Chapter II: Part 2

When the famous conqueror of England, king William, a kinsman by blood of the same prelate, had subdued the further limits of the island to his sovereignty and cowed the hearts of rebels by terrible examples, he decreed that the subject race should submit to a written law and a written code, to prevent thereafter the existence of an easy means of error. The English laws, therefore, were laid before him, according to their threefold diversity, to wit, Mercian law, Dane law, and West Saxon law; some laws he denounced, others he approved, and added thereto the foreign laws of Neustria which he thought most effectual for the keeping of the peace of the realm. Finally, that nothing might be thought lacking, he brought the whole of his far-seeing measures to completion by despatching from his side his wisest men in circuit throughout the realm. The latter made a careful survey of the whole land, in woods and pastures and meadows, and arable lands also, which was reduced to a common phraseology and compiled into a book, that every man might be content with his own right and not encroach with impunity on that of another. The survey is made by counties, by hundreds and hides,[5] the king’s name being set down at the head, and thereafter the names of the other lords appearing in turn according to the dignity of their rank, those, namely, who hold of the king in chief. Each name thus in the list is numbered in order, so that the section concerning them can easily be found in its place below in the book. This book is called “Domesday” by the natives, that is “the day of judgment” by a metaphor; for just as the award of that last stern and terrible trial cannot be evaded by any subtlety of pleading, so when a dispute has arisen in the realm touching the things there noted, once the book is referred to, its award cannot be derided or with impunity defied. Therefore we have named it the book of dooms, not because it makes awards on any matter in dispute, but because, like the last judgment, it allows no sort of evasion.

THE DOMESDAY COMMISSION (1085).

=Source.=--_The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, ed. Thorpe, vol. i., p. 352. (Rolls Series.)

Then at Midwinter was the king at Gloucester with his witan and there held his court five days, and thereafter the archbishop and clergy had a synod three days.... After this the king had a great council and very deep speech with his witan touching this land, how it was peopled or with how many men. Then he sent his men over all England into every shire, and caused to be learned how many hundred hides were in the shire, or what land the king himself had and what cattle on that land, or what manner of dues he ought to have for twelve months from the shire. Also he caused to be written how much land his archbishops had, and his bishops and his abbots and his earls, and, though I take long to tell it, what or how much each man had, who was a land-holder in England, in land or in cattle, and how much money it was worth. So very straitly he caused it to be traced out that not a single hide nor a yard of land, nor even--it is a shame to tell, though he thought it no shame to do--an ox, nor a cow, nor a swine was left that was not set down in his writing. And all the writings were brought to him thereafter.

THE FORM OF THE DOMESDAY INQUEST (1085).

=Source.=--_Inquisitio Eliensis_ (Domesday Book, vol. iii.).

Here below is written the inquest upon the lands, in what manner the King’s barons make enquiry, to wit, by the oath of the sheriff of the shire, and of all the barons and their Frenchmen, and of the whole hundred, of the priest, the reeve, and six villeins of each town. Then how the manor is named; who held it in the time of King Edward; who holds it now; how many hides; how many ploughs on the demesne, and how many men; how many villeins; how many cotters; how many serfs; how many freemen; how many socmen;[6] how much wood; how much meadow; how many pastures; how many mills; how many fishponds; how much has been added or taken away; how much it was worth altogether; and how much now; how much each freeman or socman there had or has. All this for three periods; to wit, in the time of King Edward; and when King William granted it; and as it is now; and if more can be had therefrom than is had.

THE DOMESDAY DESCRIPTION OF SHREWSBURY.

=Source.=--_Domesday Book_, vol. i., p. 252.

In the city of Shrewsbury in the time of King Edward there were 252 houses, and as many burgesses in the same houses, rendering yearly 7_l._ 16_s._ 8_d._ of rent. King Edward had there the customs below written.

If any man wittingly broke the peace of the King given with his own hand, he was made an outlaw. And he who broke the peace of the King given by the sheriff made amends in 100_s._ and gave as much as he who committed “Forestel”[7] or “Heinfare.”[8] These three forfeitures King Edward had in demesne in the whole of England beyond the farms.

When the King lay in this city, twelve men of the city of the better sort served him, keeping watch over him. And when he went hunting there, burgesses of the better sort, having horses, guarded him with arms in like manner. And for beating the woods the sheriff sent thirty-six footmen, so long as the King were there. And for the park of Marsetelie he found thirty-six men by custom for eight days.

When the sheriff wished to go into Wales, he who went not after being summoned by him gave 40_s._ of forfeiture.

A woman in any wise taking a husband gave to the King 20_s._ if she was a widow, 10_s._ if she was a maid, in what wise soever she should take a man.

Any burgess soever whose house should be burned by any chance or hap or by negligence, gave to the King 40_s._ for forfeiture, and to his two nearer neighbours 2_s._ to each.

