JOHN, by the grace of God King of England, Lord
of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, to his
archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justices, foresters, sheriffs,
stewards, servants, and to all his officials and loyal subjects, Greeting.
KNOW THAT BEFORE GOD, for the health of our soul
and those of our ancestors and heirs, to the honour of God, the exaltation of
the holy Church, and the better ordering of our kingdom, at 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 bishop
of London, Peter bishop of Winchester, Jocelin bishop of Bath and Glastonbury,
Hugh bishop of Lincoln, Walter bishop of Worcester, William bishop of Coventry,
Benedict bishop of Rochester, Master Pandulf subdeacon and member of the papal
household, Brother Aymeric master of the knighthood of the Temple in England,
William Marshal earl of Pembroke, William earl of Salisbury, William earl of
Warren, William earl of Arundel, Alan of Galloway constable of Scotland, Warin
fitz Gerald, Peter fitz Herbert, Hubert de Burgh seneschal of Poitou, Hugh de
Neville, Matthew fitz Herbert, Thomas Basset, Alan Basset, Philip Daubeny,
Robert de Roppeley, John Marshal, John fitz Hugh, and other loyal subjects:
+ (1) FIRST, THAT WE HAVE GRANTED TO GOD, and by
this present charter have confirmed for us and our heirs in perpetuity, that
the English Church shall be free, and shall have its rights undiminished, and
its liberties unimpaired. That we wish this so to be observed, appears from the
fact that of our own free will, before the outbreak of the present dispute
between us and our barons, we granted and confirmed by charter the freedom of
the Church's elections - a right reckoned to be of the greatest necessity and
importance to it - and caused this to be confirmed by Pope Innocent III. This
freedom we shall observe ourselves, and desire to be observed in good faith by
our heirs in perpetuity.
TO ALL FREE MEN OF OUR KINGDOM we have also
granted, for us and our heirs for ever, all the liberties written out below, to
have and to keep for them and their heirs, of us and our heirs:
(2) If any earl, baron, or other person that
holds lands directly of the Crown, for military service, shall die, and at his
death his heir shall be of full age and owe a 'relief', the heir shall have his
inheritance on payment of the ancient scale of 'relief'. That is to say, the
heir or heirs of an earl shall pay £100 for the entire earl's barony, the heir
or heirs of a knight 100s. at most for the entire knight's 'fee', and any man
that owes less shall pay less, in accordance with the ancient usage of 'fees'.
(3) But if the heir of such a person is under
age and a ward, when he comes of age he shall have his inheritance without
'relief' or fine.
(4) The guardian of the land of an heir who is
under age shall take from it only reasonable revenues, customary dues, and
feudal services. He shall do this without destruction or damage to men or
property. If we have given the guardianship of the land to a sheriff, or to any
person answerable to us for the revenues, and he commits destruction or damage,
we will exact compensation from him, and the land shall be entrusted to two
worthy and prudent men of the same 'fee', who shall be answerable to us for the
revenues, or to the person to whom we have assigned them. If we have given or
sold to anyone the guardianship of such land, and he causes destruction or
damage, he shall lose the guardianship of it, and it shall be handed over to
two worthy and prudent men of the same 'fee', who shall be similarly answerable
to us.
(5) For so long as a guardian has guardianship
of such land, he shall maintain the houses, parks, fish preserves, ponds,
mills, and everything else pertaining to it, from the revenues of the land
itself. When the heir comes of age, he shall restore the whole land to him,
stocked with plough teams and such implements of husbandry as the season
demands and the revenues from the land can reasonably bear.
(6) Heirs may be given in marriage, but not to
someone of lower social standing. Before a marriage takes place, it shall be
made known to the heir's next-of-kin.
(7) At her husband's death, a widow may have her
marriage portion and inheritance at once and without trouble. She shall pay
nothing for her dower, marriage portion, or any inheritance that she and her
husband held jointly on the day of his death. She may remain in her husband's
house for forty days after his death, and within this period her dower shall be
assigned to her.
(8) No widow shall be compelled to marry, so
long as she wishes to remain without a husband. But she must give security that
she will not marry without royal consent, if she holds her lands of the Crown,
or without the consent of whatever other lord she may hold them of.
