The history of Porchester, in the Norman period, has yet to be worked out. Mr. Clark, for instance, tells us that the castle was “always in the hands of the Crown,”[179] yet we find it here appurtenant to the chamberlainship, and in Domesday (47 b) it was a ‘manor’ held by William Malduith. The above charter, in my opinion, was one of those which Duke Henry granted without intending to fulfil.[180] Porchester had clearly been secured by the Crown, and Henry was not the man to part with such a fortress. Of William Mauduith’s Domesday fief, Hartley Mauditt (‘Herlege’) also was held by the later Mauduits; but they held it still “per serjanteriam camar[ariæ] Domini Regis”[181] or “per camerariam ad scaccarium.”[182]
It should be added that the other chamberlainship of the Exchequer was similarly a serjeanty associated with land. It cannot, however, be carried back beyond 1156, when Henry II. bestowed on Warin Fitz Gerold, chamberlain, lands in Wiltshire worth £34 a year, and in Berkshire to nearly the same amount.[183] The former was the chamberlainship estate, and reappears as Sevenhampton (near Highworth) in his brother’s carta (1166), where it is expressly stated to have been given to Warin by the king.[184] It was similarly held by his heir and namesake (with whom he is often confused), under John,[185] and by the latter’s heir, Margaret ‘de Ripariis,’ under Henry III.[186]
This estate must not be confused with that of Stratton, Wilts, which was bestowed by John (to whom it had escheated) on the later Warin Fitz Gerold, to hold at a fee-farm rent of £13 a year.[187] It is necessary to make this distinction, because Mr. Hall, in dealing with the subject, speaks of it as “held apparently by the Countess of Albemarle as pertaining to the (sic) chamberlainship of England” (sic).[188] On the same page he speaks of a deed, on page 1024 of the same volume, whereby she “secures to Adam de Strattone, clerk, an annuity of £13, charged on the farm of Stratton.” Reference to page 1024 shows that, on the contrary, what she did was to make herself and her heirs responsible to the Exchequer for the annual £13, which was “the farm” of Stratton (so that Adam might hold Stratton quit therefrom). This is a further instance of Mr. Hall’s unhappy inability to understand or describe accurately the documents with which he deals.[189]
I have now traced for the first time, so far as I can find, the origin of the two chamberlainships of the Exchequer. That of Mauduit can be traced, we see, to a chamberlainship of the ‘Treasury,’ existing certainly under Henry I., and possibly under the Conqueror. Of the other the existence is not proved before 1156. Both, I have shown, were associated with the tenure of certain estates.
It is very strange that, in his magnum opus,[190] Madox not only ignores, it would seem, this descent of the office with certain lands, but gives a most unsatisfactory account of those who held the office, confusing it, clearly, with the chamberlainship of England, and not distinguishing or tracing its holders.
For the different standards of payment in use at the Exchequer, our authority, of course, is the ‘Dialogus,’ but the subject, I venture to think, is still exceedingly obscure. Even Mr. Hall, who has studied so closely the ‘Dialogus,’ seems to leave it rather doubtful whether payment in ‘blank’ money meant a deduction of 6d. or of 12d. on the pound.[191] It will be best to leave the ‘Dialogus’ for the moment, and take an actual case where the charters and the rolls can be compared, and a definite result obtained.
In Lans. MS. 114, at fo. 55, there is a series of extracts transcribed from a Register of Holy Trinity (or Christchurch) Priory, London, in which are comprised the royal charters relating to Queen Maud’s gift of two-thirds of the revenues (ferm) of Exeter. First, Henry I. confirms it, late in his reign,[192] as “xxv libras ad scalam,” the charter being addressed to William bishop of Exeter, and Baldwin the sheriff (sic). Then we have another charter from him addressed “Rogero episcopo Sar[esbiriensi] et Baronibus Scaccarii,” and witnessed, at Winchester, by Geoffrey de Clinton, in which it is “xxv libras blancas.” Stephen’s charter follows, addressed to William bishop of Exeter, and Richard son of Baldwin, the sheriff, in which again we have “xxv lib. ad scalam.” Lastly, we come to an important entry that seems to have remained unknown:
In 1180, on St. Martin’s Day, king Henry issued (fecit currere) his new money, in the 26th year of his reign, and as the sheriff of Exeter (Exon’) would not pay the prior of Christchurch, for Michaelmas term, £12 16s. 3d. “secundum pondus blancum,” Prior Stephen obtained from the king the following writ.
Then follows a writ which clearly belongs not to 1180, but to an earlier period. It is addressed “prepositis et civibus Exonie,” and directs that the canons are to enjoy their rents as in his grandfather’s time (‘Teste Manessero Biset dapifero, apud Wirecestriam’). Next comes a passage so important that it must be quoted in the original words, although, like the whole of the transcript, it seems slightly corrupt.