(1)
That the English Church shall be free, and shall have her whole rights
and her liberties inviolable; and we will this to be observed in such a
manner, that it may appear from thence, that the freedom of elections,
which was reputed most requisite to the English Church, which we granted,
and by our Charter confirmed, and obtained the Confirmation of the same,
from our Lord Pope Innocent the Third, before the rupture between us and
our Barons, was of our own free will: which Charter we shall observe, and
we will it to be observed with good faith, by our heirs for ever.
We have also granted to all the Freemen of our Kingdom, for us and
our heirs for ever, all the underwritten Liberties, to be enjoyed and held by them and by their heirs, from us and from our heirs.
(2)
If any of our Earls or Barons, or others who hold of us in chief by military
service, shall die, and at his death his heir shall be of full age, and
shall owe a relief, he shall have his inheritance by the ancient relief;
that is to say, the heir or heirs of an Earl, a whole Earl's Barony for
one hundred pounds: the heir or heirs of a Baron for a whole Barony, by
one hundred pounds; the heir or heirs of a Knight, for a whole Knight's
Fee, by one hundred shillings at most: and he who owes less, shall give
less, according to the ancient custom of fees.
(3)
But if the heir of any such be under age, and in wardship, when he comes
to age he shall have his inheritance without relief and without fine.
(4)
The warden of the land of such heir who shall be under age, shall not take
from the lands of the heir any but reasonable issues, and reasonable customs,
and reasonable services, and the without destruction and waste of the men
or goods, and if we commit the custody of any such lands to a Sheriff,
or any other person who is bound to us for the issues of them and he shall
make destruction or waste upon the ward- lands we will recover damages
from him and the lands shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men
of that fee, who shall answer for the issues to us, or to him to whom we
have assigned them. And if we shall give or sell to any one the custody
of any such lands, and he shall make destruction or waste upon them, he
shall lose the custody; and it shall be committed to two lawful and discreet
men of that fee, who shall answer to us in like manner as it is said before.
(5)
But the warden, as long as he hath the custody of the lands, shall keep
up and maintain the houses, parks, warrens, ponds, mills, and other
things belonging to them, our of their issues; and shall restore
to the heir when he comes of full age, his whole estate, provided
with ploughs and other implements of husbandry, according as the
time of Wainage shall require, and the issues of the lands can reasonably
afford.
(6)
Heirs shall be married without disparagement, so that before the marriage
be contracted, it shall be notified to the relations of the heir
by consanguinity.
(7)
A widow, after the death of her husband, shall immediately, and
without difficulty have her marriage and her inheritance; nor shall
she give any thing for her dower, or for her marriage, or for her
inheritance, which her husband and she held at the day of his death:
and she may remain in her husband's house forty days after his death,
within which time her dower shall be assigned.
(8)
No widow shall be compelled to marry herself, while she is willing
to live without a husband; but yet she shall give security that
she will not marry herself without our consent, if she hold of us,
or without the consent of the lord of whom she does hold, if she hold
of another.
(9)
Neither we nor our Bailiffs, will seize any land or rent for any debt,
while the chattels of the debtor are sufficient for the payment
of the debt; nor shall the sureties of the debtor be compelled, while the
principal debtor is able to pay the debt; and if the principal debtor
fail in payment of the debt, not having wherewith to discharge it, the
sureties shall answer for the debt; and if they be willing, they
shall have the lands and rents of the debtor, until satisfaction
be made to them for the debt which they had before paid for him,
unless the principal debtor can shew himself acquitted thereof against
the said sureties.
(10)
If any one hath borrowed any thing from the Jews, more or less, and
die before that debt be paid, the debt shall pay no interest so long
as the heir shall be under age, of whomsoever he may hold; and if that
debt shall fall into our hands, we will not take any thing except the
chattel contained in the bond,
(11)
And if any one shall die indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have
her dower and shall pay nothing of that debt; and if children of
the deceased shall remain who are under age, necessaries shall be provided
for them, according to the tenement which belonged to the deceased:
and out of the residue the debt shall be paid, saving the rights
of the lords (of whom the lands are held.) In like manner let
it be with debts owing to others than Jews.
(12)
No scutage nor aid shall be imposed in our kingdom, unless by the
common council of our kingdom; excepting to redeem our person, to
make our eldest son a knight, and once to marry our eldest daughter, and
not for these, unless a reasonable aid shall be demanded.
