The Anglosaxon Court appears to have been modelled upon the same plan as that of the Frankish Emperors: our documents do not however permit us to judge whether this was the case before a sufficient intercourse1 had taken place to render a positive imitation probable.
It is not at all unlikely that, from the very first establishment of the Comitatus, the possession of those household offices was coveted2, which brought the holder3 into closer personal connection with the prince: and more or less of dependence4 could be of little moment with those who had erected5 into a system the voluntary sacrifice of the holiest of all possessions, their freedom of action. Hence we can readily account for the assumption by men nobly born of offices about the royal person, which were at first directly and immediately menial[200]. Nor, as the opportunities of personal aggrandisement through favouritism or affection were multiplied, does it seem strange to us that these offices should assume a character of dignity and real power, which,
105
however little in consonance with their original intention, yet made them objects of ambition with the wealthy and the noble. We do not any longer wonder at the struggles of dukes and barons8 for the offices of royal cupbearer at a coronation, or Steward9 or Chamberlain of the Household, because time and the attribution of judicial10 or administrative11 functions have given those offices a distinction which at the outset they did not possess: and we see without surprise the electors of Germany personally serving at his table the member of their body whom they had invested with imperial rank; and, when they fixed12 the throne hereditarily13 in him, providing for the succession in their own families of Butlers, Stewards14, Marshals or Chancellors15 of the empire.
As the progress of society drew larger and larger numbers of men into the circle of princely influence, and, by withdrawing them from the jurisdiction17 of the free courts, rendered a systematic18 establishment of the Lord’s court more necessary, the officers who were charged with the superintendence of the various royal vassals19, rose immeasurably in the social scale. Thus the Major Domus or Mayor of the palace, at first only a steward, who had to regulate the affairs of the Household, gradually assumed the management of those of the kingdom, and ended by placing on his own head the crown which he had filched20 from his master’s. So was it with the rest.
The four great officers of the Court and Household in the oldest German kingdoms are the
106
Chamberlain, the Marshal, the Steward and the Butler.
The names by which the Chamberlain was designated are Hrægel þegn, literally21 thane or servant of the wardrobe, Cubicularius, Camerarius, Búrþegn, perhaps sometimes Dispensator, and Thesaurarius or Hordere. It is difficult to ascertain22 his exact duties in the Anglosaxon Court, but they probably differed little from those of the corresponding officer among other German populations, and there is reason to compare those of the Frankish Cubicularius with the functions of the Comites sacrarum largitionum and rerum privatarum of the Roman emperors. Hence we may presume that he had the general management of the royal property, as well as the immediate6 regulation of the household[201]. In this capacity he may have been the recognized chief of the cyninges túngeréfan or king’s bailiffs, on the several estates; for we find no traces of any districtual or missatic authority to whom these officers could account. At the same time it appears that this officer was not what we now call the Lord Great Chamberlain, but rather the Lord Chamberlain of the Household, and that more than one officer of the same rank existed at the same time[202].
107
Hence we can hardly suppose that the dignity of the office was comparable to that of the Lord Chamberlain at present, with the great and various powers and duties which are now committed to that distinguished23 member of the Court. Among the nobles who held this office I find the following named:—
It is not at all unlikely that, from the very first establishment of the Comitatus, the possession of those household offices was coveted2, which brought the holder3 into closer personal connection with the prince: and more or less of dependence4 could be of little moment with those who had erected5 into a system the voluntary sacrifice of the holiest of all possessions, their freedom of action. Hence we can readily account for the assumption by men nobly born of offices about the royal person, which were at first directly and immediately menial[200]. Nor, as the opportunities of personal aggrandisement through favouritism or affection were multiplied, does it seem strange to us that these offices should assume a character of dignity and real power, which,
105
however little in consonance with their original intention, yet made them objects of ambition with the wealthy and the noble. We do not any longer wonder at the struggles of dukes and barons8 for the offices of royal cupbearer at a coronation, or Steward9 or Chamberlain of the Household, because time and the attribution of judicial10 or administrative11 functions have given those offices a distinction which at the outset they did not possess: and we see without surprise the electors of Germany personally serving at his table the member of their body whom they had invested with imperial rank; and, when they fixed12 the throne hereditarily13 in him, providing for the succession in their own families of Butlers, Stewards14, Marshals or Chancellors15 of the empire.
As the progress of society drew larger and larger numbers of men into the circle of princely influence, and, by withdrawing them from the jurisdiction17 of the free courts, rendered a systematic18 establishment of the Lord’s court more necessary, the officers who were charged with the superintendence of the various royal vassals19, rose immeasurably in the social scale. Thus the Major Domus or Mayor of the palace, at first only a steward, who had to regulate the affairs of the Household, gradually assumed the management of those of the kingdom, and ended by placing on his own head the crown which he had filched20 from his master’s. So was it with the rest.
The four great officers of the Court and Household in the oldest German kingdoms are the
106
Chamberlain, the Marshal, the Steward and the Butler.
The names by which the Chamberlain was designated are Hrægel þegn, literally21 thane or servant of the wardrobe, Cubicularius, Camerarius, Búrþegn, perhaps sometimes Dispensator, and Thesaurarius or Hordere. It is difficult to ascertain22 his exact duties in the Anglosaxon Court, but they probably differed little from those of the corresponding officer among other German populations, and there is reason to compare those of the Frankish Cubicularius with the functions of the Comites sacrarum largitionum and rerum privatarum of the Roman emperors. Hence we may presume that he had the general management of the royal property, as well as the immediate6 regulation of the household[201]. In this capacity he may have been the recognized chief of the cyninges túngeréfan or king’s bailiffs, on the several estates; for we find no traces of any districtual or missatic authority to whom these officers could account. At the same time it appears that this officer was not what we now call the Lord Great Chamberlain, but rather the Lord Chamberlain of the Household, and that more than one officer of the same rank existed at the same time[202].
107
Hence we can hardly suppose that the dignity of the office was comparable to that of the Lord Chamberlain at present, with the great and various powers and duties which are now committed to that distinguished23 member of the Court. Among the nobles who held this office I find the following named:—
Ælfríc thesaurarius,
under
Ælfred, 892[203].
Æðelsige camerarius,
...
Eádgár, 963[204].
Leófríc hræglþegn,
...
Æðelred, 1006[205].
Eádríc dispensator regis,
...
Hardacnut, 1040[206].
Hugelinus
camerarius,
...
Eádweard, 1044[207].
cubicularius
...
Eádweard, 1060[208].
stiweard,
...
Eádweard[209].
búrþegn
...
Eádweard[210].
The Marshal (among the Franks Marescalcus, and Comes stabuli) was properly speaking the Master of the Horse, and had charge of everything connected with the royal equipments, in that department. But as he gradually became the head of the active and disposable military force of the palace, he must be looked upon rather as the general of the Household troops. It was thus that the high military dignity of Constable24, or Grand Marshal, by degrees developed itself. This office was held by nobles of the highest rank, and frequently by several at once,—a sufficient explanation of a fact which otherwise would appear strange, viz. that we never find the royal power endangered by
108
that of this influential25 minister. The Anglosaxon titles are Steallere and Horsþegn, Stabulator and Strator régis. We have no evidence of the existence of the office before the close of the ninth century, and it might therefore be imagined that it was introduced into England after the establishment of the family of Ecgberht had familiarized our countrymen with the Frankish court and its customs, did we not find it as an essential institution in all German courts, of all periods. Among the Anglo-Saxon Marshals the following names occur:—
Ecgwulf strator regis: cyninges horsþegn, an. 897[211].
Ðored steallere, about 1020[212].
Ésgár steallere, 1044-1066[213].
Robert filius Wimarc steallere[214].
Ælfstán steallere[215].
Eádgár steallere, 1060-1066[216].
Raulf steallere, 1053-1066[217].
Bondig steallere, 1060-1066[218].
stabulator[219].
Eádnóð steallere[220].
Lýfing steallere[221].
Ælfred regis strator, 1052[222].
Osgod Clapa steallere, 1047[223].
