- -14) But if they have refused to pay or to come to clear themselves, then the citizens to whom they are in debt shall [have the right to] seize [by process of law] their goods [including those in the hands of a third party, and bring them] into the city from the [town, village or] county in which the debtor lives [as pledges to compel appearance in court].
- -15) And the citizens shall enjoy as good and full hunting rights as their ancestors ever did, namely, in the Chilterns, in Middlesex, and in Surrey.
Witnessed at Westminster."
The above right not to take part in any case outside the city relieved London citizens from the burden of traveling to wherever the King's court happened to be, the disadvantage of not knowing local customs, and the difficulty of speaking in the language of the King's court rather than in English. The right of redress for tolls exacted was new because the state of the law was that the property of the inhabitants was liable to the king or superior lord for the common debt.
Newcastle-on-Tyne was recognized by the king as having certain
customs, so the following was not called a grant:
"These are the laws and customs which the burgesses of Newcastle upon
Tyne had in the time of Henry King of England and ought to have.
[1] -Burgesses can distrain [take property of another until the other performs his obligation] upon foreigners within, or without their own market, within or without their own houses, and within or without their own borough without the leave of the reeve, unless the county court is being held in the borough, and unless [the foreigners are] on military service or guarding the castle.
[2] -A burgess cannot distrain upon a burgess without the leave of the reeve.
[3] -If a burgess have lent anything of his to a foreigner, let the debtor restore it in the borough if he admits the debt, if he denies it, let him justify himself in the borough.
[4] -Pleas which arise in the borough shall be held and -concluded there, except pleas of the Crown.
[5] -If any burgess be appealed [sued] of any plaint, he shall not plead without the borough, unless for default of [the borough] court.
[6] -Nor ought he to answer without day and term, unless he have fallen into 'miskenning' [error in pleading], except in matters which pertain to the Crown.
[7] -If a ship have put in at Tynemouth and wishes to depart, the burgesses may buy what they will [from it].
[8] -If a plea arise between a burgess and a merchant, it shall be concluded before the third ebb of the tide.
[9] -Whatever merchandise a ship has brought by sea must be landed, except salt; and herring ought to be sold in the ship.
[10] If any man have held land in burgage for a year and a day, lawfully and without claim, he shall not answer a claimant, unless the claimant have been without the realm of - - -England, or a child not of age to plead.
[11] If a burgess have a son, he shall be included in his father's freedom if he be with his father.
[12] If a villein come to dwell in the borough, and dwell there a year and a day as a burgess, he shall abide altogether, unless notice has been given by him or by his master that he is dwelling for a term.
[13] If any man appeal [sue] a burgess of any thing, he cannot do [trial by] battle with the burgess, but the burgess shall defend himself by his law, unless it be of treason, whereof he is bound to defend himself by [trial by] battle.
[14] Neither can a burgess do [trial by] battle against a foreigner, unless he first go out of the borough.
[15] No merchant, unless he be a burgess, may buy [outside] the town either wool or leather or other merchandise, nor within the borough except [from] burgesses.
[16] If a burgess incur forfeit, he shall give six ounces [10s.] to the reeve.
[17] In the borough there is no merchet [payment for marrying off a daughter] nor heriot nor bloodwite [fine for drawing blood] nor stengesdint [fine for striking with a stick].
[18] Every burgess may have his own oven and handmill if he will, saving the right of the King's oven.
[19] If a woman be in forfeit for bread or beer, no one ought to interfere but the reeve. If she forfeit twice, she shall be chastised by her forfeit. If three times, let justice be done on her.
[20] No one but a burgess may buy webs [woven fabrics just taken off the loom] to dye, nor make nor cut them.
[21] A burgess may give and sell his land and go whither he will freely and quietly unless there be a claim against him."
The nation produced sufficient iron, but a primitive steel [iron with carbon added] was imported. It was scarce and expensive. Steel was used for tools, instruments, weapons and armor. Ships could carry about 300 people. Navigation was by simple charts that included wind direction for different seasons and the direction of north. The direction of the ship could be generally determined when the sky was clear by the position of the sun during the day or the north star during the night.
Plays about miracles wrought by holy men or saints or the sufferings and fortitude of martyrs were performed, usually at the great church festivals. Most nobles could read, though writing was still a specialized craft. There were books on animals, plants, and stones. The lives of the saints as told in the book "The Golden Legend" were popular. The story of the early King Arthur was told in the book "The History of the Kings of England". The story at this time stressed Arthur as a hero and went as follows: Arthur became king at age 15. He had an inborn goodness and generosity as well as courage. He and his knights won battles against foreign settlers and neighboring clans. Once, he and his men surrounded a camp of foreigners until they gave up their gold and silver rather than starve. Arthur married Guenevere and established a court and retinue. Leaving Britain in the charge of his nephew Modred, he fought battles on the continent for land to give to his noblemen who did him service in his household and fought with him. When Arthur returned to Britain, he made battle with his nephew Modred who had crowned himself King. Arthur's knight Gawain, the son of his sister, and the enemy Modred were killed and Arthur was severely wounded. Arthur told his kinsman Constantine to rule Britain as king in his place.
The intellectual world included art, secular literature, law, and medicine. There were about 90 physicians.
The center of government was a collection of tenants-in-chief, whose feudal duty included attendance when summoned, and certain selected household servants of the King. The Exchequer became a separate body. The payments in kind, such as grain or manual services, from the royal demesnes had been turned into money payments. The great barons made their payments directly to the Exchequer. The income from royal estates was received by the Exchequer and then commingled with the other funds. Each payment was indicated by notches on a stick, which was then split so that the payer and the receiver each had a half showing the notches. The Exchequer was the great school for training statesmen, justices, and bishops. The Chancellor managed the domestic matters of the Crown's castles and lands. The great offices of state were sold for thousands of pounds, which caused their holders to be on their best behavior for fear of losing their money by being discharged from office. One chancellor paid Henry about 3000 pounds for the office. Henry brought sheriffs under his strict control, free from influence by the barons. He maintained order with a strong hand, but was no more severe than his security demanded.
Forests were still retained by Kings for their hunting of boars and stags. A master forester maintained them. The boundaries of the Royal Forests were enlarged. They comprised almost one-third of the kingdom. Certain inhabitants thereof supplied the royal foresters with meat and drink and received certain easements and rights of common therein. The forest law reached the extreme of severity and cruelty under Henry I. Punishments given included blinding, emasculation, and execution. Offenders were rarely allowed to substitute a money payment. When fines were imposed they were heavy.
A substantial number of barons and monasteries were heavily in debt to the Jews. The interest rate was 43% (2d. per pound per week). The king taxed the Jews at will.
The Law
Henry restored the death penalty (by hanging) for theft and robbery, but maintained William I's punishment of mutilation by blinding and severing of limbs for other offenses, for example, bad money. He decreed in 1108 that false and bad money should be amended, so that he who was caught passing bad denarii should not escape by redeeming himself but should lose his eyes and members. And since denarii were often picked out, bent, broken, and refused, he decreed that no denarius or obol, which he said were to be round, or even a quadrans, if it were whole, should be refused. (Money then reached a higher level of perfection, which was maintained for the next century.)
Counterfeiting law required that "If any one be caught carrying false coin, the reeve shall give the bad money to the King however much there is, and it shall be charged in the render of his farm [payment] as good, and the body of the offender shall be handed over to the King for judgment, and the serjeants who took him shall have his clothes."
