War and Finance in the Anglo-Norman State

J. O. Prestwich

doi:10.2307/3678850

War and Finance in the Anglo-Norman State

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2009

J. O. Prestwich

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Money', wrote Richard FitzNeal in the preface to the Dialogue of the Exchequer, ‘appears necessary not only in time of war but also in peace. In war it is poured out in fortifying castles, in soldiers’ wages and in numerous other ways, depending on the nature of the persons paid, for the preservation of the kingdom. In time of peace, the Treasurer added, money was spent on charitable purposes; but it is clear from even die limited evidence of the Pipe Rolls of Henry II that expenditure on defence greatly exceeded that on charity.

Type: Research Article
Information: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 4 , December 1954 , pp. 19 - 43

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3678850 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1954

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References

^{page 19 note 1} Dialogus de Scaccario, ed. Johnson, C., p. 2Google Scholar.

^{page 20 note 1} Obligations of Society in the XII and XIII centuries, pp. 3–4, 52.

^{page 20 note 2} Jolliffe, J. E. A., ‘Magna Carta’, Schweizer Beiträge zur allgemeinen Geschichte, x (1952), 95Google Scholar.

^{page 20 note 3} English Society in the Eleventh Century, pp. 21–2.

^{page 21 note 1} The First Century of English Feudalism, 1066–1166, pp. 50, n. 1, 214, 191.

^{page 21 note 2} Studies in the History of the English Feudal Barony, p. 20.

^{page 21 note 3} Postan, M. M., ‘The Rise of a Money Economy’, Economic History Review, xiv (1944), 133, 129Google Scholar.

^{page 22 note 1} Dialogus, p. 40.

^{page 22 note 2} Galbraith, V. H., Studies in the Public Records, p. 48Google Scholar.

^{page 22 note 3} Feudal England, p. 305.

^{page 22 note 4} Op. cit., pp. 168, 177.

^{page 22 note 5} Op. cit., p. 15.

^{page 22 note 6} McFarlane, K. B., ‘Bastard Feudalism’, Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, xx (1945), 162Google Scholar.

^{page 23 note 1} Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi (, R. S.), ii, pp. xcivGoogle Scholar, xcix.

^{page 23 note 2} Jolliffe, , op. cit., p. 95Google Scholar.

^{page 23 note 3} Gesta Regum (, R. S.), ii. 335, 483, 487Google Scholar. Map, Walter, De Nugis Curialium (ed. James, M. R.), p. 219Google Scholar, refers to Henry's, written regulations, and these survive in the Constitutio Domus Regis of c. 1136 (ed. Johnson, C. in Dialogus de Scaccario)Google Scholar.

^{page 24 note 1} Gesta Regum, ii. 335–6.

^{page 24 note 2} William, of Poitiers, Gesta Willelmi (ed. Giles, J. A.), p. 146Google Scholar.

^{page 24 note 3} William, of Malmesbury, op. cit., ii. 314Google Scholar.

^{page 24 note 4} Vitalis, Ordericus, Historia Ecclesiastica (ed. Le Prevost, ), ii. 187Google Scholar.

^{page 24 note 5} Ibid., ii. 196–9.

^{page 24 note 6} Florence of Worcester (ed. Thorpe), ii. 4–5. For other evidence of the seizure of treasure in the monasteries see Annales de Wintonia in Annales Monastici (, R. S.), ii. 29Google Scholar, and Historia Monasterii de Abingdon (, R. S.), i. 486, 493–4Google Scholar.

^{page 25 note 1} Wilkins, , Concilia, i. 366Google Scholar. SirStenton, Frank called attention to the interest of this document in Anglo-Saxon England, pp. 653–4Google Scholar.

^{page 25 note 2} Historia Monasterii de Abingdon, ii. 3Google Scholar; Liber Eliensis, ed. Stewart, D. J., p. 275Google Scholar.

