INDEX

Aaron of Lincoln 198

abbots and abbesses 24, 77, 89

Abbots Bromley 243

Abingdon 61, 227

Act of Six Articles (1539) 268, 269

Act of Supremacy (1543) 267

Act of Uniformity (1549) 269

adultery 25, 99, 159

Advent 239, 240–1

Aelfric 1–2, 172

Africans 276–7

alcohol 189–92

Aldhelm 172

ale 28, 109, 111, 189–90, 191

alehouses 141, 158, 190

Alexander II, Pope 255–6

Alfred of Wessex 2, 176, 180

All Saints’ Day 261, 264

All Souls’ Day 261, 264

alms giving 155

almshouses 91, 155

Alton 161

Amesbury 90

anaemia 111

anchorites 92, 95, 137

Ancrene Riwle 128, 207

Andrew de Wyntoun 166

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 172, 180, 181, 215, 216, 224–5, 226

Anglo-Saxon society xi, 1–26

animals

cruelty towards 248–9

exterminatory drives 271–2

mythological/fantastical creatures 228, 229, 234–6, 260

pets 193–4

sacrifices 9

Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury 29

apothecaries 124

apprentices 61, 63, 64, 65, 136

female 136

Aquinas, Thomas 128

archdeaconries 77

archdioceses 78

archery 193

armour-making 136

art and architecture 25–6

Carolingian 11, 76

children in art 139

Church architecture xiv, 11, 81–4, 270

Decorated Style 83

Early English style 39

Gothic style 39

High Gothic style 83

Jellinge Style 25–6

late Anglo-Saxon 25–6

Perpendicular Style 83

Ringerike Style 26

Romanesque Style 11, 26, 76

Scandinavian 7, 9, 12, 25–6

Urnes Style 26

vernacular architecture 6

Winchester Style 25, 26

Arthur, King 94

Ascension Day 255

Ash Wednesday 249, 263

Ashby Folville 157

Ashwell 118

Askew, Anne 143

assize judges 148

astrology 123

Aubrey, John 180

Augustine, St 97–8

Augustinians 33, 78, 88, 90, 92, 93, 177

Aurora Borealis 218

Aylesbury 152

Bacon, Roger 238

bailiffs 34, 61

bakers 34, 65

Baldock 57

Bald’s Leechbook 22–3

Bale, John 180

Ball, John 49, 50, 51, 81, 99

Baltic trade 73–4, 210

banking 67, 105, 202

see also moneylending

baptism 78, 82, 137, 251, 268

barley 24, 46, 184, 189

barnacle geese 182, 229–31, 249

barons 27

Barrington 109, 208

Barton-upon-Humber 124

Bath 186

Baxter, Margery 97

Bean Kings 245

Becket, Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury 93, 147

Bede, Venerable 172

Bedford 17

beekeepers 33

beer 191

beggars 48, 155, 156, 157

see also vagrancy

bell founding 68

Benedict of York 199

Benedictines 33, 88, 89, 101, 107, 177

benefices 80

benefit of clergy 79, 147, 160

Beowulf 180

Berkeley Castle 127

Berkhamsted 201

Berkshire 35

Berwick 58

bestiaries 229, 230, 234–5, 236

Beverley 58, 62, 71, 74, 91, 186

Bible 98, 99, 169, 172, 268, 278

Great Bible 172, 268, 277

translations 99, 169, 172, 278

bishops 10, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 150

bishops’ sees 76

Black Death 31, 46, 47, 52, 83, 84, 87, 105, 116–19, 137

death toll 118

impact of 118–19

spread of 116–19

symptoms 116–17

Blackwater Estuary 40

Blanc, John 276

Blanket, Thomas 209

blast furnaces 38

blood letting 123

Blood Libel 197, 202

‘blood-red’ springs 224–7

board games 192, 243

Boleyn, Anne 131, 142

bonfire parties 260

Book of Common Prayer 262, 264, 268, 269

book culture 178–81

see also printing

Books of Hours xiv, 102

Boorde, Andrew 191

borders of England 2

boreworms 113

borh 19

boroughs 58

charters 59

freedoms 59, 60–1

see also towns

Boston 42, 57, 60, 73, 74

Bosworth, battle of (1485) xi

Bourn valley 15–16

Boy Bishops 245, 262

Bradford on Avon 25, 77

brass making 68

bread 28, 65, 108, 109, 111, 260

breastfeeding 110

brewing 34, 35, 189–90, 191–2

brick making 69

bridges 71, 149

Bristol 21, 39, 59, 64, 74, 112, 118, 141, 186, 205, 209, 244, 245, 275

churches 84

economic decline 74

guilds 66

Jewish community 195–6, 198

Merchant Adventurers 66–7

population 59

town government 62, 63

Brixworth 11, 77

Brome 186

Bromholm Priory 102

Bromyard, John 194

brothels 150, 205

Brough 208

Buckfastleigh 259

Bunbury 272

Bungay 198

burgage tenure 60

burgesses 61

burghal plots 69

burhs 17, 60

burial practices

Christian 10, 81, 85–8

deviant burials 150–1

Scandinavian 6

Viking 9

see also cemeteries

burning at the stake 152

Bury 32, 61–2

Bury St Edmonds 86, 260–1

butchers 34, 70, 114

Butler, Eleanor 132

Calle, Richard 125, 126

Calne, Sir Richard de 221

Cambridge 56, 70, 177, 198, 202, 203

Cambridgeshire 32

Candlemas 247, 262–3

Canon Law 10, 77, 126, 127, 146–7, 160

canons 78, 80

Canterbury 11, 39, 76, 77, 78, 93, 119, 186, 192, 202, 204

capital punishment 145, 150–1, 152, 163

capitalism 274

carders 64

Carmarthen 122

Carmelites 90

carpenters 33, 34, 66

Carthusians 88, 89, 107

Catholic Church see Church, English

Caxton, William 86, 171, 179, 183

cemeteries 4, 10, 11, 86, 124, 150, 151

execution cemeteries 150, 151–2

Jewish 203

leper cemeteries 207–8

monastic 107

ceorls 20, 52

Cerne Abbas 1

cesspools 104, 113, 114

champart payments 30

chantries 66, 82, 84, 85, 176, 269

chapels of ease 81

charms 23, 95, 96

charnel houses 88

chastity 132, 135

Chaucer, Geoffrey 162, 170, 171, 179, 188, 190

Cheddar 17

chess 192

Chester 62, 108, 144, 186, 192, 244, 255, 259, 260

chevage payments 30, 51

Chichele, Henry, Archbishop of Canterbury 95

Chichester 39, 76, 93

childbearing 110, 115, 137

Childehampton 30

children

childhood 139–40

custody of 25

diet and nutrition 182

life-cycle service 139

parent–child relationships 140

childwyte 132

Christchurch 119, 179

Christianity 7, 12, 75

see also Church

Christmas 186, 239, 241–6, 262

chronicles 50, 214–20, 223, 227, 238

see also individual chroniclers

church ales 82, 191, 252, 253, 255, 263

church architecture xiv, 11, 81–4, 270

Church, English 7–12, 75–103

communities 7–8, 78

Convocation 267, 268

crisis in 100–3

critics of 81, 97, 98–9, 100, 266–7

land ownership 10, 77, 80–1, 89

liturgical year 239–59, 261–2

organizational reform 77, 266–70

sacraments 78–9, 129, 268

social impact 10

Ten Articles 268

and urban development 17

see also clergy; monasteries; monastic crisis and reform; pilgrimage; religious orders

