[798] See Appendix D: "The 'Fiscal' Earls."
APPENDIX D.
THE "FISCAL" EARLS.
(See p. [53].)
"Stephen's earldoms are a matter of great constitutional importance." Such are the words of the supreme authority on the constitutional history of the time. I propose, therefore, to deal with this subject in detail and at some length, and to test the statements of the chroniclers—too readily, as I think, accepted—by the actual facts of the case, so far as they can now be recovered.
The two main propositions advanced by our historians on this subject are: (1) that Stephen created many new earls, who were deposed by Henry II. on his accession;[799] (2) that these new earls, having no means of their own, had to be provided for "by pensions on the Exchequer."[800] That these propositions are fairly warranted by the statements of one or two chroniclers may be at once frankly conceded; that they are true in fact, we shall now find, may be denied without hesitation.
Let us first examine Dr. Stubbs's view as set forth in his own words:—
| "Not satisfied with putting this weapon into the hands of his enemies, he provoked their pride and jealousy by conferring the title of earl upon some of those whom he trusted most implicitly, irrespective of the means which they might have of supporting their new dignity. Their poverty was relieved by pensions drawn from the Exchequer.... Stephen, almost before the struggle for the crown had begun, attempted to strengthen his party by a creation of new earls. To these the third penny of the county was given, and their connection with the district from which the title was taken was generally confined to this comparatively small endowment, the rest of their provision being furnished by pensions on the Exchequer" (Const. Hist., i. 324, 362). | "Stephen also would have a court of great earls, but in trying to make himself friends he raised up persistent enemies. He raised new men to new earldoms, but as he had no spare domains to bestow, he endowed them with pensions charged on the Exchequer ... the new and unsubstantial earldoms provoked the real earls to further hostility; and the newly created lords demanded of the king new privileges as the reward and security for their continued services" (Early Plants., p. 19).[801] |
Now, these "pensions on the Exchequer" must, I fear, be dismissed at once as having an existence only in a misapprehension of the writer. Indeed, if the Exchequer machinery had broken down, as he holds, it is difficult to see of what value these pensions would be. But in any case, it is absolutely certain that such grants as were made were alienations of lands and rents, and not "pensions" at all.[802] The passages bearing on these grants are as follows. Robert de Torigny (alias "De Monte") states that Stephen "omnia pene ad fiscum pertinentia minus caute distribuerat," and that Henry, on his accession, "cœpit revocare in jus proprium urbes, castella, villas, quæ ad coronam regni pertinebant."[803] William of Newburgh writes:—