Note ib — Chapter V · THE YOUNG KING 1223–1227 (continued 2)

The Hist. G. le Mar. states that when the garrison of Hertford (besieged by Louis 11th November, 1216, see above, p. 18) became hopeless of relief, “Cil qui devers le rei se tindrent A Loeis por trieve vindrent De vint jor, e si lor dona, Par fei c’on li abandona Berkamestoude e Herefort; Seisis en fu, fust dreit ou tort” (ll. 15717–28); and that “Quant ceste trieve fu faillie, Cil qui aveient la baillie Autre trieve de vint jors pristrent, Sanz le Mar.; si mespristrent, Quer il baillerent deus chasteals Riches e forz e buens e beals; Ce fu Norviz e Orefort” (ll. 15735–41). The Chron. Merton (Petit-Dutaillis, p. 514) says: “Hoc anno [1216] facta fuit pax circa festum S. Andreae, quae duravit usque ad octabas S. Hillarii, inter Lodovicum et Henricum regem Angliae,” adding a detail which may be safely ignored—that the truce was purchased at the price of seven thousand marks paid to Louis. The Barnwell annalist says: “[Lodowicus] applicuit castra ad castellum cui nomen Berchamstede ... sed quoniam Natale Domini instabat, firmatae sunt treugae generales inter partes usque ad octavas Epiphaniae, reddito quod obsidebatur castello pro treugarum impetratione.... Post Natale Domini, durantibus adhuc treugis, convocaverunt fautores suos ad concilium Lodowicus apud Grantebriggiam, tutores regii apud Oxoniam. Elaboratumque est ut aut inter partes pax firmaretur, aut treugae prolongarentur. Sed cum paci detrectarent Angli qui cum Lodowico erant, protendereturque de treugis ineundis consilium, obsedit ipse castellum cui nomen Odingham [i.e., Hedingham, see Stubbs’s notes, p. 235, note 2, and pref. p. ix., note 2]. Redditum est autem ei tunc temporis castellum illud, et castellum Orefordiae, praesidiumque Nortwici, et praesidium Colecestriae, pro treugis usque ad mensem post Pascha” (W. Cov., vol. ii. pp. 234–5). Roger of Wendover mentions only one truce, which he represents as made in consequence of the tidings received by Louis as to the Pope’s intention of excommunicating him on Maundy Thursday: “Hac itaque de causa statutae sunt treugae inter Lodowicum et regem Henricum usque ad mensem de Pascha, ita scilicet ut omnia remaneant in eo statu quo fuerunt in die quo juratae fuerunt treugae, in castellis et rebus aliis, usque ad terminum constitutum” (vol. iv. p. 11). He has, however, previously stated that Berkhamsted surrendered “post diutinam obsidionem, ex praecepto regis” (ib. p. 6). These words, taken in connexion with the Biographer’s story, suggest that that story is correct, and that Waleran held Berkhamsted in defiance of the truce till he was peremptorily ordered by the Council to give it up. This first truce, then, seems to have been made not later than 6th December, the day on which Hertford surrendered (above, p. 18); it may have been made, as the Merton Chronicle asserts, a week earlier, and Walter de Godardville may, like Waleran, have ignored it as long as he could. If it were made on S. Andrew’s day, it would—supposing the Biographer to be right about its duration—expire on 20th December, the day on which Roger says that Berkhamsted surrendered. The Biographer seems to imply that the second truce commenced immediately on the expiration of the first; and twenty days from 20th December bring us to 9th January. If, however, the first truce began on 6th December, it would end on 26th December; and this would bring the termination of the second truce to 15th January. These dates agree neither with the Barnwell annalist’s “octave of Epiphany” nor with the Merton Chronicler’s “octave of S. Hilary”; and what is of much more consequence, even the latest date alleged for the expiration of the second truce—that given by the Merton writer, 20th January—fails to account for the letter patent which shews that there was a truce not merely unexpired, but, seemingly, not even approaching expiration, as late as 19th January. There seems to be no way of overcoming this difficulty except by supposing that the second truce was followed by a third. My belief is that this was so, and that the key to the whole puzzle about the truces and the surrenders of castles in 1216–1217 is to be found in the words of the Barnwell annalist. This writer appears to me to deal with the various truces made between the end of November, 1216, and the end of February, 1217, not singly, but in a group. His account of the treugae generales up to the meeting of the rival councils at Oxford and Cambridge includes, explicitly, what may be called the Biographer’s first truce (“reddito quod obsidebatur castello,” i.e., Berkhamsted—and Hertford—“pro treugarum impetratione” (cf. Hist. G. le Mar., ll. 15717–28); implicitly, the Biographer’s second truce (“Autre trieve de vint jors,” ending approximately “ad octavas Epiphaniae”); and implicitly also, I venture to think, a third truce (“durantibus adhuc treugis convocaverunt fautores suos ... tutores regii apud Oxoniam,” as we know from the Close Roll, after the octave of Epiphany (see above, p. 19). After mentioning the two councils and the fruitless negotiations for peace, the annalist tells us that yet another truce (seemingly the fourth) was proposed; and he winds up the whole subject by giving us, not the conditions or the results of that particular proposal, but a general list of the castles—Hedingham, Orford, Norwich, Colchester—which “tunc temporis” (i.e. within the last five or six weeks) had, in consideration of the successive truces since the first, been surrendered to Louis, and of which the undisturbed possession was now secured to him for a further period of some two months or more, “pro treugis ad mensem post Pascha.” In a word, the Barnwell writer tells that these four castles were, at some time between the middle of December, 1216, and the middle of February, 1217, bartered for renewals of the truce which had begun with the surrender of Berkhamsted; but which particular castles were bartered for which particular renewal, he leaves us to make out for ourselves. The task is perhaps not so difficult as it looks at first glance. The Histoire des Ducs gives an independent list, somewhat fuller than the Barnwell writer’s, of Louis’s gains after Hertford and Berkhamsted: “Puis prist le castiel de Colecestre e celui d’Orefort e celui d’Ingehem” [Hedingham] “e celui del Plasseis e Cantebruge, e moult d’autres fortereces.... La cites de Norewis li fu rendue” (Hist. Ducs, p. 182). The word prist here would, if we had no other version of the story, naturally appear to mean “took by force”; but our other evidence shews that, with regard to Orford at least, it is in reality only equivalent to the phrase used by the same writer concerning Norwich, and by the Barnwell annalist concerning not only Norwich and Orford, but also concerning Hedingham and Colchester—“li fu rendu,” “redditum est.” We know from the Biographer that Norwich and Orford were the price of the second truce. We know from the combined evidence of the Barnwell annalist and the Close Roll that Cambridge had passed into the hands of Louis perhaps before S. Hilary’s day, certainly not later than ten days after its octave. We also know, from the Barnwell annalist, that Louis did not gain possession of Hedingham till after the simultaneous councils at Oxford and Cambridge. The inference seems plain: Cambridge and either Colchester or Pleshey were surrendered for the third truce; Hedingham, and whichever of the other two places had not been surrendered on the same occasion as Cambridge, formed the price of the fourth truce, the truce which was made after the councils (i.e., at the end of January or beginning of February), to last, as we learn from Roger of Wendover as well as from the Barnwell writer, till a month after Easter. The Flemish writer’s words about “many other castles” are probably an exaggeration; there is nothing to indicate what these other castles were; in any case they must have been of small importance.