The Customs of Old England

In Short

Frederick John Snell’s The Customs of Old England is a detailed historical study examining the social, legal, ecclesiastical, and academic traditions of medieval England between 1066 and 1485. Moving from church rituals to urban governance and university privileges, the book tracks how everyday practices shaped public life. Snell combines legal documents, civic charters, and local folklore to illustrate how ordinary communities managed order, law, and celebration. It endures as a vivid, meticulous portrait of the structural fabric of medieval English society.

The Story

Snell’s survey begins in the sphere of medieval religious practice, where the institutional Church permeated all stages of life. He details solemn ceremonies such as the Benediction of a Widow, wherein women took vows of chastity before bishops to receive a mantle, veil, and ring, committing their remaining years to the protection of the Church. From solemn rites, the text transitions into festive ecclesiastical inversions like the "Boy-Bishop." During the holiday period from St. Nicholas’ Day to Holy Innocents’ Day, youth took on mock clerical authority, playing out a tradition rooted in the Roman Saturnalia. Religious life also expressed itself through drama; Snell details the elaborate town cycles of Chester, York, Wakefield, and Coventry, where trade guilds staged mobile miracle plays on wooden two-story pageants on wheels to instruct and entertain the populace.

Moving into the academic realm, Snell explores the rise of medieval universities like Oxford. He documents the strict management of early libraries, where books were chained, cataloged, and protected by scheduled masses for benefactors. He outlines the sprawling concept of "Privilege," which exempted students, scholars, and a vast network of university servants—from cooks and laundresses to common carriers—from town jurisdiction. This legal insulation fostered severe, recurring "town and gown" conflict between scholars and local burgesses, often requiring royal arbiters to settle sanguinary riots over minor property disputes.

The progression leads into the evolution of medieval law and justice. Snell describes ancient trial mechanisms, including ordeals by hot water or glowing iron managed by clergy before altars, where divine intervention determined guilt or innocence. As judicial combat replaced ordeals, wager of battle allowed disputes—whether for treason or civil town quarrels—to be decided in the lists by force of arms under strict Constable and Marshal oversight. Criminals seeking to escape execution could claim sanctuary in designated churches, becoming "grithmen" who eventually abjured the realm, walking assigned highways with a wooden cross toward designated ports to face exile.

Finally, Snell shifts to urban structure, agricultural organization, and household management. Corporate towns guarded their independence fiercely, barring men of servile condition from citizenship. Towns maintained ancient agricultural officers—pinders, haywards, and swine-herds—to manage common pasture lands and enforce public witness for livestock sales. In private spheres, rich households and trade guilds used distinct liveries and badges to define hierarchy, a practice eventually regulated by Parliament to preserve the King's peace.

How It Unfolds

Sacred rites and festive inversions The book opens with formal ecclesiastical ceremonies, such as the solemn blessing and veiling of widows by medieval bishops. It contrasts these solemn rites with the lively tradition of the Boy-Bishop, where youth assumed mock clerical authority during the winter holidays.

Pageants, books, and university life The focus shifts to civic religious drama staged by trade guilds on mobile, two-story wheeled pageants. Snell then moves inside university walls, describing chained library collections and the broad legal "Privilege" that protected scholars and university workers from local municipal authority.

Ordeals, battles, and sanctuary The legal narrative examines ancient methods of determining guilt, from religious ordeals using glowing iron to wager of battle fought in public lists. For fleeing felons, the text details the sanctuary system, where criminals swore to abjure the realm and marched to the coast under protective royal peace.

Civic freedom and household order The final section surveys medieval municipal governance, common land usage, and agricultural officers like pinders and haywards. It concludes with an examination of guild liveries and the intricate hierarchies that governed major noble households.

The People

While Snell’s work is a thematic history rather than a narrative novel, several central figures and corporate bodies drive its historical argument:

• The Bishop of Exeter (and Bishop Lacy): Represents ecclesiastical authority, administering holy rites like the Benediction of a Widow while maintaining spiritual control over civic life.
• The Boy-Bishop: An immature prelate chosen from among schoolboys who, supported by church elders, assumes symbolic authority over his peers and superiors during the December feast days.
• The University Chancellor: Wants to maintain absolute jurisdiction over scholars and university staff ("the Privilege"), constantly clashing with local civic mayors to preserve academic independence.
• The Sanctuary "Grithman": A fleeing criminal seeking refuge within church walls who must confess his felony, receive a wooden cross, and walk an assigned route to the sea to escape execution.
• The Town Pinder and Hayward: Municipal agricultural officers tasked with protecting common pastures, impounding stray livestock, and preserving ancient agrarian customs for the burgesses.

In Its Own Voice

"Between the epistle and gospel the bishop, seated in his chair, turned towards the people, asked the kneeling widow if she desired to be the spouse of Christ."

A description of the solemn consecration of a widow in the medieval Church.

"In all the two-and-thirty schools of School-street sat the Masters Regent in full academical attire, their desks before them, it having been enacted that the exercises should be carried out in the schools, not in private dwellings or in churches."

An account of the rigorous university examination process known as Determination.

"And when any shall flee into the church or churchyard for felony, claiming thereof the privilege for any action of his life, the head officer of the same liberty... shall ask him the cause of his being there..."

An outline of the ancient legal procedure for claiming sanctuary.

What It's Really About

Beneath its catalog of medieval traditions, The Customs of Old England explores how institutional order emerged from localized, custom-bound communities. Snell investigates the constant friction between competing authorities: the Church versus secular law, university privileges versus municipal rights, and feudal lords versus independent urban burgesses. The book demonstrates that medieval society was not a lawless wilderness, but a densely regulated world where symbolic actions—wearing a specific coif, holding a wooden cross, or ringing a cowbell—carried binding legal weight. Snell's work argues that modern English civic and legal institutions were directly forged out of these intricate medieval compromises.

Why Read It Today

The Customs of Old England offers a grounded, unsentimental look at the actual mechanics of everyday medieval life. Readers who enjoy social history, legal origins, or historical research will appreciate Snell's precise use of primary charters, pontificals, and municipal records. Rather than focusing on kings and battles, the book delivers a detailed tour of medieval schoolrooms, trial grounds, and common pastures.

The reading experience requires some patience. Snell writes in a traditional, early 20th-century scholarly style, frequently citing Middle English, Anglo-Norman, and Latin legal phrases without immediate translation. The thematic structure means there is no continuous story arc or central protagonist to follow. However, for those willing to engage with its historical density, the text offers rich, fascinating insights into how ordinary medieval people sought justice, worshipped, educated their children, and organized their towns.