that it could be approved by ‘the most pious and glorious King Henry’
and witnessed by the archbishop of Rouen, the bishops of Lisieux and
Bayeux, the king’s steward and butler, and other dignitaries.^107
Kings encouraged peace-making by arbitration, confirmed the land-
transactions of their vassals, forbade the infringement of their own
grants whether by custom or by violence, and were looked to more and
more for the sanctions which would make violent self-help unneces-
sary.^108 At the same time ideals of social order propagated by church-
men stretched royal jurisdiction way beyond the property disputes of
the aristocracy and enlisted the courts of lords and communes in the
service of the king’s peace.
(^107) Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, ii. 191 (1422), 351–2 (CLXXIV), and cf. English
Lawsuits , ed. Van Caenegem, nos. 15, 138, 163(d), 225, 252, 325, 451, 458, 467, 478, 485,
499, 554, 573, 584, 598, 562, for other examples of arbitration and compromise in English
cases, mostly under the aegis of the king or his justices.
(^108) Actes des Ducs de Normandie, ed. Fauroux, pp. 134 (no. 35); Regesta, ii. 315 (xl), 332
(xcvii); Reading Abbey Cartularies, i. 61.
68 The Courts of Lords and Townsmen