The Steward, usually called Dapifer or Discifer regis, answered to the Seneschal of the Franks (the
109
Truchsess of the German empire); his especial business was to superintend all that appertained to the service of the royal table, under which we must probably include the arrangements for the general support of the household, both at the ordinary and temporary residences of the king. His Anglosaxon name was Discþegn, or thane of the table; and I find the following nobles recorded as holding this office:—
Eata dux et regis discifer,
under
Offa, 785[224].
Wulfgár discifer,
...
Eádwig, 959[225].
Æðelmǽr discþegn,
...
Æðelred, 1006[226].
Raulf dapifer,
Ésgar dapifer,
}
...
Eádweard, 1060[227].
Atsur regis dapifer,
Yfing regis dapifer,
}
...
Eádweard, 1062[228].
In the year 946 Florence tells us of a dapifer regis, whom he does not name. The queen and princes of the blood had also a similar officer for the management of their households. In 1060 we read of Godwine, reginae dapifer[229], and Æðelred’s son Æðelstán had a Discþegn named Ælfmǽr[230]. High as this office was, we yet cannot expect to find in it that overwhelming power wielded27 in later times by the Seneschal or Dapifer Angliae,—a power which might easily have converted the Grandmesnils and De Montforts into the Ebroins or Pepins of a newly established dynasty, and after their fall was
110
wisely retained in the royal family by our kings. We have now, as is well known, only a Lord High Steward, or Major domus, on particular occasions, for which he is especially created: but the Lord Steward of the Household is an officer of great power and high dignity in the Court of our kings. A Major domus regiae occurs, as far as I know, but once in our Ante-Norman history, and may there probably denote only the dapifer or seneschal: he is mentioned by Florence, an. 1040, as “Stir, major domus ... magnae dignitatis vir”; but we hear nothing more of him, or of any such influence as the corresponding high officer exercised in the Frankish court. The title Regiae procurator aulae, borne by the great Esgár, whom we have also seen among the Marshals, may very likely only refer to his office of dapifer[231], which, from the list given above, it will be evident that he held.
The last great officer is the Pincerna, in Germany the Schenk or Buticularius,—the Butler. What his particular duties were, beyond his personal service at the royal board, and no doubt his general superintendence of the royal cellars, we cannot now discover; but the office was one of the highest dignity, and was held by nobles of the loftiest birth and greatest consideration. Óslác, a direct descendant from the royal Jutish blood of Stuff and Wihtgár, was the pincerna of king Æðelwulf; and by this prince’s daughter, “femina nobilis ingenio, nobilis et genere,”—his first wife Ósburh,—Æðelwulf
111
became the father of Ælfred[232]. The Anglosaxon name of this officer may have been Byrele, or Scenca, but I am not aware of its occurrence. The following are among the Pincernae mentioned.
Dudda pincernus, about 780[233].
Sigewulf pincerna, 892[234].
Æðelsige pincerna, 959[235].
Wulfgár pincerna, 1000[236].
Wigod regis pincerna, 1062[237].
The queen, as she had a dapifer, had also a pincerna: in 1062, Herdingus is reported to have held that office[238].
There can be no doubt that these offices were entirely28 Palatine or domestic, that is that they were household dignities, and did not appertain to the general administration. Only when the spirit and feeling of the comitatus had completely prevailed over the older free organization, did they rise into an importance which, throughout the course of mediæval history, we find continually on the increase. They were the grades in the comitatus of which Tacitus himself speaks, which depended upon the good pleasure of the prince: and with the power of the prince their power and dignity varied29. The functionaries30 who held them were the heads of different departments to which belonged all the vassals, leudes or fideles of the king: and as by degrees the freemen perished away, and every
112
one gladly rushed to throw himself into a state of thaneship, the trusted and familiar friends of the prince became the most powerful agents of his administration: till the feudal31 system having seized on everything, converted these court-functions also into hereditary32 fiefs, and rendered their holders33 often powerful enough to make head against the authority of the crown itself. As long as a vestige34 of the free constitution remained, we hear but little of the court offices: what they became upon its downfall is known to every reader of history. It seems to me improbable that Godwine, or Harald, or Leófríc or Sigeward should ever have filled them: these men were ealdormen or dukes, geréfan, civil and military administrators35; but not officers of the royal household, powerful and dignified36 as these might be. It is probable that the first and most important of their duties was the administration of justice to the king’s sócmen in their various departments; from which in later times were clearly derived37 the extensive powers and attributions of the several royal courts: but as the intimate friends and cherished counsellors of the king, they must have possessed38 an influence whose natural tendency was to complete that great change in the social state, which causes of a more general nature,—increasing population, commerce and the disturbance39 of foreign and civil discord,—were hurrying relentlessly41 onward42.
In various situations of trust and authority, either by the side of these officers, or subordinated to them, we find a number of other persons under
113
different titles. Among these are the clergymen who acted as clerks or notaries43 in the imperial chancery. The Frankish court numbered among its members a functionary44 of the highest rank, and always a clergyman, from the very necessity of the case, who went by the name of Apocrisiarius, Archicapellanus, Capellanus[239], or at an earlier period, of Referendarius[240]; at a later again, of Archicancellarius, because he had a subordinate officer or deputy commonly called the Cancellarius. He was the head of those whose business it was to prepare writs45 and other legal instruments, and who went by the general names of Notarii or Tabelliones[241]. In a state which admitted of what are now called Personal laws, that is, where each man might be judged, not according to the law of the place in which he was settled, but that of his parents, that under which he was born,—where Frank, Burgundian, Alaman and Roman might claim each to be tried and judged by Frankish, Burgundian, Alamanic or Roman law respectively, whatever might be the prevalent character of the territory in which he was domiciled,—such an officer was indispensable. The administration of the customary, unwritten
114
law of the Teutonic tribes might have been left to Teutonic officers; but what was to be done when a Provincial46 claimed the application to his case of the maxims47 and provisions of Roman jurisprudence? What was to be done when a collision of principles and a conflict of laws took place, and must be provided for? A clergyman, whose own nation, whatever it might be, merged48 in the Roman per clericalem honorem[242], must necessarily become a principal officer of a state which numbered both Romans and clergymen among its subjects; and hence the Apocrisiarius had a seat in the Carolingian parliament[243], as well as in the Council of the Household, and ultimately became the principal minister for the affairs of the clergy[244]. But no such necessity existed in England, where there was no system of conflicting laws, and where the use of professional notaries was unknown[245], and I therefore see no à priori probability of there having been any such officer as the Referendarius or Apocrisiarius in our courts. Nor till the reign40 of Eádweard the Confessor is there the slightest historical evidence in favour of such an office[246]: under this prince however, whose predilection49 for Norman customs is
115
notorious, it is not improbable that some change may have taken place in this respect, and that a gradual approximation to the continental50 usage may have been found. The occurrence therefore of a Cancellarius, Sigillarius and Notarius among his household does not appear matter of great surprise, and may be admitted as genuine, if we are only careful not to confound the first officer with that great functionary whom we now call the Lord High Chancellor16 of the realm. We are told that, among his innovations, Eádweard attempted to introduce the use of seals; the uniform tenor51 of his writs certainly renders it not improbable that he had also notaries or professional clerks, and I can therefore admit the probability of his having appointed some faithful chaplain to act as his chancellor, that is, to keep his seal,—though not yet used for public instruments,—and to manage the royal notarial52 establishment. There are many persons named as royal chaplains; some, whose successive appointments to bishoprics appeared to our simple forefathers54 to encroach too much upon the proper and canonical55 mode of election. Among them are the following:—
under
Offa, 785[224].
Wulfgár discifer,
...
Eádwig, 959[225].
Æðelmǽr discþegn,
...
Æðelred, 1006[226].
Raulf dapifer,
Ésgar dapifer,
}
...
Eádweard, 1060[227].
Atsur regis dapifer,
Yfing regis dapifer,
}
...
Eádweard, 1062[228].
