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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/8556-8.txt b/8556-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..23aa705 --- /dev/null +++ b/8556-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16544 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of England From the Norman +Conquest to the Death of John (1066-1216), by George Burton Adams + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The History of England From the Norman Conquest + to the Death of John (1066-1216) + +Author: George Burton Adams + +Release Date: July, 2005 [EBook #8556] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on July 22, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF ENGLAND (1066-1216) *** + + + + +Produced by David Moynihan, Beth Trapaga, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. + +Seventy-five years have passed since Lingard completed his HISTORY OF +ENGLAND, which ends with the Revolution of 1688. During that period +historical study has made a great advance. Year after year the mass of +materials for a new History of England has increased; new lights have +been thrown on events and characters, and old errors have been +corrected. Many notable works have been written on various periods of +our history; some of them at such length as to appeal almost exclusively +to professed historical students. It is believed that the time has come +when the advance which has been made in the knowledge of English history +as a whole should be laid before the public in a single work of fairly +adequate size. Such a book should be founded on independent thought and +research, but should at the same time be written with a full knowledge +of the works of the best modern historians and with a desire to take +advantage of their teaching wherever it appears sound. + +The vast number of authorities, printed and in manuscript, on which a +History of England should be based, if it is to represent the existing +state of knowledge, renders co-operation almost necessary and certainly +advisable. The History, of which this volume is an instalment, is an +attempt to set forth in a readable form the results at present attained +by research. It will consist of twelve volumes by twelve different +writers, each of them chosen as being specially capable of dealing with +the period which he undertakes, and the editors, while leaving to each +author as free a hand as possible, hope to insure a general similarity +in method of treatment, so that the twelve volumes may in their +contents, as well as in their outward appearance, form one History. + +As its title imports, this History will primarily deal with politics, +with the History of England and, after the date of the union with +Scotland, Great Britain, as a state or body politic; but as the life of +a nation is complex, and its condition at any given time cannot be +understood without taking into account the various forces acting upon +it, notices of religious matters and of intellectual, social, and +economic progress will also find place in these volumes. The 'footnotes' +will, so far as is possible, be confined to references to authorities, +and references will not be appended to statements which appear to be +matters of common knowledge and do not call for support. Each volume +will have an Appendix giving some account of the chief authorities, +original and secondary, which the author has used. This account will be +compiled with a view of helping students rather than of making long +lists of books without any notes as to their contents or value. That the +History will have faults both of its own and such as will always in some +measure attend co-operative work, must be expected, but no pains have +been spared to make it, so far as may be, not wholly unworthy of the +greatness of its subject. + +Each volume, while forming part of a complete History, will also in +itself be a separate and complete book, will be sold separately, and +will have its own index, and two or more maps. + +Vol. I. to 1066. By Thomas Hodgkin, D.C.L., Litt.D., Fellow of +University College, London; Fellow of the British Academy. + +Vol. II. 1066 to 1216. By George Burton Adams, M.A., Professor of +History in Yale University, New Haven Connecticut. + +Vol. III. 1216 to 1377. By T. F. Tout, M.A., Professor of Medieval and +Modern History in the Victoria University of Manchester; formerly Fellow +of Pembroke College. Oxford. + +Vol. IV. 1377 to 1485. By C. Oman, M.A., Fellow of All Souls' College, +and Deputy Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford. + +Vol. V. 1485 to 1547. By H. A. L. Fisher, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of New +College, Oxford. + +Vol. VI. 1547 to 1603. By A. F. Pollard, M.A., Professor of +Constitutional History in University College, London. + +Vol. VII. 1603 to 1660. By F. C. Montague, M.A., Professor of History in +University College, London; formerly Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. + +Vol. VIII. 1660 to 1702. By Richard Lodge, M.A., Professor of History in +the University of Edinburgh; formerly Fellow of Brasenose College, +Oxford. + +Vol. IX. 1702 to 1760. By I. S. Leadam, M.A., formerly Fellow of +Brasenose College, Oxford. + +Vol. X. 1760 to 1801. By the Rev. William Hunt, M.A., D.Litt., Trinity +College, Oxford. + +Vol. XI. 1801 to 1837. By the Hon. George C. Brodrick, D.C.L., late +Warden of Merton College, Oxford, and J. K. Fotheringham, M.A., Magdalen +College, Oxford, Lecturer in Classics at King's College, London. + +Vol. XII. 1837 to 1901. By Sidney J. Low, M.A., Balliol College, Oxford, +formerly Lecturer on History at King's College, London. + + + + +THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND +IN TWELVE VOLUMES + +Edited by William Hunt, D.Litt., and +Reginald L. Poole, M.A. + + +II. + +THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND +FROM THE NORMAN CONQUEST TO THE DEATH OF JOHN +(1066-1216) + +By + +GEORGE BURTON ADAMS +Professor of History in Yale University + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER I + +A.D. +Oct., 1066. After the battle of Hastings +Nov. The march on London + Winchester occupied + London submits +25 Dec. The coronation of William +Jan., 1067. Regulations for government + The confiscation of lands + The introduction of feudalism + Power of the Norman duke +March-Dec. William in Normandy + Revolts in England + +CHAPTER II + +Feb.-March, 1068. Conquest of the south-west + Coronation of Matilda + Summer. Final conquest of the north + Raid of Harold's sons +1069. Danish invasion; the north rebels +Dec. The harrying of Northumberland +Jan.-Feb., 1070. Conquest of the west + Reformation of the Church +Aug. Lanfranc made primate + Effect of the conquest on the Church + The king and the Church + +CHAPTER III + +1070-4. The revolt in Ely + Norman families in England + Centralization of the State + The New Forest +Aug., 1072. William invades Scotland +1073. He subdues Maine +1075. Revolt of Earls Roger and Ralph +1082. The arrest of Bishop Odo + William's son Robert +1086. The Domesday Book +9 Sept., 1087. The death of William + +CHAPTER IV + +26 Sept., 1087. Coronation of William II. +Apr.-June, 1088. The barons rebel. +Nov. The trial of William of St. Calais +1095. The revolt of Robert of Mowbray +28 May, 1089. The death of Lanfranc + Ranulf Flambard + Troubles in Normandy +April, 1090. The court resolves on war +Feb., 1091. William invades Normandy + Malcolm attacks England +1092. William occupies Carlisle +Nov., 1093. Death of Malcolm and Margaret + +CHAPTER V + +Lent, 1093. Illness of William II +March. Anselm named archbishop + Conditions on which he accepted +Jan., 1094. His first quarrel with the king +19 March. William crosses to Normandy +1095. Second quarrel with Anselm +March. The case tried at Rockingham +1096. Robert mortgages Normandy +1097. Renewed quarrel with Anselm +Nov. Anselm leaves England +1098. Wars on the continent +2 Aug., 1100. William II killed + +CHAPTER VI + +2 Aug., 1100. Henry claims the crown +5 Aug. His coronation + His character +Aug. His coronation charter +23 Sept. Return of Anselm +11 Nov. Henry's marriage + Beginning of investiture strife + Merits of the case +July, 1101. Robert invades England + He yields to Henry +1102. Robert of Bellême punished +1101-2. Fruitless embassies to Rome +27 April, 1103. Anselm again leaves England + +CHAPTER VII + +1104. Henry visits Normandy +1103-5. Dealings with Anselm +21 July, 1105. Meeting with Anselm and Adela +Aug., 1106. The compromise and reconciliation + + +CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME + +A.D. +28 Sept., 1106. The battle of Tinchebrai + Terms of investiture compromise +21 April, 1109. Anselm's last years, and death +1109-11. Reform of local courts +1109-14. Marriage of Matilda and Henry V +1109-13. War with Louis VI of France + Growing power of the Church + +CHAPTER VIII + +March, 1116. William recognized as heir + Renewed war with France +1120. An advantageous peace +25 Sept., 1120. Henry's son William drowned + Robert made Earl of Gloucester +1123. Revolt of Norman barons +Jan., 1127. Matilda made Henry's heir + She marries Geoffrey of Anjou +1129. A period of peace +1130. The Pipe Roll of 1130 + The Exchequer + Henry's charter to London +1 Dec, 1135. His death + +CHAPTER IX + +Dec., 1135. Stephen of Boulogne secures London + Obtains support of the Church + His coronation + Normandy accepts Stephen +1136. Charter to the Church + Matilda appeals to Rome + The first revolt + The impression created by Stephen +1137. Stephen in Normandy + +CHAPTER X + +1138. The beginning of civil war + The revolt around Bristol +22 Aug. The battle of the Standard +June, 1139. The arrest of the bishops + Matilda in England +1140. Stephen's purchase of support +2 Feb., 1141. The battle of Lincoln + +CHAPTER XI + +March, 1141. Matilda received in Winchester +24 June, 1141. She is driven from London + Stephen released +1142-4. Geoffrey conquers Normandy +1144. The fall of Geoffrey de Mandeville +1149. Henry of Anjou in England +1152. He marries Eleanor of Aquitaine +1153. Henry again in England +Nov. He makes peace with Stephen + +CHAPTER XII + + The character of Henry II +19 Dec., 1154. His coronation +1155. The pope's grant of Ireland +Jan., 1156. Henry in Normandy +1158. Treaty with Louis VII +June, 1159. Attack on Toulouse + New forms of taxation +1162. Thomas Becket made primate + +CHAPTER XIII + +1162. The position of Becket +July, 1163. First disagreement with Henry + The question of criminous clerks +1164. The constitutions of Clarendon +Oct. The trial of Becket + Becket flees from England +1165-70. War between king and primate +14 June, 1170. Young Henry crowned +July. Henry and Becket reconciled +29 Dec. Murder of Becket + +CHAPTER XIV + +Oct., 1171. Henry II in Ireland +May, 1172. Reconciled with the Church + Henry and his sons + Discontent of young Henry +1173. Plans of Henry II in the southeast + Young Henry and the barons rebel +12 July, 1174. Henry II's penance at Canterbury +12 July. The king of Scotland captured +6 Aug. Henry returns to Normandy +30 Sept. Peace concluded + +CHAPTER XV + +1175. Government during peace + The homage of Scotland + Judicial reforms + Itinerant justices and jury + The common law +1176. Young Henry again discontented + Affairs in Ireland +1177. Dealings with France +1180. Philip II king of France +1183. War between Henry's sons +11 June. Death of young Henry + +CHAPTER XVI + +1183. Negotiations with France +1184-5. The question of a crusade +1185. John in Ireland +1186. Philip II and Henry's sons +1187. War with Philip II + Renewed call for a crusade +1188. The Saladin tithe + A new war with Philip +Nov. Richard abandons his father +4 July, 1189. Peace forced on Henry +6 July. Death of Henry II + +CHAPTER XVII + +1189. Richard's first acts + Methods of raising money + Arrangements for Richard's absence + Conduct of William Longchamp +June, 1190. Richard goes on the crusade +1191. Events of the third crusade + Strife of John and Longchamp +Oct. Longchamp deposed + Philip II intrigues with John + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Dec., 1192. Richard imprisoned in Germany +1193. Negotiations for his release +16 March, 1194. He reaches London + War with Philip II + Hubert Walter justiciar +15 Jan., 1196. Treaty with France + Renewed war +7 Dec., 1197. Bishop Hugh refuses Richard's demand +1198. Financial difficulties +6 April, 1199. The death of Richard + The growth of English towns + +CHAPTER XIX + +April, 1199. John succeeds in Normandy +27 May. Crowned in Westminster + Philip II takes Arthur's side +1200. John's second marriage +1202. Trial and sentence of John +1 Aug. John captures Arthur +1203. Siege of Château-Gaillard +24 June, 1204. Capture of Rouen +1205. French conquest checked in Poitou + +CHAPTER XX + +1205. Question of the Canterbury election +17 June, 1207. The pope consecrates Langton + Taxation of the clergy +24 March, 1208. The interdict proclaimed + Power of the king +Nov., 1209. John excommunicated +1210. Expedition to Ireland +1212. Alliance against France + Philip II plans to invade England +May, 1213. John yields to the pope + +CHAPTER XXI + +20 July, 1213. The king absolved + Henry I's charter produced +Feb., 1214. John invades Poitou +27 July. Battle of Bouvines + The barons resist the king + The charter demanded +15 June, 1215. Magna Carta granted + Civil strife renewed + The crown offered to Louis of France +21 May, 1216. Louis lands in England +19 Oct., 1216. The death of John + +APPENDIX + +On authorities + +INDEX + +MAPS +(AT THE END OF THE VOLUME) + +1. England and the French Possessions of William I. (1087) +2. England and France, July, 1185 + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +THE CONQUEST + +The battle of the 14th of October, 1066, was decisive of the struggle for +the throne of England, but William of Normandy was in no haste to gather +in the results of the victory which he had won. The judgment of heaven +had been pronounced in the case between him and Harold, and there was no +mistaking the verdict. The Saxon army was routed and flying. It could +hardly rally short of London, but there was no real pursuit. The Normans +spent the night on the battlefield, and William's own tent was pitched on +the hill which the enemy had held, and in the midst of the Saxon wounded, +a position of some danger, against which his friend and adviser, Walter +Giffard, remonstrated in vain. On the next day he fell back with his army +to Hastings. Here he remained five days waiting, the Saxon Chronicle +tells us, for the nation to make known its submission; waiting, it is +more likely, for reinforcements which were coming from Normandy. So keen +a mind as William's probably did not misjudge the situation. With the +only real army against him broken to pieces, with the only leaders around +whom a new army could rally dead, he could afford to wait. He may not +have understood the rallying power of the Saxon soldiery, but he probably +knew very well the character of the public men of England, who were left +alive to head and direct a new resistance. The only candidate for the +throne upon whom all parties could unite was a boy of no pronounced +character and no experience. The leaders of the nobility who should have +stood forth in such a crisis as the natural leaders of the nation were +men who had shown in the clearest way their readiness to sacrifice +England to their personal ambitions or grievances. At the head of the +Church were men of but little higher character and no greater capacity +for leadership, undisguised pluralists who could not avoid the charge of +disregarding in their own selfish interests the laws they were bound to +administer. London, where the greater part of the fugitives had gathered, +could hardly have settled upon the next step to be taken when William +began his advance, five days after the battle. His first objective point +was the great fortress of Dover, which dominated that important +landing-place upon the coast. On the way he stopped to give an example of +what those might expect who made themselves his enemies, by punishing the +town of Romney, which had ventured to beat off with some vigour a body of +Normans, probably one that had tried to land there by mistake. + +Dover had been a strong fortress for centuries, perched on its cliffs as +high as an arrow can be shot, says one who may have been present at these +events, and it had been recently strengthened with new work. William +doubtless expected a difficult task, and he was correspondingly pleased +to find the garrison ready to surrender without a blow, an omen even more +promising than the victory he had gained over Harold. If William had +given at Romney an example of what would follow stubborn resistance, he +gave at Dover an example of how he proposed to deal with those who would +submit, not merely in his treatment of the surrendered garrison of the +castle, but in his payment of the losses of the citizens; for his army, +disappointed of the plunder which would have followed the taking of the +place by force, had burned the town or part of it. At Dover William +remained a week, and here his army was attacked by a foe often more +deadly to the armies of the Middle Ages than the enemies they had come +out to fight. Too much fresh meat and unaccustomed water led to an +outbreak of dysentery which carried off many and weakened others, who had +to be left behind when William set out again. But these losses were +balanced by reinforcements from Normandy, which joined him here or soon +afterwards. His next advance was towards Canterbury, but it had hardly +begun when delegations came up to meet him, bringing the submission of +that city and of other places in Kent. Soon after leaving Dover the duke +himself fell ill, very possibly with the prevailing disease, but if we +may judge by what seems to be our best evidence, he did not allow this to +interrupt his advance, but pushed on towards London with only a brief +stop at any point.[1] Nor is there any certain evidence to be had of +extensive harrying of the country on this march. His army was obliged to +live on what it could take from the inhabitants, and this foraging was +unquestionably accompanied with much unnecessary plundering; but there is +no convincing evidence of any systematic laying waste of large districts +to bring about a submission which everything would show to be coming of +itself, and it was not like William to ravage without need. He certainly +hesitated at no cruelty of the sort at times, but we can clearly enough +see reasons of policy in most at least of the cases, which may have made +the action seem to him necessary. Nearly all are instances either of +defensive action or of vengeance, but that he should systematically +ravage the country when events were carrying out his plan as rapidly as +could be expected, we have no reason to consider in accordance with +William's policy or temper. In the meantime, as the invading army was +slowly drawing near to London, opinion there had settled, for the time at +least, upon a line of policy. Surviving leaders who had been defeated in +the great battle, men high in rank who had been absent, some purposely +standing aloof while the issue was decided, had gathered in the city. +Edwin and Morcar, the great earls of north and middle England, heads of +the house that was the rival of Harold's, who seem to have been willing +to see him and his power destroyed, had now come in, having learned the +result of the battle. The two archbishops were there, and certain of the +bishops, though which they were we cannot surely tell. Other names we do +not know, unless it be that of Esegar, Harold's staller and portreeve of +London, the hero of a doubtful story of negotiations with the approaching +enemy. But other nobles and men of influence in the state were certainly +there, though their names are not recorded. Nor was a military force +lacking, even if the "army" of Edwin and Morcar was under independent and +not trustworthy command. It is clear that the tone of public opinion was +for further resistance, and the citizens were not afraid to go out to +attack the Conqueror on his first approach to their neighbourhood. But +from all our sources of information the fatal fact stands out plainly, of +divided counsels and lack of leadership. William of Malmesbury believed, +nearly two generations later, and we must agree with him, that if the +English could have put aside "the discord of civil strife," and have +"united in a common policy, they could have amended the ruin of the +fatherland." But there was too much self-seeking and a lack of +patriotism. Edwin and Morcar went about trying to persuade people that +one or the other of them should be made king. Some of the bishops appear +to have opposed the choice of any king. No dominating personality arose +to compel agreement and to give direction and power to the popular +impulse. England was conquered, not by the superior force and genius of +the Norman, but by the failure of her own men in a great crisis of her +history. + +The need of haste seems an element in the situation, and under the +combined pressure of the rapid approach of the enemy and of the public +opinion of the city--citizens and shipmen are both mentioned--the leaders +of Church and State finally came to an agreement that Edgar atheling +should be made king. It was the only possible step except that of +immediate submission. Grandson of Edmund Ironside, the king who had +offered stubborn and most skilful resistance to an earlier foreign +invader, heir of a house that had been royal since the race had had a +history, all men could unite upon him, and upon him alone, if there must +be a king. But there was no other argument in his favour. Neither the +blood of his grandfather nor the school of adversity had made of him the +man to deal with such a situation. In later life he impressed people as a +well-mannered, agreeable, and frank man, but no one ever detected in him +the stuff of which heroes are made. He was never consecrated king, though +the act would have strengthened his position, and one wonders if the fact +is evidence that the leaders had yielded only to a popular pressure in +agreeing upon him against their own preference, or merely of the haste +and confusion of events. One act of sovereignty only is attributed to +him, the confirmation of Brand, who had been chosen by the monks Abbot +of Peterborough, in succession to Leofric, of the house of Edwin and +Morcar, who had been present at the battle of Hastings and had died +soon after. William interpreted this reference of the election to Edgar +for confirmation as an act of hostility to himself, and fined the new +abbot heavily, but to us the incident is of value as evidence of the +character of the movement, which tried to find a national king in this +last male of Cerdic's line. + +From Canterbury the invading army advanced directly upon London, and took +up a position in its neighbourhood. From this station a body of five +hundred horsemen was sent forward to reconnoitre the approaches to the +city, and the second battle of the conquest followed, if we may call that +a battle which seems to have been merely one-sided. At any rate, the +citizens intended to offer battle, and crossed the river and advanced +against the enemy in regular formation, but the Norman knights made short +work of the burgher battalions, and drove them back into the city with +great slaughter. The suburb on the south bank of the Thames fell into the +hands of the enemy, who burned down at least a part of it. William +gained, however, no further success at this point. London was not yet +ready to submit, and the river seems to have been an impassable barrier. +To find a crossing the Norman march was continued up the river, the +country suffering as before from the foraging of the army. The desired +crossing was found at Wallingford, not far below Oxford and nearly fifty +miles above London. That he could have crossed the river nearer the city +than this, if he had wished, seems probable, and considerations of +strategy may very likely have governed William's movements. Particularly +might this be the case if he had learned that Edwin and Morcar, with +their army, had abandoned the new king and retired northward, as some of +the best of modern scholars have believed, though upon what is certainly +not the best of evidence. If this was so, a little more time would surely +convince the Londoners that submission was the best policy, and the best +position for William to occupy would be between the city and this army in +the north, a position which he could easily reach, as he did, from his +crossing at Wallingford. If the earls had not abandoned London, this was +still the best position, cutting them off from their own country and the +city from the region whence reinforcements must come if they came at all. +A long sweep about a hostile city was favourite strategy of William's. + +From some point along this line of march between Dover and Wallingford, +William had detached a force to secure the submission of Winchester. This +city was of considerable importance, both because it was the old royal +residence and still the financial centre of the state, and because it +was the abode of Edith, the queen of Edward the Confessor, to whom it +had been assigned as part of her dower. The submission of the city seems +to have been immediate and entirely satisfactory to William, who confirmed +the widowed Lady of England in her rights and showed later some favour to +the monks of the new minster. William of Poitiers, the duke's chaplain, +who possibly accompanied the army on this march,[2] and wrote an account +of these events not long afterwards, tells us that at Wallingford Stigand, +Archbishop of Canterbury, came in and made submission to his master. There +is no reason to doubt this statement, though it has been called in +question. The best English chroniclers omit his name from the list of +those who submitted when London surrendered. The tide of success had been +flowing strongly one way since the Normans landed. The condition of things +in London afforded no real hope that this tide could be checked. A man of +Stigand's type could be depended upon to see that if William's success was +inevitable, an early submission would be better than a late one. If +Stigand went over to William at Wallingford, it is a clear commentary on +the helplessness of the party of resistance in London. + +From Wallingford William continued his leisurely march, leaving a trail +of devastation behind him through Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and +Hertfordshire, where he turned south towards London. But the city was +now convinced of the impossibility of resistance and was ready to yield +to the inevitable. How near the enemy was allowed to approach before +the step of actual surrender was taken is not quite certain. The +generally accepted opinion, on the authority of English chroniclers, is +that the embassy from London went to meet William at Berkhampsted, +thirty miles away, but if we could accept the suggestion which has been +made that Little Berkhampsted was the place intended, the distance +would agree better with the express statement of the chaplain, William +of Poitiers, that the city was in sight from the place of conference. +It is hard to avoid accepting William's statement, for it is precisely +the kind of thing which the men of the duke's army--which had been so +long approaching the city and thinking of its capture--would be likely +to notice and remember. It also agrees better with the probabilities +of the case. Thirty miles was still a safe distance, especially in +those days, and would allow much time for further debate and for the +unexpected to happen. Wherever the act of submission occurred, it was +in form complete and final for the city and for the chief men of +England. Edgar came to offer his useless and imperfect crown; Aldred, +Archbishop of York, was there to complete the submission of the Church; +bishops of several sees were also present, and chief men of the state, +among whom Edwin and Morcar are mentioned by one of the chroniclers who +had earlier sent them home to the north. Possibly he is right in both +statements, and the earls had returned to make their peace when they +saw that resistance was hopeless. These men William received most +kindly and with good promises, and Edgar in particular he embraced and +treated like a son. + +This deputation from London, headed by their nominal king, came to offer +the crown to William. For him and for the Normans the decisive moment of +the expedition was now come. A definite answer must be made. According to +the account we are following, a kind of council of war of the Norman and +other barons and the leaders of the army seems to have been held, and to +this council William submitted the question whether it would be better to +take the crown now, or to wait until the country was more completely +subdued and until his wife Matilda could be present to share the honour +with him. This is the question which we are told was proposed, but the +considerations which seem to have led to the final decision bear less +upon this than upon the question whether William should be king at all or +not. We have before this date no record of any formal decision of this +question. It had been doubtless tacitly understood by all; the crown was +more or less openly the object of the expedition; but the time had now +come when the question stood as a sharp issue before William and before +his men and must be frankly met. If the Duke of the Normans was to be +transformed into the King of the English, it could be done only with the +loyal support of his Norman followers; nor is it at all likely that, in a +state so thoroughly feudal as Normandy, the suzerain would have ventured +to assume so great an increase of rank and probable power without the +express consent of his vassals, in disregard of what was certainly the +usual feudal practice. The decision of the council was favourable, and +William accepted the crown. Immediately a force of men was sent forward +to take military possession of the city and build, after the Norman +fashion, some kind of defences there, and to make suitable preparation +for the coming of the king who was to be. The interval William occupied +in his favourite amusement of the chase, and his army in continuing to +provide for their various wants from the surrounding country and that +with no gentle hand. + +Whatever may have prevented the coronation of Edgar, there was to be no +unnecessary delay about William's. Christmas day, the nearest great +festival of the Church, was fixed upon for the ceremony, which was to +take place in the new abbey church of Westminster, where Harold had been +crowned and where the body of Edward lay. The consecration was to be +performed by Aldred, Archbishop of York. No Norman, least of all William, +who had come with the special blessing of the rightful pope, could allow +this sacred office to Stigand, whose way to the primacy had been opened +by the outlawry of the Norman archbishop Robert, and whose paillium was +the gift of a schismatic and excommunicated pope. With this slight +defect, from which Harold's coronation also suffered, the ceremony was +made as formal and stately as possible. Norman guards kept order about +the place; a long procession of clergy moved into the church, with the +duke and his supporting bishops at the end. Within, the old ritual of +coronation was followed as nearly as we can judge. Englishmen and +Frenchmen were asked in their own languages if they would have William to +be king, and they shouted out their approval; William then took oath to +defend the Church, to rule justly, to make and keep right law, and to +prevent disorders, and at last he was anointed and crowned and became +King of the English in title and in law. But all this had not taken place +without some plain evidence of the unusual and violent character of the +event. The Normans stationed without had mistaken the shouts of approval +which came from within for shouts of anger and protest, and in true +Norman fashion had at once fallen on whatever was at hand, people and +buildings, slaying and setting fire, to create a diversion and to be sure +of vengeance. In one point at least they were successful; the church was +emptied of spectators and the ceremony was finished, king and bishops +alike trembling with uncertain dread, in the light of burning buildings +and amid the noise of the tumult. + +At the time of his coronation William was not far from forty years of +age. He was in the full tide of a vigorous physical life, in height and +size, about the average, possibly a trifle above the average, of the men +of his time, and praised for his unusual strength of arm. In mental gifts +he stood higher above the general run of men than in physical. As a +soldier and a statesman he was clear-headed, quick to see the right thing +to do and the right time to do it; conscious of the ultimate end and of +the combination of means, direct and indirect, slowly working out, which +must be made to reach it. But the characteristic by which he is most +distinguished from the other men of his time is one which he shares with +many of the conquerors of history--a characteristic perhaps indispensable +to that kind of success--an utterly relentless determination to succeed, +if necessary without hesitation at the means employed, and without +considering in the least the cost to others. His inflexible will greatly +impressed his own time. The men who came in contact with him were afraid +of him. His sternness and mercilessness in the enforcement of law, in the +punishment of crime, and in the protection of what he thought to be his +rights, were never relaxed. His laws were thought to be harsh, his +money-getting oppressive, and his forest regulations cruel and unjust. +And yet William intended to be, and he was, a good ruler. He gave his +lands, what was in those days the best proof of good government, and to +be had only of a strong king, internal peace. He was patient also, and +did not often lose control of himself and yield to the terrible passion +which could at last be roused. For thirty years, in name at least, he had +ruled over Normandy, and he came to the throne of England with a long +experience behind him of fighting against odds, of controlling a +turbulent baronage, and of turning anarchy into good order. + +William was at last crowned and consecrated king of the English. But the +kingdom over which he could exercise any real rule embraced little more +than the land through which he had actually passed; and yet this fact +must not be understood to mean too much. He had really conquered England, +and there was no avoiding the result. Notwithstanding all the +difficulties which were still before him in getting possession of his +kingdom, and the length of time before the last lingering resistance was +subdued, there is no evidence anywhere of a truly national movement +against him. Local revolts there were, some of which seemed for a moment +to assume threatening proportions; attempts at foreign intervention with +hopes of native aid, which always proved fallacious; long resistance by +some leaders worthy of a better support, the best and bravest of whom +became in the end faithful subjects of the new king: these things there +were, but if we look over the whole period of the Conquest, we can only +be astonished that a handful of foreign adventurers overcame so easily a +strong nation. There is but one explanation to be found, the one to which +such national overthrow is most often due, the lack of leadership. + +The panegyrist of the new king, his chaplain, William of Poitiers, leads +us to believe that very soon after the coronation William adopted +somewhat extensive regulations for the settlement of his kingdom and for +the restraint of disorders in his army. We may fairly insist upon some +qualification of the unfailing wisdom and goodness which this +semi-official historian attributes to his patron, but we can hardly do +otherwise than consider his general order of events correct, and his +account of what was actually done on the whole trustworthy. England had +in form submitted, and this submission was a reality so far as all were +concerned who came into contact with William or his army. And now the new +government had to be set going at once. Men must know what law was to be +enforced and under what conditions property was to be secure. The king's +own followers, who had won his kingdom for him, must receive the rewards +which they had expected; but the army was now a national and not an +invading army, and it must be restrained from any further indiscriminate +plunder or rioting. Two acts of William which we must assign to this time +give some evidence that he did not feel as yet altogether sure of the +temper of London. Soon after the ceremony at Westminster he retired to +Barking, a few miles distant, and waited there while the fortification in +the city was completed, which probably by degrees grew into the Tower. +And apparently at this time, certainly not long afterwards, he issued to +the bishop and the portreeve his famous charter for the city, probably +drawn up originally in the English language, or if not, certainly with an +English translation attached for immediate effect. In this charter the +clearest assurance is given on two points about which a great commercial +city, intimately concerned in such a revolution, would be most +anxious,--the establishment of law and the security of property. The king +pledges himself to introduce no foreign law and to make no arbitrary +confiscations of property. To win the steady adhesion of that most +influential body of men who were always at hand to bring the pressure of +their public opinion to bear upon the leaders of the state, the +inhabitants of London, this measure was as wise as was the building of +the Tower for security against the sudden tumults so frequent in the +medieval city, or even more dangerous insurrections. + +At the same time strict regulations were made for the repression of +disorders in the army. The leaders were exhorted to justice and to avoid +any oppression of the conquered; the soldiers were forbidden all acts of +violence, and the favourite vices of armies were prohibited,--too much +drinking, we are told, lest it should lead to bloodshed. Judges were +appointed to deal with the offences of the soldiers; the Norman members +of the force were allowed no special privileges; and the control of law +over the army, says the king's chaplain, proudly, was made as strict as +the control of the army over the subject race. Attention was given also +to the fiscal system of the country, to the punishment of criminals, and +to the protection of commerce. Most of this we may well believe, though +some details of fact as well as of motive may be too highly coloured, for +our knowledge of William's attitude towards matters of this kind is not +dependent on the words of any panegyrist. + +While William waited at Barking, other English lords in addition to those +who had already acknowledged him came in and made submission. The Norman +authorities say that the earls Edwin and Morcar were the chief of these, +and if not earlier, they must have submitted then. Two men, Siward and +Eldred, are said to have been relatives of the last Saxon king, but in +what way we do not know. Copsi, who had ruled Northumberland for a time +under Tostig, the brother of Harold, impressed the Norman writers with +his importance, and a Thurkill is also mentioned by name, while "many +other nobles" are classed together without special mention. Another great +name which should probably be added to this list is that of Waltheof, +Earl of Northampton and Huntingdon, of distinguished descent and destined +later to an unhappy fate. All of these the king received most kindly. He +accepted their oaths, restored to them all their possessions, and held +them in great honour. + +But certainly not in all cases did things go so easily for the English. +Two bits of evidence, one in the Saxon Chronicle, that men bought their +lands of the king, and one in Domesday Book, a statement of the +condition of a piece of land "at the time when the English redeemed their +lands," lead us to infer that William demanded of the English that they +obtain from him in form a confirmation of their possessions for which +they were obliged to pay a price. No statement is made of the reasons by +which this demand was justified, but the temptation to regard it as an +application of the principle of the feudal relief is almost irresistible; +of the relief paid on the succession of a new lord, instead of the +ordinary relief paid on the recognition of the heir to the fief. If the +evidence were greater that this was a common practice in feudalism rather +than an occasional one, as it seems only to have been, it would give us +the simplest and most natural explanation of this act of William's. To +consider that he regarded all the land of the kingdom as rightly +confiscate, which has been suggested as an explanation, because of a +resistance which in many cases never occurred, and in most had not at the +time when this regulation must have been made, is a forced and unnatural +theory, and not in harmony with William's usual methods. To suppose that +he regarded this as an exceptional case, in which a relief on a change of +lords could be collected, is a less violent supposition. Possibly it was +an application more general than ordinary of the practice which was usual +throughout the medieval world of obtaining at a price, from a new king, +confirmations of the important grants of his predecessors. But any +explanation of the ground of right on which the king demanded this +general redemption of lands must remain from lack of evidence a mere +conjecture. The fact itself seems beyond question, and is an indication +of no little value of the views and intentions of the new king. The +kingdom was his; all the land must be held of him and with his formal +consent, but no uncalled-for disturbance of possession was to occur. + +Beyond reasonable doubt at this time was begun that policy of actual +confiscation, where reasons existed, which by degrees transformed the +landed aristocracy from English into Norman. Those who had gained the +crown for the new king must receive the minor rewards which they had had +in view for themselves, and with no unnecessary delay. A new nobility +must be endowed, and policy would dictate also that at the earliest +moment the country should be garrisoned by faithful vassals of the king's +own, supplied with means of defending themselves and having +proportionately as much at stake in the country as himself. The lands and +property of those who had fought against him or who were irreconcilable +would be in his hands to dispose of, according to any theory of his +position which William might hold. The crown lands of the old kings were +of course his, and in spite of all the grants that were made during the +reign, this domain was increased rather than diminished under William. +The possessions of Harold's family and of all those who had fallen in the +battle with him were at once confiscated, and these seem to have sufficed +for present needs. Whatever may have been true later, we may accept the +conclusion that "on the whole William at this stage of his reign warred +rather against the memory of the dead than against the lives or fortunes +of the living." + +These confiscated lands the king bestowed on the chiefs of his army. We +have little information of the way in which this change was carried out, +but in many cases certainly the possessions held by a given Saxon thane +in the days of Edward were turned over as a whole to a given Norman with +no more accurate description than that the lands of A were now to be the +lands of B. What lands had actually belonged to A, the old owner, was +left to be determined by some sort of local inquiry, but with this the +king did not concern himself beyond giving written orders that the change +was to be made. Often this turning over to a Norman of the estate of a +dispossessed Saxon resulted in unintended injustice and in legal quarrels +which were unsettled years afterwards. Naturally the new owner considered +himself the successor of the old one in all the rights which he +possessed. If for some of his manors the Saxon was the tenant of a church +or of an abbey, the Norman often seized upon these with the rest, as if +all were rightfully confiscated together and all held by an equally clear +title, and the Church was not always able, even after long litigation, to +establish its rights. We have little direct evidence as to the +relationship which such grants created between the recipient and the +king, or as to the kind of tenure by which they were held, but the +indirect evidence is constantly accumulating, and may be said to be now +indeed conclusive, that the relation and the tenure made use of were the +only ones with which the Normans were at this time familiar or which +would be likely to seem to them possible,--the relationship of vassal and +lord; and that with these first grants of land which the king made to his +followers was introduced into England that side of the feudal system +which Saxon England had never known, but which was, from this time on, +for nearly two centuries, to be the ruling system in both public and +private law. + +In saying that the feudal system was introduced into England by these +grants, we must guard against a misconception. The feudal system, if we +use that name as we commonly do to cover the entire relations of the +society of that age, had two sides to it, distinct in origin, character, +and purpose. To any clear understanding of the organization of feudal +society, or of the change which its establishment made in English +history, it is necessary, although it is not easy, to hold these two +sides apart. There was in the practices and in the vocabulary of +feudalism itself some confusion of the two in the borderland that lay +between them, and the difficulty is made greater for us by the fact that +both sides were primarily concerned with the holding of land, and +especially by the fact that the same piece of land belonged at once to +both sides and was held at the same time by two different men, by two +different kinds of tenure, and under two different systems of law. The +one side may be called from its ruling purpose economic and the other +political. The one had for its object the income to be drawn from the +land; the other regarded chiefly the political obligations joined to the +land and the political or social rank and duties of the holders. + +The economic side concerned the relations of the cultivators of the soil +with the man who was, in relation to them, the owner of that soil; it +regulated the tenures by which they held the little pieces which they +cultivated, their rights over that land and its produce, their +obligations to the owner of service in cultivating for him the lands +which he reserved for his own use, and, in addition, of payments to him +in kind and perhaps in money on a variety of occasions and occurrences +throughout the year; it defined and practically limited, also, the +owner's right of exaction from these cultivators. These regulations were +purely customary; they had grown up slowly out of experience, and they +were not written. But this was true also of almost all the law of that +age, and this law of the cultivators was as valid in its place as the +king's law, and was enforced in its own courts. It is true that most of +these men who cultivated the soil were serfs, at least not entirely free; +but that fact made no difference in this particular; they had their +standing, their voice, and their rights in their lord's "customary" +court, and the documents which describe to us these arrangements call +them, as they do the highest barons of the realm, "peers,"--that is, +peers of these customary courts. Not all, indeed, were serfs; many +freemen, small farmers, possibly it would not be wrong to say all who had +formerly belonged to that class, had been forced by one necessity or +another to enter into this system, to surrender the unqualified ownership +of their lands, and to agree to hold them of some lord, though traces of +their original full ownership may long have lingered about the land. When +they did this, they were brought into very close relations with the +unfree cultivators; they were parts of the same system and subject to +some of the same regulations and services but their land was usually held +on terms that were economically better than the serfs obtained, and they +retained their personal freedom. They were members of the lords' courts, +and there the serfs were their peers; but they were also members of the +old national courts of hundred and shire, and there they were the peers +of knights and barons. + +This system, this economic side of feudalism, is what we know as the +manorial system. Its unit was the manor, an estate of land larger or +smaller, but large enough to admit of this characteristic organization, +managed as a unit, usually from some well-defined centre, the manor +house, and directed by a single responsible head, the lord's steward. The +land which constituted the manor was divided into two clearly +distinguished parts, the "domain" and the "tenures." The domain was the +part of each manor that was reserved for the lord's own use, and +cultivated for him by the labour of his tenants under the direction of +the steward, as a part of the services by which they held their lands; +that is, as a part of the rent paid for them. The returns from these +domain lands formed a very large part, probably the largest part, of the +income of the landlord class in feudal days. The "tenures" were the +holdings of the cultivators, worked for themselves by their own labour, +of varying sizes and held on terms of varying advantage, and usually +scattered about the manor in small strips, a bit here and another there. +Besides these cultivated lands there were also, in the typical manor, +common pasture lands and common wood lands, in which the rights of each +member of this little community were carefully regulated by the customary +law of the manor. This whole arrangement was plainly economic in +character and purpose it was not in the least political. Its object was +to get the soil cultivated, to provide mankind with the necessary food +and clothing, and the more fortunate members of the race with their +incomes. This purpose it admirably served in an age when local protection +was an ever present need, when the labouring man had often to look to the +rich and strong man of the neighbourhood for the security which he could +not get from the state. Whatever may have been the origin of this system, +it was at any rate this need which perpetuated it for centuries from the +fall of Rome to the later Middle Ages; and during this long time it was +by this system that the western world was fed and all its activities +sustained. + +This economic side of feudalism, this manorial system, was not introduced +into England by the Norman Conquest. It had grown up in the Saxon states, +as it had on the continent, because of the prevalence there of the +general social and economic conditions which favoured its growth. It was +different from the continental system in some details; it used different +terms for many things; but it was essentially the same system. It had its +body of customary law and its private courts; and these courts, like +their prototypes in the Prankish state, had in numerous cases usurped or +had been granted the rights and functions of the local courts of the +nation, and so had annexed a minor political function which did not +naturally belong to the system. Indeed, this process had gone so far that +we may believe that the stronger government of the state established by +the Conqueror found it necessary to check it and to hold the operation of +the private courts within stricter limits. This economic organization +which the Normans found in England was so clearly parallel with that +which they had always known that they made no change in it. They +introduced their own vocabulary in many cases in place of the Saxon; they +identified in some cases practices which looked alike but which were not +strictly identical; and they had a very decided tendency to treat the +free members of the manorial population, strongly intrenched as they were +in the popular courts, as belonging at the same time to both sides of +feudalism, the economic and the political: but the confusion of language +and custom which they introduced in consequence is not sufficient to +disguise from us the real relationships which existed. Nor should it be +in the opposite process, which was equally easy, as when the Saxon +chronicler, led by the superficial resemblance and overlooking the great +institutional difference, called the curia of William by the Saxon name +of witenagemot. + +With the other side of feudalism, the political, the case was different. +That had never grown up in the Saxon world. The starting-points in +certain minor Roman institutions from which it had grown, seem to have +disappeared with the Saxon occupation of Britain. The general conditions +which favoured its development--the almost complete breakdown of the +central government and the difficult and interrupted means of +communication--existed in far less degree in the Saxon states than in the +more extensive Frankish territories. Such rudimentary practices as seem +parallel to early stages of feudal growth were more so in appearance than +in reality, and we can hardly affirm with any confidence that political +feudalism was even in process of formation in England before the +Conquest, though it would undoubtedly have been introduced there by some +process before very long. + +The political feudal organization was as intimately bound up with the +possession of land as the economic, but its primary object was different. +It may be described as that form of organization in which the duties of +the citizen to the state had been changed into a species of land rent. A +set of legal arrangements and personal relationships which had grown up +wholly in the field of private affairs, for the serving of private ends, +had usurped the place of public law in the state. Duties of the citizen +and functions of the government were translated into its terms and +performed as incidents of a private obligation. The individual no longer +served in the army because this service was a part of his obligation as a +citizen, but because he had agreed by private contract to do so as a part +of the rent he was to pay for the land he held of another man. The +judicial organization was transformed in the same way. The national +courts disappeared, and their place was taken by private courts made up +of tenants. The king summoned at intervals the great men of Church and +State to gather round him in his council, law court, and legislature, in +so far as there was a legislature in that age, the curia regis, the +mother institution of a numerous progeny; but he did not summon them, and +they came no longer, because they were the great men of Church and State, +the wise men of the land, but because they had entered into a private +obligation with him to attend when called upon, as a return for lands +which he had given them; or, in other words, as Henry II told the bishops +in the Constitutions of Clarendon, because they were his vassals. Public +taxation underwent the same change, and the money revenue of the feudal +state which corresponds most nearly to the income of taxation, was made +up of irregular payments due on the occurrence of specified events from +those who held land of the king, and these in turn collected like +payments of their tenants; the relief, for instance, on the succession of +the heir to his father's holding, or the aids in three cases, on the +knighting of the lord's eldest son, the marrying of his eldest daughter, +and the ransom of his own person from imprisonment. The contact of the +central government with the mass of the men of the state was broken off +by the intervening series of lords who were political rulers each of the +territory or group of lands immediately subject to himself, and exercised +within those limits the functions which the general government should +normally exercise for the whole state. The payments and services which +the lord's vassals made to him, while they were of the nature of rent, +were not rent in the economic sense; they were important to the suzerain +less as matters of income than as defining his political power and +marking his rank in this hierarchical organization. The state as a whole +might retain its geographical outlines and the form of a common +government, but it was really broken up into fragments of varying size, +whose lords possessed in varying degrees of completeness the attributes +of sovereignty. + +This organization, however, never usurped the place of the state so +completely as might be inferred. It had grown up within the limits of a +state which was, during the whole period of its formation, nominally +ruled over by a king who was served by a more or less centralized +administrative system. This royal power never entirely disappeared. It +survived as the conception of government, it survived in the exercise of +some rights everywhere, and of many rights in some places, even in the +most feudal of countries. Some feeling of public law and public duty +still lingered. In the king's court, the curia regis, whether in +England or in France, there was often present a small group of members, +at first in a minor and subordinate capacity, who were there, not because +they were the vassals of the king, but because they were the working +members of a government machine. The military necessity of the state in +all countries occasionally called out something like the old general +levy. In the judicial department, in England at least, one important +class of courts, the popular county courts, was never seriously affected +by feudalism, either in their organization or in the law which they +interpreted. Any complete description of the feudal organization must be +understood to be a description of tendencies rather than of a realized +system. It was the tendency of feudalism to transform the state into a +series of principalities rising in tiers one above the other, and to get +the business of the state done, not through a central constitutional +machine, but through a series of graded duties corresponding to these +successive stages and secured by private agreements between the +landholders and by a customary law which was the outgrowth of such +agreements. + +At the date of the Norman Conquest of England, this tendency was more +nearly realized in France than anywhere else. Within the limits of that +state a number of great feudal principalities had been formed, duchies +and counties, round the administrative divisions of an earlier time as +their starting-point, in many of which the sovereign of the state could +exercise no powers of government. The extensive powers which the earlier +system had intrusted to the duke or count as an administrative officer of +the state he now exercised as a practically independent sovereign, and +the state could expect from this portion of its territory only the feudal +services of its ruler, perhaps ill-defined and difficult to enforce. In +some cases, however, this process of breaking up the state into smaller +units went no further. Normandy, with which we are particularly +concerned, was an instance of this fact. The duke was practically the +sole sovereign of that province. The king of France was entirely shut +out. Even the Church was under the unlimited control of the duke. And +with respect to his subjects his power was as great as with respect to +his nominal sovereign. Very few great baronies existed in Normandy formed +of contiguous territory and capable of development into independent +principalities, and those that did exist were kept constantly in the +hands of relatives of the ducal house and under strong control. Political +feudalism existed in Normandy in even greater perfection and in a more +logical completeness, if we regard the forms alone, its practices and +customs, than was usual in the feudal world of that age; but it existed +not as the means by which the state was broken into fragments, but as the +machinery by which it was governed by the duke. It formed the bond of +connexion between him and the great men of the state. It defined the +services which he had the right to demand of them, and which they in turn +might demand of their vassals. It formed the foundation of the army and +of the judicial system. Every department of the state was influenced by +its forms and principles. At the same time the Duke of Normandy was more +than a feudal suzerain. He had saved on the whole, from the feudal +deluge, more of the prerogatives of sovereignty than had the king of +France. He had a considerable non-feudal administrative system, though it +might not reach all parts of the duchy. The supreme judicial power had +never been parted with, and the Norman barons were unable to exercise in +its full extent the right of high justice. The oath of allegiance from +all freemen, whosesoever vassals they might be, traces of which are to be +found in many feudal lands and even under the Capetian kings, was +retained in the duchy. Private war, baronial coinage, engagements with +foreign princes to the injury of the duke,--these might occur in +exceptional cases during a minority or under a weak duke, or in time of +rebellion; but the strong dukes repressed them with an iron hand, and no +Norman baron could claim any of them as a prescriptive right. Feudalism +existed in Normandy as the organization of the state, and as the system +which regulated the relations between the duke and the knights and the +nobles of the land, but it did not exist at the expense of the sovereign +rights of the duke. + +This was the system which was introduced fully formed into England with +the grants of land which the Conqueror made to his barons. It was the +only system known to him by which to regulate their relations to himself +and their duties to the state. To suppose a gradual introduction of +feudalism into England, except in a geographical sense, as the +confiscation spread over the land, is to misunderstand both feudalism +itself and its history. This system gave to the baron opportunities which +might be dangerous under a ruler who could not make himself obeyed, but +there was nothing in it inconsistent with the practical absolutism +exercised by the first of the Norman kings and by the more part of his +immediate successors. Feudalism brought in with itself two ideas which +exercised decisive influence on later English history. I do not mean to +assert that these ideas were consciously held, or that they could have +been formulated in words, though of the first at least this was very +nearly true, but that they unconsciously controlled the facts of the time +and their future development. One was the idea that all holders of land +in the kingdom, except the king, were, strictly speaking, tenants rather +than owners, which profoundly influenced the history of English law; the +other was the idea that important public duties were really private +obligations, created by a business contract, which as profoundly +influenced the growth of the constitution. Taken together, the +introduction of the feudal system was as momentous a change as any which +followed the Norman Conquest, as decisive in its influence upon the +future as the enrichment of race or of language; more decisive in one +respect, since without the consequences in government and constitution, +which were destined to follow from the feudalization of the English +state, neither race nor language could have done the work in the world +which they have already accomplished and are yet destined to perform in +still larger measure. + +But, however profound this change may have been, it affected but a small +class, comparatively speaking. The whole number of military units, of +knights due the king in service, seems to have been something less than +five thousand.[3] For the great mass of the population, the working +substratum, whose labours sustained the life of the nation, the Norman +Conquest made but little change. The interior organization of the manor +was not affected by it. Its work went on in the same way as before. +There was a change of masters; there was a new set of ideas to interpret +the old relationship; the upper grades of the manorial population +suffered in some parts of England a serious depression. But in the main, +as concerned the great mass of facts, there was no change of importance. +Nor was there any, at first at least, which affected the position of the +towns. The new system allowed as readily as the old the rights which +they already possessed. In the end, the new ideas might be a serious +matter for the towns in some particulars, but at present the conditions +did not exist which were to raise these difficulties. At the time, to +the mass of the nation, to everybody indeed, the Norman Conquest might +easily seem but a change of sovereigns, a change of masters. It is +because we can see the results of the changes which it really introduced +that we are able to estimate their profound significance. + +The spoiling of England for the benefit of the foreigner did not consist +in the confiscation of lands alone. Besides the forced redemption of +their lands, William seems to have laid a heavy tax on the nation, and +the churches and monasteries whose lands were free from confiscation seem +to have suffered heavy losses of their gold and silver and precious +stuffs. The royal treasure and Harold's possessions would pass into +William's hands, and much confiscated and plundered wealth besides. These +things he distributed with a free hand, especially to the churches of the +continent whose prayers and blessings he unquestionably regarded as a +strong reinforcement of his arms. Harold's rich banner of the fighting +man went to Rome, and valuable gifts besides, and the Norman +ecclesiastical world had abundant cause to return thanks to heaven for +the successes which had attended the efforts of the Norman military arm. +If William despatched these gifts to the continent before his own return +to Normandy, they did not exhaust his booty, for the wonder and +admiration of the duchy is plainly expressed at the richness and beauty +of the spoils which he brought home with him. + +Having settled the matters which demanded immediate attention, the king +proceeded to make a progress through those parts of his kingdom which +were under his control. Just where he went we are not told, but he can +hardly have gone far outside the counties of southern and eastern England +which were directly influenced by his march on London. In such a progress +he probably had chiefly in mind to take possession for himself and his +men of confiscated estates and of strategic points. No opposition showed +itself anywhere, but women with their children appeared along the way to +beseech his mercy, and the favour which he showed to these suppliants was +thought worthy of special remark. Winchester seems to have been visited, +and secured by the beginning of a Norman castle within the walls, and the +journey ended at Pevensey, where he had landed so short a time before in +pursuit of the crown. William had decided that he could return to +Normandy, and the decision that this could be safely done with so small a +part of the kingdom actually in hand, with so few castles already built +or garrisons established, is the clearest possible evidence of William's +opinion of the situation. He would have been the last man to venture such +a step if he had believed the risk to be great. And the event justified +his judgment. The insurrectionary movements which called him back clearly +appear to have been, not so much efforts of the nation to throw off a +foreign yoke, as revolts excited by the oppression and bad government of +those whom he had left in charge of the kingdom. + +On the eve of his departure he confided the care of his new kingdom to +two of his followers whom he believed the most devoted to himself, the +south-east to his half brother Odo, and the north to William Fitz Osbern. +Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, but less an ecclesiastic, according to the ideals +of the Church, than a typically feudal bishop, was assigned the +responsibility for the fortress of Dover, was given large estates in Kent +and to the west of it, and was probably made earl of that county at this +time. William Fitz Osbern was the son of the duke's guardian, who had +been murdered for his fidelity during William's minority, and they had +been boys together, as we are expressly told. He was appointed to be +responsible for Winchester and to hold what might be called the marches, +towards the unoccupied north and west. Very probably at this time also he +was made Earl of Hereford? Some other of the leading nobles of the +Conquest had been established in their possessions by this date, as we +know on good evidence, like Hugh of Grantmesnil in Hampshire, but the +chief dependence of the king was apparently upon these two, who are +spoken of as having under their care the minor holders of the castles +which had been already established. + +No disorders in Normandy demanded the duke's return. Everything had been +quiet there, under the control of Matilda and those who had been +appointed to assist her. William's visit at this time looks less like a +necessity than a parade to make an exhibition of the results of his +venture. He took with him a splendid assortment of plunder and a long +train of English nobles, among whom the young atheling Edgar, Stigand, +Archbishop of Canterbury, Earls Edwin and Morcar, Waltheof, son of +Siward, the Abbot of Glastonbury, and a thane of Kent, are mentioned by +name. The favour and honour with which William treated these men did not +disguise from them the fact that they were really held as hostages. No +business of especial importance occupied William during his nine months' +stay in Normandy. He was received with great rejoicing on every hand, +especially in Rouen, where Matilda was staying, and his return and +triumphal progress through the country reminded his panegyrist of the +successes and glories of the great Roman commanders. He distributed with +a free hand, to the churches and monasteries, the wealth which he had +brought with him. A great assembly gathered to celebrate with him the +Easter feast at the abbey of Fécamp. His presence was sought to add éclat +to the dedication of new churches. But the event of the greatest +importance which occurred during this visit to the duchy was the falling +vacant of the primacy of Normandy by the death of Maurilius, Archbishop +of Rouen. The universal choice for his successor was Lanfranc, the +Italian, Abbot of St. Stephen's at Caen, who had already made evident to +all the possession of those talents for government which he was to +exercise in a larger field. But though William stood ready, in form at +least, to grant his sanction, Lanfranc declined the election, which then +fell upon John, Bishop of Avranches, a friend of his. Lanfranc was sent +to Rome to obtain the pallium for the new archbishop, but his mission was +in all probability one of information to the pope regarding larger +interests than those of the archbishopric of Rouen. + +In the meantime, affairs had not run smoothly in England. We may easily +guess that William's lieutenants, especially his brother, had not failed +on the side of too great gentleness in carrying out his directions to +secure the land with garrisons and castles. In various places unconnected +with one another troubles had broken out. In the north, where Copsi had +been made Earl of Northumberland, an old local dynastic feud was still +unsettled, and the mere appointment of an earl would not bring it to an +end. Copsi was slain by his rival, Oswulf, who was himself soon afterward +killed, but the Norman occupation had still to be begun. In the west a +more interesting resistance to the Norman advance had developed near +Hereford, led by Edric, called the Wild, descendant of a noble Saxon +house. He had enlisted the support of the Welsh, and in retaliation for +attacks upon himself had laid waste a large district in Herefordshire. +Odo had had in his county an insurrection which threatened for a moment +to have most serious consequences, but which had ended in a complete +failure. The men of Kent, planning rebellion, had sent across the channel +to Eustace, Count of Boulogne, who believed that he had causes of +grievance against William, and had besought him to come to their aid in +an attempt to seize the fortress of Dover. Eustace accepted the +invitation and crossed over at the appointed time, but his allies had not +all gathered when he arrived, and the unsteady character of the count +wrecked the enterprise. He attacked in haste, and when he failed to carry +the castle by storm, he retired in equal haste and abandoned the +undertaking. William judged him too important a man to treat with +severity, and restored him to his favour. Besides these signs which +revealed the danger of an open outbreak, William undoubtedly knew that +many of the English had left the country and had gone in various +directions, seeking foreign aid. His absence could not be prolonged +without serious consequences, and in December, 1067, he returned to +England. + +[1] William of Poitiers, in Migne's Patrologia Latina, cxlix, +1258, and see F. Baring, in Engl. Hist. Rev., xiii. 18 (1898). + +[2] Orderic Vitalis, ii. 158 (ed. Le Prevost). + +[3] Round, Feudal England, p. 292. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +THE SUBJUGATION OF LAND AND CHURCH + +With William's return to England began the long and difficult task of +bringing the country completely under his control. But this was not a +task that called for military genius. Patience was the quality most +demanded, and William's patience gave way but rarely. There was no army +in the field against him. No large portion of the land was in +insurrection. No formal campaign was necessary. Local revolts had to be +put down one after another, or a district dealt with where rebellion was +constantly renewed. The Scandinavian north and the Celtic west were the +regions not yet subdued, and the seats of future trouble. Three years +were filled with this work, and the fifteen years that follow were +comparatively undisturbed. For the moment after his return, William was +occupied with no hostilities. The Christmas of 1067 was celebrated in +London with the land at peace, Normans and English meeting together to +all appearance with cordial good-will. A native, Gospatric, was probably +at this time made Earl of Northumberland, in place of Copsi, who had been +killed, though this was an exercise of royal power in form rather than in +reality, since William's authority did not yet reach so far. A Norman, +Remigius, was made Bishop of Dorchester, in place of Wulfwig, who had +died while the king was in Normandy, and William's caution in dealing +with the matter of Church reform is shown in the fact that the new bishop +received his consecration from Stigand. It is possible also that another +heavy tax was imposed at this time. + +But soon after Christmas, William felt himself obliged to take the field. +He had learned that Exeter, the rich commercial city of the south-west, +was making preparations to resist him. It was in a district where Harold +and his family had had large possessions. His mother was in the city, and +perhaps others of the family. At least some English of prominence seem to +have rallied around them. The citizens had repaired and improved their +already strong walls. They had impressed foreigners, merchants even, into +their service, and were seeking allies in other towns. William's rule had +never yet reached into that part of England, and Exeter evidently hoped +to shut him out altogether. When the king heard of these preparations, he +acted with his usual promptitude, but with no sacrifice of his diplomatic +skill. The citizens should first be made to acknowledge their intentions. +A message was sent to the city, demanding that the oath of allegiance to +himself be taken. The citizens answered that they would take no oath, and +would not admit him within the walls, but that they were willing to pay +him the customary tribute. William at once replied that he was not +accustomed to have subjects on such conditions, and at once began his +march against the city. Orderic Vitalis thought it worthy of note, that +in this army William was using Englishmen for the first time as soldiers. + +When the hostile army drew near to the town, the courage of some of the +leading men failed, and they went out to seek terms of peace. They +promised to do whatever was commanded, and they gave hostages, but on +their return they found their negotiations disavowed and the city +determined to stand a siege. This lasted only eighteen days. Some decided +advantage which the Normans gained--the undermining of the walls seems +to be implied--induced the city to try again for terms. The clergy, +with their sacred books and relics, accompanied the deputation, which +obtained from the king better promises than had been hoped for. For some +reason William departed from his usual custom of severity to those who +resisted. He overlooked their evil conduct, ordered no confiscations, and +even stationed guards in the gates to keep out the soldiers who would +have helped themselves to the property of the citizens with some +violence. But as usual he selected a site for a castle within the walls, +and left a force of chosen knights under faithful command, to complete +the fortification and to form the garrison. Harold's mother, Gytha, left +the city before its surrender, and finally found a refuge in Saint Omer, +in Flanders. Harold's sons also, if they were in Exeter, made their +escape before its fall. + +After subduing Exeter, William marched with his army into Cornwall, and +put down without difficulty whatever resistance he found there. The +confiscation of forfeited estates was no doubt one object of his march +through the land, and the greater part of these were bestowed upon his +own half brother, Robert, Count of Mortain, the beginning of what grew +ultimately into the great earldom of Cornwall. In all, the grants which +were made to Robert have been estimated at 797 manors, the largest made +to any one as the result of the Conquest. Of these, 248 manors were in +Cornwall, practically the whole shire; 75 in Dorset, and 49 in +Devonshire. This was almost a principality in itself, and is alone nearly +enough to disprove the policy attributed to William of scattering about +the country the great estates which he granted. So powerful a possession +was the earldom which was founded upon this grant that after a time the +policy which had been followed in Normandy, in regard to the great +counties, seemed the only wise one in this case also, and it was not +allowed to pass out of the immediate family of the king until in the +fourteenth century it was made into a provision for the king's eldest +son, as it has ever since remained. These things done, William disbanded +his army and returned to spend Easter at Winchester. + +Once more for a moment the land seemed to be at peace, and William was +justified in looking upon himself as now no longer merely the leader of a +military adventure, seeking to conquer a foreign state, but as firmly +established in a land where he had made a new home for his house. He +could send for his wife; his children should be born here. It should be +the native land of future generations for his family. Matilda came soon +after Easter, with a distinguished train of ladies as well as lords, and +with her Guy, Bishop of Amiens, who, Orderic tells us, had already +written his poem on the war of William and Harold. At Whitsuntide, in +Westminster, Matilda was crowned queen by Archbishop Aldred. Later in the +summer Henry, the future King Henry I, was born, and the new royal family +had completely identified itself with the new kingdom. + +But a great task still lay before the king, the greatest perhaps that he +had yet undertaken. The north was his only in name. Scarcely had any +English king up to this time exercised there the sort of authority to +which William was accustomed, and which he was determined to exercise +everywhere. The question of the hour was, whether he could establish his +authority there by degrees, as he seemed to be trying to do, or only +after a sharp conflict. The answer to this question was known very soon +after the coronation of Matilda. What seemed to the Normans a great +conspiracy of the north and west was forming. The Welsh and English +nobles were making common cause; the clergy and the common people joined +their prayers; York was noted as especially enthusiastic in the cause, +and many there took to living in tents as a kind of training for the +conflict which was coming. The Normans understood at the time that there +were two reasons for this determination to resist by force any further +extension of William's rule. One was, the personal dissatisfaction of +Earl Edwin. He had been given by William some undefined authority, and +promoted above his brother, and he had even been promised a daughter of +the king's as his wife. Clearly it had seemed at one time very necessary +to conciliate him. But either that necessity had passed away, or William +was reluctant to fulfil his promise; and Edwin, discontented with the +delay, was ready to lead what was for him at least, after he had accepted +so much from William, a rebellion. He was the natural leader of such an +attempt; his family history made him that. Personal popularity and his +wide connexions added to his strength, and if he had had in himself the +gifts of leadership, it would not have been even then too late to dispute +the possession of England on even terms. The second reason given us is +one to which we must attach much greater force than to the personal +influence of Edwin. He in all probability merely embraced an opportunity. +The other was the really moving cause. This is said to have been the +discontent of the English and Welsh nobles under the Norman oppression, +but we must phrase it a little differently. No direct oppression had as +yet been felt, either in the north or west, but the severity of William +in the south and east, the widespread confiscations there, were +undoubtedly well known, and easily read as signs of what would follow in +the north, and already the borders of Wales were threatened n with the +pushing forward of the Norman lines, which went on so steadily and for so +long a time. + +Whether or not the efforts which had been making to obtain foreign help +against William were to result finally in bringing in a reinforcement of +Scots or Danes, the union of Welshmen and Englishmen was itself +formidable and demanded instant attention. Early in the summer of 1068 +the army began its march upon York, advancing along a line somewhat to +the west of the centre of England, as the situation would naturally +demand. As in William's earlier marches, so here again he encountered no +resistance. Whatever may have been the extent of the conspiracy or the +plans of the leaders, the entire movement collapsed before the Norman's +firm determination to be master of the kingdom. Edwin and Morcar had +collected an army and were in the field somewhere between Warwick and +Northampton, but when the time came when the fight could no longer be +postponed, they thought better of it, besought the king's favour again, +and obtained at least the show of it. The boastful preparations at York +brought forth no better result. The citizens went out to meet the king on +his approach, and gave him the keys of the city and hostages from among +them. + +The present expedition went no further north, but its influence extended +further. Ethelwin, the Bishop of Durham came in and made his submission. +He bore inquiries also from Malcolm, the king of Scots, who had been +listening to the appeals for aid from the enemies of William, and +preparing himself to advance to their assistance. The Bishop of Durham +was sent back to let him know what assurances would be acceptable to +William, and he undoubtedly also informed him of the actual state of +affairs south of his borders, of the progress which the invader had made, +and of the hopelessness of resistance. The Normans at any rate believed +that as a result of the bishop's mission Malcolm was glad to send down an +embassy of his own which tendered to William an oath of obedience. It is +not likely that William attached much weight to any profession of the +Scottish king's. Already, probably as soon as the failure of this +northern undertaking was apparent, some of the most prominent of the +English, who seem to have taken part in it, had abandoned England and +gone to the Scottish court. It is very possible that Edgar and his two +sisters, Margaret and Christina, sought the protection of Malcolm at this +time, together with Gospatric, who had shortly before been made Earl of +Northumberland, and the sheriff Merleswegen. These men had earlier +submitted to William, Merleswegen perhaps in the submission at +Berkhampsted, with Edgar, and had been received with favour. Under what +circumstances they turned against him we do not know, but they had very +likely been attracted by the promise of strength in this effort at +resistance, and were now less inclined than the unstable Edwin to profess +so early a repentance. Margaret, whether she went to Scotland at this +time or a little later, found there a permanent home, consenting against +her will to become the bride of Malcolm instead of the bride of the +Church as she had wished. As queen she gained, through teaching her wild +subjects, by the example of gentle manners and noble life, a wider +mission than the convent could have furnished her. The conditions which +Malcolm accepted evidently contained no demand as to any English +fugitives, nor any other to which he could seriously object. William was +usually able to discern the times, and did not attempt the impracticable. + +William intended this expedition of his to result in the permanent +pacification of the country through which he had passed. There is no +record of any special severity attending the march, but certainly no one +was able to infer from it that the king was weak or to be trifled with. +The important towns he secured with castles and garrisons, as he had in +the south. Warwick and Northampton were occupied in this way as he +advanced, with York at the north, and Lincoln, Huntingdon, and Cambridge +along the east as he returned. A great wedge of fortified posts was thus +driven far into that part of the land from which the greatest trouble was +to be expected, and this, together with the general impression which his +march had made, was the most which was gained from it. Sometime during +this summer of 1068 another fruitless attempt had been made to disturb +the Norman possession of England. Harold's sons had retired, perhaps +after the fall of Exeter, to Ireland, where their father had formerly +found refuge. There it was not difficult to stir up the love of +plundering raids in the descendants of the Vikings, and they returned at +this time, it is said with more than fifty ships, and sailed up the +Bristol Channel. If any among them intended a serious invasion of the +island, the result was disappointing. They laid waste the coast lands; +attacked the city of Bristol, but were beaten off by the citizens; landed +again further down in Somerset, and were defeated in a great battle by +Ednoth, who had been Harold's staller, where many were killed on both +sides, including Ednoth himself; and then returned with nothing gained +but such plunder as they succeeded in carrying off. The next year they +repeated the attempt in the same style, and were again defeated, even +more disastrously, this time by one of the newcomers, Brian of Britanny. +Such piratical descents were not dangerous to the Norman government, nor +was a rally to beat them off any test of English loyalty to William. + +Even the historian, Orderic Vitalis, half English by descent and wholly +so by birth, but writing in Normandy for Normans and very favourable to +William, or possibly the even more Norman William of Poitiers, whom he +may have been following, was moved by the sufferings of the land under +these repeated invasions, revolts, and harryings, and notes at the close +of his account of this year how conquerors and conquered alike were +involved in the evils of war, famine, and pestilence. He adds that the +king, seeing the injuries which were inflicted on the country, gathered +together the soldiers who were serving him for pay, and sent them home +with rich rewards. We may regard this disbanding of his mercenary troops +as another sign that William considered his position secure. + +In truth, however, the year which was coming on, 1069, was another year +of crisis in the history of the Conquest. The danger which had been +threatening William from the beginning was this year to descend upon him, +and to prove as unreal as all those he had faced since the great battle +with Harold. For a long time efforts had been making to induce some +foreign power to interfere in England and support the cause of the +English against the invader. Two states seemed especially fitted for the +mission, from close relationship with England in the past,--Scotland and +Denmark. Fugitives, who preferred exile to submission, had early sought +the one or the other of these courts, and urged intervention upon their +kings. Scotland had for the moment formally accepted the Conquest. +Denmark had not done so, and Denmark was the more directly interested in +the result, not perhaps as a mere question of the independence of +England, but for other possible reasons. If England was to be ruled by a +foreign king, should not that king on historical grounds be a Dane rather +than a Norman? Ought he not to be of the land that had already furnished +kings to England? And if Sweyn dreamed of the possibility of extending +his rule, at such a time, over this other member of the empire of his +uncle, Canute the Great, he is certainly not to be blamed. + +It is true that the best moment for such an intervention had been allowed +to slip by, the time when no beginning of conquest had been made in the +north, but the situation was not even yet unfavourable. William was to +learn, when the new year had hardly begun, that he really held no more of +the north than his garrisons commanded. Perhaps it was a rash attempt to +try to establish a Norman earl of Northumberland in Durham before the +land had been overawed by his own presence; but the post was important, +the two experiments which had been made to secure the country through the +appointment of English earls had failed, and the submission of the +previous summer might prove to be real. In January Robert of Comines was +made earl, and with rash confidence, against the advice of the bishop, he +took possession of Durham with five hundred men or more. He expected, no +doubt, to be very soon behind the walls of a new castle, but he was +allowed no time. The very night of his arrival the enemy gathered and +massacred him and all his men but two. Yorkshire took courage at this and +cut up a Norman detachment. Then the exiles in Scotland believed the time +had come for another attempt, and Edgar, Gospatric, and the others, with +the men of Northumberland at their back, advanced to attack the castle in +York. This put all the work of the previous summer in danger, and at the +call of William Malet, who held the castle for him, the king advanced +rapidly to his aid, fell unexpectedly on the insurgents, and scattered +them with great slaughter. As a result the Norman hold on York was +tightened by the building of a second castle, but Northumberland was +still left to itself. + +William may have thought, as he returned to celebrate Easter at +Winchester, that the north had learned a lesson that would be sufficient +for some time, but he must have heard soon after his arrival that the men +of Yorkshire had again attacked his castles, though they had been beaten +off without much difficulty. Nothing had been gained by any of these +attempts, but they must have been indications to any abroad who were +watching the situation, and to William as well, that an invasion of +England in that quarter might hope for much local assistance. It was +nearly the end of the summer before it came, and a summer that was on the +whole quiet, disturbed only by the second raid of Harold's sons in the +Bristol Channel. + +Sweyn of Denmark had at last made up his mind, and had got ready an +expedition, a somewhat miscellaneous force apparently, "sharked up" from +all the Baltic lands, and not too numerous. His fleet sailed along the +shores of the North Sea and first appeared off south-western England. A +foolish attack on Dover was beaten off, and three other attempts to land +on the east coast, where the country was securely held, were easily +defeated. Finally, it would seem, off the Humber they fell in with some +ships bearing the English leaders from Scotland, who had been waiting for +them. There they landed and marched upon York, joined on the way by the +men of the country of all ranks. And the mere news of their approach, the +prospect of new horrors to be lived through with no chance of mitigating +them, proved too much for the old archbishop, Aldred, and he died a few +days before the storm broke. William was hunting in the forest of Dean, +on the southern borders of Wales, when he heard that the invaders had +landed, but his over-confident garrison in York reported that they could +hold out for a year without aid, and he left them for the present to +themselves. They planned to stand a siege, and in clearing a space about +the castle they kindled a fire which destroyed the most of the city, +including the cathedral church; but when the enemy appeared, they tried a +battle in the open, and were killed or captured to a man. + +The fall of York gave a serious aspect to the case, and called for +William's presence. Soon after the capture of the city the Danes had gone +back to the Humber, to the upper end of the estuary apparently, and there +they succeeded in avoiding attack by crossing one river or another as the +army of the king approached. In the meantime, in various places along the +west of England, insurrections had broken out, encouraged probably by +exaggerated reports of the successes of the rebels in the north. Only one +of these, that in Staffordshire, required any attention from William, and +in this case we do not know why. In all the other cases, in Devon, in +Somerset, and at Shrewsbury, where the Welsh helped in the attack on the +Norman castle, the garrisons and men of the locality unassisted, or +assisted only by the forces of their neighbours, had defended themselves +with success. If the Danish invasion be regarded as a test of the +security of the Conquest in those parts of England which the Normans had +really occupied, then certainly it must be regarded as complete. + +Prom the west William returned to the north with little delay, and +occupied York without opposition. Then followed the one act of the +Conquest which is condemned by friend and foe alike. When William had +first learned of the fate of his castles in York, he had burst out into +ungovernable rage, and the mood had not passed away. He was determined to +exact an awful vengeance for the repeated defiance of his power. War in +its mildest form in those days was little regulated by any consideration +for the conquered. From the point of view of a passionate soldier there +was some provocation in this case. Norman garrisons had been massacred; +detached parties had been cut off; repeated rebellion had followed every +pacification. Plainly a danger existed here, grave in itself and inviting +greater danger from abroad. Policy might dictate measures of unusual +severity, but policy did not call for what was done, and clearly in this +case the Conqueror gave way to a passion of rage which he usually held in +check, and inflicted on the stubborn province a punishment which the +standard of his own time did not justify. + +Slowly he passed with his army through the country to the north of York, +drawing a broad band of desolation between that city and Durham. +Fugitives he sought out and put to the sword, but even so he was not +satisfied. Innocent and guilty were involved in indiscriminate slaughter. +Houses were destroyed, flocks and herds exterminated. Supplies of food +and farm implements were heaped together and burned. With deliberate +purpose, cruelly carried out, it was made impossible for men to live +through a thousand square miles. Years afterwards the country was still a +desert; it was generations before it had fully recovered. The Norman +writer, Orderic Vitalis, perhaps following the king's chaplain and +panegyrist William of Poitiers, while he confesses here that he gladly +praised the king when he could, had only condemnation for this deed. He +believed that William, responsible to no earthly tribunal, must one day +answer for it to an infinite Judge before whom high and low are alike +accountable. + +Christmas was near at hand when William had finished this business, and +he celebrated at York the nativity of the Prince of Peace, doubtless with +no suspicion of inconsistency. Soon after Christmas, by a short but +difficult expedition, William drove the Danes from a position on the +coast which they had believed impregnable, and forced them to take to +their ships, in which, after suffering greatly from lack of supplies, +they drifted southward as if abandoning the land. During this expedition +also, we are told, Gospatric, who had rebelled the year before, and +Waltheof who had "gone out" on the coming of the Danes, made renewed +submission and were again received into favour by the king. The hopes +which the coming of foreign assistance had awakened were at an end. + +One thing remained to be done. The men of the Welsh border must be taught +the lesson which the men of the Scottish border had learned. The +insurrection which had called William into Staffordshire the previous +autumn seems still to have lingered in the region. The strong city of +Chester, from which, or from whose neighbourhood at least, men had joined +the attack on Shrewsbury, and which commanded the north-eastern parts of +Wales, was still unsubdued. Soon after his return from the coast William +determined upon a longer and still more difficult winter march, across +the width of England, from York to Chester. It is no wonder that his army +murmured and some at least asked to be dismissed. The country through +which they must pass was still largely wilderness. Hills and forests, +swollen streams and winter storms, must be encountered, and the strife +with them was a test of endurance without the joy of combat. One +expedition of the sort in a winter ought to be enough. But William +treated the objectors with contempt. He pushed on as he had planned, +leaving those to stay behind who would, and but few were ready for open +mutiny. The hazardous march was made with success. What remained of the +insurrection disappeared before the coming of the king; it has left to us +at least no traces of any resistance. Chester was occupied without +opposition. Fortified posts were established and garrisons left there and +at Stafford. Some things make us suspect that a large district on this +side of England was treated as northern Yorkshire had been, and homeless +fugitives in crowds driven forth to die of hunger. The patience which +pardoned the faithlessness of Edwin and Waltheof was not called for in +dealing with smaller men. + +From Chester William turned south. At Salisbury he dismissed with rich +rewards the soldiers who had been faithful to him, and at Winchester he +celebrated the Easter feast. There he found three legates who had been +sent from the pope, and supported by their presence he at last took up +the affairs of the English Church. The king had shown the greatest +caution in dealing with this matter. It must have been understood, almost +if not quite from the beginning of the Norman plan of invasion, that if +the attempt were successful, one of its results should be the revolution +of the English Church, the reform of the abuses which existed in it, +as the continental churchman regarded them, and as indeed they were. +During the past century a great reform movement, emanating from the +monastery of Cluny, had transformed the Catholic world, but in this +England had but little part. Starting as a monastic reformation, it +had just succeeded in bringing the whole Church under monastic control. +Henceforth the asceticism of the monk, his ideals in religion and +worship, his type of thought and learning, were to be those of the +official Church, from the papal throne to the country parsonage. It +was for that age a true reformation. The combined influence of the two +great temptations to which the churchmen of this period of the Middle +Ages were exposed--ignorance so easy to yield to, so hard to overcome, +and property, carrying with it rank and power and opening the way to +ambition for oneself or one's posterity--was so great that a rule of +strict asceticism, enforced by a powerful organization with fearful +sanctions, and a controlling ideal of personal devotion, alone could +overcome it. The monastic reformation had furnished these conditions, +though severe conflicts were still to be fought out before they would +be made to prevail in every part of western Europe. Shortly before the +appointment of Stigand to the archbishopric of Canterbury, these new +ideas had obtained possession of the papal throne in the person of Leo +IX, and with them other ideas which had become closely and almost +necessarily associated with them, of strict centralization under the +pope, of a theocratic papal supremacy, in line certainly with the +history of the Church, but more self-consciously held and logically +worked out than ever before. + +In this great movement England had had no permanent share. Cut off from +easy contact with the currents of continental thought, not merely by the +channel but by the lack of any common interests and natural incentives to +common life, it stood in an earlier stage of development in +ecclesiastical matters, as in legal and constitutional. In organization, +in learning, and in conduct, ecclesiastical England at the eve of the +Norman Conquest may be compared not unfairly to ecclesiastical Europe of +the tenth century. There was the same loosening of the bonds of a common +organization, the same tendency to separate into local units shut up to +interest in themselves alone. National councils had practically ceased to +meet. The legislative machinery of the Church threatened to disappear in +that of the State. An outside body, the witenagemot, seemed about to +acquire the right of imposing rules and regulations upon the Church, and +another outside power, the king, to acquire the right of appointing its +officers. Quite as important in the eyes of the Church as the lack of +legislative independence was the lack of judicial independence, which was +also a defect of the English Church. The law of the Church as it bore +upon the life of the citizen was declared and enforced in the hundred or +shire court, and bishop and ealdorman sat together in the latter. Only +over the ecclesiastical faults of his clergy did the bishop have +exclusive jurisdiction, and this was probably a jurisdiction less well +developed than on the continent. The power of the primate over his +suffragans and of the bishop within his diocese was ill defined and +vague, and questions of disputed authority or doubtful allegiance +lingered long without exact decision, perhaps from lack of interest, +perhaps from want of the means of decision. + +In learning, the condition was even worse. The cloister schools had +undergone a marked decline since the great days of Theodore and Alcuin. +Not merely were the parish priests ignorant men, but even bishops and +abbots. The universal language of learning and faith was neglected, and +in England alone, of all countries, theological books were written in the +local tongue, a sure sign of isolation and of the lack of interest in the +common philosophical life of the world. In moral conduct, while the +English clergy could not be held guilty of serious breaches of the +general ethical code, they were far from coming up to the special +standard which the canon law imposed upon the clergy, and which the +monastic reformation was making the inflexible law of the time. Married +priests abounded; there were said to be even married bishops. Simony was +not infrequent. Every churchman of high rank was likely to be a +pluralist, holding bishoprics and abbacies together, like Stigand, who +held with the primacy the bishopric of Winchester and many abbeys. That +such a man as Stigand, holding every ecclesiastical office that he could +manage to keep, depriving monasteries of their landed endowments with no +more right than the baron after him, refused recognition by every legally +elected pope, and thought unworthy to crown a king, or even in most cases +to consecrate a bishop, should have held his place for so many years as +unquestioned primate in all but the most important functions, is evidence +enough that the English Church had not yet been brought under the +influence of the great religious reformation of the eleventh century. + +This was the chief defect of the England of that time--a defect upon all +sides of its life, which the Conquest remedied. It was an isolated land. +It stood in danger of becoming a Scandinavian land, not in blood merely, +or in absorption in an actual Scandinavian empire, but in withdrawal from +the real world, and in that tardy, almost reluctant, civilization which +was possibly a necessity for Scandinavia proper, but which would have +been for England a falling back from higher levels. It was the mission of +the Norman Conquest--if we may speak of a mission for great historical +events--to deliver England from this danger, and to bring her into the +full current of the active and progressive life of Christendom. + +It was more than three years after the coronation of William before the +time was come for a thorough overhauling of the Church. So far as we +know, William, up to that time, had given no sign of his intentions. The +early adhesion of Stigand had been welcomed. The Normans seem to have +believed that he enjoyed great consideration and influence among the +Saxons, and he had been left undisturbed. He had even been allowed to +consecrate the new Norman bishop of Dorchester, which looks like an act +of deliberate policy. It had not seemed wise to alarm the Church so long +as the military issue of the invasion could be considered in any sense +doubtful, and not until the changes could be made with the powerful +support of the head of the Church directly expressed. It is a natural +guess, though we have no means of knowing, that Lanfranc's mission to +Rome in 1067 had been to discuss this matter with the Roman authorities, +quite as much as to get the pallium for the new Archbishop of Rouen. Now +the time had come for action. + +Three legates of the pope were at Winchester, and there a council was +summoned to meet them. Two of the legates were cardinals, then a +relatively less exalted rank in the Church than later, but making plain +the direct support of the pope. The other was Ermenfrid, Bishop of Sion, +or Sitten, in what is now the Swiss canton of the Vallais. He had already +been in England eight years earlier as a papal legate, and he would bring +to this council ideas derived from local observation, as well as tried +diplomatic skill. Before the council met, the papal sanction of the +Conquest was publicly proclaimed, when the cardinal legates placed the +crown on the king's head at the Easter festival. On the octave of Easter, +in 1070, the council met. Its first business was to deal with the case of +Stigand. Something like a trial seems to have been held, but its result +could never have been in doubt. He was deprived of the archbishopric, +and, with that, of his other preferments, on three grounds: he had held +Winchester along with the primacy; he had held the primacy while Robert +was still the rightful archbishop according to the laws of the Church; +and he had obtained his pallium and his only recognition from the +antipope Benedict X. His brother, the Bishop of Elmham, was also deposed, +and some abbots at the same time. + +An English chronicler of a little later date, Florence of Worcester, +doubtless representing the opinion of those contemporaries who were +unfavourable to the Normans, believed that for many of these depositions +there were no canonical grounds, but that they were due to the king's +desire to have the help of the Church in holding and pacifying his new +kingdom. We may admit the motive and its probable influence on the acts +of the time, without overlooking the fact that there would be likely to +be an honest difference in the interpretation of canonical rights and +wrongs on the Norman and the English sides, and that the Normans were +more likely to be right according to the prevailing standard of the +Church. The same chronicler gives us interesting evidence of the +contemporary native feeling about this council, and the way the rights of +the English were likely to be treated by it, in recording the fact that +it was thought to be a bold thing for the English bishop Wulfstan, of +Worcester, to demand his rights in certain lands which Aldred had kept in +his possession when he was transferred from the see of Worcester to the +archbishopric of York. The case was postponed, until there should be an +archbishop of York to defend the rights of his Church, but the brave +bishop had nothing to lose by his boldness. The treatment of the Church +throughout his reign is evidence of William's desire to act according to +established law, though it is also evidence of his ruling belief that the +new law was superior to the old, if ever a conflict arose between them. + +Shortly after, at Whitsuntide, another council met at Windsor, and +continued the work. The cardinals had returned to Rome, but Ermenfrid was +still present. Further vacancies were made in the English Church in the +same way as by the previous council--by the end of the year only two, or +at most three, English bishops remained in office--but the main business +at this time was to fill vacancies. A new Archbishop of York, Thomas, +Canon of Bayeux, was appointed, and three bishops, Winchester, Selsey, +and Elmham, all of these from the royal chapel. But the most important +appointment of the time was that of Lanfranc, Abbot of St. Stephen's at +Caen, to be Archbishop of Canterbury. With evident reluctance he accepted +this responsible office, in which his work was destined to be almost as +important in the history of England as William's own. Two papal legates +crossing from England, Ermenfrid and a new one named Hubert, a synod of +the Norman clergy, Queen Matilda, and her son Robert, all urged him to +accept, and he yielded to their solicitation. + +Lanfranc was at this time sixty-five years of age. An Italian by birth, +he had made good use of the advantages which the schools of that land +offered to laymen, but on the death of his father, while still a young +man, he had abandoned the path of worldly promotion which lay open before +him in the profession of the law, in which he had followed his father, +and had gone to France to teach and finally to become a monk. By 1045 he +was prior of the abbey of Bec, and within a few years he was famous +throughout the whole Church as one of its ablest theologians. In the +controversy with Berengar of Tours, on the nature of the Eucharist, he +had argued with great skill in favour of transubstantiation. Still more +important was the fact that his abilities and ideas were known to +William, who had long relied upon his counsel in the government of the +duchy, and that entire harmony of action was possible between them. He +has been called William's "one friend," and while this perhaps unduly +limits the number of the king's friends, he was, in the greatest affairs +of his reign, his firm supporter and wise counsellor. + +From the moment of his consecration, on August 29, 1070, the reformation +of the English Church went steadily on, until it was as completely +accomplished as was possible. The first question to be settled was perhaps +the most important of all, the question of unity of national organization. +The new Archbishop of York refused Lanfranc's demand that he should take +the oath of obedience to Canterbury, and asserted his independence and +coordinate position, and laid claim to three bordering bishoprics as +belonging to his metropolitan see,--Worcester, Lichfield, and Dorchester. +The dispute was referred to the king, who arranged a temporary compromise +in favour of Lanfranc, and then carried to the pope, by whom it was again +referred back to be decided by a council in England. This decision was +reached at a council in Windsor at Whitsuntide in 1072, and was in favour +of Lanfranc on all points, though it seems certain that the victory was +obtained by an extensive series of forgeries of which the archbishop +himself was probably the author.[4] It must be added, however, that the +moral judgment of that age did not regard as ours does such forgeries in +the interest of one's Church. If the decision was understood at the time +to mean that henceforth all archbishops of York should promise canonical +obedience to the Archbishop of Canterbury, it did not permanently secure +that result. But the real point at issue in this dispute, at least for the +time being, was no mere matter of rank or precedence; it was as necessary +to the plans of Lanfranc and of the Church that his authority should be +recognized throughout the whole kingdom as it was to those of William. Nor +was the question without possible political significance. The political +independence of the north--still uncertain in its allegiance--would be far +easier to establish if it was, to begin with, ecclesiastically +independent. + +Hardly less important than the settlement of this matter was the +establishment of the legislative independence of the Church. From the two +legatine councils of 1070, at Winchester and Windsor, a series begins of +great national synods, meeting at intervals to the end of the reign. +Complete divorce from the State was not at first possible. The council +was held at a meeting of the court, and was summoned by the king. He was +present at the sessions, as were also lay magnates of the realm, but the +questions proper to the council were discussed and decided by the +churchmen alone, and were promulgated by the Church as its own laws. This +was real legislative independence, even if the form of it was somewhat +defective, and before very long, as the result of this beginning, the +form came to correspond to the reality, and the process became as +independent as the conclusion. + +William's famous ordinance separating the spiritual and temporal courts +decreed another extensive change necessary to complete the independence +of the Church in its legal interests. The date of this edict is not +certain, but it would seem from such evidence as we have to have been +issued not very long after the meeting of the councils of 1070. It +withdrew from the local popular courts, the courts of the hundred, all +future enforcement of the ecclesiastical laws, subjected all offenders +against these laws to trial in the bishop's court, and promised the +support of the temporal authorities to the processes and decisions of the +Church courts. This abolishing by edict of so important a prerogative of +the old local courts, and annulling of so large a part of the old law, +was the most violent and serious innovation made by the Conqueror in the +Saxon judicial system; but it was fully justified, not merely by the more +highly developed law which came into use as a result of the change, but +by the necessity of a stricter enforcement of that law than would ever be +possible through popular courts. + +With these more striking changes went others, less revolutionary but +equally necessary to complete the new ecclesiastical system. The Saxon +bishops had many of them had their seats in unimportant places in their +dioceses, tending to degrade the dignity almost to the level of a rural +bishopric. The Norman prelates by degrees removed the sees to the chief +towns, changing the names with the change of place. Dorchester was +removed to Lincoln, Selsey to Chichester, Sherborne to Old Sarum, and +Elmham by two removes to Norwich. The new cities were the centres of life +and influence, and they were more suitable residences for barons of the +king, as the Norman bishops were. The inner organization of these +bishoprics was also improved. Cathedral chapters were reformed; in +Rochester and Durham secular canons were replaced by monastic clergy +under a more strict regime. New offices of law and administration were +introduced. The country priests were brought under strict control, and +earnest attempts were made to compel them to follow more closely the +disciplinary requirements of the Church. + +The monastic system as it existed at the time of the Conquest underwent +the same reformation as the more secular side of the Church organization. +It was indeed regarded by the new ecclesiastical rulers as the source of +the Church's strength and the centre of its life. English abbots were +replaced by Norman, and the new abbots introduced a better discipline and +improvement in the ritual. The rule was more strictly enforced. Worship, +labour, and study became the constant occupations of the monks. Speedily +the institution won a new influence in the life of the nation. The number +of monks grew rapidly; new monasteries were everywhere established, of +which the best remembered, the Conqueror's abbey of Battle, with the high +altar of its church standing where Harold's standard had stood in the +memorable fight, is only an example. Many of these new foundations were +daughter-houses of great French monasteries, and it is a significant fact +that by the end of the reign of William's son Henry, Cluny, the source of +this monastic reformation for the world, had sent seventeen colonies into +England. Wealth poured into these establishments from the gifts of king +and barons and common men alike. Their buildings grew in number and in +magnificence, and the poor and suffering of the realm received their +share in the new order of things, through a wider and better organized +charity. + +With this new monastic life began a new era of learning. Schools were +everywhere founded or renewed. The universal language of Christendom took +once more its proper place as the literary language of the cloister, +although the use of English lingered for a time here and there. England +caught at last the theological eagerness of the continent in the age when +the stimulus of the new dialectic method was beginning to be felt, and soon +demanded to be heard in the settlement of the problems of the thinking +world. Lanfranc continued to write as Archbishop of Canterbury.[5] Even +something that may be called a literary spirit in an age of general +barrenness was awakened. Poems were produced not unworthy of mention, and +the generation of William's sons was not finished when such histories had +been written as those of Eadmer and William of Malmesbury, superior in +conception and execution to anything produced in England since the days of +Bede. In another way the stimulus of these new influences showed itself in +an age of building, and by degrees the land was covered with those vast +monastic and cathedral churches which still excite our admiration and +reveal to us the fact that the narrow minds of what we were once pleased to +call the dark ages were capable, in one direction at least, of great and +lofty conceptions. Norman ideals of massive strength speak to us as clearly +from the arches of Winchester or the piers of Gloucester as from the firm +hand and stern rule of William or Henry. + +In general the Conquest incorporated England closely, as has already been +said, with that organic whole of life and achievement which we call +Christendom. This was not more true of the ecclesiastical side of things +than of the political or constitutional. But the Church of the eleventh +century included within itself relatively many more than the Church of +to-day of those activities which quickly respond to a new stimulus and +reveal a new life by increased production. The constitutional changes +involved in the Conquest, and directly traceable to it through a long +line of descent, though more slowly realized and for long in less +striking forms, were in truth destined to produce results of greater +permanence and a wider influence. The final result of the Norman Conquest +was a constitutional creation, new in the history of the world. Nothing +like this followed in the sphere of the Church. But for a generation or +two the abundant vigour which flowed through the renewed religious life +of Europe, and the radical changes which were necessary to bring England +into full harmony with it, made the ecclesiastical revolution seem the +most impressive and the most violent of the changes which took place in +this age in English public organization and life. If we may trust a later +chronicler, whose record is well supported by independent and earlier +evidence, in the same year in which these legatine councils met, and in +which the reformation of the Church was begun, there was introduced an +innovation, so far as the Saxon Church is concerned, which would have +seemed to the leaders of the reform party hostile to their cause had they +not been so familiar with it elsewhere, or had they been conscious of the +full meaning of their own demands. Matthew Paris, in the thirteenth +century, records that, in 1070, the king decreed that all bishoprics and +abbacies which were holding baronies, and which heretofore had been free +from all secular obligations, should be liable to military service; and +caused to be enrolled, according to his own will, the number of knights +which should be due from each in time of war. Even if this statement were +without support, it would be intrinsically probable at this or some near +date. The endowment lands of bishopric and abbey, or rather a part of +these lands in each case, would inevitably be regarded as a fief held of +the crown, and as such liable to the regular feudal services. This was +the case in every feudal land, and no one would suppose that there should +be any exception in England. The amount of the service was arbitrarily +fixed by the king in these ecclesiastical baronies, just as it was in the +lay fiefs. The fact was important enough to attract the notice of the +chroniclers because the military service, regulated in this way, would +seem to be more of an innovation than the other services by which the +fief was held, like the court service, for example, though it was not so +in reality. + +This transformation in life and culture was wrought in the English Church +with the full sanction and support of the king. In Normandy, as well as in +England, was this the case. The plans of the reform party had been carried +out more fully in some particulars in these lands than the Church alone +would have attempted at the time, because they had convinced the judgment +of the sovereign and won his favour. At every step of the process where +there was need, the power of the State had been at the command of the +Church, to remove abuses or to secure the introduction of reforms. But +with the theocratic ideas which went with these reforms in the teaching of +the Church William had no sympathy. The leaders of the reformation might +hold to the ideal supremacy of pope over king, and to the superior mission +and higher power of the Church as compared with the State, but there could +be no practical realization of these theories in any Norman land so long +as the Conqueror lived. In no part of Europe had the sovereign exercised +a greater or more direct power over the Church than in Normandy. All +departments of its life were subject to his control, if there was reason +to exert it. This had been true for so long a time that the Church was +accustomed to the situation and accepted it without complaint. This power +William had no intention of yielding. He proposed to exercise it in +England as he had in Normandy,[6] and, even in this age of fierce conflict +with its great temporal rival, the emperor, the papacy made no sharply +drawn issue with him on these points. There could be no question of the +headship of the world in his case, and on the vital moral point he was too +nearly in harmony with the Church to make an issue easy. On the importance +of obeying the monastic rule, the celibacy of the clergy, and the purchase +of ecclesiastical office, he agreed in theory with the disciples of +Cluny.[7] But, if he would not sell a bishopric, he was determined that +the bishop should be his man; he stood ready to increase the power and +independence of the Church, but always as an organ of the State, as a part +of the machine through which the government was carried on. + +It is quite within the limits of possibility that, in his negotiations +with Rome before his invasion of England, William may have given the pope +to understand, in some indefinite and informal way, that if he won the +kingdom, he would hold it of St. Peter. In accepting the consecrated +banner which the pope sent him, he could hardly fail to know that he +might be understood to be acknowledging a feudal dependence. When the +kingdom was won, however, he found himself unwilling to carry out such an +arrangement, whether tacitly or openly promised. To Gregory VII's demand +for his fealty he returned a respectful but firm refusal. The sovereignty +of England was not to be diminished; he would hold the kingdom as freely +as his predecessors had done. Peter's pence, which it belonged of right +to England to pay, should be regularly collected and sent to Rome, but no +right of rule, even theoretical, over king or kingdom, could be allowed +the pope. + +An ecclesiastical historian whose childhood and early youth fell in +William's reign, and who was deeply impressed with the strong control +under which he held the Church, has recorded three rules to govern the +relation between Church and State, which he says were established by +William.[8] These are: 1, that no one should be recognized as pope in +England except at his command, nor any papal letters received without his +permission; 2, that no acts of the national councils should be binding +without his sanction; 3, that none of his barons or servants should be +excommunicated, even for crimes committed, without his consent. Whether +these were consciously formulated rules or merely generalizations from his +conduct, they state correctly the principles of his action, and exhibit +clearly in one most important sphere the unlimited power established by +the Norman Conquest. + +To this year, 1070, in which was begun the reformation of the Church, +was assigned at a later time another work of constitutional interest. +The unofficial compiler of a code of laws, the Leges Edwardi, written +in the reign of Henry I, and drawn largely from the legislation of the +Saxon kings, ascribed his work, after a fashion not unusual with +writers of his kind, to the official act of an earlier king. He relates +that a great national inquest was ordered by King William in this year, +to ascertain and establish the laws of the English. Each county elected +a jury of twelve men, who knew the laws, and these juries coming +together in the presence of the king declared on oath what were the +legal customs of the land. So runs the preface of the code which was +given out as compiled from this testimony. Such a plan and procedure +would not be out of harmony with what we know of William's methods +and policy. The machinery of the jury, which was said to be employed, +was certainly introduced into England by the first Norman king, and +was used by him for the establishment of facts, both in national +undertakings like the Domesday Book and very probably in local cases +arising in the courts. We know also that he desired to leave the old +laws undisturbed so far as possible, and the year 1070 is one in which +an effort to define and settle the future legal code of the state would +naturally fall. But the story must be rejected as unhistorical. An +event of such importance as this inquisition must have been, if it +took place, could hardly have occurred without leaving its traces in +contemporary records of some sort, and an official code of this kind +would have produced results in the history of English law of which we +find no evidence. The Saxon law and the machinery of the local courts +did survive the Conquest with little change, but no effort was made to +reduce the customs of the land to systematic and written form until a +later time, until a time indeed when the old law was beginning to give +place to the new. + +[4] See H. Bohmer, Die Falschungen Erzbischof Lanfranks van Canterbury +(Leipzig, 1902). + +[5] Böhmer, Kirche und Staat in England und in der Normandie, +pp. 103-106. + +[6] Eadmer, Historia Novorum, p. 9. + +[7] Böhmer, Kirche und Staat, pp. 126 ff. + +[8] Eadmer, Hist. Nov., p. 10. