Feudal Politics in Yorkshire 1066 X 1154 by Paul Dalton
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Feudal Politics in Yorkshire 1066 x 1154 By Paul Dalton A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield. April 1990 , Summary of Thesis Feudal Politics in Yorkshire 1066 x 1154 Paul Dalton This thesis provides a broad study of the tenurial, administrative and political history of Yorkshire in the first century of English feudalism. It begins by providing a new and more precise chronology for the Norman conquest of Yorkshire and illustrates the importance of castleries and hundreds in the process of take-over. In Chapter 2 the thesis reveals that in the fifty years following the Domesday survey the Normans extended the system of compact lordships based upon castleries, hundreds and hundredal castleries in order to bring the more remote parts of the county under control and to provide protection for its borders. The new men placed in control of these lordships played a vital role in the integration of Yorkshire within the royal system ofjustice and administration. Attention is then paid in Chapter 3 to the scale and pattern of Norman sub-enfeoffment in the period 1086 x 1135. The study throws new light on both the purpose of the system of military service introduced by the Normans and the reasons for the rapid expansion of monasticism in Yorkshire after 1100. Chapter 4 illustrates how after 1135 royal control over the local administration of Yorkshire disintegrated in the face of the political difficulties of King Stephen and the growing power of William earl of York, and Chapter 5 examines how King David of Scotland exploited Stephen's weakness in the northern England to extend his influence within the area. Chapter 6 considers the nature of some of the new enfeoffment tenancies recorded in the 1166 inquest and elucidates the reasons behind the reluctance of magnates to acknowledge their existence and pay scutage upon them. And finally, the thesis concludes in Chapter 7 with a major re-assessment of the nature and strength of lordship and the emergence of property right in the first century of English feudalism. IN MEMORY OF MY PARENTS JOYCE AND GEOFFREY DALTON Contents Preface page i Abbreviations iii 1. The Norman Conquest of Yorkshire 1 . 2. The Transformation of Yorkshire 1066 x 1135: Military Consolidation and Administrative Integration 46 3. The Transformation of Yorkshire 1066 x 1135: Military Enfeoffment and Monasteries 79 4. Yorkshire in Stephen's Reign: Government, Politics and the Career of William earl of York 121 5. The Scots in the North 163 6. The New Enfeoffments 198 7. The First Century of English Feudalism 218 Appendix 1. Did the Normans Manorialize Yorkshire? 263 Appendix 2. Alienation on the Honour of Percy 1066 x 1135 266 Bibliography 269 Maps 1. The Honour of William of Warenne: 1086 after page 13 2. The Honour of William of Percy: 1086 after page 15 3. The Honour of Hugh fitz Baldric: 1086 after page 15 4. The Honour of Richmond: 1086 after page 19 5. The Honour of Ilbert of Lacy: 1086 after page 19 6. The Honour of Drogo de la Beuvriere: 1086 after page 19 7. Value Preservation and Demesne Agriculture on the Honour of Richmond after page 23 8. Value Preservation and Demesne Agriculture on the Honour of Pontefract after page 23 9. The Honour of Robert of Mortain: 1086 after page 25 10. The Honour of Gilbert Tison: 1086 after page 28 11. The Honour of Tosny: 1086 after page 28 12. The Honour of Ralph Payne!: 1086 after page 28 13. The Honour of Ralph Mortemer: 1086 after page 28 14. The Honour of Hugh Earl of Chester: 1086 after page 28 15. The Honour of Erneis of Burun: 1086 after page 28 16. The Honour of Osbern of Arches: 1086 after page 28 17. The Honour of Roger the Poitevin: 1086 after page 32 18. The Honour of Robert of Stuteville: c.1100 after page 50 19. The Castleries of Bainard, Skipton and Northallerton: c.1100 after page 52 20. The Coastal Estates of Gant, Percy and Bainard: c.1100 after page 53 21. The Castleries of Holderness and Axholme: c.1100 after page 54 22. Cravenshire in the Reign of Henry I after page 56 23. The Honour of Nigel d'Aubigny: c.1115 after page 57 24. The Sourdeval Estates Passing to the PayneIs of Hooton after page 59 25. The Sourdeval Estates Passing to the Meinil Family after page 60 26. The Cleveland Castleries of Brus, Fossard and Meinil after page 61 27. The Castleries of Hallam, Conisbrough and Wakefield in Henry I's Reign after page 64 28. The Estates of Eustace fitz John and Walter Espec in Henry I's Reign after page 65 29. The Estates of Bulmer, Fitz Pain, Brundos