In the year 946 Florence tells us of a dapifer regis, whom he does not name. The queen and princes of the blood had also a similar officer for the management of their households. In 1060 we read of Godwine, reginae dapifer[229], and Æðelred’s son Æðelstán had a Discþegn named Ælfmǽr[230]. High as this office was, we yet cannot expect to find in it that overwhelming power wielded27 in later times by the Seneschal or Dapifer Angliae,—a power which might easily have converted the Grandmesnils and De Montforts into the Ebroins or Pepins of a newly established dynasty, and after their fall was
110
wisely retained in the royal family by our kings. We have now, as is well known, only a Lord High Steward, or Major domus, on particular occasions, for which he is especially created: but the Lord Steward of the Household is an officer of great power and high dignity in the Court of our kings. A Major domus regiae occurs, as far as I know, but once in our Ante-Norman history, and may there probably denote only the dapifer or seneschal: he is mentioned by Florence, an. 1040, as “Stir, major domus ... magnae dignitatis vir”; but we hear nothing more of him, or of any such influence as the corresponding high officer exercised in the Frankish court. The title Regiae procurator aulae, borne by the great Esgár, whom we have also seen among the Marshals, may very likely only refer to his office of dapifer[231], which, from the list given above, it will be evident that he held.
The last great officer is the Pincerna, in Germany the Schenk or Buticularius,—the Butler. What his particular duties were, beyond his personal service at the royal board, and no doubt his general superintendence of the royal cellars, we cannot now discover; but the office was one of the highest dignity, and was held by nobles of the loftiest birth and greatest consideration. Óslác, a direct descendant from the royal Jutish blood of Stuff and Wihtgár, was the pincerna of king Æðelwulf; and by this prince’s daughter, “femina nobilis ingenio, nobilis et genere,”—his first wife Ósburh,—Æðelwulf
111
became the father of Ælfred[232]. The Anglosaxon name of this officer may have been Byrele, or Scenca, but I am not aware of its occurrence. The following are among the Pincernae mentioned.
Dudda pincernus, about 780[233].
Sigewulf pincerna, 892[234].
Æðelsige pincerna, 959[235].
Wulfgár pincerna, 1000[236].
Wigod regis pincerna, 1062[237].
The queen, as she had a dapifer, had also a pincerna: in 1062, Herdingus is reported to have held that office[238].
There can be no doubt that these offices were entirely28 Palatine or domestic, that is that they were household dignities, and did not appertain to the general administration. Only when the spirit and feeling of the comitatus had completely prevailed over the older free organization, did they rise into an importance which, throughout the course of mediæval history, we find continually on the increase. They were the grades in the comitatus of which Tacitus himself speaks, which depended upon the good pleasure of the prince: and with the power of the prince their power and dignity varied29. The functionaries30 who held them were the heads of different departments to which belonged all the vassals, leudes or fideles of the king: and as by degrees the freemen perished away, and every
112
one gladly rushed to throw himself into a state of thaneship, the trusted and familiar friends of the prince became the most powerful agents of his administration: till the feudal31 system having seized on everything, converted these court-functions also into hereditary32 fiefs, and rendered their holders33 often powerful enough to make head against the authority of the crown itself. As long as a vestige34 of the free constitution remained, we hear but little of the court offices: what they became upon its downfall is known to every reader of history. It seems to me improbable that Godwine, or Harald, or Leófríc or Sigeward should ever have filled them: these men were ealdormen or dukes, geréfan, civil and military administrators35; but not officers of the royal household, powerful and dignified36 as these might be. It is probable that the first and most important of their duties was the administration of justice to the king’s sócmen in their various departments; from which in later times were clearly derived37 the extensive powers and attributions of the several royal courts: but as the intimate friends and cherished counsellors of the king, they must have possessed38 an influence whose natural tendency was to complete that great change in the social state, which causes of a more general nature,—increasing population, commerce and the disturbance39 of foreign and civil discord,—were hurrying relentlessly41 onward42.
In various situations of trust and authority, either by the side of these officers, or subordinated to them, we find a number of other persons under
113
different titles. Among these are the clergymen who acted as clerks or notaries43 in the imperial chancery. The Frankish court numbered among its members a functionary44 of the highest rank, and always a clergyman, from the very necessity of the case, who went by the name of Apocrisiarius, Archicapellanus, Capellanus[239], or at an earlier period, of Referendarius[240]; at a later again, of Archicancellarius, because he had a subordinate officer or deputy commonly called the Cancellarius. He was the head of those whose business it was to prepare writs45 and other legal instruments, and who went by the general names of Notarii or Tabelliones[241]. In a state which admitted of what are now called Personal laws, that is, where each man might be judged, not according to the law of the place in which he was settled, but that of his parents, that under which he was born,—where Frank, Burgundian, Alaman and Roman might claim each to be tried and judged by Frankish, Burgundian, Alamanic or Roman law respectively, whatever might be the prevalent character of the territory in which he was domiciled,—such an officer was indispensable. The administration of the customary, unwritten
114
law of the Teutonic tribes might have been left to Teutonic officers; but what was to be done when a Provincial46 claimed the application to his case of the maxims47 and provisions of Roman jurisprudence? What was to be done when a collision of principles and a conflict of laws took place, and must be provided for? A clergyman, whose own nation, whatever it might be, merged48 in the Roman per clericalem honorem[242], must necessarily become a principal officer of a state which numbered both Romans and clergymen among its subjects; and hence the Apocrisiarius had a seat in the Carolingian parliament[243], as well as in the Council of the Household, and ultimately became the principal minister for the affairs of the clergy[244]. But no such necessity existed in England, where there was no system of conflicting laws, and where the use of professional notaries was unknown[245], and I therefore see no à priori probability of there having been any such officer as the Referendarius or Apocrisiarius in our courts. Nor till the reign40 of Eádweard the Confessor is there the slightest historical evidence in favour of such an office[246]: under this prince however, whose predilection49 for Norman customs is
115
notorious, it is not improbable that some change may have taken place in this respect, and that a gradual approximation to the continental50 usage may have been found. The occurrence therefore of a Cancellarius, Sigillarius and Notarius among his household does not appear matter of great surprise, and may be admitted as genuine, if we are only careful not to confound the first officer with that great functionary whom we now call the Lord High Chancellor16 of the realm. We are told that, among his innovations, Eádweard attempted to introduce the use of seals; the uniform tenor51 of his writs certainly renders it not improbable that he had also notaries or professional clerks, and I can therefore admit the probability of his having appointed some faithful chaplain to act as his chancellor, that is, to keep his seal,—though not yet used for public instruments,—and to manage the royal notarial52 establishment. There are many persons named as royal chaplains; some, whose successive appointments to bishoprics appeared to our simple forefathers54 to encroach too much upon the proper and canonical55 mode of election. Among them are the following:—
Eádsige capellanus,
1038[247]
Stigandus capellanus,
1044[248].
Heremannus capellanus,
1045[249].
Wulfwig cancellarius,
Eádweard,
1045[250].
Reginboldus sigillarius,
...
... [251].
116
Reginboldus cancellarius,
Eádweard,
1045[252].
Ælfgeat notarius,
...
... [253].
Petrus capellanus,
...
... [254].
Baldwinus capellanus,
...
... [255].
Osbernus capellanus,
...
... [256].
Rodbertus capellanus,
...
... [257].
Heca capellanus,
1047[258].
Ulf capellanus,
1049[259].
Cynesige capellanus,
1051[260].
Wilhelmus capellanus,
1051[261].
Godmannus capellanus,
1053[262].
Gisa capellanus,
1060[263].
Eádweard’s queen Eádgyfu and her brother Harald had also their chaplains; Walther, afterwards bishop53 of Hereford[264], and Leófgár who preceded him in the same see[265], and who, being probably of the same mind as his noble and warlike lord, was no sooner a bishop than “he forsook56 his chrism and rood, his spiritual weapons, and took to his spear and sword,” and so going to the field against Griffin the Welsh king, was slain57, and many of his priests with him. The establishment of chaplains in the royal household is, of course, of the highest antiquity58; it is probable that they were preceded there
117
by Pagan priests, and formed a necessary part of the royal comitatus in all ages[266].
