22. The Coronation of John

(May, 1199. Latin text, Stubbs, S. C. 270. Translation, Giles's Roger of Wendover's Flowers of History, ii. 180, slightly altered. 1 Stubbs, 553.)

JOHN

HN duke of Normandy came over into England, and landed at Shoreham on the 25th of May; on the day after, which was the eve of our Lord's ascension, he went to London to be crowned there. On his arrival therefore, the archbishops, bishops, earls, barons, and all others, whose duty it was to be present at his coronation, assembled together. The archbishop, standing in the midst, addressed them thus, "Hear, all of you, and be it known that no one has an antecedent right to succeed another in the kingdom, unless he shall have been unanimously elected, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, on account of the superior merits of his character, after the example of Saul the first anointed king, whom the Lord set over his people, not as the son of a king, nor as born of royal ancestry. In the same manner, after Saul came David, son of Jesse. Saul was chosen because he was a brave man, and suited for the royal dignity: David, because he was holy and humble. Thus those who excel in vigor are elevated to kingly dignity. But, if any relative of a deceased king excel others in merit, all should the more readily and zealously consent to his election. We have said this to maintain the cause of earl John, who is here present, brother of our illustrious king Richard, lately deceased without heirs of his body, and as the said earl John is prudent, active, and indubitably noble, we have, un ler God's Holy Spirit, unanimously elected him for his merits and his royal blood." Now the archbishop was a man of bold character and a support to the kingdom by his steadiness and incomparable wisdom, no one, therefore, dared to dispute what he said, as knowing that he had good cause for what he did. Earl John and all who were present acquiesced, and they unanimously elected the earl, crying out, "God save the king." Archbishop Hubert was afterwards asked why he acted in this manner, to which he replied that he had foreseen, and had been informed and assured by revelations that John would one day or other bring the kingdom into great confusion, and that he might not have free hand to do this he determined that he should owe his elevation to election and not to hereditary right. Moreover the archbishop placed the crown on his head, and anointed him king, in the church of the chief of the apostles, at Westminster,

on the 27th of May; Philip, bishop of Durham, made an appeal to prevent this coronation taking place in the absence of Geoffrey archbishop of York, but did not obtain his wish. At this coronation king John bound himself by a triple oath, namely, to love Holy Church and its ordained priests, and to preserve it harmless from the attacks of evil designers, and to do away with bad laws, substituting good ones in their stead, and to see justice rightly administered throughout England. He was afterwards adjured by the same archbishop on behalf of God, and strictly forbidden to presume to accept this honor, unless he purposed in his mind, to fulfil in deed, what he had sworn to; in reply to this the king promised that, by God's assistance, he would in all good faith keep the oath which he had made. On the following day, after he had received the homage and fealty of his subjects, he went to Saint Alban's, the proto-martyr of England, to pray; and so, making but a very short stay in England, he with the advice of the nobles duly settled everything that required his attention.

23. Writ for the Assessment of the Thirteenth (February, 1207. Latin text, Stubbs, S. C. 283. Translation by Editors. I Stubbs, 620.)

THE HE king to all, etc. Be it known that by the common advice and assent of our council at Oxford it was provided, for the defence of our realm and the recovery of our right, and granted that every layman in all England, of whomsoever he may hold, who has rents and chattels in England, should give us in aid from every mark of his annual revenue, twelve pence, and from every mark's worth of every sort of movable chattels which he had on the octave of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, that is at the time of the council, twelve pence, and thus in proportion more or less. And all the stewards and bailiffs of earls and barons, shall take oath before our justices of the value of the rents and movable chattels of their lords and likewise concerning their own. And every man except the earls and barons shall take oath concerning his own rents and chattels, according as our justices despatched for this purpose shall see to be best suited to our advantage. And if any one shall have been convicted of removing his chattels fraudulently to avoid our profit, or of concealing them in any place, or of putting them in the power of any one else, or of appraising them at less than their value, all his chattels shall be

seised for our use free of claims, and he himself shall be put in our prison until he shall be liberated by us. Moreover, let every hundred in your county be recorded by itself and each parish in every hundred by itself, so that our justices may know how to answer for every vill by itself. Moreover, when our justices shall have made the assessment of this aid of ours in any hundred, city, or vill, they shall immediately cause copy to be made from their rolls of all the particulars of the aid assessed, and shall hand over to the sheriff for the collection of the aid noted in each roll from fortnight to fortnight, with all speed, and our justices shall keep their own rolls safely in their possession until they bring them to us. It is also decreed that all our clerks, and all our justices and their clerks, and all who shall busy themselves in any of this work, shall swear that they will do this work faithfully and with all their might, as it has been set forth, and that for nothing will they neglect this. Moreover, we command, upon penalties of life and limb, that every good penny of lawful weight, although it is not new, shall be accepted both for our use and for that of all others in our realm. Moreover, for assessing this aid in your county we send, in our stead, Robert of Berkeley, Richard of Mucegros, William of Falaise, Master R. of Gloucester, Walter of Aura, Adam Fitz-Nigel, etc. And we bid you to be just as attentive to them in this as to ourselves.

