Ranulf de Glanvill

Ranulf de Glanvill , d. 1190, English jurist. He served Henry II in many offices, finally as chief justiciar after 1180. He commissioned one of the great works of English law, the Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Angliae [treatise on the laws and customs of the realm of England], a compilation that bears his name. It is based on the common law then evolving in the royal courts.

Bibliography: See T. F. Plucknett, Early English Legal Literature (1958).

Glanvill, Ranulf (d. 1190). One of Henry II's most influential legal and administrative experts, though he is no longer regarded as the author of The Laws and Customs of the Kingdom of England, the first systematic treatise on English common law. Younger son of a Suffolk baron, he became sheriff of Yorkshire in 1164, made his name as a soldier when he captured King William of Scotland at Alnwick in 1174, and rose rapidly in Henry II's service. From 1180 he was chief justiciar at a time of significant development for the English legal system.

Glanvill, Ranulf (d. 1190). One of Henry II's most influential legal and administrative experts, though what was once his greatest claim to fame has been stripped from him as he is no longer regarded as the author of The Laws and Customs of the Kingdom of England, the first systematic treatise on English common law and a work still commonly referred to as ‘Glanvill’. Younger son of a Suffolk baron, he became sheriff of Yorkshire in 1164, made his name as a soldier when he captured King William of Scotland at Alnwick in 1174, and then rose rapidly in Henry II's service. From 1180 he was chief justiciar at a time of significant development for the English legal system. According to a well-informed contemporary, Roger of Howden, ‘by his wisdom the laws which we call English were established’. But he was notorious for corruption and was dismissed by Richard I. He went on crusade and died in 1190 at the siege of Acre.

John Gillingham