Passing over more than a century and a half, the next letter is one of William Plantagenet, the sixth Earl de Warenne, excusing himself from attendance on King Henry the Third's coronation in 1216. This must have been written a few months only after he had done homage to the French Prince Louis, as king of England, and his alleged illness may only represent a natural reluctance to appear so soon afterwards as the bearer of the sword of state, before the young king, however anxious he was to uphold his privilege. His grandson John, the next earl, exhibited his loyalty at the next coronation in a singular manner, by "turning out loose five hundred great horses, for any one to catch."
"To his revered Lord Henry, by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitain, Count of Anjou, Sir William Earl de Warenne greeting, and due reverence.
"Your Highness (vestra celsitudo), Sire, will have learnt that I am detained by grievous sickness, on which account I am unable to be present at your coronation, as would be my duty and wish, which saddens me more than my sickness. May it please my lord to know, that if I could have been present there at that time, I should be entitled by the right of my predecessors, which they received from your predecessors, to carry the sword before you. Wherefore, I devoutly implore you, as my excellent Lord, not to permit my privilege to perish or be diminished on account of my absence, but that you will cause it to be preserved uninjured and entire. Know moreover, my lord, that, agreeable to what you have signified to me, if God shall grant me recovery of health, I will willingly go towards the King of Scotland to escort him. I have indeed already sent him my letters patent [to acquaint him] that, as soon as ever God shall have restored me to health, I will come to meet and escort him, with your envoys. May your health flourish for many seasons." — In Latin, printed in Fœder, i, 160, from the Tower MSS. 628.
The King of Scotland here alluded to was Alexander II, who married, in 1221, Joan, sister of King Henry III. The records of Henry the Third's second year exhibit a safe conduct for six weeks given him for his homeward journey, and mention his doing homage to the English crown at the time.
The summary account of this Earl de Warenne's possessions in 1218, gives us an idea of his extended power. "The Earl de Warenne owes £43. 15s. for 35 fiefs of the fiefs of Gilbert de Aquila, and the fiefs of Moriton, and £120. for the 60 fiefs of his own barony."[1]
- ↑ Mag. Rot. 20 H. III, in Maddox, Baronia Angl., p. 33.
