Nor does the interest of this Rouen charter stop here. Among the sureties for the young Duke’s fidelity to his word we find Richer de Laigle, the youthful friend of Becket, “a constant visitor,” as Miss Norgate, writes, “and intimate friend of the little household in Cheapside.” And does not the name of Becket remind us how “Thomas of London, the burgher’s son,” afterwards “Archbishop, saint and martyr,” had for his father a magnate of London, but one who was by birth a citizen of Rouen? Therefore, the same writer is probably justified in maintaining that “the influence of these Norman burghers was dominant in the city.” They seem, she adds, “to have won their predominance by fair means, fairly. They brought a great deal more than mere wealth; they brought enterprise, vigour, refinement, culture, as well as political progress.”[511]
Now it is my contention that political progress was represented with them by the communal idea. Their interests, moreover, would be wholly commercial, and, therefore, opposed to those of the native territorial element. If we turn to Rouen, we find its Mayor occurring fifteen years at least before the Mayor of London, and styled Mayor of the “Commune” of Rouen—“Major de Communia.” For Rouen was a stronghold of the “Commune.” It is of importance, therefore, for our purpose to ascertain at what period the communal organization originated at Rouen. In spite of the close attention, from the days of Chéruel downwards, that the subject has attracted in France, the conclusions attained cannot be deemed altogether satisfactory.
The monograph devoted by M. Giry to the “Établissements de Rouen,”[512] represents the fine fleur of French historical scholarship, and its conclusions, therefore, deserve no ordinary consideration. But on one point of the utmost importance, namely, the date at which these “Établissements” were compiled, I venture to hold an independent view. The initial difficulty is thus stated by the brilliant French scholar:
L’original n’existe plus, et l’on ne sait à quelle époque précise il faut faire remonter leur adoption dans les villes de Rouen et de la Rochelle qui les ont eus avant tous les autres (p. 2).
The first allusion to the jurisdiction exercised by the Commune of Rouen is found, says M. Giry, in the charter granted it by Henry II. shortly after its gallant defence against the French king. He then proceeds:
C’est du reste à la fin du règne de Henri II. que nous voyons pour la première fois la ville de Rouen décorée du titre de Commune (communia) dans un grand nombre de chartes dont les listes de témoins circonscrivent la date entre 1173 et 1189. Dans ces chartes les mentions d’un maire, de pairs, d’un bailli, nous font voir qu’alors déjà la ville jouissait de l’organisation municipale que les Établissements exposent avec plus de détails; elles nous permettent de croire que cette constitution, à peu près telle qu’elle nous est parvenue y était alors en vigueur (p. 28).
A footnote is appended, giving “l’indication de quelques-unes des chartes, malheureusement sans dates, sur lesquelles s’appuie cette démonstration”:
[1] “Radulphus Henrici regis cancellarius (1173–1181) ... Bartholomeus, major communie Rothomagensis” ... [2] “in presentia Bartholomei Fergant qui tunc erat major communie Rothomagensis (1177–1189) et parium ipsius civitatis,” etc.
The expert will perceive that these two charters “demonstrate,” not a date “entre 1173 et 1189,” but between 1177 and 1181. For if Bartholomew’s rule as mayor began in 1177, the first cannot be of earlier date; and if Ralf ceased to be chancellor in 1181,[513] its mention of a “commune” cannot be of later date than that year. As a matter of fact, my own study of the Rouen cathedral charters (from which this evidence is taken) has convinced me that Bartholomew was mayor earlier than 1177; but I am, for the moment, only concerned with M. Giry’s dates. Returning to the point later on, when discussing the claim of priority for La Rochelle, he writes:
Les documents que nous avons pu interroger ne sauraient décider même la question d’antériorité, puisqu’ils ne donnent que des époques approximatives et circonscrivent la date, pour Rouen entre 1177 et 1183, et pour la Rochelle entre 1169 et 1199 (pp. 67–8.)