pounds of cheese beyond the dominions of the King.1 This Geoffrey Fitz-Peter was the first minister of the Crown; he was head. of the Exchequer, and yet he could not export one hundred pounds of cheese without complying with the terms laid down in the national tariff. Does this accord with the monkish story of the thirteenth century on the reign of John?

A Writ, issued against another minister of the Crown, Hugo de Nevill, the Justiciary of the woods and forests, and as such a Baron of the Exchequer, shews that no fraud, connivance, or conspiracy existed between King John and his ministers against the rights and liberties of the people of England. John was fully master of his ministers.

Hugo de Nevill returned a reckoning of 6000 marks for having the forgiveness of the King, for two prisoners taken in the castle of Carrickfergus, who were in his custody, and escaped-to wit, Hubert Hose and Richard de Alta Ripa; and for other reasons assigned in his charter, which was freed upon the Exchequer to be placed in the Treasury. The terms of payment being at the Feast of Saint Ylary, in the fourteenth year of the reign, £500; and at the Feast of Pascal Lamb next following, £500; and at the Feast of Saint John, in the fifteenth year of the reign, £500; and at the Feast of Saint Michael, £500; and in the following year, 2000 marks; and in the third year as much, at the same terms of pay"And by this fine all his shall be acquitted, as well clergy as laicks; and he, Hugo and his heirs, for ever shall be acquitted from all reckonings and inquisitions and complaints and exactions which appertain to the forest, from the time when first he had (the department of) the woods and forests, even to the Feast of All Saints, in the year of the reign xiiij. And as, moreover, they may be acquitted, as well himself as his, for all receipts which they have received from the bishopric of Salisbury, whilst in the custody of the said Hugo, on which account he has

ment.

1 Mag. Rot. 13 John, Rot. 6 b. Essex and Hertfordshire.

not answered, over and above what he may have paid to the Bishop."1

William, Earl Warenne, Earl of Surrey, was Chief Justiciary of the Jews, and was a very respectable, amiable man, but not equal to the exigencies of the time; he wanted nerve. The following writ points to a wavering, or a quailing before the power of France :

The Earl de Warenn hath sworn at the hand of the King, that he will stand in his council, and in the council of Geoffrey FitzPeter, Earl of Essex, and the Earl of Arundel, and others whom he might wish to call to that council: beyond the manor of Roynges, on that account, we have moreover given to him seisin of Doon Bardulph." 2

The Earl de Warenne held his baronage by the manor of Roynges; but, in addition to this, he is to have Doon Bardulph, on his declaration of homage for the same. He is to stand by the King in his council, and in the council of the Chief Justiciary, the Earl of Essex, and of the Earl of Arundel, and others whom the King might wish to call to that council.

We have seen that King John took his coronation oath, on coming to the throne, May 27th, 1199, when the coronation gathering was turned into a great national council of the baronage of England, for the despatch of urgent business, at which prelates, earls, barons, and a multitude of other nobles (subinfeudatories) attended.

The second national council was held at Lincoln on November 22d, A.D. 1200, to which were summoned all the nobility, clerical as well as lay, of England and Scotland, but adjourned,—when William, King of Scotland, did homage, January 2d, A.D. 1201. A "colloquium" was held at Oxford, January 2d, 1204, when the Archbishop of Canterbury, bishops and abbots, and "magnates regni," were present.

1 Magnus Rotulus, 14 J., Rot. 16, b. tit. The residue of the composition of Hugo de Nevill.

2 Rotuli de Liberate, p. 92.

A.D. 1205, May 15th.-A general assembly was held in London, consisting of "magnates terræ," archbishops, bishops, earls, barons, omnesque fideles Angliæ."

A.D. 1207, Jan. 8th.-A council met in London, and, by prorogation, at Oxford, on Feb. 9th, at which were present the prelates of the Church, and the "magnates regni," bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, and other great men.