Witness myself at Northampton, the seventeenth day of February.

24. Recognitions, Assizes, and the Jury

(Latin originals, Delisle, Recueil de Jugements de l'Echiquier de Normandie. Translation by Editors. Date and reference in each case. Though the first three cases are from Normandy, the usage is exactly the same as in England, and they are earlier than the Magna Carta. The last two are from Maitland's Bracton's Note Book.)

1. EUSTACE CALLOT, under age, asked seisin of the land of his father, that is of the manor of R., of which his father was seised in the year and day on which he died, of which Richard Callot his uncle was disseising him. A recognition was made concerning this by legal men and they swore that Robert Callot, his father, was seised of it at some time, but they did not know whether he was seised of it on the day on which he died or not. And so it was judged that he who was holding should hold, and that the right should remain between them. Afterwards the said

Eustace asked a recognition whether his father was seised of the said manor when he married his mother or not. But his uncle, who was holding that manor, asked the judgment of the king's court whether there ought to be taken another recognition concerning this than that which the said Eustace had had of the seisin of his father. But the bailiff pointed this out to lord Walter the chamberlain at Rouen. But lord Walter was unwilling to make judgment upon it at Rouen, but he postponed it to the exchequer of the lord king at Falaise, and when judgment was to be made upon it there, it was said and testified by many that the mother of the said Eustace asked the whole of the said manor in dower in the court of the lord king, and that she had by agreement in the court of the lord king a third part of that manor in dower. And so it was judged that the said Eustace as protector of that dower should have two parts of that manor. (p. 13, 1209.)

2. Recognition [recordatio] between Matthew le V. and Andrew de O. by [13 names] who say that they were at a certain assize at Grandmesnil and saw and heard that a certain inquiry by oath [jury] was made there between the same Matthew and the same Andrew concerning a certain land of the fee of Grandmesnil, and of the seisin of W. de A., uncle of the said Matthew. Ten men of those who made the inquiry by oath said that they never saw the said W. have seisin of the said land, but always they saw the father of the same Andrew and the same Andrew seised of that land. Two other men of those who made the inquiry by oath said that they knew nothing about it. And so the seisin of that land was judged in that assize to the same Andrew, and it was judged in that assize that the plea remained between them. It is judged that the same Andrew have seisin of that land, and the said Matthew in mercy for a false claim. (p. 27, 1212.)

3. Darrien Presentment. It is judged that Alan de Av. have seisin of the presentation of the church of Av., since Henry de Al. who disseised the same Alan of this is unwilling to submit to a recognition according to the usages and customs of Normandy as to who presented the last parson deceased to that church, and the same Henry is in mercy. (p. 33, 1213.)

4. Novel Disseisin. - The assize came to inquire [recognitura] if Robert chaplain of Owresby unjustly etc. disseised Helena of Crosholm of her free tenement in Norton after etc. And R. came not nor was found and so the assize was taken by default. The jurors say he disseised her because R. made to reap in the land of the same Helena and to carry off. And so it was judged that Helena recover her seisin and R. be in mercy. (Case 1204, III., p. 217.)

5. Mort d'Ancestor. The assize came to inquire if Simon son of Thomas, father of Richard son of Simon who is under age, was seised in his demesne and of fee of half a virgate of land with appurtenances in Brinton on the day on which he died, etc., and if etc. which land Gunnora of Brinton held, who came and called Richard of Brinton to warrant it, who came and warranted it to her and said . . . And since Richard is under age it was judged that he is not able to answer to this and so the assize proceeds. The jurors say that the said Simon died so seised as the writ says and that Richard is next heir of that same land which Gunnora held, concerning which she called to warrant the said Richard, whether there was more or less than half a virgate there. (Case 42, II., p. 39.)

25. John's Concession of the Kingdom to the

Pope

(May, 1213. Latin text, Stubbs, S. C. 284. Translation, G. and H. 75. I Stubbs, 560.)

JOHN, by the grace of God king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, earl of Anjou, to all the faithful in Christ who shall inspect this present charter, greeting. We will it to be known by all of you by this our charter, confirmed by our seal, that we, having offended God and our mother the holy Church in many things, and being on that account known to need the divine mercy, and unable to make any worthy offering for the performance of due satisfaction to God and the Church, unless we humble ourselves and our realms we, willing to humble ourselves for him who humbled himself for us even to death, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit's grace under no compulsion of force or of fear, but of our good and free will, and by the common consent of our barons, offer and freely grant to God and His holy apostles Peter and Paul, and the holy Roman Church, our mother, and to our lord the Pope Innocent and his catholic successors, the whole realm of England and the whole realm of Ireland with all their rights and appurtenances, for the remission of our sins and those of all our race, as well quick as dead; and from now receiving back and holding these as a feudal dependant, from God and the Roman Church, in the presence of the prudent man Pandulf, subdeacon and familiar of the lord the pope, do and swear fealty for them to the aforesaid our lord the