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +WILLIAM'S LATER YEARS + +Political events had not waited for the reformation of the Church, and +long before these reforms were completed, England had become a thoroughly +settled state under the new king. The beginning of the year 1070 is a +turning-point in the reign of William. The necessity for fighting was not +over, but from this date onwards there was no more fighting for the +actual possession of the land. The irreconcilables had still to be dealt +with; in one small locality they retained even yet some resisting power; +the danger of foreign invasion had again to be met: but not for one +moment after William's return from the devastation of the north and west +was there even the remotest possibility of undoing the Conquest. + +The Danes had withdrawn from the region of the Humber, but they had not +left the country. In the Isle of Ely, then more nearly an actual island +than in modern times, was a bit of unsubdued England, and there they +landed for a time. In this position, surrounded by fens and interlacing +rivers, accessible at only a few points, occurred the last resistance +which gave the Normans any trouble. The rich mythology which found its +starting-point in this resistance, and especially in its leader, +Hereward, we no longer mistake for history; but we should not forget that +it embodies the popular attitude towards those who stubbornly resisted +the Norman, as it was handed on by tradition, and that it reveals almost +pathetically the dearth of heroic material in an age which should have +produced it in abundance. Hereward was a tenant in a small way of the +abbey of Peterborough. What led him into such a determined revolt we do +not know, unless he was among those who were induced to join the Danes +after their arrival, in the belief that their invasion would be +successful. Nor do we know what collected in the Isle of Ely a band of +men whom the Peterborough chronicler was probably not wrong, from any +point of view, in calling outlaws. A force of desperate men could hope to +maintain themselves for some time in the Isle of Ely; they could not hope +for anything more than this. The coming of the Danes added little real +strength, though the country about believed for the moment, as it had +done north of the Humber, that the tide had turned. The first act of the +allies was the plunder and destruction of the abbey and town of +Peterborough shortly after the meeting of the council of Windsor. The +English abbot Brand had died the previous autumn, and William had +appointed in his place a Norman, Turold, distinguished as a good fighter +and a hard ruler. These qualities had led the king to select him for this +special post, and the plundering of the abbey, so far as it was not mere +marauding, looks like an answering act of spite. The Danes seem to have +been disposed at first to hold Peterborough, but Turold must have brought +them proposals of peace from William, which induced them to withdraw at +last from England with the secure possession of their plunder. + +Hereward and his men accomplished nothing more that year, but others +gradually gathered in to them, including some men of note. Edwin and +Morcar had once more changed sides, or had fled from William's court to +escape some danger there. Edwin had been killed in trying to make his way +through to Scotland, but Morcar had joined the refugees in Ely. Bishop +Ethelwin of Durham was also there, and a northern thane, Siward Barn. In +1074 William advanced in person against the "camp of refuge." A fleet was +sent to blockade one side while the army attacked from the other. It was +found necessary to build a long causeway for the approach of the army and +around this work the fiercest fighting occurred; but its building could +not be stopped, and just as it was finished the defenders of the Isle +surrendered. The leaders were imprisoned, Morcar in Normandy for the rest +of William's reign. The common men were mutilated and released. Hereward +escaped to sea, but probably afterwards submitted to William and received +his favour. Edric the Wild, who had long remained unsubdued on the Welsh +borders, had also yielded before the surrender of the Isle of Ely, and +the last resistance that can be called in any sense organized was at an +end. + +The comparatively easy pacification of the land, the early submission to +their fate of so strong a nation, was in no small degree aided by the +completeness with which the country was already occupied by Norman +colonies, if we may call them so. Probably before the surrender of Ely +every important town was under the immediate supervision of some Norman +baron, with a force of his own. In all the strategically important places +fortified posts had been built and regular garrisons stationed. Even the +country districts had to a large extent been occupied in a similar way. +It is hardly probable that as late as 1072 any considerable area in +England had escaped extensive confiscations. Everywhere the Norman had +appeared to take possession of his fief, to establish new tenants, or to +bring the old ones into new relations with himself, to arrange for the +administration of his manors, and to leave behind him the agents who were +responsible to himself for the good conduct of affairs. If he made but +little change in the economic organization of his property, and disturbed +the labouring class but slightly or not at all, he would give to a wide +district a vivid impression of the strength of the new order and of the +hopelessness of any resistance. + +Already Norman families, who were to make so much of the history of the +coming centuries, were rooted in the land. Montfort and Mortimer; Percy, +Beauchamp, and Mowbray; Ferrets and Lacy; Beaumont, Mandeville, and +Grantmesnil; Clare, Bigod, and Bohun; and many others of equal or nearly +equal name. All these were as yet of no higher than baronial rank, but if +we could trust the chroniclers, we should be able to make out in addition +a considerable list of earldoms which William had established by this +date or soon afterwards, in many parts of England, and in these were +other great names. According to this evidence, his two half brothers, the +children of his mother by her marriage with Herlwin de Conteville, had +been most richly provided for: Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, as Earl of Kent, +and Robert, Count of Mortain, with a princely domain in the south-west as +Earl of Cornwall. One of the earliest to be made an earl was his old +friend and the son of his guardian, William Fitz Osbern, who had been +created Earl of Hereford; he was now dead and was succeeded by his son +Roger, soon very justly to lose title and land. Shrewsbury was held by +Roger of Montgomery; Chester by Hugh of Avranches, the second earl; +Surrey by William of Warenne; Berkshire by Walter Giffard. Alan Rufus of +Britanny was Earl of Richmondshire; Odo of Champagne, Earl of Holderness; +and Ralph of Guader, who was to share in the downfall of Roger Fitz +Osbern, Earl of Norfolk. One Englishman, who with much less justice was +to be involved in the fate which rightly befell these two Norman earls, +was also earl at this time, Watheof, who had lately succeeded Gospatric +in the troubled earldom of Northumberland, and who also held the earldoms +of Northampton and Huntingdon. These men certainly held important +lordships in the districts named, but whether so many earldoms, in form +and law, had really been established by the Conqueror at this date, or +were established by him at any later time, is exceedingly doubtful. The +evidence of the chroniclers is easily shown to be untrustworthy in the +matter of titles, and the more satisfactory evidence which we obtain from +charters and the Domesday Book does not justify this extensive list. +But the historian does not find it possible to decide with confidence in +every individual case. Of the earldoms of this list it is nearly certain +that we must drop out those of Cornwall, Holderness, Surrey, Berkshire, +and Richmond, and almost or quite certain that we may allow to stand +those of Waltheof and William Fitz Osbern, of Kent, Chester, and +Shrewsbury. + +Independently of the question of evidence, it is difficult to see what +there was in the general situation in England which could have led the +Conqueror to so wide a departure from the established practice of the +Norman dukes as the creation of so many earls would be. In Normandy the +title of count was practically unknown outside the ducal family. The +feudal count as found in other French provinces, the sovereign of a +little principality as independent of the feudal holder of the province +as he himself was of the king, did not exist there. The four lordships +which bore the title of count, Talou or Arques, Eu, Evreux, and Mortain, +were reserved for younger branches of the ducal house, and carried with +them no sovereign rights. The tradition of the Saxon earldom undoubtedly +exercised by degrees a great influence on the royal practice in England, +and by the middle of the twelfth century earls existed in considerable +numbers; but the lack of conclusive evidence for the existence of many +under William probably reflects the fact of his few creations. But in the +cases which we can certainly trace to William, it was not the old Saxon +earldom which was revived. The new earldom, with the possible exception +of one or two earls who, like the old Prankish margrave, or the later +palatine count, were given unusual powers to support unusual military +responsibilities, was a title, not an office. It was not a government of +provinces, but a mark of rank; and the danger involved in the older +office, of the growth of independent powers within the state under local +dynasties which would be, though existing under other forms, as difficult +to control as the local dynasties of feudal France, was removed once for +all by the introduction of the Norman centralization. That no serious +trouble ever came from the so-called palatine earldoms is itself evidence +of the powerful monarchy ruling in England. + +This centralization was one of the great facts of the Conquest. In it +resided the strength of the Norman monarchy, and it was of the utmost +importance as well in its bearing on the future history of England. +Delolme, one of the earliest of foreign writers on the English +constitution, remarks that the explanation of English liberty is to be +found in the absolute power of her early kings, and the most careful +modern student can do no more than amplify this statement. That this +centralization was the result of any deliberate policy on the part of +William can hardly be maintained. A conscious modification of the feudal +system as he introduced it into England, with a view to the preservation +of his own power, has often been attributed to the Conqueror. But the +political insight which would have enabled him to recognize the evil +tendencies inherent in the only institutional system he had ever known, +and to plan and apply remedies proper to counteract these tendencies but +not inconsistent with the system itself, would indicate a higher quality +of statesmanship than anything else in his career shows him to possess. +More to the purpose is the fact that there is no evidence of any such +modification, while the drift of evidence is against it. William was +determined to be strong, not because of any theory which he had formed of +the value of strength, or of the way to secure it, but because he was +strong and had always been so since he recovered the full powers of a +sovereign in the struggles which followed his minority. The concentration +of all the functions of sovereignty in his own hands, and the reservation +of the allegiance of all landholders to himself, which strengthened his +position in England, had strengthened it first in Normandy. + +Intentional weakening of the feudal barons has been seen in the fact that +the manors which they held were scattered about in different parts of +England, so that the formation of an independent principality, or a quick +concentration of strength, would not be possible. That this was a fact +characteristic of England is probably true. But it is sufficiently +accounted for in part by the gradual spread of the Norman occupation, and +of the consequent confiscations and re-grants, and in part by the fact +that it had always been characteristic of England, so that when the +holding of a given Saxon thane was transferred bodily to the Norman +baron, he found his manors lying in no continuous whole. In any case, +however, the divided character of the Norman baronies in England must not +be pressed too far. The grants to his two half brothers, and the earldoms +of Chester and Shrewsbury on the borders of Wales, are enough to show +that William was not afraid of principalities within the state, and other +instances on a somewhat smaller scale could be cited. Nor ought +comparison to be made between English baronies, or earldoms even, and +those feudal dominions on the continent which had been based on the +counties of the earlier period. In these, sovereign rights over a large +contiguous territory, originally delegated to an administrative officer, +had been transformed into a practically independent power. The proper +comparison is rather between the English baronies of whatever rank and +those continental feudal dominions which were formed by natural process +half economic and half political, without definite delegation of +sovereign powers, within or alongside the provincial countships, and this +comparison would show less difference. + +If the Saxon earl did not survive the Conquest in the same position as +before, the Saxon sheriff did. The office as the Normans found it in +England was in so many ways similar to that of the viscount, vicecomes, +which still survived in Normandy as an administrative office, that it was +very easy to identify the two and to bring the Norman name into common +use as an equivalent of the Saxon. The result of the new conditions was +largely to increase the sheriff's importance and power. As the special +representative of the king in the county, he shared in the increased +power of his master, practically the whole administrative system of the +state, as it affected its local divisions, was worked through him. +Administrator of the royal domains, responsible for the most important +revenues, vehicle of royal commands of all kinds, and retaining the +judicial functions which had been associated with the office in Saxon +times, he held a position, not merely of power but of opportunity. +Evidence is abundant of great abuse of power by the sheriff at the +expense of the conquered. Nor did the king always escape these abuses, +for the office, like that of the Carolingian count, to which it was in +many ways similar, contained a possibility of use for private and +personal advantage which could be corrected, even by so strong a +sovereign as the Anglo-Norman, only by violent intervention at intervals. + +Some time after the Conquest, but at a date unknown, William set aside a +considerable portion of Hampshire to form a hunting ground, the New +Forest, near his residence at Winchester. The chroniclers of the next +generation describe the formation of the Forest as the devastation of a +large tract of country in which churches were destroyed, the inhabitants +driven out, and the cultivated land thrown back into wilderness, and they +record a contemporary belief that the violent deaths of so many members +of William's house within the bounds of the Forest, including two of his +sons, were acts of divine vengeance and proofs of the wickedness of the +deed. While this tradition of the method of making the Forest is still +generally accepted, it has been called in question for reasons that make +it necessary, in my opinion, to pronounce it doubtful. It is hardly +consistent with the general character of William. Such statements of +chroniclers are too easily explained to warrant us in accepting them +without qualification. The evidence of geology and of the history of +agriculture indicates that probably the larger part of this tract was +only thinly populated, and Domesday Book shows some portions of the +Forest still occupied by cultivators.[9] The forest laws of the Norman +kings were severe in the extreme, and weighed cruelly on beasts and men +alike, and on men of rank as well as simple freemen. They excited a +general and bitter hostility which lasted for generations, and prepared a +natural soil for the rapid growth of a partially mythical explanation to +account in a satisfactory way for the dramatic accidents which followed +the family of the Conqueror in the Forest, by the direct and tangible +wickedness which had attended the making of the hunting ground. It is +probable also that individual acts of violence did accompany the making, +and that some villages and churches were destroyed. But the likelihood is +so strong against a general devastation that history should probably +acquit William of the greater crime laid to his charge, and refuse to +place any longer the devastation of Hampshire in the same class with that +of Northumberland. + +After the surrender of Ely, William's attention was next given to +Scotland. In 1070 King Malcolm had invaded northern England, but without +results beyond laying waste other portions of that afflicted country. It +was easier to show the Scots than the Danes that William was capable of +striking back, and in 1072, after a brief visit to Normandy, an army +under the king's command advanced along the east coast with an +accompanying fleet. No attempt was made to check this invasion in the +field, and only when William had reached Abernethy did Malcolm come to +meet him. What arrangement was made between them it is impossible to say, +but it was one that was satisfactory to William at the time. Probably +Malcolm became his vassal and gave him hostages for his good conduct, but +if so, his allegiance did not bind him very securely. Norman feudalism +was no more successful than the ordinary type, in dealing with a reigning +sovereign who was in vassal relations. + +The critical years of William's conquest of England had been undisturbed +by any dangers threatening his continental possessions. Matilda, who +spent most of the time in Normandy, with her councillors, had maintained +peace and order with little difficulty; but in the year after his +Scottish expedition he was called to Normandy by a revolt in his early +conquest, the county of Maine, which it required a formidable campaign to +subdue. William's plan to attach this important province to Normandy by a +marriage between his son Robert and the youngest sister of the last count +had failed through the death of the proposed heiress, and the county had +risen in favour of her elder sister, the wife of the Italian Marquis Azo +or of her son. Then a successful communal revolution had occurred in the +city of Le Mans, anticipating an age of rebellion against the feudal +powers, and the effort of the commune to bring the whole county into +alliance with itself, though nearly successful for the moment at least, +had really prepared the way for the restoration of the Norman power by +dividing the party opposed to it. William crossed to Normandy in 1073, +leading a considerable army composed in part of English. The campaign was +a short one. Revolt was punished, as William sometimes punished it, by +barbarously devastating the country. Le Mans did not venture to stand a +siege, but surrendered on William's sworn promise to respect its ancient +liberty. By a later treaty with Fulk of Anjou, Robert was recognized as +Count of Maine, but as a vassal of Anjou and not of Normandy. + +William probably returned to England after the settlement of these +affairs, but of his doings there nothing is recorded, and for some time +troubles in his continental dominions occupied more of his attention than +the interests of the island. He was in Normandy, indeed, during the whole +of that "most severe tempest," as a writer of the next generation called +it, which broke upon a part of England in the year 1075; and the first +feudal insurrection in English history was put down, as more serious ones +were destined to be before the fall of feudalism, by the king's officers +and the men of the land in the king's absence. To determine the causes of +this insurrection, we need to read between the lines of the story as it +is told us by the writers of that and the next age. Elaborate reasons for +their hostility to William's government were put into the mouths of the +conspirators by one of these writers, but these would mean nothing more +than a general statement that the king was a very severe and stern ruler, +if it were not for the more specific accusation that he had rewarded +those who had fought for him very inadequately, and through avarice had +afterward reduced the value even of these gifts.[10] A passage in a letter +of Lanfranc's to one of the leaders of the rebellion, Roger, Earl of +Hereford, written evidently after Roger's dissatisfaction had become known +but before any open rebellion, gives us perhaps a key to the last part of +this complaint.[11] He tells him that the king, revoking, we infer, former +orders, has directed his sheriffs not to hold any more pleas in the earl's +land until he can return and hear the case between him and the sheriffs. +In a time when the profits of a law court were important to the lord who +had the right to hold it, the entry of the king's officers into a +"liberty" to hear cases there as the representative of the king, and to +his profit, would naturally seem to the baron whose income was affected a +diminution of the value of his fief, due to the king's avarice. Nothing +could show us better the attitude natural to a strong king towards feudal +immunities than the facts which these words of Lanfranc's imply, and +though we know of no serious trouble arising from this reason for a +century or more, it is clear that the royal view of the matter never +changed, and finally like infringements on the baronial courts became one +of the causes of the first great advance towards constitutional liberty, +the Magna Carta. + +This letter of Lanfranc's to Roger of Hereford is a most interesting +illustration of his character and of his diplomatic skill, and it shows +us clearly how great must have been his usefulness to William. Though it +is perfectly evident to us that he suspects the loyalty of Roger to be +seriously tempted, there is not a word of suspicion expressed in the +letter, but the considerations most likely to keep him loyal are strongly +urged. With the exception of the sentence about the sheriffs, and formal +phrases at the beginning and end, the letter runs thus: "Our lord, the +king of the English, salutes you and us all as faithful subjects of his +in whom he has great confidence, and commands us that as much as we are +able we should have care of his castles, lest, which God avert, they +should be betrayed to his enemies; wherefore I ask you, as I ought to +ask, most dear son, whom, as God is witness, I love with my whole heart +and desire to serve, and whose father I loved as my soul, that you take +such care of this matter and of all fidelity to our lord the king that +you may have the praise of God, and of him, and of all good men. Hold +always in your memory how your glorious father lived, and how faithfully +he served his lord, and with how great energy he acquired many things and +held them with great honour.... I should like to talk freely with you; if +this is your will, let me know where we can meet and talk together of +your affairs and of our lord the king's. I am ready to go to meet you +wherever you direct." + +The letter had no effect. Roger seems to have been a man of violent +temper, and there was a woman in this case also, though we do not know +that she herself influenced the course of events. The insurrection is +said to have been determined upon, and the details of action planned, +at the marriage of Roger's sister to Ralph Guader, Earl of Norfolk, a +marriage which William had forbidden. + + There was that bride-ale + That was many men's bale, + +said the Saxon chronicler, and it was so indeed. The two chief +conspirators persuaded Earl Waltheof to join them, at least for the +moment, and their plan was to drive the king out of England and to +divide the kingdom between them into three great principalities, "for +we wish," the Norman historian Orderic makes them say, "to restore in +all respects the kingdom of England as it was formerly in the time of +King Edward," a most significant indication of the general opinion +about the effect of the Conquest, even if the words are not theirs. + +After the marriage the Earls of Norfolk and Hereford separated to raise +their forces and bring them together, when they believed they would be +too strong for any force which could be raised to act against them. They +counted on the unpopularity of the Normans and on the king's difficulties +abroad which would prevent his return to England. The king did not +return, but their other hope proved fallacious. Bishop Wulfstan of +Worcester and Abbot Ethelwy of Evesham, both English prelates, with some +Norman help, cut off the line of communication in the west, and Earl +Roger could not force his way through. The two justiciars, William of +Warenne and Richard of Bienfaite, after summoning the earls to answer in +the king's court, with the aid of Bishop Odo and the Bishop of Coutances, +who was also a great English baron, raised an army of English as well as +Normans, and went to meet Earl Ralph, who was marching westwards. +Something like a battle took place, but the rebels were easily defeated. +Ralph fled back to Norwich, but it did not seem to him wise to stop +there. Leaving his wife to stand a siege in the castle, he sailed off to +hasten the assistance which had already been asked for from the Danes. A +Danish fleet indeed appeared off the coast, but it did nothing beyond +making a plundering raid in Yorkshire. Emma, the new-made wife of Earl +Ralph, seems to have been a good captain and to have had a good garrison. +The utmost efforts of the king's forces could not take the castle, and +she at last surrendered only on favourable terms. She was allowed to +retire to the continent with her forces. The terms which were granted +her, as they are made known in a letter from Lanfranc to William, are +especially interesting as giving us one of the earliest glimpses we have +of that extensive dividing out of land to under-vassals, the process of +subinfeudation, which must already have taken place on the estates +granted to the king's tenants in chief. A clear distinction was made +between the men who were serving Ralph because they held land of him, and +those who were merely mercenaries. Ralph's vassals, although they were in +arms against Ralph's lord, the king, were thought to be entitled to +better terms, and they secured them more easily than those who served him +for money. Ralph and Emma eventually lived out the life of a generation +of those days, on Ralph's Breton estates, and perished together in the +first crusade. + +Their fellow-rebels were less fortunate. Roger surrendered himself to be +tried by the king's court, and was condemned "according to the Norman +law," we are told, to the forfeiture of his estates and to imprisonment +at the king's pleasure. From this he was never released. The family of +William's devoted guardian, Osbern, and of his no less devoted friend, +William Fitz Osbern, disappears from English history with the fall of +this imprudent representative, but not from the country. It has been +reserved for modern scholarship co prove the interesting fact of the +continuance for generations of the male line of this house, though in +minor rank and position, through the marriage of the son of Earl Roger, +with the heiress of Abergavenny in Wales.[12] The fate of Waltheof was +even more pathetic because less deserved. He had no part in the actual +rebellion. Whatever he may have sworn to do, under the influence of the +earls of stronger character, he speedily repented and made confession to +Lanfranc as to his spiritual adviser. Lanfranc urged him to cross at once +to Normandy and make his confession to the king himself. William received +him kindly, showed no disposition to regard the fault as a serious one, +and apparently promised him his forgiveness. Why, on his return to +England, he should have arrested him, and after two trials before his +court should have allowed him to be executed, "according to English law," +we do not surely know. The hatred of his wife Judith, the king's niece, +is plainly implied, but is hardly enough to account for so radical a +departure from William's usual practice in this the only instance of a +political execution in his reign. English sympathy plainly took the side +of the earl. The monks of the abbey at Crowland, which he had favoured in +his lifetime, were allowed the possession of his body. Soon miracles were +wrought there, and he became, in the minds of monks and people, an +unquestioned martyr and saint. + +This was the end of William's troubles in England which have any real +connexion with the Conquest. Malcolm of Scotland invaded Northumberland +once more, and harried that long-suffering region, but without result; +and an army of English barons, led by the king's son Robert, which +returned the invasion soon after, was easily able to force the king of +the Scots to renew his acknowledgment of subjection to England. The +failure of Walcher, Bishop of Durham, to keep his own subordinates in +order, led to a local riot, in which the bishop and many of his officers +and clergy were murdered, and which was avenged in his usual pitiless +style by the king's brother Odo. William himself invaded Wales with a +large force; received submissions, and opened the way for the extension +of the English settlements in that country. The great ambition of Bishop +Odo, and the increase of wealth and power which had come to him through +the generosity of his brother, led him to hope for still higher things, +and he dreamed of becoming pope. This was not agreeable to William, and +may even have seemed dangerous to him when the bishop began to collect +his friends and vassals for an expedition to Italy. Archbishop Lanfranc, +who had not found his brother prelate a comfortable neighbour in Kent, +suggested to the king, we are told, the exercise of his feudal rights +against him as his baron. The scene must have been a dramatic one, when +in a session of the curia regis William ordered his brother's arrest, and +when no one ventured to execute the order laid hands upon him himself, +exclaiming that he arrested, not the Bishop of Bayeux, but the Earl of +Kent. William must have had some strong reason for this action, for he +refused to consent to the release of his brother as long as he lived. At +one time what seemed like a great danger threatened from Denmark, in the +plans of King Canute to invade England with a vast host and deliver the +country from the foreigner. William brought over from Normandy a great +army of mercenaries to meet this danger, and laid waste the country +along the eastern coast that the enemy might find no supplies on landing; +but this Danish threat amounted to even less than the earlier ones, for +the fleet never so much as appeared off the coast. All these events are +but the minor incidents which might occur in any reign; the Conquest had +long been finished, and England had accepted in good faith her new +dynasty. + +Much more of the last ten years of William's life was spent in Normandy +than in England. Revolts of unruly barons, attacks on border towns or +castles, disputes with the king of France, were constantly occupying him +with vexatious details, though with nothing of serious import. Most +vexatious of all was the conduct of his son Robert. With the eldest son +of William opens in English history a long line of the sons and brothers +of kings, in a few cases of kings themselves, who are gifted with popular +qualities, who make friends easily, but who are weak in character, who +cannot control men or refuse favours, passionate and selfish, hardly +strong enough to be violently wicked as others of the line are, but +causes of constant evil to themselves and their friends, and sometimes to +the state. And with him opens also the long series of quarrels in the +royal family, of which the French kings were quick to take advantage, and +from which they were in the end to gain so much. The ground of Robert's +rebellion was the common one of dissatisfaction with his position and his +father's refusal to part with any of his power in his favour. Robert was +not able to excite any real insurrection in Normandy, but with the aid of +his friends and of the French king he maintained a border war for some +time, and defended castles with success against the king. He is said +even, in one encounter, to have wounded and been on the point of slaying +his father. For some time he wandered in exile in the Rhine valley, +supported by gifts sent him by his mother, in spite of the prohibition of +her husband. Once he was reconciled with his father, only to begin his +rebellion again. When the end came, William left him Normandy, but people +thought at least that he did it unwillingly, foreseeing the evil which +his character was likely to bring on any land over which he ruled. + +The year 1086 is remarkable for the formation of one of the most unique +monuments of William's genius as a ruler, and one of the most instructive +sources of information which we have of the condition of England during +his reign. At the Christmas meeting of the court, in 1085, it was +decided, apparently after much debate and probably with special reference +to the general land-tax, called the Danegeld, to form by means of +inquiries, officially made in each locality, a complete register of the +occupied lands of the kingdom, of their holders, and of their values. The +book in which the results of this survey of England were recorded was +carefully preserved in the royal treasury, and soon came to be regarded +as conclusive evidence in disputed questions which its entries would +concern. Not very long after the record was made it came to be popularly +known as the Domesday Book, and a hundred years later the writer on the +English financial system of the twelfth century, the author of the +"Dialogue concerning the Exchequer,"[13] explained the name as meaning +that the sentences derived from it were final, and without appeal, like +those of the last great day. + +An especially interesting feature of this survey is the method which was +employed to make it. Two institutions which were brought into England by +the Conquest, the king's missi and the inquest, the forerunners of the +circuit judge and of the jury, were set in motion for this work; and the +organization of the survey is a very interesting foreshadowing of the +organization which a century later William's great-grandson was to give +to our judicial system in features which still characterize it, not +merely in England but throughout great continents of which William never +dreamed. Royal commissioners, or missi, were sent into each county. No +doubt the same body of commissioners went throughout a circuit of +counties. In each the county court was summoned to meet the +commissioners, just as later it was summoned to meet the king's justice +on his circuit. The whole "county" was present to be appealed to on +questions of particular importance or difficulty if it seemed necessary, +but the business of the survey as a rule was not done by the county +court. Each hundred was present by its sworn jury, exactly as in the +later itinerant justice court, and it was this jury which answered on +oath the questions submitted to it by the commissioners, exactly again as +in the later practice. Their knowledge might be reinforced, or their +report modified, by evidence of the men of the vill, or other smaller +sub-division of the county, who probably attended as in the older county +courts, and occasionally by the testimony of the whole shire; but in +general the information on which the survey was made up was derived from +the reports of the hundred juries. The questions which were submitted to +these juries show both the object of the survey and its thorough +character. They were required to tell the name of each manor and the name +of its holder in the time of King Edward and at the time of the inquiry; +the number of hides it contained; the number of ploughs employed in the +cultivation of the lord's domain land, and the number so used on the +lands held by the lord's men,--a rough way of determining the amount of +land under cultivation. Then the population of the manor was to be given +in classes: freemen and sokemen; villeins, cotters, and serfs; the amount +of forest and meadow; the number of pastures, mills, and fish-ponds; and +what the value of the manor was in the time of King Edward, at the date +of its grant by King William, and at the time of the inquiry. In some +cases evidently the jurors entered into such details of the live stock +maintained by the manor as to justify the indignant words of the Saxon +chronicler, that not "an ox nor a cow nor a swine was left that was not +set down in his writing." + +The object of all this is plain enough. It was an assessment of the +property of the kingdom for purposes of taxation. The king wished to find +out, as indeed we are told in what may be considered a copy or an +abstract of the original writ directing the commissioners as to their +inquiries, whether he could get more from the kingdom in taxes than he +was then getting. But the record of this inquest has served far different +purposes in later times. It is a storehouse of information on many sides +of history, personal, family, geographical, and especially economic. It +tells us much also of institutions, but less than we could wish, and less +than it would have told us if its purpose had been less narrowly +practical. Indeed, this limiting of the record to a single definite +purpose, which was the controlling interest in making it, renders the +information which it gives us upon all the subjects in which we are now +most interested fragmentary and extremely tantalizing, and forces us to +use it with great caution. It remains, however, even with this +qualification, a most interesting collection of facts, unique in all the +Middle Ages, and a monument to the practical genius of the monarch who +devised it. + +On August 1 of the same year in which the survey was completed, in a +great assembly on Salisbury Plain, an oath of allegiance to the king was +taken by all the land-holding men of England, no matter of whom they +held. This has been represented as an act of new legislation of great +institutional importance, but the view cannot be maintained. It is +impossible to suppose that all land-owners were present or that such an +oath had not been generally taken before; and the Salisbury instance was +either a renewal of it such as was occasionally demanded by kings of this +age, or possibly an emphatic enforcement of the principle in cases where +it had been neglected or overlooked, now perhaps brought to light by the +survey. + +Already in 1083 Queen Matilda had died, to the lasting and sincere grief +of her husband; and now William's life was about to end in events which +were a fitting close to his stormy career. Border warfare along the +French boundary was no unusual thing, but something about a raid of the +garrison of Mantes, into Normandy, early in 1087, roused William's +especial anger. He determined that plundering in that quarter should +stop, and reviving old claims which had long been dormant he demanded the +restoration to Normandy of the whole French Vexin, of which Mantes was +the capital city. Philip treated his claims with contempt, and added a +coarse jest on William's corpulence which roused his anger, as personal +insults always did, to a white heat. The land around Mantes was cruelly +laid waste by his orders, and by a sudden advance the city was carried +and burnt down, churches and houses together. The heat and exertion of +the attack, together with an injury which he received while riding +through the streets of the city, by being thrown violently against the +pummel of his saddle by the stumbling of his horse, proved too much for +William in his physical condition, and he was carried back to Rouen to +die after a few weeks. + +A monastic chronicler of a little later date, Orderic Vitalis, gives us a +detailed account of his death-bed repentance, but it was manifestly +written rather for the edification of the believer than to record +historical fact. It is interesting to note, however, that while William +is made to express the deepest sorrow for the numerous acts of wrong +which were committed in the process of the Conquest of England, there is +no word which indicates any repentance for the Conquest itself or belief +on William's part that he held England unjustly. He admits that it did +not come to him from his fathers, but the same sentence which contains +this admission affirms that he had gained it by the favour of God. It has +been strongly argued from these words, and from others like them, which +are put into the mouth of William later in this dying confession, when he +comes to dispose of his realms and treasures, that William was conscious +to himself that he did not possess any right to the kingdom of England +which he could pass on hereditarily to his heirs. These words might +without violence be made to yield this meaning, and yet it is impossible +to interpret them in this way on any sound principle of criticism, +certainly not as the foundation of any constitutional doctrine. There is +not a particle of support for this interpretation from any other source; +everything else shows that his son William succeeded him in England by +the same right and in the same way that Robert did in Normandy. William +speaks of himself in early charters, as holding England by hereditary +right. He might be ready to acknowledge that it had not come to him by +such right, but never that once having gained it he held it for himself +and his family by any less right than this. The words assigned to William +on his death-bed should certainly be interpreted by the words of the same +chronicler, after he has finished the confession; and these indicate some +doubt on William's part as to the effect of his death on the stability of +his conquest in England, and his great desire to hasten his son William +off to England with directions to Lanfranc as to his coronation before +the news of his own death should be spread abroad. They imply that he is +not sure who may actually become king in the tumults which may arise when +it becomes known that his own strong rule is ended; that rests with God: +but they express no doubt of the right of his heirs, nor of his own right +to determine which one among them shall succeed him. + +With reluctance, knowing his disposition, William conceded Normandy to +Robert. The first-born son was coming to have special rights. More +important in this case was the fact that Robert's right to Normandy had +been formally recognized years before, and that recognition had never +been withdrawn. The barons of the duchy had sworn fealty to him as his +father's successor, and there was no time to put another heir in his +place, or to deal with the opposition that would surely result from the +attempt. William was his father's choice for England, and he was +despatched in all haste to secure the crown with the aid of Lanfranc. To +Henry was given only a sum of money, joined with a prophecy that he +should eventually have all that the king had had, a prophecy which was +certainly easy after the event, when it was written down, and which may +not have been difficult to a father who had studied carefully the +character of his sons. William was buried in the church of St. Stephen, +which he had founded in Caen, and the manner in which such foundations +were frequently made in those days was illustrated by the claim, loudly +advanced in the midst of the funeral service, that the land on which the +participants stood had been unjustly taken from its owners for the +Conqueror's church. It was now legally purchased for William's burial +place. The son, who was at the moment busy securing his kingdom in +England, afterwards erected in it a magnificent tomb to the memory of his +father. + +[9] Round, Victoria History of Hampshire, i. 412-413. But See +F. Baring in Engl. Hist. Rev. xvi. 427-438 (1901). + +[10] Orderic Vitalis, ii. 260. + +[11] Lanfranc, Opera (ed. Giles), i. 64. + +[12] Round, Peerage Studies, pp. 181 ff. + +[13] Dialogus de Scaccario, i. 16 (ed. Hughes, p. 108). + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +FEUDALISM AND A STRONG KING + +William, the second son of the Conqueror, followed with no filial +compunction his father's command that he should leave his death-bed and +cross the channel at once to secure the kingdom of England. At the port +of embarkation he learned that his father had died, but he did not turn +back. Probably the news only hastened his journey, if this were possible. +In England he went first to Winchester to get possession of his father's +great treasure, and then to Canterbury with his letter to Lanfranc. +Nowhere is there any sign of opposition to his succession, or of any +movement in favour of Robert, or on Robert's part, at this moment. If the +archbishop had any doubts, as a man of his good judgment might well have +had, knowing the new king from his boyhood, they were soon quieted or he +resolved to put them aside. He had, indeed, no alternative. There is +nothing to indicate that the letter of his dying master allowed him any +choice, nor was there any possible candidate who gave promise of a better +reign, for Lanfranc must have known Robert as well as he knew William. +Together they went up to London, and on September 26, 1087, hardly more +than two weeks after he left his father's bedside, William was crowned +king by Lanfranc. The archbishop took of him the customary oath to rule +justly and to defend the peace and liberty of the Church, exacting a +special promise always to be guided by his advice; but there is no +evidence of any unusual assembly in London of magnates or people, of any +negotiations to gain the support of persons of influence, or of any +consent asked or given. The proceedings throughout were what we should +expect in a kingdom held by hereditary right, as the chancery of the +Conqueror often termed it, and by such a right descending to the heir. +This appearance may possibly have been given to these events by haste and +by the necessity of forestalling any opposition. Men may have found +themselves with a new king crowned and consecrated as soon as they +learned of the death of the old one; but no objection was ever made. +Within a few months a serious insurrection broke out among those who +hoped to make Robert king, but no one alleged that William's title was +imperfect because he had not been elected. If the English crown was held +by the people of the time to be elective in any sense, it was not in the +sense which we at present understand by the word "constitutional." + +Immediately after the coronation, the new king went back to Winchester to +fulfil a duty which he owed to his father. The great hoard which the +Conqueror had collected in the ancient capital was distributed with a +free hand to the churches of England. William II was as greedy of money +as his father. His exactions pressed even more heavily on the kingdom, +and the Church believed that it was peculiarly the victim of his +financial tyranny, but he showed no disposition to begrudge these +benefactions for the safety of his father's soul. Money was sent to each +monastery and church in the kingdom, and to many rich gifts of other +things, and to each county a hundred pounds for distribution to the poor. + +Until the following spring the disposition of the kingdom which Lanfranc +had made was unquestioned and undisturbed. William II wore his crown at +the meeting of the court in London at Christmas time, and nothing during +the winter called for any special exertion of royal authority on his +part. But beneath the surface a great conspiracy was forming, for the +purpose of overthrowing the new king and of putting his brother Robert in +his place. During Lent the movers of this conspiracy were especially +active, and immediately after Easter the insurrection broke out. It was +an insurrection in which almost all the Norman barons of England took +part, and their real object was the interest neither of king nor of +kingdom, but only their own personal and selfish advantage. A purely +feudal insurrection, inspired solely by those local and separatist +tendencies which the feudal system cherished, it reveals, even more +clearly than the insurrection of the Earls of Hereford and Norfolk under +William I, the solid reserve of strength in the support of the nation +which was the only thing that sustained the Norman kingship in England +during the feudal age. + +The writers upon whom we depend for our knowledge of these events +represent the rebellious barons as moved by two chief motives. Of these +that which is put forward as the leading motive is their opposition to +the division of the Norman land into two separate realms, by the +succession of the elder brother in Normandy and of the younger in +England. The fact that these barons held fiefs in both countries, and +under two different lords, certainly put them in an awkward position, but +in one by no means uncommon throughout the feudal world. A suzerain of +the Norman type, however, in the event of a quarrel between the king and +the duke, could make things exceedingly uncomfortable for the vassals who +held of both, and these men seem to have believed that their divided +allegiance would endanger their possessions in one land or the other. +They were in a fair way, they thought, to lose under the sons the +increase of wealth and honours for which they had fought under the +father. A second motive was found in the contrasted characters of the two +brothers. Our authorities represent this as less influential than the +first, but the circumstances of the case would lead us to believe that it +had equal weight with the barons. William they considered a man of +violence, who was likely to respect no right; Robert was "more +tractable." That Robert was the elder son, that they had already sworn +allegiance to him, while they owed nothing to William, which are +suggested as among their motives, probably had no real influence in +deciding their action. But the other two motives are so completely in +accord with the facts of the situation that we must accept them as giving +the reasons for the insurrection. The barons were opposed to the +separation of the two countries, and they wished a manageable suzerain. + +The insurrection was in appearance an exceedingly dangerous one. Almost +every Norman baron in England revolted and carried his vassals with him. +Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, the king's uncle, was the prime mover in the +affair. He had been released from his prison by the Conqueror on his +death-bed, and had been restored by William II to his earldom of Kent; +but his hope of becoming the chief counsellor of the king, as he had +become of Robert in Normandy, was disappointed. With him was his brother, +Robert of Cornwall, Count of Mortain. The other great baron-bishop of the +Conquest, Geoffrey of Coutances, was also in insurrection, and with him +his nephew, Robert of Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland. Another leading +rebel was Roger, Earl of Shrewsbury, with his three sons, the chief of +whom, Robert of Bellême, was sent over from Normandy by Duke Robert, with +Eustace of Boulogne, to aid the insurrection in England until he should +himself be able to cross the channel. The treason of one man, William of +St. Calais, Bishop of Durham, was regarded by the English writers as +particularly heinous, if indeed we are right in referring their words to +him and not to Bishop Odo; it is at least evident from the sequel that +the king regarded his conduct in that light. The reason is not altogether +clear, unless it be that the position of greatest influence in England, +which Bishop Odo had desired in vain, had been given him by the king. +Other familiar names must be added to these: William of Eu, Roger of +Lacy, Ralph of Mortimer, Roger Bigod, Hugh of Grantmesnil. On the king's +side there were few Norman names to equal these: Hugh of Avranches, Earl +of Chester, William of Warenne, and of course the vassals of the great +Archbishop Lanfranc. But the real strength of the king was not derived +from the baronial elements. The castles in most of the great towns +remained faithful, and so did nearly all the bishops and the Church as a +whole. But the weight which turned the scale and gave the decision to the +king, was the support of the great mass of the nation, of the English as +opposed to the Norman. + +For so great a show of strength, the insurrection was very short-lived, +and it was put down with almost no fighting. The refusal of the barons to +come to the Easter court, April 14, was their first overt act of +rebellion, though it had been evident in March that the rebellion was +coming, and before the close of the summer confiscation or amnesty had +been measured out to the defeated rebels. We are told that the crown was +offered to Robert and accepted by him, and great hopes were entertained +of decisive aid which he was to send; but nothing came of it. Two sieges, +of Pevensey castle and of Rochester castle, were the most important +military events. There was considerable ravaging of the country by the +rebels in the west, and some little fighting there. The Bishop of +Coutances and his nephew seized Bristol and laid waste the country about, +but were unsuccessful in their siege of Ilchester. Roger of Lacy and +others collected a force at Hereford, and advanced to attack Worcester, +but were beaten off by the Norman garrison and the men of Bishop +Wulfstan. Minor incidents of the same kind occurred in Gloucestershire, +Leicestershire, Norfolk, and the north. But the decisive events were in +the south-east, in the operations of the king against his uncle Odo. At +London William called round him his supporters, appealing especially to +the English, and promising to grant good laws, to levy no unjust taxes, +and to allow men the freedom of their woods and of hunting. With an army +which did not seem large, he advanced against Rochester, where the Bishop +of Bayeux was, to strike the heart of the insurrection. + +Tunbridge castle, which was held for Odo, was first stormed, and on the +news of this Odo thought it prudent to betake himself to Pevensey, where +his brother, Robert of Mortain, was, and where reinforcements from Robert +of Normandy would be likely to land. William at once turned from his +march to Rochester and began the siege of Pevensey. The Norman +reinforcements which Robert finally sent were driven back with great +loss, and after some weeks Pevensey was compelled to surrender. Bishop +Odo agreed to secure the surrender of Rochester, and then to retire from +England, only to return if the king should send for him. But William +unwisely sent him on to Rochester with a small advance detachment, to +occupy the castle, while he himself followed more slowly with the main +body. The castle refused to surrender. Odo's expression of face made +known his real wishes, and was more convincing than his words. A sudden +sally of the garrison overpowered his guards, and the bishop was carried +into the castle to try the fortune of a siege once more. For this siege +the king again appealed to the country and called for the help of all +under the old Saxon penalty of the disgraceful name of "nithing." The +defenders of the castle suffered greatly from the blockade, and were soon +compelled to yield upon such terms as the king pleased, who was with +difficulty persuaded to give up his first idea of sending them all to the +gallows. + +The monk Orderic Vitalis, who wrote an account of these events a +generation after they occurred, was struck with one characteristic of +this insurrection, which the careful observer of any time would hardly +fail to notice. He says: "The rebels, although they were so many and +abundantly furnished with arms and supplies, did not dare to join battle +with the king in his kingdom." It was an age, to be sure, when wars were +decided less by fighting in the open field than by the siege and defence +of castles; and yet the collapse of so formidable an insurrection as +this, after no resistance at all in proportion to its apparent fighting +strength, is surely a significant fact. To notice here but one inference +from it, it means that no one questioned the title of William Rufus to +the throne while he was in possession. Though he might be a younger son, +not elected, but appointed by his father, and put into the kingship by +the act of the primate alone, he was, to the rebellious barons as to his +own supporters, the rightful king of England till he could be overthrown. + +The insurrection being put down, a general amnesty seems to have been +extended to the rebels. The Bishop of Bayeux was exiled from England; +some confiscations were made, and some rewards distributed; but almost +without exception the leaders escaped punishment. The most notable +exception, besides Odo, was William of St. Calais, the Bishop of Durham. +For some reason, which does not clearly appear, the king found it +difficult to pardon him. He was summoned before the king's court to +answer for his conduct, and the account of the trial which followed in +November of this year, preserved to us by a writer friendly to the bishop +and present at the proceedings, is one of the most interesting and +instructive documents which we have from this time. William of St. +Calais, as the king's vassal for the temporalities of his bishopric, was +summoned before the king's feudal court to answer for breach of his +feudal obligations. William had shown, in one of the letters which he had +sent to the king shortly before the trial, that he was fully aware of +these obligations; and the impossibility of meeting the accusation was +perfectly clear to his mind. With the greatest subtlety and skill, he +sought to take advantage of his double position, as vassal and as bishop, +and to transfer the whole process to different ground. With equal skill, +and with an equally clear understanding of the principles involved, +Lanfranc met every move which he made.[14] + +From the beginning the accused insisted upon the privileges of his order. +He would submit to a canonical trial only. He asked that the bishops +should appear in their pontificals, which was a request that they judge +him as bishops, and not as barons. Lanfranc answered him that they could +judge him well enough clad as they were. William demanded that his +bishopric should be restored to him before he was compelled to answer, +referring to the seizing of his temporalities by the king. Lanfranc +replied that he had not been deprived of his bishopric. He refused to +plead, however, until the point had been formally decided, and on the +decision of the court against him, he demanded the canonical grounds on +which they had acted. Lanfranc replied that the decision was just, and +that he ought to know that it was. He requested to be allowed to take +counsel with the other bishops on his answer, and Lanfranc explained that +the bishops were his judges and could not be his counsel, his answer +resting on a principle of the law necessary in the courts of public +assembly, one which gave rise to elaborate regulations in some feudal +countries. Bishop William finally refused to accept the judgment of the +court on several grounds, but especially because it was against the +canons; and Lanfranc explained at greater length than before, that he had +not been put on trial concerning his bishopric, but concerning his fief, +as the Bishop of Bayeux had been tried under William I. But all argument +was in vain. The bishop could not safely yield, and he insisted on his +appeal to Rome. On his side the king insisted on the surrender of the +bishop's castle, the last part of his fief which he still held, and was +sustained by the court in this demand. The bishop demurred, but at last +yielded the point to avoid arrest, and after considerable delay, he was +allowed to cross over to the continent. There he was welcomed by Robert +and employed in Normandy, but he never went any farther nor pushed his +appeal to Rome, which in all probability he had never seriously intended, +though there is evidence that the pope was disposed to take up his cause. +Throughout the case the king was acting wholly within his right, +regarding the bishop as his vassal; and Lanfranc's position in the trial +was in strict accordance with the feudal law. + +This was the end of serious rebellion against King William Rufus. Seven +years later, in 1095, a conspiracy was formed by some of the barons who +had been pardoned for their earlier rebellion, which might have resulted +in a widespread insurrection but for the prompt action of William. Robert +of Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, who had inherited the 280 manors of +his uncle, the Bishop of Coutances, and was now one of the most powerful +barons of the kingdom, had been summoned to the king's court, probably +because the conspiracy was suspected, since it was for a fault which +would ordinarily have been passed over without remark, and he refused to +appear. The king's hands were for the moment free, and he marched at once +against the earl. By degrees the details of the conspiracy came out. From +Nottingham, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was accompanying the march, +was sent back to Kent to hold himself in readiness at a moment's notice +to defend that part of England against an expected landing from Normandy. +This time it had been planned to make Stephen of Aumale, a nephew of the +Conqueror, king in William's place; but no Norman invasion occurred. The +war was begun and ended by the siege and surrender of Mowbray's two +castles of Tynemouth and Bamborough. In the siege of the latter, Mowbray +himself was captured by a trick, and his newly married wife was forced to +surrender the castle by the threat of putting out his eyes. The earl was +thrown into prison, where, according to one account, he was held for +thirty years. Treachery among the traitors revealed the names of the +leaders of the plot, and punishments were inflicted more generally than +in 1088, but with no pretence of impartiality. A man of so high rank and +birth as William of Eu was barbarously mutilated; one man of minor rank +was hanged; banishment and fines were the penalties in other cases. +William of St. Calais, who had been restored to his see, fell again under +the suspicion of the king, and was summoned to stand another trial, but +he was already ill when he went up to the court, and died before he could +answer the charges against him. There were reasons enough in the heavy +oppressions of the reign why men should wish to rebel against William, +but he was so fixed in power, so resolute in action, and so pitiless +towards the victims of his policy, that the forming of a dangerous +combination against him was practically impossible. + +The contemporary historians of his reign tell us much of William's +personality, both in set descriptions and in occasional reference and +anecdote. It is evident that he impressed in an unusual degree the men of +his own time, but it is evident also that this impression was not so much +made by his genius as a ruler or a soldier, by the possession of the +gifts which a great king would desire, as by something in his spirit and +attitude towards life which was new and strange, something out of the +common in words and action, which startled or shocked men of the common +level and seemed at times to verge upon the awful. In body he was shorter +than his father, thick-set and heavy, and his red face gave him the name +Rufus by which he was then and still is commonly known. Much of his +father's political and military ability and strength of will had +descended to him, but not his father's character and high purpose. Every +king of those times thought chiefly of himself, and looked upon the state +as his private property; but the second William more than most. The money +which he wrung from churchman and layman he used in attempts to carry out +his personal ambitions in Normandy, or scattered with a free hand among +his favourites, particularly among the mercenary soldiers from the +continent, with whom he especially loved to surround himself, and whose +licensed plunderings added greatly to the burden and tyranny of his +reign. But the ordinary doings of a tyrant were not the worst things +about William Rufus. Effeminate fashions, vices horrible and unheard-of +in England, flourished at his court and threatened to corrupt the nation. +The fearful profanity of the king, his open and blasphemous defiance of +God, made men tremble, and those who were nearest to him testified "that +he every morning got up a worse man than he lay down, and every evening +lay down a worse man than he got up." + +In the year after the suppression of the first attempt of the barons +against the king, but before other events of political importance had +occurred, on May 28, 1089, died Lanfranc, the great Archbishop of +Canterbury, after nearly nineteen years of service in that office. Best +of all the advisers of the first William, he was equally with him +conqueror of England, in that conquest of laws and civilization which +followed the mere conquest of arms. Not great, though famous as a +theologian and writer, his powers were rather of a practical nature. He +was skilful in the management of men; he had a keen appreciation of legal +distinctions, and that comprehensive sight at the same time of ends and +means which we call the organizing power. He was devoted to that great +reformation in the religious and ecclesiastical world which occurred +during his long life, but he was devoted to it in his own way, as his +nature directed. He saw clearly, for one thing, that the success of that +reformation in England depended on the maintenance of the strong +government of the Norman kings; and from his loyalty to them he never +swerved, serving them with wise counsel and with all the resources at his +command. Less of a theologian and idealist than his successor Anselm, +more of a lawyer and statesman, he could never have found himself, for +another thing, in that attitude of opposition to the king which fills so +much of his successor's pontificate. + +As his life had been of constant service to England, his death was an +immediate misfortune. We cannot doubt the opinion expressed by more than +one of the writers of the next reign, that a great change for the worse +took place in the actions of the king after the death of Lanfranc. The +aged archbishop, who had been in authority since his childhood, who might +seem to prolong in some degree the reign or the influence of his father, +acted as a restraining force, and the true character of William expressed +itself freely only when this was removed. In another way also the death +of Lanfranc was a misfortune to England. It dates the rise to influence +with the king of Ranulf Hambard, whose name is closely associated with +the tyranny of Rufus; or if this may already have begun, it marks his +very speedy attainment of what seems to have been the complete control of +the administrative and judicial system of the kingdom. Of the early +history of Ranulf Flambard we know but little with certainty. He was of +low birth, probably the son of a priest, and he rose to his position of +authority by the exercise of his own gifts, which were not small. A +pleasing person, ingratiating manners, much quickness and ingenuity of +mind, prodigality of flattery, and great economy of scruples,--these were +traits which would attract the attention and win the favour of a man like +William II. In Ranulf Flambard we have an instance of the constantly +recurring historical fact, that the holders of absolute power are always +able to find in the lower grades of society the ministers of their +designs who serve them with a completeness of devotion and fidelity which +the master rarely shows in his own interest, and often with a genius +which he does not himself possess. + +Our knowledge of the constitutional details of the reign either of +William I or William II is very incomplete, and it is therefore difficult +for us to understand the exact nature of the innovations made by Ranulf +Flambard. The chroniclers leave us no doubt of the general opinion of +contemporaries, that important changes had been made, especially in the +treatment of the lands of the Church, and that these changes were all in +the direction of oppressive exactions for the benefit of the king. The +charter issued by Henry I at the beginning of his reign, promising the +reform of various abuses of his brother's reign, confirms this opinion. +But neither the charter nor the chroniclers enable us to say with +confidence exactly in what the innovations consisted. The feudal system +as a system of military tenures and of judicial organization had +certainly been introduced by William the Conqueror, and applied to the +great ecclesiastical estates of the kingdom very early in his reign. That +all the logical deductions for the benefit of the crown which were +possible from this system, especially those of a financial nature, had +been made so early, is not so certain. In the end, and indeed before very +long, the feudal system as it existed in England became more logical in +details, more nearly an ideal feudalism, with reference to the rights of +the crown, than anywhere else in Christendom. It is quite within the +bounds of possibility that Ranulf Flambard, keen of mind, working under +an absolute king, whose reign was followed by the longer reign of another +absolute king, not easily forced to keep the promises of his coronation +charter, may have had some share in the logical carrying out of feudal +principles, or in their more complete application to the Church, which +would be likely to escape feudal burdens under a king of the character of +the first William. Indeed, such a complete application of the feudal +rights of the crown to the Church, the development of the so-called +regalian rights, was at this date incomplete in Europe as a whole, and +according to the evidence which we now have, the Norman in England was a +pioneer in that direction. + +The loudest complaints of these oppressions have come down to us in +regard to Canterbury and the other ecclesiastical baronies which fell +vacant after the death of Lanfranc. This is what we should expect: the +writers are monks. It seems from the evidence, also, that in most cases +no exact division had as yet been made between those lands belonging to a +monastic bishop or an abbot, which should be considered particularly to +form the barony, and those which should be assigned to the support of the +monastic body. Such a division was made in time, but where it had not +been made before the occurrence of a vacancy, it was more than likely +that the monks were placed on very short commons, and the right of the +king to the revenues interpreted in the most ample sense. The charter of +Henry I shows that in the case of lay fiefs the rights of the king, +logically involved in the feudal system, had been stretched to their +utmost limit, and even beyond. It would be very strange if this were not +still more true in the case of ecclesiastical fiefs. The monks, we may be +sure, had abundant grounds for their complaints. But we should notice +that what they have in justice to complain of is the oppressive abuse of +real rights. The system of Ranulf Flambard, so far as we can determine +what it was, does not differ in its main features from that which was in +operation without objection in the time of Henry II. The vacant +ecclesiastical, like the vacant lay, fief fell back into the king's +domain. It is difficult to determine just what its legal status was then +considered to be, but it was perhaps regarded as a fief reverting on +failure of heirs. Certainly it was sometimes treated as only an escheated +or forfeited lay fief would be treated. Its revenues might be collected +by the ordinary machinery, as they had been under the bishop, and turned +into the king's treasury; or it might be farmed out as a whole to the +highest bidder. There could be no valid objection to this. If the legal +position which Lanfranc had so vigorously defended was correct, that a +bishop might be tried as a baron by a lay court and a lay process, with +no infringement of his ecclesiastical rights, then there could be no +defence against this further extension of feudal principles. Relief, +wardship, and escheat were perfectly legitimate feudal rights, and there +was no reason which the state would consider valid why they should not be +enforced in all fiefs alike. The case of the Bishop of Durham, in 1088, +had already established a precedent for the forfeiture of an +ecclesiastical barony for the treason of its holder, and in that case the +king had granted fiefs within that barony to his own vassals. Still more +clearly would such a fief return to the king's hands, if it were vacant. +But if the right was clear, it might still be true that the enforcement +of it was new and accompanied with great practical abuses. Of this much +probably we must hold Ranulf Flambard guilty. + +The extension and abuse of feudal law, however, do not fill up the +measure of his guilt. Another important source of royal revenue, the +judicial system, was put under his control, and was forced to contribute +the utmost possible to the king's income. That the justiciarship was at +this time as well defined an office, or as regularly recognized a part of +the state machinery, as it came to be later, is hardly likely. But that +some officer should be clothed with the royal authority for a special +purpose, or in the absence of the king for general purposes, was not an +uncommon practice. In some such way as this Ranulf Flambard had been +given charge of the king's interests in the judicial system, and had much +to do by his activities in that position with the development of the +office of justiciar. Exactly what he did in this field is as uncertain as +in that of feudal law, though the one specific instance which we have on +record shows him acting in a capacity much like that of the later +itinerant justice. However this may be, the recorded complaints of his +oppressions as judge, though possibly less numerous and detailed than of +his mistreatment of the Church, are equally bitter. He was the despoiler +of the rich, the destroyer of the poor. Exactions already heavy and +unjust he doubled. Money alone decided cases in the courts. Justice and +the laws disappeared. The rope was loosened from the very neck of the +robber if he had anything of value to promise the king; while the popular +courts of shires and hundreds were forced to become engines of extortion, +probably by the employment of the sheriffs, who were allowed to summon +them, not according to the old practice, but when and where it suited +their convenience. The machinery of the state and the interpretation of +its laws were, in days like these, completely at the mercy of a tyrannous +king and an unscrupulous minister. No system of checks on absolute power +had as yet been devised; there were no means of expressing public +discontent, nor any form of appeal but insurrection, and that was +hopeless against a king so strong as Rufus. The land could only suffer +and wait, and at last rejoice that the reign was no longer. In the +meantime, from the beginning of Robert's rule in the duchy across the +channel, the condition of things there had been a standing invitation to +his brother to interfere. Robert is a fair example of the worst type of +men of the Norman-Angevin blood. Not bad in intention, and not without +abilities, he was weak with that weakness most fatal of all in times when +the will of the ruler gave its only force to law, the inability to say +no, the lack of firm resisting power. The whole eleventh century had been +nourishing the growth, in the favouring soil of feudalism, of the manners +and morals of chivalry. The generation to which William and Robert +belonged was more strongly influenced in its standards of conduct by the +ideals of chivalry than by any other ethical code, and both these princes +are examples of the superior power of these ideals. In the age of +chivalry no princely virtue was held of higher worth than that of +"largesse," the royal generosity which scattered gifts on all classes +with unstinted hand; but Robert's prodigality of gifts was greater than +the judgment of his own time approved, and, combined with the inability +to make himself respected or obeyed, which often goes with such +generosity, it was the source of most of his difficulties. His ideal +seemed to be that every man should have what he wanted, and soon it was +apparent that he had retained very little for himself. + +The castles of Normandy were always open to the duke, and William the +Conqueror had maintained garrisons of his own in the most important of +them, to insure the obedience of their holders. The first move that was +made by the barons of Normandy, on the news of William's death, was to +expel these garrisons and to substitute others of their own. The example +was set by Robert of Bellême, the holder of a powerful composite lordship +on the south-west border and partly outside the duchy. On his way to +William's court, he heard of the duke's death, and he instantly turned +about, not merely to expel the ducal garrisons from the castles of his +own fiefs, but to seize the castles of his neighbours which he had reason +to desire, and some of these he destroyed and some he held for himself. +This action is typical of the influence of Robert's character on +government in Normandy. Contempt for the authority of the duke meant not +merely that things which belonged to him would be seized upon and his +rights denied, but also that the property and rights of the weak, and +even of those who were only a little weaker than their neighbours, were +at the mercy of the stronger. + +Duke Robert's squandering of his resources soon brought him to a want of +ready money intolerable to a prince of his nature, and his mind turned at +once with desire to the large sum in cash which his father had left to +Henry. But Henry was not at all of the stamp of Robert. He was perfectly +clear headed, and he had no foolish notions about the virtue of +generosity. He preferred to buy rather than to give away. A bargain was +struck between them, hardly six months after their father's death, and +the transaction is characteristic of the two brothers. For three thousand +pounds of silver, Henry purchased what people of the time regarded as a +third of Robert's inheritance, the lordship of the Cotentin, with its +important castles, towns, and vassals. The chroniclers call him now Count +of the Cotentin, and he there practised the art of government for a time, +and, in sharp contrast to Robert, maintained order with a strong hand. +During the same summer of 1088, Henry crossed over to England to get +possession of the lands of his mother Matilda, which she had bequeathed +to him on her death. This inheritance he does not seem to have obtained, +at least not permanently; but there was no quarrel between him and +William at that time. In the autumn he returned to Normandy, taking with +him Robert of Bellême. Robert had been forgiven his rebellion by the +king, and so clear was the evidence that Henry and Robert of Bellême had +entered into some kind of an arrangement with King William to assist his +designs on Normandy, or so clear was it made to seem to Duke Robert, that +on their landing he caused them both to be arrested and thrown into +prison. On the news of this the Earl of Shrewsbury, the father of Robert +of Bellême, crossed over from England to the aid of his son, and a short +civil war followed, in the early part of the next year, in which the +military operations were favourable to the duke, but his inconstancy and +weakness of character were shown in his releasing Robert of Bellême at +the close of the war as if he had himself been beaten. Henry also was +soon released, and took up again his government of the Cotentin. + +William may have felt that Robert's willingness to accept the crown of +England from the rebel barons gave him the right to take what he could +get in Normandy, though probably he was not particularly troubled by the +question of any moral justification of his conduct. Opportunity would be +for him the main consideration, and the growing anarchy in the duchy +furnished this. Private war was carried on without restraint in more than +one place, and though the reign of a weak suzerain was to the advantage +of the rapacious feudal baron, many of the class preferred a stronger +rule. The arguments also in favour of a union of the kingdom and the +duchy, which had led to the rebellion against William, would now, since +that attempt had failed, be equally strong against Robert. For William no +motive need be sought but that of ambition, nor have we much right to say +that in such an age the ambition was improper. The temptation which the +Norman duchy presented to a Norman king of England was natural and +irresistible, and we need only note that with William II begins that +determination of the English kings to rule also in continental dominions +which influences so profoundly their own history, and hardly less +profoundly the history of their island kingdom, for centuries to come. To +William the Conqueror no such question could ever present itself, but the +moment that the kingdom and the duchy were separated in different hands +it must have arisen in the mind of the king. + +But if William did not himself care for any moral justification of his +plans, he must make sure of the support of his English vassals in such an +undertaking; and the policy of war against Robert was resolved upon in a +meeting of the court, probably the Easter meeting of 1090. But open war +did not begin at once. William contented himself for some months with +sending over troops to occupy castles in the north-eastern portion of +Normandy, which were opened to him by barons who were favourable to his +cause or whose support was purchased. The alarm of Robert was soon +excited by these defections, and he appealed to his suzerain, King Philip +I of France, for aid. If the policy of ruling in Normandy was natural for +the English king, that of keeping kingdom and duchy in different hands +was an equally natural policy for the French king. It is hardly so early +as this, however, that we can date the beginning of this which comes in +the end to be a ruling motive of the Capetian house. Philip responded to +his vassal's call with a considerable army, but the money of the king of +England quickly brought him to a different mind, and he retired from the +field, where he had accomplished nothing. + +In the following winter, early in February of 1091, William crossed over +into Normandy to look after his interests in person. The money which he +was wringing from England by the ingenuity of Ranulf Flambard he +scattered in Normandy with a free hand, to win himself adherents, and +with success. Robert could not command forces enough to meet him in the +field, and was compelled to enter into a treaty with him, in which, in +return for some promises from William, he not merely accepted his +occupation of the eastern side of the duchy, which was already +accomplished, but agreed to a similar occupation by William of the +north-western corner. + +Cherbourg and Mont-Saint-Michel, two of the newly ceded places, belonged +to the dominions which "Count" Henry had purchased of his brother, and +must be taken from him by force. William and Robert marched together +against him, besieged him in his castle of Mont-Saint-Michel, and +stripped him of his lordship. Robert received the lion's share of the +conquest, but William obtained what he wished. Henry was once more +reduced to the condition of a landless prince, but when William returned +to England in August of this year both his brothers returned with him, +and remained there for some time. + +William had been recalled to England by the news that King Malcolm of +Scotland had invaded England during his absence and harried +Northumberland almost to Durham. Malcolm had already refused to fulfil +his feudal obligations to the new king of England, and William marched +against him immediately on his return, taking his two brothers with him. +At Durham Bishop William of St. Calais, who had found means to reconcile +himself with the king, was restored to his rights after an exile of three +years. The expedition to Scotland led to no fighting. William advanced +with his army to the Firth of Forth. Malcolm met him there with an army +of his own, but negotiations were begun and conducted for William by his +brother Robert, and for Malcolm by the atheling Edgar, whose expulsion +from Normandy had been one of the conditions of the peace between William +and Robert. Malcolm at last agreed to acknowledge himself the man of +William II, with the same obligations by which he had been bound to his +father, and the king returned to England, as he had gone, by way of +Durham. Very likely something in this expedition suggested to William +that the north-western frontier of England needed rectification and +defence. At any rate, early in the spring of the next year, 1092, he +marched against Carlisle, expelled Dolphin, son of the Gospatric of +William the Conqueror's time, who was holding it under Malcolm of +Scotland, built and garrisoned a castle there, and after his return to +the south sent a colony of English families to occupy the adjacent +country. This enlargement of the area of England was practically a +conquest from the king of Scotland, and it may have been, in violation of +the pledge which William had just given, to restore to Malcolm all his +former possessions. Something, at least, led to immediate complaints from +Malcolm, which were without avail, and a journey that he made by +invitation the next year, to confer with William at Gloucester, resulted +only in what he regarded as further humiliating treatment. On his return +to Scotland he immediately took arms, and again invaded Northumberland. +This, however, was destined to be the last of his incursions, for he was +killed, together with his eldest son, Edward, near Alnwick, on the +eastern coast. The news of the death of her husband and son at once +proved fatal to Queen Margaret. A reaction followed against English +influence in the state, which she had supported, and a conflict of +parties and a disputed succession gave to William an opportunity to +interfere in favour of candidates of his own, though with little real +success. At least the north of England was relieved of the danger of +invasion. This year was also marked by important advances in the conquest +of South Wales by the Norman barons of the country. + +[14] Dugdale, Monasticon, ed. 1846, 1.244 ff--and Symeon of Durham, +Deinjusta Vexations (Rolls series), i. 170 ff. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +WILLIAM RUFUS AND ANSELM + +In following the history of Malcolm of Scotland we have passed by events +of greater importance which make the year 1093 a turning-point in the +reign of William Rufus. The appointment of Anselm to the archbishopric of +Canterbury divides the reign into two natural divisions. In the first +period William secures his hold on power, develops his tyrannous +administrative system and his financial extortions, begins his policy of +conquest in Normandy, forces Scotland to recognize his supremacy, and +rounds off his kingdom towards the north-west. The second period is more +simple in character, but its events are of greater importance. Apart from +the abortive rebellion of Robert of Mowbray, which has already been +narrated, William's authority is unquestioned. Flambard's machine appears +to run smoothly. Monks record their groans and give voice to their +horror, but the peace of the state is not disturbed, nor are precautions +necessary against any foreign enemy. Two series of events fill up the +history of the period, both of great and lasting interest. One is the +long quarrel between the king and the archbishop, which involve the +whole question of the relation between Church and State in the feudal +age; and the other is the king's effort to gain possession of Normandy, +the introductory chapter of a long history. + +Early in Lent, 1093, or a little earlier, King William fell sick at a +royal manor near to Gloucester, and was carried in haste into that city. +There he lay during the rest of Lent, so ill that his death was expected +at any moment, and it was even reported that he had died. Brought face to +face with death, the terrors of the world to come seized hold of him. The +medieval sinner who outraged the moral sentiment of his time, as William +did, was sustained by no philosophical doubt of the existence of God or +belief in the evolutionary origin of ethics. His life was a reckless +defiance or a careless disregard of an almighty power, whose +determination and ability to punish him, if not bought off, he did not +question. The torments of a physical hell were vividly portrayed on all +occasions, and accepted by the highest as well as the lowest as an +essential part of the divine revelation. William was no exception to this +rule. He became even more shockingly defiant of God after his recovery +than he had been before. God, he declared to the Bishop of Rochester, +should never have in him a good man because of the evil which He had done +him. And God let him have what he wished, adds the pious historian, +according to the idea of good which he had formed. And yet, if he had +been allowed time for a death-bed repentance at the end of his life, he +would have yielded undoubtedly to the same vague terrors, and have made a +hasty bid for safety with gifts and promises. At any rate now, when the +nobles and bishops who came to visit him suggested that it was time for +him to make atonement for his evil deeds, he eagerly seized upon the +chance. He promised to reform his life, to protect the churches, and not +put them up any more for sale, to annul bad laws, and to decree good +ones; and bishops were sent to lay these promises on the altar. Some of +his good resolutions could only be carried out by virtue of a royal writ, +and an order was drawn up and sealed, commanding the release of +prisoners, the remission of debts due the crown, and the forgiving of +offences. Great was the rejoicing at these signs of reformation, and +prayers were, everywhere offered for so good a king, but when he had once +recovered, his promises were as quickly forgotten as the very similar +ones which he had made in the crisis of the rebellion of loss. William +probably still believed, when he found himself restored to health, that +nobody can keep all his promises, as he had answered when Lanfranc +remonstrated with him on the violation of his coronation pledges. Before +his recovery, however, he took one step in the way of reformation from +which he did not draw back. He appointed a new Archbishop of Canterbury. +It was the fear of death alone which wrung this concession from the king, +and it shows a clear consciousness on his part of the guilt of retaining +the archbishopric in his hands. Only a few weeks earlier, at the meeting +of the Christmas court, when the members had petitioned that he would be +graciously pleased to allow prayers to be offered that he might be led to +see the wrong which he was doing, he had answered with contempt, "Pray as +much as you like; I shall do what I please. Nobody's praying is going to +change my mind." Now, however, he was praying himself, and anxious to get +rid of this guilt. The man whom all England with one voice declared to be +the ideal archbishop was at hand, and the king besought him most +earnestly to accept the appointment, and so to aid him in his endeavour +to save his soul. + +This man was Anselm, now abbot of the famous monastery of Bec, where +Lanfranc had been at one time prior. Born sixty years before, at Aosta, +in the kingdom of Burgundy, in the later Piedmont, he had crossed into +France, like Lanfranc, led by the desire of learning and the religious +life. Finally he had become a monk at Bec, and had devoted himself to +study and to theological writing. Only with great reluctance, and always +imperfectly, did he attend to the administrative duties which fell to him +as he was made first prior and then abbot of the monastery. His cast of +mind was wholly metaphysical, his spirit entirely of the cloister and the +school. The monastic life, free from the responsibilities of office, +exactly suited him, and he was made for it. When all England was +importuning him to accept the primacy, he shrank back from it with a +reluctance which was wholly genuine, and an obstinacy which belonged also +to his nature. He felt himself unfitted for the place, and he foresaw the +result. He likened his future relation with the king to that of a weak +old sheep yoked with an untamed bull. In all this he was perfectly right. +That harmony which had existed between Lanfranc and the Conqueror, +because each understood the other's position and rights and was +interested in his work, was never for a moment possible between Anselm +and William Rufus; and this was only partly due to the character of the +king. So wholly did the archbishop belong to another world than the +king's that he never appreciated the double position in which his office +placed him. One side of it only, the ecclesiastical, with its duties and +rights and all their logical consequences, he clearly saw. At the +beginning of his primacy, he seemed to understand, and he certainly +accepted, the feudal relationship in which he was placed to the king, but +the natural results of this position he never admitted. His mind was too +completely taken up with the other side of things; and with his fixedness +of purpose, almost obstinacy of character, and the king's wilfulness, +conflict was inevitable. + +It was only with great difficulty that Anselm was brought to accept the +appointment. Being in England on a visit to Hugh, Earl of Chester, he had +been brought to the king's bedside when he fell sick, as the man best +able to give him the most certain spiritual comfort; and when William had +been persuaded of his guilt in keeping the primacy so long vacant, Anselm +was dragged protesting to the presence of the sick man, and his fingers +were partially forced open to receive the pastoral staff which William +extended to him. Then he was carried off, still protesting, to a church +near by, where the religious ceremonies usual on the appointment of a +bishop were performed. Still Anselm refused to yield to this friendly +violence. He returned immediately to the king, predicted his recovery, +and declared that he had not accepted the primacy, and did not accept it, +in spite of all that had been done. For some reason, however, William +adhered to this much of his reformation. He gave order for the immediate +transfer to his appointee of all that pertained to the archbishopric, and +sent to Normandy for the consent of the secular and ecclesiastical +superiors of Anselm, the duke and the Archbishop of Rouen, and of the +monks of his abbey. At length Anselm yielded, not because his judgment +had been changed as to the wisdom of the appointment, but sacrificing +himself rather, in the monastic spirit, to the call of Heaven. + +It was near the end of September, however, before the new archbishop was +enthroned. Several matters had first to be arranged to the satisfaction +of Anselm, and among these were three conditions which he presented to be +agreed to by the king. William was probably ready to agree without +hesitation that he would take the archbishop as his guide and director in +religious matters, and equally ready to pay no attention to the promise +afterward. A more difficult condition was, that all the lands which had +belonged to the church of Canterbury at Lanfranc's death should be +restored, including, evidently, certain lands which William had granted +to his own men. This condition would show that the king had treated the +archbishopric as a forfeited fief, and that its lands had been alienated +on terms unfavourable to the Church. William hesitated long on this +condition, and tried to persuade Anselm to waive it; but the letters of +the future archbishop show that his conscience was deeply engaged and +would not permit him to agree to anything that would impoverish his see, +and the king must have yielded in the end. The third condition was, that +Anselm should be allowed to continue in the obedience of Pope Urban II, +whom he had already acknowledged in Normandy. This must also have been a +disagreeable condition to the king. The divided state of Christendom, +into which it had been thrown by the conflict between the pope and the +emperor on the question of investitures, was favourable to that +autocratic control of the Church which William Rufus desired to maintain. +He had no wish to decide between the rival popes, nor was he willing to +modify his father's rule that no pope should be recognized by the English +Church without the king's consent. We are not told that in this +particular he made anything more than a vague promise to do what he ought +to do, but very likely Anselm may have regarded this point more as a +warning to the king of his own future action than as a necessary +condition of his acceptance of the archbishopric. + +All these preliminaries being settled in some form satisfactory to +Anselm, he yielded to the universal desire, and was enthroned on +September 25. The rejoicing of this day at Canterbury was not allowed to +go on, however, without interruption by the king. Ranulf Flambard +appeared in person and served a writ on the new archbishop, summoning him +to answer in some suit in the king's court. The assurance of Anselm's +friend and biographer, Eadmer, that this action concerned a matter wholly +within the province of the Church, we can hardly accept as conclusive +evidence of the fact; but Anselm was certainly right in regarding such an +act on this day as foreboding greater troubles to come. On December 4, +Anselm was consecrated at an assembly of almost all the bishops of +England, including Thomas, Archbishop of York. The occasion is noteworthy +because the Archbishop of York interrupted the proceedings to object to +the term "metropolitan of all Britain," applied to the church of +Canterbury, calling attention to the fact that the church of York was +known to be metropolitan also. The term primate was at once substituted +for that of metropolitan, since the archbishops of Canterbury did not +claim the right to exercise an administrative authority within the see of +York. + +It is interesting to notice, in view of the conflict on investitures +which was before long to begin in England, and which had already been for +years so bitterly fought upon the continent, that all these events +happened without the slightest questioning on the part of any one of the +king's sole right to dispose of the highest see of the realm as he +pleased. There was no suggestion of the right of election, no objection +to lay investiture, no protest from any one. Anselm accepted investiture +with the staff from the hand of the king without remark. He acknowledged +his feudal relation to him, swore fealty to him as a vassal,[15] and was +ready to perform his obligations of feudal service, at least upon his own +interpretation of their extent. A little later, in 1095, after the first +serious conflict between himself and the king, when the papal legate in +England took of him his oath of fealty to the pope, the oath contained the +usual Norman clause reserving his fealty to the king. A clause in the +bishop's oath to the pope so unusual as this could not have passed in +that age without notice. It occasioned instant criticism from strict +ecclesiastics on the continent, and it must have been consciously inserted +by Anselm and consciously accepted by the legate. Such facts as these, +combined with the uncompromising character of Anselm, are more striking +evidence of the absolutism of the Norman monarchy than anything which +occurred in the political world during this period. + +Within a few days after his consecration, Anselm set out from Canterbury +to attend the Christmas meeting of the king's court at Gloucester. There +he was well received by the king, but the most important business before +the court was destined to lead to the first breach between them. Robert +of Normandy had grown tired of his brother's long delay in keeping the +promises which he had made in the treaty of Caen. Now there appeared at +Gloucester a formal embassy from him, authorized to declare William +forsworn and faithless, and to renounce all peace and agreement with him +unless he held to the treaty or exculpated himself in due form. There +could be no hesitation about an answer to this demand. It is more than +likely that William himself, within a short time, would have sought for +some excuse to begin again his conquest of Normandy, if Robert had not +furnished him this one. War was at once resolved upon, and preparations +made for an immediate campaign. The most important preliminary question, +both for William and for England, was that of money, and on this question +the scruples of Anselm and the will of the king first came into +collision. Voluntary aids, donations of money for the special +undertakings or necessities of the king, were a feature of William's +financial management, though their voluntary character seems often to +have been more a matter of theory than of reality. If the sum offered was +not so large as the king expected, he refused to accept it and withdrew +his favour from the delinquent until he received the amount he thought +proper. Anselm was persuaded by his friends to conform to this custom, +and hoping that he might in this way secure the favour and support of the +king in his ecclesiastical plans, he offered him five hundred pounds of +silver. At first William was pleased with the gift and accepted it, but +his counsellors advised him that it was too small, and Anselm was +informed that it would not be received. The archbishop's attempt to +persuade William to take the money only called out an angry answer. "Keep +your own to yourself," the king said, "I have enough of mine;" and Anselm +went away rejoicing that now evil-minded men would have no occasion to +say that he had bought his office, and he promised the money to the poor. +The archbishop was acting here entirely within his legal rights, but it +was not an auspicious beginning of his pontificate. Within a few weeks +the prelates and nobles of England were summoned to meet again--at +Hastings, from which port the king intended to cross to Normandy. The +weather was for some weeks unfavourable, and during the delay the church +of the new abbey of Battle was dedicated; Robert Bloet, who had been +appointed Bishop of Lincoln while the king was in fear of death, was +consecrated, though Anselm himself had not as yet received his pallium +from the pope; and Herbert Losinga, Bishop of Thetford, who had bought +his bishopric from the king and afterwards, apparently in repentance, had +personally sought the confirmation of the pope, was suspended from his +office because he had left the realm without the permission of the king +and had sought from the unacknowledged Pope Urban the bishopric which the +king asserted his full right to confer. He afterwards recovered William's +favour and removed his see to Norwich. At Hastings, in a personal +interview with the king, Anselm sought permission to hold a synod of the +kingdom, which had not up to this time been allowed during the reign, and +remonstrated with him in the plainest language for keeping so many +monasteries without abbots while he used their revenues for wars and +other secular purposes. In both respects William bluntly refused to +change his conduct, and when Anselm sought through the bishops the +restoration of his favour, refused that also "because," he said, "I do +not know why I should grant it." When it was explained to Anselm that +this was a formula of the king's which meant that his favour was to be +bought, he refused on grounds of policy as well as of principle to +increase, or even to renew, his former offer. This seemed like a final +breach with the king. William's anger was great when he heard of Anselm's +decision. He declared that he would hate him constantly more and more, +and never would hold him for his spiritual father or a bishop. "Let him +go home as soon as he likes," he cried, "he need not wait any longer to +give his blessings to my crossing over" and Anselm departed at once from +Hastings. + +On March 19, 1094, William at last crossed to Normandy. The campaign +which followed was without decisive results. He was no nearer the +conquest of the duchy at the end than at the beginning. Indeed, we can +hardly say that the campaign had an end. It died away by degrees, but no +formal peace was made, and the duchy came finally into the hands of +William, not by conquest, but by other means. On William's landing an +attempt was made to renew the peace at an interview between him and +Robert, but without avail. Then those who had signed the treaty of Caen +as guarantors, twelve barons for Robert and twelve for William, were +called upon to say who was acting in violation of the treaty. They +decided, apparently without disagreement, against William, but he refused +to be bound by their verdict. The war which followed was a typical feudal +war, the siege of castles, the capture of men and towns. Robert called in +once more his suzerain, Philip of France, to his aid, and captured two +important castles, that of Argentan towards the south, and that of La +Houlme in the north-west. William then took a step which illustrates +again the extent of his power and his arbitrary use of it. He ordered a +levy of ten thousand men from England to be sent him in Normandy, and +when they had assembled at Hastings, Ranulf Flambard, by the king's +orders we are told, took from them the ten shillings which each man had +been furnished for his expenses, and sent them home. Robert and Philip +were now marching against William at Eu, and it was probably by the +liberal use of this money that "the king of France was turned back by +craft and all the expedition dispersed." About the same time William sent +for his brother Henry to join him. Henry had reappeared in western +Normandy not long before, and had begun the reconstruction of his power +there. Invited by the inhabitants of Domfront to protect them against +Robert of Bellême, he had made that place a starting-point from which he +had recovered a considerable part of his earlier possessions. Now William +sent ships to bring him by sea to Eu, probably wishing to use his +military skill against their common enemy. For some reason, however, the +ships departed from their course, and on the last day of October he +landed at Southampton, where he stayed some weeks. On December 28, +William also returned to England, and in the spring, Henry was sent back +to Normandy with supplies of money to keep up the war against Robert. + +The year 1094 had been a hard one for both England and Normandy. The +duchy had suffered more from the private wars which prevailed everywhere, +and which the duke made no effort to check, than from the invasion of +William. England in general had had peace, under the strong hand of the +king, but so heavy had been the burden of the taxation which the war in +Normandy had entailed that agriculture declined, we are told, and famine +and pestilence followed. In the west the Welsh had risen against the +Norman lords, and had invaded and laid waste parts of the English border +counties. In Scotland William's ally, Duncan, had been murdered, and his +uncle, Donald, who represented the Scottish national party, had been made +king in his place. William found difficulties enough in England to occupy +him for some time, particularly when, as was told above, the refusal of +Robert of Mowbray to appear at court in March revealed the plans of the +barons for another insurrection. + +Before he could attempt to deal with any of these difficulties, however, +another question, more troublesome still, was forced upon the king. A few +weeks after his landing Anselm came to him and asked leave to go to Rome +to get his pallium from the pope. "From which pope?" asked the king. +Anselm had already given warning of the answer which he must make, and at +once replied, "From Urban." Here was joined an inevitable issue between +the king and the archbishop; inevitable, not because of the character of +the question but because of the character of the two men. No conflict +need have arisen upon this question. When Anselm had remonstrated with +the king on the eve of his Norman expedition, about the vacant abbeys +that were in his hands, William in anger had replied that Lanfranc would +never have dared to use such language to his father. We may be sure for +one thing, that Lanfranc would have dared to oppose the first William +with all his might, if he had thought the reason sufficient, but also +that his more practical mind would never have allowed him to regard this +question as important enough to warrant the evils that would follow in +the train of an open quarrel between king and primate. During the last +years of Lanfranc's life, at least from 1084, no pope had been formally +recognized in England. To Anselm's mind, however, the question was one of +vital importance, where delay would be the sacrifice of principle to +expediency. On the other hand, it seems clear to us, looking back on +these events, that William, from the strength of his position in England, +could have safely overlooked Anselm's personal recognition of Urban, and +could have tacitly allowed him even to get his pallium from the pope +without surrendering anything of his own practical control of the Church. +William, however, refused to take this course. Perhaps he had come to see +that a conflict with Anselm could not be avoided, and chose not to allow +him any, even merely formal, advantages. The student of this crisis is +tempted to believe, from the facts of this case, from the king's taking +away "the staff" from the Bishop of Thetford, if the words used refer to +anything more than a confiscation of his fief, and especially from his +steady refusal to allow the meeting of a national council, that William +had conceived the idea of an independent Church under his supreme control +in all that pertained to its government, and that he was determined to be +rid of an Archbishop of Canterbury, who would never consent to such a +plan. + +Of the dispute which followed we have a single interesting and detailed +account, written by Eadmer who was in personal attendance on Anselm +through it all, but it is the account of a devoted partisan of the +archbishop which, it is clear, we cannot trust for legal distinctions, +and which is not entirely consistent with itself. According to this +narrative, William asserted that Anselm's request, as amounting to an +official recognition of one of the two popes, was an attack upon his +sovereignty as king. This Anselm denied,--he could not well appreciate +the point,--and he affirmed that he could at the same time be true to the +pope whom he had recognized and to the king whose man he was. This was +perfectly true from Anselm's point of view, but the other was equally +true from William's. The fundamental assumptions of the two men were +irreconcilable. The position of the bishop in a powerful feudal monarchy +was an impossible one without some such practical compromise of tacit +concessions from both sides, as existed between Lanfranc and William I. +Anselm desired that this question, whether he could not at the same time +preserve his fidelity to both pope and king, be submitted to the decision +of the king's court, and that body was summoned to meet at Rockingham +castle at an early date. The details of the case we cannot follow. The +king appears to have been desirous of getting a condemnation of Anselm +which would have at least the practical effect of vacating the +archbishopric, but he met with failure in his purpose, whatever it was, +and this it seems less from the resistance of the bishops to his will +than from the explicit refusal of the lay barons to regard Anselm as no +longer archbishop. The outcome of the case makes it clear that there was +in Anselm's position no technical violation of his feudal obligations to +the king. At last the actual decision of the question was postponed to a +meeting to be held on the octave of Whitsuntide, but in the meantime the +king had put into operation another plan which had been devised for +accomplishing his wish. He secretly despatched two clerks of his chapel +to Italy, hoping, so at least Anselm's biographer believed, to obtain, as +the price of his recognition of Urban, the deposition of Anselm by the +authority of the pope for whom he was contending. The opportunity was +eagerly embraced at Rome. A skilful and not over-scrupulous diplomatist, +Walter, Cardinal-Bishop of Albano, was immediately sent back to England +with the messengers of Rufus, doubtless with instructions to get as much +as possible from the king without yielding the real principle involved in +Anselm's case. In the main point Walter was entirely successful. The man +of violent temper is not often fitted for the personal conflicts of +diplomacy; at least in the strife with the papal legate the king came off +second best. It is more to be wondered at that a man of so acute a mind +as William of St. Calais, who was now one of the king's most intimate +advisers, did not demand better guarantees. + +Cardinal Walter carefully abstained at first from any communication with +Anselm. He passed through Canterbury without the archbishop's knowledge; +he seemed to acquiesce in the king's view of the case. William believed +that everything was going as he wished, and public proclamation was made +that Urban was to be obeyed throughout his dominions. But when he pressed +for a deposition of Anselm, he found that this had not been included in +the bargain; nor could he gain, either from the legate or from Anselm, +the privilege of bestowing the pallium himself. He was obliged to yield +in everything which he had most desired; to reconcile himself publicly +with the archbishop, and to content himself with certain not unimportant +concessions, which the cardinal wisely yielded, but which brought upon +him the censure of the extreme Church party. Anselm promised to observe +faithfully the laws and customs of the kingdom; at this time also was +sworn his oath of fidelity to the pope, with the clause reserving his +fealty to the king; and Cardinal Walter formally agreed that legates +should be sent to England only with the consent of the king. But in the +most important points which concerned the conflict with the archbishop +the king had been defeated. Urban was officially recognized as pope, and +the legate entered Canterbury in solemn procession, bearing the pallium, +and placed it on the altar of the cathedral, from which Anselm took it as +if he had received it from the hands of the pope. + +Inferences of a constitutional sort are hardly warranted by the character +of our evidence regarding this quarrel, but the facts which we know seem +to imply that even so powerful and arbitrary a king as William Rufus +could not carry out a matter on which his heart was so set as this +without some pretence of legal right to support him, at least in the case +of so high a subject as the Archbishop of Canterbury; and that the barons +of the kingdom, with the law on their side, were able to hold the king's +will in check. Certainly the different attitude of the barons in the +quarrel of 1097, where Anselm was clearly in the wrong, is very +suggestive. + +Already before the close of this business the disobedience of Robert of +Mowbray had revealed to the king the plot against him, and a considerable +part of the summer of 1095 was occupied in the reduction of the +strongholds of the Earl of Northumberland. In October the king invaded +Wales in person, but found it impossible to reach the enemy, and retired +before the coming on of winter. In this year died the aged Wulfstan, +Bishop of Worcester, the last of the English bishops who survived the +Conquest. His bishopric fell into the hands of Flambard, and furnishes us +one of the best examples we have of his treatment of these fiefs. On the +first day of the next year died also William of St. Calais, Bishop of +Durham, who had once more fallen under the king's displeasure for some +reason, and who had been compelled to come up to the Christmas court, +though too ill to travel. He left incomplete his new cathedral of Durham, +which he had begun on a splendid scale soon after his return from exile +early in the reign, beginning also a new period in Norman architecture of +lighter and better-proportioned forms, with no sacrifice of the +impression of solid strength. + +This year of 1096, which thus began for England with the death of one of +the ablest of her prelates, is the date of the beginning for Europe as a +whole of one of the most profound movements of medieval times. The +crusades had long been in preparation, but it was the resolution and +eloquence of Pope Urban which turned into a definite channel the strong +ascetic feeling and rapidly growing chivalric passion of the west, and +opened this great era. The Council of Clermont, at which had occurred +Urban's famous appeal and the enthusiastic vow of the crusaders, had been +held in November, 1095, and the impulse had spread rapidly to all parts +of France. The English nation had no share in this first crusade, and but +little in the movement as a whole; but its history was from the beginning +greatly influenced by it. Robert of Normandy was a man of exactly the +type to be swept away by such a wave of enthusiasm, and not to feel the +strength of the motives which should have kept him at home. His duty as +sovereign of Normandy, to recover the castles held by his brother, and to +protect his subjects from internal war, were to him as nothing when +compared with his duty to protect pious pilgrims to the tomb of Christ, +and to deliver the Holy Land from the rule of the infidel. William Rufus, +on the other hand, was a man to whom the motives of the crusader would +never appeal, but who stood ready to turn to his own advantage every +opportunity which the folly of his brother might offer. Robert's most +pressing need in such an undertaking was for money, and so much more +important did this enterprise seem to him than his own proper business +that he stood ready to deliver the duchy into the hands of his brother, +with whom he was even then in form at war for its possession, if he could +in that way obtain the necessary resources for his crusade. William was +as eager to get the duchy as Robert was to get the money, and a bargain +was soon struck between them. William carried over to Normandy 10,000 +marks--the mark was two-thirds of a pound--and received from Robert, as a +pledge for the payment of the loan, the possession of the duchy for a +period of at least three years, and for how much longer we cannot now +determine with certainty, but for a period which was probably intended to +cover Robert's absence. The duke then set off at once on his crusade, +satisfied with the consciousness that he was following the plain path of +duty. With him went his uncle, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, to die in Sicily in +the next winter. + +William had bought the possession of Normandy at a bargain, but he did +not propose to pay for it at his own cost. The money which he had spent, +and probably more than that, he recovered by an extraordinary tax in +England, which excited the bitter complaints of the ecclesiastical +writers. If we may trust our interpretation of the scanty accounts which +have reached us, this money was raised in two ways, by a general land-tax +and by additional personal payments from the king's own vassals. By grant +of the barons of England a Danegeld of four shillings on the hide, double +the usual tax, was collected, and this even from the domain lands of the +Church, which it was asserted, though with doubtful truth, had always +been exempt. The clergy paid this tax, but entered formal protest against +it, probably in order to prevent, if possible, the establishment of a +precedent against their liberties. The additional payment suggested by +some of the chroniclers is to be seen in detail in the case of Anselm, +who regarded this as a reasonable demand on the part of the king, and +who, besides passing over to the treasury what he collected from his men, +made on advice a personal payment of 200 marks, which he borrowed from +the Canterbury monks on the security of one of his domain manors. Not +all the churches were so fortunate as to have the ready money in the +treasury, and in many cases ornaments and sacred utensils were +sacrificed, while the lay lords undoubtedly recovered their payments by +like personal auxilia from their men, until the second tax really +rested like the first upon the land. The whole formed a burden likely to +cripple seriously the primitive agriculture of the time, as we are told +that it did. + +Having taken possession of Normandy, William returned to England at +Easter in 1097. The Welsh had been making trouble again, and the king +once more marched against them in person; but a country like Wales was +easily defended against a feudal army, and the expedition accomplished +little and suffered much, especially in the loss of horses. William +returned probably in no very amiable mood, and at once sent off a letter +to Anselm complaining that the contingent of knights which he had sent to +meet his obligation of service in the campaign was badly furnished and +not fit for its duties, and ordered him to be ready to do him right +according to the sentence of the king's court whenever he should bring +suit against him. To this letter Anselm paid no attention, and he +resolved to let the suit against him go by default, on the ground that +everything was determined in the court by the will of the king, and that +he could get no justice there. In taking this position, the archbishop +was putting himself in the wrong, for the king was acting clearly within +his legal rights; but this fact Anselm probably did not understand. He +could not enter into the king's position nor his own in relation to him, +but he might have remembered that two years before, for once at least, +the king had failed to carry through his will in his court. + +The case came on for trial at the Whitsuntide court at Windsor, but +before anything was determined Anselm sent by certain barons to ask the +king's leave to go to Rome, which was at once refused. This action was +evidently not intended by Anselm as an appeal of the case to Rome, nor +was it so understood by the king; but for some reason the suits against +him were now dropped. Anselm's desire to visit Rome apparently arose from +the general condition of things in the kingdom, from his inability to +hold synods, to get important ecclesiastical offices filled, or to reform +the evils of government and morals which prevailed under William. In +other words, he found himself nominally primate of England and +metropolitan of the great province of Canterbury, but in reality with +neither power nor influence. Such a condition of things was intolerable +to a man of Anselm's conscientiousness, and he had evidently been for +some time coming to the conclusion that he must personally seek the +advice of the head of the Church as to his conduct in such a difficult +situation. He had now definitely made up his mind, and as the Bishop of +Winchester told him at this time, he was not easy to be moved from a +thing he had once undertaken. He repeated his request in August, and +again in October of the same year. On the last occasion William lost his +temper and threatened him with another suit in the court for his +vexatious refusal to abide by the king's decision. Anselm insisted on his +right to go. William pointed out to him, that if he was determined to go, +the result would be the confiscation of the archbishopric,--that is, of +the barony. Anselm was not moved by this. Then the bishops attempted to +show him the error of his ways, but there was so little in common between +their somewhat worldly position as good vassals of the king, and his +entire other-worldliness, that nothing was gained in this way. Finally, +William informed him that if he chose he might go, on the conditions +which had been explained to him,--that is, of the loss of all that he +held of the king. This was permission enough for Anselm, and he at once +departed, having given his blessing to the king. + +No case could be more typical than this of the irreconcilable conflict +between Church and State in that age, irreconcilable except by mutual +concessions and compromise, and the willingness of either to stand partly +in the position of the other. If we look at the matter from the political +side, regarding the bishop as a public officer, as a baron in a feudally +organized state, the king was entirely right in this case, and fully +justified in what he did. Looking at the Church as a religious +institution, charged with a spiritual mission and the work of moral +reformation, we must consider Anselm's conduct justified, as the only +means by which he could hope to obtain freedom of action. Both were in a +very real sense right in this quarrel, and both were wrong. Not often +during the feudal period did this latent contradiction of rights come to +so open and plain an issue as this. That it did so here was due in part +to the character of the king, but in the main to the character of the +archbishop. Whether Lanfranc could have continued to rule the Church in +harmony with William Rufus is an interesting question, but one which we +cannot answer. He certainly would not have put himself legally in the +wrong, as Anselm did, and he would have considered carefully whether the +good to be gained for the cause of the Church from a quarrel with the +king would outweigh the evil. Anselm, however, was a man of the +idealistic type of mind, who believed that if he accepted as the +conditions of his work the evils with which he was surrounded, and +consented to use the tools that he found ready to his hand, he had made, +as another reformer of somewhat the same type once said of the +constitution of the United States in the matter of slavery, "a covenant +with death and an agreement with hell." + +Anselm left England early in November, 1097, not to return during the +lifetime of William. If he had hoped, through the intervention of the +pope, to weaken the hold of the king on the Church of England, and to be +put in a position where he could carry out the reforms on which his heart +was set, he was doomed to disappointment. After a stay of some months at +Lyons, with his friend Archbishop Hugh, he went on to Rome, where he was +treated with great ceremonial honour by the pope, but where he learned +that the type of lofty and uncompromising independence which he himself +represented was as rare in the capital of the Christian world as he had +found it among the bishops of England. There, however, he learned a +stricter doctrine on the subject of lay investitures, of appointments to +ecclesiastical office by kings and princes, than he had yet held, so that +when he finally returned to England he brought with him the germs of +another bitter controversy with a king, with whom but for this he might +have lived in peace. + +In the same month with Anselm, William also crossed to Normandy, but +about very different business. Hardly had he obtained possession of the +duchy when he began to push the claims of the duke to bordering lands, to +the French Vexin, and to the county of Maine, claims about which his +brother had never seriously concerned himself and which, in one case, +even his father had allowed to slumber for years. Robert had, indeed, +asserted his claim to Maine after the death of his father, and had been +accepted by the county; but a revolt had followed in 1190, the Norman +rule had been thrown off, and after a few months Elias of La Fleche, a +baron of Maine and a descendant of the old counts, had made himself +count. He was a man of character and ability, and the peace which he +established was practically undisturbed by Robert; but the second William +had no mind to give up anything to which he could lay a claim. He +demanded of the French king the surrender of the Vexin, and warned Elias, +who had taken the cross, that the holy errand of the crusade would not +protect his lands during his absence. War followed in both cases, +simultaneous wars, full of the usual incidents, of the besieging of +castles, the burning of towns, the laying waste of the open country; wars +in which the ruin of his peasantry was almost the only way of coercing +the lord. William's operations were almost all successful, but he died +without accomplishing all that he had hoped for in either direction. In +the Vexin he captured a series of castles, which brought him almost to +Paris; in Maine he captured Le Mans, lost it again, and finally recovered +its possession, but the southern part of the county and the castles of +Elias there he never secured. + +In the year 1098 Magnus, king of Norway, had appeared for a moment with a +hostile fleet off the island of Anglesey. Some reason not certainly known +had brought him round Scotland, perhaps to make an attack on Ireland. He +was the grandson of the King Harold of Norway, who had invaded England on +the eve of the Norman Conquest and perished in the battle of Stamford +Bridge, and he had with him, it is said, a son of Harold of England: to +him the idea of a new invasion of England would not seem strange. At any +rate, after taking possession of the Isle of Man, he came to the help of +the Welsh against the earls, Hugh of Chester and Hugh of Shrewsbury, who +were beginning the conquest of Anglesey. The incident is noteworthy +because, in the brief fighting which occurred, the Earl of Shrewsbury was +slain. His death opened the way for the succession of his brother, Robert +of Bellême, to the great English possessions of their father in Wales, +Shropshire, and Surrey, to which he soon added by inheritance the large +holdings of Roger of Bully in Yorkshire and elsewhere. These +inheritances, when added to the lands, almost a principality in +themselves, which he possessed in southern Normandy and just over the +border in France, made him the most powerful vassal of the English king. +In character he had inherited far more from his tyrannous and cruel +mother, Mabel, daughter of William Talvas of Bellême, than from his more +high-minded father, Roger of Montgomery, the companion of the Conqueror. +As a vassal he was utterly untrustworthy, and he had become too powerful +for his own safety or for that of the king. + +Some minor events of these years should be recounted. In 1097 William had +sent Edgar the atheling to Scotland with an army, King Donald had been +overthrown, and Edgar's nephew, himself named Edgar, with the support of +the English king, had been made king. In 1099 Ranulf Flambard received +the reward of his faithful services, and was made Bishop of Durham, in +some respects the most desirable bishopric in England. Greater prospects +still of power and dominion were opened to William a few months before +his death, by the proposition of the Duke of Aquitaine to pledge him his +great duchy for a sum of money to pay the expenses of a crusade. To add +to the lands he already ruled those between the Loire and the Garonne +would be almost to create a new monarchy in France and to threaten more +dangerously at this moment the future of the Capetian kingdom than did +two generations later the actual union of these territories and more +under the king of England. + +But William was now rapidly approaching the term of his life. The +monastic chronicles, written within a generation or two later, record +many visions and portents of the time foreshadowing the doom which was +approaching, but these are to us less records of actual facts than +evidences of the impression which the character and government of the +king had made, especially upon the members of the Church. On August 2, +1100, William rode out to hunt in the New Forest, as was his frequent +custom. In some way, how we do not know, but probably by accident, he was +himself shot with an arrow by one of his company, and died almost +instantly. Men believed, not merely that he was justly cut off in his +sins with no opportunity for the final offices of the Church, but that +his violent death was an instance, the third already, of the doom which +followed his father's house because of the evil that was done in the +making of the Forest. The king's body was brought to Winchester, where it +was buried in the old minster, but without the ordinary funeral rites. +One of his companions that day, Walter Tirel, a French baron who had been +attracted to the service of the king by the prospect of rich reward which +it offered, was thought to have been responsible for his death, and he +fled in haste and escaped to his home; but he afterwards solemnly +declared, when there would have been no danger to himself in confession, +that it was not his arrow that slew the king, and whose it was will never +be known. + +[15] Eadmer, Hist. Nov., p. 41. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +THE STRUGGLE FOR POWER + +In the hunting party which William Rufus led out on August 2, 1100, to +his mysterious death in the New Forest, was the king's younger brother, +Henry. When the cry rang through the Forest that the king was dead, Henry +seized the instant with the quick insight and strong decision which were +marked elements of his genius. He rode at once for Winchester. We do not +even know that he delayed long enough to make sure of the news by going +to the spot where his brother's body lay. He rode at full speed to +Winchester, and demanded the keys of the royal treasury, "as true heir," +says Ordesic Vitalis, one of the best historians of Henry's reign, +recording rather, it is probable, his own opinion than the words of the +prince. Men's ideas were still so vague, not yet fixed and precise as +later, on the subject of rightful heirship, that such a demand as +Henry's--a clear usurpation according to the law as it was finally to +be--could find some ground on which to justify itself; at least this, +which his historian suggests and which still meant much to English minds, +that he was born in the purple, the son of a crowned king. + +But not every one was ready to admit the claim of Henry. Between him and +the door of the treasury William of Breteuil, who also had been of the +hunting party and who was the responsible keeper of the hoard, took his +stand. Against the demand of Henry he set the claim of Robert, the better +claim according even to the law of that day, though the law which he +urged was less that which would protect the right of the eldest born than +the feudal law regarding homage done and fealty sworn. "If we are going +to act legally," he said to Henry, "we ought to remember the fealty which +we have promised to Duke Robert, your brother. He is, too, the eldest +born son of King William, and you and I, my Lord Henry, have done him +homage. We ought to keep faith to him absent in all respects as if he +were present." He followed his law by an appeal to feeling, referring to +Robert's crusade. "He has been labouring now a long time in the service +of God, and God has restored to him, without conflict, his duchy, which as +a pilgrim he laid aside for love of Him." Then a strife arose, and a +crowd of men ran together to the spot. We can imagine they were not +merely men of the city, but also many of the king's train who must have +ridden after Henry from the Forest. Whoever they were, they supported +Henry, for we are told that as the crowd collected the courage of the +"heir who was demanding his right" increased. Henry drew his sword and +declared he would permit no "frivolous delay." His insistence and the +support of his friends prevailed, and castle and treasury were turned +over to him.[16] + +This it was which really determined who should be king. Not that the +question was fully settled then, but the popular determination which +showed itself in the crowd that gathered around the disputants in +Winchester probably showed itself, in the days that followed, to be the +determination of England in general, and thus held in check those who +would have supported Robert, while Henry rapidly pushed events to a +conclusion and so became king. There is some evidence that, after the +burial of William, further discussion took place among the barons who +were present, as to whether they would support Henry or not, and that +this was decided in his favour largely by the influence of Henry of +Beaumont, Earl of Warwick, son of his father's friend and counsellor, the +Count of Meulan. But we ought not to allow the use of the word witan in +this connexion, by the Saxon chronicler, or of "election" by other +historians or by Henry himself, to impose upon us the belief in a +constitutional right of election in the modern sense, which could no more +have existed at that time than a definite law of inheritance. In every +case of disputed succession the question was, whether that one of the +claimants who was on the spot could secure quickly enough a degree of +support which would enable him to hold the opposition in check until he +became a crowned king. A certain amount of such support was indispensable +to success. Henry secured this in one way, Stephen in another, and John +again in a third. In each case, the actual events show clearly that a +small number of men determined the result, not by exercising a +constitutional right of which they were conscious, but by deciding for +themselves which one of the claimants they would individually support. +Some were led by one motive, and some by another. In Henry's case we +cannot doubt that the current of feeling which had shown itself in +Winchester on the evening of the king's death had a decisive influence on +the result, at least as decisive as the early stand of London was +afterwards in Stephen's case. + +Immediately, before leaving Winchester, Henry performed one royal act of +great importance to his cause, and skilfully chosen as a declaration of +principles. He appointed William Giffard, who had been his brother's +chancellor, Bishop of Winchester. This see had been vacant for nearly +three years and subject to the dealings of Ranulf Flambard. The immediate +appointment of a bishop was equivalent to a proclamation that these +dealings should now cease, that bishoprics should no longer be kept +vacant for the benefit of the king, and it was addressed to the Church, +the party directly interested and one of the most powerful influences in +the state in deciding the question of succession. The speed with which +Henry's coronation was carried through shows that the Church accepted his +assurances. + +There was no delay in Winchester. William was killed on the afternoon of +Thursday, August 2; on Sunday, Henry was crowned in Westminster, by +Maurice, Bishop of London. Unhesitating determination and rapid action +must have filled the interval. Only a small part of England could have +learned of William's death when Henry was crowned, and he must have known +at the moment that the risk of failure was still great. But everything +indicates that Henry had in mind a clearly formed policy which he +believed would lead to success, and he was not the man to be afraid of +failure. The Archbishop of Canterbury was still in exile; the Archbishop +of York was far away and ill; the Bishop of London readily performed the +ceremony, which followed the old ritual. In the coronation oath of the +old Saxon formula, Henry swore, with more intention of remembering it +than many kings, that the Church of God and all Christian people he would +keep in true peace, that he would forbid violence and iniquity to all +men, and that in all judgments he would enjoin both justice and mercy. + +The man who thus came to the throne of England was one of her ablest +kings. We know far less of the details of his reign than we could wish. +Particularly scanty is our evidence of the growth in institutions which +went on during these thirty-five years, and which would be of especial +value in illustrating the character and abilities of the king. But we +know enough to warrant us in placing Henry beyond question in the not +long list of statesmen kings. Not without some trace of the passions +which raged in the blood of the Norman and Angevin princes, he exceeded +them all in the strength of his self-control. This is the one most marked +trait which constantly recurs throughout the events of his long reign. +Always calm, we are sometimes tempted to say even cold, he never lost +command of himself in the most trying circumstances. Perfectly +clear-headed, he saw plainly the end to be reached from the distant +beginning, and the way to reach it, and though he would turn aside from +the direct road for policy's sake, he reached the goal in time. He knew +how to wait, to allow circumstances to work for him, to let men work out +their own destruction, but he was quick to act when the moment for action +came. Less of a military genius than his father, he was a greater +diplomatist. And yet perhaps we call him less of a military genius than +his father because he disliked war and gave himself no opportunities +which he could avoid; but he was a skilful tactician when he was forced +to fight a battle. But diplomacy was his chosen weapon, and by its means +he won battles which most kings would have sought to win by the sword. +With justice William of Malmesbury applied to him the words of Scipio +Africanus: "My mother brought me forth a general, not a mere soldier." + +These were the gifts of nature. But when he came to the throne, he was a +man already disciplined in a severe school. Ever since the death of his +father, thirteen years before, when he was not yet twenty, the events +which had befallen him, the opportunities which had come to him, the +inferences which he could not have failed to make from the methods of his +brothers, had been training him for the business of his life. It was not +as a novice, but as a man experienced in government, that he began to +reign. And government was to him a business. It is clear that Henry had +always far less delight in the ordinary or possible glories of the +kingship than in the business of managing well a great state; and a name +by which he has been called, "The Lion of Justice," records a judgment of +his success. Physically Henry followed the type of his house. He was +short and thick-set, with a tendency to corpulence. He was not "the Red"; +the mass of his black hair and his eyes clear and serene struck the +observer. Naturally of a pleasant disposition and agreeable to those +about him, he was quick to see the humorous side of things and carried +easily the great weight of business which fell to him. He was called +"Beauclerc," but he was never so commonly known by this name as William +by his of "Rufus." But he had, it would seem with some justice, the +reputation of being a learned king. Some doubtful evidence has been +interpreted to mean that he could both speak and read English. Certainly +he cherished a love of books and reading remarkable, at that time, in a +man of the world, and he seems to have deserved his reputation of a +ready, and even eloquent, speaker. + +It was no doubt partly due to Henry's love of business that we may date +from his reign the beginning of a growth in institutions after the +Conquest. The machinery of good government interested him. Efforts to +improve it had his support. The men who had in hand its daily working in +curia regis and exchequer and chancery were certain of his favour, when +they strove to devise better ways of doing things and more efficient +means of controlling subordinates. But the reign was also one of advance +in institutions because England was ready for it. In the thirty-five +years since the Conquest, the nation which was forming in the island had +passed through two preparatory experiences. In the first the Norman, with +his institutions, had been introduced violently and artificially, and +planted alongside of the native English. It had been the policy of the +Conqueror to preserve as much as possible of the old while introducing +the new. This was the wisest possible policy, but it could produce as yet +no real union. That could only be the work of time. A new nation and a +new constitution were foreshadowed but not yet realized. The elements +from which they should be made had been brought into the presence of each +other, but not more than this was possible. Then followed the reign of +William II. In this second period England had had an experience of one +side, of the Norman side, carried to the extreme. The principles of +feudalism in favour of the suzerain were logically carried out for the +benefit of the king, and relentlessly applied to the Church as to the lay +society. That portion of the old English machinery which the Conqueror +had preserved fell into disorder, and was misused for royal, and worse +still, for private advantage. This second period had brought a vivid +experience of the abuses which would result from the exaggeration of one +of the elements of which the new state was to be composed at the expense +of the other. One of its most important results was the reaction which +seems instantly to have shown itself on the death of William Rufus, the +reaction of which Henry was quick to avail himself, and which gives us +the key to an understanding of his reign. + +It is not possible to cite evidence from which we may infer beyond the +chance of question, either a popular reaction against the tyranny of +William Rufus, or a deliberate policy on the part of the new king to make +his hold upon the throne secure by taking advantage of such a reaction. +It is perhaps the duty of the careful historian to state his belief in +these facts, in less dogmatic form. And yet, when we combine together the +few indications which the chroniclers give us with the actual events of +the first two years of Henry's reign, it is hardly possible to avoid such +a conclusion. Henry seems certainly to have believed that he had much to +gain by pledging himself in the most binding way to correct the abuses +which his brother had introduced, and also that he could safely trust his +cause to an English, or rather to a national, party against the element +in the state which seemed unassimilable, the purely Norman element. + +On the day of his coronation, or at least within a few days of that +event, Henry issued, in form of a charter,--that is, in the form of a +legally binding royal grant,--his promise to undo his brother's misdeeds; +and a copy of this charter, separately addressed, was sent to every +county in England. Considered both in itself as issued in the year 1100, +and in its historical consequences, this charter is one of the most +important of historical documents. It opens a long list of similar +constitutional documents which very possibly is not yet complete, and it +is in form and spirit worthy of the best of its descendants. Considering +the generally unformulated character of feudal law at this date, it is +neither vague nor general. It is to be noticed also, that the practical +character of the Anglo-Saxon race rules in this first charter of its +liberties. It is as business-like and clean cut as the Bill of Rights, or +as the American Declaration of Independence when this last gets to the +business in hand. + +The charter opens with an announcement of Henry's coronation. In true +medieval order of precedence, it promises first to the Church freedom +from unjust exactions. The temporalities of the Church shall not be sold +nor put to farm, nor shall anything be taken from its domain land nor +from its men during a vacancy. Then follows a promise to do away with all +evil customs, and a statement that these in part will be enumerated. Thus +by direct statement here and elsewhere in the charter, its provisions are +immediately connected with the abuses which William II had introduced, +and the charter made a formal pledge to do away with them. The first +promises to the lay barons have to do with extortionate reliefs and the +abuse of the rights of wardship and marriage. The provision inserted in +both these cases, that the barons themselves shall be bound by the same +limitations in regard to their men, leads us to infer that William's +abuses had been copied by his barons, and suggests that Henry was looking +for the support of the lower ranks of the feudal order. Other promises +concern the coinage, fines, and debts due the late king, the right to +dispose by will of personal property, excessive fines, and the punishment +of murder. The forests Henry announces he will hold as his father held +them. To knights freedom of taxation is promised in the domain lands +proper of the estates which they hold by military service. The law of +King Edward is to be restored with those changes which the Conqueror had +made, and finally any property of the crown or of any individual which +has been seized upon since the death of William is to be restored under +threat of heavy penalty. + +So completely does this charter cover the ground of probable abuses in +both general and local government, when its provisions are interpreted as +they would be understood by the men to whom it was addressed, that it is +not strange if men thought that all evils of government were at an end. +Nor is it strange in turn, that Henry was in truth more severe upon the +tyranny of his brother while he was yet uncertain of his hold upon the +crown, than in the practice of his later years. As a matter of fact, not +all the promises of the charter were kept. England suffered much from +heavy financial exactions during his reign, and the feudal abuses which +had weighed most heavily on lay and ecclesiastical barons reappeared in +their essential features. They became, in fact, recognized rights of the +crown. Henry was too strong to be forced to keep such promises as he +chose to forget, and it was reserved for a later descendant of his, +weaker both in character and in might of hand, to renew his charter at a +time when the more exact conception, both of rights and of abuses, which +had developed in the interval, enabled men not merely to enlarge its +provisions but to make them in some particulars the foundation of a new +type of government. Events rapidly followed the issue of the charter +which were equally emphatic declarations of Henry's purpose of reform, +and some of which at least would seem like steps in actual fulfilment of +the promises of the charter. Ranulf Flambard was arrested and thrown into +the Tower; on what charge or under what pretence of right we do not know, +but even if by some exercise of arbitrary power, it must have been a very +popular act. Several important abbacies which had been held vacant were +at once filled. Most important of all, a letter was despatched to +Archbishop Anselm, making excuses for the coronation of the king in his +absence, and requesting his immediate return to England. Anselm was at +the abbey of La Chaise Dieu, having just come from Lyons, where he had +spent a large part of his exile, when the news came to him of the death +of his royal adversary. He at once started for England, and was on his +way when he was met at Cluny by Henry's letter. Landing on September 23, +he went almost immediately to the king, who was at Salisbury. There two +questions of great importance at once arose, in one of which Anselm was +able to assist Henry, while the other gave rise to long-continued +differences between them. + +The question most easily settled was that of Henry's marriage. According +to the historians of his reign, affection led Henry to a marriage which +was certainly most directly in line with the policy which he was carrying +out. Soon after his coronation, he proposed to marry Edith, daughter of +Malcolm, king of Scotland, and of Margaret, sister of the atheling Edgar. +She had spent almost the whole of her life in English monasteries, a good +part of it at Romsey, where her aunt Christina was abbess. Immediately +the question was raised, whether she had not herself taken the veil, +which she was known to have worn, and therefore whether the marriage was +possible. This was the question now referred to Anselm, and he made a +most careful examination of the case, and decision was finally pronounced +in a council of the English Church. The testimony of the young woman +herself was admitted and was conclusive against any binding vow. She had +been forced by her aunt to wear the veil against her will as a means of +protection in those turbulent times, but she had always rejected it with +indignation when she had been able to do so, nor had it been her father's +intention that she should be a nun. Independent testimony confirmed her +assertion, and it was formally declared that she was free to marry. The +marriage took place on November 11, and was celebrated by Anselm, who +also crowned the new queen under the Norman name of Matilda, which she +assumed. + +No act which Henry could perform would be more pleasing to the nation as +a whole than this marriage, or would seem to them clearer proof of his +intention to rule in the interest of the whole nation and not of himself +alone, or of the small body of foreign oppressors. It would seem like the +expression of a wish on Henry's part to unite his line with that of the +old English kings, and to reign as their representative as well as his +father's, and it was so understood, both by the party opposed to Henry +and by his own supporters. Whatever we may think of the dying prophecy +attributed to Edward the Confessor, that the troubles which he foresaw +for England should end when the green tree--the English dynasty--cut off +from its root and removed for the space of three acres' breadth--three +foreign reigns--should without human help be joined to it again and bring +forth leaves and fruit, the fact that it was thought, in Henry's reign, +to have been fulfilled by his marriage with Matilda and by the birth of +their children, shows plainly enough the general feeling regarding the +marriage and that for which it stood. The Norman sneer, in which the king +and his wife are referred to as Godric and Godgifu, is as plain an +indication of the feeling of that party. Such a taunt as this could not +have been called out by the mere marriage, and would never have been +spoken if the policy of the king, in spite of the marriage, had been one +in sympathy with the wishes of the extreme Norman element. + +But if it was Henry's policy to win the support of the nation as a whole, +and to make it clear that he intended to undo the abuses of his brother, +he had no intention of abandoning any of the real rights of the crown. +The second question which arose on the first meeting of Anselm and Henry +involved a point of this kind. The temporalities of the Archbishop of +Canterbury were still in the king's hands, as seized by William Rufus on +Anselm's departure. Henry demanded that Anselm should do homage for this +fief, as would any baron of the king, and receive it from his hand. To +the astonishment of every one, Anselm flatly refused. In answer to +inquiries, he explained the position of the pope on the subject of lay +investiture, declared that he must stand by that position, and that if +Henry also would not obey the pope, he must leave England again. Here was +a sharp issue, drawn with the greatest definiteness, and one which it was +very difficult for the king to meet. He could not possibly afford to +renew the quarrel with Anselm and to drive him into exile again at this +moment, but it was equally impossible for him to abandon this right of +the crown, so long unquestioned and one on which so much of the state +organization rested. He proposed a truce until Easter, that the question +might be referred to the pope, in the hope that he would consent to +modify his decrees in view of the customary usages of the kingdom, and +agreeing that the archbishop should, in the meantime, enjoy the revenues +of his see. To this delay Anselm consented, though he declared that it +would be useless. + +According to the archbishop's devoted friend and biographer, Eadmer, who +was in attendance on him at this meeting at Salisbury, Anselm virtually +admitted that this was a new position for him to take. He had learned +these things at Rome, was the explanation which was given; and this was +certainly true, though his stay at Lyons, under the influence of his +friend, Archbishop Hugh, a strong partisan of the papal cause, was equally +decisive in his change of views.[17] He had accepted investiture +originally from the hand of William Rufus without scruple; he had never +objected to it with regard to any of that king's later appointments. In +the controversy which followed with Henry, there is nothing which shows +that his own conscience was in the least degree involved in the question. +He opposed the king with his usual unyielding determination, not because +he believed himself that lay investiture was a sin, but because pope and +council had decided against it, and it was his duty to maintain their +decision. + +This was a new position for Anselm to take; it was also raising a new +question in the government of England. For more than a quarter of a +century the papacy had been fighting this battle against lay investiture +with all the weapons at its disposal, against its nearest rival, the +emperor, and with less of open conflict and more of immediate success in +most of the other lands of Europe. But in the dominions of the Norman +princes the question had never become a living issue. This was not +because the papacy had failed to demand the authority there which it was +striving to secure elsewhere. Gregory VII had laid claim to an even more +complete authority over England than this. But these demands had met with +no success. Even as regards the more subordinate features of the +Hildebrandine reformation, simony and the celibacy of the clergy, the +response of the Norman and English churches to the demand for +reformation had been incomplete and half-hearted, and not even the +beginning of a papal party had shown itself in either country. This +exceptional position is to be accounted for by the great strength of the +crown, and also by the fact that the sovereign in his dealings with the +Church was following in both states the policy marked out by a long +tradition. Something must also be attributed, and probably in Normandy as +well as in England, to the clearness with which Lanfranc perceived the +double position of the bishop in the feudal state. The Church was an +important part of the machinery of government, and as such its officers +were appointed by the king, and held accountable to him for a large part +at least of their official action. This was the theory of the Norman +state, and this theory had been up to this time unquestioned. It is +hardly too much to call the Norman and English churches, from the +coronation of William I on to this time, practically independent national +churches, with some relationship to the pope, but with one so external in +its character that no serious inconvenience would have been experienced +in their own government had some sudden catastrophe swept the papacy out +of existence. + +It was, however, in truth impossible for England to keep itself free from +the issue which had been raised by the war upon lay investiture. The real +question involved in this controversy was one far deeper than the +question of the appointment of bishops by the sovereign of the state. +That was a point of detail, a means to the end; very important and +essential as a means, but not the end itself. Slowly through centuries of +time the Church had become conscious of itself. Accumulated precedents of +the successful exercise of power, observation of the might of +organization, and equally instructive experience of the weakness of +disorganization and of the danger of self-seeking, personal or political, +in the head of the Christian world, had brought the thinking party in the +Church to understand the dominant position which it might hold in the +world if it could be controlled as a single organization and animated by +a single purpose. It was the vision of the imperial Church, free from all +distracting influence of family or of state, closely bound together into +one organic whole, an independent, world-embracing power: more than this +even, a power above all other powers, the representative of God, on +earth, to which all temporal sovereigns should be held accountable. + +That the Church failed to gain the whole of that for which it strove was +not the fault of its leaders. A large part of the history of the world in +the eleventh and twelfth centuries is filled with the struggle to create, +in ideal completeness, this imperial Church. The reformation of Cluny had +this for its ultimate object. From the beginning made by that movement, +the political genius of Hildebrand sketched the finished structure and +pointed out the means to be employed in its completion. That the emperor +was first and most fiercely attacked was not due to the fact that he was +a sinner above all others in the matter of lay investiture or simony. It +was the most urgent necessity of the case that the papacy should make +itself independent of that power which in the past had exercised the most +direct sovereignty over the popes, and before the conflict should end be +able to take its seat beside the empire as an equal, or even a superior, +world power. But if the empire must be first overcome, no state could be +left out of this plan, and in England as elsewhere the issue must sooner +or later be joined. + +It must not be understood that mere ambition was at the bottom of this +effort of the Church. Of ambition in the ordinary sense it is more than +probable that no leader of this movement was conscious. The cause of the +Church was the cause of God and of righteousness. The spiritual power +ought justly to be superior to the temporal, because the spiritual +interests of men so far outweigh their temporal. If the spiritual power +is supreme, and holds in check the temporal, and calls the sovereign to +account for his wrong-doing, the way of salvation will be easier for all +men, and the cause of righteousness promoted. If this kind of a Church is +to be organized, and this power established in the world, it is essential +that so important an officer in the system as the bishop should be chosen +by the Church alone, and with reference alone to the spiritual interests +which he is to guard, and the spiritual duties he must perform. Selection +by the state, accountability to the state, would make too serious a flaw +in the practical operation of this system to be permitted. The argument +of the Church against the practice of lay investiture was entirely sound. + +On the other hand, the argument of the feudal state was not less sound. +It is difficult for us to get a clear mental picture of the organization +of the feudal state, because the institutions of that state have left few +traces in modern forms of government. The complete transformation of the +feudal baronage into a modern nobility, and the rise on the ruins of the +feudal state of clearly defined, legislative, judicial, and +administrative systems have obscured the line of direct descent. But the +feudal baron was very different from a modern noble, and there was no +bureaucracy and no civil service in the feudal state beyond their mere +beginnings in the personal servants of the king. No function of +government was the professional business of any one, but legislative, +judicial, administrative, financial, and military operations were all +incidental to something else. This may not seem true of the sheriff; but +that he had escaped transformation, after the feudalization of England, +into something more than an administrative officer makes the Norman state +somewhat exceptional at that time, and the history of this office, even +under the most powerful of kings, shows the strength of the tendency +toward development in the direction of a private possession. Even while +remaining administrative, the office was known to the Normans by a name +which to some extent in their own home, and generally elsewhere, had come +to be an hereditary feudal title,--the viscount. In this system of +government, the baron was the most essential feature. Every kind of +government business was performed in the main through him, and as +incidental to his position as a baron. The assembly of the barons, the +curia regis, whether the great assembly of all the barons of the +kingdom, meeting on occasions by special summons, or the smaller assembly +in constant attendance on the king, was the primitive and +undifferentiated machine by which government was carried on. If the +baronage was faithful to the crown, or if the crown held the baronage +under a strong control, the realm enjoyed good government and the nation +bore with comparatively little suffering the burdens which were always +heavy. If the baronage was out of control, government fell to pieces, and +anarchy and oppression took its place. + +In this feudal state, however, a bishop was a baron. The lands which +formed the endowment of his office--and in those days endowment could +take no other form--constituted a barony. The necessity of a large income +and the generosity of the faithful made of his endowment a great fief. It +is important to realize how impossible any other conception than this was +to the political half of the world. In public position, influence upon +affairs, wealth, and popular estimation, the bishop stood in the same +class with the baron. The manors which were set aside from the general +property of the Church to furnish his official income would, in many +cases, provide for an earldom. In fitness to perform the manifold +functions of government which fell to him, the bishop far exceeded the +ordinary baron. The state could not regard him as other than a baron; it +certainly could not dispense with his assistance. It was a matter of +vital importance to the king to be able to determine what kind of men +should hold these great fiefs and occupy these influential positions in +the state, and to be able to hold them to strict accountability. The +argument of the state in favour of lay investiture was as sound as the +argument of the Church against it. + +Here was a conflict of interests in which no real compromise was +possible. Incidental features of the conflict might be found upon which +the form of a compromise could be arranged. But upon the one essential +point, the right of selecting the man, one or the other of the parties +whose interests were involved must give way. It is not strange that in +the main, except where the temporary or permanent weakness of the +sovereign made an exception, that interest which seemed to the general +run of men of most immediate and pressing importance gained the day, and +the spiritual gave way to the temporal. But in England the conflict was +now first begun, and the time of compromise had not yet come. Henry's +proposal to Anselm of delay and of a new appeal to the pope was chiefly a +move to gain time until the situation of affairs in England should turn +more decidedly in his favour. He especially feared, Eadmer tells us, lest +Anselm should seek out his brother Robert and persuade him--as he easily +could--to admit the papal claims, and then make him king of England. + +Robert had returned to Normandy from the Holy Land before the arrival of +Anselm in England. He had won much glory on the crusade, and in the rush +of events and in the constant fighting, where responsibility for the +management of affairs did not rest upon him alone, he had shown himself a +man of energy and power. But he came back unchanged in character. Even +during the crusade he had relapsed at times into his more indolent and +careless mood, from which he had been roused with difficulty. In southern +Italy, where he had stopped among the Normans on his return, he had +married Sibyl, daughter of Geoffrey of Conversana, a nephew of Robert +Guiscard, but the dowry which he received with her had rapidly melted +away in his hands. He was, however, now under no obligation to redeem +Normandy. The loan for which he had pledged the duchy was regarded as a +personal debt to William Rufus, not a debt to the English crown, and +Henry laid no claim to it. Robert took possession of Normandy without +opposition from any quarter. It is probable that if Robert had been left +to himself, he would have been satisfied with Normandy, and that his +easy-going disposition would have led him to leave Henry in undisturbed +possession of England. But he was not left to himself. The events which +had occurred soon after the accession of William Rufus repeated +themselves soon after Henry's. No Norman baron could expect to gain any +more of the freedom which he desired under Henry than he had had under +William. The two states would also be separated once more if Henry +remained king of England. Almost all the Normans accordingly applied to +Robert, as they had done before, and offered to support a new attempt to +gain the crown. Robert was also urged forward by the advice of Ranulf +Flambard, who escaped from the Tower in February, 1101, and found a +refuge and new influence in Normandy. Natural ambition was not wanting to +Robert, and in the summer of 1101 he collected his forces for an invasion +of England. + +Though the great Norman barons stood aloof from him--Robert of Bellême +and his two brothers Roger and Arnulf, William of Warenne, Walter +Giffard, and Ivo of Grantmesnil, with others--Henry was stronger in +England than Robert. No word had yet been received from Rome in answer to +the application which he had made to the pope on the subject of the +investiture; and in this crisis the king was liberal with promises to the +archbishop, and Anselm was strongly on his side with the Church as a +whole. His faithful friends, Robert, Count of Meulan, and his brother +Henry, Earl of Warwick, were among the few whom he could trust. But his +most important support he found, as his brother William had found it in +similar circumstances, in the mass of the nation which would now be even +more ready to take the side of the king against the Norman party. + +Henry expected the invaders to land at Pevensey, but apparently, with the +help of some part of the sailors who had been sent against him, Robert +landed without opposition at Portsmouth, towards the end of July, 1101. +Thence he advanced towards London, and Henry went to meet him. The two +armies came together near Alton, but no battle was fought. In a conflict +of diplomacy, Henry was pretty sure of victory, and to this he preferred +to trust. A meeting of the brothers was arranged, and as a result Robert +surrendered all the real advantages which he had crossed the channel to +win, and received in place of them gains which might seem attractive to +him, but which must have seemed to Henry, when taken all together, a +cheap purchase of the crown. Robert gave up his claim to the throne and +released Henry, as being a king, from the homage by which he had formerly +been bound. Henry on his side promised his brother an annual payment of +three thousand marks sterling, and gave up to him all that he possessed +in Normandy, except the town of Domfront, which he had expressly promised +not to abandon. It was also agreed, as formerly between Robert and +William Rufus, that the survivor should inherit the dominions of the +other if he died without heirs. A further provision concerned the +adherents of each of the brothers during this strife. Possessions in +England of barons of Normandy, which had been seized by Henry because of +their fidelity to Robert, should be restored, and also the Norman estates +of English barons seized by Robert, but each should be free to deal with +the barons of his own land who had proved unfaithful. This stipulation +would be of especial value to Henry, who had probably not found it +prudent to deal with the traitors of his land before the decision of the +contest; but some counter-intrigues in Normandy in favour of Henry were +probably not unknown to Robert. + +Robert sent home at once a part of his army, but he himself remained in +England long enough to witness in some cases the execution by his brother +of the provision of the treaty concerning traitors. He took with him, on +his return to Normandy, Orderic Vitalis says, William of Warenne and many +others disinherited for his sake. Upon others the king took vengeance one +at a time, on one pretext or another, and these included at least Robert +of Lacy, Robert Malet, and Ivo of Grantmesnil. The possessions of Ivo in +Leicestershire passed into the hands of the faithful Robert, Count of +Meulan--faithful to Henry if not to the rebel who sought his help--and +somewhat later became the foundation of the earldom of Leicester. + +Against the most powerful and most dangerous of the traitors, Robert of +Bellême, Henry felt strong enough to take steps in the spring of 1102. In +a court in that year Henry brought accusation against Robert on +forty-five counts, of things done or said against himself or against his +brother Robert. The evidence to justify these accusations Henry had been +carefully and secretly collecting for a year. When Robert heard this +indictment, he knew that his turn had come, and that no legal defence was +possible, and he took advantage of a technical plea to make his escape. +He asked leave to retire from the court and take counsel with his men. As +this was a regular custom leave was granted, but Robert took horse at +once and fled from the court. Summoned again to court, Robert refused to +come, and began to fortify his castles. Henry on his side collected an +army, and laid siege first of all to the castle of Arundel. The record of +the siege gives us an incident characteristic of the times. Robert's men, +finding that they could not defend the place, asked for a truce that they +might send to their lord and obtain leave to surrender. The request was +granted, the messengers were sent, and Robert with grief "absolved them +from their promised faith and granted them leave to make concord with the +king." Henry then turned against Robert's castles in the north. Against +Blyth he marched himself, but on his approach he was met by the townsmen +who received him as their "natural lord." To the Bishop of Lincoln he +gave orders to besiege Tickhill castle, while he advanced towards the +west, where lay Robert's chief possessions and greatest strength. + +In his Shrewsbury earldom Robert had been preparing himself for the final +struggle with the king ever since he had escaped his trial in the court. +He counted upon the help of his two brothers, whose possessions were also +in those parts, Arnulf of Pembroke, and Roger called the Poitevin, who +had possession of Lancaster. The Welsh princes also stood ready, as their +countrymen stood for centuries afterwards, to combine with any party of +rebellious barons in England, and their assistance proved of as little +real value then as later. With these allies and the help of Arnulf he +laid waste a part of Staffordshire before Henry's arrival, the Welsh +carrying off their plunder, including some prisoners. Robert's chief +dependence, however, must have been upon his two very strong castles of +Bridgenorth and Shrewsbury, both of which had been strengthened and +provisioned with care for a stubborn resistance. + +Henry's first attack with what seems to have been a large force was on +Bridgenorth castle. Robert had himself chosen to await the king's attack +in Shrewsbury, and had left three of his vassals in charge of +Bridgenorth, with a body of mercenaries, who often proved, +notwithstanding the oaths of vassals, the most faithful troops of feudal +days. He had hoped that his Welsh friends would be able to interfere +seriously with Henry's siege operations, but in this he was disappointed. +The king's offers proved larger than his, at least to one of the princes, +and no help came from that quarter. One striking incident of this siege, +though recorded by Orderic Vitalis only, is so characteristic of the +situation in England, at least of that which had just preceded the +rebellion of Robert, and bears so great an appearance of truth, that it +deserves notice. The barons of England who were with the king began to +fear that if he were allowed to drive so powerful an earl as Robert of +Bellême to his ruin the rest of their order would be henceforth at his +mercy, and no more than weak "maid-servants" in his sight. Accordingly, +after consulting among themselves, they made a formal attempt to induce +the king to grant terms to Robert. In the midst of an argument which the +king seems to have been obliged to treat with consideration, the shouts +of 3000 country soldiers stationed on a hill near by made themselves +heard, warning Henry not to trust to "these traitors," and promising him +their faithful assistance. Encouraged by this support, the king rejected +the advice of the barons. + +The siege of Bridgenorth lasted three weeks. At the end of that time, +Henry threatened to hang all whom he should capture, unless the castle +were surrendered in three days; and despite the resistance of Robert's +mercenaries, the terms he offered were accepted. Henry immediately sent +out his forces to clear the difficult way to Shrewsbury, where Robert, +having learned of the fall of Bridgenorth, was awaiting the issue, +uncertain what to do. One attempt he made to obtain for himself +conditions of submission, but met with a flat refusal. Unconditional +surrender was all that Henry would listen to. Finally, as the king +approached, he went out to meet him, confessed himself a traitor and +beaten, and gave up the keys of the town. Henry used his victory to the +uttermost. Personal safety was granted to the earl, and he was allowed to +depart to his Norman possessions with horses and arms, but this was all +that was allowed him. His vast possessions in England were wholly +confiscated; not a manor was left him. His brothers soon afterwards fell +under the same fate, and the most powerful and most dangerous Norman +house in England was utterly ruined. For the king this result was not +merely the fall of an enemy who might well be feared, and the acquisition +of great estates with which to reward his friends; it was a lesson of the +greatest value to the Norman baronage. Orderic Vitalis, who gives us the +fullest details of these events states this result in words which cannot +be improved upon: "And so, after Robert's flight, the kingdom of Albion +was quiet in peace, and King Henry reigned prosperously three and thirty +years, during which no man in England dared to rebel or to hold any +castle against him." + +From these and other forfeitures Henry endowed a new nobility, men of +minor families, or of those that had hitherto played no part in the +history of the land. Many of them were men who had had their training and +attracted the king's attention in the administrative system which he did +so much to develop, and their promotion was the reward of faithful +service. These "new men" were settled in some numbers in the north, and +scholars have thought they could trace the influence of their +administrative training and of their attitude towards the older and more +purely feudal nobility in the events of a century later in the struggle +for the Great Charter. + +These events, growing directly out of Robert's attempt upon England, have +carried us to the autumn of 1102; but in the meantime the equally +important conflict with Anselm on the subject of investitures had been +advanced some stages further. The answer of Pope Paschal II to the +request which had been made of him, to suspend in favour of England the +law of the Church against lay investitures, had been received at least +soon after the treaty with Robert. The answer was a flat refusal, written +with priestly subtlety, arguing throughout as if what Henry had demanded +was the spiritual consecration of the bishops, though it must be admitted +that in the eyes of men who saw only the side of the Church the +difference could not have been great. So far as we know, Henry said +nothing of this answer. He summoned Anselm to court, apparently while his +brother was still in England, and peremptorily demanded of him that he +should become his man and consecrate the bishops and abbots whom he had +appointed, as his predecessors had done, or else immediately leave the +country. It is uncertain whether the influence of Robert had anything to +do with this demand, as Eadmer supposed, but the recent victory which the +king had gained, and the greater security which he must have felt, +doubtless affected its peremptory character. Anselm again based his +refusal of homage on his former position, on the doctrine which he had +learned at Rome. Of this Henry would hear nothing; he insisted upon the +customary rights of English kings. The other alternative, however, which +he offered the archbishop, or with which he threatened him, of departure +from England, Anselm also declined to accept, and he returned to +Canterbury to carry on his work quietly and to await the issue. + +This act of Anselm's was a virtual challenge to the king to use violence +against him if he dared, and such a challenge Henry was as yet in no +condition to take up. Not long after his return to Canterbury, Anselm +received a friendly letter from the king, inviting him to come to +Westminster, to consider the business anew. Here, with the consent of the +assembled court, a new truce was arranged, and a new embassy to Rome +determined on. This was to be sent by both parties and to consist of +ecclesiastics of higher rank than those of the former embassy, who were +to explain clearly to the pope the situation in England, and to convince +him that some modification of the decrees on the subject would be +necessary if he wished to retain the country in his obedience. Anselm's +representatives were two monks, Baldwin of Bee and Alexander of +Canterbury; the king's were three bishops, Gerard of Hereford, lately +made Archbishop of York by the king, Herbert of Norwich, and Robert of +Coventry. + +The embassy reached Rome; the case was argued before the pope; he +indignantly refused to modify the decrees; and the ambassadors returned +to England, bringing letters to this effect to the king and to the +archbishop. Soon after their return, which was probably towards the end +of the summer, 1102, Anselm was summoned to a meeting of the court at +London, and again required to perform homage or to cease to exercise his +office. He of course continued to refuse, and appealed to the pope's +letters for justification. Henry declined to make known the letter he had +received, and declared that he would not be bound by them. His position +was supported by the three bishops whom he had sent to Rome, who on the +reading of the letter to Anselm declared that privately the pope had +informed them that so long as the king appointed suitable men he would +not be interfered with, and they explained that this could not be stated +in the letters lest the news should be carried to other princes and lead +them to usurp the rights of the Church. Anselm's representatives +protested that they had heard nothing of all this, but it is evident that +the solemn assertion of the three bishops had considerable weight, and +that even Anselm was not sure but that they were telling the truth. + +On a renewed demand of homage by the king, supported by the bishops and +barons of the kingdom, Anselm answered that if the letters had +corresponded to the words of the bishops, very likely he would have done +what was demanded as the case stood, he proposed a new embassy to Rome to +reconcile the contradiction, and in the meantime, though he would not +consecrate the king's nominees, he agreed not to regard them as +excommunicate. This proposal was at once accepted by Henry, who regarded +it as so nearly an admission of his claim that he immediately appointed +two new bishops: his chancellor, Roger, to Salisbury, and his larderer, +also Roger, to Hereford. + +Perhaps in the same spirit, regarding the main point as settled, Henry +now allowed Anselm to hold the council of the English Church which +William Rufus had so long refused him. The council met at Westminster and +adopted a series of canons, whose chief object was the complete carrying +out of the Gregorian reformation in the English Church. The most +important of them concerned the celibacy of the priesthood, and enacted +the strictest demands of the reform party, without regard to existing +conditions. No clerics of any grade from subdeacon upward, were to be +allowed to marry, nor might holy orders be received hereafter without a +previous vow of celibacy. Those already married must put away their +wives, and if any neglected to do so, they were no longer to be +considered legal priests, nor be allowed to celebrate mass. One canon, +which reveals one of the dangers against which the Church sought to guard +by these regulations, forbade the sons of priests to inherit their +father's benefices. It is very evident from these canons, that this part +of the new reformation had made but little, if any, more headway in +England than that which concerned investiture, and we know from other +sources that the marriage of secular clergy was almost the rule, and that +the sons of priests in clerical office were very numerous. Less is said +of the other article of the reform programme, the extinction of the sin +of simony, but three abbots of important monasteries, recently appointed +by the king, were deposed on this ground without objection. This +legislation, so thorough-going and so regardless of circumstances, is an +interesting illustration of the uncompromising character of Anselm, +though it must be noticed that later experience raised the question in +his mind whether some modifications of these canons ought not to be made. + +That Henry on his side had no intention of surrendering anything of his +rights in the matter of investiture is clearly shown, about the same +time, by his effort to get the bishops whom he had appointed to accept +consecration from his very useful and willing minister, Gerard, +Archbishop of York. Roger the larderer, appointed to Hereford, had died +without consecration, and in his place Reinelm, the queen's chancellor, +had been appointed. When the question of consecration by York was raised, +rather than accept it he voluntarily surrendered his bishopric to the +king. The other two persons appointed, William Giffard of Winchester, and +Roger of Salisbury, seemed willing to concede the point, but at the last +moment William drew back and the plan came to nothing. The bishops, +however, seem to have refused consecration from the Archbishop of York +less from objection to royal investiture than out of regard to the claims +of Canterbury. William Giffard was deprived of his see, it would seem by +judicial sentence, and sent from the kingdom. + +About the middle of Lent of the next year, 1103, Henry made a new attempt +to obtain his demands of Anselm. On his way to Dover he stopped three +days in Canterbury and required the archbishop to submit. What followed +is a repetition of what had occurred so often before. Anselm offered to +be guided by the letters from Rome, in answer to the last reference +thither, which had been received but not yet read. This Henry refused. He +said he had nothing to do with the pope. He demanded the rights of his +predecessors. Anselm on his side declared that he could consent to a +modification of the papal decrees only by the authority which had made +them. It would seem as if no device remained to be tried to postpone a +complete breach between the two almost co-equal powers of the medieval +state; but Henry's patience was not yet exhausted, or his practical +wisdom led him to wish to get Anselm out of the kingdom before the breach +became complete. He begged Anselm to go himself to Rome and attempt what +others had failed to effect. Anselm suspected the king's object in the +proposal, and asked for a delay until Easter, that he might take the +advice of the king's court. This was unanimous in favour of the attempt, +and on April 27, 1103, he landed at Wissant, not an exile, but with his +attendants, "invested with the king's peace." + +Four years longer this conflict lasted before it was finally settled by +the concordat of August, 1107; but these later stages of it, though not +less important considered in themselves, were less the pressing question +of the moment for Henry than the earlier had been. They were rather +incidents affecting his gradually unfolding foreign policy, and in turn +greatly affected by it. From the fall of Robert of Bellême to the end of +Henry's reign, the domestic history of England is almost a blank. If we +put aside two series of events, the ecclesiastical politics of the time, +of which interested clerks have given us full details, and the changes in +institutions which were going on, but which they did not think posterity +would be so anxious to understand, we know of little to say of this long +period in the life of the English people. The history which has survived +is the history of the king, and the king was in the main occupied upon +the continent. But in the case of Henry I, this is not improperly English +history. It was upon no career of foreign conquest, no seeking after +personal glory, that Henry embarked in his Norman expeditions. It was to +protect the rights of his subjects in England that he began, and it was +because he could accomplish this in no other way that he ended with the +conquest of the duchy and the lifelong imprisonment of his brother. There +were so many close bonds of connexion between the two states that England +suffered keenly in the disorders of Normandy, and the turbulence and +disobedience of the barons under Robert threatened the stability of +Henry's rule at home. + +[16] Ordetic Vitalis, iv. 87 f. + +[17] Liebermami, Anselm und Hugo van Lyon, in Aufsätze dem +Andenken an Georg Waitz gewidmet. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +CONFLICT WITH THE CHURCH + +Robert of Bellême had lost too much in England to rest satisfied with the +position into which he had been forced. He was of too stormy a +disposition himself to settle down to a quiet life on his Norman lands. +Duke Robert had attacked one of his castles, while Henry was making war +upon him in England, but, as was usual in his case, totally failed; but +it was easy to take vengeance upon the duke, and he was the first to +suffer for the misfortunes of the lord of Bellême. All that part of +Normandy within reach of Robert was laid waste; churches and monasteries +even, in which men had taken refuge, were burned with the fugitives. +Almost all Normandy joined in planning resistance. The historian, +Orderic, living in the duchy, speaks almost as if general government had +disappeared, and the country were a confederation of local states. But +all plans were in vain, because a "sane head" was lacking. Duke Robert +was totally defeated, and obliged to make important concessions to Robert +of Bellême. At last Henry, moved by the complaints which continued to +come to him from churchmen and barons of Normandy, some of whom came over +to England in person, as well as from his own subjects, whose Norman +lands could not be protected, resolved himself to cross to Normandy. This +he did in the autumn of 1104, and visited Domfront and other towns which +belonged to him. There he was joined by almost all the leading barons of +Normandy, who were, indeed, his vassals in England, but who meant more +than this by coming to him at this time. + +The expedition, however, was not an invasion. Henry did not intend to +make war upon his brother or upon Robert of Bellême. It was his intention +rather to serve notice on all parties that he was deeply interested in +the affairs of Normandy and that anarchy must end. To his brother Robert +he read a long lecture, filled with many counts of his misconduct, both +to himself personally and in the government of the duchy. Robert feared +worse things than this, and that he might turn away his brother's wrath, +ceded to him the county of Evreux, with the homage of its count, William, +one of the most important possessions and barons of the duchy. Already in +the year before Robert had been forced to surrender the pension Henry had +promised him in the treaty which they had made after Robert's invasion. +This was because of a rash visit he had paid to England without +permission, at the request of William of Warenne, to intercede for the +restoration of his earldom of Surrey. By these arrangements Robert was +left almost without the means of living, but he was satisfied to escape +so easily, for he feared above all to be deprived of the name of duke and +the semblance of power. Before winter came on the king returned to +England. + +In this same year, following out what seems to have been the deliberate +purpose of Henry to crush the great Norman houses, another of the most +powerful barons of England was sent over to Normandy, to furnish in the +end a strong reinforcement to Robert of Bellême, a man of the same stamp +as himself, namely William of Mortain, Earl of Cornwall, the king's own +cousin. At the time of Henry's earliest troubles with his brother Robert, +William had demanded the inheritance of their uncle Odo, the earldom of +Kent. The king had delayed his answer until the danger was over, had then +refused the request, and shortly after had begun to attack the earl by +suits at law. This drove him to Normandy and into the party of the king's +open enemies. On Henry's departure, Robert with the help of William began +again his ravaging of the land of his enemies, with all the former +horrors of fire and slaughter. The peasants suffered with the rest, and +many of them fled the country with their wives and children. + +If order was to be restored in Normandy and property again to become +secure, it was clear that more thorough-going measures than those of +Henry's first expedition must be adopted. These he was now determined to +take, and in the last week of Lent, 1105, he landed at Barfleur, and +within a few days stormed and destroyed Bayeux, which had refused to +surrender, and forced Caen to open its gates. Though this formed the +extent of his military operations in this campaign, a much larger portion +of Normandy virtually became subject to him through the voluntary action +of the barons. And in a quite different way his visit to Normandy was of +decisive influence in the history of Henry and of England. As the +necessity of taking complete possession of the duchy, in order to secure +peace, became clear to Henry, or perhaps we should say as the vision of +Normandy entirely occupied and subject to his rule rose before his mind, +the conflict with Anselm in which he was involved began to assume a new +aspect. As an incident in the government of a kingdom of which he was +completely master, it was one thing; as having a possible bearing on the +success with which he could conquer and incorporate with his dominions +another state, it was quite another. + +Anselm had gone to Rome toward the end of the summer of 1103. There he +had found everything as he had anticipated. The argument of Henry's +representative that England would be lost to the papacy if this +concession were not granted, was of no avail. The pope stood firmly by +the decrees against investiture. But Henry's ambassador was charged with +a mission to Anselm, as well as to the pope; and at Lyons, on the journey +back, the archbishop was told that his return to England would be very +welcome to the king when he was ready to perform all duties to the king +as other archbishops of Canterbury had done them. The meaning of this +message was clear. By this stroke of policy, Henry had exiled Anselm, +with none of the excitement or outcry which would have been occasioned by +his violent expulsion from the kingdom. + +On the return of his embassy from Rome, probably in December, 1103, Henry +completed the legal breach between himself and Anselm by seizing the +revenues of the archbishopric into his own hands. This, from his +interpretation of the facts, he had a perfect right to do, but there is +very good ground to suppose that he might not have done it even now, if +his object had been merely to punish a vassal who refused to perform his +customary services. Henry was already looking forward to intervention in +Normandy. His first expedition was not made until the next summer, but it +must by this time have been foreseen, and the cost must have been +counted. The revenues of Canterbury doubtless seemed quite worth having. +Already, in 1104, we begin to get complaints of the heavy taxation from +which England was suffering. In the year of the second expedition, 1105, +these were still more frequent and piteous. Ecclesiastics and Church +lands bore these burdens with the rest of the kingdom, and before the +close of this year we are told that many of the evils which had existed +under William Rufus had reappeared.[18] + +True to his temporizing policy, when complaints became loud, as early as +1104, Henry professed his great desire for the return of Anselm, provided +always he was willing to observe the customs of the kingdom, and he +despatched another embassy to Rome to persuade the pope to some +concession. This was the fifth embassy which he had sent with this +request, and he could not possibly have expected any other answer than +that which he had already received. Soon a party began to form among the +higher clergy of England, primarily in opposition to the king, and, more +for this reason probably than from devotion to the reformation, in +support of Anselm, though it soon began to show a disposition to adopt +the Gregorian ideas for which Anselm stood. This disposition was less +due to any change of heart on their part than to the knowledge which they +had acquired of their helplessness in the hands of an absolute king, and +of the great advantage to be gained from the independence which the +Gregorian reformation would secure them. Even Gerard of York early +showed some tendency to draw toward Anselm, as may be seen from a letter +which he despatched to him in the early summer of 1105, with some +precautions, suppressing names and expressions by which the writer might +be identified.[19] Toward the end of the year he joined with five other +bishops, including William Giffard, appointed by Henry to Winchester, in +a more open appeal to Anselm, with promise of support. How early Henry +became aware of this movement of opposition is not certain, but we may be +sure that his department of secret service was well organized. We shall +not be far wrong if we assign to a knowledge of the attitude of powerful +churchmen in England some weight among the complex influences which led +the king to the step which he took in July of this year. + +In March, 1105, Pope Paschal II, whose conduct throughout this +controversy implies that he was not more anxious to drive matters to open +warfare than was Henry, advanced so far as to proclaim the +excommunication of the Count of Meulan and the other counsellors of the +king, and also of those who had received investiture at his hand. This +might look as if the pope were about to take up the case in earnest and +would proceed shortly to excommunicate the king himself. But Anselm +evidently interpreted it as the utmost which he could expect in the way +of aid from Rome, and immediately determined to act for himself. He left +Lyons to go to Reims, but learning on the way of the illness of the +Countess of Blois, Henry's sister Adela, he went to Blois instead, and +then with the countess, who had recovered, to Chartres. This brought +together three persons deeply interested in this conflict and of much +influence in England and with the king Anselm, who was directly +concerned; the Countess Adela, a favourite with her brother and on +intimate terms with him and Bishop Ivo of Chartres, who had written much +and wisely on the investiture controversy. And here it seems likely were +suggested, probably by Bishop Ivo, and talked over among the three, the +terms of the famous compromise by which the conflict was at last ended. + +Anselm had made no secret of his intention of proceeding shortly to the +excommunication of Henry. The prospect excited the liveliest apprehension +in the mind of the religiously disposed Countess Adela, and she bestirred +herself to find some means of averting so dread a fate from her brother. +Henry himself had heard of the probability with some apprehension, though +of a different sort from his sister's. The respect which Anselm enjoyed +throughout Normandy and northern France was so great that, as Henry +looked forward to an early conquest of the duchy, he could not afford to +disregard the effect upon the general feeling of an open declaration of +war by the archbishop. The invitation of the king of France to Anselm, to +accept an asylum within his borders, was a plain foreshadowing of what +might follow.[20] Considerations of home and foreign politics alike +disposed Henry to meet halfway the advances which the other side was +willing to make under the lead of his sister. + +With the countess, Anselm entered Normandy and met Henry at Laigle on +July 21, 1105. Here the terms of the compromise, which were more than two +years later adopted as binding law, were agreed upon between themselves, +in their private capacity. Neither was willing at the moment to be +officially bound. Anselm, while personally willing, would not formally +agree to the concessions expected of him, until he had the authority of +the pope to do so. Subsequent events lead us to suspect that once more +Henry was temporizing. Anselm was not in good health. He was shortly +after seriously ill. It is in harmony with Henry's policy throughout, and +with his action in the following months, to suppose that he believed the +approaching death of the archbishop would relieve him from even the +slight concessions to which he professed himself willing to agree. It is +not the place here to state the terms and effect of this agreement, but +in substance Henry consented to abandon investiture with the ring and +staff, symbols of the spiritual office; and Anselm agreed that the +officers of the Church should not be excommunicated nor denied +consecration if they received investiture of their actual fiefs from the +hand of the king. Henry promised that an embassy should be at once +despatched to Rome, to obtain the pope's consent to this arrangement, in +order that Anselm, to whom the temporalities of his see were now +restored, might be present at his Christmas court in England. + +Delay Henry certainly gained by this move. The forms of friendly +intercourse were restored between himself and Anselm. The excommunication +was not pronounced. The party of the king's open enemies in Normandy, or +of those who would have been glad to be his open enemies in France, if +circumstances had been favourable, was deprived of support from any +popular feeling of horror against an outcast of the Church. But he made +no change in his conduct or plans. By the end of summer he was back in +England, leaving things well under way in Normandy. Severer exactions +followed in England, to raise money for new campaigns. One invention of +some skilful servant of the king's seemed to the ecclesiastical +historians more intolerable and dangerous than anything before. The +king's justices began to draw the married clergy before the secular +courts, and to fine them for their violation of the canons. By +implication this would mean a legal toleration of the marriage, on +payment of fines to the king, and thus it would cut into the rights of +the Church in two directions. It was the trial of a spiritual offence in +a secular court, and it was the virtual suspension of the law of the +Church by the authority of the State. Still no embassy went to Rome. +Christmas came and it had not gone. Robert of Bellême, alarmed at the +plans of Henry, which were becoming evident, came over from Normandy to +try to make some peaceable arrangement with the king, but was refused all +terms. In January, 1106, Robert of Normandy himself came over, to get, if +possible, the return of what he had lost at home; but he also could +obtain nothing. All things were in Henry's hands. He could afford to +refuse favours, to forget his engagements, and to encourage his servants +in the invention of ingenious exactions. + +But Anselm was growing impatient. New appeals to action were constantly +reaching him from England. The letter of the six bishops was sent toward +the close of 1105. He himself began again to hint at extreme measures, +and to write menacing letters to the king's ministers. Finally, early in +1106, the embassy was actually sent to Rome. Towards the end of March the +Roman curia took action on the proposal, and Anselm was informed, in a +letter from the pope, that the required concessions would be allowed. The +pope was disposed to give thanks that God had inclined the king's heart +to obedience; yet the proposal was approved of, not as an accepted +principle, but rather as a temporary expedient, until the king should be +converted by the preaching of the archbishop, to respect the rights of +the Church in full. But Anselm did not yet return to England. Before the +envoys came back from Rome, Henry had written to him of his expectation +of early crossing into Normandy. On learning that the compromise would be +accepted by the pope, Henry had sent to invite him at once to England, +but Anselm was then too ill to travel, and he continued so for some time. +It was nearly August before Henry's third expedition actually landed in +Normandy, and on the 15th of that month the king and the archbishop met +at the Abbey of Bee, and the full reconciliation between them took place. +Anselm could now agree to the compromise. Henry promised to make +reformation in the particulars of his recent treatment of the Church, of +which the archbishop complained. Then Anselm crossed to Dover, and was +received with great rejoicing. + +The campaign upon which Henry embarked in August ended by the close of +September in a success greater than he could have anticipated. He first +attacked the castle of Tinchebrai, belonging to William of Mortain, and +left a fortified post there to hold it in check. As soon as the king had +retired, William came to the relief of his castle, reprovisioned it, and +shut up the king's men in their defences. Then Henry advanced in turn +with his own forces and his allies, and began a regular siege of the +castle. The next move was William's, and he summoned to his aid Duke +Robert and Robert of Bellême, and all the friends they had left in +Normandy. The whole of the opposing forces were thus face to face, and +the fate of Normandy likely to be settled by a single conflict. Orderic, +the historian of the war, notes that Henry preferred to fight rather than +to withdraw, as commanded by his brother, being willing to enter upon +this "more than civil war for the sake of future peace." + +In the meantime, the men of religion who were present began to exert +themselves to prevent so fratricidal a collision of these armies, between +whose opposing ranks so many families were divided. Henry yielded to +their wishes, and offered to his brother terms of reconciliation which +reveal not merely his belief in the strength of his position in the +country and his confidence of success, but something also of his general +motive. The ardour of religious zeal which the historian makes Henry +profess we may perhaps set aside, but the actual terms offered speak for +themselves. Robert was to surrender to Henry all the castles and the +jurisdiction and administration of the whole duchy. This being done, +Henry would turn over to him, without any exertion on his part, the +revenues of half the duchy to enjoy freely in the kind of life that best +pleased him. If Robert had been a different sort of man, we should +commend his rejection of these terms. Possibly he recalled Henry's +earlier promise of a pension, and had little confidence in the certainty +of revenues from this source. But Henry, knowing the men whose advice +Robert would ask before answering, had probably not expected his terms to +be accepted. + +The battle was fought on September 28, and it was fiercely fought, the +hardest fight and with the largest forces of any in which Normans or +Englishmen had been engaged for forty years. The main body of both armies +fought on foot. The Count of Mortain, in command of Robert's first +division, charged Henry's front, but was met with a resistance which he +could not overcome. In the midst of this struggle Robert's flank was +charged by Henry's mounted allies, under Count Elias of Maine, and his +position was cut in two. Robert of Bellême, who commanded the rear +division, seeing the battle going against the duke, took to flight and +left the rest of the army to its fate. This was apparently to surrender +in a body. Henry reports the number of common soldiers whom he had taken +as ten thousand, too large a figure, no doubt, but implying the capture +of Robert's whole force. His prisoners of name comprised all the leaders +of his brother's side except Robert of Bellême, including the duke +himself, Edgar the English atheling, who was soon released, and William +of Mortain. The victory at once made Henry master of Normandy. There +could be no further question of this, and it is of interest to note that +the historian, William of Malmesbury, who in his own person typifies the +union of English and Norman, both in blood and in spirit, records the +fact that the day was the same as that on which the Conqueror had landed +forty years earlier, and regards the result as reversing that event, and +as making Normandy subject to England. This was not far from its real +historical meaning. + +Robert clearly recognized the completeness of Henry's success. By his +orders Falaise was surrendered, and the castle of Rouen; and he formally +absolved the towns of Normandy in general from their allegiance to +himself. At Falaise Robert's young son William, known afterwards as +William Clito, was captured and brought before Henry. Not wishing himself +to be held responsible for his safety, Henry turned him over to the +guardianship of Elias of Saint-Saens, who had married a natural daughter +of Robert's. One unsought-for result of the conquest of Normandy was that +Ranulf Flambard, who was in charge of the bishopric of Lisieux, succeeded +in making his peace with the king and obtained his restoration to Durham, +but he never again became a king's minister. Only Robert of Bellême +thought of further fighting. As a vassal of Elias, Count of Maine, he +applied to him for help, and promised a long resistance with his +thirty-four strong castles. Elias refused his aid, pointed out the +unwisdom of such an attempt, defended Henry's motives, and advised +submission, promising his good influences with Henry. This advice Robert +concluded to accept. Henry, on his side, very likely had some regard to +the thirty-four castles, and decided to bide his time. Peace, for the +present, was made between them. + +Some measures which Henry considered necessary for the security of +Normandy, he did not think it wise to carry out by his own unsupported +action. In the middle of October a great council of Norman barons was +called to meet at Lisieux. Here it was decreed that all possessions which +had been wrongfully taken from churches or other legitimate holders +during the confusion of the years since the death of William the +Conqueror should be restored, and all grants from the ducal domain to +unworthy persons, or usurpations which Robert had not been able to +prevent, were ordered to be resumed. It is of especial interest that the +worst men of the prisoners taken at Tinchebrai were here condemned to +perpetual imprisonment. The name of Robert is not mentioned among those +included in this judgment, and later Henry justifies his conduct toward +his brother on the ground of political necessity, not of legal right. The +result of all these measures--we may believe it would have been the +result of the conquest alone--was to put an end at once to the disorder, +private warfare, and open robbery from which the duchy had so long +suffered. War enough there was in Normandy, in the later years of Henry's +reign, but it was regular warfare. The license of anarchy was at an end. +Robert was carried over to England, to a fate for which there could be +little warrant in strict law, but which was abundantly deserved and fully +supported by the public opinion of the time. He was kept in prison in one +royal castle or another until his death twenty-eight years later. If +Henry's profession was true, as it probably was, that he kept him as a +royal prisoner should be kept, and supplied him with the luxuries he +enjoyed so much, the result was, it is possible, not altogether +disagreeable to Robert himself. Some time later, when the pope +remonstrated with Henry on his conduct, and demanded the release of +Robert, the king's defence of his action was so complete that the pope +had no reply to make. Political expediency, the impossibility of +otherwise maintaining peace, was the burden of his answer, and this, if +not actual justice, must still be Henry's defence for his treatment of +his brother. + +Henry returned to England in time for the Easter meeting of his court, +but the legalization of the compromise with Anselm was deferred to +Whitsuntide because the pope was about to hold a council in France, from +which some action affecting the question might be expected. At +Whitsuntide Anselm was ill, and another postponement was necessary. At +last, early in August, at a great council held in the king's palace in +London, the agreement was ratified. No formal statement of the terms of +this compromise has been given us by any contemporary authority, but such +accounts of it as we have, and such inferences as seem almost equally +direct, probably leave no important point unknown. Of all his claims, +Henry surrendered only the right of investiture with ring and staff. +These were spiritual symbols, typical of the bishop's relation to his +Church and of his pastoral duties. To the ecclesiastical mind the +conferring of them would seem more than any other part of the procedure +the actual granting of the religious office, though they had been used by +the kings merely as symbols of the fief granted. Some things would seem +to indicate that the forms of canonical election were more respected +after this compromise than they had been before, but this is true of +forms only, and if we may judge from a sentence in a letter to the pope, +in which Anselm tells him of the final settlement, this was not one of +the terms of the formal agreement, and William of Malmesbury says +distinctly that it was not. In all else the Church gave way to the king. +He made choice of the person to be elected, with such advice and counsel +as he chose to take, and his choice was final. He received the homage and +conferred investiture of the temporalities of the office of the new +prelate as his father and brother had done. Only when this was completed +to the king's satisfaction, and his permission to proceed received, was +the bishop elect consecrated to his spiritual office. + +To us it seems clear that the king had yielded only what was a mere form, +and that he had retained all the real substance of his former power, and +probably this was also the judgment of the practical mind of Henry and of +his chief adviser, the Count of Meulan. We must not forget, however, that +the Church seemed to believe that it had gained something real, and that +a strong party of the king's supporters long and vigorously resisted +these concessions in his court. The Church had indeed set an example, for +itself at least, of successful attack on the absolute monarchy, and had +shown that the strongest of kings could be forced to yield a point +against his will. Before the century was closed, in a struggle even more +bitterly fought and against a stronger king, the warriors of the Church +looked back to this example and drew strength from this success. It is +possible, also, that these cases of concession forced from reluctant +kings served as suggestion and model at the beginning of a political +struggle which was to have more permanent results. All this, however, lay +yet in the future, and could not be suspected by either party to this +earliest conflict. + +The agreement ratified in 1107 was the permanent settlement of the +investiture controversy for England, and under it developed the practice +on ecclesiastical vacancies which we may say has continued to the present +time, interrupted under some sovereigns by vacillating practice or by a +more or less theoretical concession of freedom of election to the Church. +Henry's grandson, Henry II, describes this practice as it existed in his +day, in one of the clauses of the Constitutions of Clarendon. The clause +shows that some at least of the inventions of Ranulf Flambard had not +been discarded, and there is abundant evidence to show that the king was +really stating in it, as he said he was, the customs of his grandfather's +time. The clause reads: "When an archbishopric or bishopric or abbey or +priory of the king's domain has fallen vacant, it ought to be in the +king's hands, and he shall take thence all the returns and revenues as +domain revenues, and when the time has come to provide for the Church, +the king shall call for the chief persons of the Church [that is, summon +a representation of the Church to himself], and in the king's chapel the +election shall be made with the assent of the king and with the counsel +of those ecclesiastics of the kingdom whom he shall have summoned for +this purpose, and there the elect shall do homage and fealty to the king, +as to his liege lord, of his life and limb and earthly honour, saving his +order, before he shall be consecrated." + +This long controversy having reached a settlement which Anselm was at +least willing to accept, he was ready to resume the long-interrupted +duties of primate of Britain. On August 11, assisted by an imposing +assembly of his suffragan bishops, and by the Archbishop of York, he +consecrated in Canterbury five bishops at once, three of these of +long-standing appointment,--William Giffard of Winchester, Roger of +Salisbury, and Reinelm of Hereford; the other two, William of Exeter and +Urban of Landaff, recently chosen. The renewed activity of Anselm as head +of the English Church, which thus began, was not for long. His health had +been destroyed. His illness returned at frequent intervals, and in less +than two years his life and work were finished. These months, however, +were filled with considerable activity, not all of it of the kind we +should prefer to associate with the name of Anselm. Were we shut up to +the history of this time for our knowledge of his character, we should be +likely to describe it in different terms from those we usually employ. +The earlier Anselm, of gentle character, shrinking from the turmoil of +strife and longing only for the quiet of the abbey library, had +apparently disappeared. The experiences of the past few years had been, +indeed, no school in gentleness, and the lessons which he had learned at +Rome were not those of submission to the claims of others. In the great +council which ratified the compromise, Anselm had renewed his demand for +the obedience of the Archbishop of York, and this demand he continued to +push with extreme vigour until his death, first against Gerard, who died +early in 1108, and then against his successor, Thomas, son of Bishop +Samson of Worcester, appointed by Henry. A plan for the division of the +large diocese of Lincoln, by the creation of a new diocese of Ely, though +by common consent likely to improve greatly the administration of the +Church, he refused to approve until the consent of the pope had been +obtained. He insisted, against the will of the monks and the request of +the king, upon the right of the archbishop to consecrate the abbot of St. +Augustine's, Canterbury, in whatever church he pleased, and again, in +spite of the king's request, he maintained the same right in the +consecration of the bishop of London. The canon law of the Church +regarding marriage, lay or priestly, he enforced with unsparing rigour. +Almost his last act, it would seem, before his death, was to send a +violent letter to Archbishop Thomas of York, suspending him from his +office and forbidding all bishops of his obedience, under penalty of +"perpetual anathema," to consecrate him or to communicate with him if +consecrated by any one outside of England. On April 21, 1109, this stormy +episcopate closed, a notable instance of a man of noble character, and in +some respects of remarkable genius, forced by circumstances out of the +natural current of his life into a career for which he was not fitted. + +For Henry these months since the conquest of Normandy and, the settlement +of the dispute with Anselm had been uneventful. Normandy had settled into +order as if the mere change of ruler had been all it needed, and in +England, which now occupied Henry's attention only at intervals, there +was no occasion of anxiety. Events were taking place across the border of +Normandy which were to affect the latter years of Henry and the future +destinies of England in important ways. In the summer of 1108, the long +reign of Philip I of France had closed, and the reign, nearly as long, of +his son, Louis VI, had begun, the first of the great Capetian kings, in +whose reign begins a definite policy of aggrandizement for the dynasty +directed in great part against their rivals, the English kings. Just +before the death of Anselm occurred that of Fulk Rechin, Count of Anjou, +and the succession of his son Fulk V. He was married to the heiress of +Maine, and a year later this inheritance, the overlordship of which the +Norman dukes had so long claimed, fell in to him. Of Henry's marriage +with Matilda two children had been born who survived infancy,--Matilda, +the future empress, early in 1102, and William in the late summer or +early autumn of 1103. The queen herself, who had for a time accompanied +the movements of her husband, now resided mostly at Westminster, where +she gained the fame of liberality to foreign artists and of devotion to +pious works. + +It was during a stay of Henry's in England, shortly after the death of +Anselm, that he issued one of the very few documents of his reign which +give us glimpses into the changes in institutions which were then taking +place. This is a writ, which we have in two slightly varying forms, one +of them addressed to Bishop Samson of Worcester, dealing with the local +judicial system. From it we infer that the old Saxon system of local +justice, the hundred and county courts, had indeed never fallen into +disuse since the days of the Conquest, but that they had been subjected +to many irregularities of time and place, and that the sheriffs had often +obliged them to meet when and where it suited their convenience; and we +are led to suspect that they had been used as engines of extortion for +the advantage both of the local officer and of the king. All this Henry +now orders to cease. The courts are to meet at the same times and places +as in the days of King Edward, and if they need to be summoned to special +sessions for any royal business, due notice shall be given. + +Even more important is the evidence which we get from this document of a +royal system of local justice acting in conjunction with the old system +of shire courts. The last half of the writ implies that there had arisen +thus early the questions of disputed jurisdiction, of methods of trial, +and of attendance at courts, with which we are familiar a few generations +later in the history of English law. Distinctly implied is a conflict +between a royal jurisdiction on one side and a private baronial +jurisdiction on the other, which is settled in favour of the lord's +court, if the suit is between two of his own vassals; but if the +disputants are vassals of two different lords, it is decided in favour of +the king's,--that is, of the court held by the king's justice in the +county, who may, indeed, be no more than the sheriff acting in this +capacity. This would be in strict harmony with the ruling feudal law of +the time. But when the suit comes on for trial in the county court, it is +not to be tried by the old county court forms. It is not a case in the +sheriffs county court, the people's county court, but one before the +king's justice, and the royal, that is, Norman method of trial by duel is +to be adopted. Finally, at the close of the writ, appears an effort to +defend this local court system against the liberties and immunities of +the feudal system, an attempt which easily succeeded in so far as it +concerned the king's county courts, but failed in the case of the purely +local courts.[21] + +If this interpretation is correct, this writ is typical of a process of +the greatest interest, which we know from other sources was +characteristic of the reign, a process which gave their peculiar form to +the institutions of England and continued for more than a century. By +this process the local law and institutions of Saxon England, and the +royal law and central institutions of the Normans, were wrought into a +single and harmonious whole. This process of union which was long and +slow, guided by no intention beyond the convenience of the moment, +advances in two stages. In the first, the Norman administration, royal +and centralized, is carried down into the counties and there united, for +the greater ease of accomplishing certain desired ends of administration, +with the local Saxon system. This resulted in several very important +features of our judicial organization. The second stage was somewhat the +reverse of this. In it, certain features which had developed in the local +machinery, the jury and election, are adopted by the central government +and applied to new uses. This was the origin of the English parliamentary +system. It is of the first of these stages only that we get a glimpse, in +this document, and from other sources of the reign of Henry, and these +bits of evidence only allow us to say that those judicial arrangements +which were put into organized form in his grandson's reign had their +beginning, as occasional practices, in his own. Not long after the date +of this charter, a series of law books, one of the interesting features +of the reign, began to appear. Their object was to state the old laws of +England, or these in connexion with the laws then current in the courts, +or with the legislation of the first of the Norman kings. Private +compilations, or at most the work of persons whose position in the +service of the state could give no official authority to their codes, +their object was mainly practical; but they reveal not merely a general +interest in the legal arrangements existing at the moment, but a clear +consciousness that these rested upon a solid substratum of ancient law, +dating from a time before the Conquest. Towards this ancient law the +nation had lately turned, and had been answered by the promise in Henry's +coronation charter. Worn with the tyranny of William Rufus, men had +looked back with longing to the better conditions of an earlier age, and +had demanded the laws of Edward or of Canute, as, under the latter, men +had looked back to the laws of Edgar, demanding laws, not in the sense of +the legislation of a certain famous king, but of the whole legal and +constitutional situation of earlier times, thought of as a golden age +from which the recent tyranny had departed. What they really desired was +never granted them. The Saxon law still survived, and was very likely +renewed in particulars by Henry I, but it survived as local law and as +the law of the minor affairs of life. The law of public affairs and of +all great interests, the law of the tyranny from which men suffered, was +new. It made much use of the local machinery which it found but in a new +way, and it was destined to be modified in some points by the old law, +but it was new as the foundation on which was to be built the later +constitution of the state. The demand for the laws of an earlier time did +not affect the process of this building, and the effort to put the +ancient law into accessible form, which may have had this demand as one +of its causes, is of interest to the student of general history chiefly +for the evidence it gives of the great work of union which was then going +on, of Saxon and Norman, in law as in blood, into a new nation. + +It was during the same stay in England that an opportunity was offered to +Henry to form an alliance on the continent which promised him great +advantages in case of an open conflict with the king of France. At +Henry's Whitsuntide court, in 1109, appeared an embassy from Henry V of +Germany, to ask for the hand of his daughter, then less than eight years +old. This request Henry would not be slow to grant. Conflicting policies +would never be likely to disturb such an alliance, and the probable +interest which the sovereign of Germany would have in common with himself +in limiting the expansion of France, or even in detaching lands from her +allegiance, would make the alliance seem of good promise for the future. +On the part of Henry of Germany, such a proposal must have come from +policy alone, but the advantage which he hoped to gain from it is not so +easy to discover as in the case of Henry of England. If he entertained +any idea of a common policy against France, this was soon dropped, and +his purpose must in all probability be sought in plans within the empire. +Henry's recent accession to the throne of Germany had been followed by--a +change of policy. During the later years of his unfortunate father, whose +stormy reign had closed in the triumph of the two enemies whom he had +been obliged to face at once, the Church of Gregory VII, contending with +the empire for equality and even for supremacy, and the princes of +Germany, grasping in their local dominions the rights of sovereignty, the +ambitious prince had fought against the king, his father. But when he had +at last become king himself, his point of view was changed. The conflict +in which his father had failed he was ready to renew with vigour and with +hope of success. That he should have believed, as he evidently did, that +a marriage with the young English princess was the most useful one he +could make in this crisis of his affairs is interesting evidence, not +merely of the world's opinion of Henry I, but also of the rank of the +English monarchy among the states of Europe. + +Just as she was completing her eighth year, Matilda was sent over to +Germany to learn the language and the ways of her new country. A stately +embassy and a rich dower went with her, for which her father had provided +by taking the regular feudal aid to marry the lord's eldest daughter, at +the rate of three shillings per hide throughout England. On April 10, +1110, she was formally betrothed to the emperor-elect at Utrecht. On July +25, she was crowned Queen of Germany at Mainz. Then she was committed to +the care of the Archbishop of Trier, who was to superintend her +education. On January 7,1114, just before Matilda had completed her +twelfth year, the marriage was celebrated at Mainz, in the presence of a +great assembly. All things had been going well with Henry. In Germany and +in Italy he had overcome the princes and nobles who had ventured to +oppose him. The clergy of Germany seemed united on his side in the still +unsettled investiture conflict with the papacy. The brilliant assembly of +princes of the empire and foreign ambassadors which gathered in the city +for this marriage was in celebration as well of the triumph of the +emperor. On this great occasion, and in spite of her youth, Matilda bore +herself as a queen, and impressed those who saw her as worthy of the +position, highest in rank in the world, to which she had been called. To +the end of her stay in Germany she retained the respect and she won the +hearts of her German subjects. + +By August, 1111, King Henry's stay in England was over, and he crossed +again to Normandy. What circumstances called him to the continent we do +not know, but probably events growing out of a renewal of war with Louis +VI, which seems to have been first begun early in 1109.[22] However this +may be, he soon found himself in open conflict all along his southern +border with the king of France and the Count of Anjou, with Robert of +Bellême and other barons of the border to aid them. Possibly Henry feared +a movement in Normandy itself in favour of young William Clito, or learned +of some expression of a wish not infrequent among the Norman barons in +times a little later, that he might succeed to his father's place. At any +rate, at this time, Henry ordered Robert of Beauchamp to seize the boy in +the castle of Elias of Saint-Saens, to whom he had committed him five +years before. The attempt failed. William was hastily carried off to +France by friendly hands, in the absence of his guardian. Elias joined him +soon after, shared his long exile, and suffered confiscation of his fief +in consequence. It would not be strange if Henry was occasionally +troubled, in that age of early but full-grown chivalry, by the sympathy of +the Norman barons with the wanderings and friendless poverty of their +rightful lord; but Henry was too strong and too severe in his punishment +of any treason for sympathy ever to pass into action on any scale likely +to assist the exiled prince, unless in combination with some strong enemy +of the king's from without. + +Henry would appear at first sight greatly superior to Louis VI of France +in the military power and resources of which he had immediate command, as +he certainly was in diplomatic skill. The Capetian king, master only of +the narrow domains of the Isle of France, and hardly of those until the +constant fighting of Louis's reign had subdued the turbulent barons of +the province; hemmed in by the dominions, each as extensive as his own, +of the great barons nominally his vassals but sending to his wars as +scanty levies as possible, or appearing openly in the ranks of his +enemies as their own interests dictated; threatened by foreign foes, the +kings of England and of Germany, who would detach even these loosely held +provinces from his kingdom,--the Capetian king could hardly have defended +himself at this epoch from a neighbour so able as Henry I, wielding the +united strength of England and Normandy, and determined upon conquest. +The safety of the Capetian house was secured by the absence of both these +conditions. Henry was not ambitious of conquest; and as his troubles with +France increased so did dissensions in Normandy, which crippled his +resources and divided his efforts. The net result at the close of Henry's +reign was that the king of England was no stronger than in 1110, unless +we count the uncertain prospect of the Angevin succession; while the king +of France was master of larger resources and a growing power. + +It seems most likely that it was in the spring of 1109 that the rivalry +of the two kings first led to an open breach. This was regarding the +fortress of Gisors, on the Epte, which William Rufus had built against +the French Vexin. Louis summoned Henry either to surrender or to demolish +it, but Henry refused either alternative, and occupied it with his +troops. The French army opposed him on the other side of the river, but +there was no fighting. Louis, who greatly enjoyed the physical pleasure +of battle, proposed to Henry that they should meet on the bridge which +crossed the river at this point, in sight of the two armies, and decide +their quarrel by a duel. Henry, the diplomatist and not the fighter, +laughed at the proposition. In Louis's army were two men, one of whom had +lately been, and the other of whom was soon to be, in alliance with +Henry, Robert of Jerusalem, Count of Flanders, and Theobald, Count of +Blois, eldest son of Henry's sister and brother of his successor as king, +Stephen of England. Possibly a truce had soon closed this first war, but +if so, it had begun again in the year of Henry's crossing, 1111; and the +Count of Blois was now in the field against his sovereign and defeated +Louis in a battle in which the Count of Flanders was killed. The war with +Louis ran its course for a year and a half longer without battles. +Against Anjou Henry built or strengthened certain fortresses along the +border and waited the course of events. + +On November 4, 1112, an advantage fell to Henry which may have gone far +to secure him the remarkable terms of peace with which the war was +closed. He arrested Robert of Bellême, his constant enemy and the enemy +of all good men, "incomparable in all forms of evil since the beginning +of Christian days." He had come to meet the king at Bonneville, to bring +a message from Louis, thinking that Henry would be obliged to respect his +character as an envoy. Probably the king took the ground that by his +conduct Robert had forfeited all rights, and was to be treated +practically as a common outlaw. At any rate, he ordered his arrest and +trial. On three specific counts--that he had acted unjustly toward his +lord, that summoned three times to appear in court for trial he had not +come, and that as the king's viscount he had failed to render account of +the revenues he had collected--he was condemned and sentenced to +imprisonment. On Henry's return to England he was carried over and kept +in Wareham castle, where he was still alive in 1130. The Norman historian +Orderic records that this action of Henry's met with universal approval +and was greeted with general rejoicing. + +During Lent of the next year, 1113, Henry made formal peace with both his +enemies, the king of France and the Count of Anjou. The peace with the +latter was first concluded. It was very possibly Fulk's refusal to +recognize Henry's overlordship of Maine that occasioned the war. To this +he now assented. He did homage for the county, and received investiture +of it from the hand of the king. He also promised the hand of his +daughter Matilda to Henry's son William. Henry, on his side, restored to +favour the Norman allies of Fulk. A few days later a treaty was made at +Gisors, with the king of France. Louis formally conceded to Henry the +overlordship of Bellême, which had not before depended upon the duchy of +Normandy, and that of Maine, and Britanny. In the case of Maine and of +Britanny this was the recognition of long-standing claims and of +accomplished facts, for Count Alan Fergant of Britanny, as well as Fulk +of Anjou, had already become the vassal of Henry, and had obtained the +hand of a natural daughter of the king for his son Conan, who in this +year became count. But the important lordship of Bellême was a new +cession. It was not yet in Henry's hands, nor had it been reckoned as a +part of Normandy, though the lords of Bellême had been also Norman +barons. Concessions such as these, forming with Normandy the area of many +a kingdom, were made by a king like Louis VI, only under the compulsion +of necessity. They mark the triumph of Henry's skill, of his vigorous +determination, and of his ready disregard of the legal rights of others, +if they would not conform to his ideas of proper conduct or fit into his +system of government. The occupation of Bellême required a campaign. +William Talvas, the son of Robert, while himself going to defend his +mother's inheritance of Ponthieu, had left directions with the vassals of +Bellême for its defence, but the campaign was a short one. Henry, +assisted by his new vassal, the Count of Anjou, and by his nephew, +Theobald of Blois, speedily reduced city and lordship to submission. + +Orderic Vitalis, who was living in Normandy at this time, in the +monastery of St. Evroul, declares that following this peace, made in the +spring of 1113, for five years, Henry governed his kingdom and his duchy +on the two sides of the sea with great tranquillity. These years, to the +great insurrection of the Norman barons in 1118, were not entirely +undisturbed, but as compared with the period which goes before, or with +that which follows, they deserve the historian's description. One great +army was led into Wales in 1114, and the Welsh princes were forced to +renew their submission. Henry was apparently interested in the slow +incorporation of Wales in England which was going forward, but prudently +recognized the difficulties of attempting to hasten the process by +violence. He was ready to use the Church, that frequent medieval engine +of conquest, and attempted with success, both before this date and later, +to introduce English bishops into old Welsh sees. From the early part of +this reign also dates the great Flemish settlement in Pembrokeshire, +which was of momentous influence on all that part of Wales. + +These years were also fully occupied with controversies in the Church, +whose importance for the state Henry clearly recognized. Out of the +conflict over investitures, regarded from the practical side, the Norman +monarchy had emerged, as we have seen, in triumph, making but one slight +concession, and that largely a matter of form. From the struggle with +the empire on the same issue, which was at this date still unsettled, the +Church was destined to gain but little more, perhaps an added point of +form, depending for its real value on the spirit with which the final +agreement was administered. In the matter of investitures, the Church +could claim but little more than a drawn battle on any field; and yet, in +that great conflict with the monarchies of Europe into which the papacy +had been led by the genius of Hildebrand, it had gained a real and great +victory in all that was of the most vital importance. The pope was no +longer the creature and servant of the emperor; he was not even a bishop +of the empire. In the estimation of all Christendom, he occupied an equal +throne, exercised a co-ordinate power, and appeared even more directly as +the representative of the divine government of the world. Under his rule +was an empire far more extensive than that which the emperor controlled, +coming now to be closely centralized with all the machinery of +government, legal, judicial, and administrative, highly organized and +pervaded from the highest to the lowest ranks with a uniform theory of +the absolute right of the ruler and of the duty of unquestioning +obedience which the most perfect secular absolutism would strive in vain +to secure. To have transformed the Church, which the emperor Henry III +had begun to reform in 1046, into that which survived the last year of +his dynasty, was a work of political genius as great as history records. + +It was not before the demand of the pope in the matter of investiture +that the Norman absolute government of the Church went down. It fell +because the Norman theory of the national Church, closely under the +control of the state in every field of its activity, a part of the state +machinery, and a valuable assistant in the government of the nation, was +undermined and destroyed by a higher, and for that age a more useful, +conception. When the idea of the Church as a world-wide unity, more +closely bound to its theocratic head than to any temporal sovereign, and +with a mission and responsibility distinct from those of the state, took +possession of the body of the clergy, as it began to do in the reign of +Henry, it was impossible to maintain any longer the separateness of the +Norman Church. But the incorporation of the Norman and English churches +in the papal monarchy meant the slipping from the king's hands of power +in many individual cases, which the first two Norman kings had exercised +without question, and which even the third had continued to exercise. + +The struggle of York to free itself from the promise of obedience to +Canterbury was only one of the many channels through which these new +ideas entered the kingdom. A new tide of monasticism had arisen on the +continent, which did not spend itself even with the northern borders of +England. The new orders and the new spirit found many abiding places in +the kingdom, and drew laity as well as clergy under their strong +influence. This was especially, though not alone, true of the Augustinian +canons, who possessed some fifty houses in England at the close of +Henry's reign, and in the later years of his life, of the Cistercians, +with whose founding an English saint, Stephen Harding, had had much to +do, and some of whose monasteries founded in this period, Tintern, +Rievaulx, Furness, and Fountains, are still familiar names, famous for +the beauty of their ruins. This new monasticism had been founded wholly +in the ideas of the new ecclesiastical monarchy, and was an expression of +them. The monasteries it created were organized, not as parts of the +state in which they were situated, but as parts of a great order, +international in its character, free from local control, and, though its +houses were situated in many lands, forming almost an independent state +under the direct sovereignty of the pope. The new monarchical papacy, +which emerged from the conflicts of this period, occupied Christendom +with its garrisons in these monastic houses, and every house was a source +from which its ruling ideas spread widely abroad. + +A new education was also beginning in this same period, and was growing +in definiteness of content and of organization, in response to a demand +which was becoming eager. At many centres in Europe groups of scholars +were giving formal lectures on the knowledge of the day, and were +attracting larger and larger numbers of students by the fame of their +eloquence, or by the stimulus of their new method. The beginnings of +Oxford as a place of teachers, as well as of Paris, reach back into this +time. The ambitious young man, who looked forward to a career in the +Church, began to feel the necessity of getting the training which these +new schools could impart. The number of students whom we can name, who +went from England to Paris or elsewhere to study, is large for the time; +but if we possessed a list of all the English students, at home or +abroad, of this reign, we should doubtless estimate the force of this +influence more highly, even in the period of its beginning. For the ideas +which now reigned in the Church pervaded the new education as they did +the new monasticism. There was hardly a source, indeed, from which the +student could learn any other doctrine, as there has remained none in the +learning of the Roman Church to the present day. The entire literature of +the Church, its rapidly forming new philosophy and theology, its already +greatly developed canon law, breathed only the spirit of a divinely +inspired centralization. And the student who returned, very likely to +rapid promotion in the English Church, did not bring back these ideas for +himself alone. He set the fashion of thinking for his less fortunate +fellows. + +It was by influences like these that the gradual and silent transformation +was wrought which made of the English Church a very different thing at the +end of these thirty-five years from what it had been at the beginning of +the reign. The first two Norman kings had reigned over a Church which knew +no other system than strict royal control. Henry I continued to exercise +to the end of his reign, with only slight modification and the faint +beginnings of change, the same prerogatives, but it was over a Church +whose officers had been trained in an opposing system, and now profoundly +disbelieved in his rights. How long would it avail the Norman monarchy +anything to have triumphed in the struggle of investitures, when it could +no longer find the bishop to appoint who was not thoroughly devoted to the +highest papal claims? The answer suggested, in its extreme form, is too +strong a statement for the exact truth; for in whatever age, or under +whatever circumstances, a strong king can maintain himself, there he can +always find subservient tools. But the interested service of individuals +is a very different foundation of power from the traditional and +unquestioning obedience of a class. The history of the next age shows +that the way had been prepared for rapid changes, when political +conditions would permit; and the grandson of the first Henry found +himself obliged to yield, in part at least, to demands of the Church +entirely logical in themselves, but unheard of in his grandfather's time. + +[18] Eadmer, p. 172. + +[19] Liebermann, Quadripartitus, p. 155. + +[20] Anselm, Epist. iv. 50, 51; Luchaire, Louis VI, Annales, No. 31. + +[21] See American Historical Review, viii, 478. + +[22] Luchaire, Louis VI, Annales, p. cxv. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +THE KING'S FOREIGN INTERESTS + +We need not enter into the details of the long struggle between +Canterbury and York. The archbishopric of Canterbury was vacant for five +years after the death of Anselm; its revenues went to support the various +undertakings of the king. In April, 1114, Ralph of Escures, Bishop of +Rochester, was chosen Anselm's successor. The archbishopric of York had +been vacant only a few months, when it was filled, later in the summer, +by the appointment of Thurstan, one of the king's chaplains. The question +of the obligation of the recently elected Archbishop of York to bind +himself to obedience to the primate of Britain, whether settled as a +principle or as a special case, by an English council or by the king or +under papal authority, arose anew with every new appointment. In the +period which follows the appointment of Thurstan, a new element of +interest was added to the dispute by the more deliberate policy of the +pope to make use of it to gain a footing for his authority in England, +and to weaken the unity and independence of the English Church. This +attempt led to a natural alliance of parties, in which, while the issue +was at bottom really the same, the lines of the earlier investiture +conflict were somewhat rearranged. The pope supported the claim of York, +while the king defended the right of Canterbury as bound up with his own. + +At an important meeting of the great council at Salisbury, in March, +1116, the king forced upon Thurstan the alternative of submission to +Canterbury or resignation. The barons and prelates of the realm had been +brought together to make formal recognition of the right to the +succession of Henry's son William, now fourteen years of age. Already in +the previous summer this had been done in Normandy, the barons doing +homage and swearing fealty to the prince. Now the English barons followed +the example, and, by the same ceremony, the strongest tie known to the +feudal world, bound themselves to accept the son as their lord on the +death of his father. The prelates, for their part, took oath that if they +should survive Henry, they would recognize William as king, and then do +homage to him in good faith. The incident is interesting less as an +example of this characteristic feudal method of securing the succession, +for this had been employed since the Conquest both in Normandy and in +England, than because we are told that on this occasion the oath was +demanded, not merely of all tenants in chief, but of all inferior +vassals. If this statement may be accepted, and there is no reason to +doubt it, we may conclude that the practice established by the Conqueror +at an earlier Salisbury assembly had been continued by his sons. This was +a moment when Henry was justified in expressing his will, even on a +matter of Church government, in peremptory command, and when no one was +likely to offer resistance. Thurstan chose to surrender the +archbishopric, and promised to make no attempt to recover it; but +apparently the renunciation was not long regarded as final on either +side. He was soon after this with the king in Normandy, but he was +refused the desired permission to go to Rome, a journey which Archbishop +Ralph soon undertook, that he might try the influence of his presence +there in favour of the cause of Canterbury and against other pretensions +of the pope. + +From the date of this visit to Normandy, in the spring of 1116, Henry's +continental interests mix themselves with those of the absolute ruler of +the English Church, and he was more than once forced to choose upon which +side he would make some slight concession or waive some right for the +moment. Slowly the sides were forming themselves and the opposing +interests growing clear, of a great conflict for the dominion of northern +France, a conflict forced upon the English king by the necessity of +defending the position he had gained, rather than sought by him in the +spirit of conquest, even when he seemed the aggressor; a conflict in +which he was to gain the victory in the field and in diplomacy, but to be +overcome by the might of events directed by no human hand and not to be +resisted by any. + +The peace between Henry and Louis, made in the spring of 1113, was broken +by Henry's coming to the aid of his nephew, Theobald of Blois. Theobald +had seized the Count of Nevers on his return from assisting Louis in a +campaign in the duchy of France in 1115. The cause was bad, but Henry +could not afford to see so important an ally as his nephew crushed by his +enemies, especially as his dominions were of peculiar strategical value +in any war with the king of France. To Louis's side gathered, as the war +developed, those who had reason from their position to fear what looked +like the policy of expansion of this new English power in north-western +France, especially the Counts of Flanders and of Anjou. The marriage of +Henry's son William with Fulk's daughter had not yet taken place, and the +Count of Anjou might well believe--particularly from the close alliance +of Henry with the rival power of Blois--that he had more to fear than to +hope for from the spread of the Norman influence. At the same time the +division began to show itself among the Norman barons, of those who were +faithful to Henry and those who preferred the succession of Robert's son +William; and it grew more pronounced as the war went on, for Louis took +up the cause of William as the rightful heir of Normandy. In doing this +he began the policy which the French kings followed for so many years, +and on the whole with so little advantage, of fomenting the quarrels in +the English royal house and of separating if possible the continental +possessions from the English. + +On Henry's side were a majority of the Norman barons and the counts of +Britanny and of Blois. For the first time, also, appeared upon the stage +of history in this war Henry's other nephew, Stephen, who was destined to +do so much evil to England and to Henry's plans before his death. His +uncle had already made him Count of Mortain. The lordship of Bellême, +which Henry had given to Theobald, had been by him transferred to Stephen +in the division of their inheritance. It was probably not long after this +that Henry procured for him the hand of Matilda, heiress of the county of +Boulogne, and thus extended his own influence over that important +territory on the borders of Flanders. France, Flanders, and Anjou +certainly had abundant reason to fear the possible combination into one +power of Normandy, Britanny, Maine, Blois, and Boulogne, and that a power +which, however pacific in disposition, showed so much tendency to +expansion. For France, at least, the cause of this war was not the +disobedience of a vassal, nor was it to be settled by the siege and +capture of border castles. + +The war which followed was once more not a war of battles. Armies, large +for the time, were collected, but they did little more than make +threatening marches into the enemy's country. In 1118 the revolt of the +Norman barons, headed by Amaury of Montfort, who now claimed the county +of Evreux, assumed proportions which occasioned the king many +difficulties. This was a year of misfortunes for him. The Count of Anjou, +the king of France, the Count of Flanders, each in turn invaded some part +of Normandy, and gained advantages which Henry could not prevent. Baldwin +of Flanders, however, returned home with a wound from an arrow, of which +he shortly died. In the spring of this year Queen Matilda died, praised +by the monastic chroniclers to the last for her good deeds. A month later +Henry's wisest counsellor, Robert of Meulan, died also, after a long life +spent in the service of the Conqueror and of his sons. The close of the +year saw no turn of the tide in favour of Henry. Evreux was captured in +October by Amaury of Montfort, and afterwards Alençon by the Count of +Anjou. + +The year 1119, which was destined to close in triumph for Henry, opened +no more favourably. The important castle of Les Andelys, commanding the +Norman Vexin, was seized by Louis, aided by treachery. But before the +middle of the year, Henry had gained his first great success. He induced +the Count of Anjou, by what means we do not know,--by money it was +thought by some at the time,--to make peace with him, and to carry out +the agreement for the marriage of his daughter with the king's son. The +county of Maine was settled on the young pair, virtually its transfer to +Henry. At the same time, Henry granted to William Talvas, perhaps as one +of the conditions of the treaty, the Norman possessions which had +belonged to his father, Robert of Bellême. In the same month, June, 1119, +Baldwin of Flanders died of the wound which he had received in Normandy, +and was succeeded by his nephew, Charles the Good, who reversed Baldwin's +policy and renewed the older relations with England. The sieges of +castles, the raiding and counter-raiding of the year, amounted to little +until, on August 20, while each was engaged in raiding, the opposing +armies commanded by the two kings in person unexpectedly found themselves +in the presence of one another. The battle of Bremule, the only encounter +of the war which can be called a battle, followed. Henry and his men +again fought on foot, as at Tinchebrai, with a small reserve on +horseback. The result was a complete victory for Henry. The French army +was completely routed, and a large number of prisoners was taken, though +the character which a feudal battle often assumed from this time on is +attributed to this one, in the fact reported that in the fighting and +pursuit only three men were killed. + +A diplomatic victory not less important followed the battle of Bremule by +a few weeks. The pope was now in France. His predecessor, Gelasius II, +had been compelled to flee from Italy by the successes of the Emperor +Henry V, and had died at Cluny in January, 1119, on his way to the north. +The cardinals who had accompanied him elected in his stead the Archbishop +of Vienne, who took the name of Calixtus II. Gelasius in his short and +unfortunate reign had attempted to interfere with vigour in the dispute +between York and Canterbury, and had summoned both parties to appear +before him for the decision of the case. This was in Henry's year of +misfortunes, 1118, and he was obliged to temporize. The early death of +Gelasius interrupted his plan, but only until Calixtus II was ready to go +on with it. He called a council of the Church to meet at Reims in +October, to which he summoned the English bishops, and where he proposed +to decide the question of the obedience of York to Canterbury. Henry +granted a reluctant consent to the English bishops to attend this +council, but only on condition that they would allow no innovations in +the government of the English Church. To Thurstan of York, to whom he had +restored the temporalities of his see, under the pressure of +circumstances nearly two years before, he granted permission to attend on +condition that he would not accept consecration as archbishop from the +pope. This condition was at once violated, and Thurstan was consecrated +by the pope on October 19. Henry immediately ordered that he should not +be allowed to return to any of the lands subject to his rule. + +At this council King Louis of France, defeated in the field and now +without allies, appealed in person to the pope for the condemnation of +the king of England. He is said, by Orderic Vitalis who was probably +present at the council and heard him speak, to have recited the evil +deeds of Henry, from the imprisonment of Robert to the causes of the +present war. The pope himself was in a situation where he needed to +proceed with diplomatic caution, but he promised to seek an interview +with Henry and to endeavour to bring about peace. This interview took +place in November, at Gisors, and ended in the complete discomfiture of +the pope. Henry was now in a far stronger position than he had been at +the beginning of the year, and to the requests of Calixtus he returned +definite refusals or vague and general answers of which nothing was to be +made. The pope was even compelled to recognize the right of the English +king to decide when papal legates should be received in the kingdom. +Henry was, however, quite willing to make peace. He had won over Louis's +allies, defeated his attempt to gain the assistance of the pope, and +finally overcome the revolted Norman barons. He might reasonably have +demanded new advantages in addition to those which had been granted him +in the peace of 1113, but all that marks this treaty is the legal +recognition of his position in Normandy. Homage was done to Louis for +Normandy, not by Henry himself, for he was a king, but by his son William +for him. It is probable that at no previous date would this ceremony have +been acceptable, either to Louis or to Henry. On Louis's part it was not +merely a recognition of Henry's right to the duchy of Normandy, but it +was also a formal abandonment of William Clito, and an acceptance of +William, Henry's son, as the heir of his father. This act was accompanied +by a renewal of the homage of the Norman barons to William, whether made +necessary by the numerous rebellions of the past two years, or desirable +to perfect the legal chain, now that William had been recognized as heir +by his suzerain, a motive that would apply to all the barons. + +This peace was made sometime during the course of the year 1120. In +November Henry was ready to return to England, and on the 25th he set +sail from Barfleur, with a great following. Then suddenly came upon him, +not the loss of any of the advantages he had lately gained nor any +immediate weakening of his power, but the complete collapse of all that +he had looked forward to as the ultimate end of his policy. His son +William embarked a little later than his father in the White Ship, with +a brilliant company of young relatives and nobles. They were in a very +hilarious mood, and celebrated the occasion by making the crew drunk. +Probably they were none too sober themselves; certainly Stephen of Blois +was saved to be king of England in his cousin's place, by withdrawing to +another vessel when he saw the condition of affairs on the White Ship. +It was night and probably dark. About a mile and a half from Barfleur the +ship struck a rock, and quickly filled and sank. It was said that William +would have escaped if he had not turned back at the cries of his sister, +Henry's natural daughter, the Countess of Perche. All on board were +drowned except a butcher of Rouen. Never perished in any similar calamity +so large a number of persons of rank. Another child of Henry's, his +natural son Richard, his niece Matilda, sister of Theobald and Stephen, a +nephew of the Emperor Henry V, Richard, Earl of Chester, and his brother, +the end of the male line of Hugh of Avranches, and a crowd of others of +only lesser rank. Orderic Vitalis records that he had heard that eighteen +ladies perished, who were the daughters, sisters, nieces, or wives of +kings or earls. Henry is said to have fallen to the ground in a faint +when the news was told him, and never to have been the same man again. + +But if Henry could no longer look forward to the permanence in the second +generation of the empire which he had created, he was not the man to +surrender even to the blows of fate. The succession to his dominions of +Robert's son William, who had been so recently used by his enemies +against him, but who was now the sole male heir of William the Conqueror, +was an intolerable idea. In barely more than a month after the death of +his son, the king took counsel with the magnates of the realm, at a great +council in London, in regard to his remarriage. In less than another +month the marriage was celebrated. Henry's second wife was Adelaide, +daughter of Geoffrey, Duke of Lower Lorraine, a vassal of his son-in-law, +the emperor, and his devoted supporter, as well as a prince whose +alliance might be of great use in any future troubles with France or +Flanders. This marriage was made chiefly in hope of a legitimate heir, +but it was a childless marriage, and Henry's hope was disappointed. + +For something more than two years after this fateful return of the king +to England, his dominions enjoyed peace scarcely broken by a brief +campaign in Wales in 1121. At the end of 1120, Archbishop Thurstan, for +whose sake the pope was threatening excommunication and interdict, was +allowed to return to his see, where he was received with great rejoicing. +But the dispute with Canterbury was not yet settled. Indeed, he had +scarcely returned to York when he was served with notice that he must +profess, for himself at least, obedience to Canterbury, as his +predecessors had done. This he succeeded in avoiding for a time, and at +the beginning of October, in 1122, Archbishop Ralph of Canterbury died, +not having gained his case. An attempt of Calixtus II to send a legate to +England, contrary to the promise he had made to Henry at Gisors, was met +and defeated by the king with his usual diplomatic skill, so far as the +exercise of any legatine powers is concerned, though the legate was +admitted to England and remained there for a time. In the selection of a +successor to Ralph of Canterbury a conflict arose between the monastic +chapter of Christ church and the bishops of the province, and was decided +undoubtedly according to the king's mind in favour of the latter, by the +election of William of Corbeil, a canon regular. Another episcopal +appointment of these years illustrates the growing importance in the +kingdom of the great administrative bishop, Roger of Salisbury, who seems +to have been the king's justiciar, or chief representative, during his +long absences in Normandy. The long pontificate of Robert Bloet, the +brilliant and worldly Bishop of Lincoln, closed at the beginning of 1123 +by a sudden stroke as he was riding with the king, and in his place was +appointed Roger's nephew, Alexander. + +During this period also, probably within a year after the death of his +son William, Henry took measures to establish the position of one of his +illegitimate sons, very likely with a view to the influence which he +might have upon the succession when the question should arise. Robert of +Caen, so called from the place of his birth, was created Earl of +Gloucester, and was married to Mabel, heiress of the large possessions of +Robert Fitz Hamon in Gloucester, Wales, and Normandy. Robert of +Gloucester, as he came to be known, was the eldest of Henry's +illegitimate sons, born before his father's accession to the throne, and +he was now in the vigour of young manhood. He was also, of all Henry's +children of whom we know anything, the most nearly like himself, of more +than average abilities, patient and resourceful, hardly inheriting in +full his father's diplomatic skill but not without gifts of the kind, and +earning the reputation of a lover of books and a patron of writers. A +hundred years earlier there would have been no serious question, in the +circumstances which had arisen, of his right to succeed his father, at +least in the duchy of Normandy. That the possibility of such a succession +was present in men's minds is shown by a contemporary record that the +suggestion was made to him on the death of Henry, and rejected at once +through his loyalty to his sister's son. Whether this record is to be +believed or not, it shows that the event was thought possible.