Henry "fitz Empress" was at this time only nine and a half years old. The claim he is here made to advance as "rightful heir" of England and Normandy sounds the key-note of the coming struggle. Not only till he had obtained the crown, but also after he had obtained it, he steadily dwelt on his "right" to the throne, of which Stephen had wrongfully deprived him.
We should also note that he claims to be "heir" of England and Normandy, but not of Anjou. I take this to imply that he posed as no mere heir-expectant, but as one who ought, by right, to be in actual possession of his realm. He could not, in the lifetime of his father, assume this attitude to Anjou. Hence its omission. As for his mother, he seems, from the first, to have claimed her inheritance, as he eventually obtained it, not for her, but for himself.
Let us now return to the charter of the Empress.
It will be best to discuss its successive clauses seriatim. The opening portion, from "Sciatis me reddidisse" to "sicut alia Carta mea quam inde habuit testatur," is merely a confirmation of her previous charter, granted, as we learn from this, for the purpose of securing him in the possession of his father's fief and office of royal chamberlain. His father, who is said to have been slain in May, 1141, had been granted the chamberlainship by Henry I. in 1133, the charter being printed by Madox from Dugdale's transcript. This confirmation repeats its terms.
The next portion extends from the words "Et do et concedo" to "sicut Carta sua alia quam inde habet testatur." About this there is some obscurity. The word is "do," not "reddo," and the expression "Carta sua" replaces "Carta mea." The clause clearly refers to grants made to Aubrey himself since his father's death, but whether by the king or by the Empress is not so clear as could be wished. The point need not be discussed at length, but the former seems the more probable.
Fortunately, there is no such doubt about the clauses of creation. Here the question of the formula becomes all-important. The case stands thus. There are only two instances in the course of this reign in which we can be quite certain that we are dealing with creations de novo. The one is that by which the king "made" Geoffrey Earl of Essex; the other, that by which the Empress "made" Miles Earl of Hereford. We know that neither grantee had been created an earl before; and we find that the sovereign, in each instance, speaks of having "made" ("fecisse") him an earl.[586] So, again, in the only instance of a "counter-patent" of creation, of which we can be quite certain, namely, that by which the Empress recognized Geoffrey as Earl of Essex after he had received that title from Stephen, the formula used is: "Do et concedo ut sit Comes." The two are essentially distinct. Now, applying this principle to the present charter, we find the latter of the two formulæ employed on this occasion. The words are: "Do ei et concedo ut sit Comes." We infer, therefore, if my view be right, that Aubrey was already in enjoyment of comital rank when he received this charter. It might be, and indeed has been, supposed that he was so by virtue of a creation by Stephen. I have noted an instance in which he attests a charter of Stephen (at the siege of Wallingford) as a "comes,"[587] and it is not likely that Stephen would allow him this title in virtue of a creation by the Empress. On the other hand, in this charter the Empress treats him as already a comes, which she does not do in the case of Geoffrey, who had been created a comes by Stephen.[588] The difference between the two cases is accounted for by the fact that Aubrey was comes not by a creation of Stephen, but in right of his wife Beatrice, heiress of the Comté of Guisnes. This has been clearly explained by Mr. Stapleton in his paper on "The Barony of William of Arques,"[589] although he is mistaken in his dates. He wrongly thought, like others, that Aubrey's father, the chamberlain, was killed in May, 1140, instead of May, 1141, and, like Mr. Eyton, he wrongly assigned this charter of the empress to 1141, instead of 1142.[590] His able identification of "Albericus Aper" with Aubrey de Vere may be supplemented by a reference to the fact that "the blue boar" was the badge of the family through a pun on the Latin verres.
Aubrey was already the husband of Beatrice, the heiress of Guisnes, at the death of her grandfather Count Manasses (? 1139). He thereupon went to Flanders and became (says Lambart d'Ardes) Count of Guisnes. Returning to England, he sought and obtained from Stephen his wife's English inheritance and executed, as Mr. Stapleton observes, in his father's lifetime (i.e. before May, 1141), the charter printed in Morant's Essex (ii. 506). Aubrey was divorced from Beatrice a few years later, when she married (between 1144 and 1146, thinks Mr. Stapleton) Baldwin d'Ardres, the claimant of Guisnes. Thus did Aubrey come to be for a time "Count of Guisnes," as recorded, according to Weever, on his tomb at Colne Priory.
Mr. Stapleton was unable to produce any English record or chronicle in which Aubrey is given the style of "Count of Guisnes." It is, therefore, with much satisfaction that I print, from the original charter, the following record, conclusively establishing that he actually had that style:—
Cott. Chart, xxi. 6.
"Ordingus dei gratia Abbas ecclesie sancti eadmundi Omnibus hominibus suis et amicis et fidelibus francis et anglis salutem. Sciatis me concessisse Alberico comiti Gisnensi per concessum totius conventus totum feudum et servitium Rogeri de Ver auunculi sui sicut tenet de honore sancti eadmundi uidelicet per seruitium unius militis et dimidii et totum feudum et seruitium Alani filii Frodonis sicut tenet de honore sancti eadmundi uidelicet per seruitium iii militum, et insuper singulis annis centum solidos ad pascha de camera mea. Hec omnia illi concedo in feudo et hereditate, ipsi et heredibus suis de ecclesia sancti eadmundi et de meis successoribus. Quare uolo et firmiter precipio quod idem Albericus comes Gisnensis et heredes sui jure hereditario teneant de ecclesia sancti eadmundi bene et honorifice hec supradicta omnia per seruitium quod supradiximus. Huius donationis sunt testes ex parte mea Willelmus prior Radulfus sacrista Gotscelinus et Eudo monachi Mauricius dapifer Gilebertus blundus Adam de cocef' Radulfus de lodn' Willelmus filius Ailb'. Helias de melef' Gauffridus frater eius. Ex parte comitis, Gauffridus de ver Robertus filius humfridi Robertus filius Ailr' Garinus filius Geroldi Hugo de ging' Albericus de capella Radulfus filius Adam Guarinus frater eius Radulfus de gisnes Gauffridus filius Humfridi Gauffridus Arsic Rodbertus de cocef' Radulfus carboneal et Hugo filius eius et plures alii."[591]