Witness Roger Bishop of Salisbury William de Curcey and Adam de Port at Winchester In these times and for a Century or two of years afterwards the Trials for Lands and Goods in the * See the old Registers Leigers Couchers and Histories of the Great Monasteries Ely Bury Ramsey Abendon c. County * See the old Registers Leigers Couchers and Histories of the Great Monasteries Ely Bury Ramsey Abendon c. Hundred and Lords Courts were very considerable and for good Quantities of Land and the Suitors to the Hundred and County Courts were as considerable all Men especially of the Laity of what Quality soever within the Hundred ought their Attendance there as appears by this Writ Henricus [1] Monast Angl Vol. 3. f. 262. Col. 2. n. 50. Rex Angliae omnibus Baronibus Vavasoribus omnibus Dominis qui Terras Tenent in Well-Wapentach Salutem Praecipio quod omnes veniatis ad placitum Wapentachium Episcopi Lincoln quod de me tenet per summonitionem Ministrorum suorum Et facietis ei omnes Rectitudines consuetudines in omnibus Rebus quas ei debetis de Terris vestris ad illud VVapentachiumâ— ita bene plenarie sicut unquam plenius fecistis Roberto Episcopo vel alicui Antecessori suo quas juste facere debetis nisi feceritis ipse vos justiciet per pecuniam vestram donec faciatis ne perdam pecuniam meam quam Episcopus mihi inde reddere debet Teste Episcopo Sarum G. Canc. apud Fereham Henry King of England to all Barons Vavasors or Knights and Lords of Maners which hold Lands in Well-Wapentach Greeting I Command that you all come to the * The same with an Hundred VVapentach-Court of the Bishop of Lincoln which he holds of me at the summons of his Bailiffs and perform to him all Services and Customs in all things which are due to him from your Lands at that Court so well and fully as ever ye performed them to * Robert Bloet who died Jan. 10. A. D. 1122 Alexander succeeded him and was consecrated A. D. 1123. Jul. 22.23 Hen. 1. Robert the Bishop or any Antecessor of his and which ye ought justly to do and unless you perform them he shall Distrein your Goods until you do it lest I lose my Rent which the Bishop is to pay me for the VVapentach Witness the Bishop of Salisbury and G. the Chancellor at Fereham In the [2] Append. n. 34. eighteenth year of Henry the Third He by Advice of the Major part of the Bishops Earls and Barons Expounded the 35th Chapter of Magna Charta where there had been care taken about the keeping of the County Court Turns and Leets but not about Hundred or VVapentach Courts and Lords Courts In which Chapter there was a Clause That all were to have their Liberties they had or used in the time of King Henry his Grandfather And it having been proved before them that Hundreds and Wapentachs and Lords Courts were then holden every Forthnight which was thought too often and too great a trouble to the Suitors yet seeing the two Turns were not sufficient to preserve the Peace of the Nation nor to Correct the Injuries done to Rich and Poor which was part of the Business of the Hundred Courts it was provided that between the two Turns Hundreds and Wapentachs and the Courts of Great Men should be holden from three Weeks to three Weeks where before they had been holden once in a forthnight so as there should not be made a General Summons to those Hundreds Wapentachs and Great Mens Courts as there was to the Turns But there should only come to them the Plaintiffs and Defendents and those which * By their Tenures and held Lands by doing Suâ—t and Service at those Courts ought Suit to them That Trials might be dispatcht and Judgments made which are done by the Suiters unless in those Hundreds there ought to be Inquisition made of Pleas of the Crown as of the Death of a Man Treasure found and the like for the Inquiry to be made after them they should come with the Suiters all of four of the next Towns that were necessary to make such Inquisitions Notwithstanding this Provision the Attendance upon these Courts was thought a great burthen and trouble and therefore two years afterwards [3] Stat. of Merton c. 10. it was provided and granted That every Free-man that ought Suit to the County Trihing Hundred and Wapentach or to the Court of his Lord mighty freely make his Attorney to do those Suits for him So that this way the Great Men made a Law to excuse their Lands and selves from this Service and gave some small parcels of Land to some ordinary inconsiderable men to do this Drudgery for them Land then was the price of all things the very Houshold Servants had Land allowed them for their annual Wages Nor was that which is now accounted a wonderful Priviledge then thought any other than a vexation and trouble seeing many Knights and considerable Men purchased of the King Charters of Exemption from being Impannelled in Assises Juries and Enquests and these Exemptions were so frequent and so many [4] Stat. of Marlebridge c. 14. that they hindered the course of Justice and therefore there was a Law made to force them in several Cases to serve upon Juries and Enquests and at length when the small Barons or Tenants in Capite and Military Men began to grow poor and beggerly and had by Law [5] Magn. Chart. c. 32. leave to Alienate what part of their Estates they would leaving sufficient to perform the Services which belonged to the Fee they began to think of * History f. 6â—7 A. B. Representatives to save charges in going to and Attendance at Parlements and by several [6] See Glossary to my Introduction c. â— 62. c. c. undue Practises and Laws to force the trouble and vexation as it was then esteemed of serving and waiting at Assises Sessions and County Courts upon Men of mean Estates and meaner Understandings Parts and Abilities These Trials for Lands before the County and Hundreds are often to be seen in Domesday Book and in the old Registers Leigers or Couchers of great Monasteries as of Ely Ramsey Bury Abendon Glastonbury c. with the manner how they were recovered the Testimony of the County or Hundred and by such Jurors as most frequently knew the Matter of Fact The Great Matter of Inquiry then was Who had been possessed and who was possessed of the Land or Thing in Contention for by that they most frequently judged of Right For no Estate then passed by private Bargain only but there were some public Circumstances and Ceremonies performed which made the passing of Estates from one to another very notorious and especially those of Investiture or as it was called when much in use Livery or Seisin or when the Charts and Deeds of
Treason and Malicious Burning and in all things aforesaid except in small Thefts and Roberies which were committed in the time of War as of Horses Oxen and lesser â—things II. No Strangers to be lodged above one Night in a House and to depart in the day time â—It shall not be Lawful for any Man in Burgh or Town to Lodge a Stranger above one Night in his House without bringing him to Examination unless he hath a reasonable Excuse which the Host is to make known to his Neighbours and when he goes from his House he is to do it before his Neighbours and in the â—day time III. No one can deny any Felony he hath confessed before the Justices or what he hath confessed before he be apprehended â— Si quis saisitus de Murdro vel de Latrocinio vel Roberia vel falsoneria inde sit cognoscens vel de aliquâ aliâ Feloniâ c. If any one be apprehended for Murder or Theft or Robery or Forgery or any other Felony he hath committed and confesseth it before the Hundredary or Chief Magistrate of the Hundred or Burgh and before Lawful Men he cannot deny that afterward before the Justices Et si idem sine saisinâ coram eis aliquid ejusmodi recognoverit c. And if any one without being apprehended shall confess or acknowledge any such Crimes before such Persons he â—cannot deny it before the Justices IV. â— Si quit obierit Francus Tenens c. If any Franc-Tenent dies Heirs to inherit what the Father died seizâ—d of and to satisfie Legacies If unâ—r Age the Lord oâ— the Fee to receive his Homage and Wardship The Relict to have her Dower his Heirs shall remain in Tali saisina qualem pater suus habuit c. in such Possession as their Father had of his Fee in his Life time and they shall have his Catals or Goods and satisfie the Devise or Legacies of the Defunct and afterwards they shall repair to the Lord and satisfie him for his Relief and do all other things they ought concerning their Fee and if the Heir be under Age the Lord may receive his Homage and have the Wardship of him so long as he ought other Lords if he have any may receive Homage of him and he may do to them what he ought The Relict of the Defunct may have her Dower and such part of the Goods as belong to her If the Lord of the Fee denies the Seisin or Possession to the Heirs of the Defunct which they claim the Kings Justices may make Recognition by twelve Legal Men what manner of Seisin the Defunct had in his Life time and according to the Verdict restore it to the Heirs And if any one doth contrary to this Statute and be thereof attainted inde attaintus fuerit â—he shall remain in the Kings pleasure V. â—The Kings Justices shall cause a Recognition to be made of Dissaisins from the precise time the King came into England after he â—made Peace with the King his Son VI. â—The Justices shall Administer the Oath of Fealty to the King by the Close of eight days after Easter The Oath of Fealty to be Administred to all Persons within eight days after Easter or Whitsunday All that refuse to be looked on as the Kings Enemies or at furthest eight days after Whitsunday to all Earls Barons Knights Free-Tenents and also to Rusticks or Husbandmen who will stay in the Kingdom and he that will not take the Oath of Fealty shall be taken as the Kings Enemy and the Justices have power to command all such as have not done Homage and Allegiance to the King to come at a time â—appointed by them and do to them as to their Liege Lord. VII â—The Justices shall do all manner of Law and Right belonging to the King or his Crown by his Writ The Justices empowered to do all manner of Right in the Kings absence If the Controversie be weighty to be referred to the King or his Vice-Roy or the Writ of his Vice-Roys in his absence concerning half a Knights Fee or under unless the Controversie be so weighty as it cannot be ended without the King or of such a nature that the Justices ought to Report it to him for his satisfaction or to his Lieutenants or Vice-Roys and they shall according to the best of their skill and power do what â—is for the Advantage of the King VIII â— Faciant etiam * * Assisa sometimes signifies Mulcta The Justices to inflict Punishment upon Malefactors by the Kings appointment Assisam de Latronibus iniquis Malefactoribus terrae quae assisa est per Consilium Regis filii sui Hominum suorum per quos ituri sunt Comitatus The Justices also shall inflict such Punishment upon Thieves and wicked Malefactors in those Counties they pass through which was set and appointed by Direction â—of the King his Son and their Men. IX The Justices to take care that Castles be demolished and destroyed â—The Justices shall take care that the Castles that are demolished be throughly demolished and that such as are to be destroyed be levelled with the Ground and unless they do this the King will â—have them judged in his Court as Contemners of his Precept X. ' The Justices shall enquire of Escheats of Churches Lands ' and Women that are in the Kings Donation XI The Kings Bayliff to answer Perquisites as well as set Rents â—The Kings Bayliffs shall answer at the Exchequer as well for the Perquisites as the set Rents in their Bayliwicks except such as â—belong to the Sheriff and his Office XII â—The Justices shall enquire of Castle-Guards and from whom and how much and where they are due and shall inform the King â—thereof XIII â—A Thief when he is taken is to be committed to the Sheriff if the Sheriff be not near he is to be carried to the next Castellan or Constable of a Castle and he is to keep him until he delivers him â—to the Sheriff XIV Those that flee out of the Land to be Outlawed if they return not within an appointed time â—The Justices shall cause Enquiry to be made by the Custom of the Land for such as are fled or gone out of the Kingdom and unless they will return within an appointed time and stand to Right in the Kings Court they shall be Outlawed and their Names returned into the Exchequer at Easter and Michaelmass and from â—thence sent to the King In the Feast [6.] Hoved. f. 314. b. n. 40. of Easter this year young King Henry and his Son Richard Earl of Poictou and Geofry Earl of Britany were with their Father at Winchester and after that Solemnity the three Sons with their Fathers leave passed into Normandy Young Henry with his Brothers go into Normandy Richard with his Brother Henry overcomes the Brabanters and reduces them Richard forthwith went into Poictou raised an Army and
fought with the Brabanters and overcame them and by the assistance of his Brother King Henry he took many Towns and Castles and forced the Submission of many Viscounts or Sheriffs of Towns with small Territories and Castles in Poictou and the Places adjoyning unto him And in the same year not long after [7.] Ib. f. 316. b. n. 10 20. The King demolishes several Castles in England and Normandy the King caused the Walls and Castle of Leicester to be demolished as also the Castles of Groby Treske Malesart and the new Castle at Alverton the Castles of Framingham and Bungey and almost all the Castles of England and Normandy that were fortified against him The Castle of Pasci or Pacey in Normandy he retained in his own hands and placed a Garison in it as likewise the Castle of Montsorrel which was Sworn to be his own Propriety by Recognition of Lawful Men of the Vicenage About the beginning of October [8.] Ibidem f. 317. a. n. 50. The King of Scot and brings Fergus Prince of Galway to the King of England this year William King of Scotland came into England to the King and brought with him Gilbert Son of Fergus Prince of Galway who killed his Brother Vctred who did Homage to King Henry the Father and sware Fealty to him against all Men and gave to the King to be restored to favour or for his Peace One thousand Marks of Silver and his Son Duncan an Hostage or Pledge for his Peaceable and Loyal Behaviour In a General Council at [9.] Ib. f. 320. a. n. 30. The King restores several Noblemen to their Lands and Dâ—gnities Northampton soon after St. Hillary or the Thirteenth of January the King restored Robert Earl of Leicester to all his Lands in England and beyond Sea which he had fifteen days before the War except Pacey and Montsorrel Castles And also to Hugh Earl of Chester all the Lands he was possessed of at the same time and to William de Albeny Son of William Earl of Arundel the Earldom of Sussex Alfonsus [1.] Ibid. b. n. 30 40 50. An. Do. 1177. The Kings of Castile and Navarre refer their differences to be determined by the King of England King of Castile and Sanctius King of Navarre after many Debates and much Wrangling referred all their Claims and Controversies to be determined by the King of England and there were sent several Bishops and Great Men and choice and able Persons Proctors and Advocates to Alledge and Answer for either of them and to receive the Judgment of the Court of England With these came two Knights and Champions of wonderful Courage and Audacity bravely accoutred with Horse and Arms and fitted for Duel if Judgment had been that way given in the Kings Court These Messengers came into England between Christmass and Lent and the King summoned all the Bishops Abbats Priors Earls and Barons to meet at London on the first Sunday in Lent when they were come together the King ordered the Proctors and Advocates on both sides to bring in their Claims and Allegations within three days in Writing and so interpreted as he and his Barons might understand them which when they had heard read and also heard the Allegations on both sides the King ordered [2.] Ben. Ab. p. 89. a. the Messengers before his Bishops Earls and Barons to be there again all Excuses laid aside upon Sunday following to receive his Judgment So that this great Affair was determined in eight days The Demands Allegations and Pretences on both sides and the whole Process with King Henry's Award are to be found in Hoveden fol. 320. b. n. 40 c. See also the Judgment it self by the Bishops Earls and Barons which is very short though the Kings Exemplification of it under his is very much longer Bromt. Col. 1124. n. 20. The King [3.] Ibidem p. 86. b. The King Summons his Noblemen and Knights in Capite to follow him into Normandy Commanded this year all the Earls Barons and Knights of the Kingdom which held of him in Capite to be at London well prepared with Horse and Arms fifteen days after Easter to follow him from thence into Normandy and stay with him a whole year beyond Sea in his Service at their own Charges At Easter the [4.] Ibidem p. 96. b. Anno Dom. 1177. The King with his Earls and Barons go in Pilgrimage to St. Edmunds-Bury to Ely and Gaidington King with his Earls and Barons kept his Court at Wy in Kent and after the Solemnity went to London and from thence in Pilgrimage in perigrinatione to St. Edmund the King and Martyr to the Monastery at St. Edmunds-Bury where he was the Sunday after Easter The next day he went to Ely in Pilgrimage to St. Audry and from thence he went to * Perhaps Gayton in Cheshire or Gaiton in Northamptonshire as Gervase of Canterbury says Col. 1522 l. 3. Gaidington or Gaitintune where many Welsh flocked about him and sware Fealty to him [5.] Ibidem Hither by his Command came to him Roger Arch-Bishop of York Reginald Bishop of Bath John Bishop of Norwich and Adam Bishop of St. Asaph and many Earls and Barons of the Kingdom to Treat of the Peace and Settlement thereof [6.] Ibidem p. 97. a. The Lords and Knights of the Kingdom come to Windsor to go where the King should Command The King removes several Constables of Castles and places others in their room and when they had Treated some time there the King removed to Windsor and the Arch-Bishop and other Bishops with him where came to him almost all the Earls Barons and Knights of England provided with Horse and Arms to go whether the King should Command And when they had Treated further there about the Peace and Establishment of the Kingdom by Advice of his Bishops Earls and Barons he removed the Constables of several Castles in the North of England and made Knights which were of his own private Family Constables William Stutevill he made Keeper of the Castle of Rokesburgh and Roger Stutevill of the Castle of Edinburgh and William Nevill of the Castle of Norham and Roger Arch-Bishop of York of the Castle of Scarburgh and Geofry Nevill of the Castle of Berwick and Roger Comers of the Tower of Durham which the King took from [7.] Ibidem Hoved f. 323. b. n. 20. Hugh Bishop of Durham because he served him falsely in the time of War and for that reason and that it might stand and not be demolished and for the Kings Peace and that his Son Henry de Puteaco or Pudsey might enjoy the Maner of Wicton with its Appurtenances the Bishop gave the King 2000 Marks From Windsor [8.] Ben. Abb. p. 97. b. The King Commands the Welsh Kings to meet him at Oxford Who with many other Noblemen did Homage to him the King went to Oxford where he had Commanded the Welsh Kings and the most Potent Men of
of Richard Bishops of Winchester Henry Bishop of Bayeux Giles Bishop of Eureux Froger Bishop of Sees and in presence of Simon Earl of Eureux and Robert Earl of Leicester and before many other Earls and Barons of his Kingdom That no Man presume to take the Goods of a Vassal for the Debt of his Lords nequis pro Domini debito res hominis capere praesumat unless the Vassal was Pledge or Surety for the Debt of his Lord but the Rents of Vassals which they are to pay to their Lords shall be paid to their Lords Creditors not to the Lords The other proper Goods of Vassals shall be in peace neither shall it be lawful for any one to Distrein namtire non liceat or take them for the Debts of their Lords This Statute and this Custom Hoc Statutum Consuetudinem hanc c. the King Ordained should be firm and general in all his Towns and every where in his Dominions viz. in Normandy Aquitan Anjou Main Turain and Britany and that it might be stable permanent and firmly observed and kept it was Written and Confirmed with his Seal After this the King [3.] Ibidem 110. a. The King of England summons his Earls and Barons of Normandy to appear with Horse and Arms. by his Writ summoned the Earls and Barons of Normandy to meet him at Argenton on the Ninth of October prepared with Horse and Arms for his Service and went to Alencon and sent his Son Richard into Poictou to subdue his Enemies King Henry desirous to return into England sent to Lewis King of France and obtained his Letters of Protection in this Form [4.] Hoved. f. 327. a. n. 30. An. Do. 1178. The King of France gives the King of England Letters of Protection LEWIS King of France to all whom these Presents shall come Greeting Know ye that We have received into Our Custody all the Lands of Our Most Dear Brother Henry King of England on this side the Sea if he shall happen to pass into England or go on Pilgrimage so that when his * Baillivi sui Bayliffs or Officers shall Require Vs We shall truly without Design give them our Counsel and help for the Defence and Protection of the same After his coming out of [5.] Ibidem f. 331. a. n. 40. Geofry Earl of Anjou Knighted by his Father His Military Exercise and Ambition Normandy into England at Woodstock he Knighted his Son Geofry Earl of Britany who soon after passed into Normandy and in the Confines of France and that Country was at a Torneament or the Exercise of Feats of Arms where he was ambitious to have the Reputation of a Courageous Kngiht and the rather because his Brothers Henry and Richard had acquired great Honour and Renown in such Military Exercises Peter of St. Agatha [6.] Ibidem b. n. 10. The King puts an Oath upon the Popes Legat. An. Do. 1179. the Popes Legat came this year through England to summon the Bishops and Abbats of Scotland and Ireland to a General Council at Rome but before he had leave to pass through the Kingdom he made Oath not to do or seek to do any Injury to the King or Kingdom and that he would return the same way [7.] Ibidem f. 332. a. n. 50. And upon the Scottish and Irish Bishops and Abbats An. Do. 1179. The same Oath the Scottish and Irish Bishops and Abbats took before they had passage given them to go this way with the Legat. After Easter the King [8.] Ibidem f. 337. a. n. 20. England divided into four Circuits held a great Council at Windsor and by the common Advice of his Arch-Bishops Bishops Earls and Barons he divided England in four parts and to every part he appointed Wise Men to do Justice in the Land After this manner I. Richard Bishop of Winton Richard the Kings Treasurer Nicholas Fitz-Torold Tho. Basset Robert Witefeld Hamshire Wiltshire Gloucestershire Dorsetshire Sumersetshire Devonshire Cornwall Berkshire Oxfordshire II. Geofry Bishop of Ely Nich. the Kings Chaplain Gilbert Pipard Reginald de Wisbech the Kings Clerk Geofry Hosee Cambridgeshire Huntingtonshire Northamptonshire Leicestershire Warwickshire Worcestershire Herefordshire Staffordshire Shropshire III. John Bishop of Norwich Hugh Murdac the Kings Clerk Michael Belet Richard Del Pec. Radulph Brito Norfolk Suffolk Essex Hertfordshire Middlesex Kent Surrey Sussex Buckinghamshire Bedfordshire IV. Godfrey de Lucy Johannes Cumin Hugh de Gaerst Ranulph de Glanvill William de Bendings Alanus de Furnellis Nottinghamshire Derbyshire Yorkshire Northumberland Westmerland Cumberland Lancaster The last six were appointed [9.] Ibidem b. n. 20. Justices in the Kings Court to hear the * Clamores populi Clamor a common word then for a Suit or Petition Clamours or Business and Suits of the People and had the last seven Counties assigned them This year Lewis King of [1.] Jo. Brom. Col. 1139. n. 40 50.60 c. An. Do. 1179. The King of France calls together all his Bishops Earls and Barons to Crown his Son Philip at Rhemes His Son falls sick He had a Vision by which he was admonished for his Sons Recovery to visit the Martyr of Canterbury so called France cited all the Arch-Bishops Bishops Earls and Barons of his Kingdom that they should without Excuse be in the City of Rhemes on the Assumption of the Virgin Mary that is the Fifteenth of August to Crown his Son Philip then Fifteen years old They hastned to come as they ought to do but just before the time his Son fell into a great Sickness so as many despaired of his Life his Father grieved night and day and was mightily afflicted for his Son Being thus without Comfort one Night when he had happily fallen into a sound Sleep St. Thomas the Martyr of Canterbury appeared to him and told him the Lord Jesus Christ had sent him his Servant to him to let him know That if he believed and with Contrition went to visit his Servant Thomas the Martyr of Canterbury his Son should recover his Health He discovered this Vision to his Friends and asked their Advice who told him it was dangerous to pass by Sea into another Mans Country Roger Hoveden is more modest in this Story and only says he was admonished by Divine Revelation He comes to Canterbury Offers and Prays at his Tomb. Gives the Monks 100 Measures of Wine every year And grants them a Charter of many Priviledges in France c. The next Night the Martyr appeared the second and third time and told the same Story and added Threats if he went not quickly and obeyed the Command of God He came and the King of England met him at Dover on the Twenty second day of August and Conducted him to the Tomb of the Martyr where the King of France Prayed and offered a great and precious Golden Cup and gave to the Monks of Holy Trinity for ever yearly One hundred Measures of Wine Centum Modios Vini to be
Person or Seal and upon that account was invalid The people Murmur and accuse Hubert de Burgh This occasioned great Murmurings every one accusing the Justiciary and looking upon him to be the Author of this disturbance because the King was wholly guided by him Soon after the [9] Ibid. n. 40 Religious and all others had notice that if they would enjoy their Liberties they should renew their Charters otherwise the Old ones should be no advantage to them and what they were to pay for them was left to the discretion of the Justiciary This year Dyed [1] Ibid n. 50. Honorius the Pope Dyes Gregory the ninth chosen The King sends to his Great men in France Pope Honorious and Gregory the Ninth Bishop of Hostia succeeded him March 18th About Easter the Arch-Bishop of York the Bishop of Carlile and Philip de Albiney returned from beyond Sea They were sent to the Great men of those Countries which of Antient * That is Normandy and Anjou Britany and Poictou To induce them to return to his Obedience They had before done Homage to the King right belonged to the King of England And were to induce them by large promises to receive King Henry and Acknowledge him their Natural Lord. But the King of France by his Mothers Contrivance made Peace with those Barons and had received their Homages before King Henry 's Messengers came thither so they returned without effecting any thing In May following Richard the [2] f. 337. n. 10. Richard Earl of Cornwall returns into England Hubert de Burgh is made Earl of Kent The King and his Brother Richard Disagree Kings Brother came into England and was joyfully received both by the King and the Great men This year Hubert de Burgh the Justiciary was made Earl of Kent by the King and by Cincture with the Sword of the County In the same year on the 9th of July a great difference arose between King 3 Henry and his Brother Richard Earl of Cornwall upon this occasion King John had given to Waleran Castellan of Berchamsâ—ead a German a Maner that belonged to the Earldom of Cornwall which when Earl Richard understood he seized it until Waleran made out by what right he claimed it As soon as Waleran had notice of it he made his complaint to the King whereupon the King sent to his Brother forthwith upon sight of his Letters to render the Maner to Walran Earl Richard in great hast went to the King and pleaded his right to the aforesaid Maner offering to stand to the Judgment of his Court Magnatum Regni and of the Great men of the Kingdom The King and the Justiciary hearing him name the Great men were highly enraged and commaded him either to yeild the Maner or for ever depart the Kingdom to which Earl Richard replied That he would neither part with the Maner nor leave the Kingdom sine judicio parium suorum without the Judgment [4] Ibid. n. 30 40 50. The Justitiary adviseth the King to secure his Brother of his Peers and forthwith made what hast he could to his own House The Justiciary when he heard his Answer fearing he might Disturb the Peace of the Kingdom advised the King to Secure him and set a Guard upon him The Earl having notice of this Design went immediately to Redding and from thence to * i. e. Marlborough He Confederates with the Great men against the King Merleberg where he met with his Friend and Sworn Confederate William Mareschall to whom he declared what passed between the King and him together they went to the Earl of Chester and gave him an account what had happened from thence they went to Stamford where in a short time according to appointment met with Horse and Arms Ranulph Earl of Chester William Mareschall Richard Earl of Cornwall Gilbert Earl of Glocester William Earl of Warren Henry Earl of Hereford William Earl of Ferrars William Earl of Warwick with many Barons and a great multitude of Armed men They Demand the Charters which were Cancelled may be new Sealed The King gives his Brother satisfaction who entred into a Confederacy to force the King both to satisfie for this injury that was done to his Brother Richard which they imputed to the Iusticiary and to restore those Charters of Liberties lately cancelled at Oxford Sealed with his own Seal Upon this the King appointed them to meet him at Northampton the 3d of August where he gave all his Mothers Ioynture to his Brother Richard the Great men urging it together with all the Lands that belonged to the Earl of Brittain in England which were the Earl of Bologn's lately Deceased so every one departed peaceably and satisfyed In the year 1228. the King [5] Ibid. f. 344. n. 20. The King appoints new Measures of Grain Wine and Ale kept his Christmass at York but soon after came directly to London In his journey he found the Measures of Grain Wine and Ale to be false He commanded some of them to be broken and the rest to be burnt and ordered others of a larger size to be made and the weight of bread to be increased and Commanded the Offenders to be severely fined This year July 9th Dyed [6] f. 350. l. 1 Stephan Langton Dyes The King Refuseth to accept the person the Monks did choose The Suffragan Bishops also refuse him All parties Appeal to the Pope He defers the Confirmation Stephen Langton Arch-Bishop of Canturbury and the Monks of Canturbury obteined leave of the King to choose one of their own Church They having made choice of Walter de Hemesham presented him to the King who refused to accept him both because his Father was hanged being Convicted of Theft and also because in the time of the Interdict he had appeared against his Father King John The Suffragan Bishops of Canturbury refused to accept him because he had corrupted a Nun and had Children by her and also because he ought not to be chosen without them Both sides apply themselves to the Pope One to get the Election confirmed and the Other to hinder it When the Pope saw both parties vigorously prosecuted their Suit by the Advice of his Cardinals he determined nothing but put it off till the Day after Ash-wednesday following In August following the Knights and Soldiers that were in Montgomery Castle [7] Ibid. n. 30 40 50. The Welch disturb the English in making a way through the Woods by the Assistance of the Country people designed to make the way through an adjacent Wood more passable and secure for Travellers and when they were at work in clearing the Thickets the Welch on a sudden came upon them killed some and forced the rest to retire into the Castle and presently besieged it When King Henry had notice of it he and the Justiciary to whom the King had given the Castle came speedily with a small Army and raised the Siege When he had
manum Domini Rothomagensis tradenda custodiae Willielmi Marescalli Willielmi de Wendewal sciliceâ— Willielmo Marescallo castellum de Notingham Willielmo de Windeval castellum de Tikehil qui praedicta castella ad honorem fidelitatem domini Regis usque ad reditum ejus praestito juramento custodient cum redierit ad suam inde voluntatem operabuntur Et si forte Dominus Rex quod absiâ— in hac peregrinatione sua decesserit praedicta castella praedicto Comiti sine ulla detentione dilatione reddent Et si forte dominus Cancellarius interim erga praedictum Comitem excesserit excessum ad consilium considerationem praedicti Domini Rothomagensis aliorum familiarium Domini Regis Curiae suae requisitus emendare sine dilatione noluerit praedicta castella praedicto Comiti reddent restituent Sed alia castra de honoribus à Domino Rege sibi datis quae fidelibus Domini Regis tradita sunt custodienda scilicet domino Rothomagensi castrum de Wallingforde Domino Londoniensi castrum de Bristou Domino Coventrensi castrum del Pec Richardo del Pec castrum de Bâ—llesoâ—res si Richardus recipere noluerit dominus Covenâ—rensis recipiet Waltero filio Roberto castellum de Epa Comiti Rogero Bigoth castellum de Hereford Richardo Revel castellum de Exonia de Lanstavetun qui similiter fidelitatem Domini Regis de ipsis ad opus ipsius fideliter custodiendis si forte decesserit quod Deus avertat Domino Iohanni reddendis juraverunt Sed tria castella ad coronam Domini Regis pertinentia scilicet castellum de Windesoure Comiti de Arundil castellum de Wintonia Gilberto de Lasci castellum de Northampton Simoni de Pateshille tradita sunt custodienda qui fidelitatem Domini Regis de ipsis ad opus ipsius fideliter custodiendis juraverunt Sed concessum est quod Episcopi Abbates Comites Barones Vavassores libere tenentes non ad voluntatem Iusticiarum vel ministrorum Domini Regis de terris caballis suis dissaisientur sed Iudicio Cutiae Domini Regis secundum legitimas consuetudines assisas regni tractabuntur vel per mandatum Domini Regis Et similiter Dominus Iohannâ— iâ— sua terra faciet observari Et si quis aliter facere praesumpserit ad petitionem praedicti Comitis per Dominum Rothomagensem si in Anglia fuerit per Justicias Domini Regis per eos qui pacem juraverunt emendabitur similiter Dominus Iohannes ad petitionem eorundem emendabit Nova castella post transfretationem Domini Regis ad peregrinationem suam facienda vel inchoata vel perfecta delebuntur nec alia usque ad reditum Domini Regis nova firmabuntur nisi in Dominicis maneriis Domini Regis si opus fuerit vel ad opus alicujus nominatae personae per praeceptum Domini Regis factum per literas vel per certum nuncium Resaisina vicecomitatus Lincolniae fiet Girardo de Camvilla eadem die dies ei conveniens praefigetur standi in Curia Domini Regis ad judicium quod si contra eum monstrari poterit quod judicio Curiae Domini Regis vicecomitatum castelli Lincolniae perdere debuerit perdat sin minus retineat nisi interim alio modo pax inde fieri possit Nec dominus Iohannes ipsum contra juvicium Curiae Domini Regis manu tenebit nec uthlagos vel inimicos Domini Regis qui ei fuerint nominati receptabit nec in terris suis receptari permittet Sed si quis retatus fuerit de aliquo forisfacto Domino Regi facto bene licebit Comiti ipsum in terris suis receptare quam diu ipse obtulerit se staturum ad rectum in Curia Domini Regis Hanc ergo pacem bona fide sine malo ingenio tenendam servandam propriis manibus affidaverunt in manu Domini Rothomagensis praedicti Comes Cancellarius quatuordecim Barones ex utraque parte juraverunt Scilicet ex parte Cancellarii Comes de Arundel Comes de Salesbiri Comes Rogerus Bigot Comes de Clare Walterus filius Roberti Willielmus de Braosa Rogerus filius Rainfrai et ex parte Comitis Stephanus Ridel Cancellarius Willielmus de Wennevat Robertus de Mara Philippus de Lurescestre Willielmus de Kahannes Gilbertus Basset Willielmus de monte acuto Et si quid infra Treugas captum fuerit aut interceptum ab utraque parte legitime reddetur emendabitur Et haec facta sunt salva in omnibus auctoritate et mandato Domini Regis Ita tamen quod si Dominus rex ante adventum suum hanc concordiam teneri noluerit praedicta castella de Notingham Tikehil Domino Iohanni reddentur quicquid Dominus Rex inde praecepit BE it known unto all Men unto whom this present Writing shall come That the Controversie between the Earl of Moreton and the Chancellor by the Mediation of the Arch-Bishop of Roven the Bishops of Durham London Winchester Bath Rochester and Coventry and other of the Kings Liegemen was compounded upon these Terms That the Castles of Notingham and Tikehill which the Earl had taken should be restored to the Arch-Bishop of Roven for the Kings use and that Notingham should be kept by William Marshall and Tikehil by William Wendeval until the Kings Return and then they were to be disposed of according to his Direction But if the King should die in his Peregrination Then the Castles were to be re-delivered to the Earl without delay And if the Chancellor shall offend against the Earl and will not mend his offence according to the advice and Judgment of the Arch-Bishop of Roven and other the Kings Servants et aliorum familiarium Regis That is the Justices and of his Court Then without Delay those Castles shall be Restored to him Also the other Castles belonging to the Honors give him by the King which were in the keeping of the Kings Liegemen That is Wallingford in the custody of the Arch-Bishop of Roven Bristou of the Bishop of London The Castle of Pec of the Bishop of Coventry Bâ—lsover of Richard del Pec. The Castle of Ey of Walter Fitz-Robert The Castle of Hereford in the Custody of Earl Roger Bigod The Castles of Ecester and Launceston of Richard Revel who were all sworn to keep them faithfully to the Kings use and if he should die to render them to Earl John Also the three Castles belonging to the Kings Crown Windsor was to be delivered to the Earl of Arundel The Castle of Winchester to Gilbert de Lacy and Northampton to Simon Pateshul faithfully to be kept for the Kings use Also it was agreed that the Bishops Abbats Earls Barons Vavassors that is Knights and Free Tenents should not be Disseised of their Lands or Goods at the pleasure of the Justices or Kings Ministers but by the Judgment of his Court according to the lawful Câ—stomes and Statutes of the Kingdom or by the Kings Mandate and the like the Lord Iohn
was let out to Country-Men or Villagers aegder of Thegnes inland ge of Neatland either of the Lords or Thanes Inland or Demeasnes or the Country-Mans Villagers or Villans Land Gafolland Neatland and Vtland as Mr. [8.] Gavelk p. 14.115 Spelm. Gloss in verbo Somner truly informs us were opposed to Inland or Demeasne Lands and were Lands granted out for Rent or Service or both and reducible to Folkland and 't is very probable they were the same or of the same nature for that in the Laws where they are mentioned it appears they were always occupied by Ceorls Churls Country-men The Names of ordinary People Colons or Clowns by Gebures Boors Rustic's Plough or Husbandmen or by Neates and Geneates Drudges Villanes or Villagers These three Saxon words being almost of the same signification though very different in sound were always applied to the ordinary sort of People called by us Folke at this day [9.] Gavelk ut supra Saxon Lands held by Military-Service Inland he thinks to be the same with Bockland or at least of the same condition or reducible to it Yet besides these Lands there were other Lands also which were holden by Military or Knights-Service called then Feoda or Beneficia Fees or Benefices Such were the Feudal-Lands of Ealdormen Thanes and less Thanes or as they were afterwards called Valvasors which they had of the King's Gift for personal Attendances Military Services or as Governors of Provinces Counties or Towns for which see Selden's Titles of Honor Part. 2. c. 5. n. 3 4. and that there were such Lands as well in the hands of the Lower sort of the Nobless and Gentlemen as of the greater Noblemen is further clear by undeniable testimony from the Saxon Laws and Doomesday * Legalis Homo or Militaris Homo the Judicious Dugdale thinks Sithesocha signifies Curia libera legalium hominum or Militarium hominum a Court of Military or Legal-Men but perhaps the word may more aptly be translated the Court-Liberty or Jurisdiction of a Sithe Gesithe or Sitheman in such part of a County like our Hundreds where also he had a Military-Power to lead the People out to War as appears by the Saxon-Laws and might be then Captain That yle man haebbe aet thaer Sylh Twegen pel gehorsaede men Ll. Aethelstan c. 16. Every Man for a Plough shall have two well-furnished Horsemen They who were to find these Men had the Land given them for that purpose for 't is not to be thought that a Country-Man that paid any considerable Rent could do it If a (a) A Sithcundman what he was Mr. Somner in his Glossary derives this word from Sith or Gesith Comes vel Socius a Ruler or Governor and Cund Kind as it signifies the condition and quality of any one and Mon Man that is a kind or sort of Comes Governor Judge or Praefect He was esteemed equal to a Thane by the valuation of his Life in Aâ—thelstane's Laws Sithcund-Man refused his Service in the Army or a Military Expedition he Forfeited his Land c. Ll. Inae c. 52. Now we do not read of Land any where forfeited in such case unless it be Feudal Land and such as was given by a great Person Lord or Signior to his Vassal or Feudatarie for the performance of the Military Service agreed on between them Again if any Man was killed fighting in Battel by or in the presence of his Lord or Patron his Heirs succeeded in Lands and Goods without paying an (c) De weris where they are both equally valued at 2000 Thrymsas Thrymsa or Groates Thrymsa not being 3 Shillings as Lambard Interprets it but only a corruption of the Latin Tremissis which often occurs in the German Laws and was the third part of a Shilling or 4 d. Ll. Alaman Tit. 6. §. 3. Saiga autem est quarta pars Tremissis hoc est denarius unus Tremissis est tertia pars solidi sunt denarii quatuor the Germans sometimes reckoned the values of their Goods by Tremisses optimus bos 5 Tremisses valet medianus 4. Ll. Alaman Tit. 27. and so frequently in the Laws of the West-Goths The Office of a Sithcundman His Office or Place of Trust seems to have been the same or much like that of a Centgrave or Hundredarie for many small Territories or parts of Counties which we now call Hundreds were antiently reteining the Saxon expressions called Sithesocks as the Hundreds of Knightlowe Kineton and Hemlingford in Warwickshire were 16 Hen. Secundi called Sithesocha de Cnutchlelawa Sithesocha de Chinton Sithesocha de Humliford Dugdale's Antiq. Warwickshire fol. 2. col 2. fol. 297. col 1. fol. 636. col 1. Soke being interpreted a Court Liberty or Jurisdiction where Pleas were holden and Sithe Gesithe Sitheman See Lageman in Glossar or Sithcundman Heregeat or Heriot Ll. Canut c. 75. which word Heregate or Heriot Brompton expounds by Relevatio a Reliefe col 931. and so likewise it is turned in Edward the Confessor's Laws where we have this very Law cap. 35. Tit. de Heretochiis And these Heregeats Heriot and Reliefe the same or Hereots Ll. Canut c. 69. were certain Arguments of Feudal Lands or Tenures in Military or Knights-Service They being due to the Lord or Patron upon the death of his Vassal and besides Horses and Money consisted in certain Warlike Instruments and Furniture given up and brought into the Lords Armory there to remain for his use and defence when there was occasion An Earls Heriot The Earls Heregeat was 8 Horses 4 Sadled 4 Vnsadled 4 Helmets 4 Coates of Maile 8 Spears as many Sheilds 4 Swords and 200 Marks in Gold which payment in Money I take to be the Reliefe rather for the Earldom that differing from the Heriot or Heregeat as Sir Hen. Spelman Mr. Somner and others do in their Interpretation of those words tell us The Heregeates or Military preparations of the King's Thanes or Barons Middle Thanes and Lower Thanes all Military Men of inferior degrees follow in proportionable order for which see the Law above-mention'd From these we proceed to the Laws of Edward the Confessor in which if their Credit be as great as their Fame the Tenures by Knights or Military-Service is fully and clearly set forth and described Ll. 35. Tit. De Greve All Freemen of the whole Kingdom according to their Estates Goods and Possessions and according to their Fees and Tenements ought to have Arms and keep them ready for the defence of the Kingdom and Service of their Lords as the King shall command And Moreover Birtrick the Rich Saxons Will A Rich Saxon gave Money to have his Will confirmed In a Rebellion of Earl Godwin and his Sons against the same King he and his Son Harold were commanded Servitium Militum quos habebant in Anglia Regi contradere To deliver up or pass over to the King all their Military or Knights-Services they had in England Malmâ— fol. 46.
508 515. Personal Feudal Thanes or Tenents in (k) Grand Serjeanty or Grand Service is a Service that cannot be due to any Lord from his Tenent Grand Serjeanty what but to the King only because what is to be done he ought to do it in his own Person As to be General of the Kings Army to bear the Kings Banner his Sword his Spear or other Weapons And to bear the Office anciently of Marshal Constable or Champion to follow the Kings Banner or Standard within the four Seas to give notice of the Irruption of Enemies by sound of Trumpet Horn c. grand Serjeanty or Knights Service in chief These had large Possessions for their personal Services had honorary Dignity and were part of the greater Nobility of those times and were commonly named and mentioned in the Saxon [2.] Ibidem Annals and Story with Earls as also in Charters of the Saxon Kings The Saxon words Eorlas Degnas Eorlas Thegnas being by Florentius of Worcester Huntingdon Hoveden and our antient Historians translated Comites and Barones Earls and Barons and the Writers after the Normans coming either received Thegn translated by Baro or used so to translate it where they met it in the Saxon Story These [3.] Ibid. fol. 518 519. Feudal Thanes or such as held of the King in chief by Military-Service were of the same kind with them that were after the Normans Honorary or Parliamentary Barons and their Thainlands only were the Honorary Thainlands and such as were afterwards Parliamentary Baronies But to return to our Parallel from whence we have somewhat digressed Comes a general word for many Officers Comes was as general a word among the Roman Provincials and in the old German Laws for a Person of absolute Power a Governor or Ruler of a Province City Burgh or Castle or for an extraordinary or sometimes lower Judge as Ealderman was with the English Saxons and as Greve or Grave was amongst the Germans Hence Comes Pagorum Provinciarum Civitatis Limitum A Count of a Pagus or Country a Count of a Province a Count of a City a Count of the Borders or Marches against an Enemy Grave answers Comes To which do answer the German Gawe or Gograve Landgrave Burgrave Marchgrave and Gravia in Barbarous Latin for Comitatus in Saxon and German Graffscaft And as Comes often signified a Judge as he did preside in giving judgment so [4.] Witch-bild Saxon. Gryph c. 61. n. 10. Judges in the ancient Saxon-language were called * Besoldus derives Graven and perhaps truly from the German Crawen Cani or gray-haired as if a man should say Seniores ancient men or Senators And by Interpretation Discursus polit 4. c. 4. n. 3. Grave whence Nobiles praecipui Optimates Noble the Chief or best men The Romans were frequently first Patres Senatores Fathers and Senators then Comites or Counts This agrees with our Ealdormen or Seniores Oldermen which denoted here our chief Governors and Officers under the Saxon Kings Graven These Dignities of Dux and Comes Duke and Earl or Count were translated from the old Roman to the German Empire being found in the Constitutions of Emperors and other Writers before the Goths and Lombards over-ran those Countries nor is it probable the Roman Emperors did frame their Court according to the Model of Barbarous Nations Seld. Tit. Hon. p. 2. n. 22. Besold Discursus polit 4. c. 4. n. 1. They were first officiary afterwards had Feuds or Fees annexed to them during the pleasure of the Donors only About the time of the declining Empire they became Patrimonial and Hereditary Seld. ibid. n. 23. Besold ib. n. 12. Fees became first Hereditary in Germany Fees when first Hereditary in Germany about the time of Otho the Great Anno Dom. 970. that is descended to the Issue Male of him that was first invested with them And afterwards under Conraedus Salicus about 1030. to Grand-children c. Seld. ut supra And in France Dukedoms Earldoms or Counties and Baronies Earldoms and Baronies not Patrimonial in France â—efore Hugh Capet were of old Names of Office and Government only and not of Patrimonies and might be revoked at the pleasure of the Prince certainly they did not then belong to the Heirs of Dukes and Earls c. The first was Hugh * Capet was anointed July 30. 9â—7 and died 22. Nov. 996. or 998. Capet who to draw to him the affections of the Nobility by whose help he had without right obtained the Kingdom of France that made them perpetual and then afterwards other small Fees passed to their Heirs whilst they were Knights or Soldiers Hottom in Feud Disput col 845. A. B. Before the year of our Lord 900. in the Reign of King Alfred In K. Alfred's Reign Earldoms were not Hereditary in England Earldoms or Counties were here given and revoked at the Kings pleasure for he accusing his Earls and Governors of Provinces which they had received of his Gift of Ignorance threatned to displace them if they did not take care to be more learned and knowing in such matters as they had cognisance of they affrighted at his Menaces though some of them old and very ignorant yet rather than part with their Earldoms and Places of Power they earnestly apply themselves to Study that they might make themselves capable of understanding what was just and equal Asser de Gestis Alfredi fol. 21. n. 20 30. Their Possessions here in those times were sometimes whole Counties sometimes parcels of Counties sometimes a whole Kingdom as it was in the Heptarchy sometimes more sometimes less which much depended upon the King's pleasure Seld. Tit. Hon. p. 2. c. 5. n. 3. Besides these Possessions they had a third part of the Profits of the Shires and of the Mulcts and Forfeitures as every where may be seen in Doomesday in the time of Edward the Confessor The third part of the Profits c. due to the Earl For the third Penny of Forfeitures take one instance for many in the Customs of Chester Tit. Cestre-shire if any one brook the Peace that was granted by the Earl at the Kings command of the hundred Shillings which were forfeited for that the Earl had the third Penny â—o it was in Germany So was it in Germany the Earl had the third part of the Pleas Mulcts Punishments or Composition due to the Crown or Palace if he did his Office vigorously but if he were negligent he had nothing Ll. Longobard lib. 1. Tit. 2. c. 10. who desires to be further satisfied in the various acceptations of Dux Comes Aldermannus Grave c. may see Seldens Tit. Hon. p. 2. c. 1. Hottom in verb. Feud Spelm. Glossar verb. Aldermannus Lindinbrog Glossar Besold discurs polit 4. c. 4. Cassiodor formul lib. 6. Towards the end and in many other places Orders of men the same in Germany as in England Nor did we resemble
Knights Fee and the Maner of Hwayton with the whole Barony which formerly belonged to Robert de Cramavil by the Service of three Knights Fees he had then also the Honor of Tikhil with sixty Knights Fees and three parts of a Knights Fee belonging to it Dugdales Baronage fol. 107. Tom. 1. Knights Fees or Military Fees which if they were not sufficient for the maintenance of one Soldier For maintenance of their Horse and Arms yet according to the Quantity of Land they injoyed they contributed such a share or performed such Service as was appointed and agreed for half a third or fourth or less part according to the smallness of the Portion of the Fee granted towards the Lords Military Expences [8.] Ibidem Base Tenure a third part he distributed to such as performed all rustick and servile Works repaired his Houses ploughed and sowed his Land reaped his Crop carried it into Barn Threshed it Digged Hedged and took care of his Flocks and Fields The Precincts of this Distribution were governed by such Laws as the Lords imposed and as all their Estates arose from his Beneficence so they depended on his Will Hence so many several Customs Whence several Customs in several Maners in several Maners The Lords House was the Aula Hall or Court and all the Tenents if need required were bound to attend there every three weeks but generally at the Feast of the Annuntiation and St. Michael from whence these Courts kept at those times were called Curiae generales or General Courts These Lords of Maners or small Baronies held either in Capite of the King or most commonly of other great [8.] Grand Cust of Norm c. 34 35 53 and every where in our ancient Lawyers and Historians Barons as of their Honors or Heads of their Baronies by the same Tenures and under the same Forfeitures and these in like manner of the King in Capite for by the [9.] Hot. de â—eud Disp â— 10. 830. D â—hey might â—aighten but not inlarge the Condition of the Fee Ibid. Feudal Law Sub-Fees were to be given and received according to the Laws of the first Institution of the Capital Royal or Great Fees which held immediately of the Prince and therefore as the Inferior or lowest Lords * Charter â—rand Cust c. 53. had their Courts most commonly for adjusting all Matters within the Jurisdiction of their Maners so had those of a middle Rank within their Jurisdictions for such of these inferior Lords or others as held of their Baronies And likewise that Capitol Barons had their Courts within their Jurisdiction in which all or most Matters relating to Lords of Maners ought Suit to the Courts of mean Barons and arising between their Tenents were ordered and decided and they were not only held at the chief Seats of their Honors or Baronies but perhaps all over England where they had any considerable Lands or Possessions as the (f) This Title was Frequent in Normandy for the Seat or head of the Honor Earldom Honor what or Barony See Script Norm 1037 1040. Honor of Richmond Honor of Gloucester and Clare Dutchy of Lancaster And they to the Courts of great Barons on whom they held c. have at this day their several Courts for determining Controversies and Suits within their Jurisdiction of matters of small value Lastly these great Barons were within the [9.] Glan l. 1. c. 3. And the great Barons to the Exchequer or Kings Court Jurisdiction of the Kings Court or Exchequer where all Pleas concerning their Baronies were terminated The Conqueror gave to some of the greatest of his Followers whole Counties and to some two three or more Counties with a great proportion of Lands in them The Lands of England parcelled out and distributed by the Conqueror to others some part or portion of a County as Hundreds or several Maners and Towns in them who sometimes parcelled them out to their Dependents and Friends and they again to theirs till at last though the Saxons most frequently held their own Estates of these new Lords and by new Titles from them some Soldiers and ordinary men had some proportionable shares for their Services though upon hard Conditions possessing them for the most part as Feudataries and according to the Rules of the Feudal Law which as it was the Law for the most part in Normandy as to Possession and Tenure so was it here in England until by the Indulgence of Vsurpers to the great men and of them to the People their Tenents and Followers their Tenures became more easie and were changed into Inheritances both Free and Bond as they did in France upon the Usurpation of [1.] Hottom in Feud Disp col 845. A.B. Et de Serres fol. 120. A. D. 987. The Barons made advantage by setting up Vsurpers â—nd sometimes of their lawful Soveraigns by bearing too hard upon them Hugh Capet the Nobility closing with him on condition their Baronies and Fees might be Hereditary and Patrimonial which before were Arbitrary and injoyed at the Will of the King only The Nobility in those times never lost by advancing Usurpers if they prospered always bargaining with them for some Flowers of their Crown and the bettering their own Condition As appears by the Stories of our Henry the First King Stephen and King John and with their Lawful Soveraigns also who according to their Examples and their own Necessities as things then stood and for their own Security were often forced to comply with the Demands of Holy-Church and the Barons called in to her Assistance though to their own disadvantage and besides this way Lands became â—ree and Hereditary many ways without doubt many Lands became Free and Hereditary or their Services made certain by Compact or Agreement between Tenents and indigent Lords whereby their Lands were manumised the Services released or they were granted to them by Deed or Feofment The Feudal Law might be relaxed by the use of the Canon and Imperial Law and it is not unlikely but that the use of the Canon and imperial Law prevailing here or being promiscuously used with the ordinary Law for a Century or two of years from the time of King Stephen until * Seld. Dissertatio in Fletam c. 8. the Reign of Edward the Third might much relax and abate the Rigor of the Feudal Law and render the Fees less Conditional and far more qualified than they had been formerly and hence the Laws concerning them became more easie and received their several Alterations and Amendments by Flux of time or Acts of great Councils or Parliaments and instead of rigorous Tenures the more soft ones of Fee-Simple in all its kinds and inheritable and qualified Copy-holds were introduced Besides this Tenure of Homage there were also other Tenures in Normandy Tenures in Almoigne in Normandy In Burgage as Per Elemosynam in Franke almoigne as the Church-lands were held Burgage as the Lands in
words of Art in that Profession After Sir Edward Coke as he thought had thus established his Opinion of the Antiquity of our Laws by Record he renews his Discourse upon this Subject in his Prefaces to his sixth eighth and ninth Parts of his Reports but chiefly in the two last and prosecutes his Arguments upon his second Topick from History which shall be considered in the Answer to a Book Intitled Argumentum Antinormanicum where they are all repeated and therefore on purpose passed over in this place William the First COMMONLY CALLED The Conqueror [1.] Dudo de moribus actis Normannor fol. 63. B.C. THE Danes and Norwegians under Hastings or Anstings their former Leader having harassed and wasted a great part of France with Fire and Sword [2.] Ibid. 66. B. C. the French and their King especially wearied with his Ravages and Cruelties make Peace with him pay him Tribute and allow some part of their Country for an Habitation to him and his Followers [3.] Ibid. 75. D. An. Dom. 876. do now again under the Conduct of Rollo at the [4.] Ib. 76. C. Instigation of Hastings come with their Fleet out of the River (a) Scaldis or the Scheld a River running through Brabant and Flanders and passing by the Borders of Haynault upon which Antwerp Ghent Oudenard and Toâ—â—naye are seated Scheld into the Mouth of the River (b) Sequana or the River Seyn running through the Isle of France and falling into the Brittish Sea upon which Paru and Rhoan are seated Seyn to whom Franco Arch-Bishop of Roan with his whole Country sent for Protection and submitted By this means having here a place of settlement he Invaded the other parts of France and attempts [5.] Ib. 79. b. Paris Rollo comes into the River Seyn Arch-Bishop Franco begs his Protection and assisted with [6.] Ibidem English and other People that resorted to him often defeats the French and became so formidable that Charles the Simple at the [7.] Ibid. 81. D. 82. A. Instance of his People and [8.] Ib 83. c D. 79. b. The King of France gives Rollo Normandy Advice of Franco aforesaid made a Composition with them and gave to Rollo all the Land from the Rivers (c) Epta or Iâ—ta a small River upon which Gisors Gurnay and Bray are seated which falls into the Seyn between Varnon and la Roche Guion Epta to the Sea then called Neustria now Normandy from these Northern Men which because it was then almost wast uncultivated and unpeopled and the Corn and Cattle destroyed he gave him also Brittany for their present support that from thence they might take all Necessaries to sustain them and likewise his Daughter Gisla to Wife [9.] Ib. 79. B. He is Baptized An. Dom. 912. upon Condition he would turn Christian which he did accordingly and was [1.] Ib. 84. C. And his whole Army Baptized by Franco and named Robert by his Godfather Robert Duke of France the Kings Brother and afterwards caused all his great Commanders Soldiers and whole Army to be instructed in the Christian Faith and Baptized [2.] Ibid. 85. A.B. He shares his Land gives some part first to the Church Will. Roberts Bastard Before he measured out his Land which was done with a Rope or String and gave Shares of it to his chief Companions and others of his faithful People he gave some part of it to the chief Churches in Normandy which he repaired and new built as also the Walls of his Cities and Fortresses From this Rollo in a direct Line Robert was the Sixth Duke of Normandy to whom [3.] Gemetic lib. 8. c. 3. William was Natural and only Son by Herleva or Herlotta his Concubine Daughter of Fulbers his Chamberlain or Groom of his Chamber Robert out of [4.] Orderic vital fol. 459. Devotion against the mind of his People Robert goes to Jerusalem going to visit the Sepulchre of Christ at Jerusalem [5.] Gemâ—t lib. 6. c. 12. D. called together the Arch-Bishop and other the great Men of his Dukedom and caused them to do Homage and Swear Fealty to his young Son then about Eight years old as their future Prince and Lord appointing [6.] Malmsb degest reg fol. 53. b. 30. Gilbert Earl of [7.] Gemet lib. 6. c. 11. He leaves his Son and Tutor to the Care of the King of France Oâ— his Governor committed them both to the Care and Protection of Henry the First King of France and afterwards in his return from the Holy Land died at [8.] Ibid. c. 13. An Dom. 1035. Robert dies Nice in Bithynia After his death many near to to the Dukedom of his Fathers Relations Conspired against him [9.] Ibid. lib. 7. c. 2. privately killed his Tutors and Governors and endeavoured to take from him the Dukedom for that he was a Bastard which then in France was not esteemed a sufficient Bar to the Inheritance of Princes especially if according to the Canon Law they Married their Concubine (d) Thierry or Theoderic [1.] Vales rerum Franc. Tom. 1. fol. 320 321. Bastard of Clovis had for his Share with his Lawful Children Anstrasie now Lorrainge c. [2.] Ib. Tom. 3. fol. 88.113 Sigibert Natural Son of King Dagobert had Anstrasie as his Share also of France with his Lawful Son Clovis 12. with many such Examples in other Nations for before that time many had succeeded their Fathers in this and other Countries as if they had been lawfully begotten others openly invaded the Title and waged War for the Dukedom His Tutors privately Murthered The first of whom was [1.] Gemet lib. 7. c. 3. Roger de Toney Arms against William Roger de (e) In most of our Historians he is called Roger de Tresuye Toenio Standard-bearer in all Normandy a Descendent from Malahulcins Uncle to Rollo the first Duke thereof and an Adventurer with him in the Acquest of it Bastardy was no bar to the Inheritance of Princes he returning out of Spain where he had performed many great things against the Saracens and finding William a Child to succeed his Father in the Dukedom was much displeased and scorned to serve him saying a Bastard ought not to Command him or the Normans Combined with others who Conspired against William and enters the Territory of Humphid (f) He was Son of Turulf de Ponte Audomari by Wera [3.] Gemet lib. 8. c. 37. Sister to Gunnora a Forresters Daughter first Concubine and then Wife to Richard first Duke of Normandy Osbern de Bolebec Mâ—rried another Sister of Gunnors by whom he had Walter Giffard made * Orderic vital 522. c. Earl of Buckingham by the Conqueror From these two Sisters of Gunnor and her Brother Herfasâ—us sprang many of the * Gemet ubi supra great Men of Normandy and afterwards of England the Fliz-Osberns Mortimers Giffards Warrens Montgomeries Gournay
whereupon the King issued his Proclamation that unless he came in and submitted himself to Tryal he was adjudged a publick Enemy But in stead of appearing before the Court he fortified his Castles praying Aid of all the Normans that were of his Alliance of the Welsh The King raised an Army Angliae Exercitum Convocavit Arundell Castle besieged and all others of his Relations or Affinity Upon this obstinacy the King presently called together the Army of England and besieged his Castle of Arundel in Sussex and building several Castles about it departed The Besieged Petitioned the King for leave to dispatch Messengers to their Lord that he would either send them Relief or permit them to reconcile themselves to the King which was granted And seeing he could not help them very sorrowfully gave them leave to make their Peace with him At this time the King [5.] Hoved. fol. 69. a. n. 20. Tikhill and Bridgnorth Castles besieged Commanded the Bishop of Lincoln with part of the Army to besiege Tikhill Castle while he himself went and besieged Bridgnorth Castle in Shropshire from whence Robert was gone to Shrewsbury Here the King stayed three weeks and by [6.] Ibidem n. 30. Shrewsbury Manned against the King The Welsh joyn with the Earl against the King Gifts corrupting the Welsh in whom the Earl placed most confidence they rendred to him the Castle Robert stayed not long in Shrewsbury but left it to the care of Roger the Son of Robert de Nevil and Vlger Venables with whom he joined eighty Stipendiary Soldiers and made Peace with the Welsh and drew their Kings Caducan and Gervat the Sons of Rese to his Party by whom and his own Forces he often disturbed the Kings Army [7.] Ord. Vit. f. 807. A. B. C. The Earl disinherited William Pantulf He assists the King and by Gifts and Promises brings the Welsh to the Kings side Before this time the Earl had disinherited William Pantulf a great Man in Shropshire who withdrew his Assistance from him and returned to the King who forthwith sends him 200 Soldiers and makes him Governor of Stafford Castle from whence by Excursions he mightily annoyed the Earl above all others and at length by Promises and Gifts brought off the Welsh Kings and their Forces to the Kings side After this the King demanded the Town of the two Governors and threatned that if it were not delivered in three days he would Hang all he should take there The Governors Treat with the King by the Mediation of William Pantulf who was Allied to them Shrewsbury delivered to the King The Stipendiaries had leave to depart with their Horse and Arms. and they the Townsmen and Burgesses were willing to save themselves and deliver up the Town The Stipendiaries knew nothing of this Treaty but remained faithful to their Master and therefore when the King entred the Town he permitted them freely to depart with their Horse and Arms. The King having thus subdued his Enemy [8.] Ibid. fol. 808. A. B. C. The King takes away his Earldom of Shrewsbury and his Lands Banisheth his two Brothers and endeavours to extirpate that Family in England he took away his Earldom and Lands and all the Estates of such as adhered to him and gave him safe Conduct to pass beyond Sea and with him he sent away the two wealthy Earls his Brothers Roger Pictaviensis and Arnulph and seized their Estates his Enmity being such against Robert that he endeavoured totally to extirpate that Family in England They being [9.] Ibidem C. D. Robert de Belismo wasted Normandy expelled out of England there followed mad work in Normandy for three years together Many Towns were burnt and Churches with the People in them that fled to them for safety Almost all Normandy rose up against this boisterous and unquiet Robert de Belismo but they wanted a Head and a Leader of such Courage as might subdue so great a Waster and Subverter of his Country He was a Man of Parts and Cunning and had a considerable Strength about him and supported himself by his Wealth which he had treasured up in thirty four strong Castles He had thirty four strong Castles that he had formerly built with a design of Rebellion He only enjoyed his Fathers Estate He gave his Brothers nothing of his Fathers Estate Roger dies Arnulph leaves his Brother not suffering his Brothers to possess any part of it although for his sake they had lost their Fortunes Roger left him and took himself to Carof-Castle which was his Wives Inheritance and there grew old and died Arnulph after many difficult Undertakings for him to no purpose grew discontented and fell off to the Duke seized the Castle of Amanisca now Almenesches delivered it to him and such as favoured his Brother that were in it In the Territory also of See 's many with Arnulph left the Turbulent Earl and delivered their strong Holds to the Duke Although he was much [1.] Ibid. fol. 809. A. Robert de Belismo burns the Abby of Almanisca dismayed at the Revolt of his Brother yet hearing some of the Kings Troops were quartered in the Abby of Almanisca with design to harass and plunder the Country He presently marched thither fired and burnt it he there took many Prisoners whereof some he punished with death others he dismembred In the mean time the Duke was with the Army of Normandy at Hiâ—smes and marching towards the Earl he drew up his Forces and many ways attempted the Duke He rouâ—s the Dukes Army and boldly charging him upon a Causey put him to flight and made many his Prisoners Puffed up with this success and scorning the Duke he endeavoured to bring all Normandy under his power the Country where he was and the Neighbouring Territories submitted to him not being able to resist He took in the Fortress of Hiesmes and Gunters Castle now Gontel and many other Garisons round about him About this time died [2.] Ibidem fol. 810. B. A great War and Contention in Normandy about a private Estate William de Britolio or Breteul without lawful Issue His two Grandchildren William de Guader and Raynald de Cracey contended who should succeed him The Normans rather chose for their Lord his Son Eustachius by a Concubine as more affecting one born in their own Country though a Bastard than either a Britain or Burgundian from whence there arose great War among the Adverse Parties and great desolation of the Country William de Guader soon died and left Raynald to contend with Eustachius [3.] Ibid. C. To Raynald (f) These were Norman Barons and this Ralph de Conchis was the same [4.] Gemet lib. 8. c. â—7 Ord. Vit. f. 813. D. 522. C. Person with Ralph de Todineiâ— Lord of Flamstead in Hampshire who afterward Married Alice one of the three Daughters of Judith Widow of Waltheof Earl of Huntington Northampton c. Niece to the