When a burgess who was on the King’s demesne died, the King had 10_s._ by way of relief.

If any burgess broke the term which the sheriff imposed upon him, he made amends in 10_s._ He who shed blood made amends in 40_s._

When the King went from the city, the sheriff sent to him twenty-four horses as far as Leintwardine, and the King brought them as far as the first manor-house of Staffordshire.

The King had there three moneyers, who, after they had bought their money-dies, on the fifteenth day gave each to the King 20_s._ like other moneyers of the country. And this was done at the change of coinage.

In all, this city rendered 30_l._ a year. The King had two parts, and the sheriff a third.

In the year preceding this survey it rendered 40_l._ to Earl Roger.

* * * * *

This city gelded for a hundred hides in the time of King Edward.

Of these, St. Almund had 2 hides, St. Juliana half a hide, St. Milburga 1 hide, St. Chad a hide and a half, St. Mary 1 virgate, the bishop of Chester 1 hide, Ediet (queen Edith) 3 hides, which Ralph de Mortemer has.

* * * * *

The English burgesses of Shrewsbury say that it is a great burden to them that they render the whole geld as it was rendered in the time of King Edward, although the earl’s castle has occupied 51 dwellings, and 50 other dwellings are waste, and 43 French burgesses hold dwellings which gelded in the time of King Edward, and the Earl has himself given to the abbey which he is building there 39 burgesses, who in like manner formerly gelded with the others. In all there are 200 dwellings less seven, which pay no geld.

THE SALISBURY OATH OF FEALTY (1086).

=Source.=--_The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, ed. Thorpe, vol. i., p. 353. (Rolls Series.)

In this year the king bare his crown and held his court at Winchester at Easter; and so he fared that he was at Westminster on Whitsunday and there dubbed his son Henry a knight. Thereafter he fared so that he came at Lammas to Salisbury, and there his witan came to him, and all the landholders who were of account all over England, what man’s men soever they were; and they all bowed down to him and became his men, and swore to him oaths of fealty, that they would be faithful to him against all other men.

HOMAGE AND FEALTY.

=Source.=--Bracton, _De Legibus Anglie_, ed. Twiss, vol. i., p. 632. (Rolls Series.)

Be it known that he who should do his homage, in view of the reverence which he owes his lord, should wait upon his lord wherever he may be found in the realm or elsewhere, if he can be conveniently waited upon; and the lord is not bound to seek out his tenant. And he should do homage to him in this wise: the tenant should first put both his hands between both hands of his lord, which signifies on the part of the lord protection, defence and warranty, and on the part of the tenant reverence and subjection, and he should say these words: “I become your man for the tenement which I hold of you and ought to hold, and I will bear faith to you of life and limb and earthly honour, and I will bear faith to you against all men, saving the faith due to the lord the King and his heirs.” And straightway afterwards he shall make the oath of fealty to his lord in this wise: “This you hear, my lord N., that I will bear faith to you of life and limb, body and chattels and earthly honour, so help me God and these holy relics.” And some add in the oath, and well so, that faithfully and without diminution, contradiction or hindrance or unjust delay, the tenant will do his service to his lord and his heirs at the stated terms.

And homage ought not to be done in private, but in a public and common place before many persons in the county, hundred or court, so that if by chance the tenant through malice should wish to deny the homage, the lord could the more easily have proof of homage done and service acknowledged.

THE ENDOWMENT OF BATTLE ABBEY (1087).

=Source.=--Rymer, _Fœdera_, ed. Record Commission, vol. i.

In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity. I, William, by the grace of God king of the English, make known to all archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons and all my trusty men, French and English, present and to come, that when I came to England and landed with an army within the bounds of Hastings against my enemies who were striving unjustly to deprive me of the kingdom of England, upon the edge of battle, when I was already armed, I made a vow before my barons and knights, with the approval of them all and to strengthen their hearts, that I would build a church to the honour of God for the common salvation, if by God’s grace I should avail to gain the victory. And since we obtained the victory, I have fulfilled my vow and in honour of the Holy Trinity and St. Martin the Confessor of Christ I have built a church for the salvation of my soul and the souls of my predecessor, king Edward, and my wife, queen Matilda, and my successors in the kingdom, and for the salvation of all by whose labour and aid I obtained the kingdom, and specially of those who fell in the battle itself. And because God gave me victory in battle in this place where the church has been so built, in memory of the victory I have determined that the place itself shall be called Battle.

