Chapter 8

The Times: 1272-1348

King Edward I was respected by the people for his good

government, practical wisdom, and genuine concern for justice for

everyone. He loved his people and wanted them to love him. He came to

the throne with twenty years experience governing lesser lands on the

continent which were given to him by his father Henry III. He spoke

Latin, English, and French. He gained a reputation as a lawgiver and as

a peacemaker in disputes on the continent. His reputation was so high

and agreement on him as the next king so strong that England was

peaceful in the almost two years that it took him to arrive there from

continental business. He was truthful, law-abiding, and kept his word.

He had close and solid family relationships, especially with his father

and with his wife Eleanor, to whom he was faithful. He was loyal to his

close circle of good friends. He valued honor and adhered reasonably

well to the terms of the treaties he made. He was generous in carrying

out the royal custom of subsidizing the feeding of paupers. He visited

the sick. He was frugal and dressed in plain, ordinary clothes rather

than extravagant or ostentatious ones. He disliked ceremony and display.

At his accession, there was a firm foundation of a national law

administered by a centralized judicial system, a centralized executive,

and an organized system of local government in close touch with both

the judicial and the executive system. To gain knowledge of his nation,

he sent royal commissioners into every county to ask about any

encroachments on the King's rights and about misdeeds by any of the

King's officials: sheriffs, bailiffs, or coroners. The results were

compiled as the "Hundred Rolls". They were the basis of reforms which

improved justice at the local as well as the national level. They also

rationalized the array of jurisdictions that had grown up with feudal

government. Statutes were passed by a parliament of two houses, that of

peers (lords) and that of an elected [rather than appointed] commons,

and the final form of the constitution was fixed.

A wife was expected to obey her husband. A husband was deemed

the guardian of his wife. If he starved or mistreated her, he was

subject to punishment by the church court, even excommunication if

necessary. The king's court punished a husband who killed or maimed his

wife. The common law as to husband and wife took a final shape with six

basic principles:

1. A husband, but not the wife, could alienate his wife's land during

the marriage, but not to take effect after his death, e.g. by will.

2. A widow was entitled for her life a dower of one-third of any land

by her husband.

3. The husband can take possession of the wife's chattels and can

alienate them during his life without her permission. He can sue for

all debts due her without her permission. If he survives her, he is

entitled to be administrator of her estate. She can make no will

without his permission.

4. The husband can give away all his chattels, except for her necessary

clothes and her jewelry and paraphernalia.

5. The husband is liable for debts incurred or wrongs committed by his

wife even before their marriage.

6. A wife cannot contract on her own behalf, but may purchase on credit

certain necessaries and household goods.

The church elaborated on these principles with a doctrine for

women-covert, i.e. women under the protection or coverture of a

husband, and not living separately such as when a man went to sea or to

war. She had a right to the necessities of life. Her jewelry, but not

her apparel, could go to his creditors if his assets didn't cover his

debts. The husband also had the right to the rents and profits from his

wife's real estate, but not the real estate itself, unless by the birth

of a child he became tenant for life by courtesy. Only the father, but

not the mother had authority over their children. A father had a right

to his child's services, and could sue a third party for abducting,

enticing away, or injuring the child, just as he could for his

servants. A husband was answerable for a wife's torts and trespasses,

except for battery. For this reason, he was allowed to chastise her,

restrain her liberty for gross misbehavior, and punish her by beating

for some misdemeanors. If she was a merchant when she married, she

could still sell her goods in the open market. There could be no

divorce, but only separation. If separated, she had a right to alimony

from him to maintain herself.

There were many conveyances of land to husband and wife and

their heirs. This created a tenancy by the entirety. This land could

not be alienated by only one spouse without the other. On the death of

one spouse, the surviving spouse became the sole tenant of the whole.

Wardships of children and widows were sought because they were

very profitable. A guardian could get one tenth of the income of the

property during the wardship and a substantial marriage amount when the

ward married. Parents often made contracts to marry for their young

children. This avoided a forced marriage by a ward should the parents

die.

Most earldoms and many baronages came into the royal house by

escheat or marriage. The royal house employed many people. The barons

developed a class consciousness of aristocracy and became leaders of

society. Many men, no matter of whom they held land, sought knighthood.

The king granted knighthood by placing his sword on the head of

able-bodied and moral candidates who swore an oath of loyalty to the

king and to defend "all ladies, gentlewomen, widows and orphans" and to

"shun no adventure of your person in any war wherein you should happen

to be". A code of knightly chivalry became recognized, such as telling

the truth and setting wrongs right. About half of the knights were

literate. In 1278, the king issued a writ ordering all freeholders who

held land of the value of at least 400s. to receive knighthood at the

King's hands.

At the royal house and other great houses gentlemanly jousting

competitions, with well-refined and specific rules, took the place of

violent tournaments with general rules. Edward forbade tournaments at

which there was danger of a "melee". At these knights competed for the

affection of ladies by jousting with each other while the ladies

watched. Courtly romances were common. If a man convinced a lady to

marry him, the marriage ceremony took place in church, with feasting

and dancing afterwards. Romantic stories were at the height of their

popularity. A usual theme was the lonely quest of a knight engaged in

adventures which would impress his lady.

Riddles include: 1. I will make you a cross, and a thing will

not touch you, and you will not be able to leave the house without

breaking that cross. Answer: Stand before a post in your house, with

your arms extended. 2. What you do not know, and I do not know, and no

one can know after I have told you. Answer: I will take a straw from

the floor of the room, measure its inches, tell you the length, and

break the straw. 3. A pear tree bears all the fruit a pear tree can

bear and did not bear pears. Answer: It bore only one pear.

The dress of the higher classes was very changeable and subject

to fashion as well as function. Ladies no longer braided their hair in

long tails, but rolled it up in a net under a veil, often topped with

an elaborate and fanciful headdress. They wore non- functional long

trains on their tunics and dainty shoes. Men wore a long gown,

sometimes clasped around the waist. Overtunics were often lined or

trimmed with native fur such as squirrel. People often wore solid red,

blue, or green clothes. Only monks and friars wore brown. The

introduction of buttons and buttonholes to replace pins and laces made

clothing warmer, and it could be made tighter. After Edward I

established the standard inch as three continuous dried barleycorns,

shoes came in standard sizes and with a right one different from a left

one. The spinning wheel came into existence to replace the handheld

spindle. Now one hand could be used to form the thread while the other

hand turned a large upright wheel that caused the thread to wind around

the spindle, which did not have to be held by hand. This resulted in an

uninterrupted spinning motion which was not interrupted by alternately

forming the thread and winding it on the spindle.

In the 1300s, there were extremes of fashion in men's and

women's clothing including tight garments, pendant sleeves down to the

ground, coats so short they didn't reach the hips or so long they

reached the heels, hoods so small they couldn't cover the head, and

shoes with long curved peaks like claws at the toes. Both men and women

wore belts low on the hips. The skirt of a lady's tunic was fuller and

the bodice more closely fitted than before. Her hair was usually

elaborately done up, e.g. with long curls or curled braids on either

side of the face. A jeweled circlet was often worn around her head.

Ladies wore on their arms or belts, cloth handbags, which usually

contained toiletries, such as combs made of ivory, horn, bone, or wood,

and perhaps a little book of devotions. A man wore a knife and a bag on

his belt. Some women painted their faces and/or colored their hair.

There were hand- held glass mirrors. Some people kept dogs purely as

pets.

There was a great development of heraldic splendor with for

instance, crests, coat-armor, badges, pennons [long, triangular flag],

and helmets. They descended through families. Not only was it a mark of

service to wear the badge of a lord, but lords wore each other's badges

by way of compliment.

Lords surrounded themselves with people of the next lower rank,

usually from nearby families, and had large households. For instance,

the king had a circle of noblemen and ladies about him. A peer or great

prelate had a household of about 100-200 people, among which were his

inner circle, companions, administrators, secretaries, bodyguards and

armed escort, chaplain, singing priests and choirboys, and servants.

All officers of the household were gentlemen. The secretary was usually

a clerk, who was literate because he had taken minor clerical orders.

Since the feudal obligation of the tenants was disappearing, a lord

sometimes hired retainers to supplement his escort of fighting men.

They proudly wore his livery of cloth or hat, which was in the nature

of a uniform or badge of service. A nobleman and his lady had a circle

of knights and gentlemen and their ladies. A knight had a circle of

gentlemen and their ladies.

The great barons lived in houses built within the walls of

their castles. Lesser barons lived in semi-fortified manors, many of

which had been licensed to be embattled or crenelated. Their halls were

two stories high, and usually built on the first rather than on the

second floor. Windows came down almost to the floor. The hall had a

raised floor at one end where the lord and lady and a few others sat at

a high table. The hearth was in the middle of the room or on a wall.

Sometimes a cat was used to open and shut the louvers of the smoke

outlet in the roof. The lord's bedroom was next to the hall on the

second floor and could have windows into the hall and a spiral

staircase connecting the two rooms. There was a chapel, in which the

lord attended mass every morning. The many knights usually lived in

unfortified houses with two rooms.

In the great houses, there were more wall hangings, and

ornaments for the tables. The tables were lit with candles or torches

made of wax. Plates were gold and silver. The lord, his lady, and their

family and guests sat at the head table, which was raised on a dais. On

this high table was a large and elaborate salt cellar. One's place in

relationship to the salt cellar indicated one's status: above or below

the salt. Also, those of higher status at the table ate a superior

bread. The almoner [alms giver] said grace. Gentlemen poured the lord's

drink [cupbearer], served his meat [carver], and supervised the serving

of the food [sewer]. A yeoman ewery washed the hands of the lord and

his guests and supplied the napkins, ewers [pitchers], and basins. A

yeoman cellarer or butler served the wine and beer. The yeoman of the

pantry served the bread, salt, and cutlery. The steward presided over

the table of household officers of gentle birth. The marshall of the

hall, clerk of the kitchen, or other yeomen officers supervised other

tables. Salt and spices were available at all tables. Most people ate

with their fingers, although there were knives and some spoons.

Drinking vessels were usually metal, horn, or wood. A marshall and

ushers kept order. Minstrels played musical instruments or recited

histories of noble deeds or amusing anecdotes. Reading aloud was a

favorite pastime. The almoner collected the leftovers to distribute to

the poor.

In lesser houses people ate off trenchers [a four day old slab

of coarse bread or a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a

bowl], or plates of wood or pewter [made from tin, copper, and lead].

They often shared plates and drinking vessels at the table.

Queen Eleanor, a cultivated, intelligent, and educated lady

from the continent, fostered culture and rewarded individual literary

efforts, such as translations from Latin, with grants of her own money.

She patronized Oxford and Cambridge Universities and left bequests to

poor scholars there. She herself had read Aristotle and commentaries

thereon, and she especially patronized literature which would give

cross-cultural perspectives on subjects. She was kind and thoughtful

towards those about her and was also sympathetic to the afflicted and

generous to the poor. She shared Edward's career to a remarkable

extent, even accompanying him on a crusade. She had an intimate

knowledge of the people in Edward's official circle and relied on the

advice of two of them in managing her lands. She mediated disputes

between earls and other nobility, as well as softened her husband's

temper towards people. Edward granted her many wardships and marriages

and she arranged marriages with political advantages. She dealt with

envoys coming to the court. Her intellectual vitality and organized

mentality allowed her to deal with arising situations well. Edward held

her in great esteem. She introduced to England the merino sheep, which,

when bred with the English sheep, gave them a better quality of wool.

She and Edward often played games of chess and backgammon.