Among the royal officers was also the Pedissequus or as he is sometimes called Pedessessor, whose functions I cannot nearer define, unless he were a king’s messenger. The following instances occur:—Æðelheáh pedessessor, who appears to have been a duke[267]: Bola pedisecus[268]: Ælfred pedisecus[269]. Eástmund pedisecus[270]. In Beówulf, Hunferð the orator59 is said to sit at the king’s feet, “ðe æt fótum sæt freán scyldinga.” (l. 994.)
In the year 1040, Hardacnut’s carnifex or executioner is described as a person of great dignity[271]. Other titles are also enumerated60, some of which appear to denote offices in the royal household: thus we find Radulfus aulicus[272], Bundinus palatinus[273], Deórmód cellerarius[274], Wiferð claviger[275], Leófsige signifer[276], Ælfwine sticcere[277], Æðelríc bigenga[278]. It is uncertain whether the following are to be considered as regular members of the court, or whether their presence was merely accidental, on a particular occasion: Brihtríc and Ælfgár, consiliarii[279], Ælfwig[280] and Cyneweard[281] praepositi, Godricus tribunus[282],
118
Aldred theloniarius[283]. Nor is it absolutely demonstrable that those who claimed consanguinity61 with the king formed part of his household, although they probably made their connexion valid62 as a recommendation to royal favour. “The king’s poor cousin[284]” seems at all events to have taken care that his light should shine before men, as we learn from the signatures, Ælfhere ex parentela regis[285], Leófwine propinquus regis[286], Hesburnus regis consanguineus[287], Rodbertus regis consanguineus[288], and similar entries.
But no such doubt applies to the household troops, or immediate body-guard of the king. These are commonly called Húscarlas, by the Anglosaxon writers, and continued to exist under that name after the Norman conquest. Lappenberg has very justly looked upon them as a kind of military gild63, or association, of which the king was the master[289]. I doubt whether they were organized as a separate force before the time of Cnut; but it is certain that under that prince and his Danish successors they attained64 a definite and settled position. It is probable that this resulted from the circumstances under which he obtained the crown of England, and that the institution was not known to his Saxon predecessors65: as an invader66, not at all secure of his
119
tenure67, and surrounded by nobles whose previous conduct offered but slight guarantee of their fidelity68, it became absolutely necessary to his safety to organize his own peculiar69 force in such a way as to secure the readiest service if occasion demanded it. This was the object of the Witherlags Ret, by which the privileges and duties of the Húscarlas were settled. Of this law Lappenberg observes:—“With greater probability may be reckoned among the earlier labours of Cnut, the composition of the Witherlags Ret, a court- or gild-law, framed for his standing70 army, as well as for the body-guards of his jarls. As the greater part of his army remained in England, the Witherlags Ret was there first established, and as the introduction of strict discipline among such a military community must precede all other ameliorations in the condition of the country, the mention of this law in its history ought not to be omitted[290]. The immediate military
120
attendants of a conqueror71 always exercise vast influence, and these originally Danish soldiers (thingamenn, thingamanna lith, by the English called Húscarlas) have at a later period, both as bodyguards72 of the king and of the great vassals, acted no unimportant part in the country. They were armed with axes, halberds and swords inlaid with gold, and in purpose, descent and equipment corresponded to the Warangian guard (Wæringer), in which the throne of the Byzantine emperors found its best security. In Cnut’s time the number of these mercenaries was not very great,—being by some reckoned at three thousand, by others at six thousand[291]—but they were gathered under his banner from various nations, and consequently required the stricter discipline. Even a valiant73 Wendish prince, Gottschalk, the son of Udo, stayed long with Cnut in England, and gained the hand of a daughter of the royal house[292]. Cnut himself appears rather as a sort of grand-master of this military gild, than as its commander, and it is said that, having in his anger slain one of the brotherhood74 in England, he submitted himself to its judgment75 in their assembly (stefn) and paid a ninefold compensation[293]. The degrading epithet76 of ‘nithing’
121
applied77 to an expelled member of the gild, is an Anglosaxon word, which at a later period occurs in a way to render it extremely probable that the gild-law of the royal house-carls was in existence after the Norman conquest[294].”
The details of this law are of the most stringent78 description, regulating even the minutest points of social intercourse. Its extreme punishment was expulsion; but expulsion was nearly equivalent to death, situated79 as the Húscarlas were expected to be, among a hostile population. And though the offending brother had his election, whether he would retire from the gild by sea or land, yet the circumstances which attended his ejection were not those of mercy or alleviation80. To the seashore, the whole body of his ancient comrades were to accompany him; then launching him in a boat, with oars81 or sails, they were to commit him to his fortune: henceforth he was not only a stranger but an enemy, an outlaw82: if stress of weather or other accident brought him back to the shore, he might be fallen upon and slain without remorse83 or retribution. Or if he chose to retire by land, he was to be led to the nearest wood, and there to be watched till his form was lost in the darkness of the thickets84: three successive shouts were then to be raised, to warn him of the direction in which
122
his gild-brothers lay in wait. If then, through the devious85 error of the forest he returned into their presence, his life was forfeit86. To insult, injure or dishonour87 a brother was an offence punished with the utmost severity; and if three of the Húscarlas concurred88 in accusing one of the body, there was neither denial nor exculpation89 allowed; the penalty followed inevitably90. Such severe regulations as these fully91 explain their object; and it seems to have been successfully attained, for we are told that, at least during the life of Cnut, the penalties were never once incurred92 or enforced[295].
From the collocation of names among the witnesses to a very important charter of 1052-1054, we may infer that the Stealleras or Marshals were the commanding officers of the Húscarlas[296]. We cannot doubt that they did really exercise an important personal influence in England, although they filled no recognized position under the law: it is probable that they were reckoned as thanes or ministers, as far as their wergyld and heriot were concerned; but we have no evidence of this, and I
123
should not dispute the assertion that from first to last they had a law of their own,—a personal right,—that they were not generally or originally landowners, and that their institution was a modified revival93 of the system of the Comitatus in its strictest form. But upon these points we cannot decide. It is very rarely that we find the Húscarlas acting94 as witnesses to charters, which perhaps may lead to the inference that they were not members of the Witena gemót[297]: but in 1041 we are told that Hardacnut sent two of his Húscarlas, Feader and Turstan, to collect an unpopular tax, and that a sedition95 was raised against them in Worcester, which was not suppressed till the force of several counties, under the most celebrated96 leaders of the day, was brought against the city[298].
In a charter of the Confessor, we find the word Húscarl translated by “praefectus palatinus[299],”—a title which scarcely seems applicable to all the members of a body numbering six, or even three, thousand men: but, however this may be, we must not confound these praefecti palatini with the other, earlier praefecti who occur in Anglosaxon history[300]: these are clearly only geréfan or reeves, and have nothing to do with the especial body of household troops.
It remains97 only to add that, in imitation of the
124
king, the great nobles surrounded themselves with a body-guard of Húscarlas[301], who probably stood in the same relation to their lord, as he did to the king: in short the institution is only a revival of the Comitatus, described in the First Book, and must have gone through a similar course of development. Nay98, the details which have reached us of the later establishment may possibly throw light upon the earlier, and serve to explain some of the peculiarities99 which strike us in the account of Tacitus. This difference indeed there is, that in the later form the king and the comites unite in a definite bond, with respective, stipulated100 rights; in the earlier form, the comites attach themselves to the king, without stipulation101 or reserve, although no doubt under the protection of a customary and recognized, although unwritten, law.
1038[247]
Stigandus capellanus,
1044[248].
Heremannus capellanus,
1045[249].
Wulfwig cancellarius,
Eádweard,
1045[250].
Reginboldus sigillarius,
...
... [251].
116
Reginboldus cancellarius,
Eádweard,
1045[252].
Ælfgeat notarius,
...
... [253].
Petrus capellanus,
...
... [254].
Baldwinus capellanus,
...
... [255].
Osbernus capellanus,
...
... [256].
Rodbertus capellanus,
...
... [257].
Heca capellanus,
1047[258].
Ulf capellanus,
1049[259].
Cynesige capellanus,
1051[260].
Wilhelmus capellanus,
1051[261].
Godmannus capellanus,
1053[262].
Gisa capellanus,
1060[263].