Therefore to this church of St. Martin, Battle, first of all by royal authority I grant the dignity that it have its court in all matters, and the royal liberty and custom of treating of its own business and affairs, and justice to be holden by itself, and that it be free and quit for ever from all subjection to bishops and all domination of any persons, as is the church of Christ at Canterbury. And if any robber or homicide or any criminal, fleeing for fear of death, shall come to this church, he shall suffer no manner of hurt, but shall be sent away wholly free. And the abbot of the church may everywhere set free from hanging a robber or thief, if he come upon such. I grant also to the same church the lowey[9] adjacent on every side free and quit of all geld and scot, hidage and danegelds, and bridge-works and castle-works and park-works, and enclosures, and armies, and all aids, and pleas and plaints and shires and hundreds,[10] with sac and soc,[11] and tol[12] and theam,[13] and infangenetheof[14] and warpeni[15] and lastages[16] and hamsocne[17] and forestall[18] and blodwite[19] and cildwite[20] and larceny,[21] and free also of all custom of earthly service and of all exactions of bishops.

Further, I give to the church of St. Martin, Battle, the royal manor called Wye, with all its appurtenances from my crown demesne, with all liberties and royal customs, as free and quit as ever I have held it, or could grant it as king, to wit, from all geld and scot and hidages and danegelds and bridge-works and castle-works and enclosures of parks, and armies, and all aids and pleas and shires and hundreds, with sac and soc and tol and theam and infangenetheof and warpeni and lastages and hamsocne and forestall and blodwite and cildwite and larceny, if the same arise. Likewise I give 2_d._ from all forfeitures and pleas of all hundreds that pertain to the summons of Wye. In Denge marsh also, which is a member of Wye, I grant to the same church all maritime customs which I have had there, with all wreck. And if any fish called “craspeis” (whale) come there, it shall belong wholly to the abbot and monks, but if it come ashore between the bounds of Blachewase and Horsemede and Bradelle as far as Withiburne, the church shall have two parts of the fish and the tongue, as I have always had.

I give also to the same church these manors, Alciston, Limpsfield, Hoo, Crowmarsh and Brightwalton, with all their appurtenances, free and quit with the aforesaid liberties and royal customs. If murder-fine be due in the lowey or in the manors of the church, or if treasure be found, both shall belong to the abbot and monks. The church shall have its own warren in the lowey and in all its manors. I give also to the same church of St. Martin the church of Reading, and the church of Cullompton, and the church of St. Olave, Exeter, with the lands and tithes and all things pertaining thereto. And if any of my barons or men give anything of their own to the same church in almoin, I grant to them therein the same liberties which I have granted in my own gifts to the same church, and by this writing by royal authority, as aforesaid, I confirm the same.

Names of witnesses to the charter:

William the king, Lanfranc archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas
archbishop of York, Maurice bishop of London, Walchelin bishop of
Winchester, Osbern bishop of Exeter, Gundulf bishop of Rochester,
Hugh, earl of Chester, Roger, earl of Montgomery, William, earl
of Warwick, William son of Osbern, William of Brai, Bernard of
Neufmarché.

CHARACTER OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR AND OF HIS REIGN.

=Source.=--_The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, ed. Thorpe, vol. i., p. 353. (Rolls Series.)

After the birth-tide of our Lord Jesus Christ one thousand and seven and eighty winters, in the one and twentieth year that William ruled and governed England, as God permitted him, there befel a most heavy and most pestilent year in this land. Such a sickness came on men that wellnigh every other man was in the worst evil, that is with the fever, and that so sorely that many men died of the evil. Afterwards there came, through the great tempests which befel, as we told before, a very great famine over all England, so that many hundred men woefully met their death through that famine. Ah! how woeful and how rueful a time was then, when the wretched men lay driven full nigh to death, and thereafter came the sharp hunger and destroyed them withal. Whom can such times not touch? and who is so hard of heart that he cannot weep for such misfortune? But such things befal for a folk’s sins, because they will not love God and righteousness; so it was in those days that little righteousness was in this land with any man, but with the monks only, where they fared well. The king and the chief men loved much and overmuch the getting of gold and of silver, and cared not how sinfully it were gotten, if only it came to them. The king granted his land for as dear a rent as he could; then came some other and offered more than the other gave before, and the king let it to the man who offered him more; then came a third and offered yet more, and the king let it to the man who offered him most of all; and he cared not how sinfully the reeves got it from poor men, nor how many unlawful things they did, but the more men spake of right laws, the more unlawful things they did. They gathered unjust tolls, and many other unjust things they did, which are hard to number.

And in the same year before harvest the holy minster of St. Paul, the bishop’s see in London, was burned, and many other minsters, and the greatest and fairest part of all that borough. So also, at the same time, wellnigh every chief town in all England was burned. Ah! a rueful and sorrowful time was that year, which brought forth so many misfortunes. Also in the same year before the Assumption of St. Mary (15 August) king William went from Normandy into France with a host and made war upon his own lord, Philip the king, and slew a great part of his men, and burned the borough of Mantes and all the holy monasteries that were within the borough; and two holy men, who served God dwelling in a hermitage, were there burned. This so done, king William turned again to Normandy. A rueful thing he did, and a more rueful thing befel him. How more rueful? He fell sick and was sorely stricken. What can I say? Sharp death that passes by neither mighty men nor humble, took him. He died in Normandy on the day next after the Nativity of St. Mary (9 September), and he was buried at Caen in the monastery of St. Stephen, which he had formerly built and afterwards richly endowed. Ah! how false and how unstable is the wealth of this world. He who was before a mighty king and lord of many a land had then of all his land but a seven foot strip, and he who was once decked with gold and with gems lay then covered over with mould....

