London was a walled town of one and two story houses made of mud, twigs, and straw, with thatched roofs. It included a bundle of communities, townships, parishes, and lordships. There were churches, a goods market, a fish market, quays on the river, and a bridge over the river. Streets probably named by this time include Bread Street, Milk Street, Honey Lane, Wood Street, and Ironmonger Lane. Fairs and games were held outside the town walls in a field called "Smithfield". The great citizens had the land qualifications of knights and ranked as barons on the Conquerer's council. The freemen were a small percentage of London's population. There was a butchers' guild, a pepperers' guild, a goldsmiths' guild, the guild of St. Lazarus, which was probably a leper charity (of which there were many in the 1000s and 1100s), the Pilgrims' guild, which helped people going on pilgrimages, and four bridge guilds, probably for keeping the wooden London Bridge in repair. Men told the time by sundials, some of which were portable and could be carried in one's pocket. London could defend itself, and a ringing of the bell of St. Paul's Church could shut every shop and fill the streets with armed horsemen and soldiers led by a soldier portreeve. Across the Thames from London on its south side was Southwark, a small trading and fishing settlement.
The Conquerer did not interfere with landholding in London, but recognized its independence as a borough in this writ: "William the King greets William, Bishop of London, and Gosfrith the portreeve, and all the burgesses [citizens] of London friendly. Know that I will that you be worthy of all the laws you were worthy of in the time of King Edward. And I will that every child shall be his father's heir after his father's day. And I will not suffer any man to do you wrong. God preserve you."
So London was not subjected to the Norman feudal system. It had neither villeins nor slaves. Whenever Kings asserted authority over it, the citizens reacted until the king "granted" a charter reaffirming the freedoms of the city and its independence.
Under pressure from the ecclesiastical judges, the Conquerer replaced the death penalty by that of the mutilation of blinding, chopping off hands, and castrating offenders. Castration was the punishment for rape. But these mutilations usually led to a slow death by gangrene.
The Normans used the Anglo-Saxon concepts of jurisdictional powers. Thus when the Conquerer confirmed "customs" to the abbot of Ely, these were understood to include the following: 1) sac and soke - the right to hold a court of private jurisdiction and enjoy its profits, 2) toll - a payment in towns, markets, and fairs for goods and chattel bought and sold, 3) team - persons might be vouched to warranty in the court, the grant of which made a court capable of hearing suits arising from the transfer of land, 4) infangenthef - right of trying and executing thieves on one's land, 4) hamsocne [jurisdiction over breach of the right of security and privacy in a man's house, e.g. by forcible entry], 5) grithbrice - violation of the grantees' special peace, for instance that of the sheriff, 6) fightwite - fine for a general breach of the peace, 7) fyrdwite - fine for failure to appear in the fyrd.
Every shire, now called "county", had at least one burh, or defensible town. Kings had appointed a royal moneyer in each burh to mint silver coins such as pennies for local use. On one side was the King's head in profile and on the other side was the name of the moneyer. When a new coinage was issued, all moneyers had to go to London to get the new dies. The Conquerer's head faced frontally on his dies, instead of the usual profile used by former Kings.
The Conquerer held and presided over his council three times a year, as was the custom, at Easter, Christmas, and Whitsuntide, which coincided with the great Christian festivals. This was an advisory council and consisted of the Conquerer's wife and sons, earls, barons, knights, officers of the King's household, archbishops, and bishops. It replaced the witan of wise men. It dealt with fundamental matters of law, state, war, and church. Earldoms and knighthoods were conferred and homages to the king were witnessed. Bishops were nominated. Attendance at the council, like attendance at courts, was regarded as a burden rather than a privilege. The Conquerer's will was the motive force which under lay all the council's action. When it was administering royal justice, it was called the Royal Court.
The Justiciar was the head of all legal matters and he or the Conquerer's wife represented the King at the Royal Court in his absence from the realm. The chamberlain was a financial officer of the household; his work was rather that of auditor or accountant. The Chancellor headed the Chancery and the chapel. Other household offices were steward, butler, constable, and marshall. The Treasurer was responsible for the collection and distribution of revenue and was the keeper of the royal treasure at the palace at Winchester. He was also an important member of the household and sat in the Exchequer at Westminster, where he received the accounts of the sheriffs. The Exchequer was composed of the Justiciar as head, the chancellor, the constable, two chamberlains, the marshall and other experienced councilors. The word "Exchequer" came from the chequered cloth on the table used to calculate in Roman numerals the amount due and the amount paid. The word "calculate" derives from the word "calculi", meaning pebbles. It was a kind of abacus. The Exchequer received yearly from the sheriffs of the counties taxes, fines, treasure trove, goods from wrecks, deodands, and movable property of felons, of persons executed, of fugitives, and of outlaws due to the Crown. The Conqueror presided yearly over feasts involving several thousand guests at Westminster Hall, which was 250 feet by 70 feet with a high ceiling, the largest hall in England.
The Conquerer's reign was a time of tentative expedients and simple solutions. He administered by issuing writs with commands or prohibitions. These were read aloud by the sheriffs in the county courts and other locations. Administration was by the personal servants of his royal household, such as the chancellor, chamberlain, constable, marshals, steward, and butler. The language of government changed to Latin. The chancellor was from the clergy and supervised the writers and clerks, who were literate, and appended the great seal before witnesses to documents. He also headed the staff of the royal chapel. The chamberlain was a financial officer who audited and accounted. The constable was responsible for supplies for the knights of the royal household. He also supervised the care of horses, hounds, hawks, and huntsmen, houndsmen, and foresters. The marshals came from less important families than the constable and they preserved order in the king's hall and recorded expenditures of the household officers on tallies. The steward was a great baron whose duties were chiefly ceremonial, such as placing the dishes before the king at banquets.
Sheriffs, who had first been head of shires, became powerful figures as the primary agents for enforcing royal edicts. There was no longer supervision of them by earls nor influence on them by bishops. They were customarily prominent barons. They collected the royal taxes, executed royal justice, and presided over and controlled the hundred and county courts. They were responsible for remitting a certain sum annually. If a sheriff received more than necessary, he retained the difference as his lawful profit of office. If he received less than necessary, he had to make up the difference from his own pocket. Before rendering this account, he paid the royal benefactions to religious houses, provided for the maintenance of stock on crown lands, paid for the costs of provisions supplied to the court, and paid for traveling expenses of the king and his visitors. The payments were initially paid in kind: e.g. grain, cattle, horses, hounds, and hawks. Sheriffs also took part in the keeping of castles and often managed the estates of the King. Most royal writs were addressed to the sheriff and county courts. They also led the county militia in time of war or rebellion. At times, a sheriff usurped royal rights, used royal estates for his own purposes, encroached on private land and rights, extorted money, and collected revenues only for his own pockets. Over the centuries, there was much competition for the authority to select the sheriff, e.g. by the king, the county court, the barons, and the Exchequer. There was also much pressure to limit his term to one year. Over time, the powers of the sheriffs slowly declined.
