The document with which they should be compared is the charter granted to the church of Salisbury by Henry I. at his Northampton council in 1131 (September 8).[794] Its witnesses are the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, ten bishops (Gilbert of London, Henry of Winchester, Alexander of Lincoln, John of Rochester, Seffrid of Chichester, William of Exeter, Robert of Hereford, Symon of Worcester, Roger of "Chester," and Ebrard of Norwich), seven abbots (Anscher of Reading, Ingulf of Abingdon, Walter of Gloucester, Geoffrey of St. Albans, Herbert of Westminster, Warner of Battle, and Hugh of St. Augustine's), Geoffrey the chancellor,[795] with Robert "de Sigillo,"[796] and Nigel the Bishop of Salisbury's nephew,[797] five earls (Robert of Gloucester, William of Warenne, Randulf of Chester, Robert of Leicester, and Roger of Warwick), nineteen barons (Brian fitz Count, Miles de Gloucester, Hugh Bigod, Humfrey de Bohun, Payne fitz John, Geoffrey de Clinton, William de Pont de l'Arche, Richard Basset, Aubrey de Ver, Richard fitz Gilbert, Roger fitz Richard, Walter fitz Richard, Walter de Gant, Robert de Ferrers, William Peverel of Nottingham, Baldwin de Redvers, Walter de Salisbury, William de Moion, Robert de Arundel), forty-six in all. In many ways a very noteworthy list, and not least in its likeness to the future House of Lords, with its strong clerical element. It is impossible to comment on all the magnates here assembled at Henry's court, many of whom we meet with again, but attention may be called to the significant fact that nine of the earldoms created under Stephen were bestowed on houses represented among the nineteen barons named above.[798]
[789] This list is taken from that in Stubbs' Select Charters, which is derived, through the Statutes of the Realm, from a copy at Exeter Cathedral. There is another version in Richard of Hexham (ed. Howlett, pp. 149, 150), in which Payn fitz John is omitted and Hugh de St. Clare entered in error for Hamon. But the reading "Silvanecta" (for "Saint liz") is confirmed by Charter No. I., as well as by a charter in Cott. MSS., Nero, C. iii. (fol. 177). Both versions of this list are questionable as to the second "pincerna," the statutes reading "Eudone Mart'," while Richard gives "Martel de Alb'."
[790] This list is here printed as it is given by Hearne, but the order of the names, of course, is wholly erroneous, the prelates being placed low down instead of at the head. The right order would be prelates, chancellor (and chaplain), the "royalties," the earls, the household officers, and the "barones." But it would not be safe to rearrange the names in the absence of the original charter, in which they probably stood in parallel columns.
[791] Henry de Soilli (or Sully), son of Stephen's brother William. I find him attesting a charter of Stephen abroad, subsequently, as "H. de Soilli, nepote regis." He was a monk, and failing to obtain the bishopric of Salisbury or the archbishopric of York, in 1140, was consoled with the Abbey of Fécamp.
[792] For if he had even been then a count over sea, he would have ranked, like the Count of Meulan, among English earls.
[793] "Fuit quoque Henricus filius regis Scottiæ ad curiam Stephani regis Angliæ in proxima Pascha, quam apud Londoniam festive tenuit, cum maximo honore susceptus, atque ad mensam ad dexteram ipsius regis sedit. Unde et Willelmus archiepiscopus Cantuarensis se a rege subtraxit, et quidam proceres Angliæ erga regem indignati coram ipso Henrico calumpnias intulerant" (Ric. Hexham). Among these "proceres" was the Earl of Chester.
[794] Sarum Charters and Documents (Rolls Series), pp. 6, 7.
[795] Afterwards Bishop of Durham.
[796] Afterwards Bishop of London.
[797] Afterwards the celebrated Bishop of Ely.