Farm efficiency was increased by the use of windmills in the

fields to pump water and by allowing villeins their freedom and hiring

them as laborers only when needed. Customary service was virtually

extinct. A man could earn 5d. for reaping, binding, and shocking into a

pile, an acre of wheat. A strong man with a wife to do the binding

could do this in a long harvest day. Harvests were usually plentiful,

with the exception of two periods of famine over the country due to

weather conditions. Then the price of wheat went way up and drove up

the prices of all other goods correspondingly. The story of outlaw

Robin Hood, who made a living by robbing, was passed around. This Robin

Hood did not give to the poor. But generally, there was enough grain to

store so that the population was no longer periodically devastated by

famine. The population grew and all arable land in the nation came

under the plough. The acre was standardized. About 1300, the price of

an ox was 9s., a heifer or cow 7s., a hide 2s.6d., a cart horse 2 or 3

pounds. Farm women went to nearby towns to sell eggs and dairy

products, usually to town women.

Although manors needed the ploughmen, the carters and drivers,

the herdsmen, and the dairymaid on a full-time basis, other tenants

spent increasing time in crafts and became village carpenters, smiths,

weavers or millers' assistants. Trade and the towns grew. Smiths used

coal in their furnaces.

Money rents often replaced service due to a lord, such as fish

silver, malt silver, or barley silver. The lord's rights are being

limited to the rights declared on the extents [records showing service

due from each tenant] and the rolls of the manor. Sometimes land is

granted to strangers because none of the kindred of the deceased will

take it. Often a manor court limited a fee in land to certain issue

instead of being inheritable by all heirs. Surveyors' poles marked

boundaries declared by court in boundary disputes. This resulted in

survey maps showing villages and cow pastures.

The revival of trade and the appearance of a money economy was

undermining the long-established relationship between the lord of the

manor and his villeins. As a result, money payments were supplementing

or replacing payments in service and produce as in Martham, where

Thomas Knight held twelve acres in villeinage, paid 16d. for it and

14d. in special aids. "He shall do sixteen working days in August and

for every day he shall have one repast - viz. Bread and fish. He shall

hoe ten days without the lord's food - price of a day 1/2 d. He shall

cart to Norwich six cartings or shall give 9d., and he shall have for

every carting one leaf and one lagena - or gallon - of ale. Also for

ditching 1d. He shall make malt 3 1/2 seams of barley or shall give 6d.

Also he shall flail for twelve days or give 12d. He shall plough if he

has his own plough, and for every ploughing he shall have three loaves

and nine herrings ... For carting manure he shall give 2."

Another example is this manor's holdings, when 3d. would buy

food for a day: "Extent of the manor of Bernehorne, made on Wednesday

following the feast of St. Gregory the Pope, in the thirty-fifth year

of the reign of King Edward, in the presence of Brother Thomas, keeper

of Marley, John de la More, and Adam de Thruhlegh, clerks, on the oath

of William de Gocecoumbe, Walter le Parker, Richard le Knyst, Richard

the son of the latter, Andrew of Estone, Stephen Morsprich, Thomas

Brembel, William of Swynham, John Pollard, Roger le Glide, John Syward,

and John de Lillingewist, who say that there are all the following

holdings:... John Pollard holds a half acre in Aldithewisse and owes

18d. at the four terms, and owes for it relief and heriot. John

Suthinton holds a house and 40 acres of land and owes 3s.6d. at Easter

and Michaelmas. William of Swynham holds one acre of meadow in the

thicket of Swynham and owes 1d. at the feast of Michaelmas. Ralph of

Leybourne holds a cottage and one acre of land in Pinden and owes 3s.

at Easter and Michaelmas, and attendance at the court in the manor

every three weeks, also relief and heriot. Richard Knyst of Swynham

holds two acres and a half of land and owes yearly 4s. William of

Knelle holds two acres of land in Aldithewisse and owes yearly 4s.

Roger le Glede holds a cottage and three roods of land and owes 2s.6d.

Easter and Michaelmas. Alexander Hamound holds a little piece of land

near Aldewisse and owes one goose of the value of 2d. The sum of the

whole rent of the free tenants, with the value of the goose, is 18s.9d.

They say, moreover, that John of Cayworth holds a house and 30 acres of

land, and owes yearly 2s. at Easter and Michaelmas; and he owes a cock

and two hens at Christmas of the value of 4d. And he ought to harrow

for two days at the Lenten sowing with one man and his own horse and

his own harrow, the value of the work being 4d.; and he is to receive

from the lord on each day three meals, of the value of 5d., and then

the lord will be at a loss of 1d. Thus his harrowing is of no value to

the service of the lord. And he ought to carry the manure of the lord

for two days with one cart, with his own two oxen, the value of the

work being 8d.; and he is to receive from the lord each day three meals

at the value as above. And thus the service is worth 3d. clear. And he

shall find one man for two days, for mowing the meadow of the lord, who

can mow, by estimation, one acre and a half, the value of the mowing of

an acre being 6d.: the sum is therefore 9d. And he is to receive each

day three meals of the value given above. And thus that mowing is worth

4d. clear. And he ought to gather and carry that same hay which he has

cut, the price of the work being 3d. And he shall have from the lord

two meals for one man, of the value of 1 1/2 d. Thus the work will be

worth 1 1/2 d. clear. And he ought to carry the hay of the lord for one

day with a cart and three animals of his own, the price of the work

being 6d. And he shall have from the lord three meals of the value of 2

1/2 d. And thus the work is worth 3 1/2 d. clear. And he ought to carry

in autumn beans or oats for two days with a cart and three animals of

his own, the value of the work being 12d. And he shall receive from the

lord each day three meals of the value given above. And thus the work

is worth 7d. clear. And he ought to carry wood from the woods of the

lord as far as the manor, for two days in summer, with a cart and three

animals of his own, the value of the work being 9d. And he shall

receive from the lord each day three meals of the price given above.

And thus the work is worth 4d. clear. And he ought to find one man for

two days to cut heath, the value of the work being 4d., and he shall

have three meals each day of the value given above: and thus the lord

will lose, if he receives the service, 3d. Thus that mowing is worth

nothing to the service of the lord. And he ought to carry the heath

which he has cut, the value of the work being 5d. And he shall receive

from the lord three meals at the price of 2 1/2 d. And thus the work

will be worth 2 1/2 d. clear. And he ought to carry to Battle, twice in

the summer season, each time half a load of grain, the value of the

service being 4d. And he shall receive in the manor each time one meal

of the value of 2d. And thus the work is worth 2d. clear. The totals of

the rents, with the value of the hens, is 2s.4d. The total of the value

of the works is 2s.3 1/2 d., being owed from the said John yearly.

William of Cayworth holds a house and 30 acres of land and owes at

Easter and Michaelmas 2s. rent. And he shall do all customs just as the

aforesaid John of Cayworth. William atte Grene holds a house and 30

acres of land and owes in all things the same as the said John. Alan

atte Felde holds a house and 16 acres of land (for which the sergeant

pays to the court of Bixley 2s.), and he owes at Easter and Michaelmas

4s., attendance at the manor court, relief, and heriot. John

Lyllingwyst holds a house and four acres of land and owes at the two

terms 2s., attendance at the manor court, relief, and heriot. The same

John holds one acre of land in the fields of Hoo and owes at the two

periods 2s., attendance, relief, and heriot. Reginald atte Denne holds

a house and 18 acres of land and owes at the said periods 18d.,

attendance, relief, and heriot. Robert of Northehou holds three acres

of land at Saltcote and owes at the said periods attendance, relief,

and heriot. Total of the rents of the villeins, with the value of the

hens, 20s. Total of all the works of these villeins, 6s.10 1/2 d. And

it is to be noted that none of the above-mentioned villeins can give

their daughters in marriage, nor cause their sons to be tonsured, nor

can they cut down timber growing on the lands they hold, without

licence of the bailiff or sergeant of the lord, and then for building

purposes and not otherwise. And after the death of any one of the

aforesaid villeins, the lord shall have as a heriot his best animal, if

he had any; if, however, he have no living beast, the lord shall have

no heriot, as they say. The sons or daughters of the aforesaid villeins

shall give, for entrance into the holding after the death of their

predecessors, as much as they give of rent per year. Sylvester, the

priest, holds one acre of meadow adjacent to his house and owes yearly

3s. Total of the rent of tenants for life, 3s. Petronilla atte Holme

holds a cottage and a piece of land and owes at Easter and Michaelmas -

; also, attendance, relief, and heriot. Walter Herying holds a cottage

and a piece of land and owes at Easter and Michaelmas 18d., attendance,

relief, and heriot. Isabella Mariner holds a cottage and owes at the

feast of St. Michael 12d., attendance, relief, and heriot. Jordan atte

Melle holds a cottage and 1 1/2 acres of land and owes at Easter and

Michaelmas 2s., attendance, relief, and heriot. William of Batelesmere

holds one acre of land with a cottage and owes at the feast of St.

Michael 3d., and one cock and one hen at Christmas of the value of 3d.,

attendance, relief, and heriot. John le Man holds half an acre of land

with a cottage and owes at the feast of St. Michael 2s., attendance,

relief, and heriot. Hohn Werthe holds one rood of land with a cottage

and owes at the said term 18d., attendance, relief, and heriot.

Geoffrey Caumbreis holds half an acre and a cottage and owes at the

said term 18d., attendance, relief, and heriot. William Hassok holds

one rood of land and a cottage and owes at the said term 18d.,

attendance, relief, and heriot. The same man holds 3 1/2 acres of land

and owes yearly at the feast of St. Michael 3s. for all. Roger Doget

holds half an acre of land and a cottage, which were those of R. the

miller, and owes at the feast of St. Michael 18d., attendance, relief,

and heriot. Thomas le Brod holds one acre and a cottage and owes at the

said term 3s., attendance, relief, and heriot. Agnes of Cayworth holds

half an acre and a cottage and owes at the said term 18d., attendance,

relief, and heriot. Total of the rents of the said cottagers, with the

value of the hens, 34s.6d. And it is to be noted that all the said

cottagers shall do as regards giving their daughters in marriage,

having their sons tonsured, cutting down timber, paying heriot, and

giving fines for entrance, just as John of Cayworth and the rest of the

villeins above mentioned." The above fines and penalties, with heriots

and reliefs, are worth 5s. yearly.

Often one village was divided up among two or more manors, so

different manorial customs made living conditions different among the

villagers. Villages usually had carpenters, smiths, saddlers,

thatchers, carters, fullers, dyers, soapmakers, tanners, needlers, and

brassworkers. Each villein had his own garden in which to grow fruit

and vegetables next to his house, a pig (which fattened more quickly

than other animals), strips in the common field, and sometimes an

assart [a few acres of his own to cultivate as he pleased on originally

rough uncultivated waste land beyond the common fields and the enclosed

common pastures and meadows]. Most villeins did not venture beyond

their village except for about ten miles to a local shrine or great

fair a couple times a year. At the fair might be fish, honey, spices,

salt, garlic, oil, furs, silks, canvas, soap, pans, pots, grindstones,

coal, nails, tar, iron, shovels, brushes, pails, horses, and

packsaddles. Early apothecaries might sell potions there. Men and women

looking for other employment might attend to indicate their

availability.

Under Edward I, villages were required to mount watches to

protect life and property and were called upon to provide one man for

the army and to pay his wages.

People told time by counting the number of rings of the church

bell, which rang on the hour. Every Sunday, the villagers went to

church, which was typically the most elaborate and centrally located

building in the village. The parishioners elected churchwardens, who

might be women. This religion brought comfort and hope of going to

heaven, rather than hell, after judgment by God at death if sin was

avoided or forgiven. On festival days, Bible stories, legends, and

lives of saints were read or performed as miracle dramas. They learned

to avoid the devil, who was influential in lonely places like forests

and high mountains. At death, the corpse was washed, shrouded, and put

into a rectangular coffin with a cross on its lid. Priests sang prayers

amid burning incense for the deliverance of the soul to God while

interring the coffin into the ground. Men who did not make a will

risked the danger of an intestate and unconfessed death. The personal

property of a man dying intestate now went to the church as a trust for

the dead man's imperiled soul instead of to the man's lord.

