Note from Elizabeth:
My good friend Sharon Bennett Connolly’s fabulous new book on Medieval wonder woman and hero of the Siege of Lincoln Castle, Nicholaa de la Haye, has now been published. While Sharon was researching Nicholaa’s amazing story, she came across a rather interesting artefact and I am delighted to welcome her to my blog, to talk about it.
THE CHARTER WITH THE LACES OF LOVE
BY SHARON BENNETT CONOLLY.
Believe it or not, when writing medieval non-fiction, you don’t expect to come across many tales of love – or actual love tokens. But in researching the story of Nicholaa de la Haye, I came across just that: a rather unique love token.
Nicholaa de la Haye was a very remarkable woman; the hereditary constable of Lincoln Castle, she personally led its defence on at least three occasions, the last being in 1217 when she endured six months of siege which culminated in the Battle of Lincoln on 20 May. Nicholaa was the eldest of three sisters and while she inherited Lincoln Castle and her family’s English lands, her sisters, Julia (or Gila) and Isabel, married and settled in Normandy.
Julia, whose name appears as Gille in French but appears on charters in the Latin, Gila, was married to Richard du Hommet, who died around 1199/1200. Richard was the eldest son and heir of William du Hommet (or Hummez), constable of Normandy, who died around 1204 and his wife, Lucy. According to a charter dated 1232, recording donations to the monks of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, Lucy was the granddaughter and heir of Adam de Bruys. As constable, William du Hommet appeared as a witness to a charter of 1 March 1190 in which King Richard I ‘confirms to the archbishop and church of Rouen and all the bishops and mother churches of Normandy, concerning those who break the trêve de Dieu (a truce organised by the church).’
Julia was probably born sometime in the late 1150s, so will have married Richard du Hommet in the late 1160s or early 1170s. She died in the 1190s and her husband remarried before his own death at the turn of the century. Julia and Richard had at least three sons and two or more daughters; two of these sons were the last two constables of Normandy from the Hommet family. Richard du Hommet had certainly married Julia by the mid-1170s at the latest, when his grandfather, another Richard du Hommet, was still constable of Normandy, and while the younger Richard was still underage. The couple’s first child was born around 1180.
Richard du Hommet predeceased his father by four or five years, so never became constable of Normandy in his own right, though he does appear to have assisted his father in his duties. In June 1190, Richard appears as a witness, alongside his father, to a charter of Richard I in which he ‘confirms to St Martin’s, Troarn and the monks there serving God the vill and island of Reimberhome etc., with the right of presentation to the church of St Mary there, as given, with his assent, by John son of William count of Ponthieu, etc.’ Father and son are recorded as ‘Willelmo de Humeto constabulario; Richardo de Humeto’ in the witness list.
Richard and Julia are also the subjects of a unique charter, issued by King Richard I in June 1190. The charter was preserved by the Abbey of Aunai, which had been founded by the du Hommet family. It conferred the manors of Varreville and Pouppeville upon the couple, naming both ‘Ricardo de Humetis’ and ‘Gila, uxor sue’ (his wife) in the grant.
And it has very famous laces by which the seal was attached.
These laces are made of silk and each one is 50cm in length; one of the laces is green, now turning yellow, and the other is blue, speckled with brown. An Old French poem was embroidered on the laces:
‘Je suis gage d’amour. Ne me donnez pas. Que celui qui sépare notre amour puisse recevoir la mort’
(‘I am a pledge of love. Do not give me away. May whoever separates our love receive death’).
For this reason, the charter is known as the charte aux lacs d’amour (the charter with the laces of love). And while the idea of a love poem being attached to a charter issued in relation to a royal land grant is charming, the reasons behind it remain elusive. At first glance, the grant appears to have no special significance that would justify such a declaration of love, nor such careful detail and precision work being undertaken on its creation.
Unfortunately, while the laces are still attached to the document, the words, which were still visible in the nineteenth century, have now faded away. At least someone thought to record them before they faded from existence.
