ENGLISH

Autonomy and Community: The Royal Manor of Havering, 1200-1500

By Marjorie Keniston McIntosh

Book information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
2002
ISBN
9780521526098, 9780521320184, 9780511560286, 0521526094, 0521320186, 0511560281
LCC
DA685.H28 M38 1986
Language
english
Format
DJVU
Filesize
2 MB (2333575 bytes)
Series
Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series
Pages
336\327
Topic
History
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

This history of the English royal manor of Havering, Essex, illustrates life at one extreme of the spectrum of personal and collective freedom during the later Middle Ages, revealing the kinds of patterns which could emerge when medieval people were placed in a setting of unusual independence. As residents of a manor held by the crown, they profited from royal administrative neglect. As tenants of the ancient royal demesne, they had special legal rights and economic privileges. Havering's dominant families controlled the legal and administrative life of their community through the powerful manor court. The tenants combined effectively to prevent outside interference in their affairs, despite the individualistic self-interest manifest in their economic dealings. In 1465 the tenants obtained a royal charter which established Havering as a formal Liberty, with its own justices of the peace. By the end of the fifteenth century Havering displayed many characteristics commonly associated with the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.

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