WITH reference to celebrating the 800th anniversary of King John signing away his rights to the city’s riches, combined with the signing of the Magna Carta.

The population of York was 8,000, London the highest with 12,000 to 15,000.

Class distinction was the order of the day.

The king, barons and earls ruled the land, the medieval equivalent of the banking sector, followed by cottagers (labourers and craftsmen) and villeins; the word denotes a poor man working for the lord.

It was decreed in 1215 that no man should be appointed as a judiciary, constable, sheriff or bailiff unless he understood the laws of the land, and was prepared to observe them.

Every male between the ages of 12 and 60 years old was responsible for bringing a criminal to justice.

Slaves taken in battle or condemned of a crime could be bought, the buyer and seller each paying four pence in purchases tax. A horse was sold for a penny.

Kenneth Bowker, Vesper Walk, Huntington, York.