POLITICAL HISTORY 



' Between Ribble and Mersey ' and the ' Honour of Lancaster ' formed but a 

 small part.*' There is documentary evidence that the earl was actually in 

 possession of Lancaster at one moment, but the date is unfortunately doubtfuL^" 

 In any case David is hardly likely to have suffered a permanent occupation by 

 the recreant. The Carlisle arrangement may, however, have been ratified 

 when in the spring of 1 153 the double-dyed traitor sold his support to Duke 

 Henry in return for even more sweeping concessions, which probably included 

 both halves of the future Lancashire." In the compromise effected between 

 Stephen and Henry in the autumn, whereby the latter was enabled to tear up 

 his charter to Ranulf,'^ the whole was certainly reserved, with or without 

 Scottish concurrence, for the king's second son William, earl of Warenne 

 and count of Boulogne, along with the rest of Roger of Poitou's honour and 

 all other estates held by Stephen before his accession."' 



William was still under age at his father's death in October, 11 54, and 

 for a year the ' honour of Lancaster ' remained in the hands of the crown."* 

 There is no actual evidence that the young earl (who had succeeded his 

 father as count of Mortain) obtained possession of the lands of the honour 

 lying north of the Ribble until Malcolm IV's surrender of Cumberland and 

 Northumberland to Henry in 11 57, but it is improbable that the Scots 

 retained their hold upon Lancaster during the troublous minority which 

 followed King David's death four years before."^ 



Earl William died childless during the retreat from Toulouse in 1 1 59, 

 and the honour of Lancaster probably formed part of his widow's dower until 

 her remarriage in 11 64 to the king's illegitimate brother Hamelin. It was 

 then resumed by the crown, and Henry II retained it in his own hands until 

 the end of his reign. The administrative unity of that part of the honour 

 which lay between the Mersey and the Duddon was not further interrupted. 

 From 1 1 68, if not earlier, it is regularly described as 'the county of Lan- 

 caster ' ; "° it paid fines to escape the Regard of the Forest and the Forest 

 Eyre," and was amerced for concealment of the pleas of the crown."* As 

 early as 1 168 its northern portion was already divided into wapentakes."" The 

 county of Lancaster differed, however, from older shires in that it formed 

 part of an extensive and widely scattered honour, and consequently was not 



^ Lanes. Pipe R. 367—8. Stephen's charter is only known in a. transcript without date or list of witnesses, 

 but this seems the only likely occasion when it could have been granted. See Round in Eng/. Hist. Rev. x, 

 90, and Tait, op. cit. 170. Mr. Farrer's date is in any case much too early. 



'" Lanes. Pipe R. 296 (a confirmation, given at Lancaster, of Roger of Poitou's gifts to the priory). The 

 editor refers it to RanulPs journey southwards from the meeting at Carlisle in 1 149, but as it is dated 27 July 

 (without note of year) and the meeting was in May this seems improbable. 



"Ibid. 370. The grant comprised inter a/ia 'totum honorem comitis Rogeri Pictaviensis ubicunque 

 aliquid haberetur' (Dugdale and Ormerod read ' habet '). The final words have been regarded (Tait, op. cit. 

 173) as excluding what David held (or claimed), but this is not clear. 



" This has hitherto been overlooked. The earl did not die until 16 Dec. of this year ; Dugdale, 

 Baronage, i, 40. 



" Rymer, Foedera, i, 13. David's death on 24 May doubtless facilitated these dispositions. 



** Lanes. Pipe R. 285. This is the first clear instance of the wider use of the term. The honour does 

 not appear in the Pipe Roll of 1 155-6, the first of the reign which survives. 



" William's confirmation of an agreement between Furness Abbey and Michael le Fleming, dated at 

 Lancaster, no doubt belongs to 1 1 58, when he visited Carlisle with Henry ; ibid. 307. Cf. Tait, op. cit. 

 175-6. 



'" Lanes. Pipe R. 13. " Ibid. 16, 38, 45, 55, 60, 63. '" e.g. ibid. 63. 



°' Lonsdale wapentake is mentioned in that year ; ibid. 1 2. The first mention in the Pipe Rolls of 

 Furness wapentake, now Lonsdale north of the Sands, is under 1184 ; ibid. 55. The latter was sometimes 

 called the wapentake of Dalton ; Furness Coucher, 84. 



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