The Commune of London, and other studies

by John Horace Round

If I have gone further than himself, it has been in criticising more searchingly the authority of the ‘Dialogus de Scaccario’ for the reign of Henry I., in demonstrating the actual evolution of the “scaccarium” from the “thesaurus,” and in tracing the origin of the chamberlain’s office and its feudal, tenurial character. The alternative use of ‘blancæ’ and ‘ad scalam’ in the reign of Henry I. is, I believe, a new discovery, and so, it would seem, is that Treasury audit on which I have laid special stress. Petty details, it may be said, and of slight historical importance. So thought Richard the son of Nigel, pleading: “nec est vel esse potest in eis subtilium rerum descriptio, vel jocunda novitatis inventio.”[202] And yet he heard the student’s cry: “cur scientiam de scaccario quæ penes te plurima esse dicitur alios non doces, et, ne tibi commoriatur, scripto commendas?” For as we have been reminded by the publication of the ‘Red Book of the Exchequer, it may be true now as then, even of those who are steeped in its records, that “sicut qui in tenebris ambulant et manibus palpant, frequenter offendunt, sic illic multi resident qui videntes non vident, et audientes non intelligunt.”[203]

V
London Under Stephen

The famous claim of the citizens of London at the death of Henry I., that the election of a king rested with themselves;[204] and the prominent part they actually took in placing Stephen on the throne, after making special terms with him,[205] impart peculiar interest to such glimpses as records afford us of the government, institutions, and leading citizens of London in Stephen’s days. Of these I have treated at some length in my work on Geoffrey de Mandeville,[206] but the information there given can now be supplemented by documents relating to the two ancient religious foundations of Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate, and the collegiate church of St. Martin’s-le-Grand.

The earliest of these with which I shall deal is assigned to the second year of Stephen, and is taken from the cartulary of Holy Trinity, now preserved at Glasgow, of which there is a modern collated transcript in the Guildhall Library. It has never yet, I believe, been printed. As Stephen was absent in Normandy from Midlent to the end of November, 1137, the episode must belong either to the early months of the year or to its close.[207] The text seems slightly corrupt in places, but is trustworthy enough for all purposes. The first points of interest to be noted are that Arnulf archdeacon of Séez, afterwards the well-known bishop of Lisieux, who here appears at Stephen’s court, had been, as I have shown, the year before, his spokesman before the Pope when his right was challenged by the Empress;[208] and that Andrew Buchuinte, a leading citizen, was clearly “Justiciar of London” at the time, in accordance with my theory that such an office was actually created by the well-known charter of Henry I.[209]

It should also be observed that the question of title is carried back straight to the days of Edward the Confessor, and is decided by the oath of twenty-one men, familiar, evidently, with the locality, in the style of the 11th century. The list of jurors is headed by Or(d)gar ‘le prude,’ who seems to have become a monk (monachus) since he had taken so prominent a part in transferring the ‘soke’ of the Cnihtengild to Holy Trinity Priory in 1125.[210]

The land in dispute was in “East Smithfield,” within the soke of the Cnihtengild, which lay outside the wall from Aldgate to the Thames, and therefore adjoined immediately the Tower precinct. The Priory having now acquired the soke, complained that successive constables of the Tower had encroached upon this land to make a vineyard. The document which follows records the result.[211]

Secundo autem anno regni Stephani Regis quodam vice cum esset Rex Westm[onasterio] adiit prefatus prior [Normannus] assistentibus et auxiliantibus sibi Regina Matilde ipsius Regis conjuge, Algaro episcopo Constanciensi, Rogero tunc cancellario, Arnulfo archidiacono Sagiensi, Willelmo Martel dapifero, Roberto de Courcy, Albrico de Ver, Gaufrido de Magnavilla, Hugone le Bigot, Adam de Balnai, Andrea Buchuinte, pluribusque aliis burgensibus Londoniæ, adiit eum et diligenter ostendit qua vi vel injuria pars illa a reliqua fuerit separata; advocat’ et Aschuillo coram Rege quesitum est ab quo jure partem illam tenuisset et quid super eam clamasset. Ipse vero r[espo]ndit se nil super ea clamare, sed sic inquit: tenui[212] Tunc Rex viva voce Andr[eæ] Justiciario suo ceterisque Burgensibus qui ibi aderant precepit (?) ipsis et ceterisque per breve suum mandavit quatinus certum diem priori constituerent in quo super eandem terram convenientes rem rationabiliter examinarent, examinata autem sic permaneret quemadmodum fuerat in tempore Regis sancti Eadwardi.[213] Quod si prior potuisset ostendere partem illam esse de predicto jure ecclesie sine dilacione seisiatur. Quod ita factum est. Statuto die super eandem terram convenerunt ex una parte prior cum coadiutoribus suis, ex alia parte Andreas Buchuinte et plures alii maiores et meliores Lond[onie]. Ratione igitur deducta a tempore sancti Eadwardi Regis usque ad illum diem quo hoc fiebat, inventum est et ostensum illam partem ad reliquam pertinere et totam similiter de predicto jure. Quod et ibidem probatum est multis testibus et sacrament’ xxj^o hominum quorum hec sunt nomina: Orgarus Monachus cognomento le prude, Ailwinus filius Radumf’ Estmund’ Alfricus Cherch’ Briccred Cucherd Wlfred’ Semar Batum Alsi Berman Wlpsi faber Alfwin Hallen Leuesune faber Wlwin’ Abbot, Ailwin’ clericus, Algarus frater Gerald’, Wlfric carnifex, Elfret Cugel Wlfric’ Edric’ Modheuesune Godwinus Balle; et multi alii parati fuerunt jurare, sed isti judicati sunt sufficere. Hoc itaque modo hæcque ratione et justicia tota illa terra et soca adjudicatum est predicte ecclesie. Quam Stephanus Rex confirmat prefate ecclesie (vel priori?) per cartam sequentem.

Stephanus Rex Angl[orum] Episcopo London[iensi] Justic[iariis], vicecomitibus, baronibus, Ministris, et omnibus fidelibus suis Francis et Anglis lond[oniæ] salutem. Sciatis quia reddidi et concessi deo et ecclesiæ sanctæ Trinitatis Lond[oniæ] et canonicis regularibus ibidem deo[214] servientibus pro anima Regis Henrici et pro salute mea et Matild[is] Regine uxoris meē et Eustac[ii] filii mei et aliorum puerorum meorum in perpetuum terram suam de Smethefelda quam comes Gaufridus preoccupaverat ad vineam suam faciendam. Quare volo et firmiter precipio quod bene et in pace et libere et quiete et honorifice teneant et habeant terram predictam sicut melius et liberius et quietius tenent alias terras suas et sicut Rex Henricus illam eis concessit et carta sua confirmavit.

Testibus: Matilde regina, et Thoma capellano, et Willelmo de Ipra, et Ricardo de Luci. Apud Lond[oniam.][215]

The charter which follows, being granted by Geoffrey de Mandeville as earl, may safely be assigned to 1140–1144. It is difficult to resist the impression, from the appearance among the witnesses of a Templar and two doctors, that this was an act of restitution by the earl when he was lying on his deathbed in 1144.[216]