men from each vill of the hundred, he shall go to the ordeal of water, and if he is undone he shall lose one foot. And at Northampton it was added for rigorous justice that he shall likewise lose. his right hand with his foot, and he shall abjure the realm and within forty days he shall leave the kingdom. And if he shall have been to the water whole he shall furnish sureties and remain in the kingdom, unless he has been accused of murder or other infamous felony by the community of the county and of the lawful knights of the country, of which if he has been accused in the said manner, although he has been to the water safely, nevertheless within forty days he shall depart from the realm, and take with him his chattels saving the rights of his lords, and at the mercy of the lord king he shall abjure the realm. Moreover this assize shall be in force from the time the assize was made at Clarendon continuously to this time and from now on as long as it shall please the lord king, in cases of murder and treason and arson and in all of the aforesaid cases except in petty thefts and robberies which have been committed in time of war, such as of horses, oxen and smaller things.

2. Item let no one either in borough or vill entertain in his house for more than one night any stranger for whom he refuses to be responsible, unless the hospitality has a reasonable excuse, which the master of the house shall declare to his neighbors. And when he leaves, let him depart in the presence of the neighbors and by day.

3. If any one has about him the fruits of murder or theft or robbery or forgery and confesses it or any other felony which he has committed, before the reeve of the hundred or borough and before lawful men, he cannot afterwards deny that crime before the justices. And likewise, if without such fruits in his possession, he shall confess anything of the sort before them, in like manner he cannot deny this before the justices.

4. Item if any freeholder dies let his heirs remain in such seisin as their father had of his fee on the day of his death, and let them have his chattels out of which they shall execute the will of the deceased: and afterwards they shall seek out their lord and pay him a relief and the other things which they ought to pay him from their fee. And if the heir is under age the lord of the fee shall receive his homage and may keep him in custody as long as is his right. The other lords if there are several shall receive his homage and he shall render to them what is right. And let the wife of the deceased have her dowry and the portion of his chattels which falls to her. And if the lord of the fee shall refuse the

heirs of the deceased the seisin of the said deceased which they claim, the justices of the lord king shall thereupon cause recognition to be made by twelve lawful men of what seisin the deceased had of it on the day of his death: and according to the recognition, restitution shall be made to his heirs. And if any one has done contrary to this and has been convicted of it let him remain at the king's mercy.

5. Item the king's justices shall cause a recognition to be made of dispossessions contrary to the Assize, since the lord king's coming to England next after the peace made between him and the king his son.

6. Item the justices shall receive oaths of fealty for the lord king from the first Sunday after Easter to the first Sunday after Pentecost from all, to wit, earls, barons, knights and freeholders, and also villeins, who wish to remain in the realm. And whoever refuses to take the oath of fealty, shall be arrested as an enemy of the lord king. The justices are also to give orders that all those who have not yet paid homage and allegiance to the lord king that, at a time which shall be named for them, they shall come and pay homage and allegiance to the king as liege lord.

7. Item the justices shall determine all pleas and rights pertaining to the lord king and to his crown, by writ of the lord king or of those who shall be in his place, in the matter of a half a knight's fee and under, unless the dispute is so great that it cannot be settled without the lord king, or such as the justices shall refer to him or to those who shall be in his place on account of their uncertainty. They shall take care according to their ability to act for the advantage of the lord king. They shall also hold assize in the case of wicked robbers and evil-doers of the land, which assize is by the advice of the king his son and of his men, of the counties through which they are about to go.

8. Item the justices shall see to it that those castles which were destroyed are completely destroyed and that those which ought to be destroyed are leveled to the ground. And unless they shall do this the lord king will have the judgment of his court upon them as upon those who hold in contempt his commands.

9. Item the justices shall make inquisition with regard to churches and lands and women who are in the gift of the lord king.

10. Item let the bailiffs of the lord king answer to the exchequer both for the returns from the assize and for all their acquisitions which they make in their bailiwicks; those being excepted which pertain to the office of sheriff.

11. Item the justices shall make inquisition concerning the custody of castles both by whom and how much and when payment ought to be made for them and let them report to the lord king.

12. Item a thief when he is arrested shall be handed over to the custody of the sheriff. And if the sheriff should be absent, he shall be taken to the nearest warden of a castle and he shall guard him till he delivers him to the sheriff.

13. Item the justices shall cause search to be made according to the custom of the land for those who have fled from the kingdom; and unless they are willing to return within the set time and stand trial in the court of the lord king, then let them be outlawed; and let the names of the outlaws be reported at Easter and at Michaelmas to the exchequer and from thence they shall be sent to the lord king.

(1181. Latin text, Stubbs, S. C. 154. Translation by Editors. I Stubbs, 632.)

SSIZE concerning the bearing of arms in England.

