Wealthy Judges

 There is concern right now in the US about justices taking generous gifts or having sources of income that seem questionable.  This is nothing new.  Judges in the late Middle Ages could get wealthy too in ways that might not seem entirely ethical.

English judges, appointed by the crown, had a variety of sources of income available to them, enough that they might make a couple hundred pounds a year, at a time when five pounds a year was considered a good salary for a low-status person.  So where did it all come from?

First and probably most essentially, they received an official salary.  They also received an annual allowance to pay for their official robes, which could be very elaborate.  This seems appropriate.  But it could get complicated.  the crown would issue them what was basically a check, a royal order ("writ") to the chancery to pay the judge a certain amount of money when the check was presented.  These checks were not always cashed right away; for one thing, sometimes there wasn't much money in the treasury.  It appears that some judges would present their check and get paid, then come back with the same check six months later and get paid again.  The chancery was supposed to keep the check and mark it as cancelled, but it didn't always work that way.

Then there were writs and fines.  In civil cases, whenever someone filed a case against someone, the judge would issue a writ, and the complaintant would pay the judge for it.  In criminal cases, when someone was found guilty and had to pay a fine, part of the fine went to the judge.  Those arguing a case before a judge would also pay for his meals.

Then there were gifts.  There were no rules against judges receiving gifts, and wealthy neighbors might want to be friends with a judge even if they had no legal cases before him at the moment.  These not surprisingly could become actual bribes, when the wealthy would assure that a judge saw a case in a particular way.  Even the king would frequently make gifts to favored judges.  Gifts might be money, food, oak trees, deer, precious stones, and all sorts of other good things.

But the single biggest source of revenue for judges was from the church.  The late medieval church in England was wealthy and paid its bishops and abbots well.  All judges made sure to be appointed to high office in the church.  Until well into the fourteenth century all judges were ordained priests, so they could certainly hold church office.  (Look even today at a judge's robes.  They look a whole lot like a priest's vestments, don't they.  There's a reason for that.)

And all judges were pluralists.  That meant they held multiple church offices, such as being a bishop, plus an abbot, plus the dean of an important urban church, for example.  How could they serve all these while being judges? you ask.  Well, obviously they couldn't, especially not serve all the different churches from which they derived income.  So they appointed vicars.  A vicar (a representative, same root as vice as in vice president) might make a few pounds a year.  English parish priests are still termed vicars.

In the second half of the fourteenth century, judges began being regularly appointed without being priests, due in part to England's quarrels with the papacy.  Judges now probably made no more than half as much as their predecessors had earlier.

What did the judges do with all their money? While priests, they couldn't have family, though there might be a few young people around the place....  Essentially judges paid for their entourage, for houses, food, travel, and general display, plus of course paying the vicars.  Some judges bought up land which passed to family members (brothers and nephews) on their death.  Once judges were no longer priests, they did have families to support and to whom they could leave their wealth.  Some judges set up accounts at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge from which faculty and students could take out loans (at interest, of course).

Prof. Ryan Rowberry of Georgia State has been doing a great deal of excellent archival work figuring out how late medieval judges were paid.  The above is based on his findings.

It's interesting to note that historical fiction set in the Middle Ages usually involves big political events and family drama, while medieval-themed fantasy often focuses on heroes trying to defeat the enemy, heavily influenced by medieval epics.  Nobody writes either historical fiction or fantasy about judges being pluralists and getting bribes.

© C. Dale Brittain 2023

For more on law and justice during the Middle Ages, see my ebook, Positively Medieval:  Life and Society in the Middle Ages.  Also available in paperback.