churches

building 3, 11, 15, 39, 83

cathedrals 11

chantries 66, 82, 84, 85, 176, 269

chapels of ease 81

estate-churches 8

field churches 11

male–female segregation 140

minsters 8, 11, 17, 18, 72

monastic 8

mother churches 81

parish churches 55, 81, 91

rebuilding programme 76, 83

upkeep 82

village 8, 11

churchwardens 82, 253, 272

Cinque Ports 40, 41

Cirencester 61

Cistercians 33, 88, 89, 177

clergy 79–80

attacks on 101–2

benefit of clergy 79, 147, 160

burial 87

celibacy 7, 9–10, 79, 80, 127, 134, 135, 224, 268, 269

criminal clerics 99, 146–7

married 7, 8, 10, 77, 80, 98, 135, 224

minor and major orders 79, 80

monastic 7

numbers of 80

ordained clergy 79–80

secular 7–8

‘technical clerics’ 79

see also canons; friars; monks; priests

climate change 36, 37, 46, 272

Clink Prison 149

clock manufacturing 69

cloth trade 25, 52, 53, 54, 58, 64, 68, 73, 209, 275

see also wool trade

clothiers 64, 273

clothing 48, 184–6

Cluniacs 88, 107

Cnut, King 3, 4, 7, 9, 19, 25

coal mining 34, 38–9

bell pits 38, 39

pillar and stall mines 39

cock threshing 248–9

Codicote 34

coffins 87–8

cogs 71

coin clipping 203

coin hoards 17, 21

coinage xi–xii, 3, 52

gold 67

minting 18

Scandinavian 9

silver 3, 275

Cok, Hugh 34–5

Colchester 74, 199, 209

colleges 91, 177, 178

Collins Creek 40

Collop Monday 248

combers 33

comets 216, 217, 228

commission of Trailbaston 148

commissions of oyer and terminer 148

common land 42, 273

Common Law 28–9, 134, 144–5, 147, 178

conduct books 142, 183

constables 149

coopers 34

copyholders 271

Corfe Castle 39

Cornwall 35, 43, 46, 67

coroners’ accounts xiv

Corpus Christi 50, 65, 256–9, 264

Corpus Christi plays 102, 186–7, 264

Coterels 156, 157

Cotswolds 53, 83

cottages 44

Cotton, Sir Robert 180–1

Court Leet 145

courtly love literature 134, 178–9

courts

Church courts 79, 146–7, 160

court of common pleas 148

court of king’s bench 148

hundred courts 19, 77, 144

manorial courts 20, 28–9, 127, 132–3, 144, 145, 146

royal 28, 29, 99, 146, 147, 160

shire courts 77, 144

courtyard farms 44

Coventry 51, 59, 65, 74, 112, 140–1, 159, 205, 260

Mystery Plays 140–1, 186, 187, 259

craft specialization 18

crafts 33–4

see also guilds; and individual crafts

Cranbrook 209

Cranmer, Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury 263, 268

Creeping to the Cross 251, 263

crew yards 44

crime see law and order

criminal gangs 148, 156–7

Crispin, Gilbert, Abbot of Westminster 196–7

crofts 43, 44, 46

Cromwell, Thomas 266

cross-breeding 234–6

Crusades 92, 197, 198, 201

cult of saints 253, 261, 267

currency

debasements 275

see also coinage

cycle of the year 239–65

Danegelds 3

Danelaw xii, 4, 6, 14, 20, 32, 72

deacons 10

deer parks 49

Deerhurst 11, 77

demesne land 28, 29, 52, 273

dental health 111

Derbyshire 157

deserted medieval villages (DMV) 44, 46, 47, 53, 232

deserving poor 156

Devon 43, 46, 67

diet 107–12, 182–3

Anglo-Saxon 23–4

Carbohydrate-based 111

children 182

daily food intake 107, 109

elite households 182–3, 184

fasting 40, 241, 248, 249, 263

fish 40, 182, 241, 249

lower-class diet 108, 109, 111–12, 184

malnutrition, effects of 108

meat consumption 107, 109, 111, 182, 184, 241

monastic 107

protein-rich 23

diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) 107

dining and table etiquette 182–4

Dioscorides 23

disabilities, people with 237

diseases 47, 107, 115–22

diphtheria 121

epidemics 106, 115

hygiene and 113

obesity-related 107

sin–disease association 122, 208

see also individual diseases

Distaff Day 245

divorce 131–2

Domesday Book 11, 20, 29, 33, 105

Dominicans 90, 91, 201

Doncaster 102

Dorchester-on-Thames 76

Dorset 39

Dover 40–1

Downham 132, 146

Drakelow 231, 232

drama 186–8

liturgical 65–6, 140–1, 186–8, 258–9

processions and folk plays 186

drapers 33, 64

Dublin 21

Dunstable 61, 199, 217–18

Durham 30, 39, 94, 144, 180, 255

dyers 34, 73, 114

dysentery 113, 121

Eadgifu ‘the Fair’ 24

ealdormen 19, 144

earls 19

Earl’s Barton 77

Early Modern period 141–2, 268, 273, 277

earthquakes 216, 219, 227, 228

East Anglia xii, xiv, 2, 16, 32, 35, 43, 46, 51, 53, 171, 247

Easter 186, 239, 248, 249–53

Easter Sepulchres 251, 263

economic recessions 73, 154, 155, 158, 271

Edinburgh 278

Edmund of East Anglia (king and martyr) 9

Edmund Ironside 19

