The Statutes of the Realm/Volume 1/Introduction/Chapter 2

by the Record Commission

Layout 3

CHAP. II.

Of The Charters prefixed to this Collection of The Statutes.

A Series of the Charters of the Liberties of England is prefixed to this Collection of The Statutes: namely, Charters of Liberties; 1 Henry I. A. D. 1101: 1 Stephen A. D. 1136: Of Stephen and Henry II. without Date: Charter for free Elections in Churches; 16 John A. D. 1214: Articles or Heads of Magna Carta; 17 John A. D. 1215: Magna Carta; 17 John A. D. 1215: 1 Henry III. A. D. 1216; A. D. 1217^[1]: 9 Henry III. A. D. 1224-5: 36 Henry III. A. D. 1251-2: Carta de Foresta; 2 Henry III. A. D. 1217: 9 Henry III. A. D. 1224-5: And Charters confirming Magna Carta and Carta de Foresta; 21 Hen. III. A. D. 1236-7: 49 Hen. III. A. D. 1264-5: 25 Edw. I. A. D. 1297: 28 Edw. I. A. D. 1300: 29 Edw. I. A. D. 1300-1.^[2]

Magna Carta and Carta de Foresta, granted in the 9th Year of King Henry III. have, in every Collection of Statutes which contained the Statutes previous to 1 Edw. III. been printed as the first in Order. In all Editions previous to Hawkins’s, they were printed as from Charters of Inspeximus of 28 Edw. I: By Hawkins and subsequent Editors they were printed from the Charter of Inspeximus entered on the Statute Roll of 25 Edw. I: But in no Edition hitherto have they been printed immediately from any Charter of 9 Hen. III; and it is not known that any Statute Roll of that Date ever existed. In the present Collection, these Charters are inserted according to their place in the above Series, and are printed from Charters under the Great Seal: They are also printed again amongst the Statutes 25 Edw. I. from the Entry on the Statute Roll of that Year, being the earliest Parliamentary Record upon which they have been found.

For the Purpose of examining all the Charters, and Authentic Copies and Entries thereof, and also of searching for antient Copies and Entries of Statutes, and Instruments not now to be found on the Statute Roll, Two Sub-Commissioners were employed during the Summer of 1806, in making a Progress through England and Ireland to every Place where it appeared from the Returns to the Record Committee of 1800, or from other Intelligence, that any such Charters, Copies, or Entries were preserved: And Searches have been made successively at every Cathedral in England which was known to possess any such Charters, Copies, or Entries; and also at the Univerſities of Oxford and Cambridge; at Trinity College Dublin; at the Courts of Exchequer, and other Public Offices in Dublin; and wherever else Information could be obtained on the Subject. The Result, so far as relates to the Charters, may be thus briefly stated.

In Rochester Cathedral is preserved the Textus Roffensis: This is a Chartulary, or Collection of Charters and Instruments, compiled by Ernulf, who was Bishop of Rochester from A. D. 1115 to A. D. 1125. In this Chartulary is an Entry of the Charter of Liberties, granted in the First Year of King Henry I. A. D. 1101^[3].

In Exeter Cathedral is preserved an Original Charter granted in the First Year of King Stephen A. D. 1136. ‘De libertatibus Ecclesie Anglie & Regni.’

In Canterbury Cathedral are several Chartularies or Registers of very antient Date. In these are entered the Charter of King Stephen, of which an Original is in Exeter Cathedral, and the Charter of King John, granted in the Sixteenth Year of his Reign, for free Elections of Prelates, &c. in Churches and Monasteries.

In Lincoln Cathedral, an Original of the Great Charter of Liberties, granted by King John in the Seventeenth Year of his Reign, is preserved in a perfect State. This Charter appears to be of superior Authority to either of the Two Charters of the same Date, preserved in the British Museum. From the contemporary Indorsements of the Word Lincolnia on Two Folds of the Charter, this may be presumed to be the Charter transmitted by the Hands of Hugh the then Bishop of Lincoln, who is one of the Bishops named in the Introductory Clause; and it is observable that several Words and Sentences are inserted in the Body of this Charter, which in both the Charters preserved in the British Museum, are added, by way of Notes for Amendment, at the Bottom of the Instrument.

