Englishry


Englishry or, in Old French, Englescherie, is a legal name given, in medieval England, for the status of a person as an Englishman.
Specifically, presentment of Englishry refers to the establishment that a person slain was an Englishman rather than a Norman. If an unknown man was found slain, he was presumed to be a Norman, and the administrative district known as the hundred was fined accordingly, unless it could be proved that he was English. Englishry, if established, excused the hundred.

History

Origins

It is thought that Danish invaders first introduced the practice in England and that the Norman conquerors preserved and revived it.
W. Stubbs suggests such measures may have been taken by King Canute. It is not, however, mentioned in Glanvill's treatise, which is the earliest known treatise of medieval English law. There is no direct evidence of an earlier date than Bracton's 13th century legal treatise De Legibus.
Attempts to prove that a murdered Norman was English were understandably frequent.

Abolition

The practice was abolished with the Engleschrie Act of 1340 passed by the Parliament of England.
Though for some 200 years prior to abolition it had no longer been possible to reliably distinguish Normans from Englishmen, the practice had continued because it was so profitable to the crown.