Royal income came from customary dues, profits of coinage and of justice, and revenues from the King's own estates. For war, there was no change in the custom that a man with five hides of land was required to furnish one heavy armed horseman for forty days service in a year. The fyrd was retained. A threat of a Viking invasion caused the Conquerer to reinstate the danegeld tax at 6s. per hide, which was three times its old rate. (The price of an ox was still about 30d.) To impose this tax uniformly, he sent commissioners to conduct surveys by sworn verdicts of appointed groups of local men. A detailed survey of land holdings and the productive worth of each was made in 1086. The English called it the "Doomsday Book" because there was no appeal from it.
The survey revealed, for instance, that one estate had "on the home farm five plough teams: there are also 25 villeins and 6 cotters with 14 teams among them. There is a mill worth 2s. a year and one fishery, a church and four acres of meadow, wood for 150 pigs and two stone quarries, each worth 2s. a year, and two nests of hawks in the wood and 10 slaves." This estate was deemed to be worth 480s. a year.
Laxton "had 2 carucates of land [assessed] to the geld. [There is] land for 6 ploughs. There Walter, a man of [the lord] Geoffrey Alselin's has 1 plough and 22 villeins and 7 bordars [a bordar had a cottage and a small amount land in return for supplying small provisions to his lord] having 5 ploughs and 5 serfs and 1 female serf and 40 acres of meadow. Wood [land] for pannage [foraging by pigs] 1 league in length and half a league in breadth. In King Edward's time it was worth 9 pounds; now [it is worth] 6 pounds."
Ilbert de Laci has now this land, where he has twelve ploughs in the demesne; and forty-eight villani, and twelve bordars with fifteen ploughs, and three churches and three priests, and three mills of ten shillings. Wood pastures two miles long, and one broad. The whole manor five miles long and two broad. Value in King Edward's time sixteen pounds, the same now.
That manor of the town of Coventry which was individually held was that of the Countess of Coventry, who was the wife of the earl of Mercia. "The Countess held in Coventry. There are 5 hides. The arable land employs 20 ploughs. In the demesne lands there are 3 ploughs and 7 bondmen. There are 50 villeins and 12 bordars with 20 ploughs. The mill there pay[s] 3 shillings. The woodlands are 2 miles long and the same broad. In King Edward's time and afterwards, it was worth 22 pounds [440 s.], now only 11 pounds by weight. These lands of the Countess Godiva Nicholas holds to farm of the King."
The survey shows a few manors and monasteries owned a salthouse or saltpit in the local saltworks, from which they were entitled to obtain salt.
In total there were about 110,000 villani [former coerls regarded as customary, irremovable cultivator tenants]; 82,000 bordarii; 7,000 cotarii and cotseti [held land by service of labor or rent paid in produce], and 25,000 servi [landless laborers]. There are no more theows. This survey resulted in the first national tax system of about 6s. per hide of land.
The survey also provided the Conquerer with a summary of customs of areas. For instance, in Oxfordshire, "Anyone breaking the King's peace given under his hand and seal to the extent of committing homicide shall be at the King's mercy in respect of his life and members. That is if he be captured. And if he cannot be captured, he shall be considered as an outlaw, and anyone who kills him shall have all his possessions. The king shall take the possessions of any stranger who has elected to live in Oxford and who dies in possession of a house in that town, and without any kinfolk. The king shall be entitled to the body and the possessions of any man who kills another within his own court or house excepting always the dower of his wife, if he has a wife who has received dower.
The courts of the king and barons became schools of chivalry wherein seven year old noble boys became pages or valets, wore a dagger and waited upon the ladies of the household. At age fourteen, they were advanced to squires and admitted into more familiar association with the knights and ladies of the court. They perfected their skills in dancing, riding, fencing, hawking, hunting, jousting, and engaged in team sports in which the goal was to put the other side to rout. They learned the knightly art of war. Enemy fighters were to be taken and held for ransom rather than killed. Those engaging in rebellion were to be pardoned and restored to some or all of their lands and titles. Lords' sons could be mutually exchanged with an enemy's as security for peace. After achieving knighthood, a man usually selected a wife from the court at which he grew up. Parents tried to send their daughters to a household superior in social status not only to learn manners, but to make a good marriage. A girl who did not marry was often sent to a nunnery; a dowry was necessary before her acceptance.
The following incidents of land tenure began (but were not firmly established until the reign of Henry II). Each tenant, whether baron or subtenant, was to pay an "aid" in money for ransom if his lord was captured in war, for the knighthood of his lord's eldest son, and for the marriage of his lord's eldest daughter. The aid was theoretically voluntary. Land could be held by an heir only if he could fight. The eldest son began to succeed to the whole of the lands in all military tenures. Actually, William and his sons insisted on undivided succession rather than a strict application of the primogeniture rule that the eldest son inherit.Younger sons of great houses became bishops. An heir of a tenant had to pay a heavy "relief" on succession to his estate. The relief replaced the heriot. If there was a delay in proving heirship or paying relief, the lord would hold the land and receive its income in the meantime, often a year. If an heir was still a minor or female, he or she passed into his lord's wardship, in which the lord had guardianship of the heir and possession of the estate, with all its profits. The mother was not made a minor's guardian. No longer was the estate protected by the minor's kin as his birthright. A female heir was expected to marry a man acceptable to the lord. The estate of an heiress and her land was generally sold to the highest bidder. If there were no heirs, the land escheated [reverted] to the lord. If a tenant committed felony, his land escheated to his lord. The word "felony" came from the Latin word meaning "to deceive" and referred to the feudal crime of betraying or committing treachery against one's lord.
Astrologers resided with the families of the barons. People went to fortune tellers' shops. There was horse racing, steeple races, and chess for recreation. Girls had dolls; boys had toy soldiers, spinning tops, toy horses, ships, and wooden models.
The state of medicine is indicated by this medical advice brought to the nation by William's son after treatment on the continent: "If thou would have health and vigor Shun cares and avoid anger. Be temperate in eating And in the use of wine. After a heavy meal Rise and take the air Sleep not with an overloaded stomach And above all thou must Respond to Nature when she calls."
The Conquerer allowed Jewish traders to follow him from Normandy and settle in separate sections of the main towns. Then engaged in long distance trade, money changing, and money lending. They loaned money for interest for the building of castles and cathedrals. Christians were not allowed by the church to engage in this usury. The Jews could not become citizens nor could they have standing in the local courts. Instead, a royal justiciar secured justice for them. They could practice their own religion.
William the Conquerer was succeeded as king by his son William II (Rufus), who transgressed many of the customs of the nation to get more money for himself. He was killed by an arrow of a fellow hunter while they and William's younger brother Henry were hunting together in a crown forest. Henry then became king.
The Law
The notion of the king's peace extended until it was the normal and general safeguard of the public order.
The Norman conquerors brought no code of written law. William's laws largely affirmed the laws of the nation as they were in the times of Edward I. These are substantially all of the laws of William I:
All freemen shall swear an oath of loyalty to William I and shall uphold his lands and honors and defend them against enemies and aliens. William will protect them and exact no more than legally owed service.
If a Frenchman summons an Englishman for perjury, murder, theft, homicide or open robbery, the Englishman shall defend himself by whichever method he prefers, either the ordeal of iron or trial by combat. The person defeated shall pay a fine to the king. If an Englishman summons a Frenchman and declines to prove the charge by ordeal or by combat, the Frenchman shall clear himself by a comprehensive oath.
