Great Britain -- History -- Richard I, 1189-1199; Great Britain -- Kings and rulers -- Biography; Richard I, King of England, 1157-1199
[355] The statement in _Gesta Ricardi_ (_Gesta Hen. et Ric._, ii.),
71, that he met the funeral procession on the way and accompanied it
“flens et ejulans” is at variance with a better authority for the
details of the burial—the _Hist. G. le Mar._—and is improbable for
geographical reasons.
[356] _Hist. G. le Mar._, ll. 9294-8.
[357] Disfigured, “sicut perhibent qui presentes fuerunt et
viderunt,” by a bleeding from the nostrils which began as soon as
Richard entered the church and ceased only when he went out again;
Gir. Cambr., _De Instr. Princ._, dist. iii. c. 28.
[358] _Hist. G. le Mar._, ll. 9299-303.
[359] Gir. Cambr., _De Instr. Princ._, dist. iii. c. 28.
[360] _Hist. G. le Mar._, ll. 9304-41.
[361] Gilbert Pipard, a well-known officer of the Exchequer; _Hist.
G. le Mar._, ll. 9347-51.
[362] The _Hist. G. le Mar._, ll. 9350-1, says Richard bade the
envoys themselves “Si pernez garde de ma terre E de trestot mon autre
afaire”; but the English chroniclers know nothing of this, and one
of them distinctly asserts that Eleanor was made regent: “Alienor
regina ... statuendi quae vellet in regno potestatem accepit a
filio. Datum siquidem est in mandatis regni principibus et quasi sub
edicto generali statutum ut ad reginae nutum omnia disponerentur.”
R. Diceto, ii. 66. (This passage is immediately followed by the one
about “aquila rupti fœderis.”) Cf. _Gesta_, 74.
[363] _Hist. G. le Mar._, ll. 9361-408. Châteauroux, it will be
remembered, had been in Philip’s hands since June 1187.
[364] His very identity is a puzzle; under Henry II we read of
Stephen de Matha, Stephen de Marzay, Stephen of Turnham, and Stephen
“de Turonis,” all bearing the title of “Seneschal of Anjou,” and it
is doubtful whether or not all these names represent the same man. In
the passage now before us the _Gesta_ (71) call him “de Turonis,” but
it is clear from other evidence that this means Turnham, not Tours.
The _Gesta_ continue (71, 72): “Et uxorem filii praedicti Stephani
propter ignobilitatem mariti ab ipso separari fecit [rex] et alii
marito dari; minans se hujusmodi nobilium puellarum vel viduarum cum
ignobilibus contubernia sua auctoritate secundum leges separare.” Is
it possible that Stephen’s crime consisted in having contrived or
connived at a ceremony of marriage, without licence from the Crown,
between his son and some royal ward who had been committed to his
custody? Such a marriage, if merely formal and if the parties were
under age, might be voidable by a sentence of the king. According to
R. Devizes, 6, 7 (ed. Stevenson), Richard brought Stephen over with
him, in chains, to England, and kept him in prison at Winchester till
he redeemed himself by a heavy fine. This fine may have been either
for the misdemeanour which I have suggested, or in remission of a vow
of Crusade—which vow, however, Stephen fulfilled after all.
[365] _Gesta_, 72.
[366] Gerv. Cant., i. 451.
[367] R. Diceto, ii. 66, 67.
[368] _Gesta_, 73; R. Diceto, ii. 67.
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