Chapter XVIII: The Great Charter

54. The Winning of the Charter

The reign of King John (1199-1216) was an era of humiliation, though in the end one of triumph, for all classes of the English people. The king himself was perhaps the most unworthy sovereign who has ever occupied the English throne and one after another of his deeds and policies brought deep shame to every patriotic Englishman. His surrender to the papacy (1213) and his loss of the English possessions on the continent (1214) were only two of the most conspicuous results of his weakness and mismanagement. Indeed it was not these that touched the English people most closely, for after all it was rather their pride than their real interests that suffered by the king's homage to Innocent III. and his bitter defeat at Bouvines. Worse than these things were the heavy taxes and the illegal extortions of money, in which John went far beyond even his unscrupulous brother and predecessor, Richard. The king's expenses were very heavy, the more so by reason of his French wars, and to meet them he devised all manner of schemes for wringing money from his unwilling subjects. Land taxes were increased, scutage (payments in lieu of military service) was nearly doubled, levies of a thirteenth, a seventh, and other large fractions of the movable property of the realm were made, excessive fines were imposed, old feudal rights were revived and exercised in an arbitrary fashion, and property was confiscated on the shallowest of pretenses. Even the Church was by no means immune from the king's rapacity. The result of these high-handed measures was that all classes of the people--barons, clergy, and commons--were driven into an attitude of open protest. The leadership against the king fell naturally to the barons and it was directly in consequence of their action that John was brought, in 1215, to grant the Great Charter and to pledge himself to govern thereafter according to the ancient and just laws of the kingdom.

The account of the winning of the Charter given below comes from the hand of Roger of Wendover, a monk of St. Albans, a monastery in Hertfordshire which was famous in the thirteenth century for its group of historians and annalists. It begins with the meeting of the barons at St. Edmunds in Suffolk late in November, 1214, and tells the story to the granting of the Charter at Runnymede, June 15, 1215. On this subject, as well as on the entire period of English history from 1189 to 1235, Roger of Wendover is our principal contemporary authority.

Source--Rogerus de Wendover, _Chronica Majora, sive Liber qui
dicitur Flores Historiarum_ [Roger of Wendover, "Greater
Chronicle, or the Book which is called the Flowers of
History"]. Translated by J. A. Giles (London, 1849), Vol. II.,
pp. 303-324 _passim_.

[Sidenote: A conference held by the barons against King John]

About this time the earls and barons of England assembled at St.
Edmunds, as if for religious duties, although it was for another
reason;[408] for after they had discoursed together secretly for a
time, there was placed before them the charter of King Henry the
First, which they had received, as mentioned before, in the city of
London from Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury.[409] This charter
contained certain liberties and laws granted to the holy Church as
well as to the nobles of the kingdom, besides some liberties which
the king added of his own accord. All therefore assembled in the
church of St. Edmund, the king and martyr, and, commencing with
those of the highest rank, they all swore on the great altar that,
if the king refused to grant these liberties and laws, they
themselves would withdraw from their allegiance to him, and make
war on him until he should, by a charter under his own seal,
confirm to them everything that they required; and finally it was
unanimously agreed that, after Christmas, they should all go
together to the king and demand the confirmation of the aforesaid
liberties to them, and that they should in the meantime provide
themselves with horses and arms, so that if the king should
endeavor to depart from his oath they might, by taking his castles,
compel him to satisfy their demands; and having arranged this, each
man returned home....

[Sidenote: They demand a confirmation of the old liberties]

[Sidenote: A truce arranged]

In the year of our Lord 1215, which was the seventeenth year of the
reign of King John, he held his court at Winchester at Christmas
for one day, after which he hurried to London, and took up his
abode at the New Temple;[410] and at that place the above-mentioned
nobles came to him in gay military array, and demanded the
confirmation of the liberties and laws of King Edward, with other
liberties granted to them and to the kingdom and church of England,
as were contained in the charter, and above-mentioned laws of Henry
the First. They also asserted that, at the time of his absolution
at Winchester,[411] he had promised to restore those laws and
ancient liberties, and was bound by his own oath to observe them.
The king, hearing the bold tone of the barons in making this
demand, much feared an attack from them, as he saw that they were
prepared for battle. He, however, made answer that their demands
were a matter of importance and difficulty, and he therefore asked
a truce until the end of Easter, that, after due deliberation, he
might be able to satisfy them as well as the dignity of his crown.
After much discussion on both sides, the king at length, although
unwillingly, procured the archbishop of Canterbury, the bishop of
Ely, and William Marshal, as his sureties that on the day agreed
upon he would, in all reason, satisfy them all; on which the nobles
returned to their homes. The king, however, wishing to take
precautions against the future, caused all the nobles throughout
England to swear fealty to him alone against all men, and to renew
their homage to him; and, the better to take care of himself, on
the day of St. Mary's purification, he assumed the cross of our
Lord, being induced to this more by fear than devotion....[412]

