Hubert Walter 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.
Background
He was born c. 1160 in England. Hubert Walter was the son of Hervey Walter and his wife Maud de Valoignes, one of the daughters (and co-heiresses) of Theobald de Valoignes, who was lord of Parham in Suffolk.
Walter was one of six brothers.
The eldest brother, Theobald Walter, and Walter himself, were helped in their careers by their uncle, Ranulf de Glanvill.
Glanvill was the chief justiciar for Henry II; and was married to Maud de Valoignes' sister, Bertha. Walter's father and paternal grandfather held lands in Suffolk and Norfolk, which were inherited by Theobald.
A younger brother, Osbert, became a royal justice and died in 1206. Roger, Hamo (or Hamon) and Bartholomew only appear as witnesses to charters.
Walter's family was from West Dereham in Norfolk, which is probably where Walter was born. Walter first appears in Glanvill's household in a charter that has been dated to 1178, although as it is undated it may have been written as late as 1180.
His brother Theobald also served in their uncle's household. Walter's gratitude towards his aunt and uncle is shown in the foundation charter of Walter's monastery in Dereham, where he asks the foundation to pray for the "souls of Ranulf Glanvill and Bertha his wife, who nourished us".
Education
Earlier historians asserted that Walter studied law at Bologna, based on his name appearing in a list of those to be commemorated at a monastery in Bologna in which English students lodged. Modern historians have discounted this, as the list also includes benefactors, not just students; other evidence points to the fact that Walter had a poor grasp of Latin, and did not consider himself to be a learned man. However, this did not mean that he was illiterate, merely that he was not "book-learned", or educated at a university. His contemporary, the medieval writer Gerald of Wales said of Walter that the Exchequer was his school.
Career
He received no clerical promotion from Henry II, but Richard I appointed him bishop of Salisbury, and by Richard's command he went with the third crusade to the Holy Land.
He gained the respect of all the crusaders, and acted as Richard's principal agent in all negotiations with Saladin, being given a place in the first band of pilgrims that entered Jerusalem.
He led the English army back to England after Richard's departure from Palestine; but in Sicily he heard of the king's captivity, and hurried to join him in Germany.
Soon afterwards he was elected archbishop of Canterbury and made justiciar.
These new officers were to 44 keep. "
The juries, both for answering the questions asked by the judges and for trying cases under the grand assize, were to be chosen by a committee of four knights, also elected by the suitors of each county court for that purpose.
In 1198, to satisfy the king's demand for money, Hubert demanded a carucage or plougb-tax of five shillings on every plough-land (carucatc) under cultivation.
This was the old tax, the Danegeld, in a new and heavier form and there was great difficulty in levying it.
To make it easier, the justiciar ordered the assessment to be made by a sworn jury in every hundred, and one may reasonably conjecture that these jurors were also elected.
Besides these important constitutional changes Hubert negotiated a peace with Scotland in 1195, and in 1197 another with the Welsh.
But Richard had grown dissatisfied with him, for the carucage had not been a success, and Hubert had failed to overcome the resistance of the Great Council when its members refused to equip a force of knights to serve abroad.
The pope asked Richard to free Hubert from all secular duties, and he did so, thus making the demand an excuse for dismissing Hubert from the justiciarship.
He also took the office of chancellor and cheerfully worked under Geoffrey Fitz Peter, one of his former subordinates.
In 1201 he went on a diplomatic mission to Philip Augustus of France, and in 1202 he returned to England to keep the kingdom in peace while John was losing his continental possessions.
In 1205 he died.
Personality
Little is known of his appearance, although he was described by Gerald of Wales as tall and handsome. Gerald also praised his intelligence and cleverness.
Quotes from others about the person
The historian Michael Clanchy says of Walter "The proliferation of documents was a European and a continuing phenomenon, yet if it were to be associated in England with one man, he would be Hubert Walter. "