Chapter 7

The Times 1215-1272

Tenures in land were free or not free; the free tenures were

(1) military service, (2) grand serjeanty, (3) free socage, and (4)

frankalmoin. For military service, in general, every man knows his

place, knows how many days he must fight and with what arms. But this

institution is becoming unstable. Sometimes a substantial payment

called scutage is taken instead. As feudalism became less military and

less rough, daughters were permitted to inherit fiefs. It became

customary to divide the property of a deceased man without a son

equally among his daughters. Lords were receiving homage from all the

daughters and thereby acquiring marriage rights over all of them. Also,

if a son predeceased his father but left a child, that child would

succeed to the father's land in the same way that the deceased would

have. The ill, the aged, women, and ecclesiastics could send a

substitute to military service. There are certain reliefs, and wardship

and marriage fees associated with military tenure. Grand serjeanty was

various and included carrying the banner of the king, or his lance,

carrying his sword at his coronation, carrying his letters, summoning

his barons, conveying his treasure from place to place, being his

steward, marshal, chamberlain or constable. Many serjeanties were

connected with warfare, such as light horsemen, infantry, bowmen,

captains of the national militia, leading the infantry of certain

hundreds, military transport, carriage of armour on a horse, munitions

of war such as lances, arrows or knives. A man could hold by serjeanty

of a mesne lord, such as presiding over the lord's court, riding with

the lord or on his errands, feeding his hounds, or supplying bows and

arrows. Tenure in free socage may involve a nominal service to a lord,

such as the gift every year of a rose, a sparrowhawk, a pair of gloves,

a pair of gilt spurs, or a pound of pepper, or of incense or of wax.

Tenure in socage may originate by a gift of land to a daughter or

younger son, or to some dependant for past services, or a purchase with

a gross sum. There were no wardship or marriage or other fees

associated with a tenure in free socage. Tenure in frankalmoin ["free

alms" for the poor to relieve the king of this burden] was land held by

ecclesiastics in right of their churches and of God. This service was

spiritual, often for saying prayers for the deceased donor so that he

could go from purgatory to heaven, and it was an indefinite service. In

general, land could be alienated or subinfeudated without the lord's

consent and thus come to be held in another tenure. Land escheated

[returned] to the lord if there were no heirs, or in case of felony

after the king has possessed and taken the profits of the land for year

and day. In case of treason, a tenant's lands were all forfeited to the

king. The tenure of socage obligated the tenant to fixed agricultural

services, for which a nominal payment called a "quit rent" could be

substituted. Socage did not entail rights of wardship or marriage.

Socage grew at the expense of the other tenures. The unfree tenure was

villein tenure. Villeins were tied to a piece of land and were bound to

perform for their lord indefinite agricultural services and could be

physically recovered in case they left the land. Villeins were subject

to a lord's court and were not protected by the king's court.

The major types of freemen were: nobles, knights,

ecclesiastics, Jews, and women. The nobles were the earls and barons.

They did not have noble blood, but were tenants in chief of certain

land by the king's will. The king consulted them and they obeyed his

summons and gave him counsel. They were entitled to be judged in cases

of treason or felony, by their peers, that is, each other. Lower in

status are the knights. They were active in royal justice, making

thedecisions in the most important cases. Ecclesiatics were bishops;

abbots; and monks, nuns, and friars, who had taken vows of poverty and

obedience; and clergy. The difference between a monk and a friar was a

cloistered life versus an active life. Jews came to England after the

Conquest and were under the special protection of the king. All they

had belonged to the king. A Jew could lend money for interest, which

was disallowed for Christians. Jews were subject to the courts of

justice, but could also settle their disputes by their own Hebrew law,

They were expelled in 1290. Women could hold land, even by military

tenure, own chattels typically beasts and coins], make a will, make a

contract, and could sue and be sued. They could give evidence in court,

but could not be jurors or judges. Women who had husbands had to defer

to them in certain property matters.

Nobles, doctors, and attorneys wore tunics to the ankle and an

over-tunic almost as long, which was lined with fur and had long

sleeves. A hood was attached to it. A man's hair was short and curled,

with bangs on the forehead. The tunic of merchants and middle class men

reached to the calf. The laborer wore a tunic that reached to the knee,

cloth stockings, and shoes of heavy felt, cloth, or perhaps leather.

Ladies wore a full-length tunic with moderate fullness in the skirt,

and a low belt, and tight sleeves. A lady's hair was concealed by a

round hat tied on the top of her head. Over her tunic, she wore a

cloak. Monks and nuns wore long black robes with hoods.

Baron landholders' semi-fortified stone manor houses were

improved and extended. Many had been licensed to be embattled or

crenelated [wall indented at top with shooting spaces]. They were

usually quadrangular around a central courtyard. The central and

largest room was the hall, where people ate and slept. The hall had a

hearth for fire in the center of the room if the hall was one story

high. Sometimes the lord had a room with a sleeping loft above it. If

the hall was more than one story high, it had a fireplace at one end so

that the smoke could go up and out the roof. Other rooms each had a

fireplace. There were small windows around the top story and on the

inside of the courtyard. They were usually covered with oiled paper.

Windows of large houses were of opaque glass supplied by a glassmaking

craft. The glass was thick, uneven, distorted, and greenish in color.

The walls were plastered. The floor was wood with some carpets. Roofs

were timbered with horizontal beams. Many roofs had tiles supplied by

the tile craft, which baked the tiles in kilns or over an open fire.

Because of the hazard of fire, the kitchen was often a separate

building, with a covered way connecting it to the hall. It had one or

two open fires in fireplaces, and ovens. Sometimes there was a separate

room for a dairy.

Furniture included heavy wood armchairs for the lord and lady,

stools, benches, trestle tables, chests, and cupboards. Outside was an

enclosed garden with cabbages, peas, beans, beetroots, onions, garlic,

leeks, lettuce, watercress, hops, herbs, nut trees for oil, some

flowers, and a fish pond and well. Bees were kept for their honey.

The barons now managed and developed their estates to be as

productive as possible, often using the successful management

techniques of church estates. They kept records of their fields,

tenants, and services owed by each tenant, and duties of the manor

officers, such as supervision of the ploughing and harrowing. Annually,

the manor's profit or loss for the year was calculated. Most manors

were self-supporting except that iron for tools and horseshoes and salt

for curing usually had to be obtained elsewhere. Wine, tar, canvas and

millstones were imports from other countries and bought at fairs, as

was fish, furs, spices, and silks. Sheep were kept in such large

numbers that they were susceptible to a new disease "scab". Every great

household was bound to give alms.

Manors averaged about ten miles distance between each other,

the land in between being unused and called "wasteland". Statutes after

a period of civil war proscribing the retaking of land discouraged the

enclosure of waste land.

Husbandry land held in villeinage was inherited according to

the custom of its manor as administered in the lord's manorial court.

(The royal courts had jurisdiction of land held in socage. i.e. free

tenure.) The heir could be the oldest son, the youngest son, a son

chosen by the father to succeed him, or divided among the sons. If

there were no sons, one of the daughters inherited the land or it was

divided among all the daughters. If there were no heirs, the land went

back to the lord. Land could not be sold or alienated so that the heir

did not inherit, without the consent of the lord. Manorial custom also

determined the manner of descent of goods and chattels. A common custom

for a villein was that his best beast go to his lord as heriot and his

second best beast go to the parish priest as mortuary. Then, after

debts and burial expenses had been paid, a number of tools and utensils

needed for husbandry and housekeeping went with the land to its heir.

These were the "heirlooms", `loom" in old English meaning tool. This

usually included, for a holding of more than 5 acres, a coulter, a

plowshare, a yoke, a cart, an axe, a cauldron, a pan, a dish, and a

cask. Finally, the remaining goods and chattels went one-third to the

widow, one-third to his children except for the heir to the land, and

one-third according to the deceased's last will and testament. A son

might take his share before the death of his father in order to go out

into the world and seek his fortune, for instance in the church or

military, upon which event the father had to pay his lord a fine for

his son permanently leaving the manor. Many country boys became bound

apprentices in nearby boroughs or farm laborers. Others married

heiresses of land. By the custom of "curtesy of the nation", he held

this land for his lifetime if he had a child born of the marriage, even

if his wife predeceased him. If a man remained on the family land, he

had no right to marry. Often, there were agreements over land holdings

that were recorded in the manor books. For instance, it was common for

a father or mother to hand his or her holding over to the heir in

exchange for sustenance in old age. An heir usually did not marry until

after receiving his land. Manorial custom determined whether a father's

consent was necessary for a son or daughter to marry, the nature of any

agreement ("trothplight") between the families as to lands and goods

brought to the marriage, the amount of her marriage portion, and the

son's endowment (her "dower") of lands and goods promised to the bride

at the church door that would provide for her support after his death.

If dower was not specified, it was understood to be one-third of all

lands and tenements. At the next hallmote, if manorial custom required

it, the son would pay a fine to his lord for entry onto the land and

for license to marry. From 1246, priests taught that betrothal and

consummation constituted irrevocable marriage.

Some villeins bought out their servitude by paying a substitute

to do his service or paying his lord a firm (from hence, the words farm

and farmer) sum to hire an agricultural laborer in his place. This made

it possible for a farm laborer to till one continuous piece of land

instead of scattered strips.

Looms were now mounted with two bars. Women did embroidery. The

clothing of most people was made at home, even sandals. The village

tanner and bootmaker supplied long pieces of soft leather for more

protection than sandals. Tanning mills replaced some hand labor. The

professional hunter of wolves, lynx, or otters supplied head coverings.

Every village had a smith and possibly a carpenter for construction of

ploughs and carts. The smith obtained coal from coal fields for heating

the metal he worked. Horse harnesses were homemade from hair and hemp.

There were watermills and/or windmills for grinding grain, for malt,

and/or for fulling cloth. The position of the sails of the windmills

was changed by manual labor when the direction of the wind changed.

Most men wore a knife because of the prevalence of murder and

robbery. It was an every day event for a murderer to flee to sanctuary

in a church, which would then be surrounded by his pursuers while the

coroner was summoned. Usually, the fugitive would confess, pay

compensation, and agree to leave the nation permanently.

County courts were the center of decision-making regarding

judicial, fiscal, military, and general administrative matters. The

writs for the conservation of the peace, directing the taking of the

oath, the pursuit of malefactors, and the observance of watch and ward,

were proclaimed in full county court; attachments were made in

obedience to them in the county court. The county offices were:

sheriff, coroner, escheator, and constable or bailiff. There were 28

sheriffs for 38 counties. The sheriff was usually a substantial

landholder and a knight who had been prominent in the local court. He

usually had a castle in which he kept persons he arrested. He no longer

bought his office and collected certain rents for himself, but was a

salaried political appointee of the King. He employed a deputy or

undersheriff, who was an attorney, and clerks. If there was civil

commotion or contempt of royal authority, the sheriff of the county had

power to raise a posse of armed men to restore order. The coroner

watched the interests of the crown and had duties in sudden deaths,

treasure trove, and shipwreck cases. There were about five coroners per

county and they served for a number of years. They were chosen by the

county court. The escheator was appointed annually by the Treasurer to

administer the Crown's rights in feudal land, which until 1242 had been

the responsibility of the sheriff. He was usually chosen from the local

gentry. The constable and bailiff operated at the hundred and parish

[the geographical area of a church's members] level to detect crime and

keep the peace. They assisted sheriffs and Justices of the Peace,

organized watches for criminals and vagrants at the village level, and

raised the hue and cry along the highway and from village to village in

pursuit of offenders who had committed felony or robbery. The

constables also kept the royal castles; they recruited, fed, and

commanded the castle garrison.

County knights served sheriffs, coroners, escheators, and

justices on special royal commissions of gaol-delivery. They sat in

judgment in the county court at its monthly meetings, attended the two

great annual assemblies when the lord, knights and freeholders of the

county gathered to meet the itinerant justices who came escorted by the

sheriff and weapon bearers. They served on the committees which

reviewed the presentments of the hundreds and village, and carried the

record of the county court to Westminster when summoned there by the

kings' justices. They served on the grand assize. As elected

representatives of their fellow knights of the county, they assessed

any taxes due from each hundred. Election might be by nomination by the

sheriff from a fixed list, by choice, or in rotation. They investigated

and reported on local abuses and grievances. The King's justices and

council often called on them to answer questions put to them on oath.

In the villages, humbler freeholders and sokemen were elected to assess

the village taxes. Six villeins answered for the village's offenses

before the royal itinerant justice.

