[555] "Comiti ... meis." Dodsworth has only "Com etc."
[556] "cum sigillo" (Dods.).
[557] The clause certainly favours the belief that a relationship existed, but it was probably collateral, instead of lineal.
[558] "Possessiones omnes ad ecclesiam pertinentes, castellum quoque de Storteford in sua dominatione recepit" (Rad. de Diceto, i. 250).
[559] This negotiation between the Empress and Geoffrey should be compared with that between her and the legate in the spring of the preceding year. Each illustrates the other. In the latter case the expression used is, "Juravit et affidavit imperatrix episcopo quod," etc. In the former, the empress is made to say, "Hanc autem convencionem et donacionem tenendam affidavi," etc. But the striking point of resemblance is that in each case her leading followers are made to take part in the pledge of performance. At Winchester, we read in William of Malmesbury, "Idem juraverunt cum ea, et affidaverunt pro eâ, Robertus frater ejus comes de Gloecestrâ, et Brianus filius comitis marchio de Walingeford, et Milo de Gloecestriâ, postea comes de Hereford, et nonnulli alii" (see p. 58). At Oxford, we read in these charters, "Et hujus fiduciæ sunt obsides per fidem et Testes, Robertus comes Gloecestrie, et Milo comes Herefordie, et Brianus filius comitis et," etc. So close a parallel further confirms the genuineness of these charters. Another remarkable document illustrative of this negotiation is the alliance ("Confederatio amoris") between the Earls of Hereford and Gloucester (see Appendix S). Each earl there "affidavit et juravit" to the other, and each named certain of his followers as his "obsides per fidem"—the very phrase here used. See also p. 385, n. 3.
[560] That these securities were modelled on the practice of contracting sovereign powers is seen on comparing them with the treaty between Henry I. and the Count of Flanders (see Appendix S). But most to the point is the treaty between King Stephen and Duke Henry, where the clause for securing the "conventiones" runs:—"Archiepiscopi vero et episcopi ab utraque parte in manu ceperunt quod si quis nostrum a predictis conventionibus recederet, tam diu eum ecclesiastica justicia coercebunt, quousque errata corrigat et ad predictam pactionem observandam redeat. Mater etiam Ducis et ejus uxor et fratres ipsius Ducis et omnes sui quos ad hoc applicare poterit, hæc assecurabunt."
[561] We may perhaps compare the oath taken by the French king some years before, to secure the charter ("Keure") granted to St. Omer by William, Count of Flanders (April 14, 1127):—"Hanc igitur Communionem tenendam, has supradictas consuetudines et conventiones esse observandas fide promiserunt et sacramento confirmaverunt Ludovicus rex Francorum, Guillelmus Comes Flandriæ," etc., etc.
[562] See Appendix T, on "Affidatio in manu."
[563] See Appendix U: "The Families of Mandeville and De Vere."
[564] Add. MSS., 31,943, fols. 86 b, 99, 116 b.