RAISING OF THE KING'S RANSOM. 425 mitted to England, Richard declares, in his letter to Queen Eleanor, in announcing the conclusion of the treaty, that if he were at liberty and in his own kingdom, he would willingly give a larger sum than that stipulated as his ransom, in order to obtain the benefits of his alliance with the emperor. The messenger who bore this letter was preceded or followed by Hubert, Bishop of Salisbury, and by Longchamp, bearing the golden bull. The former came as one conscious of high deserts: he soon took a prominent part in the councils of the English nation, and was speedily translated to the see of Canterbury. Longchamp approached a country which had expelled him in a more timid and humble manner, although he was still styled by Richard his chancellor, and was spoken of by the monarch in the very highest terms of friendship. Proceeding with a very small train to St. Albans, he was there met by the queen-mother and her ministers; and, to guard against any misunderstanding, he at once declared that he did not come either as a legate, a justiciary, or a chancellor, but as a simple bishop, and as a messenger from his sovereign and theirs. No notice was taken of either the insolence or the hypocrisy of the emperor; but every one of the council applied himself at once to aid strenuously in raising the sum required for the king's ransom. A portion was assigned to the continental dominions of the crown; and the rest was levied in England much more rapidly than might have been anticipated, considering the impoverished state of the country, which had been drained of its wealth some four years before, to supply the king with means for his expedition to Palestine. It has been remarked that the tax imposed for the purpose of raising the king's ransom was illegal, because no parliament was summoned to give it the sanction of the people. But this is a mistake, for to contribute to the sovereign's ransom from captivity was a purely feudal duty attached to every feof in the land. The re-partition of the burden, and the mode of its collection, might indeed have required the interference of a parliament, had anything like regularity then existed in our institutions; but every vassal was bound to the payment by the tenure on which he held his lands. It would seem, however, that the council of Queen Eleanor, acting with hasty eagerness, considered principally how the 426 COLLECTION OF THE FIRST INSTALMENT. money could be soonest raised, rather than the just apportionment of the tax, and the method of guarding the people against fraud and oppression. A contribution, or aid,* of twenty shillings was demanded for every knight's fee. Various sums were required from boroughs, and from every person holding any part of the royal demesnes. The clergy were not exempt. The Cistercian monks and the order of Sempringham, who had always hitherto been very tenderly touched, were now called upon to contribute the wool of their flocks, and the churches and abbeys were required to lend their gold and silver plate. Fairly levied, these taxes must have produced a much larger sum than that which was absolutely needed; but the collectors are accused of severity, partiality, and malversation, and the money was not ready before the autumn of the year. It would appear that the amount collected consisted only in part of coin, and that the principal portion was conveyed to Germanyt in the form of bars and ingots. As soon as the sum was obtained, upon the payment of which the liberation of the king depended, the queen-mother, with the Archbishop of Rouen and a number of noblemen and clergymen, who agreed to give themselves as hostages for the payment of the final portion of the ransom, set out for Germany, taking the money with them, and leaving Hubert, now Archbishop of Canterbury, to govern the realm. But I must now turn to notice the proceedings of Philip and his base accomplice, John, which had well-nigh deprived the royal prisoner of all benefit from the exertions of his affectionate people.‡ * Doctor Henry, usually so accurate, calls this a scutage; but a scutage was a different sort of due, and was, in its origin, neither more nor less than a composition for military service. To show what obscurity and confusion reigns in this part of history, I need only state that almost every author differs from another as to how and where the ransom was paid. Some say that imperial commissioners were sent to London to receive it; some say that it was paid at Mayence; some, at Spires. It is clear that the absolute payment was made at Mayence. The plate demanded from the churches, it must be remarked, was only taken as a loan, Eleanor pledging her word that it should be restored, which promise was afterwards faithfully kept.-(Hoveden, 73.) DESIGNS OF PHILIP. 427 BOOK XXII. THE successful irruption of Philip into Normandy, which I have already noticed, and by which he regained Gisors, and a number of other towns and castles, was stayed in progress by events of which we have no accurate record. Even his historiographer, Rigordus, does not mention the occasion of his sudden retreat from a territory in which his arms had been perfectly successful. It is said by some, that the menaces of the pope alarmed either himself or his barons; and others, confounding this expedition with a second, which took place shortly after, declare that he retreated in consequence of a check before Rouen. The latter statement is clearly erroneous; and it is more probable that the disinclination of feudal armies to long campaigns, brought this expedition to a close at the end of six weeks, than that Philip, who had no great reverence for Celestine, should, at his command, cease his incursions into the territories of his neighbour. It is clear that neither Philip's ambition, nor his enmity towards Richard, was in the least degree decreased; and to the influence of these passions has been ascribed his inauspicious marriage, which took place this year, with Ingeburga, daughter of the King of Denmark, through whom, it has been supposed, he hoped to revive a claim upon the crown of England. I cannot imagine, however, that a prince of Philip's extraordinary acuteness, could be influenced by so visionary