Eádweard’s queen Eádgyfu and her brother Harald had also their chaplains; Walther, afterwards bishop53 of Hereford[264], and Leófgár who preceded him in the same see[265], and who, being probably of the same mind as his noble and warlike lord, was no sooner a bishop than “he forsook56 his chrism and rood, his spiritual weapons, and took to his spear and sword,” and so going to the field against Griffin the Welsh king, was slain57, and many of his priests with him. The establishment of chaplains in the royal household is, of course, of the highest antiquity58; it is probable that they were preceded there
117
by Pagan priests, and formed a necessary part of the royal comitatus in all ages[266].
Among the royal officers was also the Pedissequus or as he is sometimes called Pedessessor, whose functions I cannot nearer define, unless he were a king’s messenger. The following instances occur:—Æðelheáh pedessessor, who appears to have been a duke[267]: Bola pedisecus[268]: Ælfred pedisecus[269]. Eástmund pedisecus[270]. In Beówulf, Hunferð the orator59 is said to sit at the king’s feet, “ðe æt fótum sæt freán scyldinga.” (l. 994.)
In the year 1040, Hardacnut’s carnifex or executioner is described as a person of great dignity[271]. Other titles are also enumerated60, some of which appear to denote offices in the royal household: thus we find Radulfus aulicus[272], Bundinus palatinus[273], Deórmód cellerarius[274], Wiferð claviger[275], Leófsige signifer[276], Ælfwine sticcere[277], Æðelríc bigenga[278]. It is uncertain whether the following are to be considered as regular members of the court, or whether their presence was merely accidental, on a particular occasion: Brihtríc and Ælfgár, consiliarii[279], Ælfwig[280] and Cyneweard[281] praepositi, Godricus tribunus[282],
118
Aldred theloniarius[283]. Nor is it absolutely demonstrable that those who claimed consanguinity61 with the king formed part of his household, although they probably made their connexion valid62 as a recommendation to royal favour. “The king’s poor cousin[284]” seems at all events to have taken care that his light should shine before men, as we learn from the signatures, Ælfhere ex parentela regis[285], Leófwine propinquus regis[286], Hesburnus regis consanguineus[287], Rodbertus regis consanguineus[288], and similar entries.
But no such doubt applies to the household troops, or immediate body-guard of the king. These are commonly called Húscarlas, by the Anglosaxon writers, and continued to exist under that name after the Norman conquest. Lappenberg has very justly looked upon them as a kind of military gild63, or association, of which the king was the master[289]. I doubt whether they were organized as a separate force before the time of Cnut; but it is certain that under that prince and his Danish successors they attained64 a definite and settled position. It is probable that this resulted from the circumstances under which he obtained the crown of England, and that the institution was not known to his Saxon predecessors65: as an invader66, not at all secure of his
119
tenure67, and surrounded by nobles whose previous conduct offered but slight guarantee of their fidelity68, it became absolutely necessary to his safety to organize his own peculiar69 force in such a way as to secure the readiest service if occasion demanded it. This was the object of the Witherlags Ret, by which the privileges and duties of the Húscarlas were settled. Of this law Lappenberg observes:—“With greater probability may be reckoned among the earlier labours of Cnut, the composition of the Witherlags Ret, a court- or gild-law, framed for his standing70 army, as well as for the body-guards of his jarls. As the greater part of his army remained in England, the Witherlags Ret was there first established, and as the introduction of strict discipline among such a military community must precede all other ameliorations in the condition of the country, the mention of this law in its history ought not to be omitted[290]. The immediate military
120
attendants of a conqueror71 always exercise vast influence, and these originally Danish soldiers (thingamenn, thingamanna lith, by the English called Húscarlas) have at a later period, both as bodyguards72 of the king and of the great vassals, acted no unimportant part in the country. They were armed with axes, halberds and swords inlaid with gold, and in purpose, descent and equipment corresponded to the Warangian guard (Wæringer), in which the throne of the Byzantine emperors found its best security. In Cnut’s time the number of these mercenaries was not very great,—being by some reckoned at three thousand, by others at six thousand[291]—but they were gathered under his banner from various nations, and consequently required the stricter discipline. Even a valiant73 Wendish prince, Gottschalk, the son of Udo, stayed long with Cnut in England, and gained the hand of a daughter of the royal house[292]. Cnut himself appears rather as a sort of grand-master of this military gild, than as its commander, and it is said that, having in his anger slain one of the brotherhood74 in England, he submitted himself to its judgment75 in their assembly (stefn) and paid a ninefold compensation[293]. The degrading epithet76 of ‘nithing’
121
applied77 to an expelled member of the gild, is an Anglosaxon word, which at a later period occurs in a way to render it extremely probable that the gild-law of the royal house-carls was in existence after the Norman conquest[294].”
The details of this law are of the most stringent78 description, regulating even the minutest points of social intercourse. Its extreme punishment was expulsion; but expulsion was nearly equivalent to death, situated79 as the Húscarlas were expected to be, among a hostile population. And though the offending brother had his election, whether he would retire from the gild by sea or land, yet the circumstances which attended his ejection were not those of mercy or alleviation80. To the seashore, the whole body of his ancient comrades were to accompany him; then launching him in a boat, with oars81 or sails, they were to commit him to his fortune: henceforth he was not only a stranger but an enemy, an outlaw82: if stress of weather or other accident brought him back to the shore, he might be fallen upon and slain without remorse83 or retribution. Or if he chose to retire by land, he was to be led to the nearest wood, and there to be watched till his form was lost in the darkness of the thickets84: three successive shouts were then to be raised, to warn him of the direction in which
122
his gild-brothers lay in wait. If then, through the devious85 error of the forest he returned into their presence, his life was forfeit86. To insult, injure or dishonour87 a brother was an offence punished with the utmost severity; and if three of the Húscarlas concurred88 in accusing one of the body, there was neither denial nor exculpation89 allowed; the penalty followed inevitably90. Such severe regulations as these fully91 explain their object; and it seems to have been successfully attained, for we are told that, at least during the life of Cnut, the penalties were never once incurred92 or enforced[295].
From the collocation of names among the witnesses to a very important charter of 1052-1054, we may infer that the Stealleras or Marshals were the commanding officers of the Húscarlas[296]. We cannot doubt that they did really exercise an important personal influence in England, although they filled no recognized position under the law: it is probable that they were reckoned as thanes or ministers, as far as their wergyld and heriot were concerned; but we have no evidence of this, and I
123
should not dispute the assertion that from first to last they had a law of their own,—a personal right,—that they were not generally or originally landowners, and that their institution was a modified revival93 of the system of the Comitatus in its strictest form. But upon these points we cannot decide. It is very rarely that we find the Húscarlas acting94 as witnesses to charters, which perhaps may lead to the inference that they were not members of the Witena gemót[297]: but in 1041 we are told that Hardacnut sent two of his Húscarlas, Feader and Turstan, to collect an unpopular tax, and that a sedition95 was raised against them in Worcester, which was not suppressed till the force of several counties, under the most celebrated96 leaders of the day, was brought against the city[298].
In a charter of the Confessor, we find the word Húscarl translated by “praefectus palatinus[299],”—a title which scarcely seems applicable to all the members of a body numbering six, or even three, thousand men: but, however this may be, we must not confound these praefecti palatini with the other, earlier praefecti who occur in Anglosaxon history[300]: these are clearly only geréfan or reeves, and have nothing to do with the especial body of household troops.
It remains97 only to add that, in imitation of the
124
king, the great nobles surrounded themselves with a body-guard of Húscarlas[301], who probably stood in the same relation to their lord, as he did to the king: in short the institution is only a revival of the Comitatus, described in the First Book, and must have gone through a similar course of development. Nay98, the details which have reached us of the later establishment may possibly throw light upon the earlier, and serve to explain some of the peculiarities99 which strike us in the account of Tacitus. This difference indeed there is, that in the later form the king and the comites unite in a definite bond, with respective, stipulated100 rights; in the earlier form, the comites attach themselves to the king, without stipulation101 or reserve, although no doubt under the protection of a customary and recognized, although unwritten, law.