Reading and writing in the English language was taught. The use

of English ceased to be a mark of vulgarity. In 1258 the first

governmental document was issued in English as well as in Latin and

French, and later Latin started falling into disuse. Boys of noblemen

were taught reading, writing, Latin, a musical instrument, athletics,

riding, and gentlemanly conduct. Girls were taught reading, writing,

music, dancing, and perhaps household nursing and first aid, spinning,

embroidery, and gardening. Girls of high social position were also

taught riding and hawking. Grammar schools taught, in Latin, grammar,

dialectic (ascertaining word meaning by looking at its origin, its

sound (e.g. soft or harsh), its power (e.g. robust and strong sound),

its inflection, and its order; and avoiding obscurity and ambiguity in

statements), and rhetoric [art of public speaking, oratory, and

debate]. The teacher possessed the only complete copy of the Latin

text, and most of the school work was done orally. Though books were

few and precious, the students read several Latin works. Girls and boys

of high social position usually had private teachers for grammar

school, while boys of lower classes were sponsored at grammar schools

such as those at Oxford. Discipline was maintained by the birch or rod.

There was no examination for admission as an undergraduate to

Oxford, but a knowledge of Latin with some skill in speaking Latin was

a necessary background. The students came from all backgrounds. Some

had their expenses paid by their parents, while others had the

patronage of a churchman, a religious house, or a wealthy layman. They

studied the "liberal arts", which derived its name from "liber" or

free, because they were for the free men of Rome rather than for the

economic purposes of those who had to work. The works of Greek authors

such as Aristotle were now available; the European monk Thomas Aquinas

had edited Aristotle's works to reconcile them to church doctrine. He

opined that man's intellectual use of reason did not conflict with the

religious belief that revelation came only from God, because reason was

given to man by God. He shared Aristotle's belief that the earth was a

sphere, and that the celestial bodies moved around it in perfect

circles. Latin learning had already been absorbed without detriment to

the church.

A student at Oxford would become a master after graduating from

a seven year course of study of the seven liberal arts: [grammar,

rhetoric (the source of law), Aristotelian logic (which differentiates

the true from the false), arithmetic, including fractions and ratios,

(the foundation of order), geometry, including methods of finding the

length of lines, the area of surfaces, and the volume of solids, (the

science of measurement), astronomy (the most noble of the sciences

because it is connected with divinity and theology), music and also

Aristotle's philosophy of physics, metaphysics, and ethics; and then

lecturing and leading disputations for two years. He also had to write

a thesis on some chosen subject and defend it against the faculty. A

Master's degree gave one the right to teach. Further study for four

years led to a doctorate in one of the professions: theology and canon

or civil law.

There were about 1,500 students in Oxford. They drank, played

dice, quarreled a lot and begged at street corners. There were mob

fights between students from the north and students from the south and

between students and townsmen. But when the mayor of Oxford hanged two

students accused of being involved in the killing of a townswoman, many

masters and students left for Cambridge. In 1214, a charter created the

office of Chancellor of the university at Oxford. He was responsible

for law and order and, through his court, could fine, imprison, and

excommunicate offenders and expel undesirables such as prostitutes from

the town. He had authority over all crimes involving scholars, except

murder and mayhem. The Chancellor summoned and presided over meetings

of the masters and came to be elected by indirect vote by the masters

who had schools, usually no more than a room or hall with a central

hearth which was hired for lectures. Students paid for meals there.

Corners of the room were often partitioned off for private study. At

night, some students slept on the straw on the floor. Six hours of

sleep were considered sufficient. In 1231, the king ordered that every

student must have his name on the roll of a master and the masters had

to keep a list of those attending his lectures.

In 1221 the friars established their chief school at Oxford.

They were bound by oaths of poverty, obedience, and chastity, but were

not confined within the walls of a monastery. They walked barefoot from

place to lace preaching. They begged for their food and lodgings. They

replaced monks, who had become self-indulgent, as the most vital

spiritual force among the people.

The first college was founded in 1264 by Walter de Merton,

former Chancellor to the King, at Oxford. A college had the living

arrangements of a Hall, with the addition of monastic-type rules. A

warden and about 30 scholars lived and ate meals together in the

college buildings. Merton College's founding documents provided that:

[1] "The house shall be called the House of the Scholars of Merton, and

it shall be the residence of the Scholars forever.

[2] There shall be a constant succession of scholars devoted to the

study of letters, who shall be bound to employ themselves in the study

of Arts or Philosophy, the Canons or Theology. Let there also be one

member of the collegiate body, who shall be a grammarian, and must

entirely devote himself to the study of grammar; let him have the care

of the students in grammar, and to him also let the more advanced have

recourse without a blush, when doubts arise in their faculty.

[3] There is to be one person in every chamber, where Scholars are

resident, of more mature age than the others, who is to make his report

of their morals and advancement in learning to the Warden

[4] The Scholars who are appointed to the duty of studying in the House

are to have a common table, and a dress as nearly alike as possible.

[5] The members of the College must all be present together, as far as

their leisure serves, at the canonical hours and celebration of masses

on holy and other days.

[6] The Scholars are to have a reader at meals, and in eating together

they are to observe silence, and to listen to what is read. In their

chambers, they must abstain from noise and interruption of their

fellows; and when they speak they must use the Latin language.

[7] A Scrutiny shall be held in the House by the Warden and the

Seniors, and all the Scholars there present, three times a year; a

diligent inquiry is to be instituted into the life, conduct, morals,

and progress in learning, of each and all; and what requires correction

then is to be corrected, and excesses are to be visited with condign

punishment. . ."

Educated men (and those of the 1200s through the 1500s),

believed that the earth was the center of the universe and that it was

surrounded by a giant spherical dome on which the stars were placed.

The sun and moon and planets were each on a sphere around the earth

that was responsible for their movements. The origin of the word

"planet" meant "wanderer" because the motion of the planets changed in

direction and speed. Astrology explained how the position of the stars

and planets influenced man and other earthly things. For instance, the

position of the stars at a person's birth determined his character. The

angle and therefore potency of the sun's rays influenced climate,

temperament, and changes of mortal life such as disease and

revolutions. Unusual events such as the proximity of two planets, a

comet, an eclipse, a meteor, or a nova were of great significance. A

star often was thought to presage the birth of a great man or a hero.

There was a propitious time to have a marriage, go on a journey, make

war, and take herbal medicine or be bled by leeches, the latter of

which was accompanied by religious ceremony. Cure was by God, with

medical practitioners only relieving suffering. But there were medical

interventions such as pressure and binding were applied to bleeding.

Arrow and sword wounds to the skin or to any protruding intestine were

washed with warm water and sewn up with needle and silk thread. Ribs

were spread apart by a wedge to remove arrow heads. Fractured bones

were splinted or encased in plaster. Dislocations were remedied.

Hernias were trussed. Bladder stones blocking urination were pushed

back into the bladder or removed through an artificial opening in the

bladder. Surgery was performed by butchers, blacksmiths, and barbers.

Roger Bacon, an Oxford master, began the science of physics. He

read Arab writers on the source of light rays being from the object

seen, the nature of refraction and reflection of light, and the

properties of lenses. He studied the radiation of light and heat. He

studied angles of reflection in plane, spherical, cylindrical, and

conical mirrors, in both their concave and convex aspects. He did

experiments in refraction in different media, e.g. air, water, and

glass, and knew that the human cornea refracted light, and that the

human eye lens was doubly convex. He comprehended the magnifying power

of convex lenses and conceptualized the combination of lenses which

would increase the power of vision by magnification. He realized that

rays of light pass so much faster than those of sound or smell that the

time is imperceptible to humans. He knew that rays of heat and sound

penetrate all matter without our awareness and that opaque bodies

offered resistance to passage of light rays. He knew the power of

parabolic concave mirrors to cause parallel rays to converge after

reflection to a focus and knew that a mirror could be produced that

would start a fire at a fixed distance. These insights made it possible

for jewelers and weavers to use lenses to view their work instead of

glass globes full of water, which distorted all but the center of the

image: "spherical aberration". The lens, whose opposite surfaces were

sections of spheres, took the place of the central parts of the globe

over the image.

He knew about magnetic poles attracting, if different and

repelling, if the same, and the relation of magnets' poles to those of

the heavens and earth. He calculated the circumference of the world and

the latitude and longitude of terrestrial positions. He foresaw sailing

around the world. He studied the planetary motions and astronomical

tables to forecast future events. He did calculations on days in a

month and days in a year which later contributed to the legal

definition of a leap year. His explanation of a rainbow as a result of

natural laws was contrary to theological opinion that a rainbow was

placed in the heavens to assure mankind that there was not to be

another universal deluge.

Bacon began the science of chemistry when he took the empirical

knowledge as to a few metals and their oxides and some of the principal

alkalis, acids, and salts to the abstract level of metals as compound

bodies the elements of which might be separated and recomposed and

changed among the states of solid, liquid, and gas. When he studied

man's physical nature, health, and disease, he opined that the

usefulness of a talisman was not to bring about a physical change, but

to bring the patient into a frame of mind more conducive to physical

healing. He urged that there be experiments in chemistry to develop

medicinal drugs.

He studied different kinds of plants and the differences

between arable land, forest land, pasture land, and garden land.

Bacon was an extreme proponent of the inductive method of

finding truths, e.g. by categorizing all available facts on a certain

subject to ascertain the natural laws governing it. His contribution to

the development of science was abstracting the method of experiment

from the concrete problem to see its bearing and importance as a

universal method of research. He advocated changing education to

include studies of the natural world using observation, exact

measurement, and experiments.

The making and selling of goods diverged e.g. as the cloth

merchant severed from the tailor and the leather merchant severed from

the butcher. These craftsmen formed themselves into guilds, which

sought charters to require all craftsmen to belong to the guild of

their craft, to have legal control of the craft work, and be able to

expel any craftsman for disobedience. These guilds were composed of

master craftsmen, their journeymen, and apprentices. These guilds

determined the wages and working conditions of the craftsmen and

petitioned the borough authorities for ordinances restraining trade,

for instance by controlling the admission of outsiders to the craft,

preventing foreigners from selling in the town except at fairs,

limiting purchases of raw materials to suppliers within the town,

forbidding night work, restricting the number of apprentices to each

master craftsmen, and requiring a minimum number of years for

apprenticeships. In return, these guilds assured quality control. In

some boroughs, they did work for the town, such as maintaining certain

defensive towers or walls of the town near their respective wards. In

some boroughs, fines for infractions of these regulations were split

between the guild and the government.

In some towns, the merchant guilds attempted to directly

regulate the craft guilds. Crafts fought each other. There was a street

battle with much bloodshed between the goldsmiths and the parmenters

and between the tailors and the cordwainers in 1267 in London. There

was also a major fight between the goldsmiths and the tailors in 1268.

The Parish Clerks' Company was chartered in 1233.

The citizens of London had a common seal for the city. London

merchants traveled throughout the nation with goods to sell exempt from

tolls. Most of the London aldermen were woolmongers, vintners,

skinners, and grocers by turns or carried on all these branches of

commerce at once. Jews were allowed to make loans with interest up to

2d. a week for 20s. lent. There are three inns in London. Inns

typically had narrow facades, large courtyards, lodging and refreshment

for the well-off, warehousing and marketing facilities for merchants,

and stabling and repairs for wagons. Caregiving infirmaries such as

"Bethlehem Hospital" were established in London. One was a lunatic

infirmary founded by the sheriff of London. Benefactors conveyed plots

of land with houses to the city for the benefit and use of the

Franciscan friars who came to London as missionaries because the

friars' law forbade them from owning anything. The city held the land

in trust for the beneficiaries, the friars. Only tiles were used for

roofing in London, because wood shingles were fire hazards and fires in

London had been frequent. Some areas near London are disclaimed by the

king to be royal forest land, so all citizens could hunt there and till

their land there without interference by the royal foresters. The

Sheriff's court in London lost its old importance and handled mainly

trespass and debt cases, while important cases went to the Hustings,

which was presided over by the Mayor with the sheriffs and aldermen in

attendance. From the early 1200s, the Mayor's Court took on the work

which the weekly Husting could not manage. This consisted mostly of

assault and robbery cases. Murder and manslaughter cases were left to

the royal courts.

London aldermen were elected by the citizens of their

respective wards in wardmotes, in which was also arranged the watch,

protection against fire, and probably also assessment of the taxes

within the ward. There was much effort by the commoners to influence

the governance of the city. In 1261 they forced their way into the

townmote and by this brute show of strength, which threatened riot,

they made their own candidate mayor. Subsequent elections were

tumultuous.

