TRIUMPH OF THE EMPRESS.
At the time of this sudden and decisive triumph, the Empress had been in
England some sixteen months. With the Earl of Gloucester, she had landed
at Arundel,[161] on September 30, 1139,[162] and while her brother,
escorted by a few knights, made his way to his stronghold at Bristol,
had herself, attended by her Angevin suite, sought shelter with her
step-mother, the late queen, in the famous castle of Arundel. Stephen
had promptly appeared before its walls, but, either deeming the fortress
impregnable or being misled by treacherous counsel,[163] had not only
raised his blockade of the castle, but had allowed the Empress to set
out for Bristol, and had given her for escort his brother the legate,
and his trusted supporter the Count of Meulan.[164] From the legate her
brother had received her at a spot appointed beforehand, and had then
returned with her to Bristol. Here she was promptly visited by the
constable, Miles of Gloucester, who at once acknowledged her claims as
"the rightful heir" of England.[165] Escorted by him, she removed to
Gloucester, of which he was hereditary castellan, and received the
submission of that city, and of all the country round about.[166] The
statements of the chroniclers can here be checked, and are happily
confirmed and amplified by a charter of the Empress, apparently unknown,
but of great historical interest. The following abstract is given in a
transcript taken from the lost volume of the Great Coucher of the
duchy[167]:—
"Carta Matilde Imperatricis in quâ dicit, quod[168] quando in Angliam
venit post mortem H. patris sui[169] Milo de Gloecestrâ quam citius
potuit venit ad se[170] apud Bristolliam et recepit me ut dominam et
sicut illam quam justum hæredem regni Angliæ recognovit, et inde me
secum ad Gloecestram adduxit et ibi homagium suum mihi fecit ligie
contra omnes homines. Et volo vos scire quod tunc quando homagium suum
apud Gloecestram recepit, dedi ei pro servicio suo in feodo et
hereditate sibi et heredibus suis castellum de Sancto Briavel(li) et
totam forestam de Dene,"[171] etc., etc.
It was at Gloucester that she received the news of her brother's victory
at Lincoln (February 2, 1141), and it was there that he joined her, with
his royal captive, on Quinquagesima Sunday (February 9).[172] It was at
once decided that the king should be despatched to Bristol Castle,[173]
and that he should be there kept a prisoner for life.[174]
In the utter paralysis of government consequent on the king's capture,
there was not a day to be lost on the part of the Empress and her
friends. The Empress herself was intoxicated with joy, and eager for the
fruits of victory.[175] Within a fortnight of the battle, she set out
from Gloucester, on what may be termed her first progress.[176] Her
destination was, of course, Winchester, the spot to which her eyes would
at once be turned. She halted, however, for a while at Cirencester,[177]
to allow time for completing the negotiations with the legate.[178] It
was finally agreed that, advancing to Winchester, she should meet him in
an open space, without the walls, for a conference. This spot a charter
of the Empress enables us apparently to identify with Wherwell.[179]
Hither, on Sunday, the 2nd of March, a wet and gloomy day,[180] the
clergy and people, headed by the legate, with the monks and nuns of the
religious houses, and such magnates of the realm as were present,
streamed forth from the city to meet her.[181]
The compact ("pactum") which followed was strictly on the lines of that
by means of which Stephen had secured the throne. The Empress, on her
part, swore that if the legate would accept her as "domina," he should
henceforth have his way in all ecclesiastical matters. And her leading
followers swore that this oath should be kept. Thereupon the legate
agreed to receive her as "Lady of England," and promised her the
allegiance of himself and of his followers so long as she should keep
her oath. The whole agreement is most important, and, as such, should be
carefully studied.[182]
On the morrow (March 3) the Empress entered Winchester, and was received
in state in the cathedral, the legate supporting her on the right, and
Bernard of St. David's on the left.[183]
Now, it is most important to have a clear understanding of what really
took place upon this occasion.
The main points to keep before us are—(1) that there are two distinct
episodes, that of the 2nd and 3rd of March, and that of the 7th and 8th
of April, five weeks intervening between them, during which the Empress
left Winchester to make her second progress; (2) that the first episode
was that of her _reception_ at Winchester, the second (also at
Winchester) that of her _election_.
It is, perhaps, not surprising that our historians are here in woeful
confusion. Dr. Stubbs alone is, as usual, right. Writing from the
standpoint of a constitutional historian, he is only concerned with the
election of the Empress, and to this he assigns its correct date.[184]
In his useful and excellent _English History_, Mr. Bright, on the
contrary, ignores the interval, and places the second episode "a few
days after" the first.[185] Professor Pearson, whose work is that which
is generally used for this period, omits altogether the earlier
episode.[186] Mr. Birch, on the other hand, in his historical
introduction to his valuable _fasciculus_ of the charters of the
Empress, ignores altogether the later episode, though he goes into this
question with special care. Indeed, he does more than this; for he
transfers the election itself from the later to the earlier occasion,
and assigns to the episode of March 2 and 3 the events of April 7 and 8.
This cardinal error vitiates his elaborate argument,[187] and, indeed,
makes confusion worse confounded. Mr. Freeman, though, of course, in a
less degree, seems inclined to err in the same direction, when he
assigns to the earlier of the two episodes that importance which belongs
to the later.[188]
Rightly to apprehend the bearing of this episode, we must glance back at
the preceding reigns. Dr. Stubbs, writing of Stephen's accession,
observes that "the example which Henry had set in his seizure and
retention of the crown was followed in every point by his
successor."[189] But on at least one main point the precedent was older
than this. The Conqueror, in 1066, and his heir, in 1087, had both
deemed it their first necessity to obtain possession of Winchester.
Winchester first, and then London, was a rule that thus enjoyed the
sanction of four successive precedents. To secure Winchester with all
that it contained, and with all the _prestige_ that its possession would
confer, was now, therefore, the object of the Empress. This object she
attained by the _pactum_ of the 2nd of March, and with it, as we have
seen, the conditional allegiance of the princely bishop of the see.