200. Speaking of the Pincerna regis Æðelstani, one of the great officers of the Household, in the early part of the tenth century, William of Malmesbury says, “Itaque cum forte102 die solenni vinum propinaret,” etc. Gest. Reg. § ii. 139.
201. Eichhorn, i. 197. § 25, b. Eichhorn argues the first from a passage in Greg. Turon. vii. 24. The latter portion of the Chamberlain’s duties is defined by Hincmar of Rheims, § 22. “De honestate vero palatii, seu specialiter ornamento reguli, necnon et de donis annuis militum, absque cibo et potu, vel equis, ad Reginam praecipue, et sub ipsa ad Camerarium pertinebat: et sollicitudo erat, ut tempore congruo semper futura prospicerent, ne quid, dum opus esset, defuisset. De donis vero diversarum legationum ad Camerarium aspiciebat.”
202. “Cubicularios regis duos.” Will. Malm., ii. § 180.
203. Cod103. Dipl. No. 320.
204. Ibid. No. 1246.
205. Ibid. No. 715.
206. Flor. Wig26. an. 1040.
207. Cod. Dipl. Nos. 771, 810.
208. Ibid. No. 809.
209. Ibid. No. 899, very doubtful.
210. Ibid. No. 904.
211. Flor. Wig. an. 897. Chron. Saxon, cod. an.
212. Cod. Dipl. No. 1328.
213. Ibid. Nos. 771, 828, 855, 864.
214. Ibid. Nos. 771, 822, 828, 859, 871, 904, 956, 1338.
215. Ibid. No. 773.
216. Ibid. No. 809.
217. Ibid. Nos. 822, 956, 1338.
218. Ibid. No. 822.
219. Ibid. No. 945.
220. Ibid. No. 845.
221. Ibid. Nos. 956, 1338.
222. Flor. Wig. an. 1052.
223. Chron. Sax. an. 1047.
224. Cod. Dipl. No. 149.
225. Ibid. No. 1224.
226. Ibid. No. 715.
227. Ibid. No. 808.
228. Ibid. No. 813.
229. Ibid. No. 813.
230. Ibid. No. 722.
231. Cod. Dipl. No. 813.
232. Asser, an. 849.
233. Cod. Dipl. No. 148.
234. Ibid. No. 320.
235. Ibid. No. 1224.
236. Ibid. No. 1294.
237. Ibid. No. 813.
238. Ibid. No. 813.
239. Hincmar. § 32.
240. “Qui referendarius ideo est dictus, quod ad eum universae publicae deferentur conscriptiones, ipseque eas annulo regis, sive sigillo ab eo sibi commisso muniret seu primaret.” Aimo. Gest. Franc. iv. 41. Eichhorn, i. 194, note f. § 25, b.
241. “Apocrisiario sociebatur summus cancellarius, qui a secretis olim appellabatur, erantque illi subiecti prudentes et intelligentes ac fideles viri, qui praecepta regia absque immoderata cupiditatis venalitate scriberent, et secreta illius fideliter custodirent.” Hincmar. § 16. Eichhorn, loc. cit.
242. “Landulfus et Petrus clericus germani, ... qui professi sumus ex natione nostra legem vivere Langobardorum, sed ego104 Petrus clericus per clericalem honorem lege videor vivere Romana.” Lupi. p. 223, cited by Savigny, Röm. Recht. i. 120.
243. Hincmar. § 16, 19, 21. Döninges, Deut. Staatsr. p. 24 seq.
244. Eichhorn, § 25, b. i. 195.
245. “Quoniam tabellionum usus in regno Angliae non habetur.” Mat. Paris, Hen. III.
246. In Cod. Dipl. Nos. 3, 4, an Angemundus referendarius is mentioned, but these two charters are glaring forgeries105.
247. Flor. Wig. an. 1038, Abp. Canterbury.
248. Ibid. an. 1044, Abp. Canterbury.
249. Ibid. an. 1045, Bp. Ramsbury.
250. Cod. Dipl. No. 779.
251. Cod. Dipl. No. 810.
252. Cod. Dipl. Nos. 813, 824, 825, 891.
253. Ibid. No. 825.
254. Ibid. Nos. 813, 825.
255. Ibid. No. 813.
256. Ibid. No. 825.
257. Ibid. No. 825, Abp. Canterbury.
258. Flor. Wig. an. 1047, Bp. Selsey.
259. Ibid. an. 1049, Bp. Leicester.
260. Ibid. an. 1051, Abp. York.
261. Ibid. an. 1051, Bp. London.
262. Ibid. an. 1053.
263. Ibid. an. 1060, Bp. Wells.
264. Ibid. an. 1060.
265. Ibid. an. 1050, Chron. 1056.
266. “Desiderante rege [Alchfrið] ut vir tantae eruditionis ac religionis sibi specialiter individuo comitatu sacerdos esset et doctor.” Beda, H. E. ii. 19.
267. Cod. Dipl. Nos. 196, 199, 207.
268. Ibid. No. 220.
269. Ibid. No. 227.
270. Ibid. No. 281.
271. “Ælfricum Eboracensem archiepiscopum, Godwinum comitem, Stir majorem domus, Thrond suum carnificem, et alios magnae dignitatis viros, Lundoniam misit.” Flor. Wig. an. 1040.
272. Cod. Dipl. No. 813.
273. Ibid. No. 813.
274. Ibid. No. 320.
275. Ibid. No. 346.
276. Ibid. No. 346.
277. Ibid. No. 799.
278. Ibid. No. 745.
279. Ibid. No. 811.
280. Ibid. Nos. 792, 793, 800.
281. Ibid. Nos. 792, 800.
282. Cod. Dipl. No. 945.
283. Ibid. No. 218.
284. Shaksp. Hen. IV. Pt. ii. sc. 2.
285. Cod. Dipl. No. 436.
286. Ibid. No. 436.
287. Ibid. No. 813.
288. Ibid. No. 813.
289. Thorpe’s Lappenberg, ii. 202, and his references to Suen Aggonis, Hist. Legum Castrens. Regis Canuti Magni, c. iv. ap. Langebek, iii. 146; ii. 454, note d. Palgrave, ii. p. ccclxxxi. Ellis, Introd. Domesd. i. 91; ii. 151 seq.
290. This observation requires to be taken with some caution. The Witherlags Ret was a private and bye-law, not a public law, and had little to do with the public law, except in as far as it connected the conquering force by closer bonds, and secured their energetic action as a body, upon emergency. It was devised to keep the household troops together, not to apply in any way to their public relation towards the Saxons. Its influence was therefore only such as derived mediately7 from the fact of its maintaining the king at the head of a select prætorian cohort,—important occasionally, but always accidental. There is no evidence that the great men of England, the Godwines, or Leófrics, were ever Húscarlas, or that the leaders of this force were ever Ealdormen or Geréfan. In fact it was the king’s “Army-club,” and had neither constitutional place nor recognized power. The Húscarlas were probably very like what the Mousquetaires and Gardes-de-corps were in France before the first Revolution, and what the Lifeguards, Leib-regimente, Guardia Real, and so on, have been in other states of Europe; nor altogether unlike the Garde Impériale of Napoleon.
291. Three thousand men, all disciplined, all well-armed, all united by the certainty that the struggle must be for life or death, formed a force morally, if not physically106 and numerically, superior to any that could be brought against them on a sudden. Such a body were amply secure in a state which could only set on foot a clumsy and reluctant militia107. They were, in fact, nearly the only professional soldiers,—and as yet there had been no Rocroy, Sempach or Morgarten.
292. Adam Bremen. ii. 48, 59; iii. 21.
293. Suen Aggon. i. cap. 10.
294. Sax. Chron. 1049. Will. Malm. lib. iv. de Willelmo Secundo, an. 1088 (Hardy’s ed. ii. 489). But Lappenberg’s conclusion is not justified108 by the premises109, for Niðing, which Mat. Paris declares to have been so especially an Anglosaxon word as to be untranslatable, was probably in use as a term of supreme110 contempt, long before the establishment of the Húscarlas in England and long after their disbanding.
