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Show 38 ATROCIOVS JI'D rES. [A. D. 1290. The subject of the pre 'cnt sketch, fifth in des~en_t frOln "the o-re at warT·l O t., " cl1"()" 11o·ed the ruilitary ardor of lus r;1ce for a o bd • t · .1 1· t1 · es1re o gmn u 11ction as a lawyer. lie was regularly tram· e d r· n a 11 tl 1e lear·r1in(ol" of " EsL, ion, " n.ncl " A::.. ' ize..., ," and he had extensive practice a" an advocate under Lord Chief Justice de Ilengham. On the sweepiug rcrnoval of almo~t all of the judges in the year 1290,* he wn.s knighte<l, and appointed a puisne justice of the ICing\; B ench, with a sa1ary _ ·wl1ich one would have thought mu t have been a very small addition to the profits of his her editary e tates- of 331. Gs. 8d. a year. lie proved a mo t ad1ni rablc j Lu1ge ; t and, in addition to hi professional knowledge, h 'tng well Yerseu in historical lore, he wa frequently r eferred to Ly the government when negotiations were going on with foreign states. * They were removed because, during the king's absence on the conti~ nent, they had been guilty of taking uribcs, and other misdemeanors. Ot De \Vayland, one of their number, and the first chief justice of the Common Pleas, Lord Campbell gives the following account: \Yhen arrested, on the king's return from Aquitaine, conscious of his guilt, he contrived to escape from custody, and, disguisi11g himself in the habit of a monk, he was admitted among friars-minors in a convent at Dury t. E chnund's. H owever, being considered a heinous offender, f.>harp pursuit was made after him, and he was di coYered wearing a cowl and a serge jerkin. Acconling to the law of sanctuary, then prevailing, he was allowed to r emain forty <.hys unmolested. At the end of that time the eonycnt was surrounded by a military force, ancl the en try of provi'lions into il was prohibited. • till. it would ha-re been deemed sacrilegious to take him from hi:-> a.'ylum by viOlence; but the lord chief justice preferred snrren<.lering him:3clf to pcri-; hing from ·want. He was immcdiat ly conducted to the Tower of Londo~. Rather than stand a t rin.l, he petitioned for lca\'C to ahjure the realm; thiS faYor was granted to him on condition that he ::-honld be attainted, and forfeit all his lands and chattels to the crown. Having walked barefoot ancl bareheaued, with a crucifix. in his hand, to the .,ea side at Dorer, he was put on board a ship and departed to fo reign parts. He is said to have uied in ex ile, :mel he left a name often quoted as a reproach to the ucn eh till he wn.s superseded by J eff"reys and Scroggs. t That is, in the ordinary discharge of his dn tics. His attempt to take away the liberties of the Scotch we shall presently Rre.- Eel. A. D. 12:)1.1 ROGER LE BRABACON. 39 Edward I., arbitrator by n1utual con.'cnt bet\vcen the aspirants to the crown of Scotland, re.'olvcd to set up a claim for himself as liege lord of tl1at kingdom, and Brabacon was en1ployed, by searching ancient record ~, to ilnd out any plausible grou nd. on which the claim could be . upported. lie accordingly travelleLl diligently both through the Saxon and Norman period, and- by making the 1no. t of military advantages ol>tained by kings of l~ngland over king' of 'cotland, by misrepresenting the nature oC homage which the latter had paid to the fonncr for pos~e sions hehl l>y them in England, and by blazoning the ack11ow lcdgmen t of feudal ubjection extorte<fby llenry II. frorr1 'Villiam the Lion when that prince was in captivity, without mentioning the ·xprcs renunciation of it l>y l~ichard I.- he n1ade out a ca "'e which gave high delight to the English court. l~dward itnmcdiately summoned a Parliament to 1ncet at Norham, on the south bank of the Tweed, 1narched thiLher at the head of a considerable military force, and carried J\1r. J u .... tice Brabacon along with him as the exponent and deiendcr of his new suzerainete. It is a little curiou that one of the e con1petitor ... for the Scottish throne had lately been an l~nglish judge, and a competitor for the very place to ·which Brabacon, for his services on this occasion, wa presently prOinoted. Frmn the time of '\Villimn the Conqueror and l\Ialcolm Canmore, until the de olating wars occa._ ioned by ihe dispute respecting the rigl1t of ucces. ion to the ,cotti. h rrown, England and Scotland were almo ~ t perpetually at peace; and there was a n1o t fmniliur D.JH1 fr iendly inter cour.'e l>etwcen the two k ingcloms, in omuch Llw.t nobles often heltl po::; .. c. ·sion in both, and not unfrequently pas~·cd from the service of the one government into that of the other. The Nor1nan knights, |
