Ranulf de Glanvill (''alias'' Glanvil, Glanville, Granville, etc., died 1190) was
Chief Justiciar
Justiciar is the English form of the medieval Latin term ''justiciarius'' or ''justitiarius'' ("man of justice", i.e. judge). During the Middle Ages in England, the Chief Justiciar (later known simply as the Justiciar) was roughly equivalent ...
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''), often called ''Glanvill treatise'', is the earliest treatise on English law. Attributed to Ranulf de Glanvill (died 1190) and dated 1187–1189, it was revolutionary in its sy ...
'' (''The Treatise on the Laws and Customs of the Kingdom of England''), the earliest treatise on the laws of England.
Political and legal career
We have no primary sources citing when or where he was born. He is first heard of as
Sheriff of Yorkshire
The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere o ...
,
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
and
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
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
The High Sheriff of Lancashire is an ancient officer, now largely ceremonial, granted to Lancashire, a county in North West England. High Sheriff, High Shrievalties are the oldest secular titles under the Crown, in England and Wales. The High She ...
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
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
,
William the Lion
William the Lion, sometimes styled William I and also known by the nickname Garbh, "the Rough"''Uilleam Garbh''; e.g. Annals of Ulster, s.a. 1214.6; Annals of Loch Cé, s.a. 1213.10. ( 1142 – 4 December 1214), reigned as King of Scots from 11 ...
, surrendered. In 1175 he was reappointed Sheriff of Yorkshire, in 1176 he became justice of the
king's court
King's Square is an open area in the city centre of York, in England. It is popular with tourists, who are often entertained by buskers and street performers. Nikolaus Pevsner notes that "the square has trees, which distinguishes it". The Y ...
and a justice itinerant in the northern circuit, and in 1180 Chief Justiciar of England.
[Powicke ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 69] 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
Winchester Castle is a medieval building in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1067. Only the Great Hall still stands; it houses a museum of the history of Winchester.
History
Early history
Around AD 70 the Romans constructed a ...
.
After the death of Henry in 1189, Glanvill was removed from his office by
Richard I
Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...
on 17 September 1189
and imprisoned until he had paid a ransom, according to one authority, of £15,000. Shortly after obtaining his freedom he
took the cross
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...
, and he died at the
siege of Acre Siege of Acre may refer to:
* Siege of Acre (1104), following the First Crusade
*Siege of Acre (1189–1191), during the Third Crusade
* Siege of Acre (1263), Baibars laid siege to the Crusader city, but abandoned it to attack Nazareth.
*Siege of A ...
in 1190.
He founded two monasteries, both in Suffolk:
Butley Priory
Butley Priory, sometimes called ''Butley Abbey'', was a religious house of Canons regular (Augustinians, Black canons) in Butley, Suffolk, dedicated to The Blessed Virgin Mary. It was founded in 1171 by Ranulf de Glanville (c. 1112-1190), Chief ...
, for
Black Canons, was founded in 1171, and
Leiston Abbey
Leiston Abbey outside the town of Leiston, Suffolk, England, was a religious house of Canons Regular following the Premonstratensian rule (White canons), dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, St Mary. Founded in c. 1183 by Ranulf de Glanville (c. 11 ...
, for
White Canons, in 1183. He also built a
leper hospital
A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. ''M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East Afr ...
at
Somerton Somerton may refer to:
Places Australia
* Somerton, New South Wales
* Somerton Park, South Australia, a seaside Adelaide suburb
** Somerton Man, unsolved case of an unidentified man found dead in 1948 on the Somerton Park beach
* Somerton, Victoria ...
, in Norfolk.
Marriage and progeny
Ranulf married Bertha de Valoignes, daughter of Theobald
de Valoines,
lord of the manor
Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...
of Parham, Suffolk, by whom he had three daughters:
* Matilda (Maud) de Glanville, who married Sir William de Auberville of
Westenhanger
Stanford is a village and civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or ...
, Kent:
[S. J. Bailey, ''Ranulf de Glanvill and his Children'', ''The Cambridge Law Journal'', Vol. 15, No. 2, (Nov. 1957) pp. 166, 174, 175] they were the founders of
Langdon Abbey
Langdon Abbey () was a Premonstratensian abbey near West Langdon, Kent, founded in about 1192 and dissolved in 1535, reportedly the first religious house to be dissolved by Henry VIII. The visible remains of the abbey are now confined to the ...
in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
.
* Ammabil (Mabel) de Glanville, who married a certain ''de Arden''.
* Helewis de Glanville, who married Robert fitz Ralph fitz Ribald:
she was the foundress of
Swainby Abbey
Coverham Abbey, North Yorkshire, England, was a Premonstratensian monastery that was founded at Swainby in 1190 by Helewisia, daughter of the Chief Justiciar Ranulf de Glanville. It was refounded at Coverham in about 1212 by her son Ranulf fitzR ...
, which was afterwards moved to
Coverham Abbey
Coverham Abbey, North Yorkshire, England, was a Premonstratensian monastery that was founded at Swainby in 1190 by Helewisia, daughter of the Chief Justiciar Ranulf de Glanville. It was refounded at Coverham in about 1212 by her son Ranulf fitzRa ...
,
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...
.
''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''), often called ''Glanvill treatise'', is the earliest treatise on English law. Attributed to Ranulf de Glanvill (died 1190) and dated 1187–1189, it was revolutionary in its sy ...
'' (''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''. 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
The ''Regiam Majestatem'' is the earliest surviving work giving a comprehensive digest of the Law of Scotland. The name of the document is derived from its first two words. It consists of four books, treating (1) civil actions and jurisdictions ...
'', which bears a close resemblance to his.
The treatise of Glanvill was first printed in 1554. An English translation, with notes and introduction by
John Beames
John Beames (21 June 1837 – 24 May 1902) was a civil servant and author in British India. He served in the Punjab from March 1859 to late 1861, and in Bengal from December 1861 until the conclusion of his service in 1893. He was also a schola ...
, was published at London in 1812. 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
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
in 1965.
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
Hubert Walter ( – 13 July 1205) was an influential royal adviser in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries in the positions of Chief Justiciar of England, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Chancellor. As chancellor, Walter b ...
(Chief Justiciar and
Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...
of England under Richard I
[British History Online Deans of York]
accessed on 10 September 2007) and
Osbert fitzHervey.
[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.]
Notes
References
British History Online Deans of Yorkaccessed 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).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glanvill, Ranulf de
People from Suffolk Coastal (district)
Justiciars of England
Christians of the Third Crusade
Year of birth unknown
1110s births
1190 deaths
12th-century English judges
12th-century Latin writers
Anglo-Normans
High Sheriffs of Westmorland
High Sheriffs of Lancashire
High Sheriffs of Yorkshire
High Sheriffs of Warwickshire
High Sheriffs of Leicestershire
12th-century English writers