Hexhamshire

Who holds it

Name

Geoffrey (Geoffrey Plantagenet)

Title

Archbishop of York

Since

Elected 1189, consecrated 18 August 1191

Confidence

high

Henry II's bastard, John's half-brother, about 47. Suspended by Celestine III in 1195 after years of quarrels with his canons, he was back from Rome in 1198. On 28 April 1199 Innocent III ordered his lands restored once his debts to the king were paid and ruled that royal appointments in York needed papal approval. John restored the archiepiscopal estates in 1199 (keeping the income until Geoffrey came back from Rome), and for most of the rest of 1199 Geoffrey was often at the king's side on good terms.

The peace breaks later in 1200 over the carucage.

What it holds

• Hexham town and market, under the archbishop's bailiff and courts
• The parishes of Hexham (with Whitley Chapel and the moorland quarters of Hexhamshire), St John Lee (Acomb, Wall, Anick, Sandhoe) and Allendale
• Royal-type rights: pleas of the crown in the archbishop's courts, inquests, regulation of trade, and the sole right of taxation (attested in the 13th century)
• Patronage of Hexham priory, a house of Augustinian canons since 1113, with St Wilfrid's church and its frith stool (sanctuary chair)

How it was acquired

Given to St Wilfrid in 674 by Queen Æthelthryth to endow the see of Hexham; held by the bishops of Lindisfarne by 883 and by the archbishops of York after 1071.

How things stand that morning

Held by Archbishop Geoffrey with the rest of his temporalities, restored by John in 1199.

Wealth

Hexham's market and the traffic of the Tyne valley road; rents and grazing of the upland quarters and Allendale.

Threats

• Geoffrey's quarrels with the crown: when John seizes the archbishop's estates later in 1200, Hexhamshire goes with them
• Scottish raids down the Tyne valley in any war

Advocates and rivals

The canons of Hexham priory, who hold much of the land; the sheriff of Northumberland and the royal justices, kept out of the liberty (it stayed outside the royal eyre through the 13th century); the Scots and the Border lords next door.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. Later in 1200 (October, in the source consulted)Geoffrey refuses to let John's carucage (plough-tax) be collected on his lands; John confiscates the archbishop's estates, this one included; the new sheriff of Yorkshire, James of Poterne, ravages them and Geoffrey excommunicates him. They are reconciled at Hugh of Lincoln's funeral in November 1200, but the quarrel over the tax revives and is patched up again in January 1201.Depends on: John levying a carucage in 1200 and Geoffrey refusing it on church land. Stopped by: Geoffrey paying, or John exempting the archbishop's lands.

Places of note

• Hexham priory: Augustinian priory church of St Wilfrid, with its frith stool

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The liberty and its rights are well documented from the 13th century; its extent was stable in the surveys of 1295, 1547 and 1608. How it was run in 1200 is thin.

On the map: Traced along the parish boundaries of Hexham, St John Lee and Allendale (Devil's Water on the east, the Durham border on the south, the Allen dales on the west); the line north of the Tyne is approximate.

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.