The Lord Edward and the County of Chester: Lordship andcommunity, 1254-1272.

This thesis analyses the Lord Edward’s lordship of the county of Chester between 1254 and 1272 and the impact it had on local inhabitants.

The first chapter investigates the general administration of the county, including its financial structure, and the officials and men recruited by Edward to control his Cheshire estates. This chapter shows that Edward, in spite of his father’s influence, led an independent policy by relying primarily on the justiciar and on local tenants to govern the county.

The second chapter tackles the organisation of justice and the law administered in Cheshire. It demonstrates that the judicial machinery in Cheshire was preserved during Edward’s lordship with its distinctive characteristics inherited from the earls of Chester, and that Edward was far more involved in the administration of justice in the county, and in the rest of his apanage, than previously envisaged.

The third chapter considers the relationship Cheshire maintained with Wales in the thirteenth century, and more precisely, how Edward’s lordship of the county disrupted the stability that existed in the area. It shows that he was not directly responsible for the tensions that existed, but that his inability to address them eventually led to the outbreak of 1256. It also demonstrates that Edward failed to protect his estates despite multiple attempts, and how he progressively lost interest in his Welsh dominions.

The fourth chapter discusses Edward’s relationship, and the difficulties he had, with his Cheshire tenants, especially during the baronial movement of reform and rebellion (1258-67). It analyses how problems in the county mirrored those elsewhere in the realm, because of the financial pressure and of the desire of local communities to have their laws and customs preserved, and how Edward’s considered approach and political discernment were eventually successful in restoring order in the county.