County and Community in Medieval England

Dodd, Gwilym

Abstract

The following are two typical 'county community' petitions from the first half of the fourteenth century, presented in the parliaments of 1322 and 1344 respectively: 1. To our lord the king and to his council, the community of the county of Lincolnshire [la communalte du conte de Nicole] ask that he should have regard for the mischiefs and losses that have occurred and still occur as a result of animal murrain, flooding of low-lying land, failure of corn and because people have been taken and put to ransom by the king's enemies and rebels, and many have abandoned their lands and houses, through malice and for fear of these enemies, so that much of the land of the county is unsown. Notwithstanding this, Robert Darcy and Piers Breton are demanding 4,000 well-armed foot-soldiers from the community, with ten shillings per soldier for expenses, which amounts to 8,000 li, including their armour, which sum, with the aforesaid charge, the county cannot afford without being destroyed forever. Moreover your bailiffs and ministers have taken a great amount of corn and malt for the king's use, to the great harm of the county. For which things, for God, they request that he consider their misfortunes, protesting that they are ready to give him what help they can, if it is done with the counsel of men of good will who know the county.

Citation

Dodd, G. (2019). County and Community in Medieval England. English Historical Review, 134(569), 777–820. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cez187

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 28, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Aug 12, 2019
• Publication Date: 2019-08
• Deposit Date: May 29, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 13, 2021
• Journal: The English Historical Review
• Print ISSN: 0013-8266
• Electronic ISSN: 1477-4534
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 134
• Issue: 569
• Pages: 777–820
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cez187
• Keywords: History
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2105471
• Publisher URL: https://academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ehr/cez187/5546035
• Additional Information: This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in English Historical Review following peer review. The version of record Gwilym Dodd, County and Community in Medieval England, The English Historical Review, , cez187, is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/ehr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ehr/cez187/5546035 and https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cez187.