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² Examples that immediately come to mind are Peter of Blois and Gerald of Wales. See Türk, Egbert, Nugae Curialium: Le règne d'Henri II Plantagenet (1145 [sic]-1189) et l'éthique politique, Centre de Recherches d’histoire et de philologie, Hautes Études médiévales et modernes, 28 (Geneva, 1977), p. 188.Google Scholar

³ Liebeschutz, Hans, Medieval Humanism in the Life and Writings of John of Salisbury, Studies of the Warburg Institute, 17 (London, 1950), p. 17Google Scholar. Cf. Turner, Ralph V., “Clerical Judges in English Secular Courts: the Ideal versus the Reality,” Medievalia et Humanistica, n. s. 3 (1972): 83–84.Google Scholar

⁴ Policraticus, v, 10, 11, 15Google Scholar; vi, 1; The Statesman's Book of John of Salisbury, Dickinson, John, trans. (New York, 1927), pp. 114-45, 174–79Google Scholar. John accused royal judges of being ignorant of law and lacking in goodwill, “as is proved by their love of gifts and rewards, exercising the power which they have in the service of avarice or advancing the fortunes of their own flesh and blood,” v, 11, p. 125.

⁵ Policraticus, v, 15, p. 145Google Scholar. The Latin allows a play on the word errantes.

⁶ Ibid., v, 10, p. 114.

⁷ Ibid., p. 116.

⁸ Ibid., p. 117.

⁹ Anstruther, Robert, ed., The Chronicles of Ralph Niger, Caxton Society, 13 (London, 1851)Google Scholar, Chronicle II, pp. 167-69.

¹⁰ Giraldi Cambrensis Opera, ed. Brewer, J.S.et al., Rolls Series (London, 1861–1891), 5:304Google Scholar; 8:160; also 8:183-86, where he recorded the dream of a Lincolnshire knight, directed by St. Peter to warn Henry II of his misdeeds. One of the knight's admonitions was “concerning the rendering of justice freely and without cost.”

¹¹ De Nugis Curialium, ed. James, M.R., Anecdota Oxoniensia, Medieval and Modern Series (1914)Google Scholar. For a description of the work, see Gransden, Antonia, Historical Writing in England c.550 to c. 1307 (Ithaca, N.Y., 1974), pp. 243–44.Google Scholar

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¹³ Map also tells of an abbot who became an itinerant justice, and “spurred on the spoiling of the poor, hoping perchance to win a bishopric through the favour gained from his spoils,” in Master Walter Map's Book, Tupper, Frederick and Ogle, Marbury Bladen, trans. (London, 1924), p. 8.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Migne, Jacques Paul, ed., Patrologia Latina, cursus completus (Paris, 1844–1864), 207, no. 14, col. 43Google Scholar. Peter complained of courtier's vain hopes for worldly gain, writing that the courtier's life is “death to the soul,” and quoting Ecclesiasticus (7:1–7)Google Scholar, “Seek not of the Lord preeminence, neither of the king the seat of honor. … Seek not to be judge. …” For Peter's denunciation of lawyers, see no. 26, cols. 91-92.

¹⁵ Pat. Lat., 207, no. 95, cols. 298-302. It can be dated by the fact that Peter identified himself as “archdeacon of Bath.”

¹⁶ Luard, H.R., ed., Letters of Robert Grosseteste, Rolls Series (London, 1861–1863), 1:105–8Google Scholar, epistola xxvii. Later he sought removal of the abbot of Croyland from the itinerant judicature (p. 262, no. lxxxii).

¹⁷ Lawrence, Clifford H., St. Edmund of Abingdon (London, 1960), p. 131Google Scholar, citing BL. Harleian MS. 325, f. 163v.

¹⁸ Powicke, F.M., The Thirteenth Century 1216-1307 (Oxford, 1953), pp. 361–66.Google Scholar

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²⁰ Chronica Magistri Rogeri de Houdene, ed. Stubbs, William, Rolls Series (London, 1868–1871), 4:62Google Scholar. Howden also described the visit of the itinerant justices to Boston fair in 1202, where merchants paid heavy fines for the privilege of ignoring the assize of cloth. His comment is, “The said justices gained much money for the King's use, to the injury of many” (4:172).

²¹ Annates Monastici, ed. Luard, H.R., Rolls Series (London, 1864–1869), 3:135Google Scholar. This story has become “a stock example of the eyre's unpopularity,” but the situation was unusual because no eyre had been held in Cornwall for over thirty years. C.A.F. Meekings, “The Eyreadomnia placita” (paper read at the Anglo-American Conference of Historians, July 1954, kindly lent to the author by Mrs. Meekings).

²² Mattaei Parisiensis, Monachi Sancti Albani, Chronica Majora, ed. Luard, H.R., Rolls Series (London, 1872–1883), 4:51Google Scholar (Hereafter cited as Chron. Maj.). Similarly, Paris referred to money raised by Henry in 1254 as “Whatever he could extract from the rapines of the itinerant justices” (5:458).

²³ Gerald of Wales labelled William of Ste.-Mère-Èglise, one of Henry II's aides and Richard I's judges, curia sequela est et domini regis familiaris (Opera, 1:260Google ScholarPubMed).

²⁴ Ward, H.L.D., ed., Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 31 (1875): 420–59Google Scholar. Ralph did not mention the justice's name, but the identification seems clear. The date of death mentioned in the “Vision”—1206—corresponds with the death of Osbert. Also Ralph, monk at an Essex house, would have known of Osbert, of East Anglian origin and with landholdings there.

²⁵ Ibid., p. 452.

²⁶ Ibid., pp. 452-53.

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²⁸ Ibid., 5:213.

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³⁰ Ibid., 4:49.

³¹ Ibid., 5:213, 384.

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³⁵ Ibid., 8:80-81.

³⁶ As an ecclesiastic, Jocelin had a legitimate excuse for absenting himself from a “judgment of blood.”

³⁷ Ibid., 15:248, no. 1089, John de Braitoft.

³⁸ Ibid., 15: 368, no. 1429. A fourteenth century itinerant justice also confessed his ignorance of the law. Answering a complaint against him, he stated that he was a man of arms and did not know the laws and that his colleague, a man of law, had made all judgments, Sayles, G.O., ed., Select Cases in the Court of King's Bench under Edward I, 2, Selden Society, 58 (London, 1938), p. cxxvi.Google Scholar

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⁵⁴ Justices serving Richard and John who became bishops include Richard fitz Neal, William de Ste.-Mère-Èglise, Master Eustace of Fauconberg, and Master Henry of London, all of whom had other important posts. William Ralegh and William of York are two of Henry III's justices who became bishops, and who served him mainly on the bench.

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⁵⁸ Ibid. p. 109. Cf. p. 13, “Yet the purpose of all the offices [at the Exchequer] is the same, namely to watch over the King's interests, due regard being paid, however, to equity, according to the established rules of the Exchequer.”

⁵⁹ Ibid., p. 28.

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⁶³ Curia Regis Rolls, 8:198, 237Google Scholar; 10:52, 148; 13:96, no. 414; 14:191, no. 936; 375, no. 1751; 15:425, no. 1662.

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