In May a convocation of the clergy assembled at St Albans. Dec. 25th.-A "curiæ" was held in Winchester, "præsentibus magnatibus terræ.”

A.D. 1208.-A National Council met in London, "Præsidente Archiepiscopo cum toto secta laicali."

A.D. 1210, Dec. 25.-A "curiæ" was held at Windsor, "præsentibus omnibus Angliæ magnatibus."

A.D. 1211, September.-A convention of prelates was held in London.

A.D. 1212, Dec. 25th.-A "curiæ " was held at York, "præsentibus comitibus et baronibus regni."

A.D. 1213, May 13th.—A convention was held at Dover. The King, and many earls and barons, and Pandulph, the Pope's legate, were present.

At this convention the King agreed to hold his kingdom in vassalage from the Pope, and to pay a yearly tribute of one thousand marks, (£25,000 in our money.)

This was done "communi consilio baronum."

July 20th.-A convention met at Winchester.

Other cliques and coteries assembled in church and monastery for seditious purposes; but as the "baronage" of England was broken by the great council at Dover, it needeth not that we recount them.

Moreover, the discussion of them belongs to the sequel.

According to Matthew Paris, John Gray, Bishop of Norwich,

was chaplain to the king, and President of the Council, when Hubert Walter died, A.D. 1205. When John Gray was appointed to the viceroyalty of Ireland, A.D. 1211, he was also, at the same time, made Chief Justiciary of Ireland.

William de Stutevill was, in the first year of the reign, appointed to the "charge" of Northumberland and Cumberland. During the whole reign there does not appear to have been any Earl of Northumberland or Earl of Cumberland. As William de Stutevill was a Baron of the Exchequer, could he have been appointed as Justiciary of the Border counties? A man in his position would scarcely have been appointed in this "vague manner to such a trust, as Vice-count or Sheriff.

Let your accepter of the historical John as opposed to the actual John meditate upon the roll of names submitted in this chapter. How does the charge of employing "low-born" men, "low-mannered," "vile,” “weak," &c., &c., vanish in the light of the men who really filled the "high places" in his reign. If we measure the masterdom of Elizabeth and Cromwell by the names who gathered in willing allegiance around them, why refuse the same verdict in the case of John? Instead of the "gossip" and malignant "evil-speaking" of monkish "chroniclers" and priestly slanderers, let your "modern HISTORIANS" (so-called) produce the names of weight and worth that were not found at the court of the actual John. We make bold to say that, unless suborned by the deflecting claims of another sovereignty-that of the Pope-all the brain and worth of England recognised John as a MAN in the highest sense of the abused word; for many "men," "modern historians," and the like, are old women.

CHAPTER V.

DIFFICULTIES IN NORMANDY AND DEATH OF ARTHUR.

DOMESTIC troubles were not all that gathered around the throne of John, even thus early. We have seen that he became King by designation of his brother Richard-that he was unanimously "elected"-that proclamation was made by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was also Chancellor, as the voice of the “Great Council"—and that the Great Council spake for the nation—“ ab universitate regni." But intrigue was abroad. His nephew, Arthur, found one ready to urge his claims upon the succession. Married-while a mere boy-to Mary, daughter of Philip, King of France, his father-in-law, wily and lustful of power, sought, if not to secure England to Arthur, at least to recover for his own family the English possessions in France, which amounted at this time to one-fifth of the whole kingdom.

Philip, cognisant of the impetuosity and vigour of John-as all his contemporaries, where we can interrogate them, seem to have been, a very striking commentary on your modern lavishment of " feeble," "unpatriotic," "pusillanimous," and the like, upon his memory!—went about his project dexterously. He essayed to obtain by flattery what he well knew never would be surrendered to bravado.

He invited John to the French court as an honoured guest. The invitation was accepted. Roger de Wendover, the chronicler, informs us, that on November the 21st, A.D. 1200, the English King held an assembly at Lincoln, at which William, King of