Unqualified persons entered holy orders thereby obtaining

"benefit of clergy", and then returned to secular employments retaining

this protection.

A villein could be forever set free from servitude by his lord

as in this example:

"To all the faithful of Christ to whom the present writing shall come,

Richard, by the divine permission, abbot of Peterborough and of the

Convent of the same place, eternal greeting in the Lord: Let all know

that we have manumitted and liberated from all yoke of servitude

William, the son of Richard of Wythington, whom previously we have held

as our born bondman, with his whole progeny and all his chattels, so

that neither we nor our successors shall be able to require or exact

any right or claim in the said William, his progeny, or his chattels.

But the same William, with his whole progeny and all his chattels,

shall remain free and quit and without disturbance, exaction, or any

claim on the part of us or our successors by reason of any servitude

forever.

We will, moreover, and concede that he and his heirs shall hold the

messuages, land, rents, and meadows in Wythington which his ancestors

held from us and our predecessors, by giving and performing the fine

which is called merchet for giving his daughter in marriage, and

tallage from year to year according to our will, - that he shall have

and hold these for the future from us and our successors freely,

quietly, peacefully, and hereditarily, by paying to us and our

successors yearly 40s. sterling, at the four terms of the year, namely:

at St. John the Baptist's day 10s., at Michaelmas 10s., at Christmas

10s., and at Easter 10s., for all service, exaction, custom, and

secular demand; saving to us, nevertheless, attendance at our court of

Castre every three weeks, wardship, and relief, and outside service of

our lord the King, when they shall happen. And if it shall happen that

the said William or his heirs shall die at any time without an heir,

the said messuage, land rents, and meadows with their appurtenances

shall return fully and completely to us and our successors. Nor will it

be allowed to the said William or his heirs to give, sell, alienate,

mortgage, or encumber in any way, the said messuage, land, rents, and

meadows, or any part of them, by which the said messuage, land, rents,

and meadows should not return to us and our successors in the form

declared above. And if this should occur later, their deed shall be

declared null, and what is thus alienated shall come to us and our

successors...

Given at Borough, for the love of Lord Robert of good memory, once

abbot, our predecessor and maternal uncle of the said William, and at

the instance of the good man, Brother Hugh of Mutton, relative of the

said abbot Robert, A.D. 1278, on the eve of Pentecost."

Villeins who were released from the manorial organization by

commutation of their service for a money payment took the name of their

craft as part of their name, such as, for the manufacture of textiles,

Weaver, Draper, Comber, Fuller, Napper, Cissor, Tailor, Textor; for

metalwork, Faber, Ironmonger; for leatherwork, Tanner; for woodwork,

building and carpentry, Carpenter, Cooper, Mason, Pictor; for food

production, Baker, Pistor. Iron, tin, lead, salt, and even coal were

providing increasing numbers of people with a livelihood.

Many new boroughs were founded as grants of market rights by

the king grew in number. These grants implied the advantage of the

King's protection. In fact, one flooded town was replaced with a new

town planned with square blocks. It was the charter which distinguished

the borough community from the other communities existing in the

country. It invested each borough with a distinct character. The

privileges which the charter conferred were different in different

places. It might give trading privileges: freedom from toll, a guild

merchant, a right to hold a fair. It might give jurisdictional

privileges: a right to hold court with greater or less franchises. It

might give governmental privileges: freedom from the burden of

attending the hundred and county courts, the return of writs, which

meant the right to exclude the royal officials, the right to take the

profits of the borough, paying for them a fixed sum to the Crown or

other lord of the borough, the right to elect their own officials

rather than them being appointed by the king or a lord, and the right

to provide for the government of the borough. It might give tenurial

privileges: the power to make a will of lands, or freedom from the

right of a lord to control his tenants' marriages. It might give

procedural privileges: trial by combat is excluded, and trial by

compurgation is secured and regulated. These medieval borough charters

are very varied, and represent all stages of development and all grades

of franchise. Boroughs bought increasing rights and freedoms from their

lord, who was usually the King.

In the larger towns, where cathedrals and public building were

built, there arose a system for teaching these technical skills and

elaborate handicraft, wood, metal, stained glass, and stone work. A boy

from the town would be bound over in apprenticeship to a particular

craftsman, who supplied him with board and clothing. The craftsman

might also employ men for just a day. These journeymen were not part of

the craftsman's household as was the apprentice. After a few years of

an apprenticeship, one became a journeyman and perfected his knowledge

of his craft and its standards by seeing different methods and results

in various towns. He was admitted as a master of his trade to a guild

upon presenting an article of his work worthy of that guild's standard

of workmanship: his "masterpiece". Women, usually wives of brethren

only, could be admitted. The tailors' guild and the skinners' guild are

extant now.

When guilds performed morality plays based on Bible stories at

town festivals, there was usually a tie between the Bible story and the

guild's craft. For instance, the story of the loaves and fishes would

be performed by the Bakers' or Fishmongers' Guild. The theme of the

morality play was the fight of the Seven Cardinal Virtues against the

Seven Deadly Sins for the human soul, a life- long battle. The number

seven was thought to have sacred power; there were seven sacraments,

seven churches in the Biblical Apocalypse, seven liberal arts and seven

devilish arts. The seven sacraments were: baptism, confirmation, Lord's

Supper, penance, orders, matrimony, and extreme unction.

A borough was run by a mayor elected usually for life. By being

members of a guild, merchant-traders and craftsmen acquired the legal

status of burgesses and had the freedom of the borough. Each guild

occupied a certain ward of the town headed by an alderman. The town

aldermen, who were unpaid, made up the town council, which advised the

mayor. The Mayor of London received 40 pounds for hospitality, but in

small towns, 20s. sufficed. Often there were town police, bailiffs,

beadles [messengers], a town crier, and a town clerk. London offices

included recorder, prosecutor, common sergeant, and attorneys. In the

center of town were the fine stone houses, a guildhall with a belfry

tower, and the marketplace - a square or broad street, where the town

crier made public announcements with bell or horn. Here too was the

ducking stool for scandalmongers and the stocks which held offenders by

their legs and perhaps their hands to be scorned and pelted by

bystanders with, for instance, rotten fruit and filth. No longer were

towns dominated by the local landholders.

In London there were 4 royal princes, 6 great earls, 17 barons,

26 knights, and 11 female representatives of the peerage (counted in

1319). There was a wall with four towers surrounding the White Tower,

and this castle was known as the Tower of London. Another wall and a

moat were built around it and it has reached its final form. Hovels,

shops, and waste patches alternated with high walls and imposing

gateways protecting mansions. The mansions had orchards, gardens,

stables, brewhouses, bakeries, guardrooms, and chapels. London streets

were paved with cobbles and sand. Each citizen was to keep the street

in front of his tenement in good repair. Later, each alderman appointed

four reputable men to repair and clean the streets for wages. The

repair of Bishopsgate was the responsibility of the Bishop because he

received one stick from every cart of firewood passing through it.

Rules as to tiled roofs were enforced. A 1297 ordinance required all

taverns to close at curfew, an hour that fluctuated. Prostitutes were

expelled from the city because the street with their bawdy houses had

become very noisy. Women huckster-retailers, nurses, servants, and

loose women were limited to wearing hoods furred with lambskin or

rabbitskin and forbidden to wear hoods furred with vair or miniver

[grey or white squirrel] in the guise of good ladies. An infirmary for

the blind was founded by a mercer, who became its first prior.

The London mayoral elections were hotly fought over until in

1285, when the aldermen began to act with the aid of an elected council

in each of the twenty-four wards, which decentralized the government of

the city. Each ward chose certain of its inhabitants to be councilors

to the aldermen. This council was to be consulted by him and its advice

to be followed. In 1291, the aldermen for the first time included a

fishmonger. The Fishmongers were the only guild at this time, besides

the Weavers, which had acquired independent jurisdiction by the

transfer of control of their weekly hallmote from a public official to

themselves. Craftsmen began to take other public offices too. By the

reign of Edward II, all the citizens were obliged to be enrolled among

the trade guilds. A great quarrel between the weaver's guild and the

magistracy began the control of the city by the craft guilds or city

companies. Admission to freedom of the city [citizenship] was

controlled by the citizens, who decided that no man of English birth,

and especially no English merchant, who followed any specific mistery

[French word for a calling or trade] or craft, was to be admitted to

the freedom of the city except on the security of six reputable men of

that mistery or craft. No longer could one simply purchase citizenship.

Apprentices had to finish their terms before such admission, and often

could not afford the citizenship fee imposed on them. Only freemen

could sell wares in the city, a custom of at least two hundred years.

As economic activity in London became more complex and on a

larger scale in the 1200s, some craftsmen were brought under the

control of other crafts or merchants. The bakers fell under the control

of the wholesale grain dealers; the weavers became pieceworkers for

rich cloth merchants; the blademakers and shearers were employed by

cutlers; coppersmiths were controlled by girdlers; fullers were

controlled by entrepreneurial dyers; and the painters, joiners, and

lorimers were controlled by the saddlers. Guilds moved their meeting

places from churches, which were now too small, to guild halls. The

controlling officers of the large guilds met at the Guildhall, which

became the seat of mayoral authority. London streets in existence by

this time include Cordwainer, Silver, Cannon (Candlewick), and Roper.

Lanes included Ironmonger, Soper, Spurrier, Lad (ladles), Distaff,

Needles, Mede, Limeburner, and Hosier. Fighting among groups was common

in London. There was a street fight on a large scale in 1327 between

the saddlers and a coalition of joiners, painters, and lorimers (makers

of metal work of saddles). Much blood was shed in the street battle

between the skinners and the fishmongers in 1340. There was a city

ordinance that no one except royal attendants, baronial valets, and

city officials were to go about armed. Disputes among neighbors that

were brought to court included the use and upkeep of party walls,

blocked and overflowing gutters, cesspits too close to a neighbor's

property, noisy tenants, loss of light, and dangerous or overhanging

structures.

In 1275, a goldsmith was chief assay-master of the King's mint

and keeper of the exchange at London. The king gave the Goldsmiths'

Company the right of assay [determination of the quantity of gold or

silver in an object] and required that no vessels of gold or silver

should leave the maker's hands until they had been tested by the

wardens and stamped appropriately. In 1279, goldsmith William

Farrington bought the soke of the ward containing the goldsmiths'

shops. It remained in his family for 80 years. A patent of 1327

empowered the guild to elect a properly qualified governing body to

superintend its affairs, and reform subjects of just complaint. It also

prescribed, as a safeguard against a prevailing fraud and abuse, that

all members of the trade should have their standing in Cheapside or in

the King's exchange, and that no gold or silver should be manufactured

for export, except that which had been bought at the exchange or of the

trade openly.

Some prices in London were: large wooden bedstead 18s., a small

bedstead 2s., a large chest for household items 2s., feather beds

2-3s., a table 1s., a chair 4-6d., cloth gown lined with fur 13- 20s.,

plain coats and overcoats 2-8s., caps 2-8d., a pair of pen- cases with

inkhorn 4d., a skin of parchment 1d., 24 sheets of paper 6d, a carcass

of beef 15s., a pig 4s., a swan 5s., and a pheasant 4s. There was a

problem with malefactors committing offenses in London and avoiding its

jurisdiction by escaping to Southwark across the Thames. So Southwark

was given a royal charter which put it under the jurisdiction of London

for peace and order matters and allowed London to appoint its tax

collector. London forbade games being played because they had replaced

practice in archery, which was necessary for defense.

