Honor
Honor is a term used by English law and called the rule of a sovereign over several manors ( Engl. Manors ).
This form of manorial rule went back to the Anglo-Saxons , where jurisdiction was often exercised over several neighboring properties together.
With the extensive land reform after the Norman conquest of England in 1066, this system was consolidated, as William the Conqueror expropriated the English landowners and gave the land to his followers. The property of a single lord, which consisted of several, sometimes hundreds, of manors, was called honor (German: honor) based on the reward character and was later recorded in the Domesday Book . The new owners served Wilhelm as landlords and loyal soldiers, following the example of the continental feudal system .
In order to prevent the creation of principalities, the honors were spread over the entire country. A typical honor thus consisted of goods that were distributed over several Shires , interspersed with property of other masters, although usually an area existed in which some of the goods were concentrated. Here was the caput honoris ( Latin 'head') of the honor with an eponymous castle as the administrative center ( manor house ).
Traditional honors were:
- The Honor of Huntingdon ( Henry of Scotland (1114–1152) was Earl of Northumberland and Earl of the Honor of Huntingdon and Northampton, which was later shortened to Earl of Huntingdon )
- The Honor of Eye (at the time of the first owner, William Malet of the House of Malet , † 1071, the Honor of Eye was the greatest lordship in East Anglia )
- The Honor of Clare (owned by the Clare family )
- The Honor of Richmond (owned by the Earl of Richmond , i.e. the Duke of Brittany )
- The Honor of Leicester (owned by the Grandmesnil family )
- The Honor of Chester (owned by the Earls of Chester , a title now linked to that of the Prince of Wales )
No new honors were established under Heinrich II , but he wanted to strengthen his central authority. Most of the honors reverted to the crown. Either they remained in royal possession or were given back to individual feudal lords as a fief, but reduced in size. Although an honor comprised several feudal estates, a common court day was held for all estates.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Uwe Klußmann: Normans on the Throne: Wilhelm the Conqueror was a brutal warlord, but he turned out to be a skilful leader. Der Spiegel , July 29, 2014.
- ^ Photographs of English Castles and Manor Houses. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
- ↑ Manfred Hiebl: Honor Lexicon of the Middle Ages, accessed on June 21, 2020.
- ↑ Honor Encyclopædia Britannica , accessed on May 25, 2020.