Note 1569 — Chapter IV · (continued 5)
Reading edition
Ib. “Quod ille dinoscens, et insuper cuncta regalis curiæ judicia pendere ad nutum regis, nilque in ipsis nisi solum velle illius considerari certissime sciens, indecens æstimavit pro verbi calumnia placitantium more contendere, et veritatis suæ causam curiali judicio, quod nulla lex, nulla æquitas, nulla ratio, muniebat, examinandam introducere.” As I understand this, he does not decline the authority of the court; he simply determines to make no defence, and to leave things to take their course.
How far did the court deserve the character which Eadmer gives of it? At this stage of the constitution, we are met at every step by the difficulty of distinguishing between the greater curia regis, which was in truth the Witenagemót, and the smaller curia regis of the King’s immediate officials and counsellors, the successor of the Theningmannagemót (see N. C. vol. v. pp. 423, 878). Eadmer’s picture would, under Rufus, be true enough of the smaller body. The event at Rockingham had shown that it was not always true of the larger.