[Sidenote: The truce at an end]

[Sidenote: The preliminary demands of the barons]

In Easter week of this same year, the above-mentioned nobles
assembled at Stamford,[413] with horses and arms. They had now
induced almost all the nobility of the whole kingdom to join them,
and constituted a very large army; for in their army there were
computed to be two thousand knights, besides horse-soldiers,
attendants, and foot-soldiers, who were variously equipped.... The
king at this time was awaiting the arrival of his nobles at
Oxford.[414] On the Monday next after the octave of Easter,[415]
the said barons assembled in the town of Brackley.[416] And when
the king learned this, he sent the archbishop of Canterbury and
William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, with some other prudent men, to
them to inquire what the laws and liberties were which they
demanded. The barons then delivered to the messengers a paper,
containing in great measure the laws and ancient customs of the
kingdom, and declared that, unless the king immediately granted
them and confirmed them under his own seal, they, by taking
possession of his fortresses, would force him to give them
sufficient satisfaction as to their before-named demands. The
archbishop, with his fellow messengers, then carried the paper to
the king, and read to him the heads of the paper one by one
throughout. The king, when he heard the purport of these heads,
said derisively, with the greatest indignation, "Why, amongst these
unjust demands, did not the barons ask for my kingdom also? Their
demands are vain and visionary, and are unsupported by any plea of
reason whatever." And at length he angrily declared with an oath
that he would never grant them such liberties as would render him
their slave. The principal of these laws and liberties which the
nobles required to be confirmed to them are partly described above
in the charter of King Henry,[417] and partly are extracted from
the old laws of King Edward,[418] as the following history will
show in due time.

[Sidenote: The castle of Northampton besieged by the barons]

As the archbishop and William Marshal could not by any persuasion
induce the king to agree to their demands, they returned by the
king's order to the barons, and duly reported to them all that they
had heard from the king. And when the nobles heard what John said,
they appointed Robert Fitz-Walter commander of their soldiers,
giving him the title of "Marshal of the Army of God and the Holy
Church," and then, one and all flying to arms, they directed their
forces toward Northampton.[419] On their arrival there they at once
laid siege to the castle, but after having stayed there for fifteen
days, and having gained little or no advantage, they determined to
move their camp. Having come without _petrariae_[420] and other
engines of war, they, without accomplishing their purpose,
proceeded in confusion to the castle of Bedford....[421]

[Sidenote: The city of London given over to the barons]

When the army of the barons arrived at Bedford, they were received
with all respect by William de Beauchamp.[422] Messengers from the
city of London also came to them there, secretly telling them, if
they wished to get into that city, to come there immediately. The
barons, encouraged by the arrival of this agreeable message,
immediately moved their camp and arrived at Ware. After this they
marched the whole night and arrived early in the morning at the
city of London, and, finding the gates open, on the 24th of May
(which was the Sunday next before our Lord's ascension) they
entered the city without any tumult while the inhabitants were
performing divine service; for the rich citizens were favorable to
the barons, and the poor ones were afraid to murmur against them.
The barons, having thus got into the city, placed their own guards
in charge of each of the gates, and then arranged all matters in
the city at will.[423] They then took security from the citizens,
and sent letters through England to those earls, barons, and
knights who appeared to be still faithful to the king (though they
only pretended to be so) and advised them with threats, as they had
regard for the safety of all their property and possessions, to
abandon a king who was perjured and who made war against his
barons, and together with them to stand firm and fight against the
king for their rights and for peace; and that, if they refused to
do this, they, the barons, would make war against them all, as
against open enemies, and would destroy their castles, burn their
houses and other buildings, and pillage their warrens, parks, and
orchards.... The greatest part of these, on receiving the message
of the barons, set out to London and joined them, abandoning the
king entirely....

