My British Empire

  Chapter 132 Local institutions in England

  After meeting these people, Edward left with his little maid Lucy and asked Mayor William to arrange them.

  Mayor William is also wearing a stylish outfit today, and he looks majestic.

   Touched his two beards, Mayor William looked at a large number of young people in front of him, couldn't help puffing out his chest, and said with his head raised:

   "Everyone, you are all selected from the best. Now that you are here, let me tell you about your future arrangements."

  As soon as Mayor William's words fell, everyone's interest was aroused. The reserved young people below couldn't help but **** up their ears and listened carefully.

  Su Weier and the others were no exception. They stopped their small movements and listened carefully.

   "Among you, the top ten candidates will directly enter the Privy Council and temporarily become secretaries. The specific performance depends on you!"

   "The rest of you will all go to the City Hall Ninth Hall for half a year as an intern. We will keep an eye on you, and your performance will determine your specific future arrangements!"

   "So, don't think that you can sit back and relax after being admitted. Only after passing the internship period can you truly become an official!"

   In the end, Mayor William stared at the many admitted candidates with scrutiny. His dazzling eyes made them all lower their heads.

   "Okay, today you have been admitted, this is a gratifying day!"

   At the end, Mayor William smiled, completely opposite to the previous expression, with an amiable appearance.

   "So, we have prepared a banquet for you, don't be polite, drink to your heart's content! His Majesty the King specially brought ten barrels of strong fire wine!"

   It seemed to be infected by Mayor William's smile, the tense atmosphere in the hall was dispersed, and everyone put a smile on their faces.

   Then, Mayor William took the lead, and the entire team of 200 people began to move forward, and came to a hall that seemed to be holding a banquet.

  The hall is vast, as if you have come to a square.

  The many long tables covered with red blankets are now filled with all kinds of tempting delicacies waiting for their arrival.

  The maids with various postures and lovely appearances stood on both sides of the long table, as if they were ready to be picked by you, which made Su Weier and other local turtles drooling and sighing incessantly.

   And on the dining table, cabbages, beets, onions, garlic, and radishes were placed on beautiful porcelain plates of various colors. (The radishes at this time are different from later generations. This is a reddish-purple variety, and the other is a lesser yellow-green variety. As for the orange radish that people eat today, it did not appear until the 17th century.)

  After being cooked or washed directly by the chefs, they greet the guests who taste them in a good-looking posture.

   Various fruits also appeared on the stage, such as apples, pears, bananas, etc., which are bright in color after being cooked, and they are steaming, and they stay on the plate safely, which is very attractive.

  Of course, there are also essential meats, such as pork, beef, mutton, and poultry meat, which are also grilled and put on the table.

  Don’t look at the fact that Europeans and Americans don’t eat pork very much, but it was very common in the Middle Ages.

  As the easiest to raise and the most common meat at that time, every part of its body was fully utilized by Westerners.

  Ears, tongues, tails, mouths and wombs, these are the food in the medieval population.

  Its ears, tongue, tail, mouth and uterus will all be eaten; while the intestines, bladder, and stomach will be used to make casings, or artificial dome eggs at Easter.

   There is no place to waste, and the poor and persecuted. Now that they are rich, they stop eating and despise it.

   There were 200 people present, most of them were civilians. How could they ever see such a formation?

   Fortunately, they have basically read books, and they still have basic literacy. They don't rush like hungry tigers, and they know how to restrain themselves.

   "Gentlemen, let's get started! Today is all yours!"

   Mayor William said with a smile when he saw the hard-working people, and then left the room.

   And everyone also cared about other people's faces, and their movements were a bit gentle, but except for Veseli and other twenty people, the rest ate their food regardless of their appearance.

   "Veselli, look at those people, their actions are so rude, it's really contemptible!"

People gather in groups, and not long after, these people are divided into two groups. Some of them are the children of rich businessmen and officials. They are basically either from rich people or have a good relative who is an official. Generally speaking, their family background Relatively rich.

  The other part is that, like Su Weier and others, they are all families of civilian origin. They are either Yeomannon families or handicraft families. These people account for the majority.

   "Don't worry so much, these mud-legged people are different from us!"

   Elegantly using a fork to put a piece of boiled apple into his mouth, Versel said in a disdainful tone.

   After saying this, the people nearby nodded in unison, with a look of deep sympathy on their faces.

   Just like that, after noon, after drinking and eating, everyone basically had smiles on their faces, and they got acquainted with each other a little bit.

  After that, under Edward's arrangement, these people began to change their clothes, took off their old clothes, and put on the official uniforms specially prepared by Edward for them.

  The official uniforms this time were completely modified from noble clothes.

