Chapter IV

_Social Condition of the Nation in the
Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries._

⭘ Feudal Organisation: the King, Revenue, Crown Officials;
King’s Council; Legal Functionaries

⭘ Early Specimens of Charters; Charters made a requisite
condition of holding Land, and a test of Freedom and Civil
Rights; Thus many of the People were deprived of their
Rights――Powers and Privileges granted by the Kings to the
Norman Nobles――Connection of the Church with Feudalism and
the Land――Hereditary tendency of Feudalism

⭘ Law――Crime――Forms of Trial and Punishment――Compurgators
――Ordeals――Wager of Battle, Hot Iron, and Water――Origin of
Jury Trial――Indications of Improvement――Sanctuaries

⭘ Early Towns: Royal Burghs; their Relations to the Crown
――Trading Communities to the north of the Grampians――Court of
the Burghs――Laws of the Burghs――Government and Organisation
of the Burghal Communities; Guild Brethren――Markets――Burghs of
Regality and Barony――Church Burghs

⭘ Coinage; Weights and Measures; Commerce of the Kingdom;
Commercial Treaty with Flanders――Home Manufactures; Hand
Craftsmen――Seals of the Kings, Nobles, and Bishops

⭘ Reorganisation of the Church――Dioceses and Parishes; Monastic
Ideal; Celibacy――Schools

⭘ Literature of the Period: Chronicles; Records

⭘ Architecture: Castles; Churches

⭘ Husbandry; Herds of Cattle; Dairy Produce; Grain Crops;
Mills, Brewhouses――Crown Lands――Church Lands――Condition
of the Occupiers and the Toilers of the Land――Bondmen and
Serfs――Conclusion