ASS

1. Let whoever holds a knight's fee have a coat of mail and a helmet, a shield and a lance; and let every knight have as many coats of mail, and helmets, and shields, and lances as he has knight's fees in his demesne [that is, not subinfeudated, or held by knights under him].

2. Also, let every free layman who is worth sixteen marks in chattels or in revenue have a coat of mail and a helmet and a shield and a lance; also, let every free layman who is worth ten marks in chattels or revenue have a hauberk and a head-piece of iron and a lance.

3. Item let all burghers and the whole body of freemen have a doublet of mail and a head-piece of iron and a lance.

4. Moreover let each one of them swear that before the feast of Saint Hilary he will have these arms and that he will bear faith to the lord king Henry, namely the son of the empress Matilda, and that he will bear these arms in his service according to his order and for the protection of the lord king and of his realm. And let no one who has these arms sell them or pledge them or give them away, or in any other manner alienate them, neither let a lord in any manner take them away from his man, either by forfeiture, or by gift or as a pledge, or in any other manner.

5. If any one having these arms shall die, let his arms remain to his heir. But if the heir should be of such age that he could not use the arms if there should be need let the one who has him in custody likewise have the custody of his arms and let him find a man who can use arms in the service of the lord king until the heir is of such age that he can bear arms, and then let him have them.

6. Let every burgher who has more arms than he need have according to this assize sell them or give them away or otherwise alienate them to such a man as will keep them in the service of the lord king of England. And let none of them keep more arms than he is required to have according to this assize.

7. Item let no Jew keep a coat of mail or a hauberk in his possession, but let him sell it or give it away or otherwise dispose of it so that it shall remain in the service of the king.

8. Item let no one carry arms out of England except by the order of the lord king; neither let any one sell arms to any one who will carry them out of England.

9. Item let the justices cause oaths to be taken by lawful knights or other free and lawful men of the hundred or borough as many as they shall see fit, who shall have the value of chattels which makes it necessary for him to have a coat of mail and a helmet and a lance and a shield according as has been said; to wit, that one by one they will name to them all from their hundreds and neighborhoods and boroughs who have sixteen marks either in chattels or in revenue, and likewise those who have ten marks. And afterwards let the justices cause all those jurors and others to be registered; who have such an amount of chattels and revenues and what arms each ought to have according to the value of chattels or revenues, and afterwards in their presence, in the hearing of all those persons, let them cause that this assize concerning the having of arms be read and that they swear that they will have these arms according to the aforesaid value of chattels or revenue, and that they will hold them at the service of the lord king according to this said assize at the command and for the protection of the lord king Henry and of his realm. If indeed it should happen that any of those who ought to have these arms are not in the county at the time when the justices shall be in that county, the justices shall fix for him a time in another county, in their presence. And if he shall not have come to them in any county through which they shall go and he has not been in this land, a time shall be appointed for him at Westminster in the octaves of Saint Michael, that he shall be there to make his oath, as he values

his life and property. And let it be commanded him that before the feast of the said Saint Hilary, he shall have arms according as it is required of him.

10. Item let the justices cause to be proclaimed throughout all the counties through which they shall go, that whoever has not these arms according as is aforesaid, the lord king shall have recourse to their persons and not at all to their land or chattels.

11. Item let no one swear concerning lawful and free men, who has not sixteen marks or ten marks in chattels.

12. Item let the justices order throughout all the counties that no one, as he values his life and property, shall buy or sell any ship to be taken away from England, and that no one shall export or cause to be exported from England, timber. And the king commands that no one shall be received for the oath of arms except a freeman.

Jurisdictio

Assize of the Forest or of Woodstock

Latin text, Stubbs, S. C. 157. Translation by Editors.

Hr king.

I Stubbs, 527.)

ERE begins the assize of the Forest of the lord Henry the

This is the assize of lord Henry the king, the son of Matilda, in England, concerning the forest and his venison, by the advice and assent of the archbishops, bishops and barons, earls and nobles of England, at Woodstock.

I. First he forbids that any one shall offend in regard to his venison or his forests in any respect: and he wills that no trust shall be put in the fact that hitherto he has had mercy because of their chattels upon those who had offended in regard to his venison and his forests. For if any one hereafter shall offend and be convicted thereof, he wills that full justice be exacted as was done in the time of king Henry his grandfather.

2. Item he forbids that any one shall have bows or arrows, or hounds, or harriers in his forests unless he shall have as his warrantor the king or some one else who has the power to act as warrantor.

3. Item he forbids that any one shall give or sell anything to the wasting or destruction of his woods which are within the forest of king Henry: he grants fully that they may take from their woods what shall be necessary for them (i.e. firewood), without wasting, and this at the view of the royal forester.