Dictionary:
frank·pledge (frăngk'plĕj')  |
[Middle English frankplegge, from Anglo-Norman frauncpledge : Old French franc, free, frank; see frank1 + Old French plege, pledge; see pledge.]
| 5min Related Video: frankpledge |
| British History: frankpledge |
Frankpledge was a form of collective responsibility for good conduct, whereby every member of a tithing, or group of ten, was answerable for the good behaviour of the others, on pain of fine or amercement. Some elements were to be found in Anglo-Saxon and Danish England, but it developed after the Norman Conquest, perhaps to give some security to individual Normans in a hostile land.
| Wikipedia: Frankpledge |
Frankpledge was an English system of compulsory suretyship. The essential characteristic was the the compulsory sharing of responsibility among persons connected through kinship, or some other kind of tie such as an oath of fealty to a lord or knight. All men over 12 years of age were joined in groups of approximately ten households. This unit, under a leader known as the chief-pledge or tithing-man, was then responsible for producing any man of that tithing suspected of a crime. If the man did not appear, the entire group could be amerced (fined).
Frankpledge can be traced back to King Canute II the Great of Denmark and England (d. 1035), who declared that every man, serf or free, must be part of a hundred, that could put up a surety in money for his good behaviour. Frankpledge was more common in the area under the Danelaw, from Essex to Yorkshire. In the south and southwest of England, tithing was common. Frankpledge began to decline in the 14th century. By the 15th century Frankpledge was superseded by local constables operating under the justices of the peace.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Copyrights:
 |
 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| British History. A Dictionary of British History. Copyright © 2001, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Frankpledge". Read more |
Mentioned in
|
