ABSTRACT
The good management of his estates was a matter of the utmost concern to any lord. Unfortunately, it is virtually impossible to talk of the ‘average’ great estate in the Middle Ages, for each had been built up in its own way, through a combination of inheritance, marriage, purchase and grant, and each was continually changing in size and composition, as a consequence of economic or familial pressures, individual policy, or political fortunes. Some estates were heavily concentrated in one or two areas (sometimes deliberately, sometimes by chance); others were widely scattered. Nevertheless, some generalisations are permissible. Every lord had his caput honoris, his chief and favourite residence at which his household was normally based, and around the caput there was often a substantial group of ‘home manors’, at least some of which would probably be held largely in demesne. Within this area, it was also common for lords to hold additional rights, or franchises, such as private hundreds, ‘return of writs’ within the area of the honour, or the right to hold markets and fairs in the local town. The remaining lands would often be grouped into honours or receiverships, that is, groups of territorially fairly compact manors which often took their name from what was traditionally the chief castle of the honour, or were sometimes simply grouped by counties or according to some other convenient geographical distinction. There were thus three main levels in the organisation of most great estates: the manor, the honour or receivership, and the central administration revolving around the lord’s chief officers and councillors. On lesser estates, of course, there was often no intermediate level, with manors accounting individually to the central officer(s).
