A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



need of money. 1 For a short time Richard remained at Nottingham, and 

 Walter of Coventry and Roger of Hoveden tell how he made an expedition 

 on 28 March to Clipstone and to Sherwood Forest, which he had never seen 

 before, and they pleased him much (et plac ue runt el multuni) . s During the 

 next few days a council was held at Nottingham at which Richard ' prayed 

 that justice should be done him,' on John and his chief ally, Hugh, bishop of 

 Coventry. As a result both were cited to appear within forty days or forfeit 

 the one his claims to the kingdom, the other his offices in church and state, as 

 well as all their possessions. From Nottingham Richard advanced to Clip- 

 stone to meet the king of Scots, spent Palm Sunday there, and reached 

 Southwell on 4 April. Hence he went to Winchester for his second corona- 

 tion on 17 April. 8 



Early in John's reign Nottingham was the scene of one of his character- 

 istic acts of impetuous cruelty. Enraged at the Welsh rising of r 2 1 2, he 

 revenged himself by marching to Nottingham, and there, before he had 

 eaten (antequam cibum sumeret), he caused the eight Welsh hostages in the 

 castle to be hung. Then, as he sat down to eat, messengers came from the 

 king of Scots and from the Welsh queen, John's natural daughter, telling him 

 of the disaffection of the northern barons. 4 In this year the discontent 

 which had been brewing under John's misrule came to a crisis, but John's 

 clever move in submitting to the pope warded off the danger for a time. A 

 second clever move, the calling of the council of St. Albans in 1213, was 

 followed by a visit to Nottingham, whither went also Archbishop Langton, 

 who, unsuccessful in his attempts at peace, left Nottingham, and a few days 

 later 6 produced Henry II's coronation charter, and gave the baronial party 

 their watchword. John's submission at Runnymede was followed in 1215 

 by preparations against the barons, and an order to Philip Marc, constable of 

 Nottingham, to fortify the castle as for a siege. 8 Evidently Nottingham 

 was one of the king's chief stations, and when hostilities had begun, after 

 his northern march in the same year, he retired cum satellitibus suis 

 nefandissimis to Nottingham, and spent the following Christmas there. 7 

 The unsettled state of the county generally is implied by the order of 

 Louis of France to Gilbert of Ghent in 1 2 1 6 to repress the irruptions of the 

 garrisons of Nottingham and Newark, since they were creating great 

 devastations by spreading fire and slaughter in all the country round. 8 But 

 all attempts made to overwhelm the garrisons were unsuccessful. Both 

 Nottingham and Newark remained true to John, and it was to Newark that 

 he went after his disastrous march of 1216, and at Newark that he died. 9 



On the death of John, William Marshall, earl of Pembroke, and Gualo, 

 the papal legate, immediately proclaimed Prince Henry king, but as yet the 



1 Ralph de Coggeshall, Chnn. Angl. (Rolls Ser.), 63. Matt. Paris, Cbron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 404. 

 Robert of Gloucester tells the story thus: ' )?o king richard com to engelond J>er was joy e inou. Mid joye 

 & procession . J>at fole a Jen him drou. He pleyede nywe king at ome. ]>o he hom. com. Verst ];e castel 

 of notingham. vpe is broker he nom. & su)?)>e is oj?cr londes, & deseritede him al clene.' Rob. of 

 Glouc. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 697-8. A full account of the siege is given in L'Histoire de Gutllaume le Marccbal, iii, 

 1 34-6, together with the details of the events of the day following, when Richard demanded homage from 

 Walter de Lacy and William Marshall for their lands in Ireland. 



' Walter tf Coventry (Rolls Ser.), ii, 54. Roger of Hoveden (Rolls Ser.), iii, 240-3. 



4 Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 534. s Ibid. 551-2. 



1 ' Ut castra sua victualibus munirent fossatis ambirent, serventibus stipendiariis roborarent, balistas et 

 machinas pararent, spicula fabricarent." Ibid. 612. 



' Ibid. 637-8. Ibid. 663. ' Ibid. 667-8. 



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