Medieval Sourcebook:
Roger of Hoveden:
The Revolt and Death of the Young King, 1183, from The Chronicle
Roger of Hoveden was a royal clerk who compiled a History of England in the early
years of the thirteenth century. As a royal clerk he was well-placed to gather
information from members of the royal court, and he also included many documents,
especially letters, into his history. This is the bulk of the entry for 1183.
1183
In the year of grace 1183, being the twenty-ninth year of the reign of king Henry, son
of the empress Matilda, the said king of England was at Caen, in Normandy, on the day of
the Nativity of our Lord; the [young] king also, and Richard and Geoffrey, his sons, and
Henry, duke of Saxony, and his wife, together with their sons and daughters, and a large
retinue, together with Richard, archbishop of Canterbury, and John Cumin, archbishop of
Dublin, and many bishops, earls, and barons were there with him. After the Nativity of our
Lord, the king ordered the king, his son, to receive homage from Richard, earl of Poitou,
and from Geoffrey, earl of Brittany, his brothers; on which, in obedience to his father,
he received the homage of his brother Geoffrey, and was willing to receive it from his
brother Richard, but Richard refused to do homage to him; and afterwards, when Richard
offered to do homage to him, the king, the son, refused to receive it. Richard, feeling
greatly indignant at this, withdrew from the court of the king, his father, and going to
Poitou, his own territory, built there some new castles and fortified the old ones.
At the request of such of the earls and barons of Poitou as adhered to him, and who
inflicted many losses on earl Richard the king, his brother, pursued him. Geoffrey, earl
of Brittany, also came to Poitou, with a large force, to assist the king, his brother. On
Richard perceiving that he could not make head against his brothers, he sent for
assistance to the king, his father, who, raising a great army, came in all haste, and laid
siege to the castle of Limoges, which had been a short time before surrendered to the
king, his son.
The cause of the dissensions between the king and his sons.
In order, however, that the cause may be known of these shocking dissensions that took
place between the father and his sons, it ought to be stated that, on the holy day of the
Circumcision of our Lord, king Henry, son of our lord the king of England, of his own
accord, and no one forcing him thereto, touching the Holy Gospels, and in presence of a
large body of the clergy and laity, made oath that he would from that day forward all the
days of his life maintain his fealty unblemished to Henry, king of England, as being his
father and his liege lord, and would show him all due honor and obedience. And because, as
he asserted, the king wished to retain no rancor and malice in his mind, by reason of
which his father might possibly be afterwards offended, he declared to him that he had
entered into a compact with the barons of Aquitaine against his brother Richard, being
influenced by the fact hat his said brother had fortified the castle of Clairvaux, which
was part of his own inheritance after his father’s death, contrary to his own wishes.
Wherefore he earnestly entreated his father to take the said castle from Richard, and keep
it in his own charge.
Richard, being admonished by our lord the king relative thereto, at first refused to do
so, but afterwards freely delivered it to be disposed of at his father’s pleasure.
Accordingly, the three sons of our lord the king, namely, the [young] king, Richard, and
Geoffrey, came to Anjou, with the king, their father, for the purpose of entering into a
final treaty of peace between them, and each of the three made oath that they would
observe their fealty at all times towards the king, their father, against all men, and
would pay him all honor and lasting obedience. They also made oath, in accordance with the
directions of their father, that they would observe lasting peace between themselves. On a
given day, therefore, for ratifying the peace mace between them, at a place called
Mirabel, under the direction of their father, because the barons of Aquitaine, to whom the
king, the son, had engaged himself by oath, were not present, the king, the father, sent
his son Geoffrey to them that they might come to the said conference for the establishment
of peace and reconciliation, and in the meantime cease from all hostilities.
But the said Geoffrey, utterly forgetful of God and of respect for his father, and
unmindful of his commands, did not bring peace, but the sword, and, slighting his oath,
his homage, and the fealty which he had so often sworn to his father, entered into a
compact with the enemies of his father, for the purpose of harassing him, and induced a
sacrilegious race, and one detested by the Church of Rome, to ravage the territories of
his father. The king, the son, on hearing of this, entreated his father to establish peace
between his brother Richard and the barons of Aquitaine. In answer to the entreaties of
his son, our lord the king promised that he would preserve peace, and that, for this
purpose, in the manner that had been agreed upon in the preceding summer, reparation
should be made for all excesses committed by either party, or else, if that should not
please the barons, he would judge them in conformity with the opinions pronounced by his
court. This offer was quite to the satisfaction of the king, the son; on condition,
however, that the castle of Clairvaux should remain safe in the hands of the king, his
father.
