[92] "Juraverunt ut filiæ suæ imperatrici fide servata regnum Angliæ hæreditario jure post eum servarent" (p. 281). Compare William of Newburgh, on Henry's accession: "Hæreditarium regnum suscepit." These expressions are the more noteworthy because of the contrast they afford to the Conqueror's dying words, "Neminem Anglici constituo heredem ... non enim tantum decus hereditario jure possedi" (Ord. Vit.).
[93] Will. Malms., 691.
[94] That the oath of January 1, 1127, preceding the marriage of the Empress, was, as I have urged, the ruling one seems to be further implied by the passage in William of Malmesbury: "Ego Rogerum Salesbiriensem episcopum sæpe dicentem audivi, 'Solutum se sacramento quod imperatrici fecerat: eo enim pacto se jurasse, ne rex præter consilium suum et cæterorum procerum filiam cuiquam nuptam daret extra regnum,'" etc., etc. (p. 693).
[95] As for instance when Henry II. obtained Aquitaine with his wife. There is, as it happens, a passage in Symeon of Durham, which may have been somewhat overlooked, where it is distinctly stated that in the autumn of the year (1127), Henry conceded, as a condition of the Angevin match, that, in default of his having a son, Geoffrey of Anjou should succeed him ("remque ad effectum perduxit eo tenore ut regi, de legitima conjuge hæredem non habenti, mortuo gener illius in regnum succederet"). That Geoffrey's claim was recognized at the time is clear from the striking passage quoted by Mr. Freeman from his panegyrist ("sceptro ... non injuste aspirante"), and even more so from the explicit statement: "Volente igitur Gaufrido comite cum uxore suâ, quæ hæres erat [here again is an allusion to her hereditary right], in regnum succedere, primores terræ, juramenti sui male recordantes, regem eum suscipere noluerunt, dicentes 'Alienigena non regnabit super nos'" (Select Charters, p. 110).
[96] Compare the style of "Alphonso XIII., by the grace of God constitutional King of Spain."
[97] "Canonica prius electione præcedente."
CHAPTER II.
THE FIRST CHARTER OF THE KING.
Geoffrey de Mandeville was the grandson and heir of a follower of the conqueror of the same name. From Mandeville, a village, according to Mr. Stapleton, near Trevières in the Bessin,[98] the family took its name, which, being Latinized as "De Magnavilla," is often found as "De Magnaville." The elder Geoffrey appears in Domesday as a considerable tenant-in-chief, his estates lying in no less than eleven different counties.[99] On the authority of the Monasticon he is said by Dugdale to have been made constable of the Tower. Dugdale, however, has here misquoted his own authority, for the chronicle printed by him states, not that Geoffrey, but that his son and heir (William) received this office.[100] Its statement is confirmed by Ordericus Vitalis, who distinctly mentions that the Tower was in charge of William de Mandeville when Randulf Flambard was there imprisoned in 1101.[101] This may help to explain an otherwise puzzling fact, namely, that a Geoffrey de Mandeville, who was presumably his father, appears as a witness to charters of a date subsequent to this.[102]
Geoffrey de Mandeville founded the Benedictine priory of Hurley,[103] and we know the names of his two wives, Athelais and Leceline. By the former he had a son and heir, William, mentioned above, who in turn was the father of Geoffrey, the central figure of this work.[104]