Now, Henry of Blois was a great man. As papal legate, as Bishop of
Winchester, and as brother to the captive king, he possessed an
influence, in his triple capacity, which, at this eventful crisis, was
probably unrivalled in the land. But there was one thing that he could
not do—he could not presume, of his own authority, to depose or to
nominate an English sovereign. Indeed the very fact of the subsequent
election (April 8) and of his claim, audacious as it was, that that
election should be the work of the clergy, proves that he had no thought
of the even more audacious presumption to nominate the sovereign
himself. This, then, is fatal to Mr. Birch's contention that the Empress
was, on this occasion (March 3), elected "domina Angliæ." Indeed, as I
have said, it is based on a confusion of the two episodes. The legate,
as Mr. Birch truly says, "consented to recognize (_sic_) the Empress as
_Domina Angliæ_, or Lady, that is, Supreme Governor of England," but,
obviously, he could only do so on behalf of himself and of his
followers. We ought, therefore, to compare his action with that of Miles
of Gloucester in 1139, when, as we have seen, in the words of the
Empress—
"_Recepit_ me ut dominam et sicut illam quam justum hæredem regni
Angliæ _recognovit_ ... et ibi homagium suum mihi fecit ligie contra
omnes homines."[190]
Notice here the identity of expression—the "reception" of the Empress
and the "recognition" of her claims. I have termed the earlier episode
the "reception," and the later the "election" of the Empress. In these
terms is precisely expressed the distinction between the two events.
Take for instances the very passages appealed to by Mr. Birch himself:—
"The exact words employed by William of Malmesbury are 'Nec dubitavit
Episcopus Imperatricem in Dominam Angliæ recipere' (_sic_). In another
place the same Henry de Blois declares of her, 'In Angliæ Normanniæque
Dominam eligimus' (_sic_). This regular election of Mathildis to the
dignity and office of _Domina Angliæ_ took place on Sunday, March 2,
A.D. 1141" (p. 378).
Now we know, from William of Malmesbury himself, that "the regular
election in question" took place on the 8th of April, and that the
second of the passages quoted above refers to this later episode,[191]
while the other refers to the earlier.[192] I have drawn attention to
the two words (_recipere_ and _eligimus_) which he respectively applies
to the "reception" and the "election." The description of this
"reception" by William of Malmesbury[193] completely tallies with that
which is given by the Empress herself in a charter.[194] It should
further be compared with the account by the author of the _Gesta
Stephani_, of the similar reception accorded to Stephen in 1135.[195]
But though the legate could open to the Empress the cathedral and the
cathedral city, he had no power over the royal castle. This we saw in
the case of Stephen, when his efforts to secure the constable's
adherence were fruitless till the king himself arrived. Probably the
constable, at this crisis, was the same William de Pont de l'Arche, but,
whoever he was, he surrendered to the Empress the castle and all that it
contained. In one respect, indeed, she was doomed to be bitterly
disappointed, for the royal treasury, which her adventurous rival had
found filled to overflowing, was by this time all but empty. One
treasure, however, she secured; the object of her desires, the royal
crown, was placed in her triumphant hands.[196]
To the one historian who has dealt with this incident it has proved a
stumbling-block indeed. Mr. Freeman thus boldly attacks the problem:—
"William of Malmesbury (_Hist. Nov._, iii. 42) seems distinctly to
exclude a coronation; he merely says, 'Honorifica factâ processione,
recepta est in ecclesia episcopatus Wintoniæ.' We must, therefore, see
only rhetoric when the Continuator says, 'Datur ejus dominio corona
Angliæ,' and when the author of the _Gesta_ (75) speaks of 'regisque
castello, et regni coronâ, quam semper ardentissime affectârat, ... in
deliberationem suam contraditis,' and adds that Henry 'dominam et
_reginam_ acclamare præcepit.' The Waverley Annalist, 1141, ventures to
say, 'Corona regni est ei tradita.'"[197]
"Only rhetoric." Ah, how easily could history be written, if one could
thus dispose of inconvenient evidence! So far from being "rhetoric," it
is precisely because these statements are so strictly matter-of-fact
that the writer failed to grasp their meaning. Had he known, or
remembered, that the royal crown was preserved in the royal treasury,
the passage by which he is so sorely puzzled would have proved
simplicity itself.[198]
Here again, light is thrown on these events and on the action of the
Empress by the precedent in the case of her father (1100), who, on the
death of his brother, hastened to Winchester Castle ("ubi regalis
thesaurus continebatur"), which was formally handed over to him with all
that it contained ("arx cum regalibus gazis filio regis Henrico reddita
est").[199]
We have yet to consider the passage from the _Gesta_, to which Mr. Birch
so confidently appeals, and which is dismissed by Mr. Freeman as
"rhetoric." The passage runs:—
"In publica se civitatis et fori audientia dominam et reginam acclamare
præcepit."[200]
By a strange coincidence it has been misconstrued by both writers
independently. Mr. Freeman, as we saw, takes "præcepit" as referring to
Henry himself, and so does Mr. Birch.[201] Though the sentence as a
whole may be obscure, yet the passage quoted is quite clear. The words
are "præcepit _se_," not "præcepit illam." Thus the proclamation, if
made, was the doing of the Empress and not of the legate. Had the legate
been indeed responsible, his conduct would have been utterly
inconsistent. But as it is, the difficulty vanishes.[202]
To the double style, "domina et regina," I have made reference above. My
object now is to examine this assumption of the style "regina" by the
Empress. It might perhaps be urged that the author of the _Gesta_ cannot
here be implicitly relied on. His narrative, however, is vigorous and
consistent; it is in perfect harmony with the character of the Empress;
and so far as the assumption of this style is concerned, it is
strikingly confirmed by that Oxford charter, to which we are now coming.
After her election (April 8), the Empress might claim, as queen elect,
the royal title, but if that were excusable, which is granting much, its
assumption before her election could admit of no defence. Yet,
headstrong and impetuous, and thirsting for the throne, she would
doubtless urge that her rival's fall rendered her at once _de facto_
queen. But this was as yet by no means certain. Stephen's brother, as we
know, was talked of, and the great nobles held aloof. The Continuator,
indeed, asserts that at Winchester (March) were "præsules pene totius
Angliæ, barones multi, principes plurimi" (p. 130), but William, whose
authority is here supreme, does not, though writing as a partisan of the
Empress, make any allusion to their presence.[203] Moreover, the primate
was still in doubt, and of the five bishops who were present with the
legate, three (St. David's, Hereford, and Bath) came from districts
under the influence of the Empress, while the other two (Lincoln and
Ely) were still smarting beneath Stephen's action of two years before
(1139).
