Normans and Plantagenets

The required reading for this week is chapters 6-7 of C. Warren Hollister, The Making of England 55 B.C. to 1399, and these documents.

The events leading up to the murder of Thomas Becket (December 1170)

(Early in December, Roger, Archbishop of York, Gilbert, Bishop of London, and Jocelyn, Bishop of Salisbury joined the king in Normandy and brought him the news that they had again been excommunicated by the Archbishop. After hearing their story, and during the discussions which followed, the king in great anger uttered the fatal words which were the direct cause of the murder of the Archbishop. The four knights who were to kill him, left the king on 26 December. They arrived at Saltwood Castle in Kent, belonging to the de Broc family, who were among Becket's bitterest enemies. On Christmas day Becket had preached his famous sermon at high mass in the cathedral.)

The archbishop of York and the bishops of London and Salisbury, accompanied by the archdeacon of Poitiers - the archdeacon of Canterbury having been delayed by stormy seas, had not yet caught up with them - were on their way to the court of the king overseas. By chance they met the king as he was on his way to visit the archbishop of Tyre. They related the story of their excommunication, which, however, so it was reported, he already knew. They laid all the blame on the archbishop of Canterbury: they charged him with treason, they accused him in his absence, when he could not defend himself, fearing lest he should be summoned to a hearing. . . . Their evil accusations were doubled by falsehood. It was reported to the king that the archbishop was careering about England at the head of a strong force of armed men. The king asked the bishops for their advice. The archbishop of York replied, "Take counsel from your barons and your knights; it is not for us to say what should be done." At length one of them said, "My lord, while Thomas lives, you will not have peace or quiet, nor see good days." At this such fury, bitterness and anger against the archbishop seized hold of the king that they were manifest in his countenance and in his gestures.* Observing his agitation and eager to win his favour, four knights of his household, Reginald fitz Urse, William de Traci, Hugh of Morville and Richard Brito, having sworn, it is said, to encompass the death of the archbishop, thereupon quitted the court. . . . The four knights, Reginald fitz Urse and his fellows, sailed from dif- ferent ports. With the devil, the arch-enemy as their guide, they met at the same hour in England at the castle of Saltwood belonging to the family of de Broc. Ere this, however, the blessed archbishop had received sure intelligence of the imminent approach of his murderers. Finding great consolation in the Lord, he played the man and put on the whole armour of God, that he might be able to stand in the day of the Lord;' but, so far as he could, he kept the matter secret, to avoid an uproar at the festive season. . . . On Christmas eve he read the lesson from the gospel, "the book of the generation", and celebrated the midnight mass. Before high mass on Christmas day, which he also celebrated, he preached a splendid sermon to the people, taking for his subject a text on which he was wont to ponder, namely, "on earth peace to men of good will". When he made mention of the holy fathers of the church of Canterbury who were therein confessors, he said that they already had one archbishop who was a martyr, St Alphege, and it was possible that they would shortly have another. And because of the shameful injury inflicted on the horse of a certain poor peasant of his, a servant of the church of Canterbury, by cutting off its tail, he bound Robert de Broc with a sentence of excommunication. He had previously threatened him through messengers, while inviting him to make reparation. But Robert, being contumacious, had returned answer by a certain knight, David of Romney, that if the archbishop excommunicated him he would act like an excommunicate. Also, those who had violently taken possession of his two churches of Harrow and Throwley and had refused to admit his officers, he involved in the same sentence. On St Stephen's day he again celebrated at high mass and on the next day, the feast of St John, Apostle and Evangelist, he sent away secretly to France two of his clerks, Master Herbert and Alexander the Welshman, his cross- bearer. A third, Gilbert de Glanville, was dispatched to the pope: two others, Richard, his chaplain, and John Planeta, were sent to the bishop of Norwich to absolve conditionally certain priests on the lands of Earl Hugh who, being excommunicate, had presumed to celebrate the divine offices.

