Thus both writers assume that there were two seals, one which remained in England with the chancellor, and one which accompanied the king to the east. They further (though Dr Stubbs is somewhat obscure) hold that the two excuses given refer respectively to the two seals, thus discrediting both. But when we turn to the charters themselves, we find but one seal mentioned, and to that one seal alone both the excuses refer. The king explains that on two occasions it was, so to speak, 'out on the loose'—(1) when his vice-chancellor was drowned; (2) when he himself was captured in Germany. This was, of course, the seal which accompanied him to the east.[9] The king makes no allusion to any other or to the chancellor. Such charters and grants as are known to us all proceed from the king himself, either before he left Messina or after he had reached Germany on his return. No charter or grant of Longchamp, as representing him, is known. In short, the whole of our record evidence points one way: the charters which the king proclaimed must be confirmed, and which we find brought to him for that purpose were those which he had himself granted, and no other. Lastly, even had we nothing before us but the passage in Hoveden which all have followed, I contend that it may, and indeed ought to be, read as referring to a single seal. But it is, as Miss Norgate justly observes, 'very confused', from its allusion to the chancellor's use of the seal. That allusion, however, would most naturally refer to the truce of Tillières, and not to the use of a separate seal in England. Therefore even if we accepted, which I do not, Hoveden's statement, it would not warrant the inference that has been drawn.
Again, when Miss Norgate writes of the 'withdrawal of the seal from William', and when Dr Stubbs tells us that the king 'took the seal from' him, these statements may have two meanings. But M. Boivin-Champeaux is more precise: 'L'emploi de ces procédés emportait le mépris et la violation non seulement de tous les actes étrangers au chancelier, mais encore de tous ceux où il avait mis la main. Il ne pouvait décemment conserver les sceaux. Le roi les lui enleva.' This is a distinct assertion that Longchamp was deprived of his office. Yet all our evidence points to the conclusion that he remained chancellor to the day of his death.
Dismissing Hoveden for the time, and returning to the testimony of the charters, we have seen that they point to the event we are discussing having taken place in 1198, between January 7, at which date the first seal was still in use, and May 27, when charters were already being brought for confirmation under the second seal. Passing now from the charters to the seals still in existence, we learn from Mr Wyon's magnificent work[10] (which has appeared since I completed my own investigation) that the first seal was still in use on April 1, 1198,[11] while an impression of the second is found as early as May 22, 1198.[12] Thus our limit of time for the change is narrowed to April 1-May 22, 1198.[13] The evidence of the charters and of the seals being thus in perfect harmony, let us see whether this limit of date corresponds with a time of financial difficulty. For, so desperate a device as that of the king's repudiation of his charters would only have been resorted to at a time of extreme pressure. What do we find? We find that the time of this change of seal corresponds with the great financial crisis of Richard's reign. The Church had at length lost patience, and had actually in the Council at Oxford (December 1197) raised a protest. The 'want of money', in Miss Norgate's words, was 'a difficulty which ... must have seemed well-nigh insurmountable'. Preparations were being made for a huge levy at five shillings on every ploughland. It was at this moment that the desperate king repudiated all the charters he had granted throughout his reign, and proclaimed that they must be 'brought to him for confirmation; in other words ... paid for a second time'.[14]
Let us now look at the other chroniclers. R. Coggeshall is independent and precise:
Accessit autem ad totius mali cumulum, juxta vitæ ejus terminum, prioris sigilli sui renovatio, quo exiit edictum per totum ejus regnum ut omnes cartæ, confirmationes, ac privilegiatæ libertates quæ prioris sigilli impressione roboraverat, irrita forent nec alicujus libertatis vigorem obtinerent, nisi posteriori sigillo roborarentur. In quibus renovandis et iterum comparandis innumerabilis pecunia congesta est (p. 93).
This is in complete accordance with the now ascertained fact that Richard changed his seal, and regranted the old charters, within the last year of his life. Similarly independent and precise evidence is afforded by the Annals of Waverley:
mcxcviii. Anno x. regis Ricardi præcepit idem rex omnes cartas in regno suo emptas reformari, et novo sigilli sui impressione roborari, vel omnes cassari, cujuscunque dignitatis aut ordinis essent, qui vellent sua protectione defensari, vel universa bona sua confiscari.[15]
Further, we read in the Annals of Worcester[16] and in the Historia Major of M. Paris (ii. 450-451)[17] that in 1198, 'circaque festum sancti Michaelis, mutatæ sunt carte quas prius fecerat rex Ricardus, novo sigillo suo'. Now this Michaelmas fell just in the heart of the period within which the process of confirmation is proved to have been going on.
We see, then, that the evidence (1) of the seals, (2) of the charters, (3) of the circumstances of the time, (4) of other chroniclers, all concur in pointing to the spring of 1198. And now we will lastly appeal to Hoveden against himself. After telling us of the king's proclamation on the refusal of the religious to contribute to the carucage in the spring of 1198, he adds: