1. In the first place have
granted to God, and by this our present charter confirmed for us and our
heirs for ever that the English church shall be free, and shall have its
rights undiminished and its liberties unimpaired; and it is our will that
it be thus observed; which is evident from the fact that, before the
quarrel between us and our barons began, we willingly and spontaneously
granted and by our charter confirmed the freedom of elections which is
reckoned most important and very essential to the English church, and
obtained confirmation of it from the lord pope Innocent III; the which we
will observe and we wish our heirs to observe it in good faith for ever.
We have also granted to all free men of our kingdom, for ourselves and our
heirs forever, all the liberties written below, to be had and held by them
and their heirs of us and our heirs.
2. If any of our earls or
barons or others holding of us in chief by knight service dies, and at his
death his heir be of full age and owe relief he shall have his inheritance
on payment of the old relief, namely the heir or heirs of an earl L 100
for a whole earl's barony, the heir or heirs of a baron L 100 for a whole
barony, the heir or heirs of a knight 100s, at most, for a whole knight's
fee; and he who owes less shall give less according to the ancient usage
of fiefs.
3. If, however, the heir
of any such be under age and a ward, he shall have his inheritance when he
comes of age without paying relief and without making fine.
4. The guardian of the
land of such an heir who is under age shall take from the land of the heir
no more that reasonable revenues, reasonable customary dues and reasonable
services and that without destruction and waste of men or goods; and if we
commit the wardship of the land of any such to a sheriff, or to any other
who is answerable to us for its revenues, and he destroys or wastes what
he has wardship of, we will take compensation from him and the land shall
be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that fief, who shall be
answerable for the revenues to us or to him to whom we shall have assigned
them; and if we give or sell to anyone the wardship of any such land and
he causes destruction or waste therein, he shall lose that wardship, and
it shall be transferred to two lawful and discreet men of that fief, who
shall similarly be answerable to us as is aforesaid.
5. Moreover, so long as he
has the wardship of the land, the guardian shall keep in repair the
houses, parks, preserves, ponds, mills and other things pertaining to the
land out of the revenues from it; and he shall restore to the heir when he
comes of age his land fully stocked with ploughs and the means of
husbandry according to what the season of husbandry requires and the
revenues of the land can reasonably bear.
6. Heirs shall be married
without disparagement, yet so that before the marriage is contracted those
nearest in blood to the heir shall have notice.
7. A widow shall have her
marriage portion and inheritance forthwith and without difficulty after
the death of her husband; nor shall she pay anything to have her dower or
her marriage portion or the inheritance which she and her husband held on
the day of her husband's death; and she may remain in her husband's house
for forty days after his death, within which time her dower shall be
assigned to her.
8. No widow shall be
forced to marry so long as she wishes to live without a husband, provided
that she gives security not to marry without our consent if she holds of
us, or without the consent of her lord of whom she holds, if she holds of
another.
9. Neither we nor our
bailiffs will seize for any debt any land or rent, so long as the chattels
of the debtor are sufficient to repay the debt; nor will those who have
gone surety for the debtor be distrained so long as the principal debtor
is himself able to pay the debt; and if the principal debtor fails to pay
the debt, having nothing wherewith to pay it, then shall the sureties
answer for the debt; and they shall, if they wish, have lands and rents of
the debtor until they are reimbursed for the debt which they have paid for
him, unless the principal debtor can show that he has discharged his
obligation in the matter to the said sureties.
10. If anyone who has
borrowed from the Jews any sum, great or small, dies before it is repaid,
the debt shall not bear interest as long as the heir is under age, of
whomsoever he holds; and if the debt falls into our hands, we will not
take anything except the principal mentioned in the bond.
11. And if anyone dies
indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her dower and pay nothing of
that debt; and if the dead man leaves children who are under age, they
shall be provided with necessaries befitting the holding of the deceased;
and the debt shall be paid out of the residue, reserving, however, service
due to lords of the land; debts owing to others than Jews shall be dealt
with in like manner.
