@ The Taming of a TurbulentEarl: Henry I and Williamof Warenne C. Warren Hollister* Universitvof California.Santa Barbara King Henry I, the youngestand ablest son of Williamthe Conqueror, was viewedby contemporariesas theereatest monarch of his time- the rex pacificus who "made peace for man and beast."r Modern historianshave stressedHenry's administrativeachievements; Richardsonand Saylescredit him with the creationof "a carefully- articulatedmachine" of governrnent.2Henry's precociousfinancial and judicial institutionscontributed to the peaceof his realm by keepingthe royal treasuryfull and by funnellingmany land disputes into the royal courts. But administrativemachinery alone does not guarantee peace, as should be evident from the reigns of John, Edward II, and similar unfortunatemonarchs. A successfulking must,above all else.be capableof dealingskillfully with his subjects. Administrativemachine-building is a kind of political science, whereasgood personal relationships are a politicalart. In this sense, Henry I was not merely a scientistbut an artist as well. Interpretations of Henry's reign have heretofore been strongly influencedby Orderic Vitalis' metaphorof new men being "raised from the dust."r R. W. Southern,in a characteristicallyilluminating paper, has shown that Henry's governmentinvolved a systemof politicalpatronage wherein ambitious climbers received modest but recurring rewards for their service to the king.a Southern has thus expandedand re-cast Orderic's metaphor into a perceptiveanalysis of royal policy towardsthe middleand lessercuriales. It is the purpose *The author is grateful to the National Endowment for the Humanities, lhe American Philosophical Society, the Social Science Research Council, the American Council of Learned Societies,the Fulbright Commission, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Warden and Fellows of Merton College,Oxford, for their help in supportingthe researchfor this paper. tAnglo-SaxonChronicle, A.D. I 135. ':H. G. Richardsonand C. O. Sayles,The Governanceof lllediaeral England (Edinburgh, 1963)159. rOrderic Vitalis,I/rrrorid Ecclesiastica,ed. A. le Pr6vost(Paris,I838-55) IV, 164. a"ThePlaceofHenrylin EnglishHistory," ProceedingsoftheBrilisltAcademy, XLVIII (1962)127-69; reprinted with revisionsin Southern,Medietal Humanism and Other SrrrdieslOxford, 1970)206-33. HistoricalReflections of this paperto look briefly at anotheraspect of royal policy - to examineHenry I's relationswith theold andwealthy baronial families who were establishedin Englandby William the Conqueror. Henry I has sometimesbeen picturedas being suspiciousof old Conquestfamilies - disseisingand exiling them on a systematicscale and therebycreating a dangerousparty of "disinherited"to torment Englandin the next reign.sIn my own view, Henry wasby no means opposedto suchfamilies. On the contrary,he was anxiousto draw them into closerinvolvement in the royal court. For Henry was well awarethat thesuccess ofhis reigndepended on thecooperation ofhis greaterbarons, and he was determinedto make suchcooperation a practicalreality. If a magnateof an old familyrebelled or conspiredto rebel, he risked forfeitureand exile. But if he remainedloyal and frequentedthe court, he and his family baskedin the royal favor. Duringthe reignof Henry's predecessor,William Rufus,the greater barons had attestedvery few royal charters.6They had become dangerouslyindependent ofthe royalcourt, and theiraloofness lends weight to R. W. Southern'sobservation that by the time of Rufus' death in ll00 "the country was ready for a revolution."TBut by Henry I's deathin | 135,the greaterbarons tended to be curialesand fi'eque'ntattestors.s Some of then were newly-risenstars, but others were headsof familiesthat had beenprominent since the davsof the 5For a recent critical discussionof this view see Edmund King, "The Tenurial CrisisoftheEarlyTwelfthCentury,"ParrdndPresent, LXV(Nov.,l9'74\l12-lr5: and J. C. Holt, "Politics and Propertyin Early MedievalEngland: A Rejoinder." ibid., t27-28. 6SeeC. W. Hollister. "The Anglo-Norman Civil War: l l0l ," English Histotical Review,,LXXXVIII (1973)ll7-20. TMediet'alHumanism, p. 231. EWelack the evidenceon which to constructan exact list of England'su,ealthiest magnatesin c. I 135.On the basisofDomesday values,danegeld exemptions in the Pipe Roll of 1130, and Iater figureson enleoffmentsand knights quotas, I would propose,very tentatively,that the wealthiestlandholders at the time were Robert earlofGloucester, Stephen ofBlois. Henry bishopofWinchester, Roger bishop of Salisbury,William archbishopof Canterbury, William II of Warenne, Stephen "count" of Brittany, Ranulf ll earl of Chester,Robert earl of Leicester.Richard fitz Cilbert ofClare, and Brian fitz Count. StephenofBrittany spent most ofthe reign in Brittany and thereforeattested scarcely at all. Most of the others were frequentattestors - thoughRanulfll, Robert ofLeicester, and RichardofClare attested less frequently than their fathers had done, and Stephen of Blois' attestationswere modest in number. A comparisonof this group with the chief landholdersof | 100would demonstratea substantialdegree of"curialization" in the interveninggeneration. The I135group includesold families- the Warennes, Clares, Beaumonts,and Breton lords of Richmond - and a cadet line of the llth-centuryearls ofChester (whosemain line died out with the death ofthe courl-connectedEarl Richardin I 120).The Beaumontsattestedc. 