in the mean time gave him three Castles for his support Chinon Mirabell and Lodun and because his Son Henry was then absent he adjured all the Bishops and Noblemen present That his Body should not be buried until he had Sworn he would not violate his Will The Father being dead the Son comes to his Interment and being told by the Noblemen what Charge his Father left with them he long considered what he had to do At length all cried out it would be a perpetual Disgrace to him to suffer his Fathers Body to remain unburied with great Reluctancy he took the Oath But when he was fully possessed of the Kingdom of England he procured from Pope Adrian an Englishman [4.] Ibidem n. 60. Pope Adrian dispenceth with King Henry's Oath Absolution from it for which Reason not thinking himself obliged by it he neither took Care to satisfie his Fathers Will or Brothers Request in yielding to him the Earldom of Anjou Whereupon his Brother fortifies his Castles and makes Incursions into all King Henry's Countries round about them The King passed over Sea raised an Army besieged and took the Castle of Chinon and so humbled his Brother that he rendred all his Castles and had his Pardon [5.] F. 95. n. 40 50. Matthew Paris says they came to an Agreement and that Geofry quitted his Claim for 1000 l. Annuity of English Money and 2000 l. Anjovin and placeth this Action in the year 1156. Soon [6.] Brompton Col. 1049. n. 10. The City of Nantes choose Geofry the Kings Brother their Earl after the City of Nants in Britany not knowing who was their true Lord chose Geofry for their Lord and gave him the Dominion thereof and the Country about it but he lived not long to enjoy it After whose death Conan Earl of Richmond in England took possession of it The King hearing his Brother was dead went over into France and claimed Nants in his Right and as his Successor and gave Command his Earldom of Richmond should be seized It was in [7.] Chron. Norman f. 994. A. B. An. Do. 1157. A Treaty between the Kings of England and France Margaret the King of France his Daughter to be Married to Henry the Kings Son August he went over into Normandy and the first thing dispatched was a Treaty between him and Lewis King of France upon the River Epta in the Confines of France and Normandy concerning Peace and a Marriage to be had between Margaret the Daughter of Lewis and his Son Henry what they Agreed upon was Sworn to on both sides And from thence the King of England went to Argentom and on the Eighth of September summoned the Army of Normandy to meet at Abrinces on Michaelmass-day to go against Conan Duke of Britany to force him to render Nants that he had invaded In the mean time he was invited to the French Court at Paris where he was Entertained with all the Joy and Splendour imaginable and coming from thence he brought the Kings Daughter with him and delivered her to be kept and Educated by Robert de Newburgh Justiciary of Normandy Robertus de Novo-Burgho Dapifer Justitiarius Normanniae Chron Norm f. 996. A. On Michaelmass-day Conan Earl of Rhenes and Duke of Britany with his Britans came to Abrinces now Auranches and delivered to the King the City of Nants with the whole County or Earldom belonging to it In December following [8.] Ibidem f. 994. D. Theobald Earl of Blois makes Peace with King Henry Theobald Earl of Blois made Peace with King Henry and delivered the two Castles of Ambois and Freteval Rotroc also Earl of Perch gave up the two Castles of Molins and Bon-Molins which were the Demeasns of the Duke of Normandy which Rotroc the Father of this Earl had seized upon after the death of King Henry the First At the same time he granted to this Earl Bellism Castle for which he did him Homage He kept his Christmass at Cherbough where he came to meet his Queen [9.] Ibidem f 995. A. B. An. Do. 1158. Alienor who a little before was come out of England From thence he passed to the Castle of [1.] Ibidem King Henry takes the Castle of Bray A Match propounded between Richard Son to King Henry and the Daughter of the Earl of Barcelone Blaye seated upon a steep Hill over-looking the River Garonne where he met Raymond Earl of Barcelone with whom he made a League confirmed with both their Oaths by which it was mutually agreed That Richard the Kings second Son should at years of Maturity Marry the Daughter of Raymond and when the Nuptials were performed he was to have setled upon him the Dukedom of Aquitan This Raymond's Paternal Inheritance was the Earldom of Barcelone and by Right of his Wife he was King of Aragon which he reserved for his Son he had by her King Henry having made this Alliance declares his [2.] Ibidem 995. C. D. An. Do. 1159. The Title of King Henry to the City and Earldom of Tholose Title to the City and Earldom of Tholose which by his Wife was thus Her Grandfather William Earl of Poictou and Duke of Aquitan had Engaged them for a great Sum of Money which he spent in an Expedition into the Holy Land to Raimond Earl of St. Giles which Money he paid not but left the Debt upon his Son William the Father of Queen Alienor For non-payment of this Money Anfonsus Son of Raimond and after him Raimond Son of Anfonsus held the City and Earldom The King of France Married Alienor Daughter and Heir of the last Duke of Aquitan c. and demanded and was ready to possess himself of the City and Earldom of Tholose when Raimond the then Earl of St. Giles Married his Sister Constance King Henry offered the Mortgage Money See John de Sennes The great Army raised to pursue the Title of Tholose the Widow of Eustachius Son of King Stephen and by that means he was permitted to enjoy it King Henry Married Alienor after she was Lawfully Divorced from the King of France and had Issue Male by her then four Sons and from thence grew his Title and Pretence to the City and Earldom To obtain which as his Wives Inheritance he summoned the Force of all England Normandy Aquitan and the other Countries subject to him He carried not with him in this Expedition any Agrarian or Ordinary Soldiers nor Burghers or Rusticks but took [3.] Ibid. D. of every Knights Fee in Normandy Sixty Sols of Anjou Money and in England and his other Countries what he thought good His Capital Barons with few others accompanied him Solidarios Milites innumeros but he collected or raised Stipendiary Soldiers innumerable In this Expedition was Malcolm King of Scots who was Knighted by him and William King Stephens Son Raimond Earl of St. Giles allarm'd with this great Preparation desired Assistance of the King of France who
put himself into the Town with an Army which King Henry for the [4.] Ibidem f. 996. A. The Person of the King of France secures the City Cahors taken c. Honour he bare to him would not besiege but by force and through fear the greatest part of the Earldom was made subject to him He also took the City of Cahors From this Action of the King of France arose great Enmity between the Kings and the Normans and French prosecuted one another with Fire and Sword Gervase the Monk of Canterbury * Col. 1381. lin 3. The Relation of the Expedition of Tholose by Gervase of Canterbury gives a different Relation of this Expedition to Tholose He says the King took Scutage to the value of One hundred and fourscore thousand Pounds in England and accordingly in his other Countries That there were with him the King of Scots and a certain King of Wales and all the Earls and Barons of England Normandy Aquitan Anjou and Gascony and many others of divers Countries Horse and Foot That the City was besieged from Midsummer to Holy-Mass and that the King of France defended it so well as the King of England could not take it and so was forced to raise his Siege Fitz-Stephens * P. 8. Col. 2. in vita Thomae c. Reports That in this Expedition the Chancellor had 700 chosen Knights or Gentlemen that served on Horseback of his own Family or Dependents Cancallarius de propria familia lectam manum Militum septingenta Milites habebat and that if the King had followed his Advice he had taken Tholose and the King of France in it but being possessed with a vain Superstition and Reverence toward his Lord the King of France who had made himself his Enemy he never invested the City but went from it satisfying himself with the taking the City of Cahors and many Castles in the Neighbourhood of Tholose for the keeping whereof all the Earls refusing that Service only the Chancellor with his Attendants and Retinue and Henry de Essexia the Kings Constable stayed there who after the King was gone took in three strong Castles which seemed inexpugnable The Chancellor himself appearing before them in his Arms and then passing the River Garonne reduced all that Country and made it subject to the King from whence he went to him and was received with great Favour and Honour In the Month of October [5.] Ib. C. D. King Henry having fortified Cahors as a Check upon Tholose and recommended it to the Care of Thomas * That is Thomas Becket his Chancellor and having fixed Garisons in Places necessary and convenient and confiding in the Assistance of Raimond Berengar Earl of Barcelone Tranchevel Earl of Nimes and William of Montpelier King Henry returns into Normandy destroys and burns Towns and Villages his faithful Confederates he returned into Normandy and thence with a great Force went into le Beauaisis destroyed the strong Castle of Guerberes and burnt many Towns and Villages Simon Earl of Montfort at that time delivered up to King Henry his Places of Strength in France Rochfort Montfort Espernon and the rest with great detriment to the King of France for none of his People could pass freely from Paris to Stamps or Orleans for being disquieted with the Normans he had put into those Castles and for this Cause a Truce or Cessation of Arms was made between the two Kings A Truce between the two Kings from December until eight days after Whitsunday In his return from this Expedition of Tholose William Earl of Moreton died without Children and King Henry took his Earldom into his Hands In this War * Ibid. p. 9. Col. 1 2. between the Kings of France and England on the Borders of their Territories the Chancellor besides his own Retinue the Seven hundred Horse or Knights had 1200 others Stipendiaries and Four thousand * Or it may be these 4000 Servientes were Foot for sometimes there were Servientes pedites Servientes or Ordinary Horse or Attendants for one Month and every Knight or Miles received every day to provide for his Horses and Esquires ad Equos Armigeros c. three Shillings of that Country Money Ipsi Milites The Knights themselves had their Diet from the Chancellor who though he was a Clerk Tilted with a Knight of France named Engelram de Trie and with his Lance unhorsed him and gained his Horse In the whole Army of the King his Knights were always the first that engaged and always dared most The King and Queen kept their [6.] Ibid. D. f. 997. A. Christmass at Falais from whence she went for England and not long after * 'T is so said in this Author But see Anno Dom. 1166. Maud the Empress sickned and died and by the Advice of her Son gave all her Riches to be distributed to the Churches Monasteries and the Poor In May following there was a [7.] Ibidem firm Peace Established between the two Kings * Vid. Rob. de Monte. An. Do. 1161. A Peace between the two Kings A Norman great Council or Parlement In July Henry called together all the Bishops Abbats and Barons of Normandy at New-Market and King Lewis all his Bishops Abbats and Barons at Beavais where they Treated about the Reception of Pope Alexander chosen by the Cardinals and the Rejection of Victor elected by the Emperor Frederic and his Friends They consented to the first and disowned the last In September Queen Alienor [8.] Ibid. B. by the Kings Command returned into Normandy and carried with her his Son Henry and his Daughter Maud. In October [9.] Ibidem the two Kings met again and confirmed the former Peace Upon the [1.] Ibid. Rad. de Diceto Col. 523. n. 20 30. A. D. 1160. Henry and Margaret are Married Third of November by the Authority and Allowance of Henry of Pisa and William of Papia Priest Cardinals and Legats to the Pope there was a Marriage solemnized between Prince Henry the King of Englands Son of Seven years of Age and Margaret Daughter of King Lewis by his second Wife Constantia the * King Lewis Married her after the Divorce of Alienor Chron. Nor f. 989. D. The three Templars Commanders of these Castles were Robert de Pirou Tostes of St. Omer and Richard de Hastings The King of France expelled them his Kingdom but the King of England received and much enriched them Hoved f. 282. a. n. 10. Daughter of Alfonso King of Spain about Three years of Age who was then at Newburgh in the Custody of King Henry by which Marriage he obtained the Castle of Gisors which by Agreement of the two Kings was to remain in the keeping of Knights Templars until the Consummation of a Marriage between these two young Persons and then to be delivered to King Henry With Gisors he received also as Dependencies upon it the Castles of Neausle
in England the King of France recalled the young King and Earl of Flanders from the Sea Coast and with a great Army besieged Roven but prevailed little against it for the Barons and Knights of Normandy that heartily loved Henry the Father put themselves into the City and courageously defended it This news coming to King Henry the elder his Affairs in England being in a great measure setled with great speed he went to Portsmouth and on the Eighth of August being Friday landed at Barfleu in Normandy and carried with him his Brabanters and One thousand Welsh With him he also carried William King of Scots the Earls of Leycester and Chester and first imprisoned them at Caen and afterward at Falais On Sunday next he came to Roven the next Morning early he sent the Welsh beyond the River Seyn to search the Woods on that side of the Town where the King of France was with his Army they met with forty Waggons laded with Wine and Victuals from France The Welsh take a French Convoy of Wine and Victuals the Drivers and Convoy fled the Welsh pursued and took some and killed others and returning to their Prize they broke the Waggons and staved the Wine Vessels leading away the Horses The Report whereof coming to the King of France and his Army they thought of nothing but slight The King of England in the mean time cleared the Gates the Citizens had stopped up and marching out filled up the Ditch which was drawn between the King of France his Army and the City The King of France then Commanded That his Stone-Casting and other Warlike Engines should be broken and burnt He also Commanded his Soldiers to Arm. The King of England came up to his Tents with his Soldiers or Knights and their Servants and the King of France his Knights and Servants or Esquires came out of their Tents and charged furiously the English The English beat the French who took and wounded many of them and killed most of their Horses Next Morning William Arch-Bishop of Sens and Theobald Earl of Blois came to the King of England and asked Leave that the King of France might safely Retreat with his Army to Malhauny The Siege raised upon Condition he came next day to Treat with the King of England and that he should do so they both obliged themselves by their Faiths and Oaths and so the King of France departed with his Army to the place appointed and there staid but about Midnight The King of France regards not his Promise An. Do. 1174. he privately caused his Soldiers to march and they halted not until they came into France not regarding the Faith and Oaths of the Arch-Bishop or Earl by which for his advantage they had obliged themselves This Retreat of the King of France happened on the Fourteenth of August On the day following the Arch-Bishop and Earl came again [4.] Ibidem p. 58. b. p. 59. a. to King Henry the Father and propounded a * Colloquium That was the word as much used in the old Historians French and English as Concilium was for a Parliament Richard Earl of Poictou Rebels against his Father He flies before his Father and leaves his Castles and Fortresses He casts himself at his Fathers Feet and begs Pardon Conference or Treaty between him and the King of France at Gisers upon the Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary or Eighth of September at which time they met but could not agree but appointed another Colloquium or Treaty on Michaelmass-day between Tours and Ambois upon Condition that the King of England the mean while might march into Poictou to subdue his Son Richard they swearing That neither the King of France nor the youg King nor any for them or on their Party should give or send him Relief When he came into Poictou his Son Richard dare not stand him but fled from every place where he thought he would come and relinquished the Castles and Fortresses he had formerly taken and when he heard the King of France and his Brother had made Truce with the King his Father and excluded him he was mightily troubled and came weeping and cast himself at his Fathers Feet and asked his Pardon He moved with Paternal Compassion received him into favour and kissed him [5.] Ibidem p. 59. a. Hoved. f. 309. a. n. 30 40 50. Who forgives him This Peace was made between his Father and him on the Twenty third of September Richard went with his Father to meet the King of France and his Brother that he might inform them what he had done On Michaelmass-day all Parties met between Tours and Ambois according to Agreement and the day following the young King and his Brothers All his Rebellious Sons submit to his Mercy according to the Advice of the King of France submitted themselves to their Fathers Mercy and made with him Articles of Peace and confirmed them with their Seals I. The young King [6.] Append. n. 35. Articles of Peace between old King Henry and his Sons Henry and his Brothers Richard and Geofry should return to the Obedience of their Father notwithstanding any Oaths of which they were to be absolved they had made between themselves or with others against him or his Men. II. That all their Men Tenents in Military Service or such as had otherwise done Homage to them and Barons such as held immediately of them their Baronies that had for their sakes receded from the Fidelity they ought to their Father were by them to be freed and acquitted from the obligation of such Oaths and Covenants they had made with them and so were to return into the Homage and Allegiance of their Lord the King III. The King his Men and Barons were to re-have and possess all their Lands Castles c. which they had fifteen days before the Rupture between Father and Sons Likewise the Kings Barons and Men that left him and followed his Sons were to have again all their Lands they had at the same time IV. The King the Father remitted all Evil Will towards his Barons and Men which left him so as for that he would do them no Evil so long as they served him faithfully as their Liege Lord. The like the young King remitted to all Clerks and Laicks which were in his Fathers Service and gave Security he would not procure their hart or damage in his whole Life V. By this Concord the King was to give his Son Henry two convenient Castles in Normandy by his own appointment and 15000 l. yearly of Anjou Money To his Son Richard two convenient Receptacles or Places of Receit in Poictou so as no damage might accrue to his Father from them and in Money half the Revenue of Poictou To his Son Geofry he gave in Money half the Fortune or Revenue he was to have by his Marriage of Earl Conans Daughter and after he was Married to her by Consent of
Laicks to Collect this Tenth but the King of Scots met them between Werk and Brigeham and would not permit them to enter into his Kingdom to collect them yet offered to give the King for them The King of Scoâ—s offers 5000 Marks and to have his Castles again Five thousand Marks of Silver After the same manner Philip King of France caused the Tenths of the Rents and Moveables hominum suorum of his Men or Subjects to be collected in all his Dominions This very year [4.] Ibidem n. 50. Raymund Earl or St. Giles makes War upon Richard the Kings Son and is conquered Raymund Earl of St. Giles Aimer Earl of Engolism Geofry de Rancune and Geofry de Lusignan and almost all the richest People of Poictou made War upon Richard Earl of that Country and he upon them who overcame them all and amongst other Prisoners he took one Peter Seillun that had advised the Earl of St. Giles to take some Merchants or Tâ—adesmen that were under Earl Richards Protection and Inhabitants of his Countries and use them ill The Earl kept him close Prisoner and when the Earl of St. Giles [5.] Ibidem b. lin 1. found he could not Redeem him Way-laid and gave order to his Castellans and Soldiers to apprehend any of the King of England's Sons Earl Richard's Subjects Within a little while they seize upon Robert Poer and Ralph his Brother two Knights of the Kings Family that had been in Pilgrimage at St. James in Spain and were returning home and delivered them to Earl Raymund who kept them in Prison until his Servant Peter was ser free Richard would make no exchange but said the Reverence of their Pilgrimage was sufficient to discharge them and therefore the King of France Commanded they should be set free neither for Respect to the King of England or his Son Richard but for the Reverence he bare to St. James the Apostle [6.] Ibidem n. 10. The Earl of St. Giles Released them not by the King of France his Command but for the great Ransom he had of them Earl Richard [7.] Ibidem n. 20. An. Do. 1188. Richard enters his Country and wastes it moved with this entred his Country with an Army and wasted it with Fire and Sword and besieged and took his Castles near Tholose The King of France hearing the Complaints of the People sent into England to King Henry to know whether the damages that were done in his Dominions by his Son Richard were done by his Order and demanded Restitution King Henry returned this Answer The King of France complains to the King of England That his Son had not done any thing by his Directions or Consent and that he had let him know by John Arch-Bishop of Dublin that he had done nothing but by Advice of the King of France At this time King Henry [8.] Ibidem n. 30 40. King Henry receives a Letter from the Patriarch of Antioch received an Epistle of the Patriarch of Antioch representing to him the miserable Condition of the Christians in the Holy Land How that on the Fourth of July 1187. Saladin Emperor of the Saracens or Turks in a pitcht Battle had killed their Prince Raimund with his own hands that there were of Bishops Templars Hospitallers and others that accompaâ—ed them 1200 slain and 30000 Foot besides those that were destroyed in the Towns and Cities which were taken there reckoned up to the number of thirteen That he then besieged Jerusalem and swore to take the Sepulchre and divide it into small pieces and throw it into the Sea c. To this the King [9.] Ibidem f. 367. a. n. 20 30 c. He Answers it and gives great hopes that Relief would speedily be sent sends an Answer to the Patriarchs of Jerusalem and Antioch in which he gives them great encouragement and tells them there was coming to their assistance such an Army of Christians as was never heard of nor seen before and that amongst the other Princes he and his Son rejecting and despising all the Glory and Pleasures of the World were coming towards them with all the speed imaginable But in the mean time [1.] Ibidem n. 50. The King of France enters Berry wiâ—h a great Army Philip King of France had raised a great Army and entred Berry and taken Castle-Radulf quod Burgenses reddiderunt ei which the Burgesses delivered to him and proceeding almost all Berry except Luches was delivered to him The King of England demanding a Reason of these things it was told him they were done in Revenge for the Injuries Richard Earl ' of Poictou had done to the King of France and Earl of St. Giles The King of [2.] Ibidem b. liv â— c. The King of France refuses to make Peace England Advising with his Friends sends Baldwin Arch Bishop of Canterbury and Hugh Bishop of Lincoln to the King of France that they might persuade him to Peace and when they could not he passed into Normandy and landed at Barfleu on the Eleventh of July and gathered together in Normandy and his other Countries a great Army In the mean time Richard Earl of Poictou enters Berry destroys the Lands of the Earls and Barons that adhered to the King of France and took some of them The King of France [3.] Ibidem n. 10. left Berry to William de Barres to defend it and went toward the King of England permitting his Soldiers to waste his Dominions He sends Walter Arch-Bishop of Roven John Bishop of Eureux and William Marshall to demand Restitution and unless he made it to defie him The King of France Answers he would not desist until all Berry and Veuxin-Norman was subjected to him Toward the [4.] Ibidem n. 20 30. Richard Earl of Anjou destroys the King of France his Countries The King of France desires Peace later end of August the King of England entred the King of France his Dominions His Son Richard took William de Barres Prisoner and his Father and he and William de Mandevill burnt and destroyed the King of France his Countries and took his Towns and Castles more and faster than he burnt and took theirs so as he sent to them and desired Peace and offered to part with what he had gotten in Berry They came to a Conference at [5.] Ibidem n. 40. They meet to Treat of Peace but cannot agree Gisors to Treat of Peace and when they could not agree the King of France in a mighty rage and anger cut down a brave spread flourishing Elm between Gisors and Trie where the Conferences were wont to be between the Kings of France and Dukes of Normandy and sware there never should be more Conferences in that place The [6.] Ibidem n. 50. Several French Lords lay down Arms. Earl of Flanders Earl Theobald and the other Earls and Barons of France laid down their Arms and said they would fight no more against
his Legats with power to pass into Ireland and Crown John the Kings Son But his Father deferred the Coronation and carried the Legats into Normandy to a Conference between him and Philip King of France So that not being Crowned John contented himself with the Title of Lord of Ireland ever after Besides the Title of Conquest King Henry's [9] Girald Cambr. lib. 2. c. 32. f. 806. n. 20. Henry the Second his Title to Ireland Title of meer Right was That Richard Earl Strongbow who married Eva the Daughter and Heir of Dermot Mac Murchard King of Leinster granted all his Right and Title to him and the rest of the Princes in a short time after voluntarily subjected themselves to him and gave him an irrefragable Title A Catalogue of many of the Chief Adventurers in the Conquest of Ireland made out of Giraldus Cambrensis as it is to be found in Camdens Description of that Kingdom and in Dr. Hanmer f. 136. Corrected in many places Half Brothers by the Mother Ann. Dom. 1170. RObert Fitz-Stephan Maurice Fitz-Gerald David Barry Hervy de Monte Marisco Married Nesta Daughter to Maurice Fitz-Girald William Nott. Maurice de Prendregast Meyler Son of Henry Fitz-Henry who was Son of King Henry 1st by Nesta Mother to Robert Fitz-Stephan and Maurice Fitz-Girald Reymond le Gosse Nephew to Robert Fitz-Stephan Married Basilia the Sister of Earl Strongbowe William Ferrand Richard Strongbowe Earl of Stiguil alias Chepstow Brethren and Nephews to Robert Fitz-Stephan and Maurice Fitz-Girald Miles Cogan alias Cogham Richard Cogan alias Cogham Henry Second King of England Ann. Dom 117â— Hugh de Lacy. William Fitz-Adelm Ralph Abbat of Buldewas in Normandy Ralph Arch-Deacon of Landaf Nicholas the Kings Chaplain Humphry de Bohun Robert Fitz-Bernard Hugh de Gundevilla Philip de Breusa alias Braosa William de Breusa alias Braosa Philip Hastings Silverster Giraldus Barry Cambrensis Director or Tutor to John the Kings Son John Redensford William Fitz-Maurice Eldest Son to Maurice Fitz-Girald he Married Alnia the Daughter of Earl Strongbow Cambren lib. 2. c. 5. Two other Sons of Maurice Fitz-Girald Girald Alexander Griffin the Son of William Fitz-Maurice Brethren Adam Hereford Hereford Purcell Nicholas Wallingford a Prior afterward Abbat of Malmsbury David Welsh Nephew to Reymond le Grosse Geofry Judas Reymond Kantitunensis Reymond Fitz-Hugh Miles of St. Davids Osbert of Herford alias Haverford West William Bendeuges Roger Poer alias Puyer Adam of Gernemie alias Gernemne Hugh Tirell John de Courcy Almeric alias Amoric de Sancto Laurâ—ntio though not found in Cambrensis Hugh Cantwell Redmond Cantimore Church Affairs in this Kings Reign whereof the chief and greatest are conteined in the Brief but Clear Account of the Life and Death of Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury IN the Second year of his Reign Ann. Dom. 1155. King Henry to the Honor of God and Holy Church and for the Emendation of his whole Kingdom Granted and confirmed to God [1] Append. N. 40. King Henry's Grant to Holy Church and to the Earls Barons c. and Holy Church and to all Earls and Barons and all his men omnibus hominibus meis All the Customes omnes Consuetudines which his Grandfather King Henry Gave and Granted to them by his Charter and abolished all ill Customes and therefore Willed and firmly Commanded That Holy Church and all Earls and Barons and all his men or feudataries should have and hold all those Customes Donations Liberties and free Customes freely quietly wholly and in peace of him and his heirs to them and their heirs so freely quietly and fully in all things as King Henry his Grandfather gave and granted and by his Charter confirmed unto them About the Year 1162. certain 2 Gul. Neubr lib. 2. c. 13. A. D. 1162. A Sect called Publicans came out of Germany into England Wandring people called Publicans came out of Germany into England which had infested many parts of France Spain Germany and Italy with their Doctrines They were in number about thirty men and women who dissembling their Design came peaceably into the Nation under the Conduct of one Gerard who they respected as their Master and Leader He was somewhat Learned but the others were unlettered ignorant meer Rusticks who spake the Teutonie Language and were of that Nation They had been some time in England yet Converted one Woman only Being discovered they were put in Prison The King not willing to Dismisse or Punish them without Examination They were Convented before the Bishops Their Opinions Convened a Council of Bishops at Oxford before whom they were Convented touching their Religion where Gerard undertaking the Cause and speaking for them all Answered they were Christians and had a veneration for the Apostolic Doctrine and being interrogated concerning the Articles of Faith they answered rightly as to the Substance of them concerning God * De Divinis Sacramentis perversa dixerunt Sacrum Baptisma Eucharistiam Conjugium detestantes but as to the Divine Sacraments they spake perverse things Abhorring and Detesting Baptism the Eucharist and Marriage and Derogating from the Vnity of the Church When they were urged with the Testimonies of holy Scripture they Answered they Believed as they had been Taught and would not dispute concerning their Faith Being admonished to return to the Vnity of the Church they despised all advice And being Threatned they Laughed that for Fear they should be brought to Repent saying Blessed are they that suffer Persecution for Righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Then [ ] Ibidem The Bishops pronounce them Heretics They are delivered to the secular power They are Burnt in the Foreheads and Whipâ— They rejoyce at their punishment the Bishops publickly pronounced them Heretics and Delivered them over to the Temporal Power to be Corporally punished The King Commanded they should be Burnt in the Forehead with the Mark of Heretics and be Whipt out of the City in the Sight of the people strictly forbidding every person to give them Lodging or any other Comfort They Rejoyced at the Execution of the Sentence and made hast through the City their Leader singing before them Blessed shall ye be when men hate you who was doubly Cauterized in the Forehead and Chin. It was in the Depth of Winter and they miserably perished none affording them succour The Life Actions and Behaviour c. of Thomas Becket Arch-Bishop of Canterbury THomas [4] Gul. Fitz-Steph p. 1. Col. 1. Becket was the Son of Gilbert sometime Sheriff of London [5] Ibidem Tho. Becket Educated at Paris Clerc to the Sheriffs of London In his Childhood he was taught in his Fathers House and the City Schools in his Youth he Studied at Paris Upon his return he was in part received into the care of the Government of the City of London and was made Clerc to the Sheriffs and their Procurator Accountant or Manager of that Office in which he behaved himself
against him The Militarie men Dissatisfied at the Arch-Bishops proceeding against the Earl of Clare heightned the anger of the King and Militarie men of the Kingdom or Government That he designed to recover the Castle of Tonebrigge from the Earl of Clare and that whole honor long ago aliened from the Church of Canterbury because according to the Decretals it was lawfull for his Predecessors and the Stewards so to manage the farmes of the Church as to increase them not to lessen or alienate them To this Earl of Clare almost all the Nobility of England were allied The [6] Ibid. p. 15 Col. 1. The Arch-Bishop pretends to a right of presentation to all livings in all Towns possessed by his great Tenants and Monks He Excommunicates William de Eynsford a Tenant in Capite and Absolves him to please the King Arch-Bishop had or challenged a right to present to the vacant Churches in the Towns as well of his Barons as his Monks and gave the Church of Eynesford in Kent to one Laurence a Priest The Lord of the Town William de Eynesford molested the Servants of Laurence and forced them out of the Town The Arch-Bishop Excommunicated him he applies himself to the King who writes to the Arch-Bishop to Absolve him whose answer to the King was That it belonged not to him to command any man to be excommunicated or absolved The King insisted upon his Royal Dignity or Prerogative That no Tenent in Capite ought to be Excommunicated without his Knowledge or Consent At length the Arch-Bishop to please the King Absolved him from henceforward the King had no kindness for him tho before he had obteined of him libertie to enjoy the whole Dignity of his Church and that he might seek to recover all the Lands which had been aliened by his Predecessors or were possessed by Lay-men The Insolence and wickedness of Clercs Long before this the King had been angry with the Clergy in the time of Arch-Bishop Theobald having been provoked with the insolency of some of them who had committed Rapin Theft and Murder [7] Ib. Col. 2. Guilty of great Crimes For this reason the King demanded of the Arch-Bishop That by the Consent of him and his * Coepiscoporum The King would have â—hem tryed in his secular Court Fellow-Bishops such Clercs as were taken in convicted of or had confessed any great crime should first be degraded and forthwith delivered to his Court That they might be corporally punished and not have any protection from the Church [ ] Ib. p. 16. Col. 1. He demanded also That when any Clerc was degraded some of his Officers might be present to take him into Custody that he might not fly and escape that punishment The [9] Ibidem The Arch-Bishop calls together the Bishops They were of opinion Clercs were to be Degraded and Delivered to the secular Court Arch-Bishop when he could not obtein leave to deferre his Answer untill next morning went apart with the Bishops and discoursed the matter The Bishops were of opinion that according to the secular Law Clercs were to be degraded and delivered to the Secular Court to be corporally punished which they proved not only by Laws but authentic Examples But he [1] Ibidem The Arch-Bishop says it was against the Canons and Cautions them about the Liberty of the Church following the Canons thought otherwise asserting it was unjust against the Canons and against God that any man should be twice punished by two several Courts And added that they ought to be very carefull that they destroyed not the liberty of the Church by their own Consent for which by example of their High Priest they were by Duty bound to contend unto Death [2] Ib. Col. 2. p. 17. Col. 1 The Bishops replyed that if they consented to what the King demanded the Church was in no danger and that they ought to yield to the wickedness of the time as they called it lest the King should seize all their Temporalties The Arch-Bishop persisted in his opinion and told them they migt not expose any man to death That could not be present at a sentence of Blood The King [3] Ib. Col. 2. not like to prevail in this asked them if they would observe his Royal Customes or Laws The Arch-Bishop answered in all things [4] Salvo tamen per omnia in omnibus ordine nostro The Arch-Bishop and Bishops answer to the King about keeping his Royal Customes Saving their Order by and in all things Afterward he asked the same thing of every Bishop in order and they all gave him the same Answer At which the King was much troubled and left them The Bishops fearful of the Kings Anger followed him and consented to acknowledge his Laws without any [5] Ib p. 18. Col. 1. saving but the Arch-Bishop was immoveable and said far be it from him That for the fear or favor of any Mortalman he should be found to contemn God [6] Ib. Col. 2. The Case between a Burgess of Scarburgh and a Dean If an Angel should come from Heaven and give him advice to make such an absolute acknowledgement he would curse him When the [7] Richard de Lucy was then Justitiary of England Satisfaction Demanded for Breach of the Kings Law King on a certain time was at York a Burgess of Scarburgh complained to him of a Dean a rural Dean that had taken from him 12 s. and injoyned his Wife penance as an Adulteress without proof contrary to the Kings Law The Dean was Convented before the King the Arch-Bishop the Bishops of Lincoln and Durham and John Treasurer of York who not being able to clear himself the Kings Barons were joyned to the Bishops to pronounce sentence upon him John the Treasurer thought it sufficient if he restored the Burgess his money again and was left to his own Bishops mercy whether he should keep his Office or not [7] Richard de Lucy was then Justitiary of England Satisfaction Demanded for Breach of the Kings Law Richard de Luci asked what satisfaction the King should have for the Breach of his Law John answered nothing because he was a Clerc whereupon he refused to be present at the Passing of the Sentence and went out with the other Barons to the King who appealed from this sentence but being called beyond Sea upon extraordinary business did not prosecute the Appeal The The Insolency and Crimes of Clercs Justices Itinerant being at Dunstable there happened a Controversie between Simon Fitz-Peter and Philip de Broc Canon of Bedford Simon informed the King that Broc in a great audience had spoken dishonorably of him The King accused him before the Arch-Bishop and not being able to deny it excused himself that it was done in passion The King demanded judgment against him The Clergy judge him to lose the Benefit of his Prebend for a year and Banishment out of England for that time but this
is cited by the Sheriff of Kent and appeâ—rs in the Kings Court. Request of John he appointed another day to wit the first day of the Council and sent his Writ to the Sheriff of Kent to Cite the Arch-Bishop for the King would not write to him because he would not salute him Nor had he any other Solemn Summons to the Council by Letter according to ancient Custome [8] Ibid. The Arch-Bishop appeared and said he was come by the Kings Command for the cause of John The King replyed that John was in his service at London and would be there on the Morrow and then their cause should be discussed [9] Ibidem Erat siquidem Johannes ille cum Thesauriis caeteris fiscalibus pecuniae publici aeris Receptoribus Londoniis ad Scaccarium Vbi etiam placita Coronae Regis Tractantur for this John was amongst the Officers of the Receipt of the Chequer in London where also pleas of the Kings Crown were handled or holden That first day there was nothing more done between the King and Arch-Bishop the King bad him go home and return to his cause on the Morrow On the Second [1] Ib. Col. 2. day before all the Bishops except the Bishop of Rochester and another which were not then come and all the Earls and Barons of England and many of Normandy Archiepiscopus lese Majestatis Coronae Regiae arguitur The Arch-Bishop was accused of Treason because as is said before he was cited by the King in the cause of John and neither came nor made a sufficient Excuse The Arch-Bishops defence signifyed nothing yet he Alledged the foresaid Injury of John the proper Jurisdiction of the Cause and the Integrity of his Court. The King [2] Ibidem The King demands Judgment Demanded judgment no Reason of the Arch-Bishop was approved It seemed to all out of Reverence to Royal Majesty and the Bond of Liege Homage that the Arch-Bishop made to the King and from the Fidelity and Observance of Terrene Honor which he had Sworn to the King That he made smade small Defence because when cited by the King he neither came nor by his Messengers alledged any Corporal infirmity He is Condemned in the forfeiture of all his moveables or necessary administration of any Ecclesiastical Office that could not be deferred And they Condemned him to be in the Kings Mercy for all his Moveable Goods There was a Difference [3] Ib. p. 23. Col. 1. Difference between the Bishops and temporal Barons in pronouncing Judgment between the Bishops and Barons who should pronounce Judgment each of them imposed it upon other excusing themselves The Barons said you Bishops ought to pronounce sentence it belongs not to us we are Lay-men you Ecclesiastical persons So he you are his fellow-Priests and Fellow-Bishops To these things [4] Ibidem one of the Bishops Answered yea it s rather your Office then ours for this is not an Ecclesiastic Sentence but a Secular we sit not here as Bishops but Barons we are Barons and you are Barons we are Peers or aequals here pares hic sumus You cannot rely upon our Order for if you have respect to that in us you must also have Regard to it in him and then as we are Bishops we cannot Judge our Arch-Bishop and Lord. The King [5] Ibidem The Bishop of Winchester pronounced sentence hearing of this controversie about pronouncing Sentence it was soon ended and imposed upon the Bâ—shop of Winchester who unwillingly pronounced it Archiepiscopus autem quia sententiae vel Recordationi Curiae Regis Angliae non licet contradicere sustinuit Censilio Episcoporum Addacta ad mitigandum honorandum Regem solenni in manum ejus missione quasi Concessionis Judicii ut Moris est The Arch-Bishop because no man might contradict a sentence or Record made in the King of Englands Court by advice of the Bishops submitted to it and by a forced compliance for the honor and mitigation of the King solemnly put himself under his power as it were Granting and acknowledging the Judgement as the Custome was Afterwards on the same day he was prosecuted [6] Ibid. Col. 2. The Arch-Bishop prosecuted for 300 l. for three hundred pounds he had received as he was Castellan or Constable of the Castles of Eye in Suffolk and Berkamstead in Hertfordshire The Arch-Bishop first waved the Action by saying he was not cited for that matter And further said That he had expended that money and much more in the Reparations of the Palace of London and those Castles as might be seen The King would not admit he had done this He gives security for it and Exacts Judgment The Arch-Bishop ready to please the King and not willing such a summe of Money should be the Cause of Anger between them gave security by three Lay-men distinctly and severally the Earl of Glocester William de Eynesford and another all his Tenants On the third day [7] Ib. p. 24. Col. 1. He is prosecuted for a 1000 marks more and several other moneys he received when Chancellor He Consults the Bishops about this matter he was prosecuted at the Kings Suit for five hundred marks lent him in the Army of Tholose and for other five hundred which he borrowed of a Jew upon the Kings security he was also prosecuted for all the profits of the Arch-Bishoprick and other Bishopricks and Abbeys that were voyd during his Chancellorship of all which he was commanded to make an Account to the King The Arch-Bishop said he came not prepared to Answer this matter nor was he cited concerning it yet in time and place he would do to his Lord the King according to right The King exacts security upon that he answered he ought to have the advice of his Suffragans and Clercs about it The King yielded to it and he departed And from that day neither Barons nor Knights came to his House or Hostel to visit him having understood the Kings mind by these proceedings On the fourth day [8] Ibid. Col. 2. p. 25. Col. 1. They advise a Compliance all the Ecclesiastical persons came to the Arch-Bishops House where he treated with the Bishops severally and apart and with the Abbats severally and apart The Bishop of Winchester advised him to offer a Composition in Money and trie the King that way 2000 Marks were offered but refused Others encouraged him to maintein bravely the Liberties of the Church but most perswaded a Compliance with the King 'T is [9] Ib. Col. 2. said they consulted very closely on the fifth day which was Sunday but the Result of their Debates and Counsels not mentioned On the sixth Day the Arch-Bishop fell Sick and the King hearing of it sent all his Earls and many Barons to Demand of him his Resolution after these Consultations and Advices and to know of him whether he would give Security to render an Account of what he
Married [1] See here f. 291. C. D. Alianor Sole Daughter and heir to William Earl of Poicton and Duke of Acquitan about Whitsunday in the year 1151. after she had been lawfully divorced from Lewis the 7th King of France about the Close of Easter Preceding By [2] Chron. Norm f. 989. B Mat. Westm A. D. 1152. William whom he had William his Eldest Son born on the Octaves of St. Laurence or 17th of August in the year following 1152. before he was King This William Dyed in the latter end [3] Chron. Norman f. 992. B. of June or beginning of July 1155. and was Buried in the Monastery of Reading at the Feet of King Henry the First Henry Henry by the same Alienor was born at London on the day before the [4] Ibidem f. 991. lin 1. Kalends of March i. e. the 28th of February 1154. Mat. Westm says 1155. On the [5] Ibidem A. tenth of April following King Henry caused his great men of England at Wallingford to Swear Fealty for that Kingdom unto his first born William and after his Death unto this Infant Henry In August 1157 the two [6] Ibidem f. 994. A. and here f. 300. D. Kings of England treated of a Marriage between this Henry and Margaret Daughter of King Lewis by Constance his Second Wife Daughter of Alfonso King of Spain And the next year A. D. 1158. the [7] Mat. West A. D. 1158. Marriage was * See here f. 303. B. C. Solemnized or rather according to the same Author A. D. 1160. He Dyed without Issue Richard the Third Son by the same Woman was [8] Chron. Norman f. â—93 D. Mat. Westm A. D. 1156. born in September according to the Norman Chronicle A. D. 1156. Richard which could not be so if Mat. Westm writes true for he says his eldest Daughter Maud was born that year Richard married Berengaria Daughter to the King of Navarre [9] Radâ— de Diceto Col. 657. n. 30. whom his mother Queen Alianor carried after him to Sicily when he was in his expedition to the Holy Land and was married to her afterwards in the Isle of Cyprus but dyed without Issue According to Ralph de Diceto * Ibidem Col. 531. n. 20. he was born in the year 1157. at Oxford Geofry the 4th Son of the same King and Queen Geofry was [1] Chron. Norm f. 994. B born on the ninth of the Kalends of October or 23d of September A. D. 1157. or more truly according to [2] Col. 531. n. 30. Ralph de Diceto in the year 1158. He was by his Fathers Contrivance [3] See here f. 305. C. Married to Constance only Daughter and heir of Conan Earl of Britany and Richmond When he was killed he left her great with Child of [4] Walsingh f. 452. n. 30. Hov. f. 361. b. n. 10. which she was Delivered on Easter Day 1187. and he was named Arthur who was taken Prisoner in the year 1199. at Mirabell Castle in Normandy and as it was reported [5] Chron. Norm f. 1005. D. Walsingham ut supra f. 459. lin 5. A. D. 1203. killed by his Uncle John with his own hands This Geofry had also a Daughter named Alianor only Sister and heir to this Arthur she was sent by her Uncle King John into England and imprisoned where she Dyed in the [6] Mat. Paris f. 574. n. 40. John year 1241. in the 25th of Hen. III. a Virgin John the fifth and youngest Son of this King and Queen was [7] Genealog Histor f. 81. Mat. Paris f. 127. lin 6. born at Oxford on Christmass Eve in the year 1166. Their Daughters MAud the eldest [8] Rad. de Diceto Col. 531. n. 20. born A. D. 1156. and was Married to Henry Duke of Saxony [9] Hoved. f. 282. a. n. 40. in the year 1164. Alianor the Second Daughter was [1] Rad. de Diceto Col. 533. lin 6. born in the year 1162. and was Married to Alphonso [2] Hoved. f. 317. a. n. 50. King of Castile in the year 1176. Joan the Third Daughter was [3] Rad. de Dicet Col. â—39 n. 30. born in the year 1165. she was Married to William [4] Hoved. f. 315. a. n. 10. King of Sicily in the same year 1176. His Base Issue WIlliam [5] Dugd. Baron Tome 1. f. 175. Col. 1.2 Longespee or Long-Sword so named from the Long-Sword he did usually wear begotten of fair Rosamund Daughter of Walter Lord Clifford To whom [6] Ibidem Hoved. f. 436. b. n. 50. King Richard his half Brother gave in Marriage Ela the Daughter and heir of William Earl of Salisbury and with her the Earldom Geofry another Base Son was Born of the same Lady he was Bishop Elect of Lincoln from the [7] Hoved. f. 307. b. n. 10 20. f. 348. b. n. 30 40. year 1174. to the year 1181. without being in Orders or Consecrated when he renounced his Election by the Kings Advice and the Popes Mandate to the Arch-Bishop of Canturbury That he should Either take Orders and be Consecrated or renounce And then the King gave [8] Ibidem f. 349. a. n. 10. him his Chancery dedit ei Cancellariam suam and 500 marks of Rent in England and as much in Normandy Morgan was also reported to be a Son of this King Henry but by what woman not Known to whom his Brother Geofry then Arch-Bishop of York gave the Provost-ship of Beverly [9] Ibid. f. 468. a. lin 1. A. D. 1â—â—2 Praeposituram Beverlacensem Gaufridus Eboracensis Archiepiscopus Dedit Morgan fratri suo filio Henrici Regis â—t Dicebatur THE REIGN OF King Richard I. AFter the Funeral of his [1] Hoved. f. 373. a. n. 10. Father Richard secured Stephan de Turons of Tours or as Mat. Paris Stephan de Turnham Seneschal of Anjou and loaded him with Irons until he delivered the Castles and Treasure of his Father The Castles and Treasure of his Father delivered to Duke Richard which he had in his Custody and squeezed him to the last Farthing Then he came to Roven where Walter Archbishop of that Place in the presence of the Bishops Earls and Barons of Normandy girt him with the Sword of that Dukedom on the 20 th of July He is girt with the Sword of the Dukedom of Normandy A. D. 1189. and the Day after he received the Oaths of Fidelity or Fealty from the Clergy and Laity à Clero Populo And on the 3 d Day which was thâ— 22 d of that Month he met the King of France between Chaumont and Trie in Vâ—uxin Francois in which Treaty [2] Ibid. n. 20. he Demanded of the Duke the Town and Castle of Gisors with the Country about it who unwilling to part with that Fortress added Four Thousand Marks in Silver to the Twenty Thousand his [3] See here f. 349. lin 1. he pays
over England Mensuris facta per Richardum Regem Angliae He appointed one Measure throughout all England for all sorts of Grain as well in Cities and Boroughs as without Also That the Measures of Wine and Ale and other Liquors should be the same all the Nation over according to the Diversity of Liquors And the Weights to be the same according to the Diversity of Things Weighed And all Measures were so to be secured as they could not be falsified He ordered That all Woollen Cloaths where-ever they were made should be of the same Breadth that is Two Ells within the Lists And that the Ells should be made of Iron Keepers of the Assize made in Cities and Boroughs He also ordered there should be Four or Six according to the largeness of the City or Borough assigned in every City or Burgh who should see and search That all things were sold according to these appointed Measures and Weights And if they found any one that confessed or was convicted of selling by other Weights and Measures than by those appointed he was to be imprisoned and all his Goods to be seised into the Kings Hands The Penalties inflicted upon Transgressors of the Assise If the keepers of the Assise were negligent and were convicted before the Kings Justices they were to be in the Kings Mercy concerning their Goods And he commanded That no Man in any County after the Feast of Purification should sell any thing but by the Measure prescribed Nor that any Man after the Fayr at Stanford in Mid-Lent should sell any Cloath that was not Two Yards within the Lists The year following King Richard desired of the [9] Ibid. f. 441 b. n. 40. A. D. 1198. Feudataries or Military Men of England by Hubert Archbishop of Canturbury Richardus Rex Angliae per Hubertum Cantuariensem Archiepiscopum petiit ut Homines Regni Angliae invenirent ei c. That they would find him 300 Horse trecentos milites to remain in his service for one year The Kings Feudataries to find 300 Horse or pay so much as would maintain them or that they would let him have so much money as would maintein so many Knights milites and give them for their Livery or Wages de Liberatione in die every day three shillings of English money All present not daring to deny it consented to the proposition except Hugh Bishop of Lincoln least for the future it might do injury to his Church The same year the King took an Ayd of [1] Ibid. f. 442. b. n. 50. A. D. 1198. The King takes an Ayd of every Hyde in England Who were appointed and the Manner how it was Collected five shillings of every Carucate or Hyde in England Eodem Anno Richardus Rex Angliae accepit de unaquaque Carucata terrae sive Hyda totius Angliae quinque solidos de auxilio and sent into every County one Clerc and one Knight to Collect it They were Directed to the Sherif which three with certain legal Knights chosen for that purpose and Sworn faithfully to Execute the Kings Business caused to come before them the Stewards of the Barons of that County and the Lord of every Town or the Baylif of the Town and the Reeve with four lawfull men of the Town whether Free-men or Rustics sive liberis sive Rusticis and two of the most legal Knights of the Hundred who did Swear and faithfully Discover how many Plough-Tilths there were in every Town how many in Demeasn how many in Villanage Quot in Dominico quot in Vilenagia how many the Religious held in Alms and what Services they did for them And upon every Plough-Tilth they imposed first two shillings then three shillings and inrolled them all whereof the Clerc had one Roll the Knight another the Sherif a third and the Barons Steward a fourth The money was Received by two Knights and the Baylif of every Hundred and they answered it to the Sherif and he according to his Roll answered it at the Exchequer before the Bishops Abbats and Barons assigned for that purpose The [2] Ibid. 443. a. n. 10. Penalties inflicted upon Concealers against their Oath punishment appointed for such as concealed any thing against their Oath was if he was a Rustic That is a Villan si Rusticus Convictus fuerit he was to give his Lord the best Oxe in his plough and pay as much of his own to the Kings use as by his Perjury he had Concealed If a Free man was Convicted he was in the Kings Mercy and was to answer as much of his own to the Kings use as he had Concealed It was also ordained that the Barons with the Sherif should Distrein their Tenants and if they did not so much should be taken upon their Demeasnes as the Tenents were in Arrear All free fees That is Maners and Military fees belonging to Parochial Churches and Serjeanties which were not setled upon Knights Fees were excepted out of this Ayd What Fees were excepted out of this Ayd yet the names of the Serjeants and the value of their Lands were inrolled and they were Summoned to be at London 15 Days after Whitsunday to hear and do the Kings Command According to the Estimation of legal men they which were to give in the Number of Plough-Tilths allowed to every one an Hundred Acres A. D. 1198. The Monks of the holy Trinity in Canturbury not well pleased with some of Arch-Bishop Huberts Actions [3] Ibidem n. 30. A complaint made to the Pope against Archbishop Hubert by the Monks of Canturbury sent some of their Number to Rome and complained to Pope Innocent That contrary to his Order and Dignity he was Justiciarie of the Kingdom and a Judge in Causes of Bloud and so involved in Secular Business That he could not but neglect the affairs of the Church Particularly they accused him That the Peace or Sanctuary of the Church of St. Mary del Arch or Bow Church London was violated by his precept and that William with the Beard was violently taken out thence with nine of his Companions adjudged to Death and tyed to Horse Tayles Drawn to the Gallows and Hanged Upon this Complaint [4] Ibid. n. 40. The Pope sends to the King to remove him from Secular business the Pope sent a Paternal Admonition to King Richard That for the healâ—h of his own Soul he should remove him from all Secular Business and that for the future he should neither admit him nor any other Bishop or Priest to any Worldly imployment or Administration and Commanded all Prelates by virtue of their Obedience they should not dare to undertake them [5] Ibidem He is set aside And thus the Archbishop was set aside and Geofry Fitz-Peter succeeded him in the Government of the Kingdom They accused him also [6] Ibid. n. 50. That in prejudice of the Mother Church of Canturbury he had built a Chapel at Lambhithe and placed secular
Elias Arch-Bishop of Burdeaux William Bâ—shop of Poictiers and Henry Bishop of Sainctes for that they were related in the third degree of Consanguinity Being thus divorced by the advice of his Lord Philip King of France He is Married to Isabell Daughter to the Earl of Engolesme he Married Isabell the Daughter of Aymer Earl of Engolesme whom he had first given by the request and direction of King Richard to Hugh le Brun Earl of Marche they had promised one another and were betrothed but because she was not of years of Marriage Earl Hugh would not Marry her in the face of the Church and her Father perceiving King Iohn had an affection for her he took her from Earl Hugh and gave her to him and they were Married at Engolesme by the Arch-Bishop of Burdeaux The same year [3] Ibid. f. 458. a. l. 5. c. A. D. 1200. the Earl of St. Giles doth Homage to King John the Earl of St. Giles did Homage to King Iohn for the Lands and Castles which King Richard had given him in Marriage with his Sister Ioan so as his Son Raymund by her should have them and do Homage to his Vncle Iohn when he came to years of Discretion and if he should decease without Issue then they were to revert to the Earl of St. Giles and he and his Heirs should hold them by Hereditary Right of the Earl of Poictou by the service of coming with 500 Knights or Horsemen to him for one Moneth at his own charge whenever he went with his Army into Gascony but if he staid longer they were to remain at the charge of the Earl of Poictou From [4] Ibid. n 10. thence King Iohn went to Anger 's and took One hundred and fifty Pleges or Hostages for their Fidelity and put them in Custody and the same year King Iohn took of [5] Ibid. n. 20. Walter Arch-Bishop of Roven * i. e. 200 l. English 600 pounds of Anjou Money to confirm by his Chart all those things which King Richard had given him in Exchange for Andeli to wit The Town of Diepe with its Apertinences and Lovers with its Apertinences the Forest or Wood of Aliersmont and the Mills of Robech The Pope sent Cardinal [6] Ibid. f. 461. n. 1. Octavian Legat into France to hear and determine the Cause of Divorce between the King of France and his Queen Botilda as Hoveden calls her The French Writers name her * Happily she might have two and both these Names du Serres calls her Gelberge Rigord calls her Ysamburg Isemberg with this direction That first before he heard the Cause he should compell him to put away his German Adulteress and receive Botilda or Isemberg and treat her like his Wife ut ipse imprimis ante Ingressum litis compelleret Regem Franciae dimittere Adulteram suam Teutonicam c. On the Vigil of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary or 7 th of September the Cardinal the Arch-Bishops Bishops and Clergy of France met at Nibell and the King of France with his Queen and Teutonick Lady came thither and by the admonition of the Cardinal and advice of his Friends he dismissed her and received again his Queen King Philip receives his Queen again and then made his complaint That she ought not of right to be his Wife for they were near related in Consanguinity and affirmed he could prove it to be so and required they might be divorced The Cardinal gave him the time of six Months six Weeks six Days and six Hours to consider of it and appointed the place of Hearing the Cause at Soissons according to the Queens desire * Ibid. n. 20. The Interdict released France by procurement of the King of Denmark was under an Interdict for the Kings Repudiating his Queen which so soon as he received her again was released by the Cardinal In the middle of [7] Ibid. f. 462. b. n. 20.30 c. King Philip demanded to be Divorced Lent next following Philip and his Queen met again before the Legat at Soissons and the King by his Lawyers demanded to be Divorced for the reason before-mentioned On the Queens behalf there were present several Bishops and other honest and discreet Men Et alii honesti viri disereti sent from her Brother Cnute King of Denmark who after Security given them that they might freely answer allege and safely return home they said the King of France had sent to the King of Denmark to desire his Beautiful Sister in Marriage and that she might be sent to him which by advice of the Great Men of his Kingdom was done That the Messengers which came for her did Swear on behalf of the king and for themselves That she should be honorably used as a Queen and of this they could produce his Chart and the Charts of the Great Men that came for her and therefore Appealed them of Perjury and breach of Faith before the Pope They also Appealed from Cardinal Octavian the Judge to the Pope for that he was related to the King of France and would favour his Cause and the Queen likewise Appealed which when Octavian had heard he desired them to stay a while until his Collegue came that was joyned in Commission with him from the Pope and he should hear and determine the Matter after three days he came and did hear it and found no cause of a Divorce between them of which the King of France having notice He could not obtain it and that he would give a definitive Sentence against him he departed before he had pronounced it and carried his Queen with him and put her into more streight Custody than before In the [8] Ibid. f. 4â—1 a. â— 30.40 King John and Queen Isabel Crowned moneth of October King Iohn having setled his affairs in Normandy and his other Transmarine Countries came into England and brought with him Isabel his Wife and upon the eighth Day of that Moneth they were both Crowned at Westminster by Hubert Arch-Bishop of Canturbury Presently after his [9] Ibid. b. lin 4. n. 10.20.30 40. He sends to the King of Scots to meet him at Lincoln Coronation King Iohn sent Philip Bishop of Durham Roger Bigot Earl of Norfolk Henry de Bohun Earl of Hereford David Earl of Huntington Roger de Lasci Constable of Chester William de Vesci Roger de Ros and Robert Fitz-Roger Sherif of Northumberland to William King of Scots with Letters Patents of safe Conduct and to wait upon him into England to meet King Iohn at Lincoln on the Morrow after the Feast of St. Edmund the King November 21st they met accordingly and the next day they came to a Treaty or Parley upon a steep Hill convenerunt ad Colloquium super Montem arduum without the City and there in the view of all the people William King of Scots became King Iohns Man The King of Scots doth Homage to
King John or did homage to him as it was his right or for his right Willielmus Rex Scotorum devenit homo Regis Iohanis de jure suo and Swore Fealty to him upon the Cross of Hubert Archbishop of Canturbury to preserve his Life Limbs and Terrene honor against all men and keep Peace toward him and his Kingdom saving his own right These being Witnesses Hubert of Canturbury Iohn of Dublin Bernard of Raguse Archbishops Philip of Durham William of London Gilbert of Rochester Eustacius of Ely Savaric of Bath Herbert of Salisbury Godfry of Winchester Giles of Hereford Iohn of Norwich Roger of St. Andrews Henry of Landaf and Roger of Bangor Bishops Geofry Fitz-Peter Justiciary of England Earl of Essex Roger Bâ—got Earl of Norfolk Hamlin Earl of Warren Baldwin de Behun Earl of Albemarle William Earl of Salisbury Henry de Bohun Earl of Hereford Richard Earl of Clare William Earl Ferrers David Earl of Huntington Rolland or Rowland Son of Huctred Son of Fergus Prince of Galway Patrick Earl of Lonaâ—s Griffin Son of Rese King of Southwales and many others of the Kingdom of Scotland And before these Barons of England and Normandy Roger Constable of Chester Eustachius de Vesci Robert de Ros William de Stutevill Ralph Chamberlan of Tanquervit Warin Fitz-Gerold Stephan de Turnham * Seneschal of Anjou Robert his Brother Gilbert Basset Thomas and Alan his Brothers Roger of Hutingfield Sayer of Quinci William of Hastings Iolan de Nevill Simon de Chanci Girard de Camvil and many other Barons of England and Normandy After King [1] Ibid. n. 40. His demands of King John William had done his Homage he Demanded of King Iohn his Lord Northumberland Cumberland and Westmerland as his right and inheritance and when they had long Discoursed the matter and could not agree the King of England desired time to consider of it until Whitsunday following A. D. 1200. and early on the morrow Morning Novemb. 23d the King of Scots returned toward his own Country under the Conduct of the same persons that brought him into England King Iohn kept his Christmass at Guilford where he distributed many fine Cloaths to his Knights or Military men [2] Mat. Paris f. 205. n. 50. Hoved. f. 464. b. n. 10. The Arch-Bishop did the same at Canturbury as it were vying and contending with him in the magnificence of that Solemnity which not a little moved the Kings Indignation [3] Ibid. 20.30 A. D. 1201. King John and his Queen made a progress through most of England After Christmass the King with his Queen went into the North as far as Northumberland and made a Progress through much of England and fined many men for wasting his Forests The Historian names several particular places and days and nights where the King was and lodged in this progress or perambulation which takes off the incredibility of the Journey to have been undertaken at that time of the year At Easter [4] Ibid. f. 465. b. lin 1. which happened that year on our Lady Day the King and Queen Isabell were at Canturbury and there Crowned by Hubert Archbishop of Canturbury in the Cathedral in the presence of Iohn Arch B. of Dublin William Bishop of London Gilbert Bishop of Rochester Eustachius Bish of Ely and Iohn Bish of Norwich [5] Ibidem lin 6. He Summoned his Earls and Barons to be ready with Horse and Arms to go with him over Sea And presently after Easter he Commanded the Earls and Barons of England should be ready with their Horse and Arms at Whitsunday at Portsmouth to pass with him beyond Sea The Poictovins had prevailed against their Governors and Besieged their Castles Warin de Glapion Seneschal of Normandy by order of King Iohn Besieged the Castle of Dancourt which King Richard had given to Ralph de Isondon Earl of Ou Brother of Hugh le Brun. But Philip King of France hearing of the King of Englands preparations raised the Sieges before he came into Normandy [6] Ibidem n. 10. They refuse unless their Rights be first restored In the mean while the Earls of England met at Leicester and by Common Agreement sent to the King They would not go with him beyond Sea unless he would Restore to them their Right [7] f. 206. lin 8. Mat. Paris says they came at the appointed time and many for leave to stay at home gave the King two Marks in Silver for every Knights Fee At Whitsunday [8] Ibid. Hoved f. 466. a. lin 5. or some time before King Iohn sent Geofry Bishop of Chester Richard Malevisse and Henry de Putearo Pudsey to the King of Scots That the time of Giving his Answer about Northumberland c. might be put off until Michaelmass [9] Ibid. n. 10 He passes over into Normandy and treats with King Philip. In Whitsun week he and his Queen Sayled from Portsmouth and landed in Normandy and presently there was a Treaty between him and the King of France near the Isle of Andeli and they agreed well between themselves no man knowing the subject of their Discourse and within three days King Iohn was invited by the King of France to his Palace at Paris where he was splendidly and honorably entertained from whence he went to Chinon [5] Ibid. n. 20. where came to him Queen Berengara the Relict of King Richard to whom upon the Testimony of Philip Bishop of Durham and others that were present at her Marriage he gave her during Life the City of [2] Ibid. f. 467. b. n. 30. He gave Berengara King Richards Relick a large Dower Bayeux with its Appurtenences two Castles in Anjou and a 1000 Marks Sterling every year 500 to be paid at the Exchequer in England and 500 at the City Caen in Normandy for her Dower King Iohn had a Design to * Ibid. f. 468 a. n. 30.40 His Design to Appeal the Barons of Poictou of Treason Appeal the Barons of Poictou for Treason against his Brother Richard and himself and had hired many men who had been taught the Art of Duelling who without doubt he intended should Appeal them or at least be his Champions Sed Barones Pictaviae inde praemoniti ad Curiam illius venire Noluerunt Dicentes Quod nemini Responderent nisi pari suo But the Barons being forewarned would not come to his Court saying they would answer to no man that is fight with no man but their Peers or aequals and so his Design came to nothing and the Poictovins by that project were made more his Enemies than before and to Repress their Violence he appointed Robert de Turnham his Seneschal or Lieutenant of that Country This Year Hugh Bardolf and [3] Ibid. n. 20. other the Kings Iustices went to Boston Fair intending to Seize to the Kings use all Woollen Cloaths that were not two Ells within the Lists according to King Richards Assise or Statute The Merchants
John claims the Privilege of the Cross and refers himself to the Popes Discretion wrote to the Pope that the Archbishop of Canturbury and his Suctragans had neglected his Commands and that the great men and Barons altogether refused to hear what he wrote And attending what the Barons said He replied to them That England was the Patrimony of St. Peter and that he held it as the Patrimony of St. Peter the Church of Rome and the Pope and had taken upon him the Crusado and required the Privilege of such who had taken upon them that Expedition And after having recounted the Effects of his Former Offers to the Barons and Bishops upon which he could obtein no Remedy he Refers himself to the Popes Discretion to relieve him Upon the Consideration of all these Offers Declarations Matters and Things and the Recapitulation and brief Mention of them in his [7] Append n. 126. The Pope by consent of the Cardinals Damns the Charter of Liberties Bull and the Information of King John's Messengers lately sent to him the Pope by the Common Consent of the Cardinals Damns the Charter of Liberties and all obligations and Cautions which he had given and entred into for the performance of it and Declares them Null and void By [8] Append. n. 127. The Pope writes to the Barons and chargeth them with evil Practises against the King Letters of the same date with this Bull viz. Aug. 24. 1215. the Pope wrote to the Barons They had not well considered their Oath of Fidelity when they rashly persecuted their Lord the King That all men Detested their proceedings especially in such a cause where they made themselves both parties and Judges When the King was ready to do them Justice by their Peers in his Court according to the Laws and Customes of the Kingdom or to proceed by arbitrators chosen on both sides with a Reference to him if they agreed not And therefore commands them to Renounce that unlawful and unjust Composition they had extorted from him by fear and force and satisfie him and such as adhered to him for the Injuries they had done them That by this means the King might be induced to Grant whatsoever of right ought to be granted to them And further adviseth them to send their procurators or Deputies to the next General Council which he intended suddenly to call about the Business of the Cross where would be the Archbishop and other English Bishops and there Commit themselves to his good pleasure who by the Favor and God intended so to Determin things as to do away all oppressions and Abuses in the Kingdom that so the King being Content with his own Right and Honor the whole Clergy and Laity might rejoyce in their Just Repose and Liberty The Popes Letters or Mediation prevailed not with the Barons they [9] Mat. Paris f. 268. n. 10. The Popes Letters prevail not upon the Barons They consult how to secure London and make William de Albiney Governor of Rochester-Castle persued what they had undertaken and sent for William de Albiney a stout man and experienced Soldier several Times before he came at last upon a Chiding Letter having secured the Castle of Belvoir or Beauvoir he came to them to London where he was received with great Joy by the Barons who immediately consulting how to secure the City of London from being besieged by the King and shutting up all passages to it raised a considerable Force and put them with William de Albiney into Rochester Castle whereof he was made Governor But before they had provided for their Defence so well as they intended the King after three Months stay in the [1] Ibid. n. 30. Isle of Wight was Sailed from thence to Dover where he met his Messengers or Commissioners he had sent beyond Sea with Forces from Poictou The King with forces from beyond Sea besiegeth Rochester Castle The Barons offer to relieve it Gascony Brabant and Flanders with which he Besieged the Castle of Rochester The Barons had Sworn to William de Albiney That it the Castle should happen to be besieged they would use their utmost indeavours to Relieve it they Marched as far as Dartford and then retreated to London They within Defended the place with great Courage and Resolution and at last after almost three Months were forced to yield without Conditions for want of Victuals It yeilds for want of Victuals The Siege was very Expensive to the King and many of his Men were slain in it for which reasons he would have hanged all the Noble Men or Knights had it not been for the perswasion of Savaric de Malo Leone and some others who told him the War might prove long and some of his own Knights might be taken and put to Death after the same manner Whereupon he sent William de Albiney The King Imprisons the persons of best Quality W. de Lancaster W. de Emeford Thomas de Mulecon Osbert Giffard Osbert de Bonbi Odinell de Albiney and others of the best Quality Prisoners to Corf Castle and others to Divers other Prisons all the Ordinary Men but the Cross Bow-Men And Hanged the Ordinary Soldiers he caused to be Hanged The Pope upon notice [2] Ibid. n. 40. That the Barons persisted in the persecution of the King [3] Append. n. 128. The Pope Excommunicates the Barons Excommunicated them and Committed the Execution of the Sentence to Peter Bishop of Winchester the Abbat of Reding and Pandulph Sub-Deacon of the Roman Church in which Brief of Excommunication he injoyned the Archbishop and Bishops by virtue of their Obedience That they should cause the Sentece to be Published every Lords Day and Holy Day with Ringing of Bells and Lightning of Candels throughout all England while the Barons fatisfyed the King for the Injuries done to him and returned to their Obedience The Bishop of [4] Paris f. 271. n. 50. Winchester and Pandulph personally attended the Archbishop of Canturbury and in the Name of the Pope Commanded him to Direct the Bishops of his Province to Publish this Sentence against the Barons He was ready to take Ship to go to the Council at Rome and desired Respit until he spake with the Pope affirming The Archbishop suspended for Disobedience to the Pope the Sentence had been obteined by Concealing Truth and therefore he should by no means Publish it until by Discourse with the Pope he Knew his Mind concerning it [5] Ibid. f. 272. lin 2. The Barons declared Excomunicated They value not the Sentence because not named particularly These two when they found the Archbishop Disobedient to the Popes Command suspended him from entring the Church and Celebrating Divine Service and then the Bishop of Winchester Declared all the Barons that had indeavored to Drive the King out of the Kingdom Excommunitate and continued to do so every Lords Day and Festival But they because not Named in the Popes Brief valued
