Chapter VIII: The Second Charter of the Empress (2)

The earl made it a point of honour to recapture Wareham as his first step. He also hoped to create a diversion which might draw off the king from Oxford.[613] This was not bad strategy, for Stephen was deemed to be stronger behind the walls of Oxford than he would be in the open country. The position of affairs resembled, in fact, that at Winchester, the year before. But the two sides had changed places. As the Empress, in Winchester, had besieged Wolvesey, so now, in Oxford, Stephen did the same. It would, therefore, have been necessary to besiege him in turn as the Empress was besieged the year before. Well aware of the advantage he enjoyed, Stephen refused to be decoyed away, and allowed the castle of Wareham to fall into Robert's hands. The other posts in the neighbourhood were also secured by the earl, who then advanced to Cirencester, where he had summoned his friends to meet him. Thus strengthened, he was already marching to the relief of Oxford, when he received the news of his sister's perilous escape and flight. A close siege of three months had brought her to the extremity of want, and Stephen was pressing the attack with all the artillery of the time. A few days before Christmas, in a long and hard frost, when the snow was thick upon the ground, she was let down by ropes from the grim Norman tower, which commanded the approach to the castle on the side of the river. Clad in white from head to foot, and escorted by only three knights, she succeeded under cover of the darkness of night, and by the connivance of one of the besiegers' sentries, in passing through their lines undetected and crossing the frozen river. After journeying on foot for six miles, she reached the spot where horses were in waiting, and rode for Wallingford Castle, her still unconquered stronghold.[614]

On receiving the news of this event Robert changed his course, and proceeded to join his sister. In her joy at the return of her brother and the safe arrival of her son, the Empress forgot all her troubles. She was also in safety now, herself, behind the walls of Wallingford, the support of that town and its fidelity to her cause being gratefully acknowledged by her son on his eventual accession to the throne.[615]

But her husband had declined to come to her help; her city of Oxford was lost; her _prestige_ had suffered a final blow; the great combination scheme was at an end.

[504] He states that the Earl of Gloucester, on his release, "circa germanam sedulo apud Oxeneford mansitabat; quo loco, ut præfatus sum, illa sedem sibi constituens, curiam fecerat" (p. 754).

[505] He set sail "aliquanto post festum sancti Johannis" (_Will. Malms._, p. 765).

[506] See the dazzling description of his power given by the author of the _Gesta_, who speaks of him as one "qui omnes regni primates et divitiarum potentiâ et dignitatis excedebat opulentiâ; turrim quoque Londoniarum in manu, sed et castella inexpugnabilis fortitudinis circa civitatem constructa habebat, omnemque regni partem, quæ se regi subdiderat, ut ubique per regnum regis vices adimplens, et, in rebus agendis, rege avidius exaudiretur, et in præceptis injungendis, plus ei quam regi obtemperaretur" (p. 101). William of Newburgh, in the same spirit, speaks of him as "regi terribilis" (i. 44).

[507] See p. 160.

[508] "In totâ propemodum Angliâ sicut mortuus conclamaretur" (_ibid._).

[509] William of Malmesbury (_ut supra_) is the authority for 1142, and Henry of Huntingdon for 1136: "Ad Rogationes vero divulgatum est regem mortuum esse" (p. 259).

[510] "Jam ergo cœpit rabies prædicta Normannorum, perjurio et proditione pullulare" (_ibid._).

[511] It would seem to have been entered immediately after that charter to Miles of Gloucester which I have printed on p. 11, and which precedes it in the transcripts.

[512] _Lansdowne MS._ 259, fol. 66.

[513] "Archiepiscopis, etc." (Dug.).

[514] "suus" omitted (Dug.).

[515] "ejus" (Dug.).

[516] "tenuerunt" (Dug., Dods.).

[517] "subjectum" (Dods.).

[518] "Lundoniæ et Middlesexiæ" (Dug.).

[519] "Et ... tenuit" (Essex shrievalty) omitted by Dugdale (and, consequently, in his _Baronage_ also).

