far more widely diffused; and in the later years of the reign. contain in some instances a clause empowering the towns to elect their own reeves. The establishment of the communa of the citizens of London, which is recorded by the historians to have been specially confirmed by the barons and justiciar on the occasion of Longchamp's deposition from the justiciarship, is a matter of some difficulty, as the word communa is not found in English town charters, and no formal record of this act of confirmation is now preserved. The communa of the French towns was a municipal constitution founded on a sworn confederacy of the citizens and subsequently confirmed by charter. With this the idea the English merchant-guild had some features in common although it was established for mercantile rather than political purposes: and the word communa seems to be used by Glanvill as equivalent to merchant-guild. In its more general meaning however it must be understood to signify a corporate identity of the municipality, which it may have claimed before, and which may even have been occasionally recognised, but was now firmly established; a sort of consolidation into a single organised body of the variety of franchises, guilds, and other departments of local jurisdiction. It was connected with, and perhaps implied by, the nomination of a Mayor, who now appears for the first time. It is however too transitional a term to be defined with certainty; and the later application of the word communitas, like that of the still later corporation, is sometimes obscure; meaning prima facie the whole corporate town, but sometimes only the magistracy by whom the corporate rights were exercised.

A.D. 1190.

Charter of Richard I to Winchester.

RICARDUS, Dei gratia, rex Angliae, dux Normanniae, etc. archiepiscopis, episcopis, abbatibus, comitibus, baronibus, justitiariis, vicecomitibus, ministris et omnibus baillivis et fidelibus suis totius terrae suae salutem. Sciatis nos concessisse civibus nostris Wintoniae de gilda mercatorum, quod nullus eorum placitet extra muros civitatis Wintoniae de ullo placito praeter placita de tenuris exterioribus, exceptis monetariis et ministris nostris.

Concessimus etiam eis quod nullus eorum faciat duellum, et quod de placitis ad coronam nostram pertinentibus se possint diratiocinare secundum antiquam consuetudinem civitatis. Haec etiam eis concessimus, quod cives Wintoniae de gilda mercatorum sint quieti de theloneo et lestagio et pontagio in feria et extra, et per portus maris omnium terrarum nostrarum, citra mare et ultra; et quod nullus de misericordia pecuniae judicetur nisi secundum antiquam legem civitatis quam habuerunt tempore antecessorum nostrorum; et quod terras et tenuras suas et vadimonia et debita omnia juste habeant, quicunque eis debeat; et de terris suis et tenuris quae infra urbem sunt, rectum eis teneatur secundum consuetudinem civitatis; et de omnibus debitis suis quae accommodata fuerint apud Wintoniam et de vadimoniis ibidem factis, placita apud Wintoniam teneantur. Et si quis in tota terra nostra theloneum vel consuetudinem ab hominibus Wintoniae de gilda mercatorum ceperit, postquam ipse a recto defecerit, vicecomes de Suthantonia vel praepositus Wintoniae namium inde apud Wintoniam capiat. Insuper etiam ad emendandam civitatem eis concessimus, quod omnes sint quieti de jeresgieve et de scotteshale, ita quod si vicecomes noster vel aliquis alius baillivus scotthale faciat. Has praedictas

consuetudines eis concedimus et omnes alias libertates et liberas consuetudines quas habuerunt temporibus antecessorum nostrorum quando meliores vel liberiores habuerunt; et si aliquae consuetudines injustae levatae fuerint in guerra, cassatae sint; et quicunque petierint civitatem Wintoniae cum mercatu suo, de quocunque loco sint, sive extranei sive alii, veniant, morentur et recedant in salva pace nostra, reddendo rectas consuetudines, et nemo eos disturbet super hanc cartam nostram. Quare volumus et firmiter praecipimus quod ipsi et haeredes eorum haec omnia praedicta haereditarie habeant et teneant de nobis et haeredibus nostris. Testibus, W. Rothomagensi archiepiscopo, R. Bathoniensi, H. Coventrensi episcopis, Bertranno de Verdun, Johanne Marescallo, Willelmo Marescallo. Datum per manum Johannis de Alenconio archidiaconi Lexoviensis, vicecancellarii nostri, apud Nunancurte, XIV. die Martii, anno primo regni nostri.-(Foedera, i. 50.)

A.D. 1194. Charter of Richard I to Lincoln.

RICARDUS, Dei gratia, rex Angliae, dux Normanniae et Aquitanniae, comes Andegaviae, archiepiscopis, episcopis, abbatibus, comitibus, baronibus, justitiariis, vicecomitibus, ministris et omnibus fidelibus suis, tam Francis quam Anglis, salutem.

