Some Agents and Agencies of the Late-Anglo-Saxon State

Abstract

The organization and the economy of a state are largely reflected in and determined by its organization for war. No source does more to show how far this was so than the annals of the Chronicle relating to the reign of Harthacnut, 1040-2. There can be little doubt that the England which William conquered was, or at least until very recently had been, a state in which a high proportion of the income of the inhabitants was taken away; and moved up, through the hands of agents, perhaps of a series of agents, to the king. Questions about the business of administration, about administration as a business, have a particular interest when applied to towns. A high proportion of administration must have been part-time, performed as an incident of tenure. It is true that many, perhaps a disproportionate number, of the Domesday references to the king's writs have to do with lands held or claimed by Englishmen.

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