Upon this, the king, the son, having gained of his father all that he had requested,
with his father’s permission set out for Limoges, for the purpose of inviting both
his brother Geoffrey and the barons of Aquitaine to come to terms, and in the meantime
sent his wife to France, to her brother, the king of that country, for the purpose of
being in safety. The king, the father, also, at the request and by the advice of the king,
the son, came with a few followers by another road to Limoges, in safety from his sons and
in safety from his subjects; but when he had come to this territory that was his own, his
own subjects received him most shamefully, for they aimed their arrows against him, so
much so that they even wantonly pierced his coat armor, wounded one of his knights before
his eyes, and violently prevented the king from entering either the city or the castle; in
consequence of which, he and his son Richard were obliged to depart.
After this, our lord the king effected an entrance into the city of Limoges; but when
he was departing therefrom, for the purpose of conversing with his sons in a fatherly
manner, in presence of his sons, the garrison of the castle before-mentioned aimed their
deadly arrows; in consequence of which, they wounded the horse which bore the king, the
father, in the head, and if the horse had not lifted its head just at the approach of the
arrow, it would have pierced the king’s breast to a considerable depth. This his sons
Henry and Geoffrey thinking lightly of, took no pains to punish the offender; and,
notwithstanding, returned to the deadly foes of their lord and father.
Shortly after, the king, the son, came to his father, and promised him, that, if the
barons of Aquitaine would not come to his feet to sue for peace, he would utterly abandon
them, and return to obedience to him under all circumstances. On this, the king the
father, being moved at the entreaties of his son, again made promise of the peace which he
had previously promised to the barons. Wherefore, the king the son, as he said, went to
his brother Geoffrey and the barons of Aquitaine, and, returning from them to his father,
asserted that they were utterly disobedient and rebellious, for which reason, he had
returned to his duty and obedience to his father’s will. This, however, as appeared
in the sequel, was done fraudulently, in order that in the meantime the perfidious race of
the Brabanters, and Geoffrey, that son of perdition, might with lawless violence the more
easily ravage his father’s territories, and nefariously lay them waste, carrying off
the ornaments of the churches, burning towns and villages to the ground, emptying the
fields and the sheepfolds by their ravages, so as to cause utter destruction in every
quarter; sparing neither age, nor sex, nor rank, nor the religious profession; on the
contrary, as it appeared, aiming at the perpetration of homicide, sacrilege, and rapine
alone.
Shortly after these things had taken place, the king, the son, on hearing what had been
done by his brother Geoffrey, told his father, that whatever he had done in this matter
had been done by the counsel of his brother Geoffrey, and giving his arms and his horse in
his father’s charge, remained with him some days. But after he had eaten at the same
table with his father, and had dipped his hands into the same dish, he withdrew from him,
and again leagued himself by oath with his father’s enemies, and then returning to
his father, declared that he could in no way see how he was to inflict upon the men of the
castle the punishment they had deserved; after which, leaving his father, he set out for
Dorat.
But his father, thinking him peaceably inclined, recalled him; on which, returning and
entering the castle, and not being able to bring the wickedness which he contemplated to
the wished-for result, he swore by the body of Saint Martial, that he would assume the
cross. His father, however, thinking that he had done this more through indignation than
religious feeling, in an affectionate manner used all his endeavors to recall him from
this rash vow, asking of him on his knees, and weeping, whether that vow had proceeded
from rancor, indignation, poverty, or religious feelings. To this the son made answer,
with all kinds of oaths, that he had made the vow solely for the remission of the sins
which he had been guilty of towards his father; and added, when he saw his father opposing
it and shedding tears, that he would slay himself with his own hands, unless his father
should cease to dissuade him from his purpose of assuming the cross, inasmuch as the body
of the Lord which he had that day beheld, consecrated before his eyes, testified that he
ought a long time before that to have assumed the cross, but it had not till then been
disclosed to him; hoping and trusting that he should be in the more full enjoyment of his
father’s favor, as he was unwilling to go on the pilgrimage without his favor. On
this, his father learning his holy and fixed determination, replied: "The will of God
and your own be done. I will be your supporter and assistant in acquiring the earldom, and
will provide you, by the help of God, with such plentiful supplies, that no one, of whom I
have heard going to the land of Jerusalem, could at any time have done his service to God
on a more bounteous scale."