Document II

2. As described by Herbert of Bosham

On the day of our Lord's Nativity, which was, if I mistake not, about the twenty-seventh** day after our arrival in England, the archbishop mounted the pulpit and preached to the people. At the end of his sermon he predicted that the time of his departure drew near and that shortly he would be taken from them. And when he said this concerning his departure, tears rather than words burst from him. Likewise the hearts of his hearers were beyond measure moved with grief and contrition, so that you might have seen and heard in every corner of the church weeping and lamentation, and the people murmuring among themselves, "Father, why do you desert us so soon, and to whom do you leave us so desolate?" For these were no wolves but sheep who knew the voice of their shepherd and grieved when they heard him say that he would so soon leave this world, although they did not know when, or where, or in what way this would come to pass. . . . Truly, had you witnessed these things, you would have said that you heard with your ears and saw with your eyes that beast of the prophet's vision whose face was that of a lion and of a man. The service ended, the archbishop, who had shown himself so devout at the Lord's table that day, afterwards made merry, as was his wont, at the table of this world. Moreover, as it was the feast of the Nativity, although a Friday, he ate meat, as on other days, thereby demonstrating that on such a festival it was more religious to eat than to abstain. . . . On the morrow of the Nativity, that is, on the feast of the blessed martyr Stephen, he called apart the disciple who wrote these things, and said to him, "I have arranged to send you to our lord, the king of the French, to our venerable brother, the archbishop of Sens, and to other princes of that land, to tell them what you have seen and heard concerning this peace, how for us it is a peace which is no peace, but rather turmoil and confusion." The disciple, unable to restrain his tears, made answer, "Holy father, why have you done this? Why act in this way? I know for certain that I shall see you in the flesh no more. I had determined to stay faithfully at your side; truly, so it seems to me, you are seeking to deprive me of the fruit of your consummation, me who have hitherto continued with you in your temptations; nor shall I be, as now I see, a companion of your glory, who have been partner in your pain." Then said the archbishop amid a flood of tears, "Not so, my son, not so; you will not be deprived of the fruit, if you fulfil your father's commands and follow his counsel. Nevertheless, what you have said is indeed true, that you will see me in the flesh no more. Yet I wish you to go, especially since the king holds you in greater suspicion than the others, where the cause of the Church is at stake." So, on the second day after Christmas, being the feast of St John the Evangelist, in the darkness of the night, for fear of being waylaid, I took leave of my father with lamentation and many tears, again and again begging and receiving his blessing. As he himself had foretold, I never again saw him in the flesh, nor shall see. Yet, and with this I end my history, I pray with my whole heart, with all my soul and all my strength, that him, whom I shall not see again in time, I may be accounted worthy to see in eternity, and may be made partner of his crown, as I was his comrade in the battle.

Document III

Selections from Magna Carta

John, by the grace of God king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and of Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciars, foresters, sheriffs, reeves, ministers, and all his bailiffs and faithful men, greeting. Know that, through the inspiration of God, for the health of our soul and [the souls] of all our ancestors and heirs, for the honour of God and the exaltation of Holy Church, and for the betterment of our realm, by the counsel of our venerable fathers ..., of our nobles ..., and of our other faithful men —

1. We have in the first place granted to God and by this our present charter have confirmed, for us and our heirs forever, that the English Church shall be free and shall have its rights entire and its liberties inviolate. And how we wish [that freedom] to be observed appears from this, that of our own pure and free will, before the conflict that arose between us and our barons, we granted and by our charter confirmed the liberty of election that is considered of prime importance and necessity for the English Church, and we obtained confirmation of it from the lord pope Innocent III — which [charter] we will observe ourself and we wish to be observed in good faith by our heirs forever. We have also granted to all freemen of our kingdom, for us and our heirs forever, all the liberties hereinunder written, to be had and held by them and their heirs of us and our heirs.

2. If any one of our earls or barons or other men holding of us in chief dies, and if when he dies his heir is of full age and owes relief, [that heir] shall have his inheritance for the ancient relief: namely, the heir or heirs of an earl £100 for the whole barony of an earl; the heir or heirs of a baron £100 for a whole barony; the heir or heirs of a knight 100s, at most for a whole knight's fee. And let whoever owes less give less, according to the ancient custom of fiefs.

3. If, however, the heir of any such person is under age and is in wardship, he shall, when he comes of age, have his inheritance without relief and without fine.

