_Curia de more, Curia regis_, signified originally neither the merely privy council of the king nor his tribunal; it was evidently a grand assembly at which all the nobles of the kingdom were present, either to treat of the affairs of State, or to assist the king in the administration of justice. "The king," says the Saxon Chronicle, "was wont to wear his crown three times a year--at Easter in Winchester; at Whitsuntide in Westminster; at Christmas in Gloucester; and then there were present with him all the great men of all England, archbishops and bishops, abbots and counts, thanes and knights."--"A royal edict," says William of Malmesbury, "called to the _Curia de more_ all the nobles of every grade, in order that those sent from foreign countries might be struck with the magnificence of the company, and with the splendour of the festivities."--"Under William Rufus," says Eadmer, "all the nobles of the kingdom came, according to usage, to the king's court, on the day of our Saviour's nativity." Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, having presented himself _ad Curiam pro more_, "was received with joy by the king and all the nobility of the kingdom." In 1109, at Christmas, "the kingdom of England assembled at London, at the court of the king, according to custom." {292} The Curia Regis. _Curia regis_ designates generally the place of the king's residence, and by an extension of meaning the assembly held in that place; this assembly was general, and not a mere gathering of permanent judges. William I., summoning the Dukes of Norfolk and Hereford to attend and receive judgment _in Curia regis_, "convoked," says Ordericus Vitalis, "all the nobility to his court." Several judicial assemblies held under William Rufus, are called _ferme totius regni nobilitas, totius regni adunatio_. Facts and expressions of the same kind are to be found in documents of the time of Stephen. Even under Henry II., when the Court of King's Bench had already become a distinct tribunal, the expression _Curia regis_ is applied to the general assembly collected for the transaction of public business. Henry convoked his _Curia_ at Bermondsey, _cum principibus suis de statû regni et pace reformandâ tractans_. The second of the Constitutions of Clarendon orders all the immediate vassals of the crown _interesse judiciis curiæ regis_. The great Council of Northampton, which passed judgment in the complaints of the crown against Becket, is called _Curia regis_; it comprised not only the bishops, counts and barons, but besides these, the sheriffs and the barons _secundæ dignitatis_. Lastly, under Richard I., the general assembly of the nobles of the kingdom is still called _Curia regis_ in the trial of the Archbishop of York: "On this occasion there were present the Earl of Morton and almost all the bishops, earls and barons of the kingdom."