^{page 25 note 3} Epistola xxxv (Migne, , Patrologia Latina, cl. 534Google Scholar): ‘Qui vero Rodulpho traditori, et sociis suis sine terra pro solidis servierunt.’

^{page 25 note 4} Ordericus Vitalis, ii. 378.

^{page 25 note 5} Ibid., ii. 297.

^{page 25 note 6} Florence of Worcester, ii. 18; William, of Malmesbury, op. cit., ii. 320Google Scholar; Historia Monasterii de Abingdon, ii. 11Google Scholar. Cf. Stenton, , First Century of English Feudalism, pp. 149–50Google Scholar: ‘In a great emergency the knight-service due to the king from his tenants in chief was obviously unequal to the defence of the land.’

^{page 26 note 1} In recent discussions of the purpose of the Domesday Inquest the significance of descriptío, the contemporary and official term for the undertaking, has not been emphasized. In Gregory of Tours and in official documents of the Merovingian and Carolingian periods descriptio is used as the term for assessment and enrolment for public taxation. Cf. Gregory, of Tours, Histoira Francorum, vi. 28Google Scholar: ‘post congregatos de iniquis descriptionibus thesauros’, echoed by Robert of Hereford at the end of his note on the Domesday descriptio: ‘Et vexata est terra multis cladibus ex congregatione regalis pecuniae procedentibus.’ For other evidence see Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, v. 665Google Scholar, and Dopsch, , Economic and Social Foundations of European Civilization, pp. 292, 377Google Scholar. Descriptio was also used to refer to the collection of taxes. Cf. the chatter of Adela, countess of Chartres, of 1109 cited by Ducange, s.v. ‘descriptio’: ‘Descriptionem pecuniae, quae consuetudinarie tallia nominatur…fieri praeceperam.’ Ralph of Diceto has an interesting account of the descriptio generalis carried out by the regii exactores of Louis VII of France in order to supply his army in 1173 (Opera Historica, , R. S., i. 372Google Scholar).

^{page 26 note 2} Op. cit., ii. 368.

^{page 26 note 3} Ibid., ii. 4685; Ordericus Vitalis, iii. 266–7.

^{page 27 note 1} Ordericus Vitalis, iii. 352.

^{page 27 note 2} Florence of Worcester, ii. 34.

^{page 27 note 3} Henry, of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum (, R. S.), p. 218Google Scholar; Ordericus Vitalis, iv. 40, 45.

^{page 27 note 4} Suger, , Vie de Louis VI le Gros, ed. Waquet, H., p. 8Google Scholar.

^{page 27 note 5} Ordericus Vitalis, iv. 38.

^{page 27 note 6} Ibid., iv. 21–4: ‘quorum redemptionibus opimis egentes Franci ad dimicandum animati sunt’.

^{page 28 note 1} Suger, , op. cit., p. 10Google Scholar: ‘Anglie captos ad redempcionem celerem militaris stipendii acceleravit anxietas.’

^{page 28 note 2} Ordericus Vitalis, iv. 90. Cf. William, of Malmesbury, op. cit., ii. 379Google Scholar.

^{page 28 note 3} Ordericus Vitalis, iv. 173–5.

^{page 28 note 4} E.g. the conduct of the captains of the garrison at Le Mans after the death of Rufus (Ordericus Vitalis, iv. 99–102).

^{page 29 note 1} The best text of this treaty is that printed by F. Vercauteren, Actes des comtes de Flandre, 1071–1128, no. 30. Although this is the first such treaty of which the text survives, William of Malmesbury suggests that similar arrangements had been made by the Conqueror and renewed by Rufus. See the discussion by Lyon, Bruce D. in English Historical Review, lxvi (1951), 178–9CrossRef Google Scholar.

^{page 29 note 2} For attempts of baronial followers of the king to mitigate the consequences of a royal victory, or even to prevent such a victory, see Ordericus Vitalis, iii. 274–8 (1088) and iv. 174 (1102); Gesta Stephani in Chronicles of the reign of Stephen, etc. (, R. S.), iii. 27–8 (1136), 42 (1138)Google Scholar; John, of Hexham, Historia, in Symeon, of Durham (R. S.), ii. 291 (1138)Google Scholar; Henry, of Huntingdon, op. cit., p. 287 (1153)Google Scholar.