The forest law stated that: "he that doth hunt a wild beast and doth make him pant, shall pay 10 shillings: If he be a freeman, then he shall pay double. If he be a bound man, he shall lose his skin." A "verderer" was responsible for enforcing this law, which also stated that: "If anyone does offer force to a Verderer, if he be a freeman, he shall lose his freedom, and all that he hath. And if he be a villein, he shall lose his right hand." Further, "If such an offender does offend so again, he shall lose his life."
A wife's dower is one-third of all her husband's freehold land, unless his endowment of her at their marriage was less than one- third.
Debts to townsmen were recoverable by this law: "If a burgess has a gage [a valuable object held as security for carrying out an agreement] for money lent and holds this for a whole year and a day, and the debtor will not deny the debt or deliver the gage, and this is proved, the burgess may sell the gage before good witnesses for as much as he can, and deduct his money from the sum. If any money is over he shall return it to the debtor. But if there is not enough to pay him, he shall take distress again for the amount that is lacking."
Past due rent in a borough was punishable by payment of 10s. as fine.
Judicial activity encouraged the recording of royal legislation in writing which both looked to the past and attempted to set down law current in Henry's own day in the Leges Henrici Primi. This showed an awareness of the ideal of written law as a statement of judicial principles as well as of the practice of kingship. In this way, concepts of Roman law used by the Normans found their way into English law. The laws of Henry I in the Leges Henrici Primi have as subjects judicial procedure, proper judging, conduct of people involved in litigation, litigation procedure, required witnesses, evidence, credibility, quotes from legal references, oaths, perjury, geographical divisions of England, court sessions and attendance, order of court proceedings, adjournments, frankpledge, strangers, types of causes and their manner of hearing, royal jurisdiction, ecclesiastical pleas of the king, offenses, compensations, penalties, reliefs, the king's peace, forest pleas, exculpation, soke, jurisdiction of royal judges, the king's judges, summons, oathhelpers, transfer of cases, trials of pleas, unjust judgments, sureties, lords who sue, accusations, court procedure, pleadings, postponements, record of proceedings, failure to appear, counsel, summoning the hundred, summoning the county court, distraints, partners of common property, rights of jurisdiction of a lord over his man, holdings in farm, disputes between neighbors, trial by battle, slaves, pleas between a lord's reeve and those who are subject to him, suits by royal judges, wergelds, murdrum fine, letting go of a thief, slaying of or by a cleric, confessions, men of ill repute, ordeals, compensations, bondmen, intent, inheritance, dowries, homicide by magicians, definition of homicide, killing one's lord, foreigners, debtors, illegitimacy, foundlings, the king's peace, homicide in the king's court, royal highways, self-defense, drinking assemblies, mutual enemies, leading into wrong-doing, lent arms, marauders, weapons, killing a relative, pledge, negligence, and wounds to body parts. A sampling of the laws of Henry I follows: "These are the jurisdictional rights which the king of England has in his land solely and over all men, reserved through a proper ordering of peace and security: breach of the king's peace given by his hand or writ; Danegeld; the pleas of contempt of his writs or commands; the death or injury of his servants wherever occurring; breach of fealty and treason; any contempt or slander of him; fortifications consisting of three walls; outlawry; theft punishable by death; murdrum; counterfeiting his coinage; arson; hamsocn [breach of the right of security and privacy in a man's house by forcible entry into it]; forestel [attacking an enemy unexpectedly or lying in wait for him on the road and attacking him] passenger on the king's highway]; fyrding [action regarding the military array or land force of the whole country]; flymenfyrm [the reception or relief of a fugitive or outlaw]; premeditated assault; robbery; stretbreche [destroying a road by closing it off or diverting it or digging it up]; unlawful appropriation of the king's land or money; treasure-trove; wreck of the sea; things cast up by the sea; rape; abduction; forests; the reliefs of barons; fighting in the king's dwelling or household; breach of the peace in the king's troop; failure to perform burgbot [a contribution to the repair of castles or walls of defense, or of a borough]; or brigbot [a tribute or contribution to the repair of bridges]; or firdfare [a summoning forth to a military expedition]; receiving and maintaining an excommunicated person or an outlaw; violation of the king's protection; flight in a military or naval battle; false judgment; failure of justice; violation of the king's law." "Some pleas cannot be compensated for with money; these are: husbreche [housebreaking or burglary], arson, manifest theft, palpable murder, treachery towards one's lord, and violation of the peace of the church or the protection of the king through the commission of homicide." "Compensation is effected by the payment of one hundred shillings for the following: grithbreche [breach of the peace], stretbreche, forestel, violation of the king's protection, hamsocn, and flymenfyrm." Hamsocn is an attack on a house and occurs if anyone assaults another in his own house or the house of someone else with a band of men or pursues him so that he hits the door or the house with arrows or stones or produces a perceptible blow from any source. It also is committed if anyone goes with premeditation to a house where he knows his enemy to be and attacks him there, whether he does this by day or by night. It also occurs if anyone pursues a person fleeing into a mill or sheephold. If in a court of house dissension has arisen and fighting follows as well, and someone pursues another person fleeing into the other house, it shall be considered hamsocn if there are two roofs there. The following place a man in the king's mercy: breach of his peace which he gives to anyone by his own hand; contempt of his writs and anything which slanders injuriously his own person or his commands; causing the death of his servants in a town or fortress or anywhere else; breach of fealty and treason; contempt of him; construction of fortifications without permission; the incurring of outlawry (anyone who suffers this shall fall into the king's hand, and if he has any bocland [lands held by deed or other written evidence of title]; manifest theft punishable by death." If any Englishman is slain without fault on his part, compensation shall be paid to his relatives according to this wergeld. Wite and manbot shall be paid to the appropriate lords in accordance with the amount of the wergeld. Where a wergeld of 200s. is payable, then 30s. must be paid as manbot, which equals 5 mancuses; where the wergeld is 1200s., that is, for a thegn, the manbot is 120s, which amounts to 20 mancuses. "For the oath of a thegn equals the oaths of six villeins; if he is killed he is fully avenged by the slaying of six villeins and if compensation is paid for him, his wergeld is the wergeld for six villeins." Some freemen are 200 men, some 600 men, and others 1200 men. A 200 man has a wergeld of 200s., which equal 4 pounds. A 1200 man is a person of noble rank, that is, a thegn, whose wergeld is 1200s., which equal 25 pounds. His healsfang is 120s., which today equals 50s. (40 sheep are worth 20s., as is one horse.) Homicide by a magical potion or witchcraft or sorcery practiced with images or by any kind of enchantment cannot be compensated. If the bewitched person does not die, but suffers some change of the skin or demonstrable physical sickness, compensation shall be paid as prescribed by the ancient provisions of wise men, in accordance with the circumstances. "If anyone kills his lord, then if in his guilt he is seized, he shall in no manner redeem himself but shall be condemned to scalping or disemboweling or to human punishment which in the end is so harsh that while enduring the dreadful agonies of his tortures and the miseries of his vile manner of death he may appear to have yielded up his wretched life before in fact he has won an end to his sufferings, and so that he may declare, if it were possible, that he had found more mercy in hell than had been shown to him on earth." "If anyone kills his man without his having merited death, he shall just the same pay compensation for him to his relatives according to the amount of his wergeld, because the man was his to render service, not to be killed." "A person who breaks the king's peace which he confers on anyone with his own hand shall, if he is seized, suffer the loss of his limbs." "If anyone has the king's peace given by the sheriff or other official and a breach of it is committed against him, then this is a case of grithbreche and compensation of one hundred shillings shall be paid, if settlement can be effected by payment of compensation." "On