Geoffrey de Mandeville

“ To illustrate in detail the working of those principles to which the Bishop of Oxford thus refers, is the chief object I have set before myself in these pages. For this purpose I have chosen, to form the basis of my narrative, the career of Geoffrey de Mandeville, as the most perfect and typical presentment of the feudal and anarchic spirit that stamps the reign of Stephen. By fixing our glance upon one man, and by tracing his policy and its fruits, it is possible to gain a clearer perception of the true tendencies at work, and to obtain a firmer grasp of the essential principles involved. ”

“ It should be observed that this pedigree is not intended to show all the children. It gives those only which are required for our special purpose. On some points there is still need of more original information. No doubt Beatrice, wife of William de Say, was sister, and not daughter, to Geoffrey de Mandeville. ”

“ The re-marriage of the Countess of Essex to Payn de Beauchamp, and her parentage, by him, of Simon, are both well established, but the date of her death is taken from the Chronicle, and seems suspiciously late. So also does that which is assigned to her brother, the Earl of Oxford, namely, 1194, fifty-two years after the charter of the Empress. Still, the fact that his mother survived her husband for twenty-two years implies that her children may have been comparatively young at his death. Both Aubrey and Rohese may therefore have been several years junior to Geoffrey de Mandeville. ”

“ It is, at any rate, a remarkable fact that the only known charter by which Stephen creates an earldom—being that to Geoffrey de Mandeville (1140) —does not grant a pennyworth of land, while the largest grantee of lands known to us, namely, William d'Ypres, was never created an earl. [805] Then, again, as to "the third penny." It is not even mentioned in the above creation-charter, and there is no evidence that "the third penny of the county was given" to all Stephen's earls; indeed, as I have elsewhere shown, it was probably limited to a few (see Appendix H) . ”

“ The French editors of Ordericus (iv. 108) strangely imagined that William was brother, not son, of Geoffrey de Mandeville.
[101] "In arce Lundoniensi Guillelmo de Magnavilla custodiendus in vinculis traditus est" (iv. 108) .
[102] See for instance Abingdon Cartulary, ii. 73, 85, 116, where he attests charters of circ. 1110-1112.
[103] Monasticon, iii. 433. He founds the priory "pro anima Athelaisæ primæ uxoris meæ, matris filiorum meorum jam defunctæ;" and "Lecelina domina uxor mea" is a witness to the charter. ”

“ The immemorial liberties which had been enjoyed for generations, and confirmed by William and Henry, were taken from the city, which for the first and last time in its history was put 'in demesne.' The Earl of Essex, Geoffrey de Mandeville, whose father is said by Stow to have been portreeve, was given Middlesex 'in farm' with the Tower for his castle, and no person could hold pleas either in city or county without his permission. The feelings of the Londoners were fully roused. Though Stephen was actually a prisoner, and Matilda's fortunes never seemed brighter, her cause was lost.... ”

“ Quo audito, abbas ... admirans quomodo quod tueri deberet, fure nequior diripuisset" etc.
William died excommunicate for this, but his brother Peter made some slight compensation later. [1196] It was not unusual for conscience or the Church to extort more or less restitution for lawless conduct, as, indeed, in the case of Geoffrey de Mandeville and his son. So, too, Earl Ferrers made a grant to Burton Abbey "propter dampna a me et meis Ecclesiæ predictæ illata" (cf. p. 276, n. 3) , previous to going on pilgrimage to S. Jago de Compostella—an early instance of a pilgrimage thither. ”

“ He was besieged by Stephen in the fens, and met his death in September 1144 in consequence of a wound received in a skirmish. His career is interesting for two reasons. The charters which he extorted from Stephen and Matilda illustrate the peculiar form taken by the ambitions of English feudatories. The most important concessions are grants of offices and jurisdictions which had the effect of making Mandeville a viceroy with full powers in Essex, Middlesex and London, and Hertfordshire. ”

“ The acceptance of this view will at once dispose of the alleged "disappearance of the portreeve," with the difficulties it has always presented, and the conjectures to which it has given rise. [1026] The style of the "portreeve" indeed disappears, but his office does not. In the person of the Norman vicecomes, it preserves an unbroken existence. Geoffrey de Mandeville steps, as sheriff, into the shoes of Ansgar the portreeve. ”