^{page 29 note 3} Ordericus Vitalis, iv. 87–8.

^{page 29 note 4} Davis, H. W. C., England under the Normans and Angevins (10th ed.), p. 118Google Scholar, described William of Breteuil as the treasurer, and was followed by Poole, A. L., From Domesday Book to Magna Carta, p. 115Google Scholar.

^{page 29 note 5} Ordericus Vitalis, ii. 380, iii. 296, 336, 348, 413.

^{page 30 note 1} Ordericus Vitalis, iv. 229–30; Henry, of Huntingdon, op. cit., p. 235Google Scholar.

^{page 30 note 2} Southern, R. W., ‘Ranulf Flambard and early Anglo-Norman administration’, Trans. R. Hist. S., 4th ser., xviGoogle Scholar.

^{page 30 note 3} Ibid., p. 97.

^{page 30 note 4} Liber Eliensis, ed. Stewart, D. J., p. 276Google Scholar.

^{page 30 note 5} Round, J. H., Feudal England, p. 309Google Scholar.

^{page 30 note 6} E.g. in the writ of Henry I cited by Poole, R. L., The Exchequer of the Twelfth Century, p. 39, n. 4Google Scholar.Poole, A. L. (pp. cit., p. 416)Google Scholar has called attention to an earlier mention of the barons of the exchequer in 1110.

^{page 31 note 1} Ordericus Vitalis, iv. 112.

^{page 31 note 2} Richard, of Devizes in Chronicles of the reign of Stephen, etc., iii. 388Google Scholar.

^{page 31 note 3} William, of Malmesbury, op. cit., ii. 488Google Scholar.

^{page 31 note 4} Ibid., ii. 540.

^{page 31 note 5} Ibid., ii. 484–5.

^{page 31 note 6} Pipe Roll 31 Henry I, p. 77.

^{page 31 note 7} Galbert, of Bruges, Histoire du meurtre de Charles le Bon, ed. Pirenne, , p. 152Google Scholar.

^{page 32 note 1} William, of Malmesbury, op. cit., ii. 477Google Scholar: ‘ut et regnum defaeceret, et hostium brutam temeritatem retunderet’.

^{page 32 note 2} Ibid., ii. 478.

^{page 33 note 3} Gesta Normannorum Ducum, ed. Marx, J., p. 296Google Scholar.

^{page 32 note 4} Ordericus Vitalis, v. 50. Robert, of Torigni (Chronicles of the reign of Stephen, etc., iv. 129)Google Scholar adds the information, that Earl Robert removed the bulk of this treasure, recently brought over from England.

^{page 32 note 5} Ordericus Vitalis, ii. 225, where this phrase occurs in an elaborate comparison beginning ‘Sicut Tironibus suae a principibus erogabantur stipendia militiae, sic quibusdam coronatis pro famulatu suo dabantur a laicis episcopatus et abbatiae…’

^{page 32 note 6} Lawrence of Durham (Surtees Society, vol. lxx), p. 62. Cf. the provision for ‘conducticii uel solidarii uero uel stipendiarii’ in Leges Henrici Primi (Liebermann, , Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, i. 554)Google Scholar.

^{page 33 note 1} Symeon of Durham, ii. 274.

^{page 33 note 2} Ibid.

^{page 33 note 3} Ordericus Vitalis, iv. 456–8.

^{page 33 note 4} Otto, of Freising, Chronicon, vii. 16Google Scholar.

^{page 33 note 5} Symeon of Durham, ii. 274–5.

^{page 33 note 6} Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a. 1124; Symeon of Durham, ii. 275.

^{page 34 note 1} Symeon of Durham, ii. 281.

^{page 34 note 2} Gesta Normannorum Ducum, p. 297.

