Edwin's manors of residence had been at Gilling West and Catterick but these manors and indeed all the land in a sixty mile stretch from York to Durham had been laid waste and 100,00 men, women and children slaughtered by William in revenge for the uprising.  The remnants of the English and their northern neighbours were somewhat naturally hostile and Alan therefore needed a defensible base and in 1071, he laid the foundations of a castle at a strong point overlooking the River Swale and named it Riche-Mont.

The Normans then introduced a system of government which we refer to as the feudal system from the mediaeval Latin, foedus militus or military service. The King was the suzerain or supreme overlord.  He made grants of land and the perquisites thereof to vassal barons who in return did him homage and were obliged to maintain, arm and train a retinue of knights and men at arms, available at all times to the King's need.  They were also required to keep the King's peace within their domains.  The barons granted demesnes to lesser lords and manors for knights' service which entailed maintaining a quota  of armed retainers and doing a turn of garrison duty in the lord's castles.  The everyday running of the manor was in the hands of a bailiff who would have had the assistance of a clerk in holy orders who could read and keep accounts.  Under the bailiff was the reeve or village headman who was not appointed by the lord of the manor, but was the elected representative of the villeins.  These were virtually slaves, being bound to the land and unable to marry unless the lord approved the match.  The lord exercised jus primae noctis, whereby he bedded the village brides on their wedding night.  This was considered by the Normans as a humane service in introducing superior blood into the rude Saxon breeding stock.  If a bright peasant lad attracted the attention of the clergy to the extent of getting the chance of an education at the monastery, his family had to compensate the lord with extra service.

The villeins cultivated the manor strip fields, the reeve allocating the strips so that good and bad land was equitably distributed.  Cattle were grazed on the common pasture, which survives as our green.  Swine were herded in the lord's forests, which were much more extensive that they are at present. They had the right to collect firewood but were not allowed to cut living branches.  They could carry off any dead wood which they could pull off the trees "by hook or by crook" - with their weeding hook and shepherd's crook. The lords of the manors had the right of free turfage and warrenry, taking turf or peat for fuel, and hunting.  The latter was however, strictly forbidden in the Royal Forests.
The lords usually allowed the villeins to hunt lesser game, reserving game such as deer for themselves.  The peasants were required to turn out to keep down the wild boar and wolves.

The larger proportion of the fruits of the peasants' toil was handed over to the lord.  All corn had to be ground in the lord's mill, the miller also taking his cut.  The church also exacted tithes, or a tenth part of the produce and the wretched villeins kept very little as the reward for their efforts.

Like his Norman overlord, Alan spent most of his time in his dukedom in France.  They therefore needed bodies of permanent officials to run their English estates.  The chief of these was the seneschal.  At Richmond, equally important was the Constable of the Castle.  The first of these, who took office in 1080 was Emsant Musard.  (Musard was a rude nickname meaning sluggard.)  In return for his knightly service Emsant was granted several manors including one of eight carucates at Aldbrough. 

As times went on there was considerable confusion as to the titles to the Earldom and honour of Richmond.  The original grant to Alan had been made to him as Duke of Brittany, by William, Duke of Normandy who himself was a vassal of the King of France.  This led later kings of France to claim the honour of Richrnond to themselves with the descendants of Alan as tenants.  Primogeniture had not been established and bastardy was not necessarily a bar to succession, which could also follow the female line.  In 1227 the French king declared that he was taking possession of all lands and honours in France held by Englishmen and Henry III of England at once reciprocated.  Henry granted land of the Earldom of Richmond to Peter, Count of Savoy, a crusader of renown who was the uncle of his Queen, Eleanor of Provence.  The grant included "a good manor at Aldbrough of eight carucates with free warrenry (the right to hunt in Royal Forests) on his payment yearly, of one barbed arrow which the king purchased of him for 500 marks".  On his death, Peter of Savoy had bequeathed to his niece, Eleanor the Queen, the Earldom of Richmond on condition that she paid off the debts he owed to Mamet Spinet and Company, Merchants of Florence.  It appears that Peter had pawned his Yorkshire estates to pay his crusading expenses and the building of the Savoy Palace in the Strand. 

On the death of Eleanor, Henry III confirmed the Earldom of Richmond on John, Duke of Brittany, a lineal descendant of Alan and who was also married to the king's daughter Beatrice.  This John was therefore that Earl of Richmond to whom, and to his heirs forever, in 1281, Edward I granted by charter the right to hold at Aldbrough, a weekly market on Tuesday and a yearly fair on the vigil, feast and morrow of St, Michael. 

The lord of the manor of Aldbrough at the time was Sir Hasculph de Cleasby the Constable of Richmond Castle and a lineal descendant of Emsant Musard.  Hasculph also held manors at Cleasby and Stanwick and later purchased the manor of Marske from Sir Nicholas de Mersk.  Hasculph's son, Ivo became Constable of Barnard Castle and inherited the Aldbrough manor. 

Other manors in Stanwick and Aldbrough were in the possession of the Church, represented by the Abbot of Easby and the Knights Templar.  The latter were members of a military religious order founded to provide assistance and protection to pilgrims to the Holy Land.  Their Patron Saint was John the Baptist to whom they dedicated the church that they had recently completed at Stanwick. It is our parish church of St. John.  At this time the Templars had become more military than religious and given to excessive luxury.  The order was suppressed by the Pope 20 years later and their holdings transferred to the Knights Hospitallers.

This item was written in 1981, celebrating 700 years of the  Aldbrough Feast by the late Col. George R. Barnley R.A.  M.B.E.  of School House, Aldbrough St John