Doris Stenton – författare

Originally published in 1965, English Justice between the Norman Conquest and the Great Charter discusses the history of English justice in the period of the Norman Conquest, of the Angevin achievements, and of the contrasting reigns of Richard I and John. This book looks at this period in light of the great work done by Felix Liebermann and others on Anglo-Saxon law, which made possible a new estimate of the inheritance entered upon by the Norman conquerors. The book discusses how the writ and sworn inquest can now be safely recognised as arising in the years when the communal courts of the hundred and the shire - under royal surveillance - administered justice to the English people. The book also looks at the vigour of the conquerors and how, through the exertion of the king’s writ, the sworn inquest was developed into the jury. The book discusses how Henry II, not the West Saxon kings devised the returnable writ from which later developments in English judicial administration grew, and how he built up a permanent bench of judges based at Westminster, from there making periodic journeys to administer justice throughout the land. With all their many faults, the early Angevin rulers, King John as well as his father, were concerned to play their part as kings who provided justice and judgment for their subjects.

Originally published in 1965, English Justice between the Norman Conquest and the Great Charter discusses the history of English justice in the period of the Norman Conquest, of the Angevin achievements, and of the contrasting reigns of Richard I and John. This book looks at this period in light of the great work done by Felix Liebermann and others on Anglo-Saxon law, which made possible a new estimate of the inheritance entered upon by the Norman conquerors. The book discusses how the writ and sworn inquest can now be safely recognised as arising in the years when the communal courts of the hundred and the shire - under royal surveillance - administered justice to the English people. The book also looks at the vigour of the conquerors and how, through the exertion of the king’s writ, the sworn inquest was developed into the jury. The book discusses how Henry II, not the West Saxon kings devised the returnable writ from which later developments in English judicial administration grew, and how he built up a permanent bench of judges based at Westminster, from there making periodic journeys to administer justice throughout the land. With all their many faults, the early Angevin rulers, King John as well as his father, were concerned to play their part as kings who provided justice and judgment for their subjects.

First published in 1957, The English Woman in History displays the place women have held and the influence they have exerted within the changing pattern of English society. Ever since the days of Queen Elizabeth I the position of women in English society has been a matter of general debate. In the seventeenth century many men produced books in praise of women, following the example of Thomas Heywood. Most of these books were devoted to the praises of individual women, but their authors generally produced arguments against subjection of all women to the unthinking dominance of men. While married women were still legally subject to their husbands and no women were allowed to take part in public affairs it was impossible to write objectively about women’s place in the world. The women who at the end of the seventeenth century began to write were generally fired by a sense of injustice, and men tended to write condescendingly of charm and beauty, which interested them more than intelligence and wit. Now that women are bearing public responsibilities with success it is possible for historians to look back dispassionately over the centuries and trace the stages by which this position has been won. It is a survey of this nature which Lady Stenton has attempted in this book. This is a must read for students and scholars of women’s history, gender studies and women’s movement.