The Chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond Part 12

"In saying this we do not impudently speak to the discredit (be that far from us) of Churchmen who, by the divine inspiration, endowed with wonderful eloquence, have with their words, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, adorned the deeds of our honoured ancestors, as it were a golden tablet ornamented with most brilliant pearls. But verily those are to be confuted who are carried headlong by a d.a.m.nable presumption to that with which erudition has nought to do, and to which the grace of the Holy Spirit imparts nought.

"But we (whom the apostle warns lest we should despise the riches of the goodness of G.o.d, and whom he exhorts not to receive His grace in vain) with a truthful, albeit an unpolished style, at the command of superior authority and by the exhortation of brotherly love, have undertaken to tell of the glorious miracles of the glorious king and martyr Edmund: since, indeed, it appears impious that we should allow the lantern, which G.o.d lighted and placed upon a candlestick, to be obscured through our sloth, or should hide it negligently under the bushel of oblivion. For to this purpose is it placed upon a candlestick, that it may give light to all who are in the house."

In which matter the victorious champion of G.o.d, Edmund, illuminating the borders, not only of Britain, but also of foreign lands with the glory of his miracles, gives frequent token of his merit towards G.o.d.

"On behalf of whose merits, Omnipotent G.o.d, we pray That Thou in Thy clemency wouldst purge our inmost heart, And wouldst infuse the gift which the fostering spirit bestows, Opening the tongues of speechless babes and making them eloquent, That we may be able worthily to tell the praises of the martyr, His famous acts, his virtues and his triumphs."

APPENDIX II

NOTES TO THE TEXT OF THE CHRONICLE.

[_The full t.i.tles of the works of reference quoted in the pages of this Appendix as "Arnold," "Battely," "James," "Rokewode," will be found on pages 276 and 277 of Appendix III_].

CHAPTER I.

1, 4. _The year when the Flemings were taken captive._ On the 17th October, 1173, Richard de Lucy, the chief justiciary of King Henry II., defeated at Fornham St. Genevieve, near Bury St. Edmunds, the rebel Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester, who had landed from Flanders at Walton in Suffolk on the 29th September, 1173, at the head of a force of Flemings. The chroniclers speak of large numbers of the foreign mercenaries as being killed at the battle of Fornham. The Earl and Countess of Leicester were captured, and imprisoned at Falaise till 1174. For an interesting description of the battle, with many references to the chronicles, see Miss Kate Norgate's _England under the Angevin Kings_, II. 150-1.

1, 10. _Hugh the Abbot._ Hugh, Prior of Westminster, succeeded Ording as 9th Abbot of St. Edmundsbury in 1157. Gervase records his being blessed by Archbishop Theobald at Colchester, and his vowing to him canonical obedience. But a bull obtained at great cost from Pope Alexander III. in 1172 (see p. 7) made the abbey immediately subject to Rome. Some details of the occurrences during his abbacy are given in Battely, pp. 78-82.

1, 11. Genesis xxvii. 1.

2, 21. _Debt ... to Jews._ Whilst the Jews were legally simply chattels of the king, they were at this time "practically masters of the worldly interests of a large number of his Christian subjects, and of a large portion of the wealth of his realm" (Norgate's _Angevin Kings_, II. 487). There are many instances besides that of St.

Edmundsbury of ecclesiastical property and furniture being pledged to the Jews, _e.g._ the sacred vessels and jewels of Lincoln Minster were in pledge to Aaron, a rich Jew of that city, for seven years or more before Geoffrey, bishop-elect, redeemed them in 1173.

3, 6. _Benedict the Jew._ In 1171 "Benedict the Jew, son of Deodate, was fined xx^li for taking certain sacred vestments in p.a.w.n." (Pipe Rolls, Norf. and Suff. 17 Hen. II.) Other fines on Jews are recorded by Rokewode (pp. 106-7).

3, 9. _William the sacrist._ From the _Gesta Sacristarum_ (Arnold II.

291) we learn of this officer, who was once Samson's superior, afterwards a rival candidate for the abbacy, and finally Samson's subordinate, "Huic [Schuch] successit Willelmus cognomento Wiardel; qui non sine causa a domino Samsone abbate amotus fuit ab administratione." His evil deeds recorded by Jocelin appear therefore to have been remembered.

