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
Men continued to give land to the church for their souls, such
as this grant which started the town of Sandwich: "William, King of the
English, to Lanfranc the Archbishop and Hugoni de Montfort and Richard
son of Earl Gilbert and Haimo the sheriff and all the thegns of Kent,
French and English, greeting. Know ye that the Bishop of Bayeux my
brother for the love of God and for the salvation of my soul and his
own, has given to St. Trinity all houses with their appurtenances which
he has at Sandwich and that he has given what he has given by my
license." Many private owners of churches gave them to cathedrals or
monastic communities, partly to ensure their long term survival, and
partly because of church pressure.
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.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account