The shire court for Lincolnshire was held at Lincoln every 40 days, the lords of the manor attending with their stewards, or in their absence the reeve and four men of the vill. The ridings were each presided over by a riding-reeve, and wapentake courts were held in the reign of Henry I. 12 times a year, and in the reign of Henry III. every three weeks, while twice a year all the freemen of the wapentake were summoned to the view of frankpledge or tourn held by the sheriff. The boundaries between Kesteven and Holland were a matter of dispute as early as 1389 and were not finally settled until 1816.
Lincolnshire was originally included in the Mercian diocese of Lichfield, but, on the subdivision of the latter by Theodore in 68o, the fen-district was included in the diocese of Lichfield, while the see for the northern parts of the county was placed at "Sid nacester," generally identified with Stow. Subsequently both dio ceses were merged in the vast West-Saxon bishopric of Dorchester, the see of which was afterwards transferred to Winchester, and by Bishop Remigius in 1072 to Lincoln. Benedictine foundations existed at Ikanho, Barrow, Bardney, Partney and Crowland as early as the 7th century, but all were destroyed in the Danish wars, and only Bardney and Crowland were ever rebuilt. The revival of monasticism after the Conquest resulted in the erec tion of ten Benedictine monasteries, and a Benedictine nunnery at Stainfield. The Cistercian abbeys at Kirkstead, Louth Park, Revesby, Vaudey and Swineshead, and the Cistercian nunnery at Stixwould were founded in the reign of Stephen, and at the time of the Dissolution there were upwards of a hundred religious houses in the county.
In the struggles of the reign of Stephen, castles at Newark and Sleaford were raised by Alexander, bishop of Lincoln, against the king. The seizure of Lincoln by Stephen in 1141 was accompanied with fearful butchery and devastation. In the baronial outbreak of 1173 Roger Mowbray, who had inherited the Isle of Axholme from Nigel d'Albini, garrisoned Ferry East, or Kinnard's Ferry, and Axholme against the king, and, after the destruction of their more northern fortresses in this campaign, Epworth in Axholme became the principal seat of the Mowbrays. In the struggles be tween John and his barons Lincoln in 1216 made peace with the king by surrendering hostages for the payment of a fine of ',coo marks, but after the landing of Louis the city was captured by Gilbert de Gant, then earl of Lincoln. After his disastrous march
to Swineshead Abbey, John journeyed through Sleaford to New ark, where he died, and in the battle of Lincoln in 1217 Gilbert de Gant was captured and the city sacked. At the time of the Wars of the Roses the county, owing to territorial influence, was mainly Lancastrian, and in 1461 the Yorkist strongholds of Grantham and Stamford were sacked to such effect that the latter never recovered. In the Civil War of the 17th century, Lindsey for the most part declared for the king. Lord Willoughby of Par ham was a prominent Parliamentary leader, and the Isle of Ax holme and the Puritan yeomanry of Holland declared for the parliament. In 1643 Cromwell won a small victory near Grant ham, and the Royalist garrisons at Lynn and Lincoln surrendered to Manchester. In 1644, however, Newark, Gainsborough, Lin coln, Sleaford and Crowland were all in Royalist hands, and Newark only surrendered in 1646.
At the time of the Domesday survey there were between 400 and 500 mills in Lincolnshire; 2,111 fisheries producing large quantities of eels; 361 salt-works; and iron forges at Stow, St. Mary and at Bytham. Lincoln and Stamford were flourishing centres of industry, and markets existed at Kirton-in-Lindsey, Louth, Old Bolingbroke, Spalding, Barton and Partney. The early manufactures of the county are all connected with the woollen trade, Lincoln being noted for its scarlet cloth in the 13th century, while an important export trade in the raw material sprang up at Boston. The disafforesting of Kesteven in 1230 brought large areas under cultivation, and the same period is marked by the growth of the maritime and fishing towns, espe cially Boston (which had a famous fish-market), Grimsby, Barton, Saltfleet, Wainfleet and Wrangle. The Lincolnshire towns suffered from the general decay of trade in the eastern counties which marked the 15th century, but agriculture was steadily improving, and with the gradual drainage of the fen-districts culminating in the vast operations of the 17th century, over 330,00o acres in the county were brought under cultivation, including more than two-thirds of Holland. The fen-drainage resulted in the extinction of many local industries, such as the trade in goose-feathers and the export of wild fowl to the London markets. Other historic industries of Lincolnshire are the breeding of horses and dogs and rabbit-snaring.