Thirteenth-Century England Research Articles

The emergence of English commercial law: Analysis inspired by the Ottoman experience

Thirteenth-century England was a commercial backwater whose trade was dominated by foreigners. To accommodate and encourage foreign merchants, England modified its legal system by creating legal institutions that were available to both domestic and foreign traders. Among the most important of these institutions were streamlined debt collection procedures and mixed juries composed of both Englishmen and foreigners. By introducing institutions that treated locals and foreigners equally, England created a level playing field that enabled English merchants to become increasingly prominent in the later Middle Ages. England's ability to modernize its law was facilitated by the secular nature of English law, the representation of merchants in Parliament, and legal pluralism. Medieval England contrasts sharply with the early modern Ottoman Empire. The latter created special institutions for foreign merchants, which eventually put Ottoman Muslims at a competitive disadvantage.

The Emergence of English Commercial Law: Analysis Inspired by Ottoman Experience

Thirteenth-century England was a commercial backwater whose trade was dominated by foreigners. To accommodate and encourage foreign merchants, England modified its legal system by creating legal institutions which were available to both domestic and foreign traders. Among the most important of these institutions were streamlined debt collection procedures and mixed juries composed of both Englishmen and foreigners. By introducing institutions which treated locals and foreigners equally, England created a level playing field which enabled English merchants to become increasingly prominent in the later Middle Ages. England's ability to modernize its law was facilitated by the secular nature of English law, the representation of merchants in Parliament, and legal pluralism. Medieval England contrasts sharply with the early modern Ottoman Empire. The latter created special institutions for foreign merchants, which eventually put Ottoman Muslims at a competitive disadvantage.

The Date and Politics of ‘The Song of the Welsh’

The Latin war-poem ‘The Song of the Welsh’ poses problems of dating and origin, as also does the identity of a mysterious ‘Broinsius’ mentioned in it. Yet the last seems to be the fifth-century British hero Ambrosius Aurelianus; while the influence of bardic verse on the poem suggests it is not from thirteenth-century England, but from a Welsh school (perhaps located at St Davids) of similar date.

Thirteenth Century England XI Edited by B. Weiler, J. Burton, P. Schofield and K. Stöber

<i>Thirteenth Century England XI</i> Edited by B. Weiler, J. Burton, P. Schofield and K. Stöber

The bonds that bind: money lending between Anglo-Jewish and Christian women in the plea rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews, 1218–1280

The plea rolls of the Exchequer of the Jews represent the single most important source for understanding the interrelations and interactions of Jewish and Christian women in thirteenth-century England. A uniquely voluminous series of documents pertaining to the bureaucracy that grew up around Jewish lending after 1190, the rolls reveal the many ways in which women of different faiths were brought into contact — both amicable and oppositional — through financial transactions, predominantly the borrowing and lending of money. It further considers the shared family interests, credit networks and daily necessities that such transactions signified. Finally, by examining specific cases — from large scale, national disputes played out in the Exchequer Court to small-scale disagreements in the locality — it seeks to demonstrate how Jewish and Christian women negotiated with one another for economic resources. It concludes that money-lending, complicated by the particularities of kinship and business structures, first brought women of different faiths together and then tore them apart.

Hebrew Went Latin: Reflections of Latin Diplomatic Formulae and Terminology in Hebrew Private Deeds from Thirteenth-Century England

Hebrew Went Latin: Reflections of Latin Diplomatic Formulae and Terminology in Hebrew Private Deeds from Thirteenth-Century England

The King's Two Maps: Cartography and Culture in Thirteenth-Century England. Daniel Birkholz

<i>The King's Two Maps: Cartography and Culture in Thirteenth-Century England</i>. Daniel Birkholz

Thirteenth‐Century England X: Proceedings of the Durham Conference 2003 Edited by Michael Prestwich et al.

<i>Thirteenth‐Century England X: Proceedings of the Durham Conference 2003</i> Edited by Michael Prestwich et al.