^{page 34 note 3} Florence of Worcester, ii. 57.

^{page 34 note 4} Introduction to Chancellor's Roll 8 Richard I (Pipe Roll Society, N. S., vii), p. xix, where it is pointed out that some of Richard's continental pennies contained only three parts silver to nine of alloy.

^{page 34 note 5} See summary of the evidence in introduction to Pipe Roll 7 John (Pipe Roll Society, N. S., vii) pp. xxvii–xxxii.

^{page 34 note 1} For Faricius, Abbot, see Historia Monasterii de Abingdon, ii. 44–159, 286–90Google Scholar; for Ralph, Abbot, Chronicon Monasterii de Bello, pp. 51–9Google Scholar; for Geoffrey, Bishop, William, of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum (R. S.), p. 304Google Scholar; for Robert Bloet, Henry of Huntingdon, Epistola de Contemptu Mundi (Appendix B to Historia Anglorum, R. S.), and Gerald, of Wales, Vita S. Remigii in Opera (R. S.), vii. 31–2Google Scholar; for Flambard, , Lawrence, of Durham, op. cit., p. 22Google Scholar; for Henry of Blois, Lena Voss, Heinrich von Blois (Historische Studien, Heft 210).

^{page 35 note 2} See references given by Stenton, F. M., ‘The Road System of Medieval England’, Economic History Review, vii (1936)Google Scholar.

^{page 35 note 3} Historia Monasterii de Abingdon, ii. 150.

^{page 35 note 4} Symeon of Durham, ii. 356–7.

^{page 35 note 5} Ibid., ii. 260.

^{page 35 note 6} Gesta Pontificum, pp. 291–2.

^{page 35 note 7} Ibid., p. 308.

^{page 35 note 8} Ibid., p. 140.

^{page 36 note 1} Plucknett, T. F. T., Legislation of Edward I, pp. 136–7Google Scholar.

^{page 36 note 2} Chronicon Monasterii de Bello, p. 66.

^{page 36 note 3} Caruxss-Wilson, E. M., ‘The English Cloth Industry in the late Twelfth and early Thirteenth Centuries’, Economic History Review, xiv (1944), 43–4Google Scholar.

^{page 36 note 4} William, of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, ii. 487Google Scholar.

^{page 37 note 1} Pipe Roll 31 Henry I, pp. 44, 90, 53, 37, 149, 140.

^{page 37 note 2} Ibid. p. 16.

^{page 37 note 3} Ibid., p. 63.

^{page 37 note 4} The Chronicle of John of Worcester, ed. Weaver, , pp. 32–3Google Scholar and frontis-piece.

^{page 37 note 5} William, of Malmesbury, Historia Novella (R. S.), ii. 575Google Scholar. Cf. Historia Pontificalis, ed. R. L. Poole, Appendix VI.

^{page 37 note 6} Stubbs, , Select Charters, 9th ed., p. 144Google Scholar.

^{page 38 note 1} Jolliffe, , The Constitutional History of Medieval England, p. 203Google Scholar.

^{page 38 note 2} Stubbs, , Select Charters, p. 120Google Scholar.

^{page 38 note 3} Gesta Stephani, p. 6.

^{page 38 note 4} Pipe Roll 31 Henry I, p. 53; Gesta Stephani, p. 12.

^{page 38 note 5} Pipe Roll 31 Henry I, pp. 110, 149.

^{page 38 note 6} Henry, of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, p. 258Google Scholar. Stephen's promise to abolish Danegeld is not elsewhere recorded. For Stephen's breach of his promises on the forest, see Round, , Geoffrey de Mandeville, p. 378Google Scholar.

^{page 38 note 7} Gesta Stephani, p. 12; Richard, of Hexham, Historia, in Chronicles of the reign of Stephen, etc., iii. 146–7Google Scholar.

^{page 38 note 8} Henry of Huntingdon, p. 259; Gesta Stephani, pp. 19–32; John, of Hexham, Historia, in Symeon of Durham, ii. 291Google Scholar.