The special interest, therefore, of this bold proclamation at Winchester
lies in the touch it gives us of that feminine impatience of the
Empress, which led her to grasp so eagerly the crown of England in her
hands, and now to anticipate, in this hasty manner, her election and
formal coronation.[204]
Within a few days of her reception at Winchester, she retraced her steps
as far as Wilton, where it was arranged that she should meet the
primate, with whom were certain bishops and some lay folk.[205]
Theobald, however, professed himself unable to render her homage until
he had received from the king his gracious permission to do so.[206] For
this purpose he went on to Bristol, while the Empress made her way to
Oxford, and there spent Easter (March 30th).[207] We must probably
assign to this occasion her admission to Oxford by Robert d'Oilli.[208]
The Continuator, indeed, assigns it to May, and in this he is followed
by modern historians. Mr. Freeman, for instance, on his authority,
places the incident at that stage,[209] and so does Mr. Franck
Bright.[210]
But the movements of the Empress, at this stage, are really difficult to
determine. Between her presence at Oxford (March 30)[211] and her
presence at Reading (May 5-7),[212] we know nothing for certain. One
would imagine that she must have attended her own election at Winchester
(April 7, 8), but the chroniclers are silent on the subject, though
they, surely, would have mentioned her presence. On the whole, it seems
most probable that the Continuator must be in error, when he places the
adhesion of Robert d'Oilli so late as May (at Reading) and takes the
Empress subsequently to Oxford, as if for the first time.
It was, doubtless, through her "brother" Robert "fitz Edith" that his
step-father, Robert d'Oilli, was thus won over to her cause. It should
be noted that his defection from the captive king is pointedly mentioned
by the author of the _Gesta_, even before that of the Bishop of
Winchester, thus further confirming the chronology advanced above.[213]
At Oxford she received the submission of all the adjacent country,[214]
and also executed an important charter. This charter Mr. Birch has
printed, having apparently collated for the purpose no less than five
copies.[215] Its special interest is derived from the fact that not only
is it the earliest charter she is known to have issued after Stephen's
fall (with the probable exception of that to Thurstan de Montfort), but
it is also the only one of her charters in which we find the royal
phrases "ecclesiarum _regni mei_" and "pertinentibus _coronæ meæ_." Mr.
Birch writes of its testing-clause ("Apud Oxeneford Anno ab Incarnatione
Domini MC. quatragesimo"):
The date of this charter is very interesting, because it is the only
example of an actual date calculated by expression of the years of the
Incarnation, which occurs among the entire series which I have been
able to collect.... Now, as the historical year in these times
commenced on the 25th of March, there is no doubt but that this charter
was granted to the Abbey of Hulme at some time between the 3rd and the
25th of March, A.D. 1140-41.[216]
Mr. Eyton has also independently discussed it (though his remarks are
still in MS.), and detects, with his usual minute care, a difficulty, in
one of the three witnesses, to which Mr. Birch does not allude.
"St. Benet of Hulme.
"The date given (1140) seems to combine with another circumstance to
lead to error. Matilda's style is 'Matild' Imp. H. regis filia,' not,
as usual, 'Anglorum domina.' One might therefore conclude that the deed
passed before the battle of Lincoln, and so in 1140. However, this
conclusion would be wrong, for though Matᵃ does not style herself
Queen, she asserts in the deed Royal rights and speaks of matters
pertaining 'coronæ meæ.' But we do not know that Maud was ever in
Oxford before Stephen's captivity, nor can we think it. Again, it is
certain that Robᵗ de Sigillo did not become Bishop of London till
after Easter, 1141, for at Easter, 1142, he expressly dates his own
deed 'anno primo pontif' mei.' He was almost certainly appointed when
Maud was in London in July, 1141, for he attests Milo's patent of
earldom on July 25."[217]
The omission of the style "Anglorum domina" is, however, strictly
correct, and not, as Mr. Eyton thought, singular. For it was not till
her election on the 8th of April that she became entitled to use this
style. As for her assumption of the royal phrases, it is here simply
_ultra vires_. Then, as to the attesting bishop ("R. episcopo
Londoniensi"), his presence is natural, as he was a monk of Reading, and
his position would seem to be paralleled by that of his predecessor
Maurice, who appears as bishop in the Survey, though, probably, only
elect. As her father "gave the bishopric of Winchester" the moment he
was elected, and before he was crowned,[218] so the Empress "gave," it
would seem, the see of London to Robert "of the Seal," even before her
formal election—an act, it should be noted, thoroughly in keeping with
her impetuous assumption of the regal style. Besides the bishop and the
Earl of Gloucester, there is a third witness to this charter—"Reginaldo
filio Regis." No one, it seems, has noticed the fact that here alone,
among the charters of the Empress, Reginald attests not as an earl,
which confirms the early date claimed for this charter. A charter which
I assign to the following May is attested by him: "Reginaldo _comite_
filio regis." This would seem to place his creation between the dates of
these charters, _i.e._ _circ._ April (1141).[219] To sum up, the
evidence of this charter is in complete agreement with that of William
of Malmesbury, when he states that the Empress spent Easter (March 30)
at Oxford; and we further learn from it that she must have arrived there
at least as early as the 24th of March.
The fact that Mr. Freeman, in common with others, has overlooked this
early visit of the Empress in March, is no doubt the cause of his having
been misled, as I have shown, by the Continuator's statement.
The Assembly at Winchester took place, as has been said, on the 7th and
8th of April. William of Malmesbury was present on the occasion, and
states that it was attended by the primate "and all the bishops of
England."[220] This latter phrase may, however, be questioned, in the
light of subsequent charter evidence.
The proceedings of this council have been well described, and are so
familiar that I need not repeat them. On the 7th was the private
conclave; on the 8th, the public assembly. I am tempted just to mention
the curiously modern incident of the legate (who presided) commencing
the proceedings by reading out the letters of apology from those who had
been summoned but were unable to be present.[221] On the 8th the legate
announced to the Assembly the result of the previous day's conclave:—
"filiam pacifici regis ... in Angliæ Normanniæque dominam eligimus, et
ei fidem et manutenementum promittimus."[222]
On the 9th, the deputation summoned from London arrived and was informed
of the decision; on the 10th the assembly was dissolved.
The point I shall here select for discussion is the meaning of the term
"domina Angliæ," and the effect of this election on the position of the
Empress.
