so that he

may declare, if it were possible, that he had found more mercy in hell

than had been shown to him on earth."

"If anyone kills his man without his having merited death, he shall

just the same pay compensation for him to his relatives according to

the amount of his wergeld, because the man was his to render service,

not to be killed."

"A person who breaks the king's peace which he confers on anyone with

his own hand shall, if he is seized, suffer the loss of his limbs."

"If anyone has the king's peace given by the sheriff or other official

and a breach of it is committed against him, then this is a case of

grithbreche and compensation of one hundred shillings shall be paid, if

settlement can be effected by payment of compensation."

"On whosoever's land a slaying takes place, the lord who has his rights

of soke and sake shall, if the slayer, when caught on the spot, is

released on providing security or is detained after being charged,

receive the fihtwite."

If anyone is slain in an attack by a band of marauders, the slayer

shall pay the wergeld to the relatives, and manbot to the lord, and all

who were present shall pay hlothbot, that is to say, they shall pay

compensation of 30s. for a 200 man, 60s. for a 600 man, and 120s. for a

1200 man.

In the case of every payment of wergeld for a slaying, two parts are

the responsibility of the paternal kindred, and one third part is the

responsibility of the maternal kin.

If the kindred of a man who slays another abandons him and will not pay

compensation for him, then all the kindred shall be free from the feud

except the wrongdoer alone, if they thereafter provide him with neither

food nor protection.

"If a woman commits homicide, vengeance shall be taken against her or

her descendants or her blood relatives (or she shall pay compensation

for it), not against her husband or his innocent household." Amends

shall nonetheless be made whether these things are done intentionally

or unintentionally. However, the possibility of a friendly settlement

or of clemency is to be treated as the more likely or the more remote

depending on the degree of blame attaching to the person who has been

slain, and according to the circumstances. If a woman is slain,

compensation is to be paid according to her wergeld, which is decided

by her paternal relationship. The manbot shall be determined by the

standing of the lord.

"Any person may aid his lord without incurring a wite if anyone attacks

him, and may obey him in all lawful matters except in the case of

breach of feudal loyalty, theft, murder, and similar offences, the

commission of which has in absolutely no way been permitted, and which

are branded as crimes by the laws." In the same way a lord must in the

appropriate circumstances keep his man with advice as well as support,

and may do so in all ways without penalty.

"Anyone who fights in the king's dwelling shall forfeit his life."

"If anyone commits the offence of blodwite [an amercement for

bloodshed], fihtwite [a fine for making a quarrel to the disturbance of

the peace], legerwite [fine for unlawful cohabitation], or anything of

that nature, and he escapes from the scene without being obliged to

provide security for future appearance in court or without a charge

being laid there, the jurisdiction at law belongs to his own lord."

Infiht or insocna is the offense committed by those who are living in

community in a house; this is compensated for by a payment of the wite

to the head of the household, if he has jurisdiction over accuser and

accused.

If anyone leaps to arms and disturbs the peace of a house, but does not

strike anyone, his liability is half the penalty.

Compensation for wounds are as follows: on the head if both bones have

been pierced 30s.; on the head if only the outer bone has been pierced

15s.; a wound under the hair one inch long 5d., that is, 1s.; a wound

in front of the hair 10d, that is 2s.; injury to the throat 12s.;

injury on the neck causing a curvature or stiffness or a lasting

disability 100s. plus whatever has been paid out for medical

treatment.; external injury to the hand 20s.; if half the hand flies

off 60s.; rib broken but the skin remains whole 10s.; rib broken and

the skin is broken and the bone is drawn out 15s.; loss of any eye or

hand or foot or tongue 66s.6d. and a third part of a penny; loss of

sight but with the eye remaining in the head 22s.2d.; wound on the

shoulder if the person lives 80s.; shoulder wound so that the fluid

from the joints runs out 30s.; shoulder maimed 20s.; an injury within a

shoulder so that a bone is drawn out 15s.; arm broken above the elbow

15s.; both bones in the arm broken 30s.; arm cut off below the elbow

80s.; wound in the belly 30s.; pierced through the belly 20s. for each

opening; a thigh pierced or broken 30s.; shin struck off below the knee

80s.; the shin broken 30s.; shin pierced below the knee 12s.; broken

shinbone 12s.; wound in the genitals so that there is loss of the

capacity to procreate 80s.; loins maimed 60s.; loins pierced through

30s.; loins punctured 15s.; injury to the great sinews of another's

lower leg if they recover through response to medical treatment 12s.;

