Item Gaufridus comes Essex ac constabularius principalis Turris renunciavit totum clamorem suum de predicta terra ut p[atet] per cartam sequentem.

Gaufridus comes Essex Episcopo Londoniensi et omnibus fidelibus sancte ecclesie salutem. Sciatis me reddidisse ecclesie Christi Lond[onie] et fratribus in ea degentibus molendina sua juxta Turrim et totum terram extra quæ pertinebat ad Engliscnithtengildam[217] cum Smethefelda et hominibus et omnibus aliis rebus eidem pertinentibus. Reddo et eis dim. hidam de Brembelega in terra et pratis et pascuis et omnibus aliis rebus et libertatibus et consuetudinibus sicut Willelmus filius Widonis eam eis dedit cum canonicalem habitum reciperet. Et volo et precipio ut prefatas terras teneant de me et heredibus meis liberas et quietas et solutas ab omni calumpnia et seculari servicio ita ut nec heredes mei nec meis imposterum aliquam canc super hiis liceat inuriam vel contumeliam irrogare.

Hiis testibus: Roh[ais]a comitissa uxore mea; Gregorio dapifero; Pagano de Templo; Warino filio Geroldi; Radulfo de Crichtote;[218] Gaufrido de Querendun; Ernulfo medico; Iwodo medico. Et similiter concedo eis imperpetuum i marcam argenti de servicio Edwardi de Seligeford testimonio prescriptorum testium et Willelmi archidiaconi London’.

Hec omnia acta fuerunt anno ijo Regis Stephani istis astantibus, audientibus, et videntibus: Radulfo filio Algodi, Radulfo cancellario Sancti Pauli, Hacone decano, Willelmo Travers, Gilberto presbitero, Lungo presbitero, Wimundo presbitero, Josepho presbitero, Godefrido presbitero, Johanne presbitero, Huberto presbitero, Leofwino presbitero, Godardo presbitero, Alurico presbitero, Ricardo presbitero, Jacobo clerico, Gervasio clerico, Willelmo clerico, Andrea Buchuinte, Stephano Bukerel, Willelmo camerario, Radulfo filio Andree, Laurentio Buchuinte, Theodorico filio Dermanni, Johanne Buchuinte, Stephano Bukerel, Gileberto Beket, Gervasio filio Agn[etis], Hugone filio Ulgari, Eustachio nepote Fulcredi, Walkelino, Roberto filio Radulfi fratribusque ejus Ricardo et David, Ailwardo fabr’, Edmundo Warde Aldermanno, Edwardo filio Simonis (?) Edgaro Fulōe, Edward Roberto fil. But’ Alfego Ailwino Godwino Radulfo Godesune et Algaro filio eis et Edmundo fratre eius Huneman Suethin Edwardo Her’ Godwino Bredhers Herewardo Geraldo Rufo Sexi Forfot, Godwino Oxefot Johanne filio Edwini Sawardo Siredo ceterisque multis non solum.

With this latter portion of the document we return to 1137, and meet with names of considerable interest. Foremost among these is that of Gilbert Beket, the first mention, I believe, of him in a document that has ever come to light. Ralf son of Algod, who heads the list, had also headed the list of the fifteen citizens by whom the Cnihtengild’s soke had been given to the Priory in 1125. He also appears in charge of one of the city wards in the list of circ. 1130.[219] Was he identical with Ralf son of Algod, who occurs as a canon of St. Paul’s in 1104 and 1132?[220] For my part, I think that he was. Improbable though the combination may seem, there can be little doubt that the canons of St. Paul’s were as closely connected at the time with secular life in London as they were with farming in Essex. Hugh, son of Wulfgar, to take another of these names, had been, like Ralf, among the fifteen of the Cnihtengild list, twelve years before, and, like him, had charge of a ward in the list of circ. 1130. He was a London magnate of whom we shall hear more.

The names of these two men raise an important question. That ancient and remarkable institution, the English Cnihtengild of London, remains shrouded in mystery. It is known to us only through the gift of its soke to Holy Trinity Priory, and the consequent preservation, among that Priory’s monuments, of charters confirming that soke, from Edward the Confessor downwards. Stow made use of the Priory’s cartulary, and states the facts accurately enough. Mr. Coote, in 1881, rendered valuable service by printing, from the Guildhall Letter Books, the documents relating to “the English Gilds of Knights and their socn’,”[221] but fell into the error of supposing that “after thus parting with their land all these gentlemen entered religion in the same convent which they had thus benefited.”[222] Writing some years later (1887), with the St. Paul’s documents before him, Mr. Loftie, in his well-known book, went further still. “There can be no doubt,” he writes,[223] “if any doubt existed before, that the governing body of London was the Knightenguild, as Stow calls it.” This assumption seems to be based on the view that among its fifteen named representatives (1125) “there was a very large proportion of aldermen,[224] and that those who do not seem themselves to have held office were the sons or the brothers of aldermen.”[225] Admitting that a few out of the fifteen can, like Ralf and Hugh above, be identified with those who had charge of wards temp. Henry I., this no more proves that the gild itself was “the governing body of London” than would the presence of some Aldermen among the members of a city company to-day prove that it occupied that position. It is not improbable, by the way, that the gild had become, like a modern city company, a mere propertied survival. But, apart from the question of its status, what we have to consider is whether the fifteen magnates of 1125 did, as alleged, enter the Priory themselves as canons when they made their gift.[226] Mr. Loftie positively asserts that they did:

The lords of the adjacent manor, the portsoken, then fifteen in number, members of the Knightenguild, and all, or nearly all, aldermen,[227] took the resolution, so characteristic of the religious life of the twelfth century, to enter Norman’s priory ... dedicating their own lives, etc.[228]

This view is absolutely erroneous, and rests on a misunderstanding of the words—

Suscipientes fraternitatem et participium beneficiorum loci illius per manum Normanni prioris, qui eos et predecessores suos in societatem super textum evangelii recepit.[229]

This, of course, is merely the usual admission of benefactors to a share in the spiritual benefits appertaining to the brotherhood. The fact that the benefactors’ “predecessors” were admitted also should have clearly shown that there was no question of personally becoming canons in the Priory.[230]