Our Legal Heritage Part 14

The essence of Norman feudalism was that the land remained under the lord, whatever the va.s.sal might do. The lord had the duty to defend the va.s.sals on his land. The va.s.sal owed military service to the lord and also the service of attending the courts of the hundred and the county [formerly "s.h.i.+re"], which were courts of the King, administering old customary law. They were the King's courts on the principle that a crime anywhere was a breach of the King's peace. The King's peace that had covered his residence and household had extended to places where he might travel, such as highways, rivers, bridges, churches, monasteries, markets, and towns, and then encompa.s.sed every place, replacing the general public peace. Infraction of the King's peace incurred fines to the King.

This feudal bond based on occupancy of land rather than on personal ties was uniform throughout the realm. No longer could a man choose his lord and transfer his land with him to a new lord. He held his land at the will of his lord, to be terminated anytime the lord decided to do so. A tenant could not alienate his land without permission of his lord.

In later eras, tenancies would be held for the life of the tenant, and even later, for his life and those of his heirs.

This uniformity of land organization plus the new requirement that every freeman take an oath of loyalty directly to the king to a.s.sist him in preserving his lands and honor and defending him against his enemies, which oath would supersede any oath to any other man, gave the nation a new unity. The king could call men directly to the fyrd, summon them to his court, and tax them without intervention of their lords. And the people learned to look to the king for protection from abuse by their lords.

English villani, bordarii, cottarii, and servi on the land of the barons were subjugated into a condition of "villeinage" servitude and became "tied to the land" so that they could not leave the land without their lord's permission, except to go on a pilgrimage. The villeins formed a new bottom cla.s.s as the population's percentage of slaves declined dramatically. They held their land of their lord, the baron. To guard against uprisings of the conquered people, the barons used villein labor to build about a hundred great stone castles, with moats and walls with towers around them, at easily defensible positions such as hilltops all over the nation.

A castle could be built only with permission of the King. A typical castle had a stone building of about four floors [a keep] on a small, steep hill. Later it also had an open area surrounded by a stone curtain-wall with towers at the corners. Around the outside of the wall were ditches and banks and perhaps a moat. One traveled over these via a drawbridge let down at the gatehouse of the enclosing wall. On either side of the gatehouse were chambers for the guards. Arrows could be shot through slits in the enclosing walls. Inside the enclosed area might be stables, a granary, barracks for the soldiers, and workshops. The only winter feed was hay, for which the horses, breeding animals, milkcow, and workoxen had a priority over other animals. The bulk of the cattle were usually slaughtered and salted.

The castle building typically was entered by an outer wood staircase to the guard room on the second floor. The first [ground] floor had a well and was used as a storehouse and/or dungeons for prisoners. The second floor had a two-storied great hall, with small rooms and aisles around it within the thick walls. There was also a chapel area on the second floor. There were small areas of the third floor which could be used for sleeping. The floors were wood and were reached by a spiral stone staircase in one corner of the building. Sometimes there was a reservoir of water on an upper level with pipes carrying the water to floors below. Each floor had a fireplace with a slanted flue going through the wall to the outside. There were latrines in the corner walls with a pit or shaft down the exterior of the wall, sometimes to the moat. Furs and wool clothes were hung on the walls there in the summer to deter the moths. The first floor had only arrow slits in the walls, but the higher floors had small windows.

Some curtain-wall castles did not have a central building. In these, the hall was built along the inside of the walls, as were other continuous buildings. The kitchens and chapels were in the towers.

Lodgings were in buildings along the curtain-walls, or on several floors of the towers.

The great hall was the main room of the castle. The hall was used for meals and meetings at which the lord received homages, recovered fees, and held the view of frankpledge [free pledge in Latin], in which freemen agreed to be sureties for each other. At the main table, the lord and his lady sat on benches with backs or chairs. The table was covered first with a wool cloth that reached to the floor, and then by a smaller white linen cloth. Everyone else sat on benches at trestle tables, which consisted of planks on trestles and could be dismantled, e.g. at night. Over the main door were the family arms. On the walls were swords ready for instant use. On the upper parts of the walls could be fox skins and perhaps a polecat skin, and keepers' and huntsmen's poles. There were often hawk perches overhead. At the midday dinner, courses were ceremonially brought in to music, and ritual bows were made to the lord. The food at the head table was often tasted first by a servant as a precaution against poison. Hounds, spaniels, and terriers lay near the hearth and cats, often with litters, nestled nearby. They might share in dinner, but the lord may keep a short stick near him to defend morsels he meant for himself. Hunting, dove cotes, and carp pools provided fresh meat. Fish was compulsory eating on Fridays, on fast days, and during Lent. Cooking was done outside on an open fire, roasting on spits and boiling in pots. Some spits were mechanized with a cogged wheel and a weight at the end of a string. Other spits were turned by a long handle, or a small boy s.h.i.+elded from the heat by a wet blanket, or by dogs on a treadmill. Underneath the spit was a dripping pan to hold the falling juices and fat. Mutton fat was used for candles.