12. No scutage or aid
shall be imposed in our kingdom unless by common counsel of our kingdom,
except for ransoming our person, for making our eldest son a knight, and
for once marrying our eldest daughter; and for these only a reasonable aid
shall be levied. Be it done in like manner concerning aids from the city
of London.
13. And the city of London
shall have all its ancient liberties and free customs as well by land as
by water. Furthermore, we will and grant that all other cities, boroughs,
towns, and ports shall have all their liberties and free customs.
14. And to obtain the
common counsel of the kingdom about the assessing of an aid (except in the
three cases aforesaid) or of a scutage, we will cause to be summoned the
archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls and greater barons, individually by
our letters -- and, in addition, we will cause to be summoned generally
through our sheriffs and bailiffs all those holding of us in chief -- for
a fixed date, namely, after the expiry of at least forty days, and to a
fixed place; and in all letters of such summons we will specify the reason
for the summons. And when the summons has thus been made, the business
shall proceed on the day appointed, according to the counsel of these
present, though not all have come who were summoned.
15. We will not in future
grant any one the right to take an aid from his free men, except for
ransoming his person, for making his eldest son a knight and for once
marrying his eldest daughter, and for these only a reasonable aid shall be
levied.
16. No one shall be
compelled to do greater service for a knight's fee or for any other free
holding than is due from it.
17. Common pleas shall not
follow our court, but shall be held in some fixed place.
18. Recognitions of novel
disseisin, of mort d ancester, and of darrein presentment, shall not be
held elsewhere than in the counties to which they relate, and in this
manner -- we, or, if should be out of the realm, our chief Justiciar, will
send two justices through each county four times a year, who, with four
knights of each county chosen by the county, shall hold the said assizes
in the county and on the day and in the place of meeting of the county
court.
19. And if the said
assizes cannot all be held on the day of the county court, there shall
stay behind as many of the knights and freeholders who were present at the
county court on that day as are necessary for the sufficient making of
judgements, according to the amount of business to be done.
20. A free man shall not
be amerced for a trivial offence except in accordance with the degree of
the offence, and for a grave offence he shall be amerced in accordance
with its gravity, yet saving his way of living; and a merchant in the same
way, saving his stock-in-trade; and a villain shall be amerced in the same
way, saving his means of livelihood -- if they have fallen into our mercy:
and none of the aforesaid amercements shall be imposed except by the oath
of good men of the neighbourhood.
21. Earls and barons shall
not be amerced except by their peers, and only in accordance with the
degree of the offence.
22. No clerk shall be
amerced in respect of his lay holding except after the manner of the
others aforesaid and not according to the amount of his ecclesiastical
benefice.
23. No vill or individual
shall be compelled to make bridges at riverbanks, except those who from of
old are legally bound to do so.
24. No sheriff, constable,
coroners, or others of our bailiffs, shall hold pleas of our crown.
25. All counties,
hundreds, wapentakes and trithings shall be at the old rents without any
additional payment, except our demesne manors.
26. If anyone holding a
lay fief of us dies and our sheriff or bailiff shows our letters patent of
summons for a debt that the deceased owed us, it shall be lawful for our
sheriff or bailiff to attach and make a list of chattels of the deceased
found upon the lay fief to the value of that debt under the supervision of
law-worthy men, provided that none of the chattels shall be removed until
the debt which is manifest has been paid to us in full; and the residue
shall be left to the executors for carrying out the will of the deceased.
And if nothing is owing to us from him, all the chattels shall accrue to
the deceased, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.
27. If any free man dies
without leaving a will, his chattels shall be distributed by his nearest
kinsfolk and friends under the supervision of the church, saving to every
one the debts which the deceased owed him.
28. No constable or other
bailiff of ours shall take anyone's corn or other chattels unless he pays
on the spot in cash for them or can delay payment by arrangement with the
seller.
29. No constable shall
compel any knight to give money instead of castle-guard if he is willing
to do the guard himself or through another good man, if for some good
reason he cannot do it himself; and if we lead or send him on military
service, he shall be excused guard in proportion to the time that because
of us he has been on service.