injury to the sinews which cauces lameness 30s.; injury to the small

sinews 6s.; striking a blow without causing blood to flow 5d. for each

blow up to a total of three blows, no matter how many blows are

actually struck, for a total of 15d.; knocking out first teeth or

incisors 8s.; canines or `cheek' teeth 4s.; molars 15s.; broken cheeks

15s.; a thumb cut off 30s.; a thumbnail cut off 5s.; an index finger

15s; an index fingernail 3s.; a middle or `unchaste' finger 121s; a

middle fingernail 2s.; a ring finger or `medical' finger 17s.; a ring

fingernail 4s.; an `ear' finger 9s.; an `ear' fingernail 1s., that is

5d.; the big toe cut off 20s.; the second toe 15s.; the third toe 9s.;

the fourth toe 6s., the fifth toe 5s.; "If anyone suffers a wound, not

involving the cutting off or maiming or breaking of a limb, on an

uncovered and visible place (for example, in front of the hair or below

the sleeve or beneath the knees), the compensation to be paid shall be

double what would be due in the case of a wound inflicted on the head

under the hair or on the limbs beneath the clothes, that is, on a

concealed place."

"Anyone who commits a theft, who betrays his lord, who deserts him in

a hostile encounter or military engagement, who is defeated in trial by

battle or who commits a breach of the feudal bond shall forfeit his

land."

In the case of stolen property worth more than 30d., the accused shall

choose which of the two he wishes, either the simple ordeal or an oath

of the value of one pound with oath helpers taken from three hundreds.

"If anyone dares to dig up or despoil, in scandalous and criminal

fashion, a body buried in the ground or in a coffin or a rock or a

pyramid or any structure, he shall be regarded as an outlaw."

"If a person condemned to death wishes to confess, it shall never be

refused him."

"If anyone who is a father dies and leaves as son or daughter to

inherit, they shall not maintain an action or submit to a court

judgment before reaching fifteen years of age; but they shall remain

seised, under guardians and trustees in the lawful custody of their

relatives, just as their father was on the day when he was alive and

dead."

"If anyone dies without children, his father or mother shall succeed to

the inheritance, or his brother or sister, if neither father nor mother

is living." If he does not possess these relatives, then his father's

or mother's sister, and thereafter relatives up to the fifth `joint',

whoever are the nearest in relationship, shall succeed by the law of

inheritance. While the male line subsists, and the inheritance descends

from that side, a woman shall not succeed.

"The first born son shall have the father's ancestral fee' the latter

shall give any purchases or subsequent acquisitions of his to whomever

he pleases."

If a person has bocland which his kinsmen have left him, he shall not

dispose of it outside his kindred.

"If a wife survives her husband she shall have in permanent ownership

her dowry and her maritagium which had been settled on her by written

documents or in the presence of witnesses and her morning-gift and a

third part of all their jointly acquired property in addition to her

clothing and her bed."

"If a woman dies without children, her blood relatives shall divide up

her share with her husband."

A man may fight against as person whom he finds with his wedded wife,

after the second or third prohibition, behind closed doors or under the

one covering, or with his daughter whom he begot on his wife, or with

his sister who was legitimately born, or with his mother who was

lawfully wedded to his father.

There is pecuniary compensation if a married woman commits fornication

and she is of the rank of ceorl or belongs to the 600s. class or the

1200s. class, and physical mutilation has been prescribed for those

persisting in the offence.

"Women who commit fornication and destroy their embryos, and those who

are accessories with them, so that they abort the foetus from the womb,

are by an ancient ordinance excommunicated from the church until

death." A milder provision has now been introduced: they shall do

penance for ten years.

"If anyone kills or while sleeping crushes another person's child who

has been entrusted to him for rearing or instruction, he shall pay

compensation for him just as if he had killed an adult person."

The county meetings shall be attended by the bishops, earls, sheriffs,

deputies, hundredmen, aldermen, stewards, reeves, barons, vavassors

[those who hold of a baron], village reeves, and the other lords of

lands who shall with diligence see to it that failure to punish

evildoers or the viciousness of officials or the corruption of judges

shall not destroy those suffering under their accustomed afflictions.

Every cause shall be determined in the hundred court or county court or

the hallmoot of those who have soke or in the courts of feudal lords or

in the boundary courts of feudal equals or as it pertains to

established places for court proceedings.

"In the case of soke of pleas, some of these profits belong peculiarly

and exclusively to the royal treasury, some are shared by it with

others, some belong to the sheriffs and royal officials in their farm,

and some belong to the lords who have soke and sake."