Edric ‘the Wild’ 220–1

education 176–8

elementary 176

grammar schools 176

home tutoring 176

universities 90, 177–8

women 143

Edward the Confessor 76, 181

Edward the Elder 72

Edward I, King 58, 202, 203, 251

Edward II, King 58, 127, 156

Edward III, King 113–14, 153, 156, 209, 244

Edward IV, King xii, 131, 132

Edward VI, King 102, 248, 250, 251, 253, 262, 264, 266, 269–70

eel catchers 33

Eleanor of Castile 193, 202

Eleanor of Provence 90

Elfgifu 24

Elizabeth I, Queen 251, 263, 264, 270, 272

Ely 3, 32

embalming 88

emporia 16, 18

enclosures 43, 53, 271, 273

‘end to the Middle Ages’ 270

entertainment see board games; drama; mumming; musicians; sport

entry fines 30

epilepsy 251

Epiphany 246, 262

ergotism 121

Eric ‘Bloodaxe’ 2

Essex 45, 50, 73, 83, 106, 138

estates

boundaries 14

break-up of multiple estates 15

Church estates 33, 77, 99, 274

demesne land 28, 29, 52, 273

female ownership 24

Ethelred II (‘the Unready’) 4, 6, 7, 19, 252

Ethelweard 4

ethnic cleansing 4, 12

ethnic identity 4–6, 7, 12, 105

Eucharist 78, 79, 82, 98, 252, 256, 268, 269

excommunication 81, 203

Exeter 59, 62, 63, 71, 73, 74, 136, 180

Exmoor 13

Eynsham Abbey 107

eyres 148

fairs 60, 86, 157

fairy folklore 22–3, 220–4, 233–4

faldagium 30

family life 137–40

extended family patterns 138

nuclear families 34, 137–8

parent–child relationships 140

famines 46, 52, 108, 112

farm (sale of town rights) 61

farming

Anglo-Saxon 13, 15

arable 13, 15, 16, 23, 24, 35–6, 42, 53, 271

average acreage 34

commercial exploitation 35–6, 271, 273, 274

Danish farmers 5

enclosures 43, 53, 271, 273

farming year 246–7, 260–1

livestock diseases 46, 52, 105

open-field farming 13, 15, 16, 42, 43

pastoral 16

recessions 46, 52, 73, 105, 154

sheep 37, 53, 271, 273

fashion 184–6

Fastolf, Sir John 150

Faversham 57, 229

feasts 182, 241, 242, 251, 252, 260, 261

felonies 144, 145, 148

Feltwell 43

feudal system xii, 20

Finchampstead 224–5, 226, 227

fire ceremonies 259–60, 264

fish weirs 40

fisheries 49

fishing 33, 40–1, 53, 275

fishmongers 65, 70

Flemings 68, 105, 209–10, 211

Folvilles 156–7, 160

food prices 28, 46, 65, 108, 111, 271, 274

football 192–3, 248, 249

Forest of Dean 222

Forest Laws 38

foresters 33

forests 37–8

see also woodlands

fornication 99, 127, 131, 132, 133, 159, 204

Fountains Abbey 88, 190

Fourth Lateran Council (1215) 100, 129, 200–1, 256

France, war against 47, 49, 73, 153, 154, 163, 170, 193, 198

Franciscans 90, 91, 201

Frankpledge 28, 145–6

freemen 20, 28, 32–3, 42, 43, 51

frérèche 138

friars 80, 89–91, 107, 177

see also individual orders

fullers 34, 64

gebur 20, 52

Geoffrey of Burton 231–2

Geoffrey de Mandeville 218, 219

Gerald of Wales 235, 236

Gervase of Tilbury 222, 223–4, 228, 229–30, 235

Gest of Robyn Hode 81

Gippeswic 16

glass making 34, 37

Glastonbury 3, 33, 94

Glastonbury Abbey 118

Gloucester 155, 192, 193, 197, 198, 205, 256

godparents 137

Godshill 95

goldsmiths 65–6, 68, 69, 70

Good Friday 250–1

Gower, John 119, 178–9, 254

Confessio Amantis 178–9

grain prices 52, 53, 154

grammar schools 176

graves and grave memorials 85, 86, 87, 88

graveyards 81

see also cemeteries

Great Bromley xiv

Great Chalfield 45

Great Rebuilding 74

Great Witch Hunt 141–2, 212

Great Yarmouth 41, 58, 69, 209

Gregory IX, Pope 201

Gresham 160

Grimsby 59, 74

Grimston 14

guilds 48, 50, 60, 62, 63–6, 187, 251, 256

apprentices 63, 64, 65

cartels 65

indentures 63

journeymen 63, 65

maidens’ and young mens’ guilds 140

masters 63, 64

mysteries 63, 65, 187

religious role 65, 253, 256, 258, 262–3, 263–4

social functions 66

town privileges 60

see also Mystery Plays

Gypsies 276

Hailes Abbey 94, 102

Halesowen 31, 138

Halle, Adam de la 254

halls 44

hamlets 43

Hampshire 35

Hamwic 16

hanging 145, 152, 154

Hanseatic League 68, 74, 210

Harrogate Hoard 17

Harthacnut 252

harvest 260

Hastings 40

Havelok the Dane 170

Havering 191

Hawisa, Countess 128

Hawkins, John 277

haywards 34

Hecche, Agnes 136

Hedge-priests 48, 49, 50, 99

height, average 23, 110

Hemington Quarry 40

Henley-on-Thames 57

Henry I, King 197, 222–3

Henry II, King 147, 198, 200

Henry III, King 90, 200, 201–2

Henry IV, King 55, 169

Henry V, King 55

Henry VII, King xii, 276

Henry VIII, King 102, 131, 142, 191, 211, 262, 263, 264, 266, 267, 268–9, 271, 274, 275

Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester 219

Henry of Bratton 145

Henry of Bretteby 163

Henry of Huntingdon 216–17, 218–19, 225, 226

herbal remedies and charms 23, 123

Hereford 17, 57, 80, 180, 237

Hereford Gospels 26

heresy 143, 146, 211

heriot 28, 30, 31

hermits 90, 91–2, 95, 137

Higden, Ranulph 171, 230

Hille, Thomas 119

hobby horses 243, 260

hocking 82

Hocktide 252–3, 263

hoggling 244

Holy Innocents’ Day 241, 244–5, 262

Holy Land 92, 93

holy loaf 252

Holy Roman Empire 11

Holy Week 249–50, 263

homicide xiv, 145, 147, 152

homosexuality 205–6, 237

honey 111

Horn Dance 243

hospitals 80, 89, 122–3

leper hospitals 207, 208

monastic infirmaries 89, 122, 123

House of Lords 89

houselling towel 252

houses of correction 149

housing, peasant 43–4

hue and cry 146, 162

Huish Episcopi 83

hulks 71

Hull 62, 69, 73, 112, 122, 141

human sacrifice 9

humanism 143

humours, theory of 88, 123, 129

hunting 37–8

Huntingdonshire 32

Hythe 40

Ilchester 84, 152

illegitimacy 80, 132

illuminated writing 178

impotence 132

incunabula 179

indentures 63

industries 5, 38–42, 69

rural-based 34, 38

scale and efficiency 39

see also individual industries

infant mortality 115, 139

influenza 119

Ingatestone 31

Inglewood Forest 224

inheritance xiv–xv

coming of age and 130

women 24, 25, 130, 133

Innocent III, Pope 200

inns 190

Inns of Chancery 178

Inns of Court 160, 178

Ipswich 16, 17, 122, 186

Ireland 18, 21, 118, 198, 229, 230, 235, 236, 278

iron working 34, 38

cast iron 38

wrought iron 38

ironmongers 34

Isle of Man 6, 9, 14, 18

Isle of Purbeck 39

Isle of Wight 95, 237

James IV of Scotland 276

Jerome, St 92

jewellery 186, 196

Jews 78, 105, 140, 195–204, 209, 212

Blood Libel 197, 202

expulsion of 67, 78, 203

mikveh (ritual bath) 204

persecution of 140, 195–203, 211

John XXII, Pope 256

John, King 40, 61, 195, 200

John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster 50

John of Oxenedes 218

John of Wallingford 112

John of Worcester 216, 217, 227–8

Josce of Gloucester 198

journeymen 63, 65

Julian of Norwich 95

juries of presentment 145

Justices of the Peace 48, 149, 153, 155

Katherine of Aragon 131, 142, 211, 276

keepers of the peace 148

Kempe, Margery 94–5, 135

Kent 32, 35, 43, 46, 50, 106

Keynsham 174, 175

Keynsham Abbey 100–1

Killingholme 66

King’s College, Cambridge 91

King’s Lynn 60, 94, 199, 221

Knighton’s Chronicle 121

Knights Hospitaller 88, 152

Knights Templar 33, 57, 88

labour service

paid 32, 34, 52

unpaid 20, 29, 30, 31, 42, 60

labour shortages 47, 51, 52

Lacnunga 23

Lammas Day 260

Lancaster 144

land grants, royal 24

land price boom 271

land rents 30, 31, 33, 43, 49, 52, 271, 273

landscape management 15–16, 43

Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury 77

Langland, William 171

Piers Plowman 48, 80, 140, 166

Langton, Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury 201

language 5, 6, 169–72, 277–8

Chancery Standard 171

Cornish 278

Early Modern English 171

French borrowings 171

Gaelic 278

Irish 278

Latin 169, 268

Middle English 6, 51, 170–1

Norman-French xi, 169–70

Old English 169, 170, 172

Scandinavian 6

Scots 171, 278

Welsh 278

Last Judgement 88, 151, 261

Latin script 178

latrines 104, 114

laundries 136

Lavenham 83, 115

law and order xiv, 144–68

criminality, levels of 152–9

death penalty 145, 150–1, 152, 163

fines 19, 28, 38, 132, 146, 150

Forest Law transgressions 38

justice system 144–9

legal abuses 159–60

pardons 163

prisons 149–50

punishments 145, 147, 149–50, 150–1, 152, 163

tithings 28, 145

trial by combat 162

trial by jury 162–3

trial by ordeal 162

women’s access to justice 147–8

see also Canon Law; Common Law; courts; Statute Law

lawyers 160, 178

lay brothers 89

Lay Subsidy Rolls 106, 174, 176

leather working 69

Leckhamstead 36

Legrand, Jacques 183

Leicester 64, 74, 141, 186, 202

Leicestershire 39, 47, 121, 138

Lent 230, 231, 239, 241, 248–9, 263

leprosy 109, 120–1, 207–9, 211, 212

lesbianism 237

Levellers 273

leyrwite 30

libraries 179–81

life expectancy 22, 106–7, 110, 115–16

life-cycle service 139

Lillingstone Dayrell 44

Lincoln 18, 39, 56, 58, 59, 62, 74, 136, 197, 198, 199, 202, 203

Lincoln, John 210, 211

Lincolnshire 4, 106, 173, 267

Lindisfarne 215

Lindisfarne Gospels 180

literacy 79, 143, 171–2, 176, 179, 181, 277

Little Ice Age 36, 272

living standards 23, 47, 53, 109

Lollards 97–100, 172, 257, 264, 268

London 39, 51, 54–6, 57, 59, 64, 65, 118, 136, 244, 245, 260, 261

‘aliens’ 68, 69

banking 67

Flemish community 209

growth 55–6

guilds 50, 65

hospitals 122–3

Jewish community 198, 200, 202, 203, 204

mayors 55, 119

Norman buildings 55

population 18, 55, 59, 73

pre-eminence of 18–19

prisons 149–50

prostitution 205

racist violence 209, 210–11

Roman 16

sanitation 104–5, 113–15

trade and industries 18, 63, 68–9, 112, 114, 275

water supplies 70–1, 113, 114

London Chronicles 172

London Grocers’ Company 67

longhouses 44

lords of the manor 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 45, 51, 260

Lords of Misrule 245, 252, 262

Louth 173

Ludenwic 16

Luttrell Psalter 193

Lydgate, John 248

lye pits 37

Magna Carta 133, 134, 147, 163, 180, 189

Maidstone 50

Malebisse, Richard 199

Malmesbury Abbey 180

malnutrition 121

see also starvation

Malory, Thomas 171, 179

Mannyng, Robert 132

manor houses

hall-centred plan 44, 45

moated 45

manorialization xii, 15–16, 20, 42

manors 27–8, 43

custom of the manor 30–1

lords of the manor 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 45, 51, 260