A royal inquiry into the state of the currency indicated much

falsification and coin-clipping by the Jews and others. About 280 Jews

and many Englishmen were found guilty and hanged. The rest of the Jews,

about 16,000, were expelled in 1290. This was popular with the public

because of the abuses of usury. There had been outbreaks of violence

directed at the Jews since about 1140. The king used Italian bankers

instead because he thought them more equitable in their dealings. The

lepers were driven out of London in 1276. Exports and imports were no

longer a tiny margin in an economy just above the subsistence level.

Exports were primarily raw wool and cloth, but also grain, butter,

eggs, herring, hides, leather goods such as bottles and boots,

embroideries, metalware, horseshoes, daggers, tin, coal, and lead.

Imported were wine, silk, timber, furs, rubies, emeralds, fruits,

raisins, currents, pepper, ginger, cloves, rice, cordovan leather,

pitch, hemp, spars, fine iron, short rods of steel, bow-staves of yew,

tar, oil, salt, cotton (for candlewicks), and alum (makes dyes hold).

Ships which transported them had one or two masts upon which sails

could be furled, the recently invented rudder, and a carrying capacity

of up to 200 tuns [about one ton]. Many duties of sheriffs and coroners

were transferred to county landholders by commissions. In coastal

counties, there were such commissions for supervising coastal defense

and maintaining the beacons. Each maritime county maintained a coast

guard, which was under the command of a knight. Ports had

well-maintained harbors, quays, and streets. By 1306 there was an

office of admiral of the fleet of the ships of the southern ports.

Women could inherit land in certain circumstances. Some tenants

holding land in chief of the king were women.

Regulation of trade became national instead of local. Trade was

relatively free; almost the only internal transportation tolls were

petty portages and viages levied to recoup the expense of a bridge or

road which had been built by private enterprise. Responsibility for the

coinage was transferred from the individual moneyers working in

different boroughs to a central official who was to become Master of

the Mint. The round half penny and farthing [1/4 penny] were created so

that the penny needn't be cut into halves and quarters anymore.

Edward I called meetings of representatives from all social and

geographic sectors of the nation at one Parliament to determine taxes

due to the Crown that would replace feudal aids. He declared that "what

touches all, should be approved by all". He wanted taxes from the

burgesses in the towns and the clergy's ecclesiastical property as well

as from landholders. He argued to the clergy that if barons had to both

fight and pay, they who could do no fighting must at least pay. When

the clergy refused to pay, he put them outside the royal protection and

threatened outlawry and confiscation of their lands. Then they agreed

to pay and to renounce all papal orders contrary to the King's

authority.

Edward I wanted to bring all his subjects undder hisimmediate

aujthority by the process of bringing all together to the same assembly

under his common presidency. So his Model Parliament of 1295 was

composed of the three communities. The first were the lords, which

included seven earls and forty-one barons. Because of the increase of

lesser barons due to a long national peace and prosperity, the lords

attending were reduced in numbers and peerage became dependent not on

land tenure, but on royal writ of summons. The great barons were chosen

by the king and received a special summons in their own names to the

council or Parliament. Others were called by a general summons. The

second community was the clergy, represented by the two archbishops,

bishops from each of eighteen dioceses, and sixty-seven abbots. The

third community was the commons. It was composed of two knights elected

by the suitors who were then present at the county court, two burgesses

elected by principal burgesses of each borough, and two representatives

from each city. The country knights had a natural affinity with the

towns in part because their younger sons sought their occupation, wife,

and estate there. Also, great lords recruited younger brothers of

yeoman families for servants and fighting men, who ultimately settled

down as tradesmen in the towns. The country people and the town people

also had a community of interest by both being encompassed by the

county courts. The peasants were not represented in the county courts

nor in Parliament. One had to have land to be entitled to vote in

Parliament because the landowner had a stake in the country, a material

security for his good behavior.

Parliaments without knights and burgesses still met with the

king. But it was understood that no extraordinary tax could be levied

without the knights and burgesses present. Ordinary taxes could be

arranged with individuals, estates, or communities. The lower clergy

ceased to attend Parliament and instead considered taxes to pay to the

king during their national church convocations, which were held at the

same time as Parliament. For collection purposes, their diocesan synod

was analogous to the county court. The higher clergy remained in

Parliament because they were feudal vassals of the king.

Edward's council was the highest tribunal. It comprised the

Chancellor, Treasurer and other great officers of state, the justices

of the three courts, the master or chief clerks of the Chancery, and

certain selected prelates and barons. The council assisted the king in

considering petitions. Most petitions to the King were private

grievances of individuals, including people of no social rank, such as

prisoners. Other petitions were from communities and groups, such as

religious houses, the two universities, boroughs, and counties. These

groups sometimes formed alliances in a common cause. Women sometimes

petitioned. From 1293, the petitions were placed in four stacks for

examination by the King and council, by the Chancery, by the Exchequer,

or by the justices. Many hours were spent hearing and answering

petitions. From 1305, the petitions were presented to the king in full

Parliament.

The king still exercised a power of legislation without a full

Parliament. He might in his council issue proclamations. The Chief

Justices still had, as members of the king's council, a real voice in

the making of laws. The king and his justices might, after a statute

has been made, put an authoritative interpretation upon it. Royal

proclamations had the same force as statutes while the king lived;

sometimes there were demands that certain proclamations be made

perpetual by being embodied in statutes, e.g. fixing wages. There was

no convention that agreement or even the presence of representatives

was required for legislation. The idea that the present can bind the

absent and that the majority of those present may outvote the minority

was beginning to take hold. Edward I's councilors and justices took an

oath to give, expedite, and execute faithful counsel; to maintain,

recover, increase, and prevent the diminution of, royal rights; to do

justice, honestly and unsparingly; to join in no engagements which may

present the councilor from fulfilling his promise; and to take no gifts

in the administration of justice, save meat and drink for the day.

These were in addition to other matters sworn to by the councilors.

Parliament soon was required to meet at least once a year at

the Great Hall at Westminster located beside the royal palace. London

paid its representatives 10s. per day for their attendance at

Parliament. From the time of Edward II, the counties paid their knight-

representatives 4s. daily, and the boroughs paid their burgess-

representatives 2s. daily. When it convened, the Chancellor sat on the

left and the Archbishop of Canterbury on the right of the king. Just

below and in front of the king his council sits on wool sacks brought

in for their comfort from wool stored nearby. It answers questions.

Behind them on the wool sacks sit the justices, who may be called upon

to give legal advice, e.g. in framing statutes. Then come the spiritual

and lay barons, then the knights, and lastly the elected burgesses and

citizens. Lawmaking became a function of Parliament, of which the

King's council is a part, instead of a function of the king with his

council and justices. The common people now had a voice in lawmaking,

though legislation could be passed without their consent. The first

legislation proposed by the commons was alteration of the forest laws

governing the royal pleasure parks. Such a statute was passed in a

bargain for taxes of a percentage of all movables, which were mostly

foodstuffs and animals. The king offered to give up the royal right to

tax merchandise for a new tax: customs on exports. The barons and

knights of the county agreed to pay an 11th, the burgesses, a 7th, and

the clergy a 10th on their other movables. In time, several boroughs

sought to be included in the county representation so they could pay

the lower rate. This new system of taxation began the decline of the

imposition of feudal aids, knights' fees, scutages, carucage, and

tallage, which had been negotiated by the Exchequer with the reeves of

each town, the sheriff and county courts of each county, and the

bishops of each diocese.

The staple [depot or mart, from the French "estaple"] system

began when the export of wool had increased and Parliament initiated

customs duties of 6s.8d. on every sack of wool, woolfells [sheepskin

with wool still on it], or skins exported in 1275. These goods had to

be assessed and collected at certain designated ports. Certain large

wool merchants, the merchants of the staple, were allowed to have a

monopoly on the purchase and export of wool. Imports of wine were taxed

as tunnage as before, that is there was a royal right to take from each

wine ship one cask for every ten at the price of 20s. per cask.

In 1297, Edward I confirmed the Magna Carta and other items.

Judgments contrary to Magna Carta were nullified. The documents were to

be read in cathedral churches as grants of Edward and all violators

were to be excommunicated. He also agreed not to impose taxes without

the consent of Parliament after baronial pressure had forced him to

retreat from trying to increase, for a war in France, the customs tax

on every exported sack of wool to 40s. from the 6s. 8d. per sack it had

been since 1275. The customs tax was finally fixed at 10s. for every

sack of wool, 2s. for each tun [casket] of wine, and 6d. for every

pound's worth of other goods. The "tenths and fifteenths" tax levied on

income from movables or chattels became regular every year. Edward also

confirmed the Forest Charter, which called for its earlier boundaries.

And he agreed not to impound any grain or wool or and like against the

will of the owners, as had been done before to collect taxes. Also, the

special prises or requisitions of goods for national emergency were not

to be a precedent. Lastly, he agreed not to impose penalties on two

earls and their supporters for refusing to serve in the war in France

when the king did not go.

The Magna Carta is the first statute. From 1299, statutes were

recorded in a Statute Roll as they were enacted.

By the end of the 1200s, the King's wardrobe, where

confidential matters such as military affairs were discussed in his

bedroom, became a department of state with the King's privy seal. The

keeper of the privy seal was established as a new office by Edward I in

1318. The wardrobe paid and provisioned the knights, squires, and

sergeants of the king and was composed mostly of civil servants. It

traveled with the King. The Crown's treasure, plate, tents, hangings,

beds, cooking utensils, wine, and legal and financial rolls were

carried on pack horses or in two-wheeled carts drawn by oxen, donkeys,

or dogs. The people in the entourage rode horses or walked. The other

two specialized administrative bodies were the Exchequer, which

received most of the royal revenue and kept accounts at Westminster,

and the Chancery, which wrote royal writs, charters, and letters, and

kept records.

The chief functions of administration in the 1300s were

performed by the council, chancery, wardrobe, chamber [room off

wardrobe for dressing and for storage], and exchequer. Many of the

chancellors had come from the wardrobe and chamber. In time, the

chancellor ceased to be a part of the king's personal retinue and to

follow the court. The chancery became primarily a department of central

administration rather than a secretariat and record-keeping part of the

royal household. The king used a privy seal to issue directives to the

chancery. Edward III made some merchants earls and appointed them to be

his ministers. He did not summon anyone to his council who did not have

the confidence of the magnates [barons, earls, bishops, and abbots].

There was a recoinage due to debasement of the old coinage.

This increased the number of coins in circulation. The price of wheat

went from about 7s. in 1270 to about 5s. per quarter in 1280. Also the

price of an ox went from 14s. to 10s. Then there were broad movements

of prices, within which there were wide fluctuations, largely due to

the state of the harvest. From 1280 to 1290, there was runaway

inflation. In some places, both grain and livestock prices almost

doubled between 1305 and 1310. Wheat prices peaked at 15s.5d. a quarter

in the famine year of 1316. In 1338, prices dropped and remained low

for twenty years. The poor were hurt by high prices and the lords of

the manors were hurt by low prices.

As before, inadequate care and ignorance of nutrition caused

many infant deaths. Accidents and disease were so prevalent that death

was always near and life insecure. Many women died in childbirth.

Edward I always sought the agreement of Parliament before

assembling an army or taking actions of war, and Parliamentary consent

came to be expected for such. He completed the conquest and annexation

of Wales in 1284. The feudal army was summoned for the last time in the

100 year war with France, which began in 1337. In it the English

longbow was used to pierce French knights' armor. There had been much

competition between the strength of arrows to pierce and the heaviness

of armor to resist. Guns and cannon with gunpowder were introduced in

1338. A system to raise an army by contract was developed. Contracts

were made with nobles, knights, or esquires who undertook to enlist an

agreed number of armored men-at-arms and archers, who were paid wages.

The King provided transport for each contractor and his retinue,

baggage, and horses. The title of "knight" now resumed its military

character as well as being a social rank.

After Edward I died in 1307, there was a period of general

lawlessness and contests for power between earls and barons and the

irresponsible King Edward II, who was not a warrior king. He eventually

was assassinated. Also in 1307, Parliament required the king to obtain

its consent for any exchange or alteration of the currency.