First, as to the term "domina Angliæ." Its territorial character must
not be overlooked. In the charters of the Empress, her style "Ang'
domina" becomes occasionally, though very rarely, "Anglor' domina,"
proving that its right extension is "Angl_orum_ Domina," which differs,
as we have seen, from the chroniclers' phrase. The importance of the
distinction is this. "Rex" is royal and national; "dominus" is feudal
and territorial. We should expect, then, the first to be followed by the
nation ("Anglorum"), the second by the territory ("Angliæ"). But, in
addition to its normal feudal character, the term may here bear a
special meaning.
It would seem that the clue to its meaning in this special sense was
first discovered by the late Sir William (then Mr.) Hardy ("an ingenious
and diligent young man," as he was at the time described) in 1836. He
pointed out that "Dominus Anglie" was the style adopted by Richard I.
"between the demise of his predecessor and his own coronation."[223] Mr.
Albert Way, in a valuable paper on the charters belonging to Reading
Abbey, which appeared some twenty-seven years later,[224] called
attention to the styles "Anglorum _Regina_" and "Anglorum _Domina_," as
used by the Empress.[225] As to the former, he referred to the charter
of the Empress at Reading, granting lands to Reading Abbey.[226] As to
the latter ("Domina Anglorum"), he quoted Mr. Hardy's paper on the
charter of Richard I., and urged that "the fact that Matilda was never
crowned Queen of England may suffice to account for her being thus
styled" (p. 283). He further quoted from William of Malmesbury the two
passages in which that chronicler applies this style to the
Empress,[227] and he carefully avoided assigning them both to the
episode of the 2nd of March. Lastly, he quoted the third passage, that
in the _Gesta Stephani_.
Mr. Birch subsequently read a paper "On the Great Seals of King Stephen"
before the Royal Society of Literature (December 17, 1873), in which he
referred to Mr. Way's paper, as the source of one of the charters of
which he gave the text, and in which he embodied Mr. Way's observations
on the styles "Regina" and "Domina."[228] But instead, unfortunately, of
merely following in Mr. Way's footsteps, he added the startling error
that Stephen was a prisoner, and Matilda consequently in power, till
1143. He wrote thus:—
"Did the king ever cease to exercise his regal functions? Were these
functions performed by any other constitutional sovereign meanwhile?
The events of the year 1141 need not to be very lengthily discussed to
demonstrate that for a brief period there was a break in Stephen's
sovereignty, and a corresponding assumption of royal power by another
ruler unhindered and unimpeached by the lack of any formality necessary
for its full enjoyment.... William of Malmesbury, writing with all the
opportunity of an eye-witness, and moving in the royal court at the
very period, relates at full length in his _Historia Novella_ (ed.
Hardy, for Historical Society, vol. ii. p. 774[229]), the particulars
of the conference held at Winchester subsequent to the capture of
Stephen after the battle of Lincoln, in the early part of the year, 4
Non. Feb. A.D. 1141.... This election of Matilda as Domina of England
in place of Stephen took place on Sunday, March 2, 1141.... Until the
liberation of the king from his incarceration at Bristol, as a sequel
to the battle at Winchester in A.D. 1143, so disastrous to the hopes of
the Empress, she held her position as queen at London. The narrative of
the events of this period, as given by William of Malmesbury in the
work already quoted, so clearly points to her enjoyment of all temporal
power needed to constitute a sovereign, that we must admit her name
among the regnant queens of England" (pp. 12-14).
Two years later (June 9, 1875), Mr. Birch read a paper before the
British Archæological Association,[230] in which, in the same words, he
advanced the same thesis.
The following year (June 28, 1876), in an instructive paper read before
the Royal Society of Literature,[231] Mr. Birch wrote thus:—
"As an example of new lights which the study of early English seals has
thus cast upon our history (elucidations, as it were, of facts which
have escaped the keen research of every one of our illustrious band of
historians and chroniclers for upwards of seven hundred years), an
examination into the history of the seal of Mathildis or Maud, the
daughter and heiress of King Henry I. (generally known as the Empress
Maud, or _Mathildis Imperatrix_, from the fact of her marriage with the
Emperor Henry V. of Germany), has resulted in my being fortunately
enabled to demonstrate that royal lady's undisputed right to a place in
all tables or schemes of sovereigns of England; nevertheless it is, I
believe, a very remarkable fact that her position with regard to the
throne of England should have been so long, so universally, and so
persistently ignored, by all those whose fancy has led them to accept
facts at second hand, or from perfunctory inquiries into the sources of
our national history rather than from careful step-by-step pursuit of
truth through historical tracks which, like indistinct paths in the
primæval forest, often lead the wanderer into situations which at the
outset could not have been foreseen. In a paper on this subject which I
prepared last year, and which is now published in the _Journal of the
British Archæological Association_, I have fully explained my views of
the propriety of inserting the name of Mathildis or Maud as Queen of
England into the History Tables under the date of 1141-1143; and as
this position has never as yet been impugned, we may take it that it is
right in the main; and I have shown that until the liberation of King
Stephen from his imprisonment at Bristol, as a sequel to the battle at
Winchester in 1143 (so disastrous to the prospects of Mathildis), she
held her position as queen, most probably at London....
"Now, I have introduced this apparent digression in this place to point
to the importance of the study of historical seals, for my claim to the
restoration of this queen's name is not due so much to my own
researches as it is to the unaccountable oversight of others."[232]
I fear that, notwithstanding Mr. Birch's criticism on all who have gone
before him, a careful analysis of the subject will reveal that the only
addition he has made to our previous knowledge on this subject, as set
forth in Mr. Way's papers, consists in two original and quite
incomprehensible errors: one of them, the assigning of Maud's election
to the episode of the 2nd and 3rd of March, instead of to that of the
7th and 8th of April (1141); the other, the assigning of Stephen's
liberation to 1143 instead of 1141. When we correct these two errors,
springing (may we say, in Mr. Birch's words?) "from perfunctory
inquiries into the sources of our national history rather than from
careful step-by-step pursuit of the truth," we return to the _status quo
ante_, as set forth in Mr. Way's paper, and find that "the unaccountable
oversight," by all writers before Mr. Birch, of the fact that the
Empress "held her position as queen," for more than two years, "most
probably at London," is due to the fact that her said rule lasted only a
few months, or rather, indeed, a few weeks, while in London itself it
was numbered by days.