The Tower of London now had outer walls of fortress buildings

surrounded by a wide and deep moat, over which was one stone causeway

and wooden drawbridge. Within this was an inner curtain wall with

twelve towers and an inner moat. The palace within was a principal

residence of English monarchs, whose retinue was extensive, including

the chief officers of state: Lord High Steward, Lord High Chancellor,

Lord High Treasurer, Lord Great Chamberlain, Lord High Constable,

Keeper of the Seals, and the King's Marshall; lesser officials such as

the Chamberlain of the Candles, Keeper of the Tents, Master Steward of

the Larder, Usher of the Spithouse, Marshall of the Trumpets, Keeper of

the Books, Keeper of the Dishes and of the Cups, and Steward of the

Buttery; and numbers of cat hunters, wolf catchers, clerks and limners,

carters, water carriers, washerwomen and laundresses, chaplains,

lawyers, archers, huntsmen, hornblowers, barbers, minstrels, guards and

servitors, and bakers and confectioners. The fortress also contained a

garrison, armory, chapels, stables, forge, wardrobe for a tailor's

workroom and secure storage of valuable clothes, silver plate, and

expensive imports such as sugar, rice, almonds, dried fruits, cinnamon,

saffron, ginger, galingale, zedoary, pepper, nutmeg, and mace. There

was a kitchen with courtyard for cattle, poultry, and pigs; dairy,

pigeon loft, brewery, beehives, fruit stores, gardens for vegetables

and herbs; and sheds for gardeners. There was also a mint, which minted

a gold penny worth 2s. of silver, a jewel house, and a menagerie (with

leopards, lions, a bear, and an elephant). The fortress also served as

a state prison. Most prisoners there had opposed the royal will; they

were usually permitted to live in quarters in the same style they were

used to, including servants and visits by family and friends. But

occasionally prisoners were confined in irons in dark and damp dungeons.

The King's family, immediate circle, and most distinguished

guests dined elegantly in the Great Hall at midday. They would first

wash their hands in hot water poured by servants over bowls. The table

had silver plate, silver spoons, and cups of horn, crystal, maple wood,

or silver laid on a white cloth. Each guest brought his own knife in a

leather sheath attached to a belt or girdle. A procession of servitors

brought the many dishes to which the gentlemen helped the ladies and

the young their seniors by placing the food in scooped-out half-loaves

of bread that were afterwards distributed to the poor. A wine cup was

handed around the table. In the winter after dinner, there would often

be games of chess or dice or songs of minstrels, and sometimes dancing,

juggler or acrobat displays, or storytelling by a minstrel. In the

summer there were outdoor games and tournaments. Hunting with hounds or

hawks was popular with both ladies and gentlemen. The King would go to

bed on a feather mattress with fur coverlet that was surrounded by

linen hangings. His grooms would sleep on trundle beds in the same

room. The queen likewise shared her bedchamber with several of her

ladies sleeping on trundle beds. Breakfast was comprised of a piece of

bread and a cup of wine taken after the daily morning mass in one of

the chapels. Sometimes a round and deep tub was brought into the

bedchamber by servants who poured hot water onto the bather in the tub.

Baths were often taken in the times of Henry III, who believed in

cleanliness and sanitation. Henry III was also noted for his luxurious

tastes. He had a linen table cloth, goblets of mounted cocoa-nut, a

glass cup set in crystal, and silk and velvet mattresses, cushions, and

bolster. He had many rooms painted with gold stars, green and red

lions, and painted flowers. To his sister on her marriage, he gave

goldsmith's work, a chess table, chessmen in an ivory box, silver pans

and cooking vessels, robes of cloth of gold, embroidered robes, robes

of scarlet, blue, and green fine linen, Genoese cloth of gold, two

napkins, and thirteen towels.

In the King's 1235 grant to Oxford, the Mayor and good men were

authorized to take weekly for three years 1/2 d. on every cart entering

the town loaded with goods, if it was from the county, or 1d. if it

came from outside the county; 1/4 d. for every horse load, except for

brushwood; 1/2 d. on every horse, mare, ox, or cow brought to sell; and

1/2 d. for every five sheep, goats, or pigs.

English ships had one mast with a square sail. The hulls were

made of planks overlapping each other. There was a high fore castle

[tower] on the bow, a top castle on the mast, and a high stern castle

from which to shoot arrows down on other ships. There were no rowing

oars, but steering was still by an oar on the starboard side of the

ship. The usual carrying capacity was 30 tuns [big casks of wine each

with about 250 gallons]. On the coasts there were lights and beacons.

Harbors at river mouths were kept from silting up. Ships were loaded

from piers. The construction of London Bridge had just been finished.

Bricks began to be imported for building. About 10% of the population

lived in towns.

Churches had stained glass windows.

Newcastle-on-Tyne received these new rights:

1. -And that they shall justly have their lands and tenures and

mortgages and debts, whoever owes them to them.

2. -Concerning their lands and tenures within the town, right shall be

done to them according to the custom of the city Winton.

3. -And of all their debts which are lent in Newcastle-on-Tyne and of

mortgages there made, pleas shall be held at Newcastle-on-Tyne.

4. -None of them shall plead outside the walls of the City of

Newcastle-on-Tyne on any plea, except pleas of tenures outside the city

and except the minters and my ministers.

5. -That none of them be distrained by any without the said city for

the repayment of any debt to any person for which he is not capital

debtor or surety.

6. -That the burgesses shall be quit of toll and lastage [duty on a

ship's cargo] and pontage [tax for repairing bridges] and have passage

back and forth.

7. -Moreover, for the improvement of the city, I have granted them that

they shall be quit of year's gift and of scotale [pressure to buy ale

at the sheriff's tavern], so that my sheriff of Newcastle-on-Tyne or

any other minister shall not make a scotale.

8. -And whosoever shall seek that city with his merchandise, whether

foreigners or others, of whatever place they may be, they may come

sojourn and depart in my safe peace, on paying - - the due customs and

debts, and any impediment to these rights is prohibited.

9. -We have granted them also a merchant guild.

10. And that none of them [in the merchant guild] shall fight by combat.

The king no longer lives on his own from income from his own

lands, but takes money from the treasury. A tax of a percentage of 1/15

the of personal property was levied in 1225 for a war, in return for

which the king signed the Magna Carta. It was to be paid by all

tenants-in-chief, men of the royal domain, burgesses of the boroughs

and cities, clerical tenants-in-chief, and religious houses. The

percentage tax came to be used frequently and ranged from about 1/40 th

to 1/5 th. In 1294, this tax was bifurcated into one percentage amount

for the rural districts and a higher one for urban districts, because

the burgesses had greater wealth and much of it was hard to uncover

because it was in the possession of customers and debtors. It was

usually 1/10 th for towns and royal domains and 1/15 th in the country.

This amount of money collected by this tax increased with the wealth of

the country.

The king takes custody of lands of lunatics and idiots, as well

as escheats of land falling by descent to aliens. Henry III took 20s.

from his tenants-in-chief for the marriage of his daughter, and two

pounds for the knighting of his son.

By 1250, the king was hiring soldiers at 2s. per day for

knights, and 9d. a day for less heavily armed soldiers, and 6d. a day

for crossbowmen. Some castle-guard was done by watchmen hired at 2d. a

day. Ships were impressed when needed. Sometimes private ships were

authorized to ravage the French coasts and take what spoil they could.

While King Henry III was underage, there was much controversy

as to who should be his ministers of state, such as justiciar,

chancellor, and treasurer. This led to the concept that they should not

be chosen by the king alone. After he came of age, elected men from the

baronage fought to have meetings and his small council in several

conferences called great councils or parliaments (from French "to speak

the mind") to discuss the levying of taxes and the solution of

difficult legal cases, the implementation of the Magna Carta, the

appointment of the king's ministers and sheriffs, and the receipt and

consideration of petitions. The barons paid 1/30 the tax on their

personal property to have three barons of their choice added to the

council. Statutes were enacted. Landholders were given the duty of

electing four of their members in every county to ensure that the

sheriff observed the law and to report his misdemeanors to the

justiciar. They were also given the duty of electing four men from the

county from whom the exchequer was to choose the sheriff of the year.

Earl Montfort and certain barons forced King Henry III to summon a

great council or parliament in 1265 in which the common people were

represented officially by two knights from every county, two burgesses

from every borough, and two representatives from each major port. So

the King's permanent small council became a separate body from

parliament and its members took a specific councilor's oath in 1257 to

give faithful counsel, to keep secrecy, to prevent alienation of

ancient demesne, to procure justice for the rich and poor, to allow

justice to be done on themselves and their friends, to abstain from

gifts and misuse of patronage and influence, and to be faithful to the

queen and to the heir.

The Law

The barons forced successive Kings to sign the Magna Carta

until it became the law of the land. It became the first statute of the

official statute book. Its provisions express the principle that a king

is bound by the law and is not above it. However, there is no redress

if the king breaches the law.

The Magna Carta was issued by John in 1215. A revised version

was issued by Henry III in 1225 with the forest clauses separated out

into a forest charter. The two versions are replicated together, with

the formatting of each indicated in the titles below.

{Magna Carta - 1215}

Magna Carta - 1215 & 1225

MAGNA CARTA - 1225

{John, by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of

Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou: To the Archbishops,

Bishops, Abbots, Earls, Barons, Justiciaries, Foresters, Sheriffs,

Reeves, Ministers, and all Bailiffs and others, his faithful subjects,

Greeting. Know ye that in the presence of God, and for the health of

our soul, and the souls of our ancestors and heirs, to the honor of

God, and the exaltation of Holy Church, and amendment of our realm, by

the advice of our reverend Fathers, Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury,

Primate of all England, and Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church; Henry,

Archbishop of Dublin; William of London, Peter of Winchester, Jocelin

of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of Worcester, William

of Coventry, and Benedict of Rochester, Bishops; Master Pandulph, the

pope's subdeacon and familiar; Brother Aymeric, Master of the Knights

of the Temple in England; and the noble persons, William Marshall, Earl

of Pembroke; William, Earl of Salisbury; William, Earl of Warren;

William, Earl of Arundel; Alan de Galloway, Constable of Scotland;

Warin Fitz-Gerald, Peter Fitz-Herbert, Hubert de Burgh, Seneshal of

Poitou, Hugh de Neville, Matthew Fitz-Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan

Basset, Philip Daubeny, Robert de Roppelay, John Marshall, John

Fitz-Hugh, and others, our liegemen:}

HENRY BY THE GRACE OF GOD, KING OF ENGLAND, LORD OF IRELAND, DUKE OF

NORMANDY AND GUYAN AND EARL OF ANJOU, TO ALL ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS,

ABBOTS, PRIORS, EARLS, BARONS, SHERIFFS, PROVOSTS, OFFICERS AND TO ALL

BAILIFFS AND OTHER OUR FAITHFUL SUBJECTS WHICH SHALL SEE THIS PRESENT

CHARTER, GREETING.

KNOW YE THAT WE, UNTO THE HONOR OF ALMIGHTY GOD, AND FOR THE SALVATION

OF THE SOULS OF OUR PROGENITORS AND SUCCESSORS KINGS OF ENGLAND, TO THE

ADVANCEMENT OF HOLY CHURCH AND AMENDMENT OF OUR REALM, OF OUR MERE AND

FREE WILL, HAVE GIVEN AND GRANTED TO ALL ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS, ABBOTS,

PRIORS, EARLS, BARONS, AND TO ALL FREE MEN OF THIS OUR REALM, THESE

LIBERTIES FOLLOWING, TO BE KEPT IN OUR KINGDOM OF ENGLAND FOREVER.

[I. A CONFIRMATION OF LIBERTIES]

First, we have granted to God, and by this our present Charter

confirmed, for us and our heirs forever, that the English Church shall

be free and enjoy her whole rights and her liberties inviolable. {And

that we will this so to be observed appears from the fact that we of

our own free will, before the outbreak of the dissensions between us

and our barons, granted, confirmed, and procured to be confirmed by

Pope Innocent III the freedom of elections, which is considered most

important and necessary to the English Church, which Charter we will

both keep ourself and will it to be kept with good faith by our heirs

forever.} We have also granted to all the free men of our realm, for us

and our heirs forever, all the liberties underwritten, to have and to

hold to them and their heirs of us and our heirs.

[II. THE RELIEF OF THE KING'S TENANT OF FULL AGE]

If any of our earls, barons, or others who hold of us in chief by

knight's service dies, and at the time of his death his heir is of full

age and owes to us a relief, he shall have his inheritance on payment

of [no more than] the old relief; to wit, the heir or heirs of an earl,

for an entire earldom, 100 pounds [2,000s.]; the heir or heirs of a

baron of an entire barony, {100 pounds} 100 MARKS; the heir or heirs of

an entire knight's fee, 100s. at the most [about 1/3 of a knight's

annual income]; and he who owes less shall give less, according to the

old custom of fees.

[III. THE WARDSHIP OF AN HEIR WITHIN AGE. THE HEIR A KNIGHT]

BUT IF THE HEIR OF SUCH BE UNDER AGE, HIS LORD SHALL NOT HAVE THE WARD

OF HIM, NOR OF HIS LAND, BEFORE THAT HE HAS TAKEN OF HIM HOMAGE. If,

however, any such heir is under age and in ward, he shall have his

inheritance without relief or fine when he comes of age, THAT IS,

TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE. SO THAT IF SUCH AN HEIR NOT OF AGE IS MADE A

KNIGHT, YET NEVERTHELESS HIS LAND SHALL REMAIN IN THE KEEPING OF HIS

LORD UNTO THE AFORESAID TERM.