6, 1. _Richard the Archbishop._ Richard was a Norman by birth and of humble parentage; and was prior of Dover when the question of filling up the primacy was discussed 2-1/2 years after Becket's murder on 29th December, 1170. There was a disputed election, but Robert, by the Court influence, won the day over Odo, Prior of Canterbury; and eventually his election was confirmed by Pope Alexander III. on 2nd April, 1174. Immediately after his enthronisation (5th October, 1174) Richard held a legatine visitation of his province; and as he rode with a great train, his visits were specially grievous to the religious houses that had to receive him.

6, 19. _Sent to Acre._ Castleacre, Westacre, and Southacre, in Norfolk, are all described in Domesday book as "Acra." There were two Priories, one at Castleacre, the other at Westacre; but the former was the more famous of the two. As it was a Cluniac inst.i.tution, and as the Cluniacs were a kind of stricter Benedictines, it seems most probable that it was to Castleacre that Samson was sent as a punishment. Apparently this was his second banishment there; for he speaks here to Jocelin (then a novice, and who joined the monastery in 1173) as though of recent events. (As to his first imprisonment after his return from Rome about 1161, see page 74 and note on p. 237.) The Priory of Castleacre was founded about 1084 by William de Warrenne, created by the Conqueror Earl of Surrey, and the progenitor of that famous sixth Earl who fought Baliol and Wallace in Scotland, and who, when called upon by the King's Commissioners to produce the t.i.tle by which he held his possessions, drew his sword and laid it on the table. Some remarkably beautiful ruins of the Priory, particularly of its west front and the Prior's Lodge, have happily escaped the ravages of the village builders, who for centuries used the ruins as a stone quarry.

6, 24. Exodus v. 21.

7, 4. _authority as legate._ Mr. Rokewode goes at length (pp. 107-8) into the doc.u.ments relative to the claim of the monks of St. Edmund to exemption under Royal authority from ordinary episcopal jurisdiction.

The Bull of 1172 which they obtained from Pope Alexander III. exempted them from the jurisdiction of any other ecclesiastical authority than the Pontiff or his _legatus a latere_. Shortly afterwards the Monastery was exempted from the personal interference of Archbishop Richard as legate _a latere_.

8, 5. _Jurnet the Jew._ Rokewode quotes (pp. 108-9) from the Pipe Rolls of Henry II. the following: In 23 Henry II., Jurnet the Jew of Norwich was amerced in MM marcs; and he stood amerced, in the 31st year of the same king, in MMMMMDXXV marcs and a half, for which debt the whole body of Jews were chargeable: and they were to have Jurnet's effects and chattels to enable them to pay it. He gave King Richard MDCCC marcs that he might reside in England with the King's good will.

10, 23. _morrow of St. Brice._ November 15, 1180. Hugh was buried in the Chapter House nearest the door, sixth and last of the six abbots buried there, as recorded in a MS. at Douai circa 1425. The other five were:--Ording (1146-1156), Samson (1182-1211), Richard of Insula (1229-1234), Henry of Rushbrook (1234-1248), Edmund of Walpole (1248-1257). The lidless coffins of these five, with skeletons within, were discovered January 1, 1903. The coffin of Hugh had disappeared, but bones which may have been his were found buried at the spot.

CHAPTER II.

12, 3. _Ranulf de Glanville._ The famous author of the oldest of our legal cla.s.sics, the "Treatise on the Laws and Customs of England," was of Suffolk stock, and was born at Stratford St. Andrew, Saxmundham. He succeeded Richard Lucy as chief justiciary of England, and thenceforward he was the king's right-hand man (Richard of Devizes called him the "King's eye"). At the moment of Abbot Hugh's death Henry II. was in France (he kept that Christmas at Le Mans), so the monks appreciated the importance of letting Glanville as justiciary know at once the fact of the vacancy. Glanville took the cross, and died at the siege of Acre in 1180.

12, 11. _wardship of the Abbey._ The accounts rendered by the wardens during the abbatial vacancy have been fortunately preserved in the returns which Wimer, the Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, made to the Exchequer for the 27 and 28 Henry II. Mr. Rokewode gives the actual text of them (pp. 110-1). The rental of the Abbot from Michaelmas, 1180, to Michaelmas, 1181, was 326 12_s._ 4_d._: out of which 56 13_s._ 4_d._ was paid for corrodies, including 21 for Abbot Hugh's expenses for the six weeks before his death, and 35 for the Archbishop of Trontheim.

