Norman England
According to the Domesday Book census in 1086, over 10% of England's population were slaves. In 1102 the Council of London (1102) convened by Anselm issued a decree: "Let no one hereafter presume to engage in that nefarious trade in which hitherto in England men were usually sold like brute animals." However, the Council had no legislative powers, and no act of law was valid unless signed by the monarch. As the feudal order congealed during the 12th century, the reduced status of the villein rendered outright slavery largely obsolete; the last form of this enforced servitude had disappeared in Britain by the beginning of the 17th century, though the laws on villeinage remained on the books for centuries.
Read more about this topic: Slavery In Britain And Ireland
Famous quotes containing the words norman and/or england:
“... the Ovarian Theory of Literature, or, rather, its complement, the Testicular Theory. A recent camp follower ... of this explicit theory is ... Norman Mailer, who has attributed his own gift, and the literary gift in general, solely and directly to the possession of a specific pair of organs. One writes with these organs, Mailer has said ... and I have always wondered with what shade of ink he manages to do it.”
—Cynthia Ozick (b. 1928)
“The old man forgot one thing. This England of his is Christian and Anglo-Saxon. And so are her corridors of power, and those who stalk them guard them with jealousy and venom.”
—Colin Welland (b. 1934)