[520] Dodsworth transcript closes here.

[521] "illi" omitted by Dugdale.

[522] "quæ fuit" omitted by Dugdale.

[523] "per servicium militare" (wrongly, Dug.).

[524] "et" omitted by Dugdale.

[525] "centum libratas" (Dug.).

[526] Chreshall, _alias_ Christhall, Essex. Part of the honour of Boulogne. Was held by Count Eustace, at the Survey, in demesne. Stephen granted it to his own son William, who gave it to Richard de Luci.

[527] Bendish Hall, in Radwinter, Essex. Part of the honour of Boulogne. It was given by Stephen's son William to Faversham Abbey, Kent.

[528] This word is illegible. It baffled the transcriber in _Lansd. MS._ 259. Dugdale has "wiam." The right reading is "luiam," the river Lea being meant, as is proved by the Pipe-Roll of 14 Hen. II.

[529] William fitz Otwel, Earl Geoffrey's "brother," is referred to by Earl William (Geoffrey's son) as his uncle ("avunculus") in a charter confirming his grant of lands (thirty-three acres) in "Abi et Toresbi" to Greenfield Nunnery, Lincolnshire (_Harl. Cart._, 53, C, 50). He is also a witness, as "patruus meus," to a charter of Earl Geoffrey the younger (_Sloane Cart._, xxxii. 64), early in the reign of Henry II. He was clearly a "uterine" brother of Earl Geoffrey the elder, so that his father must have married William de Mandeville's widow—a fact unknown to genealogists.

[530] William de Sai had married Beatrice, sister (and, in her issue, heiress) of the earl, by whom he was ancestor of the second line of Mandeville, Earl of Essex. In the following year he joined the earl in his furious revolt against the king.

[531] This was William "Capra" (_Chévre_), whose family gave its name to the manor of "Chevers" in Mountnessing, county Essex. He was probably another brother-in-law of the earl, for I have seen a charter of Alice (_Adelid[is]_) Capra, in which she speaks of Geoffrey's son, Earl William, as her nephew ("nepos"). There is also a charter of a Geoffrey Capra and Mazelina (_sic_) his wife, which suggests that the name of Geoffrey may have come to the family from the earl. Thoby Priory, Essex, was founded (1141-1151) by Michael Capra, Roesia his wife, and William, their son. The founder speaks of Roger fitz Richard ("ex cujus munificentiâ mihi idem fundus pervenit"), who was the second husband (as I have elsewhere explained) of "Alice of Essex," _née_ de Vere, the sister of Earl Geoffrey's wife. A Michael Capra and a William Capra, holding respectively four and four and a half knights' fees, were feudal tenants of Walter fitz Robert (the lord of Dunmow) in 1166.

[532] William, son of Walter (Fitz Other) de Windsor, castellan of Windsor. In the Pipe-Roll of 31 Hen. I., he appears as in charge of Windsor Forest, for which he renders his account. It is probably to this charter rather than to any separate grant that Dugdale refers in his account of the family.

[533] This is an unusual name. As William de Say is mentioned just before, it may be noted that his son (Earl Geoffrey's nephew) promised (in 1150-1160) to grant to Ramsey Abbey "marcatam redditus ex quo adipisci poterit quadraginta marcatas de hereditate sua, scilicet de terra Roberti _de Rumele_" (_Chron. Ram._, p. 305). Mathew de Romeli, according to Dugdale, was the son of Robert de Romeli, lord of Skipton, by Cecily his wife. A Mathew de Romeli, with Alan his son, occur in a plea of 1236-7 (_Bracton's Note-Book_, ed. Maitland, iii. 189).

[534] Geoffrey de Tourville appears in 1130 as holding land in four counties (_Rot. Pip._, 31 Hen. I.).

[535] William de Ou (Auco) or Eu is returned in the _carta_ of the Earl of Essex (1166) as holding four fees of him.