4. The guardian of the land of such an heir who is under age shall not take from the land of the heir more than reasonable issues and reasonable customs and reasonable services, and this without destruction and waste of men or things. And if we entrust the wardship of any such land to a sheriff or to any one else who is to answer to us for its issues, and if he causes destruction or waste of [what is under] wardship, we will exact compensation from him; and the land shall be entrusted to two discreet and lawful men of that fief, who shall answer for the issues to us or the man to whom we may assign them. And if we give or sell the wardship of any such land to any one, and if he causes destruction or waste of it, he shall forfeit that wardship and it shall be given to two discreet and lawful men of that fief, who likewise shall answer to us as aforesaid.

5. Moreover, the guardian, so long as he has wardship of the land, shall from the issues of that same land keep up the houses, parks, preserves, fish-ponds, mills, and other things belonging to that land. And to the heir, when he comes of full age, [the guardian] shall give all his land, stocked with ploughs and produce, according to what crops may be seasonable and to what the issues of the land can reasonably permit.

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8. No widow shall be forced to marry so long as she wishes to live without a husband; yet so that she shall give security against marrying without our consent if she holds of us, or without the consent of her lord if she holds of another.

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10. If any one has taken anything, whether much or little, by way of loan from Jews, and if he dies before that debt is paid, the debt shall not carry usury so long as the heir is under age, from whomsoever he may hold. And if that debt falls into our hands, we will take only the principal contained in the note.

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12. Scutage or aid shall be levied in our kingdom only by the common counsel of our kingdom, except for ransoming our body, for knighting our eldest son, and for once marrying our eldest daughter; and for these [purposes] only a reasonable aid shall be taken. The same provision shall hold with regard to the aids of the city of London.

13. And the city of London shall have all its ancient liberties and free customs, both by land and by water. Besides we will and grant that all the other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall have all their liberties and free customs.

14. And in order to have the common counsel of the kingdom for assessing aid other than in the three cases aforesaid, or for assessing scutage, we will cause the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater barons to be summoned by our letters individually; and besides we will cause to be summoned in general, through our sheriffs and bailiffs, all those who hold of us in chief — for a certain day, namely, at the end of forty days at least, and to a certain place. And in all such letters of summons we will state the cause of the summons; and when the summons has thus been made, the business assigned for the day shall proceed according to the counsel of those who are present, although all those summoned may not come.

15. In the future we will not grant to any one that he may take aid from his freemen, except for ransoming his body, for knighting his eldest son, and for once marrying his eldest daughter; and for these [purposes] only a reasonable aid shall be taken.

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20. A freeman shall be amerced for a small offence only according to the degree of the offence; and for a grave offence he shall be amerced according to the gravity of the offence, saving his contenement. And a merchant shall be amerced in the same way, saving his merchandise; and a villein in the same way, saving his wainage — should they fall into our mercy. And none of the aforesaid amercements shall be imposed except by the oaths of good men from the neighbourhood.

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30. No sheriff or bailiff of ours, nor any other person, shall take the horses or carts of any freeman for carrying service, except by the will of that freeman.

31. Neither we nor our bailiffs will take some one else's wood for [repairing] castles or for doing any other work of ours, except by the will of him to whom the wood belongs.

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35. There shall be one measure of wine throughout our entire kingdom, and one measure of ale; also one measure of grain, namely, the quarter of London; and one width of dyed cloth, russet [cloth], and hauberk [cloth], namely, two yards between the borders. With weights, moreover, it shall be as with measures.

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38. No bailiff shall henceforth put any one to his law by merely bringing suit [against him] without trustworthy witnesses presented for this purpose.

39. No freeman shall be captured or imprisoned or disseised or outlawed or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go against him or send against him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

40. To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice.

41. All merchants may safely and securely go away from England, come to England, stay in and go through England, by land or by water, for buying and selling under right and ancient customs and without any evil exactions, except in time of war if they are from the land at war with us. And if such persons are found in our land at the beginning of a war, they shall be arrested without injury to their bodies or goods until we or our chief justice can ascertain how the merchants of our land who may then be found in the land at war with us are to be treated. And if our men are to be safe, the others shall be safe in our land.

