- Know ye that we, unto the honour of
Almighty God, and for the salvation of the souls of our progenitors
and successors, Kings of England, to the advancement of holy
Church, and amendment of our Realm, of our meer and free will, have
given and granted to all Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors,
Earls, Barons, and to all freemen of this our realm, these
liberties following, to be kept in our kingdom of England for
ever.
- First, We have granted to God, and by
this our present Charter have confirmed, for us and our Heirs for
ever, That the Church of England shall be free, and shall have her
whole rights and liberties inviolable. We have granted also,
and given to all the freemen of our realm, for us and our Heirs for
ever, these liberties underwritten, to have and to hold to them and
their Heirs, of us and our Heirs for ever.
- If any of our Earls or Barons, or any
other, which holdeth of Us in chief by Knights service, shall die
and at the time of his death his heir be of full age, and oweth us
Relief, he shall have his inheritance by the old Relief; that is to
say, the heir or heirs of an Earl, for a whole Earldom, by one
hundred pound; the heir or heirs of a Baron, for an whole Barony,
by one hundred marks; the heir or heirs of a Knight, for one whole
Knights fee, one hundred shillings at the most; and he that hath
less, shall give less, according to the custom of the
fees.
- But if the Heir of any such be within
age, his Lord shall not have the ward of him, nor of his land,
before that he hath taken him homage. And after that such an
heir hath been in ward (when he is come of full age) that is to
say, to the age of one and twenty years, he shall have his
inheritance without Relief, and without Fine; so that if such an
heir, being within age, be made Knight, yet nevertheless his land
shall remain in the keeping of his Lord unto the term
aforesaid.
- The keeper of the land of such an heir,
being within age, shall not take of the lands of the heir, but
reasonable issues, reasonable customs, and reasonable servics, and
that without destruction and waste of his men and goods. And
if we commit the custody of any such land to the Sheriff, or to any
other, which is answerable unto us for the issues of the same land,
and he make destruction or waste of those things that he hath in
custody, we will take of him amends and recompence therefore, and
the land shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that
fee, which shall answer unto us for the issues of the same land, or
unto him whom we will assign. And if we give or sell to any
man the custody of any such land, and he therein do make
destruction or waste, he shall lose the same custody; and it shall
be assigned to two lawful and discreet men of that fee, which also
in like manner shall be answerable to us, as afore is
said.
- The keeper, so long as he hath the
custody of the land of such an heir, shall keep up the houses,
parks, warrens, ponds, mills, and other things pertaining to the
same land, with the issues of the said land; and he shall deliver
to the Heir, when he cometh to his full age, all his land stored
with ploughs, and all other things, at the least as he received
it. All these things shall be observed in the custodies of
the Archbishopricks, Bishopricks, Abbeys, Priories, Churchs, and
Dignities vacant, which appertain to us; except this, that such
custody shall not be sold.
- Heirs shall be married without
Disparagement.
- A Widow, after the death of her
husband, incontinent, and without any Difficulty, shall have her
marriage and her inheritance, and shall give nothing for her dower,
her marriage, or her inheritance, which her husband and she held
the day of the death of her husband, and she shall tarry in the
chief house of her husband by forty days after the death of her
husband, within which days her dower shall be assigned her (if it
were not assigned her before) or that the house be a castle; and if
she depart from the castle, then a competent house shall be
forthwith provided for her, in the which she may honestly dwell,
until her dower be to her assigned, as it is aforesaid; and she
shall have in the meantime her reasonable estovers of the common;
and for her do wer shall be assigned unto her the third part of all
the lands of her husband, which were his during coverture, except
she were endowed of less at the Church-door. No widow shall
be distrained to marry herself: nevertheless she shall find surety,
that she shall not marry without our licence and assent (if she
hold of us) nor without the assent of the Lord, if she hold of
another.
