assizes, and for the works of castles and parks and bridges and the public roads, and for fledwite and for hangwite and flemenesfreuithe [receiving a fugitive,] and for hamsoken [burglary] and ward-penny and for aver-penny, and for bloodwit and frodwit and for leirwit, and for hundred-pence and for tithing-pence, unless on entry; and they and their men may be acquitted through all our land of all toll, and of all things which the canons themselves and their men could secure for themselves,—those things for the proper use of the canons themselves or their men, which they might buy or sell without making a sale further, [We suppose a fictitious sale, for the evasion of duty,] and for passage and pontage, and for market or fair-toll and stallage, and for all secular service and servile work and exaction, and all other occasions and secular customs, the justice for death and member being alone excepted."1 "The King, et cetera, to William the Treasurer, and William and Robert, Chamberlains, et cetera.-Know ye that we have lent to Roger de Lacy, Constable of Chester, a thousand pounds from our treasury, on the pledge of Robert Fitz-Roger, who has taken [security] upon all his land in England, which, within the first month in which the same Roger should have come into England, he should make us to have the bond of the said Roger for the repaying the aforesaid thousand pounds to us, at the times which we have provided for ourselves; and, therefore, we cominand you that, when the aforesaid Robert shall have brought his pre-placed bond to us, you may give him the aforesaid thousand pounds, which we have lent to the same Roger for his redemption. Besides, know ye that we have lent to Randulph [Blandeville], We see by this reservation alone the Saxon or Danish resolve to punish murder and maiming on the highways or in the fields. This was carried so far, that all deaths sudden, and not to be accounted for, were returned as mur ders, and the hundred or wapontake was fined for that murder. May not the office of coroner have been instituted to collect the tax, and so look after the interests and revenues of the crown? Earl of Chester, for the redemption of the said Constable, CC marks upon the manors of Tiwe and Carpedene, as the bond of the said earl affirms; and, therefore, we command you that, when you receive on this account the bond of the said earl, you may give him the CC marks. Teste meipso, at the Tower of London, on the xxix day of May (A.D. 1204.) By the Justiciary.” The above writ is important, as shewing on what terms the valiant Roger de Laci, Constable of Chester, regained his liberty when he was taken prisoner in the French war, and so honourably set at liberty on his parole, in consideration of his great bravery. Land Given. "The King, et cetera, to Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, et cetera.-Rannulph le Fol has shewn to us that one virgate of land [forty acres, the fourth part of a hide of land] in Craneburgh, which Goofrey Fitz-Johette held, is in our hand, and is our escheat; and, therefore, we command you that, if that virgate of land is our escheat, and you see it to be best for us, you may make the aforesaid Rannulph, for his service, to have without delay that virgate, if there were there not more than one virgate of land. Attested by Master Robert de Stoke, at Rouen, on the fifth day of October (A.D. 1203.) From the lord the King." Here we have another glimpse of John's real character-astute vigilance. The "si ibi amplius non fuit, quam j virgata terræ " runs through all John's proceedings. We have met with so many examples of this in the Tower writs, that we consider love of truth and keen insight to be the great leading characteristics of the But these characteristics are never to be found in your profuse prodigal, your reckless spendthrift; and, moreover, this watchfulness and truthfulness of character are not usually accompaniments of your coarse and brutal man. Oh, how unlike the actual John was to the 'historical' John, as credulously accepted from monkish and priestly slanderers ! man. "The King, et cetera, to Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, et cetera.-Know ye that Robert the Falconer has levied a fine with us for x marks, for having the sergeantry of the land, which was his father's, at Hurst and Wudeton; and, therefore, we command you that, on good security being received from him for discharging those x marks, at periods which you may appoint, you may make him to have the aforesaid land of his father; but if he should have alienated anything of his aforesaid father's from the aforesaid land, that justly, and according to the custom of Angoleime, you may cause to be revoked, and the same Robert you may arrest for his liberties, according to the tenor of his charters. Attested by W. de Breosa [William Briwerr the Treasurer], at Montfort, on the xxviij day of July. By the same.” Land Given. "The King, et cetera, to Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, et cetera.