shire-courts

Updated: May 1, 2025

Though Pandulf was with him, his vassalage had as yet brought little fruit in the way of aid from Rome; the commissioners whom he sent to plead his cause at the shire-courts brought back news that no man would help him against the charter that the barons claimed: and his efforts to detach the clergy from the league of his opponents utterly failed. The nation was against the king.

John Richard Green - History of the English People, Volume I : Early England, 449-1071; Foreign Kings, 1071-1204; The Charter, 1204-1216

At this point the rigid conceptions of the triumphant oligarchy stood in the way of a wide national policy. Since the reign of John the custom had arisen of consulting the representatives of the shire-courts on matters of politics and finance. In 1258 there is not the least trace of a suggestion that parliament could ever include a more popular element than the barons and prelates.

T. F. (Thomas Frederick) Tout - The History of England: From the Accession of Henry III. to the Death of Edward III. (1216-1377)

Scutage was only due for foreign campaigns: the feudal aids only on rare and stated occasions: and though the fines from the shire-courts grew with the growth of society the dues from the public lands were fixed and incapable of developement. But no usage fettered the Crown in dealing with personal property, and its growth in value promised a growing revenue.

John Richard Green - History of the English People, Volume II : The Charter, 1216-1307; The Parliament, 1307-1400

Nobles like David and Rhys found their franchises threatened by the encroachments of the neighbouring shire-courts. Lesser Welshmen were liable to be robbed and insulted by the workmen who were building Edward's castles, or by the soldiers who were garrisoning them.

T. F. (Thomas Frederick) Tout - The History of England: From the Accession of Henry III. to the Death of Edward III. (1216-1377)