Seal of the Gloucester Guild Merchant c1200 The Royal Borough of Gloucester was created in the late ninth century. It followed the occupation of the City in 877 by a marauding Danish army. At that time the old Roman city walls and defences were in a poor and ruinous condition. These were ‘Vikings’ who settled for eight months and even built booths in the streets, before moving on. No battle or serious harm took place before they moved out but…
Defeat of the Danelaw and the Establishment of England The Anglo-Mercian foundations of the ‘Borough System’ King Alfred the Great was the initiator of the fortified garrison burhs or boroughs. King of Wessex from 871 to c886 and of the Anglo-Saxons until 899. He was succeeded by his son Edward the Elder, who was king until his son Æthelstan became king over all of England. Alfred’s eldest child was his daughter Æthelflᴂd who became known as the ‘Lady of…
Early Lordship over Gloucestershire By AS for Mr Lee Hensley, President of the Chartered Freemen & Women of Gloucester There is an interesting historical connection dating from 980, and the founding of Cranborne Priory, in Dorset. The chronicle of Tewkesbury states its patron was Æthelward Mᴂw (Seagull) otherwise known as Haylward ‘Snew’ (for his fair complexion). Haylward was a hugely powerful lord over much of the western counties. His son Ælfgar (or Algar) was earl of Devon. Algar’s son…
Inheritance or ‘succession’ plays an important part in English society. It concerns the devolution of property and it may also designate a property itself. I have previously mentioned how fiefdoms, set back in feudal times, continue to play their part today. Examples of these inheritances are in the Royal Duchies and in the Crown lands. Freemen in England and Wales inherit freedom through their hereditary rights. Succession of property rights is a branch of common law that distinguishes between descent…
The lovely countryside of Gloucestershire is best discovered on foot and by exploring its variety of historic byways. There are many green lanes, hollow ways and halter paths (bridle ways). Ancient footpaths can lead you into an interesting historical past. You could find yourself strolling through verdant meadows or crossing rushing streams before winding up in an isolated Cotswold stone hamlet. On the way you may pass the relics of a Neolithic stone barrow (burial mound), an ancient church or…
Shelley Suffolk, All Saints’ Church In any attempt to analyse our historical past, it surely requires an understanding of how and why people and places were named in the way they were. English surnames, or family names, are thought to have been first considered in around 1605 when Richard Verstegan (1550-1640) published his ‘Restitution of Decayed Intelligence’. His essays contained chapters on both forenames and surnames. The study of personal names, as with the study of place-names requires a…
(Britain) The origins of ‘England’ began with the departure of the Legions and heterogeneous Romans in the early 5th century. Native British, Brythonic Celts were rapidly dominated by the Nordic Saxon tribe of Angelii people from southern Denmark. There was a progressive acculturation of the Romano British as the Celtic language became displaced (in most places) by ‘old English’. It is from the Angelii that the land took its name. England was subsequently adopted by Viking Danes whose Scandinavian pedigree…
Fealty of Harold (and England) to William of Normandy Feoffees, pronounced feffees (fee-fees) are a legacy of the Norman feudal system. They are a type of Trustee who is a guardian/administrator of an estate. Usually this is guided by instruction of a will or deed requiring certain controls and determinations. A feoffee is a person invested with a ‘fief’. Ancient in origin, a fief was an estate of land, especially one held on conditions of feudal service (a…
In England there are two very special dukedoms, they are royal territorial ‘Duchies’. These territorial areas have rights and privileges that are hereditary ‘fiefdoms’ from early feudal origins. They have some similarities to the estates of grand dukes of Europe in as much that they have sovereign HRH status. There is an important difference between the sovereign dukes and the dukes subordinate to the monarch. The estates of these dukes were inviolate and cannot be broken or dissolved through marriage…
English history has been led by the traditions of our monarchy. Our national identity results from an historic lineage that recognises inherited traditions dating back to Anglo-Saxon roots. Monarchy is associated with political and sociocultural hereditary rule. Our morally based society has evolved from the traditions created through the Christian based hereditary monarchy. The principle system of which has been the application of primogeniture or patrimonial lineage. The British Monarchy today is known as a constitutional monarchy. This means that…