For a charge of outlawry, an Englishman shall clear himself by the ordeal of iron. When an Englishman brings a charge of outlawry against a Frenchman, the Frechman will defend himself by combat or by a comprehensive oath, at the choice of the Englishman.
All the men whom I brought with me [Normans] or who come after me shall enjoy my protection. If any of them is slain, his lord shall arrest the slayer within five days, if he can. If not, he shall begin to pay me a "murdrum" fine of 46 marks of silver from the property of that lord as long as it lasts. If the property of the lord fails, the whole hundred in which the murder was committed shall pay in common what remains.
All freemen shall be in a frankpledge, so that the frankpledge may bring him to justice, if he has committed an offense or the members of the frankpledge shall pay the claim unless clearing themselves of the charge of any knowledge of fraud by the runaway. The hundred and county courts shall be attended as before. Those who are required to appear shall be summoned once. Ad if they refuse to appear on the second summons, as ox [worth 30d.] shall be confiscated. And so for the third summons, another ox. And if they refuse the fourth summons, the "ceapgeld" [120s.] shall be paid and also the fine for insubordination.
"Everyone who wishes to be admitted to the benefit of the law and to be qualified to obtain legal rights shall be in frankpledge."
In Mercia, a surety has a month and a day to find an escaped person accused of larceny or robbery, or else shall swear with eleven compurgators that he had not known him to be a thief, that he was not accessory to his flight, and that he cannot find him. Then he shall pay for the stolen goods and 20s. in lieu of the head of the accused man and 4d. to the jailor, a farthing for the spade, and 40s. to the king.
Every lord shall be personally responsible as surety for his servant so that, it an accusation is brought against him, he shall bring him for trial in the hundred court. And if he escapes while he is under the accusation, the lord shall pay his wergeld. And if the lord is accused of being an accessory to his flight, he shall clear himself with 5 compurgators, and if he cannot, he shall pay compensation to the king; and the man shall be an outlaw.
All freemen shall keep themselves supplied with arms and horses or pay the full fine of insubordination.
All earls, barons, knights, tenants by serjeanty and all free men shall be ready to perform their service defending me against enemies and aliens, by virtue of their fiefs, which are hereditary. Or pay the fine for insubordination.
The heriot of an earl, which falls to the King, is 8 horses - 4 of them bridled and saddled - 4 coats of mail, 4 helmets, 4 shields, 4 lances and 4 swords. Of the other 4 horses, 2 shall be hunters and 2 riding horses with bridlos and halters. The heriot of a baron is 4 horses - 2 bridled and saddled - 2 coats of mail, 2 helmets, 2 shields, 2 swords and 2 lances. And of the other 2 horses, 1 shall be a hunter and 1 a riding horse with bridles and halters. The heriot of a thegn of lower rank to his liege lord shall be discharged by (delivering up) his father's horse, as it was in the day of his death, his helmet, his shield, his coat of mail, and lance and his sword. And if he was without equipment, having neither horse nor arms, it shall be discharged by the payment of 100 s. The heriot of a villain: he shall give to this lord the best animal that he has, either a horse, an ox, or a cow. And further all villeins shall be in frankpledge. For those who hold their land by the payment of rent, the legal heriot shall be the equivalent of a year's rent.
No one shall entertain a man for more than 3 days, unless he is committed to this charge by the man with whom he was formerly serving. And no one shall let any of his men leave him after an accusation has All men shall keep the law of Edward relating to the tenure of estates. been brought against him.
I prohibit the slaying or hanging of anyone for any offense, but his eyes shall be put out and he shall suffer castration, so the trunk remains alive as a sign of his treachery and wickedness. If a person violates this, he shall pay the insubordination fee.
All cities, boroughs, castles, hundreds and wapentakes shall be guarded every night on all sides against malefactors and enemies, as our sheriffs, earldormen, reeves and other officials and servants best provide.
The protection of the church is inviolable. Whatever crime a man has committed, if he can make his way to a holy church, he shall have protection for life and limb. And if anyone lays hands on him there, he shall pay for anything he has taken and a fine of 100s. for a bishop's church, abbey or monastery, 20s. for a parish church, and 10s. for a chapel.
"If a man wishes to prove against his lord that he has an agreement for his land, he must do so by means of his fellow-tenants whom he summons as witnesses, for he cannot do so by means of strangers."
If a man slays another he shall pay manbot to the lord of the slain man in the amount of 10s. for a free man and 20s. for a slave.
The wergeld of a thegn is 20 pounds in Mercia and 25 pounds in Wessex. The wergeld of a villain is 100s. (20s. would buy a stallion, 10s. a bull and 5s. a boar.) 10s. of the wergeld shall be paid to the widow and children and the relatives and orphans shall divide what remains among themselves.
The archbishop shall have as compensation for breach of his protection 40s. in Mercia, a bishop 20s., an earl 20s., a baron 10s.,and a sokeman 40d.
If a man wounds another he shall pay for medical attendance and if he is wounded on the face, or a part which is visible, for every inch 8d., on the head or any hidden place, for every inch 4d., for every piece of bone drawn out of the wound 4d.
If a man cuts off the hand or foot of another, he shall pay half his wergeld according to his inherited rank. For the thumb he shall pay half the value of his hand, for the finger next the thumb, 15s. according to the English reckoning (i.e. 4d. to the shilling), for the middle finger 16s., for the ring-finger 17s., for the little finger 5s., for the nail if it is cut away from the flesh, 5 English s., for the nail of the little finger 4d.
"If a man poisons another, he shall be slain or sent into permanent exile."
There is a 100s. fine for violation of the king's peace or attack on people's houses or for premeditated waylaying.
If anyone slays or assaults anyone who is traveling through the country on any of the following four highways, namely, Watling Street, Ermine Street, the Fosse Way, the Icknied Way, he violates the king's peace. (Two of these streets extended the length of the kingdom and two extended across its width.)
For the guarding of roads, every 10 hides of the hundred shall supply a man between Michaelmas and Martinmas, or pay compensation for any livestock taken over the road, unless they have raised the hue and cry of been subject to force.
A peasant is not to be harassed or ejected except for not performing his legal services. A peasant leaving the estate where he was born must be returned to it.
If a father finds his daughter in adultery in his own or in his son-in-laws house, he may slay the adulterer. The same holds for a son and his mother during the father's lifetime.
"He who assaults the wife of another man shall forfeit his wergeld to his lord."
"If anyone assaults a woman he shall suffer castration as a penalty."
"If a woman who is pregnant is sentenced to death or to mutilation, the sentence shall not be carried out until she is delivered."
If anyone knocks out a man's eye by any kind of accident, he shall pay 70 English shillings as compensation. And if he destroys the sight without displacing the pupil, he shall pay only half the sum.
"If a man dies intestate [without a will], his children shall divide the inheritance equally among themselves."
And if anyone comes upon a thief and of his own accord lets him escape, without raising the hue and cry, he shall make compensation by the payment of the thief's value or clear himself.
"And if anyone hears the hue and cry and neglects it, he shall pay the fine for neglecting it to the king, or clear himself."
If a man captures a thief without the hue and cry being given, the injured man shall pay 10s. as a fine for neglecting to arrest the thief.
