The Origins of the Husting and the Folkmoot

Abstract

In the central Middle Ages, London was marked out by its idiosyncratic institutions, prominent among which were two courts or assemblies: the Folkmoot and the Husting. This article re‐examines the early history and origins of both, and suggests that they should be seen as outgrowths of the entities recorded in a legal composition from the reign of King Æthelstan (924–39). The latter describes associations formed by the people of London to defend their interests against thieves from surrounding districts. Provisions made in this text for a gathering of leaders, to be held over food and drink, may be a forerunner of the Husting, while a larger judicial body hinted at in the law‐code could represent a precursor to the Folkmoot. The internal divisions of London from the twelfth century onwards, the wards, are also considered.

Gilds, states and societies in the early Middle Ages

“…Internal references to the organization were always in the plural, indicating that it was conceived of as a consortium of smaller units. 113 Together these demonstrate the capacity of gilds, as spontaneous and voluntary entities, to cut across other structures in society in aid of specific goals. 114 There is no reason to doubt that the hundreds and tens of VI AEthelstan were indeed groups of individuals (rather than the more abstracted units of the same names which emerged in later times), in which case the peace-gild as a whole was surely a much bigger operation than any of its English counterparts.…”