‘Welcome the coming and speed the parting guest’: hospitality in twelfth-century England

The twelfth century saw a renewed interest in outward display and has been described as ‘a new era in the history of manners’. The importance of exercising courtesy, and of controlling one's gestures and emotions in public would have had a bearing on the administration of hospitality. This was particularly important upon the guest's arrival and also on his departure, for it was important to make a first and lasting impression. It gave the guest and host a chance to demonstrate their courtliness and foster good relations, and for the host to exhibit his generosity and largesse of spirit. The prescriptive texts suggest that there was a clear concept of how these proceedings should be conducted, and that hospitality in Anglo-Norman England might be conducted with some formality. 1 This article has its origins in a chapter on lay hospitality in my doctoral thesis on monastic hospitality. This chapter has not been included in the forthcoming book, Monastic hospitality: the Benedictines in England c. 1070–c. 1250 (Boydell and Brewer; Woodbridge, 2007), but published as three articles: J. Kerr, ‘The open door: hospitality and honour in twelfth/early thirteenth-century England, History, 87 (2002), 322–35 considers the motives behind lay hospitality’; ‘Food, drink and lodging: hospitality in twelfth-century England’, Haskins Society Journal (forthcoming) focuses on the feast table and accommodation for guests; the procedures upon the arrival and departure of guests are considered here. The reader is referred to the aforementioned works for further discussion of monastic hospitality and other aspects of lay hospitality. I am grateful to Professor John Hudson for his comments and advice, to Professor Robert Bartlett for the translation of several difficult passages in Daniel of Beccles’ Urbanus, and to the helpful comments given by the two readers for the Journal of Medieval History. 1

Kinship: the canon law and the common law in thirteenth-century England

England's common law is stereotypically insular and immune to influence from the learned laws. However, manuscript discoveries reveal that in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries some common lawyers turned to the canon law to illustrate and ornament their own kinship system. Canon law kinship treatises, aimed at beginners, occur in some common law manuscripts, as do arbores consanguinitatis (trees that illustrate the structures of the canon law kinship system). Some were adapted by common lawyers and the influence of this material was to extend even into common law courts.

A School of Christian Hebraists in Thirteenth-Century England: A Unique Hebrew-Latin-French and English Dictionary and its Sources

AbstractThis paper is a preliminary presentation of a unique Hebrew-Latin-Old French dictionary written by Christian scholars in 13th century England, to appear shortly in print. The authors of this exceptional work did not follow the patristic tradition of Christian Hebraism and did not focus on anti-Jewish polemics, but rather turned to Jewish Rabbinic and Medieval sources, such as commentaries of Rachi, the lexicon of Solomon ibn Parhon or Alpha Beta de-Ben Sira for their understanding of the Hebrew text of the Bible. Following the grammatical approach of the classical Spanish school of Hebrew grammar, this dictionary is a real 'philological' work. It stems from a Christian tradition of the use of the Hebrew Bible for correcting the Vulgate as represented by the bilingual Hebrew-Latin Bible manuscripts produced and studied in England in the late 12th and 13th centuries.

A Black Slave on the run in Thirteenth-Century England

A Black Slave on the run in Thirteenth-Century England

Jessica's Mother: Medieval Constructions of Jewish Race and Gender in The Merchant of Venice

This essay argues that the gendered racial representation of Jews in early modern English culture, articulated explicitly in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, draws upon a similar set of ideas developed in medieval England. Concerns in thirteenth-century England about the efficacy of Jewish conversion to Christianity gave rise to the notion of an immutable Jewish racial identity constructed in theological, class, somatic, hereditary, and gendered terms and revealing a concern that Jews gain parity or even superiority to Christians through conversion. The representation of a Jewish woman racially indistinguishable from Christians and acquiescent to conversion develops in the same period, as Aristotle's views on gender and reproduction are reintroduced in Europe. Aristotle argued for the natural inferiority of women, that they are mere vessels for nurturing the male seed that becomes a child. These ideas make possible the construction of an acceptable convert whose inferiority is fixed even after her elevation to Christianity and whose racial status is moot, since she contributes none of her characteristics to her husband's offspring. A close consideration of the medieval roots of these gendered representations of Jewish race in the early modern period is followed by a discussion of their operation in The Merchant of Venice.

English Manuscripts 1060 to 1220 and the Making of a Re‐source1

AbstractEleventh‐, twelfth‐ and thirteenth‐century England is a complex multilingual jigsaw, and a much underestimated period of literary production. This article surveys and explores the close relationship between English, Latin and French book production, offering valuable insights into English manuscript culture in this period and re‐contextualising texts and their manuscripts, calling for each to be studied in its own right and understood as part of a pattern of wider manuscript production. The article also introduces the reader to key and crucial issues in literary production in this period, and to new research in the field.

