No ruler has ever ruled absolutely. However powerful he might appear, and however strong his claims to legitimacy, he would still need the support of his realm’s local or regional elites: local support mattered. In pre-modern societies, the personalities and policies of the men in control of the provinces were very often of greater consequence to people than those of the king or emperor himself. Any ruler who wanted to make his rule effective needed to harness the power of these people, the local power brokers who mediated the flow of authority to his subjects. It was to these men that he would look to enforce order in the localities and to raise men for him when he needed to fight wars. In England we recognise these men as the aristocracy, the higher nobility, the people at the apex of the social pyramid.
To appreciate the dynamics of the English medieval state, it is important to understand this powerful landed elite, the sources of their lordly power, and the ways in which they disposed of it. It is the aim of the present course to do precisely that. To open proceedings, an attempt will be made to define the higher nobility, identify who they were, estimate their numbers, and examine what titles they used and how these changed over time. Next, attention will be focused on the financial position of the nobility, with consideration given to the sources of noble income and a breakdown of how that income was spent. After this, the spotlight will be shone on the structures of local aristocratic power, in particular on the pattern of service and reward by which the nobility exercised good lordship in their localities. Next, there will be a discussion of the noble lifestyle in its various forms, taking in estate administration, local government, the aristocrats’ love of the chase, the civilised arts (reading and writing) and last, but by no means least, involvement in the king’s wars.
The course will end with a consideration of the nobility’s preparations for the world to come, looking in particular at the intercessory foundations they made, the churches and chapels they built, the funerals they prepared for, and the tomb effigies by which they were commemorated.
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