whosoever's land a slaying takes place, the lord who has his rights of soke and sake shall, if the slayer, when caught on the spot, is released on providing security or is detained after being charged, receive the fihtwite." If anyone is slain in an attack by a band of marauders, the slayer shall pay the wergeld to the relatives, and manbot to the lord, and all who were present shall pay hlothbot, that is to say, they shall pay compensation of 30s. for a 200 man, 60s. for a 600 man, and 120s. for a 1200 man. In the case of every payment of wergeld for a slaying, two parts are the responsibility of the paternal kindred, and one third part is the responsibility of the maternal kin. If the kindred of a man who slays another abandons him and will not pay compensation for him, then all the kindred shall be free from the feud except the wrongdoer alone, if they thereafter provide him with neither food nor protection. "If a woman commits homicide, vengeance shall be taken against her or her descendants or her blood relatives (or she shall pay compensation for it), not against her husband or his innocent household." Amends shall nonetheless be made whether these things are done intentionally or unintentionally. However, the possibility of a friendly settlement or of clemency is to be treated as the more likely or the more remote depending on the degree of blame attaching to the person who has been slain, and according to the circumstances. If a woman is slain, compensation is to be paid according to her wergeld, which is decided by her paternal relationship. The manbot shall be determined by the standing of the lord. "Any person may aid his lord without incurring a wite if anyone attacks him, and may obey him in all lawful matters except in the case of breach of feudal loyalty, theft, murder, and similar offences, the commission of which has in absolutely no way been permitted, and which are branded as crimes by the laws." In the same way a lord must in the appropriate circumstances keep his man with advice as well as support, and may do so in all ways without penalty. "Anyone who fights in the king's dwelling shall forfeit his life." "If anyone commits the offence of blodwite [an amercement for bloodshed], fihtwite [a fine for making a quarrel to the disturbance of the peace], legerwite [fine for unlawful cohabitation], or anything of that nature, and he escapes from the scene without being obliged to provide security for future appearance in court or without a charge being laid there, the jurisdiction at law belongs to his own lord." Infiht or insocna is the offense committed by those who are living in community in a house; this is compensated for by a payment of the wite to the head of the household, if he has jurisdiction over accuser and accused. If anyone leaps to arms and disturbs the peace of a house, but does not strike anyone, his liability is half the penalty. Compensation for wounds are as follows: on the head if both bones have been pierced 30s.; on the head if only the outer bone has been pierced 15s.; a wound under the hair one inch long 5d., that is, 1s.; a wound in front of the hair 10d, that is 2s.; injury to the throat 12s.; injury on the neck causing a curvature or stiffness or a lasting disability 100s. plus whatever has been paid out for medical treatment.; external injury to the hand 20s.; if half the hand flies off 60s.; rib broken but the skin remains whole 10s.; rib broken and the skin is broken and the bone is drawn out 15s.; loss of any eye or hand or foot or tongue 66s.6d. and a third part of a penny; loss of sight but with the eye remaining in the head 22s.2d.; wound on the shoulder if the person lives 80s.; shoulder wound so that the fluid from the joints runs out 30s.; shoulder maimed 20s.; an injury within a shoulder so that a bone is drawn out 15s.; arm broken above the elbow 15s.; both bones in the arm broken 30s.; arm cut off below the elbow 80s.; wound in the belly 30s.; pierced through the belly 20s. for each opening; a thigh pierced or broken 30s.; shin struck off below the knee 80s.; the shin broken 30s.; shin pierced below the knee 12s.; broken shinbone 12s.; wound in the genitals so that there is loss of the capacity to procreate 80s.; loins maimed 60s.; loins pierced through 30s.; loins punctured 15s.; injury to the great sinews of another's lower leg if they recover through response to medical treatment 12s.; injury to the sinews which cauces lameness 30s.; injury to the small sinews 6s.; striking a blow without causing blood to flow 5d. for each blow up to a total of three blows, no matter how many blows are actually struck, for a total of 15d.; knocking out first teeth or incisors 8s.; canines or `cheek' teeth 4s.; molars 15s.; broken cheeks 15s.; a thumb cut off 30s.; a thumbnail cut off 5s.; an index finger 15s; an index fingernail 3s.; a middle or `unchaste' finger 121s; a middle fingernail 2s.; a ring finger or `medical' finger 17s.; a ring fingernail 4s.; an `ear' finger 9s.; an `ear' fingernail 1s., that is 5d.; the big toe cut off 20s.; the second toe 15s.; the third toe 9s.; the fourth toe 6s., the fifth toe 5s.; "If anyone suffers a wound, not involving the cutting off or maiming or breaking of a limb, on an uncovered and visible place (for example, in front of the hair or below the sleeve or beneath the knees), the compensation to be paid shall be double what would be due in the case of a wound inflicted on the head under the hair or on the limbs beneath the clothes, that is, on a concealed place." "Anyone who commits a theft, who betrays his lord, who deserts him in a hostile encounter or military engagement, who is defeated in trial by battle or who commits a breach of the feudal bond shall forfeit his land." In the case of stolen property worth more than 30d., the accused shall choose which of the two he wishes, either the simple ordeal or an oath of the value of one pound with oath helpers taken from three hundreds. "If anyone dares to dig up or despoil, in scandalous and criminal fashion, a body buried in the ground or in a coffin or a rock or a pyramid or any structure, he shall be regarded as an outlaw." "If a person condemned to death wishes to confess, it shall never be refused him." "If anyone who is a father dies and leaves as son or daughter to inherit, they shall not maintain an action or submit to a court judgment before reaching fifteen years of age; but they shall remain seised, under guardians and trustees in the lawful custody of their relatives, just as their father was on the day when he was alive and dead." "If anyone dies without children, his father or mother shall succeed to the inheritance, or his brother or sister, if neither father nor mother is living." If he does not possess these relatives, then his father's or mother's sister, and thereafter relatives up to the fifth `joint', whoever are the nearest in relationship, shall succeed by the law of inheritance. While the male line subsists, and the inheritance descends from that side, a woman shall not succeed. "The first born son shall have the father's ancestral fee' the latter shall give any purchases or subsequent acquisitions of his to whomever he pleases." If a person has bocland which his kinsmen have left him, he shall not dispose of it outside his kindred. "If a wife survives her husband she shall have in permanent ownership her dowry and her maritagium which had been settled on her by written documents or in the presence of witnesses and her morning-gift and a third part of all their jointly acquired property in addition to her clothing and her bed." "If a woman dies without children, her blood relatives shall divide up her share with her husband." A man may fight against as person whom he finds with his wedded wife, after the second or third prohibition, behind closed doors or under the one covering, or with his daughter whom he begot on his wife, or with his sister who was legitimately born, or with his mother who was lawfully wedded to his father. There is pecuniary compensation if a married woman commits fornication and she is of the rank of ceorl or belongs to the 600s. class or the 1200s. class, and physical mutilation has been prescribed for those persisting in the offence. "Women who commit fornication and destroy their embryos, and those who are accessories with them, so that they abort the foetus from the womb, are by an ancient ordinance excommunicated from the church until death." A milder provision has now been introduced: they shall do penance for ten years. "If anyone kills or while sleeping crushes another person's child who has been entrusted to him for rearing or instruction, he shall pay compensation for him just as if he had killed an adult person." The county meetings shall be attended by the bishops, earls, sheriffs, deputies, hundredmen, aldermen, stewards, reeves, barons, vavassors [those who hold of a baron], village reeves, and the other lords of lands who shall with diligence see to it that failure to punish evildoers or the viciousness of officials or the corruption of judges shall not destroy those suffering under their accustomed afflictions. Every cause shall be determined in the hundred court or county court or the hallmoot of those who have soke or in the