an Earl and Duke Therefore though he was a King anointed yet as he was an Earl or Duke he was under the Iurisdiction of his Lord the King of Fâ—ance But if an Earl or Duke Committed a Crime in the Kingdom of France he might and ought to be Judged by his Peers [1] Ibid. n. 40. and if he were neither Duke or Earl or Liege Man of the King of France and had Committed a Crime in the Kingdom of France yet by Reason the Crime was Committed in France the Barons might Judge him to Death otherwise if the King of England because he was an anointed King who was then a Peer of France could not be Judged to Death might safely enter the Kingdom of France and Kill the Barons of that Kingdom as he had Killed his Nephew Arthur The Monk [2] Ibid. n. 50. Quere Why the Monk said this tells us the truth of the Matter was thus That King John was not justly adjudged from the Dukedom of Normandy because he was not Judicially but Violently thrust out of it For that he sent Eustace Bishop of Ely and Hubert de Burgh to let the King of France know The Mutual Objections Answers and Replys c. That he would Willingly appear in his Court and was ready to stand to the Law in all things if he might have a safe Conduct The King of France answered he should come safely The Bishop then asked him And shall he return safely [3] Ibid. fol. 284. lin 1. Of the King of France and the Envoys of the King of England To which the King returned If his Peers would permit him And when the King of England's Envoys pressed that he might safely come into and return out of France King Philip sware by the Saints of his own Country he should not depart without Iudgment or Tryal [4] Ibid. lin 4. Concerning his Answering in the Court of France The Bishop urged the Dangers that might happen by his coming without Safe-Conduct and that he could not come to his Court as Duke of Normandy but he must come as King of England when as the same person was both King and Duke which the Baronage of England would no ways permit though the King would submit to it For he must either run the Hazard of Imprisonment or Death as a Peer of that Kingdom To which the King of France Rebutted And what is this my Lord Bishop 'T is well known the Duke of Normandy my Tenant hath violently acquired England and if he suddenly hath acquired any greater Honor shall this prejudice his Capital Lord shall He lose by it Certainly not [5] Ibid. n. 10. To which saith the Monk the King of England's Messengers could Surrebutt or answer nothing and so returned home But adds [6] Ibid. Mat. Paris his Opinion about the Condemnation of King John in the Court of France The Monk notwithstanding what the King of England's Envoys said the Great Men of France proceeded to Judgment which justly they ought not to have done because he that was judged was absent and would have appeared if he could And therefore King John being condemned by his Adversaries was not justly condemned [7] Ibid. n. 20. The Popes Opinion about the Death of Duke Arthur The Pope says Duke Arthur was taken by his Vncle at the Castle of Mirebel after he had done Homage and Ligeance to him and therefore might be put to Death without Judgment Secondly [8] Ibid. n. 30.40 The second Objection against King John and the Popes answer The Replies of Lewis his Envoys to the Pope 'T was Objected against King John That he was often Cited to appear in the Court of the King of France and neither appeared personally nor sent any one to appear for him The Pope answered This was only Contumacy and not a Mortal Crime and was otherwise to be punished and therefore the Barons could not judge him to Death Lewis his Messengers replyed That it was the Custom of France That if any one was accused of Murther and appeared not but sent his excuse he was judged as Convicted in all things and the Issue of him barred from Inheriting To which the Pope answered again That suppose King John had been Judged to Death and his Issue barred which could only be for his Territories in France His Answers to them again yet Blanch the Wife of Lewis ought not to succeed but either the Sister of Arthur or Otho Son of Henry Duke of Saxony by her Eldest Sister Maud or the King of Castile her Brother or the Queen of Leon her Eldest Sister [9] Ibid. f. 285. lin 1. To which Lewis his Envoys again Replyed That she had a Title which was good while others appeared and if any nearer to it afterwards claimed Lewis might do what he thought fit or what he ought to do 3. To these things the [1] Ibid. l. 5. The Pope asserts his own Title Pope said the Kingdom of England was his property and that Lewis ought not to spoil him of his Kingdom by War To this Lewis his Commissioners Answered The War was begun before the Pope could pretend to it [2] Ibid. n. 10. Lewis his Envoys indeavour to invalidate it For William Longe-spee and many with him came and invaded Lewis his Territories Therefore his War was just against the King of England that sent him [3] Ibid. The Popes Answer to their Argument for War against King John The Pope answered Lewis ought not to make War upon him for what his Vassal had done but to make his complaint to him as his Lord. To this the Commissioners Replyed [4] Ibidem The Reply of Lewis his Envoys There was a Custome in France That when any Vassal made War upon any one by Authority of his Lord he might make War upon him again without complaining to his Lord. [5] Ibid. n. 30. The Pâ—pes Argument against the War The Reply of Lewis his Commissioners The Pope urged further That the Barons were Excommunicated and all their Favorers by which means Lewis would incur the pain of Excommunication To this his Commissioners replyed he did not favor or Cherish the Barons of England but prosecuted his own right And that he believed neither the Pope nor so great a Council would Excommunicate any man injustly for that at the time of declaring the Sentence they knew not what right he had to the Kingdom of England [6] Ibid. n. 40 The Popes Resolution And after all the Pope said he would determine nothing until that he heard from his Legat Walo This was the Discourse between the Pope and Lewis his Envoyes their mutual Objections Answers Replyes c. Lewis [7] Ibid. n. â—0 Lewis waâ—â—s Essex Norfolk and Suffolk and returns with the Spoils to London He makes Gilbert de Gant Earl of Lincoln and sends him to Block up Nottiâ—gham and Newark Castles made a great Cavalcade into the East of England the
put the rest to flight The Citizens returned into the City meditating revenge and met in great Numbers Serlo the Major hearing of their tumultuous proceedings came to them and advised them to make their complaint of the injury they had received to the Abbat of Westminster and if he would punish the Offenders to take that for sufficient satisfaction Constantine a popular Citizen the chief Author of that Riot But Constantine a man very popular among them opposed this method telling them the Abbat and Steward deserved to have their houses pulled down and levelled with the ground This Counsel was approved of and executed by the rabble to the great prejudice of the Abbat When Hubert de Burgh the Justiciary had notice of these Ryotous proceedings he came to the City with some Troops of Soldiers and Commanded the Principal Citizens should with speed come to him of whom he inquired who were the Authors of this Sedition and Subverters of the Kings City His Answer to the Justiciary and who they were that thus dare presume to break the Kings Peace Constantine answered They had done less then they ought to have done and would stand to what they had done Adding The King had violated his Oath whereupon Lewis justly refused to perform what was covenanted between them When the Iusticiary heard this Confession he dismissed all but Constantine and his Nephew He is Hanged with two others and one Geofry that proclaimed Constantine's Edict whom he ordered to be hanged next day Morning When the Rope was about Constantine's Neck he offered 15000 Marks of Silver for Pardon but to no purpose When the Sentence had been pronounced without noise or the knowledge of the Citisens Falcasius with a Guard carried him by Water upon the Thames to the place of Execution After this * Ibid. n. 50. the Iusticiary and Falcasius i. e. Fawks de Breant with a considerable Guard went into the City and whosoever he found Guilty of the Sedition he imprisoned and caused either their Feet or Hands to be cut off and then set them at Liberty many fled for fear and never returned The King punisheth the City of London for the Riot And turns out the Officers and for a greater punishment to the City the Kings turned out all the City Magistrates and appointed new Prefects Governors or Officers in their place Rex in majorem vindictam omnes Vrbis Magistratus deponens novos in Civitate constituit Praefectos Not long after the King * Append. n. 147. Thirty Hostages given for the security of the City of London named Thirty persons to be Security and Hostages for the Good Behaviour preserving the Peace and faithful Service of the City of London The Vniversity or Community whereof bound themselves to the King by a Chart Sealed with their Commune Seal to deliver them or more to the King or Justiciary whenever they were called for and if any of them dyed to add others On the 29 th of January following the King * Append. n. 148. The King Lets the Office of Chamberlan of London at 100 l. per annum Let out to Farm to William Ionner Citisen of London the Office of Chamberlan of London with all things belonging to it for two years at One hundred pounds a year to be paid into the Exchequer Reserving to himself the Prizes or Customs of Grey Work that is Grey Cloth of Wax and Silk Cloaths to be delivered to the King for his own use by the Hand of the Farmer In the year 1223. the King kept his [5] Ibid. f. 316. n. 50. The Archbishop and great Men desire a Confirmation of their Liberties Christmass at Oxford A. D. 1223. and on the 13th of January met his Barons at London in a Parlement or Conference apud Lundonias veniens cum Baronibus ad Colloquium where the Archbishop of Canturbury and other Great Men Et alii Magnates Requested that the King would confirm the Liberties and free Customs Libertates liberas Consuetudines for which a War was made with his Father urging moreover that when Lewis departed from England both he and all the Nobility of the Kingdom had sworn to observe and cause to be observed those Liberties and therefore could not Râ—fuse to do it William Briwere one of the Kings Counsellors replyed That the Liberties they desired were violenely Extorted and therefore ought not to be observed The Archbishop in a Passion reproved him and said if he loved the King he would not hinder the Peace of the Kingdom The King [6] Ibid. f. 317. l. 3. seeing the Archbishop moved The King promiseth to preserve their Liberties assured them that he had bound himself by Oath to preserve their Liberties and what was Sworn should be observed And having called a Council he forthwith sent his Letters to all the Sherifs of the Kingdom to make inquiry by the Oath of Twelve Knights or Legal Men in every County And causeth Inquisition to be made what they were what were the Liberties in England in the time of King Henry his Grandfather and to make a return of them to London Fifteen days after Easter The Contents of the * Append. n. 149. The Writ of Inquiry directed to Twelve Knights c. Writ it self do in many things differ from this report of Mat. Paris by which the Sheriffs were commanded to make diligent inquiry by the Oaths of Twelve of the most legal and discreet Knights of their Counties in a full County Court what Customs and Liberties King John his Father had the day in which the War began between him and his Barons concerning Lands and other things within Burghs and without and cause them to be proclaimed and observed in their Counties and to cause the Inquisition and Writ to be returned to the King at Westminster on the Morrow of the close of Easter This year while William Mareschal [7] fol. 317. n. 10. Lewelin King of Wales takes two of the Marshals Castles The Marshal retakes them And kills 9000 Welsh Earl of Pembroke was busied in Ireland Leolin King of the Welch took Two of his Castles and put all to the Sword that he found in them and placed Welch-men in their room The Mareschal having notice of what was done returned with great speed into England and forthwith Besieged these Castles and retook them and cut off the Heads of all the Welch-men and then marched into Leolin's Countrey and wasted all before him with Fire and Sword Having totally defeated the Welch He took and slew about 9000 few escaping by flight After this the same Lewelin Prince of North-Wales acknowledged by his * Pat. 7. Hen 3. M. 2. dors Lewelin binds himself to give King Henry satisfaction for the damages done him Chart Sealed with his Seal and witnessed by many Bishops Earls and Barons That he had Sworn to give satisfaction to his Lord Henry King of England and his People within
shall cause to be observed in his Lands and possessions and if any one presumes to do otherwise at the Request of the Earl he shall be punished or fined by the Arch-Bishop of Roven if in England and by the Justiciaries and such as have been sworn Conservators of the Peace and in like manner the Lord John shall punish and fine at their Request The New Castles which have been built or begun since the King went beyond Sea were to be Demolished nor any other to be raysed any where unless it should be thought fit to do it upon the Kings Demeasnes unless some famous person might do it by the Kings Command signified by his Brief or Letters or an unsuspected Messenger The Re-Scisin of the Sherifwic of Lincoln-Shire shall be given to Gerard de Camvill and the same Day he shall have a time set of standing to the Judgment of or appearing in the Kings Court and if it could be made appear he was to lose the Sherifwic of the Castle of Lincoln by the Judgment of the Kings Court he was to lose it if otherwise he was to keep it unless some other Agreement could be made Neither was the Lord John to protect him contrary to the Judgment of the Kings Court nor receive any Out-Laws nor any of the Kings Enemies which were named to him or permit them to be received in his Lands But if any one was accused of any forfeiture made to the King the Earl might lawfully receive him so long as he offered himself to stand Tryal in the Kings Court. The Earl and Chancellor putting their own hands within the hand of the Arch-Bishop of Roven gave security for the observation of this Agreement in good faith and without any evil Artifice and fourteen Barons of both parts sware the same On the Chancellors part the Earl of Arundel the Earl of Salisbury Earl Roger Bigod the Earl of Clare Walter Fitz-Robert William de Braiosa Roger Fitz-Rainfrai On the Earl's part Stephan Ridel his Chancellor William de Wenneval Robert de Mara Philip de Wirescestre William de Kahannes Gilbert Basset William Montacute and if any thing should be taken or intercepted by either party during the Truce it should be lawfully restored or Satisfaction given for it These things were done saving the Kings Authority and Command in all things yet so as if the King before his Return was not satisfied with this Agreement the Castles of Notingham and Tikehil should be delivered to the Lord John whatsoever the King should command concerning them Epistola Richardi Regis Angliae ad Alienor Reginam matrem suam ad Justitiarios suos Angliae Hoved. f. 413. a. n. 20. RIcharuds Dei gratia Rex Angliae Dux Normanniae et Aquitaniae N. 76 et Comes Andegaviae Alienor eadem gratia Reginae Angliae charissimae matri suae et Iustitiis suis et omnibus fidelibus suis per Angliam constitutis Salutem Notum sit Vniversitati vestrae quod postquam recesserunt a nobis dilecti nostri Hubertus venerabilis episcopus Saresbiriensis et Willielmus de Sanctae Mariae ecclesia protonotarius noster venit ad nos charissimus Cancellarius noster Willielmus Eliensis episcopus et eo inter Dominum Imperatorem et nos fideliter interloquente eo usque res pervenit quod de Castello de Trivellis in quo detinebamur obviam venimus Imperatori apud Hagenou ubi honorifice ab ipso Imperatore et tota Curia recepti fuimus Ibique Dominus Imperator et Domina Imperatrix nos magnis et variis muneribus honoraverunt et quod praecipuum est mutuum feodus amoris et indâ—ssolubile inter Dominum Imperatorem contractum est et nos Ita quod uterque nostrum alterum contra omnes viventes in jure suo obtinendo et retinendo juvare debet Honostè autem circa ipsum Imperatorem moram facimus donec ipsius et nostra negotia perficiantur et donec ei Septuaginta millia marcarum argenti solverimus Quare vos rogamus et in fide qua nobis tenemini adjuramus quatenus in hac pecunia perquirenda solliciti sitis et vos Iustitiarii nostri qui aliis in regno nostro praeestis exemplum aliis praebeatis ut ita honorificè et magnificè de proprio nobis subveniatis et etiam de his quae de aliis mutuo accipere poteritis et aliis fidelibus nostris exemplum detis similia faciendi Universum autem aurum et argentum Ecclesiarum diligenti Observatione et scripti testimonio ab ipsarum Ecclesiarum Praelatis accipiatis eisque per Sacramentum vestrum et aliorum Baronum nostrorum quos volueritis affirmetis quod eis plenarie restituentur Vniversorum etiam Baronum nostrorum obsides recipiatis ut cum fidelissimus Cancellaâ—ius noster quam cito peractis in Alemannia negotiis nostris in Anglia venerit eosdem obsides penes charissimam matrem nostram Reginam reperiat ut eos de quibus inter nos et Dominum Imperatorem convenit expedite possit ad nos transmittere ne liberatio nostra per absentiam obsidium nâ—gligentiam vestram moram patiatur Pecunia autem collecta similiter matri meae illis quibus ipsa voluerit tradatur Quem autem in necessitate nostra promptum inveniemus in suis necessitatibus amicum nos rereperiet remuneratorem gratiusque nobis erit si quis in absentia nostra in aliquo nobis subveniat quam si in praesentia nostra in duplo quis nobis subveniret Volumus autem ut singulorum Magnatum nomina subventiones quae praesentialiter fient per sigillum matris nostrae nobis significentur ut sciamus quantum unicuique in gratiarum actionibus teneamur Sciatis pro certo quòd si in Anglia in libera potestate nostra essemus constituti tantam vel majorem pecuniam Domino Imperatori daremus quam modo damus pro pactionibus consequendis quas per Dei gratiam consecuti sumus si etiam pecuniam non prae manibus haberemus proprium corpus nostrum Imperatori traderemus donec pecunia solverâ—tur antequam quod factum est relinqueretur imperfectum In bulla autem Domini Imperatoris aurea fert vobis Cancellarius noster praedictam testificationem Testibus nobis ipsis apud Hagennou 13 Cal. Maii. In mense Septembris missi sunt ex parte Regis per singulos Comitatus Angliae Justitiarii errantes N. 77 Hoved. f. 423â— a. n. 30. secundum subscriptorum formam capitulorum processerunt in justiciis exequendis Forma Procedendi in Placitis Coronae Regis IN primis eligendi sunt quatuor Milites de toto Comitatu Ibidem n. 40. qui per Sacramentum suum eligant duos Legales Milites de quolibet Hundredo N. 77 vel Wapentacco illi duo eligant super Sacramentum
in the Kings Mercy and were not amercied or fined Of Incroachments upon the Kings Lands his High-Ways diverting or stopping Water-Courses incroaching upon Streets in Cities and Burghs c. Purprestures or the Kings Ways streightned Of Treâ—sure found Of Malefactors and their Receivers Of Fugitives who had been accused and were returned since the last Assise Of all Weights and Measures and Ells renewed and if See the Statute oâ— Assise of Weights and Measures before Four Men that were appointed to look after them in every Town that is City Burgh or Mercate Town had done as the Statute required and had attached or prosecuted the Transgressors or not if not they were to be punished as the Transgressors All his Wine that sold contrary to the Assise or Statute was to be seised to the Kings use and the Owners and Sellers of the Wine were to be in the Kings Mercy that is to be punished by him They were to inquire how many Hydes and Plough-Lands there were in every County and whether the Officers appointed to assess and collect the five Shillings upon every Plough-Land had done their duty and had received it of all or concealed any Of the Officers of Sea-Ports if they had received any thing they had not given an account of or taken any thing for concealing the Kings Right or if any one had received any thing that was not appointed a Receiver They were to inquire if all came as they ought that were summoned by the Kings Justices and what they were that came not and what their Names Before Hoveâ— f. 445. b. â— 30.40 this Iter or these Circuits of the Justices were over the Iter or Circuit of the Forests began The King commanded Hugh Nevill Chief Justice of All the Forests in England Hugh Wac and Ernis Nevill That in every County through which they went They should Summon to appear before them at the Pleas of the Forest the Archbishops Bishops Earls Barons and all Free Tenents and the Reeve and Four Men of every Town to Hear the Kings Commands This is the Assise of the Lord the King and these are his Precepts concerning his Forests in England made by the Assent and Advice of the Archbishops Bishops Earls Barons and Knights of the Whole Kingdom THe King Declares That if any one forfeits to him concerning his Venationem Venaison Fren. Venison Engl. Venison or his Forests in any thing he is not to trust to this That he shall only be punished in his Goods as hitherto For if after that time any one forfeited and was Convicted he should have full Justice done upon him as it was in King Henry his Grandfathers time That is he should Lose his Eyes and Testicles Also the King forbids that any one have Bowes and Arrows or Hounds or Greyhounds within his Forests unless he had the Kings Warrant or the Warrant of any other that was of right able to protect him Also the King forbids That no man give or sell any thing to the Destruction of his Wood nor do Wast in his Forest But he Grants that any Man may take of his own Wood as much as he shall have need of without wast and this by the oversight of his Forester and Verders Also the King Commands that they who have Woods within the Bounds of the Forest do set good Forestarios must be so translated here and the word will bear it for Foresta in a strict fence signifies Silva Saltus c. Woodmen to look after them and such as they will be answerable for or such as can give security to make satisfaction if they offend in any thing that belongs to the King Also he Commands that his Foresters take care of the Woodmen of Knights or others which have Woods within the Bounds of the Kings Forest that they do not destroy the Woods For if their Woods were destroyed he let them know whose Woods they were he would take satisfaction of their Lands and not from any other Person Also the King Commands that his Foresters shall Swear that according to their whole power they shall keep his Assize or Law which he hath made concerning his Forests and that they shall not vex or trouble the Knights or Worthy men about what he granted them concerning their Woods Also he Commands that in every County wherein he hath Venison there shall be twelve men appointed to preserve his Venison and Viride that is the Green-Wood and Herbage of the Forest Green-hue in his Forests And that there shall be Four Knights appointed to Agist his Woods that is take in a certain number of Cattle to feed there a certain time or to assign the number of Cattle to such as had right to feed in the Forest and to Receive his Pasnage or Pannage that is the money due for such feeding and to preserve it that it should not be diminished Also he commanded no man might agist his Woods that is put their cattel into them within the bounds of his Forest before their own Woods were agisted And it is to be noted that the Kings Agistment or right of feeding Catrel in the Woods and Forest begins fifteen days before Michaelmass and continues fifteen days Here must be some mistake but how well to rectifie it I know not after Also the King Commands That if his woods that were in his own hands or in Demeasn were destroyed and his Forester could not tell how his Body should be Imprisoned Also he commanded that no Clerc should offend concerning his Venison or Forests and that if his Foresters found them offending they should take them and he would Warrant them therein Also the King commanded that all Essarts as well old as new this is places where underwood and bushes had been Stubbed up and the land ploughed and sown which were within Regard or View of the Forest should be viewed once in three years and in like manner all purprestures and Wasts in Woods and that every one should be in rolled by it self Also the King Commanded that the Arch-Bishops Bishops Earls Barons Knights and Free-Tenents and all men of his land should come to the Pleas of the Forest at the summons of his Master Forester It was also forbidden at the pleas of the Forest that no Cart or Wagon should go out of the way in the Forest nor Hogs be in the Forest at the time of Fannatio the time when the Do's Fawn Foineson or Faoneson from the French Faon a Fawn Foinesun that is to say fifteen days before St John Baptist and fifteen days after and 't is to be noted that he which takes Venison in the Kings Forest and shall be thereof attainted shall be in the Kings Mercy as to the losing of his Eyes and Testicles and he that offended in the Kings Forest in the Green-hue or Vert by chopping down Trees or lopping of the Branches by Digging Tarves or slaying that is taking the Green-Sword of the Ground by cutting away the under part of Thickets
ad Geld. Ibi modo in Dominio ii Car. xxvii Sochmani de ii Car. iii Bovat hujus Terrae viii Villani xx Bordar habentes xiv Caruc In Colingham the Abbat of Peterburgh hath four Carucates of Land which he Rents out There are now in Demeasn two Carucates and twenty seven Socmen that have two Carucates and three Bovates of this Arable and eight Villans and twenty Bordars that have fourteen Carucates In this Shire the Entries of the ordinary Inhabitants throughout are in Dominio Socmen Villans Bordars as in Derby shire The Socmen generally held small parcels of Land as half a Carucate a Bovate c. Roteland scire as Snotingham-scire Eurvic scire In this [6] See Domesday for this Title Shire the Entries are generally as to Persons in Dominio sunt Villans Bordars Sochmen And habet as Rex habet Servants Socmen Villans Bordars seldom any others except as before excepted in Kent Sussex Surrey c. In all Counties of England whose Land soever it was whether it was the Kings Land Church Land or possessed by Earls Barons Knights or other Military and Secular Men in every Town and place these sort of Men were the * Note That whereas 't is said in the Glossary to my Introduction c. That in every Leaf and almost every Entry upon that Leaf in Domesday Socmen and Freemen were to be found it proves a mistake for upon a second and third perusal of the great Book especially the Persons and Inhabitants of Towns and Villages were such as I have here noted in every County Inhabitants and those that occupied used or managed the Land under the Owners of the Towns or Lords of Maners who held of the King immediately or mediately as appears by this Survey or great Record By which it is most evident that most of the Lands in England were holden by Military Service or Serjeanty and in Villanage of those Military Tenants and Tenants in Serjeanty For all these Persons of divers Denominations which afterwards received other and fewer names were but several sorts of Villans as will hereafter appear in the Glossary and held their Lands by Base and Servile Tenures There was at the time of making the Survey no Free Socage if there had it would have been entred as the Land holden in Alodio was for Hidage-sake Nor Frank Free that is Land holden without performance of any Service such as we now call most of our Free-holds unless some small parcels that belonged to some Parish Churches especially in Suffolk which is called Terra libera or Burgage-tenure or the Land holden in Alodio in King Edwards time or afterwards was such of which there is here and there a Town or Maner a Hide or Carucate c. so holden in the Survey I will give one Instance of it Hantescire [7] Domâ—sday f. 50. a. Col. 1. Tainorum Regis ALwi filius Saulf tenet de Rege Tederleg Pater ejus tenuit in Alodio de Rege Edwardo Tunc modo Geld. pro iii Hid. Terra est iv Carucat in Dominio sunt Duae ii Villani et ix Bordar cum ii Caruc ibi ii Molin de xxvii sol et vi d. et xxvi acr prati Silv. de xxx Porc. valuit lx sol modo xl Alwi the Son of Saulf holds Tederley of the King his Father held it as Alodium Frank Fee or Free-land Then and now it was and is taxed for three * Alodium always paid Hidage as other Land See Alodium in in the Glossary to my Introduction f. 1. Hides The Arable Land is four Carucates there are two in Demeasn and two Villans and nine Bordars with other two There are two Mills Rented at 27 s. 6 d. and twenty six Acres of Meadow Wood for thirty Hogs it was worth sixty Shillings now forty This Alwi was one of the Kings ordinary Thanes or Servants and held this Town in Serjeanty which might be consistent enough with the Tenure in Alodio and such Lands are now reputed Free-hold but these were not in the hands of Socmen Villans Bordars Cotars Servants and the like Nor were many of them in their own hands as we may phrase it or in their own Power for such as were in Dominio and in most places it was so were the Lords proper Men wholly under his Power and Disposal both in Body and Goods except Life and Death and were fixed to the Maner so as they could not remove themselves out of the Precincts of it without his leave These sort of Men Ingulph in the Latin Version of King Edreds Charter to the Abbats and Monks of Croyland calls Nativi a word afterwards used with us the worst sort of Villans and Bondmen Et praecipio quod omnes homines Fugitivi quos iidem Monachi Testimonium Quatuor vel quinque hominum fide-dignorum coram vicecomite in Patria in qua tales manent possunt Assidare suos nativos esse reducantur per eundem vicecomitem in Abbathiam eorum cum omnibus catallis sequelis eorum omnium Reclamatione Reluctatione abinde remota annullata And I command that all Fugitives which the Monks and four or five Credible Witnesses can prove were their Natives that is born Bondmen before the Sheriff of the County where such Fugitives are they shall be brought or sent back to the Abby with all their Goods and Children without Let or Hinderance of any Man This Charter bears date in the year 988 and shews the Condition of Bondmen in the Saxon Times and hereafter we shall see what they were after the Conquest when their names were changed as by the Glossary will more at large appear to which I shall refer the Reader for the knowledge of their Condition likewise and how many ways that might be bettered and changed shall be our next Inquiry These Bondmen or People of servile Condition might and did procure the Freedom of their Persons [9] Glanvil lib. 5 c. 5. several ways First by the favour of their Lord or Patron if he released their Bondage for him and his Heirs The first of obteining Freedom or did give or sell him to another to be released But no Bondman could purchase his Liberty with his own Money if he did his Lord might by the Law and Custom of the Land bring him back again into villenage because all his Goods and Chattels were his Lords or so in his Power that with them he could not redeem himself But if a Stranger would Purchase him with his own Money and make him Free then he might for ever defend his Liberty against his Lord and plead his Release by Chart that is his Deed in Writing or by any other way the Law allowed and Tryal by Duel was allowed in this Case after he was a Freeman if any one that saw him made Free would be his Champion and come into Court and assert and prove his Liberty by his Body Yet [1] Ibid.
such a Freedom as this was only good against his Lord for if he was produced as a Witness in Court against a Stranger or to wage Law he might object against him that he was born a Villan that is descended from Bond or Villan Parents and if it were proved he might justly be set aside although he was made Free by Knight-Hood The second way of being made Free which was a second way of redeeming Men from Servitude A third way was The third way [2] Ibid. if a Bondman lived quietly a year and day in any privileged Town so as he was received into the Common * That is was either Alderman of Common-Council-Man for the Magistrates and chief Citizens were properly the Gild or Corporation and transacted the the Affairs of Corporation The fourth way Gild as a Member of it That made him Free from Villenage A Fourth way was by Exchange when Base and Vile Services were turned into Rent and that was advanced and paid pro omni Servicio This put the Villan out of all Servitude especially as to his own Person for if the Lord had no Service to command him but the payment of his Rent he was free This is co-incident with the first way by purchase and favour And that there were many manumitted by Grace and Favour of their Lords conditionally at least upon their desire to serve them in the Army it cannot be doubted by any man that doth consider the Usurpations of William Rufus and Henry the First upon their Elder Brother Robert and the long Civil War that attended them The Usurpation of King Stephen upon Maud the Empress and her Son King Henry the Second and eighteen years Wars between them and the War and Differences between King Henry the Second and his Son Henry The Barons Wars in the Reigns of King John and Henry the Third But that the Barons and Military Men and the Bishops and Clergy did Manumise and make Free many of their Clients Bondmen and Villans and did make their Tenures more easie to draw and fix them to their Interest and Party Lastly Time and Desuetude have made the most Free The last way Villenage at this day being rather antiquated and disused than nulled and taken away by Law for when Free-men or Customary Tenants grew wealthy and able to stock a good parcel of Land themselves or were of such Credit as the Lords could trust them with their Stock they then turned their Lands into Farms and instead of Works and Services reserved Rent in Money Corn or otherwise and left the improvement to the Farmer who took to his own use what he could make more of his Farm than he paid to the Proprietor so that the Lords had no need or use for so many Customary Tenants to Plough their Lands c. Cotars Servile People and poor The Labouâ—ers in our â—imes are Gentlemen in â—espect of â—hose wretchâ—d People miserable Laborers as before and they were glad to work for small Wages little more perhaps than for Meat and Drink rather than to be under immediate Servitude to their Lord for it cannot be thought though their Servitude as to the Correction or their Bodies and other Severities was lessened but that still they remained in a Servile State and that the Lords commonly turned over their Works to their Farmers who looked better after them than they could do and saw they laboured more and loytered less yet if they otherwise used them inhumanely or made their Conditions such as might not be indured without extreme misery they had a Remedy against these by Law which they could not have against their Lords And in time and by degrees they insensibly crept into more Liberty as there was less occasion for their Services and at length perhaps it was almost as much trouble to look after them as their Work was worth by which means Villenage became more and more easie until at last it was almost worn out and not regarded and many small Victuals Rents Fowl Capons Hens Eggs c. and small Rents in Money Pence Half-pence Farthings Half-farthings that the poor Villans paid were neglected and lost and the Way and Manner of Living of the Nobility Gentry and Proprietors quite altered and changed And more within the last Hundred and fifty years than in all the time after the Conquest For since Foreign Trading Commerce and Merchandising hath so much increased the Delicacy Softness Pride and Luxury of the People have proportionably grown up with them and were at first in a great measure brought into this Nation with them But all this Freedom obteined by Bondmen or the Freedom of others who were born Free and were Heirs to or had Purchased a small parcel of Land of Socage tenure that is privileged from Services was only personal they were not indeed Bondmen as to their Persons they were Free from Servile Works and Services or if they performed any as many of them did they were known certain and easie They neither had nor pretended to for several hundreds of years that Liberty nor those now esteemed Priviledges then thought Burthens which those sort of men are possessed of and now injoy For first though their Persons and Issue of their Bodies were Free from Servile Works and they were not Bondmen which was the only and true notion of those Freemen in those times yet they were not all together sui Juris for as to the Government and for the keeping of the Kings Peace all the Freemen or People in England were Bondmen either in their own Persons or by their Fidejussors and such as undertook for them and were [3] LL. Etheâ—red in Lambard c. 1. Magna Charta c. 35. Bracton p. 124. b. Briton c. 29. p 72. b. p 73. b. The Glossary to my Introduction c. f. 55. F. and f. 56. throughout bound ten Masters of Families one for another for their own keeping the Peace and Good Behaviour as likewise for their Children Servants and Families except Cleres Knights or Tenants in Military Service their Wives and Children and these Men so Bound were called Free Pleges and perhaps this Old Law is not so much out of force but that Sheriffs in their Turns and Lords of Maners in their Leets may put it in practice if there should be necessity of doing it Secondly The serving on Juries at the Assises and Sessions and that and their Suit and Service to or in County and Hundred Courts which now is accounted a great privilege and their Birth-rights when they have a mind to do mischief was in the times we Write of esteemed a Burthen from which all Tenants in Ancient Demeasns were Free by Tenure all or most Abbies and Monasteries by Charter and many particular [4] Stat. of Malebourh c. 4.52 Hen. 3. Persons as Knights and others purchased of the King Charters of Exemption from being Impannelled in Assises Juries and Inquests which they would not have done had they
the 12th of October in the 25th year of his Fathers Reign as we have noted before and they were signed by him at Gant in Flanders on the Ninth of November following Walsingham says he did it in compliance with the wickedness of the times In arcto [3] f. 74. n. 4. pofitus cedendum Malitiae Temporis censuit On the 15th of September the Prince issued the [4] Append. n. Writs to the Sheriffs of every County to cause two Knights to be Elected and sent to him to London without any Directions to send Citizens or Burgesses so as they should be there on the sixth of of Parlement and yet no doubt but they were made by advice of his Council And therefore it seems that the Parlements or Great Councils of those times owned the Kings Charters under Seal and the Grants made by them to the People to be of good Force and Effect and that their Petitions to which he gave his Assent and caused to be put under his Seal were by them accepted and from time to time acknowledged as firm and valid Laws In the 28th year of his Reign the King led an Army into [5] Mat. Westm f. 433. n. 30. Scotland the Scots fled leaving about 400 of their slain behind them The Arch-bishop of Canterbury came to the King there and brought the Popes Command or Message to him That the Scots having submitted themselves to his Protection he should not presume to make War upon them any longer Whereupon the King returned into England and held a Parlement at Lincoln eight days after Hillary The Earls and Barons complain of the violence and injuries done every where by the Kings Ministers and Servants And again desired the Liberties conteined in Magna Charta might be so confirmed that from thence forward they might indure for ever [6] Ibid. f. n. 40. The King for some days was not very forward to gratifie them in their Requests but seeing their Importunity he told them he was ready to Grant and Ratifie what they desired and the Charters were renewed and sealed with the Kings Seal and carried into every County in England and the Arch-bishop of Canterbury with the other Bishops denounced the Sentence of the greater Excommunication against the Violators of them [7] Ibid. f. n. 50. Pro hoc confirmationis effectu concesserunt Comites Barones quintam decimam partem bonorum suorum Mobilium c. For this Confirmation the Earls and Barons gave a Fifteenth part of their Moveable Goods as they should be at Michaelmass next coming But Robert Arch-bishop of Canterbury would grant nothing for the Clergy not so much as from the Temporalties annexed to the Church without the Popes special License This Confirmation bears Date the 28th of March in the year above said This is the true History of the contention between the Norman Kings and Norman Barons from the 1st of Henry the First to the 9th of Edward the First just 200 years about their Liberties comprehended in these two Charters especially and their Pretences from them and Expositions of them Not one English Saxon Baron to be found as a Witness to or Promoter of them nor indeed scarce to any public Instrument Charter or Grant all this time And to any Man that will seriously consider what these Charters were then to wit all of them in the main but a Relaxation of the Rigor of the Feudal Law generally used in Europe cannot believe they were any others for the Descendents from the Normans at this very time possessed all the considerable Estates in England and it was Liberty that they pretended belonged to them in the enjoyment of their [8] See what is said of Feudal Law Feudal Tenure c. in the Glossary to my Introduction c. f. 39. E. c. and compare it with the main Articles in Magna Charta Feudal Estates they contended for and the Arch-bishops and Bishops always headed and managed them and began the Dance with pretences for their Ecclesiastic Liberty who were willing to have their Princes Favours as to the injoyment of their Temporalties or Baronies but were not willing to own any obligation or subjection to them in respect thereof But Sir Edward Coke doth not care to hear of the Feudal Law as it was in use at this time And hath a fine fetch to play off the Great Charter and interpret it by his Modern Law that was not then known or heard of And it hath been and ever was an Art of some Men to interpret and confound New Laws by Old Practice and Usage and Old Laws by late Usage and Modern Practice When perhaps if they would endeavour to find out the History of those Laws the Grounds and Reasons upon which they were made there would be found no congruity between them nor possibility of explaining one by the other but if the words sound alike 't is enough The same Sir Edward in the Epistle to his sixth Report Affirms the Common Law of England was here in practice 't is to be supposed before the Entry of the Romans Saxons Danes and Normans and that it was never altered by any of them And with Relation to this Opinion he says that Magna Charta was for the most part [9] Proeme to 2d Institut f. 2. And see 2d Instit f. 3. lin 3. Declaratory of the principal Grounds of the Fundamental Laws of England and for the Residue it is additional to supply some defects of the Common Law and it was no new Declaration Upon this Assertion no man can think but that he knew what the Fundamental and Common Laws of England were before the making of this Charter otherwise it was only a conjecture and he had neither Ground nor Reason for a Positive Assertion nor could he say it was Declaratory of the Common Law if he could not tell what that was If he did know it Egerâ—on Lord Chancellor Sir Francis Gaudy Chief Justice of the Common Pleas Fleming Chief Baron and Williams one of the Justices of the Kings Bench did not for in Prince [1] Cokes 8th Report Case the fiâ—st Henry's Case in Hillary Term in the Third of King James for the Establishing the first great Point which was argued in that Case they all agreed The Great Charter did cross and change divers parts of the Common Law Now if it did cross and change the Common Law it did not declare and confirm it for that 's Sir Edwards meaning nâ—r would a man think such a Charter could supply the defects of it I will leave these different Opinions to those that can Reconcile them and take notice of some of Sir Edwards particular Instances Magna [2] Second Instit f. 15. Charta C. vi Haeredes autem Maritentur absque Disparagatione Heirs shall be Married without Disparagement This he says is an Ancient Maxim of the Common Law It is most certain That the Lords of the Fee should have the Custody Warship
fuisse invenietur Qui eam tenet de Abbate Teneat recognoscat Quod si noluerit eam Abbas in Dominio habeat vide ne clamor inde amplius at me redeat Teste * He was consecrated A. D. 1081 and died 1096. Willielmo Episcopo Dunelm The King to * He was Sheriff William Cahains Greeting I Command you that you cause the Shire of Hamton to come together and by the Judgment thereof know if the Land of Isham paid Rent to the Monks of * That is of Ramsey St. Benet in my Fathers time and if it shall be found so let the Abbat have it in Demeasn or the Possession of it But if it shall be found to be Teinland he that holds it let him hold it of the Abbat and let him acknowledge to hold it so If he will not let the Abbat have it in Demeasn and see that no Complaint about this Matter returns to me again Rex Angliae [7] Ibidem Willielmo Vice-comiti Salutem Mando Praecipio Tibi ut Abbatem Ailsi facias habere Isham sicut ipse Dirationavit eam in Hamtona sicut Testimoniata jurata ad opus Sancti Benedicti T. R. Big The King of England to William the Sheriff Greeting I Require and Command thee that thou makest Abbat Ailsi to have Isham as he Recovered it by Proof in Northamptonshire and as it was Witnessed and Sworn to be to the Use of Saint Bennet Witness Roger Bigod This was the whole Proceeding after Proof by the Shire it belonged to the Abbat a Writ of Possession was directed to the Sheriff and then he had Seisin of the Land Rex Angliae [8] The Original in the Custody of Sir Tho. Hare Baronet Episcopo Eliensi Baronibus Justiciariis Vicecomiti omnibus fidelibus suis Francis Anglis de Grantebridge scira Salutem Sciatis quia Barnadus Abbas de Ramseia Dirationavit in Curia sua apud Sanctum Ivonem coram Justicia mea quam illuc miseram In the time of Hen. 1st Terram de Stowa Grettona versus Paganum Peverellum quam ipse Paganus Clamabat tenere de Ecclesia de Ramseia Et Recognitum ibi fuit quod nullum jus in Terra illa reclamare poterat sed Remansit Terra illa Ecclesiae de Ramseia Abbati solida quieta de tota calumnia Pagani Successorum suorum Et hoc Dirationamentum Warrantizo per Chartam meam Confirmo Roger Bishop of Salisbury was Elected 110â— and Consecrated 1107. and was Bishop 39 years and Justiciary of England many years in his time Et ideo volo praecipio quod Ecclesia de Ramseia Abbas eam amodo in pace quiete liberè teneat sicut Dominium Ecclesiae ejusdem Ita ne ulterius ei Respondeat nec alicui de Successoribus suis nec alteri qui per illum Clamet Teste * R. Episcopo Sarisher Pagano sil Johannis W. de Hoctuna Apud Westmonasterium The King of England to the Bishop of Ely the Barons Justiciaries Sheriff and all his Feudataries of Cambridgeshire French and English Greeting Know ye that because Barnard Abbat of Ramsey hath recovered at his Court at St. Ives before my Justice which I sent thither the Land of Stow and Gretton against Payn Peverel which he claimed to hold of the Church of Ramsey and it was there found by the Jury that he could claim no Right in that Land and that the whole belonged to the Church and Abbat of Ramsey free from any claim of Payn or his Successors And this Recovery I Warrant and by my Chart Confirm And therefore I Will and Command That the Church of Ramsey and the Abbat from henceforward shall hold them peaceably quietly and freely as the Demeasn of the said Church so as it shall not answer any more to him or any of his Successors or any Claiming by him Witness Roger Bishop of Salisbury and Payn Fitz-John and William of Hoctun at Westminster The King sent one of his own Justices to take the Assize or Verdict to prevent the partiality of the Jury which might have been before the Abbat himself or his Steward The like Confirmation almost was made by Queen Maud under her Seal in another Case in the Absence of this King 't is supposed as Regent The Inhabitants of the Hundred of Peritune now Pirton in Oxfordshire pretended the Maner or Hundred of Levechenor now Lewknor in the same County ought Suit and Service to their Hundred and was no Hundred of it self the Abbat of Abendon proved the contrary in the Kings Court in the Castle of Winchester Sed quia Rex tunc in Normannia erat Regina quae tunc praesens aderat taliter hoc sigillo suo Confirmavit Carta [9] Registrum Magnum de Abbendon in Bibloth Cotton Claudius B. 2. Reginae de Levechenora MAtildis Angliae Regina Roberto Episcopo Lincolniensi Thomae de Sancto Johanne omnibus Baronibus Francis Anglis de Oxenefordscira Salutem Sciatis quod Faritius Abbas de Abbendona in Curia Domini mei mea apud Wintoniam in * In the Exchequer or Treasury there which was then in Winchster Castle Thesauro ante Rogerum Episcopum Salesburiensem Robertum Episcopum Lincoln Richardum Episcopum Lundon Willielm de Curceio Adamum de Porto Turstinum Capellanum Walterum de Glocest Herbertum Camerarium Willielmum de Oyleio Gosfridum fil Herberti Willielmum de Enesi Radulphum Basset Goisfridum de Magna Villa Goisfridum Ridel Walterum Archidiaconum de Oxeneford per * Domesday Book kept in the Treasury of the Exchequer Librum de Thesauro Disracionavit quod Levecanora Manerium suum nichil omnino debet in Hundredo de Perituna facere sed omnia quae debet facere tantumodo in Hundredo de Levecanora facere debet in quo Hundredo habet Ecclesia de Abbendona xvii Hidas. Teste Rogero Episcopo Salesb Willielmo de Curci Adamo de Porto apud Winton Maud Queen of England to Robert Bishop of Lincoln and Thomas St. John and all the Barons of Oxfordshire French and English Greeting Know ye that â—aritius Abbat of Aberdon in the Court of my Lord and mine at Winchester in the Exchequer before Roger Bishop of Salisbury Robert Bishop of Lincoln and Richard Bishop of London William de Curcey Adam de Port Turstin our Chaplan Walter of Glocestre Herbert the Chamberlain William D'oyly Geofrey Fitz Herbert William de Enesi Ralph Basset Geofrey Magnaville Geofrey Ridel and Walter the Arch-Deacon of Oxford proved by Domesday Book or the Book which was kept in the Treasury of the Exchequer That his Maner of Levecanor ought no Suit or Service to the Hundred of Peritune but whatever it ought to do was only to be done in the Hundred of Levecnor in which the Church of Abbendon hath seventeen Hides
Feoffment were read and [7] Braâ—ton p. 38. a. n. 12. granted before the County or Hundred and there witnessed publicly by Thomas of such a Town John of another Richard of a third Henry of a fourth James of a fifth cum multis aliis with many others that were Suitors at those Courts and they were then many indeed for besides those that were Suitors by Tenure and held Land by Performance of such Services all others that were Resident within the County or Hundred and capable of doing it performed their Suit to the County or Hundred as a [8] Ibid. p. 37. a. n. 8. Service belonging to the King for preserving Peace and Justice When Estates passed thus by the Donor or Feoffor to the Donee or Feoffee and Livery or Delivery was made and Seisin or Possession given in the presence of Tenants of the same Maner or as the Feudal Law calls them Pares Curiae [a] Sir Edward Coke in the Epistle to his Eighth Report says Trial by Juries is an Invincible Argument of the Antiquity of the Common Law to which they are appropriated But if we received the Trial by Juries or Pares Curiae with the Feudal Law we have greater Reason to say the Common Law was either derived from that or received this way of trial from it Liâ— inter Duos Vasallos per Dominum inter Vasallum Dominum per Curiam Parium Disceptanda est per Pares Coram Dominum Juraâ—os A Controversie between two Vassals is to be determined by the Lord by Peers Sworn before him between the Lord and a Vassal by the Court of Peers Hottom in lib. 2. Feud Col. 757. E. Vasallus ob qùodvis Capitale facinus Feudo Mulctatur Sic tamen ut causa priùs Disceptetur Parium Judicio Idem de Feud Discuâ— Col. 886. B. Statuimus ut nullus Miles sine certa convicta Culpa suum Beneficium perdat nisi secundum Consuetudinem Antecessorum nostrorum Judicium Parium suorum Ll. Longobard lib. 3. Tit. 8. l. 4. He that desires to know more of the Affinity between our Antient Law and the Feudal Law let him read Dr. Zouch his Description of the Temporal Law and Judgment according to the Feudal and Norman Customs and in particular for Trials by Juries c. Section the Fifth of the third part Peers of the same Court or of the most Substantial Persons nearest the place then Men were as secure of these Estates as of Copy-holds now And therefore it was That a Writ of Right was anciently directed to the Lord of the Maner of which the Land was holden to do the Demandant Right in his Court as the most ready secure and quick way of Justice for either the Tenants of the Maner knew the Possession whose it was and how obteined whether by Descent or Donation Or it was entred in the Lords Court Rolls or Books from whom and to whom Alienated for the Security of his Free Rent and Relief and the Lord could not lose his Court that is the Trial and Judgment whose Estate it was and whether the Demandant or Possessor had most Right to it if he failed not in doing Justice And in such Case it was removed to the County and if need were from thence to the Kings Court or many times immediately into that But afterward when the Scholastic and Dilatory Method of the Caesarean and Canon Law [9] Flor. Wigorn f. 671. Orderic Vit. f. 919. B. Gervas Act. Pont. Cant. Col. 1665. n. 30. about the years 1139 and 1145. by the incouragement of Arch-bishop Theobald and other Bishops in the Reign of King Stephen was introduced publickly read and mixed with the Practice of the Feudal or National Law with Design to over-rule and Baffle it then all the plainness of it ceased quick Justice was laid aside and all the Inventions Art Delays and Subtilties of the other were introduced by the Canonists and School-men that practised it and became almost as Fine and Subtile as School Divinity it self which then and afterwards was followed as the best Example of Notion Distinction Division and Nicety to all Learned Authors and Writers in every Science This is clear from the Consideration of the Works of Glanville and Bracton who Wrote within an hundred years one of another How Plain Easie Short and Open is the First How Intricate Involved Subtile and Nice the Second How much was the Bulk and Dilatory Practice of the Law within that time increased by Art new Suggestions and Inventions never before thought of The Judges were then most if not all either Clergy-men or Professors of the Caesarean and Canon Law and most frequently advanced by Ecclesiastic Preferments and the Pleaders or Lawyers were Monks who read in their Cells or Monasteries and abroad out of them and explained those Laws until prohibited by several Popes from medling with that Practice and also Secular Affairs I am in a large Field but must leave it and shall conclude this Preface with the Interpretation of some few words used in it and one or two of them in the History Bordarii SEE the History f. 206. E. they were Drudges and performed vile Services which were reserved by the Lord upon a poor little House and a small parcel of Lands and might perhaps be Domestic Works such as Grinding Threshing Drawing Water cutting Wood c. or if they were the same with Cotarii we shall afterward see their particular Services See Spelman in the Word and Due Fresne in the Words Borda Borderia Bordagium Bordelaria a Tenure Antiently very frequent in many parts in France Commendati Commendatio COmmendati were such as lived under the Protection of some Great Man Lord or Patron who undertook to secure their Estates and Persons for which Protection and Security they paid him an Annual Stipend or perfomed some Annual Service Commendatio was the Safeguard or Protection it self and was the same with Tutamen and Salvamentum and many times it signified the Annual Rent paid for such Security and Protection See Du Fresne's Glossary in the Words Besides the Commendati there were Dimidii Commendati according to the Latin of Domesday Book In Cotetuna Tenuit Teit Commendatus Dimidius Edrico praeposito Regis Dimidius Commendatus Antecessori Malet c. Little Domesday Book f. 322. b. This Teit in the time of King Edward had two Protectors Edric the Kings Reeve and the Predecessor of Robert Malet and paid half the Annual Rent for his Protection to one and half to the other And besides these there were Sub-Commendati such as were Commendati under Commendati that is Servants under them or such as had dependance on them and were also under the Protection and Security of their Patrons and Dimidii Sub-Commendati such as in like manner were under the Dimidii Commendati and had two Patrons or Protectors and the same as they had In parvo Thornham ii liberi homines unus eorum fuit Commendatus
c. Lincoln f. 336. b. Col. 2. Stanford the Kings Burgh in the Wards there are 77 Dwellings for Sochmans who have their Lands in Demeasn or in their own Power and may choose any Lord or Patron where they will Upon whom the King hath nothing but the pecuniary punishment of their faults Heriots and Tol. Eiam Tenuit Edricus c. huic Manerio pertinent xlviii Socmanni cxxi acr Terrae ex his Socmannis xxvii in Dominio c. These Socmen were fixed to the Soyl. Sudfulc f. 319. b. Sochmanni de Residene et Irencestre et Rand fuerunt homines Burred et iccirco G Episcopus Clamat hominationem eorum Northantshire Terra Willielmi Peurel This VVilliam was the great Possessor in these Towns And Burred the Saxon before the Conquest was Patron or Lord of the Socmans in them Towns and Geofrey Bishop of Constance had his Land and Title after the Conquest In Bertone tenet Willielmus de Cahanges ii Hid. hanc Terram tenuerunt quatuor Sochmani homines Wallef Comitis horum Duo Tenuere 1 Hid. ii Virgat Dimid sed recedere sine licentia ejus non potuerunt alii vero duo dare vendere Terram suam potuerunt Domesd f. 201. b. Col. 2. here are different Conditions of Socmen Quaere whether the free use of the Land might not be the Commendatio and Liberty to sell the Land and recede might not be the Soke meant in in the other places as contra-distinct to Commendation I find in the History of the Church of Ely in the hands of the Learned Doctor Gale p. 210 b. these passages in a Catalogue of the Lands deteined from the Monastery of Ely which belonged to it in the time of King Edward and the names of those that deteined them Walterus miles Hugonis de Monteforti ten Terram duarum Carucarum in Maraham Walter the Knight of Hugh Montfort possesseth two Carucates of the Demeasnes of the Monastery in Maraham Willielmus de Warenna tenet 45 Socamans in Feltewella qui quoties Abbas praecepit in Anno arabunt suam Terram Colligent purgabunt segetes adducent mittent in Horrea portabunt victum Monachorum ad Monasterium quoties eorum equos voluerit ubicunque sibi placuerit toties habebit Et ubicunque forisfecerit Abbas foris facturam habebit de illis similiter qui in eorum Terra forisfecerit That is William de Warenna holds 45 Socmans in Feltewell who as often as the Abbat Commanded Ploughed his Land and were to weed and bind his Corn to carry it into the Barn to carry the Monks Victuals to the Monastery and as often as he would and whither he pleased he had their Horses and wheresoever they forfeited that is were liable to a penal Mulct he had the forfeiture and of those that forfeited upon their Lands Supradictus Walterus cum eo Durandus Homines Hugonis de Montifâ—rti tenent 26 Socamanos supradictae consuetudinis in Maraham The abovesaid Walter and with him Durand another Knight The Men of Hugh Montfort held twenty six Socmans in Maraham of the foresaid Custom In Domesday Book the Entry of the last Clause is thus Nordfulc Terra S. Aldred in Clachelose Hund. Dimid In Maraham Tenuit S. Aldred c. Huic Manerio adjacebant T. R. E. xxvii Socheman cum omni Consuetudine sed postquam Rex Willielmus advenit habuit eos Hugo de Monteforti praeter unum What some Socmen were near two hundred year after the making of the Survey we may see from the Book of the Survey of the Priory of Spalding in Lincolnshire fol. 7. a. Haec sunt servitia Consuetudines Sokemanorum Prioratus de Spalding Recognita in Comitatu Lincolinensi Debent in quadragesima per tres Dies arare si Caucas junctas habeant accipere semen ad orreum Prioris ad terram portare illud seminare cum equis suis Herciare proprio cibo suo Debent tres praecarias in Autumno cum falcibus suis cibo Domini Item debent tres Carectas de Ros tres de Byndinge Karetandas in curiam Domini cibo Domini Item si habuerint quinque Porcos superannatos debent eligere primum ad opus suum Dominus Eliget secundum ita erit de omnibus quinque Quoquot fuerit excepta Sue Matrice Si habeant Porcum superannatum non habent quinque de quolibet habebit unum Denarium de Porco qui non est superannatus unum obolum Item debent Auxilium Domino suo semel in Anno Salvo Gainagio suo Item debent Ire apud Beltisford cum equis suis Saccis Brocha ducere Bladum usque ad Granarium Spaldinge suis proprii expensis Item debent pro Astro suo annuatim vii Denarios Item debent de qualibet Caruca sua juncta inter Purificationem Beatae Mariae et Festum Sancti Butolphi ii s. iv d. Item non possunt Terram dare nec vendere uisi licentia Domini Prioris Item non possunt placitare per Breve Domini Regis de Sokagio nisi licentia Domini Prioris Item non possunt Pullum suum Masculum natum de Equa sua vendere nisi per licentiam Domini Prioris Item debent alleviare filias suas Nomina eorum quorum huic scripto sigilla apposita sunt Sigillum Domini Willielmi de Albeny Domini Galfridi de Sancesmare Domini Walteri de Coventre et Domini Johannis Bonet tunc Vice-Comitis Lincol. et Domini Alexandri de Poynton et Domini Willielmi de Welle This Recognition was made in the County Court of Lincoln in the time John Prior of Spaldinge who was Elected in the year 1252. and died 1273. as appears by the same Book speaking of him Convicit etiam Sokemanos suos de Pynchebeck Weston Multon suos esse Rusticos qui ei Debita Servitia sua et Consuetudines denegabant in Libertatem proclamantes per Sacramentum Duodecim Militum Die Tertia ante festum Sancti Gregorii Papae apud Lincoln Ibid. fol. o. a. These are the Services and Customs of the Sokemen of the Priory of Spalding found by Inquest or Jury in the County Court of Lincoln they ought to Plough three days in Lent if they had Ploughs and Horses To take Seed at the Priors Barn to carry it to the Land to Sow it and Harrow it finding themselves Victuals they ought to labour at the three Reaping Days in Harvest upon the summons of the Lord he finding them Victuals Also they ought to carry three Loads of Thatch and three Loads of Binding to the Lords Court he finding them Victuals Also if they had five Hogs above a year old they might choose the first to their own use and the Lord the second and so it should be of every five the old Sow excepted if they had Hogs above a year old and not five the Lord was to have
of every one a peny and of every one under a year old an half-peny Also they ought an Aid once in a year to their Lord saving their Lively-Hood or Imployment in Husbandry Also they ought to go to Beltisford with their Horses Sacks and Packing Needle to carry Corn to the Granary of Spalding at their own Expences Also they ought to pay yearly for their Residence upon the Maner seven pence Also they ought to pay for every Yoaked Plough that was furnished with Horses or Oxen between Candlemass and the Feast of Saint Buttolph two shillings and four pence Also they could not sell or give their Land without Licence from the Lord Prior. Also they could not plead or maintain a Title by the Kings Writ concerning their Soccage unless by his Licence Also they cannot sell any Horse Colt which came of their own Mares without the same Licence Also they ought to compound with or give a Fine to the Lord for Liberty for their Daughters to Marry The Names of those who put their Seals to this Writing the Seal of Sir William de Albeny of Sir Geofry de Sancesmare Sir Walter de Coventre Sir John Bonet then Sheriff of Lincoln-shire Sir Alexander de Pointon and Sir William de Welle These were undoubtedly some of the twelve Knights by whom the Recognition was made of the Services of the Socmen in the County Court when they denied them and would have asserted themselves free from them Villani VIllanus and Rusticus were almost the same in old Authors so called because they lived in small places in the Country and manured the Lands there and because they were imployed by Lords of Maners in sordid and slavish Works the Word was also used for sordid and slavish People and such were most commonly meant by it See the History fol. 206. F. The Socmen Bordars and Servants the Names I mean were not so usual within a Century or two after the Conquest And instead of them were more frequently used the words Consuetudinarii and Censuarii such as paid Rent and performed Works and Services Cotarii who held poor Houses and some small parcels of Lands by small Rents and few Works but generally more Servile Sometimes by Services only without Rent and Coterelli that is small Cotars or Cotagers by the same though fewer Services and Payments in Rent Hens Eggs Fowl c. and Tofmanni very little different from the Cotars or Coterelli in Tenure and Services for a Toftman notwithstanding the common Notion of a Toft being a decayed Tenement or House was one that possessed a very small House and an Acre or half an Acre or some small parcel of Ground by the same Services with Cotars or very little different from And lastly Operarii whose Works were always uncertain and were poor miserable Labourers that wrought at all times and seasons and did all manner of Works at the command of their Lords and to their only Benefit and these undoubtedly were such as in Domesday Book are said to be Servi in respect of whom all such Customary Tenents Cotagers Villans Bondmen or Nativi that performed certain Works might be called priviledged persons or Socmen All these Men were not exactly of the same condition though of the same Denomination for many times Free-men performed Servile Works in respect of their Tenure though their Persons were Free and oft-times any of the others performed certain or uncertain Works at the Command of their Lords and according to the first Stipulation or Charge upon their Persons or Lands except those that were really Customary Tenents and I am apt to think that in Process of Time all these Names began to be Confounded and Promiscuously used one for another I have by me an old and very exact Survey or Extent of all the Maners belonging to the Bishoprick of Ely made about the middle of the Reign of King Henry the Third where in every Town all these persons are described and distinguished one from another both by the Quality and Quantity of their Works but by the Quantity most frequently By the Statute intituled Extenta Manerii in the fourth of Edward the First all these Servile People of so many different Names pass under two only that is of Customary Tenants and Cottagers in which all the others were then comprehended In the same Book the liberè Tenentes those in Military Service and Soccagers in several Towns are described under the same Title but most commonly the ordinary liberè Tenentes which were very few are clogged with Works and seem to differ not much from the Customary and Censuary Tenants when united in one Tenure consisting in part Rent part Services that were customary and certain many times Works were changed into Rent as also were some part of the Lands holden in Military Service and in this old Extent they are called Novi Feoffati and these and such as these who since the Dissolution of Monasteries which were endowed with a third part of the Lands of the Nation purchased some small parcels of Land holden in free Soccage make at this day the Bulk of the Freeholders For until by experience the conveniency of changing of Works into Rents was approved and until the Military Men had Power by Magna Charta C. 32. and Stat. 18th of Edward the First to alien their Lands leaving sufficient to perform the Service there were but few Free-holders in our now common understanding of them nor had they then by being Free in their Persons and from base Services or Works any Interest or real Power or the least share in Transacting Public Affairs or were any ways concerned in them but were Free only from Villenage and Servitude and were Sui Jurii at their own disposing so far only as like Villans and Bondmen they were not under the Power and absolute Command of other men that is their persons were free and they might dispose of what they had without let or hindrance of their Lords of whom they held their Lands ERRATA FOl. 5. lin 16. dele ae f. 14. l. penult r. Brigantes f. 18. l. ult r. Claudius f. 27. l. ult in note r. Vrbicus f. 35. l. 1. r. Ariminum f. 37. in the notes change y for u and u for y. f. 38. instead of z in the notes there ought have been * f. 42. l. 12. r. Turnacensium Ibid. in note l. 8. r. Loir f. 44. in note r. Tigrisienses f. 60. l. 5. r. Gemblacensi◠f. 70. l. 20. r. Allodium f. 71. F. l. 45. r. vivus f. 78. l. 23. r. or f. 82. in note o r. Munumitted f. 84. l. penult r. Priests f. 126. in note q r. Giraldus f. 132. l. 13. r. matter f. 134. l. 21. r. Algar f. 142. in note ◠r. Ferrariis f. 153. in note l. 1. r. Seon. Ibid. l. 5. r. Writ f. 158. in note e l. 7. r. 1. Johannis In eadem l. after Castle insert and. Ibid. l. 10. r. 7. Johannis f. 170. l. 8. r. Another f.