[23] + +Certainly there was no real movement, not even the slightest, in his +favour, and this fact reveals the change which had taken place in men's +ideas of the succession in a century. The necessity of legitimate birth +was coming to be recognized as indisputable, though it had not been by +the early Teutonic peoples. Of the causes of this change, the teachings +of the Church were no doubt the most effective, becoming of more force +with its increasing influence, and especially since, as a part of the +Hildebrandine reformation, it had insisted with so much emphasis on the +fact that the son of a married priest could have no right of succession +to his father's benefice, being of illegitimate birth; but the teachings +of the sacredness of the marriage tie, of the sinfulness of illicit +relations, and of the nullity of marriage within the prohibited degrees, +were of influence in the change of ideas. It is also true that men's +notions of the right of succession to property in general were becoming +more strict and definite, and very possibly the importance of the +succession involved in this particular case had its effect. One may +almost regret that this change of ideas, which was certainly an advance +in morals, as well as in law, was not delayed for another generation; for +if Robert of Gloucester could have succeeded on the death of Henry +without dispute, England would have been saved weary years of strife and +suffering. + +The death of the young William was a signal to set Henry's enemies in +motion again. But they did not begin at once. Henry's position was still +unweakened. Very likely his speedy marriage was a notice to the world that +he did not propose to modify in the least his earlier plans. Probably +also the absence of Fulk of Anjou, who had gone on a pilgrimage to +Jerusalem soon after his treaty of 1119 with Henry, was a cause of delay, +for the natural first move would be for him to demand a return of his +daughter and her dowry. Fulk's stay was not long in the land of which he +was in a few years to be king, and on his return he at once sent for his +daughter, probably in 1121. She returned home, but as late as December, +1122, there was still trouble between him and Henry in regard to her +dowry, which Henry no doubt was reluctant to surrender. + +About the same time, Henry's old enemy, Amaury of Montfort, disliking the +strictness of Henry's rule and the frequency of his demands for money, +began to work among the barons of Normandy and with his nephew, the Count +of Anjou, in favour of William Clito. It was already clear that Henry's +hope of another heir was likely to be disappointed, and Normandy would +naturally be more easily attracted to the son of Robert than England The +first step was one which did not violate any engagement with Henry, but +which was, nevertheless, a decided recognition of the claims of his +nephew, and an open attack on his plans. Fulk gave his second daughter, +Sibyl, in marriage to William Clito, and with her the county of Maine, +which had been a part of Matilda's dower on her marriage with Henry's son +William. Under the circumstances, this was equivalent to an announcement +that he expected William Clito to be the Duke of Normandy. Early in 1123, +Henry sent over troops to Normandy, and in June of that year he crossed +himself, to be on the spot if the revolt and war which were threatening +should break out. In September the discontented barons agreed together to +take arms. It is of interest that among these was Waleran of Meulan, the +son of the king's faithful counsellor, Count Robert. Waleran had +inherited his father's Norman possessions while his brother Robert had +become Earl of Leicester in England. + +In all this the hand of Louis, king of France, was not openly seen. +Undoubtedly, however, the movement had his encouragement from the +beginning, and very likely his promise of open support when the time +should come. The death of the male heir to England and Normandy would +naturally draw Henry's daughter Matilda, and her husband the emperor, +nearer to him; and of this, while Henry was still in England, some +evidence has come down to us though not of the most satisfactory kind. +Any evidence at the time that this alliance was likely to become more +close would excite the fear of the king of France and make him ready to +support any movement against the English king. Flanders would feel the +danger as keenly, and in these troubles Charles the Good abandoned his +English alliance and supported the cause of France. + +The contest which followed between the king and his revolted barons is +hardly to be dignified with the name of war. The forced surrender of a +few strongholds, the long siege of seven weeks, long for those days, of +Waleran of Meulan's castle, of Pont Audemer and its capture, and the +occupation of Amaury of Montfort's city of Evreux, filled the remainder +of the year 1123, and in March of 1124 the battle of Bourgtheroulde, in +which Ralph, Earl of Chester, defeated Amaury and Waleran and captured a +large number of prisoners, virtually ended the conflict. Upon the leaders +whom he had captured Henry inflicted his customary punishment of long +imprisonment, or the worse fate of blinding. The Norman barons had taken +arms, and had failed without the help from abroad which they undoubtedly +expected. We do not know in full detail the steps which had been taken to +bring about this result, but it was attributed to the diplomacy of Henry, +that neither Fulk of Anjou nor Louis of France was able to attack him. + +Henry probably had little difficulty in moving his son-in-law, the +emperor Henry V, to attack Louis of France. Besides the general reason +which would influence him, of willingness to support Matilda's father at +this time, and of standing unfriendliness with France, he was especially +ready to punish the state in which successive popes had found refuge and +support when driven from Italy by his successes. The policy of an attack +on Louis was not popular with the German princes, and the army with which +the Emperor crossed the border was not a large one. To oppose him, Louis +advanced with a great and enthusiastic host. Taking in solemn ceremony +from the altar of St Denis the oriflamme, the banner of the holy defender +of the land, he aroused the patriotism of northern France as against a +hereditary enemy. Even Henry's nephew, Theobald of Blois, led out his +forces to aid the king. The news of the army advancing against them did +not increase the ardour of the German forces; and hearing of an +insurrection in Worms, the Emperor turned back, having accomplished +nothing more than to secure a free hand for Henry of England against the +Norman rebels. + +Against Fulk of Anjou Henry seems to have found his ally in the pope. The +marriage of William Clito with Sibyl, with all that it might carry with +it, was too threatening a danger to be allowed to stand, if in any way it +could be avoided. The convenient plea of relationship, convenient to be +remembered or forgotten according to the circumstances, was urged upon +the pope. The Clito and his bride were related in no nearer degree than +the tenth, according to the reckoning of the canon law, which prohibited +marriage between parties related in the seventh degree, and Henry's own +children, William in his earlier, and Matilda in her later marriage, with +the sister and brother of Sibyl, were equally subject to censure. But +this was a different case. Henry's arguments at Rome--Orderic tells us +that threats, prayers, and money were combined--were effective, and the +marriage was ordered dissolved. Excommunication and interdict were +necessary to enforce this decision; but at last, in the spring of 1125, +Fulk was obliged to yield, and William Clito began his wanderings once +more, followed everywhere by the "long arm" of his uncle. + +At Easter time in 1125, probably a few days before the date of the papal +bull of interdict which compelled the dissolution of the marriage of +William and Sibyl, a papal legate, John of Crema, landed in England. +Possibly this departure from Henry's practice down to this time was a +part of the price which the papal decision cost. The legate made a +complete visitation of England, had a meeting with the king of Scots, and +presided at a council of the English Church held in September, where the +canons of Anselm were renewed in somewhat milder form. On his return to +Rome in October, he was accompanied by the Archbishops of Canterbury and +York, who went there about the still unsettled question of the obedience +of the latter. Not even now was this question settled on its merits, but +William of Corbeil made application, supported by the king, to be +appointed the standing papal legate in Britain. This request was granted, +and formed a precedent which was followed by successive popes and +archbishops. This appointment is usually considered a lowering of the +pretensions of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and an infringement of the +independence of the English Church, and to a considerable extent this is +true. Under a king as strong as Henry I, with an archbishop no stronger +than William of Corbeil, or, indeed, with one not exceptionally strong, +the papal authority gained very little from the arrangement. But it was a +perpetual opportunity; it was a recognition of papal right. Under it the +number of appeals to Rome increased; it marks in a legal way the advance +of papal authority and of a consciousness of unity in the Church since +the accession of the king, and it must have been so regarded at Rome. The +appointment gave to Canterbury at once undoubted supremacy over York, but +not on the old grounds, and that question was passed on to the future +still unsettled. + +In the spring of 1125 also occurred an event which again changed the +direction of Henry's plans. On May 23, the emperor Henry V died, without +children by his marriage to Matilda. The widowed Empress, as she was +henceforth called by the English though she had never received the +imperial crown, obeyed her father's summons to return to him in Normandy +with great reluctance. She had been in Germany since her early childhood, +and she was now twenty-three years of age. She could have few +recollections of any other home. She loved the German people, and was +beloved by them. We are told even that some of them desired her to reign +in her husband's stead, and came to ask her return of Henry. But the +death of her husband had rendered her succession to the English throne a +matter of less difficulty, and Henry had no mind to sacrifice his own +plans for the benefit of a foreign people. In September, 1126, he +returned with Matilda to England, and in January following, at a great +council in London, he demanded and obtained of the baronage, lay and +spiritual, an oath to accept Matilda as sovereign if he should die +without a male heir. The inference is natural from the account William of +Malmesbury gives of this event, that in the argument before the council +much was made of the fact that Matilda was a descendant of the old Saxon, +as well as of the Norman, line. It is evident, also, that there was +hesitation on the part of the barons, and that they yielded reluctantly +to the king's demand. + +The feudalism of France and England clearly recognized the right of women +to succeed to baronies, even of the first importance, though with some +irregularities of practice and the feudal right of marriage which the +English kings considered so important rested, in the case of female +heirs, on this principle. The king's son, Robert of Gloucester, and his +nephew Stephen, now Count of Boulogne, who disputed with one another the +right to take this oath to Matilda's succession next after her uncle, +David, king of Scots, had both been provided for by Henry in this way. +Still, even in these cases, a difference was likely to be felt between +succession to the barony itself, and to the title and political authority +which went with it, and the difference would be greater in the case of +the highest of titles, of the throne of such a dominion as Henry had +brought together. Public law in the Spanish peninsula had already, in one +case, recognized the right of a woman to reign, but there had been as yet +no case in northern Europe. The dread of such a succession was natural, +in days when feudal turbulence was held in check only by the reigning +king, and when even this could be accomplished only by a king of +determined force. The natural feeling in such cases is undoubtedly +indicated by the form of the historian's statement referred to above, +that Robert of Gloucester declined the suggestion that he should be king +out of loyalty to "his sister's son." It was the feeling that the female +heir could pass the title on to her son, rather than that she could hold +it herself. + +William of Malmesbury states, in his account of these events, that he had +often heard Bishop Roger of Salisbury say that he considered himself +released from this oath to Matilda because it had been taken on condition +that she should not be married out of the kingdom except with the counsel +of the barons.[24] The writer takes pains at the same time to say that he +records this fact rather from his sense of duty as a historian than +because he believes the statement. It has, however, a certain amount of +inherent probability. To consult with his vassals on such a question was +so frequently the practice of the lord, and it was so entirely in line +with feudal usage, that the barons would have had some slight ground on +which to consider themselves released from this oath, even if such a +specific promise had not been made, nor is it likely that Henry would +hesitate to make it if he thought it desired. It is indeed quite possible +that Henry had not yet determined upon the plan which he afterwards +carried out, though it may very likely have been in his mind, and that he +was led to this by events which were taking place at this very time in +France. + +Matilda's return to her father, and Henry's evident intention to make her +the heir of his dominions, of Normandy as well as of England, seem to +have moved King Louis to some immediate action in opposition. The +separation of the duchy from the kingdom, so important for the +interests of the Capetian house, could not be hoped for unless this plan +was defeated. The natural policy of opposition was the support of William +Clito. At a great council of his kingdom, meeting at the same time with +Henry's court in which Matilda's heirship was recognized, the French king +bespoke the sympathy and support of his barons for "William of Normandy." +The response was favourable, and Louis made him a grant of the French +Vexin, a point of observation and of easy approach to Normandy. At the +same time, a wife was given William in the person of Jeanne, half sister +of Louis's queen, and daughter of the Marquis of Montferrat. A few weeks +later William advanced with an armed force to Gisors, and made formal +claim to Normandy. + +It was hardly these events, though they were equivalent to a formal +notification of the future policy of the king of France, which brought +Henry to a decision as to his daughter's marriage. On March 2, the Count +of Flanders, Charles the Good, was foully murdered in the Church of St. +Donatian at Bruges. He was without children or near relatives, and +several claimants for the vacant countship at once appeared. Even Henry I +is said to have presented his claim, which he would derive from his +mother, but he seems never seriously to have prosecuted it. Louis, on the +contrary, gave his whole support to the claim of William Clito, and +succeeded with little difficulty in getting him recognized by most of the +barons and towns as count. This was a new and most serious danger to +Henry's plans, and he began at once to stir up troubles for the new count +among his vassals, by the support of rival claimants, and in alliance +with neighbouring princes. But the situation demanded measures of direct +defence, and Henry was led to take the decisive step, so eventful for all +the future history of England, of marrying Matilda a second time. +Immediately after Whitsuntide of 1127, Matilda was sent over to Normandy, +attended by Robert of Gloucester and Brian Fitz Count, and at Rouen was +formally betrothed by the archbishop of that city to Geoffrey, son of +Fulk of Anjou. The marriage did not take place till two years later. + +For this marriage no consent of English or Norman barons was asked, and +none was granted. Indeed, we are led to suspect that Henry considered it +unlikely that he could obtain consent, and deemed it wiser not to let his +plans be known until they were so far accomplished as to make opposition +useless. The natural rivalry and hostility between Normandy and Anjou had +been so many times passed on from father to son that such a marriage as +this could seem to the Norman barons nothing but a humiliation, and to +the Angevins hardly less than a triumph. The opposition, however, spent +itself in murmurs. The king was too strong. Probably also the political +advantages were too obvious to warrant any attempt to defeat the scheme. +Matilda herself is said to have been much opposed to the marriage, and +this we can easily believe. Geoffrey was more than ten years her junior, +and still a mere boy. She had but recently occupied the position of +highest rank in the world to which a woman could attain. She was +naturally of a proud and haughty spirit. We are told nothing of the +arguments which induced her to consent; but in this case again the +political advantage, the necessity of the marriage to the security of her +succession, must have been the controlling motive. + +That these considerations were valid, that Henry was fully justified in +taking this step in the circumstances which had arisen, is open to no +question, if the matter is regarded as one of cold policy alone. To leave +Matilda's succession to the sole protection of the few barons of England, +who were likely to be faithful, however powerful they might be, would +have been madness under the new conditions. With William Clito likely to +be in possession of the resources of a strong feudal state, heartily +supported by the king of France, felt by the great mass of Norman barons +to be the rightful heir, and himself of considerable energy of character, +the odds would be decidedly in favour of his succession. The balance +could be restored only by bringing forward in support of Matilda's claim +a power equal to William's and certain not to abandon her cause. Henry +could feel that he had accomplished this by the marriage with Geoffrey, +and he had every reason to believe that he had converted at the same time +one of the probable enemies of his policy into its most interested +defender. Could he have foreseen the early death of William, he might +have had reason to hesitate and to question whether some other marriage +might not lead to a more sure success. That this plan failed in the end +is only a proof of Henry's foresight in providing, against an almost +inevitable failure, the best defence which ingenuity could devise. + +William Clito's tenure of his countship was of but little more than a +year, and a year filled with fighting. Boulogne was a vassal county of +Flanders; but the new count, Stephen, undoubtedly carrying out the +directions of his uncle, refused him homage, and William endeavoured to +compel his obedience by force. Insurrections broke out behind him, due in +part to his own severity of rule; and the progress of one of his rivals +who was destined to succeed him, Dietrich of Elsass, was alarming. Louis +attempted to come to his help, but was checked by a forward move of Henry +with a Norman army. The tide seemed about to turn in Henry's favour once +more, when it was suddenly impelled that way by the death of William. +Wounded in the hand by a spear, in a fight at Alost, he died a few days +later. His father was still alive in an English prison, and was informed +in a dream, we are told, of this final blow of fortune. But for Henry +this opportune death not merely removed from the field the most dangerous +rival for Matilda's succession, but it also re-established the English +influence in Flanders. Dietrich of Elsass became count, with the consent +of Louis, and renewed the bond with England. Not long afterwards by the +influence of Henry he obtained as wife, Geoffrey of Anjou's sister Sibyl, +who had been taken from William Clito. + +Geoffrey and Matilda were married at Le Mans, on June g, 1129, by the +Bishop of Avranches, in the presence of a brilliant assembly of nobles +and prelates, and with the appearance of great popular rejoicing. After a +stay there of three weeks, Henry returned to Normandy, and Matilda, with +her husband and father-in-law, went to Angers. The jubilation with which +the bridal party was there received was no doubt entirely genuine. +Already before this marriage an embassy from the kingdom of Jerusalem had +sought out Fulk, asking him to come to the aid of the Christian state, +and offering him the hand of the heiress of the kingdom with her crown. +This offer he now accepted, and left the young pair in possession of +Anjou. But this happy outcome of Henry's policy, which promised to settle +so many difficulties, was almost at the outset threatened with disaster +against which even he could not provide. Matilda was not of gentle +disposition. She never made it easy for her friends to live with her, and +it is altogether probable that she took no pains to conceal her scorn of +this marriage and her contempt for the Angevins, including very likely +her youthful husband. At any rate, a few days after Henry's return to +England, July 7,1129, he was followed by the news that Geoffrey had +repudiated and cast off his wife, and that Matilda had returned to Rouen +with few attendants. Henry did not, however, at once return to Normandy, +and it was two full years before Matilda came back to England. + +The disagreement between Geoffrey and Matilda ran its course as a family +quarrel. It might endanger the future of Henry's plans, but it caused him +no present difficulty. His continental position was now, indeed, secure +and was threatened during the short remainder of his life by none of his +enemies, though his troubles with his son-in-law were not yet over. The +defeat of Robert and the crushing of the most powerful nobles had taught +the barons a lesson which did not need to be repeated, and England was +not easily accessible to the foreign enemies of the king. In Normandy the +case was different, and despite Henry's constant successes and his +merciless severity, no victory had been final so long as any claimant +lived who could be put forward to dispute his possession. Now followed +some years of peace, in which the history of Normandy is as barren as the +history of England had long been, until the marriage of Matilda raised up +a new claimant to disturb the last months of her father's life. During +Henry's last stay in Normandy death had removed one who had once filled a +large place in history, but who had since passed long years in obscurity. +Ranulf Flambard died in 1128, having spent the last part of his life in +doing what he could to redeem the earlier, by his work on the cathedral +of Durham, where in worthy style he carried on the work of his +predecessor, William of St. Calais. Soon after died William Giffard, the +bishop whom Henry had appointed before he was himself crowned, and in his +place the king appointed his nephew, Henry of Blois, brother of Count +Stephen, who was to play so great a part in the troubles that were soon +to begin. About the same time we get evidence that Henry had not +abandoned his practice of taking fines from the married clergy, and of +allowing them to retain their wives. + +The year 1130, which Henry spent in England, is made memorable by a +valuable and unique record giving us a sight of the activities of his +reign on a side where we have little other evidence. The Pipe Roll of that +year has come down to us.[25] The Pipe Rolls, so called apparently from +the shape in which they were filed for preservation, are the records of +the accounting of the Exchequer Court with the sheriffs for the revenues +which they had collected from their counties, and which they were bound to +hand over to the treasury. From a point in the reign of Henry's grandson, +these rolls become almost continuous, and reveal to us in detail many +features of the financial system of these later times. This one record +from the reign of the first Henry is a slender foundation for our +knowledge of the financial organization of the kingdom, but from it we +know with certainly that this organization had already begun as it was +afterward developed. + +It has already been said that the single organ of the feudal state, by +which government in all its branches was carried on, was the curia +regis. We shall find it difficult to realize a fact like this, or to +understand how so crude a system of government operated in practice, +unless we first have clearly in mind the fact that the men of that time +did not reason much about their government. They did not distinguish one +function of the state from another, nor had they yet begun to think that +each function should have its distinct machinery in the governmental +system. All that came later, as the result of experience, or more +accurately, of the pressure of business. As yet, business and machinery +both were undeveloped and undifferentiated. In a single session of the +court advice might be given to the king on some question of foreign +policy and on the making or revising of a law; and a suit between two of +the king's vassals might be heard and decided: and no one would feel that +work of different and somewhat inconsistent types had been done. One +seemed as properly the function of the assembly as the other. In the +composition of the court, and in the practice as to time and place of +meeting, there was something of the same indefiniteness. The court was +the king's. It was his personal machine for managing the business of his +great property, the state. As such it met when and where the king +pleased, certain meetings being annually expected; and it was composed of +any persons who stood in immediate relations with the king, and whose +presence he saw fit to call for by special or general summons, his +vassals and the officers of his household or government. If a vassal of +the king had a complaint against another, and needed the assistance of +the king to enforce his view of the case, he might look upon his standing +in the curia regis as a right; but in general it was a burden, a +service, which could be demanded of him because of some estate or office +which he held. + +In the reign of the first Henry we can indeed trace the beginnings of +differentiation in the machinery of government, but the process was as +yet wholly unconscious. We find in this reign evidence of a large +curia regis and of a small curia regis. The difference had probably +existed in the two preceding reigns, but it now becomes more apparent +because the increasing business of the state makes it more prominent. +More frequent meetings of the curia regis were necessary, but the +barons of the kingdom could not be in constant attendance at the court +and occupied with its business. The large court was the assembly of all +the barons, meeting on occasions only, and on special summons. The +small court was permanently in session, or practically so, and was +composed of the king's household officers and of such barons or bishops +as might be in attendance on the king or present at the time. The +distinction thus beginning was destined to lead to most important +results, plainly to be seen in the constitution of to-day, but it was +wholly unnoticed at the time. To the men of that time there was no +distinction, no division. The small curia regis was the same as the +larger; the larger was no more than the smaller. Who attended at a +given date was a matter of convenience, or of precedent on the three +great annual feasts, or of the desire of the king for a larger body of +advisers about some difficult question of policy; but the assembly was +always the same, with the same powers and functions, and doing the same +business. Cases were brought to the smaller body for trial, and its +decision was that of the curia regis. The king asked advice of it, +and its answer was that of the council. The smaller was not a committee +of the larger. It did not act by delegated powers. It was the curia +regis itself. In reality differentiation of old institutions into new +ones had begun, but the beginning was unperceived. + +It was by a process similar to this that the financial business of the +state began to be set off from the legislative and judicial, though it +was long before it was entirely dissociated from the latter, and only +gradually that the Exchequer Court was distinguished from the curia +regis. The sheriffs, as the officers who collected the revenues of the +king, each in his own county, were responsible to the curia regis. +probably from early times the mechanical labour of examining and +recording the accounts had been performed by subordinate officials; but +any question of difficulty which arose, any disputed point, whether +between the sheriff and the state or between the sheriff and the +taxpayer, must have been decided by the court itself, though probably by +the smaller rather than by the larger body. Certainly it is the small +curia regis which has supervision of the matter when we get our first +glimpse of the working of this machinery. Already at this date a procedure +had developed for examining and checking the sheriff's accounts, which is +evidently somewhat advanced, but which is interesting to us because still +so primitive. Twice a year, at Easter and at Michaelmas, the court met +for the purpose, under an organization peculiar to this work, and with +some persons especially assigned to it; and it was then known as the +Exchequer. The name was derived from the fact that the method of +balancing accounts reminded one of the game of chess. Court and sheriff +sat about a table of which the cloth was divided into squares, seven +columns being made across the width of the cloth, and these divided by +lines running through the middle along the length of the table, thus +forming squares. Each perpendicular column of squares stood for a fixed +denomination of money, pence, shillings, pounds, scores of pounds, +hundreds of pounds, etc. The squares on the upper side of the table +stood for the sum for which the sheriff was responsible, and when this +was determined the proper counters were placed on their squares to set +out the sum in visible form, as on an abacus. The squares of the lower +side of the table were those of the sheriffs credits, and in them +counters were placed to represent the sum for which the sheriff could +submit evidence of payments already made. Such payments the sheriff was +constantly making throughout the year, for fixed expenses of the state or +on special orders of the king for supplies for the court, for transport, +for the keeping of prisoners, for public works, and for various other +purposes. The different items of debt and credit were noted down by +clerks for the permanent record. When the account was over, a simple +process of subtracting the counters standing in the credit squares from +those in the debit showed the account balanced, or the amount due from +the sheriff, or the credit standing in his favour, as the case might be. + +At the Easter session of the court the accounts for the whole year were +not balanced, the payment then made by the sheriff being an instalment +on account, of about one-half the whole sum due for the year. For this +he received a tally stick as a receipt, in which notches of different +positions and sizes stood for the sum he had paid. A stick exactly +corresponding was kept by the court, split off, indeed, from his, and +the matching of the two at the Michaelmas session, when the year's +account was finally closed, was the sheriff's proof of his former +payment. The revenue of which the sheriff gave account in this way +consisted of a variety of items. The most important was the firma +comitatus, the farm or annual sum which the sheriff paid for his +county as the farmer of its revenue. This was made up of the estimated +returns from two sources, the rents from the king's lands in the county, +and the share of the fines which went to the king from cases tried in +the old popular courts of shire and hundred. The administration of +justice was a valuable source of income in feudal days, whether to the +king or to the lord who had his own court. But the fines which helped +to make up the ferm of the county were not the only ones for which the +sheriff accounted. He had also to collect, or at least in a general way +to be responsible for, the fines inflicted in the king's courts as held +in his county by the king's justices on circuits, and these were frequent +in Henry's time. If a Danegeld or an aid was taken during the year, this +must also be accounted for, together with such of the peculiarly feudal +sources of income, ward-ships, marriages, escheats, etc., as were in the +sheriffs hands. On the roll appear also numerous entries of fees paid by +private persons to have their cases tried in the king's courts, or to +have the king's processes or officers for the enforcement of their +rights. + +Altogether the items were almost as numerous as in a modern budget, but +one chief source of present revenue, the customs duties, is conspicuously +absent, and the general aspect of the system is far more that of income +from property than in a modern state, even fines and fees having a +personal rather than a political character. A careful estimate of all the +revenue accounted for in this Pipe Roll of 1130 shows that Henry's annual +income probably fell a little short of 30,000 English pounds in the money +of that day, which should be equal in purchasing power, in money of our +time, to a million and a half or two million pounds.[26] This was a large +revenue for the age. Henry knew the value of money for the ends he wished +to accomplish, and though he accumulated large store of it, he spent it +unsparingly when the proper time came. England groaned constantly under +the heavy burden of his taxes, and the Pipe Roll shows us that there was +ground for these complaints. The Danegeld, the direct land-tax, had been +taken for some years before this date, with the regularity of a modern +tax, and as it was taken at a rate which would make it in any age a heavy +burden, we can well believe that it was found hard to bear in a time +when the returns of agriculture were more uncertain than now, and when +the frequently occurring bad seasons were a more serious calamity. +Economically, however, England was well-to-do. She had enjoyed during +Henry's reign a long age of comparative quiet. For nearly a generation +and a half, as the lives of men then averaged, there had been no war, +public or private, to lay waste any part of the land. In fact, since +early in the reign of Henry's father, England had been almost without +experience of the barbarous devastation that went with war in feudal +days. Excessive taxation and licensed oppression had seemed at times a +serious burden. Bad harvests and the hunger and disease against which the +medieval man could not protect himself had checked the growth of wealth +and population. Yet on the whole the nation had gained greatly in three +generations. + +Especially is this to be seen in the development of the towns, in the +growth of a rich burgher class containing many foreign elements, Norman, +Flemish, and Jewish, and living with many signs of comfort and luxury, as +well as in the indications of an active and diversified commercial life. +The progress of this portion of the nation, the larger portion in numbers +but making little show in the annals of barons and bishops whose more +dramatic activities it supported is marked in an interesting way by a +charter granted by Henry to London, in the last years of his reign.[27] +His father had put into legal form a grant to the city, but it was not, +strictly speaking, a city charter. It was no more than a promise that law +and property should be undisturbed. Henry's charter goes much beyond this, +though it tells us no more of the internal government of the city. In +return for a rent of L300 a year, the king abandoned to the city all his +revenues from Middlesex, and because he would have no longer any interest +in the collection of these revenues the city might choose its own sheriff, +and presumably collect them for itself. The king's pleas were surrendered, +the city was to have its own justiciar, and to make this concession a real +one, no citizen need plead in any suit outside the city walls. Danegeld +and murder fines were also given up, and the local courts of the city were +to have their regular sittings. Behind a grant like this must lie some +considerable experience of self-government, a developed and conscious +capacity in the citizens to organize and handle the machinery of +administration. But of this there is no hint in the charter, nor do we +know much of the inner government of London till some time later. Of the +wealth and power of the city the charter speaks still more plainly, and of +this there was to be abundant evidence in the period which follows the +close of Henry's reign. + +Henry's stay in England at this time was not long. Towards the end of the +summer he returned to Normandy, though with what he was occupied there we +have little knowledge. A disputed election to the papacy had taken place, +and the pope of the reform party, Innocent II, had come to France, where +that party was strong. The great St. Bernard, the most influential +churchman of his time, had declared for him, and through his influence +Henry, who met Innocent in January, 1131, recognized him as the rightful +pope. In the following summer he returned to England, and brought back +with him Matilda, who had now been two full years separated from her +husband; but about this time Geoffrey thought better of his conduct, or +determined to try the experiment of living with his wife again, and sent a +request that Matilda be sent back to him. What answer should be given him +was considered in a meeting of the great council at Northampton, September +8, almost as if her relationship with Geoffrey were a new proposition; and +it was decided that she should go. A single chronicler records that Henry +took advantage of this coming together of the barons at the meeting of the +court to demand fealty to Matilda, both from those who had formerly sworn +it and from those who had not.[28] Such a fact hardly seems consistent +with the same chronicler's record of the excuse of Roger, Bishop of +Salisbury, for violating his oath; but if it occurred, as this repetition +of the fealty was after Matilda's marriage with Geoffrey and immediately +after a decision of the baronage that she should return to him, it would +make the bishop's argument a mere subterfuge or, at best, an exception +applying to himself alone. Matilda immediately went over to Anjou, where +she was received with great honour. + +Few things remain to be recorded of the brief period of life left to the +king. He had been interested, as his brother had been, in the extension +of English influence in Cumberland, and now he erected that county into a +new bishopric of Carlisle, in the obedience of the Archbishop of York. On +March 25, 1133, was born Matilda's eldest son, the future Henry II; and +early in August the king of England crossed the channel for the last +time, undoubtedly to see his grandson. On June 1, of the next year, his +second grandson, Geoffrey, was born. A short time before, the long +imprisonment of Robert of Normandy closed with his death, and the future +for which Henry had so long worked must have seemed to him secure. But +his troubles were not over. The medieval heir was usually in a hurry to +enter into his inheritance, and Geoffrey of Anjou, who probably felt his +position greatly strengthened by the birth of his son, was no exception +to the rule. He demanded possessions in Normandy. He made little wars on +his own account. Matilda, who seems now to have identified herself with +her husband's interests, upheld his demands. Some of the Norman barons, +who were glad of any pretext to escape from the yoke of Henry, added +their support, especially William Talvas, the son of Robert of Bellême, +who might easily believe that he had a long account to settle with the +king. But Henry was still equal to the occasion. A campaign of three +months, in 1135, drove William Talvas out of the country and brought +everything again under the king's control, though peace was not yet made +with his belligerent son-in-law. Then came the end suddenly. On November +25, Henry, still apparently in full health and vigour, planning a hunt +for the next day, ate too heartily of eels, a favourite dish but always +harmful to him, and died a week later, December 1, of the illness which +resulted. Asked on his death-bed what disposition should be made of the +succession, he declared again that all should go to Matilda, but made no +mention of Geoffrey. + +Henry was born in 1068, and was now past the end of his sixty-seventh +year. His reign of a little more than thirty-five years was a long one, +not merely for the middle ages, when the average of human life was short, +but for any period of history. He was a man of unusual physical vigour. +He had been very little troubled with illness. His health and strength +were still unaffected by the labours of his life. He might reasonably +have looked forward to seeing his grandson, who was now nearing the end +of his third year, if not of an age to rule, at least of an age to be +accepted as king with a strong regency under the leadership of Robert of +Gloucester. A few years more of life for King Henry might have saved +England from a generation that laboured to undo his work. + +With the death of Henry I a great reign in English history closed. +Considered as a single period, it does not form an epoch by itself. It is +rather an introductory age, an age of beginnings, which, interrupted by a +generation of anarchy, were taken up and completed by others. We are +tempted to suspect that these others receive more credit for the +completed result than they really deserve, because we know their work so +well and Henry's so imperfectly. Certainly, we may well note this fact, +that every new bit of evidence which the scholar from time to time +rescues from neglect tends to show that the special creations for which +we have distinguished the reign of Henry's grandson, reach further back +in time than we had supposed. To this we may add the fact that, wherever +we can follow in detail the action of the king, we find it the action of +a man of political genius. Did we know as much of Henry's activity in +government and administration as we do of the carrying out of his foreign +policy, it is more than probable that we should find in it the clear +marks of creative statesmanship. Not the least important of Henry's +achievements of which we are sure was the peace which he secured and +maintained for England with a strong and unsparing hand. More than thirty +years of undisturbed quiet was a long period for any land in the middle +ages, and during that time the vital process of union, the growing +together in blood and laws and feeling of the two great races which +occupied the land, was going rapidly forward. + +[23] Gesta Stephani (Rolls Series), p. 10. + +[24] William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, sec. 452. + +[25] Edited by Joseph Hunter and published by the Record Commission +in 1833. + +[26] Ramsay, Foundations of England, ii, 328. + +[27] Round, Geoffrey de Mandeville, 347 ff. + +[28] W. Malm., Historia Novella, sec. 455, and cf. sec. 452. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +BARGAINING FOR THE CROWN + +Earls and barons, whom the rumour of his illness had drawn together, +surrounded the death-bed of Henry I and awaited the result. Among them +was his natural son Robert of Gloucester; but his legal heiress, the +daughter for whom he had done so much and risked so much, was not there. +The recent attempt of her husband, Geoffrey of Anjou, to gain by force +the footing in Normandy which Henry had denied him, had drawn her away +from her father, and she was still in Anjou. It was afterward declared +that Henry on his death-bed disinherited her and made Stephen of Boulogne +heir in her place; but this is not probable, and it is met by the +statement which we may believe was derived directly from Robert of +Gloucester, that the dying king declared his will to be still in her +favour. However this may be, no steps were taken by any one in Normandy +to put Matilda in possession of the duchy, or formally to recognize her +right of succession. Why her brother Robert did nothing and allowed the +opportunity to slip, we cannot say. Possibly he did not anticipate a +hostile attempt. At Rouen, whither Henry's body was first taken, the +barons adopted measures to preserve order and to guard the frontiers, +which show that they took counsel on the situation; but nothing was done +about the succession. + +In the meantime, another person, as deeply interested in the result, did +not wait for events to shape themselves. Stephen of Boulogne had been a +favourite nephew of Henry I and a favourite at his uncle's court, and he +had been richly provided for. The county of Mortain, usually held by some +member of the ducal house, had been given him; he had shared in the +confiscated lands of the house of Bellême; and he had been married to the +heiress of the practically independent county of Boulogne, which carried +with it a rich inheritance in England. Henry might very well believe that +gratitude would secure from Stephen as faithful a support of his +daughter's cause as he expected from her brother Robert. But in this he +was mistaken. Stephen acted so promptly on the news of his uncle's death +that he must already have decided what his action would be. + +When he heard that his uncle had died, Stephen crossed at once to +England. Dover and Canterbury were held by garrisons of Earl Robert's and +refused him admittance, but he pushed on by them to London. There he was +received with welcome by the citizens. London was in a situation to hail +the coming of any one who promised to re-establish order and security, +and this was clearly the motive on which the Londoners acted in all that +followed. A reign of disorder had begun as soon as it was known that the +king was dead, as frequently happened in the medieval state, for the +power that enforced the law, or perhaps that gave validity even to the +law and to the commissions of those who executed it, was suspended while +the throne was vacant. A great commercial city, such as London had grown +to be during the long reign of Henry, would suffer in all its interests +from such a state of things. Indeed, it appears that a body of +plunderers, under one who had been a servant of the late king's, had +established themselves not far from the city, and were by their +operations manufacturing pressing arguments in favour of the immediate +re-establishment of order. It is not necessary to seek for any further +explanation of the welcome which London extended to Stephen. Immediately +on his arrival a council was held in the city, probably the governing +body of the city, the municipal council if we may so call it, which +determined what should be done. Negotiations were not difficult between +parties thus situated, and an agreement was speedily reached. The city +bound itself to recognize Stephen as king, and he promised to put down +disorder and maintain security. Plainly from the account we have of this +arrangement, it was a bargain, a kind of business contract; and Stephen +proceeded at once to show that he intended to keep his side of it by +dispersing the robber band which was annoying the city and hanging its +captain. + +It is unnecessary to take seriously the claim of a special right to fill +the throne when it was vacant, which the citizens of London advanced for +themselves according to a contemporary historian of these events.[29] This +is surely less a claim of the citizens than one invented for them by +a partisan who wishes to make Stephen's position appear as strong as +possible; and no one at the time paid any attention to it. Having secured +the support of London, after what can have been only a few days' stay, +Stephen went immediately to Winchester. Before he could really believe +himself king, he had to secure the royal treasures and more support than +he had yet gained. Stephen's own brother Henry, who owed his promotion in +the Church, as Stephen did his in the State, to his uncle, was at this +time Bishop of Winchester; and it was due to him, as a contemporary +declares, that the plan of Stephen succeeded, and the real decision of the +question was made, not at London, but at Winchester.[30] Henry went out +with the citizens of Winchester to meet his brother on his approach, and +he was welcomed as he had been at London. Present there or coming in soon +after, were the Archbishop William of Canterbury, Roger, Bishop of +Salisbury, the head of King Henry's administrative system, and seemingly a +few, but not many, barons. On the question of making Stephen king, the +good, though not strong, Archbishop of Canterbury, was greatly troubled by +the oath which had been sworn in the interest of Matilda. "There are not +enough of us here," his words seem to mean, "to decide upon so important a +step as recognizing this man as king, when we are bound by oath to +recognize another."[31] + +Though our evidence is derived from clerical writers, who might +exaggerate the importance of the point, it seems clear from a number of +reasons that this oath to Matilda was really the greatest difficulty in +Stephen's way. That it troubled the conscience of the lay world very much +does not appear, nor that it was regarded either in Normandy or England +as settling the succession. If the Norman barons had been bound by this +oath as well as the English, as is altogether probable, they certainly +acted as if they considered the field clear for other candidates. But it +is evident that the oath was the first and greatest difficulty to be +overcome in securing for Stephen the support of the Church, and this was +indispensable to his success. The active condemnation of the breaking of +this oath survived for a long time in the Church, and with characteristic +medieval logic the fate of those few who violated their oaths and met +some evil end was pointed to as a direct vengeance of God, while that of +the fortunate majority of the faithless is passed over in silence, +including the chief traitor Hugh Bigod, who, as Robert of Gloucester +afterwards declared, had twice sworn falsely, and made of perjury an +elegant accomplishment.[32] + +If the scruples of the archbishop were to be overcome, it could not be +done by increasing the number of those who were present to agree to the +accession of Stephen. No material increase of the party of his adherents +could be expected before the ceremony of coronation had made him actual +king. It seems extremely probable that it was at this crisis of affairs, +that the scheme was invented to meet the hesitation of the archbishop; and +it was the only way in which it could have been overcome at the moment. +Certain men stepped forward and declared that at the last Henry repented +of having forced his barons to take this oath, and that he released them +from it. It is hardly possible to avoid the accumulated force of the +evidence which points to Hugh Bigod as the peculiarly guilty person, or to +doubt it was here that he committed the perjury of which so many accused +him. He is said to have sworn that Henry cut off Matilda from the +succession and appointed Stephen his heir; but he probably swore to no +more than is stated above.[33] That Matilda was excluded would be an +almost necessary inference from it, and that Stephen was appointed heir in +her place natural embroidery upon it. Nor can there be any reasonable +doubt, I think, that his oath was deliberately false. Who should be made +to bear the guilt of this scheme, if such it was, cannot be said. It is +hardly likely that Henry of Winchester had any share in it. Whether true +or false, the statement removed the scruples of the archbishop and secured +his consent to Stephen's accession. + +With this declaration of Hugh Bigod's, however, was coupled another +matter more of the nature of a positive inducement to the Church. Bishop +Henry seems to have argued with much skill, and very likely to have +believed himself, that if they should agree to make his brother king, he +would restore to the Church that freedom from the control of the State +for which it had been contending since the beginning of the reign of +Henry I, and which was now represented as having been the practice in the +time of their grandfather, William the Conqueror. Stephen agreed at once +to the demand. He was obliged to pay whatever price was set upon the +crown by those who had the disposal of it; but of all the promises which +he made to secure it, this is the one which he came the nearest to +keeping. He swore to "restore liberty to the Church and to preserve it," +and his brother pledged himself that the oath would be kept. Besides the +adhesion of the Church, Stephen secured at Winchester the royal treasure +which had been accumulated by his uncle and which was not small, and the +obedience of the head of the administrative system, Roger of Salisbury, +who seems to have made no serious difficulty, but who excused his +violation of his oath to Matilda by another pretext, as has already been +mentioned, than the one furnished by Hugh Bigod. + +With the new adherents whom he had gained, Stephen at once returned from +Winchester to London for his formal coronation. This took place at +Westminster, probably on December 22, certainly within a very few days of +that date. His supporters were still a very small party in the state. +Very few of the lay barons had as yet declared for him. His chief +dependence must have been upon the two cities of London and Winchester, +and upon the three bishops who had come to his coronation with him, and +who certainly held positions of influence and power in Church and State +far beyond that of the ordinary bishop. At his coronation Stephen renewed +his oath to respect the liberty of the Church, and he issued a brief +charter to the nation at large which is drawn up in very general terms, +confirming the liberties and good laws of Henry, king of the English, and +the good laws and good customs of King Edward, but this can hardly be +regarded as anything more than a proclamation that he intended to make no +changes, a general confirmation of existing rights at the beginning of a +new reign. The Christmas festival Stephen is said to have celebrated at +London with great display. His party had not yet materially grown in +strength, but he was now a consecrated king, and this fait accompli, as +it has been called, was undoubtedly a decided argument with many in the +next few weeks. + +Throughout the three weeks that had elapsed since he had learned of his +uncle's death, Stephen had acted with great energy, rapidity, and +courage. Nor is there anything in the course of his reign to show that he +was at any time lacking in these qualities. The period of English history +upon which we enter with the coronation of Stephen is not merely a dreary +period, with no triumphs abroad to be recorded, nor progress at home, +with much loss of what had already been gained, temporary, indeed, but +threatening to be permanent. It is also one of active feudal strife and +anarchy, lasting almost a generation, of the loosening of the bonds of +government, and of suffering by the mass of the nation, the like of which +never recurs in the whole of that history. But this misery fell upon the +country in Stephen's time, not because he failed to understand the duty +of a king, nor because he lacked the energy or courage which a king must +have. The great defect of Stephen's character for the time in which he +lived was that he yielded too easily to persuasion. Gifted with the +popular qualities which win personal favour among men, he had also the +weakness which so often goes with them; he could not long resist the +pressure of those about him. He could not impress men with the fact that +he must be obeyed. His life after his coronation was a laborious one, and +he did not spare himself in his efforts to keep order and to put down +rebellion; but the situation passed irrecoverably beyond his control as +soon as men realized that his will was not inflexible, and that swift and +certain punishment of disobedience need not be feared. Stephen was at +this time towards forty years old, an age which promised mature judgment +and vigorous rule. His wife, who bore the name of Matilda, so common in +the Norman house, was a woman of unusual spirit and energy, and devotedly +attached to him. She stood through her mother, daughter of Malcolm and +Margaret of Scotland, in the same relationship to the empress Matilda +that her husband did, and her descendants would therefore be equally near +akin to the old Saxon dynasty as those of the Empress. + +If Stephen had seized the earliest opportunity, his cousin Matilda had +been scarcely less prompt, but she had acted with less decision and with +less discernment of the strategic importance of England. As soon as she +learned of her father's death, she entered Normandy from the south, near +Domfront, and was admitted to that town and to Argentan and Exmes without +opposition by the viscount of that region, who was one of King Henry's +"new men" in Normandy, and who recognized her claims at once. In a few +days she was followed by her husband, Geoffrey, who entered the duchy a +little farther to the east, in alliance with William Talvas, who opened +to him Sees and other fortified places of his fief. So far all seemed +going well, though as compared with the rapidity of Stephen's progress +during those same days, such successes would count but little. Then, for +some unaccountable reason, Geoffrey allowed his troops to plunder the +Normans and to ravage cruelly the lands which had received him as a +friend. The inborn fierceness of the Normans burst out at such treatment, +and the Angevins were swept out of the country with as great cruelties as +they had themselves exercised. Whether this incident had any influence on +the action of the Norman barons it is not possible to say, but it must +have been about the same time that they met at Neubourg to decide the +question of the succession. We have no account of what they did or of +what motives influenced their first decision. Theobald, Count of Blois +and of Champagne, Stephen's elder brother, was present apparently to urge +his own claim, and him they decided, or were on the point of deciding, to +recognize as duke. At this moment a messenger from Stephen arrived and +announced that all the English had accepted Stephen and agreed that he +should be king. This news at once settled the question for the Norman +barons. The reason which we have seen acting so strongly on earlier +occasions--the fear of the consequences if they should try to hold their +lands of two different suzerains--was once more the controlling motive, +and they determined to accept Stephen. Theobald acquiesced in this +decision, though unwillingly, and retired to his own dominions, to show +but little interest in the long strife which these events began. + +In England the effect of Stephen's coronation soon made itself felt. +Immediately after the Christmas festivities in London he went with his +court to Reading, whither the body of King Henry had now been brought +from Normandy. There it was interred with becoming pomp, in the presence +of the new king, in the abbey which Henry had founded and richly endowed. +There Stephen issued a charter which is of especial historical value. It +records a grant to Miles of Gloucester, and is signed among others by +Payne Fitz-John. Both these were among Henry's "new men." Miles of +Gloucester especially had received large gifts from the late king, and +had held important office under him. Such men would naturally support +Matilda. They might be expected certainly to hesitate until her cause was +hopeless. Their presence with Stephen, accepting him as king so soon +after his coronation, is evidence of great value as to the drift of +opinion in England about the chance of his success. The charter is +evidence also of one of the difficulties in Stephen's way, and of the +necessity he was under of buying support, which we have seen already and +which played so great a part in the later events of his reign. The +charter confirms Miles in the possession of all the grants which had been +made him in the late reign, and binds the king not to bring suit against +him for anything which he held at the death of Henry. The question +whether a new king, especially one who was not the direct heir of his +predecessor, would respect his grants was a question of great importance +to men in the position of Miles of Gloucester. + +At Reading, or perhaps at Oxford, where Stephen may have gone from the +burial of Henry, news came to him that David, king of Scotland, had +crossed the border and was taking possession of the north of England, +from Carlisle to Newcastle. David professed to be acting in behalf of his +niece, Matilda, and out of respect to the oath he had sworn to support +her cause, and he was holding the plundering habits of his army well in +check. We are told that it was with a great army that Stephen marched +against him. He had certainly force enough to make it seem wise to David, +who was on his way to Durham, to fall back and negotiate. Terms were +quickly arranged. David would not conform to the usual rule and become +Stephen's man; and Stephen, still yielding minor matters to secure the +greater, did not insist. But David's son Henry did homage to Stephen, and +received the earldom of Huntingdon, with a vague promise that he might be +given at some later time the other part of the possessions of his +grandfather, Waltheof, the earldom of Northumberland, and with the more +substantial present grant of Carlisle and Doncaster. The other places +which David had occupied were given up. + +From the north Stephen returned to London to hold his Easter court. He +was now, he might well believe, king without question, and he intended +to have the Easter assembly make this plain. Special writs of summons +were sent throughout England to all the magnates of Church and State; +and a large and brilliant court came together in response. Charters +issued at this date, when taken together, give us the names of three +archbishops--one, the Archbishop of Rouen--and thirteen bishops, four +being Norman, and thirty-nine barons and officers of the court who were +present, including King David's son Henry, who had come with Stephen from +the north. At this assembly Stephen's queen, Matilda, was crowned, and so +brilliant was the display and so lavish the expenditure that England was +struck with the contrast to the last reign, whose economies had in part +at least accumulated the treasure which Stephen might now scatter with +a free hand to secure his position. The difficulties of his task are +illustrated by an incident which occurred at this court. Mindful of the +necessity of conciliating Scotland, he gave to young Henry, at the Easter +feast, the seat of honour at his right hand; whereupon, the Archbishop of +Canterbury, offended because his claims of precedence had been set aside, +left the court; and Ralph, Earl of Chester, angered because Carlisle, to +which he asserted claims of hereditary right, had been made over to +Henry, cried out upon the young man, and with other barons insulted him +so grievously that his father David was very angry in his turn. + +Immediately after the Easter festivities, the court as a body removed to +Oxford. Just after Easter Robert of Gloucester, the Empress's brother, +had landed in England. Stephen had been importuning him for some time to +give up his sister's cause and acknowledge him as king. So far as we +know, Robert had done nothing up to this time to stem the current of +events, and these events were probably a stronger argument with him than +Stephen's inducements. All England and practically all Normandy had +accepted Stephen. The king of Scotland had abandoned the opposition. +Geoffrey and Matilda had accomplished nothing, and seemed to be planning +nothing. The only course that lay plainly open was to make the best terms +possible with the successful usurper, and to await the further course of +events. William of Malmesbury, who looked upon Earl Robert as his patron +and who wrote almost as his panegyrist, thinking, perhaps, dissimulation +a smaller fault than disregard of his oath, accounted for his submission +to Stephen by his desire to gain an opportunity to persuade the English +barons to saner counsels. This statement can hardly be taken as evidence +of Robert's intention, but at any rate he now joined the court at Oxford +and made his bargain with Stephen. He did him homage, and promised to be +his man so long as the king should maintain him in his position and keep +faith with him. + +At this Oxford meeting another bargain, even more important to Stephen +than his bargain with the Earl of Gloucester, was put into a form which +may be not improperly called a definitive treaty. This was the bargain +with the Church, to the terms of which Stephen had twice before +consented. The document in which this treaty was embodied is commonly +known as Stephen's second charter; and, witnessed by nearly all those who +witnessed the London charters already referred to, and by the Earl of +Gloucester in addition, it had the force of a royal grant confirmed by +the curia regis. Nothing could prove to us more clearly than this +charter how conscious Stephen was of the desperate character of the +undertaking on which he had ventured, and of the vital necessity of the +support of the Church. The grant is of the most sweeping sort. All that +the Church had demanded in the conflict between Anselm and Henry I is +freely yielded, and more. All simony shall cease, vacancies shall be +canonically filled; the possessions of the Church shall be administered +by its own men during a vacancy,--that is, the feudal rights which had +been exercised by the last two kings are given up; jurisdiction over all +ecclesiastical persons and property is abandoned to the Church; +ecclesiastics shall have full power to dispose of their personal property +by will; all unjust exactions, by whomsoever brought in,--including among +these, no doubt, as Henry of Huntingdon expressly says, the Danegeld, +which the Church had insisted ought not to be paid by its domain +lands,--are to be given up. "These all I concede and confirm," the +charter closes, "saving my royal and due dignity." Dignity in the modern +sense might be left the king, but not much real power over the Church if +this charter was to determine future law and custom. The English Church +would have reached at a stroke a nearer realization of the full programme +of the Hildebrandine reform than all the struggles of nearly a century +had yet secured in any other land, if the king kept his promises. As a +matter of fact, he did not do so entirely, though the Church made more +permanent gain from the weakness of this reign than any other of the +contending and rival parties. + +One phrase at the beginning of this charter strikes us with surprise. In +declaring how he had become king, Stephen adds to choice by clergy and +people, and consecration by the archbishop, the confirmation of the pope. +Since when had England, recognized the right of the pope to confirm its +sovereigns or to decide cases of disputed succession? Or is the papacy +securing here, from the necessities of Stephen, a greater concession than +any other in the charter, a practical recognition of the claim which once +Gregory VII had made of the Conqueror only to have it firmly rejected, +and which the Church had not succeeded in establishing in any European +land? In reality England had recognized no claim of papal overlordship, +nor was any such claim in the future based upon this confirmation. The +reference to the pope had been practically forced upon Stephen, whether +he would have taken the step himself or not, and the circumstances made +it of the highest importance to him to proclaim publicly the papal +sanction of his accession. Probably immediately on hearing the news of +Stephen's usurpation, Matilda had despatched to Pope Innocent II,--then +residing at Pisa because Rome was in possession of his rival, Anacletus +II,--an embassy headed by the Bishop of Angers, to appeal to the pope +against the wicked deeds of Stephen, in that he had defrauded her of her +rights and broken his oath, as William of Normandy had once appealed to +the pope against the similar acts of Harold.[34] At Pisa this embassy was +opposed by another of Stephen's, whose spokesman was the archdeacon of +Sees. It must have started at about the same time as Matilda's, and it +brought to the pope the official account of the bishops who had taken part +in the coronation of Stephen. + +In the presence of Innocent something like a formal trial occurred. The +case was argued by the champions of the two sides, on questions which it +belonged to the Church to decide, or which at least the Church claimed +the right to decide, the usurpation of an inheritance, and the violation +of an oath. Against Matilda's claim were advanced the arguments which had +already been used with effect in England, that the oath had been extorted +from the barons by force, and that on his death-bed Henry had released +them from it; but more than this, Stephen's advocates suddenly sprang on +their opponents a new and most disconcerting argument, one which would +have had great weight in any Church court, and which attacked both their +claims at once. Matilda could not be the rightful heir, and so the oath +itself could not be binding, because she was of illegitimate birth, being +the daughter of a nun. One account of this debate represents Matilda's +side as nonplussed by this argument and unable to answer it. And they +might well be, for during the long generation since Henry's marriage, no +question of its validity had ever been publicly raised. The sudden +advancing of the doubt at this time shows, however, that it had lingered +on in the minds of some in the Church. It is not likely that the point +would have been in the end dangerous to Matilda's cause, for it would not +have been possible to produce evidence sufficient to warrant the Church +in reversing the decision which Archbishop Anselm had carefully made at +the time. But the pope did not allow the case to come to a decision. He +broke off the debate, and announced that he would not decide the question +nor permit it to be taken up again. His caution was no doubt due to the +difficult position in which Innocent was then placed, with a rival in +possession of the capital of Christendom, the issue uncertain, and the +support of all parties necessary to his cause. Privately, but not as an +official decision, he wrote to Stephen recognizing him as king of +England. The letter reveals a reason in Stephen's favour which probably +availed more with the pope than all the arguments of the English embassy, +the pressure of the king of France. The separation of Anjou at least, if +not of Normandy also, from England, was important to the plans of France, +and the support of the king was essential to the pope. + +To Stephen the reasons for the pope's letter were less important than the +fact that such decision as there was was in his favour. He could not do +otherwise than make this public. The letter probably arrived in England +just before, or at the time of, the Easter council in London. To the +Church of England, in regard to the troublesome matter of the oath, it +would be decisive. There could be no reason why Stephen should not be +accepted as king if the pope, with full understanding of the facts, had +accepted him. And so the Church was ready to enter into that formal +treaty with the king which is embodied in Stephen's second charter, which +is a virtual though conditional recognition of him, and which naturally, +as an essential consideration, recites the papal recognition and calls it +not unnaturally a confirmation, though this word may be nothing more than +the mere repetition of an ecclesiastical formula set down by a clerical +hand, without especial significance. + +Stephen might now believe himself firmly fixed in the possession of power. +His bold stroke for the crown had proved as successful as Henry I's, and +everything seemed to promise as secure and prosperous a reign. The +all-influential Church had declared for him, and its most influential +leader was his brother Henry of Winchester, who had staked his own honour +in his support. The barons of the kingdom had accepted him, and had +attended his Easter court in unusual numbers as compared with anything +we know of the immediately preceding reigns. Those who should have been +the leaders of his rival's cause had all submitted,--her brother, Robert +of Gloucester, Brian Fitz Count, Miles of Gloucester, Payne Fitz John, +the Bishop of Salisbury, and his great ministerial family. The powerful +house of Beaumont, the earls of Warwick and of Leicester, who held almost +a kingdom in middle England, promised to be as faithful to the new +sovereign as it had been to earlier ones. Even Matilda herself and her +husband Geoffrey seemed to have abandoned effort, having met with no +better success in their appeal to the pope than in their attack on +Normandy. For more than two years nothing occurs which shakes the +security of Stephen's power or which seriously threatens it with the +coming of any disaster. + +And yet Stephen, like Henry I, had put himself into a position which only +the highest gifts of statesmanship and character could maintain, and in +these he was fatally lacking. The element of weakness, which is more +apparent in his case, though perhaps not more real, than in Henry's, that +he was a king by "contract," as the result of various bargains, and that +he might be renounced by the other parties to these bargains if he +violated their terms, was only one element in a general situation which +could be dominated by a strong will and by that alone. These bargains +served as excuses for rebellion,--unusually good, to be sure, from a +legal point of view,--but excuses are always easy to find, or are often +thought unnecessary, for resistance to a king whom one may defy with +impunity. The king's uncle had plainly marked out a policy which a ruler +in his situation should follow at the beginning of his reign--to destroy +the power of the most dangerous barons, one by one, and to raise up on +their ruins a body of less powerful new men devoted to himself; but this +policy Stephen had not the insight nor the strength of purpose to follow. +His defect was not the lack of courage. He was conscious of his duty and +unsparing of himself, but he lacked the clear sight and the fixed +purpose, the inflexible determination which the position in which he had +placed himself demanded. To understand the real reason for the period of +anarchy which follows, to know why Stephen, with as fair a start, failed +to rule as Henry I had done, one must see as clearly as possible how, in +the months when his power seemed in no danger of falling, he undermined +it himself through his lack of quick perception and his unsteadiness of +will. + +It would not be profitable to discuss here the question whether or not +Stephen was a usurper. Such a discussion is an attempt to measure the acts +of that time by a standard not then in use. As we now judge of such things +he was a usurper; in the forum of morals he must be declared a usurper, +but no one at the time accused him of any wrong-doing beyond the breaking +of his oath.[35] Of no king before or after is so much said, in chronicles +and formal documents, of "election" as is said of Stephen; but of anything +which may be called a formal or constitutional election there is no trace. +The facts recorded indeed illustrate more clearly than in any other case +the process by which, in such circumstances, a king came to the throne. It +was clearly a process of securing the adhesion and consent, one after +another, of influential men or groups of men. In this case it was plainly +bargaining. In every case there was probably something of that--as much +as might be necessary to secure the weight of support that would turn the +scale. + +Within a few days of this brilliant assembly at the Easter festival, the +series of events began which was to test Stephen's character and to +reveal its weakness to those who were eager in every reign of feudal +times to profit by such a revelation. A rumour was in some way started +that the king was dead. Instantly Hugh Bigod, who had been present at the +Oxford meeting, and who had shown his own character by his willingness to +take on his soul the guilt of perjury in Stephen's cause, seized Norwich +castle. The incident shows what was likely always to happen on the death +of the king,--the seizure of royal domains or of the possessions of +weaker neighbours, by barons who hoped to gain something when the time of +settlement came. Hugh Bigod had large possessions in East Anglia, and was +ambitious of a greater position still. He became, indeed, in the end, +earl, but without the possession of Norwich. Now he was not disposed to +yield his prey, even if the king were still alive; he did so only when +Stephen came against him in person, and then very unwillingly. That he +received any punishment for his revolt we are not told. + +Immediately after this Stephen was called to the opposite side of the +kingdom by news of the local depredations of Robert of Bampton, a minor +baron of Devonshire. His castle was speedily captured, and he was sent +into exile. But greater difficulties were at hand in that region. A baron +of higher rank, Baldwin of Redvers, whose father before him, and himself +in succession, had been faithful adherents of Henry I from the +adventurous and landless days of that prince, seized the castle of Exeter +and attempted to excite a revolt, presumably in the interests of Matilda. +The inhabitants of Exeter refused to join him, and sent at once to +Stephen for aid, which was hurriedly despatched and arrived just in time +to prevent the sacking of the town by the angry rebel. Here was a more +important matter than either of the other two with which the king had had +to deal, and he sat down to the determined siege of the castle. It was +strongly situated on a mass of rock, and resisted the king's earlier +attacks until, after three months, the garrison was brought to the point +of yielding by want of water. At first Stephen, by the advice of his +brother Henry, insisted upon unconditional surrender, even though +Baldwin's wife came to him in person and in great distress to move his +pity. But now, as in Henry I's attack on Robert of Bellême at the +beginning of his reign, another influence made itself felt. The barons in +Stephen's camp began to put pressure on the king to induce him to grant +favourable terms. We know too little of the actual circumstances to be +able to say to what extent Stephen was really forced to yield. In the +more famous incident at Bridgenorth Henry had the support of the English +common soldiers in his army. Here nothing is said of them, or of any +support to the king. But with or without support, he yielded. The +garrison of the castle were allowed to go free with all their personal +property. Whether this was a concession which in the circumstances +Stephen could not well refuse, or an instance of his easy yielding to +pressure, of which there are many later, the effect was the same. +Contemporary opinion declared it to be bad policy, and dated from it more +general resistance to the king. It certainly seems clear from these +cases, especially from the last, that Stephen had virtually given notice +at the beginning of his reign that rebellion against him was not likely +to be visited with the extreme penalty. Baldwin of Redvers did not give +up the struggle with the surrender of Exeter castle. He had possessions +in the Isle of Wight, and he fortified himself there, got together some +ships, and began to prey on the commerce of the channel. Stephen followed +him up, and was about to invade the island when he appeared and +submitted. This time he was exiled, and crossing over to Normandy he took +refuge at the court of Geoffrey and Matilda, where he was received with a +warm welcome. + +For the present these events were not followed by anything further of a +disquieting nature. To all appearances Stephen's power had not been in +the least affected. From the coast he went north to Brampton near +Huntingdon, to amuse himself with hunting. There he gave evidence of how +strong he felt himself to be, for he held a forest assize and tried +certain barons for forest offences. In his Oxford charter he had promised +to give up the forests which Henry had added to those of the two +preceding kings, but he had not promised to hold no forest assizes, and +he could not well surrender them. There was something, however, about his +action at Brampton which was regarded as violating his "promise to God +and to the people"; and we may regard it, considering the bitterness of +feeling against the forest customs, especially on the part of the Church, +as evidence that he felt himself very secure, and more important still as +leading to the belief that he would not be bound by his promises. + +A somewhat similar impression must have been made at about this time, the +impression at least that the king was trying to make himself strong +enough to be independent of his pledges, if he wished, by the fact that +he was collecting about him a large force of foreign mercenaries, +especially men from Britanny and Flanders. From the date of the Conquest +itself, the paid soldier, the mercenary drawn from outside the dominions +of the sovereign, had been constantly in use in England, not merely in +the armies of the king, but sometimes in the forces of the greater +barons, and had often been a main support in both cases. When kept under +a strong control, the presence of mercenaries had given rise to no +complaints; indeed, it is probable that in the later part of reigns like +those of William I and Henry I their number had been comparatively +insignificant. But in a reign in which the king was dependent on their +aid and obliged to purchase their support by allowing them liberties, as +when William II proposed to play the tyrant, or in the time of Stephen +from the weakness of the king, complaints are frequent of their cruelties +and oppressions, and the defenceless must have suffered whatever they +chose to inflict. The contrast of the reign of Stephen, in the conduct +and character of the foreigners in England, with that of Henry, was noted +at the time. In the commander of his mercenaries, William of Ypres, who +had been one of the unsuccessful pretenders to the countship of Flanders +some years before, Stephen secured one of his most faithful and ablest +adherents. + +In the meantime a series of events in Wales during this same year was +revealing another side of Stephen's character, his lack of clear +political vision, his failure to grasp the real importance of a +situation. At the very beginning of the year, the Welsh had revolted in +South Wales, and won a signal victory. From thence the movement spread +toward the west and north, growing in success as it extended. Battles +were won in the field, castles and towns were taken, leaders among the +Norman baronage were slain, and the country was overrun. It looked as if +the tide which had set so steadily against the Welsh had turned at last, +at least in the south-west, and as if the Norman or Flemish colonists +might be driven out. But Stephen did not consider the matter important +enough to demand his personal attention, even after he was relieved of +his trouble with Baldwin of Redvers, though earlier kings had thought +less threatening revolts sufficiently serious to call for great exertions +on their part. He sent some of his mercenaries, but they accomplished +nothing; and he gave some aid to the attempts of interested barons to +recover what had been lost, with no better result. Finally, we are told +by the writer most favourable to Stephen's reputation, he resolved to +expend no more money or effort on the useless attempt, but to leave the +Welsh to weaken themselves by their quarrels among themselves.[36] The +writer declares the policy successful, but we can hardly believe it was +so regarded by those who suffered from it in the disasters of this and +the following year, or by the barons of England in general. + +It might well be the case that Stephen's funds were running low. The heavy +taxes and good management of his uncle had left him a full treasury with +which to begin, but the demands upon it had been great. Much support had +undoubtedly been purchased outright by gifts of money. The brilliant +Easter court had been deliberately made a time of lavish display; +mercenary troops could have been collected only at considerable cost; and +the siege of Exeter castle had been expensive as well as troublesome. +Stephen's own possessions in England were very extensive, and the royal +domains were in his hands; but the time was rapidly coming when he must +alienate these permanent sources of supply, lands and revenues, to win +and hold support. It was very likely this lack of ready money which +led Stephen to the second violation of his promises, if the natural +interpretation of the single reference to the fact is correct.[37] In +November of this year, 1136, died William of Corbeil, who had been +Archbishop of Canterbury for thirteen years and legate of the pope in +England for nearly as long. Officers of the king took possession of his +personal property, which Stephen had promised the Church should dispose +of, and found hidden away too large a store of coin for the archbishop's +reputation as a perfect pastor, for he should have distributed it in his +lifetime and then it would have gone to the poor and to his own credit. + +Whatever opinion about Stephen might be forming in England during this +first year of his reign, from his violation of his pledges, or his +determination to surround himself with foreign troops, or his selfish +sacrificing of national interests, or his too easy dealing with revolt, +there was as yet no further movement against him. Nobody seemed disposed +to question his right to reign or to withhold obedience, and he could, +without fear of the consequences, turn his attention to Normandy to +secure as firm possession of the duchy as he now had of the kingdom. +About the middle of Lent, 1137, Stephen crossed to Normandy, and remained +there till Christmas of the same year. Normandy had accepted him the year +before, as soon as it knew the decision of England, but there had been no +generally recognized authority to represent the sovereign, and some parts +of the duchy had suffered severely from private war. In the south-east, +the house of Beaumont, Waleran of Meulan and Robert of Leicester, were +carrying on a fierce conflict with Roger of Tosny. In September, 1136, +central Normandy was the scene of another useless and savage raid of +Geoffrey of Anjou, accompanied by William, the last duke of Aquitaine, +William Talvas, and others. They penetrated the country as far as +Lisieux, treating the churches and servants of God, says Orderic Vitalis, +after the manner of the heathen, but were obliged to retreat; and +finally, though he had been joined by Matilda, Geoffrey, badly wounded, +abandoned this attempt also and returned to Anjou. + +The general population of the duchy warmly welcomed the coming of +Stephen, from whom they hoped good things and especially order; but the +barons seem to have been less enthusiastic. They resented his use of +Flemish soldiers and the influence of William of Ypres, and they showed +themselves as disposed as in England to prevent the king from gaining any +decisive success. Still, however, there was no strong party against him, +and Stephen seemed to be in acknowledged control of the duchy, even if it +was not a strong control. In May he had an interview with Louis VI of +France, and was recognized by him as duke, on the same terms as Henry I +had been, his son Eustace doing homage in his stead. This arrangement +with France shows the strength of Stephen's position, though the +acknowledgment was no doubt dictated as well by the policy of Louis, but +events of the same month showed Stephen's real weakness. In May Geoffrey +attempted a new invasion with four hundred knights, this time intending +the capture of Caen. But Stephen's army, the Flemings under William of +Ypres, and the forces of some of the Norman barons, blocked the way. +William was anxious to fight, but the Normans refused, and William with +his Flemings left them in disgust and joined Stephen. Geoffrey, however, +gave up his attempt on Caen and drew back to Argentan. In June, on +Stephen's collecting an army to attack Geoffrey, the jealousies between +the Normans and the hired soldiers broke out in open fighting, many were +slain, and the Norman barons withdrew from the army. Geoffrey and Stephen +were now both ready for peace. Geoffrey, it is said, despaired of +accomplishing anything against Stephen, so great was his power and +wealth; and Stephen, on the contrary, must have been influenced by the +weakness which recent events had revealed. In July a truce for two years +was agreed to between them. + +Closely connected with these events, but in exactly what way we do not +know, were others which show us something of the relations between the +king and the Earl of Gloucester, and which seem to indicate the growth of +suspicion on both sides. Robert had not come to Normandy with Stephen, +but on his departure he had followed him, crossing at Easter. What he had +been doing in England since he had made his treaty with the king at +Oxford, or what he did in Normandy, where he had extensive possessions, +we do not know; but the period closes with an arrangement between him and +Stephen which looks less like a renewal of their treaty than a truce. In +the troubles in the king's army during the summer campaign against +Geoffrey, Robert was suspected of treason. At one time William of Ypres +set some kind of a trap for him, in which he hoped to take him at a +disadvantage, but failed. The outcome of whatever happened was, evidently +that Stephen found himself placed in a wrong and somewhat dangerous +position, and was obliged to take an oath that he would attempt nothing +further against the earl, and to pledge his faith in the hand of the +Archbishop of Rouen. Robert accepted the new engagements of the king in +form, and took no open steps against him for the present; but it is clear +that the relation between them was one of scarcely disguised suspicion. +It was a situation with which a king like Henry I would have known how to +deal, but a king like Henry I would have occupied by this time a stronger +position from which to move than Stephen did, because his character would +have made a far different impression. + +While these events were taking place in Normandy, across the border in +France other events were occurring, to be in the end of as great interest +in the history of England as in that of France. When William, Duke of +Aquitaine, returned from his expedition with Geoffrey, he seems to have +been troubled in his conscience by his heathenish deeds in Normandy, and +he made a pilgrimage to St. James of Compostella to seek the pardon of +heaven. In this he seemed to be successful, and he died there before the +altar of the apostle, with all the comforts of religion. When he knew +that his end was approaching, he besought his barons to carry out the +plan which he had formed of conveying the duchy to the king of France, +with the hand of his daughter and heiress Eleanor for his son Louis. The +proposition was gladly accepted, the marriage took place in July at +Bordeaux, and the young sovereign received the homage of the vassals of a +territory more than twice his father's in area, which was thus united +with the crown. Before the bridal pair could return to Paris, the reign +of Louis VI had ended, and Louis the Young had become king as Louis VII. +He was at this time about seventeen years old. His wife was two years +younger, and Henry of Anjou, the son of Matilda, whose life was to be +even more closely associated with hers, had not yet finished his fifth +year. + +During Stephen's absence in Normandy there had been nothing to disturb +the peace of England. Soon after his departure the king of Scotland had +threatened to invade the north, but Thurstan, the aged Archbishop of +York, went to meet him, and persuaded him to agree to a truce until the +return of King Stephen from Normandy. This occurred not long before +Christmas. Most of the barons of Normandy crossed over with him, but +Robert of Gloucester again took his own course and remained behind. There +was business for Stephen in England at once. An embassy from David of +Scotland waited on him and declared the truce at an end unless he were +prepared to confer the half-promised earldom of Northumberland on Henry +without further delay. Another matter, typical of Stephen and of the +times, demanded even earlier attention. Stephen owed much, as had all the +Norman kings, to the house of Beaumont, and he now attempted to make some +return. Simon of Beauchamp, who held the barony of Bedford and the +custody of the king's castle in that town, had died shortly before, +leaving a daughter only. In the true style of the strong kings, his +predecessors, Stephen proposed, without consulting the wishes of the +family, to bestow the hand and inheritance of the heiress on Hugh, known +as "the Poor," because he was yet unprovided for, brother of Robert of +Leicester and Waleran of Meulan, and to give him the earldom of Bedford. +The castle had been occupied with his consent by Miles of Beauchamp, +Simon's nephew, and to him Stephen sent orders to hand the castle over to +Hugh and to do homage to the new Earl of Bedford for whatever he held of +the king. It was to this last command apparently that Miles especially +objected, and he refused to surrender the castle unless his own +inheritance was secured to him. In great anger, Stephen collected a large +army and began the siege of the castle, perhaps on Christmas day itself. +The castle was stoutly defended. The siege had to be turned into a +blockade. Before it ended the king was obliged to go away to defend the +north against the Scots. After a siege of five weeks the castle was +surrendered to Bishop Henry of Winchester, who seems for some reason to +have opposed his brother's action in the case from the beginning. + +[29] Gesta Stephani, 5. + +[30] W. Malm., Hist. Nov., sec. 460. + +[31] Gesta Stefhani, 8. + +[32] Henry of Huntingdon, 270. + +[33] See Round, G. de Mandeville, 6. + +[34] Round, Geoffrey de Mandeville, 250-261; and Böhmer, Kirche +und Staat, 333-335. + +[35] Freeman, Norman Conquest, Vol. V, App. DD., is right in calling +attention to the fact but wrong in the use he makes of it. + +[36] Gesta Stephani, 14. + +[37] Ibid., 7. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +FEUDALISM UNDER A WEAK KING + +The year 1138, which began with the siege of Bedford castle, has to be +reckoned as belonging to the time when Stephen's power was still to all +appearance unshaken. But it is the beginning of the long period of +continuous civil warfare which ended only a few months before his death. +Judgment had already been passed upon him as a king. It is clear that +certain opinions about him, of the utmost importance as bearing on the +future, had by this time fixed themselves in the minds of those most +interested--that severe punishment for rebellion was not to be feared +from him; that he was not able to carry through his will against strong +opposition, or to force obedience; and that lavish grants of money and +lands were to be extorted from him as a condition of support. The +attractive qualities of Stephen's personality were not obscured by his +faults or overlooked in passing this judgment upon him, for chroniclers +unfavourable to him show the influence of them in recording their opinion +of his weakness; but the general verdict is plainly that which was stated +by the Saxon Chronicle under the year 1137, in saying that "he was a mild +man, and soft, and good, and did no justice." Such traits of character in +the sovereign created conditions which the feudal barons of any land +would be quick to use to their own advantage. + +The period which follows must not be looked upon as merely the strife +between two parties for the possession of the crown. It was so to the +candidates themselves; it was so to the most faithful of their +supporters. But to a large number of the barons most favourably situated, +or of those who were most unprincipled in pursuit of their own gain, it +was a time when almost anything they saw fit to demand might be won from +one side or the other, or from both alternately by well-timed treason. It +was the time in the history of England when the continental feudal +principality most nearly came into existence,--the only time after the +Conquest when several great dominions within the state, firmly united +round a local chief, obtained a virtual, or even it may be a formal, +independence of the sovereign's control. These facts are quite as +characteristic of the age as the struggle for the crown, and they account +for the continuance of the conflict more than does the natural balance of +the parties. No triumph for either side was possible, and the war ended +only when the two parties agreed to unite and to make common cause +against those who in reality belonged to neither of them. + +From the siege of Bedford castle, Stephen had been called to march to the +north by the Scottish invasion, which early in January followed the +failure of David's embassy. All Scottish armies were mixed bodies, but +those of this period were so not merely because the population of +Scotland was mixed, but because of the presence of foreign soldiers and +English exiles, and many of them were practically impossible to control. +Portions of Northumberland down to the Tyne were ravaged with the usual +barbarities of Scottish warfare before the arrival of Stephen. On his +coming David fell back across the border, and Stephen made reprisals on a +small district of southern Scotland. But his army would not support him +in a vigorous pushing of the campaign. The barons did not want to fight +in Lent, it seemed. Evidences of more open treason appear also to have +been discovered, and Stephen, angry but helpless, was obliged to abandon +further operations. + +Shortly after Easter David began a new invasion, and at about the same +time rebellion broke out in the south-west of England, in a way that +makes the suspicion natural that the two events were parts of a concerted +movement in favour of Matilda. This second Scottish invasion was hardly +more than a border foray, though it penetrated further into the country +than the first, and laid waste parts of Durham and Yorkshire. Lack of +discipline in the Scottish army prevented any wider success. The movement +in the south-west, however, proved more serious, and from it may be dated +the beginning of continuous civil war. Geoffrey Talbot, who had accepted +Stephen two years before, revolted and held Hereford castle against him. +From Gloucester, where he was well received, the king advanced against +Hereford about the middle of May, and took the castle after a month's +blockade, letting the garrison off without punishment, Talbot himself +having escaped the siege. But by the time this success had been gained, +or soon after, the rebellion had spread much wider. + +Whether the insurrection in the south and west had become somewhat +general before, or was encouraged by it to begin, the chief event +connected with it was the formal notice which Robert of Gloucester served +on the king, by messengers from Normandy, who reached Stephen about the +middle of June, that his allegiance was broken off. A beginning of +rebellion, at least, as in England, had occurred somewhat earlier across +the channel. In May Count Waleran of Meulan and William of Ypres had gone +back to Normandy to put down the disturbances there. In June, Geoffrey of +Anjou entered the duchy again with an armed force, and is said to have +persuaded Robert to take the side of his sister. Probably Robert had +quite as much as Geoffrey to do with the concerted action which seems to +have been adopted, and himself saw that the time had come for an open +stand. He had been taking counsel of the Church on the ethics of the +case. Numerous churchmen had informed him that he was endangering his +chances of eternal life by not keeping his original oath. He had even +applied to the pope, and had been told, in a written and formal reply, +that he was under obligation to keep the oath which he had sworn in the +presence of his father. Whether Innocent II was deciding an abstract +question of morals in this answer, or was moved by some temporary change +of policy, it is impossible to say. Robert's conscience was not troubled +by the oath he had taken to Stephen except because it was in violation of +the earlier one. That had been a conditional oath, and Robert declared +that Stephen had not kept the terms of the agreement; besides he had no +right to be king and therefore no right to demand allegiance. Robert's +possessions in England were so wide, including the strong castles of +Bristol and Dover, and his influence over the baronage was so great, that +his defection, though Stephen must have known for some time that it was +probable, was a challenge to a struggle for the crown more desperate than +the king had yet experienced. + +It is natural to suppose that the many barons who now declared against +the king, and fortified their castles, were influenced by a knowledge of +Robert's action, or at least by a knowledge that it was coming. No one of +these was of the rank of earl. William Peverel, Ralph Lovel, and Robert +of Lincoln, William Fitz John, William of Mohun, Ralph Paganel, and +William Fitz Alan, are mentioned by name as holding castles against the +king, besides a son of Robert's and Geoffrey Talbot who were at Bristol, +and Walkelin Maminot who held Dover. The movement was confined to the +southwest, but as a beginning it was not to be neglected. Stephen acted +with energy. He seized Robert's lands and destroyed his castles wherever +he could get at them. A large military force was summoned. The queen was +sent to besiege Dover castle, and she drew from her county of Boulogne a +number of ships sufficient to keep up the blockade of the harbour. The +king himself advanced from London, where he had apparently gone from +Hereford to collect his army and arrange his plans, against Bristol which +was the headquarters of Robert's party. + +Bristol was strong by nature, protected by two rivers and open to the +sea, and it had been strongly fortified and prepared for resistance. +There collected the main force of the rebels, vassals of Robert, or men +who, like Geoffrey Talbot, had been dispossessed by Stephen, and many +mercenaries and adventurers. Their resources were evidently much less +than their numbers, and probably to supply their needs as well as to +weaken their enemies they began the ravaging of the country and those +cruel barbarities quickly imitated by the other side, and by many barons +who rejoiced in the dissolution of public authority--the plundering of +the weak by all parties--from which England suffered so much during the +war. The lands of the king and of his supporters were systematically laid +waste. Cattle were driven off, movable property carried away, and men +subjected to ingenious tortures to force them to give up the valuables +they had concealed. Robert's son, Philip Gai, acquired the reputation of +a skilful inventor of new cruelties. These plundering raids were carried +to a distance from the city, and men of wealth were decoyed or kidnapped +into Bristol and forced to give up their property. The one attempt of +these marauders which was more of the nature of regular warfare, before +the king's approach, illustrates their methods as well. Geoffrey Talbot +led an attack on Bath, hoping to capture the city, but was himself taken +and held a prisoner. On the news of this a plot was formed in Bristol for +his release. A party was sent to Bath, who besought the bishop to come +out and negotiate with them, promising under oath his safe return; but +when he complied they seized him and threatened to hang him unless +Geoffrey were released. To this the bishop, in terror of his life, at +last agreed. Stephen shortly after came to Bath on his march against +Bristol, and was with difficulty persuaded not to punish the bishop by +depriving him of his office. + +Stephen found a difficult task before him at Bristol. Its capture by +assault was impracticable. A siege would have to be a blockade, and this +it would be very hard to make effective because of the difficulty of +cutting off the water communication. Stephen's failure to command the +hearty and honest support of his own barons is also evident here as in +almost every other important undertaking of his life. All sorts of +conflicting advice were given him, some of it intentionally misleading we +are told.[38] Finally he was persuaded that it would be better policy to +give up the attempt on Bristol for the present, and to capture as many as +possible of the smaller castles held by the rebels. In this he was fairly +successful. He took Castle Gary and Harptree, and, after somewhat more +prolonged resistance, Shrewsbury, which was held by William Fitz Alan, +whose wife was Earl Robert's niece. In this last case Stephen departed +from his usual practice and hanged the garrison and its commander. The +effect of this severity was seen at once. Many surrenders and submissions +took place, including, probably at this time, the important landing places +of Dover and Wareham. + +In the meantime, at almost exactly the date of the surrender of +Shrewsbury, affairs in the north had turned even more decidedly in the +king's favour. About the end of July, King David of Scotland, very likely +as a part of the general plan of attack on Stephen, had crossed the +borders into England, for the third time this year, with a large army +gathered from all his dominions and even from beyond. Treason to Stephen, +which had before been suspected, now in one case at least openly declared +itself. Eustace Fitz John, brother of Payne Fitz John, and like him one +of Henry I's new men who had been given important trusts in the north, +but who had earlier in the year been deprived by Stephen of the custody +of Bamborough Castle on suspicion, joined King David with his forces, and +arranged to give up his other castles to him. David with his motley host +came on through Northumberland and Durham, laying waste the land and +attacking the strongholds in his usual manner. On their side the barons +of the north gathered in York at the news of this invasion, the greatest +danger of the summer, but found themselves almost in despair at the +prospect. Stephen, occupied with the insurrection in the south, could +give them no aid, and their own forces seemed unequal to the task. Again +the aged Archbishop Thurstan came forward as the real leader in the +crisis. He pictured the sacred duty of defence, and under his influence +barons and common men alike were roused to a holy enthusiasm, and the war +became a crusade. He promised the levies of the parishes under the parish +priests, and was with difficulty dissuaded, though he was ill, from +encouraging in person the warriors on the battlefield itself. A sacred +banner was given them under which to fight--the standard from which this +most famous battle of Stephen's reign gets its name--a mast erected on a +wagon, carrying the banners of St. Peter of York, St. John of Beverly, +and St. Wilfrid of Ripon, and with a pyx at the top containing the Host, +that, "present in his body with them, Christ might be their leader in the +battle." The army was full of priests and higher clergy, who moved +through the ranks before the fighting began, stimulating the high +religious spirit with which all were filled. + +The list of the barons who gathered to resist this invasion contains an +unusual number of names famous in the later history of England. The +leader, from his age and experience and the general respect in which he +was held, was Walter Espec; the highest in rank was William of Aumale. +Others were Robert of Bruce, William of Percy, Ilbert of Lacy, Richard of +Courcy, Robert of Stuteville, William Fossard, Walter of Ghent, and Roger +of Mowbray, who was too young, men thought, to be in battle. Stephen had +sent a small reinforcement under Bernard of Balliol, and Robert of +Ferrers was there from Derbyshire, and William Peverel even, though his +castles were at the time defying the king in the further south. As the +armies were drawing near each other, Bruce and Balliol went together to +remind the Scottish king of all that his family owed to the kings of +England, and to persuade him to turn back, but they were hailed as +traitors because they owed a partial allegiance to Scotland, and their +mission came to nothing. + +The battle was fought early in the day on August 22 near Northallerton. +The English were drawn up in a dense mass round their standard, all on +foot, with a line of the best-armed men on the outside, standing "shield +to shield and shoulder to shoulder," locked together in a solid ring, and +behind them the archers and parish levies. Against this "wedge" King +David would have sent his men-at-arms, but the half-naked men of Galloway +demanded their right to lead the attack. "No one of these in armour will +go further to-day than I will," cried a chieftain of the highlands, and +the king yielded. But their fierce attack was in vain against the "iron +wall"; they only shattered themselves. David's son Henry made a gallant +though badly executed attempt to turn the fortunes of the day, but this +failed also, and the Scottish army was obliged to withdraw defeated to +Carlisle. There was little pursuit, but the Scottish loss was heavy, and +great spoil of baggage and armour abandoned in their hasty retreat was +gathered by the English. David did not at once give up the war, but the +capture of Wark and a few border forays of subordinates were of no +influence on the result. The great danger of a Scottish conquest of the +north or invasion of central England was for the present over. + +In a general balance of the whole year we must say that the outcome was +in favour of Stephen. The rebellion had not been entirely subdued. +Bristol still remained a threatening source of future danger. Stephen +himself had given the impression of restless but inefficient energy, of +rushing about with great vigour from one place to another, to besiege one +castle or another, but of accomplishing very little. As compared with the +beginning of the year he was not so strong or so secure as he had been; +yet still there was no serious falling off of power. There was nothing in +the situation which threatened his fall, or which would hold out to his +enemies any good hope of success. In Normandy the result of the year was +but little less satisfactory. Geoffrey's invasion in June had been +checked and driven back by Count Waleran and William of Ypres. In the +autumn the attempt was renewed, and with no better result, though +Argentan remained in Geoffrey's hands. The people of the duchy had +suffered as much as those of England from private war and unlicensed +pillage, but while such things indicated the weakness of authority they +accomplished little towards its overthrow. + +During this year, 1138, Stephen adopted a method of strengthening himself +which was imitated by his rival and by later kings, and which had a most +important influence on the social and constitutional history of England. +We have noticed already his habit of lavish gifts. Now he began to +include the title of earl among the things to be given away to secure +fidelity. Down to this time the policy of William the Conqueror had been +followed by his successors, and the title had been very sparingly +granted. Stephen's first creation was the one already mentioned, that of +Hugh "the Poor," of Beaumont, as Earl of Bedford, probably just at the +end of 1137. In the midst of the insurrection of the south-west, Gilbert +of Clare, husband of the sister of the three Beaumont earls, was made +Earl of Pembroke. As a reward for their services in defeating King David +at the battle of the standard, Robert of Ferrers was made Earl of Derby, +and William of Aumale Earl of Yorkshire. Here were four creations in less +than a year, only a trifle fewer than the whole number of earls in +England in the last years of Henry I. In the end Stephen created nine +earls. Matilda followed him with six others, and most of these new titles +survived the period in the families on which they were conferred. It is +from Stephen's action that we may date the entry of this title into +English history as a mark of rank in the baronage, more and more freely +bestowed, a title of honour to which a family of great possessions or +influence might confidently aspire. But it must be remembered that the +earldoms thus created are quite different from those of the Anglo-Saxon +state or from the countships of France. They carried with them increase +of social consideration and rank, usually some increase of wealth in +grants from crown domains accompanying the creation, and very probably +increased influence in state and local affairs, but they did not of +themselves, without special grant, carry political functions or power, or +any independence of position. They meant rank and title simply, not +office. + +Just at the close of the year the archbishopric of Canterbury was filled, +after being a twelvemonth in the king's hands. During the vacancy the pope +had sent the Bishop of Ostia as legate to England. He had been received +without objection, had made a visitation of England, and at Carlisle had +been received by the Scottish king as if that city were a part of his +kingdom. The ambition of Henry of Winchester to become primate of Britain +was disappointed. He had made sure of the succession, and seems actually +to have exercised some metropolitan authority; perhaps he had even been +elected to the see during the time when his brother's position was in +danger. But now Stephen declared himself firmly against his preferment, +and the necessary papal sanction for his translation from one see to +another was not granted. Theobald, Abbot of Bec, was elected by a process +which was in exact accordance with that afterwards described in the +Constitutions of Clarendon, following probably the lines of the compromise +between Henry and Anselm;[39] and he departed with the legate to receive +his pallium, and to attend with other bishops from England the council +which had been called by the pope. If Stephen's refusal to allow his +brother's advancement had been a part of a systematic policy, carefully +planned and firmly executed, of weakening and finally overthrowing the +great ecclesiastics and barons of England who were so strong as to be +dangerous to the crown, it would have been a wise act and a step towards +final success. But an isolated case of the sort, or two or three, badly +connected and not plainly parts of a progressive policy, could only be +exasperating and in truth weakening to himself. We are told that Henry's +anger inclined him to favour the Empress against his brother, and though +it may not have been an actual moving cause, the incident was probably not +forgotten when the question of supporting Matilda became a pressing one. + +The year 1139, which was destined to see the king destroy by his own act +all prospect of a secure and complete possession of the throne, opened +and ran one-half its course with no change of importance in the +situation. In April, Queen Matilda, who was in character and abilities +better fitted to rule over England than her husband, succeeded in making +peace with King David of Scotland, who stood in the same relation to her +as to the other Matilda, the Empress, since she was the daughter of his +sister Mary. The earldom of Northumberland was at last granted to Henry, +except the two strong castles of Newcastle and Barnborough, and under +certain restrictions, and the Scots gave hostages for the keeping of the +peace. At the same date, in the great Lateran council at Rome, to which +the English bishops had gone with the legate, the pope seems to have put +his earlier decision in favour of Stephen into formal and public shape. +In Stephen's mind this favour of the pope's was very likely balanced by +another act of his which had just preceded it, by which Henry of +Winchester had been created papal legate in England. By this appointment +he was given supreme power over the English Church, and gained nearly all +that he had hoped to get by becoming Archbishop of Canterbury. Personally +Stephen was occupied during the early months of the year, as he had been +the year before, in attacking the castles which were held against him; +but in the most important case, the siege of Ludlow castle, he met with +no success. + +At the end of June the great council of the kingdom came together at +Oxford, and there it was that Stephen committed the fatal mistake which +turned the tide of affairs against him. Of all the men who had been +raised to power in the service of Henry I, none occupied so commanding a +position as Roger, Bishop of Salisbury. As a priest he had attracted the +attention of Henry before he became king by the quickness with which he +got through the morning mass; he was taken into his service, and steadily +rose higher and higher until he became the head of the whole +administrative system, standing next to the king when he was in England, +and exercising the royal authority, as justiciar, when he was absent. In +his rise he had carried his family with him. His nephew Alexander was +Bishop of Lincoln. Another nephew Nigel was Bishop of Ely. His son Roger +was chancellor of the kingdom. The administrative and financial system +was still in the hands of the family. The opportunities which they had +enjoyed for so many years to enrich themselves from the public revenues, +very likely as a tacitly recognized part of the payment of their +services, they had not neglected. But they had gone further than this. +Evidently with some ulterior object in view, but with precisely what we +can only guess, they had been strengthening royal castles in their hands, +and even building new ones. That bishops should fortify castles of their +own, like barons, was not in accordance with the theory of the Church, +nor was it in accordance with the custom in England and Normandy. The +example had been followed apparently by Henry of Winchester, who had +under his control half a dozen strongholds. The situation would in +itself, and in any circumstances, be a dangerous one. In the present +circumstances the suspicion would be natural that a family which owed so +much to King Henry was secretly preparing to aid his daughter in an +attempt to gain the throne, and this suspicion was generally held by the +king's party. To this may be added the fact that, in the blow which he +now struck, we very possibly have an attempt on Stephen's part to carry +further the policy of weakening, in the interest of the crown, the too +strong ecclesiastical and baronial element in the state, which he had +begun in refusing the archbishopric of Canterbury to his brother. The +wealth of the family may have been an additional incentive, and intrigues +against these bishops by the powerful house of Beaumont are mentioned. +There is no reason to suppose, however, that the Beaumonts were not +acting, as they had so often done, in the real interests of the king, +which plainly demanded the breaking up of this threatening power. There +was nothing to indicate that the present was not a favourable time to +undertake it, and the best accounts of these events give us the +impression that Stephen was acting throughout with much confidence and a +feeling of strength and security. + +Whatever may have been his motive, Stephen's first move at the beginning +of the Oxford meeting was the extreme one of ordering the arrest of +bishops Roger and Alexander. The pretext for this was a street brawl +between some of their men and followers of the Beaumonts, and their +subsequent refusal to surrender to the king the keys of their castles. A +step of this kind would need clear reasons to justify it and much real +strength to make it in the end successful. Taken on what looked like a +mere pretext arranged for the purpose, it was certain to excite the alarm +and opposition of the Church. Stephen himself hesitated, as perhaps he +would have in any circumstances. The historian most in sympathy with his +cause expresses his disapproval.