30. No sheriff, or bailiff
of ours, or anyone else shall take the horses or carts of any free man for
transport work save with the agreement of that freeman.
31. Neither we nor our
bailiffs will take, for castles or other works of ours, timber which is
not ours, except with the agreement of him whose timber it is.
32. We will not hold for
more than a year and a day the lands of those convicted of felony, and
then the lands shall be handed over to the lords of the fiefs.
33. Henceforth all
fish-weirs shall be cleared completely from the Thames and the Medway and
throughout all England, except along the seacoast.
34. The writ called
Praecipe shall not in future be issued to anyone in respect of any holding
whereby a free man may lose his court.
35. Let there be one
measure for wine throughout our kingdom, and one measure for ale, and one
measure for corn, namely "the London quarter"; and one width for
cloths whether dyed, russet or halberget, namely two ells within the
selvedges. Let it be the same with weights as with measures.
36. Nothing shall be given
or taken in future for the writ of inquisition of life or limbs: instead
it shall be granted free of charge and not refused.
37. If anyone holds of us
by fee-farm, socage, or by burgage, and holds lands of another by knight
service, we will not, by reason of that fee-farm, socage, or burgage, have
the wardship of his heir or of land of his that is of the fief of the
other; nor will we have custody of the fee-farm, socage, or burgage,
unless such fee-farm owes knight service. We will not have custody of
anyone's heir or land which he holds of another by knight service by
reason of any petty serjeanty which he holds of us by the service of
rendering to us knives or arrows or the like.
38. No bailiff shall in
future put anyone to trial upon his own bare word, without reliable
witnesses produced for this purpose.
39. No free man shall be
arrested or imprisoned or disseised or outlawed or exiled or in any way
victimised, neither will we attack him or send anyone to attack him,
except by the lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land.
40. To no one will we
sell, to no one will we refuse or delay right or justice.
41. All merchants shall be
able to go out of and come into England safely and securely and stay and
travel throughout England, as well by land as by water, for buying and
selling by the ancient and right customs free from all evil tolls, except
in time of war and if they are of the land that is at war with us. And if
such are found in our land at the beginning of a war, they shall be
attached, without injury to their persons or goods, until we, or our chief
Justiciar, know how merchants of our land are treated who were found in
the land at war with us when war broke out, and if ours are safe there,
the others shall be safe in our land.
42. It shall be lawful in
future for anyone, without prejudicing the allegiance due to us, to leave
our kingdom and return safely and securely by land and water, save, in the
public interest, for a short period in time of war -- except for those
imprisoned or outlawed in accordance with the law of the kingdom and
natives of a land that is at war with us and merchants (who shall be
treated as aforesaid).
43. If anyone who holds of
some escheat such as the honour of Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne,
Lancaster, or of other escheats which are in our hands and are baronies
dies, his heir shall give no other relief and do no other service to us
than he would have done to the baron if that barony had been in the
baron's hands; and we will hold it in the same manner in which the baron
held it.
44. Men who live outside
the forest need not henceforth come before our justices of the forest upon
a general summons, unless they are impleaded or are sureties for any
person or persons who are attached for forest offences.
45. We will not make
justices, constables, sheriffs or bailiffs save of such as know the law of
the kingdom and mean to observe it well.
46. All barons who have
founded abbeys for which they have charters of the kings of England or
ancient tenure shall have the custody of them during vacancies, as they
ought to have.
47. All forests that have
been made forest in our time shall be immediately disafforested; and so be
it done with riverbanks that have been made preserves by us in our time.
48. All evil customs
connected with forests and warrens, foresters and warreners, sheriffs and
their officials, riverbanks and their wardens shall immediately be
inquired into in each county by twelve sworn knights of the same county
who are to be chosen by good men of the same county, and within forty days
of the completion of the inquiry shall be utterly abolished by them so as
never to be restored, provided that we, or our Justiciar if we are not in
England, know of it first.
