Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/327

 ii s. ix. APRIL 25, ion.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

321

LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 10U.

CONTENTS. No. 226.

"NOTES : A Charter of Richer de Laigle, 321 Birmingham Statues and Memorials, 322 Webster and the 4 N.E.D.,' 324 Rudyard Kipling's Letters of Travel American Pony Express, 325 " The Secretary at War " Chinese Proverb in Burton's ' Anatomy 'Lethe : a Classical and Ancient Blunder, 326.

QUERIES : Waller's ' Panegyrick ' De Nune Weather Prognostications, 327 George Inman " Kibob "French Verge Watch Gothaven Kitchin : Parry : Casson : Harwood Rye Church Font Authors Wanted, 328 Emmeline Lott Manor - Court Powers Enchanted London Well Goethe : St. Philip Neri Dodd Family, 329 Registers of Deaths of Roman Catholics before 1837 G. A. Walpoole " Bushel and Strike " Joshua Walker, M.P. Walter Fenwick : Magdalene Hunt Wildgoose, 330.

REPLIES : Lesceline de Verdon, 330 Blackfriars : Ancient Schemes of Drainage, 332 Milton Queries ' The Fisher Boy 'English Shrines. 333 Saffron Walden Heraldic Redcoats George II. 's Natural Children Maywood Lines in Peele's 'Edward the First 'The Light Brigade at Balaclava Crouch Family of Rye Rabel's Drops, 334 Shilleto Moss, an Actor Bons Mots : Authors Wanted Turtle and Thunder, 335 ' Ethics of the Dust ' G. W. Curtis Altars, 336 Arms of the See of Lichfield Shakespeare and the Warwick- shire Dialect, 337-Ayloffe, 338.

TSOTES ON BOOKS : The Oxford Dictionary ' The Millers of Haddington, Dunbar, and Dunfermline.'

Booksellers' Catalogues. Notices to Correspondents.

A CHARTER OF RICHER DE LAIGLE.

TN the ' Calendar of Documents in France,' TSIo. 622 is a charter of Richer " de Aquila," on of Iiigenulf " de Aquila." confirming to the monks of St. Evroul the gifts of Ingenulf liis father and his liegemen, and his own liegemen. The date assigned in the margin is 1099, but there must be something wrong here, for Richer was killed in 1085, and his brother Gilbert, who is one of the witnesses, in 1092. The charter states that there were present Bishops Gilbert of Lisieux, Gilbert -of Evreux, and Serlon of Seez, " ipso die quo ecclesiam sancti Ebrulfi ipsi tres dedica- verunt . ' ' I have not a table of bishops her e, but believe that Serlon did not become bishop before 1082, which would limit the possible date to 1082-5 ; otherwise I should have conjectured that 1099 was a misprint for 1079, which, like 1082-5, would be right for the other bishops. The learned editor refers to * Ordericus Vitalis ' (ed. Societe"

de 1'Histoire de France), v. 195 ; perhaps some reader who is able to consult Orderic would be so kind as to look this up.

Ingenulf de Laigle was killed at Hastings in 1066. " Ingenulf " is a variant of the name more usually written Engenulf, as in another document (No. 1167) in the same volume to which the lord of Laigle is a witness.

The first witness to the charter is Richer's mother, " Richoereda," wKo is followed by his brothers, Gilbert and Robert. I do not remember that Robert occurs elsewhere. Gilbert was a prominent man in his day, and now, after centuries of oblivion, Kipling has endowed him with a fame which will doubt- less prove cere perennius ; for he plays a prominent part in some of the stories told to Dan and Una in those fascinating books, ' Puck of Pook's Hill ' and ' Rewards and Fairies.' In these the author has availed himself of the licence which he may claim, both as a genius and as a writer of fiction, and has prolonged Gilbert's life to Henry I.'s reign. There must be many precedents for this in historical fiction, and no doubt Kipling acted deliberately; but con- fusion might easily arise between Gilbert and his nephew and namesake, Richer's son and successor. It was the younger Gilbert that was father of Richer II., known to fame as the young noble who was a con- stant visitor at the house of that worthy London citizen Gilbert Beket, and who became in consequence the friend and com- panion of the boy Thomas Beket.

The only other witness named is Richer's wife, Judith, " filia Ricardi de Abrincis et sorore Hugonis comitis Cestrensis." This Richard d'Avranches is known more usually as Richard son of Turstin, or Richard son of Turstin Goz, also as Richard the Vicomte. He was Vicomte of the Avranchin, and the fact that he is styled " of Avranches " may recall those cases in England in which the sheriff took his name from the county town : Alfred of Lincoln, Baldwin of Exeter, Edward of Salisbury, Walter of Gloucester. Where the office was hereditary, this would tend to become an hereditary surname.

This marriage of Richer de Laigle to a sister of the Earl of Chester doubtless ac- counts for the striking Christian names of the late Lord Stalbridge : " Richard de Aquila "; for it is well known that the ancient family of Grosvenor, to which he belonged, derived itself from a mythical nephew of Earl Hugh. The mistranslation of Richerius as Richard also occurs in Burke's ' Extinct Peerage '