Affinity (medieval)

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Retainer (medieval)
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Not to be confused with Affinity (Catholic canon law).
livery badge, from ca. 1400 (British Museum
)

In post-classical history, an affinity was a collective name for the group (retinue) of (usually) men whom a lord gathered around himself in his service; it has been described by one modern historian as "the servants, retainers, and other followers of a lord",[1] and as "part of the normal fabric of society".[2] It is considered a fundamental aspect of bastard feudalism,[3] and acted as a means of tying magnates to the lower nobility, just as feudalism had done in a different way.[4]

One form of the relationship was known as livery and maintenance. The lord provided

livery badges
to be worn by the retainer and "maintenance" or his support in their disputes, which often constituted obstruction of judicial processes.

Origins

One of the earliest identifiable

tenurial connection to him. Rather than receiving land, these men received grants of office and the security of Pembroke's proximity to the king.[5] Historian Michael Hicks has described it as a "personal, not feudal" connection,[6] which David Crouch called an early example of a bastard feudal relationship. On the other hand, a hundred years later, the earl of Lincoln gathered bodies of men—often from among his tenants—from his estates in Lincoln, who were still linked to the earl feudally through their tenure of his land.[7]

Composition

Middleham Castle was the centre of the earl of Salisbury's Yorkshire affinity.

Central to a noble affinity was the lord's indentured retainers, and beyond them was a more amorphous group of general supporters and contacts. The difference, K. B. McFarlane wrote, was that the former did the lord "exclusive service" but the latter received his good lordship "in ways both more and less permanent" than the retainers.[8] Christine Carpenter has described the structure of the earl of Warwick's affinity as "a series of concentric circles" with him at the centre.[9] It has been noted that a lord only had to gather a relatively small number of people around in areas where he was strong, as members of his affinity supported not only him but also each other; thus, the number of men who could come to his aid was often far greater than the number of men he actually knew.[7] These were men the lord trusted: for example, in 1459, on the verge of the Wars of the Roses, the earl of Salisbury gathered the closest members of his affinity to him in Middleham Castle and took their advice before publicly coming out in support of the rebellious duke of York.[10][11]

The lord would often include men in positions of local authority, for example

Collar of Esses.[16] The members of the affinity closest to the lord were those of most use: the estate officials, treasurer, stewards, and often more than one lawyer.[9]

Later Middle Ages

John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster: In the later fourteenth century, his affinity was second only to that of the king.

By the late Middle Ages, kings such as

household knights of earlier kings.[19] By the fifteenth century, most regional agents of the crown were considered to be in the king's affinity, as they had a closer connection to the crown than ordinary subjects.[20] By the reign of Henry VI, E. F. Jacob estimated that the number of squires employed by the king in the localities increased from 150 to over 300.[21]

In Richard's case, it has been suggested it was for the purpose of building up royal power to counteract the pre-existing affinities of the nobility and strengthen his own power.

royal council meeting with an affinity of about 400 horsemen and eighty knights and squires; the contemporary Brut Chronicle estimated it at around 500 men.[26][27]

Affinities were not confined to kings or

Midlands family and their retainers directly into the royal household.[30]

Historiography

The traditional view among historians was that the affinity was a thirteenth-century construction that arose out of the nobility and crown's need to recruit armies, against a backdrop of declining feudal service failing to provide troops.

