CHAP. A. D. 1230. And Guardian of realm. Disap primacy. reciting the said grant of the Chancellorship of Ireland, and ordering "that G. de Turville, Archdeacon of Dublin, should be admitted Vice-chancellor, the Chancellor having deputed him thereto." This, I believe, is the only instance of the office of Chancellor of England and Chancellor of Ireland being held by the same individual. Neville for a while enjoyed the additional dignity of Guardian of the realm. The King, going into Gascony with Hubert de Burgh, and taking the Great Seal with him, appointed the Chancellor and Stephen de Segrave to govern the kingdom during his absence, directing all writs and grants to be sealed with another seal, which he gave into the Chancellor's keeping.† This insatiable lover of preferment still longed for higher pointed of ecclesiastical dignity, and had nearly reached the summit of his ambition, for, upon a vacancy in the see of Canterbury, he was elected Archbishop; but the Pope thought him too much attached to the Crown by his civil offices, and assumed to himself the power of annulling the election. In the hope of better success by bribery another time, the Chancellor went on amassing immense wealth by the plunder of England and Ireland. Triumph of A D. 1235. Hubert de Burgh was no check on his rapacity, for the Chief Justiciary had obtained a similar grant for life of his own office, although it had hitherto been always held during pleasure. His grant likewise was confirmed in parliament ; and, to support these corrupt jobs, the plausible maxim was relied upon, that judges ought to be independent of the Crown. But little respect was paid to charters or acts of parliament making judges for life when the opposite faction prevailed, and Peter de Rupibus or des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, at the head of it, succeeded to absolute power in the name of the feeble Henry. As soon as this revolution was accomplished, an attempt was made to remove de Neville from his office, and the Great Seal was demanded from him in the King's name; but he refused to deliver it up, alleging, that as he had received it *Rot. Cart. 17 Hen. 3. m. 8. Pat. 14 Hen. 3. m. 3. from the common council of the realm, he could not resign CHAP. it without their authority.* VII. Some time after this the Chancellor was elected by the monks of Winchester Bishop of that see, in preference to the King's half-brother, who was a candidate for it on the court interest. Hereupon, the King's indignation being beyond control, he bitterly reproached both the Chancellor and the monks; he banished the Chancellor from court, and forcibly De Neville taking possession of the Great Seal, delivered it into the deprived custody of GEOFFREY, a Templar, and JOHN DE LEXING- Seal. TON. † De Neville, residing in his diocese, retained the title of Chancellor, and the emoluments of the office. He was then summoned to return to court and to perform his official duties; but he refused, as his enemies had a complete ascendency there, and he felt that, although he might as a priest be safe from personal violence, he must be exposed to perpetual mortification and insult. For this contumacy he he was superseded. of Great Chancellor. He was succeeded, if not by a very learned or able, by a "SIMON THE very honest man, "SIMON THE NORMAN," who is cele- NORMAN," brated among the few who have lost the office of Chancellor by refusing to comply with the royal will, and to do an unconstitutional act. He was a great favourite at court, and seemed likely to have a long official career, but is said to have incurred the King's displeasure (more probably Queen Eleanor's) because he would not put the Great Seal to a grant of fourpence on every sack of wool to the Earl of Flanders, the Queen's uncle. He was too good for the Dismissed times in which he lived, and we hear no more of him, except that he was "expelled from court."‡ * M. Par. 294. 319. "Cum autem videret Rex, iterum instantiam precum suarum effectu caruisse, justæ postulationi monachorum adversando, multa convitia congessit in eundem Episcopum; dicens eum impetuosum, iracundum, perversum; vocans omnes fatuos, qui eum in Episcopum postularunt. Insuper sigillum suum quod idem Episcopus universitatem regni receperat custodiendum Rex violenter abstulit et fratri Galfrido Templario, et Johanni de Lexirsbuna commisit bajulandum; emolumentis tamen ad Cancellariam spectantibus Episcopo quasi Cancellario redditis et assignatis."-M. Paris. 320. Spel. Gloss. 100. M. Par. 320. for honesty. CHAP. A. D. 1242. at court. The Great Seal was then sent into the temporary keeping of Richard Abbott of Evesham: but before a new Chancellor was appointed a sudden counter-revolution took place Hubert de Burgh, who, on his disgrace, had been obliged to take sanctuary in a church, and, being dragged thence by the king's orders, had been confined in the castle of Devizes, contrived to make his escape,-immediately found himself at the head of a great confederation, — put all his enemies to flight, and was once more lord of the ascendant,—although he declined to resume his own office, thinking that he could irregularly enjoy more power without De Neville it. By his influence, the Great Seal was restored to De Neville, the office of who continued in the undisturbed possession of the office of Chancellor. Chancellor till his death. Notwithstanding increasing in restored to firmities, he was afraid to employ a Vice-chancellor, lest he should be the victim of the same policy which he had pracHis death. tised against his predecessor De Marisco. He expired in November, 1244. His character. Statute of Notwithstanding the unscrupulous means he employed to advance himself, and the rapacity of which he was guilty, he is said to have made a good judge. Matthew Paris, in relating the manner in which the Great Seal was forcibly taken from him, speaks of him as one "who long irreproachably discharged the duties of his office," and afterwards warmly praises him for his speedy and impartial administration of justice to all ranks, and more especially to the poor.