49. We will immediately
return all hostages and charters given to us by Englishmen, as security
for peace or faithful service.
50. We will remove
completely from office the relations of Gerard de Athee so that in future
they shall have no office in England, namely Engelard de Cigogne, Peter
and Guy and Andrew de Chanceaux, Guy de Cigogne, Geoffrey de Martigny and
his brothers, Philip Marc and his brothers and his nephew Geoffrey, and
all their following.
51. As soon as peace is
restored, we will remove from the kingdom all foreign knights,
cross-bowmen, serjeants, and mercenaries, who have come with horses and
arms to the detriment of the kingdom.
52. If anyone has been
disseised of or kept out of his lands, castles, franchises or his right by
us without the legal judgement of his peers, we will immediately restore
them to him; and if a dispute arises over this, then let it be decided by
the judgment of the twenty-five barons who are mentioned below in the
clause for securing the peace; for all the things, however, which anyone
has been disseised or kept out of without the lawful judgement of his
peers by king Henry, our father, or by king Richard, our brother, which we
have in our hand or are held by others, to whom we are bound to warrant
them, we will have the usual period of respite of crusaders, excepting
those thing about which a plea was started or an inquest made by our
command before we took the cross; when however we return from our
pilgrimage, or if by any chance we do not go on it, we will at once do
full justice therein.
53. We will have the same
respite, and in the same manner, in the doing of justice in the matter of
the disafforesting or retaining of the forests which Henry our father or
Richard our brother afforested, and in the matter of the wardship of lands
which are of the fief of another, wardships of which sort we have hitherto
had by reason of a fief which anyone held of us by knight service, and in
the matter of abbeys founded on the fief of another, not on a fief of our
own, in which the lord of the fief claims he has a right; and when we have
returned, or if we do not set out on our pilgrimage, we will at once do
full justice to those who complain of these things.
54. No one shall be
arrested or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman for the death of anyone
except her husband.
55. All fines made with us
unjustly and against the law of the land, and all amercements imposed
unjustly and against the law of the land, shall be entirely remitted, or
else let them be settled by the judgment of the twenty-five barons who are
mentioned below in the clause for securing the peace, or by the judgment
of the majority of the same, along with the aforesaid Stephen, archbishop
of Canterbury, if he can be present, and such others as he may wish to
associate with himself for this purpose, and if he cannot be present the
business shall nevertheless proceed without him, provided that if any one
or more of the aforesaid twenty-five barons are in a like suit, they shall
be removed from the judgment of the case in question, and others chosen,
sworn and put in their place by the rest of the same twenty-five for this
case only.
56. If we have disseised
or kept out Welshmen from lands or liberties or other things without the
legal judgment of their peers in England or in Wales, they shall be
immediately restored to them; and if a dispute arises over this, then let
it be decided in the March by the judgment of their peers -- for holdings
in England according to the law of England, for holdings in Wales
according to the law of Wales, and for holdings in the March according to
the law of the March. Welshmen shall do the same to us and ours.
57. For all the things,
however, which any Welshman was disseised of or kept out of without the
lawful judgment of his peers by king Henry, our father, or king Richard,
our brother, which we have in our hand or which are held by others, to
whom we are bound to warrant them, we will have the usual period of
respite of crusaders, excepting those things about which a plea was
started or an inquest made by our command before we took the cross; when
however we return, or if by any chance we do not set out on our pilgrimae,
we will at once do full justice to them in accordance with the laws of the
Welsh and the foresaid regions.
58. We will give back at
once the son of Llywelyn and all the hostages from Wales and the charters
that were handed over to us as security for peace.
59. We will act toward
Alexander, king of the Scots, concerning the return of his sisters and
hostages and concerning his franchises and his right in the same manner in
which we act towards our other barons of England, unless it ought to be
otherwise by the charters which we have from William his father, formerly
king of the Scots, and this shall be determined by the judgment of his
peers in our court.
60. All these aforesaid
customs and liberties which we have granted to be observed in our kingdom
as far as it pertains to us towards our men, all of our kingdom, clerks as
well as laymen, shall observe as far as it pertains to them towards their
men.