42. Every one shall henceforth be permitted, saving our fealty, to leave our kingdom and to return in safety and security, by land or by water, except in the common interest of the realm for a brief period during wartime, and excepting [always] men imprisoned or outlawed according to the law of the kingdom and people from a land at war with us and merchants, who are to be treated as aforesaid.

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45. We will appoint as justiciars, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs only such men as know the law of the kingdom and well desire to observe it.

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50. We will utterly remove from their offices the relatives of Gérard d'Athée, Engelard de Cigogné, Peter and Guy and Andrew de Chanceaux, Guy de Cigogné, Geoffrey de Martigny and his brothers, Philip Marc and his brothers and his nephew Geoffrey, together with all their adherents, so that henceforth they shall have no office in England.

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52. If any one, without the lawful judgment of his peers, has been disseised or deprived by us of his lands, castles, liberties, or rights, we will at once restore them to him. And if a dispute arises in this connection, then let the matter be decided by the judgment of the twenty-five barons, concerning whom provision is made below in [the article on] security for the peace. With regard, however, to all those [possessions] of which any one, without lawful judgment of his peers, was disseised or deprived by King Henry, our father, or by King Richard, our brother — which possessions we have in our hands or which are held by others whose possession we are bound to warrant — we are to have respite for the ordinary term of crusaders, except those [possessions] concerning which suit was brought or inquest was made by our precept before we took the cross. Moreover, when we return from our journey, or if perchance we abandon our journey, we will at once administer full justice in such matters.

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54. No one shall be seized or imprisoned on the appeal of a woman for the death of any one but her husband.

55. All fines which have been made with us unjustly and contrary to the law of the land, and all amercements made unjustly and contrary to the law of the land, are to be entirely pardoned; or decision is thereon to be made by the judgment of the twenty-five barons concerning whom provision is made below in [the article on] security for the peace, or by the judgment of the majority of them, together with the aforesaid Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be present, and other men whom he may wish to associate with himself for this purpose — and if he cannot be present, the business shall nevertheless proceed without him; yet so that, if any one or more of the twenty-five barons aforesaid are [involved] in a dispute of this kind, they shall be removed so far as this judgment is concerned, and others, elected and sworn for this purpose, shall be substituted in their places by the rest of the twenty-five.

56. If, without the lawful judgment of their peers, we have disseised or deprived Welshmen of their lands, liberties, or other things in England or in Wales, [the same] shall be immediately restored to them. And if a dispute arises in this connection, then decision is thereon to be made in the [Welsh] march by the judgment of their peers — according to the law of England for their tenements in England, according to the law of Wales for their tenements in Wales, and according to the law of the march for their tenements in the march. Welshmen shall act in the same way toward us and our men.

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60. Now all these aforesaid customs and liberties, which we have granted, in so far as concerns us, to be observed in our kingdom toward our men, all men of our kingdom, both clergy and laity, shall, in so far as concerns them, observe toward their men.

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62. And to all we freely pardon and condone all the ill-will, indignation, and rancour that from the beginning of the conflict have arisen between us and our men, both clergy and laity. Furthermore, to all, whether clergy or laity, we fully pardon and condone, in so far as pertains to us, all trespasses committed on account of the said conflict since Easter in the sixteenth year of our reign until the reestablishment of peace. And besides we have caused to be drawn up for them letters patent of the lord Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, of the lord Henry, archbishop of Dublin, of the bishops aforesaid, and of Master Pandulf, in witness of that security and the concessions aforesaid.

63. Wherefore we wish and straitly enjoin that the English Church shall be free and that the men in our kingdom shall have and holà all the aforesaid liberties, rights, and grants well and in peace, freely and quietly, fully and completely, for themselves and their heirs from us and our heirs, in all things and in all places forever, as aforesaid. Moreover, it has been sworn both on our part and on the part of the barons that all the aforesaid [provisions] shall be observed in good faith and without malicious intent. By the witness of the aforesaid men and of many others. Given by our hand in the meadow that is called Runnymede between Windsor and Staines, June 15, in the seventeenth year of our reign.