If any one will know what sort of a man he was, or what worship he had, or of how many lands he was lord, then will we write of him as we understood him, who looked upon him and at another time dwelt in his court. King William, of whom we speak, was a very wise man and very mighty, and worthier and stronger than were any of his predecessors. He was gentle to the good men who loved God, and beyond all measure severe to the men who withstood his will. On the same spot where God granted to him that he should conquer England, he built a noble monastery and set monks there and well endowed it. In his days was built the noble monastery at Canterbury, and also full many others over all England. Yea! this land was filled with monks, and they lived their life after the rule of St. Benedict, and Christianity was such in his day that every man that would followed what belonged to his degree. Also he was full worshipful; thrice he bare his crown each year as oft as he was in England; at Easter he bare it in Winchester, on Whitsunday at Westminster, at Midwinter in Gloucester. And then there were with him all the mighty men over all England, archbishops and bishops, abbots and earls, thegns and knights. So also was he a full stern and cruel man, so that none durst do anything against his will. He had earls in his bonds who had done against his will; bishops he put away from their bishoprics, and abbots from their abbeys, and thegns he put in prison, and at last he spared not his own brother Odo. He was a very great bishop in Normandy, at Bayeux was his bishop’s see, and he was the foremost man beside the king. He had an earldom in England, and when the king was in Normandy, then was he the mightiest in this land; and him he put in prison.

Among other things is not to be forgotten the good peace that he made in this land, so that a man who himself were aught might fare unhurt throughout his realm with his bosom full of gold. And no man durst slay another man, how much evil soever he had done to the other.... He reigned over England and by his wisdom so well surveyed it, that there was not a hide of land in England that he knew not who had it, or what it was worth, and afterwards set it in his book. Wales was in his lordship, and he wrought castles therein and ruled over that race of men withal. So also he subdued Scotland to him by his great strength. The land of Normandy was his by heritage, and he ruled over the county called Maine, and if he might have lived yet two years more, he would have won Ireland by his valour, and without any weapons.

Truly in his time men had much hardship and full many troubles. He caused castles to be built and poor men to be sore oppressed. The king was so very stern and took from his subjects many a mark of gold and more hundred pounds of silver, which he took by weight and with much unright from his people for little need. He was fallen upon covetousness and greed he loved withal. He planted a great deer forest and laid down laws for the same that whosoever slew hart or hind should be blinded. He forbade that the harts and also the boars be slain; so much he loved the high deer, as he had been their father. Also he ordained for the hares, that they should go free. His mighty men grieved and the poor men murmured thereat, but he was so hard that he cared not for the hatred of them all, and they must follow the king’s will withal, if they would live or hold land or chattels, or even have his peace. Ah! that any man should be so haughty and lift himself up and count himself above all men. May God Almighty shew his soul lovingkindness and forgive him his sins. These things we have written of him, both the good and the evil, that good men may follow after the good and altogether eschew the evil, and go in the way that leads us to the kingdom of heaven.

FORESTS AND THE ROYAL LOVE OF HUNTING.

=Source.=--Richard, son of Nigel, _Dialogus de Scaccario_, ed. Hughes, Crump, and Johnson, p. 105.

_Master._ Forest procedure and the penalties or pardons of transgressors in forests, whether pecuniary or corporal, are kept apart from the other judgments of the realm and reserved for the decision of the king alone or of one of his intimate ministers specially deputed hereto. It subsists by its own laws, which are said to rest not upon the common law of the realm but on the personal will of the kings, so that anything that is done by forest-law is said to be not just absolutely, but just according to forest-law. The forests, moreover, are the kings’ sanctuaries and their highest delight, for to them they come to hunt when they lay aside the cares of state for a while, that they may be refreshed by a brief rest. There they put off at once their burdens and the inevitable turmoil of the court, and breathe for a space the blessed air of natural freedom; wherefore it follows that transgressors therein are subject only to the royal displeasure....

_Disciple._ ... Tell me at once what is a forest?...

_M._ The king’s forest is the safe abode of wild beasts, not of any species, but of woodland beasts, not in any kind of place, but in fixed and suitable places....

_D._ Is there a king’s forest in every county?

_M._ No, only in the wooded ones, which furnish the beasts with coverts and the richest feeding grounds; and it matters not who is the possessor of the woods, the king himself or the chief men of the realm, everywhere the beasts can range freely and unharmed.

THE TRAINING AND TEMPERAMENT OF WILLIAM RUFUS.

