Welcome to this episode of Gone Medieval, I'm Matt Lewis.

Arise England. Six Kings and the Making of the English State is the fabulous new book

from Caroline Bert and Richard Partington that tells the story

of the long labor that bought forth the English state. Between the reigns of King John and

Richard II

with a Henry and a few Edwards thrown in between.

Dr Caroline Bert is a historian and lecturer at Pembroke College, Cambridge,

and Richard Partington is senior tutor at St John's College, Cambridge.

So I'm sitting up straight and I'm hoping I

won't ask too many stupid questions.

Welcome to God Medieval, Caroline Richard.

Nice to meet you.

Thanks for having us.

Great to be here.

I guess my first question, and I'll aim this one at you, Caroline.

Really broad question. The book covers the years 1199 to 1399.

Why is the development of the common law in England such an important part of that period?

The common law itself originated under Henry II really so back in the 1170s it predates our period but it really sets up a dynamic in which people in England got used to a situation where they could go to the King's courts and obtain redress.

So if, for example, they were in a dispute with their neighbor or something like that,

they could get a writ and they could go and sue them.

That generates a lot of demand. People really wanted to access that common law. It was cheap, it was easy, it offered very clear solutions. And it also was a way of forcing your opponent into a settlement just as the law is often used today.

What that did though was it got people used to the idea of regularised justice in which people couldn't just do whatever they wanted to each other.

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