(9) Neither we nor our officials will seize any
land or rent in payment of a debt, so long as the debtor has movable goods
sufficient to discharge the debt. A debtor's sureties shall not be distrained
upon so long as the debtor himself can discharge his debt. If, for lack of
means, the debtor is unable to discharge his debt, his sureties shall be
answerable for it. If they so desire, they may have the debtor's lands and
rents until they have received satisfaction for the debt that they paid for
him, unless the debtor can show that he has settled his obligations to them.
* (10) If anyone who has borrowed a sum of money
from Jews dies before the debt has been repaid, his heir shall pay no interest
on the debt for so long as he remains under age, irrespective of whom he holds
his lands. If such a debt falls into the hands of the Crown, it will take
nothing except the principal sum specified in the bond.
* (11) If a man dies owing money to Jews, his
wife may have her dower and pay nothing towards the debt from it. If he leaves
children that are under age, their needs may also be provided for on a scale
appropriate to the size of his holding of lands. The debt is to be paid out of
the residue, reserving the service due to his feudal lords. Debts owed to
persons other than Jews are to be dealt with similarly.
* (12) No 'scutage' or 'aid' may be levied in
our kingdom without its general consent, unless it is for the ransom of our
person, to make our eldest son a knight, and (once) to marry our eldest
daughter. For these purposes only a reasonable 'aid' may be levied. 'Aids' from
the city of London are to be treated similarly.
+ (13) The city of London shall enjoy all its
ancient liberties and free customs, both by land and by water. We also will and
grant that all other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports shall enjoy all their
liberties and free customs.
* (14) To obtain the general consent of the
realm for the assessment of an 'aid' - except in the three cases specified
above - or a 'scutage', we will cause the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls,
and greater barons to be summoned individually by letter. To those who hold
lands directly of us we will cause a general summons to be issued, through the
sheriffs and other officials, to come together on a fixed day (of which at
least forty days notice shall be given) and at a fixed place. In all letters of
summons, the cause of the summons will be stated. When a summons has been
issued, the business appointed for the day shall go forward in accordance with
the resolution of those present, even if not all those who were summoned have
appeared.
* (15) In future we will allow no one to levy an
'aid' from his free men, except to ransom his person, to make his eldest son a
knight, and (once) to marry his eldest daughter. For these purposes only a
reasonable 'aid' may be levied.
(16) No man shall be forced to perform more
service for a knight's 'fee', or other free holding of land, than is due from
it.
(17) Ordinary lawsuits shall not follow the
royal court around, but shall be held in a fixed place.
(18) Inquests of novel disseisin, mort
d'ancestor, and darrein presentment shall be taken only in their proper county
court. We ourselves, or in our absence abroad our chief justice, will send two justices
to each county four times a year, and these justices, with four knights of the
county elected by the county itself, shall hold the assizes in the county
court, on the day and in the place where the court meets.
(19) If any assizes cannot be taken on the day
of the county court, as many knights and freeholders shall afterwards remain
behind, of those who have attended the court, as will suffice for the
administration of justice, having regard to the volume of business to be done.
(20) For a trivial offence, a free man shall be
fined only in proportion to the degree of his offence, and for a serious
offence correspondingly, but not so heavily as to deprive him of his
livelihood. In the same way, a merchant shall be spared his merchandise, and a
villein the implements of his husbandry, if they fall upon the mercy of a royal
court. None of these fines shall be imposed except by the assessment on oath of
reputable men of the neighbourhood.
(21) Earls and barons shall be fined only by
their equals, and in proportion to the gravity of their offence.
(22) A fine imposed upon the lay property of a
clerk in holy orders shall be assessed upon the same principles, without
reference to the value of his ecclesiastical benefice.
(23) No town or person shall be forced to build
bridges over rivers except those with an ancient obligation to do so.
(24) No sheriff, constable, coroners, or other
royal officials are to hold lawsuits that should be held by the royal justices.
* (25) Every county, hundred, wapentake, and tithing
shall remain at its ancient rent, without increase, except the royal demesne
manors.
