HENRY II. 1154-1189. personal military service; which, in process of time, was the parent of the ancient subsidies granted to the crown by parliament, and the land-tax of later times. RICHARD I. 1189-1199. Oppression by the king. Forest laws. Uniformity of weights and measures. Law of wrecks mitigated. Assemblage of councils. Personal pro perty of small value. SECTION II. RICHARD I., July 6, A.D. 1189,-April 6, A.D. 1199. From the relation of historians, the reign of Richard I. was very oppressive. The king spent the greater part of his reign between France, the Holy Land, on his voyages, or in captivity; and the promises made by John to obtain the throne, indicate that the government had been tyrannical. The forest laws were renewed, and enforced with severity, but the nation received two beneficial legislative charters'; by one a uniformity of weights and measures were established, by the other the severity of the law of wrecks was mitigated. Formerly it had been held, that, by the loss of the vessel, the original owner lost all right to his goods, which then became the property of the crown. Henry I. had granted that, if any man escaped alive, it should be considered no wreck. Henry II. added that, if even a beast escaped by which the owner might be discovered, he should be allowed three months to claim his property. Richard now enacted that, if the owner perished, his sons and daughters, and in their default his brothers and sisters, should have a fair claim in preference to the crown '. "Councils" were assembled as heretofore; but it is almost impossible for any representative body to have existed analogous to that which occurred in the reign of Edward I.,— neither the state of property, nor the state of the people, admitted of such a constitution. Personal property was then comparatively of small value: the waste produced by the advent of William in cities and boroughs, and in the country at large, is apparent from Domesday. On the borders of Scotland and Wales the people were constantly liable to incursions of predatory hordes, were almost always in a state of war, with difficulty supported themselves against their invaders and immediate neighbours; 5 4 Black. Com. 422. 1 Hume, 469. 1 Hoveden, 774. M. Paris, 109, 134. Ann. Waverl. 165. 2 Hume, 36. Leg. Sax. 342, 349. 2 Lingard, 205. 2 consequently, could scarcely contribute in any respect to the RICHARD I. general government. 1189--1199. where vested. A very large proportion of landed property was either in the Landed property hands of the crown or the church, and almost all the principal cities and boroughs belonged to the crown, and so far dependant on its pleasure. From such a state of things, the "mass of the people' could scarcely have influenced the government of the country; and no existing records can prove their actual participation either directly or indirectly; the crown, the church, and tenants in capite, were the only persons that appear to have had political influence. raised by the crown. Demesnes of the crowned in granted fee farm, to bur gesses. crown, Richard, to answer his exigences, raised great sums of money Sums of money for the purpose of his expedition to the Holy Land, by grants of immunities, exemptions, and privileges, particularly to cities and boroughs, as well as by extortions under various pretences. Besides selling to the citizens and burgesses of many cities and boroughs various privileges, he made grants to many of their respective cities and boroughs, the demesnes of the in fee farm. By those grants they became tenants in chief of the crown, independent of the officers of the crown, and generally enjoyed separate municipal jurisdictions under their own officers, receiving the revenues of the crown in their respective cities and boroughs as their general property, possessing the influence derived from those revenues, holding of the king as "aggregate bodies" by a free tenure, and deriving from their aggregation a consequence, which could not have belonged to them as individuals. lands. By subinfeudations, divisions of lands amongst coheirs, Subdivision of forfeitures and escheats, regrants from the crown in smaller parcels, sales, usurpations in times of confusion, and by various other means, the lands of the kingdom fell into the hands of a larger number of proprietors. A great proportion of those who thus acquired influence, were younger branches of the principal families, provided for by parts of the family property; others from having obtained grants of lands for services or from favour; and many, from having acquired personal wealth, were enabled to become purchasers of land; the spirit of the Crusades having induced the owners in fee, especially during the reign of Richard, to part with great portions to the best bidder, for the purpose of raising money towards those expeditions. E RICHARD I. 1189-1199. New character acquired, by a the people. Thus, by degrees, a new state of property, both real and personal, arose throughout the kingdom, and a new character was given to a large portion of the people; and on the death large portion of of Richard, many concurring circumstances had a tendency to produce important changes, which the accession of John, the imperfection of his title, the loss of Normandy, and its final separation from the crown of England, his character (little calculated to obtain respect), his extravagance, and general conduct throughout his reign, probably hastened". JOHN. 1199-1216. Character of Barons demand their constitutional rights. Richard I. was succeeded by a sovereign who lost, by his misconduct, the flourishing provinces in France, the ancient patrimony of his family; subjected his kingdom to a degrading vassalage under the sce of Rome; saw the prerogatives of his crown diminished by law, and still more reduced by faction; and who died, when in danger of being expelled by France, and of either ending his life miserably in prison, or seeking shelter as a fugitive from the vengeance of his enemies'. He was equally odious and contemptible in other respects, having affronted the barons by his insolence, dishonoured their families by his gallantries, enraged them by his tyranny, and given discontent to all ranks of men, by endless exactions and impositions. The effect of such practices appeared in the solicitation of the barons for a restoration of their privileges; and after the king had reconciled himself to the pope, by abandoning the independence of his kingdom3, justly appeared to all his subjects in so mean a light, that they insisted upon their constitutional rights'. 