The Commune of London, and other studies

by John Horace Round

Thus far I have been dealing with a question of castle-ward. I now pass to the ‘cornage rents’ and to the new theory of their origin. This theory is one of the features of Mr. Hall’s Introduction, in which he devotes to it ten pages; and it follows immediately on his remarks upon “the constableship of Dover.”

As difficult a subject as ‘Scutage,’ and one on which less has been written, the origin and character of “cornage” are problems as yet unsolved. The brilliant pen of Professor Maitland has attacked them in a paper on “Northumbrian tenures”;[572] but he cannot tell us more, virtually, than we know already, namely, that the term points to cattle, and is not derived, as Littleton in his ‘Tenures’ and the older antiquaries held, from the service of blowing a horn.

Mr. Hall, however, “hazards” the new and startling theory that the payment known by this name represents a commutation of castle-ward previously due from the drengs and thegns of the Northern marches. For this, it would seem, his only ground is the entry in the ‘Red Book’ of a list of Northumbrian cornage payments in close proximity to lists of castle-ward services. On this slender foundation is built an edifice of guesses, such as distinguishes this strange work from any other in the Rolls Series. They are prefaced, in their order, as usual, thus:

if we might venture to disregard ... we may suspect that ... the impression remains that ... May we not then conjecture that ... it will now be possible to hazard some theory ... It is at least conceivable that ... will perhaps suggest the theory, etc., etc.... (pp. ccxlii.-ccxlviii.).

Rejecting “the accepted definition of cornage as a mere seignorial due in respect of the pasturage of cattle,” Mr. Hall explains that it rests on “a radical misconception,” namely, on “the argument that the references to military service performed by” the Cumberland cornage “tenants are later interpolations in the reign of Edward I.,” whereas, as he observes, they are mentioned in a list of about the end of John’s reign. The criticism is curiously characteristic. For, on turning to Professor Maitland’s paper (p. 629), we find not a hint of “interpolation”; he has merely—misled, no doubt, by the title page of the printed ‘Testa’—mistaken a list of John’s reign for one of “Edward I.’s time.” And, so far from assigning to that period the first mention of this service, he refers us, in the same passage, to its mention in 1238, when, as he actually observes, it “looks like an ancient trait.” The misconception, therefore, is not his, but Mr. Hall’s.

In the manuscript itself we find the ward service of Newcastle and the details of the Northumberland cornage occupying a single page (fo. 195 d). But this circumstance, for which I shall account fully below, in no way connects the two. On the contrary, we find eleven territorial units here entered as paying “cornage” in addition to their payments for castle-ward. The two payments, it will be observed, could not both be commutations of the same thing.[573] It is quite clear that, in Cumberland, all who held “per cornagium” were bound, apart from the payment of that due, to march respectively in the van and in the rear when the king was invading or retreating from Scotland, a duty for which they were, obviously, qualified by their local knowledge; but this had absolutely nothing to do with castle-ward, nor is even this special service mentioned in the case of Northumberland. Cornage, from the time we first meet with it, appears in our records as a money payment, not as a military service, and even Mr. Hall admits that the name is derived from horned beasts, unlike the ‘ward penny’ of the south, in which he would seek its parallel, and of which the name leaves us in no doubt as to its nature. The institution of cornage, therefore, is, we shall find, as obscure as ever, although there is some evidence, unknown, it seems, to Professor Maitland as it is to Mr. Hall. Its historical importance is beyond question.

Of the cornage of Northumberland, as recorded in the ‘Red Book,’ the editor writes that “it is of the highest importance to trace its earlier history in the records of the Exchequer.” It can, as he says, be traced back to 1164; but I cannot accept his suggestion as to why it then made its appearance. One must turn, for comparison, to that of Cumberland, concerning which we read as follows:

In each succeeding year-roll, from the beginning of the reign of Henry II., the sheriff of Cumberland had rendered his account for the Neatgild of the county. The amount of this tribute was fixed at £80.... But we have no means of showing how the £80 was made up, because the sheriff answered for it in a lump sum, and no particulars of his account have survived as in the case of the Northumberland list happily preserved in the Red Book.

But this Neatgild (or cornage) can be traced back much further, namely, to the year-roll of 1130, and even earlier. It was £85 8s. 8d. under Henry I., and over £80 under Henry II.; and details of sums paid in respect of it are duly found, not only in the ‘Red Book’ (pp. 493–4),[574] but also in the ‘Testa de Nevill.’ Moreover, the cornage of Northumberland as well was answered for “in a lump sum,” and this leads me to explain the entry of the Northumbrian lists. Mr. Hall has failed to observe that his manuscript adds up the cornage wrongly, and is even guilty of a further error in asserting that this erroneous total is “xxii den. plus quam alii solebant respondere,” its real excess being £1 1s. 10d.[575] Apart from its obvious bearing on the character and value of the manuscript, this error has misled the editor into stating that the sums entered, “less the pardons of the Prior of Tynemouth and the King of Scots, make up the charge of £20 for the county.” On the contrary, the grand total is £21 3s. 10d., although the sheriffs were only liable for the “lump sum” of £20. Why is this? It is because Robert “de Insula,” to whom we owe the list, held the shire “ut custos.” This most important Exchequer phrase, which the editor must have overlooked on the roll, can be traced back, at least, as far as 1130. It means that the Crown had put its own man in office, and was thus able to get at the details of the payment, for which the normal sheriff was only liable in a “lump sum.” This is why the opportunity was taken to set these details on record. This explanation applies also to the details of Newcastle ward service immediately preceding the cornage payments. The editor might have learnt from the Pipe Rolls that the sheriff was normally charged, in respect of this payment, with £32 4s. 5d. gross, and £28 14s. 5d. net, which latter sum he was entitled to retain for his wardenship of the castle. But Robert, as “custos,” recorded the receipts as amounting to £33, and was consequently called upon in 1267 to account for £4 5s. 7d.(the difference between £33 and £28 14s. 5d.) “de cremento wardarum Novi Castri de anno xlix° sicut recepit.” The entry, therefore, of both lists can be traced to Robert’s position “ut custos” in 49 Hen. III. Lastly, the statement that “the cornage of Westmoreland can also be traced on the rolls, but it was of very trifling value,” seems unfortunate in view of the fact that it was, when it first appears, nearly thrice as large as the whole cornage of Northumberland.

That I may not close with a negative result, I append two remarkable charters from the MS. cartulary of St. Bees, which show us the Cumbrian Noutegeld being actually paid in cows to William earl of Albemarle, as lord of Coupland, which barony was exempt from its payment to the Crown.[576]