165ofHenry's survivingcharters; the Claresc. 55: the family of Chester-Avranches-Bayeux,c. 55. Another older and wealthy family. the Bigods, attestedc. l12 of Henry's charters. The Tanringof a Turlrulent Earl Conqueror.Henry seemsto havebeen intent on fusingmagnates and curialesinto a singlegroup. And he worked toward this goalpartly by givingnew baroniesto his curiales,partly by makingcrrricles of his old barons. From the beginningof his reign Henry wooed the greatfamilies. Amonghis first acts were the appointments of a Clareto theabbacy of EIy andofa bastardson ofHugh earlofChester to theabbacy ofBury St. Edmunds.The Clareswere favored with giftsof land in I l l0 and thereafter:eEarl Hugh'sson and heir was raised in theroyal court; the Beaumontsacquired the town and earldomof Leicesterand much besides. But Henry's courtshipswith his baronsdid not consistsimply of showeringthem with gifts. He had no intentionof permittingany of his great men to rival him in wealth; he wanted no super-earl,no Thomasof Lancasteron his hands.He gavecautiously and allowed no baron to developan empireexceeding those of the Conqueror's greatestcreations - Odo of Bayeux, Robertof Mortain, Rogerof Montgomery.William fitz Osbern.At the onset of Henry's reign, when William of Mortain, earl of Cornwalldemanded possession of Odo of Bayeux'svast earldomof Kent, Henry put William off with smilesand evasions,offering him insteadthe hand of the queen's blue-bloodedbut pennilesssister.ro Refusing to settlefor prestige alone, William of Mortain declinedthe offcr and joined the king's enemies.losing his landsin the processand evcntuallyhis freedom. And Henry marriedthe queen'ssister to anotherwealthy magnate, Eustaceof Boulogne.r'Again, when Richardearl of Chesterdied childlessin I120,Henry permitted Richard's kinsman Ranulf le Mes- chin to succeedto the wealthyearldom, but in return for the favor Ranulfwas obliged to lelinquishother lands. including the lordshipof Cumberlandwhich Henry had grantedhim shortlybefore.r2 In sub- sequcntyears. Ranul{'s family demandedthe return of theselands, and blood was shedover the issue,but Ranulfhimself - happy to have becomean earl - seemsto have acceptedthe trade in good spirits; his loyalty never faltered.And Henry had forestalledthe establishmentof a super-fiefin northwestEngland. eSeeC. W. Hollister."The StrangeDeath of WilliamRufus," Speculum, XLVIII (1973)648-50. Henry's treatment of Robert of Be116me.earl of Shrewsbury, constitutesone major and undersiandableexception lo his conciliatorypolicy: see C. W. Hollister,"Henry I and RobertMalet." Viator,lY (1973)l2l. loWilliamofMalmesbury.GastoRegunt, ed. WillianStubbs(RoilsSeries,lE87-9) ll, 4'73:Liber Monasteriide Hyda, ed. Edward Edwards( RollsSeries, 1866) 306. I tFlorenceof Worcester,C hronicon ex Chronicis, ed. BenjaminThorpe (London. r848-9)lr,5l. t2ConrpletePeerage,rev.ed.,lll,30, l66.Similarly.whenHughd'Avrancheshad receivedthe earldomof Chesterfrom the Conqueror,c. 107l. he was obligedto relinquishhis earlierhoidings centerinS on Tutbury to Henry ofFerrars: Orderic, u.222 HistoricalReflections Henry's baronialpolicy was in fact a web of separate.interrelated relationshipswith individual magnatesand their families - the Beaumonts,the Clares,the Bigods,the Mandevilles,the Malets.the earlsof Chester,and numerousothers. Accordingly,let me illustrate Henry's techniqueby scrutinizinghis treatmentof a particularbaron from an old and wealthyConquest family - William II of Warenne, earl of Surrey. William II of Warennewas activethroughout Henry's reign.'r He inheritedin l08E and lived on until l 138.His father, William I of Warenne,seems to have been the grand-nephewof the Duchess Gunnor,wife of Duke RichardI of Normandy.William I of Warenne had risenhigh in the serviceof Duke William the Bastard,acquiring substantiallands centeringon the castlesof Mortemer and Bellen- combre in Upper Normandy.raHe fought at Hastingsand was re- wardedwith Englishlands in thirteencounties, including the rapeof Lewes in Sussexand extensiveholdings in Yorkshireand Norfolk. Their total value in 1086,as