61. Since, moreover, for
God and the betterment of our kingdom and for the better allaying of the
discord that has arisen between us and our barons we have granted all
these things aforesaid, wishing them to enjoy the use of them unimpaired
and unshaken for ever, we give and grant them the under-written security,
namely, that the barons shall choose any twenty-five barons of the kingdom
they wish, who must with all their might observe, hold and cause to be
observed, the peace and liberties which we have granted and confirmed to
them by this present charter of ours, so that if we, or our Justiciar, or
our bailiffs or any one of our servants offend in any way against anyone
or transgress any of the articles of the peace or the security and the
offence be notified to four of the aforesaid twenty-five barons, those
four barons shall come to us, or to our Justiciar if we are out of the
kingdom, and, laying the transgression before us, shall petition us to
have that transgression corrected without delay. And if we do not correct
the transgression, or if we are out of the kingdom, if our Justiciar does
not correct it, within forty days, reckoning from the time it was brought
to our notice or to that of our Justiciar if we were out of the kingdom,
the aforesaid four barons shall refer that case to the rest of the
twenty-five barons and those twenty-five barons together with the
community of the whole land shall distrain and distress us in every way
they can, namely, by seizing castles, lands, possessions, and in such
other ways as they can, saving our person and the persons of our queen and
our children, until, in their opinion, amends have been made; and when
amends have been made, they shall obey us as they did before. And let
anyone in the land who wishes take an oath to obey the orders of the said
twenty-five barons for the execution of all the aforesaid matters, and
with them to distress us as much as he can, and we publicly and freely
give anyone leave to take the oath who wishes to take it and we will never
prohibit anyone from taking it. Indeed, all those in the land who are
unwilling of themselves and of their own accord to take an oath to the
twenty-five barons to help them to distrain and distress us, we will make
them take the oath as aforesaid at our command. And if any of the
twenty-five barons dies or leaves the country or is in any other way
prevented from carrying out the things aforesaid, the rest of the
aforesaid twenty-five barons shall choose as they think fit another one in
his place, and he shall take the oath like the rest. In all matters the
execution of which is committed to these twenty-five barons, if it should
happen that these twenty-five are present yet disagree among themselves
about anything, or if some of those summoned will not or cannot be
present, that shall be held as fixed and established which the majority of
those present ordained or commanded, exactly as if all the twenty-five has
consented to it; and the said twenty-five shall swear that they will
faithfully observe all the things aforesaid and will do all they can to
get them observed. And we will procure nothing from anyone, either
personally or through anyone else whereby any of these concessions and
liberties might be revoked or diminished; and if any such thing is
procured, let it be void and null, and we will never use it either
personally or through another.
62. And we have fully
remitted and pardoned to everyone all the ill- will, indignation and
rancour that have arisen between us and our men, clergy and laity, from
the time of the quarrel. Furthermore, we have fully remitted to all,
clergy and laity, and as far as pertains to us have completely forgiven,
all trespasses occasioned by the same quarrel between Easter in the
sixteenth year of our reign and the restoration of peace. And, besides, we
have caused to be made for them letters testimonial patent of the lord
Stephen archbishop of Canterbury, of the lord Henry archbishop of Dublin
and of the aforementioned bishops and of master Pandulf about this
security and the aforementioned concessions.
63. Wherefore we wish and
firmly enjoin that the English church shall be free, and that the men in
our kingdom shall have and hold all the aforesaid liberties, rights and
concessions well and peacefully, freely and quietly, fully and completely,
for themselves and their heirs from us and our heirs, in all matters and
in all places for ever, as is aforesaid. An oath, moreover, has been
taken, as well on our part as on the part of the barons, that all these
things aforesaid shall be observed in good faith and without evil
disposition. Witness the above mentioned and many others. Given by our
hand in the meadow which is called Runnymede between Windsor and Staines
on the fifteenth day of June, in the seventeenth year of our reign.