Sciatis nos concessisse civibus nostris Lincolniae quod nullus eorum placitet extra civitatem Lincolniae de aliquo placito praeter placita de tenuris exterioribus, exceptis monetariis et ministris nostris. Concessimus etiam eis quietantiam murdri infra civitatem et in portsocha, et quod nullus eorum faciat duellum, et quod de placitis ad coronam pertinentibus se possint disrationare secundum consuetudinem civium civitatis Lundoniarum, et quod infra civitatem illam nemo capiat hospitium per vim vel per liberationem marescalli. Hoc etiam concessimus quod omnes cives Lincolniae sint quieti de theloneo et lestagio per totam Angliam et per portus maris, et quod nullus de misericordia pecuniae judicetur nisi secundum legem quam habent cives nostri Lundoniarum; et quod in civitate illa in nullo placito sit miskenninga; et quod burwaremot semel tantum in hebdomada teneatur; et quod terras et tenuras et vadia sua et debita sua omnia juste habeant, quicunque eis debeat. Et de terris suis et tenuris quae infra civitatem sint, rectum eis teneatur secundum consuetudinem civitatis; et de omnibus debitis suis quae accommodata fuerint apud Lincolniam, et de vadiis ibidem factis, placita apud Lincolniam teneantur. Et si quis in tota Anglia theloneum vel consuetudinem ab hominibus Lincolniae ceperit, postquam ipse a recto defecerit, praepositus Lincolniae namium apud Lincolniam capiat. Insuper etiam ad emendationem illius civitatis illis concessimus, quod sint quieti de bridtol, et de childwite, et de gieresgieve, et de scothale, ita quod praepositus nec alius ballivus scothalam faciat. Has praedictas consuetudines eis concessimus et omnes alias libertates et liberas consuetudines, quas habuerunt vel habent cives nostri Lundoniarum quando meliores vel liberiores habuerint, secundum libertates Lundoniarum et leges civitatis Lincolniae.

Quare volumus et firmiter praecipimus quod ipsi et haeredes eorum haec omnia praedicta habeant et teneant haereditarie de nobis et haeredibus nostris, reddendo per annum novies viginti libras numero de Lincolnia cum omnibus pertinentiis ad scaccarium nostrum, duobus terminis, ad Pascham scilicet et ad festum Sancti Michaelis per manum praepositi Lincolniae. Et cives Lincolniae faciant praepositum quem voluerint de se per annum, qui sit idoneus nobis et eis. Testibus hiis; H. Cantuariensi archiepiscopo; Willelmo Marescallo; Gaufrido filio Petri; Hugone Bardulfi. Datum per manum Willelmi Eliensis episcopi cancellarii nostri apud Wintoniam, etc.-(Foedera, i. 52.)

A.D. 1199-1216. JOHN.

Archbishops of Canterbury. Hubert Walter, 1193-1205; Stephen Langton, 1207-1216.

Chief Justices. Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, 1199-1213; Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, 1214-1215; Hubert de Burgh, 1215-1216. Chancellors. Hubert Walter, 1199-1203; Walter Grey, 1205-1213; Peter des Roches. 1213-1214; Walter Grey, 1214; Richard de Marisco, 1214-1216.

WHETHER the account given by Matthew Paris of the election of John be true or false, it is certain that he succeeded to his brother's throne without any threat of opposition. The claim which he derived from Richard's final disposition of his states was strengthened by the support of the queen mother, and the adherence of a numerous party which he had propitiated during the late reign; and the absence of any feeling in favour of Arthur left the great ministers, and the baronage generally, no other course than to accept him as king. He, like Richard, issued no coronation charter, but took the usual oaths.

The administration of the country was managed by Archbishop Hubert and Geoffrey Fitz-Peter the Justiciar, during John's early years, on the same principles as it had been during Richard's reign; it is to them that we must ascribe the maintenance of such constitutional forms as continued to exist, and of the peace of England. The amount of restraint which they exercised on John may be calculated, if we consider that immediately on the death of Hubert his quarrel with the Church broke out, whilst the death of the Justiciar in 1213 coincides with the beginning of the national struggle for liberty under the barons. But these ministers were not able to control altogether the tyrannical instincts of the king. His constant presence in England and his interference with the machinery of administration prevented them from combining, as they had done in Richard's reign, heavy taxation with the use and development of principles of self-government; and from standing between

the people and the king, at the cost of their own popularity. Close acquaintance with John disgusted the English, who had not realised the more distant faults of Richard.

Independently, however, of personal considerations, the reign was a critical one. That of Richard had witnessed the separation of the royal interest from that of the people; that of John brought the interest of the people into the closest harmony with that of the baronage. The baronage was now composed, to a very great extent, of men whose fortunes had been made under the influence of Henry II, whose traditions were opposed to feudalism, and whose relations with Normandy were much less close than those of the older nobility. The first signs of the working of these causes are to be found in the default of any attempt to recover Normandy after its forfeiture and loss. The English barons were either averse to such an attempt, as involving foreign service, a fact which shows that their own stake in the duchy was but small; or incredulous of John's intention to make the effort, as they might justly be, when he was so ready to commute their service for money; or they saw no hope of success under a sovereign whose ability they underrated, whilst they estimated his sincerity at its true value. It would appear that the families which still had possessions on both sides the Channel either divided their estates, or, balancing their conflicting interests as well as they could, chose to forfeit a part rather than to fight for John.

In the ecclesiastical disputes, which are the next feature of the reign, John had to contend with the greatest of all the successors of S. Peter, and with a spirit in the national Church which was unquestionably maintained by the knowledge of the great power and success of the Pope in other parts of Christendom. The barons refrained from taking advantage of these peculiar difficulties, nor did their overt opposition to the king begin until his relations with the papacy had changed. As soon as the papal authority begins to back the royal tyranny, the barons determine to resist; and the Church having recovered, in Archbishop Langton, its natural leader, resumes its ordinary attitude as the supporter of freedom.