=Source.=--William of Malmesbury, _De gestis regum Anglorum_, ed. Stubbs, vol. ii., pp. 359, 366, 368. (Rolls Series.)

William the son of William was born in Normandy many years before his father came to England. He was brought up by his parents with great care, and, since he was endowed by nature with a mind fertile in great schemes, he climbed to the utmost summit of honour. He would have been without doubt a prince incomparable in our time, had not his father’s greatness eclipsed him, and had not destiny cut him off ere his prime, before riper years might correct faults which sprang from the licence of power and the rashness of youth. After his childhood, his early years were spent in military pursuits, in riding, in throwing the spear, in contending with his elders in service, and with those of his own age in duty. He counted it a reproach to his courage if another took arms before him in warfare, or if he were not the first to challenge the enemy, or, if challenged, to overthrow him. Loyal to his father in all things, he fought before his eyes in battle and stayed at his side in time of peace. With a gradually widening ambition, he was now eager to succeed to the throne, especially after the renunciation of his elder brother, though he was not without suspicion of his untried younger brother. So when his father, lying in his last illness, adopted him as his successor, he went in haste to take possession of the realm, before the king had breathed his last; and soon after was gladly received by the people and secured the keys of the treasury, by means whereof he subjected the whole of England to his will. Archbishop Lanfranc, the greatest power of the state, declared in favour of him, because he had educated him and made him a knight....

He was endowed with a high generosity of soul, which in the course of time was obscured by an excessive harshness, and vices crept into his heart in place of virtues so insensibly as to escape observation. For a long time men were in doubt whither his nature would carry and incline him. At first, during the life of archbishop Lanfranc, he shrank from any kind of crime, so that men hoped he would prove an unexampled mirror of royalty; and after Lanfranc’s death, he wavered for a time, poised between good and evil courses; but at length, in his last years, desire for good froze in him, and a crop of ills grew and ripened; his generosity became prodigality, his large-heartedness became pride, his severity became brutality.... Abroad and at gatherings of men he stood high and proud of aspect, fixing a threatening eye on bystanders, and repelling those who spoke with him with an assumed severity and fierce tones; as may be guessed, a fear of inadequate supplies and of others’ treachery made him unduly rapacious and stern. In private and at table with friends he was altogether easy and genial and full of jest. He was the wittiest of commentators on his own misdeeds, and strove to rid himself of the odium by an epigram....

He had no conception of making a bargain or valuing wares, and a trader could unload his goods on him at any price, and a soldier demand any pay. He wished the price of his clothes to be extravagant, and was disdainful of cheapness. One morning, when he was putting on new boots, he asked the chamberlain how much they had cost, and when he replied “Three shillings,” he shouted indignantly and angrily, “Bastard! how long has the king worn boots at that mean price? go and fetch me a pair worth a mark of silver.” He went, and bringing a much cheaper pair falsely said that they had cost as much as the king had commanded. “Ah!” said the king, “those are fit for the royal majesty.” So the chamberlain used afterwards to charge him what he pleased for his clothes, and bought many a thing for his own benefit.

THE REBELLION OF BISHOP ODO (1088).

=Source.=--William of Malmesbury, _De gestis regum Anglorum_, ed. Stubbs, vol. ii., p. 360. (Rolls Series.)