Juraverunt Testantur quod Terr Haward in Eurwicscire tenuit Ws. Mallet c. de omni Terrâ Asae testantur quod Roberti Mallet debet esse Clamores in North Tredinge Lincolniae Testatur Wapentach totus comitatus quod Episcopus Dunelm debet habere c. Norff. Terra Sanctae Aldred Hundr dimid de Clatsclosa in Photesthorpâ sed totus Hundredus Testatur eam fuisse T. E. R. ad Sanctam Adeldred Hantescire Andov Hundr in And. hoc Testatur Hundr So in Doomesday evere where the Hundred witnesseth or testifieth this the Wapentach witnesseth or testifieth this or the County witnesseth or testifies this or that which were no more than the Juries or men of the Hundred or County that were summoned sworn and gave in before the Commissioners that took them the Particulars of the Survey And of such indeed Witnesses did our Juries consist sometime after the Conquest for in Glanvills time [7.] Glanv l. 2. c. 17. none were admitted to be of a Jury that knew not the truth of the thing in question and by their own proper view or sight and hearing had had knowledge of it Few Laws in these elder times Few Laws in elder times about Lands and Possessions concerning Lands either here or in Germany as I noted before and the reason was that most part of the Lands being then Beneficia or Fees held in Military-Service they were held and governed by such Customs and unwritten Laws as were not any where published except in one or two fragments And all other Rights concerning them were only handled in their Lords private Courts Above all these Courts the King had his Court Ll. Edgar human c. 2. Ll. polit Canut c. 16. where no man might Appeal unless he could not have Justice done him in the Hundred or County and then it was to him both a Court of Law and Equity An Appeal to the Kings Court when Justice could not be done other where if he could not have right at home or if that right were too heavy for him then let him seek to the King for ease to the King himself that he might have the rigor of the Law mitigated by the Conscience of the Prince the same Law and the same Court and Power of the Prince was amongst the old Germans Capit. Car. lib. 5. c. 14. c. 141. Charts and Donations signed in publick Malls and Conventions See Chirographum Testamentum Chartae pariculae vel pariles Chartae indentatae Indentuâ—ae In use in old Germany and old France before known in England Mabâ—llon dere Diplomatica lib. 1. c. 2. In their publick Malls their Charts of the Sales of their Estates Donations and Traditions so they called some Donations and Sales to Religious Houses and Monasteries were confirmed See Chartae Antiquae in Antiquitat Alaman Tom. secundo parte prima Antiquitates Fuldenses lib. 1. where are many Instances to be found amongst those Charters and Traditions or as we may call them Deeds and Conveyances See Vadianus Tom. 3. fol. 44 71. Antiqu. Alaman by Godalst who says the consent of the Comes was required to all Donations to Monasteries lest such Lands might be given them as paid Rent to the Prince and by that means his Revenue might be injured And conveyances of Land in our English Saxon times [8.] Somners Gaves p. 87. Conveyances of Land entered in the Shire-book They also and Mortgages Recorded in the Hundred were entered in the Shire-book or Recorded in the Hundred perhaps for the better Security of their Estates And their Morgages likewise or how should the Hundred or County present before the Commissioners for making the Conquerors Survey that such and such Lands were morgaged and the Sum for which they were engaged Terra invadiata with the Sum for how much and to whom expressed which I have seen in Doomesday more than once but do not remember the places and that it was so here after the Conquest it not only appears by what Bracton says fol. 38. n. 12. but it is evident also from the Witnesses to our antient Deeds which were commonly the best men in the Country and living in divers Towns and Places somewhat remote as John of such a Town Thomas of another and Richard of a third c. who 't is probable did not meet to be witnesses to a Conveyance of an Acre or two or some small parcels of Land but they being Suitors to the County or Hundred Courts and bound to attendance there those Deeds or Charts were brought thither and witnessed in open Court As there was an agreeableness in their Laws and Courts The German Judges and Officers like to the English Saxon Officers so was there a likeness in their Judges and chief Officers Comes in the Latin version of the German Laws and Aldermannus in the English Saxon was the general word by which they expressed their Judges or at least those which were Counts and Aldermen were also Judges and under one Name executed two Offices one of a Governour of a County Shire or Province the other of a Judge of the same our old Latin Historians translate the Saxon Ealderman by Regulus Subregulus Patricius Princeps Dux Comes and Consul and it was expressed by every of these Latin words according to the way of those times Seld. Tit. Hon. fol. 502. Aldermannus a general word for many Officers The Shirereve or Earl was called Aldermannus Comitatus The chief Magistrate of a City chief Officer of a Burg or Town and the Constable of a Castle or Castellan was called Aldermannus Civitatis Burgi vel Castelli and the Centenary Hundredary or chief Officer of the Hundred or Wapentach was called Aldermannus Hundredi sive Wapentachii Spelm. Glossar in verb. Aldermannus This word in its signification imports no more than Senior or Elder or as it was corrupted in the Provincial Latin Signior or Seignior which in the [9.] Hottom in verb. Feudal Law signified Lord or Patron who had his Feudataries or Vassals which were obliged to him by the Donation or Tenure of Fees And it s more than probable that seeing most of the degrees of Nobility and men of Power were expressed by this word Ealderman in the Saxon times that it was much used here in the same sence that Seignior was in Italy Germany and the Roman Provinces for a Lord or Patron and sometimes for a great or Royal Vassal which held immediately of the King or Emperor sometimes for such other Vassals though not of the meanest rank that held of them and sometimes for meer ministerial Officers Which later by our Saxons were often called Thegns or Thanes and by those Names Thegn or Thane what and in the Latin Versions of them by the name of Minister They are often found in the Subscriptions of ancient Charters of the Saxon Kings after the Principes Duces and Comites The chief of which were the Kings [1.] Selâ— Tit. Hon. 〈◊〉 507
Land that came to them or passed by writing or perhaps as we now call it Deed from their Ancestors could not sell or alien it from their Heirs and that for vouching of things sold c. no man's Horse or Ox could be bought or sold without a Voucher Foed Alured Guthrum Ibid. fol. 36. Hundreds and Tithings erected by Alfred that is one then that should take upon him to make good the sale and thing sold according to the Bargain .. This King according to Ingulph first divided the Provinces into (u) Without doubt as to this part of the Division De gestis Aelfâ—ed fol. 284. Ingulph was mistaken for Asser who lived in Aelfred's time mentions Osric Earl of Hamshire and Ethelwolph Earl of Bark-shire under Ethelbert and Eanwulf Earl of Somersetshire under his Father Ethelwolph There are also mentioned as witnesses to a Charter of King Ethelbald's A. D. 716. cited by Ingulphus Egga Earl of Lincoln and Lencitus Earl of Leicester Histor Croyland fol. 485. a. therefore such Divisions were before nevertheless 't is most probable the Partitions of Counties into Hundreds and Tithings were made in his times as appears in the notices Counties those into Hundreds and those again into Decimes or Tithings that every English man living under Law should be within some Hundred or Tithing Edward the Elder A. D. 886. of this see more in the first part of this History He made also a Survey of all the Counties Hundreds and Tithings throughout England and the Roll thereof was called the Roll of Winchester All Counties surveyed by Alfred In his History fol. 516. b. the chief City of the West-Saxon Kingdom because it was kept then out of this Roll and that afterwards made by William the Conqueror in imitation of it but more exact Ingulphus took out the Particulars of the Lands and Tenements belonging to Croyland Abbey Edward his Son called the Elder Edward the Elder A. D. 900. Sax. An. 901. Disturbed by Ethelwald Ibid. 905. Who flies to the Danes in Northumberland and perswades them to invade Mercia because the first succeeded Aelfred less learned but more Potent In the beginning of his Reign he received some disturbance from the pretences of Ethelwald his Uncles Son to the Kingdom who not being able to make good his Cause fled to the Danes in Northumberland and prevailed with them to invade Mercia where Edward marching upon them forced their Army to retreat and wasted all the Country between the (*) This was that Ditch which is called Divels-Ditch upon New-Market-Heath and the Country here mentioned was all that between this Ditch Huntington St. Neots Bedford c. which are seated upon the River Ouse Ditch and Ouse even to the North Fens and not long after both Armies joyned Battel and fought with great loss and slaughter on both sides Duke Sigulf Earl Sigelm Eadwold the Kings Thane Cenwulf the Abbat with many common men A great slaughter of Saxons and Danes were slain on the Saxons part on the Danes part their King Eohric the seditious Ethelwold Brihtsigerus Isop (x) HOLD is a Danish word and signifies a Field-Marshal Knight-Marshal or General Hold Osketel Hold with very many other Commanders and common Soldiers yet by the Story the Danes seemed to have kept the Field what the event of Battel was appears not Ibid. 907. however two years after Edward makes Peace with the Danes The East-Angles and Northumbrians which were now one Nation with them not long after the Danes broke the Peace Ibid. 9 1. and wasted his Countries to whom he gave Battel overthrew them The Danes beaten and killed their King Ecwils persuing this Victory and marching for several years up and down into all parts of his Country he with the assistance of his Sister Elsted Countess Queen of Mercia every where expelled the Danes Malms de gestis reg l. 2. c. 5. Ingulph Hist fol. 595. b. Edward repairs his Towns and Fortresses and places strong Garrisons in them and either built and erected new Towns and Fortresses in all convenient places or repaired the old and placed strong Garrisons in them especially towards the Frontiers by which means he checked the Insolency of the Danes and hindered their Excursion their places of Safety and Retreat added such courage to the Country-men that whereas before they fled from the Danes now they out-braved and contemned them These things raised him to such a Reputation that after the accession of Mercia to his former Territories which he took into his own hands after his Sisters Death Howel Cledanc and Jeothwell Kings of the (y) These were those that inhabited that which is now called Wales who were called North-Britains in respect of those which inhabited Cornwall who were called South-Britains North-Britains and the whole Nation submitted Saxon Annals A. D. 922. The North-Britains or Welsh submit Ibid. A.D. 924. And the Scots Danes and Northumbers Divels-Ditch Hold what and who North-Britains who and desired him for their Lord and Master as did also not long after the King of Scots and all his Nation the Northumbrians the English and Danes and other Northern People Athelstan A. D. 924. with the King of (z) Straecled Welch who De â—cb Scot. l. 6. p. 175 156. Britains which at that time inhabited Calloway in Scotland Buchanan confesseth that the English Army being far inferior to the Danes and the Forces with which the Scots assisted them yet under the conduct of Aethestan who was Edward's General they obtained a great Victory and took from the Scots Cumberland and Westmorland and from the Danes Northumberland but he will not acknowledge the submission of Scotland STRAECLED Wales and his People Straecled This King by the advice of his wise men made several Laws and confirmed the League his Father Aelfrid made with Godrun or Guthrun He confirms the League Alfrid made with Guthrun Lamb. inter Ll. Edward Sen. He makes many Ecclesiastick Laws Col 829. by Agreement of the Great men on both sides and amongst other Articles of the League they enacted many Laws meerly Ecclesiastick which were reputed as part of it these Ecclesiastick Laws are printed in Brompton amongst Aelfrid's Laws as being made then and are more perfect than in Lambard and with others there are Laws for the Payment of Tithes Peter-pence Candle-money c. Edward dying in the year 924. was buried with his Father in the Monastery of Winchester Athelstan Lib. 2. de gest â—eg c. 6. After the death of King Edward his eldest Son Athelstan by a Concubine as 't was reported says Malmsbury was crowned at Kingston upon Thames by Athelmus Archbishop of Canterbury the beginning of whose Reign was disturbed by the Sedition of Alfrid a Noble-man A. D. 924. Perjury punish'd with sudden Death who being apprehended and sent to Rome to purge himself denying the Fact upon Oath fell down suddenly and within three days
died He obtains many Victories over the Danes Scots and Irish Ibidem The Welch agree to pay him a yearly Tribute They are bounded with the River Wye This King obtained many great Victories over the Danes Scots and Irish and forced Constantine King of Scotland and Eugenius King of Cumberland to yield their Kingdoms he made the North-Britains or Welch to submit who assembling at Hereford agreed to pay him a yearly Tribute of twenty pound weight in Gold three hundred pound weight in Silver and 25000 head of Cattel as Malmsbury yet but 2500 as others and made the River (a) The River which passes by Hereford and not far from Chepstowe falls into the Severn Wye their utmost boundary he also subdued the (b) So called because they inhabited the West part of Britain which is now called Cornwall they are sometimes also called the South-Britains in respect of the Welch which were called North-Britains Western-Britains removed them from Excester which he strengthned with Walls and Towers Ibidem and confined them within the River (c) This River parts Devonshire and Cornwall and runs into the Sea by Plimouth Tamar as their utmost limit The Cornish with the River Tamar The Fame of this King filled all Europe and he married his Sisters one to Otho Son to the Emperor of Germany another to Hugh King of France Foreign Princes purchase his favor with Gifts a third to Lewis Prince of Aquitain a fourth to Harrold King of Norway all which and many other neighbouring Princes for to purchase his Friendship sent him great and very rich Presents but his noble and glorious Actions were sullied and blackened with the Death of his Brother Edwin if true as 't is storied That by order of Athelstan out of Jealousie of State he was put into a small Pinnace without either Tackle or Oars accompanied only with one Page with grief whereof the young Prince leaped into the Sea and drowned himself this Malmsbury thinks not to be true by reason of his great kindness to his other Brothers and Sisters and says the Story was only found in the Songs of former Ages and in no good Author his Grandfather Aelfrid knighted this King in his Childhood Athelstan knighted by his Grandfather Aelfred putting him on a Scarlet Cloak and girting him with a Belt set with Gems and a Saxon Sword in a Golden Scabbard He with the advice of his Bishops and great men (d) Most of the Saxon Kings Laws are Collections or Repetitions of other and former Laws they most commonly confirmed or new worded the old but made not many new Laws made many very good Laws for preserving Peace and the Government of his Country and some clearly Ecclesiastick The Punishment of Murther Pecuniary but amongst the rest established the (e) This Custom and manner of Punishment seems now very strange that Money should be a price of Blood and Murther nay for the Blood of Kings surely in these Ages Money was more valuable than we can easily imagine price of Murther or Man-killing from the King to the Peasant the Punishment of which at that time was Pecuniary not Capital or by Death which because it makes out the Usage of those times I shall particularly recite The price of the King's Life by the common Law of the English The Estimate of Heads or value of Lives from the King to the Peasant was 30000 (f) From the Saxon word THRIM Thrimsa what Thrim three or a third as Sir Hen. Spelm. in his Glossary who there thinks a Thrimsa was to the value of three shillings Somner in his Saxon Dictionary says it was a piece of Money or Coin of an uncertain value Selden takes it to be a third part of a Shilling Tit. hon fol. 501. whatsoever it was these Sums were a Poor Price and a slender satisfaction for Blood especially Royal and Noble Blood And therefore the learned Author of the Notes upon the Life of Alfrid thinks that willful malitious or clancular Murther was never Penal but only Manslaughter and that after it had been declared such by the Judges fol. 68. But see William the First his Laws Thrimsa's whereof 15000 were paid to his Kinred and 15000 to the Nation or People The Life of an Archbishop or Earl was valued at 15000 Thrimsa's to be divided as the former The Life of a Bishop or Alderman at 8000. The Life of a Field-Marshal Knight-Marshal or General 4000. The Life of a Mass-Thane or Priest and a Secular or World Thane 2000. The Life of a Peasant or Country-man by the Danes Law was 267 Thrimsa's The Life of a Welch-man if he grew so rich as to maintain a Family possess Land and pay a yearly Tribute to the King was valued at 220 Shillings but if he possessed only half of a Hide of Land then it was valued at 80 Shillings and if he did not possess any Land then at 70 shillings If a Churl or Rustick grew so Rich as that he became Owner of five Hides of Land his Life was valued at 2000 Thrimsa's or if his Sons or Grandchildren arrived to the same Wealth they were under the same Valuation The Morcians valued the Life of a Peasant at 200 shillings and the Life of a Thane at 1200 and they were wont to value the Kings Life equal with 6000 Thanes that is 30000 Sceates and so much his Death the price of his Life was paid to his Kinred and the Compensation of his Death to the People Edmund Edred A. D. 940. The Oath of him whose Life was valued at 1200 shillings was equal to the Oaths of six Peasants and the Oath of a Priest was equal to the Oath of a Thane Oaths valued according to Wealth Edmund An. Dom. 940. Saxon Annals A. D. 942. Takes Lincoln Nottingham Stanford and Derby Ibidem A. D. 944 945. He subdues Northumberland Gives Cumberland to Malcolm King of Scots A.D. 943 944. In the year of our Lord 940. Edmund Brother and Heir to Athelstan was crowned King in the second year of his Reign he cleared Mercia of the Danes and took from them the Cities of Lincoln Nottingham Stanford and Derby the two Danish Kings Anlaf and Reginald became Christians and had Edmund for their Godfather yet notwithstanding this Spiritual Relation and Sonship they soon prove his Enemies and invade him who put them both to flight and took into his own hands Northumberland and gave Cumberland to Malcolm King of Scots to hold of him by Fealty and upon condition he should assist him by Sea and Land About this time Odo or Oda Archbishop of Canterbury set forth Canons in the second whereof he admonishes the King and great men that they obey their Archbishops and Bishops with all Humility this King also with the advice of his Bishops and Lay-Nobility commanded and established many Laws He makes many Ecclesiastick Laws whereof many were purely Ecclesiastick after he had reigned
Thomas in the Archbishoprick for there never was one of that name Archbishop but was his Antecessor in the Possession of the Soke of these ten Bovates of Land which Soke was Mortgaged or the Gage assigned to the Archbishop who was a Norman for three Pounds Ibidem Clamores in North-Treding Lincoliae In Limberge Clamat Ivo Tallebose super Regem vi Boxat Terrae Dicunt homines Comitatus quod ipse debet habere Terram Rex socam Very many more Pleas there are of Titles and for the Possession of Estates of different sorts before the Counties Hundreds Wapentacks Tredings or Trihings in the Conqueror's Survey but all between Normans and Normans or those and King William or between Bishops Religious and Ecclesiasticks and the King or Lay Normans who had seized Church-Lands and no Pleas of Titles between English Saxons or between them unless they were Church-men or Religious and Normans Nor no such fabulous Pleas as the pretended Plea of Sharnburn of which more afterwards From the Time of the Conqueror A Writ from William Rufus for assembling the County we proceed to the Reign of William Rufus and in the very beginning of it we find this Writ or Precept directed to the Sheriff of Northamptonshire [1.] Spelm. Gloss verb. Tain-land ex lib. de Rams Sect. 178. Willielmus Rex Angliae W. de * A Norman who came in with Conqu vid. Cataloge Cahaniis salutem Praecipio tibi ut facias convenire Shiram de Hamtonâ judicio ejus cognosce si Terra de Isham reddidit firmam Monachis Sancti Benedicti tempore patris mei si ita inventum fuerit si in Dominio Abbatis sit vero Tainlanda tunc fuisse invenietur qui eam tenet de Abbate teneat recognoscat Quod si noluerit eam Abbas in Dominio habeat vide ne clamor inde amplius ad nos redeat Teste (l) This was William de Carile former Bishop of Duresm and [4.] Malms de Gestis Reg. fol. 67. b. n. 30. Justiciary of England in the beginning of Rufus his Reign W. Episcopo Dunelm There is also another Precept of this King cited by the same learned Sir [2.] Glossar fol. 303. col 1. A Trihing Court Henry Spelman which runs thus Willielmus Rex Anglorum H. Camerario salutem facias convenire consedere tres Hundredas dimid apud (m) The place where the Hundred of Freebridge citra Lynn in Norfolk used to meet Flicchamburch propter Terram illam de Holm quae pertinet ad Ringstedam quam Abbas Ramesiae clamat ad victum vestitum Monachorum suorum si Abbas poterit respondere ratione Testimonio comprovincialium quod Antecessor illius eandem terram habuerit eâ die quâ pater meus fuit vivus mortuus Tunc praecipio ut illam Terram omnia quae justè pertinent ad Abbatiam suam pacificè honorificè habeat Teste (n) Roger Bigod was then neither Chancellor nor Justiciary of England but Earl of Norfolk in which County the Plea was held R. Bigod apud Wendesoriam To these may be added a Charter of Henry the First A Charter of Henry the First for holding County and Hundred Assemblies for the holding of County and Hundred Meetings published [5.] Glossar fol. 302. col 2. by the same Author Henricus Rex Anglorum (o) He was a Norman and Canon of Baieux made Bishop of [1.] Godw. de praes An. f. 509. Worcester 1097. Samsoni Episcopo (p) He is sometimes called Vrso de [2.] Doomes in Wircestreshire Wirecestre and sometimes Vrso [3.] Dugd. Baron f. 406. c. 2. Urso Vice-comes Vice-comes he being Hereditary Sheriff of Worcestershire came in with the Conqueror and had forty Hides of Land in Worcestershire besides two Lordships in Warwickshire and one in Glocestershire Vrsoni de Abitot omnibus (q) Barones here [4.] Vid. Spel. Gloss verbo Baro. are to be understood Milites such as held by Military-Service or Barones Minores Lords of Towns or Manners or perhaps Free-holders which if any then they were of better account before Town-ships Manners and Lands were parcelled but into small Divisions Baronibus Francis Anglicis de Wircestrescira salutem Sciatis quod concedo praecipio ut amodo comitatus mei [5.] Godw. de praes An. p. 233 Hundreda in illis locis eisdem Terminis sedeat sicut sederunt in Tempore Regis Edvardi non aliter Ego enim quando voluero faciam ea satis summoneri propter mea dominica necessaria ad voluntatem meam Et si quando exurgat placitum de divisione Terrarum Si interest (r) Noble men the King's Barons such as held immediately of him Barones meos Dominicos tractetur placitum in curiâ mâ—â si inter s Vavasores duorum Dominorum tractetur in comitatu hoc duello fiat nisi in eis remanserit Et volo praecipio ut omnes de comitatu eant ad comitatum Hundreda sicut fecerunt T. R. E. nec ramaneant propter aliquam causam pacem meam vel quietudinem here wants non habebunt I guess qui non sequuntur placita mea Judicia mea sicut tunc Temporis fecissent Teste R. (t) Richard de Beaumes a Norman consecrated 5. 1108. Episcopo Londinensi R. Episcopo Ranulpho Cancellario R. Comite de Mellent apud Radinge Henry the First reserves a Power for his own business to convâ—ne the County or Hundred at pleasure And reserves the Controversies of his great Barons to his own Court Here Henry the First reserves a Power of convening the Hundred and County when he pleased for his own proper Business And also reserves the Controversies of the great Barons that held immediately of him to be agitated in his own Court permitting the Trials between the Vavasors or greater Tenents of two mean Lords to the County This method of deciding Controversies and Variances was in use in Henry the Second's Reign as appears by this [6.] Dugd Orig Jurisd fol. 23. col 2. Writ (u) He was * Gul. Pictav 202. c. Son of Roger de Bellomont [6.] Gemet 3â—2 A. B. Robert Earl of Leicester who he was Grandson to Turolf of Pont Adomar by Weva Sister to Gunnora first Concubine then Wife to Richard the First Duke of Normandy Great Grandfather to the Conqueror Robertus comes Legecestriae priori de Ely Salutem Praecipio quod sine dilatione teneas plenum rectum Humfrido filio Gaufridi de terrâ Dunnigeland nisi sit feodum Militis nisi remaneat pro Assiza Regis Et nisi feceris Episcopus de Ely faciat nisi fecerit ego faciam Here the Earl of Leicester commands the Prior of Ely to do the Demandment right in his Court which was probably a Court Baron if not the Bishop should in his Superior
Court and if neither then he himself would do it There needs no more Instances in a matter so apparent and that never was disputed or denied That for many Kings Reigns Trials for considerable Estates in Lands Debts * Bacon's use of the Law c. p. 37. under fourty Pounds value and almost all Controversies were had in the Court Baron Hundred or County Courts [7.] Old Natur. Brev. fol. 2. Glan l. 12. c 6. The Writ of Right was always brought first in the Lords Court of whom the Land held [8.] Ib cap. 7. Writ of Right first brought in the Lords Court c. and could not be taken from thence into the County unless it were proved that the Lord failed in doing right and without such proof if they were removed the Lord might resume them and pass Judgment in his Court where both the Demandant and Tenent agreed the Land in question to hold of the same Lord. [9.] Ib cap. 8. lib. 3. cap. 7. But if they claimed to hold of diverse Lords the Case was then judged in the Court of the chief Lord or the County Court in the presence of the Lords they claimed to hold of who were summoned to be present at the Trial. * Glan lib. 9. c. 8 9 10. The Lord of a Manner his Right and Power over his Tenents The Lord also of a Manner by his own Right without the King 's or his chief Justiciaries Precept had Power by the Judgment of his Court that is by the Presentment or Verdict of his Tenents or Suitors to distrain his Tenents by their Goods or Lands if need were for his reasonable Aids Reliefs Services and Customs * Ibidem But if the Lord were not powerful enough to do himself Right against his Tenent in his own Court then he had a Writ directed to the Sheriff to do him right in the County before whom if the Lord proved his Relief Services c. to be his right the Tenent was not only forced to pay them to his Lord but was also fined to the Sheriff more or less according to the Custom of the County And as before the Conquest Controversies between People of the same Jurisdiction how all matters between Persons under the same Jurisdiction were triable in the same as all Actions of Debt Trespass Detinue c. * Dugd. Orig. Jurid fol. 29 31 c. Spelm. Gloss verb. comit fol. 143. Bract. l. 3. c. 7. And where they were tried were determined in every Decury Tithing or Township between those of the same Tithing Decury or Township But if the Parties litigant were of divers Townships then the Controversie was determined in the Hundred if they were of divers Hundreds then in the Trihing Lath or County * Bracton l. 3. cap. 7. Controversies between men of different Jurisdictions when and where tried Suitors to the several Courts bound to appear under great Mulcts where the Sheriff was Justiciary And perhaps if they were of divers Counties then they had right done them in the King's Court. So it was for Persons within the Jurisdiction of the same Mannor Hundred or County but if they were under the Jurisdiction of several Lords Hundreds or Counties their Differences were determined by a Superior Court whether it were the Court of the chief Lord Sheriff or King And for the more certain doing of Justice and Right all the Suitors within the Jurisdiction of the several Courts especially those of the Hundred and County Court [7.] Spâ—lm Gloss 303. c. 1 Doomesd Tit. Cestreshire in Derby hund claus 3. H. 3. in dorso in 13. claus 9. H 3. m. 11. in doâ—so were bound to appear under Forfeitures (*) [7.] Doomes Tit. Cestreshire Derby Hund. The Punishment of such as went not to the Shire and hund Motes Such as went not to the Scire mote or County Court without reasonable excuse forfeited ten Shillings which was more than ten pound at this time Nor went to the Assembly of the Hundred when commanded lost five shillings great Mulcts and Penalties that there might be some present of the Neighbourhood or same Parish who did know the Land and things in question and who had been possessed of it and for what time And to this purpose in an Assize if [8.] Glanv l 2. cap. 1. Grand Custom c. 93. c. 113. none of the Jurors (x) Milites [8.] Spel. Gloss in verbo who though according to the notion of our times they were no Knights yet they were of the better sort of People in the Country and of the best Reputation such as held by Knights or Military-Service knew the Right it self or truth of the Matter and it were testified to the Court upon Oath recourse was then had to others until such were found who did know the truth but if some of them did know the truth and others not those that knew it not were set aside and others called into the Court until twelve at the least should be found to agree therein [9.] Ibidem Twelve at least ought to know the Thing in question Also if some of them did speak for one of the Litigants and some for the other there were more added to them until twelve at least did agree on one side and every of them was to swear being called thereto that they should not say falsly nor knowingly forbear to speak the truth [1.] Glanv l. 2. c. 17. and Grand Custom c. 113. By their own proper view and hearing And further that such as were sworn might have the better understanding of the matter it was required that by their own proper view or hearing they have had knowledge of the thing in question And by [2.] Cap. 12. Magna Charta it appears that the Assizes or Trials of (y) [9.] Nometh in Assize of Novel Disseisin Mort. de Ancester what Where one was lately disseized or dispossessed of his Lands or Tenements Rent Office c. Novel Disseisin and (z) [1.] Ib. in Assize de Mort. de Ancester Where Father Mother Brother Sister c. died seized or possessed of Lands Tenements c. and a Stranger according to the Law Phrase abateth that is entereth upon them before the Heir takes Possession Mort D'ancester were only to be taken in their (a) As in Normandy in their proper Balliages or Bayliwicks which were answerable to our Counties before the Bayliff who was Judge of the Assize there Grand Custom c. 93 98. proper Counties and by Justices sent by the King and the (b) This way of trying Titles by Juries or something very like it was used upon the making the general [2.] Selden in praef ad Eadmer fol. 15. Doomesd Tit. clamores in Sudtreding c Survey of England in the time of William the Conqueror and not only so but about that time viz. about the year 1077 or 1078. There seems to have been [3.] Ingulph
Sickness or other Impediment before Battel then by this or that Person as many as he would which were present and shewed in Court who had seen and heard of the thing in Controversie or thus and this I am ready to try by this my Free-man D. unto whom his Father on his Death-bed injoyned upon the Duty of a Son which he ought to him that if at any time he should hear of a Suit for that Land he should adventure himself by Combat to prove it The Tenant had his choice to defend himself by Duel or Grand Assize as that which his Father had seen and heard the claim of the Demandant thus heard it was in the 8. choice of the Tenent to defend the same against the Demandant by Duel or put himself upon the Great Assize of the King and to require a * Enquest recognoisant Grand Custom c. 92. Recognition which of them had most Right in that Land [9.] Ibidem And if he would defend it by Duel he was then obliged to defend himself against the claim of the Demandant in the very words it was made either by himself or some other fit Person And that the Combat once waged he that held the Land ought to defend it that way and could not afterwards put himself upon the Great Assize [1.] Ibidem And note before the Duel began it was necessary for the Demandant to appear in Court and have his Champion there ready to fight nor might he bring any other than one of those he first shewed in the Court upon whom he put the Dirationation or proof of his Cause [2.] Glanvile lib. 2. c. 3. The Champion of the Demandant ought to be such an one as might be a â—it Witness nor could the Demandant prosecute his Appeal in his own Person because that could not be done but by a fit Witness who had heard of and seen the thing in question [3.] Ibidem Note also that the Champion Defendant could not in the Court produce in his place any other to undertake the Combat than his own Legitimate Son [4.] Ibidem But it often happened that a Champion was hired for reward to make Dirationation or proof of the matter controverted against whom if the adverse Party should except that he was less fit because he had taken a reward or been hired and being ready to prove the same against him if he should deny it by himself or by some Person who saw him take the Reward Principale duellum remanebit he should be heard and the principal Duel was to remain or be stayed [5.] Ibidem And if he was hereof convicted and the Champion of the Plaintiff vanquished in Combat then his Master or Patron lost his Suit and the Champion as being conquered lost the Law of the Land that is to say afterwards he was never to be admitted in Court as a Witness to make proof or Dirationation of any thing for any other man by Battel [6.] Ibidem But for his own self he might defend his own body or prosecute an injury done to him as breach of the King's Peace and might also defend the Right of his Fee and Inheritance by Combat [7.] Ibid. c. 3. In fine The Punishment of a Recreant The Battel ended the vanquished Person was (d) This was a great Penalty in those days and in the Saxon times one of the highest for great Crimes as appears every where in their Laws punished sixty shillings as a Recreant or Coward and moreover lost the Law of the Land [7.] Ibid. c. 3. In fine The Punishment of a Recreant And if the Champion of the Tenent or Defendant was overcome his Lord Patron or Master lost the Land claimed with the Profits and Commodities found upon it at the time of Seisin And could never afterwards be heard in Court again for the same for those things that were determined in the Kings Court by Duel were to remain firm for ever and thereupon a Precept was directed to the Sheriff That the Victor should have the Land which by Combat was proved to be his and should be put in Seisin of it by this [8.] Ibid. c. 4. A Writ of Seisin to the Victor after Battel Writ The King to the Sheriff Greeting I command you that without delay you cause M. to be seized or give him Possession of one Hide of Land in such a Town concerning which there have been a Plea or Controversie in my Court because the said Hide of Land was adjudged to him in my Court by determination of Combat witness Ranulph c. [9.] Ibid. c. 5. Thus it was if the Demandant prevailed in the Combat but if his Champion were overcome then the Tenent or Defendant was acquitted from his claim Thus much Glanvil of Tryal by Combat in Civil Cases In Criminal Cases it was also used Duel or Battel in Criminal Cases but more especially in Appeals of Treason and Murder And the manner of this Tryal [1.] Lib. 3. c. 18 Bracton delivers beginning thus of those which are taken for any Crime or great Felony as for the death of a man c. [2.] Ibid. n. 3. when the Delinquent was brought forth and accused in Court and confessed the Crime there was sufficient ground for a full and compleat Judgment But if he denied it and any one Appealed him of the Crime and that he did not except (e) There were many Exceptions to be taken many several ways in this way of Tryal Exceptions against an Appellant as first to the Person of the Appellant that he was Outlawed Perjured a Condemned Person or formerly had been Recreant and not made good his Proof c. any of which were reason enough to put him by his challenge if proved against the Appellant he had his choice whether he would be tried by his Country whether guilty or not or he might defend himself by his own body that is by Battel if he chose to be tried by the Country and repented him of it he could not try his Case by Duel but must have it decided by the Country and so on the contrary And taking upon him to defend himself by Battel [3.] Ibidem The Judge by his Office ought to examine whether all things rightly concurred for the joyning Battel [4.] Ibidem and if the Fact and Cause were sufficient and all things concurred well to warrant the Combat then the Appellate or Defendant gave Pledges or Security to defend himself and the Appellant to disprove or dirationate him and if the Appellate or Defendant were overcome The Defendant if overcome lost his Estate and Goods The Appellant if vanquished cast into Prison as a False Accuser he suffered capital Punishment and lost all his Estate and Goods But if the Appellant were vanquished he was committed to Prison to be punished as a False Accuser yet he was not to lose either Life
conquered it The Francs conquered Gallia And divided the Lands amongst their Souldiers Gentlemen such as served on Horse-back in the Declension of the Roman Empire that they distributed their conquered Lands amongst their Souldiers to whom was reserved the Dignity of Gentlemen and the management of Arms and from the ancient Gauls Inhabitants of the Country who were called Roturiers they took away the use of Arms and permitted to them the management of Rustick Affairs and Merchandize only and from thence came the distinction of Fiefe Noble and Roturier c. There were [2.] Spel. Gloss fol. 219. Hottom in lib. de disp Feud c. 6. F. three sorts of Military Fees Royal Fees as Dukedoms Counties Marquisates c. which held immediately of the Emperor King or Prince and was called tenure in capite And so less Estates and Offices in process of time that held immediately of the Crown or Person of the Prince then Mesne or mediate Fees which held not immediately of the Prince These Milites or Knights were Horsemen and these Military or Knights Fees given to maintain their Horse and Arms Hot. in lib. 2. Feud col 691. D. but of some of these Capitanei or Chieftains as Barons Vavasors Castellans c. lastly Military Fees or Knights Fees such as were held of those Mesn Lords and by them given to their Soldiers all these degrees of Fees were in Normandy as appears by the [3.] C. 34 35. Grand Customer where they also had all the Incidents of Military Fees Ward Marriage Relief Homage and Fealty and such Divisions into all these sorts of Fees were made of the greatest part if not * See Doomesday in every County and here Ap. n. 10. all the Lands in England by the Conqueror to his great men Commanders and Soldiers as is manifest by Doomesday-Book a Record without Exception And for the Incidents to these Tenures Escheat Ward Marriage Relief Homage Fealty Aids Escuage c. both according to their first rigorous Institution and afterwards qualified Condition we have a sufficient Information from all our ancient Historians and Lawyers that we received them from Normandy Forfeitures also were incident to these Fees many of which [4.] Gloss fol. 214 215. Forfeitures incident to Feudal Tenure Sir Henry Spelman hath collected from the Feudist and Feudal Laws and some of them do here follow Originally all Vassals held their Lands at the will of the Lord and whether they were Delinquents or not he might at his pleasure take them from them In point of Tenure they were much like our ancient Copy-holds at meer will and in this of Forfeiture they much resembled them and those also at this day Vid. Hot. de Feud Disp c. 38. col 886. D. E. c. It was a Forfeiture if thrice summoned to the Lords Court they neglected or refused to come and take up their Lands and do Fealty If they refused to do their Service or denied their Tenure it was a Forfeiture If they sold their Estates without leave of the Lord or if they sold it by any other Title than they had themselves it was a Forfeiture If they did any thing against their Oath of Fealty if they adhered to their Lords Enemies or did forsake him in time of War or Danger all these were Forfeitures If they committed any outragious wickedness which was called * See the Glossary Felony as Murder Robbery burning of Houses Rape c. and which was no Treason this likewise was a Forfeiture of their Lands and Estates to the Lord of the Fee And by committing Felony and the non-performance of the most of these things upon conviction the Tenents [5.] Coke compleat Copy-holder Sect. 57 58 Kitchin Tit. Copy-holder at this day forfeit their Lands and they Escheat to the Lord some by presentment of the Homage others immediately where the Fact is notorious And while we mention Tenents it will give some light to the knowledge from whence we received our Laws briefly to give an account of the Institution of Mannors here in this Nation as I find it in our Learned Glossarist [6.] Fol. 389. The first Institution of Maners Mannors from whence derived who says it was a Norman word and brought from thence and what the Saxon called a Praedium or Villa their Possessions in Land with the injoyment of Soc Sac Toll Team and other Priviledges the Normans called Maners a Manendo because such Possessions were ordinarily the Seats of the Lords The Saxon (d) Many of them had so but without doubt they had some Feudal Tenures or somewhat like them they with the Angli Jutes c. coming from the Cimbric Peninsula and the North Parts of Germany where such Tenures were General from whence the word Vassus Vassallus or Valvasor was derived to other Nations Hot. de Feud disp cap. 7.820 C. As also in their Neighbour Nations of Danemark and Norway Jurisdictions had their Origin from the Grants of their Kings They were Feudal but Maners had their beginning from Feudal Law or Right for whoever could dispose of Fees might justly give Laws to their Vassals erect Courts for passing of estates and take upon them all other Priviledges meerly pertaining to a noble Fee How they were instituted He further says at the beginning this was the course of instituting Maners for the most part different Lords possessed the Territories of every Town or Village and * See Doomesday Book every where how Villages and Towns are described with such Peopâ—e in them under the Proprietor cultivated it by their Servants Vassals and Husbandmen for at that time there were living in the Country only Military men Labourers or Husbandmen first the Lord designed the place of his own Habitation and annexed to it a plentiful Portion of Land for the maintenance of his Family which are yet called Terrae-Dominicae Demesn Lands [7.] Ibidem another share he gave to his Vassal or Vassals for their aid and assistance in War and these were called (e) I rather think these Fees to have been most whole at first and that in time by favour of the Lord they parcelled out and sold them and such a part of a Knights Fee was apportioned to such and such a man as Rents are amongst Copy-holders at this day where a Tenent sells part of his Copy-hold to one part to another There are many Instances of whole Mannors granted by the Service of one Knights Fee Robert Fitz-Roger 9. Richard the First had a Grant from him of the Maner of Eure in Buckinghamshire by the Service of one Knights Fee 1. Jonannis a Confirmation of the Castle Maner of Workeworth in Northumberland by the Service of one Knights Fee 5. Johannis the Maner of Newburn in the same County by the Service of one Knights Fee The Maner of Clavering in Essex by the same Service 7. Johannis the Maner of Robiri in Northumberland by the same Service of one
put their Judgments in Execution The Subjusticiers were Officers established under the Justiciers to do Execution such were Viscounts Serjeants of the Sword Bum-Bayliffs Bedells or under-Serjeants c. C. 5. with the Coment A Vicount in Normandy was an under Officer of the Law a Pedanens judge and was the very same with a Provost or a Viginer or Vicar who heard small and Ordinary Cases Pasqu Recherch fol. 860. D. Serjeants of the Sword The Office of the Vicount was to hold Pleas of antient Paths Ways Bounds Watercourses c. and to walk the Parish with twelve men of the same and by their Oath or the Oath of the greater part of them to inquire whose Lands lay next the Ways c. and cause them to be amended by those which held the Land accordingly he was to inquire by the Oath of twelve lawful men of Malefactors as Murderers Thieves Traytors Ravishers and other Criminals to keep them in Prison till they were delivered by the Law of the Country These had also under them Serjeants of the Sword who held the Views and made the Summons to them and executed the Precepts of the Assizes and what was judged there and to keep and deliver according to Law Distresses taken The Bedells were the less Serjeants which ought to take the Distress and to do Offices less honourable and to make the lesser Summons and these were in every good Town C. 6. Default Trespassment des Termes sont Appellez defaultes that is such as came not at the time appointed nor appeared in Court according to Summons or when they ought or performed not what they were then to perform were in Default Fealty No man in Normandy could receive Fealty from another without saving his Fealty to the Duke which is to be expressed in doing Homage And therefore the Duke hath the whole Justicement of the body of a man for or by reason of the Fealty that all men owe him If a Lord doth wrong to his man by reason of his Fee the Court then appertains to the Duke if there be no Mesne or Middle-Lord between the Duke and him which by reason of his Fee may have the Court. About Distresses taking Goods and impounding Cattle much used C. 7. as in use with us Of the times when many Lands are to be several or commune C. 8. the Vsage much the same as in England Judges were Sage Persons and Authentick C. 9. So it was in England Who anciently Judges in Normandy Bishops Abbats Priors Canons c. which gave Judgment in Court as Archbishops Bishops Canons of Cathedral Churches and other dignified Persons in Churches Abbats Priors Conventual and Governours of Churches famous for their Discretion and Honesty Bayliffs Knights Serjeants principal and Seneschals of Barons Famous for Knowledge and Honesty every of these might remain in Judgment if the Cause were not their own or they were no ways Parties nor had given Judgment nor were Witnesses in it nor were suspected for Love Favor or Hatred Barons ought to be judged by their Peers and others by all such as cannot be removed from Judgment i. e. such as were not suspected as before Antiently there was in Normandy a greater Justice than all the beforementioned which was called the Seneschal of the Prince C. 10. Seneschal of Normandy He was like the Missi Regales or Dominici in the old Empire or Itinerant Justices anciently that went their Circuits once in two three four five or six years he corrected all inferior Justiciers as Bayliffs c. and removed them from their Offices if he saw it convenient he preserved the Land of the Prince and made to be preserved the Laws and Rights of Normandy to which purpose he travelled every three years through Normandy and visited all the particular Baylywicks and inquired of the Injuries and Excesses done by the Sub-justiciers and also held Pleas of the Sword c. and in all things that belonged to his Office he might cause them to be amended without Pleas or Assizes and in all places where he found any thing amiss he might do as he thought expedient Custom Law and Usage C. 11. Custom Law and Vsage understood and practised in the same manner as in England All such as were Residents in the Dutchy of Normandy C. 14. All the Residents in Normandy sware Fealty to the Duke ought to swear Fealty to the Duke and keep it and therefore in all things they ought to be Loyal towards him and were not to procure his damage nor to give Council or Aid to his manifest Enemies such as were found culpable of any of these things were called Traytors to their Prince and all their Possessions remained to him always The Women in Normandy without consent of their Husbands C 15. could make no Contract or Bargain Wrec belonged to the Duke of great and rich things there named C. 1â— Wrec and of ordinary things to the Lord of the Fee all the Controversies arising from it were to be determined in the Dukes Court. Treasure Trove i. e. found or digged any where C. 18. Treasure Trove belonged to the Duke Waifs belonged to the Lord of the Fee or sometime to the Duke C. 19. Waifs c. according to Custom C. 20. And Glanv lib. 7. c. 16. The Chattels of Vsurers that died belonged to the Duke so to our Antient Kings C. 21. Felonâ— Goods were the Dukes The Chattels of such as killed themselves Excommunicate and Desperate Persons such to whom Confession and the Sacramenâ— was denied were the Dukes C 22. Moveables and Chattels forfeited to the Duke All Moveables forfeited belong to the Duke Moveables were the Chattels of such as were condemned by Judgment that were hanged burnt their Eyes pulled out or their hands or Feet cut off or banished c. C. 24. Assize what Assize was an Assembly of Knights and Sage men with the Bayliff in a certain place and at a certain time which contained the space of forty days between one Assize and another by which Judgment and Justice was done of such things as were heard in Court in these Assizes the Juries sometimes were brought to a Non-scavoir Non-scire Ibidem Juries brought in Ignoramus or Ignoramus And when nothing of Certainty or Credit was deposed the Inquest being first examined the Return or Verdict was L'enquest scet rien Ibidem Lands c. forfeited as in England The Lands and Estates and Profits of condemned Persons for Felony were the Dukes for a year and a day afterwards they were the Lords of the Fee of whom he held immediately so in England C. 25. The eldest Son Succeeds the whole c. In Fuedal Succession the Eldest Son succeeds in the whole and so it descends to the next of the Blood and never ascends when there is any of the descending Line remaining In the Latin Version of the Customer of Normandy
Grand Customer no Body that considers what [9.] Lib. 2 de Gest Reg. f. 44. b. n. 20 30 c. Malmsbury and other ancient Historians report of the Confessor that he was a weak easie man Edward the Confessor unfit to make Laws not fit for Government will ever believe he could contrive a System of Laws and so adapt them to the Genius and Humour of the Normans that they should quit their own and receive new Laws and Customs from him if it were not almost a Contradiction to call a Custom new I need not say more to satisfie any judicious Person that the Grand Customer of Normandy was the Law of that Country and not made by Edward the Confessor or carried over from hence by the Conqueror and shall therefore leave it with this farther Remark That if any men be more affected with Traditional than written Laws this Book hath that advantage likewise For [1.] Grand Custom 2d part fol. 69. before and after that Charles the Simple gave Normandy to Rollo and his Northern People unto the time of Philip [2.] Ibidem A. D. 1203. or thereabouts the August who caused them first to be put in order and written The Customs contained in it were a [3.] Epistle to the Custom of Normandy collected by George Lambert c. printed at Roven 1588. Cabal Traditional and unwritten for at least 800 years and were imposed upon his Subjects of England by William called the Conqueror But what answer would Sir Edward have made if he had been asked whether William did not also carry our Laws into old Germany for there in Normandy and England were in a great measure the same Laws only the Normans used a more formal and perhaps rigorous and strict method in the Practise and Execution of them which they brought hither From these Observations concerning the Laws in use at and presently after the Conquest I proceed to Authority Proof from Authority that our Laws were not the Norman Laws and undoubted Testimony of such as lived in or near those times for without Authority some men will not be satisfied Eadmer [4.] Hist Novor fol 6. n 10 20 30. writes that William designing to establish in England those Usages and Laws which his Ancestors and he observed in Normandy made such Persons Bishops Abbots and other Principal men through the whole Nation who could not be thought so unworthy as to be guilty of any Reluctancy or Disobedience to them knowing by whom and to what they were raised All Divine and Humane things he ordered at his pleasure and after the Historian hath recounted in what things he disallowed the Authority of the Pope and Archbishop he concludes thus But what he did in Secular Matters I forbear to write because it is not my purpose and also because any one may from what hath been delivered in Divine Matters easily guess what he did in Secular Somewhat also to this purpose Ingulphus [5.] Hist Croyland f. 512. a. b. All Earldoms Places of Honor and Profit given to the Normans informs us that by hard Usage he made the English submit that he gave the Earldoms Baronies Bishopricks and Prelacies of the whole Nation to his Normans and scarce permitted any English man to enjoy any place of Honor Dominion or Power But more express and full to this purpose is the account we have in [6.] De Necessar Scaccarii observ de Murdro in M. S. Calo-Gonvil p. 35. a.b. Gervasius Tilburiensis of the Conqueror's dealing with the Natives more valuable than the Testimony of a hundred others which he thus delivers After the Conquest of the Kingdom and just subjection of Rebels when the King himself and his great men had viewed and surveyed their new Acquests there was a strict enquiry made who there were which fighting against the King had saved themselves by flight From these and the Heirs of such as were slain in Fight all hopes of possessing either Lands or Rents were cut off for they esteemed it a great favor to have the benefit of their Lives But such as were called and urged to fight against William and did not if in process of time they could obtain the favor of their Lords and Masters by an humble obedience and obsequiousness they might possess somewhat in their own Persons without hope of Succession their Children only enjoying it afterward at the will of their Lords to whom afterwards when they became odious they were every where forced from their Possessions nor would any restore what they had taken away When a commune miserable Complaint of the Natives came to the King that they thus exposed and spoiled of all things should be compelled to pass into other Countries at length after Consultation upon these things it was Decreed that what they could by their deserts and lawful bargain obtain from their Lords Perhaps from hence might be the Original of Freeholds or Copyholds of inheritance after the Conquest they should hold by inviolable right but should not claim any thing from the time the Nation was overcome under the Title of Succession or Descent * Ibidem Upon what great Consideration this was done it is manifest when as they were obliged by a studied compliance and obedience to purchase their Lord's favor so therefore whosoever of the conquered People possessed Lands or such like obtained them not as seeming to be their right by Succession but as a reward for their Merits or by some intervening Agreement What I have here delivered upon this subject may probably meet with great prejudice from such especially who have or may read Sir Edward Coke's Prefaces to his third sixth eighth and ninth parts of his Reports his reading upon the Statute of Fines or other parts of his Works Sir John Davis his Preface to his Irish Reports Mr. Nathan Bacon 's Semper Idem The late Learned Lord Chancellors Survey of Hobbs his Leviathan p. 109 110. And many other works of eminent Persons of the long Robe or indeed any of our English Historians and therefore I am necessitated to dwell the longer upon it That I may give all just satisfaction to such as desire to inquire into the validity of their Arguments and Authorities by which they would perswade The Arguments used to prove the Common Law of England was not the Norman Law nay convince the World that the Common Law and Customs in use and practice in their times were the same that were in the Saxon times and never altered or changed by the Conqueror And beyond them all [7.] Epistle to the sixth part of his Reports Sir Edward Coke concurs in opinion with Sir John Fortescue that this Nation in the time of the Romans Saxons Danes and Normans was ruled by the same Laws and Customs and that they were not changed by any of these People which he [8.] In Preface to the eighth part of the Reports affirms he hath proved by many
and Dower [2.] Oblat 1. Johan m. 19. Fines for leave to Marry Robert Fitz-Roger gave 300 Marks for a Fine for Leave to Marry his Nephew to the younger Daughter of Hubert de Rie [3.] Rot. â—in â— Johan m. 9. William de Warenna gave 300 Marks for the Wardship or Custody of the Lands of Gilbert de Aquila and for the entrance into Farms Gersunna an Income is often found in Domesday as paid to the [4.] Gerv. Tilb. lib. 2. c. 13. Sheriff of the County who in these elder times stood charged in the Exchequer with the Kings Rents and Revenue all perhaps but the Oblata or Conventiones and some Fines or Mulcts that were charged upon particular Persons These were great Sums in the time of King John but greater in the Conquerors time And if we consider the frequency of these Payments most of the Lands in England being of this Tenure we must also think of the greatness of the Revenue arising from hence Also Penal Fines may be accounted part of this Branch John Earl of Warren had a [5.] Claus 3. Edw. 1. m 2. Penal Fines Fine of 10000 Marks laid upon him for assaulting and wounding Sir Alan Zouch and his Son in Westminster-Hall [6.] Claus 15. Edw. 1. m. 2. Hugh Despencer paid a Fine to the King of 2000 Marks for Marrying Isabell Widow of Patrick Chaworth Daughter of William Beauchamp Earl of Warwick without Licence Likewise to this Branch may belong all Forfeitures of Goods and pecuniary Mulcts for Crimes Murder not excepted which was then Penal * Gerv. Tilb. lib. 1. c. 23. Murder Penal and punished by a Pecuniary Mulct in some Hundreds it was 36 l. in others 24 l. according to the largeness of the Hundred all Fines and Pecuniary Punishments for Negligences Omissions Misdemeanors Trespasses Batteries Fightings Woundings c. which were all redeemed and satisfied by Penalties and Fines as well now as in the Saxon times and no Suits or very few Actions brought for them but when Actions began to be frequent for these things they still retained some shadow of the Kings Prerogative in them for in every Writ at this day wherein are these words Vi Armis by Force and Arms or Contra pacem Domini Regis against the Peace of our Lord the King if the Action comes to Trial there are some small inconsiderable Fines due to the King but whether ever paid into the Exchequer is a Question yet they are always levied by the Sheriff upon a Capiatur issuing out of the Office of that Name Money paid to the King to have Trials and Judgments Compositions or Money paid to the King to have Trials and Judgments in many Controversies which in these times were common and incident to the Tenure and Money paid for Liberty to sue and take forth Writs may be reckoned part of this Branch [7.] Obl. 2. Johan m. 14. Ebor. William de Stutevill gave 2000 Marks [8.] Hoved. fol. 456. b. n. 20 30 40. pro judicio habendo to have Judgment in the Barony of Frontebeof in a Controversie between him and William de Albany concerning that Barony which was determined by the Council of the Kingdom and Will of the King and Peace and final Concord made between them [9.] Rot. Pip. 2. Richard 1. Ebor. William de Latimer gave 100 s. to have a Trial at Law with Galfrid de Valoins who had possessed himself of part of his Park And many considerable Sums of Money I have met with given to obtain Writs in several cases in the times about and near unto the Conquest And this may be the reason why Glanvil so very often in â—his Treatise of the Laws and Customs of England hath these words Petens ac querens perquirit breve the Demandant or Plaintiff may purchase a Writ Hence 't is probable at first came the present usage of paying 6 s. 8 d. where the Debt is 40 l. 10 s. where the Debt is 100 l. and so upwards in Suits for Money due upon Bond. The last thing which may fall under this Branch were Tolls and Customs for Passage and Pontage Tolls and Customs for what paid Tolls and Customs for Liberty of Buying and Selling. Excise or Tolls and Customs upon [1.] Gervas Tilb. lib. 1. c. 21. Victuals and many other things Besides the ancient and greater Customs which are properly so called upon Merchandises This Toll for Liberty of [2.] LL. Ed. Con. c. 24. buying and selling for freedom of Markets and Fairs and protection in going to and coming from them was also in the Saxon times before the Conquest Therefore it was that Markets and Fairs were then kept and all things sold in good [3.] LL. Ed. Sen. c. 2. LL. Aethelst c. 12.13 Towns Castles and Ports only in the presence of the Magistrate of the place or Kings Officer And it was by Law Established in the [4.] LL. Will. 1. c. 61. No Markets but in Cities Burghs Castles c. Conquerors time that no Market or Fair should be permitted but in Cities Burghs Walled Towns and Castles where the Customs of the Kingdom the common Right of the King and Dignity of his Crown as they were Constituted and Established in the times of his good Predecessors might not be lost or violated [5.] Dav. Rep. fol. 12. b. Paid by all Nations Tolls were Originally imposed according to the value of things sometimes an eighth part sometimes a twentieth sometimes a fortieth and were ever paid by [6.] Ibidem Romans Brittains Saxons [7.] Lindinbr Codex LL. vet passim Tolls were farmed before and after the Conquest Germans and perhaps all other Nations After this rate in the Conquerors time they were of some value These were generally farmed both before and after the Conquest Yet Edward the Confessor kept in his own hands through all England these three Forfeitures as they are called in [8.] In Civit. Sciropesberie Domesday [9.] Domes fol. 1. col 2. Breach of the Peace Forstell viz. Cutting Cross Hedging or stopping up the Kings High-way and g Hein-â—are flight for Murder or perhaps taking away another Mans Servant [1.] Civit. Hereford in Domesday for every of which there was paid One hundred Shillings Crown Lands a third Branch of his Revenue A third Branch of his Revenue were Crown Lands being 1422 Maners [2.] Domesd in the several Counties or Lordships in several Counties besides several Farms and Lands in Middlesex Shropshire Rotelandshire in the last of which he had also 150 l. of Rent in white Money These with the (h) Escheats in general are taken in * Col. 1381. Gervase Tilb. for Reliefs Wardships and Marriage Fines also but more particularly they are interpreted as above written Escheats which were Lands and many times great Baronies forfeited to the King for (i) The word used in the same * P. 60. b. Author for Felony is Scelus
received the whole Country of Constantin now Contantin being then the third part of Normandy with the Cities Constance Auranches and the Monastery of St. Michaels Mount in the Sea c. Presently [7.] Ib. D. D. upon this Action of Duke Roberts in the first year of the Government of the two Brothers the chief Men that had An. Do. 1088. and were like to have great Estates in both Nations met to Treat about the division and separation of them one from another [8.] Ibid. fol. 666. A. The English and French Normans meet to Consult whether it were expedient England and Normandy should have two different Princes both of them having been under the Power and Government of their defunct Lord who by their assistance had Conquered England They were in a great straight what to do they could not serve two Lords so remote from one another [9.] Ibidem if they faithfully served Robert Duke of Normandy they should offend his Brother William and should lose their Lands and Honours in England and if they proved obedient to William Robert would deprive them of their Paternal Inheritance in Normandy [1.] Ibid. C. At last they resolved that seeing Robert was the elder and that they had Sworn Fealty to him in his Fathers Life time to set him up and make him Prince of England and Normandy for preservation of the Unity of both Nations [2.] Ibidem The chief Friends and Undertakers for Duke Robert This was the Agreement of Odo Bishop of Bayeux Eustacbius Earl of Bulloine They concluded to make Robert King of England and Duke of Normandy (b) Robert de Belesin e or de Bellismo castello [8.] Vales not Gal. in verbo Robert de Belesme who he was quasi bellisimo a Fair Castle in the County of Perch he was eldest Son to Roger de Montgomery Earl of Arundel and Shrewsbery and had the great Inheritance of his Father [9.] Orderic fol. 708. C. in Normandy when his second Brother Hugh de Montgomery enjoyed his Fathers Earldoms in England who dying without Issue they came to this Robert in the [1.] Ibidem 768. C. Tenth year of William Rufus for which he gave him 3000 l. Sterling as a Relief Robert de Belesin and many others which they Communicated to Duke Robert to whom if they would begin he promised sufficient Assistance for effecting their Design Therefore [3.] Ibidem after Christmass they passed into England fortified their Castles and in a short time stirred up a great part of the Country against the King [4.] Ibidem with these joyned Roger Earl of Arundel and Shrewsbery Hugh Grentmesnill Viscount of Leicester and many more very great Men in England or at least seemingly continued with William and favoured the design of Robert [5.] Ibid. D. who fortified Manned and Victualled their Castles and wasting the Countries almost all over the Nation expected Duke Robert with an Army out of Normandy at the Spring [6.] Ibidem King William observing the posture of his Affairs resolved to suppress these Insurrections and to that purpose Convoked Lanfranc Arch-Bishop Bishops Earls and Natural English Lanfranc the Arch-Bishop the other bishops and Natural English side with Rufus and shewed them his intention who exhorted the King to proceed against the Perturbers of the Peace and promised their ready Assistance [7.] Ibidem fol. 667. B. Rochester chosen as a place of advantage and fit for a Magazine Odo with some of the chief Normans who intended to set up Robert chose Rochester as a place of advantage and most fit for their chief Magazine being in the middle way between London and Canterbury near the Sea and near the Kentish Islands which were conveniently seated for the landing Forces and Warlike Provisions from whence at their pleasure they could keep a Correspondency with Duke Robert But [2.] Ibidem fol. 667. B. Rochester besieged Duke Robert lost the Town and Castle by sloath and want of diligence King William prevented their Designs by besieging the Town in the Month of May following where he shut up Odo Eustathius Earl of Bolloigne Robert de Belesme and many other Noblemen and Persons of inferior Rank who in vain expected the Assistance of Robert being detained only by ease and sloath from his promised Expedition [3.] Ib. C. D. The Defendents offer to yield upon Conditions out of the Town they were forced into the Castle where many perished by a raging Sickness and urged by many other necessities they sent out to King William that upon condition they might enjoy their Lands and Estates they would yield the Castle and for the future serve him faithfully as their Natural Lord. The King was angry at these Propositions Rufus denies their Conditions and sware he would take the Perfidious Traytors by force Hang and destroy them with divers kinds of death and to his Nobility having many Friends and Relations in the Castle perswading him to moderation [4.] Orderic fol. 668. B. he gave this Answer That whosoever spared Perjured Men Thieves Plunderers and Execrable Traytors took away quiet and peace from innocent Men and laid a foundation of innumerable Mischiefs to the good and harmless [5.] Ibid. D. but at length overcome by the intercession of his faithful Friends [6.] Ibidem 667. C. which were all the Bishops of England with the English Hugh Earl of Chester (c) [7.] Ibidem 669. C. He was an Esquire to Edward the Confessor and by him made Knight his Father was [8.] Ibidem Humfrid de Teliolo [9.] Ibidem fol. 512. b. Governor of the Fortress of Hastings and Son to Ansfrid the Dane His Mother Adeliza Sister to Hugh de Grentmoisnill Viscount of Leicester and Governor of * Ibidem Winchester He had his name of Rodeleds [1.] Domesd Cestrescire Atiscros Hundr or Roelent from the Castle and Territory of Roelent in the Marches of North-Wales of which he was Governor and General of all the Forces in Cheshire under Earl Hugh and not only defended it against the Welsh but Conquered much of North-Wales [2.] Ibidem which he farmed of the King for 40 l. per Annum [3.] Ibidem besides the Fee of Ross and Rowenloc which he held of the King twelve Miles in length and four in breadth Robert de Roelent William de Warrenna (d) He was Son of Haimon Earl of Corboile in Normandy [4.] Monast vol. 1. fol. 154. Col. 2. n 40. Robert Fitz-Haymon made Earl of Gloucester by Rufus and had the Estate of Brictric the Saxon Earl thereof to whom for the great Services he had done his Father and himself William Rufus gave the Earldom of Gloucester and the Possession of Brictric the Saxon who was Earl thereof before the Conquest The which Earldom and Possessions Queen Maâ—d enjoyed during her life and her Husband the Conqueror afterward This Robert had