On this, the king the son returned many thanks to his father, and entreated him to deal
mercifully with the men in the castle and the barons of Aquitaine; to which his father, in
tears, made answer, and promised that he would act in every one of those matters quite
according to his pleasure. The king the son, again returning thanks, sent for the men of
the castle, and, though against his father’s will, throw himself with the burgesses
at his father’s feet, and asked for peace in their behalves, which request was
granted, hostages however being required to ensure the peace being kept. The king the
father sent some of his followers to receive the hostages, but they were nearly slain by
those who were to give them. This was in nowise punished by the king the son, but,
disregarding his oath to assume the cross, he became, together with them, the enemy and
persecutor of his own father.
Shortly after, the king the son, pretending that he wished for peace, requested his
father to send to him Maurice de Crony with a truce, and some other barons; and while some
of their followers were conversing with him, they were slain in the presence of the king
the son, by the enemies of our lord the king. Some days after this, Geoffrey, that son of
iniquity, with evil intent, entreated that he would send to him Oliver Fitz-Ernest and
Jerome de Mustervol with a truce; on which one of them, Jerome namely, was pierced with a
sword through his head-piece, his coat-armor, and his shirt, not without a considerable
loss of blood; while Oliver, the other, was thrown from a bridge into the water, in the
presence of Geoffrey himself, who took no pains to punish this misdeed. After this, the
same son, being again desirous to hold a conference with his father, came in perfect
security to his father, and, deceitfully treating about making peace, requested of his
father leave to enter the castle in order that he might prevail upon the king his brother,
and the other enemies of our lord the king, to comply with the wishes of the king.
Permission was accordingly given him, on which he entered the castle, spoiled the shrine
of Saint Martial, and carried off the other vessels of that monastery, both gold and
silver, and then, returning with the booty, requested his father to prolong the truce till
the next day. The truce was accordingly granted him, and, passing over the bridge, he the
same day renounced the truce wi th his father as being at an end, and out of the proceeds
of the sacrilege and robbery, of which he had been guilty towards Saint Martial, paid
their wages to his Brabanters. The amount of this theft was, according to the estimate
made by worthy men, fifty-two marks of gold and twenty-seven marks of silver.
In the meantime, Richard, archbishop of Canterbury, Henry, bishop of Bayeux, John,
bishop of Evreux, Ralph, bishop of Lisieux, Froger, bishop of Seez, and Waleran, bishop of
Rochester, together with the abbots and clergy of Normandy, and a great number of people,
came to Caen, and there, in the monastery of Saint Stephen, solemnly, in the universal
hearing of all the people, pronounced sentence of excommunication against all who should
prevent peace and reconciliation being made between our lord the king and his sons, the
person of the king, the son, alone excepted.
Money now failing him, the king, the son, proceeded to Saint Mary de Roche Andemar,
stripped the tomb of Saint Andemar, and carried away the treasures of the church. In the
course of a few days after this, the king, the son, seeing that he could not do any
material injury to the king, his father, in consequence of indignation and rancor of mind,
was attacked by a severe malady at a village called Martel, not far from the city of
Limoges. He was first attacked with a fever, and then by a flux of the bowels, which
reduced him to the point of death. On seeing that his death was impending, he sent for our
lord the king, his father, who refused to come to him, as he dreaded his treachery. The
king, the son, having, therefore, summoned the bishops and religious men who were there,
into his presence, having first secretly, and afterwards before them all, made confession
of his sins, received absolution and remission of his sins, and gave to William Marshal,
one of his household, his cross to bear to Jerusalem [in his stead]. After this, laying
aside his fine garments, he placed upon him haircloth, and fastening a cord around his
neck, said to the bishops and other religious men who stood around him: "By this cord
do I deliver myself, an unworthy, culpable, and guilty sinner, unto you, the ministers of
God, beseeching that our Lord Jesus Christ, who remitted his sins to the thief when
confessing upon the cross, will, through your prayers and His ineffable mercy, have
compassion upon my most wretched soul." To which all made answer, "Amen."
