The Barons' War and the hundred jurors in Cambridgeshire

Abstract

Although the Barons' War, 1258–1267, has been regarded as a struggle over the reform of the government fought between King Henry III and the barons, a lot of small landowners were also engaged in the movement, as was the case in Cambridgeshire. By using the eyre rolls of 1268, we can get the names of the local people who adhered to the reformer barons, or who were attacked as faithful subjects of the king. When we study the internal relations of juries of each hundred, with the help of the Hundred Rolls, we discover some interesting facts. Those jurors did not simply follow their feudal superiors' directions. We can identify the existence of cooperative groups among the twelve persons of a hundred jury. A hostile attitude can be found among those twelve. Although the routes of influence from outside were limited, in special circumstances they could stimulate the potential hostility among the local people and make them rise up in open hostility. Thus we can see what the justice in the eyre and the verdicts of the jury meant to local people.