-Know ye that we have given to our dearly beloved clerk, Thomas of the Exchequer, all the lands and buildings, with all the appurtenances, which were William Aurifaber's in London, who was taken [as frank-pledge] for William with the beard [a seditious barrister and demagogue, who was executed for treason in the reign of Richard I.]; and, therefore, we command you that you may make him to have those plenarities, or his messenger, without delay or difficulty. I myself attesting at Montfort, on the xxix day of July (A.D. 1203.)" 1 Land Given. The King, et cetera, to Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, et cetera.-We command you to make our dearly beloved John Marescall to have all the land of Hugo de Aure, with its appurtenances, in Angoleime, which we gave to him, unless another was seised of it by our precept. I myself attesting, at Cambray, on the xviij day of August. Per ipsum Norwich." 2 1 Rotuli de Liberate, p. 55. 2 Ibid., p. 58. Justody of an Heiress. "The King, et cetera, to Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, et cetera.-We command you that, without delay, you make Walter de Saint John, the dearly beloved and faithful knight of our Jno. de Pateshull [a baron of the Exchequer], to have the heiress of Dun Bard, such as she is. I myself attesting, at Montfort, on the xxix day of July (A.D. 1203.)” No money is named as fine in the above writ. That, we suppose, is a present to the knight; but such as she was he was to have her, rich or poor. The King, et cetera, to Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, et cetera.-We command you that you should inquire into the value of the castle of Hellesmere, with its appurtenances, and that you should make Audoen Fitz-David to have the value of it elsewhere; for we wish to have that castle, which is situated in the Marches [of Wales], in our possession. Attested by the Bishop of Norwich, at Auriwall, on the ij day of August. By the same." The loss of Normandy, and consequent war with Philip Augustus, formed John's resolution to uphold the integrity of the nationality. The cowardly conduct of the feudatories of the crown-the "BARONAGII ANGLIA"-drove the King to granting 'knight's fees' upon the Exchequer, with countless payments of debts to Jew and Gentile at the same Exchequer, producing a monetary pressure' in Fleet Street and Cornhill, and so drove the King to apply the feudal screw with redoubled energy to all marriages, forfeitures, and wardships, so as to meet the augmented expenditure. Pope Innocent III.'s release of all vassals shook the system, as we have seen, to its foundation. As for the system of 'government' that succeeded it, and the real as opposed to the alleged motives of the priestly muster of Fitz-Walter's army in the ings of Runnemead, all looked to the treasonous helping of the King of France, not to advantaging the nation of England. Commentary on the facts is really needless. CHAPTER XVI. SPORTS-HUNTING-DOGS. WE find that in the times immediately succeeding the Norman Conquest, the tenants of the crown, who held by tenure of soccage and petit-sergeantry, paid their rents in a variety of small matters, -as provisions, services, and even horses, dogs, hawks, &c.; as palfreys, destriers, chaseurs, leveriers, with hawks and falcons— English, Scotch, Norway, and Spanish. In the reign of Stephen, Barnard the Scribe paid as fine for a grant of land by the Bishop of Exeter one palfrey.1 Outi of Lincoln was fined in one hundred Norway hawks and one hundred girsals: four of the hawks and six of the girsals were to be white. 2 In King John's journeyings on the circuit of assize from his residence at Marlborough Castle to Bristol, then to Gloucester, Hereford, Shrewsbury, and Burton-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, Melbourne, in Derbyshire, Nottingham, Lincoln, Sleaford, Stamford, Northampton, with a dozen other places or more, within five weeks, it could not be supposed that the huntsman could keep up this constant run of twenty-five or thirty miles a day, and follow the chase besides, without some assistance of carriages and horses to convey him from one point to another, perhaps across the country, over two or three counties. These carriages and horses and men to drive, supplied by the sheriff of the county for the conveyance of the King's huntsman, 1 Madox's History of the Exchequer, vol. i. p. 273. Mag. Rot. 5 Steph. |