[Sidenote: The conference between the king and the barons]

[Sidenote: The charter granted at Runnymede]

King John, when he saw that he was deserted by almost all, so that
out of his regal superabundance of followers he retained scarcely
seven knights, was much alarmed lest the barons should attack his
castles and reduce them without difficulty, as they would find no
obstacle to their so doing. He deceitfully pretended to make peace
for a time with the aforesaid barons, and sent William Marshal,
earl of Pembroke, with other trustworthy messengers, to them, and
told them that, for the sake of peace and for the exaltation and
honor of the kingdom, he would willingly grant them the laws and
liberties they demanded. He sent also a request to the barons by
these same messengers that they appoint a suitable day and place to
meet and carry all these matters into effect. The king's messengers
then came in all haste to London, and without deceit, reported to
the barons all that had been deceitfully imposed on them. They in
their great joy appointed the fifteenth of June for the king to
meet them, at a field lying between Staines and Windsor.[424]
Accordingly, at the time and place agreed upon the king and nobles
came to the appointed conference, and when each party had stationed
itself some distance from the other, they began a long discussion
about terms of peace and the aforesaid liberties.... At length,
after various points on both sides had been discussed, King John,
seeing that he was inferior in strength to the barons, without
raising any difficulty, granted the underwritten laws and
liberties, and confirmed them by his charter as follows:--

[Here ensues the Charter.]

55. Extracts from the Charter

No document in the history of any nation is more important than the Great Charter; in the words of Bishop Stubbs, the whole of the constitutional history of England is only one long commentary upon it. Its importance lay not merely in the fact that it was won from an unwilling sovereign by the united action of nobles, clergy, and people, but also in the admirable summary which it embodies of the fundamental principles of English government, so far as they had ripened by the early years of the thirteenth century. The charter contained almost nothing that was not old. It was not even an instrument, like the Constitution of the United States, providing for the creation of a new government. It merely sought to gather up within a single reasonably brief document all the important principles which the best of the English sovereigns had recognized, but which such rulers as Richard and John had lately been improving every opportunity to evade. The primary purpose of the barons in forcing the king to grant the charter was not to get a new form of government or code of laws, but simply to obtain a remedy for certain concrete abuses, to resist the encroachments of the crown upon the traditional liberties of Englishmen, and to get a full and definite confirmation of these liberties in black and white. Not a new constitution was wanted, but good government in conformity with the old one. Naturally enough, therefore, the charter of 1215 was based in most of its important provisions upon that granted by Henry I. in 1100, even as this one was based on the righteous laws of the good Edward the Confessor. And after the same manner the charter of King John, in its turn, became the foundation for all future resistance of Englishmen to the evils of misgovernment, so that very soon it came naturally to be called _Magna Charta_--the Great Charter--by which designation it is known to this day.

King John was in no true sense the author of the charter. Many weeks before the meeting at Runnymede the barons had drawn up their demands in written form, and when that meeting occurred they were ready to lay before the sovereign a formal document, in forty-nine chapters, to which they simply requested his assent. This preliminary document was discussed and worked over, the number of chapters being increased to sixty-two, but the charter as finally agreed upon differed from it only in minor details. It is a mistake to think of John as "signing" the charter after the fashion of modern sovereigns. There is no evidence that he could write, and at any rate he acquiesced in the terms of the charter only by having his seal affixed to the paper. The original "Articles of the Barons" is still preserved in the British Museum, but there is no _one_ original Magna Charta in existence. Duplicate copies of the document were made for distribution among the barons, and papers which are generally supposed to represent four of these still exist, two being in the British Museum.

The charter makes a lengthy document and many parts of it are too technical to be of service in this book; hence only a few of the most important chapters are here given. Translations of the entire document from the original Latin may be found in many places, among them the University of Pennsylvania _Translations and Reprints_, Vol. I., No. 6; Lee, _Source Book of English History_, 169-180; Adams and Stephens, _Select Documents Illustrative of English Constitutional History_, pp. 42-52; and the _Old South Leaflets_, No. 5.

