Forest Laws in the Middle Ages
One of the hallmarks of the feudal system that William of Normandy imposed on England after 1066 were laws. In the case of forest laws, Norman law superseded the prior Anglo-Saxon laws in which rights to the forest (not necessarily just woods, but also heath, moorland, and wetlands) were not exclusive to the king or nobles, but were shared among the people. Feudal forest laws, in contrast, were harsh, forbidding not only the hunting of game with in the forest, but even the cutting of wood or the collection of fallen timber, berries, or anything growing within the forest. The New Forest was set aside by King William in 1079 as his right, primarily for hunting deer. “‘Forest’” in a medieval sense was a legally defined area . . . where the “beasts of the chase” (deer & wild pig) and Read more…