Ranulf de Glanvill explained

Ranulf de Glanvill
Office:	Chief Justiciar of England
Term Start:	1180
Term End:	17 September 1189
Predecessor:	Richard de Luci
Successor:	William de Mandeville Hugh de Puiset
Office2:	Sheriff of Lancashire
Term Start2:	1173
Term End2:	?
Monarch2:	Henry II
Office3:	Sheriff of Yorkshire
Term Start3:	1163
Term End3:	1170
Office4:	Sheriff of Yorkshire
Term Start4:	1175
Term End4:	?
Office5:	Justice of the King's Court
Term Start5:	1176
Term End5:	1180
Birth Date:	1112
Birth Place:	Stratford St Andrew, Suffolk
Death Date:	1190
Death Place:	Acre, Palestine
Relations:	Hubert Walter, nephew

Ranulf de Glanvill (alias Glanvil, Glanville, Granville, etc., died 1190) was Chief Justiciar of England during the reign of King Henry II (1154–89) and was the probable author of Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglie (The Treatise on the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom of England), the earliest treatise on the laws of England.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Political and legal career

There are no primary sources citing when or where he was born. He is first heard of as Sheriff of Yorkshire, Warwickshire and Leicestershire from 1163 to 1170 when, along with the majority of High Sheriffs, he was removed from office for corruption.

However, in 1173, he was appointed Sheriff of Lancashire and custodian of the honour of Richmond. In 1174, when he was Sheriff of Westmorland, he was one of the English leaders at the Battle of Alnwick, and it was to him that the king of Scotland, William the Lion, surrendered.

In 1175, he was reappointed Sheriff of Yorkshire, in 1176 he became justice of the king's court and a justice itinerant in the northern circuit, and in 1180 Chief Justiciar of England.^[4] It was with his assistance that Henry II completed his famous judicial reforms, though many had been carried out before he came into office. He became the king's right-hand man, and during Henry's frequent absences was in effect regent of England. In 1176, he was also made custodian of Queen Eleanor, who was confined to her quarters in Winchester Castle.

After the death of Henry in 1189, Glanvill was removed from his office by Richard I on 17 September 1189^[4] and imprisoned until he had paid a ransom, according to one authority, of £15,000. Shortly after obtaining his freedom he took the cross, and he died at the siege of Acre in 1190.^[5]

He founded two monasteries, both in Suffolk: Butley Priory, for Black Canons, was founded in 1171,^[6] and Leiston Abbey, for White Canons, in 1183.^[7] He also built a leper hospital at Somerton, in Norfolk.

Marriage and progeny

Ranulf married Bertha de Valoignes, daughter of Theobald de Valoines, lord of the manor of Parham, Suffolk,^[8] by whom he had three daughters:^[9]

• Matilda (Maud) de Glanville, who married Sir William de Auberville of Westenhanger, Kent:^[10] they were the founders of Langdon Abbey in Kent.^[11]
• Ammabil (Mabel) de Glanville, who married a certain de Arden.^[10]
• Helewis de Glanville, who married Robert fitz Ralph fitz Ribald:^[10] she was the foundress of Swainby Abbey, which was afterwards moved to Coverham Abbey, North Yorkshire.^[12]

Tractatus de legibus

Perhaps at the instigation of Henry II, Glanvill wrote or oversaw the writing of Tractatus de legibus et consuetudinibus regni Anglie (The Treatise on the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom of England), a practical discourse on the forms of procedure in the king's court, which was often known simply as Glanvill.^[13] As the source of our knowledge regarding the earliest form of the curia regis, and for the information it affords regarding ancient customs and laws, it is of great value to the student of English history. It is now generally agreed that the work of Glanvill is of earlier date than the Scottish law book known from its first words as Regiam Majestatem, which bears a close resemblance to his.