Source--Text in William Stubbs, _Select Charters Illustrative
of English Constitutional History_ (8th ed., Oxford, 1895),
pp. 296-306. Adapted from translation in Sheldon Amos, _Primer
of the English Constitution and Government_ (London, 1895),
pp. 189-201 _passim_.

John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke
of Normandy, Aquitane, and count of Anjou, to his archbishops,
bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciaries, foresters, sheriffs,
governors, officers, and to all bailiffs, and his faithful
subjects, greeting. Know ye, that we, in the presence of God, and
for the salvation of our soul, and the souls of all our ancestors
and heirs, and unto the honor of God and the advancement of Holy
Church, and amendment of our Realm, ... have, in the first place,
granted to God, and by this our present Charter confirmed, for us
and our heirs forever:

[Sidenote: Liberties of the English Church guaranteed]

=1.= That the Church of England shall be free, and have her whole
rights, and her liberties inviolable; and we will have them so
observed that it may appear thence that the freedom of elections,
which is reckoned chief and indispensable to the English Church,
and which we granted and confirmed by our Charter, and obtained the
confirmation of the same from our Lord Pope Innocent III., before
the discord between us and our barons, was granted of mere free
will; which Charter we shall observe, and we do desire it to be
faithfully observed by our heirs forever.[425]

[Sidenote: The rate of reliefs]

=2.= We also have granted to all the freemen of our kingdom, for us
and for our heirs forever, all the underwritten liberties, to be
had and holden by them and their heirs, of us and our heirs
forever. If any of our earls, or barons, or others who hold of us
in chief by military service,[426] shall die, and at the time of
his death his heir shall be of full age, and owe a relief, he shall
have his inheritance by the ancient relief--that is to say, the
heir or heirs of an earl, for a whole earldom, by a hundred pounds;
the heir or heirs of a knight, for a whole knight's fee, by a
hundred shillings at most; and whoever oweth less shall give less,
according to the ancient custom of fees.[427]

=3.= But if the heir of any such shall be under age, and shall be
in ward, when he comes of age he shall have his inheritance without
relief and without fine.[428]

[Sidenote: The three aids]

=12.= No scutage[429] or aid shall be imposed in our kingdom,
unless by the general council of our kingdom;[430] except for
ransoming our person, making our eldest son a knight, and once for
marrying our eldest daughter; and for these there shall be paid no
more than a reasonable aid. In like manner it shall be concerning
the aids of the City of London.[431]

[Sidenote: The Great Council]

=14.= And for holding the general council of the kingdom concerning
the assessment of aids, except in the three cases aforesaid, and
for the assessing of scutage, we shall cause to be summoned the
archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and greater barons of the
realm, singly by our letters. And furthermore, we shall cause to be
summoned generally, by our sheriffs and bailiffs, all others who
hold of us in chief, for a certain day, that is to say, forty days
before their meeting at least, and to a certain place. And in all
letters of such summons we will declare the cause of such summons.
And summons being thus made, the business shall proceed on the day
appointed, according to the advice of such as shall be present,
although all that were summoned come not.[432]

=15.= We will not in the future grant to any one that he may take
aid of his own free tenants, except to ransom his body, and to make
his eldest son a knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter; and
for this there shall be paid only a reasonable aid.[433]

=36.= Nothing from henceforth shall be given or taken for a writ of
inquisition of life or limb, but it shall be granted freely, and
not denied.[434]

=39.= No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or disseised,[435]
or outlawed,[436] or banished, or in any way destroyed, nor will we
pass upon him, nor will we send upon him,[437] unless by the lawful
judgment of his peers,[438] or by the law of the land.[439]

=40.= We will sell to no man, we will not deny to any man, either
justice or right.[440]

[Sidenote: Freedom of commercial intercourse]

=41.= All merchants shall have safe and secure conduct to go out
of, and to come into, England, and to stay there and to pass as
well by land as by water, for buying and selling by the ancient and
allowed customs, without any unjust tolls, except in time of war,
or when they are of any nation at war with us. And if there be
found any such in our land, in the beginning of the war, they shall
be detained, without damage to their bodies or goods, until it be
known to us, or to our chief justiciary, how our merchants be
treated in the nation at war with us; and if ours be safe there,
the others shall be safe in our dominions.[441]

