The Domesday Book is a record of the survey conducted in England in 1086 by officials of William The Conqueror so as to assess taxes etc. The Domesday Book contains a survey of almost all the lands in England. The survey was made by commissioners, who collected the information in each district from a sworn jury consisting of sheriffs, lords of manors, presbyters, bailiffs, villeins - all the classes, in short, interested in the matter. The extent, tenure, value, and proprietorship of the land in each district, the state of culture, and in some cases the number of tenants, villeins, serfs, etc, were the matters chiefly recorded. The survey was completed within a year. Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland, and Westmoreland were not included in the survey, probably for the reason that William's authority was not then (in 1086) settled in those parts. The original Domesday Book consists of two volumes, one folio and one quarto. It has been republished a few times, a perfect facsimile of the original being published in 1861-1865. Research Domesday Book
Palatinates were in Europe districts the ruler of which received from the king almost royal rights of ruling in his province. Maryland was by its charter erected into a palatinate after the model of the palatinate of Durham in England, and so continued as long as it was under proprietary government. The proprietors of Carolina were at first given their province as a palatinate. Research Palatinate
Parliament is the supreme legislature of Great Britain. Parliament originated under the Norman kings as the Great Council of royal tenants-in- chief, to which in the 13th century, representatives of the shires were sometimes summoned. De Montfort's parliament of 1265 set a precedent by including representatives of the boroughs as well as the shires, which was followed by Edward I from 1275 onwards. Under Edward III the burgesses and knights of the shires began to meet separately from the barons, thus forming the House of Commons. By the 15th century parliament had acquired the right to legislate, vote and appropriate supplies, examine public accounts, and impeach royal ministers. The powers of parliament were much diminished under the Yorkists and Tudors, but under Elizabeth I a new spirit of independence appeared. The revolutions of 1640 and 1688 established parliamentary control over the executive and the judiciary and finally abolished all royal claim to tax or legislate without parliamentary consent. During these struggles
the two great parties emerged, and after 1688 it became customary for the king to choose his ministers from the party dominant in the Commons.
The English parliament was united with the Scottish in 1707, and with the Irish during' the period 1801 to 1922. The franchise was extended to the middle classes in 1832, to the urban working classes in 1867, to agricultural labourers in 1884, and to women in 1918 and 1928. Payment of members was introduced in 1911. The duration of parliaments was fixed at three years in 1694, at seven in 1716, and at five in 1911, but any parliament may extend its own life, as happened during both world wars. Constituencies are kept under continuous review by the parliamentary Boundary Commissions.
There are 630 members of parliament. The House of Lords comprises the temporal peers, i.e. all hereditary peers of England (created to 1707), all hereditary peers of Great Britain (created between 1707 and 1800), and all hereditary peers of the U.K. created from 1801 onward; all hereditary Scottish peers under the Peerage Act of 1963); all peeresses In their own right (under the same act); all life peers (both the Law Lords and those created under the Life Peerages Act of 1958); and the spiritual peers - the 2 archbishops and twenty four of the bishops (London, Durham and Winchester by right, and the rest by date). Since the parliament Act of 1911 the powers of the Lords have been restricted, in that they may delay a bill passed by the Commons for a limited period but not reject it. Under the parliament Bill of 1968 introduced by Harold Wilson a two-tier system of voting and non-voting peers would have been established, salaried, voting members being those 150 life peers able to attend regularly, supplemented by about 80 newly-created life peers chosen chiefly from existing hereditary peers: the government would have been entitled to a 10% majority. The measure gave way to an industrial relations bill. The Lords are presided over by the LordChancellor, and the Commons by the Speaker. A public bill is given a preliminary first reading and discussed in detail at the second reading; it is then referred to a standing committee, after which it is considered by a committee of the whole House. After the third reading it is sent to the Lords, whose procedure is similar. If it passes both houses, it receives the royal assent and so becomes law. Research Parliament
