The Bernwood Forest Story Part One - The Normans reorganise Royal Hunting Forests into areas under Forest Law In 1066 Duke William of Normandy sailed to England with his army to fight the Anglo Saxon King of England, Harold, at the Battle of Hastings. William won and became King William of England. He was later called William the Conqueror. King William loved hunting, one of the first things that he did was to re-organise the Anglo-Saxon hunting forests, including Bernwood. King Williams’s Royal Hunting Forests were not areas covered with trees – they were areas of land where special laws, known as Forest Law, had to be obeyed by everyone. The right to hunt venison was restricted to the king. New Royal Forests were also established – by 1200 there were over 20 Royal Hunting Forests in England. A monk writing in a yearbook called the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle said this about the introduction of Forest Law He made great protection for the game And imposed laws for the same So that who so slew hart or hind Should be made blind. He preserved the harts and boars And loved stags as much As if he were their father. Moreover, for the hares he did decree That they should go free. Powerful men complained of it and poor men lamented it, But so fierce was he that he cared not for the rancour of them all Part Two - The King uses Royal Forests for hunting and makes money from them by imposing Forest Law The medieval kings of England enjoyed all sorts of hunting. It was seen as a good way to learn horse riding skills and how to lead and organise soldiers in battles. Hunting was also a popular medieval pastime for rich and powerful people such as lords and knights (the nobility), but even they could not hunt in the Royal Forests without the king’s permission. The Royal Forests soon became even more than places to hunt. Kings were very powerful but they were not always very rich, the Royal Forests became a very good source of income. The king could make money by selling the timber from trees, charging people to graze their animals or travel through the forest, and fining people who broke Forest Law. The King could also use the forest as a source of gifts or for rewards. He could allow his favourite friends to hunt there or give them special presents of timber or deer from his forests. Why do you think the king gave presents to his friends? Forests were used as a source of food for the king and his court as they travelled around the country. The nobility could only eat venison if they were given it as a gift or if they had their own deer parks. Peasants weren’t allowed to eat venison at all. Part 3 - Royal Forests include Villages and Farmland. They are areas where the Venison is protected. A Royal Forest could include farmland, buildings, monasteries, fields, and villages as well as areas of woodland. The King didn’t own all of the land in the forest but Forest Law applied to it. Forest law protected the red deer, fallow deer, roe deer and wild boar (the venison), and the trees and vegetation that the venison lived in or ate (the vert). In a Royal Forest anyone who killed or even disturbed the venison was breaking Forest Law, this was called “trespassing against the venison”. If you cut down trees or branches, allowed your farm animals graze in the forest or fenced off your fields to stop the deer eating your crops without the king’s permission you were “trespassing against the vert”. to This made it very difficult for the people who lived there. Breaking Forest Law was a serious crime. Why was life different for people living in the Forest? What do you think the punishment for killing a deer would have been? Why do you think this made life hard for ordinary people living in the forest? Part 4 - Offences against Forest Law are tried at Forest Courts. Punishments are harsh. In the medieval period Forest Law was disliked, especially by those who lived in Royal Forests. Forest inhabitants were also angry about the way Royal Forests were used to raise money for the king’s own purse. Forest officials were appointed to look after the Royal Forests and collect the king’s taxes. These officials were often unfair and would try to take too much money from the inhabitants of the forest in taxes or arrest people on false charges. People caught breaking Forest Law were taken to the forest courts for trial. If found guilty they could be fined, imprisoned or even worse – In King William’s time men who hunted or killed the king’s deer without permission were executed or blinded. Even the noblemen who owned land in the Royal Forests disliked Forest Law because they had to obey it too. They couldn’t even cut down a tree on their own land without the king’s permission. What would they have needed to cut down trees for? The King Was Forced To Reduce The Size Of Royal Forests. The kings regularly increased the amount of Royal Forest land in England, annoying more and more people. Eventually King Henry III (1216 - 1272) had to give in to pressure from the nobility and he began to reduce the size of the Royal Forests by disafforesting areas. Part 5 - Bernwood Forest at its largest covered 50 parishes. It was disafforested in 1632. Bernwood Forest was used for hunting by AngloSaxon kings. The old name for Bernwood was Barne Woode and King Edward the Confessor built a royal hunting lodge at Brill. Legend says that King Edward gave land in Barne Woode and the position of Forester in Fee to a man called Nigel as a reward for killing a wild boar that was ruining the King's hunt. The land and the house built there was called 'Boar-stall’ in memory of this. A hunting horn was used as a symbol of the job. The FitzNigel family were the Foresters in Fee of Bernwood for much of the medieval period. Bernwood Forest was it at its largest during King Henry II’s reign (1154 – 89 A.D). It stretched from Buckingham to Thame, covering 50 modern parishes in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Many medieval kings, including William the Conqueror and King John, stayed at the Royal Hunting Lodge at Brill and went hunting in Bernwood Forest. From 1217 Bernwood Forest was slowly reduced in size. Finally in 1632 Forest Law was ended in Bernwood Forest and it was disafforested. Start exploring the medieval Forest, answering the King’s questions and investigating who has been killing the king’s deer by clicking on the Bernwood Forest Map. Why don’t you begin by visiting Boarstall and talking to Sir John FitzNigel, the present Forester in Fee? www.buckscc.gov.uk/medieval_life/bernwood/word%20docs/The_Bernwood_Forest_Story_text_version.doc