[536] See Appendix Q, on "Osbertus Octodenarii."

[537] Dodsworth's transcript begins again here, and is continued down to "Belloc[ampo]."

[538] "Comes Herefordiæ" (Dug.).

[539] So also Dodsworth; but Dugdale wrongly extends: "Robertus filius Reginaldi." See p. 94, _n._ 4.

[540] Robert de Courci of Stoke (Courcy), Somerset. He figures in the Pipe-Roll of 31 Hen. I. As "Robert de Curci" he witnessed the Empress's charter creating the earldom of Hereford (July 25, 1141), and as "Robert de Curci Dapifer" her confirmation of the Earl of Devon's gift (_Mon. Aug._, v. 106; _Journ. B. A. A._, xxxi. 391), both of them passing at Oxford, the latter (probably) in 1142, subsequent to the above charter. He was slain at Counsylth, 1157.

[541] John Fitz Gilbert, marshal to the Empress, and brother, as the succeeding charter proves, to William, her chancellor. With his father, Gilbert the Marshal (_Mariscallus_), he was unsuccessfully impleaded, under Henry I., by Robert de Venoiz and William de Hastings, for the office of marshal (_Rot. Cart._, 1 John), and in 1130, as John the Marshal (_Mariscallus_), he appears as charged, with his relief, in Wiltshire, for his father's lands and office (_Rot. Pip._, 31 Hen. I.). He is mentioned among the "barons" on the side of the Empress at the siege of Winchester (_Gesta Stephani_), and he was, with Robert de Curcy, witness to her (Oxford) charter, which I assign in the last note to later in this year, as he also had been to her charter creating the earldom of Hereford (July 25, 1141). Subsequently, he witnessed the charter to the son of the Earl of Essex (_vide post_). He played some part in the next reign from his official connection with the Becket quarrel. See also p. 131.

[542] Miles de Beauchamp, son of Robert de Beauchamp, and nephew to Simon de Beauchamp, hereditary castellan of Bedford. In 1130 he appears in connection with Beds. and Bucks. (_Rot. Pip._, 31 Hen. I.). With his brother (_Salop Cartulary_) Payn de Beauchamp (who afterwards married Rohaise, the widow of this Geoffrey de Mandeville), he had held Bedford Castle against the king for five weeks from Christmas, 1137, as heir-male to his uncle, whose daughter and heir, with the Bedford barony, Stephen had conferred on Hugh _Pauper_, brother of his favourite, the Count of Meulan (_Ord. Vit._; _Gesta Steph._). Dugdale's account is singularly inaccurate. Simon, the uncle, must have been living in the spring of 1136, for he then witnessed, as a royal _dapifer_, Stephen's great (Oxford) charter.

[543] See p. 94, _n._ 2.

[544] Robert de Oilli the second, castellan of Oxford, and constable. Founder of Osney Priory. He appears in the Pipe-Roll of 31 Hen. I., and had witnessed, as a royal _constabularius_, Stephen's great (Oxford) charter of 1136, but had embraced the cause of the Empress in 1141 (see p. 66). He witnessed five others of the Empress's charters, all of which passed at Oxford (_Journ. B. A. A._, xxxi. 391, 392, 396, 397).

[545] See p. 95, note 1.

[546] Dodsworth's transcript recommences and is continued to the end.

[547] "Ibidem" (Dods., wrongly).

[548] "Ijdem" (Dods., wrongly).

[549] "Meduana" (Dug., rightly).

"Johelus de Meduanâ" (Juhel of Mayenne) figures in the Pipe-Roll of 31 Hen. I. as holding land in Devonshire. At the commencement of Stephen's reign, Geoffrey of Anjou had entrusted him with three of the castles he had captured in Normandy, on condition of receiving his support (_R. of Torigni_).

[550] Guy de Sablé had accompanied the Empress to England in the autumn of 1139 (_Ord. Vit._, v. 121).