In Durham Cathedral, several Charters of the Liberties of England are preserved with great Care; namely Magna Carta 12 Nov. 1 Hen. III.—Carta de Foresta 2 Hen. III.—Magna Carta and Carta de Foresta 9 Hen. III. The Carta de Foresta 2 Hen. III. is the earliest Charter of the Forest; the Original and all Authentic Records of which were supposed by Blackstone to be lost^[4]. It is remarkable that in this Original is inserted a Clause which occurs in an Entry of this Charter on a Roll, formerly belonging to the Abbey of Hales Owen in Shropshire, communicated to Blackstone by Lord Lyttelton^[5]; and which is not inserted in the Carta de Foresta 9 Hen. III.

A Charter of the Date of 12 Nov. 1 Hen. III. was transmitted to Ireland; and an Entry thereof is preserved in the Red Book of the Exchequer at Dublin.

In several other Cathedrals are Chartularies, Registers, or Collections, of antient Date, containing Entries of the Great Charters and Charters of the Forest. The most valuable of these are at York, Gloucester, and Christ-Church, Dublin.

The Magna Carta of 9 Henry III. under Seal, from which Blackstone printed a Copy in his Edition of The Charters, and which he suggests was the Charter designed for the Use of the Knights or Military Tenants of Wiltshire, is still preserved by the Family of the Talbots, of Lacock Abbey, in that County.

In the Bodleian Library at Oxford are Magna Carta A. D. 1217; and the Charters of Confirmation 21 Henry III; and 29 Edward I.

In the British Museum is the Original of the Articuli Magne Carte under the Seal of King John, from which Blackstone printed the Copy in his Edition of the Charters. Two of the Great Charters of King John, one of 36th Henry III., and the Charter of Confirmation granted by King Edward I. at Ghent, in the 25th Year of his Reign, are also preserved in the same Repository.

On the Statute Roll of 25 Edward I. are entered Charters of Inspeximus of that Date, reciting and confirming Magna Carta and Carta de Foresta of 9 Henry III. Entries of similar Charters dated 28 Ed. I. are made on the Charter Rolls of that Year; the only Difference between these several Charters of Inspeximus is that those of the 25th Year are tested by the King’s Son, and those of the 28th by the King himself. Original Charters of Inspeximus of these respective Dates, agreeing with the Entries on the Statute and Charter Rolls, are still in Existence. Of these Charters one of 25 Edw. I. confirming Magna Carta, is in the Town Clerk’s Office London. Others of 28 Ed. I. confirming Magna Carta are in the same Repository, as also in Durham Cathedral, Weſtminster Collegiate Church, Oriel College Oxford, and in the Town Clerk’s Office at Appleby in Westmoreland. Others of the same Date, confirming Carta de Foresta, are in Durham Cathedral, and Oriel College Oxford.

From these Materials, and others previously obtained, Transcripts and Collations were made and accurately examined by the Sub-Commissioners. The Text of the several Charters inserted in the present Collection is printed from these Transcripts; an attentive and strict Collation of the printed Text with the Transcript, has been made by one of the Sub-Commissioners, who himself assisted in making the Transcript, and in examining it with the Original; and where an engraved Copy has been made of any Charter, the printed Text has also been collated with such engraved Copy.

