Hubert Walter - Justiciar

Justiciar

After Richard was freed, he spent little time in England, instead concentrating on the war with King Philip II of France, which began with Philip's attempts to acquire Richard's possessions on the continent. Richard made Walter Chief Justiciar about 25 December 1193. Walter remained in England, raising money for the king's wars and overseeing the administration of the kingdom. The constant warfare forced Walter to find new means of raising money through taxation. The historian Doris Stenton wrote that the Pipe Rolls, or financial records, during Walter's time as justiciar "give the impression of a country taxed to the limit". Walter was also responsible for choosing royal justices, and many of his choices were connected with, or had previously worked with, the archbishop in the royal administration. Because of Richard's absence from England, Walter was able to exercise more authority as justiciar than any of his predecessors. All that Walter needed to do was keep Richard's monetary needs satisfied. Combined with Walter's position as archbishop, Walter wielded a power unseen in England since the days of Lanfranc.

One of Walter's first acts as justiciar was in February 1194, when he presided over a feudal judgement of John, Richard's younger brother. After Richard's release from captivity, John, intending to begin a rebellion, had prepared his castles for defence. His letters ordering the preparations were intercepted and John was deprived of his lands. When John showed no signs of submitting, Walter called an ecclesiastical council at Westminster for the purposes of excommunicating John unless he submitted. John refused to submit, and was excommunicated. To defeat the rebellion, Walter was required to lay siege to Marlborough Castle himself. Walter employed his brother Theobald in similar actions in Lancaster, and rewarded him with the office of sheriff of Lancaster. Eventually in May 1194, John made peace with Richard, and was restored to favour, although the restoration of his lands did not occur until late in 1195.

Walter's chief administrative measures were his instructions to the itinerant justices of 1194 and 1198, his ordinance of 1195, an attempt to increase order in the kingdom, and his plan of 1198 for the assessment of a land tax. In 1194 the justices were ordered to secure the election of four coroners by each county court. The coroners were to keep, or register, royal pleas, which had previously been a duty of the sheriff. The juries were to be chosen by a committee of four knights, also elected by the county court. This introduction of coroners and constables eventually led to a change in the role of sheriffs, and a lessening of their importance in royal administration. Although he probably did not take part in the decision to set up a special exchequer for the collection of Richard's ransom, Walter did appoint the two escheators, or guardians of the amounts due, who were Hugh Bardulf in the north of England and William of Sainte-Mère-Eglise in the south. His instructions for the eyre, or circuits of traveling justices, are the first that survive in English history. It was during his tenure of the justiciarship that the judicial role of the Exchequer became separated from the purely financial aspects.

He also worked to introduce order into the lending of money by Jewish moneylenders, and organised a system where the royal officials worked to combat fraud by both parties in the business of Jewish money lending. Walter was probably the originator of the custom of keeping an archival copy of all charters, letters, patents and feet of fines, or record of agreements reached in the royal courts, in the chancery. The first recorded "foot of the fine" is endorsed with the statement "This is the first chirograph that was made in the king's court in the form of three chirographs, according to the command of his lordship of Canterbury and other barons of the king, to the end that by this form a record can be made to be passed on to the treasurer to put in the treasury." The agreement concerns Walter's brother Theobald, who was the plaintiff.

Walter also helped with the creation of a more professional group of royal justices. Although the group, which included Simon of Pattishall, Ralph Foliot, Richard Barre, William de Warenne, Richard Herriard, and Osbert Fitz Hervey, had mostly already served as justices prior to Walter's term of office, it was Walter who used them extensively. It appears likely that Walter chose them for their ability, not for any familial ties to himself. This group of men replaced the previous system of using mostly local men, and are the first signs of a professional judiciary.

In 1195 Walter issued an ordinance by which four knights were appointed in every hundred to act as guardians of the peace, a precursor to the office of Justice of the Peace. His use of the knights, who appear for the first time in political life, is the first sign of the rise of this class who, either as members of parliament or justices of the peace, later became the mainstay of English government. In 1198, Walter requested a carucage, or plough-tax, of five shillings on every plough-land, or carucate, under cultivation. However, difficulties arose over the assessments, so the justiciar ordered them to be made by a sworn jury in every hundred. It is likely that those jurors were elected.

In foreign affairs, Walter negotiated with Scotland in 1195 and with the Welsh in 1197. Scotland claimed Northumbria, or northern England. Negotiations broke down, but relations between the two countries remained good throughout the rest of Richard's reign. Talks with the Welsh began after the English lords Roger Mortimer and William de Briouze expanded into Welsh territory in 1195, causing a concern that the Welsh lord Rhys ap Gruffydd would strike back across the border. In 1196, Walter quickly suppressed a popular uprising in London led by William Fitz Osbern. FitzOsbern was an orator who harnessed the discontent of the poor residents of London against high taxes. His oratory provoked a riot in London, and he was apprehended and hanged on Walter's orders.