If theft is discovered on anyone's land and the thief is discovered, the lord of the estate and the thief's wife shall have half of his property and the claimants shall have their goods, if they find them. And with regard to the other half, if the theft is discovered in a district over which the lord has rights of jurisdiction, the wife shall lose her share and it shall pass to the lord.
"Further, we forbid the buying or selling of any livestock except within towns and before three trustworthy witnesses, likewise that of any second-hand goods without a surety and warrantor." The penalty is twice the value of the goods and the fine for insubordination.
No one shall buy anything of 4d. in value, either livestock or other property, unless he has 4 men as witnesses either from a town or a village. If anyone claims it and he has no witnesses and no warrantor, the goods shall be given up to the claimant and the fine shall be paid to the party who is entitled thereto. And if he has such witnesses, vouching to warranty shall take place three times; and on the fourth occasion he shall prove his ownership of it or deliver it up.
If anyone has taken livestock into his care, whether horses or oxen or cows or sheep or pigs, the man who claims them shall pay 8d. and no more in return for the care of them, however many there are up to a hundred head of cattle. As for one pig, 1d, for one sheep, 1d., and so on up to 8d. And he shall give pledge and find surety, that if another man comes forward within a year and a day to claim them, he will bring it for decision to the court of the man who had taken them into his own care.
Strayed livestock and found property shall be exhibited in three parts of the neighborhood. Anyone who claims it shall give pledge and surety and if another claims it within a year and a day, he will bring it for decision to the court of the man who found it.
The attachment of livestock: If anyone desires to claim it as stolen, and is willing to give pledge and find surety for prosecuting his claim, he who has possession of it must name his warrantor if he has one. If not, he shall name his surety and his witnesses, and produce them at the appointed day and time, if he has them, and the claimant shall give a pledge with 5 compurgators, and the other shall give the livestock into the hands of his warrantor or his surety, whichever of these he has. And if he has neither but has witnesses that he bought it in the public market and that he does not know whether his warrantor or his pledge is dead or alive, he shall swear to this along with his witnesses with a simple oath. In this way he shall lose his goods, but escape punishment, if they bear witness that he obtained a surety for them. And, in Mercia, if he can produce neither warrantor nor witness, he shall lose the goods and pay in addition compensation to the claimant and forfeit is wergeld to his lord. And if he can prove that it is of his own breeding by means of witnesses drawn from three parts of his neighborhood he shall have won his case.
There shall be no market or fair except in boroughs or castles or other enclosed or well-guarded places.
Weights and measures shall be stamped and reliable as before.
"Likewise if slaves have remained for a year and a day, without being claimed, in our cities or in our walled boroughs or in our castles, from that day they shall become free men."
I forbid anyone to sell a Christian out of the country, especially into heathen lands, or pay the fine for insubordination to me.
Anyone can set free a slave of his by presenting him to the sheriff in the county court and giving him the arms of a freeman, namely a lance and sword.
If I cast your things overboard from a ship in fear of death, then you cannot bring a charge against me. The things that remained in the ship shall be divided in common according to the value of the goods originally belonging to each person.
He who possesses livestock of the value of 30 d. shall pay Peter's
Pence, and then his laborers, herdsmen, and servants shall be exempt.
Otherwise he shall pay a fine of 30d. to the bishop and 40s. to the
king.
If a man accuses another of theft and the latter is a free man and can produce witnesses to prove that he is entitled to the benefit of the law, he shall clear himself by the simple oath (of exculpation). And those who have been (previously) accused shall clear themselves by the oath with selected compurgators, that is by means of 14 qualified men nominated (by the court) of whom 11 must act as the accused man's compurgators to clear him of the charge, if he can find as many to do so. And if he cannot find them, he shall defend himself against the charge by the ordeal. And the plaintiff shall swear by means of 7 men nominated (by the court), of whom 5 must act as his compurgators, that he does nothing through malice or for any other reason than to obtain his legal right.
And if anyone is accused of breaking into a church or a treasury, and has no previous convictions, he shall clear himself with 11 compurgators found among 14 qualified men nominated (by the court). And if he has been previously accused, he shall clear himself with three times as many, namely with 35 compurgators found among 42 qualified men nominated (by the court). And if he cannot find them, he shall go to the triple ordeal, just as he had (to produce) a triple oath. And if he has previously paid compensation for theft, he shall go to the water ordeal.
He who gives a false judgment shall forfeit his wergeld to his lord, unless he can swear on the holy relics that he did not know how to give a better decision.
No one shall be condemned to death for a trivial crime, but another penalty shall be devised according to the nature and magnitude of the crime.
He who makes an unjust judgment because of rage, malice, or bribery forfeits 40s. to the king and loses his right of jurisdiction.
A judgment given in a case between those concerned cannot affect injuriously others who are not present.
He who refuses to observe just law and just judgment shall forfeit a fine to the party who is entitled thereto, the king 6 pounds, an earl 40s. and to all those who have a court in England.
No one shall appeal to the king until he fails to obtain justice in the hundred or county courts.
"When a man carries on a suit in any court other than that in which the king is present in person, and it is maintained against him that he has said something which he will not acknowledge - if he can prove by means of a trustworthy man, who has seen and heard all the suit, that he did not say it, then the validity of his word shall be admitted."
"And if anyone who has charges brought against him in the hundred court to such an extent that 4 men accuse him, he shall clear himself with 11 compurgators."
"No one shall make distraint of property whether in the county court or outside it, until he has demanded justice three times in the hundred or in the county courts." If the man against whom he is bringing his charge fails to appear the fourth time, he shall get leave to make distraint for what is his own.
If anyone who is accused and against whom evidence of untrustworthiness is given fails three times to attend the court proceedings, and if, at the fourth meeting of the court, the summoners bring forward his three defections, he shall once more be asked to find a surety and appear before the court. And if he refuses, he shall be seized, alive or dead, and all that he has shall be taken, and the value of his goods shall be paid to the claimant, and the lord of the thief shall take half of what remains and the hundred half.
One God shall be honored throughtout the kingdom.
By charter, William granted to Londoners all the rights they had in the time of King Edward and willed that every child should be his father's heir.
Judicial Procedure
"Ecclesiastical" courts were created for bishops to preside over cases concerning the cure of souls and criminal cases, in which the ordeal was used. When the Conqueror did not preside over this court, an appeal could be made to him.
The hundred and county courts now sat without clergy and handled only "civil" cases. They were conducted by the King's own appointed sheriff. Only freemen and not bound villeins had standing in this court. They continued to transact their business in the English language.
The local jurisdictions of thegns who had grants of sac and soke or who exercised judicial functions among their free neighbors were now called "manors" and their owners conducted a manor court.
The Conqueror's Royal Court ["Curia Regis"] replaced the witan. It was composed of those to whom William had made grants of land on the understanding that they should perform certain feudal services to him. When the Conqueror wished to determine the national laws, he summoned twelve elected representatives of each county to declare on oath the ancient lawful customs and law as they existed in the time of the popular King Edward the Confessor. The recording of this law was begun. A person could spend months trying to catch up with the Royal Court to present a case. Sometimes the Conqueror sent the Justiciar or commissioners to hold his Royal Court in the various districts. The commissioner appointed groups of local men to give a collective verdict upon oath for each trial he conducted. The Conqueror allowed, on an ad hoc basis, certain high-level people such as bishops and abbots and those who made a large payment, to have land disputes decided by an inquiry of recognitors. Besides royal issues, the Royal Court heard appeals from lower court decisions. It used English, Norman, feudal, Roman, and canon law legal principles to reach a decision, and was flexible and expeditious. The powers of the shire court were lessened by the expanding authority of the Royal Court.