- We or our Bailiffs shall not seize any
land or rent for any debt, as long as the present Goods and
Chattels of the debtor do suffice to pay the debt, and the debtor
himself be ready to satisfy therefore. Neither shall the
pledges of the debtor be dist rained, as long as the principal
debtor is sufficient for the payment of the debt. And if the
principal debtor fail in the payment of the debt, having nothing
wherewith to pay, or will not pay where he is able, the pledges
shall answer for the debt. And if they will, they shall have
the lands and rents of the debtor, until they be satished of that
which they before paid for him, except that the debtor can show
himself to be acquitted against the said sureties.
- The city of London shall have all the
old liberties and customs, which it hath been used to have.
Moreover we will and grant, that all other Cities, Boroughs, Towns,
and the Barons of the Five Ports, and all other Ports, shall have
all their liberties and free customs.
- No man shall be distrained to do more
service for a Knights fee, nor any freehold, than therefore is
due.
- Common Pleas shall not follow our
Court, but shall be holden in some place certain.
- Assises of novel disseisin, and of
Mortdancestor, shall not be taken but in the shires, and after this
manner: If we be out of this Realm, our chief Justicer shall send
our Justicers through every County once in the Year, which, with
the Knights of the shires, shall take the said Assises in those
counties; and those things that at the coming of our foresaid
Justicers, being sent to take those Assises in the counties, cannot
be determined, shall be ended by them in some other place in their
circuit; and those things, which for difficulty of some articles
cannot be determined by them, shall be referred to our Justicers of
the Bench, and there shall be ended.
- Assises of Darrein Presentment shall be
alway taken before our Justices of the Bench, and there shall be
determined.
- A Freeman shall not be amerced for a
small fault, but after the manner of the fault; and for a great
fault after the greatness thereof, saving to him his contenement;
and a Merchant likewise, saving to him his Merchandise; and any
other's villain than ours shall be likewise amerced, saving his
wainage, if he falls into our mercy. And none of the said
amerciaments shall be assessed, but by the oath of honest and
lawful men of the vicinage. Earls and Barons shall not be
amerced but by their Peers, and after the manner of their
offence. No man of the Church shall be amerced after the
quantity of his spiritual Benefice, but after his Lay-tenement, and
after the quantity of his offence.
- No Town or Freeman shall be distrained
to make Bridges nor Banks, but such as of old time and of right
have been accustomed to make them in the time of King Henry our
Grandfather.
- No Banks shall be defended from
henceforth, but such as were in defence in the time of King Henry
our Grandfather, by the same places, and the same bounds, as they
were wont to be in his time.
- No Sheriff, Constable, Escheator,
Coroner, nor any other our Bailiffs, shall hold Pleas of our
Crown.
- If any that holdeth of us Lay-fee do
die, and our Sheriff or Bailiff do show our Letters Patents of our
summon for Debt, which the dead man did owe to us; it shall be
lawful to our Sheriff or Bailiff to attach or inroll all the goods
and chattels of the dead, being found in the said fee, to the Value
of the same Debt, by the sight and testimony of lawful men, so that
nothing thereof shall be taken away, until we be clearly paid off
the debt; and the residue shall remain to the Executors to perform
the testament of the dead; and if nothing be owing unto us, all the
chattels shall go to the use of the dead (saving to his wife and
children their reasonable parts).
- No Constable, nor his Bailiff, shall
take corn or other chattels of any man, if the man be not of the
Town where the Castle is, but he shall forthwith pay for the same,
unless that the will of the seller was to respite the payment; and
if he be of the same Town, the price shall be paid unto him within
forty days. [20] No Constable shall distrain any Knight to
give money for keeping of his Castle, if he himself will do it in
his proper person, or cause it to be done by another sufficient
man, if he may not do it himself for a reasonable cause. And
if we lead or send him to an army, he shall be free from
Castle-ward for the time that he shall be with us in fee in our
host, for the which he hath done service in our wars.
- No Sheriff nor Bailiff of ours, or any
other, shall take the Horses or Carts of any man to make carriage,
except he pay the old price limited, that is to say, for carriage
with two horse, x.d. a day; for three horse, xiv.d. a
day. No demesne Cart of any Spiritual person or Knight, or
any Lord, shall be taken by our Bailiffs; nor we, nor our Bailiffs,
nor any other, shall take any man's wood for our Castles, or other
our necessaries to be done, but by the licence of him whose wood it
shall be.