14, 2. Deuteronomy xvi. 19.

14, 9. _paintings._ For an interesting discussion as to these paintings, and the subjects of them, see _James_, pp. 130 _et seq._

14, 11. _building the great tower._ Samson's work as subsacrist in connection with this tower is thus described by James, page 119: "Samson finished one storey in the great tower at the west end. This was a western tower occupying a position similar to that of the western tower at Ely, immediately over the central western door." It was _not_ this tower (as stated by Rokewode, page 111) that fell down on 23 Sept., 1210, but the central tower (see James, pp. 121-203).

16, 7. Judges xvi. 19.

16, 11. Judges xvi. 29.

16, 18. Matthew xxv. 21.

17, 7. Quot homines tot sententiae. Terence, _Phormio_, Act. 2, Sc. 3, 14.

17, 12. _Abbot Ording._ In the dedication to Abbot Ording of the _Liber de Infantia Sancti Eadmundi_ by Galfridus de Fontibus, Ording is said (Arnold, i. 93) to have been "watchful in attendance on the King from his boyhood." Apparently this King was Stephen (born about 1097), as Henry II., his successor, was not born until 1133. At that time Ording would have been on duty at Bury: for he was already Prior in 1136, when Anselm, then Abbot, was nominated for the Bishopric of London. Ording was appointed in 1138 Abbot in Anselm's place; but as the latter failed to get his nomination to the See of London confirmed by the Pope, he came back to Bury. Ording therefore, "sive volens sive nolens" had to return to his duties as Prior; but when Anselm died in 1148, Ording was re-elected Abbot, and held office till he died in 1156. As to his place of burial, see note to p. 152, l. 5, on p. 247.

17, 23. Matthew xvi. 19.

18, 9. _Barrators of Norfolk._ Barrator==an incitor to lawsuits (from O. Fr. _bareter_, to deceive, cheat). The men of Norfolk were noted for their litigious propensities (cf. Tusser's rhyming autobiography: "Norfolk wiles, so full of guiles"). Fuller in his _Worthies_ says: "Whereas _pedibus ambulando_ is accounted but a vexatious suit in other countries, here (where men are said to study law as following the plough-tail) some would persuade us that they will enter an action for their neighbour's horse but looking over their hedge." An Act was pa.s.sed in 1455 (33 Hen. VI. cap. 7) to check the litigiousness of "the City of Norwich, and the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk."

18, 17. Acts xxvi. 24, 25.

20, 13. 1 Corinthians xiii. 11.

21, 4. Romans xvi. 5.

21, 6. _Blood-letting season_ (tempore minutionis). At stated times of the year there was a general blood-letting among the monks; and in the same _Liber Albus_ in which Jocelin's chronicle appears is a set of Regulations _De Minutis Sanguine_ (fol. 193). Amongst the servants in the infirmary of Bury Monastery was _Minutor, c.u.m garcione_ (_id._ fol. 44). The effects of the minutio were supposed to last three days, during which the monk did not go to matins.

21, 17. Nihil est ab omni parte beatum. Horace, _Od._ i. 16.

22, 8. John xix. 22.

22, 9. Et semel emissum volat irrevocable verb.u.m. Horace i. _Ep._ 18.

71.

22, 23. Medio tutissimus ibis. Ovid, _Metamorphoses_ ii. 137.

23, 1. Matthew xix. 12.

23, 3. _Archbishop of Norway._ In 1180 Eystein (Augustinus) Archbishop of Trontheim, refusing to crown Sverrir, a successful rebel, who had defeated Magnus, King of Norway, was driven into exile and came to England. (William de Newburgh, iii. 16.) Rokewode (p. 113) shows from the accounts of the Wardens of the Abbey during the vacancy, that the corrodies allowed to the Archbishop amounted in all to 94 10s.

23, 11. _Holy child Robert._ Nothing is known of the circ.u.mstances of this boy's death at the hands of the Jews, on 10th June, 1181, or of Jocelin's account of it (line 16), beyond the reference made by Bale in his list of Jocelin's writings to _Vita Roberti Martyris_.

23, 13. Acts v. 12.