Trial by combat could be used in two instances: 1) a dispute between a Frenchman and an Englishman over seisin of land initiated by a writ of right, or 2) a criminal appeal of felony brought by an Englishman or Frenchman against the other. Each combatant first swore to the truth of his cause and undertook to prove by his body the truth of his cause by making the other surrender by crying "craven" [craving forgiveness]. The combatants used weapons like pickaxes and shields. Presumably the man in the wrong would not fight as well because he was burdened with a guilty conscience. Although this trial was thought to reflect God's will, it favored the physically fit and adept person. After losing the trial by combat, the guilty person would be punished appropriately.
London had its own traditions. All London citizens met at its folkmote, which was held three times a year to determine its public officers, to raise matters of public concern, and to make ordinances. Its criminal court had the power of outlawry as did the county courts. Trade, land, and other civil issues were dealt with by the Hustings Court, which met every Monday in the Guildhall. The city was divided into wards, each of which was under the charge of an elected alderman [elder man]. (The election was by a small governing body and the most wealthy and reputable men and not a popular election.) The aldermen had special knowledge of the law and a duty to declare it at the Hustings Court. Each alderman also conducted wardmotes in his ward and decided criminal and civil issues between its residents. Within the wards were the guilds of the city.
King William I decided a lawsuit regarding land on the basis of testimony of the county thus: "William, by God's grace king of the English, to Bishop Walkelin, {Sheriff} Hugh de Port and his lieges of Hampshire, greeting. I notify you that I have restored to Archbishop Thomas of York one hide of land pertaining to the church of Mottisfont, as Archbishop Ealdred best had it at the time of King Edward, in meadows and wood and pasture and in common pasturage for as many animals as the maximum he could have there at the time of King Edward, as was testified before Bishop [William] of Durham and Bertram de Verdun and devised by the men of the county. Farewell. Witnesses: Bishop William of Durham and Bertram de Verdun."
The Royal Court decided this case: "At length both parties were summoned before the King's court, in which there sat many of the nobles of the land of whom Geoffrey, bishop of Coutances, was delegated by the King's authority as judge of the dispute, with Ranulf the Vicomte, Neel, son of Neel, Robert de Usepont, and many other capable judges who diligently and fully examined the origin of the dispute, and delivered judgment that the mill ought to belong to St. Michael and his monks forever. The most victorious King William approved and confirmed this decision."
Chapter 5
The Times: 1100-1154
King Henry I, son of William the Conquerer, furthered peace between the Normans and native English by his marriage to a niece of King Edward the Confessor called Matilda. She married him on condition that he grant a charter of rights undoing some practices of the past reigns of William I and William II. Peace was also furthered by the fact that Henry I had been born in England and English was his native tongue. The private wars of lords were now replaced by less serious mock battles.
Henry was a shrewd judge of character and of the course of events, cautious before taking action, but decisive in carrying out his plans. He was faithful and generous to his friends. He showed a strong practical element of calculation and foresight. Although illiterate, he was intelligent and a good administrator. He had an efficient intelligence gathering network and an uncanny knack of detecting hidden plans before they became conspiratorial action. He made many able men of inferior social position nobles, thus creating a class of career judges and administrators in opposition to the extant hereditary aristocracy. He loved books and built a palace at Oxford to which he invited scholars for lively discussion. Euclid's "Elements" ", which deduced from axioms the properties of lines, circles, and spheres, was introduced into England.
Queen Matilda served as regent of the kingdom in Henry's absence, as William's queen had for him. Both queens received special coronation apart from their husbands; they held considerable estates which they administered through their own officers, and were frequently composed of escheated honors. Matilda was learned and a literary patron. She founded an important literary and scholastic center. Her compassion was great and her charities extensive. In London she founded several almshouses and a caregiving infirmary for lepers. These were next to small monastic communities. She also had new roads and bridges built.
Henry issued charters restoring customs which had been subordinated to royal impositions by previous Kings, which set a precedent for later Kings. His coronation charter describes certain property rights he restored after the oppressive reign of his brother, William II.
"Henry, King of the English, to Samson the bishop, and Urse of
Abbetot, and to all his barons and faithful vassals, both French and
English, in Worcestershire, greeting.
[1.] Know that by the mercy of God and by the common counsel of the barons of the whole kingdom of England I have been crowned king of this realm. And because the kingdom has been oppressed by unjust exactions, I now, being moved by reverence towards God and by the love I bear you all, make free the Church of God; so that I will neither sell nor lease its property; nor on the death of an archbishop or a bishop or an abbot will I take anything from the demesne of the Church or from its vassals during the period which elapses before a successor is installed. I abolish all the evil customs by which the kingdom of England has be unjustly oppressed. Some of those evil customs are here set forth.
[2.] If any of my barons or of my earls or of any other of my tenants shall die his heir shall not redeem his land as he was wont to do in the time of my brother, but he shall henceforth redeem it by means of a just and lawful relief. Similarly the men of my barons shall redeem their lands from their lords by means of a just and lawful relief.
[3.] If any of my barons or of my tenants shall wish to give -in marriage his daughter or his sister or his niece or his cousin, he shall consult me about the matter; but I will neither seek payment for my consent, nor will I refuse my permission, unless he wishes to give her in marriage to one of my enemies. And if, on the death of one of my barons or of one of my tenants, a daughter should be his heir, I will dispose of her in marriage and of her lands according to the counsel given me by my barons. And if the wife of one of my tenants shall survive her husband and be without children, she shall have her dower and her marriage portion [that given to her by her parents], and I will not give her in marriage unless she herself consents.
[4.] If a widow survives with children under age, she shall have her dower and her marriage portion, so long as she keeps her body chaste; and I will not give her in marriage except with her consent. And the guardian of the land, and of the children, shall be either the widow or another of their relations, as may seem more proper. And I order that -my barons shall act likewise towards the sons and daughters -and widows of their men.
[5.] I utterly forbid that the common mintage [a forced levy to prevent loss to the King from depreciation of the -coinage], which has been taken from the towns and counties, shall henceforth be levied, since it was not so levied in the time of King Edward [the Confessor]. If any moneyer or other person be taken with false money in his possession, let true justice be visited upon him.
[6.] I forgive all pleas and all debts which were owing to my brother, except my own proper dues, and except those things which were agreed to belong to the inheritance of others, or to concern the property which justly belonged to others. And if anyone had promised anything for his heritage, I remit it, and I also remit all 'reliefs' which were promised for direct inheritance.
[7.] If any of my barons or of my men, being ill, shall give away or bequeath his movable property, I will allow that it shall be bestowed according to his desires. But if, prevented either by violence or through sickness, he shall die intestate as far as concerns his movable property, his widow or his children, or his relatives or one his true men shall make such division for the sake of his soul, as may seem best to them.
