Ely

Who holds it

Name

Eustace

Title

Bishop of Ely

Since

Elected 10 August 1197, consecrated 8 March 1198

Confidence

high

Richard I delayed his consecration by sending him on a mission to Germany. Keeper of the great seal in 1197-98 and chancellor from May 1198 to May 1199, when John replaced him with Hubert Walter; he stays in royal service as a justice and envoy (missions to the French king follow in 1202 and 1204). Innocent III uses him as a judge-delegate, including in the Glastonbury affair. Later he goes into exile under the interdict (1208) and dies at Reading on 3 or 4 February 1215.

What it holds

• The Isle of Ely (the hundreds of Ely, North Witchford, South Witchford and Wisbech): Ely, Littleport, Downham, Haddenham, Sutton, Chatteris, March, Doddington, Whittlesey, Wisbech and Thorney
• In the Isle, the bishop's 'higher liberties' (hundred courts, crown pleas, return of royal writs); the prior and convent hold the 'lesser liberties' (manor courts, leets and profits of justice) on their own lands
• The five and a half hundreds of Wicklaw (the later liberty of St Etheldreda): Carlford, Colneis, Loes, Plomesgate and Wilford, with Thredling and Parham; granted to the abbey by King Edgar in 970 (the charter may be spurious) and still Ely's in 1233
• Great manors outside the Isle, such as Hatfield in Hertfordshire and Somersham in Huntingdonshire

How it was acquired

King Edgar's charters of 970 gave the abbey the soke of the two fen hundreds; Edward the Confessor added toll, team, infangenthef and other rights; when Henry I made Ely a bishopric in 1109 the bishop took the higher liberties. Richard I's charter of 1189 first set the liberty of the Isle apart as free of royal exactions; by 1220 there was a 'curia Elyensis' able to hear the higher pleas.

How things stand that morning

Eustace holds the see; out of the chancellorship since May 1199 but still in John's service. Whether the bishop or the prior and convent ran the Wicklaw hundreds in 1200 is not pinned.

Wealth

Eels, fish, fowl, reed and turf from the fens; grazing; river trade through Wisbech and Ely; St Etheldreda's shrine; in Suffolk the Wicklaw ports and markets on the Deben and Orwell.

Threats

• Quarrels with the prior and convent over who holds which rights
• Royal custody of the whole liberty whenever the see falls vacant, as it did in 1197

Advocates and rivals

The prior and convent of Ely, whose share of the franchise was fought over in sworn inquests through the 13th century; Thorney Abbey on its own island within the Isle; the neighbouring liberties of Ramsey, Peterborough and Bury; the sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.

Places of note

• Ely cathedral: Cathedral priory and shrine of St Etheldreda

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The Isle's liberty is thoroughly documented (VCH Cambridgeshire's history of the Liberty of Ely). The Wicklaw liberty is attested as Ely's, but whether bishop or convent exercised it in 1200 is not pinned.

On the map: The Isle follows its later county boundary along the fen edge, which matches the medieval liberty. The Wicklaw outline is a rough trace of the hundreds between the Orwell, the coast and the Debenham-Saxmundham line; Ipswich (the king's borough) is left out.

Primary sources for England

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond, Jocelin of Brakelond (about 1198 to 1203). An inside account of Bury St Edmunds under Abbot Samson, written while the events were fresh. Read online
• Chronicle of Melrose, Anonymous (monks of Melrose abbey) (about 1173 to 1270, in many hands; the 1200 entries are near contemporary). The main Scottish annal for the year, kept at a Cistercian house on the Tweed. Read online
• Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
• Chronicle of the Princes, Anonymous (Welsh translation of a lost Latin chronicle kept at Strata Florida) (Latin original to about 1282, compiled from contemporary annals; Welsh versions about 1300 and later). The native Welsh record of the year. Read online
• Chronicle; Deeds of the Kings, Gervase of Canterbury (Chronica about 1188 to 1199; Gesta Regum about 1199 to 1210). The Chronica stops in 1199, so for 1200 the witness is the briefer Gesta Regum, which notes John's peace with Philip, the coronation of Isabella at Westminster on 8 October 1200, and matters touching Canterbury: the archbishop Hubert Walter as chancellor, the cathedral priory's quarrel with him, and the Lambeth college dispute lately settled by the pope. Read online
• English Chronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall, Ralph of Coggeshall (about 1200 to 1224, in stages). Short but independent entries for 1200 from a Cistercian house in Essex: John's levy on the Cistercians and the carucage, the peace with Philip, the king's new marriage and the queen's coronation, and the death of Hugh of Lincoln. Read online
• Flowers of History, Roger of Wendover (about 1220 to 1235 at St Albans). For 1200 Wendover is mostly Howden rewritten, so he is a second witness only where he adds St Albans material: a long account of Hugh of Lincoln's last months, death and funeral, and anecdotes about John's conduct toward the Cistercians and his new queen. Read online
• Images of History, Ralph de Diceto (about 1188 to 1202). A London view of the year from the dean of St Paul's, who knew the justiciar and the bishops personally. Read online

22 more in the sources library for The British Isles.