[IV. NO WASTE SHALL BE MADE BY A GUARDIAN IN WARD'S LANDS]

The guardian of the land of any heir thus under age shall take

therefrom only reasonable issues, customs, and services, without

destruction or waste of men or goods. And if we commit the custody of

any such land to the sheriff or any other person answerable to us for

the issues of the same land, and he commits destruction or waste, we

will take an amends from him and recompense therefore. And the land

shall be committed to two lawful and discreet men of that fee, who

shall be answerable for the issues of the same land to us or to

whomsoever we shall have assigned them. And if we give or sell the

custody of any such land to any man, and he commits destruction or

waste, he shall lose the custody, which shall be committed to two

lawful and discreet men of that fee, who shall, in like manner, be

answerable to us as has been aforesaid.

[V. GUARDIANS SHALL MAINTAIN THE INHERITANCE OF THEIR WARDS AND OF

BISHOPRICKS, ETC.]

The guardian, so long as he shall have the custody of the land, shall

keep up and maintain the houses, parks, fishponds, pools, mills, and

other things pertaining thereto, out of the issues of the same, and

shall restore to the heir when he comes of age, all his land stocked

with {ploughs and tillage, according as the season may require and the

issues of the land can reasonably bear} PLOUGHS AND ALL OTHER THINGS,

AT THE LEAST AS HE RECEIVED IT. ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE OBSERVED IN

THE CUSTODIES OF VACANT ARCHBISHOPRICKS, BISHOPRICKS, ABBEYS, PRIORIES,

CHURCHES, AND DIGNITIES, WHICH APPERTAIN TO US; EXCEPT THIS, THAT SUCH

CUSTODY SHALL NOT BE SOLD.

[VI. HEIRS SHALL BE MARRIED WITHOUT DISPARAGEMENT]

Heirs shall be married without loss of station. {And the marriage shall

be made known to the heir's nearest of kin before it is agreed.}

[VII. A WIDOW SHALL HAVE HER MARRIAGE, INHERITANCE, AND QUERENTINE

(period of forty days during which the widow has a privilege of

remaining in the mansion house of which her husband died seized). THE

KING'S WIDOW, ETC.]

A widow, after the death of her husband, shall immediately and without

difficulty have her marriage portion [property given to her by her

father] and inheritance. She shall not give anything for her marriage

portion, dower, or inheritance which she and her husband held on the

day of his 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. IF THAT HOUSE IS A CASTLE AND SHE LEAVES THE CASTLE, THEN A

COMPETENT HOUSE SHALL FORTHWITH BE PROVIDED FOR HER, IN WHICH SHE MAY

HONESTLY DWELL UNTIL HER DOWER IS ASSIGNED TO HER AS AFORESAID; AND IN

THE MEANTIME HER REASONABLE ESTOVERS OF THE COMMON [NECESSARIES OR

SUPPLIES SUCH AS WOOD], ETC.

No widow shall be compelled [by penalty of fine] to marry so long as

she has a mind to live without a husband, provided, however, that she

gives security that she will not marry without our assent, if she holds

of us, or that of the lord of whom she holds, if she holds of another.

[VIII. HOW SURETIES SHALL BE CHARGED TO THE KING]

Neither we nor our bailiffs shall seize any land or rent for any debt

as long as the debtor's goods and chattels suffice to pay the debt AND

THE DEBTOR HIMSELF IS READY TO SATISFY THEREFORE. Nor shall the

debtor's sureties be distrained as long as the debtor is able to pay

the debt. If the debtor fails to pay, not having the means to pay, OR

WILL NOT PAY ALTHOUGH ABLE TO PAY, then the sureties shall answer the

debt. And, if they desire, they shall hold the debtor's lands and rents

until they have received satisfaction of that which they had paid for

him, unless the debtor can show that he has discharged his obligation

to them.

{If anyone who has borrowed from the Jews any sum of money, great or

small, dies before the debt has been paid, the heir shall pay no

interest on the debt as long as he remains under age, of whomsoever he

may hold. If the debt falls into our hands, we will take only the

principal sum named in the bond.}

{And if any man dies indebted to the Jews, his wife shall have her

dower and pay nothing of that debt; if the deceased leaves children

under age, they shall have necessaries provided for them in keeping

with the estate of the deceased, and the debt shall be paid out of the

residue, saving the service due to the deceased's feudal lords. So

shall it be done with regard to debts owed persons other than Jews.}

[IX. THE LIBERTIES OF LONDON AND OTHER CITIES AND TOWNS CONFIRMED]

The City of London shall have all her old liberties and free customs,

both by land and water. Moreover, we will and grant that all other

cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall have all their liberties and

free customs.

{No scutage or aid shall be imposed in our realm unless by common

counsel thereof, except to ransom our person, make our eldest son a

knight, and once to marry our eldest daughter, and for these only a

reasonable aid shall be levied. So shall it be with regard to aids from

the City of London.}

{To obtain the common counsel of the realm concerning the assessment of

aids (other than in the three aforesaid cases) or of scutage, we will

have the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and great barons

individually summoned by our letters; we will also have our sheriffs

and bailiffs summon generally all those who hold lands directly of us,

to meet on a fixed day, but with at least forty days' notice, and at a

fixed place. In all such letters of summons, we will explain the reason

therefor. After summons has thus been made, the business shall proceed

on the day appointed, according to the advice of those who are present,

even though not all the persons summoned have come.}

{We will not in the future grant permission to any man to levy an aid

upon his free men, except to ransom his person, make his eldest son a

knight, and once to marry his eldest daughter, and on each of these

occasions only a reasonable aid shall be levied.}

[X. NONE SHALL DISTRAIN FOR MORE SERVICE THAN IS DUE.]

No man shall be compelled to perform more service for a knight's fee

nor any freehold than is due therefrom.

[XI. COMMON PLEAS SHALL NOT FOLLOW THE KING'S COURT]

People who have Common Pleas shall not follow our Court traveling about

the realm, but shall be heard in some certain place.

[XII. WHERE AND BEFORE WHOM ASSIZES SHALL BE TAKEN. ADJOURNMENT FOR

DIFFICULTY]

{Land assizes of novel disseisin, mort d'ancestor and darrein

presentment shall be heard only in the county where the property is

situated, and in this manner: We or, if we are not in the realm, our

Chief Justiciary, shall send two justiciaries through each county four

times a year [to clear and prevent backlog], and they, together with

four knights elected out of each county by the people thereof, shall

hold the said assizes in the county court, on the day and in the place

where that court meets.}

ASSIZES OF NOVEL DISSEISIN, MORT D'ANCESTOR SHALL BE HEARD ONLY IN THE

COUNTY WHERE THE PROPERTY IS SITUATED, AND IN THIS MANNER: WE, OR IF WE

ARE NOT IN THE REALM, OUR CHIEF JUSTICIARY, SHALL SEND JUSTICIARIES

THROUGH EACH COUNTY ONCE A YEAR, AND THEY TOGETHER WITH KNIGHTS OF THAT

COUNTY SHALL HOLD THE SAID ASSIZES IN THE COUNTY.

{If the said assizes cannot be held on the day appointed, so many of

the knights and freeholders as were present on that day shall remain as

will be sufficient for the administration of justice, according to the

amount of business to be done.}

AND THOSE THINGS THAT AT THE COMING OF OUR FORESAID JUSTICIARIES, BEING

SENT TO TAKE THOSE ASSIZES IN THE COUNTIES, CANNOT BE DETERMINED, SHALL

BE ENDED BY THEM IN SOME OTHER PLACE IN THEIR CIRCUIT; AND THOSE THINGS

WHICH FOR DIFFICULTY OF SOME ARTICLES CANNOT BE DETERMINED BY THEM,

SHALL BE REFERRED TO OUR JUSTICES OF THE BENCH AND THERE SHALL BE ENDED.

[XIII. ASSIZES OF DARREIN PRESENTMENT]

ASSIZES OF DARREIN PRESENTMENT SHALL ALWAYS BE TAKEN BEFORE OUR

JUSTICES OF THE BENCH AND THERE SHALL BE DETERMINED.

[XIV. HOW MEN OF ALL SORTS SHALL BE AMERCED AND BY WHOM]

A freeman shall be amerced [made to pay a fine to the King] for a small

offense only according to the degree thereof, and for a serious offense

according to its magnitude, saving his position and livelihood; and in

like manner a merchant, saving his trade and merchandise, and a villein

saving his tillage, if they should fall under our mercy. None of these

amercements shall be imposed except by the oath of honest men of the

neighborhood.

Earls and barons shall be amerced only by their peers, and only in

accordance with the seriousness of the offense.

{No amercement shall be imposed upon a cleric's lay tenement, except in

the manner of the other persons aforesaid, and without regard to the

value of his ecclesiastical benefice.}

NO MAN OF THE CHURCH SHALL BE AMERCED EXCEPT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE

SERIOUSNESS OF THE OFFENSE AND AFTER HIS LAY TENEMENT, BUT NOT AFTER

THE QUANTITY OF HIS SPIRITUAL BENEFICE.

[XV. MAKING OF BRIDGES AND BANKS]

No town or freeman shall be compelled to build bridges over rivers OR

BANKS except those bound by old custom and law to do so.

[XVI. DEFENDING OF BANKS]

NO BANKS [LAND NEAR A RIVER] SHALL BE DEFENDED [USED BY THE KING ALONE,

E.G. FOR HUNTING], FROM HENCEFORTH, BUT SUCH AS WERE IN DEFENSE IN THE

TIME OF KING HENRY [II] OUR GRANDFATHER, BY THE SAME PLACES AND IN THE

SAME BOUNDS AS IN HIS TIME.

[XVII. HOLDING PLEAS OF THE CROWN]

No sheriff, constable, coroners, or other of our bailiffs shall hold

pleas of our Crown [but only justiciars, to prevent disparity of

punishments and corruption].

{All counties, hundreds, wapentakes, and tithings (except our demesne

manors) shall remain at the old rents, without any increase.}

[XVIII. THE KING'S DEBTOR DYING, THE KING SHALL BE FIRST PAID]

If anyone holding a lay fee of us dies, and our sheriff or our bailiff

show our letters patent [public letter from a sovereign or one in

authority] of summons for a debt due to us from the deceased, it shall

be lawful for such sheriff or bailiff to attach and list the goods and

chattels of the deceased found in the lay fee to the value of that

debt, by the sight and testimony of lawful men [to prevent taking too

much], so that nothing thereof shall be removed therefrom until our

whole debt is paid; then the residue shall be given up to the executors

to carry out the will of the deceased. If there is no debt due from him

to us, all his chattels shall remain the property of the deceased,

saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares.

{If any freeman dies intestate, his chattels shall be distributed by

his nearest kinfolk and friends, under supervision of the Church,

saving to each creditor the debts owed him by the deceased.}

[XIX. PURVEYANCE FOR A CASTLE]

No constable or other of our bailiffs shall take grain or other

chattels of any man without immediate payment, unless the seller

voluntarily consents to postponement of payment. THIS APPLIES IF THE

MAN IS NOT OF THE TOWN WHERE THE CASTLE IS. BUT IF THE MAN IS OF THE

SAME TOWN AS WHERE THE CASTLE IS, THE PRICE SHALL BE PAID TO HIM WITHIN

40 DAYS.

[XX. DOING OF CASTLE-GUARD]

No constable shall compel any knight to give money for keeping of his

castle in lieu of castle-guard when the knight is willing to perform it

in person or, if reasonable cause prevents him from performing it

himself, by some other fit man. Further, if we lead or send him into

military service, he shall be excused from castle-guard for the time he

remains in service by our command.

[XXI. TAKING OF HORSES, CARTS, AND WOOD]

No sheriff or bailiff of ours, or any other man, shall take horses or

carts of any freeman for carriage without the owner's consent. HE SHALL

PAY THE OLD PRICE, THAT IS, FOR CARRIAGE WITH TWO HORSES, 10d. A DAY;

FOR THREE HORSES, 14d. A DAY. NO DEMESNE CART OF ANY SPIRITUAL PERSON

OR KNIGHT OR ANY LORD SHALL BE TAKEN BY OUR BAILIFFS.

Neither we nor our bailiffs will take another man's wood for our

castles or for other of our necessaries without the owner's consent.

[XXII. HOW LONG FELONS' LANDS SHALL BE HELD BY THE KING]

We will hold the lands of persons convicted of felony for only a year

and a day [to remove the chattels and movables], after which they shall

be restored to the lords of the fees.

[XXIII. IN WHAT PLACE WEIRS SHALL BE REMOVED]

All fishweirs [obstructing navigation] shall be entirely removed by the

Thames and Medway rivers, and throughout England, except upon the

seacoast.

