Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-qks25 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-07T15:24:31.173Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Part III - Government and communities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Scott L. Waugh
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
Get access

Summary

Monarchs never rule by themselves. They depend on agents to carry out their will. A crucial feature of medieval government was that the king's representatives were drawn from the ranks of social elites. Landlords served as royal officers, participated in decision making, and fought in the king's armies. They exercised private authority through manorial courts and public jurisdiction through franchises. Despite this overlapping of public and private power, England had produced a remarkably effective government by 1300.

The landed hierarchy on which administration depended clarified itself into distinct ranks during Edward's reign. The development of the house of lords in parliament provided the basis for identifying the nobility. Individually summoned rather than elected, the peers or peerage as they came to be known were differentiated from the knights and squires who made up the gentry. Peerage simultaneously symbolized social exclusiveness and defined a constitutional role. The clergy were likewise ranked hierarchically, with the higher members – archbishops, bishops, and some abbots – comparable to peers. And these noble grades took greater pains than they had before to define the boundaries between themselves and those below.

Government service corresponded to one's place in the echelon. Magnates, whether lay or ecclesiastic, generally occupied the highest positions as peers, councillors, military captains, and ministers. They played out their roles on a national stage, with the court as their focal point. County administration was the gentry's arena.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Government and communities
  • Scott L. Waugh, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Book: England in the Reign of Edward III
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139167918.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Government and communities
  • Scott L. Waugh, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Book: England in the Reign of Edward III
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139167918.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Government and communities
  • Scott L. Waugh, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Book: England in the Reign of Edward III
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139167918.011
Available formats
×