We must now pass from the grant of this charter to the great day of Lincoln (February 2, 1141), where the fortunes of England and her king were changed "in the twinkling of an eye" by the wild charge of "the Disinherited," as they rode for death or victory.[160]
[98] Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniæ, II. clxxxviii. Such was also the opinion of M. Leopold Delisle. The French editors, however, of Ordericus write: "On ne sait auquel des nombreux Magneville, Mandeville, Manneville de Normandie rapporter le berceau de cette illustre maison" (iv. 108).
[99] There is a curious story in the Waltham Chronicle (De Inventione, cap. xiii.) that the Conqueror placed Geoffrey in the shoes of Esegar the staller. The passage runs thus: "Cui [Tovi] successit filius ejus Adelstanus pater Esegari qui stalra inventus est in Angliæ conquisitione a Normannis, cuius hereditatem postea dedit conquisitor terræ, rex Willelmus, Galfrido de Mandevile proavi presentis comitis Willelmi. Successit quidem Adelstanus patri suo Tovi, non in totam quidem possessionem quam possederat pater, sed in eam tantum quæ pertinebat ad stallariam, quam nunc habet comes Willelmus." The special interest of this story lies in the official connection of Esegar [or Ansgar] the staller with London and Middlesex, combined with the fact that Geoffrey occupied the same position. See p. 354, and Addenda.
[100] "Post cujus [i.e. Galfridi] mortem reliquit filium suum hæredem, cui firmitas turris Londoniarum custodienda committitur. Nobili cum Rege magnificé plura gessit patri non immerito in rebus agendis coæqualis" (Monasticon). Dugdale's error, as we might expect, is followed by later writers, Mr. Clark treating Geoffrey as the first "hereditary constable," and his son, whom with characteristic inaccuracy he transforms from "William" into "Walter," as the second (Mediæval Military Architecture, ii. 253, 254). The French editors of Ordericus (iv. 108) strangely imagined that William was brother, not son, of Geoffrey de Mandeville.
[101] "In arce Lundoniensi Guillelmo de Magnavilla custodiendus in vinculis traditus est" (iv. 108).
[102] See for instance Abingdon Cartulary, ii. 73, 85, 116, where he attests charters of circ. 1110-1112.
[103] Monasticon, iii. 433. He founds the priory "pro anima Athelaisæ primæ uxoris meæ, matris filiorum meorum jam defunctæ;" and "Lecelina domina uxor mea" is a witness to the charter.
[104] It is necessary to check by authentic charters and other trustworthy evidence the chronicles printed in the Monasticon under Walden Abbey. One of these was taken from a long and interesting MS., formerly in the possession of the Royal Society, but now among the Arundel MSS. in the British Museum. This, which is only partially printed, and which ought to be published in its entirety, has the commencement wanting, and is, unfortunately, very inaccurate for the early period of which I treat. It is this narrative which makes the wild misstatements as to the circumstances of the foundation, which grossly misdates Geoffrey's death, etc., etc. All its statements are accepted by Dugdale. The other chronicle, which he printed from Cott. MS., Titus, D. 20, is far more accurate, gives Geoffrey's death correctly, and rightly assigns him as wife the sister (not the daughter) of the Earl of Oxford, thus correcting Dugdale's error. It is the latter chronicle which Dugdale has misquoted with reference to the charge of the Tower.
[105] Who was really Peter de Valognes.
[106] "Madox ... has shown ... that Geoffrey Fitzpeter, Earl of Essex, obtained from the Crown Grants of the shrievalty of the Counties of Essex and Hertford when the Earls, commonly called Earls of Clare, were Earls of Hertford, and had the Third Penny of the Pleas of that County" (iii. 69, ed. 1829).