3 1 Rep. Dig. Peer. 51, 52, 53. 1 1 IIume, 97, 98. 2 Lingard, 265, et seq. 2 Ann. Waverl. 181. W. Heming. 557. Chron. Mailr. 188. T. Wykes, 36. 2 Lingard, 234. 4 M. Paris, 214. 2 Hume, 78. 2 Lingard, 249, et seq. 1199-1216. These circumstances enforced from John "Magna Charta,' JOHN. every provision of which, was inserted in consequence of a positive and then existing abuse. The charter secured to the clergy all their rights entire, and Privileges of the liberties unhurt, with the freedom of elections, confirming church. also that grant by which the necessity of a royal congè d'elire and confirmation was superseded :-all check upon appeals to Rome was removed, by the allowance granted every man to depart the kingdom at pleasure:-and the fines to be imposed on the clergy, for any offence, were ordained to be proportional to their lay estates, not to their ecclesiastical benefices". barons. The privileges to the barons were either abatements in the Privileges of the rigour of the feudal law, or determinations upon points which had been left by that law, and had become by practice, arbitrary and ambiguous. The reliefs of heirs succeeding to a military Reliefs of heirs. fee were ascertained; an earl's and a baron's being a hundred marks, a knight's one hundred shillings". minors. It was provided that, if the heir be a minor, he might Estates of immediately upon his majority, enter upon his estate, without paying any relief:-that the king was not to sell his wardship; and should levy only reasonable profits upon the estate, without committing waste or hurting the property; to uphold the castles, houses, mills, parks, and ponds; and if the guardianship of the estate was committed to the sheriff or any other, he should previously oblige them to find surety for the same purpose3. That during the minority of a baron, while his lands were in wardship, and were not in his own possession, no debt which he owed to the Jews should bear any interest". heirs, and widows. Heirs were to be married without disparagement; and Marriages of before the marriage was contracted, the nearest relations of the person were to be informed of it. A widow, without paying any relief, might enter upon her dower, the third part of her husband's rents. She was not to be compelled to * M. Paris, 178–180, 213–221. West. 266-268. 1 Rymer, 198. 2 Lingard, 219, et seq; 246. 6 2 Lingard, 251. 6 Henry, 67. 7 Madox, Hist. Exch. c. 10, s. 1. 2 Lingard, 252. 6 Henry, 69. B Madox, Hist. Exch. e. 13, s. 8. Henry, 70. 2 Lingard, 252, 9 Johnson's Canons, A.D. 785, 17; 1064, 16. 6 Henry, 77. 10 1 Madox, 465, 512. 1 Rymer, 441. 2 Lingard, 251, 252. JOHN. 1199-1216. Wardship of minors holding by military tenure of a baron. Imposition of scutages. Common council of the kingdom, to assess an aid. Amercements. Pre-emption. Inferior vassals. marry, so long as she chose to continue single; and only to give security never to marry without her lord's consent "1. The king was not to claim the wardship of any minor, who held lands by military tenure of a baron, on pretence that he also held lands of the crown, by socage or any other tenure. Scutages were to be estimated at the same rate as in the time of Henry I., and no scutage or aid was to be exacted, except in the three general feudal cases, the king's captivity, the knighting of his eldest son, and the marrying of his eldest daughter1. "To have a common council of the kingdom, to assess an aid, otherwise than in the three foresaid cases, or to assess a scutage, we will cause to be summoned the archbishops, bishops, earls, and greater barons, personally, by our letters; and besides we will cause to be summoned in general, by our sheriffs and bailiffs, all those who hold of us in chief, to a certain day, at the distance of forty days at least, and to a certain place; and in all the letters of summons, we will express the cause of the summons; and the summons being thus made, the business shall go on at the day appointed, according to the advice of those who shall be present, although all who have been summoned have not come 13 99 The king was not to seize any baron's land for a debt to the crown, if the baron possessed as many goods and chattels as were sufficient to discharge the debt1. No man was to be obliged to perform more service for his fee than he was bound by his tenure. No governor or constable of a castle was to oblige any knight to give money for castle guard, if the knight was willing to perform the service in person, or by another able-bodied man; and if the knight be in the field himself, by the king's command, he was to be exempted from all other service of this nature; and no vassal was to be allowed to sell so much of his land, as to incapacitate him from performing his service to his lord. It was also enacted that all the foregoing privileges and immunities, granted to the barons against the king, should be extended by the barons to their inferior vassals; and the king bound himself not to grant any writ, empowering a baron to levy aids from his vassals, except in the three feudal cases 13. 11 Chron. Dunst. 74. Madox, Hist. Exch. c. 13, s. 2. 6 Henry, 72. 13 8 Henry, 90. 15 Ibid. 257. 15 |