Learning from those "imitative" Japanese : Edward S. Morse and the civilization of the Mikado's empire

Already in the twelfth century, men canvassed different views on the ways in which they thought lordship ought to be exercised. They used their picture of how an idealised "Good Lord" -- a familiar label in later times -- comported himself to assess the treatment they actually received from their lords. This Good Lordship had both Positive and Negative aspects: the "good lord" maintained his vassals in their honours and renounced his right to revoke grants afterwards. One excellent way to study the pursuit of this double ideal is through the language of charters, more particularly through the warranty clauses by which Good Lordship was often implemented. The transformation of warranty into its familiar Common-Law shape reflects corresponding and complex changes in both lord-vassal relations and the role of the King and his justice. Warranty actually began as a security device, designed to keep men to their word, and is found used in this sense over wide areas of sub- Carolingian Europe. It was probably imported to England by the French, and can be seen in twelfth-century charters progressively superseding other forms of words to become the classic "guarantee" of Good Lordship. In this manner it came by 1200 to be virtually equated with the lordship it had originally been used to enforce. Warranty was lordship seen from the vassal's point of view, that is, tenant-right. Despite this origin in very personal relations, warranty probably always created between the parties' heirs some kind of obligation, which sharpened and was made infinitely more clear-cut with the emergence of full legal inheritance rights. Warranty swelled to full tenant-right, a full guarantee of the Right to Good Lordship. As the heir's claim grew into an enforceable right of inheritance through increasing access to remedies by royal justice, and because such justice tended to strict construction, warranty became a contractual addition to which claimants had to prove their entitlement. The narrative of legal change from 1150 argues for gradual evolution but also suggests 1153-4 as the decisive turning-point in this development. Detailed (sometimes technical) examination of evidence for some relevant cases, royal writs concerning warranty and the turning-point of 1153-4 is reserved for three appendixes

Finlaggan report 6: kitchens and houses by jetty.

Finlaggan, Islay, the centre of the Lordship of the Isles. Excavations and fieldwork 1989-1998. Part six, kitchens and houses by jetty

Finlaggan report 1: introduction and background

Finlaggan, Islay, the centre of the Lordship of the Isles. Excavations and fieldwork 1989-1998. Part two, introduction and background

L'origen de la senyoria episcopal de la Seu d'Urgell

The lordship of the Bishops of Urgell over the town of La Seu dates from the time of the donations made by Count Ramon Borrell of Barcelona, tutor of the young Count Ermengol II of Urgell, to the holy bishop Ermengol after his election around the year 1010. Two years later the Pope Benedict VIII recognized this lordship

The market for protection and the origin of the state

We examine a stark setting in which security or protection can be provided by self-governing groups or by for-profit entrepreneurs (kings, kleptocrats, or mafia dons). Though selfgovernance is best for the population, it faces problems of long-term viability. Typically, in providing security the equilibrium market structure involves competing lords, a condition that leads to a tragedy of coercion: all the savings from the provision of collective protection are dissipated and welfare can be as low as, or even lower than, in the absence of the state

Sìol Torcail and their lordship in the sixteenth century

This article, based on a paper given at a conference discussing links between the Hebridean islands of Skye and Lewis, examines the lordship of Sìol Torcail, or the Macleods of Lewis which embraced both these islands together with parts of the adjacent Scottish mainland in the sixteenth century. The first section of the paper concentrates on the political (and dynastic) history of the Macleods of Lewis and their frequent rebellions in the face of the extension of royal control and pressure from neighbouring 'Highland' clans such as the Mackenzies of Kintail, a process which culminated in the expropriation of the Macleods and attempted plantation of Lewis (1598-1609) by lowland Scottish settlers. The fate of the Macleods of Lewis is discussed within the wider context of James VI & I' Highland policy, such as the Statutes of Iona, and the favouring of client clans such as the Mackenzies. The second section of the paper briefly considers the human and physical geography of the lordship of Sìol Torcail inasmuch as this can be reconstructed and the final section considers the fisheries which were, it is argued, of crucial importance in attracting outside interest to the area

The view from Fortingall: the worlds of the Book of the Dean of Lismore

No abstract available