[551] Clairvaux was a castle in Anjou. Payn de Clairvaux (_de Claris vallibus_) had, in 1130, and for some time previously, been fermor of Hastings, in Sussex (_Rot. Pip._, 31 Hen. I. p. 42). Later on, in Stephen's reign, he appears at Caen, witnessing a charter of Geoffrey, Duke of Normandy (Bayeux _Liber Niger_).

[552] "Alvia" (Dug.).

[553] Or "Rumard." Dugdale has "Rumard."

[554] "Valoniis" (Dug.).

Peter de Valoines. The occurrence of this great Hertfordshire baron is of special interest, because we have seen the Empress granting a charter to his father, Roger, in 1141. It is probable, therefore, that Roger had died in the interval. Peter himself died before 1166, when his younger brother, Robert, had succeeded him. His widow, Gundred (de Warrenne), was then living.

[555] "Comiti ... meis." Dodsworth has only "Com etc."

[556] "cum sigillo" (Dods.).

[557] The clause certainly favours the belief that a relationship existed, but it was probably collateral, instead of lineal.

[558] "Possessiones omnes ad ecclesiam pertinentes, castellum quoque de Storteford in sua dominatione recepit" (_Rad. de Diceto_, i. 250).

[559] This negotiation between the Empress and Geoffrey should be compared with that between her and the legate in the spring of the preceding year. Each illustrates the other. In the latter case the expression used is, "Juravit et _affidavit_ imperatrix episcopo quod," etc. In the former, the empress is made to say, "Hanc autem convencionem et donacionem tenendam _affidavi_," etc. But the striking point of resemblance is that in each case her leading followers are made to take part in the pledge of performance. At Winchester, we read in William of Malmesbury, "Idem juraverunt cum ea, et affidaverunt pro eâ, Robertus frater ejus comes de Gloecestrâ, et Brianus filius comitis marchio de Walingeford, et Milo de Gloecestriâ, postea comes de Hereford, et nonnulli alii" (see p. 58). At Oxford, we read in these charters, "Et hujus fiduciæ sunt obsides per fidem et Testes, Robertus comes Gloecestrie, et Milo comes Herefordie, et Brianus filius comitis et," etc. So close a parallel further confirms the genuineness of these charters.

Another remarkable document illustrative of this negotiation is the alliance ("Confederatio amoris") between the Earls of Hereford and Gloucester (see Appendix S). Each earl there "affidavit et juravit" to the other, and each named certain of his followers as his "obsides per fidem"—the very phrase here used. See also p. 385, _n._ 3.

[560] That these securities were modelled on the practice of contracting sovereign powers is seen on comparing them with the treaty between Henry I. and the Count of Flanders (see Appendix S). But most to the point is the treaty between King Stephen and Duke Henry, where the clause for securing the "conventiones" runs:—"Archiepiscopi vero et episcopi ab utraque parte in manu ceperunt quod si quis nostrum a predictis conventionibus recederet, tam diu eum ecclesiastica justicia coercebunt, quousque errata corrigat et ad predictam pactionem observandam redeat. Mater etiam Ducis et ejus uxor et fratres ipsius Ducis et omnes sui quos ad hoc applicare poterit, hæc assecurabunt."

[561] We may perhaps compare the oath taken by the French king some years before, to secure the charter ("Keure") granted to St. Omer by William, Count of Flanders (April 14, 1127):—"Hanc igitur Communionem tenendam, has supradictas consuetudines et conventiones esse observandas fide promiserunt et sacramento confirmaverunt Ludovicus rex Francorum, Guillelmus Comes Flandriæ," etc., etc.

[562] See Appendix T, on "Affidatio in manu."

[563] See Appendix U: "The Families of Mandeville and De Vere."

[564] _Add. MSS._, 31,943, fols. 86 _b_, 99, 116 _b_.

[565] It is headed "Pro Comite Oxoniæ Carta Matildæ Imperatricis confirmata," and it confirms the grants made by her "prout per cartam illam (_i.e._ Matildæ) plenius liquet."

