HIST-301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 51: Compurgation, Manorialism
9 Oct 2020
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The normans inherited a complex structure of government from the angles, saxons and danes. It was a mix of early english manorialism and danish free farming: english government. Law and order was enforced on the local level by way of custom. Early english legal customs included trial by compurgation: a jury swears they believe the accused innocent. There was also trial by ordeal (exposure to boiling water) but not trial by combat: the danish return. They returned under sven and canute in 1016. They kept most of these english practices in place. After canute"s heirs fell into civil war, the old witangemot was able to elect the new king: edward the confessor. While canute reigned, he lived in exile with his maternal cousins, the sons of the duke of. One of those sons, william, became the next duke of normandy and then england"s king. He always claimed that edward told him he, not the non-royal harold godwinson was true heir.