[8.] If any of my barons or of my men shall incur a forfeit, he shall not be compelled to pledge his movable property to an unlimited amount, as was done in the time of my father [William I] and my brother; but he shall only make payment -according to the extent of his legal forfeiture, as was done before the time of my father and in the time of my earlier predecessors. Nevertheless, if he be convicted of breach of faith or of crime, he shall suffer such penalty as is just.
[9.] I remit all murder fines which were incurred before the day on which I was crowned King; and such murder fines as shall now be incurred shall be paid justly according to the law of King Edward [by sureties].
[10.] By the common counsel of my barons I have retained the forests in my own hands as my father did before me.
[11.] The knights, who in return for their estates perform military service equipped with a hauberk [long coat] of mail, shall hold their demesne lands quit of all gelds [money payments] and all labor services; I make this concession as my own free gift in order that, being thus relieved of so great a burden, they may furnish themselves so well with horses and arms that they may be properly equipped to discharge my service and to defend my kingdom.
[12.] I establish a firm peace in all my kingdom, and I order that this peace shall henceforth be kept.
[13.] I restore to you the law of King Edward together with such emendations to it as my father [William I] made with the counsel of his barons.
[14.] If since the death of my brother, King William [II], anyone shall have seized any of my property, or the property of any other man, let him speedily return the whole of it. If he does this no penalty will be exacted, but if he retains any part of it he shall, when discovered, pay a heavy penalty to me.
Witness: Maurice, bishop of London; William, bishop-elect of
Winchester; Gerard, bishop of Herefore; Henry the earl; Simon the earl;
Walter Giffard; Robert of Montfort-sur-Risle; Roger Bigot; Eudo the
steward; Robert, son of Haimo; and Robert Malet.
At London when I was crowned. Farewell."
Henry took these promises seriously, which resulted in peace and justice. Royal justice became a force to be reckoned with by the multiplication of justices. Henry had a great respect for legality and the forms of judicial action. He became known as the "Lion of Justice".
The payment of queen's gold, that is of a mark of gold to the queen out of every hundred marks of silver paid, in the way of fine or other feudal incident, to the king, probably dates from Henry I's reign.
A woman could inherit a fief if she married. The primary way for a man to acquire control of land was to marry an heiress. If a man were in a lower station than she was, he had to pay for his new social status as well as have royal permission. A man could also be awarded land which had escheated to the King. If a noble woman wanted to hold land in her own right, she had to make a payment to the King. Many widows bought their freedom from guardianship or remarriage from the King. Women whose husbands were at war also ran the land of their husbands.
Barons were lords of large holdings of farmland called "manors". Many of the lesser barons left their dark castles to live in semi- fortified stone houses, which usually were of two rooms with rug hangings for drafts, as well as the sparse furniture that had been common to the castle. There were shuttered windows to allow in light, but which also let in the wind and rain when open. The roof was of thatch or narrow overlapping wood shingles. The stone floor was strewn with hay and there was a hearth near the center of the floor, with a louvered smoke hole in the timber roof for escape of smoke. There were barns for grain and animals. Beyond this area was a garden, orchard, and sometimes a vineyard. The area was circumscribed by a moat over which there was a drawbridge to a gatehouse.
The smaller room was the lord and lady's bedroom. It had a canopied bed, chests for clothing, and wood frames on which clothes could be hung. Life on the manor revolved around the larger room, or hall, where the public life of the household was passed. There, meals were served. The daily diet typically consisted of milk, soup, porridge, fish, vegetables, and bread. Open hospitality accompanied this communal living. There was little privacy. Manor household villeins carried the lord's sheaves of grain to the manor barn, shore his sheep, malted his grain, and chopped wood for his fire. At night some slept on the floor of the hall. Others, who were cottars and bordars, had their own dwellings nearby.
The manor house of lesser lords or knights was still built of wood, although it often had a stone foundation.
About 35% of the land was arable land, about 25% was common pasture land (for grazing only) or meadow land (near a stream or river and used for hay or grazing), and about 15% was woodland. There were these types of land and wasteland on each manor. The arable land was allotted to the villeins in strips to equalize the best and worst land and their distance from the village where the villeins lived. There was three-way rotation of wheat or rye, oats or barley, and fallow land. Cows, pigs, sheep, and fowl were kept. The meadow was allocated for hay for the lord's household and each villein's. The villeins held land of their lord for various services such as agricultural labor or raising domestic animals. The villeins worked about half of their time on their lord's fields [his demesne land], which was about a third of the farmland. This work was primarily to gather the harvest and to plough with oxen, using a yoke over their shoulders, and to sow in autumn and Lent. They threshed grain on barn floors with flails cut from holly or thorn, and removed the kernels from the shafts by hand. Work lasted from sunrise to sunset and included women and children. The older children could herd geese and pigs, and set snares for rabbits. The young children could gather nuts and berries in season and other wild edibles, and could pick up little tufts of wool shed by sheep. The old could stay in the hut and mind the children, keep the fire going and the black pot boiling, sew, spin, patch clothes, and cobble shoes. The old often suffered from rheumatism. Many people had bronchitis. Many children died of croup [inflammation of the respiratory passages]. Life expectancy was probably below thirty-five.
The villein retained his customary rights, his house and land and rights of wood and hay, and his right in the common land of his township. Customary ways were maintained. The villeins of a manor elected a reeve to communicate their interests to their lord, usually through a bailiff, who directed the labor. Sometimes there was a steward in charge of several of a lord's manors, who also held the manorial court for the lord. The steward held his land of the lord by petty serjeanty, which was a specific service to the lord. Other serjeanty services were carrying the lord's shield and arms, finding attendants and esquires for knights, helping in the lord's hunting expeditions, looking after his hounds, bringing fuel, doing carpentry, and forging irons for ploughs. The Woodward preserved the timber. The Messer supervised the harvesting. The Hayward removed any fences from the fields after harvest to allow grazing by cattle and sheep. The Coward, Bullard, and Calvert tended the cows, bulls, and calves; the Shepherd, the sheep; and the Swineherds the pigs. The Ponder impounded stray stock. There were varieties of horses: war horses, riding horses, courier horses, pack horses, and plough horses.