But though it has been necessary to speak plainly on Mr. Birch's
unfortunate discovery, one can probably agree with his acceptance of the
view set forth by Mr. Hardy, and espoused by Mr. Way, that the style
"domina" represents that "dominus" which was used as "a temporary title
for the newly made monarch during the interval which was elapsing
between the death of the predecessor and the coronation day of the
living king."[233] To Mr. Hardy's instance of Richard's style, "Dominus
Angl[iæ]," August, 1189, we may add, I presume, that of John, "Dominus
Angliæ," April 17th and 29th, (1199).[234] Now, if this usage be clearly
established, it is certainly a complete explanation of a style of which
historians have virtually failed to grasp the relevance.
But a really curious parallel, which no one has pointed out, is that
afforded in the reign immediately preceding this, by the case of the
king's second wife. Great importance is rightly attached to "the
election of the Empress as 'domina Angliæ'" (as Dr. Stubbs describes
it[235]), and to the words which William of Malmesbury places in the
legate's mouth;[236] and yet, though the fact is utterly ignored, the
very same formula of election is used in the case of Queen "Adeliza,"
twenty years before (1121)!
The expression there used by the Continuator is this: "Puella prædicta,
_in regni dominam electa_, ... regi desponsatur" (ii. 75). That is to
say that before her marriage (January 29) and formal coronation as queen
(January 30) she was elected, it would seem, "Domina Angliæ." The phrase
"in regni dominam electa" precisely describes the _status_ of the
Empress after her election at Winchester, and before that formal
coronation at Westminster which, as I maintain, was fully intended to
follow. We might even go further still, and hold that the description of
Adeliza as "futuram regni dominam,"[237] when the envoys were despatched
to fetch her, implies that she had been so elected at that great
Epiphany council, in which the king "decrevit sibi in uxorem
Atheleidem."[238] But I do not wish to press the parallel too far. In
any case, precisely as with the Empress afterwards, she was clearly
"domina Angliæ" before she was crowned queen. And, if "electa" means
elected, the fact that these two passages, referring to the two
elections (1121 and 1141), come from two independent chronicles proves
that the terms employed are no idiosyncracy, but refer to a recognized
practice of the highest constitutional interest.
Of course the fact that the same expression is applied to the election
of Queen "Adeliza" as to that of the Empress herself, detracts from the
importance of the latter event, regarded as an election to the throne.
At the same time, I hold that we should remember, as in the case of
Stephen, the feudal bearing of "dominus." For herein lies its difference
from "Rex." The "dominatus" of the Empress over England is attained step
by step.[239] At Cirencester, at Winchester, at Oxford, she becomes
"domina" in turn.[240] Not so with the royal title. She could be "lady"
of a city or of a man: she could be "queen" of nothing less than
England.
I must, however, with deep regret, differ widely from Mr. Birch in his
conclusions on the styles adopted by the Empress. These he classes under
three heads.[241] The second ("Mathildis Imperatrix Henrici regis filia
et Anglorum regina") is found in only two charters, which I agree with
him in assigning "to periods closely consecutive," not indeed to the
episode of March 2 and 3, but to that of April 7 and 8. Of his remaining
twenty-seven charters, thirteen belong to his first class and fourteen
to his third, a proportion which makes it hard to understand why he
should speak of the latter as "by far the most frequent."
Of the first class ("Mathildis Imperatrix Henrici Regis filia") Mr.
Birch writes:—
"It is most probable that these documents are to be assigned to a
period either before the death of her father, King Henry I., or at most
to the initial years of Stephen, before any serious attempt had been
made to obtain the possession of the kingdom."
Now, it is absolutely certain that not a single one of them can be
assigned to the period suggested, that not one of them is previous to
that 2nd of March (1141) which Mr. Birch selects as his turning-point,
still less to "the death of her father" (1135). Nay, on Mr. Birch's own
showing, the first and most important of these documents should be dated
"between the 3rd of March and the 24th of July, A.D. 1141" (p. 380), and
two others (Nos. 21, 28) "must be ascribed to a date between 1149 and
1151" (p. 397 _n._). Nor is even this all, for as in two others the son
of the Empress is spoken of as "King Henry," they must be as late as the
reign of Henry II.
So, also, with the third class ("Mathildis Imperatrix Henrici regis
filia et Anglorum domina"), of which we are told that it—
"was in the first instance adopted—I mean used—in those charters which
contain the word and were promulgated between A.D. 1135 and A.D. 1141,
by reason of the ceremony of coronation not yet having been performed;
and with regard to those charters which are placed subsequent to A.D.
1141, either because the ceremony was still unperformed, although she
had the possession of the crown, or because of some stipulation with
her opponents in power" (p. 383).
Here, again, it is absolutely certain that not a single one of these
charters was "promulgated between A.D. 1135 and A.D. 1141." We have,
therefore, no evidence that the Empress, in her charters, adopted this
style until the election of April 7 and 8 (1141) enabled her justly to
do so. But the fact is that Mr. Birch's theory is not only based, as we
have seen, on demonstrably erroneous hypotheses, but must be altogether
abandoned as opposed to every fact of the case. For the two styles which
he thus distinguishes were used at the same time, and even in the same
document. For instance, in the very first of Mr. Birch's documents, that
great charter to Geoffrey de Mandeville, to which we shall come, in the
next chapter, issued at the height of Matilda's power, and on the eve,
as we shall see, of her intended coronation, "Anglorum domina" is
omitted from her style, and the document is therefore, by Mr. Birch,
assigned to the first of his classes. Yet I shall show that in a portion
of the charter which has perished, and which is therefore unknown to Mr.
Birch, her style is immediately repeated with the addition "Anglorum
Domina." It is clear, then, on Mr. Birch's own showing, that this
document should be assigned both to his first and to his third classes,
and, consequently, that the distinction he attempts to draw has no
foundation in fact.
Mr. Birch's thesis would, if sound, be a discovery of such importance
that I need not apologize for establishing, by demonstration, that it is
opposed to the whole of the evidence which he himself so carefully
collected. And when we read of Stephen's "incarceration at Bristol,
which was not terminated until the battle of Winchester in A.D. 1143,
when the hopes of the Empress were shattered" (p. 378), it is again
necessary to point out that her flight from Winchester took place not in
1143, but in September, 1141. Mr. Birch's conclusion is thus expressed:—
"We may, therefore, take it as fairly shown that until the liberation
of the king from his imprisonment at Bristol (as a sequel to the battle
at Winchester in A.D. 1143, so disastrous to the queen's hopes) she
held her position, as queen, most probably at London," etc. (p. 380).
