This history spot was a weekly series looking at the development of land law and leases/tenancies from Normans times. The series is now discontinued here and readers will find new posts on the History of Law Blog.
The posts remaining here are as follows:
Introducing the History Spot
This is the post I wrote initially, setting out what I intended to do in this series and why. At the time I wrote this, I had not written much other than a few sketched outlines of the Norman posts.
The Normans
This section runs vaguely from the Conquest in 1066 to the troubled reign of Stephen. As you can see, there is still a way to go.
Landlord and Tenure
This was the very first history spot post, and looks at the word ‘landlord’ and what it means, and also at how the system of holding land in these early days were very different from ours. The concept of seisin is introduced.
Norman Barons – writs and relief
Here we look at the ‘head lessors’, the Barons. There was a massive change at this level of society after the conquest, as William gave large tracts of land to his own followers. This post looks at one such case, and at the nature of baronial holdings generally.
The Kings Demesne
‘Demesne’ is the word for land a lord keeps for himself. This post looks at the land kept by the King, and what he did with it. In particular we look at the hugely unpopular (among the common people that is) Forest law. Quite by chance, the most unpopular Norman king, William ‘Rufas’ II, died of an arrow-shot in the New Forest …
The Estates of Man in Norman England
Taking a quick look at the different levels of society and their names. If you want to know about Knight Service, Socage and Serjeanty, this is the place. Mind you in reality it was not quite as cut and dried as you would imagine from the theory.
Introducing the new History of Law Blog
I enjoyed doing the History Spot so much in this series that I have decided to do a complete new History of Law Blog! This post explains why. So farewell to the history spot, there will be no more here. But if the subject interests you, why not visit my new blog which you will find >> here.
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Visit the History of Law Blog for more posts on legal history!