present when you can give us succour, we command you, requesting that you will be prompt and prepared to come at our command wherever we shall command you, knowing for certain that we will reward you with such benefits and with such rewards, and will so preserve your ancient liberties and so augment them thus preserved, that you will be bound to render us perpetual thanks; and that by example of your reward and of the amplification of your liberties, others will the more eagerly and willingly aspire to our obedience. And in witness of this thing, etc., we transmit [this letter] to you. Witness myself, at Oxford, the 3rd day of September, in the eighteenth year of our reign. Moreover, those who enjoy no liberty we will endow with such liberties and honours that they will be bound to render us perpetual thanks. Witness the same in the same year." CHAP. XXX. If the life of John had been prolonged, it is very doubtful what the issue of the struggle might have been; but while he was attempting to ford the Wash at low water from Cross-Keys to the Fossdyke, and had crossed it himself with the greater part of his army, the return of the tide suddenly swept away the carriages and horses that conveyed all his baggage and treasure. This brought on fever, and he died 19th October, 1216, at Newark Castle, having previously appointed his son Henry to succeed him, and having directed his body to be buried at Worcester, near the shrine of St. Wulstan. Though this ruler (according to Macintosh) was the most contempt- Vol. I., p. 197. ible of princes, his reign was perhaps the most memorable portion of our ancient history. Creasy tells us that the character and conduct of King p. 106. John truly exemplify the evil qualities of a despot as defined by the "Father of History:" "He subverts the laws and usages of the country, he violates women, and he puts people to death without trial." * # His character had a most important effect on our Constitutional history. # At his death he left England torn by civil war and foreign invasion, both of which had been caused by his perfidy and tyranny.” While Macaulay writes: "Had John inherited the great qualities of his father, of Henry Vol. J., p. 16. Beauclerc, or of the Conqueror; nay, had he even possessed the martial courage of Stephen, or of Richard, and had the King of France at the same time been as incapable as all the other successors of Hugh Capet had been, the House of Plantagenet must have risen to unrivalled ascendancy in Europe. But just at this conjuncture, France for the first time since the death of Charlemagne was governed by a Prince of great CHAP. XXX. firmness and ability. On the other hand England, which since the battle of Hastings had been ruled generally by wise statesmen, always by brave soldiers, fell under the dominion of a trifler and a coward. From that moment her prospects brightened. John was driven from Normandy. The Norman nobles were compelled to make their election between the Island and the Continent. The first pledge of a reconciliation between the English and the Normans was the Great Charter won by their united exertions. Here commences the history of the English nation." * Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy has prefixed to his edition of the Patent Rolls, King John's Itinerary, which he derived from the dates of the various entries on the Rolls. I will close this chapter with extracts from such portions of it as are more immediately connected with this monarch's proceedings in Kent, and such as are likely to interest the local reader. John appears to have been constantly on horseback, and rapidly procceded from one part of the county to another. The dates will be found to correspond with those already recorded in describing the events of his reign. "Northampton, 9th; Canterbury, 12th; Shoreham, 16th to 20th. The King returned to Normandy, 29th. "Chelmsford, 21st; Faversham, 24th, 25th; Canterbury, 25th to 28th." After a journey to the west, the King proceeded to France. "John having just returned from France proceeded to Canterbury, 25th (where he kept the festival of Christmas); Sutton [at Hone], 26th, 27th. 66 Canterbury, 6th, 7th; Winchester, 8th. "Southwark, 14th; Rochester, 14th to 16th; Dover, 16th to 18th. 'Canterbury, 15th to 20th; Rochester, 20th; Bexley, 21st; Rochester, 22nd; Windsor, 23rd. "Lambeth, Rochester, Canterbury, all on the 1st; Canterbury, 2nd, 3rd; Lambeth, 4th to 6th; Sutton [at Hone], 8th; Canterbury, 10th to 13th; Rochester, 13th." The King then went to the west. "Lambeth, 24th; Croydon, 24th; Otford, 26th to 28th; Oare, 29th; Rochester, 29th, 30th. Canterbury, 2nd, 3rd; Dover, 3rd, 4th; Romney, 4th, 5th; Battle, 6th; Malling (Sussex), 7th; Knep Castle, 8th; Arundel, 9th; Southampton, 10th. "Lambeth, 1st; Bexley, 2nd; Canterbury, 3rd to 5th; Rochester, 6th. "Rochester, 13th to 15th. "Knep Castle, 1st; Bexley, 3rd; Rochester, 7th, 8th; Orsett (Essex), 9th; Chelmsford, 10th. "Rochester, 6th, 7th; Chilham, 8th; Sutton [at Hone], 9th; Tower of London, 9th. "Tower of London, 2nd; Gravesend, 3rd; Dover, 4th; Rochester, 6th; Sutton, 6th; Westminster, 8th. The King then proceeded to Ireland. CHAP. XXX. 1210, May. "The Tower, 18th; Chilham, 20th. No further trace of the King's 1211, April. movements between May and November in this year."