A curfew is a signal given, generally by the ringing of a bell, to warn inhabitants of a town to extinguish their fires. It was used to avoid the danger of fires at night when houses were built of wood. The practice was introduced as a law by William The Conqueror, who directed that at the ringing of a bell at 8 o'clock all fires and lights should be extinguished. The law was repealed by Henry I in 1100, and today the term describes ordering citizens to remain indoors between certain hours. The name curfew was given to a utensil formerly used for covering a fire. Research Curfew
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
Embalming is the process of filling and surrounding with aromatic and antiseptic substances any bodies, particularly corpses, in order to preserve them from corruption. The ancient Egyptians employed the art on a great scale, and other peoples, for example the Assyrians and Persians, followed them, but by no means equalled them in it. The ancient Peruvians appear to have injected and washed the corpses with the fluid that flows from imperfectly burned wood, which would of course contain pyroligneous acid, creosote, and other antiseptics. Pliny alludes to the use of a similar fluid by the Egyptians for embalming. In later times bodies have been preserved, a long time by embalming, especially when they have remained at a low and uniformtemperature, and have been protected from the air. The body of Edward I was buried in WestminsterAbbey in 1307, and in 1770 was found entire. Canute died in 1036; his body was found very fresh in 1776 in WinchesterCathedral. The bodies of William the Conqueror and of Matilda his wife were found entire at Caen in the 16th century. Of the various later artificial means of preserving bodies, impregnation with corrosive sublimate appears to be one of the most effective, next to immersion in spirits. An injection of sulphate of zinc into the bloodvessels is said to be very effective. Research Embalming
The Feudal System is that system by which land (known as a, fief) is held by a vassal on condition of fidelity, that is, in consideration of services to be rendered to his superior or feudal lord. The nature of the feudal system is to be explained by its origin amongst the Germanic tribes.
In the earliest times the relation of superior and vassal did not exist in connection with the ownership of land. Each freeman had his share of the tribe lands, which were held simply on condition of his fulfilling his public duties of attendance at the councils of the mark or township and performing his share of military service in the wars or musters decreed at such councils. The noble had, of course, more land and more influence than the simple freeman, but there need be no tie of vassalage between them. This seems to have been the primitive social organization of the Anglo-Saxons and other German tribes. The lands held by all freemen, whether noble or ordinary freemen, under this system, are said to be allodial, as distinguished from feudal lands, which imply service to a superior lord.
By the close of the 10th century, however, this system had undergone considerable modifications. The masses of Teutonic invaders who overran Gaul and England had necessarily to confer exceptional powers on their leaders; and as they were for long very much in the position of military in an enemy's country, these powers were naturally continued. Thus it was that kings, before unknown to the Anglo-Saxons, make their appearance immediately after their descent upon Britain. It was common for a chief or great man to have a retinue or body-guard composed of valiant youths, who were furnished by the chief with arms and provisions, and who in return devoted themselves to his service. These companions (Anglo-Saxon, Gesithas; German, Gesellen) originally received no pay except their arms, horses, and provisions, and the portion of the spoils which remained after the chieftain had taken his own share. But when conquered lands came to be apportioned and large districts fell into the hands of kings or dukes and their subordinates, they gave certain portions of the territory to their attendants to enjoy for life. These estates were called beneficia or fiefs, because they were only lent to their possessors, to revert after their death to the grantor, who immediately gave them to another of his servants on the same terms.
As the son commonly esteemed it his duty, or was forced by necessity, to devote his arm to the lord in whose service his father had lived, he also received his father's fief; or rather, he was invested with it anew. By the usage of centuries this custom became a right and the fief became hereditary. A fief rendered vacant by the death of the holder was at once taken possession of by his son, on the sole condition of paying homage to the feudal superior. Thus a feudal nobility and a feudal system arose and for a time existed alongside of the old allodial system. But gradually the greater security to be got by putting one's self under the protection of some powerful ruler or leader gave the feudal system the predominance. The free proprietor of landed property, oppressed by powerful neighbours, sought refuge in submitting to some more powerful nobleman, to whom he surrendered his land, receiving it back as a vassal.
Even the inferior nobility found it to be to their advantage to have themselves recognized as feudatories of the nearest duke or earl; and as the royal power steadily advanced, the offices of duke, ealdorman, gerefa, etc., were always bestowed by the king. Thus the crown became the source of all authority and possession in the country. The land which had once been 'folcland,' or the land of the people, became the land of the king, from whom all titles to it were held to be derived. Such at least was the development of feudalism in England, where its centralizing tendencies, especially in the matter of holding land from the crown, were strongly reinforced by the circumstances of the conquest under William The Conqueror. Under him and his immediate successors there was a struggle between royalty and the nobility, which ended in the power of the latter sinking before that of the kings.