† Under the presidency of De Neville, in the twentieth year of the King's reign, was held the famous parliament at Merton Abbey, in Surrey, where he was overruled upon a proposal brought forward, "that children born out of wedlock should be rendered legitimate by the subsequent marriage of their parents." All the prelates present were in support of the measure; but all the earls and barons with one voice an-` "Qui irreprehensibiliter officium diu ante administraverat."-M. Par. 328. "Radulphus de Neville qui erat Regis fidelissimus Cancellarius et inconcussa columna veritatis, singulis sua jura, precipue pauperibus, singulis juste reddens et indilate."-M. Par. p. 312. VII. swered, "We will not change the laws of England hitherto CHAP. used and approved.' ment to Shortly before De Neville's death, a national assembly had Attempt been summoned to meet at Westminster for the purpose of by parlia obtaining a pecuniary aid. But the bishops and the barons acquire took time to consider, and the result of their deliberations right of appointing was to give to the King a statement of grievances, which if Chancellor. he would redress, the aid required should be granted to him. The chief grievance was, that by the King's interference with the Great Seal the course of justice had been interrupted, and they therefore desired that both the Chancellor and Justices should be elected "per solemnem et universalem omnium convocationem et liberum assensum," and that, if upon any occasion the King should take his Seal away from the Chancellor, whatever might be sealed with it should be considered void and of none effect till it should be re-delivered to the Chancellor. The King negatived the petition, and would go no further than to promise that he would amend any thing he might find amiss. This refusal raised such a storm, that, to quiet it, he was obliged to grant a charter, by which he agreed that the Chancellor should be elected by the common consent of the great council. But this was soon disregarded; for popular election was found quite as bad as appointment by court favour or corruption, and the complaints against the venality and extortion of the Chancery were louder than before.† A rapid succession of Chancellors followed during the remainder of this reign, few of them much distinguished for • We have not a list of the lords spiritual and temporal at this parliament, to ascertain their comparative numbers; but we have such a list of those summoned to and present at various subsequent parliaments, showing that the spiritual peers sometimes considerably outnumbered the temporal; and the difficulty arises, why, upon matters respecting the church and churchmen, on which they always acted together, the prelates did not succeed in carrying whatever measures they wished. But I suspect that although the two bodies sat in the same chamber, they were long considered as separate orders, the consent of each being necessary to the making of laws, so that although the bishops and mitred abbots might be more numerous, they could not carry a law against the will of the earls and barons. †M. Par. 564. Mad. Ex. 43. K 3 VII. CHAP. learning or ability; and the personal contests in which they were engaged were of no permanent interest. We shall therefore do little more than enumerate their names. "History," says Hume, "being being a collection of facts which are multiplying without end, is obliged to adopt arts of abridgement, to retain the more material events, and to drop all the minute circumstances which are only interesting during the time, or to the persons engaged in the transactions. This truth is no where more evident than with regard to the reign of Henry III. What mortal could have patience to write or read a long detail of such frivolous events as those with which it is filled, or attend to a tedious narrative which would follow, through a series of fifty-six years, the caprices and weaknesses of so mean a prince?" We must be consoled by the reflection that we are now approaching the period when our representative constitution was formed, and the administration of justice was established on the basis upon which they remained through nearly six centuries to our own time. RANULPH Chancellor. A. D. 1244. The next Chancellor was RANULPH BRITON, Bishop of Bath and Wells, of whom we know little, except that almost immediately after he received the Great Seal, he is said to have died of apoplexy,—without any insinuation that his days were shortened by remorse at having deserted his party in agreeing to accept it. He is represented likewise as having been Chancellor to the Queen, an office I do not find mentioned elsewhere, the Queen Consort being considered sufficiently protected by being privileged as a feme sole, and having a right to sue by her attorney-general.* He was succeeded by SILVESTER DE EVERDON †, who had been the King's chaplain and Vice-chancellor, and who very soon retired from state affairs against the wishes of the King, being elected Bishop of Carlisle, and choosing to devote himself to the superintendence of this remote see. "Ranulfus Brito Regi et Regina Cancellarius lethali apoplexiâ corruit." M. Paris, p. 719. n. 40. Spelman doubts whether he was more than Keeper of the Great Seal under De Neville. Gloss. 110. Rot. Pat. 29 Hen. 3. m. 20. |