Trial by Battle also known as Wager by Battle, was a Norman innovation by which some civil actions and trials for felony at the private suit of the persons wronged might be decided by personal combat. A woman, a priest, a peer, or a person physically incapable of fighting could refuse such a trial. In civil cases men were usually hired to fight the duel, but in cases of felony or murder accuser and accused fought personally until one was slain. If the accused gave in, he was put to death: if he killed his opponent or the fight lasted from sunrise to sunset, he was acquitted. The last trial by battle was waged in the court of common please, Westminster in 1571; in the court of chivalry in 1631; and in the court of Durham in 1639. In the case of Ashford v. Thornton in 1818, the accused in a trial for murder pleaded 'Not guilty; and I am ready to defend the same by my body.' The plea was held good, and the accused set free, as the accuser would not fight. Trial by Battle was abolished by statute in 1818. Research Trial by Battle
University College is a College of Oxford University, England. It ranks first on the official list of colleges. A very doubtful tradition ascribes its origin to Alfred the Great. In 1872 the millennium of its establishment was celebrated, and there is reason to believe that a society of some kind was in existence befiore 1249, when a certain William of Durham left some money for the purpose of founding a college. Its head is the master. The buildings, which front the High Street, date partly from the 17th century, including the chapel hall and old library, and partly from the 19th. Research University College Oxford
Andrew Bell was a Scottish clergyman. He was born in 1753 at St Andrews and died in 1832. He was the author of the mutual instruction or 'Madras' system of education. He took orders in the Church of England, and in 1789 went to India, where he became chaplain at FortSt George, Madras, and manager of the institution for the education of the orphan children of European soldiers. Failing to retain the services of properly qualified ushers, he resorted to the expedient of employing the scholars in mutual instruction; and after his return to Britain published a treatise on the monitorial or Madras system of education. Joseph Lancaster, a dissenter, began to work on the system, and a considerable amount of friction and rivalry ensued between the dissenters and the church party. Dr. Andrew Bell lived long enough to witness the introduction of his system into 12,973 national schools, educating 900,000 English children, and to know that it was employed extensively in almost every other civilized country. He latterly became a prebendary of Westminster, and was master of Sherborn Hospital, Durham. At his death he left 120,000 pounds for the erection and maintenance of schools on his favourite system, 60,000 pounds of which was set apart for his native town. Research Andrew Bell
Robert Anthony Eden (First Earl of Avon) was a British politician. He was born in 1897 at Windlestone hall, Durham and died in 1977. After serving in the Great War, where he became a Brigade Major and was awarded the military cross, he went to Oxford University and in 1923 entered Parliament as Conservative member for Warwick and Leamington, a constituency he represented for his entire political career. He was deputy to Churchill in the government during the Second World War, and succeeded Churchill as Prime Minister in 1955, resigning in 1957 following ill-health. Research Anthony Eden
The Venerable Bede (Beda or Baeda) was an Anglo-Saxon scholar. He was born in 672 or 673 in the neighbourhood of Monkwearmouth, county Durham and died in 735. He was educated at St Peter's monastery, Wearmouth; took deacon's orders in his nineteenth year at St Paul's monastery, Jarrow, and was ordained priest at thirty by John of Beverley, bishop of Hexham.
His life was spent in studious seclusion, the chief events in it being the production of homilies, hymns, lives of saints, commentaries, and works in history, chronology, grammar, etc. He was the most learned Englishman of his day, and in some sense the father of English history, his most important work being his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (or Ecclesiastical History of England), afterwards translated by King Alfred into Anglo-Saxon. Besides his familiarity with Latin, he knew Greek and had some acquaintance with Hebrew.
Most of his writings were on scriptural and ecclesiastical subjects, but he also wrote on chronology, physical science, grammar, etc, and had considerable ability in the writing of Latinverse. An interesting record of his closing days was preserved in a letter by his pupilCuthbert. After his death his body was after a lapse of time removed from Jarrowchurch to Durham, but of the shrine which formerly inclosed them only the Latin inscription remains, ending with the verse 'Hac sunt in fossa Bedae venerabilis ossa.' Research Bede
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Book of Durham
