Papers on aspects of the growth of royal government during the century.
The size and jurisdiction of English royal government underwent sustained development in the thirteenth century, an understanding of which is crucial to a balanced view of medieval English society. The papers here follow three central themes: the development of central government, law and justice, and the crown and the localities. Examined within this framework are bureaucracy and enrolment under John and his contemporaries; the Royal Chancery; the adaptation of the Exchequer in response to the rapidly changing demands of the crown; the introduction of a licensing system for mortmain alienations; the administration of local justice; women as sheriffs; and a Nottinghamshire study examining the tensions between the role of the king as manorial lord and as monarch.
Contributors: NICK BARRATT, PAUL R. BRAND, DAVID CARPENTER, DAVID CROOK, ANTHONY MUSSON, NICHOLAS C. VINCENT, LOUISE WILKINSON
Table of Content
Why 1199? Bureaucracy and Enrolment under John and his Contemporaries – Nicholas C. Vincent
The English Royal Chancery in the Thirteenth Century – David Carpenter
Finance on a shoestring: The Exchequer in the Thirteenth Century – Nick Barratt
The Local Administration of Justice: A reappraisal of the ‘Four Knights’ System – Anthony Musson
The Mortmain Licensing System, 1280-1307 – Paul A Brand
Women as Sheriffs in Early Thirteenth Century England – Louise J. Wilkinson
King and Lord: The Monarch and his demesne tenants in central Nottinghamshire, 1163-1363 – David Crook
About the author
NICHOLAS VINCENT is Professor of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia and a Fellow of the British Academy