Law, Land Transfer, and Lordship on the Estates of St. Albans Abbey in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries

Abstract

During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the manor courts of medieval England were evolving into formal legal bodies with written records and standard procedures. An important reason for this development was that lords needed to protect their prerogatives, which were endangered from above by the king's increasing authority expressed in the royal courts and common law, and from below by peasants who actively sought greater freedom. Lords met these challenges to their authority by altering the law and practice of the manor courts to reinforce the institution of villeinage. This is particularly true of the land law enforced in the manor courts.