speedily drawn up, in the presence and with the consent of a vast body of Norman and French nobility, which were afterwards confirmed by a treaty signed at Falaise. The particulars of the latter convention are as follows, and although some slight difference exists in the wording as given by various authors, the meaning, in all the principal copies, is the same.

This is the agreement made between the King and his sons :

1. Be it known to all persons, both present and to come, that peace is renewed, God willing, between our lord Henry King of England, and his sons, that is to say, Henry the King, and Richard and Geoffrey.

2. Henry the King and his said brothers, shall return to their father and to his service, as their Lord, free and absolved from all oaths and engagements which they have made, either amongst themselves or with others, against him and his adherents.

3. And all barons and vassals who, upon their account, have withdrawn their allegiance from their father, they have proclaimed free from all oaths. which have been taken to them; and thus free from all oaths, and absolved from all agreements which have been made to them, the said barons shall return under the dominion, and to the allegiance, of their lord the King.

4. And our lord King, his barons and vassals,

shall have restored to them all their lands and castles which they possessed fifteen days before his sons fell away from him; in the same manner, the barons and vassals who abandoned him and followed his sons, shall have restored to them their lands which they possessed fifteen days before they fell away from him; and our lord the King remits all ill-will towards his barons and vassals who left him, so that on this account he will never do them any harm, so long as they continue to serve him faithfully as their liege lord.

5. And the King his son, in a similar manner, has freed from his displeasure all those, whether clergy or laity, who have been with his father; and he swears before our lord the King, his father, that he will never either do, or seek to do, any injury or evil whatsoever to them on this account throughout the whole of his life.

6. And our lord the King, by this convention, gives to the King his son, two proper castles in Normandy, at the choice of his father, and each year fifteen thousand pound Angevin; and to Richard his son, two fit dwelling-places in Poitou, whence there can be no evil done to our lord the King, and also half the revenues of Poitou in money; to Geoffrey his son, however, he gives in Britanny half the revenues of the dower of the daughter of the Count Conan, whom he is to wed; and afterwards, when he shall have wedded her with the consent of the Roman church, he shall

have the whole of the revenues of the said dower, as is expressed in the charter of Count Conan.

7. The prisoners, however, who had entered into composition with our lord the King before the conclusion of peace made with our lord the King, that is to say, the King of Scotland, the Earl of Leicester, the Earl of Chester, and Raoul of Fougeres, and their hostages, and the hostages of other

* This clause and the preceding one are worthy of remark on various accounts. In clause No. 6, it will be seen that Conan the Less, Duke of Britanny, is merely called Count, which, as he always took the title of Duke, and also received it from Henry, is sufficiently remarkable to make us doubt the genuineness of this treaty altogether, did not the seal and various other internal marks, as well as the concurring testimony of all contemporaries, prove to a certainty that it is the original document. In the clause No. 7, will be found stipulations regarding the freedom of certain prisoners, who are said to have already entered into arrangements with the King of England for their liberation, amongst whom are the King of Scots, and the Earls of Leicester and Chester. Now if this treaty had been drawn up between Tours and Amboise, as almost all writers have asserted, in consequence of having wrongly read a loose expression of Hoveden, we should feel inclined on that account also to reject the document as spurious, because it mentions events which did not take place till afterwards. The King of Scotland, and the Earls of Leicester and Chester had at that time entered into no agreement with Henry whatsoever. He had left them all in Normandy in strict imprisonment. But what is the true history of this treaty, generally said to have been signed between Tours and Amboise? The fact is, that it was signed long afterwards at Falaise, and bears upon the face of it the name of that town. If Lord Lyttleton had attended to this fact, it would have given him an insight into the history of the whole trans

prisoners whom he previously has had, are not comprised in this convention. All other prisoners, however, on both parts, are to be freed in such a manner, that our lord the King shall receive hostages from such of his prisoners as he chooses to have them from, and who can give them; and from others he shall have security by their own oaths, and the oaths of their friends.

8. The castles which have been built or strengthened since the war began in the territories of our lord the King, are at his will to be restored to the state in which they were fifteen days before the

war.

9. Besides, it is to be understood that the King Henry the younger, agrees with our lord the King, his father, strictly to hold and confirm all charitable donations which have been given, or were to be given, out of his lands; and all donations of land given, or to be given, to his vassals for his service.

action, elucidating points which appeared dark and difficult to him, and in order to explain which, he was driven to suppositions, in which I believe he was wrong. He finds no express motives in the historians of the day, for Henry neglecting to secure himself by including the King of France in the treaty; and he imagines that the French monarch and the other confederates being merely considered as allies of the young King Henry, the war with them dropt as soon as that prince concluded a peace with his father. This is not at all credible; and it is much more probable that a treaty was concluded with the King of France, as we shall show hereafter. The convention here given was undoubtedly sketched out at the conference, but was afterwards altered and signed at Falaise.

10. He agrees also to observe firmly, and without alteration, the donation which our lord the King, his father, has made to his brother John,-namely, a thousand pounds of revenue in England, from his domain, and from his escheats at his pleasure; and his castle of Nottingham, with its county and appurtenances; and the castle of Marlborough, and its appurtenances; and in Normandy, a thousand pound Angevin, and two castles, at his father's pleasure; and in Anjou, and in the lands which belonged to the county of Anjou, a thousand pound Angevin of revenue, with one castle in Anjou, one in Maine, and one in Touraine.

11. It is also agreed by our lord the King, for the love of his son, that all those who have left him after his son, and by so leaving him have become forfeit in the lands of our lord the King, shall be received again to his peace in such a manner as not to be accountable for the chattels which they might have taken away with them; but for murder, robbery, or maiming, they shall answer according to justice and the law of the land. Whosoever also has fled upon any account before the war, and came into the service of his son, shall, for the love of that son, be permitted to return in peace, if they give security to abide the judgment of the law in those matters which preceded the war.

12. Those also who were impleaded when they went over to his son, may return, and their causes

VOL. II.

I