courts of feudal lords or in the boundary courts of feudal equals or as it pertains to established places for court proceedings. "In the case of soke of pleas, some of these profits belong peculiarly and exclusively to the royal treasury, some are shared by it with others, some belong to the sheriffs and royal officials in their farm, and some belong to the lords who have soke and sake." "The king's judges shall be the barons of the county and those who hold free lands in the counties, by whom the causes and of individuals must be dealt with by the presentation in turn of complaint and defense." Anyone who violates or subverts the written law shall forfeit his wergeld on the first occasion; on the second occasion the penalty is twice the wergeld; and anyone who ventures to do it a third time shall lose whatever he possesses. "Each person is to be judged by men who are of equal status and from the same district as himself." "No one of high status shall be condemned by the judgment of lesser men." "Whoever gives an unjust judgment shall forfeit one hundred and twenty shillings and shall lose his judicial authority unless he redeems it from the king." If there are contrary opinions among the judges in serious pleas, the decision of the most substantial men and that with which the royal justice has concurred shall prevail. "Some persons are slaves by birth, others become slaves subsequently; of the latter, some are enslaved by purchase, some by way of satisfaction for an offence, some give themselves in slavery or are given by another person, and some become slave by falling under any other classifications, all of which we may wish nevertheless to be included in that one category of slavery, for which we propound the description `accident' - so that the position has been expressed in this way: some are slaves by accident, others by birth." Church law provided that only consent between a man and woman was necessary for marriage. There needn't be witnesses, ceremony, nor consummation. Consent could not be coerced. Penalties in marriage agreements for not going through with the marriage were deemed invalid. Villeins and slaves could marry without their lords' or owners' permission. A couple living together could be deemed married. Persons related by blood within certain degrees, which changed over time, of consanguinity were forbidden to marry. This was the only ground for annulment of a marriage. A legal separation could be given for adultery, cruelty, or heresy. Annulment, but not separation, could result in remarriage. Fathers were usually ordered to provide some sustenance and support for their illegitimate children. The court punished infanticide and abortion. Counterfeiters of money, arsonists, and robbers of pilgrims and merchants were to be excommunicated. Church sanctuary was to be given to fugitives of violent feuds until they could be given a fair trial.
Judicial Procedure
Courts extant now are the Royal Court, the King's Court of the Exchequer, county courts, and hundred courts, all of which were under the control of the King. His appointed justices administered justice in these courts on regular circuits. Instead of being the presiding official at the county court, the sheriff now only produced the proper people and preserved order at the county courts and presided over the nonroyal pleas and hundred courts. He impaneled recognitors, made arrests, and enforced the decisions of the royal courts. Also there are manor courts, borough courts, and ecclesiastical courts. In the manor courts, the lord's reeve generally presided. The court consisted of the lord's vassals and declared the customs and law concerning such offenses as failure to perform services and trespass on manorial woods, meadow, and pasture.
The King's Royal Court heard issues concerning the Crown and breaches of the King's peace, which included almost all criminal matters: murder, robbery, rape, abduction, arson, treason, breach of fealty, housebreaking, ambush, certain kinds of theft, premeditated assault, and harboring outlaws or excommunicants. Henry personally presided over hearings of important legal cases. He punished crime severely. He hanged homicides, exiled traitors, and frequenly used loss of hand and foot. In comparison, William had no one hanged, but used emasculation and exoculation frequently. Offenders were brought to justice not only by the complaint of an individual or local community action, but by official prosecutors. A prosecutor was now at trials as well as a justice. Trial is still mostly by compurgation but trial by combat was relatively common.
These offenses against the king placed merely personal property and sometimes land at the king's mercy. Thus the Crown increased the range of offenses subject to its jurisdiction and arrogated to itself profits from the penalties imposed. The death penalty could be imposed for murder and replaced the old wergeld. But a murderer could be given royal pardon from the death penalty so that he could pay compensation to the relatives.
The Royal Court also heard these offenses against the king: fighting in his dwelling, contempt of his writs or commands, encompassing the death or injury of his servants, contempt or slander of the King, and violation of his protection or his law. It heard these offenses against royal authority: complaints of default of justice or unjust judgment, pleas of shipwrecks, coinage, treasure trove [money buried when danger approached], forest prerogatives, and control of castle building.
Slander of the king, the government, or high officials was punishable as treason, felony, misprision of treason, or contempt, depending on the rank and office of the person slandered and the degree of guilt.
Henry began the use of writs to intervene in civil matters such as inquiry by oath and recognition of rights as to land, the obligations of tenure, the legitimacy of heirs, and the enforcement of local justice. Writs were requested by people who wanted to come to the Royal Court. The Royal Court used its superior coercive power to enforce the legal decisions of the county, hundred, and private courts. It also reviewed miscarriages of justice and unlawful procedures in these courts. There was a vigorous interventionism in the land law subsequent to appeals to the king in landlord-tenant relations, brought by a lord or by an undertenant. Assizes [those who sit together] of local people who knew relevant facts were put together to assist the court. Henry appointed some locally based justices. Also, he sent justices from the Royal Court out on eyres [journeys] to hold assizes. This was done at special sessions of the county courts, hundred courts, and manor courts. Records of the verdicts of the Royal Court were sent with these itinerant justices for use as precedent in these courts. Thus royal authority was brought into the localities and served to check baronial power over the common people. These itinerant justices also transacted the local business of the Exchequer in each county. Henry created the office of Chief Justiciar, which carried out judicial and administrative functions and could travel anywhere in the country and make legal decisions in the king's name.
The Royal Court retained cases of gaol delivery [arrested person who had been held in gaol was delivered to the court] and amercements [discretionary money payments which took the place of the old wites]. It also decided cases in which the powers of the popular courts had been exhausted or had failed to do justice. The Royal Court also decided land disputes between barons who were too strong to submit to the county courts.
The King's Court of the Exchequer reviewed the accounts of sheriffs, including receipts and expenditures on the Crown's behalf as well as sums due to the Treasury, located still at Winchester. These sums included rent from royal estates, the Danegeld land tax, the fines from local courts, and aid from baronial estates. Its records were the "Pipe Rolls", so named because sheets of parchment were fastened at the top, each of which dropped into a roll at the bottom and so assumed the shape of a pipe.
The county and hundred courts assessed the personal property of individuals and their taxes due to the King. The county court decided land disputes between people who had different barons as their respective lords.
The free landholders were expected to attend county, hundred, and manor courts. They owed "suit" to it. The suitors found the dooms [laws] by which the presiding officer pronounced the sentence.
The county courts heard cases of theft, brawling, beating, and wounding, for which the penalties could be exposure in the pillory or stocks. The pillory held an offender's head and hands in holes in boards, and the stocks held one's hands and feet. Here the public could scorn and hit the offender or throw fruit, mud, and dead cats at him. For sex offenders and informers, stones were usually thrown. Sometimes a person was stoned to death. Damages in money replaced the old bots. The county courts met twice yearly. If an accused failed to appear after four successive county courts, he was declared outlaw at the fifth and forfeited his civil rights and all his property. He could be slain by anyone at will.
