He is summoned to the King's Court.
Action of Ralph Paganel. order.[1] On the receipt of this letter, the King at once, in the sight of the Bishop's messenger, made grants of the episcopal lands to certain of his barons;[2] those lands were therefore looked on as property which had undergone at least a temporary forfeiture. He however sent an answer to the Bishop, bidding him come to his presence, and adding the condition that, if he would not stay with the King as the King wished, he should be allowed to go back safe to Durham. It must however be supposed that this promise was not accompanied by any formal safe-conduct; otherwise, though it is not uncommon to find the officers of a king or other lord acting far more harshly than the lord himself, it is hard to understand the treatment which Bishop William met with at the hands of the zealous Sheriff of Yorkshire. That office was now held by Ralph Paganel, a man who appears in Domesday as holder of lands in various parts, from Devonshire to the lands of his present sheriffdom,[3] and who next year became the founder of the priory of the Holy Trinity at York.[4] The Bishop, on receiving the King's answer, sent to York to ask for peace of the Sheriff. But all peace was re-*
- ↑ Mon. Angl i. 245. "Non est enim omnium hominum episcopos judicare, et ego vobis secundum ordinem meum omnem justitiam offero; et si ad præsens vultis habere servitium meum vel hominum meorum, illud idem secundum placere vestrum vobis offero."
- ↑ Ib. "Rex acceptis et auditis istis litteris episcopi, dedit baronibus suis terras episcopi, vidente legato quem sibi miserat episcopus." I suppose that these barons are no other than the Counts Alan and Odo, of whose share in the matter we shall hear much more as we go on.
- ↑ See Ellis, i. 464. It is there remarked that Ralph's lands in Devonshire had largely been Merleswegen's. This is equally true in Yorkshire. He must have succeeded Hugh the son of Baldric as sheriff. See N. C. vol. iv. p. 801.
- ↑ See the foundation charter in the Monasticon, iv. 682; though it is hard to understand how Pope Alexander could have confirmed anything in 1089. According to the charter, the church had once been held by a body of canons, which had come to nothing. Ralph now restored it as a Benedictine monastery, a cell to Marmoutiers.
