[322] "Interpellavit dominam Anglorum regina pro domino suo rege capto et custodiæ ac vinculis mancipato. Interpellata quoque est pro eadem causa et a majoribus seu primoribus Angliæ; ... at illa non exaudivit eos" (_Cont. Flor. Wig._, 132). [323] All this, however, is subject to the assumption that this charter passed at Westminster. That assumption rests on Dugdale's transcript and his statement to that effect in his _Baronage_. There is nothing in the charter (except, of course, the above difficulty) inconsistent with this statement, which is strongly supported by the Valoines charter; but, unfortunately, the transcript I have quoted from gives _Oxford_ as the place of testing. But, then, the word (_vide supra_) appears to have been added in a later hand, and may have been inserted from confusion with the Empress's _second_ charter to Geoffrey, which did pass at Oxford. Still, there is no actual reason why this charter may not have passed at Oxford, though its subject makes Westminster, perhaps, the more likely place of the two. Personally, I feel no doubt whatever that Westminster was the place. [324] See p. 42. [325] See Appendix H: "The Tertius Denarius." [326] _Const. Hist._, i. 362. [327] This, however, raises the question of comital rights, on which see pp. 143, 169, 269, and Appendix H. [328] Cf. William of Malmesbury: "Hi prædia, hi castella, postremo quæcunque semel collibuisset, petere non verebantur." [329] See also Mr. S. R. Bird's valuable essay on the Crown Lands in vol. xiii. of the _Antiquary_. He refers (p. 160) to the "extensive alienations of these lands during the turbulent reign of Stephen, in order to enable that monarch to endow the new earldoms." [330] "Quod auferat de summâ firma vicecomitatus quantum pertinuerit ad Meldonam et Niweport que ei donavi." [331] _Select Charters._ [332] _Const. Hist._, i. 326, 327. [333] _Domesday Studies_, vol. i. (Longmans), 1887. [334] It is in this case alone, in the Empress's charter, that we can compare the value with that in Domesday. The charter grants it "pro xl solidis." In Domesday we read "Tunc et post valuit xl solidos. Modo lv" (ii. 93). [335] See an illustration of this principle, some years later, in the _Chronicle of Ramsey_ (p. 287): "Sciatis me concessisse Abbati de Rameseia ut ad firmam habeat hundredum de Hyrstintan reddendo inde quoque anno quatuor marcas argenti, quicunque sit vicecomes ita ne vicecomes plus ab eo requirat." [336] "Die quâ dedi Manerium illud [de Meldonâ] Comiti Theobaldo."— Westminster Abbey Charters (Madox's _Baronia_, p. 232, note). [337] _Const. Hist._, i. 260. See my articles on the "Introduction of Knight Service into England" in _English Historical Review_, July and October, 1891, January, 1892. See also Addenda (p. 439).