Bread, pies, and pastry dishes were baked in an oven: a hole in a fireproof stone wall fitted with an iron door, in which wood was first burnt to heat the oven walls. It could also be used for drying fruit or melting tallow. Fruits were also preserved in honey. Salt was stored in a niche in the wall near the hearth and put on the table in a salt cellar which became more elaborate over the years. Salt was very valuable and gave rise to the praise of a man as the salt of the earth.

Costly imported spices such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, pepper, and a small quant.i.ty of sugar were kept in chests. Pepper was always on the table to disguise the taste of tainted meat. Spices were tried for medicinal use. Drinks included wine, ale, cider from apples, perry from pears, and mead. People carried and used their own knives. There were no forks. Spoons were of silver or wood. People also ate with their fingers and washed their hands before and after meals. It was impolite to dig into the salt bowl with a knife not previously wiped on bread or napkin, which was linen. It was unmannerly to wipe one's knife or one's greasy fingers on the tablecloth or, to use the tablecloth to blow one's nose.

Feasts were stately occasions with costly tables and splendid apparel.

There were practical jokes, innocent frolics, and witty verbal debating with repartee. They played chess, checkers, and various games with cards and dice. Most people could sing and some could play the lute.

Lighting of the hall at night was by oil lamps or candles on stands or on wall fixtures. For outside activities, a lantern [a candle s.h.i.+elded by a metal cage with panels of finely shaved horn: lant horn] was used.

The residence of the lord's family and guests was at a screened off area at the extreme end of the hall or on a higher floor. Chests stored garments and jewels. Iron keys and locks were used for chests and doors.

The great bed had a wooden frame and springs made of interlaced rope or strips of leather. It was covered with a feather mattress, sheets, quilts, fur covers, and pillows. Drapery around the bed kept out cold drafts and provided privacy. There was a water bowl for was.h.i.+ng in the morning. A chamber pot was kept under the bed for nighttime use. Hay was used as toilet paper. The lord's personal servants slept nearby on benches or trundle beds. Most of the gentlemen servants slept communally in a "knight's chamber". The floor of the hall was strewn with straw, on which common folk could sleep at night. There were stools on which to sit. Cup boards (boards on which to store cups) and chests stored spices and plate. One-piece iron shears were available to cut cloth. Handheld spindles were used for weaving; one hand held the spindle [a small stick weighted at one end] while the other hand alternately formed the thread and wound it around the spindle. On the roofs there were rampart walks for sentry patrols and parapets from which to shoot arrows or throw things at besiegers. Each tenant of the demesne of the king where he had a castle had to perform a certain amount of castle guard duty for its continuing defense. These knights performing castle-guard duty slept at their posts. Bathing was done in a wooden tub located in the garden in the summer and indoors near the fire in winter. The great bed and tub for bathing were taken on trips with the lord. The entire household was of men, except for the lord's lady with a few lady companions. The ladies rode pillion [on a cus.h.i.+on behind the saddle] or in litters suspended between two horses.

Markets grew up outside castle walls. Any trade on a lord's land was subject to "pa.s.sage", a payment on goods pa.s.sing through, "stallage", a payment for setting up a stall or booth in a market, and "pontage", a payment for taking goods across a bridge.

The Norman man was clean shaven on his face and around his ears and at the nape of the neck. His hair was short. He wore a long- sleeved under-tunic of linen or wool that reached to his ankles. Over this the Norman n.o.ble wore a tunic without sleeves, open at the sides, and fastened with a belt. Over one shoulder was his cloak, which was fastened on the opposite shoulder by being drawn through a ring brooch and knotted. He wore tight thick cloth stockings to protect him from the mud and leather shoes. Common men wore durable, but drab, wool tunics to the knee so as not to impede them in their work. They could roll up their stockings when working in the fields. A lady wore a high-necked, long- sleeved linen or wool tunic fitted at the waist and laced at the side, but full in the skirt, which reached to her toes. She wore a jeweled belt, pa.s.sed twice around her waist and knotted in front. Her hair was often in two long braids, and her head and ears covered with a white round cloth held in place by a metal circlet like a small crown.

Its ends were wound around her neck. In winter, she wore over her tunic a cloak edged or lined with fur and fastened at the front with a cord.

Clothes of both men and ladies were brightly colored by dyes or embroidery. The Norman knight wore an over-tunic of leather or heavy linen on which were sewn flat rings of iron and a conical iron helmet with nose cover. He wore a sword at his waist and a metal s.h.i.+eld on his back, or he wore his sword and his accompanying retainers carried spear and s.h.i.+eld.

