The reasons for the establishment of coroners were mainly financial: the aim was to sweep as much money as possible into the royal treasury. Richard the Lionheart was a spendthrift, using huge sums to finance his expedition to the Third Crusade and for his wars against the French. Kidnapped on his way home from the Holy Land, he was held for well over a year in prisons in Austria and Germany, and a huge ransom was needed to free him. To raise this money, his Chief Justiciar, Hubert Walter, who was also Archbishop of Canterbury, introduced all sorts of measures to extort money from the population of England.
Hubert revived the office of coroner, which was intended to collect money by a variety of means relating to the administration of the law. One of these was by investigating and holding inquests into all deaths that were not obviously natural, as well as into serious assaults, rapes, house fires, discoveries of buried treasure, wrecks of the sea and catches of the royal fish (whale and sturgeon). Coroners also took confessions from criminals and fugitives seeking sanctuary in churches, organised abjurations of the realm (q.v.), recorded the statements of approvers (q.v.) who wished to turn King's Evidence, attended executions to seize the goods of felons, and organised the ritual of ordeals (q.v.) and trial by battle.
As the Normans had inherited a multiple system of county and manorial courts from the Saxons, the coroner also worked to sweep more lucrative business into the new Royal Courts. This gave him the title of Keeper of the Pleas of the Crown, from the original Latin of which (custos placitorum coronas) the word 'coroner' is derived.
Although the coroner was not allowed to try cases (this was later again specifically forbidden by Magna Carta), he had to create a record of all legal events to present to the royal justices when they came on their infrequent visits to the Eyre (q.v.). The actual recording on the 'coroner's rolls' was done by his clerk, as the coroners, like the vast majority of people, were illiterate. Reading and writing were almost wholly confined to those in holy orders, of whom there were many grades besides the actual priests.
It was difficult to find knights to take on the job of coroner, as it was unpaid and the appointee had to have a large private income: at least £20 a year. This was supposed to make him immune from corruption, which was common among the sheriffs. Indeed, one reason for the introduction of coroners was to keep a check on sheriffs, who were the king's representatives in each county.
COVER-CHIEF
More correctly 'couvre-chef", a linen head cover flowing down the back and shoulders, worn by women and held in place by a band around the forehead. Called a headrail in Saxon times.
CURFEW
The prohibition of open fires in towns after dark, for fear of starting conflagrations. The word is derived from '
couvre-feu
', describing the extinguishing or banking down of fires at night. During the curfew, the city gates were closed from dusk to dawn. A thirteenth-century mayor of Exeter was hanged for failing to ensure this.
DESTRlER
A sturdy warhorse able to carry the weight of an armoured knight. Destriers were not the huge beasts often portrayed in historical art; they were rather short-legged, the rider's feet being not that far from the ground.
ESCHEAT
If a baron or manor lord died without an heir of full age, his estate reverted to the king, either permanently or until the heir came of age. Felony or treason could also lead to the escheating of property.
EYRE
A sitting of the King's Justices, introduced by Henry 11 in 1166, which moved around the country in circuits. There were two types, the 'Eyre of Assize', which was the forerunner of the later Assize Court, which was supposed to visit each county town regularly to try serious cases. The other was the General Eyre, which came at long intervals to scrutinise the administration of each county.
FARM
The taxes from a county, collected in coin on behalf of the sheriff and taken by him personally every six months to the royal treasury at London or Winchester. The sum was fixed annually by the king or his ministers: if the sheriff could extract more from the county, he could retain the excess, which made the office of sheriff much sought after.
FRANKPLEDGE
A system of law enforcement introduced by the Normans, where groups (tithings) of ten households were formed to enforce mutual good behaviour amongst each group.
FREEMAN
A person other than a bondsman of the feudal system. The villeins, serfs and slaves were not free, though the distinction did not necessarily mean a different level of affluence.
FLETCHING
The feathered flights on the end of an arrow made by a fletcher. On crossbow bolts, the fletching was usually of leather.
GAOL DELIVERY
As the circulation of the King's Justices at the Eyre of Assize was so slow, with years between each visit, the counties were visited more often by lower judges, called Commissioners of Gaol Delivery, in order to clear the overcrowded prisons of those held on remand.
GUILDS
Trade or merchant associations set up for mutual protection. Merchant guilds mainly functioned to ward off foreign competition and to set prices. Trade guilds were organisations for the many crafts and manufactures, controlling conditions of work, the quality of goods and the welfare of workers and their families.
HAUBERK
A long chain-mail tunic with long sleeves to protect the wearer from neck to calf, usually slit to enable riding a horse.
HUNDRED
An administrative division of the county, originally named for a hundred hides of land or a hundred families.
JOHN LACKLAND
A sarcastic nickname for Prince John, Count of Mortain. The name came from the refusal of his father King Henry II to endow him with significant territory. When his brother Richard came to the throne in 1189, he gave much land to John, including Devon and Cornwall.
