As this important charter has never, I believe, been printed, I have taken the present opportunity of publishing it in extenso. The grantee must, at first, have staunchly supported Stephen, for he received in 1139, from the king, a grant of that constableship which Miles of Gloucester had forfeited on his defection.[920] It is evident, however, from the terms of this charter that he was jealous of Stephen's favourite, Gualeran, Count of Meulan, and of the power which the king had given him at Worcester. The grant of Tamworth also should be carefully noted, because that portion of the Despencer inheritance had fallen to the share of Marmion, which suggests that the Beauchamps and the Marmions were at strife, and that therefore, in this struggle, they embraced opposite sides. An intermarriage between Robert Marmion and Maud de Beauchamp was probably, as in other cases, a compromise of the quarrel.

"M. Imperatrix H. Regis filia et Anglor[um] domina Archiepiscopis Episcopis Abbatibus Comitibus Baronibus Justic[iariis] vicecomitibus ministris et omnibus fidelibus suis francis et Anglis tocius Angliæ salutem. Sciatis me dedisse et reddidisse Willelmo de Bellocampo hereditario jure Castellum de Wigorn[ia] cum mota sibi et heredibus suis ad tenendum de me in capite et heredibus meis. Dedi ei et reddidi vicecomitatum Wigorn[ie] et forestas cum omnibus appendiciis suis in feodo et hereditarie per eandem firmam quam pater eius Walterus de Bellocampo inde reddebat. Et de hoc devenit ipse Willelmus meus ligius homo contra omnes mortales et nominatim contra Gualerann[um] Comitem de Mellent et ita quod nec ipse Comes Gualeran[us] nec aliquis alius de hiis predictis mecum finem faciet quin semper ipse Willelmus de me in capite teneat nisi ipse bona voluntate et gratuita concessione de predicto Comite tenere voluerit. Et præter hoc dedi ei et reddidi castellum et honorem de Tamword ad tenend[um] ita bene et in pace et quiete et plenarie et honorifice et libere sicut unquam melius et quietius et plenarius et honorificentius et liberius Robertus Dispensator frater Ursonis de Abbetot ipsum castellum et honorem tenuerit. Et eciam dedi ei et reddidi Manerium de Cokeford cum omnibus appendiciis suis ut rectum suum sine placito. Et cum hoc dedi ei et reddidi Westonam et Luffenham in Roteland cum omnibus appendiciis suis ut rectum suum similiter sine placito. Dedi eciam ei et concessi de cremento lx libratas terræ de perquisitione Angl' pro servicio suo. Et iterum dedi ei et reddidi conestabulatum quem Urso de Abetot tenuit et dispensam ita hereditarie sicut Walterus pater ejus eam de patre meo H. Rege tenuit. Et item dedi ei et concessi terras et hereditates suorum proximorum parentum qui contra me fuerint in Werra mea et mecum finem facere non poterunt nisi de sua parentela propinquiore michi in ipsa Werra servierit. Quare volo et firmiter precipio quod de me et de quocunque teneat bene et honorifice in pace et hereditarie et libere et quiete teneat ipse Willelmus et heres suus post eum in bosco in plano in pratis et pasturis in forestis et fugaciis in percursibus et exitibus in aquis et molendinis in vivariis et piscariis in stagnis et mariscis et salinis et viis et semitis in foris et in feriis infra burgum et extra in civitate et extra et in omnibus locis cum saca et soka et toll et team et Infangenthef et cum omnibus consuetudinibus et libertatibus et quietudinibus T[estibus] Ep'o Bern[ardo] de S'cto D., et Nigello Ep'o de Ely, et Rob[erto] Com[ite] Gloec[estrie] et Milon[e] Com[ite] He[re]ford et Brienc[io] fil[io] Com[itis] et Unfr[ido] de Buh[un] et Joh[ann]e fil[io] Gilleb[erti] et Walkel[ino] Maminot et Milon[e] de Belloc[ampo] et Gaufr[edo] de Walt[er]vyll[a] et Steph[ano] de Belloc[ampo] et Rob[er]to de Colevill et Isnardo park[?ario] Gaufr[edo] de Abbetot Gilleb[erto] Arch' Nich[olao] fil[io] Isnardi. Apud Oxineford."

There can, I think, be little question that this charter passed at Oxford just after that by which Miles of Gloucester was created Earl of Hereford (July 25, 1141). It is certainly previous to the Earl of Gloucester's departure from England in the summer of 1142, and I do not know of any evidence for the presence of these bishops with the Empress at Oxford after the rout of Winchester. The names of the eight first witnesses to this charter are all found in Miles's charter (Fœdera, N.E., i. 14). As to the others, Miles de Beauchamp had held his castle of Bedford against Stephen (Christmas, 1137), and, though compelled to surrender it, had regained it on the triumph of the Empress. Stephen de Beauchamp heads the list of William de Beauchamp's under-tenants in his Carta (1166), and the Abetots—Heming's "Ursini"—also held of him. "Isnardus" was a landowner in Worcestershire and witnessed a charter to Evesham Abbey in 1130.

The text of this charter—which is taken from the Beauchamp Cartulary (Add. MSS., 28,024, fol. 126 b), a most precious volume, of which the existence is little known—is perhaps corrupt in places, but the document affords several points of considerable interest. Among them are the formula "dedi et reddidi" applied to the grantee's previous possessions, as contrasted with the "dedi et concessi" of the new grant (60 "librates" of land) and of the grant of his relatives' inheritance; the reference to the hereditary shrievalty of Worcester; the allusion to Tamworth Castle as the head of its "honour" (as at Arundel); and the phrase "de hoc devenit ... meus ligius homo contra omnes mortales," to be compared with "pro hiis ... devenit homo noster ligius contra omnes homines" in the charter (1144) to Humfrey de Bohun (Pipe-Roll Society: Ancient Charters, p. 46), and the "homagium suum fecit ligie contra omnes homines" in the charter to Miles of Gloucester (see p. 56). The statement that active opponents of the Empress were precluded from compounding for their offence, except by special intervention, occurs, I think, here alone. The facts that Urse de Abetot was a constable and Walter de Beauchamp an hereditary "Dispenser" are also noteworthy, the latter bearing on the question of the succession to Robert "Dispensator" (see my remarks in Ancient Charters, p. 2).