Now we know, from William of Malmesbury himself, that "the regular election in question" took place on the 8th of April, and that the second of the passages quoted above refers to this later episode,[191] while the other refers to the earlier.[192] I have drawn attention to the two words (recipere and eligimus) which he respectively applies to the "reception" and the "election." The description of this "reception" by William of Malmesbury[193] completely tallies with that which is given by the Empress herself in a charter.[194] It should further be compared with the account by the author of the Gesta Stephani, of the similar reception accorded to Stephen in 1135.[195]
But though the legate could open to the Empress the cathedral and the cathedral city, he had no power over the royal castle. This we saw in the case of Stephen, when his efforts to secure the constable's adherence were fruitless till the king himself arrived. Probably the constable, at this crisis, was the same William de Pont de l'Arche, but, whoever he was, he surrendered to the Empress the castle and all that it contained. In one respect, indeed, she was doomed to be bitterly disappointed, for the royal treasury, which her adventurous rival had found filled to overflowing, was by this time all but empty. One treasure, however, she secured; the object of her desires, the royal crown, was placed in her triumphant hands.[196]
To the one historian who has dealt with this incident it has proved a stumbling-block indeed. Mr. Freeman thus boldly attacks the problem:—
"William of Malmesbury (Hist. Nov., iii. 42) seems distinctly to exclude a coronation; he merely says, 'Honorifica factâ processione, recepta est in ecclesia episcopatus Wintoniæ.' We must, therefore, see only rhetoric when the Continuator says, 'Datur ejus dominio corona Angliæ,' and when the author of the Gesta (75) speaks of 'regisque castello, et regni coronâ, quam semper ardentissime affectârat, ... in deliberationem suam contraditis,' and adds that Henry 'dominam et reginam acclamare præcepit.' The Waverley Annalist, 1141, ventures to say, 'Corona regni est ei tradita.'"[197]
"Only rhetoric." Ah, how easily could history be written, if one could thus dispose of inconvenient evidence! So far from being "rhetoric," it is precisely because these statements are so strictly matter-of-fact that the writer failed to grasp their meaning. Had he known, or remembered, that the royal crown was preserved in the royal treasury, the passage by which he is so sorely puzzled would have proved simplicity itself.[198]
Here again, light is thrown on these events and on the action of the Empress by the precedent in the case of her father (1100), who, on the death of his brother, hastened to Winchester Castle ("ubi regalis thesaurus continebatur"), which was formally handed over to him with all that it contained ("arx cum regalibus gazis filio regis Henrico reddita est").[199]
We have yet to consider the passage from the Gesta, to which Mr. Birch so confidently appeals, and which is dismissed by Mr. Freeman as "rhetoric." The passage runs:—
"In publica se civitatis et fori audientia dominam et reginam acclamare præcepit."[200]
By a strange coincidence it has been misconstrued by both writers independently. Mr. Freeman, as we saw, takes "præcepit" as referring to Henry himself, and so does Mr. Birch.[201] Though the sentence as a whole may be obscure, yet the passage quoted is quite clear. The words are "præcepit se," not "præcepit illam." Thus the proclamation, if made, was the doing of the Empress and not of the legate. Had the legate been indeed responsible, his conduct would have been utterly inconsistent. But as it is, the difficulty vanishes.[202]
To the double style, "domina et regina," I have made reference above. My object now is to examine this assumption of the style "regina" by the Empress. It might perhaps be urged that the author of the Gesta cannot here be implicitly relied on. His narrative, however, is vigorous and consistent; it is in perfect harmony with the character of the Empress; and so far as the assumption of this style is concerned, it is strikingly confirmed by that Oxford charter, to which we are now coming. After her election (April 8), the Empress might claim, as queen elect, the royal title, but if that were excusable, which is granting much, its assumption before her election could admit of no defence. Yet, headstrong and impetuous, and thirsting for the throne, she would doubtless urge that her rival's fall rendered her at once de facto queen. But this was as yet by no means certain. Stephen's brother, as we know, was talked of, and the great nobles held aloof. The Continuator, indeed, asserts that at Winchester (March) were "præsules pene totius Angliæ, barones multi, principes plurimi" (p. 130), but William, whose authority is here supreme, does not, though writing as a partisan of the Empress, make any allusion to their presence.[203] Moreover, the primate was still in doubt, and of the five bishops who were present with the legate, three (St. David's, Hereford, and Bath) came from districts under the influence of the Empress, while the other two (Lincoln and Ely) were still smarting beneath Stephen's action of two years before (1139).