Here, as before, it is needful to remember that the date is all wrong,
and that the triumph of the Empress, so far from lasting two years or
more, lasted but for a few months of the year 1141, in the course of
which she was not at London for more than a few days.
And now let us turn to my remaining point, "the effect of this election
on the position of the Empress."
To understand this, we must glance back at the precedents of the four
preceding reigns. The Empress, as I have shown, had followed these
precedents in making first for Winchester: she had still to follow them
in securing her coronation and anointing at Westminster. It is passing
strange that all historians should have lost sight of this circumstance.
For the case of her own father, in whose shoes she claimed to stand, was
the aptest precedent of all. As he had been elected at Winchester, and
then crowned at Westminster, so would she, following in his footsteps.
The growing importance of London had been recognized in successive
coronations from the Conquest, and now that it was rapidly supplanting
Winchester as the destined capital of the realm, it would be more
essential than ever that the coronation should there take place, and
secure not merely the _prestige_ of tradition, but the assent of the
citizens of London.[242]
It has not, however, so far as I know, occurred to any writer that it
was the full intention of the Empress and her followers that she should
be crowned and anointed queen, and that, like those who had gone before
her, she should be so crowned at Westminster. It is because they failed
to grasp this that Dr. Stubbs and Mr. Freeman are both at fault. The
former writes:—
"Matilda became the Lady of the English; she was not crowned, because
perhaps the solemn consecration which she had received as empress
sufficed, or perhaps Stephen's royalty was so far forth
indefeasible."[243]
"No attempt was made to crown the Empress; the legate simply proposes
that she should be elected Lady of England and Normandy. It is just
possible that the consecration which she had once received as empress
might be regarded as superseding the necessity of a new ceremony of the
kind, but it is far more likely that, so long as Stephen was alive and
not formally degraded, the right conferred on him by coronation was
regarded as so far indefeasible that no one else could be allowed to
share it."[244]
Dr. Stubbs appears here to imply that we should have expected her
coronation to follow her election. And in this he is clearly right. Mr.
Freeman, however, oddly enough, seems to have looked for it _before_ her
election. This is the more strange in a champion of the elective
principle. He writes thus of her reception at Winchester, five weeks
before her election:—
"If Matilda was to reign, her reign needed to begin by something which
might pass for an election and coronation. But her followers, Bishop
Henry at their head, seem to have shrunk from the actual crowning and
anointing ceremonies, which—unless Sexburh had, ages before, received
the royal consecration—had never, either in England or in Gaul, been
applied to a female ruler. Matilda was solemnly received in the
cathedral church of Winchester; she was led by two bishops, the legate
himself and Bernard of St. David's, as though to receive the crown and
unction, but no crowning and no unction is spoken of."[245]
At the same time, he recurs to the subject, after describing the
election, thus:—
"Whether any consecration was designed to follow, whether at such
consecration she would have been promoted to the specially royal title,
we are not told."[246]
But all this uncertainty is at once dispelled when we learn what was
really intended. Taken in conjunction with the essential fact that
"domina" possessed the special sense of the interim royal title, the
intention of the Empress to be crowned at Westminster, and so to become
queen in name as well as queen in deed, gives us the key to the whole
problem. It explains, moreover, the full meaning of John of Hexham's
words, when he writes that "David rex videns multa competere in
imperatricis neptis suæ promotionem post Ascensionem Domini (May 8) ad
eam in Suth-Anglia profectus est ... plurimosque ex principibus sibi
acquiescentes habuit ut ipsa promoveretur ad totius regni fastigium." We
shall see how this intention was only foiled by the sudden uprising of
the citizens; and in the names of the witnesses to Geoffrey's charter we
shall behold those, "tam episcopi quam cinguli militaris viri, qui _ad
dominam inthronizandam_ pomposé Londonias et arroganter convenerant."[247]
[161] _Will. Malms._, p. 724; _Gesta Stephani_, p. 56.
[162] _Will. Malms._, p. 724. See Appendix E.
[163] Such are the alternatives presented by Henry of Huntingdon (p.
266). The treacherous counsel alluded to was that of his brother the
legate (_Gesta Stephani_, p. 57). According to John of Hexham (_Sym.
Dun._ ii. 302), Stephen acted "ex indiscretâ animi simplicitate."
[164] _Will. Malms._, p. 725.
[165] See Appendix F: "The Defection of Miles of Gloucester."
[166] _Will. Malms._, p. 725; _Cont. Flor._, p. 118. Here the
Continuator's chronology is irreconcilable with that of our other
authorities. He states that the Empress removed to Gloucester on October
15, after a stay of two months at Bristol. This is, of course,
consistent, it should be noticed, with the date (August 1) assigned by
him for her landing.
[167] The text is taken from the transcript in Lansdowne MS. 229, fol.
123, collated with Dugdale's transcript in his MSS. at the Bodleian
Library (L. 21). It will be seen that Dugdale transcribed _verbatim_,
while the other transcript begins in _narratio obliqua_.
[168] "Sciatis quod" (D.).
[169] "Mei" (D.).
[170] "Me" (D.).
[171] These were specially excepted from the grants of royal demesne
made by Henry II. to his son, the second earl.
[172] _Cont. Flor._, p. 129; _Will. Malms._, p. 712; _Gesta_, p. 72.
[173] _Ibid._; _John Hex._, p. 308; _Hen. Hunt._, p. 275.
[174] _Gesta_, p. 72.
[175] "Ob illiusmodi eventum vehementer exhilarata, utpote regnum sibi
juratum, sicut sibi videbatur, jam adepta" (_Cont. Flor._, p. 130).
[176] _Cont. Flor._, 130.
[177] "Simul et ejusdem civitatis sumens dominium" (_ibid._).
[178] "Ut ipsam tanquam regis Henrici filiam et cui omnis Anglia et
Normannia jurata esset, incunctanter in ecclesiam et regnum reciperet"
(_Will. Malms._, p. 743). Compare the writer's description of the oath
(1127) that the magnates "imperatricem _incunctanter_ et sine ullâ
retractione dominam susciperent" (p. 690).