Norman customs were adopted by the nation. As a whole, Anglo-Saxon men shaved their beards and whiskers from their faces, but they kept their custom of long hair flowing from their heads. But a few kept their whiskers and beards in protest of the Normans. Everyone had a permanent surname indicating parentage, place of birth, or residence, such as Field, Pitt, Lane, Bridge, Ford, Stone, Burn, Church, Hill, Brook, Green. Other names came from occupations such as Shepherd, Carter, Parker, Fowler, Hunter, Forester, Smith. Still other came from personal characteristics such as Black, Brown, and White, Short, Round, and Long.

Some took their names from animals such as Wolf, Fox, Lamb, Bull, Hogg, Sparrow, Crow, and Swan. Others were called after the men they served, such as King, Bishop, Abbot, Prior, Knight. A man's surname was pa.s.sed on to his son.

Those few coerls whose land was not taken by a baron remained free and held their land "in socage" and became known as sokemen. They were not fighting men, and did not give homage, but might give fealty, i.e.

fidelity. Many free sokemen were caught up in the subjugation by baron landlords and were reduced almost to the condition of the unfree villein. The services they performed for their lords were often indistinguishable. They might also hold their land by villein tenure, although free as a person with the legal rights of a freeman. The freeman still had a place in court proceedings which the unfree villein did not.

Great stone cathedrals were built in fortified towns for the Conquerer's Norman bishops, who replaced the English bishops. Most of the existing and new monasteries functioned as training grounds for scholars, bishops, and statesmen rather than as retreats from the world's problems to the security of religious observance. The number of monks grew as the best minds were recruited into the monasteries.

The Conquerer made the church subordinate to him. Bishops were elected only subject to the King's consent. The bishops had to accept the status of barons. Homage was exacted from them before they were consecrated, and fealty and an oath afterward. The Conquerer imposed knight's service on bishoprics, abbeys, and monasteries, which was usually commuted to a monetary amount. Bishops had to attend the King's court. Bishops could not leave the realm without the King's consent. No royal tenant or royal servant could be excommunicated, nor his lands be placed under interdict, without the King's consent. Interdict could demand, for instance, that the church be closed and the dead buried in unconsecrated ground. No church rules could be made without his agreement to their terms. No letters from the pope could be received without the King's permission. The Archbishop of Canterbury was still recognized as a primary advisor to the king. Over the years, the selection for this office frequently became a source of contention among king, pope, and clergy.

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 G.o.d 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 ma.s.sive 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.

London was a walled town of one and two story houses made of mud, twigs, and straw, with thatched roofs. It included a bundle of communities, towns.h.i.+ps, parishes, and lords.h.i.+ps. There were churches, a goods market, a fish market, quays on the river, and a bridge over the river. Streets probably named by this time include Bread Street, Milk Street, Honey Lane, Wood Street, and Ironmonger Lane. Fairs and games were held outside the town walls in a field called "Smithfield". The great citizens had the land qualifications of knights and ranked as barons on the Conquerer's council. The freemen were a small percentage of London's population. There was a butchers' guild, a pepperers' guild, a goldsmiths' guild, the guild of St. Lazarus, which was probably a leper charity (of which there were many in the 1000s and 1100s), the Pilgrims' guild, which helped people going on pilgrimages, and four bridge guilds, probably for keeping the wooden London Bridge in repair.

Men told the time by sundials, some of which were portable and could be carried in one's pocket. London could defend itself, and a ringing of the bell of St. Paul's Church could shut every shop and fill the streets with armed hors.e.m.e.n and soldiers led by a soldier portreeve. Across the Thames from London on its south side was Southwark, a small trading and fis.h.i.+ng settlement.

The Conquerer did not interfere with landholding in London, but recognized its independence as a borough in this writ: "William the King greets William, Bishop of London, and Gosfrith the portreeve, and all the burgesses [citizens] of London friendly. Know that I will that you be worthy of all the laws you were worthy of in the time of King Edward.

And I will that every child shall be his father's heir after his father's day. And I will not suffer any man to do you wrong. G.o.d preserve you." The Norman word "mayor" replaced "portreeve".

So London was not subjected to the Norman feudal system. It had neither villeins nor slaves. Whenever Kings a.s.serted authority over it, the citizens reacted until the king "granted" a charter reaffirming the freedoms of the city and its independence.

Under pressure from the ecclesiastical judges, the Conquerer replaced the death penalty by that of the mutilation of blinding, chopping off hands, and castrating offenders. Castration was the punishment for rape.

But these mutilations usually led to a slow death by gangrene.