Under Henry I, the lands of Varreville and Pouppeville had been in the hands of Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, and had returned to the crown on his death. King Henry II had granted the same lands to Richard de la Haye, but they had reverted to the crown on his death in 1169, and were accounted for in the Exchequer accounts of 1180. So, it seems that in granting Varreville and Pouppeville to Julia and Richard du Hommet, Richard I was returning them to their former, rightful owners. This may explain why Julia is specifically mentioned in the charter and the grant stipulates that the lands pass to Richard’s children by Julia, rather than Richard’s children by any wife.
According to Léopold De Lisle, in his study of the charter, the two manors formed Julia’s dowry, though she and her husband were unable to take possession of the lands immediately after the marriage. In the charter King Richard ‘gives, renderes and confirms to Richard du Hommet, and to Gila [Julia] his wife, and to their heirs, Pouppeville and Varreville with all their dependencies, for them to hold from the king with their barony, by right of the said Gila [Julia].’ De Lisle goes on to suggest that the laces used, with the accompanying love poem, were once a love token, perhaps given by Julia to Richard on their wedding day, and that Richard du Hommet persuaded the king to attach them to the charter that gave him possession of Julia’s lands, as a symbol of their union.
If so, the fact that they have survived the centuries is particularly poignant.
When Julia died in the 1190s, she was buried in Blanchelande Abbey, a religious community founded by her parents, and the abbey in which her father, Richard de la Haye, had already been interred. On her death, Julia’s mother, Matilda de Vernon, with the approval of her son-in-law, Richard du Hommet, made a donation to the abbey in her daughter’s name. After a short period as a widower, Richard du Hommet married for a second time, to Alienor, widow of Robert de la Haie, who may well have been a distant cousin of Julia (I did not have time to delve into the familial relationship, unfortunately).
The enduring love of Richard and Julia is forever entwined in the laces attached to the land charter. Even if we can no longer see the words, we know they were there and survived seven centuries before they faded away…
About the book:
King John’s Right Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye by Sharon Bennett Connolly
In a time when men fought and women stayed home, Nicholaa de la Haye held Lincoln Castle against all-comers. Not once, but three times, earning herself the ironic praise that she acted ‘manfully’. Nicholaa gained prominence in the First Baron’s War, the civil war that followed the sealing of Magna Carta in 1215. Although recently widowed, and in her 60s, in 1217 Nicholaa endured a siege that lasted over three months, resisting the English rebel barons and their French allies. The siege ended in the battle known as the Lincoln Fair, when 70-year-old William Marshal, the Greatest Knight in Christendom, spurred on by the chivalrous need to rescue a lady in distress, came to Nicholaa’s aid. Nicholaa de la Haye was a staunch supporter of King John, remaining loyal to the very end, even after most of his knights and barons had deserted him. A truly remarkable lady, Nicholaa was the first woman to be appointed sheriff in her own right. Her strength and tenacity saved England at one of the lowest points in its history. Nicholaa de la Haye is one woman in English history whose story needs to be told…
Nicholaa de la Haye’s tomb effigy in the church of St Michael, Swaton, Lincolnshire
Sharon Bennett Connolly FRHistS is the best-selling author of 4 non-fiction history books, including Heroines of the Medieval World, Silk and the Sword: The Women of the Norman Conquest, Ladies of Magna Carta: Women of Influence in Thirteenth Century England, and Defenders of the Norman Crown: Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey. Her latest book, a biography, King John’s Right-Hand Lady: The Story of Nicholaa de la Haye, was released in May 2023. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Sharon has studied history academically and just for fun – and has even worked as a tour guide at a castle. She also writes the popular history blog, www.historytheinterestingbits.com. Sharon regularly gives talks on women’s history; she is a feature writer for All About History magazine and her TV work includes Australian Television’s ‘Who Do You Think You Are?‘
Links:
Blog: https://historytheinterestingbits.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thehistorybits/
Twitter: @Thehistorybits
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sharonbennettconnolly/?hl=en
Amazon: http://viewauthor.at/SharonBennettConnolly
Podcast: A Slice of Medieval