[40] The familiar point was urged that the +bishops were arrested, not as bishops, but as the king's ministers; and +this would have been sufficient under a king like the first two Williams. +But the arrest was not all. The bishops were treated with much indignity, +and were compelled to deliver up their castles by fear of something worse. +In Roger's splendid castle of Devizes were his nephew, the Bishop of Ely, +who had escaped arrest at Oxford, and Maud of Ramsbury, the mother of his +son Roger the Chancellor. William of Ypres forced its surrender by making +ready to hang the younger Roger before the walls, and Newark castle was +driven to yield by threatening to starve Bishop Alexander. + +The indignation of the clergy is expressed by every writer of the time. +It was probably especially bitter because Stephen was so deeply indebted +to them for his success and had recently made them such extensive +promises. Henry of Winchester, who may have had personal reasons for +alarm, was not disposed to play the part of Lanfranc and defend the king +for arresting bishops. He evidently believed that the king was not strong +enough to carry through his purpose, and that the Church was in a +position to force the issue upon him. Acting for the first time under his +commission as legate which he had received in the spring of the year, he +called a council to meet at Winchester, and summoned his brother to +answer before it for his conduct. The council met on August 30. The +Church was well represented. The legate's commission was read, and he +then opened the subject in a Latin speech in which he denounced his +brother's acts. The king was represented by Aubrey de Vere and the +Archbishop of Rouen, the baron defending the king's action point by +point, and the ecclesiastic denying the right of the bishops to hold +castles, and maintaining the right of the king to call for them. The +attempt of Henry did not succeed. His demand that the castles should be +given back to the bishops until the question should be settled was +refused, and the bishops were threatened with exile if they carried the +case to Rome. The council ended without taking any action against the +king. Some general decrees were adopted against those who laid hands on +the clergy or seized their goods, but it was also declared, if we are +right in attributing the action to this body, that the castles of the +kingdom belonged to the king and to his barons to hold, and that the +duties of the clergy lay in another direction. Stephen retained the +bishops' castles and the treasures which he had found in them; and when +Bishop Roger died, three months later, his personal property was seized +into the king's hands. + +While these events were going on, the Empress and her brother had decided +that the time was favourable for a descent on England. In advance of +their coming, Baldwin of Redvers landed with some force at Wareham and +intrenched himself in Corfe castle against the king. Matilda and Robert +landed at Arundel on the last day of September with only one hundred and +forty men. Stephen had abandoned the siege of Corfe castle on the news +that they were about to cross, and had taken measures to prevent their +landing; but he had again turned away to something else, and their +landing was unopposed. Arundel castle was in possession of Adelaide, the +widowed queen of Henry I, now the wife of William of Albini. It is not +possible to suppose that this place was selected for the invasion without +a previous understanding; and there, in the keeping of her stepmother, +Robert left his sister and set out immediately on his landing for +Bristol, taking with him only twelve men. On hearing of this Stephen +pursued, but failed to overtake him, and turned back to besiege Arundel +castle. Then occurred one of the most astonishing events of Stephen's +career--astonishing alike to his contemporaries and to us, but typical in +a peculiar degree of the man. + +Queen Adelaide became alarmed on the approach of Stephen, and began to +take thought of what she had to lose if the king should prove successful, +as there was every reason to suppose he would; and she proposed to +abandon Matilda's cause and to hand her over at once to Stephen. Here was +an opportunity to gain a most decided advantage--perhaps to end the whole +strife. With Matilda in his hands, Stephen would have been master of the +situation. He could have sent her back to Normandy and so have ended the +attempt at invasion. He could have kept her in royal captivity, or have +demanded the surrender of her claims as the price of her release. Instead +of seizing the occasion, as a Henry or a William would certainly have +done, he was filled with chivalrous pity for his cousin's strait, and +sent her with an escort under Henry of Winchester and Waleran of Meulan +to join her brother at Bristol. The writers of the time explain his +conduct by his own chivalrous spirit, and by the treasonable persuasions +of his brother Henry, who, we may believe, had now reasons for +disloyalty. The chivalrous ideals of the age certainly had great power +over Stephen, as they would have over any one with his popular traits of +mind and manners; and his strange throwing away of this advantage was +undoubtedly due to this fact, together with the readiness with which he +yielded to the persuasions of a stronger spirit. The judgment of Orderic +Vitalis, who was still writing in Normandy, is the final judgment of +history on the act: "Surely in this permission is to be seen the great +simplicity of the king or his great stupidity, and he is to be pitied by +all prudent men because he was unmindful of his own safety and of the +security of his kingdom." + +This was the turning-point in Stephen's history. Within the brief space +of two months, by two acts surprisingly ill-judged and even of folly, he +had turned a position of great strength, which might easily have been +made permanently secure, into one of great weakness; and so long as the +struggle lasted he was never able to recover what he had lost. By his +treatment of the bishops he had turned against himself the party in the +state whose support had once been indispensable, and whose power to +injure him he was soon to feel. By allowing Matilda and her brother to +enter Bristol, he had given to all the diverse elements of opposition in +England the only thing they still needed; a natural leadership, and from +an impregnable position. Either of these mistakes alone might not have +been fatal. Their coming together as they did made then irretrievable +blunders. + +No sudden falling off of strength marks the beginning of Stephen's +decline. Two barons of the west who had been very closely connected with +Henry I and with Robert, but who had both accepted Stephen, declared now +for Matilda, Brian Fitz Count of Wallingford, and Miles of Gloucester. +Other minor accessions in the neighbourhood seem to have followed. About +the middle of October the Empress went on to Gloucester, where her +followers terrorized city and country as they had at Bristol. Stephen +conducted his counter-campaign in his usual manner, attacking place after +place without waiting to finish any enterprise. The recovery of +Malmesbury castle, which he had lost in October, was his only success, +and this was won by persuasion rather than by arms. Hereford and +Worcester suffered severely from attacks of Matilda's forces, and +Hereford was captured. The occupation of Gloucester and Hereford was the +most important success of the Empress's party, and with Bristol they mark +the boundaries of the territory she may be said to have gained, with some +outlying points like Wallingford, which the king had not been able to +recover. On December 11, Bishop Roger of Salisbury died, probably never +having recovered from the blow struck by Stephen in August. He had +occupied a great place in the history of England, but it had been in +political and constitutional, not in religious history. It may very +likely have seemed to him, in the last three months of his life, that the +work to which he had given himself, in the organization of the +administrative and financial machinery of the government, was about to be +destroyed in the ruin of his family and the anarchy of civil war; but +such forebodings, if he felt them, did not prove entirely true. + +The year 1140 is one of the most dreary in the slow and wearing conflict +which had now begun. No event of special interest tempts us to linger +upon details. The year opens with a successful attack by the king on +Nigel, Bishop of Ely, who had escaped at the time of his uncle's arrest, +and who was now preparing for revolt in his bishopric. Again the bishop +himself escaped, and joined Matilda's party, but Stephen took possession +of the Isle of Ely. An effort to add Cornwall to the revolted districts +was equally unsuccessful. Reginald of Dunstanville, a natural son of +Henry I, appeared there in the interest of his sister, who, imitating the +methods of Stephen, created him, at this time or a little later, Earl of +Cornwall; but his rule was unwise, and Stephen advancing in person had no +difficulty in recovering the country. The character which the war was +rapidly assuming is shown by the attempt of Robert Fitz Hubert, a Flemish +mercenary, to hold the strong castle of Devizes, which he had seized by +surprise, in his own interest and in despite of both parties. He fell a +victim to his own methods employed against himself, and was hanged by +Robert of Gloucester. In the spring a decided difference of opinion arose +between the king and his brother Henry about the appointment of a +successor to Roger of Salisbury, which ended in the rejection of both +their candidates and a long vacancy in the bishopric. Henry of Winchester +was, however, not yet ready openly to abandon the cause of his brother, +and he busied himself later in the year with efforts to bring about an +understanding between the opposing parties, which proved unavailing. A +meeting of representatives of both sides near Bath led to no result, and +a journey of Henry's to France, perhaps to bring the influence of his +brother Theobald and of the king of France to bear in favour of peace, +was also fruitless. During the summer Stephen gained an advantage in +securing the hand of Constance, the sister of Louis VII of France, for +his son Eustace, it was believed at the time by a liberal use of the +treasures of Bishop Roger. + +At Whitsuntide and again in August the restlessness of Hugh Bigod in East +Anglia had forced Stephen to march against him. Perhaps he felt that he +had not received a large enough reward for the doubtful oath which he had +sworn to secure the king his crown. Stephen at any rate was now in a +situation where he could not withhold rewards, or even refuse demands in +critical cases; and it was probably at this time, certainly not long +after, that, following the policy he had now definitely adopted, he +created Hugh Earl of Norfolk. A still more important and typical case, +which probably occurred in the same year, is that of Geoffrey de +Mandeville. Grandson of a baron of the Conquest, he was in succession to +his father, constable of the Tower in London, and so held a position of +great strategic importance in turbulent times. Early in the strife for +the crown he seems to have seen very clearly the opportunity for +self-aggrandizement which was offered by the uncertainty of Stephen's +power, and to have resolved to make the most of it for his own gain +without scruple of conscience. His demand was for the earldom of Essex, +and this was granted him by the king. Apparently about the same time +occurred a third case of the sort which completes the evidence that the +weakness of Stephen's character was generally recognized, and that in the +resulting attitude of many of the greater barons we have the key to his +reign. One of the virtually independent feudal principalities created in +England by the Conqueror and surviving to this time was the palatine +earldom of Chester. The then earl was Ralph II, in succession to his +father Ralph Meschin, who had succeeded on the death of Earl Richard in +the sinking of the White Ship. It had been a grievance of the first +Ralph that he had been obliged by King Henry to give up his lordship of +Carlisle on taking the earldom, and this grievance had been made more +bitter for the second Ralph when the lordship had been transferred to the +Scots. There was trouble also about the inheritance of his mother Lucy, +in Lincolnshire, in which another son of hers, Ralph's half-brother, +William of Roumare, was interested. We infer that toward the end of the +year 1140 their attitude seemed threatening to the king, for he seems to +have visited them and purchased their adherence with large gifts, +granting to William the earldom of Lincoln. + +Then follows rapidly the series of events which led to the crisis of the +war. The brothers evidently were not yet satisfied. Stephen had retained +in his hands the castle of Lincoln and this Ralph and William seized by a +stratagem. Stephen, informed of what had happened by a messenger from the +citizens, acted with his characteristic energy at the beginning of any +enterprise, broke up his Christmas court at London, and suddenly, to the +great surprise of the earls, appeared in Lincoln with a besieging army. +Ralph managed to escape to raise in Chester a relieving army, and at once +took a step which becomes from this time not infrequent among the barons +of his stamp. He applied for help to Robert of Gloucester, whose +son-in-law he was, and offered to go over to Matilda with all that he +held. He was received, of course, with a warm welcome. Robert recognized +the opportunity which the circumstances probably offered to strike a +decisive blow, and, gathering the strongest force he could, he advanced +from Gloucester against the king. On the way he was joined by the Earl of +Chester, whose forces included many Welsh ready to fight in an English +quarrel but badly armed. The attacking army skirted Lincoln and appeared +on the high road leading to it from the north, where was the best +prospect of forcing an entrance to the city. + +The approach of the enemy led, as usual in Stephen's armies, to divided +counsels. Some were in favour of retreating and collecting a larger army, +others of fighting at once. To fight at once would be Stephen's natural +inclination, and he determined to risk a battle, which he must have known +would have decisive consequences. His army he drew up in three bodies +across the way of approach. Six earls were with the king, reckoning the +Count of Meulan, but they had not brought strong forces and there were +few horsemen. Five of these earls formed the first line. The second was +under William of Ypres and William of Aumale, and was probably made up +of the king's foreign troops. Stephen himself, with a strong band of +men all on foot, was posted in the rear. The enemy's formation was +similar. The Earl of Chester claimed the right to lead the attack, +because the quarrel was his, but the men upon whom Robert most depended +were the "disinherited," of whom he had collected many,--men raised up +by Matilda's father and cast down by Stephen, and now ready to stake all +on the hope of revenge and of restoration; and these he placed in the +first line. Earl Ralph led the second, and himself the third. The battle +was soon over, except the struggle round the king. His first and second +lines were quickly swept away by the determined charge of Robert's men +and took to flight, but Stephen and his men beat off several attacks +before he was finally overpowered and forced to yield. He surrendered +to Robert of Gloucester. Many minor barons were taken prisoners with +him, but the six earls all escaped. The citizens of Lincoln were punished +for their adhesion to the king's side by a sacking of the city, in which +many of them were slain. Stephen was taken to Gloucester by Robert, and +then sent to imprisonment in the castle of Bristol, the most secure place +which Matilda possessed. + +[38] Gesta Stephani, 42. + +[39] Gervase of Canterbury, i. 109. But see Ralph de Diceto, i. 252, +n. 2, and Böhmer, Kirche und Staat, 375. + +[40] Gesta Stephani, 47. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +THE LAST STAGE OF THE CIVIL WAR + +The victory at Lincoln changed the situation of affairs at a blow. From +holding a little oval of territory about the mouth of the Severn as the +utmost she had gained, with small immediate prospect of enlarging it, +Matilda found the way to the throne directly open before her with +no obstacle in sight not easily overcome. She set out at once for +Winchester. On his side, Bishop Henry was in no mood to stake his +position and influence on the cause of his brother. Stephen's attitude +towards him and towards the Church had smoothed the way for Matilda at +the point where she might expect the first and most serious check. The +negotiations were not difficult, but the result shows as clearly as in +the case of Stephen the disadvantage of the crown at such a crisis, and +the opportunity offered to the vassal, whether baron or bishop, who held +a position of independent strength and was determined to use it in his +own interests. The arrangement was called at the time a pactus--a +treaty. The Empress took oath to the bishop that all the more important +business of England, especially the filling of bishoprics and abbacies, +should be done according to his desire, and her oath was supported by +those of her brother and of the leading barons with her. The bishop in +turn received her as "Lady of England," and swore fealty to her as long +as she should keep this pact. The next day, March 3, she entered the +city, took possession of the small sum of money which had been left in +the treasury by Stephen and of the royal crown which was there, entered +the cathedral in solemn procession, supported by Henry and the Bishop of +St. David's, with four other bishops and several abbots present, and had +herself proclaimed at once "lady and queen of England," whatever the +double title may mean. Certainly she intended to be and believed herself +nothing less than reigning queen.[41] Without waiting for any ceremony +of coronation, she appointed a bishop, created earls, and spoke in a +formal document of her kingdom and her crown. + +Directly after these events Henry of Winchester had summoned a council, +to learn, very likely to guide, the decision of the Church as to a change +of allegiance. The council met in Winchester on April 7. On that day the +legate met separately, in secret session, the different orders of the +clergy, and apparently obtained from them the decision which he wished. +The next day in a speech to the council, he recited the misgovernment of +his brother, who, he declared, had, almost immediately after his +accession to power, destroyed the peace of the kingdom; and without any +allusion to his deposition, except to the battle of Lincoln as a judgment +of God, and with no formal action of the council as a whole, he announced +the choice of the Church in favour of Matilda. The day following, a +request of the Londoners and of the barons who had joined them for the +release of Stephen, and one of his queen's to the same effect, was +refused. The Empress was not present at the council. She spent Easter at +Oxford, receiving reports, no doubt, of the constant successes her party +was now gaining in different parts of England. It was not, however, till +the middle of June that London, naturally devoted to Stephen, was ready +to receive her. + +Her reception in London marks the height of her success. She bought the +support of the powerful Geoffrey de Mandeville by confirming to him the +price which he had extorted from Stephen, the earldom of Essex, and by +bidding higher than her rival with gifts of lands, revenues, and +privileges which started him on the road to independence of the crown, +which he well knew how to follow. Preparations were no doubt at once +begun for her coronation. Her uncle King David came down from Scotland to +lend it dignity, but it was destined never to occur. Her fall was as +rapid as her rise, and was due, even more clearly than Stephen's, to her +own inability to rule. The violent and tyrannical blood of her uncle, +William Rufus, showed itself in her as plainly as the irresolute blood of +Robert Curthose in her cousin, but she did not wait to gain her uncle's +security of position to make violence and tyranny possible. Already, +before she came up to London, she had offended her followers by the +arrogance and harshness of her conduct. Now these traits of character +proved fatal to her cause. She greatly offended the legate, to whom she +was as deeply indebted as Stephen had been, and whose power to injure her +she might easily understand, by refusing to promise that Eustace might +hold his father's continental counties of Boulogne and Mortain. Equally +unwise was her attitude towards London. She demanded a large subsidy. The +request of the citizens for a confirmation of the laws of King Edward, +because her father's were too heavy for them, she sternly refused. Queen +Matilda, "acting the part of a man," advanced with her forces to the +neighbourhood of the city and brought home to the burghers the evils of +civil war. They were easily moved. A sudden uprising of the city forced +the Empress to "ignominious" flight, leaving her baggage behind. She +retreated to Oxford, and Matilda the queen entered the recovered city. +Geoffrey de Mandeville at once brought his allegiance to the new market +and obtained, it is probable, another advance of price and Henry of +Winchester was easily persuaded to return to his brother's side. +"Behold," says the historian of the Empress's party, "while she was +thinking that she could immediately possess all England, everything +changed." He adds that the change was her own fault, and in this he was +right.[42] + +But Matilda was not ready to accept calmly so decided a reverse, nor to +allow Winchester to remain in undisturbed possession of her enemies, and +her brother Robert was not. They had been driven from London on June 24. +At the end of July, with a strong force, they attacked the older capital +city, took possession of a part of it, forced the bishop to flee, and +began the siege of his castle. At once the leaders of Stephen's cause, +encouraged by recent events, gathered against them. While the Empress +besieged the bishop's men from within, she was herself besieged from +without by superior forces. At last the danger of being cut off from all +supplies forced her to retreat, and in the retreat Robert of Gloucester, +protecting his sister's flight, was himself captured. This was a great +stroke of fortune, because it balanced for practical purposes the capture +of Stephen at the battle of Lincoln, and it at once suggested an even +exchange. Negotiations were not altogether easy. Robert modestly insisted +that he was not equal to a king, but the arrangement was too obvious to +admit of failure, and the exchange was effected at the beginning of +November. + +Since the middle of June the course of affairs had turned rapidly in +favour of the king, but he was still far from having recovered the +position of strength which he occupied before the landing of Matilda. +Oxford was still in her hands, and so was a large part of the west of +England. The Earl of Chester was still on her side, though he had +signified his willingness to change sides if he were properly received. +Stephen had yet before him a hard task in recovering his kingdom, and he +never accomplished it. The war dragged on its slow length for more than +ten years. Its dramatic period, however, was now ended. Only the story of +Matilda's flight from Oxford enlivens the later narrative. Siege and +skirmish, treason and counter-treason, fill up the passing months, but +bring the end no nearer, until the entry of the young Henry on the scene +lends a new element of interest and decision to the dull movement of +events. + +At first after his release Stephen carried on the work of restoration +rapidly and without interruption. London received him with joy. At +Christmas time he wore his crown at Canterbury; he was probably, indeed, +re-crowned by the archbishop, to make good any defect which his +imprisonment might imply. Already, on December 7, a new council, +assembling in Westminster, had reversed the decisions of the council of +Winchester, and, supported by a new declaration of the pope in a letter +to the legate, had restored the allegiance of the Church to Stephen. At +the Christmas assembly Geoffrey de Mandeville secured from the king the +reward of his latest shift of sides, in a new charter which increased a +power already dangerous and made him an almost independent prince. In the +creation of two new earls a short time before, William of Albini as Earl +of Sussex or Arundel, and Gilbert of Clare as Earl of Hertford, Stephen +sought to confirm a doubtful, and to reward a steady, support. No event +of importance marks the opening months of 1142. Lent was spent in a royal +progress through eastern England, where as yet the Empress had obtained +no footing, to York. On the way, at Stamford, he seems to have recovered +the allegiance of the Earl of Chester and of his brother, the Earl of +Lincoln, a sure sign of the change which had taken place since the battle +in which they had overcome him so disastrously a year before. + +In the summer Stephen again assumed the offensive and pushed the attack +on his enemies with energy and skill. After a series of minor successes +he advanced against the Empress herself at Oxford, where she had made her +headquarters since the loss of London. Her brother Robert, who was the +real head of her party, was now in Normandy, whither he had gone to +persuade Geoffrey to lend the support of his personal presence to his +wife's cause in England, but he had made sure, as he believed, of his +sister's safety before going. The fortifications of Oxford had been +strengthened. The barons had pledged themselves to guard Matilda, and +hostages had been exacted from some as a check on the fashion of free +desertion. It seems to have been felt, however, that Stephen would not +venture to attack Oxford, and there had been no special concentration of +strength in the city; so that when he suddenly appeared on the south, +having advanced down the river from the west, he was easily able to +disperse the burghers who attempted to dispute his passage of the river, +and to enter one of the gates with them in their flight. The town was +sacked, and the king then sat down to a siege of the castle. The siege +became a blockade, which lasted from the end of September to near +Christmas time, though it was pushed with all the artillery of the age, +and a blockade in which the castle was carefully watched day and night. +Stephen seems to have changed his mind since the time when he had +besieged Matilda in Arundel castle, and to have been now determined to +take his rival prisoner. The barons who had promised to protect the +Empress gathered at Wallingford, but did not venture to attempt a direct +raising of the siege. Robert of Gloucester returned from Normandy about +December 1, but Stephen allowed him to win a small success or two, and +kept steadily to his purpose. + +As it drew near to Christmas provisions became low in the castle, and the +necessity of surrender unpleasantly clear. Finally Matilda determined to +attempt a bold escape. It was a severe winter and the ground was entirely +covered with snow. With only a few attendants--three and five are both +mentioned--she was let down with ropes from a tower, and, clad all in +white, stole through the lines of the besiegers, detected only by a +sentry, who raised no alarm. With determined spirit and endurance she +fled on foot through the winter night and over difficult ways to +Abingdon, six miles away. There she obtained horses and rode on to +Wallingford, where she was safe. The castle of Oxford immediately +surrendered to Stephen, but the great advantage for which he had striven +had escaped him when almost in his hands. Robert of Gloucester, who was +preparing to attempt the raising of the siege, at once joined his sister +at Wallingford, and brought with him her son, the future Henry II, sent +over in place of his father, on his first visit to England. Henry was now +in his tenth year, and for four years and more he remained in England in +the inaccessible stronghold of Bristol, studying with a tutor under the +guardianship of his uncle. Robert's mission of the previous summer, to +get help for Matilda in England, proved more useful to Geoffrey than to +his wife. During a rapid campaign the conquest of the duchy had at last +been really begun, and in the two following years it was carried to a +successful conclusion. On January 20,1144, the city of Rouen surrendered +to the Count of Anjou, though the castle held out for some time longer. +Even Waleran of Meulan recognized the new situation of affairs, and gave +his aid to the cause of Anjou, and before the close of the year Louis VII +formally invested Geoffrey with the duchy. This much of the plan of Henry +I was now realized; Stephen never recovered possession of Normandy. But +without England, it was realized in a way which destroyed the plan +itself, and England was still far from any union with the Angevin +dominions. + +By the time the conquest of Normandy was completed, events of equal +interest had taken place in England, involving the fall of the powerful +and shifty Earl of Essex, Geoffrey de Mandeville. Soon after Easter, +1142, he had found an opportunity for another prudent and profitable +change of sides. The king had fallen ill on his return from the north, +and, once more, as at the beginning of his reign, the report of his death +was spread abroad. Geoffrey seems to have hurried at once to the Empress, +as a probable source of future favours, and to have carried with him a +small crowd of his friends and relatives, including the equally +unscrupulous Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk. Matilda, who was then at +Oxford, and had no prospect of any immediate advance, was again ready to +give him all he asked. Her fortunes were at too low an ebb to warrant her +counting the cost, and in any case what she was buying was of great value +if she could make sure that the sellers would keep faith. Geoffrey, with +his friends, and Nigel, Bishop of Ely, who was already on her side, +controlling Essex, Hertford, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridge, could give +her possession of as large a territory on the east of England as she now +held on the west, and this would very likely carry with it the occupation +of London once more, and would threaten to cut the kingdom of Stephen +into two detached fragments. Geoffrey was in a position to drive a good +bargain, and he did so. New lands and revenues, new rights and +privileges, were added to those he had already extorted from both sides; +the Empress promised to make no peace without his consent with his +"mortal enemies," the burghers of London, towards whom she probably had +herself just then no great love. Geoffrey's friends were admitted to +share with him in the results of his careful study of the conditions of +the market, especially his brother-in-law, Aubrey de Vere, who was made +Earl by his own choice of Cambridge, but in the end of Oxford, probably +because Matilda's cousin, Henry of Scotland, considered that Cambridge +was included in his earldom of Huntingdon. What price was offered to Hugh +Bigod, or to Gilbert Clare, Earl of Pembroke, who seems to have been of +the number, we do not know. + +As a matter of fact, neither Geoffrey nor the Empress gained anything +from this bargaining. Stephen was not dead, and his vigorous campaign of +the summer of 1142 evidently made it seem prudent to Geoffrey to hold his +intended treason in reserve for a more promising opportunity. It is +probable that Stephen soon learned the facts, before very long they +became common talk, but he awaited on his side a better opportunity to +strike. The earl had grown too powerful to be dealt with without +considering ways and means. Contemporary writers call him the most +powerful man in England, and they regard his abilities with as much +respect as his possessions and power. Stephen took his opportunity in the +autumn of 1143, at a court held at St. Albans. The time was not wisely +chosen. Things had not been going well with him during the summer. At +Wilton he had been badly defeated by the Earl of Gloucester, and nearly +half of England was in Matilda's possession or independent of his own +control. But he yielded to the pressure of Geoffrey's enemies at the +court, and ordered and secured his arrest on a charge of treason. The +stroke succeeded no better than such measures usually did with Stephen, +for he was always satisfied with a partial success. A threat of hanging +forced the earl to surrender his castles, including the Tower of London, +and then he was released. Geoffrey was not the man to submit to such a +sudden overthrow without a trial of strength. With some of his friends he +instantly appealed to arms, took possession of the Isle of Ely, where he +was sure of a friendly reception, seized Ramsey Abbey, and turning out +the monks made a fortress of it, and kept his forces in supplies by +cruelly ravaging the surrounding lands. + +It has been thought that the famous picture of the sufferings of the +people of England during the anarchy of Stephen's reign, which was +written in the neighbouring city of Peterborough, where the last of the +English Chronicles was now drawing to its close, gained its vividness +from the writer's personal knowledge of the horrors of this time; and +this is probable, though he speaks in general terms. His pitiful account +runs thus in part: "Every powerful man made his castles and held them +against him [the king]; and they filled the land full of castles. They +cruelly oppressed the wretched men of the land with castle-works. When +the castles were made, they filled them with devils and evil men. Then +took they those men that they thought had any property ... and put them +in prison for their gold and silver, and tortured them with unutterable +torture; for never were martyrs so tortured as they were. They hanged +them up by the feet and smoked them with foul smoke; they hanged them by +the thumbs or by the head and hung armour on their feet; they put knotted +strings about their heads and writhed them so that they went into the +brain. They put them in dungeons in which were adders, and snakes, and +toads, and killed them so.... Then was corn dear, and flesh, and cheese, +and butter; for there was none in the land. Wretched men died of hunger; +some went seeking alms who at one while were rich men; some fled out of +the land. Never yet had more wretchedness been in the land, nor ever did +heathen men do worse than they did; for oftentimes they forbore neither +church nor churchyard, but took all the property that was therein and +then burned the church and all together.... However a man tilled, the +earth bare no corn; for the land was all fordone by such deeds; and they +said openly that Christ and his saints slept." + +Geoffrey de Mandeville's career of plundering and sacrilege was not +destined to continue long. Towards the end of the summer of 1144, he was +wounded in the head by an arrow, in an attack on a fortified post which +the king had established at Burwell to hold his raids in check; and soon +after he died. His body was carried to the house of the Templars in +London, but for twenty years it could not be received into consecrated +ground, for he had died with his crimes unpardoned and under the ban of +the Church, which was only removed after these years by the efforts of +his younger son, a new Earl of Essex. To the great power for which +Geoffrey was playing, to his independent principality, or to his possibly +even higher ambition of controlling the destinies of the crown of +England, there was no successor. His eldest son, Ernulf, shared his +father's fall and condemnation, and was disinherited, though from him +there descended a family holding for some generations a minor position in +Oxfordshire. Twelve years after the death of Geoffrey, his second +son--also Geoffrey--was made Earl of Essex by Henry II, and his faithful +service to the king, and his brother's after him, were rewarded by +increasing possessions and influence that almost rivalled their father's; +but the wilder designs and unscrupulous methods of the first Earl of +Essex perished with him. + +The years 1144 and 1145 were on the whole prosperous for Stephen. A +number of minor successes and minor accessions from the enemy made up a +general drift in his favour. Even the Earl of Gloucester's son Philip, +with a selfishness typical of the time, turned against his father; but +the most important desertion to the king was that of the Earl of Chester, +who joined him in 1146 and made a display of zeal, real or pretended, in +his service. Starting with greater power and a more independent position +than Geoffrey de Mandeville, and perhaps less openly bartering his +allegiance to one side and the other at a constantly rising price, he had +still pursued the same policy and with even greater success. His design +was hardly less than the carving out of a state for himself from western +and northern England, and during much of this disjointed time he seems to +have carried himself with no regard to either side. To go over to the +king so soon after the fall of the Earl of Essex was, it is likely, to +take some risk, and as in the former case there was a party at the court +which influenced Stephen against him. His refusal, notwithstanding his +zeal, to restore castles and lands belonging to the king, and his attempt +to induce Stephen to aid him against the Welsh, which was considered a +plot to get possession of the king's person, led to his arrest. Again +Stephen followed his habitual policy of forcing the surrender of his +prisoner's castles, or certain of them, and then releasing him; and again +the usual result followed, the instant insurrection of the earl. His real +power had hardly been lessened by giving up the king's castles,--to which +he had been forced,--and it was not easy to attack him. On a later visit +of the young Henry to England, he obtained from him, and even from the +king of Scotland, to whom he had long been hostile, large additions to +his coveted principality in the west and north; but Stephen at once bid +higher, and for a grant including the same possessions and more he +abandoned his new allies. On Henry's final visit, in 1153, when the tide +was fairly turning in his favour, another well-timed treason secured the +earl his winnings and great promises for the future; but in this same +year he died, poisoned, as it was believed, by one whose lands he had +obtained. Out of the breaking up of England and the helplessness of her +rulers arose no independent feudalism. Higher titles and wider lands many +barons did gain, but the power of the king emerged in the end still +supreme, and the worst of the permanent evils of the feudal system, a +divided state, though deliberately sought and dangerously near, was at +last averted. + +With the death of Pope Innocent II, in September, 1143, a new period +opened in the relation of the English Church and of the English king +towards the papacy. Innocent had been on the whole favourable to +Stephen's cause. His successor, Celestine II, was as favourable to Anjou, +but his papacy was so short that nothing was done except to withhold a +renewal of Henry of Winchester's commission as legate. Lucius II, who +succeeded in March, 1144, sent his own legate to England; but he was not +a partisan of either side, and seems even--perhaps by way of +compensation--to have taken steps towards creating an independent +archbishopric in the south-west in Henry's favour. His papacy again +lasted less than a year, and his successor, Eugenius III, whose reign +lasted almost to the end of Stephen's, was decidedly unfriendly. Henry of +Winchester was for a time suspended; and the king's candidate for the +archbishopric of York, William Fitz Herbert, afterwards St. William of +York,--whose position had long been in doubt, for though he had been +consecrated he had not received his pallium,--was deposed, and in his +place the Cistercian Abbot of Fountains, Henry Murdac, was consecrated by +the Cistercian pope. This was the beginning of open conflict. Henry +Murdac could not get possession of his see, and Archbishop Theobald was +refused permission to attend a council summoned by the pope at Reims for +March, 1148. He went secretly, crossing the channel in a fishing boat, +and was enthusiastically received by the pope. The Bishop of Winchester +was again suspended, and other bishops with him; several abbots were +deposed; and Gilbert Foliot, a decided partisan of Matilda's, was +designated Bishop of Hereford. The pope was with difficulty persuaded to +postpone the excommunication of Stephen himself, and steps were actually +taken to reopen before the Roman court the question of his right to the +throne. Stephen, on his side, responded with promptness and vigour. He +refused to acknowledge the right of the pope to reopen the main question. +The primate was banished and his temporalities confiscated. Most of the +English clergy were kept on the king's side, and in some way--there is +some evidence that the influence of Queen Matilda was employed--the +serious danger which threatened Stephen from the Church in the spring of +1148 was averted. Peace was made in November with Archbishop Theobald, +who had ineffectually tried an interdict, and he was restored to his see +and revenues. The practical advantage, on the whole, remained with the +king; but in the course of these events a young man, Thomas Becket, in +the service of the archbishop, acquired a training in ideas and in +methods which was to serve him well in a greater struggle with a greater +king. + +In the spring of the next year, young Henry of Anjou made an attempt on +England, and found his enemies still too strong for him. In the interval +since his first visit, Robert of Gloucester, the wisest of the leaders +of the Angevin cause, had died in his fortress of Bristol in 1174; and +in February of 1148, Matilda herself had given up her long and now +apparently hopeless struggle in England, and gone back to the home of +her husband, though she seems to have encouraged her son in his new +enterprise by her presence in England at least for a time.[43] The older +generation was disappearing from the field; the younger was preparing to +go on with the conflict. In 1149 Henry was sixteen years old, a mature +age in that time, and it might well have been thought that it was wise +to put him forward as leader in his own cause. The plan for this year +seems to have been an attack on Stephen from the north by the king of +Scotland in alliance with the Earl of Chester, and Henry passed rapidly +through western England to Carlisle, where he was knighted by King +David. Their army, which advanced to attack Lancaster, accomplished +nothing, because, as has been related, the allegiance of Ralph of +Chester, on whom they depended, had been bought back by Stephen; and +Stephen himself, waiting with his army at York, found that he had +nothing to do. The Scottish force withdrew, and Henry, again +disappointed, was obliged to return to Normandy. + +Three years later the young Henry made another and finally successful +attempt to win his grandfather's throne, but in the interval great +changes had occurred. Of these one fell in the year next following, 1150. +Soon after Henry's return from England, his father had handed over to him +the only portion of his mother's inheritance which had yet been +recovered, the duchy of Normandy, and retired himself to his hereditary +dominions. Geoffrey had never shown, so far as we know, any interest in +his wife's campaigns in England, and had confined his attention to +Normandy, in which one who was still primarily a count of Anjou would +naturally have the most concern; and of all the efforts of the family +this was the only one which was successful. Now while still a young man, +with rare disregard of self, he gave up his conquest to his son, who had +been brought up to consider himself as belonging rather to England than +to Anjou. On the other side of the channel, during this year 1150, +Stephen seems to have decided upon a plan which he bent every effort in +the following years to carry out, but unsuccessfully,--the plan of +securing a formal recognition of his son Eustace as his successor in the +throne, or even as king with him. At least this is the natural +explanation of the reconciliation which took place near the close of the +year, between Eustace and his father on one side and Henry Murdac on the +other, by which the archbishop was at last admitted to his see of York, +and then set off immediately for Rome to persuade the pope to recognize +Eustace, and even to consecrate the young man in person. + +In England the practice of crowning the son king in the father's lifetime +had never been followed, as it had been in some of the continental +states, notably in France; but the conditions were now exactly those +which would make such a step seem desirable to the holder of the crown. +By this means the Capetian family had maintained undisputed possession of +the throne through turbulent times with little real power of their own, +and they were now approaching the point when they could feel that the +custom was no longer necessary. The decision to attempt this method of +securing the succession while still in possession of power, rather than +to leave it to the uncertain chances that would follow his death, was for +Stephen natural and wise. It is interesting to notice how indispensable +the consent of the Church was considered, as the really deciding voice in +the matter, and it was this that Stephen was not able to secure. The +pope--this was about Easter time of 1151--rejected almost with +indignation the suggestion of Murdac, on the ground of the violated oath, +and forbade any innovation to be made concerning the crown of England, +because this was a subject of litigation; he also directed, very probably +at this time, the Archbishop of Canterbury, it was said at the suggestion +of Thomas Becket, to refuse to crown Eustace. + +With his duchy of Normandy, Henry had inherited at the same time the +danger of trouble with the king of France, for his father had greatly +displeased Louis by laying siege to the castle of a seditious vassal of +Anjou who happened to be a favourite of the king. It would seem that this +state of things suggested to Eustace an attack on Normandy in alliance +with King Louis, but the attempt was fruitless. Twice during the summer +of 1151 French armies invaded Normandy; the first led by the king +himself. Both invasions were met by Henry at the head of his troops, but +no fighting occurred on either occasion. On the second invasion, Louis +was ill of a fever in Paris, and negotiations for peace were begun, the +Church interesting itself to this end. Geoffrey and Henry certainly had +no wish for war. The king's friend, who had been captured, was handed +over to him; the Norman Vexin was surrendered to France; and in return +Louis recognized Henry as Duke of Normandy and accepted his homage. Henry +at once ordered an assembly of the Norman barons, on September 14, to +consider the invasion of England; but his plans were interrupted by the +sudden death of his father a week before this date. Geoffrey was then in +his thirty-ninth year. The course of his life had been marked out for him +by the plans of others, and it is obscured for us by the deeper interest +of the struggle in England, and by the greater brilliancy of his son's +history; but in the conquest of Normandy he had accomplished a work which +was of the highest value to his house, and of the greatest assistance to +the rapid success of his son on a wider field. + +Events were now steadily moving in favour of Henry. At the close of 1151, +the death of his father added the county of Anjou to his duchy of +Normandy. Early in 1152 a larger possession than these together, and a +most brilliant promise of future power, came to him through no effort of +his own. We have seen how at the beginning of the reign of Stephen, when +Henry himself was not yet five years old, Eleanor, heiress of Aquitaine, +had been married to young Louis of France, who became in a few weeks, by +the death of his father, King Louis VII. Half a lifetime, as men lived in +those days, they had spent together as man and wife, with no serious lack +of harmony. The marriage, however, could never have been a very happy +one. Incompatibility of temper and tastes must long have made itself felt +before the determination to dissolve the marriage was reached. Masculine +in character, strong and full of spirit, Eleanor must have looked with +some contempt on her husband, who was losing the energy of his younger +days and passing more and more under the influence of the darker and more +superstitious elements in the religion of the time, and she probably did +not hesitate to let her opinion be known. She said he was a monk and not +a king. To this, it is likely, was added the fact--it may very possibly +have been the deciding consideration--that during the more than fourteen +years of the marriage but two daughters had been born, and the Capetian +house still lacked an heir. Whatever may have been the reason, a divorce +was resolved upon not long after their return in 1149 from the second +crusade. The death in January, 1152, of Louis VI's great minister, Suger, +whose still powerful influence, for obvious political reasons, had +hindered the final steps, made the way clear. In March an assembly of +clergy, with many barons in attendance, declared the marriage void on the +convenient and easily adjustable principle of too near relationship, and +Eleanor received back her great inheritance. + +It was not likely that a woman of the character of Eleanor and of her +unusual attractions, alike of person and possessions, would quietly +accept as final the position in which this divorce had left her. After +escaping the importunate wooings of a couple of suitors who sought to +intercept her return to her own dominions, she sent a message to Henry of +Anjou, and he responded at once. In the third week of May they were +married at Poitiers, two months after the divorce. In a few weeks' time, +by two brief ecclesiastical ceremonies, the greatest feudal state of +France, a quarter of the kingdom, had been transferred from the king to +an uncontrollable vassal who practically held already another quarter. +The king of France was reduced as speedily from a position of great +apparent power and promise to the scanty territories of the Capetian +domain, and brought face to face with the danger of not distant ruin to +the plans of his house. To Henry, at the very beginning of his career, +was opened the immediate prospect of an empire greater than any which +existed at that time in Europe under the direct rule of any other +sovereign. If he could gain England, he would bear sway, as king in +reality if not in name, from Scotland to the Pyrenees, and from such a +beginning what was there that might not be gained? Why these hopes were +never realized, how the Capetian kings escaped this danger, must fill a +large part of our story to the death of Henry's youngest son, King John. +At the date of his marriage Henry had just entered on his twentieth year. +Eleanor was nearly twelve years older. If she had sought happiness in her +new marriage, she did not find it, at least not permanently; and many +later years were spent in open hostility with Henry, or closely confined +in his prisons; but whatever may have been her feelings towards him, she +found no occasion to regard her second husband with contempt. Their +eldest son, William, who did not survive infancy, was born on August 17, +1153, and in succession four other sons were born to them and three +daughters. + +The first and most obvious work which now lay before Henry was the +conquest of England, and the plans which had been earlier formed for +this object and deferred by these events were at once taken up. By the +end of June the young bridegroom was at Barfleur preparing to cross the +channel with an invading force. But he was not to be permitted to enjoy +his new fortunes unchallenged. Louis VII in particular had reasons for +interfering, and the law was on his side. The heiress Eleanor had no +right to marry without the consent of her feudal suzerain. A summons, it +is said, was at once served on Henry to appear before the king's court +and answer for his conduct,[44] and this summons, which Henry refused to +obey, was supported by a new coalition. Louis and Eustace were again in +alliance, and they were joined by Henry's own brother Geoffrey, who +could make considerable trouble in the south of Henry's lands, by Robert +of Dreux, Count of Perche, and by Eustace's cousin Henry, Count of +Champagne. Stephen's brother Theobald had died at the beginning of the +year, and his great dominions had been divided, Champagne and Blois +being once more separated, never to be reunited until they were absorbed +at different dates into the royal domain. This coalition was strong +enough to check Henry's plan of an invasion of England, but it did not +prove a serious danger, though the allies are said to have formed a plan +for the partition of all the Angevin empire among themselves. For some +reason their campaign does not seem to have been vigorously pushed. The +young duke was able to force his brother to come to terms, and he +succeeded in patching up a rather insecure truce with King Louis. On +this, however, he dared to rely enough--or perhaps he trusted to the +situation as he understood it--to venture at last, in January, 1153, on +his long-deferred expedition to recover his mother's kingdom. Stephen +had begun the siege of the important fortress of Wallingford, and a new +call for aid had come over to Normandy from the hard-pressed garrison. + +In the meantime, during the same days when the divorce and remarriage of +Eleanor of Aquitaine were making such a change in the power and prospects +of his competitor for the crown, Stephen had made a new attempt to secure +the possession of that crown firmly to his son Eustace. A meeting of the +great council of the kingdom, or of that part which obeyed Stephen, was +called at London early in April, 1152. This body was asked to sanction +the immediate consecration of Eustace as king. The barons who were +present were ready to agree, and they swore allegiance to him and +probably did homage, which was as far as the barons by themselves could +go. The prelates, however, under the lead of the Archbishop of +Canterbury,--Henry of Winchester is not mentioned in this case,--flatly +refused to perform the consecration. The papal prohibition of any such +act still held good, and the clergy of England had been given, as they +would recall the past, no reason to disobey the pope in the interests of +King Stephen. The king, in great anger, appealed to force against them, +but without avail. Temporary imprisonment of the prelates at the council, +in a house together, even temporary confiscation of the baronies of some +of them, did not move them, and Stephen was obliged to postpone his plan +once more. The archbishop again escaped to the continent to await the +course of events, and Stephen appealed to the sword to gain some new +advantage to balance this decided rebuff. Then followed the vigorous +siege of Wallingford, which called Henry into England at the beginning of +January. + +The force which Henry brought with him crossed the channel in thirty-six +ships, and was estimated at the time at 140 men-at-arms and 3000 +foot-soldiers, a very respectable army for that day; but the duke's +friends in England very likely formed their ideas of the army he would +bring from the breadth of his territories, and they expressed their +disappointment. Henry was to win England, however, not by an invasion, +but by the skill of his management and by the influence of events which +worked for him here as on the continent without an effort of his own. Now +it was that Ralph of Chester performed his final change of sides and sold +to Henry, at the highest price which treason reached in any transaction +of this long and favourable time, the aid which was so necessary to the +Angevin success. Henry's first attempt was against the important castle +of Malmesbury, midway between Bristol and Wallingford, and Stephen was +not able to prevent its fall. Then the garrison of Wallingford was +relieved, and the intrenched position of Stephen's forces over against +the castle was invested. The king came up with an army to protect his +men, and would gladly have joined battle and settled the question on the +spot, but once more his barons refused to fight. They desired nothing +less than the victory of one of the rivals, which would bring the chance +of a strong royal power and of their subjection to it. Apparently Henry's +barons held the same view of the case, and assisted in forcing the +leaders to agree to a brief truce, the advantage of which would in +reality fall wholly to Henry. + +From Wallingford Henry marched north through central England, where towns +and castles one after another fell into his hands. From Wallingford also, +Eustace withdrew from his father, greatly angered by the truce which had +been made, and went off to the east on an expedition of his own which +looks much like a plundering raid. Rashly he laid waste the lands of St. +Edmund, who was well known to be a fierce protector of his own and to +have no hesitation at striking even a royal robber. Punishment quickly +followed the offence. Within a week Eustace was smitten with madness and +died on August 17, a new and terrible warning of the fate of the +sacrilegious. This death changed the whole outlook for the future. +Stephen had no more interest in continuing the war than to protect +himself. His wife had now been dead for more than a year. His next son, +William, had never looked forward to the crown, and had never been +prominent in the struggle. He had been lately married to the heiress of +the Earl of Surrey, and if he could be secured in the quiet and +undisputed possession of this inheritance and of the lands which his +father had granted him, and of the still broader lands in Normandy and +England which had belonged to Stephen before he seized the crown, then +the advantage might very well seem to the king, near the close of his +stormy life, greater than any to be gained from the desperate struggle +for the throne. The Archbishop of Canterbury, who had by some means +returned to England, proposed peace, and undertook negotiations between +the king and the duke, supported by Henry of Winchester. Henry of Anjou +could well afford to wait. The delay before he could in this way obtain +the crown would probably not be very long and would be amply compensated +by a peaceful and undisputed succession, while in the meantime he could +give himself entirely to the mission which, since he had landed in +England, he had loudly proclaimed as his of putting an end to plundering +and oppression. On November 6 the rivals met at Winchester to make peace, +and the terms of their agreement were recited in a great council of the +kingdom, probably the first which was in any sense a council of the whole +kingdom that had met in nearly or quite fifteen years. First, the king +formally recognized before the assembly the hereditary right of Henry to +the kingdom of England. Then the duke formally agreed that Stephen should +hold the throne so long as he should live; and king, and bishops, and +barons bound themselves with an oath that on Stephen's death Henry should +succeed peacefully and without any contradiction. It was also agreed +under oath, that all possessions which had been seized by force should be +restored to their rightful owners, and that all castles which had been +erected since the death of Henry I should be destroyed, and the number of +these was noted at the time as 1115, though a more credible statement +gives the number as 375. The treaty between the two which had no doubt +preceded these ceremonies in the council contained other provisions. +Stephen promised to regard Henry as a son--possibly he formally adopted +him--and to rule England by his advice. Henry promised that William +should enjoy undisturbed all the possessions which he had obtained with +his wife or from his father, and all his father's private inheritance in +England and Normandy. Allegiance and homage were paid by Henry to Stephen +as king and by William to Henry, and Henry's barons did homage to Stephen +and Stephen's to Henry, with the usual reservation. The king's Flemish +mercenaries were to be sent home, and order was to be established +throughout the land, the king restoring to all their rights and resuming +himself those which had been usurped during the disorders of civil +strife. + +This programme began at once to be carried out. The war came to an end. +The "adulterine" castles were destroyed, not quite so rapidly as Henry +desired, but still with some energy. The unprincipled baron, friend of +neither side and enemy of all his neighbours, deprived of his opportunity +by the union of the two contending parties, was quickly reduced to order, +and we hear no more of the feudal anarchy from which the defenceless had +suffered so much during these years. Henry and Stephen met again at +Oxford in January, 1154; they journeyed together to Dover, but as they +were returning, Henry learned of a conspiracy against his life among +Stephen's Flemish followers, some of whom must still have remained in +England, and thought it best to retire to Normandy, where he began the +resumption of the ducal domains with which his father had been obliged to +part in the time of his weakness. Stephen went on with the work of +restoration in England, but not for long. The new day of peace and strong +government was not for him. On October 25, 1154, he died at Dover, "and +was buried where his wife and his son were buried, at Faversham, the +monastery which they had founded." + +Out of this long period of struggle the crown gained nothing. Out of the +opportunity of feudal independence and aggrandizement which the conflict +offered them, the barons in the end gained nothing. One of the parties to +the strife, and one only, emerged from it with great permanent gains of +power and independence, the Church. The one power which had held back the +English Church from taking its share in that great European movement by +which within a century the centralized, monarchical Church had risen up +beside the State, indeed above it, for it was now an international and +imperial Church,--the restraining force which had held the English Church +in check,--had been for a generation fatally weakened. With a bound the +Church sprang forward and took the place in England and in the world +which it would otherwise have reached more slowly during the reign of +Henry. It had been prepared by experience and by the growth of its own +convictions, to find its place at once alongside of the continental +national churches in the new imperial system. Unweakened by the +disorganization into which the State was falling, it was ready to show +itself at home the one strong and steady institution in the confusion of +the time, and to begin at once to exercise the rights it claimed but had +never been able to secure. It began to fill its own great appointments +according to its own rules, and to neglect the feudal duties which should +go with them. Its jurisdiction, which had been so closely watched, +expanded freely and ecclesiastical courts and cases rapidly multiplied. +It called its own councils and legislated without permission, and even +asserted its exclusive right to determine who should be king. Intercourse +with the papal curia grew more untrammelled, and appeals to Rome +especially increased to astonishing frequency. With these gains in +practical independence, the support on which it all rested grew strong at +the same time,--its firm belief in the Hildebrandine system. If a future +king of England should ever recover the power over the Church which had +been lost in the reign of Stephen, he would do so only by a struggle +severer than any of his predecessors had gone through to retain it; and +in these events Thomas Becket, who was to lead the defence of the Church +against such an attack, had been trained for his future work. + +Monasticism also flourished while the official Church was growing strong, +and many new religious houses and new orders even were established in the +country. More of these "castles of God," we are told by one who himself +dwelt in one of them, were founded during the short reign of Stephen than +during the one hundred preceding years. In the buildings which these +monks did not cease to erect, the severer features of the Norman style +were beginning to give way to lighter and more ornamental forms. Scholars +in greater numbers went abroad. Books that still hold their place in the +intellectual or even in the literary history of the world were written by +subjects of the English king. Oxford continued to grow towards the later +University, and students there listened eagerly to the lectures on Roman +law of the Italian Vacarius until these were stopped by Stephen. In spite +of the cruelties of the time, the real life of England went on and was +scarcely even checked in its advance to better things. + +[41] See Rössler, Kaiserin Mathilde, 287 ff. + +[42] William of Malmesbury, sec. 497. + +[43] See the Athenaeum, February 6, 1904, p. 177. + +[44] But see Lot, Fidèles ou Vassaux (1904), 205-212. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +THE KING'S FIRST WORK + +Henry of Anjou, for whom the way was opened to the throne of his +grandfather so soon after the treaty with Stephen, was then in his +twenty-second year. He was just in the youthful vigour of a life of more +than usual physical strength, longer in years than the average man's of +the twelfth century, and brilliant in position and promise in the eyes of +his time. But his life was in truth filled with annoying and hampering +conflict and bitter disappointment. Physically there was nothing fine or +elegant about him, rather the contrary. In bodily and mental +characteristics there was so much in common between the Angevin house and +the Norman that the new blood had made no great changes, and in physique +and in spirit Henry II continued his mother's line quite as much as his +father's. Certainly, as a modern writer has remarked, he could never have +been called by his father's name of "the Handsome." He was of middle +height, strongly built, with square shoulders, broad chest, and arms that +reminded men of a pugilist. His head was round and well shaped, and he +had reddish hair and gray eyes which seemed to flash with fire when he +was angry. His complexion also was ruddy and his face is described as +fiery or lion-like. His hands were coarse, and he never wore gloves +except when necessary in hawking. His legs were hardly straight. They +were made for the saddle and his feet for the stirrups. He was heedless +of his person and his clothes, and always cared more for action and deeds +than for appearances. + +In the gifts of statesmanship and the abilities which make a great ruler +Henry seemed to his own time above the average of kings, and certainly +this is true in comparison with the king who was his rival during so much +of his reign, Louis VII of France. Posterity has also agreed to call him +one of the greatest, some have been inclined to say the greatest, of +English sovereigns. The first heavy task that fell to him, the +establishment of peace and strong government in England, he fully +achieved; and this work was thankfully celebrated by his contemporaries. +All his acts give us the impression of mental and physical power, and no +recasting of balances is ever likely to destroy the impression of great +abilities occupied with great tasks, but we need perhaps to be reminded +that to his age his position made him great, and that even upon us its +effect is magnifying. Except in the pacification of England he won no +signal success, and the schemes to which he gave his best days ended in +failure or barely escaped it. It is indeed impossible to say that in his +long reign he had before him any definite or clear policy, except to be a +strong king and to assert vigorously every right to which he believed he +could lay claim. The opportunity which his continental dominions offered +him he seems never to have understood, or at least not as it would have +been understood by a modern sovereign or by a Philip Augustus. It is +altogether probable that the successful welding together of the various +states which he held by one title or another into a consolidated monarchy +would have been impossible; but that the history of his reign gives no +clear evidence that he saw the vision of such a result, or studied the +means to accomplish it, forces us to classify Henry, in one important +respect at least, with the great kings of the past and not with those of +the coming age. In truth he was a feudal king. Notwithstanding the severe +blows which he dealt feudalism in its relation to the government of the +state, it was still feudalism as a system of life, as a source of ideals +and a guide to conduct, which ruled him to the end. He had been brought +up entirely in a feudal atmosphere, and he never freed himself from it. +He was determined to be a strong king, to be obeyed, and to allow no +infringement of his own rights,--indeed, to push them to the farthest +limit possible,--but there seems never to have been any conflict in his +mind between his duties as suzerain or vassal and any newer conception of +his position and its opportunities. + +It was in England that Henry won his chief and his only permanent +success. And it was indeed not a small success. To hold under a strong +government and to compel into good order, almost unbroken, a generation +which had been trained in the anarchy and license of Stephen's reign was +a great achievement. But Henry did more than this. In the machinery of +centralization, he early began a steady and systematic development which +threatened the defences of feudalism, and tended rapidly toward an +absolute monarchy. In this was his greatest service to England. The +absolutism which his work threatened later kings came but little nearer +achieving, and the danger soon passed away, but the centralization which +he gave the state grew into a permanent and beneficent organization. In +this work Henry claimed no more than the glory of following in his +grandfather's footsteps, and the modern student of the age is more and +more inclined to believe that he was right in this, and that his true +fame as an institution maker should be rather that of a restorer than of +a founder. He put again into operation what had been already begun; he +combined and systematized and broadened, and he created the conditions +which encouraged growth and made it fruitful: but he struck out no new +way either for himself or for England. + +In mind and body Henry overflowed with energy. He wearied out his court +with his incessant and restless activity. In learning he never equalled +the fame of his grandfather, Henry Beauclerc, but he loved books, and his +knowledge of languages was such as to occasion remark. He had the +passionate temper of his ancestors without the self-control of Henry I, +and sometimes raved in his anger like a maniac. In matters of morals also +he placed no restraints upon himself. His reputation in this regard has +been kept alive by the romantic legend of Rosamond Clifford; and, though +the pathetic details of her story are in truth romance and not history, +there is no lack of evidence to show that Eleanor had occasion enough for +the bitter hostility which she felt towards him in the later years of his +life. But Henry is not to be reckoned among the kings whose policy or +public conduct were affected by his vices. More passionate and less +self-controlled than his grandfather, he had something of his patience +and tenacity of purpose, and a large share of his diplomatic skill; and +the slight scruples of conscience, which on rare occasions interfered +with an immediate success, arose from a very narrow range of ethical +ideas. + +An older man and one of longer training in statecraft and the management +of men might easily have doubted his ability to solve the problem which +lay before Henry in England. To control a feudal baronage was never an +easy task. To re-establish a strong control which for nearly twenty years +had been greatly relaxed would be doubly difficult. But in truth the work +was more than half done when Henry came to the throne. Since the peace +declared at Winchester much had been accomplished, and most of all +perhaps in the fact that peace deprived the baron of the even balancing +of parties which had been his opportunity. On all sides also men were +worn out with the long conflict, and the material, as well as the +incentive, to continue it under the changed conditions was lacking. It is +likely too that Henry had made an impression in England, during the short +time that he had stayed there, very different from that made by Stephen +early in his reign; for it is clear that he knew what he wanted and how +to get it, and that he would be satisfied with nothing less. Nor did +there seem to be anything to justify a fear that arrangements which had +been made during the war in favour of individual men were likely to be +disturbed. So secure indeed did everything seem that Henry was in no +haste to cross to England when the news of Stephen's death reached him. + +The Duke of Normandy had been occupied with various things since his +return from England in April, with the recovery of the ducal lands, with +repressing unimportant feudal disorders, and with negotiations with the +king of France. On receiving the news he finished the siege of a castle +in which he was engaged, then consulted his mother, whose counsel he +often sought to the end of her life, in her quiet retreat near Rouen, and +finally assembled the barons of Normandy. In about a fortnight he was +ready at Barfleur for the passage, but bad winds kept back the unskilful +sailors of the time for a month. In England there was no disturbance. +Everybody, we are told, feared or loved the duke and expected him to +become king, and even the Flemish troops of Stephen kept the peace. If +any one acted for the king, it was Archbishop Theobald, but there is no +evidence that there was anything for a regent to do. At last, at the end +of the first week in December, Henry landed in England and went up at +once to Winchester. There he took the homage of the English barons, and +from thence after a short delay he went on to London to be crowned. The +coronation on the 19th, the Sunday before Christmas, must have been a +brilliant ceremony. The Archbishop of Canterbury officiated in the +presence of two other archbishops and seventeen bishops, of earls and +barons from England and abroad, and an innumerable multitude of people. + +Henry immediately issued a coronation charter, but it is, like Stephen's, +merely a charter of general confirmation. No specific promises are made. +The one note of the charter, the keynote of the reign for England thus +early struck, is "king Henry my grandfather." The ideal of the young +king, an ideal it is more than likely wholly satisfactory to his +subjects, was to reproduce that reign of order and justice, the time to +which men after the long anarchy would look back as to a golden age. Or +was this a declaration, a notice to all concerned, flung out in a time of +general rejoicing when it would escape challenge, that no usurpation +during Stephen's reign was to stand against the rights of the crown? That +time is passed over as a blank. No man could plead the charter as +guaranteeing him in any grant or privilege won from either side during +the civil war. To God and holy Church and to all earls and barons and all +his men, the king grants, and restores and confirms all concessions and +donations and liberties and free customs which King Henry his grandfather +had given and granted to them. Also all evil customs which his +grandfather abolished and remitted he grants to be abolished and +remitted. That is all except a general reference to the charter of Henry +I. Neither Church nor baron could tell from the charter itself what +rights had been granted or what evil customs had been abolished. But in +all probability no one at the moment greatly cared for more specific +statement. The proclamation of a general policy of return to the +conditions of the earlier age was what was most desired. + +The first work before the young king would be to select those who should +aid him in the task of government in the chief offices of the state. He +probably already had a number of these men in mind from his knowledge of +England and of the leaders of his mother's party. In the peace with +Stephen, Richard de Lucy had been put in charge of the Tower and of +Windsor castle. He now seems to have been made justiciar, perhaps the +first of Henry's appointments, as he alone signs the coronation charter +though without official designation. Within a few days, however, Robert +de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester, was apparently given office with the same +title, and together they fill this position for many years, Robert +completing in it the century and more of faithful service which his +family had rendered to every successive king. The family of Roger of +Salisbury was also restored to the important branch of the service which +it had done so much to create, in the person of Nigel, Bishop of Ely, who +was given charge of the exchequer. The most important appointment in its +influence on the reign was that to the chancellorship. Archbishop +Theobald, who was probably one of Henry's most intimate counsellors, had +a candidate in whose favour he could speak in the strongest terms and +whose services in the past the king would gratefully recall. This was the +young Thomas Becket, who had done so much to prevent the coronation of +Eustace. + +Immediately after his coronation, at Christmas time, Henry held at +Bermondsey the first of the great councils of his reign. Here the whole +state of the kingdom was discussed, and it was determined to proceed with +the expulsion of Stephen's mercenaries, and with the destruction of the +unlawful castles. The first of these undertakings gave no trouble, and +William of Ypres disappears from English history. The second, especially +with what went with it,--the resumption of Stephen's grants to great as +well as small,--was a more difficult and longer process. To begin it in +the proper way, the king himself set out early in 1155 for the north. For +some reason he did not think it wise at this time to run the risk of a +quarrel with Hugh Bigod, and it was probably on this journey at +Northampton that he gave him a charter creating him Earl of Norfolk, the +title which he had obtained from Stephen. The expedition was especially +directed against William of Aumale, Stephen's Earl of Yorkshire, and he +was compelled to surrender a part of his spoils including the strong +castle of Scarborough. William Peverel of the Peak also, who was accused +of poisoning the Earl of Chester, and who knew that there were other +reasons of condemnation against him, took refuge in a monastery, making +profession as a monk when he heard of Henry's approach, and finally fled +to the continent and abandoned everything to the king. Some time after +this, but probably during the same year, another of Stephen's earls, +William of Arundel or Sussex, obtained a charter of confirmation of the +third penny of his county. + +One of the interesting features of Henry's first year is the frequency of +great councils. Four were held in nine months. It was the work of +resumption, and of securing his position, which made them necessary. The +expressed support of the baronage, as a whole, was of great value to him +as he moved against one magnate and then another, and demanded the +restoration of royal domains or castles. The second of these councils, +which was held in London in March, and in which the business of the +castles was again taken up, did not, however, secure the king against all +danger of resistance. Roger, Earl of Hereford, son of Miles of +Gloucester, who had been so faithful to Henry's mother, secretly left the +assembly determined to try the experiment of rebellion rather than to +surrender his two royal castles of Hereford and Gloucester. In this +attitude he was encouraged by Hugh Mortimer, a baron of the Welsh Marches +and head of a Conquest family of minor rank which was now rising to +importance, who was also ready to risk rebellion. Roger did not persist +in his plans. He was brought to a better mind by his kinsman, the Bishop +of Hereford, Gilbert Foliot, and gave up his castles. Mortimer ventured +to stand a siege in his strongholds, one of which was Bridgenorth where +Robert of Bellême had tried to resist Henry I in similar circumstances, +but he was forced to surrender before the middle of the summer. This was +the only armed opposition which the measures of resumption excited, +because they were carried out by degrees and with wise caution in the +selection of persons as well as of times. It was probably in this spirit +that in January of the next year Henry regranted to Aubrey de Vere his +title of Earl of Oxford and that of the unfaithful Earl of Essex to the +younger Geoffrey de Mandeville. It was twenty years after Henry's +accession and in far different circumstances that he first found himself +involved in conflict with a dangerous insurrection of the English barons. + +Before the submission of Hugh Mortimer the third of the great councils of +the year had been held at Wallingford early in April, and there the +barons had been required to swear allegiance to Henry's eldest son +William, and in case of his death to his brother Henry who had been born +a few weeks before. The fourth great council met at Winchester in the +last days of September, and there a new question of policy was discussed +which led ultimately to events of great importance in the reign, and of +constantly increasing importance in the whole history of England to the +present day,--the conquest of Ireland. Apparently Henry had already +conceived the idea, to which he returns later in the case of his youngest +son, of finding in the western island an appanage for some unprovided +member of the royal house. Now he thought of giving it to his youngest +brother William. Religious and political prejudice and racial pride have +been so intensely excited by many of the statements and descriptions in +the traditional account of Henry's first steps towards the conquest, +which is based on contemporary records or what purports to be such, that +evidence which no one would think of questioning if it related to humdrum +events on the dead level of history has been vigorously assailed, and +almost every event in the series called in question. The writer of +history cannot narrate these events as they seem to him to have occurred +without warning the reader that some element of doubt attaches to his +account, and that whatever his conclusions, some careful students of +the period will not agree with him. + +A few days before Henry landed in England to be crowned, Nicholas +Breakspear, the only Englishman who ever became pope, had been elected +Bishop of Rome and had taken the name of Hadrian IV. He was the son of an +English clerk, who was later a monk at St. Albans, and had not seemed to +his father a very promising boy; but on his father's death he went +abroad, studied at Paris, and was made Abbot of St. Rufus in Provence. +Then visiting Rome because of trouble, with his monks, he attracted the +notice of the pope, was made cardinal and papal legate, and finally was +himself elected pope in succession to Anastasius IV. We cannot say, +though we may think it likely, that the occupation of the papal throne by +a native Englishman made it seem to Henry a favourable time to secure so +high official sanction for his new enterprise. Nor is it possible to say +what was the form of Henry's request, or the composition of the embassy +which seems certainly to have been sent, or the character of the pope's +reply, though each of these has been made the subject of differing +conjectures for none of which is there any direct evidence in the sources +of our knowledge. The most that we can assert is what we are told by John +of Salisbury, the greatest scholar of the middle ages. + +John was an intimate friend of the pope's and spent some months with him +in very familiar intercourse in the winter of 1155-1156. He relates in +a passage at the close of his Metalogicus, which he wrote, if we may +judge by internal evidence, on learning of Hadrian's death in 1159, and +which there is no reason to doubt, that at his request the pope made a +written grant of Ireland to Henry to be held by hereditary right. He +declares that the ground of this grant was the ownership of all islands +conveyed to the popes by the Donation of Constantine, and he adds that +Hadrian sent Henry a ring by which he was to be invested with the right +of ruling in Ireland. Letter and ring, he says, are preserved in England +at the time of his writing. The so called Bull "Laudabiliter" has been +traditionally supposed to be the letter referred to by John of Salisbury, +but it does not quite agree with his description, and it makes no grant +of the island to the king.[45] The probability is very strong that it +is not even what it purports to be, a letter of the pope to the king +expressing his approval of the enterprise, but merely a student's +exercise in letter writing. But the papal approval was certainly +expressed at a later time by Pope Alexander III. No doubt can attach, +however, to the account of John of Salisbury. As he describes the +grant it would correspond fully with papal ideas current at the time, +and it would be closely parallel with what we must suppose was the +intention of an earlier pope in approving William's conquest of England. +If Henry had asked for anything more than the pope's moral assent to the +enterprise, he could have expected nothing different from this, nor does +it seem that he could in that case have objected to the terms or form of +the grant described by John of Salisbury. + +The expedition, however, for which Henry had made these preparations was +not actually undertaken. His mother objected to it for some reason which +we do not know, and he dropped the plan for the present. About the same +time Henry of Winchester, who had lived on into a new age, which he +probably found not wholly congenial, left England without the king's +permission and went to Cluny. This gave Henry a legal opportunity, and he +at once seized and destroyed his castles. No other event of importance +falls within the first year of the reign. It was a great work which had +been done in this time. To have plainly declared and successfully begun +the policy of reigning as a strong king, to have got rid of Stephen's +dangerous mercenaries without trouble, to have recovered so many castles +and domains without exciting a great rebellion, and to have restored the +financial system to the hands best fitted to organize and perfect it, +might satisfy the most ambitious as the work of a year. "The history of +the year furnishes," in the words of the greatest modern student of the +age, "abundant illustration of the energy and capacity of a king of +two-and-twenty." + +Early in January, 1156, Henry crossed to Normandy. His brother Geoffrey +was making trouble and was demanding that Anjou and Maine should be +assigned to him. We are told an improbable story that their father on his +deathbed had made such a partition of his lands, and that Henry had been +required blindly to swear that he would carry out an arrangement which +was not made known to him. If Henry made any such promise as heir, he +immediately repudiated it as reigning sovereign. He could not well do +otherwise. To give up the control of these two counties would be to cut +his promising continental empire into two widely separated portions. +Geoffrey attempted to appeal to arms in the three castles which had been +given him earlier, but was quickly forced to submit. All this year and +until April of the next, 1157, Henry remained abroad, and before his +return to England he was able to offer his brother a compensation for his +disappointment which had the advantage of strengthening his own position. +The overlordship of the county of Britanny had, as we know, been claimed +by the dukes of Normandy, and the claim had sometimes been allowed. To +Henry the successful assertion of this right would be of great value as +filling out his occupation of western France. Just at this time Britanny +had been thrown into disorder and civil strife by a disputed succession, +and the town of Nantes, which commanded the lower course of the Loire, so +important a river to Henry, refused to accept either of the candidates. +With the aid of his brother, Geoffrey succeeded in planting himself there +as Count of Nantes, in a position which promised to open for the house of +Anjou the way into Britanny. + +The greater part of the time of his stay abroad Henry spent in passing +about from one point to another in his various provinces, after the usual +custom of the medieval sovereign. In Eleanor's lands he could exert much +less direct authority than in England or Normandy; the feudal baron of +the south was more independent of his lord; but the opposition which was +later to be so disastrous had not yet developed, and the year went by +with nothing to record. Soon after his coming to Normandy he had an +interview with Louis VII who then accepted his homage both for his +father's and his wife's inheritance. If Louis had at one time intended to +dispute the right of Eleanor to marry without his consent, he could not +afford to continue that policy, so strong was Henry now. It was the part +of wisdom to accept what could not be prevented, to arrange some way of +living in peace with his rival, and to wait the chances of the future. + +It is in connexion with this expedition to Normandy that there first +appears in the reign of Henry II the financial levy known as "scutage"--a +form of taxation destined to have a great influence on the financial and +military history of England, and perhaps even a greater on its +constitutional history. The invention of this tax was formerly attributed +to the statesmanship of the young king, but we now know that it goes back +at least to the time of his grandfather. The term "scutage" may be +roughly translated "shield money," and, as the word implies, it was a tax +assessed on the knight's fee, and was in theory a money payment accepted +or exacted by the king in place of the military service due him under the +feudal arrangements. The suggestion of such a commutation no doubt arose +in connexion with the Church baronies, whose holders would find many +reasons against personal service in the field, especially in the +prohibition of the canon law, and who in most cases preferred not to +enfeoff on their lands knights enough to meet their military obligations +to the king. In such cases, when called on for the service, they would be +obliged to hire the required number of knights, and the suggestion that +they should pay the necessary sum to the king and let him find the +soldiers would be a natural one and probably agreeable to both sides. The +scutage of the present year does not seem to have gone beyond this +practice. It was confined to Church lands, and the wider application of +the principle, which is what we may attribute to Henry II or to some +minister of his, was not attempted. + +Returning to England in April, 1157, Henry took up again the work which +had been interrupted by the demands of his brother Geoffrey. He was ready +now to fly at higher game. Stephen's son William, whose great possessions +in England and Normandy his father had tried so carefully to secure in +the treaty which surrendered his rights to the crown, was compelled to +give up his castles, and Hugh Bigod was no longer spared but was forced +to do the same. David of Scotland had died before the death of Stephen, +and his kingdom had fallen to his grandson Malcolm IV. The new king had +too many troubles at home to make it wise for him to try to defend the +gains which his grandfather had won from England, and before the close of +this year he met Henry at Chester and gave up his claim on the northern +counties, received the earldom of Huntingdon, and did homage to his +cousin, but for what, whether for his earldom or his kingdom, was not +clearly stated. Wales Stephen had practically abandoned, but Henry had no +mind to do this, and a campaign during the summer in which there was some +sharp fighting forced Owen, the prince of North Wales, to become his man, +restored the defensive works of the district, and protected the Marcher +lords in their occupation. The Christmas court was held at Lincoln; but +warned perhaps by the recent ill luck of Stephen in defying the local +superstition, Henry did not attempt to wear his crown in the city. Crown +wearing and ceremony in general were distasteful to him, and at the next +Easter festival at Worcester, together with the queen, he formally +renounced the practice. + +Half of the year 1158 Henry spent in England, but the work which lay +before him at his accession was now done. Much work of importance and +many events of interest concern the island kingdom in the later years of +the reign, but these arise from new occasions and belong to a new age. +The age of Stephen was at an end, the Norman absolutism was once more +established, and the influence of the time of anarchy and weakness was +felt no longer. It was probably the death of his brother and the question +of the occupation of Nantes that led Henry to cross to Normandy in +August. He went first of all, however, to meet the king of France near +Gisors. There it was agreed that Henry's son Henry, now by the death of +his eldest brother recognized as heir to the throne, should marry Louis's +daughter Margaret. The children were still both infants, but the +arrangement was made less for their sakes than for peace between their +fathers and for substantial advantages which Henry hoped to gain. First +he desired Louis's permission to take possession of Nantes, and later, on +the actual marriage of the children, was to come the restoration of the +Norman Vexin which Henry's father had been obliged to give up to France +in the troubles of his time. Protected in this way from the only +opposition which he had to fear, Henry had no difficulty in forcing his +way into Nantes and in compelling the count of Britanny to recognize his +possession. This diplomatic success had been prepared, possibly secured, +by a brilliant embassy undertaken shortly before by Henry's chancellor +Thomas Becket. One of the biographers of the future saint, one indeed who +dwells less upon his spiritual life and miracles than on his external +history, rejoices in the details of this magnificent journey, the +gorgeous display, the lavish expenditure, the royal generosity, which +seem intended to impress the French court with the wealth of England and +the greatness of his master, but which lead us to suspect the chancellor +of a natural delight in the splendours of the world. + +With his feet firmly planted in Britanny, in a position where he could +easily take advantage of any future turn of events to extend his power, +Henry next turned his attention to the south where an even greater +opportunity seemed to offer. The great county of Toulouse stretched from +the south-eastern borders of Eleanor's lands towards the Mediterranean +and the Rhone over a large part of that quarter of France. A claim of +some sort to this county, the exact nature of which we cannot now decide +from the scanty and inconsistent accounts of the case which remain to us, +had come down to Eleanor from the last two dukes of Aquitaine, her father +and grandfather. The claim had at any rate seemed good enough to Louis +VII while he was still the husband of the heiress to be pushed, but he +had not succeeded in establishing it. The rights of Eleanor were now in +the hands of Henry and, after consulting with his barons, he determined +to enforce them in a military campaign in the summer of 1159. + +By the end of June the attacking forces were gathering in the south. The +young king of Scotland was there as the vassal of the king of England and +was knighted by his lord. Allies were secured of the lords to the east +and south, especially the assistance of Raymond Berenger who was Count of +Barcelona and husband of the queen of Aragon, and who had extensive +claims and interests in the valley of the Rhone. His daughter was to be +married to Henry's son Richard, who had been born a few months before. +Negotiations and interviews with the king of France led to no result, and +at the last moment Louis threw himself into Toulouse and prepared to +stand a siege with the Count, Raymond V, whose rights he now looked at +from an entirely different point of view. This act of the king led to a +result which he probably did not anticipate. Apparently the feudal spirit +of Henry could not reconcile itself to a direct attack on the person of +his suzerain. He withdrew from the siege, and the expedition resulted +only in the occupation of some of the minor towns of the county. Here +Thomas the chancellor appears again in his worldly character. He had led +to the war a body of knights said to have been 700 in number, the finest +and best-equipped contingent in the field. Henry's chivalry in refusing +to fight his suzerain seemed to him the height of folly, and he protested +loudly against it. This chivalry indeed did not prevent the vassal from +attacking some of his lord's castles in the north, but no important +results were gained, and peace was soon made between them. + +Far more important in permanent consequences than the campaign itself +were the means which the king took to raise the money to pay for it. It +was at this time, so far as our present evidence goes and unless a +precedent had been made in a small way in a scutage of 1157 for the +campaign in Wales, that the principle of scutage was extended from +ecclesiastical to lay tenants in chief. Robert of Torigny, Abbot of +Mont-Saint-Michel, tells us that Henry, having regard to the length and +difficulty of the way, and not wishing to vex the country knights and the +mass of burgesses and rustics, took from each knight's fee in Normandy +sixty shillings Angevin (fifteen English), and from all other persons in +Normandy and in England and in all his other lands what he thought best, +and led into the field with him the chief barons with a few of their men +and a great number of paid knights. + +Our knowledge of the treasury accounts of this period is not sufficient +to enable us to explain every detail of this taxation, but it is +sufficient to enable us to say that the statement of the abbot is in +general accurate. The tax on the English knight's fee was heavier than +that on the Norman; payment does not seem to have been actually required +from all persons outside the strict feudal bond, nor within it for that +matter; and the exact relationship between payment and service in the +field we cannot determine. Two things, however, of interest in the +history of taxation in relation both to earlier and later times seem +clear. In the first place a new form of land-tax had been discovered of +special application to the feudal community, capable of transforming a +limited and somewhat uncertain personal service into a far more +satisfactory money payment, capable also of considerable extension and, +in the hands of an absolute king, of an arbitrary development which +apparently some forms of feudal finance had already undergone. This was +something new,--that is, it was as new as anything ever is in +constitutional history. It was the application of an old process to a new +use. In the second place large sums of money were raised, in a purely +arbitrary way, it would seem, both as to persons paying and sums paid, +from members of the non-feudal community and also from some tenants in +chief who at the same time paid scutage. These payments appear to have +rested on the feudal principle of the gracious or voluntary aid and to +have been called "dona," though the people of that time were in general +more accurate in the distinctions they made between things than in the +use of the terms applied to them. There was nothing new about this form +of taxation. Glimpses which we get here and there of feudalism in +operation lead us to suspect that, in small matters and with much +irregularity of application to persons, it was in not infrequent use. +These particular payments, pressing as they did heavily on the Church and +exciting its vigorous objection, carry us back with some interest to the +beginning of troubles between Anselm and the Red King over a point of the +same kind. + +In theory and in strict law these "gifts" were voluntary, both as to +whether they should be made at all and as to their amount, but under a +sovereign so strong as Henry II or William Rufus, the king must be +satisfied. Church writers complained, with much if not entire justice, +that this tax was "contrary to ancient custom and due liberty," and they +accused Thomas the chancellor of suggesting it. As a matter of fact this +tax was less important in the history of taxation than the extension of +the principle of scutage which accompanied it. The contribution which it +made to the future was not so much in the form of the tax as in the +precedent of arbitrary taxation, established in an important instance of +taxation at the will of the king. This precedent carried over and applied +to scutage in its new form becomes in the reign of Henry's son one of the +chief causes of revolutionary changes, and thus constitutes "the scutage +of Toulouse" of 1159, if we include under that term the double taxation +of the year, one of the great steps forward of the reign of Henry. + +At the close of the Toulouse campaign an incident of some interest +occurred in the death of Stephen's son William and the ending of the male +line of Stephen's succession. His Norman county of Mortain was at once +taken in hand by Henry as an escheated fief, and was not filled again +until it was given years afterwards to his youngest son. To Boulogne +Henry had no right, but he could not afford to allow his influence in the +county to decline, though the danger of its passing under the influence +of Louis VII was slight. Stephen's only living descendant was his +daughter Mary, now Abbess of Romsey. The pope consented to her marriage +to a son of the Count of Flanders, and Boulogne remained in the circle of +influence in which it had been fixed by Henry I. The wide personal +possessions of William in England were apparently added to the royal +domain which had already increased so greatly since the death of Stephen. + +A year later the other branch of Stephen's family came into a new +relationship to the politics of France and England. At the beginning of +October, 1160, Louis's second wife died, leaving him still without a male +heir. Without waiting till the end of any period of mourning, within a +fortnight, he married the daughter of Stephen's brother, Theobald of +Blois, sister of the counts Henry of Champagne and Theobald of Blois, who +were already betrothed to the two daughters of his marriage with Eleanor. +This opened for the house of Blois a new prospect of influence and gain, +and for the king of England of trouble which was in part fulfilled. Henry +saw the probable results, and at once responded with an effort to improve +his frontier defences. The marriage of the young Henry and Margaret of +France was immediately celebrated, though the elder of the two was still +a mere infant. This marriage gave Henry the right to take possession of +the Norman Vexin and its strong castles, and this he did. The war which +threatened for a moment did not break out, but there was much fortifying +of castles on both sides of the frontier. + +It is said that the suggestion of this defensive move came from Thomas +Becket. However this may be, Thomas was now near the end of his career of +service to the state as chancellor, and was about to enter a field which +promised even greater usefulness and wider possibilities of service. +Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury died on April 18, 1161. For some months +the king gave no sign of his intentions as to his successor. Then he +declared his purpose. Thomas, the chancellor, was about to cross to +England to carry out another plan of Henry's. The barons were to be asked +to swear fealty to the young Henry as the direct heir to the crown. Born +in February, 1155, Henry was in his eighth year when this ceremony was +performed. Some little time before he had been committed by his father to +the chancellor to be trained in his courtly and brilliant household, and +there he became deeply attached to his father's future enemy. The +swearing of fealty to the heir, to which the barons were now accustomed, +was performed without objection, Thomas himself setting the example by +first taking the oath. + +This was his last service of importance as chancellor. Before his +departure from Normandy on this errand, the king announced to him his +intention to promote him to the vacant primacy. The appointment would be +a very natural one. Archbishop Theobald is said to have hoped and prayed +that Thomas might succeed him, and the abilities which the chancellor had +abundantly displayed would account for a general expectation of such a +step, but Thomas himself hesitated. We are dependent for our knowledge of +the details of what happened at this time on the accounts of Thomas's +friends and admirers, but there is no reason to doubt their substantial +accuracy. It is clear that there were better grounds in fact for the +hesitation of Thomas than for the insistence of Henry, but they were +apparently concealed from the king. His mother is said to have tried to +dissuade him, and the able Bishop of Hereford, Gilbert Foliot, records +his own opposition. But the complete devotion to the king's will and the +zealous services of Thomas as chancellor might well make Henry believe, +if not that he would be entirely subservient to his policy when made +archbishop, at least that Church and State might be ruled by them +together in full harmony and co-operation, and the days of William and +Lanfranc be brought back. Becket read his own character better and knew +that the days of Henry I and Anselm were more likely to return, and that +not because he recognized in himself the narrowness of Anselm, but +because he knew his tendency to identify himself to the uttermost with +whatever cause he adopted. + +Thomas had come to the chancellorship at the age of thirty-seven. He had +been a student, attached to the household of Archbishop Theobald, and he +must long have looked forward to promotion in the Church as the natural +field of his ambition, and in this he had just taken the first step in +his appointment to the rich archdeaconry of Canterbury by his patron. As +chancellor, however, he seems to have faced entirely about. He threw +himself into the elegant and luxurious life of the court with an +abandon and delight which, we are tempted to believe, reveal his +natural bent. The family of a wealthy burgher of London in the last part +of the reign of Henry I may easily have been a better school of manners +and taste than the court of Anjou. Certainly in refinement, and in the +order and elegance of his household as it is described, the chancellor +surpassed the king. Provided with an ample income both from benefices +which he held in the Church and from the perquisites of his office, he +indulged in a profusion of expenditure and display which the king +probably did not care for and certainly did not equal, and collected +about himself such a company of clerks and laymen as made his household a +better place for the training of the children of the nobles than the +king's. In the king's service he spent his money with as lavish a hand as +for himself, in his embassy to the French court or in the war against +Toulouse. He had the skill to avoid the envy of either king or courtier, +and no scandal or hint of vice was breathed against him. The way to the +highest which one could hope for in the service of the state seemed open +before him, and he felt himself peculiarly adapted to enjoy and render +useful such a career. One cannot help speculating on the interesting but +hopeless problem of what the result would have been if Becket had +remained in the line of secular promotion and the primacy had gone to the +next most likely candidate, Gilbert Foliot, whose type of mind would have +led him to sympathize more naturally with the king's views and purposes +in the questions that were so soon to arise between Church and State in +England. + +The election of Becket to the see of Canterbury seems to have followed +closely the forms which had come into use since the compromise between +Henry I and Anselm, and which were soon after described in the +Constitutions of Clarendon. The justiciar, Richard de Lucy, with three +bishops went down to Canterbury and made known the will of the king and +summoned the monks to an election. Some opposition showed itself among +them, apparently because of the candidate's worldly life and the fact +that he was not a monk, but they gave way to the clearly expressed will +of the king. The prior and a deputation of the monks went up to London; +and there the formal election took place "with the counsel of" the +bishops summoned for the purpose, and was at once confirmed by the young +prince acting for his father. At the same time Henry, Bishop of +Winchester, made a formal demand of those who were representing the king +that the archbishop should be released from all liability for the way in +which he had handled the royal revenues as chancellor and treasurer, and +this was agreed to. On the next Sunday but one, June 3, 1162, Thomas was +consecrated Archbishop at Canterbury by the Bishop of Winchester, as the +see of London was vacant. As his first official act the new prelate +ordained that the feast in honour of the Trinity should be henceforth +kept on the anniversary of his consecration. + +[45] See the review of the whole controversy in Thatcher, +Studies Concerning Adrian IV (1903). + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +KING AND ARCHBISHOP + +Thomas Becket, who thus became the head of the English Church, was +probably in his forty-fourth year, for he seems to have been born on +December 21, 1118. All his past had been a training in one way or another +for the work which he was now to do. He had had an experience of many +sides of life. During his early boyhood, in his father's house in London, +he had shared the life of the prosperous burgher class; he had been a +student abroad, and though he was never a scholar, he knew something of +the learned world from within; he had been taken into the household of +Archbishop Theobald, and there he had been trained, with a little circle +of young men of promise of his own age, in the strict ideas of the +Church; he had been employed on various diplomatic missions, and had +accomplished what had been intrusted to him, we are told, with skill and +success; last of all, he had been given a high office in the state, and +had learned to know by experience and observation the life of the court, +its methods of doing or preventing business, and all its strength and +weakness. + +As Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket became almost the independent +sovereign of a state within the state. Lanfranc had held no such place, +nor had Anselm. No earlier archbishop indeed had found himself at his +consecration so free from control and so strong. The organization apart +from the state, the ideal liberty of the Church, to which Anselm had +looked forward somewhat vaguely, had been in some degree realized since +his time. The death of Henry I had removed the restraining hand which had +held the Church within its old bounds. For a generation afterwards it was +free--free as compared with any earlier period--to put into practice its +theories and aspirations, and the new Archbishop of Canterbury inherited +the results still unquestioned and undiminished. Henry II had come to the +throne young and with much preliminary work to be done. Gradually, it +would seem, the reforms necessary to recover the full royal power, and to +put into most effective form the organization of the state, were taking +shape in his mind. It is possible, it is perhaps more than possible, that +he expected to have from his friend Thomas as archbishop sympathy and +assistance in these plans, or at least that he would be able to carry +them out with no opposition from the Church. This looks to us now like a +bad reading of character. At any rate no hope was ever more completely +disappointed. In character, will, and ideals, at least as these appear +from this time onward, sovereign and primate furnished all the conditions +of a most bitter conflict. But to understand this conflict it is also +necessary to remember the strength of Becket's position, the fact that he +was the ruler of an almost independent state. + +What was the true and natural character of Thomas Becket, what were +really the ideals on which he would have chosen to form his life if he +had been entirely free to shape it as he would, is a puzzle which this is +not the place to try to solve. Nor can we discuss here the critical +questions, still unsettled, which the sources of our knowledge present. +Fortunately no question affects seriously the train of events, and, in +regard to the character of the archbishop, we may say with some +confidence that, whatever he might have chosen for himself, he threw +himself with all the ardour of a great nature into whatever work he was +called upon to do. As chancellor, Thomas's household had been a centre of +luxurious court life. As archbishop his household was not less lavishly +supplied, nor less attractive; but its elegance was of a more sober cast, +and for himself Thomas became an ascetic, as he had been a courtier, and +practised in secret, according to his biographers, the austerities and +good works which became the future saint. + +Six months after the consecration of the new archbishop, King Henry +crossed from Normandy to England, at the end of January, 1163, but before +he did so word had come to him from Becket which was like a declaration +of principles. Henry had hoped to have him at the same time primate of +the Church and his own chancellor. Not merely would this add a +distinction to his court, but we may believe that the king would regard +it as a part of the co-operation between Church and State in the reforms +he had in mind. To Thomas the retention of his old office would probably +mean a pledge not to oppose the royal will in the plans which he no doubt +foresaw. It would also interfere seriously with the new manner of life +which he proposed for himself, and he firmly declined to continue in the +old office. In other ways, unimportant as yet, the policy of the primate +as it developed was coming into collision with the king's interests, in +his determined pushing of the rights of his Church to every piece of land +to which it could lay any claim, in some cases directly against the king, +and in his refusal to allow clerks in the service of the State to hold +preferments in the Church, of which he had himself been guilty; but all +these things were still rather signs of what might be expected than +important in themselves. There was for several months no breach between +the king and the archbishop. + +For some time after his return to England Henry was occupied, as he had +been of late on the continent, with minor details of government of no +permanent importance. The treaty of alliance with Count Dietrich of +Flanders was renewed. Gilbert Foliot was translated to the important +bishopric of London. A campaign in South Wales brought the prince of that +country to terms, and was followed by homage from him and other Welsh +princes rendered at a great council held at Woodstock during the first +week of July, 1163. It was at this meeting that the king first met with +open and decided opposition from the archbishop, though this was still in +regard to a special point and not to a general line of policy. The +revenue of the state which had been left by the last reign in a +disordered condition was still the subject of much concern and careful +planning. Recently, as our evidence leads us to believe, the king had +given up the Danegeld as a tax which had declined in value until it was +no longer worth collecting. At Woodstock he made a proposition to the +council for an increase in the revenue without an increase in the +taxation. It was that the so-called "sheriffs aid," a tax said to be of +two shillings on the hide paid to the sheriffs by their counties as a +compensation for their services, should be for the future paid into the +royal treasury for the use of the crown. That this demand was in the +direction of advance and reform can hardly be questioned, especially if, +as is at least possible, it was based on the declining importance of the +sheriffs as purely local officers, and their increasing responsibilities +as royal officers on account of the growing importance of the king's +courts and particularly of the itinerant justice courts. So decided a +change, however, in the traditional way of doing business could only be +made with consent asked and obtained. There is no evidence that +opposition came from any one except Becket. He flatly refused to consent +to any such change, as he had a right to do so far as his own lands were +concerned, and declared that this tax should never be paid from them to +the public treasury. The motive of his opposition does not appear and is +not easy to guess. He stood on the historical purpose of the tax and +refused to consider any other use to which it might be put. Henry was +angry, but apparently he had to give up his plan. At any rate +unmistakable notice had been served on him that his plans for reform were +likely to meet with the obstinate opposition of his former chancellor. + +This first quarrel was the immediate prelude to another concerning a far +more important matter and of far more lasting consequences. +Administration and jurisdiction, revenue and justice, were so closely +connected in the medieval state that any attempt to increase the revenue, +or to improve and centralize the administrative machinery, raised at once +the question of changes in the judicial system. But Henry II was not +interested in getting a larger income merely, or a closer centralization. +His whole reign goes to show that he had a high conception of the duty of +the king to make justice prevail and to repress disorder and crime. But +this was a duty which he could not begin to carry out without at once +encountering the recognized rights and still wider claims of the Church. +Starting from the words of the apostle against going to law before +unbelievers, growing at first as a process of voluntary arbitration +within the Church, adding a criminal side with the growth of disciplinary +powers over clergy and members, and greatly stimulated and widened by the +legislation of the early Christian emperors, a body of law and a +judicial organization had been developed by the Church which rivalled +that of the State in its own field and surpassed it in scientific form +and content. In the hundred years since William the Conqueror landed in +England this system had been greatly perfected. The revival of the Roman +law in the schools of Italy had furnished both model and material, but +more important still the triumph of the Cluniac reformation, of the ideas +of centralization and empire, had given an immense stimulus to this +growth, and led to clearer conceptions than ever before of what to do and +how to do it. When the state tardily awoke to the same consciousness of +opportunity and method, it found a large part of what should have been +its own work in the hands of a rival power. + +In no state in Christendom had the line between these conflicting +jurisdictions been clearly drawn. In England no attempt had as yet been +made to draw it; the only legislation had been in the other direction. +The edict of William I, separating the ecclesiastical courts from the +temporal, and giving them exclusive jurisdiction in spiritual causes, +must be regarded as a beneficial regulation as things then were. The same +thing can hardly be said of the clause in Stephen's charter to the Church +by which he granted it jurisdiction over all the clergy; yet under this +clause the Church had in fifteen years drawn into its hands, as nearly as +we can judge, more business that should naturally belong to the state +than in the three preceding reigns. This rapid attainment of what Anselm +could only have wished for, this enlarged jurisdiction of the Church, +stood directly in the way of the plans of the young king as he took up +the work of restoring the government of his grandfather. He had found out +this fact before the death of Archbishop Theobald and had taken some +steps to bring the question to an issue at that time, but he had been +obliged to cross to France and had not since been able to go on with the +matter. Now the refusal of Archbishop Thomas to grant his request about +the sheriff's aid probably did not make him any less ready to push what +he believed to be the clear rights of the state against the usurpations +of the clergy. + +As the state assumed more and more the condition of settled order under +the new king, and the courts were able to enforce the laws everywhere, +the failures of justice which resulted from the separate position of the +clergy attracted more attention. The king was told that there had been +during his reign more than a hundred murders by clerks and great numbers +of other crimes, for none of which had it been possible to inflict the +ordinary penalties. Special cases began to be brought to his attention. +The most important of these was the case of Philip of Broi, a man of some +family and a canon of Bedford, who, accused of the murder of a knight, +had cleared himself by oath in the bishop's court. Afterwards the king's +justice in Bedford summoned him to appear in his court and answer to the +same charge, but he refused with insulting language which the justice at +once repeated to the king as a contempt of the royal authority. Henry was +very angry and swore "by the eyes of God," his favourite oath, that an +insult to his minister was an insult to himself and that the canon must +answer for it in his court. "Not so," said the archbishop, "for laymen +cannot be judges of the clergy. If the king complains of any injury, let +him come or send to Canterbury, and there he shall have full justice by +ecclesiastical authority." This declaration of the archbishop was the +extreme claim of the Church in its simplest form. Even the king could not +obtain justice for a personal injury in his own courts, and the strength +of Becket's position is shown by the fact that, in spite of all his +anger, Henry was obliged to submit. He could not, even then, get the case +of the murder reopened, and in the matter of the insult to his judge the +penalties which he obtained must have seemed to him very inadequate. + +It seems altogether probable that this case had much to do with bringing +Henry to a determination to settle the question, what law and what +sovereign should rule in England. So long as such things were possible, +there could be no effective centralization and no supremacy of the +national law. Within three months of the failure of his plan of taxation +in the council at Woodstock the king made a formal demand of the Church +to recognize the right of the State to punish criminous clerks. The +bishops were summoned to a conference at Westminster on October 1. To +them the king proposed an arrangement, essentially the same as that +afterwards included in the Constitutions of Clarendon, by which the +question of guilt or innocence should be determined by the Church court, +but once pronounced guilty the clerk should be degraded by the Church and +handed over to the lay court for punishment. The bishops were not at +first united on the answer which they should make, but Becket had no +doubts, and his opinion carried the day. One of his biographers, Herbert +of Bosham, who was his secretary and is likely to have understood his +views, though he was if possible of an even more extreme spirit than his +patron, records the speech in which the archbishop made known to the king +the answer of the Church. Whether actually delivered or not, the speech +certainly states the principles on which Becket must have stood, and +these are those of the reformers of Cluny in their most logical form. The +Church is not subject to an earthly king nor to the law of the State +alone: Christ also is its king and the divine law its law. This is proved +by the words of our Lord concerning the "two swords." But those who are +by ordination the clergy of the Church, set apart from the nations of men +and peculiarly devoted to the work of God, are under no earthly king. +They are above kings and confer their power upon them, and far from being +subject to any royal jurisdiction they are themselves the judges of +kings. There can be no doubt but that Becket in his struggle with the +king had consciously before him the model of Anselm; but these words, +whether he spoke them to the king's face or not, forming as they did the +principles of his action and accepted by the great body of the clergy, +show how far the English Church had progressed along the road into which +Anselm had first led it. + +Henry's only answer to the argument of the archbishop was to adopt +exactly the position of his grandfather in the earlier conflict, and to +inquire whether the bishops were willing to observe the ancient customs +of the realm. To this they made answer together and singly that they +were, "saving their order." This was of course to refuse, and the +conference came to an end with no other result than to define more +clearly the issue between Church and State. In the interval which +followed Becket was gradually made aware that his support in the Church +at large was not so strong as he could wish. The terror of the king's +anger still had its effect in England, and some of the bishops went over +to his side and tried to persuade the archbishop to some compromise. The +pope, Alexander III, who had taken refuge in France from the Emperor and +his antipope, saw more clearly than Becket the danger of driving another +powerful sovereign into the camp of schism and rebellion and counselled +moderation. He even sent a special representative to England, with +letters to Becket to this effect, and with instructions to urge him to +come to terms with the king. + +At last Becket was persuaded to concede the form of words desired, though +his biographers asserted that he did this on the express understanding +that the concession should be no more than a form to save the honour of +the king. He had an interview with Henry at Oxford and engaged that he +would faithfully observe the customs of the realm. This promise Henry +received gladly, though not, it was noticed, with a return of his +accustomed kindness to the archbishop; and he declared at once that, as +the refusal of Thomas to obey the customs of the realm had been public, +so the satisfaction made to his honour must be public and the pledge be +given in the presence of the nobles and bishops of the kingdom. To this +Becket apparently offered no objection, nor to the proposal which +followed, according to his secretary at the suggestion of the +archbishop's enemies, but certainly from Henry's point of view the next +natural step, that after the promise had been given, the customs of the +realm should be put into definite statement by a "recognition," or formal +inquiry, that there might be no further danger of either civil or +clerical courts infringing on the jurisdiction of the other. + +For this double purpose, to witness the archbishop's declaration and to +make the recognition, a great council met at Clarendon, near Salisbury, +towards the end of January, 1164. Some questions both of what happened at +this council and of the order of events are still unsettled, but the +essential points seem clear. Becket gave the required promise with no +qualifying phrase, and was followed by each of the bishops in the same +form. Then came the recognition, whether provided for beforehand or not, +by members of the council who were supposed to know the ancient practice, +for the purpose of putting into definite form the customs to which the +Church had agreed. The document thus drawn up, which has come down to us +known as the Constitutions of Clarendon, records in its opening paragraph +the fact and form of this agreement and the names of the consenting +bishops. It is probable, however, that this refers to the earlier +engagement, and that after the customs were reduced to definite +statement, no formal promise was made. The archbishop in the discussion +urged his own ignorance of the customs, and it is quite possible that, +receiving his training in the time of Stephen and believing implicitly in +the extreme claims of the Church, he was really ignorant of what could be +proved by a historical study of the ancient practice. The king demanded +that the bishops should put their seals to this document, but this they +evidently avoided. Becket's secretary says that he temporized and +demanded delay. Henry had gained, however, great advantage from the +council, both in what he had actually accomplished and in position for +the next move. + +To all who accepted the ideas which now ruled the Church there was +much to complain of, much that was impossible in the Constitutions of +Clarendon. On the question of the trial of criminous clerks, which had +given rise to these difficulties, it was provided, according to the +best interpretation, that the accused clerk should be first brought +before a secular court and there made to answer to the charge. Whatever +he might plead, guilty or not guilty, he was to be transferred to the +Church court for trial and, if found guilty, for degradation from the +priesthood; he was then to be handed over to the king's officer who +had accompanied him to the bishop's court for sentence in the king's +court to the state's punishment of his crime.