An eyre or iter, sometimes called a general eyre, was the name of a circuit travelled by an itinerant

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

medieval England England in the Middle Ages concerns the history of England during the medieval period, from the end of the 5th century through to the start of the Early Modern period in 1485. When England emerged from the collapse of the Roman Empire, the econ ...

justice in eyre In English law, the justices in eyre were the highest magistrates, and presided over the ''court of justice-seat'', a triennial court held to punish offenders against the forest law and enquire into the state of the forest and its officers ('' eyr ...

), or the circuit court over which they presided, or the right of the monarch (or justices acting in their name) to visit and inspect the holdings of any vassal. The eyre involved visits and inspections at irregular intervals of the houses of

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerai ...

s in the kingdom. The term is derived from

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intel ...

''erre'', from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

''iter'' ("journey"), and is

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical ef ...

with errand and

errant A knight-errant (or knight errant) is a figure of medieval chivalric romance literature. The adjective '' errant'' (meaning "wandering, roving") indicates how the knight-errant would wander the land in search of adventures to prove his chivalric ...

. Eyres were also held in those parts of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

under secure English rule, but the eyre system seems to have largely gone into abeyance in Ireland at the end of the thirteenth century, and the last Irish eyre was held in 1322.

Eyre of 1194

The eyre of 1194 was initiated under

Hubert Walter Hubert Walter ( – 13 July 1205) was an influential royal adviser in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries in the positions of Chief Justiciar of England, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Chancellor. As chancellor, Walter be ...

's justiciarship to restore royal justice following the anarchy of Prince John's rebellion. Within two months, justices on eyre had visited every shire in England. The

Articles of Eyre The office of coroner was formally established in England by Article 20 of the Articles of Eyre in September 1194 to "keep the pleas of the Crown" (Latin, ''custos placitorum coronae'') from which the word "coroner" is derived. The eyre of 1194 wa ...

appointed local knights as

coroners A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's juri ...

to record crown pleas to be presented to the justices. The motivation for this administrative reform was the need to raise money for

King Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was ove ...

's reconquest of Normandy. The coroners were also required to account for the wealth forfeited by the rebels and list the financial resources of each shire.

Eyre of 1233

One medieval chronicle asserts that the 1233 Eyre of

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

provoked terror in the populace, with men having "fled into the woods" in fear of the judges.

Itinerant justices

*1170

Gervase de Cornhill Gervase de Cornhill (sometimes Gervase of Cornhill; 1110 – c. 1183) was an Anglo-Norman royal official and sheriff. Beginning his royal service as a justice in London in 1147, he continued to serve both King Stephen of England and Henry II u ...

; John Cumin *1177 Robert Marmion *1190

Simon of Pattishall Simon of Pattishall (or Pateshull) (died 1217) was an English judge and civil servant who is considered the first Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Life The first appearance of Pattishall in the records was in 1190, where he served as the eschea ...

*1208 Richard of Staines *1209 Gerard de Camville *1217 Thomas de Multon *1218 Walter of Pattishall *1221 Thomas De Heydon *1224-5 John de Bayeux *1225 John de Baalun *1225 Martin of Pattishall *1225 Richard de Veym *1225 Peter, abbot of Tewkesbury *1226 Alambire lucas

Eyre of 1194

Eyre of 1233

Itinerant justices

References

Further reading