Page:Englishhistorica36londuoft.djvu/54

 46 SCUTAGE IN THE YEAR 1100 January not yet bear the higher title which became Ins at Christmas 1100, when he was elevated to the archbishopric of York. The peculiar extent and character of the privileges granted are practically duplicated in a charter of confirmation issued by Henry I, probably just after the year 1125, to Reading Abbey. This charter, found in the Reading Chartulary, Harleian MS. 1708, fo. 17, likewise purports to grant every monastic immunity which the king can confer ; moreover it contains exemption from scutages and omits no really striking feature of its prede- cessor except the mention of tallages. Finally, the Lewes docu- ment is readily explained by the circumstances of its issue. The imminence of the king's struggle with his brother, the personal unfriendliness and dubious loyalty of William of Warenne, together with the fact of his appearance the next spring among the leading champions of the cause of Duke Robert, point clearly enough to the motive. The powerful earl in possession of Lewes Castle was to be conciliated, if possible, by compliance with his request in a matter of personal interest and family pride. By the king's own act unexampled privileges were accordingly granted to the monks of Lewes. The exemptions allowed in this case have unusual significance in other directions. They explain the exactions of the day which the king's officials might make upon the lands of a monastery, and they extend to the lands of the priory of Lewes, both secular and ecclesiastical. Furthermore, the issuance of the charter within a few months, possibly, as Mr. Farrer reckons, 1 within seven weeks of the king's coronation, makes it practically certain that the usages and impositions therein mentioned originated before that event. It may be assumed that the word scutagium was used in the reign of William Rufus to designate a payment made by monasteries. Mr. Round has indeed shown that the practice dates from the time of the Conqueror. But it is very interesting to find that this and the other exactions, the quittance of which is granted in the charter, are traceable by name to the period before 1100. W. A. Morris. A Butler's Serjeanty The interest taken by students of the Anglo-Norman period in that notable but difficult document, the ' Constitutio domus regis ', justifies the close investigation of any evidence that may serve to illustrate its text. 2 The ' butler ' service, with which 1 Outline Itinerary of Henry I, no. 7. 2 See Haskins, Norman Institutions, pp. 113-20.