The hundred court met once a month to hear neighborhood disputes, for instance concerning pastures, meadows and harvests. Usually present was a priest, the reeve, four representative men, and sometimes the lord or his steward in his place. Sometimes the chief pledges were present to represent all the men in their respective frankpledges. The bailiff presided over all these sessions except two, in which the sheriff presided over the full hundred court to take the view of frankpledge, which was required for those who did not have a lord to answer for him.
The barons held court on their manors at a "hallmote" for issues arising between people living on the manor, such as bad ploughing on the lord's land or letting a cow get loose on the lord's land, and land disputes. This court also made the decision of whether a certain person was a villein or freeman. The manor court took over issues which had once been heard in the vill or hundred court. The baron charged a fee for hearing a case and received any fines he imposed, which amounted to significant "profits of justice".
Boroughs held court on trading and marketing issues in their towns such as measures and weights, as well as issues between people who lived in the borough. The borough court was presided over by a reeve who was a burgess as well as a royal official.
Wealthy men could employ professional pleader-attorneys to advise them and to speak for them in a court.
The ecclesiastical courts, until the time when Henry VIII took over the church, dealt with family matters such as marriage, annulments, marriage portions and settlements of money or goods, legitimacy, undue wifebeating, child abuse, orphans, bigamy, adultery, incest, fornication, and separations between husband and wife. There were no divorces. They also dealt during this time with drunkenness, personal possessions, defamation, slander which did not cause material loss (and therefore had no remedy in the temporal courts), libel, perjury, usury, mortuaries [the second best beast or fees at death], sacrilege, sorcery, witchcraft, blasphemy [speaking ill of God], heresy [a belief by a baptized person that is knowingly contrary to the doctrine of the church], tithe payments, oblations for performing the Eucharist including expenses for the bread and wine, church fees such as for the clergy and the poor, simony [buying or selling ecclesiastical preferment or pardons], pensions, certain offenses on consecrated ground, and breaches of promises under oath, e.g. to pay a debt, provide services, or deliver goods.
They decided inheritance and will issues which did not concern land, but only personal property. This developed from the practice of a priest usually hearing a dying person's will as to the disposition of his goods and chattel when he made his last confession. So the church court came to determine the validity of wills, interpret them, regulate their created testamentary executors, and determine the legatees. It also came to determine intestate matters. It provided guardianship of infants during probate of their personal property. Trial was first by compurgation, with oath-helpers swearing to or against the veracity of the alleged offender's oath.
The ecclesiastical court's penalties were intended to reform and determined on a case-by-case basis. The canon law of Christendom was followed, without much change by the English church or nation. A penitent who was sincerely contrite was first expected to confess his sin to a priest, who gave him God's forgiveness. This removed the guilt of the sin and eternal punishment in hell. But then justice required a "satisfaction", which could be met in this world or in the next. Accordingly, the priest or ecclesiastical court then imposed a "penance", i.e. some act of a religious nature. Penance could include confession and public repentance of the sin before the parish, making apologies and reparation to persons affected, public embarrassment such as being dunked in water (e.g. for women scolds), walking a route barefoot and clad only in one's underwear, whippings, extra work, fasting, vigils, prayers for help to live righteously, reading, meditation, solitary life, a diet of bread and water for a specified time, fines, gifts to the church, alms to the poor, various kinds of good deeds, and imprisonment in a "penitentiary". For more serious sins, there could be a long fast, a diet of bread and water for a number of years, or a distant pilgrimage, for instance to Rome or Jerusalem. For those whose penance was incomplete at the time of their death, there was a temporary state of purgatory wherein some sort of suffering fulflled the remaining debt. Souls in purgatory could be aided by the prayers of the faithful on earth. The truly penitent could hope for the remission of all or part of their purgation by obtaining an indulgence from a higher authority than the priest.
The ultimate penalty of the church was excommunication, a social ostracism in which no one could give the person drink, food, or shelter and he could speak only to his spouse and servants. Excommunication included denial of the sacraments of baptism, penance, mass [lord's supper}, and extreme unction [prayers for spiritual healing] at death; which were necessary for salvation of the soul; and the sacrament of confirmation. A person could also be denied a Christian burial in consecrated ground. However, the person could still marry and make a will. The purpose of excommunication was to restore the person to spiritual health rather than to punish him. Excommunication was usually imposed for failure to obey an order or for showing contempt of the law or of the courts. It required a hearing and a written reason. The king's court could order a recalcitrant excommunicant imprisoned until he satisfied the claims of the church. If this measure failed, it was possible to turn the offender over to the state for punishment, e.g. for blasphemy or heresy. Blasphemy was thought to cause God's wrath expressed in famine, pestilence, and earthquake and was usually punished by a fine or corporal punishment, e.g. perforation or amputation of the tongue. It was tacitly understood that the punishment for heresy was death by burning. There were no heresy cases up to 1400 and few after that. The state usually assured itself the sentence was just before imposing it. The court of the rural dean was the ecclesiastical parallel of the hundred court of secular jurisdiction and usually had the same land boundaries. The archdeacons, who had been ministers of the bishop in all parts of his diocese alike, were now each assigned to one district, which usually had the same boundaries as the county. Each bishop headed a diocese. Over the bishops were the two Archbishops of Canterbury and of York.
The ecclesiastical court had one judge and no jury. Most cases dealt with offenses against the church, such as working on Sunday, and sexual mores. The court used teatimony and depositions of witnesses, oaths of the parties, confessions, physical and written evidence, presumptions of common knowledge, and inquests of impartial, sworn men who made unanimous determinations. The accuser had to meet the burden of proof. The accused could be required to answer questions under oath, thus giving evidence against himself. It was not necessary to have an accuser; a judge could open a case based on public rumor. The judge made a written decision that did not incude his reasoning. He read the decision aloud in a public session of the court. If an accused disobeyed a court order to appear or to do penance, he could be excommunicated.
Common law held that ecclesiastical courts could not give money damages. But costs were paid by the loser and included expenses of producing witnesses, writing of documents, and fees of lawyers. An appeal could be made from the archdeacon to the bishop to the metropolitan to the Pope. Henry acknowledged occasional appellate authority of the pope, but expected his clergy to elect bishops of his choice.
There was a separate judicial system for the laws of the forest. There were itinerant justices of the forests and four verderers of each forest county, who were elected by the votes of the full county court, twelve knights appointed to keep vert [everything bearing green leaves] and venison, and foresters of the king and of the lords who had lands within the limits of the forests. Every three years, the officers visited the forests in preparation for the courts of the forest held by the itinerant justices. The inferior courts were the woodmote, held every forty days, and the swein [freeman or freeholder within the forest] mote, held three times yearly before the verderers as justices, in which all who were obliged to attend as suitors of the county court to serve on juries and inquests were to be present.