[566] See Appendix V, on "William of Arques."

[567] _i.e._ escambio.

[568] Of Helions in Bumsted Helion, Essex, the other portion of the parish, viz. Bumsted Hall, being, at and from the Survey, a portion of the De Vere fief. These his ten fees duly figure in the _Liber Niger_.

[569] Dedham, Essex.

[570] They were named, I presume, from the castle of Rames, adjoining the forest of Lillebonne.

[571] This would seem to imply that Roger de Ramis had married a sister of Aubrey de Vere. See Appendix X: "Roger de Ramis."

[572] Grey's Thurrock, in South Essex, being that portion of it which had been held by William Peverel at the Survey.

[573] Query, the "Salamon clericus de Sudwic" (Northants) of the Pipe-Roll of 31 Hen. I. (p. 85)?

[574] This was not Tilbury on the Thames, but Tilbury (Essex) near Clare, as is proved by _Liber Niger_ (p. 393), where this land of Salamon proves to be part of the honour of Boulogne, held as a fifth of a knight's fee.

[575] See Appendix R: "The Forest of Essex."

[576] Geoffrey Talbot appears in the Pipe-Roll of 31 Henry I. as paying two hundred marks of silver for his father's land in Kent (p. 67). As "Agnes Vxor Gaufredi Talebot" is charged, at the same time, "pro dote et maritagio suo" (_ibid._), it would seem that our Geoffrey had a father of the same name. We learn from the _Liber Niger_ (i. 58) that at the death of Henry I. (1135) he held twenty knights' fees in Kent.

[577] "Rogeri" in MS.

[578] Or "Rumard."

[579] _Rectius_ Petr[us].

[580] "Ex libro quodam pervetusto in pergamena manuscripto in custodia Henrici Vere nunc Comitis Oxoniæ, et mihi per Capitan: Skipwith, mutuato 21 April, 1622."

[581] See Appendix Y.

[582] As "turrim de Colcestr' et castellum" for "turrim et castellum de Colcestr'." The only difference of any importance is that Dugdale reads "Albenejo" in this charter, where he has "Albrincis" in that of the Empress.

[583] I may perhaps be permitted to refer to my own discovery, in a stable loft, of a document bearing the seal of the King-maker, and bearing his rare autograph, which antiquaries had lost sight of since the days of Camden.

[584] Mr. Eyton must have strangely overlooked this charter, for he begins his series of Henry's charters in 1149.

[585] "Inga" in Dugdale's transcript, and rightly so, for we find this same Hugh, as "Hugo de Ging'," a witness to a charter on behalf of Earl Aubrey, about this time (_infra_, p. 190). There were several places in Essex named "Ging" _alias_ "Ing."

[586] Compare the famous Lewes charter of William de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, said (if genuine) to be the earliest allusion to a peerage creation. There the earl speaks of William Rufus, "qui me Surreæ comitem _fecit_."

[587] _Abingdon Cartulary_, ii. 179.

[588] It should, however, be observed that in this same charter she refers to Earl Gilbert (of Pembroke) and Earl Hugh (of Norfolk) by their comital style, though, so far as we know, they were earls of Stephen's creation alone. But such a reference as this is very different from the style formally given in a charter of creation.

[589] _Archæologia_, vol. xxxi.

[590] "Its date is subsequent to the 25th of July, 1141, when the Empress created Milo de Gloucester Earl of Hereford at Oxford, who has this title in the charter, and, from its having been given at Oxford, there can be little doubt that it was contemporaneous with that creation, and certainly prior to the siege of Winchester in the month of August following" (_ibid._, pp. 231, 232).

[591] Of these witnesses "ex parte comitis," Geoffrey de Ver held half a knight's fee of him, Robert fitz Humfrey held one, Robert fitz "Ailric" one, Ralph fitz Adam a quarter, Ralph de Guisnes one, Geoffrey Arsic two, Robert de Cocefeld three, Ralph Carbonel one and a half. Hugh de Ging' was the "Hugo de Inga" who acted as proxy (_vide supra_) at Henry's confirmation of his mother's charter. This charter has an independent value for its bearing on knights' fees. See also Addenda.