^{page 38 note 9} Richard of Hexham, p. 146. Cf. Henry of Huntingdon, pp. 258–9.

^{page 39 note 1} Richard of Hexham, p.151.

^{page 39 note 2} Ibid., p. 155.

^{page 39 note 3} Ibid., p.161; John of Hexham, p. 292.

^{page 39 note 4} Gesta Stephani, pp. 11–14.

^{page 39 note 5} Ordericus Vitalis, v. 81–91.

^{page 39 note 6} Henry of Huntingdon, p. 260: ‘omnia quae incepit luculente perfecit’.

^{page 39 note 7} Ibid., p. 283: ‘mos regius erat, quod multa strenue inciperet, et segniter exsequeretur’, referring to Stephen's conduct in 1151.

^{page 39 note 8} For a recent discussion of the problem, see Isabel Megaw, ‘The Ecclesiastical Policy of Stephen’, Essays in British and Irish History in honour of J. E. Todd, ed. Cronne, Moody and Quinn.

^{page 39 note 9} Historia Novella, p. 540.

^{page 40 note 1} Henry of Huntingdon, p. 260.

^{page 40 note 2} Ordericus Vitalis, v. 81–2: ‘stipendiarius conjugi suae factus’.

^{page 40 note 3} For Robert, of Gloucester's share of Henry I's treasure at Falaise, see Ordericus Vitalis, v. 50Google Scholar, and Robert of Torigni, p. 129; for the Empress Matilda's share, see Gesta Stephani, p. 30.

^{page 40 note 4} Historia, p. 145.

^{page 40 note 5} Gesta Stephani, p. 6.

^{page 40 note 6} Historia Anglorum, pp. 258–9.

^{page 40 note 7} Ordericus Vitalis, v. 82–4; Historia Novella, p. 543.

^{page 40 note 8} Gesta Stephani, p. 7.

^{page 40 note 9} Ibid., p. 25. Cf. Henry of Huntingdon, p. 259: ‘obsedit urbem Excestre … ibique diu morando, machinas multas construendo, multum thesauri sui absumpsit’.

^{page 40 note 10} Henry of Huntingdon, p. 259.

^{page 41 note 1} Robert of Torigni, p. 124.

^{page 41 note 2} Historia Rerum Anglicarum, in Chronicles of the reign of Stephen, etc., i. 33.

^{page 41 note 3} Historia Novella, pp. 547, 543.

^{page 41 note 4} Ibid., p. 562. This statement by a writer ordinarily careful on questions of coinage has sometimes been dismissed on the ground that it alleges debasement by Stephen, whereas the surviving coins are of a fine standard (Howlett in Chronicles of the reign of Stephen, etc., iii, pp. xxviii, lii; Corbett, in Cambridge Medieval History, v. 553Google Scholar). But William of Malmesbury clearly refers to a reduction in the weight of the coins: ‘pondus denariorum … alleviari’. There is, however, more evidence to support this charge against the coins issued by the Empress Matilda than against those of Stephen. See Brooke, G. C., Catalogue of English Coins in the British Museum: The Norman Kings, i, pp. lxxv, cxixGoogle Scholar.

^{page 41 note 5} Gesta Stephani, pp. 18, 50. Cf. p. 74 for the depleted state of the treasury at Winchester after the battle of Lincoln.

^{page 41 note 6} Historia Anglorum, p. 267: ‘ingens thesauri copia jam deperierat’.

^{page 42 note 1} Historia Novella, p. 543.

^{page 42 note 2} Chronicle of John of Worcester, p. 5 5: ‘statutum est ut omnia per Angliam oppida, castella, munitiones quaeque in quibus secularia solent exerceri negotia, regis et baronum suorum iuri cedant’.

^{page 42 note 3} Dialogus de Scaccario, p. 1.

^{page 43 note 1} Collected Papers of T. F. Tout, iii. 18.

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