- We will not hold the Lands of them that
be convict of Felony but one year and one day, and then those Lands
shall be delivered to the Lords of the fee.
- All Wears from henceforth shall be
utterly put down by Thames and Medway, and through all England, but
only by the Sea-coasts.
- The Writ that is called Praecipe in
capite shall be from henceforth granted to no person of any
freehold, whereby any freeman may lose his Court.
- One measure of Wine shall be through
our Realm, and one measure of Ale, and one measure of Corn, that is
to say, the Quarter of London; and one breadth of dyed Cloth,
Russets, and Haberjects, that is to say, two Yards within the
lists. And it shall be of Weights as it is of
Measures.
- Nothing from henceforth shall be given
for a Writ of Inquisition, nor taken of him that prayeth
Inquisition of Life, or of Member, but it shall be granted freely,
and not denied.
- If any do hold of us by Fee-ferm, or by
Socage, or Burgage, and he holdeth Lands of another by Knights
Service, we will not have the Custody of his Heir, nor of his Land,
which is holden of the Fee of another, by reason of that Fee-ferm,
Socage, or Burgage. Neither will we have the custody of such
Fee-ferm, or Socage, or Burgage, except Knights Service be due unto
us out of the same Fee-ferm. We will not have the custody of
the Heir, or of any Land, by occasion of any Petit Serjeanty, that
any man holdeth of us by Service to pay a Knife, an Arrow, or the
like.
- No Bailiff from henceforth shall put
any man to his open Law, nor to an Oath, upon his own bare saying,
without faithful Witnesses brought in for the same.
- No Freeman shall be taken, or
imprisoned, or be disseised of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free
Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any otherwise destroyed; nor
will we pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful Judgment of
his Peers, or by the Law of the Land. We will sell to no man,
we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or
Right.
- All Merchants (if they were not openly
prohibited before) shall have their safe and sure Conduct to depart
out of England, to come into England, to tarry in, and go through
England, as well by Land as by Water, to buy and sell without any
manner of evil Tolts, by the old and rightful Customs, except in
Time of War. And if they be of a land making War against us,
and such be found in our Realm at the beginning of the Wars, they
shall be attached without harm of body or goods, until it be known
unto us , or our Chief Justice, how our Merchants be intreated
there in the land making War against us; and if our Merchants be
well intreated there, theirs shall be likewise with us.
- If any man hold of any Eschete, as of
the honour of Wallingford, Nottingham, Boloin, or of any other
Eschetes which be in our hands, and are Baronies, and die, his Heir
shall give none other Relief, nor do none other Service to us, than
he should to the Baron, if it were in the Baron's hand. And
we in the same wise shall hold it as the Baron held it; neither
shall we have, by occasion of any such Barony or Eschete, any
Eschete or keeping of any of our men, unless he that held the
Barony or Eschete hold of us in chief.
- No Freeman from henceforth shall give
or sell any more of his Land, but so that of the residue of the
Lands the Lord of the Fee may have the Service due to him, which
belongeth to the Fee.
- All Patrons of Abbies, which have the
King's Charters of England of Advowson, or have old Tenure or
Possession in the same, shall have the Custody of them when they
fall void, as it hath been accustomed, and as it is afore
declared.
- No Man shall be taken or imprisoned
upon the Appeal of a Woman for the Death of any other, than of her
husband.
- No County Court from henceforth shall
be holden, but from Month to Month; and where greater time hath
been used, there shall be greater: Nor any Sheriff, or his Bailiff,
shall keep his Turn in the Hundred but twice in the Year; and
nowhere but in due place, and accustomed; that is to say, once
after Easter, and again after the Feast of St. Michael.