“ Sometimes described as the firma of "London," sometimes "of Middlesex," and sometimes "of London and Middlesex," its identity never changes; it is always, and beyond the shadow of question, the firma of Middlesex {358} inclusive of London. The history of this ancient payment reveals a persistent endeavour of the Crown to increase its amount, an endeavour which was eventually foiled. Under the first Geoffrey de Mandeville (William I. and William II.) , it was £300. Nearly doubled by Henry I., it was yet reduced to £300 by his charter to the citizens of London. ”

“ With his brother (Salop Cartulary) Payn de Beauchamp (who afterwards married Rohaise, the widow of this Geoffrey de Mandeville) , he had held Bedford Castle against the king for five weeks from Christmas, 1137, as heir-male to his uncle, whose daughter and heir, with the Bedford barony, Stephen had conferred on Hugh Pauper, brother of his favourite, the Count of Meulan (Ord. Vit.; Gesta Steph.) . Dugdale's account is singularly inaccurate. Simon, the uncle, must have been living in the spring of 1136, for he then witnessed, as a royal dapifer, Stephen's great (Oxford) charter.
[543] See p. ”

“ Avice afterwards married Geoffrey de Mandeville, son of Geoffrey FitzPeter, earl of Essex, the chief justiciar. John sent ambassadors to the king of Portugal to solicit his daughter in marriage, but changed his mind, and it is said, at the suggestion of Philip, proposed to marry Isabella, daughter of Ademar, count of Angoulême [see Isabella of Angoulême] . First he made a progress through his continental dominions in June and July, and on 30 July arrived at Chinon, where his marriage probably took place. ”

“ Suddenly, after capturing the commandant of Malmesbury and sending him as a great prize to the Empress, the lord of Cricklade threw aside his evil work and went off to die for a nobler cause in Palestine. [964] Geoffrey de Mandeville, the worst of all the troublers of the land, who had accepted titles and honours from both the rival sovereigns and had never for one moment been true to either, met his death in the same summer of 1144 in a skirmish with the king’s troops ”

“ THE EARLDOM OF ESSEX. The death of Geoffrey was a fatal blow to the power of the fenland rebels. According, indeed, to one authority, his brother-in-law, William de Say, met his death on the same occasion, [700] but it was the decease of the great earl which filled the king's supporters with exultant joy and hope. [701] For a time Ernulf, his son and heir, clung to the abbey fortress, but at length, sorely against his will, he gave up possession to the monks. [702] Before the year was out, he was himself made prisoner and straightway banished from the realm. ”

“ In the next clause we return to the system of counter-bids. As the king had trebled the grants of Crown demesne made to Geoffrey by the Empress, and trebled also the counties which had been placed in his charge by her, so now he trebled the number of enfeoffed knights ("milites feudatos") . The Empress had granted twenty; Stephen grants sixty. Of these sixty, ten were to be held of Geoffrey by his son Ernulf. ”

“ Dun., ii. 310) , and he was among the witnesses to the Empress's charters (Oxford, 1142) to the earls of Oxford and of Essex, and to her charter (Devizes) to Geoffrey de Mandeville the younger (vide post) . He subsequently witnessed Henry II.'s charter (? 1156) to Henry de Oxenford (Cart. Ant. D., No. 42) . See also Liber Niger. Working from misleading copies, Mr. Eyton wrongly identifies this Robert "filius Regis," as a witness to three charters of the Empress, with a Robert fitz Reginald (de Dunstanville) (History of Shropshire, ii. 271) . ”

“ 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. ”

“ Turrim autem Galfridus de Magnavillâ potenter defendit, et egressu facto, Robertum civitatis episcopum, partis adversæ fautorem, cepit apud manerium de Fulham." [368]
It is quite certain that this tale is untrustworthy as it stands. We have seen above that Trivet's date for the arrival of the Empress at London is similarly, beyond doubt, erroneous. [369] That the citizens, when they suddenly rose against the Empress, may also have blockaded Geoffrey in his tower, not only as her ally, but as their own natural enemy, is possible, nay, even probable. ”

