CHAPTER FIFTY.
Nos amovebimus penitus de balliis parentes Gerardi de Athyes, quod de cetero nullam habeant balliam in Anglia; Engelardum de Cygony, Petrum et Gionem et Andream, de Cancellis, Gionem de Cygony, Galfridum de Martinny et fratres ejus, Philippum Marci et fratres ejus, et Galfridum nepotem ejus, et totam sequelam eorundem.
We will entirely remove from their bailiwicks, the relations of Gerard de Athyes (so that in future they shall have no bailiwick in England), namely Engelard de Cygony, Peter, Gyon, and Andrew of the Chancery, Gyon de Cygony, Geoffrey de Martyn with his brothers, Philip Mark with his brothers and his nephew Geoffrey, and the whole brood of the same.
Chapter 45 sought to secure the appointment of suitable men to posts of trust under the Crown; the present chapter definitely excludes from bailiwicks (a comprehensive term embracing all grades of local magistracies) one particular group of royal favourites. Their names prove them of foreign extraction. They had come from Brabant, Flanders, and Poitou,[[995]] and several of them stayed on in England and held lucrative posts under Henry III. in spite of the ban here laid upon them. The clause of John’s Charter which excluded them from office was indeed omitted from future reissues, along with chapter 45.
The reasons which had rendered them obnoxious to the barons are not explained, but may be readily imagined. They had filled the unpopular posts of collectors of customs, wardens of forests, and commanders of royal garrisons, and had distinguished themselves by their unscrupulous zeal in pushing the king’s prerogatives connected with trade, castles, forests, and purveyance.
The career of Engelard de Cygony may be taken as typical of the rest. He was a nephew of Gerard de Athyes,[[996]] and was deep in the confidence of his master, as is proved by the number of responsible offices with which he was entrusted. We know that in 1211 he acted as Sheriff of Gloucester, since he accounted to the Exchequer for the firma comitatus. He further accounted for the firma burgi of Bristol,[[997]] which seems to imply interference with the chartered liberties of that city. It was probably because John required his services elsewhere, that some of his sheriff’s duties were performed by deputy, a burgess named Richard rendering accounts on his behalf. Engelard also held pleas of the Crown for Gloucestershire, in violation alike of the ordinance of 1194 forbidding any sheriff to act as justiciar in his own county, and of the customary rule (confirmed only, not originated, by chapter 24 of Magna Carta) which prevented sheriffs from holding pleas of the Crown.[[998]] Several entries tell of barrels of wine which he took as “prise” from ships entering the port of Bristol. For example, the exchequer officials allowed him to deduct from the amount which he owed as firma, the sum of 60s., in respect of four tuns of red wine, as certified by the king’s writ,[[999]] an entry which suggests that he had purchased from the Crown the profits yielded by the prerogative of taking prise; and had then resold to the king the hogsheads actually required for the royal use at 15s. each. Engelard also guarded a rich treasure for the king at Bristol, probably as constable of the castle there, sums being paid to him ad ponendum in thesauro regis.[[1000]] On one occasion he was entrusted with the custody of more than 10,000 marks of the king’s money.[[1001]] Hostages, as well as bullion, were placed under his care; a writ dated 18th December, 1214, directed him to liberate three noble Welshmen whom it mentioned by name.[[1002]]
In the civil war to which the treaty of peace sealed at Runnymede was a prelude, Engelard, then constable of Windsor Castle and warden of the adjacent forest of Odiham, proved active in John’s service. He successfully defended Windsor from the French faction, making vigorous sorties until relieved by the king.[[1003]] He requisitioned supplies to meet the royal needs; and a plea was brought against him so long afterwards as 1232, in connection with twelve hogsheads of wine thus taken.[[1004]] He acted as sheriff of Surrey under William Marshal, the Regent, but was suspended from this office in 1218 in consequence of a dispute with Earl Warenne.[[1005]] He remained warden of the castle and forests for twenty years after the accession of Henry III.,[[1006]] and his long services were rewarded with grants of land: in the county of Oxford he held the manor of Benzinton, with four hundreds and a half, during the king’s good pleasure;[[1007]] while his son Oliver received the lucrative post of guardian over the lands and heirs of Henry de Berkley.[[1008]]
In 1221, however, acting in consort with Falkes de Bréauté, Philip Mark, and other castellans, Engelard supported earl William of Aumâle in his resistance to the demands of Henry’s ministers, that all royal castles should be restored to the king. Notwithstanding the secrecy with which he sent men to the earl at Biham castle,[[1009]] he fell under suspicion of treason, and escaped imprisonment only on finding hostages that he would hold the castle of Windsor for the king, and surrender it at his will.[[1010]] In 1236, he was relieved of some of his offices, but not of all, for in 1254 he was two years in arrears with the firma of the manor of Odiham.[[1011]] In that year, apparently, he died; for the patent roll contains a writ granting him permission to make his will, and an entry in 1255 relates how “for good service done to the king by Engelard de Cygony in his lifetime, the king granted to his executors that they should be quit of all accounts to be rendered by them at the exchequer, and of all averages of accounts, and of all debts and imposts.”[[1012]] Engelard thus died, as he had lived, the trusted servant and favourite of kings. His career illustrates how the very same men who had incurred odium as the partizans of John became, when the civil war was over, the instruments of his son’s misgovernment.[[1013]]
[995]. Cf. Bémont, Chartes, 22, n, and 116.