And the View of Frankpledge shall be likewise at the Feast of
St. Michael without occasion; so that every man may have his
Liberties which he had, or used to have, in the time of King HENRY
our Grandfather, or which he hath purchased since: but the View of
Frankpledge shall be so done, that our Peace may be kept; and that
the Tything be wholly kept as it hath been accustomed; and that the
Sheriff seek no Occasions, and that he be content with so much as
the Sheriff was wont to have for his Viewmaking in the time of King
HENRY our Grandfather.
- It shall not be lawful from henceforth
to any to give his Lands to any Religious House, and to take the
same Land again to hold of the same House. Nor shall it be
lawful to any House of Religion to take the Lands of any, and to
lease the same to him of whom he received it. If any from
henceforth give his Lands to any Religious House, and thereupon be
convict, the Gift shall be utterly void, and the Land shall accrue
to the Lord of the Fee.
- Escuage from henceforth shall be taken
like as it was wont to be in the time of King HENRY our
Grandfather; reserving to all Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors,
Templers, Hospitallers, Earls, Barons, and all persons, as well
Spiritual as Temporal, all their free liberties and free Customs,
which they have had in time passed. And all these Customs and
Liberties aforesaid, which we have granted to be holden within this
our Realm, as much as appertaineth to us and our Heirs, we shall
observe; and all Men of this our Realm, as well Spiritual as
Temporal (as much as in them is) shall observe the same against all
persons in like wise. And for this our Gift and Grant of
these Liberties, and of other contained in our Charter of Liberties
of our Forest, the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priors, Earls,
Barons, Knights, Freeholders, and other our Subjects, have given
unto us the Fifteenth Part of all their Moveables. And we
have granted unto them for us and our Heirs, that neither we, nor
our Heirs shall proc ure or do anything whereby the Liberties in
this Charter contained shall be infringed or broken; and if
anything be procured by any person contrary to the premisses, it
shall be had of no force nor effect. These being Witnesses;
Lord B. Archbishop of Cant erbury, E. Bishop of London,
J. Bishop of Bathe, P. of Winchester, H. of
Lincoln, R. of Salisbury, W. of Rochester, W. of
Worester, J. of Ely, H. of Hereford, R. of
Chichester, W. of Exeter, Bishops; the Abbot of St.
Edmunds, the Abbot of St. Albans, the Abbot of Bello, the
Abbot of St. Augustines in Canterbury, the Abbot of Evesham,
the Abbot of Westminster, the Abbot of Bourgh St. Peter, the
Abbot of Reading, the Abbot of Abindon, the Abbot of Malmsbury, the
Abbot of Winchcomb, the Abbot of Hyde, the Abbot of Certefey, the
Abbot of Sherburn, the Abbot of Cerne, the Abbot of Abbotebir, the
Abbot of Middleton, the Abbot of Seleby, the Abbot of Cirencester;
H. de Burgh Justice, H. Earl of Chester and Lincoln,
W. Earl of Salisbury, W. Earl of Warren, G. de
Clare Earl of Gloucester and Hereford, W. de Ferrars Earl of
Derby, W. de Mandeville Earl of Essex, H. de Bygod Earl
of Norfolk, W. Earl of Albermarle, H. Earl of Hereford,
J. Constable of Chester, R. de Ros, R.
Fitzwalter, R. de Vyponte, W. de Bruer, R. de
Muntefichet, P. Fitzherbert, W. de Aubenie, F. Grefly,
F. de Breus, J. de Monemue, J. Fitzallen, H. de
Mortimer, W. de Beauchamp, W. de St. John,
P. de Mauly, Brian de Lisle, Thomas de Multon, R. de
Argenteyn, G. de Nevil, W. de Mauduit, J. de
Balun, and others.
- We, ratifying and approving these Gifts and Grants aforesaid,
confirm and make strong all the same for us and our Heirs
perpetually, and, by the Tenour of these Presents, do renew the
same; willing and granting for us and our Heirs, that this Charter,
and all and singular his Articles, for ever shall be stedfastly,
firmly, and inviolably observed; although some Articles in the same
Charter contained, yet hitherto peradventure have not been kept, we
will, and by Authority Royal command, from henceforth firmly they
be observed. In witness whereof we have caused these our
Letters Patents to be made.
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