Arch-Bishop Anselme in relation to Ecclesiastick Power and Jurisdiction [4.] Eadm fol. 14. lin 1. Rufus kept not the Promises he made to Lanfranc he brake many of the Promises he made to Arch-Bishop Lanfranc before and at his Coronation yet while he lived he abstained from many things though against his will and inclination [5.] Ibid. n. 10 20 30. but after his death which happened [6.] Flor. Wig. fol. 644. He let to farm Bishopricks and Abbies May 24. 1089. he kept the Bishopricks and Abbacies as they fell void in his own hands or let them to Farm and took the Profits of them to his own use allowing the Monks just so much as would maintain them amongst others the Church and Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury and Revenues thereof was then possessed and disposed of by the King to Secular uses [7.] Eadmer fol. 15. n. 30. which much troubled the Clergy and many of the Nobility that the Commune Mother of the Realm should be so long void of a Pastor At length the [8.] Ibidem fol. 16. n. 10 20 30 40. King falling Sick and being very Penitent made great Promises of ease and satisfaction to the Clergy and Nobility and being much pressed by them to make an Arch-Bishop of Canterbury he consented and enquired after a Person worthy of that Honour and Office They all perceiving the Kings inclination cried out with one accord (k) He was born in Ausburg in Germany and was first a Monk and then Abbat of the famous Monastery of Bec in Normandy [1.] Onuphr Chron Pont. Rom. An. 1080. At this time there were two [1.] Onuphr Chron Pont. Rom. An. 1080. Popes Guibert or Wibert Arch-Bishop of Ravenna called Clement the Third who was created by the means of the Emperor Henry the Fourth Anti-Pope to Gregory the Seventh Victor the Fourth Vrban the Second and Paschal the Second he was buried in the Cathedral of Ravenna Anno Domini 1101. and not long after by the Command of Paschal the Second his Body was taken up and burnt Abbat Anselme was the most worthy who brought to the King that he might receive the Investiture of the Arch-Bishoprick from his hands by the Pastoral Staff refused it affirming it might not be done [1.] Eadmer fol. 18. n. 10. Bishop Anselm pressed to accept the Arch-Bishoprick yet after very importune perswasions and pressures by the Bishops and Nobility he suffered himself to be with great Applause elected Arch-Bishop [2.] Ib. n. 40. An. Do. 1093. and had investiture of all things belonging to the Arch-Bishoprick both within it and without it on the Sixth of March 1093. But [3.] Ibidem fol. 19. n. 50. He demands Restitution of the Lands belonging to the Church of Canterbury before his Consecration he demanded of the King to restore all the Lands belonging to his Church which his Predecessor Lanfranc was possessed of without any Suit or Controversie and that he would consent he should have right done him concerning such Lands as had been in the possession of the Church and were then lost and not recovered [4.] Ibidâ—m fol. 20. lin 1. c. n. 10 20. He demands of the King to rest in his Advice in the things that pertain to God and â— Christianity He declares he had acknowledged Pope Vrban He also demanded of the King to rest in his Council before others in those things that pertain to God and Christianity and as he would have him for his Terrene Lord and Protector so the King would have him his Spiritual Father and Overseer of his Soul Also concerning (l) The other Pope at this time was [2.] Ibidem Anno 1088. Vrban a Frenchman Bishop of Ostia and acknowledged by the French and Italians he was created Pope at Terracina in Italy in March 1088. and died at Rome in August 1099. and was buried in St. Peters Church there Vrbane Bishop of Rome who the King had not yet received as Pope he said he had received him as such and should yield him all due obedience and subjection and gave him notice of it that no Offence or Scandal might arise about it for the future [5.] Ibidem n. 20 3â— The King loath to restore all the Lands The King was loath to restore all Lands but would have reserved such Lands of the Church [6.] Eadmer fo 20. n. â—0 as he after the death of Lanfranc had given to his Courtiers for particular Services and would have had Anselme consented that they might have holden them by Hereditary Right [7.] Ibidem Anselm would not consent to the alienation of any of the Church Lands but Anselme could not be brought to consent that the Church should be any ways spoiled of its Lands or Rights Hence arose the first difference [8.] Ibidem The cause of the first difference between the King and Lanfranc between the King and him about his Dignity Bishoprick and Prelatship which remained undermined during the Kings Life yet at present being urged by the [9.] Ib. n. 30. Clamour of all Men concerning the ruine and destruction of Churches A Council of the Nobility at Winchester Arch-Bishop Ansâ—lm did Homage to the King he held a Council of his Nobility at Winchester and by many great Promises of what he would do for the Church of God he perswaded Anselme to take upon him the Primacy of the English Church who induced by the Example of his Predecessor according to the Custom of the Land [3.] Eadm fol. 20. n. 30. Homo Regis factus est did Homage to the King as Lanfranc had done in his time and it was Commanded he should have seizen of the whole Arch-Bishoprick After [4.] Ibid fol. 21. lin 4. which going to take possession of it Thomas Arch-Bishop of York and all the Bishops of England met at Canterbury where he was Consecrated the Fourth of December 1093. [5.] Ibidem fol. 21. n. 30 40. fol. 22. n. 10. The King went into Normandy to take it from his Brother At that time the King endeavouring to take away Normandy from his Brother Robert wanted a great Sum of Money to accomplish his design and the new Arch-Bishop offered him 500 l. towards his Expedition which the King refused expecting at least twice so much And the King [6.] Ibid. fol. 24. n. 10 20. He presseth the King to restore the Church to its Pristine State preparing for his Voyage he expostulates with him about restoring the Church to its Pristine State and Condition which was lost and for the making Abbats in the Monasteries that were void [7.] Ibid. fol. 25. n. 10 20. Anselm falls from the Kings favour The King refuseth his Prayers and Blessings The King returns out of Normandy without success but would part with no Money not what he once offered although pressed by other Bishops saying he had given the greatest part of it to the Poor whereupon he fell from the
Kings favour who neither respected him as his Spiritual Father or Arch-Bishop and utterly refused his Prayers and Blessings At the Kings return into England after the expence of a vast Sum of Money without effect [8.] Ib. n 30. Anselm would go to Rome for his Pall. Anselm went to him to let him know his intention of going to the Pope to demand his Pall. The King asked him from which Pope he would require it [9.] Ibidem n. 40 50. The King is not willing he should No Pope to be owned without the Kings Licence he answered him from Vrban to which the King replied that as yet he had not acknowledged him Pope neither had it been the Custom in his or his Fathers time that any one in the Kingdom of England should nominate or accept of a Pope without their Licence or Election and whosoever should take from him this power did the same thing as if he should endeavour to take away his Crown Anselm wondring at these things rehearsed what before he had said to the King at Rochester That while he was Abbat of Bec he had recognised Vrban Pope and that he would not by any means depart from his obedience and subjection which words very much [1.] Ibid. fol. 26. lin 1. moved the King so as he protested that the Arch-Bishop against his will could not keep the Faith he ought to him and Obedience to the Apostolick See [2.] Ibidem A Council of all the Bishops Abbats and great Men of the Nation Anselm therefore desired a Council or Convention of the Bishops Abbats and all the Great Men of the Nation for the determination of this Question Whether he might saving his Revenue and Obedience to the Apostolick See keep his Faith to a Terrene King Which [3.] Ibidem n. 10. was granted and almost all the Nobility of the whole Kingdom met at Rockingham in the Church within the Castle the Eleventh of March by the Kings Order and Decree for the ventilateing of this Cause In which Convention Anselm made a Speech [4.] Ibidem n. 20 30 40. c. recapitulating how hardly he had been drawn to accept of the Arch-Bishoprick and only by their perswasion and that he had told the King he could not one hour depart from his Obedience to Pope Vrban and then with much perplexity urging the difficulty of his bearing Faith to both King and Pope asks the Bishops Advice in the presence of the Great Men who [5.] Ibidem fol. 27. n. 10 20 30. The Bishops advise Anseâ—m to obey the King in all things Anselms Speech to the Bishops and Great Men. unanimously advised him to submit and obey the King in all things But he told them since he gave him their Prince Counsel only according to the will of one Man meaning the King he would apply himself to the chief Pastor and Prince of all Men and would follow what Counsel he should receive from him in the business of his own Church Because it was said to Peter Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it and to thee I will give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatever thou bindest on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatever thou loosest in Earth shall be loosed in Heaven So also to all the Apostles in Commune it was said He that hears you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that toucheth you toucheth as it were the Pupil of my Eye And as things were taken to have been principally said to St. Peter and in him to the rest of the Apostles so we hold the same to be principally spoken to the Vicar of St. Peter and by him to the other Bishops Successors to the Apostles not to any Emperor King Duke or Count. Yet we are also taught in what things we ought to be subject to Temporal Princes Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and the things that are Gods unto God These are the Words these the Counsels of God these I approve these I receive from these I will not depart Wherefore ye shall all know in general that in the things that belong to God I shall yield Obedience to the Vicar of St. Peter and in those that of right belong to the Terrene Dignity of My Lord the King I will give faithful Counsel and assistance according to my utmost skill and power With this Discourse he [6.] Ibidem fol. 28. lin 8. distracted the thoughts and brake the unanimity of the Bishops and Great Men yet they urge him again [7.] Ibidem n. 20. that he knew the whole Kingdom complained against him that he endeavoured to take away the Crown from their Commune Lord [8.] Ibidem The Bishops advise Anselm to relinquish Vrban and submit to the King for whosoever takes away or destroys the Customs of Regal Dignity takes away both Crown and Kingdom and withal advise him to quit his subjection to Vrban and wholly submit himself to the Will of the King He gave them the hearing of these things but would in no wise deny his Obedience to the Pope This troubled [9.] Ib. f. 29. n. 40 50. The Bishops grow saint in the Kings Cause the King but much more when the Bishops by his perseverance grew faint and cold in this Affair and especially one of his chief Champions William Bishop of Duresme plainly affirmed nothing could be brought to enervate the Reasons of Anselme being founded upon the Word of God and Authority of St. Peter yet he [1.] Ibidem The King advised to take away Anselms Staff and Ring advised to oppress him by Violence and if he would not submit to the Kings Will to take away his Staff and Ring and Banish him the Kingdom [2.] Ibidem That Advice pleaseth not the Great Men. This Advice pleased not the Great Men to whom the King said If this don't please you what will And adds While I live I will not suffer an Equal in my Kingdom Notwithstanding the Courage of the King he so far gained [3.] Ibidem fol. 30. n. 10 20 30. Anselm baffled the Bishops by urging the Popes Authority and his own ovâ—r them upon the Bishops by urging the Popes Authority over him and his over them that they told the King they were sorry they were not able to satisfie him for being Primate not only of England but also of Scotland and Ireland with the adjacent Isles and they his Suffragans they could not reasonably Judge or Condemn him although he was faulty After much Debate in this matter [4.] Ib. fol. 31. n. 40 50. it was referred to a further Hearing until eight days after Whitsunday In the mean while the King Banished Baldwin a Monk Anselms chief Counsellor and two of his Chaplains which much afflicted and troubled him [5.] Ib. fol. 32. n 20. 30. During this Truce or Respite of
from his Fidelity and Industry that Henry at that time lost not the Kingdom of England And Robert failing in the trust reposed in the great Men and fearing to be Excommunicated by Anselm as an Invader made Peace with his Brother and dismissed his Army Florence [4.] Fol. 650. lin 27. of Worcester says as above that very many of the great Men sent for Duke Robert over and promised him the Crown and Kingdom and coming they did some of them adhere to him and others dissembling their Kindness and Affection to him staid with the King But the Bishops Common Soldiers or Stipendiaries and English remained with him being unanimously ready to fight for him The two Brothers are reconciled by the Mediation of Wise Men. The Terms of Peace At which time the Wise Men on both sides consulted together and by their Mediation made Peace between the Brothers on these Conditions That Robert should yearly receive 3000 Marks and that all such as had their (d) In the Latine Honores suos which signifies strictly the Seat and Head of the Earldom or Barony but generally Earldoms Baronies and Honourable Estates Earldoms and Baronies taken from them in England for their Fidelity to the Duke and all those that had the like Estates taken from them in Normandy for their Fidelity to the King should have them again freely without Compositions Ordericus Vitalis gives a third Relation of this Transaction In the year of our Lord [5.] Fol. 785. An. Do. 1101. says he 1101. the Seditious great Men fearing the Magnanimity of King Henry and loving the easiness of Sloathful Duke Robert sent to him that he would suddenly provide a Fleet to transport himself [6.] Ibidem fol. 786. A. that is to say Robert de Belism his two Brothers (e) He was so called because [9.] Malms f. 88. b. n. 30. Rogerus Pictaviensis who he was Domesd in iisdem Comitat. His great Estate he Married a Poictovis Woman and was the same Roger Pictaviensis who in the Conquerors Survey is said to have possessed all the Lands between the Rivers Rible and Mersey in Lancashire and so much more as made 188 Maners in that County 76 in Yorkshire three in Essex 59 in Suffolke 11 in Nottinghamshire seven in Derbyshire 10 in Norfolke 44 in Lincolnshire in all 398. Roger the Poictovin and Arnulph William de Warrenna Earl of Surrey and Walter Giffart Ivo de Grentemaisnil Robert the Son of Ilbert and many others who first privately entred into a Confederacy and then publickly advanced the Dukes Title Anselm the Arch-Bishop and all the Bishops and Abbats and all the Clergy and English adhered to their King as also did Robert Earl of Mellent and others [7.] Ib. 787. B. Aug. 1. In Autumn Robert landed at Portsmouth where he was received of the Nobility who had long since done him Homage The two Brothers remained with their Forces in a [8.] Ibid. fol. 788. A. B. C. Plain some days and there was daily an Intercourse of Messengers between the Noblemen on both sides without effect At length only the two Brothers by consent without any Assistants met between the two Armies and after some Discourse agreed That Robert should quit his Claim to England and release the Homage his Brother had done to him in respect of the Royal Dignity That Henry should yearly pay to him 3000 l. Sterling and render up to him the whole Country of Constance and all he possessed in Normandy except Damfront They also then agreed upon mutual Assistance and that they should resume all their Fathers Lands and Demeasns And lastly That they should equally punish the Fomenters of Discord and Contention on both sides After this Agreement the Duke staid here two Months and then he returned and with him William de Warrenna and others that had lost their Estates in England for his sake Not long after [1.] Ord. Vit. f. 804. C. D. The Duke mediates for the Restitution of the Earldom of Surry to William de Warrenna The King rebukes him for it William de Warrenna made a sad Complaint to the Duke that for his Cause he had lost his Earldom of Surrey of the yearly value of 1000 l. and prevailed with him to come over into England to mediate with the King for the Restitution thereof But moving him in this matter he upbraided him with breach of the Peace for not bringing Publick Traytors to Punishment and not exercising a due severity upon Turncoats telling him he had that very year kindly received Robert de Belesin and given him his Fathers Possessions the Castle of Argentoile the Bishoprick of See's and the Forest of Golfer [2.] Ibidem fol. 805. A. Duke Robert releases the Annual payment of 3000 l. The Earl of Surry is restored To all which was charged upon him the Duke humbly promised amendment and at the Instance of the Queen he released the Annual payment of 3000 l. whereupon the King was reconciled to him renewed the former Peace and restored William de Warrenna to his Earldom who ever after remained faithful to Henry and was numbred among his chiefest Friends After King [3.] Ord. Vit. fol. 787. B. 804. C. Henry had made Peace with his Brother and was confirmed in his Kingdom he began by degrees to punish such Traytors as deserted him and adhered to and invited over Duke Robert He summoned to Trial Robert Mallet Ivo de Grentemaisnil Several Traitors summoned to Trial. Robert de Pontefract the Son of Ilbert Lacey and Robert de Belism the greatest of them all with many others yet not all at once but severally at divers times and after divers ways he impleaded them as guilty of violation of their Faith Some were Fined others lost their Estates Some of them that could not purge themselves of the Crimes wherewith they were charged he condemned in great Sums of Money and from others which he most feared and suspected he took away their Estates and banished them When the mighty Earl [4.] Ibidem fol. 806. A. An. Do. 1102. Robert de Belism summoned to Trial. Robert de Belismo was summoned to the Kings Court there were objected to him forty five Crimes in Words and Deeds committed against the King and his Brother the Duke of Normandy and he was Commanded to Answer openly to every one of them for the King by the space of a year had set Spies upon him who observed and committed to Writing all his oblique Actions He being thus charged asked leave He flies to his Castles as the Custom was to go to Counsel with his Friends and having obtained it knowing he could not purge himself of the Transgressions objected to him in great fear he fled to his Castles while the King with his Barons were expecting his Answer The Kings Serjeant came and informed them that Robert had made his escape The King issues a Proclamation against him to appear He fortifies his Castles
the Enemies of the Church sent Ambassadors to Philip King of France and called to him Geofrey Martell Earl of Anjou and Manfully Chastised the Enemies of the Church In the year 1106 in the [8.] Ibid. fol. 818. C. D. He attempts the Conquest of Normandy Spring King Henry went again into Normandy with design to take it from his Brother Robert and having Hired Elias Earl of Main and his Forces besieged the City Bayeux of which Gunter Dauney was Governor he went out to the King and delivered to him Robert Fitz-Haymon whom he had taken Prisoner some time before but would not deliver the City He burns the City of Bayeux forthwith the King attempts fires and burns it to the ground took the Governor and Garison Prisoners The Governors of other places were much affrighted at the destruction of this City and the People of Caen the King marching to them Caen yields to him sent to him and yielded upon Summons expelling Engeran Fitz-Ilbert their Governor For this Service the King gave to four of the chief Citizens Dalington in England worth Fourscore Pounds per Annum From hence he proceeds to Falais but had not the same success Falais beats off his Army having been beaten off by the Garison In the mean time [9.] Malms f. 88. b. n. 40 50. William Earl of Mortain demands the Earldom of Kent William Earl of Mortaigne Son of Robert the Kings Uncle not content with two Earldoms that in Normandy and Cornwall in England demanded of the King the Earldom of Kent which his Uncle Odo sometime held who not only refused what he asked but by Judicial Proceeding took from him what he held The King takes from him the Earldom of Cornwall without right For this being in great fury with the King he went into Normandy [1.] Ib f. 89. a. n. 10. He joyned himself to the Duke and Robert de Belism and joyned himself to the Dukes Party and with Robert de Belism and others firmly adhered to him and with Fire and Sword prosecuted King Henry's Friends for which he took away from him all he had in England and levell'd his Castles with the Ground [2.] Ord. Vit. f. 819. D. 820. A. B. The King streightens Tenerchebray And a while after gathered some Forces together in Normandy built a Fort near his Town of Tenerchebray now Tinchebray and put a Garison into it with intention so to streighten it as to make it yield Notwithstanding William being a stout young Man with some Companies of Soldiers relieved it at which the King was much angry and calling together his Army laid Siege to the Town whereupon Earl William sollicited the Duke Robert de Belism The Duke c. endeavours to relieve it and other his Friends for Assistance to raise it and he obtained it There were with the Duke besides these two great Earls Robert de Stoteville William de Ferrariis and many others with their Forces The King had with him Elias Earl of Main William Earl of Eureux Robert Earl of Mellent William Earl of Warren and these great Barons Ranulph of Bayeux Ralph de â—onches Robert de Monteforti and Robert de Grentmaisnil and many others with their Clients There were more Knights or Horsemen on the Kings Party and most Foot on the Dukes Before this place they came to a Battle The Battle of Tenerchebray The Dukes Army routed wherein the Dukes Army was routed The particulars of which Victory will appear in King Henry's Letter to Arch-Bishop Anselm which will be presently mentioned The disagreement in Chronology between the English and Norman Monks As to the certainty of the time of these Transactions neither the English or Norman Monks do exactly agree one with another but certain it is that King Henry plied between England and Normandy according to the exigency of Affairs [3.] F. 80. â—in 1. Eadmer reports that he was in Normandy in the year 1104. and almost subdued all of it the People having a mean Esteem of his Brother and that almost all the great Normans presently upon his coming despising their Lord the Duke quitting their Faith they ought him ran after the Kings Gold and Silver and delivered him Cities Castles and Towns [4.] Ibid. fol. 83. n. 20 30. But not being at that time able to Conquer the whole Dukedom he returned into England that he might furnish himself with Money sufficient to subdue what remained under the power of his Brother King Henry used strange ways for raising Money and so totally disinherit him In the Collection of this Money new ways and strange Exactions were used new and unheard of Forfeitures were invented which reduced the People to great Misery not daring to plead against the King and such as would or could not pay were imprisoned and tortured [5.] Ibidem fol. 84. lin 3 4. n. 20. These Exactions fell hard upon the Clergy by which he lost their good opinion and brought an odium upon [6.] Fol. 85. n. 10. himself He observing these things hastned his Reconciliation with Anselm who coming into [7.] Ibid. fol. 89. n. 40. f. 90. n. 10. King Henry gives Anselm an Account of his Victory of Tenerchebray England the King wrote to him a Letter of his Victory at Tenerchebray in which he tells him that Robert Earl of Normandy with all his Troops of Horse and Foot that he could either by Intreaty or Money get together at an appointed time fought sharply with him before Tenerchebray That he had beaten him with small loss on his side and that Divine Mercy had given into his hands the Duke of Normandy The Particulars of that Victory Vsque ad 400 Milites 10 Millia peditum and Earl of Mortain William Crispin William Ferrers Robert Stotevile the elder and others to the number of 400 Knights or Horsemen and Ten thousand Foot together with Normandy it self [8.] Ibid. fol. 90. n. 20 30. Robert Duke of Normandy sent Prisoner into England Many ascribed the obtaining of this Victory to the Peace he made with Anselm after which having settled his Affairs there sending before him the Duke and Earl of Mortain in safe Custody he returned into England a while after [9.] Malms f. 89. a. n. 30. This Battle was fought the day before Michaelmass-day In the [1.] Ord. Vit. f. 822. A. A great Council called in Normandy middle of October the King came to Lisieux Convened all the Optimates or Chief Men of Normandy and held a most profitable Council for the Church of God wherein he Decreed by Royal Sanction That there should be firm Peace kept throughout all the parts of Normandy That all Rapacities Robberies and forcible Entries and Warlike Invasions upon Estates being suppressed all Churches might enjoy their Possessions as they did the day his Father died and that other Lawful Heirs might possess theirs He took into his own possession all his
says That the King by Edict commanded a meeting of the Bishops Abbats and Principes or chief Men of the Kingdom at Salisbury on the Twentieth of March that he might make his Son William Heir of the Kingdom and secure the Title to him The Princes or Chief Laymen knowing the Kings mind readily did Homage and Swear Fealty to him The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and other Bishops and Abbats Swore That if he should out-live his Father they would laying aside all claims whatsoever put him in possession of the Crown and Kingdom and that when he should be King they would faithfully do him Homage Malmsbury [2.] F. 93. a. n. 30 40. All the Military Tenents in England compelled to do Homage to Prince William declareth this Transaction more fully affirming That all the Freemen of England and Normandy of whatsoever Order or Dignity or to what Lord soever they were Vassals or Tenents were compelled to do Homage and Swear Fealty to William the Son of King Henry and Queen Maude She died the [3.] Ord. fol. 843. B. Anno Domini 1118. First of May and was buried at Westminster and on the Ninth of June following died [4.] Ibidem Robert Earl of Mellent King Henry's great Counsellor It is said before that Almeric de Monteforti was Sisters Son and Heir to William Earl of Eureux who now again demands [5.] Ibid. C. A new War in Normandy many Noblemen Conspire to set up William Son to Duke Robert of the King that Earldom which he utterly denied to grant him by the Advice of Audin Bishop of that City He therefore took Arms against the King and excited almost all France to do the like The Governor of Eureux William Pointel delivered the City to him and the Bishop with his Clerks and Vassals were forced to flee from thence There joyned with him Robert de Gournay Stephen Earl of Albamarle Eustachius of Breteul Richard de Aquila Robert de Newburgh and many others who rose up against Henry and endeavoured to Establish William the Son of Duke Robert in his Fathers Estate [6.] Ibid. D. With these also joyned Baldwin Earl of Flanders who entred that part of Normandy called Tellau and burnt many Towns of whose Flames the King and his Normans were Spectators he fortified Bures and because he suspected most of the Normans he put a great Garison of Stipendiary Britans and English into it Baldwin comes before it provokes the Garison to fight where he was wounded and some time after died of his Wounds and without Issue They [7.] Ib. f. 844. D. 845. C. received likewise Assistance from the King of France and Duke of Anjou on both sides they plundered the Country took and burnt Castles and Towns On the Nones [8.] Ibid. fol. 846. B. C. A great Council at Rouen or Fifth of October there was a Council summoned at Rouen there King Henry Treated of the Peace of the Kingdom with Ralph Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the other Barons he had called together There Geofry Arch-Bishop of Rouen spake about the State of the Church with his four Suffragan Bishops Richard of Baieux John of Lisieux Turgis of Auranches and Roger of Constance and with many Abbats Serlo Bishop of Seez was not at this Council being excused by reason of his Age and Infirmity and Audin Bishop of Eureux excused himself as being employed against the Common Enemies of the Country The War still continued in [9.] Ibid. fol. 848. B. C. The War continues in Normandy Normandy and every day almost brought the King news of some considerable Norman or Castellan revolting from him amongst whom Eustachius de Breteul an Illegitimate Son of William Earl of that place was one who had Married Julian one of King Henry's Natural Daughters he demanded great things of his Father in Law and because he would not grant them he fortified four Castles against him [1.] Ibid. fol. 850. A. Anno Domini 1119. Yet some repenting of what they had done came and submitted to the King and made their Peace with him The first was Robert Son of Ascelin Goell whose example many followed The King sent to Almaric offered him his Earldom of Eureux and invited him to accept of his favour but he refused it [2.] Ibid. fol. 851. A. The Adherents to King Henry were English Barons of Norman Extraction The Optimates or great Men which faithfully adhered to the King were Richard Earl of Chester Ralph de Conches William de Warrenna William de Rolmara William de Tancardi-villa Ralph de Sancto Victore Walter Giffart Nigell de Albiney and his Brother William and the Sons of Robert Earl of Mellent Waleran and Robert In the Month of [3.] Ibid. B. Peace concluded Prince William Marries the Earl of Anjou's Daughter May this year Prince William came from England into Normandy much to the joy of his Father who sent Mediators for Peace to Fulke Earl of Anjou and invited him kindly to his Court after the Peace was concluded between them And in the Month of June [4.] Ibid. C. the Prince was Married at Lisieux to the Earls Daughter and then the King by the Mediation of the Earl received into favour William Talvace the Son of Robert de Belism and restored to him all his Fathers Estate in Normandy After this [5.] Ibid. D. King Henry burns the Towns and Castles of his Enemies Henry marched up and down Normandy to revenge himself upon his Enemies and burnt their Castles and Towns He besieged Eureux and after he had [6.] Ibid. fol. 852. B. C. burnt that Town and the Cathedral took it While both Fire and Sword raged in the bowels of Normandy the King of France invaded it [7.] Ibid. fol. 853. C. The King of France invades Normandy on that side toward France and came as far as Audely upon the River Seyn and wished he could meet the King of England in the open Field who hearing of it gave him his desire and marching towards him came into the Plain of [8.] Ibid. fol. 854. A. The Battle of Brenivill Brenivill near the Mountain Guarclive with 500 Horse amongst whom were the Kings two Natural Sons Robert and Richard excellent Soldiers and three Earls Henry of Ou William de Warrenna and Walter Giffard and many others of great Note Edward of Salisbury carried the Banner [9.] Ibidem B. C. D. Lewis of France seeing what he had long wished for drew out 400 Horse and amongst them was William Duke Roberts Son engaged that he might deliver his Father from Prison and recover his ancient Inheritance There were also Matthew Earl of Beaumont Guido Earl of Clarmont Otmond de Chaumont William de Guarlanda General of France Peter de Manley Philip de Mont-Bray Burchard de Montmorency Baldric de Bray William Crispin The French are beaten and many other Normans They joyn Battle the French are beaten and lose 140 Horse Guido Otmund Burchard and
Consecration [6.] Ib. f. 97. n. 40 50. which Anselm supposed he did on purpose to avoid his profession of Obedience to the See of Canterbury or that he would not come to Canterbury to be Consecrated as the Custom then was and suspecting he might without his knowledge procure a Pall from the Pope he wrote to him not to send him one in diminution of the Rights of the See of Canterbury and had his desire granted Many [7.] Ib. f. 97 98 99 100 101 102. Epistles passed between them in this Contest at last Anselm prohibited Thomas under a perpetual Anathema that the should not receive Benediction to the Bishoprick of York [8.] Append. n. 32. Anselm sends his Epistlâ—s against Thomas Elect of York to all the Bishops until he had made his Profession of due Subjection to the Church of Canterbury and involved all the Bishops of England in the same if they laid hands on him at his Consecration or Communicated with him as a Bishop if he he were Consecrated by any Foreign Bishops He sent every Bishop of England one of these thundring [9.] Ibid. f. 102. n. 30. Epistles against Thomas under his Seal that they might observe the Contents of it Anselm [1.] Ibidem n. 40 50. An. Do. 1109. Anselm dies died April 20. 1109. and the King held the Feast of Pentecost next following at London in great Worldly Glory and Rich Appearance The Feasting days over he began to Treat with the Bishops and Princes of the Kingdom what was to be done concerning the Consecration of the Elect of York [2.] Ibidem f. 103. n. 10 20 30 c. The Bishops stand close to the Contents of Anselms Epistle The King awed by Anselms Excommunication The Bishops stick close to the Contents of Anselm's Epistle and resolve to lose all rather than recede from them Robert Earl of Mellent began to Expostulate with them how any of them dare receive such a Letter without the Kings Consent and Command They declare their resolution in the observation of it The King complied and professed he would not be one hour subject to the Excommunication of Anselm and therefore appointed Thomas according to the ancient Priviledges of the Church of Canterbury and Decree of his Father in the time of Lanfranc to make his Profession or [3.] Ibidem n. 50. he should not have the Arch-Bishoprick of York which he did having considered the Authorities by which it was supported [4.] Ibidem f. 104. n. 10 20. and his Profession was (l) Professio ne quid mutaretur Sigillo regio inclusa Literae sigillo regio inclusae fol. 101. n. 30. Literae sigillo regio repositae fol. 86. lin 9. They were wound up in Wax and had the impression of the Kings Seal Such as these were called Literae Clausae Close Letters or Writs and the Literae extra sigillum pendentes were the Letters Patents or Literae Patentes and the ancient Rolls upon which these were Entred and Recorded are to this day called the Patent and Close Rolls included in the Kings Seal that nothing might be altered He was Consecrated the Twenty eighth of July by the Bishop of London and other Bishops being Sunday in St. Pauls Church and read his Profession in this Form The Form of the Profession of the Arch-Bishop of York I Thomas which am to be Consecrated Metropolitan of the Church of York do profess Subjection and Canonical Obedience to the Holy Church of Canterbury and to the Primate of the same Church Canonically Elected and Consecrated and to his Successors Canonically inthroned saving the Fealty of my Lord Henry King of England and the same Obedience due from me that Thomas my Antecessor for himself professed to the Roman Church [5.] â—lor Wig. fol. 654. On the First of August he received the Pall at York sent from the Pope by Cardinal Vlric and the same day Consecrated Turget Prior of Duresm Bishop of St. Andrews in Scotland At next Christmass the Kingdom of England met according to Custom at the Kings Court at London [6.] Eadm fol. 105. lin 3. n. 10. A Contest between the Bishop of London and Arch-Bishop of York about Crowning the King where there was a great and high Solemnity The Arch-Bishop of York fitted himself to Crown the King that day and Celebrate Mass in stead of the Primate of Canterbury but the Bishop of London would not permit him who as Dean of the Province placed the Crown on the Kings Head and lead him by the right hand into the Church and performed the Office of the day In this Council [7.] Ibidem n. 20. was agitated the Cause of the Priests which had been forced from the Company of Women in the time of Anselm many of them rejoycing at his death promising themselves their old Liberty but it happened contrary to their expectation for the King whom many feared more than God The King would not permit Priests the Conversation with Women by his Law forced them whether they would or not to the observation of the Council of London at least according to outward appearance But [8.] Ibidem n. 40 50. behold saith my Author some Abbats which were deposed for Simony in that Council either obtained for Money those Abbies which they had lost or others from Laymen Their Bishops and Arch-Deacons for Money permit them the use of Women And those which were called Priests or Canons the Kings Edict growing faint by an infamous Commerce prevailed with their Bishops and Arch-Deacons that they might enjoy such Harlots as they had forsaken or take others which pleased them better And further such as wore long Hair who were certainly Excommunicated by Anselm [9.] Ibidem fol. 106. lin 1. did so abound and so boast of the Womanish and Ignominious length of it that such as did not wear it they called by the opprobrious name of Clown or Priest When Anselm was dead [1.] Ibid fol. 109. n. 10 30. King Henry took the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury and all that belonged to it into his own hands according to the Example of his Brother William and so kept it five years when he caused the Bishops and Princes or chief Men of England to meet at Windsor as desirous to have their Advice in making of an Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and on the Twenty fifth of April the [2.] Ibidem fol. 110. n. 10 20. An. Do. 1114. Ralph Bishop of Rochester made Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Bishops desiring and the King assenting to it Ralph Bishop of Rochester was chosen Arch-Bishop and it being declared to the Multitude they rejoyced wonderfully On the Seventeenth of May he came to Canterbury and was gloriously received of the Clergy and Laity and inthroned by the Bishops passing the first days of his Entrance in mighty Pomp and great Splendor This done the King designed speedily to go for Normandy yet taking the opportunity of this
fortified and Manned his Castle of Exceter against him which the King besieged and at last it was for want of Victuals delivered to him The Defendents had liberty to go whether they would and carry what they would with them The Earl went into the Isle of Wight with [6.] Ibidem f. 937. A. B He is driven out of the Isle of Wight and goes to the Duke of Anjou design to keep that against the King but he followed him so close that he soon drove him out there and took it from him and all his other Lands and Estate and banished him who then went to the Duke of Anjou and was there received very kindly Elated with this success he came to Hunt at * Hen. Hunt f. 222. a. n. 10. The King troubles the Noblemen about their Woods and Hunting Brampton near Huntingdon and held Pleas concerning the Forests of his Noblemen that is concerning their Woods and Hunting and broke the Vow he had made to God and the People This year David King of Scots [7.] Ricard Hagulstad Col. 312. n. 40 50 60. David King of Scots invades England King Stephen and he make Peace Carlisle granted to him his Son Henry made Earl of Huntingdon c. entred Northumberland and seized the Towns of Carlisle Werke or Warke Alnwick Norham and New-Castle and intended to take in Durham but King Stephen coming thither with an Army prevented him whereupon the two Kings appointed an Interview and made Peace between their selves The King of Scots restored New-Castle Warke Norham and Alnwick and had Carlisle given to him Stephen also gave to Henry his Son the Earldom of Huntingdon which had been King Davids and the Town of Doncaster and all that belonged to it In the year 1137. King Stephen in the beginning [8.] Malmsbr f 101. b.n. 50. King Stephen goes into Normandy Earl Robert follows him of Lent sailed into Normandy Robert Earl of Gloucester having tried his Friends and knowing who were faithful followed him at Easter By the Contrivance of [9.] Ib. f. 102. 4. lin 2. King Stephen useth treacherous Practises against him The particulars of the Treachery not expressed by the Historian King Stephen returns out of Normandy William de Ipre after he was come into Normandy King Stephen endeavoured to intercept him by Treachery but having notice of the practise from one that was privy to it he escaped and came not to Court though often invited for many days afterward The King was troubled his Design took not effect and thought to extenuate the greatness of the fault by confessing it making Oath according to a form given by the Earl that he would never for the future consent to such wicked Contrivances This he did but could never be a true Friend to the Earl whose Power he suspected The King after he had made [1.] Hen. Hunt f. 222. a. n. 20 30. His Son Eustachius doth Homage for that Dukedom Peace with the King of France and his Son Eustachius had done Homage to him for Normandy and settled all things there he returned into England * Order vit f. 911. D. Earl Robert troubled about his Sister leaving William de Rolmara Roger the Viscount and others his Justiciaries to manage Affairs as if he were present In the mean while Robert stayed there often thinking of the Oath he had made to his Sister and what he ought to do for her that he might not be noted for Perfidiousness The next year in England happened many intestine [2.] Malmsb Histor Novell f. 102. a. n. 20 30 40 50. A. D. 1138. King Stephen to maintain his Cause was forced to give Lands Castles and Honours to his Followers Commotions many of the Nobility and other Confident daring Men demanded of the King some Lands others Castles and what ever else they had a mind to and if he delayed them in obtaining their desires by Excuses that he could not do it without prejudice to the Kingdom and that such things were either claimed or possessed by others they forthwith fortified their Castles or erected Places of Strength wasted the Kings Lands and plundered his Tenents To suppress these Defections he suddenly marched from place to place and used great labour and industry to no purpose until by giving them Honours or Castles he purchased a Counterfeit Peace Many new Earls he made and to support their Honours gave them Crown Lands and Revenues These Men were more Confident in asking He made many new Earls and gave them Crown Lands and he more Profuse in giving by reason of the common Report through the Nation that Robert Earl of Gloucester intended to assist his Sister and within some competent time to defie the King before he attempted it This was done presently after Whitsunday The Earl of Gloucester defies the King He was encouraged to it by Religious Men and the Popes Decree by sending Messengers from Normandy to the King to whom he renounced his Faith and Homage because he had unlawfully aspired to the Kingdom To this he was encouraged by the Answers of many Religious Men he had Consulted in this Business that he could neither pass this Life without Ignominy nor be happy in the Life to come if he neglected the Oath made to his Sister Their Answers were the more prevalent with him being backed with the Popes Decree which Commanded he ought to observe the Oath he made to his Sister in the presence of his Father The King deprived him of all his Possessions he could in England levelled all his Castles except that at Bristol which was a great Check and impediment to the success and progress of all his Affairs The [3.] Ibidem b. n. 10. Anno Domini 1139. Upon the Report of Earl Roberts coming for England many forced to deliver their Castles Report that Earl Robert was coming with his Sister out of Normandy spread more and more about the Nation in hopes whereof many fell from the King and many others which were in the Court Upon suspicion only he imprisoned and by other hardships forced them to yield their Castles and to such other Conditions as he pleased It was noted at this time that Roger Bishop of Salisbury had built two [4.] Ibidem n. 20. The Bishop of Salisbury built the Castles at Devises Malmsbury and Sherborn The Bishop of Lincoln built the Castle at Newark The Bishops envied Complaints made of them to the King famous and splendid Houses with Towers and Turrets after the manner of Castles one at the Devises in Wiltshire another at Sherborn in Dorsetshire That he had begun to build a Castle at Malmsbury and that formerly he had procured to himself the Custody of Salisbury Castle from King Henry and inclosed it with a Wall and likewise that his Nephew Alexander Bishop of Lincoln had built a Castle at Newark as he said for the safety and Dignity of his Bishoprick This brought upon them Envy from the Earls and
Comitis Radulfi Ralph's Father was Walter de Mâ—dunta now Mant in or near Normandy who Married Goda King Edwards Sister and was a Norman or Frenchman This John Fitz-Harold had the Seat of his Barony at Ludley Castle in Gloucestershire from whence he was sometimes called John de Ludleagh John Fitz-Harold who had deserted the King and gone over to the Earl There he stayed two days Sis Soldiers Rapine and rendred Evil for Evil bringing many Men with their Goods and live Cattle to Worcester Not long after the King came from Oxford to Worcester with a great Army and saw what had been reported concerning the destruction of it From thence he went to Oxford again and from thence to Salisbury where he kept his Christmass After that Solemnity he came to [4.] Ibidem f. 674. An. Dom. 1140. Reding and there lay a while and Recruited his Army and marched toward the Isle of Ely the Bishop whereof he always suspected there he found some Resistance but the Bishop seeing he could not defend it against the force of the Army fled to Gloucester to the Earl The Isle of Ely taken by King Stephen The King placed a Garison in the Isle and returned to Worcester with the Earl thereof and a very great Army with which he went to reduce Hereford In the mean while he remained before that place * See all these Practises affirmed by William of Malmsbury f. 105. a. n. 10 20. The Earl of Worcesters further Revenge he burns Tewksbury and returns to Worcester with great Spoils the Earl mindful of the Injuries his Citizens had received with a great Multitude of Armed Men set upon Tewksbury and burnt the Magnificent House of Robert Earl of Gloucester and all things round about with the Houses of others and their Goods within a Mile of that City He spared only the Goods of the Church of Tewksbury being overcome with the importunity of the Abbat and Friers The Spoils taken were great as well of Men as of Goods and Beasts but after a while such as were led Captive were unbound and had liberty to go home The Earl the next day when he returned to Worcester protested to all Men That he neither in Normandy or England had burnt more Places and Houses at one time This was the way in Normandy and from thence brought hither This way of Burning and Rapine brought out of Normandy The manner how the Normans executed their private Revenges one upon another If any Earl or great Man found himself aggrieved by another injur'd or highly affronted they frequently got together all their Men at Arms or Knights that held of them their other Tenents and poor Dependents and as much Assistance from their Friends and Confederates as they could and burnt one anothers Castles or Houses destroyed their Lands and small Territories and carried away the Inhabitants Prisoners These were private Hostilities and Revenges between Man and Man but if there was a Title in the Case and siding one for one Pretender another for another they invaded one another after this manner with more assurance and confidence under the Notion of a Publick War and asserting the Right of that side they struck in withall and were almost constantly encouraged rather than checked by the Pretender The Norman Histories abound with these Stories See Ordericus Vitalis in the Lives of Rufus Henry the First and this King Stephen especially wherein these inhumane Ravages were as frequent and more barbarous than in England for many years until Geofry Duke of Anjou obtained Normandy which was the Inheritance of his Wife Maud the Empress as well as the Crown of England The Readers may wonder what they did with their Prisoners and Captives This Author The Continuer of Flor. of Worcester [7.] F. 672. will resolve them The Soldiers sold their Prisoners and put them to Ransom Militibus in stipendium dantur venduntur vicorum villarum Cultores atque habitatores cum rebus suis universis ac substantiis Such as Manured and Cultivated Towns and Villages and the Inhabitants thereof were given to the Soldiers as their Wages and were sold with their Goods and Substance In this Kings Reign there were in England [8.] Camden Britan. f. 199 200. so many Tyrants as there were Lords of Castles every one pretending to Coyn Money and to exercise the Rights of Majesty The King had with him very many Flemmings and Britains who were accustomed to live by Plundring that came to England in expectation of great Booty Presently after [9.] Malmsb. f. 105. b. n. 10 20. A Treaty of Peace propounded by the Legat. Whitsunday this year by the Mediation of the Legat there was a Treaty of Peace in a Plain near Bath The Commissioners for the Empress were Robert Earl of Gloucester and others for the King his Brother the Legat the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Theobald and the Queen The Empress was inclinable to Peace but the King by the Advise of those about him averse to it so as this Treaty soon ended without effect [1.] Ibidem It ended without success Toward the later end of September the Legat went over into France to Confer with the King and Theobald Earl of Blois King Stephens elder Brother about the Differences in England and how they might be Composed Proposals offered to them by the Legat the Empress accepts the King refuseth them He returned about the end of November and brought with him such Proposals for Peace as the Empress and Earl assented to but the King delayed his Answer from day to day and at last refused them In the [2.] Ord. Vit. f. 921. A. B. year 1141. according to [3.] F. 105. a. n. 30. An. Do. 1141 1142. Lincoln Castle surprized by the Earl of Chester Malmsbury 1142. Ranulph Earl of Chester who had Married the Daughter of Earl Robert and his Brother by the Mother William de Rolmara or Raumara surprized the Castle of Lincoln The Citizens who much favoured the King sent to let him know that both the Earls were very secure in the Castle and thought not of his coming that they might easily be taken and that they would assist him in taking of them The King besieged it The King makes haste and invests the Castle in Christmass-Holidays The Citizens hearing of his coming seized seventeen Men at Arms that were out of the Castle in the City and made them Prisoners The Earl of Chester makes his escape and sollicites Assistance from the Empress and Earl of Gloucester The Earl of Chester in the Night gets out of the Castle goes into his own Country to raise Friends there and Welsh He further applied himself to his Father in Law being very sollicitous for the safety of his Brother and both their Wives which he left in the Castle and to the Empress promising her all future fidelity and begged their Assistance The Earl of [4.] Ord. Vit. f.
and therefore they would expect them The Londoners came accordingly and were brought into the Council and said they were sent from the Community of London Not as Members but Petitioners to it as it was called That they came not to make Debate and Contention but to Petition that their Lord the King might be delivered out of Prison and the same did all the Barons which had been lately received into that Community earnestly desire of the Legat the Arch-Bishop and all the Clergy present The Legats Answer to their Petition The Legat answered at large and with a Grace That it became not the Londoners who were esteemed as Noblemen in England to side with such as had forsaken their Lord in Battle who by their Advice had made Holy Church Contemptible That they favoured the Londoners but for their own advantage There stood up one whose [1.] Ibidem n. 20. King Stephens Queen moves the Council for her Husbands Release name was Christian a Chaplain to King Stephen's Queen and offered a Letter from her to the Legat which when he had read would not Communicate it to the Assembly The Chaplain with great Confidence read it himself The Sum whereof was That she earnestly intreated all the Clergy and by name the Bishop of Winchester her Lords Brother to restore him to the Kingdom whom wicked Men his Feudataries had cast into Prison To this the Legat gave such an [2.] Ib. n. 30. The Legats Answer to the Queens Request The Londoners Answer to the Council Answer as he had before given to the Londoners who consulting together said They would Communicate the Decree and Resolution of the Council to their fellow Citizens and comply with it as far as they could This done [3.] Ibidem King Stephens Friends Excommunicated many of the Kings Party were Excommunicated by name William Martel who had been his Butler and was then his Steward whose Advice the King had followed in many things and so this Council was Dissolved which sate only three days For the first meeting was [4.] Ibidem fol. 105. b. n. 20. The Council sate but three days Feria secunda post Octavas Paschae which was Wednesday in the Week after Easter-week and it ended [5.] Ib. f. 106. a. n. 30. Feria quinta of the same Week which was Friday From Wilton the [6.] Cont. of Flor. of Worc. fol 676. Oxford Castle delivered to the Empress She comes to St. Albans and so to London And gives Orders for the Government of the Nation Empress went to Reding where resorted to her a great Confluence of People Robert D'oyley came thither and offered her the Castle of Oxford She went thither and received the Homage of that City and the Country round about From thence she went to the Monastery of St. Albans where many Citizens of London met her and Treated about delivering the City to her To which place she came thinking her self secure with a great Company of Bishops and Barons At Westminster she was received with a stately Procession and staid there some days to give Directions and Orders about the State of the Kingdom and first of all provided for the welfare of the Church This Matter being over King Stephens [7.] Ibidem f. 677. The Empress sollicited for the Liberty of King Stephen and other things which she denied as the Laws of King Edward Wife sollicited the Empress for her Husbands Liberty She was also sollicited by many of the Prime Men of England that upon Hostages given and Castles delivered up to her pleasure the King might be released and restored to his Liberty not to his Kingdom They undertaking to persuade him to quit his pretence to the Kingdom and to devote himself to the Service of God either as a Monk or Pilgrim This she would not grant The Bishop of Winchester sollicited her to give the [8.] Ibid. Malms f. 106. b. n. 10. And the Earldoms of Bologn and Moreton to be setled upon Eustachius King Stephens Son Earldoms which were his Brothers viz. Bologn and Moreton or Mortaign in Normandy to his Son Eustachius This she likewise denied Then the Londoners moved her they might live under St. Edward's Laws which were the best and not under her Father King Henry's which were grievous But she not being well advised consented not to their demands For this her Rigidness as was pretended the Londoners [9.] Cont. of Flor. f. 677. The Londoners Conspire against her and intended to take her privately Conspired against her and intended to seize her privately but she having notice of it fled suddenly leaving all her Goods behind her The Legat seeing this cast about how he should deliver his Brother and that he might do it effectually he applied himself to the Londoners who the Monk of Salisbury [1.] Vt supra a. n. 50. says were always suspected and never Cordial in the Reception of the Empress and only complied until they had an opportunity to shew themselves Having this advantage the Legat went to his Brothers Wife [2.] Malms ut supra The Legat contrives how to set his Brother at Liberty at Guildford to discourse with her about his Design She with Tears and Promises that her Husband should make satisfaction for his former deportment urged him forward He without the Advice of the Bishops He absolves his Friends And publisheth his Complaints against the Empress absolves all those of his Brothers Party which he had Excommunicated in the Council and published through England his Complaints against the Empress That she would have taken and imprisoned him That what ever she had Sworn to observe signified nothing That the Barons had performed their Oaths to her but she had violated hers and knew not with moderation how to use the things she had acquired The Empress when she left London in such haste went through [3.] Cont of Flor. of Worc. fol. 677. The Empress goes to Oxford c. Milo of Gloucester made Earl of Hereford His great Kindness and Beneficence to her The Earl of Gloucester goes to Treat with the Legat Oxford to Gloucâ—ster and by the Advice of Milo her constant Friend and faithful Subject she presently returned to Oxford again and staid there until her dispersed Troops came thither to her At this time she made Milo of Gloucester Earl of Hereford in Remuneration of his Services He was not only a just faithful and courageous Counsellor but next to her Brother was her chief support for from him and at his sole Charge she had received all her Diet from her first coming to Gloucester which was then above two years Our Historian says he heard this from his own Mouth The Earl of Gloucester in the mean time [4.] Malmsb. ut sup n. 20. He is no Friend to the Cause of the Empress went with a few Followers to Winchester to try if he could compose these Commotions by Discourse with the Legat but returned to
after there happened some Discontent between Lewis [5.] Ibidem f. 985. B. Anno Domini 1151. The King of France and his Queen dissatisfied one with another They are Legally Divorced King of France and his Queen which so increased that they thought of a Separation by Consent and in Lent the Arch-Bishops and Bishops were Assembled at Bangency a Town upon the River Loir and it appearing by their Oaths they were Allied in Blood and that there was Consanguinity between them they were in the Close of Easter duely separated by Ecclesiastick Authority And about [6.] Ibidem Henry Duke of Normandy Marries her Whitsunday the Duke of Normandy Married her by the name of Alianor Countess of Poictou she being Inheritrix of that Earldom and the Dukedom of Aquitan At which Marriage the [7.] Ib. C D. The King of France displeased with that Marriage He Invades Normandy c. Duke Henry makes Peace with the King of France and beats his Brother out of Anjou King of France was much moved for he had only two Daughters and no Issue Male by her and with Eustachius Son of King Stephen Robert Earl of Perch the Son of Theobald Earl of Blois and Geofry his younger Brother joined together to take from him Normandy Anjou and Aquitan When the Normans thought all would suddenly be lost he so ordered his Affairs and behaved himself with such Conduct and Resolution that he made Peace with the King of France and beat his Brother out of Anjou and forced him to make Peace with and be reconciled to him While he was setling and securing Normandy and his Territories in France King Stephen thought also to secure and establish the Crown of England upon himself and Family and to that purpose called [8.] Chron. Ger. col 1371. n. 50. Hen. Hunt f. 226. b. n. 30. a General Council at London That is to say Theobald the Arch-Bishop the Bishops and Great Men of England He propounded to them the Coronation of his Son Eustachius King Stephen desired to have his Son Eustachius Crowned The Arch-Bishop refused to do it that thereby he might deprive Duke Henry of his Right and particularly required the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to whom of Ancient Right it belonged to Anoint and Consecrate Kings that he would perform that Office to his Son who Answered That the Pope by his Letters had forbidden him to Crown or Anoint his Son because he contrary to his Oath had Usurped the Kingdom For this Repulse [9.] Chron. Gervas Col. 1372. lin 1. Hen. Hunt ut supra the King his Son and those which favoured him were vehemently Angry and shut up all the Bishops with their Primate in one House that by Threats and Terrors they might extort that which neither by Price or Prayer they could prevail in The Arch-Bishop made his escape out of the House and got over the Thames in a Boat leaving some of the Bishops wavering The Arch-Bishop flies beyond Sea and in a Complying Temper and fled to Dover and so beyond Sea And so the Kings Design was defeated which notwithstanding Mat. Paris says the Earls and Barons of England did Swear Allegiance and Fidelity to Eustachius Fol. 84. lin 3. For his Resolution in this Case and Flight the King seized and spoiled all his Lands and Possessions Not long after the King besieged [1.] Hen. Hun. ibid. n. 40. Chron. Gerv. ibid. n. 10 20. An. Do. 1152. Newbury Castle and took it and then came before Walingford and blocked it up close as they could neither well get out or any Victuals in and being thus pressed they sent Messengers to their Lord Duke Henry either to send Relief or give them leave to deliver the Castle to the King This year died [2.] Ibidem n. 30. Maud the Queen and Wife of King Stephen dies Maud the Wife and Queen of King Stephen on the Third of May and was buried in the Monastery at Feversham in Kent that her Husband and she had founded Duke [3.] Ibidem Duke Henry comes into England with an Army He takes Malmsbury Castle Robert Earl of Leicester comes in to him Henry all things being in pretty good order in France was hastned over with this news from Walingford came with an Army into England and first of all Besieged and took Malmsbury Castle where Robert Earl of Leycester came in to him and also more than thirty strong Castles with their Garisons submitted to him From [4.] Ib. 1373. n. 20 30 40 50. Hen. Hun. f. 127. b. n. 10 20. The Duke besiegeth Craumerse Fort and Relieves Walingford Castle The King and Duke meet and Treat Nothing is Concluded Malmsbury he went with all speed to Walingford to relieve his almost famished Friends there and besieged the Castle or great Fort of Craumerse He compassed it about and all the Kings Forces in it with a large Ditch or Trench and so ordered the matter that his Forces in Walingford might go out but those which he had begirt could no ways get out King Stephen Collected all the Forces he could to raise this Siege when Duke Henry was informed he was coming towards him he left his Trenches and went to meet him with his Army drawn into Order ready to Fight Both Armies being ready for Battle in a great Plain William Earl of Arundel Mediated a Truce or Treaty between the Duke and King After some Discourse of Peace they came to no Conclusion but referred themselves to a further Treaty and each parted to his Army Before the second [5.] Ibidem 30 40. Treaty and Overtures for Peace Eustachius King Stephens eldest Son and Simon Earl of Northampton both died at the same time the two great and Potent Enemies of Duke Henry whose deaths facilitated the finishing of the ensuing Peace Theobald Arch-Bishop of Canterbury laboured heartily between the King and Duke to bring them to an Accord [6.] Ib. f. 228. a. lin 3. Henry also Bishop of Winchester who had horribly troubled the Nation by making his Brother King now moved with Repentance when he saw the Nation ruined with Rapine Fire and Slaughter [7.] Joh. Brompton Col. 1037. n. 40. An. Do. 1153. assisted in the finishing this great Work of Peace by which it was Concluded That King Stephen should Reign as King during his Life and that Henry as Lawful Heir should succeed him The Bishops and Barons were summoned by the Kings and Dukes Precept to Winchester in the end of November to give their Assent to the Peace and Confirm it by Oath The Charter of King Stephen containing all the Articles of this Peace may be seen in the [8] N. 35. King Stephen dies An. Do. 1154. Appendix He lived not a year after this Peace so solemnly Confirmed departing this Life upon the 25 th of October in the year following 1154. and was Buried at his Monastery in Feversham In the Fourteenth of this King Anno Domini 1149. Mat. Westm An.