At the beginning of Spring the first struggle was against Odo, the king’s uncle, bishop of Bayeux. For when, as I have related, on his release from prison, he had established his nephew Robert in the duchy of Normandy, he came to England and received from the king the earldom of Kent; but seeing how all things in England were administered not according to his will as before (for the control of public affairs had been entrusted to William bishop of Durham), he was smitten with jealousy, and himself deserting the king, he intrigued also with many others, urging that Robert was of an easier disposition and had tempered his youthful excesses with great hardships, and therefore deserved the realm; William, on the other hand, carefully brought up as he was, and overbearing and brutal, as his face itself proved, would set at nought all right and justice; soon they would lose the honours so strenuously won; they would have gained nothing by the father’s death, if the son slew those whom the father had imprisoned. These complaints were first made in secret by him and Roger of Montgomery, and by Geoffrey bishop of Coutances, with his nephew Robert earl of Northumberland; afterwards they interchanged letters and plotted openly. Even William bishop of Durham, the king’s confidant, had joined in their treason; a source of grave concern to the king, it is said, because he at once lost a friend and was deprived of supplies from the distant provinces. Thereupon Odo conveyed booty of all kinds to Rochester, laying waste the king’s demesnes in Kent, and especially the lands of the archbishop, against whom he breathed an undying hatred, since, as he alleged, it was by the archbishop’s advice that his brother had cast him into prison. This charge was true enough, for when the elder William had complained to Lanfranc of his brother’s desertion, Lanfranc said, “Seize and imprison him!” “What!” he replied, “he is a clerk.” To which the archbishop rejoined, with playful wit, “weighing the objection with nice antitheses,” as Persius remarks, “You will not be laying hands on the bishop of Bayeux, you will be committing to prison the earl of Kent.” Bishop Geoffrey, with his nephew, ravaging Bath and Berkeley and part of Wiltshire, gathered his forces at Bristol. Roger of Montgomery, sending his troops with Welshmen from Shrewsbury plundered Worcestershire, and was now threatening Worcester, when the king’s knights who guarded the city, relying on the blessing of bishop Wulstan, to whom the keeping of the castle had been committed, few though they were, put to flight their numerous opponents, wounding and killing many, and taking some prisoners. At the same time Roger Bigod at Norwich and Hugh Grantmesnil at Leicester were ravaging each his own country. In vain, however, did the whole strength of rebellion rage against the king, who lacked neither wisdom nor good fortune. Seeing well-nigh all the Normans leagued together in one wild revolt, he summoned by letters of request such trusty and stout Englishmen as were still left, and complaining to them of his wrongs, bound them in fealty to him by promises of good laws, relief from taxation and the right of free chase. With equal skill he won over Roger of Montgomery, who, concealing his treachery, was riding with him. Taking him aside, he heaped reproaches upon him, saying he would gladly abdicate, if Roger and the others whom his father had left as his guardians thought fit; he failed to understand why they were so outrageous; if they wanted money, they might have what they chose; if an increase of their inheritances, be it so; indeed they might have what they wished. Only they must take care not to imperil the validity of his father’s decision; for if they chose to defy it in his case, they must beware of the precedent in their own case; for he who had made him king had made them earls. Stirred by these words and promises, the chief rebel, after Odo, was the first to fall away. So the king, marching at once against the traitors, stormed his uncle’s castles of Tonbridge and Pevensey, captured Odo in the latter and forced him to swear that he would leave England and give up Rochester. To accomplish the same he sent him in advance with a loyal guard, himself following slowly. Now at that time there was at Rochester almost the whole of the younger nobility of England and Normandy; three sons of earl Roger, the younger Eustace of Boulogne and many others whom I need not specify. The royal guards of the bishop were few and unarmed, for who would suspect treachery in his company? They leapt down before the walls, calling to the townsmen to open the gates; it was the will of the bishop, there with them; it was the command of the king, though absent. But they, seeing that the bishop’s aspect discountenanced the speaker’s words, suddenly opened the gates, rushed out, took horse and carried them all away bound, with the bishop. Reports of the event speedily reached the king, whose reverse stiffened his purpose; smothering his wrath, he summoned his Englishmen, and bade them gather all their countrymen for the siege, unless they would earn the name of “nithing” (that is, worthless). The English, who reckoned nothing more disgraceful than to be branded with this dishonourable term, flocked in multitudes to the king and made his host invincible. The townsmen could no longer avoid submission, realising that a band of men, however noble, however compact, could avail nothing against the king of England. Odo, taken a second time, abjured England for ever; the bishop of Durham of his own will crossed the sea, the king, out of regard for past friendship, suffering him to escape harmless; while the rest were all admitted to fealty.

ROYAL PROCEDURE AGAINST A BISHOP[22] (1087).

=Source.=--Simeon of Durham, _De injusta vexatione Willelmi episcopi primi_, ed. Arnold, vol. i., p. 171. (Rolls Series.)

King William the younger disseised[23] the bishop of Durham of his own lands and the lands of his church on 4 March, and caused his men and all his goods to be taken, wherever he could; he also ordered the bishop to be taken, and laid many snares for him; but by God’s will the bishop escaped them, and coming to Durham, sent his messenger to the king with the following letter on the very day on which he entered Durham:

“To his lord, William, king of the English, William bishop of Durham, greeting and loyal service. Know, my lord, that your men of York and Lincoln detain my men under arrest, and have seized my lands, and would have taken me also, if they could; and they say that they have done all these things at your command. I request you, therefore, as my lord, to cause my men and my lands to be restored with my chattels to me, as your liege man, whom you have never appealed[24] of any crime, and who has never stood on his defence before you. If you will appeal me hereafter of any crime, I am ready to justify myself before you in your court at a convenient term, on receipt of a safe conduct. But I earnestly beg you not to treat me so basely and dishonourably, nor to disseise me unjustly, upon the advice of my enemies. For it is not every man who may judge bishops, and for my part, saving always my order, I undertake to offer you complete satisfaction; and if at the present you desire to have my service or the service of my men, I offer you the same at your pleasure.”

