1. CORONATION OATHS AND ROYAL CHARTERS. At no time in English history has the power of the king been absolute and unlimited. The coronation oath bridged the chasm between the Saxon and the Norman kings, being taken by William and his immediate successors in exactly the form recorded as having been used by King Ethelred. The later charters of liberties indicate the progressive restrictions on the independence of the early Norman and Angevin kings, although the occasions for the issue of such charters were apparently almost accidental. The charter of Henry I. was granted to strengthen his doubtful claim to the throne; two successive charters were issued by Stephen with the same object, and that of Henry II. was granted in imitation of these. Magna Charta is known to have been suggested by and based on these preceding grants. The Confirmation of the Charters was in form one of the many regrants of Magna Charta and the Forest Charter, but it obtained its importance from the sixth clause, which was practically new, and remained effective. Under another form, in which it appears as the statute de tallagio non concedendo, this grant is frequently referred to in later struggles between king and Parliament.

1. CORONATION OATH OF ETHELRED II., A. D. 978.

Kemble, Saxons in England. II. 36. Anglo-Saxon.

In the name of the Holy Trinity, three things do I promise to this Christian people, my subjects; first, that I will hold God's church and all the Christian people of my realm in true peace; second, that I will forbid all rapine and injustice to men of all conditions; third, that I promise and enjoin justice and mercy in all judgments, in order that a just and merciful God may give us all His eternal favor, who liveth and reigneth.

2. CORONATION OATH OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, A. D. 1066.

Florence of Worcester, under the year 1066. Latin.

Having first, as the archbishop required, sworn before the altar of St. Peter the Apostle, in the presence of the clergy and people, to defend the holy churches of God and their governors, and also to rule over the whole people subject to him justly and with royal providence ; to enact and to preserve right law, and straitly to forbid violence and unjust judgments.

3. CHARTER OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR TO THE CITY OF LONDON, A. D. 1066.

Liber Custumarum, Pt. 1, pp. 25 and 26. Anglo-Saxon.

William, king, greets William, bishop, and Gosfrith, portreeve, and

all the burghers within London, French and English, friendly; and I assure you that I will that ye all have rights before the law that had them in King Edward's day. And I will that every child be his father's heir after his father's day. And I will not allow that any man do any wrong to you. God keep you.

4. CORONATION CHARTER OF HENRY I., A. D. IIOI.

Stubbs' Select Charters, 96-98. Latin.

In the year of the incarnation of the Lord, 1101, Henry, son of King William, after the death of his brother William, by the grace of God, king of the English, to all faithful, greeting:

1. Know that by the mercy of God, and by the common counsel of the barons of the whole kingdom of England, I have been crowned king of the same kingdom; and because the kingdom has been oppressed by unjust exactions, I, from regard to God, and from the love which I have toward you, in the first place make the holy church of God free, so that I will neither sell nor place at rent, nor, when archbishop, or bishop, or abbot is dead, will I take anything from the domain of the church, or from its men, until a successor is installed into it. And all the evil customs by which the realm of England was unjustly oppressed will I take away, which evil customs I partly set down here.

2. If any one of my barons, or earls, or others who hold from me shall have died, his heir shall not redeem his land, as he did in the time of my brother, but shall relieve it by a just and legitimate relief. Similarly also the men of my barons shall relieve their lands from their lords by a just and legitimate relief.

3. And if any one of the barons or other men of mine wishes to give his daughter in marriage, or his sister or niece or relation, he must speak with me about it, but I will neither take anything from him for this permission, nor forbid him to give her in marriage, unless he should wish to join her to my enemy. And if when a baron or other man of mine is dead a daughter remains as his heir, I will give her in marriage according to the judgment of my barons, along with her land. And if when a man is dead his wife remains and is without children, she shall have her dowry and right of marriage, and I will not give her to a husband except according to her will.

4. And if a wife has survived with children, she shall have her dowry and right of marriage, so long as she shall have kept her body legiti

mately, and I will not give her in marriage, except according to her will. And the guardian of the land and children shall be either the wife or another one of the relatives as shall seem to be most just. And I require that my barons should deal similarly with the sons and daughters or wives of their men.

5. The common tax on money1 which used to be taken through the cities and counties, which was not taken in the time of King Edward, I now forbid altogether henceforth to be taken. If any one shall have been seized, whether a moneyer or any other, with false money, strict justice shall be done for it.

6. All fines and all debts which were owed to my brother, I remit, except my rightful rents, and except those payments which had been agreed upon for the inheritances of others or for those things which more justly affected others. And if any one for his own inheritance has stipulated anything, this I remit, and all reliefs which had been agreed upon for rightful inheritances.

