Kings’ Courts and Bishops’ Administrations in Fourteenth-Century England: A Study in Cooperation

Abstract

Behind the rhetoric and theory of crown-church conflict there was much cooperation in the everyday world, where practice and pragmatism often overrode legal and theoretical rules. This article examines the ways in which fourteenth-century English bishops and their clerks responded to the demands made of them by the royal courts. Bishops were bombarded with commands from the crown, with a resulting impact on diocesan records. The crown sought historic information about finance and rights, and commanded bishops to collect clerics’ debts and to enforce their attendance before the lay courts in both civil and criminal cases. Enquiries about the current status of individuals, whether professed in religious orders or legitimate, made considerable work for bishops. How enthusiastically and efficiently these orders were carried out is also evaluated and discussed.