295. Except in his own case, where they were incurred, but not enforced. The story (found in great detail in Saxo-Grammaticus, book x.) seems exaggerated; but nevertheless it is easy to see that the strict application of the law to the king would have caused the destruction of the whole system. As they could not do without Cnut, and had no law whereby to judge him, save the one whose application in his case was impossible, they suffered him to assess his own penalty. He paid nine times the wergyld of the brother he had slain.
296. Cod. Dipl. No. 956. After the testimonies111 of the king, queen, archbishops, bishops112, earls, and abbots, we have, “And on Esgáres stealres, and on Raulfes stealres, and on Lifinges stealres, and on ealra ðæs kynges húscarlan.” Then follow the subscriptions113 of chaplains and others.
297. But Wulfnoð a húscarl is mentioned, Cod. Dipl. No. 845, and Urk, a húscarl in No. 871, both as grantees. So again Þurstán húscarl, a holder of land in Middlesex. Cod. Dipl. No. 843.
298. Flor. Wig. an. 1041.
299. Cod. Dipl. No. 843.
300. Cod. Dipl. Nos. 746, 751, 762, 767.
301. Florence of Worcester, speaking of the revolt of the Northumbrians against their duke Tostig, in 1065, says: “Eodem die primitus illius Danicos húscarlas Amundum et Ravensueartum, de fuga retractos, extra civitatis muros, ac die sequente plus quam cc. viros ex curialibus illius in boreali parte Humbrae fluminis peremerunt.” an. 1065. One manuscript of the Saxon Chronicle thus relates these events: “And sona æfter ðison gegaderedon ða þegenas hi ealle on Eoforwícscyre ⁊ on Norðhymbralande togædere, ⁊ geútlagedan heora eorl Tosti, ⁊ ofslógon his hírédmenn ealle ðe hig mihten tócumen.” But another says: “Tostiges eorles húskarlas ðar ofslógon, ealle ða ðe hig geáxian mihton.” Hírédmen are familiares, those who live in the house, or form part of the house or family; and this seems the original and strict definition of the húscarl.
201. Eichhorn, i. 197. § 25, b. Eichhorn argues the first from a passage in Greg. Turon. vii. 24. The latter portion of the Chamberlain’s duties is defined by Hincmar of Rheims, § 22. “De honestate vero palatii, seu specialiter ornamento reguli, necnon et de donis annuis militum, absque cibo et potu, vel equis, ad Reginam praecipue, et sub ipsa ad Camerarium pertinebat: et sollicitudo erat, ut tempore congruo semper futura prospicerent, ne quid, dum opus esset, defuisset. De donis vero diversarum legationum ad Camerarium aspiciebat.”
202. “Cubicularios regis duos.” Will. Malm., ii. § 180.
203. Cod103. Dipl. No. 320.
204. Ibid. No. 1246.
205. Ibid. No. 715.
206. Flor. Wig26. an. 1040.
207. Cod. Dipl. Nos. 771, 810.
208. Ibid. No. 809.
209. Ibid. No. 899, very doubtful.
210. Ibid. No. 904.
211. Flor. Wig. an. 897. Chron. Saxon, cod. an.
212. Cod. Dipl. No. 1328.
213. Ibid. Nos. 771, 828, 855, 864.
214. Ibid. Nos. 771, 822, 828, 859, 871, 904, 956, 1338.
215. Ibid. No. 773.
216. Ibid. No. 809.
217. Ibid. Nos. 822, 956, 1338.
218. Ibid. No. 822.
219. Ibid. No. 945.
220. Ibid. No. 845.
221. Ibid. Nos. 956, 1338.
222. Flor. Wig. an. 1052.
223. Chron. Sax. an. 1047.
224. Cod. Dipl. No. 149.
225. Ibid. No. 1224.
226. Ibid. No. 715.
227. Ibid. No. 808.
228. Ibid. No. 813.
229. Ibid. No. 813.
230. Ibid. No. 722.
231. Cod. Dipl. No. 813.
232. Asser, an. 849.
233. Cod. Dipl. No. 148.
234. Ibid. No. 320.
235. Ibid. No. 1224.
236. Ibid. No. 1294.
237. Ibid. No. 813.
238. Ibid. No. 813.
239. Hincmar. § 32.
240. “Qui referendarius ideo est dictus, quod ad eum universae publicae deferentur conscriptiones, ipseque eas annulo regis, sive sigillo ab eo sibi commisso muniret seu primaret.” Aimo. Gest. Franc. iv. 41. Eichhorn, i. 194, note f. § 25, b.
241. “Apocrisiario sociebatur summus cancellarius, qui a secretis olim appellabatur, erantque illi subiecti prudentes et intelligentes ac fideles viri, qui praecepta regia absque immoderata cupiditatis venalitate scriberent, et secreta illius fideliter custodirent.” Hincmar. § 16. Eichhorn, loc. cit.
242. “Landulfus et Petrus clericus germani, ... qui professi sumus ex natione nostra legem vivere Langobardorum, sed ego104 Petrus clericus per clericalem honorem lege videor vivere Romana.” Lupi. p. 223, cited by Savigny, Röm. Recht. i. 120.
243. Hincmar. § 16, 19, 21. Döninges, Deut. Staatsr. p. 24 seq.
244. Eichhorn, § 25, b. i. 195.
245. “Quoniam tabellionum usus in regno Angliae non habetur.” Mat. Paris, Hen. III.
246. In Cod. Dipl. Nos. 3, 4, an Angemundus referendarius is mentioned, but these two charters are glaring forgeries105.
247. Flor. Wig. an. 1038, Abp. Canterbury.
248. Ibid. an. 1044, Abp. Canterbury.
249. Ibid. an. 1045, Bp. Ramsbury.
250. Cod. Dipl. No. 779.
251. Cod. Dipl. No. 810.
252. Cod. Dipl. Nos. 813, 824, 825, 891.
253. Ibid. No. 825.
254. Ibid. Nos. 813, 825.
255. Ibid. No. 813.
256. Ibid. No. 825.
257. Ibid. No. 825, Abp. Canterbury.
258. Flor. Wig. an. 1047, Bp. Selsey.
259. Ibid. an. 1049, Bp. Leicester.
260. Ibid. an. 1051, Abp. York.
261. Ibid. an. 1051, Bp. London.
262. Ibid. an. 1053.
263. Ibid. an. 1060, Bp. Wells.
264. Ibid. an. 1060.
265. Ibid. an. 1050, Chron. 1056.
266. “Desiderante rege [Alchfrið] ut vir tantae eruditionis ac religionis sibi specialiter individuo comitatu sacerdos esset et doctor.” Beda, H. E. ii. 19.
267. Cod. Dipl. Nos. 196, 199, 207.
268. Ibid. No. 220.
269. Ibid. No. 227.
270. Ibid. No. 281.
271. “Ælfricum Eboracensem archiepiscopum, Godwinum comitem, Stir majorem domus, Thrond suum carnificem, et alios magnae dignitatis viros, Lundoniam misit.” Flor. Wig. an. 1040.
272. Cod. Dipl. No. 813.
273. Ibid. No. 813.
274. Ibid. No. 320.
275. Ibid. No. 346.
276. Ibid. No. 346.
277. Ibid. No. 799.
278. Ibid. No. 745.
279. Ibid. No. 811.
280. Ibid. Nos. 792, 793, 800.
281. Ibid. Nos. 792, 800.
282. Cod. Dipl. No. 945.
283. Ibid. No. 218.
284. Shaksp. Hen. IV. Pt. ii. sc. 2.
285. Cod. Dipl. No. 436.
286. Ibid. No. 436.
287. Ibid. No. 813.
288. Ibid. No. 813.
289. Thorpe’s Lappenberg, ii. 202, and his references to Suen Aggonis, Hist. Legum Castrens. Regis Canuti Magni, c. iv. ap. Langebek, iii. 146; ii. 454, note d. Palgrave, ii. p. ccclxxxi. Ellis, Introd. Domesd. i. 91; ii. 151 seq.
