V. by Geoffrey, who pronounced sentence of excommunication on CHAP. all within his diocese who should pay it. John vowed a bitter revenge, and was proceeding to such extremities against him that he went into voluntary exile, and died at a distance His exile, from his native land before the memorable æra when the and death. Barons at Runnymede obtained security against unlawful taxation, and the tyranny of John was effectually restrained. But we must now return back to Longchamp. No sooner Longwas Richard again in possession of the royal authority, than, champ again disregarding all the charges which were brought against his Chancellor. vicegerent of abuse of authority, he re-instated him in the office of Chancellor, and restored to him all his authority. ment at Notting In 1194 a parliament was called at Nottingham. When Parliait was opened, Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, sat on the King's right hand, and Geoffrey Archbishop of York, on ham. his left. But Longchamp, the Chancellor, was present, and although only ranking according to the precedence of his see, he guided all their deliberations. The session was about the usual length, viz. four days. On the first day sentence was passed on several rebellious Barons and sheriffs, who were deprived of their castles and jurisdictions. On the second day the King pronounced judgment against his brother John, who was absent, for having, contrary to his oath of fealty, usurped his castles, and entered into a conspiracy with the King of France against him-when he was ordered to appear by a certain day under pain of banishment. On the third day a supply of two shillings on every ploughland was voted to the King; and the last day was spent in hearing and redressing grievances, and resolving that to nullify the King's submission to the Emperor when in captivity, he should be crowned again. This ceremony was actually performed at Winchester. But Longchamp, the Chancellor, had soon to extricate the LongKing from a new perplexity. A calumny was propagated, champ forges and generally believed, that while in the East he had murdered letter from the Marquis of Montserrat. This charge was invented by Philip, King of France, Richard's great rival, with whom he VOL. I. * * See the tale of the Talisman by Sir Walter Scott. I "The Old Man of the Mountain CHAP. to clear was now at open war, and had a sensible effect in damping the zeal of his supporters both in England and on the Continent. All protestations and reasonable proofs of innocence Richard of being vain, the Chancellor forged a supposed autograph letter Marquis of professing to have been written by "The Old Man of the Mountain" to the Duke of Austria in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin characters, of which the following is a translation: murder of Mont serrat. A. D. 1196. Great Seal. His death, A. D. 1198. "To Leopold, Duke of Austria, and to all princes and people of the Christian faith, greeting. Whereas many Kings in countries beyond the seas impute to Richard, King and Lord of England, the death of the Marquis, I swear by the God who reigns eternally, and by the law which we follow, that King Richard had no participation in this murder. Done at our castle of Messina, and sealed with our seal, Mid-September in the year 1503 after Alexander." This extraordinary missive was formally communicated by the Chancellor to foreign sovereigns, and he likewise sent copies of it to the monks who were known to be employed in compiling the chronicles of the time. Its manifest falsity was not remarked in an age when criticism and a knowledge of eastern manners had made little progress in the north of Europe. It had a sensible effect in weakening the imputations of the King of France among his own subjects, and it greatly encouraged those of the King of England to fight for a master whose character was thus proved to be immaculate. Longchamp soon after resigned the Great Seal; but Richard made as much use of his council as ever to the day of his death. He was in 1197, together with the Bishop of Durham, sent on an embassy to the Pope, and while still in the public employment, he died at Poictiers in the beginning of the following year. He certainly was a man of great energy and ability, and, tried by the standard of honour and morality which prevailed in the 12th century, he probably is not to be very severely condemned either as a Chancellor or a Bishop. See Parl. Hist. 7. Richard appointed as his successor, EUSTACE, Bishop of Ely, who had previously been Vice-chancellor. CHAP. V. EUSTACE, cellor. In