[46] Becket and his party +regarded this as a double trial and a double punishment for a single +offence. But this was not all. The Constitutions went beyond the +original controversy. Suits to determine the right of presentation +to a living even between two clerks must be tried in the king's court, +as also suits to determine whether a given fee was held in free alms or +as a lay fee. None of the higher clergy were to go out of the kingdom +without the king's permission, nor without his consent were appeals +to be taken from ecclesiastical courts to the pope, his barons to be +excommunicated or their lands placed under an interdict. The feudal +character of the clergy who held in chief of the king was strongly +insisted on. They must hold their lands as baronies, and answer for +them to the royal justices, and perform all their feudal obligations +like other barons; and if their fiefs fell vacant, they must pass into +the king's hand and their revenues be treated as domain revenues during +the vacancy. A new election must be made by a delegation summoned by +the king, in his chapel, and with his consent, and the new prelate +must perform liege homage and swear fealty to the king before his +consecration. + +In short, the Constitutions are a codification of the ancient customs on +all those points where conflict was likely to arise between the old ideas +of the Anglo-Norman State and the new ideas of the Hildebrandine Church. +For there can be little doubt that Henry's assertion that he was but +stating the customs of his grandfather was correct. There is not so much +proof in regard to one or two points as we should like, but all the +evidence that we have goes to show that the State was claiming nothing +new, and about most of the points there can be no question. Nor was this +true of England only. The rights asserted in the Constitutions had been +exercised in general in the eleventh and early twelfth centuries by every +strong state in Europe. The weakness of Henry's position was not in its +historical support, but in the fact that history had been making since +his grandfather's day. Nor was the most important feature of the history +that had been made in the interval the fact that the State in its +weakness had allowed many things to slip out of its hands. For Henry's +purpose of recovery the rise of the Church to an equality with the State, +its organization as an international monarchy, conscious of the value of +that organization and powerful to defend it, was far more important. The +Anglo-Norman monarchy had been since its beginning the strongest in +Europe. Henry II was in no less absolute control of the State than his +ancestors. But now there stood over against the king, as there never had +before, a power almost as strong in England as his own. Thomas understood +this more clearly than Henry did. He not merely believed in the justice +and necessity of his cause, but he believed in his ability to make it +prevail. Thomas may have looked to Anselm as his model and guide of +conduct, but in position he stood on the results of the work which Anselm +had begun, and he was even more convinced than his predecessor had been +of the righteousness of his cause and of his power to maintain it. This +conflict was likely to be a war of giants, and at its beginning no man +could predict its outcome. + +Even if the council of Clarendon closed, as we have supposed it did, with +no definite statement on Thomas's part of his attitude towards the +Constitutions, and not, as some accounts imply, with a flat refusal to +accept them, he probably left the council fully determined not to do so. +He carried away with him an official copy of the Constitutions as +evidence of the demands which had been made and shortly afterwards he +suspended himself from his functions because of the promise which he had +originally given to obey them, and applied to the pope for absolution. +For some months matters drifted with no decisive events. Both sides made +application to the pope. The archbishop attempted to leave England +without the knowledge of the king, but failed to make a crossing. The +courts were still unable to carry out the provisions of the +Constitutions. Finally a case arose involving the archbishop's own court, +and on his disregard of the king's processes he was summoned to answer +before the curia regis at Northampton on October 6. + +It is to be regretted that we have no account of the interesting and +dramatic events of this assembly from a hand friendly to the king and +giving us his point of view. In the biographies of the archbishop, +written by clerks who were not likely to know much feudal law, it is not +easy to trace out the exact legal procedure nor always to discover the +technical right which we may be sure the king believed was on his side in +every step he took. At the outset it was recorded that as a mark of his +displeasure Henry omitted to send to the archbishop the customary +personal summons to attend the meeting of the court and summoned him only +through the sheriff, but, though the omission of a personal summons to +one of so high rank would naturally be resented by his friends, as he was +to go, not as a member of the court, but as an accused person to answer +before it, the omission was probably quite regular. Immediately after the +organization of the court, Becket was put on his trial for neglect to +obey the processes of the king's court in the earlier case. Summoned +originally on an appeal for default of judgment, he had neither gone to +the court himself nor sent a personal excuse, but he had instructed his +representatives to plead against the legality of the appeal. This he +might have done himself if personally before the court, but, as he had +not come, there was technically a refusal to obey the king's commands +which gave Henry his opportunity. Before the great curia regis the case +was very simple. The archbishop seems to have tried to get before the +court the same plea as to the illegality of the appeal, but it was ruled +out at once, as "it had no place there." In other words, the case was now +a different one. It was tried strictly on the ground of the archbishop's +feudal obligations, and there he had no defence. Judgment was given +against him, and all his movables were declared in the king's mercy. + +William Fitz Stephen, one of Becket's biographers who shows a more +accurate knowledge of the law than the others, and who was present at the +trial, records an interesting incident of the judgment. A dispute arose +between the barons and the bishops as to who should pronounce it, each +party trying to put the unpleasant duty on the other. To the barons' +argument that a bishop should declare the decision of the court because +Becket was a bishop, the bishops answered that they were not sitting +there as bishops but as barons of the realm and peers of the lay barons. +The king interposed, and the sentence was pronounced by the aged Henry, +Bishop of Winchester. Becket seems to have submitted without opposition, +and the bishops who were present, except Gilbert Foliot of London, united +in giving security for the payment of the fine. + +A question that inevitably arises at this point and cannot be answered +is, why Henry did not rest satisfied with the apparently great advantage +he had gained. He had put into operation more than one of the articles of +the Constitutions of Clarendon, and against the archbishop in person. +Becket had been obliged to recognize the jurisdiction of the curia +regis over himself and to submit to its sentence, and the whole body of +bishops had recognized their feudal position in the state and had acted +upon it. Perhaps the king wished to get an equally clear precedent in a +case which was a civil one rather than a misdemeanour. Perhaps he was so +exasperated against the archbishop that he was resolved to pursue him to +his ruin, but, though more than one thing points to this, it does not +seem a reasonable explanation. Whatever may have been his motive, the +king immediately,--the accounts say on the same day with the first +trial;--demanded that his former chancellor should account for £300 +derived from the revenues of the castles of Eye and Berkhampsted held by +him while chancellor. Thomas answered that the money had been spent in +the service of the state, but the king refused to admit that this had +been done by his authority. Again Becket submitted, though not +recognizing the right of the court to try him in a case in which he had +not been summoned, and gave security for the payment. + +Still this was not sufficient. On the next day the king demanded the +return of 500 marks which he had lent Becket for the Toulouse campaign, +and of a second 500 which had been borrowed of a Jew on the king's +security. This was followed at once by a further demand for an account of +the revenues of the archbishopric and of all other ecclesiastical fiefs +which had been vacant while Thomas was chancellor. To pay the sum which +this demand would call for would be impossible without a surrender of all +the archbishop's sources of income for several years, and it almost seems +as if Henry intended this result. The barons apparently thought as much, +for from this day they ceased to call at Becket's quarters. The next day +the clergy consulted together on the course to be taken and there was +much difference of opinion. Some advised the immediate resignation of the +archbishopric, others a firm stand accepting the consequence of the +king's anger; and there were many opinions between these two extremes. +During the day an offer of 2000 marks in settlement of the claim was sent +to the king on the advice of Henry of Winchester, but it was refused, and +the day closed without any agreement among the clergy on a common course +of action. + +The next day was Sunday, and the archbishop did not leave his lodgings. +On Monday he was too ill to attend the meeting of the court, much to +Henry's anger. The discussions of Saturday and the reflections of the +following days had apparently led Becket to a definite decision as to his +own conduct. The king was in a mood, as it would surely seem to him, to +accept nothing short of his ruin. No support was to be expected from the +barons. The clergy, even the bishops, were divided in opinion and it +would be impossible to gain strength enough from them to escape anything +which the king might choose to demand. We must, I think, explain Becket's +conduct from this time on by supposing that he now saw clearly that all +concessions had been and would be in vain, and that he was resolved to +exert to the utmost the strength of passive opposition which lay in the +Church, to put his case on the highest possible grounds, and to gain for +the Church the benefits of persecution and for himself the merits, if +needs be, of the martyr. + +Early the next morning the bishops, terrified by the anger of the king, +came to Becket and tried to persuade him to yield completely, even to +giving up the archbishopric. This he refused. He rebuked them for their +action against him already in the court, forbade them to sit in judgment +on him again, himself appealing to the pope, and ordered them, if any +secular person should lay hands on him in punishment, to excommunicate +him at once. Against this order Gilbert Foliot immediately appealed. The +bishops then departed, and Becket entered the monastery church and +celebrated the mass of St. Stephen's day, opening with the words of the +Psalm, "Princes did sit and speak against me." This was a most audacious +act, pointed directly at the king, and a public declaration that he +expected and was prepared for the fate of the first martyr. Naturally the +anger of the court was greatly increased. From the celebration of the +mass, Becket went to the meeting of the court, his cross borne before him +in the usual manner, but on reaching the door of the meeting-place, he +took it from his cross-bearer and carrying it in his own hands entered +the hall. Such an unusual proceeding as this could have but one meaning. +It was a public declaration that he was in fear of personal violence, and +that any one who laid hands on him must understand his act to be an +attack on the cross and all that it signified. Some of the bishops tried +to persuade him to abandon this attitude, but in vain. So far as we can +judge the mood of Henry, Becket had much to justify his feeling, and if +he were resolved not to accept the only other alternative of complete +submission, but determined to resist to the utmost, the act was not +unwise. + +When the bishops reported to the king the primate's order forbidding them +to sit in trial of him again, it was seen at once to be a violation of +the Constitutions of Clarendon; and certain barons were sent to him to +inquire if he stood to this, to remind him of his oath as the king's +liege-man, and of the promise, equivalent to an oath, which he had made +at Clarendon to keep the Constitutions "in good faith, without guile, and +according to law," and to ask if he would furnish security for the +payment of the claims against him as chancellor. In reply Becket stood +firmly to his position, and renewed the prohibition and the appeal to the +pope. The breach of the Constitutions being thus placed beyond question, +the king demanded the judgment of the court, bishops and barons together. +The bishops urged the ecclesiastical dangers in which they would be +placed if they disregarded the archbishop's prohibition, and suggested +that instead they should themselves appeal to Rome against him as a +perjurer. To this the king at last agreed, and the appeal was declared by +Hilary, Bishop of Chichester, who had throughout inclined to the king's +side, and who urged upon the archbishop with much vigour the oath which +they had all taken at Clarendon under his leadership and which he was now +forcing them to violate. Becket's answer to this speech is the weakest +and least honest thing that he did during all these days of trial. "We +promised nothing at Clarendon," he said, "without excepting the rights of +the Church. The very clauses to which you refer, 'in good faith, without +guile, and according to law,' are saving clauses, because it is +impossible to observe anything in good faith and according to law if it +is contrary to the laws of God and to the fealty due the Church. Nor is +there any such thing as the dignity of a Christian king where the liberty +of the Church which he has sworn to observe has perished." + +The court then, without the bishops, found the archbishop guilty of +perjury and probably of treason. The formal pronunciation of the sentence +in the presence of Becket was assigned to the justiciar, the Earl of +Leicester, but he was not allowed to finish. With violent words Thomas +interrupted him and bitterly denounced him for presuming as a layman to +sit in judgment on his spiritual father. In the pause that followed, +Becket left the hall still carrying his cross. As he passed out, the +spirit of the chancellor overcame for a moment that of the bishop, and he +turned fiercely on those who were saying "perjured traitor" and cried +that, if it were not for his priestly robes and the wickedness of the +act, he would know how to answer in arms such an accusation. During the +night that followed, Becket secretly left Northampton, and by a +roundabout way after two weeks succeeded in escaping to the continent in +disguise. The next day the court held its last session. After some +discussion it was resolved to allow the case to stand as it was, and not +even to take the archbishop's fief into the king's hands until the pope +should decide the appeal, a resolution which shows how powerful was the +Church and how strong was the influence of the bishops who were acting +with the king. At the same time an embassy of great weight and dignity +was appointed to represent the king before the pope, consisting of the +Archbishop of York, the Bishops of London, Chichester, Exeter, and +Worcester, two earls and two barons, and three clerks from the king's +household. They were given letters to the King of France and to the Count +of Flanders which said that Thomas, "formerly Archbishop of Canterbury," +had fled the kingdom as a traitor and should not be received in their +lands. + +In the somewhat uncertain light in which we are compelled to view these +events, this quarrel seems unnecessary, and the guilt of forcing it on +Church and State in England, at least at this time and in these +circumstances, appears to rest with Henry. The long patience of his +grandfather, which was willing to wait the slow process of events and +carefully shunned the drawing of sharp issues when possible, he certainly +does not show in this case. It is more than likely, however, that the +final result would have been the same in any case. No reconciliation was +possible between the ideas or the characters of the two chief +antagonists, and the necessary constitutional growth of the state made +the collision certain. It was a case in which either the Church or the +State must give way, but greater moderation of action and demand would +have given us a higher opinion of Henry's practical wisdom; and the +essential justice of his cause hardly excuses such rapid and violent +pushing of his advantage. On the other hand Thomas's conduct, which must +have been exceedingly exasperating to the hot blood which Henry had +inherited, must be severely condemned in many details. We cannot avoid +the feeling that much about it was insincere and theatrical, and even an +intentional challenging of the fate he seemed to dread. But yet it does +not appear what choice was left him between abjectly giving up all that +he had been trained to believe of the place of the Church in the world +and entering on open war with the king. + +The war now declared dragged slowly on for six years with few events that +seemed to bring a decision nearer till towards the end of that period. +Henry's embassy returned from the pope at Christmas time and reported +that no formal judgment had been rendered on the appeal. The king then +put in force the ordinary penalty for failure of service and confiscated +the archbishop's revenues. He went even further than this in some acts +that were justifiable and some that were spiteful. He ordered the +confiscation of the revenues of the archbishop's clerks who had +accompanied him, prohibited all appeals to the pope, and ordered Becket's +relatives to join him in exile. As to the archbishop, whatever one may +think of his earlier attitude we can have but little sympathy with his +conduct from this time on. He went himself to the pope after the +departure of Henry's messengers, but though Alexander plainly inclined to +his side, he did not obtain a formal decision. Then he retired to the +abbey of Pontigny in Burgundy, where he resided for some time. + +Political events did not wait the settlement of the conflict with the +Church, though nothing of great interest occurred before its close. Henry +crossed to Normandy in the spring of 1165, where an embassy came to him +from the Emperor which resulted in the marriage of his daughter Matilda +with Henry the Lion, of the house of Guelf. Two clerks who returned with +this embassy to Germany seem to have involved the king in some +embarrassment by promises of some kind to support the emperor against the +pope. It does not appear, however, that Henry ever intended to recognize +the antipope; and, whatever the promises were, he promptly disavowed +them. Later in the year two campaigns in Wales are less interesting from +a military point of view than as leading to further experiments in +taxation. The year 1166 is noteworthy for the beginning of extensive +judicial and administrative reforms which must be considered hereafter +with the series to which they belong. In that year also Becket began a +direct attack upon his enemies in England. + +He began by sending to the king three successive warnings, all based on +the assumption that in such a dispute the final decision must remain with +the Church and that the State must always give way. His next step was the +solemn excommunication of seven supporters of the king, mostly clerks, +but including Richard of Lucy, the justiciar. The king was warned to +expect the same fate himself, and all obedience to the Constitutions of +Clarendon was forbidden. The effect of this act was not what Becket +anticipated. It led rather to a reaction of feeling against him from its +unnecessary severity, and a synod of the clergy of the archbishopric +entered an appeal against it. A new embassy was sent to the pope who was +then at Rome to get the appeal decided, and was much more favourably +received by Alexander who seems to have been displeased with Becket's +action. He promised to send legates to Henry to settle the whole question +with him. The occupation of Britanny by which it was brought under +Henry's direct control and a short and inconclusive war with the king of +France took up the interval until the legates reached Normandy in +October, 1167. Their mission proved a failure. Becket, who came in person +to the inquiry which they held, refused to accept any compromise or to +modify in any way his extreme position. On the other side Henry was very +angry because they refused to deprive the archbishop. + +The year 1168 was a troubled one for Henry, with revolts in Poitou and +Britanny, supported by the king of France, and with useless negotiations +with Louis. Early in 1169 the pope sent new envoys to try to reconcile +king and primate with instructions to bring pressure to bear on both +parties. The king of France also came to the meeting and exerted his +influence, but the result was a second failure. Becket had invented a new +saving clause which he thought the king might be induced to accept. He +would submit "saving the honour of God," but Henry understood the point +and could see no difference between this and the old reservation. Becket +finally stood firmly against the pressure of the envoys and the influence +of Louis, and Henry was not moved by the threats which the pope had +directed to be made if necessary. A third embassy later in the year +seemed for a moment about to find a possible compromise, but ended in +another failure, both parties refusing to make any real concession. The +interval between these two attempts at reconciliation Becket had used to +excommunicate about thirty of his opponents in England, mostly churchmen, +including the Bishops of London and Salisbury. + +For more than a year longer the quarrel went on, the whole Church +suffering from the results, and new points arising to complicate the +issue. The danger that England would be placed under an interdict +Henry met by most stringent regulations against the admission of any +communications from the pope, or any intercourse with pope or +archbishop. On the question which arose in the constant negotiations +as to the compensation which should be made to Becket for his loss of +revenue since he had left England, he showed himself as unyielding as +on every other point, and demanded the uttermost farthing. For some +time the king had wished to have his son Henry crowned, and on June +14, 1170, that ceremony was actually performed at Westminster by the +Archbishop of York, who had, as Henry believed or asserted, a special +permission from the pope for the purpose. Of course Becket resented +this as a new invasion of his rights and determined to exact for it +the proper penalties. Finally, towards the end of July, an agreement +was reached which was no compromise; it simply ignored the points in +dispute and omitted all the qualifying phrases. The king agreed to +receive the archbishop to his favour and to restore him his +possessions, and Becket accepted this. The agreement can hardly have +been regarded by either side as anything more than a truce. Neither +intended to abandon any right for which he had been contending, but +both were exhausted by the conflict and desired an interval for +recovery, perhaps with a hope of renewing the strife from a better +position. + +It was December 1 before Thomas actually landed in England. He then +came bringing war, not peace. He had sent over, in advance of his own +crossing, letters which he had solicited and obtained from the pope, +suspending from their functions all the bishops who had taken part in +the coronation of the young king, and reviving the excommunications of +the Bishops of London and Salisbury. Then, landing at Sandwich, he went +on to Canterbury, where he was received with joy. But there was little +real joy for Becket or his friends in the short remainder of his life, +unless it may have been the joy of conflict and of anticipated +martyrdom. To messengers who asked the removal of the sentence against +the bishops, he refused any concession except on their unconditional +promise to abide by the pope's decision; and the three prelates most +affected--York, London, and Salisbury--went over to Normandy to the +king. A plan to visit the court of the young king at London was stopped +by orders to return to Canterbury. On Christmas day, at the close of a +sermon from the text "Peace on earth to men of good-will," he issued new +excommunications against some minor offenders, and bitterly denounced, +in words that seemed to have the same effect, those who endangered the +peace between himself and the king. + +It was on the news of this Christmas proclamation, or perhaps on the +report of the bishops who had come from England, that Henry gave way to +his violent temper, and in an outburst of passion denounced those whom he +had cherished and covered with favours, because they could not avenge him +of this one priest. On these words four knights of his household resolved +to punish the archbishop, and, leaving the court secretly, they went over +to England. They were Reginald Fitz Urse, William of Tracy, Hugh of +Morville, and Richard le Breton. An attempt to stop them when their +departure was observed did not succeed, and, collecting supporters from +the local enemies of the archbishop, they forced their way into his +presence on the afternoon of December 29. Their reproaches, demands, and +threats Becket met with firmness and dignity, refusing to be influenced +by fear. Finding that they could gain nothing by words, they withdrew to +get their arms, and Becket was hurried into the cathedral by his friends. +As they were going up the steps from the north-west transept to the +choir, their enemies met them, calling loudly for "the traitor, Thomas +Becket." The archbishop turned about and stepped down to the floor of the +transept, repelling their accusations with bitter words and accusations +of his own, and was there struck down by their swords and murdered; not +before the altar, as is sometimes said, though within the doors of his +own church. + +[46] See Maitland, Henry II and the Criminous Clerks, in his +Canon Law in the Church of England (1898). (Engl. Hist., +Rev. vii, 224.) + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +CONQUEST AND REBELLION + +The martyrdom of Thomas Becket served his cause better than his +continuance in life could have done. Even if his murderers foolishly +thought to serve the king by their deed, Henry himself was under no +delusion as to its effect. He was thunderstruck at the news, and, in a +frenzy of horror which was no doubt genuine, as well as to mark his +repudiation of all share in the deed, he fasted and shut himself from +communication with the court for days. But the public opinion of Europe +would not acquit Henry of the guilt. Letters poured in upon the pope +denouncing him and demanding his punishment. The interdict of his Norman +dominions which had been threatened was proclaimed by the Archbishop of +Sens, but suspended again by an appeal to the pope. Events moved slowly +in the twelfth century, and before the pope could take any active steps +in the case, an embassy which left Normandy almost immediately had time +to reach him and to promise on the part of the king his complete +submission to whatever the pope should decree after examination of the +facts. Immediate punishment of any severity was thus avoided, and the +embassy of two cardinals to Normandy which the pope announced could act +only after some delay. + +In the meanwhile in England Thomas the archbishop was being rapidly +transformed into Thomas the saint. Miracles were reported almost at once, +and the legend of his saintship took its rise and began to throw a new +light over the events of his earlier life. The preparation of his body +for the grave had revealed his secret asceticism,--the hair garments next +his skin and long unchanged. The people believed him to be a true martyr, +and his popular canonization preceded by some time the official, though +this followed with unusual quickness even for the middle ages. It was +pronounced by the pope in whose reign he had died on February 21, 1173. +For generations he remained the favourite saint of England, and his +popularity in foreign lands is surprising, though it must be remembered +that he was a great and most conspicuous martyr of the official Church, +of the new Hildebrandine Church, of the spirit and ideas which were by +that date everywhere in command. + +This long and bitter struggle between Church and State, unworthy of both +the combatants, was now over except for the consequences which were +lasting, and the interest of Henry's reign flows back into the political +channel. The king did not wait in seclusion the report of the pope's +mission. It may have been, as was suggested even at the time, that he was +glad of an excuse to escape from Normandy before the envoys' coming and +to avoid a meeting with them until time had done something to soften the +feeling against him. Before his departure his hold on Britanny was +strengthened by the death, in February, 1171, of Conan the candidate whom +he had recognized as count. Since 1166 the administration of the country +had been practically in his hands; and in that year his son Geoffrey had +been betrothed to Constance, the daughter and heiress of Conan. Geoffrey +would now succeed to the countship, but he was still a child; and +Britanny was virtually incorporated in Henry's continental empire. + +The refuge which the repentant Henry may have sought from the necessity +of giving an answer to the pope at once, or a kind of preliminary penance +for his sin, he found in Ireland. Since he received so early in his reign +the sanction of Pope Hadrian IV of his plan of conquest, he had done +nothing himself towards that end, but others had. The adventurous barons +of the Welsh marches, who were used to the idea of carving out lordships +for themselves from the lands of their Celtic enemies, were easily +persuaded to extend their civilizing operations to the neighbouring +island, where even richer results seemed to be promised. In 1166 Dermot, +the dispossessed king of Leinster, who had found King Henry too busily +occupied with affairs in France to aid him, had secured with the royal +permission the help he needed in Wales, and thus had connected with the +future history of Ireland the names of "Strongbow" and Fitzgerald. The +native Irish, though the bravest of warriors, were without armour, and +their weapons, of an earlier stage of military history, were no match for +the Norman; especially had they no defence against the Norman archers. +The conquest of Leinster, from Waterford to Dublin, and including those +two cities, occupied some years, but was accomplished by a few men. +"Strongbow" himself, Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, did not cross +over till the end of August, 1170, when the work was almost completed. He +married the daughter of Dermot and was recognized as his heir, but the +death of his father-in-law in the next spring was followed by a general +insurrection against the new rulers, and this was hardly under control +when the earl was summoned to England to meet the king. + +Henry could not afford to let the dominion of Ireland, to which he had +looked forward for himself, slip from his hands, nor to risk the danger +that an independent state might be formed so close to England by his own +vassals. Already the Earl of Pembroke was out of favour; it was said that +his lands had been forfeited, and he might easily become a rebel +difficult to subdue in his new possessions. At the moment he certainly +had no thought of rebellion, and he at once obeyed the summons to +England. Henry had crossed from Normandy early in September, 1171, had +paid a brief visit to Winchester, where Henry of Blois, once so powerful +in Church and State, was now dying, and then advanced with his army +through southern Wales into Pembrokeshire whence he crossed to Ireland in +the middle of October. As he passed from Waterford to Cashel, and then +again from Waterford to Dublin, chiefs came in from all sides, many of +whom had never submitted to the Norman invaders, and acknowledged his +overlordship. Only in the remoter parts of the west and north did they +remain away, except Roderick of Connaught, the most powerful of the Irish +kings, who was not yet ready to own himself a vassal, but claimed the +whole of Ireland for himself. The Christmas feast Henry kept in Dublin, +and there entertained his new subjects who were astonished at the +splendour of his court. + +A few weeks later a council of the Irish Church was held at Cashel, and +attended by all the prelates of the island except the Archbishop of +Armagh whose age prevented his coming. The bishops swore allegiance to +Henry, and each of them is said to have made a formal declaration, +written and sealed, recognizing the right of Henry and his heirs to the +kingdom of Ireland. The canons adopted by the council, putting into force +rules of marriage and morals long established in practice in the greater +part of Christendom, reveal the reasons that probably led the Church to +favour the English conquest and even to consider it an especially pious +act of the king. A report of Henry's acceptance by the Irish kings and of +the acts of the council was sent at once to the pope, who replied in +three letters under date of September 20, 1172, addressed to Henry, to +the Irish bishops, and to the Irish kings, approving fully of all that +had been done. + +It is not clear that Henry had in mind any definite plan for the +political government of the conquest which he had made. The allegiance of +those princes who were outside the territories occupied by the Norman +adventurers could have been no more than nominal, and no attempt seems to +have been made to rule them. Meath was granted as a fief to Hugh of Lacy +on the service of fifty knights. He was also made governor of Dublin and +justiciar of Ireland, but this title is the only evidence that he was to +be regarded as the representative of the king. Waterford and Wexford were +made domain towns, as well as Dublin, and the earl of Pembroke, who gave +up the royal rights which he might inherit from King Dermot, was +enfeoffed with Leinster on the service of a hundred knights. Plainly the +part of Ireland which was actually occupied was not treated in practice +as a separate kingdom, whatever may have been the theory, but as a +transplanted part of England under a very vague relationship. As a matter +of fact, it was a purely feudal colony, under but the slightest control +by a distant overlord, and doomed both from its situation in the midst of +an alien, only partly civilized, and largely unconquered race, and from +its own organization or lack of organization, to speedy troubles. + +Henry returned to England at Easter time, and went on almost at once to +meet the papal legates in Normandy. By the end of May his reconciliation +with the Church was completed. First, Henry purged himself by solemn oath +in the cathedral at Avranches of any share in the guilt of Thomas's +assassination, and then the conditions of reconciliation were sworn to by +himself and by the young king. These conditions are a very fair +compromise, though Becket could never have agreed to them nor probably +would Henry have done so but for the murder. The Church insisted on the +one thing which was most essential to its real interests, the freedom of +appeals to the pope. The point most important to the State, which had led +originally to the quarrel--the question of the punishment of criminous +clerks by the lay courts--was passed over in silence, a way out of the +difficulty being found by requiring of the king a promise which he could +readily make, that he would wholly do away with any customs which had +been introduced against the churches of the land in his time. This would +not be to his mind renouncing the Constitution of Clarendon. The +temporalities of Canterbury and the exiled friends of the archbishop were +to be restored as before the quarrel, and Henry promised not to withdraw +his obedience from the catholic pope or his successors. The other +conditions were of the nature of penance. The king promised to assume the +cross at the next Christmas for a crusade of three years, and in the +meantime to provide the Templars with a sum of money which in their +judgment would be sufficient to maintain 200 knights in the Holy Land for +a year. + +Henry no doubt felt that he had lost much, but in truth he had every +reason to congratulate himself on the lightness of his punishment for the +crime to which his passionate words had led. He did not get all which he +had set out to recover from the Church, but his gains were large and +substantial. The agreement is a starting-point of some importance in the +legal history of England. It may be taken as the beginning, with more +full consciousness of field and boundaries, of the development of two +long lines of law and jurisdiction, running side by side for many +generations, each encroaching somewhat on the occupied or natural ground +of the other, but with no other conflict of so serious a character as +this. The criminal jurisdiction of the state did not recover quite all +that the Constitutions of Clarendon had demanded. Clerks accused of the +worst offences, of felonies, except high treason, were tried and punished +by the Church courts, and from this arose the privilege known as benefit +of clergy with all its abuses, but in all minor offences no distinction +was made between clerk and layman. In civil cases also, suits which +involved the right of property, even the right of presentation to +livings, the state courts had their way. Two large fields of law, on the +other hand,--marriage, and wills,--the Church, much to its profit, had +entirely to itself. + +The interval of peace for Henry was not a long one. Hardly was he freed +from one desperate struggle when he found himself by degrees involved in +another from which he was never to find relief. The policy which he was +to follow towards his sons had been already foreshadowed in the +coronation of the young Henry in 1170, but we do not find it easy to +account for it or to reconcile it with other lines of policy which he was +as clearly following. The conflict of ideas, the subtle contradictions of +the age in which he lived, must have been reflected in the mind of the +king whose dominions themselves were an empire of contrasts. Of all the +middle ages there is perhaps no period that saw the ideal which chivalry +had created of the wholly "courteous" king and prince more nearly +realized in practice than the last half of the twelfth century--the brave +warrior and great ruler, of course, but always also the generous giver, +who considered "largesse" one of the chiefest of virtues and first of +duties, and bestowed with lavish hand on all comers money and food, robes +and jewels, horses and arms, and even castles and fiefs, recognizing the +natural right of each one to the gift his rank would seem to claim. That +such an ideal was actually realized in any large number of cases it would +be absurd to maintain. It is not likely that any one ever sought to equal +in detail the extravagant squandering of wealth in gifts which figures in +the poetry of the age--the rich mantles which Arthur hung about the halls +at a coronation festival to be taken by any one, or the thirty bushels of +silver coins tumbled in a heap on the floor from which all might help +themselves. But these poems record the ideal, and probably no other age +saw more men, from kings down to simple knights, who tried to pattern +themselves on this model and to look on wealth as an exhaustless store of +things to be given away. But in the mind of kings who reigned in a world +more real than the romances of chivalry, this duty had always to contend +with natural ambition and with their responsibility for the welfare of +the lands they ruled. The last half of the twelfth century saw these +considerations grow rapidly stronger. The age that formed and applauded +the young Henry also gave birth to Philip Augustus. + +The marriage with Eleanor added to the strange mixture of blood in the +Norman-Angevin house a new and warmer strain. It showed itself, careless, +luxurious, self-indulgent, restless at any control, in her sons. But the +marriage had also its effect on the husband and father. It gave a strong +impetus to the conquest, which had already begun, of the colder and +slower north by the ideals of duty and manners which had blossomed out +into a veritable theory of life in the more tropical south. Henry could +not keep himself from the spell of these influences, though they never +controlled him as they did his children. It seems impossible to doubt, +however, that he really believed it to be his duly to give his sons the +position that belonged to them as princes, where they could form courts +of their own, surrounded by their barons and knights, and display the +virtues which belonged to their station. They had a rightful claim to +this, which the ruling idea of conduct befitting a king would not allow +him to deny. The story of Henry's waiting on his son at table after his +coronation "as seneschal" and the reply of the young king to those who +spoke of the honour done him, that it was a proper thing for one who was +only the son of a count to wait on the son of a king, is significant of +deeper things than mere manners. But, though he might be under the spell +of these ideals, to partition his kingdom in very truth, to divest +himself of power, to make his sons actually independent in the provinces +which he gave them, was impossible to him. The power of his empire he +could not break up. The real control of the whole, and even the greater +part of the revenues, must remain in his hands. The conflict of ideas in +his mind, when he tried to be true to them all in practice, led +inevitably to a like conflict of facts and of physical force. + +The coronation of the young Henry as king of England, considered by +itself, seems an unaccountable act. Stephen had tried to secure the +coronation of his son Eustace in his own lifetime, but there was a clear +reason of policy in his case. The Capetian kings of France had long +followed the practice, but for them also it had plainly been for many +generations of the utmost importance for the security of the house. There +had never been any reason in Henry's reign why extraordinary steps should +seem necessary to secure the succession, and there certainly was none +fifteen years after its beginning. No explanation is given us in any +contemporary account of the motives which led to this coronation, and it +is not likely that they were motives of policy. It is probable that it +was done in imitation of the French custom, under the influence of the +ideas of chivalry. But even if the king looked on this as chiefly a +family matter, affecting not much more than the arrangements of the +court, he could not keep it within those limits. His view of the position +to which his sons were entitled was the most decisive influence shaping +the latter half of his reign, and through its effect on their characters +almost as decisive for another generation. + +Not long after his brother's coronation Richard received his mother's +inheritance, Aquitaine and Poitou; Geoffrey was to be Count of Britanny +by his marriage with the heiress; Normandy, Maine, and Anjou were +assigned to the young king; while the little John, youngest of the +children of Henry and Eleanor, received from his father only the name +"Lackland" which expresses well enough Henry's idea that his position was +not what it ought to be so long as he had no lordship of his own. Trouble +of one kind had begun with the young king's coronation, for Louis of +France had been deeply offended because his daughter Margaret had not +been crowned queen of England at the same time. This omission was +rectified in August, 1172, at Winchester, when Henry was again crowned, +and Margaret with him. But more serious troubles than this were now +beginning. + +Already while Henry was in Ireland, the discontent of the young king had +been noticed and reported to him. It had been speedily discovered that +the coronation carried with it no power, though the young Henry was of an +age to rule according to the ideas of the time,--of the age, indeed, at +which his father had begun the actual government of Normandy. But he +found himself, as a contemporary called him, "our new king who has +nothing to reign over." It is probable, however, that the scantiness of +the revenues supplied him to support his new dignity and to maintain his +court had more to do with his discontent than the lack of political +power. The courtly virtue of "largesse," which his father followed with +some restraint where money was concerned, was with him a more controlling +ideal of conduct. A brilliant court, joyous and gay, given up to +minstrelsy and tournaments, seemed to him a necessity of life, and it +could not be had without much money. Contemporary literature shows that +the young king had all those genial gifts of manner, person, and spirit, +which make their possessors universally popular. He was of more than +average manly beauty, warm-hearted, cordial, and generous. He won the +personal love of all men, even of his enemies, and his early death seemed +to many, besides the father whom he had so sorely tried, to leave the +world darker. Clearly he belongs in the list of those descendants of the +Norman house, with the Roberts and the Stephens, who had the gifts which +attract the admiration and affection of men, but at the same time the +weakness of character which makes them fatal to themselves and to their +friends. To a man of that type, even without the incentive of the spirit +of the time, no amount of money could be enough. It is hardly possible to +doubt that the emptiness of his political title troubled the mind of the +young Henry far less than the emptiness of his purse.[47] + +There was no lack of persons, whose word would have great influence with +the young king, to encourage him in his discontent and even in plans of +rebellion. His father-in-law, Louis VII, would have every reason to urge +him on to extremes, those of policy because of the danger which +threatened the Capetian house from the undivided Angevin power, those of +personal feeling because of the seemingly intentional slights which his +daughter Margaret had suffered. Eleanor, at once wife and mother, born +probably in 1122, had now reached an age when she must have felt that she +had lost some at least of the sources of earlier influence and +consideration. Proud and imperious of spirit, she would bitterly resent +any lack of attention on her husband's part, and she had worse things +than neglect to excite her anger. From the beginning, we are told, while +Henry was still in Ireland, she had encouraged her son to believe himself +badly treated by his father. The barons, many of them at least, through +all the provinces of Henry's empire, were restless under his strong +control and excited by the evidence, constantly increasing as the +judicial and administrative reforms of the reign went on, that the king +was determined to confine their independence within narrower and narrower +limits. Flattering offers of support no doubt came in at any sign that +the young king would head resistance to his father. + +The final step of appealing directly to armed force the young Henry did +not take till the spring of 1173. A few weeks after his second coronation +he was recalled to Normandy, but was allowed to go off at once to visit +his father-in-law, ostensibly on a family visit. Louis was anxious to see +his daughter. Apparently it was soon after his return that he made the +first formal request of his father to be given an independent position in +some one of the lands which had been assigned to him, urged, it was said, +by the advice of the king of France and of the barons of England and +Normandy. The request was refused, and he then made up his mind to rebel +as soon as a proper opportunity and excuse should offer. These he found +in the course of the negotiations for the marriage of his brother John +about the beginning of Lent, 1173. + +Marriage was the only way by which Henry could provide for his youngest +son a position equal to that which he had given to the others, and this +he was now planning to do by a marriage which would at the same time +greatly increase his own power. The Counts of Maurienne in the kingdom of +Burgundy had collected in their hands a variety of fiefs east of the +Rhone extending from Geneva on the north over into the borders of Italy +to Turin on the south until they commanded all the best passes of the +western Alps. The reigning count, Humbert, had as yet no son. His elder +daughter, a child a little younger than John, would be the heiress of his +desirable lands. The situation seems naturally to have suggested to him +the advantage of a close alliance with one whose influence and alliances +were already so widely extended in the Rhone valley as Henry's. It needed +no argument to persuade Henry of the advantage to himself of such a +relationship. He undoubtedly looked forward to ruling the lands his son +would acquire by the marriage as he ruled the lands of Geoffrey and of +his other sons; and to command the western Alps would mean not merely a +clear road into Italy if he should wish one, but also, of more immediate +value, a strategic position on the east from which he might hope to cut +off the king of France from any further interference in the south like +that which earlier in his reign had compelled him to drop his plans +against Toulouse. Belley, which would pass into his possession when this +treaty was carried out, was not very far from the eastern edge of his +duchy of Aquitaine. South-eastern France would be almost surrounded by +his possessions, and it was not likely that anything could prevent it +from passing into his actual or virtual control. Whether Henry dreamed of +still wider dominion, of interference even in Italy and possibly of +contending for the empire itself with Frederick Barbarossa, as some +suspected at the time and as a few facts tend to show, we may leave +unsettled, since the time never came when he could attempt seriously to +realize such a dream. + +The more probable and reasonable objects of his diplomacy seemed about to +be attained at once. At Montferrand in Auvergne in February he met the +Count of Maurienne, who brought his daughter with him, and there the +treaty between them was drawn up and sworn to. At the same place appeared +his former ally the king of Aragon and his former opponent the Count of +Toulouse. Between them a few days later at Limoges peace was made; any +further war would be against Henry's interests. The Count of Toulouse +also frankly recognized the inevitable, and did homage and swore fealty +to Henry, to the young Henry, and to his immediate lord, Richard, Duke of +Aquitaine. From the moment of apparent triumph, however, dates the +beginning of Henry's failure. Humbert of Maurienne, who was making so +magnificent a provision for the young couple, naturally inquired what +Henry proposed to do for John. He was told that three of the more +important Angevin castles with their lands would be granted him. But the +nominal lord of these castles was the young king, and his consent was +required. This he indignantly refused, and his anger was so great that +peaceable conference with him was no longer possible. He was now brought +to the pitch of rebellion, and as they reached Chinon on their return to +Normandy, he rode off from his father and joined the king of France. On +the news Eleanor sent Richard and Geoffrey to join their brother, but was +herself arrested soon after and held in custody. + +Both sides prepared at once for war. Henry strengthened his frontier +castles, and Louis called a great council of his kingdom, to which came +his chief vassals, including the Counts of Flanders and Boulogne, whose +long alliance with England made their action almost one of rebellion. +There it was decided to join the war against the elder king of England. +The long list of Henry's vassals who took his son's side, even if we +deduct the names of some whose wavering inclination may have been fixed +by the promises of lands or office which the younger Henry distributed +with reckless freedom, reveals a widespread discontent in the feudal +baronage. The turbulent lords of Aquitaine might perhaps be expected to +revolt on every occasion, but the list includes the oldest names and +leading houses of England and Normandy. Out of the trouble the king of +Scotland hoped to recover what had been held of the last English king, +and it may very well have seemed for a moment that the days of Stephen +were going to return for all. The Church almost to a man stood by the +king who had so recently tried to invade its privileges, and Henry +hastened to strengthen himself with this ally by filling numerous +bishoprics which had for a long time been in his hands. Canterbury was +with some difficulty included among them. An earlier attempt to fill the +primacy had failed because of a dispute about the method of choice, and +now another failed because the archbishop selected refused to take +office. At last in June Richard, prior of St. Martin's at Dover, was +chosen, but his consecration was delayed for nearly a year by an appeal +of the young king to the pope against a choice which disregarded his +rights. The elder Henry had on his side also a goodly list of English +earls: the illegitimate members of his house, Hamelin of Surrey, Reginald +of Cornwall, and William of Gloucester; the earls of Arundel, Pembroke, +Salisbury, Hertford, and Northampton; the son of the traitor of his +mother's time, William de Mandeville, Earl of Essex; and William of +Beaumont, Earl of Warwick, whose cousins of Leicester and Meulan were of +the young king's party. The new men of his grandfather's making were also +with him and the mass of the middle class. + +The war was slow in opening. Henry kept himself closely to the defensive +and waited to be attacked, appearing to be little troubled at the +prospect and spending his time mostly in hunting. Early in July young +Henry invaded Normandy with the Counts of Flanders and Boulogne, and +captured Aumale, Eu, and a few other places, but the Count of Boulogne +was wounded to the death, and the campaign came to an end. At the same +time King Louis entered southern Normandy and laid siege to Verneuil, one +ward of which he took and burnt by a trick that was considered +dishonourable, and from which he fled in haste on the approach of Henry +with his army. In the west, at the end of August, Henry's Brabantine +mercenaries, of whom he is said to have had several thousand in his +service, shut up a number of the rebel leaders in Dol. In a forced march +of two days the king came on from Rouen, and three days later compelled +the surrender of the castle. A long list is recorded of the barons and +knights who were made prisoners there, of whom the most important was the +Earl of Chester. A month later a conference was held at Gisors between +the two parties, to see if peace were possible. This conference was held, +it is said, at the request of the enemies of the king of England; but he +offered terms to his sons which surprise us by their liberality after +their failure in the war, and which show that he was more moved by his +feelings as a father than by military considerations. He offered to Henry +half the income of the royal domains in England, or if he preferred to +live in Normandy, half the revenues of that duchy and all those of his +father's lands in Anjou; to Richard half the revenues of Aquitaine; and +to Geoffrey the possession of Britanny on the celebration of his +marriage. Had he settled revenues like these on his sons when he +nominally divided his lands among them, there probably would have been no +rebellion; but now the king of France had much to say about the terms, +and he could be satisfied only by the parcelling out of Henry's political +power. To this the king of England would not listen, and the conference +was broken off without result. + +In England the summer and autumn of 1173 passed with no more decisive +events than on the continent, but with the same general drift in favour +of the elder Henry. Richard of Lucy, the justiciar and special +representative of the king, and his uncle, Reginald of Cornwall, were the +chief leaders of his cause. In July they captured the town of Leicester, +but not the castle. Later the king of Scotland invaded Northumberland, +but fell back before the advance of Richard of Lucy, who in his turn laid +waste parts of Lothian and burned Berwick. In October the Earl of +Leicester landed in Norfolk with a body of foreign troops, but was +defeated by the justiciar and the Earl of Cornwall, who took him and his +wife prisoners. The year closed with truces in both England and France +running to near Easter time. The first half of the year 1174 passed in +the same indecisive way. In England there was greater suffering from the +disorders incident to such a war, and sieges and skirmishes were +constantly occurring through all the centre and north of the land. + +By the middle of the year King Henry came to the conclusion that his +presence was more needed in the island than on the continent, and on July +8 he crossed to Southampton, invoking the protection of God on his voyage +if He would grant to his kingdom the peace which he himself was seeking. +He brought with him all his chief prisoners, including his own queen and +his son's. On the next day he set out for Canterbury. The penance of a +king imposed upon him by the Church for the murder of Thomas Becket he +might already have performed to the satisfaction of the pope, but the +penance of a private person, of a soul guilty in the sight of heaven, he +had still to take upon himself, in a measure to satisfy the world and +very likely his own conscience. For such a penance the time was fitting. +Whatever he may have himself felt, the friends of Thomas believed that +the troubles which had fallen upon the realm were a punishment for the +sins of the king. A personal reconciliation with the martyr, to be +obtained only as a suppliant at his tomb, was plainly what he should +seek. + +As Henry drew near the city and came in sight of the cathedral church, he +dismounted from his horse, and bare-footed and humbly, forbidding any +sign that a king was present, walked the remainder of the way to the +tomb. Coming to the door of the church, he knelt and prayed; at the spot +where Thomas fell, he wept and kissed it. After reciting his confession +to the bishops who had come with him or gathered there, he went to the +tomb and, prostrate on the floor, remained a long time weeping and +praying. Then Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of London, made an address to those +present, declaring that not by command or knowledge was the king guilty +of the murder, but admitting the guilt of the hasty words which had +occasioned it. He proclaimed the restoration of all rights to the church +of Canterbury, and of the king's favour to all friends of the late +archbishop. Then followed the formal penance and absolution. Laying off +his outer clothes, with head and shoulders bowed at the tomb, the king +allowed himself to be scourged by the clergy present, said to have +numbered eighty, receiving five blows from each prelate and three from +each monk. The night that followed he spent in prayer in the church, +still fasting. Mass in the morning completed the religious ceremonies, +but on Henry's departure for London later in the day he was given, as a +mark of the reconciliation, some holy water to drink made sacred by the +relics of the martyr, and a little in a bottle to carry with him. + +The medieval mind overlooked the miracle of Henry's escape from the +sanitary dangers of this experience, but dwelt with satisfaction on +another which seemed the martyr's immediate response and declaration of +forgiveness. It was on Saturday that the king left Canterbury and went up +to London, and there he remained some days preparing his forces for the +war. On Wednesday night a messenger who had ridden without stopping from +the north arrived at the royal quarters and demanded immediate admittance +to the king. Henry had retired to rest, and his servants would not at +first allow him to be disturbed, but the messenger insisted: his news was +good, and the king must know it at once. At last his importunity +prevailed, and at the king's bedside he told him that he had come from +Ranulf Glanvill, his sheriff of Lancashire, and that the king of Scotland +had been overcome and taken prisoner. The news was confirmed by other +messengers who arrived the next day and was received by the king and his +barons with great rejoicing. The victory was unmistakably the answer of +St. Thomas to the penance of Henry, and a plain declaration of +reconciliation and forgiveness, for it soon became known that it was on +the very day when the penance at Canterbury was finished, perhaps at the +very hour, that this great success was granted to the arms of the +penitent king. + +The two spots of danger in the English insurrection were the north, where +not merely was the king of Scotland prepared for invasion, but the Bishop +of Durham, Hugh of Puiset, a connexion of King Stephen, was ready to +assist him and had sent also for his nephew, another Hugh of Puiset, +Count of Bar, to come to his help with a foreign force; and the east, +where Hugh Bigod, the old earl of Norfolk, was again in rebellion and was +expecting the landing of the Count of Flanders with an army. It was in +the north that the fate of the insurrection was settled and without the +aid of the king. The king of Scotland, known in the annals of his country +as William the Lion, had begun his invasion in the spring after the +expiration of the truce of the previous year, and had raided almost the +whole north, capturing some castles and failing to take others such as +Bamborough and Carlisle. In the second week of July he attacked Prudhoe +castle in southern Northumberland. Encouraged perhaps by the landing of +King Henry in England, the local forces of the north now gathered to +check the raiding. No barons of high rank were among the leaders. They +were all Henry's own new men or the descendants of his grandfather's. Two +sheriffs, Robert of Stuteville of Yorkshire and Ranulf Glanvill of +Lancashire, probably had most to do with collecting the forces and +leading them. At the news of their arrival, William fell back toward the +north, dividing up his army and sending detachments off in various +directions to plunder the country. The English followed on, and at +Alnwick castle surprised the king with only a few knights, his personal +guard. Resistance was hopeless, but it was continued in the true fashion +of chivalry until all the Scottish force was captured. + +This victory brought the rebellion in England to an end. On hearing the +news Henry marched against the castle of Huntingdon, which had been for +some time besieged, and it at once surrendered. There his natural son +Geoffrey, who had been made Bishop of Lincoln the summer before, joined +him with reinforcements, and he turned to the east against Hugh Bigod. A +part of the Flemish force which was expected had reached the earl, but he +did not venture to resist. He came in before he was attacked, and gave up +his castles, and with great difficulty persuaded the king to allow him to +send home his foreign troops. Henry then led his army to Northampton +where he received the submission of all the rebel leaders who were left. +The Bishop of Durham surrendered his castles and gained reluctant +permission for his nephew to return to France. The king of Scotland was +brought in a prisoner. The Earl of Leicester's castles were given up, and +the Earl of Derby and Roger Mowbray yielded theirs. This was on the last +day of July. In three weeks after Henry's landing, in little more than +two after his sincere penance for the murder of St. Thomas, the dangerous +insurrection in England was completely crushed,--crushed indeed for all +the remainder of Henry's reign. The king's right to the castles of his +barons was henceforth strictly enforced. Many were destroyed at the close +of the war, and others were put in the hands of royal officers who could +easily be changed. It was more than a generation after this date and +under very different conditions that a great civil war again broke out in +England between the king and his barons. + +But the war on the continent was not closed by Henry's success in +England. His sons were still in arms against him, and during his absence +the king of France with the young Henry and the Count of Flanders had +laid siege to Rouen. Though the blockade was incomplete, an attack on the +chief city of Normandy could not be disregarded. Evidently that was +Henry's opinion, for on August 6 he crossed the channel, taking with him +his Brabantine soldiers and a force of Welshmen, as well as his prisoners +including the king of Scotland. He entered Rouen without difficulty, and +by his vigorous measures immediately convinced the besiegers that all +hope of taking the city was over. King Louis, who was without military +genius or spirit, and not at all a match for Henry, gave up the +enterprise at once, burned his siege engines, and decamped ignominiously +in the night. Then came messengers to Henry and proposed a conference to +settle terms of peace, but at the meeting which was held on September 8 +nothing could be agreed upon because of the absence of Richard who was in +Aquitaine still carrying on the war. The negotiations were accordingly +adjourned till Michaelmas on the understanding that Henry should subdue +his son and compel him to attend and that the other side should give the +young rebel no aid. Richard at first intended some resistance to his +father, but after losing some of the places that held for him and a +little experience of fleeing from one castle to another, he lost heart +and threw himself on his father's mercy, to be received with the easy +forgiveness which characterized Henry's attitude toward his children. + +There was no obstacle now to peace. On September 30 the kings of England +and France and the three young princes met in the adjourned conference +and arranged the terms. Henry granted to his sons substantial revenues, +but not what he had offered them at the beginning of the war, nor did he +show any disposition to push his advantage to extremes against any of +those who had joined the alliance against him. The treaty in which the +agreement between father and sons was recorded may still be read. It +provides that Henry "the king, son of the king," and his brothers and all +the barons who have withdrawn from the allegiance of the father shall +return to it free and quit from all oaths and agreements which they may +have made in the meantime, and the king shall have all the rights over +them and their lands and castles that he had two weeks before the +beginning of the war. But they also shall receive back all their lands as +they had them at the same date, and the king will cherish no ill feeling +against them. To Henry his father promised to assign two castles in +Normandy suitable for his residence and an income of 15,000 Angevin +pounds a year; to Richard two suitable castles and half the revenue of +Poitou, but the interesting stipulation is added that Richard's castles +are to be of such a sort that his father shall take no injury from them; +to Geoffrey half the marriage portion of Constance of Britanny and the +income of the whole when the marriage is finally made with the sanction +of Rome. Prisoners who had made fine with the king before the peace were +expressly excluded from it, and this included the king of Scotland and +the Earls of Chester and Leicester. All castles were to be put back into +the condition in which they were before the war. The young king formally +agreed to the provision for his brother John, and this seems materially +larger than that originally proposed. The concluding provisions of the +treaty show the strong legal sense of King Henry. He was ready to pardon +the rebellion with great magnanimity, but crimes committed and laws +violated either against himself or others must be answered for in the +courts by all guilty persons. Richard and Geoffrey did homage to their +father for what was granted them, but this was excused the young Henry +because he was a king. In another treaty drawn up at about the same time +as Falaise the king of Scotland recognized in the clearest terms for +himself and his heirs the king of England as his liege lord for Scotland +and for all his lands, and agreed that his barons and men, lay and +ecclesiastic, should also render liege homage to Henry, according to the +Norman principle. On these conditions he was released. Of the king of +France practically nothing was demanded. + +The treaty between the two kings of England established a peace which +lasted for some years, but it was not long before complaints of the +scantiness of his revenues and of his exclusion from all political +influence began again from the younger king and from his court. There was +undoubtedly much to justify these complaints from the point of view of +Henry the son. Whatever may have been the impelling motive, by +establishing his sons in nominal independence, Henry the father had +clearly put himself in an illogical position from which there was no +escape without a division of his power which he could not make when +brought to the test. The young king found his refuge in a way thoroughly +characteristic of himself and of the age, in the great athletic sport of +that period--the tournament, which differed from modern athletics in the +important particular that the gentleman, keeping of course the rules of +the game, could engage in it as a means of livelihood. The capturing of +horses and armour and the ransoming of prisoners made the tournament a +profitable business to the man who was a better fighter than other men, +and the young king enjoyed that fame. At the beginning of his independent +career his father had assigned to his service a man who was to serve the +house of Anjou through long years and in far higher capacity--William +Marshal, at that time a knight without lands or revenues but skilled in +arms, and under his tuition and example his pupil became a warrior of +renown. It was not exactly a business which seems to us becoming to a +king, but it was at least better than fighting his father, and the +opinion of the time found no fault with it. + +[47] Robert of Torigni, Chronicles of Stephen, iv, 305; L'Histoire +de Guillaume le Maréchal, 11. 1935-5095. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +HENRY AND HIS SONS + +For England peace was now established. The insurrection was suppressed, +the castles were in the king's hands, even the leaders of the revolted +barons were soon reconciled with him. The age of Henry I returned, an age +not so long in years as his, but yet long for any medieval state, of +internal peace, of slow but sure upbuilding in public and private wealth, +and, even more important, of the steady growth of law and institutions +and of the clearness with which they were understood, an indispensable +preparation for the great thirteenth century so soon to begin--the crisis +of English constitutional history. For Henry personally there was no age +of peace. England gave him no further trouble; but in his unruly southern +dominions, and from his restless and discontented sons, the respite from +rebellion was short, and it was filled with labours. + +In 1175 the two kings crossed together to England, though the young king, +who was still listening to the suggestions of France and who professed to +be suspicious of his father's intentions, was with some difficulty +persuaded to go. He also seems to have been troubled by his father's +refusal to receive his homage at the same time with his brothers'; at any +rate when he finally joined the king on April 1, he begged with tears for +permission to do homage as a mark of his father's love, and Henry +consented. At the end of the first week in May they crossed the channel +for a longer stay in England than usual, of more than two years, and one +that was crowded with work both political and administrative. The king's +first act marks the new era of peace with the Church, his attendance at a +council of the English Church held at London by Archbishop Richard of +Canterbury; and his second was a pilgrimage with his son to the tomb of +St. Thomas. Soon after the work of filling long-vacant sees and abbacies +was begun. At the same time matters growing out of the insurrection +received attention. William, Earl of Gloucester, was compelled to give up +Bristol castle which he had kept until now. Those who had been opposed to +the king were forbidden to come to court unless ordered to do so by him. +The bearing of arms in England was prohibited by a temporary regulation, +and the affairs of Wales were considered in a great council at +Gloucester. + +One of the few acts of severity which Henry permitted himself after the +rebellion seems to have struck friend and foe alike, and suggests a +situation of much interest to us which would be likely to give us a good +deal of insight into the methods and ideas of the time if we understood +it in detail. Unfortunately we are left with only a bare statement of the +facts, with no explanation of the circumstances or of the motives of the +king. Apparently at the Whitsuntide court held at Reading on the first +day of June, Henry ordered the beginning of a series of prosecutions +against high and low, churchmen and laymen alike, for violations of the +forest laws committed during the war. At Nottingham, at the beginning of +August, these prosecutions were carried further, and there the incident +occurred which gives peculiar interest to the proceedings. Richard of +Lucy, the king's faithful minister and justiciar, produced before the +king his own writ ordering him to proclaim the suspension of the laws in +regard to hunting and fishing during the war. This Richard testified that +he had done as he was commanded, and that the defendants trusting to this +writ had fearlessly taken the king's venison. We are simply told in +addition that this writ and Richard's testimony had no effect against the +king's will. It is impossible to doubt that this incident occurred or +that such a writ had been sent to the justiciar, but it seems certain +that some essential detail of the situation is omitted. To guess what it +was is hardly worth while, and we can safely use the facts only as an +illustration of the arbitrary power of the Norman and Angevin kings, +which on the whole they certainly exercised for the general justice. + +From Nottingham the two kings went on to York, where they were met by +William of Scotland with the nobles and bishops of his kingdom, prepared +to carry out the agreement which was made at Falaise when he was released +from imprisonment. Whatever may have been true of earlier instances, the +king of Scotland now clearly and beyond the possibility of controversy +became the liege-man of the king of England for Scotland and all that +pertained to it, and for Galloway as if it were a separate state. The +homage was repeated to the young king, saving the allegiance due to the +father. According to the English chroniclers all the free tenants of the +kingdom of Scotland were also present and did homage in the same way to +the two kings for their lands. Some were certainly there, though hardly +all; but the statement shows that it was plainly intended to apply to +Scotland the Norman law which had been in force in England from the time +of the Conquest, by which every vassal became also the king's vassal with +an allegiance paramount to all other feudal obligations. The bishops of +Scotland as vassals also did homage, and as bishops they swore to be +subject to the Church of England to the same extent as their predecessors +had been and as they ought to be. The treaty of Falaise was again +publicly read and confirmed anew by the seals of William and his brother +David. There is nothing to show that King William did not enter into this +relationship with every intention of being faithful to it, nor did he +endeavour to free himself from it so long as Henry lived. The Norman +influence in Scotland was strong and might easily increase. It is quite +possible that a succession of kings of England who made that realm and +its interests the primary objects of their policy might have created from +this beginning a permanent connexion growing constantly closer, and have +saved these two nations, related in so many ways, the almost civil wars +of later years. + +From these ceremonies at York Henry returned to London, and there, before +Michaelmas, envoys came to him to announce and to put into legal form +another significant addition to his empire, significant certainly of its +imposing power though the reasons which led to this particular step are +not known to us. These envoys were from Roderick, king of Connaught, who, +when Henry was in Ireland, had refused all acknowledgment of him, and +they now came to make known his submission. In a great council held at +Windsor the new arrangement was put into formal shape. In the document +there drawn up Roderick was made to acknowledge himself the liege-man of +Henry and to agree to pay a tribute of hides from all Ireland except that +part which was directly subject to the English invaders. On his side +Henry agreed to recognize Roderick as king under himself as long as he +should remain faithful, and also the holdings of all other men who +remained in his fealty. Roderick should rule all Ireland outside the +English settlement, at least for the purposes of the tribute, and should +have the right to claim help from the English in enforcing his authority +if it should seem necessary. Such an arrangement would have in all +probability only so much force as Roderick might be willing to allow it +at any given time, and yet the mere making of it is a sign of +considerable progress in Ireland and the promise of more. At the same +council Henry appointed a bishop of Waterford, who was sent over with the +envoys on their return to be consecrated. + +At York the king had gone on with his forest prosecutions, and there as +before against clergy as well as laity. Apparently the martyrdom of +Archbishop Thomas had secured for the Church nothing in the matter of +these offences. The bishops did not interfere to protect the clergy, says +one chronicler; and very likely in these cases the Church acknowledged +the power rather than the right of the king. At the end of October a +papal legate, Cardinal Hugo, arrived in England, but his mission +accomplished nothing of importance that we know of, unless it be his +agreement that Henry should have the right to try the clergy in his own +courts for violations of the forest law. This agreement at any rate +excited the especial anger of the monastic chroniclers who wrote him down +a limb of Satan, a robber instead of a shepherd, who seeing the wolf +coming abandoned his sheep. In a letter to the pope which the legate took +with him on his return to Rome, Henry agreed not to bring the clergy in +person before his courts except for forest offences and in cases +concerning the lay services due from their fiefs. On January 25, 1176, a +great council met at Northampton, and there Henry took up again the +judicial and administrative reforms which had been interrupted by the +conflict with Becket and by the war with his sons. + +The task of preserving order in the medieval state was in the main the +task of repressing and punishing crimes of violence. Murder and assault, +robbery and burglary, fill the earliest court records, and on the civil +side a large proportion of the cases, like those under the assizes of +Mort d'Ancestor and Novel Disseisin, concerned attacks on property not +very different in character. The problem of the ruler in this department +of government was so to perfect the judicial machinery and procedure as +to protect peaceable citizens from bodily harm and property from violent +entry and from fraud closely akin to violence. An additional and +immediate incentive to the improvement of the judicial system arose from +the income which was derived from fines and confiscations, both heavier +and more common punishments for crime than in the modern state. It would +be unfair to a king like Henry II, however, to convey the impression that +an increase of income was the only, or indeed the main, thing sought in +the reform of the courts. Order and security for land and people were +always in his mind to be sought for themselves, as a chief part of the +duty of a king, and certainly this was the case with his ministers who +must have had more to do than he with the determining and perfecting of +details. + +This is not the place to describe the judicial reforms of the reign in +technical minuteness or from the point of view of the student of +constitutional history. The activity of a great king, the effect on +people and government are the subjects of interest here. The series of +formal documents in which Henry's reforming efforts are embodied opens +with the Constitutions of Clarendon in 1164. Of the king's purpose in +this--not new legislation, but an effort to bring the clergy under +responsibility to the state for their criminal acts according to the +ancient practice,--and of its results, we have already had the story. The +second in the series, the Assize of Clarendon, the first that concerns +the civil judicial system, though we have good reason to suspect that it +was not actually Henry's first attempt at reform, dates from early in the +year 1166. It dealt with the detection and punishment of crime, and +greatly improved the means at the command of the state for these +purposes. In 1170, to check the independence of the sheriffs and their +abuse of power for private ends, of which there were loud complaints, he +ordered strict inquiry to be made, by barons appointed for the purpose, +into the conduct of the sheriffs and the abuses complained of, and +removed a large number of them, appointing others less subject to the +temptations which the local magnate was not likely to resist. This was a +blow at the hold of the feudal baronage on the office, and a step in its +transformation into a subordinate executive office, which was rapidly +going on during the reign. In 1176, in the Assize of Northampton, the +provisions of the Assize of Clarendon for the enforcement of criminal +justice were made more severe, and new enactments were added. In 1181 the +Assize of Arms made it compulsory on knights and freemen alike to keep in +their possession weapons proportionate to their income for the defence of +king and realm. In 1184 the Assize of the Forest enforced the vexatious +forest law and decreed severe penalties for its violation. In the year +before the king's death, in 1188, the Ordinance of the Saladin Tithe +regulated the collection of this new tax intended to pay the expenses of +Henry's proposed crusade. + +This list of the formal documents in which Henry's reforms were +proclaimed is evidence of no slight activity, but it gives, nevertheless, +a very imperfect idea of his work as a whole. That was nothing less than +to start the judicial organization of the state along the lines it has +ever since followed. He did this by going forward with beginnings already +made and by opening to general and regular use institutions which, so far +as we know, had up to this time been only occasionally employed in +special cases. The changes which the reign made in the judicial system +may be grouped under two heads: the further differentiation and more +definite organization of the curia regis and the introduction of the +jury in its undeveloped form into the regular procedure of the courts +both in civil and criminal cases. + +Under the reign of the first Henry we noticed the twofold form of the +king's court, the great curia regis, formed by the barons of the whole +kingdom and the smaller in practically permanent session, and the latter +also acting as a special court for financial cases--the exchequer. Now we +have the second Henry establishing, in 1178, what we may call another +small curia regis--apparently of a more professional character--to be +in permanent session for the trial of cases. The process of +differentiation, beginning in finding a way for the better doing of +financial business, now goes a step further, though to the men of that +time--if they had thought about it at all--it would have seemed a +classification of business, not a dividing up of the king's court. The +great curia regis, the exchequer, and the permanent trial court, +usually meeting at Westminster, were all the same king's court; but a +step had really been taken toward a specialized judicial system and an +official body of judges. + +In the reign of Henry I we also noticed evidence which proved the +occasional, and led us to suspect the somewhat regular employment of +itinerant justices. This institution was put into definite and permanent +form by his grandson. The kingdom was at first divided into six circuits, +to each of which three justices were sent. Afterwards the number of +justices was reduced. These justices, though not all members of the small +court at Westminster, were all, it is likely, familiar with its work, and +to each circuit at least one justice of the Westminster court was +probably always assigned. What they carried into each county of the +kingdom as they went the round of their districts was not a new court and +not a local court; it was the curia regis itself, and that too in its +administrative as well as in its judicial functions indeed it is easy to +suspect that it was quite as much the administrative side of its +work,--the desire to check the abuses of the sheriffs by investigation on +the spot, and to improve the collection of money due to the crown, as its +judicial,--as the wish to render the operation of the law more convenient +by trying cases in the communities where they arose, that led to the +development of this side of the judicial system. Whatever led to it, this +is what had begun, a new branch of the judicial organization. + +It was in these courts, these king's courts,--the trial court at +Westminster and the court of the itinerant justices in the different +counties,--that the institution began to be put into regular use that has +become so characteristic a distinction of the Anglo-Saxon judicial +system--the jury. The history of the jury cannot here be told. It is +sufficient to say that it existed in the Frankish empire of the early +ninth century in a form apparently as highly developed as in the Norman +kingdom of the early twelfth. From Charles the Great to Henry II it +remained in what was practically a stationary condition. It was only on +English soil, and after the impulse given to it by the broader uses in +which it was now employed that it began the marvellous development from +which our liberty has gained so much. At the beginning it was a process +belonging to the sovereign and used solely for his business, or employed +for the business of others only by his permission in the special case. +What Henry seems to have done was to generalize this use, to establish +certain classes of cases in which it might always be employed by his +subjects, but in his courts only. In essence it was a process for getting +local knowledge to bear on a doubtful question of fact of interest to the +government. Ought A to pay a certain tax? The question is usually to be +settled by answering another: Have his ancestors before him paid it, or +the land which he now holds? The memory of the neighbours can probably +determine this, and a certain number of the men likely to know are +summoned before the officer representing the king, put on oath, and +required to say what they know about it. + +In its beginning that is all the jury was. But it was a process of easy +application to other questions than those which interested the king. The +question of fact that arose in a suit at law--was the land in dispute +between A and B actually held by the ancestor of B?--could be settled in +the same way by the memory of the neighbours, and in a way much more +satisfactory to the party whose cause was just than by an appeal to the +judgment of heaven in the wager of battle. If the king would allow the +private man the use of this process, he was willing to pay for the +privilege. Such privilege had been granted since the Conquest in +particular cases. A tendency at least in Normandy had existed before +Henry II to render it more regular. This tendency Henry followed in +granting the use of the primitive jury generally to his subjects in +certain classes of cases, to defendants in the Great Assize to protect +their freehold, to plaintiffs in the three assizes of Mort d'Ancestor, +Novel Disseisin, and Darrein Presentment to protect their threatened +seisin. As a process of his own, as a means of preserving order, he again +broadened its use in another way in the Assize of Clarendon, finding in +it a method of bringing local knowledge to the assistance of the +government in the detection of crime, the function of the modern grand +jury and its origin as an institution. + +The result of Henry's activities in this direction--changes we may call +them, but hardly innovations, following as they do earlier precedents and +lying directly in line with the less conscious tendencies of his +predecessors,--this work of Henry's was nothing less than to create our +judicial system and to determine the character and direction of its +growth to the present day. In the beginning of these three things, of a +specialized and official court system, of a national judiciary bringing +its influence to bear on every part of the land, and of a most effective +process for introducing local knowledge into the trial of cases, Henry +had accomplished great results, and the only ones that he directly +sought. But two others plainly seen after the lapse of time are of quite +equal importance. One of these was the growth at an early date of a +national common law. + +Almost the only source of medieval law before the fourteenth century was +custom, and the strong tendency of customary law was to break into local +fragments, each differing in more or less important points from the rest. +Beaumanoir in the thirteenth century laments the fact that every +castellany in France had a differing law of its own, and Glanville still +earlier makes a similar complaint of England. But the day was rapidly +approaching in both lands when the rise of national consciousness under +settled governments, and especially the growth of a broader and more +active commerce, was to create a strong demand for a uniform national +law. What influences affected the forming constitutions of the states of +Europe because this demand had to be met by recourse to the imperial law +of Rome, the law of a highly centralized absolutism, cannot here be +recounted. From these influences, whether large or small, from the +necessity of seeking uniformity in any ready-made foreign law, England +was saved by the consequences of Henry's action. The king's court rapidly +created a body of clear, consistent, and formulated law. The itinerant +justice as he went from county to county carried with him this law and +made it the law of the entire nation. From these beginnings arose the +common law, the product of as high an order of political genius as the +constitution itself, and now the law of wider areas and of more millions +of men than ever obeyed the law of Rome. + +One technical work, at once product and monument of the legal activity of +this generation, deserves to be remembered in this connexion, the +Treatise on the Laws of England. Ascribed with some probability to +Ranulf Glanvill, Henry's chief justiciar during his last years, it was +certainly written by some one thoroughly familiar with the law of the +time and closely in touch with its enforcement in the king's court. To us +it declares what that law was at the opening of its far-reaching history, +and in its definiteness and certainty as well as in its arrangement it +reveals the great progress that had been made since the law books of the +reign of Henry I. That progress continued so rapid that within a hundred +years Glanvill's book had become obsolete, but by that time it had been +succeeded by others in the long series of great books on our common law. +Nor ought we perhaps entirely to overlook another book, as interesting in +its way, the Dialogue of the Exchequer. Written probably by Richard +Fitz Neal, of the third generation of that great administration family +founded by Roger of Salisbury and restored to office by Henry II, the +book gives us a view from within of the financial organization of the +reign as enlightening as is Glanvill's treatise on the common law. + +But besides the growth of the common law, these reforms involved and +carried with them as a second consequence a great change in the machinery +of government and in the point of view from which it was regarded. We +have already seen how in the feudal state government functions were +undifferentiated and were exercised without consciousness of +inconsistency by a single organ, the curia regia, in which, as in all +public activities, the leading operative element was the feudal baronage. +The changes in the judicial system which were accomplished in the reign +of Henry, especially the giving of a more fixed and permanent character +to the courts, the development of legal procedure into more complicated +and technical forms, and the growth of the law itself in definiteness and +body,--these changes meant the necessity of a trained official class and +the decline of the importance of the purely feudal baronage in the +carrying on of government. This was the effect also of the gradual +transformation of the sheriff into a more strictly ministerial officer +and the diminished value of feudal levies in war as indicated by the +extension of scutage. In truth, at a date relatively as early for this +transformation as for the growth of a national law, the English state was +becoming independent of feudalism. The strong Anglo-Norman monarchy was +attacking the feudal baron not merely with the iron hand by which +disorder and local independence were repressed, but by finding out better +ways of doing the business of government and so destroying practically +the whole foundation on which political feudalism rested. Of the +threatening results of these reforms the baronage was vaguely conscious, +and this feeling enters as no inconsiderable element into the troubles +that filled the reign of Henry's youngest son and led to the first step +towards constitutional government. + +For a moment serious business was now interrupted by a bit of comedy, at +least it seems comedy to us, though no doubt it was a matter serious +enough to the actors. For many years there had been a succession of +bitter disputes between the Archbishops of Canterbury and York over +questions of precedence and various ceremonial rights, or to state it +more accurately the Archbishops of York had been for a long time trying +to enforce an exact equality in such matters with the Archbishops of +Canterbury. At mid-Lent, 1776 Cardinal Hugo, the legate, held a council +of the English Church in London, and at its opening the dispute led to +actual violence. The cardinal took the seat of the presiding officer, and +Richard of Canterbury seated himself on his right hand. The Archbishop of +York on entering found the seat of honour occupied by his rival, and +unwilling to yield, tried to force himself in between Richard and the +cardinal. One account says that he sat down in Richard's lap. Instantly +there was a tumult. The partisans of Canterbury seized the offending +archbishop, bishops we are told even leading the attack, dragged him +away, threw him to the floor, and misused him seriously. The legate +showed a proper indignation at the disorder caused by the defenders of +the rights of Canterbury, but found himself unable to go on with the +council. + +For a year past the young king had been constantly with his father, kept +almost a prisoner, as his immediate household felt and as we may well +believe. Now he began to beg permission to go on a pilgrimage to the +famous shrine of St. James of Compostella, and Henry at last gave his +consent, though he knew the pilgrimage was a mere pretext to escape to +the continent. But the younger Henry was detained at Portchester some +time, waiting for a fair wind; and Easter coming on, he returned to +Winchester, at his father's request, to keep the festival with him. In +the meantime, Richard and Geoffrey had landed at Southampton, coming to +their father with troubles of their own, and reached Winchester the day +before Easter Sunday. Henry and his sons were thus together for the +feast, much to his joy we are told; but it is not said that Queen +Eleanor, who was then imprisoned in England, very likely in Winchester +itself, was allowed any part in the celebration. Richard's visit to +England was due to a dangerous insurrection in his duchy, and he had come +to ask his father's help. Henry persuaded the young king to postpone his +pilgrimage until he should have assisted his brother to re-establish +peace in Aquitaine, and with this understanding they both crossed to the +continent about a fortnight after Easter, but young Henry on landing at +once set off with his wife to visit the king of France. Richard was now +nearly nineteen years old, and in the campaign that followed he displayed +great energy and vigour and the skill as a fighter for which he was +afterwards so famous, putting down the insurrection almost without +assistance from his brother, who showed very little interest in any +troubles but his own. The young king, indeed, seemed to be making ready +for a new breach with his father. He was collecting around him King +Henry's enemies and those who had helped him in the last war, and was +openly displaying his discontent. An incident which occurred at this time +illustrates his spirit. His vice-chancellor, Adam, who thought he owed +much to the elder king, attempted to send him a report of his son's +doings; but when he was detected, the young Henry, finding that he could +not put him to death as he would have liked to do because the Bishop of +Poitiers claimed him as a clerk, ordered him to be sent to imprisonment +in Argentan and to be scourged as a traitor in all the towns through +which he passed on the way. + +About the same time an embassy appeared in England from the Norman court +of Sicily to arrange for a marriage between William II of that kingdom +and Henry's youngest daughter, Joanna. The marriages of each of Henry's +daughters had some influence on the history of England before the death +of his youngest son. His eldest daughter Matilda had been married in 1168 +to Henry the Lion, head of the house of Guelf in Germany, and his second +daughter, Eleanor, to Alphonso III of Castile, in 1169 or 1170. The +ambassadors of King William found themselves pleased with the little +princess whom they had come to see, and sent back a favourable report, +signifying also the consent of King Henry. In the following February she +was married and crowned queen at Palermo, being then a little more than +twelve years old. Before the close of this year, 1176, Henry arranged for +another marriage to provide for his youngest son John, now ten years old. +The infant heiress of Maurienne, to whom he had been years before +betrothed, had died soon after, and no other suitable heiress had since +been found whose wealth might be given him. The inheritance which his +father had now in mind was that of the great Earl Robert of Gloucester, +brother and supporter of the Empress Matilda, his father's mother. +Robert's son William had only daughters. Of these two were already +married, Mabel to Amaury, Count of Evreux, and Amice to Richard of Clare, +Earl of Hertford. Henry undertook to provide for these by pensions on the +understanding that all the lands of the earldom should go to John on his +marriage with the youngest daughter Isabel. To this plan Earl William +agreed. The marriage itself did not take place until after the death of +King Henry. + +An income suitable for his position had now certainly been secured for +the king's youngest son, for in addition to the Gloucester inheritance +that of another of the sons of Henry I, Reginald, Earl of Cornwall who +had died in 1175, leaving only daughters, was held by Henry for his use, +and still earlier the earldom of Nottingham had been assigned him. At +this time, however, or very soon after, a new plan suggested itself to +his father for conferring upon him a rank and authority proportionate to +his brothers'. Ireland was giving more and more promise of shaping itself +before long into a fairly well-organized feudal state. If it seems to us +a turbulent realm, where a central authority was likely to secure little +obedience, we must remember that this was still the twelfth century, the +height of the feudal age, and that to the ruler of Aquitaine Ireland +might seem to be progressing more rapidly to a condition of what passed +as settled order than to us. Since his visit to the island, Henry had +kept a close watch on the doings of his Norman vassals there and had held +them under a firm hand. During the rebellion of 1173 he had had no +trouble from them. Indeed, they had served him faithfully in that +struggle and had been rewarded for their fidelity. In the interval since +the close of the war some advance in the Norman occupation had been made. +There seemed to be a prospect that both the south-west and the +north-east--the southern coast of Munster and the eastern coast of +Ulster--might be acquired. Limerick had been temporarily occupied, and it +was hoped to gain it permanently. Even Connaught had been successfully +invaded. Possibly it was the hope of securing himself against attacks of +this sort which he may have foreseen that led Roderick of Connaught to +acknowledge himself Henry's vassal by formal treaty. If he had any +expectation of this sort, he was disappointed; for the invaders of +Ireland paid no attention to the new relationship, nor did Henry himself +any longer than suited his purpose. + +We are now told that Henry had formed the plan of erecting Ireland into a +kingdom, and that he had obtained from Alexander III permission to crown +whichever of his sons he pleased and to make him king of the island. Very +possibly the relationship with Scotland, which he had lately put into +exact feudal form, suggested the possibility of another subordinate +kingdom and of raising John in this way to an equality with Richard and +Geoffrey. At a great council held at Oxford in May, 1177, the preliminary +steps were taken towards putting this plan into operation. Some +regulation of Irish affairs was necessary. Richard "Strongbow," Earl of +Pembroke and Lord of Leinster, who had been made justiciar after the +rebellion, had died early in 1176, and his successor in office, William +Fitz Adelin, had not proved the right man in the place. There were also +new conquests to be considered and new homages to be rendered, if the +plan of a kingdom was to be carried out. His purpose Henry announced to +the council, and the Norman barons, some for the lordships originally +assigned them, some for new ones like Cork and Limerick, did homage in +turn to John and to his father, as had been the rule in all similar +cases. Hugh of Lacy, Henry's first justiciar, was reappointed to that +office, but there was as yet no thought of sending John, who was then +eleven years old, to occupy his future kingdom. + +It was a crowded two years which Henry spent in England. Only the most +important of the things that occupied his attention have we been able to +notice, but the minor activities which filled his days make up a great +sum of work accomplished. Great councils were frequently held; the +judicial reforms and the working of the administrative machinery demanded +constant attention; the question of the treatment to be accorded to one +after another of the chief barons who had taken part in the rebellion had +to be decided; fines and confiscations were meted out, and finally the +terms on which the offenders were to be restored to the royal favour were +settled. The castles occasioned the king much anxiety, and of those that +were allowed to stand the custodians were more than once changed. The +affairs of Wales were frequently considered, and at last the king seemed +to have arranged permanent relations of friendship with the princes of +both north and south Wales. In March, 1177, a great council decided a +question of a kind not often coming before an English court. The kings of +Castile and Navarre submitted an important dispute between them to the +arbitration of King Henry, and the case was heard and decided in a great +council in London--no slight indication of the position of the English +king in the eyes of the world. + +Ever since early February, 1177, Henry had been planning to cross over to +Normandy with all the feudal levies of England. There were reasons enough +for his presence there, and with a strong hand. Richard's troubles were +not yet over, though he had already proved his ability to deal with them +alone. Britanny was much disturbed, and Geoffrey had not gone home with +Richard, but was still with his father. The king of France was pressing +for the promised marriage of Adela and Richard, and it was understood +that the legate, Cardinal Peter of Pavia, had authority to lay all +Henry's dominions under an interdict if he did not consent to an +immediate marriage. The attitude of the young Henry was also one to cause +anxiety, and his answers to his father's messages were unsatisfactory. +One occasion of delay after another, however, postponed Henry's crossing, +and it was the middle of August before he landed in Normandy. We hear +much less of the army that actually went with him than of the summons of +the feudal levies for the purpose, but it is evident that a strong force +accompanied him. The difficulty with the king of France first demanded +attention. The legate consented to postpone action until Henry, who had +determined to try the effect of a personal interview, should have a +conference with Louis. This took place on September 21, near Nonancourt, +and resulted in a treaty to the advantage of Henry. He agreed in the +conference that the marriage should take place on the original +conditions, but nothing was said about it in the treaty. This concerned +chiefly a crusade, which the two kings were to undertake in close +alliance, and a dispute with regard to the allegiance of the county of +Auvergne, which was to be settled by arbitrators named in the treaty, +After this success Henry found no need of a strong military force. +Various minor matters detained him in France for nearly a year, the most +important of which was an expedition into Berri to force the surrender to +him of the heiress of Déols under the feudal right of wardship. July 15, +1178, Henry landed again in England for another long stay of nearly two +years. As in his previous sojourn this time was occupied chiefly in a +further development of the judicial reforms already described. + +While Henry was occupied with these affairs, events in France were +rapidly bringing on a change which was destined to be of the utmost +importance to England and the Angevin house. Louis VII had now reigned in +France for more than forty years. His only son Philip, to be known in +history as Philip Augustus, born in the summer of 1165, was now nearly +fifteen years old, but his father had not yet followed the example of his +ancestors and had him crowned, despite the wishes of his family and the +advice of the pope. Even so unassertive a king as Louis VII was conscious +of the security and strength which had come to the Capetian house with +the progress of the last hundred years. Now he was growing ill and felt +himself an old man, though he was not yet quite sixty, and he determined +to make the succession secure before it should be too late. This decision +was announced to a great council of the realm at the end of April, 1179, +and was received with universal applause. August 15 was appointed as the +day for the coronation, but before that day came the young prince was +seriously ill, and his father was once more deeply anxious for the +future. Carried away by the ardour of the chase in the woods of +Compiegne, Philip had been separated from his attendants and had wandered +all one night alone in the forest, unable to find his way. A +charcoal-burner had brought him back to his father on the second day, but +the strain of the unaccustomed dread had been too much for the boy, and +he had been thrown into what threatened to be a dangerous illness. To +Louis's troubled mind occurred naturally the efficacy of the new and +mighty saint, Thomas of Canterbury, who might be expected to recall with +gratitude the favours which the king of France had shown him while he was +an exile. The plan of a pilgrimage to his shrine, putting the king +practically at the mercy of a powerful rival, was looked upon by many of +Louis's advisers with great misgiving, but there need have been no fear. +Henry could always be counted upon to respond in the spirit of chivalry +to demands of this sort having in them something of an element of +romance. He met the royal pilgrim on his landing, and attended him during +his short stay at Canterbury and back to Dover. This first visit of a +crowned king of France to England, coming in his distress to seek the aid +of her most popular saint, was long remembered there, as was also his +generosity to the monks of the cathedral church. The intercession of St. +Thomas availed. The future king of France recovered, selected to +become--it was believed that a vision of the saint himself so +declared--the avenger of the martyr against the house from which he had +suffered death. + +Philip recovered, but Louis fell ill with his last illness. As he drew +near to Paris on his return a sudden shock of paralysis smote him. His +whole right side was affected, and he was unable to be present at the +coronation of his son which had been postponed to November 1. At this +ceremony the house of Anjou was represented by the young King Henry, who +as Duke of Normandy bore the royal crown, and who made a marked +impression on the assembly by his brilliant retinue, by the liberal scale +of his expenditure and the fact that he paid freely for everything that +he took, and by the generosity of the gifts which he brought from his +father to the new king of France. The coronation of Philip II opens a new +era in the history both of France and England, but the real change did +not declare itself at once. What seemed at the moment the most noteworthy +difference was made by the sudden decline in influence of the house of +Blois and Champagne, which was attached to Louis VII by so many ties, and +which had held so high a position at his court, and by the rise of Count +Philip of Flanders to the place of most influential counsellor, almost to +that of guardian of the young king. With the crowning of his son, Louis's +actual exercise of authority came to an end; the condition of his health +would have made this necessary in any case, and Philip II was in fact +sole king. His first important step was his marriage in April, 1180, to +the niece of the Count of Flanders, Isabel of Hainault, the childless +count promising an important cession of the territory of south-western +Flanders to France to take place on his own death, and hoping no doubt to +secure a permanent influence through the queen, while Philip probably +intended by this act to proclaim his independence of his mother's family. + +These rapid changes could not take place without exciting the anxious +attention of the king of England. His family interests, possibly also his +prestige on the continent, had suffered to some extent in the complete +overthrow and exile of his son-in-law Henry the Lion by the Emperor +Frederick I, which had occurred in January, 1180, a few weeks before the +marriage of Philip II, though as yet the Emperor had not been able to +enforce the decision of the diet against the powerful duke. Henry of +England would have been glad to aid his son-in-law with a strong force +against the designs of Frederick, which threatened the revival of the +imperial power and might be dangerous to all the sovereigns of the west +if they succeeded, but he found himself between somewhat conflicting +interests and unable to declare himself with decision for either without +the risk of sacrificing the other. Already, before Philip's marriage, the +young Henry had gone over to England to give his father an account of the +situation in France, and together they had crossed to Normandy early in +April. But the marriage had taken place a little later, and May 29 Philip +and his bride were crowned at St. Denis by the Archbishop of Sens, an +intentional slight to William of Blois, the Archbishop of Reims. Troops +were called into the field on both sides and preparations made for war, +while the house of Blois formed a close alliance with Henry. But the +grandson of the great negotiator, Henry I, had no intention of appealing +to the sword until he had tried the effect of diplomacy. On June 28 Henry +and Philip met at Gisors under the old elm tree which had witnessed so +many personal interviews between the kings of England and France. Here +Henry won another success. Philip was reconciled with his mother's +family; an end was brought to the exclusive influence of the Count of +Flanders; and a treaty of peace and friendship was drawn up between the +two kings modelled closely on that lately made between Henry and Louis +VII, but containing only a general reference to a crusade. Henceforth, +for a time, the character of Henry exercised a strong influence over the +young king of France, and his practical statesmanship became a model for +Philip's imitation. + +At the beginning of March, 1182, Henry II returned to Normandy. Events +which were taking place in two quarters required his presence. In France, +actual war had broken out in which the Count of Flanders was now in +alliance with the house of Blois against the tendency towards a strong +monarchy which was already plainly showing itself in the policy of young +Philip, Henry's sons had rendered loyal and indispensable assistance to +their French suzerain in this war, and now their father came to his aid +with his diplomatic skill. Before the close of April he had made peace to +the advantage of Philip. His other task was not so easily performed. +Troubles had broken out again in Richard's duchy. The young duke was as +determined to be master in his dominions as his father in his, but his +methods were harsh and violent; he was a fighter, not a diplomatist; the +immorality of his life gave rise to bitter complaints; and policy, +methods, and personal character combined with the character of the land +he ruled to make peace impossible for any length of time. Now the +troubadour baron, Bertran de Born, who delighted in war and found the +chosen field for his talents in stirring up strife between others, in a +ringing poem called on his brother barons to revolt. Henry, coming to aid +his son in May, 1182, found negotiation unsuccessful, and together in the +field they forced an apparent submission. But only for a few months. + +In the next act of the constantly varied drama of the Angevin family in +this generation the leading part is taken by the young king. For some +time past the situation in France had almost forced him into harmony with +his father, but this was from no change of spirit. Again he began to +demand some part of the inheritance that was nominally his, and fled to +his customary refuge at Paris on a new refusal. With difficulty and by +making a new arrangement for his income, his father was able to persuade +him to return, and Henry had what satisfaction there could be to him in +spending the Christmas of 1182 at Caen with his three sons, Henry, +Richard, and Geoffrey, and with his daughter Matilda and her exiled +husband, the Duke of Saxony. This family concord was at once broken by +Richard's flat refusal to swear fealty to his elder brother for +Aquitaine. Already the Aquitanian rebels had begun to look to the young +Henry for help against his brother, and Bertran de Born had been busy +sowing strife between them. In the rebellion of the barons that followed, +young Henry and his brother Geoffrey acted an equivocal and most +dishonourable part. Really doing all they could to aid the rebels against +Richard, they repeatedly abused the patience and affection of their +father with pretended negotiations to gain time. Reduced to straits for +money, they took to plundering the monasteries and shrines of Aquitaine, +not sparing even the most holy and famous shrine of Rocamadour, +Immediately after one of the robberies, particularly heinous according to +the ideas of the time, the young king fell ill and grew rapidly worse. +His message, asking his father to come to him, was treated with the +suspicion that it deserved after his recent acts, and he died with only +his personal followers about him, striving to atone for his life of sin +at the last moment by repeated confession and partaking of the sacrament, +by laying on William Marshal the duty of carrying his crusader's cloak to +the Holy Land, and by ordering the clergy present to drag him with a rope +around his neck on to a bed of ashes where he expired. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +HENRY OUTGENERALLED + +The prince who died thus pitifully on June 11, 1183, was near the middle +of his twenty-ninth year. He had never had an opportunity to show what he +could do as a ruler in an independent station, but if we may trust the +indications of his character in other directions, he would have belonged +to the weakest and worst type of the combined houses from which he was +descended. But he made himself beloved by those who knew him, and his +early death was deeply mourned even by the father who had suffered so +much from him. Few writers of the time saw clearly enough to discern the +frivolous character beneath the surface of attractive manners, and to the +poets of chivalry lament was natural for one in whom they recognized +instinctively the expression of their own ideal. His devoted servant, +William Marshal, carried out the mission with which he had been charged, +and after an absence of two years on a crusade for Henry the son, he +returned and entered the service of Henry the father. + +The death of a king who had never been more than a king in name made no +difference in the political situation. It was a relief to Richard who +once more and quickly got the better of his enemies. It must also in many +ways have been a relief to Henry, though he showed no disposition to take +full advantage of it. The king had learned many things in the experience +of the years since his eldest son was crowned, but the conclusions which +seem to us most important, he appears not to have drawn. He had had +indeed enough of crowned kings among his sons, and from this time on, +though Richard occupied clearly the position of heir to the crown, there +was no suggestion that he should be made actually king in the lifetime of +his father. There is evidence also that after the late war the important +fortresses both of Aquitaine and Britanny passed into the possession of +Henry and were held by his garrisons, but just how much this meant it is +not easy to say. Certainly he had no intention of abandoning the plan of +parcelling out the great provinces of his dominion among his sons as +subordinate rulers. It almost seems as if his first thought after the +death of his eldest son was that now there was an opportunity of +providing for his youngest. He sent to Ranulf Glanvill, justiciar of +England, to bring John over to Normandy, and on their arrival he sent for +Richard and proposed to him to give up Aquitaine to his brother and to +take his homage for it. Richard asked for a delay of two or three days to +consult his friends, took horse at once and escaped from the court, and +from his duchy returned answer that he would never allow Aquitaine to be +possessed by any one but himself. + +The death of young Henry led at once to annoying questions raised by +Philip of France. His sister Margaret was now a widow without children, +and he had some right to demand that the lands which had been ceded by +France to Normandy as her marriage portion should be restored. These were +the Norman Vexin and the important frontier fortress of Gisors. In the +troublous times of 1151 Count Geoffrey might have felt justified in +surrendering so important a part of Norman territory and defences to the +king of France in order to secure the possession of the rest to his son, +but times were now changed for that son, and he could not consent to open +up the road into the heart of Normandy to his possible enemies. He +replied to Philip that the cession of the Vexin had been final and that +there could be no question of its return. Philip was not easily +satisfied, and there was much negotiation before a treaty on the subject +was finally made at the beginning of December, 1183. At a conference near +Gisors Henry did homage to Philip for all his French possessions, a +liberal pension was accepted for Margaret in lieu of her dower lands, and +the king of France recognized the permanence of the cession to Normandy +on the condition that Gisors should go to one of the sons of Henry on his +marriage with Adela which was once more promised. This marriage in the +end never took place, but the Vexin remained a Norman possession. + +The year 1184 was a repetition in a series of minor details, family +quarrels, foreign negotiations, problems of government, and acts of +legislation, of many earlier years of the life of Henry. After Christmas, +1183, angered apparently by a new refusal of Richard to give up Aquitaine +to John, or to allow any provision to be made for him in the duchy, Henry +gave John an army and permission to make war on his brother to force from +him what he could. Geoffrey joined in to aid John, or for his own +satisfaction, and together they laid waste parts of Richard's lands. He +replied in kind with an invasion of Britanny, and finally Henry had to +interfere and order all his sons over to England that he might reconcile +them. In the spring of the year he found it necessary to try to make +peace again between the king of France and the Count of Flanders. The +agreement which he had arranged in 1182 had not really settled the +difficulties that had arisen. The question now chiefly concerned the +lands of Vermandois, Amiens, and Valois, the inheritance which the +Countess of Flanders had brought to her husband. She had died just before +the conclusion of the peace in 1182, without heirs, and it had been then +agreed that the Count should retain possession of the lands during his +life, recognizing certain rights of the king of France. Now he had +contracted a second marriage in the evident hope of passing on his claims +to children of his own. Philip's declaration that this marriage should +make no difference in the disposition of these lands which were to prove +the first important accession of territory made by the house of Capet +since it came to the throne, was followed by a renewal of the war, and +the best efforts of Henry II only succeeded in bringing about a truce for +a year. + +Still earlier in the year died Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury, and +long disputes followed between the monks of the cathedral church and the +suffragan bishops of the province as to the election of his successor. +The monks claimed the exclusive right of election, the bishops claimed +the right to concur and represented on this occasion the interests of the +king. After a delay of almost a year, Baldwin, Bishop of Worcester, was +declared elected, but no final settlement was made of the disputed rights +to elect. In legislation the year is marked by the Forest Assize, which +regulated the forest courts and re-enacted the forest law of the early +Norman kings in all its severity. One of its most important provisions +was that hereafter punishments for forest offences should be inflicted +strictly upon the body of the culprit and no longer take the form of +fines. Not merely was the taking of game by private persons forbidden, +but the free use of their own timber on such of their lands as lay within +the bounds of the royal forests was taken away. The Christmas feast of +the year saw another family gathering more complete than usual, for not +merely were Richard and John present, but the Duke and Duchess of Saxony, +still in exile, with their children, including the infant William, who +had been born at Winchester the previous summer, and whose direct +descendants were long afterwards to come to the throne of his grandfather +with the accession of the house of Hanover. Even Queen Eleanor was +present at this festival, for she had been released for a time at the +request of her daughter Matilda. + +One more year of the half decade which still remained of life to Henry +was to pass with only a slight foreshadowing, near its close, of the +anxieties which were to fill the remainder of his days. The first +question of importance which arose in 1185 concerned the kingdom of +Jerusalem. England had down to this time taken slight and only indirect +part in the great movement of the crusades. The Christian states in the +Holy Land had existed for nearly ninety years, but with slowly declining +strength and defensive power. Recently the rapid progress of Saladin, +creating a new Mohammedan empire, and not merely displaying great +military and political skill, but bringing under one bond of interest +the Saracens of Egypt and Syria, whose conflicts heretofore had been +among the best safeguards of the Christian state, threatened the most +serious results. The reigning king of Jerusalem at this moment was +Baldwin IV, grandson of that Fulk V, Count of Anjou, whom we saw, more +than fifty years before this date, handing over his French possessions to +his son Geoffrey, newly wedded to Matilda the Empress, and departing for +the Holy Land to marry its heiress and become its king. Baldwin was +therefore the first cousin of Henry II, and it was not unnatural that his +kingdom should turn in the midst of the difficulties that surrounded it +to the head of the house of Anjou now so powerful in the west. The +embassy which came to seek his cousin's help was the most dignified and +imposing that could be sent from the Holy Land, with Heraclius the +patriarch of Jerusalem at its head, supported by the grand-masters of the +knights of the Temple and of the Hospital. The grand-master of the +Templars died at Verona on the journey, but the survivors landed in +England at the end of January, 1185, and Henry who was on his way to York +turned back and met them at Reading. There Heraclius described the evils +that afflicted the Christian kingdom so eloquently that the king and all +the multitude who heard were moved to sighs and tears. He offered to +Henry the keys of the tower of David and of the holy sepulchre, and the +banner of the kingdom, with the right to the throne itself. + +To such an offer in these circumstances there was but one reply to make, +and a king like Henry could never have been for a moment in doubt as to +what it should be. His case was very different from his grandfather's +when a similar offer was made to him. Not merely did the responsibility +of a far larger dominion rest on him, with greater dangers within and +without to be watched and overcome, but a still more important +consideration was the fact that there was no one of his sons in whose +hands his authority could be securely left. His departure would be the +signal for a new and disastrous civil war, and we may believe that the +character of his sons was a deciding reason with the king. But such an +offer, made in such a way, and backed by the religious motives so strong +in that age, could not be lightly declined. A great council of the +kingdom was summoned to meet in London about the middle of March to +consider the offer and the answer to be made. The king of Scotland and +his brother David, and the prelates and barons of England, debated the +question, and advised Henry not to abandon the duties which rested upon +him at home. It is interesting to notice that the obligations which the +coronation oath had imposed on the king were called to mind as +determining what he ought to do, though probably no more was meant by +this than that the appeal which the Church was making in favour of the +crusade was balanced by the duty which he had assumed before the Church +and under its sanction to govern well his hereditary kingdom. Apparently +the patriarch was told that a consultation with the king of France was +necessary, and shortly after they all crossed into Normandy. Before the +meeting of the council in London Baldwin IV had closed his unhappy reign +and was succeeded by his nephew Baldwin V, a child who never reached his +majority. In France the embassy succeeded no better. At a conference +between the kings the promise was made of ample aid in men and money, but +the great hope with which the envoys had started, that they might bring +back with them the king of England, or at least one of his sons, to lead +the Christian cause in Palestine, was disappointed; and Heraclius set out +on his return not merely deeply grieved, but angry with Henry for his +refusal to undertake what he believed to be his obvious religious duty. + +Between the meeting of the council in London and the crossing into +Normandy, Henry had taken steps to carry out an earlier plan of his in +regard to his son John. He seems now to have made up his mind that +Richard could never be induced to give up Aquitaine or any part of it, +and he returned to his earlier idea of a kingdom of Ireland. Immediately +after the council he knighted John at Windsor and sent him to take +possession of the island, not yet as king but as lord (dominus). On +April 25 he landed at Waterford, coming, it is said, with sixty ships and +a large force of men-at-arms and foot-soldiers. John was at the time +nearly nineteen years old, of an age when men were then expected to have +reached maturity, and the prospect of success lay fair before him; but he +managed in less than six months to prove conclusively that he was, as yet +at least, totally unfit to rule a state. The native chieftains who had +accepted his father's government came in to signify their obedience, but +he twitched their long beards and made sport before his attendants of +their uncouth manners and dress, and allowed them to go home with anger +in their hearts to stir up opposition to his rule. The Archbishop of +Dublin and the barons who were most faithful to his father offered him +their homage and support, but he neglected their counsels and even +disregarded their rights. The military force he had brought over, ample +to guard the conquests already made, or even to increase them, he +dissipated in useless undertakings, and kept without their pay that he +might spend the money on his own amusements, until they abandoned him in +numbers, and even went over to his Irish enemies. In a few months he +found himself confronted with too many difficulties, and gave up his +post, returning to his father with reasons for his failure that put the +blame on others and covered up his own defects. Not long afterwards died +Pope Lucius III, who had steadily refused to renew, or to put into legal +form, the permission which Alexander III had granted to crown one of +Henry's sons king of Ireland; and to his successor, Urban III, new +application was at once made in the special interest of John, and this +time with success. The pope is said even to have sent a crown made of +peacock's feathers intertwined with gold as a sign of his confirmation of +the title. + +John was, however, never actually crowned king of Ireland, and indeed it +is probable that he never revisited the island. In the summer of the next +year, 1186, news came, in the words of a contemporary, "that a certain +Irishman had cut off the head of Hugh of Lacy." Henry is said to have +rejoiced at the news, for, though he had never found it possible to get +along for any length of time without the help of Hugh of Lacy in Ireland, +he had always looked upon his measures and success with suspicion. Now he +ordered John to go over at once and seize into his hand Hugh's land and +castles, but John did not leave England. At the end of the year legates +to Ireland arrived in England from the pope, one object of whose mission +was to crown the king of Ireland, but Henry was by this time so deeply +interested in questions that had arisen between himself and the king of +France because of the death of his son Geoffrey, the Count of Britanny, +that he could not give his attention to Ireland, and with the legates he +crossed to Normandy instead, having sent John over in advance. + +Affairs in France had followed their familiar course since the conference +between Henry and Philip on the subject of the crusade in the spring of +1185. Immediately after that meeting Henry had proceeded with great vigour +against Richard. He had Eleanor brought over to Normandy, and then +commanded Richard to surrender to his mother all her inheritance under +threat of invasion with a great army. Richard, whether moved by the threat +or out of respect to his mother, immediately complied, and, we are +told,[48] remained at his father's court "like a well-behaved son," while +Henry in person took possession of Aquitaine. In the meantime the war +between Philip II and the Count of Flanders had gone steadily on, the king +of England declining to interfere again. At the end of July, 1185, the +count had been obliged to yield, and had ceded to Philip Amiens and most +of Vermandois, a very important enlargement of territory for the French +monarchy. This first great success of the young king of France was +followed the next spring by the humiliation and forced submission of the +Duke of Burgundy. + +In all these events the king of England had taken no active share. He was +a mere looker-on, or if he had interfered at all, it was rather to the +advantage of Philip, while the rival monarchy in France had not merely +increased the territory under its direct control, but taught the great +vassals the lesson of obedience, and proclaimed to all the world that the +rights of the crown would be everywhere affirmed and enforced. It was +clearly the opening of a new era, yet Henry gave not the slightest +evidence that he saw it or understood its meaning for himself. While it +is certain that Philip had early detected the weakness of the Angevin +empire, and had formed his plan for its destruction long before he was +able to carry it out, we can only note with surprise that Henry made no +change in his policy to meet the new danger of which he had abundant +warning. He seems never to have understood that in Philip Augustus he had +to deal with a different man from Louis VII. That he continued steadily +under the changed circumstances his old policy of non-intervention +outside his own frontiers, of preserving peace to the latest possible +moment, and of devoting himself to the maintenance and perfection of a +strong government wherever he had direct rule, is more creditable to the +character of Henry II than to the insight of a statesman responsible for +the continuance of a great empire, and offered the realization of a great +possibility. To Philip Augustus it was the possibility only which was +offered; the empire was still to be created: but while hardly more than a +boy, he read the situation with clear insight and saw before him the goal +to be reached and the way to reach it, and this he followed with untiring +patience to the end of his long reign. + +When Henry returned to England at the end of April, 1186, he abandoned +all prospect of profiting by the opportunity which still existed, though +in diminished degree, of checking in its beginning the ominous growth of +Philip's power, an opportunity which we may believe his grandfather would +not have overlooked or neglected. By the end of the summer all chance of +this was over, and no policy of safety remained to Henry but a trial of +strength to the finish with his crafty suzerain, for Philip had not +merely returned successful from his Burgundian expedition, but he had +almost without effort at concealment made his first moves against the +Angevin power. His opening was the obvious one offered him by the +dissensions in Henry's family, and his first move was as skilful as the +latest he ever made. Richard was now on good terms with his father; it +would even appear that he had been restored to the rule of Aquitaine; at +any rate Henry's last act before his return to England in April had been +to hand over to Richard a great sum of money with directions to subdue +his foes. Richard took the money and made successful and cruel war on the +Count of Toulouse, on what grounds we know not. Geoffrey, however, +offered himself to Philip's purposes. Henry's third son seems to have +been in character and conduct somewhat like his eldest brother, the young +king. He had the same popular gifts and attractive manners; he enjoyed an +almost equal renown for knightly accomplishments and for the knightly +virtue of "largesse"; and he was, in the same way, bitterly dissatisfied +with his own position. He believed that the death of his brother ought to +improve his prospects, and his mind was set on having the county of Anjou +added to his possessions. When Richard and his father refused him this, +he turned to France and betook himself to Paris. Philip received him with +open arms, and they speedily became devoted friends. Just what their +immediate plans were we cannot say. They evidently had not been made +public, and various rumours were in circulation. Some said that Geoffrey +would hold Britanny of Philip; or he had been made seneschal of France, +an office that ought to go with the county of Anjou; or he was about to +invade and devastate Normandy. It is probable that some overt action +would have been undertaken very shortly when suddenly, on August 19, +Geoffrey died, having been mortally hurt in a tournament, or from an +attack of fever, or perhaps from both causes. He was buried in Paris, +Philip showing great grief and being, it is said, with difficulty +restrained from throwing himself into the grave. + +The death of Geoffrey may have made a change in the form of Philip's +plans, and perhaps in the date of his first attempt to carry them out, +but not in their ultimate object. It furnished him, indeed, with a new +subject of demand on Henry. There had been no lack of subjects in the +past, and he had pushed them persistently: the question of Margaret's +dower lands,--the return of the Norman Vexin,--and of the payment of her +money allowance, complicated now by her second marriage to Bela, king of +Hungary; the standing question of the marriage of Philip's sister Adela; +the dispute about the suzerainty of Auvergne still unsettled; and finally +Richard's war on the Count of Toulouse. Now was added the question of the +wardship of Britanny. At the time of his death one child had been born to +Geoffrey of his marriage with Constance,--a daughter, Eleanor, who was +recognized as the heiress of the county. Without delay Philip sent an +embassy to Henry in England and demanded the wardship of the heiress, +with threats of war if the demand was not complied with. The justice of +Philip's claim in this case was not entirely clear since he was not the +immediate lord of Britanny, but kings had not always respected the rights +of their vassals in the matter of rich heiresses, and possibly Geoffrey +had actually performed the homage to Philip which he was reported to be +planning to do. In any case it was impossible for Henry to accept +Philip's view of his rights, but war at the moment would have been +inconvenient, and so he sent a return embassy with Ranulf Glanvill at its +head, and succeeded in getting a truce until the middle of the winter. +Various fruitless negotiations followed, complicated by an attack made by +the garrison of Gisors on French workmen found building an opposing +castle just over the border. Henry himself crossed to Normandy about the +middle of February, 1187, but personal interviews with Philip led to no +result, and the situation drifted steadily toward war. The birth of a +posthumous son to Geoffrey in March--whom the Bretons insisted on calling +Arthur, though Henry wished to give him his own name, a sure sign of +their wish for a more independent position--brought about no change. +Philip had protected himself from all danger of outside interference by +an alliance with the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and was determined on +war. By the middle of May both sides were ready. Henry divided his army +into four divisions and adopted a purely defensive policy. + +Philip's attack fell on the lands of disputed allegiance on the eastern +edge of the duchy of Aquitaine near his own possessions, and after a few +minor successes he laid siege to the important castle of Châteauroux. This +was defended by Richard in person, with his brother John, but Philip +pressed the siege until Henry drew near with an army, when he retired a +short distance and awaited the next move. Negotiations followed, in the +course of which the deep impression that the character of Philip had +already made on his great vassals is clearly to be seen.