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The exchequer became the government's primary financial department. It gave the chamber the money to pay for the government's operations and the privy purse. The lower exchequer or "exchequer of receipt" was the London treasury. It was staffed by the treasurer, two chamberlains, and other minor officials. Sheriffs paid county revenues to the ...
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.
Feudalism in the 12th century Norman England was among the better structured and established in Europe at the time. However, it could be structurally complex, which is illustrated by the example of the feudal barony of Stafford as described in a survey of knight's fees made in 1166 and recorded in The Black Book of the Exchequer.
In order to understand the character of English finance in the Middle Ages, it is essential to constantly bear in mind the identification of the king with the state.. Although feudalism was, in one aspect, a powerful instrument for the division of political authority, the particular form in which the Conqueror introduced it to England nevertheless enabled the fiscal rights of the crown to be ...
In the Late Middle Ages, feudalism began to decline with the gradual centralization of government, a process that accelerated in the early fourteenth century. [5] The system remained in decline until its formal abolition in England under the Tenures Abolition Act 1660. By that time, significant socio-economic class divisions had taken root ...
The lord of the manor could be given a post by the central government, such as sheriff or officer in charge of the county, in return for a small payment. In these cases the manorial court's jurisdiction could in effect become county-wide. [citation needed] Alternatively, the lord could acquire a franchise of the Crown to hold court for criminal ...
Under the English feudal system several different forms of land tenure existed, each effectively a contract with differing rights and duties attached thereto. Such tenures could be either free-hold if they were hereditable or perpetual or non-free if they terminated on the tenant's death or at an earlier specified period.
The history of local government in England is one of gradual change and evolution since the Middle Ages. England has never possessed a formal written constitution, with the result that modern administration (and the judicial system) is based on precedent, and is derived from administrative powers granted (usually by the Crown) to older systems, such as that of the shires.