Series 1 > Miscellany of the Scottish History Society (Second volume)

6
THE SCOTTISH KING’S HOUSEHOLD
doubtless made at the meeting of English and Scottish Com¬
missioners in London, 1305, for we know that a result of that
meeting was the ordinance which required John of Brittany to
assemble the ‘ good folk of the land ’ of Scotland and ascertain
what King David’s laws were. Only ‘ the laws of Scots and
Brets’ were swept away. When the writer suggests that
prelates, earls and barons need some check in their encroach¬
ments on royal property, he is proving that his zeal is not
enlisted only on one side.
n
Our writer directs that good ministers are to be appointed
to serve the King, both denzeins and Joreins. The meaning of
the phrase is ‘ within the household and without,’ resident
and non-resident, receiving and not receiving ‘bouche of
court,’ ‘ intrinseci ’ and ‘ forinseci.’ The executive of the
English and Scottish kings had for long consisted partly of
household officers in receipt of rations, and of others, for
instance many exchequer officers, who were paid by other
allowances. As early as Henry i.’s time the Constitutio Domm
Regis shows clearly the line of division.1 The Commissioners
in 1305 agreed that Sir William de Bevercotes should remain
as Chancellor, Sir John de Sandale as Chamberlain, Sir Robert
Heron as Controller. All three were Englishmen who had
already acquired experience in their offices. As for the Chan¬
cellor’s fees, the so-called laws of Malcolm Mackenneth (what¬
ever their authority) have detail to give which goes beyond our
writer’s statement. The writs ‘of course’ to which the manu¬
script refers are well explained in Fleta, as those which have
been approved by the Council of the whole realm and cannot
be changed without the Council’s leave. The whole of the
passage on the Chancellor’s office, and notably the allusion to
1 See the new Oxford edition of the Dialogus de Scaccario, which gives a clear
account of the relations of the officers denzein and forein to the household.