Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776Reilly, S. A.
History
Our Legal Heritage: King AEthelbert - King George III, 600 A.D. - 1776
Reilly, S. A.
Law -- England -- History
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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