[49] Henry's +desire was to avoid a battle, and this was probably the best policy for +him; it certainly was unless he were willing, as he seems not to have +been, to bring on at once the inevitable mortal struggle between the +houses of Capet and Anjou. Unimportant circumstances on both sides came in +to favour Henry's wish and to prevent a battle, and finally Henry himself, +by a most extraordinary act of folly, threw into the hands of Philip the +opportunity of gaining a greater advantage for his ultimate purposes than +he could hope to gain at that time from any victory. Henry's great danger +was Richard. In the situation it was incumbent on him from every +consideration of policy to keep Richard satisfied, and to prevent not +merely the division of the Angevin strength, but the reinforcement of +the enemy with the half of it. He certainly had had experience enough +of Richard's character to know what to expect. He ought by that time to +have been able to read Philip Augustus's. And yet he calmly proceeded to +a step from which, it is hardly too much to say, all his later troubles +came through the suspicion he aroused in Richard's mind,--a step so +unaccountable that we are tempted to reject our single, rather doubtful +account of it. He wrote a letter to Philip proposing that Adela should be +married to John, who should then be invested with all the French fiefs +held by the house of Anjou except Normandy, which with the kingdom of +England should remain to Richard.[50] If Henry was blind enough to suppose +that the Duke of Aquitaine could be reconciled to such an arrangement, +Philip saw at once what the effect of the proposal would be, and he sent +the letter to Richard. + +The immediate result was a treaty of peace to continue in force for two +years, brought about apparently by direct negotiations between Richard +and Philip, but less unfavourable to Henry than might have been expected. +It contained, according to our French authorities, the very probable +agreement that the points in dispute between the two kings should be +submitted to the decision of the curia regis of France, and Philip was +allowed to retain the lordships of Issoudun and Fréteval, which he had +previously occupied, as pledges for the carrying out of the treaty. The +ultimate result of Philip's cunning was that Richard deserted his father +and went home with the king of France, and together they lived for a time +in the greatest intimacy. Philip, it seemed, now loved Richard "as his +own soul," and showed him great honour. Every day they ate at table from +the same plate, and at night they slept in the same bed. One is reminded +of Philip's ardent love for Geoffrey, and certain suspicions inevitably +arise in the mind. But at any rate the alarm of Henry was excited by the +new intimacy, and he did not venture to go over to England as he wished +to do until he should know what the outcome was to be. He sent frequent +messengers to Richard, urging him to return and promising to grant him +everything that he could justly claim, but without effect. At one time +Richard pretended to be favourably inclined, and set out as if to meet +his father, but instead he fell upon the king's treasure at Chinon and +carried it off to Aquitaine to use in putting his own castles into a +state of defence. His father, however, forgave even this and continued to +send for him, and at last he yielded. Together they went to Angers, and +there in a great assembly Richard performed liege homage to his father +once more and swore fealty to him "against all men," a fact which would +seem to show that Richard had in some formal way renounced his fealty +while at Philip's court, though we have no account of his doing so. +During this period, in September, 1187, an heir was born to King Philip, +the future Louis VIII. + +As this year drew to its close frequent letters and messengers from the +Holy Land made known to the west one terrible disaster after another. +Saladin with a great army had fallen on the weak and divided kingdom and +had won incredible successes. The infant king, Baldwin V, had died before +these events began, and his mother Sibyl was recognized as queen. She +immediately, against the expressed wish of the great barons, gave the +crown to her husband, Guy of Lusignan. He was a brave man and an earnest +defender of the Holy Land, but he could not accomplish the impossible +task of maintaining a kingdom, itself so weak, in the face of open and +secret treachery. In October the news reached Europe of the utter defeat +of the Christians, of the capture of the king, and worse still of the +true Cross by the infidels. The pope, Urban III, died of grief at the +tidings. His successor, Gregory VIII, at once urged Europe to a new +crusade in a long and vigorous appeal. Very soon afterwards followed the +news of the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin. The Emperor Frederick was +anxious to put himself at the head of the armies of Christendom, as he +was entitled to do as sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire, and lead them +to recover the holy places. But while most princes delayed and waited to +know what others would do, the impulsive and emotional Richard took the +cross the next morning, men said, after he had learned the news. This he +did without the knowledge of his father who was shocked to learn of it, +and shut himself up for days, understanding more clearly than did his son +what the absence of the heir to the throne on such a long and uncertain +expedition would mean at such a time. + +The advisability, the possibility even, of such a crusade would all +depend upon Philip, and the movements of Philip just then were very +disquieting. About the beginning of the new year, 1188, he returned from +a conference with the Emperor Frederick, which in itself could bode no +good to the father-in-law and supporter of Henry the Lion, and +immediately began collecting a large army, "impudently boasting," says +the English chronicler of Henry's life, "that he would lay waste Normandy +and the other lands of the king of England that side the sea, if he did +not return to him Gisors and all that belonged to it or make his son +Richard take to wife Adela the daughter of his father Louis." Philip +evidently did not intend to drop everything to go to the rescue of +Jerusalem nor was he inclined at any expense to his own interests to make +it easy for those who would. Henry who was already at the coast on the +point of crossing to England, at once turned back when he heard of +Philip's threats, and arranged for a conference with him on January 21. +Here was the opportunity for those who were urging on the crusade. The +kings of France and England with their chief barons were to be together +while the public excitement was still high and the Christian duty of +checking the Saracen conquest still keenly felt. The Archbishop of Tyre, +who had come to France on this mission, gave up all his other +undertakings as soon as he heard of the meeting and resolved to make +these great princes converts to his cause. It was not an easy task. +Neither Henry nor Philip was made of crusading material, and both were +far more interested in the tasks of constructive statesmanship which they +had on hand than in the fate of the distant kingdom of Jerusalem. A +greater obstacle than this even was their fear of each other, of what +evil one might do in the absence of the other, the unwillingness of +either to pledge himself to anything definite until he knew what the +other was going to do, and the difficulty of finding any arrangement +which would bind them both at once. It is practically certain that they +yielded at last only to the pressure of public opinion which must have +been exceedingly strong in the excitement of the time and under the +impassioned eloquence of a messenger direct from the scene of the recent +disasters. It was a great day for the Church when so many men of the +highest rank, kings and great barons, took the cross, and it was agreed +that the spot should be marked by a new church, and that it should bear +the name of the Holy Field. + +Whatever may be true of Philip, there can, I think, be no doubt that, when +Henry took the cross, he intended to keep his vow. It was agreed between +them that all things should remain as they were until their return; and +Henry formally claimed of his suzerain the protection of his lands during +his absence, and Philip accepted the duty.[51] A few days after taking the +cross Henry held an assembly at Le Mans and ordered a tax in aid of his +crusade. This was the famous Saladin tithe, which marks an important step +in the history of modern taxation. It was modelled on an earlier tax for +the same purpose which had been agreed upon between France and England +in 1166, but it shows a considerable development upon that, both in +conception and in the arrangements for carrying out the details of the +tax. The ordinance provided for the payment by all, except those who were +themselves going on the crusade, of a tenth, a "tithe," of both personal +property and income, precious stones being exempt and the necessary tools +of their trade of both knights and clerks. Somewhat elaborate machinery +was provided for the collection of the tax, and the whole was placed under +the sanction of the Church. A similar ordinance was shortly adopted by +Philip for France, and on February 11, Henry, then in England, held a +council at Geddington, in Northamptonshire, and ordained the same tax for +England. + +In the meantime the crusade had received a check, and partly, at least, +through the fault of its most eager leader, Richard of Poitou. A +rebellion had broken out against him, and he was pushing the war with his +usual rapidity and his usual severities, adopting now, however, the +interesting variation of remitting all other penalties if his prisoners +would take the cross. If Richard was quickly master of the rebellion, it +served on the one hand to embitter him still more against his father, +from the report, which in his suspicious attitude he was quick to +believe, that Henry's money and encouragement had supported the rebels +against him; and on the other, to lead to hostilities with the Count of +Toulouse. The count had not neglected the opportunity of Richard's +troubles to get a little satisfaction for his own grievances, and had +seized some merchants from the English lands. Richard responded with a +raid into Toulouse, in which he captured the chief minister of the count +and refused ransom for him. Then the count in his turn arrested a couple +of English knights of some standing at court, who were returning from a +pilgrimage to St. James of Compostella. Still Richard refused either +ransom or exchange, and an appeal to the king of France led to no result. +Richard told his father afterwards that Philip had encouraged his attack +on the count. Soon, however, his rapid successes in Toulouse, where he +was taking castle after castle, compelled Philip to more decided +interference; probably he was not sorry to find a reason both to postpone +the crusade and to renew the attack on the Angevin lands. First he sent +an embassy to Henry in England to protest against Richard's doings, and +received the reply that the war was against Henry's will, and that he +could not justify it. With a great army Philip then invaded Auvergne, +captured Châteauroux and took possession of almost all Berri. An embassy +sent to bring Philip to a better mind was refused all satisfaction, and +Henry, seeing that his presence was necessary in France, crossed the +channel for the last of many times and landed in Normandy on July 1, +1188. + +All things were now, indeed, drawing to a close with Henry, who was not +merely worn out and ill, but was plunged into a tide of events flowing +swiftly against all the currents of his own life. Swept away by the +strong forces of a new age which he could no longer control, driven and +thwarted by men, even his own sons, whose ideals of conduct and ambition +were foreign to his own and never understood, compelled to do things +he had striven to avoid, and to see helplessly the policy of his long +reign brought to naught, the coming months were for him full of bitter +disasters which could end only, as they did, in heartbreak and death. +Not yet, however, was he brought to this point, and he got together a +great army and made ready to fight if necessary. But first, true to his +policy of negotiation, he sent another embassy to Philip and demanded +restitution under the threat of renouncing his fealty. Philip's answer +was a refusal to stop his hostilities until he should have occupied all +Berri and the Norman Vexin. War was now inevitable, but it lingered for +some time without events of importance, and on August 16 began a new +three days' conference at the historic meeting-place of the kings near +Gisors. This also ended fruitlessly; some of the French even attacked the +English position, and then cut down in anger the old elm tree under which +so many conferences had taken place. Philip was, however, in no condition +to push the war upon which he had determined. The crusading ardour of +France which he himself did not feel, and which had failed to bring about +a peace at Gisors, expressed itself in another way; and the Count of +Flanders and Theobald of Blois and other great barons of Philip notified +him that they would take no part in a war against Christians until after +their return from Jerusalem. + +Philip's embarrassment availed Henry but little, although his own force +remained undiminished. A sudden dash at Mantes on August 30, led only to +the burning of a dozen or more French villages, for Philip by a very +hurried march from Chaumont was able to throw himself into the city, and +Henry withdrew without venturing a pitched battle. On the next day +Richard, who till then had been with his father, went off to Berri to +push with some vigour the attack on Philip's conquests there, promising +his father faithful service. A double attack on the French, north and +south, was not a bad plan as Philip was then situated, but for some +reason not clear to us Henry seems to have let matters drift and made no +use of the great army which he had got together. The king of France, +however, saw clearly what his next move should be, and he sent to propose +peace to Henry on the basis of a restoration of conquests on both sides. +Henry was ever ready for peace, and a new conference took place at +Chatillon on the Indre, where it was found that Philip's proposition was +the exchange of his conquests in Berri for those of Richard in Toulouse, +and the handing over to him of the castle of Pacy, near Mantes, as a +pledge that the treaty would be kept. It is difficult to avoid the +conclusion that Philip knew that this demand would be refused, as it was, +and that he had only made the proposal of peace in order to gain time to +collect a new force. In this he must now have succeeded, for he +immediately took the offensive in Berri and added somewhat to his +conquests, probably by hiring the German mercenaries whom we learn he +shortly afterwards defrauded of their pay. + +In the meantime Richard and Philip were drawing together again, in what +way exactly we do not know. We suspect some underhanded work of Philip's +which would be easy enough. Evidently Richard was still very anxious +about the succession, and it seems to have occurred to him to utilize his +father's desire for peace on the basis of Philip's latest proposition, to +gain a definite recognition of his rights. At any rate we are told that +he brought about the next meeting between the kings, and that he offered +to submit the question of the rights or wrongs of his war with Toulouse +to the decision of the French king's court. This dramatic and fateful +conference which marks the success of Philip's intrigues began on +November 18 at Bonmoulins, and lasted three days. Henry was ready to +accept the proposal now made that all things should be restored on both +sides to the condition which existed at the taking of the cross, but here +Richard interposed a decided objection. He could not see the justice of +being made to restore his conquests in Toulouse which he was holding in +domain, and which were worth a thousand marks a year, to get back himself +some castles in Berri which were not of his domain but only held of him. +Then Philip for him, evidently by previous agreement, brought forward the +question of the succession. The new proposition was that Richard and +Adela should be married and that homage should be paid to Richard as heir +from all the Angevin dominions. It seems likely, though it is not so +stated, that on this condition Richard would have agreed to the even +exchange of conquests. As time went on the discussion, which had been at +first peaceable and calm, became more and more excited so that on the +third day the attendants came armed. On that day harsh words and threats +were exchanged. To Richard's direct demand that he should make him secure +in the succession, Henry replied that he could not do it in the existing +circumstances, for, if he did, he would seem to be yielding to threats +and not acting of his own will. Then Richard, crying out that he could +now believe things that had seemed incredible to him, turned at once to +Philip, threw off his sword, and in the presence of his father and all +the bystanders offered him his homage for all the French fiefs, including +Toulouse, saying his father's rights during his lifetime and his own +allegiance to his father. Philip accepted this offer without scruple, and +promised to Richard the restoration of what he had taken in Berri, with +Issoudun and all that he had conquered of the English possessions since +the beginning of his reign. + +To one at least of the historians of the time Richard's feeling about the +succession did not seem strange, nor can it to us.[52] For this act of +Richard, after which peace was never restored between himself and his +father, Henry must share full blame with him. Whether he was actuated by +a blind affection for his youngest son, or by dislike and distrust of +Richard, or by a remembrance of his troubles with his eldest son, his +refusal to recognize Richard as his heir and to allow him to receive the +homage of the English and French barons, a custom sanctioned by the +practice of a hundred years in England and of a much longer period in +France, was a political and dynastic blunder of a most astonishing kind. +Nothing could show more clearly how little he understood Philip Augustus +or the danger which now threatened the Angevin house. As for Richard, he +may have been quick-tempered, passionate, and rash, not having the +well-poised mind of the diplomatist or the statesman, at least not one of +the high order demanded by the circumstances, and deceived by his own +anger and by the machinations of Philip; yet we can hardly blame him for +offering his homage to the king of France. Nor can we call the act +illegal, though it was extreme and unusual, and might seem almost +revolutionary. An appeal to his overlord was in fact the only legal means +left him of securing his inheritance, and it bound Philip not to recognize +any one else as the heir of Henry. Philip was clearly within his legal +rights in accepting the offer of Richard, and the care with which +Richard's declaration was made to keep within the law, reserving all the +rights which should be reserved, shows that however impulsive his act may +have seemed to the bystanders, it really had been carefully considered and +planned in advance. The conference broke up after this with no other +result than a truce to January 13, and Richard rode off with Philip +without taking leave of his father. + +For all that had taken place Henry did not give up his efforts to bring +back Richard to himself, but they were without avail. He himself, +burdened with anxiety and torn by conflicting emotions, was growing more +and more ill. The scanty attendance at his Christmas court showed him the +opinion of the barons of the hopelessness of his cause and the prudence +of making themselves secure with Richard. He was not well enough to meet +his enemies in the conference proposed for January 13, and it was +postponed first to February 2 and then to Easter, April 9. It was now, +however, too late for anything to be accomplished by diplomacy. Henry +could not yield to the demands made of him until he was beaten in the +field, nor were they likely to be modified. Indeed we find at this time +the new demand appearing that John should be made to go on the crusade +when Richard did. Even the intervention of the pope, who was represented +at the conferences finally held soon after Easter and early in June, by a +cardinal legate, in earnest effort for the crusade, served only to show +how completely Philip was the man of a new age. To the threat of the +legate, who saw that the failure to make peace was chiefly due to him, +that he would lay France under an interdict if he did not come to terms +with the king of England, Philip replied in defiant words that he did not +fear the sentence and would not regard it, for it would be unjust, since +the Roman Church had no right to interfere within France between the king +and his rebellious vassal and he overbore the legate and compelled him to +keep silence. + +After this conference events drew swiftly to an end. The allies pushed +the war, and in a few days captured Le Mans, forcing Henry to a sudden +flight in which he was almost taken prisoner. A few days later still +Philip stormed the walls of Tours and took that city. Henry was almost a +fugitive with few followers and few friends in the hereditary county from +which his house was named. He had turned aside from the better fortified +and more easily defended Normandy against the advice of all, and now +there was nothing for him but to yield. Terms of peace were settled in a +final conference near Colombières on July 4, 1189. At the meeting Henry +was so ill that he could hardly sit his horse, though Richard and Philip +had sneered at his illness and called it pretence, but he resolutely +endured the pain as he did the humiliation of the hour. Philip's demands +seem surprisingly small considering the man and the completeness of his +victory, but there were no grounds on which he could demand from Henry +any great concession. One thing he did insist upon, and that was for him +probably the most important advantage which he gained. Henry must +acknowledge himself entirely at his mercy, as a contumacious vassal, and +accept any sentence imposed on him. In the great task which Philip +Augustus had before him, already so successfully begun, of building up in +France a strong monarchy and of forcing many powerful and independent +vassals into obedience to the crown, nothing could be more useful than +this precedent, so dramatic and impressive, of the unconditional +submission of the most powerful of all the vassals, himself a crowned +king. All rights over the disputed county of Auvergne were abandoned. +Richard was acknowledged heir and was to receive the homage of all +barons. Those who had given in their allegiance to Richard should remain +with him till the crusade, which was to be begun the next spring, and +20,000 marks were to be paid the king of France for his expenses on the +captured castles, which were to be returned to Henry. + +These were the principal conditions, and to all these Henry agreed as he +must. That he intended to give up all effort and rest satisfied with this +result is not likely, and words he is said to have used indicate the +contrary, but his disease and his broken spirits had brought him nearer +the end than he knew. One more blow, for him the severest of all, +remained for him to suffer. He found at the head of the list of those who +had abandoned his allegiance the name of John. Then his will forsook him +and his heart broke. He turned his face to the wall and cried: "Let +everything go as it will; I care no more for myself or for the world." On +July 6 he died at Chinon, murmuring almost to the last, "Shame on a +conquered king," and abandoned by all his family except his eldest son +Geoffrey, the son, it was said, of a woman, low in character as in birth. + +[48] Gesia Henrici, i. 338. + +[49] Gervase of Canterbury, i. 371; Giraldus Cambrensis, De Principis +Instructione, iii. 2. (Opera, viii. 231.) + +[50] Giraldus Cambrensis, De Principis Instructione. (Opera, viii. +232.) + +[51] Ralph de Diceto, ii. 55. + +[52] Gervase of Canterbury, i. 435. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +RICHARD I AND THE CRUSADE + +The death of Henry II may be taken to mark the close of an epoch in +English history, the epoch which had begun with the Norman Conquest. We +may call it, for want of a better name, the feudal age,--the age during +which the prevailing organization, ideals, and practices had been +Norman-feudal. It was an age in which Normandy and the continental +interests of king and barons, and the continental spirit and methods, had +imposed themselves upon the island realm. It was a time in which the +great force in the state and the chief factor in its history had been the +king. The interests of the barons had been on the whole identical with +his. The rights which feudal law and custom gave him had been practically +unquestioned, save by an always reluctant Church, and baronial opposition +had taken the form of a resistance to his general power rather than of a +denial of special rights. Now a change had silently begun which was soon +to show itself openly and to lead to great results. This change involved +only slowly and indirectly the general power of the king, but it takes +its beginning from two sources: the rising importance of England in the +total dominions of the king, and the disposition to question certain of +his rights. Normandy was losing its power over the English baron, or if +this is too strong a statement for anything that was yet true, he was +beginning to identify himself more closely with England and to feel less +interest in sacrifices and burdens which inured only to the benefit of +the king and a policy foreign to the country. To the disposition to +question the king's actions and demands Henry had himself contributed not +a little by the frequency and greatness of those demands, and by the +small regard to the privileges of his vassals shown in the development of +his judicial reforms and in his financial measures these last indeed +under Henry II violated the baronial rights less directly but, as they +were carried on by his sons, they attacked them in a still more decisive +way. When once this disposition had begun, the very strength of the +Norman monarchy was an element of weakness, for it gave to individual +complaints a unity and a degree of importance and interest for the +country which they might not otherwise have had. In this development the +reign of Richard, though differing but little in outward appearance from +his father's, was a time of rapid preparation, leading directly to the +struggles of his brother's reign and to the first great forward step, the +act which marks the full beginning of the new era. + +Richard could have felt no grief at the death of his father, and he made +no show of any. Geoffrey had gone for the burial to the nunnery of +Fontevrault, a favourite convent of Henry's, and there Richard appeared +as soon as he heard the news, and knelt beside the body of his father, +which was said to have bled on his approach, as long as it would take to +say the Lord's prayer. Then we are told he turned at once to business. +The first act which he performed, according to one of our authorities, on +stepping outside the church was characteristic of the beginning of his +reign. One of the most faithful of his father's later servants was +William Marshal, who had been earlier in the service of his son Henry. He +had remained with the king to the last, and in the hurried retreat from +Le Mans he had guarded the rear. On Richard's coming up in pursuit he had +turned upon him with his lance and might have killed him as he was +without his coat of mail, but instead, on Richard's crying out to be +spared, he had only slain his horse, and so checked the pursuit, though +he had spared him with words of contempt which Richard must have +remembered: "No, I will not slay you," he had said; "the devil may slay +you." Now both he and his friends were anxious as to the reception he +would meet with from the prince, but Richard was resolved to start from +the beginning as king and not as Count of Poitou. He called William +Marshal to him, referred to the incident, granted him his full pardon, +confirmed the gift to him which Henry had recently made him of the hand +of the heiress of the Earl of Pembroke and her rich inheritance, and +commissioned him to go at once to England to take charge of the king's +interests there until his own arrival. This incident was typical of +Richard's action in general. Henry's faithful servants suffered nothing +for their fidelity in opposing his son; the barons who had abandoned him +before his death, to seek their own selfish advantage because they +believed the tide was turning against him, were taught that Richard was +able to estimate their conduct at its real worth. + +Henry on his death-bed had made no attempt to dispose of the succession. +On the retreat from Le Mans he had sent strict orders to Normandy, to +give up the castles there in the event of his death to no one but John. +But the knowledge of John's treason would have changed that, even if it +had been possible to set aside the treaty of Colombières. There was no +disposition anywhere to question Richard's right. On July 20 at Rouen he +was formally girt with the sword of the duchy of Normandy, by the +archbishop and received the homage of the clergy and other barons. He at +once confirmed to his brother John, who had joined him, the grants made +or promised him by their father: £4000 worth of land in England, the +county of Mortain in Normandy, and the hand and inheritance of the +heiress of the Earl of Gloucester. To his other brother, Geoffrey, he +gave the archbishopric of York, carrying out a wish which Henry had +expressed in his last moments; and Matilda, the daughter of Henry the +Lion, was given as his bride to another Geoffrey, the heir of the county +of Perche, a border land whose alliance would be of importance in case of +trouble with France. Two days later he had an interview with King Philip +at the old meeting-place near Gisors. There Philip quickly made evident +the fact that in his eyes the king of England was a different person from +the rebellious Count of Poitou, and he met Richard with his familiar +demand that the Norman Vexin should be given up. Without doubt the point +of view had changed as much to Richard, and he adopted his father's +tactics and promised to marry Adela. He also promised Philip 4000 marks +in addition to the 20,000 which Henry had agreed to pay. With these +promises Philip professed himself content. He received Richard's homage +for all the French fiefs, and the treaty lately made with Henry was +confirmed, including the agreement to start on the crusade the next +spring. + +In the meantime by the command of Richard his mother, Eleanor, was set +free from custody in England; and assuming a royal state she made a +progress through the kingdom and gave orders for the release of +prisoners. About the middle of August Richard himself landed in England +with John. No one had any grounds on which to expect a particularly good +reign from him, but he was everywhere joyfully received, especially by +his mother and the barons at Winchester. A few days later the marriage of +John to Isabel of Gloucester was celebrated, in spite of a formal protest +entered by Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, because the parties were +related within the prohibited degrees. The coronation took place on +Sunday, September 3, and was celebrated apparently with much care to +follow the old ritual correctly and with much formal pomp and ceremony, +so that it became a new precedent for later occasions down to the present +day. + +Richard was then just coming to the end of his thirty-second year. In +physical appearance he was not like either the Norman or the Angevin +type, but was taller and of a more delicate and refined cast, and his +portrait shows a rather handsome face. In character and ambitions also he +was not a descendant of his father's line. The humdrum business of ruling +the state, of developing its law and institutions, of keeping order and +doing justice, or even of following a consistent and long-continued +policy of increasing his power or enlarging his territories, was little +to his taste. He was determined, as his father had been, to be a strong +king and to put down utterly every rebellion, but his determination to be +obeyed was rather a resolution of the moment than a means to any foreseen +and planned conclusion. He has been called by one who knew the time most +thoroughly "the creation and impersonation of his age," and nothing +better can be said. The first age of a self-conscious chivalry, +delighting intensely in the physical life, in the sense of strength and +power, that belonged to baron and knight, and in the stirring scenes of +castle and tournament and distant adventure, the age of the troubadour, +of an idealized warfare and an idealized love, the age which had +expressed one side of itself in his brother Henry, expressed a more manly +side in Richard. He was first of all a warrior; not a general but a +fighter. The wild enthusiasm of the hand-to-hand conflict, the matching +of skill against skill and of strength against strength, was an intense +pleasure to him, and his superiority in the tactics of the battle-field, +in the planning and management of a fight, or even of a series of attacks +or defences, a march or a retreat, placed him easily in the front rank of +commanders in an age when the larger strategy of the highest order of +generalship had little place. Of England he had no knowledge. He was born +there, and he had paid it two brief visits before his coronation, but he +knew nothing of the language or the people. He had spent all his life in +his southern dominions, and the south had made him what he was. His +interest in England was chiefly as a source of supplies, and to him the +crusade was, by the necessities of his nature, of greater importance than +the real business of a king. For England itself the period was one during +which there was no king, though it was by the authority of an absent king +that a series of great ministers carried forward the development of the +machinery and law which had begun to be put into organized form in +Henry's reign, and carried forward also the training of the classes who +had a share in public affairs for the approaching crisis of their +history. From this point of view the exceedingly burdensome demands of +Richard upon his English subjects are the most important feature of his +time. + +At the beginning of his reign Richard had, like his father, a great work +to do, great at least from his point of view; but the difference between +the two tasks shows how thoroughly Henry had performed his. Richard's +problem was to get as much money as possible for the expenses of the +crusade, and to arrange things, if possible, in such a shape that the +existing peace and quiet would be undisturbed during his absence. About +the business of raising money he set immediately and thoroughly. The +medieval king had many things to sell which are denied the modern +sovereign: offices, favour, and pardons, the rights of the crown, and even +in some cases the rights of the purchaser himself. This was Richard's +chief resource. "The king exposed for sale," as a chronicler of the time +said,[53] "everything that he had"; or as another said,[54] "whoever +wished, bought of the king his own and others' rights": not merely was the +willing purchaser welcome, but the unwilling was compelled to buy wherever +possible. Ranulf Glanvill, the great judge, Henry's justiciar and "the eye +of the king," was compelled to resign and to purchase his liberty with the +great sum, it is asserted, of £15,000. In most of the counties the former +sheriffs were removed and fined, and the offices thus vacated were sold to +the highest bidder. The Bishop of Durham, Hugh de Puiset, bought the +earldom of Northumberland and the justiciarship of England; the Bishop of +Winchester and the Abbot of St. Edmund's bought manors which belonged of +right to their churches; the Bishop of Coventry bought a priory and the +sheriffdoms of three counties; even the king's own devoted follower, +William of Longchamp, paid £3000 to be chancellor of the kingdom. Sales +like these were not unusual in the practice of kings, nor would they have +occasioned much remark at the time, if the matter had not been carried to +such extremes, and the rights and interests of the kingdom so openly +disregarded. The most flagrant case of this sort was that relating to the +liege homage of the king of Scotland, which Henry had exacted by formal +treaty from William the Lion and his barons. In December, 1189, King +William was escorted to Richard at Canterbury by Geoffrey, Archbishop of +York and the barons of Yorkshire, and there did homage for his English +lands, but was, on a payment of 10,000 marks, released from whatever +obligations he had assumed in addition to those of former Scottish kings. +Nothing could show more clearly than this how different were the interests +of Richard from his father's, or how little he troubled himself about the +future of his kingdom. + +Already before this incident, which preceded Richard's departure by only +a few days, many of his arrangements for the care of the kingdom in his +absence had been made. At a great council held at Pipewell abbey near +Geddington on September 15, vacant bishoprics were filled with men whose +names were to be conspicuous in the period now beginning. Richard's +chancellor, William Longchamp, was made Bishop of Ely; Richard Fitz +Nigel, of the family of Roger of Salisbury, son of Nigel, Bishop of Ely, +and like his ancestors long employed in the exchequer and to be continued +in that service, was made Bishop of London; Hubert Walter, a connexion of +Ranulf Glanvill, and trained by him for more important office than was +now intrusted to him, became Bishop of Salisbury; and Geoffrey's +appointment to York was confirmed. The responsibility of the +justiciarship was at the same time divided between Bishop Hugh of Durham +and the Earl of Essex, who, however, shortly died, and in his place was +appointed William Longchamp. With them were associated as assistant +justices five others, of whom two were William Marshal, now possessing +the earldom of Pembroke, and Geoffrey Fitz Peter himself afterwards +justiciar. At Canterbury, in December, further dispositions were made. +Richard had great confidence in his mother, and with good reason. +Although she was now nearly seventy years of age, she was still vigorous +in mind and body, and she was always faithful to the interests of her +sons, and wise and skilful in the assistance which she gave them. Richard +seems to have left her with some ultimate authority in the state, and he +richly provided for her wants. He assigned her the provision which his +father had already made for her, and added also that which Henry I had +made for his queen and Stephen for his, so that, as was remarked at the +time, she had the endowment of three queens. John was not recognized as +heir nor assigned any authority. Perhaps Richard hoped to escape in this +way the troubles of his father, but, perhaps remembering also how much a +scanty income had had to do with his brother Henry's discontent, he gave +him almost the endowment of a king. Besides the grants already made to +him in Normandy, and rich additions since his coming to England, he now +conferred on him all the royal revenues of the four south-western +counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, and Somerset. He already held the +counties of Derby and Nottingham. Richard plainly intended that political +rights should not go with these grants, but he shows very little +knowledge of John's character or appreciation of the temptation which he +put in his way in the possession of a great principality lacking only the +finishing touches. + +John's position was not the only source from which speedy trouble was +threatened when Richard crossed to Normandy on December 11. He had +prepared another, equally certain, in the arrangement which had been made +for the justiciarship. It was absurd to expect Hugh of Puiset and William +Longchamp to work in the same yoke. In spirit and birth Hugh was an +aristocrat of the highest type. Of not remote royal descent, a relative +of the kings both of England and France, he was a proud, worldly-minded, +intensely ambitious prelate of the feudal sort and of great power, almost +a reigning prince in the north. Longchamp was of the class of men who +rise in the service of kings. Not of peasant birth, though but little +above it, he owed everything to his zealous devotion to the interests of +Richard, and, as is usually the case with such men, he had an immense +confidence in himself; he was determined to be master, and he was as +proud of his position and abilities as was the Bishop of Durham of his +blood. Besides this he was naturally of an overbearing disposition and +very contemptuous of those whom he regarded as inferior to himself in any +particular. Hugh in turn felt, no doubt, a great contempt for him, but +Longchamp had no hesitation in measuring himself with the bishop. Soon +after the departure of the king he turned Hugh out of the exchequer and +took his county of Northumberland away from him. Other high-handed +proceedings followed, and many appeals against his chancellor were +carried to Richard in France. To rearrange matters a great council was +summoned to meet in Normandy about the end of winter. The result was that +Richard sustained his minister as Longchamp had doubtless felt sure would +be the case. The Humber was made a dividing line between the two +justiciars, while the pope was asked to make Longchamp legate in England +during the absence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was going on the +crusade. Perhaps Richard now began to suspect that he had been preparing +trouble for England instead of peace, for at the same time he exacted an +oath from his brothers, Geoffrey, whose troubles with his church of York +had already begun, and John, not to return to England for three years; +but John was soon after released from his oath at the request of his +mother. + +Richard was impatient to be gone on the crusade, and he might now believe +that England could be safely left to itself; but many other things +delayed the expedition, and the setting out was finally postponed, by +agreement with Philip, to June 24. The third crusade is the most +generally interesting of all the series, because of the place which it +has taken in literature; because of the greatness of its leaders and +their exploits; of the knightly character of Saladin himself; of the +pathetic fate of the old Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who lost his life +and sacrificed most of his army in an attempt to force his way overland +through Asia Minor; and of its real failure after so great an expenditure +of life and effort and so many minor successes--the most brilliant of all +the crusades, the one great crusade of the age of chivalry: but it +concerns the history of England even less than does the continental +policy of her kings. It belongs rather to the personal history of +Richard, and as such it serves to explain his character and to show why +England was left to herself during his reign. + +Richard and Philip met at Vézelai at the end of June, 1190, to begin the +crusade. There they made a new treaty of alliance and agreed to the equal +division of all the advantages to be gained in the expedition, and from +thence Richard marched down the Rhone to Marseilles, where he took ship +on August 7, and, by leisurely stages along the coast of Italy, went on +to Messina which he reached on September 23. Much there was to occupy +Richard's attention in Sicily. Philip had already reached Messina before +him, and many questions arose between them, the most important of which +was that of Richard's marriage. Towards the end of the winter Queen +Eleanor came to Sicily, bringing with her Berengaria, the daughter of the +king of Navarre, whom Richard had earlier known and admired, and whom he +had now decided to marry. Naturally Philip objected, since Richard had +definitely promised to marry his sister Adela; but now he flatly refused +to marry one of whose relations with his father evil stories were told. +By the intervention of the Count of Flanders a new treaty was made, and +Richard was released from his engagement, paying 10,000 marks to the king +of France. Quarrels with the inhabitants of Messina, due partly to the +lawlessness of the crusaders and partly to Richard's overbearing +disposition, led to almost open hostilities, and indirectly to jealousy +on the part of the French. Domestic politics in the kingdom of Sicily +were a further source of trouble. Richard's brother-in-law, King William, +had died a year before the arrival of the crusaders, and the throne was +in dispute between Henry VI, the new king of Germany, who had married +Constance, William's aunt and heiress, and Tancred, an illegitimate +descendant of the Norman house. Tancred was in possession, and to +Richard, no doubt, the support of Sicily at the time seemed more +important than the abstract question of right or the distant effect of +his policy on the crusade. Accordingly a treaty was made, Tancred was +recognized as king, and a large sum of money was paid to Richard; but to +Henry VI the treaty was a new cause of hostility against the king of +England, added to his relationship with the house of Guelf. The winter in +Sicily, which to the modern mind seems an unnecessary waste of time, had +added thus to the difficulties of the crusade new causes of ill-feeling +between the French and English, and given a new reason for suspicion to +the Germans. + +It was only on April 10, 1191, that Richard at last set sail on the real +crusade. He sent on a little before him his intended bride, Berengaria, +with his sister Joanna, the widowed queen of Sicily. The voyage proved a +long and stormy one, and it was not until May 6 that the fleet came +together, with some losses, in the harbour of Limasol in Cyprus. The +ruler of Cyprus, Isaac, of the house of Comnenus, who called himself +emperor, showed so inhospitable a mein that Richard felt called upon to +attack and finally to overthrow and imprison him and to take possession +of the island. This conquest, in a moment of anger and quite in +accordance with the character of Richard, though hardly to be justified +even by the international law of that time, was in the end the most +important and most permanent success of the third crusade. Shortly before +his return home Richard gave the island to Guy of Lusignan, to make up to +him his loss of the kingdom of Jerusalem; and his descendants and their +successors retained it for four centuries, an outpost of Christendom +against the advancing power of the Turks. In Cyprus Richard was married +to Berengaria, and on June 5 he set sail for Acre, where he arrived on +the 8th. + +The siege of the important port and fortress of Acre, which had been +taken by Saladin shortly before the fall of Jerusalem, had been begun by +Guy of Lusignan at the end of August, 1189, as the first step toward the +recovery of his kingdom. Saladin, recognizing the importance of the post, +had come up with an army a few days later, and had in turn besieged the +besiegers. This situation had not materially changed at the time of +Richard's arrival. Both the town and the besiegers' camp had remained +open to the sea, but though many reinforcements of new crusaders had come +to the Christians almost from the beginning of the siege, little real +progress had been made; even the arrival of King Philip in April had made +no important change. Richard, on landing, found a condition of things +that required the exercise of the utmost tact and skill. Not merely was +the military problem one of the greatest difficulty, but the bitter +factional dissensions of the native lords of Palestine made a successful +issue almost hopeless. Guy of Lusignan had never been a popular king, and +during the siege his wife Sibyl and their two daughters had died, while +his rival, Conrad marquis of Montferrat, had persuaded his sister Isabel +to divorce her husband and to marry him. The result was a conflict for +the crown, which divided the interests and embittered the spirits of +those whom the crusaders had come to aid. Philip had declared for Conrad. +Guy was a man somewhat of Richard's own type, and he would have been +attracted to him apart from the natural effect of Philip's action. One +who is disposed to deny to Richard the qualities of the highest +generalship must admit that he handled the difficult and complicated +affairs he had to control with great patience and unusual self-command, +and that he probably accomplished as much in the circumstances as any one +could have done. + +The siege was now pressed with more vigour, and before the middle of +July, Acre surrendered. Then Philip, whose heart was always in his plans +at home, pleaded ill health and returned to France. After this began the +slow advance on Jerusalem, Saladin's troops hanging on the line of march +and constantly attacking in small bodies, while the crusaders suffered +greatly from the climate and from lack of supplies. So great were the +difficulties which Richard had not foreseen that at one time he was +disposed to give up the attempt and to secure what he could by treaty, +but the negotiations failed. The battle of Arsuf gave him an opportunity +to exercise his peculiar talents, and the Saracens were badly defeated; +but the advance was not made any the easier. By the last day of the year +the army had struggled through to within ten miles of the holy city. +There a halt was made; a council of war was held on January 13,1192, and +it was decided, much against the will of Richard, to return and occupy +Ascalon before attempting to take and hold Jerusalem--probably a wise +decision unless the city were to be held merely as material for +negotiation. Various attempts to bring the war to an end by treaty had +been going on during the whole march; Richard had even offered his +sister, Joanna, in marriage to Saladin's brother, whether seriously or +not it is hardly possible to say; but the demands of the two parties +remained too far apart for an agreement to be reached. The winter and +spring were occupied with the refortification of Ascalon and with the +dissensions of the factions, the French finally withdrawing from +Richard's army and going to Acre. In April the Marquis Conrad was +assassinated by emissaries of "the Old Man of the Mountain"; Guy had +little support for the throne except from Richard; and both parties found +it easy to agree on Henry of Champagne, grandson of Queen Eleanor and +Louis VII, and so nephew at once of Philip and Richard, and he was +immediately proclaimed king on marrying Conrad's widow, Isabel. Richard +provided for Guy by transferring to him the island of Cyprus as a new +kingdom. On June 7 began the second march to Jerusalem, the army this +time suffering from the heats of summer as before they had suffered from +the winter climate of Palestine. They reached the same point as in the +first advance, and there halted again; and though all were greatly +encouraged by Richard's brilliant capture of a rich Saracen caravan, he +himself was now convinced that success was impossible. On his arrival +Richard had pushed forward with a scouting party until he could see the +walls of the city in the distance, and obliged to be satisfied with this, +he retreated in July to Acre. One more brilliant exploit of Richard's own +kind remained for him to perform, the most brilliant of all perhaps, the +relief of Joppa which Saladin was just on the point of taking when +Richard with a small force saved the town and forced the Saracens to +retire. On September 2 a truce for three years was made, and the third +crusade was at an end. The progress of Saladin had been checked, a series +of towns along the coast had been recovered, and the kingdom of Cyprus +had been created; these were the results which had been gained by the +expenditure of an enormous treasure and thousands of lives. Who shall say +whether they were worth the cost. + +During all the summer Richard had been impatient to return to England, +and his impatience had been due not alone to his discouragement with the +hopeless conditions in Palestine, but partly to the news which had +reached him from home. Ever since he left France, in fact, messages had +been coming to him from one and another, and the story they told was not +of a happy situation. Exactly those things had happened which ought to +have been expected. Soon after the council in Normandy, William Longchamp +had freed himself from his rival Hugh of Durham by placing him under +arrest and forcing him to surrender everything he had bought of the king. +Then for many months the chancellor ruled England as he would, going +about the country with a great train, almost in royal state, so that a +chronicler writing probably from personal observation laments the fact +that a house that entertained him for a night hardly recovered from the +infliction in three years. Even more oppressive on the community as a +whole were the constant exactions of money which he had to make for the +king's expenses. The return of John to England in 1190, or early in 1191, +made at first no change, but discontent with the chancellor's conduct +would naturally look to him for leadership, and it is likely John was +made ready to head an active opposition by the discovery of negotiations +between Longchamp and the king of Scotland for the recognition of Arthur +of Britanny as the heir to the kingdom, negotiations begun--so the +chancellor said--under orders from Richard. About the middle of summer, +1191, actual hostilities seemed about to begin. Longchamp's attempt to +discipline Gerard of Camville, holder of Lincoln castle and sheriff of +Lincolnshire, was resisted by John, who seized the royal castles of +Nottingham and Tickhill. Civil war was only averted by the intervention +of Walter of Coutances, Archbishop of Rouen, who had arrived in England +in the spring with authority from the king to interfere with the +administration of Longchamp if it seemed to him and the council wise to +do so. By his influence peace was made, at an assembly of the barons at +Winchester, on the whole not to the disadvantage of John, and embodied in +a document which is almost a formal treaty. One clause of this agreement +is of special interest as a sign of the trend of thought and as +foreshadowing a famous clause in a more important document soon to be +drawn up. The parties agreed that henceforth no baron or free tenant +should be disseized of land or goods by the king's justices or servants +without a trial according to the customs and assizes of the land, or by +the direct orders of the king. The clause points not merely forward but +backward, and shows what had no doubt frequently occurred since the +departure of the king. + +About the middle of September a new element of discord was brought into +the situation by the landing of Geoffrey, who had now been consecrated +Archbishop of York, and who asserted that he, as well as John, had +Richard's permission to return. Longchamp's effort to prevent his coming +failed; but on his landing he had him arrested at the altar of the Priory +of St. Martin's, Dover, where he had taken sanctuary, and he was carried +off a prisoner with many indignities. This was a tactical mistake on +Longchamp's part. It put him greatly in the wrong and furnished a new +cause against him in which everybody could unite. In alarm he declared he +had never given orders for what was done and had Geoffrey released, but it +was too late. The actors in this outrage were excommunicated, and the +chancellor was summoned to a council called by John under the forms of a +great council. At the first meeting, held between Reading and Windsor on +October 5, he did not appear, but formal complaint was made against him, +and his deposition was moved by the Archbishop of Rouen. The meeting was +then adjourned to London, and Longchamp, hearing this, left Windsor at the +same time and took refuge in the Tower. For both parties, as in former +times of civil strife, the support of the citizens of London was of great +importance. They were now somewhat divided, but a recognition of the +opportunity inclined them to the stronger side; and they signified to John +and the barons that they would support them if a commune were granted to +the city.[55] This French institution, granting to a city in its corporate +capacity the legal position and independence of the feudal vassal, had as +yet made no appearance in England. It was bitterly detested by the great +barons, and a chronicler of the time who shared this feeling was no doubt +right in saying that neither Richard nor his father would have sanctioned +it for a million marks, but as he says London found out that there was no +king.[56] John was in pursuit of power, and the price which London +demanded would not seem to him a large one, especially as the day of +reckoning with the difficulty he created was a distant one and might never +come. The commune was granted, and Longchamp was formally deposed. John +was recognized as Richard's heir, fealty was sworn to him, and he was made +regent of the kingdom; Walter of Rouen was accepted as justiciar; and the +castles were disposed of as John desired. Longchamp yielded under protest, +threatening the displeasure of the king, and was allowed to escape to the +continent. + +The action of John and the barons in deposing Longchamp made little +actual change. John gained less power than he had expected, and found the +new justiciar no more willing to give him control of the kingdom than the +old one. The action was revolutionary, and if it had any permanent +influence on the history of England, it is to be found in the training it +gave the barons in concerted action against a tyrannous minister, +revolutionary but as nearly as possible under the forms of law. While +these events were taking place, Philip was on his way from Tyre to +France. He reached home near the close of the year, ready for the +business for which he had come, to make all that he could out of +Richard's absence. Repulsed in an attempt to get the advantage of the +seneschal of Normandy he applied to John, perhaps with more hope of +success, offering him the hand of the unfortunate Adela with the +investiture of all the French fiefs. John was, of course, already +married, but that was a small matter either to Philip, or to him. He was +ready to listen to the temptation, and was preparing to cross to discuss +the proposition with Philip, when his plans were interrupted by his +mother. She had heard of what was going on and hastily went over to +England to interfere, where with difficulty John was forced to give up +the idea. The year 1192 passed without disturbance. When Longchamp tried +to secure his restoration by bribing John, he was defeated by a higher +bid from the council. An attempt of Philip to invade Normandy was +prevented by the refusal of his barons to serve, for without accusing the +king, they declared that they could not attack Normandy without +themselves committing perjury. At the beginning of 1193 the news reached +England that Richard had been arrested in Germany and that he was held in +prison there. + +[53] Benedict of Peterborough, ii. 90. + +[54] Roger of Howden, iii. 18. + +[55] Round, Commune of London, ch. xi. + +[56] Richard of Devizes, Chronicles of Stephen, iii. 416. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +WAR AND FINANCE + +Richard was indeed in prison in Germany. To avoid passing through +Toulouse on account of the hostility of the count he had sailed up the +Adriatic, hoping possibly to strike across into the northern parts of +Aquitaine, and there had been shipwrecked. In trying to make his way in +disguise through the dominions of the Duke of Austria he had been +recognized and arrested, for Leopold of Austria had more than one ground +of hatred of Richard, notably because his claim to something like an +equal sovereignty had been so rudely and contemptuously disallowed in the +famous incident of the tearing down of his banner from the walls of Acre. +But a greater sovereign than Leopold had reason to complain of the +conduct of Richard and something to gain from his imprisonment, and the +duke was obliged to surrender his prisoner to the emperor, Henry VI. + +When the news of this reached England, it seemed to John that his +opportunity might at last be come, and he crossed over at once to the +continent. Finding the barons of Normandy unwilling to receive him in the +place of Richard, he passed on to Philip, did him homage for the French +fiefs, and even for England it was reported, took oath to marry Adela, +and ceded to him the Norman Vexin. In return Philip promised him a part +of Flanders and his best help to get possession of England and his +brother's other lands. Roger of Howden, who records this bargain, +distinguishes between rumour and what he thought was true, and it may be +taken as a fair example of what it was believed John would agree to in +order to dispossess his imprisoned brother. He then returned to England +with a force of mercenaries, seized the castles of Wallingford and +Windsor, prepared to receive a fleet which Philip was to send to his aid, +and giving out that the king was dead, he demanded the kingdom of the +justices and the fealty of the barons. But nobody believed him; the +justices immediately took measures to resist him and to defend the +kingdom against the threatened invasion, and civil war began anew. Just +then Hubert Walter, Bishop of Salisbury, arrived from Germany, bringing a +letter from Richard himself. It was certain that the king was not dead, +but the news did not promise an immediate release. The emperor demanded a +great ransom and a crowd of hostages of the barons. The justices must at +once set about raising the sum, and a truce was made with John until +autumn. + +The terms of his release which Richard had stated in his letter did not +prove to be the final ones. Henry VI was evidently determined to make all +that he could out of his opportunity, and it was not till after the middle +of the year 1193 that a definite agreement was at last made. The ransom +was fixed at 150,000 marks, of which 100,000 were to be on hand in London +before the king should go free. It was on the news of this arrangement +that Philip sent his famous message to John, "Take care of yourself: the +devil is loosed." In John's opinion the best way to take care of himself +was to go to Philip's court, and this he did on receiving the warning, +either because he was afraid of the view Richard might take of his conduct +on his return, or because he suspected that Philip would throw him over +when he came to make a settlement with Richard. There were, however, still +two obstacles in the way of Richard's return: the money for the ransom +must be raised, and the emperor must be persuaded to keep his bargain. +Philip, representing John as well, was bidding against the terms to which +Richard had agreed. They offered the emperor 80,000 marks, to keep him +until the Michaelmas of 1194; or £1000 a month for each month that he was +detained; or 150,000 marks, if he would hold him in prison for a year, or +give him up to them. Earlier still Philip had tried to persuade Henry to +surrender Richard to him, but such a disposition of the case did not suit +the emperor's plans, and now he made Philip's offers known to Richard. If +he had been inclined to listen, as perhaps he was, the German princes, +their natural feeling and interest quickened somewhat by promises of money +from Richard, would have insisted on the keeping of the treaty. On +February 4, 1194, Richard was finally set free, having done homage to the +emperor for the kingdom of England and having apparently issued letters +patent to record the relationship,[57] a step towards the realization of +the wide-reaching plans of Henry VI for the reconstruction of the Roman +Empire, and so very likely as important to him as the ransom in money. + +The raising of this money in England and the other lands of the king was +not an easy task, not merely because the sum itself was enormous for the +time, but also because so great an amount exceeded the experience, or +even the practical arithmetic of the day, and could hardly be accurately +planned for in advance. It was, however, vigorously taken in hand by +Eleanor and the justices, assisted by Hubert Walter, who had now become +Archbishop of Canterbury by Richard's direction and who was soon made +justiciar, and the burden seems to have been very patiently borne. The +method of the Saladin tithe was that first employed for the general +taxation by which it was proposed to raise a large part of the sum. All +classes, clerical and feudal, burgess and peasant, were compelled to +contribute according to their revenues, the rule being one-fourth of the +income for the year, and the same proportion of the movable property; all +privileges and immunities of clergy and churches as well as of laymen +were suspended; the Cistercians even who had a standing immunity from all +exactions gave up their whole year's shearing of wool, and so did the +order of Sempringham; the plate and, jewels of the churches and +monasteries, held to be properly used for the redemption of captives, +were surrendered or redeemed in money under a pledge of their restoration +by the king. The amount at first brought in proved insufficient, and the +officers who collected it were suspected of peculation, possibly with +justice, but possibly also because the original calculation had been +inaccurate, so that a second and a third levy were found necessary. It +was near the end of the year 1193 before the sum raised was accepted by +the representatives of the emperor as sufficient for the preliminary +payment which would secure the king's release. + +Richard, set free on February 4, did not feel it necessary to be in +haste, and he only reached London on March 6. There he found things in as +unsettled a state as they had been since the beginning of his +imprisonment. He had made through Longchamp a most liberal treaty with +Philip to keep him quiet during his imprisonment; he had also induced +John by a promise of increasing his original grants to return to his +allegiance to himself: but neither of these agreements had proved binding +on the other parties. John had made a later treaty with Philip, +purchasing his support with promises of still more extensive cessions of +the land he coveted, and under this treaty the king of France had taken +possession of parts of Normandy, while the justiciar of England, learning +of John's action, had obtained a degree of forfeiture against him from a +council of the barons and had begun the siege of his castles. This war on +John was approved by Richard, who himself pushed it to a speedy and +successful end. Then on March 30 the king met a great council of the +realm at Nottingham. His mother was present, and the justiciar, and +Longchamp, who was still chancellor, though he had not been allowed to +return to England to remain until now. By this council John was summoned +to appear for trial within forty days on pain of the loss of all his +possessions and of all that he might expect, including the crown. +Richard's chief need would still be money both for the war in France and +for further payments on his ransom; and he now imposed a new tax of two +shillings on the carucate of land and called out one-third of the feudal +force for service abroad. Many resumptions of his former grants were also +made, and some of them were sold again to the highest bidders. Two weeks +later the king was re-crowned at Winchester, apparently with something +less of formal ceremony than in his original coronation, but with much +more than in the annual crown-wearings of the Norman kings, a practice +which had now been dropped for almost forty years. Whether quite a +coronation in strict form or not, the ceremony was evidently regarded as +of equivalent effect both by the chroniclers of the time and officially, +and it probably was intended to make good any diminution of sovereignty +that might be thought to be involved in his doing homage to the emperor +for the kingdom. + +Immediately after this the king made ready to cross to France, where his +interests were then in the greatest danger, but he was detained by +contrary winds till near the middle of May. In the almost exactly five +years remaining of his life Richard never returned to England. He +belonged by nature to France, and England must have seemed a very foreign +land to him; but in passing judgment on him we must not overlook the fact +that England was secure and needed the presence of the king but little, +while many dangers threatened, or would seem to Richard to threaten, his +continental possessions. Even a Henry I would probably have spent those +five years abroad. Richard found the king of France pushing a new attack +on Normandy to occupy the lands which John had ceded him, but the French +forces withdrew without waiting to try the issue of a battle. Richard had +hardly landed before another enemy was overcome, by his own prudence +also, and another example given of the goodness of Richard's heart toward +his enemies and of his willingness to trust their professions. He had +said that his brother would never oppose force with force, and now John +was ready to abandon the conflict before it had begun. He came to +Richard, encouraged by generous words of his which were repeated to him, +and threw himself at his feet; he was at once pardoned and treated as if +he had never sinned, except that the military advantages he had had in +England through holding the king's castles were not given back to him. +Along all the border the mere presence of Richard seemed to check +Philip's advance and to bring to a better mind his own barons who had +been disposed to aid the enemy. About the middle of June almost all the +details of a truce were agreed upon by both sides, but the plan at last +failed, because Richard would not agree that the barons who had been on +the opposing sides in Poitou should be made to cease all hostilities +against each other, for this would be contrary, he said, to the ancient +custom of the land. The war went on a few weeks longer with no decisive +results. Philip destroyed Evreux, but fell back from Freteval so hastily, +to avoid an encounter with Richard, that he lost his baggage, including +his official records, and barely escaped capture himself. On November 1 a +truce for one year was finally made, much to the advantage Philip, but +securing to the king of England the time he needed for preparation. + +When Richard crossed to Normandy not to return, he left England in the +hands of his new justiciar, Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, and +soon to be appointed legate of the pope, at once the head of Church and +State. No better man could have been found to stand in the place of the +king. Nephew of the wife of Glanvill, the great judge of Henry II's time, +spending much of his youth in the household of his uncle and some little +time also in the service of the king, he was by training and by personal +experience fitted to carry on the administration of England along the +lines laid down in the previous reign and even to carry forward law and +institutions in harmony with their beginnings and with the spirit of that +great period. Indeed the first itinerant justices' commission in definite +form that has come down to us dates but a few weeks after the king's +departure, and is of especial interest as showing a decided progress +since the more vague provisions of the Assize of Clarendon. A possible +source of danger to a successful ministry lay in the quarrelsome and +self-assertive Archbishop of York, the king's brother Geoffrey; but soon +after Richard's departure Hubert deprived him of power by a sharp stroke +and a skilful use of the administrative weapons with which he was +familiar. On complaint of Geoffrey's canons against him he sent a +commission of judges to York to examine the case, who ordered Geoffrey's +servants to be imprisoned on a charge of robbery, and on the archbishop's +refusal to appear before them to answer for himself they decreed the +confiscation of his estates. Geoffrey never recovered his position in +Richard's time. + +The year 1195 in England and abroad passed by with few events of +permanent interest. Archbishop Hubert was occupied chiefly with +ecclesiastical matters and with the troubles of Geoffrey of York, and +conditions in the north were further changed by the closing of the long +and stormy career of the bishop, of Durham, Hugh of Puiset. In France the +truce was broken by Philip in June, and the war lingered until December +with some futile efforts at peace, but with no striking military +operations on either side. Early in December the two kings agreed on the +conditions of a treaty, which was signed on January 15, 1196. The terms +were still unfavourable to Richard; for Philip at last had Gisors and the +Norman Vexin ceded to him by competent authority and a part of his other +conquests and the overlordship of Angoulème, while Richard on his side +was allowed to retain only what he had taken in Berri. + +As this treaty transferred to France the old frontier defences of +Normandy and opened the way down the Seine to a hostile attack upon +Rouen, the question of the building of new fortifications became an +important one to both the kings. The treaty contained a provision that +Andely should not be fortified. This was a most important strategic +position on the river, fitted by nature for a great fortress and +completely covering the capital of Normandy. At a point where the Seine +bends sharply and a small stream cuts through the line of limestone +cliffs on its right bank to join it, a promontory of rock three hundred +feet above the water holds the angle, cut off from the land behind it +except for a narrow isthmus, and so furnished the feudal castle-builder +with all the conditions which he required. The land itself belonged to +the Archbishop of Rouen, but Richard, to whom the building of a fortress +at the place was a vital necessity, did not concern himself seriously +with that point, and began the works which he had planned soon after the +signing of the treaty in which he had promised not to do so. The +archbishop who was still Walter of Coutances, Richard's faithful minister +of earlier days, protested without avail and finally retired to Rome, +laying the duchy under an interdict. Richard was no more to be stopped in +this case by an interdict than by his own promises, and went steadily on +with his work, though in the end he bought off the archbishop's +opposition by a transfer to him in exchange of other lands worth +intrinsically much more than the barren crag that he had seized. The +building occupied something more than a year, and when it was completed, +the castle was one of the strongest in the west. Richard had made use in +its fortification of the lessons which he learned in the Holy Land, where +the art of defence had been most carefully studied under compulsion; and +the three wards of the castle, its thick walls and strong towers, and the +defences crossing the river and in the town of New Andely at its foot, +seemed to make it impregnable. Richard took great pride in his creation. +He called it his fair child, and named it Chateau-Gaillard or "saucy +castle." + +Philip had not allowed all this to go on without considering the treaty +violated, but the war of 1196 is of the same wearisome kind as that of +the previous year. The year brought with it some trouble in Britanny +arising from a demand of Richard's for the wardship of his nephew Arthur, +and resulting in the barons of Britanny sending the young prince to the +court of Philip. In England the rising of a demagogue in London to +protest against the oppression of the poor is of some interest. The +king's financial demands had never ceased; they could not cease, in fact, +and though England was prosperous from the long intervals of peace she +had enjoyed and bore the burden on the whole with great patience, it was +none the less heavily felt. In London there was a feeling not merely that +the taxes were heavy, but that they were unfairly assessed and collected, +so that they rested in undue proportion on the poorer classes. Of this +feeling William Fitz Osbert, called "William with the Beard," made +himself the spokesman. He opposed the measures of the ruling class, +stirred up opposition with fiery speeches, crossed over to the king, and, +basing on the king's interest in the subject a boast of his support, +threatened more serious trouble. Then the justiciar interfered by force, +dragged him out of sanctuary, and had him executed. The incident had a +permanent influence in the fact that Hubert Walter, who was already +growing unpopular, found his support from the clergy weakened because of +his violation of the right of sanctuary. He was also aggrieved because +Richard sent over from the continent the Abbot of Caen, experienced in +Norman finance, to investigate his declining revenues and to hold a +special inquisition of the sheriffs. The inquisition was not held because +of the death of the abbot, but later in the year Hubert offered to +resign, but finally decided to go on in office for a time longer. + +The year 1197 promised great things for Richard in his war with the king +of France, but yielded little. He succeeded in forming a coalition among +the chief barons of the north, which recalls the diplomatic successes of +his ancestor, Henry I. The young Count Baldwin of Flanders and Hainault +had grievances of his own against Philip which he was anxious to avenge. +Count Philip, who had exercised so strong an influence over King Philip +at the time of his accession, had died early in the crusade, and the +Count of Hainault on succeeding him had been compelled to give up to +France a large strip of territory adjoining Philip's earlier annexation, +and on his death Count Baldwin had had to pay a heavy relief. The +coalition was joined by the Counts of Boulogne and Blois, and Britanny +was practically under the control of Richard. Philip, however, escaped +the danger that threatened him by some exercise of his varied talents of +which we do not know the exact details. Led on in pursuit of the Count of +Flanders until he was almost cut off from return, he purchased his +retreat by a general promise to restore the count all his rights and to +meet Richard in a conference on the terms of peace. On Richard's side the +single advantage gained during the campaign was the capture of the cousin +of the French king, Philip of Dreux, the warlike Bishop of Beauvais, +whose raids along the border and whose efforts at the court of Henry VI +of Germany against his release from imprisonment had so enraged Richard +that he refused upon any terms or under any pressure to set him free as +long as he lived. The interview between the kings took place on September +17, when a truce for something more than a year was agreed upon to allow +time for arranging the terms of a permanent peace. + +The year closed in England with an incident of great interest, but one +which has sometimes been made to bear an exaggerated importance. At a +council of the kingdom held at Oxford on December 7, the justiciar +presented a demand of the king that the baronage should unite to send him +at their expense three hundred knights for a year's service with him +abroad. Evidently it was hoped that the clergy would set a good example. +The archbishop himself expressed his willingness to comply, and was +followed by the Bishop of London to the same effect. Then Bishop Hugh of +Lincoln, being called upon for his answer, to the great indignation of +the justiciar, flatly refused on the ground that his church was not +liable for service abroad. The Bishop of Salisbury, next called upon, +made the same refusal; and the justiciar seeing that the plan was likely +to fail dissolved the council in anger. One is tempted to believe that +some essential point is omitted from the accounts we have of this +incident, or that some serious mistake has been made in them, either in +the speech of Bishop Hugh given us in his biography or in the terms of +Richard's demand recorded in two slightly different forms. Hubert must +have believed that the baronage in general were going to follow the +example given them by the two bishops and refuse the required service, or +he would not have dissolved the council and reported to the king that his +plan had failed. But to refuse this service on the ground that it could +not be required except in England was to go against the unbroken practice +of more than a hundred years. Nor was there anything contrary to +precedent in the demand for three hundred knights to serve a year. The +union of the military tenants to equip a smaller force than the whole +service due to the lord, but for a longer time than the period of +required feudal service, was not uncommon. The demand implied a feudal +force due to the king from England of less than three thousand knights, +and this was well within his actual rights, though if we accept the very +doubtful statement of one of our authorities that their expenses were to +be reckoned at the rate of three shillings per day, the total cost would +exceed that of any ordinary scutage. + +Richard clearly believed, as did his justiciar, that he was making no +illegal demand, for he ordered the confiscation of the baronies of the +two bishops, and Herbert of Salisbury was obliged to pay a fine. It was +only a personal journey to Normandy and the great reputation for sanctity +of the future St. Hugh of Lincoln that relieved him from the same +punishment. The importance of the right of consent to taxation in the +growth of the constitution has led many writers to attach a significance +to this incident which hardly belongs to it. Whatever were the grounds of +his action, the Bishop of Lincoln could have been acting on no general +constitutional principle. He must have been insisting on personal rights +secured to him by the feudal law. If his action contributed largely, as +it doubtless did, to that change of earlier conditions which led to the +beginning of the constitution, it was less because he tried to revive a +principle of general application, which as a matter of fact had never +existed, than because he established a precedent of careful scrutiny of +the king's rights and of successful resistance to a demand possibly of +doubtful propriety. It is as a sign of the times, as the mark of an +approaching revolution, that the incident has its real interest. + +About the time that Richard sent over to England his demand for three +hundred knights news must have reached him of an event which would seem +to open the way to a great change in continental affairs. The +far-reaching plans of the emperor, Henry VI, had been brought to an end +by his death in Sicily on September 28, 1197, in the prime of his life. +His son, the future brilliant Emperor Frederick II, was still an infant, +and there was a prospect that the hold of the Hohenstaufen on the empire +might be shaken off. About Christmas time an embassy reached Richard from +the princes of Germany, summoning him on the fealty he owed the empire to +attend a meeting at Cologne on February 22 to elect an emperor. This he +could not do, but a formal embassy added the weight of his influence to +the strong Guelfic party; and his favourite nephew, who had been brought +up at his court, was elected emperor as Otto IV. The Hohenstaufen party +naturally did not accept the election, and Philip of Suabia, the brother +of Henry VI, was put up as an opposition emperor, but for the moment the +Guelfs were the stronger, and they enjoyed the support of the young and +vigorous pope, Innocent III, who had just ascended the papal throne, so +that even Philip II's support of his namesake of Suabia was of little +avail. + +From the change Richard gained in reality nothing. It was still an age +when the parties to international alliances sought only ends to be gained +within their own territories, or what they believed should be rightfully +their territories, and the objects of modern diplomacy were not yet +regarded. The truce of the preceding September, which was to last through +the whole of the year 1198, was as little respected as the others had +been. As soon as it was convenient, the war was reopened, the baronial +alliance against the king of France still standing, and Baldwin of +Flanders joining in the attack. At the end of September Richard totally +defeated the French, and drove their army in wild flight through the town +of Gisors, precipitating Philip himself into the river Epte by the +breaking down of the bridge under the weight of the fugitives, and +capturing a long list of prisoners of distinction, three of them, a +Montmorency among them, overthrown by Richard's own lance, as he boasted +in a letter to the Bishop of Durham. Other minor successes followed, and +Philip found himself reduced to straits in which he felt obliged to ask +the intervention of the pope in favour of peace. Innocent III, anxious +for a new crusade and determined to make his influence felt in every +question of the day, was ready to interfere on his own account; and his +legate, Cardinal Peter, brought about an interview between the two kings +on January 13, 1199, when a truce for five years was verbally agreed +upon, though the terms of a permanent treaty were not yet settled. + +In the meantime financial difficulties were pressing heavily upon the +king of England. Scutages for the war in Normandy had been taken in 1196 +and 1197. In the next year a still more important measure of taxation +was adopted, which was evidently intended to bring in larger sums to the +treasury than an ordinary scutage. This is the tax known as the Great +Carucage of 1198. The actual revenue that the king derived from it is a +matter of some doubt, but the machinery of its assessment is described +in detail by a contemporary and is of special interest.[58] The unit of +the new assessment was to be the carucate, or ploughland, instead of +the hide, and consequently a new survey of the land was necessary to +take the place of the old Domesday record. To obtain this, practically +the same machinery was employed as in the earlier case, but to the +commissioners sent into each county by the central government two local +knights, chosen from the county, were added to form the body before whom +the jurors testified as to the ownership and value of the lands in their +neighbourhoods. Thanks to the rapid judicial advance and administrative +reforms of the past generation, the jury was now a familiar institution +everywhere and was used for many purposes. Its employment in this case +to fix the value of real property for taxation, and of personal property +as in the Saladin tithe of 1188, though but a revival of its earlier use +by William I, marks the beginning of a continuous employment of jurors +in taxation in the next period which led to constitutional results--the +birth of the representative system, and we may almost say to the origin +of Parliament in the proper meaning of the term--results of even greater +value in the growth of our civil liberty than any which came from it in +the sphere of judicial institutions important as these were. + +Now in the spring of 1199 a story reached Richard of the finding of a +wonderful treasure on the land of the lord of Chalus, one of his under +vassals in the Limousin. We are told that it was the images of an +emperor, his wife, sons, and daughters, made of gold and seated round a +table also of gold. If the story were true, here was relief from his +difficulties, and Richard laid claim to the treasure as lord paramount of +the land. This claim was of course disputed, and with his mercenaries the +king laid siege to the castle of Chalus. It was a little castle and +poorly defended, but it resisted the attack for three days, and on the +third Richard, who carelessly approached the wall, was shot by a crossbow +bolt in the left shoulder near the neck. The wound was deep and was made +worse by the surgeon in cutting out the head of the arrow. Shortly +gangrene appeared, and the king knew that he must die. In the time that +was left him he calmly disposed of all his affairs. He sent for his +mother who was not far away, and she was with him when he died. He +divided his personal property among his friends and in charity, declared +John to be his heir, and made the barons who were present swear fealty to +him. He ordered the man who had shot him to be pardoned and given a sum +of money; then he confessed and received the last offices of the Church, +and died on April 6, 1199, in the forty-second year of his age. + +The twelfth century was drawing to its end when Richard died, but the +close of the century was then as always in history a purely artificial +dividing line. The real historical epoch closed, a new age began with the +granting of the Great Charter. The date may serve, however, as a point +from which to review briefly one of the growing interests of England that +belongs properly within the field of its political history--its organized +municipal life. The twelfth century shows a slow, but on the whole a +constant, increase in the number, size, and influence of organized towns +in England, and of the commerce, domestic and foreign, on which their +prosperity rested. Even in the long disorder of Stephen's reign the +interruption of this growth seems to have been felt rather in particular +places than in the kingdom as a whole, and there was no serious set-back +of national prosperity that resulted from it. Not with the rapidity of +modern times, but fairly steadily through the century, new articles +appear in commerce; manufactures rise to importance, like that of cloth; +wealth and population accumulate in the towns, and they exert an +unceasing pressure on the king, or on the lords in whose domain they are, +for grants of privileges. + +Such grants from the king become noticeably frequent in the reign of +Richard and are even more so under John. The financial necessities of +both kings and their recklessness, at least that of Richard, in the +choice of means to raise money, made it easy for the boroughs to purchase +the rights or exemptions they desired. The charters all follow a certain +general type, but there was no fixed measure of privilege granted by +them. Each town bargained for what it could get from a list of possible +privileges of some length. The freedom of the borough; the right of the +citizens to have a gild merchant; exemption from tolls, specified or +general, within a certain district or throughout all England or also +throughout the continental Angevin dominions; exemption from the courts +of shire and hundred, or from the jurisdiction of all courts outside the +borough, except in pleas of the crown, or even without this exception; +the right to farm the revenues of the borough, paying a fixed "firma," or +rent, to the king, and with this often the right of the citizens to elect +their own reeve or even sheriff to exempt them from the interference of +the king's sheriff of the county. This list is not a complete one of the +various rights and privileges granted by the charters, but only of the +more important ones. + +To confer these all upon a town was to give it the fullest right obtained +by English towns and to put it practically in the position which London +had reached in the charter of Henry I's later years. London, if we may +trust our scanty evidence, advanced at one time during this period to a +position reached by no other English city, to the position of the French +commune.[59] Undoubtedly the word "commune," like other technical words, +was sometimes used at the time loosely and vaguely, but in its strict and +legal sense it meant a town raised to the position of a feudal vassal and +given all the rights as well as duties of a feudal lord, a seigneurie +collective populaire, as a French scholar has called it.[60] Thus +regarded, the town had a fulness of local independence to be obtained +in no other way. To such a position no English city but London attained, +and it may be thought that the evidence in London's case is not full +enough to warrant us in believing that it reached the exact legal status +of a commune. + +We find it related as an incident of the struggle between John and +Longchamp in 1191, when Longchamp was deposed, that John and the barons +conceded the commune of London and took oath to it, and about the same +time we have proof that the city had its mayor. Documentary evidence has +also been discovered of the existence at the same date of the governing +body known on the continent as the échevins. But while the mayor and the +échevins are closely associated with the commune, their presence is not +conclusive evidence of the existence of a real commune, nor is the use of +the word itself, though the occurrence of the two together makes it more +probable. Early in 1215, when John was seeking allies everywhere against +the confederated barons, he granted a new charter to London, which +recognized the right of the citizens to elect their own mayor and required +him to swear fealty to the king. If we could be sure that this oath was +sworn for the city, it would be conclusive evidence, since the oath of the +mayor to the lord of whom the commune as a corporate person "held" was a +distinguishing mark of this relationship. The probability that such was +the case is confirmed by the fact that a few weeks later, in the famous +twelfth clause of the Great Charter, we find London put distinctly in the +position of a king's vassal. This evidence is strengthened by a comparison +with the corresponding clause of the Articles of the Barons, a kind of +preliminary draft of the Great Charter, and much less carefully drawn, +where there is added to London a general class of towns whose legal right +to the privilege granted it would not have been possible to defend.[61] +That London maintained its position among the king's vassals in the +legally accurate Great Charter is almost certain proof that it had some +right to be classed with them. But even if London was for a time a +commune, strictly speaking, it did not maintain the right in the next +reign, and that form of municipal organization plays no part in English +history.[62] It is under the form of chartered towns, not communes, that +the importance of the boroughs in English commercial and public life +continued to increase in the thirteenth as it had in the twelfth century. + +[57] Ralph de Diceto, ii, 113. + +[58] Roger of Howden, iv. 46. + +[59] Round, The Commune of London. + +[60] Luchaire, Communes Françaises, 97. + +[61] Articles of the Barons, c. 32; Stubbs, Select Charters, 393. + +[62] See London and the Commune in Engl. Hist. Rev., Oct. 1904. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +THE LOSS OF NORMANDY + +The death of Richard raised a question of succession new in the history +of England since the Norman Conquest. The right of primogeniture, the +strict succession of the eldest born, carrying with it the right of the +son of a deceased elder brother to stand in the place of his father, the +principle which was in the end to prevail, had only begun to establish +itself. The drift of feeling was undoubtedly towards it, but this +appeared strongly in the present crisis only in the northwestern corner +of the Angevin dominions in France, where it was supported by still +stronger influences. The feudal law had recognized, and still recognized, +many different principles of succession, and the prevailing feeling in +England and Normandy is no doubt correctly represented in an incident +recorded by the biographer of William Marshal. On receiving the news of +Richard's death at Rouen, William went at once to consult with the +archbishop and to agree on whom they would support as heir. The +archbishop inclined at first to Arthur, the son and representative of +John's elder brother, Geoffrey, but William declared that the brother +stood nearer to his father and to his brother than the grandson, or +nephew, and the archbishop yielded the point without discussion. Neither +in England nor in Normandy did there appear the slightest disposition to +support the claims of Arthur, or to question the right of John, though +possibly there would have been more inclination to do so if the age of +the two candidates had been reversed, for Arthur was only twelve, while +John was past thirty. + +Neither of the interested parties, however, was in the least disposed to +waive any claims which he possessed. John had had trouble with Richard +during the previous winter on a suspicion of treasonable correspondence +with Philip and because he thought his income was too scanty, and he was +in Britanny, even at the court of Arthur, when the news of Richard's +death reached him. He at once took horse with a few attendants and rode +to Chinon, where the king's treasure was kept, and this was given up +without demur on his demand by Robert of Turnharn, the keeper. Certain +barons who were there and the officers of Richard's household also +recognized his right, on his taking the oath which they demanded, that he +would execute his brother's will, and that he would preserve inviolate +the rightful customs of former times and the just laws of lands and +people. From Chinon John set out for Normandy, but barely escaped capture +on the way, for Arthur's party had not been idle in the meantime. His +mother with a force from Britanny had brought him with all speed to +Angers, where he was joyfully received. William des Roches, the greatest +baron of the country and Richard's seneschal of Anjou, had declared for +him at the head of a powerful body of barons, who probably saw in a weak +minority a better chance of establishing that local freedom from control +for which they had always striven than under another Angevin king. At Le +Mans Arthur was also accepted with enthusiasm as count a few hours after +a cold reception of John and his hasty departure. + +There Constance and her son were met by the king of France, who, as soon +as God had favoured him by the removal of Richard,--so the French +regarded the matter,--seized the county of Evreux and pushed his +conquests almost to Le Mans. Arthur did homage to Philip for the +counties of Anjou, Maine, and Touraine; Tours received the young count as +Angers and Le Mans had done; Philip's right of feudal wardship was +admitted, and Arthur was taken to Paris under his secure protection, +secure for his own designs and against those of John. Philip could hardly +do otherwise than recognize the rights of Arthur. It was perhaps the most +favourable opportunity that had ever occurred to accomplish the +traditional policy of the Capetians of splitting apart the dominions of +the rival Norman or Angevin house. That policy, so long and so +consistently followed by Philip almost from his accession to the death of +Arthur, in the support in turn of young Henry, Richard, John, and Arthur +against the reigning king, was destined indeed never to be realized in +the form in which it had been cherished in the past; but the devotion of +a part of the Angevin empire to the cause of Arthur was a factor of no +small value in the vastly greater success which Philip won, greater than +any earlier king had ever dreamed of, greater than Philip himself had +dared to hope for till the moment of its accomplishment. + +From Le Mans John went direct to Rouen. The barons of Normandy had +decided to support him, and on April 25 he was invested with the insignia +of the duchy by the archbishop, Walter of Coutances, taking the usual +oath to respect the rights of Church and people. His careless and +irreverent conduct during the ceremony displeased the clergy, as his +refusal to receive the communion on Easter day, a week before, had +offended Bishop Hugh of Lincoln, who came a part of the way with him from +Chinon. As the lance, the special symbol of investiture, was placed in +his hand, he turned to make some jocular remark to his boon companions +who were laughing and chattering behind him, and carelessly let it fall, +an incident doubtless considered at the time of evil omen, and easily +interpreted after the event as a presage of the loss of the duchy. From +Normandy John sent over to England to assist the justiciar, Geoffrey Fitz +Peter, in taking measures to secure his succession, two of the most +influential men of the land, William Marshal and Hubert Walter, +Archbishop of Canterbury, who had been in Normandy since the death of +Richard, while he himself remained a month longer on the continent, to +check, if possible, the current in favour of Arthur. He took Le Mans and +destroyed its walls in punishment, and sent a force to aid his mother in +Aquitaine; but the threatening attitude of Philip made it impossible for +him to accomplish very much. No slight influence on the side of John was +the strong support and vigorous action in his favour of that remarkable +woman, Eleanor of Aquitaine, then about eighty years of age. She seems +never to have cared for her grandson Arthur, and for this his mother was +probably responsible. Constance appears to have been a somewhat difficult +person, and what was doubtless still more important, she had never +identified herself with the interests of her husband's house, but had +always remained in full sympathy with the separatist tendencies and +independent desires of her own Britanny.[63] She had no right to count +on any help from Eleanor in carrying out her ambitions, and Aquitaine +was held as securely for John by his mother as Normandy was by the +decision of its leading barons. + +In England, although no movement in favour of Arthur is perceptible, +there was some fear of civil strife, perhaps only of that disorder which +was apt to break out on the death of the king, as it did indeed in this +case, and many castles were put in order for defence. What disorder there +was soon put down by the representatives of the king, whom John had +appointed, and who took the fealty of the barons and towns to him. On the +part of a considerable number of the barons--the names that are recorded +are those of old historic families, Beaumont, Ferrers, Mowbray, De Lacy, +the Earls of Clare and Chester--there was found to be opposition to +taking the oath of fealty on the ground of injustice committed by the +administration. Whether these complaints were personal to each baron, as +the language has been taken to mean, or complaints of injustice in +individual cases wrought by the general policy of the government, as the +number of cases implies, it is hardly possible to say. The probability is +that both explanations are true. Certainly the old baronage could easily +find grounds enough of complaint in the constitutional policy steadily +followed by the government of the first two Angevin kings. The crisis was +wisely handled by the three able men whom John had appointed to represent +him. They called an assembly of the doubtful barons at Northampton and +gave to each one a promise that he should have his right (jus suum). In +return for these promises the oaths were taken, but the incident was as +ominous of another kind of trouble as the dropping of the lance at Rouen. +We can hardly understand the reign of John unless we remember that at its +very beginning men were learning to watch the legality of the king's +actions and to demand that he respect the limitations which the law +placed on his arbitrary will. + +On May 25, John landed in England, and on the 27th, Ascension day, he was +crowned in Westminster by the Archbishop of Canterbury before a large +assembly of barons and bishops. The coronation followed the regular order, +and no dissenting voice made itself heard, though a rather unusual display +of force seems to have been thought necessary. Two authorities, both years +later and both untrustworthy, refer to a speech delivered during the +ceremony by the archbishop, in which he emphasized the fact that the +English crown was elective and not hereditary. Did not these authorities +seem to be clearly independent of one another we should forthwith reject +their testimony, but as it is we must admit some slight chance that such a +speech was made. One of these accounts, in giving what purports to be the +actual speech of Hubert Walter, though it must have been composed by the +writer himself, states a reason for it which could not possibly have been +entertained at the time.[64] The other gives as its reason the disputed +succession, but makes the archbishop refer not to the right of Arthur, +but to that of the queen of Castile, a reference which must also be +untrue.[65] If such a speech was made, it had reference unquestionably to +the case of Arthur, and it must be taken as a sign of the influence which +this case certainly had on the development, in the minds of some at least, +of something more like the modern understanding of the meaning of +election, and as a prelude to the great movement which characterizes the +thirteenth century, the rapid growth of ideas which may now without too +great violence be called constitutional. If such a speech was made we may +be sure also that it was not made without the consent of John, and that it +contained nothing displeasing to him. One of his first acts as king was to +make Hubert Walter his chancellor, and apparently the first document +issued by the new king and chancellor puts prominently forward John's +hereditary right, and states the share of clergy and people in his +accession in peculiar and vague language.[66] + +John had no mind to remain long in England, nor was there any reason why +he should. The king of Scotland was making some trouble, demanding the +cession of Cumberland and Northumberland, but it was possible to postpone +for the present the decision of his claims. William Marshal was at last +formally invested with the earldom of Pembroke and Geoffrey Fitz Peter +with that of Essex. More important was a scutage, probably ordered at +this time, of the unusual rate of two marks on the knight's fee, twenty +shillings having been the previous limit as men remembered it. By June 20 +John's business in England was done, and by July 1 he was again at Rouen +to watch the course of events in the conflict still undecided. On that +day a truce was made with Philip to last until the middle of August, and +John began negotiations with the Counts of Flanders and Boulogne and with +his nephew, Otto IV of Germany, in a search for allies, from whom he +gained only promises. On the expiration of the truce Philip demanded the +cession of the entire Vexin and the transfer to Arthur of Poitou, Anjou, +Maine, and Touraine,--a demand which indicates his determination to go +on with the war. For Poitou Philip had already received Eleanor's homage, +and she in turn invested John with it as her vassal. In the beginning of +the war which was now renewed Philip committed a serious error of policy, +to which he was perhaps tempted by the steady drift of events in his +favour since the death of Richard. Capturing the castle of Ballon in +Maine he razed it to the ground. William des Roches, the leader of +Arthur's cause, at once objected since the castle should belong to his +lord, and protested to the king that this was contrary to their +agreement, but Philip haughtily replied that he should do as he pleased +with his conquests in spite of Arthur. This was too early a declaration +of intentions, and William immediately made terms with John, carrying +over to him Arthur and his mother and the city of Le Mans. A slight study +of John's character ought to have shown to William that no dependence +whatever could be placed on his promise in regard to a point which would +seem to them both of the greatest importance. William took the risk, +however, binding John by solemn oath that Arthur should be dealt with +according to his counsel, a promise which was drawn up in formal charter. +On the very day of his arrival, it is said, Arthur was told of John's +intention to imprison him, and he fled away with his mother to Angers; +but William des Roches remained for a time in John's service. + +The year 1199 closed with a truce preliminary to a treaty of peace which +was finally concluded on May 18. Philip II was at the moment in no +condition to push the war. He was engaged in a desperate struggle with +Innocent III and needed to postpone for the time being every other +conflict. Earlier in his reign on a political question he had defied a +pope, and with success; but Innocent III was a different pope, and on the +present question Philip was wrong. In 1193 he had repudiated his second +wife, Ingeborg of Denmark, the day after the marriage, and later married +Agnes of Meran whom he had hitherto refused to give up at the demand of +the Church. At the close of 1199 France was placed under an interdict +until the king should yield, and it was in this situation that the treaty +with John was agreed to. Philip for the moment abandoned his attempt +against the Angevin empire. John was recognized as rightful heir of the +French fiefs, and his homage was accepted for them all, including +Britanny, for which Arthur then did homage to John. These concessions +were not secured, however, without some sacrifices on the English side. +John yielded to Philip all the conquests which had been made from +Richard, and agreed to pay a relief of 20,000 marks for admission to his +fiefs. The peace was to be sealed by the marriage of John's niece, the +future great queen and regent of France, Blanche of Castile, to Philip's +son Louis, and the county of Evreux was to be ceded as her dower. The +aged but tireless Eleanor went to Spain to bring her granddaughter, and +the marriage was celebrated four days after the signing of the treaty, +Louis at the time being thirteen years old and Blanche twelve. + +While his mother went to Spain for the young bride, John crossed to +England to raise money for his relief. This was done by ordering a +carucage at the rate of three shillings on the ploughland. The Cistercian +order objected to paying the tax because of the general immunity which +they enjoyed, and John in great anger commanded all the sheriffs to +refuse them the protection of the courts and to let go free of punishment +any who injured them, in effect to put them outside the law. This decree +he afterwards modified at the request of Hubert Walter, but he refused an +offer of a thousand marks for a confirmation of their charters and +liberties, and returned to Normandy in the words quoted by the +chronicler, "breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the +servants of Christ." + +John was now in a position where he should have used every effort to +strengthen himself against the next move of Philip, which he should have +known was inevitable, and where, if ever, he might hope to do so. Instead +of that, by a blunder in morals, in which John's greatest weakness lay, +by an act of passion and perfidy, he gave his antagonist a better excuse +than he could have hoped for when he was at last ready to renew the war. +John had now been for more than ten years married to Isabel of +Gloucester, and no children had been born of the marriage. In the +situation of the Angevin house he may well have wished for a direct heir +and have been ready to adopt the expedient common to sovereigns in such +cases. At any rate about this time he procured from the Bishops of +Normandy and Aquitaine a divorce, a formal annulling of the marriage on +the ground of consanguinity, the question raised at the time of their +marriage never, it would seem, having been settled by dispensation. Then +he sent off an embassy to ask for a daughter of the king of Portugal. In +the meantime he went on a progress through the French lands which had +been secured to him by treaty with Philip, and met the beautiful Isabel, +daughter of the Count of Angoulème, then twelve years of age, and +determined to marry her out of hand. The fact that she was already +betrothed to Hugh "the Brown," son and heir of his own vassal the Count +of La Marche, and that she was then living in the household of her +intended father-in-law, made no more difference to him than his own +embassy to Portugal. It seems possible indeed that it was in the very +castle of the Count of La Marche that the plan was formed. Isabel's +father also did not hesitate in the choice of sons-in-law, and his +daughter having been brought home, she was at once married to John. An +act of this kind was a most flagrant violation of the feudal contract, +nor was the moral blunder saved from being a political one by the fact +that the injured house was that of the Lusignans, great barons and long +turbulent and unruly vassals of Aquitaine. John had given them now a +legal right of appeal to his suzerain and a moral justification of +rebellion. + +After his marriage John went back to England for the coronation of his +queen, which took place on October 8. At Lincoln he received the homage +of William of Scotland and made peace with the Cistercians, and then went +on a progress through the north as far as Carlisle. In the meantime, as +was to be expected, hostilities had begun with the family of the Count of +La Marche, and the king sent out a summons to the barons of England to +meet him at Portsmouth at Whitsuntide prepared for service abroad. On +receipt of this notice the earls held a meeting at Leicester and by +agreement replied to the king that they would not go over sea with him +unless he restored to them their rights. There is no evidence in the +single account we have of this incident that the earls intended to deny +their liability to service abroad. It is probable they intended to take +their position on the more secure principle that services due to the +suzerain who violated the rights of his vassal were for the time being, +at least, suspended. If this is so, the declaration of the earls is the +first clear evidence we have that the barons of England were beginning to +realize their legal right of resistance and to get sight of the great +principle which was so soon to give birth to the constitution. The result +of the opposition to John's summons we do not know, unless the statement +which follows in the chronicle that the king was demanding the castles of +the barons, and taking hostages if they retained them, was his answer to +their demand. At any rate they appeared as required at Portsmouth ready +for the campaign abroad, but John, instead of sending them over to +France, took away the money which they had brought to spend in his +service, and let them go home. + +From the time of John's landing in Normandy, about June 1, 1201, until +the same time the next year, he was occupied with negotiating rather than +with fighting. Philip was not yet ready to take part himself in the war, +but he kept a careful watch of events and made John constantly aware that +he was not overlooking his conduct toward his vassals. Several interviews +were held between the kings of a not unfriendly character; the treaty of +the previous year was confirmed, and John was invited to Paris by Philip +and entertained in the royal palace. It was at first proposed that the +case between John and the Lusignans should be tried in his own court as +Count of Poitou, but he insisted upon such conditions that the trial was +refused. Meanwhile Philip's affairs were rapidly becoming settled and he +was able to take up again his plans of conquest. The death of Agnes of +Meran made possible a reconciliation with the Church, and the death of +the Count of Champagne added the revenues of that great barony to his own +through his wardship of the heir. In the spring of 1202 he was ready for +action. The barons of Poitou had already lodged an appeal with him as +overlord against the illegal acts of John. This gave him a legal +opportunity without violating any existing treaty. After an interview +with John on March 25, which left things as they were, a formal summons +was issued citing John to appear before Philip's court and answer to any +charges against him. He neither came nor properly excused himself, though +he tried to avoid the difficulty. He alleged that as Duke of Normandy he +could not be summoned to Paris for trial, and was answered that he had +not been summoned as Duke of Normandy but as Count of Poitou. He demanded +a safe conduct and was told that he could have one for his coming, but +that his return would depend on the sentence of the court. He said that +the king of England could not submit to such a trial, and was answered +that the king of France could not lose his rights over a vassal because +he happened to have acquired another dignity. Finally, John's legal +rights of delay and excuse being exhausted, the court decreed that he +should be deprived of all the fiefs which he held of France on the ground +of failure of service. All the steps of this action from its beginning to +its ending seem to have been perfectly regular, John being tried, of +course, not on the appeal of the barons of Poitou which had led to the +king's action, but for his refusal to obey the summons, and the severe +sentence with which it closed was that which the law provided, though it +was not often enforced in its extreme form, and probably would not have +been in this case if John had been willing to submit.[67] + +The sentence of his court Philip gladly accepted, and invaded Normandy +about June 1, capturing place after place with almost no opposition from +John. Arthur, now sixteen years old, he knighted, gave him the +investiture of all the Angevin fiefs except Normandy, and betrothed him +to his own daughter Mary. On August 1 occurred an event which promised at +first a great success for John, but proved in its consequences a main +cause of his failure, and led to the act of infamy by which he has ever +since been most familiarly known. Arthur, hearing that his grandmother +Eleanor was at the castle of Mirebeau in Poitou with a small force, laid +siege to the castle to capture her as John's chief helper, and quickly +carried the outer works. Eleanor had managed, however, to send off a +messenger to her son at Le Mans, and John, calling on the fierce energy +he at times displayed, covered the hundred miles between them in a day +and a night, surprised the besiegers by his sudden attack, and captured +their whole force. To England he wrote saying that the favour of God had +worked with him wonderfully, and a man more likely to receive the favour +of God might well think so. Besides Arthur, he captured Hugh of Lusignan +the younger and his uncle Geoffrey, king Richard's faithful supporter in +the Holy Land, with many of the revolted barons and, as he reported with +probable exaggeration, two hundred knights and more. Philip, who was +besieging Arques, on hearing the news, retired hastily to his own land +and in revenge made a raid on Tours, which in his assault and John's +recapture was almost totally destroyed by fire. The prisoners and booty +were safely conveyed to Normandy, and Arthur was imprisoned at Falaise. + +Instantly anxiety began to be felt by the friends of Arthur as to his +fate. William des Roches, who was still in the service of John, went to +the king with barons from Britanny and asked that his prisoner be given up +to them. Notwithstanding the written promise and oath which John had given +to follow the counsel of William in his treatment of Arthur, he refused +this request. William left the king's presence to go into rebellion, and +was joined by many of the barons of Britanny; at the end of October they +got possession of Angers. It was a much more serious matter that during +the autumn and winter extensive disaffection and even open treason began +to show themselves among the barons of Normandy. What disposition should +be made of Arthur was, no doubt, a subject of much debate in the king's +mind, and very likely with his counsellors, during the months that +followed the capture. John's lack of insight was on the moral side, not +at all on the intellectual, and he no doubt saw clearly that so long as +Arthur lived he never could be safe from the designs of Philip. On the +other hand he probably did not believe that Philip would seriously attempt +the unusual step of enforcing in full the sentence of the court against +him, and underestimated both the danger of treason and the moral effect of +the death of Arthur. What the fate of the young Count of Britanny really +was no one has ever known. The most accurate statement of what we do know +is that of an English chronicler[68] who says that he was removed from +Falaise to Rouen by John's order and that not long after he suddenly +disappeared, and we may add that this disappearance must have been about +the Easter of 1203. Many different stories were in circulation at the time +or soon after, accounting for his death as natural, or accidental, or a +murder, some of them in abundant detail, but in none of these can we have +any confidence. The only detail of the history which seems historically +probable is one we find in an especially trustworthy chronicler, which +represents John as first intending to render Arthur incapable of ruling by +mutilation and sending men to Falaise to carry out this plan.[69] It was +not done, though Arthur's custodian, Hubert de Burgh, thought it best to +give out the report that it had been, and that the young man had died in +consequence. The report roused such a storm of anger among the Bretons +that Hubert speedily judged it necessary to try to quiet it by evidence +that Arthur was still alive, and John is said not to have been angry that +his orders had been disobeyed. It is certain, however, that he learned no +wisdom from the result of this experiment, and that Arthur finally died +either by his order or by his hand. + +It is of some interest that in all the contemporary discussion of this +case no one ever suggested that John was personally incapable of such a +violation of his oath or of such a murder with his own hand. He is of all +kings the one for whose character no man, of his own age or later, has +ever had a good word. Historians have been found to speak highly of his +intellectual or military abilities, but words have been exhausted to +describe the meanness of his moral nature and his utter depravity. Fully +as wicked as William Rufus, the worst of his predecessors, he makes on +the reader of contemporary narratives the impression of a man far less +apt to be swept off his feet by passion, of a cooler and more deliberate, +of a meaner and smaller, a less respectable or pardonable lover of vice +and worker of crimes. The case of Arthur exhibits one of his deepest +traits, his utter falsity, the impossibility of binding him, his +readiness to betray any interest or any man or woman, whenever tempted to +it. The judgment of history on John has been one of terrible severity, +but the unanimous opinion of contemporaries and posterity is not likely +to be wrong, and the failure of personal knowledge and of later study to +find redeeming features assures us of their absence. As to the murder of +Arthur, it was a useless crime even if judged from the point of view of a +Borgian policy merely, one from which John had in any case little to gain +and of which his chief enemy was sure to reap the greatest advantage. + +Soon after Easter Philip again took the field, still ignorant of the fate +of Arthur, as official acts show him to have been some months later. +Place after place fell into his hands with no serious check and no active +opposition on the part of John, some opening their gates on his approach, +and none offering an obstinate resistance. The listless conduct of John +during the loss of Normandy is not easy to explain. The only suggestion +of explanation in the contemporary historians is that of the general +prevalence of treason in the duchy, which made it impossible for the king +to know whom to trust and difficult to organize a sufficient defence to +the advance of Philip, and undoubtedly this factor in the case should +receive more emphasis than it has usually been given. Other kings had had +to contend with extensive treason on the part of the Norman barons, but +never in quite the same circumstances and probably never of quite the +same spirit. Treason now was a different thing from that of mere feudal +barons in their alliance with Louis VII in the reign of Henry I. It might +be still feudal in form, but its immediate and permanent results were +likely to be very different. It was no temporary defection to be overcome +by some stroke of policy or by the next turn of the wheel. It was joining +the cause of Philip Augustus and the France which he had done so much +already to create; it was being absorbed in the expansion of a great +nation to which the duchy naturally belonged, and coming under the +influence of rapidly forming ideals of nationality, possibly even induced +by them more or less consciously felt. This may have been treason in +form, but in real truth it was a natural and inevitable current, and +from it there was no return. John may have felt something of this. +Its spirit may have been in the atmosphere, and its effect would be +paralyzing. Still we find it impossible to believe that Henry I in the +same circumstances would have done no more than John did to stem the tide. +He seemed careless and inert. He showed none of the energy of action +or clearness of mind which he sometimes exhibits. Men came to him with +the news of Philip's repeated successes, and he said, "Let him go on, I +shall recover one day everything he is taking now"; though what he was +depending on for this result never appears. Perhaps he recognized +the truth of what, according to one account, William Marshal told him to +his face, that he had made too many enemies by his personal conduct,[70] +and so he did not dare to trust any one; but we are tempted after all +explanation to believe there was in the case something of that moral +breakdown in dangerous crises which at times comes to men of John's +character. + +By the end of August Philip was ready for the siege of the +Château-Gaillard, Richard's great fortress, the key to Rouen and so to +the duchy. John seems to have made one attempt soon after to raise the +siege, but with no very large forces, and the effort failed; it may even +have led to the capture of the fort on the island in the river and the +town of Les Andelys by the French. Philip then drew his lines round the +main fortress and settled down to a long blockade. The castle was +commanded by Roger de Lacy, a baron faithful to John, and one who could +be trusted not to give up his charge so long as any further defence was +possible. He was well furnished with supplies, but as the siege went on +he found himself obliged, following a practice not infrequent in the +middle ages, to turn out of the castle, to starve between the lines, some +hundreds of useless mouths of the inhabitants of Les Andelys, who had +sought refuge there on the capture of the town by the French. Philip +finally allowed them to pass his lines. Chateau-Gaillard was at last +taken not by the blockade, but by a series of assaults extending through +about two weeks and closing with the capture of the third or inner ward +and keep on March 6, 1204, an instance of the fact of which the history +of medieval times contains abundant proof, that the siege appliances of +the age were sufficient for the taking of the strongest fortress unless +it were in a situation inaccessible to them. In the meantime John, seeing +the hopelessness of defending Normandy with the resources left him there, +and even, it is said, fearing treasonable designs against his person, had +quitted the duchy in what proved to be a final abandonment and crossed to +England on December 5. He landed with no good feeling towards the English +barons whom he accused of leaving him at the mercy of his enemies, and he +ordered at once a tax of one-seventh of the personal property of clergy +and laymen alike. This was followed by a scutage at the rate of two marks +on the knight's fee, determined on at a great council held at Oxford +early in January. But, notwithstanding these taxes and other ways of +raising money, John seems to have been embarrassed in his measures of +defence by a lack of funds, while Philip was furnished with plenty to +reinforce the victories of his arms with purchased support where +necessary, and to attract John's mercenaries into his service. + +After the fall of Chateau-Gaillard events drew rapidly to a close. John +tried the experiment of an embassy headed by Hubert Walter and William +Marshal to see if a peace could be arranged, but Philip naturally set his +terms so high that nothing was to be lost by going on with the war, +however disastrous it might prove. He demanded the release of Arthur, or, +if he were not living, of his sister Eleanor, with the cession to either +of them of the whole continental possessions of the Angevins. In the +interview Philip made known the policy that he proposed to follow in +regard to the English barons who had possessions in Normandy, for he +offered to guarantee to William Marshal and his colleague, the Earl of +Leicester, their Norman lands if they would do him homage. Philip's +wisdom in dealing with his conquests, leaving untouched the possessions +and rights of those who submitted, rewarding with gifts and office those +who proved faithful, made easy the incorporation of these new territories +in the royal domain. By the end of May nearly all the duchy was in the +hands of the French, the chief towns making hardly a show of resistance, +but opening their gates readily on the offer of favourable terms. For +Rouen, which was reserved to the last, the question was a more serious +one, bound as it was to England by commercial interests and likely to +suffer injury if the connexion were broken. Philip granted the city a +truce of thirty days on the understanding that it should be surrendered +if the English did not raise the siege within that time. The messengers +sent to the king in England returned with no promise of help, and on June +24 Philip entered the capital of Normandy. + +With the loss of Normandy nothing remained to John but his mother's +inheritance, and against this Philip next turned. Queen Eleanor, +eighty-two years of age, had closed her marvellous career on April 1, and +no question of her rights stood in the way of the absorption of all +Aquitaine in France. The conquest of Touraine and Poitou was almost as +easy as that of Normandy, except the castles of Chinon and Loches which +held out for a year, and the cities of Niort, Thouars, and La Rochelle. +But beyond the bounds of the county of Poitou Philip made no progress. In +Gascony proper where feudal independence of the old type still survived +the barons had no difficulty in perceiving that Philip Augustus was much +less the sort of king they wished than the distant sovereign of England. +No local movement in his favour or national sympathy prepared the way for +an easy conquest, nor was any serious attempt at invasion made. Most of +the inheritance of Eleanor remained to her son, though not through any +effort of his, and the French advance stopped at the capture of the +castles of Loches and Chinon in the summer of 1205. John had not remained +in inactivity in England all this time, however, without some impatience? +but efforts to raise sufficient money for any considerable undertaking or +to carry abroad the feudal levies of the country had all failed. At the +end of May, 1205, he did collect at Portchester what is described as a +very great fleet and a splendid army to cross to the continent, but +Hubert Walter and William Marshal, supported by others of the barons, +opposed the expedition so vigorously and with so many arguments that the +king finally yielded to their opposition though with great reluctance. + +The great duchy founded three hundred years before on the colonization of +the Northmen, always one of the mightiest of the feudal states of France, +all the dominions which the counts of Anjou had struggled to bring +together through so many generations, the disputed claims on Maine and +Britanny recognized now for a long time as going with Normandy, a part +even of the splendid possessions of the dukes of Aquitaine;--all these in +little more than two years Philip had transferred from the possession of +the king of England to his own, and all except Britanny to the royal +domain. If we consider the resources with which he began to reign, we +must pronounce it an achievement equalled by few kings. For the king of +England it was a corresponding loss in prestige and brilliancy of +position. John has been made to bear the responsibility of this disaster, +and morally with justice; but it must not be forgotten that, as the +modern nations were beginning to take shape and to become conscious of +themselves, the connexion with England would be felt to be unnatural, and +that it was certain to be broken. For England the loss of these +possessions was no disaster; it was indeed as great a blessing as to +France. The chief gain was that it cut off many diverting interests from +the barons of England, just at a time when they were learning to be +jealous of their rights at home and were about to enter upon a struggle +with the king to compel him to regard the law in his government of the +country, a struggle which determined the whole future history of the +nation. + +[63] See Walter of Coventry, ii. 196. + +[64] Matth. Paris, ii. 455. + +[65] Rymer, Foedera, i. 140. + +[66] Rymer, Foedera, i. 75. + +[67] But see Guilhiermoz, Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des Chartes, lx. +(1899), 45-85, whose argument is, however, not convincing. + +[68] Roger of Wendover, iii. 170. + +[69] Ralph of Coggeshall, 139-141. + +[70] L'Histoire de Guillaume la Maréchal, ll. 12737-12741. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +CONFLICT WITH THE PAPACY + +The loss of the ancient possessions of the Norman dukes and the Angevin +counts marks the close of an epoch in the reign of John; but for the +history of England and for the personal history of the king the period is +more appropriately closed by the death of Archbishop Hubert Walter on +July 13, 1205, for the consequences which followed that event lead us +directly to the second period of the reign. Already at the accession of +John one of the two or three men of controlling influence on the course +of events, trained not merely in the school of Henry II, but by the +leading part he had played in the reign of Richard, there is no doubt +that he had kept a strong hand on the government of the opening years of +the new reign, and that his personality had been felt as a decided check +by the new king. We may believe also that as one who had been brought up +by Glanvill, the great jurist of Henry's time, and who had a large share +in carrying the constitutional beginnings of that time a further stage +forward, but who was himself a practical statesman rather than a lawyer, +he was one of the foremost teachers of that great lesson which England +was then learning, the lesson of law, of rights and responsibilities, +which was for the world at large a far more important result of the legal +reforms of the great Angevin monarch than anything in the field of +technical law. It is easy to believe that a later writer records at least +a genuine tradition of the feeling of John when he makes him exclaim on +hearing of the archbishop's death, "Now--for the first time am I king of +England." In truth practically shut up now for the first time to his +island kingdom, John was about to be plunged into that series of quarrels +and conflicts which fills the remainder of his life. + +For the beginning of the conflict which gives its chief characteristic to +the second period of his reign, the conflict with the pope and the +Church, John is hardly to be blamed, at least not from the point of view +of a king of England. With the first scene of the drama he had nothing to +do; in the second he was doing no more than all his predecessors had done +with scarcely an instance of dispute since the Norman Conquest. There had +long been two questions concerning elections to the see of Canterbury +that troubled the minds of the clergy. The monks of the cathedral church +objected to the share which the bishops of the province had acquired in +the choice of their primate, and canonically they were probably right. +They also objected, and the bishops, though usually acting on the side of +the king, no doubt sympathized with them, to the virtual appointment of +the archbishop by the king. This objection, though felt by the clergy +since the day when Anselm had opened the way into England to the +principles of the Hildebrandine reformation, had never yet been given +decided expression in overt act or led to any serious struggle with the +sovereign; and it is clear that it would not have done so in this +instance if the papal throne had not been filled by Innocent III. That +great ecclesiastical statesman found in the political situation of more +than one country of Europe opportunities for the exercise of his decided +genius which enabled him to attain more nearly to the papacy of Gregory +VII's ideal than had been possible to any earlier pope, and none of his +triumphs was greater than that which he won from the opportunity offered +him in England. + +On Archbishop Hubert's death a party of the monks of Canterbury +determined to be beforehand with the bishops and even with the king. They +secretly elected their subprior to the vacant see, and sent him off to +Rome to be confirmed before their action should be known, but the +personal vanity of their candidate betrayed the secret, and his boasting +that he was the elect of Canterbury was reported back from the continent +to England to the anger of the monks, who then sent a deputation to the +king and asked permission in the regular way to proceed to an election. +John gave consent, and suggested John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich, as his +candidate, since he was "alone of all the prelates of England in +possession of his counsels." The bishop was elected by the chapter; both +bishops and monks were induced to withdraw the appeals they had made to +Rome on their respective rights, and, on December 11, the new archbishop +was enthroned and invested with the fiefs of Canterbury by the king. Of +course the pallium from the pope was still necessary, and steps were at +once taken to secure it. Innocent took plenty of time to consider the +situation and did not render his decision until the end of March, 1206, +declaring then against the king's candidate and ordering a deputation of +the monks to be sent him, duly commissioned to act for the whole chapter. +King and bishops were also told to be represented at the final decision. +The pope's action postponed the settlement of the question for six +months, and the interval was spent by John in an effort to recover +something of his lost dominions, undertaken this time with some promise +of success because of active resistance to Philip in Poitou. On this +occasion no objection to the campaign was made by the barons, and with a +large English force John landed at La Rochelle on June 7. Encouraged by +his presence the insurrection spread through the greater part of Poitou +and brought it back into his possession. He even invaded Anjou and held +its capital for a time, and reached the borders of Maine, but these +conquests he could not retain after Philip took the field against him in +person; but on his side Philip did not think it wise to attempt the +recovery of Poitou. On October 26 a truce for two years was proclaimed, +each side to retain what it then possessed, but John formally abandoning +all rights north of the Loire during the period of the truce. + +John did not return to England until near the middle of December, but +even at that date Innocent III had not decided the question of the +Canterbury election. On December 20 he declared against the claim of the +bishops and against the first secret election by the monks, and under his +influence the deputation from Canterbury elected an Englishman and +cardinal highly respected at Rome both for his character and for his +learning, Stephen of Langton. The representatives of the king at Rome +refused to agree to this election, and the pope himself wrote to John +urging him to accept the new archbishop, but taking care to make it clear +that the consent of the king was not essential, and indeed he did not +wait for it. After correspondence with John in which the king's anger and +his refusal to accept Langton were plainly expressed, on June 17, 1207, +he consecrated Stephen archbishop. John's answer was the confiscation of +the lands of the whole archbishopric, apparently those of the convent as +well as those of the archbishop, and the expulsion of the monks from the +country as traitors, while the trial in England of all appeals to the +pope was forbidden. + +Before this violent proceeding against the Canterbury monks, the +financial necessities of John had led to an experiment in taxation which +embroiled him to almost the same extent with the northern province. Not +the only one, but the chief source of the troubles of John's reign after +the loss of Normandy, and the main cause of the revolution in which the +reign closed, is to be found in the financial situation of the king. The +normal expenses of government had been increasing rapidly in the last +half century. The growing amount and complexity of public and private +business, to be expected in a land long spared the ravages of war, which +showed itself in the remarkable development of judicial and +administrative machinery during the period, meant increased expenses in +many directions not to be met by the increased income from the new +machinery. The cost of the campaigns in France was undoubtedly great, and +the expense of those which the king desired to undertake was clearly +beyond the resources of the country, at least beyond the resources +available to him by existing methods of taxation. Nor was John a saving +and careful housekeeper who could make a small income go a long ways. The +complete breakdown of the ordinary feudal processes of raising revenue, +the necessity forced upon the king of discovering new sources of income, +the attempt within a single generation to impose on the country something +like the modern methods and regularity of taxation, these must be taken +into account as elements of decided importance in any final judgment we +may form of the struggles of John's reign and their constitutional +results. Down to this date a scutage had been imposed every year since +the king's accession, at the rate of two marks on the fee except on the +last occasion when the tax had been twenty shillings. Besides these there +had been demanded the carucage of 1200 and the seventh of personal +property of 1204, to say nothing of some extraordinary exactions. But +these taxes were slow in coming in; the machinery of collection was still +primitive, and the amount received in any year was far below what the tax +should have yielded. + +At a great council held in London on January 8 the king asked the bishops +and abbots present to grant him a tax on the incomes of all beneficed +clergy. The demand has a decidedly modern sound. Precedents for taxation +of this sort had been made in various crusading levies, in the expedients +adopted for raising Richard's ransom, and in the seventh demanded by John +in 1204, which was exacted from at least a part of the clergy, but these +were all more or less exceptional cases, and there was no precedent for +such a tax as a means of meeting the ordinary expenses of the state. The +prelates refused their consent, and the matter was deferred to a second +great council to be held at Oxford a month later. This council was +attended by an unusually large number of ecclesiastics, and the king's +proposition, submitted to them again, was again refused. The council, +however, granted the thirteenth asked, to be collected of the incomes and +personal property of the laity. But John had no mind to give up his plan +because it had not been sanctioned by the prelates in general assembly, +and he proceeded, apparently by way of individual consent, doubtless +practically compulsory as usual, to collect the same tax from the whole +clergy, the Cistercians alone excepted. A tax of this kind whether of +laity or clergy was entirely non-feudal, foreign both in nature and +methods to the principles of feudalism, and a long step toward modern +taxation, but it was some time before the suggestion made by it was taken +up by the government as one of its ordinary resources. Archbishop +Geoffrey of York, the king's brother, who since the death of his father +seemed never to be happy unless in a quarrel with some one, took it upon +himself to oppose violently the taxation of his clergy, though he had +enforced the payment of a similar tax for Richard's ransom. Finding that +he could not prevent it he retired from the country, excommunicating the +despoilers of the church, and his lands were taken in hand by the king. + +The expulsion of the monks of Canterbury was a declaration of war against +the Church and the pope, and the Church was far more powerful, more +closely organized, and more nearly actuated by a single ideal, than in +the case of any earlier conflict between Church and State in England, and +the pope was Innocent III, head of the world in his own conception of his +position and very nearly so in reality. There was no chance that a +declaration of war would pass unanswered, but the pope did not act +without deliberation. On the news of what the king had done he wrote to +the Bishops of London, Ely, and Worcester, directing them to try to +persuade John to give way, and if he obstinately continued his course, to +proclaim an interdict. This letter was written on August 27, but the +interdict was not actually put into force until March 24,1208, +negotiations going on all the winter, and John displaying, as he did +throughout the whole conflict, considerable ability in securing delay and +in keeping opponents occupied with proposals which he probably never +intended to carry out. At last a date was set on which the interdict +would be proclaimed if the king had not yielded by that time, and he was +given an opportunity of striking the first blow which he did not neglect. +He ordered the immediate confiscation of the property of all the clergy +who should obey the interdict. + +The struggle which follows exhibits, as nothing else could do so well, +the tremendous power of the Norman feudal monarchy, the absolute hold +which it had on state and nation even on the verge of its fall. John had +not ruled during these eight years in such a way as to strengthen his +personal position. He had been a tyrant; he had disregarded the rights of +batons as well as of clergy; he had given to many private reasons of +hatred; he had lost rather than won respect by the way in which he had +defended his inheritance in France his present cause, if looked at from +the point of view of Church and nation and not from that of the royal +prerogative alone, was a bad one. The interdict was a much dreaded +penalty, suspending some of the most desired offices of religion, and, +while not certainly dooming all the dying to be lost in the world to +come, at least rendering their state to the pious mind somewhat doubtful; +and, though the effect of the spiritual terrors of the Church had been a +little weakened by their frequent use on slight occasions, the age was +still far distant when they could be disregarded. We should expect John +to prove as weak in the war with Innocent as he had in that with Philip, +and at such a test to find his power crumbling without recovery. What we +really find is a successful resistance kept up for years, almost without +expressed opposition, a great body of the clergy reconciling themselves +to the situation as best they could; a period during which the affairs of +the state seem to go on as if nothing were out of order, the period of +John's greatest tyranny, of almost unbridled power. And when he was +forced to yield at last, it was to a foreign attack, to a foreign attack +combined, it is true, with an opposition at home which had been long +accumulating, but no one can say how long this opposition might have gone +on accumulating before it would have grown strong enough to check the +king of itself. + +The interdict seems to have been generally observed by the clergy. The +Cistercians at first declared that they were not bound to respect it, but +they were after a time forced by the pope to conform. Baptism and extreme +unction were allowed; marriages might be celebrated at the church door; +but no masses were publicly said, and all the ordinary course of the +sacraments was intermitted; the dead were buried in unconsecrated ground, +and the churches were closed except to those who wished to make +offerings. Nearly all the bishops went into exile. Two only remained in +the end, both devoted more to the king than to the Church; John de Grey, +Bishop of Norwich, employed during most of the time in secular business +in Ireland, and Peter des Roches, appointed Bishop of Winchester in 1205, +destined to play a leading part against the growing liberties of the +nation in the next reign, and now, as a chronicler says, occupied less +with defending the Church than in administering the king's affairs. The +general confiscation of Church property must have relieved greatly the +financial distress of the king, and during the years when these lands +were administered as part of the royal domains, we hear less of attempts +at national taxation. John did not stop with confiscation of the goods of +the clergy. Their exemption from the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts +of the state was suspended, and they were even in some cases denied the +protection of the laws. It is said that once there came to the king on +the borders of Wales officers of one of the sheriffs, leading a robber +with his hands bound behind his back, who had robbed and killed a priest, +and they asked the king what should be done with him. "He has killed +one of my enemies. Loose him and let him go," ordered John. After the +interdict had been followed by the excommunication of the king, Geoffrey, +Archdeacon of Norwich, urged upon his associates at the exchequer that it +was not safe for those who were in orders to remain in the service of an +excommunicate king, and left the court without permission and went home. +John hearing this sent William Talbot after him with a band of soldiers, +who arrested the archdeacon, and loaded him with chains, and threw him +into prison. There shortly after by the command of the king he was +pressed to death. It was by acts like these, of which other instances are +on record, that John terrorized the country and held it quiet under his +tyranny. + +Even the greatest barons were subjected to arbitrary acts of power of the +same kind. On the slightest occasion of suspicion the king demanded their +sons or other relatives, or their vassals, as hostages, a measure which +had been in occasional use before, but which John carried to an extreme. +The great earl marshal himself, who, if we may trust his biographer, was +never afraid to do what he thought honour demanded, and was always able +to defend himself in the king's presence with such vigorous argument that +nothing could be done with him, was obliged to give over to the king's +keeping first his eldest and then his second son. The case of William de +Braóse is that most commonly cited. He had been a devoted supporter of +John and had performed many valuable services in his interest, especially +at the time of the coronation. For these he had received many marks of +royal favour, and was rapidly becoming both in property and in family +alliances one of the greatest barons of the land. About the time of the +proclamation of the interdict a change took place in his fortunes. For +some reason he lost the favour of the king and fell instead under his +active enmity. According to a formal statement of the case, which John +thought well to put forth afterwards, he had failed to pay large sums +which he had promised in return for the grants that had been made him; +and the records support the accusation.[71] According to Roger of +Wendover the king had a personal cause of anger. On a demand of +hostages from her husband, the wife of William had rashly declared to +the officers that her sons should never be delivered to the king because +he had basely murdered his nephew Arthur, whom he was under obligation +to guard honourably, and it is impossible to believe that it was merely +delay in paying money that excited the fierce persecution that followed. +William with his family took refuge in Ireland, where he was received by +William Marshal and the Lacies, but John pursued him thither, and he was +again obliged to fly. His wife and son, attempting to escape to Scotland, +were seized in Galloway by a local baron and delivered to John, who +caused them to be starved to death in prison. + +It may seem strange at the present day that the absolutism of the king +did not bring about a widespread rebellion earlier than it did. One of +the chief causes of his strength is to be found in the bands of mercenary +soldiers which he maintained, ready to do any bidding at a moment's +notice, under the command of men who were entirely his creatures, like +Gerald of Athies, a peasant of Touraine, who with some of his fellows was +thought worthy of mention by name in the Great Charter. The cost of +keeping these bands devoted to his service was no doubt one of the large +expenses of the reign. Another fact of greater permanent interest that +helped to keep up the king's power is the lack of unity among the barons, +of any feeling of a common cause, but rather the existence of jealousies, +and open conflicts even, which made it impossible to bring them together +in united action in their own defence. The fact is of especial importance +because it was the crushing tyranny of John that first gave rise to the +feeling of corporate unity in the baronage, and the growth of this +feeling is one of the great facts of the thirteenth century. + +At the beginning of 1209 Innocent III had threatened the immediate +excommunication of John, but the king had known how to keep him, and the +bishops who represented him in the negotiations, occupied with one +proposition of compromise after another until almost the close of the +year. The summer was employed in settling affairs with Scotland, which +down to this time had not been put into form satisfactory to either king. +A meeting at the end of April led to no result, but in August, after +armies of the two countries had faced each other on the borders, a treaty +was agreed upon. William the Lion was not then in a condition to insist +strongly on his own terms, and the treaty was much in favour of John. The +king of Scotland promised to pay 15,000 marks, and gave over two of his +daughters to John to be given in marriage by him. In a later treaty +John was granted the same right with respect to Alexander, the heir of +Scotland, arrangements that look very much like a recognition of the +king of England as the overlord of Scotland. In Wales also quarrels among +the native chieftains enabled John to increase his influence in the still +unconquered districts. In November the long-deferred excommunication fell +upon the unrepentant king, but it could not be published in England. +There were no bishops left in the country who were acting in the +interests of the pope, and John took care that there should be no means +of making any proclamation of the sentence in his kingdom. The +excommunication was formally published in France, and news of it passed +over to England, but no attention was paid to it there. For the +individual, excommunication was a more dreaded penalty than the +interdict. The interdict might compel a king to yield by the public fear +and indignation which it would create, but an excommunication cut him off +as a man completely from the Church and all its mercies, cast him out of +the community of Christians, and involved in the same awful fate all who +continued to support him, or, indeed, to associate with him in any way. +Even more than the interdict, the excommunication reveals the terrible +strength of the king. When the time came for holding the Christmas court +of 1209, the fact that it had been pronounced was generally known, but it +made no difference in the attendance. All the barons are said to have +been present and to have associated with the king as usual, though there +must have been many of them who trembled at the audacity of the act, and +who would have withdrawn entirely from him if they had dared. On his +return from the north John had demanded and obtained a renewal of homage +from all the free tenants of the country. The men of Wales had even been +compelled to go to Woodstock to render it. It is quite possible that this +demand had been made in view of the excommunication that was coming; the +homage must certainly have been rendered by many who knew that the +sentence was hanging over the king's head. + +The year 1210 is marked by an expedition of John with an army to Ireland. +Not only were William de Braóse and his wife to be punished, but the +Lacies had been for some time altogether too independent, and the conduct +of William Marshal was not satisfactory. The undertaking occasioned the +first instance of direct taxation since the lands of the Church had been +taken in hand, a scutage, which in this case at least would have a +warrant in strict feudal law. The clergy also were compelled to pay a +special and heavy tax, and the Jews throughout the kingdom--perhaps an +act of piety on the part of the king to atone somewhat for his treatment +of the Church--were arrested and thrown into prison and forced to part +with large sums of money. It was on this occasion that the often-quoted +incident occurred of the Jew of Bristol who endured all ordinary tortures +to save his money, or that in his charge, until the king ordered a tooth +to be drawn each day so long as he remained obstinate. As the eighth was +about to be pulled, "tardily perceiving," as the chronicler remarks, +"what was useful," he gave up and promised the 10,000 marks demanded. + +John landed in Ireland about June 20, and traversed with his army all that +part of the country which was occupied by Anglo-Norman settlers without +finding any serious opposition. William Marshal entertained his host for +two days with all loyalty. The Lacies and William de Braóse's family fled +before him from one place to another and finally escaped out of the island +to Scotland. Carrickfergus, in which Hugh de Lacy had thought to stand a +siege, resisted for a few days, and then surrendered. At Dublin the native +kings of various districts, said by Roger of Wendover to have been more +than twenty in number, including the successor of Roderick, king of +Connaught, who had inherited a greatly reduced power, came in and did +homage and swore fealty to John. At the same time, we are told, the king +introduced into the island the laws and administrative system of England, +and appointed sheriffs.[72] John's march through the island and the +measures of government which he adopted have been thought to mark an +advance in the subjection of Ireland to English rule, and to form one of +the few permanent contributions to English history devised by the king. On +his departure Bishop John de Grey was left as justiciar, and toward the +end of August John landed in England to go on with the work of exacting +money from the clergy and the Jews that he had begun before he left the +country. + +The two years which followed John's return from Ireland, from August, +1210 to August 1212, form the period of his highest power. No attempt at +resistance to his will anywhere disturbed the peace of England. Llewelyn, +Prince of north Wales, husband of John's natural daughter Joanna, +involved in border warfare with the Earl of Chester, was not willing to +yield to the authority of the king, but two expeditions against him in +1211 forced him to make complete submission. A contemporary annalist +remarks with truth that none of John's predecessors exercised so great an +authority over Scotland, Wales, or Ireland as he, and we may add that +none exercised a greater over England. The kingdom was almost in a state +of blockade, and not only was unauthorized entrance into the country +forbidden, but departure from it as well, except as the king desired. +During these two years John's relations with the Church troubled him but +little. Negotiations were kept up as before, but they led to nothing. On +his return from the Welsh campaign the king met representatives of the +pope at Northampton, one of whom was the Roman subdeacon Pandulf, whom +John met later in a different mood. We have no entirely trustworthy +account of the interview, but it was found impossible to agree upon the +terms of any treaty which would bring the conflict to an end. The pope +demanded a promise of complete obedience from John on all the questions +that had caused the trouble, and restoration to the clergy of all their +confiscated revenues, and to one or both of these demands the king +refused to yield. Now it is that we begin to hear of threats of further +sentences to be issued by the pope against John, or actually issued, +releasing his subjects from their allegiance and declaring the king +incapable of ruling, but if any step of that kind was taken, it had for +the present no effect. The Christmas feast was kept as usual at Windsor, +and in Lent of the next year John knighted young Alexander of Scotland, +whose father had sent him to London to be married as his liege lord might +please, though "without disparagement." + +In the spring of 1212 John seems to have felt himself strong enough to +take up seriously a plan for the recovery of the lands which he had lost +in France. The idea he had had in mind for some years was the formation of +a great coalition against Philip Augustus by combining various enemies of +his or of the pope's. In May the Count of Boulogne, who was in trouble +with the king of France, came to London and did homage to John. Otto IV, +the Guelfic emperor and John's nephew, was now in as desperate conflict +with the papacy as if he were a Ghibelline, and Innocent was supporting +against him the young Hohenstaufen Frederick, son of Henry VI and +Constance of Sicily. Otto therefore was ready to promise help to any one +from whom he could hope for aid in return, or to take part in any +enterprise from which a change of the general situation might be expected. +Ferdinand of Portugal, just become Count of Flanders by marriage with +Jeanne, the heiress of the crusading Count Baldwin, the emperor Baldwin of +the new Latin empire, had at the moment of his accession been made the +victim of Philip Augustus's ceaseless policy of absorbing the great fiefs +in the crown, and had lost the two cities of Aire and St. Omer. He was +ready to listen to John's solicitations, and after some hesitation and +delay joined the alliance, as did also most of the princes on the +north-east between France and Germany. John laboured long and hard with +much skill and final success, at a combination which would isolate the +king of France and make it possible to attack him with overwhelming force +at once from the north and the south. With a view, in all probability, to +calling out the largest military force possible in the event of a war with +France, John at this time ordered a new survey to be taken of the service +due from the various fiefs in England. The inquest was made by juries of +the hundreds, after a method very similar to that lately employed in the +carucage of 1198, and earlier in the Domesday survey by William the +Conqueror, though it was under the direction of the sheriffs, not of +special commissioners. The interesting returns to this inquiry have been +preserved to us only in part.[73] If John hoped to be able to attack his +enemy abroad in the course of the year 1212, he was disappointed in the +end. His combination of allies he was not able to complete. A new revolt +of the Welsh occupied his attention towards the end of the summer and led +him to hang twenty-eight boys, hostages whom they had given him the year +before. Worst of all, evidence now began to flow in to the king from +various quarters of a serious disaffection among the barons of the kingdom +and of a growing spirit of rebellion, even, it was said, of an intention +to deprive him of the crown. We are told that on the eve of his expedition +against the Welsh a warning came to him from the king of Scotland that he +was surrounded by treason, and another from his daughter in Wales to the +same effect. Whatever the source of his information, John was evidently +convinced--very likely he needed but little to convince him--of a danger +which he must have been always suspecting. At any rate he did not venture +to trust himself to his army in the field, but sent home the levies and +carefully guarded himself for a time. Then he called for new declarations +of loyalty and for hostages from the barons; and two of them, Eustace de +Vescy and Robert Fitz Walter, fled from the country, the king outlawing +them and seizing their property. About the same time a good deal of public +interest was excited by a hermit of Yorkshire, Peter of Pontefract, who +was thought able to foretell the future, and who declared that John would +not be king on next Ascension day, the anniversary of his coronation. It +was probably John's knowledge of the disposition of the barons, and +possibly the hope of extorting some information from him, that led him, +rather unwisely, to order the arrest of the hermit, and to question him as +to the way in which he should lose the crown. Peter could only tell him +that the event was sure, and that if it did not occur, the king might do +with him what he pleased. John took him at his word, held him in prison, +and hanged him when the day had safely passed. + +By that 23d of May, however, a great change had taken place in the formal +standing of John among the sovereigns of the world, a change which many +believed fulfilled the prediction of Peter, and one which affected the +history of England for many generations. As the year 1212 drew to its +close, John was not merely learning his own weakness in England, but he +was forced by the course of events abroad to recognize the terrible +strength of the papacy and the small chance that even a strong king could +have of winning a victory over it.[74] His nephew Otto IV had been obliged +to retire, almost defeated, before the enthusiasm which the young +Frederick of Hohenstaufen had aroused in his adventurous expedition to +recover the crown of Germany. Raymond of Toulouse, John's brother-in-law, +had been overwhelmed and almost despoiled of his possessions in an attempt +to protect his subjects in their right to believe what seemed to them the +truth. For the moment the vigorous action which John had taken after the +warnings received on the eve of the Welsh campaign had put an end to the +disposition to revolt, and had left him again all powerful. He had even +been able to extort from the clergy formal letters stating that the sums +he had forced them to pay were voluntarily granted him. But he had been +made to understand on how weak a foundation his power rested. He must +have known that Philip Augustus had for some time been considering the +possibility of an invasion of England, whether invited by the barons to +undertake it or not, and he could hardly fail to dread the results to +himself of such a step after the lesson he had learned in Normandy of the +consequences of treason. The situation at home and abroad forced upon him +the conclusion that he must soon come to terms with the papacy, and in +November he sent representatives to Rome to signify that he would agree to +the proposals he had rejected when made by Pandulf early in the previous +year.[75] Even in this case John may be suspected, as so often before, of +making a proposition which he did not intend to carry out, or at least of +trying to gain time, for it was found that the embassy could not make a +formally binding agreement; and it is clear that Innocent III, while ready +to go on with the negotiations and hoping to carry them to success, was +now convinced that he must bring to bear on John the only kind of pressure +to which he would yield. + +There is reason to believe that after his reconciliation with the king +of England Innocent III had all the letters in which he had threatened +John with the severest penalties collected so far as possible and +destroyed.[76] It is uncertain, however, whether before the end of 1212 +he had gone so far as to depose the king and to absolve his subjects +from their allegiance, though this is asserted by English chroniclers. +But there is no good ground to doubt that in January, 1213, he took +this step, and authorized the king of France to invade England and +deprive John of his kingdom. Philip needed no urging. He collected a +numerous fleet, we are told, of 1500 vessels, and a large army. In +the first week of April he held a great council at Soissons, and the +enterprise was determined on by the barons and bishops of France. At +the same council arrangements were made to define the legal relations +to France of the kingdom to be conquered, The king of England was to be +Philip's son, Louis, who could advance some show of right through his +wife, John's niece, Blanche of Castile but during his father's lifetime +he was to make no pretension to any part of France, a provision which +would leave the duchy of Aquitaine in Philip's hands, as Normandy was. +Louis was to require an oath of his new subjects that they would +undertake nothing against France, and he was to leave to his father the +disposal of the person of John and of his private possessions. Of the +relationship between the two countries when Louis should succeed to the +crown of France, nothing was said. Preparations were so far advanced +that it was expected that the army would embark before the end of May. + +In the meantime John was taking measures for a vigorous defence. Orders +were sent out for all ships capable of carrying at least six horses to +assemble at Portsmouth by the middle of Lent. The feudal levies and all +men able to bear arms were called out for April 21. The summons was +obeyed by such numbers that they could not be fed, and all but the best +armed were sent home, while the main force was collected on Barham Down, +between Canterbury and Dover, with outposts at the threatened ports. John +has been thought by some to have had a special interest in the +development of the fleet; at any rate he knew how to employ here the +defensive manoeuvre which has been more than once of avail to England, +and he sent out a naval force to capture and destroy the enemy's ships in +the mouth of the Seine and at Fécamp, and to take and burn the town of +Dieppe. It was his plan also to defend the country with the fleet rather +than with the army, and to attack and destroy the hostile armament on its +way across the channel. To contemporaries the preparations seemed +entirely sufficient to defend the country, not merely against France, but +against any enemy whatever, provided only the hearts of all had been +devoted to the king. + +While preparations were being made in France for an invasion of England +under the commission of the pope, Innocent was going on with the effort +to bring John to his terms by negotiation. The messengers whom the king +had sent to Rome returned bringing no modification of the papal demands. +At the same time Pandulf, the pope's representative, empowered to make a +formal agreement, came on as far as Calais and sent over two Templars to +England to obtain permission for an interview with John, while he held +back the French fleet to learn the result. The answer of John to +Pandulf's messengers would be his answer to the pope and also his +defiance of Philip. There can be no doubt what his answer would have been +if he had had entire confidence in his army, nor what it would have been +if Philip's fleet had not been ready. He yielded only because there was +no other way out of the situation into which he had brought himself, and +he made his submission complete enough to insure his escape. He sent for +Pandulf, and on May 13 met him at Dover and accepted his terms. Four of +his chief barons, as the pope required, the Earl of Salisbury, the Count +of Boulogne, and the Earls Warenne and Ferrers, swore on the king's soul +that he would keep the agreement, and John issued letters patent formally +declaring what he had promised. Stephen Langton was to be accepted as +Archbishop of Canterbury, and all the exiled bishops, monks, and laymen +were to be reinstated, and full compensation made them for their +financial losses. Two days later John went very much further than this: +at the house of the Templars near Dover in the presence of the barons he +surrendered the kingdom to the pope, confirming the act by a charter +witnessed by two bishops and eleven barons, and received it back to be +held as a fief, doing homage to Pandulf as the representative of the +pope, and promising for himself and his heirs the annual payment of 700 +marks for England and 300 for Ireland in lieu of feudal service. + +Whether this extraordinary act was demanded by Innocent or suggested by +John, the evidence does not permit us to say. The balance of +probabilities, however, inclines strongly to the opinion that it was a +voluntary act of the king's. There is nothing in the papal documents to +indicate any such demand, and it is hardly possible that the pope could +have believed that he could carry the matter so far. On the other hand, +John was able to see clearly that nothing else would save him. He had +every reason to be sure that no ordinary reconciliation with the papacy +would check the invasion of Philip or prevent the treason of the barons. +If England were made a possession of the pope, the whole situation would +take on a different aspect. Not only would all Europe think Innocent +justified in adopting the most extreme measures for the defence of his +vassal, but also the most peculiar circumstances only would justify Philip +in going on with his attack, and without him disaffection at home was +powerless. We should be particularly careful not to judge this act of +John's by the sentiment of a later time. There was nothing that seemed +degrading to that age about becoming a vassal. Every member of the +aristocracy of Europe and almost every king was a vassal. A man passed +from the classes that were looked down upon, the peasantry and the +bourgeoisie, into the nobility by becoming a vassal. The English kings had +been vassals since feudalism had existed in England, though not for the +kingdom, and only a few years before Richard had made even that a fief of +the empire. There is no evidence that John's right to take this step was +questioned by any one, or that there was any general condemnation of it at +that time. One writer a few years later says that the act seemed to many +"ignominious," but he records in the same sentence his own judgment that +John was "very prudently providing for himself and his by the deed."[77] +Even in the rebellion against John that closed his reign no objection was +made to the relationship with the papacy, nor was the king's right to act +as he did denied, though his action was alleged by his enemies to be +illegal because it did not have the consent of the barons. John's charter +of concession, however, expressly affirms this consent, and the barons on +one occasion seem to have confirmed the assertion.[78] + +[71] See J.H. Round's article on William in Dict. Nat. Biogr., vi. 229. + +[72] See C.L. Falkiner in Proc. Royal Irish Acad., xxiv. c. pt. 4 (1903). + +[73] See Round, Commune of London, 261-277. + +[74] Ralph of Coggeshall, 164-165. + +[75] Walter of Coventry, ii, lviii. n. 4. + +[76] Innocent III, Epp. xvi. 133. (Rymer, Foedera, i. 116.) + +[77] Walter of Coventry, ii. 210. + +[78] Rymer, Foedera, i. 120. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + +THE GREAT CHARTER + +The king of France may have been acting, as he would have the world +believe, as the instrument of heaven to punish the enemy of the Church, +but he did not learn with any great rejoicing of the conversion of John +from the error of his ways. Orders were sent him at once to abstain from +all attack on one who was now the vassal of the pope, and he found it +necessary in the end to obey, declaring, it is said, that the victory was +after all his, since it was due to him that the pope had subdued England. +The army and fleet prepared for the invasion, he turned against his own +vassal who had withheld his assistance from the undertaking, the Count of +Flanders, and quickly occupied a considerable part of the country. Count +Ferdinand in his extremity turned to King John and he sent over a force +under command of his brother, William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury, which +surprised the French fleet badly guarded in the harbour of Damme and +captured or destroyed 400 ships. If Philip had any lingering hope that he +might yet be able to carry out his plan of invasion, he was forced now to +abandon it, and in despair of preserving the rest of his fleet, or in a +fit of anger, he ordered it to be burned. + +The Archbishop of Canterbury landed in England in July, accompanied +by five of the exiled bishops, and a few days later met the king. On +the 20th at Winchester John was absolved from his excommunication, +swearing publicly that he would be true to his agreement with +the Church, and taking an additional oath in form somewhat like the +coronation oath, which the archbishop required or which perhaps the +fact of his excommunication made necessary, "that holy Church and her +ministers he would love, defend, and maintain against all her enemies +to the best of his power, that he would renew the good laws of his +predecessors, and especially the laws of King Edward, and annul all +bad ones, and that he would judge all men according to just judgments +of his courts and restore to every man his rights." It is doubtful +if we should regard this as anything more than a renewal of the +coronation oath necessary to a full restoration of the king from the +effects of the Church censure, but at any rate the form of words seems +to have been noticed by those who heard it, and to have been referred +to afterwards when the political opposition to the king was taking +share, a sure sign of increasing watchfulness regarding the mutual +rights of king and subjects.[79] + +The king was no longer excommunicate, but the kingdom was still under the +interdict, and the pope had no intention of annulling it until the +question of compensation for their losses was settled to the satisfaction +of the bishops and others whose lands had been in the hands of the king. +That was not an easy question to settle. It was not a matter of arrears +of revenue merely, for John had not been content with the annual income +of the lands, but he had cut down forests and raised money in other +extraordinary ways to the permanent injury of the property. In the end +only a comparatively small sum was paid, and in all probability a full +payment would have been entirely beyond the resources of the king, but at +the beginning John seems to have intended to carry out his agreement in +good faith. There is no reason to doubt the statement of a chronicler of +the time that on the next day after his absolution the king sent out +writs to all the sheriffs, ordering them to send to St. Albans at the +beginning of August the reeve and four legal men from each township of +the royal domains, that by their testimony and that of his own officers +the amount of these losses might be determined. This would be to all +England a familiar expedient, a simple use of the jury principle, with +nothing new about it except the bringing of the local juries together in +one place, nor must it be regarded as in any sense a beginning of +representation. It has no historic connexion with the growth of that +system, and cannot possibly indicate more than that the idea of uniting +local juries in one place had occurred to some one. We have no evidence +that this assembly was actually held, and it is highly probable that it +was not. Nor can anything more be said with certainly of writs which were +issued in November of this year directing the sheriffs to send four +discreet men from each county to attend a meeting of the council at +Oxford. John himself was busily occupied with a plan to transport the +forces he had collected into Poitou to attack the king of France there, +and he appointed the justiciar, Geoffrey Fitz Peter, and the Bishop of +Winchester, Peter des Roches, as his representatives during his absence. +These two held a great council at St. Albans in August at which formal +proclamation was made of the restoration of good laws and the abolition +of bad ones as the king had promised, the good laws now referred to being +those of Henry I; and all sheriffs and other officers were strictly +enjoined to abstain from violence and injustice for the future, but no +decision was reached as to the sum to be paid the clergy. + +In the meantime John was in difficulties about his proposed expedition to +Poitou. When he was about to set out, he found the barons unwilling. They +declared that the money they had provided for their expenses had all been +used up in the long delay, and that if they went, the king must meet the +cost, while the barons of the north refused, according to one account, +because they were not bound by the conditions of their tenure to serve +abroad. In this they were no doubt wrong, if services were to be +determined, as would naturally be the case, by custom; but their refusal +to obey the king on whatever ground so soon after he had apparently +recovered power by his reconciliation with the Church is very noteworthy. +In great anger the king embarked with his household only and landed in +Jersey, as if he would conquer France alone, but he was obliged to +return. His wrath, however, was not abated, and he collected a large +force and marched to the north, intending to bring the unwilling barons +to their accustomed obedience; but his plan was interrupted by a new and +more serious opposition. Archbishop Stephen Langton seems to have +returned to England determined to contend as vigorously for the rights of +the laity as for those of the Church. We are told by one chronicler that +he had heard it said that on August 25, while the king was on the march +to the north, Stephen was presiding over a council of prelates and barons +at St. Paul's, and that to certain of them he read a copy of Henry I's +coronation charter as a record of the ancient laws which they had a right +to demand of the king. There may be difficulties in supposing that such +an incident occurred at this exact date, but something of the kind must +have happened not long before or after. If we may trust the record we +have of the oath taken by John at the time of his absolution, it suggests +that the charter of Henry I was in the mind of the man who drew it up. +Now, at any rate, was an opportunity to interfere in protection of +clearly defined rights, and to insist that the king should keep the oath +which he had just sworn. Without hesitation the archbishop went after the +king, overtook him at Northampton, where John was on the 28th, and +reminded him that he would break his oath if he made war on any of his +barons without a judgment of his court. John broke out into a storm of +rage, as he was apt to do; "with great noise" he told the archbishop to +mind his own business and let matters of lay jurisdiction alone, and +moved on to Nottingham. Undismayed, Langton followed, declaring that he +would excommunicate every one except the king who should take part in the +attack, and John was obliged again to yield and to appoint a time for the +court to try the case. + +The attempt to settle the indemnity to be paid the clergy dragged on +through the remainder of the year, and was not then completed. Councils +were held at London, Wallingford, and Reading, early in October, +November, and December respectively, in each of which the subject was +discussed, and left unsettled, except that after the Reading council +the king paid the archbishop and the bishops who had been exiled 15,000 +marks. At the end of September a legate from the pope, Cardinal +Nicholas, landed in England, and to him John repeated the surrender of +the crown and his homage as the pope's vassal. Along with the question +of indemnity, that of filling up the vacant sees was discussed, and +with nearly as little result. The local officers of the Church were +disposed to make as much as possible out of John's humiliation and the +chapters to assert the right of independent election. The king was not +willing to allow this, and pope and legate inclined to support him. On +October 14 the justiciar, Geoffrey Fitz Peter, died. John's exclamation +when he heard the news, as preserved in the tradition of the next +generation,--"When he gets to hell, let him greet Hubert Walter," and, +as earlier in the case of Hubert himself, "Now by the feet of God am +I first king and lord of England,"--and, more trustworthy perhaps, +the rapid decline of events after Geoffrey's death towards civil war +and revolution, lead us to believe that like many a great judge he +exercised a stronger influence over the actual history of his age than +appears in any contemporary record. + +It was near the middle of February, 1214, before John was able to carry +out in earnest his plan for the recovery of Poitou. At that time he +landed at La Rochelle with a large army and a full military chest, but +with very few English barons of rank accompanying him. Since the close of +actual war between them Philip had made gains in one way or another +within the lands that had remained to John, and it was time for the Duke +of Aquitaine to appear to protect his own, to say nothing of any attempt +to recover his lost territories. At first his presence seemed all that +was necessary; barons renewed their allegiance, those who had done homage +to Philip returned and were pardoned, castles were surrendered, and John +passed through portions of Poitou and Angoulème, meeting with almost no +resistance. A dash of Philip's, in April, drove him back to the south, +but the king of France was too much occupied with the more serious danger +that threatened him from the coalition in the north to give much time to +John, and he returned after a few days, leaving his son Louis to guard +the line of approach to Paris. Then John returned to the field, attacked +the Lusignans, took their castles, and forced them to submit. The Count +of La Marche was the Hugh the Brown from whom years before he had stolen +his bride, Isabel of Angoulème, and now he proposed to strengthen the +new-made alliance by giving to Hugh's eldest son Isabel's daughter +Joanna. On June 11 John crossed the Loire, and a few days later entered +Angers, whose fortifications had been destroyed by the French. The +occupation of the capital of Anjou marks the highest point of his success +in the expedition. To protect and complete his new conquest, John began +at once the siege of La Roche-au-Moine, a new castle built by William des +Roches on the Loire, which commanded communications with the south. +Against him there Louis of France advanced to raise the siege. John +wished to go out and meet him, but the barons of Poitou refused, +declaring that they were not prepared to fight battles in the field, and +the siege had to be abandoned and a hasty retreat made across the river. +Angers at once fell into the hands of Louis, and its new ramparts were +destroyed. + +It was about July first that Louis set out to raise the siege of La +Roche-au-Moine, and on the 27th the decisive battle of Bouvines was +fought in the north before John had resolved on his next move. The +coalition, on which John had laboured so long and from which he hoped so +much, was at last in the field. The emperor Otto IV, the Counts of +Flanders, Boulogne, Holland, Brabant, and Limburg, the Duke of Lorraine, +and others, each from motives of his own, had joined their forces with +the English under the Earl of Salisbury, to overthrow the king of France. +To oppose this combination Philip had only his vassals of northern +France, without foreign allies and with a part of his force detached to +watch the movements of the English king on the Loire. The odds seemed to +be decidedly against him, but the allies, attacking at a disadvantage the +French army which they believed in retreat, were totally defeated near +Bouvines. The Earl of Salisbury and the Counts of Flanders and Boulogne +with many others were taken prisoners, and the triumph of Philip was as +complete as his danger had been great. The popular enthusiasm with which +the news of this victory was received in northern France shows how +thorough had been the work of the monarchy during the past century and +how great progress had been made in the creation of a nation in feeling +and spirit as well as in name under the Capetian king. The general +rejoicing was but another expression of the force before which in reality +the English dominion in France had fallen. + +The effects of the battle of Bouvines were not confined to France nor to +the war then going on. The results in German history--the fall of Otto +IV, the triumph of Frederick II--we have no occasion to trace. In English +history its least important result was that John was obliged to make +peace with Philip. The treaty was dated on September 18. A truce was +agreed upon to last for five years from the following Easter, everything +to remain in the meantime practically as it was left at the close of the +war. This might be a virtual recognition by John of the conquests which +Philip had made, but for him it was a much more serious matter that the +ruin of his schemes left him alone, unsupported by the glamour of a +brilliant combination of allies, without prestige, overwhelmed with +defeat, to face the baronial opposition which in the past few years had +been growing so rapidly in strength, in intelligent perception of the +wrongs that had been suffered, and in the knowledge of its own power. + +About the middle of October John returned to England to find that the +disaffection among the barons, which had expressed itself in the refusal +to serve in Poitou, had not grown less during his absence. The interdict +had been removed on July 2, John having given security for the payment of +a sum as indemnity to the Church which was satisfactory to the pope, but +the rejoicing over this relief was somewhat lessened by the fact that the +monastic houses and the minor clergy were unprovided for and received no +compensation for their losses. The justiciar whom the king had appointed +on the eve of his departure, the Bishop of Winchester, Peter des Roches, +naturally unpopular because he was a foreigner and out of sympathy with +the spirit of the barons, had ruled with a strong hand and sternly +repressed all expression of discontent, but his success in this respect +had only increased the determination to have a reckoning with the king. +In these circumstances John's first important act after his return +brought matters to a crisis. Evidently he had no intention of abandoning +any of his rights or of letting slip any of his power in England because +he had been defeated in France, and he called at once for a scutage from +those barons who had not gone with him to Poitou. This raised again the +question of right, and we are told that it was the northern barons who +once more declared that their English holdings did not oblige them to +follow the king abroad or to pay a scutage when he went, John on his side +asserting that the service was due to him because it had been rendered to +his father and brother. In this the king was undoubtedly right. He could, +if he had known it, have carried back his historical argument a century +further, but in general feudal law there was justification enough for the +position of the barons to warrant them in taking a stand on the point if +they wished to join issue with the king. This they were now determined to +do. We know from several annalists that after John's return the barons +came to an agreement among themselves that they would demand of the king +a confirmation of the charter of Henry I and a re-grant of the liberties +contained in it. In one account we have the story of a meeting at Bury +St. Edmunds, on pretence of a pilgrimage, in which this agreement was +made and an oath taken by all to wage war on the king if he should refuse +their request which they decided to make of him in form after Christmas. +Concerted action there must have been, and it seems altogether likely +that this account is correct. + +The references to the charter of Henry I in the historians of the time +prove clearly enough the great part which that document played at the +origin of the revolution now beginning. It undoubtedly gave to the +discontented barons the consciousness of legal right, crystallized their +ideas, and suggested the method of action, but it is hardly possible to +believe that a simple confirmation of this charter could now have been +regarded as adequate. The charter of Henry I is as remarkable a document +for the beginning of the twelfth as the Great Charter is for the +beginning of the thirteenth century, but no small progress had taken +place in two directions in the intervening hundred years. In one +direction the demands of the crown--we ought really to say the demands of +the government--were more frequent, new in kind, and heavier in amount +than at the earlier date. The reorganization of the judicial and +administrative systems had enlarged greatly the king's sphere of action +at the expense of the baron's. All this, and it forms together a great +body of change, was advance, was true progress, but it seemed to the +baron encroachment on his liberties and denial of his rights, and there +was a sense in which his view was perfectly correct. It was partly due to +these changes, partly to the general on-going of things, that in the +other direction the judgment of the baron was more clear, his view of his +own rights and wrongs more specific than a hundred years before, and, by +far most important of all, that he had come to a definite understanding +of the principle that the king, as lord of his vassals, was just as much +under obligation to keep the law as the baron was. Independent of these +two main lines of development was the personal tyranny of John, his +contemptuous disregard of custom and right in dealing with men, his +violent overriding of the processes of his own courts in arbitrary arrest +and cruel punishment. The charter of Henry I would be a suggestive model; +a new charter must follow its lines and be founded on its principles, but +the needs of the barons would now go far beyond its meagre provisions and +demand the translation of its general statements into specific form. + +According to the agreement they had made the barons came together at +London soon after January 1, 1215, with some show of arms, and demanded +of the king the confirmation of the charter of Henry I. John replied that +the matter was new and important, and that he must have some time for +consideration, and asked for delay until the octave of Easter, April 26. +With reluctance the barons made this concession, Stephen Langton, William +Marshal, and the Bishop of Ely becoming sureties for the king that he +would then give satisfaction to all. The interval which was allowed him +John used in a variety of attempts to strengthen himself and to prepare +for the trial of arms which he must have known to be inevitable. On the +21st of the previous November he had issued a charter granting to the +cathedral churches and monasteries throughout England full freedom of +election, and this charter he now reissued a few days after the meeting +with the barons. If this was an attempt to separate the clergy from +the cause of the barons, or to bring the archbishop over wholly to his +own side, it was a failure. About the same time he adopted a familiar +expedient and ordered the oath of allegiance to himself against all men +to be taken throughout the country, but he added a new clause requiring +men to swear to stand by him against the charter.[80] Since the discussion +of the charter had begun a general interest in its provisions had been +excited, and the determination to secure the liberties it embodied had +grown rapidly, so that now the king quickly found, by the opposition it +aroused, that in this peculiar demand he had overshot the mark, and he was +obliged to recall his orders. Naturally John turned at once to the pope, +who was now under obligation to protect him from his enemies, but his +envoy was followed by Eustace de Vescy, who argued strongly for the +barons' side. The pope's letters to England in reply did not afford +decisive support to either party, though more in favour of the king's, who +was exhorted, however, to grant "just petitions" of the barons. On Ash +Wednesday John went so far as to assume the cross of the crusader, most +likely to secure additional favour from the pope, who was very anxious to +renew the attempt that had failed in the early part of his reign, no doubt +having in mind also the personal immunities it would secure him. For +troops to resist the barons in the field the king's reliance was chiefly, +as it had been during all his reign, on soldiers hired abroad, and he made +efforts to get these into his service from Flanders and from Poitou, +promising great rewards to knights who would join him from thence, as well +as from Wales. + +John's preparations alarmed the barons, and they determined not to wait +for April 26, the appointed day for the king's answer. They came together +in arms at Stamford, advanced from thence to Northampton, and then on to +Brackley to be in the neighbourhood of the king, who was then at Oxford. +Their array was a formidable one. The list recorded gives us the names of +five earls, forty barons, and one bishop, Giles de Braóse, who had family +wrongs to avenge; and while the party was called the Northerners, because +the movement had such strong support in that part of England, other +portions of the country were well represented. Annalists of the time +noticed that younger men inclined to the side of the insurgents, while +the older remained with the king. This fact in some cases divided +families, as in the case of the Marshals, William the elder staying with +John, while William the younger was with the barons. That one abode in +the king's company does not indicate, however, that his sympathies in +this struggle were on that side. Stephen Langton was in form with the +king and acted as his representative in the negotiations, though it was +universally known that he supported the reforms asked for. It is probable +that this was true also of the Earl of Pembroke. These two were sent by +John to the barons to get an exact statement of their demands, and +returned with a "schedule," which was recited to the king point by point. +These were no doubt the same as the "articles" presented to the king +afterwards, on which the Great Charter was based. When John was made to +understand what they meant, his hot, ancestral temper swept him away in +an insane passion of anger. "Why do they not go on and demand the kingdom +itself?" he cried, and added with a furious oath that he would never make +himself a slave by granting such concessions. + +When the barons received their answer, they decided on immediate war. As +they viewed the case, this was a step justified by the feudal law. It was +their contention that the reforms they demanded had been granted and +recognized as legal by former kings. In other words, their suzerain was +denying them their hereditary rights, acknowledged and conceded by his +predecessors. To the feudal mind the situation which this fact created +was simple and obvious. They were no longer bound by any fealty to him. +It was their right to make war upon him until he should consent to grant +them what was their due. Their first step was to send to the king the +formal diffidatio prescribed for such cases, withdrawing their fealty +and notifying him of their intention to begin war. Then choosing Robert +Fitz Walter their commander, under the title of Marshal of the Army of +God and Holy Church, they began the siege of Northampton, but were unable +to take it from lack of siege machinery. On May 17 the barons, having in +the meantime rejected several unsatisfactory proposals of the king, +entered London at the request of the chief citizens, though the tower was +still held by John's troops. The great strength of the barons at this +time as against the king was not, however, their possession of London, or +the forces which had taken the field in their cause, but the fact that +John had practically no part of England with him beyond the ground +commanded by the castles still held by his foreign soldiers. Pleas ceased +in the exchequer, we are told, and the operations of the sheriffs, +because no one could be found who would pay the king anything or show him +any obedience, and many of the barons, who up to this time had stood with +him, now joined the insurgents. No help could be had for some time from +the pope. Langton refused to act at the king's request and excommunicate +his enemies. There was nothing for John to do but to yield and trust that +time would bring about some change to relieve him of the obligations he +must assume. + +On June 8 John granted a safe conduct to representatives of the barons to +negotiate with him to hold good until the 11th, and later extended the +period until the 15th. He was then at Windsor, and the barons from London +came to Staines and camped in the field of Runnymede. The "Articles" were +presented to the king in form, and now accepted by him, and on the basis +of them the Great Charter was drawn up and sealed on June 15, 1215. + +In the history of constitutional liberty, of which the Great Charter is +the beginning, its specific provisions are of far less importance than +its underlying principle. What we to-day consider the great safeguards of +Anglo-Saxon liberty are all conspicuously absent from the first of its +creative statutes, nor could any of them have been explained in the +meaning we give them to the understanding of the men who framed the +charter. Consent to taxation in the modern sense is not there; neither +taxation nor consent. Trial by jury is not there in that form of it which +became a check on arbitrary power, nor is it referred to at all in the +clause which has been said to embody it. Parliament, habeas corpus, bail, +the independence of the judiciary, are all of later growth, or existed +only in rudimentary form. Nor can the charter be properly called a +contract between king and nation. The idea of the nation, as we now hold +it, was still in the future, to be called into existence by the +circumstances of the next reign. The idea of contract certainly pervades +the document, but only as the expression of the always existent contract +between the suzerain and his vassals which was the foundation of all +feudal law. On the other hand, some of the provisions of our civil +liberty, mainly in the interest of individual rights, are plainly +present. That private property shall not be taken for public use without +just compensation, that cruel and unusual punishments shall not be +inflicted nor excessive fines be imposed, that justice shall be free and +fair to all, these may be found almost in modern form. + +But it is in none of these directions that the great importance of the +document is to be sought. All its specific provisions together as +specific provisions are not worth, either in themselves or in their +historical influence, the one principle which underlies them all and +gives validity to them all--the principle that the king must keep the +law. This it was that justified the barons in their rebellion. It was to +secure this from a king who could not be bound by the ordinary law that +the Great Charter was drawn up and its clauses put into the form in which +they stand. In other words, the barons contended that the king was +already bound by the law as it stood, and that former kings had +recognized the fact. In this they were entirely correct. The Great +Charter is old law. It is codification, or rather it is a selection of +those points of the existing law which the king had constantly violated, +for the purpose of stating them in such form that his specific pledge to +regard them could be secured, and his consent to machinery for enforcing +them in case he broke his pledge. The source of the Great Charter, then, +of its various provisions and of its underlying principle, must be sought +in the existing law that regulated the relations between the king and the +barons--the feudal law. + +From beginning to end the Great Charter is a feudal document. The most +important of its provisions which cannot be found in this law, those +which may perhaps be called new legislation, relate to the judicial +system as recently developed, which had proved too useful and was +probably too firmly fixed to be set aside, though it was considered by +the barons to infringe upon their feudal rights and had been used in the +past as an engine of oppression and extortion. In this one direction the +development of institutions in England had already left the feudal system +behind. In financial matters a similar development was under rapid way, +but John's effort to push forward too fast along that line was one cause +of the insurrection and the charter, and of the reaction in this +particular which it embodies. As a statement of feudal law the Great +Charter is moderate, conservative, and carefully regardful of the real +rights of the king. As a document born in civil strife it is remarkable +in this respect, or would be were this not true of all its progeny in +Anglo-Saxon history. Whoever framed it must have been fair-minded and +have held the balance level between king and insurgents. Its provisions +in regard to wardship and marriage have been called weak. They are not +weak; they are just, and as compared with the corresponding provisions of +the charter of Henry I they are less revolutionary, and leave to the king +what belonged to him historically--the rights which all English kings had +exercised and which in that generation Philip of France also had +repeatedly exercised, even against John himself. + +But the chief feature of the Great Charter apart from all its specific +enactments, that on which it all rests, is this, that the king has no +right to violate the law, and if he attempts to do so, may be constrained +by force to obey it. That also is feudal law. It was the fundamental +conception of the whole feudal relationship that the suzerain was bound to +respect the recognized rights of his vassal, and that if he would not, he +might be compelled to do so; nor was it in England alone that this idea +was held to include the highest suzerain, the lord paramount of the +realm.[81] Clause 61 which to the modern mind seems the most astonishing +of the whole charter, legalizing insurrection and revolution, contains +nothing that was new, except the arrangement for a body of twenty-five +barons who were to put into orderly operation the right of coercion. It +is certainly not necessary to show by argument the supreme importance of +this principle. It is the true corner-stone of the English constitution. +It was the preservation of this right, its development into new forms +to meet the changing needs of the state, that created and protected +constitutional liberty, and it was the supreme service of the Great +Charter, far beyond any accomplished by any one clause or by all specific +clauses together, to carry over from feudalism this right and to make it +the fostering principle of a new growth in which feudalism had no +share.[82] + +It may be that the barons believed they were demanding nothing in the +Great Charter that had not been granted by former kings or that the king +was not bound by the law to observe. It may be possible to prove that +this belief was historically correct in principle if not in specific +form; but the king could not be expected to take the same view of the +case. He had been compelled to renounce many things that he had been +doing through his whole reign, and some things, as he very well knew, +that had been done by his father and brother before him. He may honestly +have believed that he had been forced to surrender genuine royal rights. +He certainly knew that if he faithfully kept its provisions, the task of +raising the necessary money to carry on the government, already not easy, +would become extremely difficult if not impossible. It is not likely that +John promised to be bound by the charter with any intention of keeping +his promise. He had no choice at the moment but to yield, and if he +yielded, the forces of the barons would probably scatter, and the chances +favour such a recovery of his strength that with the help of the pope he +could set the charter aside. At first nothing could be done but to +conform to its requirements, and orders were sent throughout the country +for the taking of the oath in which all men were to swear to obey the +twenty-five barons appointed guardians of the charter. Juries were to be +chosen to inquire into grievances, and some of the foreign troops were +sent home. Suspicions began to be felt, however, in regard to the +intentions of the king during the negotiations concerning details which +followed the signing of the charter. A council called to meet at Oxford +about the middle of July, he refused to attend. Nor were provocations and +violations of the spirit of the charter wanting on the part of the +barons. Certain of the party, indeed, "Trans-Humbrians" they are called, +probably the extreme enemies of the king, had withdrawn from the +conference at Runnymede, and now refused to cease hostilities because +they had had no part in making peace. The royal officers were maltreated +and driven off, and the king's manors plundered. + +By August John was rapidly preparing for a renewal of the war. He sent +out orders to get the royal castles ready for defence. His emissaries +were collecting troops in Flanders and Aquitaine. Philip Augustus's Count +of Britanny, Peter of Dreux, was offered the honour of Richmond, which +former counts had held, if he would come to John's aid with a body of +knights. Money does not seem to have been lacking through the struggle +that followed, and John's efforts to collect mercenary troops were +abundantly successful. Dover was appointed as the gathering-place of his +army, both as a convenient landing-place for those coming from abroad and +for strategic reasons. As it became evident that the charter had not +brought the conflict to an end, the barons were obliged to consider what +their next step should be. In clause 61 of the charter in regard to +coercing the king, they had bound themselves not to depose him, but the +arrangements made in that clause were never put into operation, nor could +they be. There was only one way of dealing with a king who obstinately +insisted on his rights, as he regarded them, against the law, and that +was by deposition. The leaders of the barons now decided that this step +was necessary, and an effort was made to unite all barons in taking it, +but those who had been with the king before refused, and some members of +the baronial party itself were not willing to go so far, nor were the +clergy. The pope was making his position perfectly plain. Before the +meeting at Runnymede he had ordered the excommunication of the disturbers +of the king and kingdom; and when this sentence was published later, the +barons might pretend that the king was the worst disturber of the +kingdom, but they really knew what the pope intended. In September the +Bishop of Winchester and Pandulf, representing the pope, suspended +Archbishop Langton because of his refusal to enforce the papal sentences. +By the end of the month the news reached England of Innocent's bull +against the charter itself, declaring it null and void, and forbidding +the king to observe it or the barons to require it to be kept under +penalty of excommunication. Doubtless John expected this from the pope, +and if his own view of the charter were correct, Innocent's action would +be entirely within his rights. No vassal had a right to enter into any +agreement which would diminish the value of his fief, and John had done +this if the rights that he was exercising in 1213 were really his. It was +apparently about this time that the insurgent barons determined to +transfer their allegiance to Louis of France. We are told that they +selected him because, if he were king of England, most of John's +mercenaries would leave his service since they were vassals of France; +but Louis was really the only one available who could be thought to +represent in any way the old dynasty, and it would certainly be +remembered that he had been proposed for the place in 1213. Negotiations +were begun to induce him to accept, but in the meantime John had secured +a sufficient force to take the offensive, and was beginning to push the +war with unusual spirit and vigour. A part of his force he sent to +relieve Northampton and Oxford, besieged by the barons, and he himself +with the rest set out to take Rochester castle which was held against +him. Repulsed at first, he succeeded in a second attempt to destroy the +bridge across the Medway to cut off communication with London, and began +a regular siege which he pressed fiercely. The garrison was not large, +but they defended themselves with great courage, having reason to fear +the consequences of yielding, and prolonged the siege for seven weeks. +Even after the keep had been in part taken by undermining the wall they +maintained themselves in what was left until they were starved into +surrender. It was only the threat that his mercenaries would leave him +for fear of reprisals that kept John from hanging his prisoners. During +this siege the barons in London had remained in a strange inactivity, +making only one half-hearted attempt to save their friends, seemingly +afraid to meet the king in the field, and accused of preferring the +selfish security and luxury of the capital. This was their conduct during +the whole of the winter while their strongholds were captured and their +lands devastated in all parts of England by the forces of their enemy, +for John continued his campaign. Soon after the capture of Rochester he +marched through Windsor to the north of London and, leaving a part of his +army under the Earl of Salisbury to watch the barons and to lay waste +their lands in that part of the country, he passed himself through the +midlands to the north, destroying everything belonging to his enemies +that he could find and not always distinguishing carefully between +friends and foes. England had not for generations suffered such a +harrying as it received that winter. So great was the terror created by +the cruelties practised that garrisons of the barons' castles, it is +said, fled on the news of the king's approach, leaving the castles +undefended to fall into his hands. The march extended as far as Scotland. +Berwick was taken and burnt, and the parts of the country about were laid +waste in revenge for the favour which King Alexander had shown the +barons. In March, 1216, John returned to the neighbourhood of London, +leaving a new track of devastation further to the east, and bringing with +him a great store of plunder. + +During the winter the barons had kept up their negotiations with Louis, +and an agreement had finally been made. They had pledged themselves to +do homage to Louis and accept him as king, and had sent to France +twenty-four hostages "of the noblest of the land" in pledge of their +fidelity. Louis in return sent over small bodies of men to their aid and +promised himself to follow in person in the spring. To this step the +barons were indeed driven, unless they were prepared to submit, because +of the strength the king had gained since the signing of the charter and +their own comparative weakness. Why this change had taken place so soon +after the barons had been all-powerful cannot now be fully explained, but +so far as we can see the opinion of a contemporary that they would have +been overcome but for the aid of the French is correct. Against the +invasion of Louis, John had two lines of defence, the pope and the fleet. +Innocent, who had once favoured a transfer of the English crown to Louis, +must now oppose it. When he learned how far preparations for the +expedition had gone, he sent a legate, Cardinal Gualo, to France to +forbid any further step. Gualo was received by Philip and his son at +Melun on April 25. There before the king and the court the case was +argued between the cardinal and a knight representing Louis, as if it +were a suit at law to be decided in the ordinary way. Louis's case was +skilfully constructed to deprive the legate of his ground of +interference, but his assertions were falsehoods or misrepresentations. +John had been condemned to death for the murder of Arthur--the first +occasion on which we hear of this--and afterwards rejected by the barons +of England for his many crimes, and they were making war on him to expel +him from the kingdom. John had surrendered the kingdom to the pope +without the consent of the barons, and if he could not legally do this, +he could by the attempt create a vacancy, which the barons had filled by +the choice of Louis. The legate, apparently unable to meet these +unexpected arguments, asserted that John was a crusader and therefore +under the protection of the apostolic see. For Louis it was answered that +John had been making war on him long before he took the cross and had +continued to do so since, so that Louis had a right to go on with the +war. The legate had no answer to this, though it was false, but he +prohibited Louis from going and his father from allowing him to go. +Louis, denying the right of his father to interfere with his claims in a +land not subject to the king of France, and sending an embassy to argue +his case before the pope, went on with his preparations. Philip Augustus +carefully avoided anything that would bring him into open conflict with +Innocent and threw the whole responsibility on his son. + +Louis landed in England in the Isle of Thanet on May 21. John had +collected a large and strong fleet to prevent his crossing, but a storm +just at the moment had dispersed it and left the enemy a clear passage. +John, then at Canterbury, first thought to attack the French with his +land forces, but fearing that his hired troops would be less loyal to a +mere paymaster than to the heir and representative of their suzerain in +France, he fell back and left the way open for Louis's advance to London. +Soon after landing, Louis sent forward a letter to the Abbot of St. +Augustine's in Canterbury, who, he feared, was about to excommunicate +him. In this letter which was possibly intended also for general +circulation, he repeated the arguments used against the legate with some +additional points of the same sort, and explained the hereditary claim of +his wife and his own right by the choice of the barons. The document is a +peculiar mixture of fact and falsehood, but it was well calculated to +impose on persons to whom the minor details of history would certainly be +unknown. Rochester castle fell into the hands of the French with no real +resistance; and on June 2, Louis was welcomed in London with great +rejoicing, and at once received the homage of the barons and of the +mayor. Louis's arrival seemed to turn the tide for the moment against the +king. He retreated into the west, while the barons took the field once +more, and with the French gained many successes in the east and north, +particularly against towns and castles. On June 25, Louis occupied +Winchester. Barons who had been until now faithful to the king began to +come in and join the French as their rapid advance threatened their +estates; among them was even John's brother, the Earl of Salisbury. Early +in July Worcester was captured and Exeter threatened, and John was forced +back to the borders of Wales. This marks, however, the limit of Louis's +success. Instead of pushing his advance rapidly forward against the one +important enemy, the king himself, he turned aside to undertake some +difficult sieges, and made the further mistake of angering the English +barons by showing too great favour to his French companions. Dover castle +seemed to the military judgment of the French particularly important as +"key of England," and for more than three months Louis gave himself up to +the effort to take it. + +For the first of these months, till the end of August, John remained +inactive on the borders of Wales. The death of Innocent III made no +change in the situation. His successor Honorius III continued his English +policy. With the beginning of September the king advanced as if to raise +the siege of Windsor, but gave up the attempt and passed on east into +Cambridgeshire, ravaging horribly the lands of his enemies. The barons +pursued him, and he fell back on Lincoln from which as a centre he raided +the surrounding country for more than a fortnight. On October 9, he +marched eastwards again to Lynn which, like most of the towns, was +favourable to him, and there he brought on a dysentery by overeating. +From that time his physical decline was rapid. His violent passions, +utterly unbridled, tore him to pieces more and more fiercely as he +recognized his own loss of strength and learned of one misfortune after +another. He would not rest, and he would not listen to counsel. On the +11th he went on to Wisbech, and on the next day he insisted on crossing +the Wash, without knowing the crossing or regarding the tide. He himself +passed in safety, but he lost a part of his troops and all his baggage +with his booty, money, and jewels. At night at Swineshead abbey, hot with +anger and grief, and feverish from his illness, he gave way to his +appetite again, as always, and ate to excess of peaches and new cider. +After a rest of a day he pushed on with difficulty to Sleaford. There +messengers reached him from his garrison in Dover asking his permission +to surrender if he could not relieve them at once, and the news brought +on a new passion of anger. He insisted on going one stage further to +Newark, although he had already recognized that his end was near. There +three days later, on the 19th of October, he died. The teachings of the +Church which he had slighted and despised during his life he listened to +as his end drew near, and he confessed and received the communion. He +designated his son Henry, now nine years old, as his heir, and especially +recommended him to the care of the Earl of Pembroke, and appointed +thirteen persons by name to settle his affairs and to distribute his +property according to general directions which he left. At his desire he +was buried in Worcester cathedral and in the habit of a monk. + +It has already been suggested that the reigns of Richard and John form a +period of transition to a new age. That period closes and the new age +opens with the granting of the Great Charter and the attempted +revolution which followed. The reign of John was the culmination of a +long tendency in English history, most rapid since the accession of his +father, towards the establishment of an absolutism in which the rights +of all classes would disappear and the arbitrary will of the king be +supreme. The story of his reign should reveal how very near that result +was of accomplishment. A monarchy had been forming in the last three +reigns, and very rapidly in the reign of John, capable of crushing any +ordinary opposition, disregarding public opinion and traditional rights, +possessing in the new judicial system, if regarded as an organ of the +king's will alone, an engine of centralization, punishment, and +extortion, of irresistible force, and developing rapidly in financial +matters complete independence of all controlling principles. Though the +barons were acting rather from personal and selfish motives, freedom for +all classes depended on the speedy checking of this steady drift of two +generations. The reigns of Richard and John may be called transitional +because it is in them that the barons came to see clearly the principles +on which successful resistance could be founded and the absolutist +tendency checked. The embodiment of these principles in permanent form +in the Great Charter to be accepted by the sovereign and enforced in +practice, introduces an age, the age of constitutional growth, new in +the history of England, and in the form and importance of its results +new in the history of the world. + + + + +APPENDIX ON AUTHORITIES 1066-1216 + +While the material on which the history of any period of the Middle Ages +is based is scanty as compared with the abundant supply at the service of +the writer of modern history, the number of the original sources for the +Norman and early Angevin period is so great as to render impossible any +attempt to characterize them all in this place. The more important or +more typical chroniclers have been selected to give an idea of the nature +of the material on which the narrative rests. + +The medieval chronicler did not content himself with writing the history +of his own time. He was usually ambitious to write a general history from +the beginning of the world or from the Christian era at least, and in +comparatively few cases began with the origin of his own land. For a +knowledge of times before his own he had to depend on his predecessors in +the same line, and often for long periods together the new book would be +only an exact copy or a condensation of an older one. If several earlier +writers were at hand, the new text might be a composite one, resting on +them all, but really adding nothing to our knowledge. As the writer drew +nearer to his own time, local tradition or the documents preserved in his +monastery might give him information on new points or fuller information +on others. On such matters his narrative becomes an independent authority +of more or less value, and much that is important has been preserved to +us in such additions to the earlier sources. Sometimes for a longer or +shorter period before his own day the writer may be using materials all +of which have been lost to us, and in such a case he is for our purposes +an original and independent authority, although in reality he is not +strictly original. Then follows a period, sometimes a long one, sometimes +only a very few years, in which his narrative is contemporary and written +from his own knowledge or from strictly first-hand materials. This is +usually the most valuable portion for the modern writer of history. + +A large mass of material of great value cannot be described here. It is +made up of records primarily of value for constitutional history, +charters, writs, laws, and documentary material of all kinds, from which +often new facts are obtained for narrative history or light of great +value thrown on doubtful points, especially of chronology or of the +history of individuals. Of such a kind are the various monastic +cartularies, law-books like Glanvill's, records like the Patent, Close, +and Charter Rolls, collections of letters, and modern collections of +documents like T. Rymer's Foedera or J.H. Round's Calendar of +Documents Preserved in France. + +The Saxon Chronicle (with translation by B. Thorpe in the Rolls Series +(1861), or C. Plummer's Two Saxon Chronicles, 1892-99) continues during +the first part of this period with its earlier characteristics unchanged, +though more full than for all but the last of the preceding age. The +Conquest had no effect on its language, and it continued to be written in +English until the end. The Worcester chronicle closes with the year 1079, +while the Peterborough book goes on to the coronation of Henry II in +1154. Practically a contemporary record for the whole period, though not +preserved to us in a strictly contemporary form throughout, it is of +especial value for the indications it gives of the feelings of the +English at a time when they were not often recorded. + +William, called of Poitiers, though a Norman, chaplain of William I and +Archdeacon of Lisieux, wrote a biography of the king, Gesta Willelmi +Duels Normannorum et Regis Anglice (in Migne's Patrologia Latina,149), +of much value for the period immediately following the Conquest. It has +been thought that he was not present at the battle of Hastings, but the +account of William's movements between the battle and his coronation +contains several indications of first--hand knowledge, matters of detail +likely to be noted by an eye--witness; and though he was a strong +partisan and panegyrist of the king, his statements of what happened may +generally be accepted. His comments and opinions, however, must be used +with the greatest caution. His work originally ended in 1071, but the +last part is now wanting, and it ends abruptly in the spring of 1067. The +entire book was used, however, by Orderic Vitalis as one of the chief +sources of his narrative, and in that form we probably have all the main +facts it contained. + +William of Malmesbury, born probably between 1090 and 1096, devoted +himself from early life to the study of history, seemingly attracted to +it, as he tells us himself, by the pleasure which the record of the past +gave him and by its ethical value as a collection of practical examples +of virtues and vices. This confession gives the key to the character of +his work. He prided himself on his Latin style, and with some justice. He +regarded himself not as a mere chronicler, but as a historian of a higher +rank, the disciple and first continuator of Bede. The accurate telling of +facts in their chronological order was to him less important than a +well-written and philosophical account of events selected for their +importance or interest and narrated in such a way as to bring out the +character of the actors or the meaning of the history. That he succeeded +in these objects cannot be questioned. His work is of a higher literary +and philosophical character than any written since his master Bede, or +for some time after himself. On this account, however, it gives less +direct information as to the events of the time in which he lived than we +could wish, though it is a contemporary authority of considerable value +on the reign of Henry I, and of even more value on the first years of +Stephen. + +His political history is contained in two works, the Gesta Regum, which +closes with the year 1128, and the Historia Novella, which continues +the narrative to December, 1142 (W. Stubbs, Rolls Series, 1887-89). A +third work, the Gesta Pontificum (N.E.S.A. Hamilton, Rolls Series, +1870), also contains some notices of value for the political history. +William boasted a friendship with Robert, Earl of Gloucester, who was his +patron, and his sympathies were with the Empress's party in the civil +war, but he had also personal relations with Roger of Salisbury and Henry +of Winchester, and was no blind partisan. + +EADMER, a monk of Canterbury, stands with William of Malmesbury in the +forefront of the historians of the twelfth century. His work, less +pretentious than William's, is simpler and more straightforward. Eadmer +was of Saxon birth and was brought up from childhood in Christ Church, +Canterbury. Affectionately attached to Anselm from an early time, he +became his chaplain on his appointment as archbishop and was with him +almost constantly in his visits to court, in his troubled dealings with +his sovereigns, and in his exile abroad. With Anselm's successor, +Archbishop Ralph, he stood in equally close relations, and he was +honoured and respected in the ecclesiastical world of his time. He writes +throughout the greater part of his history, calmly and soberly, of the +things that he had seen and in which he had taken part. His chief work, +the Historia Novorum (M. Rule, Rolls Series, 1884), begins with the +Conquest, but his main interest before the days of Anselm is in the +personality and doings of Lanfranc. In the more detailed portion of his +work his point of view is always the ecclesiastical. This is the interest +which he desires to set forth most fully, but the policy of the Church +involved itself so closely in his day with that of the State that the +history of the one is almost of necessity that of the other, and in the +Historia Novarum we have a contemporary history of English affairs, as +they came into touch with the Church, of the greatest value from the +accession of Henry I to 1121, and one which preserves a larger proportion +of the important formal documents of the time than was usual with twelfth +century historians. He wrote also in the latter part of this period a +Vita Anselmi in which the religious was even more the leading interest +than in his history, but it adds something to our knowledge of the time. + +One of the best authorities for the period from the Conquest to 1141 is +the Historia Ecclesiastica of ORDERIC VITALIS (A. le Prevost, Societe +de l'Histoire de France, 1838-55). Born in England in 1075, of a Norman +father, a clerk, and an English mother, he was sent by his father at the +age of ten to the monastery of St. Evroul, and there he spent his life. +The atmosphere in this monastery was favourable to study. It had an +extensive library, and Orderic had at his command good sources of +information, though he himself took no part in the events he describes. +He paid some visits to England in which he obtained information, and as +he always looked upon himself as an Englishman, his history naturally +includes England as well as Normandy. He began to write about 1123, and +from that date on he may be regarded as a contemporary authority, but +from the Conquest the book has in many places the value of an original +account. It is an exasperating book to use because of the extreme +confusion in which the facts are arranged, or left without arrangement, +the account of a single incident being often in two widely separated +places. But the book rises much above the level of mere annals, and while +perhaps not reaching that of the philosophical historian, gives the +reader more of the feeling that a living man is writing about living men +than is usual in medieval books. It reveals in the writer a lively +imagination, which, while it does not affect the historical value of the +narrative, gives it a pictorial setting. Orderic's interest in the +minuter details of life and in the personality of the men of his time +imparts a strong human element to the book; nor is the least useful +feature of the work the writer's critical judgment on men and events, +generally on moral grounds, but often assisting our knowledge of +character and the causes of events. + +HENRY, ARCHDEACON OF HUNTINGDON's Historia Anglorum (T. Arnold, Rolls +Series, 1879) becomes original, to our present knowledge at least, with +the closing of the manuscript of the Saxon chronicle which he had been +following, probably in 1121, and his narrative is contemporary from the +last years of that decade to the coronation of Henry II. He adds, +however, surprisingly little to our knowledge of the twenty-five years +during which he was writing the history of his own time. He had an active +imagination and loved to embellish the facts which he had learned with +little details that he thought likely to be true. The main value of the +original portion of his history lies in its confirmation of what we learn +from other sources. + +The chronicle of FLORENCE OF WORCESTER (B. Thorpe, Engl. Hist. Soc., +1848-49) is continued by John of Worcester as a source of primary +importance to 1141 and by others afterwards. Florence himself died in +1118, but at what point before this his own work breaks off it does not +seem possible to determine. There is at no point any real change in the +character of the chronicle. The continental chronicle which Florence had +been using as the groundwork of his account, that of Marianus Scotus, +ends with 1082, but his manuscript of the Saxon chronicle probably went +on for some distance further, and about the time of Florence's death much +use is made of Eadmer. The account is annalistic throughout, even in the +full treatment of Stephen's reign; but in its original portions, or what +seem to us original, it has the value of a contemporary record, giving us +further insight into the feelings of the English in William's reign and +the feelings and sufferings of the people of the south-west in Stephen's +time. + +An interesting chronicle of Stephen's reign is that by an unknown author +known as the Gesta Stephani (R. Hewlett, Rolls Series, Chronicles of +Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, iii, 1866), which existed at the +beginning of the seventeenth century in a single manuscript since lost. +It has been conjectured with some probability that it was written by a +chaplain of the king's brother, Henry, Bishop of Winchester. Certainly +the author had very good sources of information, writes often from +personal knowledge, and though a strong partisan of Stephen's, is not +blind to his weaknesses and faults. While the first part of the narrative +was not written precisely at the date, the work has all the value of a +contemporary account from 1135, and from 1142 to 1147 it is almost our +only authority. The manuscript from which it was first printed in 1619 +had been injured, and the book as it now exists breaks off in the middle +of a sentence in 1147. + +ROBERT OF TORIGNI (R. Hewlett, Rolls Series. Chronicles of Stephen, +etc., iv, 1889) spent his life as a monk in Normandy, in the abbey of +Bec till 1154 and afterwards as abbot of the monastery of Mont Saint +Michel. He made apparently but two visits to England, of which we know no +particulars, but as a monk of Normandy, living in two of its most famous +monasteries, he was interested in the doings of the English kings, +particularly in their continental policy, and more especially in the +deeds of the two great Henries. He began to write as a young man, and by +1139, about the time he reached the age of thirty, he seems to have +completed his account of the reign of Henry I, which he wrote as an +additional, an eighth? book to the History of the Normans of William of +Jumieges. His more extended chronicle he had begun before leaving Bec, +and he carried the work with him to Mont-Saint-Michel. Down to 1100 +this is the chronicle of Sigebert of Gemblours with additions, and it +becomes a wholly original chronicle only with 1147. Though of great value +for the knowledge of facts, especially between 1154 and 1170, the +chronicle never rises above the character of annals and was carelessly +constructed, especially as to chronology; it was perhaps worked up by +monks of his house from a somewhat rough first draft of memoranda by the +abbot. The book closes at the end of 1185, shortly before the death of +Robert. + +The writer of the twelfth century who comes the nearest to looking upon +the task of the historian as a modern writer would is WILLIAM OF NEWBURGH +(R. Hewlett, Rolls Series, Chronicles of Stephen, etc., i, and ii, +1884-85). His purpose is not merely to record what happened, with a +rather clear conception of the duty of the historian to be accurate and +to use the best sources, but to make a selection of the facts, using the +more important and those that will show the drift and meaning of the age, +and combining them into something like an explanatory account of the +period; and this he does with constant critical judgment of men and +measures and great breadth of historical view. His Historia Rerum +Anglicarum, which may be said to begin with the reign of Stephen, after +a brief introduction on the three preceding reigns, appears to have been +composed as a whole within two or three years at the close of the twelfth +century. The probability is that no part of it is original, in the sense +that it was written solely from first-hand knowledge; but the sources +from which he derived his material for the period from 1154 to 1173, and +at later dates, have not come down to us, and he must have drawn from +some personal knowledge in the last portion of his work. It is +throughout, however, a critical commentary of great value on the history, +and an interpretation of it by a man of clear, impartial, and broad +judgment, and one not too far removed from the time of which he wrote to +be out of sympathy with it. + +For the last half of the reign of Henry II we have the advantage of a +valuable and in some respects very interesting and attractive chronicle. +This is the Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi, associated with the name of +BENEDICT OF PETERBOROUGH (Rolls Series, 2 vols.). Benedict, however, was +not the author, and no certain evidence as to who he was can be derived +from any source, nor does the chronicle itself supply many of those +incidental indications from which it is often possible to learn much +regarding the author of an anonymous book. The tentative suggestion of +Bishop Stubbs that it may have been written by Richard Fitz Neal, the +author of the Dialogus de Scaccario, is now generally regarded as +inadmissible. The work begins in 1170, and from a date a year or two +later is evidently contemporaneous to its close in 1192, with perhaps a +slight interruption at 1177. It is written in a simple and +straightforward way, and with a sure touch, unusual accuracy of +statement, and a clear understanding of constitutional details; it +suggests an interesting personality in its author, with whom we +constantly desire a closer acquaintance. Whoever he was, he possessed +good sources of information, though apparently too great consideration +for king or court keeps him sometimes from saying all he knows or +believes, and he has inserted in his work many letters and important +documents. + +The work known by the name of Benedict was taken up into his own and +carried forward to 1201 by an almost equally important chronicler, ROGER +OF HOWDEN (W. Stubbs, Rolls Series, 1868-71). The writer was a northerner +who began his history with 732, using for all the first part of it +northern historians, with some slight additions between 1149 and 1169. +From 1170 he copies nearly all the Gesta Regis Henrici, adding to it +occasionally original information and some documents, but the knowledge +of value which we derive from his additions is disappointingly small +considering that he held official positions under the king and was +employed by him on various missions. From 1192 to its close the work is +an original and contemporary history, carefully written and of great +value, and containing an even larger proportion of documents than +Benedict. The chronicle excites less interest in the personality of its +author than does its predecessor; is of a somewhat more solemn type, and +shows more plainly the traits of the ordinary ecclesiastical writer in +its sympathy with current superstitions and its frequent moralizing. + +RALPH DE DICETO, Dean of St. Paul's during the last ten years of Henry +II's reign and the whole of Richard's, began soon after he became dean a +chronicle which he called Imagines Historiarum, or Outlines of History +(W. Stubbs, Rolls Series, 1876). It begins with 1148, to which date he +had brought down an abstract of earlier chronicles from the creation. To +about 1183 the work is based on the writings of others, but from 1162 it +becomes more full and contains much that is original in form at least. +From 1183 to its close in 1202 it is a contemporary account of the +highest value, especially for the reign of Richard. Ralph stood in close +relations with Richard Fitz Neal, from 1189 Bishop of London, for forty +years treasurer of the kingdom, and himself the author of historical +books, and with William Longchamp King Richard's representative. From +his official position also he possessed unusually good opportunities of +information and means of forming those judgments on affairs which are a +feature of his chronicle. He has embodied many important documents in his +narrative though sometimes not with the true historian's feeling of the +importance of the exact language in such cases. His statements of fact +and of opinion both greatly aid our understanding of his times, and his +writing has, like Benedict of Peterborough, a straightforward air which +itself carries weight. + +While the more important chroniclers were writing the secular history of +the reigns of Henry II and Richard I, a monk of Christ Church, +Canterbury, of the name of GERVASE (W. Stubbs, Rolls Series, 1879-80), +was also writing a chronicle in which he was chiefly interested to +preserve the history of the troubles and ecclesiastical controversies of +his house and of the archbishopric. Incidentally, however, he gives us +some information concerning political events and considerable +confirmatory evidence. He began writing about 1188, and his principal +chronicle becomes contemporary soon after that date. It exactly covers a +century, opening with the accession of Henry I and closing with the death +of Richard I. A minor chronicle, entitled Gesta Regum, begun after the +close of the other, starts with the mythical Brutus, the Trojan who gave +his name to Britain, and comes rapidly down to the accession of John, +abridging earlier works. For the reign of John it is a contemporary +chronicle, not very full, but of real value. Gervase writes always as a +monk, and even more narrowly, as a monk of Canterbury, influenced by the +feelings of his order and monastery. His attitude towards the kings under +whom he writes is unsympathetic, and his interest in political matters is +always very slight, but his references to them are not on that account +without a value of their own. + +RALPH, abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Coggeshall from 1207 to 1218, +when he resigned because of illness, wrote a Chronicon Anglicanum (J. +Stevenson, Rolls Series, 1875), which extends from 1066 to 1223. To 1186 +the entries are brief annals: with 1187 the history becomes more full, +but the writer's interest is chiefly in the crusade, of which important +and interesting accounts are given from excellent sources; and +comparatively little is recorded concerning the history of England proper +before the accession of John. For the reign of John the book is one of +our most important and trustworthy contemporary sources. Ralph was +greatly interested in mythical tales, especially in wonderful occurrences +in nature, and he records these at length as he heard of them, but this +habit does not affect the character of his historical record proper. As a +historian he is very well informed, though he gives but few documents; he +saw clearly the essential point of things and had a sense of accuracy. + +A compilation from earlier historical works made, in the form in which we +have it, at the end of the thirteenth or the beginning of the fourteenth +century and known by the name of WALTER OF COVENTRY (W. Stubbs, Rolls +Series, 1872-73), has preserved a continuation of Roger of Howden which +is of great value. This is a chronicle of John's reign and the early +years of Henry III, from 1202 to 1226, probably written in the monastery +of Barnwell about the time the narrative closes, and original and +practically contemporary at least from 1212. From 1202 to 1208 the +entries are brief and annalistic, with occasionally a suggestive comment. +With 1209 the notices begin to be longer, and with 1212 they form a +detailed narrative. The writer has a better opinion of John, at least of +his ability, than other chroniclers of the time, does not attribute his +misfortunes to the king's faults, and has little sympathy with the cause +of the barons. He is accurate in his statements, clear in his narrative, +and shows a tendency to reflect on the causes and relations of the +leading facts. + +Besides these, most important of the primary authorities, there are a +number of others of hardly less value. SIMEON OF DURHAM's Historia +Regum (T. Arnold, Rolls Series, 1882-85) becomes an independent +chronicle from 1119 to 1129 and is continued by JOHN OF HEXHAM (ed. with +Simeon of Durham) to 1154 in a narrative not contemporary, but in many +places original, while RICHARD OF HEXHAM (Chronicles of Stephen, etc., +iii), perhaps John's predecessor as prior, wrote a contemporary history +covering the time from the death of Henry I to early in 1139. All these +are of especial value for the affairs of northern England. About the same +time Master GEOFFREY GAIMAR, the Trouvère, wrote a chronicle in French +verse which is mainly a translation from the Saxon chronicle and other +earlier writers (T.D. Hardy and C.T. Martin, Rolls Series, 1888-89). It +closes with the death of William Rufus, and is chiefly of interest as +giving a glimpse of the opinion held by laymen of the noble class about +that king. Valuable evidence regarding the Becket controversy is +collected in the seven volumes in the Rolls Series, entitled Materials +for the History of Thomas Becket (J.C. Robertson, 1875-85). They contain +nine contemporary lives of the archbishop and one later one, and three +volumes of letters of Becket and others. On the conquest of Ireland there +is an important French poem called the Song of Dermot and the Earl +(G.H. Orpen, 1892) that was written in the next century, but based on a +contemporary narrative; and GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS (J.S. Brewer, J.F. +Dimock, and G.P. Warner, Rolls Series, 186191) gives a lively +contemporary account of the Conquest, and descriptions of Ireland as well +as of Wales. He also wrote later a book called De Principis +Instructione, an avowed attack on Henry II and his sons, against whom he +had the grievance of disappointed ambition. The book relates in passing +many incidents that fill out our knowledge of the period, and it +possesses some value from the very fact of its unfriendly criticism. +This, but not much more than this, is also true of RALPH NIGER's +contemporary chronicles of Henry II's reign, written in a spirit very +unfriendly to the king (R. Anstruther, Caxton Society, 1851). An account +of Richard's crusade is preserved in the Itinerarium Regis Ricardi (W. +Stubbs, Rolls Series, Chronicles of Richard I, 1864), which is no more +than a translation from a contemporary French poem. A biography of St. +Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, who died in 1200, was written after his death by +his chaplain and contains many incidental references to public affairs--a +few of great value (J.F. Dimock, Rolls Series, 1864). Another biography, +written in French verse not quite contemporary, but based on information +from a companion of the subject, is the Histoire de Guillaume le +Maréchal (P. Meyer, Soc. Hist. de France, 1891-1901). It follows the +life of William Marshal through the reigns of Henry II, Richard, and +John, and to his death in 1219. It relates many facts, gives much +information as to life and manners and suggestions of interpretation from +a layman's point of view. Foreign chronicles, of value on the foreign +policy of the English kings, are that of GEOFFREY, Prior of VIGEOIS (in +Bouquet's Recueil des Historiens de France), on nearly the whole of +Henry II's reign, the contemporary histories of Philip Augustus by +RIGORD, and GUILLAUME LE BRETON, and the Histoire des Ducs de Normandie +(all in the collections of the Soc. Hist. de France). The last is +original and contemporary on the reign of John. Collections of letters +like those of Lanfranc, and monastic annals like those of Burton, +Waverley, and Dunstable, aid materially in filling out our knowledge. A +great school of historical writing was rising into prominence as this +period closed, in the monastery of St. Albans. Its first great +historiographer, ROGER OF WENDOVER (H.O. COXE, Engl. Hist. Soc., +1841-44), probably did not begin to write his chronicle until after the +death of John, but his account of that king's reign, written not long +after its close, is original and has the practical value of a +contemporary narrative. + +Of secondary authorities of importance who have written on this period at +any length the list is unfortunately short. + +First and foremost for every student of Norman and early Angevin history +is the work of Bishop STUBBS. With a more direct, personal interest in +the growth of institutions, still in his Constitutional History and in +his prefaces to the volumes he edited for the Master of the Rolls he +discussed the narrative history of the whole age and very fully the +reigns of Henry II and his two sons. The characteristic of Bishop +Stubbs's work, which makes it of especial value to the student of the +present generation, is the remarkable clearness with which he saw the +essential meaning of his material and its bearing on the problem under +discussion. While he generally neglected a wide range of material of +great value to the historian of institutions--the charters and legal +documents--and did not always formulate clearly in his mind the exact +problem to be solved, yet the keenness with which he detected in +imperfect material the real solution is often marvellous. Again and again +the later student finds but little more to do than to prove more fully +and from a wider range of material the intuitive conclusions of his +master. + +For the reigns of the Conqueror and of William II we have the benefit of +the minute studies of EDWARD A. FREEMAN in his History of the Norman +Conquest and his Reign of William Rufus. The faults of Mr. Freeman's +work are very serious, and they mar too greatly the results of long and +patient industry and much enthusiasm for his subject. The neglect of +unprinted material and of almost all that is strictly constitutional in +character, and the personal bias arising from his strongly held theory of +Teutonic influence in early English history, make every conclusion one to +be accepted with caution, but his long books on these reigns furnish a +vast store of fact and suggestion of the greatest importance to the +student. The Norman Conquest closes with a summary history to the death +of Stephen, which is of considerable value. + +The second volume of Sir JAMES RAMSAY's Foundations of England and his +Angevin Empire together form a continuous history of the whole age from +1066 to 1216. These books are to be noticed for their careful inclusion of +details and their bringing all the sources together that bear on successive +facts, so as to furnish an almost complete index to the original +authorities. + +Miss KATE NORGATE has written two books which form a continuous history +from the accession of Stephen to the death of John--England under the +Angevin Kings and John Lackland. In the first book the influence of +John Richard Green is clearly traceable both in the style and in the +selection of facts for treatment. It contains many discussions of +difficult questions that must be taken into account in forming a final +opinion. The second book is a sober and careful study of John's career that +brings out some new points of detail, especially in his last years, but +gives little attention to constitutional changes. + +Three scholars whose work does not bear immediately upon the political +history, or bears only upon portions of it, but who have yet contributed +greatly by their studies to our understanding of it, are Professor F.W. +MAITLAND, Professor FELIX LIEBERMANN, and Mr. HORACE ROUND. Professor +Maitland's field is that of legal history, in which he has done as great +a work as that of Stubbs in constitutional history, and incidentally +has thrown much light on problems which Stubbs discusses. His intimate +knowledge and his scientific caution of statement give to any conclusion +that he puts in positive form an almost final authority. Of Dr. Liebermann +it is to be said that probably no living man has so complete a knowledge of +the material which the historian of this period must use, whether that be +the original material of the age itself or the scattered work of secondary +authorities of different ages and many languages. His own work has been +mainly devoted to the preparation of scientifically edited texts, mostly +of legal material, but also of extracts from a considerable range of +chronicles--work unrivalled in its thoroughness and in its approach to +finality. Scattered in the introductions to these texts is a mass of +information on points of all kinds, which no student of the times can +neglect; while an occasional formal article, like that on Anselm and +Archbishop Hugh of Lyons, awakens regret that they are so few. The work +of Mr. Round has nearly all appeared in short studies on isolated topics. +In Geoffrey de Mandeville he has written one book on the reign of +Stephen that approaches the character of narrative history. In his +Feudal England and Commune of London many articles on problems of +this age have been collected in a form convenient for reference. Mr. +Round's knowledge of the history of persons and families is unsurpassed; +he subjects the material he uses to a minuteness of analysis that is +unusual; and he has settled, so far as the evidence admits of it, some +important questions and a large number of minor problems, both of the +history of events and of institutions. + +We owe to foreign scholars many studies of value on particular questions +of Norman and Angevin history, like M. CHARLES BÉMONT's on the trial of +King John for the murder of Arthur, and a few long works of first +importance. Dr. H. BÖHMER's Kirche und Staat in England und der Normandie +im XI und XII Jahrhundert is of great interest on the conflict of Anselm +with Henry I and the consequences that flowed from it. O. RÖESSLER's +Kaiserin Mathilde is of particular value for the foreign policy of Henry +I and for the reign of Stephen, though inclined to attach too much weight +to what are really conjectures. M.A. LUCHAIRE's contribution to E. +Lavisse's Histoire de France is a very interesting piece of work, +dealing fully with the French side of English foreign relations, and of +especial value for the first three Angevin kings. The same subject is +receiving also minute and careful treatment in Dr. ALEXANDER CARTELLIERI's +Philip II Augustus, Koenig van Frankreich, the first volume of which +goes to the death of Henry II, while M. PETIT-DUTAILLIS's Étude sur la +Vie et la Règne de Louis VIII is useful for the last years of John. + +It is impossible in a bibliography of this kind to speak of all the long +list of monographs and special studies, English and foreign, which alone +make possible the writing of a history of this age, and to which the +writer must acknowledge his obligations in general terms. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of England From the Norman +Conquest to the Death of John (1066-1216), by George Burton Adams + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF ENGLAND (1066-1216) *** + +This file should be named 8556-8.txt or 8556-8.zip + +Produced by David Moynihan, Beth Trapaga, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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