William, Lord Hastings) to being based more on blood and marital connections, as with the House of Neville.[34]

Recently it has been questioned whether a royal affinity could actually work in the same way as a noble one. It has been suggested that since the king had to be a lord to his retainers and provide good lordship, but also king to the entire people, a contradiction existed, resulting in a decline in local stability where this occurred.[22] At the same time, even powerful magnates such as Gaunt could cause local dissatisfaction by retaining some and, inevitably, excluding others.[35] On the other hand, it has also been pointed out how, particularly for kings, recruitment into the affinity was a clear promotion which could act as an encouraging loyalty or offered a political amnesty.[36]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-230-62162-6
    .
  2. ^ Holmes, G.A., The Later Middle Ages, 1272–1485 (Edinburgh, 1962), 167.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-313-29124-1
    .
  4. ^ Carpenter, C., 'The Beauchamp Affinity: A Study of Bastard Feudalism at Work', EHR 95 (1980), 514.
  5. ^ Crouch, David, & D. A. Carpenter. 'Bastard Feudalism Revised' Past & Present (1991), 171–72.
  6. ^ Hicks, M. A., Bastard Feudalism (London, 1995), 105.
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-1-107-65467-9
    .
  8. ^ McFarlane K. B., England in the Fifteenth Century: Collected Essays (London, 1981), 27 n.2.
  9. ^ a b Carpenter, C., 'The Beauchamp Affinity: A Study of Bastard Feudalism at Work', EHR 95 (1980), 515.
  10. ^ Mercer, M., Medieval Gentry: Power, Leadership and Choice during the Wars of the Roses (London, 2010), 12.
  11. ^ Pollard, A. J., Warwick the Kingmaker: Politics, Power and Fame (London, 2007), p. 38.
  12. English Historical Review
    108 (1993), 287.
  13. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society
    37 (1987), 146–48.
  14. ^ Wormald, J., Lords and Men in Scotland: Bonds of Manrent, 1442–1603 (Edinburgh, 1985), 76ff.
  15. ISBN 978-1-84383-036-8
    .
  16. ISBN 978-0-7190-6826-3
    .
  17. ^ Given-Wilson, C., 'The King and the Gentry in Fourteenth-Century England', TRHS, 5th ser. 38 (1987), 87–102.
  18. ^ Coss, P. R., 'Bastard Feudalism Revised – Reply', Past & Present 131 (1991), 62.
  19. ^
    ISBN 978-0-300-07663-9
    .
  20. ^ Robertson, C. A., 'Local Government and the King's 'affinity' in fifteenth-century Leicestershire and Warwickshire', LAHS 52 (1976), 38.
  21. ^ Jacob, E. F., The Fifteenth Century 1399–1485 (Oxford, 1961), 451.
  22. ^
    ISBN 978-0-85115-832-7
    .
  23. ^ Wormald, J., Lords and Men in Scotland: Bonds of Manrent 1442–1603 (Edinburgh, 1985), 77ff.
  24. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7190-6826-3
    .
  25. ^ Morgan, D. A. L., 'The King's Affinity in the Polity of Yorkist England', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 23 (1973), 12.
  26. ^ Maurer, M., Margaret of Anjou: Queenship and Power in Late Medieval England (Woodbridge, 2003), 154 n.68.
  27. ^ Bean, J. M. W., From Lord to Patron: Lordship in Late Medieval England (Philadelphia, 1989), 172–73.
  28. ^ Sweetinburgh, S. (ed.), Later Medieval Kent, 1220–1540 (Woodbridge, 2010), 241.
  29. ISBN 978-1-137-09432-2
    .
  30. ^ Morgan, D. A. L., 'The King's Affinity in the Polity of Yorkist England', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 23 (1973), 7.
  31. ^ Weiss, Michael, 'Loyalte me Lie': Richard III and affinity politics in northern England (University of California Irvine thesis, [1977]), 3. ASIN B000734F4M. 1981
  32. ISBN 978-0-7190-6826-3
    .
  33. ISBN 978-0-8264-2383-2
    .
  34. ^ Weiss, Michael, 'Loyalte me Lie': Richard III and affinity politics in northern England (University of California Irvine thesis, [1977]), 4. ASIN B000734F4M. 1981
  35. ISBN 978-0-7190-6826-3
    .
  36. ^ Morgan, D. A. L., 'The King's Affinity in the Polity of Yorkist England', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 23 (1973), 8.

External links

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