Chapter XVII: The Loss of Normandy. the Signing of the Charter

By the river Seine, on a high rock, Richard built a fine castle to guard Normandy. When the King of France heard of its building, he said, "If its walls were of iron I would take it," and Richard replied, "If its walls were of butter I would hold it," and he named it Château Gaillard, Saucy Castle. When Richard died, his brother John did not trouble to keep many soldiers there, and the King of France was glad, for he desired it greatly.

Eleanor, the King's mother, gathered soldiers for her son, and though she was very old she did her best to save Normandy. Yet Saucy Castle fell and the Norman barons would not fight for John. So Normandy was lost and the barons had to choose between their French lands and their English lands. Many, who were fierce and turbulent, went to live in Normandy, and those who had learned to love their new country stayed in England. Though they still spoke French they served England well and tried to make the King rule more justly.

Now the people of England had been proud of Normandy and they were angry with John because he had lost it. In his days, too, there was a great quarrel between the King and the Pope, and the priests were forbidden to hold any services in England, and for five years the churches and monasteries were closed, the dead were buried without prayer in the ditches and highways, and no one could marry in church.

"The images of saints were taken down and veiled; the frequent tinkle of the convent bell no longer told the serf at the plough how the weary hours were passing or guided the traveller through the forest to a shelter for the night." The people grew afraid, and they hated the King, who was the cause of much evil.

Yet John did not care, and he would not receive the new Archbishop whom the Pope had sent. Then the Pope banished the King from the Church and declared him an outlaw, whose life any man might take, and still the King had no fear. At last, the Pope offered the English crown to the French King and John knew that the French King was a dangerous enemy, therefore he promised to do whatever the Pope wished.

So the new Archbishop, Stephen Langton, was received by the King. Soon he began to talk with the barons of the wrongs that the King did daily in the land, and they searched for the old charter that Henry I had given his people. Then they drew up the Great Charter, asking the King to grant them justice.

John met the barons and the Archbishop in a meadow near Windsor, called Runnymede. When he saw the charter he said, "These articles are pure foolishness! Why do they not ask me for the Kingdom at once? I will never give them such freedom as would make me a slave." But looking round at the fierce barons there, unwillingly he set his seal to it.

Thus the King promised that no freeman should be imprisoned without a trial by his equals, that no one should be fined so heavily that he could not pay or that he had to give up the tools by which he earned his daily bread. He promised too that he would not take money from his people without asking the advice of his council and that he would let the merchants come and go freely in the land.

In London, you may still see the old charter signed by the barons who were present, and bearing the King's seal, and when you are able to read it, you can find out what other promises the King made that day.