The king, however, on receiving and hearing the bishop’s letter, gave the bishop’s lands to his barons before the eyes of the messenger whom the bishop had sent, and again commanded the bishop to come to him, on the condition that if he should refuse to abide by the king’s will, he might return safely to Durham. But when the bishop, on hearing this answer, was ready to go to the king, he sent first to the sheriff of York, asking for a safe journey to the king’s presence. But Ralph Paynel, who was then sheriff, refused a conduct not only to the bishop but to all his messengers and men desiring to go to the king; he even seized the bishop’s monk who was returning from the king, and killed his horse, permitting him, however, to go on his way thereafter. Furthermore, on the king’s behalf, he commanded all the king’s men to do harm to the bishop wheresoever and howsoever they could. So, when the bishop was thus prevented from seeking the king either in person or by messenger, and had endured the destruction and devastation of his lands without any retaliation for seven weeks and more, the king at length sent to him the abbot of St. Augustine’s, commanding him, as he had before commanded, to come to his court with the abbot. The bishop, however, fearing the snares of his enemies and the king’s anger, answered that he could not come without a safe conduct, and sent his messengers in the abbot’s company with a letter to the king to that effect....

The king, on seeing this letter, sent the bishop a safe conduct, and assured him by letter that no hurt should be done him by the king himself or his men, until he should have left the king and reached Durham once more. The bishop, therefore, went to the king, and prayed to be put on his trial as a bishop. The king replied that he would consent to a trial only if the bishop would plead in a lay court and forego the safe conduct granted to him; if he should refuse so to plead, he must go back to Durham. The bishop then asked the archbishop of York and the bishops there present to advise him thereon. But the bishops replied that the king had forbidden them to advise him. Then the bishop pressed his archbishop to advise him, as a matter of right, due to his church and to himself. The archbishop therefore made request to the king thereon, but reported to the bishop that it was impossible. So the bishop himself prayed the king to allow him the advice of his archbishop and primate and the bishops, his peers, but the king summarily refused. The bishop then offered to purge himself of the charge of treason and disloyalty; the king, however, rejected the offer, and the bishop returned to Durham. Meanwhile the king had seized there more than 700 men and considerable booty.

Again therefore the bishop sent a letter to the king by one of his monks.... The king replied by seizing and imprisoning the monk who brought it, and sent his army against the bishop; and after the troops had laid waste the bishop’s lands with fire and plunder, the barons opened negotiations with the bishop, and both parties agreed to a solemn covenant....

On the strength of this, the plea was respited on both sides until 10 November, and on that day the bishop came to Salisbury.... The bishop rose in court and prayed the king to restore to him his bishopric, which he had long ago taken from him without a judgment. The king said nothing, but Lanfranc replied, “The king has taken away no part of your bishopric, nor has any other man at his command, nor have you seen his writ disseising you or commanding you to be disseised of your bishopric.” The bishop rejoined, “No, but I have seen Ralph Paynel, and I see him here; and he, by the king’s command, has disseised me of the whole of my bishopric in Yorkshire....” Lanfranc replied, “The king summons you to make your defence to him, and his barons have brought you here to that end; yet you ask that he first make his defence to you! First defend yourself, and then ask what you are now asking.” The bishop said in answer, “My lord archbishop, do you say that by way of advice or by way of judgment?” “By way of advice, of course,” said he, “but if the king will listen to me, he will make a judgment of it soon enough.” At these words of Lanfranc, the primate of all England, the lay barons were aroused and cried out against the bishop, asserting that it was contrary to right that the king should answer the bishop before the latter had justified himself to the king.