manuscripts 178, 179, 180–1

Map, Walter 214, 220–1, 233, 234

marble 39–40

markets 60

Marmion, Robert 218, 219

marriage 24, 34, 106, 129–30, 146

age at 130

annulment 132

aristocratic 133–4

Church teaching 129, 133

consanguinity and affinity restrictions 130, 131

divorce 131–2

economic rights 24, 25

of free and unfree 51

minimum age for 130

parental consent 130

pre-contract 130, 131, 132

and property holding 24

solemnization 82, 131

Marshall Rebellion (1233–4) 217

Martinmas 261, 262

Mary I, Queen (Mary Tudor) 262, 263, 270

masons 33

Mass 66, 78, 82, 84, 102, 231, 241, 245, 252, 256, 257, 268

see also Eucharist

Matilda, Empress 197

Maundy Thursday 250

May Day and May Games 186, 253–4, 255

mayors 61, 62, 63, 119

maypoles 253

Meaux Abbey 180

medicine 22–3, 122–4

folk remedies 22–3, 123

Greek theories 123, 124

medical texts 22–3, 123

sin–disease association 122, 208

see also diseases; hospitals

Medieval Warm Period 36, 37

Melcombe Regis 46, 116

mendicant orders 89–91

see also friars

menstruation 129, 133

mercers 54

Merchant Adventurers 66–7, 275

merchants see guilds; trade

merchets 30

Mercia 2, 16, 72

Merman, sighting of 213–14, 229

Merton Abbey 123

metalwork 5, 34, 38

Michaelmas 260

Mickleover 31

Midlands xii, 32, 42, 43, 46, 106, 171, 247

Midsummer Processions 186, 264

Midsummer’s Eve 259

Mildenhall 31

mills 30, 33, 45

mining 34, 38

minsters 8, 11, 17, 18, 72

misogyny 127, 141, 206

mistletoe 243

Moleyns, Lord 160

monarchical succession 19

monasteries 7, 55

building 55, 56

dissolution of 8, 102, 267, 274, 275

income 78

infirmaries 89, 122, 123

land holdings 267

monastic breweries 190, 192

monastic libraries 179–80

scriptoria 178, 180

Viking attacks on 8, 9

monastic crisis and reform 9, 10, 100–1

moneylending 196, 199, 200, 202, 204

Monk Bretton 180

monks 7, 80, 88, 101, 106, 107

chroniclers 214

gluttony, accusations of 107 see also monasteries

monogamy 24

moral panics 155, 156

More, Thomas 53, 143, 211, 277

Utopia 53

morgengifu 24

Morris dancing 254

mumming 244

musicians 62, 242–3, 276

Mystery Plays 65–6, 140–1, 186–8, 258–9

nard 192

national culture and identity 6, 12, 277–8

New Buckenham 74

New Forest 37, 38

new world exploration 275

New Year 241–2, 244

Newbury 201

Newcastle 39, 62, 186, 201

Newton Aycliffe 193

Nine Men’s Morris 192

nobility

Anglo-Saxon 19

dining and table etiquette 182–4

fashion 184–5

marriage 133–4

titles 5

Norfolk 51, 106, 153

Norman Conquest xi, 2, 29, 105, 106

impact on the English Church 75, 76, 77

impact on English towns 55, 56

impact on women’s role and status 126

North Elmham 76

Northampton 17, 52, 60, 72, 186, 198, 202, 203

Northleach 83

Northumberland 46

Northumbria 2, 16, 19

Norwich 18, 56, 59, 61, 62, 68, 74, 76, 82–3, 141, 156, 186, 192, 197, 198, 199, 203, 209, 238, 245, 255