* "Sutton, 10th to 15th; Rochester, 11th, 12th, 14th; Tower, 16th, 1213, April. 17th; Arundel, 24th; Lewes, 24th, 25th; Battle, 25th, 26th; Dover, 26th; Rye, 27th; Winchelsea, 27th to 30th. "Rochester, 2nd, 3rd; Canterbury, 4th to 6th; Ewell [Temple], 7th to 25th; Dover, 13th; Wingham, 25th to 28th; Ewell, 28th; Dover, 28th, 29th; Wingham, 30th, 31st. "Wingham, 1st to 3rd; Chilham, 3rd, 4th; Ospringe, 5th, 6th; Rochester, 6th to 9th; Ospringe, 10th; Chilham, 11th, 12th; Battle, 13th. "Rochester, 5th to 9th; Ospringe, 9th; Dover, 9th; Rochester, 10th, 11th. May. June. Oct. "Tower, 2nd to 5th; Sutton, 6th; Rochester, 6th; Canterbury, 8th to 1214, Jan. 10th; Ospringe, 10th; Sutton, 11th, 12th; Tower, 12th, 13th. "Rochester, 10th; Sutton, 15th. "Tower of London, 6th; Sutton, 6th; Rochester, 6th, 7th; Ospringe, 7th, 8th; Canterbury, 10th; Dover, 11th, 12th; Rochester, 12th to 14th; Sutton, 13th, 14th. The King then went to the north. "Sandwich, 28th to 31st. "Dover, 1st to 14th; Canterbury, 14th; Dover, 15th to 19th; Canterbury, 20th to 22nd; Dover, 22nd; Canterbury, 23rd to 28th; Newington, 28th; Malling [Sussex], 30th. "Newington, 2nd to 4th; Ospringe, 4th, 5th; Canterbury, 5th, 6th; Dover, 6th; Canterbury, 7th to 9th; Ospringe, 9th to 11th; Gillingham, 12th; Rochester, 13th to 31st. Nov. 1215, March. August. Oct. "Rochester, 1st to 30th. Nov. 66 'Rochester, 1st to 6th; Malling [Sussex], 6th to 9th ;+ Reigate 10th. The King then proceeded to the north. "Windsor, 19th, 20th; Guildford, 20th to 22nd; Reigate, 22nd, 23rd; 1216, April. Malling [Sussex], 23rd; Rochester, 24th; Ospringe, 25th; Canterbury, 25th, 26th; Dover, 26th to 29th; Sandwich, 29th, 30th; Canterbury, 30th. "Canterbury, 1st, 2nd; Folkestone, 2nd to 9th; Dover, 11th, 12th; Romney, 12th; Folkestone, 12th to 15th; Sandwich, 15th to 18th; Folkestone, 19th, 20th; Canterbury 20th, 21st; Seaford (Sussex), * In Sir T. D. Hardy's Itinerary, no mention is made of the King's being in Kent in 1212; but Blaauw states he was at Rochester on Sunday, June 9; at Chilham, on Wednesday, June 12; and at Battel the next day. + It would, therefore, appear that John, after granting Magna Carta in June, 1215, proceeded to the Isle of Wight, and thence to Kent, where he remained from 28th August to 9th December. The King was in Canterbury on many other occasions during his reign, sometimes merely passing through, and at other times remaining there a considerable time. BB CHAP. XXX. 23rd, 24th; Bramber, 26th, 27th; Woolavington, 27th; Winchester, 28th to 31st." There are no less than four Suttons in Kent. There was once a castle at Sutton-Valence (or Town-Sutton, as it is now more commonly called), but even if built at this time, it was not on the main-road from London to Dover. I have therefore ventured to consider Suttonat-Hone as the resting place of King John when he came into Kent, especially as the Knights Hospitallers were possessed of the Manor of Sutton-at-Hone during this reign, and Dartford, the Tarentefort of Domesday, was a royal manor. The Hospitallers had also a manor in Dartford. CHAPTER XXXI. THE FORESTS OF KENT AND THE FOREST LAWS.-THE IF we except the formation and incorporation of The CHAP. XXXI. Seven Hundreds, but little has been recorded of our ancient Forest under its newly-acquired name of The Weald or Wild of Kent from the completion of the Domesday Survey until the death of King John, a period of 130 years, but that little it shall be my endeavour to perpetuate. Laws. Before I do this, it may not be unprofitable if I The Forest shortly refer to the laws by which the forests of England were at this time governed, premising that though our Anglo-Norman monarchs retained and exercised dominion over the unappropriated portions of the Weald, as well as the Forest of Blean and other woods in Kent, many of which still retain the names of King's Woods, they were not held expressly for the royal recreation of hunting; still, wild boars and other ravenous beasts were to be met with in them. Numerous perambulations of the royal forests in England may be found in the Public Record Office, but we look in vain for any perambulation of a royal forest in Kent at this period of our history. We have also a return made at a somewhat later date (28 Edw. I., 1300), which shows that there was no Royal Forest of Chase in Kent at that time. This King (Edward), however, appears to have had a hunting seat Cooper's at Newenden, in the Weald, on the borders of Sussex, and Winchelsea, Kent abounded with chases, parks, and warrens, held by p. 54. its barons. |