POLITICAL HISTORY 



of the most prominent were allowed to redeem their lands and buy their 

 pardon by payment of fines ranging from one mark to five hundred and 

 amounting in the aggregate to nearly £yoo}''^ A few, however, failed to 

 recover their forfeited estates from the grasp of the sheriff until John ascended 

 the throne/" The castles of Lancaster and West Derby were repaired"" 

 and Theobald received an allowance of half a year's farm to replace the stock 

 removed from the demesne during the crisis."^ William the Lion's attempt 

 to secure the friendly retrocession of the northern part of the county along 

 with the other English territories which David had held, met, of course, 

 with a polite refusal."' 



The grant of Navenby in Lincolnshire to Robert le Rous at Easter, 

 1 1 94, completed the subinfeudation of the demesne (and ancient escheat) of 

 the honour of Lancaster outside the county. Practically the whole of the 

 regular revenue available for payment of the farm now came from the county, 

 and the clerks of the exchequer began to use frequently 'honour of Lancaster' 

 and ' county of Lancaster ' as interchangeable terms."' The county was now 

 to all intents and purposes treated as a separate fiscal unit parallel with the 

 older shires, and with the virtual disappearance of the distinction which had 

 hitherto marked it off from them it may be regarded as taking its place among 

 English counties of the normal type. 



On Richard's death in April, 1199, the castles of Lancaster and West 

 Derby were specially guarded for some time by order of the new king."* 

 John's former supporters obtained — though not gratis — confirmation of his 

 charters as count of Mortain,"' which in many cases had been disregarded 

 after his downfall in 1194, and redress was given to those whose lands had 

 been withheld by Theobald Walter, who was punished by the temporary 

 forfeiture of Amounderness."* 



The king's special relation to Lancashire and its strategical value as a 

 starting point for Wales and Ireland procured it an embarrassing amount of 

 his attention. He more than once visited Lancaster, whose castle he largely 



"' Laius. Pipe R. 77, 90, 99. Roger de Montbegon, from whom 500 marks (nearly half the total) 

 was exacted, had been active in the defence of Nottingham Castle. Henry de Redman of Yealand paid 

 120 marks. 



•"Ibid. 11S-16. ""Ibid. 97. 



"' Ibid. 92. The money does not seem, however, to have been expended. At all events Theobald was 

 compelled to refund it in the first year of John. Mr. Farrer suggests (ibid. 83) that this and the retention of 

 certain forfeited estates were an attempt on his part to reimburse himself for the undertaking he had apparently 

 given not to claim a deduction from his farm in respect of Amounderness. His suits to recover the advowsons 

 of the churches of Preston, Kirkham, and Poulton, which were successful in the case of the first two, may have 

 had the same motive ; Lanes. Final Cone, i, 2, 6. 



"' Hoveden, Chron. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 243. It is implied that he claimed the whole county, but this is 

 due to a confiision explained below. 



"' Lanes. Pipe R. 72, 76, 104, 126, 163 ; but it was not until 1241 that ' firma comitatus' permanently 

 replaced 'firma honoris' ; Tait, Med. Manchester, 179. The chroniclers speak of John receiving a grant of the 

 county in 1 1 89 (Wendover, Flores Hist, i, 371 ; Hoveden, Chron. ii, 6), though he clearly obtained the whole 

 honour. In matters of tenure the distinction between the honour and the county was of course still care- 

 fully observed ; knights' fees held of the honour outside the county were distinguished as ' extra comitatum ' or 

 'extra Limam,' the mountain boundary of the county on the east ; cf. Tait, op. cit. 12, 180, 193. For a 

 complete list of the fees of the honour in 1 199 see Lanes. Pipe R. 144 ; cf. Testa de Nevi//(Rec. Com.), p. 403, 

 for Penwortham. They numbered 74 and a fraction. 



'" 'Ad custodiam patriae'; Lanes. Pipe R. 105. 



"' Ibid. 106 et seq. ;^200 and 10 'chascurs' were exacted#for confirmation of his charter to the forest- 

 tenants; ibid. 114. The new charter to Lancaster gave it the privileges of Northampton instead of those of 

 Bristol ; Rot. dart. 26. 



'*' Lanes. Pipe R. 21 1. It was regranted to him in 1202 (JRot. de. Lib. 25), but after his death in 1205 

 it was not allowed to descend to his heir ; Lanes. Inq. i, 115. 



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