ABSTRACT
In what is called "feudal theory," all property would be held as fiefs directly or indirectly under the king. From this viewpoint, England after the Norman Conquest was a completely feudalized kingdom. Kingdoms, after all, belonged not only to their kings but to their peoples. In neither case was the belonging supposed to be a property right that overrode that of individuals. When the authority of French kings increased in the thirteenth century, the entrenchment of custom prevented them from eliminating seigniorial jurisdictions that had acquired legitimacy through long custom. Kings used the survey's lists to take succession dues and quotas of military service from those listed at the head of each county and subjected them to wardship and marriage controls. Thirteenth-century enquiries into all jurisdictions exercised by subjects suggest that the principle that all jurisdiction was delegated from the king was not seriously contested.
