cessors. But a return to will I forbid him to give her in marriage unless he Henry I., as shall wish to join her to one of my enemies. And by his predeif upon the death of a baron, or of any other of the promise my men, a daughter shall survive as his heir I will here made is give her in marriage with her lands, after taking the equitable counsel of my barons. And if, upon the death old custom instead of the of a man, his wife shall survive and shall be cruel exacwithout children she shall have her dowry right to marry, and I will not give her in riage to any husband except in accordance her wish. and tions made in the reigns mar- of Wm. I. with and Wm. II. Marriage: see Magna Art. viii. 4. If a wife with children shall survive her hus- Charta, band, such a one shall have her dowry and right to marry whilst she properly preserves her relation (to the king as lord paramount), and I will not give her in marriage except in accordance with her wish. And the guardian of the estate and the children shall be either the wife or some one of the near kindred who ought justly so to be. And I direct that my barons conduct themselves in like manner towards the sons, daughters, or wives of their men. 5. The common tribute for mintage which was "Common collected through cities and counties and which was tribute" (monetagium) not known in the time of King Edward, this shall was a paynot be from henceforth, and I altogether forbid it. If any one, whether an officer of the mint or another, be taken with false money about him, let due justice be done in the matter. 6. All suits and dues which were owing to my brother I forgive, excepting my just rents, and excepting those which were agreed upon for the inheritances of others or for those properties which more justly pertained to others. And if any one has agreed to give anything on account of his own inheritance, that I forgive, together with all reliefs which were agreed to be given for actual inheritances. ment by the subjects to prevent de preciation or change of coinage. See Magna xxvii. The estate was to be distributed as the de 7. And if any of my barons or feudal dependents shall fall sick, according as he shall give away or shall arrange to give away his money, I concede that it shall be given. But if, prevented by military service or physical infirmity, he shall not give away his money or arrange to give it, his wife or children or relatives and lawful heirs shall divide it up for ceased ought the good of his soul as shall seem best to them. 8. If any of my barons or feudal dependents shall incur a forfeiture, he shall not give surety in the way of an arbitrary mulct of money as he did in the time of my father or my brother, but according to the mode of forfeiture he shall make reparation as he would have made it before my father's time, in the time of my other predecessors. But if he shall have been convicted of treason or an infamous crime, as shall be just so he shall make reparation. to distribute it, - - a por- See Magna XX. The only unpopular clause in the charter. William I. Edward the Confessor, 1042. This article is really intended to protect the 9. All murders previous to the day of my coronation I pardon, and for those which shall be committed henceforth just reparation shall be made according to the law of King Edward. 10. The forests I have, with the general consent of my barons in council, retained in my own possession as my father held them. 11. To soldiers who hold their lands by knightly service I give such lands as of my own gift, all arable portions of the same to be free from all amercement and other burdens, that as they are thus substantially relieved they may keep themselves well furnished both with horses and arms for my service and the defence of my kingdom. 12. I establish and henceforth undertake to maintain a firm peace in all my kingdom. 13. I give back to you the law of King Edward, with those emendations which my father with the council of his barons made upon it. 14. If any one has taken aught from my property or the property of another since the death of my brother William, let it all be restored at once with out other amends; and if any one hereafter shall privileges of taken. WITNESSES: Maurice bishop of London, Gundolf bishop, William bishop elect, Henry earl, Simon earl Robert de Montfort, Henry de Portous, at London when I was crowned. CONTEMPORARY EXPOSITION WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY (1135) He (Henry) was elected king: though some trifling dissensions had first arisen among the nobility, which were allayed chiefly through the exertions of Henry, Earl of Warwick. He immediately promulgated an edict throughout England, annulling the illegal ordinances of his brother, and of Ranulph; he remitted taxes; released prisoners; drove the flagitious from court; restored the nightly use of lights within the palace, which had been omitted in his brother's time; and renewed the operation of the ancient laws, confirming them with his own oath, and that of the nobility, that they might not be eluded. A joyful day then seemed to dawn on the people, when the light of fair promise shone forth after such repeated clouds of distress. WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY, Chronicles of the Kings of England. (Giles's Translation) V. 125. | bah! ROGER OF WENDOVER (1235) To induce them (the barons) to espouse his cause and make him king, he promised them to revise and amend the laws by which England had been oppressed in the time of his deceased brother. To this the clergy and people replied that, if he would confirm to them by charter all the liberties and customs which were observed in the reign of the holy King Edward, they would accede to his wishes and make him their king. This Henry readily engaged to do, and, confirming the same by an oath, he was crowned king at Westminster, on the day of the Annunciation of St. Mary, with the acclamations of the clergy and people; after which he caused these principles to be reduced to writing, to the honour of the holy church and the peace of his people. There were as many of these charters made as there are counties in England, and by the king's orders they were placed in the abbeys of each county for a memorial. ROGER OF WENDOVER, Flowers of History. (Giles's Translation) I. 448. CRITICAL COMMENT HALLAM (1818) Nor does the charter of Henry I., though so much celebrated, contain anything specially expressed but a remission of unreasonable reliefs, wardships, and other feudal burdens. It proceeds, however, to declare that he gives his subjects the laws of Edward the Confessor, with the emendations made by his father with consent of his barons. The people had begun to look back to a more ancient standard of law. The Norman conquest, and all that ensued upon it, had endeared the memory of their Saxon government. Its disorders were forgotten, or rather were less odious to a rude nation, than the coercive justice by which they were afterward restrained. Hence it became the favourite cry to demand the laws of Edward the Confessor; and the Normans themselves, as they grew dissatisfied with the royal administration, fell into these English sentiments. But what these laws were, or more properly, perhaps, these customs, subsisting in the Confessor's age, was not very distinctly understood. So far, however, was clear, that the vigorous feudal servitudes, the weighty tributes upon poorer freemen, had never prevailed before the conquest. In claiming the laws of Edward the Confessor, our ancestors meant but the redress of grievances which tradition told them had not always existed. HENRY HALLAM, Europe During the Middle Ages. I. 340. STUBBS (1873) The understanding to govern well was made not only with the archbishop as the first constitutional adviser of the crown, but with the whole nation; it was embodied in a charter addressed to all the faithful, and attested by the witan who were present, the paucity of whose names may perhaps indicate the small number of powerful men who had as yet adhered to him. . . . The form of the charter forcibly declares the ground which he was taking. . . . Perhaps the most significant articles of the whole document are those by which he provided that the benefit of the feudal concessions shall not be engrossed by the tenants in chief: in like manner shall the men of my barons relieve their lands at the hand of their lords by a just and lawful relief.' WILLIAM STUBBS, Constitutional History of England. I. 330. J. R. GREEN (1874) Henry's charter is important, not merely as the direct precedent for the Great Charter of John, but as the first limitation which had been imposed on the despotism established by the conquest. J. R. GREEN, Short History of the English People. Chap. II., Sec. VI., p. 91. POLLOCK AND MAITLAND (1895) During the whole Norman period there was very little legislation. . . . It seems probable that Rufus set the example of granting charters of liberties to the people at large. In 1093, sick and in terror of death, he set his seal to some document |