[XXIV. IN WHAT CASE A PRAECIPE IN CAPITE IS NOT GRANTABLE]

The [royal] writ called "praecipe in capite" [for tenements held in

chief of the Crown] shall not in the future be granted to anyone

respecting any freehold if thereby a freeman [who has a mesne lord] may

not be tried in his lord's court.

[XXV. THERE SHALL BE BUT ONE MEASURE THROUGHOUT THE REALM]

There shall be one measure of wine throughout our realm, one measure of

ale, and one measure of grain, to wit, the London quarter, and one

breadth of dyed cloth, russets, and haberjets, to wit, two {ells} YARDS

within the selvages. As with measures so shall it also be with weights.

[XXVI. INQUISITION OF LIFE AND LIMB]

Henceforth nothing shall be given or taken for a writ of inquisition

upon life or limb, but it shall be granted freely and not denied.

[XXVII. TENURE OF THE KING IN SOCAGE AND OF ANOTHER BY KNIGHT'S

SERVICE. PETTY SERJEANTY.]

If anyone holds of us by fee farm, socage, or burgage, and also holds

land of another by knight's service, we will not by reason of that fee

farm, socage, or burgage have the wardship of his heir, or the land

which belongs to another man's fee. Nor will we have the custody of

such fee farm, socage, or burgage unless such fee farm owe knight's

service. We will not have the wardship of any man's heir, or the land

which he holds of another by knight's service, by reason of any petty

serjeanty which he holds of us by service of rendering us knives,

arrows, or the like.

[XXVIII. WAGES OF LAW SHALL NOT BE WITHOUT WITNESS]

In the future no [royal] bailiff shall upon his own unsupported

accusation put any man to trial or oath without producing credible

witnesses to the truth of the accusation.

[XXIX. NONE SHALL BE CONDEMNED WITHOUT TRIAL. JUSTICE SHALL NOT BE SOLD

OR DELAYED.]

No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned, disseised OF HIS FREEHOLD OR

LIBERTIES OR FREE CUSTOMS, OR BE outlawed, banished, or in any way

ruined, nor will we prosecute or condemn him, except by the lawful

judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.

To no one will we sell [by bribery], to none will we deny or delay,

right or justice.

[XXX. MERCHANT STRANGERS COMING INTO THIS REALM SHALL BE WELL USED]

All merchants shall have safe conduct to go and come out of and into

England, and to stay in and travel through England by land and water,

to buy and sell, without evil tolls, in accordance with old and just

customs, except, in time of war, such merchants as are of a country at

war with us. If any such be found in our realm at the outbreak of war,

they shall be detained, without harm to their bodies or goods, until it

be known to us or our Chief Justiciary how our merchants are being

treated in the country at war with us. And if our merchants are safe

there, then theirs shall be safe with us.

{Henceforth anyone, saving his allegiance due to us, may leave our

realm and return safely and securely by land and water, except for a

short period in time of war, for the common benefit of the realm.}

[XXXI. TENURE OF A BARONY COMING INTO THE KING'S HANDS BY ESCHEAT]

If anyone dies holding of any escheat, such as the honor of

Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, {Lancaster,} or other escheats which

are in our hands and are baronies, his heir shall not give any relief

or do any service to us other than he would owe to the baron, if such

barony had been in the baron's hands. And we will hold the escheat in

the same manner in which the baron held it. NOR SHALL WE HAVE, BY

OCCASION OF ANY BARONY OR ESCHEAT, ANY ESCHEAT OR KEEPING OF ANY OF OUR

MEN, UNLESS HE WHO HELD THE BARONY OR ESCHEAT ELSEWHERE HELD OF US IN

CHIEF.

Persons dwelling outside the forest [in the county] need not in the

future come before our justiciaries of the forest in answer to a

general summons unless they are impleaded or are sureties for any

person or persons attached for breach of forest laws.

[XXXII. LANDS SHALL NOT BE ALIENED TO THE PREJUDICE OF THE LORD'S

SERVICE]

NO FREEMAN FROM HENCEFORTH SHALL GIVE OR SELL ANY MORE OF HIS LAND, BUT

SO THAT OF THE RESIDUE OF THE LANDS THE LORD OF THE FEE MAY HAVE THE

SERVICE DUE TO HIM WHICH BELONGS TO THE FEE.

{We will appoint as justiciaries, constables, sheriffs, or bailiffs

only such men as know the law of the land and will keep it well.}

[XXXIII. PATRONS OF ABBEYS SHALL HAVE THE CUSTODY OF THEM WHEN VACANT]

All barons who had founded abbeys of which they have charters of

English Kings or old tenure, shall have the custody of the same when

vacant, as is their due.

All forests which have been created in our time shall forthwith be

disafforested. {So shall it be done with regard to river banks which

have been enclosed by fences in our time.}

{All evil customs concerning forests and warrens [livestock grounds in

forests], foresters and warreners, sheriffs and their officers, or

riverbanks and their conservators shall be immediately investigated in

each county by twelve sworn knights of such county, who are chosen by

honest men of that county, and shall within forty days after this

inquest be completely and irrevocably abolished, provided always that

the matter has first been brought to our knowledge, or that of our

justiciars, if we are not in England.}

{We will immediately return all hostages and charters delivered to us

by Englishmen as security for the peace or for the performance of loyal

service.}

{We will entirely remove from their offices the kinsmen of Gerald de

Athyes, so that henceforth they shall hold no office in England:

Engelard de Cigogne, Peter, Guy, and Andrew de Chanceaux, Guy de

Cigogne, Geoffrey de Martigny and his brothers, Philip Mark and his

brothers, and Geoffrey his nephew, and all their followers.}

{As soon as peace is restored, we will banish from our realm all

foreign knights, crossbowmen, sergeants, and mercenaries, who have come

with horses and arms, to the hurt of the realm.}

{If anyone has been disseised or deprived by us, without the legal

judgment of his peers, of lands, castles, liberties, or rights, we will

immediately restore the same, and if any disagreement arises on this,

the matter shall be decided by judgment of the twenty- five barons

mentioned below in the clause for securing the peace. With regard to

all those things, however, of which any man was disseised or deprived,

without the legal judgment of his peers, by King Henry [II] our Father

or our Brother King Richard, and which remain in our hands or are held

by others under our warranty, we shall have respite during the term

commonly allowed to the Crusaders, excepting those cases in which a

plea was begun or inquest made on our order before we took the cross;

when, however, we return from our pilgrimage, or if perhaps we do not

undertake it, we will at once do full justice in these matters.}

{Likewise, we shall have the same respite in rendering justice with

respect to the disafforestation or retention of those forests which

Henry [II] our Father or Richard our Brother afforested, and concerning

custodies of lands which are of the fee of another, which we hitherto

have held by reason of the fee which some person has held of us by

knight's service, and to abbeys founded on fees other than our own, in

which the lord of that fee asserts his right. When we return from our

pilgrimage, or if we do not undertake it, we will forthwith do full

justice to the complainants in these matters.}

[XXXIV. IN WHAT ONLY CASE A WOMAN SHALL HAVE AN APPEAL OF DEATH]

No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon a woman's appeal for the

death of any person other than her husband [since no woman was expected

to personally engage in trial by combat].

[XXXV. AT WHAT TIME SHALL BE KEPT A COUNTY COURT, SHERIFF'S TURN AND A

LEET COURT (COURTS OF CRIMINAL JURISDICTION EXCEPTING FELONIES)]

NO COUNTY COURT FROM HENCEFORTH SHALL BE HELD, BUT FROM MONTH TO MONTH;

AND WHERE GREATER TIME HAS BEEN USED, THERE SHALL BE GREATER. NOR SHALL

ANY SHERIFF, OR HIS BAILIFF, KEEP HIS TURN IN THE HUNDRED BUT TWICE IN

THE YEAR; AND NO WHERE BUT IN DUE PLACE AND ACCUSTOMED TIME, THAT IS,

ONCE AFTER EASTER, AND AGAIN AFTER THE FEAST OF SAINT MICHAEL. AND THE

VIEW OF FRANKPLEDGE [THE RIGHT OF ASSEMBLING THE WHOLE MALE POPULATION

OVER 12 YEARS EXCEPT CLERGY, EARLS, BARONS, KNIGHTS, AND THE INFIRM, AT

THE LEET OR SOKE COURT FOR THE CAPITAL FRANKPLEDGES TO GIVE ACCOUNT OF

THE PEACE KEPT BY INDIVIDUALS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE TITHINGS] SHALL BE

LIKEWISE AT THE FEAST OF SAINT MICHAEL WITHOUT OCCASION, SO THAT EVERY

MAN MAY HAVE HIS LIBERTIES WHICH HE HAD, OR USED TO HAVE, IN THE TIME

OF KING HENRY [II] OUR GRANDFATHER, OR WHICH HE HAS SINCE PURCHASED.

THE VIEW OF FRANKPLEDGE SHALL BE SO DONE, THAT OUR PEACE MAY BE KEPT;

AND THAT THE TYTHING BE WHOLLY KEPT AS IT HAS BEEN ACCUSTOMED; AND THAT

THE SHERIFF SEEK NO OCCASIONS, AND THAT HE BE CONTENT WITH SO MUCH AS

THE SHERIFF WAS WONT TO HAVE FOR HIS VIEW-MAKING IN THE TIME OF KING

HENRY OUR GRANDFATHER.

[XXXVI. NO LAND SHALL BE GIVEN IN MORTMAIN]

IT SHALL NOT BE LAWFUL FROM HENCEFORTH TO ANY TO GIVE HIS LAND TO ANY

RELIGIOUS HOUSE, AND TO TAKE THE SAME LAND AGAIN TO HOLD OF THE SAME

HOUSE [THEREBY EXTINGUISHING THE FEUDAL RIGHTS OF THE TEMPORAL LORD].

NOR SHALL IT BE LAWFUL TO ANY HOUSE OF RELIGION TO TAKE THE LANDS OF

ANY, AND TO LEASE THE SAME TO HIM OF WHOM HE RECEIVED IT. IF ANY FROM

HENCEFORTH GIVE HIS LANDS TO ANY RELIGIOUS HOUSE, AND THEREUPON BE

CONVICTED, THE GIFT SHALL BE UTTERLY VOID, AND THE LAND SHALL ACCRUE TO

THE LORD OF THE FEE.

{All fines unjustly and unlawfully given to us, and all amercements

levied unjustly and against the law of the land, shall be entirely

remitted or the matter decided by judgment of the twenty-five barons

mentioned below in the clause for securing the peace, or the majority

of them, together with the aforesaid Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury,

if he himself can be present, and any others whom he may wish to bring

with him for the purpose; if he cannot be present, the business shall

nevertheless proceed without him. If any one or more of the said

twenty-five barons has an interest in a suit of this kind, he or they

shall step down for this particular judgment, and be replaced by

another or others, elected and sworn by the rest of the said barons,

for this occasion only.}

{If we have disseised or deprived the Welsh of lands, liberties, or

other things, without legal judgment of their peers, in England or

Wales, they shall immediately be restored to them, and if a

disagreement arises thereon, the question shall be determined in the

Marches by judgment of their peers according to the law of England as

to English tenements, the law of Wales as to Welsh tenements, the law

of the Marches as to tenements in the Marches. The same shall the Welsh

do to us and ours.}

{But with regard to all those things of which any Welshman was

disseised or deprived, without legal judgment of his peers, by King

Henry [II] our Father or our Brother King Richard, and which we hold in

our hands or others hold under our warranty, we shall have respite

during the term commonly allowed to the Crusaders, except as to those

matters whereon a suit had arisen or an inquisition had been taken by

our command prior to our taking the cross. Immediately after our return

from our pilgrimage, or if by chance we do not undertake it, we will do

full justice according to the laws of the Welsh and the aforesaid

regions.}

{We will immediately return the son of Llywelyn, all the Welsh

hostages, and the charters which were delivered to us as security for

the peace.}

{With regard to the return of the sisters and hostages of Alexander,

King of the Scots, and of his liberties and rights, we will do the same

as we would with regard to our other barons of England, unless it

appears by the charters which we hold of William his father, late King

of the Scots, that it ought to be otherwise; this shall be determined

by judgment of his peers in our court.}

[XXXVII. SUBSIDY IN RESPECT OF THIS CHARTER, AND THE CHARTER OF THE

FOREST, GRANTED TO THE KING.]

