But if we turn to the other possible period, the latter half of 1170, we find an occasion when six of the witnesses to the above charter can actually be shown to have been present, under circumstances of peculiar interest, with the young king at Winchester.
The evidence of charters is so deficient at this period of the reign that from August 1170 to June 1171, Mr Eyton could only adduce two charters 'quite problematically' and one more 'safely', as he claims, but erroneously, as his own pages show.[9] If, then, our charter belongs to this period, its evidence is proportionately valuable. Now all that we know of the movements of the young king at the time is that he was at Westminster on October 5th, and that he kept his Christmas at Winchester. Mr Eyton's book must here be used with great caution. He has been misled by R. de Diceto (i. 342)[10] into the statement that Henry was at Woodstock when Becket sought to visit him in December; and adds—by a confusion, it would seem, with his October movements—'The young king is at Windsor' (December 4th[11]). Henry was neither at Woodstock nor Windsor at this time, but at Winchester. Becket's biographers are unanimous in stating that he sent his envoy before him to the young king at Winchester.
Landing on December 1st, and entering Canterbury next day, the primate (says William fitz Stephen), 'post octo dierum moram in sede',[12] sent Richard, prior of Dover (who was destined to be his own successor), to the young king to ask permission to visit him 'tanquam regem et dominum suum'. Richard 'veniens Wintoniam, regem invenit, ubi optimates regni ... coegerat'.[13]
The purpose of this special assembly was connected with the scheme for an irregular election to the vacant sees, at the court of the elder king, by deputations whom his son was to send over.[14] Prior Richard was confronted by the young king's guardians (three of whom attest our charter).[15] He himself, on receiving the application, sent (as I read it) to consult Geoffrey Ridel, who was believed to know his father's wishes, and who, with the Archdeacon of Poitiers, was at Southampton, waiting to cross.[16] Turning, for their movements, to William fitz Stephen, we learn that, while on their way to cross from a Kentish port, the two archdeacons, on entering the county, learnt that the primate had arrived at Canterbury, and, turning their horses' heads, made for a more westerly port.[17] Southampton clearly was the port they made for, and on their way thither they must have visited the young king at Winchester. This is admitted in the case of Geoffrey, who went there, says Becket, to lay before him the complaint of the excommunicated bishops.
I believe that our charter belongs to this occasion, when the two attesting archdeacons were at Winchester. Reg' no doubt is Earl Reginald of Cornwall, who was certainly present at the same time[18] and who is probably referred to in 'li cunte' of Garnier. This will establish the presence of six of our witnesses. Of the others, Richard de Luci takes precedence as justiciar; Alan de Nevill, Thomas Basset, and the great Glanville were, like the two archdeacons and the three guardians of the king, members of the judicial body; Humfrey de Bohun, Gilbert Malet, and Manasser Bisset were present as officers of the household; John, constable of Chester, was (then or afterwards) son-in-law to the grantee's wife, and Geoffrey de Say was the son of the earl's aunt; Osbert fitz Richard and David de Jarpenville (probably John de Rochelle also) were among the earl's feudal tenants and are found attesting another of his charters; and Hasculf was the enterprising chaplain who had plotted to carry off the late earl's corpse and present it to the nuns of Chicksand. The only person whose presence need puzzle us is the Earl of Essex himself; for William fitz Stephen[19] asserts that he was despatched from Henry's court after the arrival there of the excommunicated prelates and the Archdeacon of Poitou. Either, then, he had previously paid a flying visit to Winchester, or he must have been absent when this transaction was recorded.
[1] Madox gives a misleading reference. The charter occurs among the Clavering enrolments of m. 17 (not 19) of the L.T.R. Memoranda of the Exchequer, containing the Michælmas communia of 5 Edward II.
[2] Mr Hubert Hall, of the Public Record Office, kindly undertook to transcribe the charter for me.
[3] Read Ric[ardo].
[4] Read constab[ulo].
[5] See my paper on 'Who was Alice of Essex?' in the Essex Arch. Transactions.