"The king's judges shall be the barons of the county and those who

hold free lands in the counties, by whom the causes and of individuals

must be dealt with by the presentation in turn of complaint and

defense."

Anyone who violates or subverts the written law shall forfeit his

wergeld on the first occasion; on the second occasion the penalty is

twice the wergeld; and anyone who ventures to do it a third time shall

lose whatever he possesses.

"Each person is to be judged by men who are of equal status and from

the same district as himself."

"No one of high status shall be condemned by the judgment of lesser

men."

"Whoever gives an unjust judgment shall forfeit one hundred and twenty

shillings and shall lose his judicial authority unless he redeems it

from the king."

If there are contrary opinions among the judges in serious pleas, the

decision of the most substantial men and that with which the royal

justice has concurred shall prevail.

"Some persons are slaves by birth, others become slaves subsequently;

of the latter, some are enslaved by purchase, some by way of

satisfaction for an offence, some give themselves in slavery or are

given by another person, and some become slave by falling under any

other classifications, all of which we may wish nevertheless to be

included in that one category of slavery, for which we propound the

description `accident' - so that the position has been expressed in

this way: some are slaves by accident, others by birth."

Church law provided that only consent between a man and woman

was necessary for marriage. There needn't be witnesses, ceremony, nor

consummation. Consent could not be coerced. Penalties in marriage

agreements for not going through with the marriage were deemed invalid.

Villeins and slaves could marry without their lords' or owners'

permission. A couple living together could be deemed married. Persons

related by blood within certain degrees, which changed over time, of

consanguinity were forbidden to marry. This was the only ground for

annulment of a marriage. A legal separation could be given for

adultery, cruelty, or heresy. Annulment, but not separation, could

result in remarriage. Fathers were usually ordered to provide some

sustenance and support for their illegitimate children. The court

punished infanticide and abortion. Counterfeiters of money, arsonists,

and robbers of pilgrims and merchants were to be excommunicated. Church

sanctuary was to be given to fugitives of violent feuds until they

could be given a fair trial.

Judicial Procedure

Courts extant now are the Royal Court, the King's Court of the

Exchequer, county courts, and hundred courts, all of which were under

the control of the King. His appointed justices administered justice in

these courts on regular circuits. Instead of being the presiding

official at the county court, the sheriff now only produced the proper

people and preserved order at the county courts and presided over the

nonroyal pleas and hundred courts. He impaneled recognitors, made

arrests, and enforced the decisions of the royal courts. Also there are

manor courts, borough courts, and ecclesiastical courts. In the manor

courts, the lord's reeve generally presided. The court consisted of the

lord's vassals and declared the customs and law concerning such

offenses as failure to perform services and trespass on manorial woods,

meadow, and pasture.

The King's Royal Court heard issues concerning the Crown and

breaches of the King's peace, which included almost all criminal

matters: murder, robbery, rape, abduction, arson, treason, breach of

fealty, housebreaking, ambush, certain kinds of theft, premeditated

assault, and harboring outlaws or excommunicants. Henry personally

presided over hearings of important legal cases. He punished crime

severely. He hanged homicides, exiled traitors, and frequenly used loss

of hand and foot. In comparison, William had no one hanged, but used

emasculation and exoculation frequently. Offenders were brought to

justice not only by the complaint of an individual or local community

action, but by official prosecutors. A prosecutor was now at trials as

well as a justice. Trial is still mostly by compurgation but trial by

combat was relatively common.

These offenses against the king placed merely personal property

and sometimes land at the king's mercy. Thus the Crown increased the

range of offenses subject to its jurisdiction and arrogated to itself

profits from the penalties imposed. The death penalty could be imposed

for murder and replaced the old wergeld. But a murderer could be given

royal pardon from the death penalty so that he could pay compensation

to the relatives.

The Royal Court also heard these offenses against the king:

fighting in his dwelling, contempt of his writs or commands,

encompassing the death or injury of his servants, contempt or slander

of the King, and violation of his protection or his law. It heard these

offenses against royal authority: complaints of default of justice or

unjust judgment, pleas of shipwrecks, coinage, treasure trove [money

buried when danger approached], forest prerogatives, and control of

castle building.

Slander of the king, the government, or high officials was

punishable as treason, felony, misprision of treason, or contempt,

depending on the rank and office of the person slandered and the degree

of guilt.