an expectation. Whatever was his motive in seeking the hand of Ingeburga, it is certain that, from some unknown cause, he was seized, on the very day after his marriage, with a degree of abhorrence for his young wife, which neither reason nor argument could overcome. separated from her and divorced her immediately, and a great portion of his after life was troubled by the consequences of these acts. He still, however, pursued his schemes against Richard and his negotiations with John, urged, persuaded, attempted to bribe the emperor to detain his royal prisoner, and sought, it would seem, a personal interview with the treacherous brother of the King of England, in order to He 428 DEPARTURE OF JOHN FROM ENGLAND. concert more vigorous measures for the destruction of their mutual enemy. John, it would seem, hesitated and delayed, fearful of losing the support of many of his English adherents; but at length he took the determination of going into France, for the purpose of raising the Norman nobility against his brother, and of concluding a treaty with the French monarch. The exact date of John's departure from England I cannot ascertain. By some it is placed early in the autumn 1193, but Hoveden fixes it after Christmas, and I am inclined to believe that in this he is correct, for we find, from other sources, that early in January, 1194, the weak and deceitful prince was busily negotiating with Philip in Paris. His efforts to seduce the Norman barons from their allegiance were speedily disposed of. He met the seneschal of Normandy and the nobility of the province at Alençon, where they were concerting means for repelling a new invasion threatened by France, and for raising the remaining portion of Richard's ransom. It is said that they asked the assistance and advice of their monarch's brother. But John replied by a demand of their allegiance, upon which condition he offered to head them against the King of France. The proposal was met with scorn and contempt, and John hurried away to Paris to throw off the mask entirely, and ally himself by treaty to his brother's inveterate foe.* The * The expression which Hoveden puts into John's mouth is a very ambiguous one. He says: "Et ero defensor vester apud regem Franciæ." His object was evidently to induce the Norman nobility to believe that he would co-operate with them in resisting the attempts of Philip upon Normandy; and he perhaps used the word apud instead of contra, to cover an intended deceit. I may as well remark here, that Hoveden is very confused in his chronological statements, and has probably, by this confusion, caused the number of errors which exist in later English historians, regarding the events of 1193 and 1194, although due examination of his own words would have given them the order, if not the exact dates, of those events. Thus he speaks of John's going to France after Christmas 1193, his transactions with the Norman nobility, his visit to Paris and negotiations with Philip, his return to England and attempt to snatch the crown on the rumour which he spread of Richard's death. He then goes back to relate Philip's first attack upon Normandy, the return of the Abbots of Boxley and Pont-Robert from Germany, and the treaty between Richard and the emperorto both of which he affixes a wrong date-and the proceedings of the justiciary against John, and then returns to speak of the capture of Gisors, and the attempt of Philip upon Rouen, which he places in close conjunction. In regard to the latter event, his account is less unfavourable to the arms of Philip than that of the king's own historians. TREATY BETWEEN PHILIP AND JOHN. 429 terms were not long in debate, although the stipulations might not be easily carried into effect, and in the course of January, 1194, the treaty was signed at Paris. By this treaty, John pretended to cede to Philip all that part of the Duchy of Normandy which lay on the right bank of the Seine, from the mouth of the sea to the French territory, with the exception of the town of Rouen and an area of two leagues around it. Several other valuable lordships were added, a large portion of Touraine and the county of Angoulême in homage, with the castles of Loches, Chatillon, and Buzençois in perpetuity. Various advantages were promised to Philip's friends, and many stipulations were added to guard the contracting parties against a peace being concluded by either with Richard, without due care of the interests of the other. This document, which is preserved by Rigordus, who undoubtedly had it in his hands at the time, is dated in the month of January of 1194. It makes no mention, however, in any shape, of the proposed marriage of John with the sister of the French king, upon which some English historians have dwelt; and there can be no doubt that the stipulation was merely imaginary. No sooner was this treaty concluded than John returned to England, to maintain his party in that country, furnished by the French king with some bands of men, probably mercenaries, while Philip, early in February, proceeded to pour his troops into Normandy, took the towns of Evreux, Neubourg, and Vaudreuil, and laid seige to Rouen. There, however, he was destined to receive a check; for the gallant Earl of Leicester had by this time arrived in Europe; and throwing himself into Rouen, he not only defended the city successfully, but compelled Philip to raise the siege with precipitation, burning all his military engines-a fact which is not disguised by his own friend and historiographer.* *It will be seen that, in the above account, I differ from almost every English historian of modern times. Most of them have confounded this second expedition with that in which Philip made himself master of Gisors, and all, I believe, have placed it before the end of 1193. It must be again remarked that great confusion has been created by the different periods at which different countries, different bodies of men, and even different individuals commenced the year, which is probably the cause of some of the errors which have been made in regard to these events. Rigordus, however, in his work, dedicated to Prince Louis, and laid up by Philip Augustus himself in the royal archives, is so precise |