The treatise of Glanvill was first printed in 1554.^[14] An English translation, with notes and introduction by John Beames, was published at London in 1812.^[15] A French version is found in various manuscripts, but has not yet been printed. The treatise was then edited and translated by G.D.G. Hall for the Oxford University Press in 1965.^[16]

The authorship of the Tractatus, while certainly within the sphere of Ranulf, is debated, other candidates for its authorship or co-authorship including Ranulf's nephews Hubert Walter (Chief Justiciar and Lord Chancellor of England under Richard I^[17]) and Osbert fitzHervey.^[18]

References

• British History Online Deans of York accessed on 10 September 2007
• Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde Handbook of British Chronology 2nd. ed. London: Royal Historical Society 1961

Further reading

• R. Mortimer, 'The family of Rannulf de Glanville', Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research Vol. 54 (1981), pp. 1–16.
• R.V. Turner, 'The reputation of royal judges under the Angevin kings', Albion 11 part 4 (winter 1979), pp. 301–16.
• R.V. Turner, 'Religious patronage of Angevin royal administrators, c. 1170–1239', Albion 18 part 1 (Spring 1986), pp. 1–21.

External links

Caveat

• W.U.C. Glanville-Richards, Records of the Anglo-Norman House of Glanville from A.D. 1050 to 1880 (Mitchell & Hughes, London 1882) (Google). "much of this is incorrect or very questionable" – F.W. Maitland, c. 1890. "little reliance can be placed on this work" – C.W. David, 1936. See: C.J. Wright, 'The man who wrote on the manuscripts in the British Museum', British Library Journal 1986, pp. 76–85 (British Library pdf).

Notes and References

1. Everyman's Encyclopaedia, 5th edition, London, 1967, vol. 6, p. 31.
2. F.J. West, The Justiciarship in England 1066–1232 (Cambridge University Press 1966).
3. R.V. Turner, The English Judiciary in the Age of Glanvill and Bracton c. 1176–1239 (Cambridge University Press 1985).
4. Powicke Handbook of British Chronology, p. 69.
5. Book: Asbridge, Thomas . The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land . 2012-01-19 . Simon and Schuster . 978-1-84983-770-5 . en . Chapter 14.
6. Web site: History of Butley Priory . 29 May 2011.
7. Web site: House of Premonstratensian canons — Abbey of Leiston . British History Online . 29 May 2011.
8. George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant Extinct or Dormant, Volume II, ed. Vicary Gibbs (The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., London, 1912), p. 447.
9. [Stanley John Bailey|S. J. Bailey]
10. S. J. Bailey, Ranulf de Glanvill and his Children, The Cambridge Law Journal, Vol. 15, No. 2, (Nov. 1957) pp. 166, 174, 175.
11. 'Houses of Premonstratensian canons: The abbey of West Langdon', in W. Page (ed.), A History of the County of Kent, Vol. 2 (V.C.H., London 1926), pp. 169–72 (British History Online, accessed 25 June 2018).
12. 'Premonstratensian houses: Abbey of Coverham', in W. Page (ed.), A History of the County of York, Vol. 3 (V.C.H., London 1974), pp. 243–45 (British History Online, accessed 25 June 2018).
13. John Hudson, The Oxford History of the Laws of England: c.900–1216, ed. John Hamilton Baker, Vol. II (Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, 2012), p. 872.
14. Ranulf De Glanville, The Treatise on the Laws and Customs of the Realm of England Commonly Called Glanvill, ed. G.D.G. Hall (Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York, 2002), p. xix n. 1.
15. Ranulf De Glanville, The Treatise on the Laws and Customs of the Realm of England Commonly Called Glanvill, ed. G.D.G. Hall (Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York, 2002), pp. lxiv–lxv
16. Harry Rothwell, English Historical Documents 1189–1327 (Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004), p. 923.
17. http://british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=10458 British History Online Deans of York
18. R.V. Turner, (Spring 1990). 'Who was the author of Glanvill? Reflections on the education of Henry II's Common Lawyers,' Law and History Review 8, Part 1 (Spring 1990), pp. 97–127.