wish it to be known to all you, through this our charter, furnished with our seal, that inasmuch as we had offended in many ways God and our mother the holy church, and in consequence are known to have very much needed the divine mercy, and cannot offer anything worthy for making due satisfaction to God and to the church unless we humiliate ourselves for him who humiliated himself for us unto death, the grace of the holy spirit inspiring, not induced by force or compelled by fear, but of our own good and spontaneous will and by the common counsel of our barons, do offer and freely concede to God and to his holy apostles, Peter and Paul, and to our mother the holy Roman church, and to our Lord Pope Innocent and to his Catholic successors, the whole Kingdom of England and the whole Kingdom of Ireland, with all their rights and appurtenances, for the remission of our own sins and those of our whole race, as well for the living as for the dead; and now receiving and holding them, as it were a vassal, from God and the Roman church, in the presence of that prudent man Pandulph, sub-deacon and of the household of the lord pope, we perform and swear fealty for them to him our aforesaid Lord pope Innocent, and his Catholic successors and the Roman church, according to the form appended, and in the presence of the Lord Pope if we shall be able to come before him we shall do liege homage to him; binding our successors and our heirs by our wife forever, in similar manner to perform fealty and show homage to him who shall be chief pontiff at that time, and to the Roman church without demur. At a sign, moreover, of this our perpetual obligation and concession we will and establish that from the proper and especial revenues of our aforesaid kingdoms, for all the service and customs which we ought to render for them, saving in all things the penny of St. Peter, the Roman church shall receive yearly a thousand marks sterling, namely, at the Feast of St. Michael five hundred marks, and at Easter five hundred marks--seven hundred, namely, for the Kingdom of England, and three hundred for the Kingdom of Ireland--saving to us and to our heirs our rights, liberties and regalia; all of which things, as they have been described above, we wish to have perpetually valid and firm; and we bind ourselves and our successors not to act counter to them. And if we or anyone of our successors shall presume to attempt this, whoever he be, unless being duly warned he come to his senses, he shall lose his right to the kingdom, and this charter of our obligation and concession shall always remain firm. Form of the Oath of Fealty. I, John, by the grace of God, King of England and Lord of Ireland, from this hour forth will be faithful to God and St. Peter and the Roman church and my lord Pope Innocent and his successors who are ordained in the Catholic manner. I shall not bring it about by deed, word, consent or counsel, that they lose life or member or be taken captive. I will impede their being harmed, if I know of it, and will cause harm to be removed from them if I shall be able; otherwise, as quickly as I can, I will intimate it or tell of it to such persons as I believe for certain will inform them. Any counsel which they entrust to me through themselves or through their envoys or through their letters, I will keep secret, nor will I knowingly disclose it to anyone to their harm. I will aid to the best of my ability in holding and defending against all men the patrimony of St. Peter, and especially the kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Ireland. So may God and these holy gospels aid me. I myself bearing witness in the house of the Knights Templar near Dover, in the presence of Master H., Archbishop of Dublin, etc., on the fifteenth day of May, in the fourteenth year of our reign. Cotton, Nero, C. 2; Foedera I, 3-12; Stubbs, 284; Henderson, 430; Gee and Hardy, 75. The Ecclesiastical Charter of John, 1214. ("The provisions of this charter held good in law up to the Reformation, even if in actual practice they were not seldom evaded. They underlie the legislation of the Reformation and through it exercise an influence on the law at the present day."-Makower, 29.) (Gee and Hardy Trans.) "John, etc., (agreement being now made between king and bishops.) We wish not only to make satisfaction to them, as far as in God we can, but also to make sound and beneficial provision for all the church of England forever; and so whatsoever custom has been hitherto observed in the English church, in our times and those of our predecessors, and whatsoever right we have claimed for ourselves hitherto in the election of any prelates, we have at their own petition, for the health of our soul and the souls of our predecessors and successors kings of England, freely of our mere and spontaneous will, with the common consent of our barons, granted and constituted, and by this our present charter have confirmed: that henceforth in all and singular churches and monasteries, cathedral and conventual, of all the kingdom of England, the elections of all prelates whatsoever, greater or less, be free forever, saving to ourselves and our heirs the custody of vacant churches and monasteries which belong to us. We promise also that we will neither hinder nor suffer nor procure to be hindered by our ministers that in all and singular the churches and monasteries mentioned, after the prelacies are vacant, the electors should, whenever they will, freely set a pastor over them, yet so that leave to elect be first asked of us and our heirs, which we will not deny nor defer. And if by chance, which God forbid, we should deny or defer, let the electors, none the less, proceed to make canonical election; and likewise, after the election is concluded, let our assent be demanded, which in like manner we will not deny, unless we put forth some reasonable excuse and lawfully prove it, by reason of which we should not consent. Wherefore we will and firmly forbid that when churches or monasteries are vacant, anyone in anything proceed or presume to proceed in opposition to this our charter. But if they do ever at any time proceed in opposition to it, let him incur the curse of Almighty God and our own. These being witnesses, etc. Given by the hand of Master Richard de Marisco, our chancellor, in the New Temple in London, on the 21st day of November in the 16th year of our reign." Stat. of the Realm, 5; Stubbs, 288; Gee and Hardy, 77. III. Late Medieval Period-Foreign Conflict. See Stubbs, III, c. 19; Traill, I, 404; II, 18, 157, 287, 465; Wylie, I, c. 10; Conge d'elire, 1304. 