Our Legal Heritage, King AEthelbert, 596 to King George III, 1775Reilly, S. A.
History
Our Legal Heritage, King AEthelbert, 596 to King George III, 1775
Reilly, S. A.
Law -- England -- History
When the land was all divided out, the barons had about 3/7 of it
and the church about 2/7. Most of the barons had been royal
servants. The king retained about 2/7, including forests for
hunting, for himself and his family and household, on which he
built many royal castles and hundreds of manor [large private
estate headed by a lord] houses throughout the nation. He built
the massive White Tower in London. It was tall with four turrets
on top, and commanded a view of the river and bridge, the city and
the surrounding countryside. The only windows were slits from
which arrows could be shot. On the fourth and top floor was the
council chamber and the gallery of the chapel. On the third floor
was the banqueting hall, the sword room, and the chapel. The king
and his household slept in apartments on these upper floors.
Stairs went up to the gateway entrance on the second floor, which
were hidden by a wall. The garrison's barracks were on the first
floor (ground floor). Any prisoners were kept in cells at a level
below the first floor. The other castles were often built at the
old fortification burhs of Alfred. Each had a constable in charge,
who was a baron. Barons and earls had castle-guard duty in the
king's castles. The Conquerer was constantly moving about the land
among his and his barons' castles, where he met with his magnates
and conducted public business, such as deciding disputes about
holding of land. Near his own castles and other of his property,
he designated many areas as royal hunting forests. Anyone who
killed a deer in these forests was mutilated, for instance by
blinding. People living within the boundaries of the designated
forestland could no longer go into nearby woods to get meat or
honey, dead wood for firing, or live wood for building. Swineherds
could no longer drive pigs into these woods to eat acorns they
beat down from oak trees. Making clearings and grazing livestock
in the designated forestland were prohibited. Most of the nation
was either wooded or bog at this time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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