=42.= It shall be lawful, for the time to come, for any one to go
out of our kingdom and return safely and securely by land or by
water, saving his allegiance to us (unless in time of war, by some
short space, for the common benefit of the realm), except prisoners
and outlaws, according to the law of the land, and people in war
with us, and merchants who shall be treated as is above
mentioned.[442]

=51.= As soon as peace is restored, we will send out of the kingdom
all foreign knights, cross-bowmen, and stipendiaries, who are come
with horses and arms to the molestation of our people.[443]

=60.= All the aforesaid customs and liberties, which we have
granted to be holden in our kingdom, as much as it belongs to us,
all people of our kingdom, as well clergy as laity, shall observe,
as far as they are concerned, towards their dependents.[444]

[Sidenote: How the charter was to be enforced]

=61.= And whereas, for the honor of God and the amendment of our
kingdom, and for the better quieting the discord that has arisen
between us and our barons, we have granted all these things
aforesaid. Willing to render them firm and lasting, we do give and
grant our subjects the underwritten security, namely, that the
barons may choose five and twenty barons of the kingdom, whom they
think convenient, who shall take care, with all their might, to
hold and observe, and cause to be observed, the peace and liberties
we have granted them, and by this our present Charter
confirmed....[445]

=63.= ... It is also sworn, as well on our part as on the part of
the barons, that all the things aforesaid shall be observed in good
faith, and without evil duplicity. Given under our hand, in the
presence of the witnesses above named, and many others, in the
meadow called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, the 15th day
of June, in the 17th year of our reign.

FOOTNOTES:

[408] The barons attended the meeting under the pretense of making a religious pilgrimage.

[409] This charter, granted at the coronation of Henry I. in 1100, contained a renunciation of the evil practices which had marked the government of William the Conqueror and William Rufus. It was from this document mainly that the barons in 1215 drew their constitutional programme.

[410] The Knights Templars, having purchased all that part of the banks of the Thames lying between Whitefriars and Essex Street, erected on it a magnificent structure which was known as the New Temple, in distinction from the Old Temple on the south side of Holborn. Meetings of Parliament and of the king's council were frequently held in the New Temple; here also were kept the crown jewels. Ultimately, after the suppression of the Templars by Edward II., the Temple became one of England's most celebrated schools of law.

[411] This refers to the king's absolution at the hands of Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, July 20, 1213, after his submission to the papacy. At that time John took an oath on the Bible to the effect that he would restore the good laws of his forefathers and render to all men their rights.

[412] The exact day upon which John took the crusader's vow is uncertain. It was probably Ash Wednesday (March 4), 1215. The king's object was in part to get the personal protection which the sanctity of the vow carried with it and in part to enlist the sympathies of the Pope and make it appear that the barons were guilty of interfering with a crusade.

[413] On the southern border of Lincolnshire.

[414] On the Thames in Oxfordshire. This statement of the chronicler is incorrect. John was yet in London.

[415] Octave means the period of eight days following a religious festival. This Monday was April 27.

[416] Brackley is about twenty-two miles north of Oxford.

[417] Henry I.'s charter, 1100.

[418] Edward the Confessor, king from 1042 to 1066.

[419] In the county of Northampton, in central England.

[420] Engines for hurling stones.

[421] About twenty miles southeast of Northampton.

[422] The commander of Bedford Castle.

[423] The loss of London by the king was a turning point in the contest. Thereafter the barons' party gained rapidly and its complete success was only a question of time.

[424] Runnymede, on the Thames.

[425] The charter referred to, in which the liberties of the Church were confirmed, was granted in November, 1214, and renewed in January, 1215. It was in the nature of a bribe offered the clergy by the king in the hope of winning their support in his struggle with the barons. The liberty granted was particularly that of "canonical election," i.e., the privilege of the cathedral chapters to elect bishops without being dominated in their choice by the king. Henry I.'s charter (1100) contained a similar provision, but it had not been observed in practice.

[426] Tenants _in capite_, i.e., men holding land directly from the king on condition of military service.