Henry began the use of writs to intervene in civil matters such

as inquiry by oath and recognition of rights as to land, the

obligations of tenure, the legitimacy of heirs, and the enforcement of

local justice. Writs were requested by people who wanted to come to the

Royal Court. The Royal Court used its superior coercive power to

enforce the legal decisions of the county, hundred, and private courts.

It also reviewed miscarriages of justice and unlawful procedures in

these courts. There was a vigorous interventionism in the land law

subsequent to appeals to the king in landlord-tenant relations, brought

by a lord or by an undertenant. Assizes [those who sit together] of

local people who knew relevant facts were put together to assist the

court. Henry appointed some locally based justices. Also, he sent

justices from the Royal Court out on eyres [journeys] to hold assizes.

This was done at special sessions of the county courts, hundred courts,

and manor courts. Records of the verdicts of the Royal Court were sent

with these itinerant justices for use as precedent in these courts.

Thus royal authority was brought into the localities and served to

check baronial power over the common people. These itinerant justices

also transacted the local business of the Exchequer in each county.

Henry created the office of Chief Justiciar, which carried out judicial

and administrative functions and could travel anywhere in the country

and make legal decisions in the king's name.

The Royal Court retained cases of gaol delivery [arrested

person who had been held in gaol was delivered to the court] and

amercements [discretionary money payments which took the place of the

old wites]. It also decided cases in which the powers of the popular

courts had been exhausted or had failed to do justice. The Royal Court

also decided land disputes between barons who were too strong to submit

to the county courts.

The King's Court of the Exchequer reviewed the accounts of

sheriffs, including receipts and expenditures on the Crown's behalf as

well as sums due to the Treasury, located still at Winchester. These

sums included rent from royal estates, the Danegeld land tax, the fines

from local courts, and aid from baronial estates. Its records were the

"Pipe Rolls", so named because sheets of parchment were fastened at the

top, each of which dropped into a roll at the bottom and so assumed the

shape of a pipe.

The county and hundred courts assessed the personal property of

individuals and their taxes due to the King. The county court decided

land disputes between people who had different barons as their

respective lords.

The free landholders were expected to attend county, hundred,

and manor courts. They owed "suit" to it. The suitors found the dooms

[laws] by which the presiding officer pronounced the sentence.

The county courts heard cases of theft, brawling, beating, and

wounding, for which the penalties could be exposure in the pillory or

stocks. The pillory held an offender's head and hands in holes in

boards, and the stocks held one's hands and feet. Here the public could

scorn and hit the offender or throw fruit, mud, and dead cats at him.

For sex offenders and informers, stones were usually thrown. Sometimes

a person was stoned to death. Damages in money replaced the old bots.

The county courts met twice yearly. If an accused failed to appear

after four successive county courts, he was declared outlaw at the

fifth and forfeited his civil rights and all his property. He could be

slain by anyone at will.

The hundred court met once a month to hear neighborhood

disputes, for instance concerning pastures, meadows and harvests.

Usually present was a priest, the reeve, four representative men, and

sometimes the lord or his steward in his place. Sometimes the chief

pledges were present to represent all the men in their respective

frankpledges. The bailiff presided over all these sessions except two,

in which the sheriff presided over the full hundred court to take the

view of frankpledge, which was required for those who did not have a

lord to answer for him.

The barons held court on their manors at a "hallmote" for

issues arising between people living on the manor, such as bad

ploughing on the lord's land or letting a cow get loose on the lord's

land, and land disputes. This court also made the decision of whether a

certain person was a villein or freeman. The manor court took over

issues which had once been heard in the vill or hundred court. The

baron charged a fee for hearing a case and received any fines he

imposed, which amounted to significant "profits of justice".

Boroughs held court on trading and marketing issues in their

towns such as measures and weights, as well as issues between people

who lived in the borough. The borough court was presided over by a

reeve who was a burgess as well as a royal official.

Wealthy men could employ professional pleader-attorneys to

advise them and to speak for them in a court.

The ecclesiastical courts, until the time when Henry VIII took

over the church, dealt with family matters such as marriage,

annulments, marriage portions and settlements of money or goods,

legitimacy, undue wifebeating, child abuse, orphans, bigamy, adultery,

incest, fornication, and separations between husband and wife. There

were no divorces. They also dealt during this time with drunkenness,

personal possessions, defamation, slander which did not cause material

loss (and therefore had no remedy in the temporal courts), libel,

perjury, usury, mortuaries [the second best beast or fees at death],

sacrilege, sorcery, witchcraft, blasphemy [speaking ill of God], heresy

[a belief by a baptized person that is knowingly contrary to the

doctrine of the church], tithe payments, oblations for performing the

Eucharist including expenses for the bread and wine, church fees such

as for the clergy and the poor, simony [buying or selling

ecclesiastical preferment or pardons], pensions, certain offenses on

consecrated ground, and breaches of promises under oath, e.g. to pay a

debt, provide services, or deliver goods.