Nottingham 55, 141, 227–8

Nottinghamshire 157

nuns 7, 80, 88, 101, 135, 137

Occleve, Thomas 171

Offa, King of Mercia 17

Old English 169

Old St Paul’s, London 83

Oldcastle, Sir John 99–100

Oldcastle Revolt (1414) 99–100

optics 69

ordeal, trial by 162

Orderic Vitalis 221

Ordinance of Labourers (1349) 48

Ordinary Time 239

Orford Castle 213–14, 229

Osbournby 14

Osset 133

osteoarthritis 111

osteoporosis 110

outlawry 49, 149

Oxford 17, 18, 56, 57, 156, 177, 179, 197, 198, 201, 205, 245

Oxfordshire 32, 35

packhorses 71

paganism 8–9, 12

cultural 12

Palm Sunday 249–50, 263

pannage 42

pardons

papal 88

royal 163

Paris, Matthew 218, 219–20, 237

parishes 8, 14, 78, 80, 266

Parker, Matthew, Archbishop of Canterbury 180

Paschal Candle 251, 255, 263

Paston family 160–1

Paston, John 32

Paston, Margaret 160–1

Paston, Margery 125–6

Paston Letters xiv, 123, 248

Paul, St 97

Peak Castle 223

peasants

Anglo-Saxon 20

betterment 31, 32, 34–5

free 20, 28, 32–3, 42, 43, 51

landless labourers 34

semi-free 20, 29

unfree 1–2, 29, 32, 33, 52

see also villeinage

Peasants’ Revolt (1381) xiv, 48–52, 61–2, 68, 99, 209, 257

peat digging 41

Peckham, John 256

persecution

of foreigners and minorities 210–12, 276

of Jews 140, 195–203, 211

personal adornment 21

personal names 5, 172–6

hereditary surnames xiii, 173–4

occupational names 33–4, 175, 190

pre-Conquest names 172, 173, 175–6

Peterborough 198

Peterborough Abbey 32

petty treason 152

physicians 124

pigmen 33

pilgrimage 92–4, 102

Pilgrimage of Grace (1536–7) 103, 267–8

Pinbury 29

pinders 28

place names 5, 14

plague 46, 73, 116, 117, 119

see also Black Death

Plough Monday 186, 246

ploughmen 1–2

population

distribution 35, 106

fluctuations 21–2, 36, 45, 46, 73, 74, 105–6, 116, 270–1, 274

gender ratio 110

London 18, 55, 59, 73

urban 16, 18–19, 59, 73, 74

post-hole-built buildings 15

pot-ash 37

pottery xi, 5, 17, 18, 34, 36

Premonstratensians 78, 88

priests 10, 79–80, 84, 98, 99, 102, 159, 176, 194, 224, 257

printing xiii, 69, 171, 179, 277, 278

priors and prioresses 89

prisons 149–50

processions 65, 78, 86, 186, 254–5, 258, 260, 264

property crimes 145, 152, 154, 157–8

property disputes 160

prostitution 70, 141, 158, 159, 204–5, 208, 209, 212

Protestant Reformation xiii, 91, 100, 102, 179–80, 247, 252, 261, 266–9, 277

effect on liturgical year 262–5

reorganization of the English Church 266–70

Psalter of Christina of Markyate 181

public penances 147

Purbeck marble 39, 40

purgatory, doctrine of 84, 87, 231, 261, 268

putting out production process 64

quarrying 33, 34, 38, 39–40

Quarter Sessions 149

rabbit warrens 49, 53

Ralph of Coggeshall 213–14, 217, 221

Ralph of Shrewsbury, Bishop of Bath and Wells 118

rape 24–5, 129, 145, 146, 147–8, 159, 161

rats 117

Raunds Furnells 85–6

Reading 61

Redbourne 218

reeds 41

reeves 28

regional identities 6, 12, 277

relics 102, 267

religion

paganism 8–9

Viking 8–9

see also Christianity; Church, English

religious orders 88–92

banning of 269

income 89, 101

mendicant orders 89–90

military 88

minor orders 10

see also monasteries

Repyngdon, Philip, Bishop of Lincoln 95

revenants (walking dead) 231–4

Richard I, King 61, 195, 198, 199–200, 217

Richard II, King 50–1, 54, 55, 61, 227

Richard III, King xii, 132

Richard of Chichester, St 93

Richard of Cornwall 202

Richard of Devizes 112

Richard of Durham 194

Richard of the Ker 158, 168

rickets 111

Ricknall 175

Rievaulx 88

road systems 71, 149

Robert, Bishop of Durham 194

Robert, Prior of Kenilworth 223

Robin Hood 164–8, 253–4

Rockingham Forest 37

Rogationtide 78, 254–5, 264

Roger of Wendover 196

Roma 276

Romney 40

Romney Marsh 45

rood screens 82, 84, 102, 269

Rothwell 176

Rous, John 53

Russell, John 183

Rye (East Sussex) 40

rye (grain) 24, 111

sacraments of the Church 78–9, 129, 268

saddlers 65

St Albans 61, 257, 258

St Albans Abbey 181, 257

St Brice’s Day massacre (1002) 4, 12, 252

St Catherine’s Day 262

St Clement’s Day 262

St Elmo’s fire 218

St George’s Day 253, 263, 264

St Mary Spital, London xiii, 111, 122–3

St Neots 18

St Swithun’s Priory, Winchester 107

St Valentine’s Day 248, 263

Salisbury 73, 74, 242, 244, 245, 268

Salisbury Cathedral 39, 83, 180, 192

salt making 33, 34

Sandwich 40, 205

sanitation 104–5, 112–15

Santiago de Compostela 93, 94

Sarum Missal 142

Scarborough 91

Scotland 2, 14, 118, 154, 171, 222, 276, 278

sculpture 25, 40

seals 32, 181–2

Sedgeford 109

Selsey 76

servants 52, 139, 183

sewage disposal 104–5, 113

sexual morality 127, 129–30, 131, 132–3, 158–9, 204–7

sexuality

complex attitudes towards 134–6

virginity, value placed on 134, 135, 136

women’s 127, 129, 134–6, 141, 142

Sharp Tuesday 250

shearmen 64

sheep farming 37, 53, 271, 273

see also wool trade

sheep stealing 157

Sheffield 173

shepherds 33

Sherborne 11, 89

sheriffs 28, 62, 81, 144, 203

shipping 40, 41, 71

Shrewsbury 191, 227

Shrove Tuesday 248

Shrove-tide 248

signs and marvels 213–38

silk industry 136

silver market 21, 274

Simon de Montfort 202

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 243–4

sirens 228–9

Skelton, John 190

Skerne 9

slaves 19, 20–1, 29–30, 276, 277

smiths 33, 34

soap making 37, 112

social classes 19–21, 27, 273, 274

Anglo-Saxon society 19–21

social unrest 47–53

see also Peasants’ Revolt (1381)

