MAGNA CHARTA.

A.D. 1214. Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, and many of the barons, meet at St. Edmundsbury, Nov. 20, and agree on demands for a redress of grievances from the king.

A.D. 1215. The barons present their demands to the king at the New Temple, in London, Jan. 6; he defers his answer till Easter.

The king endeavours to divide the confederates; he grants free election to the Church, Jan. 15; exacts anew the oath of allegiance, and assumes the cross, March 4, (being Ash-Wednesday,) in the Tower of London.

The pope censures the archbishop and the barons, May 19; but they assemble at Stamford, and demand an answer from the king.

The king continuing to temporize, the barons march to London, which they enter, May 24.

The king meets the barons at Runnymede (near Egham,) and concedes Magna Charta, June 15, but not in good faith. He at once appeals to the pope, and begins

These demands, which form the basis of Magna Charta, contradict the assertion sometimes made, that the barons had the interests of their own class only in view. They claim that no right shall be sold, delayed, or denied; that the law courts shall no longer follow the king's person; that no penalty shall be laid on any free man, but by the judgment of his peers and according to law; that for all offences only reasonable fines shall be imposed according to each man's degree, and "a villein also shall be amerced in like manner." They demand that new afforestations and weirs in rivers shall be abolished; that weights and measures shall be justly fixed, merchants protected, and freedom of passing to and from the land secured, except in case of war. They also insist on the surrender of the hostages and bonds that the king had obtained from them, and that he shall dismiss his mercenary troops.

U

to hire fresh mercenary troops, which the barons suspecting, they have frequent angry conferences with him.

This celebrated charterr professes to be granted by the king "in the presence of God, and for the health of our soul, and of the souls of all our ancestors, and of our heirs, to the honour of God and exaltation of holy Church and amendment of our realm," by the counsel of the archbishops of Canterbury and Dublin, seven other bishops, "Master Pandulph, our lord the pope's subdeacon and familiar," brother Emeric, master of the Temple, the earls of Pembroke, Salisbury, Warren, and Arundel, Alan de Galloway, constable of Scotland, Hubert de Burgh, seneschal of Poitou, "and others of our liegemen."

By modern writers Magna Charta has been divided into sixty-three chapters, according to the various subjects embraced. It is often erroneously considered as a grant of new privileges, but such is not the case as regards any class; it is rather a restoration of some portions of the Anglo-Saxon constitution, which had been suspended by the Norman kings, and a redress of injustices perpetrated by John himself. Following out the declaration, "to none will we sell, to none will we deny, to none will we delay right or justice," like the charters of former kings, it promises peace and freedom of election to the Church, a legal course of government, and a full redress of all grievances. It then proceeds to concede all the barons' demands; gives up their hostages and bonds;

The charter was sealed, like other grants of the time, not signed, as is often stated; the earliest royal signature known is one of Richard II.

See pp. 285, 289.

abandons new-made forests and fisheries, amends weights and measures, and dismisses mercenary troops; also makes special mention of, and promises redress for, many unjust acts, not only of the king, but of his predecessors, committed against Alexander of Scotland and Llewelyn of Wales.

Magna Charta also requires the great tenants to concede to their dependants all customs and liberties as freely as they are granted to themselves"; thus the humbler classes were interested in its due execution, and failed not to support those who in later times laboured for that end *. Several copies of it were made, in order that one might be preserved in each cathedral, and a body of twenty-five barons was appointed, whose duty it was to enforce its observance on all parties.

Beside binding himself by oath not to attempt the revocation of the charter by means of an appeal to the pope (a promise he at once set about breaking), the king was obliged to agree that the Tower should be put into the hands of the archbishop of Canterbury, and the

"All foreign knights and bowmen" are to be removed; among their leaders are mentioned Gerard de Atyes, Andrew, Gyon, and Peter de Cancel, Cyon and Engelard de Cygony, Philip Marc, and Geoffrey de Martin. Gerard had been in the king's service in Poitou in 1204; the others had apparently joined him more recently, as their names do not appear on the Patent or Close Rolls before 1211. In spite of the stipulation, they were still employed, and Engelard was warden of the honour of Windsor in the next reign.

u Some writers have maintained that this clause was inserted by the king, against the wish of the barons; but its equivalent appears among their demands. See p. 289.

x

Though endeavours were constantly made by several succeeding kings to set it aside, they all eventually failed, and each monarch was obliged to learn that his most popular and politic act was a solemn confirmation of Magna Charta.

city of London confided to the care of Robert FitzWalter, "marshal of the army of God and Holy Church," as pledges of safety to the barons; a necessary precaution, as the document itself furnishes the clearest evidence of the tyranny he had before exercised, and of the grievous abuses that had been engrafted on the originally severe requirements of the feudal system.

John, knowing that the mercenaries are near, positively refuses to abide by the charter, exclaiming, "Why do not these men ask my kingdom?" and withdraws to the Kentish coast at the end of August.

John formally

The mercenaries arrive in September. appeals to the pope, Sept. 13, and immediately begins to ravage the barons' estates; he takes the castle of Rochester, after an eight weeks' siege, Nov. 30.

"Now King John, accompanied by that detestable troop of foreigners, whose leader and general was Fulk de Breaute, a man of ignoble birth, and a bastard, and carried away by his fury, began to lay waste the northern parts of England, to destroy the castles of the barons, or compel them to submit to his order, burning without mercy all their towns, and oppressing the inhabitants with tortures to extort money."

The pope annuls Magna Charta, excommunicates the

He had long been in the king's service, and was bailiff of Glamorgan in 1208; he was also one of his executors. After the war was over, he held Bedford castle, plundering parties from which did much mischief to the abbey of St. Alban's; and hence perhaps he is represented as worse than all his fellows by Matthew Paris. After a long career of violence he was driven from the kingdom by Hubert de Burgh. See p. 305.

barons, at first generally, afterwards by name, and suspends the archbishop, December.

A.D. 1216. The barons surrender Northumberland to Alexander of Scotland, and do homage to him. John advances into Scotland, ravaging the country, in January.

The barons, who occupy London, ravage the surrounding districts. "They plundered the farmers and the citizens, scarcely sparing the churches, and made themselves masters of everything. From Yarmouth, Ipswich, Colchester, and other towns, they exacted a heavy ransom.'

The king marches southward; De Breaute plunders the isle of Ely, and profanes the minster.

The king reaches Enfield, March 30; the barons despatch envoys and hostages to offer the crown to Louis, the son of the king of France.

John repairs to the Kentish coast, but, distrusting his mercenaries, on the approach of Louis he withdraws westward; he passes some time at Corfe castle, and then marches to Shropshire.

Louis accepts the barons' offer, in spite of the prohibition of the papal legate, April 26; sends aid to the barons, and lands himself at Sandwich, May 21.

He takes Rochester, and receives the barons' homage at London, June 2.

Louis besieges Dover ineffectually; the Cinque Ports fleet captures his ships.

Louis takes Winchester in June, and other castles shortly after, but is repulsed at Windsor.

John, being joined by some of the barons, who dis