They decided inheritance and will issues which did not concern land,

but only personal property. This developed from the practice of a

priest usually hearing a dying person's will as to the disposition of

his goods and chattel when he made his last confession. So the church

court came to determine the validity of wills, interpret them, regulate

their created testamentary executors, and determine the legatees. It

also came to determine intestate matters. It provided guardianship of

infants during probate of their personal property. Trial was first by

compurgation, with oath-helpers swearing to or against the veracity of

the alleged offender's oath.

The ecclesiastical court's penalties were intended to reform and

determined on a case-by-case basis. The canon law of Christendom was

followed, without much change by the English church or nation. A

penitent who was sincerely contrite was first expected to confess his

sin to a priest, who gave him God's forgiveness. This removed the guilt

of the sin and eternal punishment in hell. But then justice required a

"satisfaction", which could be met in this world or in the next.

Accordingly, the priest or ecclesiastical court then imposed a

"penance", i.e. some act of a religious nature. Penance could include

confession and public repentance of the sin before the parish, making

apologies and reparation to persons affected, public embarrassment such

as being dunked in water (e.g. for women scolds), walking a route

barefoot and clad only in one's underwear, whippings, extra work,

fasting, vigils, prayers for help to live righteously, reading,

meditation, solitary life, a diet of bread and water for a specified

time, fines, gifts to the church, alms to the poor, various kinds of

good deeds, and imprisonment in a "penitentiary". For more serious

sins, there could be a long fast, a diet of bread and water for a

number of years, or a distant pilgrimage, for instance to Rome or

Jerusalem. For those whose penance was incomplete at the time of their

death, there was a temporary state of purgatory wherein some sort of

suffering fulflled the remaining debt. Souls in purgatory could be

aided by the prayers of the faithful on earth. The truly penitent could

hope for the remission of all or part of their purgation by obtaining

an indulgence from a higher authority than the priest.

The ultimate penalty of the church was excommunication, a social

ostracism in which no one could give the person drink, food, or shelter

and he could speak only to his spouse and servants. Excommunication

included denial of the sacraments of baptism, penance, mass [lord's

supper}, and extreme unction [prayers for spiritual healing] at death;

which were necessary for salvation of the soul; and the sacrament of

confirmation. A person could also be denied a Christian burial in

consecrated ground. However, the person could still marry and make a

will. The purpose of excommunication was to restore the person to

spiritual health rather than to punish him. Excommunication was usually

imposed for failure to obey an order or for showing contempt of the law

or of the courts. It required a hearing and a written reason. The

king's court could order a recalcitrant excommunicant imprisoned until

he satisfied the claims of the church. If this measure failed, it was

possible to turn the offender over to the state for punishment, e.g.

for blasphemy or heresy. Blasphemy was thought to cause God's wrath

expressed in famine, pestilence, and earthquake and was usually

punished by a fine or corporal punishment, e.g. perforation or

amputation of the tongue. It was tacitly understood that the punishment

for heresy was death by burning. There were no heresy cases up to 1400

and few after that. The state usually assured itself the sentence was

just before imposing it. The court of the rural dean was the

ecclesiastical parallel of the hundred court of secular jurisdiction

and usually had the same land boundaries. The archdeacons, who had been

ministers of the bishop in all parts of his diocese alike, were now

each assigned to one district, which usually had the same boundaries as

the county. Each bishop headed a diocese. Over the bishops were the two

Archbishops of Canterbury and of York.

The ecclesiastical court had one judge and no jury. Most cases

dealt with offenses against the church, such as working on Sunday, and

sexual mores. The court used teatimony and depositions of witnesses,

oaths of the parties, confessions, physical and written evidence,

presumptions of common knowledge, and inquests of impartial, sworn men

who made unanimous determinations. The accuser had to meet the burden

of proof. The accused could be required to answer questions under oath,

thus giving evidence against himself. It was not necessary to have an

accuser; a judge could open a case based on public rumor. The judge

made a written decision that did not incude his reasoning. He read the

decision aloud in a public session of the court. If an accused

disobeyed a court order to appear or to do penance, he could be

excommunicated.

