Domino ac patri Roberto Dei gratia Londoniensi episcopo et toto capitulo sancti Pauli et omnibus fidelibus sanctæ Ecclesiæ, Gaufridus comes de Essexa salutem et debitam obedientiam. Gratias ago Deo meo qui me oberrantem et jamdudum in Babilonem lapsum misericorditer revocavit: Quia enim miles ad ecclesiæ defensionem constitutus fueram, ejus impugnator et crudelissimus persecutor hactenus ... mei molestia et infirmitate gravatus, me in matrem meam sanctam eccl ... unde et pœnitens veniam peto, pollicens et vovens debita satisfactione ... vobis illata integraliter restituere et pro sensu et facultate ... debitam reverentiam atque manutenementum et protectionem ... quoque quæ inter me et reginam fuerat de castello de Sto[rteford] ... [sancto] Paulo clamo quietum in perpetuum. Hujus autem satisfactionis ... meam et comitissa uxor mea et comes Gast (_i.e._ Gisl[ebertus]) suam ... confirmationem vero hujus restitutionis usque ad festum omnium sanctorum ... capituli catalla nostra in animalibus et ceteris vero pecoribus et ... rebus quæ in mea bailia sunt vel ad præsens invenientur sine dilatione vobis reddi faciam.[292] We will now revert from the crisis of Stephens reign to the years preceding his accession, when we shall meet with several of those citizens of whom I have spoken above. A group of three charters, formerly at Barrington Hall, but now in the British Museum (Add. Cart. 28, 344–6), brings before us several of the leading citizens of London at the close of the reign of Henry I. Badly drawn, as deeds, their meaning, in places, is obscure; but the gist of them seems to be that certain land in Hertfordshire, which was held of the Count of Boulogne by ‘Rumoldus’ in Domesday, was given by ‘Rumoldus’ (the same or his namesake), and his sons Payn and Bernard, to Hugh son of Wulfgar, who was one of the fifteen magnates of the “English Cnihtengild” of London in 1125.[293] Further, it would seem that these lands were the dower of Hugh’s sister, who had married one of Rumold’s sons. The first of these charters[294] records the consent of Rumold’s lord, William of Boulogne, to this transaction.[295] I assign it to about the year 1129. First in order among its witnesses come tenants of the Honour of Boulogne; then local Surrey men;[296] and lastly, a group recognisable as Londoners: Gervasio filio Rogeri; Fulcone filio Radulfi; Johanne filio Radulfi filio Everardi; Hugone Cordello; Guillelmo Gernun; Gileberto de Sancto Victore; Radulfo de Oxenfordia; Ricardo Bucherello; Stephano Bucherello; Rogero filio Anschetilli.