whole Council saith the Arch Deacon of Huntington without doubt then present at it was mad with Appeals Appeals to the Pope were now first used in England For in England Appeals were not in use until Henry Bishop of Winchester while he was the Popes Legat cruelly to his own mischief dragged them in and in this Council there were three Appeals to the Pope Besides these three there were many Appeals to Rome in this Kings Reign Upon the Vacancy of the [7.] Radulf de Diceâ—o Col. 506. lin 1. An. Do. 1136. Bishoprick of London the Dean and Canons could not agree in the Electing of a fit Person to be Bishop several were propounded The Canons without the knowledge of the Dean chose Anselm Abbat of St. Edmonds-Bury [8.] Ib. n. 30. An. Do. 1137. Anselm Appeals to the Pope and is Confirmed Bishop of London They privately take the Treasure of the Church and with their Elect that was laden with Money go to Rome Their success proved what a large Bag could do for at their return he was invested and had possession of the Bishoprick [9.] Ib. n. 50. An. Do. 1138. The Dean by two of the Canons and his Domestick Clerks Ralph de Langeford and Richard de Belmeis his Sollicitors Appeals to the Pope He having heard their Allegations and by them received the Arch-Bishop of Yorks Letter and Certificate concerning Anselm and with the [1.] Ibid. Col. 507. lin 4. The Dean of London Appeals to the Pope and Anselm is turned out Cardinals having seriously debated the matter pronounced by the Mouth of Alberic Bishop of Ostia That since the Election of the Canons was made without the knowledge of the Dean who ought to have had the first Voice it was therefore void [2.] Ibidem n. 50. And then the Pope committed the Care of the Church of London by the Kings favour to the Bishop of Winchester and so held it as it were in Commendam from the Pope two years This Man had ill luck for after he had possession of the Bishoprick of London [3.] Ibid. Col. 506. n. 50. Ordingus the Prior was chosen Abbat of St. Edmonds-Bury and so he lost both Richard de Belmeis aforesaid had been [4.] Ibidem Col 5â—7 n. 10 20 30. An Appeal to the Pope for the Arch-Dâ—aconry of Middlesex made Arch-Deacon of Middlesex but was too young to execute the Office which Hugh one of his Uncle Richard de Belmeis the then Bishop of London's Chaplains was to manage for him When Richard became â—it for the Office and his Uncle the Bishop of London was dead Hugh refused to restore it unto him He Appeals to the Pope who sends his Letters or Brief to the Bishops of Lincoln and Hereford to hear the Cause who gave it to Richard In the year 1147. Pope Eugenius held a Council at Rhemes [5.] Chron. Gervas Col. 1363. n. 30. The Clerks of the Church of York Appeal to the Pope He Deposeth the Arch-Bishop of York in this Council appeared some Clerks of the Church of York with Henry Murdack Abbat of Fountains accusing William Arch-Bishop of York That he was neither Canonically Elected nor Lawfully Consecrated but intruded by the King at length the foresaid William was Convicted and Deposed Alberic Bishop of Ostia pronouncing the Sentence and saying We Decree by Apostolick Authority That William Arch-Bishop of York be Deposed from the Bishoprick because Stephen King of England Nominated him before Canonical Election When as therefore [6.] Ibidem n. 40 50. The Pope Commands the Chapter to choose a new Arch-Bishop c. He that had the fewest Suffrages is made Arch-Bishop Pope Eugenius on his own Will and by the Consent of the smaller number of Cardinals had Deposed St. William Arch-Bishop of York the Chapter of that Church Convened by his Mandate chose an Arch-Bishop or rather Arch-Bishâ—ps the Major part of the Chapter chose Hilary Bishop of Chichester the other part chose Henry Murdac Abbat of Fountaines When both Elections were presented to the Pope he confirmed the Election of Henry Murdac and Consecrated him with his own Hands Strife between the Legat and Arch-Bishop While Henry Bishop of Winchester was the Popes Legat there were great Strife and Animosities between him and Theobald Arch-Bishop of Canterbury he stretching his [7.] Gervas Act. Pontif. Cantuarien Col. 1665. n. 20 30. Legantine Priviledge mightily beyond what he ought and called his own Arch-Bishop and the Bishops of England to meet him when and where he pleased Theobald taking it ill and scorning to be thus over-awed by the Industry of Thomas a * This was Thomas Becket afterward Arch-Bishop of Canterbury The Arch-Bishop made â—egat Appeals first used in England Clerk of London whom he sent to Rome he dealt so effectually with Pope Celestin who succeeded Innocent that he removed Henry and made Theobald his Legat. From hence arose great Discord Contentions and several Appeals never * Ibidem The Canon Law first used in England heard of before Then the Laws and Lawyers were first called into England meaning the Canon Law and Lawyers the first Teacher whereof was Master Vacarius who Read at Oxford These Appeals to Rome were very Chargeable and besides nothing could be done without Friends and Gifts or Presents This Kings Reign was not very long but never quiet and free from intestine War Confusion and Unsetledness which gave the Pope and Clergy great opportunities to incroach upon Regal Power and bring in such Laws The Reasons why those Appeals and Laws obtained in England Usages and Customs as were not before practised in this Nation For the King dare not oppose these Practises because his Title wholly depended upon the Popes Confirmation of his Election as they called it by half a dozen Persons and his Brother Henry Bishop of Winchester who set him up and was Legat a great part of his Reign dare not but comply in all things with the Pope if it were not his inclination so to do nor Arch-Bishop Theobald after him lest they might be Exauthorated and lose a place of mighty Power at this time as well as Profit Scutages Subsidies or Taxes I read of none during all this Kings Reign both Armies and Pretenders lived by Plunder and Rapine and maintained themselves chiefly by the Ruine and Destruction of their Adversaries their Men and Tenents King Stephen by his Wife Maud had [8.] Mr. Sandfords Geneal Hist f. 42. Baldwin his eldest Son who died in his Infancy 2. [9.] Ibidem Eustace Earl of Bologne he Married Constance Daughter of Lewis the Seventh King of France and Sister to Lewis the Gross and died without Issue 3. * See King Stephens Charter in the Append n. 35. William [1.] Ibidem f. 43. Earl of Mortaign and Bologn Lord of the Honours of Aquila or Eagle and Pevensey Married Isabel the Daughter and Heir of William the Third Earl of Waren and Surrey
been given to them VI. They were to [8.] Ibidem enquire concerning the Goods of such as * That is Tho. Becket the Arch-Bishop and his Friends fled by reason of the Assize of * That is Tho. Becket the Arch-Bishop and his Friends Clarendon and of the Goods of such as suffered by it what was done and received of every Hundred Township or Man They were to enquire whether any one was unjustly accused in that Assize for Reward Promise Hatred or any unjust way or if any one accused was released or his Judgment reversed for Reward Promise or Affection and who received the Reward They were to enquire concerning the Aid to Marry the Kings Daughter what was received in every Hundred in every Township and of every Man and who received it VII They were to [9.] Ibidem n. 20 30. enquire what and how much the Foresters took their Bayliffs or Ministers or Servants after the time aforesaid in their Bayliwicks or Liberties after what manner and upon what occasion and if by Connivance they omitted to exact what was due to the King for any Reward Promise or Friendship and of the forfeitures of Forests and of such as forfeited in the Forests concerning Harts Hinds or other Wild Beasts And if the Foresters [1.] Ibidem or their Servants took any Man or did upon Accusation take Security and Pledges for him and then released him without Justice They were to enquire who did these things and to note them VIII And all that were [2.] Ibidem n. 40. accused of any Fault were to give Security and Pledges to appear before the King on the day they should appoint to do such Right to the King and his Subjects as they ought to do and such as had no Pledges were to be imprisoned IX They [3.] Ibidem n. 50. were to enquire if the Sheriffs or any of their Bayliffs or Lords of Towns or their Bayliffs had returned any thing they had taken or had made their peace with their Men or Tenents or Vassals to stop their Complaints for coming before the King X. They [4.] Ibidem were to enquire who had been Amerced and if any one had been excused or abated any thing of what he was first Amerced and by whom it was done XI Also [5.] Ibidem They were to enquire in every Bishoprick what and how much and for what Cause the Arch-Deacons or Deans Rural Deans took of any one and the whole was to be written down and noted and they were to enquire who ought Homage to the King and had not done it to him nor his Son and there was a Roll to be made of them This wonderful [6.] Ibidem n. 60. Col. 1412. lin 4. n. 10 20. An. Do. 1170. The day of General Appearance was the Fourteenth of June Who appeared Inquisition was made and all were commanded to appear before the King at London on the Fourteenth day of June And upon that day the Bishops Abbats Earls Barons Sheriffs Bayliffs and Aldermen of all England appeared with their Fidejussors or Sureties in great fear for they knew not the Kings Design or Intentions King Henry cauâ—ed his Son to be Crowned On that very day he Knighted his Son Henry who came out of Normandy but that Week and presently commanded him to be Anointed and Crowned all present being astonished and wondring at this Act. The Arch-Bishop of York performed the Coronation Ceremonies which ended the new King by Command of his Father The Earls and Barons do Fealty to him received the Fealties of all the Earls and Barons and thus freed from their fear they all departed to their own Homes Benedictus Abbas gives a shorter Account of this Inquisition and in some things different â—At Easter saith he [7.] P. 29. b. p. 30. a. the King kept his Court at Windsor where were present at that Feast William King of Scots A great Council at London and David his Brother and almost all the Nobility and Great Men as well Bishops as Earls and Barons from whence after the Solemnity he came to London and held a great Council for the Coronation of his eldest Son Henry and concerning the Statutes of the Kingdom In this Council he turned out of their Offices almost all the Sheriffs of England and their Bayliffs for abusing his People and caused them to do Right to himself and them by causing all the * Omnes homines Regni sui scilicet Comites Barones Milites Francos tenentes etiam Villicanos c. Willielmum Regem Scotiae Davidem fratrem ejus omnes Comites Barones Francos tenentes Regni sui fecit c. The King of Scots his Earls and Barons swear Fealty to the new King Men of his Kingdom Earls Barons Knights Franc-Tenents and also Husbandmen in every Shire to Swear what and how much the Sheriffs and their Bayliffs had taken of them and what with Judgment of the County or Hundred and what without Judgment and for what Forfeitures But by this Inquisition the Nation received much damage for the King restored some of the Sheriffs to their Places and they used greater Extortion than before On the Fourteenth day of June in the presence of almost all the Earls Barons and Noblemen of the Land he caused his eldest Son Henry to be Crowned and Consecrated King by Roger Arch-Bishop of York and Legat from the Apostolick See and the day after caused William King of Scots David his Brother and all the Earls Barons and Franc-Tenents of his Kingdom to become the Men of the new King his Son and made them Swear Allegiance and Fealty to him against all Men saving the Fealty they â—ought to himself On [8.] Ibidem King Henry goes into Normandy The King of France angry that his Daughter was not Crowned Queen The new King made Vice-Roy of England and a new Seal made for him Midsummer-day the King the Father was at Portsmouth from whence he sailed into Normandy for that King Lewis of France was angry that his Daughter Margaret was not Crowned with the new King her Husband and threatned War there At his departure he granted to his Son to do all Right and Justice in his absence by a new Seal he commanded to be made for him On [9.] Ibidem p. 30. b. The two Kings are Friends the Twenty second of July on St. Mary Magdalens-day the two Kings met at Vandeure in Main where upon a Conference they agreed very well From * Ibidem King Henry fell into a dangerous Sickness in Normandy He divides his Kingdom and Lands amongst his Sons this Conference he returned into Normandy and about the Feast of St. Laurence or Tenth of August he fell into so great a Sickness as it was reported through all France he was dead In this Sickness he divided his Kingdom and Lands amongst his Sons To Henry the eldest he gave the Kingdom of
Pay according to Contract but retained Earl Hâ—gh and his Knights and delivered to them his Castle of Alverton which they were to defend Huctred the Son of [2.] Ibidem Huctred Prince of Galway rejects the Government of the King of Scots Expels his Officers out of his Country Kills all the English Fr. he could take Destroys the Fortress the King of Scots had raised Fergus Prince of the Country of Galway and his Brother Gilbert so soon as they heard their Lord the King of Scots was taken with their Galwalens returned home and expelled out of Galway all the Bayliffs and Ministers or Keepers the King of Scotland had imposed on them and killed all the English and French they could apprehend all the Fortresses and Munitions the King of Scots had built and raised in their Country they besieged took and destroyed and put to the Sword such of the Defendents as fell into their hands While these things were done in the [4.] Ibid. b. Norwich fired The Soldiers from Leycester fight with the Burgesses and Soldiers of Northampton and beat them c. North Earl Hugh Bigot came with his Flemmings to Norwich and fired it and presently after Whitsunday Anschelil Mallore the Constable of Leicester went with his Soldiers to the Kings Town of Northampton and the Burgesses with the Soldiers they had within went out to meet them they fought and the Leycestrians were Victors carrying away with them 200 Prisoners and a great Booty At the same [5.] Ibidem Geofry Elect of York destroys the Fortress in the Isle of Axholm time Geofry the Kings Base Son Elect of Lincoln called together the Forces of Lincolnshire and besieged the Fortress Roger Mowbray had built in the Isle of Axholm took it in few days and demolished it and as he was going to assist the Leycestrians he was taken by the Country People at a place called Claye So soon as Geofry [6.] Ibidem The Castle of Massarch taken Elect of Lincoln had taken and destroyed this Castle he joyned himself to the Arch-Bishop of York and they besieged Roger Mowbray's Castle of Massarch and took it with many Knights and Servants in it and it was delivered into the Custody of the Arch-Bishop of York While these Bishops [7.] Ibidem Nottingham plundered and burnt were busie in Yorkshire Robert Earl of Ferrers with the Soldiers of Leycester came very early in the Morning to Nottingham the Kings Town whereof Reginald de Lucy was Governor which they presently took without difficulty and burnt it killed the Burgesses and carried many away Captive and what Prey they could get Toward [8.] Ibidem p. 56. b. Huntington Castle besieged The Town burnt The Earldom of Huntington claimed in the Kings Court. Midsummer Richard de Lucy besieged Huntingdon Castle the Garison had burnt the Town before his coming Richard de Lucy built a Fortress before the Gates of the Castle so as none of the Garison could go out with safety and by the Kings Command put it into the hands of Earl Simon who claimed the County of Huntingdon in the Kings Court as his Inheritance which the King granted to him if he could get it At [9.] Ibid. p. 57. a. The young King of England and Philip Earl of Flanders come with a great Army to Gravelin Intending to come for England Midsummer the young King and Philip Earl of Flanders at the Instigation of the King of France and the Request of the Earls and Barons of England came with a great Army to Gravelin in Flanders where there were Ships ready to Transport them In the mean while the old King was with his Army in Poictou and subdued many Forts and Castles The old King subdues Saincts takes many Castles and Forts in Poictou and at length came to the City of Saincts entred it and took two Towers whereof one was called the great Tower wherein were many Knights and Esquires or Servientes He likewise besieged the Cathedral which was fortified and Victualled against him and within few days possessed himself of that where he took also many Knights and Servants afterwards he returned into Anjou about St. Barnaby he took Ancena He wastes that Country extirpates the Vines and Fruit-Trees the Town of Guininon de Ancena and built there a strong Fortress and placed a Garison in it After this he wasted the whole Province and extirpated the Vines and Fruit-Trees and then returned into Normandy The young [1.] Ibidem p. 57. a. Hoved f. 308. b. n. 20. The young King and Earl of Flanders Wind-bound The old King Lands at Portsmouth King and the Earl of Flanders were yet at Gravelin detained with contrary Winds King Henry the Father to oppose and bring to nothing what they might do in England he went speedily to Barfleu and landed at Southampton the Eighth of July with both the Queens the Brabanters and his Prisoners the Earls of Leycester and Chester From thence he went toward Canterbury and so soon as he saw the Cathedral there where Arch-Bishop Thomas was buried he behaved himself as will be related afterward His Devotion or Submission and Pennance there ended He besieged and took Huntington he moved with his Army toward Huntington and besieged it and forced it to surrender on the Twenty first of July upon Mercy saving the Lives and Limbs of the Defendents From thence the King marched [2.] Ibidem Ben. Abb. p. 27. b. He marcheth to Framingham Earl Hugh Bigot delivers that and Bungey Castle to him The Bishop of Durham delivers his Castles The Constables of the Earl of Leicester delivers his Castles Roger de Mowbray and Earl Ferrers deliver their Castles with his Army toward Framingham Castle where Hugh Bigot was with a great Force of Flemmings and pitcht his Tents before it and on the Morrow on the Twenty fifth of August the Earl came and made Peace with the King and delivered his Castles of Framingham and Bungey and with great difficulty obtained of him that the Flemmings might depart home From thence the King went to Northampton where came to him the Bishop of Durham and delivered him that Castle the Castles of Norham and Alverton and he scarce could obtain of the King that Hugh Earl of Bar his Nephew and the Soldiers or Knights that came with him out of France should return from whence they came And on the same day the Thirty first of July came to him Ansketil Mallore and William de Diva Constables of the Earl of Leycester and rendred the Castles of Leycester Montsorrel and Groby and the same day came to him Roger Mulbray or Mowbray and rendred his Castle of Treske and then also came the Earl of Ferrers and delivered his Castles of Stutesbury and Duffeld While [3.] Ibidem p. 58. a. b. Hoved. ibid. n. 40. The young King and Earl of Flanders recalled from Gravelin Roven besieged The old King Lands at Barsleu in Normandy these things were doing
He likewise impleaded all the Earls Barons Clerks and Laicks of England concerning their Forfeitures in his Forests and for Hunting in the time of War and caused them all to be Fined notwithstanding Richard de Lucy Justitiary of England appeared on their behalf and vouched the Kings Mandate from beyond Sea by which he was impowred to grant them License to Hunt c. On the Tenth of August [1.] Hoved. f. 311. b. n. 30 40. Ben. Abb p. 66. b. 67. a. b. Both Kings meet at York where the King of Scotland and David his Brother did Homage to them both Kings were at York where William King of Scotland and David his Brother Cum universis fere Episcopis Abbatibus aliis Magnatibus terrarum suarum says Hoveden with almost all the Bishops Abbats and great Men of his Land Abbat Bennet says That the King of Scots met him there secum adduxit omnes Episcopos Comites Barones Milites Francos Tenentes terrae suae a maximo ad minimum and brought with him all his Bishops Earls Barons Knights and Franc-Tenents or such as held by Military Service from the greatest to the least The Business of this great Meeting was to renew the Peace and Agreement the King of Scots had made with the King of England when he was his Prisoner at Falais in Normandy The Effect where f was 1. â—That the King of Scotland and David his Brother did Homage to King Henry for all the Territories they were possessed of namely Scotland and Galway and did Swear Allegiance and Fealty to him against all Men. The like they did to Henry his Son saving their â—Allegiance and Fealty to his Father The Bishops and Abbats of Scot and swear Allegiance and Fealty to the Kings of England and their Heirs 2. â—In like manner Richard Bishop of St. Andrews Joscelin Bishop of Glasco Richard Bishop of Dunkeld Christian Bishop of Galway Andrew Bishop of Caâ—nes Simon de Thoum Bishop of Murrey the Abbat of Kelzan Laurenâ—e Abbat of Malros and the Abbat of Newbottle and besides those all the Abbats of Scotland did Swear Allegiance and Fealty by the Command of the King â—of Scotland to both Kings of England and their Heirs for ever 3. â—The same Bishops sware That if the King of Scotland observed not this Agreement with the King of England they would put him and his Land under an Interdict until he submitted himself to his good pleasure They swear Subjection to the Church of England They also Sware they would continue the same Subjection to the Church of England their Predecessors â—were used to observe or such Subjection as was due unto it 4. The Earls and Barons of Scotland swear Allegiance to both the King and his Son Henry â—In like manner the Earls and Barons by Command of the King of Scotland did Homage and sware Allegiance and Fealty to both Kings against all Men viz. Earl Dunâ—can the Earl of Angus and Earl Waldef and they sware That if the King of Scotland should recede from the Agreement they would assist the King of England against him until he made satisfaction according â—to his Will The Agreement between the King of England and Scotland Sealed Several Cautionary Towns and Castles put into the King of England's hands And then the King of England caused the Agreement between him and the King of Scotland to be read before them all and to be Confirmed with his Seal and the Seal of his Brother David which see in the Appendix n. 167. But besides their Seals he had for his Security the Castles of Rokesburgh Berwick Gedwurth Edinburgh and Sterling put into his Hands which were to be maintained by a proportionable Allowance out of the Revenue of the King of Scotland by assignment of the King of England After [2.] Ibidem p 69. a. The King of England gives leave to the King of Scots to go into Galway the dispatch of this great Affair at York King Henry gave leave to the King of Scots to march with his Army into Galway to subdue Gilbert Son to Fergus that had receded from his Fealty and wickedly slain his Brother Vctred On the Twenty fifth of January [3.] Hoved. f. 313. a. n. 50. The King holds a Council at Northampton the King held a great Council at Northampton with the King his Son and with the Arch-Bishops Bishops Earls and Barons concerning the Statutes and Laws of the Kingdom and by common Advice of them all divided it into six parts into every one of which he sent three Justices which were these I. Hugh de [4.] Ibid. b. Cressi Walter Fitz-Robert Robert Mantel Norfolke Suffolke Cambridgeshire Huntingtonshire Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Essex Hertfordshire II. Hugh de Gundevill William Fitz-Ralph William Basset Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire Derbyshire Staffordshire Warwickshire Northamptonshire Leicestershire III. Robert Fitz-Bernard Richard Giffard Rogert Fitz-Râ—infray Kent Surry Hampshire Sussex Berkshire Oxfordshire IV. William Fitz-Stephen Bertram de Verdun Turstan Fitz-Simon Herefordshire Gloucestershire Worcestershire Shropshire V. Ralph Fitz-Stephen William Ruffus Gilbert Pipard Wiltshire Dorsetshire Sumersetshire Devonshire and Cornwall VI. Robert de Vaus Ranulp de Glanvill Robert Pikenot Yorkshire Richmundshire Lancastershire Coupland Westmâ—rland Northumberland Cumberland And then [5.] Ibidem n. 40. The King Swears his Justices to observe his Statutes the King caused all these Justices to Swear they would truly and justly without any Artifice keep the underwritten Statutes and cause them to be kept inviolably by his Subjects The Assises or Statutes of King Henry made at Clarendon and Renewed at Northampton I. The Trial by Water Ordeal Established â—IF any one was Accused before the Kings Justices of Murder Theft or Robery or for receiving such Malefactors or of Forgery or Malicious Burning of Houses by the Oaths of twelve Knights of the Hundred and if there were not Knights present then by the Oaths of twelve Lawful Freemen and by the Oaths of four Men of every Town of the Hundred let him go to the Judgment or Trial of Water or Water Ordeal and if he appears Guilty let one Foot be cut off And at Northampton it was added for the Rigor of Justice That he should besides his Foot have his Right Hand cut off and to abjure the Kingdom and leave it within forty days If he be Innocent let him find Pledges and Sureties and stay in the Kingdom unless he be accused of Murder or any heinous Felony by common Fame or Report of Legal Knights of the Country then though acquitted by the Trial of Water he was to go out of the Kingdom within forty days and carry his Goods with him saving the Right of his Lords and to be at the Kings pleasure for abjuring the Kingdom This Statute shall take place from the time the Assise or Statutes were made at * * Anno Dom. 1164. 10 Hen. 2. Clarendon until this time and as much longer as the King pleaseth in Murder
Fitz-Stephan and of the burning of the Town and received a Message from the Irish in whose custody he was That if they presumed to come near or disturb them they would cut off all their Prisoners Heads at which Message being much troubled they directed their course toward Waterford where they find Hervey returned from the King of England who wrote to the Earl to come to him he makes haste and meets the King at Newnham in Glocestershire having provided an Army to be transported into Ireland After much Discourse by the Mediation of Hervey the King was reconciled to him on these Conditions That he should deliver up to him Dublin with the Cantreds The Earl agrees to deliver up Dublin to King Henry Baronies or Hundreds adjoyning and all the Maritine Towns and Castles and he and his Heirs should hold of the King and his Heirs all the Residue of his Conquest or what he had obtained Upon this Agreement the King went by Sea to St. Davids The King provides a great Fleet. and going from thence to Pembroke in a short time there appeared a gallant Fleet in Milford Haven In the [6] Ibid. c. 29. Ororic attempts to assault Dublin but is repulsed with loss mean time Ororic King of Meth taking advantage of the absence of the Earl and Reymund who was then at Waterford came to Dublin in the beginning of September entred the Ditches and assaulted the Walls of Dublin but Miles Cogan the stout Governor made such a Sally and so resolutely set upon his Enemies that he routed them and killed many and amongst them the hopeful Son of Ororic On the 16 th of October [7] Ibid. c. 3â— A. D 1172. The King Lands at Waterford with a great Army the King with 500 Knights or Men at Arms and with many ordinary Horse-men and Archers took Shipping at Milford Haven and landed at Waterford on the 18 th Roger Hoveden [8] F. 301. b. n. 30.40 says he set sail with a great Army of Horse and Foot in 400 great Ships from Milford Haven and landed at a place called Croch eight Miles from Waterford by nine of the Clock next day and that he and his whole Army marched to Waterford on the Feast of St. Luke Here he staid some days and the Citizens of Wexford [9] Girald ut supra c. 30. The Wexfordians deliver up Fitz-Stephan to the King under pretence of Obedience and good Service brought to him Robert Fitz-Stephan in Bonds for that he first of all invaded Ireland without his consent The King in great anger reproved him and for that rash and unwarrantable Attempt sent him in Chains to * A small Tower so called upon the walls of Wexford Reginald's Tower Hither came Dermot Mac-Carty [1] Ibid. c. 31. Hoved. f. 301. b. n. 40. Dermot Mac-Carty submits to the King and swears Fealty King of Cork and of his own accord submitted to him swore Fealty gave Hostages and agreed to pay a certain Annual Tribute From hence King Henry with his Army marched to Lismore and from thence to Cassil at these places came in upon the same terms the King of Limeric the King of Ossery All the Irish Princes submit except the King of Connaught the King of Mâ—th and almost all the mighty men of Ireland except the King of Connaught The King returned back to Waterford after he had received the Submissions of the Irish Princes and Fitz-Stephan was again brought before him and then considering his valiant Atchievements and the greatness of his mind restored him to his Liberty Fitz-Stephan restored to his Liberty but took from him Wexford and the Territory adjoyning All the [2] Hoved. ut supra n. 50. Benedict Abb. p. 38. b. 390. a. The Irish Clergy swear Fealty to him and his Heirs for ever Archbishops Bishops and Abbats of Ireland came unto the King of England at Waterford and received him as King and Lord of Ireland and swear Fealty to him and his Heirs and from every Archbishop and Bishop he received a Chart by which [2] Hoved. ut supra n. 50. Benedict Abb. p. 38. b. 390. a. The Irish Clergy swear Fealty to him and his Heirs for ever they acknowledged and constituted him King and submitted unto him and his Heirs as their Kings for ever And according to their example the foresaid Kings and Princes received him as King and Lord of Ireland and became his men and swear Fealty to him and his Heirs against all men These Charters were transcribed and the King [3] Hoved. f. 302. a. n. 20. Ben. Abb. p. 39. b. The Charters sent to the Pope and confirmed sent the Transcripts to Pope Alexander who confirmed by Apostolick Authority to him and his Heirs the Kingdom of Ireland according to the form of those Charters The Nation being in perfect peace and quiet the King [4] Girald ut supra c. 33 34 The King calls a Council of the Clergy at Cassil called a Council of all the Clergy thereof at Cassil and sent Ralph Abbot of Bildewas Ralph Archdeacon of Landaf Nicholas his Chaplain and other Clerks to assist at it and his design was to bring the State of the Irish Church as near to the form of the English Church as might be and therefore he confirmed the [5] App. f. 464 Hâ— confirms their Decrees by his Royal Authority Decrees of the Council by his Royal Authority From Waterford he came to Dublin [6] Hoved. ut supra n. 30. about the Feast of St. Martin or 12 th of November and staid there until the beginning of Lent he kept a Noble Christmass the Irish admired his Hospitality and the Splendor of his Court. Here King Henry staid until the beginning of [7] Girald c. 36. Hoved. f. 302. b. n. 20. Lent when he went to Wexford where receiving Information that two Cardinals Theodinus and Albertus were sent from the Pope into Normandy The King leaves Ireland and goes to meet two Cardinals sent by the Pope into Normandy he made hast to go to them but very unwillingly left Ireland in such an unsettled condition yet before he went he consulted with his Friends and Chief men and made some provision for the Security of it before he departed he gave to Hugh Lacy all Meth with the Appertinences to hold in Hereditary Fee of him and his Heirs by the Service of 100 Horse and delivered Dublin into his Custody and made him Justiciary of Ireland and delivered to [8] Ibidem Hoveden Robert Fitz-Bernard in custody the Cities of Wexford and Waterford with their Appertinencies and commanded him to build Castles in them Giraldus [9] Cap. 37. f. 778. n. 20. Cambrensis says he thus provided for the Security and Defence of the last mentioned Cities and Towns To Hugh Lacy he left the keeping of Dublin King Henry settles the Government of Ireland with twenty Knights or men at Arms and also left with
laudably and learnt the Wisdom of this World by which afterwards he knew well how to transact the Common affairs of the Church of England and the public business of the Kingdom or secular Government Reversus receptus in partem Sollicitudinis Reipublicae Londinensis vicecomitum Clericus rationalis effectus jam ibi laudabiliter se habens didicit prudentiam hujus Lucis [6] Ib. Col. 2. Qua postmodum probe noverat Communia Ecclesiae Anglorum publica totius Regni egregie magnificè tractare negotia He [7] Ibidem How he was brought to the knowledge of Arch-Bishop Theobald was brought to the knowledge of Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury by two Brethren of Bologn Baldwin Archdeacon and Master Eustachius oftentimes his Fathers Guests and of the Retinue and acquaintance of the Arch-Bishop [8] p. 2. Col 2. By him he was imployed to Rome who sent him several times to Rome upon business concerning the English Church where he was in great favor with the Popes and great Officers of the Roman Church The [9] Ibidem p. 3. Col. 1. His first Preserment first Preferment he had was the Church of St. Mary in the Strand which stood I think where Somerset House is now built given him by the Bishop of Worcester then the Church of Otford given him by the Arch-Bishop Then he was made Prebend of St. Pauls London He went to Bononia and Auxerre and studied Law and also Prebend of Lincoln By leave of the Arch-Bishop he passed the Sea and Studied the Laws one year at Bononia in Italy and afterwards at Auxerre in France In process of time the Arch-Bishop ordained him Deacon and made him Arch-Deacon of Canterbury who was then after Bishops and Abbats the first and best Clergy man in England the Arch-Deaconry being worth to him one Hundred Pounds of Silver by the Year By the [1] Ibidem p. 5. Col. 1. He is made Chancellor His Popularity His Enterteinment and the manner of it mediation and procurement of the Arch-Bishop and the Bishop of Winchester he was made Chancellor and proved mightily popular His 2 House and Table was common to all Indigent persons of whatsoever order coming to Court There was scarce a day passed but he Eat with Earls and Barons which he himself invited he commanded his Roâ—ms of Entertainment should every day be strewed with fresh straw or hey in Winter and with fresh Rushes or green grass or leaves in Summer That the multitude of Knigts or Military men the Seats could not receive might sit down upon a clean floor lest their fine Cloaths and shirts might be Spotted and Sullied with the Dirt or Dust The [3] Ib. Col. 2. p. 6. Col. 1. The Kings and Noblemens Sons Committed to his Education Great men of England and Neighbour Kingdoms sent their Sons to serve him from whom they received ingenuous Education and were often Knighted and sent back to their Parents with honor The King himself placed his Eldest Son with him and recommended him to his Education whom with many of the Sons of Noblemen and their Retinue their Masters or Tutors and proper Servants he had alwaies with him and treated them with all due honor To him [4] Ib. Col. 2. p. 7. Col. 1. Noblemen and Knights without number did Homage which he received saving their Faith to the King Cancellario Hamonagium infiniti Nobiles Milites faciebant * 't is Homagium in Quadrilogus He receives homage of Noblemen c His Bounty and Liberality Quos ipse salba side Domini Regis recipiebat There was scarce a day in which he did not give some large boons as Horses Hawks rich Cloathes Gold or Silver utensils or money And his Liberality and bounty was such that he became the love and delight of all Europe and was most acceptable to the King Clergy Military men and people Regi Clero [6] Militia here signifies Tenents in Capite Earls Barons Knights and other Military men as it alwaies doth in old Historians Militiae populo erat acceptissimus Thus he behaved himself in Peace let us see what he did in War In the [7] Ib. p. 8. Col 2. His great Retinue Army and Siege of Tholose when all England Normandy Anjou Britany Poicton and Scotland furnished out Soldiers to the King The Chancellor had a chosen number of Seven Hundred Knights of his own Family or Forces See more of this matter in the Reign of this King f. 302. E. After [8] Ib. p. 10. Col. 1. Col. 2. He is made Arch-Bishop of Canterbury A. D. 1162. The See of London was then void Gervas Dor. Col. 1669. n. 20. the Death of Theobald the King being confident he would serve and obey him according to his will and pleasure as when he was Chancellor resolved to preferre him to the Arch-Bishoprick To which he was unanimously chosen by the Suffragans of his Province and in the year of our Lord 1162. in the Octaves of Pentecost on the Feast Day of holy Trinity in the Metropolitan Church in the presence of all the Suffragan Bishops was presented to the Church of Canterbury by Henry Son and Heir of King Hen. 2d and by Richard de Luci and other great men of England on behalf of the King then beyond Sea and was ordained by Henry Bishop of Winchester and Pope Alexander the 3d. sent him a pall by his Clerc or Chaplain John of Salisbury afterwards Bishop of Chartres in France and well known by the name of Ivo Carnotensis Hoveden says King Henry gave him the Arch-Bishoprick [9] f. 282. a. n. 20. Anno ab incarnatione Domini 1162. Hen. Rex dedit Tho. Cancellario Archiepiscopatum Cantuariae That is named him or gave him a Conge Destire After he was consecrated [1] Ib. p. 11 12 13. After his Consecration he changed his manner of living and proved Disobedient to the King Arch-Bishop he became another man put on a severe and rigid Monks Habit lived an austere life and altered chose and ordered his family accordingly and contrary to the Kings hope and expectation he withdrew himself from the Kings obedience and service and contradicted him in many things [2] Ib. p. 14. Col. 1. Postquam Rex Archiepiscopum fecerat a suo se retraxit obsequio in pluribus contradixit Some [3] Ibidem The Kings mind alienated from the Arch Bishop Court Clercs and Bishops about the King who fearing the Titles of their Preferments and the Arch-Bishops power perswaded him that if it should go on his power must come to nothing and unless he provided for the security of himself and Heirs he should at any time be King whom the Clergy would choose and he should Reign as long as the Arch-Bishop pleased [4] Ib. Col. 2. This saith mine Author was the first cause of the Kings displeasure against him It [5] Ibidem The Kings displeasure
received from the vacant Churches in the Time of his Chancellorship The King demands security and that he would stand to the Judgment of his Court. and stand to the Judgment of his Court in that matter The Arch-Bishop answered by the Bishops That if he was not hindred by Sickness he would on the Morrow come to the Court and do what he ought He came [1] Ib. p. 26. Col. 1.2 p. 27. Col. 1.2 He comes to Court and sits in an outward Room while the other Bishops Earls and Barons are admitted to the Kings presence next day and found the King in an inward Chamber with the Bishops who staid with him a long time and with them Roger Arch-Bishop of York who came last that he might not be suspected to be one of the Kings private Counsellors and Advisers The Arch-Bishop sat in an outward Room with his Cross in his own hand while all his Suffragans and the Earls and Barons were called to the King The [2] Ib. p. 27. Col. 2. p. 28. Col. 1.2 The Bishops tell the King he disliked the Judgment and had Appealed to the Pope Bishops in this Conference told the King that the Arch-Bishop when he advised with them told them they had used him very ill and with the Barons treated him as an Enemie and not judged him justly but after an unheard of manner because for one absence pro una absentia quam supersisam dicunt which they call a Delay or Defalt and was not to be judged a Contumacy they ought not to have Condemned him in such a pecuniary mulct as that he should forfeit all his moveable goods to the King or they should be in his Mercy The Bishops also told him that he had appealed to the Pope against this Sentence and by the Authority of the Pope forbidden them for the future to Judge him in any Secular Accusation The King was very much [3] Ibid. The King much moved at his Appeal moved at this Relation and sent the Earls and many Barons to know of him whether he was the Author of this Appeal and prohibition especially seeing he was his Leige-man and bound to him by a Common and special Oath at Clarendon That he would sincerely and Legally observe his Legal Dignity 's amongst which this was one That the Bishops should be present at all his Trials or Sentences except at Sentences of Blood Vt Episcopi omnibus ejus assint Iudiciis preterquam Iudicio Sanguinis They [4] Ibid. He is required to give pleges to stand to the order of the Kings Court. were also to know of him whether he would give Pleges to stand to the Judgment of the Kings Court concerning the Account of his Chancellorship To which [5] Ib. p. 29. Col. 1.2 The Arch-Bishops Answer to the Information of the Bishops Demands this was his Answer That he was indeed bound to the King by Leige-Homage Fidelity and Oath but the Oath was Chiefly Sacerdotal That in Respect of God he was in all Due Obedience and Subjection obliged to observe honor and Fidelity toward him Saving his Obedience to God his Ecclesiastical Dignity and the Episcopal Honor of his person That he Declined the Suit because he was not cited to yeild an Account upon any other Cause than that of John neither was he bound to make Answer or hear Judgment in any other He confessed he had received many Administrations and Dignities from the King in which he had faithfully served him as well in England as beyond Sea and had spent his own Revenue in his Service and for the same contracted many Debts [6] Ib. p. 30. Col. 1. As to his putting in Pleges or Fidejussors to render an Account he ought not to be compelled to that because he was not adjudged to do it nor had he any Citation in the cause of Account or any other except that of John the Marshal And as to the Prohibition he that day made to the Bishops and Appeal he did acknowledge That he said to his fellow-Bishops That for one Absence but not Contumacy they had unjustly condemned him contrary to the Custom and Example of Antiquity He Appeals and puts his Church and person under the Protection of the Pope wherefore he Appealed and forbad them That depending the Appeal they should not Judge him in a Secular accusation or cause of things done before he was Arch-Bishop And that he did then Appeal and put his Person and the Church of Canterbury under the Protection of God and the Lord the Pope The King [7] Ib. C. 2. The Bishops fear the Arch-Bishops Prohibition having received this Answer urged the Bishops by the Homage they had done and the Fealty they had Sworn to him that together with the Barons They would Dictate to him a Sentence concerning the Arch-Bishop Vt simul cum Baronibus de Archiepiscopo sibi dictent Sententiam They began to excuse themselves by reason of his Prohibition the King was not satisfyed and said this his simple Prohibition ought not to hold against what was done and Sworn at Clarendon They reply if they should not obey his Prohibition he would Censure them and that for the Good of the King and Kingdom they should obey the Prohibition At length by the Kings perswasion they went to the Arch-Bishop And the Bishop of Chichester [8] Ib. p. 31. Col. 1. The Bishop of Chichester puts him in mind what they promised at Clarendon and by his command In the word of Truth in good faith and without Deceit Lawfully told him that lately at Clarendon they were by the King called together concerning the Observation of his Royal Dignities and lest they might doubt what they were he shewed them those very Royal Customs of which he spake in Writing and that they promised their assent to and Observation of them He first and afterwards his Suffragans by his Command And when the King pressed them to Swear to what they promised and set to their Seals for the Confirmation of it They answered it ought to suffice for a Sacerdotal Oath That they said in the Word of Truth in good Faith without Deceit and Lawfully they would observe them Why do you now forbid us to be present at that Sentence which he Commands us Upon this Grievance and lest you may adde any thing to our injury we will Appeal to the Pope and for this time give obedience to your Prohibition The Arch-Bishop Answered him he would be present at the Prosecution of the Appeal [9] Ibidem Col. 2. He answers those words Oblige not against the true faith of the Church and the Laws of God and that there was nothing done at Clarendon by them or him nisi salvo honore Ecclesiastico in which their Ecclesiastic honor was not saved 'T was true he said that they promised in good faith without Deceit and lawfully to observe those Determinations and by those words the Dignities of their
grew every day more Dissolute all the Kingdom over For which Cause the King calls the Arch-Bishop Bishops and Clergy to London And [8] Ibid. c. 23. He urgeth the Bishops that Clercs might be tryed by the Secular Law for Enormous Crimes having told them the Cause of their being called together and urgently pressed that Clercs taken for or accused of Enormous Crimes might be Left to his Officers and not have the protection of the Church He most Earnestly required by Advice of such as had skill in both Laws That such Clercs might presently be Degraded and * Curiae Tradantur Delivered to the Court whence some very learned men by reason of the Kings favour did affirm That they were not to be sent into Exile or Thrust into a Monasterie by the Canon Law but rather were to be Delivered to the Court That is they were to be punished by Secular Judgment The [9] Ibid. The Arch-Bishop neither could or would bear it Arch-Bishop with the Bishops of his Province having consulted their Learned men being much concerned for the Liberty of the Clergy answered to these things clearly and probably or perhaps by proof luculenter satis probabiliter Respondent according to the Canonical Institution of antient Fathers And in the End of his Speech with much Devotion beseeched his Royal Clemency * Regiâ—m objecrabat Clementiam â—esub novo Rege Christo sub nova Christi Lege in novam peculiarem Domini sortem contra sanctorum patrum instituta novam per Regnum suum induceret cohertionem c. That he would not under a new King Christ and under a new Law of Christ Introduce into a new and peculiar Lot of the Lord contrary to the Decrees of the Antient Fathers a new way of Coertion into his own Kingdom and this he begged for the Kings Sake and the Quiet and Stability of his Kingdom often humbly inculcating that he neither Could or would bear it But the [1] Ibid. c. 24. He requires the Observation of his Laws King not moved with his importunity Demanded more earnestly whether he and the Bishops would observe his Royal * Consuetudines suaâ— Regias The Arch-Bishop and Bishops answer they would observe them saving their Order The King angry at their Answer Laws and Customes adding that in his Grandfathers time they were observed by the Arch-Bishops Bishops Chief men and priviledged persons and That now they ought not to be set aside The Arch-Bishop after Consultation with his Brethren Answered they would observe them salvo ordine suo and the Bishops being asked one by one gave the same answer only Hilary Bishop of Chichester changed the Phrase saying he would observe the Kings Customes or Laws Bona fide in good faith The King was Angry at the Answer and Reservation of the Arch-Bishop and other Bishops and departed from them Most of the [2] Ibid. c. 25. The Bishops desert the Arch-Bishop Bishops Desert the Arch-Bishop and he a long time persists in his Denyal notwithstanding all the exhortations of them and perswasions of the Secular great men yet at length he came to the King at Oxford and promised to change those words salvo ordine suo saving his Order which gave him so much Trouble Hereupon the King [3.] Ibidem C. 26. The Council at Clarendon called the Bishops and great men to Clarendon where he Exacted the promises of the Arch-Bishop and Bishops and by the perswasion of the Bishop of Man and Norwich and two of the greatest Earls of the Nation and other great persons sent from the King he promised bona fide and in verbo veritatis in good faith and in the word of Truth The Arch-Bishop and Bishops promise Bona fide and in verbo veritatis to observe the Kings Royal Laws to observe the Kings Laws leaving out the words salvo ordine suo and all the Bishops did the like and then those Royal Customes were drawn up in form and caused to be written by the great men and Recognized by them In this Council [4] Ib. c. 27.28 The King requires the Bishops to put their Seals to their acknowledgement The Arch Bishop repents and refuseth and indeavours to Escape the King requires the Arch-Bishop and Bishops to confirm their acknowledgment of his Laws by putting thereunto their Seals The Arch-Bishop repents him of his promise and refuseth to do it and resolved to go privately unto the Pope which he attempted and having been twice at Sea was both times Driven back This [5] Ibidem C. 30. Anno Domini 1164. The King Angry at his Endeavour to Escape attempt much heightned the Kings Displeasure against him and he caused him peremptorily to be Cited at a certain Day to answer such things as should be objected against him The King also by a strict Edict * Regni Episcopi Vniversi Proceres Ex Edicto Regio Districtissimè Convocantur The Bishops and great men judgâ— all his Moveables to be Confiscated called together all the Bishops and great men of the Kingdom to meet at Northampton where the Arch-Bishop appeared not in person according to his Citation though he sent his answer and excuse for which cause by the Judgment of all those Bishops and great men all his movables were confiscated This he said was a new form of Judgment according to the new Canons or Laws made at Clarendon for it was never heard of before That the Arch-Bishop of Canturbury should be tryed in the Kings Court for any Cause whatsoever both in Respect of the Dignity of his Church and person and that because he was spiritual father of the King and of all in the Kingdom but he complained more of his Brethren and Fellow-Bishops Than he did of the Judgment or the Lay persons Judging of him c. [6] Ibidem veruntamen multo magis quam de Judicio vel de proceribus Judicantibus de Consratribus suis Coepiscopis Querebatur Novam formam ordinem Judiciorum dictos invenisse ut Archipraesul à suis Suffraganeis aut Pater à filiis judicetur The King in the [7] Ibidem C. 31. 500 l. charged upon the Arch-Bishop Security given for it Second day of this Council required five hundred pounds of the Arch-Bishop which he said he had borrowed of him The Arch-Bishop affirmed the King gave him the money which notwithstanding when he could not prove it was adjudged against him and the King Exacted Caution and the Arch-Bishop making some Delay it was told him he must either pay the money or go to Prison But some men seeing his friends and Suffragans forsake him voluntarily offered themselves as Sureties for him and five not there named became bound every one in an hundred pounds On the [8] C. 34. last day of the Council before he Entred into the Court the Bishops came to him astonished and affrighted at the things they had heard whence *
of two orders Clergy and Laity [4] Hoved. f. 285. a. n. 10. The Church consists of two Orders Clergy and Laity Ecclesia Dei in duobus constat ordinibus in Clero populo Amongst the Clergy were Apostles and Apostolic men The Church consists of two Orders Clergy and Laity Bishops and other Governors or Rectors of Churches to whom the Care and Government of the Church was committed In Clero sunt Apostoli Apostolici viri Episcopi c. [5] Ibidem amongst the Laity were Kings Dukes Earls and other powers who transacted Secular affairs that they might reduce the whole to the peace and unity of the Church In populo sunt Reges Duces Comites c. And because it was certain that Kings receive their power from the Church Kings receive their power from the Church according to the Arch-Bishops Doctrine The state of the Controversy between the King and Arch-Bishop from his own Mouth and not That from them but from Christ therefore he had nothing to do to command Bishops to excommunicate or absolve anyone To force Cleres into Secular Courts or Judicatures To judge of Tithes of Churches To prohibit Bishops That they handle not or meddle with transgression or breach of Faith or Oath interdicere Episcopis ne tractent de Transgressione fidei vel Iuramenti and many other things which were written after this manner amongst his Customes which he called ancient Then after a [6] Ibidem n. 20. Citation of Scripture out of the Prophets Woe to those that make unjust laws and writing write injustice That do oppress the Poor in Judgment and do wrong to the cause of the humble of the people of God he goes on â—Let my [7] Ibidem His Speech or Epistle to the King Lord if he pleaseth hear the Counsel of his faithful one the admonition of his Bishop the chastisement of his Father Have no Familiarity or communion for the future with * That is Frederic the Emperor and such as adhaered to Pope Victor and rejected Alexander See here fol. 303. A. Schismatics for 't is known to the whole world how devoutly and honourably you received the Pope meaning Alexander how you honoured and cherished the Roman Church how much the Pope and Roman Church loved and honoured your person and heard you in all things whatever they could without offence to God Et in Quibuscunque secundum Deum potuerint vos Exaudierint Do not therefore my Lord if you desire the Health of your Soul any ways substract from that Church what is its own or oppose it any thing contrary to Justice Yea let it have the same Liberty in your Kingdom which it is known to have in others Be mindful also of the Profession you made and laid it written upon the Altar at Westminster when you were consecrated and anointed King by our Predecessor That you would preserve to the Church of God her Liberty and That you would restore the Church of Canterbury to the same State and Dignity it was in the times of your and our Predecessors Restore wholly to us The Possessions that belong to that Church The Towns Castles Lands which you distributed at your pleasure and all things taken away from Vs our Clercs or Lay-men Permit us freely and in peace to return to our See And we are ready faithfully and with Respect to serve you as our most Dear Lord and King In all things we can Saving the Honor of God and the Roman Church and our Order [8] Ibidem n. 40. Otherwise Know certainly That you shall feel the Divine severity and vengeance Et nos vobis tanquam charissimo Domino et Regi fideliter et devote servire parati sumus in Quibuscunque poterimus * The same words are in Quadrilogus lib. 5. Salvo Honore Dei et Ecclesiae Romanae et Ordine nostro * The same words are in Quadrilogus lib. 5. Alioquin pro â—certo scias Quod divinam severitatem et ultionem senties In an [9] Append. n. 46. Epistle to his Suffragans He Expostulates with them why they Concurred not with him in opposing the King and reclaiming him from his perverse purposes which seemed to him dangerous and intolerable and gives them notice That first having invoked the Grace of the Holy Spirit he had damned and cassated the writing He expostulates with his suffragans why they concurred not with him in opposing the King c. He castates and nulls the Kings Laws and Excommunicates all the favourers of them in which he had published his Customs or rather as he calls them Pravities And that he had Excommunicated all the observers exactors advisers promoters and defenders of them and had absolved all them his suffragans by Gods and his own Authority from the Observation of them Also That he had Excommunicated Iohn of Oxford afterward Dean of Salisbury and Bishop of Norwich for Joyning with Reginald Arch-Bishop of Colon and the Germans for Victor alias Octavian against Alexander and for usurping the Deanry of Salisbury against the Popes and his Command and declared his Title to it null and void He also [1] Ibidem He Excommunicates by name many others for several matters let them Know he had Excommunicated Richard Ivecestre or Ilcester for joyning with Arch-Bishop Reginald and the Germans as was said before and That he had Excommunicated Richard de Luci and Iocelin de Bailol because they drew up and put into form the Royal Customes and Laws or as he says because they were the authors and makers of those pravities Likewise That he had excommunicated Ranulph de Broc for taking and Deteining the Goods of the Church of Canturbury and for taking and imprisoning his Men or Tenents as Laymen That with him he had Excommunicated Hugh de St. Clare and Thomas Fitz-Bernard who had occupied the Goods and Possessions of the same Church without his Connivance or assent and all others That afterwards should do the like He further [2] Ibidem He tells his suffragans he yet deferred to pronounce Sentence against the Kings person but was ready to do it signifies to them That as yet he had deferred to pronounce Sentence against the Kings person expecting That being inspired by Divine Grace he might Repent which if he did not quickly he was ready to do it and commanding their Fraternity by virtue of their Obedience That they should Esteem as Excommunicated the before mentioned persons and cause them to be denounced such injoyning the Bishop of London to send and shew this Epistle to all his Brethren and fellow-Bishops of his Province After these proceedings of the Arch-Bishop A severe Edict to watch the Ports and against such as brought any thing from the Pope c. King Henry sent his Precept into England That all the Ports should be most strictly watched lest Letters of Interdiction should be any ways brought in and if any one brought them he
was a comfort to them when by common fame they heard that being beyond the Seas he had no Designs or Contrivances against their Lord the King or his Kingdom but that he did bear with modesty that Burthen of Poverty which he had voluntarily undertaken and had withdrawn and sequestered himself out of Devotion to humble himself and to obtein or improve his Spiritual Welfare and rejoyced to hear he was so studious of Peace But then to their great Grief they heard he Threatned the King with an Interdict and to cut him off from the Church They press upon him the inconveniences of such proceedings and the conveniences of a Quiet and peaceable temper And urge him to consider That the King against the Dissuasion of his Mother and the Opinion of the Kingdom or Secular Government Regno reclamante caused him to be Elected Arch-Bishop in hopes he might Reign happily and injoy great Quiet and Security by his advice and assistance They tell him The King being appointed by God provided for the peace of his Subjects in all things and preserved it to the Churches and people committed to him That he exacted and required the Dignities due and Exhibited to Kings before him should be allowed and Exhibited to him About which if there were any Controversie between the King and himself when he was admonished by the Bishops of London and Hereford by Directions from the Pope he answered humbly and meekly That if any Church or Ecclesiastical person whatsoever could shew themselves grieved or injured he would in all things submit himself to the Judgment of the Church of his Kingdom and That in very Deed he was then ready to perform it and give satisfaction for the injury done And then they Demand by what right what Law what Canon or interdict he could urge or press the King or how he could cut him off from the Church and then move him to Peace and compliance and smoothly Reprove him for several preposterous new and unwarrantable Actions as suspending and Condemning the Bâ—shop of Salisbury before he was accused or heard which new Order of Judgment say they to Condemn first and hear the cause afterward as they hoped was then not to be found amongst the Laws or Canons And lest he might attempt to exercise and extend it against their Lord the King or his Kingdom or against them and the Churches committed to them To the prejudice of the Pope the Disgrace and Detriment of the holy Roman Church and the increase of his own confusion they opposed the Remedy of Appeal and the second time Appealed to the Pope in Writing and Designed * Ann. Dom. 1167. Ascension Day for the time of Appeal Such another [3] Append. N. 51. They write to the same effect to the Pope They tell him there was no need of an interdict c. They fix the Ground and cause of the Controversie in the Extravagancy and Crimes of insolent Clercs and the manner of punishing them Epistle and much to the same Effect The Bishops of his Province wrote to the Pope in behalf of the King In which they excuse him as before Commend his compliance and obedience and inform the Pope there was no need of an Interdict Threats or Curse to force him to satisfaction They assign for the ground and Cause of the Controversie the Extravagancies and Excesses of certain insolent Clercs and the maner and place of punishing their grievous Crimes and Enormities They Blame Thomas for Threatning to Excommunicate and Interdict the Nation and say it was neither like the Devotion or Patience of a Father or Arch-Bishop They acquaint the Pope he had Excommunicated some of the Kings Servants and chief men of the Kingdom and his special assistants and Counsellors by whom the great affairs of the Kingdom were much directed without Citation without making any Defence and as they said without Guilt not being Convicted or having Confessed any fault And lay before him the inconveniences and ill consequences of his extravagant actions and at length make their Appeal to the Pope and propound the Day of Appeal as before An Abstract of the Rescript or Answer of the Arch-Bishop to his Suffragans Epistle here follows The Rescript it self is to be found in the Appendix N. 56. THrough the whole he Draws and insinuates a Parallel between our Saviour Christ and himself The Arch-Bishops Answer to the Epistle of his Suffragans Tells them they wrote it not by Common advice and Prudence it conteining more of Mordacity than Comfort more of Disobedience than Piety or Charity and wonders why they should be so unkind to him when he never did them injury He exhorts them to lay down their lives with him to free the Church from the Yoke of servitude Says the injury done to him the Church of God and Canturbury was the Cause of his Appeal and that the Cause of his Recess He accuseth the Bishop of London Arch-Bishop of York and Richard de Ivelcester for Dictating the Sentence against him and particularly the Bishop of London for Receiving the Money of the Church of Canturbury and applying it to the use of his own He affirms he ought not to fear any punishment or ill consequences for standing out against the King The Bishops he Exhorts not to confound the rights of the Church and Kingdom which were Distinct Powers of which The * He meaâ—s the secular power received authority from Church one received power and authority from the other He says the Bishop of Salisbury admitted Iohn of Oxford Dean of Salisbury against the Popes and his Prohibition which was manifest Disobedience and therefore there was no solemnity required in the Process against him and cites Canons to make good his Assertion He argues against their Appeal and asserts That Legally and Canonically they could not Appeal And affirms it no injury or grievance to the King to smite him with excommunication As to what they say that he was made Arch-Bishop against the Opinion and good liking of the Kingdom He appeals to the form and manner of his Election and indeavours to make what they say improbable from the number and Quality of the persons present and for that the King wrote for a Pall and the Election was made without Contradiction He takes notice they reported him a little Fellow and of mean Parentage his answer was That he Descended not from Kings yet chose rather by the Nobility of his mind to raise a Family then by his negligence to make one Degenerate He tells them they talked of the Danger of the Roman Church of the loss of Temporals and the fear of the Kings and his peoples recess from it of his own Danger and of those that belonged to him but thought not of the Loss of Souls And after this averrs the Suffragans of his Church ought all to be of his opinion and to suffer and dye with him The Epistle or Rescript is very long and what his Potency
much Barly and Wine accordingly And an hundred Gally's armed with their whole Furniture and Victuals for the Mariners or Gally-men for two years All these things he Claymed as heir to his Father King Henry to whom King William had devised them on his Death bed Tancred [8] Ibid. n. 10. What Tancred gave to him by advice of his wise men gave him 20000 ounces of Gold in lieu of his Sisters Dower and 20000 to be Quit of his other Demands and for a Marriage to be contracted between Arthur Duke of Britany King Richards Nephew and his Daugther And upon Executing the Charter of Peace between them [9] Ibid. b. n. 50. Tancred gave him other twenty thousand ounces of Gold to be free from all his Questions and Demands whatsoever And that for Tancreds greater security he should [1] Ibid. f. 386. a lin 2. n. 10. write to the Pope and give him an Account of their Agreement which Epistle bare [2] Ibid. 40. A. D. 1190. King Richard declares his Nephew Arthur his heir if he dyed without issue date at Messina November 11th wherein he Declares his Dearest Nephew Arthur his next Heir if he dyed without Issue This year Dyed [3] Ibid. f. 390. b. lin 5. n. 10. The Death of Robert Earl of Leicester Ranulph Glanvill and Baldwin Arch-Bishop of Canturbury Robert Earl of Leicester in Romania going to the Holy Land and Ranulph de Glanvill Dyed at the Siege of Acon and then and there also Dyed Baldwin Arch-Bishop of Canturbury and left Hubert Bishop of Salisbury his Executor who performed his Office faithfully and Distributed his Goods according to his Desire In the month of February King Richard sent his Gally's from Messina to Naples for his Mother [4] Ibid. f. 391. b. n. 10 20. Queen Alienor A. D. 1191. and Berengaria Daughter of Sanâ—â—us King of Navarre whom he was to Marry They came through France and Iâ—aly to Naples over Land Not long before this time There happened in [5] Ibid. A great Dissention between the Chancellor John the Kings Brother and other Noble men England great Dissension between the Chancellor and Earl Iohn the Kings Brother and the other great men of the Land and it came to such an height as they all wrote to the King Concerning the State of his Kingdom and the Grievances the People susteined by the Chancellors Government who sent from Messina [6] Ibid. n. 30. Walter Arch-Bishop of Roven and William Marshal Earl of Striguil Commanding his Chancellor [7] See Append n. 73 74. A. D. 1191. The Chancellors haughtiness That all things in the Kingdom should be done by the advice and assistance of the Arch-Bishop of Roven and the joynt undertaking and Direction of William Marshal Geofry Fitz-Peter Hugh Bardolf and William Bruer When they came into England they dare not deliver him the Kings Letters for he Despised all the Kings Mandates and would have no Peer or aequal in the Kingdom On the first of March King Richard [8] Hoved. ut supra n 40 50. went from Messina to Catania another City of Sicily 60 Miles from it to visit Tancred where he staid three Days and at his Departure they presented one another with Gifts Tancred brought him on his Journey toward Messina and before they left one another he gave him a Letter he had [9] Ibid. f. 392. a. lin a. n 10 20.30 The Treachery of the King of France to King Richard discovered by Tancred received from the King of France by the Duke of Burgundy in which he told him the King of England was a Traytor and would not keep the Peace he made with him And that if he would set upon him in the Night he would assist him with his Forces and Destroy the King of England and his Army To whom the King of England said he was not had not been nor would be a Traytor And that what Agreement he had made with him he would observe it so long as he Lived And that he could not easily believe the King of France would send him such a Letter To whom King Tancred Answered That if the Duke of Burgundy denyed he gave him those Letters from the King of France he was ready to disprove him by one of his own Dukes The King at his return to Messina mightily Estranged himself from the King of France who inquiring into the reason of it King Richard let him Know by the Earl of Flanders That he had received such a Letter and the Contents of it and let the Earl peruse it The King of France was silent for a while and then said the pretended Letter and Lye was a Trick of King Richards to get rid of his Sister Alice whom he had Sworn to Marry and threatned that if he did Leave her and Marry another Woman he would be his Enemie so long as he Lived The King of England [1] Ibidem King Richard refuses to Marry the King of France his Sister Replyed he could by no means make â—is Sister his Wife because his Father had Known her and begotten a Son of her and produced many Witnesses to prove it And the matter of fact appearing to the King of France to be so By the Advice of the Earl of Flanders and others of his great men a Composition was made between them The King of France was to acquit him of his Oath and Agreement hâ— had made concerning his Sister Alâ—ce and King Richard was to pay him in five years time 10000 Marks The difference between the Kings of England and France composed whereof he paid him 2000 down and was to deliver Gâ—sors and what else the King of France had given in respect of the intended Marriage and then he was at Liberty to Marry who he pleased and the Agreement further was That by his Chart the King of France Granted The Duke of Britany a â—eâ—â—aâ—aâ—ie to France That the Dukedom of Britany should for ever belong to the Dominion of the Duke of Normandy and that the Duke of Britany should always be his Man or Feudatary and should answer all things to him as to his Liege Lord. And that the Duke of Normandy should answer to the King of France for both Dukedoms and so they were made friends and the Agreement confirmed by their Oaths and Seals with the Addition of many Witnesses On the 30 th of March [2] Ibid. n. 40 The King of France with his Army arrives at Acon the King of France Sayled from Messina and two and twenty days after arrived at Acon with his Army The King of England staid there with his Army after his Departure and the very Day he set Sayl Queen Alienor came thither with Berengaria and the [3] Ibid. n 50. King Richard sends to the Pope to confirm and Consecrate his Brother Geofry fourth day departed toward England and went by Rome and by her the King sent to the
Earl John refuses to treat with the Norman Nobility about the Kings release Iohn soon after Christmass passed into Normandy where the Seneschal and other great men met him and desired he would go to Alencon to treat with them about the Kings affairs and the freeing him from Imprisonment [3] Ibid. n. 40 Unless they would accept him for their Lord which they refuse he told them if they would receive him as their Lord and Swear Fealty to him he would go with them and undertake their Defence against the King of France but otherwise not The Noblemen of Normandy refused his proposals hoping to see their King again From thence [4] Ibid. He does Homage to the King of France for Normandy c. the Earl went to the King of France and did Homage to him for Normandy and the other Dominions of his Brother beyond Sea and as it was reported for England and Swore he would take to Wife his Sister Alice and then quiet Claymed or Released to the King of France Gisors and whole Veuxin Norman And he gave him with his Sister That part of Flanders he had in his possession and Swore he would do his utmost to help him to Gain England and his Brothers other Dominion Then he [5] Ibid. n. 50. He returns into England and demands the Kingdom alledging the King was dead returned into England carrying many strangers with him and had the Castles of Windsor and Wallingford delivered to him from whence he came to London and demanded the Kingdom from the Archbâ—shop of Roven and the other Justices that is the Commissioners for the Government of England and the Fealties of the Military Tenants Vassals or Feudataries of the Kingdom Affirming his Brother the King was Dead Deinde ipse Comes venit Lundonias à Roâ—homagensi Archiepiscopo caeteris Justiciariis Angliae petiit sibi Regnum fidelitates hominum Regni affirmans Qâ—od Rex Angliae frater suus mortuus Erat. But they believed him not And when he saw he was [6] Ibidem b. lin 1. c. The Justiciaries reject him and secure all the Ports rejected by the Justiciaries and great men he swelled with fury Portifyed his places of Strength and Invaded his Brothers Lands in an Hostile manner The Justiciaries had so well secured the Ports as neither French or Flemmings that had promised him assistance dare attempt to Land in England They Besieged Windsor Castle [7] Ibid. n. 20. They raise an Army to oppose him The Archbishop of York Hugh Bardolfe one of the Kings Justiciaries and Sheriff of Yorkshire and William de Stutevill raise an Army in that Country and marched to Doncaster which they fortifyed [8] Ibid. n. 30. The Archbishop would have gone on and Besieged Tikehill a Castle belonging to Earl Iohn but the other two would not Consent to it because they were his men or Feudataries quia erant homines Comitis Iohanis After Easter the [9] Ibid. n. 10 Abbats of Boxley and Roberts-Bridge that had been sent by the Justiciaries to the King came Back and reported the Agreement made between him and the Emperor But the King not returning all men wondered at his stay in Germany and doubted what was become of him and whether he would return or not Whereupon the Aâ—chbishop of Roven and the other Justiciaries although they had forced Earl Iohn to a Complyance A truce made with Earl John and even taken the Castle of Windsor yet they made a Truce with him until the Feast of All Saints [1] Ibid. f. 413. a. lin 1. c. The Castles of Notingham and Tikehill remaining in his Custody as they were before and the Castles of Windsor Walingford and Pec were Delivered to the Queen Mother and were to be Redelivered to the Earl if the King returned not the mean While Soon after this [2] Ibid. n. 10. The King writes to his Subjects to send money for his Release Truce the King sent to the Archbishops all the Bishops Abbats Earls Barons Clercs and Free-tenants Francos tenentes or Tenents in Capite and desired all the Clergy and Laity would give him such an aid to redeem him as he might thank them for it The Emperor wrote to the same purpose and the Pope who Threatned the Kingdom with an Interdict unless the King were speedily freed from Prison and wrote to the King of France that he would anathematize his Kingdom unless he forbear to trouble the King of England while he was Prisoner [3] Ibid. n 30. The great instrument of reconciliation between the Emperor and King Richard was the Chancellor The price of his Redemption was 140000 marks Charissimus Cancellarius noster Willielmus Eliensis Episcopus as the King Stiles him in his Letter And the price of his Redemption was Seven score thousand Marks of Silver The Emperor and Kings [4] Ibid. b. n. 20. Append n. 76. A. D. 1193. Letters both bear Date the 19th of April at Hagenou By Authority of the [5] Ibid. f. 413. b. n. 10. How and upon whom this Sum was levied and raised Kings letters the Queen Mother and the Justices determined That all Clercs and Laics should pay a fourth part of their Revenues that year for the Redemption of the King and that they should add so much of their Moveables or upon their Moveables for which the King should Con or Ken them thanks and upon every Knights Fee they charged 20 s. and ordered the Abby's and Houses of the Cistertians and the order of Semplingham should contribute all their Wooll that year and That all the Gold and Silver the Churches were possessed of should be brought forth and delivered for the same purpose Autoritate Literarum istarum these words follow immediately after the Date of the Kings Letters Mater Regis Justiciarii Angliae statuerunt quod universi tam Clerici quam Laici quâ—rtam partem redditus sui de hoc anno darent ad redemptionem Domini Regis tantum superadderent de Mobilibus suis unde rex debet eis gratias Scire de unoquoque feodo Militis viginti Solidos de Abbatiis ordinis Cistrensis de Domibus Ordinis Semplingham totam lanam suam de hoc Anno Vniversum Aurum Argentum Ecclesiarum sicut Rex in Mandato suo praeceperat [6] f. 413. a. n. 40. The Gold and Silver taken out of the Churches to be restored The Gold and Silver that belonged to the Churches the King only Borrowed and his Justiciaires and Barons made Oath he should fully restore it again About this [7] Ibid. b. n. 40. The Chancellor returns into England to manage the Kings business Matter the Chancellor came into England and in great humility went to St. Albans where the Queen Mother the Archbishop of Roven and the other Justiciaires alii Justiciarii Domini Regis met him and there produced a [8] Ibid. n. 30. Golden
