Chapter 4: Government
In our age of digital government and high-tech policing, it is hard to appreciate how difficult 'government' was for the medieval kings in a time when orders could only travel at the speed of a horse, and 'local government' was in the control of powerful barons who had their own armies and castles ... and tended to do as they liked, not as the king directed.
However, during the Middle Ages, the kings of England were busily working to modernise the government and increase their power. Sometimes things went as they wanted, at other times things went wrong ... and this is what this Chapter looks at.
Spreads:
1. King Stephen – when things go wrong
4. Magna Carta