JUSTICES
The king's judges, originally members of his royal court, but later chosen from barons, senior priests and administrators. They sat in the various law courts, such as the Eyre of Assize or as Commissioners of Gaol Delivery. From 1195 onwards, Keepers of the Peace, later to become Justices of the Peace, were recruited from knights and local worthies to deal with lesser offences.
KIRTLE
A ladies' floor-length gown. Many variations of style and fit, especially of the sleeves, existed in the fashion conscious medieval period.
LEAT OR LEET
An artificial water channel usually constructed to drain a marsh or to conduct water into an ore-washing system during tin extraction.
MAGISTER
A learned teacher in a school or early university.
MANOR-REEVE
A villien in a manor elected by his unfree fellows to represent them. He organised their daily labours and was in turn responsible to the lord's bailiff or steward.
MANTLE
A cloak, either circular with a hole for the head, or open-fronted with the top being closed either by a large brooch on the shoulder or by a top corner being pulled through a ring sewn to the opposite shoulder.
MATINS
The first of nine offices of the religious day, originally observed at midnight or in the early hours.
ORDEAL
A test of guilt or innocence, such as walking over nine red-hot ploughshares with bare feet or picking a stone from a barrel of boiling water. If burns appeared within a certain time, the person was judged guilty and hanged. There was also the Ordeal of Battle where a legal dispute was settled by combat. For women, submersion in water was the ordeal: the guilty floated. Ordeals were forbidden by the Lateran Council in 1215.
OUTLAW
A man who did not submit to legal processes. Usually an escaped felon or suspect, a runaway sanctuary seeker or abjurer, he was declared 'outlaw' - by a writ of exigent _ if he did not answer to a summons on four consecutive sessions of the county court. An outlaw was legally dead, with no rights whatsoever, and could be legally slain on the spot by anyone. If caught by a law officer, he was hanged. A female could not be outlawed, but was declared 'waif', which was very similar.
OUTREMER
Literally 'over the sea', the term was used to refer to the countries in the Levant, especially the Holy Land.
PELISSE
An outer garment worn by both men and women with a fur lining for winter wear. The fur could be sable, rabbit, marten, cat, et cetera.
POSSE
The posse comitatus, introduced by Henry II, was the title given to a band of men raised by a sheriff to hunt felons or enemies of the realm across the county.
PREBENDARY
The canon of a cathedral, deriving an income from his prebend, a tract of land granted to him (see canon).
PRESENTMENT
At coroner's inquests, a corpse was presumed to be that of a Norman, unless the locals could prove 'Englishry' by presenting such evidence from the family. If they could not, a 'murdrum' fine was imposed on the community by the coroner, on the assumption that Normans were murdered by the Saxons they had conquered in 1066. Murdrum fines became a cynical device to extort money, persisting for several hundred years after the Conquest, by which time it was virtually impossible to differentiate the two races.
QUIRE
The area within a church between the nave and the presbytery and altar, which gave rise to the name' choir'. The quire was usually separated from the nave by a carved rood screen at the chancel arch, bearing a large crucifix above it.
SACKBUT
A medieval wind instrument similar to a trombone.
SANCTUARY
An ancient act of mercy: a fugitive from justice could claim forty days' respite if he gained the safety of a church or even its environs. After that time, unless he confessed to the coroner, he was shut in and starved to death. If he confessed, he could abjure the realm (q.v.).
SERGEANT
The term was used in several ways, denoting inter alia an administrative/legal officer in a county hundred, or a military rank of a senior man-at-arms.
SECONDARIES
Young men aspiring to become priests and under twenty-four years of age. They assisted canons and vicars in their duties in the cathedral.
SHERIFF
The 'shire reeve', the king's representative in each county, responsible for law and order and the collection of taxes. The office was eagerly sought after as it was lucrative; both barons and senior churchmen bought the office from the king at high premiums, some holding several shrieval ties at the same time. Sheriffs were notorious for dishonesty and embezzlement - in 1170, the Lionheart’s father, Henry II, sacked all his sheriffs and heavily fined many for malpractice. The sheriff in earlier Crowner John books, Richard de Revelle, though fictional, was named after the actual Sheriff of Devon in 1194-95. He was appointed early in 1194, then lost office for reasons unknown; he returned to office later in the year but was dismissed again in the following year.
SOLAR
A room built on to the main hall of a castle or house for the use of the lord or owner, usually for the use of the lady during the daytime and often as a bedroom at night.
UMBLE PIE
The umbles were the less desirable parts of venison, such as the offal. Especially at Christmas, they were given by a lord to the poorer people to make 'umble pie', from which the expression 'to eat humble pie' arose as an indicator of subservient status.
VICAR
A priest employed by a more senior cleric, such as a canon, to carry out some of his religious duties, and especially to attend the many daily services in the cathedral. Such a priest was often called a 'vicar-choral' because of his participation in chanted services.
WIMPLE