* Easter Day was this year on the tenth of April What the King of Scots Demands of King Richard were Easter at Winchester and on that day went to Chipston in the same County to meet William King of Scots who as they Journyed together toward Winchester Demanded of the King the Dignities and Honors his Predecessors had in England and also Demanded the Counties of Northumberland Cumberland Westmerland and Lancaster to be restored to him as the right of his Predecessors The King [9] Ibid. n. 30. King Richards Answer answered him he would satisfie him by advice of his Earls and Barons They staid at Northampton on the tenth and eleventh of April where the King having deliberated and advised with his Bishops Earls and Barons Rex habito cum Episcopis Comitibus Baronibus suis cum Deliberatione Consilio Respondet c. gave him this Answer That as to his Demand of Northumberland he ought not then to have made it when all the Princes of France were become his Enemies for if he granted it it would seem he did it out of fear and not out of Affection Yet the King [1] Ibid. n. 40.50 His Grant to the King of Scots then by his Chart granted to him and his Heirs for ever in the presence of the Queen Mother Hubert Archbishop of Canturbury Hugh Bishop of Durham Iocelin Bishop of Glasco and many other Clercs and Laics of both Kingdoms That when ever they were summoned to the King of Englands Court The Bishop of Durham and Sherif of Northumberland should receive him at the River Twede and bring him to the River Tese and there the Archbishop of York and Sherif of Yorkshire should receive and conduct him to the Borders of that County and so the Bishops of the Diocess and Sherifs should Conduct him from County to County until he came to the Kings Court And from the Time he Entred England he was to receive every day of the Kings Purse an hundred Shillings de Liberatione of allowance or Livery and after he came to the King and so long as he staid there he was to have every day de Liberatione of Allowance thirty Shillings and twelve of the Kings fine Loaves or Cakes duodecim Wastellos Dominicos and twelve of the Kings Biscuits or Simnel Loaves made of fine Wheat flower and twice baked duodecim Simenellos Dominicos and four Gallons of the Kings Wine and eight Gallons of Ordinary Wine and two pounds of Pepper and two pounds of Cumin and two Cakes of Wax weighing each eight or twelve pounds duas petras de Cera and four wax Candels and fourty great long Candels of the Kings Candels quadraginta longos grossos Colpones de Candela Dominica Regis and fourscore Ordinary Candels and when he returned into his Country he was to be conducted by the Bishops and Sherifs to the River Twede and to be allowed an hundred shillings a day This Charter was [2] Ibid. f. 4â— a. n. 10. Delivered to William King of Scots at the Town of Northampton on the 12th of April 1194. being Easter Tuesday by the hands of William Bishop of Ely the Kings Chancellor * Ibid. n. 30. Godfrey Bishop of Winton disseised On the 15th the King came to Winchester and Disseised Godfrey the Bishop of the Castle and County of Winton and the two Maners he had bought of him before his Expedition to Ierusalem and the greatest part of his Patrimony After the Coronation [3] Ibid. b. n. 20. on the 19th of this month Hugh Bâ—shop of Durham on his own Accord would have Delivered to the King the County of Northumberland with the Castles and other Appurtenances The King ordered him to deliver them to Hugh Bardolf The King of Scots offered 15000 Marks for them saying his Father and his Brother Malcolm held them of the Gift of King Henry the Second he might have had the County without the Castles for that money but refused it The Prisoners [4] Ibid. n. 30. The Prisoners taken in Earl Johns Castle were some imprisoned and others gave security that were taken in Earl Iohns Castles were brought to Winchester where the King caused the better sort of them to be Imprisoned That they might compound or be fined and the others gave security every one in an hundred marks for Appearance upon Summons in the Kings Court and standing to Judgment there On the 24th of April [5] Ibid. n. 40. An Agreement made between the Archbishop of York and the Chancellor the King made Peace and final Concord between the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Ely his Chancellor concerning all Controversies had happened between them as well about the Archbishops Imprisonment at Dover as the Chancellors being forced out of England so as he when he was called to it by the Arch-Bishop should Swear with an hundred Priests his Compurgators cum centesima manu sacerdotum jurabit That he neither Commanded nor desired he should be imprisoned That day [6] Ibid. n. 50. f. 421. a. n. 10. The King and his Mother pass over to France He raises the Siege of Vernuil and repairs its breaches he and his Mother went to Portsmouth to pass beyond Sea but Shipped not themselves until the 12th of May and with an hundred great Ships laden with Warriâ—rs Horses and Arms and landed at Barbfleet The King of France had besieged Verneuil Eighteen days and when he heard of his Arrival fled the King of England came thither and repaired and strengthned the Breaches and weak places Earl Iohn [7] Ibid. n. 20. He and Earl John are made friends by the Mediation of his Mother came to his Brother and they were made friends but the King would neither restore him to Castle or Lands Commissioners [8] Ibid. b. n. 10 20. The two Kings ravage and burn each others Country on both sides were appointed and met but could not agree about a Truce So as afterward the two Kings destroyed one anothers Countrys with Rapin and Burning more then before The King of France came to Eureux and totally destroyed and pulled down that City with the Churches not sparing Age or Sex and carrying away the Reliques of the Saints And this he did because the Citizens had left him and returned to the Faith and Service of their Lord the King of England From thence he marched with his Army to Freteval and the King of England that he might be near him and attend his Motions came to Vâ—ndosme He had been there but one night when the King of France next morning sent him word that day he would visit him with his Army The King of England Joyful to hear the News told the Messenger he would expect him and if he did not That next morning he would visit him with his Army The King of France was not so good as his word Therefore next morning early the King of England marched toward him he having notice of it fled
to keep them to the Kings Vse [7] Ibid. f. 444. a. n. 40. A. D. 1198. The other by Geofrey Fitz-Peter to the assistance of William de Bruosa an English Baron whom Wenhunwin son of Cadwalan had Besieged in Maud Castle where above 3000 welch were in fight and slight Much Money was Raised by Seizures Fines and Compositions and the Sale of his Demeasnes His Issue By the Procurement of his [8] Ibid. fol. 392. a. n. 10. Mother Alienor he Married Berengaria Daughter of Sanctius King of Navarre in the Isle of Cyprus [9] Ibid. f. 394. a. n. 10. A. D. 1190. on the 12th of May and there was Consecrated and Crowned Queen of England by Iohn Bishop of Eureux with other Forreign Bishops his assistants but by her he had no Issue She was with him in the Holy Land and came as far as Sicily in her passage to England But afterwards we hear not of her until the third of King Iohn when he compounded with her for her Dower Philip he had a Base Son as Hoveden [1] f. 452. b. n. 30. affirms to whom he gave the Castle and Honor of Cuinat but of whom begotten or when and where born he saith not Philippus filius Richardi Regis Angliae Nothus cui praedictus Rex pater suus dederat Castellum Honorem de Cuinac c. Other Issue of his I find not or what became of this Philip. THE REIGN OF King John AFTER the Death of King Richard [1] Hoved. f. 450. b. n. 10. A. D. 1199. Iohn Earl of * The old Monks never call any one King of England or Duke of Normandy until Crowned or invested for it was their opinion he was not so and that he Received his Kingship c. from his Consecration Unction and Coronation and by that means from the Archbishop as an Instrument and the Church of Rome as the Original of it and all Secular Government Moreton the fourth and youngest Son of King Henry the Second came into Normandy and presently sent Hubert Archbishop of Canturbury and William Marshal Earl of Striguil into England who with Geofrey Fitz-Peter the Justiciary and other Barons were to Keep that Nation in Peace Out of Normandy he went to Chinon in Tourain where was the Treasure of his Brother in the Keeping of Robert de Turnham who delivered it to him with the Castles of Chinon and Saumur and other Castles At the same [2] Ibid. n. 20. The Nobility of Normandy adhere to Arthur Duke of Britany time his Nephew Thomas de Furnes Delivered the City and Castle of Anger 's to Arthur Duke of Britany for in a Convention of the Chief men of Anjou Tourain and Main They acknowledged it to be the right and Custom of their Countries for the Son of the Elder Brother to succeed in the Patrimony due to him and That Arthur ought to possess the Inheritance which his Father Geofrey should have had if he had out-lived his Uncle Richard and therefore owned and adhered to him as their Liege Lord and Delivered to him Anjou Tourain and Main [3] Ibidem Constance the Mother of Arthur brought him to Tours and Delivered him to Philip King of France he sent him to his Son Lewis to be Kept at Paris and seised his Citys Castles and Fortresses and placed in them Castellans and Governors of his own In Revenge [4] Ibidem John Earl of Moreton takes and demolishes Main Iohn Earl of Moreton came to Main took the City and Castle and Demolished the Walls of the City the Castle and all the Stone Houses and made many of the Citizens Prisoners for that they had received Arthur contrary to the Fidelity made to him From thence he went to Roven and on the 25th of April [5] Ibid. n. 30. He is girt with the Sword of Normandy was girt with the Sword of the Dukedom of Normandy by Walter Archbishop of that City And he Swore before the Clergy and Laity coram Clero populo upon the Reliques of Saints and the holy Gospels * This was the Oath of the Dukes of Normandy and if the Conqueror took any it was this and in Substance 't is he same with the Oath of all our Antient Kings That he would preserve from Injury holy Church and the Dignities thereof That he would exercise right Justice Destroy evil Laws and ordain good In the mean time Hubert Archbishop of Canturbury and William Marshal who had been sent into England [6] Ibidem n. 40 50. The Nobility and Free Tenents of England Swear Fealty to him Caused the men of the Kingdom or Government fecerunt homines Regni as well of Cities as Burghs and Earls Barons and free Tenents to swear fealty and peace to Iohn Duke of Normandy the Son of King Henry the Son of Maud the Empress against all men yet all the Bishops Earls and Barons that had Castles provided and furnished them with Men Victuals and Arms. And therefore the Archbishop William Marshal and Geofry Fitz-Peter Justiciary of England met at Northampton and called before them such as they most suspected who were David the King of Scots Brother Richard Earl of Clare Ranulf Earl of Chester William Earl of Tutesbury Walran Earl of Warwic Roger Constable of Chester and William de Mowbray and many other Earls and Barons and there assured them that Duke Iohn would restore to every one their right Upon that * See Exact History of Succession fol. Bargain or Condition sub hac igitur conventione the foresaid Earls and Barons swore Fealty to Iohn Duke of Normandy and faithful Service against all men William King of Scots sent his [7] Ibid. f. 451. a. lin 2. The King of Scots sent Envoys to demand his Patrimony of Duke John But are denyed passage into Normandy Envoys to Duke Iohn to demand his Patrimony That is Northumberland and Cumberland with their Appertinencies and promised then to swear fealty and faithful service to him against all men But the Arch-Bishop William Marshal and Geofrey Fitz-Peter would not suffer them to pass into Normandy and sent to him by his Brother David That he should wait patiently until he came into England The like Message Duke Iohn sent to him by his Son in Law Eustachius de Vesci That in all things he would satisfie his Requests when he came into England if in the mean time he kept the Peace On the 25th of May Duke Iohn [8] Ibid. â— 20. Duke John Landeth in England and is Crowned King Landed at Shoreham in Sussex the next Day went to London and on the 27th of May being Ascension Day was Consecrated and Crowned by Hubert Archbishop of Canturbury at Westminster For the particulars of his Coronation I refer the Reader to the Exact [9] f. 375. B. C. History of the Succession of the Crown The same day King Iohn [1] Hoved. f. 451. a. n. 40. The antient way of Creating Earls and
investing them in their Earldoms girt William Marshal with the Sword of the Earldom of Striguil and Geofry Fitz-Peter with the Sword of the Earldom of Essex who though before they were called Earls and had the Administration of their Counties or Earldoms yet were not Girt with the Sword of their Earldoms The same day also he made [2] Ibidem Hubert Archbishop of Canturbury his Chancellor The King of Scots [3] Ibid. n. 50. The King of Scots reneweth his Demands by three Priors of his own Nation Reneweth his Demand of Northumberland and Tumberland and made the same promises King Iohn Answered them That when their Lord the King of Scots his Dear Cousin came to him he would do what was just concerning that and all his other Demands [4] Ibid. b. lin 5. And sent Philip Bishop of Durham to meet him hoping he would come having sent Roger Bishop of St. Andrews and Hugh Malevise for him and went himself to Nottingham at Whitsunday and staid in those parts in Expectation of him but he would not come he only sent back the two Messengers to him with demand of the two Counties and to let him Know if he denyed his demands he would endeavor to acquire them by force and expected his Answer within Forty Days In the mean time King Iohn committed Northumberland and Tumberland with their Castles to the keeping and defence of William Stutevil And having dispatched his Affairs in England passed into Normandy and landed at Diepe King John passeth into Normandy and was at Roven on [5] Ibid. n. 30 40. And makes a Truce with the King of France Midsummer Day where came to him a Multitude of Soldiers Horse and Foot and presently there was a Truce made between him and the King of France until the Morrow after the Assumption of St. Mary that is the 16th of August and here Philip Earl of Flanders did Homage to King Iohn six days before that Feast Philippus comes Flandriae devenit homo Regis Iohannis apud Rothomagum c. Henry [6] Ibid. f. 452. a.n. 10. France and Normandy interdicted Earl of Namur brother to Philip Earl of Flanders Peter of Donay a Famous Soldier and his Brother the Elect of Cambray were taken by some of the French Kings Soldiers and delivered to him Peter of Capua a Cardinal and the Pope's Legat interdicted France for the taking of the Elect of Cambray as also Normandy for the Detention of Philip Bishop of Beavais and before he would release the Sentence the King of France was forced to Release the Elect and King Iohn the Bishop of Bravais But because he was taken in Arms he gave King Iohn 2000 Marks Paris [7] f. 198. n. 50. says 6000 and took an Oath never to bear Arms again against Christians Philip King of France [8] Hoved. f 452. a. n. 10.20 The King of France Knighted Arthur Duke of Britany and received his Homage Knighted Arthur Duke of Britany and Received his Homage for Anjou Poictou Tourain Main Britany and Normandy In the Morrow after the Assumption of St. Mary August 16th the two Kings treated two Days by their Commissioners between Buravant and Gaâ—llon and the third Day they spake by themselves but the King of France shew no Kindness to the King of England and the reason was because he had possessed himself of Normandy and other Countries without his Licence whereas he ought first to have come to him and demanded his Right and done him Homage In this Treaty [9] Ibid. n. 30. His Demands of King John the King of France Demanded all Veuxin That is all between the Forest of Lions the Seyn the Isle of Andeli and the River Ept. Affirming that Geofry Earl of Anjou the Father of Henry Son of Maud the Empress had given it to Lewis the Gross King of France for his assistance in gaining Normandy from King Stephan of England And Demanded that Poictou Anjou Tourain and Main might be rendred to Arthur Duke of Britany and made other Demands the King of England could not Grant King Richards riches adhered to King John and so they Departed The Earls and Barons of France that had adhered to King Richard became the men of King Iohn and Sware to him they would not make Terms with the King of France unless with his Consent and he Swore to them he would not make Peace with him unless they were comprehended in it In October the King of France [1] Ib. b. l. 1. took the Castle of Balun which was taken ill by William de Rupibus or Roche General of Duke Arthurs Forces was sent to him that there was no such Agreement between his Lord Arthur and him The King replyed he should not omit to do his pleasure notwithstanding his Lord Arthur and then went and besieged Lavardin [2] Ibid. l. 7. but hearing the King of England was coming with his Army left the Siege and marched to Mans King Iohn followed him and he left that place In the mean time William de Roche had craftily gotten Arthur out of the [3] Ib. n. 10. Arthur reconciled to King John and made Governor of Mans. custody of the King of France and reconciled him to his Uncle King John and delivered to him the City of Mans of which he was made Governor by them both and the very same day it was told Duke Arthur that King Iohn would put him in prison whereupon he and his Mother that night made their escape to Anger 's Paris [4] f. 198. n. 30. says he went privately to the King of France William * Hoved. f. 453. a. n. 30. A. D. 1199. William King of Scots admonished by a Revelation not to invade England King of Scots in pursuance of his Claim to the Counties of Northumberland and Cumberland raised an Army with intention to invade England but coming to the Shrine of St. Margaret sometime Queen of Scotland which was at Dunfermlin where he stays all night he was admonished by a Revelation in his Sleep That he should not invade England with his Army and so he permitted it to depart home or discharged it Permisit exercitum suum Domum redire After Christmass the two [5] Hoved. f. 454. b. n. 10.20 A. D. 1200. A Treaty between King John and King Philip. Kings met at a Treaty between Andeli and Gaillon in which Treaty they agreed That Lewis Son to the King of France should take to wife Blanch the Daughter of Alfonso the Eighth King of Castile King Iohns Niece with whom he was to give and quiet claim the City of Eureux and the whole Earldom and all the Fortresses and Castles which the King of France had in Normandy at the time of the death of King Richard and besides give her 30000 Marks of Silver and did Swear That he would not give any assistance to his Nephew Otho in Men or Money whereby he might obtain the Roman Empire to which
so prevailed with the Justices that their Cloaths were not Seized nor the Assise of King Richard to be kept concerning the Breadth of Cloath or the Measure of Grain King Richardâ— Assise for the Measure of Cloath and Grain made void by the Justices so as for the future they might make their Cloaths as Broad and Narrow as they pleased from whence to the Damage of many the Justices procured a great Summe of Money to the Kings use This Year the [4] Ibid. f. 466. a. n. 20. The Pope wrote to the Clergy to Contribute to the Relief of the Holy Land Pope wrote a pressing Epistle to the Archbishops and Bishops to contribute a fortieth part of their Ecclesiastical Revenues to the Relief of the Holy Land and to take care that the Clercs in every Diocess did the same [5] Ibid. f. 470. a. n. 40. He sent to the same purpose to the King of England and France The Master of the Hospital of Ierusalem wrote another lamentable Epistle to the Prior and Brethren of the same Hospital in England moving them very earnestly for Relief and that they would induce the King and great men to assist them The Pope reflecting seriously upon the Contents of these Letters sent a Cardinal to the Kings of England and France requiring them to make a Subsidy or Tax in their Dominions for the Relief of the Land of Ierusalem [6] Ibid. f. 471. a. lin 3. King John granteth a fortieth part of his Revenue for one year upon which Message and Request the two Kings consented to give the fortieth part of all their Revenues for one Year And the King of England would have it Levied of all his Revenue and of the Ward Lands and Escheats in his hands and Commanded that all Lay-men of his Dominions praecepit quod omnes Laici c. should give a fortieth part of all their Rents as an Alms for the Relief of the Land of Ierusalem Whereupon Geofry Fitz-Peter then Chief Jâ—sticiary of England wrote [7] Append. n. 80. to the Sheriffs of England to admonish and induce the Earls and Barons in every of their Sherifwicks and others to give a fortieth part as aforesaid and to Collect it In Lent the Year following the two Kings [8] Mat. Paris f. 207. lin 2. King Philips Demands refused by King John Parleyed near the Castle of Goleton where the King of France armed with mortal hatred against the King of England in Scorn commanded him forthwith to Deliver to Arthur Earl of Britany Normandy Tourain Anjou and Poictou and Exacted of him many other things which King Iohn refused to do The day following the King of France attacqued the Castle of Butavant took and Demolished it from whence he went to Ou and took that Town He besieged took and demolished many of King Johns Towns and Castles with the Castle of Limâ—s and many other Castles Ratepont Castle seated upon the River Andell in Veuxin he Besieged Eight Days and hearing the King of England was coming toward him he left it but within few days after took the Town of Gournay and then returned to Paris [9] Ibid. n. 10 20. and sent Arthur and the Governors he placed over him with two hundred French Knights into Poictou to subdue that Country or by hostile incursions to make it submit to him in their March they were told Queen Alienor Mother to King Iohn was in the Castle of Mirebeau with a small Company they besieged and took it but the Tower in which the Queen was they could not obtein those few that were in the Castle having retreated thither Here came into Arthur all the chief men and more noble Knights or Military men of Poictou especially Hugh le Brun Earl of March who was a public Enemy to King Iohn in Respect of Isabel his Queen Queen Alienor reduced to great streights by Arthur to whom he had been contracted before he married her They made up together a great Army and made sharp assaults upon the Tower The Queen in this streight [1] Ibid. n. 30. She sends to her Son for speedy relief The French and Poictovins put to flight Arthur and all the Nobility of Anjou and Poictou taken Prisoners sent to her Son passionately pressing him to come to her Relief He marched night and day and came sooner then it was believed he could be there The French and Poictovins went to meet and give him Battel the King put them to flight and pressed so hard upon them as he entred the Castle with them where was a sharp Conflict that was soon ended by the Courage of the English In this Fight were taken 200 French Knights and Duke Arthur with all the Nobles of Poictou and Anjou who were fettered and manacled with Iron and part of them sent into Normandy and part into England Arthur was sent to Falais to be kept safe there The King of France had Besieged the [2] Ibid. n. 40. Castle of Arches and Battered it fifteen days but hearing of Arthurs misfortune he raised the Siege and went to Paris and did nothing more that Year After a short time King Iohn went to [3] Ibid. n. 50 Arthur Demands the Kingdom of England of King John his Uncle Falais and caused his Nephew Arthur to be brought before him Many fair words he gave him and promised him many Honors to quit the King of France and stick to him as his Lord and Vncle but he answered him with Disdain and with threats Demanded the Kingdom of England and all the Dominions King Richard died possessed of as his right of Inheritance and Swore he should never injoy Peace unless he Restored them King Iohn very much troubled at his Demands He is sent Prisoner to Roven and never heard of more sent him to Roven to be made close Prisoner in the new Tower where he suddenly vanished [4] Ibid. f. 208. n. 10. And it presently began to be the Opinion of France and the suspicion of all Transmarine Countries That King Iohn Killed him with his own hands whence many were averted from him and persued him with an irreconcileable Hatred This Year the King caused to be proclaimed [5] Ibid. n. 20. A. D. 1202. A legal Assize of Bread to be observed a legal Assise of Bread to be inviolably observed under pain of Pilloty as it was tryed and approved by the Baker of Geofry Fitz-Peter Justiciary of England and it was to be so as the Bakers might gain in every Quarter three pence Besides the Bran and two Loaves at the Oven and four Half-peny's for four Servants and for two Boys one Farthing and an Allowance for Salt an half-peny and for Yest or Beer-good an Half-peny for Candel a Farthing for Fagots three pence and for Bulter and Sieve an Half-peny And according to this gain and allowance The weight of Bread proportioned to the price of Corn. when Wheat was at six Shillings the
Quarter a Farthing White-Loafe well Baked was to weigh sixteen shillings and a Farthing Loaf of the whole grain as it came from the Mill was to weigh twenty four shillings when Wheat was at Eighteen pence the Quarter then a Farthing White-loafe was to weigh sixty four shillings and a Farthing loafe of the whole Grist as it came from the Mill was to weigh ninety six shillings This is the highest and lowest price of Wheat mentioned in the Historian and the intermediate weight of Bread was proportionate to the intermediate price of Wheat and the Assise did rise and fall as the price of Wheat did rise and fall according to six pence in every Quarter and this Assise was Proclaimed through the whole Kingdom The King kept his [6] Ibid. n. 40 50. A. D. 1203. King Johns Luxury and Negligence Christmass at Caen in Normandy where laying aside the Thoughts of Warlike attempts he Feasted splendidly every day with his Queen and lay in Bed till Noon ubi postpositis incursionibus Bellicis cum Regina Epulabatur quotidie splendidè somnosque matutinales usque at prandendi Horam protraxit After Easter the King of France raised a great Army and took many of his Castles The places of strength he kept up the others he levelled with the ground King Iohn was told what the King of France had done he only Replyed let him alone whatever he now takes I will one day have again The English Nobility obtein leave to go home The English Earls Barons and other Noblemen hearing what he said and observing his irremediable Sloth obtained [7] f. 209. lin 2. leave to go home and left him but with few Knights or Military men in Normandy Hugh de Gournay yeilded to the King of France the Castle of Montfort with the whole Honor which King Iohn had given unto him who remained all this time secure at Roven so as people said he was bewitched ita quod ab omnibus diceretur ipsâ—m fore sortilegiis maleficiis infatuatum For he was as brisk and merry as if he had lost nothing King Philip Besieges and takes his Castles and Towns nor no ill had happened to him The King of France proceeds and invests Le Chasteau du Vau de Ruil within the Jurisdiction of Roven with a mighty Force Robert Fitz-Walter and Saber de Quincy in whose keeping it was delivered that Noble Castle so soon as he appeared before it Normandy being defenceless [8] Ibid. 10.20 Normandy and his other Transmarine Dominions left without Defence and his other Transmarine Dominions the King of France went where he would without Contradiction and received many Castles under his power and protection At the same time he Besieged the Excellent Castle upon the Rock in Andeli which King Richard Built But by the incomparable Courage and Fidelity of Roger de Lasci to whose Defence the Castle was Committed he prevailed little against it Sed probitate Rogeri de Lascâ— fidelitate incomparabili in illa obsidione parum profecit In this Juncture some Normans revolted from the King of England and others dissembled and staid with him King Iohn [9] Ibid. He came into England and accused his Nobility for deserting him He severely Taxed both them and the Religious seeing his Condition and that he had no force to support him Shipped himself and Landed at Portsmouth in die Sancti Nicholai on the 6th of December and then accusing the Earls and Barons that they had left him amongst his Enemies beyond Sea and that through their neglect he lost his Castles and Territories there He took of them the seventh part of all their moveables Neither did he in this Taxe spare Conventual or Parochial Churches For he had saith the Monk [1] Ibid. n. 30. Hubert and Fitz-Peter were the instruments of his Rapine those who Executed this Rapin upon the Ecclesiastics Hubert Archbishop of Canturbury and upon the Laics Geofry Fitz-Peter Iusticiary of England who spared no man in this Execution Qui in Executione dicta Nulli pepercerunt The King of France taking his [2] Ibid. n. 30 40. King Philips attempt to bring his transmarine Dominions under his obedience advantage when King Iohn was absent came with great Force before the several Citys and Castles of his Dominions declared to the Citisens and Castellans their King had left them and that he was chief Lord of their Countries and seeing the King of England had deserted them he must preserve the principal Dominion that was his own from injury and therefore friendly desired them to receive him as their Lord when they had no other Upon what Conditions they consented to yeild And if they would not submit to his Proposition he Swore if they fought against him and were subdued he would hang or flay them alive At length after many disputes they unanimously consented they would give Hostages for one years Truce and if the King of England Relieved them not in that time they would recognize him their Lord and render their Citys and Castles to him On the Morrow after [3] Ibid. â— 50 A. D. 1204. A Parliament called at Oxford and an Ayd granted Epiphany or the 2d of January the King and great men of England Convened in Parliament at Oxford in Crastino Circumcisionis Rex Magnates Angliae convenerunt ad Colloquium apud Oxonium where was granted to the King a Military Ayd of two Marks and half of every Knights Fee nor did the Bishops or Abbats or Ecclesiastic persons depart without promise of the same The Knights that were in the City of [4] Scriptor Norm f. 1057. B The Knights and Burgesses of Roven capitulate with King Philip. Roven and Burgesses entred into Covenants with the King of France Dated June 1. and gave 40 Hostages for the performance of them That if the King of England did not make Peace with the King of France according to his liking or remove him from the place where he was before Roven within 30 days they would deliver the City The Covenants are long and contein many things stipulated between the King of France and the Knights and Burgesses which were to be performed upon Rendition of the City [5] Paris f. 211. n. 40. Roven yeilded to him which for want of assistance came under the King of France his power The Castle upon the Rock in Andeli [6] Ibid. Andeli Castle Surrendred after a years Seige after almost a years Siege a great part of the Walls falling down the Foundation having been underdigged and the Defendants wanting Victuals fell into the King of France his hands But before the Delivery Roger Constable of Chester choosing rather to Dye with his Sword in his hand then be starved with several other of his stout Companions when they had not meat for one Meal left The great Courage and Bravery of Roger de Lasci mounted their Horses and Sallyed out and Killed many of
a Wall of Defence for the House of the Lord but when they saw the Wolf coming they left their Sheep and fled After this general Seisure of the Temporalties and Goods of the Bishops and Clergie But restored them to those who refused to comply with the Interdict to such of them as submitted to the King and refused to comply with the Interdict who celebrated Divine Service and administred the Sacraments the King by Special Writs [2] Append. N. 89 90 91. restored their Temporalties Goods and Chattels keeping in his hands the Lands and Goods of all Abbots Priors Religious and Clercs who submitted to the Interdict nor did he seize the Lands or Goods of any other Religious Persons or Clercs but such as [3] Append. n. 92. refused to perform Divine Service after the publishing of the Interdict which was upon the Monday next before Palm Sunday or the sixth Sunday or last Sunday in Lent And for the security of their Persons he Issued his [4] Append. N. 93. He sent out his Precept for their Protection Precept That no Man against his Peace should abuse either Clercs or Religious in word or deed and if they did and could be taken they should be hanged upon the next Oak Likewise for their Grain he [5] Append. N. 94. permitted all Arch-bishops Bishops Priors Religious Persons and Clercs after their Barns were shut up to sell it until the Feast of St. Catherin that is the 25th of November King Iohn Reflecting upon the Circumstances he was in fearing [6] Paris f. 2â—7 n. 10. He requires pleges of his great men for security of their Fidelity the Pope might absolve his Subjects from their Allegiance to him required Pleges of all the Great Men he suspected to be delivered to him for their future fidelity Many complied with his Commands some delivered their Sons others their Nephews or nearest Relations to the Messengers or Commissioners he sent for them [7] Ibid. n. 20. some of which coming to VVilliam de Braosa his Wife Maud told them she would not deliver her Children to their Master King Iohn because he ought honorably to have provided for his Nephew Arthur whom he Basely Killed Next Year [8] Ibid. n. 50. A. D. 1209. He forces the King of Scots to desire peace the King raised a great Army and marched toward Scotland and when he came to Norham Castle in Northumberland the King of Scots there met him and desired Peace King Iohn Reproves him for Receiving favouring or assisting his Fugitives and public Enemies but by the Mediation of Friends to both Nations [9] Ibid. f. 228. lin 1. The Terms upon which the peace was agreed they agreed upon these Terms That the King of Scots should pay unto him Eleven thousand Marks of Silver and that his Daughters should be delivered Pleges for the securing of Peace between them Afterwards [1] Ibid. lin 6. He received the Homages of all free Tenents in the Kingdom he received the Homages of all Men that were Free Tenents and Boys of 12 years of Age of the whole Kingdom suppose their Sons only whom after they had done their Fealty he received Kindly and dismissed them with the Kiss of Peace Deinde cepit Homagia de omnibus hominibus libere tenentibus etiam Duodecim Annorum pueris totius Regni Quos omnes post fidelitatem factam in Osculum patis accepit ac Dimisit [2] Ibid. lin 8. The Welchmen came to him at Woodstock and did their Homages The Welchmen also which was never heard of before came to the King at Woodstock and did their Homages to him although it was Burthensome as well to the Rich as Poor After two years [3] Ibid. n. 20. Pope Innocent commanded the Bishops to Excommunicate King John by name continuance of the Interdict and there seemed no hopes of King Iohns amendment or his giving Satisfaction Pope Innocent could no longer suffer his Rebellion to go unpunished Papa Innocentius ipsius Rebellionem Diutius multam Dissimulare non potuit whereupon by advice of his Brother Cardinals he Commanded the Bishops of London Ely and VVorcester by name to Pronounce him Excommunicate That so by Publishing the Sentence every Sunday and Holy-day in all Conventual Churches through England they might cause him more strictly to be avoided by all men [4] Ibid. n. 30 But when those Bishops committed the publication of the Sentence to their Brother Bishops and other Prelates that remained in England they all became Dumb Dogs either by favour or fear of the King and dare not Bark The Bishops in England durst not pubblish the Sentence Effecti sunt universi metu regio vel faâ—oâ— Canes muti non audentes Latrare and therefore Dissembling to Execute what was injoyned them they did not proceed in doing the Popes Commands according to due Form of Law Nevertheless the Sentence was known to all men and filled their mouths with Discourse [5] Ibid. n. 40. Geofry Arch-Deacon of of Norwich leaves the Kings Service Amongst whom Geofrey Arch-Deacon of Norwich as he sate in the Exchequer managing the Kings business Discoursed with his associates concerning the Sentence pronounced against the King saying it was not safe for Beneficed men to remain any longer in the Service of an Excommunicated King and so departed without leave The King having notice of it sent VVilliam Talebot a Knight after him with some Forces who took him put him in Prison and in Bonds His punishment where after a few Days by the Kings Command he had a Leaden Cope put on with the pressure whereof and want of Victuals he Dyed In this Time of the Interdict one Master [6] Ibid. n. 50. A. D. 1209. Alexander Caementarius mainteined the Kings cause against the Pope Alexander called Caementarius a counterfeit Divine Speudo-Theologus maintained the Kings Cause against the Pope Mat. [7] f. 269. n. â—0 Westminster says he was at Paris a famous Master Rector and Reader in Theology Parisijs celebris haberetur Magister Rector Lector in Theologia and that he Defended the Kings Cause out of Ambition And for that Reason by [8] Paris f. 229. lin 6. His Goods and Benefices taken from him procurement of the Pope his Goods and Benefices were taken from him and was reduced to so great Misery as in a poor habit he was forced to beg his Bread from Door to Door In the Year 1206 Dyed [9] Mat. West f. 267 n 20. f. 268. n. 50. VVilliam Bishop of Lincoln and this [9] Mat. West f. 267 n 20. f. 268. n. 50. year Hugh de VVells the Kings Chancellor was chosen Bishop who obteined leave of the King to go into France that he might receive his Consecration from the Arch-Bishop of Roven [1] Mat. Paris f. 229. n. 10 20. Hugh Bishop of Lincoln received his Consecration from Stephan Langeton The King Seized his Bishopric So soon as
not the Sentence Reputing it Null and Void In [6] Ibid. n. 10. A. D. 1215. The Kings Procurators appear against the Archbishop November following the Great Council before mentioned was held at Rome in which the Procurators or Comissioners of King John the [7] Ibid. fol. 273. n. 20. in the great Council at Rome They accuse him with holding Correspondency with the Barons c. Abbat of Beaulieu and Thomas de Huntingdon and Godfry aâ— Craucomb Knights appeared against Stephan Archbishop of Canturbury and accused him of holding Correspondency with the Barons and that by his Favour and Assistance they indeavored to Deâ—hrone the King That when he received the Popes commands to restrain the Barons from persecuting the King by Ecclesiastic Censures Refusing to do it he was suspended confounded with these Accusations he answered nothing but Desired to be absolved from his Suspension To whom the [8] Ibid. n. 30. Pope in Anger replied by St. Peter he should not easily obtein the Benefit of Absolution that had done so many affronts not only to the King of England but also to the Roman Church [9] Ibid. The suspension of the Archbishop confirmed by the Pope and Cardinals and having held a Consultation with the Cardinals they Subscribed and he Confirmed the Sentence of Suspension against the Arcbishop which was dated the 4th of November and sent to all the Clercs and Laics of that Province to let them know they Ratified what the [1] Append. 11.129 A. D. 1215. Bishop of Winchester and Pandulph had done commanding ready Obedience to it The [2] Ibid. n. 50. Canons of York chose Simon Langton Brother to Stephan Walter Gray Chosen Archbishop of York gives 10000. l. for his Pall. Archbishop of York and presented him to the Pope for his Confirmation of the Election But he voided it and recommended to them Walter de Gray whom they chose and he at the Receit of his Pall [3] Ibid. f. 174. lin 4. obliged himself to Pay Ten Thousand Pound Sterling to the Court of Rome The King having [4] Ibid. n. 10. The King causeth the Sentence against the Archbishop to be Published notice of the Sentence against the Archbishop went to the Monastery of St. Albans and there caused it to be published and from thence it was sent to all Cathedral and Conventual Churches through England to be Published At this place the King [5] Ibid. n. 20.30 The King Divides his Army raised two Armies or Divided his former Army into two parts with one he Marched Northward with the other under the Conduct of his Brother William Earl of Salisbury he indeavored to restrain the Excursions of the Barons in London The King with his Army Marched to Notingham and [6] Ibid. n 40. and Marcheth to Nottingham and wasts the Barons Estates Their Castellans quit their Castles sending several parties abroad in his March wasted the Barons Estates Seised their Goods and Burnt their Houses imprisoned their Tenents such as were found out of Churches and Church-Yards and forced them to Redemption the Barons Castellans upon the Kings Approach every where left their Castles without Defence William [7] Ibid. n. 50. The other part of his Army wasteth the Barons Estates in the East and South Earl of Salisbury and Falcasius de Brent with the Forces left under their command at St. Albans after they had put very strong Garrisons into the Castles of Windsor Hertford and Berchamsted to observe the Barons in the City of London and to hinder People and Victuals from going and being Carried into it Marched into the Counties of Essex Middlesex Hertford Cambrige and Huntingdon Shires were they make the like [8] Ibid. f. 275. lin 3. wasts upon the Barons Estates as the King did Northward and further destroyed their Parks and Warens and cut down their Hortyards The Garison of [9] Ibid. n. 20. Tonebrige and Redford Castles surrendred Rochester took the Castle of Tonebrâ—gge and Falcasius de Brent the Castle of Bedford At [1] Ibid. n. 20. A. D. 1216. Christmass the King was at Notingham and on the Day after he sent and summoned Belvoir Castle The King takes Belvoir Castle threatning to put William de Albiney the Lord thereof to Death if it were not forthwith Surrendred without Capitulation The Governors of it for the safety of their Lord carried [2] Ibid. n. 30.40 the Keys of it to the King who took possession of it on St. Johns Day and Gave his Letters Patents of indemnity and for the injoyment of all their Goods to all That were in it Yet notwithstanding this Monk who is always very Bitter and sharp against King John [3] Ibid. f. 276 lin 5. and n. 10. Brands him and his Followers whom he calls the Soldiers of Satan Sons of Belial and ministers of the Divel with the most Inhumane Barbarous Cruelties that ever were heard of unless in this Historian He reports they took Priests from the Altars with Crosses and the Lords Body in their Hands Tortured King John charged with inhumane Cruelties by Mat. Paris Robbed and wounded them That to extort Money from Knights and men of all Conditions they hanged them up by their Reins and Privities others by their Legs and Feet some by their Arms Hands and Thumbs spitting into their Eyes Salt mixt with Vinegar others they laid upon Trivits and Grid-Irons over burning Coals and then put their Broiled Bodies into Water under Ice to Cool them While the Barons lay [4] Ibid. n. 30.40 The King gets possession of the Barons Castles and Estates still the King got possâ—ssion of almost all their Castles and Estates from the South Sea to the Scottish Sea all the Castles and Lands between the River Tiese and Scotland he committed to Hugh Bailiol and * Pat. 18. Johan M. 7. Dors n. 66. Philip de Hulecotes and left Soldiers sufficient to Defend that Country The Castles and Landâ— in Yorkshire were committed to Robert de Veteri ponte or Vâ—pont i. e. at the Old Bridge Brien de Lisle and Geofry de Luci with armed Men sufficient to Defend them To William Earl of Albemarle he gave the Castles of Rockingham and Bitham to Faulx de Brent he gave the Custody of the Castles of Oxford Northampton Bedford and Cambridge and the Castle of Hertford he committed to Walter de Codardvill a Knight and Reteiner of Faulx and to Ranulph the German the Castle of Berchamstede With command to them all as they loved their Bodies and all they had That they should destroy all things that belonged to the Barons their Castles Houses Towns Parks Warrens Ponds Mills Hortyards c. From the North parts the [5] Ibid. The King takes Berwick King went into Scotland and took Berwick and other places which were then thought invincible and from thence he marched Southwards and left behind him only the Castle of Montsorrel and another belonging to Robert de
Ros in Yorkshire in the Power of the Barons and so marching by the [6] Ibid. n. 50. Borders of Wales he took in many of his Enemies Castles Demolishing some and fortifying others The [7] Ibid. f. 277. lin 1. The Pope Excommunicated the Chiâ—fell of the Barons by name c. Pope having notice from the King that the Barons valued not his General Excommunication of them Excommunicatâ—d the chiefest of them by name and committed the Execution of his Brief to the Abbat of Aâ—â—ndune the Arch-Deacon of Poictou and Master Robert Official of Norwich [8] Append. n. 130. by which he Excommunicated and Anathematised all the Barons with their assistants and Favorers which persecuted the illustrious King John of England Vassal to the Church of Rome and Furthermore he Excommunicated and Anathematized all those who helped them to invade and possesss the Kingdom or hindred any persons from going to and assisting the King He excomunicated the Citisens of London And put the City under Interdict and put all the Barons Lands under interdict he also Excommunicates the Citisens of London that were principal Actors against the King and one and Thirty others by name and their Accomplices and puts the City of London under Ecclesiastic Interdict and all this without Remedy of Appeal This Brief bears Date the 17th of the Kalends of January i. e. December 16th 1215. The [9] Append. n. 131. Cathedral and Conventual Churches injoyned to Declare and publish the excommunication against the Barons Commissioners upon the Receit of the Brief writ to all Cathedral and Conventual Churches injoyning them to Publish this Brief of Excommunication against the Barons and to order it to be Published in the Parish Churches within their several Jurisdictions upon Lords Days and Festivals and injoyned them to Publish thirty other Barons by name excommunicate which were conteined in the Sentence drawn up by Peter Bishop of Winchester Pandulph and the Abbat of Reding Upon the Publication of this Brief only the [1] Mat. Paris f. 278. lin 7. and n. 10. The City of London Contumacious City of London stood Contumacious and Despised it so as the Barons resolved not to observe it nor the Bishops to urge it for that it was generally said the Briefs were obteined by false Suggestions and therefore of no moment and for that especially it belonged not to the Pope to Direct and Govern in Lay-Matters when as the Power and Disposition of Eccclesiastic affairs only was Collated by God to Peter the Apostle and his Successors how came the insatiable Covetousness of the Romans to extend it self to them said they how to our Apostolic Bishops our Barons and Knights behold the Successors of Constantine not Peter they do not the Works of Peter nor are they to be alike to him in Power About the same Time [2] Ibid. n. 20.30 The Isle of Ely taken and plundered Walter Buuk with his Brabanters entred the Isle of Ely by Audrey Causeway Walterus Buuk cum Brabantiis suis versus [*âŽ*] This Herebie that is the Army-Habitation or abiding place was the Old Fortification where part of the Conquerors Army lay at the end of Audrey Causeway against the Isle of Ely now called by the Country people Belsars Hills Herehie Elyensemintrans Insulam While William Earl of Salisbury Faulx and Sabariâ— de Malo Leone passing over the Ice entred it on the contrary side by Stuntney Bridge and wasted and plundered the whole many that fled thither as to a place of Safety were taken and put to Ransom the Cathedral was redeemed from fire by the Prior for the sum of an Hundred and Nine Marks of Silver The Barons [3] Ibid. n. 40. and f. 279. lin 8. The Barons choose Lewis Son to Philip King of France their King being brought this low Condition Consulted together and resolved to choose some Potent Person for their King They pitched upon Lewis Son to Philip King of France because the forreign forces which were King Iohns greatest strength came out of his Territories so that he would be deprived of their assistance and left as it were to their Mercy This generally pleased them and they [4[ Ibid. n. 20. sent Saher Earl of Winton and Robert Fitz-Walter to King Philip and Lewis his Son with Letters sealed with the Barons Seals earnestly Imploring the Father to send his Son to be King of England and the Son that he would forthwith come and be Crowned The King of France having perused the Barons letters told their Commissioners he should not send his Son until for his greater security and send 24 hostages for his Security he should receive Twenty Four Hostages or Pleges of the most noble persons of the Kingdom And the Barons having no other Remedy sent to him so many Hostages according to his own Will [5] Ibid. n. 30. which so soon as Received and put into Safe Custody Lewis prepared for the Expedition he desired above all things He sends forces before his own coming A. D. 1216. and sent before him into England the Castellan of St. Omar the Casâ—llan of Arras Hugh Chacun Eustace de Nevill Baldwin Breul Giles de Melun W. de Bellomonte or Beaumont Giles de Hersi Biseâ— de Fersi with a great Troup of Soldiers to incourage the Barons who came up the Thames to London and were received with great Joy on the Twenty seventh of February About the same time [6] Ibid. n. 40. Stephan Archbishop of Canturbury having given Caution at Rome that he would stand to the Judgment and Determination of the Pope concerning the things before expressed was absolved from the Sentence of Suspension The Archbishop of Canturbury absolved upon Condition he should not return into England until there was a firm Peace Established between the King and Barons At Easter [7] Ibid. The Abbat of Abbendon and his fellow Commissioners finding the Contumacy of the Barons and City of London cum Contumaciam Baronum Londinensis Civitatis Cognovissent wrote to all the Conventual Churches of England [8] Append. n. 132. The Dean of St. Martins and several Chapters in London excommunicated to Publish the Sentence of Excommunication against the Chapters of St. Pauls and St. Martins and G. Boâ—land Dean of St. Martins and the Convent of Holy Trinity for their Contempt to the Pope in not publishing the Sentence against the persecutors of King John and also Commanded them to Excommunicate the Castellan of St. Omar with all his Company that came to invade and possess the Kingdom of England together with all Canons and Clercs within the City under Danger of falling into the Popes displeasure This [9] Mat. Paris f. 245. n. to The Description of the Pope Monk is very Sharp upon the Pope concerning these Excommunications and saith that King Iohn knew and had learnt by much experience That he was ambitious and proud above all Mortals and insatiably thirsty after
But first the Kings Messengers summoned them to Surrender and were answered by William de Brent Falcasius his Brother They did not look [7] Ibid n. 50. The King Summons Bedford Castle upon themselves obliged to deliver it unless commanded by their Lord Falcasius because they were not bound by Homage and fealty to the King The King being enraged at this Answer ordered the Castle to be Besieged The Answer â—o the Summons The Arch Bishop Excommunicates Falcasius and the Garison The Castle taken by Assault and threatned if taken by force not to spare one man The Arch-Bishop and Bishops Excommunicated Falcasius and all that were in Garrison in the Castle But neither the Kings threats nor Ecclesiastical Censures could prevail with them to yeild After many Assaults the Kings Soldiers entred the Castle Many were slain and wounded and the rest submitted to the Kings mercy [8] f. 321. n. 30. Twenty Four of the Garison Hanged whereof Twenty Four were Hanged for their insolence to the King after the Castle was taken Falcasius beforehand had made his Escape out of the Castle and fled into Wales but by the intercession of Alexander Bishop of Coventry [9] Ibid. n. 40. Falcasius submits to the Kings Mercy He is committed to the Custody of the Bishop of London he was introduced to the King where falling down at his feet he implored his mercy urging his Services to the King and his Father in times of Hostility Then the King by the advice of his Council having first taken from him his Castles Lands and Goods committed him to Custody of Eustachius Bishop of London till further Order and caused the * Ibid. f. 322. l. 7. Castle to be Demolished but gave the houses and ground to William de Beauchamp After this the Parliament granted to the King 2 shillings of every Plough Land and the King granted to the Great men Scutage two Marks Sterling of every Knights Fee to be levyed of their Tenants [1] f. 322. l. 3. The King Grants to the great men Scutage from their Tenents In the year 1225. King Henry [2] A Parliament at Westminster A. D. 1225. kept his Christmass at Westminster Praesentibus Clero Populo cum Magnatibus Regionis The Clergy and Laity and the Great Men of the Kingdom being present In this full Assembly Hugo de Burgh the Kings Justiciary in the presence of the Archbishops Bishops and Earls Barons and all others Coram Archiepiscopis Episcopis Comitibus Baronibus aliis Vniversis declared the Damages and Injuries the King susteined in his Dominions beyond Sea wherein not only the King but also many Earls and others were outed of their Possessions And seeing many were concerned the Assistance ought to be proportionable therefore he required their Counsel and Ayd That the Royalties of the Crown and their Antient Rights might be recovered for the retrieving of which He thought the Fifteenth part of all Moveables A Fifteenth granted both of Ecclesiastics and Laic's might be sufficient This being propounded [3] Ibid n. 20. the Archbishop and all the Bishops Earls and Barons Abbats and Priors after some deliberation returned this Answer to the King They would readily gratify his desires if he would Grant to them their long desired Liberties Si libertates din petitas concedere voluisset The Charter of Liberties and of the Forest granted The King agreeing to what the Great Men desired Charters were forthwith Writ and Sealed with the King's Seal and one directed to every County in England And to the Counties in which there were Forests Two were directed One concerning their common Liberties the other concerning the Liberties of the Forest The tenor of these Charters is to be found in the History of King John both being exactly alike A Moneth after Easter a day [4] Ibid. n. 30. was set to choose Twelve Knights and Legal Men Duodecim Milites Homines Legales who upon Oath should distinguish the new Forests from the old ones and what ever Forests were found to be made after the first Coronation of Henry the Second were forthwith to be Disforested The Council being ended Charters were carried to every County and by the Kings Command every one sworn to observe them The way and manner of Levying this Fifteenth was directed by the King and because it was very particular and worth noting how Fifteenths were taxed in those times the Record it self is Printed in the * n. 150. Appendix On Candlemass-day following the King [5] Ibid. n. 40 50. The King Knights his Brother Richard and makes him Earl of Cornwal and Poictou He with others is sent into Gascoigny The Knights and Soldiers of that Countrey come into him He reduceth Gascoigny to Obedience Knighted his Brother Richard and Ten Noblemen with him and made him Earl of Cornwal and Poictou In the Spring he sent him accompanied with William Earl of Salisbury Philip de Albiney and Sixty Knights into Gascoigny who arrived at Burdeux on Palm-Sunday and was Honorably received by the Archbishop and Citizens Then Richard opened the Kings Letters in which he desired Omnes Homines Fideles sui de Regionibus illis All his Men and those that had sworn Allegiance to him in those Countreys should give Ayd and Advice to his Brother Richard for the recovery of his lost Dominion Upon this a great many Knights and Soldiers resorted to him and received Wages from him Then he marched with a great Army through all Gascoigny and seised the Castles of such as refused to do Homage and swear Fealty to King Henry and wherever he met with opposition he reduced them by force and in a short time subdued all that Countrey having first obtained a great Victory over the Earl of Marâ—h who was sent by the King of France to raise the Siege of Reole Castle Rigord * De Gestis Ludowici A. D. 1224. f. 399. n. 20.30 tells this Story otherwise and the later French Historians follow him He says that Lewis sent an Army under the Command of his Marshal to raise the Siege and that when Earl Richard had notice of its coming to the River Garonne he raised it and shipped himself and Men and went for England In March following [6] f. 324. n. 20. Falcasius his Sentence the Great Men met the King at Westminster at a Parlement or Conference Convenerunt apud Westmonasterium ad Colloquium Rex Magnates sui where the King Commanded Sentence should be given against his Traytor Falcasius what was to be done to him the Nobility agreed with the King in this Proceres in hoc cum Rege consenserunt That because both his Father and he had done faithful Service to the Crown many years he should lose neither Life nor Limb For ever to abjure the Kingdom but should for ever abjure the Kingdom Whereupon the King commanded William Earl of Warren safely to conduct him to the
Sea to do and receive Justice according to the form of Peace between the King and him his Procurators or Commissioners appeared with full power to do what was desired Ralph Mortimer Roger Steward of Chester and Griffin for themselves and other Marchers appeared and desired Justice might presently be done according to the proof of Witnesses at Shrewsbury before Stephen de Segrave New Arbitrators chosen between the King and Prince David and his fellow-Judges who were there instead of the King After two days wrangling instead of Otto the Legat the Bishops of Worcester and Norwich the Bishop of Coventry John Fitz-Geofry Herebert Fitz-Mathew and Walter de Clifford were appointed Arbitrators And a day was appointed a Moneth after Whitsunday at Maneford Bridge beyond Shrewsbury to hear what could any ways be proved concerning the injuries done on either side and on that day another day was appointed for Judgment to be given by the Arbitrators according to the proof before them Not long after this the King was informed That [4] Append. n. 1â—6 The King had notice of a Confederacy against him by Prince David David contrary to his Oath given unto him had confederated with and drawn off the Brothers of Griffin Son of Madoch and certain of the Kings Men in Kers who had done Homage to him from their Service and Fealty and had received them into his Countrey and that he intended to commit Burnings and Slaughters in the Lands of Ralph Mortimer and other his Feudataries That he had â—y force seized the Lands of O. Vaghan and his Nephews against Justice which were adjudged to them in his Court That he had caused a Ship of Chester to be stayed in his Countrey laden with Wheat and other Victuals making no satisfaction to such as ought the Goods That when he sent his Commissioners to Shrewsbury in contempt of the King he neither came nor sent any Procurators to meet them The King writes to him concerning them Whereupon he wrote to him on the 14th of July that he should not omit to let him Know before the First of August what satisfaction he would give for these Injuries Before the 15th of that Moneth [5] Append. n. 167. Senana the Wife of his Brother Griffin came and complained to the King That David had imprisoned her Husband with his Son Owen and in the name of her Husband offered the King 600 Marks to cause her Husband and Son to be released out of prison so as he might stand to the Judgment of his Court whether he ought to be kept in prison and that the King afterwards would by the Judgment of his Court according to the Law of Wales cause him to have that part of his Fathers Inheritance which he ought to have which David by force with-held from him And Senana undertook that her Husband and his Heirs should pay to the King and his Heirs for ever 300 Marks a year a Third part in Money a Third part in Oxen and Cowes and a Third part in Horses at Shrewsbury to the Sherif of Shropshire She undertook further for her Husband That if at any time any Welch-man rebelled against the King or his Heirs he would at his own cost compel him to give satisfaction and for the performance of all this in the name of he Husband Griffin gave to the King as Pledges Ralph Mortimer Walter de Clifford Roger de Monte-alto Steward of Chester Mailgun Son of Mailgun Mereduc Son of Robert Griffin Son of Maddok de Baunfeld Howel and Mereduc his Brothers Griffin Son of * He was Lord of Powis Wennuwen who all undertook for Senana and gave the King their [6] Append. n. 168. Charts That what she propounded should be performed And all the Noblemen of Wales that favoured Griffin swore Fealty to King Henry and gave him their [7] Append. n. 169. Charts That they would faithfully serve him with all their force and power all days of their life when ever he wanted their assistance and that they would observe the Truce between them and Ralph Mortimer And for the observation of these things they put themselves under the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Hereford or Bishop of Coventry which the King should choose to Excommunicate them and all theirs and Interdict their Lands if they did any thing contrary to this Agreement which was Signed August the 16 th On the 29th of the same Month Prince David Sealed his [8] Append. n. 170. Charter of Submission to the King First That he would deliver his Brother Griffin or Gruffith and his Son to him Secondly That he would stand to the Judgment of the Kings Court whether Griffin ought to be prisoner or not and also for the Portion of his Fathers Inheritance which he claimed according to the Custom of Wales and should hold that Land of the King in Capite Thirdly That he should restore to Roger de Monte-Alto Steward of Chester his Land of Montalt or as it is commonly called Mauthaut or Mould with its Appurtenances Fourthly That he should restore to other Barons all such Lands Lordships and Castles as had been taken from them since the beginning of the Wars between King John and his Father Lewelin Prince of Wales Fifthly That he would defray all the charges of King Henry in the last Expedition against him Sixthly That he would make satisfaction for all the Injuries done by him or his unto the King or his People That he would restore unto him all the Homages which King John had or that he ought to have especially of the Noblemen of Wales Seventhly The Land of Ellesmer with the Appurtenances was to remain to the King for ever Eighthly That he should not receive any of the Kings Subjects within his Countrey of Wales that were Outlawed or Banished Ninthly And that for the performance of this he would give Pleges and Security according to the Kings Will and Pleasure and would do all his Commands and stand to the Law in his Court. After this on the 31 of August [9] Append. n. 171. he made his Chart to the King freely and willingly That he and his Heirs should faithfully serve the King and his Heirs and assist him all days of their lives and if at any time they should act contrary to that ingagement then all his Lands or Countrey should be forfeited to him and He and his Heirs should injoy them for ever And for the greater Declaration of this Matter he caused the Bishops of Bangor and St. Asaph to put their Seals to this Chart. This year [7] fol. 570. n. 40. Tinn-Mines first discovered in Germany Tinn-Mines were first discovered in Germany and by reason of the Purity and Quantity of that Tinn the price of that Mettal was much lessened here for before that time none had ever been heard of but in England About this time [8] fol. 57â— n. 40. Walter at first is refused but afterward is restored to the Earldom and
however he sent them Prisoners to Paris and there to be secured This put the rest of the Defendents of the Earl of March his Castles into such an Affright that some of their own accord came in and delivered up their Keys to the King of France and others capitulated upon his appearing before them These uninterrupted Successes made the [1] fol. 589. l. 1. The Earl of March repents him that he had ingaged himself against his own King King Henry put upon great difficulties and distresses Earl of March and his Poictovins almost desperate who now began to repent they had ingaged themselves against their own Lord the King of France In the mean time the King of England came before the City of Tailleburgh and pitched in a Meadow over against it When the King of France heard of it he marched with his Army towards that place As soon as the Citizens had notice of his approach they went out to meet him and surrendred their City to him and invited him to take possession of it When the King of England saw himself thus disappointed and that he must now fight the French with the men he had with him [2] Ibid. n. 50 He called to the Earl of March and asked how he had performed his promise of procuring Men enough to baffle the French if he supplyed them with Money The Earl replyed He never made any such promise The Earl of March denies his promise made to him Then Earl Richard produced the Chart of Agreement between them He denyed that it was ever made or sealed by him or that he had ever encouraged the undertaking this expedition but it was [3] fol. 590. lin 1 2 3 4. the contrivance of his Wife and his Mother When the King heard the Earl's Reply he was very much concerned and Earl Richard seeing the danger the King was in of being made prisoner [4] fol. 590. n. 10. Earl Richard goes to the French Camp and obtains a Truce disarmed himself and with a Staff in his Hand went to the French Camp where he was kindly and honorably received and being introduced to the Kings Presence he desired a Truce which the King granted for one day and a night following Assoon as the Earl had obtained this Truce he returned to King Henry and advised him to make his escape with as much speed as he could otherwise he would be taken prisoner [5] Ibid. n. â—0 King Henry's flight to Xaints The King followed his advice took Horse at night and never stopped till he came to Xaints the whole Army followed him but with great hazard and some loss Next day the King of France decamped and marched with his Army towards Xaints after some few days both Armies met and fought and had the English [6] Ibid n. 40. A Fight between the English and French equalled the French in number they had gained an entire victory The number of those that were slain on either side is not mentioned but the Prisoners that were taken were exchanged Those that behaved themselves with Courage and Resolution in this Battle were Simon Montfort Earl of Leicester the Earl of Salisbury the Earl of Norfolk Roger Bigod John de Burgo Warin de Monâ—chensy Hubert Fitz-Matthew Ralph Fitz-Nicholas with some others When the [7] fol. 591. n. 10 20. The Earl of March endeavours to be reconciled to the King of France Earl of March saw how successful the King of France was in every thing he attempted and that his strength daily increased He began to consider how he should regain his Favour and be reconciled unto him He therefore privily sent to the Earl of Brittain that he with the Bishop of Xaints would use their endeavours with the King of France to procure his Pardon Upon this they both went to the King and assured him That the Earl of March was sensible how much he had offended against him and his Crown and implored his Mercy and Favour adding he might receive him under what conditions he pleased The King of France [8] Ibid. n. 30 40. The Terms upon which he made his Peace accepted the offer and was reconciled unto him upon these Terms That whatever that King had possessed himself of the Earls during this War should be for ever annexed to the Crown and also That all those Castles that were in his possession whether they were his own or his friends which were thought to be injurious to the King of France should be delivered into his hands for three years and then not to be restored unless the King was satisfied of his Fidelity That He should with 200 armed Men enter into his Service and faithfully serve him for three years at his own charges against all enemies of the Church or Crown of France Moreover he should surrender up his Charter whereby the King of France was obliged to pay him 10000 l. a year for defence of the Marches and should quit any such claim for the future [9] Ibid. n. 50. He enters into the King of France his Service To these hard Conditions he was forced to consent to obtain his pardon and was presently sent against the Earl of Tholouse his old friend and the King of Englands Confederate This was all done without the knowledge of King Henry who had by [1] fol. 592. n. 10. King Henry loseth the affections of the Citizens of Xaint Charter given the City of Xaints to Hugh Bruno the Earl of March his Son and his younger Brother without the privity of the Citizens whereby the King lost their Affections for that they hated Hugh However he thought himself safe and secure there till he was informed by one from the French Camp that that King [2] Ibid. n. â—0 He is certified the King of France designed to besiege that City His flight to Blaie designed to come and besiege that City very suddenly and was resolved not to rise till he had made him prisoner which was confirmed by another who likewise assured him that the Earl of March was revolted to the French and if He continued there one night longer he would be besieged King Henry being by this Second Messenger confirmed in his belief that the news was true fled to Blaie a Town in Gascoigny about 40 or 50 English miles from Xaints and his Army followed but were so harassed with the length and suddenness of the March that they were unfit for any service All Poictou submit to the King of France Upon this Xaints Ponz and all Poictou forthwith submitted to the King of France only Hertoldus Governor of [3] fol. 593. n. 50. Hertoldus his Fidelity to King Henry Mirabell Castle went to the King of England and implored his protection to whom the King replyed He was betrayed by the Earl of March and was scarce able to secure his own person and therefore gave him leave to act according to his own discretion Then he went to the King of
July following he returned again to Court and was reconciled to the King upon the payment of 2000 Marks About this time [3] fol. 815. n. 10. Ethelmar's Election confirmed by the Pope The Pope's unreasonable Message to to King Henry Ethelmarus the Kings Brother by the Mothers side was by the Pope approved of and confirmed in the Bishopric of Winster At the same time the Pope sent to the King to make a yearly allowance of 500 Marks for the maintenance of the Duke of Burgundy's Son a Young Child This year Wales was [4] fol. 816. n. 10. Wales receiveth the English Government and Laws wholly subdued and received the English Laws and that part of it which Borders upon Cheshire was committed to the Government of Alan de Zouch who answered to the King 1100 Marks by the year About this time [5] fol. 817. n. 50. fol. 818. lin 1. The Pope violateth his own Indulgence granted to the English the Pope sent [5] fol. 817. n. 50. fol. 818. lin 1. The Pope violateth his own Indulgence granted to the English John de Camecava his Nephew and Chaplain into England with Letters to the Abbat and Convent of St. Albans commanding them to confer upon him the Parsonage of Wendgrave or any other Benefice that belonged to their Patronage if desired by the above Named John when it became voyd notwithstanding that Indulgence or Priviledge lately granted to the English that Benefices of Roman Clerc's that should become vacant either by Cession or Death should not be conferred on any Italians After that Simon Montfort Earl of Leycester [6] fol. 825. n. 50. The Earl of Leycesters success against the Rebellious Gascoigns had by various successes against the Rebels in Gascoigny broken their strength and had taken Chastellion a Castle of great importance to them and their common refuge He together with his Wife and [7] fol. 828. lin 1. He returned into England with Guido the Kings third Brother Earl Guido de Lusignan the Third Brother of the King by the Mothers side Landed at Dover in November When the King had Notice of it He commanded his Great men and Citisens of London to receive his Brother with all solemnity and signs of joy And after he had supplied his wants by the Kings bounty he returned home plentifully furnished with Riches A. D. 1252. In the year 1252. King Henry kept his [8] fol. 829. n. 10 20 30. Margaret the Kings Daughter is married to Alexander King of Scots Christmass at York because his Daughter Margaret being now of full age was to be solemnly marryed to Alexander the Young King of Scots And for the more glorious celebration of these Nuptials there met a very great confluence of the Clergy and Nobility not only of England and Scotland but several from France On Christmass day King Henry Knighted Alexander King of Scots and the next day very soon in the Morning He was Married to the Kings Daughter [9] Ibid. n 50. He doeth Homage to King Henry for lands held of him King Henry requires his homage for the Kingdom of Scotland The King of Scots Answer Then He did Homage to the King of England for Lowthian and some other Lands he held of him and after that It was demanded that he should do the same Homage and Fidelity to his Lord the King of England for the Kingdom of Scotland as his Predecessors had formerly done To which the King of Scots replyed That he came thither in a peaceable manner and by Marriage of his Daughter to unite himself more close to him but not prepared to give an Answer to such hard Questions for he had not consulted his Nobility about so difficult an Affair When the King heard this modest reply he would not press him any further at present lest the designed mirth and jollity of the Nuptial Solemnity should be thereby disturbed Soon after the Pope [1] fol. 83. n. 50. The Pope sollicite's King Henry to assist the King of France wrote to the King to hasten his preparation for the Holy Land to prosecute the Vow he lay under and give what Ayd and Relief he could to the King of France And if He would not go in person not to hinder others who stood obliged by the same Vow The King to shew his readiness to answer the Popes request took great quantities of Money from the Jews nor were his Christian Subjects spared In the Spring following the [2] fol. 832. n. 30 40 50. The Gascoigns accusation against the Earl of Leycester He pleads his innocency and Merits before the King He is again sent into Gascoigny He executes his Malice and revenge on his Accusers Noblemen of Gascoigny sent over their complaints to the King against Simon Earl of Leycester accusing him of Vnfaithfulness and Treachery When the Earl heard of what was laid to his charge He went to the King and pleaded his Innocency and wondred he should give more Credit to his Rebellious Gascoigns than to him who had given such proofs of his Fidelity To whom the King replied That if he were Innocent a strict inquiry would render him the more Eminent The Earl being calmed and humbled by this Answer of the Kings was again furnished with Money for his return into Gascoigny which he hastened as much as possible that he might execute his Malice and revenge on those that had accused him to the King And He did it with such rigor at his return that all Gascoigny had [3] fol. 833. lin 4. revolted from their Allegiance to the King of England and sought out a New Lord could they have found any other Country to have sold their Wines with such advantage to themselves Soon after the Great men of Gascoigny agreed to send [4] 836. n. 10. The Gascoigns repeat their complaints against him to the King solemn Messengers to the King of England to acquaint him how his faithful Subjects in that Country were inhumanely treated by the Earl of Leycester and drew up the charge or Accusation against him which was Testified by the Seals of their Cities Great men Castellans and Bayliffs And this was carried to the King by the Archbishop of Burdeaux and several Great men [5] Ibid. n. 30. who landed in England about Whitsuntide and found the King at London before whom they laid a lamentable [6] fol. 838. n. 40 â—0 The King not very ready to credit them complaint of the Treachery and Tyranny of the Earl of Leycester The King would not give a hasty belief to their complaints because he had found them Traytors when he was in Gascoigny But waited till the return of Nicholas de Molis and Drâ—gâ— Valentin whom he had sent thither to enquire into the Truth of their accusation At their Return they [7] fol. 836. n. 40 50. reported to the King that they found some had been inhumanely treated by the Earl but as they believed according