He then said to them: "Drag me out of this bed by this cord, and place me on that bed
strewed with ashes," which he had caused to be prepared for himself; on which they
did as he commanded them, and placed under his head and feet two large square stones; and,
all things being thus duly performed, he commanded his body to be taken to Rouen, in
Normandy, and there buried. After saying this, being fortified with the viaticum of the
holy body and blood of our Lord, in the fear of the Lord, he breathed forth his spirit.
When news was brought of his death to our lord the king, his father, bursting into
tears, he threw himself upon the ground, and greatly bewailed his son. O how dreadful a
thing it is for sons to persecute a father! for it is not the sword of the man who fights,
not the hand of the foeman that avenges the injury of the father; but it is fever that
deals its retribution, flux of the bowels, with ulceration of the intestines, that
exercises vengeance. The son laid prostrate, all return to the father. All are overjoyed,
all rejoice, the father alone bewails his son. Why, glorious father, cost thou bewail him
? He was no son of shine, who could commit such violence upon thy fatherly affection. This
defense of thee has wrought security for fathers, and has checked the audacity of
parricides. For it was his due to perish by a severe retribution, who wished to introduce
parricide into the world; because the Judge of all minds, in the same way that He avenges
the tribulations of the righteous, so does he sometimes punish the persecutions of the
wicked.
The king’s servants, after having extracted the brain and the entrails, and buried
them at Martel, sprinkled the body of the dead king with large quantities of salt, and
then wrapped it in bulls’ hides and lead, that they might take it to Rouen for burial
there, and accordingly set out on their way with the royal body; but when they had come to
the city of Le Mans, and had passed the night in the church of Saint Julian the Confessor
and Pontiff, singing hymns and psalms in its vicinity, and wished in the morning to depart
thence with the body, the bishop of the city and the clergy, together with the common
people, would not allow them to carry it away, but buried it in an honorable manner in the
church of Saint Julian.
On this being told to the people of Rouen, they were indignant thereat, and resolutely
demanded his body, swearing that they would take it by force, unless it was instantly
given up to them; upon which the king, the father, ordered that the body should be given
up to the people of Rouen, as the king, his son, had, while living, commanded; which was
accordingly done; and they dug up the king’s body from the spot where it had been
buried, and, carrying it to Rouen, buried it in the church there of Saint Mary.
The king, the father, after the death of the king, his son, every day made more violent
assaults upon the castle of Limoges, to which he had laid siege, and at length both the
castle and the city of Limoges were surrendered to him, besides all the castles of his
enemies in that neighborhood; some of which he retained in his own hands, and some he
leveled with the ground, not leaving one stone upon another. After the death of the king,
the son, Philip, king of the Franks, demanded of our lord the king of England, the dowry
which his son, the king, had given to his sister, and the whole of the land of the Vexin,
together with the castles and fortresses which Louis, king of France, his father, had
given them on their marriage. Whereupon, a conference being held between them, between
Gisors and Trie, an arrangement was made in the following manner: That Margaret, the
sister of the king of France, who had been the wife of the king, the son, should receive,
for quitting claim of all the above demands, one thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds
of money Angevin, each year at Paris from our lord the king of England and his heirs, so
long as she should live.
…
In the same year, our lord the king commanded Richard, his son and heir, to receive the
homage of his brother John for Poitou, but he declined receiving it.
…
In the same year, Henry, king of England, a conference being held on the day of Saint
Nicholas, between him and Philip, king of France, between Gisors and Trie, did homage to
Philip, king of France, for all his lands beyond sea, whereas before this he had never
been willing to do homage to him.
Source.
Roger wrote originally in Latin. This translation was made by Henry T. Riley and
was published as The Annals of Roger de Hoveden. 2 vols. London: Bohn,
1853. I believe this translation is now in the public domain. The electronic
form of this presentation is ©1998 by Scott McLetchie and may not be reproduced for any
commercial purposes whatsoever. It may be reproduced for non-profit educational
purposes.
Etext file created for a class by Scott Mcletchie [letchie@loyno.edu],
and used by permission here.
This text is part of the Internet
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© Paul Halsall, October 1998
halsall@murray.fordham.edu
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