  First of all, there are two layers of white bodysuit, which is very close-fitting. There are more than a dozen buttons on the bodysuit, and the buttons are basically inlaid with gold. The lining of the bodysuit has thin straps to connect the upper end of the thin-leg trousers.

The wide-body coat is black with flowing gold, and it is worn outside the jacket. The collar covers the ears, the collar at the back of the neck covers the back of the head, and the lower part of the skirt is dragged to the ground. The body is arc-shaped in appearance, long and wide.

   On their heads, they wear a bowler hat specially designed by Edward for them, which is a kind of felt hat.

  Historically, this was invented by the British James Coke in 1850.

  The starting point of the original design was to use hard materials to protect the head, but it became popular in the late 19th century. The main reason is that this kind of bowler hat is somewhat similar to the top silk hat worn by the upper class, and the price is relatively cheap.

  So, stylishly dressed and elegant trainee officials, riding on big horses, under the guard of the police, began to show off on the main roads of London.

   Various people surrounded the road, competing to watch the newly released young officials.

  The well-dressed trainee officials also touched the hearts of waves of girls.

  Showing off to everyone in London really made the intern officials shine and greatly satisfied their vanity.

   At this moment, this scene was seen by many parents, and it directly made them want to let their son study in their hearts.

   "Hey man, what's this all about? What's up with these people?"

  Ham watched the excitement and saw that it was all right, but suddenly such a sentence popped up around him, disturbing his interest.

  However, he turned his head and saw that the speaker was dressed in the same clothes as him, all linen clothes, dusty, and relatively thin, with a shrewd look in his eyes.

  Ham knew that this was a small peddler who came to London from all over the world. Although he looked similar to him, he probably had a lot more property than him.

  As a native of the capital and a resident of the largest city in England, even though he is relatively poor, Ham still holds his head up and feels disdain for him from the bottom of his heart.

   "This is a new official selected by His Majesty the King through an examination. They are not selected based on their background. They are basically ordinary people like us!"

   "Tsk tsk! They will be officials in the future, and they are different from us!"

  Although Ham looked down on him, but his character has always been relatively honest, he explained it to him, and then closed his mouth.

  The thin merchant who was listening carefully at the side lowered his head at this moment, wondering what he was thinking about.

  Like him, businessmen from all over the world didn't know what they were thinking, but the news quickly spread throughout England, Scotland, France, Germany, Spain...

   This is a lively day, and the people of London feel very special about this day, but they don't know why.

  But knowledgeable people know that this is the opening of a door, a door leading to the upper class, to discuss state affairs with the king and nobles, and the common people began to be active in the political arena.

   At this time, our Majesty Edward, after coaxing little Lolita to take a nap, lay on the bed himself and began to think.

  After holding the imperial examination in England, he plans to let these people practice in various halls in London for half a year, and then send them to work in other places.

  The establishment of the London City Government and the British imperial examinations were all preparations for Edward to reform England.

  At this time, the specific situation of the local system in England is very simple.

  At that time, the local government had three levels: county, hundred-household district, and village.

  The county has a sheriff appointed by the king. There are hundreds of household heads appointed by the king in the hundred-household district.

  Villages are controlled by churches or manors.

The main function of   county and Baihu district is judicial trial. The County Court sits twice a year. The Baihu District Court meets every four weeks.

  The sheriff and the head of a hundred households preside over the court respectively. Every freeman may attend the court and participate in the trial. Later, it gradually evolved into the presence of landowners.

  Because of the land enfeoffment system implemented in England, certain large tracts of land belonged to vassals (big nobles) or vassals of vassals, that is, minor nobles. In this way, the original administrative divisions and noble fiefdoms were intertwined and confused. Generally speaking, there are still courts in counties and hundreds of households, but nobles also have courts, which are the courts of lords. Some fengjun courts replaced the Baihu district courts.

  By the time of Henry II (1154-1189), the king authorized the Royal Council to supervise the local court and the monarchy court through circuit judges and accept appeals. The Royal Council effectively became the highest court in the country.

  Before this, the central government and the local government had almost no connection other than the feudal obligation relationship of vassals and vassals. The establishment of circuit judges began to interfere with local justice.

  County and Baihu District were basically judicial units at the beginning of their establishment. Its administrative functions are acquired gradually.

  In this process, the court composed of free people or landowners gradually evolved into a local council.

  County, as the administrative department, is responsible for collecting taxes, maintaining law and order, arranging various local public affairs, and so on.

  Country councils elect members of parliament, key county officials such as tax collectors, crown advocates, censors, and sometimes even sheriffs.

  It can be said that the Tudor royal family was able to control the place, which was mainly maintained by the sheriff, the magistrate, the star court, and the circuit judge.

  (end of this chapter)