extorts large sums from the Jews, who begin to retire from England.

A.D. 1210. John goes to Ireland early in June, and reduces the English settlers to his obedience; he returns to England in August, bringing with him numerous captives, many of whom are imprisoned at Corfe or Windsor castles, and are believed to have been starved to death'. Some of the fugitives turn pirates, against whom a fleet of galleys is fitted out.

The king summons an assembly of the prelates, abbots, and other heads of religious communities, and extorts a very large sum of money from them.

A.D. 1211. John invades Wales, but is obliged to retire from want of supplies.

He again takes the field in July, and penetrates to the region of Snowdon, ravaging the country. Llewelyn is obliged to promise submission, and to give many hostages from the families of his chiefs m.

Durand, a knight hospitaller, and Pandulph, a cardinal, are sent by the pope to endeavour to bring about a peace between the king and the Church, but without success.

A.D. 1212. The pope, failing to procure any concession from John, absolves his subjects from their

Hugh and Walter de Lacy, the sons of the late deputy, as well as others, had already adopted much of the manners of the native chiefs, and acted like independent princes.

1 Among them were the family of William de Braose, a potent lord in Ireland; he escaped to France, and died there soon after. One of his sons found refuge in Wales for a time, and committed many ravages in the marches, but at length, according to one of the Royal Letters in the Tower, he was hanged in the presence of a large assembly at Crokin, apparently by order of Llewelyn.

The peace was granted at the request of his wife Joan, who was John's natural daughter.

allegiance; he also forbids all persons, under pain of excommunication, to hold communication with him.

Llewelyn ravages the marches, when John has all the hostages hung, and prepares for a fresh expedition against him, but is deterred by the information from his daughter Joan, that his barons have resolved to betray him into the hands of the enemy.

Robert Fitz-Walter" and other nobles, being thus compromised, flee to the continent, when the king seizes their estates, and hires mercenary troops.

A fleet of galleys despatched to ravage the coast of Wales, in August. Philip, king of France, prepares to invade England.

Arms of Robert Fitz-Walter.

The king's brother William, earl of Salisbury, William of Wrotham, the guardian of the Cinque Ports, the governors of Nottingham and other castles, the chancellor (Walter de Grey), the justiciary (Geoffrey FitzPierre), the bishops of Norwich (John de Grey) and Winchester (Peter des Roches), the chief forester, and many Norman and Flemish military adventurers, adhere to him, and raise forces and a fleet for his service.

The earl of Salisbury sails with the Cinque Ports fleet, and ravages the coast of France, burning Barfleur, Dieppe, and other towns, and bringing home many prizes,

n Fitz-Walter belonged to the Clare family. He returned in 1214, and headed the "army of God and Holy Church," which extorted Magna Charta from the king. He was taken prisoner at Lincoln, in 1217, and soon after went to the Holy Land, where he died.

These men became so obnoxious, that their dismissal forms one of the articles of Magna Charta, although some of them had been in the king's service almost from the beginning of his reign. See p. 291.

A.D. 1213. The king of France marches against the count of Flanders (Ferrand), who is an ally of John, and captures Bruges and other towns.

The earl of Salisbury burns the French fleet at Damme, (probably early in April, but the exact date is unknown,) which obliges Philip to withdraw.

Pandulph, the papal legate, is received by John; the king is solemnly reconciled to the Church at Dover, May 13; he does homage for his dominions to the pope, and binds himself and his successors to an annual payment to the Holy See, May 15.

The king issues letters of recal to the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops of Bath, Ely, Hereford, Lincoln, and London, and the prior and monks of Canterbury, May 24.

The papal excommunication is formally revoked, July 20, and the interdict removed, Dec. 6.

John prepares for an invasion of France, in August, but his barons refuse to follow him.

A.D. 1214. John invades France, landing in the neighbourhood of Rochelle, February 15.

The king of France gains the battle of Bouvines over the English and Flemings, July 27; the earl of Salisbury is there captured by Philip, the bishop of Beauvais ; the count of Flanders is also taken.

John is repulsed before the castle of Roche aux Moines, in Anjou, in July; hearing of the battle of Bouvines and the captivity of his brother, he makes a truce, and returns to England in October.

P He was liberated in February, 1215, in exchange for Robert, the son of the count de Dreux, and cousin of the king of France, who had been captured the year before in Britanny.

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 charter" 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.