“ Ulf the portreeve, 353, 354 Umfraville, Gilbert de, 382 Usury. See Money-lending
V
"Vadimonium" (or "Vadium") , 214, 236, 305, 369, 370 Valderi, Richard de, 320 Valoines, Peter de (I.) , 39 ————, Peter de (II.) , 172, 183 ————, Robert de, 172 ————, Roger de, 172, 264; Maud's charter to, 286 Venoiz, Robert de, 171 Vercorol, Richard de, 231 Vere, Aubrey de (I.) , great chamberlain, his pedigree, 389, 392; father-in-law of Geoffrey de Mandeville, 388; "justiciar of England," 390; slain (1141) , 81, 147, 188, 389 ”

“ This was a case of "affidatio" by proxy; but in the above charter we find Geoffrey stipulating for "affidatio" in person ("propria manu") by the Empress, her husband, and her son. Accordingly, when the young Henry confirms his mother's charter to Aubrey de Vere (see p. 186) , he does so "manu mea propria in manu Hugonis de Inga, sicut mater mea Imperatrix affidavit in manu Comitis Gaufredi." Thus Geoffrey allowed himself the privilege, which he refused to the other contracting party, of "affidatio" by proxy, and made Hugh de Ing his delegate for the purpose. ”

“ Supra, p. 158.
[502] "Dirigitur enim in Ely a rege Stephano cum militari manu in armis strenuus Comes Gaufridus de Mannavillâ, associante ei Comite Gileberto, ut homines episcopi, qui tunc latenter affugerent, inde abigeret, aut gladiis truncaret" (Anglia Sacra, i. 621) . Earl Gilbert was uncle to Earl Geoffrey's wife.
[503] "Qui festinus adveniens, hostilem turbam fugavit; milites vero teneri jussit; et equis impositos pedes eorum sub equis ligatos spectante populo usque in Ely perduxit" (ibid.) .
[504] See Appendix Z: "Bishop Nigel at Rome." ”

“ Even to secure one's simplest rights money had always to be paid. Thus, here, Geoffrey stipulates that he and his men are to hold their possessions "sine placito," and "ita quod ... non ponantur in ullo modo in placito de aliquo forisfacto," etc., etc. So again, in his later charter, we find him insisting that he and they shall hold all their possessions "sine placito et sine pecuniæ donatione," and that "Rectum eis teneatur de eorum calumpniis sine pecuniæ donatione." The exactions he dreaded meet us at every turn on the Pipe-Roll of 1130. ”

“ He is found with him at St. Albans, late in Stephen's reign, witnessing a charter of the king; [886] and the two men, as "Gervase and John," were joint sheriffs of London in 2 Hen. II. He is also the first witness to one of Gervase's charters after his brother Alan. [887]
We further find Gervase fitz Roger excused (in the Pipe-Roll of 1130) the payment of two shillings "de veteri Danegeldo" (? 1127-28) in Middlesex, and seven shillings "de preterito Danegeldo" (1128-29) because his land is "waste." ”

“ Its apparent dissimilarity to the "Octod'" of Geoffrey's charter is instructive to note.
[1091] Hearne, who prints this entry, "Feodum Osberti oct. deniers i. mil." (Liber Niger, ed. 1774, i. 53) , makes it the occasion of an exquisitely funny display of erudite Latinity, in which he gravely rebukes Dugdale for his ignorance on the subject ("quid sibi velit denariata militis ignorasse videtur Dugdalius quam tamen is facile intelliget," etc., etc.) , having himself mistaken the tenant's name for a term of land measurement. ”

“ Geoffrey surrenders Normandy—but to his son Henry, and Stephen "appears to have consented, as if in desperation, to the proposed trial at Rome."
(5) "The trial" takes place, as recorded in the Historia Pontificalis, and is attended, inter alios, by Gilbert Foliot, Abbot of Gloucester, who had obtained "the succession to the vacant see" of Hereford at the Council of Rheims, and had added, in consequence, to his style the words "et Herefordiensis ecclesiæ mandato Domini Papæ vicarius." ”

“ With us, Gerald would be grieved to hear, the ancient form survives not only for the bargain but the bet, though it only continues in full vigour as the sign of the marriage contract, where "the minister ... shall cause the man with his right hand to take the woman by her right hand, and to say after him as followeth,"—even as the Druses, we have seen, make their contracts to-day, and as the Empress Maud sealed her own seven centuries ago. ”