Common law held that ecclesiastical courts could not give money

damages. But costs were paid by the loser and included expenses of

producing witnesses, writing of documents, and fees of lawyers. An

appeal could be made from the archdeacon to the bishop to the

metropolitan to the Pope. Henry acknowledged occasional appellate

authority of the pope, but expected his clergy to elect bishops of his

choice.

There was a separate judicial system for the laws of the

forest. There were itinerant justices of the forests and four verderers

of each forest county, who were elected by the votes of the full county

court, twelve knights appointed to keep vert [everything bearing green

leaves] and venison, and foresters of the king and of the lords who had

lands within the limits of the forests. Every three years, the officers

visited the forests in preparation for the courts of the forest held by

the itinerant justices. The inferior courts were the woodmote, held

every forty days, and the swein [freeman or freeholder within the

forest] mote, held three times yearly before the verderers as justices,

in which all who were obliged to attend as suitors of the county court

to serve on juries and inquests were to be present.

In this lawsuit, King Henry I decided that since the abbots and

monks of Battle had proved before him that certain lands, belonging to

the manor of Alciston, are no possession of theirs, so they are to be

quit of the services due there: " Henry, king of the English, to Ralph,

bishop of Chichester, and all his ministers of Sussex, greeting. Know

that as the abbot of Battle and the monks deraigned [proved] before me

that they do not have those lands which you said they had, namely,

Ovington, Coding ( in Hove), Batsford (in Warbleton), Daningawurde,

Shuyswell ( in Etchingham), Boarzell ( in Ticehurst), Winenham,

Wertesce, Brembreshoc and Seuredeswelle, which of old belonged to

Alciston and contain seven hides of land of the fifty hides in Alciston

and its appurtenances, I order that they shall be free and quit on this

account and that none shall molest them any further, but concerning

these lands and these hides they shall be completely free and quit as

concerning lands which they do not have and of which they are not

seised. I also order by royal authority that their manor called

Alciston, which my father gave to the church of Battle with other lands

for his soul, shall be so free and quit of shires and hundreds and all

customs of land-service as my father himself held it most freely and

quietly, and namely concerning the work on London Bridge and on the

castle of Pevensey. This I command upon my forfeiture. Witness: William

de Pont de l'Arche. At Westbourne.

In this lawsuit, King Henry I ordered a bishop and sheriff to

put another bishop in possession of certain churches according to the

verdict of twelve men: " Henry, by God's grace, etc. to H(erbert),

bishop of Norwich, and Robert the sheriff, greeting. I order that you

let Richard, bishop of London, have the churches of Blythburgh and

Stowe with all the customs that belong to them as twelve among the

better men of the hundred will be able to swear and as I ordered in my

other writ. And let this not be left undone because of my voyage to

Normandy, and let him hold them in peace and honour with suit, soke,

toll and team and infangthief and with all other customs, as ever any

of my predecessors most honourably and most quietly held them. Witness,

etc."

In this lawsuit, King Henry I grants that an abbot should

continue to have his mint after his moneyer suffered punishment like

all the others in England: "Henry, king of the English, to Everard

bishop of Norwich, Robert fitz Walter and all his barons and lieges,

French and English, of Suffolk, greeting. I grant that, justice having

been done to his moneyer as was done to the other moneyers of England,

the abbot of St. Edmunds shall have in the vill of St. Edmunds his

mint, moneyer and exchange as he used to have it before. Witnesses:

(John), bishop of Lisieux, (Bernard), bishop of St. David's and Robert

de Sigillo, At Rouen."

In this lawsuit, King Henry I held proven the ownership of

certain wood and land: "Henry, king of the English, to the bishop of

Lincoln and the sheriff and the barons and faithful, French and

English, of Bedfordshire, greeting. Know that Abbot Reginald of Ramsey

has deraigned in my court to the advantage of the church of Ramsey the

wood of Crawley and the land pertaining to it against Simon de

Beauchamp, about which they were in dispute, and the aforesaid abbot

gave to Simon 20 marks of silver and two palfreys [riding horses] so

that Simon granted them to him out of goodwill and gave up his claim.

And I will and firmly order that the aforesaid church of Ramsey shall

hold that wood and the aforesaid land belonging to the wood well and in

peace, honourably and by perpetual right. Witnesses: bishop Roger of

Salisbury and bishop Alexander of Lincoln, King David of Scotland,

Geoffrey the chancellor, Earl Robert of Leicester, Adam de Port, Hugh

Bigod, William d'Aubigny the butler, Geoffrey de Clinton, William of

d'Aubigny Brito."