(13)
In like manner let it be concerning the aids of the City of London.-
And the City of London should have all it's ancient liberties, and
it's free customs, as well by land as by water.- Furthermore, we
will and grant that all other Cities, and Burghs, and Towns, and
Ports, should have all their liberties and free
customs.
(14)
And also to have the common council of the kingdom, to assess and
aid, otherwise than in the three cases aforesaid: and for the
assessing of scutages, we will cause to be summoned the Archbishops,
Bishops, Abbots, Earls, and great Barons, individually, by our
letters.- And besides, we will cause to be summoned in general by
our Sheriffs and Bailiffs, all those who hold of us in chief, at a
certain day, that is to say at the distance of forty days, (before
their meeting,) at the least, and to a certain place; and in all the
letters of summons, we will express the cause of the summons:
and the summons being thus made, the business shall proceed on the
day appointed, according to the counsel of those who shall be present,
although all who had been summoned have not come.
(15)
We will not give leave to any one, for the future, to take an aid
of his own free-men, except for redeeming his own body, and for making
his eldest son a knight, and for marrying once his eldest daughter;
and not that unless it be a reasonable aid.
(16)
None shall be compelled to do more service for a Knight's-Fee, nor
for any other free tenement, than what is due from thence.
(17)
Common Pleas shall not follow our court, but shall be held in any
certain place.
(18)
Trials upon the Writs of Novel Disseisin, Of Mort d'Ancestre (death
of the ancestor), and Darrien Presentment (last presentation), shall
not be taken but in their proper counties, and in this manner:-
We, or our Chief Justiciary, if we are out of the kingdom, will
send two Justiciaries into each county, four times in
the year, who, with four knights of each county, chosen by the county,
shall hold the aforesaid assizes, within the county on the day, and
at the place appointed.
(19)
And if the aforesaid assizes cannot be taken on the day of the county-court,
let as many knights and freeholders, of those who were present at
the county-court remain behind, as shall be sufficient to do justice,
according to the great or less importance of the business.
(20)
A free-man shall not be fined for a small offence, but only according
to the degree of the offence; and for a great delinquency, according
to the magnitude of the delinquency, saving his contenement: a Merchant
shall be fined in the same manner, saving his merchandise, and a
villain shall be fined after the same manner, saving to him his
Wainage, if he shall fall into our mercy; and none of the aforesaid
fines shall be assessed, but by the oath of honest men of the vicinage.
(21)
Earls and Barons shall not be fined but by their Peers, and that
only according to the degree of their delinquency.
(22)
No Clerk shall be fined for his lay-tenement, but according to the
manner of the others as aforesaid, and not according to the quantity
of his ecclesiastical benefice.
(23)
Neither a town nor any person shall be compelled to build bridges
or embankments, excepting those which anciently, and of right, are
bound to do it.
(24)
No Sheriff, Constable, Coroners, nor other of our Bailiffs, shall
hold pleas of our crown.
(25)
All Counties, and Hundreds, Trethings, and Wapontakes, shall be at
the ancient rent, without any increase, excepting in our Demesne-manors.
(26)
If any one holding of us a lay-fee dies, and the Sheriff or our Bailiff,
shall shew our letters- patent of summons concerning the debt which
the defunct owed to us, it shall be lawful for the Sheriff or our
Bailiff to attach and register the chattels of the defunct found on
that lay-fee, to the amount of that debt, by the view of lawful men,
so that nothing shall be removed from thence until our debt be paid
to us; and the rest shall be left to the executors to fulfil the
will of the defunct; and if nothing be owing to us by him, all the chattels
shall fall to the defunct, saving to his wife and children their
reasonable shares.
(27)
If any free-man shall die intestate, his chattels shall be distributed
by the hands of his nearest relations and friends, by the view of
the Church, saving to every one the debts which the defunct owed.
(28)
No Constable nor other Bailiff of ours shall take the corn or other
goods of any one, without instantly paying money for them, unless
he can obtain respite from the free will of the seller.
(29)
No Constable (Governor of a Castle) shall compel any Knight to give
money for castle-guard, if he be willing to perform it in his own
person, or by another able man, if he cannot perform it himself,
for a reasonable cause: and if we have carried or sent him into
the army, he shall be excused from castle-guard, according to the time
that he shall be in the army by our command.