Alien knights in a hostile land: the experience of curial knights in thirteenth-century England and the assimilation of their families

Thirteenth-century England witnessed an increasing sense of national identity and there were also waves of xenophobia. English kings recruited soldiers from across the Channel and this article examines the experience of sixteen alien families from Normandy, Touraine, Poitou, Franche Comte, Savoy and Germany, to see how they weathered these storms and did, or did not, become assimilated into English society. While these families began as royal servants, some of their descendants gave up the royal safety net and, by obtaining hereditable lands, making local alliances, taking local office and adopting local allegiances, became members of the English nobility and gentry.

The song and the page: experiments with form and layout in manuscripts of medieval Latin song

The non-liturgical songs of twelfth- and thirteenth-century England were recorded, for the most part, not in dedicated song books, but on occasional pages in manuscript miscellanies. Away from the context of fully musical books, there were no fixed procedures for the layout of music, and scribes devised new approaches to layout as they worked. This article considers three Latin songs from such sources and explores the evidence for experimentation, both in scribal technique and in musical procedures, that may have contributed to their specific manuscript presentations.

Kings, Barons and Justices: The Making and Enforcement of Legislation in Thirteenth-Century England

Introduction Part I. Politics and the Legislative Reform of the Common Law: 1. The making of the Provisions of Westminster: the process of drafting and their political context 2. The making of the Provisions of Westminster: the social and legal context and the evolution of the individual clauses (i) 3. The making of the Provisions of Westminster: the social and legal context and the evolution of the individual clauses (ii) 4. Enforcement of the Provisions of Westminster during the initial stages of their existence, 1259-63 5. The revision and reissuing of the Provisions, 1263-4 6. The revised Provisions in action, 1263-7 7. The final revision and reissue of the Provisions of Westminster: the Statute of Marlborough of 1267 Part II. Beyond Politics: The Enforcement and Interpretation of the Statute of Marlborough in the Courts, 1267-1307: 8. Contra formam feoffamenti: the statutory action for tenants contesting liability to suit of court after 1267 9. Other mechanisms for the enforcement of chapter nine other reforms affecting the lord-tenant relationship 10. Reforms in the criminal justice system 11. Reforms in the procedures of the Royal Courts 12. The extension of existing remedies 13. Enforcing the accountability of socage guardians 14. Controlling the use of distraint 15. Remedying abuses in the operation of local courts 16. Conclusions Appendices Bibliography Index.

Kings, Barons and Justices: The Making and Enforcement of Legislation in Thirteenth-Century England. Paul Brand

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsKings, Barons and Justices: The Making and Enforcement of Legislation in Thirteenth-Century England. Paul Brand Charles Donahue, Jr.Charles Donahue, Jr. Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Speculum Volume 80, Number 4Oct., 2005 The journal of the Medieval Academy of America Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1017/S0038713400001482 Views: 5Total views on this site Copyright 2005 The Medieval Academy of AmericaPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Brand, Paul, Kings, Barons and Justices. The Making and Enforcement of Legislation in Thirteenth-Century England

Brand, Paul, Kings, Barons and Justices. The Making and Enforcement of Legislation in Thirteenth-Century England

Medieval

HistoryVolume 90, Issue 297 p. 118-125 Medieval First published: 27 January 2005 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-229X.2005.00325.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract Books reviewed: Magnus Magnusson, The Vikings. Christopher Daniell, From Norman Conquest to Magna Carta: England 1066–1215. Richard Vernier, The Flower of Chivalry: Bertrand du Guesclin and the Hundred Years War. David Abulafia (ed.), Italy in the Central Middle Ages. Translated by Shelby Thacker and José Escobar. With an introduction by Joseph F. O’Callaghan, Chronicle of Alfonso X. Michael Prestwich, Richard Britnell and Robin Frame (eds), Thirteenth Century England IX: Proceedings of the Durham Conference 2001. Paul Brand, Kings, Barons and Justices: The Making and Enforcement of Legislation in Thirteenth-Century England. Richard Gorski, The Fourteenth-Century Sheriff: English Local Administration in the Late Middle Ages. Volume90, Issue297January 2005Pages 118-125 RelatedInformation