7. And if any one of my barons or men shall become feeble, however he himself shall give or arrange to give his money, I grant that it shall be so given. Moreover, if he himself, prevented by arms, or by weakness, shall not have bestowed his money, or arranged to bestow it, his wife or his children or his parents, and his legitimate men shall divide it for his soul, as to them shall seem best.

8. If any of my barons or men shall have committed an offence he shall not give security to the extent of forfeiture of his money, as he did in the time of my father, or of my brother, but according to the measure of the offence so shall he pay, as he would have paid from the time of my father backward, in the time of my other predecessors; so that if he shall have been convicted of treachery or of crime, he shall pay as is just.

9. All murders, moreover, before that day in which I was crowned king, I pardon; and those which shall be done henceforth shall be punished justly according to the law of King Edward.

10. The forests, by the common agreement of my barons, I have retained in my own hand, as my father held them.

II. To those knights who hold their land by the cuirass, I yield of

1 Monetagium, which is here translated "tax on money," was a payment made to the king or other lord, periodically, on condition that he would not change the standard of value during a given period. It was customary in Normandy. Ducange.

my own gift the lands of their demesne ploughs free from all payments and from all labor, so that as they have thus been favored by such a great alleviation, so they may readily provide themselves with horses and arms for my service and for the defence of the kingdom.

12. A firm peace in my whole kingdom I establish and require to be kept from henceforth.

13. The law of King Edward I give to you again with those changes with which my father changed it by the counsel of his barons.

14. If any one has taken anything from my possessions since the death of King William, my brother, or from the possessions of any one, let the whole be immediately returned without alteration, and if any one shall have retained anything thence, he upon whom it is found will pay it heavily to me. Witnesses Maurice, bishop of London, and Gundulf, bishop, and William, bishop-elect, and Henry, earl, and Simon, earl, and Walter Giffard, and Robert de Montfort, and Roger Bigod, and Henry de Port, at London, when I was crowned.

5. CORONATION CHARTER OF KING STEPHEN, A. D. 1135.
Statutes of the Realm. I, 4. Latin.

Stephen, by the grace of God, king of the English, to the justices, sheriffs, barons, and all his ministers and faithful, French and English, greeting.

Know that I have conceded and by this my present charter confirmed to all my barons and men of England all the liberties and good laws which Henry, king of the English, my uncle, gave and conceded to them, and all the good laws and good customs which they had in the time of King Edward, I concede to them. Wherefore I wish and firmly command that they shall have and hold all those good laws and liberties from me and my heirs, they and their heirs, freely, quietly, and fully; and I prohibit any one from bringing any obstacle, or impediment, or diminution upon them in these matters on pain of forfeiture to me.

Witness William Martel, at London.

6. CORONATION CHARTER OF HENRY II., A. D. 1154.

Statutes of the Realm. I, 4. Latin.

Henry, by the grace of God, king of England, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to all the earls, barons, and his faithful, French and English, greeting. Know that, to the honor of

God and of the holy church and for the advantage of my whole kingdom, I have conceded and granted, and by my present charter confirmed to God and to the holy church, and to all the earls and barons, and to all my men all the concessions and grants and liberties and free customs which King Henry, my grandfather, gave and conceded to them. Similarly also, all the evil customs which he abolished and remitted, I remit and allow to be abolished for myself and my heirs. Therefore, I will and strictly require that the holy church and all the earls and barons, and all my men should have and hold all those customs and grants and liberties and free customs, freely and quietly, well and in peace, and completely, from me and my heirs to them and their heirs, as freely and quietly and fully in all things as King Henry, my grandfather, granted and conceded to them and by his charter confirmed them. Witness, Richard de Luci, at Westminster.

7. THE GREAT CHARTER.

GRANTED BY KING JOHN, JUNE 15, A. D. 1215.

Stubbs' Reprint. Latin.

John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, count of Anjou, to the archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciars, foresters, sheriffs, reeves, servants, and all bailiffs and his faithful people greeting. Know that by the inspiration of God and for the good of our soul and those of all our predecessors and of our heirs, to the honor of God and the exaltation of holy church, and the improvement of our kingdom, by the advice of our venerable 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, Jocelyn of Bath and Glastonbury, Hugh of Lincoln, Walter of Worcester, William of Coventry, and Benedict of Rochester, bishops; of Master Pandulf, sub-deacon and member of the household of the lord Pope, of Brother Aymeric, master of the Knights of the Temple in England; and of the noblemen William Marshall, earl of Pembroke, William, earl of Salisbury, William, earl of Warren, William, earl of Arundel, Alan of Galloway, constable of Scotland, Warren Fitz-Gerald, Peter Fitz-Herbert, Hubert de Burgh, steward of Poitou, Hugh de Nevil, Matthew Fitz-Herbert, Thomas Bassett, Alan Bassett, Philip d' Albini, Robert de Roppelay, John Marshall, John Fitz-Hugh, and others of our faithful.