ESCUAGE [SERVICE OF THE SHIELD, A TENURE IN KNIGHTS' SERVICE] FROM

HENCEFORTH SHALL BE TAKEN AS IT WAS WONT TO BE IN THE TIME OF KING

HENRY [II] OUR GRANDFATHER; RESERVING TO ALL ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS,

ABBOTS, PRIORS, TEMPLERS, HOSPITALLERS, EARLS, BARONS, AND ALL PERSONS

AS WELL SPIRITUAL AS TEMPORAL; ALL THEIR FREE LIBERTIES AND FREE

CUSTOMS, WHICH THEY HAVE HAD IN TIME PASSED. AND ALL THESE CUSTOMS AND

LIBERTIES AFORESAID, WHICH WE HAVE GRANTED TO BE HELD WITHIN THIS OUR

REALM, AS MUCH AS PERTAINS TO US AND OUR HEIRS, WE SHALL OBSERVE.

{All the customs and liberties aforesaid, which we have granted to be

enjoyed, as far as it pertains to us towards our people throughout our

realm, let all our subjects, whether clerics or laymen, observe, as far

as it pertains toward their dependents.}

AND ALL MEN OF THIS OUR REALM, AS WELL SPIRITUAL AS TEMPORAL (AS MUCH

AS IN THEM IS) SHALL OBSERVE THE SAME AGAINST ALL PERSONS IN LIKE WISE.

AND FOR THIS OUR GIFT AND GRANT OF THESE LIBERTIES, AND OF OTHER

CONSTRAINED IN OUR CHARTER OF LIBERTIES OF OUR FOREST, THE ARCHBISHOPS,

BISHOPS, ABBOTS, PRIORS, EARLS, BARONS, KNIGHTS, FREEHOLDERS, AND OUR

OTHER SUBJECTS, HAVE GIVEN UNTO US THE FIFTEENTH PART OF ALL THEIR

MOVABLES. AND WE HAVE GRANTED UNTO THEM ON THE OTHER PART, THAT NEITHER

WE, NOR OUR HEIRS, SHALL PROCURE OR DO ANY THING WHEREBY THE LIBERTIES

IN THIS CHARTER CONTAINED SHALL BE INFRINGED OR BROKEN. AND IF ANY

THING BE PROCURED BY ANY PERSON CONTRARY TO THE PREMISES, IT SHALL BE

HAD OF NO FORCE NOR EFFECT.

[ENFORCEMENT]

{Whereas we, for the honor of God and the reform of our realm, and in

order the better to allay the discord arisen between us and our barons,

have granted all these things aforesaid. We, willing that they be

forever enjoyed wholly and in lasting strength, do give and grant to

our subjects the following security, to wit, that the barons shall

elect any twenty-five barons of the realm they wish, who shall, with

their utmost power, keep, hold, and cause to be kept the peace and

liberties which we have granted unto them and by this our present

Charter have confirmed, so that if we, our Justiciary, bailiffs, or any

of our ministers offends in any respect against any man, or

transgresses any of these articles of peace or security, and the

offense is brought before four of the said twenty-five barons, those

four barons shall come before us, or our Chief Justiciary if we are out

of the realm, declaring the offense, and shall demand speedy amends for

the same. If we or, in case of our being out of the realm, our Chief

Justiciary fails to afford redress within forty days from the time the

case was brought before us or, in the event of our having been out of

the realm, our Chief Justiciary, the aforesaid four barons shall refer

the matter to the rest of the twenty-five barons, who, together with

the commonalty of the whole country, shall distrain and distress us to

the utmost of their power, to wit, by capture of our castles, lands,

and possessions and by all other possible means, until compensation is

made according to their decision, saving our person and that of our

Queen and children; as soon as redress has been had, they shall return

to their former allegiance. Anyone in the realm may take oath that, for

the accomplishment of all the aforesaid matters, he will obey the

orders of the said twenty-five barons and distress us to the utmost of

his power; and we give public and free leave to everyone wishing to

take oath to do so, and to none will we deny the same. Moreover, all

such of our subjects who do not of their own free will and accord agree

to swear to the said twenty-five barons, to distrain and distress us

together with them, we will compel to do so by our command in the

aforesaid manner. If any one of the twenty-five barons dies or leaves

the country or is in any way hindered from executing the said office,

the rest of the said twenty-five barons shall choose another in his

stead, at their discretion, who shall be sworn in like manner as the

others. In all cases which are referred to the said twenty-five barons

to execute, and in which a difference arises among them, supposing them

all to be present, or in which not all who have been summoned are

willing or able to appear, the verdict of the majority shall be

considered as firm and binding as if the whole number had been of one

mind. The aforesaid twenty-five shall swear to keep faithfully all the

aforesaid articles and, to the best of their power, to cause them to be

kept by others. We will not procure, either by ourself or any other,

anything from any man whereby any of these concessions or liberties may

be revoked or abated. If any such procurement is made, let it be null

and void; it shall never be made use of either by us or by any other.}

[AMNESTY]

{We have also fully forgiven and pardoned all ill-will, wrath, and

malice which has arisen between us and our subjects, both clergy and

laymen, during the disputes, to and with all men. Moreover, we have

fully forgiven and, as far as it pertains to us, wholly pardoned to and

with all, clergy and laymen, all offenses made in consequence of the

said disputes from Easter in the sixteenth year of our reign until the

restoration of peace. Over and above this, we have caused letters

patent to be made for Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry,

Archbishop of Dublin, the above-mentioned Bishops, and Master Pandulph,

for the aforesaid security and concessions.}

{Wherefore we will that, and firmly command that, the English Church

shall be free and all men in our realm shall have and hold all the

aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably,

freely, quietly, fully, and wholly, to them and their heirs, of us and

our heirs, in all things and places forever, as is aforesaid. It is

moreover sworn, as will on our part as on the part of the barons, that

all these matters aforesaid shall be kept in good faith and without

deceit. Witness the above-named 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.}

THESE BEING WITNESSES: LORD S. ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, E. BISHOP OF

LONDON, F. BISHOP OF BATHE, G. OF WINCESTER, H. OF LINCOLN, R. OF

SALISBURY, W. OF ROCHESTER, X. OF WORCESTER, F. OF ELY, H. OF HEREFORD,

R. OF CHICHESTER, W. OF EXETER, BISHOPS; THE ABBOT OF ST. EDMONDS, THE

ABBOT OF ST. ALBANS, THE ABBOT OF BELLO, THE ABBOT OF ST. AUGUSTINES IN

CANTERBURY, THE ABBOT OF EVESHAM, THE ABBOT OF WESTMINSTER, THE ABBOT

OF BOURGH ST. PETER, THE ABBOT OF REDING, THE ABBOT OF ABINDON, THE

ABBOT OF MALMBURY, THE ABBOT OF WINCHCOMB, THE ABBOT OF HYDE, THE ABBOT

OF CERTESEY, THE ABBOT OF SHERBURN, THE ABBOT OF CERNE, THE ABBOT OF

ABBOREBIR, THE ABBOT OF MIDDLETON, THE ABBOT OF SELEBY, THE ABBOT OF

CIRENCESTER, H. DE BURGH JUSTICE, H. EARL OF CHESTER AND LINCOLN, W.

EARL OF SALISBURY, W. EARL OF WARREN, G. DE CLARE EARL OF GLOUCESTER

AND HEREFORD, W. DE FERRARS EARL OF DERBY, W. DE MANDEVILLE EARL OF

ESSEX, H. DE BYGOD EARL OF NORFOLK, W. EARL OF ALBEMARLE, H. EARL OF

HEREFORD, F. CONSTABLE OF CHESTER, G. DE TOS, H. FITZWALTER, R. DE

BYPONTE, W. DE BRUER, R. DE MONTEFICHET, P. FITZHERBERT, W. DE AUBENIE,

F. GRESLY, F. DE BREUS, F. DE MONEMUE, F. FITZALLEN, H. DE MORTIMER, W.

DE BEUCHAMP, W. DE ST. JOHN, P. DE MAULI, BRIAN DE LISLE, THOMAS DE

MULTON, R. DE ARGENTEYN, G. DE NEVIL, W. DE MAUDUIT, F. DE BALUN, AND

OTHERS. GIVEN AT WESTMINSTER THE 11TH DAY OF FEBRUARY THE 9TH YEAR OF

OUR REIGN.

WE, RATIFYING AND APPROVING THESE GIFTS AND GRANTS AFORESAID, CONFIRM

AND MAKE STRONG ALL THE SAME FOR US AND OUR HEIRS PERPETUALLY, AND BY

THE TENOUR OF THESE PRESENTS, DO RENEW THE SAME; WILLING AND GRANTING

FOR US AND OUR HEIRS, THAT THIS CHARTER, AND ALL SINGULAR HIS ARTICLES,

FOREVER SHALL BE STEADFASTLY, FIRMLY, AND INVIOLABLY OBSERVED; AND IF

ANY ARTICLE IN THE SAME CHARTER CONTAINED, YET HITHERTO PERADVENTURE

HAS NOT BEEN KEPT, WE WILL, AND BY ROYAL AUTHORITY, COMMAND, FROM

HENCEFORTH FIRMLY THEY BE OBSERVED.

Felonies are serious crimes which can be punished by loss of

life or member. By common law, they now consist of homicide, mayhem,

wounding, false imprisonment, arson, rape, robbery, burglary, and

larceny. A felon's lands go to his lord or to the king and his chattels

are confiscated. If a man accused of felony flies, he can be outlawed.

Treason was a special felony, which was punishable by hanging after

being drawn behind a horse along the rough road to the gibbet. Petty

treason was treason to one's lord and included adultery with the lord's

wife, violation of his daughter, and forgery of his seal. High treason

was to the king and include clipping of the king's coin and making

counterfeit money. A traitor's land was forfeited to the king. Treason

had no benefit of clergy.

Statutes which were enacted after the Magna Carta follow:

Nuisance is recognized by this statute: "Every freeman, without

danger, shall make in his own wood, or in his land, or in his water,

which he has within our Forest, mills, springs, pools, clay pits,

dikes, or arable ground, so that it does not annoy any of his

neighbors."

Anyone taking a widow's dower after her husband's death must

not only return the dower, but pay damages in the amount of the value

of the dower from the time of death of the husband until her recovery

of seisin.

Widows may bequeath the crop of their ground as well of their

dowers as of their other lands and tenements.

Freeholders of tenements on manors shall have sufficient

ingress and egress from their tenements to the common pasture and as

much pasture as suffices for their tenements.

"Grain shall not be taken under the pretense of borrowing or

the promise of after-payment without the permission of the owner."

"A parent or other who forcefully leads away and withholds, or

marries off, an heir who is a minor (under 14), shall yield the value

of the marriage and be imprisoned until he has satisfied the king for

the trespass. If an heir 14 years or older marries without his Lord's

permission to defraud him of the marriage and the Lord offers him

reasonable and convenient marriage, without disparagement, then the

Lord shall hold his land beyond the term of his age, that, of twenty

one years, so long that he may receive double the value of the marriage

as estimated by lawful men, or after as it has been offered before

without fraud or collusion, and after as it may be proved in the King's

Court. Any Lord who marries off a ward of his who is a minor and cannot

consent to marriage, to a villain or other, such as a burgess, whereby

the ward is disparaged, shall lose the wardship and all its profits if

the ward's friends complain of the Lord. The wardship and profit shall

be converted to the use of the heir, for the shame done to him, after

the disposition and provision of his friends." (The "marriage" could be

annulled by the church.)

"If an heir of whatever age will not marry at the request of

his Lord, he shall not be compelled thereunto; but when he comes of

age, he shall pay to his Lord the value of the marriage before

receiving his land, whether or not he himself marries."

"Interest shall not run against any minor, from the time of

death of his ancestor until his lawful age; so nevertheless, that the

payment of the principal debt, with the interest that was before the

death of his ancestor shall not remain."

The value of debts to be repaid to the king or to any man shall

be reasonably determined by the debtor's neighbors and not by

strangers. A debtors' plough cattle or sheep cannot be taken to satisfy

a debt.

The wards and escheats of the king shall be surveyed yearly by

three people assigned by the King. The sheriffs, by their counsel,

shall approve and let to farm such wards and escheats as they think

most profitable for the King. The Sheriffs shall be answerable for the

issues thereof in the Exchequer at designated times. The collectors of

the customs on wool exports shall pay this money at the two designated

times and shall make yearly accounts of all parcels in ports and all

ships.

By statute leap year was standardized throughout the nation,

"the day increasing in the leap year shall be accounted in that year",

"but it shall be taken and reckoned in the same month wherein it grew

and that day and the preceding day shall be counted as one day."

"An English penny [1 d.], called a sterling, round and without

any clipping, shall weigh 32 wheat grains dry in the middle of the ear."

Measurements of distance were standardized to twelve inches to

a foot, three feet to a yard, and so forth up to an acre of land.

Goods which could only be sold by the standard weights and

measures (such as ounces, pounds, gallons, bushels) included sacks of

wool, leather, skins, ropes, glass, iron, lead, canvas, linen cloth,

tallow, spices, confections cheese, herrings, sugar, pepper, cinnamon,

nutmeg, wheat, barley, oats, bread, and ale. The prices required for

bread and ale were based on the market price for the wheat, barley, and

oats from which they were made.

