king’s personal assistance became common form. Just as he had long
confirmed grants of land, so at the request of the parties he would
confirm the peace made between them to conclude an ancient querela,
controversia, or contentioor even bellum. A controversy would be
‘settled in [the king’s] presence in this way’, or Philip would announce
the terms of agreement proposed after arbitration ‘in our court’.^49 ‘At
the petition of the parties’ the king gave his personal guarantee in 1213
(garantizaturam promisimus et manucepimus) for a quitclaim to the
chapter of Chartres of the rights of voirieon its lands which had been
made by Hervé and Galeran de Gallardon after ‘mediation by good
men’.^50 The result of a case in the same year between the fidelisRoger
de Rozoy and the monks of Signy about the advocacy of the monastery
was that Roger surrendered it into the king’s hands, and Philip pledged
himself in perpetuity to give the monks justice against malefactors.^51 An
accord confirmed by the king between the abbey of Saint-Germain des
Prés and the lord of Nogent about shares in a wood looks to have super-
seded a sentence by papal judges-delegate.^52
Thrice-yearly sessions of the curia regisunder the edict of 1190 were
always intended to lapse on the king’s return, but settlements of dis-
putes before the king began to take on the appearance of judgments in
a supreme law-court, particularly when they followed preliminary
proceedings conducted by baillis, officiales domini regis, justiciarii, or
assessores.^53 The settlement confirmed by the king in 1186 between a
monastery and the count of Dammartin, which involved the inspection
of charters from previous kings, could already be described as ‘a
definitive sentence and judgment of our court’.^54 In 1189 Philip ‘decreed
the end’ of a dispute between the canons of Étampes and the church of
Sainte-Croix, since it ‘pertained to his office to restore peace and, as the
promoter of justice, give everyone his due’. Soon afterwards the king
committed the termination of a continuing dispute between the two
churches over the saying of masses, the visitation of the sick, baptisms
and the purification of women etc., as these were ecclesiastical matters,
to the bishop and chapter of Paris, but it was emphasized that they acted
as ‘judges at our command’ (judices ex mandato nostro); and when a
decision was given for the canons, the bailiffs and provost of Étampes
were ordered to enforce it under threat of heavy punishment, since they
120 Judicial Systems of France and England
(^49) Recueil des Actes de Philippe Auguste, i, nos. 18, 212, 277, 357, 366, 384, ii, nos. 619,
639, 643, 683, 784, iii, nos. 1101, 1108, 1114, 1121, 1175, 1189, 1190, 1199, 1228, 1243,
1293, 1359, iv. 1420, 1440, 1606, 1629, 1630, 1744, 1770, 1800 etc.
(^50) Ibid.iii, no. 1278.
(^51) Ibid.iii,no. 1303.
(^52) Ibid.iii,no. 1243.
(^53) Ibid. i, nos. 273, 384–5, 525, 597, 603, 622, 666 etc.; Baldwin, Government of Philip
Augustus, 41–2, 102, 111–12, 127, 140–4, 416–17.
(^54) Recueil des Actes de Philippe Auguste, i, no. 179.