In this lawsuit, King Henry I decided that since the abbots and monks of Battle had proved before him that certain lands, belonging to the manor of Alciston, are no possession of theirs, so they are to be quit of the services due there: " Henry, king of the English, to Ralph, bishop of Chichester, and all his ministers of Sussex, greeting. Know that as the abbot of Battle and the monks deraigned [proved] before me that they do not have those lands which you said they had, namely, Ovington, Coding ( in Hove), Batsford (in Warbleton), Daningawurde, Shuyswell ( in Etchingham), Boarzell ( in Ticehurst), Winenham, Wertesce, Brembreshoc and Seuredeswelle, which of old belonged to Alciston and contain seven hides of land of the fifty hides in Alciston and its appurtenances, I order that they shall be free and quit on this account and that none shall molest them any further, but concerning these lands and these hides they shall be completely free and quit as concerning lands which they do not have and of which they are not seised. I also order by royal authority that their manor called Alciston, which my father gave to the church of Battle with other lands for his soul, shall be so free and quit of shires and hundreds and all customs of land-service as my father himself held it most freely and quietly, and namely concerning the work on London Bridge and on the castle of Pevensey. This I command upon my forfeiture. Witness: William de Pont de l'Arche. At Westbourne.
In this lawsuit, King Henry I ordered a bishop and sheriff to put another bishop in possession of certain churches according to the verdict of twelve men: " Henry, by God's grace, etc. to H(erbert), bishop of Norwich, and Robert the sheriff, greeting. I order that you let Richard, bishop of London, have the churches of Blythburgh and Stowe with all the customs that belong to them as twelve among the better men of the hundred will be able to swear and as I ordered in my other writ. And let this not be left undone because of my voyage to Normandy, and let him hold them in peace and honour with suit, soke, toll and team and infangthief and with all other customs, as ever any of my predecessors most honourably and most quietly held them. Witness, etc."
In this lawsuit, King Henry I grants that an abbot should continue to have his mint after his moneyer suffered punishment like all the others in England: "Henry, king of the English, to Everard bishop of Norwich, Robert fitz Walter and all his barons and lieges, French and English, of Suffolk, greeting. I grant that, justice having been done to his moneyer as was done to the other moneyers of England, the abbot of St. Edmunds shall have in the vill of St. Edmunds his mint, moneyer and exchange as he used to have it before. Witnesses: (John), bishop of Lisieux, (Bernard), bishop of St. David's and Robert de Sigillo, At Rouen."
In this lawsuit, King Henry I held proven the ownership of certain wood and land: "Henry, king of the English, to the bishop of Lincoln and the sheriff and the barons and faithful, French and English, of Bedfordshire, greeting. Know that Abbot Reginald of Ramsey has deraigned in my court to the advantage of the church of Ramsey the wood of Crawley and the land pertaining to it against Simon de Beauchamp, about which they were in dispute, and the aforesaid abbot gave to Simon 20 marks of silver and two palfreys [riding horses] so that Simon granted them to him out of goodwill and gave up his claim. And I will and firmly order that the aforesaid church of Ramsey shall hold that wood and the aforesaid land belonging to the wood well and in peace, honourably and by perpetual right. Witnesses: bishop Roger of Salisbury and bishop Alexander of Lincoln, King David of Scotland, Geoffrey the chancellor, Earl Robert of Leicester, Adam de Port, Hugh Bigod, William d'Aubigny the butler, Geoffrey de Clinton, William of d'Aubigny Brito."
Chapter 6
The Times: 1154-1215
King Henry II and Queen Eleanor, who was twelve years older, were both intelligent, educated, energetic, well-traveled, and experienced in affairs of state. Henry was the first Norman king to be fully literate and he learned Latin. He had many books and maintained a school. Eleanor often served as regent during Henry's reign and the reigns of their two sons: Richard I, the Lion- Hearted, and John. She herself headed armies. Henry II was a modest, courteous, and patient man with an astonishing memory and strong personality. He was indifferent to rank and impatient of pomp to the point of being careless about his appearance. He usually dressed in riding clothes and was often unkempt. He was thrifty, but generous to the poor. He was an outstanding legislator and administrator.
Henry II took the same coronation oath as Edward the Confessor regarding the church, laws, and justice. Not only did he confirm the charter of his grandfather Henry I, but he revived and augmented the laws and institutions of his grandfather and developed them to a new perfection. Almost all legal and fiscal institutions appear in their first effective form during his reign. For instance, he institutionalized the assize for a specific function in judicial proceedings, whereas before it had been an ad hoc body used for various purposes. The term "assize" here means the sitting of a court or council. It came to denote the decisions, enactments, or instructions made at such.
Henry's government practiced a strict economy and he never exploited the growing wealth of the nation. He abhorred bloodshed and the sacrifice of men's lives. So he strove diligently to keep the peace, when possible by gifts of money, but otherwise with armed force. Robbers were hanged and any man who raped a woman was castrated. Foreign merchants with precious goods could journey safely through the land from fair to fair. These fairs were usually held in the early fall, after harvesting and sheep shearing. Foreign merchants bought wool cloth and hides. Frankpledge was revived, now applying to the unfree and villeins. No stranger could stay overnight (except for one night in a borough), unless sureties were given for his good behavior. A list of such strangers was to be given to itinerant justices.
Henry had character and the foresight to build up a centralized system of government that would survive him. He learned about the counties' and villages' varying laws and customs. Then, using the model of Roman law, he gave to English institutions that unity and system which in their casual patchwork development had been lacking. Henry's government and courts forged permanent direct links between the king and his subjects which cut through the feudal structure of lords and vassals.
He developed the methods and structure of government so that there was a great increase in the scope of administrative activity without a concurrent increase of personal power of the officials who discharged it. The government was self-regulating, with methods of accounting and control which meant that no official, however exalted, could entirely escape the surveillance of his colleagues and the King. At the same time, administrative and judicial procedures were perfected so that much which had previously required the King's personal attention was reduced to routine.
The royal household translated the royal will into action. In the early 1100s, there had been very little machinery of central government that was not closely associated with the royal household. There was a Chief Justiciar for legal matters and a Treasurer. Royal government was largely built upon what had once been purely domestic offices. Kings had called upon their chaplains to pen letters for them. By Henry II's reign, the Chancery was a highly efficient writing office through which the King's will was expressed in a flow of writs, and the Chancellor an important and highly rewarded official, but he was still responsible for organizing the services in the royal chapel. Similarly, the chamberlains ran the household's financial departments. They arranged to have money brought in from a convenient castle treasury, collected money from sheriffs or the King's debtors, arranged loans with the usurers, and supervised the spending of it. It was spent for daily domestic needs, the King's almsgiving, and the mounting of a military campaign. But they were still responsible for personal attendance upon the king in his privy chamber, taking care of his valuable furs, jewels, and documents, and changing his bed linens. There were four other departments of the household. The steward presided over the hall and kitchens and was responsible for supplying the household and guests with food supplies. The butler had duties in the hall and cellars and was responsible for the supply of wine and ale. The marshall arranged lodgings for the King's court as it moved about from palaces to hunting lodges, arranged the pay of the household servants, and supervised the work of ushers, watchmen, fire tenders, messengers and huntsmen. The constable organized the bodyguard and escorts, arranged for the supply of castles, and mustered the royal army. The offices of steward, constable, chamberlain, butler were becoming confined to the household and hereditary. The Justiciar, Chancellor, and Treasurer are becoming purely state offices. They were simply sold or rented, until public pressure resulted in a requirement of ability.
Henry's council included all his tenants-in-chief, which included archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, knights and socage tenants of the crown, whether they made payments directly to him or through a sheriff. The higher ones were served with a writ addressed to them personally. Knights and below were summoned by a general writ to the sheriff.
Henry brought order and unity by making the King's Royal Court the common court of the land. Its purpose was to guard the King's peace by protecting all people of free status throughout the nation and correct the disparity in punishments given by local courts. The doctrine of felony developed, with punishment by death relacing the old wites. Heretofore, the scope of the King's peace had varied to cover as little as the King's presence, his land, and his highway. The royal demesne had shrunk to about 5% of the land. The Common Law for all the nation was established by example of the King's Royal Court. Henry erected a basic, rational framework for legal processes which drew from tradition but lent itself to continuous expansion and adaptation.