(30)
No Sheriff nor Bailiff of ours, nor any other person shall take the
horses or carts of any free-man, for the purpose of carriage, without
the consent of the said free-man.
(31)
Neither we, nor our Bailiffs, will take another man's wood, for our
castles or other uses, unless by the consent of him to whom the wood
belongs.
(32)
We will not retain the lands of those who have been convicted of
felony, excepting for one year and one day, and then they shall be
given up to the lord of the fee.
(33)
All kydells (wears) for the future shall be quite removed our of
the Thames, and the Medway, and through all England, excepting upon
the sea-coast.
(34)
The writ which is called Praecipe, for the future shall not be granted
to any one of any tenement, by which a free-man may lose his court.
(35)
There shall be one measure of wine throughout all our kingdom, and
one measure of ale, and one measure of corn, namely the quarter
of London; and one breadth of dyed cloth, and of russets, and of
halberjects, namely, two ells within the lists. Also it shall be
the same with weights as with measures.
(36)
Nothing shall be given or taken for the future for the Writ of Inquisition
of life or limb; but it shall be given without charge, and not denied.
(37)
If any hold of us by Fee-Farm or Socage, or Burgage, and hold land
of another by Military Service, we will not have the custody of the
heir, nor of his lands, which are of the fee of another, on account
of that Fee-Farm, or Socage, or Burgage; nor will we have the custody
of the Fee-Farm, Socage or Burgage, unless the Fee-Farm owe Military
Service. We will not have the custody of the heir, nor of the lands
of any one, which he holds of another by Military Service, on account
of any Petty-Sergeantry which he holds of us by the service of giving
us daggers, or arrows, or the like.
(38)
No Bailiff, for the future, shall put any man to his law, upon his
own simple affirmation, without credible witnesses produced for
the purpose.
(39)
No freeman shall be seized, or imprisoned, or dispossessed, or outlawed,
or in any way destroyed; nor will we condemn him, nor will we commit
him to prison, excepting by the legal judgement of his peers, or
by the laws of the land.
(40)
To none will we sell, to none will we deny, to none will we delay
right or justice.
(41)
All Merchants shall have safety and security in coming into England,
and going out of England, and in staying and in travelling through
England, as well by lands as by water, to buy and sell, without
any unjust exactions, according to ancient and right customs, excepting
the time of war, and if they be of a country at war against us:
and if such are found in our land at the beginning of a war, they
shall be apprehended without injury of their bodies and goods, until
it be known to us, or to our Chief Justiciary, how the Merchants of our
country are treated who are found in the country at war against
us; and if ours be in safety there, the others shall be in safety
in our land.
(42)
It shall be lawful to any person, for the future, to go out of our
kingdom, and to return, safely and securely, by land or by water,
saving his allegiance to us, unless it be in time of war, for some
short space, for the common good of the kingdom: excepting prisoners
and outlaws, according to the laws of the land, and of the people
of the nation at war against us, and Merchants who shall be treated
as it is said above.
(43)
If any hold of any escheat, as of the Honor of Wallingford, Nottingham,
Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other escheats which are in our hand,
and are Baronies, and shall die, his heir shall not give any other relief,
nor do any other service to us, than he should have done to the
Baron, if that Barony had been in the hands of the Baron; and we
will hold it in the same manner that the Baron held it.
(44)
Men who dwell without the Forest, shall not come, for the future,
before our Justiciaries of the Forest on a common summons; unless
they be parties in a plea, or sureties for some person or persons
who are attached for the Forest.
(45)
We will not make Justiciaries, Constables, Sheriffs, or Bailiffs,
excepting of such as know the laws of the land, and are well disposed
to observe them.
(46)
All Barons who have founded Abbies, which they hold by charters from
the Kings of England, or by ancient tenure, shall have the custody
of them when they become vacant, as they ought to have.
(47)
All Forests which have been made in our time, shall be immediately
disafforested; and it shall be so done with Water-banks, which have
been taken or fenced in by us during our reign.
(48)
All evil customs of Forests and Warrens, and of Foresters and Warreners,
Sheriffs and their officers, Water-banks and their keepers, shall
immediately be inquired into by twelve Knights of the same county,
upon oath, who shall be elected by good men of the same county;
and within forty days after the inquisition is made, they shall
be altogether destroyed by them never to be restored; provided that
this be notified to us before it be done, or to our Justiciary, if
we be not in England.