sodomy 206

sokemen 5, 20, 32–3

soldiers 153

Somerset 51, 73, 83

Somerset Levels 40, 41

South Acre 151

South Lynn 256

Southampton 16, 56, 60, 66–7, 117, 201, 205

spice trade 67, 68

spinners 64, 73

spirituality xiv, 92, 94–5, 102, 103, 159

sport 192–3

stained glass 269

Stamford 17, 18, 58, 59, 60, 68, 74, 199

Stanley 89

Stapenhill 231, 232

starvation 46, 52, 108, 112

Statue of Winchester (1285) 157

Statute of Labourers (1351) 48, 51

Statute Law 145

Statute of Westminster (1102) 29

Stephen, King 197, 218, 221

Stillington, Robert, Bishop of Bath and Wells 131–2

Stokker, William 119

stone 3, 11, 15, 25, 69

Stonehenge 151

Stoneleigh 51

Stow-on-the-Wold 59

Strongbow (Richard de Clare) 198

sub-tenants 27

Suffolk 73, 83, 106

sugar 111

suit of mill 30

sumptuary laws 48, 185

the supernatural see signs and marvels; witchcraft

superstition 22, 95–6, 250, 261

surgery 124

Sussex 46

Sutton Hoo xii, 151

Sutton-on-Hull 81

sweating sickness 119

Swein Forkbeard 7

Synod of Exeter (1287) 203

Synod of Oxford (1222) 201

syphilis 109, 122

tailors 34

tallages 30

tanning 70, 72, 114

tapeworms 113

Taunton 74

taverns 190

taxation 2–3, 5

Lay Subsidy Rolls 106, 174, 176

on moneylending 200

papal 99, 266–7

poll taxes 49, 50, 105, 137, 138, 173, 203

slave tax 21

tenants-in-chief 27

Tenebrae (Services of Shadows) 250, 251, 263

Tenterden 272

textile trade 34, 54, 136

Thames River 104, 114, 272

thatching 41

Thaxted 58

thegns 15, 19, 20

Thetford 18, 76, 198, 199

Third Lateran Council (1179) 200

Thomas of Cobham 132

Thomas de Berkeley 185

Thomas of Monmouth 140

tilers 33

timber industry 37, 42

time frame of the Middle Ages xi–xiii, 270

tithe barns 78

tithes 78, 146

tithings 28, 145

tofts 43, 45, 46

tonsure 79, 80

Torksey 136, 242

town planning 69–71

boundaries 70

burghal plots 69

trades, grouping of 70

water supplies 70–1

zoning 69–70

town walls 71

towns

borough charters and freedoms 59, 60–1

burgage tenure 60

Church administration 17, 58, 61

early Medieval 16–19

growth and decline 55–74

in-migration 59

monastic 17–18

populations 16, 18–19, 59, 73, 74

post-Conquest establishment 57

‘productive sites’ 16

rents and tolls 60, 61

royal boroughs 17, 58, 61

self-government 61, 62–3

trading actvities 56–8, 60–1

Viking 18

townships 43

trade

international 3–4, 37, 66–9, 73–4, 210

Merchant Adventurers 66–7, 275

transport costs 71

urban 16, 17, 18, 21, 37, 56–8, 71

transport 71

transubstantiation 98, 256, 268, 269

trenchers 182

trepanation 124

trespasses 145

trial by combat 162

Trinity Sunday 255–6

tuberculosis 109, 119–20

turbaries 41

turners 34

Twelve Days of Christmas 241–6, 262

Tyler, Wat 50, 68

Tyndale, William 277

typhus 121

unemployment 275

universities 90, 177–8

vagrancy 154–6, 275

vellum 178, 179

Vikings 2, 3, 5, 8

attacks xii, 4, 7, 8–9, 11–12, 13–14, 17, 215

settlement 4–5, 8, 14

villages

Anglo-Saxon 14–15

desertion and shrinkage 15, 47

nucleated xii, 3, 10, 13, 15, 42, 43

structure 42–5

villeinage 20, 28, 29, 30–3, 42, 52, 53, 80, 138, 177, 232, 242, 273

access to courts 28–9, 147

protests against 31, 32, 47–8, 49, 51–2

rights and protection 30–1

unpaid labour service 20, 29, 30, 31, 42, 60

vills 43

vineyard keepers 33