This Collection of Charters will be found to differ from Blackstone’s Edition of the Charters, and other printed Copies in the following Particulars: First, In exhibiting a complete Series of the Charters of Liberties, granted by the Kings of England; in which their Original and Progress may be traced until their final and complete Establishment in the Twenty-ninth Year of King Edward I.—Secondly, In affording in every Instance a faithful Transcript from Original Charters or Entries thereof; in Characters representing the Manuscript with its Contractions or Abbreviations,^[6] so far as the same could be accomplished by Printing Types: Engraved Fac-Similes are also subjoined, which have been made with great Care and Attention from several of the Charters, namely; the Charter of Liberties granted by Stephen, in Exeter Cathedral; the Articuli Magne Carte of John, in the British Museum; the Magna Carta of John, in Lincoln Cathedral; the Carta de Foresta, 2 Hen. III. and the Magna Carta 9 Hen. III. in Durham Cathedral; the Entry of the Charter of Confirmation 21 Hen. III, on the Charter Roll of that Year in the Tower of London; and the Charter of Inspeximus 25 Edw. I. in the Town Clerk’s Office, London.—Thirdly, In inserting the Stops or Points which Blackstone omitted, but which are justified by the Originals, and which are material to the Sense; and in avoiding many Errors, which had crept into all prior Editions, even that of Blackstone himself, in consequence of the Transcripts and Examinations being intrusted, at different Places, to different Persons not all equally competent to the Task, and from the Collation of unauthenticated Manuscript Copies supposed to be of a Date much more antient than in Truth they are.^[7] Fourthly, In inserting Charters not before printed, viz. 1. The Charter of the Sixteenth Year of King John, for the free Election of Prelates, &c. which is particularly adverted to in the Magna Carta granted by that King: 2. The First Charter of the Forest, granted in the second Year of Henry III. now preserved in Durham Cathedral; the Existence of which escaped the Researches of Blackstone: 3. The Confirmation Charter of 36 Hen. III, which accounts for some Alterations in the Charters of Inspeximus and Confirmation of Magna Carta granted by Edward I: 4. The Charter of Inspeximus and Confirmation of Magna Carta 25 Edw. I. from the Original preserved in the Town Clerk’s Office London; being of the same Date as that entered on the Statute Roll: The Authenticity of this last mentioned Charter is evinced peculiarly by the Writ which is annexed to it; and no other such Original Charter of this Date is now known to exist: 5. The Charter of Inspeximus and Confirmation of Magna Carta 28 Edw. I; And, 6. The Charter of Inspeximus and Confirmation of Carta de Foresta 28 Edw. I; both from the Charter Roll of that Year in the Tower of London. From the Charters of Inspeximus 25 & 28 Edw. I. as entered on the Statute and Charter Rolls, Blackstone gave only Various Readings as Notes to the Charters of 9 Hen. III; but did not print the Charters themselves at length.

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1. It is not ascertained whether this Charter was granted in the First or Second Year of the Reign of Hen. III. See Blackstone’s Charters, Introd. 4to. pa. xxxviii—xl.: 8vo. pa. lix—lxii. A Manuscript, No.70. in Benet College Library Cambridge, attributes this Charter positively to the first Year.
2. See more fully The Table prefixed to The Charters; specifying the Original or Entry from which each Charter is respectively printed, and the Place where such Original or Entry is preserved.
3. Of this Charter two antient Copies are entered in the Red Book of the Exchequer at Westminster; a Copy in MS. Cott. Claud. D. II. is comparatively modern and very incorrect.
4. See Blackstone’s Charters, Introd. 4to Edit. pa. xlii;—8vo Edit. pa. lxv.
5. De boscis autem aliorum nullum detur chiminagium foristariis nostris preterquam de dominicis boscis nostris.
   
   See Blackstone’s Charters, 4to. pa. xlviii. Note w:—pa. li. Note z.—8vo. pa. lxxiv. and lxxviij.
6. An Explanation of the Contractions is given in a Table in Appendix D.
7. The Entry of Magna Carta A. D. 1217, in the Liber Custumarum, in the Town Clerk’s Office, London, is said by Blackstone to be written by a contemporary Hand: See Blackstone’s Charters, Introd. 4to Edit. pa. xxxviii.—8vo. pa. lix. But the Book affords internal Evidence that this Entry was certainly not made before 14 Ed. II. A. D. 1320.