and Fitz Sigulf: c.1135 after page 68 30. The Pattern of Military Enfeoffment on the Honour of Percy in 1135 after page 88 31. The Baronies of Alnwick and Wark after page 126 32. William Earl of York and the Hundreds of Yorkshire after page 133 33. The Castle of Galelint after page 139 34. The Honour of the Archbishop of York after page 143 35. The Selby War after page 145 36. The Scots in the North after page 183 Tables 1. Demesne and Tenant Resources on the Estates of the King and Archbishop in 1086 after page 7 2. The Value of the Estates of Yorkshire Lay Tenants-in-Chief: 1066 x 1086 after page 9 3. The Resources and Values of Demesne and Tenanted Estates on the Honour of Conisbrough in 1086 after page 13 4. The Resources and Values of Demesne and Tenanted Estates on the Honours of William I of Percy and Hugh fitz Baldric in 1086 after page 16 5. The Number of Tenants Enfeoffed by the Yorkshire Lay Tenants-in-Chief by 1086 after page 16 6. The Castlery of Bossal in 1086 after page 17 7. The Resources and Values of Demesne and Tenanted Estates on the Honours of Richmond, Pontefract and Holderness in 1086 after page 20 8. The Resources and Values of Demesne and Tenanted Estates on the Honour of Robert count of Mortain in 1086 after page 25 9. The Resources and Values of Demesne and Tenanted Estates on the Embryonic Lordships: 1086 after page 29 10. Demesne Plough-Teams, Overstocking, Waste and Value Increments on the Embryonic Lordships: 1086 after page 29 11. The Charters of Henry I Addressed to Witnessed by, or Concerning Walter Espec after page 73 12. The Proportion of Honorial Resources Alienated to Tenants on the Honours of Yorkshire in 1086 after page 81 13. The Resources Retained in Demesne by the Lay Tenants-in-Chief of Yorkshire: 1086 after page 82 14. The Resources of the Tenants of the Lay Tenants-in-Chief of Yorkshire: 1086 after Page 82 15. The Estates of the Milites of the Archbishop of York and Honour of Holderness in 1086 after page 102 16. The Military Returns of Yorkshire in 1166 after page 199 17. Lands Alienated to Tenants on the Honour of Percy: 1086 x 1135 after page 268 18. The Extent and Value of Estates Alienated by the Percy Lords: 1066 x 1135 after page 268 Preface This thesis was begun in October 1986 and completed in April 1990. My thanks are due to the British Academy for the major award which supported me during the first three years of research, and to the Institute of Historical Research for the grant of a Scouloudi Research Fellowship for the academic year 1989-1990 which enabled me to complete the thesis. The University of Sheffield has also been generous in providing financial help in the form of Crewe Exhibitions. The awards have assisted in meeting the cost research excursions, book purchases, thesis production, and attending seminars and an intensive palaeography course run by the University of York at the Borthwick Institute. A University grant also enabled me to present a paper to the Haskins Society Conference held in Houston, Texas, in November 1989. Even a cursory glance at the footnotes of this thesis will reveal the considerable debt I owe to the scholarship of William Farrer and Sir Charles Clay. The fruits of their outstanding devotion to the collection and edition of the records of the aristocratic community of Yorkshire from the eleventh to the thirteenth century can be found in the twelve volumes of Early Yorkshire Charters published by the Yorkshire Archaeological Society. To these Dr. Diana Greenway added an excellent edition of the charters of the Mowbray family published for the British Academy in 1972. In the examination of these documents, and many others published by a variety of record societies, I took my inspiration from the works of Sir Frank Stenton whose excellence in the field of charter scholarship remains unequalled. Many friends have contributed their help in different ways over the course of the last few years. My thanks are due in particular to my sisters Kate and Mandy, Derrick, Stewart, Lorraine Riach, Stella, Brendan, Tony, Sean, Steve and Tony `Bolsa'. Special thanks to Kathy Thompson for help with the Montgomerys in Chapter 2, for undertaking the long and unenviable task of proof-reading, and for many helpful suggestions. My greatest academic debt is of course to my supervisor, Professor Edmund King, for his inspi- ration, advice, invaluable constructive criticism and help in countless other ways. Thanks are due to him both as scholar and friend. My greatest debt of all is to my parents for providing me with the academic opportunities 1 closed to them by social situation.