The majority of manors were coextensive with a single village. The villeins lived in the village in one-room huts enclosed by a wood fence, hedge, or stone wall. In this yard was a garden of onions, leeks, mustard, peas, beans, parsley, garlic, herbs, and cabbage and apple, pear, cherry, quince, and plum trees, and beehives. The hut had a high-pitched roof thatched with reeds or straw and low eaves reaching almost to the ground. The walls are built of wood-framing overlaid with mud or plaster. Narrow slits in the walls serve as windows, which have shutters and are sometimes covered with coarse cloth. The floor is dirt and may be covered with straw or rushes for warmth, but usually no hearth. In the middle is a wood fire burning on a hearthstone, which was lit by making a spark by striking flint and iron together. The smoke rose through a hole in the roof. At one end of the hut was the family living area, where the family ate on a collapsible trestle table with stools or benches. Their usual food was beans and peas, oatmeal gruel, butter, cheese, vegetables, honey, rough bread made from a mixture of wheat, barley, and rye flour, herrings or other salt fish, and some salted or smoked bacon. Butter had first been used for cooking and as a medicine to cure constipation. For puny children it could be salted down for the winter. The bread had been roasted on the stones of the fire; later there were communal ovens set up in villages. Cooking was done over the fire by boiling in iron pots hung from an iron tripod, or sitting on the hot stones of the fire. They ate from wood bowls using a wood spoon. When they had fresh meat, it could be roasted on a spit. Liquids were heated in a kettle. With drinking horns, they drank water, milk, buttermilk, apple cider, mead, ale made from barley malt, and bean and vegetable broth. They used jars and other earthenware, e.g. for storage of salt. They slept on straw mattresses or sacks on the floor or on benches. The villein regarded his bed area as the safest place in the house, as did people of all ranks, and kept his treasures there, which included his farm implements, as well as hens on the beams, roaming pigs, and stalled oxen, cattle, and horses, which were at the other end of the hut. Fires were put out at night to guard against fire burning down the huts. The warmth of the animals then helped make the hut warm. Around the room are a couple of chests to store salt, meal, flour, a broom made of birch twigs, some woven baskets, the distaff and spindle for spinning, and a simple loom for weaving. All clothes were homemade. They were often coarse, greasy wool and leather made from their own animals. The man wore a tunic of coarse linen embroidered on the sleeves and breast, around with he wore a girdle of rope, leather, or folded cloth. Sometimes he also wore breeches reaching below the knee. The woman wore a loose short-sleeved gown, under which was a tight fitting garment with long loose sleeves, and which was short enough to be clear of the mud. If they wore shoes, they were clumsy and patched. Some wore a hood-like cap. For really bad weather, a man wore on his head a hood with a very elongated point which could be wrapped around his neck. Sometimes a short cape over the shoulders was attached. Linen was too expensive for commoners.
The absence of fresh food during the winter made scurvy prevalent; in the spring, people eagerly sought "scurvy grass" to eat. Occasionally there would be an outbreak of a nervous disorder due to the ergot fungus growing in the rye used for bread. This manifested itself in apparent madness, frightening hallucinations, incoherent shouting, hysterical laughing, and constant scratching of itching and burning sensations.
The villein and his wife and children worked from daybreak to dusk in the fields, except for Sundays and holydays. He had certain land to farm for his own family, but had to have his grain milled at his lord's mill at the lord's price. He had to retrieve his wandering cattle from his lord's pound at the lord's price. He was expected to give a certain portion of his own produce, whether grain or livestock, to his lord. However, if he fell short, he was not put off his land. The villein, who worked the farm land as his ancestor ceorl had, now was so bound to the land that he could not leave or marry or sell an ox without his lord's consent. If the manor was sold, the villein was sold as a part of the manor. When his daughter or son married or if he sent his son to school,he had to pay a "merchet" to his lord. He could not have a son educated without the lord's permission, and this usually involved a fee to the lord. His best beast at his death, or "heriot", went to his lord. If he wanted permission to live outside the manor, he paid "chevage" yearly. Woodpenny was a yearly payment for gathering dead wood. Sometimes a "tallage" payment was taken at the lord's will. The villein's oldest son usually took his place on his land and followed the same customs with respect to the lord. For an heir to take his dead ancestor's land, the lord demanded payment of a "relief", which was usually the amount of a year's income but sometimes as much as the heir was willing to pay to have the land. The usual aids were also expected to be paid.
A large village also had a smith, a wheelwright, a millwright, a tiler and thatcher, a shoemaker and tanner, a carpenter wainwright and carter.
Markets were about twenty miles apart because a farmer from the outlying area could then carry his produce to the nearest town and walk back again in the daylight hours of one day. In this local market he could buy foodstuffs, livestock, household goods, fuels, skins, and certain varieties of cloth.
The cloth was crafted by local weavers, dyers, and fullers. The weaver lived in a cottage with few and narrow windows and little furniture. He worked in the main, and sometimes the only, room. First the raw wool was washed with water at the front door to remove the grease. Then its fibers were disentangled and made fine with hand cards with thistle teeth, usually by the children. Then it was spun by a spinning wheel into thread, usually by the wife. On a double frame loom, a set of parallel threads was strung lengthwise. A device worked by a pedal lifted half of these threads —every other thread—while the other half remained in place. Between the lifted threads and the stationary threads a shuttle was thrown by the weaver from one hand to another. Then the threads which had remained stationary were raised by a second pedal and the shuttle thrown back. The shuttle carried a spool so that, as it moved, it left a thread behind it running crosswise or at right angles to the lengthwise threads and in and out between them. The lengthwise threads were called the "warp"; the shuttle thread was the "woof" or the "weft".In making cloth, it was the warp which, as the loom moved, took the worst beating. With the constant raising and lowering, these treads would wear and break, whereas the weft on which there was little strain remained intact. None of the cotton yarn which the old-fashioned wheels had spun was strong enough for warp. So it was necessary to use linen thread for the warp.
Since one loom could provide work for about six spinners, the weaver had his wool spun by other spinners in their cottages. Sometimes the master weaver had an apprentice or workman working and living with him, who had free board and lodging and an annual wage. Then a fuller made the cloth thick and dense by washing, soaping, beating, and agitating it, with the use of a community watermill which could be used by anyone for a fixed payment. The cloth dried through the night on a rack outside the cottage. The weaver then took his cloth, usually only one piece, to the weekly market to sell. The weavers stood at the market holding up their cloth. The cloth merchant who bought the cloth then had it dyed or dressed according to his requirements. Its surface could be raised with teazleheads and cropped or sheared to make a nap. Some cloth was sold to tailors to make into clothes. Often a weaver had a horse for travel, a cow for milk, chickens for eggs, perhaps a few cattle, and some grazing land. Butchers bought, slaughtered, and cut up animals to sell as meat. Some was sold to cooks, who sold prepared foods. The hide was bought by the tanner to make into leather. The leather was sold to shoemakers and glovemakers. Millers bought harvested grain to make into flour. Flour was sold to bakers to make into breads. Wood was bought by carpenters and by coopers, who made barrels, buckets, tubs, and pails. Tilers, oilmakers and rope makers also bought raw material to make into finished goods for sale. Wheelwrights made ploughs, harrows, carts, and later wagons. Smiths and locksmiths worked over their hot fires.
Games with dice were sometimes played. In winter, youths ice- skated with bones fastened to their shoes. They propelled themselves by striking the ice with staves shod with iron. On summer holydays, they exercised in leaping, shooting with the bow, wrestling, throwing stones, and darting a thrown spear. The maidens danced with timbrels. Since at least 1133, children's toys included dolls, drums, hobby horses, pop guns, trumpets, and kites.
The cold, indoors as well as outdoors, necessitated that people wear ample and warm garments. Men and women of position dressed in long full cloaks reaching to their feet, sometimes having short full sleeves. The cloak generally had a hood and was fastened at the neck with a brooch. Underneath the cloak was a simple gown with sleeves tight at the wrist but full at the armhole, as if cut from the same piece of cloth. A girdle or belt was worn at the waist. When the men were hunting or working, they wore gown and cloak of knee length. Men wore stockings to the knee and shoes. The fashion of long hair on men returned.
