WCF

History, politics, and culture articles and forum discussions.

England

- By

Thoughts on Sir Christopher Wren

Sir Christopher Wren, 1632-1723

The name of Christopher Wren came up in some readings and so then I read a bit more specifically about his life from the Wikipedia entry.

According to the article, he was a cross-disciplinary expert in areas such as astronomy and architecture during the latter half of seventeenth-century England.  His most memorable work may have been the construction of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, but he also helped to build over fifty churches after the fire of 1666.

One part of the article that stuck out to me was that

By 1669 Wren’s career was well established and it may have been his appointment as Surveyor-General of the King’s Works in early 1669 that persuaded him that he could finally afford to take a wife.

Being in his late 30s, and seeming to have accomplished quite a bit already, I was surprised that he couldn’t “afford” a wife before that time.  On a sad note, the article says that the first wife died about three years later; the second wife, married about a year and a half after the first’s death, also died about three years into that marriage.

Also of interest about Wren was what was put on his epitaph where he was buried (inside St. Paul’s Cathedral): Lector, Si Monumentum Requiris Circumspice – which means: Reader, if you seek his monument, look around.  Quite an impressive way to way to remember someone!

- By

William II Canynges in medieval Bristol

William II Canynges (probably born about 1399) was the son of a renowned Mayor of Bristol.

A city mayor during the 15th century had to be a very wealthy man indeed. The honour that the city had bestowed on him often resulted in a year-long parade of ceremonies. Additionally, a very strong personality was essential with which to impose his authority over the hardy race of determined townsmen of lesser means. So it was that a city Mayor was more often than not chosen from the wealthiest and most successful merchant in town The down side to this was that the position of Mayor meant that the incumbent had no time for his own business or private concerns. However, during his year in office he belonged to the city; and the city, except for the King’s prerogatives, belonged to him.

The tomb of William II Canynges (c. 1399-1474) and wife Joan Burton. Located in St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, England, UK.

It is not really surprising then, that Bristol chose William Canynges as Mayor on five occasions. His fame as a merchant was well known, not just in his own town but throughout Europe, for he built and operated a fleet that included some of the largest merchant-vessels then sailing under the English flag. He employed at times almost a thousand men on his far flung enterprises largely consisting of exporting wheat, wine and quantities of cloth (especially the brightly coloured cloth to Iceland,), and introduced to English civilisation such products as glasses, combs, caps and shoes, hardware and small beer.

From Iceland came fresh fish, usually salted on the journey home, and iron-hard codfish. A merchant whose vessel brought in ?600 cargo of fish could expect to sell them at market for a sum in excess of 1,000 [in currency].

Canynges possessed a fleet of ten vessels totaling some 3,000 tons (laden) crewed by 800 sailors. The largest, the “Mary and John”, was 900 tons and cost 4,000 marks to build. It was the marvel of its time, for most other vessels from Italy and Spain were far smaller.

Freight rates too were so profitable that Canynges was regularly able to keep all of his ships fully employed and would normally expect to enjoy a gross return of 10,000 in a single year. There were risks, of course; even if a ship did survive storms and other natural catastrophes, it might well be taken by pirates (a common hazard for seafarers of this time). Or, it might be tied up for months, in time of war, by being requisitioned by the King to defend England’s coastline.

Canynges minimized this final problem by lavishly entertaining King Edward at his mansion and made a present of a large sum of money to his monarch. This present to King Edward would be well rewarded in return. Edward IV was the first English King to actively encourage shipbuilding, introducing incentives such as a first voyage free of customs duties, and forbidding the carrying of imports in foreign vessels if a suitable English ship was available.

In addition, Canynges’ city of Bristol would receive a significant number of Royal privileges.  In 1480, another Bristol merchant, John Jay would send two ships out into the wild Atlantic in search of “The Ile of Brasile”.  After two months the expedition would be forced to return to an Irish port. A second expedition a year later fared little better, but eventually a man named John Cabot arrived in Bristol, and the rest is history.

William Canynges was a man of strong religious conviction at a time when the power of the Church was coming under quite serious opposition.  He rebuilt St.Mary Redcliffe, one of the loveliest churches in England, and died in 1474 humbly serving within Holy orders.

Nave of St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, England, UK. William II Canynges contributed to the construction of the church in the fifteenth century.

This post was originally published as a discussion topic July 20, 2006.  The post was edited for clarity and grammar.

- By

Local Government in Anglo-Saxon England

Originating in eighth century Wessex, the Anglo-Saxon shire system would replace the Roman Provinces as the British standard of local government. Throughout the eighth and ninth centuries the system gradually expanded to cover the whole of England.

The ruins of Whitby Abbey in Yorkshire, England.

A Shire which usually took its name from its principle city was governed by an Eldorman, a noble of the highest social rank, who was appointed by the King to represent his interests within the region. The Eldormen were responsible for the Shire militia (the fyrd), secular law in the shire moot, and presided over the shire court. From the tenth and eleventh centuries many of these Eldormen became powerful local magnates, often controlling more than one shire, and the title became shortened to Earls.

A common subdivision of the shire, in Saxon regions south of the River Tees, was the Hundred. These varied in size from area to area and emerged as local administrative units during the tenth century. The name may have originated from the grouping of a hundred Hides, a unit of land considered sufficient to support a peasant and his household. Again the Hide could be of various sizes ranging from as little as 40 acres in Wessex to about 120 acres in the eastern shires. Hides were the basic unit for the assessment of taxation and military service, and were subject to the Hundred courts, which met every four weeks, having jurisdiction in cases relating to local issues and apportioning taxes.

Map of England around 878 A.D.

The Anglo-Saxon system of Shire, Hundred and Hide was not so dissimilar to that within the Danish controlled regions in the North, Central, and Eastern England in which Danish rather than Saxon laws and customs prevailed. King Edgar (reigned 959-75) granted autonomy to the Danish settlers in these regions (this being known as the Danelaw).

Between the rivers Tees and Thames in eastern England this would still prevail as the common customary law even as late as the eleventh and twelfth centuries. In these regions the organization of local government was known as the Wapenstakes, which probably originates out of the Norse words for “weapon” and “take”; taking or grasping a weapon was probably a Viking way of signifying assent at meetings. Like the Saxon Hundreds, the Wapenstake was the basic unit of tax assessment, and each Wapenstake was responsible for maintaining law and order within its own jurisdiction.

The Danelaw equivalent of the Saxon Hide was, from the tenth century, known as the Ploughland. This was a unit of land of probably amounting to about approximately a hundred acres which could be plowed by one team of eight oxen .

Broadway Tower in Worcestershire, England.

Incidentally, the term Hundreds still exists today in one form. The Chiltern Hundreds are three Hundreds (Stoke, Desborough and Burnham ) in south central England. By tradition, a member of Parliament cannot resign his seat, but if he wishes to retire he may apply for one of two stewardships, the holder of which, since he becomes a paid member of the crown, may not (since 1707) sit in Parliament. Formerly there were several such stewardships, but since 1957, there have been only two – the Chiltern Hundreds and the Manor of Northstead in Yorkshire.

With the Norman conquest the Shires would be replaced by the Counties, although the word Shire would continue often as a part of the county name (e.g. Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Hampshire etc.). Under Norman control the Eldormen would likewise be replaced by Sheriffs, although the manner of their appointment and duties would largely remain unchanged from that of their earlier counterparts.

WCF