By 1319, the guilds of London had become so powerful that they

extracted a charter from the king that to be a citizen of London one

had to be a member of a guild.

By 1326, scholars, the nobility, and the clergy had reading

eyeglasses, which had been invented in Italy, probably by the glass

blowers. Italy was famous for its glasswork. The first eyeglasses were

fabricated by pouring molten glass into curved molds. The actual shape

was difficult to control because thermal expansion and contraction

resulted in bubbles and other optical imperfections.

As of 1336, importing foreign cloth or fur, except for use by

the King's family, was prohibited, as was the export of unwoven wool.

Later, this was relaxed and a customs tax of 33% was imposed on wool

exported.

Foreign cloth workers were allowed by statute to come to live

in the nation, be granted franchises, and be in the King's protection.

But no cloth was to be exported until it was fulled. During the reign

of Edward III, Flanders weavers were encouraged to come to England to

teach the English how to weave and finish fine cloth. A cloth industry

grew with all the manufacturing processes under the supervision of one

capitalist manufacturer, who set up his enterprise in the country to

avoid the regulations of the towns. The best places were hilly areas

where there were many streams and good pasture for flocks of sheep. He

hired shearers to cut the nap as short as possible to give a smooth

surface, then spinsters to card and spin the wool in their country

cottages, then weavers, and then fullers and dyers to come to fulling

mills established near streams for their waterpower. Fulling became

mechanized as heavy wooden hammers run by water- power replaced feet

trampling the cloth covered with soap or fuller's clay. The shaft loom

was a technological advance in weaving. This loom was horizontal and

its frames, which controlled the lifting of the warp threads, could

each be raised by a foot treadle. This left both hands free to throw

and catch the shuttle attached to the weft thread from side to side

through the warp. Also many more weaving patterns became possible

through the use of different thread configurations on the frames.

In 1341, the commons forced King Edward III and council to

approve their petition when Parliament was still in session so that

they would draft the legislation in true accordance with the petition.

This had not been done when drafting had been done after Parliament

ended, when the phrase "saving the prerogatives of the king" was often

added. Also the lords and commons consulted each other and joined in

petitions. But they usually stated their conclusions to the king

separately. It was considered a burden rather than a privilege to

attend Parliament and elections for such were not often contested. They

were conducted according to local custom until 1600.

In 1348, the Commons voted a tax of 1/15 th on movables for

three years with the proviso that it be spent only on the war against

Scotland. This began the practice of appropriation of funds. In 1381,

began the practice of appointing treasurers of the subsidies to account

to Parliament for both receipts and disbursements.

Alien merchants were under the king's special protection. In

return for paying extra import and export duties, Edward III gave alien

merchants full rights of trade, travel, and residence in England free

of all local tolls and restrictions, and guaranteed a fair hearing of

their commercial and criminal cases in special pie powder (after French

"pie poudrous" or dusty feet) courts at fairs.

The Law

Edward I remodeled the law in response to grievances and to

problems which came up in the courts. The changes improved the

efficiency of justice and served to accommodate it to the changing

circumstances of the social system.

"No man by force of arms, malice or menacing shall disturb

anyone in making free election [of sheriffs, coroners, conservators of

the peace by freeholders of the county]."

"No city, borough, town, nor man shall be amerced without

reasonable cause and according to the severity of his trespass. That

is, every freeman saving his freehold, a merchant saving his

merchandise, a villein saving his wainage [implements of agriculture],

and that by his peers."

No distress shall be taken of ploughing-cattle or sheep.

No loan shall be made for interest.

If an heir who is a minor is married off without the consent of

the guardian, the value of the marriage will be lost and the wrongdoer

imprisoned. If anyone marries off an heir over 14 years of age without

the consent of the guardian, the guardian shall have double the value

of the marriage. Moreover, anyone who has withdrawn a marriage shall

pay the full value thereof to the guardian for the trespass and make

amends to the King. And if a lord refuses to marry off a female heir of

full age and keep her unmarried because he covets the land, then he

shall not have her lands more than two years after she reaches full

age, at which time she can recover her inheritance without giving

anything for the wardship or her marriage. However, if she maliciously

refuses to be married by her lord, he may hold her land and inheritance

until she is the age of a male heir, that is, 21 years old and further

until he has taken the value of the marriage.

Aid to make one's son a knight or marry off his daughter of a

whole knight's fee shall be taken 20s., and 400s. [yearly income from]

land held in socage 20s. [5%], and of more, more; and of less, less;

after the rate. And none shall levy such aid to make his son a knight

until his son is 15 years old, nor to marry his daughter until she is

seven year old.

The common law of inheritance for land has assumed its final

form with six rules. 1) A living descendant excludes his or her own

descendants. 2) A dead descendant is represented by his or her own

descendants. 3) Males exclude females of equal degree. 4) Among males

of equal degree, only the eldest inherits. 6) The rule that a dead

descendant is represented by his or her descendants overrides the

preference for the male sex. If there were no descendants, the land

escheated to its lord.

By statute, a conveyance of land which is the inheritance of a

minor child by his guardian or lord to another is void.

Dower shall not abate because the widow has received dower of

another man unless part of the first dower received was of the same

tenant and in the same town. But a woman who leaves her husband for

another man is barred from dower.

A tenant for a term of years who has let land from a landlord

shall not let it lie waste, nor shall a landlord attempt to oust a

tenant for a term of years by fictitious recoveries.

When two or more hold wood, turfland, or fishing or other such

thing in common, wherein none knows his several, and one does waste

against the minds of the others, he may be sued.

Lands which are given to a man and his wife upon condition that

if they die without heirs, the land shall revert to the donor or his

heir, may not be alienated to defeat this condition.

If a man takes land in marriage with a wife, and she dies

before him, the land will revert to the donor or his heir, unless the

couple has a child, in which case the husband will have the land by the

courtesy of the nation for his life before it reverts to the donor or

his heir.

Young salmon shall not be taken from waters in the spring.

A free tenant may alienate his land freely, but if the

alienation was for an estate in fee simple [to a man and his heirs,

with a full right of alienation by the man otherwise than on his

death], the person acquiring the land would hold of the land's lord and

not of the person alienating the land. (This halted the growth of

subinfeudation and caused services as well as incidents of aids,

relief, escheat, wardship, and marriage to go directly to the Chief

Lord. It also advantaged the Crown as overlord, which then acquired

more direct tenants.)

One may create an estate which will descend in unbroken

succession down the line of inheritance prescribed in the original gift

as long as that line should last, instead of descending to all heirs.

This was called a "fee simple conditional" holding of land. The

successive occupants might draw the rents and cut the wood, but on the

death of each, his heir would take possession of an unencumbered

interest, unfettered by any liability for the debt of his ancestor or

by any disposition made by him during his lifetime e.g. a wife's estate

in dower or a husband's estate in courtesy. If there was no issue, it

reverted to the original donor. This curtailed the advantage of tenants

of the greater barons who profited by increased wardships and reliefs

from subinfeudation from subdivision and better cultivation of their

land while still paying the greater barons fixed sums. This statute

that protected reversionary estates incidentally established a system

of entails. This new manner of holding land: "fee tail", is in addition

to the concepts of land held in fee simple and land held for life. The

donor could give directions that an estate of inheritance go to a man

or woman and certain classes of particular heirs rather than reverting

to himself. A fee tail was often given to a man and the issue of his

body. No donee or nor his heirs could alienate the land held in fee

tail.Interests in remainder or reversion of estates in land replaced

the lord's tenurial right to succeed to land by escheat if his tenant

dies without heirs.

Anyone disseising another whereby he also robs him or uses

force and arms in the disseisin shall be imprisoned and fined. The

plaintiff shall recover seisin and damages.

"All must be ready at the command and summons of sheriffs, and

at the cry of the country, to sue and arrest felons as necessary as

well within franchise as without." Otherwise, he shall be fined. A Lord

defaulting shall lose his franchise to the King. A Bailiff defaulting

shall be imprisoned a year as well as fined, or be imprisoned two years

if he cannot pay the fine. A sheriff, coroner, or any other bailiff who

conceals a felony will be imprisoned for a year and pay a fine, or be

imprisoned for three years if he cannot pay the fine.

Villeins must report felons, pursue felons, serve in the watch,

and clear growth of concealing underwood from roads. They must join the

military to fight on the borders when called. Desertion from the army

is punishable.

Accessories to a crime shall not be declared outlaw before the

principal is proven guilty. (This made uniform the practice of the

various counties.)

Only those imprisoned for the smaller offenses of a single

incidence of petty larceny, receipt of felons, or accessory to a

felony, or some other trespass not punishable by life or limb shall be

let out by sufficient surety. Prisoners who were outlawed or escaped

from prison or are notorious thieves or were imprisoned for felonious

house burning, passing false money, counterfeiting the King's seal,

treason touching the king himself, or other major offenses or have been

excommunicated by the church may not be released.

Killing in self-defense and by mischance shall be pardoned from

the King's indictment. Killing by a child or a person of unsound mind

shall be pardoned from the King's indictment. (But a private accuser

can still sue.)

Any man who ravishes [abducts] any woman without her consent or

by force shall have the criminal penalty of loss of life or limb. (The

criminal penalty used to be just two years in prison.)

Trespasses in parks or ponds shall be punished by imprisonment

for three years and a fine as well as paying damages to the wronged

person. After his imprisonment, he shall find a surety or leave the

nation.

"Forasmuch as there have been often times found in the country

devisors of tales, where discord, or occasion of discord, has many

times arisen between the King and his people, or great men of this

realm; For the damage that has and may thereof ensue, it is commanded,

that from henceforth none be so hardy to tell or publish any false news

or tales, whereby discord or occasion of discord or slander may grow

between the King and his people, or the great men of the realm." Anyone

doing so shall be imprisoned until he brings into the court the first

author of the tale.

A system of registration and enforcement of commercial

agreements was established by statute. Merchants could obtain a writing

of a debt sealed by the debtor and authenticated by royal seal or a

seal of a mayor of certain towns, and kept by the creditor. Failure to

pay a such a debt was punishable by imprisonment and, after three

months, the selling of borough tenements and chattels and of county

lands. During the three months, the merchant held this property in a

new tenure of "statute merchant". (Prior to this, it was difficult for

a foreign merchant to collect a debt because he could not appear in

court which did not recognize him as one of its proper "suitors" or

constituents, so he had to trust a local attorney. Also, the remedy was

inadequate because the history of the law of debt was based on debt as

a substitute for the blood feud, so that failure to pay meant slavery

or death. Also a debtor's land was protected by feudal custom, which

was contrary to the idea of imposing a new tenant on a lord.)

"In no city, borough, town, market, or fair shall a person of

the realm be distrained for a debt for which he is not the debtor or

pledge."

Anyone making those passing with goods through their

jurisdiction answer to them in excess of their jurisdiction shall be

grievously amerced to the King.

No market town shall take an outrageous toll contrary to the

common custom of the nation.

Since good sterling money has been counterfeited with base and

false metal outside the nation and then brought in, foreigners found in

the nation's ports with this false money shall forfeit their lives.

Anyone bringing money into the nation must have it examined at his port

of entry. Payments of money shall be made only by coin of the

appropriate weight delivered by the Warden of the Exchange and marked

with the King's mark. (A currency exchange was established at Dover for

the exchange of foreign currency for English sterling.)

The silver in craftwork must be sterling and marked with the

Leopard's Head. The gold in craftwork must meet the standard of the

Touch of Paris.

