Notes and Documents

1919 303 Downloaded from Notes and Documents An Outline Itinerary of King Henry the First* http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ AN itinerary of Henry I will never be more than an imper- fect outline of the movements of his court, for the reason that the materials at our disposal are limited to intermittent references in the chronicles to ^the courts held on the three great festivals of the year, or on special occasions, to certain important events, and to an inconsiderable number of dated charters. The great bulk of Henry's writs and charters can never be dated with any degree of certainty ; in the majority of instances not even the at The University of British Colombia Library on September 8, 2015 precise year can be ascertained. To make use of the bulk of the material at our disposal it is necessary to import into the scheme a variety of matter not immediately relevant to an itinerary, such as the notices of the nomination, election, and consecration of ecclesiastics to episcopal sees and to the rule of monastic houses, notices of deaths, certain events recorded in the rise and growth of monasteries, which sometimes led to the issue of a royal confirmation, political events at home and abroad, judicial proceedings, and special enactments. The duration of the term of office held by officials of the king's household and court, by ecclesiastics and sheriffs of counties, when approximately ascertained, throws light on the period to which a charter or writ addressed to, or attested by, such individuals, belongs. For convenience of comparison, writs and charters issued at a given place within a definite period of years have been brought together ; but this must not be interpreted as a suggestion that they were all issued simultaneously. To all documents of uncertain date the period within which they were issued has been added within square brackets after the place of issue. Those of ascertained date have no other indication than the marginal date there, or immediately before, cited. With the exception of the late Mr. Eyton's manuscript notes on the dates of such charters as were known in his days,1 no • [The readers of the Review are indebted to our contributor for the generosity with which ho has taken upon himself almost the entire cost of printing his work.— ED. E.B.R.] 1 Add. MS. 31943. 304 ITINERARY OF HENRY I July attempt had been made to compile an itinerary of Henry I until Professor Haskins prepared his Norman Institutions (published by the Harvard University Press in 1918) from materials collected during the period 1902-17 from the French archives. In that work he gives the Norman itinerary of Henry I during the years 1106-7, 1108-9, 1111-13, 1114-15, 1116-20, 1123-6, 1127-9, 1130-1, and 1133-5, whilst Henry was beyond seas. From that Downloaded from source a number of documents, until then unpublished, have been incorporated in the present essay ; an earlier arrangement of the documents here used has in some instances been modified as a result of the additional evidence afforded by that erudite work. Unfortunately the continuation of Mr. H. W. C. Davis's important http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ Regesta RegumAnglo-Normannorum is still deferred in consequence of the editor's engagement during the last four years in the service of the government. Henry's diplomas consist mainly of three classes : (1) Precepts or mandates addressed to officials, directing that some specific act shall, or shall not, be done ; (2) Notifications, addressed to the county court, a baron's court, or the king's court, of a royal at The University of British Colombia Library on September 8, 2015 grant, or the confirmation of a grant by a subject ; (3) Diplomas of confirmation drawn up on the Anglo-Saxon model and en- grossed, sometimes in the chancery, but often apparently in the scriptorium of a monastery. The first class is usually attested by an official of the chancery,, treasury, or household, frequently by the chancellor, at some place where the court was then estab- lished. Sometimes a writ is said to have been ' issued' by one of the king's chaplains, or officials of the household. The second class is attested by a varying number of members of the king's court or household at some place where the court was estab- lished ; occasionally, when a council was held, by the king or queen, or by both, and by a large number of ecclesiastics, barons, and officials of the court and household. The third class beara a cross (signum) placed against the name of the king, and others against those of the great ecclesiastics, barons, king's chaplains, officials of the household and others; this stands opposite, or sometimes in the middle of, the name or description of the witness. In these diplomas the place of issue is Beldom recorded, possibly because the signatories did not all attest their marks at the same