Virgin Mary cult 92, 93, 103, 126, 128, 173, 247

wages 47, 48, 51, 52, 53, 64, 73, 109, 111, 139, 149, 189, 273

Waghen 81

waits chains 62

Wakefield 157, 158, 186, 187, 188

Wakefield Cycle 186, 187, 188

wakes 260, 264

Wales 67, 99, 235, 267

Walsham-le-Willows 132

Walsingham 93, 102

Walsingham, Thomas 49, 219, 258

Walter, Hugh, Archbishop of Canterbury 39

Walworth, William 50, 68

Wantage law code 6–7

Warde, John 119

Ware 57

warfare 153–4, 274

see also France, war against

Warminster 8

Warwick 56

Warwickshire 53

Wash 41

wassail 245–6, 252

water supplies 70–1, 113, 114

watermills 45

waterways 71

wealth 2–3, 21

weapon-making 18, 21

Weardale 38

weavers 34, 64, 73, 141, 209

wells 70

Wells (Somerset) 39, 62, 256

werewolves 235

Wessex 2, 16, 72, 169, 170, 171

Westminster 76, 119, 148, 179

Westminster Abbey 39, 106, 107, 192

Weston 146

wetlands 40, 41–2

land reclamation 45–6

Wharram Percy xiii, 4, 42–3, 85, 109–10

wheat 24, 46, 47

whipworms 113

Whitby 14, 259

Whitoc, Richard 89

Whitsun Ales 191, 253, 263

Whitsunday (Pentecost) 255, 264

Whittington, Richard 54–5

Whittlebury 44

Whittlewood Forest 37, 45, 47

Whittok, John and Agnes 89

Whittok, William 67, 84

Whittoke, William 67

Wick Dive 44

wics 18

William I, King 38, 169, 181, 196, 221

William II, King 225–6

William of Malmesbury 196, 225–6

William of Newburgh 218, 219, 221–2, 223, 234

William of Norwich 139–40, 197

Willoughby, Sir Richard 157

Willoughby, Sir Thomas 159–60

wills 24, 25, 31, 136, 146, 268, 270

Wiltshire 35, 73

Winchcombe 259

Winchelsea 40

Winchester 11, 18, 39, 60, 64, 74, 76, 77, 157, 198, 202, 203, 245

windmills 45

wine making 36–7

Wistow 192

witchcraft 141–2, 146, 212

women 125–43

conception and pregnancy theories 128–9, 147–8, 235, 237

criminality 154

economic activities 25, 52, 111, 136–7, 141, 190

education 143

fashion 185

health and nutrition 110–11

justice, access to 147–8

Late Anglo-Saxon 24–5

legal definition 127

male regulation of 127, 133–4, 140, 141, 143, 159

marriage 127, 128–36

misogyny 127, 141, 206

property rights and inheritance 24, 25, 126, 127, 130, 133–4

prostitution 70, 141, 158, 159, 204–5, 208, 209, 212

quarrelsome 128

religious life 7, 10, 24, 80, 88, 89, 101, 135, 137

role and status 24–5, 126–7, 136–7

sexuality 127, 129, 134–6, 141, 142

violence against 24–5, 127, 129, 145, 146, 147–8, 159, 161

widows 24, 134, 136, 137

witchcraft 141–2, 146, 212

wood ash 37

woodlands 16, 37, 38, 42, 49

Woodstock law code 7

Woodville, Elizabeth 132

woodwards 34

woodworkers 70

wool trade 37, 45, 52, 53, 64, 67–8, 69, 275

see also cloth trade

Woolpits 221

Worcester 31, 136, 180, 186, 202

worsted 68

writs 148, 160, 203

written records xiii–xiv

Wulfstan, Archbishop of York 9, 242

Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester 21

Wychwood Forest 37

Wyclif, John 50, 97, 98, 99, 172

Wycombe 201

Yarnton 13

Yeadon xiii, 128

yeomen 53, 273

Yeovil 101

York 2, 4, 5, 16, 18, 39, 58, 59, 62, 63, 64, 71, 90, 110, 111, 122, 130, 136, 141, 152, 155, 156, 205, 209, 242, 245

archdiocese 78

economic decline 74

industries 112

Jewish community 198, 199, 203

Mystery Plays 66, 186, 187, 188, 258–9

population 59, 74

town government 62

Viking 6

York Minster 85, 243