The lay barons gave utterance to this and many other statements, with much repetition, but when silence was restored, the bishop said, “My lords, barons and laymen, allow me, I beg you, to say what I have to say to the king, and to make my answer to the archbishops and bishops. I have nothing to say to you, and since I have not come here to receive your judgment, I reject it altogether; even if it had pleased our lord the king and the archbishops and bishops that you should meddle with this matter, it would not have befitted me to submit to such an indignity.” The king then said, “I trusted that the bishop would first answer me touching the charges I make against him; I am astonished that he asks for anything else.” Thereupon earl Alan and earl Roger said, “We have brought the bishop to justify himself to the king.” To which the bishop replied, “Robbed as I am, I am ready to answer, if I be tried canonically, for I will not go one step beyond the law of my order in this suit.” Roger Bigot then said to the king, “You should tell the bishop whereof you appeal him, and afterward, if he refuse to answer to us, cause him to be judged touching his answer; if not, do thereon what your barons advise you.” The bishop rejoined, “I have just said, and I say again, that I reject altogether the judgment of laymen, and anything that contravenes the canons. I accept no accusation, unless I be first invested with my bishopric, or unless it be awarded by a canonical judgment that I must be charged and make answer and be judged before such investiture.” Then Hugh de Beaumont rose by the king’s command and said to the bishop, “The king appeals you of this, that when he learned that his enemies were rising against him, and his men, to wit, the bishop of Bayeux and earl Roger and many others, were attempting to deprive him of his realm and crown, and he, by your advice, rode against them, he summoned you, in my presence, to ride with him, and you answered that you would willingly go with the seven knights whom you had there, and would send to your castle for more with all speed; and afterwards you fled from his court without his licence, taking with you some men of his household, and so failed him in his necessity. And now it is his will that you do thereon to him what his court shall award, and if need be, he will appeal you afterwards of more offences.” The bishop, however, replied to him, “Hugh, say what you like, but you I will not answer today....” Hugh de Beaumont rejoined, “If I today fail to judge you and your order, you or your order shall never judge me again....” The bishop went out with his men, and on his return, Thomas, archbishop of York, said to him, “My lord bishop, our lord archbishop and the king’s court awards that you do right to the king before he reinvest you with your fee....” The bishop said, “The judgment here given I reject, because it contravenes the canons and our law ... and since I am conscious that through the king’s hatred you are all against me, I appeal to the apostolic see, the holy church of Rome, to St. Peter and his vicar....” Thereupon archbishop Lanfranc replied, “We are not judging you touching your bishopric, but touching your fee, and in the same way we judged the bishop of Bayeux before this king’s father, touching his fee; in that suit the king did not summon him as a bishop, but as his brother and as an earl.” The bishop answered, “My lord archbishop, I have not said a word today about a fee, nor have I said that I had a fee; I complained, and I complain still, of the disseisin of my bishopric.” The archbishop rejoined, “I may not have heard you speak of a fee, but I know you had a great fee, and we have judged you thereon.” The bishop replied, “My lord archbishop, I gather now that you have ignored all that I have said, and judge me out of your own knowledge; but though by God’s grace you are exceeding wise and of great reputation, I perceive that in this your wisdom is so high that my humble intelligence cannot grasp it; but I wish to go to the apostolic see, to which of necessity I have appealed, by licence of the king and you.” “Leave us,” said the archbishop, “and the king, after taking counsel, will announce to you his will.” When the bishop had left the room and had been summoned back, Hugh de Beaumont rose and said to him, “My lord bishop, the king’s court and these barons adjudge as just, that since you refuse to answer touching the charge whereon the king through me has appealed you, but cite him on his plea to Rome, you thereby forfeit your fee.”

THE ILLNESS OF WILLIAM RUFUS, AND THE APPOINTMENT OF ANSELM AS ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY (1093).

=Source.=--Eadmer, _Historia Novorum in Anglia_, ed. Rule, p. 30. (Rolls Series.)

One day one of the chief men of the realm, a favourite of the king, happened to say to him among other things in the course of conversation: “We have never known a man of holiness so great, we honestly believe, as Anselm abbot of Bec; he loves nothing beside God, and, as the whole of his work makes manifest, he covets nothing transitory.” The king rejoined with a sneer, “No, not even the archbishopric of Canterbury.” The other replied, “No, not even that has a very great attraction for him, in the opinion of myself and many others.” Whereupon the king swore that the abbot would rush to accept it with open arms, if he had the slightest hope of attaining to it, and added, “But, by the Holy Cross of Lucca,” as he was accustomed to swear, “neither he nor any other shall be archbishop at present, except myself.” He had scarcely spoken when he was seized by illness and took to his bed, growing daily worse until he was at the point of death. Why continue? All the chief men of the whole realm came together, bishops, abbots and all the nobles, looking for nothing but his death. The sick man was urged to take thought for the salvation of his soul, to open the prisons, to set free the prisoners, to unloose the bound, to pardon debts, to restore to liberty the churches still in bondage under his lordship, by setting pastors over them, and above all the church of Canterbury, “the oppression whereof,” they said, “lays a hateful burden upon the whole church of Christ in England.” Anselm at this time, in ignorance of this event, was staying in a town not far from Gloucester, where the king lay sick. He was commanded, therefore, to come to the king with all speed and by his presence to comfort and strengthen him on his deathbed. Hearing such news he made haste to come, and on his arrival came to the king, who asked him what he deemed the most wholesome counsel for a dying man; the abbot asked to be first informed what counsel had been given to the sick prince by those around him before his own coming. He heard and approved, adding: “It is written, ‘Begin by confession to the Lord’; wherefore it seems to me that he should first make a good confession of all that he knows himself to have done against God, and should promise without insincerity to amend all if he recover, and then should order to be performed without delay what you have advised him.” This precise counsel was approved, and the task of hearing the confession enjoined upon the abbot. The king was informed what Anselm had urged as the best means for the saving of his soul, and straightway he acquiesced and with a contrite heart promised to do everything which the abbot’s judgment decided, and to conduct the whole of his life in gentleness and justice. To this he pledged his faith, and made his bishops sureties between him and God, sending one of them in his stead to make this his vow to God upon the altar. The order was written and confirmed by the royal seal, that all prisoners in the whole of his dominion should be released, all debts irrevocably cancelled, and all offences committed hitherto consigned to everlasting oblivion. Moreover righteous and holy laws were promised to all people, the inviolable observance of justice, and a weighty and deterrent trial of abuses. All men rejoiced and God was blessed herein, and urgent prayers were offered for the salvation of so good and great a king.