The troubled deathbeds of Henry I's servants: death, confession, and secular conduct in the twelfth century *.

When Sir Richard Southern wanted to illustrate the moral compromise that was the inevitable cost of being a courtier and servant of King Henry I of England -- the culture of whose court encouraged profiteering and sharp practice -- he found the material to hand in a number of surviving letters of the unfortunate Nigel d'Aubigny.

At some time between 1109 and 1114 Nigel fell ill, and he believed himself dying. He dictated to his royal master a letter -- on which one can almost see the spots of the tears -- begging him to confirm the restorations of land that he wanted now to make to ...

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