[179] _Journ. B. A. A._, xxxi. 389. Mr. Howlett asserts that the
evidence of William of Malmesbury as to the date (2nd and 3rd of March)
"is refuted" by this charter, which places them a fortnight earlier
(Introduction to _Gesta Stephani_, p. xxii.). But I do not think the
evidence of the charter is sufficiently strong to overthrow the accepted
date.
[180] "Pluvioso et nebuloso die" (_Will. Malms._, p. 743).
[181] _Cont. Flor._, p. 130; _Will. Malms._, p. 743.
[182] "Juravit et affidavit imperatrix episcopo, quod omnia majora
negotia in Anglia, precipueque donationes episcopatuum et abbatiarum,
ejus nutum spectarent, si eam ipse in sancta ecclesia in dominam
reciperet, et perpetuam ei fidelitatem teneret. Idem juraverunt cum ea,
et affidaverunt pro ea, Robertus frater ejus comes de Gloecestrâ, et
Brianus filius comitis marchio de Walingeford et Milo de Gloecestrâ,
postea comes de Hereford, et nonnulli alii. Nec dubitavit episcopus
imperatricem in dominam Angliæ recipere et ei cum quibusdam suis
affidare, quod, quamdiu ipsa pactum non infringeret, ipse quoque fidem
ei custodiret" (_Will. Malms._, 743, 744). The parallel afforded by the
customs of Bigorre, as recorded (it is alleged) in 1097, is so striking
as to deserve being quoted here. Speaking of the reception of a new
lord, they provide that "antequam habitatorum terræ fidejussores
accipiat, fide sua securos eos faciat ne extra consuetudines patrias vel
eas in quibus eos invenerit aliquod educat; hoc autem sacramento et fide
quatuor nobilium terræ faciat confirmari."
[183] "Crastino, quod fuit quinto nonas Martii, honorifica facta
processione recepta est in ecclesia episcopatus Wintoniæ," etc., etc.
(_ibid._).
[184] _Const. Hist._, i. 326 (_note_); _Early Plantagenets_, 22.
[185] _English History for the Use of Public Schools_, i. 83. The
mistake may have arisen from a confusion with the departure of the
Empress from Winchester a few days ("paucis post diebus") after her
reception.
[186] _History of England during the Early and Middle Ages_, i. 478.
[187] _Journ. Brit. Arch. Ass._, xxxi. 377-380.
[188] _Norm. Conq._, v. 303. At the same time it is right to add that
this is not a question of accuracy, but merely of treatment. In the
marginal notes the two episodes are respectively assigned to their
correct dates.
[189] _Const. Hist._, i. 318.
[190] Compare also, even further back, the action, in Normandy, of
Gingan Algasil in December, 1135, who, on the appearance of the Empress,
"[eam] ut naturalem dominam suscepit, eique ... oppida quibus ut
vicecomes, jubente rege præerat, subegit" (_Ord. Vit._, v. 56).
[191] _Will. Malms._, p. 747.
[192] _Ibid._, p. 743.
[193] "Honorifica facta processione _recepta est_ in ecclesia" (p. 744).
[194] "Idem prelatus et cives Wintonie honorifice in ecclesia et urbe
Wintonie me _receperunt_" (_Journ. Brit. Arch. Ass._, xxxi. 378)
[195] "Præsul Wintonie ... cum dignioribus Wintonie civibus obvius ei
advenit, habitoque in communi brevi colloquio, in civitatem, secundam
duntaxat regni sedem, honorifice induxit" (p. 5). Note that in each case
the "colloquium" preceded the entry.
[196] "Regisque castello, et regni coronâ, quam semper ardentissimé
affectârat thesaurisque quos licet perpaucos rex ibi reliquerat, in
deliberationem suam contraditis" (_Gesta_, 75).
[197] _Norm. Conquest_, v. 804 (_note_).
[198] As an instance of the crown being kept at Winchester, take the
entry in the Pipe-Roll of 4 Hen. II.: "In conducendis coronis Regis ad
Wirecestre de Wintoniâ," the crowns being taken out to be worn at
Worcester, Easter, 1158. Oddly enough, Mr. Freeman himself alludes, in
its place, to a similar taking out of the crown, from the treasury at
Winchester, to be worn at York, Christmas, 1069. The words of Ordericus,
as quoted by him, are: "Guillelmus ex civitate Guentâ jubet adferri
coronam, aliaque ornamenta regalia et vasa" (cf. _Dialogus_, I. 14).
[199] _Ordericus Vitalis._
[200] _Gesta_, 75; _Journ. Brit. Arch. Ass._, xxxi. 378.
[201] "He (_sic_) ordered that she should be proclaimed lady and queen."
[202] The _Gesta_ itself is, on this point, conclusive, for it
distinctly states that the Empress "solito severius, solito et
arrogantius procedere et loqui, et cuncta cœpit peragere, adeo ut in
ipso mox domini sui capite reginam se totius Angliæ fecerit, _et
gloriata fuerit appellari_."
[203] _Will. Malms._, 744.
[204] To this visit (if the only occasion on which she was at Winchester
in the spring) must belong the Empress's charter to Thurstan de
Montfort. As it is not comprised in Mr. Birch's collection, I subjoin it
_in extenso_ (from Dugdale's MSS.):—
"M. Imperatrix H. Regis filia Rogero Comiti de Warwick et omnibus
fidelibus suis Francis et Anglis de Warewicscire salutem. Sciatis me
concessisse Thurstino de Monteforti quod habeat mercatum die dominica ad
castellum suum de Bellodeserto. Volo igitur et firmiter præcipio
quatenus omnes euntes, et stantes, et redeuntes de Mercato prædicto
habeant firmam pacem. T. Milone de Glocestria. Apud Wintoniam."
As Milo attests not as an earl, this charter cannot belong to the
subsequent visit to Winchester in the summer. The author of the Gesta
mentions the Earl of Warwick among those who joined the Empress at once
"sponte nulloque cogente."
[205] _Cont. Flor. Wig._, p. 130.
[206] This he did on the ground that the recognition of Stephen as king
by the pope, in 1136, was binding on all ecclesiastics (_Historia
Pontificalis_). _Vide infra_, p. 69, _n._ 1.
[207] _Will. Malms._, p. 744. Oddly enough, Miss Norgate gives this very
reference for her statement that in a few days the Archbishop of
Canterbury followed the legate's example, and swore fealty to the
Empress at Wilton.