The punishment for repeated violations of required measures,

weights, or prices of bread and ale by a baker or brewer; selling of

spoiled or unwholesome wine, meat, fish by brewers, butchers, or cooks;

or a steward or bailiff receiving a bribe was reduced to placement in a

pillory with a shaven head so that these men would still be fit for

military service and not overcrowd the gaols.

Forest penalties were changed so that "No man shall lose either

life or member [limb] for killing of our deer. But if any man be taken

and convicted for taking our venison, he shall make a grievous fine, if

he has anything. And if he has nothing to lose, he shall be imprisoned

for a year and a day. And after that, if he can find sufficient

sureties, he shall be delivered, and, if not, he shall abjure the realm

of England."

The Forest Charter provided that: Every freeman may allow his

pigs to eat in his own wood in the King's forest. He may also drive his

pigs through the King's forest and tarry one night within the forest

without losing any of his pigs. But people having greyhounds must keep

them out of the forest so they don't maim the deer.

The Forest Charter also allowed magnates traveling through the

King's forest on the King's command to come to him, to kill one or two

deer as long as it was in view of the forester if he was present, or

while having a horn blown, so it did not seem to be theft.

After a period of civil war, the following statutes were

enacted:

"All persons, as well of high as of low estate, shall receive justice

in the King's Court; and none shall take any such revenge or distress

by his own authority, without award of our court, although he is

damaged or injured, whereby he would have amends of his neighbor either

higher or lower." The penalty is a fine according to the trespass.

A fraudulent conveyance to a minor or lease for a term of years made to

defraud a Lord of a wardship shall be void. A Lord who maliciously and

wrongfully alleges this to a court shall pay damages and costs.

If a Lord will not render unto an heir his land when he comes of age or

takes possession away from an heir of age or removes anything from the

land, he shall pay damages. (The king retained the right to take

possession of an heir's land for a year or, in lieu of this, to take

one year's profit from the land in addition to the relief.)

Kinsmen of a minor heir who have custody of his land held in socage

shall make no waste, sale, nor destruction of the inheritance and shall

answer to the heir when he comes of age for the issues of the land,

except for the reasonable costs of these guardians.

No lord may distrain any of his tenants. No one may drive animals taken

by distraint out of the county where they have been taken.

"Farmers during their terms, shall not make waste, sale, nor exile of

house, woods, and men, nor of any thing else belonging to the tenements

which they have to farm".

Church law required that planned marriages be publicly

announced [banns]by the priest so that any impediment could be made

known. If a marriage was clandestine or both parties knew of an

impediment, or it was within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity,

the children would be illegitimate. According to church rules, a man

could bequeath his personal property subject to certain family rights.

These were that if only the wife survived, she received half the

property. Similarly, if children survived, but no wife, they received

half the property. When the wife and children survived, each party

received one third. The church hoped that the remaining fraction would

go to the church as a reward for praying for the deceased's soul. It

taught that dying without a will was sinful. Adults were to confess

their sins at least yearly to their parish priest, which confession

would be confidential.

Ecclesiastical offenses included fornication, adultery, incest, and

bigamy, for which the punishment was usually whipping or a money

payment. Heresy and sorcery were so infrequent that there was no

machinery aptly suited for their suppression.

Henry de Bracton, a royal justice and the last great

ecclesiastical attorney, wrote an unfinished treatise: A Tract on the

Laws and Customs of England, systematizing and organizing the law of

the court rolls with definitions and general concepts and describing

court practice and procedure. It was influenced by his knowledge of

Roman legal concepts, such as res judicata, and by his own opinions,

such as that the law should go from precedent to precedent. He also

argued that the will and intent to injure was the essence of murder, so

that neither an infant nor a madman should be held liable for such and

that degrees of punishment should vary with the level of moral guilt in

a killing. He thought the deodand to be unreasonable.

Bracton defines the requirements of a valid and effective gift,

still applicable in 2000, as: "It must be complete and absolute, free

and uncoerced, extorted neither by fear nor through force. Let money or

service play no part, lest it fall into the category of purchase and

sale, for if money is involved there will then be a sale, and if

service, the remuneration for it. If a gift is to be valid the donor

must be of full age, for if a minor makes a gift it will be ineffective

since (if he so wishes) it shall be returned to him in its entirety

when he reaches full age. Also let the donor hold in his own name and

not another's, otherwise his gift may be revoked. And let him, at the

least, be of sound mind and good memory, though an invalid, ill and on

his death bed, for a gift make under such conditions will be good if

all the other [requirements] of a valid gift are met. For no one,

provided he is of good memory, ought to be kept from the administration

or disposition of his own property when affected by infirmity, since it

is only then that he must make provision for his family, his household

and relations, given stipends and settle his bequests; otherwise such

persons might suffer damage without fault. But since charters are

sometimes fraudulently drawn and gifts falsely taken to be made when

they are not, recourse must therefore be had to the country and the

neighborhood so that the truth may be declared."

In Bracton's view, a villein could buy his own freedom and the

child of a mixed marriage was free unless he was born in the tenement

of his villein parent.

Judicial Procedure

The Royal Court spawned several courts with different

specialties and became more like departments of state than offices of

the King's household. The justices were career civil servants

knowledgeable in the civil and canon law. The Court of the King's Bench

(a marble slab in Westminster upon which the throne was placed)

traveled with the king and primarily heard criminal cases and pleas of

the Crown. Any use of force, however trivial, was interpreted as breach

of the royal peace and could be brought before the King's Bench. Its

records were the coram rege rolls. The Court of Common Pleas primarily

heard civil cases brought by one subject against another. Pursuant to

the Magna Carta, it sat only at one place, the Great Hall in

Westminster. It had concurrent jurisdiction with the King's Bench over

trespass cases. Its records were the de banco rolls. The Court of the

Exchequer with its subsidiary department of the Treasury was in almost

permanent session at Westminster, primarily collecting the Crown's

revenue and enforcing the Crown's rights. A department of the Exchequer

watched over the affairs of the Jews. There was no sharp line demarking

the jurisdictions of these courts. No pleas could be brought against

the king; rather a petition was addressed to him, which he would answer

by an executive writ.

Appeals from these courts could be made to the king and/or his

small council. In 1234, the justiciar as the principal royal executive

officer and chief presiding officer over the Royal Court ended. In

1268, a chief justiciar was appointed to hold pleas before the king.

About the same time the presiding justice of the Court of Common Pleas

also came to be styled chief justice. Henceforth, a justiciar was a

royal officer who dealt only with judicial work. The justiciars were no

longer statesmen or politicians, but rather men learned in the law.

Membership in or attendance at the great council or parliament

no longer rested upon feudal tenure, but upon a writ of summons which

was, to a degree, dependent on the royal will.

Crown pleas included issues of the King's property, fines due

to him, murder (a body found with no witnesses to a killing), homicide

(a killing for which there were witnesses), rape, wounding, mayhem,

consorting, larceny, robbery, burglary, arson, poaching, unjust

imprisonment, selling cloth by nonstandard widths, selling wine by

nonstandard weights. Crown causes were pled by the king's serjeants or

servants at law, who were not clerics. Apprentices at law learned

pleading from them.

Between the proprietary action and the possessory assizes there

is growing use in the king's courts of writs of entry, by which a

tenant may be ordered to give up land, e.g. by a recent flaw in a

tenant's title, for a term which has expired, by a widow for her late

husband's land, or by an heir who has become of full age from his

guardian. For instance: " ...Command Tertius that ... he render to

Claimant, who is of full age, as it is said, ten acres ...which he

claims to be his right and inheritance and into which the said Tertius

has no entry save by Secundus, to whom Primus demised [gaged] them, who

had only the wardship thereof while the aforesaid Claimant was under

age, as he says...". But most litigation about land is still through

the writ of right for proprietary issues and the assizes of novel

disseisin and mort d'ancestor for possessory issues. Actions for debt;

covenant; and account, e.g by a lord to his bailiff and receiver of his

money, were actions in the king's court.

Royal itinerant justices, who were members of the royal courts,

traveled on eyre on regular circuits to the counties every seven years.

They had an administrative function as well as a judicial function.

They gave interrogatories to local assizes of twelve men to determine

what had happened there since the last eyre. Information was aquired on

royal proprietary rights, escheats, wardships, treasury matters, and

official misdoings of royal officers, sheriffs, coroners, and bailiffs,

which could be dealt with in an administrative way. (These

administrative duties ceased in the first half of the 1300s.) All

boroughs had to send twelve burgesses who were to indict any burgesses

suspected of breaking the royal law. Every crime, every invasion of

royal rights, and every neglect of police duties was to be presented

and tried. Suspects were held in gaol until their cases could be heard

and gaol breaks were common. Punishment after trial was prison for

serious crimes, expulsion from the realm for less serious crimes, and

pledges for good behavior for lesser crimes. Fines and amercements both

for individual criminal offenses and local communities' faults brought

revenue into the Exchequer as profits of justice. The king could

increase fines and amercements or pardon a person found guilty. The

visitation of these justices was anticipated with trepidation. In 1237,

the residents of Cornwall hid in the woods rather than face the

itinerant justices. (The court of the justices in eyre lasted until

1971.)

Royal coroners held inquests on all sudden deaths to determine

whether they were accidental or not. If not, royal justices held trial.

They also had duties in treasure trove and shipwreck cases.

Justices of assize, Justices of the Peace, and itinerant

justices operated at the county level. The traditional county courts

had lost much jurisdiction to the royal courts and were now limited to

personal actions in causes involving usually no more than 40s. The

great majority of cases had to do with 1) writ of right for recovery of

land, 2) the possessory assizes for the protection of possession, 3)

debt for recovery of money owed, such as rent 4) detinue for detention

of a chattel, such as beasts and 5) convenant for breach of a contract,

later to be limited to contracts under seal. There were also pleas of

trespass and claims of fugitive villeins and their goods, nuisances,

and encroachments. The action of trespass had broken free of the

criminal law, which had been divided into the two categories of felony

and trespass. But then the field of tort began to separate itself from

that of crime and the more serious trespasses remained criminal while

the less serious attached themselves to the civil sphere.

The sheriff still constitutes and conducts the court, assisted by

elected coroners. The earl of the county had little to do with its

court except to take one-third of its profits of justice.The county

court met every three or four weeks, usually in the sheriff's castle

located in the chief borough of the county, but some met in the open

air. It is attended by suitors, certain freeholders of the county who

are bound to attend it, that is, to do suit to it. They are the judges

of the court.

The hundred court decided cases of theft, viewing of boundaries

of land, claims for tenurial services, claims for homage, relief, and

for wardship; enfeoffments made, battery and brawls not amounting to

felony, wounding and maiming of beasts, collection of debts, trespass,

detinue, and covenant, which now requires a sealed writing; defamation,

and inquiries and presentments arising from the assizes of bread and

ale and measures. The action of debt was used for five main purposes:

1) money lent, 2) the price of goods sold, 3) arrears of rent due upon

a lease for years, 4) money due from a surety, and 5) a debt confessed

by a sealed document. A paid bailiff had responsibility for the hundred

court, which met every three weeks. Freeholders of these hundreds owe

suit to it; these suitors are the judges.

Twice a year the sheriff visited each hundred in the county to

hold a turn, a court for small offenses, such as encroachment of public

land, brewing and baking contrary to government regulations, and use of

dishonest weights and measures. Everyone who held freehold land in the

hundred except the greater magnates had to attend or be fined for

absence. The sheriff annually viewed frankpledge, in which every layman

without land that could be forfeited for felony, including villeins,

were checked for being in a tithing, a group of neighbors responsible

for each other's good conduct. This applied to every boy who had

reached the age of twelve. He had to swear on the Bible "I will be a

lawful man and bear loyalty to our lord the King and his heirs, and I

will be justiciable to my chief tithing man, so help me God and the

saints." Each tithing man paid a penny to the sheriff. The sheriff was

the judge in his turn. Coordinate with the sheriff's turn was a leet

court, which had private jurisdiction over the same small offences. If

a county or a hundred court gave a false judgment, it had to pay a fine.

Manorial courts were those in which a lord had for his tenants.

It was presided over by the lord, or his steward, who decided the

outcomes of cases, with or without the villeins attending it, based on

the customs of the manor. It had a civil jurisdiction, and dealt

typically with land issues and minor offenses, such as, actions when

the amount at stake is less than 40 s., of debt, detinue, trespass and

covenant. 40s. was the equivalent of around 13 oxen or 80 sheep.

Usually, the lord's court had a single manor with a single vill.

The cities and boroughs, having a degree of organization and

independence, had municipal courts whose jurisdiction was determined by

privileges.given by charter from the king or by prescription of ancient

origin. Court was held by the sheriff, and after a time by its mayor,

at the borough's weekly meeting of its burgesses. The burgesses would

take the profits of the court and the tolls and house-rents that had

been paid to the sheriff.