(49)
We will immediately restore all hostages and charters, which have
been delivered to us by the English, in security of the peace and of
their faithful service.
(50)
We will remove from their bailiwicks the relations of Gerard de Athyes,
so that, for the future they shall have no bailiwick in England;
Engelard de Cygony, Andrew, Peter, and Gyone de Chancell, Gyone
de Cygony, Geoffrey de Martin, and his brothers, Philip Mark, and
his brothers, and Geoffrey his nephew, and all their followers.
(51)
And immediately after the conclusion of the peace, we will remove
out of the kingdom all foreign knights, crossbow-men, and stipendiary
soldiers, who have come with horses and arms to the molestation
of the kingdom.
(52)
If any have been disseised or dispossessed by us, without a legal
verdict of their peers, of their lands, castles, liberties, or rights,
we will immediately restore these things to them; and if any dispute
shall arise on this head, then it shall be determined by the verdict
of the twenty-five Barons, of whom mention is made below, for the
security of the peace.- Concerning all those things of which any
one hath been disseised or dispossessed, without the legal verdict
of his peers by King Henry our father, or King Richard our brother,
which we have in our hand, or others hold with our warrants, we
shall have respite, until the common term of the Crusaders, excepting
those concerning which a plea had been moved, or an inquisition
taken, by our precept, before our taking the Cross; but as soon
as we shall return from our expedition, or if, by chance, we
should not go upon our expedition, we will immediately do complete
justice therein.
(53)
The same respite will we have, and the same justice shall be done,
concerning the disafforestation of the forests, or the forests which
remain to be disafforested, which Henry our father, or Richard our
brother, have afforested; and the same concerning the wardship of
lands which are in another's fee, but the wardship of which we have
hitherto had, occasioned by any of our fees held by Military Service;
and for Abbies founded in any other fee than our own, in which the
Lord of the fee hath claimed a right; and when we shall have returned,
or if we shall stay from our expedition, we shall immediately do
complete justice in all these pleas.
(54)
No man shall be apprehended or imprisoned on the appeal of a woman,
for the death of any other man than her husband.
(55)
All fines that have been made by us unjustly, or contrary to the
laws of the land; and all fines that have been imposed unjustly, or
contrary to the laws of the land, shall be wholly remitted, or ordered
by the verdict of the twenty-five Barons, of whom mention is made
below, for the security of the peace, or by the verdict of the greater
part of them, together with the aforesaid Stephen, Archbishop of
Canterbury, if he can be present, and others whom he may think fit
to bring with him: and if he cannot be present, the business
shall proceed, notwithstanding, without him; but so, that if any
one or more of the aforesaid twenty-five Barons have a similar plea,
let them be removed from that particular trial, and others elected
and sworn by the residue of the same twenty-five, be substituted
in their room, only for that trial.
(56)
If we have disseised or dispossessed any Welshmen of their lands,
or liberties, or other things, without a legal verdict of their peers,
in England or in Wales, they shall be immediately restored to them;
and if any dispute shall arise upon this head then let it be determined
in the Marches by the verdict of their peers: for a tenement of
England, according to the law of England; for a tenement of Wales,
according to the law of Wales; for tenement of the Marches, according
to the law of the Marches. The Welsh shall do the
same to us and to our subjects.
(57)
Also concerning those things of which any Welshman hath been disseised
or dispossessed without the legal verdict of his peers, by King
Henry our father, or King Richard our brother, which we have in our
hand, or others hold with our warrant, we shall have respite, until
the common term of the Crusaders, excepting for those concerning which
a plea had been moved, or an inquisition made, by our precept, before
our taking the cross. But as soon as we shall return from our expedition,
or if, by chance, we should not go upon our expedition, we shall
immediately do complete justice therein, according to the laws of
Wales, and the parts aforesaid.
(58)
We will immediately deliver up the son of Llewelin, and all the hostages
of Wales, and release them from their engagements which were made
with us, for the security of the peace.
(59)
We shall do to Alexander King of Scotland, concerning the restoration
of his sisters and hostages, and his liberties and rights, according
to the form in which we act to our other Barons of England, unless
it ought to be otherwise by the charters which we have from his
father William, the late King of Scotland; and this shall be by
the verdict of his peers in our court.