[208] "Convenitur ibi ab eadem de principibus unus, vocabulo Robertus de
Oileio, de reddendo Oxenfordensi castello; quo consentiente, venit illa,
totiusque civitatis et circumjacentis regionis suscepit dominium atque
hominium" (_Cont. Flor. Wig._, p. 131).
[209] "She then made her way to London by a roundabout path. She was
received at Oxford by the younger Robert of Oily," etc. (_Norm. Conq._,
v. 306).
[210] _English History_, I. 83.
[211] _Will. Malms._
[212] _Cont. Flor. Wig._
[213] "Aliis quoque sponte, nulloque cogente, ad comitissæ imperium
conversis (ut Robertus de Oli, civitatis Oxenefordiæ sub rege præceptor,
et comes ille de Warwic, viri molles, et deliciis magis quam animi
fortitudine affluentes)" (p. 74).
[214] _Cont. Flor. Wig._ (_ut supra_).
[215] _Journ. B. A. A._, xxxi. 388, 389. It will also be found in the
_Monasticon_ (iii. 87).
[216] _Journ. B. A. A._, xxxi. p. 379.
[217] _Addl. MSS._, 31,943, fol. 118.
[218] _Ang. Sax. Chron._, A.D. 1100.
[219] Relying on the explicit statement of the chronicler (_Will.
Malms._, p. 732), that the Earl of Gloucester "fratrem etiam suum
Reinaldum in tanta difficultate temporis comitem Cornubiæ creavit,"
historians and antiquaries have assigned this creation to 1140 (see
Stubbs' _Const. Hist._, i. 362, _n._; Courthope's _Historic Peerage_;
Doyle's _Official Baronage_). In the version of Reginald's success given
by the author of the _Gesta_, there is no mention of this creation, but
that may, of course, be rejected as merely negative evidence. The above
charter, however, certainly raises the question whether he had indeed
been created earl at the time when he thus attested it. The point may be
deemed of some importance as involving the question whether the Empress
did really create an earl before the triumph of her cause.
[220] "Concilium archiepiscopi Cantuariæ Thedbaldi, et omnium
episcoporum Angliæ" (p. 744). Strange to say, Professor Pearson (I. 478)
states that "Theobald remained faithful" to Stephen, though he had now
formally joined the Empress. On the other hand, "Stephen's queen and
William of Ypres" are represented by him as present, though they were
far away, preparing for resistance. An important allusion to the
primate's conduct at this time is found (under 1148) in the _Historia
Pontificalis_ (Pertz's _Monumenta Historica_, vol. xx.), where we read
"propter obedienciam sedis apostolicæ proscriptus fuerat, quando urgente
mandato domni Henrici Wintoniensis episcopi tunc legationem fungentis in
Anglia post alios episcopos omnes receperat Imperatricem ... licet
inimicissimos habuerit regem et consiliarios suos."
[221] "Si qui defuerunt, legatis et literis causas cur non venissent
dederunt.... Egregie quippe memini, ipsâ die, post recitata scripta
excusatoria quibus absentiam suam quidem tutati sunt," etc. (_Will.
Malms._, pp. 744, 745). Is it possible that we have, in "legati," a hint
at attendance by proxy?
[222] _Ibid._, p. 746.
[223] _Archæologia_, xxvii. 110. See the charter in question in the
Pipe-Roll Society's "Ancient Charters," Part I., p. 92.
[224] _Arch. Journ._ (1863), xx. 281-296.
[225] _Ibid._, p. 283. Mr. Way adopts the extension "Angl_orum_"
throughout.
[226] "The only instances in which we have documentary evidence that she
styled herself Queen of England occur in two charters of this period"
(_ibid._).
[227] _Vide supra_, pp. 61, 69.
[228] Pp. xi.-xiv. (see footnotes).
[229] The volume closes at p. 769.
[230] "A Fasciculus of the Charters of Mathildis, Empress of the
Germans, and an Account of her Great Seal" (_Journ. Brit. Arch. Ass._,
xxxi. 376-398).
[231] "On the Seals of King Henry the Second and of his Son, the
so-called Henry the Third" (_Transactions_, vol. xi. part 2, New
Series).
[232] Pp. 2, 3.
[233] _Journ. B. A. A._, xxxi. 383.
[234] Wells _Liber Albus_, fol. 10 (_Hist. MSS. Report on Wells MSS._).
[235] _Const. Hist._, i. 326, 341, 342.
[236] "In Angliæ Normanniæque dominam eligimus."
[237] _Cont. Flor. Wig._, ii. 75. See Addenda.
[238] _Ibid._
[239] "Pleraque tunc pars Angliæ dominatum ejus suscipiebat" (_Will.
Malms._, p. 749).
[240] "Ejusdem civitatis sumens dominium ... totiusque civitatis
suscepit dominium," etc. (_Cont. Flor. Wig._).
[241] _Journ. B. A. A._, xxxi. 382, 383.
[242] It is very singular that Mr. Freeman failed to perceive this
parallel, since he himself writes of Henry (1100). "The Gemót of
election was held at Winchester while the precedents of three reigns
made it seem matter of necessity that the unction and coronation should
be done at Westminster" (_Will. Rufus_, ii. 348). Such an admission as
this is sufficient to prove my case.
[243] _Early Plantagenets_, 22.
[244] _Const. Hist._, i. 339.
[245] _Norm. Conq._, v. 303, 304. The footnote to this statement
("William of Malmesbury seems distinctly to exclude a coronation," etc.,
etc.) has been already given (_ante_, p. 62). Mr. Birch confusing, as we
have seen, the reception of the Empress with her election, naturally
looks, like Mr. Freeman, to the former as the time when she ought to
have been crowned: "The crown of England's sovereigns was handed over to
her, a kind of _seizin_ representing that the kingdom of England was
under the power of her hands (although it does not appear that any
further ceremony connected with the rite of coronation was then
performed)" (_Journ. B. A. A._, xxxi. p. 378). This assumes that the
crown was "handed over to her" at a "ceremony" in the cathedral,
whereas, as I explained, my own view is that she obtained it with the
royal castle.
[246] _Norm. Conq._, v. p. 305.
[247] _Gesta_, 79. In the word "inthronizandam," I contend, is to be
found the confirmation of my theory, based on comparison and induction,
of an intended coronation at Westminster. So far as I know, attention
has never been drawn to it before.