Hugh Bardulf

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Hugh Bardulf
Modern day view of Old Sarum, where Bardulf had custody of the castle, which no longer exists.
Royal justice
In office
c. 1185 – c. 1203
Baron of the Exchequer
In office
c. 1185 – c. 1203
Personal details
Diedbefore 1203
SpouseMabel
OccupationJudge and administrator

Hugh Bardulf or Hugh Bardolf (died c. 1203) was a medieval English administrator and royal justice. Known for his legal expertise, he also served as a financial administrator. He served three kings of England before his death.

Bardulf began his royal service under King

John
, who rebelled against his older brother, Bardulf was denounced briefly as a traitor to Richard. He was quickly restored to royal service, however, and continued in service throughout the rest of Richard's reign and into the reign of John. Bardulf died sometime before 1203, and his heir was his brother, Robert Bardulf.

Early life

Historians are divided on Hugh Bardulf's ancestry.

John Horace Round's entry in the Dictionary of National Biography for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography says that Hugh was the son of a Hugh Bardulf who died around 1176. According to Turner and Round, the younger Hugh's mother was Isabel, who may have been a member of the Twist family from Lincolnshire.[2] The younger Hugh acquired land at Waddington, Lincolnshire as a tenant of Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester, sometime in the middle 1140s.[1]

Royal service

In 1181, Bardulf was at the court of King Henry II of England, where he was

Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire from 1200 to 1203.[2]

In 1194, Bardulf was mentioned on the

escheat roll as responsible for the farm of lands held by Osbert de Bayeux, an archdeacon of York.[4]

Under Richard and John

In 1189, Hugh was one of only five sitting sheriffs who retained their office when Richard took the throne; the others included Geoffrey fitzPeter, William Briwerre, and Ranulf de Glanvill.[5] However, in 1189, Bardulf did lose custody of Salisbury Castle, which he had held under Henry.[6] Henry had given Bardulf the manor and barony of Brampton in Devonshire, but when Richard took the throne, the king took back Brampton, and gave Bardulf the manor of Hoo in Kent instead.[7]

Although Bardulf set out with the new King, Richard I on the

escheator for estates confiscated by Richard in the northern part of England in relation to John's rebellion.[9] While Richard was in captivity in Germany in 1193, Bardulf, along with William Marshall, Geoffrey fitzPeter and William Briwerre, was a recipient of letters from the captive king, urging the election of Hubert Walter as Archbishop of Canterbury.[10]

Bardulf was also a financial administrator. He served as a

William of Sainte-Mère-Eglise, the Bishop of London, who was his fellow escheator in the north.[3] The office in charge of the bail and custody of the Jews was probably a forerunner of the office of Keeper of the Jews.[12]

Bardulf continued to serve Richard until the king's death, and then served John, who became king, until sometime before Michaelmas 1203, when records show that Bardulf was known to be deceased.[2]

Legacy and personal life

Bardulf was known for his legal expertise, which led to him being one of the few justices mentioned by name in

Glanvill, an early medieval English legal text, although whether by the original author or by a glossator, is unclear.[13] His long career as a justice helped create a sense of continuity in judicial matters through the reigns of the Angevin kings.[14] He remained on such good terms with Hubert Walter, that when Walter was appointed chancellor at the beginning of John's reign, Bardulf made a comment to the new chancellor that included a pointed barb about the last Archbishop of Canterbury to also be chancellor, Thomas Becket. Bardulf was on good enough terms that he was able to tease Walter that "We have never heard nor seen an archbishop become a chancellor, but we have seen a chancellor become an archbishop."[15]

The justice married Mabel de Limesy, daughter of Gerard de Limesy, and coheir with her sisters of their brother John de Limesy, with the marriage taking place in 1200. When he died, his heir was Robert Bardulf,[1] his brother.[2] Hugh Bardulf gave land capable of pasturing 500 sheep to Barlings Abbey.[16] Robert, his heir, offered a £1,000 fine to receive the inheritance, and William de Briouze made an identical offer for the right to marry his son to Mabel, Hugh's widow.[2]

After Bardulf's death, a legal case was brought against Bardulf's chaplain and constable, alleging that Bardulf had allowed his two servants to hear a case that should have been heard by the justice. The litigants charged that the two servants had wrongly decided the case, and after hearing the allegations, the royal justices at Westminster agreed and restored the disputed property to the litigants.[17]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c Keats-Rohan Domesday Descendants p. 162
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Round "Bardolf, Hugh (d. 1203)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  3. ^ a b Turner English Judiciary pp. 82–84
  4. ^ Burton "Bayeux, Osbert de (fl. 1120–1184)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  5. ^ Turner and Heiser Reign of Richard Lionheart p. 99
  6. ^ Turner and Heiser Reign of Richard Lionheart p. 104
  7. ^ Turner English Judiciary pp. 111–112
  8. ^ Turner and Heiser Reign of Richard Lionheart p. 116
  9. ^ Gillingham Richard I pp. 270–271
  10. ^ West Justiciarship in England p. 79
  11. ^ Mitchell Taxation p. 291
  12. ^ Turner English Judiciary p. 86
  13. ^ Richardson and Sayres Governance of Mediaeval England p. 274 and footnote 2
  14. ^ Bartlett England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings p. 192
  15. ^ Quoted in Turner English Judiciary p. 121
  16. ^ Turner "Religious Patronage" Albion p. 9
  17. ^ Turner "Reputation of Royal Judges" Albion p. 307

References

Further reading
  • Clay, C. T. (1966). "Hugh Bardolf the Justice and his Family". Lincolnshire History and Archaeology. 50.

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