[592] At the same time, we must remember that he held a considerable fief in Cambridgeshire (see Domesday), which, if he could not have Essex, might lead him to select that county.

[593] _Norm. Conq._, ii. 559.

[594] _Ibid._

[595] _Norm. Conq._, ii. 559.

[596] Where they form one shrievalty with one _firma_, though the county of Surrey as well is inexplicably combined with them.

[597] And the "tertius denarius" of Cambridgeshire was actually held by its earl (1205).

[598] Stubbs, _Const. Hist._, i. 362, _note_.

[599] _Official Baronage_, i. 291.

[600] _Mon. Ang._, v. 440; _Journ. B. A. A._, xxxi. 392. This conclusion reveals a further error in the _Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal_, which gives a very incomprehensible account of this Patrick's action.

[601] See Appendix U.

[602] "Regnum, ut in ore jam vulgi celebre fuerat, comitissæ Andegavensi conferre disposuerat" (_Gesta Stephani_, p. 101). This very remarkable incidental allusion should be compared with that in which Henry of Huntingdon justifies the earl's arrest by Stephen: "Nisi enim hoc egisset, perfidio consulis illius regno privatus fuisset" (p. 276).

[603] "Duravit improspera valetudo usque post Pentecostem (June 7); tum enim sensim refusus salutis vigor eum in pedes erexit" (_Will. Malms._, p. 763).

[604] "Rex ... comitis absentiam aucupatus, subito ad Waram veniens, et non bene munitum propugnatoribus offendens, succensa et depredata villa, statim etiam castello potitus est" (_ibid._, p. 766).

[605] "Obsides poposcit sigillatim ab his qui optimates videbantur, secum in Normannia ducendos, vadesque futuros tam comiti Andegavensi quam imperatrici quod omnes, junctis umbonibus ab ea, dum ipse abesset, injurias propulsarent, viribus suis apud Oxeneford manentes" (_Will. Malms._, p. 764). The phrase "junctis umbonibus" revives memories of the shield-wall. See also Appendix S.

[606] "Civitatem ... ita comes Gloecestrie fossatis munierat, ut inexpugnabilis præter per incendium videretur" (_ibid._, p. 766).

[607] _Gesta_, pp. 87, 88.

[608] _Gesta_, p. 88.

[609] "Tribus diebus ante festum Sancti Michaelis" (_Will. Malms._, p. 766).

[610] See the brilliant description of this action in the _Gesta Stephani_, pp. 88, 89.

[611] "Mox igitur optimates quidem omnes imperatricis, confusi quia a domina sua præter statutum abfuerant, confertis cuneis ad Walengeford convenerunt," etc. (_Will. Malms._, p. 766).

[612] Dr. Stubbs has erroneously placed his landing in 1141 instead of in the autumn of 1142. See Appendix Y, on "The First and Second Visits of Henry II. to England."

[613] _Will. Malms._, pp. 767, 768.

[614] See, for the story of her romantic escape, the _Gesta Stephani_ (pp. 89, 90), _William of Malmesbury_ (pp. 768, 769), _John of Hexham_ (_Sym. Dun._, ii. 317), _William of Newburgh_ (i. 43), and the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ (p. 384). This last is of special value for its mention of her escape from the tower of the castle. It states that Stephen "besæt hire in the tur," and that she was on the night of her escape let down by ropes from the tower ("me læt hire dun on niht of the tur mid rapes"). It is difficult to see how this can mean anything else than that she was lowered to the ground from the existing tower, instead of leaving by a gate.

[615] See his charter to Wallingford (printed in Hearne's _Liber Niger_ (1771), pp. 817, 818), in which he grants privileges "pro servitio et labore magno quem pro me sustinuerunt in acquisitione hereditarii juris mei in Anglia."