The Courts of the Prior and the Bishop of Durham in the Later Middle Ages

The operation of the common law in late medieval county Durham was characterized by several unique features. Among these were the independence of episcopal officials from interference from royal agents in the execution of the law, and the great variety of temporal courts found there. Within the lands of the palatinate, jurisdiction over suspects accused of felony was shared by both the bishop and the prior of Durham. The origins of this unusual division of judicial authority was an agreement dated c.1229, known as Le Convenit. It defined the relationship between the bishop, the temporal lord of the palatinate, and the prior of the Benedictine monastery in Durham who, as a landholder second only to the bishop, held a separate court for the suit of his free tenants. That relationship was often fraught with tension, for both lords were jealous of the prestige – and the revenues – incumbent on the exercise of judicial authority in their lands. This article examines the origins of Le Convenit, and the consequences of the agreement on criminal legal procedure in late medieval Durham. Successive priors of the monastery struggled tirelessly against the bishops to preserve the privileges they won in 1229, and Le Convenit remained throughout this period a potent weapon in their determination to give expression to lordly power and authority

Ancient history · Bishops · Independence (probability theory · Jurisdiction · Middle Ages · Petitioner · Political science · Power (physics · Prestige · Supreme court · Historical Legal Studies and Society · History · Law · Medieval and Early Modern Justice · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy

• Oaths of Fidelity

  Open Access•A T Brown•History•2024

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