(26) If at the death of a man who holds a lay
'fee' of the Crown, a sheriff or royal official produces royal letters patent
of summons for a debt due to the Crown, it shall be lawful for them to seize
and list movable goods found in the lay 'fee' of the dead man to the value of
the debt, as assessed by worthy men. Nothing shall be removed until the whole
debt is paid, when the residue shall be given over to the executors to carry
out the dead man’s will. If no debt is due to the Crown, all the movable goods
shall be regarded as the property of the dead man, except the reasonable shares
of his wife and children.
* (27) If a free man dies intestate, his movable
goods are to be distributed by his next-of-kin and friends, under the
supervision of the Church. The rights of his debtors are to be preserved.
(28) No constable or other royal official shall
take corn or other movable goods from any man without immediate payment, unless
the seller voluntarily offers postponement of this.
(29) No constable may compel a knight to pay
money for castle-guard if the knight is willing to undertake the guard in
person, or with reasonable excuse to supply some other fit man to do it. A
knight taken or sent on military service shall be excused from castle-guard for
the period of this service.
(30) No sheriff, royal official, or other person
shall take horses or carts for transport from any free man, without his
consent.
(31) Neither we nor any royal official will take
wood for our castle, or for any other purpose, without the consent of the
owner.
(32) We will not keep the lands of people
convicted of felony in our hand for longer than a year and a day, after which
they shall be returned to the lords of the 'fees' concerned.
(33) All fish-weirs shall be removed from the
Thames, the Medway, and throughout the whole of England, except on the sea
coast.
(34) The writ called precipe shall not in future
be issued to anyone in respect of any holding of land, if a free man could
thereby be deprived of the right of trial in his own lord's court.
(35) There shall be standard measures of wine,
ale, and corn (the London quarter), throughout the kingdom. There shall also be
a standard width of dyed cloth, russet, and haberject, namely two ells within
the selvedges. Weights are to be standardised similarly.
(36) In future nothing shall be paid or accepted
for the issue of a writ of inquisition of life or limbs. It shall be given
gratis, and not refused.
(37) If a man holds land of the Crown by
'fee-farm', 'socage', or 'burgage', and also holds land of someone else for
knight's service, we will not have guardianship of his heir, nor of the land
that belongs to the other person's 'fee', by virtue of the 'fee-farm',
'socage', or 'burgage', unless the 'fee-farm' owes knight's service. We will
not have the guardianship of a man's heir, or of land that he holds of someone
else, by reason of any small property that he may hold of the Crown for a
service of knives, arrows, or the like.
(38) In future no official shall place a man on
trial upon his own unsupported statement, without producing credible witnesses
to the truth of it.
+ (39) No free man shall be seized or
imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or
deprived of his standing in any way, nor will we proceed with force against
him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by
the law of the land.
+ (40) To no one will we sell, to no one deny or
delay right or justice.
(41) All merchants may enter or leave England
unharmed and without fear, and may stay or travel within it, by land or water,
for purposes of trade, free from all illegal exactions, in accordance with
ancient and lawful customs. This, however, does not apply in time of war to
merchants from a country that is at war with us. Any such merchants found in
our country at the outbreak of war shall be detained without injury to their persons
or property, until we or our chief justice have discovered how our own
merchants are being treated in the country at war with us. If our own merchants
are safe they shall be safe too.
* (42) In future it shall be lawful for any man
to leave and return to our kingdom unharmed and without fear, by land or water,
preserving his allegiance to us, except in time of war, for some short period,
for the common benefit of the realm. People that have been imprisoned or
outlawed in accordance with the law of the land, people from a country that is
at war with us, and merchants - who shall be dealt with as stated above - are
excepted from this provision.
(43) If a man holds lands of any 'escheat' such
as the 'honour' of Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other
'escheats' in our hand that are baronies, at his death his heir shall give us
only the 'relief' and service that he would have made to the baron, had the
barony been in the baron's hand. We will hold the 'escheat' in the same manner
as the baron held it.
(44) People who live outside the forest need not
in future appear before the royal justices of the forest in answer to general
summonses, unless they are actually involved in proceedings or are sureties for
someone who has been seized for a forest offence.
* (45) We will appoint as justices, constables,
sheriffs, or other officials, only men that know the law of the realm and are
minded to keep it well.
(46) All barons who have founded abbeys, and
have charters of English kings or ancient tenure as evidence of this, may have
guardianship of them when there is no abbot, as is their due.
(47) All forests that have been created in our
reign shall at once be disafforested. River-banks that have been enclosed in
our reign shall be treated similarly.
*(48) All evil customs relating to forests and
warrens, foresters, warreners, sheriffs and their servants, or river-banks and
their wardens, are at once to be investigated in every county by twelve sworn
knights of the county, and within forty days of their enquiry the evil customs
are to be abolished completely and irrevocably. But we, or our chief justice if
we are not in England, are first to be informed.
* (49) We will at once return all hostages and
charters delivered up to us by Englishmen as security for peace or for loyal
service.
* (50) We will remove completely from their
offices the kinsmen of Gerard de Athée, and in future they shall hold no
offices in England. The people in question are Engelard de Cigogné, Peter, Guy,
and Andrew de Chanceaux, Guy de Cigogné, Geoffrey de Martigny and his brothers,
Philip Marc and his brothers, with Geoffrey his nephew, and all their
followers.
* (51) As soon as peace is restored, we will
remove from the kingdom all the foreign knights, bowmen, their attendants, and
the mercenaries that have come to it, to its harm, with horses and arms.
* (52) To any man whom we have deprived or
dispossessed of lands, castles, liberties, or rights, without the lawful
judgment of his equals, we will at once restore these. In cases of dispute the
matter shall be resolved by the judgment of the twenty-five barons referred to
below in the clause for securing the peace (§61). In cases, however, where a
man was deprived or dispossessed of something without the lawful judgment of
his equals by our father King Henry or our brother King Richard, and it remains
in our hands or is held by others under our warranty, we shall have respite for
the period commonly allowed to Crusaders, unless a lawsuit had been begun, or
an enquiry had been made at our order, before we took the Cross as a Crusader.
On our return from the Crusade, or if we abandon it, we will at once render
justice in full.
* (53) We shall have similar respite in
rendering justice in connexion with forests that are to be disafforested, or to
remain forests, when these were first afforested by our father Henry or our
brother Richard; with the guardianship of lands in another person's 'fee', when
we have hitherto had this by virtue of a 'fee' held of us for knight's service
by a third party; and with abbeys founded in another person's 'fee', in which
the lord of the 'fee' claims to own a right. On our return from the Crusade, or
if we abandon it, we will at once do full justice to complaints about these
matters.
(54) No one shall be arrested or imprisoned on
the appeal of a woman for the death of any person except her husband.
* (55) All fines that have been given to us
unjustly and against the law of the land, and all fines that we have exacted
unjustly, shall be entirely remitted or the matter decided by a majority
judgment of the twenty-five barons referred to below in the clause for securing
the peace (§61) together with Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, if he can be
present, and such others as he wishes to bring with him. If the archbishop
cannot be present, proceedings shall continue without him, provided that if any
of the twenty-five barons has been involved in a similar suit himself, his
judgment shall be set aside, and someone else chosen and sworn in his place, as
a substitute for the single occasion, by the rest of the twenty-five.
(56) If we have deprived or dispossessed any
Welshmen of land, liberties, or anything else in England or in Wales, without
the lawful judgment of their equals, these are at once to be returned to them.
A dispute on this point shall be determined in the Marches by the judgment of
equals. English law shall apply to holdings of land in England, Welsh law to
those in Wales, and the law of the Marches to those in the Marches. The Welsh
shall treat us and ours in the same way.
* (57) In cases where a Welshman was deprived or
dispossessed of anything, without the lawful judgment of his equals, by our
father King Henry or our brother King Richard, and it remains in our hands or
is held by others under our warranty, we shall have respite for the period
commonly allowed to Crusaders, unless a lawsuit had been begun, or an enquiry
had been made at our order, before we took the Cross as a Crusader. But on our
return from the Crusade, or if we abandon it, we will at once do full justice
according to the laws of Wales and the said regions.
* (58) We will at once return the son of
Llywelyn, all Welsh hostages, and the charters delivered to us as security for
the peace.
* (59) With regard to the return of the sisters
and hostages of Alexander, king of Scotland, his liberties and his rights, we
will treat him in the same way as our other barons of England, unless it
appears from the charters that we hold from his father William, formerly king
of Scotland, that he should be treated otherwise. This matter shall be resolved
by the judgment of his equals in our court.
(60) All these customs and liberties that we
have granted shall be observed in our kingdom in so far as concerns our own
relations with our subjects. Let all men of our kingdom, whether clergy or
laymen, observe them similarly in their relations with their own men.
* (61) SINCE WE HAVE GRANTED ALL THESE THINGS
for God, for the better ordering of our kingdom, and to allay the discord that
has arisen between us and our barons, and since we desire that they shall be
enjoyed in their entirety, with lasting strength, for ever, we give and grant
to the barons the following security:
The barons shall elect twenty-five of their
number to keep, and cause to be observed with all their might, the peace and
liberties granted and confirmed to them by this charter.
If we, our chief justice, our officials, or any
of our servants offend in any respect against any man, or transgress any of the
articles of the peace or of this security, and the offence is made known to
four of the said twenty-five barons, they shall come to us - or in our absence
from the kingdom to the chief justice - to declare it and claim immediate
redress. If we, or in our absence abroad the chief justice, make no redress
within forty days, reckoning from the day on which the offence was declared to
us or to him, the four barons shall refer the matter to the rest of the
twenty-five barons, who may distrain upon and assail us in every way possible,
with the support of the whole community of the land, by seizing our castles,
lands, possessions, or anything else saving only our own person and those of
the queen and our children, until they have secured such redress as they have
determined upon. Having secured the redress, they may then resume their normal
obedience to us.
Any man who so desires may take an oath to obey
the commands of the twenty-five barons for the achievement of these ends, and
to join with them in assailing us to the utmost of his power. We give public
and free permission to take this oath to any man who so desires, and at no time
will we prohibit any man from taking it. Indeed, we will compel any of our
subjects who are unwilling to take it to swear it at our command.
If one of the twenty-five barons dies or leaves
the country, or is prevented in any other way from discharging his duties, the
rest of them shall choose another baron in his place, at their discretion, who
shall be duly sworn in as they were.
In the event of disagreement among the
twenty-five barons on any matter referred to them for decision, the verdict of
the majority present shall have the same validity as a unanimous verdict of the
whole twenty-five, whether these were all present or some of those summoned
were unwilling or unable to appear.
The twenty-five barons shall swear to obey all
the above articles faithfully, and shall cause them to be obeyed by others to
the best of their power.
We will not seek to procure from anyone, either
by our own efforts or those of a third party, anything by which any part of
these concessions or liberties might be revoked or diminished. Should such a
thing be procured, it shall be null and void and we will at no time make use of
it, either ourselves or through a third party.
* (62) We have remitted and pardoned fully to
all men any ill-will, hurt, or grudges that have arisen between us and our
subjects, whether clergy or laymen, since the beginning of the dispute. We have
in addition remitted fully, and for our own part have also pardoned, to all
clergy and laymen any offences committed as a result of the said dispute
between Easter in the sixteenth year of our reign (i.e. 1215) and the
restoration of peace.
In addition we have caused letters patent to be
made for the barons, bearing witness to this security and to the concessions
set out above, over the seals of Stephen archbishop of Canterbury, Henry
archbishop of Dublin, the other bishops named above, and Master Pandulf.
* (63) IT IS ACCORDINGLY OUR WISH AND COMMAND
that the English Church shall be free, and that men in our kingdom shall have
and keep all these liberties, rights, and concessions, well and peaceably in
their fullness and entirety for them and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in
all things and all places for ever.
Both we and the barons have sworn that all this
shall be observed in good faith and without deceit. Witness the abovementioned
people and many others.
Given by our hand in the meadow that is called
Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the fifteenth day of June in the
seventeenth year of our reign (i.e. 1215: the new regnal year began on 28 May).
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