Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0

Author-Name: Leigh A. Gardner
Author-Workplace-Name: Jesus College, University of Oxford
Title:  To Take or to Make? Contracting for Legitimacy in the Emerging States of Twelfth-Century Britain
Abstract: The early twelfth century was notable  for the centralization and consolidation of royal governance in the centre as well as the periphery of Europe. This paper presents a model 
of medieval kingship in which consent for the king’s rule is founded upon a network of bargains  and  agreements  between  the  king  and  magnates  who  hold  local  power.  The 
model  is  applied  to  the  administration  of  Scotland  under  King  David  I  (1124–1153). David I consolidated and expanded his authority by providing magnates who held local 
power  with  incentives  to  cooperate  through  the  strategic  distribution  of  revenue  and provision  of  protection  services,  including  the  enforcement  of  property  rights,  dispute 
resolution and the facilitation of exchange. This theory is also used to explain Scotland’s appropriation of land in northern England following the death of Henry I of England in 
1135, and its loss of the same territory after David I died in 1153.
X-Classification-JEL: 
X-Keywords: 
Length: 33 pages
Creation-Date: 2008-11-02
Number: _073
File-URL: http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/materials/papers/3459/73gardner.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:nuf:esohwp:_073