time or place. In some instances a date is recorded, namely the regnal or dominical year, sometimes both, and occasionally the feast day also. Instances are found where a scribe has at a later time added a date, not always a correct one. Many writs belonging to the first class have not been utilized in this itinerary owing to the evidence of date being quite indefinite. Some documents of the second and third classes have been omitted because they appear to be spurious or corrupt, and consequently untrustworthy 1919 ITINERARY OF HENRY I 305 or even misleading, as evidences of Henry's movements. A caveat must, however, be made against the condemnation of a document solely on the ground of an irregular or variable arrangement of the names of the witnesses or signatories in the existing texts, seeing that the original arrangement or continuity of the names in two, three, or more columns may have been destroyed by the Downloaded from carelessness or ignorance of later transcribers. The subject-piatter of the documents used in the itinerary has usually been condensed, so as to serve merely for the purpose of identification. For historical or critical purposes the full document should be consulted at the references given. This http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ essay is nothing more than a provisional synopsis of certain of the diplomas issued by Henry. A full chartulary, giving the best and most complete text of these instruments, is much to be desired. Certain axioms which influence the dating of some of Henry's diplomas may be stated. A bishop was so addressed officially, not as a rule from the date of his consecration, but in some instances* from the day on which he waSj invested in the at The University of British Colombia Library on September 8, 2015 temporalities of his see, which was presumably the day of his nomination. Prior to his consecration he was not always addressed or described as ' elect'. The chancellor, upon his nomination to an episcopal see, delivered up his office and seal immediately upon such nomination. An archbishop or a bishop ceased to be addressed in Henry's writs to the county court when deprived of the temporalities of his see, and similarly an earl or a baron ceased to be addressed in such missives after the forfeiture of his earldom or fief. But it would be unsafe to assume that official recognition was superseded during absence beyond seas on missions or expeditions, or during a journey to Rome or the Holy Land. W. FARBEB. 1100. 2 Aug. William II, whilst hunting in the New Forest during the after- noon of 2 August, 1100, accompanied by his brother Henry, Kobert Fitr- Hamon, William of Breteuil, Walter Tirel of Poix (Somme), and others, is accidentally slain.8 Henry immediately rides to Winchester to secure the treasure. Hard upon his heels follows William of Breteuil, the keeper of the treasure.3 3 Aug. Henry is elected king by such of the Witan as are near at hand.4 The opposing party is silenced by the efforts of Henry, earl of Warwick.6 Henry gives the vacant bishopric of Winchester to William Giffard, the chancellor of the late king.8 • See no. 115. • A.-S. Ctron. >. a.; Orderic (ed. Le Prevost), iv. 87. » Ibid. • Chron. ' W. Malm., O. B. ii. 470. * Chron. Though nominated by the king at this time, Giffard was not invested until Easter, 1101. 306 ITINERARY OF HENRY I July 4 Aug. Henry goes to London.1 5 Aug. Before the altar at Westminster he promises that he will put down the injustices which existed in his brother's time.8 He is con- secrated by Maurice, bishop of London; the crown is placed upon the new king's head by Thomas, archbishop of York.3 1. The king issues a charter of liberties. It is attested by the bishops, Maurice of London, William elect of Winchester, and Gerard of Hereford, Downloaded from Earl Henry (of Warwick), Earl Simon (of Northampton and Huntingdon), Earl Walter Giffard, Robert de Montfort, Roger Bigot, Eudes the sewer, and Henry de Port; ' apud Westmonasterium quando coronatus fui.' 4 2. Immediately after the coronation a charter of confirmation is issued in favour of St. Peter's, Westminster. It is addressed generally http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ and is attested by the bishops, Maurice of London, William elect of Win- chester, and G(erard) of Hereford; Earl Henry (of Warwick), Earl Simon (of Northampton), and Earl Walter Giffard.5 3. Writ addressed to Eudes the sewer and Herbert the chamberlain directing that the convents of Westminster, Winchester, and Gloucester shall, at all festivals at which the king shall be crowned in those churches, have full livery from the king, and their precentors shall have an ounce of gold, as by the testimony of Maurice, bishop of London, they had in at The University of British Colombia Library on September 8, 2015 the time of the king's predecessors.

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