ABSTRACT
The support of the justiciar broke the deadlock in the abbot’s favour, for the justiciar stated ‘in full council that every knight ought to speak for himself and for his own holding’. Not just the king personally but also the Angevin reforms more generally affected Bury and its affairs. This is most striking in a dispute where the convent of Bury asked Abbot Samson to disseise the townsmen of some holdings. The justices’ perceptions of correct procedure, lordship, and land-holding practice might conflict with and predominate over those of some others involved in the case. The spread of royal justice was thus likely to produce a more standardized, more rule-based legal procedure. Demand for royal actions from sub-tenants may reflect loosening bonds of lordship, but in turn the availability of actions such as novel disseisin reduced seignorial elements in land-holding.
