The royal household and the King's affinity : service, politics and finance in England, 1360 - 1413.

In a period of intensely personal kingship, the royal court and household formed the political hub of the kingdom. To it came those administrators. soldiers, and courtiers who wished to make their way in the king's service. From it emanated the orders through which the kings of England organized their finances, recruited their armies, and governed their country. This is the first major text specifically to discuss the royal household in late medieval England since the publication of the last volume of T. F. Tout's pioneering Chapters in the Administrative History of Medieval England, fifty years ago. Using a wide range of primary sources, many of which have never been analyzed in detail before. Dr. Given-Wilson examines the reasons for the unpopularity of the royal household at a time when it stood at the very centre of the English political stage, thus shedding new light on such celebrated events as the Good Parliament of 1376, the Merciless Parliament of 1388, the revolution of 1399, and the political and financial solvency of the household during these years, and to the recruitment of the king's affinity under Richard II and Henry IV. Distilling complex technical material into a lucid text for specialists and students, this book represents a major advance in our knowledge of the exercise of royal power in late medieval England.