The nation grew with the increase of population, the development of towns, and the growing mechanization of craft industries. There were watermills for crafts and for supplying and draining water in all parts of the nation. In flat areas, slow rivers could be supplemented by creating artificial waterfalls, for which water was raised to the level of reservoirs. There were also some iron- smelting furnaces. Coal mining underground began as a family enterprise. Stone bridges over rivers could accommodate one person traveling by foot or by horseback and were steep and narrow. The wheelbarrow came into use to cart materials for building castles and cathedrals.
Merchants, who had come from the low end of the knightly class or high end of the villein class, settled around the open market areas, where main roads joined. They had plots narrow in frontage along the road and deep. Their shops faced the road, with living space behind or above their stores. Town buildings were typically part stone and part timber as a compromise between fire precautions and expense.
Towns, as distinct from villages, had permanent markets. As towns grew, some became boroughs by paying a fee to obtain a charter for self-government from the king giving the town judicial and commercial freedom. They were literate enough to do accounts. So they did their own valuation of the sum due to the crown so as not to pay the sheriff any more than that. These various rights were typically expanded in future times, and the towns received authority to collect the sum due to the crown rather than the sheriff. This they did by obtaining a charter renting the town to the burgesses at a fee farm rent equal to the sum thus deducted from the amount due from the county. The freemen were "free of the borough", which meant they had exclusive rights and privileges with respect to it. Selling wholesale could take place only in a borough. Burgesses were free to marry. They were not subject to defense except of the borough. They were exempt from attendance at county and hundred courts. The king assessed a tallage [ad hoc tax] usually at ten per cent of property or income. In the boroughs, merchant and manufacturing guilds controlled prices and assured quality. The head officer of the guild usually controlled the borough, which excluded rival merchant guilds. A man might belong to more than one guild, e.g. one for his trade and another for religion. The frankpledge system prevailed in the boroughs.
Craft guilds grew up in the towns, such as the tanners at Oxford, which later merged with the shoemakers into a cordwainers' guild. There were weavers' guilds in several towns, including London, which were given royal sanction and protection for annual payments (twelve pounds of silver for London). They paid an annual tribute and were given a monopoly of weaving cloth within a radius of several miles. Guild rules covered attendance of the members at church services, the promotion of pilgrimages, celebration of masses for the dead, common meals, relief of poor brethren and sisters, the hours of labor, the process of manufacture, the wages of workmen, and technical education. King Henry standardized the yard as the length of his own arm.
Trades and crafts, each of which had to be licensed, grouped together by specialty in the town. Cloth makers, dyers, tanners, and fullers were near an accessible supply of running water, upon which their trade depended. Streets were often named by the trade located there, such as Butcher Row, Pot Row, Cordwainer Row, Ironmonger Row, Wheeler Row, and Fish Row. Hirers of labor and sellers of wheat, hay, livestock, dairy products, apples and wine, meat, poultry, fish and pies, timber and cloth all had a distinct location. Some young men were apprenticed to craftsmen to assist them and learn their craft.
London had bought the right to have an elected mayor. The Norman word "mayor" replaced "portreeve". Henry I granted the Londoners the right to elect a sheriff and a justiciar from among themselves. London had at least twenty wards, each governed by its own alderman. Most of them were named after people. London was ruled by sixteen families linked by business and marriage ties. These businesses supplied luxury goods to the rich and included the goldsmiths [sold cups, dishes, girdles, mirrors, purses knives, and metal wine containers with handle and spout], vintners [wine merchants], mercers [sold textiles, haberdashery, combs, mirrors, knives, toys, spices, ointments, and potions], drapers, and pepperers, which later merged with the spicers to become the "grocers", skinners, tanners, shoemakers, woolmen, weavers, fishmongers, armorers, and swordsmiths. There were bakehouses at which one could leave raw joints of meat to be cooked and picked up later. These businesses had in common four fears: royal interference, foreign competition, displacement by new crafts, and violence by the poor and escaped villeins who found their way to the city. When a non-freeholder stayed in London he had to find for frankpledge, three sureties for good behavior. Failure to do so was a felony and the ward would eject him to avoid the charge of harboring him with its heavy fine. The arrival of ships with cargoes from continental ports and their departure with English exports was the regular waterside life below London Bridge. Many foreign merchants lived in London. Imports included timber, hemp, fish, and furs. There was a fraternal organization of citizens who had possessed their own lands with sac and soke and other customs in the days of King Edward. There were public bathhouses, but they were disreputable. A lady would take an occasional bath in a half cask in her home. The church warned of evils of exposing the flesh, even to bathe.
Middlesex County was London's territory for hunting and farming. All London craft work was suspended for one month at harvest time. London received this charter for self-government and freedom from the financial and judicial organization of the county:
"Henry, by the grace of God, King of England, to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciars, sheriffs and all his loyal subjects, both French and English, throughout the whole of England - greeting.
1. -Be it known to you that I have granted Middlesex to my citizens of London to be held on lease by them and their heirs of me and my heirs for 300 pounds paid by tale [yearly], upon these terms: that the citizens themselves [may] appoint a sheriff, such as they desire, from among themselves, and a justiciar, such as they desire, from among themselves, to safeguard the pleas of my Crown [criminal cases] and to conduct such pleas. And there shall be no other justiciar over the men of London.
2. -And the citizens shall not take part in any [civil] case whatsoever outside the City walls.
- -1) And they shall be exempt from the payment of scot and danegeld and the murder fine.
- -2) And none of them shall take part in trial by combat.
- -3) And if any of the citizens has become involved in a plea of the Crown, he shall clear himself, as a citizen of London, by an oath which has been decreed in the city.
- -4) And no one shall be billeted [lodged in a person's house by order of the King] within the walls of the city nor shall hospitality be forcibly exacted for anyone belonging to my household or to any other.
- -5) And all the citizens of London and all their effect [goods] shall be exempt and free, both throughout England and in the seaports, from toll and fees for transit and market fees and all other dues.
- -6) And the churches and barons and citizens shall have and hold in peace and security their rights of jurisdiction [in civil and criminal matters] along with all their dues, in such a way that lessees who occupy property in districts under private jurisdiction shall pay dues to no one except the man to whom the jurisdiction belongs, or to the official whom he has placed there.
- -7) And a citizen of London shall not be amerced [fined by a court when the penalty for an offense is not designated by statute] to forfeiture of a sum greater than his wergeld, [hereby assessed as] 100 shillings, in a case involving money.
- -8) And further there shall be no miskenning [false plea causing a person to be summoned to court] in a husting [weekly court] or in a folkmote [meeting of the community], or in any other court within the City.
- -9) And the Hustings [court] shall sit once a week on Monday.
- -10) And I assure to my citizens their lands and the property mortgaged to them and the debts due to them both within the City and without.
- -11) And with regard to lands about which they have pled in suit before me, I shall maintain justice on their behalf, according to the law of the City.
- -12) And if anyone has exacted toll or tax from citizens of London, the citizens of London within the city shall [have the right to] seize [by process of law] from the town or village where the toll or tax was exacted a sum equivalent to that which the citizen of London gave as toll and hence sustained as loss.
- -13) And all those who owe debts to citizens shall pay them or shall clear themselves in London from the charge of being in debt to them.