The Royal Forests of England

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. The Royal Forests of England opens a door onto a forgotten England of royal hunting grounds, legal privilege, and carefully managed wilderness. Drawing on abundant archival records, J. Charles Cox reconstructs the history of forest law and forest life, from the meaning of "forest" as a protected royal territory to the officers, courts, customs, and economies that governed it. He traces the long evolution of Britain's woods from Roman and Saxon times through the sweeping afforestations of William the Conqueror, the backlash that led to Magna Charta and the Charter of the Forest, and the later balancing of hunting rights with industry, timber use, and local necessity. Blending scholarship with antiquarian enthusiasm, Cox moves county by county through Sherwood, the Forest of Dean, Windsor, Dartmoor, Duffield Frith, and more, showing how purlieus, parks, deer, forges, fisheries, fines, and woodland labor shaped daily life. Richly illustrated and meticulously researched, this is a vivid study of monarchy, landscape, and tradition in medieval and early English history.