A system of writs originated well-defined actions in the royal courts. Each court writ had to satisfy specific conditions for this court to have jurisdiction over an action or event. This system determined the Royal Court's jurisdiction over the church, lords, and sheriffs. It limited the jurisdiction of all other courts and subordinated them to the Royal Court. Inquests into any misdeeds of sheriffs were held, which could result in their dismissal.
Henry and Eleanor spoke many languages and liked discussing law, philosophy, and history. So they gathered wise and learned men about them, who became known as courtiers, rather than people of social rank. They lived in the great and strong Tower of London, which had been extended beyond the original White Tower, as had other castles, so that the whole castle and grounds were defended instead of just the main building. The Tower of London was in the custody of one of the two justiciars. On the west were two strongly fortified castles surrounded by a high and deeply entrenched wall, which had seven double gates. Towers were spaced along the north wall and the Thames River flowed below the south wall. To the west was the city, where royal friends had residences with adjoining gardens near the royal palace at Westminster. The court was a center of culture as well as of government. The game of backgammon was played. People wore belts with buckles, usually brass, instead of knotting their belts.
London extended about a mile along the Thames and about half a mile inland. It had narrow twisting lanes, some with a ditch down the middle for water runoff. Most of its houses were two stories, the ground floor having booths and workshops, and the upper floor living space. Most of the houses were wooden structures. The richer merchants' and knights' houses were built of stone. Walls between houses had to be stone to a height of 16 feet and thatched roofs were banned because there had been many fires. There was poor compliance, but some roofs were tiled with red brick tiles. The population was about 40,000. There were over 126 churches for public worship, thirteen monasteries (including nunneries), and St. Paul's Cathedral. All were built of stone. The churches gave a place of worship for every 300 inhabitants and celebrated feast days, gave alms and hospitality to strangers, confirmed betrothals or agreements of marriage, celebrated weddings, conducted funerals, and buried the dead. The synod of Westminster of 1175 prescribed that all marriages were to be performed by the church. A bare exchange of words was sufficient to constitute a marriage. Church law required a warning prior to suspension or excommunication. Monastic, cathedral, and parish schools taught young boys grammar so they could sing and read in church services. Nuns taught girls. Fish but no meat was eaten on Fridays. There was dark rye bread and expensive white wheat bread. Vegetables included onions, leeks, and cabbage. Fruits included apples, pears, plums, cherries, and strawberries. Water was obtained from streams running through the town to the Thames and from springs. Only the rich, palaces, and churches could afford beeswax candles; others had homemade tallow [cow or sheep fat] candles which smelled and gave off smoke. Most people washed their bodies. Even the poor had beds and bed clothes. The beds were often shared. Few babies survived childhood. If a man reached 30, he could expect to live until age 50. Thousands of Londoners died during a hot summer from fevers, plague and the like.
In London, bells heralded the start and finish of all organized business. The sellers of merchandise and hirers of labor were distributed every morning into their several localities according to their trade. Vendors, craftsmen, and laborers had their customary places. Some vendors walked the streets announcing their wares for sale. There were craft guilds of bakers, butchers, cloth workers, and saddlers, as well as of weavers. Vendors on the Thames River bank sold cooked fish caught from the river and wine from ships and wine cellars. Cook shops sold roasted meats covered with hotly spiced sauces.
London Bridge was built of stone for the first time. It was supported by a series of stone arches standing on small man-made islands. It had such a width that a row of wood houses and a chapel was built on top of it. In the spring it was impassable by ships because the flow of water under it varied in height on either side of the bridge by several feet at half tide. The bridge had the effect of slowing down the flow upstream, which invited wherries and rowboats and stately barges of the nobility. In winters in which it froze over, there was ice skating, ice boating, and fishing through holes in the ice.
Outside each city gate were clusters of ragged buildings, small monasteries and hostelries, groups of huntsmen's kennels, and fencing schools. Outside one of the gates, a horse market was held every week. Horses wore horseshoes made of iron or of a crude steel. From the southwest gate of the city along the north river bank toward Westminster, there was a gradually extending line of rich men's mansions and bishops' palaces. On the southern bank of the Thames River was growing the disorderly suburb of Southwark, with fishermen's and boatmens' hovels, and taverns and brothels that were frequented by drunkards, rakes, and whores. On the north side of the city was a great forest with fields and wells where students and other young men from the city took walks in the fresh evening air. In some fields, country folk sold pigs, cows, oxen and sheep. Mill wheels turned at various streams. Near London in the country was a glass factory. At sunset, the gates of London were closed for the night. All taverns had to be closed, all lights put out, and all fires banked or covered when the bell of the church of St. Martin le Grand rang at 9:00 p.m. Anyone found on the streets after this curfew could be arrested. Gangs of young nobles or gangs of thieves, cutpurses, and looters roamed the streets after dark and sometimes rioted. Offenders were often beheaded and their heads placed on spikes on London Bridge.
Men in London had begun weaving cloth, which formerly had been done by women. Some of the cloth was exported. The weavers guild of London received a charter by the King in 1155, the first granted to any London craft: "Know that I have conceded to the Weavers of London to hold their guild in London with all the liberties and customs which they had in the time of King Henry [I], my grandfather; and that none may intermeddle with the craft within the city, nor in Southwark, nor in other places pertaining to London except through them and except he be in their guild, otherwise than was accustomed to be done in the time of King Henry, my grandfather …So that each year they render thence to me two marks of gold at the feast of St. Michael. And I forbid that any shall do injury or contumely to them on this account under penalty of 10 pounds [200s.]. Witness T[homas], Chancellor, and Warinus, son of Gerard, Chamberlain, at Winchester." The liberties obtained were: 1) The weavers may elect bailiffs to supervise the work of the craft, to punish defaulters, and to collect the ferm [amount owed to the King]. The bailiffs were chosen from year to year and swore before the mayor of London to do and keep their office well and truly. 2) The bailiffs may hold court from week to week on pleas of debt, agreements, covenants [promises for certain performance], and minor trespasses. 3) If any of the guild members are sued in any other court on any of the above pleas, the guild may challenge that plea to bring it to the guild court. 4) If any member is behind in his share of the payment to the King, the bailiffs may distrain his loom until he has paid this.
The weavers' guild punished members who used bad thread in their weaving or did defective weaving by showing the default to the mayor, with opportunity for the workman to make entreaty, and the mayor and twelve members of the guild then made a verdict of amercement of 1/2 mark and the workman of the cloth was also punished by the guild bailiffs according to guild custom.The weavers' guild tradition of brotherliness among members meant that injury to a fellow weaver incurred a severe penalty. If a weaver stole or eloigned [removed them to a distance where they were unreachable] any other weaver's goods falsely and maliciously, then he was dismissed from the guild and his loom was taken by the guild to fulfill his portion of the annual payment to the King. The weavers were allowed to buy and to sell in London freely and quietly. They had all the rights of other freemen of the city.
Paying an annual payment freed the weavers from liability to inconsequent royal fines. Failure to make this payment promptly might have led to loss of the right, hence the rigorous penalty of distraint upon the looms of individual weavers who fell into arrears.