this reign we have the earliest distinct evidence of the existence of the officer connected with the Great Seal, called Bishop of indifferently "Custos Sigilli," "Sigillifer," and "Vice-can- Ely, Chancellarius;" but in all probability the office was long before Origin of well known. It has been usual to consider the Great Seal Vice-chanas inseparable from the person of an existing Chancellor, cellors. and that the Keeper of the Great Seal, from the remotest antiquity, exercised all the functions of the Chancellor under another title; but, as we shall see, for many ages to come there were often concurrently a Chancellor and Keeper of the Great Seal. When the King went abroad, sometimes the Chancellor accompanied him with the Great Seal, another seal being delivered to a Vice-chancellor, to be used for the sealing of writs and despatch of ordinary business. At other times the Chancellor remained at home, with the custody of the Great Seal, and a Vice-chancellor attended the King with another seal while he was abroad, and acted as Secretary of State. While the King remained in England, if the Chancellor went abroad, a Vice-chancellor was always appointed to hold the Seal in his absence; and while the King and the Chancellor were both in England, it often happened that, from the sickness of the Chancellor, or his absence from Court on public or private business, or from his being ignorant of law or absorbed in politics, a Vice-chancellor was appointed, who, as deputy, transacted all affairs connected with the Great Seal, the patronage and profits still belonging to the Chancellor. John de Alençon Longchamp, while he held the office of Chancellor, always Vice-chanhad Vice-chancellors acting under him, who were intrusted cellors with the custody of the Great Seal. The first of these was John de Alençon, Archdeacon of Lisieux. Then came Roger Malus Catulus, or Malchien. Hoveden relates, that while Longchamp, the Chancellor, remained in England to admi According to Spelman, Eustace was made Chancellor in 1190. Gloss. 100., and according to Dugdale, in 1198. Or. Jur. 5. and Mal chien. CHAP. V. Vice-chancellor Bennet. Death of Laws of * nister the government, Malchien, as Vice-chancellor, attended Richard in Sicily, on his way to Palestine, and was afterwards drowned near Cyprus, having the Great Seal suspended round his neck. It is said that the King, on his return, ordered all charters that had been sealed with it to be resealed with another seal, bearing a different impression, made to replace it,-upon the suggestion that the lost seal might have been misapplied, and therefore would not properly authenticate the royal grants,- this being in reality a device to draw money to his exhausted exchequer. Subsequently, one "Master Bennet" was Vice-chancellor ; but he must have been appointed in England by John and the rebellious Barons, or by their Chancellor, for we find him anathematised by Longchamp, who, as Bishop of Ely and Pope's legate, could call in the censures of the Church to aid his temporal authority. In a list of those excommunicated for disobedience to the Chancellor, who represented the King, we find "Etiam denunciamus excommunicatum Magistrum Benedictum qui sigillum Domini Regis contra statuta Regis et Regni, et contra prohibitionem nostram, ferre præsumpsit."† When Longchamp was again Chancellor, he had for his Vice-chancellor one Eustace, styled "Sigillifer," Dean of Salisbury, who succeeded him as Chancellor, and as Bishop of Ely. Eustace likewise had a Vice-chancellor, Warine, Prior of Loches. Eustace and Warine remained in their respective offices without anything memorable occurring to them, till the Lionhearted Richard, who had gained such renown by his prodigies of valour in the East, fell ingloriously before the little castle of Chalos; and, as might have been expected, they were immediately dismissed by his successor, who had been at constant enmity with him during his life, and even hated his memory. We have one remarkable juridical monument of this This occurrence induced Lord Coke to say that the form of conferring the office of Chancellor was by suspending the Great Seal round the neck of the person appointed. 4 Inst. 87. Hoved. P. ii. p. 707. n. 30. reign-the Laws of Oleron, the foundation of the maritime jurisprudence of modern Europe, and cited as authority at the present day on both sides of the Atlantic. The work is said to have been written by Richard himself while on his travels, but of course must have been the production of Vice-chancellor Malchien, or some lawyer who had accompanied him. CHAP. V. |