Books by Alice Taylor
This is the first full-length study of Scottish royal government in the twelfth and thirteenth ce... more This is the first full-length study of Scottish royal government in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries ever to have been written. It uses untapped legal evidence to set out a new narrative of governmental development. Between 1124 and 1290, the way in which kings of Scots ruled their kingdom transformed. By 1290 accountable officials, a system of royal courts, and complex common law procedures had all been introduced, none of which could have been envisaged in 1124.
The Shape of the State in Medieval Scotland, 1124-1290 argues that governmental development was a dynamic phenomenon, taking place over the long term. For the first half of the twelfth century, kings ruled primarily through personal relationships and patronage, only ruling through administrative and judicial officers in the south of their kingdom. In the second half of the twelfth century, these officers spread north but it was only in the late twelfth century that kings routinely ruled through institutions. Throughout this period of profound change, kings relied on aristocratic power as an increasingly formal part of royal government. In putting forward this narrative, Alice Taylor refines or overturns previous understandings in Scottish historiography of subjects as diverse as the development of the Scottish common law, feuding and compensation, Anglo-Norman 'feudalism', the importance of the reign of David I, recordkeeping, and the kingdom's military organisation. In addition, she argues that Scottish royal government was not a miniature version of English government; there were profound differences between the two polities arising from the different role and function aristocratic power played in each kingdom.
The volume also has wider significance. The formalisation of aristocratic power within and alongside the institutions of royal government in Scotland forces us to question whether the rise of royal power necessarily means the consequent decline of aristocratic power in medieval polities. The book thus not only explains an important period in the history of Scotland, it places the experience of Scotland at the heart of the process of European state formation as a whole.
JOURNAL ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS by Alice Taylor
Peoples, Texts and Artefacts: Cultural Transmission in the Norman Worlds of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries, edited by David Bates, Edoardo D’Angelo, and Elisabeth van Houts (London: SAS, 2017, forthcoming), 241–63
Homage has long preoccupied historians of medieval Normandy. In part, this is because the ritual ... more Homage has long preoccupied historians of medieval Normandy. In part, this is because the ritual and the relationship it created have been seen as key to the 'foundation' of Normandy itself, and Normandy's subsequent relations with the kingdoms of France and, later, England. 2 Did Rollo perform homage to Charles the Simple in 911 and, if so, did this mean that the king invested him in the duchy? What exactly did it mean when and if kings of England-as Norman dukes-performed homage to the kings of France? Homage looms so large in these debates because of its importance in past constructions of feudalism, put together by scholars of the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century. 3 Performance of homage meant investiture with a fief and thus a tenurial dependence with major political consequences.
Lex Scripta and the Problem of Enforcement: Anglo-Saxon, Welsh and Scottish Law Compared.
Legalism: Justice and Community, ed. F. Pirie and J. Scheele, forthcoming
The gap between written law (lex scripta) and legal practice has long been a problem that medieva... more The gap between written law (lex scripta) and legal practice has long been a problem that medieval historians have had to confront. The content of written law does not necessarily envisage structures for its own enforcement nor were the texts themselves cited when disputes arose and accusations were made on the ground. Indeed, it is often thought that written law was solely the preserve of the literate and specialist elite, whether they be legal specialists or churchmen. How written law could be enforced, particularly in societies which had a comparatively low level of literacy in comparison with modern ones, is thought to be hard to see. Previous solutions have either understood written law to be a form of political ideology with little practical import or have stopped using written law altogether as evidence for any form of social practice or regulative force. This paper offers a different perspective on an old problem: that of the enforcement of written law. It compares three written legal traditions from tenth- and eleventh-century Anglo-Saxon England and twelfth- and thirteenth-century Wales and Scotland. Despite being produced in very different legal contexts, and in within very different political structures, this paper argues that all three contain a common expectation that individuals in the locality should actively participate in maintaining legal order when transgressions occurred. Indeed, in two of the three traditions – Wales and Anglo-Saxon England – there were explicit consequences for not doing so. Moreover, these ‘individuals’ responsible for upholding order were expected to be socially and legally embedded in their communities, through the ties of kin, lordship, friendship and suretyship. The relative absence of top-down structures for enforcement thus does not have to be a problem: written law took as its subject the values and structures already present in the locality and then repackaged them on the wider and more general level of a kingdom or a people. All three legal traditions thus contained a common expectation of enforcement of the legal order in the localities that existed despite differences in political suprastructure (a developing strong state in England; a minimal central power in Wales). The content of written law absorbed and was informed by the values and socio-legal networks of an abstracted local community. Seeing enforcement as a ‘problem’ that the drafters of written law failed to confront – or did not think they needed to confront – is thus to misunderstand the communal logics that informed most of the particular prescriptions and norms conveyed by lex scripta examined here.
