This is the first full-length analysis of the machinery and men of government under Henry I, which looks in much greater detail than is possible for other contemporary states at the way government worked and at the careers of royal servants. The early twelfth century was a major period of growth in English government apart from the royal household. Royal justice was vigorously administered, setting precedents for the later development of common law. At the local level the powerful sheriffs were kept under control, though aristocratic influence over the office survived. Government provided new...

This book provides the first rounded account of the new and highly influential ruling elite of England in the century after the Norman conquest of 1066, in which the old English aristocracy was swept aside. It focuses on four main themes: land (the transfer of land to the aristocracy, and the organization of the great estates), power (the nature of power and its vitality), politics (the aims and strategies of the nobles), and society (kinship, the role of women, and piety).

This book draws together a collection of essays looking at the ways in which charters and charter scholarship in different areas of Britain and Ireland, highlighting comparisons and contrasts in charter production and use. The book shows the crucial importance of charters as sources for understanding the history of royal administration and, more broadly, the perceptions and portrayals of kingly power, as well as developments in written culture.