32 Ed. I. "John Ingram and John, son of Thomas, canons of the church of Ferne, who have announced to the king the death of R., recently bishop in that place, have the letters of the king with permission to proceed to election. Witness the king at his manor of St. Andrews in Scotland, the 12th day of March. By writ of Privy Seal. Statute of Mortmain (de religiosis), 1279. Prynne's Records III, 1040. "The king to his justices of the Bench, greeting: Whereas of late it was provided that religious men should not enter into the fees of any without the will and license of the lords in chief of whom these fees are held immediately; and such religious men have, notwithstanding, later entered as wellinto the ir own fees as into those of others, appropriating them to themselves, and buying them, and sometimes receiving them from the gift of others, whereby the services which are due of such fees, and which at the beginning, were provided for the defense of the realm, are unduly withdrawn, and the lords in chief do lose their escheats of the same; we, therefore, to the profit of our realm, wishing to provide a fit remedy in this matter, by advice of our prelates, counts and other subjects of our realm who are of our council, have provided, established, and ordained that no person, religious or other, whatsoever he be, shall presume to buy or sell any lands or tenements, or under cover of gift or lease, or of any other term or title whatever to receive them from anyone, or in any other way, by craft or by wile to appropriate them to himself, whereby such lands and tenements may come into mortmain; under pain of forfeiture of the same. We have provided also that if any person, religious or other, do presume either by craft or wile to offend against this statute, it shall be lawful for us and other immediate lords in chief of the fee so alienated, to enter it within a year from the time of such alienation and to hold it in fee and inheritance, and if the immediate lord in chief shall be negligent and be not willing to enter into such fee within the year, then it shall be lawful for the next immediate lord in chief, within the half year following, to enter that fee and to hold it, as has been said, and if all such chief lords of such fee, who shall be of full age and within the four seas and out of prison, shall be for one year negligent or remiss in this matter, we, straightway after the year is completed from the time when such purchases, gifts, or appropriations be made, shall take such lands and tenements into our hands and shall enfief others therein by certain services to be rendered thence to us for the defense of our kingdom; saving to the lords in chief of the same fees their wards, escheats and other things which pertain to them, and the services therefrom due and accustomed. And therefore we command you to cause the aforesaid statute to be read before you, and from thenceforth to be firmly kept and observed. Witness my self at Westminster, the 15th day of November, in the 7th year of our reign." Stat. Realm, I, 51; Stubbs, 457; Gee and Hardy, 81. The Writ Circumspecte Agatis, 1285. The king to his judges, greeting: Use yourselves circumspectly in all matters concerning the bishop of Norwich and his clergy, not punishing them if they hold plea, in court christian, of such things as be mere spiritual; that is, to-wit: of penance enjoined by prelates for deadly sin, as fornication, adultery, and such like, for the which sometimes corporal penance, and sometimes pecuniary is enjoined, specially if a freeman be convicted of such things. Also if prelates do punish for leaving the church yard unclosed, or for that the church is uncovered, or not conveniently decked, in which cases none other penance can be enjoined but pecuniary. Item, if a parson demanded of his parishioners oblations or tithes due and accustomed; or if any parson do sue against another for tithes greater or smaller, so that the fourth part of the value of the benefice be not demanded. Item, if a parson demanded mortuaries in places where a mortuary hath been used to be given. Item, if a prelate of a church or of a patron demand of a parson a pension due to him, all such demands are to be made in a spiritual court. And for laying violent hands on a clerk, and in case of defamation, it hath been granted already, that it shall be tried in a spiritual court, when money is not demanded, but a thing done for punishment of sin, and likewise for breaking an oath. In all cases afore rehearsed, the spiritual judge shall have power to take knowledge, notwithstanding the king's prohibition. Under what form shall laymen purchase prohibitions generally upon tithes, oblations, obventions, redeeming of penances, mortuaries, violent hands laying on a clerk or lay brother, and in cases of defamation, in which cases spiritual penance must be enjoined? The king answered to these articles: that in tithes, oblations, obventions, and mortuaries when they be pleaded as before is said, the king's prohibition doth not lie. And if a clerk or a person religious do sell his tithe corn being in his barn, or otherwhere, to any man for money, if the price thereof be demanded before a spiritual judge, the king's prohibition doth lie; for by the sale the spiritual have become temporal, and so tithes pass into chattels. And if debate hang in a spiritual court for the right of tithes, having his original from the right of the patronage, and the quantity of the same tithes do pass the fourth part of the value of the benefice, a prohibition shall lie. Also if a prelate enjoin penance pecuniary to any man for his sin, if the money be demanded before prelates, a prohibition shall lie. And if any lay violent hands on a clerk or lay brother for the |