Recalling Anglo-Scottish relations in 1291: historical knowledge, monastic memory and the Edwardian Inquests
La communauté avant la 'communitas': les élites et le gouvernement royal en Écosse au XIIIe siècle
Crime without Punishment: Medieval Scottish Law in Comparative Perspective
Anglo-Norman Studies: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 35, ed. David Bates (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2013)., Jul 9, 2013
Homo Ligius and Unfreedom in Medieval Scotland
Matthew Hammond ed., New Perspectives on Medieval Scotland, 1093-1286 (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2013)., Aug 16, 2013
Scottish Historical Review 91, Oct 2012
David I, king of Scots (1124–53), has long wielded a posthumous reputation as one of Scotland’s m... more David I, king of Scots (1124–53), has long wielded a posthumous reputation as one of Scotland’s most important lawmakers. Yet there has been little scholarly attention paid to the ‘assizes’ circulating under his name; indeed, the identification of a coherent and stable text of David’s laws has long been thought a false hope. This article argues instead that this view is mistaken: the original structure and content of the so-called ‘Assizes of David’ can be established. However, that text contains very little legislative material attributable to David himself but instead was an exercise to create legal antiquity for Robert I (1306–29) at a time when that most insecure of kings was conducting a programme of written legitimisation of his kingship. The ‘Assizes of David I’ were, more properly, an attempt to convey Robert’s own legislative aims through association with his long-dead but illustrious predecessor, David I. Finally, understanding the correct form of the ‘Assizes of David’ can unlock the nature of some of the other ‘auld law’ compilations and, even, provide an entry into that most intractable of legal treatises, Regiam Majestatem.
Charter Diplomatic and Governmental Development: Possibilities, Problems and Pathways
This is an introductory 'feature of the month' for the AHRC-funded project, 'Models of Authority:... more This is an introductory 'feature of the month' for the AHRC-funded project, 'Models of Authority: Scottish Charters and the Emergence of Government'. It is intended as an introduction to charter diplomatic, and how diplomatic can be used as evidence for governmental development. It is published online and can be accessed here: http://www.modelsofauthority.ac.uk/blog/diplomatic-intro/
Examines the development of fiscal accounting and emergence of central records. Discusses the rol... more Examines the development of fiscal accounting and emergence of central records. Discusses the role of such recordkeeping and what it reveals about the form of royal government in the thirteenth-century Scottish kingdom.
In: Louise Wilkinson and David Crook (ed.), The Growth of Royal Government under Henry III (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2015).
Talks by Alice Taylor
Robert I and the 1318 legislation
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Books by Alice Taylor
The Shape of the State in Medieval Scotland, 1124-1290 argues that governmental development was a dynamic phenomenon, taking place over the long term. For the first half of the twelfth century, kings ruled primarily through personal relationships and patronage, only ruling through administrative and judicial officers in the south of their kingdom. In the second half of the twelfth century, these officers spread north but it was only in the late twelfth century that kings routinely ruled through institutions. Throughout this period of profound change, kings relied on aristocratic power as an increasingly formal part of royal government. In putting forward this narrative, Alice Taylor refines or overturns previous understandings in Scottish historiography of subjects as diverse as the development of the Scottish common law, feuding and compensation, Anglo-Norman 'feudalism', the importance of the reign of David I, recordkeeping, and the kingdom's military organisation. In addition, she argues that Scottish royal government was not a miniature version of English government; there were profound differences between the two polities arising from the different role and function aristocratic power played in each kingdom.
The volume also has wider significance. The formalisation of aristocratic power within and alongside the institutions of royal government in Scotland forces us to question whether the rise of royal power necessarily means the consequent decline of aristocratic power in medieval polities. The book thus not only explains an important period in the history of Scotland, it places the experience of Scotland at the heart of the process of European state formation as a whole.
JOURNAL ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS by Alice Taylor
In: Louise Wilkinson and David Crook (ed.), The Growth of Royal Government under Henry III (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2015).
Talks by Alice Taylor