[427] The object of this chapter is, in general, to prevent the exaction of excessive reliefs. The provision of Henry I.'s charter that reliefs should be just and reasonable had become a dead letter.

[428] During the heir's minority the king received the profits of the estate; in consequence of this the payment of relief by such an heir was to be remitted.

[429] Scutage (from _scutum_, shield) was payment made to the king by persons who owed military service but preferred to give money instead. Scutage levied by John had been excessively heavy.

[430] The General, or Great, Council was a feudal body made up of the king's tenants-in-chief, both greater and lesser lords. This chapter puts a definite, even though not very far-reaching, limitation upon the royal power of taxation, and so looks forward in a way to the later regime of taxation by Parliament.

[431] London had helped the barons secure the charter and was rewarded by being specifically included in its provisions.

[432] Here we have a definite statement as to the composition of the Great Council. The distinction between greater and lesser barons is mentioned as early as the times of Henry I. (1100-1135). In a general way it may be said that the greater barons (together with the greater clergy) developed into the House of Lords and the lesser ones, along with the ordinary free-holders, became the "knights of the shire," who so long made up the backbone of the Commons. In the thirteenth century comparatively few of the lesser barons attended the meetings of the Council. Attendance was expensive and they were not greatly interested in the body's proceedings. It should be noted that the Great Council was in no sense a legislative assembly.

[433] It is significant that the provisions of the charter which prohibit feudal exactions were made by the barons to apply to themselves as well as to the king.

[434] This is an important legal enactment whose purpose is to prevent prolonged imprisonment, without trial, of persons accused of serious crime. A person accused of murder, for example, could not be set at liberty under bail, but he could apply for a writ _de odio et atia_ ("concerning hatred and malice") which directed the sheriff to make inquest by jury as to whether the accusation had been brought by reason of hatred and malice. If the jury decided that the accusation had been so brought, the accused person could be admitted to bail until the time for his regular trial. This will occur to one as being very similar to the principle of _habeas corpus_. John had been charging heavy fees for these writs _de odio et atia_, or "writs of inquisition of life and limb," as they are called in the charter; henceforth they were to be issued freely.

[435] To disseise a person is to dispossess him of his freehold rights.

[436] Henceforth a person could be outlawed, i.e., declared out of the protection of the law, only by the regular courts.

[437] That is, use force upon him, as John had frequently done.

[438] The term "peers," as here used, means simply equals in rank. The present clause does not yet imply trial by jury in the modern sense. It comprises simply a narrow, feudal demand of the nobles to be judged by other nobles, rather than by lawyers or clerks. Jury trial was increasingly common in the thirteenth century, but it was not guaranteed in the Great Charter.

[439] This chapter is commonly regarded as the most important in the charter. It undertakes to prevent arbitrary imprisonment and to protect private property by laying down a fundamental principle of government which John had been constantly violating and which very clearly marked the line of distinction between a limited and an absolute monarchy.

[440] The principle is here asserted that justice in the courts should be open to all, and without the payment of money to get judgment hastened or delayed. Extortions of this character did not cease in 1215, but they became less exorbitant and arbitrary.

[441] The object of this chapter is to encourage commerce by guaranteeing foreign merchants the same treatment that English merchants received in foreign countries. The tolls imposed on traders by the cities, however, were not affected and they continued a serious obstacle for some centuries.

[442] This chapter provides that, except under the special circumstances of war, any law-abiding Englishman might go abroad freely, provided only he should remain loyal to the English crown. The rule thus established continued in effect until 1382, when it was enacted that such privileges should belong only to lords, merchants, and soldiers.

[443] During the struggle with the barons, John had brought in a number of foreign mercenary soldiers or "stipendiaries." All classes of Englishmen resented this policy and the barons improved the opportunity offered by the charter to get a promise from the king to dispense with his continental mercenaries as quickly as possible.

[444] This chapter provides that the charter's regulation of feudal customs should apply to the barons just as to the king. The barons' tenants were to be protected from oppression precisely as were the barons themselves. These tenants had helped in the winning of the charter and were thus rewarded for their services.

[445] The chapter goes on at considerable length to specify the manner in which, if the king should violate the terms of the charter, the commission of twenty-five barons should proceed to bring him to account. Even the right of making war was given them, in case it should become necessary to resort to such an extreme measure.