Chapter II: The Charter of Henry the Second

The Charter granted by Henry the Second, though apparently full, contained certain omissions which are significant and important. Round has arranged this Charter side by side with that of Henry the First, dividing their contents into numbered clauses, italicising the points of difference (_Geoffrey de Mandeville_, pp. 368-369).

HENRY THE FIRST HENRY THE SECOND

(1) Cives non placitabunt extra (1) Nullus eorum placitet extra
muros civitatis pro ullo placito. muros civitatis Londoniarum de
ullo placito _praeter placita de
tenuris exterioribus, exceptis
monetariis et ministris meis_.

(2) Sint quieti _de schot et de (2) Concessi etiam eis quietanciam
loth de Danegildo et_ de murdro, murdri, [_et_] _infra urbem et
et nullus eorum faciat bellum. Portsokna_, et quod nullus faciat
bellum.

(3) Et si quis civium de placitis (3) De placitis ad coronam
coronæ implacitatus fuerit, per [spectantibus] se possunt
sacramentum quod judicatum fuerit disrationare secundum antiquam
in civitate, se disrationet homo consuetudinem civitatis.
Londoniarum.

(4) Et infra muros civitatis nullus (4) Infra muros nemo capiat
hospitetur, neque de mea familia, hospitium per vim vel per
neque de alia, nisi alicui liberationem Marescalli.
hospitium liberetur.

(5) Et omnes homines Londoniarum (5) Omnes cives Londoniarum sint
sint quieti et liberi, et omnes res quieti de theloneo et lestagio per
eorum, et per totam Angliam et per totam Angliam et per portum maris.
portus maris, de thelonio _et
passagio_ et lestagio _et
omnibus aliis consuetudinibus_.

(6) Et ecclesiæ et barones et cives
teneant et habeant bene et in pace
socnas suas cum omnibus (This clause is wholly omitted).
consuetudinibus ita quod hospites
qui in soccis suis hospitantur
nulli dent consuetudines suas,
nisi illi cujus socca fuerit, vel
ministro suo quem ibi posuerit.

(7) Et homo Londoniarum non (7) Nullus de misericordia pecuniæ
judicetur in misericordia pecuniæ judicetur nisi secundum legem
nisi ad suam _were_, scilicet civitatis quam habuerunt tempore
ad c solidos, dico de placito Henrici regis avi mei.
quod ad pecuniam pertineat.

(8) Et amplius non sit miskenninga (8) In civitate in nullo placito
in hustenge, neque in folkesmote, sit miskenninga; et quod Hustengus
neque in aliis placitis infra semel tantum in hebdomada
civitatem; et husteng sedeat semel teneatur.
in hebdomada, videlicet die Lunae.

(9) Et terras suas _et wardemotum_ (9) Terras suas _et tenuras et
et debita civibus meis habere faciam vadimonia_ et debita omnia juste
_infra civitatem et extra_. habeant, _quicunque eis debeat_.

(10) Et de terris de quibus ad me (10) De terris suis et tenuris
clamaverint rectum eis tenebo lege _quæ infra urbem sunt_, rectum eis
civitatis. teneatur secundum legem civitatis;
et de omnibus debitis suis quae
accomodata fuerint apud Londonias,
et de vadimoniis ibidem factis,
placita [? sint] apud Londoniam.

(11) Et si quis thelonium vel (11) Et si quis _in tota Anglia_
consuetudinem a civibus Londoniarum theloneum et consuetudinem ab
ceperit, _cives_ Londoniarum capiant hominibus Londoniarum ceperit,
de burgo vel de villa ubi theloneum _postquam ipse a recto defecerit
vel consuetudo capta fuit, quantam Vicecomes_ Londoniarum namium inde
homo Londoniarum pro theloneo dedit, apud _Londonias_ capiat.
et proinde de damno caperit.

(12) Et omnes debitores qui civibus (12) Habeant fugationes suas,
debita debent eis reddant vel in ubicumque habuerunt tempore Regis
Londoniis se disrationent quod non Henrici avi mei.
debent. _Quod si reddere noluerint,
neque ad disrationandum venire,
tunc cives quibus debita sua debent
capiant intra civitatem namia sua,
vel de comitatu in quo manet qui
debitum debet._

(13) Et cives habeant fugationes (13) _Insuper etiam, ad
suas ad fugandum sicut melius et emendationem civitatis, eis
plenius habuerunt antecessores concessi quod sint quieti de
eorum, scilicet Chiltre et Brudtolle, et de Childewite, et de
Middlesex et Sureie. Yaresive, et de Scotale; ita quod
Vicecomes meus_ (sic)
_London[iarum] vel aliquis alius
ballivus Scotalla non faciat._

The text of the first is that of Stubbs’s _Select Charters_; that of the second is taken from the transcript in the _Liber Custumarum_ (collated with the _Liber Rubeus_).

One very curious mistake was discovered by Round in the first. In clause 9 the word _wardemotum_ is used. This, by comparison with the corresponding clause in the second Henry’s Charter, should be _vadimonia_: in other words, both Charters confirmed to the citizens “the property mortgaged to them and the debts due to them.”

To consider the differences:—

(1) No citizens are to plead without the walls. The second Charter adds “except in pleas for exterior tenures, my moneyers and servants excepted.”

By the second clause the citizens are freed from Scot and Lot and Danegeld and Murder. Henry the Second substitutes acquittance of murder within the City and Portsoken.

(6) Clause 6 is omitted in the second Charter.

(9) Clause 9. I have already shown the error discovered by Round in the word _wardemotum_.

(10) Here is a limitation, “quæ infra urbem sunt,” which are within the City.

(11) The clause concerning debtors omitted in the second Charter.

(12) About taking toll or any other custom from the citizens: for the “citizens” is substituted the Sheriff.

(13) Observe that Henry the Second does not speak of the Sheriff of London, but of _my_ Sheriff.

The most important omission, however, in the second Charter is that which gives the citizens the right to hold Middlesex on the _firma_ of £300 a year, and the right to elect their own Justiciar and Sheriff.