Still in existence is the old self-help law of hamsocne, the

thief hand-habbende, the thief back-berend, the old summary procedure

where the thief is caught in the act, AEthelstan's laws, and Edward the

Confessor's laws. Under the name of "actio furti" [appeal of larceny]

is the old process by which a thief can be pursued and goods

vindicated. As before and for centuries later, deodands were forfeited

to the king to appease God's wrath. These chattel which caused the

death of a person were usually oxen, carts, cart teams, horses, boats,

cauldrons, or millwheels. Then they were forfeited to the community,

which paid the king their worth. Sometimes the justices named the

charitable purpose for which the deodand was to be spent, such as the

price of a boat to go to the repair of a bridge.

Five cases from a county court are:

1) "John Croc was drowned from his horse and cart in the water of

Bickney. Judgment: misadventure. The price of the horse and cart is

4s.6d. deodand."

2) "Willam Ruffus was crushed to death by a certain trunk. The price

of the trunk is 4d., for which the sheriff is to answer. 4d. deodand."

3) "William le Hauck killed Edric le Poter and fled, so he is -to be

exacted and outlawed. He was in the tithing of Reynold Horloc in

Clandon of the abbot of Chertsey (West Clandon), so it is in mercy. His

chattels were 4 s., for which the bailiff of the abbot of Chertsey is

to answer."

4) "Richard de Bregsells, accused of larceny, comes and denies the

whole and puts himself on the country for good or ill. The twelve

jurors and four vills say that he is not guilty, -so he is quit."

5) William le Wimpler and William Vintner sold wine contrary to the

statute, so they are in mercy.

Other cases dealt with issues of entry, e.g. whether land was

conveyed or just rented; issues of whether a man was free, for which

his lineage was examined; issues of to which lord a villein belonged;

issues of nuisance such as making or destroying a bank, ditch, or

hedge; diverting a watercourse or damming it to make a pool;

obstructing a road, and issues of what grazing rights were conveyed in

pasture land, waste, woods, or arable fields between harvest and

sowing. Grazing right disputes usually arose from the ambiguous

language in the grant of land "with appurtenances".

Courts awarded specific relief as well as money damages. If a

landlord broke his covenant to lease land for a term of years, the

court restored possession to the lessee. If a lord did not perform the

services due to his superior lord, the court ordered him to perform the

services. The courts also ordered repair by a lessee.

Debts of country knights and freeholders were heard in the

local courts; debts of merchants and burgesses were heard in the courts

of the fairs and boroughs; debts due under wills and testaments were

heard in the ecclesiastical courts. The ecclesiastical courts deemed

marriage to legitimize bastard children whose parents married, so they

inherited personal property and money of their parents. Proof was by

compurgation. Church law required excommunication to be in writing with

the reasons therefore, and a copy given to the excommunicant. A church

judge was required to employ a notary or two men to write down all acts

of the judge and to give a copy to the parties to protect against

unjust judges. No cleric was allowed to pronounce or execute a sentence

of death or to take part in judicial tests or ordeals. Anyone knowingly

accepting a stolen article was required to restore it to its owner.

Heretics were to be excommunicated.

Trial by combat is still available, although it is extremely

rare for it to take place. In the appeal of felony, when offered

combat, a defendant could choose between combat and recourse to a

verdict of his neighbors.

The manor court imposed penalties on those who did not perform

their services to the manor and the lord wrote down the customs of the

manor for future use in other courts.

By statute, no fines could be taken of any man for fair

pleading in the Circuit of Justiciars, county, hundred, or manor courts.

Various statutes relaxed the requirements for attendance at

court of those who were not involved in a case as long as there were

enough to make the inquests fully. And "every freeman who owes suit to

the county, tything, hundred, and wapentake, or to the Court of his

Lord, may freely make his attorney attend for him." All above the rank

of knight were exempted from attendance on the sheriff's turn, unless

specifically summoned. Prelates and barons were generally excepted from

the county courts by the charters of their estates. Charters of

boroughs often excepted their representatives at the county court when

there were no justices. Some barons and knights paid the sheriff to be

excused. The king often relieved the simple knights by special license.

There was frequently a problem of not having enough knights to hold the

assizes. Henry III excused the attendance at hundred courts of all but

those who were bound to special service, or who were concerned in suits.

Trespass has become a writ of course in the common law. It

still involves violence, but its element of breach of the peace extends

to those breaches which do not amount to felony. It can include assault

and battery, physical force to land, and physical force to chattels,

e.g. assaulting and beating the plaintiff, breaking into his close, or

carrying off his goods. One found guilty is fined and imprisoned. As in

criminal matters, if a defendant does not appear at court, his body can

be seized and imprisoned, and if he cannot be found, he may be

outlawed. Trespass to goods results in damages, rather than the return

of the goods.

Various cases from the manors of the abbey of Bec in 1248-1249

are:

1. Ragenilda of Bec gives 2s. for having married without licence.

Pledge, William of Pinner. The same Ragenilda demands against Roger

Loft and Juliana his wife a certain messuage which belonged to Robert

le Beck, and a jury of -twelve lawful men is granted her in

consideration of the said fine, and if she recovers seisin she will

give in all 5s. And twelve jurors are elected, to wit, John of Hulle,

William Maureward, Robert Hale Walter But, Walter Sigar, William

Brihtwin, Richard Horseman, Richard Leofred, William John's son, Hugh

Cross, Richard Pontfret and Robert Croyser, John Bisuthe and Gilbert

Bisuthe who are sworn. And they say that the said Ragenilda has the

greater right. Therefore let her have seisin.

2. Richard Guest gives 12d. and if he recovers will give 2s. to have a

jury of twelve lawful men as to whether he has the greater right in a

certain headland at Eastcot which Ragenilda widow of William Andrews

holds, or the said Ragenilda. Pledges for the fine, John Brook and

Richard of Pinner. And the said Ragenilda comes and says that she has

no power to bring that land into judgment because she has no right in

it save by reason of the wardship of the son and heir of her husband,

who is under age. And Richard is not able to deny this. Therefore let

him await [the heir's] full age.

3. Walter Hulle gives 13s.4d. for licence to dwell on the land of the

Prior of Harmondsworth so long as he shall live and as a condition

finds pledges, to wit, William Slipper, John Bisuthe, Gilbert Bisuthe,

Hugh Tree, William John's son, John Hulle, who undertake that the said

Walter shall do to the lord all the services and customs which he would

do if he dwelt on the lord's land and that his heriot shall be secured

to the lord in case he dies there [i.e. at Harmondsworth].

4. Geoffrey Sweyn demands the moiety of one virgate of land which John

Crisp and Alina Hele hold, and he gives 2s. to have a jury, and if he

recovers will give 20s. And the said jurors come and say upon their

oath that the said Geoffrey has no right in the said land. Therefore

let the said tenants go thence without day and let the said Geoffrey

pay 2s. Pledges, Hugh Bussel and Godfrey Francis.

5. Juliana Saer's daughter demands as her right the moiety of one

messuage with a croft, which messuage William Snell and Goda his wife,

sister of the said Juliana hold. And they have made accord by leave [of

the court] to the effect that the said William and Goda give to the

said Juliana a barn and the curtilage nearest the Green and two selions

[a ridge of land between two furrows] in the western part of the said

croft [a small enclosed field]. And the said William put himself in

mercy. Fine, 12d.

6. Hugh of Stanbridge complains of Gilbert Vicar's son and William of

Stanbridge that the wife of the said Gilbert who is of [Gilbert's]

mainpast and the said William unjustly etc. beat and unlawfully struck

him and dragged him by his hair out of his own proper house, to his

damage 40s. and to his dishonor 20s., and [of this] he produces suit.

And Gilbert and William come and defend all of it fully. Therefore let

each of them go to his law six-handed. Afterwards they make accord to

this effect that in case the said Hugh shall hereafter in any manner

offend against [Gilbert and William] and thereof shall be convicted he

will give the lord 6s.8d. by way of penalty and will make amends to

[Gilbert and William] according to the judgment of six lawful men, and

the others on their part will do the like by him. And Hugh put himself

in mercy. Fine, 3s. Pledges, John Tailor and Walter Brother.

7. Breakers of the assize [of beer:] William Idle (fined 6d.), maud

carter's widow (6d.), Walter Carter.

8. John Witriche in mercy for carrying off thorns. Fine, 6d.

9. Robert Dochi in mercy (fine, 2d.) for divers trespasses. Pledges,

Gilbert Priest's son, Ralph Winbold and Walter Green.

10. Ailwin Crisp in mercy for his cow caught in the lord's pasture when

ward had been made. Fine, 12d.

11. John Bernard in mercy for his beasts caught by night in the lord's

meadow. Fine, 2s.

12. Richard Love gives 12d. to have a jury of twelve touching a rod of

land which Robert of Brockhole and Juliana his wife hold. This action

is respited to the next court [when the jurors are to come] without

further delay. Afterwards the jurors come and say upon their oath that

the said Richard has the greater right in the said land. Therefore let

him have seisin.

13. William Blackbeard in mercy for not coming with his law as he was

bound to do. Pledges, Geoffrey of Wick and Geoffrey Payn. Fine, 6d.

14. It was presented that Stephen Shepherd by night struck his sister

with a knife and grievously wounded her. Therefore let him be committed

to prison. Afterwards he made -fine with 2s. Pledge, Geoffrey of wick.

15. It was presented that Robert Carter's son by night invaded the

house of Peter Burgess and in felony threw stones at his door so that

the said Peter raised the hue. Therefore let the said Robert be

committed to prison. Afterwards he made fine with 2s.

16. Nicholas Drye, Henry le Notte (fine, 12d.) and Thomas Hogue (fine,

12d.) were convicted for that they by night invaded the house of Sir

Thomas the Chaplain and forcibly expelled thence a man and woman who

had been taken in there as guests. Therefore they are in mercy. Pledges

of the said Thomas, Richard of Lortemere and Jordan of Paris. Pledges

of the said Henry, Richard Pen...and Richard Butry.

17. Adam Moses gives half a sextary of wine to have an inquest as to

whether Henry Ayulf accused him of the crime of larceny and used

opprobrious and contumelious words of him. Afterwards they made accord

and Henry finds security for an amercement. Fine, 12d.

18. Isabella Sywards in mercy for having sold to Richard Bodenham land

that she could not warrant him.

19. All the ploughmen of great Ogbourne are convicted by the oath of

twelve men....because by reason of their default [the land] of the lord

was ill ploughed whereby the lord is damaged to the amount of 9s....

And Walter Reaper is in mercy for concealing [i.e. not giving

information as to] the said bad ploughing. Afterwards he made fine with

the lord with 1 mark.

20. From Ralph Joce 6s.8d. for his son, because he [the son] unlawfully

carried off grain from the lord's court. Pledge,Geoffrey Joce.

21. From Henry Pink 12d. for a trespass by waylaying.

22. From Eve Corner 6d. for a trespass of her pigs.

23. From Ralph Scales 6d. for timber carried off.

24. From William Cooper 12d. for ploughing his own land with the lord's

plough without licence.

25. From Hugh Newman 12d. for trespass in the wood.

26. From Richard Penant 12d. for the same.

27. From Helen widow of Little Ogbourne 6d. for the same.

28. From Nicholas Siward 6d. for a false complaint against William

Pafey.

29. From William Pafey 12d. for fighting with the said Nicholas.

30. From the widow of Ralph Shepherd 6d. for a trespass in Pencombe.

31. Richard Blund gives a half-mark and if he recovers will -give two

marks and a half to have a jury of the whole court, to inquire whether

he has the greater right in a virgate of land which Hugh Frith holds in

wardship with Cristiana daughter of Simon White, or the said Cristiana.

Pledges for the fine, Richard Dene, William Hulle, John of Senholt,

Hugh Smith, and William Ketelburn. And the whole court say upon their

oath that the said Richard has greater right in the said land than

anyone else. Therefore let him recover his seisin.

32 -....Miller gives 2d. [the Latin translates as 4s.] for a trespass

against the assize of beer and because the lord's grain has been ill

kept at the mill. Pledges, John Orped and Joce Serjeant.

33. Noah gives 2s. in the same way for an inquest as to one acre.

Afterwards they submit themselves to arbitrators, who adjudge that the

said Robert shall pay 3s. to the said Roger and 6s. to the said Gilbert

and 7s. to the said Noah, and that he will do so [Robert] finds pledges.

34. Ralph Bar in mercy for having beaten one of the lord's men.

Pledges, Herbert Rede and Ralph Brunild.

35. For the common fine of the township, a half-mark.

36. John Boneffiant found pledges, to wit, William Smith and William of

Bledlow, that he will not eloign himself from the lord's land and that

he will be prompt to obey the lord's summons.