Editing John, King of England (section)

===Kingship and royal administration===
[[File:Pipe roll 1194.jpg|thumb|alt=A photograph of a hand written medieval pipe roll, with a handwritten list of entries and a formal stamp in the centre of the document|A [[pipe roll]], part of the increasingly sophisticated system of royal governance at the turn of the 13th century]]
{{Further|Government in Norman and Angevin England}}

The nature of government under the Angevin monarchs was ill-defined and uncertain. John's predecessors had ruled using the principle of {{Lang|la|vis et voluntas}} ("force and will"), taking executive and sometimes arbitrary decisions, often justified on the basis that a king was above the law.<ref name="TurnerP149">Turner, p. 149.</ref> Both Henry II and Richard had argued that kings possessed a quality of "[[Divine right of kings|divine majesty]]"; John continued this trend and claimed an "almost imperial status" for himself as ruler.<ref name=TurnerP149/> During the 12th century, there were contrary opinions expressed about the nature of kingship, and many contemporary writers believed that monarchs should rule in accordance with the custom and the law, and take counsel of the leading members of the realm.<ref name=TurnerP149/> There was as yet no model for what should happen if a king refused to do so.<ref name=TurnerP149/> Despite his claim to unique authority within England, John would sometimes justify his actions on the basis that he had taken council with the barons.<ref name=TurnerP149/> Modern historians remain divided as to whether John had a case of "royal [[schizophrenia]]" in his approach to government, or if his actions merely reflected the complex model of Angevin kingship in the early 13th century.<ref>Warren, p. 178; Turner, p. 156.</ref>

John inherited a sophisticated system of administration in England, with a range of royal agents answering to the Royal Household: the [[Chancery (medieval office)#In England|Chancery]] kept written records and communications; the Treasury and the [[Exchequer]] dealt with income and expenditure respectively; and various judges were deployed to deliver justice around the kingdom.<ref>Warren, p. 127.</ref> Thanks to the efforts of men like [[Hubert Walter]], this trend towards improved record keeping continued into his reign.<ref>Bartlett, p. 200.</ref> Like previous kings, John managed a [[wikt:peripatetic|peripatetic]] court that travelled around the kingdom, dealing with both local and national matters as he went.<ref>Warren, p. 130.</ref> John was very active in the administration of England and was involved in every aspect of government.<ref name="WarrenP132">Warren, p. 132.</ref> In part he was following in the tradition of [[Henry I of England|Henry I]] and Henry II, but by the 13th century the volume of administrative work had greatly increased, which put much more pressure on a king who wished to rule in this style.<ref name=WarrenP132/> John was in England for much longer periods than his predecessors, which made his rule more personal than that of previous kings, particularly in previously ignored areas such as the north.<ref>Warren, p. 132; Huscroft, p. 171.</ref>

The administration of justice was of particular importance to John. Several new processes had been introduced to English law under Henry II, including ''[[novel disseisin]]'' and ''[[mort d'ancestor]]''.<ref>Huscroft, p. 182.</ref> These processes meant the royal courts had a more significant role in local law cases, which had previously been dealt with only by regional or local lords.<ref>Huscroft, p. 184.</ref> John increased the professionalism of local sergeants and bailiffs, and extended the system of coroners first introduced by Hubert Walter in 1194, creating a new class of borough coroners.<ref>McLynn, p. 366; Hunnisett, pp. 1–3.</ref> The King worked extremely hard to ensure that this system operated well, through judges he had appointed, by fostering legal specialists and expertise, and by intervening in cases himself.<ref name="WarrenPP143">Warren, pp. 143–144.</ref> He continued to try relatively minor cases, even during military crises.<ref>Warren, p. 144.</ref> Viewed positively, [[Lewis Warren]] considers that John discharged "his royal duty of providing justice&nbsp;... with a zeal and a tirelessness to which the English common law is greatly endebted".<ref name=WarrenPP143/> Seen more critically, John may have been motivated by the potential of the royal legal process to raise fees, rather than a desire to deliver simple justice; his legal system also applied only to free men, rather than to all of the population.<ref name="McLynn, p. 366">McLynn, p. 366.</ref> Nonetheless, these changes were popular with many free tenants, who acquired a more reliable legal system that could bypass the barons, against whom such cases were often brought.<ref name="CarpenterP273">Carpenter (2004), p. 273.</ref> John's reforms were less popular with the barons themselves, especially as they remained subject to arbitrary and frequently vindictive royal justice.<ref name=CarpenterP273/>