Royal Forest

A royal forest is an area of land where certain rights are reserved for a monarch or the aristocracy, usually set aside for hunting. The concept was introduced by the Normans to England in the 11th century, and at the height of this practice in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, fully one-third of the land area of England was designated as royal forest. Forest law prescribed harsh punishment for anyone who committed a range of offences within the forests; by the mid-17th century, enforcement of this law had died out, but many of England's woodlands still bear the title Royal Forest. The concept of royal forests as a mode of land management in England appears to have been introduced from continental Europe in the late eleventh century. At that time, the practice of reserving areas of land for the sole use of the aristocracy was common throughout Europe during the medieval period.