commencement of the reign of King John, a period of pure administrative despotism, when intestine divisions began violently to convulse the realm: when the rising energies of the people sought for some consideration of their natural rights, when they finally freed themselves from political thraldom and obtained a redress of their grievances. The monarch himself became aware that personal activity, a quality he never wanted, was more than ever necessary. We accordingly find him constantly on the alert, seldom a week together in the same place: as a proof of his restlessness he visited Northampton in fourteen different years of his reign. He placed the royal castles in an effectual state of defence, and entrusted their custody only to those persons who were supposed to be attached to his interests, and upon whose faith he could place implicit dependance. The office of castellan or constable of the castle was one of great importance, as it has remained an honour to the present day. It was an office held during the king's pleasure, usually for a year, but among the earliest appointments in connection with Northampton it was retained for three. Four of these officers, Robert de Braybroc, Richard Marshall, Roger de Neville, and Fulke de Breaute, took a prominent part in the transactions of this and the succeeding reign, and will probably again present themselves to the notice. When the king appointed the last of these nobles, and impatiently forced him upon the keeper by a second writ under his private as well as the public seal, he was little aware of the vexation he was destined to awaken in his mind, or that one for whose promotion he evinced such extraordinary solicitude should render him and his son so ungrateful a return.
Pursuing chronological order, the next account we meet with deserving attention is a writ on the Close rolls, (1216,) addressed to the barons of the exchequer, wherein the engineer is ordered to be paid at the rate of ninepence a day, with a grant of thirty shillings for a robe for his wife. Other entries occur authorizing payments for general repairs and the transport of military engines, which may be passed over. In the year 1215 we have another writ addressed to the barons of the exchequer, ordering them to remunerate Henry de Braibroc for forty quarters of grain, and twenty-four hogs, bought for the royal use and placed within the castle, at the rate of two shillings for each quarter of grain and the same