The assize of bread and ale had been and was enforced locally

by local inspectors. Now, the Crown appointed royal officers for the

gauge of wines and measurement of cloths. Edicts disallowed middlemen

from raising prices against consumers by such practices as forestalling

[intercepting goods before they reached the market and then reselling

them] or engrossing [buying a large supply of a commodity to drive up

the price] and price regulation was attempted. For instance, prices

were set for poultry and lamb, in a period of plenty. Maximum prices

were set for cattle, pigs, sheep, poultry, and eggs in 1314, but these

prices were hard to enforce. In London examples of prices set are: best

hen 3d.2q., best wild goose 4d., best hare 4d., best kid 10d., best

lamb 4d., best fresh herrings 12 for 1d., best pickled herrings 20 for

1d., best haddock 2d., best fresh salmon 3s.

Freemen may drive their swine through the King's demesne Forest

to feed in their own woods or elsewhere. No man shall lose his life or

limb for killing deer in the Forest, but instead shall be grievously

fined or imprisoned for a year.

The Forest Charter allowed a man to cut down and take wood from

his own woods in the King's forest to repair his house, fences, and

hedges. He may also enclose his woods in the King's forest with fences

and hedges to grow new trees and keep cattle and beasts therefrom.

After seven years growth of these new trees, he may cut them down for

sale with the King's permission.

Each borough has its own civil and criminal ordinances and

police jurisdiction. Borough courts tended to deal with more laws than

other local courts because of the borough's denser populations, which

were composed of merchants, manufacturers, and traders, as well as

those engaged in agriculture. Only borough courts have jurisdiction

over fairs. In some boroughs the villein who resides for a year and a

day becomes free, a right first given by Henry II in his charter for

Nottingham. There are special ordinances relating to apprentices. There

are sometimes ordinances against enticing away servants bound by

agreement to serve another. The wife who is a trader is regarded in

many places as a feme sole [single woman rather than a woman covert,

who was under the protection of a husband]. There may be special

ordinances as to the liability of masters for the acts of their

apprentices and agents, or as to brokers, debt, or earnest money

binding a bargain. The criminal and police jurisdiction in the borough

was organized upon the same model as in the country at large, and was

controlled by the King's courts upon similar principles, though there

are some survivals of old rules, such as mention of the bot and the

wer. The crimes committed are similar to those of the country, such as

violence, breaches of the assize of bread and beer, stirring up suits

before the ecclesiastical courts, digging up or obstructing the

highway, not being enrolled in a tithing, encroachments upon or

obstructions of rights of common. The most striking difference with the

country at large are the ordinances on the repair or demolition of

buildings, encroachments on another's building, fires, and nuisances.

Specimens of other characteristic urban disputes are: selling bad food,

using bad materials, unskillful or careless workmanship, fraudulent

weights and measures, fraud in buying and selling, forestalling or

regrating [buying in one market to resell in another market], acting in

a way likely to endanger the liberties of the borough, usury, trading

without being a citizen, assisting other unlicensed persons to trade,

unlawfully forming a guild, complaints against various guilds in which

trade might be organized. Since the ordinances were always liable to be

called in question before the King's courts, they tended to become

uniform and in harmony with the principles of the common law. Also,

trading between boroughs kept them knowledgeable about each other's

customs and conditions for trade, which then tended to standardize.

Boroughs often had seals to prove communal consent and tended to act as

a corporate body.

Borough ordinances often include arson such as this one: "And

if a street be set on fire by any one, his body shall be attached and

cast into the midst of the fire." Robbery by the miller was specially

treated by an ordinance that "And if the miller be attainted [found

guilty] of robbery of the grain or of the flour to the amount of 4d.,

he shall be hanged from the beam in his mill."

In London, an ordinance prescribed for bakers for the first

offense of making false bread a forfeiture of that bread. For the

second offense was prescribed imprisonment, and for the third offense

placement in the pillory. A London ordinance for millers who caused

bread to be false prescribed for them to be carried in a tumbrel cart

through certain streets, exposed to the derision of the people.

By statute, no one may make a gift or alienation of land to the

church. An attempt to do so will cause the land to escheat to the lord,

or in his default, to the King. Religious houses may not alienate land

given to them by the king or other patrons because such gifts were for

the sake of someone's soul. An attempt to do so will cause the land to

revert to the donor or his heir. If the church did not say the prayers

or do the other actions for which land was given to it, the land will

revert to the donor or his heir. Land may not be alienated to religious

bodies in such a way that it would cease to render its due service to

the King. (The church never died, never married, and never had

children.) The church shall send no money out of the nation. (This

statute of mortmain was neutralized by collusive lawsuits in which the

intended grantor would sue the intended grantee claiming superior title

and then would default, surrendering the land to the intended grantee

by court judgment.)

"Concerning wrecks of the sea, where a man, a dog, or a cat

escape alive out of the ship, that such ship nor barge nor anything

within them shall be deemed wreck, but the goods shall be saved and

kept by view of the Sheriff, Coroner, or the King's Bailiff". If anyone

proves the goods were his within a year and a day, they shall be

restored to him without delay. Otherwise, they shall be kept by the

King. "And where wreck belongs to one other than the King, he shall

have it in like manner". If he does otherwise, he shall be imprisoned

and pay damages and fine.

Some statutes applied only to Kent County, which had a unique

position between London and the continent. Money flowed between England

and the continent through Kent. So Kent never developed a manorial

system of land holding, but evolved from a system of clans and

independent villages directly into a commercial system.

In Kent, all men are free and may give or sell their lands without

permission of their lords, as before the Conquest.

One could sell or give away his land without the consent of

one's lord. The services of the land, however, could only be sold to

the chief lord. Inheritance of land was to all sons by equal portions,

and if there were no sons, then to all daughters in equal portions. The

eldest brother has his choice of portion, then the next oldest, etc.

The goods of a deceased person were divided into three parts after his

funeral expenses and debts were paid. One third went to the surviving

spouse. One third went to the deceased's sons and daughters. One third

could be disposed by will of the decedent. If there were no children,

one half went to the spouse and one half went according to will. If an

heir was under 15 years old, his next of kin to whom inheritance could

not descend was to be his guardian. A wife who remarried or bore a

child lost her dower land. A husband lost his dower if he remarried. If

a tenant withheld rent or services, his lord could seek award of court

to find distress on his tenement and if he could find none, he could

take the tenement for a year and a day in his hands without manuring

it. It the tenant paid up in this time, he got the tenement back. If he

didn't within a year and a day, however, the lord could manure the

land. A felon forfeited his life and his goods, but not his lands or

tenements. A wife of a felon had the dower of one half or her husband's

lands and tenements.

The common law recognized the tort of false imprisonment if a

man arrested as a felon, a person who was not a felon.

Judicial Procedure

The highest court was the king and his council in Parliament.

It heard the most important causes, important because they concern the

king, or because they concern very great men (e.g. treason), or because

they involve grave questions of public law, or because they are

unprecedented. It has large, indefinite powers and provides new

remedies for new wrongs. The office of great justiciar disappears and

the Chancellor becomes the head of the council. The Chancellor heads

the Chancery, which is the secretarial department of the Royal Court. A

litigant could not proceed without first obtaining a writ from

Chancery. The Chancellor could form new writs.

After the council were the royal courts of the King's Bench, Common

Pleas, and the Exchequer, which had become separate, each with its own

justices and records. The Court of Common Pleas had its own Chief

Justice and usually met at Westminster. This disadvantaged the small

farmer, who would have to travel to Westminster to present a case. The

King's Council maintained a close connection with the Court of the

King's Bench, which heard criminal cases and appeals from the Court of

Common Pleas. It traveled with the King. There were many trespass cases

so heard by it in the reign of Edward I. The King's Council did a great

deal of justice, for the more part criminal justice. It was supported

by the populace because it dealt promptly and summarily with rebellion

or some scandalous acquittal of a notorious criminal by bribed or

partial jurors, and thereby prevented anarchy. Its procedure was to

send for the accused and compel him to answer upon oath written

interrogatories. Affidavits were then sworn upon both sides. With

written depositions before them, the Lords of the council, without any

jury, acquit or convict. Fines and imprisonments were meted out to

rioters, conspirators, bribers, and perjured jurors. No loss of life or

limb occurred because there had been no jury.

In criminal cases, witnesses acquainted with particular facts

were added to the general assize of twelve lawful men from each hundred

and four lawful men from each town to testify to facts unknown by the

assize men. The assize was bifurcated into the grand jury of twelve to

twenty-four knights and the petty jury or trial jury of twelve free and

lawful men, which replaced ordeal, compurgation, and trial by combat as

the method of finding the truth. The men of the petty jury as well as

those of the grand jury were expected to know or to acquaint themselves

with the facts of the cases. The men of the petty jury tended to be the

same men who were on the grand jury.

Felony was determined by common law to be one of seven

offenses: treason, homicide, arson, rape, robbery, burglary, and grand

larceny, the last of which involved over 12d., where 12d. was enough to

keep a man from starvation for eight days. High treaason included

covered the making of counterfeit money and the clipping if coin.

Burglary was an offense committed in times of peace and consisted of

breaking into churches, houses, and into the walls and gates of

villages and boroughs. These seven offenses could be prosecuted by

indictment or private accusation by an individual. They were

appealable, that is, the accuser must in general offer trial by battle.

The penalties involved loss of life or limb or, if he fled, outlawry.

Actually, the death penalty was replacing loss of life or limb. Death

by hanging was the usual punishment. A felon's goods were confiscated

by the crown and his land was forfeited to the crown for a year and a

day and waste, after which it escheated to the felon's lord. The crimes

of wounding, mayhem, and false imprisonment were not now felonies. The

peace of the king now did not die with the king, but renewed

automatically without an interval before the inauguration of a new king.

Notorious felons who would not consent or put themselves on

inquests for felonies with which they were charged at royal courts were

put in strong and hard imprisonment to persuade them to accept trial by

assize. This inducement progressed into being loaded with heavy chains

and placed on the ground in the worst part of the prison and being fed

a only little water one day and a little bread the next. Sometimes

pieces of iron or stones were placed one another onto their prone

bodies to persuade them to plead. This then developed into being loaded

with as much iron as could be borne, and finally into being pressed to

death ["peine forte et dure"]. Many of these men chose to die by this

pressing so that their families could inherit their property, which

would have been forfeited if they had been convicted of serious crimes.

The most common cases in the Court of Common Pleas were

detinue, "debt" [for money due from a sale, for money loaned, for rent

upon a lease for years, from a surety, promised in a sealed document,

or due to arbitrators to whom a dispute had been submitted] and

"account" [e.g. against bailiffs of manors, a guardian in socage, and

partners]. It also heard estovers [right to use during a lease] of

wood, profit by gathering nuts, acorns, and other fruits in wood,

corody [allowance of food], yearly delivery of grain, toll, tunnage,

passage, keeping of parks, woods, forests, chases, warrens, gates, and

other bailiwicks, and offices in fee.

The itinerant justices gradually ceased to perform

administrative duties on their journeys because landed society had

objected to their intrusiveness. Edward I substituted regular

visitations of Justices of Assize for the irregular journeys of the

itinerant justices. Each one of four circuits had two Justices of

Assize. From about 1299, these Justices of Assize heard cases of gaol

delivery. Their jurisdiction expanded to include serious criminal cases

and breach of the king's peace. One woman was indicted to every 9 men.

16% of the women who were indicted were convicted compared to 30% of

the men.

Breaches of the forest charter laws were determined by justices

of the King's forest, parks, and chases, along with men of assize.

Coroners' inquest procedures were delineated by statute and

included describing in detail in the coroner's rolls every wound of a

dead body, how many may be culpable, and people claiming to have found

treasure who might be suspects.