290. This observation requires to be taken with some caution. The Witherlags Ret was a private and bye-law, not a public law, and had little to do with the public law, except in as far as it connected the conquering force by closer bonds, and secured their energetic action as a body, upon emergency. It was devised to keep the household troops together, not to apply in any way to their public relation towards the Saxons. Its influence was therefore only such as derived mediately7 from the fact of its maintaining the king at the head of a select prætorian cohort,—important occasionally, but always accidental. There is no evidence that the great men of England, the Godwines, or Leófrics, were ever Húscarlas, or that the leaders of this force were ever Ealdormen or Geréfan. In fact it was the king’s “Army-club,” and had neither constitutional place nor recognized power. The Húscarlas were probably very like what the Mousquetaires and Gardes-de-corps were in France before the first Revolution, and what the Lifeguards, Leib-regimente, Guardia Real, and so on, have been in other states of Europe; nor altogether unlike the Garde Impériale of Napoleon.
291. Three thousand men, all disciplined, all well-armed, all united by the certainty that the struggle must be for life or death, formed a force morally, if not physically106 and numerically, superior to any that could be brought against them on a sudden. Such a body were amply secure in a state which could only set on foot a clumsy and reluctant militia107. They were, in fact, nearly the only professional soldiers,—and as yet there had been no Rocroy, Sempach or Morgarten.
292. Adam Bremen. ii. 48, 59; iii. 21.
293. Suen Aggon. i. cap. 10.
294. Sax. Chron. 1049. Will. Malm. lib. iv. de Willelmo Secundo, an. 1088 (Hardy’s ed. ii. 489). But Lappenberg’s conclusion is not justified108 by the premises109, for Niðing, which Mat. Paris declares to have been so especially an Anglosaxon word as to be untranslatable, was probably in use as a term of supreme110 contempt, long before the establishment of the Húscarlas in England and long after their disbanding.
295. Except in his own case, where they were incurred, but not enforced. The story (found in great detail in Saxo-Grammaticus, book x.) seems exaggerated; but nevertheless it is easy to see that the strict application of the law to the king would have caused the destruction of the whole system. As they could not do without Cnut, and had no law whereby to judge him, save the one whose application in his case was impossible, they suffered him to assess his own penalty. He paid nine times the wergyld of the brother he had slain.
296. Cod. Dipl. No. 956. After the testimonies111 of the king, queen, archbishops, bishops112, earls, and abbots, we have, “And on Esgáres stealres, and on Raulfes stealres, and on Lifinges stealres, and on ealra ðæs kynges húscarlan.” Then follow the subscriptions113 of chaplains and others.
297. But Wulfnoð a húscarl is mentioned, Cod. Dipl. No. 845, and Urk, a húscarl in No. 871, both as grantees. So again Þurstán húscarl, a holder of land in Middlesex. Cod. Dipl. No. 843.
298. Flor. Wig. an. 1041.
299. Cod. Dipl. No. 843.
300. Cod. Dipl. Nos. 746, 751, 762, 767.
301. Florence of Worcester, speaking of the revolt of the Northumbrians against their duke Tostig, in 1065, says: “Eodem die primitus illius Danicos húscarlas Amundum et Ravensueartum, de fuga retractos, extra civitatis muros, ac die sequente plus quam cc. viros ex curialibus illius in boreali parte Humbrae fluminis peremerunt.” an. 1065. One manuscript of the Saxon Chronicle thus relates these events: “And sona æfter ðison gegaderedon ða þegenas hi ealle on Eoforwícscyre ⁊ on Norðhymbralande togædere, ⁊ geútlagedan heora eorl Tosti, ⁊ ofslógon his hírédmenn ealle ðe hig mihten tócumen.” But another says: “Tostiges eorles húskarlas ðar ofslógon, ealle ða ðe hig geáxian mihton.” Hírédmen are familiares, those who live in the house, or form part of the house or family; and this seems the original and strict definition of the húscarl.
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1
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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2
coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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3
holder
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| n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物 | |
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dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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5
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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7
mediately
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| 在中间，间接 | |
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barons
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| 男爵( baron的名词复数 )； 巨头； 大王； 大亨 | |
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steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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administrative
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| adj.行政的，管理的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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hereditarily
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| 世袭地，遗传地 | |
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stewards
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| （轮船、飞机等的）乘务员( steward的名词复数 )； （俱乐部、旅馆、工会等的）管理员； （大型活动的）组织者； （私人家中的）管家 | |
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chancellors
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| 大臣( chancellor的名词复数 )； （某些美国大学的）校长； （德国或奥地利的）总理； （英国大学的）名誉校长 | |
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chancellor
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| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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17
jurisdiction
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| n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权 | |
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18
systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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vassals
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| n.奴仆( vassal的名词复数 )；（封建时代）诸侯；从属者；下属 | |
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20
filched
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| v.偷（尤指小的或不贵重的物品）( filch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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22
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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23
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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24
constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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25
influential
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| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
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26
wig
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| n.假发 | |
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27
wielded
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的过去式和过去分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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28
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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29
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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30
functionaries
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| n.公职人员，官员( functionary的名词复数 ) | |
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31
feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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32
hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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33
holders
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| 支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物 | |
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34
vestige
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| n.痕迹，遗迹，残余 | |
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35
administrators
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| n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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38
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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39
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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40
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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41
relentlessly
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| adv.不屈不挠地；残酷地；不间断 | |
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42
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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43
notaries
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| n.公证人，公证员( notary的名词复数 ) | |
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44
functionary
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| n.官员；公职人员 | |
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45
writs
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| n.书面命令，令状( writ的名词复数 ) | |
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46
provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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47
maxims
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| n.格言，座右铭( maxim的名词复数 ) | |
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48
merged
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| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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49
predilection
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| n.偏好 | |
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50
continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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51
tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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52
notarial
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| adj.公证人的，公证的 | |
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53
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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54
forefathers
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| n.祖先，先人；祖先，祖宗( forefather的名词复数 )；列祖列宗；前人 | |
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55
canonical
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| n.权威的；典型的 | |
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56
forsook
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| forsake的过去式 | |
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57
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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58
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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59
orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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60
enumerated
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| v.列举，枚举，数( enumerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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61
consanguinity
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| n.血缘；亲族 | |
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62
valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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63
gild
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| vt.给…镀金，把…漆成金色，使呈金色 | |
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64
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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65
predecessors
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| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
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66
invader
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| n.侵略者，侵犯者，入侵者 | |
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67
tenure
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| n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期 | |
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68
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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69
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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70
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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71
conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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72
bodyguards
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| n.保镖，卫士，警卫员( bodyguard的名词复数 ) | |
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73
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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74
brotherhood
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| n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊 | |
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75
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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76
epithet
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| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
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77
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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78
stringent
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| adj.严厉的；令人信服的；银根紧的 | |
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79
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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80
alleviation
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| n. 减轻，缓和，解痛物 | |
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81
oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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82
outlaw
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| n.歹徒，亡命之徒；vt.宣布…为不合法 | |
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83
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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84
thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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85
devious
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| adj.不坦率的，狡猾的；迂回的，曲折的 | |
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86
forfeit
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| vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物 | |
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87
dishonour
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| n./vt.拒付（支票、汇票、票据等）；vt.凌辱，使丢脸；n.不名誉，耻辱，不光彩 | |
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88
concurred
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| 同意（concur的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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89
exculpation
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| n.使无罪，辩解 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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incurred
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| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
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revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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sedition
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| n.煽动叛乱 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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stipulated
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| vt.& vi.规定；约定adj.[法]合同规定的 | |
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stipulation
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| n.契约，规定，条文；条款说明 | |
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102
forte
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| n.长处，擅长；adj.(音乐)强音的 | |
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103
cod
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| n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗 | |
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ego
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| n.自我，自己，自尊 | |
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forgeries
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| 伪造( forgery的名词复数 )； 伪造的文件、签名等 | |
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physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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111
testimonies
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| （法庭上证人的）证词( testimony的名词复数 )； 证明，证据 | |
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112
bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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subscriptions
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| n.（报刊等的）订阅费( subscription的名词复数 )；捐款；（俱乐部的）会员费；捐助 | |
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