Pope Gregory VII successfully reasserted Papal authority over the universal Church at the expense of secular monarchs in the eleventh century.

Medieval society between 476 and 1066 consisted of a patchwork of various sources of inter-dependent authority that developed organically upon the foundations of the old Western Roman Empire.

This episode introduces the Normans and Danes under King Cnut as they establish a permanent impact on law and culture beginning in the ninth century.

This episode covers both the Churchs legal structure and canon laws early contributions to the development of the legal system in Western Christendom.

As feudalism developed, so did the villages and manors where the free and unfree peasants lived. Customary manorial law and manorial courts provided necessary legal and political structure for both lo

The discussion on feudalism is continued with a specific focus on the details of feudal law, knighthood and chivalry.

To understand the political and legal background of Magna Carta, it is necessary to understand feudalism.

After migrating to Britain, Anglo-Saxons developed their own systems that valued family and kinship ties, while maintaining a sense of political and social hierarchy.

Under the leadership of King Clovis, the legal structure that formed the basis of medieval feudalism began to develop.

Long before powerful feudal and monarchical systems fully matured by the thirteenth century, the medieval world in which the Magna Carta must be understood was taking root.