The precedent for punishment for treason was established by the

conviction of a knight, David ab Gruffydd, who had turned traitor to

the Welsh enemy, after fighting with Edward and being rewarded with

land, during the conquest of Wales. He had plotted to kill the King. He

was found guilty of treason by Parliament and condemned to be dragged

at the heels of horses for being a traitor to his knightly vows, hanged

by the neck for his murders, cut down before consciousness left him to

have his entrails cut out for committing his crimes during the holy

week of Easter, and his head cut off and his body divided into four

parts for plotting against the King's life. The head was placed on the

Tower of London and his body sections were placed in public view at

various other locations in England. This came to be known as "hanging,

drawing, and quartering". Prior to this the penalty had usually been

imprisonment followed by ransom. The penalty for a woman of treason,

e.g. killing her husband, who was her lord, was burning at the stake.

Trial by combat is now limited to certain claims of enfeoffment

of large land holding and is barred for land held in socage, burgage,

or by marriage. (Trial by combat eventually fell into disuse, but was

not abolished until 1819.) Assize is the usual manner of trial, but

compurgation remains in the borough court long after it becomes

obsolete in the royal courts. It came to be that defendants no longer

request assizes but are automatically put to them.

Numerous statutes protect the integrity of the courts and

King's offices by double and treble damages and imprisonment for

offenses such as bribery, false informers, conspiracy to falsely move

or maintain pleas, champerty [covenant between a litigant and another

for the other to have a part or profit in the award in return for

maintaining the suit], conflict of interest by court officers taking

part in a quarrel pending in court or working any fraud whereby common

right may be delayed or disturbed. There had been many abuses, the most

common of which was extortion by sheriffs, who gaoled people without

cause to make them pay to be released. The 1275 prohibition of

maintenance of a quarrel of a party in court by a nonparty was extended

in 1327 to all persons, including the king's councilors and ministers,

and great men, e.g. by sending letters. In 1346, this prohibition

specifically included prelates, earls, barons taking in hand quarrels

other than their own, or maintaining them for gift, promise, amity,

favor, doubt, or fear, in disturbance of law and hindrance of right.

The reason given was that there had been persons disinherited, delayed

or disturbed in their rights, and not guilty persons convicted or

otherwise oppressed. All great men were required to put out of their

service all maintainers who had been retained, and void their fees and

robes, without giving them aid, favor, or comfort. This law was not

obeyed.

The king reserved to himself and his council in its judicial

capacity the correction of all breaches of the law which the lower

courts had failed to remedy, whether from weakness, partiality,

corruption, or jury timidity, and especially when the powerful barons

defied the courts. The Chancery also sought to address causes which

were impeded in their regular course, which often involved assaults,

batteries, and forcible dispossessions.

Disputes within the royal household were administered by the

King's steward. He received and determined complaints about acts or

breaches of the peace within twelve miles around the King's person or

"verge". He was assisted by the marshall in the "court of the hall" and

by the clerk of the market when imposing fines for trading regulation

violations in the "court of the market".

Ecclesiastical courts were successful in their competition with

the secular courts for jurisdiction over testamentary matters

[concerning wills] and intestate succession [no will] to chattels.

There were local courts of the vill, borough, manor, hundred,

county, sheriff, escheator, and royal bailiff, with overlapping

jurisdictions. The county court in its full session, that is, as it

attended the itinerant justices on their visitation, contained the

archbishops, bishops, priors, earls, barons, knights, and freeholders,

and from each township four men and the reeve, and from each borough

twelve burgesses. It was still the folkmote, the general assembly of

the people. In 1293, suitors who could not spend 40s. a year within

their county were not required to attend their county court.

The most common plea in the hundred court was trespass. It also

heard issues concerning services arising out of land, detention of

chattels, small debts, wounding or maiming of animals, and personal

assaults and brawls not amounting to felony. It met every three weeks.

The sheriff held his turn twice a year and viewed frankpledge once a

year.

In Chancery, the court of the Chancellor, if there is a case

with no remedy specified in the law, that is similar to a situation for

which there is a writ, then a new writ may be made for that case. This

was called "trespass on the case". This covered indirect as well as

direct contact with a person, land, or chattels. An example is that

trespasss would not apply to a boat whose rope attaching it to land was

cut because the trespass did not have contact with the boat. Only the

rope would be the result of the trespass. Trespass on the case would

include the boat. The two chancery justices were the Lord Chancellor

and the Master of the Rolls.

When Edward I came to the throne, over half of the

approximately 600 hundred courts had gone under the jurisdiction of a

private lord owing to royal charter, prescriptive right, and

usurpation. The sheriff's powers in these hundreds varied. In some, the

sheriff had no right of entry. So Edward I created the writ of Quo

Warranto [by what right], by which all landholders exercising manor or

franchise jurisdictions must bring their ancestors' charters before a

traveling justice for the Common Pleas for examination and

interpretation as to whether they had a charter or were going beyond

their charters and infringing upon the jurisdiction of the Royal Court.

As a result, many manor courts were confined to manorial matters and

could no longer view frankpledge or hear criminal cases, which were

reserved for the royal courts. In the manor courts which retained

criminal jurisdiction, there was a reassertion of the obligation to

have present a royal coroner, whose duty it was to see that royal

rights were not infringed and that the goods of felons were given to

the Crown and not kept by the lords. Some who could not produce a

charter lost it; but later, uninterrupted use of a jursdiction since

1189 sufficed to retain that jurisdiction.

In the manor courts, actions of debt, detinue, and covenant

were frequent. Sometimes there are questions of a breach of warranty of

title in agreements of sale of land. Accusations of defamation were

frequent; this offense could not be taken to the King's court, but it

had been recognized as an offense in the Anglo-Saxon laws. In some

cases, the damages caused are specifically stated. For instance,

defamation of a lord's grain would cause other purchasers to forbear

buying it. There are frequent cases of ordinary thefts, trespasses, and

assaults. The courts did rough but substantial justice without

distinction between concepts such as tort and contract. In fact, the

action of covenant was the only form of agreement enforceable at common

law. It required a writing under seal and awarded damages. Manor court

law was not technical, but elastic, and remedies could include

injunctions, salary attachment, and performance of acts. The steward

holding the manor court was often a lawyer.

Some pleas in the manors of the abbey of Bec were:

1. -Hugh le Pee in mercy (fine, 12d.) for concealing a sheep for half a

year. Pledges, Simon of Newmere, John of Senholt

2. -William Ketelburn in mercy (fine, 13s.4d.) for divers trespasses.

Pledge, Henry Ketelburn.

3. -Hugh Derwin for pasture, 6d. Richard Hulle for divers trespasses,

12d. Henry Stanhard for pasture, 6d.

4. -William Derwin for a trespass, 6d.; pledge, William Sperling.

5. -Hugh Hall gives the lord 12d. that he may have the judgment of the

court as to a tenement and two acres of land, which he demands as of

right, so he says. And it being asserted that the said land is not

free[hold] let the court say its say. And the court says that the

tenement and one of the two acres are of servile condition and that the

other acre is of free condition. The case is reserved for the lord's

presence. Pledge, John Brian.

6. -John Palmer is put in seisin of his father's tenement and -gives

the lord 53s.4d. as entry money.

7. -William Ketelburn gives the lord 6s.8d. that he may be removed from

the office of reeve. Pledge, Robert Serjeant.

8. -William Frith for subtraction of work, 6d. John Reginald -for the

same, 6d. John of Senholt, 12d. William Ketelburn, 12d.

9. -For the common fine to be paid on S. Andrew's day, 100s.

10. It is presented by the chief pledges that Godfrey Serjeant has made

default; also that John le Pee has unlawfully thrown up a bank;

therefore let it be set to rights.

11. Robert Smith is put in seisin of his father's tenement and gives

the lord four pounds for entry money. Pledge, Robert Serjeant.

12. William Ketelburn for a trespass, 13s.4d.

13. William Fleming gives four pounds for leave to contract [marriage]

with widow Susan. Pledge, Richard Serjeant.

14. John Mabely gives the lord 3s. to have the judgment of twelve men

as to certain land whereof Noah deforces him; pledges, Richard Smith,

Ralph Bernard. The said jurors say - - that Noah the Fat has right;

therefore etc.

15. Agnes Stampelove gives the lord 2s. for leave to come and go in the

vill but to dwell outside the lord's land. Pledge, Richard Smith.

16. Godfrey Tailor the younger for a trespass, 2s.

17. Whereas Godfrey Tailor the younger has demanded against Noah a

farthing land, now the action is compromised in manner following:

Godfrey for himself and his heirs remises to the said Noah and his

heirs all right and claim which he has or can have in the said farthing

land by reason of the gift made by his grandfather John Tailor.

18. Agnes Mabely is put in seisin of a farthing land which her mother

held, and gives the lord 33s.4d. for entry money. Pledges, Noah,

William Askil.

19. The full court declares that in case any woman shall have

altogether quitted the lord's domain and shall marry a freeman, she may

return and recover whatever right and claim she has in any land; but if

she shall be joined to a serf, then she cannot do this during the

serf's lifetime, but after his death she may. t

20. William Alice's son is put in seisin of a bakehouse in the King's

Street, and shall keep up the house at his own cost and gives 12d. for

entry money, and 10s. annual rent payable at three terms, viz. 3s.4d.

at Martinmas, 3s.4d. at Lady Day, 3s.4d. at Christmas. Pledges, Adam

Clerk, John Deboneir.

20. John son of Alma demands a cottage which Henry Fleming holds and

gives the lord 12d. for the oath and recognition of 12 men; pledge,

Richard Jordan. The jurors say that Henry Fleming has the better right.

21. Baldwin Cobbler's son finds [as pledges] Walter Cobbler, Roger of

Broadwater, Robert Linene, William Frances, that notwithstanding his

stay in London he will always make suit with his tithing and will at no

time claim any liberty contrary to the lord's will and will come to the

lord whenever the lord wills.

22. Simon Patrick gives the lord 12d. to have the judgment of the court

as to a cottage of which the widow of Geoffrey Dogers deforces him;

pledge, Simon of Strode. The said -jurors say that the said Simon has

the better right. And the said Simon remises and quitclaims all his

right to his sister Maud and her husband John Horin, [who] gives the

lord 10s. for entry money; pledges, Simon Patrick, John Talk.

23. Hugh Wiking for not making suit at the lord's mill, 12d.

24. It was presented that William Derwin and John Derwin (fine, 12d.)

committed a trespass against Agnes Dene, and the cry was raised,

therefore etc.

25. Hugh Churchyard contracted [marriage] without the lord's leave;

[fine] 12d.

26. Let Juliana Forester be distrained for her default, also William

Moor.

27. John Kulbel in mercy (fine, 12d.) for not producing Gregory Miller,

and he is commanded to produce him at the next court.

28. Hugh Andrew's son gives the lord 4s. for leave to marry; pledge,

Robert Serjeant.

29. Juliana Forester gives the lord 12d. in order that for the future

no occasion may be taken against her for neglect of suit of court.

30. John Franklain is put in seisin of his father's tenement and gives

the lord 20s. for entry; pledge, Robert Serjeant.

31. Henry Cross gives the lord 4s. for license to marry; pledge, Robert

Serjeant.

32. Isabella Warin gives the lord 4s. for leave to give her daughter

Mary in marriage; pledge, John Serjeant.

33. It is presented by the whole township that Ralph le War has

disseised the lord of a moiety of a hedge, whereas it had often been

adjudged by award of the court that the said hedge belongs as to one

moiety to the lord and as to the other to Ralph, and the said Ralph

claims and takes to his use the whole to the lord's damage etc. Also

they say that the said Ralph holds Overcolkescroft, which land by right

is the lord's.

34. It is presented by unanimous verdict of the whole court that if

anyone marries a woman who has right in any land according to the

custom of the manor and is seised thereof by the will of the lord, and

the said woman surrenders her right and her seisin into the hands of

the lord and her husband receives that right and seisin from the hands

of the lord, in such case the heirs of the woman are for ever barred

from the said land and the said right remains to the husband and his

heirs. Therefore let William Wood, whose case falls under this rule,

hold his land in manner aforesaid. And for the making of this inquest

the said William gives the lord 6s.8d.

