HENRY I
[Illustration: SEAL OF ST. ANSELM]
William Rufus was killed on Thursday, August 2, 1100, and buried on
Friday. Henry rode off to London without the least delay: he arrived
on Saturday; conferred with the leading citizens on the same day, and
was actually crowned at Westminster on Sunday. Haste such as this shows
not only his desire to get crowned before his elder brother could
interfere, but points to the danger to the realm if the throne were
vacant even for a single day. J. R. Green, in a paper on the election
of Stephen, dwells upon the importance and the power of the citizens
of London, who could thus of their own authority elect and crown a
king. But, in fact, the City only repeated in the case of Stephen
their action in the case of Henry. The latter rode at headlong speed
from the New Forest to London—he must have ridden night and day. To be
sure, it was the height of summer, when the roads were dry and hard. He
presented himself before the Bishop and Portreeve and the notables of
London. “Make me your king,” he said. “In return I will give you what
you most desire, peace and order. I will do more. I will marry Maude,
daughter of Malcolm, King of Scots, and of Margaret, sister of Edgar,
heiress of the line of Alfred, and will make the crown secure and the
country free from civil war.” They agreed. It is generally believed
that the citizens made a bargain with Henry for new privileges. What
they wanted most was a strong king, who would make peace and keep it;
enforce his laws; put down highway robbery and oppression and piracy,
and make trade possible. There was not much thought of new privileges,
but first and foremost—of order. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, was
absent. The King was crowned by Maurice, Bishop of London, who had the
greatest share in his election. Three months later the King’s wife,
Maude, the Saxon heiress, was also crowned in the Abbey, and feasted in
the Red King’s Hall, to the unspeakable joy of the whole country.
It has generally been stated that Henry bestowed upon the City the
famous Charter, by which their liberties were greatly widened, in
the very first year of his reign, as a reward for their support and
election. There are, however, strong reasons for believing that at
the beginning of his reign he confined himself to promises or to a
confirmation of his father’s Charter, and that the document known as
his Charter was granted in reality in the year 1130, five years before
his death. What the City obtained from Henry was a time of peace: when
criminals had no mercy to expect; when a man might drive his caravan
of pack-horses from fair to fair without fear of robbers; and the King
acted up to his promise that none should do his people wrong. That he
was an expensive king: that he demanded money without end or stint, was
pardoned in return for the priceless boon of peace and order.
I have thought it best to consider Henry’s Charter in a separate
chapter, clause by clause, in connection with the gradual rise of the
power of the Londoners, as is fitting for the most important of all the
Charters by which London rose to liberty and greatness. It will suffice
here to indicate generally the nature of the Charter by quoting the
words of Bishop Stubbs, _Constitutional History_, p. 439:—
“The Charter of Henry I. shows a marked advance. The City is
recognised as a distinct unity, although that unity depends on
hereditary succession only: it is independent of county organisation,
the county in which it lies is itself let at ferm to the citizens; it
is placed on a level with the shires, it is to have a sheriff of its
own and a justiciar: as a greater privilege still, it is to elect its
own sheriff and justiciar, and to be open to no other jurisdiction
than that of its own elected officers. The citizens are not to be
called before any court outside their own walls, and are freed from
Danegeld, from scot and lot, from responsibility from the murder-fine
and obligation to trial by battle: they are freed from toll and other
duties of the kind throughout all England, at the ports as well as
inland. They are to possess their lands, the common lands of their
township, and their rights of coursing in Chiltern, Middlesex, and
Surrey. Yet with all this no new incorporation is bestowed: the
churches, the barons, the citizens, retain their ancient customs; the
churches their sokens, the barons their manors, the citizens their
township organisation, and possibly their guilds.”
[Illustration:
_Valentine and Sons, Ltd._
NORMAN ARCH, IN THE CLOISTERS, WESTMINSTER ABBEY]
In the year 1125 there was done a deed of justice grim and terrible:
one which caused the ears of all who heard it to tingle. One does
not know how far London was concerned with it. But that there were
“moneyers” or minters in London is certain. Three, viz. Achard, Lefwin
Besant, and Ailwin Finch, were moneyers of London in 1149. And nothing
is said as to any exception in favour of London. There had been grave
and universal complaints about the coinage, which was debased by those
who struck it. Henry considered the subject, he doubtless tested
the coins; he made up his mind that all were guilty, and thereupon
“commanded that all the minters in England should be deprived of their
right hands and should be also, in another well-known manner,
mutilated. And this “because a man may have a pound and yet not be
able to spend a penny in the market.” He means that the pound might
consist of debased money. Accordingly, Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, sent
over all England, and invited every minter to come to Winchester at
Christmas, without letting any one know what awaited him: and when they
obediently journeyed thither, thinking probably they were to receive
some new privilege, his men took them one by one, cut off their right
hands and deprived them of their manhood. “All this was done within
twelve days, and with much justice, because they had ruined this land
with the great quantity of bad metal they had all corrupted.” A strong
king, truly! One can imagine the discourse of the unhappy minters
on the way. Some signal mark of the King’s favour was coming, some
promotion from the Bishop, larger powers, greater profits. The Bishop
said never a word of his purpose; he received them courteously; he
invited them as to a feast; and then, one by one—Alas! Poor Minters!
Never more did they debase the coinage. This summary and terrible act
of justice, if it included London, must have fallen upon some of the
most eminent merchants in the City: not, one hopes, upon Orgar the
Proud, of whom we hear more in connection with deeds and documents of
the time and as one of the notables of the City.
In the year 1126 a famine fell upon the land.
In 1132 a fire which began at the house of Gilbert Becket in West Chepe
destroyed the greater part of the north-east quarter of London.
During this reign the Priory of the Holy Trinity, that of St. Mary
Overies, and the Priory and Hospital of St. Bartholomew were founded.
It is generally asserted that the Benedictine Nunnery of Clerkenwell
was founded by one Jordan Briset in 1100, but Mr. H. J. Round has now
proved that both this nunnery and the Priory of St. John were founded
about the year 1145. Queen Maude also founded the Lazar-House of St.
Giles in the Fields. (See _Mediæval London_, vol. ii. p. 311.)
There were grave complaints by ecclesiastics against the luxury and
effeminacy of the age—but every age has its complaints of luxury.
Young men wore their hair as long as women. They also dressed with as
much splendour and attention as women; they crowned themselves with
wreaths of flowers. Despite the revival of religion, the corruption of
morals attributed to William Rufus was continued under his successor:
the King himself was notorious for his amours and infidelities. He was
led to repentance in his old age by one of those dreams which fill up
a good part of the Chronicles. In this dream he saw pass before him a
procession. First marched the ploughmen with their tools; next, the
craftsmen with theirs; then came the soldiers bearing arms, and with
them the Barons and Knights. Last of all came the clergy with their
Bishops. But the latter were armed with their croziers, and they ran
upon the King as if they would kill him with these hallowed weapons.
The dreamer sprang out of bed and seized his sword to defend himself.
When he awoke, behold! it was a dream. But the terror remained, and
Henry set himself to repentance and amendment. No doubt he remembered
how a dream of warning had been sent to his brother, by neglect of
which he came to his untimely end.
The importance of this reign to the City of London lies mainly in the
Charter which we are about to discuss: we must not, however, forget the
order which Henry I. established and maintained in every part of his
kingdom. This order was especially valued in a place like London, which
could only carry on its trade in security when order was maintained.
And though London contained so many citizens of Norman birth and
descent, the great mass of the people were English, and could not fail
to be pleased when Henry showed that he threw himself upon the support
of his English subjects, when he married an English wife, and restored
through her the line of Alfred to the throne. A great king, a strong
king, a just king. What more could the times desire?