On the other hand, in Germany, France, and elsewhere on the Continent, the disintegrating tendencies of feudalism as a system of government had full play. In these countries the weakening of the kingly authority encouraged the great feudal dukes and counts to set up in an almost absolute independence, which in France was afterwards gradually lost as the monarchy grew stronger, but in Germany continued to divide the land down almost to modern times into a number of petty principalities.
Among the chief agencies that overthrew the feudal system were the rise of cities, the change in modes of warfare, and the spread of knowledge and civilization. The spirit of the feudal system, grounded on the prevalence of landed property, was necessarily foreign to cities which owed their origin to industry and personal property, and founded thereon a new sort of power. The growth of this new class, with its wealth and industrial importance, has contributed more than anything else to a social and political development before which the old feudal relations of society have almost totally disappeared. Even yet, however, the laws relating to land still bear the stamp of feudalism in various countries. Research Feudal
Adela was queen of England. She was born in 1062 and died in died 1137. She was the fourth daughter of William The Conqueror, wife of Stephen, Earl of Blois and Chartres, and mother of Stephen, King of England. In her husband's absence in the first crusade, and after his death as regent for her sons she proved herself an able ruler and a generous patroness of learning. Research Adela
Aldred or Ealdeed was an Anglo-Saxon prelate, Bishop of Worcester and Archbishop of York. He was born about 1000 and died in 1069. He improved the discipline of the church and built several ecclesiastical edifices. On the death of Edward the Confessor he is said to have crowned Harold. Having submitted to William The Conqueror, whose esteem he enjoyed and whose power he made subservient to the views of the church, he also crowned him as well as Matilda. Research Aldred
Bruce is a family name distinguished in the history of Scotland. The family of Bruce (or de Brus) was of Norman descent, its founder having obtained from William the Conqueror large grants of land in Northumberland. After being frequently involved in border warfare with the Scots, the house of Bruce received about 1130 from David I a grant of the lands of Annandale, thus obtaining a footing in the south of Scotland. Research Bruce
A constable was an officer of high rank in several of the mediaeval monarchies. Among the Franks, after the major domus, or mayor of the palace, had become king, the comes stabuli became the first dignitary of the crown, commander-in-chief of the armies, and highest judge in military affairs. The connetable, however, acquired so much power that Louis XIII in 1627 abolished the office entirely. Napoleon re-established it, but it vanished with his downfall.
In England the office of lord high constable was created by William the Conqueror, and became hereditary in two different families, as annexed to the earldom of Hereford. Since the attainder of Stafford, however, in 1521, lord high constables have been appointed only to officiate on special occasions. The office of lord high constable of Scotland, expressly reserved in the treaty of union, is hereditary in the noble family of Erroll.
In the common modern acceptation of the term constables are police officers in towns, counties, etc, having as their duties the repression of felonies, the keeping of the peace, the execution of legal warrants, etc. Research Constable
The family of Fitzgerald was an Irish family descended from William, Castellan of Windsor in William the Conqueror's reign. Two branches of this house, the Earls of Desmond and Kildare, were for a long while the practical rulers of the English part of Ireland. The Kildare branch is still represented by the ducal house of Leinster. Research Fitzgerald
Henry I (Henry Beauclere - Henry Fine Scholar) was King of England from 1101 to 1135. He was born in 1068 at Selby and died in 1135. The youngest son of William the Conqueror, he was hunting with William Rufus when that prince was killed, in 1100, and instantly riding to London, caused himself to be proclaimed king, to the prejudice of his elder brother Robert, then absent as a Crusader. Henry I re-established by charter the laws of Edward the Confessor, recalled Anselm to the primacy, and married Matilda, daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland, thus conciliating in turn the people, the church, and the Scots.
Robert landed an army, but was pacified with a pension, and the promise of succession in event of his brother's decease. Soon after, however, Henry I invaded Normandy, took Robert prisoner in 1106, and reduced the duchy. He was successful also in the struggle with France. The last years of his reign were very troubled. In 1120 his only son William was drowned in returning from Normandy, where, three years later, a revolt occurred in favour of Robert's son. The Welsh also were a source of disturbance. Henry I appointed as his heir his daughter Matilda or Maud, whom he had married first to the Emperor Henry V, and then to Geoffrey Plantagenet of Anjou. Henry was succeeded by Stephen. Research Henry I
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
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Abbreviations
Research Curfew
