Great Britain -- History -- Henry III, 1216-1272; Henry III, King of England, 1207-1272
Pontaudemer text, on the other hand, is, except as regards the date,
practically identical with that which, for want of knowing its source,
we can only call Rymer’s. This last contains some verbal corruptions
which may be due to Rymer himself; while in D’Achéry’s printed text
there is at least one obvious error--the Legate’s name is given as
“Gualterius.” The terms of the treaty in the Rymer-Pontaudemer version
are substantially the same as those indicated by the chroniclers.
The list of attestations comprises only the names of the signataries
on the English side; they are the Legate, the King, the Regent, the
Justiciar, the Earls of Chester, Salisbury, Warren, and Arundel,
William d’Aubigny, William Brewer, William Marshal the younger, Falkes
de Bréauté, Ralf de Mortimer, “L. de Erdivert,” Robert de Vipont,
Geoffrey de Neville, Brian de Lisle, Philip d’Aubigné, and Richard the
late King’s son; all of whom are stated to have set their seals to the
treaty. This is a somewhat puzzling statement in view of the fact that
the King had as yet no seal of his own. It may be that the Marshal’s
seal on this occasion did duty twice, once for its owner and once for
his royal ward; though we should have expected, if this were so, to
find an explicit mention of the circumstance.
To me there seem to be only two alternative theories by which the
printed texts of the treaty can be reconciled with each other and
with the evidence of the chronicles: (1) that the document of which
Rymer and D’Achéry each had a copy before him was a transcript (more
or less exact) of the body of the original treaty of Kingston, to
which the list of signataries and the date had been added (the latter
incorrectly) from some unknown source; or (2) that the opening
words--“Haec est forma pacis facta,” etc. (Rymer) or “Haec est forma
finis et concordiae facta,” etc. (D’Achéry)--were in each case the
unauthorized addition of a scribe, and that the original document was
not an actually executed treaty, but the draft which Hugh de Malaunay
carried to Louis on 11th September (above, p. 56), and that this draft
was sealed by the Legate, King, and councillors, as a pledge of its
authenticity and of their intention to abide by its contents. I incline
to the latter alternative, for the following reasons:--
(1) The so-called “form of peace” speaks throughout of what Louis
and Henry _shall_ promise and swear, never once of what they _have_
promised and sworn. It seems therefore to date from a time previous to
the solemn oaths which Roger of Wendover says they took at Kingston.
The actual treaty would not be sealed till the oaths were sworn.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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