(60)
Also all these customs and liberties aforesaid, which we have granted
to be held in our kingdom, for so much of it as belongs to us, all
our subjects, as well clergy as laity, shall observe towards their
tenants as far as concerns them.
(61)
But since we have granted all these things aforesaid, for GOD,
and for the amendment of our kingdom, and for the better extinguishing
the discord which has arisen between us and our Barons, we being
desirous that these things should possess entire and unshaken stability
for ever, give and grant to them the security underwritten; namely,
that the Barons may elect twenty-five Barons of the kingdom, whom
they please, who shall with their whole power, observe, keep, and
cause to be observed, the peace and liberties which we have granted
to them, and have confirmed by this our present charter, in this
manner: that is to say, if we, or our Justiciary, or our bailiffs,
or any of our officers, shall have injured any one in any thing,
or shall have violated any article of the peace or security, and
the injury shall have been shown to four of the
aforesaid twenty-five Barons, the said four Barons shall come to
us, or to our Justiciary if we be out of the kingdom, and making
known to us the excess committed, petition that we cause that excess
to be redressed without delay. And if we shall not have redressed
the excess, or, if we have been out of the kingdom, our Justiciary
shall not have redressed it within the term of forty days, computing
from the time when it shall have been made known to us, or to our
Justiciary if we have been out of the kingdom, the aforesaid four
Barons, shall lay that cause before the residue of the twenty-five
Barons; and they, the twenty-five Barons, with the community of the
whole land, shall distress and harass us by all the ways in which they
are able; that is to say, by the taking of our castles, lands, and
possessions, and by any other means in their power, until the excess
shall have been redressed, according to their verdict; saving harmless
our person, and the persons of our Queen and children; and when it
hath been redressed, they shall behave to us as they have done before.
And whoever of our land pleaseth, may swear, that he will
obey the commands of the aforesaid twenty-five Barons, in accomplishing
all the things aforesaid, and that with them he will harass us to
the utmost of his power: and we publicly and freely give leave to
every one to swear who is willing to swear; and we will never forbid
any to swear. But all those of our land, who, of themselves, and
of their own accord, are unwilling to swear to the twenty-five Barons,
to distress and harass us together with them, we will compel them
by our command, to swear as aforesaid.
And
if any one of the twenty-five Barons shall die, or remove out of the
land, or in any other way shall be prevented from executing the things
above said, they who remain of the twenty-five Barons shall elect
another in his place, according to their own pleasure, who shall be
sworn in the same manner as the rest.
In all those things which are appointed to be done by these
twenty-five Barons, if it happen that all the twenty-five have been
present, and have differed in their opinions about any thing, or if
some of them who had been summoned, would not, or could not be present,
that which the greater part of those who were present shall have
provided and decreed, shall be held as firm and as valid, as if all
the twenty-five had agreed in it: and the aforesaid twenty-five shall
swear, that they will faithfully observe, and, with all their
power, cause to be observed, all the things mentioned above.
And we will obtain nothing from any one, by
ourselves, nor by another, by which any of these concessions and
liberties may be revoked or diminished. And if any such thing shall
have been obtained,
let it be void and null: and we will never use it, neither by
ourselves nor by another.
(62)
And we have fully remitted and pardoned to all men, all the ill-will,
rancor, and resentments, which have arisen between us and our subjects,
both clergy and laity, from the commencement of the discord. Moreover,
we have fully remitted to all the clergy and laity, and as far as
belongs to us, have fully pardoned all transgressions committed
by occasion of the said discord, from Easter, in the sixteenth year
of our reign [i.e., 1215], until the conclusion of the peace.
And,
moreover, we have caused to be made to them testimonial letters-patent
of the Lord Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Henry, Archbishop
of Dublin, and of the aforesaid Bishops, and of
Master Pandulph concerning this security, and the aforesaid
concessions.
(63)
Wherefore, our will is and we firmly command that the Church of England
be free, and that the men in our kingdom have and hold the aforesaid
liberties, rights, and concessions, well and in peace, freely and
quietly, fully and entirely, to them and their heirs, of us and
our heirs, in all things and places, for ever as is aforesaid.
It is also sworn, both on our part, and on that of the Barons,
that all the aforesaid shall be observed in good faith, and without
any evil intention. Witnessed by the above, and many others.
Given by our hand in the Meadow which is called Runningmead, between Windsor and Staines, this 15th day of June, in the 17th year of our reign [i.e., 1215: the new year began on May 28th].