Note 24 — PART II HISTORICAL STUDIES (continued 2)

Ralf of Coggeshall, and Walter of Coventry, assert that the northern barons denied their liability to foreign service in respect of lands held in England. John retorted that the principle had been admitted in the days of his father and his brother, and therefore claimed it tanquam debitum. This justifies the fears expressed sixteen years before by St Hugh of Lincoln, and explains what I termed, in examining his action, the mediaeval dread of creating a precedent.24