A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



The existence of jura regalia in the earl of Northumberland at the time 

 of Mowbray's grant being allowed, the creation of such rights in favour of 

 the bishop of Durham must be in derogation of the earl's rights, and the 

 rights themselves obtained by grant from the earl, though it would be ad- 

 visable, as was done in this case, to obtain the king's confirmation of the 

 grant. The amount of the consideration (c. libras denariorum) shows that the 

 earl was parting with rights of no mean value, but as to the extent of the earl's 

 rights within the episcopal territory there is little evidence. Simeon, how- 

 ever, relates that when Walcher was appointed to the see of Durham, 

 Waltheof, then earl of Northumberland, built the castle at Durham. 24 



At the time of the Conquest, therefore, we have the great earldom of 

 Northumberland, within which the bishops of Durham had been by territorial 

 acquisitions gradually building up a great franchise. 26 In Walcher for the 

 first time the powers of bishop and earl were united, and for the first time a 

 bishop of Durham exercised jura regalia, but he did so as earl and not as 

 bishop. Walcher's successor to the bishopric was not the man to allow 

 powers which had been exercised by his predecessor, whether as bishop or as 

 earl, to pass from his hands or to tolerate any interference by the earl. While 

 the incompetent Alberic was earl he would have little to fear, but with the 

 accession of a strong man like Mowbray to the earldom trouble ensued. 26 



To settle these disputes the king intervened, and the charter in question 

 was the result of such intervention. Before this charter the earl exercised 

 jura regalia within the territories of the bishop of Durham ; by it the earl 

 quitclaimed all his rights over the episcopal lands to the bishop, who thereby 

 became entitled to exercise within his territories the jura regalia formerly 

 wielded by the earl. 27 



After his return, Bishop Carileph appears to have concentrated his 

 energies on rebuilding the cathedral. This, however, does not seem to have 

 fully occupied his time, for in 1095 he was again suspected of rebellion ; but, 

 summoned to appear before the king, he died at Windsor on 2 January, 

 IO96. 28 Three years elapsed (during which the king drew 300 annually 

 from the bishopric 29 ) ere a successor was appointed, and that successor was 



" Simeon, op. cit. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 199. Dr. Gee first drew attention to the fact that Waltheof and not 

 the Conqueror was the founder of Durham Castle ; Durham and Northumb. Arch. Soc. Trans, v, p. clxxiv. 



n The numerous franchises which grew up within the earldom (see Mr. Page's article, Arch. H, 145) seem 

 to indicate a marked tendency to disintegration, probably due to the independent spirit of the people and the 

 frequent changes of ruler. 



16 Simeon, op. cit. (Rolls Ser.), i, 125 ; Liber Ruber Script. Trei (Surtees Soc.), p. ccccxxv. 



" For many centuries the origin and extent of the bishop of Durham's jura regalia have been the subject 

 of inquiry. In the Treasury at Durham there are two notes dealing with the question; one (Loc. 21, No. 1 8) 

 by Prior Wessington (141646), who favours the bishop's rights and quotes Simeon, Hoveden, and the forged 

 foundation charters of the convent in support. The other is in the first (fifteenth century) Cartulary 

 (fol. 186^.), where, under the heading 'Evidencia pro curia temporal! Prioris,' the rights of the bishop are 

 belittled for the purpose of exalting those of the convent. In the seventeenth century Miles Stapleton, Bishop 

 Cosin's secretary, traced their origin to Guthred's charter [Raine, N. Durham, i]. The next writer to deal 

 with the question was Gilbert Spearman, who in 1729 published his Inquiry into the Ancient and Present State 

 of the County Palatine of Durham, in which the rights are particularized and their origin ascribed to prescription. 

 There is an interesting copy of this work, extensively annotated by Thomas Gyll, solicitor-general to Bishop 

 Trevor, in the Dean and Chapter Library at Durham (Allan MSS. A. 17). Sir Thomas DufFus Hardy, in 

 his 'Introduction to Kellaw's Register" (Rolls Ser. 1873), traces their origin partly to prescription and partly to 

 grant. In 1887 Mr. Page, in his 'Paper on Northumbrian Palatinates and Regalities' (Arch, li, 143), traces 

 the origin of the/anz regalia of the bishops of Durham to the regality of the ancient kingdom and earldom of 

 Northumbria. Some of Mr. Page's contentions have since been criticized by Dr. Lapsley in The County 

 Palatine of Durham, 16. 



*" Simeon, op. cit. (Rolls Ser.), i, 134. " Ibid. 135. 



138 