35. The tenements of Lucy Mill are to be seized into the lord's hands

because of the adultery which she has committed and the bailiff is to

answer for them.

- -The chief pledges present that Cristina daughter of Richard

Maleville has married at London without the lord's licence; therefore

let the said Richard be distrained. He has made fine with 12d. Also

that Alice Berde has done the same; therefore let her be distrained.

Also that Robert Fountain -has committed a trespass against William

Gery; therefore the said Robert is in mercy; pledge, Humfrey; fine, 6d.

Also that Richard Maleville has drawn blood from Stephen Gust;

therefore he is in mercy; fine, 2s.

36. Geoffrey Coterel in mercy for a battery; fine, 12d.; pledge, Adam

Serjeant. Geoffrey Coterel for trespass in the hay; fine, 6d.; pledge,

Alan Reaper. Hugh of Senholt in mercy for trespass in the green wood;

fine, 6d.

37. Hugh Wiking in mercy for delay in doing his works; fine, 6d. Hugh

Churchyard for trespass in [cutting] thorns; fine, 6d. Thomas Gold in

mercy for trespass in the wood; fine, 3d.; pledge, Robert Grinder.

38. William Dun in mercy for subtraction of his works due in autumn;

fine, 2s. Avice Isaac for the same, 6d.; Hugh Wiking -for the same,

6d.; Agnes Rede in mercy for her daughter's trespass in the corn

[grain], 6d.

39. Walter Ash in mercy for not making suit to the lord's mill; fine,

6d. Hugh Pinel in mercy for diverting a watercourse to the nuisance of

the neighbors; fine, 6d.; pledge, Robert Fresel.

40. John Dun in mercy for carrying off corn [grain] in the autumn;

pledge, Adam White. Alan Reaper gives the lord 12d. on account of a

sheep which was lost while in his custody.

41. Adam White in mercy for bad mowing; fine, 6d. Hugh Harding in mercy

for the same; fine, 6d.

42. The chief pledges present that Henry Blackstone (fine, 6d.), Hugh

Churchyard (fine, 18d.), Walter Ash (fine, 6d.), Henry of Locksbarow

(fine, 12d.), Avice Isaac (fine, 6d.), Richard Matthew (fine, 6d.),

Hugh Wiking (fine,--), Ralph Dene (fine, 6d.), John Palmer (fine,

12d.), John Coterel (fine, 6d.), John Moor (fine, 6d.), John Cubbel

(fine, 12d.), Hugh Andrew (fine, 6d.), Philip Chapman (fine, 6d.), John

Fellow (fine, 12d.), Robert Bailiff (fine, 6d.), Alice Squire (fine,

12d.), John Grately (fine,--), Richard Hull (fine, 6d.), Osbert Reaper

(fine, 6d.), and Robert Cross (fine, 6d.), have broken the assize of

beer. Also that Henry of Senholt, Henry Brown, Hugh Hayward, Richard

Moor, Juliana Woodward, Alice Harding, Peronel Street, Eleanor Mead

make default. Also that Walter Ash (fine,--), John Wiking (fine,--),

John Smart (fine,--), and Henry Coterel have married themselves without

the lord's licence; therefore let them be distrained to do the will of

the lord.

43. Alan Reaper for the trespass of his foal; fine, 6d.

44. Philip Chapman in mercy for refusing his gage to the lord's

bailiff; fine, 3d.

45. William Ash in mercy for trespass in the growing crop; fine, 6d.

46. John Iremonger in mercy for contempt; fine, 6d.

47. The chief pledges present that William of Ripley (fine, 6d.),

Walter Smith (no goods), Maud of Pasmere (fine, 6d.), have received

[strangers] contrary to the assize; therefore - - they are in mercy.

48. Maud widow of Reginald of Challow has sufficiently proved that a

certain sheep valued at 8d. is hers, and binds herself to restore it or

its price in case it shall be demanded from her within year and day;

pledges, John Iremonger and John Robertd; and she gives the lord 3d.

for [his] custody [of it].

The Court of Hustings in London is empowered to award landlords

their tenements for which rent or services are in arrears if the

landlord could not distrain enough tenant possessions to cover the

arrearages.

Wills are proven in the Court of Husting, the oldest court in

London, which went back to the times of Edward the Confessor. One such

proven will is:

"Tour (John de La) - To Robert his eldest son his capital

messuage and wharf in the parish of Berchingechurch near the land

called 'Berewardesland`. To Agnes his wife his house called

'Wyvelattestone', together with rents, reversions, etc. in the parish

of S. Dunstan towards the Tower, for life; remainder to Stephen his

son. To Peter and Edmund his sons lands and rents in the parish of All

Hallows de Berhyngechurch; remainders over in default of heirs. To

Agnes, wife of John le Keu, fishmonger, a house situate in the same

parish of Berhyng, at a peppercorn [nominal] rent."

The Court of the Mayor of London heard diverse cases, including

disputes over goods, faulty or substandard goods, adulteration, selling

food unfit for human consumption, enhancing the price of goods, using

unlawful weighing beams, debts, theft, distraints, forgery, tavern

brawling, bullying, and gambling. Insulting or assaulting a city

dignitary was a very serious crime; an attack on the mayor was once

capitally punished. Sacrilege, rape, and burglary were punished by

death. Apart from the death penalty, the punishment meted out the most

was public exposure in the pillory, with some mark of ignominy slung

round the neck. If the crime was selling bad food, it was burnt under

the offender's nose. If it was sour wine, the offender was drenched in

it. Standing in the pillory for even one hour was very humiliating, and

by the end of the day, it was known throughout the city. The offender's

reputation was ruined. Some men died in the pillory of shame and

distress. A variation of the pillory was being dragged through the

streets on a hurdle. Prostitutes were carted through the streets in

coarse rough cloth hoods, with penitential crosses in their hands.

Scolds were exposed in a "thewe" for women. In more serious cases,

imprisonment for up to a year was added to the pillory. Mutilation was

rare, but there are cases of men losing their right hands for rescuing

prisoners. The death penalty was usually by hanging. The following four

London cases pertain to customs, bad grain, surgery, and

apprenticeship, respectively.

This is a lawsuit: "John le Paumer was summoned to answer Richer de

Refham, Sheriff, in a plea that, whereas the defendant and his Society

of Bermen [carriers] in the City were sworn not to carry any wine, by

land or water, for the use of citizens or others, without the Sheriff's

mark, nor lead nor cause it to be led, whereby the Sheriff might be

defrauded of his customs, nevertheless he caused four casks of wine

belonging to Ralph le Mazun of Westminster to be carried from the City

of Westminster without the Sheriff's mark, thus defrauding the latter

of his customs in contempt of the king etc. The defendant acknowledged

the trespass. Judgment that he remain in the custody of the Sheriff

till he satisfy the King and the Court for offense."

This is a lawsuit: "Walter atte Belhaus, William atte Belhous, Robert

le Barber dwelling at Ewelleshalle, John de Lewes, Gilbert le Gras,

John his son, Roger le Mortimer, William Ballard atte Hole, Peter de

Sheperton, John Brun and the wife of Thomas the pelterer, Stephen de

Haddeham, William de Goryngg, Margery de Frydaiestrate, Mariot, who

dwells in the house of William de Harwe, and William de Hendone were

attached to answer for forestalling all kinds of grain and exposing it,

together with putrid grain, on the pavement, for sale by the bushel,

through their men and women servants; and for buying their own grain

from their own servants in deception of the people. The defendants

denied that they were guilty and put themselves on their country. A

jury of Richard de Hockeleye and others brought in a verdict of guilty,

and the defendants were committed to prison till the next Parliament."

This is a lawsuit: "Peter the Surgeon acknowledged himself bound to

Ralph de Mortimer, by Richard atte Hill his attorney, in the sum of

20s., payable at certain terms, the said Ralph undertaking to give

Peter a letter of acquittance [release from a debt]. This Recognizance

arose out of a covenant between them with regard to the effecting of a

cure. Both were amerced for coming to an agreement out of Court. A

precept was issued to summon all the surgeons of the City for Friday,

that an inquiry might be made as to whether the above Peter was fitted

to enjoy the profession of a surgeon."

This is a lawsuit: "Thomas de Kydemenstre, shoemaker, was summoned to

answer William de Beverlee, because he did not clothe, feed and

instruct his apprentice Thomas, William's son, but drove him away. The

defendant said that the apprentice lent his master's goods to others

and promised to restore them or their value, but went away against his

wish; and he demanded a jury. Subsequently, a jury of William de Upton

and others said the apprentice lent two pairs of shoes belonging to his

master and was told to restore them, but, frightened by the beating

which he received, ran away; further that the master did not feed and

clothe his apprentice as he ought, being unable to do so, to the

apprentice's damage 40d., but that he was now in a position to look

after his apprentice. Thereupon Thomas de Kydemenstre said he was

willing to have the apprentice back and provide for him, and the father

agreed. Judgment that the master take back the apprentice and feed and

instruct him, or that he repay to the father, the money paid to the

latter, and that he pay the father the 40d. and be in mercy."

A professional class of temporal attorneys whose business it is

to appear on behalf of litigants is prominent in the nation. The idea

of representation has spread outwards from a king who has so many

affairs that he can not conduct them in person. Men often appear to

defend themselves in the king's court by attorney. But attorneys do not

conduct prospective litigation for a client. Attorneys are now drawn

from the knightly class of landed gentlemen, instead of ecclesiastical

orders. Since it was forbidden for ecclesiastics to act as advocates in

the secular courts, those who left the clergy to become advocates

adopted a close-fitting cap to hide their tonsures, which came to be

called a "coif". The great litigation of the nation is conducted by a

small group of men, as is indicated by the earliest Year Books of case

decisions compiled by attorneys and students attending the court. These

attorneys sit in court and will sometimes intervene as amicus curiae

[friends of the court]. Parliament refers difficult points of law to

them as well as to the justices. These reports became so authoritative

that they could be cited in the courts as precedent. Groups of

attorneys from the countryside who are appearing in London courts

during term-time and living in temporary lodgings start to form

guild-like fellowships and buy property where they dine and reside

together, called the Inns of Court. They begin to think of themselves

as belonging to a profession, with a feeling of responsibility for

training the novices who sat in court to learn court procedures and

attorney techniques. They invited these students to supper at the Inns

of Court for the purpose of arguing about the day's cases. The Inns of

Court evolved a scheme of legal education, which was oral and used

disputations. Thus they became educational institutions as well as

clubs for practicing attorneys. The call to the bar of an Inn was in

effect a degree. To be an attorney one had to be educated and certified

at the Inns of Court. They practice law full time. Some are employed by

the King. Justices come to be recruited from among those who had passed

their lives practicing law in court, instead of from the ecclesiastical

orders. All attorneys were brought under the control of the justices.

There are two types of attorney: one attorney appears in the

place of his principal, who does not appear. The appointment of this

attorney is an unusual and a solemn thing, only to be allowed on

special grounds and with the proper formalities. For instance, a poor

person may not be able to afford to travel to attend the royal court in

person. The other one is the pleader-attorney, who accompanies his

client to court and advocates his position with his knowledge of the

law and his persuasiveness. The king came to retain a number of

attorneys, called his serjeants at law, to plead his causes for him.

Edward directed his justices to provide for every county attorneys from

among the best, the most lawful, and the most teachable, so the king

and people would be well served. Thereby were attorneys brought under

the control of the justices.

In 1280, the city of London made regulations for the admission

of both types of attorneys to practice before the civic courts, and for

their due control. In 1292 the king directed the justices to provide a

certain number of attorneys and apprentices to follow the court, who

should have the exclusive right of practicing before it. This begins

the process which will make the attorney for legal business an "officer

of the court" which has appointed him.