POLITICAL HISTORY 



mercy, although Richard de Lucy, the justiciar, pleaded their cause, stating 

 that the forest laws had been broken during the late hostilities by a special 

 mandate given him by the king when in Normandy. 1 Henry again visited 

 Nottingham in 1 179, when he spent Christmas there, attended by William 

 of Scotland and all the nobles of the realm, 8 and in 1 181, when he held a 

 council there.' 



After a period of comparative peace under Henry II, the county was to 

 see troublous times during the reigns of Richard and John, and again the 

 chief scenes of its history were centred round the castles of Nottingham and 

 Newark. Richard, on his arrival in England after his father's death in 1 189, 

 took possession of the royal treasure at Winchester, and proceeded to win his 

 brother's favour by granting him many honours, among them the earldom of 

 Nottingham. 4 The utter failure of all Richard's attempts to keep John 

 faithful to him during his absence resulted in the open quarrel between John 

 and Longchamp in 1191, the consequent seizure by John of the castles of 

 Nottingham and Tickhill, probably in April 1191,' and his threat to the 

 chancellor if he refused to give up the castle of Lincoln. 8 A compromise 

 was effected by the queen-mother, and John surrendered Nottingham Castle 

 to William Marshall, and Tickhill to William de Wendeval, 7 with special 

 reservation that if Richard before his return should refuse the terms of the 

 peace between John and the chancellor both the castles should be restored to 

 John. 8 It seems unlikely that either William Marshall or William de Wen- 

 deval ever actively fulfilled the office of governor of the two castles. 9 Both, 

 however, were granted to Roger de Lacy, constable of Chester, by 

 Longchamp presumably about this date, and he, judging from the easy 

 surrender that had been made to John how little the garrisons could be relied 

 on to support Richard's cause, urged that Robert de Crokstone, governor of 

 Nottingham, together with the governor of Tickhill, should be hanged for 

 treachery. Being unable to accomplish this, since they refused to stand on 

 trial, he seized and hung a certain Alan de Leek, or Lee, who had been in 

 the castle with Robert, together with one of the officers of Tickhill. John 

 interceded, but in vain, and in revenge seized the estates of the constable, and 

 harried his lands. 10 From this time Nottingham evidently embraced John's 

 cause, and the castle held out for him after all others he had seized had 

 surrendered to Richard on his return from captivity in 1194. Hence 

 Richard quickly marched to storm Nottingham, 25 March, 1194, but the 

 garrison surrendered, and placed themselves at his mercy. Some he im- 

 prisoned, others he compelled to ransom themselves, since he was in great 



1 Chron. of Hen. II and Rich. I (Rolls Ser.), i, 94. Roger of Hoveden (Rolls Ser.), ii, 79. 



1 Chron. of Hen. 11 and Ric. I (Rolls Ser.), i, 244. * Ibid. 280. 



4 Ibid, ii, 78. Roger of Hoveden (Rolls Ser.), iii. 6. Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 347-8. 

 Matthew Paris says he granted the 'Castella de Notingeham ' to John, but this hardly seems possible, since the 

 castle was evidently held by a royal garrison in 1191. 



6 L'Histoire de Guillaume k Marechal (Soc. de 1'histoire de France), iii, 130, . l. 



' Chron. of Hen. II and Ric. I (Rolls Ser.), ii, 207. 



* The accounts of the two chroniclers Roger of Hoveden and Richard of Devizes differ. In the latter 

 Nottingham is given to William de Wendeval, and that of Tickhill to Reginald de Wassevile. 



' Roger of Hoveden (Rolls Ser.), iii, 136, 137. 



9 In the case of William Marshall this seems undoubtedly proved by the fact that the con- 

 temporary author of his life in the Histoire de Guillaume le Marechal makes no mention even of the grant 

 of the office. 



10 Chron. of Hen. II and Ric. I (Rolls Ser.), ii, 232-4. 



323 