Thus from the middle of the 1100s, the weavers enjoyed the monopoly of their craft, rights of supervision which ensured a high standard of workmanship, power to punish infractions of their privileges, and full control of their members. In this they stand as the prototype of English medieval guilds. These rights represented the standard which all bodies of craftsmen desired to attain. The right of independent jurisdiction was exceptional.
In Henry II's charter to London, London did not retain its right to appoint its own sheriff and justice given by Henry I. London's chief magistrate was the mayor, who was appointed by the King, until 1191. Then the mayor was elected yearly by the aldermen of the city wards and approved by the king. He was typically a rich prince chosen by the barons and chief merchants of London. The commoners had no voice in his selection, but they could still approve or disapprove of the actions of the city government at ward and folk motes. At certain periods, a king asserted royal power over the selection of mayor and governance of the city. There were three ways to become a citizen of London: being the son of a citizen, apprenticeship in a craft for seven years, and purchase of citizenship. London and Westminster growth led to their replacing Winchester as the capital.
St. Barthomew infirmary was established in London for the care of sick pilgrims traveling to the shrine of Becket in Canterbury. It had been inspired by a monk who saw a vision of St. Barthomew telling him to build a church and an infirmary.
Trading was facilitated by the stabilization of the amount of silver metallic content of the English coinage, which was called "sterling" [strong] silver. The compass, a magnetic lodestone [leading stone] needle mounted on a cork and floated in a bowl of water, assisted the navigation of ships. With it, one could tell the general direction of a ship when the skies were cloudy as well as clear. And one could generally track one's route by using the direction and speed of travel to calculate one's new position. London became a major trading center for foreign goods from many lands.
About 5% of the knights were literate. Wealthy men sent their sons to school in monasteries to prepare them for a livelihood in a profession or in trade or to the town of Oxford, whose individual scholars had migrated from Paris and had attracted disciples for a long time. These schools grew up around St. Mary's Church, but had not been started by the church as there was no cathedral school in Oxford. Oxford had started as a burh and had a royal residence and many tradesmen. It was given its basic charter in 1155 by the King. This confirmed to it all the customs, laws and liberties [rights] as those enjoyed by London. It became a model charter for other towns.
Bachelors at Oxford studied the arts of grammar, rhetoric, and logic, and then music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy, until they mastered their discipline and therefore were authorized to teach it. Teaching would then provide an income sufficient to support a wife. The master of arts was analogous to the master craftsman of a guild. From 1190, the civil law was studied, and shortly thereafter, canon law. Later came the study of medicine. The use of paper supplemented the use of parchment for writing. Irregular edged paper was made from linen, cotton, straw, and/or wood beaten to a pulp and then spread out over a wire mesh to dry.
Theologicians taught that the universe was made for the sake and service of man, so man was placed at the center of the universe. Man was made for the sake and service of God.
Every freeman holding land of a lord gave homage and fealty to him, swearing to bear him faith of the tenement held and to preserve his earthly honor in all things, saving the faith owed to the king. Homage was done for lands, for free tenements [including meadows, pastures, woods, and wastes], for services, and for rents precisely fixed in money or in kind. Homage could be done to any free person, male or female, adult or minor, cleric or layman. A man could do several homages to different lords for different fees, but there had to be a chief homage to that lord of whom he held his chief tenement. Homage was not due for dower, from the husband of a woman to whom a tenement was given as a marriage portion, for a fee given in free alms, or until the third heir, either for free maritagium [a marriage portion of land which is given with a daughter in marriage, that is not bound to service and passes to the daughter's heirs in whatever way had been stipulated by her family when the grant was made] or for the fee of younger sisters holding of the eldest. All fiefs to be inherited by the eldest son had to be intact. Every lord could exact fealty from his servants.
In this era, the English national race and character was formed. Only a few barons still had lands in Normandy. Stories of good King Arthur were popular and set ideals for behavior and justice in an otherwise barbaric age where force was supreme. His last battle in which he lay wounded and told a kinsman to rule in his place and uphold his laws was written in poem ("Layamon's Brut"). Romantic stories were written and read in English. The custom of "bundling" was started by ladies with their knights, who would lie together in bed without undressing and with one in a sack the top of which was tied around his neck, as part of a romantic courtship. Wealthy men often gave their daughters dowries in case they were widowed. This might be matched by a marriage settlement by a prospective husband.
Intermarriage had destroyed any distinction of Normans by look or speech alone, except for the Anglo-Saxon manor villeins, who worked the farm land and composed about two-thirds of the population. Villeins were bound to the land and could, on flight, be brought back to it. They could not give homage, but could give fealty. A villein had the equipment to farm, fish, make cheese, keep poultry, brew beer, hedge, and cut wood. Although the villeins could not buy their freedom or be freed by their lord, they became less numerous because of the preference of landholders for tenants motivated to perform work by potential loss of tenure. Also, the Crown's protection of all its subjects in criminal matters blurred the distinction between free and unfree men.
The boroughs were dominated by lords of local manors, who usually had a house in the borough. Similarly, burgesses usually had farmland outside the borough. Many boroughs were granted, by the king or manor lord, the right to have a common seal for the common business of the town. Some boroughs were given the authority to confer freedom on the villein by enrolling him in their guild or allowing him to stay in the borough for a year and a day. The guilds met frequently in their drinking halls and drew up regulations for the management of their trade. Each borough was represented by twelve reputable burgesses. Each vill was represented by a reeve and four reputable men. Certain towns sponsored great seasonal fairs for special goods, such as cloth. About 5% of the population lived in towns.
In the early 1180s, the horizontal-axle windmill was invented, probably in eastern England, on the analogy of the horizontal-axle watermill. It was very useful in flat areas where streams were too slow for a watermill unless a dam were built. But a dam often flooded agricultural land. Some watermill wheels were moved by tidal currents.
London guilds of craftsmen such as weavers, fullers, bakers, loriners (makers of bits, spurs, and metal mountings of bridles and saddles), cordwainers (makers of leather goods such as shoes), pepperers, and goldsmiths were licensed by the King, for which they paid him a yearly fee. There were also five Bridge Guilds (probably raising money for the future construction of London Bridge in stone) and St. Lazarus' Guild. The wealthy guilds, which included the goldsmiths, the pepperers, and three bridge guilds had landholding members who had been thegns or knights and now became a class of royal officials: the King's minters, his chamberlain, his takers of wines, his collectors of taxes. The weavers of Oxford paid 27s. [two marks] to have a guild. The shoemakers paid 67s. [five marks].
In 1212, master carpenters, masons, and tilers made 3d. per day, their servers (the journeymen of a later time) made 1 1/2 d., free stone carvers 2 1/2 d., plasterers and daubers, diggers and sievers less. All received food in addition or 1 1/2 d. in its stead.
Sandwich was confirmed in its port rights by this charter: "Henry II to his sheriff and bailiffs of Kent, greeting. I will and order that the monks of the Holy Trinity of Canterbury shall have fully all those liberties and customs in Sandwich which they had in the time of King Henry my grandfather, as it was adjudged in pursuance of his command by the oath of twelve men of Dover and twelve men of Sandwich, to wit, that the aforesaid monks ought to have the port and the toll and all maritime customs in the same port, on either side of the water from Eadburge gate as far as markesfliete and a ferryboat for passage. And no man has there any right except they and their ministers. Wherefore I will and firmly command you and the men of Sandwich that ye cause the aforesaid monks to have all their customs both in the port and in the town of Sandwich, and I forbid any from vexing them on this account.And they shall have my firm peace."