Tax administration and compliance: evidence from medieval Paris
We provide evidence from the Parisian tailles levied between 1292 and 1313 and other historical records that indicates that these royal taxes were collected from the Free City of Paris at a remarkably low cost, without violence and with limited recourse to legal action against tax evaders.
The Cluniac Priories of Galicia and Portugal: Their Acquisition and Administration 1075-ca.1230
It goes without saying that two topics are central to progress on all the rest, and it is to these that the present paper will address itself. First, the problem of acquisition…Secondly, the problem of administration…
Modernization of the Government: the Advent of Philip the Good in Holland
As I have shown elsewhere, the county of Holland underwent a structural change in the second half of the fourteenth century, when economically the emphasis shifted from agriculture to trade and industry and demographically from the country to the towns. The institutions however did not change.
Earthwork Castles of Gwent and Ergyng AD 1050-1250
The research addresses the presence of the castles and discusses their roles as weapons of conquest and structures of administrative control.
The Origins of Public Prosecution at Common Law
Judge and jury we can trace back to the high Middle Ages. But the prosecutor became a regular figure of Anglo-American criminal procedure only in Tudor times.
The Quality of Scottish Mercy: Royal Letters of Remission in Medieval Scotland
In a plenary address for the Canadian Society of Medievalists, Professor Neville examines the development of pardons for political enemies and felons in late medieval Scotland, and how the concept of the King’s Peace differed between Scottish and English monarchs.
Problems with medieval Welsh local administration – the case of the maenor and the maenol
This article proposes to look more closely at one level of this emergent Welsh territorial order, namely, the level of the maenor/maenol.
Thousands of Irish Medieval Documents now available online
Trinity College Dublin historians have reconstructed invaluable medieval documents destroyed during the bombardment of the Four Courts in 1922.
‘He contents the people wherever he goes’ Richard III: His Parliament and Government
In recent years new biographies of great figures such as Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy have shed great light on key issues of English-European relations, while studies of Margaret Beaufort have redefined the political role of the women of this era.
The role of the Norman kings in the framing of the British Constitution
I attempted to show how William respected the Anglo-Saxon constitution in its main principles. The Conquest, together with the influence of the system of government then prevaling on the Continent brought about some changes…
Factionalism and noble power in English Ireland, c 1361-1423
Ireland in the late middle ages was a conflicted land. The most obvious manifestation of this was the schism between the English colonists, whose acquisitive ancestors had invaded Ireland in the late twelfth century, and the native Gaelic population.
The Stealing of the “Apple of Eve” from the 13th century Synagogue of Winchester
In January 1252, King Henry III sent a remarkable writ to the sheriff of Hampshire.
The higher nobility in Scotland and their estates, c.1371-1424
The material available for the study of the Scottish nobility in this period consists almost entirely of charters, especially those issued by the crown.
The Rebirth of a Communications Network: Europe at the Time of the Carolingians
This paper attempts to explain the accelerated economic growth of medieval Europe by incorporating communications technologies in the analysis. During the reign of Charlemagne, written and spoken Latin was effectively standardized which reduced the cost of information storage relative to transmission.
Mapping the Medieval Countryside project receives £528,000 in funding
A new project from King’s College London and the University of Winchester will allow researchers to explore the lands of medieval England as never before has received over half a million pounds in funding.
Recorda splendidissima: the use of pipe rolls in the thirteenth century
In this context, perhaps it is necessary to look in more detail at the function of the pipe rolls, and the way in which they were used by the exchequer.
PARIS B.N. ms. latin 5954: The Professional Papers of an English Ambassador on the Eve of the Hundred Years War
One of the more peculiar documents in the manuscript is a letter of Edward III summoning Master William of Weston to the Parliament at York on 7 February 1328.
The Household knights of Edward I
Edward was not a king who was renowned for his generosity. However, the loyalty of the knights to their master suggests that the rewards they received were adequate.
Changing ideologies of Medieval state formation: the growing exploitation of land in Gwynedd c.1100–c.1400
The sub-discipline has broadened its scope to examine themes such as the search for signification in landscape, the meaning of landscape and the ideology associated with landscape forms.
King Alfred, Mercia and London, 874-886: a reassessment
The creation of a new burh in London is seen as a natural development of the system of burhs which had been established by Alfred all over Wessex in the previous two years, following his victory over Guthrum’s forces at Edington
Organization and modus operandi of the Byzantine salt monopoly
This article analyzes the organization and functioning of the Byzantine salt monopoly. Saltworks were owned by the state, but some were also owned by monasteries and laymen.
Crusade administration in fifteenth-century England: regulations for the distribution of indulgences in 1489
These crusades attracted varying amounts of attention. The Flanders expedition of 1383 generated considerable comment among chroniclers, and was fiercely castigated by Wyclif as an illegitimate war between Christians. The crusade of 1512 is so obscure that some historians doubt that it was actually preached.
The Loss of Ponthieu: Nationalism or Particularism
The birth of European nationalism from amidst the carnage of the Hundred Years War has become one of the truisms of medieval history.
The Royal Safeguard in Medieval France
In the eyes of contemporaries, the royal safeguard of the fourteenth century descended from an unbroken tradition going back to the emunitas and royal tuitio of Merovingian Frankland.
The military and administrative leadership of the Black Prince
Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales and Aquitaine, has been analyzed on many different levels for his military genius in battle during the Hundred Years War.