published in the Castle of Kenelworth on the 31 of October in the year of Grace 1266 and of the Reign of King Henry 51. This Award had not its desired Effect The Disinherited in the Isle of Ely would not submit for many of the Disinherited that had got into the Isle of Ely as was said before continued there and made Excursions and wasted and plundered the Countries round about and would not submit unto it Hereupon [1] Paris f. 1001. n. 40. Bishops that favoured Simon Montfort excommunicated by the Legat. the Legat called a Council at Northampton and Excommunicated all the Bishops and Clercs which favoured Simon Montfort and gave him Assistance against the King and by name John Bishop of Winchester Walter of Worcester Henry of London and Stephan Bishop of Chichester the Bishop of Worcester dyed Febr. 5 th next following and the other three went to Rome to Beg the Popes Favour At the same time also he Excommunicated all the Kings Adversaries whatsoever After that he sent [2] Ibid. â— 1003. n. 30 40 50 and f. 1004. lin 1. The Disinherited in the Isle of Ely admonished by the Legat. Their Answeâ— to him Messengers to the Disinherited in the Isle of Ely and admonâ—shed them to return to the Faith and Vnity of the holy Mother Church To this they answered They firmly held the same Faith they learned from the holy Bishops Saint Robert that is Grostest or Grouâ—head of Lincoln St. Edmund and St. Richard both Arch-Bishops of Canterbury and other Catholic men That they believed the Articles of Faith conteined in the Creed the Gospels also and Sacraments which the Vniversal Church held and believed they did Believe and in that Faith would live and die Secondly He admonished them to return to the Obedience of the Roman Court Romanae Curiae To this they Answer They did Obey the Roman Church as the Head of all Christianity but not the Lust Covetousness and Exactions of those that ought to Govern it Thirdly He admonished them to return to the Kings Peace according to the late Award To this they Answer First That the Legat was sent into England to make Peace but he rather kept up the War because he manifestly joyned with the Kings party and incouraged it and in so doing maintained the War Secondly they Answer The Award was void for that the Pope commanded the King and Legat that none should be Disinherited and they had such a Fine set upon them as it amounted to a Disinheriting Fourthly He admonished them to receive Absolution from the sentence of Excommunication pronounced against them according to the Form of the Church To this they Answer Their first Oath that was to maintain Oxford provisions was for the Advantage of the Kingdom and the whole Church and all the Prelates of the Kingdom thundered out the Sentence of Excommunication against all those that should act contrary thereto that they resolved to stand to that Oath and were ready to Die for it and Exhort the Legat to revoke his Sentence otherwise they would Appeal to the Apostolic See or to a General Council or the Supreme Judge Fifthly He admonished them not to commit any more Roberies nor damnifie any one To this they answered That when as they fought for the Benefit of the Kingdom and Church they ought to live upon the Goods of their Enemies which deteined their Lands From Answering they proceed to [*] Ibid. n. 10 20. They urge the Legat to admonish the King Their insolent Demands urge the Legat to admonish the King to remove Strangers from his Council and they themselves admonish the Legat that their Lands may be Restored without Composition that Oxford provisions might be observed that they might have Pledges or Hostages sent them into the Isle for Security that they might peaceably injoy it for five years until they saw how the King would keep his promises and then make the same Complaints that Montfort and the Barons made many years before and enumerated the common pretended Grievances of men of their temper and desire they might be Redressed A. D. 1267. 51 Hen. 3. Toward the Spring the King was in extreme want of Money and the Legat being in the Tower of London he wrote to him from Cambridge to receive all the [3] Pat. 51 Hen. 3. m. 24. Dorâ— The King forced to pawn his Jewels for money Jewels and other precious things he had there and in the Abby of Westminster and to pawn for as much as he could and caused those that had them in their Custody to deliver them to him and in the same Letter wrote to him that concerning the State and Liberties of the City of London he would do what was expedient in instanti Parliamento apud Sanctum Edmumdum in the Parlement forthwith to be holden at St. Edmunds Bury This Letter is Dated March the 8th Teste Rege apud Cantebrigiam Some or it may be all the Transactions of this Parlement the [4] f. 1002. n. 30 40 50. Continuer of Mat. Paris relates thus though somewhat preposterously which is a frequent fault in their Historians The King caused to be summoned the Earls Barons Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbats all that ought him Military Service A Parlement called at St. Edmund Bury to meet at St. Edmunds Bury with their Horse and Arms to go against those which against his Peace had seised the Isle of Ely All others obeyed the Kings Command but the Earl of Glocester who was in the Confines of Wales raising a great Army and did not come John Waren and William de Valentia were sent to admonish him to come ad illum Parliamentum to that Parlement but could not prevail They could only obtein his Letters Patents sealed with his Seal literas patentes sigillo suo signatas acceperunt in which he promised never to bear Arms against his Lord the King nor his Son Edward unless in his own Defence When those that were summoned to the Parlement met Abadunatis Qui ad Parliamentum citati fuerant except those in Rebellion The King and the Legat required their compliance with these Articles First That the Prelates and Rectors of Churches What demands were made by the King and Legat and the Answer to them should grant them sibi conciderent the Tenths of their Churches for three years next to come and for the year last past as they gave the [5] In September the 49 of Hen. 3. See in the year before Barons to keep the Coast against the Invasions of Strangers To this they answered That the War began by Evil Desires and did then continue and for that Reason it was necessary to lay aside these Evil Demands and Treat of the Peace of the Kingdom and make use of the Parlement to the Benefit of Church and Kingdom and not to Extort Money especially when the Nation was so much destroyed by War that if ever it must be a long time before it could
great Men of Ireland and therefore ordered them to secure the peace of that Nation and sent them further private instructions by Roger Waspail who carried these Letters to whom he Commanded them to give credit This is all I find worth noting concerning Ireland in this Kings Reign who appointed Couragious Justiciaries and other Officers by whose industry and by putting the English Laws in Execution that Nation was kept in peace and quiet The Issue of King Henry the Third EDward his [1] Paris f. 488. n. 30. Eldest Son by Queen Alienor of Provence who was King of England after his death was born at Westminster upon the 16th of June 1239. Edmund his Second Son by the same Queen [2] Ibid. f. 654. n. 20. born January 16th A. D. 1245. in the Thirtieth year of his Fathers Reign He was Earl of Lancaster Leicester Derby and Campaign Lord of Monmouth and Steward of England There are by some four more Sons named but if he had them they died young Margaret his [3] Pat. 36 Hen. 3. m. 1. Eldest Daughter was Married to the King of Scots Alexander the Second a Child of nine years old Beatrice his Second Daughter so named of her Grand-mother Beatrice Countess of Provence was [4] Paris f. 5â—4 n. 20. born at Bourdeaux in Gascoigne on the 25th of June A. D. 1242. and was Married to John de Dreux Duke of Britain in France and Earl of Richmond in England Katherine the Third Daughter was born [5] Ibid. f. 879. n. 10. at London on St. Katherines day or the 25th of November A. D. 1253. and died at five years of Age. FINIS THE APPENDIX DE Sententiis Judicum CHART XCIX VAUCO IN nomine Dei Forma progreâ—suâ— in judicio Antiquitates Alaman Tom 2. fol. 3. cum resideret Vnfredus vir inluster Rhetia was toward the foot of the Alps. Retiarum N. 1 Comes incurte ad campos in Mallo publico ad universorum causas audiendas vel recta judicia terminanda ibique veniens bomo aliquis nomine Hrothelmus proclamavit eo quod in Contra Direâ—tum Coâ— Drâ—ctum Coâ—tra Drutum Contra Droâ— Gallicâ— Testimonia 〈◊〉 Tâ—sâ—eâ— common in Barbâ—rous â—â—tin Contradrutum suum Mansum ei tollutum fuisset quod ei advenit à parâ—e Vxoris suâ— simul Flavino propriâ— suum fuisset legibus suum esse deberet quin jam de TradavioVxoris suae fuisset â—dcircò suum esse deberet tum prâ—dictus Comes Convocatis illa Testimonia qui de ipso Bâ—go erant interrogavit eos per ipsum fidem Sacramentum quam nostro Domino datam haberet quicquid exinde scirent veritatem diâ—eâ—ent At illi dixerunt per ipsum Sacramentum quod Domino nostro datum habemus scimus quia fuit quidem homo nomine Mado qui ibi habuit suum solum proprium cujus conâ—inium nos sciâ—us quiâ— adjacet confineâ—â—d ipsâ—m Mansom unde iste proclamat in quâ— illi arbore durem de uno lâ—tâ—re aquâ— câ—ngâ—t inter eos terminum est in petrâ—s in arboris ipse est Dominus Nam sicut illa â—dificiâ— dâ—sursum conjungâ—nt istorum hominum proprium est illorum legibus esse debet de parâ—e Avii illorum Quinti Tunc praedictus Comes jussit ut ipsa Testimonia suprâ— irent ipsos terminos ostenderent quod dâ—ebant Quod 〈…〉 feâ—erunt ipsos terminos firmaverunt qui inter illa dâ— Mansa â—ernebant Sed pluâ—imi ibidem adfuerunt Nobiles quos ipse Comes cum â—s direâ—erat quod omnia pleniter factum fuit Vt autem haec â—iâ—ita â—unt interrogavit ipse Comes illâ—s Scabinios quid illi de hâc causâ judicare voluissent At illi dixerunt secundum istorum hominum testimonium secundum vestram inquisitionem judicamus Vt sicut davisum finitum est terminis positâ—s inter ipsos Mansos ut isti homines illorum proprium habeant absque ulliâ— contradictione in perpetuum quod in Dominico dictum terminâ— divisum coram testibus fuit reâ—eptum sit ad partem Domini nostri Proptereâ— opporâ—num fuit Hrothelmo Flavino cum Hieredibus eorum ut exinde ab ipso Comite vel Scabinis tale Scriptum acciperent About the year of our Lord 807. in the Reign of Charles the Great qualiter in postmodum ipsom Mansom absque ullius contrarietate omni Tempore valeant possidere Actum curte ad campos Mallo Publico Anno 7 Imperii Caroli Augusti 37 regni ejus in Franciâ 34 in Italiâ Datum VII id Feb. sub Umfredo Comite faeliciter Amen Haec nomina Testum Valeriano Burgolfo Vrsone Stefano Majorino Valerio Leontio Victore Maurestone Frontiano Florentio Stipfone Valentiano Quintello Stradario Et haec nomina Scabiniorum Flavino Orsicino Odmaro Alexandro Eusebio Maurentio quam etiam aliis plurimis Ego itaque VAUCO rogitus Scripsi Subscripsi All old Judgments Processes and Charts were drawâ— up in Barbarous Provincial Latin without Congruity Syntax Propriety or Elegancy The Process and Judgment is thus Englished N. 1 IN the Name of God when Humfry the Illustrious Person Earl of Rhaetia in his Pavillion in the Fields in a publick Mall or Court sate to hear the Causes of all Men or to determine according to right Judgment there came a certain Man called Hrothelm and complained That against his Right he had an House or Farm taken from him which came to him by his Wife and Flavino and was properly his own and by Law ought to be his because he had it by Livery or delivery of his Wife therefore it ought to be his Then the foresaid Earl calling Witnesses or Witnesses or Jurors were the same in the old Feudal German Law Jurors that were of the very Country or Vicinage he asked them by the Faith and Oath they had made to our Lord that whatever they knew of this Matter they should speak the truth They said By the very This Oath was made to the Emperor who is here meant by Dominus Noster Oath we have given to our Lord we know because there was a certain Man called Mado who had there his proper Soil the bounds whereof we know because it adjoyns and lies next to the very House or Farm claimed upon which there was a great Tree and one side was compassed with Water and between them was a Boundary of Stones and Trees That is Hrotheâ—m He is the Master Lord Owner or Proprietor of it For as those Buildings are joyned above they are the Propriety of those Men and ought to be theirs by the Law in right of their Grandfather Quintus Then the foresaid Earl Commanded That the Witnesses or Jurors should go upon the place and shew the Bounds they mentioned which they did and fixed the Bounds which they saw between the two Houses or Farms and there were many Noblemen there present whom the Earl directed to
there Ibid. C. Exetor City standeth out against the Conqueror f. 192. F. They submit and are pardoned f. 493. A. F. Foelix a Burgundian converted the East Angles f. 105. B. Falcasius de Brent his Policy and Courage f. 526. B. His unwillingness to part with what he had gotten by Rapine and Plunder in time of War f. 528. A. B. His Rebellious Practices f. 534. B. He was excommunicated his Submission and Imprisonment Ibid. D. E. F. He is sentenced to abjure the Kingdom f. 536. A. B. He was encouraged in his Treasons by some great men Ibid. C. Otho the Leg at moved in his behalf but without Success fol. 537. C. D. A great Fair proclaimed at Westminster to hold fifteen days f. 601. F. Fees when first Hereditary f. 81. B. When and by whom made Servile f. 156. B. They were Originally Military Ibid. C. Three sorts called Tenure in Capite f. 157. lin 1. Military upon what account granted Ibid. A. To what forfeitures they were subject Ibid. C. D. E. Feudal Tenures from whence they arose f. 56. D. Feudal Law not written till Frederic the First f. 72. F. It obteined in France and Germany f. 73. F. How and when it might be relaxed f. 160. A. Feudal Investiture f. 203. F. Fines levyed in County Courts f. 146. B. C. Flemmings removed into Wales by King Henry the First f. 246. D. E. They desert King John f. 510. F. Folkland what it was fol. 66. A. William Foret seized Biham Castle and plundered the Country fol. 529. D. Pope Formosus His Letter to King Alfred suspected to be a Fogery f. 90. E. 91. B. William de Fortibus vid. Albamarle Fosse way where f. 49. lin 2. France Interdicted f. 463. C. Francs who they were and where they dwelt f. 60. E. They Married not their Daughters without their Kings consent f. 73. D. Their Children brought up in the Kings Court Ibid. E. Frederic Abbat of St. Albans with many others take refuge in the Isle of Ely f. 196. B. C. Frederic the Emperour Married Isabel Sister to Henry the Third fol. 562. F. He summoned a meeting of all Christian Princes f. 567. C. He was excommunicated by the Pope f. 572. C. French they refuse to joyn with King Richard in the Seige of Jerulem f. 431. E. The Nobility Arm themselves one against another f. 544. C.D. They refuse to submit to the Queen Regent and leave the Court Ibid. E. Free-men in Germany who and their Condition f. 83. E. They were constantly bound to their good behaviour under the Saxons Ibid. F. G. GAfolland what it was f. 67. F. Galgagus General of the Caledonians f. 25. F. Gilbert de Grand made Earl of Lincoln by Prince Lewis f. 513. D. Gascoigns Subdued by Earl Richard of Cornwall f. 535. F. They do Homage to Henry the Third f. 545. B. S. Montfort Earl of Leicester his success against them fol. 602. F. 606. A. Their Complaints to the King against him Ibid. F. They repeat their Complaints by solemn Messengers fol. 607. A. B. Prince Edward made their Governour f. 608. A. B. English Affairs there in an ill Condition f. 610. C. They crave the King of Englands Assistance f. 611. D. Gavelkind what it was f. 165. C. Geofrey Son to the Earl of Anjou Married to Maud the Empress f. 254 B. He was sent for into England by his Wife but delayed his coming f. 288. A. D. He gave Anjou to his Son Geofry by Will f. 299. F. An Agreement between him and Henry the Second his Brother f. 300. B. Nants chose him for their Lord. His Death Ibid C. Geofry Son of Henry the Second doth Homage to Philip Son of King Lewis of France for Britany f. 307. D. He received the Homages of the Barons of Britany Ibid. E. He was Knighted by his Father f. 333. C. He did Homage to his Elder Brother Henry f. 338. E. He was slain in a Military Conflict f. 341. E. His Wife left with Child of Prince Arthur Ibid. Geofry Bishop of Ely died Intestate and his Estate seized by King Richard f. 420. F. Geofry Elect of York appealed by the Bishops of Salisbury and Durham f. 424. B. His Election confirmed by the Popes Legat and he restored to his Arch-bishopric by King Richard Ibid. C. Appeals against him released f. 424. E. His Oath to King Richard f. 425. F. He breaks his Oath f. 432. D. He was imprisoned by the Chancellor and released by Earl John Ibid. E. F. He outbad the Chancellor for Sheriffwics f. 441. F. He is reconciled to the Chancellor f. 444. B. C. The Canons of York complain against him to Hubert the Justiciary f. 445 D. He was disseised of his Maners Ibid. F. He paid 2000 Marks to the King and was reconciled to him f. 447. E. Geofry Arch-deacon of Norwich deserts King Johns Service fol. 480. E. His punishment Ibid. Geofry Fitz-Peter made Justitiary of England by King Richard fol. 450. A. He sent forth Itinerant Justices f. 455. F. Maurice Fitz Gerald Landed at Wexford in Ireland with great Forces f. 354. D. German and French Laws when first composed f. 60. lin 1. They refused to admit of any Laws but their own f. 62. A. How they valued mens lives f. 63. lin 3. How they valued their Cattle and Grain f. 64. A c. What punishment they inflicted on persons insolvent Ibid. D. E. What was their rate for all sorts of faults and mulcts Ibid. F. How they purged themselves when accused f. 65. A. Their Tenures agreeable to the Saxons f. 71. B. Their Habiliments of War went with the Land Ibid. D. Their Tenures Feudal f. 72. B. They held their Courts twice in a year f. 74. B. The Bishop and Earl sat together in their Courts f. 74. D. What Matters triable in their Hundred Courts f. 75. C. D. How they forced an Appearance f. 76. C. A Form of their ancient Judgment f. 77. D. E. F. Their Testes and Jurors the same f. 78. lin 1. What sort of men their Testes were to be Ibid. Their Judges and Officers like to the English Saxons f. 79. E. Their Servants and Freeman who and their State f. 83. B. C. D. Their manner of making Laws and how they agreed with the English Saxons f. 84. B. They secured their Lands by great Ditches f. 86. A. When they held their Councils f. 87. C. Their Princes called and presided or others by their appointment in those Councils Ibid. F. Gessoriacum where it was f. 13. F. Gilbert Prince of Galloway doth Homage to Henry the Second f. 329. B. C. Glanvil Justiciary of England of Norman Extraction f. 152. B. Glota where it was f. 24. B. Godfrey Bishop of Winchester disseised f. 443. F. Godwin Earl of Kent his Extraction f. 131. E. He refused though sent to punish the Citizens of Canterbury f. 132. B. He was summoned to appear before his Peers for his refusal Ibid. C. He raised an Army and made bold
Gemeticensis lib. 8. c. 29. THE REIGN OF King Stephen KING Stephen was third Son to Stephen [1.] Ord. Vit. f 573. D. 574. A. An. Do. 1135. Earl of Blois by Adela the fourth Daughter to William the Conqueror his Uncle King Henry made him Earl of [2.] Ibidem King Stephen Married the Daughter and Heir of the Earl of Bologn Mortaign in Normandy and gave him many Lands and Honours in England by reason of which Advantages and Preferments he became the Husband of the Daughter and Heir of [3.] Ibidem Eustachius Earl of Bologn After the death of King Henry he made haste into England and was too quick for Maud the Empress She was Daughter to Henry the First her Husband Geofry Earl of Anjou and her Brother Robert Earl of Gloucester who were delayed for some time with the Business of Anjou and Normandy [4.] Hen. Hun. f. 221. a. n. 50. Tempting God he invaded the Crown notwithstanding he had Sworn Fealty to the Daughter of King Henry as Inheritrix of the Kingdom of England And William Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who first sware to be faithful to her All the Bishops Earls and Barons consent to the Coronation of Stephen notwithstanding their Oath to Maud and do him Homage Crowned him on the 22 d of December King Henry dying the first of that Month in Normandy All the Bishops Earls and Great Men that made the same Oath to Maud assented to his Coronation and did Homage to him At that time he took an Oath â— First That after the deaths of [5.] Ibidem f. 221. b. n. 30 40. Stephens Oath at his Coronation Bishops he would never keep Bishopricks void for his own advantage but presently consenting â—to Canonical Election would invest Bishops in them â— Secondly That he would not retain the Woods of any Clerk or Layman in his hands as King Henry had done who every year impleaded or vexed them if either they Hunted in their own Woods or if for their own necessities they stubbed them up â—or diminished them â— Thirdly That he would for ever Release Danegelt that is two Shillings an Hide which his Predecessors were wont to receive â—every year Gervase of [6.] Col. 1340. n. 10. Canterbury says That coming over in a swift sayling Ship the People of Dover repulsed him and the Inhabitants of Canterbury shut their Gates against him and that the Londoners with some Great Men received him with Honour where in Discourse between Stephen and some of the Chief Men of England about the Succession of the Kingdom in the presence of William Arch-Bishop of Canterbury he said The Arch-Bishop scrupled the Coronation of Stephen and how he was satisfied Anno Domini 1135. That by reason of the Oath he had made to Maud the Empress he dare not Crown any other One of the most powerful Men of England standing by sware he was present when King Henry voluntarily and in good Faith released that Oath Which being heard Stephen was Elected by almost all of them and Crowned by Arch-Bishop William on the 22 d of December A more true and full Account how this Man obtained the Crown may be seen in the Exact History of Succession f. His Title such as it was he procured to be confirmed by the Popes Bull which may be found in the History of Richard Prior of Hagustald Col. 313. n. 30. He found a vast Treasure that King Henry had left [7.] Malmsb f. 101. a.n. 50. King Henry left a vast Treasure with that Stephen raised and maintained an Army of Strangers One hundred thousand Pounds in Money and Gold and Silver Vessels of all inestimable value This drew to him very many Soldiers especially out of Flanders and Brittany besides the English which at present so Established him as neither the Duke of Anjou nor his Brother in Law Robert Earl of Gloucester thought fit to attaque him who after [8.] Ibidem n. 40. Robert Earl of Gloucester doubtful what to do Easter came out of Normandy into England Being very thoughtful what to do if he should submit to King Stephen and acknowledge him then he should go contrary to the Oath he had made to his Sister if he did not submit he could have no opportunity of doing any thing for the advantage of his Sister and her Children [9.] Ibid. b. l. 5. n. 10. He doth Conditional Homage to King Stephen All the Noblemen had very freely submitted themselves therefore he dissembled for a time and did Homage to the King upon Condition that so long as he freely permitted him to enjoy his Dignity and Estate he should be true to him In the same [1.] Ib. n. 10. A. D. 1136. The Bishops sware Fealty to him upon Conditions year not much after the coming of the Earl the Bishops sware Fealty to the King so long as he should preserve the Liberty and Discipline of the Church And then he gave them a [2.] Ibidem n. 20 30. His Charter chiefly to the Church and what he granted by it Charter by which he obligeth himself to maintain inviolably the Liberties Ancient Customs Dignities and Priviledges of the Church and that it should enjoy all the Possessions and Tenures it had the day his Grandfather King William died He gave also leave to Bishops Abbats and other Ecclesiastical Persons to distribute and dispose of their Goods before their deaths When Bishopricks were void he granted that they should be in the Custody of the Clerks or other good Men of the Church until it was provided of a Pastor The Forests which his Grandfather King William and his Uncle King William had made or held he reserved to himself such as his Uncle King Henry had made or superadded he restored to Church and Kingdom All Exactions unjust Customs and Practises he prohibited and Commanded the good Laws ancient and just Customs should be observed This [3.] Ibidem n. 40. He confirmed his Charter by Oath but never kept it Charter was granted at Oxford in the first year of his Reign Anno Dom. 1136. to the observation whereof he bound himself by Oath but as the Historian noteth kept it not for he [4.] Ibidem seized the Treasure of Churches and gave their Possessions to Laymen He turned out the Incumbents His usage of the Church and Church-men and sold them to others he imprisoned Bishops and forced them to alienate their Possessions Abbies he gave and sold to unworthy Persons But 't is there said These actions are not so much to be ascribed to him as to such as advised and perswaded him And Monasteries never to want Money so long as the Monasteries had it The first that gave him any considerable Trouble was [5.] Gesta Stephan f. 934. A. 936. D. Baldwin de Redvers fortified Exceter Castle against him yielded for want of Victuals Baldwin de Redvers Earl of Devonshire and Lord of the Isle of Wight he
Salisbury that favoured the Empress he raised all the Force he could and upon the first day of July in the Evening came thither and set fire on the Town where the Kings Soldiers lay which put the King into such a fright who then was in the Nunnery that he left his Plate and other Goods behind him and by the benefit of a dark Night hardly escaped with his Brother Henry Bishop of Winchester The Earls Soldiers killed many of the Kings and took many amongst them [2.] Gervas ut supra Col. 359. lin 1. c. William Martel taken Prisoner his Ransom William Martel for whose Redemption there were given 300 Marks and the Castle of Sherborn Not many days after [3.] Ib. n. 10. Milo Earl of Hereford dies An. Do. 1144. Milo Earl of Hereford one of the chief Counsellors most faithful Friends and greatest Supporters of the Empress died to her great Grief and Misfortune The next year King Stephen seized upon Geofry de Magna villa in his Court at St. Albans and kept him Prisoner [4.] Ibid. Col. 360. n. 10 Hen. Hunt ut supr n. 40. King Stephen seiseth Geofrey de Magna villa he gives up the Tower of London his Castles of Walden and Plessetâ— King Stephen besiegeth Lincoln and is baffled until he delivered up to the King the Tower of London his Castles of Walden and Plessets and not long after was slain first having given the King much trouble and Plundered Ramsey Abby After this the King again besieged the Castle of Lincoln where the Earl of Chester destroyed eighty of his [5.] Ib. n. 50. Workmen and Engineers so as he was forced to depart having done nothing From thence he gathered a great Force and marched to [6.] Ibidem b. n. â—0 Anno Domini 1145. The Earl of Gloucester worsted at Faringdon King Stephen besiegeth Walingford Castle Faringdon where the Earl of Gloucester was erecting a strong Fortress or Castle where they fought or rather skirmished and much Blood having been spilt the Earl was forced from his Enterprise From thence he came and besieged Walingford Castle against which when he saw he was not likely to prevail by Force or Art he built a Castle called [7.] Ibidem n. 30 40. Gervas Doroâ— col 1361. n. 10 20. He built Craumerse Castle against it The Earl of Chester makes his Peace he is made Prisoner and delivers Lincoln Castle Anno Domini 1146 1147. Craumersh and placed a Garison to keep in and hinder the Excursions of the Garison of Walingford Hither came to the King Ranulph Earl of Chester and made his Peace and added to his Forces a considerable Strength A while after he came to the Kings Court at Northampton where he was taken and kept in Prison until he had delivered to the King the Castle of Lincoln in which City he kept a most splendid Christmass Geofrey Earl of Anjou having subdued and [8.] The Earl of Anjou sends for his Son Henry Robert Earl of Gloucest dies settled Normandy and Anjou in Peace had a great desire to see his Son Henry and sent three Noblemen with a Guard for him to Earl Robert who Conducted him safely to Warham where he took Ship and afterwards never saw him for the Earl fell sick of a Fever at Gloucester of which he died on the First of November and was buried at Bristol in the Monastery he built there After his Death the [9.] Ibid. Col. 1363. lin 1. The Empress goes into Normandy to her Husband Empress wearied out with these Commotions and Wars in England before Lent passed over into Normandy choosing rather to live there with her Husband in Peace than undergo so many Troubles In the year 1149. Henry the Son of the [1.] Ibid. Col. 1366. n. 30 40. An. Do. 1149. Henry the Son of the Empress comes into England Empress Cum grandi Comitatu militum Electorum peditum rediit in Angliam returned into England with a great Company of choice Knights or Horsemen and Foot and stirred up the Thoughts and Courage of many against King Stephen for after the Deaths of Robert and Milo Earls of Gloucester and Hereford and the Empress having passed the Sea none could move the Noblemen against King Stephen but the true Heir to the Crown After his Appearance in England he took with him Ranulph Earl of Chester and Roger Earl of Hereford and some others He is Knighted by David King of Scotland his Great Uncle besides those he brought with him out of Normandy and went to David King of Scotland his Great Uncle who received him with great Joy and Honour and in the Solemnity of Pentecost Knighted him and some others This raised [2.] Ibidem n. 60. Col. 1367. lin 1. David King of Scots comes to Carlisle great Suspicion in King Stephen and his Son Eustachius for when the King of Scots with his Forces and his Nephew with the * So called in respect of the East parts of Scotland The two Kings of England and Scotland retreat one from another Western Barons of England were united in the foresaid Solemnity King Stephen came to York with a great Army lest they should surprize that City and stayed there unto the end of August but both the Kings one at Carlisle the other at York were afraid of one another and so of their own accords they retreated Stephen towards Lincoln and David toward Scotland but Eustachius Son of Stephen now also Knighted by his Father made great havock and spoil upon the Lands belonging to the Earls and Barons which favoured Henry [3.] Ibid. Col. 1367. n. 30. An. Do. 1150. These old Historians begin the year at Christmass Henry receives the Dukedom of Normandy who in the beginning of January in the year following sailed into Normandy and with his Fathers good liking received that Dukedom [4.] Chron. Norm f. 984. B. C. D. The King of France takes offence at it They are reconciled Geofrey Earl of Anjou Henry's Father dies as his Inheritance by his Mother At which the King of France took offence raised an Army and with Eustachius in his Company invaded Normandy and besieged the Castle of Arches Earl Geofry and his Son prepare to oppose him in the mean time he burnt the City of Sees and when the Father and Son had drawn together a great Army and Marshalled their Troops by the Mediation of Wise Men the King received the Homage of Henry for the Dukedom of Normandy and one Gerrard Berlas Lord of the Castle of Monstreul out of Prison and so rested satisfied Being thus in quiet Duke Henry intended to call together all his great Men of Normandy on the Fourteenth day of September at Lisieux to Treat and Consult about his Voyage into England in the interim his Father labouring under a great Fever died on the Seventh of the same Month and left him Lord and Heir of Normandy and Anjou Within less then half a year
he died without Issue accompanying King Henry the Second at the Siege of Tholose Anno Domini 1159. or 1160. 4. Maud [2.] Ibidem his eldest Daughter died young 5. Mary [3.] Ibidem f. 44. his second Daughter first Nun then Abbess in the Nunnery of Rumsey in Hampshire being secretly taken from thence was Married to Matthew Earl of Flanders c. and had Issue by him two Daughters Ida and Maud c. His Natural Issue were 1. WIlliam [4.] Ibidem who in a Charter of the former Williams is called his Brother c. 2. Gervase [5.] Ibidem begotten of a Norman Gentlewoman named Dameta and brought into England in the year 1140. was Abbat of Westminster twenty years and died in the year 1160. THE REIGN OF King Henry II. Anno Domini 1154. WHen King Stephen died King Henry was in Normandy and after his death so soon as he had notice came for England and landed here on the Seventh of December [1.] F. 92. n. 20. How King Henry came to the Crown and as Mat. Paris says was received by the Clergy and People with great Joy and by their Acclamations saluted King and Crowned at Westminster on the Nineteenth of the same Month by Theobald Arch-Bishop of Canterbury John Brompton [2.] Col. 1043. n. 40. writes That Stephen being dead Henry the Second the Son of Maud the Empress was by Arch-Bishop Theobald Consecrated King and received an Hereditary Kingdom without diminution The People shouting for Joy and Crying out Let the King live * Gervas Chron. Col. 1377. n. 30. He Banisheth or thrusts out the Flemmings and Strangers out of England He held his Court at Christmass at Bermundsey where he Treated with his Principal Men concerning the State of the Kingdom and setling Peace and resolved to expel the Strangers out of England and destroy the small Places of Strength built during the War In the Reign of King Stephen many Strangers Flemmings especially came over as Soldiers in hopes of great Booty and Plunder and had seated themselves in England by the permission of that King and were very loath to leave their warm Seats yet by his [3.] Ib. n. 50. He demolisheth the new built Castles Edict fixing them a day for their Removal when they saw they could not continue here they left the Nation and his next work was to have all the Castles demolished which had been built since the [4.] Ibidem n. 60. death of his Father except some few which were kept up for the Strength of the Nation The [5.] Ibidem Col. 1046. n. 40 50. He recalled the Crown Rents and Lands Crown Lands and Rents which King Stephen had given to his Followers he recalled and Commanded That whosoever were possessed of them they should be restored wholly and fully without any manner of diminution Many pleaded the Charts and Donations of King Stephen To which King Henry Answered That the Charts of an Invader ought not to prejudice a Lawful Prince They were very loath at first but at length they all resigned up theiâ— Usurped Estates In Northumberland they were most resolute and therefore [6.] Ibidem n. 50 60. King Henry went thither and cited before him William Earl of Albamarle and others who with great grief submitted to his Power and yielded up the Kings Lands and Demeasns which they had possessed many years together with the Castle of Scardeburgh in Yorkshire Hugh Mortimer only opposed the King who when he was Commanded to deliver his Castle of Bridgnorth in Shropshire fortified it against him which the King besieged and in a short time took and he begging the Kings Mercy for his Rebellion was Pardoned delivering also his other Castles From William the Son of King Stephen he took all the Lands his Father had given him except such as he held in the time of King Henry his Uncle In the time of Contention between [7] Ibidem Col. 1047 n. 10. Mat. Paris f. 96. n. 40. Maud the Empress and King Stephen for the Kingdom of England David King of Scotland had in her Name seized upon the Counties of Northumberland Cumberland and Westmerland and possessed them as his own These King Henry required of him and the then King of Scotland Malcolm presently parted with them and all their Rights receiving from him the Earldom of Huntington as belonging to him of Ancient Right In March the Queen was delivered of a Son at London called after his [8.] Chron. Gervas Col. 1377. n. 50. Fathers Name Henry After Easter there was a [9.] Ibidem Col. 1378. n. 20. An. Dom. 1155. Henry Son of King Henry born General Convention of the Bishops and Chief Men of all England at Walingford where they sware Fealty to the King and his Heirs to his eldest Son William if he should outlive his Father and to the Infant Henry if he outlived his Brother Not long after the [1.] Brompton Col. 1047. n. 50 60. Col. 1048. n. 10 â—0 Guil Neub rerum Angl. lib. 2. c. 5. Mat. Paris f. 96. n. 50. Rad de Diceto Col. 535. n. 20. An. Do. 1156. The Welsh Conqueâ—ed and yield Welshmen making Incursions into England King Henry raised a great Army to subdue them or at least bring them to a Peaceable Correspondency The Welsh trusting to the security of their Woods and Mountains retreated thither upon his Approach The Van of the Army marching on as well as they could in those places was intercepted by them and a great part of it cut off Henry de Essex the Kings Hereditary Standard-Bearer threw it down and fled and told those which he met the King was dead which put the Army into great confusion but upon the Kings hasty appearance it received new vigor Rallied and forced their Enemies to such Terms as satisfied the King He cut down their Woods and made open Ways into their Country had the Castle of Roelent and all other Places of Strength delivered unto him which they had taken from his Predecessors and received the Homage and Fealty of their Nobles and Great Men. For his Cowardise [2.] Ibidem An Appeal of Treason Henry de Essex was charged by Robert de Montfort a Nobleman of Fame with Treason and in a Trial by Battle was vanquished for which he ought to have lost his Life by Law but the King spared that causing him to be Shorn a Monk in the Abby of Reding and seized all his great Estate The Welsh thus secured the King had news that his Brother [3.] Joh. Brompton Col. 1048. n 40 50. An. Do. 1257. According to Mat. Paris 1156. King Henry's Brother Geofry claims Anjou Pleads his Fathers Will and Brothers Oath Geofry was very troublesome beyond Sea He was his next Brother and his Father Geofry Earl of Anjou had by Will given him that Earldom when his Brother Henry should be possessed of the Kingdom and Dukedom of Normandy his Mothers Inheritance and
Christians until they returned from their Pilgrimage to the Holy Land The King of France destitute of his Friends desired a Conference with the King of England he consents and on the Morrow being the Sixth of October St. Faith's-day they met at Chasteaux The Terms propounded were [7.] Ibidem That the King of France should resign what he had taken since the Truce The Treaty for Peace renewed but without effect and that Earl Richard should resign what he had taken by War from the Earl of St. Giles and for Security the King of France demanded of the King of England the Castle of Passy which he would not grant and so they parted Enemies The King of France took the Castle of Palud as he went from thence and passed on to Castle-Radulf and brought the Plundering Brabanters from thence to Bourges promising them their Pay where he took away their Horses Arms and all their Goods and turned them off naked and without Arms. Earl [8.] Ibidem f. 368. a. lin 6. Richard offers to stand to a Tryal in the French Court. Richard offered to come into the Court of France and stand to the Law there for what had been done between him and the Earl of St. Giles that so he might make Peace between the two Kings which much displeased the King of England On the Nineteenth of October [9.] Ib. f. 370. a. n. 30. they had another Conference between Bon-Molins and Suleini where the King of France offered to render whatsoever he had taken by War upon Condition he would deliver his Sister Alice to Earl Richard his Son that he might make her his Wife and that he would permit him as his Heir to receive the Homages and Fealties of the Men of all his Dominions But King Henry being sensible of the ill Consequences of that and the Injuries and Mischiefs he had received for permitting it to his Son Henry and by exalting him he utterly refused to do it whereupon Richard was exceedingly displeased Richard swears Fealty to the King of France and without the knowledge or Consent of his Father did Homage to the King of France for all the Tenements or Lands of his Father in that Kingdom and sware Fealty to him against all Men and adhered to him and for his Homage and Fealty gave him Castle-Radulph and Issoudun with the whole Honour Yet the two Kings made a Truce [1.] Ibidem n. 30 40. A Truce agreed upon and Earl Richard Anathematized until the Feast of St. Hilary and Henry Bishop of Alba and a Cardinal whom the Pope had sent to reconcile the two Kings Anathematized Earl Richard as a Disturber of the Peace After the Feast of St. Hilary [2.] Ib. f. 37. b. n. 30. The King of France and Earl Richard wasted the King of England's Dominions when the time of Truce was expired the King of France Earl Richard and many other Earls and Barons that had left the King his Father and the Britans to whom the King of France and Earl Richard had given their Charts that they would not make a separate Peace with the King of England excluding them in a Hostile manner entred the Dominions of the King of England and wasted them every way John _____ Cardinal came from the [3.] Ibidem n. 40 50. An. Do. 1189. Pope to the two Kings to exhort them to Peace and he obtained of them to stand to the Judgment or Determination of himself the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury Rhemes Roven and Bourges and appointed them a day of meeting near Ferte-Bernard eight days after Whitsunday All to be Excommunicated that were Hinderers of the Peace except the two Kings and the Cardinal and four Arch-Bishops pronounced Sentence of Excommunication against all Men Clerks as well as others that should hinder the making of Peace excepting the Persons of the Kings themselves They all met at the time and place appointed and the Earls and Barons of both Kingdoms In this Conference the King of France demanded of the King of England that his Sister Alice might be given in Marriage to Richard Earl of Poictou and that the Homages and Fealties c. as in the last Treaty And further that John his Brother might receive the Cross and go to Jerusalem The King of England [4.] Ibidem f. 372. a. l. n. 2. The Treaty ends without success Answered That he would never consent to it and offered the King of France that if he would agree to it his Sister Alice should be given in Marriage to his Son John and that all things should be performed more fully than he desired but the King of France would not yield to this and so the Treaty ended without success The Cardinal [5.] Ibidem n. 10. The King of France values not the threats of an Interdict threatned the King of France that if he made not Peace with the King of England he would interdict his Dominions The King told him he valued iâ— not and said it belonged not to the Church of Rome to pronounce Sentence against the Kingdom of France when the King chastised his Men homines suos or Subjects for their Contumacy and Rebellion and the Injuries done to the Crown And added That the Cardinal had smelt or received some of the King of England's Sterlings The King [6.] Ibidem of France presently attempted * i. e. Firmitas Bernardi the Fortress of Bernard The King of France defeats the King of England's Army Ferte-Bernard and took it and Montfort and Beaumont and Mayen and Tours Ambais and Chaumont and all the Castles and Towns round the Country nothing stood before him Coming to the Relief of Mayen the King of England's Army was routed and he fled with 700 Horse many were slain in the pursuit The King with a few got into the Castle of Chinon [7.] Ibidem n. 20 30 40. And the King of France had now Conquered all Tourain and Main In the [8.] Ibidem n. 50. later end of June or beginning of July Philip Earl of Flanders William Arch-Bishop of Rhemes and Hugh Duke of Burgundy came to the King of England who was then at Saumur to make a Peace between him and the King of France [9.] Ibidem b. n. 10. The two Kings and Earl Richard with their Arch-Bishops Bishops Earls and Barons met at that time between Tours and Arasic where the King of England submitted himself wholly to the Will and Pleasure of the King of France King Henry does Homage to the King of France and then did Homage to him because in the beginning of the War he had defied him and denied his Dominion and the King of France had disowned and disclaimed his Homage These were the Terms of Peace [1.] Ibidem n. 20. The Articles of Peace between King Henry and the King of France Dictated by the King of France First â—That his Sister Alice which the King of England had in Custody
been abused and ill treated and told them what a stripling the King's Son was and how he was accompanied and governed by very young men in whom was no Gravity or Sobriety no Stanchness or Prudence by which they or their Country might be safe and secure These three Princes [8] Ibid. f. 808. l. 1. c. Those three Princes were prepared to come to John and acknowledge their subjection to him But were diverted by the ill usage of the Irish were then prepared to come and wait upon Earl John to acknowledge their subjection and pay their Duty to him But hearing this news and suspecting what might be the end of such beginning concluded to joyn together against the English and enter into a League of Defence of their Liberties and Country and now became Friends who before were Enemies Upon these Misdemeanors [9] Ibid. n. 50. King Henry removed the young men from the Affairs of Ireland and puts in experienc'd men John de Curcy made Governor of Ireland King Henry removed these young People that understood not the Affairs of the Nation and put in experienced men who had been employed in the Conquest of it to manage them and made John de Curcy Chief Governour of Ireland who with the Army scowred the Countries of Cork Limeric and Connaught and made them quiet At the time of committing these Extravagancies [1] Ibid. f. 809 n. 30 40. Three different Interests in Ireland there were in Ireland three different Interests and three such as then they called Armies one of the Normans another of English and a third of Welsh The first were in great Favour the second in less and the third in none at all The Normans were Luxurious drinking much Wine they refused to be placed in the Marches or Borders against the Enemy or in Castles far from the Sea they were always with and not to be separated from the Kings Son They were great Talkers Giraldus Cambrensis his Character of the Normans in Ireland The first Subduers of Ireland discontented John the Kings Son did nothing considerable in that Nation Boasters and Swearers very Proud and Contemners of all others greedy of Places of Honour and Profit but backward in undertaking any hazardous or dangerous Action or performing any Service that might deserve them and for these reasons the old Militia that first invaded the Island seeing themselves neglected and slighted and the new men only caressed sate still and acted not so as Earl John made small progress in the further subduing of that Country After this Giraldus Cambrensis tells us how Ireland was to be compleatly conquered and how to be governed and then shuts up his History in these words Finem igitur hic Historiae [2] Ibid. f. 811 n. 10. ponentes Dum ea quae scimus loquimur quae vidimus fideliter testati sumus novis de caetero Historicis tam indolis egregiae gesta futura digno coaequanda explicandaque stilo nunc relinquamus In his Topography of Ireland he is frequently Fabulous and Romantick relying upon Tradition common Story and Relations of the People The greatest part of his History is undoubtedly a true Narrative of things done though it is tedious to read being written in long Tropical Sentences and as it were Quibling Convertible and Gingling Latin which was the Eloquence of those times I have as it were Epitomized him in this Relation of the Conquest or Acquest of Ireland not having heard of or found any other that hath given so good an Account of it He tells many times of strange Victories obtained by very few men against great Numbers which Stories may have some allowance if we consider how fearful the Irish were of Bows and Arrows which killed and wounded at distance The * The Irish Arms were only a short Lance two Darts and a sharp Hatchet which they used with one hand and they threw Stones when their Arms failed such as they could grasp in one hand which they had always ready Cambren Topograph Hibern Distinct 3. c. 10. f. 738. n. 50. use whereof they seemed not to know before they had been taught it by frequent Fighting with the English and how they were confounded and amazed at the Arms charging and management of the Horse-men until for some time they had been used to them and began to understand it Hoveden [3] F. 359. a. n. 50. b. n. 40. A. D. 1185. John the Kings Son returns out of Ireland The Pope by his Bull gave King Henry leave to make which Son he pleased King of Ireland And sent a Crown of Peacocks Feathers interwoven with Gold says that King Henry after the return of his Son John out of Ireland without doing any thing considerable there hearing Vrban was chosen Pope sent to him and obtained many things which his Predecessor Lucius would not grant amongst his Favours one was That he had leave confirmed by his Bull to make which Son he would King of Ireland and as an Argument and token of this Concession and Confirmation he sent him a Crown of Peacocks Feathers interwoven with Gold There is nothing more to be found of this Hugh de Lacy but his [4] Annal. â—ibeâ—n A. D 1186. Hugh de Lacy his strange Death Death which the Annals of Ireland tell us happened in this manner when he was very busie and intent about building the Castle of Dervath and finding the Irish he employed in preparing the Ground and doing other things toward the erecting of it very unskilful at the use of the Tools and Instruments they wrought with he himself undertook to shew them how they were to work with them and while he took a Pick-Axe out of the hand of one of them to shew him the use of it and striking with it held it in both his hands His Head was cut off by an Irish Laborer and stooped inclining his head the man chopt it off with an Hatchet or Irish Axe Cambrensis that I know of hath not the full Relation of this Story but in his Recapitulation of things done in Ireland this is [5] Lib. 2. Hibeâ—n Expugn c. 34. f. 807. n. 20. one among the rest where he saith thus De Hugonis de Lacy à securibus male securi Dolo Hibernensium suorum apud Dervath Decapitatione Not long after Roger Poer who under this [6] Ibid. c. 20. Roger Poer treacherously slain by the Irish Hugh commanded the Forces at Lethlin in Ossory was treacherously slain and amongst others is by Cambrensis reckoned as one that lost his Life [7] Ibid. f. 810 n. 50. c. 37. by the Treachery of the Irish In the year 1187. after Christmass [8] Hoveden f. 361. b n. 40. Two Cardinals sent by the Pope to Crown John King of Ireland His Coronation deferred by his Father He was only Lord of Ireland Pope Vrban sent into England Octavian Sub-Deacon Cardinal and Hugh de Nunant afterward Bishop of Coventry
Emperor for a Summe of Money It was observed [7] Ibid. Earl John well pleased with his Brothers imprisonment His contrivance to secure the Crown for himself That Earl Iohn was very Brisk when he heard his Brother was made Prisoner and conceived great hopes of being King and therefore he wheadled in many through the whole Kingdom with great promises and with great Diligence fortifyed his places of Strength and went over into France and entred into a Confederacie with that King that he might secure his Nephew Arthur from injoying the Crown and it is no hard matter to believe this from his precedent actions In the Absence of the King there happened great [8] f. 398. b. n. 20. A. D. 119â— A discord between him and the Chancellor discord between Earl Iohn and the Chancellor about Lincoln Castle which was in the Custody of Gerard de Camvill Sheriff of Lincolnshire who was turned out of his * Expulso Girardo de Camvil a à Baliva Vicecomitatus Lincolniae Composed by the mediation of the Bishops Office by the Chancellor and William de Stutevill put into it but would not part with the Castle and while he Besieged it the Castle of Nottingham and the Kings Castle of Tikehill were delivered to Earl Iohn who sent to the Chancellor that unless he quitted the Siege he would force him to do it He affrighted at the Earls Message raised the Siege and by the Mediation of the Bishops and other friends an agreement was made between them which the Reader may find in the [9] Append. n 75. Appendix with the Translation of it Not long after this Agreement Geofrey the Elect of York was consecrated by the Arch-Bishop of Tours by the Popes Command who not regarding the [1] Hoved. ut supra f. 399. a n. 30. Geofry Elect of York comes into England before the three years were expired Oath he had made to his Brother the King That he would not come into England in three years after the King should leave it came to Witsan perhaps at this Day Calais and was there ready for his passage over The Chancellor sorbad him to come into England contrary to his Oath he made to the King He regarded not the Chancellors Prohibition and Landed at Dover in the month of September where the Chancellor had appointed Officers to apprehend him But having notice of it he changed his Cloaths and mounted a Swift Horse and got to the Monasterie of St. Martins belonging to that Town and put himself into the Church [2] Ibidem n. â—0 50. He is taken by the Chancellors Officers and delivered Prisoner to the Constable of Dover Castle The Chancellors Officers Guarded the Church so as he could not go out and after Mass took him while he was standing at the Altar in his Sacerdotal vestments and carried him out of the Church through the Dirty Streets and Delivered him to Mathew Clere the Constable of Dover Castle [3] Ibidem b. n. 10. But is released by Earl Johns Order The Chancellor is summoned to appear in the Kings Court but refuses Earl Iohn hearing of this ordered the Chancellor to release him And then coming to London he complained to Earl Iohn and to the Bishops and great men of the injury he had received from the Chancellor The Earl commanded he should stand to the Law in the Kings Court for that and also for the Injury he had done to Hugh Bishop of Durham The Chancellor deferred his appearance the Earl the Arch-Bishop of Roven the Bishops and chief men of the Kingdom appointed him a Peremptory day at Reading whither Earl Iohn and almost all the Bishops Earls and Barons of the Kingdom came in expectation of him but he neither came nor sent any one to appear for him Then the Earl and the Bishops that were with him went toward London A Skirmiâ—h between the Earls and Chancellors retinue One of the Earls Knights Slain That they might consult before a great Audience of the Citizens what they should do with that Chancellor That had so troubled the Kingdom and would not stand to Law He hearing of it left Windsor and went to London and by the way his and the Earls retinue their Milites or Knights met and fought in which Skirmish one of the Earls Knights Roger de Planis was Killed yet he had the better and the Chancellor fled to London and he and his Retinue got into the Tower On the 10 th of [4] Ibidem n. 20. The Chancellor accused of high Misdemeanors October Earl Iohn the Arch-Bishop of Roven the Bishop Earls Barons and Citizens of London met in Pauls Church-Yard and accused the Chancellor in many things but especially for the injuries he had done to the Arch-Bishop of York and Bishop of Durham Those also the King had associated with him in the Government accused him saying That he Depised their advice and managed all the Business of the Kingdom by violence and according to his own Will And then the Arch-Bishop of Roven and William Marshall Earl of Striguil first shew before the People their Letters under the Kings Seal from Messina by which they were associated with the Chancellor and others in the Government of the Kingdom and that he was to do nothing without their advice and if he did and it was to the detriment of the Kingdom he was to be [5] No such thing in the Letters See Append. n. He is deposed deposed and the Arch-Bishop of Roven put in his place And it pleased the Earl and all the Bishops Earls and Barons of the Kingdom and the Citizens of London that it should be so for that the Arch-Bishop of Roven would do nothing without the Advice of his associates and the Barons of the Exchequer And the same Day the Earl of Moreton [6] Ibidem n. 40. and the Archbishop of Roven and the other Justices That is the Commissioners in the Government of the King Granted to the Citizens of London to have their Comunity Et eodem die Comes Moretonii Archiepiscopus Rhoâ—amagensis alii Regis Justiciarii Concesserunt Civibus Londoniarum habere Comunam suam And the same year the Earl and Arch-Bishop and almost all the Bishops Earls and Barons of the Kingdom did Swear firmly and resolutely to uphold that Comunity The Citizens of London Swear fealty to King Richard and Earl John as his heir The Tower and Windsor Castle delivered up to him by the Chancellor so long as it pleased the King Et eodem Anno Comes Moretonii Archiepiscopus Rothomagensis fere omnes Episcopi Comites Barones Regni Juraverunt Comunam illam firmiter inconcusse servaturos quamdiu Domino Regi placuit And the Citizens of London did Swear faithful service to King Richard and his Heir haeredi suo And if he should Dye without Issue That they would receive Earl Iohn his Brother for their King and Lord and they
Sware Fealty to him against all men saying their Fealty to King Richard his Brother And the Deposed Chancellor Swore he would Deliver up all the Castles of England and he presently delivered to him the Tower of London and Windsor Castle with some others The different Characters of this Chancellor The Character of this Chancellor is various according to the inclinations of men of that time [7] Ibid. f. 400. a. in his Epistle de Dejectione Willielmi Eliensis Hugh de Nunant Bishop of Coventry one of his prosecutors says he was of a proud haughty imperious temper profuse and extravagant beyond measure a consumer of the Kings Revenue and injurious to all sorts of men Peter of Blois then Arch-Deacon of Bath a man learned and famous [8] Ibid. f. 401 b. in his Epistle pro Willielmo Elien Episcopo Defends the Chancellor against the sharp pen of the Bishop of Coventry and begins his Epistle Thus Quondam Domino amico Hugoni Coventrensi Cestrensi dicto Episcopo Petrus Blesensis Bathoniensis Archidiaconus Dei Memoriam cum Timore Livor quo tendat Invidia quo feratur proditoriae factionis hodie patefecit immanitas Dilectus Deo hominibus Episcopus Eliensis vir sapiens amabilis generosus benignus Mitis in omnes liberalitates Effusus Juxta Divinae Gratiae Dispositionem suorum Exigentiam morum meritorum Reipublicae administrationem summam rerum fuerat assecutus c. in English thus To his Quondam Lord and friend Hugh called Bishop of Coventry and Chester Peter of Blois Arch-Deacon of Bathe The Memory of God with fear What Detraction and Envy may do The fury of a Trayterous faction hath at this time discovered The Bishop of Ely beloved of God and men a wise loving Generous Kind and Mild man abounding in all Instances of Liberality according to the Disposing of Divine Grace and his own due Qualifications and Merits obteined the Administration of the Government and the chiefest power in it c. And proceeds to reprove him for his virulent Language against him without Cause After Eight Days [9] Ibid. f. 402. a. n. 10. He is released from his imprisonment and goes into Normandy He complains to the Pope and King and offers to stand a Tryal Imprisonment Earl Iohn gave Order he should be released and go beyond Sea He went into Normandy where by Command of the Arch-Bishop of Roven he was reputed as an Excommunicated person and in all places where ever he came in that Arch-Bishopric all Divine Offices ceased during his abode there At length he sent to Pope Celestin and to the King of England letting them know how Earl Iohn and his Complices had thrown him out of the Kingdom complaining of the Injury and desiring restitution of what had been taken from him and offering to stand to the Law or Tryal And that if what he had done or his Exspenses should not please the King he would in all things satisfie him according to his own mind At which Complaint the [1] Ibid. n. 20. The Pope writes to the English Bishops to excomunicate Earl John Pope was much moved and wrote to the Arch-Bishops and Bishops of England to Excommunicate Earl Iohn and all his Advisers Complices and Favorers And William Bishop of Ely as Legat and Chancellor wrote to the Bishop of Lincoln to put in Execution the Popes Brief and sent him the [2] Ibid. b. n. 30. names of such as he would have him Excommunicate videlicet Walter Arch-Bishop of Roven Godfrey Bishop of Winchester Hugh Bishop of Coventry William Marshal Geofry Fitz-Peter William Bruer Hugh Bardolf and many others [3] Ibid. f. 403. a. n. 10. The Bishops refuse to do it But none of the Bishops would Execute either the Popes or his Command as not owning him as Legat or Chancellor [4] Ibidem And the Arch-Bishop of Roven and the other Justices of England alii Justiciarii Angliae That is the Commissioners for the Government disseized him of his Bishopric and Collected the Rents to the Kings use to make good the money he had Wasted 5 And then the foresaid Justices and all the Bishops Earls and Barons of England sent to the King and by one Common Letter acquainted him how his Chancellor had destroyed the Kingdom and his Treasure and how he had been put out of his Office by the Common Council of the Kingdom The Chancellor on the other side wrote to the King That his Brother Iohn had Seized the Kingdom and would Crown himself if he returned not speedily Yet the King trusting in God would not Desert his Service until men and Money failed In Lent following [6] Ibid. f. 408. b. n. 30. A. D. 1192. Queen Alienor the Arch-Bishops of Roven and York and all the great men of the Kingdom met and Swore Fealty and faithful Service to King Richard and to his Heir against all men [7] Ibid. n. 40. Earl John endeavors to restore the Chancellor but the great men would not consent At the same time the Earl for 500 pounds having promised to restore the Chancellor to his Office sent for him into England and tryed to induce the great men to consent to it who would not but sent to him that unless he Departed the Kingdom they would imprison him he not daring to stay passed over the Sea on Good Fryday While these Commotions were in England King Richard was mightily uneasie in his imprisonment in Germany [8] Ibidem f. 412. a. n. 20. King Richard gave the Emperor his Kingdom to gain his Liberty He is reinvested by the Emperor to hold it of him by an annual tribute Before his death he is acquitted and for his liberty he gave the Emperor his Kingdom and invested him in it by the Delivery of his Hat or Cap and he presently as they had agreed before the great men of Germany and England redelivered it unto him to hold of him by the annual Tribute of 5000 pounds Sterling and invested him by a Double Cross of Gold But before his Death acquitted and Discharged King Richard and his heirs of this and all manner of Bargains Alice the King of France his Sister was in the [9] Ibid. f. 408. b. 10 20. The King of France demands his Sister of the Norman Nobiliâ—y Custody of the Seneschal and great men of Normandy and he had Demanded her of them but they would not deliver her without order from their King Richard at [1] Ibid. f. 412. a. n. 20 30. They refuse to deliver her without King Richards order which he was much troubled and disturbed and sent into England to Earl Iohn That if he would submit to his pleasure and advice he should Marry his Sister Alice and with her he should have Normandy Aquitan and Anjou and all the Lands which his Father had been possessed of in France and that he should make him King of England Earl [2] Ibidem
or others by them to be appointed in their places And if the three Electors agreed not in the Choice of Counsellors or they agreed not in the Creation of Officers or Disposing of or in Dispatching other Business of the King and Kingdom then what should be ordained by two parts should firmly be observed so as of those two parts one should be a Prelate in Matters concerning the Church And if it should happen that two parts of the nine should not agree in any Business then it was to be determined by the three first Electors or the major part of them And if it shall be thought expedient by the Community of Prelates and Barons that all or any of the three first Electors should be removed and others substituted the King should substitute them by the Advice of the Community of the Earls and Barons All these things the King was to do by the Council of nine in Form as it was to be Subscribed by the King or by them instead of and by Authority of him And this Ordinance was to indure until the Mise made at Lewes should be Completed The Witnesses that set their Hands and Seals to the Ordinance or another Form provided and appointed by the Agreement of All Parties In witness whereof Richard Bishop of Lincoln and Hugh Bishop of Ely Roger Earl of Norfolk and Marescal of England Robert de Veer Earl of Oxford Humfry de Bohun William Montchensey and the Major of London put their Seals to the Writing Done in the Parlement at London in the June 1264. that is according to the Writ directed to the Conservators of the Peace of each County to send four Knights to Treat in Parlement c. on the Octaves of Trinity June the 22d Easter day being that year April the 20th as hath been before noted in the Margin And that this Instrument was ready drawn and that there could be little or no debate about so great and weighty Affair appears clearly by the next [1] Append. n. 214. Nine to be named to the King for his Council Record by which 't is Manifest That the King gave Power to Stephen Bishop of Chichester Simon Montfort Earl of Leycester and Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester and Hertford to name nine as well Prelates as others by whose Advice he would Govern the Nation and commanded them to proceed to the Nomination Which Record is dated June 23d the day after their first Meeting The short Account [2] f. 394. lin 3. Mat. Westminster his Account of this Affair agrees with the Record Mat. of Westminster gives of this Matter in many things agrees with the Records The Prelates Earls and Barons saith he of that party which seditiously held their King Prisoner met at London and unmindful of the Compromise at Lewes the Oath they had taken and their own Salvation bethought themselves of new Ordinances for the Government of the Kingdom And Ordained amongst other things That two Earls and one Bishop Elected by the Community should Choose nine Persons of which three should Assist the King and by the Counsel of those three and nine all the Affairs as well of the Kings Houshold as of the Kingdom should be directed And that what the King should do without the Advice of them at least of the three should signifie nothing And so the Earls of Leycester and Glocester and Bishop of Chichester [3] Ibid. n. 10. The Bishop of Chichester's promised to such as should die fighting against the King who promised all that fought stoutly against the King and were killed in the Battel of Lewes immediate entrance into Heaven were Constituted the three chief Counsellors Then [4] Ibid. lin 16. They send Letters to the Pope's Legat and King of France to acquaint them with their proceedings threatning the King they would choose another and the Prince to keep him perpetually in Prison Commento fraudis consentire coacti sunt they were compelled to consent to this Cheat. Having contrived and perfected these Ordinances they sent [4] Ibid. lin 16. They send Letters to the Pope's Legat and King of France to acquaint them with their proceedings Letters to the Bishop of la Sabina a Cardinal and then the Popes Legat in France and to the Illustrious King of France That they would utterly annul the Compromise made at Lewes and Establish this New Peace made by an Amicable Consent of both Parties And the Bishops of London Winchester and Worcester and some others of the Province of Canterbury earnestly beseeched the foresaid Legat That he would be very ready to promote that Peace And upon the Saturday after the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin which is September the 8th the Bishops of London Worcester and Winchester with Hugh D'espenser Justiciary of England Peter Montfort and Richard de Mepham Arch-Deacon of Oxford were [5] Append. n. 215. Procurators and Commissioners appointed to Treat of the Peace The King to be obliged to whatever Peter Montfort should swear Constituted Procurators and Commissioners to treat in the presence of the Magnificent Prince the Illustrious King of France and the venerable Father G. Bishop of la Sabina and Legat of the Apostolic See or either of them about the Reformation of the State of the Kingdom of England with Power to do whatever they thought fit in this Matter and give Security for the Performance of it with a special Clause of Power to Peter Montfort that what he should swear to the King must be obliged to it What these Commissioners did I find not 't is probable the Barons kept themselves to the Instrument of Government made at London without Alteration About the beginning of this 48th year of this King Montfort and his Confederates had caused it to be spread abroad That he intended to bring an [6] Append. 216. Montfort causeth false reports to be spread of the Kings design And then Taxeth the people Four or five to be sent out of every Town to the Sea-side The Kings endeavour to undeceive his people Army of Strangers into the Kingdom to destroy the Nation and ordered the Matter so as the People by a voluntary Contribution taxed themselves or submitted to a Tax which was Imposed upon them without the Kings Privity or Knowledge especially in Warwic and Leycestershire to maintain four or five men out of every Town to march to the Sea-side and defend the Nation against Strangers And to undeceive the People the King Wrote to all the Sheriffs of England to make Proclamation at the County Courts and in every Hundred and good Town of the County That he intended no such Thing but resolved to Keep the Nation in Peace and commands the People not to believe any such Suggestions nor to pay the Taxes and Tallages made oâ— imposed on them against their Leige Lord nor to Arm themselves nor go out of their County without his Special Command Montfort continues to create jealousies and fears among the
People But now when Montfort had the King in his Power about the beginning of July these Suggestions and Rumors were renewed and spread abroad to keep the peoples Heads warm with Jealousies and Fears and that an Army might always be ready for they had made the Country to Baffle all Attempts to Rescue the King out of the Power of the Barons He was made to own them and 7 Append. n. 217. The King forced to own whatever Montfort suggested Dâ—clare to the Arch-Bishops Bishops Abbots Priors Earls Barons Knights Free-men and to the whole Community of Counties That it did certainly appear to him that a great Multitude of Strangers who or of what Nation not said who were preparing Shipping and intended with Force to Invade the Kingdom to the perpetual Confusion and Disinheriting of himself and every one of the Kingdom unless Care was taken with Force to prevent it He therefore Commanded all Knights and Free-Tenants to prepare themselves with Horse and Arms so as to be at London on Sunday after the first of August to March with him from thence for the Defence of himself themselves and the whole Kingdom against Strangers And also Commanded every Sheriff to take with him the Keeper of the Peace of the County to Summon and firmly Injoyn in the Kings Name all the foresaid Arch-Bishops Bishops Barons and all others which ought the King Military Service by the Faith and Homage in which they were bound to him and as they loved themselves their Lands and Tenements to come to him not only with the Service they ought him and were bound by Tenure to perform but with other Horse and Arms or send them and with as many Choice Foot as they could raise that by their help he might Effectually resist the Danger Nor was any man to Excuse his non-appearance upon the shortness of time That it was not a reasonable space for Summons because the present necessity would not allow a longer and therefore it should not be drawn into Custom for the Future to the Prejudice of any Man Furthermore he Commanded the Sheriff to cause to come at the same Day eight six or four of the best and most stout Foot-men from every Town according to the bigness of it with competent Arms that is to say with Lances Bows and Arrows Swords Darts or Hand-slings Bills or Hatchets which were to have their Expences allowed upon the Common Charge for forty Days And that he should send from Cities Castles and Burghs a proportionable number of Men as well Horse as Foot according to their Bigness and Abilities Nor was any Man to pretend or plead That Harvest was then to begin or any other Family or Domestick Imployment as a Let or Hindrance seeing it was more safe and better for a Man with the Security of his Person to be somewhat Damnified in his Goods than with a total Destruction of his Lands and Goods by the Impious Hands of those who thirsted after his Bloud to wit the Kings and if they could prevail would spare neither Age nor Sex but Deliver them to the Tortures of a Cruel Death Therefore this Command of the King the Sheriffs were to publish and give notice to every one That as they loved the Honour of him and the Nation and their own lives and as they would avoid the perpetual Disinheritance of themselves and Heirs they should hasten to prepare themselves as powerfully as they could so as they might be at the place and time aforesaid letting them know That if he should find any Contemners of his Command or any that should be negligent or remiss in the performance of it that he would seize their Persons and Goods as of those that would not preserve him and his Kingdom from confusion and perpetual Disinheritance This Declaration and Command was dated at St. Pauls London on the sixth of July On the Ninth of July [8] Pat. 48 Hen. 3. M. 11. Dors. he sent his Writ to the Good best or stout Men probis hominibus of Len Yarmouth Donwich Oxford Ioswich and all other Cities Burghs and Towns upon the Coast of Norfolk and Suffolk to be obedient to the Directions of Hugh le D'espenser his Justiciary in securing the Coasts of those Counties whom he had sent to them to that purpose The Earl of Leicester would be thought a strict observer of the Kings Commands that others might really be so and therefore obteined the Kings [9] Append n. 218. Montfort rides with a Body of Horse about the Kingdom Licence to Ride with a Body of Armed Horse about the Kingdom when he had prohibited all others to do it by reason of the Hostages and Prisoners he carryed about with him This License is Dated at St. Pauls London July 16th The Forces to be raised against the Invasion of Foreigners came not in such numbers as was expected and therefore the King on the ninth of August [1] Pat. 48 Hen. 3. M. 7. Dors. The King hastens the March of the new raised Forces wrote to the Sheriff of Cambridge and Huntington Shires to make Proclamation That all which were Commanded to be at London on Sunday next after the first of August with their Horse and Arms and other Force c. should march thither in all hast both night and day under pain of losing all their Lands Tenements and Goods and Danger of Life and Limbs And if within three or four days after Proclamation made they did not March then he was to take and detein them in Prison until further Order and out of the profit of their Lands Tenements and Goods to send as many Armed Men as they would maintein People being wearied with Watching Guarding The People wearied out with watching and guarding the Coasts and securing the Coasts in Norfolk Suffolk and Essex against Foreigners designed to go to their own Homes pretending they had been there forty days and would stay no longer The King had notice of their Intentions and on the seventh of September [2] Pat. 48 Hen. 3. M. 5. Dors. wrote to all that were assembled for that purpose in those Counties That for several things that might happen and by reason of some News he had heard it was necessary for them to stay longer upon the Coast and commanded them by the Faith in which they were obliged to him and in pain of losing all they had in the Kingdom they for his their own They are commanded by the King to stay to keep out Strangers and the Defence of the Kingdom against Strangers should stay there and not depart until they received his License And commanded the Sheriffs to provide Money from the County for such as were not able to bear their own Charges unto eight days after the Nativity of our Virgin Mary that is September the eight or longer if need should be And also commanded the Sheriffs to seize all the Lands Tenements Goods and Chattels of such as were summoned and appeared not