The English Monarchy

I. Old English Period

- the creation of the English monarchy: the triumph of Wessex
- title: Bretwalda
- the earliest kings were warrior chiefs => gradually the tribal kingship became a territorial,
institutional kingship
- Christianization: the king is God’s chosen representative
- greater kingdoms – kings could not govern them in person => royal officials: ealdormen in
the shires and port reeves in the borough
- king’s powers – lead his people in war, codify old law and declare new, grant land by
charters, mint coins,
- witan: council of wise men – not a formal institution, its membership was undefined
on the death of a king, the witan elected his successor, though it was only a formality
- the king’s household –it made the monarchy strong

- shires and hundreds

- earldorman – the chief official of the shire and the leader of its levies in war
- shires grew out of earlier kingdoms or tribal divisions
- shire-reeve/sheriff presided over the shire court
- bailiff – presided over the hundred court

The Anglo-Saxon monarchy was a personal monarchy that needed the driving force of an able
king to make it work
and it was also a system of administration composed of courts, councils and officers

II. Norman England

- the Normans introduced feudalism into England, but they retained and developed the
principal institutions of the OE monarchy
- the conquerors recognized the usefulness of the sheriff –> they became resposible to
the king for financial, judicial and executive tasks

- new institutions were added

- Curia Regis (King’s Court) – it was a feudal court for the most important, serious
crimes – royal, not common law
later on, other royal justices were named to manage these crimes
- no institutional check on the king – he might seek the advices of the Curia Regis, but he
need not take it; the only check on him was a moral one – his promise in the coronation oath:
to rule justly, to protect the Church, to supress malefactors, and to rule under the law

III. The English Monarchy

- the monarchy became “professional”
- the systhem of royal government was built upon councils.
- the power of the sheriff gradually diminished, many of their duties were entrusted to
specialists

Henry II - The Great Council took the place of the Curia Regis – advising the king the
composition of it was much the same as the Curia Regis of the Norman kings: the King
himself, the bishops and abbots, and the earls and greater barons + the members of the king’s
inner council

- Magnum Concilium – do justice and discuss important affairs of state

- Small Council – real work of government, most often composed of household
officials, administrators of minor baronial rank, few bishops and great barons; guided
public policy, managed finances, superintended local government
- the exchequer (Henry I): a financial board and court, sitting in London, composed of
officials called barons of the exchequer
the sheriff had to appeared before it twice a year