The Structure and Articulation of Aristocratic Society in Anglo-Norman England

Abstract

This chapter employs the Italian approach to feudalism where the feudo-vassalic relationship is one among many varieties of lord–client bond. It turns to the tenurial relationship and to the question of the honour. The perspective of the honour is complemented by Cortese’s concepts of zonal and multi-zonal aristocracy, aristocrazia intermedia, and minor aristocratic families. Warwickshire is taken as a case study revealing Anglo-Norman society as a dynamic one in which families appear and rise or fall. We examine religious benefaction, family structure and strategy, local lordship, and the protection of estates, before moving to tournaments and proto-chivalry. We pay close attention to the men described as milites, and to the survival of Englishmen as sub-tenants and the like. It was from the ensuing mix that the militaristic minor aristocracy of twelfth-century England sprang. Finally, the chapter examines the interlocking of public and seigniorial courts. Tension and uncertainty persisted, despite a new equilibrium being established after the massive shock of the Norman Conquest.